"Okay, be honest. What do you think?"

After a solid two weeks of some very strange changes — getting her tails shaved and dyed with her hair to resemble a fire vulpix, stitching together weird tubes for her hind legs, and gathering thorns from nearby mystery dungeons to put on leather bands — Nickie had finished her makeover. She stood between Tessa and their room's mirror, admiring her torn-up leg tube thingies.

Tessa still didn't understand what the point of wearing them was if they were torn. Torn scarves were useless for dungeon crawls. What good would these "thigh-highs" be?

Nickie's ears folded and her earlier enthusiasm melted away. "You hate it."

"Huh?" Tessa's aura feelers shot up. "N-No! O-Of course not! Whatever would give you that idea?"

"That dumbstruck look on your face." Nickie's gaze fell to her paws. "And your voice cracked."

Wincing, the riolu rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry. I, uh— it's not something I really understand."

She had to save face. Tessa quickly stepped to Nickie's side. "But you're happy with it, right?"

Nickie slowly nodded.

"Well, if you're happy, then I'm happy." Tessa's tail wagged.

Some of Nickie's earlier energy returned. Her tails wagged asynchronously.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I love this!" Nickie stared at her reflection. "It's the most... me I've felt in a long time."

The icepix nuzzled Tessa's side. "Thanks for helping out."

Tessa's aura feelers shot up. Her tail wagged faster. "W-What are friends for?"

Sticky hated everything about Xander's studio. From the cameras wrapped in pink felt and covered in glitter to the sequined hearts on the outline of the greenscreen to the shelves on the other side of the room haphazardly stuffed full of props and other things the sylveon could use for his clips.

[The concentration of sparkles in this room is fifty percent over legal thresholds,] Iron Enforcer declared. The robotic type: full scanned the room. [Shall I destroy the building?]

"No." Sticky sighed. "Paradigm-owned facilities are exempt from sparkle regulations." The naganadel looked down at his tablet. "Which is a sentence I totally thought I'd say in my career when I graduated business school..."

Iron Enforcer's eyes turned blue and displayed loading icons. They soon faded back to their default red. [Understood. Sparkle threshold parameters updated.]

"Hey, hey. If it isn't my favorite #secretary!"

Sticky fought to hide the disgust in his expression. "Executive assistant," he growled, glancing toward the opposite corner of the room to find Xander strutting toward him. The sylveon swished a fur boa out of his face and lifted star-framed sunglasses off his eyes.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Xander asked. "Something from our #GoatedGrandEmperor?"

He pranced over to the naganadel's side and produced a uPhone from his pink coat pocket. He swiped onto Chatter. "Check it. I got that shit #trending this morning!" Xander scrolled down a page full of chats about Paradox, including assorted pieces of fan art.

[Those portraits are highly inaccurate.] Iron Enforcer's red parts glowed. [Grand Emperor Paradox does not have muscles. Shall I hunt down the ones responsible?]

"No." Sticky waved the robotic type: full off. "I'm here with a new assignment for you."

"Oh?" Xander stepped back, still clutching the uPhone in a ribbon. Another ribbon pulled off the sunglasses. "I thought I'm defending the #Needle over by my bedroom."

"Change of plans." Sticky tapped at his tablet. "Guile Hideout will take over temporarily. You're taking your act on a little road trip to old stomping grounds."

Xander's brow furrowed in thought. "You mean the Kingdom of Radiance?"

Sticky nodded.

Sighing, the sylveon tapped on his phone. A loud "OOF" reverberated through the room. Sticky tensed.

"Enjoying our soundboard, are we?" Sticky deadpanned.

"How else should I react to a #buzzkill?" Xander winked and stuck his tongue out at Sticky.

Iron Enforcer's head crest sparked with red energy. [Uncooperative attitude detected. Permission to muzzle him?]

I wish. Sticky put a hand on Iron Enforcer's glowing crest. "Your orders are to take Iron Enforcer and escort Lieutenant Turian and her important package to Lieutenant Cassius in Khelifet."

Xander clutched his boa with his ribbons. "Ugh, seriously? That #hotbox? Do you have any idea what the heat'll do to my fur? Not to mention my makeup! I've got #sponsors to think about!"

[Your duty is to Grand Emperor Paradox.] Iron Enforcer stepped toward Xander, eyes glowing. [Dereliction is cause for termination.]

"You're getting riled up for no reason," Sticky scoffed. He swiped across his tablet. "It's not much actual traversal. A handful of teleports will take care of things. Plus, you're meeting Lieutenant Cassius underground."

The sylveon's eyes slowly widened. "Is this that #BloodMoon thing?"

Sticky pinched his brow. "Yes, it's 'that #BloodMoon thing.' Are you not reading your briefings?"

"I #speedread 'em!" Xander put his sunglasses back on. A holographic "DEAL WITH IT" flashed underneath his smug face. "The #brainwaves are already hitting. I can cook some good #StreamValue outta this."

He turned away from Sticky and pulled his uPhone in front of his face. "Lemme just chat the #XanFam the deets."

[Denied.]

Iron Enforcer darted to Xander's side, holding its open maw around a startled Xander's uPhone.

[Mission parameters dictate no location disclosure until we are at our destination,] it stated.

"Okay. Sheesh." Xander put the uPhone back in his coat. "Anything else?"

"You have sixty minutes to prepare." Sticky flicked his wrist toward the door Xander entered through. "I suggest you put that to good use."

"Copy that, Captain Killjoy." Xander sauntered toward the door, lazily saluting Sticky with a ribbon while keeping his back turned.

The naganadel sighed. He really hoped Paradox knew what he was doing with this plan. Three Paradigm lieutenants in one spot when they'd already lost several of them sounded like a terrible idea.

But Paradox must've known something Sticky didn't. After all, the emperor had never been wrong before. Sticky couldn't lose faith. Even if every encounter with Xander made him want to throw up.

Awkwardly sitting on a metal stool with her tail curled around its legs, Yuna banged magazine stacks on the coffee table in front of her with the wooden sticks in her hands. The thwapping carried a steady enough beat. One, two, three... one, two, three...

"Nice, Princess. You're keeping decent pace."

Nikki stopped strumming her guitar and sat up on the couch behind the coffee table. She placed the guitar beside her, propping it upright.

"Thanks?" Yuna dropped the sticks on the coffee table and wrung her hands out. "Tiring, though."

"Why?" The toxtricity tilted her head. "Dragapult don't have muscles."

"Uhhh..." Yuna looked at her shriveled hands. "Forget it."

"How do you feel otherwise?" Nikki leaned back, draping her right arm over her guitar.

Yuna shrugged. "I... guess my head's a bit clearer than yesterday?"

"Then it's working!" Nikki snapped her left fingers.

The suggestion Yuna give drumming a try came after two days of balm making sessions with Jade. Yuna thought smacking magazines like they were drums was rather silly, but after several minutes she'd settled into it.

Besides, the Sages weren't bothering her. And she hadn't had any intrusive Tessa or Yaldabaoth-related thoughts the entire day. So, Nikki's silly idea did something.

"We ought to take a break, though," Yuna suggested. "Maybe lunch."

Nikki nodded approvingly. "Any thoughts?"

Yuna smirked at the toxtricity. "Well, I figured you'd have a new suggestion."

"Hmm." Nikki leaned forward, tapping her chin in thought. "What about grilled cheese?"

"That's a thing?" Yuna raised a brow. "What's the point of grilling cheese without any meat or veggies?"

Chuckling, Nikki got to her feet. "It's a sandwich." She stretched her arms up. "You get tomato soup with it. Dip the grilled cheese in the soup." Nikki kissed her fingers like those chefs on the cooking shows some of the monks watched. "C'mon, we'll try it."

Yuna floated off her steel. "Okay, but a cheese sandwich sounds silly."

"Oh ye of little faith." Nikki stepped out from the couch and turned left. In the corner of the room, Scarlett shut a notebook and uncoiled.

"Lunch sounds good to me." The dragonair turned to Igneous and Shimmer, who were hunched on either side of a chair playing some sort of card game. "You two hungry?"

Shimmer blinked a few times, then placed his cards face down on the chair. "Absolutely."

Before Igneous could respond, however, a jagged purple rift appeared in the door. Gene stepped through, much to Yuna's annoyance. It seemed like lunch was about to get put on hold.

"Your guy Shredder's a stubborn dude," Gene declared, yellow-tipped tail lazily swaying back and forth. "Wouldn't commit to the resistance. And has some kinda intel he's sitting on."

Igneous stood up. He shook one leg out at a time. That kneeling must have hurt. "Why didn't you just read his mind to get the intel? I know you can get around dark-types."

"Goes against team spirit." Gene tapped his right temple with a finger.

In the back of Yuna's mind, Reshiram's fur puffed out like he'd gotten electrocuted.

Something wrong?

"He's lying about the team spirit reasoning," Reshiram said. "But I don't think I want to know the truth."

And judging from Nikki's scrutinizing look, Reshiram wasn't the only one questioning the mewtwo.

"So, what, you want me to convince him?" Nikki wondered. She had mentioned wanting to go home the other day.

"Nah." Gene pointed to Shimmer. "I'm here for Twinkie."

Shimmer's tails puffed out. "M-Me?"

Gene held up an index finger. "Shredder agreed to cooperate if our weakest link spars with him."

The ponytales' ears folded.

"I don't think he's weaker than a skorp," Igneous muttered.

"Not like that." Gene waved a hand dismissively. Then, in a pale imitation of a gruff voice, he said, "A band can't jam if everyone's hearts aren't in it. So, I wanna see that weakest heart in action."

The shadowy mewtwo tapped his right temple. "Even if the monks or the skorps aren't that strong, they're committed to this." Gene pointed to Shimmer. "I've yet to see that kind of energy out of Twinkie, here."

"But I helped set up the thing with the pirates!"

Everyone squinted at Shimmer, who promptly shrank down to his belly.

"W-When do we leave?" he squeaked.

"Right now." Gene snapped his fingers. His tail pointed to the rift behind him, which had stayed open for their entire conversation.

"What a... unique aroma your guys' home carries."

It hadn't taken long for Shimmer to go from lagging behind the group to walking the fastest of everyone down the uneven cobblestone road. The ponytales' snout was wrinkled and his tails were constricted like deflated balloons.

Nikki likewise held the collar of her leather jacket over her face. "Man. I was used to it. Guess I've been away too long."

"It's not as bad up here," Scarlett said, flying with Yuna and Gene over the others. The dragapult's gaze was fixed on the black and brown wooden roofs. Many of them had holes covered by haphazardly hammered in wooden planks or discolored tarps. One she passed on her right had some strange green fuzz clinging to it.

"People actually live here?" Shaymin popped up in Yuna's mind, wrinkling his tiny snout in much the same way as Shimmer. "The kingdom doesn't show this place any gratitude."

Which lined up with what Yuna heard from Nikki. Still, she couldn't have imagined anything this bad. The dragapult passed more wooden buildings. Two on her left didn't have proper doors or windows and just had bedsheets clinging desperately to the empty frames. Similar green fuzz was on the sheets.

Buzzing up beside Scarlett, Igneous hovered over a broken stone chimney. "How many people are supposed to live here, again?"

"Not a lot." Nikki lazily flicked her right arm, passing by broken streetlights with strange pink moss growing on their poles. "Before I left for another year at Horizon, those who were left were living around the central plaza."

Scarlett dipped down slightly. "What do you mean 'those who were left?' Did something happen?"

"Just the usual yakuza 'recruitments,'" Nikki scoffed. "Luring folks away with the promise of better shit than this." She gestured to a one-story house whose front half had collapsed on itself. "I know you said you were secretly sending Shredder money, but that can only do so much when the people he'd have to hire to fix this shit won't come to the city."

Yuna winced. Aeon's skies might've been choked with ash, but at least their towns weren't dead and decaying like Blightsmuth.

"Can you even call this place a city anymore?" Reshiram wondered.

Does it matter? Yuna countered.

Ahead of her, Gene whistled and pointed in front of him. Shimmer looked up, then broke into a trot. Nikki jogged after the ponytales.

"What's the rush?" Yuna flew faster, catching up to Igneous and Scarlett.

"Central plaza's a few blocks away," the dragonair replied. Her feathery wings flapped to carry her ahead.

"Ah." Yuna followed her. The buildings up ahead had shifted from decaying wood to a mixture of stones and rocks. And they were actually in one piece. Although there was a large stone wall in the cobblestone road where the wooden houses stopped. Shimmer skidded to a halt by it. And a sigilyph had stopped Gene up ahead.

"Yo, Gruber!" Nikki's mohawk brightened and she waved at the wall. "Blights out, my guy!"

The rock wall shifted. There was a hidden door at the bottom! Nikki rested her hands behind her head and strolled on through. Shimmer followed her, looking a bit less certain.

Sigilyph floated to the side.

"Blights out." Sigilyph's eye glowed blue. He must have been Gruber. "Shredder's waiting up ahead for ya."

Gene nodded and continued forward. The others followed him.

"Surprised to see you back here, Scarlett," Gruber said. "Thought you were too good for us now."

The dragonair winced. Her feathery wings shrank a bit. Igneous was quick to flutter over to Gruber. "Are we going to have a problem? She's been helping us out, y'know. The same way we're trying to get Shredder to help us."

Gruber looked Igneous over. "No problem here." The sigilyph's eye dimmed. "You can call off your, uh, girlfriend?"

"I'm a guy," Igneous growled, then flew off. Yuna followed him, shooting Gruber a look. He quickly drifted toward the top of the wall, likely pretending he hadn't noticed Yuna.

Yuna continued onward, trying to forget that brief awkward spat. The rundown houses and buildings had given way to an open square of uneven cobblestone. There was some sort of caged off battle ring in the middle of the square. A handful of pokémon were off to the sides of it, attention focused on a raised wooden platform. An obstagoon sat atop a large speaker, nodding in time with the beats of a rillaboom drummer. An electabuzz and low key toxtricity were playing on electric guitars, though Yuna had no idea what was powering them.

"I brought your twink, Shredder."

Gene had managed to parade Shimmer past the small group of pokémon to the front of the makeshift stage. The music abruptly stopped. The three musicians glanced at the obstagoon, who swung his legs around and hopped off the speaker.

"Well, ain't this a cute little present." Shredder strutted across the stage. "Your weakest link is the crown prince? And here I thought he was running around with that egghead, Demerzel."

"Th... things changed." God, Shimmer sounded so tiny. Even in the air, Yuna saw his legs shaking. But Shredder was just one obstagoon. How did he compare to, say, a giant, rampaging Vortex?

"You wanted the guy with the least heart." Gene pat the ponytales' back. "And I delivered. I even threw in a couple of your buds... as a little treat." The shadowy mewtwo blew a kiss at Shredder.

Reshiram sighed in Yuna's head. "I knew it."

Knew what?

"Oh, for pity's sake." Nikki walked over to them, pinching her brow. "The one time I wish my gaydar steered me wrong." She looked between Gene and Shredder, frowning. "World's on freaking fire! We don't have time for this shit!"

"Ah, ah." Shredder wagged an index finger at Nikki. "World ain't crumbling this second, Sparkplug."

Nikki's mohawk turned pink. Was Shredder where the toxtricity picked up her mocking nickname habit?

"See, we got us a problem of our own." Shredder gestured out to the small group of pokémon. An espeon and floragato with shabby fur mewled in acknowledgement. "And that problem might funnel its way right into your even bigger problem!"

The obstagoon smushed his hands together. "Maybe we should work together. But I gotta know I can trust you." He glanced at Shimmer. "All of you."

Shimmer's ears folded. "You know I don't agree with what my mothers are doing, right? That's why I—"

"You were grandstanding for the news with that egghead veggie." Shredder pointed accusingly at the ponytales. A couple of dark linoone booed, along with Espeon and Floragato.

Shredder returned his attention to the others. "It's all about trust. Top to bottom." He snapped his claws and pointed at Gene. "And, yeah, that was a double entendre."

Yuna rubbed her eyes, wondering if maybe she'd been better off staying in bed.

"This guy was a Crowne Minister?" Reshiram said. "It's like if Nikki tried going into politics..."

"You want this settled quickly?" Shredder gestured to the caged ring Yuna was floating over. "Battle's the simplest language us pokémon speak. I'll get everything I need with a li'l one-on-one." He leaned over, resting his right arm on his right knee. "Or ya gonna wuss out?"

Everyone's gazes fell on Shimmer, who swallowed hard. "W-Well I'm here, aren't I?"

"Then we got us a rumble!" The obstagoon leaped off the stage, landing beside Shimmer with a hearty thud. "Open the door and let us in!" Shredder barked.

Floragato shot her grassy yo-yo toward the fence. It twirled around a handle and opened a door Yuna didn't even realize was there. The dragapult drifted toward Nikki while Espeon and two linoone ushered Shimmer and Shredder into the ring.

"So, um, just how troublesome is Shredder?" Yuna whispered. "Cuz, like, Igneous and Noctum said Shimmer was there for the whole Iron Jugulis thing."

"Oi, Sparkplug! I know you ain't 'boutta just stand there gawking with Blockhead! Get your ass onstage!"

Igneous looked between Nikki and Shredder. "For what?"

"It ain't a rumble without some backing music!" Shredder played air guitar. "C'mon, Sparkplug. I know you've got it down pat." He jerked his head toward the stage, where the low key toxtricity from earlier was holding out an electric guitar.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." Nikki strutted over, nodding and waving at some of the locals. Scarlett glided down atop the speaker where Shredder had been sitting. Nikki swiped the guitar out of the other toxtricity's hands. She ran her left fingers along the cords and looked out toward the ring.

"So, um..." Shimmer looked around in confusion. "How exactly do we start th—"

Rillaboom raised his drumsticks and smacked them together.

"A-one! A-two! A-one, two, three!"

Nikki rifled off a quick chord progression and the cage door slammed shut. Shredder rushed Shimmer down, leaving the whinnying ponytales galloping left. He was fast enough to dodge swipes of Shredder's blackened claws.

Shimmer skidded across the uneven stone, slinging Ice Shards from his glowing horn. Two plinked off Shredder's gray back before the obstagoon whirled around and swatted the other two aside.

"Ha! You makin' things drafty?" Shredder then turned around and shouted at Espeon, who was manning the door with Floragato.

"Shred! Shred! Shred! Shred!" the locals chanted.

Yuna frowned. What was Shredder doing?

She quickly got her answer. A faint blue light appeared around Espeon. And when it did, Shredder's chest and arms beefed up a bit. Yuna spotted a panicked look in Shimmer's eyes. He shot an Ice Beam from the tip of his horn, but Shredder spun around and held up his crossed arms.

An X-shaped shield absorbed Shimmer's attack. "Too slow!" Shredder sneered, then he turned and barked at Espeon again. The same faint light appeared... and Shredder's muscles grew even larger.

"All right, now that's what I'm talking about!"

Yuna looked to Nikki, who was too busy with her guitar part. Rillaboom and the other toxtricity backed her up on drums and bass.

"Oh shit." Igneous gasped as Shredder ripped stones out of the ground and flung them at Shimmer.

"What? What did I miss?" Yuna drifted over to the grovlazzle's side, watching Shimmer deflect one stone with a shield, only for the second to strike him square in the snout. The ponytales staggered back, snout bloodied, while the locals whooped and hollered.

"Shred! Shred! Shred! Shred!"

The obstagoon charged Shimmer down, though his steps were slower and lumbering than before.

And then it hit Yuna. Those weird roars from before...

"He used Scary Face on Espeon." Igneous looked over at her. She was reared up, shaking the cage door in excitement. "If Espeon's got Magic Bounce... and Shredder has Defiant..."

"He slowed himself down to raise his own strength?" Rayquaza burst into the back of Yuna's mind. "Forsooth! Tis quite the bit of strategery!"

"Shimmer, look out!" Igneous cried. But the ponytales was too dazed from the earlier blow. Shredder's Night Slash swept Shimmer off his feet and flung him all the way right where he smacked against the metal grating and crumpled to the ground.

"That's garbage!" the grovlazzle grabbed the cage in front of him and shook it. "Using Scary Face on the crowd like that?"

"Street rules, bitch!" Shredder countered. "Anything goes!"

"Damn." Gene walked over to Yuna's side, shaking his head. "Maybe I should've lied and picked that dumb purple and white koraidon your kid brought home with him."

Yuna resisted the urge to snap at Gene, instead watching Shimmer fire enough ice from his hooves to freeze Shredder's legs mid-charge. The obstagoon effortlessly shattered the ice, but it still gave Shimmer enough time to fire a Dazzling Gleam from close range. The burst of pink light forced Shredder back, hissing and crossing his arms over his face.

Another X-shaped shield formed up, but Shimmer surprisingly didn't press his attack. Yuna expected him to fall for the bait, but the ponytales instead ran away from Shredder.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?"

"Shred! Shred! Shred! Shred!"

Shredder ripped a couple more stones out of the ground, but Shimmer fired an Ice Beam right when Shredder was reaching down for the second. It froze his left hand and the stone. Eyes widening, Shredder hurled the stone in his right hand toward Shimmer.

"What are you doing?!" Igneous called as Shimmer skirted the stone and reached the steel cage. The ponytales jumped up, spraying icy mist from his hooves. They stuck to the metal grating. The steel cage wobbled as Shimmer ran along the side of it.

"Nice try, Happy Feet!" Shredder grabbed hold of the opposite end of the steel cage and throttled it. The loose metal grating rippled like it was a set of linens Aeons were trying to air dry.

Horn sparking, Shimmer struggled to maintain his footing.

"Get off, Shimmer!" Igneous begged. He was worryingly into this. Yuna held her tongue, though, because Shimmer's whole body glowed white. The ponytales unleashed a wave of chilly air.

Hissing, Yuna shrank back toward the stage. The cold stung the dragapult's ectoplasm and she wanted no part of that. When she lowered her arms, she found the whole steel cage iced over, with Shredder's hands stuck to the grating.

Before the obstagoon could break the ice around his hands, Shimmer lunged from his position near the top of the steel cage. Fairy dust gathered around his horn. Shredder yanked his now-glowing hands free and swung at the diving Shimmer.

Dazzling Gleam's brilliant pink light collided with Shredder's jet black Night Slashes. A blinding flash forced Yuna to shut her eyes and turn away. Gasps and shouts from the crowd suggested they fared similarly, though somehow Nikki and the other musicians were still playing.

At Rayquaza's urging, Yuna lowered her arms and found Shredder clutching Shimmer by his horn. His black and white face was scuffed up and covered in a layer of pink fairy dust while Shimmer's mane was completely disheveled.

"Cut the music!" Shredder ordered, letting go of Shimmer. "I've seen enough."

The ponytales dropped to his rear with a grunt. "Damn it." He shot an apologetic look toward Yuna and her teammates. Gene had turned away, pinching his brow and shaking his head. Igneous looked ready to try and melt the cage and head inside. The small crowd was about to cheer for Shredder claiming victory.

Instead, everyone gasped when Shredder suddenly hoisted a startled Shimmer back up.

"He's got guts!" Shredder bellowed. At first, no one responded to the declaration. After Shredder repeated himself, however, various onlookers raised paws and wings in a delighted cheer. Espeon went to rattle the cage again, only to back off with a hiss upon touching the cold steel. Floragato twirled her yo-yo.

Shimmer stared blankly. "I don't get it."

Yuna thought much the same. "Are we missing something?" she asked Igneous, who could only shrug.

"I never said you had to win, Snowflake." Shredder laughed and thumped a squealing Shimmer's flank. "I wanted to see if you had heart." The obstagoon placed his fist against his chest. "And I saw heart. Freezing the damn cage and lunging for me like a crazed feral after I've buffed up?" He flexed his bulging biceps. "Yeah, that takes real grit! You've changed."

Shredder pointed to Gene. "We're in, Kitten."

The shadowy mewtwo whistled. "Well, damn. Didn't see that coming." He Phantom Warped through the icy cage and floated over to Shredder. Presumably to talk some manner of specifics that Yuna wasn't interested in. She watched Igneous help Shimmer out of the ring. A couple of the linoone patted the ponytales as he went past.

"That was ridiculous," Igneous said, looking Shimmer over. "Are you okay? What were you thinking? You could've—"

Shimmer flinched. "I was, uh, thinking of you?"

The grovlazzle's head leaf caught fire. "I-I'm sorry?"

"J-Just, y'know, some of the crazier things you've done." Shimmer brushed his forelegs together nervously.

"Well that's— I, uh—"

"Pfffffffbt, your leaves are gonna burn off at this rate, Twiggy!"

Nikki and Scarlett's approach was enough to get Igneous' head leaf to simmer down.

"Something you want to tell us?" The toxtricity fluttered her eyelids at Igneous and Shimmer.

"No." Scowling, the grovlazzle crossed his arms.

"They're feeling things out," Scarlett said.

Igneous's scowl turned to a glare. "Seriously?"

"I'm pretty sure she already knew," the dragonair said.

"Two for two today, baby." Nikki fist-pumped. Scarlett chuckled while Yuna looked between the two in confusion.

Before she could ask what Nikki meant, Gene landed behind Scarlett.

"All right, pack it in. We're taking this conversation back to the base."

"Already?" Nikki raised a brow, then shrugged. "Eh, it ain't like we've got much around here to worry about. Guess we can call it a day early."

Gene shook his head. "Far from it. Shredder's gonna tell us about that problem he mentioned earlier. It sounds like we'll have work to do."

The toxtricity slouched. "Grrrrreeeeeat."

Yuna looked past her teammates, where Shredder was organizing the 'mon who'd watched his fight with Shimmer. This was a... strange acquisition for the resistance. And the dragapult figured she wouldn't know what to make of it until she learned exactly what Shredder wanted their help with.

A day lying in bed staring at the wall was long enough for Widget. Valkyrie knew he'd woken up, but the garchomp let him be. She even stopped checking on him, leaving the cosmic silvally to lay around and stew in his thoughts until he reached a firm conclusion.

Those silhouettes were him.

Widget finally understood what the emperor meant when he said he'd "drawn from Eternatus itself" to create him. And what being built to "interface directly with the Benefactor" stood for.

The Eterna energy that forged him... was nothing but slumbering souls. Powerful slumbering souls. And Widget was sure they were connected to Leo. The arceus must've "woken" them up.

All of Widget's fears were true, then. He wasn't his own person. He was never meant to be his own person. Just a machine running off spiritual energy. One that would follow Paradox's will.

As Widget forced himself out of bed, he wondered what this meant for the Eterna Empire as a whole. Paradox had drilled into him — heck, into everyone, really — the horrors of the Kingdom of Radiance. How their source of electricity, ether, came from the people trying to live their lives within the Empire.

... But at the same time, a lot of stuff inside Eternatus ran on Eterna energy. Paradox had taught him it was a wondrous and limitless power source with no real drawbacks.

It had to be the same as ether, then. Energy drained from spirits. Were they spirits that tried to stop Zodiark, only to end up in stasis instead of reborn like Yuna and the others?

Widget didn't know. And his head pounded from thinking about it. He glanced at the occupied bed next to him. Artemis lay there. The milotic had gotten hit by Leo, too. And now had a similar cosmic makeover for his troubles.

"Hey." Widget nudged the side of the bed. "You okay?"

Silence. Artemis' eyes were shut, but Widget didn't think he was sleeping. Ignoring him, then. When this whole thing was Artemis' idea in the first place.

The cosmic silvally nudged Artemis' black-scaled body. "Get up." His tone was firm.

"Why?"

Widget stared blankly. "We have work to do."

Artemis slowly turned and poked an eye open at Widget.

"Why... am I here?"

It wasn't surprising Artemis was taking it all even worse than before. Valkyrie muttered about how shaken up he was over Seifer's death. Widget wasn't sure what he could offer the cosmic milotic.

"Because you're trying to help the resistance." It was the best Widget had.

"Not that." Artemis lazily swatted the air with a starcloud ribbon. "Why am... I in this world?"

Widget's neck ruff dimmed. "Excuse me?"

Artemis shakily pushed his head up. "Xeromus was right. Leo's not the arceus I remember."

Wait, was Artemis saying he was a reincarnated soul, too?

The milotic's ribbons shriveled. "I recognized things. Noctum, Valkyrie, Seifer, and Yiazmat." Artemis' breathing was shaky. "We all... we have to be from that first world Yuna mentioned. The one Zodiark fled from, and Giratina pursued." He shook his head. "But Leo's not from there."

He coiled up on the edge of the bed. "Noctum is Palkia. Seifer is Dialga." His eyes darted around nervously. "I let Dialga—"

"Breathe."

Widget stepped to Artemis' side without even thinking. He offered his left shoulder for Artemis to lean against. Artemis stared silently at the cosmic silvally.

"Why are we here?" Artemis whispered. "How could I... let Mighty Dialga—"

"You can't think like that." Widget nudged Artemis' starcloud ribbon. "We can't think like that."

Artemis raised a brow.

Widget's neck ruff swirled around. "Whatever Leo did... messed with my head, too." He sighed. "It seems like souls from two different universes are reincarnated. I wish I had answers for you, but I don't.

"What I do know, is that Leo's frightened." The cosmic silvally looked Artemis in the eye. "He couldn't have expected that to happen. We have to... tell him it's okay."

That was the right thing to do. Widget hoped that between his words and pleading expression, he'd convince Artemis to come with him. Artemis did have his head bowed in thought, but he said nothing.

After a minute, Widget was ready to leave the infirmary when Artemis slithered off the bed.

"I guess you're right." The milotic held his head up. "I've made some serious mistakes. If I don't try to make things right, then I'd be humiliating my past self."

Widget nodded, offering Artemis a smile. The two exited the infirmary. Widget found Jade waddling down the hall and she confirmed that Leo was still holed up in the third floor broom closet. They headed over to it and Widget knocked on the door.

"Leo?"

No response. Widget tried again.

"C'mon, Leo. I know you're in there."

Still nothing. Artemis slithered up to Widget's side and jiggled the handle. "Leo, it's Artemis. Look, I'm sorry I pushed you like that. It was wrong of me."

The lock clicked open and the door swung inward, revealing Leo awkwardly seated between shelves stocked with laundry and dishwashing detergent. At least a dozen brightly-colored, empty, crumpled ice cream pints were strewn about the floor. Some had strings of melted ice cream trickling out of them.

Widget stared blankly at the floor. "Um, does Guzzie know you've been taking this ice cream?"

"No." The cosmic arceus set a half-full pint down beside a bottle of laundry detergent. Minty green melted ice cream stained his facial fur.

"Oh," Widget whispered. Well, this was off to a fantastic start. The cosmic silvally had to save face quickly. "Listen, Leo—"

"We've worked together before, haven't we?"

Widget stepped back. His starcloud ruff condensed. "Huh?"

"I saw it." Leo leaned over and smushed his face into the ice cream container. When he lifted his head up, his face was greener than before. "When I lost control. You were a hydreigon. Begging me to let you summon a human because there was something wrong with this thing called a Worldcore."

Hydreigon's silhouette flickered in front of Widget. It faced Leo, all the heads at attention.

"Leo, I'm really sorry." Artemis slithered between Widget and the arceus. "It was wrong of me to force you to try and save Seifer. I was... blaming myself for his death, and so I stupidly thought I could use you to fix my mistake."

Leo eyed the milotic. "Yeah, well, I should've tried harder to put my foot down. Lesson learned." He leaned over and sloppily gobbled more ice cream from the pint. When Leo pulled his head up, he squished the now-empty container with his forehead and lazily tipped it over so it fell on the floor beside the others.

Well, this wasn't a disaster. But it wasn't going great, either. Widget tucked his head under one of Artemis' starcloud ribbons. "Are you going to be okay? Is there anything we can do for you?"

"More ice cream'd be swell," Leo said.

Artemis and Widget exchanged incredulous looks. Leo glanced at the pile of ice cream pints by his hooves.

"Oh." He blinked slowly. "Guess I overdid it."

Leo grabbed a raggedy towel from a metal shelf on his left and wiped his face. He tossed the rag onto the pile of empty pints. "It didn't work... because of Seifer's soul. He's not from the past I know." Leo looked at Widget. "But you and Cyril are."

He stepped over the pile of pints. "How am I supposed to fix things if I don't understand my powers? If I don't understand what's going on?"

His concerns weren't that different from Artemis'. Or Widget's, for that matter. The cosmic silvally looked down guiltily.

"I don't know. For now... I think we have to take it one step at a time." Widget pulled his head back from under Artemis' starcloud ribbon. "And that first step is, y'know, getting out of the broom closet."

With a nervous laugh, he hastily added, "And not eating your weight in ice cream."

Leo's starcloud mane and tail dimmed. "Yeah. At this rate I'll be thicker than Cyril." He shook his head, sighing. "One of those steps isn't going to have to be talking with Mom, is it?"

"I don't follow." Widget tilted his head.

"Mom and Nikki got stoned in my bed and made out with each other," Leo flatly said.

Silence followed, with Artemis shooting Widget a flabbergasted expression.

"Iiiiiiiii probably shouldn't have said that out loud." Leo tapped a gold forehoof on the floor. "Welp. I guess it be like that."

That was... more of that strange lingo Widget didn't understand. Yet the silvally felt compelled to say something.

"It's up to you how you want to handle Yuna."

"Then I'm-a ignore it."

Leo stepped through a rift and appeared beside Widget. "If it happens again, I'll just douse 'em with my splash plate." His wheel shifted from gold to blue.

Widget doubted that was a healthy approach, but he wasn't going to criticize. He'd actually gotten the arceus out of the broom closet.

"So, what now?" Leo looked around. "Seems kinda dead around here."

"About that..." Artemis slithered out of the broom closet, a ribbon pressed against his head. "It sounds like Gene's back. And calling for a team meeting in the hangar."

Widget raised a brow. "What's it about?"

"Blightsmuth's old Crowne Minister is here," Artemis said. "Apparently, he has some information that might be connected to the Empire."

Leo and Widget exchanged confused looks. Blightsmuth was where Nikki was from, right? This didn't sound good.

"I guess we're going to the hanger, then," Widget said.

He didn't know what to expect. But as Leo opened up a rift to bring them to the hanger, he hoped it didn't mean they'd have to jump right back into the fray.