"My name is Lydia Moore, and this is an emergency citywide alert," boomed a voice emanating from every loudspeaker as far as the eye could see. The audio quality was terribly compressed, and Nero had to plug his ears to focus on what she was saying. "It is with a heavy heart that I must tell all of you that our beloved mayor, Gordon Caddock, has been assassinated. The perpetrators are currently within the city walls, so an immediate lockdown will be enforced. No imports or exports are to pass through the city's walls, including food and water, until the three responsible outlaws are successfully apprehended."

Nero groaned. "Oh, wonderful. I will be staying overnight, after all. I'm glad I stocked up on Chesto Berries."

"The outlaws' names are as follows: Fabian Vanadis, a Croconaw…"

"Fabian?!" Nero couldn't begin to fathom when Fabian would've found the time to commit a murder, but then again, when it came to making the stupidest possible decisions, there was nobody else in the world as reliable.

"...Nero Moreno, an unusually small Zigzagoon…"

"Unusually small?" he balked. "Was that part really necessary?" As far as Nero was aware, he hadn't participated in any political assassinations recently, which meant that he was being framed, and presumably Fabian was as well. This was dire, but they had nobody to blame but themselves; after all, the three of them were way too careless with handing out their identities. He almost tuned out the rest of the announcement, seeing as the last name was almost certainly going to be Sofia.

"...and finally, Toño Navarro Cuesta, a Pachirisu. I repeat, the city will be on indefinite lockdown until Fabian Vanadis, Nero Moreno, and Toño Navarro Cuesta are apprehended. Any and all civilian assistance would be greatly appreciated, and a bounty of five million Poké will be awarded for each outlaw captured alive." The speakers all cut out.

Nero blinked. "Who the hell is Toño?" He shook his head. "Not important. The number one priority is to make sure I'm safe at the moment." His automobile had crash-landed in a secluded alleyway on the very bottom level of Ferrumark City, so at the very least, his current location was secure enough for him to recover from the total paralysis that came with overextending himself.

Briefly expanding his perception range, Nero observed that thousands of civilians were already tearing the streets up in search of the three alleged criminals. Fabian was as good as dead if he was still in captivity, and he was pretty sure that Melker already killed Sofia, so besides this mysterious Toño character, he had nobody to worry about but himself.

Just how he liked it.

It had already been an hour since he crash-landed, but he had only just now regained control of one of his forepaws. Shortly after, various other body parts followed, until his complete range of motion returned to him. The automobile weighed significantly less than the water tower, but it took noticeably longer for him to recover this time. It was clear that he couldn't afford to overexert himself so casually in the future.

It was safe to say that the main entrances were going to be barricaded. He was out of luck when it came to leaving through traditional means, so with no other ideas springing to mind, he kept on scanning his surroundings. The opportunistic looters had already smashed every window and stolen every scrap of food that wasn't nailed down, and like a swarm of Beedrill, they had already moved on to desolate the rest of the city in search of more food to hoard. It was impressive, how an entire city could descend into such utter chaos in just a few minutes.

Just before he was about to leave the alleyway, Nero picked up four more Pokémon on the layer above him. Three Geodudes, a species which was far from extraordinary in Rumas, and curiously, a Tangela. "Is that… Cato? Impossible!" Nero's old caretaker had completely slipped his mind through the chaos of the past few days. His perception couldn't pick up noise, so he stealthily scaled the brick alleyway wall up to their layer and crept under a dumpster nearby enough to listen in.

"I-I swear on my life, I dunno where he is!" Cato stammered, his back to the wall as he faced the Geodudes.

The biggest Geodude scoffed. "Sure you don't!" he accused. On his arm he wore an ash-gray band with dull red pinstripes, an Ash Syndicate uniform. "You babysat 'em for how long? Ten years? You gotta have some idea where he's hiding! We know he's in here somewhere! Tell us now and we might even think about putting in a good word with the Commander!"

"Come to think of it, don't Geodudes only weigh around twenty kilos?" he wondered. The more Nero thought about it, the more he realized how incredibly easy it would be for him to shove them off a cliff. Sure, they were floating off the ground, but Nero had never seen one hover higher than a dozen centimeters in his life, so he figured they needed some sort of floor beneath them to remain airborne.

Only one way to find out, he decided. Nero applied as much force as he could on the largest Geodude, and he went flying backwards, over the guardrails and falling below them. The other two Geodudes looked around, stupid horrified expressions filling their faces. "Wh- Boston, no!" one cried out, before grabbing Cato by a vine. "Cato, the hell did you do-" Nero sent that one flying next, and as much as he bit his tongue and pulled at his own fur, he couldn't stop himself from snickering.

"Who's that?" the third, smallest one demanded. "Show yourself right this second, or face the wrath of-" And off he went.

Nero cackled hysterically as Cato hopped over to him and shoved the dumpster aside. "N-Nero?!" Cato gasped. "What are you- how did you-"

"Nice to see you, too," Nero said taking a deep breath to compose himself. "So, you four were meant to act as my assailants? Father didn't exactly send his best, did he?"

"Nero, I…" he looked away from Nero. "I-I'm only here on coincidence, I swear! I'd never try to hurt you! B-But, I was looking all over the place for you when I heard that alert! I wanna help you get out! Follow me, there's an escape route on floor thirty!"

Nero didn't buy it. After all, it was a universal truth that all people acted solely in their own self-interest, and that included ineffectual wimps like Cato. Since Cato had everything to gain and nothing to lose by capturing Nero, it was easy to deduce that some sort of betrayal was imminent. Still, Nero wanted to play along to see if there was an exit. He was confident in his ability to outmaneuver Cato, and he still had that last Blast Seed up his sleeve, so he didn't see any harm. "That so?" Nero asked, feigning interest. "Well then, lead the way."

The ramps leading up to the next dozen levels were barren as well, contrasting the ceaseless cacophony of pounding footsteps coming from the very top. "What's going on up there?" Cato wondered aloud.

Nero shook his head. "Just keep moving," he said. He had a strong feeling that whatever was going on up there had something to do with Fabian, and whatever it was, he wanted no part in it.

The floors grew more populated once Nero and Cato hit the twenties, forcing them to sneak around in the shadows. This proved difficult for Cato, who would trip and fall so often that he made more noise than when he was walking normally. Luckily, Nero was the only one who really needed to hide, and that was no trouble for him.

Floor thirty arrived after around a full hour of travel, and Cato hopped his way to front of a tunnel that cut into the mountainside. Hesitation flickered in his eyes for a moment before he announced, "H-Here it is!"

Using his perception, Nero easily sensed that the cave did not lead outside, nor did it get even a quarter of the way there. Rather, it led to a small room containing three Drilburs, each wearing Syndicate bandanas, lying in wait at the end, wielding ropes and Sleep Seeds. A betrayal, just as Nero expected. "I could've sworn we had at least a few competent members in our ranks," he lamented. "Is everyone on holiday or something?" He rolled his Blast Seed into the tunnel until it bumped into a wall and went off, causing a cave-in.

"Wh-What are you- Why would you-" Cato stammered, staring at the collapsed hole in abject horror. "Did you… know?"

"Father didn't bother to warn you about what I can do now, did he?" Nero asked. "Though, it's not like I really needed superpowers to survive this. There's no universe where you could successfully convince me to crawl into that obvious death trap."

Cato covered his eyes with his vines and began whimpering pathetically. "I-I… Look, I'm real sorry, but Commander Claudius said he's gonna kill me if I don't bring you here! I don't got a choice!"

Nero smirked. "Better me than you, is it then? I like where your head's at. At the very least, I prefer this to all those endless lectures about how we're a family or whatever."

"Th-That's…" Cato faltered. "I… Wh-Why aren't… shouldn't you be upset?"

"Why would I be?" Nero asked, genuinely confused. "Everyone in the world is selfish. That's just how we are. I'm no more upset at you for this than I am at you for eating or breathing."

"Th-That's not true! Don't say that!"

"Sure it is. Isn't you being here proof of that?"

The look in Cato's eye was a strange one. A mix of horror and profound regret, like a Scyther who had just stabbed someone on accident. "Y-You… I… I'm so, so sorry, you don't deserve any of-"

Nero rolled his eyes. "Don't apologize, it makes you look pathetic. I didn't fall for your manipulations the first time, what makes you think it will work now?"

Cato's weird, horrified expression didn't falter. "I'm not…" he let the words hang between them, clearly out of things to say.

This charade was getting tiring, and Nero had lost patience for it. "Alright then, nice catching up with you!" Nero called out as he walked away, up the ramp to the next floor. "Oh, before I forget, do me a favor and let my father know that I'll be making an appearance at Renegade's Edge. And for the love of Arceus, tell him to send his best next time."

This was a risky thing to say and he knew it, but during execution day, Renegade's Edge was the most densely populated hub for Guild activity, and as things were, Nero stood absolutely zero chance of lasting longer than five minutes there, powers or not. His hope was that the chaos of an all-out war between the world's superpowers would obfuscate his movements enough so that he'd be able to rescue the condemned criminals undetected.

Naturally, Cato just stood there and watched as Nero left, looking as distantly regretful as ever.

In retrospect, Toño's decision to sneak out absolutely should not have been as great of an idea as it ended up being. Guild members swarmed Melker Motors just moments after the announcement went off, and he certainly would've been captured by now if he hadn't left. Although they didn't make it outside in time, they did find a nice closet to hide out in until the coast was clear. He would've thanked Fabian if only the Croconaw wasn't too busy sobbing his eyes out.

"I didn't kill him!" he wailed. "I would never kill someone! I never even met the guy! How could they-"

"Cram it!" Toño hissed. Fabian's noise probably went unnoticed by the people directly outside because of all the fighting, but still, it wasn't like the closet was soundproof. "If any Guild members hear us, we're done for! And, hold on, isn't you killing some random guy the whole reason you're on the run-"

Fabian grabbed Toño by the tail and yanked him off the box he was standing on. "Hey, the hell's your problem-"

An arrowhead shot through the door, directly piercing the spot where Toño's head would've been. He stared at it for a while, his jaw hanging open as he considered how easily he could've died in that moment. "How…? I- how did you know that was gonna happen?"

"You don't know?" Fabian asked. "Melker definitely knew, and from what that Marowak was saying before all those explosions happened, she sounded like she heard about what happened to me, too."

Toño folded his arms. "Yeah, well nobody ever tells me anything. I'm lucky if I get to talk to someone more than once a day."

Fabian took a deep breath. "So basically there are these people called Successors and they have really weird powers and you get them by killing whoever the last Successor was for that power and I think they have something to do with how all the Legendaries are dead and most of the Successors are gone for some reason and also I became one because I killed this one weird old guy– I say he's weird but he was also kinda cool and mysterious I guess– but he seemed okay with it or at least he stopped his friend from stopping me and now I can see the future and I'm on the run to save my mom who sacrificed herself to save me."

Not a single word of that registered, but Toño desperately needed Fabian to stop talking, so he nodded along as if he understood.

"I wonder what's going on out there?" Fabian said, putting his eye to the peephole created by the arrowhead. That door was unsteady when Toño last saw it several years ago, so watching Fabian put his entire body weight behind it made him wince. "Woah, a Decidueye? I've never seen one of those before!"

"I've never even heard of 'em," Toño added.

Fabian turned his head away from the door. "They're Grass-Ghost-types, but they evolve from a Grass-Flying-type, so they'll know some Flying moves as well," he recited. "And what's really interesting is that there's some archaeological evidence that Decidueyes used to be part Fighting instead of part Ghost a couple thousand years ago! Apparently, people are saying that some increased volcanic activity reduced their need for an Ice-type resistance, so they slowly adapted to a new environment, sorta like how the Geodudes from the North are Electric-types while the ones here are Ground-types, but unlike them, it seems like all of the Fighting-type Decidueyes died out completely!"

"That's… neat, I guess?" Toño replied, not sure of how to respond to that. "But how do you know any of that? Didn't you just say you've never met a Decidueye before?"

"Oh, sorry, I started talking too much again, didn't I?" Fabian said, repetitively running his finger against the palm of his hand. "Sorry, I get too excited about this kind of stuff. I'm working on cutting it out."

Toño wished he didn't say anything. He didn't mean to make Fabian feel bad! "Hey, don't apologize! There's nothing wrong with talking about the things you like."

"No, I know it's annoying," Fabian resigned. "Besides, I should focus on figuring out what else is going on out there." He leaned up against the peephole again. "Hey, I think that's the Fire-type Marowak lady-"

A thudding noise suddenly hit the wall beside the door, shaking it just enough for the latch to slide back in. The door swung open, and Fabian, with nothing to lean on, fell flat on his face. He groaned in pain.

Beyond the door stood Hunter and a Decidueye, both motionlessly staring at Fabian with their eyes wide open. "F-Fabian?" Hunter asked. Toño awkwardly waved at her. "Toño, you're okay?!" She sprinted into the closet, stepping over Fabian to inspect Toño for even the slightest hint of injury. "Thank Arceus, you're okay! That Quincy asswipe's been telling us he already caught you!"

Toño's jaw clenched at the mention of that name. "So, Quincy really is here. I guess he's finally decided that he's milked the Boss for all he's worth." He cleared his throat. "I'm… I'm fine, don't worry. Who's that Decidueye, and what's he doing here?"

"Crap, the Decidueye!" she yelled, spinning around and holding her bone in front of her in a defensive position. That Decidueye, however, was already on the ground, pronounced teeth marks in its neck. Fabian sat beside the unconscious body, watching her and Toño silently while picking his ear.

"Don't worry, I got 'em," he said. "He had a Syndicate scarf on, so I didn't feel bad about beating him up."

"You- how?" Hunter asked, wiping the tears off her skull. "That was a Grass-type! I didn't even hear you take him out!"

Fabian shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't think he was all that used to fighting at close range. All I did was bite him once and he fell over!"

Toño hopped over to the body and inspected the armband. It bore the pattern of the Ash Syndicate. "He's with the Syndicate?" Toño asked. "That doesn't make any sense, though. Wouldn't it just be the Guilds trying to take me out?"

"That isn't important right now," Hunter said. "We need to bring you to the Boss. He's worried sick about you right now, and we need him at his A-game."

Fabian tripped over the Decidueye while trying to sneak away and faceplanted again. "Owww…" he groaned.

Hunter grabbed Fabian's arm. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked. "You're still our prisoner, so you're coming with us."

"But I don't wanna see Melker again," Fabian groaned. "He's the worst!"

"C'mon, he's probably not gonna want to hurt you," Toño assured him. "Besides, we could really use your help to out of here! And if the boss's feeling pissy, I'll try to back you up."

"...Fine," Fabian reluctantly agreed.

As much as Fabian hated to admit it, Melker was insanely tough. There had to be at least a hundred civilians coming after him in the Melker Motors parking lot, and even though there were three times as many unconscious bodies littering the scene, he didn't even break a sweat. "I'll kill every last one of you!" he roared. "I'll burn the entire city to the ground before I let you trim so much as a hair off Toño's body!"

"I'm right here, Boss!" Toño shouted, sitting atop Fabian's head.

"Please don't burn the entire city down, Boss!" Hunter wearily added.

Melker blinked at them before immediately rocketing towards them, blasting his way through dozens of civilians to get to them without wasting a millisecond. "Toño, you're alright? Thank Arceus! But, how did you get away from-"

Hunter folded her arms. "Quincy's a damned liar. Apparently, those two were long gone before the announcement even happened." She shot a glare at Toño. "Care to explain how?"

Picking at Fabian's head spike, Toño stammered aimlessly. "I-I just… needed the bathroom? B-B-But, I- just, well, I wanted a change in scenery, so I went to use the upstairs one!"

"And you took the Vanadis kid with you?" Melker flatly responded. "We don't have time for this, Toño! The truth, now!"

Toño gulped. "I… I was… trying to sneak out," he admitted. "B-But, only for one night! All I wanted was some fresh air! Plus, Fabian was going to protect me the whole time!"

"Toño, you're smarter than this!" Melker yelled. "How could you do something so ridiculously stupid?"

Fabian tried to interrupt. "Don't yell at him, he only did it because-"

"You know how dangerous it is for you to be out in the open!" Melker continued, not even registering what Fabian was saying.

"Leave him alone," Fabian asserted. "I'm telling you, none of this is his fault-"

"So many things could've gone wrong-"

"Shut up!" Fabian interrupted again, raising his voice.

Melker glowered at Fabian. "The hell did you just say to me?"

Fabian clenched his fist. "I said shut up! First off, it was my idea to get him to sneak off, so you can't blame him for that, and second, he wasn't safe in your factory at all! If I didn't get him to leave, he could be dead by now! Don't be mad at him for wanting to go outside for once in his life, be mad at yourself for being a terrible boss and an even worse person!"

Raising her weapon to Fabian's neck, Hunter shot a sharp glare at him. "Who do you think you are?" Hunter asked. "Nobody calls the Boss terrible, for any reason."

Melker raised a claw to intervene. "Cut that out, Hunter, there's no sense in fighting each other right now." He turned his attention to Fabian, looking a little shaken up. "I… well, thanks. For keeping Toño safe, I mean. And sorry for blowing up like that."

"He wasn't trying to save Toño," Hunter pointed out. "In all likelihood, this was just an escape attempt-"

"Who cares?" Melker shot back. "At the end of the day, we're all safe, and if we wanna keep it that way, we gotta end this lockdown, and the only way we're doing that is by getting these two the hell out of here! And that Moreno brat, too!"

"Who is Nero, anyway?" Toño asked. "He a friend of yours, Fabian?"

"Not at all," Fabian answered coldly. "But yeah, we're traveling together. Don't have any idea where he is, though."

…

"Damn, I just had another blank vision!" Fabian complained. "Melker, how come none of my visions work whenever I'm around you?"

"None of your business!" he huffed. Melker shut his eyes for a brief moment. "There, they should work now."

An unexpected beam of ice from above blasted straight through Melker's wing, leaving him powerless to evade the barrage of ice shards that pelted his body, splitting his skin like it was paper.

"Ice Beam from above, Melker!" Fabian shouted, jumping back. A stream of flame instantly erupted from Melker's mouth, countering the beam of ice until it fizzled away. The Froslass responsible descended to their level and sighed deeply. "Melker, please just surrender. You won't be able to protect Toño, and if you keep this up, the rest of your workers will end up dead."

Melker leaned back towards Fabian. "Kid," he whispered, "do me a favor and get Toño out of here. I've got an old friend who runs a hospital down on floor fifteen. Bring him there and hide out until I return."

Fabian cracked his knuckles. "I'm not running away from her," he said, frowning. "I know that voice! She's the announcer lady that accused me of killing that guy! It's all her fault that any of this is happening, and she's not getting away with that!"

"Lydia's too tough for you!" Melker protested. "What's with you and trying to punch above your weight?" Fabian stood his ground and met Melker's fiery gaze directly. He wasn't going to budge, and no amount of glaring was going to change that. "Fine, your funeral. Hunter, would you mind?"

Hunter rolled her eyes. "No problem, Boss," she said, grabbing Toño and running away, holding him under her arm like a basketball. Lydia clasped her hands together as the silver-blue bud of another Ice Beam coalesced in front of her, but Fabian headbutted her before she could fire it off.

Just before Lydia could retaliate with a painful-looking Ice Punch, Melker swooped in and snatched Fabian out of the way. "You better not expect me to babysit you the whole time!" Melker said, dodging and weaving through the shard of ice being fired at him in the air. "Next time, I'm letting you take the hit!"

"I didn't ask for your help!" Fabian shot back, landing back on the ground once Melker was low enough. "I'll kick her ass before you can even see what happened!"

There was no way he was going to be dead weight this time. He was on rough losing streak ever since the rooftop incident, which was why he was going to make sure that this fight was going to be the one to break it.