After wandering through the perimeter of the museum, Zayn decided it was time to regroup. He pulled out his Pokédex, scrolling through his contact list to find Xavier's ID.
"Uh... wait a minute," he muttered, freezing as he scanned the names. "How in the world did I forget to register his ID?"
He tapped the screen to open the museum's internal map. "They should be somewhere around here, but where? Doesn't this thing have an auto-search feature?" He sighed, catching himself. "Right, this isn't a Rotom Dex... no wonder it's not connected to the local network."
The sun had completely dipped below the horizon, bathing the museum in twilight.
Zayn exhaled a puff of air, his eyes narrowing toward the sprawling architecture. "Looks like I'm doing this the old-fashioned way."
In his mind's eye, a 2D map of the museum grounds manifested, marked with a pulsing red circle—the designated Event Point.
"Alright, simple enough," he thought, memorizing the fastest route to the target.
Meanwhile, the Investigation Division had arrived at the main gate.
"I didn't think it would be this crowded," Ren remarked, shielding his eyes from the glare of the floodlights. The museum grounds were a sea of people, with thousands of students and visitors packed into the queue.
"It's an exhibition featuring Relic-class artifacts," Devon replied, his voice calm amidst the chaos. "Crowds are practically guaranteed."
Behind them, Xian pulled his Pokédex from his inventory box. He quickly located Eon's ID and initiated a call.
Deep inside the museum, in the Painting Gallery, Eon stood before the infamous "Bad Time" portrait.
"Alright, this should be enough," Eon murmured, wiping sweat from his brow after finishing the final rune-carving on the frame.
He stood up, hands on his hips, looking at his work with a satisfied nod. "This should be more than enough to prevent them from taking it, right, Rotom?"
"Rotom!" his handheld device chirped in agreement.
A call notification flashed on the screen. Eon tapped the monitor, connecting the line to Xian.
"We're here," Xian said through the connection. "How's your prep going?"
"I'm finished," Eon stated flatly.
"Can you identify anyone from Team Epitaph or New World in the crowd?" Xian asked.
Eon shook his head. "Negative. Scanning isn't my specialty. Walt is the expert there; he's the one holding the data."
"Wait, you guys actually managed to secure the complete files?!" Xian sounded genuinely startled.
"Not complete. Just partial data on Team Epitaph, and it's outdated. We have absolutely nothing on New World yet," Eon clarified.
"Looks like we'll have to wait for Theo on that," Xian sighed.
At that moment, Walt emerged from the Director's office after finishing his analysis.
He headed straight for the warehouse, intent on checking Eon's progress. As he stepped inside, he saw Eon mid-call.
"How's the preparation, Eon?" Walt asked, striding toward him.
"Everything is ready," Eon replied, turning to face him. "I've applied runes to every single object in this museum."
Walt froze mid-step, his eyes widening. "You put runes on... everything?" He went silent, a sudden, cold dread settling in his stomach as he tried to wrap his mind around Eon's logic. If he placed runes on every object, and even one of them is triggered, they will all go off... unless—no, that only happens if he used a chain-link runic system. I have to be sure.
"Eon," Walt said, his voice dropping an octave. "I need to ask you one thing."
"What?" Eon asked, still looking at his Rotom Dex.
"The runes you used... they aren't chain-linked, are they?" Walt's voice betrayed a slight tremor.
Eon looked at him with an expressionless, deadpan stare. "Of course they are. We need a system-wide effect."
Walt slapped his forehead, his palm hitting his skin with a loud thwack. Even Xian, listening through the phone, felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Wait—he rigged the entire museum with chain-linked runes?!" Xian thought, trembling. "If a single one gets triggered, the whole place goes up! How could he possibly think that's a good idea?"
Walt took a sharp, jagged breath, lunged forward, and grabbed Eon by the collar.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ARE YOU NOT AFRAID OF TAKING OUT INNOCENTS ALONG WITH THE TARGETS?!"
Eon didn't even blink, his tone perfectly flat.
"Relax. If they aren't the target, the runes won't activate. Plus, we have Azure's support, right? We can just have him evacuate the visitors to a safe zone if the full system triggers."
Walt exhaled, a long, weary sound. Logically, Eon was right, but the sheer insanity of the plan was maddening.
"Wait—who is that shouting?" Xian asked through the device.
"It's Walt," Eon replied.
"Walt! Can you take the device for a second?" Xian asked.
Eon handed the Rotom Dex over. Walt took it, adjusting his glasses. "This is Walt. Who is this?"
"It's Xian. I need a favor," Xian said. "Could you look for anyone in the crowd who matches the Epitaph or New World profiles? You have the files, right?"
"Of course," Walt replied, his mind already shifting back to the data. "I'll run the cross-reference, though I suspect it will be difficult."
"Thanks," Xian said before disconnecting.
Walt handed the device back. "I'm going back to check the data. Don't do anything else crazy." He turned and marched out of the warehouse.
"Bye..." Eon said, waving his right hand.
Walt stopped, glancing back one last time at Eon, his face etched with disbelief. "I still can't believe you rigged every single painting..."