Destiny Village ~ Central Crossroads

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut still held Cosmog in his arms. "... light. Need the best source of light." There were towers in the distance. They'd put Io closest to the cosmos. To their light-filled embrace. He started floating in their general direction.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

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Brisa stepped through the portal, and felt the world around her shift. The temperature, the wind speed, the ambient scents, the noise, even the air pressure. All different. They really had stepped through to a different part of the world.

She looked around at the modern, urban surroundings, and then back at the portal to be sure that Curio had come through safely. Oh gods, this was a place unlike anything she'd ever seen in person. She was gonna need a familiar face.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut levitated his badge in front of him, looking at the map of Destiny Village. Individual stores were not labeled, much to his dismay. So, he'd have to just play things by ear. New, metal ears buried somewhere in his mane. This dumb body was the whole reason he was looking for liver anyway. It wasn't like his friends back home had ever partaken in that particular kind of meat. Why did felines like it? The pyroar book mentioned something about its savory taste...

 

[IFBench]

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Saltriv was walking through the commercial district, trying to cool off after the massive battle that just happened.

That was all a lot! Rayquaza, Kyogre, AND Groudon! There were also those weird orbs they got sucked into...If only I could write about this all in my journal!

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka marveled at the snow as he walked, stopping every few feet to look behind him at the tracks left behind. The Skarmory wondered how long it had been since he had seen snow, shaking his head as he decided it wasn't worth remembering.

Ahead of him, a large ice surface had been cordoned, the rink full of pokemon skating every which way. Seyka looked down at his talons, wondering if he could slide around on the ice, let alone balance.

"Ah, I'm so lucky," he muttered to himself.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Lunch earlier had been disrupted by a certain not-Mew thing who was definitely on their side now and not just playing everymon else for dummies, but lunch was a special meal that you could have as many times as you wanted as long as you ate it between breakfast and dinner. Tricky was determined to have the perfect lunch, and she was going to do it here, where it was Darkwhite free and she could eat the stack of sandwiches next to her in peace. And try not to think about fading into the void if the others couldn't find Diyem, but she was too busy trying not to think about that to think about that. Back to sandwiches.

 

[Namohysip]

Destiny Village was in an uproar. Most of it was localized to the western portion of town, where Poppin' Arms was located. The Guild had, thankfully, not been "blown up," but was instead partially damaged on parts of the western wall, where Karat had been contained with Shield. There were still several explosions and the sound of clashing attacks, however--the battle was underway.

"Let's hurry!" Maple said. "Our presence might be enough to scare them off!"

"Whoever has Sword," Owen shouted back, "try not to be obvious about it! Keep her safe!"

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv walked through the crossroads, looking around sadly at the marks of the battle with Giovanni. If they had done more against that shadowy figure, would Sword be safe right now?

Laid atop their leaf was a small stone, one that shook with every step Saltriv took. After a few steps, the stone rolled around atop their leaf. Saltriv giggled for a moment, before taking in their surroundings once more.

They'd find a way to save Sword.

 

[Namohysip]

Another day came and went for Destiny Village, and soon night fell once more. It was the second day since Sword had been taken, and preparations were still being made for a secure check of the Isle of Light. They had everything set up for another scouting mission, and this time with more precautions in case Giovanni decided to show up in the middle of their mission. But because of that, preparations took an extra day.

The night was cold and windy. Stars struggled to break through the thick overcast, and the weather suggested snowfall in the coming months, scattered between days.

Midnight. The night crowd was small but active. Little lights flitted about the streets from lanterns and Luminous Orbs. Some nighttime party energized the restaurant districts of the city. A savory, warm air wafted away from the center of town. Children--they were few, but present within Destiny Village--ran around partygoers and lobbed playful attacks at one another. Balm and Cepa, perhaps taking a midnight stroll to shake off the stress of all the official business Poppin' Arms was doing, leaned toward one another in the corner, where the lights just barely reached them.

And then, without warning, an explosion rocked the ground and cracked the air. Most of the Guild had fallen asleep, including those of Team Spectrum. Several members woke, but the heavier sleepers would perhaps not, to the first explosion. Then came the second one, and a shriek of terror from outside.

The explosion was coming from Destiny Tower--a huge plume of Blacklight smoke poured out from the tower's base, where a gaping hole was left in the tower's sacred, once unbreakable stone.

There was something flying in the air, a creature with great wings.

 

[Adamhuarts]

After spendingsseveral days asleep in a room, being outside and feeling the air brushing against his skin was refreshing. It did very little to give him peace of mind, but it was better than nothing. He would have to go back to the dorms later and clean up the pile of leaves he shed around his pot. The thought of doing it had eluded him earlier, and he wouldn't want Icetales to have to deal with his mess. Literally.

Cynthian walked past various pokemon who were going about living their day to day lives. The few that recognized him as part of Team Spectrum either stared for a bit or greeted him briefly when he approached, though he largely went unnoticed by most.

There was no particular destination in his mind, nor could he find a reason to his aimless wandering. Cynthian just wanted to walk, and keep walking. It felt like the ground might engulf him if he stopped, so he did not.

So caught up in that trance he was that he didn't notice the black cat that happened to be nearby, and surely would've noticed him.

 

[Namohysip]

Everything had fallen to chaos.

Large craters had been left behind in the once pristine ground of Destiny Village. Chunks of buildings had gone missing, obliterated by Blacklight scorch marks, though most of these were on the ground, and only in certain portions of town.

Everything was dark, too. It was supposed to be the afternoon here in Destiny Village, and yet the sky had gone totally dark. There was something blotting out the sun, or--was it something else?

"What's going on?!" Owen shouted. "And what's this... feeling..."

It was like the air was being sucked out of the atmosphere. He could hardly breathe under this intense pressure. He could barely stand to it.

"S'more!" Maple spotted him, running through town and directing Pokemon someplace. Legendary Pokemon were flying through the air, blasting at something in the sky that everyone's eyes were still trying to adjust to. The Creation Trio, still partially fused, were sending multiple blasts of Dragon flames toward Destiny Tower, or perhaps just above it. Yveltal's Oblivion Wing carved the skies, but fizzled out all the same. A thousand green arrows fired from below as Bean attempted to down whatever threat they were facing.

The darkness was growing. Even Owen's tail flame and Cal's golden eyes seemed dimmer in this strange darkness. Like light itself was being siphoned away.

Finally, their eyes adjusted. They saw it from the Crossroads, to the west, far behind and above Destiny Tower. It was...

Blacklight Joule is preparing Blacklight That Burns the Sky!

 

[Negrek]

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Well, Nate needed to replenish his item stock, giant fucking blacklight dragon in the sky or no giant fucking blacklight dragon in the sky. The giant fucking blacklight dragon in the sky probably made it even more important than ever to grab a few revivers, honestly. As if there was even the faintest chance they'd be able to go toe-to-toe with the guy for more than a couple seconds without getting completely vaporized and items would make the faintest shred of difference.

Or maybe there would be an item here that would give him some kind of idea. They had all kinds of weird shit, right, like orbs and crap? Maybe one of those could help somehow. Maybe some vendor would have a dusty old trinket in the back they'd been hanging onto for a rainy day, a "Get-That-Fucking-Glowy-Dragon-Out-Of-The-Sky Orb." Sure. That could happen.

And okay, maybe the shopping district was pretty close to Destiny Village's best bars, but seriously, he wasn't about to go out drinking now. Not when there were plans to consider and actual shit to get done. But they did happen to be pretty close.

Rocky wandered along after Nate, chirping over unusual/"cool" items and regurgitating whatever passing thoughts he had, same as usual. All around the crossroads people were talking in hushed voices, glancing up at the sky, but nope, just another fucking day for Rocky. Nate wasn't sure he actually admired that level of blind faith in heroism or whatever the fuck, but from Rocky's perspective it was probably pretty nice. From Nate's perspective it was annoying as hell.

 

[Namohysip]

Seyka's trip to investigate Joule once again led him to the central crossroads of town, or at least one of the many offshoots of the roads. It seemed that he was not the only one with that idea, as also looking skyward on this road was a Sceptile and Celebi, unmistakably the same ones from the once-called future world. They didn't seem to notice him right away.

 

[Fusion]

"That was a mess..." Vix sighed, reforming without really caring where she ended up. She just wanted to get away, and get away she did. "I wish actually had anything to say, but... whatever..."

Maybe she needed another day alone? It didn't work the first time, but maybe it'd work this time? Vix knew it wouldn't, but what else was she going to do? She was going to move again, but found herself tired, deciding to rest on the ground a bit with her bag held close. "Just a few minutes..."

 

[Negrek]

Another thing it was hard to do as a mudkip was slam doors. It could be hard to even open doors sometimes, especially around Destiny Village, where everybody just assumed you were fully evolved and a thousand feet tall or could, like, float or whatever the fuck. Nate had to settle for charging out the door the instant Rocky opened it for him and just imagine how good it would feel to slam it hard enough to crack the window. Meanwhile Rocky shut it with gentle care. The infernape familiar was grinning dangerously wide--cartoonishly wide, the smile actually stretching the edges of his malleable face.

"Well, we got your ribbon. Are you happy?"

"This is such fucking bullshit. Stop smiling, it ain't fucking funny!"

Rocky's grin broadened. "So are you going to pick the red one?" He held up a large, polka-dotted bow tie. "Or the blue one?" A matching tie in cheerful blue.

"I cannot fucking believe this. It's called a fucking joy ribbon, not ribbons. I thought Silver was gonna wear whatever the fucking thing was. Not me!"

"Awww, but this is great! You're going to look so cute. What's cuter than a mudkip with a bow tie? The store lady was thinking that, too. She kept smiling."

"Yeah, that bitch knew what she was doing," Nate said darkly. Of course he had no hope of leaving Rocky in the dust, though he kept squeezing through gaps in the crowd that were too small for his familiar.

Rocky followed along gamely, maneuvering through the crowd without much difficulty. "Well? Which one do you want? Go on, we can put it on right here!"

"Who the fuck cares? I ain't touching those things until Joule's literally scorching my face off with some attack. If then."

"No? Don't you want to show them off to everybody? They're gonna think they're great."

God, fuck that. Maybe he'd be able to wear one under his scarf without it looking too weird somehow. Or maybe it, like, counted if it was in Rocky's bag, as long as it stayed close to him? As far as Nate was concerned, nobody on Team Spectrum needed to know about the fucking stupid ribbons. Ever.

 

[Namohysip]

It wasn't a standard meeting place, that was for sure. Rather than the Guild lobby, Maple had messaged everyone to show up in the very center of town. There, Maple, all of God Squad, and of course Arceus himself were standing there, waiting. With him was the Creation Trio, still fused as a single, three-headed hydra, along with most of the Legends that had lived there. Lugia, Ho-Oh, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Yveltal, among several others.

"I suppose it goes without saying that this is the most important battle we've had yet," Maple said, addressing the team. "Arceus, myself, and a select few others know about the plan on our end to mitigate and perhaps even neutralize the attack Joule has fired. Dialga is not going to be able to preform another time bubble for a while, and we cannot rely on him to pause things for us again. Giratina has the energy to send us and Joule to the Reverse World. Palkia can disrupt Joule's attempts to teleport or warp away. We will have Lugia, Ho-Oh, and several others trying to support from the back, but our powers will be limited in the presence of Joule and that aura about him..."

"But we will do our best," Lugia said, nodding. "For all of all of Cibus, we must."

 

[Namohysip]

"...You think the broadcast we made did anything to help?" Puff asked, kicking his feet on the nearby bench. "They've been fighting for a while..." He looked at the twilight sky. The moon was out, even though the sun hadn't yet set. "I know that Rocky guy said hopes and dreams would be able to power Pop up, and, well, it makes some sense, but..." The Cinderace shrugged. "I just don't see it."

"I don't know..." Luxray Cream looked at the sky. "They said that they might reappear above Destiny Village if they tried to get the jump of Joule, right?" She hummed. "It seems like they might have run into trouble before they even had the chance to do that..."

High above, a Flygon did her usual rounds, notebook in hand.

"Even Pansit is doing her rounds. She must be confident." Cream sighed, looking at her paws. They were shaking. She was still so nervous... "Puff... do you--"

The air snapped. A portal appeared, a Necrozma falling through, riddled with rounds and Blacklight corruption. Two great prisms were lodged in his body, one bright and the other twisted and corrupt. From another portal, Maple, the Legends, and some of Team Spectrum rapidly emerged next, even as Joule formed another ball of Blacklight above him.

"Joule!" Maple shouted. "Joule, stop this! Think about what you're doing!"

"Krrrrrgh... I... am...!"

Maple flinched. "Joule?" she asked breathlessly.

 

[IFBench]

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A Bayleef walked alone through the crossroads, clutching onto a pale white rose with a vine. A worried look was on their face.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky wandered the marketplace, now and again pausing to peer anxiously at one of the stalls. He knew what he wanted to buy, and there were plenty of places to get it, but... he had to do this right! It was important.

He caught sight of another shadowy form through the shifting crowd. Glowing eyes, jutting spikes--oh, that was Cynthian's familiar, wasn't it? She had to know, right? Cynthian knew a lot about flowers--she even grew them on herself. But since Cynthian wasn't here right now, well... Rocky put on his biggest smile and went to say hello. "Hi, I'm Rocky!" he said. "You're Cynthian's familiar, right? Have you got a minute?"

 

[Dragonfree]

After parting with Brisa and Starr, Dave hurried in the direction of the guild. Mia? Where are you? I'm closing in on the central crossroads.

I'm in the training rooms at the Colosseum, she responded. It's nice. I've been there a lot. Nate has been teaching me sometimes.

Hold the fucking phone. Sorry, Nate has what?

He's good at battling. He doesn't like genetic engineering and still thinks you're lying about why you made us, but when we talk about fighting he makes sense.

Dave gritted his teeth. Mia, what the fuck. What -- why are you hanging out with that little dipshit out of all fucking people? The one who's like seconds away from trying to report me to child protection services?

I told him you just have brain problems but I don't think it changed anything. He said maybe we should leave you in the Voidlands if you wanted to be dead.

He just about had a fucking heart attack on the spot. You fucking WHAT, Mia.

He could feel her frowning in his head. You don't want me to talk about the brain problems.

I swear to God, stop saying 'brain problems', I feel like a fucking five-year-old having a stroke.

He felt her frowning again, but for the moment she didn't respond. Thank fuck for that. She did generally get that sometimes she shouldn't talk to particular people about particular things; she just didn't have a very good intuition for which things. He should've thought to just tell her explicitly: hey, Mia, maybe don't walk around explaining my 'brain problems' to people, and especially not people who think I'm pedophile Frankenstein?

He sprinted in the direction of the Colosseum, but before he could get very far he saw a familiar black shape zooming towards him and skidded to an awkward halt on the road. Mia landed smoothly in front of him, cocking her head, looking up at him.

It hit him all at once how small her familiar self was. He thought of her younger self, misshapen head, weird conical feet, no scythes yet, when he first started taking her out for hotdogs, and his breath hitched. "Hey, Mia."

Before he was quite sure what he was doing, he'd reached out a paw and pulled her to his chest. She stayed stiff, scythes down at her sides where they wouldn't touch him, and her body had the weirdest unsettling jellylike texture, but for the moment he didn't care. After a second, when he knew she'd be getting impatient, he released her carefully, let her step back.

"You're taller than me now," she said. "That's not right."

Before he could respond to that, her body started distorting and changing, growing. A strangled noise emerged from his throat, but all that happened was her body settled into a larger, more proportionate form, more like a regular Scyther with her head.

She looked at herself, satisfied. "Now we're both bigger. That's nice."

"...Sure. Yeah, that's nice."

"It's good that you're back," she said. "I like training with Nate but I didn't like that he wanted you to stay dead. I want to talk about science. And fix your brain."

Dave blinked at her for a moment, something tugging at his heart, then shook his head, chuckling. "Okay, Mia. Yeah, sure. We can do that."

"I won't talk about your brain to more people."

"That'd be great. Thanks."

The two of them walked back towards the guild.

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