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Adamhuarts

Mew specialist
Partners
  1. mew-adam
  2. celebi-shiny
  3. roserade-adam
Hey there! I'm here for your Vwheel review exchange. While I was only required to read a single chapter for this I somehow wound up binging four chapters haha. I guess that speaks to how much I enjoyed my time. I'm no good at in depth critique reviews so I hope my general thoughts will suffice!

Beginning with chapter 40 this came right after the special episode detailing Gene and Nova's backstory. From what I could gather, Bahamut is morally grey at best, cruel and evil at worst. His actions left scars on so many, and Gene being a bit of a jokester to be much sadder in hindsight. You and Namo sure love that trope XD.

Another thing I'm very sad about is all the Mews being crushed into gene therapy toothpaste. Why did you gotta do that? :(

Moving on, the scene where Yuna yelled out her frustrations was kind of cute ngl. She sure has grown quite a bit during this arduous journey. I almost forgot this was initially a sports cup story with some shady on the side.

In the 41st chapter it begins with Yuna's mother, Wyrm Thingy Sr., embarking on a lone infiltration quest into Radiance so that she can get the spotlight and also kick some tushie. Probably. The wyrm thingy jrs that showed up at the end there were adorable and I hope for their sakes that Wyrm Thingy Sr. returns home safe. It's ironic that Yuna isn't even in Radiance for a while, but they don't know that.

The scene that followed this does a good job in showing how unworthy and self centered Shimmer truly is. While his people are in crisis, here he is hightailing it out on his own while showing next to no empathy for the less fortunate around him. I wondered if he'd redeem himself by the end of it but nope he continues to slip further down the slope. Somehow his copium reached its peak and he blames Yuna for everything… sosomehow?

Vegna was really cool, though I still see him as a grumpy grandpa. His rude remarks to others definitely work pretty well within the story I feel, since there's a dissociation aspect to it. Hadn't noticed that properly until I saw him again within a fic.

If there's one thing I can critique in this chapter, is that the fight scenes were a bit hard to follow. Some parts of it felt clunky or stiff or the pacing of events felt off in a way. I am not quite sure what it is. They were written just fine, but I didn't feel strongly about them. Could be because they were fights against random goons and I didn't care for Shimmer, the character in hardship during the fights, so it didn't emotionally resonate with me.

In chapter 42 we're greeted with a Chiaki who's been completely fucked up by his injuries.. I forget that not every pokemon setting has super magical healing powers and health care.

Chiaki absolutely did NOT have a good time in this chapter. First he learns that he's basically fucked up for life, is going to jail, and then it turns out the person he'd been trying to save all along didn't even want his saving nor did she actually need it. It was heartbreaking seeing him fall to rock bottom. Luckily, that wouldn't last for long.

And then along came this what in gods name is that thing which spoke exclusively in internet slang and emojis. Surprisingly, Ahsen managed to not be annoying and got me to smile here and there. Gives me spamtomesque vibes, if that's a way to describe anything. I haven't read much of guiding light, so I didn't realize that the morpho knight was a reprisal from that fic. It's a pretty cool idea. Chiaki gets fire powers, twink stat upgrade and also kidnaps a hapless victim. YIPPEEE

The best way I can describe chapter 43 is that it was JUICY. This is the chapter where Vortex finally began to get some comeuppance after everything he's done so far.

We got to see the aftermath of Starlene's brainwashing broadcast session and a buckload of reveals. Well the reveals were new to the characters in the scene but we the readers pretty much knew. Still, this chapter brought out the best in some of the characters taking part in it.

I enjoyed how decisive and strong Isola carried herself in this chapter. She did not cower to the mob and always commanded the flow of the discussion. Vortex got what he had coming for him, assuming he doesn't slip away somehow, and Shimmer continues to be a pathetic honse what a silly honse he is.

Justine was also pretty good and I definitely chuckled when they acknowledged all the leather she was wearing. I wonder if she has any artwork of her XD.

Overall I thought these four chapters were pretty splendid. I'll definitely be jumping back in to read more. Even if some say PoV isn't for everyone, it's managed to click with me. The later chapters made it easier to still enjoy the story if you aren't privy to the plethora of references to other stuff and I liked that.
 
Chapter 80: A Revaulting Situation

Ambyssin

Gotta go back. Back to the past.
Location
Residency hell
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. silvally-dragon
  2. necrozma-ultra
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. dreepy
  6. mewtwo-ambyssin
Chapter 80: A Revaulting Situation

These Overseer guys really want me keeping up with these audio diaries. All part of the healing and adjustment process, they say.

But healing from what? Leaving my home? Since we struck that deal, I've had time to mentally prepare myself. I knew this would be a big change. And change and I tend to go together like ice cream and horseradish. Which I only tried on a dare, for the record!

... Wait, what am I saying? No one's going to listen to these but me.

Gah, c'mon. Focus, dummy. You're supposed to be talking about what it's been like in this Overworld place. Deep breaths.

Right. Okay. So, like, it's really abstract and esoteric. Still haven't pieced together how the Overworld works or anything. I've seen a fair few Overseers. Some of them give off the vibe they know me. Or heard of me. Apparently, there are actually a few reformed Dark Matters amongst this group. So, uh, that's something. And a couple of 'em go by "Diyem," which is, like, the kind of dumb name I'd come up with for a pokémon I caught in one of the games way back when I was human. Whatever floats their boats, I suppose.

If I'm being honest, it kinda feels like I'm back in high school. Except I'm the new kid who transferred in in the middle of the semester.


XxX​

Despite the countless voices stacked atop one another, the Butterfree Effect's words were sickeningly sweet. Somewhere in the back of Yuna's mind, she knew to expect them when the warning about the latest anomaly blared up. Just not this soon.

Then again, this was the fastest she'd located a core. Sort of.

"It is as I said before." Butterfree Effect folded their hands behind their back. "Even with an early arrival, our meeting was written into the stars."

Yuna frowned. Wasn't the whole reason they sent Walking Wake after her to avoid this. "But you tried to kill me and my friends."

"Whether your drakloak shell won or lost that battle mattered not," Butterfree Effect responded. "The end result was always another meeting. No matter what questions you conjure, the answers still lead to a single outcome."

She strained to stop her tail from lashing at Butterfree Effect. Yuna wasn't interested in retreading their tired riddles. If this was another projection, they couldn't do anything to her, anyway.

"Okay. Well, glad to satisfy your predictions," Yuna deadpanned. "Enjoy standing in this dark hallway alone."

As she floated past, however, Butterfree Effect cut back in front of her. They hadn't taken any steps. Moved any muscles.

... Did they even have muscles?

Guess the projections can teleport.

"Returning to your puppet's friends?"
Butterfree Effect nudged up their mask. "You can brainstorm all you want. It won't change your situation. Or this world's fate."

There
was that Xeromus-esque claim about futility. Yuna continued silently down the hall. Again, Butterfree Effect warped in her path.

"They've heightened security for this event." Butterfree Effect's mask rippled. Yuna thought she saw emergency lights flickering inside it. "Because the previous gold medalist disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly."

Yuna took a deep breath to keep her shadows in check. Though still pooled around the base of her tail, they were at least behaving themselves. "I bet you had something to do with it."

"How flattering." Butterfree Effect was amused, despite their distorted voice. "However, I am as much a bystander in this as you." Static encircled their arceus-like hair. A strange red and white hat with an unfinished triangle appeared atop their head. "They claim this young man was 'betrayed' by those he thought closest to him. And then he vanished in the aftermath."

Butterfree Effect snapped their fingers. Static pulses ate away at their hat, replacing it with the arceus hairdo once more. "Perhaps such a tale makes you nostalgic, Yaldabaoth?"

A powerful tug gripped Yuna's lower half. For a moment, her vision blurred. Clear blue skies painted over the hallway. A wrecked temple with jagged, broken pillars grew further away from Yuna.

She squeezed her eyes shut and smushed her cheeks with her hands. "No idea what you're talking about," Yuna said, doing her best to wear a stern expression.

The Butterfree Effect sighed. "As predicted." They folded their hands behind their back again. "You're right. It's not an entertaining tale. In fact, I've seen 3,741 worlds just like this. And they have all turned out the same way."

Yuna fixed her gaze on the door leading back down to the sewers. Would Butterfree Effect follow her there if she left?

"Stagnation. Decay." The projection popped into Yuna's line of sight. "Left to wither away into nothing."

The drakloak headed forward again. She drifted left, thinking the projection would move to cut her off. Except Butterfree Effect didn't. So, when she swerved right, they were there. Standing right in front of her and nudging at their mask.

"You are an open book, Yaldabaoth." Their mask rippled. Yuna thought she saw a reflection of her own inky black shadows in it. "Your moves are as predictable as your inability to accept the truth."

Yuna finally spat some dragonfire at Butterfree Effect. It washed over the projection, dimming them, but failing to snuff them out entirely. "If this is really so predictable, then why are you wasting your time talking to me?"

The shadowy reflection faded from Butterfree Effect's mask. Instead, there was a faint drakloak silhouette attached to it. That faded just as fast as it appeared. "All right. To the puppet, then. Yunavresca, was it?"

Great, they knew her name. Somehow. Yuna shot more dragonfire at Butterfree Effect and sped forward. This time they reappeared directly in front of the door, casting an odd purple glow against the otherwise dark gray metal.

"Do you think it's fair," Butterfree Effect began, "for so much suffering to be spread across all of reality?"

Yuna's shadows tugged on her lower half. She wasn't sure if they wanted to lash out or were encouraging her to keep going, even if it meant flying into the projection. Something she was still nervous about. If they could teleport around, were they truly powerless?

"The truth of reality is one of stagnation." Butterfree Effect's mask again swirled around into a purple void. "Every universe is destined to fade away into nothingness. The souls siphoned by the Overworld where they will slumber for eternity."

The void shifted. Tiny hands held feathered quills that scribbled across Butterfree Effect's distorted face. "Thousand arms crumble away. The storytellers lay down their pens or canvases." The hands tossed the quills away and simply tapped at the air. "The keyboards go silent." At last the hands merged into an open book that promptly slammed shut... and reformed their arceus wheel mask. "Whether gradually or abruptly, the story always ends.

"Worlds without gods fizzle out."
A sun appeared in the center of their mask, only to be extinguished like a blown out candle. "Those 'blessed' with divinity will see it abandon them. Or turn to destruction. Or be seized by those with malice in their hearts."

Butterfree Effect warped directly in front of Yuna. The drakloak instinctively recoiled as they snapped back to the door. "Why does this happen, Yunavresca?" They stared her down. The dim room warped their mask even more than usual. "You now know of the Overseers. How can such a powerful group choose to stand by, letting each and every world meet their end?" They shook their head. "No, more than that, insist that these ends are necessary for some sort of cosmic balance?"

"I..." Yuna thought she had a retort at the ready, but her voice trailed off. Her gaze fell to the floor.

The shadows tugged on her lower half again. As if they were chewing her out for even listening to this thing. The drakloak needed to leave. Yuna spewed dragonfire at Butterfree Effect and shot forward. Panic welled up inside as the purple, distorted figure grew closer. They hadn't moved. What would contacting them do to her?

And yet, Yuna didn't slow down. In fact, she sped up. Was she getting lighter?

Before Yuna knew it, she was on the other side of the door. As if she'd phased through both Butterfree Effect and the door in one shot. And shadows were trailing off her body. Yuna glanced at her hands, then decided she could ruminate more when she was back with the others.

The drakloak began to descend when she glanced purple flickers in front of her. Her tail crinkled up upon seeing the Butterfree Effect standing sideways on the wall.

"Unfortunate." They folded their hands behind their back. "But expected." A distorted sigh followed. "Poor little puppet. Burdened with the illusion of choice." They nudged their mask up. "Let me make this simple, then, Yaldabaoth. You want to reach the core, but the vault is designed to withstand pokémon attacks."

Butterfree Effect lifted their right hand. "And the missing, 'betrayed' human is inside, bathing in the core's energy as we speak alongside one of the creatures your puppet knows as Phantoms."

Yuna swallowed hard. A Phantom was already here? And inside the vault, too?

"You've seen how many people are here for these festivities, Yaldabaoth," Butterfree Effect continued. "So, what will you do? Will you open the vault and allow the Whisper of Ruin to rampage through this stadium— nay, the whole city? Or will you wait... all the while running the risk of more cores gathering more power and endangering other realms?"

They had both arms raised. "Surely, you understand now. The result is the same no matter what choice you make. Chaos leads to suffering." Butterfree Effect shook their head. "Reality's truth is unavoidable... unless you stand aside and allow me to affirm all phenomena. My Eternaverse will inscribe a new truth for reality. One where all souls are free from burden. From suffering."

Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and flew down the empty shaft. After a few seconds, she forced her eyes open. No eerie purple glow. They hadn't followed her.

What if she phased through the door to the sewers? The drakloak headed through it. A quiet sewer tunnel greeted her.

No sign of Butterfree Effect. Perhaps Yuna had gotten far enough from the anomaly core? Maybe if she checked her X-transceiver?

"Hello?" Yuna whispered. "Anyone there?"

"Cripes! There you are, Princess!" came Nikki's hasty response. "The hell happened? You went silent on us for a while."

Yuna sighed in relief. "I found the core. But it's locked in a vault."

"Pfbt. So?" Cracked knuckles came through Yuna's speaker. "We'll bust it open."

The drakloak shuddered, recalling Butterfree Effect's warning. "I don't think it's going to be that simple." Her shoulders sagged. "I'll explain more when I get back."

She took a deep breath as she flew deeper into the sewer tunnel. It'll be okay, Yuna told herself. Even with all the dumb destiny talk Butterfree Effect spewed, there was one thing they hadn't brought up: this wasn't Yuna's decision to make alone. There was a whole team she could run this by.

This wasn't an impossible situation. They'd come up with a plan together. Yes, there was still a way for this to work out.

XxX​

Igneous walked silently on the gravel path, ignoring rows of tombstones on either side of him. A small part kept urging him to leave the cemetery. If Sakaki was here, things would only be awkward. Why was he even entertaining his dad, anyway? The nidoking had an important story he was supposed to be working on. All of this would prove nothing but a big distraction.

Nevertheless, the grovlazzle put one foot in front of the other. The tombstones got progressively bigger until Igneous reached the back of the cemetery. He gazed at the oddly large brick wall. Why was it so tall? It wasn't keeping out graverobbers. Not flying ones, at least.

He looked left. Sure enough, Sakaki stood several meters away. He faced a white marble tree with leafy wreaths wrapped around them. As Igneous approached, he glimpsed the words carved into the base of the statue.

REINA. BELOVED WIFE, MOTHER, AND TEACHER.

Igneous had seen it over and over again through the years. He thought he'd gone numb to it. But with everything that happened since Venish, Igneous couldn't push the memories out of his head.

A withering sceptile lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by vases of assorted flowers. IV lines jabbed in her arms. Rammed up her legs. Strange liquids dripping into her lines. Machines beeping and hissing in the background. Breathing for her. Keeping her heart beating because she'd lost the strength to do so.

"So, you showed up after all."

The grovlazzle jolted stiff. Sakaki was looking right at him. Igneous noticed the bouquet of flowers on the ground in front of the statue. Freshly picked tulips. His mother's favorite.

"Yeah," Igneous didn't take his eyes off the flowers. He didn't want to talk with Sakaki, but staying silent wouldn't get the nidoking to leave any faster. "Surprised you remember."

Sakaki stuck his hands in his blazer's pockets. "I've brought her some every three months." There was a bit more fatigue as he added, "Which I'm sure you never noticed."

Igneous had to stop himself from curling his hands into fists. "Can you blame me? You replaced her so quickly."

Silence. Sakaki turned away from him. "She would've wanted me to move on."

"Not within a few short months!" Igneous snapped.

Sighing, Sakaki folded his hands behind his back. "Everyone grieves differently. Your stepmother was there for me when I needed her. I can't expect you to understand. You were... lost in your own spiral."

Wincing, Igneous forced bitter, familiar images of lying on a cold floor, staring at the stump where his right arm was supposed to be from his mind. He couldn't think about that. Not now.

"It didn't occur to you... how it might've come across to me?" he muttered.

"Every time I tried to talk to you, you weren't there."

"Because I was finding out who was responsible." Igneous' head leaf simmered. "It was meant for you." His gaze fell to the ground. "They wanted to poison you. And you just let her open that envelope."

"How was I supposed to—"

"Weren't you the one who had your underlings screening your damn mail?!" Igneous growled. Embers smoldered on the ends of his tails. He realized this and promptly turned out. "Y'know what? Forget it. This was a mistake."

"Chiaki."

"It's Igneous." The grovlazzle stomped off without another word.

With every row of tombstones, his mood soured further. Not toward Sakaki, though. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Igneous rapped the side of his head with his claws. Clearly, Sakaki did still value her. He wouldn't pull off empty gestures just for Igneous' sake. The nidoking abhorred wasting time on such frivolities.

Which means I'm the problem. Igneous kicked a pebble and watched it tumble down the gravel path. He approached it and kicked again. It rolled past the security kiosk with a sableye fast asleep inside and through the open gates.

... Where it stopped near a gray-white, fluffy hoof.

Igneous tensed. "What are you doing here?" He walked faster. The grovlazzle doubted Shimmer's mere presence meant there were paparazzi or anything nearby, but a tiny part of him feared it nonetheless.

Shimmer nudged his head right. A latias with glowing blue, speaker-like wings leaned against the other side of the stone wall. She turned her head slightly and waved to Igneous. He dumbly waved back while trying to locate Scarlett.

"We might've overhead what you were saying to Gene," Starlene admitted, poking her claws together. "I know you asked for space. But someone wanted to make sure you were okay." She paused, looking over her shoulder. "From a respectable distance. Decent compromise, right?" Starlene wiggled her claws with enthusiasm that progressively dimmed the longer Igneous stared blankly at her.

"I thought she was up to something fishy," Shimmer said, his fluffy tails twitching. "So, I followed, too."

Silence. Igneous' gaze drifted to the cemetery wall. He couldn't snap at them. He'd already done badly enough with Sakaki. The grovlazzle trudged toward Starlene, not meeting the latias' gaze. A pink flicker was all that told him Scarlett recalled her. He waited for the dragonair to ask if he was okay, but she stayed silent. Still respecting his boundaries, he supposed.

Igneous leaned against the wall and looked up. A thick layer of clouds hung overhead. The kind of dark clouds that threatened to drench the area, yet somehow held back.

"Should we... ask to return?" Shimmer wondered. The ponytales paced slowly in front of Igneous.

"Not yet." Igneous took a deep breath. "Need... a bit more time."

That drew a slither from Igneous' left. "I suppose there are a couple of meanings behind that, huh?" Scarlett whispered.

Igneous didn't reply. He could say something. Scarlett at least had a vague idea of what was happening. She was offering him a chance. So, why couldn't he just come out and explain himself?

It had to be the memories. Igneous didn't want to grapple with them. The only way to suppress them was not to talk about it. That was how it worked.

"The spirit never forgets."

Xeromus' words sent a shudder down Igneous back. His claws scraped the stone behind him. Igneous tucked his head down and closed his eyes.

"I lost my mother several years back," Igneous whispered. He tensed, waiting for the memories of that dim, flower-filled hospital room to flood in. They held off. And the others weren't responding. That was his cue to keep going. "Shimmer's already heard about it. My father was working on a big Beacon piece. Someone didn't like that. They sent him mail in a poison-laced envelope."

He glanced left. Saw the confusion on Scarlett's face. "The kind of venom that can work on a poison-type. Like salazzle toxins."

The "Oh" formed on Scarlett's lips was clear even without her saying it.

"The point is... my mom opened the envelope. Inhaled the venom." Igneous' claws scraped the wall again. "Both my parents hid it from me. I thought Mom was looking a bit frail, but she always played it off." He sucked in a hard breath. "Until I found out she was in intensive care at the hospital." Igneous closed his eyes again. "It was slow. Looked painful. Dad kept her on life support for a month... mostly because of me. Because I... I loved my mom. I couldn't lose her.

"My dad... went to other people to grieve. But not me." Igneous stared at his orange and yellow belly. "I poured myself into figuring out who was responsible. Tried to go after them myself." He held out his right arm. "Lost an arm because of it."

Scarlett's eyes widened in realization. Igneous rubbed his right arm. "I had a great prosthetic. Only a couple of people at Horizon knew the truth before that explosion in Venish."

... And plenty of Ryujin. Not that they had to hear that part.

"What I didn't tell Shimmer was that, while this all happened, Dad found someone else." Igneous' brow furrowed. "A well-known salazzle fashionista. Married her within a few months." He shook his head. "I haven't been able to forgive him for it. It felt like he'd left me and Mom behind."

He paused, wondering how much further to go. The only other thing Igneous needed to say was—

"So you grew distant, until you took your mom's insurance money and went to Horizon."

Igneous nodded slowly at Shimmer. He noticed a flat expression on Scarlett's face. She must've been conflicted over hearing he had told Shimmer about this after asking her for space on the matter. And that left Igneous mentally kicking himself. Way to screw up again, dumbass.

He scrambled to say something to her to save face. "I wanted to tell you after Tulpise, but—"

"We ran into each other." Shimmer glanced at him. "There was a bit of an argument and it slipped out on his part. He really did want to tell you first."

Igneous did his best to keep a straight face, pressing his back harder against the wall. "Right. Something like that."

Scarlett coiled up tighter. She looked down at the older, abandoned buildings across from the cemetery. "It's fine." The dragonair took a deep breath. "I get it. Family's complicated."

Her neck bauble flickered. "Okay, I don't really get it. Orphan and all that." She shrugged her tiny wings. Igneous raised a brow. Scarlett promptly puffed her cheeks. "It was a joke. Y'know, dark humor and stuff?"

Ah. Igneous weakly chuckled.

"Don't give me a pity laugh." Scarlett wrinkled her snout. "This isn't open mic night!" Sighing, she loosened her coiling a bit. "But seriously. I don't really know what to say."

"You don't have to comfort me," Igneous insisted. He pushed off the wall and walked between Scarlett and Shimmer. "I've been dealing with this on my own for a while."

Scarlett slithered to his side. "And you don't think that isn't working?" Her neck bauble flickered. A spectral Starlene gave him a disapproving look. "I won't tell you what to do," Scarlett said, glancing over her shoulder the moment Starlene's illusion poofed away. "Just, y'know, maybe balling it all up isn't the answer here?"

Igneous blinked slowly. His gaze fell to his feet. It needed a bit of mental gymnastics, but Igneous saw the connection between Scarlett's words... and Sakaki's actions.

He spent all that time with Igneous' eventual stepmother instead of bottling it up. And who had Igneous leaned on?

No one.

Sure, Valkyrie helped him with tracking down who was responsible. But she was doing her job. Igneous never talked about this stuff with her. Only about the next steps.

God, was he really that stupid?

"Still awake?"

Scarlett's tail waved in front of Igneous' face. "If you want to go back to the station, we can go back. I'm pretty sure people are just bickering about the new mystery dungeon. Or anomaly. Or whatever we're calling it."

Igneous stiffened at that. "Bickering?" He hesitantly reached his hand up and turned his X-transceiver on.

XxX​

"Absolutely not!"

"Absolutely not!"

Seifer flinched after he and Widget said the same thing in tandem. The keldeo looked at Yuna. "You can't possibly agree with him."

Yuna bit her lower lip. "I, uh, would prefer not to cause problems for this city." She wrung her hands out. A part of her expected Gene to suggest brute forcing the mysterious vault, yet it still surprised her how quickly and casually he threw out the suggestion.

"Look, we heard what Yuna said." Gene was annoyed. From people disagreeing with him? Surely, he saw that coming, right? "We're taking a gamble no matter what we do. We can put one city in danger... or multiple places could get swept up in this. Don't gotta be a mathematician to know that the former's less than the latter. We break open the vault and destroy the Phantom—"

"It's actually called a Whisper," Yuna blurted out, only to throw her hands over her mouth. Of all the stupid times to get caught up in technicalities.

"Okay, sure." The eyeroll practically dripped from Gene's words. "Doesn't change the plan: D-E-S-T-R-O-Y, oh my!"

"It's a bad idea!"
Widget immediately countered. "It doesn't sound like there's a way to contain the thing like in LaRousse. Nothing'll stop it from wreaking havoc the moment the vault's open."

Which was Yuna's big concern. In the middle of a big sporting event, there was no way they could clear out that stadium.

"Psssht. You're thinking too hard." Smirking, Nikki clasped the sides of her leather jacket. "It's simple: we take the safe with the core... and move it somewhere else." She pushed the air in front of her. "Find some abandoned field and plop it down. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Leo bobbed up and down on Yuna's head, seemingly enthralled with the idea. The drakloak herself had doubts, though. Such a simple solution couldn't possibly work, right?

"Can you even move an anomaly core?" Cid wondered. "What if they're anchored in place, only following the planet's rotation? It's just as likely that if you move the vault, the core will simply... phase through it. Leaving whatever's inside free to rampage through the stadium."

Nikki's mohawk shrank a bit. "Tch. They're big balls of staticky gobbledegook. How am I supposed to know?"

"Yeah, how dare the scholar counter you with logic," Cyril scoffed. Seifer snrked, to Yuna's surprise. Since when did the keldeo like sarcasm?

"I don't see anyone else coming up with anything." Nikki tapped a foot impatiently on the stone ground. "We're burning—" She cut herself off and looked up. "Moonlight, I guess?"

Silence followed. Yuna looked out at the river. Boats floated atop the water, carrying scores of people watching a bunch of moving lights that pretended to be a flying cramorant. She couldn't stomach the thought of letting something bad happen to all the people here. But she didn't want other places in danger from doing nothing.

Yuna squeezed her hands against her face. The Butterfree Effect told her about this on purpose. Perhaps they knew the situation would leave the resistance paralyzed with indecision.

"Okay, fine." Gene finally spoke up again after having his original idea shot down. "The only way to play this safe is to go the ironic route. We gotta get nuts for safety!"

Seifer raised a brow. "Which entails?"

"Instead of letting whatever's in that vault out to cause a real disaster, we stir up a fake one to force everyone away from the stadium."

Suppressing a wince, Yuna watched the stadium in the distance, with its colorful lights projecting into the night sky. If she was following Gene correctly, then...

"You're going to attack this place. Or pretend to."

Gene chuckled. "Not who I was expecting to catch on, but I'll take it! Between me, Birdbrain, and, say, you summoning one of the Sages, we've got everything we need to raise some hell!" He paused. "Well, fake hell. You get the idea."

"But that's still dangerous,"
Widget squawked. "If you cause a scene, people might hurt one another in the ensuing panic!"

To that, Gene laughed. "That's where the rest of you come in. We're going to make a convenient escape route for a fake assault on Wyndon. So, get ready, because I'm coming over to scout the city out."
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Heya, going to do something that I haven't done in a long time and review a chapter of PoV on its actual release date (well, it took a day or two to get this final posted version out in the wild, but close enough). So let's jump right into the part where PoV becomes a trainerfic in…

Chapter 80

These Overseer guys really want me keeping up with these audio diaries. All part of the healing and adjustment process, they say.

But healing from what? Leaving my home? Since we struck that deal, I've had time to mentally prepare myself. I knew this would be a big change. And change and I tend to go together like ice cream and horseradish. Which I only tried on a dare, for the record!

... Wait, what am I saying? No one's going to listen to these but me.

This... sounds an awful lot like
:shanesmirk:
from that overall "voice", just saying.

Gah, c'mon. Focus, dummy. You're supposed to be talking about what it's been like in this Overworld place. Deep breaths.

Right. Okay. So, like, it's really abstract and esoteric. Still haven't pieced together how the Overworld works or anything. I've seen a fair few Overseers. Some of them give off the vibe they know me. Or heard of me. Apparently, there are actually a few reformed Dark Matters amongst this group. So, uh, that's something. And a couple of 'em go by "Diyem," which is, like, the kind of dumb name I'd come up with for a pokémon I caught in one of the games way back when I was human. Whatever floats their boats, I suppose.

Okay, yeah. This is
:shaneLUL:
. Though I suppose that this is a sign that POV-2020 is adjacent to HOC-2017 or whatever its universe designation is or one of the Blacklight universes since I'm not sure if there are settings with 'Diyem's, let alone 'Diyem's that are Dark Matters outside of things that Namo has been involved in writing in some capacity.

Though wait, does that mean in a hypothetical Spanish/Italian translation of HoC, that Diyem would be called something like 'Emmeo'?

If I'm being honest, it kinda feels like I'm back in high school. Except I'm the new kid who transferred in in the middle of the semester.

I mean, if who wrote this is who I think it is. Considering what his high school experience was like. That's... uh... not a positive sign at all for what this was like here.
:copyber:


Despite the countless voices stacked atop one another, the Butterfree Effect's words were sickeningly sweet. Somewhere in the back of Yuna's mind, she knew to expect them when the warning about the latest anomaly blared up. Just not this soon.

Ah yes, just casually trotting out the music from the final walkup to Zanza in XB1. Totally not an ominous sign here. Even if the demiurge in this particular encounter is the protagonist.

Then again, this was the fastest she'd located a core. Sort of.

"It is as I said before." Butterfree Effect folded their hands behind their back. "Even with an early arrival, our meeting was written into the stars."

So... no visions of the future mechanic for Yuna to kick fate where the sun don't shine? Or is that something that's still in the pipeline for her? ^^;

Yuna frowned. Wasn't the whole reason they sent Walking Wake after her to avoid this. "But you tried to kill me and my friends."

"Whether your drakloak shell won or lost that battle mattered not," Butterfree Effect responded. "The end result was always another meeting. No matter what questions you conjure, the answers still lead to a single outcome."

I mean, at least that's a good sign that Yuna's personality wouldn't get overwritten by Yaldabaoth overtaking her? Maybe? Since the Butterfree Effect's phrasing there implies that in the grand scheme of things, that Yuna's Drakloak body is functionally just a cosmetic skin for who she really is.

She strained to stop her tail from lashing at Butterfree Effect. Yuna wasn't interested in retreading their tired riddles. If this was another projection, they couldn't do anything to her, anyway.

"Okay. Well, glad to satisfy your predictions," Yuna deadpanned. "Enjoy standing in this dark hallway alone."

As she floated past, however, Butterfree Effect cut back in front of her. They hadn't taken any steps. Moved any muscles.

... Did they even have muscles?

Guess the projections can teleport.

Yuna:
Image

"Seriously, could you make this any more creepy or uncomfortable right now?" >_>;

"Returning to your puppet's friends?" Butterfree Effect nudged up their mask. "You can brainstorm all you want. It won't change your situation. Or this world's fate."

I... take that comment about the Butterfree Effect's commentary being a positive sign, really.
:copyka2:


Though hey, the last time I saw a demiurge just chilling in a host's body, said host was still around to go and do things once they separated with a bit of help? So maybe that'll happen to Yuna, too?

There was that Xeromus-esque claim about futility. Yuna continued silently down the hall. Again, Butterfree Effect warped in her path.

"They've heightened security for this event." Butterfree Effect's mask rippled. Yuna thought she saw emergency lights flickering inside it. "Because the previous gold medalist disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly."

Oh, well that's not ominous and worrisome at all.
:copyber:


Though I wonder if that gold medalist was Ash, there.

Yuna took a deep breath to keep her shadows in check. Though still pooled around the base of her tail, they were at least behaving themselves. "I bet you had something to do with it."

"How flattering." Butterfree Effect was amused, despite their distorted voice. "However, I am as much a bystander in this as you." Static encircled their arceus-like hair. A strange red and white hat with an unfinished triangle appeared atop their head. "They claim this young man was 'betrayed' by those he thought closest to him. And then he vanished in the aftermath."

:hisssssss:


I see that even PoV isn't immune to the horrors of Ash Betrayed, though I suppose I should've seen this coming from the literal TPP content like 40 chapters ago.

Yuna: "... An Ash Betrayed universe? Really?"
:mewtwofacepalm:

Butterfree Effect: "Well, yes. Our story does run on memes and absurdism a good chunk of the time, but anyhow..."

Butterfree Effect snapped their fingers. Static pulses ate away at their hat, replacing it with the arceus hairdo once more. "Perhaps such a tale makes you nostalgic, Yaldabaoth?"

Yuna: "Seriously? Would it call you to just call me 'Yuna' for once?"
:what:

Butterfree Effect: "Tch, why beat around the bush? We both know who you really are, after all."

A powerful tug gripped Yuna's lower half. For a moment, her vision blurred. Clear blue skies painted over the hallway. A wrecked temple with jagged, broken pillars grew further away from Yuna.

Ah yes, just casually flashing back to the last Volo quest from PLA.

She squeezed her eyes shut and smushed her cheeks with her hands. "No idea what you're talking about," Yuna said, doing her best to wear a stern expression.

The Butterfree Effect sighed. "As predicted." They folded their hands behind their back again. "You're right. It's not an entertaining tale. In fact, I've seen 3,741 worlds just like this. And they have all turned out the same way."

I... don't even want to know if there's really that many Ash Betrayal fics floating around out there or not.
:grohno~2:


Yuna fixed her gaze on the door leading back down to the sewers. Would Butterfree Effect follow her there if she left?

"Stagnation. Decay." The projection popped into Yuna's line of sight. "Left to wither away into nothing."

Shots fired at all the deadfics floating around out there, since... yeah. That more or less accurately describes the world of a deadfic.

The drakloak headed forward again. She drifted left, thinking the projection would move to cut her off. Except Butterfree Effect didn't. So, when she swerved right, they were there. Standing right in front of her and nudging at their mask.

"You are an open book, Yaldabaoth." Their mask rippled. Yuna thought she saw a reflection of her own inky black shadows in it. "Your moves are as predictable as your inability to accept the truth."

Is she even cognizant of the truth right now? ^^;

Yuna finally spat some dragonfire at Butterfree Effect. It washed over the projection, dimming them, but failing to snuff them out entirely. "If this is really so predictable, then why are you wasting your time talking to me?"

The shadowy reflection faded from Butterfree Effect's mask. Instead, there was a faint drakloak silhouette attached to it. That faded just as fast as it appeared. "All right. To the puppet, then. Yunavresca, was it?"

Butterfree Effect: "Yeah, you know how in Xenoblade 1 there was the whole thing about the protagonist being indwelled by a malevolent demiurge figure for the first 60 hours of gameplay? That's you right now."
Yuna: "... That's- That's not actually canon, is it?"
:uhhh:


Great, they knew her name. Somehow. Yuna shot more dragonfire at Butterfree Effect and sped forward. This time they reappeared directly in front of the door, casting an odd purple glow against the otherwise dark gray metal.

"Do you think it's fair," Butterfree Effect began, "for so much suffering to be spread across all of reality?"

I swear, this is going to turn into something like an advertisement for the White Ending from SMT4 at this rate, I can already tell. Since this feels a lot the sales pitch that the White gave to just end everything in that game.

Yuna's shadows tugged on her lower half. She wasn't sure if they wanted to lash out or were encouraging her to keep going, even if it meant flying into the projection. Something she was still nervous about. If they could teleport around, were they truly powerless?

"The truth of reality is one of stagnation." Butterfree Effect's mask again swirled around into a purple void. "Every universe is destined to fade away into nothingness. The souls siphoned by the Overworld where they will slumber for eternity."

Something, something, Grovyle literally gave a definitive rebuttal to this general train of thought in SE5. Which Yuna has likely been exposed to in some capacity thanks to Shaymin the Wanderer being a thing in Etherium.

The void shifted. Tiny hands held feathered quills that scribbled across Butterfree Effect's distorted face. "Thousand arms crumble away. The storytellers lay down their pens or canvases." The hands tossed the quills away and simply tapped at the air. "The keyboards go silent." At last the hands merged into an open book that promptly slammed shut... and reformed their arceus wheel mask. "Whether gradually or abruptly, the story always ends.

Boy are we getting really meta right now. I wonder how much of this you putting voice to occasional "god, I'm never gonna finish this" gremlins, since this feels like some prime
:blazisweat~1:
material for fanfic writers in particular.

"Worlds without gods fizzle out." A sun appeared in the center of their mask, only to be extinguished like a blown out candle. "Those 'blessed' with divinity will see it abandon them. Or turn to destruction. Or be seized by those with malice in their hearts."

TL/DR:
Image


Butterfree Effect warped directly in front of Yuna. The drakloak instinctively recoiled as they snapped back to the door. "Why does this happen, Yunavresca?" They stared her down. The dim room warped their mask even more than usual. "You now know of the Overseers. How can such a powerful group choose to stand by, letting each and every world meet their end?" They shook their head. "No, more than that, insist that these ends are necessary for some sort of cosmic balance?"

Because in the end, the Overseers are fictional entities in themselves that have no control over whether or not the creators of various Pokémon stories keep their tales going or not?
:joltyshrug~1:


I mean, even in real life, stars burn out and die and from the best we know of, universes too will succumb to entropy. It's just a part of reality.

"I..." Yuna thought she had a retort at the ready, but her voice trailed off. Her gaze fell to the floor.

The shadows tugged on her lower half again. As if they were chewing her out for even listening to this thing. The drakloak needed to leave. Yuna spewed dragonfire at Butterfree Effect and shot forward. Panic welled up inside as the purple, distorted figure grew closer. They hadn't moved. What would contacting them do to her?

And yet, Yuna didn't slow down. In fact, she sped up. Was she getting lighter?

Ah yes, Yaldabaoth has decided that Yuna has heard enough and needs to get out before messing up his rebirth or whatever.

Before Yuna knew it, she was on the other side of the door. As if she'd phased through both Butterfree Effect and the door in one shot. And shadows were trailing off her body. Yuna glanced at her hands, then decided she could ruminate more when she was back with the others.

The drakloak began to descend when she glanced purple flickers in front of her. Her tail crinkled up upon seeing the Butterfree Effect standing sideways on the wall.

Yuna: "Are you kidding me?! What on earth does it take to lose this guy?!"
:grohno~2:


"Unfortunate." They folded their hands behind their back. "But expected." A distorted sigh followed. "Poor little puppet. Burdened with the illusion of choice." They nudged their mask up. "Let me make this simple, then, Yaldabaoth. You want to reach the core, but the vault is designed to withstand pokémon attacks."

Butterfree Effect lifted their right hand. "And the missing, 'betrayed' human is inside, bathing in the core's energy as we speak alongside one of the creatures your puppet knows as Phantoms."

I can't tell if this is going to be amazing or really, really cringe. Maybe both at once.

Yuna swallowed hard. A Phantom was already here? And inside the vault, too?

"You've seen how many people are here for these festivities, Yaldabaoth," Butterfree Effect continued. "So, what will you do? Will you open the vault and allow the Whisper of Ruin to rampage through this stadium— nay, the whole city? Or will you wait... all the while running the risk of more cores gathering more power and endangering other realms?"

Oh boy, what a choice there. There's... a third option that's not being presented here... right?
:ohnowen:


They had both arms raised. "Surely, you understand now. The result is the same no matter what choice you make. Chaos leads to suffering." Butterfree Effect shook their head. "Reality's truth is unavoidable... unless you stand aside and allow me to affirm all phenomena. My Eternaverse will inscribe a new truth for reality. One where all souls are free from burden. From suffering."

:mizuDoubt:


Since there is an absolutely terrible track record of promises like these actually panning out in fiction.

Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and flew down the empty shaft. After a few seconds, she forced her eyes open. No eerie purple glow. They hadn't followed her.

What if she phased through the door to the sewers? The drakloak headed through it. A quiet sewer tunnel greeted her.

No sign of Butterfree Effect. Perhaps Yuna had gotten far enough from the anomaly core? Maybe if she checked her X-transceiver?

"Hello?" Yuna whispered. "Anyone there?"

Yuna: "Since I think that I'm having a bit of an existential crisis right now and could really use someone to talk to..."
:grohno~2:


"Cripes! There you are, Princess!" came Nikki's hasty response. "The hell happened? You went silent on us for a while."

Oh, so Yuna was just spacing out in the middle of that whole Butterfree Effect encounter, huh? ^^;

Yuna sighed in relief. "I found the core. But it's locked in a vault."

"Pfbt. So?" Cracked knuckles came through Yuna's speaker. "We'll bust it open."

Yuna: "Um... yeah, about that. Things... aren't going to be quite as straightforward as that." ^^;
Nikki: "And just what's that supposed to mean?"
:what:


The drakloak shuddered, recalling Butterfree Effect's warning. "I don't think it's going to be that simple." Her shoulders sagged. "I'll explain more when I get back."

She took a deep breath as she flew deeper into the sewer tunnel. It'll be okay, Yuna told herself. Even with all the dumb destiny talk Butterfree Effect spewed, there was one thing they hadn't brought up: this wasn't Yuna's decision to make alone. There was a whole team she could run this by.

This wasn't an impossible situation. They'd come up with a plan together. Yes, there was still a way for this to work out.

Image


Igneous walked silently on the gravel path, ignoring rows of tombstones on either side of him. A small part kept urging him to leave the cemetery. If Sakaki was here, things would only be awkward. Why was he even entertaining his dad, anyway? The nidoking had an important story he was supposed to be working on. All of this would prove nothing but a big distraction.

Ah yes, AA6 music. Wasn't expecting that one to make an appearance here.

Nevertheless, the grovlazzle put one foot in front of the other. The tombstones got progressively bigger until Igneous reached the back of the cemetery. He gazed at the oddly large brick wall. Why was it so tall? It wasn't keeping out graverobbers. Not flying ones, at least.

It's a privacy measure, perhaps? I mean, your dad is a mob boss, so...
:joltyshrug~1:


He looked left. Sure enough, Sakaki stood several meters away. He faced a white marble tree with leafy wreaths wrapped around them. As Igneous approached, he glimpsed the words carved into the base of the statue.

REINA. BELOVED WIFE, MOTHER, AND TEACHER.

Ah yes, time for things to get really
:sadwott~3:
really fast.

Igneous had seen it over and over again through the years. He thought he'd gone numb to it. But with everything that happened since Venish, Igneous couldn't push the memories out of his head.

A withering sceptile lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by vases of assorted flowers. IV lines jabbed in her arms. Rammed up her legs. Strange liquids dripping into her lines. Machines beeping and hissing in the background. Breathing for her. Keeping her heart beating because she'd lost the strength to do so.

:PainedCabot:


Didn't have to wait long at all for the mood to set in, really.

"So, you showed up after all."

The grovlazzle jolted stiff. Sakaki was looking right at him. Igneous noticed the bouquet of flowers on the ground in front of the statue. Freshly picked tulips. His mother's favorite.

"Yeah," Igneous didn't take his eyes off the flowers. He didn't want to talk with Sakaki, but staying silent wouldn't get the nidoking to leave any faster. "Surprised you remember."

Ah yes, time for the awkward moment between two people who don't particularly like each other very much brought together by grief.

Sakaki stuck his hands in his blazer's pockets. "I've brought her some every three months." There was a bit more fatigue as he added, "Which I'm sure you never noticed."

Igneous had to stop himself from curling his hands into fists. "Can you blame me? You replaced her so quickly."

:SnivySip:


Just noting the family drama in action here. Though I suppose this would explain a thing or two about why Igneous is so frosty with Kyoko.

Silence. Sakaki turned away from him. "She would've wanted me to move on."

"Not within a few short months!" Igneous snapped.

Sighing, Sakaki folded his hands behind his back. "Everyone grieves differently. Your stepmother was there for me when I needed her. I can't expect you to understand. You were... lost in your own spiral."

I mean, considering how Iggy lost an arm before ultimately somewhat coming to terms with his mother dying... yeah.

Wincing, Igneous forced bitter, familiar images of lying on a cold floor, staring at the stump where his right arm was supposed to be from his mind. He couldn't think about that. Not now.

"It didn't occur to you... how it might've come across to me?" he muttered.

"Every time I tried to talk to you, you weren't there."

I mean, Iggy does seem to be a master at failing to communicate in this story, so... I'm pretty sure mob boss dad has a point there. ^^;

"Because I was finding out who was responsible." Igneous' head leaf simmered. "It was meant for you." His gaze fell to the ground. "They wanted to poison you. And you just let her open that envelope."

"How was I supposed to—"

"Weren't you the one who had your underlings screening your damn mail?!" Igneous growled. Embers smoldered on the ends of his tails. He realized this and promptly turned out. "Y'know what? Forget it. This was a mistake."

Um. Iggy, not to cut into your moment blaming dad for your dead mom problems, but that should make you two very, very worried about whether or not there are moles within the Ryujin Clan considering that there are alternative explanations for that epic fail beyond 'incompetence' there.

"Chiaki."

"It's Igneous." The grovlazzle stomped off without another word.

With every row of tombstones, his mood soured further. Not toward Sakaki, though. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Igneous rapped the side of his head with his claws. Clearly, Sakaki did still value her. He wouldn't pull off empty gestures just for Igneous' sake. The nidoking abhorred wasting time on such frivolities.

Oh, so he's making an
:igneohno:
face, huh?

Which means I'm the problem. Igneous kicked a pebble and watched it tumble down the gravel path. He approached it and kicked again. It rolled past the security kiosk with a sableye fast asleep inside and through the open gates.

... Where it stopped near a gray-white, fluffy hoof.

Igneous tensed. "What are you doing here?" He walked faster. The grovlazzle doubted Shimmer's mere presence meant there were paparazzi or anything nearby, but a tiny part of him feared it nonetheless.

Well. Let's hope that Sakaki's proper job isn't an open secret in Radiance, otherwise this moment is going to get really, really awkward for Iggy in short order.
:copyber:


Shimmer nudged his head right. A latias with glowing blue, speaker-like wings leaned against the other side of the stone wall. She turned her head slightly and waved to Igneous. He dumbly waved back while trying to locate Scarlett.

"We might've overhead what you were saying to Gene," Starlene admitted, poking her claws together. "I know you asked for space. But someone wanted to make sure you were okay." She paused, looking over her shoulder. "From a respectable distance. Decent compromise, right?" Starlene wiggled her claws with enthusiasm that progressively dimmed the longer Igneous stared blankly at her.

Igneous: "Wait, but I thought that Shimmer was more or less catatonic for the past two weeks from the aftermath of Tulp-"
:what:

Shimmer: "Igneous, that was two weeks ago!" >_>;

"I thought she was up to something fishy," Shimmer said, his fluffy tails twitching. "So, I followed, too."

Silence. Igneous' gaze drifted to the cemetery wall. He couldn't snap at them. He'd already done badly enough with Sakaki. The grovlazzle trudged toward Starlene, not meeting the latias' gaze. A pink flicker was all that told him Scarlett recalled her. He waited for the dragonair to ask if he was okay, but she stayed silent. Still respecting his boundaries, he supposed.

Sakaki: "Chiaki, we're going to need to have a talk about this afterwards."
:gardexhausted:

Igneous: "I mean, I'm pretty sure that we brought Shimmer up to speed about everything over the past two weeks? So we should be fine... I think."
:fearfullaugh~1:


Igneous leaned against the wall and looked up. A thick layer of clouds hung overhead. The kind of dark clouds that threatened to drench the area, yet somehow held back.

"Should we... ask to return?" Shimmer wondered. The ponytales paced slowly in front of Igneous.

"Not yet." Igneous took a deep breath. "Need... a bit more time."

That drew a slither from Igneous' left. "I suppose there are a couple of meanings behind that, huh?" Scarlett whispered.

Igneous: "Probably, but- I just really need to be alone right now, okay?"
:ignervous:


Igneous didn't reply. He could say something. Scarlett at least had a vague idea of what was happening. She was offering him a chance. So, why couldn't he just come out and explain himself?

It had to be the memories. Igneous didn't want to grapple with them. The only way to suppress them was not to talk about it. That was how it worked.

"The spirit never forgets."

Xeromus' words sent a shudder down Igneous back. His claws scraped the stone behind him. Igneous tucked his head down and closed his eyes.

And more AA6 music. Did you replay it recently or something? Since you sure seem to be on a kick for it this chapter.

"I lost my mother several years back," Igneous whispered. He tensed, waiting for the memories of that dim, flower-filled hospital room to flood in. They held off. And the others weren't responding. That was his cue to keep going. "Shimmer's already heard about it. My father was working on a big Beacon piece. Someone didn't like that. They sent him mail in a poison-laced envelope."

He glanced left. Saw the confusion on Scarlett's face. "The kind of venom that can work on a poison-type. Like salazzle toxins."

The "Oh" formed on Scarlett's lips was clear even without her saying it.

So wait, what is the normal concentration of poison from Salazzle poison delivered naturally? Since Reina quite literally just shriveled up and died from the dose she received from that envelope.

"The point is... my mom opened the envelope. Inhaled the venom." Igneous' claws scraped the wall again. "Both my parents hid it from me. I thought Mom was looking a bit frail, but she always played it off." He sucked in a hard breath. "Until I found out she was in intensive care at the hospital." Igneous closed his eyes again. "It was slow. Looked painful. Dad kept her on life support for a month... mostly because of me. Because I... I loved my mom. I couldn't lose her.

"My dad... went to other people to grieve. But not me." Igneous stared at his orange and yellow belly. "I poured myself into figuring out who was responsible. Tried to go after them myself." He held out his right arm. "Lost an arm because of it."

Along with the respect of much of the Ryujin Clan, but let's not get into that right now.

Though I'm just realizing that this is the story parallel to the scene where Shimmer opened up to Iggy a couple chapters ago right outside of Horizon Gardens.

Scarlett's eyes widened in realization. Igneous rubbed his right arm. "I had a great prosthetic. Only a couple of people at Horizon knew the truth before that explosion in Venish."

... And plenty of Ryujin. Not that they had to hear that part.

Yeeeeeeeeah, let's not get into Iggy's mob ties right in front of everyone right now. That would probably be wise. ^^;

"What I didn't tell Shimmer was that, while this all happened, Dad found someone else." Igneous' brow furrowed. "A well-known salazzle fashionista. Married her within a few months." He shook his head. "I haven't been able to forgive him for it. It felt like he'd left me and Mom behind."

Boy would it be awkward if Sakaki just walked in on him right about now. Since I'm pretty sure it wasn't described that Iggy put a whole bunch of distance between him and his dad. ^^;

He paused, wondering how much further to go. The only other thing Igneous needed to say was—

"So you grew distant, until you took your mom's insurance money and went to Horizon."

Igneous nodded slowly at Shimmer. He noticed a flat expression on Scarlett's face. She must've been conflicted over hearing he had told Shimmer about this after asking her for space on the matter. And that left Igneous mentally kicking himself. Way to screw up again, dumbass.

Yeeeeeeah, that's been kind of a worryingly consistent trend for Iggy throughout the story. Which I'm pretty sure is as good a sign as any to stop trying to do things on his own already.

He scrambled to say something to her to save face. "I wanted to tell you after Tulpise, but—"

"We ran into each other." Shimmer glanced at him. "There was a bit of an argument and it slipped out on his part. He really did want to tell you first."

Igneous did his best to keep a straight face, pressing his back harder against the wall. "Right. Something like that."

Scarlett coiled up tighter. She looked down at the older, abandoned buildings across from the cemetery. "It's fine." The dragonair took a deep breath. "I get it. Family's complicated."

Oh, so Scarlett also has/had a messed-up family life of her own, huh? Since I can see that reaction from her.

Her neck bauble flickered. "Okay, I don't really get it. Orphan and all that." She shrugged her tiny wings. Igneous raised a brow. Scarlett promptly puffed her cheeks. "It was a joke. Y'know, dark humor and stuff?"

Ah. Igneous weakly chuckled.

I suppose that I was kinda right about Scarlett, but at the same time pretty wrong. Though I suppose that would certainly explain a few things about why we've heard absolutely bupkis about her family.

"Don't give me a pity laugh." Scarlett wrinkled her snout. "This isn't open mic night!" Sighing, she loosened her coiling a bit. "But seriously. I don't really know what to say."

"You don't have to comfort me," Igneous insisted. He pushed off the wall and walked between Scarlett and Shimmer. "I've been dealing with this on my own for a while."

Um, yeah. Considering how well that's been turning out for you, you should really consider a change of tack, Iggy.
:fearfullaugh~1:


Scarlett slithered to his side. "And you don't think that isn't working?" Her neck bauble flickered. A spectral Starlene gave him a disapproving look. "I won't tell you what to do," Scarlett said, glancing over her shoulder the moment Starlene's illusion poofed away. "Just, y'know, maybe balling it all up isn't the answer here?"

Image


Igneous blinked slowly. His gaze fell to his feet. It needed a bit of mental gymnastics, but Igneous saw the connection between Scarlett's words... and Sakaki's actions.

He spent all that time with Igneous' eventual stepmother instead of bottling it up. And who had Igneous leaned on?

No one.

I mean, yeah. Considering how you've been a bit of a failure knight for solo missions in general... you should really take the hint here, Iggy. ^^;

Sure, Valkyrie helped him with tracking down who was responsible. But she was doing her job. Igneous never talked about this stuff with her. Only about the next steps.

God, was he really that stupid?

Narrator:
Image

Igneous: "Gee, thanks. I feel so much better right now." >_>;

"Still awake?"

Scarlett's tail waved in front of Igneous' face. "If you want to go back to the station, we can go back. I'm pretty sure people are just bickering about the new mystery dungeon. Or anomaly. Or whatever we're calling it."

Igneous stiffened at that. "Bickering?" He hesitantly reached his hand up and turned his X-transceiver on.

Oh boy, coming straight off an entire scene of emotional turmoil and then straight into figuring out what on earth to do about sealing the anomaly in the Ash Betrayed-verse, that's certainly not a volatile combination there.

"Absolutely not!"

"Absolutely not!"

Seifer flinched after he and Widget said the same thing in tandem. The keldeo looked at Yuna. "You can't possibly agree with him."

Wait, wait, wait. Just what game is this song from?
:bulbuhhh:


Yuna bit her lower lip. "I, uh, would prefer not to cause problems for this city." She wrung her hands out. A part of her expected Gene to suggest brute forcing the mysterious vault, yet it still surprised her how quickly and casually he threw out the suggestion.

"Look, we heard what Yuna said." Gene was annoyed. From people disagreeing with him? Surely, he saw that coming, right? "We're taking a gamble no matter what we do. We can put one city in danger... or multiple places could get swept up in this. Don't gotta be a mathematician to know that the former's less than the latter. We break open the vault and destroy the Phantom—"

Damn, ice cold there. Even if it's hard to argue his logic from a 'needs of the many' perspective.

"It's actually called a Whisper," Yuna blurted out, only to throw her hands over her mouth. Of all the stupid times to get caught up in technicalities.

"Okay, sure." The eyeroll practically dripped from Gene's words. "Doesn't change the plan: D-E-S-T-R-O-Y, oh my!"

Yuna: "... Okay, yeah. I'm getting a really, really strong urge to just sit this one out and let you all have at it, since... yeah, I really don't want to get involved with this." >_>;

"It's a bad idea!" Widget immediately countered. "It doesn't sound like there's a way to contain the thing like in LaRousse. Nothing'll stop it from wreaking havoc the moment the vault's open."

It's the Squaresoft Protagonist Way™️~

Which was Yuna's big concern. In the middle of a big sporting event, there was no way they could clear out that stadium.

"Psssht. You're thinking too hard." Smirking, Nikki clasped the sides of her leather jacket. "It's simple: we take the safe with the core... and move it somewhere else." She pushed the air in front of her. "Find some abandoned field and plop it down. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

:hoodLUL:


Oh lordy, you were waiting for an opportunity to do that Spongebob meme, weren't you? >:V

Leo bobbed up and down on Yuna's head, seemingly enthralled with the idea. The drakloak herself had doubts, though. Such a simple solution couldn't possibly work, right?

"Can you even move an anomaly core?" Cid wondered. "What if they're anchored in place, only following the planet's rotation? It's just as likely that if you move the vault, the core will simply... phase through it. Leaving whatever's inside free to rampage through the stadium."

Nikki's mohawk shrank a bit. "Tch. They're big balls of staticky gobbledegook. How am I supposed to know?"

I mean, at least her idea has a chance of getting the anomaly out without immediately freeing the Whisper as opposed to Gene's idea which will free said Whisper to turn Wyndon into an ex-city, so...

"Yeah, how dare the scholar counter you with logic," Cyril scoffed. Seifer snrked, to Yuna's surprise. Since when did the keldeo like sarcasm?

"I don't see anyone else coming up with anything." Nikki tapped a foot impatiently on the stone ground. "We're burning—" She cut herself off and looked up. "Moonlight, I guess?"

Silence followed. Yuna looked out at the river. Boats floated atop the water, carrying scores of people watching a bunch of moving lights that pretended to be a flying cramorant. She couldn't stomach the thought of letting something bad happen to all the people here. But she didn't want other places in danger from doing nothing.

Nikki: "Just saying, we could try my idea. It's not stupid if it works. And if it doesn't... well, at least it won't end any worse than Gene's idea?" ^^;

Yuna squeezed her hands against her face. The Butterfree Effect told her about this on purpose. Perhaps they knew the situation would leave the resistance paralyzed with indecision.

Devilish there. But I could buy it.

"Okay, fine." Gene finally spoke up again after having his original idea shot down. "The only way to play this safe is to go the ironic route. We gotta get nuts for safety!"

So... what, cause a bomb scare or something to get the stadium evacuated? Not sure what you're going for there, Gene.

Seifer raised a brow. "Which entails?"

"Instead of letting whatever's in that vault out to cause a real disaster, we stir up a fake one to force everyone away from the stadium."

Yeah, I had a feeling. Though it does make sense and would probably cause a lot less collateral instead of just oopsing the stadium in the middle of a match on the field.

Suppressing a wince, Yuna watched the stadium in the distance, with its colorful lights projecting into the night sky. If she was following Gene correctly, then...

"You're going to attack this place. Or pretend to."

Gene chuckled. "Not who I was expecting to catch on, but I'll take it! Between me, Birdbrain, and, say, you summoning one of the Sages, we've got everything we need to raise some hell!" He paused. "Well, fake hell. You get the idea."

And then suddenly, for no reason at all, Team Bastion popped up on the anti-terrorism watchlist of every region in this universe.

"But that's still dangerous," Widget squawked. "If you cause a scene, people might hurt one another in the ensuing panic!"

To that, Gene laughed. "That's where the rest of you come in. We're going to make a convenient escape route for a fake assault on Wyndon. So, get ready, because I'm coming over to scout the city out."

Nikki: "Gene, that's-"
:gardexhausted:

Gene: "Not stupid if it works? Also, clearing out the stadium would give us a freer hand to try out your meme proposal for dealing with the vault." ^^
Nikki: "Ugh, fine. Whatever. Not like we have better options at the moment."

Alright, made it to the end. Not a lot of action this time around, but definitely a whole heap of character drama, especially regarding how Yuna's basically shaping up to be Shulk as a missile dragon and Iggy realizing that he's been going about his personal problems the wrong way for literal years, along with the promise of explosions next chapters... and memes.

Lots of memes. I don't have any firm complaints to lob at this chapter. I'll admit that I did raise my brow a bit at how things are apparently going to incorporate an Ash Betrayed subplot in the imminent future, but I suppose I'll reserve judgement on things until they happen since there's a long track record of "it's not stupid if it works" in this story with things that sound a bit out-there in terms of plot beats on paper.

Glad to be caught up with this story again, @Ambyssin . And hope the feedback was fun to read. ^^
 
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Chapter 81: On the Wind, Past the Stars

Ambyssin

Gotta go back. Back to the past.
Location
Residency hell
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. silvally-dragon
  2. necrozma-ultra
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. dreepy
  6. mewtwo-ambyssin
Chapter 81: On the Wind, Past the Stars

Entry 3451
Just seeing Mewtwo again stirred up old wounds I thought had long healed. The cruelty of Team Rocket's boss. Mewtwo's betrayal of my trust. How he hurt me. Broke off a piece of my face.

The crystal was still there in his shoulder. Taunting me.

Chiron hid him from me this entire time. She wouldn't trust me. Only said to trust that type: full anomaly.

And now she's gone.

I won't forgive them. Both these creatures are affronts to nature. I will destroy them along with Eternatus. I just need more power.


XxX​

Seifer didn't enjoy feeling like a sitting ducklett. No matter how much Cyril assured the keldeo his illusory veil was holding up, his gut squirmed with each human officer and sniffing dog that walked past. Surely, one of the arcanine or houndoom would pick up their scent eventually.

"Are you sure we're safe this close to the rift?" Seifer still had no idea why the police were patrolling this place so relentlessly. The anomaly was plain as day. It wasn't as if they had the personnel to stop someone from approaching it entirely.

"Am I sure? Pssht." The cosmic zoroark's hair rippled into a black hood. "Only a sith deals in absolutes, young keldewan."

Seifer tilted his head. The heck was Cyril doing?

"Seriously?" Cyril did his best to keep his voice a whisper. "You never saw Space Wars? The hero's a keldeo like you."

Seifer stared back blankly. Was that... a piece of Radiance or Eternatus media?

"For crying out loud." The dark hood disappeared, leaving Cyril scratching his starry mane. "What movies have you seen?"

The keldeo squinted in thought. "Uhh..." He frowned. Nothing was springing to mind right away. "Do educational pictures from back in my Horizon Academy days count?"

Cyril facepalmed. "Welp. Guess I know what we're doing for a date night."

He couldn't be serious. "I'm sorry?" Seifer raised a brow. As much as he wanted to get back to the original question, Seifer couldn't let that go. "Are you going to drag me to a Radiance movie theater?"

"Nah." Cyril waved him off. "Veg on a couch with the first three Space Wars." His smirk faded slightly. "No need for the prequel or sequel trilogy. Pure trash right there." He sounded deathly serious.

"I was not... aware people got that passionate about movies," Seifer muttered. A policewoman and her two growlithe strutted past without even gazing in their direction. The two dogs were sniffing around, yet neither of them paid much mind to the two resistance members.

That was enough impetus for Seifer to steer the conversation back to its intended purpose. "Seriously, this is creeping me out," the keldeo whispered. "Why aren't they on to us?"

"You can thank our skorp recruits for that one." Cyril reached into his mane and produced some sort of spray can. It was completely black. "Essence of tar pit. Sprayed it all around the area. Everything smells like tar."

"But isn't that more suspicious?" Seifer said. Cyril then knelt down and gently tilted the keldeo's head toward the staircase leading up to Indigo Plateau's stadium. There was construction equipment sitting off to the side.

"Not unreasonable," Cyril said, smirking slightly.

Seifer was going to respond, but the cosmic zoroark put a yellow claw to his snout. "Ah, ah." Cyril's smirk grew. "If you say too much, you'll jinx us."

Seriously? He didn't peg Cyril as the superstitious type.

Cyril shook his head in disbelief. "I'm flirting with you, dumbass."

"Oh." Seifer's cheeks reddened. He sat down and stared intently at the rift. "W-Well, we're on the job. We have to get Widget to the rift. Save it for later."

"That's our consummate professional." Cyril hip-checked the keldeo, then tapped where his X-transceiver was in his right ear. "Yo, Boss Kitty, how goes it on your end? Got any leads or what? Not sure how much longer this tar pit spray will keep the dogs' noses off our scents."

XxX​

"We've got a lead."

Gene's arms were firmly crossed. He floated on a metal rooftop beside Cid, looking out over the river and the reflections from the drone light show still going on around the stadium. Yuna, Leo, and Nikki were behind him. The girls were talking amongst themselves about whatever. Gene didn't care.

"You don't sound happy," Cyril pointed out.

The shadowy mewtwo pinched his brow. "I'm not. Because it's..." He couldn't even put into words how stupid Cid's findings were. Better to let the orbeetle handle it. "You tell 'em."

"It would appear Team Rocket exists in this world," Cid said, eyeing Gene nervously. "Although my Dynascan suggests they're... a far cry from what Gene's described."

"It's just three of them!" Nikki said, mohawk rippling. "How big of a deal can it be? You said it yourself, dude." She smacked her fist into an open palm. "If we're going to cause trouble, we go to local troublemakers. That's just maths."

"I know that!" Gene snapped, yellowing tail lashing at the air. He dropped down on the roof, flinching from the cold stone under his toes. "It's not... an easy thing for me to do without seeing these people for myself."

Nikki put her hands on her hips. "Then let one of us talk to 'em." She jabbed a thumb against a chest gill. "I speak fluent skullduggery."

Gene turned away from them. "These aren't petty graffiti artists." He shook his head. "Forget it. I'm worrying over nothing. If it can't work out, I'll fling 'em into the river and we'll just do things ourselves."

"You'll what?!" Widget squawked through the comm line.

"Oi, keep quiet while we're walking!" Cyril growled.

Shaking his head, the shadowy mewtwo hovered into the air. "Down, boy." He chuckled. "They're crooks."

"That doesn't mean you fling them into a river! What if they can't swim?!"

Gene rolled his eyes. Annoying do-gooder birddogfish. "Fiiiine, I'll toss 'em in with some water floaties. Will that work?"

He didn't wait for Widget's inevitably irritable response. Cid pointed him in the direction of the three Rocket operatives.

"Keep a low profile in the meantime." Gene saluted the others and shot off into the night sky.

"What the hell do you think we're doing?!" Nikki shouted after him. Smirking, Gene pressed on, flying over a steel bridge with a few slow moving vehicles. The people clustered on the sidewalks were nothing but blurry specks under the night sky. Gene fixed his gaze ahead of him. The road split off in a few directions, with the northeast branch heading toward a very large roundabout where each offroad headed for a big, square building.

Even from this distance, all the signs suggested these were hotels. Which fit with Cid's description.

Gene assumed all the Malice flowing through him was what let him read these signs. Didn't account for the others on Team Bastion. He suspected that was a combination of Yuna and the little godbutt.

Let's see... second one. Gene headed for the second offroad. The Grand Wyndon Hotel was the smallest of those clustered by the roundabout. Definitely the oldest, judging by its blurry brick composition. Not so grand anymore, are ya?

He stopped and hovered over the building. Gene's chest rose and fell — well, the parts without the Malice Crystal did — as he mentally prepped himself. It was only three Rockets. They couldn't be that high on the totem pole. Otherwise, Cid would have senses an abundance of Rockets scattered around.

At least, if it's anything like the Team Rocket I knew.

Gene slowly descended. He positioned himself between windows as he passed by the top floors. Gene pressed himself against the building wall. Cool bricks brushed against his fingers and his left side.

Sixth floor. Fifth floor. Here.

The shadowy mewtwo stopped. He inched closer to the lit window in midair, then noted the curtains were drawn and stopped. Gene couldn't get closer without whoever was inside spotting him. If only he could get a glimpse... or even hear something. This building was old. Surely it wasn't that good at filtering out noise.

"... Da same wit'out a twerp to tail."

Gene's smirk returned. Bingo. That accent was atrocious, but at least Gene could understand it.

"Oh, listen to yourselves!" It was a new, female voice. "I didn't spend eight hours cramped in coach to lay around here watching you two mope like a pair of sad, sorry shroomish!"

"WOOOOOBBBBAAAAAFEEET!"

"Easy to say when you're not the one who had to drain his bottle cap collection just to cover the air and hotel fare!" a third— no, wait, fourth voice interjected. "We came here with the promise of Monarch pikachu pilfering for the boss. And instead all we have are empty hopes and dashed dreams!"

Gene had heard enough. These didn't sound like high-level Rockets. Or even competent ones, for that matter. But hearing "Monarch" and "disappeared" got the gears in his head turning. Hadn't Yuna brought that up when she was explaining the situation? Gene kind of tuned that part out.

Cupping his right hand over his face, he whispered. "Hey, Princess. What was that you mentioned about some missing trainer?"

"The guy who was supposed to defend his title here disappeared," Yuna replied, somewhat hesitantly. "And he might be stuck inside the anomaly core."

Theeeere it was. All the ammunition Gene needed. He cracked his knuckles. Showtime.

The shadowy mewtwo backed away from the wall. Gene scrutinized the window once more. Not the opening type. Typical stingy hotel.

Phantom Warp it is, then. Gene focused on his Malice Crystal. Next thing he knew, he was inside the modest hotel room, glancing at the meowth face down on one bed and the red and blue-haired people recoiling from the sight of him.

"Good news, plebs." Gene snapped his fingers. "The powers that be have heard your pleas. You want answers to your 'twerp' troubles? Well, I've got 'em."

Wobbuffet screamed and jumped for the red-haired lady, who displayed surprising strength in actually catching and hanging onto him.

"Ayy, what's da big idea?" Meowth sat up and shook his fist at Gene. "We didn't order no room service. Scram!"

"Hang on." The blue-haired man tilted his head. "Weren't you listening. It sounds like this eggplant pokémon might know where the twerp is!"

Gene quirked a brow at that comment. And at the fact that Meowth was speaking like a human. Or like any of the resistance. That would've been curious, but these Rockets neither attacked him nor chucked poké balls.

He wasn't going to draw any conclusions about whether this world had its own mewtwo, but Gene could say with certainty these three were total idiots. Were they representative of what Team Rocket was like in this direction? How was it still alive employing people like this?

Never mind that. Gene was on a timetable. "That's right." He lifted his right hand. A few throw pillows levitated over to him. Gene idly twirled them around their hand. "Team Rocket, yeah?"

The woman's eyes sparkled. She unceremoniously dropped Wobbuffet to the ground. "Did you hear that, James?" She dashed to Gene's side. "Word of our dastardly deeds has spread!" The sparkles turned to fire in the lady's eyes. "Or perhaps you recognize a certain dazzling enchantress of the stage?"

Rolling his eyes, Gene flicked his tail left. A little telekinesis was all he needed to push the lady back toward the wall by the thermostat. "Don't flatter yourselves." Gene let a throw pillow drift onto his finger and spun it around like it was a basketball. "Your jumpsuits have giant red Rs on 'em."

He tapped his right temple. "Also, powerful psychic. Able to read your minds so smoothly you wouldn't even know I was there."

Meowth's fur stood on end. "Sheesh, dis guy do impressions of da boss or sometin'? He loves dat tick!"

"Eggplant color and physique aside, the resemblance is uncanny," James added. "Just who are you, Eggplant?"

"Yeah!" Meowth crossed his arms and nodded. "And what kinda tricks are you playin' at? You wanna help us wit' our twerp troubles or not?"

"Oh, I do." Gene landed on the brown carpet. He tossed the throw pillows to the far bed one at a time. "Just had to make a point. If you get I'm strong, then you get I've got the power to find your twerp for you."

Meowth stroked his chin. "Dat's a bold claim for a complete stranger to make."

"Quit being sticks in the mud." The woman stomped a foot on the ground. "How often do we rely on the twerp trusting strangers for pika procurement opportunities, hmm?"

The other two were silent. Gene leaned back against the window. "If you want more transparency, the reason I found you guys is because I need your help as much as you need mine." The shadowy mewtwo looked at his hand, turning it back and forth like he was admiring a manicure he could never get.

"Our help?"

"Wobba?"

Even Wobbuffet sat up at that. The quartet shared astonished looks. Gene took that as his cue to continue.

"Your precious 'twerp' is in Wyndon Stadium." He pushed himself off the window so he could gesture toward it. The drone show had finished, but the stadium remained lit, projecting into the night sky. "He's trapped with something dangerous my team is here to get rid of."

"Da twerp around sometin' dangerous, huh?" Meowth shook his head. "Dat's as classic as peanut butter and jelly."

"Mmmhmm." The woman nodded along. "Or hot fudge and whipped cream."

"Or pineapple on pizza!" James added.

"You take that back!" Meowth and the woman shouted in unison. Wobbuffet mimicked them, though he could still only say his name for some strange reason.

"Come on, Jessie, it's not that bad." James held his hands up by his face.

"Focus!" Gene's tail lashed at the air. His eyes and Malice Crystal flickered. The quartet went stiff as boards. Stars, they were a handful.

"Let me repeat myself: there's something dangerous at the stadium." Gene gestured to the window with both arms this time. "The stadium full of people here for the big event." He thrust his arms at the window a second time after the Rockets didn't respond to him. "Is it sinking in yet?"

The four of them huddled amongst one another briefly, before Jessie and James nudged Meowth forward to the edge of the bed. "You want us around to get da twerp outta danger!"

Gene levitated up a throw pillow and bapped Meowth's head with it. "Hey!" He rubbed his slightly messy fur.

"I need you guys to do your jobs," Gene growled, tail twitching in irritation. "And help me cause a scene in the stadium that'll force everyone to leave." He walked his fingers across the air. "Once the stadium's empty, we can safely deal with the threat and get you your twerp back."

"Causing a scene?" Jessie's eyes sparkled. "Do you think we can—"

"By doing Team Rocket stuff," Gene cut in. "C'mon, what kind of grunts are you? Think of all the pokémon there ripe for stealing." He hated floating that idea out there. But with the way these three acted, they couldn't swipe a 'mon if their lives depended on it. And if they somehow did, Gene had little doubt he could stop them from getting away.

Again, the quartet huddled up. Gene could have listened in. He doubted anything they were saying was a big deal. Maybe scheming up some sort of idea on how to cause a scene. Not that there was much to think about. They just had to send out their pokémon and let them go to town.

Unless this wobbuffet and meowth are all they have...

"We've got it!" Jessie declared, raising her right arm triumphantly. "One dynamic Team Rocket display for the ages, coming up!"

James flopped against the bed. "And one rainy day bottle cap collection down the Wyndon drain."

Gene quirked a brow. Though he was tempted to press for details, he opted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not that they'd earned it. "How much time do you need?"

"Heh heh." Meowth's head coin glistened under the dim yellow hotel room light. "You just leave dat part to ol' Meowth! We'll be ready to rock and roggenrola dat stadium before you can down a Wyndon tea and biscuit!"

The shadowy mewtwo casually threw up his hands. "Fine. Then I'll tell my teammates to get ready while you do your thing. As soon as you're ready, shoot a Pay Day into the air. That'll be our signal."

The three Rockets shared unimpressed looks. "And just where will you be to even see a signal like that?" James wondered.

Smirking, Gene leaned against the window. "I've got my ways." He Phantom Warped through the window. Once he was on the other side, he pointed two fingers at his eyes, then back at the Rockets. They silently nodded that they got the memo.

Gene flew up to the hotel roof and perched atop it on his right foot. Whatever trepidation he had with turning to the organization that birthed him was gone. Instead, all he could wonder is whether those goofballs could get him what he was looking for. Otherwise, Team Bastion would be stuck on fake demolition duty.

He tapped a finger against his right horn. "Attention, resistance. This is Gene. I've gotten us our backup for Operation Gone With the Wyndon."

Several groans crackled through his X-transceiver. "Puh-lease tell me you didn't have that one pre-prepared," Artemis said.

XxX​

The broad strokes of Gene's horrendously named operation were simple, if revolting to Seifer. Gene, Quetzal, and Jade would act as big, scary pokémon under Team Rocket's control and "attack" the stadium. Assorted monks and dragons would help steer people away from the stadium. Noctum was on standby with rift generation while Vegna and Valkyrie were reserves to call on in an emergency.

Not an elegant plan, in the keldeo's opinion. His stomach twisted at the notion of his teammates acting the part of criminals. At least Seifer wasn't being asked to take part in that ridiculous ruse. Probably on purpose, knowing Gene.

That left him and Cyril to continue slowly and invisibly ferrying people across Indigo Plateau to the anomaly. Cyril deployed some fresh tar essence to keep the police dogs from catching literal whiff of them. Then it was a matter of walking back and forth across the same grass and tiles behind the outer rim of the Pokémon League building.

On the walk back toward the forest for their final pickup, Seifer decided to break up the monotony. "So, um, you and Gene were together once?"

Cyril's cosmic fur frazzled ever so slightly. "Wouldn't call it that."

The keldeo wasn't buying it. "Then why did Gene tell me you're pretty mind-blowing once you get going?"

"Course he'd say that." Cyril rolled his eyes, yet quickened his pace. "We were never together, per se. Friends with benefits. Nothing more."

Seifer followed Cyril, raising a brow. "Benefits? Like you gave each other insurance? And vacation days?"

He wasn't expecting Cyril to stumble. Seifer's tail scrunched. He feared the illusion dropping. But no cops looked in their direction. Cyril must've kept it up.

"Was it something I said?" Seifer whispered.

"Uh, yeeeaaaah?" Cyril ran yellow claws through his cosmic mane. He left the stone pathway and headed onto the grass. "There's no way you're that sheltered."

"Meaning?"

"Any sane adult knows what 'friends with benefits' means, dude."

Seifer frowned. "Well, I don't." He also stepped onto the grass. They both headed toward the tree line.

Cyril sighed, then chuckled. "It means you sleep with your buddy from time to time." He paused. "Or often." Cyril shrugged. "Different strokes for different folks."

"Oh." Seifer looked down, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. "Is that... something you still do?"

"Hell nah." Cyril waved him off. "We stopped doing that when I started working with the Ryujin. You're the first guy I've been with in quite a while."

Seifer wasn't sure how to feel about that. Cyril stopped and looked over his shoulder. "That's a good thing, y'know."

"R-Right." The keldeo quickened his pace until he was at Cyril's side. He was putting his hoof in his mouth. Seifer had to salvage this somehow. "Sorry. I guess I—" He cut himself off, but made sure to keep walking.

"You had assumptions based on how you were raised." Cyril rested his hands inside his starry mane. "I get it."

Now it was Seifer's turn to stumble. How was Cyril always able to read him so effortlessly? He quickly collected himself. The forest line wasn't far off now. "I was taught that courting meant fancy dinners or outings to entertainment venues. And things like... intimacy came after marriage."

A snrk made the keldeo's ears flick. "What?"

"Nothing. Unintentional wordplay." Cyril waved him off. "Point is, there are different ways of dating. If you want to stick to the fancier stuff, well..." The cosmic zoroark looked down at his wispy, jewel encrusted legs. "Not my forte. But I'd give it my best for you."

Seifer shook his head. "Honestly? No. I don't want that stuffiness." Certainly not while trying to save the omniverse or whatever. "What we have is... not what I was expecting. But it's a pleasant surprise."

Smirking, Cyril bowed despite not facing Seifer. "Happy to be of service~"

He's doing that on purpose. Seifer turned away while continuing forward. "Come on. We ought to focus. We're almost done here."

"We're ready to go on our end," Quetzal said through the X-transceiver. "What's the hold up?"

"Nothing." Cyril approached the tree line and stood at attention. Though the smirk on his face betrayed his attempt at seriousness. "The veil's up whenever you're ready."

Blue light crackled in front of the trees, then split apart into a rift. Jade, Quetzal, Yiazmat, and Calcifer stepped through. Noctum followed, with the rift closing behind him.

"You're sure you can keep everyone hidden, Zoroark?" Yiazmat mainly looked at Jade.

"What's with the side eye?" Jade pouted. "So, I had a second helping of chocolate cake last night." She put her right wing on her right hip. "The salazzle part's got curves for days. That ain't changing."

Cyril held his hands up. "It'll go better if you keep quiet and stick close to me." He glanced at Jade. "Or reasonably close, in your case."

Jade's tail flaps bristled. "This is salugia bias! I'm—"

Yiazmat harshly shushed Jade, who looked down guiltily. "Let's get going. Quickly."

The group headed along the grass. Unlike the way back, Cyril and Seifer kept them further from the stone path around the League building and closer to the trees. The keldeo trained his gaze on every police officer and dog in the area. They remained at a distance, which was good.

... Except they were getting further from the team. Heck, it was like they were gathering in another spot. Was this a shift change or something? Seifer didn't like this. He quickened his pace.

"Move faster," he whispered. "I think the police are up to some—"

His eyes widened. Seifer lunged for Jade and managed to shove the large salugia out of the way before multiple Focus Blasts whizzed by, leaving streaks of red behind.

"What the—" Jade squawked, dousing the grass beneath her in pink-purple vapors.

Seifer looked up. Three Eternatus Bombardiers had their large blasters pointed right at them. And more Focus Blasts were charging in the barrels!

"Ah-ha! Illusion detected!" one Bombardier declared. "Authorization granted for full anti-zoroark excessive force!"

"How splendid!" another Bombardier cheered. "I bet fifty eternabucks I'll bag the furball!"

"We're found out!" Cyril waved them in the direction of the rift. "Move, move, m— shit!"

The cosmic zoroark dove to the ground. Focus Blasts rained down on where he was standing, kicking up chunks of dirt and mud.

"You don't need to tell me twice! Ladies first!" Jade squawked, awkwardly rolling to her feet. A couple of Focus Blasts knocked her back on her rear, though she didn't look all that harmed by them.

"The empire's here!" An Aura Sphere whizzed up from Seifer's prosthetic horn. The Bombardiers scattered, revealing even more Bombardiers and Gunners descending from higher in the sky. "And they've got reinforcements! We have to leave!"

"No! Get Drumstick and Birdbrain through the rift first!" Gene barked. "That's an order!"

The first Bombardier was already prepping its next Focus Blast barrage. "I spy loitering rebels in need of some attitude adjustments!"

A gray metallic burst struck it from below, then a pair of dreepy-shaped blue bolts hit its right arm, destroying the blaster.

"Hurry!" Yiazmat cried.

"We'll cover for you!" Calcifer opened his metallic mouth and spat another Flash Cannon skyward. The Bombardier trying to retaliate was forced to fly out of the way, letting Noctum strike it with a well-aimed Flamethrower and shatter its cockpit. The explosion caught the Bombardier that lost a blaster, destroying it as well.

"Quetzal, grab Jade! Her waddling's too slow," Seifer ordered.

"On it!" The orange zapdos zipped to Jade's side and kicked her into the air.

"Waah! Hey!" Jade flailed around before landing on Quetzal's back. Despite the size difference, Quetzal managed to carry her on his back. He darted toward the rift, orange sparks trailing behind him. Seifer reared up and shot Hydro Pumps to Quetzal's right, snuffing out the Focus Blasts trying to get in the way.

Cyril directed the two toward the rift and the dove inside without a second thought. "All right, they're in! We're getting out."

"Not a chance!" Gene cut in. "If they head through the rift, they'll screw everything up! You have to keep them at bay."

Seifer dropped down to all fours and galloped toward Cyril. "Are you mad?! We can't handle this many!" Focus Blasts whizzed by, fortunately missing the keldeo.

"It worked with the pirates," Gene said. "And you can actually get reinforcements this time. So, whatever you do, defend the damn rift!"

Seifer skidded to a halt, barely avoiding two Thunderbolts intercepting his path. He shot an Aura Sphere straight up without looking. A mechanical cry followed by a shower of sparks and metal parts told him he'd gotten the Eternatus Gunner responsible.

Sighing, he glanced at Cyril. The cosmic zoroark was a bit shaken, but managed to gather up a Shadow Ball and toss it at a Bombardier focusing on Yiazmat and Calcifer. The ectoplasm got the Bombardier in the back, knocking its cockpit out of its body. Calcifer easily finished it off with a small Flash Cannon.

"You heard him," Cyril said. "All hands on deck, I guess." He jumped away from Seifer, gathering ectoplasm into another Shadow Ball.

Right. Orders were orders. They had to stand their ground. He scanned the singed and scorched ground and spotted Noctum spitting fireballs airborne.

"Noctum, what are you waiting for?" Seifer called. "Get some distance and bring us backup now!"

The black charizard scrambled away while Yiazmat and Calcifer covered with Dragon Darts and Flash Cannons. Seifer glanced at the approaching clusters of Troopers, then back at the roof. Even with reinforcements, keeping them away from the rift was going to be a tall order.

With a shaky breath, Seifer charged an Aura Sphere in preparation for the oncoming onslaught.

XxX​

CDL-091: Indigo Plateau, Planet Earth
The main headquarters of the Pokémon League for both Kanto and Johto. Honestly? It's not that impressive. Not a lot of imperial tech around the area. Though I want to say part of that is because Paradox has his own Pokémon League in Planet Axiom, the center of his empire. I guess he just... lets Earth's Leagues do their own thing. They're so steeped in tradition anyway, that he figures Earth's inhabitants are the only ones who'll care about these places.

Sad thing is? Paradox is probably right.
 

Mirage

Bug Catcher
Location
Honolulu, HI
Pronouns
He/him
Partners
  1. minccino

Chapter 4​


Excited to be back for more! :quag:

Wouldn't something like 'Team Diversity' make more sense, then? Yuna kept the thought to herself. Frankly, it was better than anything she could imagine her teammates coming up with.

Got a bit confused here on whether the "it" refers to "Team Diversity" or "Team Bastion" here. It changes the tone of Yuna's comment, depending on whether she thought she could do a better job, or whether she thought Cid was the one who did. I'm guessing the latter, since it seems more in line with her character, though it could be spicy if we saw Yuna in a rare moment of jealousy.

The smoke faded away to show a cinderace standing at center stage, right arm thrusted upward.

I'm imagining him striking that pose Leon does!

"Any questions? Well, I don't care! My function's explaining, not answering. Heh heh. Good luck!"

:mewlulz: I have to wonder if there aren't a few real world college professors who inspired this joke. I certainly know a few who subscribe to this philosophy... :copyka:

"And if you're one of the teams bounced super early, you're pretty much the laughing stock of the school," Nikki added, strumming her chest-gills. She looked Yuna in the eye, and when the dreepy's gaze fell, slapped her knee and laughed. "Kidding, Princess! Cripes, you're nervous. But you don't got nothing to be scared of. I told you… we got this."

I will say, I'm kind of surprised at how fast Yuna's teamates (especially Nikki) seem to be warming up to her. It felt like last chapter they wanted nothing to do with her, and now Nikki's even cracking jokes with her, though not much has really happened between the three yet.

Nikki smacked her chest gills as hard as she could. Loud, off-key electrical cords blared, drowning out Yuna and Chiaki's screams.

Aaaaaand there it is, the secret plan we've been building up towards! Seems to be some kind of sound move. Nikki seems very confident it'll knock out the other competitors, but... I dunno. I have my doubts, I can't see her decision to hide her plan from her teamates going well :unquag:

Vortex once again was a key star in this chapter. For as much of a mastermind as he is, it was fun seeing him put on the ropes here - even he's not invulnerable to feeling frustrated and having his plans screwed up. I believe I mentioned this in the review for last chapter, but I really love that I'm legit unable to tell whether or not he's going to be a villain - he's manipulative as hell and clearly has his own agenda, but he also seems to genuinely believe in the cup as inspiring his students, which is to say, he doesn't seem to be strictly motivated out of self interest. The line between evil and well intentioned good can be extremely thin, and I wonder if Vortex is going to become an example of that.

Looking forward to seeing if my doubts are correct, or if Nikki proves me wrong!
 
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Mirage

Bug Catcher
Location
Honolulu, HI
Pronouns
He/him
Partners
  1. minccino

Chapter 5​


Back for more - let's see how Nikki's plan went!

But before we do that, it likes we have a detour with the phantom again :eyes:

RIP to literally naming someone "Fraud". Maybe not the best person to have as your only free thinking minion :mewlulz:

That raises the interesting question though of whether Xeromus works for Despair or not. He could be mind controlled, which might explain his loopy behavior, but maybe he's also just legitimately like that and Despair doesn't know who he is. That would be pretty funny, them meeting for the first time and Despair going "who the hell are you???"

The Phantom grabbed his mask and squeezed the nose. "I was getting closer. Closer to freeing them. To undoing my mistakes."

That's a very juicy line :eyes: what does Despair mean by mistake, and who is he freeing? That he's trying to undo a mistake makes the previous line about needing power all the more interesting. Is he maybe not as villainous as he's come off as so far...?

The time and power and pooled into them would go to waste.

I think this fragment here got chopped up during editing, it's got a redundant "and".

To use that awful ether and spread more and more of His distortion all around.

Curious who the "Him" that Despair is thinking of here is. Xeromus also mentioned a "Him"... coupled with there use of shadow attacks, maybe an opposite counterpart to Bahamut?

---

Well crap, it looks like Nikki's plan actually did work out, I'll have to eat my words :unquag:

Huh... Looks like Team Bastion's getting attacked by a bird with some type of fire move. I want to say Robin, but the announcer's imply him and the rest of his team are elsewhere in the maze, and that he wouldn't be allowed at the tops anyway. That's pretty odd, some kind of interference from the phantoms maybe?

"But you're the one holding me!" Yuna squealed and her last words were stretched out as Chiaki lunged forward. He kicked off the wall to his left and launched himself to the opposite wall. The grovyle leaped from wall to wall, all while keeping his grip on Yuna. Her flailing and flopping about let her see the problem: Air Slash crescents raining down from the cloud of smoke.

The mental image of Yuna flopping around helplessly while Chiaki wall jumps all over the place gave me a real kick :mewlulz:

Poltergeist... That's neat, TIL! I didn't know this move existed until now.

Oooofffff course, Vegna shows up at the end. He was interfering the whole time, wasn't he? That would explain the Ghost type attacks. Did he interfere just so his team could win...?

Oh no, oh noooooooooo. Why Nikki? Why? :unquag:

At least I respect Professor Vegna a lot more now, not only in that he's justified in interfering, but also that he stops Shimmer from clowning on Yuna. I also love his shtick with the random quotes from Gaol - I'll be looking forward to reading many more of these!

And we end our chapter getting news of another phantom attack. Curious about Chiaki's servant - I don't recall him having one, although I may have just forgotten from earlier. Will be looking forward to seeing what happened, as well as seeing whether Team Bastion will even be able to continue in the cup or not!
 
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Mirage

Bug Catcher
Location
Honolulu, HI
Pronouns
He/him
Partners
  1. minccino

Chapter 6​


Back for more - let's see how Noctum and Baraz fared!

Vortex stuck his cane into Baraz's path. The dracozolt stopped short and lightning crackled down his upper half. "Speak only when spoken to," Vortex repeated. He brought his cane back to his side. With a deep breath, he regained his cheerful expression and continued forward.

Vortex still on the ropes, I see. Whatever they pay him, I bet he doesn't feel like it's enough haha.

Though Noctum could scarcely understand why any pokémon would need an actual weapon. Weren't their own attacks sufficient?

Honestly, if it weren't Zacian, I'd totally be with Noctum on this one. A stabby stick isn't much help against a flamethrower or energy laser beam.

Of course, Noctum knew Baraz's beady little eyes could only sparkle so much. The dracozolt waddled up to Seifer. "I'm Dracozolt Baraz. It's an honor to meet you."

So much for "speak only when spoken too" :mewlulz:

"A whimsicott," Demerzel replied. Before Noctum could object, the beads around his neck glowed. "Yes, I realize that I do not look anything like one. When I was young, I got sucked into a mystery dungeon. Though the Radiant Guard rescued me, the distortion mutated my body. Hence my appearance."

Oh, damn. So in PoV, it seems even entering a mystery dungeon is dangerous, as Despair and Fraud (still can't get over his name :mewlulz:) were also talking about this last chapter. Kind of excited to see what they'll be like inside once we enter one!

Noctum ignored the jab, knowing it was meant for him. However, it was Vortex's tail that flared up.

I really liked this interaction here - even though Vortex keeps acting as though he's above Noctum, they're still ultimately the same species. It's also something I thought was kind of interesting in Chapter 2 - I thought it was odd that the Kingdom of Radiance would have a (would-be) dragon in such a high ranking position, and indeed, it looks like Vortex does get some shit for it.

Definitely suspicious to see Demerzel acting so friendly to Baraz and Noctum. It's likely for political reasons, as he was revealed to be one of the big supporters of the treaty earlier when he was talking with Vortex. But I also have to wonder, maybe with his disfigurement due to the distortion, if he might also sympathize with being rejected or looked down upon. Definitely a character I look forward to seeing more of.

He flicked his head to the right. His orange mane swished behind him.

The more I see of Seifer, the more I'm starting to wonder how much him and Shimmer have interacted. They really do channel each other's energies sometimes :copyka:

Noctum followed the blur until it slowed up and revealed… a garchomp? A cursory glance suggested it wasn't one of Dimitri's assistants.

Another dragon? Now that's juicy :wowzard: I have so many questions - who are they, where are they from, what's a dragon doing here in the Kingdom of Radiance? But I assume we'll get some answers here shortly.

Noctum raised a brow. Is that what they called the distortion's power in the Kingdom of Radiance? What a stupid name.

Hah, a chance for the Aeons to feel superior!

"That," Baraz straightened himself up, "is the technique… we Aeons have used… to keep the distortion… under control." He took a few deep breaths. "Cosmic Blessing. That's what it's called."

Awesome - we get to see the reason for the creation of the treaty, and ultimately the basis for the story to start. This is the first time I think we've really seen the Aeons hold something over the (umm... Radians?), that they've discovered a counter to dynaforce and the dungeons. Very curious to learn more about how it works and why the Kingdom of Radiance hasn't been able to discover it, even though they seem to be more technologically advanced as a whole. Maybe something inherent to Dragons? (though if Noctum can use the same power, then it seems as though it doesn't rely on being a member of the Dragon type at least)

A life-sized playing card with a plague mask appeared. It spun around, then spat out a nickit and a greedent.

I'm very :quag: at seeing these guys again, and very :sadwott: at seeing them here. I really hope they don't just get killed off soon!

If Depsair had eyes, he would've rolled them. He settled for slamming his spectral fist against a rock. "Why did you bring me a couple of clowns? Does it look like I'm running a carnival here?"

(Despair's name appears to be typoed here)

The contrast here between the big bad scheming evil and the bumbling thieves has me absolutely rolling here. Some real "I'm surrounded by idiots" energy.

I look forward to seeing more of the duo though - they're been hilarious in every scene they've showed up in so far!

So overall thoughts - great chapter with a lot of action and some interesting lore drops. Excited to see the thieves back, I hope they play a greater role in the story soon. We didn't see anything further about Team Bastion's continued involvement in the competition - without being involved, will they just break up? Guess we'll have to see.

Thanks for your hard work in writing the chapter, and PoV in general! I've been sick with the flu the past couple of days, and the distraction from the throat pain and nausea is very much appreciated. Looking forward to Chapter 7!
 
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Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
And alright, last time, you teased that there'd be Ash Betrayed in the imminent future of PoV, so let's go ahead and see how much of a glorious trainwreck that turns out to be in…

Chapter 81

Entry 3451
Just seeing Mewtwo again stirred up old wounds I thought had long healed. The cruelty of Team Rocket's boss. Mewtwo's betrayal of my trust. How he hurt me. Broke off a piece of my face.

The crystal was still there in his shoulder. Taunting me.

Wait, just how many of these entries did Bahamut write anyways? .-.

Chiron hid him from me this entire time. She wouldn't trust me. Only said to trust that type: full anomaly.

And now she's gone.

I won't forgive them. Both these creatures are affronts to nature. I will destroy them along with Eternatus. I just need more power.

:copyber:


Well, that certainly paints a few of those later scenes from the Gene Special in a whole new light.

Seifer didn't enjoy feeling like a sitting ducklett. No matter how much Cyril assured the keldeo his illusory veil was holding up, his gut squirmed with each human officer and sniffing dog that walked past. Surely, one of the arcanine or houndoom would pick up their scent eventually.

You'd think that, but law enforcement in Pokéworld has a long and storied tradition of being borderline useless, so... yeah.

"Are you sure we're safe this close to the rift?" Seifer still had no idea why the police were patrolling this place so relentlessly. The anomaly was plain as day. It wasn't as if they had the personnel to stop someone from approaching it entirely.

Because they have zero idea of what on earth they're dealing with? That's a good reason to put yourself in harm's way needlessly, right?
:gardeshrug~1:


"Am I sure? Pssht." The cosmic zoroark's hair rippled into a black hood. "Only a sith deals in absolutes, young keldewan."

Seifer tilted his head. The heck was Cyril doing?

So Space Wars just has straight-up Sith in it, huh? Guess it's almost literally Star Wars under a different title.

"Seriously?" Cyril did his best to keep his voice a whisper. "You never saw Space Wars? The hero's a keldeo like you."

Huh, surprised you didn't go with Lucario given how popular the "Aura as the Force" comparisons are in the fandom, but noted.

Seifer stared back blankly. Was that... a piece of Radiance or Eternatus media?

"For crying out loud." The dark hood disappeared, leaving Cyril scratching his starry mane. "What movies have you seen?"

Seifer: "Not that one, obviously?" ^^;
Cyril: "... Yeah, we clearly need to fix that sometime, clearly. (Those newer sequels we can probably skip though, since they were kinda meh outside the SFX.)"
:eltywtf:


The keldeo squinted in thought. "Uhh..." He frowned. Nothing was springing to mind right away. "Do educational pictures from back in my Horizon Academy days count?"

Cyril facepalmed. "Welp. Guess I know what we're doing for a date night."

Yeah, I knew it. :P

Though I suppose this would explain a lot for just how "sheltered" vibe-wise Seifer has been throughout this story.

He couldn't be serious. "I'm sorry?" Seifer raised a brow. As much as he wanted to get back to the original question, Seifer couldn't let that go. "Are you going to drag me to a Radiance movie theater?"

"Nah." Cyril waved him off. "Veg on a couch with the first three Space Wars." His smirk faded slightly. "No need for the prequel or sequel trilogy. Pure trash right there." He sounded deathly serious.

Alas, no Machete Order viewing with Cyril, I see. Though does he also have the OT on whatever the equivalent of Laserdisc is? Since that's widely considered to be the definitive home media version of it.

"I was not... aware people got that passionate about movies," Seifer muttered. A policewoman and her two growlithe strutted past without even gazing in their direction. The two dogs were sniffing around, yet neither of them paid much mind to the two resistance members.

That was enough impetus for Seifer to steer the conversation back to its intended purpose. "Seriously, this is creeping me out," the keldeo whispered. "Why aren't they on to us?"

Seifer, have you seen how competent law enforcement is in Pokémon settings? Yours included? ^^;

"You can thank our skorp recruits for that one." Cyril reached into his mane and produced some sort of spray can. It was completely black. "Essence of tar pit. Sprayed it all around the area. Everything smells like tar."

I shall refrain from posting the XBX battle music right now, even if between being on a whole different planet and the tar-smelling odorant, you're definitely cranking up the unintentional parallels.

"But isn't that more suspicious?" Seifer said. Cyril then knelt down and gently tilted the keldeo's head toward the staircase leading up to Indigo Plateau's stadium. There was construction equipment sitting off to the side.

"Not unreasonable," Cyril said, smirking slightly.

Cyril: "Look it was this or getting out the Durin Berry essence and... yeah, trust me, you want the tar essence." ^^;

Seifer was going to respond, but the cosmic zoroark put a yellow claw to his snout. "Ah, ah." Cyril's smirk grew. "If you say too much, you'll jinx us."

Seriously? He didn't peg Cyril as the superstitious type.

Cyril shook his head in disbelief. "I'm flirting with you, dumbass."

But of course. I mean, you'd think that it'd be tempting fate doing this on the job, but that's never stopped Cyril in the past. o<o

"Oh." Seifer's cheeks reddened. He sat down and stared intently at the rift. "W-Well, we're on the job. We have to get Widget to the rift. Save it for later."

"That's our consummate professional." Cyril hip-checked the keldeo, then tapped where his X-transceiver was in his right ear. "Yo, Boss Kitty, how goes it on your end? Got any leads or what? Not sure how much longer this tar pit spray will keep the dogs' noses off our scents.

inb4 Cyril's flirting winds up giving them away at some point due to his and/or Seifer's movement attracting the attention of the police dogmons.

"We've got a lead."

Gene's arms were firmly crossed. He floated on a metal rooftop beside Cid, looking out over the river and the reflections from the drone light show still going on around the stadium. Yuna, Leo, and Nikki were behind him. The girls were talking amongst themselves about whatever. Gene didn't care.

Huh, that's definitely a different opening from a R&C song than I'd have expected.

"You don't sound happy," Cyril pointed out.

The shadowy mewtwo pinched his brow. "I'm not. Because it's..." He couldn't even put into words how stupid Cid's findings were. Better to let the orbeetle handle it. "You tell 'em."

"It would appear Team Rocket exists in this world," Cid said, eyeing Gene nervously. "Although my Dynascan suggests they're... a far cry from what Gene's described."

I mean, yeah. This is an Ash Betrayed universe, so Anime!TR would logically be kicking around somewhere.

"It's just three of them!" Nikki said, mohawk rippling. "How big of a deal can it be? You said it yourself, dude." She smacked her fist into an open palm. "If we're going to cause trouble, we go to local troublemakers. That's just maths."

"I know that!" Gene snapped, yellowing tail lashing at the air. He dropped down on the roof, flinching from the cold stone under his toes. "It's not... an easy thing for me to do without seeing these people for myself."

... Oh, so they're going to hire Anime!TR to carry out their staged disaster, huh?
:copyka:


Nikki put her hands on her hips. "Then let one of us talk to 'em." She jabbed a thumb against a chest gill. "I speak fluent skullduggery."

Gene turned away from them. "These aren't petty graffiti artists." He shook his head. "Forget it. I'm worrying over nothing. If it can't work out, I'll fling 'em into the river and we'll just do things ourselves."

"You'll what?!" Widget squawked through the comm line.

I get the feeling that Gene might wind up doing that anyways by the end since... yeah, I don't see him being particularly impressed by Anime!TR considering what his baseline assumption for how TR is supposed to be is like. ^^;

"Oi, keep quiet while we're walking!" Cyril growled.

Shaking his head, the shadowy mewtwo hovered into the air. "Down, boy." He chuckled. "They're crooks."

"That doesn't mean you fling them into a river! What if they can't swim?!"

Gene:
Image


Gene rolled his eyes. Annoying do-gooder birddogfish. "Fiiiine, I'll toss 'em in with some water floaties. Will that work?"

He didn't wait for Widget's inevitably irritable response. Cid pointed him in the direction of the three Rocket operatives.

"Keep a low profile in the meantime." Gene saluted the others and shot off into the night sky.

Time to see Gene's
:mewtwofacepalm:
reaction to seeing just what these three are like in 3... 2...

"What the hell do you think we're doing?!" Nikki shouted after him.

Smirking, Gene pressed on, flying over a steel bridge with a few slow moving vehicles. The people clustered on the sidewalks were nothing but blurry specks under the night sky. Gene fixed his gaze ahead of him. The road split off in a few directions, with the northeast branch heading toward a very large roundabout where each offroad headed for a big, square building.

Even from this distance, all the signs suggested these were hotels. Which fit with Cid's description.

Boy I sure hope that this Wyndon isn't a CCTV-riddled privacy nightmare like IRL!London since... yeah, Gene's going to become the subject of a GBC news story in like a day at this rate.

Gene assumed all the Malice flowing through him was what let him read these signs. Didn't account for the others on Team Bastion. He suspected that was a combination of Yuna and the little godbutt.

Let's see... second one. Gene headed for the second offroad. The Grand Wyndon Hotel was the smallest of those clustered by the roundabout. Definitely the oldest, judging by its blurry brick composition. Not so grand anymore, are ya?

Wait, is this an actual location in the anime? Since I couldn't turn up any hits for this from a Google.

He stopped and hovered over the building. Gene's chest rose and fell — well, the parts without the Malice Crystal did — as he mentally prepped himself. It was only three Rockets. They couldn't be that high on the totem pole. Otherwise, Cid would have sensed an abundance of Rockets scattered around.

At least, if it's anything like the Team Rocket I knew.

Small verb tense error there. And yeah, I'm already prepping the popcorn for when Gene gets to see a very different Team Rocket from what he's used to in like a minute. >:V

Gene slowly descended. He positioned himself between windows as he passed by the top floors. Gene pressed himself against the building wall. Cool bricks brushed against his fingers and his left side.

Sixth floor. Fifth floor. Here.

The shadowy mewtwo stopped. He inched closer to the lit window in midair, then noted the curtains were drawn and stopped. Gene couldn't get closer without whoever was inside spotting him. If only he could get a glimpse... or even hear something. This building was old. Surely it wasn't that good at filtering out noise.

Wait, what is that track used from in PokéAni? Since it sounds like something from some sort of Detective Noir show.

"... Da same wit'out a twerp to tail."

Image


Gene's smirk returned. Bingo. That accent was atrocious, but at least Gene could understand it.

"Oh, listen to yourselves!" It was a new, female voice. "I didn't spend eight hours cramped in coach to lay around here watching you two mope like a pair of sad, sorry shroomish!"

"WOOOOOBBBBAAAAAFEEET!"

Those three can afford plane/train tickets? Could've fooled me with how often they have money problems in the show.
:loltias~1:


"Easy to say when you're not the one who had to drain his bottle cap collection just to cover the air and hotel fare!" a third— no, wait, fourth voice interjected. "We came here with the promise of Monarch pikachu pilfering for the boss. And instead all we have are empty hopes and dashed dreams!"

Oh, so that's how they afforded their plane tickets.

Gene: "... Um, Cid? Are you sure you found the right guys?"
:mewtwofacepalm:

Cid: "It's what the Dynascan said, so..."
:wellyousee:


Gene had heard enough. These didn't sound like high-level Rockets. Or even competent ones, for that matter. But hearing "Monarch" and "disappeared" got the gears in his head turning. Hadn't Yuna brought that up when she was explaining the situation? Gene kind of tuned that part out.

Oh, so that's your explanation for why Ash's Pikachu is special to the point that Anime!TR would literally spend two decades trying to steal him from Ash. Will be interesting to see if this actually gets expanded on in this story or not.

Cupping his right hand over his face, he whispered. "Hey, Princess. What was that you mentioned about some missing trainer?"

"The guy who was supposed to defend his title here disappeared," Yuna replied, somewhat hesitantly. "And he might be stuck inside the anomaly core."

Theeeere it was. All the ammunition Gene needed. He cracked his knuckles. Showtime.

Image


Not in a bad way, mind you, but I definitely never would have imagined something like this happening when I started out with PoV.

The shadowy mewtwo backed away from the wall. Gene scrutinized the window once more. Not the opening type. Typical stingy hotel.

Phantom Warp it is, then. Gene focused on his Malice Crystal. Next thing he knew, he was inside the modest hotel room, glancing at the meowth face down on one bed and the red and blue-haired people recoiling from the sight of him.

"Good news, plebs." Gene snapped his fingers. "The powers that be have heard your pleas. You want answers to your 'twerp' troubles? Well, I've got 'em."

Team Rocket:
:AAAAAA:

Gene: "Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot. Can we move onto the part where you do something useful and not make me second-guess working with you?" >_>;

Wobbuffet screamed and jumped for the red-haired lady, who displayed surprising strength in actually catching and hanging onto him.

"Ayy, what's da big idea?" Meowth sat up and shook his fist at Gene. "We didn't order no room service. Scram!"

"Hang on." The blue-haired man tilted his head. "Weren't you listening. It sounds like this eggplant pokémon might know where the twerp is!"

Oh lordy, it's actually in character for how they are in the anime.
:copyber:


Gene quirked a brow at that comment. And at the fact that Meowth was speaking like a human. Or like any of the resistance. That would've been curious, but these Rockets neither attacked him nor chucked poké balls.

He wasn't going to draw any conclusions about whether this world had its own mewtwo, but Gene could say with certainty these three were total idiots. Were they representative of what Team Rocket was like in this direction? How was it still alive employing people like this?

Team Rocket:
Image

Gene: "... Cid, you're sure that these are the right guys? Since I'm not exactly sanguine about our chances getting anything done with them." >_>;

Never mind that. Gene was on a timetable. "That's right." He lifted his right hand. A few throw pillows levitated over to him. Gene idly twirled them around their hand. "Team Rocket, yeah?"

The woman's eyes sparkled. She unceremoniously dropped Wobbuffet to the ground. "Did you hear that, James?" She dashed to Gene's side. "Word of our dastardly deeds has spread!" The sparkles turned to fire in the lady's eyes. "Or perhaps you recognize a certain dazzling enchantress of the stage?"

Gene: "I've never seen you before in my life, lady. And at this rate, I'm going to wish I never had afterwards."
:mewtwono:


Rolling his eyes, Gene flicked his tail left. A little telekinesis was all he needed to push the lady back toward the wall by the thermostat. "Don't flatter yourselves." Gene let a throw pillow drift onto his finger and spun it around like it was a basketball. "Your jumpsuits have giant red Rs on 'em."

He tapped his right temple. "Also, powerful psychic. Able to read your minds so smoothly you wouldn't even know I was there."

Meowth's fur stood on end. "Sheesh, dis guy do impressions of da boss or sometin'? He loves dat tick!"

Wait, Gio does this in PokéAni? Is that a more recent season thing? Or is that a particular quirk of this universe?

"Eggplant color and physique aside, the resemblance is uncanny," James added. "Just who are you, Eggplant?"

"Yeah!" Meowth crossed his arms and nodded. "And what kinda tricks are you playin' at? You wanna help us wit' our twerp troubles or not?"

I mean, considering Anime!TR's baseline level of competence in most seasons... yeah, Gene's going to wind up needing to do all of the real work, huh?

"Oh, I do." Gene landed on the brown carpet. He tossed the throw pillows to the far bed one at a time. "Just had to make a point. If you get I'm strong, then you get I've got the power to find your twerp for you."

Meowth stroked his chin. "Dat's a bold claim for a complete stranger to make."

Gene: "Alternatively, I could throw you out of your hotel window and into the river with my mind to prove the point-"
:gardexhausted:

James: "No, no! We believe you're strong enough to help!" O_O;

"Quit being sticks in the mud." The woman stomped a foot on the ground. "How often do we rely on the twerp trusting strangers for pika procurement opportunities, hmm?"

The other two were silent. Gene leaned back against the window. "If you want more transparency, the reason I found you guys is because I need your help as much as you need mine." The shadowy mewtwo looked at his hand, turning it back and forth like he was admiring a manicure he could never get.

Gene: "Cyril, go ahead and start preparing the whiskey for when I'm back. I can already tell I'm going to need it." -_-;

"Our help?"

"Wobba?"

Even Wobbuffet sat up at that. The quartet shared astonished looks. Gene took that as his cue to continue.

This gets especially hilarious if mentally remapping Wobbuffet to his Japanese media counterpart where literally every line he says is a pun to "That's the way it is".

"Your precious 'twerp' is in Wyndon Stadium." He pushed himself off the window so he could gesture toward it. The drone show had finished, but the stadium remained lit, projecting into the night sky. "He's trapped with something dangerous my team is here to get rid of."

"Da twerp around sometin' dangerous, huh?" Meowth shook his head. "Dat's as classic as peanut butter and jelly."

I mean, Meowth's not exactly wrong there...

"Mmmhmm." The woman nodded along. "Or hot fudge and whipped cream."

"Or pineapple on pizza!" James added.

Aaaaand then James just had to go and ruin it there.
:squirpuke~1:


"You take that back!" Meowth and the woman shouted in unison. Wobbuffet mimicked them, though he could still only say his name for some strange reason.

"Come on, Jessie, it's not that bad." James held his hands up by his face.

No, it's genuinely that bad, James. I see that growing up wealthy didn't give you taste.

"Focus!" Gene's tail lashed at the air. His eyes and Malice Crystal flickered. The quartet went stiff as boards. Stars, they were a handful.

I mean, yeah. There's a reason why they're perpetually pissing off everyone in Team Rocket that's even marginally more competent than them in the show.
:lultias:


"Let me repeat myself: there's something dangerous at the stadium." Gene gestured to the window with both arms this time. "The stadium full of people here for the big event." He thrust his arms at the window a second time after the Rockets didn't respond to him. "Is it sinking in yet?"

The four of them huddled amongst one another briefly, before Jessie and James nudged Meowth forward to the edge of the bed. "You want us around to get da twerp outta danger!"

Gene levitated up a throw pillow and bapped Meowth's head with it. "Hey!" He rubbed his slightly messy fur.

Gene:
Image

Meowth: "Dat's a 'maybe', right?" ^^;

"I need you guys to do your jobs," Gene growled, tail twitching in irritation. "And help me cause a scene in the stadium that'll force everyone to leave." He walked his fingers across the air. "Once the stadium's empty, we can safely deal with the threat and get you your twerp back."

"Causing a scene?" Jessie's eyes sparkled. "Do you think we can—"

"By doing Team Rocket stuff," Gene cut in. "C'mon, what kind of grunts are you? Think of all the pokémon there ripe for stealing." He hated floating that idea out there. But with the way these three acted, they couldn't swipe a 'mon if their lives depended on it. And if they somehow did, Gene had little doubt he could stop them from getting away.

I can't tell whether or not this is going to work or wind up blowing up in spectacular fashion, but either way, I'm sure that this will shape up to be hilarious.
:bleplithe:


Again, the quartet huddled up. Gene could have listened in. He doubted anything they were saying was a big deal. Maybe scheming up some sort of idea on how to cause a scene. Not that there was much to think about. They just had to send out their pokémon and let them go to town.

Unless this wobbuffet and meowth are all they have...

... Right, they let all their Pokémon go at the end of PokéAni or something like that, huh?

"We've got it!" Jessie declared, raising her right arm triumphantly. "One dynamic Team Rocket display for the ages, coming up!"

James flopped against the bed. "And one rainy day bottle cap collection down the Wyndon drain."

Gene quirked a brow. Though he was tempted to press for details, he opted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not that they'd earned it. "How much time do you need?"

Image


I mean, not that this isn't going to be hilarious for the readers, but... yeah, this sounds like a recipe for disaster for actually getting serious mission stuff squared away.

"Heh heh." Meowth's head coin glistened under the dim yellow hotel room light. "You just leave dat part to ol' Meowth! We'll be ready to rock and roggenrola dat stadium before you can down a Wyndon tea and biscuit!"

... Is he going to do that guitar routine from Pokémon Channel or whatever that was from? Since that feels like a very specific choice of words there.

The shadowy mewtwo casually threw up his hands. "Fine. Then I'll tell my teammates to get ready while you do your thing. As soon as you're ready, shoot a Pay Day into the air. That'll be our signal."

The three Rockets shared unimpressed looks. "And just where will you be to even see a signal like that?" James wondered.

Smirking, Gene leaned against the window. "I've got my ways." He Phantom Warped through the window. Once he was on the other side, he pointed two fingers at his eyes, then back at the Rockets. They silently nodded that they got the memo.

Ah yes, it's that gesture that sometimes shows up in media. You've been waiting a while to use this in the story, haven't you?

Gene flew up to the hotel roof and perched atop it on his right foot. Whatever trepidation he had with turning to the organization that birthed him was gone. Instead, all he could wonder is whether those goofballs could get him what he was looking for. Otherwise, Team Bastion would be stuck on fake demolition duty.

He tapped a finger against his right horn. "Attention, resistance. This is Gene. I've gotten us our backup for Operation Gone With the Wyndon."

Several groans crackled through his X-transceiver. "Puh-lease tell me you didn't have that one pre-prepared," Artemis said.

Yeah, he'd totally been working on that one in his head for a while, I can already tell.
:LULgia:


The broad strokes of Gene's horrendously named operation were simple, if revolting to Seifer. Gene, Quetzal, and Jade would act as big, scary pokémon under Team Rocket's control and "attack" the stadium. Assorted monks and dragons would help steer people away from the stadium. Noctum was on standby with rift generation while Vegna and Valkyrie were reserves to call on in an emergency.

I mean, Gene did say he was going to create a mock disaster, Seifer. Just what on earth did you think he was going to do for one in a Pokémon setting?
:gardeshrug~1:


Not an elegant plan, in the keldeo's opinion. His stomach twisted at the notion of his teammates acting the part of criminals. At least Seifer wasn't being asked to take part in that ridiculous ruse. Probably on purpose, knowing Gene.

I mean, if he could pick up the general vibe that you weren't approving of the idea to do a mock disaster to begin with... yeah, that would be as easy a tipoff as any for Gene to just ask Seifer to sit things out.

... On the plus side, he can go and binge Space Wars with his new BF? :V

That left him and Cyril to continue slowly and invisibly ferrying people across Indigo Plateau to the anomaly. Cyril deployed some fresh tar essence to keep the police dogs from catching literal whiff of them. Then it was a matter of walking back and forth across the same grass and tiles behind the outer rim of the Pokémon League building.

Or not. Guess they're still in 'hide and be sneaky' mode at the moment.

On the walk back toward the forest for their final pickup, Seifer decided to break up the monotony. "So, um, you and Gene were together once?"

Cyril's cosmic fur frazzled ever so slightly. "Wouldn't call it that."

Yeah, they were together once. Maybe "one-night stand"-tier together, but it was still together from that reaction. >:V

The keldeo wasn't buying it. "Then why did Gene tell me you're pretty mind-blowing once you get going?"

"Course he'd say that." Cyril rolled his eyes, yet quickened his pace. "We were never together, per se. Friends with benefits. Nothing more."

:sceptikarp:


Seifer: "With that sort of reaction? Seriously, Cyril. Just how naive do you think I am?"
:eltywtf:


Seifer followed Cyril, raising a brow. "Benefits? Like you gave each other insurance? And vacation days?"

He wasn't expecting Cyril to stumble. Seifer's tail scrunched. He feared the illusion dropping. But no cops looked in their direction. Cyril must've kept it up.

"Was it something I said?" Seifer whispered.

How on earth is Seifer this sheltered from sexual innuendo anyways when he was still knowledgeable enough to get gay with Cyril? .-.

"Uh, yeeeaaaah?" Cyril ran yellow claws through his cosmic mane. He left the stone pathway and headed onto the grass. "There's no way you're that sheltered."

"Meaning?"

"Any sane adult knows what 'friends with benefits' means, dude."

Cyril, are you seriously questioning Seifer being this sheltered when he literally didn't know what the obvious Star Wars expy in your setting was? >:V

Seifer frowned. "Well, I don't." He also stepped onto the grass. They both headed toward the tree line.

Cyril sighed, then chuckled. "It means you sleep with your buddy from time to time." He paused. "Or often." Cyril shrugged. "Different strokes for different folks."

"Oh." Seifer looked down, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. "Is that... something you still do?"

Seifer: "Since I thought that we had something a lot more intimate than that with each other..."
:ohnowen:


"Hell nah." Cyril waved him off. "We stopped doing that when I started working with the Ryujin. You're the first guy I've been with in quite a while."

Seifer wasn't sure how to feel about that. Cyril stopped and looked over his shoulder. "That's a good thing, y'know."

This probably would've been a good thing to bring up before you two started riding on each other, just saying.

"R-Right." The keldeo quickened his pace until he was at Cyril's side. He was putting his hoof in his mouth. Seifer had to salvage this somehow. "Sorry. I guess I—" He cut himself off, but made sure to keep walking.

"You had assumptions based on how you were raised." Cyril rested his hands inside his starry mane. "I get it."

I mean, yes, but you kinda went around the bases really, really quickly with Seifer, Cyril. Especially since you knew that he was from a sheltered background.

Now it was Seifer's turn to stumble. How was Cyril always able to read him so effortlessly? He quickly collected himself. The forest line wasn't far off now. "I was taught that courting meant fancy dinners or outings to entertainment venues. And things like... intimacy came after marriage."

A snrk made the keldeo's ears flick. "What?"

... How on earth did this guy even know enough about how sex worked to have a night with Cyril that wasn't just awkwardly standing around?
:what:


"Nothing. Unintentional wordplay." Cyril waved him off. "Point is, there are different ways of dating. If you want to stick to the fancier stuff, well..." The cosmic zoroark looked down at his wispy, jewel encrusted legs. "Not my forte. But I'd give it my best for you."

Seifer shook his head. "Honestly? No. I don't want that stuffiness." Certainly not while trying to save the omniverse or whatever. "What we have is... not what I was expecting. But it's a pleasant surprise."

Smirking, Cyril bowed despite not facing Seifer. "Happy to be of service~"

Ah yes, so sword pony is content to be ridden on for a while. Duly noted.

He's doing that on purpose. Seifer turned away while continuing forward. "Come on. We ought to focus. We're almost done here."

"We're ready to go on our end," Quetzal said through the X-transceiver. "What's the hold up?"

"Nothing." Cyril approached the tree line and stood at attention. Though the smirk on his face betrayed his attempt at seriousness. "The veil's up whenever you're ready."

Quetzal: "It sure doesn't seem like nothing with that expression."
:lucariwhat:

Seifer: "It's... um... personal matters. Anyhow, let's just go ahead and get you over to Wyndon right now..."

Blue light crackled in front of the trees, then split apart into a rift. Jade, Quetzal, Yiazmat, and Calcifer stepped through. Noctum followed, with the rift closing behind him.

"You're sure you can keep everyone hidden, Zoroark?" Yiazmat mainly looked at Jade.

I mean, if you have to ask the question, that's probably as good a sign as any that Cyril can't. Especially when Jade is one startling moment away from flooding her immediate surroundings with pheremones.

"What's with the side eye?" Jade pouted. "So, I had a second helping of chocolate cake last night." She put her right wing on her right hip. "The salazzle part's got curves for days. That ain't changing."

Cyril held his hands up. "It'll go better if you keep quiet and stick close to me." He glanced at Jade. "Or reasonably close, in your case."

Jade's tail flaps bristled. "This is salugia bias! I'm—"

If the idea is that Jade's pheremones are a risk to being discovered (which I presume is the intent here), it might make sense to say that a bit more explicitly at some point since things felt weirdly like they were beating around the bush here.

Yiazmat harshly shushed Jade, who looked down guiltily. "Let's get going. Quickly."

The group headed along the grass. Unlike the way back, Cyril and Seifer kept them further from the stone path around the League building and closer to the trees. The keldeo trained his gaze on every police officer and dog in the area. They remained at a distance, which was good.

... Except they were getting further from the team. Heck, it was like they were gathering in another spot. Was this a shift change or something? Seifer didn't like this. He quickened his pace.

Yeeeeeeah, they're not going to make it through the rest of this scene without getting discovered by the cops, are they?

"Move faster," he whispered. "I think the police are up to some—"

His eyes widened. Seifer lunged for Jade and managed to shove the large salugia out of the way before multiple Focus Blasts whizzed by, leaving streaks of red behind.

"What the—" Jade squawked, dousing the grass beneath her in pink-purple vapors.

Seifer looked up. Three Eternatus Bombardiers had their large blasters pointed right at them. And more Focus Blasts were charging in the barrels!

Whelp, looks like I was worried about the wrong thing there. And like we won't need to worry about a fake disaster chasing people out of Wyndon's stadium after all.

"Ah-ha! Illusion detected!" one Bombardier declared. "Authorization granted for full anti-zoroark excessive force!"

"How splendid!" another Bombardier cheered. "I bet fifty eternabucks I'll bag the furball!"

I really need to get around to playing the PS5 R&C game, since a lot of the links you've dropped from it have been bangers.

"We're found out!" Cyril waved them in the direction of the rift. "Move, move, m— shit!"

The cosmic zoroark dove to the ground. Focus Blasts rained down on where he was standing, kicking up chunks of dirt and mud.

"You don't need to tell me twice! Ladies first!" Jade squawked, awkwardly rolling to her feet. A couple of Focus Blasts knocked her back on her rear, though she didn't look all that harmed by them.

I mean, Jade's presumably still part-Psychic? That would probably help with tanking those blows, just saying.

"The empire's here!" An Aura Sphere whizzed up from Seifer's prosthetic horn. The Bombardiers scattered, revealing even more Bombardiers and Gunners descending from higher in the sky. "And they've got reinforcements! We have to leave!"

"No! Get Drumstick and Birdbrain through the rift first!" Gene barked. "That's an order!"

Yeah, the Eternatus Gunners are just going to follow along straight into the middle of that Wyndon stadium, huh?
:copyka2:


The first Bombardier was already prepping its next Focus Blast barrage. "I spy loitering rebels in need of some attitude adjustments!"

A gray metallic burst struck it from below, then a pair of dreepy-shaped blue bolts hit its right arm, destroying the blaster.

"Hurry!" Yiazmat cried.

Whelp, I see that the Eterna Empire cheaped out on their build quality. Again.

"We'll cover for you!" Calcifer opened his metallic mouth and spat another Flash Cannon skyward. The Bombardier trying to retaliate was forced to fly out of the way, letting Noctum strike it with a well-aimed Flamethrower and shatter its cockpit. The explosion caught the Bombardier that lost a blaster, destroying it as well.

"Quetzal, grab Jade! Her waddling's too slow," Seifer ordered.

"On it!" The orange zapdos zipped to Jade's side and kicked her into the air.

Waaaaaaait, why on earth did she not just fly during all of this? Was the air too thick with attacks or something like that?
:heliodoubt:


Not that the solution for getting her moving here isn't appropriately lulzy.

"Waah! Hey!" Jade flailed around before landing on Quetzal's back. Despite the size difference, Quetzal managed to carry her on his back. He darted toward the rift, orange sparks trailing behind him. Seifer reared up and shot Hydro Pumps to Quetzal's right, snuffing out the Focus Blasts trying to get in the way.

Cyril directed the two toward the rift and the dove inside without a second thought. "All right, they're in! We're getting out."

"Not a chance!" Gene cut in. "If they head through the rift, they'll screw everything up! You have to keep them at bay."

Cyril: "Oh for crying out loud..." >.<

Though I suppose this is a sign that we might actually get to see what the Indigo League E4 and Champion look like in this universe? Since this fight is occurring right on their doorstep... ^^;

Seifer dropped down to all fours and galloped toward Cyril. "Are you mad?! We can't handle this many!" Focus Blasts whizzed by, fortunately missing the keldeo.

"It worked with the pirates," Gene said. "And you can actually get reinforcements this time. So, whatever you do, defend the damn rift!"

Gene, don't make me break out the Bubsy macro again, since... yeah. When your own guys are telling you they think they're in over their heads, it's a bad idea to blow them off.

Seifer skidded to a halt, barely avoiding two Thunderbolts intercepting his path. He shot an Aura Sphere straight up without looking. A mechanical cry followed by a shower of sparks and metal parts told him he'd gotten the Eternatus Gunner responsible.

Sighing, he glanced at Cyril. The cosmic zoroark was a bit shaken, but managed to gather up a Shadow Ball and toss it at a Bombardier focusing on Yiazmat and Calcifer. The ectoplasm got the Bombardier in the back, knocking its cockpit out of its body. Calcifer easily finished it off with a small Flash Cannon.

"You heard him," Cyril said. "All hands on deck, I guess." He jumped away from Seifer, gathering ectoplasm into another Shadow Ball.

Cyril: "I mean, I have no freaking clue how we're supposed to make this work, but... uh... at least we do have all those faceless randoms we picked up over the last few weeks? They would be able to at least not make things worse?"
:fearfullaugh~1:


Right. Orders were orders. They had to stand their ground. He scanned the singed and scorched ground and spotted Noctum spitting fireballs airborne.

"Noctum, what are you waiting for?" Seifer called. "Get some distance and bring us backup now!"

I mean, at least it probably won't result in another Rem Canyon Expedition exercise again? ^^;

The black charizard scrambled away while Yiazmat and Calcifer covered with Dragon Darts and Flash Cannons. Seifer glanced at the approaching clusters of Troopers, then back at the roof. Even with reinforcements, keeping them away from the rift was going to be a tall order.

With a shaky breath, Seifer charged an Aura Sphere in preparation for the oncoming onslaught.

Well, that's certainly a tense note to leave off on there. We really went from 0-100 in this chapter in terms of immediate peril, huh?
:copyka:


CDL-091: Indigo Plateau, Planet Earth
The main headquarters of the Pokémon League for both Kanto and Johto. Honestly? It's not that impressive. Not a lot of imperial tech around the area. Though I want to say part of that is because Paradox has his own Pokémon League in Planet Axiom, the center of his empire. I guess he just... lets Earth's Leagues do their own thing. They're so steeped in tradition anyway, that he figures Earth's inhabitants are the only ones who'll care about these places. Sad thing is? Paradox is probably right.

Shots fired, there. I see that Cyril isn't a huge fan of mainline-style battling leagues himself.

Alright, made it to the end of things, lemme just gather my bearings and process what on earth just happened there before I start recapping...

Okay, all good now. Though the main stars of the show for this chapter were its ability to keep the audience off-guard, since I wasn't expecting PokéAni!TR to make an appearance in this story, much less to become plot relevant in the process. The ending note was also a handy way of reminding everyone that even if the past couple chapters have been slower-boil, that things can go to hell in a handbasket in short order and it was a decent place to leave things off on and motivate readers to come back.

I don't have too much to complain about in this chapter beyond a couple scattered typos and points where I thought the text wasn't as clear as it could've been. I'm not fully sure how I feel about PokéAni!TR getting swept up in the plot, though I suppose with everything that has appeared in this story up to this point, that it'd certainly be on the table, and it does jibe with the "goofy and chaotic" part of the story's shtick. I'll reserve judgement on their appearance and role until the dust settles, since if nothing else, they're certainly written in a convincing manner.

Glad to finally be caught up with this story again @Ambyssin . And I'll be looking forward to catching up with your new update sometime after it drops. ^^
 
Chapter 82: Defendat Mundum New

Ambyssin

Gotta go back. Back to the past.
Location
Residency hell
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. silvally-dragon
  2. necrozma-ultra
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. dreepy
  6. mewtwo-ambyssin
Chapter 82: Defendat Mundum

Noctum somersaulted, dodging a Rock Blast, then returned fire at the Eternatus Gunner responsible. His Flamethrower destroyed the cockpit and the unown vanished in purple smoke. Another explosion rang out behind him. He looked over his shoulder. Through the smoke, he spotted a mega garchomp atop the Pokémon League's roof, sniping at Eternatus Troopers in the air with well-aimed Dragon Pulses.

The black charizard nodded to Valkyrie, then Phantom Warped away from her, dodging more Rock Blasts.

"Hey!" one Eternatus Gunner shouted, trying to follow Noctum with its blasters. "No fair! Someone tell the lizard dodging is not permitted!"

Dreepy-shaped blue spears flew in from Noctum's right. They shattered the Gunner's glass cockpit, ejecting the unown into the air. Then that buzzwole guy — oh, what was his name again? Beef? — swooped in from behind, grabbed the body, and hurled it at three Eternatus Bombardiers behind them. All the bots were gone by the time the smoke had cleared.

"Ha!" Buzzwole flexed his right arm. "Ja, take to air good idea! Like discus with no pesky ground!" He flexed his left arm. "I was three-time all-city discus champ in heyday!"

"Uh, congrats?" Noctum tilted his head, then saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. He stopped flapping his wings for a rapid descent. A Thunderbolt surged overhead, but then a large boulder broadsided him. Noctum spread his wings to stop from careening into the forest. He wildly spat fire in the direction of the Rock Blast.

"Ha ha! Score one for the good guys!" An Eternatus Bombardier threw its blaster-equipped arms to the side, then hovered up to skirt the Shadow Ball that came from below. Noctum landed in the grass by the anomaly portal so Seifer and Cyril could give him some extra cover while he got his bearings.

"What's wrong?"

Noctum was ready to complain about rocks when he realized the keldeo was talking to Cyril. "Did that idiot... seriously dab on us?" The cosmic zoroark had another Shadow Ball ready. "Stupid emperor and his 'how do you do, fellow kids?' mindset." He hurled the ectoplasm upward. "Give it a boost, will ya?"

Seifer pivoted, blasting Hydro Pumps skyward from his hind legs. It pushed the Shadow Ball past the Bombardier's Rock Wrecker and blew apart its right arm.

"Gah!" It hovered erratically. "A minor setback, but I am still functional!"

Noctum fired a Dragon Pulse, striking the Bombardier's torso. The unown pilot ejected the cockpit. "You will not be rid of me that easily, meatba— guuuuh!"

A second Dragon Pulse streaked in from the direction of the League Building, destroying the last bits of the Trooper.

"You make such a cute little threesome down there," Valkyrie scoffed. "But get back in the air, you dweeb! We need you up here!"

Cheeks burning, Noctum took off. A few stray Thunderbolts and Ice Beam peppered the air around him. Noctum spat fireballs to his left, then spotted two Gunners on his right trying to hit Valkyrie with Ice Beams from afar.

Not on my watch. Noctum Phantom Warped behind them, then buffeted the Gunners with Air Slash crescents. They didn't even have time for mechanical shouts before their bodies broke apart. Noctum flew through the smoke and dust left behind, slowing down by the rooftop.

"How's it looking?" Noctum had lost track of Yiazmat and Calcifer in the chaos. He did spot Archie gleefully gliding over the grassy field atop a jet of water, sending black crescents at Gunners and Brawlers from his jagged horn.

"I don't like this," Valkyrie said. She spat a Dragon Pulse at an airborne Eternatus Bombardier taking aim at Seifer and Cyril. It struck the middle of its back. Noctum added a Flamethrower to take it down.

What else is new? The black charizard managed to keep that one to himself. "In what way?"

"They've got the numbers, but they're not advancing on the rift," the mega garchomp said, pointing a scythe-like arm left. Cyril and Seifer stood their ground, shooting Shadow Balls and Aura Spheres at Gunners flanking them from the sky. Buzzwole Whatshisface flew in and rammed one into another with his right shoulder.

"New barbells for mein collection!" he declared, laying on his back in midair and... bench-pressing the disoriented Gunners?

"Stop the rebel!" a Bombardier shouted from far to their right. "Using Troopers as weights is against the law! And very rude!"

Noctum snapped back to attention when he saw blue sparks in the corner of his eye. Another Dragon Pulse from Valkyrie blew apart a Bombardier over by the forest's edge.

"Okay, yeah. You've got a point." The black charizard landed on the roof. "They're just... shooting at Cyril and Seifer from a distance." What was he missing? "Maybe they're afraid of disappearing forever if they get destroyed in the other dimension?"

"You think Paradox cares about that?" Valkyrie stomped on the roof. Stone Edge spires jutted out from the ground, where several dragons were in a standoff with Eternatus Brawlers. One spire upended a Brawler trying to clobber an unsuspecting goodra with an ice-encrusted mace. "He's already sending 'em out here for us to mow down."

Noctum frowned. Last he recalled, the unown got returned to some factory if they were beaten out here. He doubted that connection held up where the anomaly was. Which was worth caring about, in Noctum's opinion. "Well, do your, uh, instincts give you anything to go off?"

The mega garchomp huffed out blue-purple embers. "Not really." She summoned more rock spires from the ground, but the two charging Brawlers burst through them with their spiked maces and struck at the same goodra from before. She tumbled back, ice encrusting her gooey body.

Tail flame sparking, Noctum dove off the roof and bathed the Brawlers in bright orange flames.

"Aggh! Deploy the anti-flying lizard punches!" one Brawler screamed.

Noctum wasn't prepared for the flurry of electrified maces that followed. He swerved past the first two, but the third clubbed him in the jaw. The static locked up his wings. He hit the ground and skipped across it, smacking the remnants of an earlier Stone Edge spire and tumbling through scorched grass and dirt until he came to a stop.

Grunting, Noctum tried to right himself, but his world was spinning. Paralysis locked up his limbs. He tasted dirt. The black charizard snorted some flames, scorching grass by his face and giving him a tilted, dusty view of the perimeter around League Headquarters.

"The lizard's down! Smack him! Annihilate him!"

Mechanical whirrs and clanks filled Noctum's ear frills. Multiple Brawlers pushed past the Aeon troops and were running at him. Electricity coursed through their spiked maces.

He had to get up. Move his legs. Wings. Something.

Come on! Not like this!
Teeth gritted, Noctum fought against the paralysis. He'd almost managed to push his upper half off the ground, when a thunderous rumble sent him tumbling further back through the grass toward the forest's edge. It must have scattered all the Brawlers to the wind, too. None were chasing him down anymore.

Before Noctum could even process the tremor, a terrified shriek sent his heart into his throat.

The queen!

Her screams proved the second wind Noctum needed to get up. And just in time, as he was able to catch the dragapult careening through the air and stop her from colliding with him.

"Your Highness?" The paralysis somewhat muffled Noctum's speech. "What happened?"

Yiazmat's eyes were wide. At first Noctum thought his muscles were twitching from the lingering static, but soon realized she was trembling.

"They hit him," she said.

"Huh?"

"Calcifer! With a strange blast!"

The ground trembled once again. Cyril and Seifer rushed toward them, the former swearing up a storm and the latter looking back and shouting something.

On the other side of League Headquarters, a duraludon head poked up. And up. And up. They were growing to the size of one of the gigantic buildings from Eterna City!

Noctum's tail flame pulsated erratically. "What is— don't tell me—"

"Ha ha ha!" An Eternatus Bombardier flew around beside Duraludon, shooting tiny fireworks. "A brilliant success! One Paradigm Lieutenant shot to the head! I've got a new host for Halvus!" It gestured toward a few Gunners staring at it in confusion. "Oh, this one is so going on my bi-annual evaluation! I'm getting promoted for sure!"

The towering duraludon looked down at the League building's roof... and the mega garchomp standing alone on its edge.

"I spy a hotheaded rebel... who needs a good cooldown!"

Blue-violet currents swirled around the roof. Noctum apologetically let go of Yiazmat. He focused on the Malice Crystal in his chest and lunged forward, aiming to pry open a rift.

"Valkyrie!"

XxX​

"I don't like this."

From their point in the sky high over the river, Quetzal shifted uneasily on Jade's back. "We should be with the others, fending off the empire," the orange zapdos said.

Gene's gaze was fixed north of them, where he'd met the Rockets. There were warehouses close to the part of the river the trio were floating over. Allegedly, whatever the Rockets had up their sleeve involved one of the warehouses. So, this was where they had to wait for the signal.

"Rebels have to take risks." Gene's tail lazily swished back and forth. "Too much on the line with this one."

"Is it really that much of a risk to go back for a bit and—"

"Yes!" Gene crossed his arms. "If the emperor gets wind I'm there, he'll send everything he has at us. Then we'll really be screwed." He gestured toward the stadium. "Here? We can seal the anomaly. The kid can take us back to the outpost."

"And what about the folks on Indigo Plateau?" Quetzal countered.

"We'll rift 'em back once we're back." Was it a perfect plan? No. Gene rarely had the luxury of perfect plans. "Look. I'm choosing to have faith they can handle themselves. Optimism and all that." He looked over his shoulder. "You should try it."

Jade bobbed her head. "Yeah. We gotta cheer them on!" She paused. "In spirit, because we've gotta play the heels!"

Gene raised a brow. "Heels? Where'd you pull that one from?"

"Guzzie Junior," Jade chirped.

Sighing, Gene turned back around. "Of course you did. Yo, Chrome Dome. How we looking?"

Grumbles came through the X-transceiver, followed by Cid saying, "As best I can tell, nothing about the stadium should block rift formation. Yuna should be free to open one."

"Great." Gene clapped his hands together. "You in position, Princess?"

"Uh, sure?" Yuna said. "I'm still by the dimensional rift."

"Good enough." Gene brimmed with false enthusiasm. Yes, it wasn't a great plan. Or even a good one. But at least Gene was trying to find a middle ground. Someone had to believe this would work. The shadowy mewtwo didn't need any self-fulfilling prophecies mucking things up.

He spotted faint golden sparkles by one of the warehouses. Squinting, Gene held up his right hand. "It might be showtime, folks."

More golden sparkles littered a lot next to one of the warehouses. And the sparkles moved. Sure, Gene was far away. But it was totally Meowth using Pay Day. That meant it was go time.

"Follow my lead," Gene said. He surged forward, not bothering to wait up for Jade and Quetzal. The stadium's bright red, white, and blue lights quickly came into view, spilling over the outside grounds. Pop-up shops lined the walkways. People and pokémon flitted between them. Occasional camera flashes popped up at complete random.

A pity Gene had to break up this party. It could've been fun to watch the battles unfold. Or even take part.

... Ah, who was he kidding? Gene would wipe the floor with any of these trainers.

His expression sharpened. Gene thought back to those distant days where this was natural. Storming an area. Peppering buildings in Shadow Balls to force his way in. Telekinetically swiping poké balls from trainers before they could open them.

It's just for show. Only have to fake it.

The wailord blimp was flying in the middle of the stadium. A perfect target. Gene focused his ESP on it. Any auras?

No. Perfect. A remote-controlled blimp was easy pickings.

Gene held his hands up. A Shadow Ball formed, growing larger and larger. The moment he heard shouts from the ground, Gene hurled the massive Shadow Ball toward the blimp.

This next part needed finesse. Gene forced the Shadow Ball to burst apart, spreading blue-purple light over the area. As screams and shouts erupted beneath him, Gene opened a rift. He forced the blimp through with a psychic pulse. A loud thud told him his endeavor was successful: the blimp was forcibly downed in a barren field. No debris to rain down on anyone.

Loud squawks sounded behind him. Gene turned to see Jade carefully sweeping an Aeroblast across the river. She didn't hit any boats, but kicked up enough spray to send people running in the opposite direction.

Quetzal was next, jumping from Jade's back. He dove through yamper and boltund balloons whose pops echoed across the area.

Drawing from his Malice Crystal, Gene pooled the energy toward his head to project his telepathy.

"Run, pitiful weaklings!" he declared. Gene glanced at the stadium and saw the center of the grassy battlefield unoccupied. People were fleeing from seats and the ground into corridors that would lead them through the stadium.

"Your pathetic Coronation is canceled!" Gene whipped up a Hurricane in the center of the stadium. It ripped through the turf, flinging grass and dirt chunks in all directions.

There were a few people who weren't running though. Assorted corviknight and staraptor with humans atop them making beelines for the shadowy mewtwo.

"I said begone!" Gene surrounded them with Psystrike orbs. A gesture only intended to provoke the birds into fleeing. There were frantic wing flaps, but most held their ground and looked as though they were readying attacks.

Growling, Gene dispelled his Psystrike. Instead, he opened another rift toward the same spot he sent the blimp. A psychic pulse sent the birds and their riders tumbling back. He abruptly shut the rift, then Phantom Warped away from several Fire Blasts and Thunders streaming up from below.

Oh joy. The fuzz. Gene glanced over his shoulder to see Jade flying circles by the front of the stadium, shooting Aeroblasts skyward instead of at the ground. Like something out of one of those kaiju pokémon movies.

... Considering they were acting, it was an apt comparison.

Before Gene had the opportunity to send the police through a rift, however, metal tendrils shot past him. Strange, electrified nets captured the pokémon taking aim at Gene. They flailed about as the tendrils retreated to Gene's left, heading outside the stadium to a... robot meowth?

Nope, Gene wasn't imagining things. There was an absurdly long meowth robot at the western edge of the stadium. "The hell?" Gene scratched his head.

The large gold coin atop Meowthbot's head opened up, revealing the Rockets sitting in some sort of pod-shaped control room. It raised up higher above the machine's head. The glass pod opened up and the three stood up... brandishing megaphones?

"This party's over, so prepare for trouble!"

"And we'll find our pika prize to make it double!"

Jessie thrust her right hand behind her. "To protect the world from devastation!"

James mirrored the gesture with his left hand. "To unite all people within our nation!"

Gene's jaw slackened. Was this— were they doing a bit? Now of all times?!

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

James somehow produced a rose and held it up to his nose. "To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"


The robot's head projected a giant red R that rotated around a holographic globe.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Jessie declared.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James added.

Meowth then hopped up between them "Meowth, dat's right!"

Even Wobbuffet popped up, but Gene couldn't hear him without a megaphone of his own. He just floated there, utterly confused as to how these loons would stand there atop their giant robot and recite some stupid motto.

Jade came to a stop by the robot and raised her right wing. "Um, yes, excuse me. Hi. I have several questions."

The Rockets saw Jade and shrieked in unison.

"Jessie, do I finally need glasses or is there a lugia right next to us?" James said.

"And a talking one at that!" Jessie said. "Back inside! Back inside!"

"Right! Time for da Gigagigameowth to do its t'ing!"
The control pod retreated back inside the robot's giant coin.

"Hey, wait!" Jade flapped her wings frantically. "That didn't answer any of my— eep!"

Metal tendrils emerged from Gigagigameowth's mouth. Jade flailed about in midair, then flapped her wings twice and quickly ascended out of their way.

Scowling, Gene surged past the outer rim of the stadium, Malice Crystal sparking. It might've lit the area up like a flare if things weren't bright enough already. "Hey, hey!" The shadowy mewtwo waved his arms around. He stopped by Gigagigameowth's golden coin. "No friendly fire! We have a deal, remember?"

"Dat featherhead's wit' you?!" Meowth said.

"Talk about friends in high places," James added.

"Hmph. Her salazzle outfit needs work," Jessie scoffed. "Maybe we should tutor her when this is over. We're masters of the craft!"

Gene was not going to entertain their antics any further. "Quit standing around and cause some chaos!" He spun around and blindly hurled a Shadow Ball toward the abandoned grounds outside the stadium. Gene made sure to destroy it before it could actually hit anyone or anything. "We can't get the guy out of the safe until the place is good and empty!"

"Just leave dat to us!" Meowth said. Gigagigameowth jumped around with surprising speed for such a huge machine. "Super Net Knuckles, fiyah!"

Gigagigameowth's fists detached from its arms and immediately exploded into nets that descended on people who were fleeing across the bridge leading to the stadium grounds.

Grimacing, Gene headed in the opposite direction. This was fine. The moment the others had the safe situation under control, he'd wreck that stupid robot and free whatever people and pokémon Team Rocket was trying to snag. The idiots weren't even using poké balls.

He spared a brief moment to scan the insides of the stadium. Minimal auras. All streaming away from where Yuna claimed the safe was, except for a handful. Some of them were clearly the team. But the other weaker ones...

"Hey, what's the situation?" Gene said, flying around the stadium's outer rim to keep eyes on Jade and Quetzal. The former kicked up more water with a river-aimed Aeroblast while the latter was striking street lights with his muscular legs, denting them at angles street lights weren't meant to bend. "We're thinning the herd out here quickly. How about you guys?"

"Water evac team here! We've got plenty of rescue boats heading away!"

"Ground evac team. Streets are getting a bit clogged, but the police have fliers coming to help!"


That was better than Gene expected, all things considered. "And you, Princess? I'm sensing some unfamiliar auras by the safe."

XxX​

Floating directly in front of the safe door, Yuna looked apologetically at the security officers, alakazam, and togekiss lying on the ground, twitching from paralysis. "Yeah." She rubbed her shoulder. "Nikki might've, uh, put them down for the count."

"It's just paralysis." The toxtricity flicked her right wrist dismissively. "They'll get better."

"Yeah, but the point is they're not supposed to be here when we open the safe." Widget looked between them and the vault with a frown on his beak. "What do we do with them now?"

"Open a rift to that roof you guys were on before," Gene suggested. "We'll have to leave them there."

Widget winced. "But that's out in the open!"

"Do you want to take your chances with what's on the other side of that door?" Gene countered.

The cosmic silvally shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I'd rather not." Sighing, he bowed his head at Yuna. "Do it, I guess."

With another apologetic look, Yuna opened a rift beneath the guards. She watched them drop onto a blue roof, then sealed it up. Pushing that from her mind, she hovered closer to the safe door. Cid leaned against the handle, his spots pulsating with pink energy.

"Anything?" the drakloak wondered.

"Almost." Cid squinted. The orbeetle's spots flickered erratically. "I think I—"

The clicks were barely audible, but the metal thuds that followed were loud enough to make Yuna back away. Cid grabbed the handle and slowly turned it. "Nrrrgh. Can a guy get a hand? This thing's... heavier than I thought."

"Pssht." Nikki rolled up her sleeves. "Stand aside, egghead." She rubbed her hands together, grabbed the handle, and easily shifted it to the open position. The vault door began to open.

Yuna saw that familiar inky blackness pooling in her tail. "Uhh, maybe you guys should stand back befor—"

The door suddenly flew open. Black flames washed over Cid, knocking the screaming orbeetle down the hall. Then a large pink beam sent Nikki tumbling in Cid's direction.

Something— no, two somethings glistened within the darkness of the vault.

"Get back!" Widget cried, shifting to his flight mode and sending electricity right into the vault. A pink barrier appeared and deflected the Thunderbolt.

"I did warn you, did I not, Yaldabaoth?"

Glowing pink eyes flared up. Yuna had no time to react as a green, crystalline bird shot out. The strange, balloon-shaped gems atop its head cast an eerie glow in the hallway. Squealing, Yuna forced Reshiram from the Soul Dew, where he met another pink beam with streams of blue fire.

Ruin%20Boss%20Shiva.png


"Hey!" Reshiram spread his wings apart to try and stop the bird from making any further forward progress. Instead, it vanished in a flash. Reshiram looked around in confusion. "The color wasn't right, but didn't that kind of match up with what Quetzal said Necrozma turned his partners into?"

"I'm a bit, gah, busy!"

Widget darted left and right between the wall and the railing, barely avoiding bursts of black fire from a second, neon pink bird with fiery green wings. The crystal antennae emerging from its head pulsated with ominous energy.

Ruin%20Boss%20Ifrit.png


"It... is them!"

Yuna looked over to see a singed Cid's spots glowing asynchronously. "Quetzal's teammates, Shiva and Ifrit!"

Yuna couldn't process that before Shiva reappeared, striking Reshiram in the face with a tremendous flurry of Air Slash blades. Reshiram dropped to the ground, pawing at his face with his fluffy wings.

This didn't make any sense. Butterfree Effect had said there was one daemon inside the vault.

"There was one." Shiva's beak moved, but it was clearly Butterfree Effect's voice. "But it seems this Whisper decided to invite an extra friend to our festivities. Isn't that right?"

Shiva looked over her shoulder. Yuna decided not to wait. Her Soul Dew glistened. Reshiram dropped his wings and shot a Blue Flare at Shiva. Her eyes flashed pink and another barrier appeared, snuffing out the flames.

An unfamiliar human appeared by the strange articuno's side. The brim of his red and white hat obscured his face. But the pikachu on his shoulder had an empty look about him.

"... This place is boring." The human grabbed Shiva's leg. Eyes widening, Yuna sent another signal to Reshiram. At the same time, a shockwave came from Yuna's right. Nikki was on her feet, clearly steamed from the earlier blow.

"We're leaving." The human tugged Shiva's leg. Her eyes brimmed with psychic energy. Then she and the human vanished. A mechanical squawk and a thud drew Yuna's attention left, where Widget hit the ground with no signs of the moltres Whisper around him.

"Where'd they go?!" Widget sprang to his feet, looking around in a panic.

"Who cares!" Nikki approached Yuna, wincing with every step. "They abandoned the core! Get the kid here and let's blow this joint!"

"We can't leave this place with those things running amok!" Widget snarled. "I'm going after them." The miraivally's thrusters ignited. He sped out of the room.

"Oh, c'mon, seriously?!" Nikki ran after him. "No fair! I can't even fly!"

Yuna had to admit Nikki brought up a good point. Besides, if the two Whispers were really from their world, couldn't Leo drag them back with the rest of the team? Gulping, the drakloak approached the vault.

Her shadows swung her lower half back. Yelping, Yuna barely managed to stop herself from falling to the ground. But then she spotted flickers of distortion within the vault. She spun left before a sudden twister emerged from the ground near where she was floating.

"Iiiiii don't think the core's going to let you in," Reshiram said.

"I see that." Yuna backed further away. With both previous cores, they stopped pokémon with those weird crystals growing off them before going inside. "Maybe its... accessibility is related to those crystals? Like, we have to shatter them?"

She turned around. Cid leaned against a wall, rubbing his shut eyes and groaning.

"Cid, you've got to help!" Yuna begged. "Track down the birds. Where did they go?"

The orbeetle's face scrunched up in concentration. "I just... lemme... hgggrrrgh." He squeezed his cheeks tightly. "They're out on the stadium's battlefield!"

Right. The battlefield. Yuna surveyed that place earlier as a precaution. She just had to think. Picture the striped green field with the weird white lines and poké balls painted onto the grass for some reason.

Yuna stuck her hands out. A jagged rift opened in front of her. Pink lasers rained down haphazardly on the other side. Flinching, the drakloak hovered through.

"On your left!" Reshiram darted past her, shooting a Dragon Pulse to block a pink beam from Shiva.

Just what was that attack? It was way too big to be a Psybeam!

"Boring." The human was riding atop Shiva's back as she hovered over midfield. "Warp, then Freezing Glare."

He and Shiva vanished in a flash. Yuna's shadows pushed against her back. She turned around and found another of those pink beams heading right for her from the sidelines!

"Yuna!"

Over Reshiram's cry, Yuna dropped to the ground. She phased through the grass the moment her Quick Attack energy wore off and swam through the soil. Yuna had to trust Reshiram would offer enough of a distraction for her to do something. Anything.

But her own attacks were so weak. Unless I use the shadows...

Yuna swam through the ground, then emerged by the sidelines, swiping up at the air in front of her. A gray, spectral leg uppercut the distorted articuno. She was right in Reshiram's path. He had a clear shot to Blue Flare her!

... Except a lightning bolt zapped his rear. Yowling, Reshiram threw his wings against his rump. Shiva righted herself and swept another Freezing Glare right at a startled Yuna.

The drakloak wasn't ready. She tried to will her shadows into some sort of shield, but the blast got to her first. Yuna pinwheeled back toward midfield, passing by Nikki wildly trying to strike Pikachu with poisonous globs only for him to easily flash step away and pepper Reshiram with pot shots.

An unseen force seized Yuna moments before she struck the ground. It yanked her toward Shiva and the human.

"Is it finally sinking in?" Butterfree Effect's masked head pooled over Shiva's. His arceus hairdo crackled ominously. "How out of your depth you are, puppet?"

Yuna couldn't even squirm. The psychic grip was too strong. Reshiram faded back into the Soul Dew. Yuna didn't even know what happened to Ifrit. Was he still around or had he made a break for the city?

"I told you there is no point in resisting me," Butterfree Effect continued through Shiva's beak. "If you had left the vault sealed, I could have claimed the plates within the core. Affirmed the fate of this world. Instead, you continued walking the path of chaos. You are truly no more than a puppet."

What were they talking about? They were the one who told Yuna about what could happen here in the first place!

"No more talking." The human shook his head. "It's boring. As boring as an opponent who can't fight back." He looked directly at Yuna. "Get rid of her."

Yuna's eyes widened. The world spun around her. Shiva must have teleported her high into the sky.

Within seconds, Shiva's eyes brimmed with cold pink energy. Then, a terrible, icy pain surged through Yuna's ectoplasm. It wasn't truly an ice-type attack, yet it sure felt like one.

Air rushed all around a flailing Yuna. Shiva quickly grew farther and farther away. Was Yuna falling? Tumbling through the air?

She got her answer when her momentum screeched to a halt against a solid wall of frigid water. The night sky, stadium lights, and distant explosions blurred. Bubbles drifted past her vision when she tried to shout. Water flooded her inner ectoplasm.

Yuna tried to swim upward. She couldn't. Fierce wind currents were pushing her further down. Everything was getting darker. Darker. Darker.

She tried to go intangible. It didn't work.

Yuna reached out to her Soul Dew. It wouldn't respond.

Her shadows, then?

... No. She couldn't feel them.

Everything was pitch black. Fear took hold. Yuna didn't have organs, but there was a drowning analogue for ghosts. When their inner ectoplasm filled with so much water it choked their spirits and snuffed out their lives.

The current pushed her further into the depths. Shiva must have gotten corrupted by the flying-type plate. That was how she was forcing Yuna down. The drakloak couldn't overcome the river's intense churning. It dragged her deeper and deeper.

A heaviness weighed on her gut. Tugged at her tail and neck. It surrounded her head and swallowed up her face.

After a final, desperate wriggle... Yuna went still.

XxX

~Wings of Ruin: Shiva~
The Affirmer's flight took Him across worlds, linking these realms together. He saw those who were suffering. He vowed to ease their burdens. When He bound Space, Time, and the Elements of Mind with the Red Chain, the links drew the realms together into one. Thus began the Great Harmony.

XxX

~Beak of Ruin: Ifrit~
Like pestilence, the Renegade tailed the Affirmer throughout His journey. It took control of its counterparts. The Affirmer outmaneuvered it time and time again. Yet it did not give up the chase. Even at the dawn of the Great Harmony, the Renegade appeared to attack the Affirmer. And this aggression left enough lingering chaos to shatter the Great Harmony.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
The chapter title is latin for "protect the world," in reference to Team Rocket's anime motto. Shiva is a member of the Trimutri holy trinity in Hinduism. Within the Hindu tradition of Shaivism, he is the Supreme Being, responsible for creating, protecting, and transforming the universe. In contrast, Ifrit is a demon associated with death and the underworld within Islamic culture. Quetzal is from the Aztec deity "Quetzalcoatl," related to the wind, sun, merchants, learning, arts, and crafts.

All three are recurring summons in the Final Fantasy franchise.
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Alright, diving in as a twofer of knocking out my Review Tag and getting in one last review before the timer rolls over for PMDiner's Review Event with…

Chapter 82

Noctum somersaulted, dodging a Rock Blast, then returned fire at the Eternatus Gunner responsible. His Flamethrower destroyed the cockpit and the unown vanished in purple smoke. Another explosion rang out behind him. He looked over his shoulder. Through the smoke, he spotted a mega garchomp atop the Pokémon League's roof, sniping at Eternatus Troopers in the air with well-aimed Dragon Pulses.

The black charizard nodded to Valkyrie, then Phantom Warped away from her, dodging more Rock Blasts.

"Hey!" one Eternatus Gunner shouted, trying to follow Noctum with its blasters. "No fair! Someone tell the lizard dodging is not permitted!"


Oh, I see the spa music's back again. Also:

Valkyrie:
Image

Noctum: "You'd think they'd be more used to their enemies actually putting up a fight..." >_>;

Dreepy-shaped blue spears flew in from Noctum's right. They shattered the Gunner's glass cockpit, ejecting the unown into the air. Then that buzzwole guy — oh, what was his name again? Beef? — swooped in from behind, grabbed the body, and hurled it at three Eternatus Bombardiers behind them. All the bots were gone by the time the smoke had cleared.

Oh, so Biff says his own name with a German accent. Makes sense given what we saw of his dialogue back in Tulpise.

"Ha!" Buzzwole flexed his right arm. "Ja, take to air good idea! Like discus with no pesky ground!" He flexed his left arm. "I was three-time all-city discus champ in heyday!"

All-city, huh? Meaning that he came from Ultra Megalopolis, or...?

"Uh, congrats?" Noctum tilted his head, then saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. He stopped flapping his wings for a rapid descent. A Thunderbolt surged overhead, but then a large boulder broadsided him. Noctum spread his wings to stop from careening into the forest. He wildly spat fire in the direction of the Rock Blast.

Image


"Ha ha! Score one for the good guys!" An Eternatus Bombardier threw its blaster-equipped arms to the side, then hovered up to skirt the Shadow Ball that came from below. Noctum landed in the grass by the anomaly portal so Seifer and Cyril could give him some extra cover while he got his bearings.

"What's wrong?"

Noctum was ready to complain about rocks when he realized the keldeo was talking to Cyril. "Did that idiot... seriously dab on us?" The cosmic zoroark had another Shadow Ball ready. "Stupid emperor and his 'how do you do, fellow kids?' mindset." He hurled the ectoplasm upward. "Give it a boost, will ya?"

Image


I have no idea how you manage to mix absurdist humor along with deadly serious plot beats in your writing, but it leads to snerk-worthy moments like these.

Seifer pivoted, blasting Hydro Pumps skyward from his hind legs. It pushed the Shadow Ball past the Bombardier's Rock Wrecker and blew apart its right arm.

"Gah!" It hovered erratically. "A minor setback, but I am still functional!"

Ah yes, I see that there's a Monty Python and the Holy Grail analogue in PoV's omniverse, too. :V

Noctum fired a Dragon Pulse, striking the Bombardier's torso. The unown pilot ejected the cockpit. "You will not be rid of me that easily, meatba— guuuuh!"

A second Dragon Pulse streaked in from the direction of the League Building, destroying the last bits of the Trooper.

"You make such a cute little threesome down there," Valkyrie scoffed. "But get back in the air, you dweeb! We need you up here!"

At first I thought that was going to be one of Lance's dragons, but I suppose that makes a bit more sense.

Cheeks burning, Noctum took off. A few stray Thunderbolts and Ice Beam peppered the air around him. Noctum spat fireballs to his left, then spotted two Gunners on his right trying to hit Valkyrie with Ice Beams from afar.

Not on my watch. Noctum Phantom Warped behind them, then buffeted the Gunners with Air Slash crescents. They didn't even have time for mechanical shouts before their bodies broke apart. Noctum flew through the smoke and dust left behind, slowing down by the rooftop.

Noctum: "... Were they always this easy to take apart? Since I swear that these Eternatus Gunners used to be a lot harder to fight like 30 chapters ago..." ^^;

"How's it looking?" Noctum had lost track of Yiazmat and Calcifer in the chaos. He did spot Archie gleefully gliding over the grassy field atop a jet of water, sending black crescents at Gunners and Brawlers from his jagged horn.

I should be a lot less surprised that Archie's just having the time of his life going full swashbuckler right now.

"I don't like this," Valkyrie said. She spat a Dragon Pulse at an airborne Eternatus Bombardier taking aim at Seifer and Cyril. It struck the middle of its back. Noctum added a Flamethrower to take it down.

What else is new? The black charizard managed to keep that one to himself. "In what way?"

"They've got the numbers, but they're not advancing on the rift," the mega garchomp said, pointing a scythe-like arm left. Cyril and Seifer stood their ground, shooting Shadow Balls and Aura Spheres at Gunners flanking them from the sky. Buzzwole Whatshisface flew in and rammed one into another with his right shoulder.

I suppose that I should go and track down an Admiral Ackbar gif right about now, since... yeah. This sounds like we're headed in that direction pretty quickly.

"New barbells for mein collection!" he declared, laying on his back in midair and... bench-pressing the disoriented Gunners?

"Stop the rebel!" a Bombardier shouted from far to their right. "Using Troopers as weights is against the law! And very rude!"

Ah yes, I see the Eternans have their priorities straight right now. o<o

Noctum snapped back to attention when he saw blue sparks in the corner of his eye. Another Dragon Pulse from Valkyrie blew apart a Bombardier over by the forest's edge.

"Okay, yeah. You've got a point." The black charizard landed on the roof. "They're just... shooting at Cyril and Seifer from a distance." What was he missing? "Maybe they're afraid of disappearing forever if they get destroyed in the other dimension?"

Wait, that was established as something that would happen to Eternatus Gunners in the past? .-.

"You think Paradox cares about that?" Valkyrie stomped on the roof. Stone Edge spires jutted out from the ground, where several dragons were in a standoff with Eternatus Brawlers. One spire upended a Brawler trying to clobber an unsuspecting goodra with an ice-encrusted mace. "He's already sending 'em out here for us to mow down."

Noctum frowned. Last he recalled, the unown got returned to some factory if they were beaten out here. He doubted that connection held up where the anomaly was. Which was worth caring about, in Noctum's opinion. "Well, do your, uh, instincts give you anything to go off?"

Valkyrie: "That we're being baited into a trap and they're holding onto the big guns to roll out when we're worn down?"
Noctum:
Image


The mega garchomp huffed out blue-purple embers. "Not really." She summoned more rock spires from the ground, but the two charging Brawlers burst through them with their spiked maces and struck at the same goodra from before. She tumbled back, ice encrusting her gooey body.

Goodra: "... Ow." X_X

Tail flame sparking, Noctum dove off the roof and bathed the Brawlers in bright orange flames.

"Aggh! Deploy the anti-flying lizard punches!" one Brawler screamed.

Noctum wasn't prepared for the flurry of electrified maces that followed. He swerved past the first two, but the third clubbed him in the jaw. The static locked up his wings. He hit the ground and skipped across it, smacking the remnants of an earlier Stone Edge spire and tumbling through scorched grass and dirt until he came to a stop.

Noctum: "Okay, so they haven't gotten any easier to fight. Good to know."
:LiamDed:


Grunting, Noctum tried to right himself, but his world was spinning. Paralysis locked up his limbs. He tasted dirt. The black charizard snorted some flames, scorching grass by his face and giving him a tilted, dusty view of the perimeter around League Headquarters.

"The lizard's down! Smack him! Annihilate him!"

Eternatus Brawler: "♪ Don't stop until we dominate, won't you feel great- ♪"
Noctum: "Oh my god. I just had to get stuck with the one singing cringy pop music."
:mewtwofacepalm:

Eternatus Trooper: "You take that back, rebel scum! That song's a classic!"

Mechanical whirrs and clanks filled Noctum's ear frills. Multiple Brawlers pushed past the Aeon troops and were running at him. Electricity coursed through their spiked maces.

He had to get up. Move his legs. Wings. Something.

Noctum: "V-Val?! A Cheri Berry would be nice right about now!"
:ohnowen:


Come on! Not like this! Teeth gritted, Noctum fought against the paralysis. He'd almost managed to push his upper half off the ground, when a thunderous rumble sent him tumbling further back through the grass toward the forest's edge. It must have scattered all the Brawlers to the wind, too. None were chasing him down anymore.

Before Noctum could even process the tremor, a terrified shriek sent his heart into his throat.

The queen!

Ah yes. This fight is going well™️ right now.

Her screams proved the second wind Noctum needed to get up. And just in time, as he was able to catch the dragapult careening through the air and stop her from colliding with him.

"Your Highness?" The paralysis somewhat muffled Noctum's speech. "What happened?"

Yiazmat's eyes were wide. At first Noctum thought his muscles were twitching from the lingering static, but soon realized she was trembling.

"They hit him," she said. "Huh?"

"Calcifer! With a strange blast!"

Oh. We're about to see Calcifer get unwillingly G-Maxed, aren't we? Since I remember those G-Max fights from very early on in this story...

The ground trembled once again. Cyril and Seifer rushed toward them, the former swearing up a storm and the latter looking back and shouting something.

On the other side of League Headquarters, a duraludon head poked up. And up. And up. They were growing to the size of one of the gigantic buildings from Eterna City!

Yeah, I knew it.

Noctum: "... Maybe it just affected his body and his mind's unchanged?"
:fearfullaugh~1:


Noctum's tail flame pulsated erratically. "What is— don't tell me—"

"Ha ha ha!" An Eternatus Bombardier flew around beside Duraludon, shooting tiny fireworks. "A brilliant success! One Paradigm Lieutenant shot to the head! I've got a new host for Halvus!" It gestured toward a few Gunners staring at it in confusion. "Oh, this one is so going on my bi-annual evaluation! I'm getting promoted for sure!"

:uhhh:


Well, that went significantly more off the rails than what I was expecting, and boy is that throwaway comment ominous.

The towering duraludon looked down at the League building's roof... and the mega garchomp standing alone on its edge.

"I spy a hotheaded rebel... who needs a good cooldown!"

Noctum: "Okay, yeah. The blast affected his mind too."
:grohno~2:


Blue-violet currents swirled around the roof. Noctum apologetically let go of Yiazmat. He focused on the Malice Crystal in his chest and lunged forward, aiming to pry open a rift.

"Valkyrie!"

Noctum's... gonna dump G-Max Calcifer into the middle of Wyndon, isn't he?
:copyber:


"I don't like this."

From their point in the sky high over the river, Quetzal shifted uneasily on Jade's back. "We should be with the others, fending off the empire," the orange zapdos said.

Ominous music is ominous. And don't worry, Quetzal, I'm pretty sure you're going to get your wish in like 30 seconds.

Gene's gaze was fixed north of them, where he'd met the Rockets. There were warehouses close to the part of the river the trio were floating over. Allegedly, whatever the Rockets had up their sleeve involved one of the warehouses. So, this was where they had to wait for the signal.

"Rebels have to take risks." Gene's tail lazily swished back and forth. "Too much on the line with this one."

"Is it really that much of a risk to go back for a bit and—"

"Yes!" Gene crossed his arms. "If the emperor gets wind I'm there, he'll send everything he has at us. Then we'll really be screwed." He gestured toward the stadium. "Here? We can seal the anomaly. The kid can take us back to the outpost."

Can't tell if that's meant to refer to Widget or Ash there. Though why do I get the distinct feeling that Paradox already knows of Gene's presence right now?

"And what about the folks on Indigo Plateau?" Quetzal countered.

"We'll rift 'em back once we're back." Was it a perfect plan? No. Gene rarely had the luxury of perfect plans. "Look. I'm choosing to have faith they can handle themselves. Optimism and all that." He looked over his shoulder. "You should try it."

Wait, Gene actually makes plans instead of improvising on the fly? Since it's honestly a bit hard to tell sometimes. ^^;

Jade bobbed her head. "Yeah. We gotta cheer them on!" She paused. "In spirit, because we've gotta play the heels!"

Gene raised a brow. "Heels? Where'd you pull that one from?"

"Guzzie Junior," Jade chirped.

Jade: "... Seriously? Shouldn't you be more familiar with this whole wrestling terminology thing given that you fight at his-"
:eltywtf:

Gene: "Look, I just show up there to kick space pirate ass, okay? I don't pay attention to the particulars." >_>;

Sighing, Gene turned back around. "Of course you did. Yo, Chrome Dome. How we looking?"

Grumbles came through the X-transceiver, followed by Cid saying, "As best I can tell, nothing about the stadium should block rift formation. Yuna should be free to open one."

Nothing yet anyways. Since if things are going to go where I think they are for Noctum's desperation move at the end of the last scene... yeah, it might get a bit hard to form that rift.

"Great." Gene clapped his hands together. "You in position, Princess?"

"Uh, sure?" Yuna said. "I'm still by the dimensional rift."

"Good enough." Gene brimmed with false enthusiasm. Yes, it wasn't a great plan. Or even a good one. But at least Gene was trying to find a middle ground. Someone had to believe this would work. The shadowy mewtwo didn't need any self-fulfilling prophecies mucking things up.

Huh, so a lot of Gene's outward chill and self-confidence is an act he projects to others. I suppose I should've seen more of that coming from his bedside talk a couple chapters ago, but noted.

He spotted faint golden sparkles by one of the warehouses. Squinting, Gene held up his right hand. "It might be showtime, folks."

More golden sparkles littered a lot next to one of the warehouses. And the sparkles moved. Sure, Gene was far away. But it was totally Meowth using Pay Day. That meant it was go time.

... Wait, he can see spare change flying around like that at that distance? Or does Pay Day work differently in this setting?

"Follow my lead," Gene said. He surged forward, not bothering to wait up for Jade and Quetzal. The stadium's bright red, white, and blue lights quickly came into view, spilling over the outside grounds. Pop-up shops lined the walkways. People and pokémon flitted between them. Occasional camera flashes popped up at complete random.

A pity Gene had to break up this party. It could've been fun to watch the battles unfold. Or even take part.

... Ah, who was he kidding? Gene would wipe the floor with any of these trainers.

I mean, that depends on how the Betrayed Ash of this universe would be scaled, since... yeah. They can get pretty broken in some stories.

His expression sharpened. Gene thought back to those distant days where this was natural. Storming an area. Peppering buildings in Shadow Balls to force his way in. Telekinetically swiping poké balls from trainers before they could open them.

It's just for show. Only have to fake it.

:copyka2:


Well. I see that Gene got up to quite a few things that didn't make it into his special based off that line of narration.

The wailord blimp was flying in the middle of the stadium. A perfect target. Gene focused his ESP on it. Any auras?

No. Perfect. A remote-controlled blimp was easy pickings.

Gene held his hands up. A Shadow Ball formed, growing larger and larger. The moment he heard shouts from the ground, Gene hurled the massive Shadow Ball toward the blimp.

Gene, you realize that that thing's probably going to kill at least a dozen people if it lands anywhere that's not in the river, right? Though nice background music for this moment.

This next part needed finesse. Gene forced the Shadow Ball to burst apart, spreading blue-purple light over the area. As screams and shouts erupted beneath him, Gene opened a rift. He forced the blimp through with a psychic pulse. A loud thud told him his endeavor was successful: the blimp was forcibly downed in a barren field. No debris to rain down on anyone.

Gene: "See? I planned around the falling debris, too. All's well that ends... not as bad as it could've." ^^;

Loud squawks sounded behind him. Gene turned to see Jade carefully sweeping an Aeroblast across the river. She didn't hit any boats, but kicked up enough spray to send people running in the opposite direction.

Quetzal was next, jumping from Jade's back. He dove through yamper and boltund balloons whose pops echoed across the area.

Drawing from his Malice Crystal, Gene pooled the energy toward his head to project his telepathy.

Wait, Gene can do mass telepathy, too? I mean, I suppose I should be less surprised given some of his depicted antics in his special, but...

"Run, pitiful weaklings!" he declared. Gene glanced at the stadium and saw the center of the grassy battlefield unoccupied. People were fleeing from seats and the ground into corridors that would lead them through the stadium.

"Your pathetic Coronation is canceled!" Gene whipped up a Hurricane in the center of the stadium. It ripped through the turf, flinging grass and dirt chunks in all directions.

Cid: "Um... Gene? Is thatsupposed to sound that natural coming from you?"
:wtfuckle:

Gene: "All part of the show! Don't worry!" ^^

There were a few people who weren't running though. Assorted corviknight and staraptor with humans atop them making beelines for the shadowy mewtwo.

"I said begone!" Gene surrounded them with Psystrike orbs. A gesture only intended to provoke the birds into fleeing. There were frantic wing flaps, but most held their ground and looked as though they were readying attacks.

Gene: "Aw crap. I hate enforced method acting."
:mewtwofacepalm:


Growling, Gene dispelled his Psystrike. Instead, he opened another rift toward the same spot he sent the blimp. A psychic pulse sent the birds and their riders tumbling back. He abruptly shut the rift, then Phantom Warped away from several Fire Blasts and Thunders streaming up from below.

Oh joy. The fuzz. Gene glanced over his shoulder to see Jade flying circles by the front of the stadium, shooting Aeroblasts skyward instead of at the ground. Like something out of one of those kaiju pokémon movies.

Damn, the Wyndon Met really brought out their big dogs for this one. Though I suppose it makes sense given that this is a major public event where any disruptions would want to be put down with extreme prejudice.

... Considering they were acting, it was an apt comparison.

Before Gene had the opportunity to send the police through a rift, however, metal tendrils shot past him. Strange, electrified nets captured the pokémon taking aim at Gene. They flailed about as the tendrils retreated to Gene's left, heading outside the stadium to a... robot meowth?

Ah yes, Team Rocket up to their old antics all over again. I'm surprised that they still had the budget for this.

Nope, Gene wasn't imagining things. There was an absurdly long meowth robot at the western edge of the stadium. "The hell?" Gene scratched his head.

The large gold coin atop Meowthbot's head opened up, revealing the Rockets sitting in some sort of pod-shaped control room. It raised up higher above the machine's head. The glass pod opened up and the three stood up... brandishing megaphones?

Gene: "... Okay, so working with the Three Stooges was a terrible idea after all." >.<

"This party's over, so prepare for trouble!"

"And we'll find our pika prize to make it double!"


Jessie thrust her right hand behind her. "To protect the world from devastation!"

James mirrored the gesture with his left hand. "To unite all people within our nation!"

Gene's jaw slackened. Was this— were they doing a bit? Now of all times?!

Gene:
200w.gif


"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

James somehow produced a rose and held it up to his nose. "To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"


The robot's head projected a giant red R that rotated around a holographic globe.

Gene: "Well, I suppose that would explain why they had to resort to selling a bottlecap collection to afford airfare here." >_>;

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Jessie declared.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James added.

Meowth then hopped up between them "Meowth, dat's right!"

Even Wobbuffet popped up, but Gene couldn't hear him without a megaphone of his own. He just floated there, utterly confused as to how these loons would stand there atop their giant robot and recite some stupid motto.

It helps that they had over two-and-a-half decades of experience and rote repetition doing this up to this point. :V

Jade came to a stop by the robot and raised her right wing. "Um, yes, excuse me. Hi. I have several questions."

The Rockets saw Jade and shrieked in unison.

"Jessie, do I finally need glasses or is there a lugia right next to us?" James said.

"And a talking one at that!" Jessie said. "Back inside! Back inside!"

Gene: "Whelp, so much for them being a convincing-seeming threat to the general public." >.<

"Right! Time for da Gigagigameowth to do its t'ing!" The control pod retreated back inside the robot's giant coin.

"Hey, wait!" Jade flapped her wings frantically. "That didn't answer any of my— eep!"

Metal tendrils emerged from Gigagigameowth's mouth. Jade flailed about in midair, then flapped her wings twice and quickly ascended out of their way.

Jade: "Okay, so they're not total joke villains! Duly noted!"
:lugiyikes:


Scowling, Gene surged past the outer rim of the stadium, Malice Crystal sparking. It might've lit the area up like a flare if things weren't bright enough already. "Hey, hey!" The shadowy mewtwo waved his arms around. He stopped by Gigagigameowth's golden coin. "No friendly fire! We have a deal, remember?"

"Dat featherhead's wit' you?!" Meowth said.

"Talk about friends in high places," James added.

"Hmph. Her salazzle outfit needs work," Jessie scoffed. "Maybe we should tutor her when this is over. We're masters of the craft!"

Yeah, this is going to end with them attempting a backstab and getting blasted off over the horizon, isn't it?

Though yeah, feeling really good about my prediction that Calcifer's going to come crashing into things since we already have one tower-sized fighter in the ring right now.

Gene was not going to entertain their antics any further. "Quit standing around and cause some chaos!" He spun around and blindly hurled a Shadow Ball toward the abandoned grounds outside the stadium. Gene made sure to destroy it before it could actually hit anyone or anything. "We can't get the guy out of the safe until the place is good and empty!"

"Just leave dat to us!" Meowth said. Gigagigameowth jumped around with surprising speed for such a huge machine. "Super Net Knuckles, fiyah!"

Just saying, there's realistically a nonzero chance that this is going to cause a bunch of people to shelter in place, so...

Gigagigameowth's fists detached from its arms and immediately exploded into nets that descended on people who were fleeing across the bridge leading to the stadium grounds.

Grimacing, Gene headed in the opposite direction. This was fine. The moment the others had the safe situation under control, he'd wreck that stupid robot and free whatever people and pokémon Team Rocket was trying to snag. The idiots weren't even using poké balls.

... I mean, considering how they're significantly better-equipped than expected for a has-been team and this is an AU, are you sure that they'll be that easy to kick over, Gene?

He spared a brief moment to scan the insides of the stadium. Minimal auras. All streaming away from where Yuna claimed the safe was, except for a handful. Some of them were clearly the team. But the other weaker ones...

Oh, well. That's worrisome there.

"Hey, what's the situation?" Gene said, flying around the stadium's outer rim to keep eyes on Jade and Quetzal. The former kicked up more water with a river-aimed Aeroblast while the latter was striking street lights with his muscular legs, denting them at angles street lights weren't meant to bend.

"We're thinning the herd out here quickly. How about you guys?"

"Water evac team here! We've got plenty of rescue boats heading away!"

"Ground evac team. Streets are getting a bit clogged, but the police have fliers coming to help!"


That was better than Gene expected, all things considered. "And you, Princess? I'm sensing some unfamiliar auras by the safe."

Gene: "Is that supposed to be that trapped kid or whatever down there? Or else what's going on?"

Floating directly in front of the safe door, Yuna looked apologetically at the security officers, alakazam, and togekiss lying on the ground, twitching from paralysis. "Yeah." She rubbed her shoulder. "Nikki might've, uh, put them down for the count."

"It's just paralysis." The toxtricity flicked her right wrist dismissively. "They'll get better."

Nikki: "Just saying I wanted to Boomburst 'em, but nooooo..." >_>;

"Yeah, but the point is they're not supposed to be here when we open the safe." Widget looked between them and the vault with a frown on his beak. "What do we do with them now?"

"Open a rift to that roof you guys were on before," Gene suggested. "We'll have to leave them there."

Yuna: "Boy it sure is a good thing that these rift teleports don't really strain us all that much, otherwise that would've potentially been a problem." ^^;

Widget winced. "But that's out in the open!"

"Do you want to take your chances with what's on the other side of that door?" Gene countered.

The cosmic silvally shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I'd rather not." Sighing, he bowed his head at Yuna. "Do it, I guess."

- Cue paralyzed angry noises from the security team -
Yuna: "Er... sorry? Though it really would be safer for you to just take a step back and let us do our thing, so..." ^^;

With another apologetic look, Yuna opened a rift beneath the guards. She watched them drop onto a blue roof, then sealed it up. Pushing that from her mind, she hovered closer to the safe door. Cid leaned against the handle, his spots pulsating with pink energy.

"Anything?" the drakloak wondered.

"Almost." Cid squinted. The orbeetle's spots flickered erratically. "I think I—"

The clicks were barely audible, but the metal thuds that followed were loud enough to make Yuna back away. Cid grabbed the handle and slowly turned it. "Nrrrgh. Can a guy get a hand? This thing's... heavier than I thought."

Ah yes, the moment of truth before we see just how ridiculous things are about to get once Betrayed Ash makes his grand entrance.

"Pssht." Nikki rolled up her sleeves. "Stand aside, egghead." She rubbed her hands together, grabbed the handle, and easily shifted it to the open position. The vault door began to open.

Yuna saw that familiar inky blackness pooling in her tail. "Uhh, maybe you guys should stand back befor—"

Oh, well that music isn't an ominious sign at all for where things are about to go here.

The door suddenly flew open. Black flames washed over Cid, knocking the screaming orbeetle down the hall. Then a large pink beam sent Nikki tumbling in Cid's direction.

Something— no, two somethings glistened within the darkness of the vault.

"Get back!" Widget cried, shifting to his flight mode and sending electricity right into the vault. A pink barrier appeared and deflected the Thunderbolt.

"I did warn you, did I not, Yaldabaoth?"

Yuna: "Oh for god's sake! Seriously?!" O.O

Glowing pink eyes flared up. Yuna had no time to react as a green, crystalline bird shot out. The strange, balloon-shaped gems atop its head cast an eerie glow in the hallway. Squealing, Yuna forced Reshiram from the Soul Dew, where he met another pink beam with streams of blue fire.

>that boss intro art

Well then. I wasn't expecting to see them again. Much less like this.

"Hey!" Reshiram spread his wings apart to try and stop the bird from making any further forward progress. Instead, it vanished in a flash. Reshiram looked around in confusion. "The color wasn't right, but didn't that kind of match up with what Quetzal said Necrozma turned his partners into?"

"I'm a bit, gah, busy!"

Widget darted left and right between the wall and the railing, barely avoiding bursts of black fire from a second, neon pink bird with fiery green wings. The crystal antennae emerging from its head pulsated with ominous energy.

And there's the other now as well. So you didn't forget about them all this time. What has it been, 50 chapters by this point since we last saw them?

"It... is them!"

Yuna looked over to see a singed Cid's spots glowing asynchronously. "Quetzal's teammates, Shiva and Ifrit!"

Butterfree Effect: "Well, I can tell you and your vessel's friends are going to be busy. Have fun sorting things out, Yaldabaoth."

Yuna couldn't process that before Shiva reappeared, striking Reshiram in the face with a tremendous flurry of Air Slash blades. Reshiram dropped to the ground, pawing at his face with his fluffy wings.

This didn't make any sense. Butterfree Effect had said there was one daemon inside the vault.

"There was one." Shiva's beak moved, but it was clearly Butterfree Effect's voice. "But it seems this Whisper decided to invite an extra friend to our festivities. Isn't that right?"

So the Butterfree Effect is an "exact words" troll. Duly noted.

Shiva looked over her shoulder. Yuna decided not to wait. Her Soul Dew glistened. Reshiram dropped his wings and shot a Blue Flare at Shiva. Her eyes flashed pink and another barrier appeared, snuffing out the flames.

An unfamiliar human appeared by the strange articuno's side. The brim of his red and white hat obscured his face. But the pikachu on his shoulder had an empty look about him.

Aaaaaand there he is.

"... This place is boring." The human grabbed Shiva's leg. Eyes widening, Yuna sent another signal to Reshiram. At the same time, a shockwave came from Yuna's right. Nikki was on her feet, clearly steamed from the earlier blow.

"We're leaving." The human tugged Shiva's leg. Her eyes brimmed with psychic energy. Then she and the human vanished. A mechanical squawk and a thud drew Yuna's attention left, where Widget hit the ground with no signs of the moltres Whisper around him.

Yuna: "... Gene? Where did they go?"
:uhhh:


"Where'd they go?!" Widget sprang to his feet, looking around in a panic.

"Who cares!" Nikki approached Yuna, wincing with every step. "They abandoned the core! Get the kid here and let's blow this joint!"

"We can't leave this place with those things running amok!" Widget snarled. "I'm going after them." The miraivally's thrusters ignited. He sped out of the room.

I mean, you technically can, and it'd probably be better for the broader omniverse, but... yeah. I'm not convinced that Wyndon isn't going to be suffering from a minor case of massive property damage starting right about now.

"Oh, c'mon, seriously?!" Nikki ran after him. "No fair! I can't even fly!"

Yuna had to admit Nikki brought up a good point. Besides, if the two Whispers were really from their world, couldn't Leo drag them back with the rest of the team? Gulping, the drakloak approached the vault.

Her shadows swung her lower half back. Yelping, Yuna barely managed to stop herself from falling to the ground. But then she spotted flickers of distortion within the vault. She spun left before a sudden twister emerged from the ground near where she was floating.

Yuna: "Gah! Who's there?!"

"Iiiiii don't think the core's going to let you in," Reshiram said.

"I see that." Yuna backed further away. With both previous cores, they stopped pokémon with those weird crystals growing off them before going inside. "Maybe its... accessibility is related to those crystals? Like, we have to shatter them?"

She turned around. Cid leaned against a wall, rubbing his shut eyes and groaning.

"Cid, you've got to help!" Yuna begged. "Track down the birds. Where did they go?"

Cid: "Wait, what birds are we-?"
Yuna: "Shiva and Ifrit! Please tell me that you managed to pick them up before they just blipped out like that!"
:igneohno:


The orbeetle's face scrunched up in concentration. "I just... lemme... hgggrrrgh." He squeezed his cheeks tightly. "They're out on the stadium's battlefield!"

Right. The battlefield. Yuna surveyed that place earlier as a precaution. She just had to think. Picture the striped green field with the weird white lines and poké balls painted onto the grass for some reason.

Yuna stuck her hands out. A jagged rift opened in front of her. Pink lasers rained down haphazardly on the other side. Flinching, the drakloak hovered through.

Yuna: "Okay, I'm beginning to understand why I'm hearing Devil May Cry music in the background right now."
:eltyscared:


"On your left!" Reshiram darted past her, shooting a Dragon Pulse to block a pink beam from Shiva.

Just what was that attack? It was way too big to be a Psybeam!

"Boring." The human was riding atop Shiva's back as she hovered over midfield. "Warp, then Freezing Glare."

Oh, so Betrayed Ash apparently has some connection to Ginnungagap given that he can casually order around Whispers... lovely.

He and Shiva vanished in a flash. Yuna's shadows pushed against her back. She turned around and found another of those pink beams heading right for her from the sidelines!

"Yuna!"

Over Reshiram's cry, Yuna dropped to the ground. She phased through the grass the moment her Quick Attack energy wore off and swam through the soil. Yuna had to trust Reshiram would offer enough of a distraction for her to do something. Anything.

But her own attacks were so weak. Unless I use the shadows...

Image


Yuna swam through the ground, then emerged by the sidelines, swiping up at the air in front of her. A gray, spectral leg uppercut the distorted articuno. She was right in Reshiram's path. He had a clear shot to Blue Flare her!

... Except a lightning bolt zapped his rear. Yowling, Reshiram threw his wings against his rump. Shiva righted herself and swept another Freezing Glare right at a startled Yuna.

Ah yes, perfect timing to have the KH3 burn animation right about now. /s

The drakloak wasn't ready. She tried to will her shadows into some sort of shield, but the blast got to her first. Yuna pinwheeled back toward midfield, passing by Nikki wildly trying to strike Pikachu with poisonous globs only for him to easily flash step away and pepper Reshiram with pot shots.

An unseen force seized Yuna moments before she struck the ground. It yanked her toward Shiva and the human.

"Is it finally sinking in?" Butterfree Effect's masked head pooled over Shiva's. His arceus hairdo crackled ominously. "How out of your depth you are, puppet?"

And the Butterfree Effect has some connection to Ginnungagap as well. Duly noted.

Yuna couldn't even squirm. The psychic grip was too strong. Reshiram faded back into the Soul Dew. Yuna didn't even know what happened to Ifrit. Was he still around or had he made a break for the city?

"I told you there is no point in resisting me," Butterfree Effect continued through Shiva's beak. "If you had left the vault sealed, I could have claimed the plates within the core. Affirmed the fate of this world. Instead, you continued walking the path of chaos. You are truly no more than a puppet."

Ah yes, so we are getting a "Squaresoft Protagonist Makes Everything Worse" moment in this story. I mean, we kinda already had at least three in this story thus far, but if the Butterfree Effect isn't lying there... yeah, this one is going to completely dwarf them.

What were they talking about? They were the one who told Yuna about what could happen here in the first place!

"No more talking." The human shook his head. "It's boring. As boring as an opponent who can't fight back." He looked directly at Yuna.

"Get rid of her." Yuna's eyes widened. The world spun around her. Shiva must have teleported her high into the sky.

Yuna: "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
:AAAAAA:


Within seconds, Shiva's eyes brimmed with cold pink energy. Then, a terrible, icy pain surged through Yuna's ectoplasm. It wasn't truly an ice-type attack, yet it sure felt like one.

Air rushed all around a flailing Yuna. Shiva quickly grew farther and farther away. Was Yuna falling? Tumbling through the air?

She got her answer when her momentum screeched to a halt against a solid wall of frigid water. The night sky, stadium lights, and distant explosions blurred. Bubbles drifted past her vision when she tried to shout. Water flooded her inner ectoplasm.

Yuna: "... Ow."
:riplup:


Yuna tried to swim upward. She couldn't. Fierce wind currents were pushing her further down. Everything was getting darker. Darker. Darker.

She tried to go intangible. It didn't work. Yuna reached out to her Soul Dew. It wouldn't respond.

Her shadows, then?

... No. She couldn't feel them.

Yuna: "Am- Am I dying? I-I can't be dying! N-Not like this!"
:grohno~2:


Everything was pitch black. Fear took hold. Yuna didn't have organs, but there was a drowning analogue for ghosts. When their inner ectoplasm filled with so much water it choked their spirits and snuffed out their lives.

:FearfulMeowth:


Yeah, I had a feeling about that description of things going dark there.

The current pushed her further into the depths. Shiva must have gotten corrupted by the flying-type plate. That was how she was forcing Yuna down. The drakloak couldn't overcome the river's intense churning. It dragged her deeper and deeper.

A heaviness weighed on her gut. Tugged at her tail and neck. It surrounded her head and swallowed up her face.

After a final, desperate wriggle... Yuna went still.

Well, that's definitely the grimmest note I've seen a chapter end on in a while. We'll see how on earth Yuna gets herself out of that one next time. If she gets out of that one. .-.

~Wings of Ruin: Shiva~
The Affirmer's flight took Him across worlds, linking these realms together. He saw those who were suffering. He vowed to ease their burdens. When He bound Space, Time, and the Elements of Mind with the Red Chain, the links drew the realms together into one. Thus began the Great Harmony.

Oh, so The Affirmer is Volo, huh? Though yeah, given the whole shtick the Butterfree Effect gave about the ideal state of affairs being everybody passing on to the Overworld, I should be a lot less surprised that "Assimilation Plot" would be its overall premise for an ideal.

~Beak of Ruin: Ifrit~
Like pestilence, the Renegade tailed the Affirmer throughout His journey. It took control of its counterparts. The Affirmer outmaneuvered it time and time again. Yet it did not give up the chase. Even at the dawn of the Great Harmony, the Renegade appeared to attack the Affirmer. And this aggression left enough lingering chaos to shatter the Great Harmony.

And thus why Yuna keeps being spoken of as a problem and a troublemaker by the Butterfree Effect.

Path of Valor Almanac

The chapter title is latin for "protect the world," in reference to Team Rocket's anime motto. Shiva is a member of the Trimutri holy trinity in Hinduism. Within the Hindu tradition of Shaivism, he is the Supreme Being, responsible for creating, protecting, and transforming the universe. In contrast, Ifrit is a demon associated with death and the underworld within Islamic culture. Quetzal is from the Aztec deity "Quetzalcoatl," related to the wind, sun, merchants, learning, arts, and crafts.

All three are recurring summons in the Final Fantasy franchise.

Oh, so the reason why you went with Quetzal(coatl) over Ramuh in spite of the latter being the more common as a thunder summon in the series was because you very specifically needed him and his partners to all be named after mythological entities while Ramuh from FF is murkier on that front. Or at least I think that that's the implication there.

Though boy was that a trip. I can see why you're shilling that inbound chapter so much, since after leaving off on a note like that... yeah, you more or less have to blow up something big plotwise considering just how hard and fast things went off the rails there. I'll admit that I was side-eyeing a bit at the decision to work in an Ash Betrayal angle into this story, but at least thus far it's been working well, since that portrayal is chilling, and works really well for showing other characters that the readers are familiar with similarly getting warped by dark powers into dangerous threats.

There's probably a couple parts in this chapter that could've been built out a bit more in terms of descriptions or more meta reminders of "oh right, that detail's a thing", but honestly, I was too busy having fun, snerking at gags, and picking my jaw off the floor at the end to really notice them. Which I suppose is a good enough sign that the chapter was well-written.

Good work @Ambyssin , and I'll be looking forward to seeing where this goes after your bump tomorrow. ^^
 
Chapter 83: Inner Daemon New

Ambyssin

Gotta go back. Back to the past.
Location
Residency hell
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. silvally-dragon
  2. necrozma-ultra
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. dreepy
  6. mewtwo-ambyssin
Chapter 83: Inner Daemon

On the Third of the Original One's Children
Despite my fervent investigations, I have failed to piece together the mystery of the so-called Renegade Pokémon. The legends surrounding it are few and far between. About the only conclusion I've reached is that it's a divine pokémon possibly related to Dialga, Palkia, and the Original One, Arceus.

There are vague, scattered allusions to a creature that lurks in the shadows. Those who cross its path seem unable to comprehend its form. There are no depictions of it. Even stranger is that at some point in the past it simply... vanished. As if it never really existed to begin with.

Those descended from the ancient Sinnoh people claim the second Hisuian hero befriended this legend, just as she befriended the Original One. Following that, there are no further records of its existence. Did it disappear entirely?

I know
he was there. Because of the photos that changed in Grandmother's house. Was he involved with this hero? Did he choose to stay in that time?

Grandmother thinks I'm letting my research consume me. Just like
his single-mindedness drove him away from Celestic Town. But we're not the same. I'm a scientist. Any risks I take will be thoroughly calculated.

I'll solve the mystery of this missing legendary pokémon. And then, humans and pokémon alike can reach even greater heights!


XxX​

The air was cold and harsh. It tore at Yuna's inner ectoplasm.

But it was dry.

Yuna's head shot up. Tan and dull brown swirled around her vision. This didn't make any sense. Wasn't she supposed to be underwater?

The drakloak rubbed her eyes. When she pulled her hands away, she found herself lying on a neglected stone floor. Signs of a struggle peppered the area. Scorches here. Chunks of ground missing there. Stone columns ended abruptly with their top halves destroyed. Had they once held up a roof? If they did, they'd become nothing but misshapen spears jutting toward the sky.

Yuna picked herself up and hovered forward. Red and purple swirled overhead. How did she get here? Was she dead? Like dead dead? What about everyone else?

Stairs led to more of the same broken stone floor. But now there were piles of rubble lined up on either side of her. Not pillars, that was for sure. Statues, maybe?

These were definitely ruins, then. But of what? Had she sunk into an underwater cavern?

The air at the other end of the destroyed hallway briefly contorted. Enough for Yuna to catch it. She tensed up, rubbing her hands along her belly. Did she dare appro—

Wait.

Yuna ran her hands along her belly once. Twice. A third time. The drakloak looked down.

The Soul Dew!

It was gone! Her chest was bare for the first time in almost two months. She looked left, then right, then back down the stairs.

Nothing. No twinkles or glimmers or anything to suggest it was here with her.

Maybe she really was dead, then? And she bonded with her Soul Dew, so perhaps she was inside it...

"Rayquaza!" Yuna called out.

Nothing.

She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Reshiram? Cresselia?"

Still nothing.

Yuna's tail undulated wildly. "Is anyone out there?!"

This time, when the air across from her rippled, tiny black globules dribbled out. They splattered against the stone floor like raindrops.

She recognized that inky darkness. Swallowing hard, Yuna floated forward. The closer she got, the more black blobs dripped onto the ground from thin air. A black puddle spread across the floor.

It covered half the raised end of the hall when Yuna reached it. She got about a meter away from its edge and went no further.

Those were her shadows. What else could they be? Had they claimed her instead of the Soul Dew? Is this what they saw while inside her?

Yuna wouldn't make any headway like this. Maybe they'd listen to words? "What do you want?" She looked around hesitantly but refrained from asking another question.

To show you the truth.

"Gah!" Yuna grabbed the sides of her head. "H-Hey! Don't do that!" Though she couldn't put "that" into words.

Do what, answer your question?

"That!" Yuna gestured at the puddle. "Some 'not telepathy but inside my head' thingy!" It was the best explanation she had.

The puddle rippled.

This is our only way to communicate.

Yuna flinched. This "voice" was strange. A part of Yuna told her it was supposed to be deeper, yet it wasn't. She couldn't even tell if it was male or female. Yuna was sorely tempted to turn away, knowing full well it wouldn't get her out of her situation.

But she was here. The shadows were "talking." If they were going to come to an understanding, it was now or never.

Hesitating at first, Yuna managed a shaky, "What do you want to show me?"

The puddle rippled faster and faster. Shadows congealed together. Yuna half expected some monstrous daemon to emerge... but what formed was small. Even smaller than her. Two legs, a bit of an oversized head, and two head... baubles?

... No, aura feelers.

"A riolu?" Yuna tilted her head. The inky riolu mirrored her gesture. "I was hoping for answers."

You do not recognize her? Then you must focus.

The puddle rippled even faster. All around Yuna, enormous trees painted themselves over the spear-like pillars. A dusty forest trail spilled out atop the stone floor. And the inky riolu darted about in a frenzy.

Yuna hovered back, uncertain whether to expect an attack. Riolu hopped, rolled, and slid. The drakloak had no idea why. "Am I missing something?"

Focus. See the whole picture.

Ectoplasm rippling again, Yuna squinted. Giant, fluid-filled arms swung wildly at Riolu. The faint, hulking outline they were attached to brought that one bewear teacher from the academy to mind.

Riolu's inky black form jumped off an arm and thrust her hands in the bewear silhouette's direction. It staggered briefly, but managed to grab Riolu with its right hand and slam her into the ground.

The forest scene flickered like a light at Cyril's outpost that needed changing. Riolu squirmed underneath the giant hand. Their featureless face didn't move, but Yuna swore she heard screams echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Bewear's silhouette faded in and out. There were two people behind it. One was a bigger riolu— lucario, then. But the other...

Butterfree Effect.

There was no mask this time, yet their face was featureless. Lucario tried to approach Bewear, but Butterfree Effect stopped it. When it whirled on Butterfree Effect, they produced a spherical orb that sucked Lucario up in a stream of light. Just like the Soul Dew did to the Sages.

Bewear slammed Riolu into the ground again. And again. Each time, Yuna heard screams from all directions. Painfully familiar screams that grew quieter with each blow.

The final time Bewear slammed Riolu down, she lay still. Butterfree Effect gestured forward. Bewear raised its arms up, then swung once more.

Everything dissolved away the moment Bewear's fists would've crushed Riolu to death. The destroyed hallway was restored. Inky black tendrils hoisted Riolu's battered form into the air.

Yuna stared at Riolu. And the longer she did, the more her ectoplasm quivered— no, tightened. Like her body wanted to collapse in on itself.

"Stop." The drakloak squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I don't— none of this helps me. I don't even know what this is!"

The black puddle bubbled.

Then what of your visceral reaction?

Yuna squeezed her hands together. "Because you showed me someone getting hurt! I... I..." She looked for anything else to stare at besides the puddle. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

Her ectoplasm tightened again. Yuna's neck and torso twisted.

You are remembering.

The drakloak stiffened. "Please stop," she whispered.

We will not. You remembered the wish you made when you were at your lowest.

Yuna's torso tightened further. She was practically an ectoplasmic rectangle balancing precariously on a stick. "I don't want to do this anymore."

Black sludge rose out of the violently rippling puddle. Growing higher and higher until there was practically a hill of black slime casting a wide shadow over Yuna. Spectral wings emerged from either side of the beast. Pristine crimson spikes illuminated two tiny red dots poking through the cylindrical head of... whatever this was.

Yuna%20meets%20Giratina%20by%20Raph.png

(Art by PhantomRadea)

That is not what you told us last time.

Her body finally shot into her rectangular head. Yuna drifted back, coaxing her torso out with shaky breaths.

This had to be the source of her shadows. And given the shadows reacted every time Butterfree Effect showed up...

"You're what they're addressing." Yuna pointed a trembling arm toward them. "You're Yaldabaoth."

The red dots flickered.

No, they're more like blinking eyes.

That is one of many names.

Yuna couldn't stop herself from shaking. "Well that's... too much of a mouthful. So, I'm calling you Chaos." Since Butterfree Effect kept insisting this thing was some sort of chaos magnet.

Do what you must.

A pang of guilt struck Yuna's chest. She quickly shoved it down, though. Why have sympathy for the shadows when they were causing such a gigantic headache?

Chaos' wing-spikes flashed. Within seconds, Yuna found herself floating where Chaos' blobby form was, looking across a brighter, sunnier version of the ruined hall. Butterfree Effect's silhouette was in front of her, hunched over with arms spread wide.

"Giratina, strike her down!"

There was another human silhouette. And as Yuna felt herself lunging forward, the silhouette stretched and squashed. Unraveled into a familiar dragapult with a fierce expression.

The illusion shattered. Yuna dropped from the air with a yelp, landing on the stone floor. "What? Mom?!" She picked her head up and rubbed her eyes. Was that supposed to be a vision? No, that wasn't possible. This was a mind game.

And that phrase Butterfree Effect used. Giratina. Was that... one of Chaos' other names? Their species, perhaps?

Her gut told her the latter, which scared her even more. Why would she have a gut feeling about that?

Chaos' ooze rippled. A slimy wing extended toward her.

Up?

"No!" Yuna was going to smack the wing when she realized how stupid that was with their size difference. Remaining on the ground, she scooted back. "Stop it! Stop showing me these things! I don't want to see them! They don't— they can't mean anything!"

Silence. Black drops dribbled into the puddle from Chaos' extended wing. Their red eyes dimmed. They folded the wing against their sludgy body. Chaos looked down guiltily.

There is no way to make this gentle.

Yuna looked at her tail. Anything was better than meeting Chaos' eyes. "Am I dead?"

No. We are protecting you.

"I see." Yuna grabbed her tail and brought it toward her torso. "Am I still drowning in the river?"

We are protecting you. But our powers are limited as they are. Time is fleeting.

Yuna didn't pick herself off the ground. So, it was shielding her now, but not when she needed it against Shiva's attack? The drakloak groaned. Was she going to give Chaos the benefit of the doubt?

Silence. None of Chaos' intrusive thoughts. They weren't pressing her, despite the claim they only had so much time.

She took a breath. Then another. Yuna had plenty of questions, but if time was truly an issue, she needed one that got to the heart of the matter.

"Why are we... together like this?"

Yuna looked up expectantly. Black slime dripped and trickled into the puddle beneath Chaos. It bothered her even though she'd been around plenty of the goodra line in her life. Chaos leaned forward. Blinked their tiny red eyes a few times.

We are together... because we are one.

Flashes of red light blinded Yuna.

She lay in the dirt. Bones broken. So much pain.

Air. She needed air. Breathe, damn it! She couldn't die like this! Not with so much to live for!

Her vision blurred. Air wasn't getting in. The pain— oh, God, the
agony.

She was going to die. She wasn't strong enough. She'd failed.

A shadow was there. She tried to reach a mangled blue arm out.
Nickie...

Yuna jerked upright with a sharp gasp, trembling from head to tail. "I said no more mind games," the drakloak squeaked, glaring at Chaos.

We have no choice. You must understand the truth.

Yuna's ectoplasm pulsated. "I don't— this doesn't make sense. I'm not a riolu. I'm a drakloak!" Her gaze fell to her twitching tail. "I've nev— I'm not a riolu."

You were when you made your wish.

Chaos extended their goopy left wing. Their wing spikes glistened with ethereal light.

A new silhouette padded toward her. Pointy ears. A little tuft of hair. Six fluffy tails.

She sat beside her. Wrapping an arm over an icepix's shuddering form.

"We'll fix this, Nickie," she promised. "I can't imagine what it feels like. But you've worked with me despite that pain." She extended her paw toward Nickie. "I wish I could be that strong."


Yuna smacked her cheeks. Glared at Chaos once again, but they only tilted their head slightly. They didn't do that? She returned her gaze to the icepix silhouette. It stretched and pulled itself apart into something much more familiar. A specter that drew a visceral snarl from Yuna.

Xeromus.

You wished to protect those you treasured most.

The silhouette squashed back into an icepix. Riolu appeared at her side. Their snouts brushed together. Yuna's head pounded once again. Her ectoplasm quivered.

This is... all a trick. I— what— why—

You wished for a second chance.

Chaos plucked Riolu off the ground as Icepix poofed out of existence. Black and red light swirled around Riolu.

We heard your dying pleas. Too much of your soul had faded from its mortal coil. So, we gave you ours to fill the void.

She raced through the dark sky. Headed for the vortex over the tower. Temporal Tower.

She still had time. She could still stop it, right?

The scent of blood drifted over her.

Nickie and Nero. Others too, like a latias and a zoroark. Unmoving. Covered in gashes.


"NO!"

The lucario, volcanic arcanine, and spiritomb standing opposite the bodies looked right at her. Then they looked back.

Butterfree Effect turned. The crimson glow of the chain swirling around behind them cast an eerie shadow across the tower.

"You cannot stop me this time!"

Screams of pain filled her ears. Six bodies were wrapped in the Red Chain. Five had red wheels that matched the dimming golden one around the belly of the one screaming loudest: Arceus.

"I am the
only one worthy of wielding the power of the legends themselves! Now witness the dawn of a new world! A perfect world free of all suffering!"

With a furious roar, she pried apart the air itself. She dove through the reverse's distortion, lunging to tear apart the Red Chain.


Yuna violently lurched backward, forcing the vision away.

"ENOUGH!" she pleaded, jerking her head back and forth. She hunched over, tail shriveling up into her torso.

"I'm Yuna." Her voice was so tiny. "I don't— that stuff is—" The drakloak shuddered. "Your memories and mine are different."

The spirit never forgets. We are one. Now and forever. That was your wish.

"That's not my spirit!" Yuna looked for a rock — hell, even a pebble — to throw at Chaos. "And it's not... it's not..." She kept stumbling over her words until her voice trailed off.

"Continuing down this path will lead you to discover several horrible truths. And without that tenacity... the weight of those truths will crush you."

The drakloak lay there in silence. Taking shuddering breaths and blinking small tears from her eyes. She wasn't sure how long the silence lingered as she repeated Vegna's words in her head. Yuna didn't even care to think about why Vegna knew to tell her something like this.

Everything about this was horrible. She thought the flashbacks with Chiron had prepared her for this, but she was dead wrong.

How deep did this go? How many memories did Chaos have? Was she... nothing but a tiny, insignificant blip to them? Doomed to be swallowed up into an endless memory abyss?

Yuna scraped her hands across the stone floor. She wanted this to end so, so badly. To wake up back in Aeon. Before the stupid treaty. Before Eternatus. And before this whole dimensional cataclysm.

Yet without even thinking, she whispered, "Help me understand."

Chaos slowly raised their right wing. The spikes glistened. Faint red light traced circles and triangles in the air. A familiar pattern. One Yuna watched Leo produce in every anomaly core. Then Chaos struck the pattern with their wing. It slowly rotated until it was upside down to how Yuna remembered.

Reverse.

The drakloak blinked slowly. "Reverse what?"

The reverse. A realm on the opposite side. We are the guardian of the reverse.

Picking herself up, Yuna stared blankly at the upside-down sigil. "That..." Blank stare turned to scowl. "That has to be the single most unhelpful explanation. And that's really saying something given all of this!" She gestured around.

Chaos' goopy body melted somewhat into the puddle.

You were not this... difficult last time.

"Because apparently I was dying!" Yuna snarled, rubbing her hands back and forth along the floor. "I was... dying..." She looked down, blinking slowly. The thoughts of icy river water suffocating her ectoplasm filled her head.

"I... am dying."

Fighting back tears, Yuna forced herself to look at the rune Chaos had drawn. More ripples ran along their puddle, up to Chaos' bulky head. They grabbed the red sigil with their right wing and squeezed it into a red orb. Then they cracked it open like an egg for cooking.

Home has two sides to it.

Chaos lifted one half of the orb up.

Aeon and Radiance dwell in the reverse world. A realm that should not bear life, much less countless civilizations.

Yuna rubbed her eyes. "That can't be right. Because—"

Eyes flashing, Chaos lifted the other half of the orb up.

The Qliphoth is the regular world. It is where all life should reside, be it humans, pokémon, or something else entirely.

Chaos brought the two halves close together, yet they never touched.

Both sides are linked. However, they are not meant to interact directly with one another.

They touched the halves together. Tiny red sparks shot out in all directions. Chaos' eyes dimmed slightly.

Eternatus' act of absorbing planets... is an attempt at restoring balance to itself. To the universe.

Yuna sat there, repeating the statement to herself. The earlier heaviness hadn't left her. And this was another weight on the pile. "But the Qliphoth... is some mix of people born within and those from home. And those people can't return outside because they're dead."

Incorrect assumptions from those who did not witness the dawn of this universe. Since the beginning, Eternatus has returned life to the regular world, where it rightfully belongs. Those you thought dead have merely attuned their souls to the regular world. And without the energy you call Malice, their spirits cannot withstand the reverse world's energy. Thus, they erode into Whispers.

But her allies had gone back and forth between Eternatus and the reverse world. "That can't be right," Yuna mumbled. "Like, why would the reverse world be so much bigger? To where Eternatus could get sealed with the Needles?"

The difference in size is a result of the universe's broken creation process. And our allies have always had protection against corrosion. From us. From the Creator. Or from other blessings.

Other blessings? Yuna squeezed her tail tighter. Much as she wanted to press that point, she feared she didn't have the time.

Still, this flew in the face of everything Yuna thought she understood. Then again, Widget mentioned a video message Nova left behind for Gene. One that claimed Eternatus was necessary for the universe to function properly. Something the emperor echoed... and Widget believed while he served the deoxys.

She shifted uneasily on the stone floor. "If this is all true, then..."

Destroying Eternatus is tantamount to destroying the universe. And the reverse world will die with it.

Chaos brought the two halves it was holding fully together. There were sparks for a few seconds, which gave way to distorted tendrils that stitched themselves through the orbs.

Aeon's patron — the dragon of light — forced a permanent union between regular and reverse. This is why the planet is falling apart. We must sever this union.

"... By pulling all the Needles." Yuna grimaced. "Except Necrozma wants to pull them all to destroy Eternatus. If we break the union and strand him in the reverse world, then Eternatus will be safe, right?"

Chaos squeezed the orb and it faded into red mist.

The husk can travel between regular and reverse, just as we do. It still endangers us all.

Right. All the rift making. Yuna looked at her hands. At least now... she could try and link this back to what was familiar. "That power... I have it because I'm Chiron. You were a part of me then, too, weren't you?"

Silence. Chaos somewhat melted into the puddle again, which told Yuna the answer was somewhere between "no" and "it's complicated."

A tremor ran across the ground. Yuna braced herself against the floor. Was Chaos' protection from the river failing?

"I have to know," Yuna said, even if part of her screamed to just end this conversation.

Chaos straightened up. Inky blobs peeled themselves off Chaos' goopy body.

Many giratina are violently protective toward the reverse world. We once struggled to control our instincts, to the point of attacking the Creator. For that, we were branded the Renegade. And, like many of our kind, the Creator sealed most of our power within the reverse world.

We were shunned. Isolated. An all too familiar fate.


The blobs squished themselves together into a copy of the Butterfree Effect.

One day, we met a human. Lost and confused. He claimed he was torn away from his time.

The copy turned to Chaos and extended a hand.

He paid attention to us. He wanted to see us reach our full potential. We were... happy to have someone acknowledge us. So, we followed his plan. We tore a rift in the sky. Our siblings, Time and Space, blamed one another and quarreled. The human wanted us to work together to stop them. To prove our combined worth to the Creator.

Another human silhouette rose from the puddle and stood in opposition to Butterfree Effect. The one that briefly turned into Yiazmat when Yuna was charging at it in an earlier vision.

But our creator instead called upon a different human. She and her partners stopped the fight before we could. This enraged the human we trusted. He used our gift to him to summon us. Demanded we kill her. But we saw the good in her heart. And her partners stood valiantly against us.

The human continued to demand we kill her. He betrayed our trust. So, we fled. The human branded us a traitor. We were alone once again.


Chaos flicked their right wing. Butterfree Effect disappeared, leaving the girl. She turned to Chaos and tilted her head.

The girl found us. Comforted us. She taught us how to work with a team. How to protect without lashing out. We made up with our siblings and the Creator.

They slowly lowered their head and shook it.

But the human that betrayed us returned. Determined to surpass all of us, including the Creator. We sensed he had breached the boundary between worlds. With the girl's blessing, we gave chase.

The girl's silhouette collapsed. Small black blobs floated in the air between Yuna and Chaos.

We followed him to other worlds. Each time, we joined with that realm's giratina to try and stop him. Each time, he slipped away. Over and over. Until the human reached a world inhabited only by pokémon.

The black blobs squished themselves together. Riolu landed on the edge of the puddle.

Though we searched, we could not find the human until the moment we met you... and heard your dying wish.

The ground trembled again. This was... a lot to process. If she and Chaos were really the same spirit, did that make this her past? Did she have several pasts... all spent trying and failing to catch Butterfree Effect?

Yuna pushed herself into the air. "How does this tie back to Chiron?"

We saw it for ourselves, remember? The human forged a new world. We attacked the human. Disrupted his new world's creation. The result... was a backwards, incomplete world. With life split between the regular and reverse.

There was nothing we could do to fix it.
Our power — the power of the Renegade — was taken from us after we finished disrupting this universe's creation.

Chaos extended their right wing. Several black globs dribbled down. A new human rose from the edge of the puddle. Ran inky hands through shaggy, unkempt hair. Yuna heard nothing, but the way the human was gesturing and stomping around, they were clearly angry. Punching the air. Knocking things off invisible furniture.

They tossed a black blob on the ground in front of Yuna. It vaguely resembled one of those handheld gaming device thingies she'd seen Cyril carry around on occasion.

The human suddenly jerked backwards. Black tendrils pried themselves free and sucked the human up. The black slime swirled around until it resembled a silhouette of Bahamut.

The new, broken world drew in an isolated soul so full of resentment and anger toward everything around him. Despite all our training, this stranger's violent temperament... overpowered our will. He seized our power over the reverse world. In effect, the dragon of light became the Renegade Pokémon of the newly-made universe.

Yuna frowned. Something was off about that. It sounded so... vague compared to everything else Chaos told her. And their tone. Yuna still had trouble parsing it, but she had another gut feeling.

They're... uncertain?

Chaos didn't appear bothered. They watched Bahamut's silhouette fly around, lashing out at the air with his wings and tail. Yuna followed the silhouette, too. The ringing in her head was back. Maybe she was rushing to conclusions about this part of Chaos' explanation?

Then Bahamut was... like her. A past life cut short. But instead of a dying wish... his wrath twisted him into the thing Chaos used to be before that human girl helped them?

"So the reason he kept attacking the planets he visited..." Frowning, the drakloak crossed her arms. "And the reason he wants to destroy Eternatus above everything... is because he thinks he's protecting the reverse world."

Chaos nodded slowly.

He embodies our kind far more than we do. His irrational drive to claim as much power as possible to strike down Eternatus... is built on the foundation of a violent desire to protect his domain.

They caught Bahamut with their right wing, absorbing the black slime.

However, thanks to Eternatus wounding him, he lost the power to control the reverse world. We escaped. And reunited.

That had to refer to the Darkest Day. Bahamut's light... must have been how he did all this crazy stuff in the reverse world. And if that power was supposed to belong to Yuna... then it was no wonder she bonded with the Soul Dew when Chiron didn't. That was her power all along!

But then... what did that mean for her relation to Chiron? It certainly didn't sound like Chaos had an answer for her.

Yuna looked down at her tail. "Mom said she found me sealed in a crystal." Did that mean Chaos searched for her until she hatched? "Wait, what about how sick I was as a kid?"

Chaos lowered their head slightly.

"Don't tell me..."

Your illness was a result of our reunion. You remained sick while our broken soul healed. Even though you recovered, we remained dormant until recently. Recuperating from our time within the dragon of light.

It took a moment, but Yuna recalled the strange temple inside Eternatus. The fight with Runerigus and the shadowy wings that came to her in a time of need...

The ground shook again. Chaos' inky puddle rippled faster.

We are out of time.

Relief and dread battled it out in Yuna's head. She still had more questions! How was she supposed to try and free herself from drowning with this weighing on her conscience?!

We must fully combine. You must shed your drakloak guise. We shall become one in mind, body, and spirit. Then we can fully wield the power of distortion. The power you call your "shadows."

Chaos clapped their wings together. Two cards appeared in front of their wing spikes. One with an orange and yellow sun, the other bearing a blue and purple crescent moon. Each had a mixture of letters on them. "XVIII" for the moon card and "XIX" for the sun card.

We will also allow you to put these to use. They've lingered deep inside your soul all this time.

Yuna stared at the cards. Chaos' demands played on loop in her head. After several seconds, she shriveled up.

"No," she instinctively mumbled. She couldn't agree to that. Not if it meant getting battered by the tsunami of Chaos' memories... or past selves.

And certainly not if it meant Yuna would fade away. She couldn't leave the others! Especially not Noctum and Nikki.

The icepix's soft tails brushing against her side. A tingle down her spine.

You speak nonsense. You already fear transforming into Chiron. But that shall not happen. Instead, we will hold memories of our time as Drakloak Yuna.

"That's not good enough!" Yuna firmly squeezed her arms against her side. "I'm... I'm not ready! I can't—" She shook her head. "I can't disappear! Whether that's becoming you or Chiron or something else!

"The past doesn't matter! I'm me! I'm Yuna! We have to find another way!"

The ground rumbled again. Purple fissures traced across the floor, barely skirting Chaos' puddle.

We are out of time. There is no other way. We must combine.

"I said no!" Yuna surprised herself with her intensity. "This... this is still my life—"

We cannot stand up against Zodiark like this.

Zodiark? Was that... Butterfree Effect's real name? Or their name back when they were the human Chaos was chasing after?

It didn't matter. Yuna had made up her mind. "I understand what you're saying, but I can't go. Not like this."

The drakloak curled her hands up. "I refuse... to merge."

Was it selfish? Maybe. But Yuna needed time to come to grips with everything. She couldn't disappear after learning all of this.

The ground shuddered again.

"Give me... a bit more power," the drakloak said. "Enough to fight the Whispers." She looked down. Guilt and concern wrestled in her head.

Very well.

What?

Yuna glanced at Chaos. They were halfway sunken into their puddle.

"You're okay with this?"

We remain bound by your wish. We shall not hurt you.

Yuna bit her lower lip to keep from making a snide remark. "All right." She took a calming breath. "Then let's... work together. In parallel. Not as one." Her tail rippled. "Okay?"

We shall assist, but it is only a matter of time until you yield to the inevitable.

Chaos' head sank into the puddle. It rippled faster and faster.

Yuna doubled over in pain. Her chest... it was on fire! Was the Soul Dew doing something to her real body?

The burning got worse and worse. Yuna screamed. Jagged, amber crystal burst from her chest ectoplasm.

The puddle rose from the ground like a large wave heading for the shore.

... That shore being Yuna.

"What are you doing?" Her new chest crystal spread light across her body. "Stop! Stop! I said no merging! STOP!"

BISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN!

The black wave crashed over her, flooding her world in darkness.

XxX​

Gene's tail lashed at the air. They had numbers on the Whispers and this was still a problem?

He Phantom Warped just south of midfield, avoiding a wall of shadowfire. The shadowy mewtwo already learned the hard way those flames were dark-type. For some stupid reason.

"What are you waiting for? Hit him!" he growled. Flames gathered in his right hand. Gene hurled the Fire Blast, figuring that bug-shaped crystal on Ifrit's head had to symbolize "fire gud."

Black flames swirled around midfield. Ifrit's dark whirlwind knocked aside the five prongs of Gene's Fire Blast. Quetzal retreated toward Gene.

"I'm trying!" the orange zapdos squawked.

"No you're not!" Gene had another Fire Blast ready and hurled it at the dark moltres. He glared at Quetzal, who formed a spinning air cone around his beak and charged toward midfield.

Ifrit folded his wings, dropping to the ground. The Fire Blast sailed overhead. He threw up his wings, blunting some of Quetzal's Drill Peck. But Ifrit still skidded across the scorched ground.

"You're pulling your punches!" Gene's Malice Crystal sparked. "Don't try to deny it! You still see your friend and not some mindless murder bird who wants to gouge your eyes out!"

"Th-that's—" Quetzal jumped high enough to avoid a furious Air Slash barrage that sliced up midfield's ruined grass. "Ifrit doesn't resort to gouging eyes! That's barbaric!"

Gene swapped fire for lightning. He pointed his right hand downfield and let the sparks fly. Ifrit rolled out of the way.

"You want to do the 'I know you're in there' schtick? Then do it!" Gene pursued Ifrit. The black moltres couldn't gather up enough shadowfire to strike. Instead, Gene broadsided Ifrit with his spoon. Ifrit skipped back across the ground, toward the northern end of the field.

"Did you really have to hit him that hard?" Quetzal said. His feathers puffed out when Gene leveled the spoon in his direction.

"Hey, uh, not to interject or anything." Koraidon's voice carried through Gene's X-transceiver. He glanced up. In the nosebleed section of the eastern stands, Jade was fleeing an Air Slash bombardment from Shiva. The weird stoic human remained atop the psychic articuno's back.

"How much longer do you think you'll be? These Team Rocket people have stolen a lot of pokémon with their, err, giant meowth machine. I think they might fly the coop soon."

Gene gnashed his teeth. Damn it. Yuna vanished five minutes ago and everything since then had spiraled out of control.

"I'm handling it," the shadowy mewtwo said. "Just gimme a minute or two." He concentrated on the Malice Crystal in his shoulder, drawing in as much of the energy as he could.

"This is no way to treat a lady!" Jade cawed, trying to outfly a furious tornado spiraling through the stands, flinging seating all around. "Cece! Undisappear yourself and heeeeeeeeelp!"

"Your friend is gone," the trainer on Shiva's back said. "They were boring. As are you. Nothing but dodges and quips. Do you even have a reason to be here?"

Jade turned around, stunned. Gene took the opportunity to fire a small Shadow Ball at Shiva. It provided a temporary distraction, with the masked articuno stopping to snuff the ectoplasm out with more pink eye lasers.

The salugia didn't press her opening, though. Gene was ready to chew her out like he did to Quetzal when a thunderous boom split the air.

Red and purple energy streaming from his Malice Crystal into his torso, Gene shot up high above midfield. "Tell me the big robot didn't just do something awful!" he cried.

"The robot didn't make that sound," Koraidon said. "Something emerged from the river. I think it's Yuna!"

Shiva turned toward Gene. "What?" The trainer finally sounded something other than disinterested.

Gene was ready to take advantage of the opening when a jagged purple rift split the air underneath Shiva open. There was a roar, followed by a spectral wing slashing Shiva from below. An off-pitch warble escaped the masked articuno's beak as she buckled in midair from the strike. The trainer visibly struggled to maintain his grip.

"Impossible," he said.

Shiva swept pink eye lasers beneath her. However, the spectral wing vanished. A dragapult appeared over Shiva's head. She punched the air furiously and large, gray, ectoplasmic legs pummeled the unsuspecting articuno, knocking her into the stands, then swatting her toward the northern part of the ruined battlefield. The trainer lost his grip and was soon in freefall toward the uneven ground.

"Someone catch him!" Gene shouted, still a bit stunned at what he was seeing.

"On it!"

An orange streak surged across the burnt, torn-up grass. Quetzal abruptly stopped in the perfect spot to catch the trainer.

Gene spotted Ifrit preparing to hit Quetzal from behind. The shadowy mewtwo had all this energy charged up. With Shiva occupied, he had no qualms about changing targets.

Gene cupped his hands in front of him. Focusing on that hateful energy burning inside his chest, he pushed it along his arms... then unleashed the devastating red and purple beam. It swept across the ground, torching the remaining grass away and leaving a trail of black ooze behind.

"Holy hell!"

Nikki barely managed to escape to midfield from the beam, carrying the unconscious pikachu that had given her problems before under her shoulder. She stared dumbly at Gene's attack.

It was tough controlling the beam. But the thing was large enough to swallow the squawking moltres up. Shattered crystal fragments tumbled across the scorched field.

Gene's arms were on fire. He thought they'd melt right off his shoulders! Gene barely managed to cut the beam off. Black vapor rose off his arms, which he rapidly shook out.

"He's down!"

Running up the field, Nikki tossed Pikachu next to Ifrit, whose head crystal had shattered. The two foes lay side by side in an unconscious heap.

That's one. Gene turned. So, what about the other?

Shiva flew around the eastern stands, frantically shooting pink beams from her eyes. All the while, the dragapult weaved through the beams, blasting dreepy-shaped bolts straight into Shiva's face. Shrieking, the masked articuno whipped up a furious Hurricane.

Yuna%20evolution%20by%20Adam.png

(Art by Adam)

"Not this time! Drilpa ozongon!"

Dragapult— no, Yuna clapped her hands together. The jagged, amber crystal in her chest crackled with the same static as the rifts they conjured.

Mega Rayquaza torpedoed his way through the Hurricane, snuffing it out like it was nothing but a stiff breeze. His Dragon Ascent collided with Shiva. Before she could crash through the stands, another shadowy wing caught her by the balloon-shaped head crystals and dragged her through the air toward her downed allies.

"Now flock off, Feather Face!"

The wing squeezed the psychic articuno like an oversized stress ball. Her head crystal shattered. Shiva's body lurched. Static streamed out of her, heading roughly in the direction of where Gene recalled the vault was.

Though part of it briefly congealed into something resembling a face. A human face.

"Welcome back, Yaldabaoth."

The rest of the static went away. Yuna flew after it, looking over her shoulder at the others.

"Yuna?" Jade descended from the nosebleed section, an uncertain look on her face. "You evolved? But what's with your chest? Where's the Soul Dew?"

She turned away from Jade and tapped the side of her head. "Whoever has Leo, get him ready to seal the anomaly core. I'm coming to get him."

"H-Hey, wait!" Jade flew toward her. "What should we do about all of this?" She gestured around her.

But the dragapult didn't respond. She opened a rift behind her, flew into it, and sealed it up.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
"Drilpa ozongon" is "great winds" in Enochian.

Chaos is the mythological void within the area of cosmogony. Ancient Greek myths consider Chaos a primordial deity or a void state existing before the universe's creation. Christian theology depicts Chaos as an abyss formed when God separated heaven and earth during the creation of the world in the Book of Genesis.
 
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