Destiny Tower

[Namohysip]

"Immortal squad," Arceus said with a nod, but then hesitated, like he had some doubt in the way he'd said something. But then he pushed it away and added, "Well, good luck, little guy." He nodded to Cosmog, who glared at them both.

"Two Legends and then there's me, a child of the stars. Fine. Do as you want. But once I can float on my own, I'm going to find someplace where I won't be called a kid. I may not... remember everything right now, but... I know I'm not one by my species standards."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Hold on. One thing." Bahamut turned to Arceus. "I had a friend back home who spoke exactly like you do. I'm given to understand it is an attempt to appear more, erm, approachable." He glanced at Cosmog. Even their pouting face was adorable. "I'll be blunt: the rest of my team does not trust you in the slightest. They suspect you've an ulterior motive... even moreso for Maple, who says she's under your employ. So, I think it would be in your best interest to drop the act and speak in a more... formal pattern. Etherium may be a world without gods, but I believe many of my allies look up to people of your caliber."

 

[Namohysip]

Arceus didn't flinch this time, and his gaze hardened somewhat as he looked Bahamut over, then at Cosmog, who seemed like a tiny ant between two titans. Perhaps in some ways he was.

"...Was it that obvious?" Arceus said, and despite not having a mouth, he seemed to be frowning. "I really am trying to modernize... This era of peace needs friendly, approachable gods, not intimidating ones. Though I suppose as a time of crisis looms..."

He was like a completely different person.

 

[Ambyssin]

"To me, yes. But, as I said, I had a shaymin friend who wanted to be 'hip' and 'with the times.'" Bahamut shuddered. "He smoked his own gracidea flowers. It was... something. I had second-degree embarrassment on his behalf."

The stone in his bag nudged against his side, as if it was startled by the idea that Bahamut had friends.

 

[Namohysip]

"I see..." Arceus contemplated this, then looked down at Cosmog, who seemed impatient. "I will... take that into consideration when addressing your team directly. Though, your suspicious are warranted. I have no way to prove myself to you, and caution against the unknown is wise."

 

[Ambyssin]

"True. But you are a known entity. Whatever is responsible for this... that is an unknown's unknown. An unknown-squared, if you will." He cradled Cosmog gingerly in his arms and hovered toward the door. "Thank you for your help."

 

[Namohysip]

"Take care." Arceus drifted toward the circle again, contemplating how he should approach the team if his modernization act wasn't working well.

Meanwhile, in Bahamut's arms, Cosmog growled to himself. "...Books. I need books," he said. "If I'm going to be stuck here, I need to know more about the land I'm stuck in."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I believe this town has a library. Do you want to go there?"

 

[Namohysip]

"A library..." The word was familiar to him. Some normalcy. "Yes. I would like that. Some peace and quiet."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Then that's where we'll go." Bahamut floated away from Destiny Tower.

... just as soon as I figure out how to get there. Surely, there was a map installed on his badge, right?

<><><>​

 

[Negrek]

Destiny Tower wasn't exactly easy to ignore--you could see it no matter where you went, out there being all tall and glowy and shit. Kinda put thoughts of divine intervention in your head, whether that was usually the kind of thing you went in for or not.

It was fucking stupid, of course. The Arceus cult didn't have the greatest reputation in Kanto, and hell, nobody even knew that an arceus existed in Nate's world. Plus the guy seemed like kind of a prick and not even all that powerful, if he couldn't just scour whatever was causing bullshit around here off the face of the planet himself. On the other hand, wasn't every day you got the chance to hang with a fucking maybe-god, and if you had a problem... why the fuck wouldn't you at least see if he could solve it?

Climbing the hill outside of town was a rough enough process by itself. The incline wasn't as bad when you had four feet, but it took a fucking age when those feet were only a few inches apart. By the time Nate had dragged himself under the fucking massive entry arch, he was panting and snarling curses under his breath, not to mention plenty ready for a fucking nap. Which was when he saw the motherfucking stairs. "Oh, fuck me," Nate said, staring at the staircase that spiraled up and up out of sight. Forget that shit. He made instead for the pool of light nearby. Maybe it was a teleporter or something. Standing in the middle of it, squinting up into the glare, he yelled, "Hey! Anybody home?"

 

[Namohysip]

I am always home, my child, for the world is my home.

The light shined brighter, and suddenly the golden-hoofed creature appeared before Nate, an order of magnitude and then some larger than the Mudkip that had entered. "Nah," Pop replied with a friendly glint in his eyes. "Jokes. 'Sup?"

 

[Negrek]

For a second there the holy voice of Arceus sounded a lot like that insufferable necro-whatever, and Nate was wondering if he'd taken a wrong turn somehow. Or maybe the legendary space thingies liked to hang out with each other, who knew. But when His Godliness went on to proclaim it a joke, all right, sure, that sounded like the dude who'd had "good vibes" for a couple people stuck in the fucking Distortion World. He couldn't exactly call that "better," but it was, at least, expected.

Arceus or not, the guy sure looked the creator god part. Fucking huge and all gilted and pure-looking and shit. The weird gold metal thing sticking out from around his midriff, yeah, if Nate squinted, he could see the similarity to the Arcean cult symbol thing. All perfectly convincing. It was the fucking Sup that seemed out of place here.

"Not much. I kinda had a favor to ask you," Nate said, examining one of Arceus' hooves, which looked to be roughly the same size as his entire body. "Bet you get that a lot, huh?"

 

[Namohysip]

"In person, ain't all that often," Pop replied, lowering until his golden hooves touched the ground with an ethereal ringing. "Real hard to scale Destiny Tower to meet me for a favor, and we're all just vibin' in Destiny Village. Prayers, though? Ch'aww, yeah. All the time. Comes with bein' me."

In the back of his mind, he recalled Bahamut's words... but something told him that Nate would prefer a casual god than one that carried himself formally. He'd read the room over time.

 

[Negrek]

It took Nate a moment to parse what Arceus was trying to say. God, it was like talking to a fucking parody. God, a parody of fucking God? Whatever. Or maybe he had Diyem's excellent translation skills to thank.

For a second he had the overwhelming urge to ask what it was like, having to deal with prayers. Sounded like it would suck, people in your head all the time, complaining and asking for shit. But that wasn't why he'd come here, and it was all probably fake anyhow.

"Yeah? Well, I guess I don't know shit about being a God and all." Nate shifted under his pack, tracing the fancy designs in the floor tiles with his eyes. "Anyway, the reason I came to see you was... to ask you to send me home. I don't belong here. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows that all I am around here is a fucking liability. This place is worse off with me than without me. So, yeah. Send me back. That's what I've been looking for."

 

[Namohysip]

"Send you home?" Arceus repeated, tilting his head. "Now, that's a real new request. I guess technically, you'd be a guest here..." He hummed, looking the tiny Mudkip over. "What's got you thinking that?"

 

[Negrek]

"I mean, I just said it, didn't I? I ain't a hero. I ain't a fighter, neither. In fact, probably the most badass I was at any point on this stupid fucking adventure was when I was, was blowing up my own fucking teammates. And the smiley charmander as good as told me I'm going to go insane and do it all over again, probably at the worst fucking time for everybody else. So. Let's cut this shit short before I manage to fuck everyone over even worse, huh?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Well, that ain't right," Pop commented. "All your buddies are weak to those Shadows. Coulda hit any of you guys, ain't like you're any more vulnerable than they are to an attack like that." Though despite this, it seemed that Pop was not outright disagreeing with Nate's assessment. Yet at the same time, he wasn't granting Nate's request. "You sure runnin' away is your best option? Seem real quick, going for that."

 

[Negrek]

"Look, I didn't come here looking for no therapy shit. I don't want to be here. You don't want me here. Let's make a fucking deal, you know? You can't do it? Whatever. You got a price? Name it. Anything else and we're just wasting fucking time."

 

[Namohysip]

Within Destiny Tower, the wind never seemed to blow. The howling outside, the whistle of bitter winds squeezing through cracks, it always seemed to stop whenever one stepped into Destiny Tower. that made Nate's voice echo across its holy walls, and only when it became completely silent did Pop speak again.

"A'ight."

Little filaments of light rose off of the wheel around his abdomen, coalescing into tiny spheres.

"I wanna know, though," Arceus said as the orbs grew in intensity. "How come y'asked me?"