Professor Elm smiled as he looked at Meg and Cyndaquil.

"You have shown great faith in me by letting me keep an egg, miss," he told Meg, surprising Kai. "I think I should return the favor, no? Haha!"

Meg's eyes flickered, moistening instantly.

In the next moment, she snapped back to reality. She shifted her gaze and looked at Kai, asking for his permission.

Kai ignored the gaze. -/Quite generous of you, Elm,/- he said. -/I am sure Meg's having a hard time controlling her emotions now. Haha!/- Inside, he thought, Come on! Give the third Pokemon to Petyr now.

"Haha! You are right!" Professor Elm laughed back.

Kai's mouth twitched ruefully.

On the other side, Meg's face gained the brightest smile, gaining a new Pokemon. She took out her Pokeball and let Cyndaquil fill its empty status.

"I truly hoped you could prolong your stay, Professor Desmond," Elm said, putting his hands in his pants. "But I won't stop you from doing what you love to do. Take care of Totodile and Chikorita for me. Let us complete the paperwork, then you can be on your way soon."

Kai smiled and followed the Professor back to the lab.

He didn't even correct Elm. By now, he had figured out Elm's personality. Taking the name of the wrong Pokemon was nothing compared to what Kai had seen the Professor ignoring and blundering.

It has been worthwhile, exploring the world and interacting with main-storyline Characters unlike the last Random World, Kai thought. Now just one more thing is left to do.

As he noticed Meg closing the main door of the lab, Kai nodded at Petyr. The Character disappeared, and Meg caught his gem-embedded cane. Professor Elm was already typing on the PC, filling out details. With him being so air-headed, he didn't even notice the Petyr's disappearance.

Kai had been putting away this task for a long time. But his interaction with Professor Elm had helped him in deciding one thing- Professor Oak didn't suit his needs.

Professor Oak specialized in Pokemon-Human relations, a field that Kai had no interest in. Professor Elm, though, not only matched his area of interest, but even his personality was favorable to him.

Sometimes, it's not the best option, but the most suitable one that matters, Kai reflected, taking out the shuddering Book.

Making sure that he was within 10 ft of Professor Elm, Kai flipped the book open to the page next to The Herald of Chaos. The Skill, the Song of History, would write Professor Elm's tale anytime now, Kai knew.

With bated breath, he waited, almost grinning.

Then with a bang, the Book closed itself.

Where was the tale? Why did the book shut itself? Why was it shuddering before then?

All these questions echoed, as one fact planted itself in his mind like a tree, its roots distorting Kai's face in an ugly rage and maliciousness.

That fact was…

Thousand Tales Parasite had just rejected Professor Elm's tale.

*

*

Evening, June 25

Pokemon Center

New Bark Town

There was pin-drop silence in the room.

After saying a strange goodbye to his friend, Kai and Meg had come to the Pokemon Center. New Bark Town was a hub for Pokemon Trainers, and thus, they found it unnecessary to go to Alto Mare before the 27th.

Stolen story; please report.

Meg had already registered herself as a Contestant for the Water-Chariot Race. E

Even the plans Kai and Petyr had made before leaving the water town, had undergone earth-shattering changes after the things Meg had told him regarding all the worlds, especially Multiverse Interdependency.

But let us return to the silence.

This pin-drop silence choked the joy of getting all the things they had gotten in New Bark Town.

Kai was on a chair, wearing a black night suit, and facing the window. Stunned and stupefied.

Behind him, on the bed, sat Meg. She, too, looked troubled as her eyes roamed about Kai. A blue velvet night suit, patterned with pink flowers, had replaced her yellow priestess garb. And her long loose red hair felt like fire dancing over the water.

-/I don't understand./- Kai thought openly. -/Never have I desired to devour a tale so badly, and yet, I couldn't. Why? The Book shuddered, goddammit! It shuddered for five days!!/-

Silence answered Kai.

The stars twinkled outside. Tweets and cries of some wild Pokemon came now and then, lingering no longer than they were welcomed. There was sadness on Kai's charming face, and a mirror on Kai's right reflected this sadness to Meg.

"Master, may I have a look at the Book?" she asked.

Kai snapped his head towards his right. In the mirror, he saw her sitting on the bed gracefully. However, the breasts trying to pop out her smooth shirt buttons, and her long full legs, almost betrayed that gracefulness.

Still no desire for her… Kai realized, frowning. She was his servant, but he had never wanted a mute and mindless servitude. With the Soul-Blood drop that gave him all the power over her, Kai would never hamper her growth, let alone her words.

-/Why?/- Kai asked, not unkindly. -/What's the point of that?/-

"I have had growth-type Items," Morning Mist explained. "I have seen many such Items of others too. But The Tales of Beedle the Bard seems to have toppled my understanding of growth-type Items. I want to see what's so special about it."

-/Curious?/- Kai said, raising an eyebrow.

Meg nodded.

Kai's hand flicked, and he took out the Book. Giving her Item won't make it hers, he knew. Until he dies, the Book would always belong to him. Though if Meg could use its Acts or not, Kai wasn't sure.

He threw the Book, and she caught it with a cat's agility.

Let's see what the 100-year-old monster has to say about my most prized Item, Kai thought, permitting himself the tiniest hint of a smile.

He observed her as she examined the Book's stats. The tiny smile became full when he saw her eyes widening with every passing moment. Her breathing had sped up, her breasts vividly heaving up and down out of rhythm.

She is reading about the Thousand Tales Parasite, Kai guessed, when Meg suddenly lifted her head to look at him. Their eyes matched through the realm of the mirrors before she plunged her thoughts back into the Book.

Kai felt her riling emotions, her shock, and her incredulous amazement. He licked his lips. Now, this he did desire. He wanted to suck her dry of her happiness. He had a taste of her hoard in the town, Alto Mare. Happiness, hoarded for over 100 years, had a taste Kai could never forget.

"Master…"

Meg's sharp call brought Kai out of his reverie.

-/Yes./- Kai said. -/I know about the hidden dangers of it. You don't have to repeat them to me./-

Opposite to Kai's expectations, Meg just shook her head.

"No, master," she whispered. "I know a Contestant of your caliber must have already thought of everything that needed to be contemplated. No point in wasting time on those things. But I just wanted to ask one thing."

Kai frowned. He stood up, fed up with looking at her through the mirror, and faced her.

-/Go on, then./- Kai permitted. -/Ask./-

"I went through the Book's Stats over twice," Meg began. "But I couldn't find any mention of what this shuddering you talked about."

Kai silently laughed. -/No, it's not mentioned./- he explained to her. -/It's like an unwritten phenomenon. Whenever I meet a Character, whose tale is worthy enough to be devoured, the Book shudders to let me know./-

Then Kai told her about all the shuddering he had felt, and about the moments when he had met Jon Arryn and Lysa Arryn but had gotten no response from the Book.

Meg became silent for a while, listening to all that.

After a few moments of deep brooding over something, she stood up and approached Kai. She was almost as tall as him, he realized.

The smell of thousands of roses hit Kai when she came to a stop in front of him.

Meg returned the Book and took a deep breath. "I will not sweeten my words, master," she said bluntly. "But have you considered that all this talk of the Book shuddering to let you know of a worthy tale is just… rubbish? It seems you have mistaken an unusual response of the Item to be some kind of signal. I have no means to verify what you have told me, other than that it's your assumption. And assumptions, by nature, are dubious, even if they have come from scientists of high intellect."

Kai's face paled instantly.

Old memories bombarded his mind. Now it was the turn of his breathing to speed up. He remembered the first vibrations. It was him seeing Prince Joffrey, and the Hound, Sandor Clegane. He remembered the second shuddering. It was him seeing the King and the Queen. And then he remembered them all.

Yes, it was true.

All the time he had found himself facing a major main storyline Character the book had shuddered. But the statement, it had shuddered to let him know he could devour their tale, was nothing but what Meg had thrown at his face.

An assumption.

Oh, no! The words rumbled in Kai's mind. What have I done?