In the week following Composer Percival's legendary concert, the suffocating tension that had gripped Nexus Prime finally began to evaporate. A noticeably more cheerful, optimistic air filled the damp, neon-lit corridors of the Mid-Levels and the sprawling commercial plazas of the surface.
The people genuinely believed they had won.
Following the historic, peaceful protests, the Mid-Rim Senate had convened. Under immense public pressure, they formally addressed the leaked torture files. The result was a masterful, terrifyingly brilliant display of Accord political deflection.
The Bureau of Stellar Order publicly announced the immediate arrest and court-martial of several platoons of elite Legionnaires stationed on Nexus Prime. The news broadcasts looped footage of white-armored troopers being marched into military transports in heavy stun-cuffs.
However, in a highly calculated secondary release, Accord Intelligence declassified a heavily redacted dossier "proving" that Jakor and the other victims were, in fact, active members of a dangerous terrorist insurgency, guilty of smuggling heavy munitions and anti-Accord propaganda.
The official statement from the BSO High Command was chillingly pragmatic: "The individuals detained were confirmed criminals plotting to destabilize Nexus Prime. However, the Accord military holds itself to the absolute highest ethical standards in the galaxy. The use of unsanctioned, extreme force and unauthorized interrogation devices by our troopers is a direct violation of our operational protocols. We have purged these undisciplined elements from our ranks to ensure the safety and trust of the civilian populace."
It was the perfect spin. By arresting their own men, the Accord appeared incredibly competent, noble, and strictly bound by justice. But by simultaneously branding the victims as confirmed terrorists, they completely stripped the revolutionaries of their moral high ground.
The public, satisfied by the arrest of the rogue troopers and the withdrawal of the Legion from the streets, happily went back to work.
The revolution had been cleanly, surgically deflated.
…
Meanwhile, moving silently through the shadows, Ula was running out of options.
The broad-shouldered Neman had spent the last three days discreetly contacting every single underworld source, smuggler, and revolutionary sympathizer he knew in Nexus Prime. Absolutely no one knew who had leaked the BSO torture report. The encryption was too good; the ghost in the machine was completely untraceable.
Tonight, Ula was going to meet his final, most valuable contact: a high-ranking Captain in Nexon Security named Jikma. He put all his remaining hope into her.
The rendezvous point was his old, abandoned safe house, Dorian Kepler's former lower-level apartment.
Ula approached the reinforced door, keeping his heavy hood pulled low. He tapped a cloned keycard against the scanner. The door hissed open, and Ula slipped inside, instantly locking the deadbolt behind him.
He froze. The apartment was completely, violently trashed.
The cheap linoleum floors were torn up, the mattresses were sliced open with plasma cutters, and the walls were riddled with scanner burns. It was glaringly obvious that after Ula had fled the planet, the Legionnaires had thoroughly ransacked the place looking for him.
'I am sorry, Dorian,' Ula thought grimly, his heavy brow furrowing. 'I couldn't keep your old place clean.'
He carefully stepped over a shattered chair, his Neman senses flaring. It seemed Jikma hadn't arrived yet. Ula backed into the darkest corner of the living room, drawing a heavy, serrated vibro-blade from his coat. He waited, his ears straining against the low hum of the city's ventilation systems.
Twenty minutes later, a sharp, rhythmic knock echoed from the door.
He pulled up the live feed from the concealed door-cam on his datapad. Standing in the dimly lit hallway was a female figure wearing a crisp Nexon Security uniform. However, she had the signature wide-brimmed officer's hat pulled low, completely obscuring her face.
Ula narrowed his eyes. The build was slightly wrong. It wasn't Jikma. 'Is she using a third-party proxy to contact me?' he wondered, keeping his grip tight on the vibro-blade.
Ula stepped close to the door and spoke through the encrypted intercom. "The ledger is unbalanced."
A smooth, calm voice replied from the hallway. "We only deal in copper."
It was the correct sequence. But Ula needed to be absolutely sure.
"Copper rusts in the rain," Ula continued.
"Then I brought durasteel to forge the roof," the figure answered flawlessly.
Ula felt a tiny fraction of relief. The countersign was perfectly accurate. Still, his survival instincts kept him on high alert. He didn't disengage the deadbolt just yet.
"Where is Jikma?" Ula demanded through the speaker.
"She had a sudden, mandatory meeting," the figure replied smoothly, still hiding her face beneath the hat rim. "There has been a lot of structural shift in the local chain of command today. Her last right-hand lieutenant just got fired."
It made logical sense given the current political climate. Ula finally reached out and unlatched the heavy deadbolt, sliding the door open. However, he kept his vibro-blade raised and ready at his hip.
The moment the door opened, the figure immediately took a crisp step backward into the hallway.
She slowly raised her head, adjusting the brim of the Nexon hat.
Ula's eyes widened in sheer horror. Staring back at him was a piercing eye.
Senior Lieutenant Verza Zal offered him a polite, chilling smile. Without breaking eye contact, she raised her hand and casually gestured forward with two fingers.
CLANK-CLANK-CLANK!
Before Ula could even react, two full squads of heavily armored Accord Legionnaires rushed out from the concealed stairwells on both sides of the hallway, their photon rifles raised.
"Seize him," Verza ordered coldly.
Ula roared, his massive Neman muscles coiling. He violently stepped back into the doorway, swinging his vibro-blade in a desperate, blindingly fast arc. The serrated edge caught the closest Legionnaire right across the faceplate. The reinforced lens shattered, and a sickening splurt of dark blood sprayed from the trooper's eye as he screamed, tumbling backward.
THWUMP.
A blinding flash of light illuminated the hallway. A heavy, high-yield stun photon charge slammed directly into Ula's chest.
The Neman grunted, his boots sliding back against the floorboards. His incredibly dense physiology absorbed the shock, allowing him to stay on his feet.
THWUMP. THWUMP. THWUMP.
Three more stun charges hit him simultaneously in the shoulders and the abdomen.
Ula dropped to his knees, his jaw clenching so hard his teeth cracked. His Neman body simply couldn't endure the overwhelming, concentrated voltage. Every single nerve ending in his body violently seized up. The electrical current locked his nervous system entirely, paralyzing his massive limbs.
His vibro-blade clattered uselessly to the floor. Ula collapsed forward, barely able to drag himself into a pathetic crawl on the ruined floor of Dorian's apartment.
Heavy white boots surrounded him. Two Legionnaires grabbed his arms, pinning him to the ground while a third trooper aggressively snapped a thick, glowing electric compliance-brace around his thick neck. Heavy magnetic handcuffs slammed shut around his wrists, completely neutralizing him.
Verza Zal slowly walked into the trashed apartment, stepping delicately over the debris. She stopped right in front of the paralyzed revolutionary, looking down at him with immense, predatory satisfaction.
"Your friend Jikma was very, very talkative in the interrogation room," Verza whispered pleasantly, crouching down slightly to meet his agonizing gaze. "I sincerely hope you will sing just as beautifully for me."
She stood back up, adjusting the cuffs of her disguised uniform.
"Take him away," Verza commanded.
She turned on her heel and strode out of the ruined apartment, she put on her pristine half-cape as it billowed elegantly behind her into the dark hallway.
…
Several weeks later, the intense, galaxy-shaking aftermath of the tour had finally settled, returning the Kepler family to their peaceful routine on Planet Friton.
The focus now shifted to the youngest member of the family, Marcus Kepler.
Unlike his prodigious older siblings, the thirteen-year-old was incredibly chill. He wasn't in any particular hurry to skip grades or rush into an elite college. He was perfectly content to just go with the flow, currently relaxing his way through Prefect Senior, the Accord's equivalent of ninth grade.
By the time Dorian and Lyra were his age, they had already been dominating Tribune Senior and Tribune Prime classes, but Marcus didn't care. He had his own unique knack for things that weren't strictly in the academic curriculum.
The afternoon bell rang across the local Friton academy. Marcus casually walked out of the main gates, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets and his backpack slung loosely over one shoulder. His uniform was an absolute mess, his tie loosened and his shirt untucked, making him look like someone who had just finished running a marathon.
"Got punished again, Marcus?" one of his classmates called out from the courtyard.
Marcus smirked, barely slowing his pace. "Yeahh… Just running some extra laps around the track this time around. You'd better be careful, or I'm going to take your starting spot on the track team."
His friend laughed. "Hah! You wish, Kepler!"
After exchanging a few more casual greetings with his peers, Marcus continued down the walkway toward the transit station. Suddenly, a girl from another class sprinted past him in a complete hurry, carrying her heavy outdoor shoes awkwardly in her arms.
As she dashed past, she fumbled her grip, and one of her shoes fell to the durasteel pavement with a clatter.
Marcus sighed but stopped. Trying to be a decent guy, he bent down, grabbed the shoe, and held it out to give it back to her.
The girl skidded to a halt. She turned around, looked at him holding her shoe, and her face immediately twisted into a mask of pure, unfiltered disgust.
"What..." she sneered, side-eyeing him up and down. "Do you have a shoe fetish or something, weirdo?"
Marcus blinked, absolutely paralyzed by the sheer audacity. He had literally just picked up the thing she dropped to be nice, and his character was instantly, ruthlessly assassinated.
His chill demeanor evaporated. Without saying a single word, Marcus pulled his arm back and violently yeeted the shoe high over the fence and straight into the muddy center of the academy sports field.
…
"And then I just walked away," Marcus finished, crossing his arms with a huff.
Back in the cozy, sunlit living room of the Kepler mansion, the family was currently gathered around the couches.
Juno Park had both of her hands clamped tightly over her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently as she desperately tried to hold back her laughter.
Dorian, however, had absolutely no such restraint. He was currently slouched over the armrest of the sofa, clutching his stomach and laughing his absolute ass off at his little brother's misfortune.
Sitting gracefully in a single armchair, Lyra took a calm sip of her tea. "Good," she stated with cold, analytical approval. "You did the absolute best thing in that scenario, Marcus. Don't tolerate baseless slander."
Juno finally managed to catch her breath, wiping a tear from her eye. "You know, Marcus... sometimes enemies become friends. And then, those friends become more than friends."
Dorian sat up, a massive, teasing grin spreading across his face. "Oh? Do you like her, Marcus? Is this the start of a beautiful middle-school romance?"
Marcus's face instantly flushed a violent shade of crimson. "Nooo! Of course not! I would never like someone who accuses me like that!"
Sitting faithfully beside him on the rug, Marcus's loyal Growlithe let out a soft whine. The fiery orange puppy hopped up onto its hind legs and affectionately licked Marcus's burning cheek, as if trying to calm its flustered owner down.
Lyra gently stroked the incredibly soft fur of the Eevee currently napping warmly on her lap. "Well, if your life were the plot of a romance novel, the 'frenemies to lovers' trope would actually be a highly effective narrative arc."
"Sis, please stop analyzing my life like a book!" Marcus groaned, burying his face in his hands.
Just then, a small, pink, star-shaped creature waddled into the living room. The Clefairy let out a soft, melodic "Clef! Clefairy!" as it happily approached the group.
Dorian smiled, looking up toward the hallway. "Is Father's treatment for today already done?"
A moment later, John Kepler walked into the living room. He raised both of his arms high above his head, letting out a long, deeply satisfying stretch. The permanent, heavy exhaustion that used to weigh down his shoulders had completely vanished.
"Haaaa..." John sighed happily, rolling his neck. "I really feel like the healing is coming along nicely! Hahahaha!"
Dorian and Lyra exchanged a quick, profoundly relieved glance. This time, John's hearty laughter wasn't immediately followed by a dry, hacking miner's cough. The Clefairy's innate magical healing abilities, combined with life on Friton, were successfully clearing the decades of toxic dust from their father's lungs.
Juno instantly melted at the sight of the pink Pokémon. She abandoned the couch, dropping to her knees on the rug to scoop the Clefairy into a massive hug. "Hmmm... you are so incredibly soft and cozy!"
The Clefairy giggled happily, wrapping its stubby little arms around Juno to hug her right back.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP!
A sudden, frantic pecking noise echoed from the large glass sliding doors leading to the patio.
The family turned to look. Hovering aggressively outside the glass was a brown, sharp-beaked Spearow. The bird-type Pokémon was pecking violently at the window, flapping its wings and squawking urgently.
Dorian frowned, standing up. "What's wrong with Spearow? Is he calling us to go out to the backyard?"
On Lyra's lap, the Eevee suddenly perked up. Its long ears twitched as it listened to the Spearow's cries. The Eevee nodded vigorously. "Eeevv... evee!" John's relaxed expression shifted into mild concern. "Did something happen out on the farm?"
Without another word, the entire family scrambled to their feet, hurrying toward the back doors to see exactly what the frantic bird was trying to warn them about.
As they ran toward the crop fields, they immediately spotted the source of the commotion. Sitting right in the middle of a freshly turned patch of dirt was a brilliant, pulsating white light.
A Diglett popped out of the soil, its small, round body completely engulfed in the blinding, majestic glow of evolution energy.
"Whoa!" Marcus gasped, his eyes shining with pure excitement. "Is it about to evolve?!"
Sensing the sudden spike in energy, the loyal Growlithe immediately stepped in front of Marcus, lowering its stance and barking protectively to shield the boy just in case the light proved dangerous.
Dorian skidded to a halt, completely baffled. "Wait, what happened? How can it possibly evolve already? It hasn't been in a single battle!"
John walked up beside him, crossing his heavy arms. "Well, maybe it is because she has been the most active one out here. I have been having her use Mud-Slap and Bulldoze constantly to till the raw soil ever since I expanded the eastern farm quadrant."
Dorian looked past the glowing Pokémon and finally registered the sheer, incredible size of the newly expanded crop plots. The farmland stretched out massively toward the horizon. And the duo of tiny Digletts had been doing all the heavy lifting with his father for weeks.
John, who still barely understood the core mechanics of his son's games, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Evolve? Is that like... leveling up?"
Before Dorian could explain the concept, the glowing Diglett sank slightly into the earth. Suddenly, two more distinct, glowing shapes burst up from the dirt right beside her. The brilliant white light flashed brightly, expanding outward, and within seconds, the light shattered into a shower of sparkling energy.
In the center of the tilled dirt stood a Dugtrio.
Instead of the usual, high-pitched 'Dig-dig!' sound, a low, incredibly resonant, harmonized tone echoed across the farm from the three connected heads.
"Trio... trio... trio."
The family stood there, their eyes wide in absolute awe.
A few feet away, the second, un-evolved Diglett popped its head out of the dirt. It wiggled over and happily rubbed its round head against the base of the newly evolved Dugtrio. "Dig! Dig!"
The Dugtrio hummed affectionately, rubbing back. "Trio... trio."
Then, the three-headed ground-type looked directly up at John. "Trio. Trio."
John smiled warmly. He walked right over and kneeled down in the dirt, completely unbothered by the mess on his pants. He gently patted their smooth brown heads. "Well, it looks like you've become three now. I don't really know how that works, but welcome to the farm."
Dorian stood in the grass, his developer brain instantly going into absolute overdrive. 'Wait... does manual farming labor actually count as experience points for these materialized Pokémon? Or do they passively gain EXP just from actively using their movesets in a real-world environment?' It was a staggering revelation for how the System integrated with reality.
"You guys did great work today," John told the ground-types, pointing toward the large wooden storage barn. "You can go ahead and eat those extra carrots over there by the crates."
"Trio!" The Dugtrio and the smaller Diglett instantly plomped back down into the dirt, burrowing at lightning speed before cheerfully reappearing directly beneath the crate of fresh carrots.
John then stood up and looked at the patio roof. "Thanks for the warning, Spearow," John called out, reaching into his pocket. "Here is some extra seed."
Dorian watched the seamless, natural interaction, completely dumbfounded. "You know, Dad... you really have a terrifying knack for this whole 'Pokémon Trainer' thing."
John looked back over his shoulder, raising a confused eyebrow. "Hah? What of it? I am not a trainer. They just really love the farm yields."
As John said that, a wild Farfetch'd casually strutted out of the tall grass, holding its leek like a sword as it took up a guarding position by his leg. A small flock of Pidgeys fluttered down from the sky, landing comfortably on John's broad shoulders. And finally, a perpetually confused Psyduck waddled up from the nearby irrigation pond, quacking softly as it completely attached itself to John's side.
They were entirely surrounding the middle-aged miner, treating him like the ultimate, undisputed alpha of the entire ecosystem.
Dorian just stared at his father incredulously. "...Yeah. Right."
…
Several days later, back on the sunlit surface of Friton, the Round Table Studio headquarters was operating at a completely different, incredibly healthy rhythm.
Inside the Programming wing, the proprietary VR engine was still heavily in progress. In the meantime, Bem Lendu and Logan Kim had been rotating through various commercially available VR engines that Ratik had rented for them to study.
Of course, because it was all highly protected, rented software, they couldn't do a pure dissection of the source code. But simply by stress-testing the engines, the duo had successfully ticked off several crucial physics requirements that needed to be implemented for Sky: Children of the Light.
The programming progress was slow and methodical, but since Arthur explicitly refused to set arbitrary deadlines, the two veteran developers were having an absolute blast doing pure, unadulterated research without the looming threat of corporate crunch time.
Over in the Production wing, Kasavin was incredibly busy overseeing the massive, galaxy-wide rollout of Pokémon merchandising. He was essentially acting as a vital bridge for Raja, ensuring everything from manufacturing timelines to the structural integrity of the merch was perfect. Kasavin ruthlessly inspected every single plushie, trading card, and figurine prototype, ensuring every product faithfully and strictly followed the official Pokédex game guide.
Meanwhile, outside the glass walls of the facility, Ross Dalle and his audio department were literally running around the Friton pastures. To fully capture the whimsical, organic vibe of the Sky project, Dalle had strapped over a dozen high-fidelity microphones and audio receivers across his entire body. He was currently skipping happily through the tall, wind-blown grass, intentionally trying to capture the absolute perfect acoustic crunch of footsteps.
Back inside, Lin Liseli was fully engrossed in her environmental sculpting. The breathtaking, fluffy cloud assets and serene lighting maps for Sky were coming along beautifully. The overarching studio plan was brilliant: they would push Sky halfway into its asset production, then temporarily pivot to develop Assassin's Creed.
By completing Assassin's Creed, Arthur would acquire the highly advanced Helix VR tech from the System. Once the superior tech was secured, they would seamlessly plug Liseli's ready-made Sky assets directly into it.
Arthur stood alone in the center of the massive, glass-walled Junction room. He looked around the quiet space, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
"Gawain," Arthur called out softly. "The junction room is completely empty today."
A pulse of soft blue light illuminated the air beside him. Gawain materialized, his holographic silver knight armor gleaming cleanly in the ambient sunlight.
"That is a highly positive metric, is it not, Sir?" Gawain replied smoothly. "According to my internal sensors, the entire staff is currently operating in their optimal state. None of them are overworked. None of their stress metrics are peaking. And none of them have skipped their mandatory lunch breaks. Do you need me to add any new important parameters to ensure they stay on track?"
Arthur smiled, shaking his head. "No need, Gawain. Let them work at their own pace." He let out a quiet sigh, suddenly feeling a strange lack of direction. He had already finished his music tour, and the coding for the next games was largely bottlenecked by the engine research. "What do you think I should do right now?"
The AI stood silently for a fraction of a second, processing the vast amounts of psychological data it had gathered.
"As a learning Compadre system, I have observed a great deal from your studio, Sir," Gawain said warmly.
The AI swiped a gauntleted hand through the air, opening four small, floating holographic screens. One showed Bem and Logan excitedly high-fiving over a line of code. Another showed Kasavin proudly adjusting the ear of a Pikachu plushie. The third showed Dalle laughing as he tumbled into the Friton grass. The last showed Liseli humming a happy tune while painting a golden sunset.
"From what I have observed, every single person in this building is currently doing something they genuinely love," Gawain continued, turning his glowing visor back to Arthur. "So, I have taken it upon myself to synthesize this advice for you: Do what you love, Sir. Because our greatest creations always come from it."
Arthur's eyes softened as he looked at the holograms of his found family. A warm, profound sense of peace washed over him. Gawain was right.
Arthur smiled. He walked purposefully over to Liseli's section of the Round Table and picked up a spare, high-end drawing tablet and a digital stylus.
He sat down in one of the plush chairs, looking up at the clear glass ceiling above him. "Gawain. Activate Rain Mode, please."
"Right away, sir," Gawain replied obediently.
Seconds later, the localized weather-control system built into the HQ's roof activated. A gentle, steady trickle of artificial water began to fall, creating a soothing, rhythmic pitter-patter against the thick glass ceiling of the junction room.
Arthur closed his eyes, letting the ambient sound wash over him. The sharp, mechanical corners of the universe seemed to melt away, replaced by something much older, much more magical, and deeply emotional.
He opened his eyes, brought the stylus down to the blank screen, and began to sketch. He had a brand new idea. A wonderfully strange, deeply nostalgic, Spirited Away kind of idea.
⋘ 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂.. .⋙
🎮:
- Stardwey Valley: Completed.
- Hades: Completed.
- Pokémon: Completed.
- Sky: Children of the Light: 24%██▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
🎬:
- Spirited Away: 0%▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
♬:
- Your Song – Elton John (ch.9)
- A Lovely Night – La La Land (ch.20)
- Merry Go Round of Life – Howl's Moving Castle (ch.25)
- Small Fragile Hearts – Victor Lundberg (ch. 27)
- Skyfall – Adele (ch. 29)
- No Time To Die – Billie Eilish (ch. 30)
- Yesterday – The Beatles (ch. 32)
- Lovely – Billie Eilish, Khalid (ch. 47)
- Best Part – H.E.R. feat. Daniel Caesar (ch. 67)
- Lovely Day – Bill Withers (ch. 68)
- My Song – Labi Siffre (ch. 75)
- Isn't She Lovely – Stevie Wonder (ch. 89)
- Gotta Catch 'Em All – Pokémon OST (ch. 90)
- Don't Stop Me Now – Queens (ch. 102)
- Grow As We Go – Ben Platt (ch. 102)
- Feeling Good – Michael Bublé (ch. 104)
- You'll Be In My Heart – Phil Collins (ch. 105)
- We Will Rock You – Queen (ch. 108)
- The Bones – Maren Morris feat. Hozier (ch. 110)
- Achilles, Come Down – Gang Of Youths (ch. 111)
- Wind of Change – Scorpions (ch. 113)