Insert Song / STIGMA / DUSTCELL

When the world was forced into the Mystery Zone, save for the isolated island, Yvette had forgotten how to care for others. Perhaps it started way before this. She couldn't remember when she had genuinely shown affection to anyone without any accompanying inner turmoil.

The same could be said for the group of students entrapped in a cage of boredom. Ciara glared at her on waking up, a wave of uncertainty rising over the petite girl. The rest of Emo-Senpai just made upbeat music to cheer everyone up, which was ironic since they rarely had those moments. It was most unfortunate to have the band with the gloomiest albums to take the role after all. If the twins had just lived, this wouldn't have happened. To this, Nick managed a tight smirk, his hands fidgeting in his pocket, feeling for a missing dagger.

"Hey, Gin, you guys aren't helping. No point entertaining the enemy," Nick said and whistled a melancholic tune.

"What's there to do?" Lynx answered instead, shrugged and turned to Alain. "Mind playing a middle C?"

The boy nodded and his black hair crashed onto the piano on his phone.

"Quit the ruckus," Lysandre screamed from the round table. "Annoying brats!"

Tarocchi simply snorted as she glanced at the man.

Wyatt, on the other hand, flicked the man's forehead and quipped, "But music is a must even for misanthropes. The edgier, the better. Let them do what they want before they die. It'll be soon enough anyway."

"Spoken like a true bastard," Nick added.

"Bastard?" Wyatt grimaced. "You haven't seen your reflection."

Nick learnt to be unfazed. "Yeah, I look like one, so teach me how to be one."

"Well, vis ta merde!"

"There's no shit to live, but your own," The boy said smilingly, eyes on the swirling inkiness.

As he did so, all turned their attention to the screeching void.

No, it was far more outlandish than that, even worse than a scream stretched wide to fill the savage seas. In it were a disco of devilish emotions so raw and ricocheting as a storm of bullets, pelting and striking faster than a heartbeat — pain enwrapped pain, despair stabbed despair, and everything else inflated into utter chaos.

Yet the void should be anything but that. The void was a dead entity. Now, it lived beyond.

A squeal transcended space, and Yvette glanced at the golden Pokémon, still portrait framed in a bell jar, watched the gentle smiling hook her. Her head shifted a little to the right, though her eyes never moved an inch. Just what was going on that this damned flower could be so gleeful? Was it an aberrant?

No sooner had her thoughts lingered there than a white beam shot across the void of the Zone.

"Impossible," Lysandre croaked, falling off his chair. "What immense—"

"What in the Distortion World!" Wyatt backed away and bumped into Yvette's shoulders. "Tell me this is part of your plan."

"I-It isn't." Yvette blinked. She couldn't conjure a reason as to why her legs were quaking, moving on their own accord towards the light. She hated its glare, the way it seemed to glower at her, haunt her for her unglamorous past, and stab her. Those blunt edges of that lone beam could hardly compare to a sword! Even so, her gut hurt, her pupils contracted and her heart thrashed about like a Gyarados that forgot how to Splash.

Everything ought to be part of the plan. She was the puppeteer; she was the one to pull the strings in the grand schemes the world had in store for her.

"Flo!" The flower cried behind her, and she slapped the jar that rattled onto the cold stones beneath. It was free.

"Merde!"

Whitening knuckles sank into silk.

Around her, the music continued. The beats threatened to shatter her every fibre, the notes constricting her heartstrings.

"Stop the damn music!"

With a guttural growl, Yvette sent the rolling stones across the splintering earth. Her hands slid down her hair, pulling down the strands that held her together, and at once she figured there would be hell to pay, and those nine circles would twirl with cold fire around and about her. But she wasn't the devil they made her out to be; it was the world.

She merely reciprocated, mirroring the hell it invited her into. She thought personal hell was the most formidable, so why was it failing her now? Why now, when no one had been there to fill her void? Why now, this piercing light tearing the void — her void — asunder? Why must it torture her so?

And that damn Floette! It just had to float to the light and mingle! Why couldn't it just stay where it was?

As a rare dewdrop danced in her lashes, something thin touched down on her hair. Her hazel eyes shivered in their little space as she swept it off, observed its fall. A yellow strand.

Her mind raced back to the kiss, to her threat, to the clock tower, to the bar, the corpse, the film, the project, the strings, and to... Amity.

"I love you."

That shy smile dangled then and there. Then the embrace.

Then—

"I'm back home."

She swivelled round and met the cruel gaze that consumed an ocean's rage, but none of its calm. It's like the wind had taken much care to rough the edges of the two glistening Blue Orbs, done to death by Kyogre. In that frozen moment, she was a girl, not a woman, not a monster. Just a girl who opened her eyes and mouth.

"The fuck?"

And she was there again, her head plunged into hollowness, hung lower than the gallows would allow. The suffocating malice, the strangulating hope, the smothering coldness that only knew to burn and burn and burn the shrivelled heart.

It was those Strands of Light she feared most. But she could no longer avoid them with her void alone. Flight was no longer an option, but she dithered on the edges of an intricate desire to fight. Her mind echoed that one word, and she knew better.

She knew better than to resist it, to fight such a desire. In the next moment, that was all that encapsulated her.

The voice spoke again. "It's a brother-sister reunion. Aren't you glad I'm back? We only have each other now."

You're wrong! Wyatt is our father. Can't you see that?

"The body..." Yvette said. "Did you see?"

On receiving silence's slap on her cheek, her head, dampened with all the liquid misery and streams of regret, was made to rise. The motion was slow, painful, almost life-draining. Still, she rose like Lazarus.

"What body? The Pidove?" Zayn trudged forward.

"No. Our father's body. He's in the Mystery Zone!"

"You're unhinged. You led him to his death. If it wasn't for your cult stuff, he probably wouldn't have died!"

Yvette glanced at Wyatt in her peripheral vision; he simply turned away. At once she found the grave world weighing upon her shoulders. So it had to be her.

"Zayn, there's something you must know." Yvette paused to clench her fists in hopes of stopping her lips from trembling. "All of us are reunited once more. You, me and our parents. We will be together soon."

She flinched when he laid his head on a shoulder that wasn't hers.

Borrowing some strength from Sage, Zayn muttered, "It's over. Just stop this futile game. You'll lose soon."

Sage shook his head and patted the boy. "Yvette, the spotlight has been on you two for too long. You should look around you, if you know what I mean."

Yvette gritted her teeth and scanned her surroundings. It seemed, everyone was here. No, why was Lysandre on the floor, paralysed? And Wyatt on the floor too? And those prisoners were out! But how?

"Where there's light, there can be darkness." Sage slanted his gaze at her. "I brought them over through the shadows. Like it?"

"You! You took everything away from us." Yvette's head spun. A cool hand tried to provide support, but slipped. "First, it was Amity, and now you want to take Zayn away from me!"

"I never took anyone away from you." Sage sighed, his index finger drawing circles in the air. It appeared nothing could well get through to her. Not anymore. She was beyond the reach of reason.

Yvette couldn't process a thing. When did Yveltal betray her? Why did that pest bring more pests back? No one should have been able to survive well in the Mystery Zone too, from what she knew, so how were they all alive?

No, they must be the shadows. Or, they were manipulated by the shadows. Yes, that was right. It was the only plausible explanation, that she must have lost her brother to the Mystery Zone, that undiscovered country.

"Stay back." Wyatt placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Zayn, it's me, your father."

"Y-You're lying!"

Wyatt shrugged. "Why don't you ask your friend?"

Zayn blinked and turned to Sage in a speed Shuckle would praise him for. That dying slowness, the subtlety in the scrunching innards quite unlike the rumoured butterflies — Zayn felt none of them within — and the howling mind. Blade got out of his Poké Ball and held on to him, casting an apprehensive look at Sage. Subsequently, Shrike and Vivillon emerged in hopes of giving some emotional support. For whom, the trio couldn't be sure.

Yvette's eyes bulged upon taking in the winged Pokémon, but turned away. She had left them all alone and cared for stray Purrloin, scoured places for family and acceptance. Now, all that remained was the sickly white within.

Brother and sister, their bonds proved fragile than ever. But nothing could supersede rent trust, and maybe, just maybe, their relationship could be repaired. After all, Sage Shrike's response was the most satisfactory.

The brown-haired boy maintained his stoic expression, but the eyes were unbarred windows to the soul. With a solemn nod, he mouthed, "He's your father."

"How could you have known?" Zayn punched Sage's chest. "You're just saying this to—"

"To what?" Sage spat. "The shadows couldn't have lied."

Not the shadows. You were there when it happened. It was you, wasn't it?

The thought slinked like a bullet into the recesses of his mind. The odour of gunpowder thickened, and his brows shot up, but those brown eyes could never bear to tear away from Zayn's oceanic gaze.

"I see," Zayn said in a hushed tone. "Who would've thought? It was supposed to be an explosive showdown, but it's all dampened by our psyches."

"Yeah." Sage yawned and raised a brow. "Wonder where the androids went too. How insignificant they were."

"Wrong," Wyatt said and reached into his pocket to grab a device. "My son, you left something quite important in your room so I thought it was a farewell gift."

All eyes fell onto the dark malice in his hands. Ciara, especially, felt a Poison Jab to her gut as she recalled the gadget to be a remembrance of Amity's.

The S.C. Phone. Her eyes glowed blue, though they soon returned to normal, fearful it wasn't a made-up prop to scare them. Dots connected in a flash.

"Seems like our black bitch got it," Yvette snarled. "If only we could have that other gift..."

Titan's pupils contracted and his face contorted, then a wild smile emerged. He knew what she meant. There were only three cursed gifts after all.

The Flame Boomerang strapped to his chest flared as his Singularity awakened, awaiting an opening. Being back on the island brought waves of memories to his mind. Pixels swirled into a storm till they made out a figure, a smile, a Durant, then the Aegislash in agony—

Ferro, I will finally rip her apart with her gift to you. Titan reached for the weapon, his heart threatening to explode along with his being, to let the flames of the beginning take over. Discipline was one thing, control was another, and now he wielded both better than before.

"You asked for this." A tight moue etched on Wyatt's face, and he punched the button. An incessant, crescendoing hum enveloped the island. Metal clanged as eerie red and green dots blinked within the bushes, alleys, windows, anywhere that could contain an android. They emerged out of hiding.

"If you're my father, you wouldn't hurt us like that." Zayn frowned.

"If you recovered my body from the Mystery Zone, things would've been much more peaceful. We'll just have to push your fake friends into the void and soon they'll perish. We, the four of us, and Lysandre, and Tarocchi — just where did they go to, anyway? — will live in our world new made, one clean of sin. We will build a new Eden." 

"You'll not touch them!" Zayn's hair erupted into a glorious white as they rose, a widening gyre consuming the air full of disdainful dust and unending blindness. His family had tainted justice, simply took any jewel they found exquisite and worthwhile, made it a lavishly opportunistic being. He was different. He understood what it meant to be a young police officer. So why couldn't they understand, when they were way older than he?

"Then bring me my body, son." Wyatt took a step forward. "Don't you wish for a family reunion?"

"I..." Zayn narrowed his gaze. "Sage, we should find his body."

Sage nodded and took his hand. "Fine. But do you think the rest of them can cope with it? Against Yvette and the androids?"

"I have faith in them."

Zayn pulled him away, and they and their Pokémon (now in their Poké Balls) went to the depths of the South Foncrise.

As they passed by dark alleys and unlit shops, Sage scanned the surroundings. "Why are we here?"

"I saw Lysandre and Tarocchi running towards here. I'm worried they might set traps for our friends."

Zayn steeled his nerves. The Golden Floette had given him all the power he would need, and it was time to utilise it. His eyes bulged quiveringly, and his hair rose with a faint glow and reached out to dark corners. At once the alleys were illuminated, revealing not a soul.

Perhaps they're in one of the shops.

With malice, he retracted and expanded his power, piercing display boxes and windows, smacking signs and tables and chairs. Still nothing.

"Strange," Sage said. "I can't detect a single shadow worth our time. No androids, no humans, just us."

Zayn glanced at him and grunted. "We have to go deeper into the labyrinth."

"No need for that. I've checked the entire island. They're... gone. The shadows must have taken them."

Zayn placed a hand on Sage's shoulder. "You can control the shadows, right? You can bring them back?"

"I'll try."

With a growl, Sage sank into his shadow.

「」

Yvette smirked while bringing Wyatt to his chair to observe the scene.

"Need me to control them?" Her eyes glinted on setting themselves on the Flame Boomerang slicing heads off androids. Titan was such a threat. The others were... meh.

"Go ahead, if you think it's necessary."

"Okay."

Yvette beamed and opened her mouth. "Everyone, it's time to surrender. You have lost."

Time froze. No one moved an inch. Then, everyone collapsed onto the ground simultaneously.

Except Marshadow who walked toward her, leaving her appalled.

"You have lost, Yvette. Just sit back and watch your failure."

"How can you still move? You should be—"

"You are speaking to the master of the Umbrage Zone. The shadows are untamed, but soon, they will be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yvette bit her fingernail. "What do you want?"

"Hope you remember her." Marshadow gave her a look. "Don't be surprised."

From zir short shadow, a dark, wispy figure rose, blue eyes like ice shurikens piercing Yvette. Thick, red lips slithered into a grimace as slender hands touched down on the white bows on an inky body.

"A G-Gothorita?" Yvette took a step back. "No, this one..."

"You couldn't have forgotten about her?" Marshadow stared into Yvette's shaky eyes. "Look, she has a gift for you."

"Aren't you supposed to be a craven, cowardly bitch? How could you—"

"Rotom is my friend. Don't you think some entries are strange?" Marshadow paused. "Don't look at me. She's all you need."

Yvette gazed at the Psychic-type and hissed. No jade exterior could prevent her soul from shattering. In those sleek hands, a shiny silver, drill-like object with a yellow tip at the other end seemed to cackle at her.

"What do you want?"

The Gloomdweller Pokemon didn't respond. The silent Gothorita did. Her eyes glowed as she forced Yvette to turn around with psychic energy. The girl tried to resist, tried to use her Singularity but to no avail. Then, the Manipulate Pokémon thrusted the DNA Splicers into the nape of Yvette's neck.

A guttural outcry exploded and sent time ticking. Bodies collected themselves from the earth with vigour. The battle recommenced as the Gothorita twirled toward the void, DNA Splicers in hand, never to be seen again.

Yvette winced and touched the wound. However much she ran her fingers across it, there was no moisture. She felt no blood.

"What did you do?" Yvette howled.

"Just arranged a special visit. Things didn't go as we initially planned, so we had to use some drastic measures."

"You—" Yvette shook her head. "Wait, how are they still—"

"You lost your powers."

Marshadow turned around and hopped zir way to the battlefield, joining zir newfound friends in their mortal combat, leaving the girl to dwell in her own gloom.

Wyatt groaned and slammed the table upon losing passivity. "Darn those shadows!"

"It's fine. Once we get your body back, they will all be gone. Forever." Yvette stomped her feet. "But that Marshadow... Tarocchi Gardner will pay for bringing that shit near us."

「」

Darkness was such a cold respite. Sage saw in it an insatiable hunger, a strange mirror. He saw his younger self soaked in blood, a smile sharper than the blade in his hands, dark brown eyes levelled with a finger gun to the side of his head.

Sage was about to speak when a voice beat him to it.

"Like what you see? Hope you remember that you were once like this."

It was a child-like voice, vilely familiar.

"Why are you showing me this? I'm here to take a few people back." Sage's brows shot up. "Show yourself."

"We will when we have some semblance of physicality." The younger boy spoke, then melted into a darkly vibrant swirl before tinges of blue formed a whirlpool, and out of it emerged another human.

"Sayo," Sage said.

"You remember me," Sayo said. "I'm here to save you again."

"No, you're just a product of the shadows."

Sayo flinched but soon she ran her fingers down Sage's chest and breathed, "You feel me. I'm real."

Sage shook his head. "I'm just here to take—"

"But do they really mean anything to you? One tried to kill you, one betrayed you, one had nothing to do with you. Why would you want them back? The world doesn't want them back."

"You don't know what the world wants."

"It wants an end," Sayo whispered and rubbed his temples. "An end, and a new start."

"That's not... What do you want? Stop delaying things. I just want the three of them back!" Sage gritted his teeth and his hands embraced her neck like a corkscrew that closed in.

"I want Yvette to die," Sayo mumbled. "She killed me, tortured me. She wouldn't let me save you. But I'm here now. I can save you now."

Blood poured out from her eyes and nostrils. Sage trembled at the sight, uncertainty filling his gaze. What was he to do or say? Why use Sayo against him?

His mouth decided to fall back on instinct, on impulse. "How will you save me?"

Sayo stroked his chin, the red geyser running down his clothes, his bandages, his skin. It seared him.

"You already know it. You just have to accept it."

Sage shook his head. "But will you return them to me?"

"That depends if you can accept it."

Sayo stopped bleeding and all of it began to swoosh around in the heavy darkness, fusing into one pill. It fell into her open hand that gently inches toward Sage's chest.

Sage raised a brow. "I just have to take this?"

Sayo nodded. "A gift from the shadows."

Sage reached out to it with a shaky hand.

Sayo leant closer. "Sage Shrike, isn't it strange, the first thing you remembered was how to kill? You killed Karma."

Sage flinched. "It was a conscious thing. I had to or everyone would die."

"Stop lying to yourself. You just enjoy lying and killing, don't you?" Sayo patted his head, ruffled his brown hair. "Accept the gift and you'll do none of those disgusting, inhumane things ever again."

Sage eyed the blood pill and placed it closer to his mouth. "Fulfil your end of the promise."

Then, he swallowed it.

At once, a scarlet helix consumed him. He spread his arms wide open to welcome the pain, the fever, the radiating purity.

Sage Shrike became a pure man.

In his vision, Sayo was fading, bits and pieces of herself sinking into the darkness.

Thousands and thousands of smiles surfaced around him and faded just as quick.

He caught her eyes — the last of her that vanished — and her last words.

"I've finally saved you, Sage."

All that remained was a hollow wisp and a young adult in a blood whirlpool and the darkness. Then, crimson vanished too.

There was only Sage in his darkness before it embraced him whole.

「」

The flames returned once again. However, it wasn't because of Titan or the Flame Boomerang that left his hand, in a steady trail for Yvette's head.

These flames were hellish. These flames were dark. These flames were what the void became.

Yet, there was a chilliness to them. It was like the world was in its own internal conflict, a dilemma between fire and ice. The world was picking its poison, like how beginning trainers picked their starter. There was so much deliberation.

All Pokémon and humans stopped when the androids collapsed. Mimikyu nuzzled Mei's ankle as Zayn's Klefki spun around Jade. Durant and Heatmor simply smiled. Blade, Shrike and Vivillon stood in a line, facing Yvette. Vivillon, especially, had too many questions for her, but she knew the answer deep down: she and her friends were just decorative nothings to Yvette. The Legendaries remained disgruntled. Yveltal and Zygarde watched Xerneas tend to the injured. Marshadow simply sat cross-legged in a meditative state all of a sudden.

Zir eyes snapped open when zie heard the shuffling of footsteps. Lysandre and Tarocchi Gardner finally returned, scars over their bodies, limping and leaning on Zayn and Sage as they walked. Zie also noticed something else. From Wyatt's shadow, a male body surfaced.

"We may have lost, but we found you." Yvette drew his attention from the finished battle and to the body. "How do we proceed?"

Zayn's eyes widened on seeing the body. It truly belonged to his father, the hazel eyes, the yellow, slightly greying hair. At once, he knew Sage did it.

"I think they deserve the truth," Wyatt said.

Yvette's blink saw hesitance. "If that's right."

"It is." Wyatt nodded grimly before turning to the spectacle. "The reason why you are all gathered here today is because you are all special. Today, the few of you who're left will graduate."

Titan gripped his weapon. The three other Emo-Senpai members banded together. Ciara bit her lips.

"You are the lucky few to have survived these ordeals."

Mei receded into's Jade clutches, resting on her chest. Their eyes met with much gentleness.

"You must have wondered at some point in time, why you? Why are you the only ones left?" Wyatt paused. "The nine of you, excluding my family, will help me. We need you— I need you for this finale."

Zayn held Sage's hands.

"It's simple, really. We just need you to combine your Singularities' powers."

His Malamar appeared with the potted plants from the office. One basil, one peppermint. A third plant was teleported, forming a trinity. A bundle of sages.

"Concentrate it in the middle of the triangle where my body now is."

Yvette smiled.

"Once you do this, it's a win-win for us all."

The flames licked the sides of the island, speeding up its meal occasionally with a chomp.

Nick scowled. "How? You'll yeet us into the void?"

"I won't, if you do this ritual. Otherwise... you won't even get to live." Wyatt sighed. "Just get it over and done with."

Nick glanced at Zayn who glanced at Sage who stared at Yvette who stared at everyone.

"We'll do it," Ciara mumbled. "He's not lying."

Everyone came to a uniform agreement. Standing in a circle, the eight of them (Ciara's Singularity wasn't meant for this) unleashed their Singularity one by one. Jade released a revitalising ball of light while Mei shot a steady beam of goo onto the body that intersected with Nick's relentless shards of ice. Gin let loose an aqua jet. Lynx's guitars turned into a Gigalith and a Vikavolt. Gigalith struck with a ray of light scintillating like a flurry of gemstones as Vikavolt fired an electric blast which was strikingly similar to Alain's. Titan sent his inky Houndooms to lick the body and produced a consistent spiral of fire. Sage shook the immobile shadow and controlled it to take in the melting pot of Singularities so the body won't be stained.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Wyatt coughed. Scarlet ran down his clothes and hit the earth. When again he spoke, his voice was high-pitched, full of a different emotion.

"What is going on?"

Valencia had returned. Tarocchi held onto her as the woman took in the sight before her and repeated her question.

The body, on the other hand, rose against the incessant onslaught. Wyatt had returned when he signalled for them to stop. He kicked the plants and threw them into the void.

Waves of silence crashed into every being.

"So, what now?" Zayn asked.

"Kill baddie!"

Everyone turned around but no one could figure out where the shrill voice came from. The Aura Trio blinked at each other.

Zygarde slapped zir tail onto the ground. "Humans, it seems the world will end in an hour if we don't do anything about the void-fire."

Yveltal sighed. "We need to get them out of here. An evil aura comes."

Xerneas lowered zir head. "You will be safe with us."

Without warning, Xerneas placed Jade and Ciara on zir back. Lysandre and Tarocchi were yanked onto Yveltal's back just as Zygarde made Gin, Lynx, Alain and Nick climb on. With an 'adieu' in unison, they took to the skies, passing through clouds till they could no longer be seen.

"Kill!" The voice resounded again.

"Wait..." Zayn froze. After a heartbeat, he thawed. "Dad, run!"

Wyatt glanced at him. "You called me—"

"Faster! Get away from the table!"

Zayn didn't want this to be the end. It couldn't have been. This was supposed to be a different end to the climax. He didn't know where the rest of them went and if they would be safe. He only knew it was too much of a coincidence, that the youth who remained, besides Yvette and himself, were the three survivors of Healer Killer.

Sage, still uncertain of whatever had occurred, placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's no use. She has no shadow."

He knew he had to remain calm. Whatever the pill was, it probably was taking effect. He finally remembered the shadows were the ones who had power over him all along. That much became clear. But now, he must focus on the incoming threat, and nothing else.

An innocent melody knocked on doors and sent glass falling off windows. Wyatt was strangely unable to move his feet. But he knew what was coming for him. She hadn't crossed his mind, but he should have known.

A girl with two Ponyta-tails skipped out of Foncrise City's depths, a rifle in hand. Her orange hair was clear enough, a mix of Valencia's natural red before it was dyed black, and Wyatt's yellow. The unexpected product when two souls converged in a Destiny Bond. Of course, if both of them lived, her destiny would be rewritten too.

The incarnation of justice, Ulysses, stopped dead in her tracks when she found her audience.

"Baddie, don't move! You kill me, I kill you!"

Yvette's eyes darkened. Who the fuck was that now? No, this wasn't it. Everything's distorted as hell. Sure, the climax was anticlimactic. But now...

Ulysses raised her rifle.

Everything was set in slow motion once again. Yvette was just another little girl, Zayn slightly younger, and they had lost their innocence and purity.

Another figure came out of the shadows of Noryuku Academy. "Miss me? They say, karma always bites back no matter what. Don't you agree?"

Everyone flinched.

While their eyes rested on Loralei, a bullet zipped toward a living man.

Ulysses spoke, her word lingering as the bullet revolved in the air while making its path.

"Bang."