Chapter 14: Sing a Hollow Song

The servant quarters were in a square building made of gray bricks with small, arched windows. Unimpressive compared to the vibrant colors and ornate statues of Horizon’s main campus. There was one redeeming factor for Noctum, however. It was positioned closest to the edge of the hilltop ridge. All Noctum had to do was shuffle a few dozen meters off the gravel path to find a nice slope he could sit down on.

Dr. Rafique’s medicine helped Noctum’s queasiness, but he still found himself a bit unsteady on his feet. Despite that, Noctum had cabin fever by the end of the day. Which brought him out to the hill.

Freshly-cut grass tickled the backs of his legs and the underside of his tail. He looked ahead, past the rolling green hills with slivers of train tracks leading off into the distance. To the towns and cities north and east of Horizon Gardens. Beyond that, the sun was setting, lighting the sky up with rings of yellow, orange, and red.

Aeon never had sunsets like that. Heck, it barely had sun. There were scant moments. Mostly in the wastelands. Noctum’s gaze dropped to his legs and the sloping grass in front of him. A silhouette of a small, thin charmander appeared. Its ribs poked out from its chest and its tail flame smoldered weakly as it staggered across the grass, scratching at patches of black, shabby scales.

A blue, scaly leg stomped down on the grass, squishing the silhouette. “You look sadder than a lost feral puppy.”

Noctum’s wings shot out. He coughed up a couple of embers before looking up. Valkyrie stood in front of him, finned arms crossed. “Feeling sorry for yourself, huh?”

“I—” Noctum stopped himself. His gaze fell. He folded his wings back and fidgeted with his claws. Perhaps it wasn’t cabin fever that had made him restless. “Maybe.”

Valkyrie snorted. “That’s a yes.” The garchomp pivoted. “This about you getting walloped? Or the princess getting swiped from under your snout?”

Noctum frowned. Valkyrie rubbed her brow. “Hey, I ain’t judging. Even if you’re not a dragon, you’re dragon-adjacent. Still got that pride, don’t ya?” She made eye contact again. “Just train harder. Get stronger. Then maybe it won’t happen again.”

The charizard remained silent. His face scrunched up. Why was Valkyrie telling him this? Chiaki had vanished along with Yuna. “Funny. I don’t even remember seeing you in Herbrides. Aren’t you supposed to be Chiaki’s bodyguard?”

Valkyrie scowled. “He ordered me not to come.”

Noctum raised an unconvinced brow.

“He gave me an assignment,” Valkyrie growled. “I learned about what happened not long after I finished. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you the dumpster I left a dent in.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Noctum slouched over, pinching his brow. “I just don’t get it. What kind of bodyguard doesn’t, y’know, guard the body they’re assigned to?”

Valkyrie snorted tufts of blue-purple smoke. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

Noctum was tempted to point out that Valkyrie introduced herself as Chiaki’s bodyguard, but the garchomp looked like she’d deck him if he said anything. Instead, he looked left and plucked out a couple of blades of grass with his claws. “Well, maybe my situation is complicated, too.”

“I doubt it,” Valkyrie said. “You’re the ‘loyal servant.’ You’re beating yourself up because you feel like you’re betraying your bosses’ trust.”

The charizard’s tail flame crackled. He dug his hand into the grass until it met cool soil. “From the sound of it, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Try me.”

A sigh. Noctum looked longingly toward a cluster of particularly tall trees on a distant hilltop. At that distance, they were like broccoli pieces. “When we were on the train over here, I went up to King Calcifer. Asked him why he wanted me to come here. I don’t have the battling experience that Baraz and Dimitry do.”

“Yeah, I think I got that part,” Valkyrie mused. Noctum scowled at her before returning his gaze to the hills.

“The king told me that I’d been around Yuna since the day she hatched. And that made me family.” The charizard’s tail flame burned brighter. “He said, ‘Family sticks together! It’s how we seize each day by the horns.'”

His Calcifer impression left a lot to be desired; he couldn’t replicate the duraludon’s booming voice. Not that Valkyrie would understand. “I owe my life to Yuna’s family. So, I can’t keep screwing things up.”

Silence followed. Noctum looked at Valkyrie, expecting her to say something. She crossed her arms. “… tch. That it?”

Noctum’s tail flame dimmed. He was hoping for a more… sympathetic response. “Is there something wrong with what I said?”

“If they really consider you family, then why are you a servant for them?” Valkyrie shrugged and shook her head.

Noctum sputtered. After a few seconds, he managed to say, “They opened their home to me. It was the least I could do for them.” A beat passed. “Besides, you call Chiaki ‘Young Master.’ How’s that any different?”

“I do it ironically.” Valkyrie smirked. “It pisses him off. His reactions are amusing.” She looked to her right. “In my line of work, you take the little amusements life hands you.”

Noctum didn’t have a counterargument. He returned to plucking blades of grass out of the ground until a thought finally stirred in his head. “Are you always this callous to others?”

Valkyrie snort. “Please. You’re just thin-scaled.”

“W-Well, yeah. But I didn’t get enough nutrients as a charmander!”

“I didn’t mean that literally, numbskull.” Valkyrie knelt down to Noctum’s eye level. “You want my advice? This doting devotion to the royal family is only going to hold you back. Make you weak. You want to get stronger? Trust no one and depend on only yourself.”

The charizard couldn’t help but gawk at Valkyrie’s so-called advice. That sounded like an awful way to live. “Well, if that’s the kind of logic you follow, I guess it’s no surprise you left Chiaki on his own.”

“… whatever.” Valkyrie rolled her eyes. “Unlike you and your charge, Chiaki realizes that there are bigger fish that need frying. That’s all.” The garchomp stood up and reached into the satchel on her waist. “Now then, I need to deliver his replacement arm to him. Have fun with your pity party.”

She walked away. Noctum looked over his shoulder. The prosthetic would’ve completely fooled him if it was actually attached to a grovyle. Which was probably the point. Once she dipped out of sight behind a row of thick, green bushes, Noctum turned back toward the ridge.

It can’t be a pity party if I’m the only one attending…

Baraz greeted Yuna with a leppa berry. The dreepy happily gobbled it up. Some of her fatigue from the Ministers’ drills rushed away as she finished the last bites. Baraz offered to bring her back to her room, but Yuna declined. Instead, she asked Chiaki if he could help her find Nikki’s room. The grovyle reluctantly agreed and, after getting a new Bold and Brash from his garchomp bodyguard — where had she been, anyway? — the two set off up the steel stairs leading to the building’s main level.

“Hey.” Yuna rubbed her head nervously. “So, um, why is Nikki still here if she misbehaves all the time? Especially if she’s on a scholarship.” If Nikki pulled similar stunts in the Aeon Kingdom, she’d have been forced to change schools already.

Chiaki pushed the red metal door at the top of the stairs open. “Short answer is Vortex cares too much about his bottom line.”

Yuna paused in the doorway. “Huh?”

“It’s because of ESEA.” Chiaki walked out into the academic building’s entry hall. His sweaty feet left outlines on the marble floor fashioned to look like the school’s rose emblem.

“ESEA?”

“The Equality in Secondary Education Act.” Chiaki leaned his shoulder against one of the two massive oak doors. It swung outward, leading to stone steps that descended to a gravel path flanked by rose bushes on either side. “Parliament enacted it, like, four years ago. Basically, every charter school like this one has to accept scholarship students chosen by the Crowne Ministers or pay an exorbitant tax.”

Yuna followed Chiaki as he hopped over a rose bush and walked along the grass toward the girls’ dorm building on their right. “I still don’t get it. Couldn’t Vortex tell the Minister who sponsored Nikki to find a new student?”

To her surprise, Chiaki’s response was a laugh. She puffed out her cheeks, which he didn’t see, but stayed silent. The grovyle eventually got his composure back. “Sorry. You’re not from around here, so I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That Minister Shredder is… quite similar to Nikki personality-wise,” Chiaki replied. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

Yuna raised a brow. “Meaning?”

“I’d bet money that Vortex tried to get him to replace Nikki… and Shredder told him to get bent.” Chiaki stuck his hands in his pockets and continued toward the girls’ dorm.

“… oh.” Yuna frowned. “But if he’s acting like that, couldn’t he get replaced as Crowne Minister?”

“The law is that every city needs a Crowne Minister,” Chiaki said. “And, despite his attitude, Shredder’s actually on the popular side. My best guess is that Parliament chooses to put up with him because it’s easier than the alternative.”

“And I guess this Vortex guy chooses to put up with Nikki because that’s also easier than the alternative.” Reshiram chuckled. “It’s fun when things mirror each other like that.”

I don’t see anything fun about it, Yuna grumbled. She came to a stop next to Chiaki, who was scanning the limestone building in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t exactly waltz into the girls’ dorm, you know,” Chiaki said. “I’m trying to remember which room is Nikki’s.”

“… oh. Right.” Yuna poked her hands together. The truth was she wanted Chiaki to ask one of the security guards instead of her, but that plan crumpled like a house of cards meeting the slightest breeze.

“There.” Chiaki pointed to a first-floor window to their right, on the corner of the building.

“How do you know it’s her?”

“I hear grunge music.” Chiaki ran to his right. Yuna floated after him, unsure why that would qualify the room to be Nikki’s.

“Uh, thanks, but I think I can take it from here.”

“… tch. I already came here, didn’t I? May as well see this out to the end.” Chiaki picked up his speed.

Yuna’s gills stiffened. “But what about not being allowed in the dorm?”

“Won’t matter if we sneak in through the window.” Chiaki reached the window in question and stood on his tiptoes to tap it with his good hand. He stood waiting for a few seconds before the glass pane swung open and Nikki glared down at him.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call security over here, Twiggy.”

Chiaki shot Yuna a look suggesting that was her cue. She hovered closer, wringing her arms. “L-Look, Nikki. I know you don’t like me… but I want to talk okay?”

“Not interested.” Nikki reached for the window to slam it shut, but Yuna dashed forward. Quick Attack speeds let her whiz by Nikki. The toxtricity whirled around. “Hey! I didn’t say you could let yourself in. Get out or I’ll throw you out myself.”

Yuna stiffened, staring at the black stone floor. Unlike her room, there was no carpet. “No,” Yuna said, shoulders tense. She heard a thump behind her and saw Chiaki in the windowsill out of the corner of her eye. “I’m… sorry that you got mixed up in that mess yesterday. But it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know Xeromus would pop up. So it’s—” She swallowed hard. “You can’t hold that against me. I don’t want to spend this whole semester fighting with you.”

Slowly she turned to look at Nikki. “Please tell me what’s wrong. I might not be able to help or anything, but wouldn’t it feel good to get it off your shoulders?”

Nikki stood there in silence, arms crossed and sporting a glare that reminded Yuna of her mother when she was upset. The dreepy kept holding eye contact, however. If she backed down here, she was never going to get through to Nikki.

“If we really wanted to cause you problems, don’t you think we’d have gone to Vegna or Vortex instead of you?” Chiaki sat sideways in the windowsill, arms resting on his crossed legs. Yuna smiled at him, but he kept looking outside as if he was keeping watch.

Finally, Nikki sighed. “… whatever.” Her posture slouched and she walked away from the windowsill. It was the most defeated Yuna had seen Nikki look. The toxtricity flopped down onto a chair. And not a cushy chair like the one Yuna had in the corner of her room. A gray, metal folding chair peppered with spots where the paint was peeling off.

In fact, Nikki’s room as a whole was… practically empty. The dresser had no decorations, only a layer of dust to suggest it had never been used. The nightstand next to the bed had an old analogue clock whose glass plane was broken and bells were rusted to the point of uselessness. Nikki had no comforter for her bed. Only navy bedsheets with patches of mismatched fabrics placed over what Yuna assumed were once holes.

The walls were bare. No posters. No pictures. Not even a calendar. The light fixture on the ceiling didn’t have a bulb in it.

It wasn’t until Yuna looked at the corner where Nikki was sitting that she actually found something. Multiple somethings, in fact. Lined up neatly next to one another were three guitars. One was a blue acoustic guitar, similar to ones Yuna had seen back home. The other two were more like the ones Yuna saw at the ball during Starlene’s concert. One had purple and yellow flames painted on it and the other was jet back.

Behind them was an open closet door housing an immaculately polished cello. Yuna even saw outlines of her reflection in it. Next to it was a cardboard box filled with what seemed like plaques and envelopes. And above them sat a few extra leather jackets. One was bright red, but the others matched the black jacket Nikki had on.

“Enjoying yourself?” Nikki growled. “Yeah, go on. Tell me I’m trash because I don’t have pictures or figurines or any of the fancy crap you all keep in your rooms.”

Yuna didn’t do that. She continued studying the guitars. “I didn’t know you were into music. These are yours?”

“No, I stole them from that dumbass cinderace.”

Yuna looked blankly at Nikki, who facepalmed.

“Yes, they’re mine.” The toxtricity grabbed the acoustic guitar and rested it on her lap. “I’ve been playing instruments for a while.”

“The cello too?”

“Guitar, cello, bass, and keyboard. Or I guess you’d know it as a piano,” Nikki said. “And I tried drums for a bit before deciding they weren’t for me.”

“Wow, that’s really impressive,” Yuna chirped. “I, uh, can play a mean tambourine when the need arises, but that’s about it.” She hoped offering a compliment could help the situation. A tingle ran down her back when Nikki chuckled.

“Cute.” She absentmindedly strummed a cord on the guitar. “So, satisfied? You going to leave now?”

“… oof. Well, at least you get an A for effort in my book,” Reshiram said.

Yuna wasn’t calling it quits here. “Is this how you earned a scholarship? By being a good musician?”

“Maybe.” Nikki’s answer lacked conviction. Yuna figured that was intentional.

“Then why would you want to throw the Crowne Cup?” Chiaki finally swung himself around to face inside the room. “If anything, doing well could potentially jumpstart a music career for you. But doing the opposite will—”

“I already have a career,” Nikki snarled. Yuna’s gills shrank at the abrupt shift in demeanor.

“Come on, now. Stiff upper lip. You don’t wanna back down here,” Reshiram encouraged.

He was right. Yuna had to press on. “Then why are you here?” she asked.

Nikki glared at Yuna again. “You really want to know?”

“Yes.”

Another sigh. Nikki set the guitar back on its stand. “Fine then.” She stuffed her left hand in her jacket pocket and pulled out… a rusty locket. Nikki tossed it to Yuna without warning. The dreepy fortunately caught it. She opened it up and found a picture of Nikki giving scorbunny ears to a dragonair.

Yuna blinked. She looked at Nikki, then back at the locket, then back at Nikki. “What is this?”

“A picture.”

Yuna frowned. “That’s not what I meant. What does this have to do with what I asked you?”

“That’s the reason I’m at this prissy-ass school.” Nikki pointed to the locket. “My big sis, Scarlett.”

“Your sister’s a dragon?!” Yuna gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

A snort from Chiaki made Yuna wince. “She’s not really Nikki’s sister. It’s more a term of endearment.”

“Kiss my ass, Twiggy.” Nikki’s mohawk sparked. “The two of us were practically family. Ever since the day Minister Shredder and I found her as a dratini, wandering the outskirts of Blightsmuth, we’ve always been at each other’s sides.”

“Wow, okay. Lot to unpack there.” Reshiram hummed. “What’s a Blightsmuth? And how long did this Shredder guy know her before sponsoring her?”

Yuna didn’t want to ask either of those questions since she had Nikki talking. Best to let Nikki explain at her own pace. Maybe any gaps could get filled in at a later point.

Reshiram sighed. “Well, that’s not really how you get to the whole truth, but I suppose I’ll let it slide.”

“What does she have to do with the school?” Chiaki asked.

“I was getting to that.” Nikki’s scowl gave Yuna some gratification for following her gut. “Scarlett and I grew up together. Watching Shredder and his old group the Maximizers. She liked singing and I liked jamming. So, when we both evolved, we decided to give music-making a shot. Called ourselves Pop Fizz.”

Chiaki almost fell out the windowsill. “Wait, that was you?“

Nikki smirked. “Oh, a fan of my early work, are you? You didn’t strike me as the type, Twiggy.”

The grovyle’s face reddened. He reached up to his head and felt around. Yuna figured he briefly forgot that he lost his hat.

“… tch. My little sister liked Pop Fizz. Never shut up about you,” he grumbled.

“Aww, that’s so precious.” Nikki’s voice dripped with sarcasm. She leaned back in her chair. “Anyway, Shredder helped the two of us book gigs and score a couple of albums. It was… a lot of fun.” She glanced at the box sitting in her closet.

There was a longing in her voice that Yuna hadn’t heard from the toxtricity before. “So, um, how does that tie into the school?” she asked.

Nikki slouched over, sighing. “One night, we gave a concert. And Vortex was in attendance. This wasn’t long after that Equality Education thingy passed. He told Shredder to sponsor one of us at a time. Then Vortex could set us up with the bigwigs of Radiance’s music industry. We both wanted to help Blightsmuth claw its way out of obscurity, so we accepted the offer.”

She bit her lip and clenched her fists. “I told Scarlett she should go first since she was older. Only…”

Yuna gulped. “Only?”

“She didn’t come home after her first year,” Nikki whispered, head tucked into her chest.

“… oh my,” Reshiram squeaked. “She doesn’t think this Vortex guy killed her, does she? That sounds like something straight out of a murder mystery novel. Y’know, the kind an author writes as their supposed debut work but it turns out to be a pseudonym of a children’s book author who was getting tired of—”

Be quiet, Yuna silently snapped. “You’re suspicious of Vortex, then?”

“You’re damn right I am.” Nikki’s mohawk grew. “When I didn’t get any letters or calls from her, I got suspicious. I tried to visit, but the school wouldn’t let me.”

“And that made you upset.” Chiaki tapped his prosthetic claws on the windowsill.

Nikki rolled her eyes. “Duh. Since I couldn’t do anything with Scarlett, I took myself in a different direction… working with Shredder’s new band, Crimson Cloud.” Her mohawk brightened from yellow to white. “When Scarlett didn’t come back, I poured my anger into my guitar.”

She leaned over and reached into the open closet. Nikki tossed an envelope to Chiaki while she grabbed a dusty record player and set it on her lap.

“Are you kidding me?” Chiaki held the envelope, which turned out to be a record cover, up for Yuna to see. It had an obstagoon’s snarling face on it. Its long tongue draped down toward its chest. Red streaks dribbled down its forehead, likely a dye or paint standing in for blood.

“That seems a bit… excessive,” Reshiram muttered.

“Erm, exactly what kind of band is Crimson Cloud?” Yuna squinted at the cover.

“Metal and grunge.” Nikki set the record player on the ground and put the needle on. Yuna’s gills immediately shriveled at a loud guitar riff punctuated by overly-sensual moans.

“And you call me edgy?” Chiaki tapped the back of the record cover. “Listen to some of these song names. ‘Defiant Roar.’ ‘Crud From the Earth.’ ‘Vicious Beast.’ ‘More Poison Than Poison.’ Need I go on?”

Nikki merely crossed one leg over another. “You need to add an inappropriate pronunciation to that last one, Twiggy. It’s ‘More Poison Than PoiSIN.'”

Yuna tuned her teammates out to focus on the record player’s speaker. A guttural male growled through it.

“I am the lurking fiend.
Corrosive to your insides like a salandit’s seed, yeah.
I seep from the dead.
Molding into Phantoms to muck with your head.
An acidic suicide.
Melting through the smiles of your piss-poor lies, yeah.
Dig through your broken flesh
To tear into your heart and rip it from your chest, yeah!”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Yuna threw her hands against her head. Smirking, Nikki took the needle off the record.

“Um, are we sure this Shredder fella isn’t some kind of anarchist? Cause he sounds like an anarchist to me,” Reshirm said. “Which would make the fact he’s in the government ironically frightening. Or frighteningly ironic. Take your pick, really.”

“Well, that was… a hell of a detour.” Chiaki scratched his snout. “When are you going to get to the point?”

Nikki’s smirk vanished. She sat up straight. “I begged Shredder to let me go here on scholarship. For two years, I poked around trying to find any inklings I could of what happened to Scarlett. But every time, staff or servants got in the way. The more it happened, the angrier I got.”

She pulled a cloth out of her jacket. Nikki leaned over and rubbed the acoustic guitar’s base. “I could channel some of that frustration into Crimson Cloud, but it wasn’t enough. So, I figured I’d screw with Vortex’s precious school. It was the least he deserved.”

“Yet you have no evidence of anything,” Chiaki pointed out.

“Which is why I wanted to throw the Crowne Cup.” Nikki stared at her reflection in the guitar. “With our whole class and the associated professors involved, I figured I’d be able to use the free time I’d get from losing to do some hardcore sleuthing.”

There it was. Yuna stared at Nikki silently. She couldn’t string together a coherent response. The words were jumbled around in her head. Nikki sat back on the chair and tossed the cloth onto her bed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t expect either of you to know what it’s like.” She pointed at Chiaki. “You with your fancy inheritance.” She turned to Yuna. “And you with your royal parents and servants and guards. You both have people. You can surround yourselves with people.”

Nikki folded her hands on her lap. “Scarlett was my person.” She pivoted to sit sideways in her chair. “I don’t have family. And I don’t have money; everything I’ve made as a guitarist has gone back to Blightsmuth. To keep the place afloat.” Nikki looked into the empty closet. “All I’ve got is my music.”

Reshiram chuckled. “Hmm. I wonder if ‘person’ means they were actually smoochy-smoochy with each other?”

Enough comments from the peanut gallery, Yuna growled.

“Aww, c’mon. ‘Lifelong friends to lovers’ is a tale as old as the universe itself,” Reshiram said. “It’s a truth worth fighting for. Makes my nonexistent heart go pitter-patter.”

This isn’t about you. Yuna resisted the urge to shake her head. She hesitantly floated closer to Nikki. “Look. I didn’t know Scarlett. I couldn’t know what she’d want.” The dreepy wrung her arms. “But it sounded to me like the two of you worked really well together.” Yuna glanced at Chiaki. “We can’t truly replace Scarlett, but we can certainly try to, uh, be your people in the meantime.”

A deep breath. “And that’s not, y’know, some princessy duty thing. That’s just… what I think is right.” Yuna gestured to Chiaki. “What do you say? You help us with the whole Eternatus thing… and maybe we can find a way to help you search for Scarlett?”

Chiaki looked at Yuna’s arm briefly before staring out the window. “… yeah.”

Nikki looked at her feet. “… is your pet fuzzball listening?”

Yuna tilted her head. Nikki pointed at the Soul Dew. Yuna nodded.

“Then I have a question.” Nikki put her elbows on her knees and leaned her head on her hands. “If you and your buddies are the thing keeping World Ender sealed… why the hell should we try to free them? Won’t that undo the seal and screw us over anyway?”

Yuna almost dropped to the ground. Chiaki sucked in a sharp breath, as if he was surprised he hadn’t thought of that. A tiny bead of light spilled onto the floor and molded into a miniature Reshiram. He tapped his small claws together. “Well, um, I never said it was a flawless plan. It’s, like… we have to choose between certain death and highly probably death. The latter has a chance.”

“That chance being… what, exactly?” Nikki said.

“Eternatus was sealed while it was still up in the stratosphere,” Reshiram explained. “If we unseal it, it should reappear there. In which case, we might be able to pinpoint its core. Strike the core and we can stop it!”

Silence. Yuna looked around uneasily. Even she had to admit that was barely a plan. “Well…” The dreepy rubbed her shoulder. “As long as there’s a chance, we ought to try, right? You haven’t given up on Scarlett yet. We can’t give up on the planet. It’s… the planet.” Her girls drooped. “Sorry. I’m not one for motivational speeches.”

Nikki laughed bitterly. “All right, what the hell. I’m in.” She slipped her jacket off and slung it over her shoulder. “If you’re going to search for Needles, then I guess we’ll need to stay in the Crowne Cup so you have an excuse to head to the cities where they used to be.”

Yuna slowly smiled. Reshiram grew bigger, clapping his glowing wings together. “Wonderful! Group hug time?”

“Don’t push it, fuzzball,” Chiaki and Nikki said in unison. The former hopped out of the windowsill without another word.

Reshiram’s wings drooped. “… oh. Okay.” Sighing, he retreated into the Soul Dew.

“Great. Now that the warm fuzzies are over… door’s that way.” Nikki pointed over Yuna’s shoulder. “Get going. I don’t need anyone getting any ideas. Gossip can spread like the flu in this place.”

It took a moment before Nikki’s comment sank in. Yuna vigorously nodded and floated off for the door. She paused with her arm on the nob. “Thanks, Nikki.”

“I said no more warm fuzzies,” Nikki growled.

As the door creaked open, however, she added, “Don’t thank me until we survive the first leg.”

Path of Valor Almanac
The Maximizers is the name of the “band” that shows up in the credits sequence for Pokémon Sword and Shield. Most of the Crimson Cloud song names are spoofs of actual songs by Rob Zombie and the lyrics played are a spoof of “More Human Than Human,” which he provided the vocals for as part of the metal group White Zombie.