It had been precisely 5 hours, 47 minutes and 32 seconds since the search and rescue groups had been deployed. Tesla knew; he'd been counting. And while tesla had been counting, he'd also taken the time afforded to him by doing a few "productive" tasks.
The rotom was just about finished gathering supplies and was preparing to put his plan in motion when--
"Tesla! Drop whatever you're doing and come here!"
Blast and botheration, the professor was back! Now what was he going to do with all of this raw gluten-free spaghetti?
With a staticky sigh, the electrical ghost shot through the mansion to greet the returning groups.
"Any problems?" Tesla asked as both groups returned, "I see you found Thanos."
"Indeed we did," Dante replied. "We also found Acacia on our way back. Make sure you log them in the checklist and have Durendal take the kids to their rooms; I'm going with Acacia to show Stein the garden."
"Yes, kapitän," the rotom replied, mentally cataloging the new arrivals. "Thanos: check. Chandler: check. Acacia: check."
Tesla took a quick look at the trevenant as she trundled off, noting what was stuck to the bark on her back.
"Cassius: check."
"So I couldn't help but notice," said Frothing Stein as he followed Dante and Acacia into the mansion's indoor greenhouse, "that this mansion has a lot of large rooms"
"Well yes," the ghost professor replied, "that's kind of the point in having a mansion."
"No, I know that but--" Stein hesitated.
Should I ask?
Go right ahead.
Alright...
"It's just that this place looked a lot smaller on the outside."
Dante and Acacia both froze, turning a wary eye at the pony professor. At the same time, Lucius formed from the shadows, regarding Stein coolly.
"Should we tell him?" the shadow whispered to Dante, not taking his eyes off of Stein.
I thought you said I could ask!
I never said they'd react positively.
The captain-king narrowed his eyes in thought, hands behind his back. "I doubt there are laws against it on this world," he said after a moment, "and Stein has been nothing but trustworthy so far. Yes, I'll tell him."
The group seemed to relax as Dante floated over to Stein, who released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Let me show you something," said Dante, showing Stein over to a shuttered window. With the unicorn's attention, the ghost opened the shutters to reveal...
A whole lot of nothing.
"That is one empty void," Stein observed.
But why is it purple?
"Behold," Dante proclaimed, sweeping an arm out over the swirling purple emptiness, "the Spirit World!"
"Fascinating..."
That still doesn't explain why it's purple.
Ghosts are just purple, okay?
Eh, sure. Makes as much sense as anything in this story.
"I spent years of research and put a small fortune into making this in secret, using data I collected from my team's expeditions into this realm," I said to Stein. "Several ghost-type pokémon on my team can travel to and from this place, of course."
"Of course," Stein said. "But why in secret?"
"Ah, that's a funny story..." I replied, rubbing the back of my head, "I'm afraid tampering with the supposed 'realm of the dead' was a bit of a social tabboo on Earth; sort of like human/pokémon relationships or walking around naked."
"Fair enough," Stein shrugged, "we have some dumb laws here too; I can't tell you how off-putting it was when the royal guard told me I couldn't donate my old lungs after I replaced them." A roll of the eyes. "I mean honestly; I wasn't using them anymore, and there were probably plenty of sick foals who could have used them, but apparently gift-wrapping them was 'excessive'."
I nodded; Stein was definitely the reasonable sort. "If the authorities were to find out, it would only have inconvenienced both them and myself; there were plenty of genuine psychopaths calling themselves 'scientists' that were more deserving of investigation." I scowled as I remembered a particularly nasty former colleague. "I wonder if they ever caught Rupert after he lost his mind."
"I do have to question how you funded this in secret, though," the unicorn interrupted, "using research grants would leave an obvious paper trail."
"You'd be surprised at how much you can put under 'living and recreational expenses' actually," I smirked at Stein. "Remind me to show you the arcade later. But you're right, I funded this little project with money I acquired through non-scientific means. Back on Earth, my team was quite formidable in the field of pokémon battles; back in the day, they called me 'Dante the untouchable'."
Lucius chuckled at my side. "I was unbeatable then; I lost count of how many fairies I blew away..."
Stein tapped a hoof to his chin. "I think I remember hearing something about friendly sparring contests being integral to your society..."
"Something like that, yeah," I shrugged. "It's funny; people always told me that ghost-types were niche battlers, but they should've seen the looks on their faces when Cassius would beat them without taking a single hit."
Stein looked confused. "Who's Cassius?"
It took me a moment to realize what he meant. "Oh," I said, "I forgot, you don't know about that." I waved Acacia over and gestured for her to turn around, revealing an insectoid shell with slits for eyes and wings made from the cracks in its back, the halo floating above it giving it an otherworldly appearance.
"This," I introduced to Stein, "is Cassius, our team's shedinja; it likes to cling to Acacia's bark."
Cassius said nothing as Dante introduced it to the non-ponyta creature, electing to float quickly around to scan the equine before settling back on one of Acacia's branches.
This one isn't very talkative.
Stein was yet again thinking in someone else's section.
Oops.
Cassius was okay with it, actually. Cassius was okay with a lot of things.
Oh, erm... Would Cassius like to say something?
Not particularly; Cassius has never needed words. Or sustenance.
I don't--
Cassius has no mouth. Cassius has no organs. Cassius is the discarded exoskeleton of a pokémon, left behind during evolution.
Cassius is starting to creep Stein out...
Cassius is okay with that. Cassius wished only to continue existing; first with Acacia, and now with Amaranth.
Well... Good for Cassius, then.
Cassius could incapacitate Stein in over 120 ways, roughly two thirds of which were non-lethal.
STEIN WOULD LIKE TO SWITCH PERSPECTIVES NOW, PLEASE!
Thanos rubbed his temples as his head throbbed; his antenna was practically killing him all over again.
"Confounded thing," he muttered, heading for the laboratory to call in a checkup, "I can barely sense my own hands in front of my face anymore!" Honestly, the only time he'd ever felt anything CLOSE to this was when...
It was when...
But that's impossible...
"Than the man! Hey, Thanos!" Jack was bouncing over faster then Thanos thought possible, his face uncharacteristically stressed. "Where's Dan!? We got a big problem!"
The buzzing in Thanos' head intensified as the gourgeist approached, and the reaper had to struggle between his headache and his newfound worry to force out his next words.
"W-what kind of p-p-problem?"
And as Jack held out the object in his fibrous hands, Thanos felt the bottom of his bottomless stomach drop out as his fears were confirmed.
It was Legion's keystone.
Or rather, both halves of it.