Chapter 74: Lingering Secrets

Entry 3501
Why why why why why why

Why can’t it just get out of my head?

I’m not some renegade. Wanting to rid the universe of a monster is natural! People just refuse to see reason!

I must get more power. The power to stop Eternatus.

Seifer stepped through the rift into the dusty fields of Shaftra Monastery. It had only been a day, yet so much changed it felt like he was looking at the dilapidated silver towers and glass domes for the first time.

He glanced over his shoulder. “They’re meeting us out here, right?” The buildings didn’t exactly have standard front doors the keldeo could knock on.

“Right.” Widget hopped out next to him. The cosmic silvally blinked rapidly. Adjusting to the bright light after being out all that time, no doubt.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Seifer asked. “You still look a bit out of it.”

“I’ll manage.” Widget stood up straight. “And I could ask you the same question.”

Seifer frowned. “In what way?”

Widget’s cheek bolts glowed purple and yellow. In a surprisingly good imitation of Nikki’s voice, he said, “I’m surprised the dude’s even walking straight.” After a pause, he added, “Or walking gay.”

The keldo’s cheeks reddened. He fought to keep his prosthetic horn from flickering.

But Widget’s impression wasn’t done. “Least we can say there’s nothing secret about that sword anymore, if you know what I— ouch!“

Seifer lifted his right forehoof off Widget’s left talons. “Really?” He eyed the cosmic silvally disapprovingly. “You were out cold for all of that.”

“Yeah. But people talk.” Widget laughed nervously.

“Evidently.” But Seifer hadn’t helped his case with the sharp reaction. “Yes, I’m with Cyril now. Will that be a problem for you?”

“As long as you’re happy.” Widget’s cheek bolts rotated once in their sockets. “And the emperor gave me noise dampeners, so your horizontal boogieing won’t bother me. But if you really want privacy, find a better spot than his dang workshop.”

The blushing only got worse. Seifer glimpsed another rift out of the corner of his eyes and took a few calming breaths to steady himself.

So what if he was sore? It wasn’t Widget’s business.

Seifer stood at attention for Archie and Maxie. “Just you two scamps, huh?” The dark samurott stroked his jagged mustache. “Expected more of a crowd.”

“Don’t criticize.” Maxie nudged up his goggles. “Mewtwo’s through here.” The ghostly typhlosion beckoned the duo to follow.

They walked into the rift and, surprisingly enough, found themselves in an infirmary. Or the dilapidated remains of one. The monks tried to maintain things as best they could, but Seifer figured there was only so much they could do to get ages worth of rust out of metal shelves and cabinets. They were lined with jars full of strangely-colored liquids. Perhaps medicinal berries they’d turned into paste?

A couple of lucario bobbed their heads politely to Archie and Maxie and headed for the door behind Seifer. “Heal Pulse users?” the keldeo wondered.

“You know it.” Archie went up to the foot of one of the rusted metal cots and thumped it with his jagged seamitar. “Oi, you up? Ya got company.”

The green blanket folded over. Gene slowly sat up. Seifer eyed the bandages wrapped around the shadowy mewtwo’s arms and torso. That weird second curved neck of Gene’s had a brace on it that Maxie kept looking at. Seifer assumed Gene constantly tried to pull it off.

“You should see the other guy.” Gene laughed weakly, only for it to fade into a wince. He grabbed his bandaged torso.

“Really? Jokes?” Widget marched up to the bed, his starcloud neck ruff twirling around in irritation. “From what I heard, you were on death’s door!”

Another weak laugh. Gene cut himself off quicker this time. “Heh. Wouldn’t be the first time that rotten pile of crystals killed me.”

“This is serious, Gene!” Widget hopped up, putting his forelegs on Gene’s bed. “Did you know about what Bahamut did to himself?”

“No.” Gene’s answer was firm. “It had been a while since I had to contend with him. I was afraid he was up to something. But taking his own life to become a Phantom?” Shuddering, he shook his head. “He really is that far gone, huh?”

Seifer raised a brow. Gene did make it sound like Bahamut had betrayed the original resistance. And they fought, with Gene as the victor. Had they been fighting each other on and off all this time? That was what it sounded like, judging by the journal.

Something still bothered him, though. The keldeo approached the foot of the bed. “That may be, but I think there’s a gap you’re not filling in.”

Wincing, Gene leaned against the wall behind his pillow. Somehow, he managed a smirk. “Really? Cuz I think someone beat me to that punch.”

Seifer’s eyes briefly widened, only for a stern expression to kick back in. “You’re a riot.” He flicked his horn against the foot of the bed. “If you’ve the headspace for dirty taunts, then you can tell us the truth.”

There was a chuckle from behind Seifer. He turned around in time to see Maxie smack the back of Archie’s head. “G’arr! Watch it!”

The ghostly typhlosion’s purple flames pulsated. “Then don’t act like a child.”

A sighing Gene drew Seifer’s attention back to the bed. “Fine.” Gene tried to sit up straight. “Wasn’t going to hide it. Just figured I should wait for a bigger squad.”

“Well, we’re what you’ve got.” Widget pushed his front half off the bed. “The others are dealing with… new recruits. Thanks to Yuna.”

There was a flicker of interest in Gene’s eyes. “Guess a lot happened while I was out.” He slowly reached up and touched his Malice Crystal. A strange blue cube materialized in his left hand.

“Is that… a recording device?” Widget lowered his head, sniffing it with his beak. “How old is that thing?”

“Older than you, Squirt.”

“I’m a third of a meter taller than you!” Widget squawked, his starcloud rapidly swirling around his neck.

Gene looked at Seifer. “What about the human and that Overseer guy? Can we at least get them?“

Sighing, Seifer turned his X-transceiver on. “Sigurd? You there. Gene’s asking for you and Jaeger at the monastery.”

“A direct request, is it?” The hissing of Sigurd’s respirator carried through the communicator. “Sure. We’re in the main restaurant, actually.”

“They’re in the main restaurant.” The keldeo looked at Archie and Maxie. “Should we tell the monks to—”

“I can… handle it.” Gene’s face scrunched up. He shakily held his left hand out.

“Don’t strain yourself, nitwit!” Widget scolded, but the rift had already formed next to the cosmic silvally. Seconds later, Jaeger wheeled Sigurd through it. The lycanroc mutt eyed Gene’s injuries.

“Lemme guess: ‘You should see the other guy?'”

Gene smirked. “See? This guy gets it.”

“What exactly are we here for?” Sigurd wondered. His gaze was firmly fixed on the blue cube. It was glowing now. In fact, it got a bit brighter with each second.

“This.” Gene gestured to the cube. “Think it’s nearly done warming u— yep, there it is.”

The cube unleashed a pillar of blue light that formed a hologram. Seifer immediately stiffened, leveling his horn at the hologram on instinct despite knowing it wasn’t here.

“Xeromus?” Seifer’s breath caught in his throat. “Why do you have this?”

To that, Gene only put a finger to his lips. He focused on the hologram… and Seifer saw the longing in the shadowy mewtwo’s eyes.

“Hey, Gene. It’s me. This is…” The hologram sucked in a sharp breath. “This is the hardest thing… I’ve had to do since before I met you.”

His voice wasn’t nearly as raspy as Seifer remembered. And without a cloak and chains, Seifer saw white patches in Xeromus’ fur.

Did that mean… this was Nova talking?

“If it’s not already apparent… the mission didn’t quite go as intended,” Nova continued. He sounded tired. “Eternatus’ core was exactly where we expected. And Matriarch was there. We were even able to stop her, but…”

Static rippled through the hologram. Widget’s head crest fanned out. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me this thing’s damaged!”

Again, Gene merely held his finger to his lips. The hologram settled down.

“… Emerged to fill the power vacuum left behind.” Nova looked down guiltily and his hologram was replaced by one of an even more familiar deoxys. “You know how we thought we eliminated all of Matriarch’s deoxys? It turns out… there’s a prototype we didn’t account for.”

The holographic image pulled back to surround Paradox with several strange, blurry images. Seifer couldn’t make any of them out properly.

“The Paradigm’s fully revived. They’re all serving Deoxys faithfully.” Nova sounded more tired than before. “I suspect… he has a fragment of that strange power we found in the core. This Red Chain.”

Seifer caught Sigurd’s eyes widening. His respirator was hissing at a slightly faster rate.

“He’s sweeping across the Qliphoth even as I speak.” Now the blurred images disappeared, replaced by holographic planets. Holographic chains shot out from one world to the next and wrapped themselves around each planet. “Planets that enjoyed a degree of autonomy under Matriarch answer directly to him. And I don’t think he intends to stop until he conquers all of the Qliphoth.”

After a static flicker, the holographic Paradox appeared to be clutching the collection of planets with his right hand. The Eterna Empire sigil was firmly wrapped around them.

“Chiron and I were confident Matriarch was lying.” Nova’s voice strained. “We thought her claims of needing to do what she did were her manipulating us.”

Paradox’s hologram disappeared and Nova’s returned. He shook his head glumly. “I was wrong. So, so wrong.” There was a shuddering breath. “With Matriarch offline, we’ve gone from having someone who must control Eternatus… to someone who actively wants to.”

At the mention of “offline,” Widget suddenly stood at attention. His eyes and starcloud pulsated erratically.

Nova thrashed his head left, then right. He let out one of those raspy coughs that had previously sent chills down Seifer’s spine. “No. Not yet. A little… longer. Please.” He wheezed loudly.

Gene’s expression was stoic, but Seifer saw faint facial twitches. Enough to tell the shadowy mewtwo was trying to keep it together.

“I’m sorry, Gene, but I can’t stay,” Nova whimpered. “Something happened to me in that battle. And I can… I can…” There was a faint hiccup behind the mask.

“You have to carry the torch in my stead,” he said. “Deoxys has to be taken out for the good of everyone.” Nova took another shuddering breath. “And Bahamut… you must find a way to break through his Malice corruption.”

The hologram shook. Nova must’ve grabbed the recording device with his forelegs. “You understand? After what happened, Bahamut’s only going to get more and more desperate to destroy Eternatus. But he can’t!”

“What?” Seifer’s gaze fell to Gene. Wasn’t the resistance’s entire goal to ensure Eternatus could never be a threat again?

“It’s like I said,” Nova let go of the recorder, “I was wrong. Eternatus… has to exist. It’s… a part of the very foundation of our universe.” He paused. “Bahamut will never accept that. The only way to ensure he doesn’t make the same mistake I nearly did is—”

Nova descended into a coughing fit and the hologram glitched again.

“—time we meet, we won’t be on the same side anymore.” Nova’s gray eyes were blurry with tears. “But I… believe in you, Gene. Always have. Always will. I know that, if our paths cross, you’ll make the right choice.”

Nova took a shuddering breath. “Remember that last part.” He coughed. “No matter… what anyone tells you…”

He staggered back from the recorder, jerking his head left, then right. Nova stood there, legs trembling. Eyes darting around. After several seconds, he managed to steady himself and look into the recorder once more.

“… Your choices matter.”

Nova hunched over. Even with the mask on, he was clearly in pain.

“Take care… Gene. I love you.”

The hologram vanished. The blue light pillar retreated into the cube, which promptly stopped glowing. Gene quickly rubbed his face with his left arm, then swiped the cube off his blanket.

“You always knew,” Seifer whispered, gaze falling to the floor. “That’s why your response to Yuna saying she thought Nova was Xeromus was so muted. You knew.” The keldeo glanced at the others, trying to gauge their responses. Like him, Widget was staring at his chitinous forelegs.

“He was right?” the cosmic silvally mumbled. “I don’t understand.” He looked at Gene, then at Seifer. “I thought ‘Eternatus must survive for everyone’s sake’ was another one of the emperor’s lies. But if that… that other silvally is right, then what else did he tell me that’s actually true?“

“A good manipulator knows how to cherry pick the truth to suit their agenda,” Sigurd said, offering the closest to a sympathetic look he could manage when he could only move his eye muscles. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

“And the prototype thing?” Widget wondered, starcloud and tail dimming. Seifer figured Widget realized there was now a hidden connection between the two. Which would make Paradox’s callous disregard for the silvally sting even more.

“Deoxys are meant to change forms to augment their abilities in battle.” Gene clicked his tongue. “Never seen Paradox do that, though. My guess? Failed prototype.” He shook his head, sighing. “Not to play armchair psychologist, but I bet being described as a failure gave the emperor a hell of a complex. So, he wanted to prove his creator wrong by doing a better job of controlling Eternatus than she ever did.”

“Hence that whole ‘wanting to rule’ comment,” Sigurd mused. His ventilator hissed loudly.

Seifer had to admit, he found it difficult to stomach. It was one thing learning the Kingdom of Radiance never destroyed Eternatus. But to hear the monstrosity is foundational to the universe? Seifer sat down and leaned against the foot of the bed. He couldn’t afford to get dizzy now.

“What did he mean when he said Matriarch went offline?” Widget looked mainly at Gene. “The emperor described her like a person. People don’t go offline. Machines like me do.” His eyes darted around. “Or, uh, maybe I would have in the past. It’s confusing now.”

“Hmph.” Maxie approached the bedside, nudging up his goggles. “The logical conclusion to draw here is that this Matriarch character was actually a machine.”

“AI.”

Widget’s starcloud stopped swirling. His cheek bolts crackled.

Seifer frowned. “Ayyaii?” That had to stand for something, right?

“Artificial intelligence.” Gene crossed his arms. “Matriarch was, essentially, a complex program. Going off what I gleaned from Mira and Nova, one that’s impossible to replicate.” His eyes flickered blue, creating projections of tiny silhouettes. “She had a number of android bodies at her disposal. The ones I remember most were a one-eyed lucario, a roserade, and an arcanine that was practically made of fire and brimstone.

Seifer frowned. Gene had lost him. Lucario and roserade were pokémon he understood well enough. But that arcanine sounded almost… volcanic in origin. Did the Aeon Kingdom have such arcanine among its population? A question for Yuna or Noctum, he supposed.

“Apparently these were ‘avatars.'” As the projections vanished, Gene made air quotes. “Nova had seen her main body before, but Matriarch somehow blocked those files off from his memory banks before he fled and established the resistance.”

“An AI.” Widget’s eyes dimmed in thought. “But then… who created it? It had to have come from somewhere.” The cosmic silvally glanced at the others.

“No idea.” Gene shrugged. “Nova’s theory was that the Matriarch’s existence is directly intertwined with Eternatus’ core.”

Seifer lay his head on the metal rail at the foot of Gene’s bed. “It’s ridiculous,” he mumbled. “In school we’re taught the universe formed because of a giant explosion from a concentrated point of matter and energy.”

“Wow. Look at you sounding all scientific.” Jaeger chuckled. Seifer rolled his eyes. “‘s not unreasonable, mate. Plenty of universes come about that way.” The lycanroc mutt scratched his head. “This’un’s just… complicated.”

“Because of Leo, right?” Widget pivoted toward Jaeger.

“Exactly,” Jaeger said. “Unless Leo’s not from this dimension originally, he must’ve had a hand in creating it. Somehow.”

“That’s you speaking as an Overseer?” Seifer raised a brow.

“Intern,” Jaeger corrected. Seifer could practically hear a smirk that wasn’t on Jaeger’s face.

“Same difference,” the keldeo huffed, blowing hair out of his eyes. “Just tell me what I’m missing here or keep your quips to yourself.”

“Testy.” Jaeger clicked his tongue. “But fair point, mate.” He rested his paws behind his head. “When arceus exist… they usually emerge from eggs into nothing. Then they shape their universes.”

“Tch. No duh.” Archie casually waved a seamitar around. “Alder says that’s in his lorebook or whatever.”

Maxie held his left hand up to stop the dark samurott. “Let him continue.”

Frowning, Archie sheathed the seamitar.

“Sometimes an arceus maintains a physical presence after creation.” Jaeger held his paws up against the side of his hide, like he was pantomiming going to sleep. “Others will slumber away in a remote area until they’re needed again.”

Widget’s head crest fanned out. “Didn’t you guys hatch Leo out of an egg?”

“It hatched for Yuna,” Seifer said. He supposed an egg could be considered a remote place to sleep. But that sounded so… ridiculous. “Why does he have the mind of a child, then?”

“And the same name as the light dragon’s child,” Sigurd added. “Curious. I take it you have a theory, Jaeger?”

The lycanroc mutt nodded slowly. “Somethin’ right messed up this place’s creation process. Your arceus got hurt. Sealed himself up to try and heal.”

Seifer locked eyes with Gene. The shadowy mewtwo’s eyes flickered. “And by ‘somethin,’ you mean?”

“Eternatus, of course. Thing ain’t natural.”

“But you heard what Nova said,” Widget squawked, cheek bolts flickering.

“Yeh. Because it interfered, it’s now a cornerstone of this dimension.” Jaeger tapped the back of Sigurd’s wheelchair. “C’mon. Someone ought to tell ’em.”

“Tell us what?” Seifer wasn’t ready for more bad news to get dropped into his figurative lap.

“He’s talking about the time dilation,” Gene said, arms crossed and head bowed. “Picked up on that, huh?”

Jaeger chuckled. “Couldn’t help it, mate.”

Seifer squinted at the lycanroc mutt. “Already knew about that one. Gene told us.”

“Well, loop the rest of us in, ya scamps!” Archie barked.

“Time moves slower in Eternatus than outside of it,” Gene said, arms still crossed. “Or, well, it did. Until recently.”

Seifer could have asked how recently, but he had a pretty good guess in mind already. “When all of this dimensional anomaly stuff started bubbling up?”

“Bingo.” Gene nodded slowly. “One day in Eternatus is the same as a day in Aeon or Radiance. Definitely wasn’t the case before.”

That meant Cyril regularly dealt with time gaps for his Ryujin work. So, did it seem to the zoroark like barely a moment passed inside Eternatus before he got another request? Or had he spent far more time in Scale City?

Seifer felt a headache coming on.

“And you think that’s tied to Leo waking up?” Widget wondered.

“Hard to say.” Gene leaned back again. “It’s a lot to unravel.”

“Then might I offer some assistance?”

Alder walked in, offering a friendly wave of his white-feathered wing. Koraidon walked up behind him, but judging by his purple and white colors, he wasn’t the monk Seifer was familiar with.

“Channeling that Overseer again, eh?” Archie said.

“Aww, c’mon. My name’s Vince, remember?” Vince’s shoulders sagged. “Hasn’t been that long since we talked.”

“You’ll have to forgive him.” Maxie patted the dark samurott’s back. “His memory is best geared to remembering what he ate the other day.”

“Oi!” Archie leveled his jagged horn at the ghostly typhlosion. “I remember stuff plenty good.”

“We get it.” Seifer pointed his horn at both of them. “Now, butt out.” He glanced at Vince. “You’re the one who told us to find Sigurd and the Overseer, right? Well, we got them.”

Jaeger turned Sigurd’s wheelchair around to face Vince. “I assumed it had to do with the Red Chain,” Sigurd said. “I’d been investigating it with Jaeger.”

But Vince didn’t seem thrilled by Jaeger’s appearance. In fact, the purple koraidon’s dewlap deflated slightly as he turned to Seifer. “You’ve got the wrong guy.”

Seifer’s expression fell in an instant. “Excuse me?” He wasn’t sure whether to point his horn at Jaeger or Vince over this one. “I’m getting really damn sick of all these secrets. Someone say something.”

Frowning, Vince crossed his arms. “Big S did say there was someone named Jaeger around, but he’s not who I wanted Yuna to find. The Overseer I’m thinking of is a human who turned himself into a miraidon.”

“What.”

Gene tried to sit up straighter in his bed, only to wince. “That wacky professor was an Overseer the whole time?” The shadowy mewtwo blinked. “I guess that does explain why he could treat me in the first place…”

“Wait, but that happened ages ago!” Seifer said. Even with this time dilation thing, he was sure that was true. “He’s gone now, right?”

“I assumed he didn’t survive the showdown with Matriarch.” Gene tapped his Malice Crystal. “Or, well, the aftermath of it.”

Vince frowned. He looked like he was chewing on Gene’s words. But before Seifer could press him, he instead asked Jaeger, “So, what’s your deal then?”

“Intern Overseer.” Jaeger raised his right paw and crossed his digits. “If your boss is who I think it is, I interned under him. Til I had an accident in another world and ended up here. Cross m’ heart and hope to die, mate.”

“Really?” Vince quirked a brow.

Jaeger pointed his crossed digits at Vince.

Seifer watched the two stare each other down. Was it really that simple? The keldeo hardly knew how this damn Overseer group truly functioned, so it wasn’t like he could tell.

“I see.” Vince’s feathers drooped a bit. “Guess the quarantine was wearing thin longer than Big S thought. No wonder they want to axe this dimension and funnel your souls to the Overworld.”

Now that was something Seifer couldn’t let sit. “I beg your pardon? Are you implying this… nebulous shadowy group you work for wants to destroy the universe?!”

Vince realized his tongue slip. His eyes widened. “It’s just a want! Just a want!” The purple koraidon held his hands up. “They’re not actually doing it. I mean, you guys are all still here, right?” He laughed nervously.

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Widget growled. His starcloud swirled around his neck.

“I can… see how it wouldn’t.” Vince tittered.

To Seifer’s surprise, Jaeger cut in. “It is policy.” The lycanroc mutt wrinkled his snout in disgust. “If a threat to multiple dimensions can’t be contained or dealt with at its origin point, the last resort option is an apocalypse. Funnel everyone’s souls to the Overworld to rest, then work with the deities in charge to end it and eliminate the weakened threat that no longer has a domain to draw power from.”

He paused. “Or if there ain’t any deities, do things the old-fashioned way and blow the dimension up.”

“But they’re not going there yet,” Vince assured, running his webbed fingers over his dewlap. “Only discussing it.”

“Oh, my mistake. How reassuring.” Sarcasm dripped from Seifer’s words.

Vince shrank back a bit. “I know it sounds bad. Like super-mega-terra bad. But they’re not pulling that trigger. Especially since you’re doing a bang-up job patching these anomalies.”

Seifer squinted. “We’ve only found two. Out of who knows how many.”

“Yes. Yes.” Vince nervously twirled one of his long, feathery horns. “Buuuut that last one you closed up? It suppressed the others. So, things have stabilized a bit.”

Alder nodded along. “That’s right. I can scarcely detect anything for myself.” The psychic braviary glanced at the golden wheel pendant around his neck. “I daresay Leo’s bought your team a well-deserved break.”

“A break, huh?” Gene held his arms up and looked down at his bandaged torso.

Seifer wasn’t buying it. Was it really a break? Or was this some innate defensive measure the anomalies had to make themselves harder to find?

“I hardly think this news is cause for relaxation,” the keldeo huffed.

“It is.” Alder raised a white-feathered wing. “From what I can sense, our dimension is safe.”

“For now,” Seifer countered. “We can’t afford to get caught off guard.”

Widget stepped in front of Seifer. “You’re right.” The cosmic silvally slowly nodded. “But this is an opportunity.”

Seifer tilted his head. “Because of what Yuna’s doing?”

“Yeah. Think about it.” Widget turned to Gene. “Some of them can help Cyril build us more equipment to use. Or we can train them to sniff out the anomalies. Or keep tabs on the empire. That kind of stuff.” He looked back at Seifer. “It’s a break in the sense of not having to fight, but it doesn’t mean sitting around like lazy bums.”

Gene raised his left arm. “Except me. Bedrest guy.”

“Well, you can start brainstorming how we’re supposed to deal with Necrozma,” Widget scoffed, lightly kicking the edge of Gene’s bed with a hind leg. “Maybe work with that Vegna guy. He seems to know about this Phantom.”

“Right.” Gene didn’t sound too pleased. “I guess… I can try that.”

The shadowy mewtwo kept stealing glances at Widget. Seifer wondered if Gene saw a bit of Nova in Widget just then. Nova was the leader at one point.

“Is that everything?” Seifer looked at Vince. “By which I mean, you’re not hiding anything else we ought to know, right?”

Vince looked offended, but everyone else was eyeing him skeptically too. The purple koraidon scratched his head. “I, uh… don’t think so?” His feathery horns stiffened. “Ah, no, wait. I’m pretty sure my boss is trying to do something to help you guys out. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something.”

Seifer rolled his eyes. “Lovely. Well, tell your boss it’d help more if we could actually speak with him.”

“I’ll, um, try.” Vince laughed nervously, only to wilt under Seifer’s stern gaze. “C-Copy that, sir.” He stood at attention. “I guess I’ll, uh, get going. And stuff.”

“Yeah. You do that.” Seifer didn’t take his gaze off the purple koraidon.

“Actually, we ought to head back to the outpost,” Widget said. “Got new recruits to whip into shape, after all.”

“Go easy on the skorps, all right?” Gene said, slumping back down in his bed.

“And you actually rest up.” Widget nudged Gene’s blanket. “We need you fighting fit. Understood?”

“What are you, my mom?”

Widget glared at Gene.

“Fine, fine.”

Satisfied, Seifer turned to make for the infirmary exit.

“Oh, Pony Boy.”

The keldeo froze midstep. “What?”

“Cyril’s pretty mind-blowing once he gets going, isn’t he?”

Seifer hurried out of the room before his face could get as hot as Maxie’s flame collar.