Interceptor's Wish

by Masterdude21

What started as a young man's search for his abducted mother spirals out of control. Soon, he is fighting a desperate war for survival against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. The enemy is everywhere and allies are far too few. With the entire region at stake, who can prevail when fate itself seems set against you? - Novelization of Pokemon Rejuvenation.

38. Race Against The Bomb

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Chapter 9 – No Time Left To Lose!

Race Against The Bomb

The plan this time around was simple. Go in, employ maximum violence, get Maria, employ even more maximum violence to cover their escape and then actually escape.

For something they'd cobbled together on the fly as they ran back towards the mansion, it was beautiful in its simplicity. With Venam by his side, Will was confident they might be able to get something done.

Before long, they found themselves back at the gate to the Marble Mansion. Venam hadn't been exaggerating when she said those cops had tried to demolish the place. Something had torn a deep trough across the wall, knocking the front doors off their hinges and deep into the mansion proper. Loose bricks and pieces of debris lay scattered around the entrance. Several windows on the right side of the property had shattered during the attack.

"Oh damn…those doors flew all the way over here?" Venam muttered as she stopped to stare at the crumpled front doors lying halfway across the hallway. Blood had pooled on the floor beneath one of the doors.

The scenario played out in his head as he stepped inside. He envisioned Anathea stepping through the door just as that Tangrowth struck. Power Whip, Venam had told him. A tendril that could have dented steel and crushed through bricks could have easily snapped a human's body like a matchstick. It would have pulped her organs, shattered her bones, snapped her spine…with some luck, it had been an instant death.

"Anathea…" Venam said. "I didn't know her well, but I feel so shitty about this whole thing." She sighed and then turned her back to the sight. "Gardevoir's in this mansion somewhere. We should explore and leave no stone unturned."

They stepped past the bloodstained doors and entered the mansion proper. Will, not too eager on a second power nap, had Froslass shadow him covertly, while sending out Fraxure for a more physical layer of protection. Venam, for her part, had Seviper cover their rear. Together, they advanced.

"Hey, Will," She said, nodding at the large set of doors opposite of the hallway. "Remember, Vitus and Gardevoir came out of those two doors. I bet everything that they're back through there. Let's check them out; if they're locked, then it's practically guaranteed."

"Go ahead," he said as he scanned their surroundings for any signs of an ambush. Indriad had an army of his superhuman murdermaids at his disposal. Back then, they had simply teleported right on top of them, leaving them no chance at defending themselves.

This time it would be different. Now that he knew that those things weren't actually humans, he wouldn't have to hold back. If they tried the same trick again…he'd be ready.

Venam approached the double set of security doors. She tried the handles, but they didn't budge. "Yep. Locked." She took a few steps back and then rammed her shoulder against them. "Ugh, damnit!" She spat. "There's gotta be a key for this door somewhere! Maybe we should - "

"...where is she?" A disembodied voice echoed through the living room. It sounded distant yet nearby, with a faint, reverberating edge. "Where is my daughter…"

He couldn't tell, but he'd assume this was Gardevoir screwing with his head again. Well, for such a powerful creature, she sure didn't understand that she'd tipped her hand too early. He knew her tricks and now -

"Uh…what?" Venam said, rounding on him. "Did you say something Will?"

…okay, so Gardevoir had a new trick. And Venam could hear her as well. In that case -

"Beyond these doors…what lies beyond these doors?" The ghostly whispers continued.

Venam and him put their backs against each other as they warily eyed the living room again. "Okay, that wasn't you, but I definitely heard something," Venam said.

"Maria!" The voice then shouted

Without a warning, a swirling blue mist coalesced into the semi-solid image of Anathea. Except…it wasn't really her, was it? She was dead, Venam had seen her die.

"Anathea!" Venam exclaimed with shock, taking a cautious step back from the mirage.

Frantic, the translucent image of Anathea began looking around, her eyes large and frightened and…confused? "Huh…? Wait, what's going on? What's happening?"

Was…was this real? No, it couldn't be. This was just another one of Gardevoir's tricks. Trying to distract them, setting up some sort of ambush or surprise attack.

"Anathea…" Venam hesitantly started. "I don't mean to drop a bomb on your life…or lack thereof…but you…" she winced. "You died. You were hit head on by a Tangrowth's Power Whip."

"No…I remember," Anathea's image replied. "I remember too well - I just don't understand why I'm conscious. I'm supposed to be dead. Gone from this world…please! Do you guys know where Maria is?"

"Unfortunately, Gardevoir has her now," Venam replied.

"Gardevoir…" Anathea murmured. Her eyes narrowed. "Where is she?"

If…if this was one of Gardevoir's tricks, she wasn't trying very hard to be convincing. Which made it increasingly apparent that something else was going on here.

Venam, apparently convinced that she was actually speaking to the deceased spirit of Maria's mother, calmly replied. "Well, my theory was that she's behind those two doors there. There's a problem though…they're locked and we have no idea how to unlock them."

Anathea's image turned to the doors Venam pointed out. "I was never allowed inside of Vitus' study, but…what is he hiding in there, I wonder?"

A study he didn't allow his own wife to enter?

"I dunno, but Will and I are going to find out," Venam simply told her. "Do you know where the key is?"

"No, but there must be a spare key somewhere…" Anathea's voice grew weaker and more distant, to the point where Will couldn't even hear her anymore. She raised her hand towards them, as if reaching for someone, before her body dissipated and fell apart like smoke. Just as suddenly as she had appeared, she was gone again.

"She disappeared…" Venam muttered. "Damn! Talk about bad timing. I was hoping she'd give us more info. But what's even more confusing is why she was able to manifest herself like that!"

"You think that was really her?"

She gave him a weird look. "Who else would it be?"

Will cocked an eyebrow. "The murderous psychic Pokemon we're hunting?"

It didn't look like Venam had expected that. "Eh, I mean, it could have been her, but…wait!" She gasped. "This is what Irvin was talking about! You know, with the Soul Stone?"

Now? Now the Soul Stone worked? It hadn't done a thing thus far. Not for his mother, not for Jenner nor Nim and certainly not for the scores of dead Xen members he'd left in his wake. Why now? Was it the presence of a powerful Psychic type that needed to "charge" the stone or something?

"It's possible that the Soul Stone was able to grab her soul and allowed her to remain in this world," Venam mused. "In which case…that's cruel, but it can't be helped. The plan's the same as before. Let's find that key and end this. Anathea will see the truth!"

No sooner had Venam made that call, than one of the maids calmly strode their way from across the indoor garden to the left of the living area. The expression plastered on her pale face was serene as always, but the little grin betrayed her true intentions. They were about to have some trouble.

"Oh, oh, oh…" the maid said with what had to be mock surprise. "We have guests? During this time? Sorry, but you're not invited."

"Don't worry, we know," Venam said, shooting the inhuman servant a cocky grin of her own. "We don't need an invite to crash a party."

Faster than Venam could react, the maid snatched a Pokeball from one of her pockets and unleashed a bipedal Pokemon with a rounded, dark blue head and grey horns that swept upwards. Apart from those horns, Will didn't see any claws or fangs or obvious physical weapons, nor did its pear-shaped body appear to be built to dish out or take any punishment.

It wasn't a close-ranged combatant, then. That suggested it would be specialized in ranged combat. Good. In these tight quarters, it would be difficult to avoid melee combat. "Fraxure! Get as close as you can and use Slash! Don't let it get away!" Will ordered.

"Psyshock that pest!" The maid ordered.

As Fraxure charged, his opponent formed a mass of thick blue and purple energy and fired it at the dragon.

The tight quarters prohibited dodging ranged attacks. Any attempt to avoid its attack would only render Fraxure vulnerable to follow-up Psyshocks. No, they had no choice but to take it head-on. "Protect your face and close the distance!"

Fraxure threw up his arms and the Psyshock struck his armored forearms. No amount of physical protection could have guarded against a psychic attack, but that wasn't the point. As Fraxure staggered under the impact and his momentum slowed down, he lowered one arm a fraction and glared over his forearm.

"Again Indeedee!"

Its previous attack must have hurt Fraxure, but it failed to slow down or even disorient him. As Indeedee charged up another Psyshock, Fraxure closed the distance and lashed out with his right arm.

Bright, white light traced Fraxure's claw as he struck a hammerblow at Indeedee's head. The Psyshock blast went wide and blasted a hole in the ceiling. Indeedee crashed to the floor.

"Keep pressing! Don't let it get away!"

Indeedee struggled to get up but Fraxure didn't let him. He snatched the Pokemon by the neck and threw it against the nearest wall. Cracks formed in the tiles where Indeedee connected.

"Get up Indeedee, you must attack!" The maid ordered.

Swaying, Indeedee began gathering psychic force again for another Psyshock.

"Fraxure, Dragon Rage, quick!" Will called out.

Fraxure dropped down to all fours and spat a sphere of destructive draconic energy at the same time Indeedee launched his Psyshock. At that range, neither of the Pokemon could have missed, and their attacks connected in mid-air. The resulting explosion threw up a large cloud of dust and likely ruined half the living room's floor in the process.

When the dust settled however, Fraxure was still standing, and Indeedee lay motionless on the floor.

Looking annoyed more than anything, the maid called her Pokemon back. "You awful children," she growled.

"Next time you stop us like that, I'll drop kick you into the next dimension," Venam said angrily. "Trust me, we've been there!"

"You are both disgusting."

When the maid didn't make any other moves to try and hurt them, Will and Venam warily made their way past her and continued on. Indriad and Anathea had turned a large section of their manor into a beautiful indoor garden, complete with a sculpted fountain. Another maid sat on a wooden bench in front of the fountain.

"Hmm…I thought we got rid of all the annoying children in this mansion?" The maid said, not even bothering to look up from her knitting.

"That's clearly not true if you're sitting here like nothing's happening," Venam shot back. "Be useful and tell us where the extra key is to the study."

"Let's make a deal?" The maid said. "How about we battle? If you win, I'll let you know a little secret."

"Heh," Venam grinned. "Just what I like to hear."

This servant had an Indeedee on her as well…and it was her only Pokemon to boot. Will was certain Fraxure could have handled the odd Psychic-type Pokemon on his own, but with Venam commanding Tesla's Charizard again, it really was no contest.

One Heat Wave later and their opponent's Pokemon lay sprawled out on the floor, unable to even move a limb, let alone get up for another round.

"Ah, I lost," the maid sighed as she recalled her Indeedee again. "How disappointing."

"Cough up the info!" Venam snapped. "Now."

The maid sighed again. "You won the game…so I guess that's quite alright. In four rooms scattered in this mansion, there are four statues depicting Meloetta. These statues can be moved. Rotated. If all Meloetta statues are set in a way where they're all facing each other…a door may open."

"I think she's lying," Will said, just loud enough that the maid overheard him.

Her eyes blazed with anger as she furiously threw her knitting work aside. "You repugnant dog," she snarled. She made towards him, but Venam bit an order at Seviper and her snake snapped at the maid, his oversized fangs snapping shut an inch away from her face.

"Take another fucking step, I dare you," Venam said.

"How dare you tread our home and insult our integrity!" The maid continued, undaunted by the very realistic threat to her life. "Arceus himself shall judge you!"

"There's a hundred doors in this mansion," Will said. "You expect us to run around all day searching for the unlocked one?"

"Tch. If you fail to discern the way forward, you are truly hopeless," the maid hissed.

Gotcha.

Translating those dramatic words into useful ones, Will guessed that they were looking for a door that was visually different from the others. Considering most of the locked doors were of the same shape and material, that narrowed their search down by a lot.

"Let's go back to the main area," he said.

"Already?" Venam said with surprise. "Aren't all of them locked? We should be looking for those Meloetta statues."

"Plan B."

"Huh?"

Despite her confusion, Venam still followed him back to the living room. There, he shot a look at the family portrait hanging over the hallway above the entrance to the study. That was where Maria had come from the first time. The rooms there, in the sleeping quarters, had to be significant. "They're stalling for time," he explained as he headed through. "Every second we spend playing their games, is a second they can do something horrible to Maria."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Venam said. "Fuck them."

They ended up in another hallway, divided between three more doors. Will spotted another set of larger security doors in the middle and a pair of normal doors flanking them. Bedrooms, he suspected. "Try the left," he offered, before taking Fraxure - and Froslass, though she was still invisible - and heading into the rightmost room.

It was a kid's bedroom alright. The posters of Pikachu and other, cute Pokemon made that obvious. Her bed wasn't king size, but it was close enough. Facing him upon his entry were a Zorua and a Pangoro.

Alarm coursed through him as he instantly shifted gears. "Fraxure!" He called, thinking of a way to keep them off of him, but after a few tense moments, Fraxure simply walked over to the couch and pushed the Pangoro over.

It was a doll. A large, well made stuffed plush. So was the Zorua.

"Okay…Fraxure, this is going to be our little secret," Will said, embarrassed that he hadn't been able to spot the difference right away.

A distant, feminine laugh echoed through the room, letting him know that no, he would not be keeping this particular screw-up to himself.

Knowing that he could be expecting ice sculptures of these Pokemon awaiting him when he went to bed that night, Will gave the room a cursory search, found nothing of significance and headed back out. "Nothing," he reported to Venam. "You?"

"This damn door is locked!" A very frustrated Venam replied. "It keeps whining about authorization. What's your plan?"

"Plan B is the same as plan A, to be honest," Will replied, gripping Blaziken's Pokeball. "Bring the heat."

Venam shot him a puzzled look, but then the penny dropped and she grinned. "Now you're speaking my language dude! Charizard, use Heat Wave!"

Tesla's Charizard took a moment to confirm, again, that he wasn't back to his own trainer. He shot Venam an almost annoyed look.

"Come on Charizard," Venam pleaded. "This isn't about me. We've been over this!"

Blaziken eyed the off-colored Pokemon, probably recognizing him from their duel at Amber's trial.

Charizard snorted, exhaling a plume of smoke through his nostrils. Then, he craned his head around and breathed fire on the door. Venam and Will recoiled back at the sudden blaze, shielding their faces from the sudden spike in heat.

Blaziken, meanwhile, watched Charizard bathe the door in white-hot flames, impassively waiting until Venam gave the order to stop. The security door glowed white-hot.

"Froslass, use Icy Wind," Will ordered.

His ghostly bodyguard materialized behind him. Her masked face shifted towards Venam, and her cold eyes gleamed with amusement.

Will, who saw a disaster unfold before his mind's eye, quickly added, "On the door, Froslass. Cool it all the way down."

Froslass giggled with the voice of a dead woman lost to a snowstorm. He saw Venam grimace as his Ghost-type shifted towards the glowing door and breathed frozen air against its surface.

Rapidly heating and cooling down steel, if done correctly, would temper it, increase its quality and make it stronger. Something about the alloys or arrangement of its molecules, he didn't know. What he did know was what happened if it was done incorrectly. Steel became harder. More brittle.

Brittle things broke.

"Blaziken, please show us the masterkey," Will asked.

Before he even finished his sentence, Blaziken bounded towards the door and kicked at the locking mechanism. There was a drawn-out boom when her leg connected with the steel frame and it crumpled inwards. Then, Blaziken got her claws in-between the little cracks she'd made and began ripping the door open. Or apart. Or to pieces. They didn't quite have the technique down yet. The masterkey didn't care.

She tore the door open with brute force and sometimes, that was all a man needed to see to regain the motivation to keep buggering on.

"Ladies first," Will offered.

"Look at you being a gentleman," Venam said with a roll of her eyes.

"Some girls appreciate that."

Before Venam could enter, Froslass made it a point to cut her off and leisurely float inside of the bedroom. She calmly glanced around the room, which seemed to be an office of sorts, with four large bookshelves that reached all the way to the ceiling and two sets of fancy windows that flanked a family portrait.

Or rather, a portrait that looked like it had been put through a blender.

Froslass fluttered towards the bookshelf to the left. Her masked face shifted down an inch, and she began pulling books from the shelves.

Venam gave the Ghost-type an uneasy look, then spotted the portrait as well. "Is that a family portrait? Wait, no…there's something wrong with it…"

"Astute," Will said.

She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "Smartass."

Smiling to himself, Will reached towards the jigsaw puzzle mess that was the portrait. He would have questioned the point of putting such a beautiful picture into a blender if someone wasn't going to drink it, but he wasn't here to judge. Just to break things and rescue someone he held dear.

Again.

Funny how that went. How did the saying go again, the one about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting change?

It didn't matter. Maria had told him that, to save his soul, she'd been forced to put together a puzzle just like this one. It was a literal puzzle, but one with just sixteen pieces to solve. It wouldn't have been difficult even if he hadn't known what the final picture looked like. But he did, and something nagged at him as he worked.

He put the pieces together in the span of a minute, restoring the picture of Maria in a cute maid dress…it could have been a young Melia. The same warm smile, the same bright, silver eyes…

A hidden alcove beneath the portrait clicked open, A key lay inside.

"What a fucking mad genius Will!" Venam exclaimed as she snatched the key from its opening. "Alright, I'll just take this. Let's head downstairs!"

With Venam the keybearer leading the way, they hurried back downstairs again. She jabbed the key into the large, ornate lock and turned it. With a loud hum, the twin security doors creaked open and parted.

He'd expected some sort of sinister lair or dark lab or something like that. Instead, something like a reception area awaited them. More bookshelves, these ones jammed full of old papers and documents, stood haphazardly scattered around the office-like room. A massive, steel desk dominated its center, complete with a black lounging chair positioned in such a way that it faced the doors when they opened.

Behind that chair, however, Will spotted a large set of stairs descending into what had to be an underground floor. Its steps had been constructed from a pristine, marble-like structure. In contrast, the handrails lining the stairs were a stark white.

"Fraxure, come back," Will said, recalling his dragon. "Venam, before we head down…"

She turned to him. "Yeah?"

Okay. That went much easier than he expected. "Let's be careful, try to stay hidden and scope things out before we strike."

To his surprise, Venam didn't protest. Unlike the last time, she nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. Element of surprise and all? Sure."

A welcome surprise.

Together, they snuck down the black marbled stairs and emerged into an underground crypt of sorts, just like the puzzle chambers he'd been forced to run through with Maria back in the mansion. Sturdy white tiles, a hallway big enough to drive a car through and many, many white pillars.

They rounded a ninety-degree corner to the left and stumbled upon a central chamber. Its layout was hauntingly similar to Angie's sacrificial chamber; an elevated section in the middle - though this one was fenced in by more marble carvings - and the amount of pillars to the left and right of the elevated platform could have hidden a small army.

Not ideal.

"This is insane…" Venam whispered, quickly taking cover behind one of the pillars in the rear. "Are you seeing this Will?"

It was hard to miss. Indriad had gathered an actual army of his servants atop the sacrificial platform. Rows and rows of identical, hooded maids. They'd tied a police officer to a freaking totem pole shaped like an Ambipom. The man was weeping silently, weakly pulling and tugging at his bindings. The monsters had carved a damn pit at his feet and filled it with lava.

Cold shivers ran down Will's spine. This wasn't a spur of the moment decision to kill the bastards who'd murdered his wife. Indriad had been planning this. No functioning, sane man had an execution chamber with lava just set up in his basement.

"There's one officer and the other three are nowhere to be found," Venam continued. "There's a magma pit, right fucking there. Gardevoir and Indriad really "got rid" of the other ones.

Will could still remember the stench of burning meat from the last time he witnessed someone dying in lava. A disgusting, scorched type of stench. He didn't smell it here. Whatever Gardevoir had done to the other officers hadn't involved lava.

"We should lay low and stay quiet. Let's see what's going on here first." She looked around, then jerked her head to the right. "Psst. This way."

Silently, the two of them snuck around the sacrificial section down to the right. Will craned his head up, seeing a pair of Dusknoir statues flanking Indriad's altar. They were made of stone…but he couldn't help but feel like they were watching him.

But if these things were watching him, there was nothing to say that Mightyena wasn't also watching him. Anathea's spirit had proved there was a sort of afterlife, hadn't it? Pokemon had souls too. There was no reason to believe otherwise.

Will clung to that thought. No Ghost-type could get to him with Mightyena watching over him. Always on the prowl, even in…even though his fight was over now.

For better or for worse, he wasn't the same teen who had accidentally blundered his way into a monster's den before. He wasn't like Crescent, but he wouldn't ever be someone's prey again.

"This is so creepy…he's doing that ritual garbage he did back at the mansion," Venam whispered with disgust.

She was right. Indriad had positioned himself in front of a strange rune on the floor. Anathea's dead body rested atop it, with Gardevoir floating right next to her, keeping a close watch on their…congregation.

Indriad Theolia. Angie. The Church of Theolia. This screwed-up rabbit hole went far deeper than he had thought.

The man himself was already clad in the same attire Will had gotten to know him in. The black robe. The hood concealing parts of his face. The cold, unfeeling stare.

"You all may have once known me as Vitus Theolia. The man who gave you all a second chance at life, a true purpose! This man has left us today. Thus, a new being is born. One that has ascended the limitations of a human. I am Indriad."

"There it is…" Venam whispered hoarsely. "Goddamnit."

Will didn't respond. He stared at the spectacle as it unfolded. This wasn't a man who had suffered a loss and cracked. Indriad wasn't some unfortunate soul who had gazed into the abyss of grief and blinked. This was a man who had been itching to turn into a monster at the first possible excuse.

Grief? Loss? What a joke. Indriad hid behind the death of his loved one as he turned into the absolute worst version of himself. All of this…this was just further evidence.

Indriad Theolia. A being beyond the limitations of a human? Will disagreed. The guy was absolute filth. The lowest form of scum. Worse than a man.

"A grave sin was committed today at my very home," Theolia droned on, his voice bereft of emotion. "The Marble Mansion. An officer sent by Thomas Blakeory tried to silence me. To remove me. The one that stands before us is the one who took away the woman I loved." He inhaled sharply. "Anathea Theolia!" He howled. "My sweet, dear Anathea. I tried to protect you from the evils from the outside. But in my hubris I've allowed you to slip through the cracks and escape my clutches."

"Do not worry, Indriad," Gardevoir said as the man positioned himself at his dead wife's feet. "Arceus shall take her and protect her now. Let the ceremony begin."

As Gardevoir raised her hand, something like an invisible bubble popped inside of the room. Shadows crept up across the walls, slowly smothering the light as Gardevoir and Indriad gathered an enormous amount of energy to themselves. Will wasn't sure what else to call it. A vile, dark energy, something that made him recoil on instinct.

He wasn't sure which of the pair spoke the Garufan spell, but it didn't matter. As Venam and him watched, Anathea's lifeless body levitated in the air like Melia once had. At the apex of the spell, a void of purple energy engulfed her body.

That vile energy detonated in an invisible explosion that seemed to resonate in another dimension. Will felt it bound across the room, but he also didn't feel it. It was one hell of an odd sensation.

"It is done," Gardevoir said reverently. "Her body and soul have been cleansed."

Indriad nodded. "Now, let us introduce a new member into our ranks. Come forth, Kanon!"

A familiar white-haired teen dropped his hood and emerged from the crowd of maids.

Fucking Stormchasers! Will couldn't believe what he saw. He liked Kanon. Kanon had been Melia's friend for years…how the hell was he going to explain to her that another one of her friends had willingly joined a homicidal madman? Why did these things keep happening?

"Kanon?" Venam breathed. "What is Kanon doing here?! Oh for the love of…you've gotta be shitting me."

This complicated matters…a lot. Instead of simply pulling Maria out and burning his mansion to the ground, they would also have to somehow knock Kanon out and drag his stupid ass back to their headquarters.

"Thank you for welcoming me here, sir," Kanon's voice reverberated across the walls.

They couldn't just leave this idiot here, he knew too much, possessed far too much sensitive information. He had the potential to be a truly menacing opponent.

"Hmp. You too have seen the evil this world brings? Is this your reason for joining?" Indriad asked the boy.

"That is it, sir," Kanon replied. "I wish to protect people I love. That is my goal."

"There's no harm in that. It's a wish we all want."

"It's a noble thing to wish for," Gardevoir agreed, and Will just knew she was lying through her teeth. "What is it you are looking for? Security, friendship, or perhaps love?"

Shaking his head, Kanon replied, "No Ma'am. It's not about - "

"A dishonest one," Gardevoir snapped. "You lie to us and to yourself."

Holy crap. Was Gardevoir just casually reading Kanon's mind?

Will squirmed uncomfortably. The last time Gardevoir had wormed her way into his head, things got a bit dark. Was she…did she know? Did she know their congregation had two unwelcome guests, or did she need to direct her full concentration to one mind to be able to read it?

"Be it as it may, we'll entrust you with a very important task," Gardevoir continued with a small gesture. "This will bridge our trust in each other." She floated towards the guy, her dress billowing gently behind her in a nonexistent wind. "Take this."

With that, she offered Kanon a white, spherical device, roughly the size of a football.

"What is this?" Kanon asked.

"It's an orb that has a very powerful explosion compact inside," Gardevoir explained with a longing voice. "A blast that is capable of ruining kingdoms."

Kanon received the destructive orb capable of ruining kingdoms. Given how Gardevoir viewed the "deals" she struck with humans and outsiders, there was a big chance she'd just turned Kanon into her own little suicide bomber.

"An explosive device. What do - or rather, where do you want me to use this?" He asked hesitantly.

"Kugearen City has been a plague to this Earth since its construction," Gardevoir said dismissively. "Take this orb there, crush it, and the entire city will be engulfed in its blast."

Indriad, you vile, repugnant monster, Will thought. He clenched his hands, struggling against the intense anger that blossomed in his chest. They had a new objective. Get Maria, get out, then take control over that orb. Toss it down a cliff or something. Dump it in the ocean. Sploosh.

"Kugearen City will be destroyed?!" Kanon exclaimed. "What about the people who reside there?"

"They will all die painlessly," Gardevoir said. "It's a necessary step for us to succeed."

The utter casualness in her voice was chilling. They were talking about the mass-murder of…tens of thousands of people? Just…what for? What could all those people and their Pokemon have possibly done to deserve that?

"This is interesting, if not a tad bit funny," Kanon said. The guy smirked. Alarm bells started chiming in Will's head.

"I fail to see what's so humorous about this," Gardevoir said, her voice cold and tense.

Kanon transferred the orb to his left hand. The right went into his cloak. "The hilarity comes from…your stupidity."

It was likely that Gardevoir put it together at the exact moment Will did. Whereas he had to fight to keep from calling out to Kanon, Gardevoir merely cocked her head quizzingly.

Within a second, Kanon had his Salamence out. The slender dragon roared at Gardevoir and the gathered maids began whispering amongst each other. None of them moved an inch out of line. None of them seemed to care about this new threat in their midst.

"Hm…it's just like the woman in the mask said…you all were up to no good!" Kanon shouted.

"...? Lady in a mask?" Gardevoir said. The sheer indignity in her voice would have been funny had things not been about to go horribly wrong. "What are you blathering on about?"

"She appeared to me months ago," Kanon explained, explained, as if the enemy was owed any sort of explanation at all. "She told me that you all were the cause of the future destruction of this world! The horrors that I and many other people had to endure…I'll never let them experience that!"

"So…what you're saying is that you wasted our time?" Gardevoir hissed, her voice low and dangerous.

"You can see it that way," Kanon said. "Either way, prepare to be obliterated by my power!"

Salamance roared again.

And Gardevoir turned her back. She turned her back and everything inside of Will began screaming, clamoring at him that something terrible was about to happen, that Kanon had to run, run!

"This is very unfortunate. Yes, very unfortunate. I saw potential in you. But!" Gardevoir whirled around and she raised her arms and it wasn't just Psychic energy that rushed to her, but something else. Something darker, viler and much, much more powerful.

Salamence covered itself with its wings - a fully-evolved Dragon-type like him could repel almost any attack…but not the merciless torrent of energy that Gardevoir called upon. The mighty dragon burned, his entire body ignited, and Will caught his outline for only a split second before Gardevoir vaporized him.

Venam gasped. He caught her clutching her mouth in horror, from the corner of his eye.

"No!" Kanon yelled. "Salamence?! But…how?!"

So this was the true extent of Gardevoir's power. She'd been holding back against him. Holding back against his Pokemon. If she'd wanted to, she could have vaporized him in an instant.

"Truly pitiful," Gardevoir declared sadistically. The next blast of energy enveloped Kanon's body. A second later, he was gone too.

A horrified moan escaped Venam's throat.

"Kanon is an example of what happens if you dare to betray us," Gardevoir declared. "Any further insolence shall be given the same punishment. No questions asked."

Oh, this was bad…

"Who will be brave enough to rise to the occasion and fulfill our mission?" Gardevoir demanded.

From the midst of the servants, one maid in particular stepped forwards and approached. "I would like to fulfill that task. Please allow me."

"Good." Gardevoir floated towards this maid and handed her the device. "The mission shall be carried out exactly as described before."

"Once the orb is crushed, you will be warped back to safety," Indriad added.

The maid bowed. "Understood. I will make my way there now." She took the orb, spun on her heels and briskly walked out of there.

Will watched her go. They had to stop this, but how? If they took her out here and now, Gardevoir would zap him and then another murder-maid would take over. Indriad had infinite psycho-servants at his beck and call.

If they stalked and killed the maid before she reached her objective, they might be able to stop her. But they had to be careful about it; if they damaged the orb, it would be bye-bye Kugearen City.

Along with everything and everyone in it.

Including Melia.

They had to put a stop to this no matter the cost.

"Finally, we shall punish the final offender!" Gardevoir declared.

"N-No! Please!" Said offender began begging. "I'm sorry, forgive me!"

Venam watched it happen with wet, unhappy eyes. "What do we do?" She said. "Save that man, or save Maria? Do we have time to save both…"

From the corner of his eye, Will caught a shimmer of light. Venam and him turned around to see that somehow, Anathea's spirit had flickered back into existence right behind them.

"Anathea!" Venam said. "You're back!"

"Maria is in danger!" The woman urged them. "We can't leave her here any longer!"

Will looked at the altar again.

"I understand what you're saying, but we can't let that other man die here too!" Venam said. "Yeah, what he did was disgusting, but he should live to man up and go to jail! If he dies then it's all over for him…But…If we leave Maria alone…" At a loss, Venam turned to Will. "I need you to help me here man. You did the planning before. What do we do?"

"...you continue on and find Maria," Will told her. "I'm going to get that idiot out. Then, we get that maid."

"Burning alive like that is totally inhumane," Venam agreed.

That was only part of the reason. The truth of the matter was, Gardevoir was too eager for the officer's death for him to ignore. The same thinking he'd applied to Team Xen, applied here. If his enemy wanted something, he would deny them that.

Somehow, Gardevoir stood to gain from this whole ceremonial slaughter. After the way she'd just casually murdered Kanon, even just pissing her off counted as a win in his book. Besides; if things went wrong, all the eyes would be on him. He had a bigger chance of fighting his way out than Venam did.

"Very well…" Anathea said with a sigh,

"Got something sharp, so that I can untie those ropes quickly?" Will said.

Without a word, Venam reached into her pocket and presented him with a switchblade. She pressed a button and a gleaming blade sprang from its end.

Why was he not surprised?

"Good luck!" She whispered.

As quiet as he could, he ran towards the base of the elevated section. Gardevoir and Indriad were still busy addressing their flock. He had time.

The officer's eyes lit up when he saw Will approach, "Please!" He whispered. "Untie me!"

Venam's switchblade wasn't exactly sharp. Will had to hew at the ropes to start cutting into them, but it was better than fumbling at the knots with his bare fingers. His left hand still wasn't completely functional yet.

He made quick progress, constantly looking up, expecting one of the murder-maids to advance on him - or worse, for Gardevoir to stare him down. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he cut through the final rope and the officer squirmed his way to freedom.

"Thank you so much!" The man whispered. "I owe you my life!"

Will was about to take the man's wrist and start dragging him to the entrance, when Gardevoir's voice suddenly rang out. "If you thought you all were under my radar, you're sadly mistaken."

She teleported them both into the middle of their sacrificial altar.

Every. Damn. Time.

Will got his bearings.

Gardevoir stood mere feet away from him, right in front of the steps leading to Indriad's altar. The row of maids to his left all turned to stare at him with their hollow, dead eyes.

He forgot how to breathe.

Little noises of panic and hysteria punched out of the officer as he alternated between gawking at the maids, to withering in fear under Gardevoir's gaze, to shooting a panicked look at Will.

Will's mind raced as he immediately started thinking of a way out. An all-out brawl with his entire team would result in a frantic, chaotic cluster of battles, where Gardevoir was free to pick off his Pokemon and murder them one by one, burning them like she had Salamence.

"It seems we have a few rats running about," Gardevoir said, amused.

It had to be like the last fight. Kirlia to stave off the psychic assaults and Froslass because Nidoking and Blaziken's style of fighting rendered them easy pickings for Gardevoir. Pidgeot didn't have the room to maneuver. Too easy to shoot down.

"What's so important about this human?" Gardevoir demanded. "He has committed a grave sin and must be held accountable."

The good news: he wasn't dead yet. That counted for something. Gardevoir seemed to be set on talking things out with him…why though?

"Please…I want to atone for my sins!" The officer pleaded. "I will gladly turn myself in, just…please! Let me go!"

"Some dignity, man," Will whispered back to the man.

"Stop being childish," An annoyed Gardevoir shot back. "This is your atonement."

"What's the point to all of this?" Will asked. He inched closer to the officer. One of the maids took a step towards him and he raised Venam's switchblade defensively, glaring at the murder-maid. "Why destroy all of Kugearen?"

"That is beyond your understanding," Gardevoir chided him. "Out of respect for our prior battle, I shall allow you to leave. But the man stays here."

Another maid stepped closer. The officer's hand went for the taser resting at his hip, not quite grasping it yet. "Please don't! Don't leave me here with them!"

Will wondered what his eulogy would read, when Gardevoir roasted him point seven seconds after he left the officer to die? Here lies an idiotic soul, who stupidly believed his evil enemy would spare his life even though he witnessed all their evil planning?

How stupid did Gardevoir think he was?

"That's not going to happen," Will calmly said. He shifted his gaze to the podium beyond. Was Indriad still there? Did he see this happening? If so, maybe that stupid psychopath would be interested to know who really led his wife to her death?

Gardevoir reared back as if he'd physically attacked her. "What do you think will happen if you don't leave?" She said, puzzled. "I let you go before, but this time I won't be so kind. Be a smart person and leave."

"Where is Maria?" He retorted. "What did you do to her?"

Gardevoir's blood-red eyes narrowed to slits. "That is of no concern to you, human."

"I know what I've done is wrong, but this is cruel…" The officer said. "I said I was going to turn myself in!"

"I won't leave you," Will reassured the man.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Gardevoir all but shouted. "If one isn't left behind, both of you will be eliminated."

But why? She just admitted she would kill the both of them, so why would a display of cowardice make that different?

"Will won't leave me!" The officer shouted back. "Stop trying to convince him!"

"I don't have time for this," Gardevoir growled. An aura of power bled into the tiles below her as the light in the underground chamber grew dimmer and dimmer. The ground around her dress suddenly cracked, as if struck by an invisible hammer. "This is my final offer." In the dimming light, her red eyes glowed almost demonically. "Leave. Alone."

"I think someone failed to actually see inside of someone's mind," Will said. "Not. Happening."

Gardevoir regarded him for a few, tense seconds, every single one of which Will was convinced she would lash out and reduce him to a dusty outline on the floor. "Will, you are as stubborn as you are idiotic. If you want to bask in oblivion, then so be it. I am more than happy to grant you that wish."

Will sharply inhaled. If it was to come down to another fight to the death, there was one final thing he wanted off his chest before everything went to shit. "Indriad!" He shouted, and the sheer look of indignant rage on Gardevoir's expression almost made the sheer frustration of the moment worth it. "Turning into a monster because you lost one person? One?"

The combined gasp of dismay that ran through the assembled maids would have been hilarious in any other context.

"Silence, you cur!" Gardevoir said, calling a lethal amount of energy to herself. "Indriad will be as a God!"

"You're worse than a man!" Will screamed, howling his defiance at this mad, twisted reality that his enemies wanted to bring about. He would not accept it. He would never accept it. "You're a joke!"

That the bastard heard alright. "Gardevoir! Burn this filth!" He ordered, and the anger turned his usually smooth voice hard and ugly.

That was everything Will needed to hear. "Froslass," he murmured.

"Gladly!" With a snarl of rage, Gardevoir thrust her hands towards Will -

Out of nowhere, Tesla's Charizard came down on Gardevoir like a blue meteor, knocking her back in a wash of flames and smoke.

Venam!

"Sorry, we have no interest in oblivion today!" Venam, perched atop Charizard, shouted. "You're an evil witch, Gardevoir. As long as I'm here, you won't get to do what you please!"

Time, bought. Now they had to get the hell out of dodge.

"And what exactly changes with you here?" Gardevoir sneered. Her rage manifested as pure, psychic energy, and it began disintegrating the stone floor around her. "Absolutely nothing. You'll just meet the same fate as everyone else who dares to get in Master Indriad's way!"

Venam's reply came in the form of Plan A and Plan B: "Charizard, Heat Wave!" She ordered.

Charizard shook its head.

Will stared at the blue and black dragon with disbelief. Really? Seriously? Now?

…this was going to get ugly. "Get ready to run," Will whispered at the police officer as Venam pleaded with the stolen Pokemon.

"Goddamnit Charizard, I know I'm not Amber or Tesla, but if you don't listen then you'll be destroyed too!" She begged him. "Just suck it up and use Heat Wave to generate a smokescreen! C'mon!"

With an ear-splitting shriek, Charizard bathed the ceremonial chamber in heat and smoke.

"Run!"

Under the cover of the smoke, the officer and Will ran for their lives. Venam, riding Charizard, hurried after them, smashing several of the pillars to create more rubble for their enemy to navigate.

Will sprinted, focusing on speed as he barreled through a nearly impervious haze of black smog. The officer, being larger and likely fitter than he was, eventually overtook him. "There!" He coughed out. "The stairs!"

Venam was the one riding a Flying-type Pokemon, but all three of them practically flew up those stairs. When they made it to the top, Will staggered to a halt against Indriad's desk and began coughing his lungs out. He retched and wheezed to get the smoke out of his windpipe. His left eye prickled and burned far, far worse than the right one.

"Will, you fucking moron!" He heard Venam yell, mere inches away from his face. "Sure, antagonize the psychotic Pokemon who kills people with her mind! What were you thinking?"

Defiance. Simply defiance. It wasn't so much that he wanted his enemy to hear those words, but more that he'd wanted to speak then. No, he'd needed to speak those words. He wouldn't blame Venam for not understanding. He barely understood it himself.

Thankfully, Anathea chose that moment to manifest her spirit again. She stood next to the panting police officer. If she harbored him any animosity for his role in her demise, she didn't show it.

Anathea was a brave, brave woman. Braver than most, and far braver than this idiot who had gotten her killed.

"You all saved me from that wretched Pokemon," the officer said. "Please don't be mad at Will…he had every reason and opportunity to abandon me. He didn't. I will never forget that. I'm going to report this to the chief down in Spotlight City."

"What about Maria?" Will asked. "Did you…"

Venam looked away.

"Damnit…" Will groaned.

"We failed to save her," Venam bitterly said. "But there was nothing that could be done. She was trapped in this indestructible crystal…what could we do?"

Will sighed. He was waiting for the adrenaline to fizzle out and leave him a nervous, panicking wreck. He dreaded that moment. He couldn't be here anymore when that happened. Even so…"Probably nothing. So…thanks for the assist."

"We're even now," Venam said, a bit less bitter this time. "As long as…you know…we're only counting today."

"We'll get another chance," Anathea said. "This, I believe. I'm horrified by the events here, but we must think of Kugearen. Vitus' follower is on her way to destroy it. She must be stopped."

"Oh shit!" Venam yelled. ""I totally forgot about that maid! I hope it's not too late…and Kanon…Gardevoir freaking destroyed him!" She tugged at her pigtails, groaning as she kicked at the desk. "Fuck! How am I going to explain this to Melia and Irvin?"

"Baby steps," Will said. "Let's try saving…all of Kugearen first."

Venam shot him a look that suggested she wasn't sure if he was kidding or not. "Yeah...come on, let's see if there's any more fucking surprises waiting for us…"

Without waiting for his reply, Venam stormed out.

Will sagged down against the desk. "Kanon, you idiot," he snapped. "You brave, stupid fool."

If Kanon had just talked to them…if he'd just said that he planned to do this, they would have helped! They would have solved this together.

What had the Stormchasers told Kanon to make him feel this confident? To throw himself so suicidally at an enemy who so obviously outnumbered him, in their own freaking basement?

"Will…" Anathea reached out to him. He expected her ghostly hand to pass straight through him, but some ungodly reason it didn't. Instead, her hand was a cold, if gentle weight on his shoulder as she said, "Will…it is clear to me that you and Venam are special children. I only ask for one thing. Please…don't let Maria suffer. Please save her." She put up a brave front, but at the end, her voice cracked. "Help me save my darling daughter, Maria."

Will looked up and met her gaze. "I will," he said. He would find Maria and keep her safe. He'd seen the future. He knew this wasn't the end.

She smiled sadly at his response. "My consciousness is fleeting, once again. When I will wake again, I cannot say…but I know…I know that we will meet again. Farewell, Will."

A moment later, she was gone.

He was growing really tired of watching families rip themselves apart.

Will pulled himself back together and left the mansion before Indriad and Gardevoir decided to head back up and tear him apart.

Upon making it outside, he felt a strange and soft sensation. Warm hands pulled him closer, moving down across his shoulders towards his chest. Will looked up and saw that he was being held by a very familiar, mask-wearing Pokemon. She smiled at him warmly, her two ghostly eyes focused on his face with an intensity he hadn't experienced from her before. Her embrace should have been as cold as ice. That it wasn't, was surprising enough for his words to die in his throat.

He tried again, and this time, he was able to formulate some words. "You did good Froslass, but we're not out of the woods yet," he said. "Come on. We have ourselves a maid to catch."

Did he imagine it, or did Froslass' eyes glow ever so faintly when he said that?

Her smile grew wider, before her body grew translucent and distant again. Within seconds, she was gone, though Will knew she would still be right behind him.

Finally, he put the mansion behind him and headed out. Venam waited for him at the far end of the courtyard. "I think the coast's clear," she said upon seeing him catch up. "Didn't spot any ambushes, but you never know."

"We need to pick up the pace regardless," Will told her.

"Yeah. Come on, let's…huh?" Venam stopped dead in her tracks again. "Isn't that…?"

Will followed her gaze and spotted a familiar, white-haired shape lying on the ground just outside the estate entrance.

No way.

"But it can't be!" Venam gasped. "Kanon!"

Before Will could stop her, she sprinted towards what had to be a very obvious trap. "Kanon! Kanon? Can you hear me? Wake the hell up!"

Will remained weary, steadily scanning his surroundings for any disturbances. Kanon was dead, right? He'd seen Gardevoir obliterate him like she'd done to Salamence. So what was he doing, lying on the floor down there?

The person lying in the grass stirred. He opened his eyes and groggily rose back to a sitting position. "Huh…? What am I doing here?" He said, and he sounded just like Kanon, too. "I thought I was - "

"Obliterated by Gardevoir?" Venam interrupted. "Yeah, we saw that too. But look at you now! Not even a scratch!"

Venam was right. The way he looked suggested he'd simply fallen asleep instead of getting killed. Will remained cautious. Kanon's body was solid. It interacted with the environment. This wasn't a Soul Stone type of situation.

"Care to explain what this is all about?" Venam demanded.

Kanon grunted as he got back to his feet. "That's not true," he quietly said. "I have been scratched. My Salamence is truly gone for good." Shaking his head in disgust, the boy turned away from them both. "I was destroyed, it's true, but I suddenly came to in what one would call oblivion." He inhaled sharply and turned to face Will. "But there she was again. The lady in the mask. She reached out to me and grabbed my hand. She told me that she could save me, but only me. The price of my new life would be Salamence's demise."

…Will wasn't so sure this was a trap anymore. What Kanon described sounded…familiar. Could he have experienced what he himself had seen back on Valor Mountain? Death, but rebirth? For him, it had been Crescent. Maybe this masked woman had been in Crescent's position as well?

"You're not making any sense, but I believe you," Venam simply said.

Will nodded in agreement.

"You guys do?" Kanon asked with shock. "But - "

Impatiently, Venam interrupted him again. "The proof is in the pudding. We don't have time to wallow in self pity. Because you weren't able to do the job of destroying Kugearen, Gardevoir hired someone else. We have to stop her at all costs! You with us?"

"...yes, yes, you're right!" Kanon said. "I have to keep fighting, even without Salamence! Besides, if Kugearen City is destroyed, that would mean Melia's death as well. She's done so much for me…I refuse to let her die."

Will clasped his shoulder. "Good man."

"Yeah, good answer. Will, Kanon, let's save Kugearen City!"

Even though the mass-murdermaid couldn't have gone very far, by the time Venam, Kanon and Will made it back to the forest entrance to the city, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Tch, there's no sight of her anywhere!" Venam spat. "This is just perfect."

Will sighed in exasperation and sent out Pidgeot. "Pidgeot, we're looking for a maid with an explosive orb in her possession! If she cracks it, we're all going to die. Get up there, find her!"

Pidgeot wasted no time. He didn't even hesitate as he leapt into the air, beat his wings with such force that the shockwave threw all three humans to the ground, and took off.

"Kugearen City is very large," Kanon said. "I'm not even sure where to begin."

Venam groaned. "Let me think for a sec…"

Times like these, Will would have tried putting himself into the enemy's shoes, determine the most logical way to victory for them and follow along from there. But when his enemies were complete psychopaths, things like logic and victory became blurry. Still, it was worth a shot. Destroying Kugearen would be the easiest from the center of the city. Maximum blast range, maximum carnage.

"Perhaps we should split up?" Kanon suggested. "We can cover more ground that way."

"I would be more for that if you still had Salamence, but…" Venam said.

"I suppose if I do find her, there wouldn't be much of a difference," Kanon sighed.

The center of the city would be in the west direction. Their best odds at finding the enemy. "Let's head west, try from there," Will suggested.

"Alright, west it is!" Venam agreed without hesitation. "Get to it guys!"

They began running back towards the city center, fanning out in a loose triangle formation as they frantically searched for any sign of the enemy.

"I don't see her anywhere!" Venam snapped after a few minutes of desperate searching. "We must have gone the wrong way…"

"Let's pick another place to look and just go!" Kanon shouted back.

Frustrated, feeling time slowly running out, Will took Kirlia's Pokeball and sent her out. Of course Pidgeot wouldn't know what to do; his vision was sharp and impossible to hide from, but he wasn't some supercomputer capable of processing thousands of faces in seconds. Even if Pidgeot found the maid in time, he had orders not to engage, which meant flying back to his trainer to report…and his trainer was running around like an idiot in a crowded city center.

"Kirlia, I need you to use your emotion sensing - " Will managed to say before a second sun appeared in the city.

"No -" Venam whispered.

He caught a flash of the most beautiful light, felt more heat and energy than he'd ever -

Light and heat and energy consumed his world.

…the world didn't stay consumed, however. When the light faded, he still felt gravity. He felt something solid beneath his feet. He felt. That was odd. This wasn't what he'd expected from being atomized in a city-wide explosion.

…Crescent?

He blinked his eyes open. The glare of the explosion hadn't even blinded him. His body was intact.

The same couldn't be said for his surroundings. He sure wasn't in Kugearen City anymore. Will found himself standing atop some sort of metal structure. It wasn't any metal he had ever seen before. He crouched down and pressed his palm against the blue, almost crystalline structure. It felt warm and strangely organic. What looked to be massive gears protruded from every edge of the square platform, which seemed to be stuck on a metallic rail of sorts.

…the world around him was an endless expanse of orange. White, fluffy clouds drifted by in the distance, but Will didn't see anything, didn't hear anything. An empty, orange void, like the sun setting on a world without an actual world.

Will slowly turned his head. He saw endless orange, but he also saw blue. Deep, dark blue, with impossible symbols and more gears slowly spinning in every direction. Despite that, he could still clearly see the orange sky.

His vision hurt. His mind went haywire. It was as if he saw two different realities trying to exist at the same place, at the same time.

He wasn't alone. He saw Venam, Kanon and Melia standing on the platform as well. They surrounded him, stared at him with an overwhelming aura of judgment. But..it wasn't really them. They were like images, flickering in and out of existence. Unmoving.

"I don't think you realize how much trouble you are," an oddly muffled, female voice sounded behind him. Startled, Will spun around.

It wasn't a nightmare this time, though he wished it was.

He stood alone on a small platform floating above an endless abyss with Madame X.

Something deep inside of him started screaming, raging at the sight. It wasn't rage that rooted him to the spot, robbed him of his speech, however. He didn't think it was fear either. Something made him stop and stare at this woman, the architect of all misery. Stare, and really look.

"You've created so many problems," Madame X calmly told him. She made no effort to attack. "Problems that I've had to solve myself."

Problems. Such a funny way to describe the current state of affairs. So many dead. So much suffering. Two of her Admins out of commission. Problems.

"Do you know where we are?" She then asked.

Her question caught him by surprise. It wasn't so much that he didn't know, but more that Madame X even cared about what he did or didn't know.

"You have no idea. Correct?"

Will didn't grace her with a response. He knew she glared at him from behind her reflective visor and he glared back at her, putting as much scorn and cold anger into it as possible.

Madame X scoffed at what must have seemed like a pitiful attempt to convey defiance. "I've laid out everything, but you…You continue to change everything," she said. She didn't sound angry or dismissive. She sounded…well, a bit angry, but more frustrated than anything. And…she sounded confused. Something in her voice admitted that she didn't know everything, didn't control everything.

"Because of this ability to change, I've saved you countless times - "

No

Will closed his eyes and tried to center himself.

"All because you're so important to everything."

Saved him when? How? Why? Important to what, why?

"So important," Madame X continued with that same perplexed frustration. "But so careless. But why are you so important?"

He didn't know.

"Who are you?"

He didn't know.

"Why are you interfering with everything?!

That…that he did know. Because all of this was wrong. Everything was wrong. The way things were…he couldn't accept that. Everything inside of him revolted against the way Aevium was, the way this world worked.

Madame X stared at him for several moments longer. It took Will a while to realize she expected an answer out of him.

She expected him to answer to her.

He remained silent. Even if he had the answers, he wouldn't offer them to her.

She realized that. "Trying to get an answer out of you is futile. I don't think you know the answer yourself."

Will hated how right she was. Hated how much she knew about him. Hated her. And yet…something about her was…he didn't know. Different?

"I'm going to fix this one again," Madame X said, and Will didn't know if he imagined the exasperation in her voice or not. "This time, you'll need to do it right. We have work to do, Will. So much work."

For once, he found himself agreeing with Madame X. He had a road to walk. Miles to go still.

The gears that made up this peculiar reality shifted back into view. "Let's wind it back," Madame X said.

Things came apart and fell back together. Reality shifted and offered room and Will experienced Madame X stepping through. He caught an image of a maid frozen in time in front of a large, towering building as she tried to escape the blast radius of the orb.

Fruitlessly, of course. Gardevoir and Indriad would have never bothered to let her escape.

He caught an image of Melia, standing in the diner. He saw Irvin, standing in his lab.

He saw Gardevoir and Indriad, fresh out of their sacrificial rite.

All of that he saw, and felt, and knew. His body drifted along, pulled downstream by an invisible flow that he was helpless to stand against. A river became an ocean, adrift in a storm. In that ocean he witnessed himself, Kanon and Venam going back, the last moments of their lives turning around. Those minutes were not turned back, they were actively undone. They didn't exist anymore, and yet he knew. Yet he remembered.

Everything fell away. Reality snapped back together in a way that made sense again. Will found himself standing near the forest entrance, shaking, breathing rapidly, but completely unhurt.

And he remembered.

"Tch…there's no sight of her anywhere!" Venam snapped. "This is just perfect."

"Kugearen City is very large, I'm not even sure where to begin," Kanon replied.

"Eugh…let me think for a sec…"

The building he'd seen…he knew it. He'd seen Venam and Indriad walk in together.

"Perhaps we should split up?" Kanon offered. "We can cover more ground that way."

The Blakeory Co building. He knew, with vivid clarity. He'd seen her there after all. He'd seen her come to the realization that she would not be walking out of there. He'd seen the look on her face when she put it together. She was nothing more than a pawn to be discarded to Gardevoir and Indriad. A disposable little suicide bomber.

"Blakeory Co," Will said.

"Blakeory Co?" Venam repeated. "That would make sense…you're right! Let's head over there now, we don't have a moment to waste!"

Again, the three of them sprinted towards the west, but this time, they knew where the enemy would be, and they knew how to get there. Their route took them past the diner Melia worked at. Will would have deemed it a coincidence that she just happened to be hanging around outside when they ran past. Now, he knew better.

"Hey guys!" Melia cheerfully said, waving them over. "I was just looking for you all - "

Venam took Melia's wrist and pulled her along. "No time! Come with us!" She snapped.

Given everything that they'd already been through, Melia knew better than to resist. She simply went along, her expression one of simple confusion. "So what's going on? Why are we running?" She asked.

"Our enemy has smuggled an explosive device into the city, one that they plan to detonate at Blakeory Co!" Kanon explained.

"Team Xen?" Melia gasped.

"No, not them, it's - "

"There!" Venam yelled. "At the entrance!"

She was right. Indriad's maid had just made it, too. She was in the process of checking her surroundings when Venam, Kanon, Melia and Will roughly interrupted her.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Venam called out.

The maid whirled around. "Huh?! How…how did you all catch up to me like this? And how is that boy alive?! Gardevoir passed her judgment to this boy!"

Will watched their conversation without really listening to it.

"Don't know, don't care. Hand over the orb now!" Venam bit at her.

Inching closer to Kanon, Will whispered, "Get the orb on my signal."

The boy nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Oh?" The maid said smugly. She reached into the folds of her clothing and produced the explosive. "Do you mean this orb?"

"Froslass, get that thing!" Will shouted.

His ever-dependable ghostly companion flickered back into existence right behind the maid. She wrapped her hands around the orb and wrestled it away from the maid's grasp.

"You wretched children!" The maid snarled as she lunged for Froslass who, for her part, merrily floated away and then almost casually lobbed it at Kanon.

Kanon caught the orb without trouble and he instantly backed away, likely guessing that the maid wasn't going to let them get away with this.

He was right. The servant uttered a cry of fury and promptly sent out her Pokemon in retaliation. That was the moment both Froslass and he had been waiting for; the second her opponent emerged from its Pokeball - a bird-like Pokemon with large, puffy wings that looked more like clouds than anything else - Froslass blanketed them with a Blizzard right out of the gate. She floated over the ground as if it were made out of ice, easily weaving out of the way of a hasty pulse of energy, before raising her arms and buffeting her fluffy opponent with icy spikes she conjured straight out of the air.

Those bolts of ice proved to be far too much for her opponent to take. It crashed to the ground, frost coating its wings. It fluttered its limbs weakly, then dropped its head, forcing the maid to recall it and send out her next Pokemon.

The difference in power between Froslass and her foes was like the difference in power between her and Gardevoir. It was entrancing to watch. She pinned Gastrodon to the ground with a mess of jagged, knife-like teeth of ice that erupted from beneath her sluggish foe, then mercilessly bombarded it with Shadow Balls. When the maid furiously recalled Gastrodon and sent out Crobat, Froslass switched gears.

"Crobat. use Acrobatics!" The maid ordered.

"Keep Crobat away, repulse him!"

Froslass bled coldness into the air as if she had access to an entire dimension of ice. She pushed away all warmth, smothered all heat. Crobat zipped through the air like a speeding bullet, rapidly changing directions as it zigzagged towards Froslass with insane velocity. When Crobat came within striking distance, however, Froslass repulsed him with a sudden shockwave of…Will wasn't sure what it was. He wasn't even sure how she did it. Something surged outwards in a flash of white light and freezing air. Froslass repulsed Crobat with explosive force and it crashed to the ground. There, Froslass wasted no time and bathed it with Icy Wind until it could no longer move.

Froslass giggled happily, before shifting her attention towards the maid. She fluttered closer, reached out with a hand so cold that Will could see the coldness bleeding into the air. He wasted no time and recalled her before she could…do whatever it was that she wanted to do.

"I've failed," the maid gasped, falling to her knees. "I've failed, through and through."

"Yeah, you can leave now," Venam told her.

"I'm going to report this to Gardevoir and Master Indriad, just you wait!" The maid snapped back.

The corners of Venam's lips rose in a nasty smile. "Huh? You are? You're going to tell them that you failed?" She brought a thoughtful finger to her lip. "That's pretty brave considering what they did to Kanon for his "insolence"."

"Huh?" Melia said.

"Do you really think that's going to fly well?" Venam continued. "I personally don't think so. If I were you, I'd forget this ever happened and move on. Or maybe you like being blown to bits in a matter of milliseconds?"

The maid swallowed nervously. "O-On second thought, I think I'm going to move very far away and become a baker."

Will stared at her in disbelief. There was no way this would work.

"Yes, no doesn't that sound splendid?" The maid said with a forced smile. "I agree! Yes, I'll be on my way now!"

She proceeded to get out of there, leaving behind a very perplexed Will. He shot a questioning look at Venam, who merely grinned in response.

"Good luck as a baker, asshole. You see Will? Violence isn't always the answer."

Melia looked back and forth between the rapidly-shrinking figure of the murdermaid and Kanon. "Can someone explain what's going on? I'm very confused."

"Uh…so I'm making a very difficult and complicated story short. Will's boogeyman Indriad fucking Theolia is back, he's got an evil Gardevoir who's more powerful than Giratina and they want to destroy Kugearen City because they're assholes. They sent one of their maids with an orb containing enough psychic energy to vaporize this entire city here, which is where we found you. Aaaand…that's the shortest gist of it."

Melia looked at Will for a second before directing her attention to the more urgent situation. "So…basically Kanon's holding onto a ticking time bomb?" She asked.

"Yes," Venam bluntly confirmed.

Melia sprang backwards with a loud cry. "Get that thing out of the city already! If that thing goes boom then - I don't even want to think about it!"

Will didn't need to think about it. He'd lived it, and he was still trying to wrap his head around that.

"W-We would if we knew how…I don't exactly feel comfortable with it being here either," Venam protested.

"Irvin may know what to do with this?" A frantic Melia replied.

"Irvin is knowledgeable on many things, it may be possible," Kanon agreed.

With a shrug, Venam said, "Sure, let's go see what Irvin has to say about this. Just don't you dare drop that thing on the way!"

"You know, no pressure," Will said. He felt dazed. and struggled to say anything meaningful. Small talk was simple. Small talk worked.

As they started heading back to Amberette Town, Melia asked them what really happened. Venam and Kanon then started explaining the day's events in full detail. She told Melia about the Pokemon attacking Anathea, how the woman had invited them back to her manor and how she'd turned out to be Indriad's wife.

Venam spoke like she always did; like a dramatic storyteller. She explained how they'd tailed Indriad around the city, how they'd split up and then, from Venam and Kanon's viewpoints, how they had both stumbled upon a sleeping Will out in the forest.

"Gardevoir put you to sleep?" Melia asked, her brows furrowing as she shot him a questioning look. "And she left you behind unharmed?"

"...yeah," Will said, keeping his expression blank.

"Why though?" Kanon asked. "You were a witness, and you were unconscious to boot. Disposing of you would have been easy."

Gardevoir had thought the same thing. It was likely she wanted to play things carefully? How was he supposed to know! Gardevoir not killing him directly was, like, item eighteen on his list of weird shit he had to figure out. Next time he saw her he'd ask.

"I dunno," Venam said. "Does that matter?"

"Everything our enemy does matters. We might be able to learn from their behavior," Kanon insisted. "Speaking of which, Venam, you called Indriad Will's boogeyman, didn't you?"

"Uh - "

"That almost suggests a…previous experience with him and his people," Kanon continued. "Familiarity would explain Gardevoir sparing you, Will. Is that true?"

Of all things. Of all the things \Venam could have accidentally slipped up, it was Indriad Theolia. Kanon asking him would have been fine, it would have been fine except for the part where Marianette had to physically gather his soul and shove it back into his body, which had gone wrong because he couldn't remember his father, couldn't remember if he had a father and there was a great, bleeding hole in his mind where the memories used to go and something snapped, something had snapped and he'd lost a part of himself -

"Will? Hello? Will?"

Hearing his name snapped him out of his thoughts and he flinched. "I can't - uh, look, I ca-can't - "

"Kanon, let's put a pin in this conversation for now, okay?" Melia gently said.

Frowning, Kanon replied, "But it could be important - "

"Hey, dude, back off," Venam snapped. "You didn't tell us about the stunt you were going to pull either, so how about you get off Will's case?"

"I…did not mean to offend," Kanon said hesitantly.

Will shot Venam a grateful look.

"That's alright Kanon, you didn't know," Melia said. She looked at Venam, who silently shook her head. "Let's just head back to the estate. Hopefully Irvin knows what to do."

They headed up to the northern section of the city, back to the spot where their driver likely still waited for them. They were in luck; the guy had grabbed a coffee from a nearby cafe and was ready to ferry them back.

Of course, they didn't mention that they'd smuggled a kingdom-cracking explosive into his back seat, which made for a very awkward drive back to Amberette Town.

Nevertheless, they made it back without any more enemy actions, and without any whoopsies from Kanon's end.

Once they made it back to Irvin's lab, Will was all too happy to let Kanon and Venam do the explaining. They quickly brought Irvin up to speed, leaving out the more questionable details and focusing solely on the fact that they held an explosive powerful enough to destroy the city, which Kanon currently held in his hands.

For some reason, Irvin seemed a bit nervous at that…

"And thus, we've come here to ask if you knew what to do with it," Kanon said, raising the orb to prove his point.

Irvin pushed his glasses further op his nose as he scrutinized the orb. "Well, after I've examined this thing, it seems to be chock full of psychic energy. As long as it remains intact, it should be safe. "

"Professor, we already knew that," Kanon said. "We want to know how to get rid of it safely."

Irvin heaved a sigh. "I guess I'll post a support ticket."

Sure. That might as well be a thing that had to happen. Why not post a support ticket?

"Support ticket?" Venam demanded. "What is this! Customer service?"

"Whenever I have an issue here that is beyond me, I contact Spacea and Tiempa via support ticket at their lodge," Irvin patiently explained. "This will get solved by them, I'm sure. As for now, I'll keep the orb in my possession."

…but Spacea and Tiempa were only able to manifest under an eclipse. It wasn't like those tended to happen every week. How could they solve Irvin's issues if they couldn't physically affect matters? Obviously that couldn't be true, otherwise Irvin wouldn't have said "whenever".

Unless Irvin had to post his support ticket when the stars aligned in the shape of a middle finger to get it through to the pair.

"It's been a long day," Irvin continued, carefully taking the explosive orb from Kanon and wrapping it in a towel. "You should all rest now."

With the orb secured, Irvin promptly walked off, likely heading to the lodge where those two eclipse-bound-but-not-really women resided.

"He seems to care so much about all of this," Venam grumbled.

"I think it's that he doesn't like interacting with Spacea and Tiempa," Melia explained.

That was the first sensible thing Will had heard all day.

"Be it as it may, he is right," Kanon said, starting to walk back to the exit again. "We should slow down and rest in the meantime. I'll be off to my room."

"One more thing," Will asked.

Kanon stopped and looked at him.

"For future reference, are there any abandoned apartments or houses in the city? Ones you've noticed people never enter or leave?" Will asked.

Kanon's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to have to search the entire city when the next suicide bomber appears," Will shot back. He wasn't able to completely keep the annoyance out of his voice.

Nevertheless, Kanon nodded to himself. The argument made sense after all, even though it was a lie. "There is. There's an apartment complex just a bit south of the northernmost entrance to Kugearen City. It has been abandoned for quite some time, but the main entrance is locked. As far as we know, nobody has the key."

"Thanks."

When Kanon pulled the door close behind him, Venam made a noise that was part groan, part scream and all catharsis. She flopped down on Irvin's chair and buried her face in her arms. "Man, that was so much bullshit. I can't believe this shit!"

Melia patted her back. "There there, Venam. It's over now."

Will decided against putting in his two cents. Way too likely that Venam would snap if he did.

"And we failed to get Maria out! Anthea's dead, that asshole Indriad and that bitch Gardevoir are free to continue wrecking shit and Maria's still stuck!"

"At least you two are still alive," Melia said. "More than that, you saved the city!"

"So this is it, then?" Venam said, pulling her head up from her arms.

Melia nodded. "Yeah. The duo will take care of everything from this point."

"Huh…kind of anti-climactic, but it'll do. I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep."

…he felt a cink in his back. His muscles were all knotted and tense. Apparently fending off a psychic intrusion and attempted murder while sleeping on the floor of a cold forest had been more damaging to his body than his psyche. He hoped.

"You look forward to any kind of sleep."

"Hey, that isn't a crime, yeah?"

"Guess not!"

Melia looked him over next. "Hey Will, how about we take it easy for the rest of the day? Wanna settle down for the night?"

"Yes please."

"God, yes!" Venam snapped. "I'm so tiredddd. I just wanna curl up in bed and do nothing for the next decade."

Now wouldn't that be nice?

The three of them left Irvin's lab and headed back to Melia's room. The second Melia closed the door behind them, Will sat down on the floor, stretched both legs out in front of him, bent one leg and crossed it over the other. So far so good. He began slowly twisting his upper body towards the bent leg.

"Uh, what the hell are you doing?" Venam demanded.

"I'm stiff," Will replied tersely. He put one arm behind him for support just like Aelita had taught him. The other remained on the side of his bent thigh for a deeper stretch.

"Ew," Venam said. "Fix that in your own time."

He heard a satisfying series of pops down his spine and grunted with satisfaction. He was tired and his head felt like a sponge that had taken in too much liquid, or a bag of spare puzzle pieces without a coherent picture. Too much info, nothing coherent to do with it. Still, he had room enough for an elegant and super-clever comeback. "Bite me."

Good enough.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Venam quipped. He could just picture the evil grin on her face. Behind him, he heard Melia fail to suppress a snicker. "Bet you're into that shit."

"Got your jokes at the same school Saki did, I see," Will shot back, quickly climbing back to his feet just in case -

With a snarl, Venam picked up the nearest pillow and swung overhead it at his face as if she were wielding a sledgehammer.

Will brought his right arm up to block the lethal blow. He could always depend on Venam's fiery temper.

"All the freaking opportunities to mouth off before and now you're learning how to snark?" Venam snapped.

"I'm learning from the best."

"If you fucking tell me that you've been earning snappy comebacks from Amber then so help me- "

"I'm flattered you think I'm capable of learning smart comebacks," Will smiled. "Imitation is a form of flattery on its own, right?"

"Yeah, right," Venam scoffed. She found the nearest couch and dropped down on it, bounced up once, then remained lying there. "More like monkey see, monkey do."

And that was the end of his unusual streak of verbal competence; he didn't have the foggiest how to reply to that one. His concentration lapsed. A familiar pressure began building up in his head. That would be the day's events, catching up to him.

He found the most comfy-looking chair Melia had in her possession and curled up inside of it.

"Now I really want to see which one of you would prevail in a pillow fight," Melia wondered out loud.

"Duh," Venam said. "That'd be me. No diff. Look at our guy. I'd crush him."

Images of Indriad and Gardevoir and blue-traced wrists and Salamence burning all swam around his mind. He swatted at them, trying to get them away. The thought of getting laid out by a pillow of all things was oddly attractive. Yes please, he thought.

"Uh…what?" Venam said.

Will blinked at her. "What?"

"Is that you coming on to me, Will?" Venam said. Never before had Will seen someone raise their eyebrow so menacingly before. "I know you're not that stupid."

Melia began laughing at that. "You're not making things easy for yourself, Will."

Had he just…yes, evidently he had just said that part out loud. Even though he couldn't remember doing so.

Great. Just what he needed.

Will mentally went back to the last thing Venam had said, put that and her response together and promptly felt his cheeks flush with heat. "That's not - I wasn't paying attention, I'm sorry- "

Venam scoffed and rolled her head dramatically. "Jeez, relax man. I'm just screwing with you. I'm tired as hell and need to unwind."

"Venam gets cranky when she's tired," Melia smiled.

"Am not!"

"Yes you do. You also start messing with people. And you are far too easy for some of us to mess with, Will. It's actually really adorable."

Adorable. She…thought it was adorable?

…he was strangely okay with that. "Alright, that's fair," Will sighed. He reached down and started untying his laces. "I'm grabbing a shower. Don't plan to overthrow Gardevoir's evil plans without me."

"The only thing I'm going to overthrow is you, straight out the window, if you start undressing in here," Venam snarked at him, but even he couldn't miss the playfulness in her voice this time.

It was alright. They'd been through the wringer - again - and they all had their own coping mechanisms. Will would take silly, light-hearted jabs over the alternative any day of the week. "I wasn't going to," he said. "Now…I just might."

With a big smirk, Venam said, "Bet? I'll steal your clothes and hide them in Kanon's room."

"Venam!" Melia said, shooting Venam a rebuking glare.

Will got upright and turned to face his now-brown-haired friend. "Don't think I won't barge in there and look for them. I'll search Irvin's office if that's what it takes."

"Will!" Melia said, her exasperated tone gaining a horrified edge. "You can't just – "

"Isn't he at that lodge with the weird time-freezing women?" Venam said, the challenge all too apparent in her voice. "Gonna barge in there too?"

"No!" Melia cried out. She looked around the room, as if terrified that somehow, Spacea and Tiempa were listening in on them from her closet or something. "Guys – "

Will had started shifting his priorities somewhere between the return of Indriad Theolia and the appearance of the evil Psychic Pokemon who had tried to get him to slit his own wrists with an Aura knife in his nightmares. "If I have to."

"Don't joke about that!" Melia said.

"Why, afraid they're gonna hear us having fun?" Venam challenged her.

Going by the way Melia didn't answer, but instead chose to look away a bit awkwardly, Will guessed that his idea of Spacea and Tiempa in the closest wasn't too farfetched. They had shown up out of literal nowhere to spirit her away to the past, after all. "Right. Shower."

"The shampoo is in the closet beneath the sink!" Melia told him, looking relieved that they'd dropped it.

"Thanks!"

"I'm tired as hell, so I'm gonna crash out now," he heard Venam say just as he closed the door behind him.

Melia's bathroom was larger than he'd thought. It reminded him a bit of the bathroom in Blacksteeple's prestige room. Gentle white tiles paved the floor and the walls, but in the shower were larger and a deep shade of gray. A large mirror hung behind the sink, which was dyed a tasteful hue of black.

Will thought about locking the door, then decided against it. It would be just like him to forget that the thing was locked in case of an emergency and then waste precious seconds trying to get it open.

Unlocked it would stay…and if Venam tried to sneak in to steal his clothes he would…well, likely be forced to make good on his bluff. "Sorry Kanon," he muttered as he started lifting his shirt over his head.

He moved towards the sink, hung his shirt on the nearest stool and then realized he would probably have to take off his bandages now…and he wouldn't have to reapply a new one, because the wounds would need fresh air now. Tesla had told him that wounds needed to "breathe", whatever that was supposed to mean. But if Tesla said it, it had to happen, so…

So…

Will gripped the sink and stared hard into the mirror. So, he would have to take them off. "Okay…" he said. He brought his left hand to the side of his face, unraveled the loose part of the bandages around his eye…and carefully undid them.

The scar wasn't as bad as he had feared and still he recoiled. They looked so red. So raw. The began half an inch above his eyebrow, then swept down, across his eye and towards his cheekbone. It arced down a bit to the left, about two inches long or…roughly the size of his index finger. Tesla had said that, even though the medics hadn't been able to fully save his eye, they had saved him from the worst. Things like infection, or the need for stitches, things like that.

Closing his right eye and trying to see through the left only resulted in a blurry haze and the glare of the bathroom light became so intense, so painful, that it felt like he'd just stared straight into the sun for an hour.

It didn't feel saved to him.

The slash across his chest was longer than Angie's scar, but somehow it felt more insignificant. Thinner. They didn't even fit together. It looked like he had a big, crooked Y shape on his chest, but upside down.

Knife scars. A shrapnel hole. Some bruises he hadn't even noticed before. The big, ropey line of Angie's impalement…god, he was a fucking mess.

…the lights were just too bright. He squeezed his eyes shut. Vaguely, he could still see the blue lines Gardevoir had drawn across his arteries. If he hadn't figured out that she was messing with his head, amping up all the wrong emotions, what would have happened? She'd been inside of his mind. Would…would injuring himself in there have equated to real injuries? Or would he have simply died in his sleep if she'd gotten her wish?

Bah. Too dreary and depressing. He'd beaten her, he'd kicked her out of his mind and if he started dwelling on that now, it would like inviting her right back in. He wouldn't do her job of screwing with his head for her.

He could do that just fine on his own…

Will tore himself away from Melia's sink and put the shower on at full blast. He jumped back a bit as the ice-cold water sprayed his skin, then started peeling off the rest of his clothes. The closet underneath the sink did, indeed, contain Melia's shampoo…as well as a hundred other bottles. Conditioners, lotions, creams, conditioning lotion and lotioning creams -

Orange stuff, golden stuff, purple stuff, colorless stuff…he couldn't help but shake his head at the display. It had to be a girl thing.

It took him a while to even find out which one was shampoo enough for the hair. By the time he found what he needed, the water had already turned warm.

Carefully, he began cleaning his wounds with soap, wincing at the prickling sensation in his eye. As far as he could tell, the water that ran down his body didn't turn red or anything. Long live the tiny victories.

After a few minutes he rinsed the rest of the shampoo and soap off his body, waited until more shower thoughts popped into his head and when they inevitably did, he turned the shower off and picked up one of Melia's towels.

It was huge, fluffy, much heavier than it looked and really, truly huge. He could have draped it over Nidoking's back and probably have room to spare. He could hang it over a tree branch and camp underneath it.

A cursory check confirmed that Venam hadn't snuck in to hide his clothes in Kanon's room, which came as a relief, but it was also a bit disappointing. He loved his distractions. They kept him from reflecting on the utter insanity of the day's events.

Indriad. The bomb. Madame X. He felt like he needed a bigger head to make sense of all of it.

Knowing that he still had a lot of explaining to do, Will quickly finished drying up, put on his clothes again and then left the bathroom.

True to her word, Venam had draped herself across the bigger couch, drawn a blanket around herself and gone straight to sleep. She was already snoring lightly. By contrast, Melia had taken a seat in the comfy chair. She'd donned a long, white nightgown, grabbed what looked like a giant dictionary from one of the piles and was turning through the pages when she heard him exiting the bathroom.

She looked up at him, her silver eyes resting on the left side of his face for a second. She…didn't wince. Or grimace. Or quickly avert her eyes. Instead, something like sympathy touched her gaze.

Will pulled up one of the other seats and sat down. Like everything else in Melia's room, it was warm and soft, and after his hot shower he suddenly felt like he was about to fall asleep on the spot.

"I imagine you must have a lot going through your head right now," Melia started.

He shrugged. "It's been that kind of day."

Her eyes were soft and sparkling when she said, "It sure has. I'm sorry you two had to go through that. I didn't know…we didn't know. Sure, we knew about the Marble Mansion and that the people there were reclusive, but I never would have imagined…this."

He reclined back in his seat. "You only found out they were dangerous this month," he replied. "Them turning psycho today isn't on you."

Melia studied him for a moment. "I kinda feel horrible for letting this happen. That stuff with the mansion…back in Gearen City…I know that hit you really hard. To walk into that horror again, after I told you that this city was safe…"

"It's not like you made that up," Will offered. "You thought it was safe…right?"

"Yes, of course I did! I would have never let you and Venam go out on your own had I known that putrid man lived here!"

"In all fairness, he was pretending to be a decent person for years. What are the chances of Gardevoir choosing to screw things up the day we visited?"

"Astronomical," Melia sighed. "Which, in our case, makes that…about fifty fifty."

Will couldn't help but chuckle. "Hopefully, Irvin will put a call out to your Stormchaser pals. Indriad has the power and the desire to level Kugearen City. It'll take more than just Venam or me to drive them off for good."

Her grey eyes met his. "...I'm not sure they will," she quietly admitted. "Even if Irvin sends out a request for aid…it might take them too long to respond. If they respond at all." She looked down, breaking contact. "Opening an offense against the Theolias might be too low on their priority list."

Will sighed, rubbing his hand over his forehead. "So we're on our own."

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice damp.

Will made an effort to shrug. They'd been fighting and losing people against Team Xen all over Aevium for weeks now. Not a Stormchaser in sight. His expectations had been low to begin with…but he wasn't about to tell Melia that. These were the people she'd spent three years of her life with. He didn't want to insinuate that they were untrustworthy…even though he was starting to think that trusting anything in this city was a mistake. "We'll figure it out."

"Really?" She breathed out in relief. "Even now?"

He even managed a smile. "We always do."

The smile she gave him was achingly sweet. "Yeah…I guess we do, don't we? I wish…" She let her voice trail off. "Ah, never mind."

"You wish?" Will asked.

Looking pensive all of a sudden, Melia said, "It's silly. Irvin told me that dwelling on the past is pointless, so…"

"Thinking of the past isn't always dwelling," Will offered.

But that wasn't it. Melia squirmed a bit in her seat, before saying, "I just wish I got to spend the last three years with you guys…with you. Not fighting, but just…hanging out. Having fun."

"Three years…" he mused. He still struggled to wrap his head around that idea. "It's been months for us. You haven't missed much time."

"Not time, no, but experiences," Melia said wistfully. "So much has happened to you guys…I should have been there. I wanted to be there with you. Just like today. I could have lost you two."

"...we're here now," Will said. "We're here with you. We're not going anywhere."

"No. That's true. And yet…" She looked pained. "You've been here for a day and already, you've been forced to fight for your life again."

Will offered Melia what he hoped was a soothing smile. "It's all I know," he reassured her.

Her sorrowful expression told him that she wasn't reassured. "You realize that's a really sad thing to say out loud, don't you?"

…no. He didn't. That should have disturbed him. He didn't feel disturbed. Just…calm. Being here, he felt calm. Maybe he was just tired.

Something else, then?

But what else was there to say?

Something actually reassuring.

Will remained in his seat for a moment, something waring in him to speak up - just ask her - it won't change things - speak UP - it won't help her - yes it WILL - and blurted out, "Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?"

"Hang out? Melia asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah." Had his throat been this dry before? "We could go for a drink or…something."

Instead of turning down what should have been the lamest way of asking to go hang out in her life, Melia smiled, actually, genuinely smiled. "Oh, that sounds like fun! There's a teahouse in Kugearen's shopping district that doesn't see a lot of customers. It's quiet, but I think it's really cozy."

Will had to stop himself from breathing a sigh of relief. "A teahouse? Sure, cool idea. Do you have a specific time in mind or - ?"

"Somewhere in the afternoon would be best," Melia said. "But first, you need to grab some rest. We both do, in fact."

"Yeah," Will replied, feeling somewhat guilty. "Sleep would be good."

Melia yawned and stretched, the motion languid and slow. "Good night, Will."

He caught himself staring. Again. "Yeah," he quietly said. "Good night, Melia."

Except he didn't plan on going to bed already. He went through the motions, getting undressed, installing himself on the couch and staying there for an hour or two as he listened to the sounds of Venam and Melia breathing. When he was confident that they were both fully asleep, he silently got dressed again, picked up his shoes and left Melia's room.

How was it possible that Madame X had the power to undo their mistakes? Why was it that she even bothered to undo their mistakes? Was it simply because Kugearen City blowing up would have involved Melia's death as well?

If Madame X had the power to wind back time, why hadn't she simply done so at Blacksteeple Castle? Why hadn't she done so when Melia first escaped her grasp?

None of this made sense.

Irvin's estate was dead silent as Will snuck downstairs. He simply walked out the front door and intothe night.

Finding the apartment complex Kanon had mentioned wasn't difficult. Will released Kirlia, both for the silent company as her ability to sense the presence of living beings around them. They wandered the streets together, sticking to the shadows and steadily heading towards the north. The apartment building was just a few hundred meters away from the street where Irvin's personal driver had parked.

Simply judging the building by its appearance already revealed several red flags. It had been made from a different material than the other apartment buildings. Something darker. It could have been much older, but it also could have been newer. Words like "modern" and "retro" didn't have a meaning here in the past. Regardless, the complex was incongruent with the style of the other buildings.

The front door was unguarded.

He sent out Blaziken next, and brought her up to speed. With that taken care of, he crossed the street and headed towards the front door. Nobody would expect an intruder to simply knock on their front door, right?

Will inserted the key into the lock. It was a perfect fit. He felt the locking mechanism retract back into the door proper. Now he could swing it open and walk straight into the ambush he suspected, or…

"Blaziken, do you have any good knock-knock jokes?" Will said.

Blaziken looked at him as if she'd had zero expectations and he still managed to fall short.

"..that was your cue," Will offered.

Blaziken snorted and then kicked the door open. Together the three of them hurried inside, bracing themselves for the inevitable ambush that Gardevoir was about to spring on them -

But nothing happened.

The crimson glow of Kirlia's horn faded as she glanced around the singular, empty room they had just barged inside of.

Straight ahead, was the ominous visage of a black elevator. Not really sure what to expect, Will felt tempted to just turn around and leave. It would have been stupid to ride an unidentified elevator down into the bowels of a city he didn't know, through a building that everybody assumed was locked, with a murderous psychic Pokemon after his head.

But that was just it. He could think of much better ways to lure an unsuspecting foe into an ambush. It was too obvious a trap.

That made him question whether this thing was a trap at all. They were here now. Might as well do some snooping. "We're going in," he decided. "Stay sharp you two. Whatever's down there will know we're coming."

Neither Kirlia nor Blaziken disagreed with him. They didn't judge or question his decision. Instead, they simply got onto the elevator with him. Kirlia stayed somewhere between his legs while Blaziken maneuvered herself closer to the doors, ready to take the brunt of whatever was out there waiting for them.

Will only saw a single button. He pressed it. There was a downward motion, then a moment of free fall. The doors silently parted to a sizable hall that could have been a secret Team Xen lab. Will silently counted to three, bracing himself again for an attack that never came. He frowned, then waved Blaziken forwards.

Kirlia and him followed her as she bounded out of the elevator, ready to inflict maximum violence on anything that looked even remotely threatening.

It looked like an underground laboratory, or workshop even. The black tiles muffled Will's footsteps as he slowly walked around, taking in the sight of the black bookshelves, the piles of scattered papers and documents and other…stranger sights.

This place reminded him more of Angie's sacrificial chamber than an actual laboratory. His pulse quickened and his instinct began yelling at him that he wasn't supposed to be down there. He didn't want to be down there. He, in fact, wanted to be anywhere but this chamber.

Slowly, he turned towards the right side of the rectangular chamber, forcing himself to remain calm and analytical. A pair of large, steel tables lined the wall. One of them contained a tattered journal and some steel mechanical struments. The journal looked to have been damaged in a fire. The pages crumbled when he picked it up.

A trio of robotic dolls lay on the second table. Autonomous drones of some sort, reminiscent of the flying ones Melia had seen in Blacksteeple Castle's interior. Will drew his gaze further across the walls. Opposite of the elevator lay a pile of scattered chairs, another stack of old, dusty books…and the distinct shape of a person.

Will gestured for Kirlia. "Are they still alive?" He whispered. His words seemed to evaporate as he spoke them, smothered by the too-still air in this strange chamber.

Kirloa stepped towards the center of the room. Her horn glowed with a faint, red light. She shook her head.

With small, hesitant steps, Will shuffled towards the decrepit shape. There, covered with dust, singed a motley brown just like the journal he'd spotted, lay a freaking mannequin.

Not just any mannequin, because of course it couldn't be a department store mannequin or a doll or something simple.

It was a doll of Angie, or…a puppet of sorts. Her hair had been finely crafted as if by hand, and he would recognize that maid dress everywhere. Even the bow resting atop her head was present.

What wasn't present were the doll's eyes. They had been torn out of her face.

Kirlia approached the fallen doll. She reached out and seized its head between her two white arms. She pulled its head up, leaning in to observe it more closely.

It came back to him in a flash. The mansion in the sewers. The woman imprisoned in ice. Amju. He'd seen her likelihood before, even before he met her in her prison. The game of floaty hopscotch he'd played with Maria, back when she'd still called herself Marianette. Maria-nette.

Just not the "nette" part.

…Maria-nette.

A marionette.

Will glanced over his shoulder. He felt like someone was watching him, standing right behind him and peeking over his shoulder, peeking at what he saw, peeking at what he thought, seeing him put the pieces together.

He wanted to be just paranoid. He wanted to be wrong, to be laughed at for thinking over things too hard. Oh how he longed for Aelita to call him silly, or for Melia to ruffle his head and tell him to get some more sleep.

People would die if he didn't figure this out. People had died. Because he hadn't seen the full picture. Because he'd lacked the bigger context.

A coincidence. Sure.

Another doll lay just a few meters away from the first one. Unrecognizable. Their entire body had been stabbed multiple times and their face had been burned off. Blaziken knelt on one knee next to the doll. She reached down with one claw as if to snatch it up, but stopped halfway through. She dropped her arm to her side.

…but that doll's hair…it had been hand-crafted with immaculate detail, just like the other doll. And hell if she didn't look like the regal woman he'd seen in Angie's tower, the woman Anju had wanted to follow before that thing claimed her.

She was familiar. Painfully, hauntingly familiar. Staring at her damaged, mutilated form filled him with an odd sense of nostalgia…and a sudden wave of anger he couldn't place.

Will tore his gaze off the two women and turned around, shivering. He faced the elevator door, putting the dolls behind him. He stared at the boards on the wall. What looked to be strange writing had been chalked across the boards. Symbols he didn't recognize. Something that resembled the letter "G", but with droopy edges, as if it had been etched down with paint.

Or blood.

A strange symbol had been drawn on the board next to it with white chalk. Circles within circles with a big triangle drawn over them.

Will turned away, walking past the stone sculpture of a man he didn't recognize and towards the side-room at the end of the main chamber. He heard Blaziken's clawed feet scraping across the ground as she turned to follow him.

The side-room looked to be an improvised bedroom. It had a bed in the upper-left corner, its sheets the exact same color as the floor and the walls. Someone had glued a map above the pillow…

Not just any map.

It was a map of Aevium…Post-Calamity!

A cold pit formed in his stomach as he realized what he was looking at. He saw markers for Sheridan Village and Grand Dream City - GDC - on it.

The implication was simple. Whoever owned this building, knew about the future. They knew about the Calamity. Storm-9.

"Do you think we found Crescent's secret lady lounge?" He asked. He kept his voice deliberately light, hoping that could somehow masque the frantic pace which with his heart was currently hammering against his ribs. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Blaziken crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. Her eyes were laser-focused on the elevator doors.

"Didn't think so…" Will said.

The key dropped by Gardevoir. The dolls of the woman he'd seen in the forgotten manor. The two dolls of the ladies in Angie's frozen church.

This was Indriad Theolia's property. A little fucked-up base of operations where he could plan his cruel experiments…and live out his sick fantasies, judging by the two dolls.

He wasn't sure if it was fear or fury that had him shaking. Likely a bit of both

More dusty old tomes lay atop the table in the corner. Will quickly looked them over, dismissing the majority of them as useless.

It was the small notebook squished between two unreadable books, however, that got his attention. It had an extensive amount of filled pages.

"Meet Existentialists whom harten. To the person reading this, this notebook was meant for you. "

Yeah, right, Will thought skeptically. He continued reading.

I have studied the heart of humans and Pokemon for a very long time. The heart I refer to is not the physical one, but the spiritual one. You may even refer to it as a soul. You may have come across Pokemon with closed hearts. These are called Shadow Pokemon."

…but that didn't make any sense. Shadow Pokemon were a relatively young project, weren't they? So why did a journal fifty years in the past describe them?

"Shadow Pokemon feel nothing but the desire to hurt and destroy. Truly and utterly soulless beings. These Pokemon are known for attacking Pokemon and humans alike. Fortunately, a process known as "purification" was created to re-open the hearts of these Shadow Pokemon. This created the possibility of redemption for Pokemon thought to be too far gone. Too far gone…ah yes. I've come across beings far worse than Shadow Pokemon."

A sudden creaking noise coming from above interrupted his reading. He looked up -

And holy fuck Kirlia was right freaking there.

Will nearly leapt out of his skin. He managed to snatch the scream that was about to escape past his lips and turned it into a string of sounds that could only be loosely described as actual words. "Please don't scare me like that," he added at the end, just to make sure Kirlia had gotten the note. "It's bad enough when Froslass does that!"

Kirlia, standing an inch behind the notebook, looked at him uncertainly.

With a deep sigh, Will scooped his Psychic-type from the table. "Sorry," he muttered as he held her in his arms. "I'm jumpy."

He gently placed Kirlia down on the bed and resumed reading.

"Beings completely devoid of every emotion excluding hatred. I think I shall call these Pokemon…Dimensional Rift Pokemon."

Not a new phenomenon, then.

So Indriad was associated with Team Xen?

"These beings are Pokemon that have their inner darkness amplified to its maximum potential. This emotion then implodes within the Pokemon. This allows the Pokemon to gain a circular-orb form. Although this is the first form they take, it is their dormant form. In this form, they cannot do much. However, when provoked, the Pokemon can morph into their true body. Born from hatred of course. This is when a being like no other appears. It is very, very, difficult to revert them back from this state. Heh…but should we? It is then when they are most vulnerable. Their body is the literal manifestation of their heart and soul."

Will nervously turned the page. Too much information didn't seem to fit. The only explanation was the fifty-year gap between this age and the Aevium he knew somehow didn't translate for Indriad. As if Indriad had freely traveled between the past and present just like they had.

"It is in this form that we are able to purify them back into their original being. The process isn't too complicated either. You may not understand it, but someone will."

Shit. They could have saved the Rift Pokemon? Gyarados, Galvantula, Volcanion…all the Pokemon he'd been "forced" to kill because their existence had been too painful, too agonizing to let them suffer…he could have saved them?

"Take this book and follow these directions:"

Will felt his breath hitch in his throat when he realized that these weren't directions for Indriad, but for him. Not a random reader, but a person who had come to encounter these Rift Pokemon and wanted to save them.

This was too much. Far too much. The things he'd seen here, what he'd learned - he couldn't handle it all, not at once, not down here.

The women who had filled him with a nostalgia and an anger that didn't belong to him.

The Garufan drawings.

The map of Post-Calamity Aevium.

The knowledge that he could have saved the Rift Pokemon.

The notebook left behind in enemy territory for him specifically.

Methodically, calmly, he stuffed these findings into their own little boxes and put them away. Not now. With time, and effort, later. Just not here. Not now.

The rest of the notebook got real technical real fast. Too complicated. The information was a veritable goldmine,

Will took his backpack off, shoved the weird diary inside -

A wave of sudden dizziness overcame him. Everything went blurry and blue, like a sudden fog swallowed up the entire room. Everything spun. He felt something warm and hard tug around his waist. He blinked several times, hard. His vision came back to him, still blurry -

Will looked at Blaziken with confusion. Why was she holding him? "Everything alright?" He asked.

Blaziken's piercing blue eyes met his. He knew that look. She was being protective, but why?

"Did something happen?" He asked.

Her eyes shifted towards Kirlia. Kirlia, he noticed, wasn't where he'd last left her. She'd leapt down from the bed and stood right between his legs again.

He'd missed something. What was the threat, why were they so worried? They'd…ah, right. The book. He'd made the decision to bring that with him, show it to someone who could do some good with it.

Much to his surprise, the weird diary wasn't on the table anymore. It was already in his backpack? Huh. He must have been more tired than he guessed.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Blaziken let go of him. He didn't miss the look she exchanged with Kirlia again.

"Come on," he said. "We're leaving."

Neither of them objected.

~~~~~~~(I)~~~~~~~

AN: I can't seem to keep these updates below the 15K word range. Oh well. Our dashing duo managed to save the day! Surely everything will be peaceful and calm now, right? Right?

Anyway, as always, please leave a review if you liked this chapter. I'll see you all with the next update!