Assembly

-ZFPD BUILDING-

Donuts were the finest food to ever be invented. On this, Officer Patricia Wagon was absolutely certain. She didn't care if cops and donuts was a stereotype - they were delicious, dammit, and nothing would keep her from her daily donut. But as she finished eating her treat and washed it down with a sip of black coffee, her eyes drifted over her mug to the girl sitting across from her nibbling worriedly on a toaster pastry with one hand while scanning the Hoku Lewa Times newspaper she clutched in her other hand. The girl looked like an overwound toy, ready to snap if the slightest thing went wrong... even though so far things had been smooth sailing.

Of course, Patty suspected she knew why.

"Are you going to be ready for this?"

"AAAGH!" Denise Marmalade flung her newspaper into the air in a panic, though she miraculously didn't throw her pop-tart. "What?! Now?! OKAY!" She opened her mouth wide-

"Wait, wait, hold on-"

Denise promptly shoved the entire rest of her pop-tart into her mouth, and promptly began choking on it. Patty groaned, put down her coffee, and slipped behind her coworker for the Heimlich maneuver. Once the artificial incident was over with, Patty spun Denise around and put her hands firmly on her shoulders.

"You're too tense, Denise. You need to calm down."

"B-but the kobbers are coming! They're coming in less than ten days! Some of them are already HERE!"

"I know. And there will be incidents, and there will be trouble, and there will be stress. I get it. But you have to take it easy and not act like it's the end of the world. This happens every year! I've read all about it, Browny's told me stories, it's crazy compared to other places but here it's nothing new. So just try and take it one day at a time, alright?"

"A... a-alright. Thanks, Officer Wagon."

"Please. We're coworkers!" Patricia patted Denise on the shoulder and gave her a friendly smile. "Call me Patty."

---

 -KING OF BEASTS LIBRARY-

She'd finally done it. After months of trying to work up her courage and watching from afar, Tokiko had finally, FINALLY taken the first step towards joining Nerd Club. She wasn't so naive as to think just showing up and saying she wanted in would work, and she also refused to interrupt a meeting in progress - even if, during the quiet months, Nerd Club meetings mostly amounted to a couple friends hanging out. Eventually, though, her chance came - Rachel had dozed off in a large fluffy chair, leaving Sumireko the only member of Nerd Club currently here and awake. She paged slowly through a book of Kuwahawi history, stifling a yawn.

Sumireko was bored. She always got this way by late winter/early spring, as the cravings for adventure and excitement with the Kobbers grew too strong to ignore. She wanted something to happen. Something ultimately good, sure, she didn't want BAD things to happen even if she did like solving problems... but SOMETHING!

"H-hello."

Sumireko jerked as she looked up from her honestly rather boring book and took in the newcomer. "Oh, hello! You... ummmm... I'm not sure we've met?"

"I was, um, in a fite last fall against that girl with the fencing sword."

"Oh... ohhhhh! Right, that! Totally forgot!" Sumireko smiled and extended her hand. "Sumireko Usami! Your name?"

"Um... j-just Tokiko is fine." Tokiko said, carefully extending her own hand and gently accepting the handshake as if Sumireko's palm was fine china.

"Nice to see someone else in the library. It's usually pretty empty in here. Not enough love of studying around the island..."

From her chair, Rachel groggily spoke up as she was slowly roused by the talking. "An island devoted to tourism and vacations doesn't have a lot of people willing to interrupt their time away from work to study, huh? Wow, who'da thunk it."

"Rachel! Rachel, look, we have a visitor!"

"Huh?" Rachel looked at Tokiko. "Oh. Um, hi, I guess. Sorry, still waking up... guh." Rachel shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "Good to see you, um..."

"Tokiko."

"Titicaca."

"T-tokiko..." Tokiko's headwing drooped.

"Tannhauser. Nahhhhh, I'm just messin' with ya." Rachel lazily flopped an arm at Tokiko and rubbed her eyes, sitting up straighter. "Okay, okay, I'm up. Kinda. What's your story, Tokiko?"

"Well..." Tokiko settled down into a chair and gratefully accepted an offered cookie from Sumireko. "I first heard about Nerd Club about a year and a half ago..."

---

-WIDOW MAKER'S HOME-

"Are you kidding?"

Widow Maker lifted her claw up to her face, staring down the stag beetle that perched upon it.

"Absolutely not! That's a terrible idea."

Stag Beetle stared.

"Without me? Uh-uh. No."

Stag Beetle waggled his antenna.

"For the last time, NO. I can't sign off on this!"

Stag Beetle's jaws clacked together.

"...Okay, look, I'll THINK about it, okay? But that's all I'll do is think about it. That does NOT mean yes."

Pacified, Stag Beetle spread his wings and buzzed off of Widow Maker's claw.

"Sheesh. Kids."

---

-KUWAHAWI GRAB-N-GO-

"Mary? Hey. Jinako here."

"Good to hear from you. What's going on today down in Kuwahawi?"

"Oh, not much. Same old, same old. But it's late April, so, y'know, calm before the storm and all that."

"Too true. How's business?"

"Brisk! The Kawashiro partnership really paid off. I get kappas in here every day buying snacks and supplies and newspapers before and after their shifts. I'm like the official convenience store of Kawashiro. Started selling plastic cups with their logo on them, even."

"That's great. That'll really bring in profits and keep Grab-N-Go going. We might even be able to open a third store soon."

"Really? Imagine that...

..."

"I know you didn't call me just to shoot the breeze. We do that enough on our computers."

"Yeah... I just...

...

I miss Las Vegas." Jinako closed her eyes. "Kuwahawi, it's nice, but... I miss the lights, I miss the sounds, I miss the nightlife... I miss the crazy buildings and the casino games...

I miss my home."

On the other end of the line, Mary was silent. Jinako let out a long breath. "...S-sorry. I shouldn't have dumped that on you... I know there's nothing you can do about it..."

"Jinako."

"...Yeah?"

"Do you think you have one more summer in Kuwahawi in you?"

"I think so."

"Well, listen. I want you to keep your eyes peeled for anyone you think would make a good Grab-N-Go store owner. Keep me posted, okay? If you can find someone, I'll be able to afford to bring you back to Vegas without losing that Kuwahawi store."

"Back to Vegas..." Jinako breathed. It felt like a dream come true. She liked Kuwahawi, and she really liked the friends she'd made, but she couldn't shake her homesickness...

One more summer.

Just one more.

---

-A JET OVER THE OCEAN-

Dolby had learned a lot about Maria from their time traveling together these past six months. Her favorite kinds of entertainment, her favorite things to eat (besides lime candy), her plan of attack when visiting a new place that let her see as much of it as possible in minimal time without getting exhausted or missing anything great... and she'd also learned that Maria was quite good at making use of plane flights to catch some extra shuteye. The sleepy drifter's dozing head was resting on Dolby's shoulder, Dolby glancing at her friend and letting a small smile play across her face before resuming using her laptop. She was chatting with Zenith, telling him she missed home but was excited to return to Kuwahawi, and she promised to visit come November.

Going all over the world with Maria for six straight months had run Dolby down a bit. She didn't know how Maria did it - Dolby wasn't even organic, for Pete's sake, and here she was struggling to keep up with the drifter. She had to admit she was a bit jealous of Maria's drive and stamina. No wonder she'd outlasted Dolby in the Brawl, right?

Wrapping up her conversation with Zenith, Dolby put her laptop away by shoving it into her backpack, then pulled out one of the many bootleg diversions she'd picked up in Hong Kong. She couldn't wait to show Odyssey her new POP Station and Coolbaby. She eagerly anticipated hearing him verbally tear them apart.

---

-THE CANICCO HOUSEHOLD-

"Honey, are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right! I'm eight different kinds of all right!"

"This is the fourth night in a row I've come home to the smells of Scoopa Koopa takeout." Helios put his hands on his hips and looked sternly at his wife as she sat on the couch. "Something's bothering you."

"..." Celestia looked away.

"Come on, you can tell me. I'm your husband, aren't I? We can talk this out."

"Well... it's silly. That's why I wasn't going to say anything, it's silly and I shouldn't be feeling this way."

Helios sat down next to Celestia and put his arm around her. "If you're worried about something, I don't think it's silly. Promise I won't laugh."

"Ohhh... all right. The truth is... I miss the girls. This is going to be our first summer totally apart since you came back. And it's silly because... because they're all grown up, and they have been for years. They didn't still live with me. They have jobs and lives and lovers and dreams... and it's just... it's just..."

"Empty Nest?"

Celestia nodded her head slowly. "I have an empty nest, dear."

"I understand." Helios hugged his wife. "It's not that weird to feel that way at all, even given their independence. We were apart for so long, we missed the formative years of their lives. We barely saw them as teens. It was like we remembered them as little kids, still prepubescent... and then next thing we knew, they'd changed classes and grown up and fit right in to this new world so far from Mysidia. So don't feel bad that you miss your children. I miss them too. But at least we can miss them together for once, right?"

The two mages embraced, remaining that way for a while as Helios ran his hand through his wife's purple hair.

"You're right... Thank you, dear. I should have known you'd know what to say.

...

I might still try and 'adopt' a kobber or two, you know."

"Like you've never done that before. That MAGIC girl is practically your daughter already."

"Ohoho... she fits right in!"

---

-SOMEWHERE ON KUWAHAWI-

---

 -LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA-

"Wormholes. That's what they are."

Surrounded by books, papers, and newspaper clippings, the young woman hunched over her computer ran a hand through her hair as she stared at a fuzzy photo posted online at her favorite paranormal community message board. It was always a message board for her, never social networking - that was how you got spied on. But on a message board that looked like it fell out of the early 2000s from a Wayback Machine archive, and behind seven proxies that she changed the password for regularly, Russi Clover felt reasonably safe enough to provide the Internet with a fake name, a fake history, and a fake age. If anyone actually dug through the proxies and gained access to her accounts, they'd only find the records of "Candy Holly", who was a Japanese native who studied the mythology of her home country. Of course, "Candy Holly" didn't exist, but Russi had done enough with the name to build an entire fake identity to hide behind.

In truth, Russi was American and had never once left the state of California. But THEY didn't know, and Russi knew as long as she kept up her diligent scriptblocking, VPN use, and watched what she divulged, THEY would never find out.

Who was THEY?

Russi didn't know for sure, honestly.

She clutched her water bottle so hard it almost cracked, glaring at the screen intently. "Yes... those are definitely wormholes." she muttered. "Why isn't this being reported? Why is this being ignored?!" She slammed a fist onto the table, making a nearby Flatwoods Monster bobblehead wobble violently. "They're covering it up, the bastards! Something is going on out there in the Pacific! Something happened in the Hoenn region, and something else happened in the Alola region, and now..."

She peered at the map, a screenshot of Google Earth showing the trajectory of the appearing-and-disappearing "wormholes".

"They're heading for the Kuwahawi Archipelago. The Kobbers. They're going to encounter the Kobbers!"

Russi pumped a fist. "If the Kobbers get involved, there's no WAY the Powers That Be can keep the lid on this! The Kobbers will expose this! Then everyone will know what's going on!"

---

-UNKNOWN LOCATION-

"So you know your mission parameters."

"Yes."

"Repeat them for me, then."

"Step one: Scout the location for the designated targets."

"Correct."

"Step two: Use the Beasts to capture the targets."

"Correct."

"Step three: Bring the captured targets back to our glorious leader."

"Correct. Good. You have your parameters memorized."

"Truth be told, they are not complicated."

"Indeed. But it is absolutely critical that you accomplish this as smoothly as possible. This mission requires going to the Kobbers, after all, and we know how dangerous they are."

"I have a question."

"Speak."

"The Kobbers are beyond strong, it is true. And they have a great sense of justice and fight for what is right. So couldn't they...?"

"No. They cannot fight what does not exist on this mortal coil, no? The glorious leader is invincible... even if there are some who did not wish for it to be so."

"..."

"I am aware how dangerous this mission is. That is why you are being outfitted with an elite team of the greatest and most powerful Beasts in our collection. It is also why you have the backup that you do. Should these measures fail to stop the Kobbers... we will just have to cross that bridge if we come to it, for frankly I will not know what to do from there."

"I understand. I thank you for trusting me in this mission."

"It was the only way. I myself am not skilled enough with using the Beasts. You, however, have been wanting to prove yourself an able Beast user for some time, no?"

"That is true. I want to be the very best."

"Like no one ever was, yes? Of course. Then there is no disagreement. You will be our emissary to the world of light...

The world of Kuwahawi."

"Good luck, Soliera."

"I will not fail you, Phyco."