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I kept my mouth shut, but I couldn't help but feel antsy as Sub continued to not get to the point. Though my own fatigue with the situation was likely influencing the situation - the things he was telling to others were likely important to them. To be honest, I was worried about Keiko, and that was also contributing to my impatience. I took a deep breath to calm myself down, and forced myself to listen to what was being said, and that's when I noticed just how weird things were.

It started with Ulla. She swore her biological parents were alive, and that she'd met them in the last mission. I had to assume that happened after Keiko's body submitted to that gas, because she didn't say a word about it. That was probably what she wanted to talk to me about. As for her biological parents being involved in Project Genesis... I felt like I already knew that. Like Ulla had told me about it somewhere between when we first met and when her brother convinced us to adopt her. Not that Keiko needed any convincing - she was already considering it by the time he spoke up.

Then he went on about Ein's records not coinciding with what was actually going on, and that brought to mind some conspiracy theories I had earlier about how us fighting Pokemon from other dimensions having rippling effects through spacetime that we're now dealing with. It was just a guess, and while the cause is still up in the air, the effects are clearer to see now than they were back then. Though I had to admit I did a double-take at Lovrina being name-dropped. A respectable doctor... that DID line up with what Keiko said Looker referred to her as. Was that why Keiko said that 'nothing made sense there' before she passed out?

I almost lost focus as Sub moved on to talk to Monique, but mention of Ein finding this 'Faba' person distasteful 'in spite of how much said person appeared to fawn over him' caught my attention. I knew that Lovrina forced hybridization onto Keiko as a means of getting back at Ein, specifically to combat Shadow Mewtwo with an army of shadow hybrids, something that Sub, himself, insisted wasn't possible. But I could have sworn I heard somewhere that Lovrina was a fan of Ein's before that. I strained my brain to try to think of where I heard that from, but it was no use. I wouldn't be defeated so easily, though, as I knew there was a way to prove it. Though listining to Sub about how Ein glazed Blizz made it hard to focus on what I planned ot ask him.

The sigil was easily distracting. Some of the shapes reminding me of things I read about the Sinnoh region's Legendary Pokemon back before I lost interest in Legendary Pokemon altogether (of which one of Sinnoh's - or should I say Hisui's-Legendary Pokemon were to blame for that lack of interest due to it interfering with my wife's brain. I don't care that if fixed the damage, it shouldn't have messed with her to begin with). But once Sub stopped talking, I endeavored to grab his attention. "Hold on, does Ein's files have anything on Lovrina?" I asked, wanting to prove myself right.. I had a gut feeling I'd regret asking that question, but I needed to know.

Crystal and Aile would both quietly listen to Sub as he went over their acquired new information, each glancing at the directed person once, though Crystal also frowned and narrowed her eyes when the Aether Foundation was mentioned. She didn’t have any experience with them here, but unfortunately she had plenty enough in another reality as a Cosmog hybrid. Now that they got mentioned here with a link to Ein, she wondered just how on the up and up that group was in this reality. And who was that third party that backed that joint venture?

The next bit was almost interesting, with Ulla’s mom having been recorded as disposed, but the girl had finally met her. That got Crystal tilting her head, with Aile looking confused. Then Aile remembered that this wasn’t the first time. Bulder was alive when he should have died on the rocket in Mossdeep. And the whole scene with Lovrina. And everyone in their seats. The human woman shivered, the memory once again haunting her. It would take a moment for her to regain her composure, partially blanking out as her mind threatened to drag her under once again. The diversion over to Ein’s file on Blizz was a welcome one, as that’s really when she came back to some sort of normalcy. Maybe a little curious if there was something about the rest of them.

Then Aile listened to Sub mention that sigil, and how Volo and Aden were seen. Her eyes were wide, wondering when that was supposed to happen. “Wait. What the hell do you mean Aden was there? The ********?!” She was the last person that had seen Aden before he had disappeared, which was something that, while not an active part of her mind most days, was still there, especially whenever she visited Kitakami. She never did visit the Crystal Pool again after that, scared of what could have happened if she did. She didn’t know if she would find him, some specter of him, get lost in that white space again and disappear herself, or maybe worst of all now, just nothing. Nothing that would confirm anything happened there at all, and she was imagining things.The rest of what they were going through was certainly doing a number on them, with everyone getting gaslit so some extent, but having nothing happen at the Crystal Pool the next time would have only been worse. Shaking her head, she would slide off of the table and stand again, growling in frustration.

Crystal, she was concerned about the paradoxical parents, but the fact that Ein had corresponded with Faba, that was something of some amount of concern for her. In the reality she landed in after becoming a Cosmog hybrid, was that Faba also in contact with Ein? What was the deal with that Ein there anyways? She hadn’t bothered to try and figure out that Snagem’s history, and now she was wondering whether it was a mistake. Too late to correct that currently, but maybe, just maybe, she might when things get sorted here. If they get sorted. There was a lingering thought in the back of her head that things would never get fixed for them. She couldn’t help that thought, that bit of pessimism. The negative thoughts had been there for quite some time now, and probably will keep being there. As much as she wanted to regain her facade of calm cheerfulness, it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Hearing what Ein had on Blizz was a decent pull back into focus, making her wonder what Ein’s files on everyone were as well. Though, that could wait for another day.

Once Sub brought up the sigil, Crystal narrowed her eyes and dug through her memory. The news of Aden didn’t take her by surprise, as she had felt him. She never laid eyes on him, though, as she was preoccupied with Monique at the time. That symbol, though, it felt familiar, some lore that she dug into as an Espeon hybrid. “I… Wait. Wait wait wait…” The lore of Sinnoh… She looked down and snapped her fingers, like she was trying to call it back just by that action. The colors, what was it reminding her of? Blue, purple, and red… The galactic hybrid would turn her head to look around, eyes landing on Darts… And the memories finally surfaced. Not fully, but enough to paint her something of a picture. She’d seen part of that symbol in some books talking about Sinnoh’s history, the black part of the glyph, and usually in conjunction with their creation myths. If everything else was related, then these colors might point to the trio of gods mentioned in them, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. But why? If they maybe were referencing that trio, then it would have been clear as day that Aden fell under Time’s jurisdiction. But where did this Volo fall under, and who could have been their third? Sub said he only saw the two. And Ein saw that symbol and spoke to someone? Is it possible it could have been Volo?

The hybrid’s attention would jump over to Aile as she made her outburst, frowning. Considering that she was the last person on the team to have seen Aden, it made sense that she would be shaken by this. “Yeah, I didn’t get eyes on him personally, but I could sense him for a moment once I was settled on the jet. I can understand why you didn’t notice him, as distraught as you were.”

“You didn’t know anyone that was locked in those chairs!” Aile jabbed a finger in the galactic cat woman’s direction, to which Crystal would hold her hands up slightly.

“Hey, I’m not saying that wasn’t an understandable reaction.” Crystal would pause for a second, waiting for something else before she would turn her attention to Sub. “That symbol gives me thoughts, makes me wonder just what powers we’re tangling with now… But, outside of maybe wanting to look at some of those files myself later, what I’m curious about now is why did you want us all out here so quickly?”

Aile just kept quiet, her gaze going to her left hand. It had been her staff around a year and a half ago, before she lost most of her flesh arm to a Space-Time Distortion, and Tatooine managed to shatter the staff while panicking. She still carried it around after that in some sort of bag when she could, as the head of it made for a half decent mace still. But it had been with Aden, trying to track down where and how Team Star was transporting their Starmobiles when she inadvertently discovered what its true form was. They had been chased down by the Ziton in the Fairy Realm, and then after they thought they were safe, it would only turn out that the Ziton found itself a new tool, manipulating Aile’s senses and thoughts to give her a completely different reality than what was actually there. And being used as said tool was unfortunately the catalyst for the revelation of what her artifact truly was. The first act of her true artifact was to spill Aden’s blood, ending his life on four different occasions, that she got to witness thanks to the connection between her and the Ziton at the time, before he finally managed to stall long enough for the others to intervene. Aile stared at her left hand, the sand starting to become slightly unstable as the fingers began flattening out slightly, attempting to form back into the fatal punching dagger before catching herself, forcing the hand to return. At the time, Aile was thankful that she hadn’t killed him. Now, there was a debate in her head. She wasn’t sure if he was involved with this, but he did have the time traveling capabilities somehow to alter things. How far, she wasn’t sure, but she wouldn’t put butterfly effect discrepancies out of his capabilities. But if he was even partially the cause of this, hopefully it was through coercion, because if it wasn’t… Someone might be testing how well that time rewind ability worked when she was aiming for a more instantaneous point of death. And this time, she’d be seeing his face, instead of Malva’s.

The name "Aether" made Monique tilt her head. Where was this going? Then the F-name tumbled out of Sub's mouth. Her "king". Her jaw dropped slowly as Sub unloaded the latest information on the backchannels that like sewers connected Ein and Faba.

Ein likened giving him samples of Cipher's technology to giving a child a magnifying glass, admitting he did it for his own amusement.

The words hung over Monique like a dark, gray cloud ready to deliver an electric charge right atop a lightning rod. And then they discharged a current of raw emotion into the Zoroark hybrid.

"Are you kidding me?" Her voice slowly rose. "He (probably) ruined MY world for HIS amusement?" A pause. "Ein, evil incarnate, found Faba to be such a ********' licker but gave him enough crumbs to ruin my world? All the suffering my world went through for THAT!?" Kaboom, with extra sauce. She was visibly shaking at the revelation, the other news that there had been some sort of tampering with reality itself looming large in her mind. "If y'all don't want your world to ********' end like mine, then we gotta do something!" She put her hands up to her mouth, imitating a choke. Her attitude had gone from sweet Alolan to ghost Scovillain. And Sub's words seemed to promise more seismic activity to make Mt. Kaʻanaʻana erupt.

Reno would continue to mull over his own thoughts as Sub spoke, attempting to run through what he could fully identify. Some third party had managed to obtain S-17 and had the funding to form him into the entity that they would know as Agent WHITE. A third party that wasn't directly involved with either Macro Cosmos or the Aether Foundation, as Ein appeared to have no issue with directly identifying those particular parts. Had this project been finished when the World Tournament had occurred in Galar? If so, why not use the thing to fight the Ziton? It would have been a bright showy display in front of everyone and it would've immediately established the thing as 'better than Team Snagem' since it would've been saving its obvious point of comparison. It was still most likely that the thing just wasn't ready at that point in time but without any way to confirm that, Reno was left to simply stew on this particular point.

Then there was the hiccups in reality, none of which seemed easy enough to trace for particular responses that would cause all of them. But Lovrina's one comment did give a time frame for when these things likely asserted themselves, having gone from full contact to no contact with Keiko a few weeks ago. But it couldn't be wholly that time has somehow gotten altered or that reality had fully realigned itself to some new history. Otherwise Ein's files would represent that alteration as well, instead of so far hewing to the course of events that Reno remembered as the way things had gone. So large scale timeline alterations and time traveling would be off the table unless it was somehow demonstrated differently, even if it appeared Aden was involved.

While that wasn't the only evidence for the conclusion that he was starting to draw, it certainly was a point to this idea that there was another person involved. This robed figure that Ein had seen obviously wasn't Aden, since that would've stood out immediately. It was also reasonable to say that it wasn't Volo either since Ein would have likely had a similar reaction like Reno did when he was browsing Cynthia's memories, some expression of how similar he appears to the extremely identifiable Champion of Sinnoh.

And just as he was about to speak up about what he was thinking on, Darts would make his presence felt. And whether intentional or not, Darts' broadcasted agitation and aggression would be picked up loud and clear by Reno's telepathy. Slowly positioning himself closer to Sub, he would keep his focus locked onto Darts as the impulsive thought finally crossed Reno's mind. If Aden and Volo were both somehow connected to Giratina, as their exit from Realgam airspace indicated, was Darts also being influenced by it? And what might he do if that was truly the case? "While I agree with the core of the question, dial it back, Darts. Your ward put herself out there and got hurt, which is scary, but be very certain on whether those are only your feelings or if something else is punching them up. Especially given Aden and Volo exiting the area from what looked like Giratina wings cocooning them." Reno cautioned.

From where she was positioned, Leslie would be keeping a loose grip on her hammer to try and keep herself grounded as she listened to this presentation. While she had been somewhat fine with how things had gone with the thought that maybe there was been someone who had succeeded at their actual main objective, this next answer would be fairly quick in establishing whether or not she was going to add her own fuel to the fire. If her....yeah, she considered Tristen her friend even if he didn't like her enough to reciprocate. If her friend had been mortally wounded outside his own volition for what amounted to 'We're still boned but now we have fancy background on all the ways we're boned', then she might have to back up her fellow hybrid on expressing the disappointment this entailed.

Crystal looked at some of the others speaking up, frowning. She got it, she wanted to hear what Sub had to say as well. But by the light, this was really starting to take its toll. Everyone stressed out over various points. Well, maybe she could address one of them at least. “Monique,” she started, turning toward the Zoroark hybrid. “ That’s something we’ve been trying to work towards. I feel confident these two realities won’t merge into the same ending, though. To start, you’re here, and have sounded those alarms. And secondly, thanks to this, Aether Foundation and Macro Cosmos are now on our radar as well once all of this is done.” The Solgaleo hybrid would look down and away for a moment, recalling a few not so pleasant memories as a Cosmog hybrid. “For me, again. Let’s just hope that this Lusamine hasn’t had any of Nihilego's poison, at least. Or worse, somehow has her own unaltered twisted ideas.”

Her attention would then shift over to Darts, which was as clear as day to tell he was getting frustrated. She understood it, though; that AI nearly crushed her, and was quite ready to kill them all without a second thought, like Ein had programmed it. However, something nagged at her, feeling the tension. It wasn’t completely unlike at Devon, or even her attitude towards Darts at Kitakami. Maybe better justified than hers, but the point remained. She hoped it wasn’t going to boil over, but her attention was now firmly on him, waiting to see what he did. Hopefully their positions weren’t going to flip somehow.

The TV screen crackles to life, displaying a podium crammed with microphones of various news stations vying for the foremost spot. The news broadcast was going out to every mainstream station, all at once. This was clearly a coordinated effort to have put together all of this on such a short notice - not a singular region's station was excluded, from Orre to Kanto. Looker gazes out solemnly, nigh-staring into the souls of each and every person watching with his piercing, perceptive gaze. But his words today were for one group singularly.

"Team Snagem." He begins, staring unflinchingly down the barrel of the camera directly in front of him. "Your actions at Realgam Tower, formerly Fortress, are not the actions of an innocent party." There was a cut away from the investigator, showing a ground level shot of the group flying off in the Mecha-Rayquaza, a small black blip of smoke in the background of their escape, nearly imperceptible as a bit of engine smoke outside of those in the know. The camera shifts back to the investigator, still speaking. "But, we are not unsympathetic to your plight. I know, from speaking to you all directly, that you think me a cruel man. A man who thinks himself above the law. But, and let me make myself clear no one is above justice. Not myself, not the madman known as Ein, and certainly not yourselves." Looker takes a pause, turning to look at another camera as he appears to think, before steeling himself. "Whatever your reasons for heading to Realgam, I suspect it was an attempt to clear your name. Despite the massive mountain of evidence against you all, one thing has remained consistent - your insistence on your innocence."

The camera begins to zoom out, revealing more and more of the podium and the stage. An unassuming building is revealed to be the backdrop, as WHITE, Essentia, Kess, and other of the SWIPE rank and file are revealed with the wider shot, clustered around the older investigator at the podium. The symbol of the Kanto Pokemon League is emblazoned on the side of the structure - alongside the word 'GYM' in capitalized letters. "However, I..." Looker grits his teeth as he continues, almost seeming to grind them despite his attempt to keep decorum. "And others recognize that you may be hesitant to turn yourselves over for a private trial, perhaps suspecting foul play. In an unprecedented and historic move, each and every active and involved government body with a stake in your existence has agreed to stage a massive public trial - the first of its kind. To that effort, each Region has appointed a Gym Leader, or its equivalent, to serve as juror for this trial with the intent of judging you by a true selection of your peers - men and women who have served and defended their regions as you have so often claimed to."

The zoom out has slowly continued and is now revealing other figures, standing alongside Looker's left and right side after his direct SWIPE lieutenants. Blue, the cocky grin normally plastered on the Gym Leader's face absent as he appears on screen, arms crossed in consternation standing next to, stern-faced as always, Clair the Dracon Clan Intitiate and Gym Leader from Blackthorne City. He leans in as she whispers something to him not picked up by the microphones, nodding. More and more as the shot widens the breadth of the selected jury makes itself obvious - Blue, Clair, Juan with a latin splash and swipe of his hair despite the seriousness of the situation, Roark with his mining cap and a worried look on his face, and Cheren plain-faced with a folder beneath his arm huddled together talking softly, again out of reach of the mics. Wulfric flanks him on the left side, nearly squeezing the smaller gym leader out with his bulk. Despite his size he's clearly trying not to get on Marnie's bad side, whose blank-faced businesslike stare at the camera draws attention despite her smaller frame. Iono makes up the second to last of the most recognizable Gym Leaders, and despite being in a press conference, she flashes a peace sign at the camera, holding up her phone for a mid-justice selfie, the Magnemite hair clips bending in to 'UwU' at the appropriate time as Molayne from Alola rubs the back of his head sheepishly, trying to almost lean out of the entire affair.

The last two at the end cut a less discerning figure as the group of more-famous gym leaders, plain uniforms and plain faces both. But people with long memories would recognize one as Justy, the leader of the only gym in Orre in Phenac City, and the shock of green hair and Ranger's uniform would mark out Spenser of the Ranger's Union, neither one of them speaking to their compatriots nor even looking pleased to be there as they stare steadfastly forward, off of the stage into seemingly nothing.

Looker continues, the camera snapping back in to him as he starts speaking again. "Prosecution is beginning to build their case as we speak, and having met all of you - I'm thinking of you, in particular, Mister Locke," A wry-looking grin flits across his face, having tangled with Sub most recently in the interrogation room and clearly felt he had the measure of their leadership as a result. "I suspect you will choose to represent yourselves... not that most lawyers would take the case, considering the international ramifications. To keep things fair, and to ensure you all can rest easy with receiving a fair shake this trial will be broadcast across each and every region, on every channel available, and released worldwide. Unprecedented access by the press, full coverage. The venue will be here," He leans back, indicating the building behind him with a wave of his hand, his brown jacket flapping lightly as he does. "Viridian Gym, ten days from today. Renovations are already underway to transform the interior from the standard challenger-facing combat arena to a true courthouse as we speak."

"You do not need to come to this trial, keep in mind." Looker leans back in, both hands gripping the podium with the intensity ratcheting up as he speaks. "But make no mistake. This is your only chance to truly prove your innocence in the eyes of international law. Each and every Regional government is aligned and in agreement that if you do not take your rightful place at this trial and face judgment at the hands of this selected jury that you will be more than just criminals - you will be public enemy number one on the same level as Ein was in Orre. All available resources from the combined might of every region will be mustered against you to bring you in for capture, under the implied admission of guilt your absence would bring. Because of the things you have allegedly," the tone implied his doubt, but it wasn't fully acidic as the man stayed even-keeled and mild even as his intensity blazed through the television. "Done for several of these regions we are making this singular and only exception to allow you to prove yourselves. Walk the walk, as it has been said before."

"We also, as you may remember, have several of your compatriots from your headquarters in custody." The camera swivels with the tonal change, moving to show Doc Owl, Ter and Keiko's kids - Yuna and Serena, and all of the rest of the Snagems who had been stuck in Headquarters back in Mount Silver at the beginning after they had managed to make a break for it in Rustboro. Besides the restraining collars and maybe some baggy eyes from a bit of stress, they all looked relatively well-cared for and healthy. Certainly a far cry from starved and beaten, that was clearly not in the SWIPE playbook for captives. "Because we will be giving you all a fair trial, they will be included as well. When you come to trial we will allow you to retake custody of them, and release them to face the verdict alongside you all."

Swinging back to frame Looker again in the middle of the screen, his eyes gazing down every Snagem watching as the man concludes: "Ten days, Team Snagem. Until the trial, we are dropping all orders for military and law enforcement to arrest, detain, or otherwise inconvenience you provided you aren't breaking some other kind of law. Do what you need, bring whatever evidence you think will help, and be prepared to face your final judgment come next week Friday." And with that, the broadcast ends - the television station's symbol blinking on the TV briefly before segueing into its normally-scheduled programming.

Yet again, Crystal proved able to calm the volcano. "I... suppose you're right. I'm here. That's enough to change things, isn't it..." she nervously trailed off.

For Monique, the presentation and discussion had raised an alarm and tied together things that she, having only been in this reality a few years, would not have noticed. Something was tampering with reality, but its effects were not ubiquitous—at least not yet.

Then the television turned on. It was Looker. He was talking in front of a menagerie of people who looked serious—well, most of them, not sure about that one in the puffy jacket—and announcing to the world that the Snagems' trial would be public. Before the cameras. In ten days.

It was a lot to absorb. In ten days, she needed to have her act together. It was easier for her than others. She wasn't in this reality, which absolved her of the heaviest blows, but guilt by association was certainly going to be in the prosecutorial playbook. She'd come out of "nowhere"—a nowhere that was documented, if only the Dimensional Research Lab could be called as a witness—and had a strong personal opinion case for not being a collaborator with Ein. Ein was gone by the time she was here—something they clearly knew. She railed against the influence of Cipher technology, and from the moment the first collars were deployed, she'd seen nothing but trouble in SWIPE.

"Bring it on," Monique muttered under her breath. She didn't back down in New Po. She didn't back down in Sub Rosa. She sure wasn't gonna back down here.

Wren and Odd were pulled away from the conversation about what had been found in Realgam Fortress when the television turned on, GRAY’s voice drawing their attention there, instead. Both grimaced as Looker carried on about them and this trial that was being set up for them. Wren watched as the camera panned over the collection of representatives from the many regions meant to be their jurors. ‘Sure… peers.” The Grass Channeler commented sarcastically. These were all people with extreme pull within their home regions. Some of them on an international level. Whatever opinion they decided on would have an influence on how much of the world viewed them as a whole.

Then the camera panned around to roam over some of the Snagems he had yet to see, explaining where they had been. He recognized Doc Owl, Terashi and Keiko’s oldest daughter and, he was fairly certain, Lykas’ oddly-colored Gardevoir with a baby in his arms, crying loudly. Odd heard that cry, just barely, and his breath caught in his throat. “Libelle!” He gasped. His anger began to brew once again. Why was their daughter crying? What had they done to her?!

“They all look a bit rough but in pretty good shape, still.” Wren assured him, a hand on the Ghost Channeler’s back as he spoke. “That was you and Lykas’ daughter, wasn’t it?” He asked. He’d only seen her for a very short time before leaving for Lentimas but he recalled how nervous the pair had been.

“Yeah… I’d recognize her crying anywhere… She better be ok when we get there or they’ll have me by the balls for what I’m going to do to them.” Odd replied, eyes narrowing as his energy flared for a moment, needing to reign his emotions back in before continuing. “We need to do everything we can to make sure Lykas is awake and Freth is on her feet before then.” They couldn’t afford for them to miss this. Everyone possible needed to be present, ready and able to defend themselves when it came time for this.