Destiny Tower

[Negrek]

"Oh, didn't figure it would kill you. Thousand-year sleep, poofed into stardust like Buffet"--hopefully that wasn't fucking fatal, not like he'd seen the guy out and about at all recently--"something like that. Whatever it is, I figure it can't be a great time if it's got you forgetting your jive. Can't fault you on the world comes first thing, though. What I'm not getting is why it's gotta be one fucking guy doing the deflecting. I mean, yeah, you're the big man and all, but there's how many pokémon living in this town?" Nate had no idea how many pokémon were living in this town. Hopefully closer to a thousand than a hundred. "All of them working together, you don't think they've got enough juice to knock that thing out of the sky?"

 

[Namohysip]

"It's not about the power, but the size," Arceus said. "I'm going to draw it toward me as far away from any living space as possible. Most of the energy will dissipate, and I will be the only one within the blast radius. I could have Palkia or other distortion Pokemon to help... but they will be occupied keeping Joule in check so he doesn't try to flee."

 

[Negrek]

"Too... big, huh," Nate said, drumming his fingers on the tile. "So you're thinking it's too dangerous to blow up before it gets launched? That seemed like the simplest solution to me. Or is where you're going to run off with it the thing that's got you so cagey?"

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus suppressed a dark laugh. "If we destroyed that attack where it stood," he said, "it would level the city anyway. A strike like that can make a visible crater on the moon. ...What has me... uncertain is, I do not know how much damage Joule is truly capable of. So, I am making preparations. Contingencies. ...The other Legends are not pleased with it, but they cannot find alternatives. I am trying to find a way to make them feel more confident in this."

 

[Negrek]

Nate grimaced. "I mean, it sounds like a solid enough plan to me, who-knows shit aside. Mostly just seems like there's gotta be some way to pull it off without you getting blown up." He rubbed at his head. "So, not sure if I understand this properly, but you said you're gonna draw this thing towards you. Like, stand somewhere and make it head your way? If it's like that, then... Could you drag it through something that would destroy it instead of letting it hit you? Like, instead of you standing in the far-away place, you put a bomb there, and you back up so you think you're outside the blast radius. Then you back up some more. And then pull the thing towards you, it runs over the bomb before it hits you and blows up, nobody gets hurt."

Rocky had taken a seat on the cold, flawless marble and was looking up at Arceus with a pensive expression. That probably meant nothing good. But now he turned and raised his eyebrows at Nate. "That sounds complicated."

"Look, all the easy answers were taken, okay? And it ain't all that complicated. It's like one extra step."

 

[Namohysip]

"That will be the ideal situation," Arceus replied, nodding. "I am going to perform some... energy trickery with my own aura to draw the attack toward me like a magnet. The draw should be strong enough that it will counter where Joule was originally aiming, but then I will have to get out of the way. But I do not know how the attack will behave after that. If it wavers and goes toward you again... I will have no choice but to keep my draw up. And I will need to absorb the attack." He looked up. "But... with luck, that all won't be necessary."

 

[Negrek]

"Right. More or less what I was thinking. What I don't get it why you don't put yourself behind something that'll destroy the attack before you start the whole draw thing. That way you don't gotta worry about the attack coming back towards us, or going on to hit you. Because it'll be, you know, already exploded and all."

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus blinked, looking at Nate, then outside at the ball of death, and then back at Nate. "What do you suppose counts as an adequate barrier?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate shook his head. "Not a barrier. A bomb. Something that'll blow the thing up out where it ain't gonna hit nobody. Have to be a pretty big one to disrupt a blast like that, but I think we could swing it."

 

[Namohysip]

"...That... may grant it more power and result in it exploding outright," Arceus said. "I plan to neutralize it, or attempt to, with my Judgement strike. If that doesn't do it, nothing will, at least on short notice."

 

[Negrek]

"Well, yeah, exploding it outright would be the idea. So long as it ain't gonna hit anything, like in space or something. To use judgement you're gonna need to be inside the blast radius, yeah?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Not necessarily. If I can attract it and then strike it from afar... it should work out." Arceus didn't sound as confident in this. That was probably what his contingency planning was for. "...But even if I die," he admitted, "things will work out."

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah?" Nate shot a covert look at Rocky, who was looking morose. You never knew when the guy was going to come out with something totally inappropriate at a time like this. "I mean, you're kind of important, right? Keeping the legends in line and all that. Laying down the law when things go south. I mean it's not like that lugia, right? There ain't, like, no Arceus-in-training?"

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus was quiet just then, looking away. "...Not necessarily," he said.

 

[Negrek]

"What--what do you mean?" Rocky said. He sounded like he was about to fucking cry, Jesus.

"Rocky--"

"You can't just give up!" the infernape said, hands balled into fists and crown blazing. "That's what you're saying, right? That it doesn't matter if you disappear?"

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus looked surprised at first, but then let out a single, dry laugh. "I won't be going anywhere," Pop said, tapping his hoof on the ground. "I know how much I am needed. That is why I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that I will not go away. Unfortunately... my plan is vulnerable. It can't be known to anyone, at least for a little while. I do not know who the spy is..."

 

[Negrek]

"Ah. Yeah. Almost forgot about all the spy shit with all the other crazy bull that landed on us. Guess it wouldn't be a good idea to tell us any clues you might have about who it might be, neither. Well." He got back to his feet, tail wagging to get out a cramp. Impressive-looking marble wasn't exactly easy on the ass. "If your mind's made up, there's not shit we can do about it, I guess."

Rocky was still looking up at Arceus with his arms crossed over his chest, scowling. "Heroic sacrifice, Rocky," Nate hissed at him. "Stay with me, here."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmph. There's nothing heroic about a sacrifice," Arceus said. "There are so many things that I'd rather do than sacrifice myself, and I am looking for any other option... I may seem informal to some, but I'm putting my serious hat on tonight." Arceus turned around. "Don't worry about me, Rocky. I know what I am doing. I won't let some corrupt Dark Star take me down." It seemed like he had some small, renewed vigor to continue his plans.

 

[Negrek]

Nate watched Arceus turn away, feeling tired above all else. "Well, good luck and all. You done us a real solid, and if you ever--"

"Wait!" Rocky was rooting around in his bag. "You can't just go off like that. You need... you need..." He pulled out the notebook, scattering a couple random seeds on the cold tile. "You shouldn't go and do something this big all by yourself. If nobody else can go with you, then, then, you should at least have something to take with you to remember you aren't alone. Like knights do." Rocky nodded firmly, like that settled it. Maybe he'd convinced himself as he went along. Nate eyed the notebook with curiosity. He was going to draw? "So we'll make you a picture. That way we can go with you even though we have to go fight Joule." But instead of opening the notebook up, Rocky thrust it at Nate.

He stared at it in confusion. "What? Me? It's your fucking idea. Why don't you draw it?"

"No. You do it." When you were less than a foot tall, an infernape could seriously loom over you if they had a mind to.

"But I thought you were supposed to be a good drawer."

Rocky's flames blazed menacingly, tendrils of ectoplasmic smoke curling from his nostrils while he stared Nate down.

"Holy fuck. Fine." Nate grabbed the notebook away from Rocky and slapped it down on the floor. There were still plenty of blank pages. Now what in the fuck to draw?

"Make it a nice picture," Rocky said sternly, leaning over to watch.

"Yeah, I get it. I ain't like gonna draw a dick and then hand it over to God, Jesus." Although if God used "wack" in a sentence ever again Nate might change his mind about that. He sketched as quickly as he could, now and again squinting up at Arceus before adding a detail. Rocky observed quietly.

There. Nate banged out a couple more stars, then gave the page a head-tilted appraisal. He tore it out and handed it up to Rocky, who performed his own inspection before giving a curt nod and holding it out for Arceus. "Here. And, and"--he scrabbled in his bag again for a second--"a reviver seed, too. That might help more."

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus stared at the drawing, though his expression was hard to read. Without a mouth or nose it was generally difficult. "Thank you," he finally said, and the paper floated behind him. "I will keep this with me... and I will remember what I am fighting for. In the end, the ideal situation is everyone can get out of this alive. I will do everything I can to make that happen." He drifted to the central waypoint in Destiny Tower. "Take care, Nate, Rocky. I will see you soon."