The emergency recall was for divination, a ridiculous notion, yet entirely within Hawkins' expectations. This was also what Queen asked him to do most often.
It's like Queen calling a programmer at three in the morning, asking them to write code that only she could use, worthless to everyone else.
But Hawkins had no complaints, since this boss didn't just spin tales, she actually provided the real deal, although she did promise an even bigger reward while giving a small one.
Hawkins was already familiar with the Hundred Beasts' merit system; he didn't think fortune-telling could push him up the rankings.
After some permutations, the card divination results appeared in Hawkins' hands once again.
"Lord Queen, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"
"Stop playing games. Tell them in the order you want."
Queen was already tired of this good news-bad news routine; regardless of which news came first, there was bound to be a twist in between.
"Alright, the good news is that your previous calamity has passed. The bad news is, your future is very tumultuous; if you can get through it safely, you'll have a long period of stability.
If you can't get through it, the consequences will be even more severe than before.
In a way, your bad luck has accumulated."
Queen's divination results were a mix of hell and heaven. Although the 50% odds were the easiest to deceive people with, Hawkins had never seen such a stark contrast before. The results were vastly different.
The extreme black highlights the cleanliness of the white; Queen's divination results were like an extreme black and pure white yin-yang fish, the contrast so sharp it was almost blinding.
"As expected... I should have just accepted the beating rather than explaining."
"Lord Queen, no offense, but even if you get beaten, you can't escape what's coming."
"Hawkins, haven't I told you? Here at Hundred Beasts, the one thing we don't believe in is this fate nonsense!"
"But Lord Queen, if you don't believe in it, why seek me out?"
".... I'm here to prove that so-called fate can definitely be broken!"
After speaking, Queen sent Hawkins away to tidy up his hair and prepare for more divinations.
Queen's recent stubbornness was his final resistance; his mind was already contemplating where to seek refuge, so long as he figured out whether the crisis was internal or external, he would find a safe place.
"No way.... Could this crisis be a double whammy...?"
Queen seemed to have thought of something terrifying; Vegapunk had already been eliminated. Typically, such individuals are important to any power.
Now, his results depended on the World Government-safeguarded data, whereas the original timeline relied on O'Hara Library's data. Yet, those documents existed even before Vegapunk's rise, but none could replicate them. This proved Vegapunk's talents.
If the ability isn't sufficient, even if the theories are all written out, the manufacturer might not be able to produce them.
Yet Hundred Beasts eliminated him. The greatest likelihood for a force not needing talent is already possessing such talent and even stronger ones.
"Calm down, calm down, it's impossible, Lord Arceus himself intervened earlier, this mess won't fall back on me."
Caesar knowingly indulged in pleasure despite potential bad luck, whereas Queen rejected terrifying cognitions, choosing selectively to forget them, since according to Hawkins, there was still some time. He decided to focus on his own affairs for now.
Hawkins' task turned into staying on standby, and Queen slightly melancholic returned to the previous lab. Before leaving, he didn't forget to rate Dragonite highly, and also left some Pokemon Poffin to increase favorability.
"What's wrong with you? How long has it been, and why do you look so worried?"
"It's nothing, just used to it."
Before Nightin left Hundred Beasts, Queen hadn't yet become obsessed with divination. Nightin wasn't aware Queen had developed a new mode for retaining self-preservation.
In Nightin's impression, Queen was always in a peculiar cycle of showing off, misfortune, worrying about the future, showing off again, then misfortune.
In such circumstances, she didn't delve into it, instead asking Queen what exactly needed help.
"Just this, the spoils from Sky Island capable of altering the Zoan Devil Fruit waves via medication, enabling more transformations.
Supposedly, the research was conducted by a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit, leading to the medication being less suitable for humans. It needs modification testing; the formula is in hand, but the proportions are off. I attempted altering some drugs yet saw no results."
"Sounds like the creator has decent talent."
"Indeed, though slightly lesser than me, still quite the genius."
Ignoring Queen's boasting, Nightin took the prescription for analysis.
"Do you have your failed samples? Let me have a look."
"Here they are. This is Q3.0; forget Q4.0, it's completely ineffective and has no reference value."
"Did you not try it on Ferren? He's also an animal who ate the Human-Human Fruit, though an Ancient type, there should be similarities."
Mentioning the Human-Human Fruit, Nightin's first thought was Ferren, who ate the Primitive Fruit as a Thousand-Year Dragon. Both were Human-Human Fruit, the distinction between ancient and modern types shouldn't be significant.