Finn is all too excited to be interacting with another power-gamer such as Sarah Lee.

"You should see the egg that dropped after the raid."

It occupies the slot of honour in the first space of Finn's inventory, and there's a beat of awkward silence and UI fiddling before the egg appears in the arms of his in-game model with a muted pop. The deep blue shell of the egg is shot through with crimson patterns reminiscent of a Kyogre's fins. It's heavy, in spite of its relatively manageable size, and no sounds yet come from within.

"I don't know if I can get it to hatch, but I'm hoping so. I started up a Cult in Asper, kind of hoping the power of belief comes through for me or whatever. Think I might take it to the High Tide Shrine, too, once Beta Island isn't so..."

He flaps a dismissive hand, seemingly unbothered by the disappearance of the island.

"I mean, surely they'll bring it back at some point. It's gotta still be in the code."

Finn's Relicanth swims through the air beside them, opening and closing its ancient mouth.

Finn had glazed over the founding of the cult, but it's not surprising that Sarah Lee stumbles over his blasé admission. He doesn't seem to mind, sharp canines flashing as he shoots her a grin. Finn smiles easier than Cillian ever could.

"My parents dragged me to church every fuckin' Sunday my whole life," he bemoans, "I figured I'd skip the boring bits and go right to spooky cult below the haunted church. That's way cooler than plain ol' organized religion."

Besides, Cil's ego could use some stroking and Finn's cult was a perfect way to go about it.

A Nosepass comes barreling over the Steppe without warning, and Finn nearly drops the egg in surprise. Or, more accurately, he does drop the egg, and only through quick reflexes and a strong desire not to see his cool raid prize turned into a stone-fired omelette does he manage to save it from danger.

"Lord, that was close."

As Finn recovers from his alarm, Relicanth punishes Nosepass with a spray of WATER GUN.

"Exactly!" Finn exclaims. Finally, someone who gets it. "I don't want anyone reporting me to Hydance for trying to like, dupe them into joining a cult or whatever. I just want this egg to hatch."

It was a beautiful egg, deep blue and white streaked with red veins. They pulse, occasionally, as if with the heartbeat of whatever was inside.

"You better hatch real grateful for the effort I'm putting in," he warns the egg, tucking it securely back under his arm as the Nosepass recovers from him and Sarah Lee's combined attacks. "I didn't start a cult for my other eggs."

Which reminded him — didn't he still have that steel egg he'd snagged from the Rookery?

A quick sort through his inventory and he's dual-weilding eggs, one for each arm. The pure blue egg shimmers like steel in the sun, and it begins to shake violently only seconds after being pulled out of the inventory. Whatever timer had been on its hatching seems to have run out.

"Oh, shit. Lati, defense!"

Latimeria, the Relicanth, dutifully fires another WATER GUN to keep the Nosepass away from the hatching egg.

BELDUM the tag above the hatchling's image reads.

"What... the hell is this thing?"

Sarah Lee