The Royal Guard, having successfully taken care of their business, didn't stick around for celebration. With nothing but a curt "do let these fine citizens know they're free to leave" from Liskey and a dainty wave from the Ledian, they departed yet again, leaving Nero alone with an unconscious, half-dead Fabian and Scotcher's decapitated head.

After a quick check of Scotcher's pulse (one never could be too sure, after all), Nero checked in on Fabian. He was no anatomy expert, so in order to find a heartbeat, he had to rub his paw along Fabian's chest for a while. Although Nero did manage to find the beating of Fabian's heart, it was so weak that he nearly missed it.

Nero smirked slightly. "You better hope they have a doctor down here," he said to Fabian's body. To no surprise, there wasn't a response. He scoffed. "Who am I kidding, the world's been bending over backwards for you for your entire life, it's not like it would dare to stop now. At least you might actually learn something this time."

Challenging Scotcher head-on was an absurdly terrible idea, and there was no way Fabian didn't know that. Even he couldn't possibly be that stupid, and in the event that he were, Nero gave him ample warning. He couldn't even begin to wrap his head around the mindset that could lead someone to make such an asinine move. Was it overconfidence? Impatience? Did any of those falls he suffered cause him a brain injury?

Nero felt a headache coming on. "Perhaps it's best not to try to rationalize the thought process of an inherently irrational man. Either way, I should really get on that search for a doctor. If nothing else, he's a valuable meat shield, and I'd rather not expend that resource here."

Not too long after, a Lombre stuck her head in. "Huh. He's dead."

"He- WHAT?!" screamed another voice Nero vaguely recognized. A Nidorino rushed inside. "Fabian's dead? No, he can't be, I never told him I-"

"I meant Scotcher."

The Nidorino blinked, taking in the scene. The room was so bloody that it was borderline comical, to the point that the green-ness was overshadowed by the coat of red. "He… Diancie's Blessing, he's dead? He's dead! Guys, guys, he's dead!"

One by one, the rest of the rebels rushed into the room, along with a Golurk who Nero recognized as the guy they had knocked into the canyon all that time ago.

"No way, is that his head?!" the Roserade said.

"Woah, it's clean off!" the Chesnaught added.

"So, anyone up for a game of smackball?" the Golett said, earning a chuckle from Nero.

Duff turned towards Nero, his eyes brimming with joy. "I can't believe this, how did you guys do it? You gotta tell me everything!"

Nero smirked slightly. "It was a hard fought battle, but I managed to take his head." As Duff briefly turned to gawk at Scotcher's head again, Nero took the opportunity to dip his knife in Fabian's blood. "His attacks were powerful, as you can see from Fabian's poor condition, but he ended up being exactly as vulnerable to a dagger through the neck as everyone else." He flashed his now-bloodied knife at Duff as if it were a trophy of war.

"F-Fabian!" Duff said, sprinting over to his side, apparently only now noticing his dire condition. "You're alright, right? Please tell me he's alright!"

Nero heaved a long, heavy, melodramatic sigh. "He was struck by quite the nasty Solar Beam. I tried to warn him the best I could, but there just wasn't enough time. Part of me had written the battle off as lost in that moment, if I may be honest. Perhaps the shock of seeing my fallen companion granted me the second wind I needed?"

"Huh, guess you're cooler than I thought," the Chesnaught said. Nero winked at him, and the Golett stepped in defensively.

Without warning, the Golurk casually barged in and took a knee beside Fabian. "Pardon me, Moreno," they said.

"Of course," Nero replied. "Say, do you happen to be the Golurk who attempted to assault us right before we all fell into this horrible canyon?"

"I'm Officer Chip of Branch 22," they said plainly. "I was under the impression that recognizing our names was a key part of your job. Were you not a key financial planner for the Syndicate?"

"At one point in time, yes," Nero said. "But that chapter of my life has been thoroughly closed, and I'm not one to dwell on the past. To that end, I've purged my mind of every useless name I once needed to recall."

Chip nodded. "Understood. It appears Vanadis has been grievously injured, whereas you are comparatively unharmed. May I ask, how exactly did you endure combat with Scotcher when Vanadis could not?"

"Grit and determination," Nero answered flippantly.

"Naturally." Chip rose back up with Fabian carelessly slung around their shoulder. "Does your grit happen to take the form of Grass-type energy, as is clearly the source of the residue surrounding Scotcher's neck?"

Before answering, Nero looked back to see if the rebels were listening in. Thankfully, they were all preoccupied, tossing Scotcher's head around in a circle in what may have been the most macabre game of smackball– or any sport, for that matter– to ever be played. "No, it takes the form of a gang of aspiring oligarchs," Nero said in a hushed tone.

"The remaining members of the Royal Guard, correct?" Chip asked, clenching their fists. Nero almost sighed in relief at this sign of aggression. After all, it meant they had a common enemy. "They're truly hoping to betray us and establish a regime of their own?"

"A new era for Tullabar, they described it as," Nero said. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't give me the impression of a man who'd jump at the opportunity to replace your nation's single tyrant with four."

Chip shook their head. "My blood is boiling at the thought," they said, still completely stoic.

"Then, I'd advise against giving the people of this canyon cause to celebrate them," Nero said. "In all likelihood, the populace of this canyon will rally behind the man who killed their oppressor. Would you rather that be me, or the aristocrats who want you dead?" Noting Chip's contemplative silence, Nero went on. "All of that is, of course, unless you're willing to take their pretty speeches about prosperity and equality for all at face value."

"...Congratulations," Chip said, "for your hard-fought victory against Lord Scotcher." After some hesitation, Chip leaned down towards Scotcher's body and brushed the faint green residue off of his neck.

Nero bowed his head, a wide grin spreading across his face. "What can I say? It was the right thing to do."

Chip gave Nero an unamused nod. "Regardless, I would like to heal Vanadis now. I estimate he will die in approximately ten minutes, if untreated."

"You'd be able to patch him up?" Nero asked, congratulating himself on his prediction. "I'll admit, I didn't have you pegged as a medic."

"I'm not," Chip said. The crack in their chest began to glow with multicolored light as they dropped Fabian onto the ground and placed a hand against his chest. "However, I will be able to mend his wounds completely, at a cost."

Nero nodded, not exactly understanding what was happening at all. He didn't mind all that much at the end of the day; after all, this whole experience had only served to demonstrate the flaws in his plan to use Fabian as a bodyguard. Fabian was too weak to protect and too stupid to order around, so his usefulness was limited. "Do try your best not to kill him, alright?" Nero said.

Chip grunted, and as they did, a radiant light filled the entire room, so blindingly bright that pure white was all the eye could see.


Somehow, Fabian woke up feeling really good! He was as refreshed as he'd have been after a full night of sleep, his recent wounds had all but disappeared, his typically egregious morning breath was non-existent, and that weird crick in his neck was completely gone. He felt so ready to take on the day that he couldn't help but jump to his feet right away. "Woah, I feel great! Am I dead?"

"Regrettably, no," Nero said, rubbing his eyes.

"You!" Fabian scowled at Nero. "What's your problem?! Why'd you let me get hit by that Solar Beam?!"

Dillon, who was rummaging through one of several jewelry boxes in the room, turned around. "Hey, leave him alone! He's the hero of our canyon!"

"He what?" Fabian asked, his mind entirely unable to register the word 'hero' when used to describe Nero's actions or character.

"Yeah, he managed to kill Scotcher, all on his own!" Duff said, sitting uncomfortably close to Fabian. "I know, I couldn't believe it either, but he really pulled it off! I think we all misjudged him!"

Fabian scoffed. "No he didn't. I don't know what Nero told you, but he didn't do that."

Without warning, the Lombre whose name Fabian forgot presented Fabian with the battered head of a Meowscarada. "See for yourself," she said.

Fabian threw up.

Dale and Lara both laughed uproariously, only remaining on their feet because they could lean on each other. "Wait'll he sees the body!" Lara said.

"Don't show me the body!" Fabian demanded, desperately searching the area for a glass of water, too freaked out to realize that his body could produce all the water he'd ever need.

"Please avoid throwing up," Chip said, as if Fabian chose this. "There are more than enough bodily fluids in this room as-is."

"I didn't mean it!" Fabian said, wiping his maw with the arm that, last he checked, was irreparably broken. "Wait, hold on, how is this arm working? How am I alive at all, actually? I'm tough, but not tough enough to survive a point-blank Solar Beam!"

"My brother's a wizard or something now, apparently," Dale said.

Chip nodded in agreement. "In a sense. You are familiar with Succession, yes?"

With a heavy sigh, Fabian nodded. "Too familiar, yeah. What about it?"

"That makes things easier, then," Chip said. "I am Xerneas's Successor."

"Wow, cool!" Fabian said. Unfortunately, he wasn't big on mythology (he generally preferred studying things that he could observe in front of him), so he had no idea what a Xerneas was. "What's that mean?"

"Xerneas was the deity of life, if I'm not mistaken," Nero chimed in. "Therefore, it's safe to assume your active application is a healing factor of some kind."

Chip nodded, and Nero looked very pleased with himself. "At the cost of five years of my lifespan, I can restore people to complete health. The only injuries I'd be unable to mend are total amputation and death."

Fabian frowned. "Wait, five years?! You shouldn't have done that, you deserve those way more than me!"

"I'm not using the majority of mine," Chip explained. "The tax is no trouble to pay for me, which is why I volunteered to bear this burden in the first place."

"How ironic," Nero said. "The only Successor ability not to grant one endless life belonged to the deity who managed it."

Fabian blinked at Nero. "Endless life?"

Nero furrowed his brow. "Yes, is this new information for you? I could've sworn that was common knowledge."

"Nobody ever told me, I think!" Fabian yelled. At the very least, he didn't remember being told. "I didn't know!"

"Fabian, how do you think Dell lived to be five hundred?"

"I don't know!"

Chip cleared their throat. "Regardless, that boon would be irrelevant to me anyways."

"Oh, right," Fabian said, looking down at the reminder of Chip's grim fate. "But, even then, you've only got so many heals, right? You can't waste them, especially if we're gonna be enemies soon again!"

To Fabian's surprise, Chip chuckled. He didn't think they were capable. "You're considerate to a fault, Vanadis. I'll remind you that you saved my life as well, despite having every reason not to. Just consider us even."

"Fine," Fabian said, still not entirely happy about how much trouble he caused them. "Whatever, at least Scotcher's dead! I still don't believe Nero did it, but however it happened, you guys are all free now!"

That earned a rousing cheer from everyone in the room, and Fabian couldn't help but feel overjoyed himself, despite the object of the celebration being the death of someone.

"Let's throw a party!" Dillon cheered. "I dunno what we're gonna do next, but we can figure it out later! We can even raid Scotcher's booze supply!"

Another cheer filled the room, and even Nero joined in this time.


The time flew shockingly fast as hundreds upon hundreds of canyon-dwellers instantly dropped everything they were doing to begin their spontaneous celebration. Like magic, the children whipped up an impressive buffet using the ingredients from the now-vacant embassy in record time.

Some of the kids were talented musicians, too! With nothing but flutes carved from loose timber and barrels repurposed as percussion instruments, they created such a pleasant, energetic melody. Fabian couldn't help but be over the moon at the thought of the world finally being graced with all this hidden talent.

He was so lost in the festivities, in fact, that when he spotted Zach in the crowd, he nearly forgot about the conversation they needed to have. Fabian sighed quietly. As much as he was having fun, this really wasn't something that could wait, so he shouldered his way through the dancing canyon-dwellers to confront him.

"O-Oh, hello, Fabian!" Zach said quickly.

Fabian waved. "Hey, Zach. Remember what I said about us needing to talk?"

"...Right, yes," Zach replied. "I do owe you that. But, if it would be no trouble, could we have this conversation in private? I don't foresee these kind folks having generally positive opinions about… well, you know."

Fabian nodded. "'Kay."

Not wanting to waste any more time, he grabbed Zach by the shell and carried him into an empty restaurant. Zach squirmed a bit at the start, but he resigned himself to his fate rather quickly.

"Okay, so you're a prince or something, right?" Fabian asked. "What's up with you keeping that a secret?"

Zach grimaced, but nodded. "A king, technically. Legally speaking, I am the current ruler of Tullabar. I-I am aware that my dishonesty was–"

"Don't get fancy with it," Fabian cautioned him. "I don't wanna hear a lawyer-friendly non-apology, I just wanna hear why you lied to us."

Zach bowed his head. "I- Well… I'm sorry. I took advantage of your kindness, and that was wrong of me."

"Okay, apology accepted!" Fabian said, grinning cheerily.

"I- What?" Zach asked. "Really?"

Fabian shrugged. "Eh, I guess I've cooled down about it. I just wanna know why now. You know, you didn't have to hide anything from us."

"It's just, I didn't think you would be so understanding of my situation. I feared you'd turn me in to the Royal Guard, and the whole nation is riding on my survival! That's why I need to return to Lumeral! I have to regain my rightful place as king!"

"You should've led with that!" Fabian said. "I'd totally have helped you anyway! If all the Royal Guardsmen really did work together to kill your dad, they're pure evil!"

Zach inhaled sharply. "That's… Well, let's not go that far. My father was no saint, I hate to admit. He was overly execution-happy even for a Tullabarian king, and that is a high bar to clear."

"Right, yeah, I guess that's true," Fabian said. "I think I heard from Dad that Tullabar's responsible for five percent of the world's people and thirty percent of last year's Renegade's Edge executions."

"I'd believe it," Zach said. He shivered a little bit. "It sickens me, frankly. Everything about this. I loathe every minute I spend thinking about how me and my father share a drop of blood. I can hardly stand politics in the first place! I can't believe it took me so long to figure out how terrible he is!"

"I-" Fabian began.

"Please don't tell me to run away and never look back," Zach spat, cutting him off.

Fabian blinked. "I was gonna say I get it."

"...Oh. Apologies. But, are you serious?"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about," Fabian said. "I know I never asked to be Guildmaster, and I definitely get what it's like to figure out that your dad's kinda evil after spending so long idolizing him. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like I'm lucky for having any of this happen to me." He grinned, and elbowed Zach. "Plus, I can't stand politics or legal mumbo-jumbo, either. I dunno if you know this, but they make you go to law school for Guildmaster training, and it's the worst thing ever."

Zach stifled a laugh. "Sorry, are you implying that you're a lawyer?"

"Not a good one!" Fabian chuckled. "But yeah, I've got a license floating around in my old room somewhere. I think I used it as a bookmark at some point."

With a longing sigh, Zach turned toward the window. The party was raging on as strong as ever, of course. "How is it like, being free now?"

"Scary!" Fabian answered, his naturally loud voice completely failing to match Zach's quieter tone. "Even putting the insane bounty aside, I honestly don't even know what I'm gonna do with my life anymore. I don't really deserve to be alive, so after Mom's saved, it's all fuzzy."

"Sorry, you don't deserve to be alive?" Zach asked.

"Right, people get weird when I say that," Fabian thought. "Gotta be more careful, I'm really gonna end up worrying someone if I keep talking about this!" He cleared his throat. "W-Well, also, there's some pretty good stuff to this, too! Like, I don't have to be a part of all the evil stuff my dad does, and I can even try to stop it now!"

Zach nodded hesitantly. "That sounds pleasant, I agree. But, I feel like you're evading–"

Suddenly, Fabian shot up to his feet. "C'mon, let's go back to partying! We're definitely gonna have to leave as soon as possible, so let's live it up while we can! I hope Nero's been drinking, I wanna see what he gets like when he's drunk!"

"R-Right, of course," Zach said, smiling. Smiles were good, as Fabian knew, which meant the situation was successfully defused!

Together, Fabian and Zach returned to the buffet table to grab some of the remaining food. The table was low down enough so that even the smallest Pokémon at the party would have no trouble crawling on top of it to grab a bite. Although most of the meat was gone, leaving Fabian without much food he could actually digest, a plate of untouched ribs in the corner of the table managed to catch his eye.

However, as he reached for them, a brown paw reached over from the other side of the table and snatched it up, mere moments before he could. Fabian cleared his throat. "Hey, could I please have that pl–"

"No, you can't." It was Nero. Of course it was Nero. "It took a lot out of me, rescuing an entire canyon from subjugation. I'm afraid the nourishment is better spent on myself."

Fabian folded his arms. "You look fine to me."

"Why, thank you!" Nero said, winking coyly. "You're so sweet."

"I wasn't complimenting you!" Fabian yelled. "Just give me those ribs!"

Nero began to eat his ribs using a fork and knife, like an insane person would. "It's a buffet, Fabian. First come, first serve. I understand you aren't used to not getting your way, but here in the real world, it's a tragically common occurrence. Do try to persevere."

Fabian vaulted over the table, grabbed the plate, and tossed it like a frisbee as far away as possible. "Shut up, you're such an asshole!"

Nero began to lap up some wine from a glass bowl he had beside him for several seconds. Once it was empty enough, he gripped onto its side and hurled it at Fabian's face. It shattered against his nose, drawing a slight amount of blood. "Apologies for the slow reaction," he said. "I didn't want to waste a drop on you."

Fabian had every intention of throwing as much food at Nero as possible, but a vine wrapped around his arm stopped him. "H-Hey, Zach, what gives?!"

"Please don't make a scene," Zach said wearily.

"But, he's being an asshole!" Fabian protested.

"Fabian, think about it!" Zach hissed. "Everyone here loves Nero right now! To attack him publicly would be to turn every single Pokémon in this canyon against you!"

Fabian curled a fist as Nero flashed an innocent smile at him. "Fine. Whatever. I'm not mad. There's no way that ball of pure evil saved anyone, but it's fine."

"I see public relations is a skill that comes naturally to you, Zacharias," Nero said. "Only natural, I suppose."

Zach gulped, failing to meet Nero's piercing gaze directly. "F-Fabian, I'm a little hungry. Would it trouble you to fetch me a bowl of corn stew?"

As disgusting as that meal sounded, Fabian wasn't going to say no. "Sure, let me–"

An ear-piercing boom from behind Fabian cut him off, and he whipped his head around immediately to find the source. "What was that?!" Fabian shouted.

There was a pillar of smoke rising from a scorched canyon wall, clearly dented due to a small explosion. "A Blast Seed, maybe? But, why would someone blow up a wall?" Everyone around Fabian was staring at the wall with a mix of curiosity and fear for what felt like forever, and yet, nothing else happened.

After a while, the people started chatting again, and the atmosphere returned to normalcy. Fabian blinked as the rest of the partygoers apparently discarded that explosion from their memories completely. "What's going on?" he asked himself.

"I… don't know," Zach said. "Perhaps some prankster just wanted to get some attention?"

Fabian shrugged. "It's probably fine, right? I mean, nobody else is worrying." At some point in the chaos, Nero had left, so there was nothing to distract him from getting some stew for Zach. He could've sworn the pot was fuller, but there was only just enough to fill one bowl. "Wait, maybe someone caused this explosion so they could steal the stew out from under our noses!"

Zach snorted. "I'm sure. Thank you for doing this for me. I'm not exactly very dexterous, unfortunately."

"Don't mention it!" Fabian said, placing the bowl right in front of Zach's head. "Dig in!"

Not seconds after Zach swallowed, his face turned a sickly purple, and he collapsed. "P-P… Poison...?" he barely managed to choke out, convulsing on the ground as Fabian tried and failed to resuscitate him.

Fabian's face turned white. He kicked the bowl as hard as he could, punting it far, far away from Zach.

"Wh… Huh?" Zach asked, completely bewildered.

"That stuff was poisoned!" Fabian said after catching his breath. "I just had a vision, you were dying right after you ate some!"

"What? No, that can't be." Zach stared at the empty pot of stew uneasily. "Dillon recommended it to me, and he seems perfectly alright!"

"I know what I saw," Fabian said. "If the stew didn't do it, you'd be dying right now anyway, so it's gotta be that!"

Zach grimaced. "Do you… Do you think someone tampered with it just now, then?"

"That's…" Fabian trailed off. "I… Maybe? I could've sworn that pot was nearly full a minute ago, but it was nearly empty by the time I made your bowl. Does that mean anything?"

Zach's face sunk. "...I am no detective, but to me, that sounds like someone wanted to target me, and only me. Maybe… they drained it before poisoning it so that I'd be the only one harmed?"

"Wait, that's why that explosion happened!" Fabian shouted, eager to have made that connection before Zach did. "It was to distract everyone! But then, who would try to hurt you?"

"Do you think…" Zach hesitantly put forward. "Do you think it might've been… him?"

There really was only one person who could've and would've, and even Fabian had little trouble making that deduction. He clenched a fist and gritted his teeth, not even knowing what he was gonna do if he was right.

"Nero," Fabian growled.


Just as the passerbys told them, Nero sat at the end of the crumbled landbridge, taking in the scenery with a glass bowl of wine. He had a black blindfold tied around his neck like a scarf. "Nero, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Fabian screamed.

Nero turned around slowly and casually. "Ah, Fabian. Oh, and Zacharias, as well! Alive and well, I see. How unfortunate."

"Is this a confession?" Zach asked. "Are you the one who poisoned my meal?"

"Is this a surprise?" Nero asked in return. "I believe I've made my stance on your ilk quite clear. To be a king is inherently to deserve death. Though, out of curiosity, how did you avoid it?"

"I had a vision," Fabian snarled.

After a brief moment, Nero laughed. It was a lighthearted chuckle, as if he had been told an especially amusing knock-knock joke. "My apologies, that was uncharacteristically stupid of me. How could I have forgotten?"

Fabian was so repulsed by Nero's nonchalant attitude that he couldn't move. "You… You son of a bitch! He didn't do anything!"

"Ooh, curse words, I didn't know you were getting serious now," Nero mocked. He turned his attention to Zach. "You. Do you intend to return to your throne?"

"I- Well, if I'm being honest, I do," Zach said. "But, I swear on my life that I won't do anything to harm the citizens unjustly like my father did!"

Nero nodded. "Is that so? Well, I swear on my life that I'm going to turn into a giant Machamp and crush you all to death." He looked around, as if waiting for said wings to appear. "Hm. Looks like it's still entirely possible to lie, even if one precedes said lie with a promise."

"Nobody is like this but you!" Fabian snapped.

"Nobody?" Nero asked. "Not even Scrub?"

Fabian gritted his teeth. The reminder was admittedly crushing, but he wasn't going to let himself falter in front of Nero. "That's… People aren't all like that!"

"It's pathetic, how quickly your goalposts will shift," Nero lamented. "Another item to add to the laundry list of logical fallacies you need to justify your worldview to yourself."

"I don't care about your debate class bullshit!" Fabian shouted. "You tried to kill a guy who didn't do anything wrong!"

Nero glared at Fabian. "Alright then. Let's live in your world for a moment and assume the known liar who wants to be escorted to the most powerful seat in the nation has good intentions. What about his children? Can you, with complete certainty, give me your word that his great great grandson will have Tullabar's best interests at heart? And what about that heir's great great grandson?"

"I don't know! But, killing Zach isn't right!"

"Zacharias's continued existence is a scourge upon everyone who lives in this region, and killing him would be the first 'right' thing to have happened within its borders in the past two millennia."

"What if he makes things better?!"

"Why would he make things 'better' if he only stands to benefit from the way things are right now?"

"Because it's the right thing to do!"

"Are you seriously that childish? Have you not learned a single thing from the past week?"

"Yeah, I learned I can't trust slimy bastards like you or Quincy!"

"Sorry, did you just lump me in with Quincy?"

"You're both evil monsters who want to make everything terrible! The only difference between you two is that one of you doesn't have the decency to die!"

The seconds of silence that passed after Fabian said that snapped him out of his trance-like state of pure rage directed at Nero.

Nero turned around and began to walk towards the edge of the canyon.

"Where do you think you're going?" Fabian demanded, marching towards him.

Nero turned his head back, revealing a spiteful grin. "I believe now is as good of a time as any for us to go our separate ways. You see, Chip requested that I help out with his volunteer activism a few hours , I dismissed the idea immediately." He looked back towards the cliff. "And yet, you've inspired me. Your drive to do the worst possible thing for the most amount of people pushed me to make an effort to do the opposite. So, thank you, I suppose."

"What are you saying?! Fabian yelled. "You can't seriously be thinking about working with the Syndicate!"

"A temporary arrangement, and one I'm confident my father won't learn about until it's far too late," Nero said, stepping toward the canyon slowly. "I have my ways, as I'm sure you're well aware."

"They're a gang of insane anarchists!" Fabian yelled. "If you work with them, there isn't gonna be any government at all!"

"And would that be so bad?" Nero asked. "The monarchy has been proven to be ineffective, the Guardsmens' oligarchy will fall into exactly the same traps, and a democracy would fall apart as soon as a smooth-talking politician sways the idiot populace into letting him become dictator. When you give people power, they use it to put their citizens down. That is an inevitable fact, and no system can circumvent this."

"You're insane!"

Nero yawned. "Whatever you say, Fabian. I'll be off now, but thank you for being considerate enough to see me off. I'll see you in Lumeral, I presume."

"Nero, get back here!" Fabian shouted, now sprinting towards him, having no idea how he intended to cross that gap.

"Have fun being leader of the Trailblazers!" Nero called out as galloped forward and jumped off the cliff. As he reached the peak of his jump, somehow, he didn't lose any horizontal speed, nor did he descend at all. He was swiftly floating across the gap where there once was a land bridge.

Fabian's jaw was on the floor. "Wh-What is he- WHAT?!"

Nero turned around, winked at him, and continued floating along.

"Fabian, look!" Zach said. "Around his neck, that piece of fabric! I think he's using his power on it!"

Just as Zach pointed out, that black blindfold wrapped around Nero's neck was being pushed forward like a parachute against the air, blowing in the direction he was moving in. There really wasn't anything they could do but watch Nero glide away with a self-satisfied smile on his face, all the way until he reached the other side of the canyon and dashed off.

Zach helplessly stared at Fabian for a while. "What… What do we do?"

Fabian buried his face in his palms. "...We can't let him meet up with the Syndicate. I don't know what his plan is, but it's gonna be bad."