Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[Ambyssin]

"And this is apparently residential housing for VIPs."

Bahamut wasn't sure why he told Cola that. He probably knew it already. Should've just been honest. "I swore I sensed Reshiram's energy around here. I believe he lives with Kyurem and Zekrom, so worst case scenario we can ask her where Reshiram is."

He then recalled his previous meeting with the giant popsicle dragon.

"... hope you like really large cookies with a side of melancholy."

Bahamut descended toward the rows of houses, trying to remember which one was the one he was looking for.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz waved Bahamut off, out of habit and in thanks, although he might neither see nor care about the gesture. It had been an interesting discourse. Cibus sure was her home, but... Hadn't she told members of God Squad that she wished to travel with them when this was all over? Much to think on. Too much. Was this how Brisa felt all the time? Either way, it was terrible, and Luz did not care for it.

She sighed, wondered if her sighing was put-on considering shades lacked lungs, and approached Truffle's door to knock, and enter.

She had much to discuss with her decidueye friend. Including... Well. That.

'Oh, Truffle couldn't possibly be the spy! He's my best friend and he's so lovely and I trust him!'

Yeah. That wouldn't cut it.

Luz went in.

 

[Ambyssin]

The shade lumbered down the road. This was a lane where people of immense power dwelled. Power to dictate the course of a planet. Yet these homes were... pedestrian. Perhaps save for their size.

A rope harness allowed it to hang signs from its sides. The phrase "Eternatus loves you" was scribbled on each one in crude Unown lettering.

"Fret not! For the despair you feel over your inability to effect the blacklight is a seed that will blossom into a flower of newfound strength!" it declared. "Natus understands this struggle. He will let you rise over the hurdle to paint a new future for yourself!"

It needed to readjust the harness, so it walked over to something large and hung its signs on it.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The house of Flesh and Soda was an imposing one, to be sure. For Flesh's sake, naturally. Big feller.

Luz pulled one corner of her mouth down, tilted her head, and crossed her arms as she scrutinised the abode from outside. In finding new things to do with herself during this odd lull in activity, she'd happened upon the odd fact that nobody in Team Spectrum had struck up a rapport with Guzzlord Flesh. Not one. A member of God Squad, an 'ultra beast', a mysterious giant! How could it be that no one else had taken an interest?

Well, why not her, then?

She nodded to herself, walked to the door, and gave it a knock.

 

[Namohysip]

"Alright, everyone, uh... Since Owen's busy arranging for everyone to send Cola to Pop for a talk, he asked me to kinda coordinate between us in case something weird ever happens," Cal explained. The newly-formed Charizard Shade stretched her wings--she still wasn't very good at flying--and stared ahead at the truly gargantuan home ahead of them.

"We... we're really doing this, right?" she asked, glancing uncertainly at the others. Confronting Maple... for anything. Was that a good idea? Joule was the one person they knew who could kill Ultra Shades...

 

[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.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut knew he'd need to speak with Maple eventually. However, the information in Shield's latest message shifted the course of what he expected to talk about. At least all the Eterna energy was apparently out of that gremlin of a mew. Not that Bahamut found that particularly reassuring. That latest colosseum match still showed a sense of immaturity that made him hesitant to trust her with any sort of power.

Whatever. That was a matter for another time. He was at Maple's house. The shade said it thought she was heading there. Though there was always the chance that dumb mutt with the hots for her would be there, too. Didn't matter.

He banged the front door with his leg four times.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave'd bought way too much food, especially for not managing to eat a whole lot of it. He was going to head to the lab and deal with the parasite, he swore to God, but first he was going to have to drop these leftovers off back home. Couldn't do much of anything carrying all this shit.

The takeout bag also didn't help him stay balanced on his feet. Maybe he'd drunk too much, eaten too little. Whatever. He'd manage.

He was making his way along Parfait Way when he saw a red-leafed Meganium going the opposite way. At first he just vaguely noted their presence before looking back at the road ahead, and then, suddenly, a bright, clear spark of an idea speared through him. "Hey. Hey, wait! Uh, Saltriv?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave dragged himself to Soda's place despite how badly he wanted a drink and like a week of fucking sleep. He'd meant to visit Flesh before they even went to confront Eien, and yet time'd just slipped away from him into a blackout stupor and fuck, at least he could get things done first.

He squinted blearily at the house as he approached. It looked like some kind of spooky mansion in one of those kids' horror books. One way or another, he'd never actually visited Soda's home before. Making his living space this was nuts but also seemed like something he'd do, didn't it.

He walked up to the door and knocked with a paw. "Flesh? You home?" Brisa'd said he had some kind of translator, so hopefully that was working. Otherwise this'd be a pretty one-sided conversation.

 

[Cresselia92]

Some time after the gathering, Icetales was walking around the houses of the God Squad, trying to wrap up around the concept of multiverse.

While, yes, he had interacted with people from multiple worlds and with their own unique experiences, the idea that they came from some timeline where they fought another Blacklight and vanquished was… quite difficult to fully grasp. Especially with both Owen and Diyem meeting each other.

Hm. Funny that there wasn’t another Icetales. Perhaps it was for the best. His heart ached at the idea of having a counterpart who went through hell as much as he did.

After letting those thoughts sink back into his darkness, he noticed Potluck walking around the place…

“Oh, hey Sir—” he froze, just in time to realize that it was the not-Potluck he was walking toward to, “—Nero! Fancy meeting thee here! How is thy day going?”

 

[Chibi Pika]

The weeks following the battle on the moon had lasted forever. Sure, in the beginning it'd been nice getting to lounge around and being waited on, but by the end of it, Starr was ready to never set foot in either the house or the infirmary ever again. At least having Silver's team hanging around kept things interesting--not that she'd told him that. Rocky was always showing off random shit to her and Nate, and even Lexx stopped by now and then (not even bothering to check if he was wanted, figures.) And of course, Luz used her newfound strength to ferry Brisa over all the time. (No one could make a fuss about it so long as Brisa wasn't walking there herself.)

And then when the team was finally allowed to leave the house, Bean had called them all there for that picnic, and they'd met the other Blacklight team. The Miracle Matters (the hell kind of name was that, anyway?). Starr really would've thought she'd be ready for more universe bullshit by now, but apparently the universe just loved proving her wrong.

Also half the team was totally batshit, so there was that.

She supposed she'd probably meet some of the saner ones before the big training that everyone kept making a big deal out of. God, she'd used to train every day and now the thought of getting back into it and sucking ass made her want to do literally anything else. Not that she had to worry about that sentiment lasting long though--not with the likes of Brisa and Owen and Koa Cabot and--

This wasn't the time for training though. It was a nice day and Starr was stretching her legs on a walk through Parfait Way.

 

[Ambyssin]

"And so, in conclusion, those are the flaws I can identify in your thinking about Eternatus and why it behooves you to take a different approach."

Nero took a piece of paper in his beak and added it to an exceedingly large stack of papers... that he had written himself. He flicked a tiny pair of spectacles off his beak and they sailed behind a building. The echoes of shattering glass reached Nero and Bahamut, who lay on his side with his back to Nero.

"Are you quite finished?" the necrozma growled.

"That depends. Have I changed your mind?" Nero fluttered his eyelids at Bahamut.

"... if I say 'yes,' will you leave me alone?"

"Yes!" Nero's tail wagged.

"Then yes." Bahamut sat up. "Oh, would you look at that. If it isn't a conveniently timed distraction."

Nero tilted his head, but Bahamut wrapped his tail around the silvally's midsection and plopped him down in front of... a scruffy mightyena.

"Here." Bahamut shoved Nero forward with his tail. "He's your problem now. No givesies-backsies."

The necrozma lay down on his back again and rolled off down the street at an astonishing speed for a dragon of his size. Nero watched him go with visible question marks on his eyes before shrugging and turning to Mightyena. "Hello! Are you on Team Spectrum, too? I'm Nero!" He wagged his tail. "Or you can call me Silvally if you prefer."

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

Aria had to admit, Parfait Way wasn't very high on her list of places to revisit. Seeing the familiar homes made her want to drop by some of them, despite knowing she wouldn't be recognized. Thankfully, she hadn't come alone. A walk with Ben had led them there, and the upbeat arcanine was more than enough to distract her from such melancholic thoughts.

"—Though I gotta say, it'll be weird having not having our familiars there this time."

 

[MadderJacker]

Through the morning chill Mergo ran, his body shifted to a more athletic and comfortable form. Now a Gallade, his footsteps clicked against the cobblestone as he took another lap. His eyes remained focused, and his breathing regulated. That was the point of it now: to see how long he could keep his composure. Discipline. The fact that his fighter's instincts were sated by it was merely a bonus.

Getting a jog in alone wasn't an easy task. It required waking up early, stealth, deception, teleporting, and if that didn't work, an attack or two to show he was serious. The quiet and meditation was a requirement. And besides, damage here meant almost nothing.

Quietly as he went, he hummed a marching tune to himself to keep his cadence, then grew quieter still as he passed by houses he recognized. They were the ones he'd lived in, which meant it was likely theirs now. Someone already sensed him, more than likely. Owen definitely had. Hm.

Maybe it wasn't was too late.