"Fabian, help!" Sofia screamed desperately, hopping around from table to table and only narrowly dodging the Sludge Bombs being lobbed at her. Seeing as she stood practically no chance of winning a fight, she was doing all she could to make as much noise as possible, hoping and praying to every deity that could hear that he'd wake up.

Elena suddenly appeared in front of her, and she screamed louder than she thought possible. One swift chop was all it took to send Sofia flying. She just barely managed to adjust her trajectory enough to avoid a pile of toxic sludge.

"Why are you running?" Elena asked. "You clearly already know that you can't win."

Sofia wished she had an answer to that question. "C'mon, Fabian! Wake up! How can you possibly be sleeping through all this noise?! Am I really going to have to stall until daytime?!"

It wasn't helping that the only source of light in the entire room was the moonlight filtering through a few windows. It would be one thing if the chandelier was lit, but as is, it was nearly impossible to see Elena coming in these conditions. If it were Nero, he could've used his sixth sense to ascertain her exact location at all times, and if it were Fabian, he'd be able to foresee any attacks and counter them, but instead, it was Sofia, who couldn't do anything but run away and cower in fear.

"Fabian, Nero, help!" Sofia cried again, to no avail. She scurried into a tiny alcove, hoping that being able to see the Accelgor coming would give her at least a shadow of a chance.

But somehow, Elena was right behind her. By the time Sofia noticed, she was halfway across the room, and by the time she could process it, her beak smashed against a table. "How did she get behind me? I don't care how dark it was in that alcove, I know I didn't see anyone hiding in it!"

As she shielded her eyes from the moonlight with one wing, Sofia used the other to launch an Air Cutter straight into the alcove. Surprisingly, her aim was spot on, but when the dust settled, Elena was nowhere to be seen. "Crap, is she gonna be behind me again?"

Sofia's eyes darted in every possible direction in anticipation. Spotting something moving toward her on her right, she dove forward, feeling a sharp gust of wind on her back as the Accelgor grazed by her feathers.

On pure instinct, Sofia retaliated with a swift Wing Attack. A spray of blood drenched the tips of her wing feathers, and that sensation stunned her just long enough for Elena to strike back, swinging her arm and shooting off a shuriken made of water. It hit her stomach point blank, carving through her chest and sending unbelievable pain shooting through her body.

Sofia could only clutch her bleeding stomach and keep moving. She couldn't believe she actually got a good hit in, and her head was spinning so hard that it was nearly impossible to concentrate. "It was just luck," she told herself. "Don't get in over your head, or she's gonna catch you by–!"

Yet again, Elena somehow ended up behind Sofia, and got yet another cheap blow in. Sofia managed to land on her talons and hop away before Elena could follow up, but this was only getting more confusing. It didn't make sense, how Elena kept managing to get behind Sofia so quickly and so quietly. Sofia had her eyes on her just a second ago, and she already knew for a fact that she was capable of reacting to Elena's movements. There had to be some kind of trick.

A rapidly-approaching Sludge Bomb that she narrowly ducked under reminded Sofia that she needed to stay focused. She needed to find a way up the stairs and into Fabian's room, and she had to be fast. "Maybe I can distract her? Yeah, that's it! Even if it's for a few seconds, I might be able to reach Fabian before she can catch up!"

She pointed her quivering wing behind Elena and forced a terrified expression, which was not hard. "Th-There's- Uh! Look! Behind you! It's… Uh, It's a huge Druddigon! And it's gonna eat you!"

Elena folded her arms. "Is that so? Let me take a look." She very slowly craned her neck the opposite direction and began to stroke her chin. "Hmm… I don't see it. I'll keep looking, just give me a moment."

"...What?" Sofia shook her head. Run now, worry later, she decided.

She sprinted up the stairs, three steps at a time, listening as carefully as she could for the sound of footsteps behind her. But there wasn't a single sound in the entire town that wasn't coming from her. For the second time now, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the top of these stairs.

"It's rude to sprint in the halls when our guests are trying to sleep."

Defying all logic yet again, Elena was standing right in front of her.

Sofia tried to assert a defensive stance, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep her on her feet. With just one strike, Elena sent Sofia flying down the stairs, again.

Every part of her body was bruised up, and her left wing began to make strange cracking noises every time she moved it.

"This is a waste of everyone's time," Elena declared, calmly walking down the stairs. "You don't even have a bounty, yet I've already wasted seven minutes on you."

"Then just let me leave!" Sofia yelled. "Why do you have to kill me? I'm on the run from the Guilds too, I couldn't report you if I wanted to!"

"Hmm…" Elena grunted. "Fair enough. You're free to go. The door's unusable, but the windows are all mostly clean."

Sofia blinked. "I- Huh? Wait, really?"

"As I said, my time is valuable, and I'd rather spend it doing something that gets me money."

The nearest window was only a couple meters away. Escape was more than possible, if Elena was really going to allow it. Sofia realized that this was probably her only chance of ever making it out of this nightmare scenario alive. She wasn't as smart as Nero, or as strong as Fabian. If she kept fighting, she'd just fail and Fabian would get captured in his sleep anyway, so why bother? Why die for nothing?

Sofia slowly raised up a wing. Then, she slapped herself in the face as hard as she possibly could.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked.

Sofia had just asked herself the same question. Even if victory was completely impossible, there was just one fact that she couldn't ignore. If their roles were swapped, and it was Fabian fighting and Sofia snoring away, he would put his life on the line to protect her and he wouldn't even have considered doing anything else for a second.

For over a decade, every day of Sofia's life had been oppressively lonely, and if the world was a just place, she'd be spending the rest of her life that way as well. But it wasn't, because Fabian was there. He let her tag along, offered her companionship that she never deserved, and he didn't ask for a single thing in return.

"How can I let him call me his friend if I can't even stand up for him the one time he needs me to?"

Dumber than Nero, weaker than Fabian, and more spineless than either of them. She didn't deserve to be there with those two, but that didn't matter. She was there, and she had to do whatever she could not to let them down. She needed to stop asking if it was possible to win and start asking how she could make it happen. If not for her sake, then for theirs.

Sofia flicked her wing at Elena, sending her way an Air Cutter, too fast for her to dodge. Above all, she needed to figure out how Elena was able to sneak up behind her. Instead of thinking about all the times it had happened, she started to consider the one time it didn't. That one moment when Sofia was against that window, Elena opted for an ill-fated direct attack. "Why? What was different?"

Only one way to find out. She vaulted over a table and landed in the exact same spot as before, keeping as close of an eye on Elena as she possibly could.

In response, the Accelgor lobbed another ball of sludge in Sofia's direction, though way too far above her to have a chance of hitting. Sofia looked around, confused, as the sludge oozed its way down the window until it covered the whole thing, blocking out the moonlight completely.

"Why did she–"

Her thought was interrupted by the flurry of Water Shurikens that struck at her back. Sofia stumbled away and sought higher ground once again, hoping for some time to think. "Why did she hit the window first? Her aim has never been that bad before, and I've already made it clear that I'm not gonna try to escape. Or, maybe there's something outside she needed to block?"

Just to double check that she was onto something, she ran by the only other window and, sure enough, Elena wasted no time coating that window with sludge as well. This time, however, Sofia was ready, and swung behind herself with a Wing Attack. A direct hit, and one she capitalized on by getting as far away as she could.

Sofia didn't know why Elena was able to sneak up behind her so easily, but she was starting to figure out how. It had something to do with light, and she was sure of it. Why else would she be keeping the room so dark, and why else would she need to block out those windows? "I wonder… Is there any chance that she could be a Successor?"

There was a big problem, though. Without that window, there weren't any other light sources left in the room. To fix that, she took the first object she could find on the ground, a square box made of cardboard and chucked it at one of the sludged windows, shattering the glass and causing the sludge to sink down. Now that there was light again, Sofia scanned the room for something that could create fire. For once, her prayers were answered by the sight of a small box of matches sitting on the counter of the lobby's kitchenette.

Elena attempted another attack from behind, but this time, Sofia was ready. She knew she couldn't rely on her eyes or ears to sense her presence, but thanks to the smell of blood that coated Elena, she was able to use her nose to detect her. Sofia jumped out of the way and booked it for the kitchenette, making constant glances behind her to look out for stray Water Shurikens that were headed her way.

She snatched up the matches, but in the single moment she stood still to do it, she took another Water Shuriken to the chest. Everything became hazy for a moment, but one look around the poison-covered, torn up lobby was all it took to snap her back to reality.

Though her whole torso was bleeding from every angle possible, her limbs luckily remained mostly undamaged, so she was able to rely on adrenaline to scramble up a bookshelf and leap on top of the chandelier. The candlesticks weren't lit, but thanks to her matches, that wasn't an issue. She nearly fumbled the matchstick out of her wings, but she caught herself, and lit every single candle on the chandelier. Next, she made sure to screw on the glass protectors, which presumably were there to prevent the ceiling from catching fire, but would also serve to protect the chandelier from Water Shurikens.

Sofia, however, wasn't safe from the Water Shurikens up there. Elena only shot one at her, but it was enough to make her flinch so hard that she fell off, almost landing right in the middle of a pile of sludge. But it was alright, she thought. The room was thoroughly illuminated now, so if she was right about Elena, they were now finally on an even playing field.

"You came close," came Elena's voice from behind as she delivered a swift chop to Sofia's back, likely aiming for the open wounds.

"H-How- I don't- What?" Sofia, collapsed on the ground began to see double as Elena approached. "I was wrong, wasn't I? I knew it didn't make any sense! Why would light have anything to do with this?"

"You almost had me worried," Elena continued. "I suppose I overestimated you."

The words stung just as much as the wounds covering her body.

"There's no emotion more useless than panic."

Nero loved to throw phrases like that around. He made it look so easy sometimes, staying calm in even the most ridiculous of circumstances, but Sofia always felt like it couldn't be possible for anyone who wasn't as deranged as him.

And yet, there was an eerie calmness in her mind. As if she had just crossed into the eye of a hurricane, the vortex of chaos and danger suddenly felt behind her.

"No, I was onto something. If I wasn't, she wouldn't have kept that chandelier unlit in the first place. It has something to do with darkness, and I'm sure of it!"

For reasons even she wasn't quite sure of, she craned her neck backwards, and in one single moment, the answer hit her.

Darkness. One patch of darkness that followed Sofia wherever she went, and one she didn't even think to get rid of.

Her shadow.

Sofia felt a second wind come to her just in time to roll out of the way of a potential finishing stab to the chest. Not wasting a second, she mustered up all the strength she had to send an Air Cutter at the chain holding up the chandelier.

It snapped, and Elena only barely escaped before it crashed into the ground. Some candlesticks fell off and rolled onto the wooden floor, starting multiple fires. It spread rapidly, and as Sofia hobbled to her talons, she grinned. With the fire engulfing the entire area, there were too many light sources for shadows to be cast.

Elena looked around the room, her eyes genuinely widening for the first time as the flames grew to surround her.

"Nowhere to run!" Sofia shouted, sprinting through the flames as fast as she could to finally take advantage of her type advantage.

One Wing Attack, followed by another, and another, and so many more that Sofia lost count.

By the time Elena was suitably unconscious, Sofia found herself equally unable to move. Now that she thought about it, there wasn't any way for the smoke to exit the room. She was probably going to die from smoke inhalation, and the thought hardly bothered her. At least she could protect Fabian.

A couple minutes passed before she lost her ability to stay awake. Against her will, she attempted to rest her eyes, but before she could, she heard the noise of the front door opening, pushing a pile of sludge out of the way to do it.

"Sofia, what the hell happened here?"

It took some effort, but Sofia was able to crane her neck upward. "T-Toño?"

The Pachirisu dragged Sofia and Elena out of the building as fast as possible, a process that probably took a while, but thanks to Sofia's loose grip on reality, felt instantaneous. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Don't tell me, are the others still up there?"

Sofia nodded faintly. "The… The innkeeper's a bounty hunter," she said in between gasps. "And she can do stuff with shadows, somehow. Keep a light on her no matter what."

"...Okay?" Toño said. "I'll evacuate the rest of the building first. Please, just rest."

That was all Sofia needed to hear.

When Sofia woke up again, she couldn't help but scream. Everything ached, everything burned, and she had countless injuries that she didn't even remember collecting. "Wh-Where- Huh?" She instinctively reached for the wound on her chest, only to feel cloth where she expected feathers.

"Try not to touch the bandages, I'm not a medic and I have no idea if I put those on right." Toño scurried by her, adjusting the bandage back into place. He chuckled to himself. "Can you believe Fabian is still sleeping?"

Sure enough, there was a Croconaw lying right beside her, covered in soot and snoring away contentedly. The inn itself had burned down completely, and Zach paced awkwardly around in circles beside the place where the entrance once was. Nero was nowhere to be seen, but to be honest, she would've been more surprised if he had stayed in the inn.

"It's…" Sofia sighed. "Well, it's a long story. "But I overheard that innkeeper talking about wanting Fabian and Nero's bounties, and I was only barely able to stop her. I… I also think she might be a Successor?"

"You serious?" Toño asked. "I mean, we can ask her." He dragged Elena's tied up body over to Sofia and removed a gag. "Hey, are you a Successor?"

"I don't have anything to say to you people."

"A shame," Toño said. "Anyways, we should-"

A borderline-violent yawn interrupted Toño. "Hey, where'd the bed go?" Fabian asked, rubbing his eyes and slowly sitting up.

"Fabian!" Sofia exclaimed. Even she was shocked at how happy she was to hear his voice again.

He waved his arm sleepily. "Mornin'."

"You wouldn't believe the night I've had!" she said. "I'm just so glad you're alright."

"Oh, okay," Fabian said, wearing his familiar goofy smile. "I'm glad you're alright too, I guess!"

From the distance, Sofia spotted a Zigzagoon headed their way as well. He had a tray with two cup holders, each containing a smoothie, attached to a collar that he wore around his neck. "Oh, there you are, Nero. I guess now's a good time to explain everything."

Nero took a sip of his smoothie. "You fought against the bounty hunter who was pretending to be an innkeeper, who apparently happened to be a bounty hunter with the unique power to slip into and emerge from shadows, yes?"

Sofia blinked. That information was even more solid than what she had. "How did you…?"

"I heard the commotion from a mile away," Nero said. "I thought about making an appearance, but you looked like you were handling yourself just fine."

Fabian shot up to his feet. "Sofia was fighting a crazy lady who wanted to kill us, and you just watched? You're a monster! How could you?"

"Oh, Fabian. I got you your smoothie. Salac was your preferred flavor, yes?"

In a single instant, Fabian snatched the smoothie up, utterly enamored. "Really? Wow! Thanks, Nero! This is my favorite kind!"

"It's… really that easy, huh?" Sofia mumbled.

Toño sighed dramatically. "And to think, I thought I needed to build an entire bus to make him happy."

Suddenly, Nero turned his attention directly to Elena. "Now then, I have some questions I'd like to ask you, innkeep."

"Don't expect too many answers," Elena responded.

Nero drew his dagger and placed it squarely at Elena's throat. "Quite sorry, but I've already got my expectations very high. Though, if you can't offer us value with information, you almost certainly could with that power of yours. You are a Successor after all, aren't you? Which one?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Do you enjoy threatening people who can't fight back?"

"No, I enjoy threatening ordinarily-dangerous individuals who've been completely and utterly incapacitated," Nero said. "Now, as I've been polite enough to answer your question, I'll request you demonstrate a similar amount of respect towards me."

"...Marshadow's," Elena said. "My active application lets me slip into shadows, and my passive application gives me significantly improved vision in the dark. Happy?"

Nero nodded. "Interesting. I can't say I've ever heard of those terms before. 'Active' or 'passive' applications to a Successor ability, I mean."

"Idiot kids," she mumbled under her breath. "One of them's a power you use actively, and the other happens for you. And yes, we all get both applications."

"As thanks for the useful information, I'll choose to ignore that first remark," Nero said. "That would make my perception a 'passive' application, and my pushing power an 'active' application, right?"

Fabian raised his hand. "Wait, but I've only got the one power! Shouldn't I be able to do something other than seeing the future, then?"

"No idea," Elena said. "I never met the last guy who had your power, and he only ever made friends with other cryptic old guys. Can I go now?"

"Not yet," Nero said. "I'd still like to know how you came to learn that we'd be staying here. Even if you had been paying close attention to our movements, one would naturally assume that we'd be headed directly for Taro Harbor, correct? We ourselves didn't even plan on taking this detour until very recently. In fact, I'd argue that you would've needed to know our current destination before we did in order to have time to hijack this inn and keep the citizens of this place quiet about it."

"Where is he going with this?" Sofia wondered. The Zigzagoon always seemed to have a point whenever he was interrogating someone like this, but for some reason, he always felt the need to beat around the bush first.

"Should I bother saying anything?" Elena asked. "Because it sounds to me like you've already decided you know the answer."

"Fair enough. Allow me to ask you this, then: when you began constructing this plan of yours, who was your target?"

Toño gave Nero a weird look. "Us, right? Isn't it obvious?"

"Not us," Nero said. He swiveled around and nodded towards Zach, who was close enough to see but too far to hear them. "Him."

Elena grunted. "He doesn't even have a bounty. Believe me, I'd know if he did."

Nero readjusted his grip on the dagger, leaving a light scratch on Elena's neck in the process. "I would know as well," he said. "After all, I spent a good few hours last night scanning through the Tullabarian criminal registry and found nothing on him. The Guilds have nothing on him, sure, but they aren't the only organization that pays people to take out the people they dislike. I can name one other, off the top of my head. One which had a key member die whilst cradling Zach in his arms."

"Do I even have to be here for this?" Elena complained, rolling her eyes.

"Worry not, I'm almost done with you," Nero said. "I'm of the opinion that, for whatever reason, Branch 22 of the Ash Syndicate wants our new favorite pal Zach over there dead. Why is that?"

"When I look at a wanted poster, I memorize the target's face, name, and price. Whatever reason they have for wanting that Turtwig, I didn't care enough to check."

"A shame," Nero said. "Sofia, Toño, do either of you want her power?"

"Wh-What?" Sofia asked. "No! I- What?" She couldn't even imagine the prospects of killing someone for a reason like that. Sure, Elena was a greedy, selfish, and murderous person, but the thought of executing her while she was completely unable to move did not sit right with her.

"I'm good," Toño said. "I had my fill of watching people I hate die back in Ferrumark. Plus, if we can only have one of those powers, I wanna wait for a cooler one."

Nero put his interrogation dagger away. "Very well then. It was a pleasure having this conversation with you, Elena. I'll be sure to remember the name." He turned back towards Toño. "Where did you park The Ripper?"

"W-Wait," Sofia said. "Are we just leaving Elena tied up, then?"

"You already vetoed the idea of killing her, so what else would you suggest?" Nero asked, already following Toño and the others. "What, do you want us to take her with, as well?"

Sofia shook her head vigorously and sprinted forward to catch up with the others. The last thing that bus needed was another serial killer. "I- I dunno, I guess this just feels sort of… anti-climactic? Hard to explain, I guess."

"I can't imagine this is the last we'll see of her, given her occupation. Killing her would objectively be the correct choice-"

"But we aren't doing that, so this is fine," Fabian asserted.

Elena struggled against her bounds as much as she physically could, but it was no use. That Pachirisu wasn't half bad at tying knots, she had to admit. The sun beating down on her drying skin left no shadows she could use to slip away, so she had no choice but to deal with the embarrassing wait for rescue.

It didn't take long, thankfully enough. A tall, surly Incineroar, rippling muscles covered in scars, sauntered down the road with a callous, almost cruel scowl directed at her. She wasn't looking forward to reporting her failure.

Elena sighed. "Acting Captain Bruno Hartmann, it's a pleasure to see you again."

With a fierce, unblinking stare, Hartman kneeled down to Elena's level and huffed slightly, blowing a plume of smoke into her face. "Oh my goodness, are you feeling alright?" Though his menacing, stone-cold expression didn't shift in the slightest, his voice could not have matched it less. It was so high-pitched, stuttery, and overall meek that, when they first met, Elena couldn't help but laugh at him.

"I'm fine," Elena said. "The only severe wound I was dealt was to my pride. I'm sorry, but I was unable to apprehend the Turtwig as you requested."

"No! Don't worry about that at all!" Bruno insisted. "You aren't even an employee of our organization! I shouldn't have made a guest put themselves in a dangerous situation! I swear, I had no idea that Zacharias would have bodyguards! I can't believe Tycho wasn't the only one!"

"You're gonna be twice as surprised when I tell you who he came in with," Elena said.

Bruno blinked curiously at her as he ripped her bounds away with ease. "I'm all ears."

"The names you'll recognize are Fabian Vanadis and Nero Moreno."

His jaw hit the floor. "Nero and the Vanadis kid are seriously working together? That rumor's real? No way, I've met both of them once or twice, and they don't have a single thing in common!" The cogs were visibly turning in Bruno's head. "Wait, Nero was here?! Where'd he go, we have to capture him!"

Elena shook her head. "Long gone by now. However, if he really is allied with Zacharias, we already know his destination is Lumeral."

Bruno buried his face in his paws. "Arceus, why now? We're already stretched way too thin in Lumeral!" He slammed a fist into the wall. "Dammit, Tycho! Why did you have to go and sell us out?"

As much as Elena wanted all of those sweet, sweet bounties, there wasn't anything in the world she'd rather do less than get involved in the Tullabarian coup. Politics annoyed her, and she felt that the senseless violence was little more than a waste of time and money. "Again, I'm sorry about messing up Zacharias's capture. I failed to live up to my standards."

The Incineroar managed a confident, if strained smile. "I promise you, we'll take that kid down, no matter what it takes."

"Best of luck with that," Elena said. "I'll be searching for more bounties elsewhere."

"How come you're so hellbent on bounty hunting?" Bruno asked. "Surely, there's more comfortable livings out there for someone as talented as you."

"Comfortable, sure," Elena said. "But short of being Guildmaster, there aren't any other jobs in the world that could let me rack up millions in a year."

"Okay, but what's the money for?"

"Looking for my sister," was all she said. Not too keen on providing any more details than strictly necessary with regard to her past, she dashed towards a nearby building and slipped into the shadows, a sensation that felt like falling into a bottomless pool of soft silky fabric. She couldn't actually get anywhere from that shadow, since it wasn't connected to any others, but Bruno didn't know that, so she could safely hide away until he left.

Bruno might've asked a follow up question, but if he did, Elena couldn't hear it. Their partnership was over, and she had no incentive to stick around. And with what was going to happen in Lumeral in the coming days, she needed to stay as far away as possible from everyone involved.