Destiny Tower

[Namohysip]

"Honor them, huh?" Cal asked. "...I..."

Cola looked at Giratina, Dialga, and Palkia. "I'm bored of here. Can I go with them?"

"You're still weak, Po--I mean, Cola. Don't you think you should stay here where it's safer?"

"But people are sad. And I'm supposed to be the best person to make people not sad. I don't want to stay here and read."

"But..." Giratina fretted.

"We promised Pop we'd keep you safe," Dialga explained. "Besides, if you got in trouble, who's going to complete splitting us apart, you know? I'm close with my siblings but not this close..."

"Hmff... And I think it might confuse people to see you around, too," Palkia said.

 

[Cresselia92]

Petram glanced at Cola and crossed his paws, while his non-existent spectral brain elaborated the situation. Then, he yapped in realization.

“Well! That’s easy! You could go,” he pulled his tails over his face, making his eyes poke out of them, “with a disguise, of course! Do you have shapeshifting as one of your Creator’s powers? If you do, you could change your appearance to look like a mortal Pokémon and stay among us, so that we can keep you safe!” He grinned and winked. “And hey! You like Soda, and Soda loves to disguise himself, no? Don’t you want to pull off a similar trick?”

He glanced at the dragons. “It’s worth a chance, don’t you think? He could take a stroll, see the town and return here. There’s no better experience than the one you make on the field.”

 

[Namohysip]

"I can do disguises easily." The haze twisted and churned, the two red circles drifting around his face until he became a hazy copy of Petram, somehow even less defined than the Ultra Shade himself. The two red circles were still there, and it seemed more like he had changed his shape rather than... anything else.

"...I don't think that's gonna work," Cal said.

"How come? Now I look like him." Cola paced to Cal, then shifted to her next, a hazy, golden Charmeleon with two circles on his face. "Isn't this how Pokemon look?"

"Not really."

"I don't think Cola can disguise himself as well as Soda can," Giratina said. "Hmm... and he's also a lot smaller, too..."

"He's jut not strong yet," Dialga added.

Cola hummed in thought, then eyed Petram. "I have an idea!" He perked up. "What if I just hid in your heart?"

 

[Cresselia92]

Cola hummed in thought, then eyed Petram. "I have an idea!" He perked up. "What if I just hid in your heart?"

Petram blinked, puzzled by Cola's request. "My... heart? Well, that's a bizarre suggestion, but if that will make you happy then I'm willing to try. Sounds interesting, at the very least."

The Vulpix poked his wobbly spectral chest and frowned.

"Um, I don't think I have a physical heart, unless it's made of shadow stuff. However," he extended his Ultra Stone, "I have my stone. It's basically my core, so same deal... I think."

 

[Namohysip]

Cola peered into his chest, red circled narrowing like a squint. "Well... I guess. But I don't think I can go into that. Let me try this!"

"Wait," Cal said, "I still don't know what you mean by heart--"

Cola lost his shape completely and rose into the air like a needle. It curved toward Petram in midair and slammed into his back, and Petram would feel a hot, jolt-like feeling where he'd been hit, even though it was only against his projection. It settled into a warm presence just above his core.

"P-Petram?" Cal asked. "You, uh, you alright?"

"There! Now nobody can tell I'm here!"

Cal opened her imitation of a mouth in surprise. There was a golden ember, somewhat like but not quite her own, within Petram, with two red dots along the surface that darted this way and that.

"I like this. I'm gonna follow people around this way."

The ember drifted along and looked out from Petram's shoulder.

"Does--does that hurt?" Cal asked Petram.

 

[Cresselia92]

Petram's tails burst into flames when he was struck by Cola, more shocked than anything, and then he felt the warmth coiled around his stone. It wasn't the kind of warmth he used to manipulate. It was... much less spectral in nature, that's for sure.

"Yikes! Okay, that was--" He blinked, then put his paws on his mouth and giggled as he felt the energy moving around his shadowy body. "Ahahah! T-that tickles!"

Once he felt Cola stopping, he took a glance at the golden flame inside of him. Well, that was something new, but also seemed so much fun. And hey! It was nice to have a new friend by his side... literally.

"Well, sure hope you're comfy in there!" he chirped at Cola, before looking at Cal and grinning. "Don't worry, I'm fine! Kinda felt like a Will-O-Wisp mixed with a Thunder Wave struck me for a second, but I'm okay!

"So, can we go, yes?" asked Petram to the trio of dragons. "Nobody will suspect a thing! I'll be careful with Cola, really!" He waved his paw over his chest. "Cross on my invisible heart!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz watched with interest as the conversation between Cola and Petram turned into a plan—no, a scheme, a ruse!—to let the lil' fella roam the town. She could get behind this! And she didn't have to talk about being sad any more, which was great, because she wasn't at ease helping people with that stuff even at her best. It wasn't like she gained anything from it, either.

"This seems a mighty fine plan t'me!" she remarked with pleasure. "It'll be a delight t'see ya round town, so hit me up any time, y'hear? Ain't many folks as can say they've befriended a young arceus, that's fer sure!"

 

[Namohysip]

"I guess that's that," Giratina said, scratching her mandibles. "I hope this isn't too big a risk..."

"We'll keep an eye on him," Dialga said. "And you do that, too, alright? We can't lose Cola and Pop."

"This is gonna be so fun! I bet I'll get to see what life is really like this way! Goodbye, books!"

Cal smiled a little, though her heart was still heavy. She wondered what Owen would have thought about all this, getting possessed... ish by a god.

"Yeah," Cal mumbled. "Um, see you. I'm... going to go somewhere for a while. See you guys." She waved, leaving Destiny Tower with the others without another word.

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

Cola's red circles for eyes were shaped into a furrowed brow, irritably looking through a book. "This is boring," he said. "Why do I have to keep reading if Pop isn't even dead?"

"Well, he's still incapacitated, and we aren't really sure if it's safe to do anything yet, you see..." Giratina tried to calm Cola, who was becoming more and more restless after being exposed to the outside world.

Cal appeared through the teleporter and Cola glanced ahead. Owen was right behind her, surprised that the teleportation worked on his strange form, though he looked very faded, like he could blow away any second.

"Finally! Some company!" Cola said.

"What are we?" Palkia complained. "We've been here the whole time!"

"I don't know!" Cola replied. "But you're always here. I want friends!"

"Just don't forget to read, okay?" Giratina urged.

"I will. I'm just happy that someone new is here. Hiya!" Cola's manner of speech changed the moment he addressed Cal, who waved with equal cheer.

"I think a few others are on their way," Cal said.

 

[Flyg0n]

After the meeting had concluded, he'd managed to catch Luz for a moment, to ask her what to do. She'd explained she'd go talk to Maple and try to settle things with her. Meanwhile, he could head to the library to talk to Cola and try to investigate Pop's journal. Finally. Now that he could do.

With purpose in his step, he'd made his way to Destiny Tower.

What he found caught him off guard. Rocky and Luz had filled him in on everything, but seeing it for himself was an entirely different matter. As soon as he arrived in the room, his gaze locked on the fused dragon. He couldn't take his eyes off them, particularly the center head. Giratina. He'd dreamed his whole life of meeting them, and now all three were right here. His heart sped up, hammering in his chest. Giratina, master of the Distortion realm was right there in the room with him.

Koa shook himself. Those aren't your legends. Those aren't your legends. With great effort, he heaved his gaze away to the other mon in the room. Cola. The young Arceus. His gaze lit up and he found himself grinning, just slightly. The tip of his tail flicked side to side. Cola was about his size, with a tiny, wispy gray body. Though his build was like Arceus, he was so much smaller, plus missing the white fur and golden ring. He looked... cute.

"Hey everyone. I'm uh, one of the new Team Spectrum members."

He glanced briefly at the huge book Cola seemed to have been reading from. That had to be it. Hopefully this would be simple...

 

[Chibi Pika]

An Ultra Stone wobbled gently in the center of a large cushion, buried underneath a pile of books. A dark mass congealed out from it and gradually took the shape of a shadowy Zeraora, yawning broadly and causing books to slide off his semisolid chest. Glowing yellow eyes glanced around the surrounding shelves of the library. He couldn't help getting the feeling that some time had passed since he'd last been conscious.

He must've dozed off while reading. How long was he out? He tapped his tablet's screen to bring up the time and... ah. 12 hours. Well, that's what he got, reading for two days straight. He was lucky he didn't have other needs to bother with in that time, being a shade and all. Food was still nice though, even if he didn't need it. Maybe he could pop back to the guild for a snack before finishing the rest of A Brief History of Cibus.

Voices caught his ear. He ran a paw through the wispy, amorphous mass that might have been hair, straightening it out. Then he stretched his limbs further than any flesh-and-blood limbs would have gone and leapt up from his cushion in one smooth motion, pausing just long enough to grab his bag and tablet before approaching the others.

There was the fused dragon trio, of course. The tiny god-to-be, naturally. And... an Electrike. Hang on, hadn't someone mentioned an Electrike in the chat?

"Oh hey, you're one of the new recruits, yeah?" Lexx asked, waving cheerfully.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa blinked, then stared. Huh. Another Zeraora? Just how many of them were there? It looked a little different from Luz, but clearly seemed to be a familiar, like her. He wondered whose it was....

"Oh hey. Yeah, I just arrived. My name is Koamaru. You're a familiar, right? What's your name?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Sure am--name's Lexx. I'm with Starr, dunno if you've met her; probably not, she's uh... having a time." He decided to leave it at that. No sense dumping heavy drama on the newbie. He waved a paw--"Anyway, I was just catching up on some history and dozed off. What brings you up here?"

 

[Namohysip]

Cola trotted over to Koa and looked him over. "Good to meet you," he said. "My name's Cola. I'm the better version of Pop, and I'm learning how to be the next god..." Cola seemed a little nervous, regarding Koa like he was trying to say just the right thing. Then, looking at Lexx, that air of caution changed instantly to one of nonchalant confidence. "Diyem got out of the hospital and then they sent me here again. I didn't know you were here! Would've been way better than if it was just them." He gestured to the fused trio.

 

[Flyg0n]

What brings you up here?"

"Nice to meet you, Lexx." Koa extended a paw to Lexx. In awkward greeting, then paused. Did all mon here know what a handshake was? Would Lexx?

"Good to meet you," he said. "My name's Cola.

Koa turned his attention to Cola. "You too, Cola." So weird... he wondered if Arceus could have started out like this in his world, eons ago. That was... hard to imagine. He wanted to ask right away about the book, but would Cola be offended by that? Would the Sinnoh legends be offended? Maybe some conversation would help. "So... you're learning to use your powers? What can you do so far?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I dunno. Stuff I tried worked." Cola motioned to the corner of the room, which looked like it had been cleaned up, recently, of some sort of scorch mark.

"His powers are underdeveloped. For the most part, they only work on himself." Dialga looked at Cola, frowning. "But a Creator's power isn't really something that manifests as strongly once they're in a world that has already been created."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Lexx shook Koa's paw without missing a beat, though he did have to lean down a bit to take the Electrike's paw in his. It wasn't exactly the most natural greeting for a quadruped, now was it?

"Going out on a limb here, but... don't suppose you're human?"

"Diyem got out of the hospital and then they sent me here again. I didn't know you were here! Would've been way better than if it was just them." He gestured to the fused trio.

"Ahh, got lost in some reading so I probably wouldn't have been much good for company," Lexx replied while he scrolled through the backlog in the team's groupchat. There'd been a meeting, but all the chat surrounding it was weirdly vague and unhelpful--was the team hiding things from Maple again? He'd have to get the details on that later.

 

[Flyg0n]

"I dunno. Stuff I tried worked." Cola motioned to the corner of the room, which looked like it had been cleaned up, recently, of some sort of scorch mark.

"His powers are underdeveloped. For the most part, they only work on himself." Dialga looked at Cola, frowning. "But a Creator's power isn't really something that manifests as strongly once they're in a world that has already been created."

Koa glanced at the wall, then over at the dragons, not quite meeting their gazes. "So you're saying his powers will get stronger if he somehow... went to a world that didn't exist?" He cocked his head. How would that work?

"Going out on a limb here, but... don't suppose you're human?"

He glanced back to Lexx. "Oh. Yeah, I am. I mean I was. Were... were you too? Or I guess Starr was?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

He glanced back to Lexx. "Oh. Yeah, I am. I mean I was. Were... were you too? Or I guess Starr was?"

Lexx put a paw to his chest. "Guilty as charged. Technically never been one, but with more than a decade's worth of memories of being one, hard not to relate."

He was just about caught up with reading the chat by now. Something about the group wanting to check for Pop's journals? Now here was something he could work with.

"You guys were looking to check out Pop's journals?" Lexx asked, glancing over toward Cal and Owen.

 

[Namohysip]

Cal nodded. "We wanted to see if there were any messages about what Cola was going to do if Pop died," she explained. "We're thinking about how to use the Tree's resources, or something. It can't do everything we want. Only, like, one or two. Revive Owen and the others, restore Diyem, or Pop, or Cola..."

"Whoa, wait a second," Cola said, stepping forward. "You're saying if I get this power, I'll go on the fast track to godhood? No more lame books?"