Felis had to sprint back in time for work, stumbling into the doors wheezing and gasping for air like he was an asthmatic. The manager gave one look at the sweaty state of her ‘new hire’, and Felis could almost feel the words that probably would have said; ‘If you weren’t Galactic, I’d be in your face right now’.

Man, he did not envy service workers.

Instead he was told to wash up and join the floor with a little more attitude than usual. Felis accepted it, taking the time to relax in the changeroom for an extra few minutes to catch up with Sirius. HIs older brother had long since finished changing, and was simply waiting for Felis to turn up.

“You’re here,” Sirius sighed as Felis trudged in. “I got worried.”

“Had to…holy shit,” Felis gasped, trying to regain his breath. “Pick up…these.”

He tossed his brother a notebook. It was a small thing, easily sliding into their sleeves if they so wished.

“We don’t have a lot of time, but just write down everything you did that’s important. That you might need for tonight. And keep it somewhere obvious, I want to know what the night versions of us are up to as well.”

Sirius nodded approvingly, fishing a pen from their ‘new hire package’ he began to scribble some things down. “How was training?”

Felis shot him a grin. “Perfect. Got two new moves under our belt.”

“You’re kidding, for real?”

“Yep.”

“Show me!”

“Yeah, fuck no.” Felis grinned wider, flipping him off. “These are my super secret special moves now, and we’re going to beat you next time with it.”

Although Arun didn’t show it much, Felis knew just how competitive his brother could be. Already the gears were turning in head, the spark of fire in Arun’s eyes showing just what he thought about that statement.

“Don’t blame me when I send both of you packing to the Pokémon Center,” Sirius warned. “Valor’s still the strongest.”

“Uh-huh, sure. Anyways, here’s Zubat’s ball. I won’t lie, I got a little preoccupied with Aken so the most I had her do was practice Leech Life on a nearby tree.”

“Any training’s good training.”

“Preach,” Felis nodded. “Anyways, how’d it go on your end, any luck getting us a reporter?”

“In the works, we got a job.”

“Oh, nice! What are the details?”

“So basically–”

At that moment the manager stomped in, her hair a mess as a yellow fluid that smelled like rotten eggs slowly dripped down her locks. She pointed a trembling finger at Sirius. “You,” She snarled. “Asshats. Yesterday. Do. Your. Job.”

“Yes ma’am.” Sirius sketched a quick bow and ran out the door, pausing only to give a signal to Felis that meant ‘tomorrow.’

Which left Felis alone in a room with an angry manager lady.

“I’ve got…deodorant, if you want.” Felis said.

“There is egg running down my hair.”

“True. It’d just ruin the deodorant.”

She looked like she wanted to strangle him.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory loss was a lot scarier when you could feel it happening in real time.

As Arun and Valor dusted their hands off of the bachelors who’d come back for revenge, he realized he’d forgotten the name of the man who’d held him hostage with a Stoutland.

An hour into his shift, he realized he couldn’t remember what Pokémon held him hostage.

After Pranav slid him and his bouncer boys some energy drinks on the sly, he realized he didn’t remember where he’d gone after the hotel gym.

When the manager applauded him after washing out the egg from her hair, he realized he didn’t remember what he’d done that morning.

As he tried to compose himself in the stall, washing his face and doing everything in his power to calm his breathing, he realized he didn’t know what he’d done before work even started.

“Breathe,” Arun ordered himself. “Breathe.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It was stupid. He knew. But still he couldn’t shake off the fear as he felt like everything that was him was slowly being wiped away. He couldn’t see himself as Sirius, worried that even referring to himself as such would take away everything that was Arun.

A firm hand squeezed his shoulder, and he flinched, only settling when he realized it was Pranav.

“You’re okay, Arun,” Pranav said. “It’s all going to come back.”

“How do you do it?” Arun asked, hating how weak he sounded. “How did you live like this?”

When Pranav talked about the ‘abyss’, Arun was worried. The way his brother described the sense of completely losing himself had Arun thankful that nothing like that could ever happen to them again. But then the memories of the Amber returned. He remembered the look on Blake’s face, how empty and...gone the man was.

All of a sudden the threat of losing themselves became feasible once more. It could happen to both of them.

Arun did his best to comfort Pranav then, but he was afraid too.

And now he was here, losing parts of himself that he did not want to lose.

It was absolutely terrifying, and he couldn’t hide it anymore.

“It’s different,” Pranav said, his words pulling Arun back to reality. “I know it’s all going to come back soon. I’m not…rotting away like I was, being a burden on you. I still remember everything that’s important.”

“...Fuck,” Arun chuckled, feeling some of the fear ebb away. “That’s so cheesy.”

“Yeah? Well don’t get used to it. Our shift’s almost done, and we’ve got people to meet up with. What do you remember?”

“...we were being chased,” Arun realized. “Omega is strong, Felis.”

“I mean, I saw the way they held themselves.” His brother hummed, leaning against the sink. “Figured they were strong.”

“I’m saying this because I don’t want you doing anything stupid. I’m serious. Two against one and Omega used one Pokémon the whole fight.”

“So you guys threw off your pursuers?”

“Omega did,” Arun sighed. “I just knocked them out before they could run away. And then…and then Omega took them somewhere, she wouldn’t say.”

“Lame,” Pranav drawled. “As if we haven’t proven ourselves.”

“What about you?”

“Gloom used this freaky custom move and had us track down the missing P.I. We had the location at some bum looking factory, but she wanted to double check with her contacts first to make sure she didn’t step on any toes.”

“And then?”

“Then nothing. I was sent packing home and I crashed immediately.”

Arun chewed his lip for a moment, half to process the information, half to deal with the new set of memories he suddenly found himself inheriting.

“Does that mean tonight we’re…”

“Raiding said bum factory? Probably.”

“God, I need a drink.”

“Brother do I have news for you,” Pran grinned, revealing two half full shot glasses. “Pure Sinnoh alcohol.”

“How? Where were you keeping those?” Arun asked, looking between the glasses and his brother.

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, because what the fuck?”

“Well I say it doesn’t. Anyways, are you drinking or na?”

“I’m sober, asshole.”

“Don’t worry, this one’s water. Or is it this one?”

He made Pranav drink them both.

Neither was water.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arun was getting better at using his senses.

He found Gloom and Omega before they could sneak up on them, whatever the latter was using to mask their presence was perfect, down to the last detail. But that’s also what gave it away. A perfect null zone that slowly crept towards them, it was easy to feel out once he understood what he was looking for.

“Well aren’t you two looking good tonight.” Gloom smiled.

The brothers had returned to the bar after their shift, waiting outside as they did last time for their seniors to arrive. The night was as cold and miserable as usual, though this time a thin mist permeating the city’s streets. What street lights were available only revealed more fog, obscuring their paths.

Arun found it nice, though he guessed his brother didn’t.

“You need to change your name, Gloom,” Felis grumbled. “It’s cold and wet. How the hell are you smiling?”

“You smell that air, Grunt? That’s Sinnoh, pure and simple. What’s not to smile about?”

“Might be the fact that we’re raiding a place.” Arun shrugged, tucking his ears under his beanie.

“I’m on their side.” Omega said.

“You’re never on my side, Omega.” Gloom chuckled, before adopting a more somber look. “You are right, however. Tonight we make our first move.”

As usual there weren’t many people out and about at 1:30 in the morning. With the cold present Arun was surprised to see anybody at all. He kept his senses open, the entire group deciding that if they did come across anyone, it’d best be avoided.

So they cut through alleys, took roads that were less travelled, generally keeping themselves scarce. He didn’t know how Gloom managed to lead them through a hundred different detours, more than once he thought they were lost. But no, eventually they reached their destination. Past a scrapheap and through some run down buildings they found it.

But Arun felt it before he could see.

He swallowed thickly as emotions began to cling onto him, pressing around his throat like a cold iron collar.

For a moment he wasn’t standing in the street with his companions, for a moment he felt wet stone against his skin, heard the clinking of chains and the buzzing of machines. For a moment the scent of blood forced its way up his nose, begging for a place to hide.

He forced his senses to shut off.

Arun kept his breathing steady, swallowing thickly as his hand moved to Valor’s pokeball for comfort. It was warm, he could feel Valor’s energy and anticipation within.

“Gloom.” Omega murmured, causing Arun to look up. Both her and Pran were by the older woman, though the way Pran looked back confirmed he was there to keep their senior’s attention off of him. He’d never heard Omega sound so worried before though, and when he finally shook his head clear, he could see why.

Gloom wasn’t smiling.

“I’m sorry,” Gloom said quietly. “I thought…I thought I’d be able to handle it already.”

“We can take a break,” Pran suggested, “Scope the place out?”

“No. It’s worse than before, I need to know what’s happening.”

“Okay. How are we doing this?”

“Quietly,” Gloom stressed, looking back and forth between the boys. “Our goal tonight isn’t to start a fight, it’s to simply gather evidence.”

“How come?” Arun asked. “I’ve seen Omega fight, you could level the entire factory.”

Neither said anything, though a nod from Gloom had Omega reach into her jacket pocket, revealing two…phones? As he took one into his hands he realized it was the slider kind, with the keyboard and everything.

“Huh. My dad had one just like this when we were younger.” Arun said.

“That’s…really?” Omega asked. “It’s supposed to be the latest tech–forget it. These are yours, Gloom spent a bit on them. Check the photos.”

Arun did, after the two of them gave their thanks to Gloom he maneuvered his way through a familiar UI that eventually landed on Photos. They were a little grainy, whatevers files were uploaded not transferring correctly. But he understood what he was looking at.

“Chronos?”

“That’s their uniform," Gloom nodded. "They focus on quality over quantity, though perhaps not as well as Aurafire. And their numbers are enough to pose a problem. So tonight we find out all their dirty little secrets, then in the morning you'll hear about a police raid.”

“They have an Aurafire member as well,” Omega added, causing both brothers to snap to attention. “Relax. They make rounds, tonight will just be Chronos and whatever Gangs they have on their payroll.”

Well that was good news at least.

“No more wasting time,” Gloom ordered. “Keep your cells on you, they have trackers on them so we can make sure we reach you easily.”

“You’re not coming with us?” Arun asked.

“Your reports claim that you two work better together. Tonight, I’d like to see that in action.”

Pranav turned to Arun, a familiar glint in his little brother’s eye.

“Strap in for a show, Gloom.” Pran grinned. “You’re about to see your proteges in action.”