Warning:
This chapter contains a scene of nudity. Reader discretion is advised.

Opening Theme 3 / Reincarnation / Mafumafu

Valencia greeted Sage and Titan with a knowing smile as they trod into the church. With her middle finger, the woman pointed at the tinted glass murals depicting Mareep and Wooloo, then at everyone else. Her black hair seemed a mare's nest, much unlike her usual tidiness.

Her desert-dry lips parted. Her eyes, gleaming like the lights in the dastardly gloaming, struck the teenagers. "Do you know that soft-hearted people can't make good villains?"

"What's on with you, Valencia?" Nick growled, only for her Malamar to emerge and smack him with her tentacles.

A purple wave spread across the area. The chandelier's lights went out, leaving every soul basking in the near-darkness. Only Valencia stood in the light streaming in from the open doors.

"Valencia is dead."

Zayn flinched at the icy voice. His eyes never left the woman. If Valencia was gone, then this must be Wyatt. How unfortunate for a host to subdue the original.

He shook his head, lips quivering. "Give me my mother!"

"You can't bring back the dead, Zayn. It's a sin." Wyatt's tall shadow loomed over the boy.

Zayn's broad shoulders tensed as the man's breaths inched closer, the warm, shifting air breaking his shell. "I don't care."

"Some call this bargaining. Oh no, is Sage being a malefic influence? Those shadows have resided in your light for far too long. We must exterminate the pest." Wyatt snapped his fingers and turned to Sage. "You are disqualified as a human being."

Sage smirked. Aren't we all?

"What do you want from us?" Titan punched the Malamar and barely dodged her beak as she retaliated.

"Return to the island." Wyatt's glare superseded the sun, giving off much more heat that threatened to drown the world in flames.

Zayn stepped into Wyatt's shadow. "Why should we? You experimented on us. You restricted us. You lied to us. You played with our feelings and trust. What more do you want from us?"

"It's not safe here. The only—"

"You robbed us of our humanity," Sage stepped into Wyatt's shadow while twisting his wrist. "We're not humans anymore, but just your playthings, right? Did you have fun with us?"

"The only safe place is the island. Lysandre has agreed. Before we set off, make up your mind." Wyatt's brows creased, his veins popping up. A guttural yell threatened to destroy his larynx. His eyes circled the area twice before stopping at Sage who looked at him stoically, casually cracking his knuckles. Wyatt shook his head and huffed. "If you want to come with us, meet us at Ambrette Town at seven tomorrow morning."

And Wyatt, the ghost-haunting of a Noctowl just ere daybreak, left.

The group, on the other hand, discussed their next step with frantic voices and furrowed brows.

However little known the creeping and stalking of the shadows in the forsaken corner, they blissfully reached to a unanimous conclusion of staying in Kalos.

In the umbra, two flames encased in orbs sprung to life. How evanescent they were! The penumbra must have sighed when it claimed the smoulder whole.

「」

The sundial's shadow shifted.

The streets of Anistar winced at the heat. The cacophony of crowds and chatter cut across the air. A layer of human cry slathered itself above the noise, beckoning the people below to crane their necks upward, eyes scrutinising the azure sky, the magnolia clouds, the gradually enlarging dot. Gasps built on top of each other, quite like a layered crepe cake, only that the filling was full of suspense. Whether it was vanilla or bitter, pure chocolate, that's up to their tastes and preferences.

Two girls were falling from the sky, a red apricorn plummeting closely behind. After a bone-breaking thud, silence consumed the city whole.

Gazes rested upon the girls, searching for nonexistent angel wings, an invisible halo, anything that pronounced them divine. Curiosity peaked within their souls as they watched the girls rise up, seeming fine. Trained eyes sauntered across the lingerie, the exposed skin. Tongues wagged like a Lillipup's Tail Whip. Discussions of the Fall, the fruit, the grasp, the pain erupted. Others held salacious speculations in high regard.

A man crept forward, claws out to get his hands on tits and ass. He neared one fine specimen, her short, blue hair shielding her eyes from the sun's blaze. She moved not an inch. The one beside her clutched the apricorn with her dear life, raspy breaths escaping her lips. What delightful loli breaths for a very excited lolicon.

A woman came forth, shoving the man aside just before his talons hit the naked bodies.

"They're mine," she spat.

"Fuck off, lesbian." His hand reached for her throat, though his eyes were still fixated on the blue strands, the goo trailing down the girl's cheeks like tears. "Monster!"

The woman glanced at the girls. "They aren't human! Aliens have descended! It's The Purge!"

The crowd dispersed with much frenzy and fear, echoing chants of 'send her back, send her back, send her back' bouncing off concrete and glass and asphalt. What fine alienation! Yvette would certainly be pleased.

The girls got up, only to have their clothes thrown onto their bodies, weighing them back onto the earth.

"How is it like to be exposed to society? You see, not just men, but women too, are sensual creatures." Yvette gazed them down with a chin held high. "The world is full of vermin like them. If you're unconvinced, we can have a tour round the world doing just this. It's a fine work of art."

"You're out of your mind!" Jade got up and helped Mei up. As they changed into their clothes, Jade added, "You're abusing your power."

"Abuse? So, for anything that goes against social norms, is it wrong? Must we all embrace herd mentality and worship conformity till we die? Fuck that crap."

Mei wept the goo off and blinked. "Were you raped by your father like Loralei?"

"Don't talk about him!" Yvette slapped her and sighed. "Look, no matter how hard we try, men are traditionally viewed to be more powerful than us women. Don't you see what's wrong with that?"

Mei looked at the clouds, forever drifting, seeming to hide something.

Jade shook her head. "Mei, let's get back to the church."

"To be a minority again?" Yvette scratched her cheeks crimson.

"To be human."

"Oh, human. Once you lose that humanity, it's not easy to retrieve it. Maybe you'll know why I ceased to be human then."

Jade turned her back against Yvette and squeezed Mei's hand. "Mei, let's go. Sage and the rest aren't all that bad as she says, so don't worry."

Mei whimpered, but she still nodded with a heaving chest. "But Sage was the one who killed Sayo."

Yvette raised her brows in amusement. "You get it now, don't you, Mei? Sage is a professional liar. How many of what he said is true?"

"I don't know. I don't want to know. I don't want to think about it." Mei urged Jade to quicken her pace till they left Yvette's sight.

Her words never aligned with her thoughts, though. She just kept processing all her past experiences with Sage, and the tears that broke free of her eyes felt the warm light before falling onto the pavement. Even as Jade held her close, placed a hand round her shoulders, the tears refused to stop, even if it could potentially drown not just this world, but all other alternate worlds that existed, if any.

「」

When the girls were out of her line of sight, Yvette had smiled. She hadn't smiled this genuinely for ages. Yet, tears swirled in her eyes.

She crossed a junction to an alley. Her hands that slid into her pockets now emerged as she approached a cardboard box. Opening it, she beamed at the packets of soft food inside.

Yvette hunkered down and whistled. The open packet of redolent food brought in a litter of Purrloin. Her hand reached out to pat them, and they meowed lovingly in response.

"Only you Purrloin listen to me so naturally." Yvette smiled at them. Moving her hand to a limping Purrloin, she scratched zir chin, giggling. "When are you going to evolve into a Liepard? Ah goo goo goo. How adorable."

They meowed once again in unison.

Yvette connected well with them. They bore exemplary conduct in thieving; her heart was stolen so easily when she first saw them in the cardboard box. It had been ten years ago. To spend ten years with the ones that matter most was a bliss. Yvette wanted more.

Only, at this moment, her mind was preoccupied with something else.

Soon, I will succeed. My utopia will be full of pure, kind people who will remain this way for eternity.

She smiled at the notion of matriarchy. She giggled at the idea of the world's reincarnation. She guffawed at the thought of the multibillionaires trying to keep their money for themselves, only to lose them all in the face of death. Her heart pranced about, tingling with excitement. Her mind stepped into the past. The deal was totally worth it.

"I really have Yveltal to thank," Yvette mused as she licked her fingers, mimicking the Purrloin licking zir paw. Her peripheral vision was filled with the tattoo of the Pokémon, the mark of a new creator.

The Destruction Pokémon had approached her the night of the ritual when she reached home after fleeing. It had been a smashing success in summoning Yveltal though zie had been sipping a cup of hot chocolate in her living room when she got into her house, and chewing on a marshmallow while glancing her way. It didn't matter even if the summoning location had been inaccurate. It was better to be at her house than anywhere else, after all.

Yvette's laughter grew hideously triumphant as she recalled manipulating the ritual so it seemed to have failed. Yet a tear pricked her eye, arousing the Purrloin's concern. She turned out of the alley and let her legs bring her anywhere, heart boiling with frustration.

Who wouldn't be on the verge of giving up, on the brink of impatience, waiting for three whole years just to convince Yveltal, a damn legendary whose immortality superseded the oldest of tales, the ugliness of humans? Three shitty years! One would think zie would see the rich history of wars and slavery and discrimination! Wasn't that revolting enough?

It didn't matter. In that time frame, she practised meticulously with Wyatt and Valencia, the failure of a mother, all for the agreement. She honed her manipulation skills, mastered her perfect Singularity, till no one could escape her control if she'd initiate it. It had been such a wondrous fate, to be exposed to human experimentation. It didn't matter if she wasn't the first. The success of Sage Shrike solidified her belief that it was possible for anything to happen with the power of human experimentation.

At the very least, she could force Yveltal to agree, and they finally sealed the pact. Yveltal gave her some of zir destructive power, impressed by her Singularity—or at least, she controlled zir to think and do so. Two days later, the supernatural entity of Healer Killer was thus born. Her plans had foiled to some extent, but this change was a welcome one. Sick entertainment never failed to amuse her while she waited for the "most auspicious time and day" they'd set. It's a great way to let time pass.

Yvette glanced up at the house in front of her, wherever her legs had taken her.

"Ah, it's been long. Home sweet home before I return to the island."

Yvette opened the door with a key and sniffed the air. It sure hadn't changed one bit.

Slumping on the sofa, she thought to make herself some hot chocolate and marshmallows, just for nostalgia's sake.

Would the mere humans accept the offer and return too?

She sipped the frothy beverage and sighed. Looking up, the torn family portrait still stayed on the wall, attached with a nail. Yvette scrutinised the smiles on their faces, a blissful family of four, before Valencia had to be warded into an asylum, before their father lost his body, before Zayn entered the police force to investigate it all, but returned with nothing useful in particular.

Her heart itched.

"Oh, Zayn. If only things weren't this complicated..."