YOU, Helix thundered, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!



Larry shrugged. "Fine then. I'll start from the beginning. Are you familiar with the Hau parasite?"



Lord Helix stared at the boy who had dared to impersonate His acolyte. WHERE IS RED?



"Poni Island, Alola. Nice place, good sun, plenty of trouble for him to get into. The point, Helix, is that the Hau parasite that came out of the cursed diary has infected Rainbow Rocket down to the last man. And do you know who their leader is?"



SOME ELDRITCH ABOMINATION, I TAKE IT.



Larry shook his head. "It's Grimsley."



The fossil jumped a little in Larry's hand. YOU MEAN... M.U.P.P.E.T. GRIMSLEY?



"The very same." Larry sighed. "Let me tell you, I would not want to be that guy. Experimented on by Colress, fell victim to the W2 mutagen in Unova, went to the dark side as a head of Team Snagem, then entered the cursed diary and got taken over by the Hau parasite. By the time Virginia found him, he was ready to give up."



WHICH CLEARLY HE HASN'T.



"He doesn't have a choice. The parasite seeks to build itself an army to conquer our world. Possibly all worlds. And to do that, it has sent its followers to multiple regions to rally forces for the parasite to infect. Given the enormous number of former Hosts that existed in the previous timeline, it's only natural that the parasite would go back to a simpler time in order to spread its influence."



Helix digested this for a while. BUT... HOW?



"I don't know," Larry said with a scowl, clearly upset that there was something in this world that he had no clue about. "Possibly some ritual with the Adamant Orb? At the time that the disaster happened, I'd managed to grab a premotion that they were doing something, but I..." He looked down at the ground. "I... didn't have the time or resources to do anything about it."



There was a quiet pause.



AND... Helix said gently.



"...I couldn't save Wyatt," Larry muttered. "The only friend I had in this world, and I couldn't do a damn thing for him. It was all that I could do to save myself."



Wyatt had been the Host at the time that Larry had cast his Randofusion wave over all of Johto and Kanto. After defeating Larry on Mt. Silver, the mute lad had dragged him home and made it his personal life goal to be his friend. They hadn't always understood each other, although Larry knew Wyatt better than most and had picked up on his sign language by parsing his thoughts. But for the first time in perhaps forever, Larry had found another living being that he not only respected, but actually liked.



And now he was gone.



...I'M SORRY, Helix said quietly. PERHAPS IF THE PANTHEMON HAD BEEN MORE ALERT...



"Don't waste time apologizing," Larry said. "What's done is done." His voice turned dark. "What matters now is that we find the jerks responsible and keep them from ever hurting anyone else. I've enchanted Oak's Pokedex so that even after my journey with the Voices is over, the next person to inherit it will become a Host as well. It will be passed down from region to region, creating new heroes to face down Rainbow Rocket. Meanwhile," he chuckled, "I shall remain here, amassing my army. If the parasites want to make us heel, they'll have to do it over my cold, dead body."



YOU SEEK TO DEFEAT THE PARASITES BY CAPTURING GLITCHES OF YOUR OWN? Helix asked. ARE YOU QUITE SURE YOU CAN CONTROL THEM?



Larry paused, considering. "...damn it, you're right. Maybe I can't. I can't afford to take that risk..."



He turned and stared at the fossil in his hand. Lord Helix. The ancient God of Anarchy. The force that rose to Mt. Silver not once, but twice. The patron of the Voices and, at one time, the reigning deity of the Kanto and Johto regions.



If Larry couldn't tame Missingno, then maybe Helix could.



"All right, you've convinced me," he finally said, hardly believing his own words. "I'm resurrecting you."



And both entities involved hoped that they weren't making a horrifying mistake.