When dawn broke the next day, it had been 5am. That meant 2 hours till 7am, and 19 hours till the beginning of doomsday.

The church, in its sweet repose, was silent as a Greninja hunting prey. The passersby appeared to not realise its existence, not one turning their heads to see the pacing woman at the steps.

Meanwhile, in the kirk, everyone had been relieved that Jade and Mei were fine, and took the opportunity to rest. And this was perhaps the last time they could have a good night's sleep, so they had no choice but to cherish it.

They had learnt of Yvette's plan, of how she had fooled practically everyone. Of course, not one soul could be pleased with that, so Nick gritted his teeth in his sleep, and Mei sweated buckets beside a squirming Ciara entangled in a rare nightmare.

Only one was awake. It was, as he convinced himself, on his own accord, rather than due to the incessant rapping on the door. Groggy feet shuffled across the floor and a hand opened the door. A step out of the church, and a figure pulled him to a side wall. In his peripheral vision, he saw her. His shout almost nuked the area and left shell-shock victims in its wake, only that a palm buried his mouth under it with brisk before that could happen.

A gentle voice shot his ears. "Yes. It's me. I left my Major Arcana in the room."

"Where were you, Tarocchi?" Sage gave her a cursory glance.

"That's not important." Her voice grew nasal. "What's important is, have you gotten that person to your side?"

"Who?"

"Remember that day, remember the Tarot Reading. The High Priestess." Tarocchi bit her lower lip and shook her head. Stomping her foot, she said, "Please, I don't know who, but if zie has yet to reveal a viable solution, things won't be good."

"I think he will, when the time comes. Anyway, is the church haunted? There are so many shadows lurking about."

Then again, I know they were there all along.

"No, it's not. The shadows must enjoy your company then. They were your childhood friends after all." Tarocchi dropped her identification card, and Sage picked it up. "Sorry. Can you give it back?"

"S-Sure." Sage blinked. "I didn't know you're Alolan. I always thought..."

"Yes. I moved to Kalos. My friend told me lots of things about Kalos. That incident three years ago, that was foolish of me to seek immortality. If only we had never done the ritual, this wouldn't have happened."

"What do you mean?" Sage's eyes widened.

"This world is ending, Yvette called to tell me. She said the ritual succeeded all along. I... I need to leave." Tarocchi turned on her heel.

Well, obviously it succeeded. Zygarde did nothing to stop this anyway.

"What about your—"

"It's okay. I don't need it anymore. My friend will help you, I'm sure. You two were quite close back then, but perhaps not anymore." She took a step away from Sage, her head lowering with each passing second, and Sage feared it may come off if she continued so.

"Oh, but Tarocchi Gardner, I remember everything now. You should be fearful of me." Sage felt his pulse quicken. She has to mean Yvette anyway. What great help she'll provide.

It was, in this moment, that he realised how intimidating he must have been. Though, could he be blamed for such a dark past? It seemed fitting, common enough, for numerous protagonists to have dark pasts anyway. Also, since everyone was often the protagonist of their lives, their stories...

No, he held himself back, fearing he would walk down Yvette's path. He didn't want to be controlled; he desired to be in control.

Tarocchi Gardner whirled around to face him with a raised brow. "What do you mean? Do you... hate me for Shadow Scar?"

"On the contrary, I loved everything about Shadow Scar... except that you betrayed us: me, Blade, Shrike and— you know zir."

"I should really get going." She tiptoed, backing away gradually. Dragging her words as she took yet another step only proved to be futile. Her fears and apprehension were splashed onto her face, her gestures, her voice. There was no escape.

"Why don't you hug your prodigal child Sage Shrike for a little while before you leave?" Shadows slithered about in a nearby bush, twirled about an unlit streetlight and crept up the pristine wall.

She hugged him, clammy hands reaching about his waist. "You remember zir. That's good."

"It is. Have a safe journey." Sage let go and walked back into the church, eyeing the stationary woman once in a while. He raised his voice at her. "Oh, Tarocchi!" Her foot hovered, stopped in midair as she froze her steps and looked at him.

Sage waved at her with a smile. "Best safety lies in fear."

「」

Under the list of strange changes, everyone was spending their time in Kalos, enjoying this newfound freedom from Yvette, no longer as uptight or apprehensive. Oh, what serendipity! Ciara went shopping and looking for truths, as she claimed. Lynx, Gin and Alain decided to hang out at a LAN café before revisiting some music-making, exploring new styles and genres like Metal, Folk and Techno. Nick went kickboxing.

Well, there were exceptions, as always, and this time, there were five: Sage, Mei, Zayn, Jade and Titan. They had chosen to stay in the church to discuss their next move, and figure out everyone's Pokémon genes. Blade and Vivillon sandwiched a dreary-eyed Sage. Everyone else took a row for themselves, back facing each other till the last. Sage was the nearest to the altar, and Zayn was the furthest. Mei, whose gaze fell upon the gleams of the chandelier, crushed the perpetual silence to bits.

"What're our weaknesses? It's strange that Titan can bathe without pain, even though his genes are his Houndoom's." Mei frowned.

"What if they are human weaknesses? Like being too emotional and revealing blind spots," Titan mumbled, eyes on Mei's back while feeling Jade's gaze pierce through him. "I want to bash Yvette up for killing Clay and Ferro."

"If we don't have a specific weakness, we can't pin her down." Zayn arched a brow. "Actually, I have something to say. Keep this between us five, okay?"

"We know, you're her brother," Sage said.

"Not that. Our pasts can bring us down. I'll talk to her when the time comes, and strike her where it hurts. She hates the past. Her past. Our pasts."

Jade raised a hand to signal to Zayn who blinked in response. "That might work, but we still have to figure out all our weaknesses." After completing her sentence, she rotated her shoulders backward twice.

Sage sighed. Things were surely going downhill at the moment, and he'd bet the downward spiral followed the Fibonacci Sequence, which spelt further trouble for all. Still, he didn't want them to know about his past. This wasn't the time to break down over a tragicomedy (he liked to think his past so) and he couldn't guarantee they'd still see him as an equal. Receiving sympathy was a sign of power and status imbalance, after all. But, he had to say something, or this stalemate would only reek more.

Snores collided with his teetering thoughts. Blade shot Titan a look in his peripheral vision. Saliva dripped from the boy's half-ajar lips, and his nose creased, expanded and contracted. Without much deliberation, Blade jabbed the nape of his neck to shove him out of dreamland, only for the boy to scream and double over, nearly falling off the bench. However, he fell into a sudden state of paralysis.

"What did you do?" Sage glanced at him, slightly raising his voice. He repeated his question with a slightly slower speed, eyes widening gradually.

"Rock Smash?" Blade raised his hands to chest level and shifted, his body touching the back of the bench.

Sage scowled at his sudden timidity. Was he so frightening?

"Do that to me."

"But if you're part-Gengar, it wouldn't affect you." Blade blinked, but he couldn't remove Sage's serious expression off his face.

"Poison Jab on me," Zayn said as he stood up. Blade went over to the last row, thrusted his green blade into the boy's gut, but Zayn did not even flinch one bit. "What about at where you hit Titan?"

Meanwhile, Titan slowly got up after regaining his composure and recovering a little from the hit. He had never felt such immense pain before, not even in the Martial Arts Club. It was strange when Blade didn't use much force on him. It ought to be a Durant's bite, yet its strength was much more massive.

His eyes zoomed to Zayn. The writer yelled and coughed and rolled around, hand grappling the solemn air.

"So that's it," Sage muttered and went over to give Zayn a hand. This, too, felt familiar. Things went his way, though it was an almost déjà vu experience. The pain they felt today had been the same, if not inferior, as the affliction he felt then. "Whatever we're weak against... At the nape of the neck."

"Umm..." Mei raised her hand and everyone looked at her. The sapling of thought above her head seemed so tangible. She'd tend to it with water running from a sprinkling can, tilted such that the suspension of inner voices within threatened to flow out too much. "What Pokémon is Yvette fused with?"

Zayn shrugged. "Manipulation, huh? And words. Maybe Unown? We'll just use Ghost-, Bug- and Dark-type moves against her. Still, could we categorise our Singularities?"

"No, she's a Gothorita," Sage muttered. "And we can."

Sage sent them an organised list of everyone's Singularities and corresponding types, be they dead or alive, and their heads swooped down simultaneously.

"These are from my observations," Sage added.

Singularities
Sage [Shadow Scar] Dark
Amity [Trace] Normal
Titan [Cerberus] Fire
Mei [Goo] Dragon
Ferro [Iron Cloak] Steel
Loralei [Dark Aria] Water
Gin [Hydro] Water
Lynx [Rock the World] Normal
Alain [Circuit] Electric
Yvette [Words Are My Weapon] Psychic
Ciara [Lie Detector] Psychic
Rain [Storm Kick] Normal
Nick [Ice Crystal] Ice
Jo [Checkmate] Psychic
Jade [Restore] Normal
Zayn [Strands of Light] Fairy
Clay [Ore Body] Steel
Nigel [Light Runner] Electric
Ria [Doll] Ghost
Max [Toxicos] Poison
Lark [Pyros] Fire
Iseul/Ji-min [Eternal Serenity] Fairy

"They're pretty much common types," Jade noted.

"Knowing her, she probably wanted convenience for controlling people." Zayn nodded. "This will be useful. Thanks, Sage."

"Yeah." Sage turned to Blade who squirmed. "You're uneasy the entire time, Blade."

"I don't know, but does that shadow there feel familiar?" Blade pointed at the wall.

The moment Sage turned his head was when the shadow slipped into the cracks.

"Nothing's there." Sage sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. "Are you tired?"

"No! Don't send me away. I'm better than a Medicham!"

"Still harping on that? We're just playing with you." Zayn groaned.

It's all a game from the very beginning. Sage let his eyes run over Vivillon. The Bug-type simply glanced at him with her bulging compound eyes. Yes.

Sage could almost hear the world evaporate.

No, it wasn't soundless as he expected. Nor did the world morph into a phantom at seven.

Instead, the fine, yellow cracks of the world cascaded from the top, striking a landmark.

The outcome was far more deafening than a Boomburst, and even if one regained zir hearing, zie would wish to never have heard the taste of catastrophe.