Pre-Chapter Notes:

- Oops.

- Just a tiny bit longer than usual, for obvious reasons. Also, there are multiple scene changes here, and lots of exposition/PLOT, as may be obvious.

- New OCs? New OCs.

"Fancy seeing you here, eh?" Momo grinned. "I thought you and your boy-toy went off to help out the Quilly!"

"Kip says he has it under control. Mostly." Aether let out a long sigh, brushing some stray silver strands of hair away from her face. The riolu looked up at the mismagius again, raising an eyebrow. "And you? What's your business here?"

Momo shrugged. "Just gonna traumatize a lil' tyranitar, is all."

"You haven't changed, have you…"

"Not really, no." Momo flashed another grin, before a sudden sound piqued her attention. Her gaze drifted lazily towards the source, before her eyes widened. "Oooh, man. Looks like I just found my target."

"Izumi Nagase," Aether muttered. "One of the few last Aurora Guardians left. Iori had a tough time with her, or so Kane says."

"Target, target, target," Momo chanted, drifting over cautiously to the two pokemon surrounded by a quickly growing crowd.

"What, you mean the piplup isn't your target?"

The mismagius shook her head and pointed at the pokemon staring Izumi down, who was probably several heads taller than the poor piplup. "Nay. It's her!"

The tyranitar gave a roar that only sounded vaguely human, and Izumi let out a terrified shriek. The piplup turned tail and attempted to run away, but unfortunately for her, the tyranitar took practically three steps before she lifted Izumi up by her two suicune-like ribbons, much like a pyroar lifting its cub.

Aether blinked. "Nice outcome of events. Were you planning this?"

"Well, I don't think Izuzu would get eaten that quickly." Momo shrugged again, a grin playing on her lips. "What do you say we sit back and watch?"

"Kane's expecting me. I don't have time to spare, idiot."

"Ehhh!" Momo sighed. "Fiiiine. Go play with your boy-toy." She paused. "Ahaha. Play."

The riolu reddened, but said nothing and quickly ran off, so fast she kicked up dust even with her bare feet. Momo waved her off, uncaring if Aether even saw her or not, then drifted closer to where the tyranitar and Izumi were. The crowd was getting rather thick, now, so Momo had to summon another shadow ball to levitate a little higher (and for a more comfortable seat).

"I believe I asked for information," the tyranitar ground out through gritted teeth, face scrunched up in irritation. Her ponytailed brown hair flew dramatically behind her in the Sandstorm she had summoned. "Information I believe you have."

"S… Sorry!" Izumi gasped. "But – not allowed. I'm not… allowed…" She coughed a few more times, sounding like she was seconds away from choking her guts out. Momo wouldn't have minded that, actually; it would have provided quite the entertaining show. Too bad the mismagius had to stop that from happening, as the piplup was one of the few living Aurora Guardians left…

Momo blinked. Ah, the tyranitar was preparing to whip Izumi around like she was a rope and fling her to a nearby surface. She recognized that pose, at least. Not good, not good. "Hey, hello! Sorry to interrupt this nice little show, but I need my little friend to be alive, yes?"

The tyranitar looked down at her disdainfully. 'Aww, come on. She's only 160 centimeters! I'm 178, and yet she's taller?! What the–' Momo's internal monologue was interrupted as the tyranitar spoke. "Another one of that wish maker's goons, I take it?"

The mismagius cocked her head to the side, trying to disguise the vein that popped on her forehead. She tipped her hat down slightly, just in case the tyranitar took that as some sort of challenge. "Hehehe. I don't know, am I? I know I am, but what are you?"

She snorted. "I don't have time to listen to your ridiculous speeches. Now, I believe we" the tyranitar jerked the piplup she held in her hands for good measure, "were trying to have a civilized conversation here, until you showed up. Kindly get out of my sight before I make you."

"No can do, shiny!" Momo flashed a grin, this time not bothering to hide the shadow that had come over her face. From seemingly out of nowhere, her favorite scepter popped out, and she fired a bright Flash of light towards the tyranitar's face before she snatched Izumi out of her grip and sprinted away like the devil was behind her. Which was partially true. "Run, penguin, ruuun!" She cackled as the tyranitar gave an enraged roar in the background. "I pissed her off! And royally at that! I'm so proud of myself, nyahaha!"

"You're scaring me," Izumi said, panting heavily as she tried to keep up with the mismagius, who was sitting cross-legged on a summoned Shadow Ball, scepter slung across her back and still cackling evilly. "An-Anyway, weren't you supposed to get information out of her?! I thought–"

"That was the perfect time to escape, though! Ahaha, get used to it, penguin! This is me, Momo! And from now on, you're my partner in crime!"

"W-What?!" Izumi spluttered. Her eyes widened at the mismagius' sudden burst of speed, and she forced herself to keep running, despite the horrible ache in her legs. 'I've been running way too much this past week!' "W-Wait! Hold on! And – what the heck's a pen-goo-in? It sounds a bit offensive! … Hold on, it's the middle of the night, don't just – !"

And so that was how Izumi found herself running (not really) side-by-side with Momo, a pissed-off-to-hell tyranitar rampaging behind them. All in one night.

It was a little while before the crazy mismagius finally decided that Izumi had endured enough insanity for one night and led her back to the scary axew's base, which mysteriously still had some lights on. After some careful listening, she heard multiple voices in there, too.

"Okay!" Momo grinned. In the short time Izumi had gotten to know her, she already knew that whenever that grin came over her face, nothing good was going to come out of it. "You stay here, and I go talk to the crazy shiny behind us." As if on cue, there was another distant roar somewhere behind them. "I'll get the information we need, and everything's gonna be cool. You get?"

"Uh… sure." Izumi didn't exactly trust the mismagius very much (Arceus knows why Iori thought it would have been a good idea to hire her), but from various sources, she knew that Momo was a lot stronger than she looked. At least, that was what Izumi thought. She sure hoped she was right. "Will you be okay?"

Momo paused. "… You'd be great for Haruka, did you know?"

"… Wha…?" Iori's kid?

"Nah, s'nothing. Well, see ya!" With a two-fingered salute, the mismagius hopped on another Shadow Ball and flew off into the distance. The piplup waited for a few minutes, then sighed at the sound of another roar.

"Really…"

"What do you mean 'sir' Kumo?" Mirai asked, raising an eyebrow at the spluttering charmeleon and bug-eyed grovyle. "You don't mean you know him, do you?"

"So this is where you ran off to!" Elion chirped, ignoring Mirai. "Nice, cozy place. Good choice!"

Completely different from the gliscor's demeanor, Azura stomped over to the ariados, who looked down at her with the tiniest of smirks. She pointed up at him, fingernail sharp as a claw and looking ready to pierce Kumo's neck. "Y-You…! You left him! You and the stupid swanna and that high-and-mighty gothorita – you all left him alone! And then you run off here, pretending to be some Good Samaritan?! Who do you think you are?!"

Unfazed by the grovyle's outburst, Kumo simply pushed her away with a single finger. Azura stumbled, but righted herself and glared at the ariados defiantly. She opened her mouth, most probably to spit out some choice words, but Kumo spoke first. "I don't believe I ever left him 'alone'. We were the ones to lead Elion and Team Transcendent to him, along with Red Thunder. Then, in your words, we 'ran off' here so that we could stay and wait for the right human to come along… and I believe we've found that human."

His gaze lifted up to Mirai, who raised an eyebrow disinterestedly. "You, axew, are the one who is going to save this world."

Something in those words struck a chord in Mirai's heart. No, it wasn't because she felt all 'oh my Arceus I'm going to save the world I'm so cool blah blah blah'. It was more along the lines of feeling… needed. She hadn't felt needed since… since…

Since when?

Since a time long ago, hidden deep in the crevasses of her memories… no, she couldn't remember exactly, but she could hear the voices of her past –

"Here. We're going to need this. Got it from that place over there, more reliable than it looks–"

"… way! Can't believe this is really happening…"

"… don't die! No, no, fuck, this wasn't supposed to…"

"… sure? We can't tell exactly when he's going to attack, but it's definitely a no-go in there…"

Who were those? No one she knew, that was for sure… at least, no one she knew since her amnesia. The voices were male. Familiar. They filled her with a sense of need, like she had to jump into action immediately and help out the voices, though she didn't know how, why, when, where… and who.

Were they friends from before? Family? Did she have romantic relations with someone (worse, someones)? It irked her that she couldn't tell whether or not the voices were important, because they all clearly belonged to two distinguished people (or pokemon – that was possible too, of course). Two certain males. Two certain males…

She was a human, wasn't she? Someone mentioned that, Momo, or Azura, or something… and she had brothers. Yes. She remembered that. She had brothers.

"He's dead! Fuck, he's dead! Mirai, no, hurry up! We gotta leave him behind!"

"Ha… Haru? Haru? Are you there? Haruka? Haruka, get up, we have to go… Haruka!"

–Well, used to have brothers, more of.

So they both died. She can remember that, too. It didn't seem very unlikely, actually. But when she thought of them both dead, a pang of pain shot straight through her chest and pierced her heart. A bit poetic, but it fit the description of… whatever she felt. It hurt, simply put. It didn't look like she was about to get the full story of whatever had happened (where had it happened, she wondered? The human world?) with her brothers, but she at least could remember a few important details – they existed, for one, and they both died, leaving her behind. And she only remembered the name of one.

Haruka.

Haruka Sakamoto.

That was, perhaps, a little bit too coincidental.

"I'm going to… save… what?"

"It's exactly as it sounds," Kumo responded nonchalantly. Azura seemed to have moved to the side, though her glare didn't subside. "You're one of the few human-turned-pokemon who have been able to survive this far and this long. Besides Momo, anyway, but… she isn't really suited for the world-saving type of hero. You can tell."

Elion smiled. "Neither is Ray, too. He's more of a guide. Though, it's not like his job has been really going well so far."

Mirai felt a little like a magikarp out of water. She could feel her jaw on the ground, and it didn't seem to be working properly enough to form coherent words, much less sentences. "I – what – I–"

The ariados tilted his head. "Want me to start from the beginning?"

At about that time, the axew decided it was enough looking stupid for one day and composed herself as properly as she could (which is to say: not a lot). "That is kind of the best offer anyone has given me. Please do."

"It'd be my pleasure." The ariados casually took a seat on a nearby chair, not even caring about Azura's glare. It was intense enough to look like it could burn a nice, clean hole straight through Kumo's head. Preferably a nice, clean, burning hole too, but the more boring option was fine. So long as there was a hole. "Anyway, this might be a little long, so we should get some little things cleared up first."

"Never fear, Momo is here!"

"Pretty sure the right word should be 'always' instead of 'never'."

"Hey, the specifics don't matter, okay? Why are you here anyway?"

The jolteon shrugged. "What's it matter? Aether told me that you were off doing random shit again, so I figured I'd come over."

"And you left your little girlfriend in who-knows-where?" Momo replied, readying a few Shadow Balls as she juggled them in her hands. Golden eyes, in contrast to her casual demeanor, were fixated on something in the distance.

"Nah, I know where she is. I think." Kane paused. Sharp yellow ears twitched above blond hair. "Er, where is she, again?"

The mismagius cracked a grin, fangs glinting in the moonlight. "Expected nothin' less. Oh, lookie!" She extended her arm to point at a vague outline over the horizon, just barely visible in the dark. "Looks like our target! Wanna fire a cute little thunder ball like always, or shall I have the honor?"

Kane raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, what's this? You're actually asking for permission?" The jolteon promptly tilted his head back to let out a guffaw. "What a joke!"

"I'll take that as a no," Momo said nonchalantly, twirling one of the dark black orbs around her finger until it reached the typical size of a bowling ball. "Well, then again, our target's a dark-type, isn't she? Hmm, which means…"

In a swift motion, she reached out for the back of Kane's neck, lifting him into the air with abnormal physical strength. The jolteon's laugh was cut short, morphing into a doglike yelp as he flailed about uselessly. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?! I'll zap you, damn it!"

"Just what I need," the mismagius responded, smiling as she tapped the blond with her scepter that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. A spark of electricity passed by it, but disappeared quickly into the scepter's length. Once that was done, Momo let her grip disappear and Kane landed back on the ground on his rump. A fluffy brown tail twitched in annoyance. Noticing this, Momo's smile transformed into a smug grin. "Hey, at least I got my super-cool witch hat to go with my evolution. What's with the tail? It's, like, so last century."

"I wasn't alive last century," Kane grumbled, pushing himself back up anyway. Dusting off the imaginary dirt on his person (pokemon?), the jolteon looked up at the mismagius. She had her arm outstretched, gripping her scepter as it pulsated with electrical energy. A small orb was forming at the tip, sparking and releasing short bursts of thunder. "What's with that thing now, anyway?"

"Not a lot of my moves can do much against our target," Momo sang. "So I'm gonna borrow juuust a little of your electricity to make a nice little thunder ball like you always throw at people – err, pokemon."

"What a plan," Kane deadpanned. "That will surely go wonderfully well and not horribly wrong. It will also definitely not cause Ira to get even more annoyed and maul us to death."

"You know you'd never allow me to be mauled to death!"

"That honor's reserved for Aether."

"Shut up."

'Felicity, we need to go. Hurry it up.'

"Oh, what the hell?" the zangoose hissed. In a single fluid motion, she retracted the seviper tail, though she did make sure to graze against Satsuki's injured arm. The suicune gritted her teeth but gave no other reaction as she unsteadily stood to her feet. "Now of all times? Seriously…" Sparing a glance at both Satsuki and the limp Quil, Felicity strolled across the bloodied snow casually as if on a walk in the park. "Well, that was fun and all, but I've really got to get going. In any case, since I didn't kill you, the poison in this baby should in a little while." She flashed a grin. "Bye-bye, pathetic excuse for a legendary."

A swirling white Magnagate with streaks of red suddenly appeared in front of the zangoose. With a mocking wave, she stepped foot in the portal, disappearing instantly. A few seconds of silence passed, Satsuki simply standing there, clutching her arm and trying to steady the blood, and Quil unmoving.

The suicune gave a light huff, stumbling over to rest against a tree. A million and one things that seviper poison could do on a pokemon passed through her mind until she reached the amount of time someone had before it eventually killed them – that being about twenty minutes or less. How uplifting.

Nevertheless, she simply tore a piece of cloth off of her blouse and wrapped it as best as she could around her wound, using her ribbons as extra limbs. Once done, she did her best to ignore the pang of pain she felt every time her arm so much as twitched and limped towards the cyndaquil's body. He was, obviously, not dead, but multiple injuries had been inflicted on his body. Deep gashes from claws and still-bleeding puncture wounds, most likely from the seviper tail, coupled with several black-and-blue bruises made up the majority.

Satsuki sighed, more out of exhaustion than anything, and probed her mind for the telepathic connection just minutes before. At first, she was met by nothing, but she eventually felt a weak thread still connected, if barely. Before she could grab hold onto it and establish a connection with Iori once more, however, the thread was snapped and all hopes she had were promptly crushed. 'Wonderful. And everyone else must be preoccupied tending to their own injuries right now…'

"Lady Satsuki?!"

'… Ah. So maybe not.'

From the trees emerged a purple-clad figure, wings flapping violently, and another slightly taller pokemon, this one unfamiliar. The suicune vaguely noticed her vision was getting blurrier – not a good sign, definitely. Once the two pokemon got closer, she recognized Taylor's fluffy blond hair and worried expression, but the other one seemed to be completely foreign, with long red hair, tanned skin, and defined muscles. 'Great. Who's this one now?'

"Lady Satsuki? Are you alright? No, of course you aren't…" Taylor quickly retrieved something from the other pokemon, which looked like a bottle of sorts. "Here, this is an antidote, this should help you, I think…"

Without another word, Satsuki snatched the bottle out of his hands and drained its contents completely. In more pleasant circumstances, she would have done it a little more ladylike, but she had none of her usual grace to spare here. If she hadn't drank the antidote when she did, she would have blacked out completely and who knew what would happen next.

After the last drop of the antidote was down her throat, Satsuki was suddenly bombarded with countless senses she hadn't known she had. Her vision cleared and sharpened, the snow suddenly felt that much colder under her body, and the stench of blood invaded her nostrils. What was the worst and most alarming thing was probably the sudden pain erupting over her entire body, pulsing with leftover poison. The suicune suppressed a cry from shock and pain, instead biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. Above her, she could make out a voice, vaguely feminine –

"Seviper poison usually shuts down the senses and numbs pain, which is why it's rather disconcerting when recovering from it, especially from such a large dose," the voice mused. "Either way, my job is done here. Mister Rufflet, can you sign here, please? Payment's covered by Lord Iori, so it should be okay."

'Shiro?' Satsuki thought. 'Must be another one of the Guardians, then, but…'

"Well, uh, do you know how to treat her or anything? She doesn't look well, that's for sure…" Taylor's voice trailed off.

There was a shifting noise, as if the redhead was shrugging. "Well, I suppose. This is Lady Satsuki. Do you have a first-aid kit, perchance?"

"This world is undergoing ruin," Kumo stated bluntly. "Everything was fine and dandy until a few years ago, when Kyurem was awaken from his sleep. He is thought to be the Boundary pokemon, the balance between Reshiram and Zekrom, to fill in the absence between yin and yang. The symbol of what lies in between balance." The ariados narrowed his eyes. "He exists solely to protect the balance of this world. Without him, most everything would fall apart.

"When he woke from his sleep, something changed within him. His previous duty, which is to protect the balance in this world, was erased and replaced with the duty to serve and protect which is called the Bittercold. It is a mass of negative emotions that had gotten strong enough to manifest itself into a physical form resembling a large crystal. With the negative emotions from all the pokemon in the world, it snuck into Kyurem's head, messed with his mind, and destroyed his inner balance. He was, essentially, converted into a darker version of himself, with his only thought to forever serve the Bittercold and to fulfill its purpose, which is to destroy the pokemon world as we know it and infiltrate the human world."

Mirai's eyes widened. "Human world? And, wait – destroy the pokemon world? The hell is up with that chunk of rock?"

"A very apt description for something that can potentially annihilate the entire world as we know it," Azura muttered.

Kumo continued. "Indeed. We're still not sure exactly why, but there is a plausible theory by Lord Iori for it. That is; the Bittercold was born from negative thoughts, emotions, and feelings by the pokemon in this world. When all those things multiplied amongst each other, it eventually gained a mind of its own. But this mind was incomplete – very incomplete. This mass of thoughts and emotions could only think and act on negativity. With that, its movements were very limited. Therefore, it selected the Great Glacier to grow in power and size, because of the area's harsh surroundings, and used Kyurem as an 'extension' to its mind, per se. With Kyurem, its movepool expanded, allowing it to do things it normally would not have been able to do."

"And I suspect that led to the eventual collapse of this world?" the axew asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Correct." The ariados paused to take a long swig from an alcohol bottle, before resuming. "It recruited several pokemon to aid it in its mission to spread negativity throughout the pokemon world so it could gain more and more power. These include Team Nightmare and the Bloody Lucid, whom you may or may not have encountered."

"Oh, yeah, we sure encountered them alright," Mirai growled. "If I could, I would beat their asses all the way to the human world, but no…"

"That wouldn't be very wise," Elion piped up. "They'd just keep doing what they're doing right now, mainly, kill everyone they see and spread despair. Nothing too different, no."

"Good point." The axew furrowed her brow. "Maybe I can kick them down a gutter or something."

Kumo rolled his eyes. "In any case, Lord Iori eventually discovered the existence of the Bittercold and resolved to stop it to prevent a chaotic world. Haruka was still in an egg at that time, and he wished to make the world a place where his child could grow up safely. With that, he left Lady Satsuki with Haruka and set off to the Great Glacier. As a legendary pokemon, he managed to make it through the difficult landscape and discovered the 'throne room', so to say. However, when he tried to make it through to the Bittercold, his way was blocked by Kyurem, who has come to be known as 'Primal' Kyurem, or 'Kyubey'. He was defeated singlehandedly, most possibly because Kyurem was already influenced with the Bittercold's power, and was locked into a dungeon for his potential to be corrupted by the Bittercold as well.

"However, he devised a plan to go against the Bittercold's plan and, with his powers, managed to broadcast a dream – the Dream, with a capital 'D' – throughout the entirety of the human world and asked them to help him for his cause. Many agreed, but many turned down his offer as well. Those who agreed were sent to the pokemon world as pokemon themselves, some missing memories, and as Guardians to amplify their power and to draw attention to the other legendary pokemon that trouble was arising. These human-turned-pokemon traveled with friends they made, or formed Teams, and traversed the world until they were given an explanation for their purpose and why they came into the world. Several, unfortunately, died or were incapacitated by the hands of Team Nightmare and the Bloody Lucid."

Mirai seemed to just get more and more confused with every word that came from the ariados' mouth. "Okay, so where do I fit in with all that?"

"You, Mirai, were a human with a troubled past." The corner of Kumo's lips curled downwards. "I do not know the specifics, but it wasn't the best Lord Iori had seen. To perhaps protect you, he erased your memories and sent you where he knew that snivy… Shido, was it? Right. He sent you where he knew Shido would be, knowing his personality would only be good for you. Additional information about you would be that you've survived a little longer than most of the humans with their memories erased, though that can be attributed to your past, and… well, you're a Future Guardian, as you no doubt already know."

"See, that's the annoying thing," the axew said, frowning. "You tell me this Kyurem's being controlled by the Bittercold, yeah? And I'm a Future Guardian, whatever the hell that's supposed to be, and I'm under Kyurem's control or something, right?"

"Well, not really under his complete control, but he can occasionally influence certain thoughts if he gets enough power and knows exactly where you are, what you're thinking, and a couple other variants," Ray explained, waving a hand in the air.

"Right, whatever. So if that's the case, then why the hell am I not in the Great Glacier right now, with Kyurem and the Sweethot slaving my ass off for my 'master' or whatever?"

"Sweethot?" Elion blinked.

Mirai shrugged. "Bittercold, Sweethot, right?"

"You must remember," Kumo interjected, irritation lacing his voice. "The Bittercold is made out of negative emotions from pokemon. If ever a pokemon got close to it, they would weaken and be defeated by the pure energy radiating from it. However, humans are not affected by such. Those are pokemon emotions the Bittercold is made out of, while you are a human. Kyurem is controlled by a thing made out of pokemon emotions. And once more, you are a human. Needless to say, anything that is not completely a pokemon is immune to the powers of the Bittercold." He paused. "Of course, pokemon controlled by the Bittercold can still physically injure you, but you can take safety in the fact that they are incapable of controlling your thoughts, at least."

"Then why, pray tell, are the other humans, the ones like me, not going against that stupid crystal right this second?" Mirai snapped. "If they really were immune, beating it down would be the easiest thing ever!"

Kumo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let me ask you a question. Where is the Bittercold located?"

"Well, somewhere in the Great Glacier, obviously. You just told me… oh." Realization dawned on the axew's face. It was soon covered by embarrassment. "… Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'." Azura rolled her eyes. "Really. You think Lord Iori would have gotten such a large amount of humans turned into pokemon if the Great Glacier was easy? Might be strong in the arms, but not too good in the head, it looks…"

"What'd you say?!" Mirai snarled. "I'll show you how fast I can knock you out with one good hit on the head…"

"Now, now, now's not the time for arguments," Ray said, quickly zipping in between the two females. A nervous grin was plastered on his face. Mirai and Azura took one more look at each other before ceremoniously 'hmph'-ing and turning away. Ray sighed. "That's better…"

The axew pushed a hand through her hair in annoyance, scowling. "Okay, so why couldn't you have told me this a little earlier? It's pretty obvious with my amnesia and everything that I'm not a normal pokemon, right?"

"We were waiting for something like this to happen for the opportunity to explain everything to you," Kumo replied disinterestedly. "Anyway, your main problem right now should be trying to stay away from Team Nightmare. They're quite the threat now, you must know." He turned to face Azura, who immediately locked onto the ariados' face with a glare. "They're especially aiming for you, grovyle."

"Me?" she laughed. "Please, like a prepubescent munna could do anything to me. One of their best fighters is dead, and I killed her with these hands. What the hell else can they do to me?"

"I hope you don't get too overconfident with the knowledge that the purugly has been resurrected," Kumo deadpanned.

There were a few seconds of silence.

And then the grovyle exploded.

"What?!"

Oh, wow, look who decided to get off her fat ass and write 4900+ words? Anyway, it's almost my Christmas break, which should mean another update or so in maybe ten million years. Because clearly the other multi-chaptered fic I have isn't taking up all my time.

Anyway. So, before we get to the very confusing plot, we have a list of OCs that appeared in this chapter: Aether, the riolu (though it may not be obvious, from the 'silver strands of hair' description, but we'll get to that in a minute), Kane, the jolteon (again, not very obvious disregarding the narration repeatedly calling him a jolteon, due to the eevee tail), and the mysterious redhead delivery girl in Satsuki's scene. All submitted by the same person, Omega Zekrom, who has contributed quite a lot to the OCs in this fic, actually.

Aether. She's a riolu, as mentioned around... once? Twice, maybe? Anyway, she's miscolored in that she's shiny, but with the Metagross shiny color scheme rather than the normal, already rare shiny color scheme of the Lucario line. As you may or may not have inferred, she's related to Momo and Kane, and perhaps with the other pokemon under Iori, though that remains to be seen.

Another thing: Mirai's thought process, and the memories she unearthed, however small. Okay, three things: she had brothers, they both died, and one of them is named Haruka Sakamoto. Guess who else is named Haruka in this fic? (Also yes, Haruka is a unisex name, if you're doubting it. Well, I hope. That, or the Internet lied to me.) This might be important in the future, so you might want to keep that in mind. Even if Haruka Kiryuuin didn't even have a speaking role in this chapter. Whatever.

Finally, Kumo's giant walls of text that make up a good chunk of this chapter. Most of it is exposition, as you can obviously see. A lot of things have been revealed, questions answered, but of course there's still the mystery of why Ray (or whoever it was last chapter, I forgot already) called the ariados 'Sir' Kumo. It might be obvious to some, but it hasn't been directly said yet, so.

Anyway, I'm trying to refrain from making the author's notes make up good portions of chapters, so I'll leave this with a preview as always. Up next, we get back to Momo, Kane, and the tyranitar, if I haven't mentioned her name yet. Also, the redhead in Satsuki's scene might probably get introduced, but I might put that off because she's such a fun character to write. Um, what else? Possibly Izumi and Haruka Kiryuuin, and maybe Tristesse (remember him?), though I can never be sure. Anyway, stay tuned!

Marei, 12/16/14