Destiny Tower

[Ambyssin]

"I'm fairly confident that only applies to Owen, who tries to make nice with everyone anyway." Bahamut paused in the doorway. "Kyurem and Yveltal? Understood. " He still had a slouched stance. "Thank you for your time."

Now he needed to figure out what the hell a kyurem and a yveltal were.

<><><>​

 

[Fusion]

After the attack on Destiny Tower, Vix spent some time cooling off before flying right on back to the crime scene. She'd have to do this investigation proper, with like... a pencil and notepad. She would've brought a monocle and a pipe, but didn't really have the features for either. She did find a fancy double-billed hat, though.

"So we're looking around here first? Why?" Puddle blooped curiously.

Vix floated amongst the rubble of Destiny Tower, amazed at the destruction, but peeved at how much rubble there was. It's like something didn't want her to get to the bottom of this! "I'm pretty sure the guild suspects that someone tampered with the security footage, so I'd imagine they'd have people on it already. At least I hope so. Plus, with this assault dealing with Blacklight, who better to investigate it than someone from Team Spectrum?"

"Yeah I guess, then why go alone?"

"I have you."

"I don't count."

Vix sighed, lowering close to some rubble to push it aside. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to shove a chunk of stone your size without proper arms. Or legs. There wasn't even anything under it. "Everyone else is probably tired, and we don't have anything going on, so why not?" she shrugged. Admittedly, she just didn't know who to ask.

Knowing better, Puddle fuddled with their badge, sending a quick message to the others. It pinged silently as the message sent. Now all it had to do was wait.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

It turned out you didn't need to be hungover to miss an interesting fight!

Luz strolled up to the tower and gave a long, low whistle. Whatever did this had to be seriously strong, and confident too.

"That ain't less'n a scratch," she remarked. "Say, lampent gal. Yer name's Vix, right? How do you do, Lampent Vix? Zeraora Luz, I belong t'Brisa."

 

[Fusion]

Vix jumped, dropping a chunk of stone back on the ground. It shattered to pieces, causing her to jump again. She spun around to Luz jumping a third time. A surprising feat for someone without those.

"O-Oh, hey, hi!" Vix cleared her throat, lowering slightly. "Sorry, yeah, I'm Vix. Nice to meet you," she tittered. "I wasn't expecting anyone else to be looking for clues here yet, you kinda, well you really surprised me."

"I'm sure no one could have put that together," Puddle popped. "I wasn't expecting someone to show up so quickly, and another familiar no less. How's it hanging?" an ethereal wave waved from Vix's bag.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Lil' birdy tipped me off," quipped Luz. "Please t'meet y'both. I'm as well as anythin'. So, how can I make myself useful?"

She glanced about, marvelling at the sheer destruction. Wasn't this the home of the highest authority and most powerful native being on the planet?

"And, uh. How've the two of you been keepin'? Wild times we're livin' in, huh?"

 

[Fusion]

"I'm..." Vix hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, I'm good. I don't have the slightest idea where we should start actually looking... If I even knew where the attack came from, then we'd have something to work with at least." She pulled out her notepad and pencil, holding the latter with ghastly energy, and scribbled some notes.

Rubble, Rubble, and more rubble. Some of it's scorched, and none of it has any clues... I can barely even sense anything out of the ordinary...

"I'm fine, if being a puddle in a bag counts as fine. Kinda wish I had arms," Puddle blooped.

Vix sighed, putting her notepad away. "I dunno if it's because of how early it is, but I'm running low on ideas. A charizard shows up in the night, attacks the tower, and is teleported away. Whoever did it tried to frame Owen, sabotaged the security footage without anyone knowing, and so far hasn't left a trace." Vix felt a headache coming on just trying to piece everything together. She sat on some rubble and took a deep breath. "What do you think happened, Luz?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged. "There's not rightly enough to go on. My gut says it were some third party nonsense we have no idea at, but the level of coordination suggests the whole thing were planned by the 'spies'. Too bad it's near enough to impossible to get that kind of read on any of the active members. I guess... They'd have had to be recruited after agreeing to be summoned by Diyem, and they'd have to yield to some kind of incentive..."

The shape of an idea was there, but she just didn't know. There was a tiny spark of frustration, but it was immediately quashed by a rising tide of enthusiasm for a challenging mystery to unravel.

"Anyone yer suspicious of, Vix? Anyone ya reckon is truly trustworthy?"

 

[Fusion]

Vix hummed, furrowing her eyes. There was something that didn't add up, but like Luz said, they didn't have any information to set anything in stone. "I feel it's most likely someone working for Giovanni; trying to get rid of Owen is a pretty clear tell, but that doesn't really help narrow it down, huh?" The only person Vix knew that snuck around in the middle of the night fiddling with Owen was Leg, and all she was doing was trying to help him. Vix also really wanted to believe Leg had nothing to do with it, so it might be best not to say that.

Her flame heated up the more she thought. "I wouldn't put Maple's idea of mind control out of the picture either, Giovanni is a powerful psychic type. I think. I dunno, I've never seen whatever he is before," she shrugged. "The safest bet would be to have every one of us searched by a psychic like Breaker, including guild members, but who knows how long that would take..."

"We can at least have all of Team Spectrum checked, including the abnormally quiet ones," Puddle blipped.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged again. Lotta shrugging going on.

"That's assumin' we can trust the psychics. Which, t'be fair, we probably can. Yer right about Giovanni though. Fella's crazy powerful, although he seems to prefer telekinesis to mind magic."

Luz kicked idly at a brick fragment. "The power level is what gets me. That charizard had to be strong as anythin' afore he even got pumped full of blacklight energies. I wonder if..."

Her lightning-blue eyes flashed, and narrowed.

"...if he coulda been a pokémon from the world of Giovanni and Silver. Trained fer a mission like that. No need fer mind control at all."

 

[Fusion]

Vix's flame flickered excitedly and grew brighter. "Another powerful human? This world's just as popular with those as mine's is," she chuckled, taking out her notepad.

Might be another human from Giovanni's world, or some other world. I wonder how powerful they might be...

"Almost makes someone wanna fight 'im," Puddle swished. "Not me, I like being alive."

"We're gonna have to fight that Charizard sooner or later," Vix said, stashing her notepad away. "I'll admit, fighting something whose sole purpose is to destroy is..." Vix's eyes flashed green for a split second, and she could have sworn she heard something in the distance. She shuddered and shook her head. "Not something I think I'm all that ready for again."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded. "Well, a human or, maybe like Silver's team. In either case, the effects of the blacklight are pretty disturbin'! Interestin' though, fer sure."

She scratched her cheeks in thought. "We may not have much choice about what we do or don't fight. What're ya used to from yer own world?"

 

[Fusion]

"Oh you know, ferals in dungeons. Ribombees, Shiinotics, Marowak..." Vix tapped where her lips would have been with the tip of her pen. She froze as a chill ran through her body, and her fire briefly flashed red, then dimmed. "G-Golurk. That's about it, n-nothing all that out of the ordinary, you know? But I'm not entirely out of my element here, so I'm fine," she chuckled nervously.

Puddle stayed quiet, for one reason or another.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded. "Well... I only really got some fuzzy memories from Brisa, and she got into a lotta fights back home. Mostly pretty mundane stuff. But in the folktales, the real Luz was supposed to have fought forces of nature and higher legends and come out on top. It kinda... feels weird, havin' t'be part of a team of dozens to take down stuff like Darkwhite."

She eyed Puddle, compared their formlessness to her particularly well-defined and solid body by ultra shade standards.

"You done hatchin'?" she asked, with a cheeky smile. "Seems like you could afford to come outta yer shell a lil' bit, y'know?"

 

[Fusion]

Vix's flame brightened again. "So you are based off of a god! I read about them before, Zeraora. They're supposed to be incredibly fast and even more powerful, and definitely look like both! I always wanted to meet one, well... I always wanted to meet all the gods, hehe."

"I have no idea what's goin' on with me, honestly. I've been eating away at Vix's shade since I was a wee stone, but I'm just a big ol pile o' puddle," two waves shrugged from Vix's bag. "I don't even have a face yet..."

"I'm sure you'll get a face soon enough, Puddle," Vix said with a smile. "Actually... when you do form a body, what am I gonna name you? Puddle won't be as fitting, unless, like... you become a water type."

"I'm already wet enough as it is, don't even joke about me getting wetter."

"But what isn't wet."

Puddle stretched out of Vix's bag, poking her glass face. "We are not having that argument again."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz reached out a paw to shake Vix's 'arm' between a fingerpad and her thumbpad. "I find all folks interestin' t'meet!" she said. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm only so fast and powerful. Gettin' stronger though, that's fer sure."

She cocked her head at Puddle. "Say, partner. D'ya got an inklin' of what kinda pokémon form you'd like to take? Nobody in Vix's head take yer fancy?"

 

[Fusion]

Vix happily shook Luz's paw back. For something essentially made of energy, Luz had rather soft paws. "I wasn't expecting the world outta you yet, I'm still stoked I get to see what a Zeraora looks like in person! My teachers said they went up against one once, and I've honestly been wanting to see one fight myself."

"Vix doesn't know all that many people. Surprising, I know, her lonerism is something she came here with," Puddle rippled. "Besides, none of the few she knows really click with me, if that makes sense. And so far, none of the ones she's studied really do anything for me either."

"I've tried reading about every Pokemon I could, but... I think it's too late for Puddle to pick one from my mind. I heard they could only form into something from my memories or something from myself, so unless Puddle stays a puddle, they'll turn into someone eventually," Vix shrugged.

"Which sucks since I'm already used to being a puddle... This bag is super cozy too."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz laughed. "If'n ya wanna stay a puddle, that oughta be yer right! Sounds like a nice life, gettin' ferried around in a bag like that, though it sure ain't fer me."

Her eyes flashed. "What I'm about is buck-wild experiences! Especially a good battle. Y'fancy a sparrin' match some time, Lampent Vix?"

Vix would probably say no, but why not ask? Pokémon were full of surprises.

 

[Fusion]

"Oh, absolutely!" Vix giggled. Her flame danced excitedly in her head. "I might be a bookworm, but I'm not gonna say no to a fight! My teachers always say the best way to get to know someone is through a fight, and that also just so happens to be the best way to learn about someone too."

"Oh you don't gotta tell me twice! This is great! Sure, not having arms is a bit of a let down, but at least I don't gotta worry about any of me getting tired," Puddle bubbled. "But, well... I dunno. I don't really see myself being like this forever. It's weird, I think."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz trilled with delight. "Well hey, darlin'! I feel just the same way about fightin', same as my gal Brisa. Why don't we have a tussle right here'n now, and y'can show me what yer made of!"

Blue lightning poured over Luz's silhouetted form, and she took up a ready stance for an informal battle, low to the ground with her claws out and electrified. She was positively fearsome! They were sure to have some fun, now!

 

[Fusion]

"That'd be awesome, I've got nothing going on anyway!" Vix pumped her arm and her flame roared in her head, popping her lampshade and hat right off, and only the lampshade landed back on her. If lamps had blood, Vix's would be boiling! "This'll be the first time I've fought a Zeraora! Ahh, I can't believe it!"

"Right, yeah, there wasn't even an investigation," Puddle fizzed. Seeing the hat Vix shot off her head catch fire, Puddle flowed out of Vix's bag to put it out. "We're not even anywhere near the colosseum. So unprofessional."

It was easy to ignore the wet blanket known as Puddle when there was a god standing right in front of her, wanting to actually fight her! This was like, in the top ten things Vix didn't think she'd ever get to do! "My friends back home are gonna be so jealous!" She floated back to put a good amount of space between her and Luz. "I'm ready when you are!"