Noctum floated on his back in the sparkling water. Emotion kept the lake — the humans called it Verity — around their home as pristine as anything Noctum had seen. The sun's reflection glistened all around him. Even the shabby magikarp keeping their distance glimmered from the sunlight.

He lazily turned his arms in circles, drifting across the water. The surface was warm while the water underneath was cool.

It was so interesting! A fine example of the power of space at work. He hummed softly, floating closer to the small grassy island in the middle of the lake.

Akari sat on the edge, dangling her legs in the water. Emotion drifted between the trees behind her, running their nubby hands across bare branches.

"... Don't know what I'm going to do, Irida." Akari shook her head. "There's still some friction between Diamond and Pearl."

Noctum stopped swimming and tilted his head.

Oh, right. The one who gave blessings to him was here, too.

"Diamond and Pearl?" Irida glanced at Noctum. "Do you mean..."

"Dialga and Palkia." Akari lazily lifted her right leg. Water dribbled off it. "I thought they'd be appropriate nicknames."

"Right." Irida looked at reflection in the water. "You do call your pokémon something other than their species."

Akari raised a brow. "Do you not?"

Irida looked left. Underneath the slim shade of one of the bare trees, a glaceon poked at a napping espeon's side. After a few more nudges, Espeon's closed eyes twitched. His forehead gem glowed. A burst of telekinesis unceremoniously tossed a mewling Glaceon into the lake.

Noctum picked his head up, worried Glaceon couldn't swim. Still on his back, he swam in her direction.

"I never considered it," Irida admitted, watching the water. Fortunately, Glaceon surfaced, but she was quite miffed. Noctum reached her. He dipped his head underwater and positioned it under Glaceon. Then he extended his long neck, creating a makeshift bridge for Glaceon to climb back onto the island.

She immediately barked and hissed at Espeon. Ice crystals formed on her damp fur.

Still curled up in a ball, Espeon poked one eye open. Then he closed it and simply purred.

Glaceon screeched. An Ice Beam formed in her mouth.

"Stop it, Glaceon!" Irida smacked the ground with her left hand. "You shouldn't have been bothering Espeon while he was napping and you know it."

The Ice Beam faded into frosty air. Glaceon looked down guiltily.

"And Espeon." Irida was on her knees. Her arms were crossed. "You don't fling people into the lake because they're bothering you."

Espeon didn't appear to acknowledge Irida. Noctum thought a little persuasion was in order, so he lifted his head and spat a tiny stream of water at Espeon. The moment it doused him, Espeon jumped to his feet, back arched. He loudly hissed at Noctum, who simply nudged his head in Irida's direction. Espeon's ears folded and he muttered what seemed like an apology to Glaceon and Irida.

"Ah, uh, thank you, Palkia." Irida bowed her head respectfully.

Noctum smiled and lowered his head back against the water's surface.

"That might be it," Akari whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I know a way to mend the rift between Diamond and Pearl." Akari got to her feet. "It's like two siblings bickering. A parent can help stop the arguing."

"A parent?" Irida tilted her head.

"I've just gotta finish seeking out all the pokémon here in Hisui," Akari declared.

"A-All the pokémon?!"

Noctum caught the meaning. She was talking about the Creator. The thought of their disapproving look drove Noctum to dive underwater...

The cosmic charizard sat up, sucking in a sharp breath.

He wasn't underwater. He was just in one of the drab, gray rooms at Cyril's outpost. An infirmary room, judging by the jars with berry pastes and glowing fluids sitting on the shelf opposite his bed. There were two other beds to his right. Widget lay in one and the other had... some black-scaled serpent with starcloud ribbons. A... cosmic milotic? The resistance didn't have one of those...

"Finally up, are we?"

Noctum squeezed the covers in his hands.

"V-Valkyrie," he squeaked. The garchomp sat on a chair beside the door, idly flipping through some sort of magazine. "H-Hi." He hastily threw his covers off and scooted to the edge of his bed. "What, uh, are ya reading there?"

"Lingerie holowear magazine." Valkyrie nonchalantly turned the page. She looked up at the cosmic charizard. "You want it? Maybe you'll find something fitting."

Noctum blinked a few times. "I don't... know what that is."

"Tch." Valkyrie crumpled up the magazine and tossed it into the trash bin on the other side of the door. "It was a joke, you dweeb. That was just some trashy Qliphoth celebrity gossip magazine." The garchomp crossed one leg over the other. "Needed something to pass the time since you've been zonked out since yesterday afternoon."

"Since yesterday afternoon?" Noctum's starry tail flame shrank. He tried to remember what happened. They had gotten back from stopping Vortex's rampage and then...

"There was this pressure." Noctum put his right hand over his chest. "Crushing."

"A bit young for a heart attack," Valkyrie scoffed. She switched crossed legs. "You dropped to the floor and kept muttering something about 'time's gone,' then you passed out."

"I see." The cosmic charizard tapped his claws together nervously. "What else did I miss?" He glanced at the beds next to his.

"Seifer didn't make it," Valkyrie flatly said. "Or, more accurately, he was already dead when we got him." She pointed at the cosmic milotic. "Apparently Artemis thought Leo could bring Seifer back from the dead." She turned her claw on Widget. "And brought him along for the ride. But something went wrong. "

The garchomp snorted pink-purple embers. "You've already seen Artemis' makeover for yourself. That's not everything, though." Valkyrie kicked the side of the empty bed to her left with her leg.

"Seifer's body's crystallized, Cyril's catatonic, Leo's locked himself in a broom closet, and Gene's faffing about in Radiance instead of being here to rally the troops."

She leaned her chair back on its hind legs. "Any questions?"

Noctum blinked once. Twice. He went over Valkyrie's recap again, but struggled through the full sequence of events. Why would any of this alter Artemis' appearance? Or hurt Widget? And if Leo was back from the mystery dungeon, what about Yuna and the others who went with her.

All of those questions wrestled for his attention, leading him to dumbly mutter, "Uh, what's catatonic?"

Valkyrie's death glare told him that was the wrong question.

"Err, I meant... how's Yuna?" Noctum laughed nervously.

"Could be worse." Still propping up her chair, Valkyrie shrugged. "She brought that koraidon Overseer here somehow. And some weird zoroark and mewtwo mishmash from the latest mystery dungeon.

"Oh, and itsoundslikeshetooksalazzlepheromonesandhadherselfaniceacidtriplastnight."

"Wait, she did what?!"

"She's fine." Valkyrie waved dismissively. "Embarrassed, but fine. Nikki's the same way. They must've tripped balls together."

Noctum had no idea what to make of that.

"Besides, there are more important things going on." Valkyrie let the chair drop back to all fours. She got up and her usual stoic expression returned. "Your appearances changes again, then you just so happen to become unresponsive, muttering 'time's gone,' right before we learn Seifer was declared dead? I refuse to believe that's a coincidence.

"You know something. What aren't you telling me?"

The cosmic charizard gripped the side of his bed. A part of him knew this had to come up eventually, but why did it have to be right now? Especially when she'd finally started to trust him.

"This is a 'reincarnated souls' thing, isn't it?" Valkyrie squinted at Noctum.

His tail flame shrank.

"Knew it." The garchomp paced by the foot of Noctum's bed. "I have my theories." She stopped and crossed her arms. "But I want to hear the truth from you."

Noctum tightened his grip on the bed. Was that meant to be a gesture of trust?

"You promise not to get mad?" Noctum brought his legs together and hunched over. "Or knee me in any sensitive places?"

Valkyrie kept her arms crossed. "As long as you tell me the truth."

"Okay." Noctum took a shaky breath. He really hoped this wouldn't cause any problems. "That strike from Halvus I absorbed reminded me of my past life." His wings unfolded. "I was this... big dragon who controlled the flow of space. Palkia."

"Control the flow of space?" Valkyrie's arms fell by her sides. "That sounds like... like..."

"Like a god? Yeah." Noctum grabbed his tail and brought it around. He stared into the starcloud flame. "I think Arceus created me, which means I'm connected to Giratina. And I had a counterpart who controlled time, Dialga. Kinda like this big blue-gray dragon-horse thingy. They were haughty and talked like they were better than me instead of an equal."

"Wait, horse-dragon?" Biting her lip, Valkyrie glanced at the door. "Are you implying what I think you are?"

The cosmic charizard nodded. "Seifer was Dialga." He squeezed his tail. "Which makes me wonder how much of his early attitude — y'know, before he got fired — was Radiance's culture and how much was his true self leaking through."

Noctum held a claw by the end of the tail flame. It wasn't warm. It hadn't been warm since it changed.

"It could apply to me, too," he mumbled. "The stuff you got on my case for — wanting to please everyone, following others' directions, hell being a servant — was what I was like as Palkia." Noctum ran a claw through the starry flames. "I wanted to do the job Arceus gave me right. So people could live happy lives. I figured if they were happy, then I was happy."

Valkyrie was still looking at the door. After a few seconds, she asked, "Where do I fit into this picture?"

"Y'know that crisis?" Noctum squeezed his tail again. "The one Zodiark manipulated Giratina into causing? It made Dialga and I fight... and, if I'm honest, they had the upper hand. But then a few humans sought me out to help stop it. One of them... was Yiazmat." He looked over his shoulder at Artemis. "Another led a group that worshiped Dialga."

Sighing, Noctum looked at Valkyrie. "And the third... led a group that worshiped me. She was a very gentle human, from what I remember."

More silence. This was one tenser, with Valkyrie's expression shifting between disbelief and anger. She raised a claw, then lowered it.

When she finally spoke, all she managed was a single, "Damn it." Valkyrie walked over to the wall on Noctum's left and leaned her right arm and head on it.

"I'm sor—" Noctum caught himself, knowing an apology would only further irritate the garchomp. "I wasn't sure whether to tell you. Because, y'know, we're friends. I thought if this came out... it'd make everything awkward." He swallowed hard. "But you asked me for the truth. So, I gave it to you."

He squeezed his tail, ready for Valkyrie to yell at him. Instead, the bed shifted and creaked as the garchomp sat on the edge of it.

"Thank you," Valkyrie whispered. "For being honest."

Noctum's tail flame grew a little. He scooched closer to her. "You're not upset?"

"Dunno." Valkyrie shrugged. "It does... explain one thing for me." She sighed. "Part of why I chose to work as an assassin was to get stronger, you know. But I second-guessed that choice for a while. I was already a garchomp. I had Tesla's dumb experiments. I was strong. Why did I think I needed to be stronger?"

She glanced at Noctum. "Was that something this human worried about?"

After thinking on it for a minute, Noctum nodded. "You did express those fears to Yiazmat, I think?"

"Figures." Valkyrie snorted blue-purple embers. She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.

"Do you miss her?"

"Hmm?"

"The old me."

"Oh." Noctum lazily swung his left leg out, then back in. "Maybe?" He slowly, repeatedly kicked the air. "I'm friends with you, though, Val."

"You're just saying that."

"Am I?" the cosmic charizard wondered. "I was partnered with Yiazmat. I'm not really sure how much I actually saw you back then."

Valkyrie clicked her tongue. "S'pose that's fair. Must've been a real lonely ass god, then. To think I make for good friendship material."

Noctum frowned, then grunted when Valkyrie thwaped his backside with her tail. "It was a joke."

"You put yourself down, though," Noctum mumbled.

The garchomp thwaped Noctum's backside again. "I know you know about self-deprecation. C'mon."

"Okay, okay." Noctum pivoted left to protect his flank from Valkyrie's rough, scaly tail. "In any case, you wanted the truth. I gave you the truth." He slouched and leaned back, bracing his arms on the bed. "If I had to guess... that deep part of my soul must've, like, realized the connection with Seifer and felt it fizzle out. Which made me black out."

"Can't say I get the spirit mumbo-jumbo behind it." Valkyrie also slouched backward, mimicking Noctum's posture. But she had to be more careful not to puncture the mattress with her claws. "Had you seen death before?"

"O-Of course." Noctum's tail flame sparked, both from the questions and how fast he answered it. "I mean, other servants died of old age. Calcifer's parents, too." He glanced at the beds to his right. Artemis and Widget were just as out of it as he'd been. "And, y'know, there were dragons who fell to Whispers in dungeons."

Valkyrie shook her head. "No, I mean. Have you ever seen a death like Seifer's before?"

Noctum tensed. He bowed his head, then slowly shook it.

"Think that's the real problem," Valkyrie said. "Not some deep soul bond or whatever."

The cosmic charizard grunted. Of course the assassin would think that. "Well, I wasn't, y'know, trained to be desensitized to this stuff."

He saw Valkyrie's tail moving this time and pressed it into the mattress before it could smack his left leg.

"Yeah, I'm used to it now," Valkyrie said, eyeing Noctum's hand. Rolling her eyes, she moved her tail away. "Wasn't always the case. Some of the early deaths... they've stuck with me."

"Like your early jobs?"

The garchomp shook her head. "Before that. Citadark."

Noctum swallowed hard. "L-Like people getting executed by Vegna?"

She shook her head again. "Prisoners killing each other."

"Oh." Noctum's voice was tiny. He went back to kicking the air with his legs. "I guess, uh, you put too many criminals on an island..."

"Tesla had these weird collars that could suppress pokémon's powers," Valkyrie explained. When Noctum glanced at her, she was kicking the air with her legs, too. "It didn't stop the nastiest ones." She sighed. "Saw my first death when some heliolisk had managed to sharpen a cafeteria tray. He used it to—"

Valkyrie stopped herself. "Nah, forget it. The details don't matter."

Silence followed. Both dragons knew they were mimicking each other. Valkyrie stared Noctum down. Was she trying to will him to stop?

Noctum decided to indulge her... by scooching next to her. "You gonna be okay?" he said.

The garchomp stopped kicking the air. She raised a brow. "Are you?"

Dang. He wasn't prepared for that one. His tail flame shrank.

"I'm not sure."

He tensed when Valkyrie raised her right arm, only to relax when she patted his left shoulder.

"Guess that makes two of us." She laughed bitterly. "But at least we get to be screwed up together, right?"

Noctum's mouth hung open. Valkyrie scraped his shoulder blade.

"Ow!" The cosmic charizard's wings tensed. "L-Look, it's hard to know when you're joking!"

"Sounds like a you problem." Valkyrie yawned. "Well, those two lugs are still out of it." She stretched her arms up. "And I can't imagine Vortex waking up any time soon. So, I'm feeling lazy."

The garchomp flopped down on the bed, splaying out on her side. "Lemme know if they wake up, I guess."

Noctum grabbed his tail. "H-Hey, y'know there are other beds here, right? Why do you have to use mine?"

"Lazy." Valkyrie yawned again. "You don't like it? Make me move, Palkia."

Noctum opened his mouth, then closed it. He held a hand up, then lowered it when Valkyrie smirked at him. Sighing, Noctum got to his feet and shuffled over to the bed across from the one he'd been using.

Valkyrie snorted. "Dork."

"I heard that." Noctum frowned.

"I wanted you to."

Despite the sassy tone, there was a grin on Valkyrie's face. Noctum took that as a win.

Yuna's day couldn't have started off more awkwardly. She woke up curled around Nikki, with her tail draped over the toxtricity's lower half like a blanket. With a yelp, the dragapult darted out of bed.

Leo's bed. Where they slept together. And where... something else happened the other night. But Yuna's head was so foggy. It was all a blur.

Nikki slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Maaan, why'd you have to get up? I was comfy." She felt around the bed, probably looking for her leather jacket. Yuna couldn't remember her taking it off.

"It's on the floor." Yuna pointed to the foot of the bed with her tail. Nikki crawled forward, then lay on her stomach. She barely had enough reach to grab the jacket and toss it up onto the bed beside her.

"Bluuugh." Nikki's mohawk slowly came to life. "Twiggy's sister doesn't screw around. That shit hit hard."

Yuna fidgeted nervously. "Um, Nikki? Do you... remember last night?"

"Yeah." Nikki stretched her legs out. "Haven't had a night like that in a while. I feel like a new tox." She rolled over on her right and propped her head up with her arm. "Why?"

"I, um—" The dragapult's tail crinkled. "It's all kinda fuzzy for me, but I, um, think something happened?"

Nikki snorted. "More than something. Mostly for me, though. Pretty sure you told me things don't work that way for dragapult."

Then Yuna's blurry memories were right. "Ah." She drifted toward the ground. "What, um, should we do now?"

"Strip the bed." Nikki glanced over her shoulder. "Then, uh, I guess if we're trying to be responsible we find out if there's, y'know, world-saving business to do. If not, lazy day, babyyyy."

Yuna blinked a few times. "You mean go back to bed?"

"Pfbt. Nah." The toxtricity rolled off the bed. She put her jacket on, then grabbed the covers and yanked them off in one smooth motion. "Means not doing anything productive. Everyone needs a good lazy day now and again."

"Oh." Yuna got off the floor and helped Nikki by grabbing the other end of the fitted sheet to get it off Leo's bed. "You're, um, really nonchalant about this."

"Do you want me to make a big deal of it?" Nikki balled up the covers and sheet. She had to wrap both arms around them to stop them from spilling onto the floor. "I'm not Pillow Prince. Don't need fanfare saying I had a fun night with someone I like."

"But you'd tease someone if you knew, wouldn't you?"

"Hell yeah I would. Cuz it's funny."

The dragapult's ectoplasm quivered. Yuna's torso tightened. "I, um—" She tried to keep her form stable, but her tail also twisted around until it was as thin as a straw. "I've, um, never really... thought about that kind of stuff before?"

She looked down at her core.

"I doubt this is a Yaldumbass thing," Nikki scoffed.

Yuna's thinned tail shriveled up. "Y-Yaldumbass?"

Smirking, Nikki marched toward the door. "Seemed appropriate." She glanced at Yuna. "Look, I'll leave it up to you. We can forget about it if you want."

"N-No." Yuna took several deep breaths. Her torso and tail slowly expanded. "I think it was... nice. B-But maybe we don't do anything that crazy again?"

"Fair enough." Nikki nodded. "I'd shake on it but, well..." She lifted the ball of linens in her arms. "Can you get the door?"

Yuna floated over and opened the door. They headed for the laundry room and gave the linens to two of the skorps manning the washing machines. Then they headed for the hangar. Yuna was startled to learn that Grishi was in the outpost, having come back with Leo and Vince. Cid wasn't around to offer a report, nor was Gene. But Alder told them that things were quiet on the anomaly front.

Nikki took that as her cue to declare a lazy day. Which led them up to the restaurant where they sat at one of the tables by the glass wall offering a view of Guzzie Jr.'s arena. Sparks and fireballs flickered in the corner of Yuna's vision as the two sat quietly waiting on the "surprise" Nikki ordered.

Guzzie's loud stomps heralded his arrival. Yuna watched the guzzlord set down a tray with two large glasses and a big plate of fries.

"Here you are." Guzzie took the dishes off the tray. "Two chocoholic milkshakes and a plate of fries. If you want anything else, let Guzzie know." He turned and headed back toward the kitchen.

"Excellent." Nikki rubbed her hands together eagerly. She pulled one of the milkshakes toward her. "I can't believe you've been here two months and haven't gotten a single shake. Wild."

Yuna reached for the other glass. "I guess I don't see what the big deal is? What does shaking the milk do to it?" She looked at the thick, creamy chocolate in the glass. "Other than make it look a little like that ice cream stuff people enjoy?"

Nikki gave Yuna the most dumbfounded look she'd ever seen. "You're shitting me, right?"

"No?"

"Good grief." Nikki took a fry and tossed it into her mouth. "It's not called a milkshake because you're shaking the milk. You blend ice cream, milk, and other shit together." She scooped whipped cream off the top of her shake with two fingers, then licked it off.

"Then why call it a milkshake?" Yuna whined.

"Hell if I know. Your confusion's cute, though." Nikki grabbed two more fries and scarfed them down. "Next you're going to tell me you think root beer is booze made from plant roots."

Yuna's ectoplasm shriveled. "I-It isn't?!"

Nikki stared at her in disbelief. After a few seconds, she slapped the table, howling with laughter. This quickly faded to a stoic expression. "You're a freaking riot, Princess," she deadpanned.

Frowning, Yuna licked the whipped cream from the top of her shake. "Why'd you order these things together, anyway?"

"To show you one of the best combos in the realm of foodstuffs," Nikki declared. She grabbed a large fry and held it up for Yuna to see. "Fry." She pulled it toward her milkshake. "Dipped in shake."

Nikki ate the large fry in a single bite. "Yeah, that's the good shit right there."

Yuna looked between her milkshake and the fries. Shrugging, the dragapult took a few fries. She dipped one into the chocolate shake, then pulled it out and ate half of it.

Her ectoplasm jiggled. "Mmmm." Yuna finished the fry, then dipped the other two and scarfed them down. "Yeah, I think I see your point." She licked her golden claws. "It's good! I like the mix of sweet and salty." It reminded her of the kettle corn she'd had the other week.

Smirking, Nikki grabbed some more fries. The toxtricity dipped one into her milkshake. "You can admit I have good tastes~"

"I guess you do." Yuna chuckled.

The awkwardness of the morning had melted away. Part of Yuna felt guilty that she was having fun doing something so... silly and insignificant. But that was quickly snuffed out by the part of her that just didn't care.

"Fries and milkshakes for lunch?"

Metallic hoofbeats drew Yuna's attention left. Shimmer walked toward them, with Igneous and Scarlett not far behind. The dragonair spotted the fries and shook her head.

"A Nikki classic, I see."

The toxtricity wiggled a shake-covered fry at Scarlett. "You know it. If y'all want shakes, you gotta order them."

"I'm good." Shimmer stopped by the table. "That stuff would go straight to my hips."

"Pssh. You have nine tails." Nikki ate the fry in her hand. "More than enough to cover your ass no matter how doughy."

Yuna snorted. Luckily she hadn't eaten the fry in her hand. "N-Nikki."

Nikki tossed a fry into her mouth. "I calls 'em as I sees 'em."

"Har, har." Shimmer rolled his eyes.

"We figured we'd check in," Igneous said. The grovlazzle put a chair down at the corner of the table opposite the glass wall and sat down. "You guys hear about what happened last night?"

Yuna and Nikki exchanged a look, then shook their heads. She had a bad feeling Igneous was about to ruin her good mood.

Igneous passed along a recap Valkyrie gave him of what happened with Artemis, Widget, and Seifer. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Not sure what we should do with this. It's concerning, though. Especially because of what happened in Herbrides yesterday."

Nikki rested her left arm on the table and used it to prop up her head. She sipped at her chocolate shake. "More Xeromus shit? You already killed the vibe, Twiggy, so just spit it out."

Sighing, Igneous recounted a claim Xeromus made about Leo not being the true arceus of their universe. Instead, the crazed silvally believed that title belonged to the cloud monster that killed Seifer.

"Then he's obviously lying," Nikki said. She set her shake down and pinched her brow. "Nnngh. Brain freeze."

"Is he?" Igneous tapped his chin. "Leo's blessing went haywire."

Yuna frowned. "It didn't for Cyril or Widget." She decided she'd had enough fries and switched to slowly sipping her milkshake.

"What if that was because Leo didn't have any plates at the time?" Igneous wondered.

"Sheesh, Twiggy." Nikki rested her head against the table. "You put the 'kill' in 'buzzkill.' That's the kind of shit I'd expect out of, like, the Reaper."

Hearing Vegna's title made Yuna suck up a bit too much of the milkshake. A dreadful chill condensed her ectoplasm. "Aggggggh." She covered her torso with her arms and squeezed tightly.

"Oh, right, dragons hate ice." Nikki's mohawk flickered. "Guess brain freeze is even worse for you."

The dragapult kept rubbing her arms and chest until her ectoplasm settled. Then she rested her hands on the table like she was going to push herself up from her chair. "I should go talk to him."

"Why, so you can tell him what Twiggy said?" Nikki wondered.

"N-No." Yuna frowned. "To, y'know, assure him this wasn't his fault and stuff."

Scarlett paused with her tail hovering by the half-eaten plate of fries. "Uhhh, do you actually know what you want to tell him? Cuz if you just put your foot in your mouth, it might make things worse."

"Of course I do."

She didn't. And she could practically feel Reshiram's disapproving look.

"Well, still. I'm his mom." Yuna rose from her seat. "I should be there for him. Besides, it's not like a locked broom closet can stop me if I use my rifts."

The sucking of air came from Nikki's direction. She set her empty glass down and fiddled with the straw. "Don't you need to have been somewhere to rift to it?"

"Yeah."

"Have you gone into that broom closet?" The toxtricity raised a brow.

Yuna opened her mouth, then shut it and sat back down, slumping over on the table.

"What about Gene?" Shimmer asked. The ponytales tapped an icy forehoof on the floor. "He could get you there."

"He's not here."

Everyone's heads turned to find Jade waddling toward them. The salugia had what looked like one of Cyril's laptops under her left wing.

"Right. Cid mentioned that," Yuna said, picking her head up. "Where is he?"

"Heading to Blightsmuth, apparently," Jade said. "He wants to meet with that shredding guy."

"Shredder?" Nikki and Scarlett said in unison. They exchanged a surprised look.

Jade slapped her knee with her free wing. "That's the one!"

Yuna tilted her head. What did the shadowy mewtwo want with an ex-Crowne Minister?

"Tis not like thou can ask him," Rayquaza said.

"Huh." Nikki leaned her chair back, balancing it against the metal column behind her. "That means he could rift us over there when he comes back."

"You thinking of going home?" Scarlett said. The dragonair pulled the plate over to her, leaned over, and began scarfing down some of the fries at the edge of the plate.

Nikki stretched her arms up and cracked her knuckles. "It'd be nice to see the ol' joint while we've got some time to breathe."

Yuna nodded in agreement. It'd be something different. Plus, she'd brought Nikki home. It only seemed fair that she visited Blightsmuth.

"Well, I dunno how long he'll be." Jade reached the table and set the laptop down. "In the meantime, Cid said I oughta show you this." She grabbed the laptop and opened it up to a page of that weird Chatter thing Yuna heard mentioned before. Judging by the large play button taking up most of the screen, this was some sort of video.

"Okay, trackpad. Trackpad." Jade examined the laptop. "Which one's the— aha!"

She pressed a square on the base of the laptop and obnoxious music with some sort of guitar blared from the speakers as a... vaguely familiar sylveon in a skintight blouse studded with sequins hopped into the feed.

"Whassup #XanFam?! It's your lovely star-studded sylveon!" He winked at the camera and tons of pixelated hearts appeared on the screen. "And it's time for today's #ThreeCheersThreeJeers!"

"The he— ack!" Nikki fell out of her chair, which toppled to the floor with a clang.

Whinnying, Shimmer's tails puffed out. "Xander?!"

Xander hopped backward, sparkles trailing behind him. "Our first #Cheer goes to DJ Spiri2mb." A bunch of pixelated thumbs-ups appeared on the screen behind the sylveon. They rapidly gave way to a blue and purple spiritomb wearing sunglasses with flame decals on the frames. It also showed his name, which had a number two in it for some unfathomable reason. "His latest single 'Afterlive' just dropped and it is #flames."

The group could only stare in disbelief as pixelated fire icons and clapping hands appeared all over the screen.

"What is this?" Scarlett's wings fluttered nervously. "It's like he's... hosting some sort of show?"

"And now the first #Jeer... to the police department for Canalave City!" Xander continued. This time a bunch of thumbs-downs appeared on the screen, giving way to footage of a bunch of doodles of human cops lounging about in office chairs and hammocks. "They just sat by and twiddled their thumbs while the rebels swooped in and wrecked Iron Island!"

Xander's screen transitioned to show some kind of construction site with a bunch of broken machines and pieces of metal.

"Hey!" Jade squawked, tail flaps curling. "It was like that when we got there! The Whisper did that!"

"Forget it." Shimmer couldn't take his gaze off the laptop as more pixelated thumbs-ups surrounded a dancing Xander. "Why is he there? Don't tell me the emperor brainwashed him like he did the volcarona twins!"

Yuna's legs retracted into her torso. "Err..."

The ponytales tensed. "Don't 'err' me." He glanced at the others. "What am I missing here?"

No one wanted to break the news to Shimmer, leaving Xander's recording to continue.

"... Move on to our final #Cheer. As always, it goes to our beloved Grand Emperor Paradox for his stellar work getting rid of the Iron Island rift the rebels created!"

"Shut that off!" Shimmer hissed. His horn glowed pink. A similar glow surrounded the laptop, which slammed shut.

"H-Hey, careful. That isn't mine." Jade picked up the laptop and inspected it.

Sighing, Igneous leaned over and put a hand on Shimmer's right shoulder. "I hate to break it to you, but Xander joined Paradox willingly."

"What?!"

"We managed to spy on Paradox capturing our classmates," Yuna admitted, massaging her legs out of her torso to mixed success. "Xander practically threw himself at Paradox's feet."

"I thought he'd get turned into an Eternatus Trooper," Nikki scoffed, getting back up and dusting off her leather jacket. "Or one of those robots."

The ponytales wasn't impressed. Shimmer's horn was still glowing. "And when was anyone going to tell me this?!"

"When the need arose." Igneous squinted at Jade. "Evidently, this is that need."

"Um, is it really that surprising?" Scarlett asked, brushing her left wing against her neck bauble. "I thought you realized your guys' relationship was built on basically nothing."

Yuna frowned at that. Xander was part of Radiant nobility, right? Why else was he at Horizon? "What is his background, anyway?"

"He's—" Shimmer stopped himself. His eyes slowly widened, then the ponytales hung his head. "Oh no..."

Everyone looked at Shimmer expectantly. "Well?" Nikki said. "Don't keep us waiting!"

"Polarisvision!" Shimmer blurted out. His shoulders sagged. "His father's the head of one of the biggest media companies in the kingdom... which he sold to Polaris, like, five years ago!" He tensed up. "Xander was the one who would get me onto the sets of movies or PV shows and that's how we ended up dating..."

"Then of course he'd make dumb videos for Paradox." Nikki threw her arms up. "Guy's clearly an attention whore!"

"How much attention could he really get?" Scarlett wondered. She slowly ate a couple more fries. "This Qliphoth place is ridiculously b—"

"He has fifteen million followers on Chatter. His account was made two weeks ago." Jade got the laptop screen on again, showing the numbers alongside a picture of the sylveon lying in a very... lascivious pose.

Eyes widening, the dragonair swallowed hard and descended into a coughing fit.

Shimmer scooted away from the salugia, whinnying. "F-Fifteen million?!"

"Well, shit." Nikki leaned over and rubbed Scarlett's back. "That's obnoxious. But does it really matter?"

"It would if the guy's a Paradigm lieutenant." Jade paused for a few seconds, smiling dumbly. Then she pointed at the small paragraph on screen, below a gold banner reading "Chatter Premium EX Plus Plus Member."

"His bio says he's one."

Nikki threw her arms up again. "Well screw me for asking, I guess! So, what, do we humiliate him online by using one of Boss Kitty's drones to catch him doing something stupid? Turn his fans into an angry mob? I bet Scarlett and I could write a killer diss track if we want a more musical option."

Yuna drummed her claws against the table. "No, I'm pretty sure we have to beat the Paradigm out of him."

"But getting to him's going to be a problem if he's really that big," Scarlett squeaked, leaning over to nervously nibble on a fry. "Starlene needed security and stuff to keep the public away from her and that fanbase was a fraction of a fraction of what Xander's got."

"I have a proposal, then." Nikki's right arm shot up. "We don't worry about it today." She picked her chair up, spun around it, and sat on it so her arms were draped over its back. "Think about it, guys. We don't know where he is, who's with him, or what sorts of powers he has. We're not the intel gatherers and Boss Kitty's off paying Shredder a house call for some stupid reason.

"Besides, these Paradigm dweebs keep showing up whenever new rifts pop up." The toxtricity smirked. "So, if we wait for the next mystery dungeon, then there's a chance he just shows up and we kick his ass."

Sighing, Yuna leaned back. Her ectoplasmic body practically draped over the back of her chair like it was a towel rack. Nikki did have a point. It didn't make sense to go after Xander without a plan. And a solid plan needed solid information.

"I just feel guilty sitting here when something's wrong," the dragapult mumbled.

"Don't think of it as sitting around then." Nikki drummed her fingers against the back of her chair. "Think of it as resting up before whatever our next battle is."

"I guess." Yuna traced a claw around her core. "But what do we even do to relax?"

"I'd suggest a spa day, but we don't have one of those," Shimmer said.

"Don't look at me." Jade raised her large wings. "These silly things aren't good for mixing up herbal remedies like I did in the ol' apothecary days." She looked over her shoulder. "Plus, I don't even have any supplies."

"But the monks do," Scarlett pointed out. The dragonair straightened up and looked at the salugia. "What if you were giving instructions to us?"

"Teaching? Moi?" Jade pointed at her face. "I never considered it."

"Seriously? Herbal remedies?" Nikki squinted at Scarlett.

"Do you have a better idea?" Scarlett countered.

The toxtricity went back to drumming her fingers against the back of her chair.

"It can be pretty therapeutic grinding up herbs and ingredients with a mortar and pestle." Jade pressed a wing digit against the laptop. "But it's up to you guys."

Scarlett looked around at the group. Yuna pulled herself upright and shrugged at the dragonair.

"I'll give it a shot. It's something different." She glanced at Nikki and Igneous.

"Yeah, sure," the grovalzzle said.

"Oh, what the hell. If even Twiggy's doing it, then I'm in."

Jade's tail flaps wiggled in excitement. "Great! Then, uh, I'll go find some supplies and a quiet room!"

She turned on a dime and quickly waddled toward the door to the residential quarters. Yuna glanced at the now empty plate of fries.

This wasn't how she imagined today going. But all things considered, she'd take it over any mystery dungeon chaos.