Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[Ambyssin]

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Bahamut had gotten the bad news straight from Reshiram. His backup to Eternatus' backup was unfeasible. Pity. But not surprising, given he was "batting below five hundred" with his ideas in this world, as some humans would say.

Frankly, Bahamut could've gone for striking a ball with a metal bat. It would have at least been nice to actually hit something instead of constantly being the one being hit. Over and over andoverandoverandoverandoverandoverandover...

Not to say his teammates didn't take damage in their fights, but Bahamut's purpose was literally just to get hit. And cast some shields and healing. Still. It had grown far past the point of being bothersome.

And, as expected, there was nothing rewarding to keeping Diyem safe. No "Thanks for making sure the whole team didn't bite the big one, screwing the planet." Instead the reward was being burdened with a secret he'd need to sit on. And even then, he'd be telling half-truths at best. Given half the team burst into verbal spats over the whole Soda thing, he did not expect anyone to take his deception well. At least he'd be the only target of the ire, rather than a handful keeping a secret amongst themselves, so it looks like the team has an "in crowd" and outliers. He could take the scorn; Bahamut had taken the scorn for months now.

Probably why she picked me.

That was wishful thinking. In truth, he was the only one she knew besides Diyem. Which begged the question... if it really did come down to it, would Diyem be unable to destroy her to save Cibus? Is that what she was implying? That he was... secretly soft?

Bah, whatever. Rather than locating the team for another pointless debrief where the two grouchy ex-humans would dominate the conversation with their bothersome questions — and, in one case, a disturbing hard on for the Soda substitutes — Bahamut opted to lie down on the roof of some random house to rest. His crystals were... hurting. In an all-too-familiar way. That constant lingering pain he experienced every time Malice forced his body to stitch itself back together.

 

[Namohysip]

"Yo, Ba'mut."

Ethereal wingflaps led to one of the many Owens to land next to Bahamut. Cal, the to-be-Eternatus, if everyone's guesses were correct, but also the not-daughters of Owen. The host Charizard was a bit of a chatterbox, so word had spread a little about who Cal really was.

"Moping on rooftops again?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Oh, for pity's sake.

"No." Bahamut made no effort to move from lying on his back. "I am recovering after spending... however long we were in the tree getting smacked around by Maple. Quiet is preferable to whatever squabbles and/or big emotional speeches the rest of the team is involved in."

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh." Cal shifted her wings, like she didn't believe him, but then looked up at the sky. "Well, can I mope with you?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Uh, sure?" Bahamut's left upper wing pointed at a brick chimney. What did she have to mope about? Him ordering her to hide in her stone the whole time? "Is something wrong?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Trivial stuff compared to the shit you deal with," Cal replied openly, flopping with a semisolid flump as she spread her wings to the sun. "But I don't really want to be around Dad right now. Either of them. Like, Daddy Darkness is depressing as hell, and Daddy Light is trying to cheer me up. And I don't really want to cheer up right now. Like, don't you want to just be mad sometimes, and maybe cheer up later?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut's tail twitched. "Is that... how you're describing Dark Matter and Owen?" He shook his head. "Not important. Plenty on this team have stewed in anger. Look at what happened after the last fight. Half a dozen in a tizzy over Soda and his stupid living substitutes." He waved a lower wing around. "But what's eating at you that you'd rather stew around the person more depressing than Dark Matter?"

 

[Namohysip]

"At least you don't agonize over it like an edgy teen," Cal said. "...Anymore. Openly." She flopped around a little, slamming her half-corporeal fists on the rooftop, then settled back down, like it helped her think.

"I feel like they don't get it," she said. "Right now everyone's talking like we might have to fight, maybe even kill, the mom I never got to meet. And I know you never had parents since you were born from the stars, but I've got memories that're saying, like, maybe this is something I should care about."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Well, with the way everything's gone here, I would be quite surprised if anyone was actually entertaining having to deal with her that way," Bahamut said.

Anyone besides me, that is.

"There are plenty of people across plenty of worlds that have... conflicted feelings about parental matters like this." He tapped his lower wings together. "You haven't actually met her, but she did play a role in your creation. There's nothing for you to go off, but there's still an instinctual drive to want to protect her because she is family. A drive that clashes against the need to do what is necessary for Cibus, which has been your home your whole life. And, of course, the fear of what happens if we are successful.

"What will she think of you? Will she take to you the way Owen did... or want nothing to do with you? Or something in between."

 

[Namohysip]

"The only one who'd know the answer to that would be Diyem, and he's... probably jaded." Cal looked down. "I don't get how they fell for each other to begin with. I mean, I guess I can kinda see it, but..." She flexed her wings. "That... sort of comes to my next thing. I guess as all this is picking up, it kinda just reminds me that... they're gonna leave soon. I might not even have a month left..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Unfortunately, that was always inevitable with this assignment," Bahamut said. "I don't think, logistically, you could follow Owen if you wanted to. Even though he'd probably regard you the best out of everyone once we're all stripped of our memories. There don't seem to be any good solutions to the issue, I'm afria." He shook his head. "In some respects, the team is scraping tooth and nail to give everyone else happy endings. But we won't get anything out of it.

"I suppose the lack of thanks I've gotten up until now will be perfect practice for the end, but I digress." Purple and blue spots expanded in his eyes. "Perhaps Owen will pick up on your distress with that blasted Perceive of his. Or you'll tell him. But if you let him dictate what it is that can help you cope... then it's not going to work. I realize most of the team doesn't like to say no to Owen because of his attitude, but this may be a situation where you have to put your foot down and tell him what you want.

"Your 'mother' is very persuasive. I'm sure you can be, too."

 

[Namohysip]

"Put my foot down, huh..." Cal pondered the idea, but she seemed to hit another mental wall. Her golden embers flickered. "What... do I want...?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"No one can answer that but you." Bahamut shrugged. "Though if I may offer a suggestion, you'll certainly need to reign in some of your more problematic siblings. Like the fake infernape and the freakish scyther with the human head. Their 'owners' have been their voices of reason, but once they're gone, nothing's stopping them from acting on their dangerous impulses. I do not trust either of them with powers similar to your mother's."

He produced his ultra stone from his bag, tightly wrapped in his tail. "To say nothing of this one. The omniverse will not be safe if it is allowed to grow into something resembling your mother."

 

[Namohysip]

"Yeah, uh, yours is kinda weird," Cal said. "Hope we don't actually get crazy strong... or maybe we mellow out. How did Eien seem to you, huh?" She tilted her head. "Aside from Diyem, I think you're the only one who even knows what she sounds like."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut frowned. "She is, undoubtedly, my dimensional counterpart. One who didn't let themselves get jaded after millennia of being chased away from planets. And one... whose cursed spouse is still alive." His head tendrils receded a bit. "Like Joule, she is wracked heavily by guilt for her presumed role in all of this. I suggested that she consider retiring from interdimensional excursions. Perhaps you and your siblings will give her a good reason to settle down."

 

[Namohysip]

"Maybe..." Cal sighed, looking conflicted again. She tapped her claws together. "Gonna miss Dad I guess. Gonna always wonder how he's doing. Maybe one day we'll meet again and stuff, or something, even if it's, like, way, way later. I might look totally different..." She sighed. "Whatever, I shouldn't just ramble on... How're you feeling? The sun helping any?"

 

[Ambyssin]

“A bit. But it wasn’t exactly fun getting smacked around by Maple.” Bahamut crossed his legs. “Not that it matters anyway. The rest of the team probably had a bunch of big action protagonist moments, so they’ll all be focused on hugging things out or whatever.”

 

[Namohysip]

Cal shrugged. "In a world like this one, maybe they're just making themselves stronger. It practically feels like stuff like hope and friendship has tangible effects... D'you think it can be measured here? Like it's an actual energy reading that one of Chip's devices would be able to detect? I heard stories... about the bond between a human and Pokemon having special energy like that. I forget who told me that, though... or maybe it's just a... memory I don't own."

 

[Ambyssin]

“I find such notions far fetched.” Bahamut shook his head. “In my dimension, the presence of humans meant Pokémon never evolved beyond their primitive ways. Their thoughts were instinctual and they couldn’t articulate beyond simple grunts and growls.” He blew out a puff of silver embers. "Maybe they could grow physically strong, but mentally they never seemed to improve or develop.

"Owen makes offhand remarks about the ways he could beat someone in a fight. But when it comes to a domesticated pokémon, the answer is quite simple: incapacitate the trainer, and the pokémon becomes useless." He sighed. "It's a relationship that is far too easily exploitable by people like Team Rocket."

 

[Namohysip]

"Maybe in your world it'd be farfetched, but I dunno..." Cal shook her head. "Seems more like your world picked the short end of the cosmic sticks and stuff. Or we did, depending on how you look at it, I guess..." It was a little calming to talk about, at least. "I dunno. Dad's feral, or at least he used to be. I don't really know what that means, but he's pretty smart now. His world must work differently."