Red was spending an awful lot of time around Cinnabar Island, Helix thought.



Of course, he had every right to. After finding out that Churro was not only alive and well, but had recently inherited some great-great-uncle's old manor (a real fixer-upper, had a bit of a burglar infestation, but still an impressive place), Red and his team had decided to stop there frequently for sparring matches. Red's ace, a Vileplume under the alias of Blank Dashleaf, relished the chance to throw down with Red's first Pokemon, type weaknesses be damned. And the rest of his team -- a motley crew that looked nothing like Red's team in the original timeline, sans the Rhydon that looked vaguely like King Fonz -- were happy for the training themselves.



Red, on the other hand, preferred to set out and explore the coast of Cinnabar Island. While his other Pokemon trained, the Host rode on his Poliwhirl's back and canvassed the shallows in search of the most powerful Pokemon known to man:



Missingno.



He didn't find any. He found a few grumpily wet Mewtwo and even a Glitchduck, but no full-on Eldritch horrors. Which irked him, and irked the Voices as well. Apparently some deity or another had told them that Missingno. wouldn't show up until Red had become the Champion, whatever that meant. But this was truly obnoxious.



Meanwhile, Helix was getting worried. For all his exploration of Cinnabar Island -- Red had even completed Blaine's gym before Sabrina's, yet another deviation from the timeline -- there was one task that Red had left completely unfulfilled: reviving Lord Helix. Hell, he'd even stuck the fossil itself into the PC again for a few hours while he ran off to do Amber knows what.



IF HE NEVER REVIVES ME, Helix wondered, WHAT WILL HAPPEN?



Whatever had caused the timeline reset was still out there, assuming it hadn't reset itself in the process. And if any being, force, or creature was capable of simply ripping back time on a whim without consequences to itself, than it was a clear and present danger to everyone in this timeline. What if it decided to go back again, even farther, to the Ranseian days of Abin the Third? Or, worse, even to the dawn of the universe? With no clear idea of what had caused this disaster to begin with, how would the Panthemon even be capable of preventing it from happening again?



There was one possibility that might save them all, Helix thought. Blank Dashleaf. The Seed of Hope. Helix still remembered poor old Cabbage from the original timeline, and Red's new Vileplume fit all the requisite requirements to be a Seed of Hope. Having grown from an Oddish, remained on Red's team constantly, even avoided the wiles and files of the PC (which, Helix remembered with regret, could not have been said about Cabbage), Blank Dashleaf had proven himself to be the ace of Red's team, and could well be capable of rising to prominence as the lead of a Champion's team that was every bit as strong as the original Court of Helix.



But to what end, Helix wondered? Dashleaf was strong, true, but he was still loyal to Red. And Red, for all his early attempts to obey the Voices, had strayed so hard from his original path. He still 'consulted' Helix on occasion, but not out of love or devotion, merely out of obedience to the Voices. He seemed entirely content to keep the God of Anarchy as a mere talking paperweight. Would it even be possible to restore the Church of Helix to its former, future glory?



And if not... then what would arise in its place?



---



Things got weirder.



Red's pursuit of glitchmancery, coupled with the Voices' general incompetence at navigating the series of ledges in front of Victory Road, had resulted in mysterious appearing and disappearing stairs on the ledges.



Red still wasn't coordinated enough to use them, of course. And Helix doubted their stability. But this was not a power Red had possessed in the original timeline, and quite frankly, Helix was getting worried. He still remembered what the infamous glitchmancer Larry had put them all through -- a god does not simply forget being fused with a Slowpoke. And given Red's tendencies towards what Dr. Abby Camden might well label as borderline psychopathy, Helix feared that without His guiding influence, Red might well become a true tyrant. Should that happen, even a full revived Lord Helix could well be powerless to stop it: Blank Dashleaf was doubly effective against a Rock/Water type.



And Helix was certain that Red knew it. After all, of all the Pokemon in Red's team, only one had ever been used by a Host before. The Voices did so enjoy building teams of Pokemon they hadn't yet trained. The fact that the sole outlier on the team was something specifically chosen to hit the gods' major weakness...



That couldn't be coincidence.



Whatever was going on, it could not be good. Not good at all.