"LEVY 2: BODY HEAT DROPPING. LACKING SUFFICIENT KERATIN TO FORM SCALE EXTERIOR. CELL LIQUID LEVELS INTERFERING WITH ELECTROCHEMISTY."

It was the same voice as always, clipped, mechanical. Automatic. But it- even it sounded wounded. Pained. Silvermoon found themselves staring at the others, chest tight- until their own pokemon moved to stand before them. At first brush, he seemed... fine. Even the words weren't... too troubling. Torhoricorizel stood there, more fins sprouting from the side of their face, underside a lighter cream. He... seemed okay. He even turned back, giving Silvermoon a sharp nod. We can do this.

But the lights and music descended, and he lunged, and it was very obvious something was wrong. He pounced, static flickering across his form, landing squarely on Withdraw- and as he did so his leg simply ceased, dissolving to water as he landed, the chimaera hissing as the loss suddenly pitched him forwawrd, scrabbling backwards only just as the Core tile pitched into the acid below. He snarled, kicking at his leg until it seemed to focus back into place.

Silvermoon, naturally, went to run after him, as Orion already had.

<Stay back!!> Even his voice was garbled, pitching errantly, enough to freeze Silvermoon in place. <It's too dangerous. I... I can do this. Stay back. Please.> Even that outcry had left him winded, chest heaving as they turned their attention back to the flashing tiles. He sucked in air, eyes searching.

Silvermoon panicked. They had to do something. "I- I- There!" They finally cried. "Two ahead- go!" He lunged. Cleft. "Back two and left one!" A mad scramble. Hose.

He landed and crumpled, gasping in air and struggling to keep hold of himself. The tile shifted to Reagent and he leapt blindly, barely clinging to Hexose. Silvermoon had rushed forwards, to the barest edge of the tiled area. "Please, please-"

Torhoricorizel stumbled to his feet, eyes whipping around. He had to move. Astrocyte, and a brief pause off the tiles, entire body shuddering. Silvermoon ran over, but didn't know what to do- didn't know whether or not holding him would help, or make it worse.

<I... I'll be okay...> He rasped, sounding like he was at the bottom of a dark, deep well. <We have to help the others, and.... then we can... go meet your friend, right...?> He looked up at Silvermoon, eyes dark and searching.

"Yeah," Silvermoon choked out. "Yeah, we will."

Lucky had not been surprised when Yorick did not return after its' swift departure through the roof. Whatever had happened, whatever had caused the shriek of light to erupt from the chimera, it had clearly been volatile. As Lucky came to accept this, he knew that it was surely for the best that it had chosen to flee. He knew that Yorick would surely revel in newbound freedom-if it could revel at all. The computer's droning message replayed in his head, a tone of finality brought with it that Lucky did not have the strength to shake away.

"LEVY 4: OVERLAPPING SYSTEMS NOW DETATCHING FROM HOST. FRACTURED CONSCIOUSNESS DETECTED."

Did it split, opening mind to the many creatures who had inhabited the shell, or did it break? Unfortunately, computers were not known for context unless equipped with the proper software. All Lucky knew was that he could no longer see it through the picturesque sky behind many sheared openings in the roof. He also knew that Chaos held no weight, and his Gyarados would assuredly press many buttons at once.

Thus, without a Pokemon who could help in this situation, he leapt onto the panels himself. A fitting trial, he believed, for the person who had just risked a newborn friend's hide for the purpose of stress testing. He barely leapt onto a panel or two that was correct at all-His jumping strength meant little when the test was made for Pokemon-so thus he moved with the assumption that most panels would fall beneath his feet and never stopped moving. He could only help ever so often, such as by standing on the occasional correct panel. Fight and Flight once flew past his eyes, but he wasn't sure if that wasn't just a trick of his eyes in the heat of the moment.

Usually, he would bring help to others. He called out a nearby Transpose for Silvermoon to follow, slipping on his own footing for the distraction. He only had God to thank when his desperate grabbed onto a Deft panel that wouldn't fall when he found purchase. He grabbed tightly onto Morpheus and held his ground, doing his absolute damndest to keep the collapsing Pokemon from falling out into a pit after it had been struck by a wayward shard of metal. The burns lingered on Lucky's hands, and he knew he'd feel them for the rest of the dungeon's time.

His efforts could not last forever. As it seemed, he would soon be the first within the dungeon to fall-literally, in this case, when he pushed said Morpheus aside onto a nearby Southpaw tile to keep him safe from an oncoming attack. Lucky knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge it--he could see how Morpheus was deteriorating without any new DNA input. This act left Lucky sorely alone when the tile beneath himself was destroyed by a flung shard of steel. He fell, looking to the sky. He could see the beautiful, fleeting sight of a comet shining from above.

One that was coming closer each second, in fact. Was it headed towards--?

It was. Yorick had never left-he had only flew up to collect speed and starfire from the heavens. Before Lucky met an untimely fate of whiting out within the sea of death below, the comet swept him up and returned to the world of the living men. Lucky saw it-the way that the astral flame danced around his person, never harming him by even the merest of burns. Yorick would make sure that his light could not burn his master, for he sincerely did not wish for it to do so-a trait that Lucky knew that all Pokemon shared for their trainers alone.

Thus, Lucky knew that Yorick had never abandoned him. Thus, Lucky was proud beyond measure of this Pokemon who had known him for less than an hour's time. He saw the gleaming light of purpose within the pits of his once-empty eyes and knew that, though Yorick burned himself from within, the fractures of his mind had come together with singular purpose.

As a gentle stone across water did he fly, hop and a skip and a jump across several tiles. Alight, Starlight, Your, Flaw, Birthright. One by one, the defenses of the Aluminum Skull shattered and were made vulnerable by the efforts of all who had stepped onto the panels.

Streaking past the storm of swirling steel, Yorick struck true into the center mass of the open skull.

Everything was falling apart. Torhoricorizel- the chimaera- their pokemon, their friend- was collapsing. Decaying and reforming, becoming dust and becoming whole. A relentless cycle of agony. His eyes flickered with color- something that could have been encouraging, somewhere else. A lifetime away. But now even that seemed sickly, a lack of holding on.

"How do I help you?" Silvermoon whispered. He couldn't speak, could hardly shake his head. There's nothing you can do. He tried to summon the will to speak.

<Go, and take me with you. Go see everything you wanted to show me.>

A sharp pain wracked Silvermoon's chest- "No, no, you're going to see it too-" He had to, he had to, there wasn't- this couldn't-

There was a crack, that had Silvermoon glancing upwards- As the ceiling began to shatter, a massive hunk of it starting to drop, towards them. Silvermoon felt their body lock up, because even if they moved, their pokemon would-

The chimaera moved, instead, slamming what bulk he had into Silvermoon, throwing them clear of the massive rubble, neither of the pair moving for a long moment. Silvermoon slowly picked themselves up, moving to grab their pokemon.

<No. Just get up.>

The pain in their chest worsened. Slowly, they obeyed. "Are you coming with us?" They asked. They couldn't not ask. The pokemon looked up at them, body trembling. Despite everything, he nodded.

<I'll be right behind you. Now go.>

They both knew he was lying, but there was no space to address it.

Another chunk of rubble slammed down, spreading ruin and dust, and Silvermoon finally forced themselves up, towards the door. And, like a fool, they looked back. (They were always going to look back, weren't they?)

The chimaera was laying on the ground, still alive- still struggling-

And Silvermoon felt themselves slam into something, sprawling to the ground amidst whatever they'd run into. It was... a long metal table, which had something that maybe had been beakers or vials, but now was just a pile of shattered glass on the ground. Now bruised and dazed, Silvermoon untangled themselves from the rickety table, once again moving to escape from the room.

And, somehow, everything they had seen on their way in, then inert and quiet, was now... very awake. And angry. Silvermoon- did their best, trying to be fast and also not activate anything that wasn't directly looking at them. Thankfully, everything seemed... obvious. Don't step on the tile that was colored differently than the other. Jump successfully over things that were obviously trap doors. Jump successfully over things that were obviously trap doors. Jump successfully-

The ground fell out from under them, Silvermoon's breath escaping their lungs as they fell, hands scrabbling at the tile and metal to try and not fall further. A weak cry escaped them, Silvermoon fighting but unable to pull themselves up- And someone grabbed them, pulling them out of the pit, and shoving them forwards again.

<I'll be right behind you. Now go.>

Silvermoon didn't look back. They just ran, heart pounding louder and louder in their ears, starting to roar and rumble... in a way that hearts shouldn't. Silvermoon finally twisted, looking back, and instantly regretted it- The same massive skull from earlier, soot-stained and dented, was now barrelling down the scarcely-large-enough hallway. "No-" escaped them, forcing their gaze forward. They could see the exit now, much too far down the hall. They just- they just had to keep running, and pray everyone made it.

By the time the battle had finished, Moab wasn't looking so good. Parts of their limbs and wings appeared to be made from wood, and large organic spikes burst from every free space it had. Considering it was already burning up, the addition of plant-like elements only hastened their own final end.

"Moab!" Rose cried out, tears pouring down her cheeks as Gerana struggled to keep the child back. "Let me! Go! I need to see them! They're my friend!"

"Hon, they're in danger... We can't help them." Genera spoke, a soft, somber tone to her voice.

And then the klaxons began to blare, the ground shook, and there was no longer any time to waste.

Moab was breathing heavily, their extremely mutated body stumbling upright, core burning brightly deep inside. Every movement was painful. "No... There is nothing that can be done for me. You can not help me. But maybe, I can still help you."

Wattson looked like he was going to speak, but was interrupted by Rose yelling and finally breaking free of Gerana's grasp and moving over to the fusions side. "Come with me! Please! The smart professor lady can fix you! Please, oh please!" Outright puppy-dog eyes, the child simply begging and crying as the world began to shake.

And Moab, for all their pride and hubris, could not say no.

"Alright... For you, my dear Rose. I'll go as far as I can."

There was no longer any talking, as Rose and her Pokemon immediately began to run out of the room, joining everyone else who had already begun to dash out like their lives depended on it.

That's because they probably did.

As the first one out of the room, Rose didn't have time to be stopped by the others and suddenly stepped on a specific panel that sent her flying forwards with incredible speed. At first, it seemed like a good thing, but the tables in her way made it quite clear that this was a trap in its own making.

She slammed right into the metal tables, tumbling onto the ground. The girl scrambled to try and get back onto her feet, as the tables slammed down into her back, burying the little girl beneath the heavy metal frames. She was stuck.

"H-help!" Rose cried out, wiggling and trying to squeeze her way out, but she was clearly stuck hard.

As soon as the other Pokemon had made it into the hallway that she had been sped down, it was too late. The metal skull had appeared from above, some shady science mechanics at work, and slammed into the hallway, rolling down it like a boulder from Indiana Jones. Cutting Rose off from all her Pokemon, ready to squish her into bits.

"My baby! Rose!" Gerena shouted in fear, immediately running forwards to try and grab hold of the skull with her beak and legs, but it was too late. She wasn't strong enough to stop its momentum on the slightly angled down hallway, and it was moving no matter what.

Rose could only stare, paralyzed as the skull came barreling down towards her. The little girl screamed, shutting her eyes, expecting to white out completely.

Only, it never came.

Her eyes opened, tears spilling everywhere to see that every single metallic object in the hallway had been lifted, floating in the air. The skull tumbled harmlessly overhead and continued down the hallway as the tables were floated up enough that she could crawl out.

Moab's wings were spread, feet placed hard onto the floor as electricity crackled all around them like a lightning storm. A powerful Magnet Rise lifted everything metallic, keeping her safe. Her other two Pokemon immediately barreled over to her side, and Gerana pulled Wattson and Rose into her pouch.

"Come on, let's go!" Rose shouted, screaming desperately at Moab.

And in the end, all she got back was a small shake of their head. "I can't. I'm sorry. I can't move, it hurts." True enough, their wooden limbs looked numb, as if they could barely move them.

Not to mention, the burning, raging power leaking out from within. It began to seep out from every orifice, flames and electricity crackling together in some horrific nightmare. The truth was, he was never going to survive to leave this place.

If only he had a chance to have seen the sky. To fly amongst the skies at least once, and see all the world with Rose. That future was never designed for him, he knew. But the reality of it all still hurt.

"Go!" Moab shouted at Gerena who had stalled briefly to glance back at the fusion. "Get her out of here! I'm going to blow, I can feel it! Don't you dare look back!"

"No! Moab!" Rose screamed out desperately, arms outstretched from the bird's pouch, trying to reach her fused Pokemon, her friend. Gerana didn't waste any time, however, immediately beginning to carry them out of there.

"Goodbye, Rose... I'm sorry."

"MOAB!"

The young child just continued to scream, begging and devolving into tears as Gerana carried them as fast as their legs and wings could. Leaping around traps, jumping over obstacles to avoid worse ones. Determined to see her charge safe, Gerena wasted absolutely no time. Leaping onto another table to avoid a hole in the floor, the table immediately began to tip over and fall, but luckily the bird's wings were already outstretched and caught them, pushing forwards. The exit was finally in sight, and the bird pushed with all of their energy, flying and tucking their wings to soar straight out the doorway.

Back at the end of the hallway, Moab's own tears were quickly consumed by flame, body burning up from the inside out. Rose's screams broke their heart, and they could bear it no more. Their deadened limbs waddled back over toward the fusion chambers with a burning glare in their eyes.

How dare this place create a monster such as him? How dare this place cause such hurt to the only being he cared for? And what for? In the name of science? Moab would have no more. They would not stand for it any longer. They could not allow such horrendous hurt into the world, for anyone else.

"My dearest Rose... may you always be as sweet as you were to me. For you hardly knew me, I hardly knew myself, and- gah!" The pain was too much to keep monologuing to themselves, holding back this much energy was quite literally killing them. Their heart held only two desires at this moment. To see Rose safe, and to see this place burn. As soon as he could no longer hear the desperate pleas of the young child, Moab let loose. Every ounce of energy he had been holding back was finally let loose.

Their wings exploded flames and force outwards from them in a massive ball of energy, pushing everything away from them, but it wasn't enough, they still burned inside. And this time on the outside as well, their plant-like body parts caught flame almost right away.

A pained scream of their own was forced out. Every single cell of their body ached with pain, a burning like no other. And hopefully, something nobody else would ever have to live through again. Even as flames poured out of their beak, they forced out a few final words.

"H-heh... I guess I was the strongest after all."

An Explosion rocked the laboratory with everything they held back. Flames, electricity, and smoke filled the air as rubble collapsed all around them. There was no hope to survive its aftermath. After a while, everything stopped hurting, even as the explosion continued to shake apart their body, destroying them bit by bit just as it destroyed the lab around them.

And yet, wild, crazy laughter poured out of their beak until their final moments would pass. None shall suffer the way they did, their fusion comrades did, never again.

Outside on the island, Rose was in tears, even as she heard the explosion from deep within. She had given up fighting back to try and run in to grab Moab again. Splayed out across the sands, her arms were wrapped around Wattson as she held him close in a hug, as Gerana wrapped their wings around the two of them.

"... They're not hurting anymore," Wattson began, attempting to comfort the crying child. Not that he was ever good at that, really. "They're at peace now."

Rose sniffled, squeezing Wattson closer. "T-they promised... We'd conker..."

"Then we'll have to conquer the world, in their memory. Think you're up to the challenge, dear?"

Rose was quiet for a minute, eventually nodding their head as she wiped away some of her tears. "...Yeah. I think they would like that."

DUNGEON: PSI ISLAND

⚠️🚨Do Not Enter🚨⚠️

SPOILER: Click to show

{SYNTHESIS THEME}

ROUND 6: THE END

MOAB's explosion rocks the cave, collapsing the inner rooms and turning the reinforced entrance into a blockage of shattered concrete.

As the dust settles on the brief and bitter expedition, the only surviving remnant of the Psi Island laboratory is a scratched metal speaker.

"P̴H̶A̵S̸E̴ ̴F̷O̴U̴R̵ ̷C̸O̵M̵P̴L̷E̸T̷E̸" crackles the voice. The words are broken, yet still audible. The mechanical core of the lab, though buried under a thousand tons of scorches rock and bent steel, is clearly still functioning, still processing the data of the most recent phase. Still trying to perfect its fusions. "E̵S̴C̸A̵P̴E̶ ̷S̴U̴C̶E̷S̵S̴F̵U̸L̴.̵ ̴A̶L̷L̶ ̴F̴O̵U̷R̶ ̴P̸H̶A̵S̸E̵S̷ ̷C̵O̵M̸P̴L̸E̸T̸E̴.̸" There is a hint of pride and surprise in the mechanized voice. You can hear whoever recorded this audio smiling at some future they never got to see.

"̵R̴E̶C̴O̵N̷S̴T̷I̶T̵U̵T̶I̵N̷G̷ ̵F̴O̵R̶M̵S̷ ̵F̵R̶O̵M̵ ̴R̶E̸M̵A̷I̶N̴I̴N̸G̷ ̴M̴A̷T̴E̸R̷I̷A̶L̴"

Four copper devices appear in front of you, and like moisture being drawn from the air, the DNA of your chimeras is sucked towards the machines.

Strands of genetic material flow from your hands, the ground, and from the rubble of the collapsed lab. They weave together, forming a patchwork of DNA that fills the devices, pooling underneath them in silver globs that shift and wobble like the masses of raw material you saw in the fusion tanks back down in the lab.

Your chimeras are reforming from what was left. But what's to stop them collapsing a second time? Are they doomed to reform just to dissipate into a genetic mess once more?

Of course not.

"̵D̷E̷P̴L̴O̶Y̷I̵N̸G̶ ̸S̸̸̴T̶A̷B̵I̸L̵I̵Z̵E̵R̶S̷.̵"

The devices hiss as syringes full of lime green liquid pierce the collected DNA. Veins of green sizzle through your reforming friends. Complex mixtures, each tailored to your chimera's unique genetic combination. Suddenly, the incongruous parts of your chimera fit together a little better. Instead of battling for dominance, they shift and settle into zones. Furry bodies, feathered heads, insect claws, aquatic tails.

"L̶E̷V̴Y̸ ̷O̶N̸E̶ ̵S̶T̷A̵B̶I̴L̴I̴Z̵E̸D̵"
Steel coats their bones, strengthening weak points and providing support to a powerful, muscular frame.

"̷L̷E̴V̶Y̸ ̷T̶W̵O̵ ̴S̶T̵A̷B̸I̴L̸I̶Z̷E̷D̷"
Boiling blood is cooled and diffused. Scales shift to protect fighting claws. Feathers group around the head and neck. a glorious grey crest sticks out through the hole in the top of the device.

"̵L̶E̴V̷Y̸ ̶T̷H̶R̸E̷E̸ ̵S̴T̸A̷B̵I̷L̶I̶Z̴E̸D̸"
Small bursts and booms jump-start the creature's powerful heart. Ba-Boom. Ba-Boom. Born of love, fueled by science gone gloriously right.

"̵L̷E̷V̶Y̵ ̴F̷O̴U̶R̵ ̴S̵T̷A̶B̶I̵L̴I̵Z̸E̷D̴"
The multiple heads coalesce into a single, coherent form. There are no voices fighting for control. Only a single, unified, calmed mind. Piercing eyes stare out at your through holes in the device.

A popup appears in your UI, the letters popping into existence one at a time, as if being typed out by a computer program, or a log entered by some phantom scientist.

HYPER-NUCLEATED AUTO LEVY

EXPERIMENT STATUS: SUCCESS!
DUNGEON COMPLETE.

HYPER-NUCLEATED AUTO LEVY. The label on the big red switch you threw back down in the lab. The impetus for this whole adventure. You made the choice, you threw the switch, and with it you created life.

You nurtured that life. Fed your chimeras with new genetic material and battled beside them to overcome every challenge. You suffered, and bonded with them through these trials of fire. You named them, and stayed with them as they faded away.

For those short hours, you were their whole world.

You said goodbye, but it's not over.

The letters in the popup shift before your eyes. The title rearranging itself to reveal the real the truth of the experiment.

YOU HAVE CREATED TYPE: NULL

EXPERIMENT STATUS: SUCCESS!
DUNGEON COMPLETE.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Type: Null}
Starting now, Type: Null will be available through the 400 BYTE shop, so all players can synthesize their own! They are limited to one per person, and there are special requirements to evolve them into Silvally.

Rose Garden Silvermoon orioncayge Lucky Guy
The dungeon has finished! You may post one more time reuniting with your Type: Null.
The thread will be archived in 72 hours

[Are we going to climb that mountain?]

"Patience, laddie. We've got the whole thick of the trail ahead of us, first."

The eyes of a caged beast, soft but inquisitive, avert their gaze from the hypnotic sight of the mountain's peak. Just as Lucky had said, there was a winding trail to go before they would even reach the beginning of the mountain's long climb. True to his form, Yorick had once again put his mind on the end of the journey, bringing him far ahead of where he actually lie in the world. Even though he listened to his trainer's command to keep his eyes on the present, he still could not hep sometimes but to think of the end of many things.

It had been quite some time since Lucky had first made his promise to continue their journeys. At first, Yorick had once thought that Lucky was just trying to make him feel better by bringing as much confidence to bear as he could... Or rather, despite all the reassurance in the world that his trainer gave, he was sure that the end would have come too quickly for any plan to carry through. He was not angry with Lucky. If anything he appreciated that, in his last moments, Lucky would show him what hope could look like.

"Once we leg it out through the road, we'll find ourselves there before we even need to think about it."

[Okay.]

Yorick would never doubt his trainer again. Whether he sounded confident or not, false bravado or sure as steel, this mattered to the NULL no longer. No matter how or why, he was sure that Lucky could do anything so long as he said he would.

So long as he trusted in Lucky, everything would turn out okay. Yorick could do anything if Lucky wished for it now.