I sighed. Well, there goes any chance I had for rest. How was I supposed to ever get any when I had to do tasks for both Q and the Regressor? One side believed that I could casually destroy planets just by breathing, while the other thought I had adequate downtime. It wasn’t like I could just excuse myself to sleep for a while saying that I was too tired. I was finally starting to see the downside of living this damned life of lies.

Well, sorry Noe, but our conversations going to have to take a rain check.

“It is ok, my Host,” she answered reassuringly, “I shall count the days until then. For now, please take care of yourself, dear Walter.”

I refocused my attention back onto Q, “What is it that you need to inform me?”

“Well, we have finalized the proper paperwork on my side,” Q said, “so I am here to formally invite you to the Tribunal as the representative of Site 1102.”

I nodded, “How long will this take? You know that I can’t leave the Anomaly unattended for too long.”

“Yes…” he answered hesitantly, “We have taken that into account. We will try to slow down this timeline as much as we can on our end, but given the temporal nature of our Site’s Anomaly, that could prove to be an issue.”

“I thought you had total control over the flow of time for your Aspirants,” I said matter-of-factly, using the information the Regressor just gave me.

“We do, but something about Aspirant Kim Jae-Hyun is hindering our ability to temper with any timeline that he is currently on, even on the Main Stage. This is not an issue since we can temper the timelines of the other Aspirants to fit around this, but…”

“But I’m currently on the same time axis as him, so you can’t do much for me,” I answered for him.

Q laughed nervously, “Yes, but we can still slow down the passage of time on the Pandora plane if I work with the other Site Admins, even if it’s minor. We have dealt with other Anomalies with chronological defects, but this particular case is extreme. I’m not sure what the Origin Matrix did to your charge, but it is unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

Other Site Admins? Were the other non-human Aspirants here with the rest of us? Doesn't matter, that's not important for now, I'm sure I can ask the Regressor or Q later.

“Then that’s all the more reason why I shouldn’t be leaving this Trial for any length of time," I continued, "You know how bad things can get if we leave even a regular Anomaly unchecked.”

Q was sweating now, “Yes, and I have informed Central as such. They have agreed to expedite certain procedures, and your stay should take no more than 36 to 48 Earth Hours if all goes well.”

Well shit, there goes all of the Preview Tickets I had then. But I’ll count my blessings, at least it doesn’t go over the time limit that I could afford. Let’s just hope that everything goes well for once.

“And how much time would pass here?”

Q looked even more nervous, “Well… given how difficult it would be to make any adjustments… it should be around 8 or 9 hours.”

I gave him an annoyed glare, “Should be?”

“Not to worry, Lord Arbiter,” he quickly added, “Even if something goes wrong on our end, we have your disguise covered.”

Another flash of light and a new figure popped into my room. It was… well, it was me. From head to toe, there was a perfect replica of myself. It looked like one of those golems I saw outside, but there’s no way one of those things could fool the Regressor. To make sure I didn’t make a fool of myself and ruin my Grandmaster Alchemist disguise, I peeked into its info with my title skill.

QC1102.004: Level ??? Grand Doppelgänger (Aspirant Walter)

“Hm, a Grand Doppelgänger,” I said, pretending to appraise the thing and not be completely freaked out, “Not bad, did you design it yourself?”

He smiled with pride, “It is indeed one of my own, my fourth successful one in fact.”

I nodded approvingly, “And you are sure that your creation will not be noticed by our resident Anomaly?”

He answered without hesitation, “At the current stage of the tests? It would not be possible, rest assured, Lord. And I will also limit what it does, so as to not ruin your image or future plans.”

The Walter-lookalike nodded vigorously as if it was doing its best to assure me that it was going to do its assigned task perfectly. I wasn’t sure what to expect from that thing, but I just had to take Q’s word that it’d serve as an emergency replacement for me if needed. Just looking at a perfect, moving replica of myself was weird. I didn’t like it.

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“Alright, then are we to head off now?” I asked.

“Yes, if that would not be a problem with you.”

“Lead the way then,” I said with authority, I mean, it wasn’t like I knew where we were going in the first place.

Noe, use one of my preview tickets once we’re out of here.

“Acknowledged, my Host,” she answered warmly.

Q snapped his finger and that familiar feeling of traveling through space instantaneously engulfed my being. I think I was starting to hate being teleported around.

I was instantly in my Xollon form when I rematerialized… or perhaps re-atomized would be the better term? Restructured? Honestly, I have to figure out what happens when Q and his people teleport me around one of these days. There was still so much I couldn't understand about my situation that it was starting to frustrate me more than anything else.

Either way, I was fully Xollon again, and the sweet release I felt was intoxicating. I stretched out my feelers in satisfaction. Q had taken me to a small reception room, and a familiar face greeted me there.

“Walter!” Xalla exclaimed. She looked like she wanted to come for a hug, but she saw Q beside me and stopped herself, “It’s good to see that you’re ok. I was worried about your experiments when you were forced into that abnormal Trial.”

I smiled and hugged her anyway. She blushed and quickly returned the gesture. Sure she was working right now, but I was the Lord Arbiter, and I’m pretty sure that I could ignore normal rules. What's the point of being in charge if I couldn't abuse my authority?

Q stood to the side and smiled, “My Head of Security almost lost her job trying to break into that Trial even when she was specifically told not to.”

Xalla’s gaze fell away from me and she stroked her adorable frills in embarrassment.

I chuckled, “Well thank you, Xalla, but you should know that I would have been fine either way.”

“I know, Walter,” she answered, “But I didn’t want all of your hard work ruined because of a screw-up on our side. I know how important that Human project of yours is, and if something is important to you, then it’s also important to me.”

I was about to say something else when the door swung open and two more familiar faces greeted us.

“Well,” Rogue’s jovial voice interrupted, “I am glad that my disciple didn’t lose her job. It would have looked quite bad if I got to keep my position as a Sponsor only to see my disciple lose her position as Head of Security!”

Big Bob, who still looked like a chubby human, joined in and dashed straight at me, giving me a huge bear hug. I was afraid that he’d impale himself with my spiky tentacles, but whatever his skin was made out of was damned hard. His hug felt strong even with my new body, so I can only imagine how much force this seemingly normal guy could exert.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked as I felt a smile start to creep on my face, or whatever the Xollon equivalent of that was.

Big Bob grinned, “We’re going to the Tribunals as well, on super important, official business of course!"

He looked at the older Xollon, "Uh, Rogue, what was the excuse we gave Central so we could tag along again?”

The big Xollon sighed, “We are here because we officially represent the Sponsorship Program, just like how Walter is representing Q and his site. We’re here to give Central the opinions on what we Sponsors think of this situation. Or something along those lines in any case.”

Bob smiled even wider and nodded, “Right, what he said. Not like they can say no when it's the two of us asking.”

“And Xalla?” I asked, pulling the girl closer my way. She hesitated, but only barely.

“She will act as your bodyguard for the duration. Of course, normally such a position would be filled by someone lower down on the security team,” Q smiled and gave me a wink, “But seeing how Xalla almost disobeyed direct orders, she is on probation and I have temporarily demoted her to serve as your aid for the duration of this trip. Terrible punishment, really.”

Xalla cleared her throat, “I will do my best to ensure that no harm will fall upon you, Lord Arbiter.”

“I’m sure my little disciple wants to do more than just protect yo-”

A swift jab quickly silenced the elderly Xollon.

“Wonderful strike, Xalla,” Rogue groaned, rubbing his sides, “Whoever’s teaching you’s doing a great job.”

Xalla rolled her eyes and ignored her master, “But I will be acting officially as your guide and aid during your time in Central HQ, so please tell me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Xalla.” I said, “And will you be coming with us as well, Q?”

He gently shook his head, “I won’t be attending, unfortunately. My role as the Site Admin keeps me busy, especially with the Anomaly in play. It’s endless nights of overtime for me.”

Damn, I actually felt bad for the guy. I'm not sure how he’s able to keep up with all the work Jae-Hyun’s adding to his already full schedule.

“Alright, take care Q,” I said.

"I always do, Lord Arbiter," he answered with a smile.

The others all bid the admin farewell, and he left the room by simply vanishing. I wish he would use the door more often.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked the other three, “Do we take the train over?”

“Oh my friend, do I have a treat in store for you!” Big Bob said, his smile going even wider, “Central went all out on the VIP services this time.”

Rogue added in, “I might have accidentally let word out that the Legendary Arbiter W was back in town, and that he was going to be accompanied by myself, the venerated Xollon General, along with his mighty disciple and the illustrious Grand Alchemist Babylon. Well, let’s just say that the people in charge took notice.”

“This was all done accidentally, of course,” Big Bob added in with a mischievous smile, “Otherwise that would be a gross breach of ethics.”

“Of course, of course, totally unintentional,” the Xollon said with his own smirk, “It would be unbefitting of our esteemed selves to abuse our powers and privileges like that.”

Xalla only sighed, “I wish you two would act your age sometimes. I sometimes miss the war hero who made his recruits shiver in fear just by looking at them.”

I looked over at Rogue, and I just couldn’t imagine him as anything other than a really friendly old man. Perhaps in his younger days, he would have struck an intimidating figure, but now? Nope, a silly old grandpa was all I got from him.

“Oh come now,” Rogue exclaimed, “There’s no wars for me to fight these cycles, so you can’t expect me to be a military man all the time, Xalla!”

She sighed again, “Yes, but you should still be mindful of your image when we are out in public. You represent the best that Xolloid has to offer.”

“Oh come now Xalla dear,” Big Bob said, “I bet you won’t be saying that when you see what Central’s got prepared. And let us old folk relax once in a while! Now let me show you just what’s in store for us!”

He gestured for us to all get going, and with a grand flourish, he opened the door leading out of the tiny room. I peered out and saw that Central really did spare no expenses for this trip to the Tribunal.

I smiled. Maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all.