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.

47. Grand Dream City

AN: We have finally reached Grand Dream City, but there is little time for rest. Our Interceptor has new friends to meet, old enemies to deal with, and new horrors to witness. He will have his work cut out for him.

~~~~~~~(0)~~~~~~~

Chapter 11– Through the Looking Mask

Grand Dream City

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

---

Melia swept Will and Erin straight back to their little cabin where, much to Will's surprise, Rhodea, Flora and Florin had also shacked up together. The Stormchaser stood casually leaning against the window, while the siblings had taken control of one of the beds. In classic Flora fashion, that meant she had occupied eighty percent of the bed and Florin had to make do with the remaining twenty.

And it was Will's bed, to boot.

"Damn, this room is getting crowded," Rhodea remarked.

A horizontal Flora replied, "GDC is literally like twenty minutes away by train, it's fine."

"Girl, whatever," Rhodea said with a roll of her eyes.

Erin took one of the seats by the table, pulling up a chair next to Kanon. "I was fully expecting to camp out on Route Seven for a few more days or so. It's a good thing that woman and I ran into each other when we did."

Taking a seat opposite of Erin, Melia replied, "Guess you're sticking with us for a little while then!"

"Guess so," Erin said, giving an indifferent shrug.

With most of the room occupied, Will wasn't sure where to put himself. He'd been hoping to catch Melia and Venam alone at one point, create himself a safe spot where he could try putting into words that he'd been having some pretty vivid memories lately. It looked like he'd have to put that off for a while though.

He squeezed himself past Erin and Kanon, then took a chair in the corner on Kanon's other side.

"Hello Will," Kanon said, turning towards him.

"Hey man. You okay?"

"April told me that she was going with me to GDC," Kanon said, his brows knitting into a slight frown. "There's so much I still have to ask her…"

Like a Sharpedo smelling blood, Venam was there. "Oh yeah! How'd your date with the mil- er," she just barely managed to stop herself. "Y-Yeah, how'd that go?"

"It wasn't a date," Kanon shot back, annoyed. "I was undergoing something called the "Servant's Trial"."

"What's that?" Melia asked, shooting Kanon an inquisitive look.

Trouble. It couldn't be anything but trouble.

"Confidential," Kanon said in a serious voice. "For now." He shrugged, then gave them all a little apologetic smile. "I promised April."

She would make him promise that, wouldn't she?

"Pfft. And you said it wasn't a date!" Venam laughed.

Kanon shot her a comically annoyed look, which only caused Venam to laugh harder.

"So what's your deal, Will?" Rhodea asked out of nowhere.

Just like that, all eyes shifted back towards him, and Will couldn't even glower at the Stormchaser for that. "My deal?"

"Yeah!" Rhodea said. "You know, your story. How you came to Gearen City and how it wrapped you up in this whole thing. When it was decided you guys were gonna shack up with me for a while, I did some digging, but I couldn't find anything on you."

"Hmm, yeah, from fighting a war on Terajuma straight to getting involved in GDC," Florin added enthusiastically. "And then the stuff in those Bladestar labs!"

Will glanced from Rhodea - staring at him expectantly - to Venam and Melia, who were sitting up straighter and looked about as alarmed as he felt. "There is no deal," he replied.

"Aw, don't say that about yourself Will!" Florin said. "You and Erin were so cool down there in those labs, and seeing Flora and you fight was so awesome."

"It was hella impressive," Rhodea said, gesturing at Florin in a kinda "see what I mean?" way. "All of you are extraordinary trainers, otherwise you wouldn't be helping out with the situation, but at least I know something about Melia and Venam."

Something inside of him slammed shut. He pressed himself back in his chair, shoving his shoulders against its frame. "There is no deal," he snapped, because there wasn't anything else he could say, because he didn't have the words anymore to convey that this wasn't something he could talk about -

"Just the basics," Melia replied, flashing Rhodea a vulnerable smile. "We've dealt with some trouble in Gearen City in the past before, and we're here to help. The rest will come naturally."

"Hmm," Rhodea hummed, her dark eyes probing Will for something. "Right. Well, that does give me the right segway into my next bit. I was going to save this for when we got to GDC, but since I'm here…there's something else I'd like to bring to your attention."

Will dragged his hands across his thighs, looking down at the table.

"It has to do with one of my, or rather, our roommates," Rhodea continued. "Huey. In addition to the "stone crisis", there's also another concerning situation going on in GDC. There's…actually an uptick of missing people in GDC. One of them being Huey's sister, Rune."

Will lifted his head up again. People went missing all the time. In Gearen City, many of them were never found again, or their bodies would be discovered somewhere in the water. Washed up on the pier, days later. He was lucky enough not to have seen that himself, but he'd heard of it.

The days he spent knowing that Amber and Nim were at the mercy of Team Xen had been agony. Torture. Even then, he'd always known exactly where they were and when he would have been coming for them.

If Amber had disappeared in a place like GDC…he would have torn the city apart to find her. House by house. Block by block. District by district.

Yet, at the same time, he knew that would have been a desperate and ultimately impossible thing to do, and the chances of ever finding her would have been slim, if not zero.

Poor Huey.

"Rune and I were colleagues living in the same dorm," Rhodea quietly continued. "And by extension, her little brother Huey's been staying with us as well. One day, along with a bunch of other people, Rune left and never came home. No warning, no note, nothing. Completely vanished."

To Will, that suggested foul play. Rune hadn't disappeared. Rune had been taken.

Rhodea glanced around the cabin, letting those words sink in as she met their eyes one by one. "She's a school teacher at Axis High, and a beloved one at that," she continued. "She didn't have any enemies and most people were glad to have her around. That's what makes this so strange…"

Then, Flora spoke up. Her voice was quiet and surprisingly raw when she said, "Rune also happens to be my best friend." She kept her gaze fixed to the ceiling. "Her and I weren't on the best terms before she went missing, but…"

Erin shot a suspicious look her way. "That doesn't sound implicating at all."

Will glanced over at the girl. That seemed like such a cruel thing to say, right when Flora was being honest for a change. Was this what inspired Flora to start taking matters into her own hands recently, with Bladestar?

"Shut it, you," Flora hissed, pushing herself up on the bed to level a glare at Erin. "It's the truth and there's no reason to hide it. I've already been questioned several times by now."

"Either way!" Rhodea sharply said before Erin could reply. "I just wanted to bring that up to the others so that it doesn't come as a surprise. We're pulling into Grand Dream Central Station soon, so let's get ourselves ready to leave, okay?"

As the train continued chugging its way to Aevium's capital, none of the late additions to their group actually left the cabin. Now Will didn't mind their company that much - Erin kept to herself and Flora continued staring grumpily at the ceiling - but he had some matters that needed some serious discussion.

Reaching into his backpack, Will plucked his journal out again. He had too many thoughts, too much weird experiences to sift through. His head was starting to fill up with broken glass again and he needed them out.

Planting himself in the corner, Will flicked his diary open and began scribbling down his thoughts. He didn't trust the Space Hags. Even if he disregarded the fact that they were the ones responsible for abducting and then grooming Melia for whatever grand plan they had in mind, the facts didn't add up. The picture was skewed. Off.

But he couldn't disregard what they had done to Melia. Even if some cold, pragmatic, desperate mind had decided that her happiness had been worth sacrificing for some greater good, he wouldn't accept that. If the plan depended on ruining a young girl's life and taking away all of her agency and semblance of control, then the plan sucked and it had to change.

Where did that leave him?

Crescent had saved him time and time again. Whether that was because she genuinely loved him, or because she needed him alive for some plan of hers, he didn't care. Crescent had been there for him, and he would be there for her.

Even if he couldn't remember. Even if he would never remember again.

That meant he couldn't trust Rhodea, or any other Stormchaser for that matter. As much as he hated the thought, he couldn't trust Kanon either. At the end of the day, if the Space Hags really wanted to kill Crescent, he'd have to try and stop them. That would turn every Stormchaser against him.

Kanon didn't seem like the type who appreciated it when people got in the way of those he looked up to. Although…Kanon wasn't an idiot. Far from it. Maybe he could get him on their side? Kanon genuinely cared about Melia, too.

As he continued putting his thoughts on paper, the conductor put on the speakers and declared that they were about to roll up on the city. Excited, Florin and Rhodea jumped to their feet and left the cabin, prompting an exasperated Flora to go after her brother as well.

Will turned his head to watch them leave.

"Wow, finally at the big city then!" Venam said. She got up and stretched. "Fuck…long-ass train ride aside, that wasn't so bad."

"Hehe, but we finally made it!" Melia said. getting to her feet as well. "Come on guys! Time to show you what the city is all about!"

"Fantastic…" Erin muttered.

Will closed his journal and shoved it back into his backpack. He noticed the capsule with his remaining Ranger stimulants.

One dose left.

If he had even a scrap of luck left for the foreseeable future, he wouldn't ever have need of that again. He would prefer to let it gather dust in his backpack somewhere.

He made a mental note to find a better way to store them and then quickly zipped his bag close and swung it over his back as Melia began leading them out of the cabin. All the passengers were really eager to finally disembark and Will would have been happy to sit back and wait until they were all through, but Melia bounded towards the exit with renewed vigor.

"Come on guys!" She said excitedly.

Venam shoved her way through the other passengers and Will and Erin trailed after them. They made it through the doors and stepped into GDC's Central Station.

"Holy shit!" Venam exclaimed.

Will agreed.

Grand Dream Central Station was big with a capital B. Probably some other capital letters, too. Indriad could have four of his mansions inside and still have room to spare. The glass ceiling, reinforced with a metal framework, stretched out high above their heads. The platform their train arrived at was one of two dozen platforms evenly spaced out on lower sections. He needed three additional sets of eyes to even begin making sense of the enormous amount of input and stimulations.

Melia took them up a set of stairs that to some sort of shopping mall compressed into one big lane.

"Grand Dream City is huge, so that's why they constructed the subway system," Melia explained as they began making their way past row after row of shops. Will barely heard her over the enormous ruckus of the hundreds of passengers walking around the station. It was a hive of activity, a constant buzzing thing of noise and motion and echoes and -

And it was too much to take in at once. All it took was one Xen member hiding in the crowd, one Deathwing observing them from a distance -

Will quickened his step, caught up with Melia and put himself to her right side. It wasn't quite the same as having his back to something solid, but out here in the open, having Melia at his side was good.

"Shit dude, look at all these shops!" Venam exclaimed as she spun around from the left to the right. "This station has more places to eat than my entire neighborhood does!"

"Imagine the prices involved," Erin said, keeping her gaze locked ahead as she kept up a brisk pace.

"Well, yeah, but that's the big city for you," Melia replied cheerfully. "Some places are just amazing and others will rip you off."

"Screw those guys, if they're gonna rip us off I'll just walk off without paying!" Venam declared.

"Wouldn't that be stealing?" Kanon asked.

"It's only stealing if they catch you, Kanon."

"That's not how the law works, Venam," Melia said. She led them towards the station's exit, where they had to pass through some one-way security gates that required them to scan their tickets. Will, who had never seen it before, snuck a look at Melia as she passed through hers. She whipped out her ticket, held it against the scanner and then walked against the translucent gate that blocked her path. It swung outward a fraction of a second before she could bump into it and she confidently strolled through .

She made it look so easy. Confident he could replicate that, Will held out his own ticket, brushed it against the scanner and then continued on like she had -

And promptly bumped into a gate that refused to budge.

A puzzled Will backed up a bit, but there were already people waiting in line behind him. A security official standing watch near the exit glanced his way.

Attempt two, then.

He took his ticket, pressed it against the scanner again and shoved it back and forth until he caught a red light flip to green. He quickly shoved the ticket back into his pocket and tried again.

This time, the hard–plastic gate swung open like it had for Melia and he was able to pass on through.

Considering attempt three would have involved violent application of boot to gate, that was for the better.

"Wrecker of Gyms, unable to pass through a simple gate," Venam snarked.

"I was gonna pass one way or the other," Will shot back. He was pretty sure that, after a few very angry kicks, something in that gate would have given away eventually.

"By violent means?" Kanon asked.

"Kanon gets it," Will said. Without thinking about it, he held up his fist, waiting for Kanon to bump it like…like…

Kanon stared blankly at him.

Like Ren used to do.

"It's a fist," Will said, feeling a sudden wave of awkwardness and helplessness well up in him. "You, uh, you bump it."

"Oh." Kanon looked at his extended fist again. He still didn't move. "What with?"

Haltingly, Will brought his arm down again. Anger and shame churned in his chest, and he felt his face start to heat up.

What a dumb fucking thing to do. Stupid mistake…and in front of Melia and Venam too.

"We'll teach you how to be cool later, Kanon," Venam said. "Keep hanging out with us."

"Oh, that's Rhodea right there!" Melia waved at someone Will didn't see. "She's waiting, come on!"

Melia and Venam beelined for the exit, and Erin and a confused-looking Kanon went after them. Will unclenched his fists in his pockets, took a moment to wipe the frustration from his face as best he could, then followed the others.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to him that, because the GDC Central Station was about five times bigger than its Gearen counterpart, the rest of the city would be far larger as well. Nevertheless, when he followed his friends outside the station, he still found himself overwhelmed by the scale of it all. Both sides of Gearen City had had skyscrapers, but Gearen had been really tight and claustrophobic in a sense.

Grand Dream City had skyscrapers. Easily twice the size of those in Gearen and spread out much more evenly across far larger neighborhoods. Will saw actual roads instead of sidewalks that occasionally hosted cars like in Gearen City, large crossroads with several lanes of cars, buses and trucks and trees. The city had greenery everywhere Will looked; little patches of grass and flowers, clusters of auburn trees with small benches underneath and large, weathered oaks around every corner.

"Wow…" Venam said, taking in the sights with uncharacteristic awe. "We finally made it to Grand Dream City!"

As Will began familiarizing himself with the many, many sights Aevum's capital had to offer, Rhodea approached them. Either she'd lost the Flo-siblings somewhere, or the pair just ran off. "There you guys are."

Melia looked around for a moment, then asked, "Where did Florin and Flora go?"

"The two of them ran off to their garden, unfortunately," Rhodea said with a shrug.

Erin's lips tightened into a scowl. "Not even a goodbye or a wave in our direction…" She strolled past them, cast her gaze around the street and then oriented herself towards their left. "Anyway, I think I'll be wandering off myself. If Aelita made it back to the city there's a few places I think she will be." She looked back Rhodea and Melia. "Evidently, you guys have business to attend to, so I won't nag you for your help. Just keep your eyes peeled and notify me the moment you get any sort of lead."

"No problem," Rhodea replied. "And also, if you need a place to stay, just call me."

"I just might," Erin said. "Thanks."

With that, the mysterious, white-haired girl walked off again. Will watched her leave, wondering just how and when she'd met Aelita. He was relieved that Aelita had someone so reliable looking after her, but something about Erin rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn't sure what it was, though, and he had the sneaking suspicion that it might have simply been the day's events catching up with his head instead.

"Well, now that we're here, what's there to do next?" Kanon asked.

"First thing's first! I need to register you guys at the Central Building. I also need to take the police report Officer Jenny wrote and submit it to the committee." Rhodea gave another shrug. "I can do these tasks on my own, though. We just need to head up north; the Central Building will be our first destination. Let's head there now, 'kay?"

Melia snapped to attention. It was adorable to see. "Understood!"

Rhodea escorted them deeper into the district towards the Central Building. They moved alongside buy streets, past blooming parks and wandering trainers and more cafes and restaurants than Will had seen in all of Terajuma.

It wasn't just people that crowded the city. He spotted Pokemon everywhere he looked, too. Most of them were trainer Pokemon accompanying their trainers as they went about their day. Still, some of them had to be wild Pokemon too. High above the city, Will spotted vaguely avian shapes fluttering from one skyscraper to another. Dark shapes with jagged wings. Bird Pokemon, likely.

Eventually, after twenty minutes of listening to Rhodea, Venam and Melia talking about the way the city worked, they rounded the last corner and Will found himself entering Central Square.

Will froze. He looked up. And up. All the way up.

The Central Building wasn't just a skyscraper. It was a skyscraper among skyscrapers. If he were to jump off its highest ledge, Will was pretty sure he'd have the time to reflect on his life's choices for a full page in his journal before going splat.

"Seriously? He breathed.

Melia stepped next to him and swung an arm across his shoulders. "And?" She asked. "Impressed?"

Will kept staring. Even the section of the city that hosted the Central Building was taller than most houses. It was an elevated platform about sixty by sixty meters. It could have been more.

Who designed this kind of stuff? "Whoever built this has got to be compensating for something," he said.

Melia tightened her hold on him and gave him a little shake. ?Welcome to the big city, Will," she said. "You might need to get used to this." When he didn't immediately reply, she gave him a look, snorted and then said, "Stop counting. You'll be here all day."

"...I'm not counting," Will replied. Thirty-three floors and he wasn't even halfway there. How many floors did that damn tower have?

"Suuuure," Melia said. She let go of him, then took him by the strap of his backpack and began pulling him along. "Come on. Rhodea's gonna register us."

The inside of the Central Building was furnished with hundreds of small, black tiles put together so well that it almost seemed like one coherent thing. Multipla pillars were scattered throughout the atrium, but they weren't support beams or anything like that. They looked like the architect had taken a look at stalagmites and decided that he wanted to shape his television screens like that. A constant feed of data and commercials slowly streaked down the surface of those obelisks, which gathered quite a crowd.

"You guys wait here, I'll start the registration process."

Rhodea strode through the cavernous atrium with a purpose, making her way towards one of ten different counters and slyly resting her hands on its smooth surface. Will wondered if it would be impolite to listen in on her conversation, came to the conclusion that he didn't really care that much either way, and put himself close enough to hear what they were talking about, pretending to stare at the gibberish rolling down one of the screens.

"Hey, Feli, I got those papers I mentioned the other day right here," Rhodea began, handing the clerk a stack of papers.

"Oh, excellent!" Feli replied. "I'll register your friends to your apartment and settle those other things into your file."

"Thaaaanks," Rhodea said. "Love youuuu. Drinks next Friday night?"

That was one way to get things done.

"Sounds wonderful!" Feli the clerk replied. "Let's meet up at Mika's!"

Mika's huh?

"Noted."

Will noted that as well. Maybe Melia would want to grab a drink there, too?

Rhodea lowered her voice, and Will struggled a bit to catch the next part. "Oh, and by the way, any news on Rune? Anything at all?"

"So sorry," Feli said. "But there haven't been any updates in regards to her whereabouts." On a more hopeful note, she added, "But the investigation is still going strong! So don't give up hope!"

"...yeah," Rhodea said quietly. Will wasn't sure, but to him, it sounded like Rhodea was already in the process of doing just that. "Thanks anyway."

Melia, Kanon and Venam were hanging out a bit closer to the entrance. It looked like Kanon had said or done something Kanon-y again and Venam was having some fun. Melia was smiling though, so it had to be in good faith.

"Oh, Will, good news!" Rhodea said when she saw him staring at one of the stalagmites. "I have everything about you guys locked and loaded. You guys are officially temporary Grand Dream City citizens!"

"What's this building about?" Will asked. "It's really ridiculously big."

"Ah," Rhodea grinned. "Interested in the city lore, I see?"

Will gave her a blank look. That was all he seemed to be doing today.

"D and D?" She said, her grin faltering a bit when she saw that didn't mean anything to him.

"D and what?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't making a giant fool out of himself again.

"Sorry, my bad," she quickly said. "Too many sessions. Anyway…the Central Building is the heart of the entire city. Everything from finances, events and city structures are all handled here. A building with exactly a hundred floors."

"That's a lot of floors," Will muttered.

"Sure is! It's a behemoth of culture, community and fun. So I guess you can say it, in the context of GDC, makes the world go round."

Will winced when he heard that.

"Anyway, let's go meet with the others, start heading to our crib."

The heart of the Aevium's capital. A giant tower that made the world go round.

If he were a megalomaniac dictator psycho, he'd duct-tape some explosives to the second or third floor in the dead of night and make them go kaboom. Goodbye heart of GDC, hello anarchy. If all the possible targets he could see Team Xen screwing with, the Central Building had just found itself squarely at the top.

So that begged the question…what was Team Xen after? They had the means, they had the capacity. They could infiltrate any of these buildings whenever it suited them and blow them to smithereens. They'd done so in the past. Why hadn't they?

His head wouldn't stop hurting. Darchlight Caves, Carpenter, Crescent, Aelita - it was all too much. He needed some peace and quiet to make sense of it all.

Once outside of the Central Building, Rhodea turned her attention back to the others. "Time to head to our new home. I'm guessing you're all really tired from traveling?"

"Oh, you could say that again," Venam said. "I just wanna sit on the couch and eat some chips!"

Ooh, chips…

"Alright, alright," Rhodea said with approval. "Let's go home and relax for the night. I'll order pizza, and it's all on me!"

Melia gasped, turning to look at her fellow Stormchaser in shock, while Venam all but threw herself at her feet. "You're doing the lord's work, Rhodes!" She exclaimed. "Can I call you Rhodes?"

Rhodea looked at Venam with something like amusement, Kanon looked annoyed and Will…Will's first thought was joy at the prospect of good food, but that was quickly driven away by a slow, hard realization that he had no idea what pizza was.

Which was impossible. It was impossible because he knew food, because he remembered his tastes. He knew that he liked fluffy scrambled eggs because Melia had made them and he knew that he liked his coffee black because that had immediately drawn his eye all the way back on Route Two. It was impossible because those things, those preferences and tastes were so ingrained in what he was and vital to who he was that he'd remembered them even though Indriad had taken the rest.

Venam eating chips conjured an image in his mind - he'd seen her do it before after all - so why didn't he know what pizza was?

His head kept hurting. It made him miss the next few things they say - something about ingredients and Kanon talking about the price and Rhodea calling Kanon a nickname -

Kanon's entire demeanor changed. His body froze, and his expression became one of dismay. He repeated his nickname and that was important, it was important somehow and Will tried to shove down his own stress to get a hold on things -

"But the only one who used to call me that," Kanon said, staring at Rhodea as if he had never seen her before. "Was…was Sandra - "

That was when the screaming started. Down the steps of the Central Building platform, people started screaming and shouting and the spike of adrenaline that jolted through Will's body shoved away the pain and fog in his head and he was finally able to focus -

"THERE SHE IS!" Another woman screeched as a large, long car pulled up in front of the plateau. "RISA RAIDER!"

Making her way towards the entrance was a girl with long, orange hair and a thick, pink jacket that looked like it would have better suited her in Angie's tower than here in GDC. She wore a pair of sunglasses and some sort of hair decoration that made it look like she had a set of purple horns sticking out of her hair. She revelled in the attention as she bounced her way up those steps, eagerly engaging with the crowd that was starting to form in her wake.

"Ohmigosh…it's paparella mozzarella!" She exclaimed as men and women alike whipped out their cameras and began snapping pictures. "Be sure to take my good side!" She struck a series of daunting poses requiring quite a bit of flexibility before heading up the stairs. "Buenos dias, Kings and Queens and everything in-between~!" She said in a sing-song voice that didn't help Will's headache at all. "Risa Raider has finally made her appearance at the Central Building! Gosh!"

Who?

"...Risa Raider?" Melia asked.

As the people started coming out of the freaking woodwork to gawk at this apparent celebrity, Rhodea said. "I'm surprised you don't know who this girl is."

Risa began waving excitedly at all of her fans.

"This is Risa Raider. Extremely famous idol, actress, and part-time model. She's also one of my friends."

Idol…actress and model? Where did this girl find the time to do all of that at once?

"That's me, besties~!" Risa said, making her way towards the Stormchaser. "Rhodes, how ya doin?"

Venam glowered at the girl. Risa noticed her, cocked a slender eyebrow and then whipped her head around to gawk at Melia, then at Will. "Ohmigosh…ohmigosh ohmigosh! It's really you guys!"

"Eh?" Venam said. "You know who we are?"

"Everyone knows who you three are!" Risa said. Her words sent cold shivers down Will's spine. Everyone meant Bladestar and Team Xen. Everyone meant police officers and the criminal circuit and the average shop clerk all looking for a quick buck, just waiting for a chance to sell them out to Team Xen. "Your efforts on Terajuma Island are known to all thanks to your bestie, Melia!"

Looking a bit uncomfortable, Melia said, "You must be referring to the interview I had with Volta?"

"The same one, bestie. You're Melia! Love your hair!" She spun on her heels, pointing excitedly at Venam. "You're Venam! You look so cool." Instead of pivoting to her left, she almost did a full pirouette to face him next. "You're William! Wicked scar, hon. Sick!"

"It's just Will," he muttered.

"And you're…" She did a double take upon seeing Kanon. "Oh, I actually don't know who this twink is."

A stab of annoyance shot through Will when she said that, but unlike him, Kanon seemed to be capable of taking matters into his own hands. "Twink?" He seethed. "My name is Kanon!"

Risa pointedly ignored him. "Well, either way, the point is that you guys have been recognized for your achievements," she cheerfully explained. "Fending off Team Xen's invasion on Terajuma ain't somethin' to sneeze at. But anyyywayy, I gotta go register myself for the Dream Tournament."

There was a Dream Tournament now?

"That's like, the whole reason I'm here, yah?" Risa continued with a wink.

"Huh?" Melia crossed her arms and shot Risa a questioning look. "Dream Tournament? Is something going on?"

"Huh?" Risa blinked at Melia as if she'd just grown an additional pair of arms. Then, she whipped her head around to face Rhodea. "Rhodes, you didn't fill these guys in on what's going on in the city?"

"...must've slipped my mind," Rhodea said, her expression impassive.

Risa gasped so dramatically that Venam ought to start taking lessons from her. "Well lemme fill you babies up with all the info you need!"

Apparently, the Dream Tournament was a month-long event that was supposed to start on the first of October. A big festival to celebrate the creation of and the ideology behind GDC. An expensive affair for those without passes. Will could think of better ways to spend his money.

The Tournament itself would see a hundred participants gather together for battle until only thirty of them remained, who would then be thrown into an arena for a free-for-all until only one participant remained.

Said participant would win a million Pokedollars, as well as the right to face the Elite 8 and their Champion without needing badges which…was okay, he guessed.

"What?" Melia exclaimed. "That is an insane prize!"

One million was a lot of money. Lots of good gear and supplies they could buy with that.

After she was done explaining, Risa did another pose for another series of flashing cameras and pictures and then promptly barged into the Central Building to go sign up for the Tournament.

Then,Venam turned to Rhodea and snapped, "Aren't you some important city person or something? No way you forgot something as cool as the Festival of Dreams."

"You don't let go of things, huh?" Rhodea sighed. "Well, the truth is that I don't like the Festival of Dreams for personal reasons I don't feel obligated to get into."

That was a very polite way of telling someone to mind their own business. He'd have to try and remember that one.

"As such, I don't like talking about it," Rhodea continued. She seemed to reconsider, then added, "BUT, I understand that this is information that I should've brought up sooner. And for that I apologize."

"Apologized like a true politician," Venam grumbled.

"I take offense to that one! I was being genuine!"

Festival, Tournament…Will felt like these were important events that Bladestar might just have an opinion on. Maybe it would be a good idea to seek Flora out, ask her for her thoughts.

"A tournament does sound fun though…" Melia hummed.

"Nu-uh!" Rhodea went, even going so far as to waggle her finger at Melia. "I'm gonna stop you right there little missy. Let's not forget that we're here for a job. We don't have time for a tournament!"

"Yeah," Melia conceded. "Guess that's true…"

All of a sudden, the giant black screen hanging above the Central Building's entrance, which Will had taken to be art at first, proved itself to be the biggest television screen he'd ever seen.

"Huh?" Venam said when everybody looked up at the sudden glare of blue light. "What's going on?"

"Public service announcement," Rhodea answered. "Just watch."

The next second, the image of a gray-haired, elderly woman appeared on the screen. She glared down at the city with the kind of judgement only old people could muster, although Will did pick up on the unusual steel in her eyes.

"Greetings, citizens of Grand Dream City," the woman began, the ghost of a smile on her lips. "I, Hazuki Blakeory, Headmistress of Axis High University and lead of academic affairs are here to share this message with you all today. I am happy to announce that the final participant of the Dream Tournament has been registered. One week from today, the tournament shall commence." Her expression tightened. "To the participants of the tournament, please be aware that dropping out is prohibited as per your contract. But legal affairs aside, I wish you all luck and success. Make your city proud and go for glory! That is all. Have a wonderful rest of your week."

Moments later, Risa came skipping out of the building again. "Wow, I really cut it close with that one, babes," she laughed. "Turns out I took the very, very last spot in the tournament. Participant numero hundred! That's me! Queen of Procrastination!"

"Looks like we wouldn't have been able to join even if we wanted to," Kanon remarked.

"Aw," Risa pouted. "Well, it'd be lame if I just left without making the situation better…let's give the crowd what they want!"

The crowd of onlookers, fans and paparazzi began cheering louder and wilder and the constant flash of cameras began to hurt Will's eyes.

Risa took a moment to bask in that glory again, before putting a finger to her full lips in contemplation. "I want a battle from…" She pointed her fingers towards Kanon, then dragged it over Venam, let it rest on Melia for a second and then promptly pointed it at him. "Will!"

"...Really?" Will said.

"Yes, you!" Risa said, grinning like a maniac as everything about her just sparkled with enthusiasm. "Something about you is just different. I want to see how you battle~!"

Of course she did. And with the entire crowd of onlookers there, with Melia watching, he literally couldn't refuse.

Fine. He'd handle it. If he couldn't handle a friendly match while exhausted and stressed, how would he ever handle Team Xen in this city?

"How does everyone feel about viewing a battle from the gorgeous-gorgeous Risa Raider?" The popstar whooped.

The crowd went wild…

Wriggling in dramatic delight at the attention, Risa said, "You have to give the people what they want, Will! That's how this city works!" She stopped dancing around and faced him for real, her eyes growing hard. "So let's make this a two versus two battle. I only have two, after all. And let's keep the score going, yeah?"

Two Pokemon, then? Doubles. Blaziken and Nidoking would pair up well in this urban environment. "Okay."

"Okay Will! Let's see how you hold up against my Kitty Cat and my Tuff Puff!" Risa said, throwing two Pokeballs in the air as well, and Will got a good look at the confident popstar's Pokemon of choice.

Apparently, Risa was going to take him on with a Delcatty and a Jigglypuff. A Jigglypuff holding onto a pair of balloons, floating happily through the air. Delcatty, meanwhile, wore a sash or a scarf of sorts. It had a golden bracelet incorporated in it, an elaborate, meticulously-crafted thing.

The matchup seemed easy enough; Nidoking alone could have probably handled these two. Delcatty wasn't exactly a powerful Pokemon, and Jigglypuff lacked the firepower to punch through Nidoking's tough hide. Strange that she would sign herself in for a tournament and then challenge him while accompanied by two relatively unthreatening Pokemon like that.

No, that line of thinking was dangerous. Underestimating people was a very bad habit, one that was liable to get him killed in the long run. It was better to go into fights like these assuming the worst. Better to have a pleasant surprise than a rough wake-up call.

"Be careful you two," Will told his two brawlers. "Remain on your guard."

"Aww," Risa pouted, actually pressing her finger against her lips as she flashed him a painfully sad look. "Are you scared of little old me?"

Possibly, but not for the reasons she thought.

"Well, get them Kitty-Cat!" Risa ordered. "Puff, give her some cover!"

Her Delcatty hissed and sprang towards Nidoking, her claws finding easy purchase on the paved floor as she bounded towards him. Nidoking pivoted and swung his massive tail at her, but Delcatty leapt over the powerful swipe. Nidoking immediately countered with Poison Jab. Delcatty was faster still, clapping its two front paws together right in front of the Nido's face, generating a powerful shockwave that rocked him back, flinching.

And Risa's Jigglypuff, still floating a few meters above the ground with its damn balloon, opened its mouth and began breathing fire. It wasn't just a small venting of heat either; the Jigglypuff legitimately began dousing the battlefield with flames. A massive jet of flames burst from its mouth and surged across the street. Onlookers backed away in fear as the intensity of the heat washed over them and both Venam and Melia cried out in surprise as they quickly hopped back.

"Move!" Will shouted.

Blaziken burst into a sprint as the flames drove a wedge between her and Nidokong, who quickly leapt aside and then threw himself into a sluggish combat roll to avoid the worst of the flames.

The second that Puff opened fire, Delcatty moved. It practically flew across the battlefield, and then veered off from Nidoking and made a beeline for Blaziken instead. Its body began glowing with a crimson aura and the feral look of savage hate on its expression was something Will had only ever seen on some Shadow Pokemon before.

It closed in on Blaziken in seconds and Will was not eager to see what kind of surprises Delcatty could pull off. "Blaziken, evade it! Use the building!"

Nidoking came to a stop and then pressed himself flat against the ground as the Puff dragged the jet of flames right over his head. He got one knee underneath his bulk, pushed himself up and then spat a quick Sludge Bomb towards the floating Fairy-type.

Jigglypuff intercepted the globule of gunk with another blast of flames and it detonated in mid-air, showering the ground with burning pieces of boiling-hot sludge.

Blaziken wasn't the type to shy away from a Pokemon sprinting her way, especially not if said Pokemon was lighter than she was, but orders were orders and Blaziken was nothing if not disciplined. Will knew she'd be pissed for a while but she would just have to cope.

Blaziken sprinted away from the charging Delcatty, leaping over a sweeping burst of flames from the Puff and then freerunning several meters up the side of the Central Building. As Delcatty came to a skidding halt, Blaziken pushed off the building, unleashed a hail of Ember shards that pelted Delcatty from all directions and then landed a few paces behind her.

"Blaziken, get that cat!" Will ordered.

Blaziken moved to kick Delcatty into next Sunday -

And the damned thing whirled on her with incredible speed. She slammed herself against Blaziken in a full-body tackle and the impact was so strong that it actually shoved Blaziken back several feet.

The Tuff Puff gathered a sphere of purple energy inside of its mouth.

"Blaziken, disengage!" Will ordered.

As fast as Venam's Seviper, Delcatty bit down on Blaziken's feathered calf. Those pointy teeth pierced the thick, shaggy coat of fur and Blazken uttered a snarl of pain. She kicked with her leg to shake the cat off, but Delcatty clamped down hard.

The energy that Tuff Puff called to itself reached a truly bizarre amount of strength. Will's dull, human senses probably didn't translate it the same way a Pokemon's could, but he felt it in the air because he'd felt something like it before. Somehow, Risa's Jigglypuff matched the energy output a freaking Legendary Pokemon could muster. It was insane.

"Nidoking, another Sludge Bomb! Don't let it take aim!"

Blaziken could have done very violent things to get Delcatty off. She could have done things that would have left the majority of the people in the crowd scarred for life and Will doubted she would lose any sleep over it.

But this wasn't that kind of fight, and that wasn't what Will wanted them to be. So, Blaziken had to struggle against the maddened cat digging her teeth into her leg the old-fashioned way. She slammed her claws against Delcatty's neck and squeezed, before trying to pry her jaws open.

Nidoking's Sludge Bombs exploded all around the floating Puff and it didn't bother protecting itself. The resulting bone-rattling shockwaves of the globs tore the balloon to bits and the Tuff Puff fell, slower than Will would have thought.

It still got off its shot.

That orb of purple energy arced up into the sky and exploded, releasing multiple purple-glowing meteors of all things.

Blaziken saw them coming, but she wasn't able to get Delcatty off her fast enough. In a last-ditch effort to get some cover between her and the incoming barrage, Blaziken rolled down onto her back and jerked Delcatty up and on top of her.

The next second, those draconic meteors blazed through the sky and slammed into the ground with the kind of violence that could have toppled a skyscraper. The air exploded into roiling flames, billowing out in every direction and forcing Nidoking to cover his head and hug the ground again. An overpressure wave blurred Will's vision for a second. Whatever kind of move Tuff Puff had just brought down on Blaziken and its own teammate was something Will had never seen before. It kicked up a geyser of dirt and stones and dust, shrouding both Blaziken and Delcatty from view.

That damn Jigglypuff fell to the ground, landing heavier than its size and weight would suggest.

"Yes! Again, Tuff Puff!" Risa ordered.

Not eager to see another rain of meteors rain down on Nidoking's head, Will yelled, "Close quarters Nidoking!"

"I don't think so!" Risa shot back.

As Nidoking charged at the odd Jigglypuff, it began breathing fire again. An enormous torrent of flames poured from its tiny, gaping mouth, and Nidoking barely had time to bring his forearms up to protect his face before the flames consumed him.

The dust of that meteor attack began to settle and Will fought against his desire to grin. Some people were truly indestructible.

Jigglypuff's Flamethrower still packed an enormous amount of power, and even though Nidoking coated his arms with Poison-type energy and struggled to get closer to his foe, he wasn't able to. He faltered, slumping to his knees.

"Tuff Puff! Watch out!" Risa said.

Jigglypuff bit off its attack at the source and tried to hop away, but it was just a fraction of a second too slow.

Pokemon's abilities changed and matured as the Pokemon itself evolved. The Blaze ability was no different. After taking a large amount of damage or injuries in quick succession, Blaziken's physiology triggered her Blaze ability. Either her body shut down her pain reception, or the sudden boost of energy allowed her to more easily shrug it off herself. Whichever it was, it must have been a truly strange sight to witness, Blaziken shoving the fainted Delcatty off herself as an aura of fire clung to her body. Her eyes glowed a yellow-gold as she stalked towards Tuff Puff. The first few steps were slow and unsteady. The next, however, allowed her to pick up speed. By the time Risa realized that Blaziken was still very much a threat, Blaziken had closed the distance.

With a furious growl, Blaziken drove a burning Blaze Kick at the distracted Tuff Puff. The impact of her shin against Jigglypuff's body was a violent thing, one that Will felt even from a distance. Risa's Jigglypuff had to be heavier than it looked, because it didn't quite go flying the way Will had expected it to. Nevertheless, the impact of her kick sent Jigglypuff careening towards Nidoking, who managed to catch it with a double Poison Jab.

Steam hissed as the Poison energy ate into the Puff's body. Jigglypuff writhed in Nidoking's grasp, twisting its body around to gather enough energy for another attack, but Nidoking was having none of that. He slammed the smaller Pokemon into the pavement with such force that it cracked, and then promptly followed up with a hammer-blow, further spiking the Jigglypuff into the ground with an overhead Poison Jab that finally put an end to the strange Pokemon's struggles.

The cheering crowd went silent.

Nidoking sagged and slumped to the ground. Blaziken, too, looked like she was about to go down, and she braced herself against the side of the Central Building, breathing heavily.

"...that, seems to be it," Rhodes said.

"Yes!" Melia cheered, jumping with joy. "Wow, you guys were amazing!"

"Really…" Risa hissed as she recalled her fallen Puff, then did the same for Delcatty. "So freaking lame…"

She'd wanted a fight. She'd gotten one. "Absolute fighting machines, you two," Will said, recalling his exhausted Pokemon.

"A staggering display of firepower," Kanon said solemnly.

Literally. If Blaziken hadn't delivered that last blow when she did, Will would have lost, no question about it.

Seriously, what did she feed that Jigglypuff?

"Damn, I guess that's a loss for the books," Risa sighed. She struck a pose where she put one hand on her hip, then she winked at him. "But damn boy, that does wonders for your reputation! In GDC, reputation is everything. Beating me in front of all my peeps? That's gonna send your reputation out there!"

Will rubbed his right eye. The way his headache was going, he wanted to be the one out there soon.

"Das just how it goes," Risa said, beaming at him. "But I have a photoshoot I need to complete before the end of the day so I'll talk to you cuties later."

Melia inched closer towards him. Will wasn't sure why, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"Oh, and Rhodes?" Risa said, giving Rhodea a coy look. "I'll contact you about "that thing" later. Saya!"

With one last wink, Risa was off, and it didn't take long for the crowd to disperse. Some of them came hurrying up the steps to start badgering Melia, Venam and him with questions and comments. Others tried to get a better angle to take pictures. Will tried to steady his pounding heart, but it was thudding in his throat and he felt his limbs freeze up. Almost instinctively, he reached out with his right hand and found Melia's arm. His fingers found her hand, and he clutched it, desperate for something to ground himself.

Before he could think of anything else, Rhodea and Venam put a swift stop to things.

"Alright people break it up! We've got business to attend to!" Rhodea said, raising her voice so that even the ones in the back could hear her. "Move along."

Melia curled her hand inwards, intertwining her fingers with his and pulling his hand against her.

Protectively.

"Yeah, you heard the lady! Move the fuck along, why don't you?" Venam shouted, clenching her hands into fists as she glared at the people starting to crowd them. "Quit gawking, unless you wanna get your asses handed to you as well!"

Miraculously enough, that worked. The sight of the angry Rhodea and Venam yelling at them was enough to get them to back off, and before long, they had a clear shot from the Central Building down towards the western approach.

Melia didn't let him go, even as things winded down again.

"That's just the way the city is," Rhodea said as she lingered behind them, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see if the people had truly stopped following them. "Folks get excited meeting their heroes, meeting new heroes and seeing battles happen. They have the tendency to make things all about them. You guys good?"

"I'm good, even if all of that was so exhausting," Melia sighed. "Will?" She gave his arm a shake. "That fight with Risa came out of nowhere. You okay swee - ah, af-after sweeping her in front of her fans like that? You've been quiet today."

Will took a breath. One by one, Melia untangled her fingers from his. "Just a bit tired," he said, even mustering the energy to give Melia a smile. "I have some things on my mind."

"Fucking douches," Venam fumed. "Letting fame get to their heads like that…Her too."

"She can a little show-offy, but she's a good person," Rhodea protested. "She didn't mention it, but she's the reason why Team Xen isn't too active in this part of Aevium."

"Really?" Will said, surprised. He couldn't imagine the bubbly, seemingly self-absorbed Risa ever risking herself fighting an enemy like Team Xen.

"Oh yeah! She actively fights them off, and as a result, keeps the city safe," Rhodea said, looking pleased at his interest. "So she's more than just an idol."

GDC was huge. It housed hundreds of thousands of people. How could one popstar have the time and energy to 'keep the city safe' from a vast and expansive organization as Team Xen?

It struck him at once.

Connections. Risa must have access to some incredible information network that even the Rangers hadn't been able to set up on Terajuma.

He had to know, he had to talk to her about that!

"Huh…I had no idea," Melia said.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, as they say."

"Actually, it felt like we read through chapter one and got a pretty good idea of what the rest of the book holds," Kanon remarked. "But that's just me…"

Also a good point.

"Well, either way, I'm tired," Rhodea replied. "Let's head home. My place is just a short walk from here…"

A short walk turned into another twenty minutes deeper into the western part of the city, looping back around southward to a neighborhood close to the station. Rhodea and Venam chatted about things like reputation and the different districts and when Kanon wondered about the efficiency of the metro system versus simply taking the bus, Rhodea turned that into an entire study.

Will, meanwhile, was just happy to be walking next to Melia and having something to listen to that didn't warrant his complete concentration. He alternated between looking around at the various shops, stands and colorful billboards and catching some snippets of Rhodea's explanation of things. Every now and then, he saw another Pokemon fly overhead. Judging by its frame, he'd say it was a Skarmory.

"You just keep having the worst luck today," Melia spoke up.

"Hmm?" Will shifted his focus towards her. "Sorry?"

"Your luck," Melia said again. "That guy in the Marina Tube singling you out. Then, meeting up with that woman, Flora."

"I don't think Flora likes me very much," Will said.

Melia laughed. "Duh! Then again, from what I managed to get, I don't think that's personal. Some people just don't like anyone."

Oh, Will was very sure that it was personal, but Melia didn't need to be concerned about that.

"And then falling into those caves, that thing with Aelita - I'm sure Erin is going to find her, by the way - and now getting singled out by a freaking popstar. And whooping her in front of her fanclub!" She summed up excitedly.

"I'm starting to think the city doesn't want me here," Will said, only half-joking.

"Yeah, well," Melia said, straightening as she gave him a self-assured, smug look that he was completely there for. "Don't care. I want you here."

Those words in combination with that expression made Will feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside all over again, and he struggled to find something to say in response. "Then I have no choice, do I?"

"Nope. I made the choice for you. You're gonna stay here with us!"

"Boys and girls, here we are," Rhodea suddenly declared. She swept out one arm in a dramatic gesture and said, "Welcome to the Dream Complex! The largest residential area in all of Aevium!"

Will looked up. And up. All the way up. "Seriously?" He breathed.

The Dream Complex was a slightly thinner version of the Central Building. Easily hundreds of meters tall, the complex could have comfortably hosted thousands of civilians. It wasn't a cramped apartment complex or anything, considering Will saw dozens of terraces and balconies sticking in every direction.

"Oh man, that is one tall-ass building!" Venam exclaimed.

"I don't think I have ever seen anything this tall in my entire life," Kanon said with quiet awe.

"Yeaaaah…it's pretty cool," Melia said, keenly observing their reactions.

…Will wondered how cool it would have been to see all of this with two functioning eyes and depth perception. It was like the scale of it all didn't really register with his brain because he physically could not see how big this all was.

He rubbed his left eye, tracing the scar across his eye and wondering if he'd ever regain even a portion of what he'd lost on that summit.

"Come on, let's head inside, I'm starving for some pizza," Rhodea said, leading them all into the complex's atrium and towards one of three elevators at the far end.

"If this place has like a hundred floors, does that mean it's got a hundred elevator buttons too?" Venam asked, much to Melia's apparent amusement.

"It does," Rhodea said, before giving her a stern look. "Fair warning. Don't get any funny ideas."

"Hey, it's not me you got to worry about," Venam snorted. "Kanon's the funny one."

The elevator doors slid open with a quiet hum. It was large enough to comfortably host a group double their size, and the thing was rated for carrying a metric ton of weight. The inside was decorated with shiny mirrors and golden handrails, as well as a panel with a button for every single floor the complex had.

"...I don't see what kind of funny ideas I could suggest here?" Kanon said.

Will saw it. He had no doubts that Rhodea would likely toss him down the elevator shaft if he did that.

The five of them walked inside. Will remained near the door, quietly eying the various different buttons. One of them would be for emergencies, the other two for opening and closing the elevator doors. "Where are we headed?" He asked.

"Floor eighty-seven," Rhodea answered.

Will traced the plated outline of the elevator panel, found the eighty-seventh floor and pressed the button. The doors closed and the elevator began accelerating gently.

"There are a lot of tall buildings around here," Kanon said. "If the culprit turns out to be human, I feel like we would have a difficult time getting to them."

"If we find conclusive evidence, we will get an arrest warrant and get them," Rhodea replied, leaning against the back mirror. She rested her elbows on the railing and looked at Kanon. "But the larger the city, the heavier their bureaucracy. Even if we find our guys, we might need to wait until we get official permission to strike at them."

"Bureaucracy sucks," Venam hissed. "Why do the laws even protect those scum in the first place?"

"Because justice means everybody is innocent until proven guilty," Rhodea shot back.

"Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission," Will weighed in.

Melia looked into his eyes, as if searching. Rhodea meanwhile seemed genuinely taken aback and said, "Will, I really don't think that is a good idea, especially not in GDC."

"..I'm sorry," Will replied, smirking at Melia, who put a hand to her mouth to hide her amusement.

Judging by the way Rhodea stared at him, Will guessed she wasn't if he was pulling her leg or not. better that way; when he located the closest Team Xen hideout in the city, he wasn't going to let bureaucracy hinder him.

After a minute, the elevator reached the eighty-seventh floor, and the doors parted again to show a velvet carpet draped across a pristine, wooden floor. The interior of the Dram Complex was shaped like a U; they could go around left and around right, and both hallways had their own suites

Rhodea went right, and they all followed her towards her penthouse. She unlocked the first door, which led to a large hall furnished with two beautiful Pidgeot statues and four vases of large, pink flowers, one for each corner. When Rhodea unlocked the second door however, Will started to realize that when she said penthouse, she actually meant her penthouse.

Rhodea's home was huge. She took them into a living quarters the size of a Gym Arena. Her actual living room was directly to their right. To their left, perfectly centered between a large dinner table with way too many seats and some more rooms, Rhodes had installed a luxurious kitchen island with a city view. It looked spotless. Behind and above them, a staircase led to an open floor above their current one.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Rhodea said as Melia, Venam and Kanon took in their surroundings with varying levels of awe. "Hope it's to your liking!"

"...with all due respect, Rhodea, this place is anything but humble!" Kanon gasped.

A very excited Venam raked her hair with a trembling hand. "WE GET TO STAY HERE?"

"Uh, yeah?" Rhodea asked, looking at the shaking girl with a hint of uncertainty. "Unless you'd like to stay in a hotel I could make some - "

"No, no!" Venam quickly added. "This is fine!"

"Okay, okay. Huey! Lavender!" We're here! Come greet your new roommates"!

A head with a mop of slicked-back, crimson hair popped up from one of the couches. "Oooh, company is here!" He yelled, before hopping up from the couch and rushing over towards them. The girl who'd been sitting quietly in the chair next to that couch rose to her feet as well, though something about her expression gave Will pause. Whereas Huey excitedly bounded towards them, Lavender almost seemed hesitant to approach.

"Hello friendos!" Huey said, grinning as he glanced at Melia, then at Venam and Kanon, before finally settling his gaze on Will. His eyes flicked up towards his scar and lingered. "Welcome!" He added, before dragging his eyes off of Will and looking at Rhodea again.

"I'm…" the girl, Lavender, shyly started. "Um…" Her face was pale, but her cheeks and eyes had a reddish hue to them, almost as if she'd been crying recently. She made a point not to look at anyone directly, and she awkwardly rubbed her arm before muttering, "Sorry, please excuse me…"

Without another word, Lavender turned and quickly walked away.

"Someone's havin' a bad day," Venam said.

"She's been going through a lot right now," Huey said. "She doesn't mean to be rude, honest!"

"We understand Huey," Melia reassured him. "No worries."

"Thanks!" Huey said, giving her a grateful nod of his head. "Anyway, I'm Huey, and I think I'm an OK guy."

Will wanted to raise his hand and wave at the guy, but the movement took far more effort than it should have. Suddenly he felt exhausted.

"Oh Huey," Rhodea chuckled. "Always being the good host." She snapped her fingers. "Right! Room accommodations! Let's see here…"

Before she could start pointing them to their rooms, Venam just ran off towards the balcony. "We can handle those later! I wanna see what we got around here!"

"Venam!" Melia yelled after her. "Don't be rude!" With a shake of her head, she turned to Rhodea. "I'm sorry Rhodea…"

"All good," the dark-skinned woman smiled back. "We have all day for that."

Venam reached the balcony and began fiddling with the door.

That pushed Melia over the edge. "I'll go make sure she doesn't break anything…" She said, before hurrying after their friend.

Kanon snorted, then said, "I'll go clean up what she inevitably breaks," he said, after which Huey and him both headed towards the balcony as well.

"I'll - " Go laugh when Venam breaks stuff, was what Will wanted to say, but a sudden wave of dizziness overcame him. His legs felt a lot weaker all of a sudden and he actually had to brace himself against the staircase. Somehow he managed to turn the motion into a half-assed stumble up the stairs, which caught Rhodea's attention.

"Good call! Guess it's just us huh? That means first come, first serve! Let me show you what you got to work with!" She walked up the stairs with him and Will managed to push back the exhaustion long enough to make it up to the next level without falling over.

That second floor was dominated by an open hallway leading to several bedrooms. Rhodea pointed to the one at the far left, said something about taking a look and then the rest of her words turned into something of a blur. Will barely remembered having made his way towards that room until he suddenly stood in the middle. Dimly, his mind took note of a large window, a bookcase and a bed -

"Dream…A Dream…"

That bed…looked so enticing. His exhaustion cut to the bone, and the day's events crashed into him like a tidal wave. Giratina, the woman with red hair, Carpenter and Flora and Crescent and Aelita -

Images lurked at the edges of his mind. His knees trembled.

"So Grand…"

Will fought his way towards the bed. He barely made it before he collapsed.

"That it…"

His eyes fluttered, and fear gripped his heart when he realized, dimly, almost instinctively that something wasn't right.

"Becomes…"

But he was drifting, and the blackness overtaking his mind was like an abyss.

"A Nightmare."

His world narrowed until there was nothing left.

~~~~~~~(II)~~~~~~~

---

By some miracle, Venam, in her infinite excitement, hadn't broken anything, and soon Rhodea was able to corral everyone back to her really spacious and really cozy living corner. They got Huey and even poor Lavender to join them there, and by the time Rhodea had booted up her laptop to start compiling their many pizza requests, everybody had claimed their spot on the couches and chairs.

Well, almost everybody.

The most important one was missing.

What was Will doing up there?

"It's so awesome that you guys came all the way from Gearen City just to help out!" Huey said, bouncing up and down on the couch in excitement.

"We're just looking to help where we can, kid," Venam said, putting up her cool-girl persona.

"Do you have plans? Tricks? Do you know where we're going to start? Can we help?"

"Easy there Huey," Rhodea said as she clicked through the pizza joint's webpage. "Planning is due tomorrow. Tonight, we're going to unwind, relax and eat pizza. What did you want again, Venam?"

"Double pepperoni, please!"

"Gotcha! Now all we're missing is Will's pizza."

"What's Will doing, anyway?" Melia asked.

"He's ah…" Rhodea got distracted by a pop-up and her voice trailed off.

"I dunno," Venam said with a shrug.

Somewhat annoyed at how disinterested Venam was acting to their friend the past days, Melia shot her a rebuking look, but Venam didn't even catch it. Strange.

"Is he still upstairs?" Melia asked.

"I did point him to his bedroom, yeah…" Rhodea said.

"Do you think something happened?" Kanon asked.

"Like what?" Venam said.

"He could be making his bed?"

Venam shrugged dismissively. "You don't know Will like we do, Kanon. Things don't happen to him, he happens to things. That being said, he's likely being a paranoid goof, checking his room for bugs and stuff…"

"Oh, yeah, I hate it when Bug-types sneak into my room!" Huey chimed in.

"That's not…yeah, sure. Let's go with that."

"Just tell me what kind of pizza Will likes, and I can send this order through," Rhodea remarked.

There was an awkward moment where Venam and Melia exchanged an uncertain look. Neither of them actually knew and there was about a ninety percent chance that Will didn't know either. The things he did and did not remember were kinda wonky at times. That putrid Indriad must have torn a blood swath through Will's mind. That Will had come out of that affair with his mind still intact, let alone functioning at such an incredible level he did, was nothing short of a miracle.

They'd just have to keep feeding him and those things would come back on their own, Melia was sure of that. "You know what, I'll ask him!" She said, getting up from her seat. "I'll go take a look."

She strolled across Rhodea's fashionable floor, headed up her meticulously-crafted wooden stairs and then knocked on Will's door. "Will? You in there? Everything alright?"

No response. Maybe he didn't hear her?

"Will?" She knocked again. "We're ordering pizza! What would you like?"

Still no response.

Huh. That wasn't normal.

She wanted to respect his privacy and all, but the times where Will heard her calling and decided not to answer were…kinda nonexistent. It had never happened before. Maybe he was having another moment?

Deciding to check up on him just in case, Melia tried the doorhandle and found it unlocked. At least there was that.

She walked into his room. "Will?"

There he lay, conked out on the bed still wearing all of his clothes. The poor boy must have been exhausted. As far as Melia knew, he wasn't the best nor the most steady sleeper, so this was very likely his bad sleeping habits teaming up with all the stuff that was going on inside of his mind. A double whammy. A clean K.O.

Just watching him lie there, all vulnerable and small and mushed up against his pillow filled her with a desire to connect with him. For a brief, insanely reckless moment, Melia entertained what it would feel like if she were to cuddle up with him in that bed. He didn't look very warm, but that was nothing a blanket couldn't fix. Just them, curled up in the bed, snug and comfortable and…and secure.

Safe.

What would it feel like, wrapped up against him, pressing herself against his back?

Melia leaned closer.

Will didn't look like he felt safe. A tension had seeped into his body; his expression was a bit too grim to be slack, he'd curled in a bit on himself and his hands had gripped the bundled-up covers next to him in a vice grip.

A part of her wanted nothing more than to let him sleep. Arceus knew he could use the rest more than any of them.

But she also knew that he hadn't eaten much the entire day, and if her hunch was correct, then he hadn't had a pizza since he first washed up on Aevium's shore. Without any memories of his previous life, pizza party at Rhodea's would be his first pizza party, ever. It was an experience he couldn't miss, a memory he had to make.

Her work was grim, but it had to be done.

She had to wake her Will up.

Melia put her hands on the bed and hovered over him. "Wake up sleepyhead," she whispered in his ear. Then, she pressed her lips against his forehead, lingered for a second and then pulled back a bit, eager to see how he'd react to that.

…not at all, apparently.

Weird. Normally, Will's body couldn't wait to wake up at random stimuli.

Man, he was really sleepy, huh?

Attempt two.

She sat down on the bed next to him, running her fingers up and down his arm. "Wiiiill. Wake up. Pizza party!"

Still nothing.

"You are one sleepy puppy," she remarked, frowning a bit. "Will?" She reached out and gently placed her hand against his cheek, giving his face the slightest of nudges. Her thumb drew short strokes across the scarring on his cheekbone.

He didn't budge.

Melia was officially starting to get worried now. She didn't want to shake him or do anything rough to wake him up, but that he hadn't immediately bolted upright when she first put her hands on him was kinda a red flag.

If Will was this fast asleep, his body needed sleep more than it needed pizza. As much as she hated having to partake in any kind of celebration without Will there, his physical wellness was just as important as his mental wellness.

With a heavy heart, she got off his bed. She took a moment to take one of the bundled-up blankets and gently draped it over Will's body.

She'd make sure the others kept some slices of pizza aside for him. One of each kind, so he could rediscover his tastes in peace. "I hope you have pleasant dreams, Will," she whispered, before closing the door behind her.

~~~~~~~(III)~~~~~~~

---

Will found himself sitting in an unfamiliar chair, facing a masked man he didn't know, playing a game of chess he didn't remember starting and gazing out over an endless, sunset void reminding him far too much of going up in an explosion in the distant past.

He'd woken up to better circumstances before.

"Welcome, welcome!" The man said. He wore an absolutely huge tophat and the mask that hid his identity looked like it belonged on the set at one of Narcisa's drama rehearsals. "Let's play a simple game, friend."

"Who are you?" Will asked.

"Ah, skipping straight ahead, I see? Take a guess! Do you, per chance, know what my name is?"

Will eyed the man warily, trying to discern any familiar details that might betray his identity. If this man's last name was Theolia, the two of them would throw down. "You look like trouble."

The prick laughed. "As expected." He reached out, took one of the pieces and pushed it to the next square. "You and I are going to continue this game and play "Chess" then."

Will opened his mouth to ask about a refreshment course on how chess was supposed to be played -

"The rules are simple," his enigmatic visitor said. He stood up from his seat and gestured at the space behind Will.

Will looked over his shoulder and saw a massive chessboard etched into a plateau that floated serenely in the void. He'd seen a set of chess pieces before, in Narcissa's house, and he vaguely remembered something about how it was meant to be played, but something told him that this wouldn't be as simple as pushing the enormous pieces to enact a giant game.

…those pieces! Those were -

But he'd been dreaming. No, that wasn't quite right. He'd…he'd been sleeping, hadn't he? Then where was he?

"Let's play a game!" Tophat said. "A new one. The board is set up with white and black pieces, just like any chess board."

Will saw the white and black pieces alright.

"But you may find that this isn't like any other game of chess you've seen. Black pieces are not necessarily evil, and as such, white pieces are not good."

Even from a distance, standing atop that floating platform, he could see what this was about.

"Any piece has the chance of turning into its opposite color."

"Seriously, who the hell - " Will whipped around to face Tophat, but the guy was gone. " - are you?"

"Feel free to interact with the board and make yourself acquainted," the voice drifted through the lonely void.

"Where - "

Will blinked and found himself standing in the middle of the chess board, surrounded by life-sized carving his friends, family, loved ones and mortal enemies. They towered over him. Even the one depicting Braixen was twice his height. They boxed him in, the white pieces in front and the black pieces at his six. At his right side, he had a row of empty seats. And to his left…

"Someone took your hat privileges?" Will said.

The man, now clad in a white jacket, still hid his features behind a porcelain mask. "Ah, the humor. The reshaping of the narrative to ward off…what, I wonder?"

Will looked around. Braixen's piece had text written at the piece of stone she stood atop.

"Such is the case for incomplete personalities," the man continued.

"Memories," Will retorted.

"Indeed?"

Will discarded the mocking tone in the man's voice. "I'm dreaming," he said. "You are just a trippy nightmare."

"Perhaps," the man conceded. "Are you ready to begin your game?"

The text read, "The fox that's afraid of its own shadow."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Will demanded.

The masked man stared at him.

"Braixen isn't a coward, she's not…she's a warrior, just like us!" Will continued furiously.

The man wagged his index finger at him. "Tch-tch. You have always been a bad liar."

His friends…the so-called "chess pieces" all had text on them. The pieces at the front, they included Amber, Val, Saki, Adam and…and Texen?

"Her anger burns just as hot as her desire to be wanted," Will whispered, reading the text at Amber's feet.

It…it wasn't a lie. That was exactly the Amber he knew. But then - !

"To show love to those who don't receive,".

Valarie.

"Unrequited love leaves scars."

Adam.

"You can't avoid your pain forever."

Saki?

Pain? What kind of pain was Saki running from?

The others, their text was blurred out. Nothing to read. The same went for the black pieces, the Xen members.

It was starting to become apparent that this was more than just a dream. It felt so real. But would he know the difference between a dream and real life anyway? He'd never had a nightmare where he knew he was dreaming.

Someone must have been invading his mind again. If Gardevoir was trying to get him killed again, he didn't even have Kirlia to protect him. His mind was completely exposed.

But how? He'd been in Rhodea's apartment, Melia and Venam were right there! And Kanon -

Kanon. Rhodea. Stormchasers.

Was the mere thought of rebelling against them for Crescent's sake really enough for the Space Hags to start fucking with his head? Why hadn't they bothered to simply open a doorway to his room instead of bothering with all this?

"Who are you?" Will demanded again. "What do you want?"

"For you to start the game," the masked man calmly replied.

His mind rebelled against the notion of doing what a potential enemy told him to, but he didn't see an alternative here. Time moved differently in dreams regardless. As long as this intruder in his mind didn't start telling him to jump off the edge, he would play along, see what he ended up with.

"Fine, let's start," he growled.

"Very well."

An invisible hand shoved the piece depicting Val forwards two squares. There, the stone casing crumbled and shattered, falling away into pieces that disintegrated before they could touch the board.

"Val!" Will said, hurrying towards the familiar blue-haired woman. "Val! Is that you? Are you okay?"

Valarie turned to face him and the look in her eyes was just…empty. Vacant. Gone. "I don't know who I want myself to be," she mumbled without a hint of emotion.

"What? No, come on, it's me!" Will replied.

"My sense of self is shrouded in something that I cannot comprehend myself," Val continued numbly. "Will you help me find my true self?"

"Yes! Whatever you need!"

Val blinked. "We'll see about that," she slowly said. She stepped back and assumed her battle pose, the exact one she'd taken when they battled for her Gym badge.

A Pokemon materialized in front of her, blinking into existence before his eyes. It wasn't a Water-type, or any kind of Pokemon Val had used in the past. Instead, it was a Smeargle, and when it locked its eyes on Will it sprang towards him, tail swinging -

Even as Will backed away, his hand dropped to his side and he found the satchel containing his Pokemon. He found Nidoking's ball and sent him out, and much to his surprise, Nidoking actually appeared. He was right there, in this bizarre dreamscape, which should have been impossible because Gardevoir hadn't allowed him even one of his Pokemon before.

Evidently, the rules had changed, and that opened up new tactics. "Nidoking!

Nidoking's armored claw snatched Smeargle's out of the air mid-lunge. His fingers dug into the Pokemon's neck, and Smeargle began clawing at his wrist in an attempt to pry himself loose.

When Nidoking began slamming his foe against the checkered surface of the chessboard, it didn't splinter. That struck Will as odd. It should splinter. Everything else felt so real. Why didn't the floor break?

"My true self must be broadcasted!" Val exclaimed. "I found my new self now!"

Her…her new self?

Between one smash and the other, Smeargle vanished. Nidoking looked up at his right claw in confusion. He flexed his fingers, as if thinking that his foe had turned invisible instead of just disappearing.

Apparently that wasn't the case.

"May I ask for your time?" Val continued eagerly stepping towards Will with an almost manic grin on her face. "I have an article I'm writing about for the GDC Newsletter!"

"Val, what are you doing? You're not…you're a water performer."

Her grin faltered. "Is that a no? Maybe some other time?"

And then her body dissolved in front of him. It just fell apart like the chess piece had, flaking away into nothingness.

"Nice move," the game's host commented as Will stared at the tile Val had occupied in shock. "Report that for me, would you?"

"The GDC Newsletter…" he muttered. New self? What was going on?

"Do you want to start the second round?" His uninvited guest asked.

This was ridiculous. Either this was someone trying to invade his mind and trying to kill him, in which case they were doing a really bad job, or this was a fever dream brought up by too much contact with Aevium's weird shit, in which case, it was still doing a really bad job.

Well, fuck that. And fuck them. This was his mind.

"Come get some," WIll growled.

The man stared at him from behind that stupid mask. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes that's a goddamn yes," Will snapped back.

"Very well."

Saki's chess piece was next. it too sprang forward two spaces and then morphed into the person it depicted.

"Next."

"Saki!" Will called out. "Saki, can you hear me?"

Grinning, the engineer turned his way. "Damn, why I gotta wake up on a floating chess board in the middle of the sky? Hey! Will!"

"Hey Saki," Will said, relief coursing through his system that at least something made sense in this place. "Let's get out of here toget - "

"Put me back to sleep, pls. I would like to forget this ever happened!"

"I…what?"

Saki stared at him expectantly.

"Put…you to sleep? How?" Will asked.

As if waiting for that question, another Pokemon flickered into existence, this one a little Pidove that didn't do much else than fly around in a circle. Just a confused circle right above Saki's head.

Saki kept grinning lazily.

Rattled, Will shot a look at the mysterious host, but that jerk could have been a chess piece of his own for all the response he gave.

At a loss, Will recalled Nidoking and sent out Froslass instead. Froslass blew the Pidove out of the sky with an errand blast of ice, and Saki…gasped, moaned and then spread her arms out as if preparing for bed. "Ahhh…sweet release. Yuh."

Like Val before her, Saki disappeared.

Will took a centering breath. What was the point of showing him this?

"Nice move," the host commented, his voice smooth and calm as ever. "Memories and everything that comes with them are painful. Has this girl been thrown into sweet release, or into a pit even deeper than hell?"

Instead of turning his attention back to the annoying intruder in his mind, Will glanced back at the rest of the white pieces. Standing in the middle of their formation was Venam. Venam as she was now.

"Venam…" he whispered. Ren, Venam and Melia. The first friends he ever had. Why was she so distant and snappy? If she genuinely thought he was some sort of…some kind of damaged lunatic, why had she still been so nice and caring after their first visit to the past? Something had changed, something important that he'd failed to notice. "Why won't you just talk to me?"

As he looked, he noticed that the description at the base of her chess piece wasn't as impossible to read as he first thought it was.

"The spirit of rebellion is born from great pain and guilt."

"Yeah," he sighed. It sure was.

"Are you ready for the next round?" His host asked

"Bring it," Will replied dully.

They shoved Adam's piece forwards. Like Saki and Val before him, Adam's stony exterior crumbled away and the large, sandy-haired man looked exactly like he had when Will last saw him.

"Begin."

"...Adam?" Will said.

Adam ignored him. The big guy kept his sullen gaze locked on the dark pieces in front of him. The Xen Admins.

Will inched closer, wary of what might happen next. The Adam he knew would never hurt him, ever. But these guys…these strange depictions of his friends were not the people he knew and loved. Anything could happen.

With a start, Will realized that this might be the entire point. Someone might be trying to wear him down by forcing him to fight his friends, or somehow alter his perception of them, turn him against them.

If he steeled his heart and tore his way through this strange caricature, it might subconsciously alter the way he viewed his friends. It could make him dangerous to them.

If he didn't steel himself and let this strange game get to him, it might end up damaging him in some capacity.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't, huh?

"Well, screw you," Will told the masked jerk. He wasn't going to play that game. He wouldn't hurt his friends, but he also wouldn't let them hurt him.

Resilience.

"Adam, my man," he said, striding towards his friend, his brother.

"...no," Adam said, and his voice was so small, so uncertain, that Will wasn't sure he'd even heard it correctly. "I refuse," he then said. He kept his gaze locked on the distant horizon, his entire body tense and hard. "I just. Might."

"Adam?" Will said again.

"Adam Might. Do something."

In a stunning display of what Will could only assume to be symbolism, Adam proceeded to turn himself back into a giant, stone chess piece. It sprang up in the air and when it landed, it was as if the entire world shook.

Then, another statue came tumbling from the sky. It tumbled end over end, hit the game board and then shattered into a hundred pieces. Will flinched and ducked instinctively and Adam's statue just vanished like the others.

"An unexpected play," the enigmatic observer pointed out. "But as usual, the show must go on as normal."

"Right," Will breathed. "Normal."

The statue that lay shattered across the chess board was Risa Raider. He'd seen her body break apart upon impact, but the actual damage didn't reflect what he'd seen. She lay there, broken and miserable, a chess piece split in two at the waist.

Then, her stone head looked straight at him. "I…Ha…v…e… ti…me… le…f.t…"

"Time? What for?" Will said, kneeling next to the dying remains.

Risa sucked in deep gasp and it sounded like she was drowning in her own blood. As if her body was falling apart on the inside. "This…w…o.n…t… wi.n… ov…e…r …me… I…a.m… sr…r…o…g…e.r… tha…n. …I gi…v.e …m…y…se…lf. cr…ed…it…fo…r" Another horrible, rattling, garbling gasp. "X…a…r…"

"Risa? What's going on?" He asked.

Her stone head began swelling up like a balloon. It grew larger and more bulbous and Will barely had the time to scramble away before it popped with a sickeningly wet noise, like an overripe fruit instead of rock.

That freaking Jigglypuff of hers emerged from the remains and it instantly attacked, charging itself up like a freaking battery before unleashing a clap of thunder. Will barely managed to get Nidoking onto the field, who absorbed the lethal bolt of lightning without trouble.

The resulting fight was eerily similar to his initial fight with Risa. Tuff Puff the Jigglypuff hovering over the battlefield with those damn balloons of theirs, raining down one scathing attack after the other. Flamethrowers, Thunderbolts, Draco Meteors - that the little Puff didn't shatter the entire chess board was a freaking miracle.

Then again, this entire thing was just a nightmare, so that tracked.

In the end, Will's Pokemon managed to put the strange Jigglypuff down once again. After some much needed support from Froslass, Nidoking finally managed to pin the Fairy-type to the ground and deliver a series of wicked Poison Jabs. After the fourth blow, the Jigglypuff vanished into thin air.

It didn't reappear.

"Wh-What? Not my Tuff-Puff!" Risa's voice emanated from her decapitated body. "Anything but that…"

Will stared at her shattered remains. Why did they think Risa was important enough to show him this? Of all the people they could use to screw with his head, they chose the popstar he'd met a grand total of one time? They had Melia and Aelita and Amber lined up and they chose to use Risa to try to get to him?

Strange.

"The game is over. For now," the host suddenly called out. "The sun rises." He sighed contently. "Interceptor, oh Interceptor…"

Alarmed, Will jerked his head around to look at him. "What did you say?"

"Whose mind will you inhabit next? Interceptor, oh Interceptor…"

That word. He'd…he'd heard it before. Where? Where had he heard that before?

It was suddenly all around him, circling from all sides and filling him up with fire. It swept him off his feet and there was nothing else, nothing but that word and where did I hear it before, what does it mean whose mind will you inhabit next -

"Until our next game."

He was trapped, he couldn't move, the details were all wrong - Val was wrong and Saki was wrong and Adam was wrong and it meant something, he knew it meant something but he didn't know what it was. He needed them to be safe, he needed them, but they were gone now, gone like his mother, like Nim -

Oh Interceptor -

Something hard slammed into his body and knocked all the air out of him. He gasped, thrashing violently in a blind panic because he couldn't move, there were things wrapped around him and he couldn't move -

A scream was halfway out of his throat before he choked it off, managing to turn it into a panicked sort of gasp.

Covers, he noted through hazy thoughts. Covers. Blankets.

He clawed at the fabric, kicking and shoving and gasping until he finally managed to free himself from the blanket wrapped around his body. When he did, he threw them away as hard as he could and rolled onto his back, his heart pounding against his ribs. He cupped his hands to his throat, waiting for the adrenaline to fade.

Footsteps approached his door. Someone knocked.

"Will?" Kanon's voice came from the other end of the door. "I heard something fall. Are you okay?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Will approached the door, tried to get something resembling calm and sane on his face, and then opened the door. "Morning Kanon."

Kanon's hazel eyes met his. "Did something happen?"

"...weird dream," Will replied. "Rolled down a hill too hard. Woke up on the floor. You ah…you heard that?"

Kanon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I've always had sensitive hearing. You were dreaming of rolling down a hill?"

"Never tried that before?" Will asked, stepping out and closing the door behind him. The image of that chess board was burned in his mind and he was desperate for something to distract him. "You should."

"...I fail to see the point," Kanon said as they began heading down the stairs. "You get bruised, dirty, and you might get hurt by hitting something hard."

"Counterpoint," Will said. "Fun."

"You really have an odd sense of fun, Will…"

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" Rhodea chipperly greeted him. She, along with Melia, Venam and Huey, were seated around the dinner table. Judging by the various plates, cups and mugs littering the table, they had yet to finish breakfast.

Were those things pizza slices?

…yes, of course they were. That made sense.

"For a moment there, we thought you weren't ever going to wake up!" Rhodea continued, before getting to her feet and heading to the kitchen corner.

"You missed the pizza party," Venam said, and Will couldn't help but detect something accusing in her tone.

"I tried waking you up, but you just wouldn't budge," Melia said as Will eased himself down next to her. "You had me worried there. I'm glad to see you're up and at 'em!"

"Sorry for missing the party," Will quietly said. How was he supposed to explain this one? Some jerk with a tophat and a mask abducted him in his dreams to play a game of chess where everyone he loved and hated had taken the form of the chess pieces? They'd think he'd lost his mind.

And they probably wouldn't be far from the truth.

"Hey, but don't worry!" Huey said. "I saved you a couple of slices! They're in the fridge."

"Thank you Huey," Will said. "How would I, uh, go about reheating them?"

"Oh, I know that!" Huey said, jumping to his feet. "Reheating pizza's like a crucial skill in life! Do you want them now?"

"...can I?" Will asked, looking at Rhodea, then at Melia.

Rhodea snorted. "Whatcha looking at me for? As long as you clean up afterwards, you can do what you want."

"Usually we save leftover pizza for lunch," Melia said. "Buuut…." She made a point to look at the leftover pizza on Huey's and Venam's plates. "Apparently the rules are different today."

"Please," Will said to Huey.

"I got ya man! First step is heating up the oven again. Imma grab the baking paper."

"How do you like your coffee, Will?" Rhodea asked in the meantime. .

Will turned to face his host. Hostess? His coffee-provider. "I - "

Melia smirked, while Venam snorted and muttered, "Here we go…"

Shooting the girls an annoyed look, Will said, "Without cream or sugar, please."

"All black, huh?" Rhodea said. "Alright. You know, they say you can tell a lot about a person by how they enjoy their coffee."

"Oh, I'll bet," Venam said.

"I think you'd be surprised, Rhodea," Melia laughed.

"Hmm." Rhodea began tweaking the settings on an intense-looking capsule coffee system with a large, bulbous head and a water reservoir attached to its back. Its outer casing gleamed in the morning sunlight. "I've always considered how people order their coffee more important than what they order. How strong a cup of coffee we talking, Will?"

"I like to chew on my coffee in the morning," Will replied.

Next to him, Melia promptly broke down laughing and Venam nearly spat her juice all over the table. She covered her mouth with a sleeve, making wet coughing noises.

Rhodea shot Will a bemused look, one corner of her lips pulled up into a knowing smirk. "Alright, alright, we got a strong coffee enjoyer over here."

"P-Psychopath," Venam coughed, before taking a few large gulps of her juice. "You're a damn psychopath."

"Wait, so you can chew on coffee?" Huey asked as he shoved a couple of pizza slices into the oven.

"No Huey, you can't - "

"Sure can," Will cut Rhodea off. "If you put enough ground coffee in the filter, it becomes a smoothie."

"Oh!" Huey said with an energetic gleam in his eyes. "Coffee smoothie!"

Will a roll of her eyes, Rhodea said, "Let's not do that, shall we? Huey, you don't need more caffeine, you have energy to spare."

"Aww…" Huey seemed genuinely disappointed to hear that, and Will didn't miss the glare Rhodea leveled his way. Nevertheless, she brought him a cup of steaming, roasted black coffee and he thanked her.

"Right. While you chew on your coffee, we're going to get back to business," Rhodea said. "We were just discussing what we plan to do on our investigation. Let's get things started."

Will glanced at the table again, but he saw no stacks of paper or maps of the city. How could they even be planning things without maps? "What do we know?"

"The phenomenon of people going missing and turning to stone began recently," Rhodea explained. "It had originally started with students from Axis High, but now they've spread out to others. The most recent victim being Talon Atriedes."

Will leaned back in his seat, tapping one finger against his mug as he considered what the first step ought to be. Find out the link between the victims, maybe. Figure out what connected them all, and then try to predict the next victim based on that.

Huey squirmed a bit on his seat. "He was Lavender's mentor, and she was the one who discovered him in the Scholar District," he said. He flicked his eyes upward, shooting a nervous look at Melia and Will before quickly looking back down again.

"Talon is being treated at the Hospital of Hope," Rhodea said. "They aren't accepting visitors right now, so I wouldn't waste the trip."

Then. Venam asked the question they'd all been wrestling with ever since Karrina had revealed what was going on. "Do you think Team Xen could be behind this?"

"I assume that's what we're here to figure out," Kanon replied.

With a brisk nod, Rhodea said, "That's right."

"Any leads?" Will asked, tightening his grip on his mug.

"There are two points of interest marked down," Rhodea replied, before opening a laptop that showed, to Will's pleasant surprise, an actual map of the city. She tapped a few buttons with her long nails, and the map zoomed in on the residential district. "Talon's house has not been searched by police yet. He shares rooms with Flora and Florin. Florin's allowing us to search the place before the police do." A few more button taps. "Second, Risa has given us some intel about a secret underground crime syndicate somewhere in the Night Market. Apparently, they have some sort of connection with the missing children."

Her words sent his head buzzing with anger. Missing children. Not dead, not held for ransom, missing.

Talon's house could wait. Better if Melia and Venam went down there. He'd take the Night Market.

"Essentially we're going to work in two groups," Rhodea continued. "One group will search Florin's house, and the other will investigate the Night Market with Risa."

"I'm taking the Night Market," Will said.

"Oh? Did that Risa girl intrigue you that much after your encounter?" Kanon said, looking at him with the kind of frown that told Will he was being entirely serious.

"What?" Huey said with excitement. "Did you meet Risa Rai - "

"I don't give a damn about Risa Raider," Will cut in. "If the Night Market offers a lead on those missing children and the police hasn't done anything about it, I'm heading in there."

Huey stared at him with huge eyes.

"It's a crime syndicate, Will, those guys don't tend to play around," Rhodea said.

Before Will could put together his answer to that, Melia beat him to the punch. "Will eats crime syndicates for breakfast. Flushes them down with the coffee."

"Yeah, lowlifes are only human, Will's like, a natural disaster," Venam said, and that muddled the waters even further for Will.

"True, true, I did see him kick Flora's ass and then win against Risa," Rhodea conceded. "But it's still an investigation, not a raid."

"If they have anything down there, I'll find it," Will said.

"Counterpoint!" Melia suddenly said. "Those criminals aren't going anywhere tonight Will, but someone might just want to tamper with the evidence in Talon's home. The longer we wait to poke around, the lower the chances are we find something, right?"

"Someone's been watching her crime flicks," Venam said.

"Hey! Those were fun on boring nights!" Melia protested. She turned to Rhodea. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"...yeah, I think you are. The police isn't happy that we're delaying them for our own search," Rhodea said. "The faster we search Talon's house, the better. In fact, that would serve this investigation better; I can take Melia and Venam to start scouting out the Night Market while you, Huey, Kanon and Lavender search Talon's home." Rhodea looked around for a moment. "Speaking of which, where is Lavender?"

Huey perked up. "Oh, I think she's already at the Botanical Garden, so that works out!"

"Oh, good!" Rhodea replied. "Will,Talon lives in the Botanical Garden, which is north of Viennas Hill. You can take a bus to the Hill and then head north. Venam, Melia, you two are accompanying me to Risa in the meantime."

"Sounds good to me!" Melia said.

"Yeah, me too," Venam said.

"Then let's move people!"

~~~~~~~(IV)~~~~~~~

---

Judicial District

Mayor Cassandra's Room

This operational order Neved had typed up was splendid in its elegance. Gorgeous in its brutality

A right pain in the collateral damage it would cause.

As the city's Mayor, preventing such collateral damage when possible was one of Cassandra's highest priorities. Alas, such was the folly of a high rank and the duties it bestowed upon her. For the sake of the future, a little collateral damage was something they would all just have to live with.

Considering Neved had tasked Captain Evan and his Third Squadron with the task, those men would either complete their mission and get to walk away, or they were all dead regardless. The difference between a life spent and a life wasted.

As for the specific building Neved had scouted out…she would have to start issuing warrants to remove those people. Fabricate reports about gas leaks, faulty wiring, missed or down payments, the works. Several floors could be completely emptied out for asbestos removal alone.

Yes, this order was very much to her liking. She accepted it, vowed to provide the logistical resources and then distributed the message to the relevant parties. Neved would have his operation.

A knock on her door shook burst her cocoon of concentration. "Miss Cassandra?" The quiet voice of her receptionist came from behind the door. "We have a visitor for you, uh…uhm, a woman named Madelis?"

Madelis.

Of all the bad timings…"You have got to be kidding me," Cassandra growled. "Alright, let her in."

And everybody's least favorite girl-failure strolled into her office, clad in her fucking work clothes, that utter buffoon. "...are you serious?" Cassandra hissed. "You came to my office dressed like that?!"

"Of course I did," the redheaded young woman replied with a scoff. "This outfit is a serve."

"The only thing that outfit is serving is a lifetime in jail! I am the Mayor of GDC. I cannot be seen with the Xen Initiative!"

Madelis put her hands atop Cassandra's desk and glowered at her. "So high and mighty now that you got a comfy job, Cassie," she said.

Bristling, Cassandra shot back, "Better than running around and doing grunt work, Maddie. Speaking of which, I heard you screwed up so bad that you were thrown on probation! But how could I blame Madame X after what you've done to Geara?"

"Done…to Geara?" Madelis repeated like the dumb sow she was. "What are you talking about?"

"How do I put this…" Cassandra mused. She glanced over at one of her laptops and marched towards it. "You see this laptop? Say I started transferring files onto a USB."

Madelis came over to watch.

"The data takes its time as it gradually transfers itself, but oh no!" She jerked the USB out of its port. "It seems the USB was pulled out of its socket before the transfer was complete! What do you think would happen in that case?"

"...the files could potentially be corrupted?" Madelis replied softly.

"Wow! You're smarter than you look, Maddie," Cassandra said.

Madelis grit her teeth as she shot her a furious look. "Enough with the pet names. I won't take this from you!"

"Oh, you won't?" Cassandra replied. Mockingly, she stroked her chin in thought. "Well, in that case I'll just let Madame X know that you're being disobedient. I doubt that will go well considering…well, everything else." She shot the woman a stern look. "Let's get this straight. You work for me now. And even one misstep and I'll call her and have you terminated. Permanently."

Madelis was very careful not to directly look at her new boss, it seemed. She was silent for a full thirty seconds as the words sank in. Then, she swallowed and croaked out, "Fine."

"It's "Yes ma'am" , to you," Cassandra snarled.

Madelis' brow furrowed. Her body went rigid as she very painfully forced out the words, "...Yes ma'am."

"Good!" Cassandra said, patting her arm and then getting up from her seat again. "Well, I can't have you in my office forever so I'll just have to put you to work. And you certainly can't go walking around in that outfit either."

"What are you planning?" Madelis asked with suspicion.

"Don't worry your little ugly nose," Cassandra smiled. I've already made a few arrangements."

"...whatever," Madelis muttered. She shoved herself up again and instantly winced, slinking back in the chair. "U-Urgh…" she groaned, her expression contorting in pain.

"What's wrong with you now?" A very exasperated Cassandra demanded.

"Madame X slashed me," Madelis replied as she clutched her left arm. "And I haven't really done much to treat it…"

She hadn't…hadn't done much to treat the…the slash wound left Madame X. Because of course she hadn't. How Madelis had even survived this long without accidentally killing herself, only Arceus knew. "Are you kidding me? I'll have a nurse take care of it for now, but you're going to the hospital to take a closer look! I can't have my precious assistant be incapable of work!"

"How benevolent of you," Madelis hissed with fury. "I'm leaving."

"Ta-ta!" Cassandra said, not even bothering to see the woman out. She had a tomb to prepare. The trap would be set…now all they needed was to bait it.

~~~~~~~(V)~~~~~~~

---

AN: We are so close, I can feel it. I have several new and original scenes planned out that I have been looking forward to writing since the inception of this story, which will have ramifications for the entire rest of the story. IF and only IF everything goes according to plan and the Night Market/Talon house investigation DOESN'T escalate to 10,000 words, we might even catch a glimpse at the end of the next chapter.

But until then, thank you all for sticking with me for this long! Please drop a comment to let me know what you thought, best way to support the story :D

I will see you all with the next update!