Chapter 86: Past Revelations

After considerable effort, I’ve finished my preliminary analysis of the Space Core artifact I discovered on my most recent expedition up Mount Coronet. The results are simply astounding!

According to my calculations, the space core has a near-bottomless supply of energy at its disposal. Initial testing suggests this energy is capable of warping space and time around it. The display brought to mind stories from Celestic Town dealing with Dialga and Palkia. At first, I was tempted to dismiss the fact that the Space Core matches depictions of the Original One’s torso as a coincidence, but now I’m certain there’s more to it.

It’s still too early to draw any concrete conclusions, but I believe this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. With the Space Core’s power, I can build a device that will solve every remaining mystery of our world. I can bring humans and pokémon closer together and guide us all toward a shining future where dreams come true.

As such, I’ve dubbed these energy reserves the “Dreamweaver.” There are some other signals I must follow up on, so expect additional reports.

XxX

Yuna found herself waiting longer than intended to spill the beans. Just when it seemed like everyone invited would gather, Gene floated the idea of taking it somewhere less cramped. That way there was at least some extra time for people to rest. So, the dragapult had to wait until Guzzie closed the restaurant.

… It was an annoying wait. One made worse by Reshiram continually prodding at her mind, as she expected. Fortunately, Yuna had a much easier time keeping him out of her subconscious than she did before.

Eventually, the restaurant shuttered for the night. People trickled in. Gene levitated aside some tables and chairs to give Yuna a “spot of prime real estate” to talk.

And talk she did. Yuna described as much as she could think of. Zodiark and the Butterfree Effect. Getting blasted into that river in Wyndon. The strange temple-like place she woke up in. And, of course, what Yaldabaoth had to say about all of this.

If the silence that followed was anything to go by, Yuna perhaps went a bit overboard with the information dump. The silence unnerved her enough that when a loud thud and the scratching of metal against metal came from the other side of the room, Yuna jolted. Her tail shriveled and she reflexively tucked her arms over her new core.

“Sorry.” Guzzie held his four pincered arms up, along with his tail. “Guzzie was making snacks. Didn’t realize you moved everything around.” He gently placed four trays down by a table of skorps, sliggoo, and baxcalibur.

“Here. Meat and veggie-lover nachos.” The guzzlord slowly backed away until he reached the kitchen doors. They creaked shut behind him.

Fortunately, that awkward performance was enough to get someone talking.

“Lemme get this straight,” Nikki said, hand raised as she lounged on two chairs, squishing a skorp who tried to claim the seat her legs dangled off as his own. “So this place.” The toxtricity pointed at the floor. “The Eterna Empire or whatever… it’s the real world?”

Yuna nodded.

“And where we live,” Nikki pointed to herself, then Yuna, then waved behind her, “is some kind of opposite land?”

“That’s… pretty much how I interpreted reverse world,” Yuna responded, tapping her claws together.

Nikki frowned. “So, Eternatus schlorping up worlds is actually an attempt at restoring balance to the universe?”

“I think so.”

“But Bahamut doesn’t like that.” Nikki swung her legs off the other chair. The skorp on the chair’s back hopped off it before it fell back on the floor. “And wants to destroy it?”

“Uhh…” Yuna rubbed her shoulder.

“Even though doing so would destroy the universe because of that dumb balance garbage?”

After a bit of hesitation, Yuna circled back to the first part of the toxtricity’s claim. “It’s more like he was the reverse world’s guardian and was violently protective of it.”

“To-may-to, to-mah-to.” Nikki waved Yuna off, crossing one leg over another. “Cuz it sounds like the only reason that happened is he took your power. Because you’re actually, like, some big shadow daemon thingy that controls the reverse world.”

“I suppose that’s one way of putting it.” Yuna slowly landed on a chair, draping her arms and torso over the back of it.

“And your inner daemon actually knew the thing that’s causing all the anomalies.” Nikki’s mohawk frazzled. “Then chased it across worlds until you clashed in some place with only pokémon. The end result being…” Her voice trailed off and she gestured all around her. A small neon hamburger bolted to one of the pillars flickered before the bulbs died and it went dark. “… All this shit.”

There was only one thing missing. “I think there’s a chance some of us lived in that world before.” Yuna squeezed the back of the chair. “And because we wanted to stop Zodiark so badly, we ended up here with new lives.”

“Wow!” Griffon fluttered his metal wings from atop an arcade cabinet behind Nikki’s table. “I’m impressed you followed it all.”

“Kiss my ass, emo skarmory!” Nikki’s mohawk erupted with sparks. “I know how to pay attention to important shit!” She leaned forward in her chair, scowling. “Which is why something about this doesn’t make sense.”

The dragonair curled on the pink cushion next to her coiled up tight. “And that is?” Scarlett wondered.

“Why now?“

Silence. Perhaps Nikki was letting it hang in the air. Or collecting her thoughts further.

Sure enough, the toxtricity continued, “The universe has been around plenty long.” She pointed across the room, where Gene leaned against the bar and Cyril sat at a barstool quietly sipping some luminescent blue beverage. “Long enough for these two to have outlived us several times over.” Nikki crossed her arms and squinted. “So, why is this all happening now? If there’s reincarnation or whatever… why didn’t anyone come back at the beginning?”

Nikki stood up and looked around the room. “I can’t be the only one thinking this, right? Why let all this shit build up when someone could’ve offed Zodiark early?”

Some murmurs followed, mainly from assorted skorps and dragons. But golden embers drew Yuna’s attention back toward the arcade cabinet. Vegna had Bahamut’s journal out, flipping through pages. From his right shoulder, Talonflame leaned his beak toward the book every so often.

“I see the past, present, and future existing all at once before me.” Vegna dropped the book on the table in front of him. The thwap made Jade’s tail flaps curl. Bits of pink smoke rose from her tail.

“Ah-ha. Sorry.” The salugia laughed nervously.

Ignoring her, Vegna placed his right index finger squarely on the center of whatever page he’d opened to.

“Zodiark is mentioned in the journal,” he declared.

Heads quickly turned toward the back left corner of the restaurant. “That so?” Jaeger scratched his right ear. “Y’ thinking that we’re missing something, then?”

“Indeed.” Vegna put a stronger emphasis on that last syllable. He tapped the tome repeatedly with his index finger. “It’s written here. The Matriarch program was part of Eternatus’ core. It sounds as though Matriarch was sealing off Zodiark.” The dusknoir flipped a page. “Bahamut describes a moment where he saw a human with a hairstyle like Leo’s, who quickly shattered into countless pieces that vanished on the spot.”

Widget shifted in place nervously on his cushion in the center of the room. His starcloud swirled around his neck. “Does that mean Leo and his plates are actually the pieces of Zodiark?”

Yuna picked her head up a bit. Zodiark had mentioned wanting to take the plates for themselves back in Wyndon. But how could they do that if they were only a projection? Maybe from bonding with the anomaly long enough?

“I think it’s the opposite, actually.” Alder was quick to raise a wing. A pink glow spread over his white, feathery afro. “Leo represents the rightful creator of this universe. Zodiark sounds more like the one who caused an errant creation process. So, by giving Leo the plates, we keep them away from Zodiark.”

A couple of tables over, Igneous cleared his throat. He’d leaned back enough to prop his chair against the table, with only its hind legs on the ground. “And the Red Chain fragments? They could be part of this, too.”

“Already ate the ones we had.”

Igneous almost fell off his chair trying to turn and locate Leo. Yuna pointed up to where the cosmic arceus stood on the ceiling. Something the dragapult was choosing not to think too hard about.

“Ate them?” Igneous sputtered.

“Absorbed them. Ate them.” Leo shrugged. “Sigurd gave me his and I took the one we recharged with the big collider. Makes more sense than leaving them out in the open.”

Several people murmured their agreement. Beside Igneous, however, Shimmer kneaded his hooves against his cushion “Is there, um, any way to get them out?” he wondered.

Leo looked down from the ceiling. “Probably. But I don’t see a reason to.” He squinted. The gems in his wheel flickered. “Unless you’re saying you want one. Which is hella sus, b-t-dubs.”

Yuna almost sputtered, both at Leo’s accusation and the bizarre lingo that came with it. She hadn’t taught him any of that. And judging by the looks her mother, Noctum, and a few other dragons gave her, they also wondered what was up.

“Err, no, just a strategy concern.” Shimmer’s fluffy tails puffed out. There were even more eyes on him than on Leo and Yuna. The ponytales looked ready to bolt from the room.

“He’s asking because there’s a chance his mother has one of the fragments,” Igneous said. Shimmer went wide-eyed. “So, yeah, it is something we ought to know. Because we might need those fragments to counter hers.”

Right. That whole business with Isola possibly being some Red Chain-powered body snatcher. Yuna caught Vegna’s eye flickering blue with Zekrom’s lightning. He recalled the tome with a flick of his wrist and backed up against the arcade machine.

“Tch. That’s all well and good.” Nikki swung her legs off her chair and stood up. “But I’m still stuck on where I was before.”

“Oh, brother.” Griffon spread out his wings. “I thought you were good. You need us to say it slower or something, toots?”

Nikki’s response was to silently raise an electrified fist. Vegna grabbed the corviknight’s outstretched wing. Griffon disappeared into Vegna’s body. “Continue, Nicolette.”

“Uhh, yeah.” Nikki hesitantly lowered her fist. Still creeped out by Vegna, Yuna figured. “So, like, Necrozma. Wants to destroy Eternatus and stuff.” The toxtricity jammed her hands into her pockets. “What the hell does pulling Needles have to do with that? He can already cross over inside Eternatus. So, why doesn’t he just make a break for the damn core?”

Silence greeted Nikki again. Yuna had to admit it was a good question. One she didn’t have a solid answer for. She glanced at Vegna, who was looking out the glass wall toward the arena.

“Necrozma wants to have as much power at his disposal as possible,” the dusknoir said. “The Needles represent Sages who hold portions of his light. He wants it back.”

“Not to mention… if yanking the Needles severs the connection between Eternatus and the reverse world, he’d want to do that,” Sigurd proposed, moving his wheelchair slightly forward from the edge of the bar. “Even if he lost this mysterious Renegade power, he might still have instincts driving him to protect the reverse world.”

That was pretty much Yuna’s take on it. She nodded at Sigurd who, satisfied, moved his chair back against the side of the bar.

“It’s kinda hard to get a read on him,” Yuna said. “But he’s a Whisper, so I doubt anything he’s doing is really going to make sense.”

After a few seconds of Nikki squinting at Yuna, she took her hands out of her pockets and flopped back in her chair. “Well, shit.” The toxtricity draped her right arm over the back of the chair. “I got nothing else.” She slumped over to her left, practically draping herself across the table. The skorp from earlier barely skittered out of the way in time. “Gonna… need to chew on it for a bit.”

Gene popped out of a Phantom Warp in the middle of the room. “Might be best for everyone.” His yellow-tipped tail lazily drifted back and forth. “We can keep tossing around questions until we’re blue in the face.” Gene shook his head. “But Princess laid all the cards out as she knows ’em. Everyone oughta call it a night. Capiche?”

Not a single soul objected to the shadowy mewtwo. “Great.” He landed atop the mechanical tauros in the middle of the room. “Then you’re all dismissed. Good work. Pats on the back. G’night, sleep tight, and all that happy nonsense.”

And the resistance’s intrepid leader was the first to fly out of the room.

XxX

After everyone broke away from the restaurant, Yuna expected people to come over and pester her with more questions. When that didn’t happen, she settled for returning to her room. Yuna lay on her back. Her cot didn’t fit her anymore as a dragapult, forcing her to tuck in her legs and curl her tail up just to fit.

She studied the metal ceiling. Her eyes jumped between dents and small rusted streaks. Anything to pass the time.

“You did the right thing telling them,” Reshiram said. His presence tickled the back of Yuna’s mind.

It was too much, Yuna responded, though she couldn’t imagine how one would explain all of this gradually. Still, didn’t make her feel any less guilty. Yuna traced a claw over the cot’s rough blanket. If it overwhelmed me, it’s bound to have overwhelmed all of them. She tilted her head by the door. Think they’re avoiding me?

“I think it’s too soon to jump to conclusions,” Reshiram said. “Like Gene said. Everyone needs time to process this.”

Yuna wondered how much time they’d have. Would new anomalies spring up or did sealing the last one give the resistance another reprieve?

“Just do whaaaaaaaaaat I do. Sleep it off,” Cresselia said.

Except it wasn’t really time to sleep. Yuna forced Cresselia and Reshiram out of her mind. She rubbed her eyes. There were tiny stars in the corners of her vision. Yuna rubbed again. No good. Was she getting floaters? Baraz dealt with those, but he said that was because he was old. Was the stress aging her?

“… ckie…”

Yuna sat up. She propped her triangular head against the wall. “Someone there?” Yuna called, watching the door.

More stars danced around the edge of her vision. She rubbed her eyes again. And when she opened them, the bare room had hazy silhouettes against an even hazier brown floor. Though blurry, she recognized one: an icy vulpix.

As things grew more solid, Yuna realized Icepix was standing in front of a mirror. She gazed at her reflection, flicking random tails and producing icy mist.

When Icepix sighed, the brown floor and walls came into focus, painting over Yuna’s bedroom. Her cot melted into a doorway and her ectoplasmic body shrank down and sprouted blue and black fur.

“Nickie?”

The icepix jolted. Her tails poofed out, sprinkling cold mist that fogged up against the mirror.

“Oh.” Nickie shifted nervously. “Hey, Tessa. Sorry, I was… lost in thought, I guess.”

Tessa sighed. “I figured.” She stepped into the room. The luminous orbs bathed her in dim orange. A couple of months into her guild time and she still wasn’t used to these custom nighttime orbs Magearna made for people to use in the evenings.

“That obvious, huh?” Nickie was trying to brush the frost off the mirror with her tails, but that only smudged up the mirror.

“Well, you didn’t touch your dinner.” Tessa jogged over to some wooden shelves on her left, grabbed an old cloth, and headed to the mirror. “I had a hunch.” The riolu wiped the mirror with the cloth.

“Ah.” Nickie’s ears folded. “Guess I didn’t have much of an appetite. Did Nero end up eating my portion?”

“Yeah. Think he slipped into a food coma.” Tessa laughed. Nickie joined her, though her laughter was clearly forced.

“What’s bothering you?” Tessa tossed the cloth onto the floor. “Is it about what Mom and Dad told us? That stuff about checking the Worldcore to see if you’re—”

“What if a faller doesn’t want to leave?”

Nickie spoke so quickly Tessa needed a moment to parse the icepix’s question. She opened and closed her mouth several times. All Tessa managed was a, “Huh?”

Nickie stepped back, her tails curling. “What if… a faller would rather stay here?”

Tessa stared blankly. Nickie shuffled back further.

“Your paren— I mean, the guildmasters said fallers can be dangerous because they can make dungeons unstable. Or cause dungeons to form.”

She rubbed her forelegs together. “So, say the Worldcore decides I’m not supposed to be here. I’d have to go home, right?”

“That’s what I’ve always thought,” Tessa said, rubbing the back of her head. “It sure sounds like fallers go back home. The only people who’ve stayed behind are some heroes the Voice of Life summoned.” Her aura feelers crinkled. “At least, that’s how it’s gone in the stories of the old heroes.”

As she rambled, Nickie inched closer to the mirror again. She gazed at her reflection.

“Wait.” Tessa gave Nickie space to stand in front of the mirror. The icepix’s words were finally sinking in. “You really don’t want to go home? E-Even though you remember your life?” Her aura feelers throbbed. “Don’t you miss being human?”

Nickie winced. But why? It wasn’t that surprising a question, was it?

“Of course there’s stuff I miss,” Nickie said. She hadn’t taken her eyes off her reflection. “I miss television. And video games.” Nickie shook her head. “I miss not being covered in a fur coat the whole time. Or smelling way too much stuff. And having hands with freaking thumbs!

“… God, I miss thumbs.”

She let out a tired laugh that turned into more of a bark. “Oh, and I could do without this shitty screechy voice, too.”

Tessa fidgeted with her paws. “Then why—”

Nickie silently stared at her reflection. She reached a foreleg out and put her forepaw against its reflection on the mirror. “Because, even that stuff couldn’t make it feel  right.“

“Huh?”

Silence followed. Nickie looked between Tessa and her reflection. She hung her head.

“Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”

Tessa’s aura feelers crinkled. Those glimmers in the corners of Nickie’s eyes. Tears?

“Then explain.” Tessa was at the icepix’s side in an instant. “You’re my partner, Nickie.” She paused. “I’d… rather not have you leave, either. If I can understand, then maybe—”

“I don’t know!”

Nickie shrank back, as if her own cry frightened her. She slid onto her belly. “I’m not sure… how I can explain it to you.”

Oh. Well, Tessa didn’t want to leave Nickie hanging like this. She sat down opposite Nickie, placing her paws on her crossed legs.

“Try me,” the riolu said.

Nickie stared blankly at her. She blinked silently. “I—” Nickie stopped herself, then took a steady breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”

After a few deep breaths, Nickie said, “It never felt right. My old human body.” She kneaded the stone floor with her paws. “Like, uh… your parents are both lucario, right?”

Tessa nodded slowly.

“Okay.” Nickie looked a bit less uncertain. “Imagine one of your parents was, I dunno, a blaziken instead.” She reached her left forepaw out. “And you hatched a torchic instead of a riolu. But, like, deep down you don’t think that’s right. You feel like you’re supposed to be a riolu, not a torchic.”

She looked at Tessa. “What would you do?”

“What would… I do?” Tessa couldn’t help parroting the question. It sounded like Nickie was talking about some weird situation where someone’s soul felt their body didn’t match. In which case, Tessa imagined that would be pretty upsetting. Though it was hard for her to get into that mindset.

“Well, um, I guess I’d… try to change it?”

Nickie smiled somberly. Had Tessa given the right answer, then?

“My human body…” The icepix trailed off. She swallowed hard. “What if I told you that, as a human, I’m a guy?”

Tessa stiffened. What was that supposed to mean? Crazy things happened to fallers that got dragged across worlds, so a gender swap wouldn’t be out of the question.

But hang on. With what Nickie was saying…

“You, um, didn’t like that, did you?”

Nickie’s smile was less somber. “I was trying to change it. Humans have ways to do that where I’m from.” She laughed nervously. “It’s not as easy as tossing an orb on the ground, though. It takes time. I was working with… some humans who deal with this kind of stuff. And my mom was helping, too. Because I wouldn’t have made much progress otherwise.”

Tessa couldn’t help but raise a brow. This happened enough to humans to where there were jobs about this?

“It was small changes,” Nickie continued, brushing a forepaw back and forth on the ground. Back and forth. Back and forth. “At school, mostly.” She laughed nervously again. “Wearing different clothes. Having people call me Nickie instead of Nick or Nicholas.”

“And that… made you happy?”

“It helped,” Nickie said. “At school, anyway. Most folks were understanding.” Her fur bristled. “But at home… I couldn’t do that stuff. Not around my dad, at least. So, I hid all that stuff. I’d be Nickie at school but Nick around family.” She shook her head. “And it was exhausting. But I thought if I could keep it up for a bit longer… I’d be able to make it to the biggest steps. The ones that’d really help me feel better.”

Tessa’s aura feelers throbbed again. If Nickie was a girl here, then… did that mean she’d made it?

But wait, Nickie’s smile had faded. Her ears folded.

“Did something happen?” Tessa scooched closer.

Nickie nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut. Took shaky breaths. “There was this guy.” Her tails crinkled. “My neighbor, Shane. We were in a lot of the same classes and we’d been close friends for a long time. But I was drifting apart from him. Especially when I made these changes.”

Despite her tension, Nickie smiled. “I was spending a lot of time around our school’s theater. With other folks I’d met in drama and music classes. I really liked them… and they helped me out a ton.”

Tessa nodded slowly. “And Shane?”

“He, uh… seemed uncomfortable for a lot of that time,” Nickie said. Her smile faded again. “When I thought I’d made it to the biggest steps, I ended up telling him. And he… he…”

The icepix hung her head. Tessa reached out toward her, only to freeze when Nickie whispered the rest of her thought.

“… He ratted me out to my dad.”

Just the way Nickie said it made Tessa’s heart skip a beat. It was bad. She was sure of it. And the riolu didn’t want to press Nickie if it would only hurt her.

She scooched closer. “Nickie…”

“Dad had a temper. I always knew that.” Nickie shuddered. “But I’d… I’d never seen him so angry.” Her fur stood on end. “And that was when he was talking to my mom. He… didn’t fly off the handle at me. But he put his foot down. Said that as long as I was part of his family, I had to follow his rules. And that meant stopping everything I was doing.”

Tessa was sorely tempted to ask if Nickie left, but her gut told her that was a bad idea. She settled on a gentler, “What happened after that?”

“I had to stop the medicine I’d been on before,” Nickie whispered. “And my dad spoke with my school. Made them change the classes I was in.” She lay her head on her forelegs. “It just… I felt worse and worse as the days and weeks went on.”

“I’m sorry.” Tessa didn’t know why she blurted that out. She wasn’t there. And the riolu was still trying to wrap her head around parts of the explanation. Still, she scooched beside the icepix. Put her paw on Nickie’s shoulder.

“That’s why I don’t want to go back,” Nickie whimpered. “Even though there’s annoying stuff about being a vulpix.” She turned a tearful gaze on Tessa. “Hearing my voice. A-And everyone saying I’m a girl and calling me Nickie. It’s…”

Nickie leaned her head into Tessa’s belly. “It’s what I wanted. For my human self, at least. And just the thought of losing it…”

Tessa stiffened. She didn’t take her paw off Nickie’s shoulder. “Um, maybe we can talk to the Voice of Life or curry favor with a powerful enough legend? Then we could… send you home with that fixed.” If there were good things about being human, then the best thing was to find a middle ground, right?

But Nickie rubbed her face against Tessa’s belly. “I think… I’m better off here.” The icepix sat back up. “I didn’t want to say anything, though. You guys have been great to me. Figured, I dunno, I’d be spitting on your generosity. Make all that investigative work for naught. And not to mention the whole thing about fallers. I’m not looking to put y’all in danger!”

She sighed and shook her head. “I guess… something about how sure and confident you are made me think I have to go back home.”

Tessa sat there silently. Judging by the guilty look on Nickie’s face, that was all of it.

The riolu let her paw slide down to the floor. “I see.”

Nickie flinched. Tessa’s aura feelers tensed from the icepix’s panic. She had to keep talking quickly before Nickie got the wrong idea.

“I had no idea.” Tessa sat up a bit straighter. “It’s, uh, kinda relieving to hear?” Her aura feelers curled up. “Which is, uh… dang, there’s probably a better way of saying that.”

Guilt and elation wrestled in her head while her aura sense told her she was confusing Nickie. “I, uh, know I put on a confident face. But the truth is I get nervous, too.” Tessa’s shoulders sagged. “About being able to pull off our jobs. Impress the guild.” She swallowed hard. “My parents.”

“Seriously? They love you.”

“Yeah. That’s why… I don’t want to let them down.”

Without even thinking, Tessa leaned her head against Nikki’s shoulder. The icepix’s fur bristled but she didn’t pull away.

“Tessa, what are you—”

“I wish I could be that strong.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry.” Tessa fidgeted nervously. “It’s just… hearing about that stuff from the human world… that was all I could think about. If it were me… I think I’d have given up at some point. But you pressed on. Even through those struggles. That’s,” she took a steady breath, “stronger than any single Force Palm or Aura Sphere.”

“S-Seriously?” Nickie’s fur prickled, though there was a hint of eagerness in her voice.

Tessa laughed. “Would you believe me if I said I’ve been hoping you’d be able to stay?”

“Whaaaaaaaat?” Now it was Nickie’s turn to laugh. “You’re joshing me, right?”

The riolu finally realized where her head was and lifted it back up. “Isn’t Josh a name?” she squeaked.

Oh, great, her aura feelers were throbbing. Giving away her embarrassment. Lovely.

“Yeah. And it also means joking.” Nickie laughed louder. “You really want me sticking around?”

Tessa managed to get her feelers under control. “I mean… yeah? You’re fun.” She smiled at Nickie. “You’re funny, too. It’s… nice being around you.”

Nickie blinked. “There are plenty of folks around here.”

“I know.” Tessa shifted on the floor. “But you’re my partner. And that’s something special. At least, it is to me.”

Nickie stared blankly at her. “Y’mean ‘partner’ like ‘teammate,’ right?” Her tails puffed out. “Cuz that, uh, can mean something a lot different to us humans.”

Tessa laughed nervously. Her aura feelers were twitching again. “I know. It’s the same for us pokémon.” She smiled at the icepix. “Besides, the fact that you did show up here as a girl… maybe we’re wrong?”

“Hmm?”

“Maybe you’re not a faller. Maybe you were brought here for a reason?”

Silence. Tessa held her breath. Then she heard fwips. Nickie’s tails brushing against the floor.

“Well, that’s…” Nickie glanced at the mirror, then at Tessa. “Huh. Hadn’t thought about that.”

She scooted left. Her side brushed against Tessa’s. “Maybe we should visit the Worldcore, then.”

“And after that?” Tessa wondered, her gaze trailing to the floor. To her paw beside Nickie’s.

“I’m not thinking that far ahead yet.”

“… Yo.”

Yuna nodded slowly. “That’s fair, Nickie. Tomorrow’s another day.” The dragapult tapped her chin. “Maybe we’ll look for a low-key job or two to take.”

“The hell are you talking about, Princess?”

The icepix brushed her foreleg against her snout, but ended up putting it on Yuna’s thigh instead of the floor. “I think that’s a great idea. Maybe we can hit the spa after? My fur’s getting kinda matted.”

“I was thinking the same thing. The room’s full of vulpix fur.” Yuna laughed and rubbed the icepix’s back. “You’re my partner for a reason.”

“Snap out of it, Princess!”

A harsh electric guitar chord shattered the icepix and revealed Nikki standing in the doorway with one hand resting on her gills.

“GAH!”

Yuna abruptly jerked back, smacking her triangular head against the wall. Ectoplasm rippling, she blinked the stars from her vision.

“N-Nikki? Hi. When did, um, you get here?”

“Couple of minutes ago.” The toxtricity kicked the door shut with her leg.

“Can I, um, help you?” Yuna’s tail crinkled.

“I dunno.” Nikki stared Yuna down. “You gonna lay there looking like a feral deerling in the headlights or you gonna tell me why you’re talking about jobs and vulpix fur?”