"Get out of my way!" Sage shouted at the person blocking his path. "There isn't much time!"

Ferro, he came to realise, had always ticked him off, unintentionally or not. Of course, Sage had to retain that calmness.

"Are you planning on bombing Noryuku? When Madame Valencia left?" The student held out his hands, T-posting. "I'm not letting you."

"Idiot! Of course I'm getting this shit out of campus." Sage beckoned his Pokémon to follow him. "You know what, Ferro? If you don't believe me, you leave me with no other choice."

Ferro narrowed his gaze and swatted the boy over the head. "The heck you thinking? Just because two people died doesn't mean you can kill everyone with you!"

Sage sighed. Nodding to Blade, he said, "Teleport us to somewhere safe. Don't bring this guy with us." Sage turned to the second-year and mumbled, "Word of advice. Never use the gachapon in the app."

"You must have something up your sleeves. I cannot trust you." Ferro took his phone out when the drummer and his Pokémon, bathed in white light, vanished. He saw a flash of sadness in Blade's eyes but couldn't decipher why. Thinking it was nothing, he dismissed the thought with a shrug.

He needed to find them quick. If this boy had become a terrorist, and if this was some nuclear bomb, the whole world would be in danger. Yes, he needed to stop this evildoer. At all costs.

He swiped the screen and squished the gachapon icon. Yes, there must be something there that would be effective against the boy. That's why that boy didn't want him to use it. Now, the Cosmog would be out of the bag.

He had his bandages on too. Maybe he wanted it to be a spectacular performance. He's gone too far, too far! I have to stop him. I have to get Titan's help too.

The capsule rolled down the virtual vending machine. Ferro smirked. The first time would guarantee an SSR item. Whatever it was, he could definitely use it against the evildoer.

He tucked his grey shirt out and the Aegislash imprint on his shirt unsheathed its blade to the public.

Rock music blared from the sleek device. Gold glitter filled the screen and when it melted down, a square box containing the shadow of his item popped up. The music ended.

"Yes! Can't wait to see what I'll get. It says here that I can get it immediately. I'll check that box so I get any items instantly." Ferro crushed the air with his other hand. "I'll stop you, Sage. Just you wait!"

「Congrats! You have received 𝓢𝓢𝓡 𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓶: 𝓕𝓵𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓰! Enjoy your gift!」

A V-shaped handheld item materialised in his palm. An orange flame engulfed the flat, silver item, licking his hand. Somehow, it didn't hurt. On the screen, a message popped up to tell him that the weapon would not hurt the user. How convenient. Now, when he found his target, he could toss it at him even from far away. Even if he failed, he would have a second chance and more.

"Damn, isn't Sage just selfish! I wonder what's the SSR item he got," the cyclist huffed. "Now, to find Titan so we can sniff the terrorist out."

「」

Boxes fell off the stack and bottles of wine crashed onto the floor, spilling the red and purple liquid all over the area. The warehouse had little lighting which came from a bulb swinging from the ceiling. The strobing light didn't help at all.

Sage winced as he picked himself up. His Gallade managed a backflip and a perfect landing on his two feet.

"Seven minutes and forty-two seconds left," Sage reminded them both. Scanning his decrepit surroundings, he shrugged. "Blade, where exactly are we?"

"An unused underground warehouse. Oh, don't worry about earthquakes."

"We're just going to leave it here?"

"Just so you know, I don't plan to be blasted into shreds, Shitshit." Blade wept his eyes. "Can we leave now?"

"Uh, where is this place even? Noryuku?"

Sage paced up and down after placing the bomb onto the floor, directly under the bulb.

"No. Somewhere in Kalos."

Sage walked over to brush his fingers across the pipes in the area. Dust remained on his fingers. He had never seen anywhere so dingy before. He situated himself in front of a yellow door with ivies crawling messily on it. The red words "Do Not Enter" were spray-painted onto the wooden surface.

"Shouldn't we explore this place a little first?"

"We only have six minutes left. Get going."

Sage ignored the Gallade and thrust the door open. Blade was right, but he thought this place was worth checking out.

"Five minutes, eleven seconds."

He found a chair in the middle of the room he now stood in. It had straps on it. Rows upon rows of shelves containing empty jars expanded across the length of the room. Wires slithered about, some threatening to trip him. A tray on a metallic stool was set beside the chair. The room gave off a pungent smell, forcing the boy to pinch his nose while treading into the depths of the unknown.

For some reason, his nose itched and he laughed for a while as he took another step, knocking a bucket over. Startled dust leapt out of range as sanguine fluid gushed out, a Magikarp eye splashing and rolling across his feet. The fluid made a trail to a corner of a room and he tried to suppress his laughter. It was genius, the way this room was built. The floor was slightly inclined. Shaking his head, he moved on.

A white table beside the chair had three drawers and he pulled open the topmost one, revealing thin, brown files. He took one out and flipped it through, raising his brows at the information. A stamp at the bottom of the first page caught his eye, two fiery orange Ls overlapping each other. A sign hung behind the door told him what the stamp represented.

"Lysandre Labs." Sage tightened the bandages around his left arm. "I wonder how long has this place been unused."

My head hurts. I guess it's bringing back vague memories. Sage thought.

His black sports shoe crunched as he stepped on papers full of words and images. He half-squatted and grabbed it, only to read the headlines. The date was torn off.

"Essentia saves Lumiose City from villains once again," he read it out loud. Nothing interesting.

Sage opened the last drawer, his hand sticking onto the yellow plastic handle. It broke under his grip.

"Confidential?" A smile tugged at his dry lips. "We'll see what's this secret about."

"One minute, twenty-nine seconds." Blade called out to him.

Sage swiped the file and went to the corner of the room. A rusted drainage hole drew in the trickling fluid. He took a step forward and bent down. The eye zigzagged to his feet and he fell over as he took in the scarlet it was drenched in, hands sliding over bloodied daisies left near the edge of the table.

Regaining equilibrium, Sage crouched and lifted the cover, only to be instantly hit by the scent of rotting carrion and alcohol. Squinting, he pressed forward to retrieve what appeared to be a folded piece of waterproof paper with viscous black liquid dripping from it. Shoving it into his pockets, he found red floral imprints on his wrist, reckoning it came from the daisies before.

"Ten seconds."

"Coming!" Sage bolted to the grunting Pokémon. "Teleport us somewhere else."

If I had stayed any longer, I would have discharged my negative ions into the air. Would I become more optimistic overnight though? Probably not. Sage thought as light engulfed them.

A boom reverberated around the room and the object burst into flames which spread rapidly through the walls. The alcohol fed the fire and its blaze became bigger and blistering. Thick smoke collected at the ceiling. When the duo disappeared from the area, Lysandre Labs was no more.

「」

"Hey, seems like we reached Kalos." Madame Valencia's sweet voice woke the yellow-haired boy up. She patted his shoulder and waited for the choppers to stop rotating before hopping down the helicopter. Zayn hit the ground after her groggily and almost losing his balance. Then, the aircraft took to the skies almost immediately.

An explosion broke the silence of the night. Screams penetrated the area as a billowing mass of smoke rose to the sky.

"Ha! I'm coming." A girl in a strange suit rushed past them. She paused when she felt two pairs of eyes follow her. Turning, she met their gazes. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Can we help fight the fire?" Zayn blurted.

"Duh! The more the merrier!" The girl took the lead and brought them to the scene.

Flames licked the café and sirens wailed down the street.

"What in the world happened? Isn't Xerosic in prison?" Someone from the escaping crowd shouted.

Valencia grimaced at the name. She needed to pay him a visit, but not now. This fire was a pressing issue.

"Hey, if it isn't a bother, can you call this number for me?" The girl passed Zayn a slip of paper and he did as he was told.

After a series of "tut"s, the line picked up and a gruff voice entered the writer's right ear. "Hello?"

"Hey. Uh, we're in Lumiose City and a fire is brewing in a café." Zayn didn't really know what to say. He didn't even know who he was speaking to.

"I'll be there in a few moments." The sound of colliding metals and heavy footsteps came through the speaker. "How do I address you?"

"Zayn."

"Thanks for informing me. I'm Lysandre and that café you spoke of is Lysandre Café."

Static pierced his ears and the boy pressed the phone closer to him. "Bad signal?"

"Yeah, it's like this up here."

Zayn didn't know what the man meant until he looked up to see a soaring creature swooping down. An orange-haired man got off the Honchkrow. His hair was reminiscent of blazing fire.

"Time to do some patching up." The man tapped the girl's shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up. "Essentia."

"Hi, misanthrope. It's been six years since your stupid weapon failed," the girl muttered. "Whatever. Let's stop this flare."

"Whatever. Can't get over how my beautiful world isn't real." He glanced over to the woman crossing her arms. "Long time no see, Valencia."

"Whatever," she spat and watched the Water-type Pokémon put out the fire. Zayn's Klefki has managed a Rain Dance to help salvage the situation a little. "I'm not here to see you anyway."

"Xerosic, right? That plump scientist. What a great friend you are." He glanced at Zayn and back at her. "How's your daughter? I heard mental illness can be genetic." Lysandre nodded and returned to his Honchkrow. Before taking off, he said, "See you again next time, Valencia."

"Zayn dearie, that man is not a good person. He desires to destroy the world for so-called beauty, for a world without conflict." Valencia placed an arm around the boy. She thanked Essentia and left quickly. The Chandelure in the woman's Poké Ball cried. It did that whenever things got too overwhelming for the woman. No, it was a coincidence. "I—"

"Isn't Kalos beautiful?" Wyatt muttered.

Zayn coughed. Really, at a time like this? Why would Valencia agree to an abrupt takeover?

"Let us head to our destination and talk about Loralei. Then, we'll visit Xerosic. I have it all planned, so don't you worry!" The man clapped his hands in glee. A cry switched the main soul in control of the body.

"I've gotten over this, so I'm back." Valencia's mellow voice made the boy suck in a breath.

One step into Kalos and I feel like shit. Shit! Shitshit. I wonder... What is Sage doing now? The boy blinked and gave the woman a smile. Sometimes, he really couldn't stand the sudden change. Her 'alter', Wyatt, had a different identity and set of beliefs altogether. Wyatt always thought himself to be the host too, which was weird.

Zayn wondered how this episode would end. Walking behind the woman, he stayed silent throughout their journey to their hotel.

「」

"You're really an idiot if you can let some terrorist escape. Every bloody one of you is an idiot. All of you."

Clay's words delivered a blow to the three other students.

Ferro kept his boomerang behind his back. The four of them were standing in front of the main gate.

All are idiots! Unreliable idiots! Clay thought to himself. Ferro better die soon so I don't have to see his damn ugly face ever again. If only the bomb exploded here...

"Psst." Titan pulled his flashy red headphones down to his neck and nudged his roommate. "How did Sage even get ahold of something so dangerous?"

Ferro shrugged and glanced at the boxer, then at the other boy looking at them. He poked his roommate and signalled to Rain to run while they can.

"Now," he whispered.

The three dashed down the campus and left the third-year alone at the gates.

The bald student elbowed the two others when they heard a crash. Despite being hairless, Rain was not at all careless. He would never let his guard down, especially in situations like these. Blue eyes flickered across the school garden and landed on a rustling shrubbery bush.

Ferro readied his Flame Boomerang. Titan rolled up his sleeves. Rain placed some of his power into his right leg, ice forming on his toes while electricity crackled on his leg hairs. Then, the trio sprang at the bush.

A pink barrier shot up and both Sage and Blade met three squished faces.

"That was close." Blade sucked in a breath and called off the light barrier. The Gallade focused his gaze on Ferro, a lopsided smile forming on his lips. Sage glimpsed a bit of sadness in Blade's eyes but couldn't tell why.

"They misunderstood me. What now?" Sage whispered, wanting to leave questioning the Pokémon's strange expression to some time else.

Questions raced through Ferro's mind. Where was the bomb? Did it explode?

Rain's phone vibrated and he checked it to read the news he received from the news app.

"There was an explosion in Lumiose City minutes ago. Luckily, no one was injured," the boy told them as he retraced his steps. "I think we misunderstood his intentions. But, we better know where that bomb came from."

"R-Right and teleporting in the school compound is against the rules! You're not my idol anymore!" Ferro whined.

"Hey," a female voice sounded. "Three against two isn't fair, you know?"

Mei came over to between the two parties with her hands in her hoodie pockets. She was glad her benevolent voices led her there when they encouraged her to go on a stroll. Green liquid oozed out from her eyes and Ferro screamed upon looking at her face. Titan and Rain's faces were ash grey. Sage and Blade simply observed her.

"What if it's four against three?" Another student came into play, leering at the girl. Clay stuck out his tongue like the Giratina's spawn he was. Drawling, he cracked his neck, eyes hardening as his shirt tore apart. "If it isn't an inconvenience, I'd like to assess your idiocy, little girl."

His skin broke and repaired itself, replaced rapidly with layers upon layers of bright scarlet. Taking a step closer to the girl, he growled, "Have you heard of cinnabar?"