Chapter 20: The Wrong Kind of Networking

Silence. The kind that one could hear a pin drop in. And Yuna didn’t blame anyone. She couldn’t find the words to express her sheer confusion at the cocoons hanging over the team. The pokémon inside appeared to be asleep. But there was no chest or belly movement. Nothing to indicate they were still alive. Or active spirits. Or whatever she was supposed to call Qliphoth denizens.

Nikki flopped down, bracing herself so she wouldn’t lie down completely. “Okay. This is… messed up.” She had a blank look in her eyes.

“You know it’s bad when Nikki can’t find a smart remark,” Reshiram whimpered.

Yeah. Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed them. What was she doing here? At least when she was in Noatun, she had no choice but to press onward. That wasn’t the case this time. She could make another wormhole, couldn’t she? She didn’t have to go further into the tomb. Where more of these cocoons could be waiting. Or worse…

“But if we don’t find the Needle, the courthouse will get sucked into the Qliphoth.” Reshiram reminded her. “Then Ahemait can turn everyone into cocoons, including Shimmer.”

A small part of Yuna didn’t care. It wasn’t like Radiance treated her well, Shimmer included.

“What about Kain? He’s nice. You want him to get trapped here?”

Yuna sighed. No.

“Hey, hold up. What do you think you’re doing?”

Chiaki’s call startled Yuna. She opened her eyes and found Razim approaching one of the krokorok cocoons. The grovyle was right behind him with his good hand on Razim’s shoulder.

“Those are… my people.” Razim looked up. “I have to free them. My people.” His eyes were unfocused compared to when he was steering the wind surfer.

“We don’t know if it’s safe to touch those,” Chiaki cautioned. “It’s better to leave them and—”

“I can’t abandon them!” Razim shoved Chiaki away. A pink beam rippled out from his crown’s gem. The moment it hit the cocoon a resounding whoosh echoed through the room. Chiaki dove onto Razim seconds before iron spears jutted out from the spot where they’d just stood.

Cid tiny arms and legs trembled. “Okay, motion to ignore all the creepy cocoons?” He raised his right hand. “Great. Any seconds?” Cid raised his left hand. “Any objections?” He didn’t even wait for anyone else to say something before continuing, “Motion carries. Fantastic. Let’s get out of here.”

Nikki stared blankly at the spears. “Sheesh. Should’ve brought my Stetson hat and whip.”

Chiaki glared at her as he staggered to his feet.

“What?” Nikki smirked. “I don’t have the chest to pull off Lurantis Croft.”

“Ignoring you.” Chiaki sidestepped the spears and walked forward. “Think I need to change tactics for this.” With a hydraulic whir and click, the Hooker detached. It dropped to the floor with a clang then collapsed into a disc-like device. Chiaki tucked it into his coat and pulled out a black disc. It expanded out into another prosthetic that looked to be made of black stones. It ended with a spectral hand that flopped as Chiaki attached the prosthetic.

“Another arm?” Concerned, Yuna floated after him.

“My mechanic made it using a piece of rubble from Runerigus,” Chiaki explained. “He calls it the Tactical Toucher.”

Cid frowned. “Err, what kind of person is this mechanic, exactly?”

“A character.” Chiaki flicked his right arm. The ghostly hand sagged down toward his elbow.

“Pfbt.” Nikki put a hand to her mouth. “Y’know, I hear they make pills to help with that, Twiggy.”

Chiaki scowled. “Bite your tongue.”

“Hey, you opened the door.” Nikki raised her hands innocently. “Try giving your prosthetics names that don’t sound like sexual harassment complaints.”

“I didn’t name them,” Chiaki grumbled.

Ahead of them, Cid was studying the ceiling intently. “I wish I had a solid way to figure out if there are any more booby traps hidden away.”

“Why not use that fancy Dynascan of yours?” Nikki walked past Cid, shrugging.

“I, err, can’t use it frequently.” Cid scratched the side of his head nervously.

Nikki paused mid-step. “Seriously? It’s been hours, dude!”

“How do you know that?” Cid squinted. “We have no idea how much time has passed here.”

“Well, it’s sure felt like hours.” Nikki kicked the ceiling tile in front of her. It clicked into the ground. Several short hisses sounded to the toxtricity’s left. “Crap!” She dove forward. Darts whizzed past her and stuck into the tapestry on her left. Acid ate away at the fabric. The darts dropped to the ceiling with a set of clangs while Yuna squeezed her gills.

“Nikki, please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

“I wasn’t trying to set that off.” Nikki stood up, dusting off her jacket. “Man, why can’t we just let His Highness be the trap dummy. He’s already dead, so he’ll be fine.”

Razim’s jaw stiffened. “Excuse me?”

Nikki immediately realized her mistake. “Ah, shit.”

“Nikki!” Yuna put her head in her arms.

Razim looked around at them. “Are you lot trying to have a laugh at my expense? After everything I’ve done to help you?”

Yuna fidgeted nervously. There wasn’t a good way to rebound from this. Heck, she was struggling to come up with anything polite.

“Guess we ought to finish ripping the bandage off, then.” Reshiram materialized from the Soul Dew, making his height even with Razim’s. “It’s not a joke, sir. The reason time doesn’t move in your city — and the reason buildings keep repairing themselves — is because your planet was eaten by a monster called Eternatus.”

His wings drooped. “It’s trying to do the same thing to our planet, which is why we’re here. Not to deal with Ahemait, but to retrieve something that can help us stop Eternatus.”

Razim stared at Reshiram. He staggered back. “No.” The slowking shook his head. “No. That… that doesn’t make any sense. I can’t be dead.” He held up his hands. “Look at this! I… I can see my body. And I can feel it. And feel everything around me.” Razim pointed accusingly at Reshiram. “I’m not dead! Stop playing tricks on me!”

“I’m sorry, but you are,” Reshiram retorted. “You’re a spirit, like me. Inside of Eternatus, we have tangible forms.”

“No!” Razim grabbed his head, shaking it back and forth. “You speak lies!”

Reshiram winced. His tail engine dimmed.

“I… I don’t want to hear this.” The slowking shuffled back further, ending up under a cocoon housing a sandile. “I will not stand for this!” He whirled around. “My people. I have to… save my people!”

Razim looked up at the cocoon above him. His crown’s gem sparked pink. “No, wait!” Yuna cried, dashing toward him. But she wasn’t fast enough. A Psybeam struck the bottom of the cocoon.

Rather than breaking it open, however, purple slime poured onto Razim. He dropped to his knees, screaming as the slime slowly coated him.

“We have to help him!” Cid’s spots glowed pink.

“Don’t!” Chiaki held up his good arm. “Unless you want that stuff to latch onto you.”

Nikki stared silently at the wriggling sludge pile. “We— I—”

The sludge pulsated. Reshiram yipped and retreated into Yuna’s Soul Dew. “What do we do now?” the dreepy said.

Chiaki’s eyes darted around. He spotted an upside-down staircase in the corner of the hallway. “We run.”

“But we can’t leave Razim like this.” Yuna curled her arms. “Not when this is our fault!”

Above them, the other cocoons stirred. Yuna barely had enough time to zip forward with Quick Attack before a glob of slime splattered onto the floor below where she was floating seconds earlier.

“Okay.” Yuna’s gills pulsated. “Time to run.”

The other cocoons launched a volley of slime globs at Team Bastion. They took off for the stairs with Cid’s screams drowning out any other noise.

The further Noctum followed Cyril, the deeper the reality of his situation sank in. Mystery dungeons weren’t chaotic masses of distortion. They were the insides of World Ender. The same World Ender that felled Bahamut. That forced the Luminous Sages to sacrifice themselves.

And these insides… had an entire civilization. One dedicated to World Ender. With big, shiny things Noctum had never seen before!

Maybe he would’ve been able to swallow this more easily, but he had a dangerous crystal in his gut. Why wasn’t it doing anything? Because he was in the Qliphoth? Would he turn violent like the snorlax chef if he tried to return to Radiance?

The thought made his violet tail flame shrink. He couldn’t bear it. He’d never see Yuna again. Noctum wouldn’t set foot in Aeon. In the castle he’d come to call home.

I can’t think like that. Noctum shuffled forward, eyes locked firmly on the metal ground.

Cyril had hastily led them in between two black, metallic buildings. The back alley they found themselves in was considerably less bright than where they’d been. The electronic signs were all broken. Some gave off sparks. Most were cracked screens attached to the backs of buildings by rusted bars.

“Are you going to say anything, Ninetales?” Valkyrie growled. “You’re asking us to put an awful lot of trust in you.”

“We’re almost at my workshop,” Cyril replied. “We can talk more there.” The blue-white ninetales quickened his pace. Noctum stumbled trying to lumber after him. A flash of purple drew his attention up. A rift opened in the fog above him, venting bits of purple light. It closed just as quickly, leaving Noctum staring in confusion.

“Oi, dumbass! Keep up!”

Noctum jumped, then scrambled to catch up to Valkyrie. The garchomp took him by the arm and dragged him toward a gray, rectangular metal shutter door.

“Here we are.” Cyril smiled. “I know it’s not impressive, but trust me when I say it’s best to keep a low profile.” He walked up to a small black square and pressed his snout against it. A red beam scanned his muzzle.

“If that’s the case, why did that weird metal box know you?” Seifer asked, eyeing the door suspiciously.

“Because of my QN looplet.” Cyril stepped back from the scanner and the shutter slowly opened. “Head on in.” He jerked his head behind him.

Noctum hesitated, but Valkyrie still had him by the arm. “Well, go on.” She shoved him forward. Noctum stumbled. Dull blue lights flickered on, revealing a room surrounded by cold, gray walls. There were metal tables and shelves housing various machines with metal arms sticking out of them at awkward angles. The far right corner had stacks of boxes with gears, rods, screws, and other mechanical parts haphazardly shoved in them.

Noctum took a cautious step forward, only to immediately yank his foot back. The white tarp covering the floor was littered with oil spots. Oil dripped from Noctum’s right foot. He cringed.

“Don’t tell me you live in this dump.” Valkyrie walked up beside Noctum. “There isn’t even a bed.”

“Nah. Like I said, this is my workshop.” Cyril trotted past them, toward a square machine with a small conveyer belt sticking out to the right. “I’m a mechanic. Fix everything from toasters to QN looplets, to eternavision sets.” He turned to Seifer. “I could even whip you up a decent prosthetic horn if you’re interested. I’ve got some colors that’d go great with that luscious mane of yours.”

Seifer misaimed his right forehoof and almost toppled onto Noctum. “I beg your pardon?” He quickly collected himself, shielding his face with his hair. “I’m not interested in a fake. I want my real horn back. It’s a necessity!”

“Yeah, I get that.” Cyril bobbed his head. “First guy I ever made a prosthetic for said he might as well have been dead weight without his right arm.” He swished his rightmost tails against the machine and used them to press against the screen. “Then he saw my work and now I make him gadgets on the regular.”

“That’s, uh, nice?” Noctum scratched a horn. He noticed Valkyrie’s brow furrowing. Was she getting impatient? “But it doesn’t do much to help us out with our predicament.”

“Right, right.” Cyril finished futzing with his machine. It whirred to life, filling the room with rattling and whirrs. He turned to Noctum. “I was tempted to conclude you guys had just died, but new arrivals always go through an Eterna Processing Center. Which means you must still be alive.”

Noctum frowned. “I only understood half of that.”

Cyril looked Seifer over. “Hmm. Yeah. Okay, I remember now. Radiant Guard Co-Commander, right?”

Seifer’s jaw dropped. “Bwuh?”

“Ex-Commander.” Valkyrie crossed her arms. “He got canned.”

“Oof.” Cyril’s ears drooped. “Uh, dang. Sorry to hear that, bud.” He quickly pivoted away from Seifer. “And I guess you two are Aeons? I mean, it’s obvious for Charizard. Scales that dark come about from living amongst all that sulfur and brimstone.”

“He’s Aeon. I’m Radiant.” Valkyrie thumped her chest. “And how do you know this? You from Etherium?”

Cyril smiled. “Guilty. But we can talk that kind of shop later.” He gestured in front of the machine with a forepaw. “Charizard, step forward so I can take your picture.”

Noctum stiffened. “What for?”

“For your fake looplet, of course.” Cyril chuckled. “C’mon. Unlike Mr. Good Looking over there, you can’t use bedhead as an excuse.”

Noctum stepped forward while a flummoxing Seifer turned away from them. “Can you please tell us what’s going on here?”

“Yeah.” Cyril pressed a button on the machine. There was a flash, leaving Noctum blinking stars out of his eyes. “So, you’re in Eterna City. Capital of the Qliphoth Network. I don’t know how you guys stumbled into Eternatus. Though I suspect that Malice Crystal is the culprit.”

Noctum looked at his belly. “Malice?”

“That’s what we call the energy Eternatus gives off.” Cyril flicked his forepaw to indicate Noctum should step back.

“That’s a bit on-the-nose, don’t you think?” Valkyrie stepped up.

“I didn’t come up with it.” Shrugging, Cyril activated the camera again. “Anyway, exposure to concentrated forms of it is empowering for spirits or anyone born inside the Qliphoth, but mutagenic to outsiders.” He squinted. “Or, well, it’s supposed to be.” He leaned forward and sniffed. “You don’t smell like a spirit, though.”

“I wasn’t aware spirits had smells.” Noctum laughed nervously. This ninetales was as strange as his pelt color.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘anything born inside the Qliphoth?'” Seifer stepped forward, though he refused to make eye contact with Cyril.

“Exactly what it says on the tin, chief.” Cyril winked, then hastily took Seifer’s photo while he stood there with his face bright red. “Ah, that’s a good one.” Tails wagging, he hopped up and planted his forepaws on the table. “Now to put in some fake covers for you guys…” He pressed his snout against buttons on a keypad. “I think I’ll have you three be a scavenger team. Going to wreckages to salvage whatever scrap you can get.” Cyril nodded to himself. “How does Team Breaker sound for a name?”

Valkyrie snorted. “Like you’re trying too hard.”

“Why exactly do we need this?” Noctum crossed his arms. He appreciated Cyril trying to help, but disjoined explanations only left Noctum more confused.

Cyril’s ears twitched. “Err, right.” He pushed himself off the table. “Sorry. I can get a bit… distracted when I’m engrossed in my work.” Cyril walked to the back left corner of the room and opened a tiny panel in the wall. He stuck his snout into it. With a gentle hum, the part of the wall over the camera slid open to reveal a screen. “I’ll try and give you guys the brief version, then.”

Valkyrie looked at the screen, which had the same hand-like depiction of Eternatus that Noctum saw in the city. “Please don’t tell me you actually have a damn slideshow about this.”

“I do have a damn slideshow about this.” Cyril beamed and pointed at the screen with his rightmost tails. “So, this is Eternatus. Or as y’all might know it: World Ender. It’s a giant creature that used to fly around the universe and vaporize entire civilizations with the power of Ragnarok, a titanic energy beam.” He clicked a button on a remote his rightmost tail held to show a massive purple beam firing from the center of Eternatus’ five heads.

“Anyone hit by it is technically killed. But their body and soul are absorbed inside of Eternatus.” Cyril clicked the remote again. The screen was now white and had two sets of colorful circles separated by a vertical red line. “They become part of the Qliphoth, where Malice causes a variety of changes to the environment. From there, one of two things happen.”

“The civilization can join the Qliphoth Network, an organized group of absorbed planets and pockets that can freely move about throughout Eternatus.” Cyril pointed at the circles on the left, which all gained smiley faces. “Or they can be stuck in limbo, subject to the whims of Malice.” He pointed at the right circle cluster. Frowny faces formed inside them. “And that’s if they’re lucky. Planets with good resources will get harassed by the Paradigm until they submit and assimilate into the Qliphoth Network.”

Seifer stiffened. Noctum caught the change in demeanor. “What is it?”

“Paradigm.” The keldeo lowered his head. “That freak Xeromus mentioned it back at the Herbrides Lines.”

Cyril shifted to the next slide, which was filled with clusters of multicolored shadows. Each one had a skull-shaped mask in its center. “The Paradigm are daemons; souls twisted by Malice to the point where all they can think about is furthering the cause of Eternatus absorbing every civilization in the universe.”

The next slide held a picture of the same person Noctum saw on the OBEY sign. Only now he could see its body. Slender and orange, with a pair of orange and blue tentacles and a purple gemstone in its chest that resembled an eye. “This is Archbishop Paradox, a deoxys. He runs the Qliphoth Network and controls the Paradigm,” Cyril explained.

“Ahh!” Noctum’s tail flame grew. “I knew I recognized him.” He pointed a claw at the screen. “Deoxys… is mentioned in the stories about Bahamut. The Luminous Sages fended off multiple attacks from an alien Bahamut dubbed ‘Deoxys.'”

Seifer squinted at Noctum. “But Yuna told me dead folks can’t leave the Qliphoth.”

“Paradox ain’t dead.” Cyril shook his head. “Va— Garchomp asked about it earlier, but I don’t have a slide for it.” His shoulders sagged. “Basically, before Eternatus went around schlurping up planets, it was a colony full of aliens.”

“Aliens… like buzzwole?” Valkyrie tapped her chin with a claw. “Saw a billboard with these two bugs with disturbingly large muscles full of fluid. Looked like they’d never heard of leg day.”

“Yeah, buzzwole is one of those alien species.” Cyril turned back to the screen. “Let’s keep going though. So, Paradox preaches to the Qliphoth Network and plenty of folks eat up the crap he spews. Some, however, aren’t too keen.” He clicked to the next slide.

Noctum gasped. “Hey, it’s that cat we saw earlier.” He tilted his head. “And… is that a black-scaled tyrantrum? Weird scale color aside, those went extinct on Etherium millennia ago.”

“That’s what you find strangest about all of this?” Valkyrie snorted.

Cyril cleared his throat. Noctum laughed nervously. “Sorry. Continue.”

“These three are the tippy-top of the archbishop’s hit list.” Cyril pointed to the tyrantrum. “Captain Blackskull leads a ferocious fleet of space pirates on raids all across the Qliphoth Network. Don’t bother asking him for help, though. He’s equally as likely to make you join his crew or turn your hides into clothing.”

Noctum glanced at his black scales. I wonder what kind of price my scales would fetch. Can’t be a very high one.

“That big hunk of crystals on the right is Necrozma,” Cyril continued. “Dunno much about the guy except that he kills Qliphoth natives and absorbs souls while going on about how he needs more power.”

Valkyrie squinted. “And just where are you getting all of this from?” She stepped toward the ninetales. “For all we know, you’re pulling this out of your ass.”

“I’m getting it from the rebellion leader, of course.” Cyril pointed at the cat. “That’s Gene. Says he’s a mewtwo… whatever that is. He’s been gathering together folks to try and mount an opposition against the archbishop.” He puffed his chest out. “Which includes yours truly.”

“Yeah, uh, no offense, but this seems like a shoddy operation.” Valkyrie gestured around the room.

“Like I said before: low profile is best profile.” Though Cyril’s tails drooped.

“Something wrong?” Noctum asked. He was surprised he even managed to say that. His head was spinning from the barrage of information.

“It’s nothing.” Cyril squeezed his eyes shut and shook out his pelt. “If you guys are looking to get back to Etherium, Gene’s your guy.” He glanced at Noctum. “He’s got a Malice Crystal jammed into his shoulder, so I bet he could help you with, uh, that.” The ninetales waved his forepaw.

“Slight problem there, Snowy. We saw the guy fleeing from these flying saucers.” Valkyrie spat some dragonfire embers and raised her bladed arms. “And he’s holding a freak who attacked us back in Radiance hostage.”

“That so?” Cyril looked back at the screen. “Well, maybe I can give him a ring and see if he can drop by.”

“What exactly were those things chasing us?” Seifer asked. “That thing that stopped us in the bazaar looked similar, but it was attached to some big metal box.”

“Oh, yeah. Those are Eternatus Troopers,” Cyril chirped. “That’s the next slide actually!”

“There’s more?” Noctum grabbed his head. This was… too much. How weren’t Seifer and Valkyrie freaking out? Sure, Yuna had mentioned stuff about the Qliphoth. But nothing like this. It sounded like he’d stumbled into some sort of undead civilization on the brink of war. With ridiculous machines and technology far behind what Noctum could dream of.

And he was supposed to just… go back to Horizon and pretend like none of this existed? Like it wasn’t a problem with the potential to affect him? And Yuna and her family and their home and their planet and… and… andandandandand—

“Hey, good looking, grab a pillow for Charizard. He looks like he’s about to—”

Noctum hit the floor with a loud thud.

“… never mind.”

“Hold up!” Chiaki held his arms out. Yuna and her teammates stopped moments before silver and gold spears shot out of the walls and blocking their path. Tattered remnants of orange tapestry fell like leaves caught in a breeze. Above them, more purple cocoons swayed from the upside-down floor. But they were too obscured for Yuna to see what species are in them.

“We have to keep going or the cocoons might attack.” Cid’s spots flashed nervously.

“Do you want to get sliced into shredded cheese?” Nikki gestured to the spears. “Be my guest.”

“I could turn transparent to get past them,” Yuna said, though she wasn’t sure if she could keep it up long enough to get to the other end of the floor.

“Yeah, no offense, but I don’t think you’ll do to well on your own, Princess.” Nikki stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. “I think this calls for a bit of brute force.”

The toxtricity was right, but Yuna was still offended.

“Wait!” Cid grabbed Nikki’s jacket. “For all we know, breaking the spears will trigger another booby trap.”

The ceiling shook and creaking echoed through the floor. Nikki shoved the orbeetle back. “I’ll take my chances with the booby traps over… whatever is climbing after us.” She strummed her gills. “You guys hide by the stairs. I got this.”

Floating back to the upside-down stairs, Yuna sincerely hoped Nikki could do it. This was beginning to look more problematic by the minute. Hey, Reshiram. I don’t suppose, like, you can feel Saint Rayquaza close by or anything, can you?

“Actually, I think I can,” Reshiram responded. Before Yuna could press him further, the off-key chords of Nikki’s Boomburst rattled around Yuna’s ectoplasmic head. She poked her head out and watched broken spear shards rain down on the ceiling like a metal hailstorm.

“See?” Nikki dusted her hands. “Nothing to—”

“Get down!”

A spectral hand grabbed Nikki’s right leg and pulled her to the floor. Fire jets shot over Nikki’s head, scorching the edges of her electric mohawk. Chiaki hopped out, recalling the Tactical Toucher’s hand. “Not so dumb now, is it?”

Nikki rolled left, then got to her feet. “Even if it saved me from being medium-well, it’s still got a dumb name.”

“Keep to the sides and we’ll avoid the fire,” Cid said. Though he hovered closer to the floor. Yuna was glad her head wasn’t as bulbous as his.

“How much further do you think we need to climb?” Nikki carefully stepped around the metal shards.

“How should I know?” Chiaki growled. “You got our guide gunked, remember?”

Nikki’s mohawk crackled. “Hey, I didn’t tell him to shoot the cocoons. He went renegade on his own.”

Chiaki stopped and scowled at her. “Only because you let slip what we were trying to keep secret.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Nikki threw her arms up. “We’d just pulled off a death-defying jump off a giant freaking ice bridge. My nerves were frayed. Adrenaline pumping.” She wiggled her fingers. “Sorry that I don’t have a stick up my ass all the time like you do.” She then smirked. “Oh, wait, no. You’re not at that point, are you?”

“Did you… take a dig at my evolution?” Chiaki’s shoulders sagged. “Is that supposed to offend me or something?”

Yuna smushed her eyes with her arms. “Guys, stop it. This isn’t accomplishing anything.” She floated between the two of them. The last thing they needed was to fight the tomb and one another. “I think Nikki made an honest mistake. I could’ve had a slip of the tongue just as easily.”

“Eh, I’m skeptical of that claim.”

Quiet, you.

Nikki stiffened. “You’re taking my side?”

The dreepy didn’t want to give her any gratification. “I’m on the side of wanting to get out of here in one piece.” The floor rumbled again. “And quickly.”

“An excellent side to take,” Cid piped up. “Now hurry up. That tremor looked more… violent.”

“Says the floating orbeetle.” Nikki stuck her hands behind her head and weaved through the metal shards.

Sighing, Yuna followed after her. Maybe for the next Needle we should avoid any locals all together.

“I don’t think we intended to run into Razim,” Reshiram said. “It just happened.”

Like Nikki opening her big mouth? Yuna had to admit, the true nature of the Qliphoth was going to be a frustrating secret to keep from any inhabitants. Maybe Nikki unintentionally had the right idea?

“Think on it later. There’s a door instead of stairs.”

Yuna looked up. An imposing black door with red handles fastened after a turtonator’s shell blocked the way forward. Nikki walked underneath the handles. “How much you want to bet this leads to Turtankhamun’s sarcophagus?”

“Nothing.” Chiaki pulled his prosthetic arm back and whipped it forward. His spectral hand latched onto one of the handles. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another corrupted cofagrigus lurking behind here.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Nikki rolled her eyes. “Maybe Turtankhamun’s mummy will be waiting for us? Would go wonderfully with the aesthetic.”

Yuna squinted. Something was clearly wrong. If this door led somewhere important, wouldn’t it have been booby trapped, too? “Hang on, Chiaki. I’m not sure—”

“Out of the way! The door’s glowing!”

“What?” Yuna only had time to look up before a telekinetic burst sent her tumbling into the brick wall. Seconds later, the heavy door blew off its hinges and sailed back into the flamethrower behind Team Bastion. The remnants of a pink and purple energy beam knocked Cid to the ground. Purple smoke immediately obscured him and the surrounding area from view.

Chiaki stumbled up next to Yuna, clutching his head with his good hand. “Was that door rigged to blow?”

“I don’t think so. There was an energy blast.” Yuna had a sinking sense there was someone or something waiting for them. Looking to halt their progress so whatever was rumbling around on the other floors could catch up to them.

“Oh ho ho! Tres magnifique! More exquisite colors to add to my canvas!”

Yuna’s gills shriveled. The voice sounded so… obnoxious. What was that hideous accent?

“Hey, guys?” Nikki hobbled over to them. “I think we’ve got a new problem.”

“An annoying voice?” Chiaki scowled. “Yeah, I heard it too.”

“Not quite.” Nikki pushed his head to the right. “I’m talking about that.”

Yuna followed where Nikki was pointing. The purple and pink haze cleared up to reveal charred silver bricks. And lying in the middle of it was… a blipbug.

Reshiram squeaked. “Your professor shoved you guys out of the way, didn’t he?”

He did. And got nicked by an energy beam in the process. Yuna’s gills shriveled. She wanted to dismiss this as illusionary trickery.

Gulping, she floated forward. “C-Cid?”

Blipbug’s eyes shot open. He looked down at his tiny body… and screamed.

Path of Valor Almanac
The city of Aquardah is loosely based off Giza, Egypt, including a sphynx and a single pyramid in reference to the Pyramids of Giza. Ahemait is, in name and appearance, a reference to an Egyptian demoness and funerary deity who has a crocodile’s head, lion’s torso, and hippopotamus’ hindquarters. In Egyptian mythology, any being whose heart was judged impure by Anubis would see it devoured by Ammit.