After a long and arduous struggle, Xian finally managed to bring Azure back to Ariestal City.
"Okay, we're here," Xian said, stepping out of Gible Redux's Shadow Realm. The portal shimmered behind him before fading into nothing.
"I can't believe it went that smoothly. I'm certain that was a shadow world," Azure replied, glancing back at where the rift had been. His voice carried a mix of relief and lingering unease.
"You're right. I used it before I entered the Twilight Zone. If I remember correctly, a friend of mine once told me the classification for this is the Shadow Sea," Xian explained, brushing off his coat as his feet touched solid ground.
Without further delay, they made their way into the Investigation Bureau headquarters.
"Oh, you're back already," Allied greeted them. He was lounging on the sofa, a cup of coffee in hand, looking as though he hadn't moved in hours. His eyes, however, were sharp and observant.
"I didn't expect you to be this fast," Ren added, pausing mid-step. He had been heading toward the archives but now turned to face the returning pair.
Aron, who had been quietly observing from the corner, fixed his gaze on the Gible Redux. His brow furrowed in curiosity before he finally spoke.
"I'm surprised you used *that* Pokémon to pick him up. How did you even get it to help you?" Aron asked, his tone a mixture of suspicion and intrigue.
"I've encountered this Pokémon before, back when Diego and I captured it. You could say I'm fairly familiar with both the trainer and this little guy. All it took was offering it a Berry," Xian replied with a casual shrug, patting the Gible Redux on the head. The small dragon-type grunted in satisfaction, still chewing on the treat.
"So that's all it took? I thought you were going to have to perform some complicated ritual or break through some kind of barrier," Aron said, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course not. I'm not that naive. And besides, what matters is that it worked," Xian said, his tone carrying a hint of pride.
Allied rose from the sofa, setting his coffee aside. He turned to Azure with a warm smile.
"Oh, Ariel… It's been a long time. How have you been?" Allied asked.
"Same as always—plenty of obstacles. But it looks like you've got worse luck than me, showing up at headquarters while you're still supposed to be on vacation," Azure remarked, eyeing Allied's outfit. He was still dressed in colorful floral-patterned vacation wear and shorts, looking completely out of place in the stark, professional environment of the bureau.
"Haah… To be honest, if I had my way, I wouldn't be involved at all. I'd be at home right now. But I didn't want that incident to repeat itself, so I'm stuck coming into headquarters even though I still have three days of vacation left. And on top of that, I ended up trapped on a train with Theo, Xian, and Devon earlier. After all that, I managed to bring two of the perpetrators here, while Theo took the others to his own headquarters. What a pain of a day. If only the story weren't being rewritten, I could've just waited here," Allied grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
Azure listened patiently before asking, "Alright, so what's your plan? And why did you go so far as to call me here? Is it really that important?"
"It's critical," Allied replied, his expression growing serious. "If that artifact gets stolen—or worse, used even once—the consequences could be catastrophic. Devon's putting together a plan as we speak."
Meanwhile, Devon was deep in the archives, surrounded by towering stacks of documents he had been poring over for hours. His eyes were tired but focused, flipping through page after page with relentless determination.
"Finally… After thousands of useless files, I've done it," he muttered to himself, a triumphant grin spreading across his face.
He bolted out of the room, nearly stumbling over a stack of papers in his excitement, and sprinted toward the main hall.
"I've finished the plan! I've got the projections ready!" he announced, bursting into the room.
Everyone turned to face him. Allied crossed his arms and nodded.
"Explain."
Devon wasted no time. "Police units will be deployed around the Nexus Sapphire in rotating shifts. We'll cover every corner of the museum, inside and out. I'll also have snipers and long-range drones on standby. But for any unforeseen circumstances, we'll need to install special catalysts throughout the museum as a precaution. The most stable option would be to perform a ritual to set up a protective barrier or a specialized warp dome. We already know Epitaph has esper abilities, but we have no intel on the capabilities of this particular branch of the New World Organization."
Xian chimed in, "We should get in touch with the police as soon as possible."
"Relax," Allied said, waving a hand. "I've already contacted Theo. They should be here soon."
Azure raised an eyebrow. "Alright, so what do you need me for?"
Devon met his gaze. "Point Logic. That's what we need. If the artifact is used or stolen, you're the one who can manipulate effects, positions, abilities, objects—anything. That's why we called you."
"So I'm basically a contingency plan," Azure said flatly.
"In short, yes. And I hope we won't need to use it. But we have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario," Devon admitted.
While the team strategized, Eon was already at the museum, moving quietly through the halls as he installed catalysts in key locations.
"Finally… 50% done. This is taking longer than I thought. This place is huge," he muttered under his breath. "Rotom, pull up the map."
"Rotom!" A Rotomdex materialized beside him, displaying a blueprint of the museum marked with glowing waypoints.
"Next spot is in the warehouse section… Alright, let's head there," Eon said, setting off.
As he approached the warehouse, he noticed a man slipping inside. The man had black hair and wore a janitor's uniform. More importantly, he opened the door using an access card.
"Who's that? How does he have clearance to get in? Only special staff should have access to that. No way a regular janitor has a keycard," Eon thought, narrowing his eyes.
Without hesitation, he sprinted after the man.
Inside the warehouse, the intruder scanned the cluttered shelves filled with artifacts and antiques.
"This is going to take forever if I have to search manually. And that person earlier was watching me. The artifact doesn't seem to be here. How troublesome. If only it were at the normal coordinates, I could find it instantly. I've already scanned the entire museum, and the artifact isn't anywhere. Now I have to do this the hard way," he thought, clicking his tongue in irritation.
He pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket. "Reuniclus… scan the aura here."
"Reuniclus!" The psychic-type emerged, its translucent body glowing faintly as waves of psychic energy spread through the room, washing over every object in sight.
A moment later, the man shook his head. "The artifact isn't here. Let's go."
As he turned to leave, his thoughts raced. *The only clue that the artifact is even here is that I couldn't teleport directly inside. I've searched every room, every floor, and still nothing… Where is it?*
Then it hit him. *There's only one place I haven't checked… The basement. There's no way a place this big doesn't have a basement.*
He hurried toward the exit—but froze mid-step. His instincts screamed a warning.
"Mage!"
The door swung open. Eon stepped inside, eyes sharp, scanning the room. But it was empty.
"Energy Surge," Eon murmured, activating his ability. Faint trails of energy flickered into existence across the room, revealing residual traces. "He's not here. But I *saw* him come in. Did he already escape?"
He checked the shelves. Nothing was missing. Frowning, he placed a small slip of paper—a catalyst—on the floor, then turned to leave.
*Click.*
The door locked behind him.
"Damn. He's troublesome," the intruder muttered, reappearing from within the folds of the story itself. "Good thing I can hide through the narrative. I erased my existence from the story. He won't be able to find me like that," he thought, telepathically communicating with Reuniclus beside him.
But before he could move—
*ZZZZT—CRACKLE!*
Blue lightning erupted throughout the warehouse, surging through the air and striking both him and Reuniclus with violent force.
"How—?!" he gasped, convulsing. His eyes darted to the floor, where the small paper catalyst now glowed faintly. "Damn mage."
He tried to disappear again, reaching into the narrative to erase his existence. But the catalyst's energy disrupted his ability entirely.
"A full ritual circle?! You've got to be kidding me!" he snarled.
The door swung open again. Eon stepped in, his expression cold and calculating.
"I knew it. There's no way you could have escaped from here," Eon said, pulling out a Poké Ball. "Magnezone!"
"Magnezone!" The magnet-shaped Pokémon materialized, electricity crackling around its body.
"Magnezone… Zap Cannon," Eon commanded.
"Zone…" Magnezone focused its energy, forming a massive ball of crackling electricity. Eon's Energy Surge amplified the attack, the air itself humming with power.
"Fire!"
The Zap Cannon shot forward like a lightning bolt. The intruder's eyes widened.
"Damn it—I can't move, I can't do anything here… But at least I know the location now. That's enough," he thought grimly.
The attack struck dead-on. A massive explosion of energy tore through the warehouse—and then, just as quickly, it was gone. The intruder had been erased from existence within the narrative.
Energy Surge rewove the warehouse, restoring it to its original state as though nothing had happened.
"They're faster than I anticipated. I need to contact Allied now," Eon muttered.
"Rotom!" The Rotomdex immediately activated a video call.
Back at headquarters, Allied was deep in discussion with the others.
"I'm telling you, we should prepare some Dynamite just in case," Xian insisted.
Ren nodded thoughtfully. "We'll need some additional equipment as well. I'll request it from headquarters."
Allied's Pokédex suddenly buzzed. He glanced at the screen, saw Eon's name, and immediately knew something was wrong. He answered and placed the device on the table, activating the hologram.
Eon's image flickered to life, Magnezone hovering beside him in the restored warehouse.
"Emergency! They've already made their move!" Eon announced.
"What?! They're already moving?" Allied's voice cut through the room. Everyone's attention snapped to the hologram.
"I encountered one of their members in the warehouse earlier. He was searching through the artifacts, some personal works, and antiques in storage," Eon reported.
"Did you get any information from him?" Ren asked quickly.
"No. I erased him on the spot," Eon replied flatly.
Xian's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You just erased him? How are we supposed to interrogate him now?"
"He's the type who wouldn't have cooperated with interrogation. He probably would've fled the moment I tried," Eon countered.
"You could have brought him here—or called Ren to come to you," Xian argued.
"He has the ability to erase his own existence—even from the story itself. Reading his mind wouldn't have worked, and it would've taken too long. I erased him immediately to prevent him from gathering more intel," Eon explained.
Devon stroked his chin thoughtfully. "So he's an analytical type. That's new data—and useful."
Aron exchanged a glance with Allied. "Looks like we need a new plan."
---
Meanwhile, the intruder—Vane—had already reappeared at his own headquarters.
"I can't believe you failed that badly," their leader said, rising from his seat. He was a young man with stark white hair and violet-blue eyes. Dressed entirely in black—a T-shirt, jacket, and slim-fit pants—he wore a camera slung casually around his neck. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Vane's shoulder, a mocking smile curling his lips. "How pathetic, Vane."
Vane scowled, brushing his hand off. "Hey, Taylor, you have no idea what it was like there. I couldn't use my usual strategies. The energy field was chaotic—they'd already set up catalysts everywhere."
"You really are unreliable," a girl said in a flat, emotionless voice. Natsu had long brown hair, the same violet-blue eyes as Taylor, and was dressed casually in a white T-shirt, denim shorts, and long white socks. She was monitoring data on her computer without even glancing back. "But fortunately, I've already stored the data you retrieved. Do you have any other information?"
Vane exhaled sharply. "The artifact is in the basement. That's the most likely possibility."
"Okay," Natsu replied, her tone utterly devoid of inflection.
Vane's eye twitched. "Hey, Natsu, you could at least say 'thank you' or something. Don't just say 'okay.' I got completely erased back there, you know."
Without turning, Natsu responded in the same flat tone, "Fine. Thank you…"
"At least use some emotion when you say it! Don't say it like a robot!" Vane snapped.
Taylor chuckled softly, then his expression grew serious. "Looks like this is going to be more complicated than we thought."
Vane frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Darian's been captured," Taylor said.
The room went silent for a heartbeat, then—
"WHAT?!" Vane and several others shouted in unison.
Vane lunged forward, grabbing Taylor by the shoulders. "How did he get caught? And what exactly was your plan?"
Taylor didn't flinch. "I used him as a test run. Based on the data Darian gathered, I confirmed that the artifact is indeed the right target."
"You sacrificed one of our members just for test data?! Are you insane? What if our information gets leaked?" Vane demanded, his grip tightening on Taylor's collar.
"Relax. That's not going to happen. Besides, he was a new member. He didn't know much to begin with," Taylor said coolly.
"He was still one of us!" Vane shouted, his voice echoing in the room.
Taylor reached up, calmly removing Vane's hands from his collar. His eyes hardened.
"This is better than risking all of us on an uncertainty. And at the very least, Darian was useful. Thanks to his mission on the train, we know the artifact aligns perfectly with our goal: to capture every moment in this world. If that camera alone could trap something in time, then the artifact can be used to freeze time itself—or even create a new timeline. To do whatever we want."
The other members exchanged glances, some nodding in agreement.
Vane stood there, fists clenched. In his heart, he knew Taylor was right—but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.
"Maybe it was the best way to confirm the artifact's authenticity," he thought bitterly. "But sacrificing something certain for the sake of uncertainty… that's still a foolish thing to do."