The army was growing.



In the space of a couple of days, Larry had found and captured the three legendary birds of Kanto. He had traveled across the land, searching far and wide for Pokemon to recruit to his cause. And throughout it all, while his team kept changing, one member remained constant:



Asmodeus.



Well, that technically wasn't the name that the Voices had given Missingno. They'd gotten all the way to the second letter and decided to sit on it to see what would happen. The end result is that the eldritch horror that was supposed to be named after the prince of darkness was instead saddled with the most humiliating nickname since Baba caught a Poliwag.



Larry couldn't even say it with a straight face. And his face was usually nothing but straight.



But here they were, surfing up and down the coast of Cinnabar Island, searching for new recruits. For some strange reason, Cinnabar's coast seemed to be the place to be for Pokemon and glitches alike. And every catch mattered. Grimsley might have been defeated for now, but the rest of Rainbow Rocket were still out there. And just because Larry was passing on the Pokedex to the next Chosen didn't mean that he trusted whatever fool the Voices inhabited to be able to do the jobs on their own.



Larry didn't trust easily. Trust in people, and they walk all over you. Trust in gods, and they let you down. Trust in your Pokemon, and it's all well and good until some other guy with stronger Pokemon comes in and walks all over you because that's just what people do when you trust them.



Although that doesn't mean you and the other guy can't become friends...



Larry brushed aside a tear. No use mourning now. He'd learned that lesson when Jack had gotten himself blown up. Tears were all well and good while they lasted, but he had to move on.



There were bigger things than Wyatt at stake.



On Larry's shoulder, a tiny Ditto shuddered. "Does it HAVE to be water?" it murmured unhappily. "I hate water."



"This is where all the most powerful Pokemon are," Larry answered. "If we want to stop the parasites from turning this entire world into their breeding ground--"



The̛n ͘y̛ou̢'re͢ i͠n͢ for a ͡CR̷USH͏INĢ disàp҉p̨oi͘ntm̴ent.



Larry whirled around on his Staryu's back. Hovering before him -- not floating on the water, but hovering -- was the biggest Tentacool that he had ever seen. If it even was a Tentacool. Its outlines seemed hazy and indistinct, and its eyes glowed with malevolent menace.



Ditto gulped. "Um, Master? We should really get ba--"



O̢h no͠, stay̶ a͡ while̴.̧ S̨TAY.



A parasite!



The creature lashed out with its tentacles, grabbing Larry and pulling him towards itself. The hapless Ditto squealed as it tumbled off of its trainer's shoulder, landing in the water, trying desperately to transform itself and failing. Larry barely managed to grab its Poke Ball and recall it before the glitch haze overtook him completely...



If he could have only reached Asmodeus in time, he thought to himself before everything went black.



---



When he awoke, the Voices in his head were gone. Cinnabar Island was gone. His Pokemon were gone, save for the six he had taken to the Pokemon League. Or, at least, Pokemon greatly resembling them.



Were they the same ones, he wondered? Or were they glitch facsimiles?



The world around him was cold and dark. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that he was within the very chamber that he'd... that he'd faced Wyatt in... in the other timeline.



And he wasn't alone.



ẂELC͡OME,͜ F͠OR̶M̛ER̡ H̛O͞ST͠ ̴OF ͞THE̛ VO̶I҉C̵E̢S,̢ an ominous voice said. T̡ÓDA҉Y̶ I͞S THE ̴D͟AY̵ ͜YOU͡ ̵FIND ̧P̧EAÇE͘. TOD̵A̸Y I̴S͟ ͘TH̛E͏ DAY͏ YOU ̶SU͘B̶MIT͡ ͠YO̢UR̢S͞EL͠F T̀O͘ ͞A ̷H̀IG̀HER CALĻÌNG̡.̸



Larry tried to object, but found himself unable to speak or move. Who... he thought desperately, projecting his thoughts in the general direction of the voice. It was harder than he was used to. Who... ARE you?



There was a low, sinister chuckle. TRIV͝IA̶L.͠ ͟TH͜E MORE҉ I̶M̵P̢O̧R͡T͠A͟NT̴ ͡Q͘U͜E҉S͞T́I̧O̵N̶ ̢IS...̸ WH͠O A͢RÈ ҉Y̸O͢U?̷



Before Larry could answer, he felt a Presence, a truly evil Presence, seeping into his head, into his heart, into his very being.



He'd dealt with glitches before, thought he'd understood them, believed he'd mastered them. But this... this was different. This wasn't a mere Outsider; this was evil personified. It was exactly the sort of being that he'd always expected to exist somewhere in this messed-up universe, sleeping somewhere, just waiting to wake up and unleash pure havoc.



And it was crawling inside his skin.



I̸ ͢am̵ ͏O͢r͟iaǹa̡ ̶Sh̸ink̵u̵, he found himself thinking.



A͡nd ́I w͜a͘s ͢bo̸rn̸ ͞to̵ ḑes͠t̴roy.͏



TO BE CONTINUED WITH TWITCH PLAYS POKEMON: GAUNTLET CRYSTAL