The explosion ripped through the embassy's east wing just as Agent Kael slipped the encrypted drive into his jacket. Another mission gone sideways. He muttered a few choice explicatives under his breath as he assessed the situation. The blast had blown out the windows, and flames were licking at the curtains, casting a golden glow over the chaos. Kael's training kicked in, and he swiftly scanned the area, his eyes locking...

Cracked marble floors, extinguished candles Hanging from the ceiling, a chandelier dangles Shattered mirrors, withered paintings Dust coats the ornate wood carvings Take a seat amongst the wreckage Play to the phantoms a melodic message Let your music reverberate throughout the room May the lonely ones rise from their tombs Strings fill the abandoned chamber One by one, they rise from their eternal slumber A shiver creeps...

  "Go into the Lavender Tower at night," they said.   "We dare you," they said.   Obviously they'd never had the courage to try it for themselves. For the fourth time the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as something in the cold, dark room flitted amongst the headstones commemorating countless deceased Pokémon. Shaye tried to ignore the dark shapes he saw―or thought he saw―moving just outside his field of vision...

Chapter Twenty-eight: A Sealed Fate Ethan seemed more angry than sad by Marry’s letter after he read it. He was so upset he stormed out of the mansion on his own. He came out of the mansion at his old neighborhood and walked straight to the park he had once spent an entire spring break at. The park was covered with snow that was all the way up to his shins. Ethan sat down in the snow and simply pouted. There was nothing e...

Chapter Twenty-seven: Farewell Marry and Picario quickly leapt to opposite sides as the Diablo raised his foot and tried smashing it down on them. A powerful gust of wind from the force of his stomp alone blew against Marry and Picario hard, kicking up dust in their eyes. The two squinted and then simultaneously took high to the sky. As they gained height the Diablo swung his fist at Picario. Picario barley managed to tel...

Chapter Twenty-six: The God Tournament It had been several months since Ethan’s dad had moved on. Gradually Ethan had returned to his normal self but the tournaments were forever changed. With David gone there was a massive power vacuum in them that was constantly struggling to be filled. The tournaments became more chaotic then ever as the strongest competed for first place and those below them competed for the top nine...

Chapter Twenty-five: Dark Truths It was four days since the Reapers tournament and Ethan had yet to go see his dad. He spent all that time just wandering around earth aimlessly. Finally he grew bored of that and decided to return to the mansion. Ethan went straight to his room when he got inside the mansion; it was empty again, no Picario. Ethan sighed sadly and lay down on his bed. He closed his eyes for a moment but man...

Chapter Twenty-four: Ethan Alaster the Nightmare King After leaving the museum Ethan tossed aside the clothes he was using for wraps and started rubbing the weird sap from the plant Merry gave him on his wound. Then he put on a new cloth to cover his wound that Marry also brought him. “So what this is the actual Washington D.C. in the living world?” Picario asked. “Yes.” Ethan said. “So then what does it mean?” Picario as...

Chapter Twenty-three: The Museum of National History Ethan stood inside the weapons shop admiring all the different types of swords and knives there were. He hardly needed a new weapon now, but he decided maybe it couldn’t hurt to have something better. Part of him wanted to buy the coolest looking sword in the shop, but he was too proficient with knives so he instead bought another twin pair of them. They cost him twenty...

Chapter Twenty-two: Mind Games Marry didn’t know what happened to Ethan while he was gone, but when he returned to her room for more training he was more determined than she ever saw to become stronger. In the following weeks he became incredibly adept at anticipating Marry’s next attacks and avoiding it. But he made no real progress on his illusionary skills, until two months time when he made a breakthrough. It was duri...

Chapter Twenty-one: Wrath of the Puppet Master When Saturday came Ethan and Marry entered the grand tournament together. The portal on floor 99 took them to an expansive rocky mounts type of area. It was also filled with massive skeletons from enormous creatures, easily three times the size of a large elephant. The creature’s skeletons were long and wide and their spine resembled something strangely familiar to Ethan, but...

Chapter Twenty: Marry Cromwells Room of Pain Inside Marry’s room Ethan and Picario sat down and drank the tea Marry offered them. She wasted no time getting to the point of why she asked them there. “I want the three of us to start working together as a team in the tournaments,” Marry said. Ethan and Picario looked at each other then back to Marry and Ethan said, “Marry it’s not that we wouldn’t enjoy fighting by your sid...