Abandoned Laboratory

[Cresselia92]

"Everything hurts... I can't even move a muscle. Can you carry me?" Cynthian asked. He closed his eyes and focused only on breathing, because doing anything else sent waves of pain all over his small body.

Icetales frowned. That didn’t bode well — Cynthian clearly needed medical attention.

“Yes… I sure can.”

As such, he wrapped one tail around the Roselia as gently as he could and hoisted his friend on his back. He held the tail in place to make sure that Cynthian wouldn’t fall down, while also withdrawing all the frigid energy and moving it to the other tails.

“I hope thou art comfortable enough. Now, to seek for a way out of this place,” he said, before walking toward their comrades. There was one last thing he wished to say, however. “And Sir Cynthian? Thank thee once more for covering my back. I… I have no words to express my gratitude, truly.”

 

[Adamhuarts]

“And Sir Cynthian? …Thank thee once more for covering my back. I… I have no words to express my gratitude, truly.”

"You were there for me when I needed you earlier," Cynthian said, his cheeks growing warm as he smiled. "I was only returning the favor. That's what friends are for, right?"

 

[Cresselia92]

"You were there for me when I needed you earlier," Cynthian said, his cheeks growing warm as he smiled. "I was only returning the favor. That's what friends are for, right?"

Icetales craned his neck to look at the Roselia resting on his back, before beaming a bright smile. “Indeed, that is… what friends are for.”

However, amidst the sense of gratitude, the spikes of dread were still embedded into the Ninetales’s mind. That horrid prison… he had completely removed any memory of it, tucked in the deepest antechambers of his mind. And that catching device…

Icetales took a deep breath and looked once more ahead. “Golly… This has been quite the chaotic mixture of events, hm?” He frowned as he looked at the remains of the horde. “…I fear of what might happen next…”

 

[Negrek]

Brisa and Cabot made short work of the defenseless Radiant Machine, and then everybody came swarming outside, looking to take care of the swirling deoxys clones. Nate and Rocky dashed around the edge of the fray, chasing stragglers, while clones were dissolving left and right near the center of the pack and the thick of the fighting. Nate had to pause a moment, shielding his face against a flashing blast of radiant energy--Jesus, another explosion? Yeah, the Radiant Machine had pumped loads of crazy juice into the air, but even considering that, what the fuck was with people blowing themselves up all the fucking time recently?

In a matter of seconds, every last clone had been blasted away into trailing wisps of shadow, the main deoxys falling to the ground. Still looking pretty shadowy, though, and apparently ready to fight back despite a pretty brutal ass-kicking. Nate scooted a bit closer, pokéball at the ready, and tried to assess the situation. It looked like they might have an opening...

Which is when Owen and Diyem both yelled at him, startling him so he fumbled and nearly dropped the ball. Jesus. How'd they even known what he was thinking of doing?

"All right, all right," Nate grumbled. "Let's... go." He tossed the pokéball at the downed deoxys, as hard as he could. Stubby mudkip arms didn't make for very inspiring throws, but it ought to do the trick.

 

[TheGOAT]

No time to dawdle.

Astrid didn’t miss a beat, rushing in close, ducking and weaving around beams of Radiance from the dying machine. A blast slammed into the broken floor to her left, sending dust into the air as she unleashed her first of many strikes.

Her Radiance spiked with each strike, and she knew… it would not take much more. The urge to keep going tugged her forward anyway—a faint sense of longing for something she could not quite understand yet.

But no. Astrid backed away suddenly, right as the machine started to sputter from everyone’s attacks. “No, I won’t. Not again! I made a promise!!” She faced the ball of Radiance and stood her ground, focusing all of her power into one last strike. “You’ll never—”

A single beam—far too quick to dodge—slammed into her chest. She immediately shut her eyes to keep from going blind, but that was the least of her worries.

Dread sunk into her chest. She fought it down, fought it down, but it was a direct hit.

“Heyy!” she called out to the void, eyes still clamped shut in pain. “Watch out, I’m about to explode!”

Then, the noise dulled. The hard floor beneath her feet became gravel. There was a faint sensation of a breeze.

She dared to look. Nip, Brisa, and Cynthian had moved outs—wait, she had been moved outside! Looking around frantically, she ran towards the horde on principle alone. She had only seconds to find cover.

She looked forward as she ran and knew: there was only one option.

“I’m so sorry!” Astrid cried. “Just—just clear the way!”

The horde wasted no time engulfing her whole as she blindly charged through. Psionic jabs from all angles sent unbearable pain throughout her body, doing everything they could to trip her up. They grew more desperate the deeper in she got, poking around at the edges of her mind, trying everything they could to stop her. But it was only for a passing moment. Her friends were safe now; the Deoxys were not.

Astrid's Inspired Gamma Burst dealt 90852 damage to the Shattered Deoxys horde!

She was prepared for the slumber this time, and had already shut her eyes.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's Wide Shining Whiplash dealt 13,593 damage to Deoxys!

This power... She could stand her ground against damn near anything. It felt intoxicating. It felt like a mountain on her shoulders. Then Astrid came careening through the battlefield–

“I’m so sorry!”

Shit. But with the Radiant Machine pumping her full of radiance, Astrid had been fighting a losing battle. This wasn't intentional. Couldn't be. Astrid wouldn't break her promise so easily.

Astrid's Inspired Gamma Burst dealt 90852 damage to the Shattered Deoxys horde!

Holy shit. Brisa didn't avert her eyes as she saw a radiant attack beyond anything she could have imagined, all coming from this one pokémon, her friend, her–

Gods, how did she feel about Astrid? It had been a while since that moment by the river, and Astrid hadn't made any reciprocal moves, but...

She didn't have time for this. With Deoxys defeated, and the battle won, Brisa's attention ought to be on Starr alone. And Astrid, but she couldn't think about her right now, not after an explosion like that, she couldn't bear it– And so she lifted the torracat down to the ground and tended to her injuries, trying to bring her round from unconsciousness...

Astrid and Starr's Pledge Against Power dealt a total of 12,553 damage!

They'd defeated Giovanni. Sure, he'd escaped, but they'd hurt him. Not just physically, but to his monstrous ego, too. They'd done it together, just like she'd said they would. The kind of feats her friends could achieve now... That she could achieve with them, together... The way it made her feel...

"Starr?" she asked, her voice sounding more normal, with just a little of that bass and reverb from before tingling at her throat. "We got him, Starr. We put the hurt to him. Didn't I tell ya we could do it?"

She pulled Starr to her chest in a hug and shook gently. She wasn't sure what another surprise would do to her if one happened in the next goddamn beat. Somehow, she had to pull herself together and be ready for a debriefing with Diyem. They had to prepare for a counterattack. She had to make herself available and competent for all responsibilities necessary–

But right now all that mattered was Starr, safe.

"Wake up, damn you..."

 

[IFBench]

Now that they were out of the Pokeball, and things had calmed down mostly, Saltriv glanced at the thing that had emerged from the glowing sphere. The Charizard. Owen had called them Diyem, but that Flygon had said that they were all working for Dark Matter. Was this "Diyem" Dark Matter? They hoped not, but maybe they should ask.

"Are you...Dark Matter?" Saltriv asked, looking directly at the Charizard.

 

[Chibi Pika]

A heavy fog hung over Starr's mind even as her consciousness slowly returned. Her sensed were all muddled, and everything was in pain. And yet somehow she couldn't bring herself to care. Beneath everything was the vague sense that it was all worth it.

She could hear a voice saying her name, and strained to register the words being said.

"We got him, Starr. We put the hurt to him. Didn't I tell ya we could do it?"

The realization took hold in her brain. They had, hadn't they?

Starr forced her mouth into a grin. "Hell yeah."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot stepped away from the Radiant Machine, clutching his head as it pounded and still felt wobbly from the Head Smash that had finished it. He'd... done it. The machine was broken on the ground and in pieces, and with some help from Saltriv he'd used his Shadow powers to do it without losing control.

"Cabot, you did it!" Pleo came to a stop right next to him and nuzzled his side. "You were great."

The Cranidos let out a small chuckle as Pleo's feathers tickled him slightly. "Thanks. That piece of junk won't bother us no more."

A warm light suddenly washed over Cabot, healing his wounds and removing the pounding feeling in his head. He looked off to the side and noticed Saltriv leaving the lab, prompting him to turn back to Pleo.

"Let's see how the rest of the team is holding up."

As the two made their way outside Cabot tilted his head in surprise, seeing the Deoxys horde had already been defeated and the remaining one getting sucked into one of those capture spheres.

"Huh, more fragile than I expected," he muttered to himself.

 

[Fusion]

The healing glow of a reviver seed washed over Vix's body, and she slowly rose up from the ground. Her flame was dim, and her body was barely holding itself together. Everything seemed to have died down, fortunately. Other than the deafening ringing in her... head, since she lacked ears, there wasn't a lot of noise. The pain still lingered, but eating a sitrus felt pointless. The fight was already over. Team Spectrum had already won.

Vix silently floated back to the others, clutching her satchel tightly. She spotted Shiron and Starr and winced, deciding not to get close to them. She already did enough to them.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem looked to Saltriv, his eyes continuing to study them. Yes, this was Saltriv. He had summoned them, but thought they'd been sent the wrong way. Interesting that they turned up properly here... "Yes," he replied. "I am." He turned his attention to Starr, then Brisa, and nodded silently.

Through all the Radiance, Deoxys had still stood from it all--the main Deoxys, at least. But then the Poke Ball hit, and Deoxys disappeared in a flash of light, wiggling weakly. Karat struggled forward and held the ball regardless. "...I'm not... going to let those Shadows control you," he growled. The ball continued to struggle. "Just... rest." He brought his forehead onto the ball, even as it trembled. "For me."

And then, it stopped moving. With a dull click, Deoxys was captured.

"...Good thing that Flygon isn't around to record that," Soda remarked to himself, earning a jab in the side by Maple.

"Good job, everyone," Maple said, looking to the team. "Perhaps since we cleared this place so thoroughly, we can take some time to inspect this lab for more information." Maple's vision flickered and she squinted. She thought she'd overexerted herself, somehow, during that fight. It was like everything had gone dark. But the way everyone else was reacting, it wasn't just her.

"I wasn't the only one who blacked out for a second, right?" Owen asked.

"Everything got a little dimmer for a second," Cal said. "Diyem? Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Diyem said, still leaning on his weapon. He was busy picking up several fallen team members with the help of those that were still standing. He briefly glanced at Starr and Brisa, letting out a little huff of Shadows as he thought about something. "But I also saw that darkness..."

And then it happened again. Longer, this time. Like it had suddenly become sunset. Maple looked skyward, directly at the sun--Owen almost did the same before realizing that was a bad idea. But Maple saw the sunlight itself flicker.

"What...?" Maple looked to the others.

The ground shook. Tremors. Light tremors, but she could feel it. Far away, feral bird Pokemon took to the skies all over. The sun flickered again. A horrible feeling rattled Maple to her core, and then her badge trembled.

"S'more," Maple noted to the others, answering. She made sure to put it on speaker.

But when she answered, all she could hear was a cacophony of explosions and screams.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Maple, what's going on? Why are they screaming?" Cynthian asked, poking his head over Icetales' mane.

 

[Fusion]

But when she answered, all she could hear was a cacophony of explosions and screams.

"...Oh god..." Vix muttered. Another battle. They weren't ready. She wasn't ready. Vix covered the sides of her head to drown out the noise. "M-Make it stop... please."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales glanced quickly at Cynthian, then walked closer to Maple as he heard the screams coming from the badge. He tilted his head, ears and tails twitching, while a frown made its way on his face.

“This is most concerning. We must hurry toward their location pronto,” he commented, while snowflakes started gathering around his free tails. “What could have been? Is the guild under attack… again?”

It was almost like the guild had a big “Attack me, please!” sign or something, but he didn’t voice that out.

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo looked around in shock. "W-What's going on?!"

Cabot hastily made his way over to Maple upon hearing the screams coming from her badge. "We need to get back to Destiny Village. Now."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste whimpered.

What... happening?

He tried to focus to suppress the Radiance, but... it was so hard to think straight like this.

 

[Namohysip]

"But we just got through with..." Owen looked exhausted. They were the least prepared for a fight right now. But they had to. And Maple was already preparing to depart, carving a portal--which had even more explosions echoing out. S'more was shouting something into his badge, so he was at least alive, but amid the explosions, he was impossible to hear.

"Now!" Maple shouted, running through the portal.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's ears flattened. "Do we ever get a fffuuucking break?"

Couldn't even have a moment to feel good about curbstomping that bastard without the world going to shit.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grit her teeth hard enough to fucking shatter, and set her jaw against the universe. Whatever the fuck this was, (probably Joule), they'd deal with it. They'd deal with it somehow, every last goddamn time.

"Do we ever get a fffuuucking break?"

Somehow, even at a time like this, Starr could make her chuckle.

"Guess not," she answered. "Come on. We can celebrate humiliating yer pa later."