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Buzzster wound his way back to the front of the casino. True to its name, the city of Tidefall moved in lines and waves and sudden drops. Getting anywhere required thick shoes, a fistful of luck, and a glass-sharp sense of the slow but certain curve of the city's streets.

Buzzster traded his hat for a pouch of refrosted mush which he ate crouched in a gap between waterlogged walls. He crawled under a low-watt laser grid, and climbed three sets of back stairs before he reached the sagging lip of an overhanging neon walkway. From there he could see the casino: Syzygy.

The casino was in the shape of a giant eye, the outside formed from a dome of time-treated glass that showed those inside on their luckiest runs. Buzzster watched as a pearl-skinned gambler pulled in armfuls of chips with his jiggling tentacles. Nearby a jackpot exploded with joyous klaxons as it sprayed chunky beryllium coins into the waiting trough. Across the floor, a group of seven mismatched friends walked away from the vault with briefcases stuffed full of fake bills.

The legendary casino was built midway through a Doortal, with each side offering unique tax benefits and climate control. The arid air on the far side of the Doortal heaved against the warm coastal spray from the Tidefall settlement, forming a stormy, barometric nightmare right above the high roller tables.

Buzzster couldn't wait to be back in there.

He dropped down through a tsunami escape and strolled over to the casino doors where he was met by a pair of insectoid bouncers wearing neoprene suits. They clicked at the air with sensory mandibles, tasting the brushed steel on his breath and the cheap ozone still clinging to his skin.

"Howzit going fellas," Buzzster said, giving them a welcome nod. "I'm back for another round."

The air hummed as the pair of bouncers passed thoughts. "We do not know your scent," they hummed discordantly.

"I like to keep it fresh. Check with your friends, I was here just a few hours ago at the Vantajack tables!"

The air fizzed with suspicion as the insects traded thoughts and knowledge with the other members of their kind who were stationed around the casino floor. The harsh hum in the air harmonized for a moment. "We known your face."

"Damn right! Hard to forget," he said with a wink. "Now let me get back in there to take another run at those cards."

Again the hum changed, souring in the air. Something was wrong.

"So a handsome mug isn't enough?" he put up his hands in understanding. "That's fair. Can't be too careful with those face-snatchers running around these days." Buzzster patted his pockets. His wallet was still missing. "Shit. Listen. I'm temporarily cardless, but I'm already in your system. I borrowed some chips before and I'll be taking out another line of credit once I get in."

At the word 'credit' the hum of the bugs ticked up a few notes. There was excitement in the air now, like a wave pool tinged with blood.

"I'm sure you can check my details. My name's-" Buzzster's throat seized. He tried again. "It's-" He coughed and forced his mouth to make the sounds. "It's B-" Buzzster clutched his throat as he broke into a coughing fit.

"We Do Not Know You," the bug bouncers said together, and Buzzster felt pressure building behind his eyes.

"Yeah you do, I'm-" his throat seized, gripped by a phantom fist with fingers of iron. The pressure in his head blossomed into a lump of thudding pain, and Buzzster staggered away from the casino entrance. He slumped against a wall slick with seawater and massaged his throat with one hand, gradually drawing deeper breaths until the thunder is his head had faded and he could breath again. "Well that's just bloody great," Buzzster growled. "Some bastard stole my name!"

"Hey, Professor!" Buzzster said, looking around the downgraded lab space. Petal was perched on his shoulder as usual, and her eyes went wide. The first place she had ever know was the Starter Lab. This was like coming full circle.

"Petal said you were doing checkups on the Pokemon," Buzzster said, indicating his Chikorita with a jerk of his thumb. He pulled out his Golden Pokeball and handed it to the Professor. "I caught this little bastard Varoom while I was looking for my stolen name. He's all yours if you want him. My real one is in the Everworld."

He found a rickety chair and sat down. "So you're the top science dog here, right? Maybe you can answer my question. When we first met you asked me about the afterlife. I answered with my favorite quote." He paused, and cleared his throat. “There's a part of me that thinks perhaps we go on existing in a place even after we've left it.”

"Well I'm still pretty set on that answer, but I'm no science guy. So what do you think? What do you think the afterlife is like, Professor?"

Buzzster put his head in his hands. He screamed a little, and then pulled back, breathing in quickly through his nose. "Okay. New plan. What does everybody love? Free samples. So we set up a little booth hear advertising free axle alignment checks, and when Varoom comes back-"

Varoom trundled past across the sands, seemingly unworried by Buzzster and Petal.

"Ah! There's the bastard! Get him!" Buzzster yelled.

Petal leaped to the top of the fallen pillar. She raised her leaf high and drew in the last of the fading light. Stored heat and sunlight rose like steam from the roasted dunes, and her leaf began to hiss and steam.

"This one's for Suckle!" she called out, and the Varoom turned in surprise.

"PETAL BEEEEEEEAM!" she yelled, and a roaring, tumultuous blast of concentrated light ripped across the sands. Dusk was turned back to day, and the surprised Varoom was enveloped in the beam of radiance.

"Hell yeah! That's the way Petal!" Buzzster yelled.

Buzzster and Petal raced across the sand, following the torn-up trail of racing and combat. Suckle and Varoom had fought far and long, and it took precious minutes of daylight to track them. The land around them was getting dark. Brilliant reds and blinding yellows had mellowed, but the dunes still emanated heat.

"Almost dusk," Buzzster said, his face scrunched in frustration. "Which way did they go?"

Petal looked down at the mess of sand beneath their feet. There had been a fight here. A big one. The tracks in the sand led off towards the Broken Sundial.

"They went that way!" Petal said, and she raced off down the dune.

At the bottom she cut left, racing along the base of the dune and down into a low, sandy canyon. Here the remnants of battle were more obvious. Chunks of rock and sandstone were chipped. There they were melted into a still-hissing sludge. There was a cave entrance, and Petal paused, sniffed the air, shook her head, and moved on.

Up and out of the canyon and across the sands again. Past dunes and through the fading light. Soon they reached a single pillar; the last leg of a once grand temple.

Against the pillar lay Suckle, fainted.

Varoom was trapped. Tangled in a nest of vines and limbs and uselessly spinning its wheels in the loose sand.

"Get him, Suckle! Use your strongest move!" Buzzster called.

Suckle's ears flicked at the command. She shuddered.

Her tentacles rippled with internal agitation and it squeezed Varoom a little tighter.

Its neck bulged, as a bulbous mass worked it way up the feline turtle-worm's throat.

With a terrible gagging sound she spat up a huge, sizzling hairball soaked in Gastro Acid. It plopped wetly from her mouth onto the incredibly agitated form of Varoom.

The little motor struggled in vain as the goopy lump rolled sloppily down its mechanical form and fell, hissing, onto the sand.

Varoom trundled around the corner.

"Word!" Buzzster yelled, and he hurled Petal at the little engine that bloody-well-shouldn't-have as hard as he could.

Petal flew through the air face-first, her little cheeks flapping in the wind. "AHHHHHH!" she screamed. She slammed into Varoom, and the pair went tumbling across the sands. Petal pulled herself to her feet, a massive bump already forming on her forehead. She staggered across the sand.

"Petal! Go get him!"

"I don't...I can't walk...good..." Petal said, as she tried to focus on the six identical Varoom's in front of her.

They attacked as one, all slamming into her and knocking the little grass Pokemon into the dust and grit.

"What's wrong?" Buzzster yelled from a safe distance.

"I think I hit my head," Petal said. She tried to vine whip the Varoom, and a lucky lash sent it spinning. It quickly returned. Grass was not the best offensive option against the Steel and Poison enemy. "Maybe I need some help," Petal said.

"Good call!" Buzzster said. "Go Suckle!"

"Is this because I forgot you existed?" Buzzster screamed while Varoom blasted him with poisonous oil. "Because if so then I understand!"

"Buzzster, that's not Varoom!"

"Who?"

"The car guy! That's not him! It's just a wild Pokemon."

Buzzster dodged a jet of oil by diving behind the spoke of the Ferris wheel. "I thought this place only had monsters in it?"

Petal grimaced and tried to break the bad news to the fleeing Buzzster. "I'm a monster, Buzzster. Pokemon is short for pocket monster."

"Huh? No I mean big old bastard things. You're just a little guy! You're more like corn than any sort of monster! When did this place get proper little Pokemons in it?"

"After we cleared the World Event! It turns out Hearteater was keeping all of the Ostellia Pokemon underground and feeding on their color."

"Huh. I must have missed that bit."