what the fuck.

lethe watches in horror as their kingler is deleted before their eyes, with not a thing they can do about it. shit, shit, shit. they need to move.

not much time is allowed for that, though, as the incoming attacks cease and the scene stops existing. a bang makes lethe almost raise their hand (the one they have left) over their ears, and they find themself back in the main terminal. they cover their eye for a moment, while they wait for it to adjust to the brightness of the glowing platform, not wanting to pile on a headache to everything else. their heart pounds with the anxiety of the moment.

listening to the speaker’s voice, they feel their blood run cold. ten people. right.

they aren’t sure how the others want to decide this, and for a moment the image of drawing sticks comes to mind. they turn to stare at the glowing spots, contemplating. this doesn’t make their decision clearer; they are frozen in fear, feeling stuck to the ground beneath them by blood heavy as lead. they couldn’t move if they wanted to, they think. no, they know. they know they should go for it; there’s no one back at “home” who will really miss them, after all. their family in galar hadn’t even noticed that they’d left, not until it’d been too late and they were long-gone. but dread has frozen them in their tracks. they feel almost that they can not breathe, and the news that some will return home has brought no relief to the predicament.

they look to the one they’ve relied far too much upon this entire time, trying to get a hint of what she plans. in a stupid moment, they’re tempted to reach for her hand — as little physical comfort as they’ve gotten in their life, they still crave it.

the doppelganger voices still haunt them, and for a moment they think they will be hearing them for the rest of their life.

---

tldr:
nothing much tbh lethe is like. anxious as hell and doesn’t feel like they can move as a result.

☉

the one before them answers their question in the negative, and lethe can’t help but wonder where the hell they knew her face from, then. it isn’t relevant in the moment, sure, but lethe doesn’t love being without answers; it makes them pretty nervous, actually. or at least it would, if they thought they could get any more nervous in this moment.

"huh. looked familiar."

their attention turns to the terminal. things are changing, shifting before lethe and it makes them feel more than slightly dizzy. the scene that it settles upon doesn’t help, though; the wasteland that forms before them is not something lethe would have ever imagined they’d witness.

death surrounds this land in a final, permanent embrace, and they wonder what had led to such a fate. impaled great creatures around them serve as images of just how great this finality is. that isn’t what worries lethe the most, though; the very human corpses before them are the greatest concern in their sight. not a single person stands, except for those lethe recognizes as having come through the terminal with them. they can’t help it, as they find themself sticking closer to the familiar stranger for some sense of safety.

of course, this place is not safe. lights, reminding lethe of the ones which impale the beasts around them, fall from the sky, and lethe reaches out for stranger-companion in a hopeful attempt at moving them out of the way of one. they'd already lost an arm, they don't need to lose anything else.

acting quickly, they move to grasp the ball containing their kingler, using protect in an attempt to spare aries or themself any immediate harm.

s9IhpHXt

---

tldr:
- lethe is as horrified by the surroundings as one might expect
- trying to keep aries safe still ig
- kingler chive uses protect to try to protect lethe and @aries

☉

seems the others had been right, when they input the files.

lethe listens carefully to the narration, unsure how to react to the various reveals. they think they’re too numb from shock at this point to be too emotionally impacted; ran out of emotions, try again later.

three terminals left, huh? wonderful. great.

then there’s an announcement about another scan, and lethe…

lethe isn’t sure what the hell it’s done. they look to the strangers around them, their eyes passing over each and every one of them until they land on the nearest. stranger doesn’t feel right to call her, but lethe doesn’t know what else she could be — they’ve never even seen her before. she feels more familiar than that, though. lethe just isn’t sure where from.

“you famous, or something?” they ask her, a puzzled look on their face. then they remember the more important things at hand.

at least one effect of the scan becomes apparent as they look to the copies once more — they grow more solid, more realistic. and now? they speak. good god. lethe is just trying their hardest to ignore the eerie repetitions of phrases they’ve once said.

the three terminals in question stand before them, and remembering what a disaster the last had been, being stuck in the middle of the battle, they worry about their choice this time.

figuring it can’t get much worse, they decide on a whim. they’d always liked the number six. to the path labeled future, they go, trying to ignore the way their nerves make them almost shake.

---

tldr:
- lethe loses memories of @aries , asks her if she's famous 
- additionally, loses emotions: joy, relief
- goes down the path of future, terminal 06

☉

The chaos had completely overtaken Lethe, overwhelming them as they’d tried their hardest to battle alongside @aries . The mud shot had hit, to Lethe’s relief, and they guess they spent a second too long looking at the effects of that. They’re moving as soon as they see the psycho cuts, trying to back away from the things with Aries, keeping themself closer to them than Aries in an attempt to keep them in their sight. It’s hard to stay focused on it all, the sounds and chaos around them distracting and drawing their attention.

Somewhere in the chaos, a feeling comes over them. They know they’ve been hit — they’re not sure by what, or by who, it had been at a range. They’d probably failed to dodge the psycho cuts of the Cresselia. To be honest, whatever it was doesn’t matter. What’s important is that they had been hit, and there’s this absolute nothing that accompanies it. It envelops their left arm, which they’d clumsily failed to move out of the way of an incoming attack. This feeling is the only thing that tips them off. They’re afraid to look at the damage; maybe the shock could hold things back for now, if they just didn’t look.

Lethe is not the only one to have been impacted, though, and they can see that the injuries aren’t right. There’s none of that blood and gore they’d been fearing so heavily, and instead just… emptiness. As horrifying as this fact is, it pushes them to look, driven by morbid curiosity.

They’ve seen injury before. And this… this isn’t it. It’s unlike any injury they’ve ever encountered. Unlike those they’d been most intimate with in the past, this is followed by no visual signs of injury. Just like the sensation, the only thing they can see is nothingness.

Attention is needed elsewhere, though. The setting around them is changing, the porygon once more around. Worries about a new battle surface in Lethe’s mind — they aren’t sure how effective they’ll be without an arm. Soon though, Chive is returning to her ball.

Next thing Lethe knows, they’re back to their previous path. This is admittedly one of those things Lethe knows they’ll be horribly overwhelmed by when they get the chance. For now, it’s time to push those emotions down.

Fearing a battle, they look down at their missing arm once more. Something past it catches their attention, though. A copy of them, a version whose one-eye seems disturbingly dead.

They turn their gaze upwards, not wanting to look at it any longer.

Apparently, there’s a new riddle to be solved, and god, they hate riddles. Nearby, a discussion on it appears to be taking place. They try to listen in on it, to figure out different branches of logic one might take to answer it. Tempted to ask Aries, they glance at her to see if they can get a hint of what she may think on the riddle.

---

tldr:
- lethe lost their arm (probably to those psycho cuts), they’re scared and confused
- they try to repress any emotions they may have on the situation for the sake of being able to focus
- they’re still trying to chill by aries

☉

by the time the first attack hits, lethe’s only got one thought running through their mind: shit. we’re gonna die.

they didn’t know about the pokemon before them, but they know they’re bad news. any feelings of awe or reverence lethe may have otherwise felt about some strange, powerful pokemon that they'd never seen before are squashed as soon as the attacks begin. they don’t know what the group had done to deserve this.

it seems like they’d gotten the right answer, and surely others had as well. they can see where the gray and pink creatures may be coming from — but why were the wolf-like things here? they don’t see to be the main thing to focus on, right now. lethe winces as they go after the small man from before, but there’s bigger fish to fry, and he’s got help already. lethe tries putting distance between themself and said creatures.

of course they were unprepared for such an attack — who would be ready, after all? it had seemed like it would just be a riddle. sure, before there had been the porygons, but this… appears to be on an entirely different level than some porygons, even to lethe’s limited knowledge.

their previous thoughts and worries regarding @aries ’s strange way of looking at them vanished as their mind fully shifts to the battle before them. great. they get closer to aries, ready to defend her if needed — there’s no reason for them to feel as protective as they do, of course, they barely know each other. lethe decides to write it off as the stress of the moment, clinging to the one person they know the best in the midst of the chaos. even if that person happens to be someone they didn’t even have a strong opinion on.

attempting to stop themselves from panicking into inaction, they gesture towards their kingler, who’s better at being active in chaos than them — the bar is low, after all — to signal that an attack is needed. moving in front of the two of them, chive goes for the darkrai, appearing to panic herself, aiming at it with a mud shot. lethe sighs at the less-than-stellar move choice, but it’s better than nothing, they guess. maybe chive wasn’t better at being active in chaos.

maybe they should cooperate with some others, but it seems too late now to try to forge any new connections. everyone is rightfully distracted, and lethe decides to keep quiet in order to not mess things up further. things are bad enough as is. besides, lethe is used to being silent — last thing anyone needs is for them to get caught up on the phrasing of something and completely ruin things in the process.

“stay near me?” they ask aries, turning to glance at their singular companion.
[break]

Jw66Nm|0

---

tldr:
- lethe stays nearby aries, gets closer even. they’re trying to protect her, more or less.

- lethe doesn’t really recognize any of the four opponents, so is unsure of how to fight them

- kingler named chive panics and uses mud shot on darkrai

- they ask aries to stick near them, since she’s the person they’ve been accompanying since almost the beginning of this and lethe is afraid to branch out, esp mid-chaos

☉

lethe watches the chaos of the moment around them, unsure what to even react to. too much is happening for them to have any particular feelings about one thing, so they’re trying to just move on, handle themself (and aries too, they guess). the clones had been horrifying to witness at first, but lethe hadn’t seen an opportunity or reason for them to get involved, at least for right now — everyone else had seemed to have it more or less handled, including aries with her luxray and the small, blue-haired man’s (the man wasn’t very intimidating to begin with, so lethe didn’t doubt the amount of people there could handle it). it appeared to have become a reflection now anyways, so lethe somewhat doubted anything could be done. [break]
aries is ahead of them, with a confused look on their face. at first, they think it's because of the events around them, which lethe agrees with. but soon they realize the look is directed at them, and seriously, why is she looking at them like that? lethe wonders if she’s judging them, if they should be judging her back equally. giving her a confused look quickly before, they turn to focus on the riddle in front of them.[break]
lethe doesn’t know much about the pokemon on the screen. the two at the bottom, she’s especially confused by. the ones that stick out to her, though, are the ones which lack many seemingly complicated patterns or parts to their appearance. there’s a few that seem to have fewer adornments than the others, but three of them appear to match each other, so they doubt it’s the one that’s meant to not belong. the final one also appeared to be far more gray than the others, lacking in as much color.
[break]
hesitantly, lethe moves to pick it, tapping the screen.

---

tldr:
- confused about why aries is looking at them strangely
- chooses darkrai for the riddle. half a guess, half based on the appearances of the pokemon.

☉

The sight of the waves is beautiful, but the sight of the gyrados swarm before them is more so. The great beasts of the water, weaving in and out, understanding the waves in a way Lethe could never. Sights like these reassure them, remind Lethe that the world is big, and everyone is small.

Gyrados had always stood out to Lethe. It reminded her of the tales of the kraken, which had captured their imagination from a young age as a youth stuck in beachless Ballonlea.

They move to the water, ready to attempt their capture.

rFptYDLq

☉

Flashing Thomas a quick thumbs up, Lethe agrees with a short “got it.” Thomas seems sure of himself — more sure than Lethe, to be honest — so they don’t pay much heed to his side of things as they move into action.

They provide no chance for the cultists on their side of things to recover from Chamomile’s spark. Hurrying into the crowd before them, they rush to the one on their side who had seemed the most affected by the spark. They gift said cultist a kick to the chest, stepping to the side to ensure the back of their knees are forced to give out with another brief kick. A low-blow perhaps, but a final meeting of their foot with the cultist’s face provides Lethe with satisfaction that this one will have no plans of getting up anytime soon.

Not forgetting that three others, as well as possibly their Pokemon, remain, they point to the Zebstrika, a positive signal for her to use a thunder wave upon those around. It seems to disorient the cultists well enough, one even falling back. Chamomile seems to see this as an invite to place her foot firmly on the cultist’s chest. Lethe almost winces in empathy — Zebstrikas were hardly the lightest creatures. At least it was one fewer to worry about, they supposed.

Two down, two to go.

Recalling the effectiveness of an elbow, and as a cultist stupidly moves towards them, they gear up to hit their windpipe with no less than the point of their bent left arm. The first hit doesn’t seem to be enough, so they repeat. This one’s boldness appears to have worked against them, as they sputter their way to the muddy ground beneath.

One last one. They stand facing their final human opponent, who doesn’t seem so willing to be taken down. Okay. Lethe could solve that. Moving a hand to the Pokeballs in their pocket, they hope to take down the cultist and some of the remaining, angry Pokemon as quickly as possible. They hope Chive and Basil are ready to be called in for the assist, if necessary.

thomas nightingale

☉

“Sounds like you’re doing well for yourself, then. Congrats" They paused for a moment. "‘Sick ride’?” Lethe asked. That could mean anything, from a collected Pokemon to a new car. Though they weren’t sure how Isaac would be able to afford a new car, given that Lethe certainly couldn’t.

Again, jobs had been slower recently, and with that came the fact that money was slower. Which wasn’t the biggest deal; Lethe was used to their income coming and going, but things had been going this way for a longer period than she was used to. And Rocket hadn’t exactly afforded them any wonderful opportunities so far. They were beginning to wonder where everyone else found these great chances within the organization; no matter how hard they struggled, they seemed unwilling to come to them. Not to mention that networking was not their strong suit.

But that was something to worry about later, they supposed, not in front of someone else. Keeping up appearances, or something, just like their parents had taught.

They’re distracted once more soon enough. Lethe wasn’t sure whether Isaac had been attempting to be subtle about giving whatever was under the table some food. A loud bite noise gave it away, so any attempt had more than failed. “Who’s Watson?” They lean back, attempting to catch a glimpse of whatever is under the table.

Isaac Merlo

☉

lethe is both shocked and relieved that their attempts at protection had worked, as both them and aries stand seemingly unharmed.

the dome falls before their eyes at the answering of the riddle, but they don’t allow themselves to be relieved for long. this didn’t seem to be the end. while simple things existed, lethe doubted this could be one of them. context clues, or whatever.

before they can say or think much in response to it, aries is leaping into action, heading towards a path before them. and to be perfectly honest, they aren’t paying attention to much other than aries, themself, and their own thoughts. it feels as if there’s no more room in their mind for much more, given how much it buzzes with ideas on those few topics.

their options are to follow aries, or… follow aries, given that there’s only one path out they can see for now. “…wait for me,” they mutter, hesitant but unwilling to leave the only companion they may find here. they follow after her, feeling slightly ridiculous in doing so.

down the path, another change in the environment catches their attention, as something is attached to them. disturbed, they try hitting it off in a moment of impulse, only to find it to be… a file?

sure, that made as much sense as anything else did in this god-forsaken place.

it opens before their eyes as they hit it, expanding into the projection. they can’t make sense of it, no matter how much they peer at the image before them. looking ahead, they consider that it may have something to do with the now-splitting paths ahead of them. a fork in the road, with three paths. “avatars,” “legendaries,” and “ultra beasts.” they figure there has to be something tying them together, but unable to draw any sort of connection, they resign themselves to watching what others do and attempting to decide from there.

or rather, that’s what they would have done if aries hadn’t made a decision so quickly. damn it. there she was, already heading off to a path labeled “terminal two,” with “legendaries” tacked on at the end as if that was supposed to explain anything at all. it’s embarrassing, following her like this — but they figure it is only fair, since she did catch a ride on their kingler. even is even.

they gesture for chive to follow them towards terminal two.

jK0iw1E6

---

tldr:
- lethe is surprised the protection works
- they follow aries to terminal two
- they gesture for chive, their kingler, to follow behind them

@

☉

what a strange place.

everything from the odd blue hue to the floating objects unsettles lethe. and the face that appears before them to speak does nothing to ease their nerves. future-responsible for the destruction of all universes… right. sure. lethe finds it difficult to believe the scientist’s words. at least, until they give them a possible out.

as much as they don’t trust this person, they have nothing better to offer as a solution.

they’re startled as they turn to climb off their kingler; they had acquired a hitchhiker, apparently. a moment passes before it occurs to lethe that they’ve seen this person before. it was no less than aries, the near-silent blue-haired woman that they had found difficult enough to work with under less threatening circumstances.

their thoughts are interrupted. dear lord.

out of the frying pan, into the fryer, it seems to lethe as they find themself — and the others — under porygon attack. they observe the riddle. apparently this one would be slightly more high pressure than the last. just what they needed.

luckily, this one also seemed to be slightly simpler. almost too simple, to the point where they were concerned they were entirely wrong with the idea of unscrambling ‘tada’. the only word they could think of with those letters would be ‘data’.

so, “data,” they say, with all the confidence of a child sure they got the wrong answer on a quiz. from the sounds around of others answering the same, they can tell they're not the only one with that answer at least.

then, they turn their attention back to their unexpected guest, “didn’t expect to see you again. what brings you here?” they manage to bite out, once off their kingler. they give chive a pat, who then puts up a wide guard as a shield from the porygons’ attacks.

O8qL5Yrh

---

tldr:
- lethe is... deeply confused by this place.
- they realize @aries got a ride on their kingler
- they attempt to answer the riddle
- kingler uses wide guard

@aries mentions

☉