Destiny Colosseum

[Namohysip]

"Indeed it was," Kyogre said. "I can't speak for Rayquaza or Groudon, but... I am satisficed with what I saw in you. I shall cooperate... But I'm afraid I know little about the plans Shield has. In the end, that is up to him to disclose."

"What? Plans?" Owen asked.

"Later." Kyogre looked to the others. "It seems that the crowd would like to hear from the winners."

And roaring crowd it was, drowning out even Incineroar's call for the match's official end. It was a multicolored sea of Pokemon shuffling to the front of the stands, though a few also headed out now that the battle was over. To many of them, this felt like a once in a lifetime sight...

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot turned around in surprise, before waving back at the crowd.

"Oh, hey there!" he cheered. "I hope you all enjoyed our battle!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction. It was over, they'd won yet again and without the strain of anticipating horrible consequences, and they were being cheered on by the crowd. Luz was literally flexing her fucking arms and kissing her 'muscles' as if she were flesh and blood and not gelatinous ephemeria. Kyogre was being a good sport, even if Rayquaza was still stubborn. Everything was... good.

"I'm mighty grateful fer the opportunity to brawl with ya," she called up to Kyogre. "I look forward to fightin' alongside ya someday."

Brisa turned to her friends, variously celebrating and catching their breath, and walked from one to the next, sharing little mutual congratulations and words of encouragement, and returning friendly pats on the shoulder and paw-bumps where offered.

Until she came to Astrid.

We're partners in this posse. We gotta count on each other. I don't wanna see you in the infirmary week after week, y'hear?

It'll break my heart.

I don’t think I want to try that again.

Oh, Astrid.

Brisa shooed away the floating shade—Espurr? No, Esper, right?—and cradled her friend to check her over and see best how to use some healing items. If she even had any left. There were no gaping wounds or anything, but Astrid was obviously in bad shape. Had she got overconfident from her evolution? Was this something that Radiance and Shadow would keep driving her to? Astrid...

"Come on, partner. This ain't the way to treat yerself..."

Her voice caught a little, and Brisa realised she was scared.

What if Astrid kept doing this until it killed her?

 

[Namohysip]

"Good job, everyone!" someone called, and then a strange, hazy creature appeared from the middle of the arena. A Mew, or what used to be one, clapped her hazy paws together, making barely a sound in the suddenly quiet colosseum. "That was a fun fight!"

Shield immediately went on guard, as did several others. Owen and Wishkeeper were ready for another battle.

"Whoa, whoa, what's wrong? You guys just fought! We should party!" Darkwhite kicked her large feet and then rotated forward.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa called out, shielding Astrid with her body.

"What're ya up to this time, Darkwhite? Another one of yer cryptic challenges?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot glared at Darkwhite and adopted a battle stance once again.

"Why would anyone here want to party with you after what you did to Lugia?!" he snapped.

"Yeah! You're a mean Pokémon!" Pleo exclaimed.

 

[Namohysip]

"After what I did to Lugia?" Darkwhite looked at Cabot, then Pleo, then Cabot again. "How about you?!"

"That's not Lugia," Owen said. "that's one of the Shades who became one of Cabot's friends.

"Oh, is that why he's all offended I made this world's Lugia cooler?"

"No, you corrupted her!"

"Pfft, I didn't do THAT. She came that way. I just made her cooler."

"What?"

"I keep telling you guys! I'm getting the Legendary Pokemon for myself! Because it's cool! But YOU keep taking them away." She pointed not at Owen or Team Spectrum, but more specifically at Shield. "Don't think saying my old name will scare me this time! I'm a new 'mon, now!"

"So... so you really are Sword," Shield said. "What happened to you? You were just a Charmander!"

"Yeah, well, times change, I guess. I do miss scales, though..."

 

[Negrek]

With the battle over, Nate had been more concerned with trying to see if Silver was up in the stands than with any sort of victory celebration. Yeah, the fucking origin whale had said it was totally defeated and shit; just another Tuesday and all that. Rocky's gasp got his attention even before Darkwhite's unmistakable voice.

Back again, huh? A guy might start to imagine she was actually interested in her former partner or some shit.

But when she actually started talking... more fucking charthings? It was like there were only two fucking species on this planet or some shit. "Wait, you were a charmander? Like, you were transformed into one, or what?" But in this world, there was another charthing in the mix, wasn't there? "I mean, there's a charizard on the same team as you in this world. Is there another Telum guy who's missing? Still stuck in Mewtwo's dungeon or whatever the fuck?"

 

[Cresselia92]

The tension in the arena was palpable, and Darkwhite — or Sword, apparently— was the main culprit. Icetales could feel his fur raising and a growl coming from his throat, while his tails became frigid and cloaked in more most.

But then, he heard something in particular that stood out…

"I keep telling you guys! I'm getting the Legendary Pokemon for myself! Because it's cool! But YOU keep taking them away."

And his rage reached polar levels.

“How… dare thee treat others as if they were mere puppy toys that thou can break and mishmash without any care and remorse, daemon? Who dost thou think thou art for bewitching folks with thy arcane sorceries and twisted nature?” snarled Icetales at Darkwhite, his eyes shining gold and his tails enveloped in dark flames.

“Dost thou truly believe this all is just one game, where thou can use legends as thy chess pieces and fling powers that are not meant to be harnessed for mere entertainment? If thou truly believe all of that, then all thou shalt receive from us will be a—”

“Kick where the sun doesn’t shine, idiot!” shouted Petram, snorting a puff of smoke from his nostrils. “Just get lost already, you punk! Nobody likes your ‘games’!”

“…Not quite what I meant to say, but yes,” he glared more fiercely at Darkwhite, “I share that sentiment. Thou art not welcome, daemon!”

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite went flying back as if she'd been struck by a thousand crystals. "Oh, you hurt me so much! How could I possibly recover from such tomfoolery and piercing words!" Her accent was a horrible parody of Icetales'.

Silver was in the stands, and while he seemed nervous, he was also being guarded by Maple, Potluck, and Truffle. Soda looked like he was in the backmost stands, playing on his badge. Had he even watched the fight? Leg and Flesh were probably watching from home; never good with crowds.

"And I'm gonna do it again, too. I'm gonna steal the Legends left and bring them to you guys to fix up! After I've had my fun, of course. Just like Lugia! You guys really should be thanking me for that, by the way." Darkwhite nodded sagely. "Without me, they'd probably still be slaves to the no-fun-squad!"

"Wait, so you're saying you're intentionally bringing them to us?" Owen said.

"Uh, duh. Why else would I set up those fights? I drain their corruption and you handle the rest when you can actually beat them up! Otherwise they'd be way too strong for you."

"You--you made Lugia that weak?!"

"Hey, she got better!"

But then, she looked to Nate, shrugging. "I was supposed to save the Tree of Life or something, I dunno. Didn't work out. Then I woke up like this and I'm waaaay better off. You shoulda come with me, Shield."

Shield was too stunned to reply.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa laid Astrid down for Luz to tend to and stepped forward to address the corrupted mew.

"You're sayin' you really are tryin' to help. You mighta told us in the first place that you weren't the one spreadin' corruption to the legends you've had us fight."

Wait.

Shaymin Village.

Darkwhite had set them on the path to fight the artificial Dark Matter and the horde of shaymin in the first place. The machine was Giovanni's responsibility. And Darkwhite wasn't working with Giovanni... The assumption that Darkwhite was behind any corruption had been possible to dismiss for weeks already. Brisa bit her cheek. They were too slow, too damn slow picking up on the truth.

"Darkwhite, ain't there more you can tell us about what's causin' this world's troubles? If you really mean well, we could use that kinda help!"

 

[Virgil134]

"What are you even talking about?!" Cabot shouted. "Lugia was doing fine before you attacked her and Meringue and messed everything up!"

"You made me possess her and attack everyone!" Pleo cried. "That's not fun! That's horrible!"

 

[Namohysip]

"Darkwhite, ain't there more you can tell us about what's causin' this world's troubles? If you really mean well, we could use that kinda help!"

"Oh? What was that? I didn't quite hear you, did you say you needed my heeeeeelp?" Somehow, the ear facing them became larger.

"Lugia was doing fine before you attacked her and Meringue and messed everything up!"

"You made me possess her and attack everyone!" Pleo cried. "That's not fun! That's horrible!"

"PBBBBB, wrong!" Darkwhite pointed at Cabot. "Try again, fathead! I haven't been corrupting people at all! I've been purifying them and leaving you guys to top them off!"

"Have you tried telling us?!" Owen said, like he believed her. It added up. Darkwhite's constant leading for them to the next little crisis every few weeks. Arranging for them to beat up the next Legend. Even the Dark Machine--the reason she held off, Owen remembered, was because she thought they would have been too weak. And that fight had been a struggle... "Wait," Owen said. "Why'd you beat up me and Celeste?"

Darkwhite shrugged. "Felt like it. And he was totally asking for it."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa approached Darkwhite more closely.

"I believe we'll succeed no matter what, and I can't speak fer the rest of my team, but I can speak fer myself and I want yer help, Darkwhite."

She looked abashedly aside for a second. Nothing was more important than doing their duty. Pride was nothing.

"And I'm sorry fer not realisin' that sooner. Thank you. Fer all yer help to date."

 

[Virgil134]

"PBBBBB, wrong!" Darkwhite pointed at Cabot. "Try again, fathead! I haven't been corrupting people at all! I've been purifying them and leaving you guys to top them off!"

"And why should we believe you when you've done nothing but antagonize everyone?" Cabot demanded. "Lugia certainly doesn't seem to think of you as her savior. You're just trying to trick us!"

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales kept glaring at Darkwhite, finding her words hard to believe. What if that was yet another trick?

And of course more folks had to parody his speech. Of course he couldn’t catch a breath. Of course.

“Thou have a backwards understanding of the concept of ‘lending a paw’…” he grumbled, tails flicking and producing snowflakes. “And apologies for bursting thy prized bubble, but beating folks’ flanks up just because thou feel like it isn’t quite a remarkable first impression nor reason to trust thee. All that ire thou have received toward thyself? The seed thou have sown.”

He shook his head. “We have been deceived from the very first moment we stepped into this brave new world. Who says that thy claims are nothing more than a stunt to get our sympathy? Can thou… prove that we can trust thee? Or art thou only making us do the dirty job for thee so that we can eliminate thy competition?”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa groaned in frustration.

"The fate of the world is more important than petty grudges. Y'can't just hate someone forever 'cause they beat you up when you're both pokémon and nobody got hurt fer life. Think it through! She led us to Shaymin Village before it got too late, and she didn't try to stop us winnin' that fight! Hell, she barely interfered in the Lugia fight either! Let's hear her out, goddamnit."

 

[Cresselia92]

“…I am willing to listen. Forgiveness of dark entities and acceptance are not concepts foreign to yours truly,” said Icetales, his voice even. “This is her chance to defend herself and her claims — with words, not with fangs or claws.”

He shook his head. “And no, I do not have hatred in my heart. I am… befuddled, nothing more. Trying to understand. Because golly if this entire situation isn’t confusing, with interlopers from the most obscure worlds and dimensions pouring here and bringing their own beliefs and influences!”

 

[TheGOAT]

That was Brisa’s voice, wasn’t it?

Clinging to consciousness, head lighter than air, Astrid drifted along as more voices picked up. Some intense, some soft, and one—

Was that Darkwhite? She blinked her eyes open. Greeting her was who she could only assume to be Brisa’s familiar.

“Wh—oh. Are you… you’re Luz, right?”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz smiled warmly at the ninetales and brushed a lock of fur away from her face.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm just lookin' after ya fer Brisa while she has a word with Miss Misadventure up there. You feelin' alright, Astrid darlin'?"