when Roy Aker arrives, the macabre scene's visitation is not over. from an unfolding black panel suspended in mid-air, an UNOWN-R and its trainer emerge. the three may or may not know of the man's existence, his role—but if they did, they would have heard about him from past reports. QUANTO of the DRK TRIAD takes step from his interdimensional doorway and sighs.[break][break]

he rubs his shoulder as his UNOWN-R trains its gyrating stare on all three.[break][break]

"i'm here to inspect you three." he grumbles. "all three of you that's right. none of you were on our radar before, but now... everything's gone to shit."[break][break]

his UNOWN-R primes itself: black body posturing high above the man's now completely white hair. it waits like a cocked gun.[break][break]

"do you have any idea of the role you three will play? what miserable meals you three will serve by the end of this doomed universe?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] robin coello Gwendolyn Conway Roy Aker[break]

"if thou canst feel it as well princess calcifet, then war is certain."[break][break]

navy answers elise, and the king nods to affirm his answer. his other half has been poisoned. had been poisoned. that rot continues to fester away inside the hare's bones, fusing them to metals of vengeance and vitriol.[break][break]

"my story is enshrined within the bounds of our shared memories." the calyrex dips its chin into its paw in thought. "i believe i eventually succumbed to the poison... but that may have been my other half's fate instead."[break][break]

the king shakes his head.[break][break]

"permit me to pose a question to you both: how shall your stories end?"[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Elise Calcifet Navy

while bryan delarosa struggles, he is granted full audience to her reappearance. the white-haired lady steps out of apparated paneling. the matte black unfolds neatly, each edge a clean line.[break][break]

her UNOWN-A floats alongside her graceful strides within the distortion's turbulence.[break][break]

"you don't die here today." she says to the rocket beast. "you can remain calm."[break][break]

the white-haired lady locks eyes with Yuina Higashi.[break][break]

"it feels like just yesterday that my naganadel made its way to you... and now look at you! i'm so proud, yuina." she says. "i'm here to let you know that you're on the right track... you are doing everything right... we'll meet again soon."[break][break]

as the distortion swirls around them, her UNOWN-A creates the same black paneling as before.[break][break]

"just stay alive."[break][break]

she slips into the endless dark with her unown and disappears.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Yuina Higashi bryan delarosa[break]

"when i speak of wielding, i do not speak of warfare though your bravery pleases me greatly. nay, i speak of leading with grace, a sound mind and a steadfast heart." calyrex says to elise.[break][break]

the high king beholds the zacian, hands raised with the grand weight of gratitude.[break][break]

"i bear valkyrie's heart within me, just as you now bear zacian's heart within you. how serendipitous the timine, for i can taste the bitter sting of imminent bloodshed. war is upon us.[break][break]

calyrex gazes at the sea. in the distance, the vague shape of sootopolis is a bleached skull above turbulent waters.[break][break]

"my other half readies as well."

[attr="class","ooc"] Elise Calcifet Navy

"and an audience shall be granted."[break][break]

from the great dyna tree, calyrex emerges. the high king speaks telepathically now, requiring no mortal puppetry that had once been subjected to Cain Toman, illeana reyes and aaron faust in that fateful memory of galar.[break][break]

"hast thou wielded my shard with honor and intent, elise?" the hare asks. "and you, the pale rider!" evidently, the calyrex had already discerned the elite four's final tale as one of navy's own. "thou bringest me not valkyrie, but the very sword of our people... what kindness may I render unto you all today?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Elise Calcifet Navy [break]
zamn, goose

but this hasn't been a waste of time for velmos. nor has it been a pointless diversion. [break][break]

he received a meal. ate steak and soup. filled his stomach with cooked muscle and sinew.[break][break]

this now marks the beginning of the megalopolan's chase. the chase for cyllora, where ever they may be. maybe he could talk sense into her, or, if they truly had cracked the case for a triumphant return home...[break][break]

"you're welcome." velmos says. "thank you for the soup."[break][break]

he smiles, teeth bared with shimmers of broth.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Shred [break]
zamn, goose

promptly, velmos grabs shred's bowl. within seconds, the leftovers are gone. any dried broth on the bowl's edge is licked and scraped off. any speck of undissolved seasoning is melted against velmos' blue tongue.[break][break]

"ultra space plays by different rules." velmos says. "if those pokemon you have mentioned can make portals... yes, might be possible, but from what i have learned, ultra space is unique. it lives between all other worlds. we have worlds within it. like my city. my home."[break][break]

the alien sets the bowl down with a clang.[break][break]

"it might not be as simple as tearing a hole." velmos says. "it never is."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Shred [break]
zamn, goose

"i can't see how this 'toxic chain' could help them get home, but if it did, then cyllora would." velmos says.[break][break]

his meal is almost gone. should there have been any bones, toothpicks, or inedible garnishes, they too, would have been devoured.[break][break]

velmos lifts the plate. licks all the juices clean with his pale, blue tongue. it is a miracle that there is not a jaw-shaped chunk of ceramic missing from it.[break][break]

"we don't have the means to make ultra wormholes. if we could, then of course we'd do that." velmos sneers. "but returning home also means returning to our deaths. ultra megalopolis is a failed state filled with men driven mad by the darkness."[break][break]

as the plate lowers, curiosity dangerously lines velmos' eyes.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Shred [break]
zamn, goose

[player]https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_qf8pbq6uFl1yrg70yo1.mp3[/player]

[break][break]

"yuuuppers! it's more like a group." smohke says. [break][break]

she stares at fernando, attempting to decipher his motives like the nail plucking at invisible fragments of food.[break][break]

"they wear all black. some have white hair." the megalopolan sticks her tongue out. "kindaaaaa weiiiiiird!"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH

shred lists on and on and on, while velmos gnashes, gnashes, and gnashes. though he may be alien, there is something familiar and elucidatory about the way he too, has an adam's apple. it bobs with every swallow. juts out like a hatching sneasel's claw pressed against a blue vitelline membrane.[break][break]

velmos only answers when shred finishes.[break][break]

and when he is satisfied enough from his meal.[break][break]

"cyllora? they're alive?" velmos says. "thought they died in the war."[break][break]

steak juice dribbles down his chin. he wipes it with a finger—and licks it clean, pale tongue lapping up knuckle and nail.[break][break]

"they could've been a general, but they're a rusher. always trying to take the easiest route before it all blindingly backfires on them."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Shred [break]
zamn, goose

velmos takes his time to answer. he has to. like carvanha, he tears into the slab of meat with his hands. his teeth. there is no sign of them having been dulled in the frenzy.[break][break]

droplets of sauce fly in the air like ultra wormholes.[break][break]

"i'd kill myself." velmos says. he's satiated some, but violence lingers on his lips. "but not without taking someone down. a final meal."[break][break]

the megalopolan laughs and severs another slab of wagyu.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Shred [break]
zamn, goose