Destiny Tower

[Namohysip]

"I'm afraid I do not have many insights anymore," Diyem said. "Eien strikes with charged blasts and they are hard to block. That is all I know..." He sighed. "Then we are ready. Everyone, choose a mount, and then we will be warped to the skies above the... former Sea of Wonders. From there, we shall go into the storm as best we can."

Just as Diyem spoke, there was a distant rumble in the sky that didn't sound like normal thunder. Everyone's expressions seemed to darken slightly.

"We are running out of time."

"Good luck, everyone," Joule said. "I will remain behind as support. Maple and I will communicate as well as we can through badges, assuming the signal goes through. I will observe from afar in case there is anything that may try to flee or interfere."

---​

With arrangements made and everyone situated, Joule and Maple carved a portal through the air, one larger than any they'd made prior. A red, sickening haze poured out from inside, and they wasted no time flying through it. Joule slipped in last, then flew higher to get out of it.

"Good luck!" Joule shouted again, his light a beacon that lasted for only a few seconds as the team flew deeper within. They could hardly see anything, but it was a small mercy that at least parts of the sky were visible, as well as their mapping software in their badges. The eye of the storm was only a few minutes' flight ahead at their speeds. Everything was well lit under the afternoon sun, and the moon provided extra luminosity as well. Convenient.

...Moon?

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut swiveled his head left and right. “And things are officially weird. Took longer than I expected.”

 

[Fusion]

Scrafty's glare fixated on the Moon. Their flame crackled and popped, and a jagged frown cracked along their face. "That goddamn rock..."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa glided in, carried by Echo, who was particularly serious. Determination was painted across the dark Crobats face.

His eyes widened as he took in the sight. Dread filled him, mixed with surprise and a bit of wonder.

"Huh."

Was all he could think to say. Was this even the weirdest thing they'd seen?

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't like the looks of that," Owen said, trying to look up without going off course.

Joule buzzed through the badge. "I do not believe the moon should be in that position at this time of year!"

"No, it shouldn't," Diyem muttered, glancing at Maple, who had shifted to her unleashed form for the purpose of flight. Zacian and Zamazenta were on her back with a few of the others, looking around warily while crouched down. A few of Maple's insectoid legs were being used as harnesses or grappling points so nobody fell.

"We should hurry," Maple said. "Before--"

The sky flashed red. A wave of Eterna electricity ran through the haze, zapping a few of the team painfully. Owen yelped but stayed his course... But more worrisome was that several of the Ultra Shades shrieked even louder. The moon was even brighter. The winds were picking up.

"What--" Diyem snarled. "Hurry! Sword, Shield, dispel this!"

"We're trying!" Zacian shouted back.

"I'm preparing a shield now," Zamazenta called. "Everyone, stay cl--"

More electricity and Zamazenta lost his footing, narrowly caught by Zacian.

A vague, bright shape of Eien shined ahead. The turbulence was starting to knock and jostle everyone around; red tornados blocked the path on all sides. Twisters upon twisters, upheaved terrain, even a few abandoned, scattered buildings from small archipelago settlements.

Another horrible wave struck the team, and this time several were knocked clean off of Owen's, Maple's, and perhaps even Bahamut's backs.

"NO!" Owen cried, diving to catch one of them--Brisa, who had reached for his paw a second too late before the winds carried her form into the haze, gone. "BRISA!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Nrrrgh!" Bahamut spread his wings to stabilize himself better. "This force... it's worse than I imagined!"

Despite this, Bahamut stared directly at what appeared to be Eternatus. "Please, you have to stop this!" The telepathic pulse felt like it was going up against a wall of spikes and needles. "Mewtwo is no longer corrupted. He's free. You can be free. This can be fought!"

 

[Fusion]

"D-Dammit..!" Scrafty gritted their teeth, but for the sake of whoever they were holding, flew strong still.

"G-GAHH!!!" Puddle cried out. It's body hardly held true, dimming and melting off of Scrafty's back, Ultra Stone and all. Towards the storm.

"DAMMIT!" Scrafty growled. They dropped whoever they could off on Maple before jetting for Puddle's stone. Or, wherever they last saw it. "Puddle, where are you?! Puddle?!! PUDDLE!!!"

If anyone tried to stop them, they didn't give a damn to listen.

 

[TheGOAT]

Violence erupted beneath Astrid, planting ideas in her head of what would happen if her Radiance boosters cut off. Some of her friends had wings; she did not, but she’d insisted she do this her way anyhow. The initial approach was beyond stressful, and several times she told herself that this was it, things were getting real now.

Things actually got real when the first wave hit.

Everything within Astrid—the cacophony of energies that composed her very being—went numb. It was nothing like the way she nullified her aura when her corruption got too high. It was nothing like she’d ever felt before. And the pain was the least of her concerns.

Her Radiance petered out. Briefly, she was weightless.

Hhhhhoooooly—

The indescribable dread would did not last; she caught herself, energy back to full in the blink of an eye, and shoved forward through the fog. Okay, for now.

Holy shit! I-I can’t afford another one of those! Where is everyone…?

She looked down, then all around.

There was no one in sight.

—Except Brisa, falling through the storm.

“Brisa!!”

She was close, only seconds away, and Astrid wasted no time. So close. She could grab her. How did she end up falling? It didn’t matter; she had to grab her now.

The storm did not part for her. She had to shove through, but the distance—it was too much. It was futile.

“No!! No, NO!”

She barely caught one last glimpse of Brisa’s fur as she fell further into the red death below. And one of the most helpless feelings she’d ever felt washed over her like a blanket of iron, almost ceasing her flight entirely.

She wobbled in place, hardly under control, hardly able to tell which way was down. “H-help! Someone pl—auuuh, NO!” Tears and pain and frustration. A single punch to the gut left it sinking in like a gaping wound left behind. “NO, NO!!”

How many more had fallen? Why did they charge right into the power-stripping storm! Astrid gaped and hovered in place longer, nowhere to go. No purpose in sight to chase. It couldn’t have been that easy to beat them, no fucking way. After everything. She would not entertain that. There was no way. Absolutely not. Not after everything. ”NO! Not after everything!!”

Another blast of energy, and Astrid was weightless again. She barely noticed. The numbness was all-encompassing this time, and she knew she could not defeat it even if she had the will to try. So, she shut her eyes and left it up to fate. Fuck it.

“Guess I couldn’t grab you this time either, huh,” she whispered into the void, allowing herself a pointless, empty smile. “Bad at that…”

Gravity decided things from there.

 

[Namohysip]

The storm overwhelmed them all. Twisters and gusts blew everyone apart from each other, almost like it was coordinated. The moon shined high above, but never fired, if it had planned to. Or perhaps it was waiting for something else, anything else... But it was like a great, white eye observing their scatter.

Amid the screams, more electricity ran through the cores of the Ultra Shades, leaving cracks and glowing marks all throughout, a knifelike pain twisting through each one. Even worse, their minds felt muddled, a strange madness overtaking them even as their hosts clutched them by their side or tried to salvage what little they had left in their freefall.

Maple's shouts were not answered; Diyem reached for any of them, but found none.

The storm took them all.

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

The moon was almost fully restored. Everyone was antsy, because they knew what that meant. Time was short. They weren't sure if the research and planning would finish first, or if Soda would. Thankfully, however, Pop seemed to be on top of things... and soon, he sent a message for everyone to gather at Destiny Tower.

But as it turned out, there were significantly more people than expected gathered around there. Bean, Balm, Cepa, Cresselia, and even Giovanni had turned up early; Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem were all present as well, along with the Creation Trio. Diyem stood by Maple; behind them, Eien and Joule greeted the incoming Team Spectrum.

"Then, this is it?" Owen asked, all supplied up. "How are we getting to the moon?"

"We found a way to swiftly warp you there," Joule said. "Eien and I can combine our powers to get you almost directly to the surface. Pop can also surround you in divine light so you can properly survive in space for a time, for those who need it. To conserve energy, some of you will not get such protections." He nodded at Bahamut.

"While this is happening," Pop said, "I am going to be making a speech to... rally the world for what's to come. The moon is already starting to shift toward Cibus; we are running out of time. We aren't done planning yet, but we must make our move now with what we can do."

"Moving toward us?" Owen asked, glancing at the sky.

Indeed, it was getting a little bigger... And Owen remembered reading about the tides rising higher than normal, too.

 

[Fusion]

"Do we, uh, know anythin' about what we're headin' into?" Drake asked, looking up at the big, kinda-still-broken rock in space. He glanced back at Vix, who looked like she didn't want to look at it at all. Probably explains why she took her eyes off and shoved them into her bag. "...Why?"

"Because."

"You're not gonna tell me, huh?"

"Because."

Drake sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah alright."

 

[Ambyssin]

"What about getting split up?" Polaris rubbed the side of its head with a pom-pom. "I think if we're heading for a Zerg rush of unown, we should assume we're gonna get split up."

"Yes, quite." Bahamut tucked his head. "Along those lines, I wanted to offer a piece of advice to anyone who's firmly in camp 'we can save the genocidal zoroark if we friendship hard enough.'" He balled an upper wing and mimed coughing into it, though he had no throat to clear. "Underthink his situation."

Polaris tilted itself. "I don't follow."

"If there's a parasite, it's feeding off such a convoluted web of entangled and warped memories that if I were to sift through things as a psychic I'd probably end up comatose for a month," Bahamut elaborated. "So, rather than trying to talk about Soda's past, just talk about literally anything else."

Polaris' eyes sparkled. "Can we talk about sportsball? He seems like a sportsball guy."

Bahamut facepalmed, but quickly collected himself. "Also, from what I know and read about unown, they have hive mind tendencies. If we keep our thoughts and actions simple -- instinctual, even -- there's a chance we could get the unown to flip sides. So, try to keep your dramatic speeches and internal monologues to a minimum." He looked at Pop. "That especially goes for you and your fence."

Polaris bobbed over to Diyem. "Y'think if we brought some booze with us we could use it to placate Soda?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Soda may not answer to logic any longer," Pop agreed. "Emotion, pure emotion, and perhaps simple cries and calls will be the best we can hope for until the situation changes. Additionally... I have been told that the Substitutes here are willing to assist as well. They will be accompanying you and, if needed, will stun Soda with Substitute Shock. It will buy you precious seconds, if it is ever necessary. You only have to call to them. They drew straws. The order will be Blue, Yellow, and then Green."

 

[Ambyssin]

“Notorious BYG,” Polaris quipped.

 

[Fusion]

"...Did... did you misspell or mis-say big?" Drake blinked.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem frowned, shaking his head. "In any case," he pressed, "that means that once we are all prepared, we will be leaving for the moon immediately. Pop... If you would."

"Of course." Pop looked toward Dialga and his team; then, he looked to Zekrom and hers.

"...And what're you doing here?" Owen asked Giovanni.

"Hm." The Lunala looked skyward. "I am going to try to hold the moon back. Slow its path... I suppose it's the least I could do to keep Cibus alive. I'm going for a fresh start."

Nobody, not even Owen, believed that. But Giovanni stood by it, smirking.

"We'll keep an eye on him," Maple assured the team.

Pop murmured into his badge--some sort of affirmative--and then disappeared, leaving Cola behind.

"Um--and good luck!" Cola said. "I get the feeling that... if you guys didn't do what you did, all of you, then... Pop might not be here right now. I might not be here. A lot of people might not have been here..."

Zacian and Zamazenta approached next from behind--apparently, Zacian had slept in--and nodded good luck to them, too.

"None of us can really come with you guys," Zacian said. "Pop has to concentrate his power as much as he can on you and Diyem. Eien, are you...?"

"Not recovered enough," Eien admitted. "But I've channeled as much energy as I could into Diyem. That should help even out your auras against whatever Eterna disruptions Soda has; you won't have to deal with that again."

"Then it'll just be Team Spectrum for this," Owen summarized, nodding firmly. "Diyem?"

"As the conduit between Pop and you all for providing Divine energy, I will not be fighting directly by your side. Consider this... much like your first missions here." Diyem smiled wryly. "I'm sure you'll do fine with me taking up support."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave hadn’t slept much. Again.

He listened to the debriefing, silent, until Pop brought up the Substitutes. “Excuse me, what? They’re coming along? Doesn’t that risk them, you know, just getting hit by a stray attack? All just fucking moonquaked into oblivion at the same time, before we get to make any strategic decisions about whether it’s necessary or a good time for it?”

 

[Namohysip]

"They will be under my care," Diyem said. "I do not think they will be in danger so long as you keep up the pressure on Soda."

"We weighed the risks," Green said to Dave. "Yeah, a stray attack might get us if we aren't careful, but if we don't come with you, we won't be able to put our stun plan into motion the right way. And if we gotta risk that... so be it."

"We're gonna die anyway," Yellow added. "With three of us, I think you'll get some leeway."

"Not that I plan on dying," Blue added with a growl. "...On his terms, at least."

"Wouldn't that be... your terms, too?" Owen asked.

"Shaddap!" they all said.

 

[Flyg0n]

This was it. Maybe their final mission. Save all of Cibus from
...
A deranged mon who wanted to rewrite the universe. To fix it. He shuddered.

Nearby, Echo gave him a quick pat with one of his wings.

No time for doubts now.

"Guess we won't really know what to expect until we get there, huh?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa felt Luz's paw on her shoulder.

We've never lost before.​

There's a first time for everythin'.​

Sure, but y'might as well say that of any of the sorry sorts we've beaten.​

...Y'got me there, partner.​

Brisa looked around at the rest of the team and put on a brave face. All of them had stuck it out through this grand mission, so much larger than they ever might have expected, and she was proud of every one of them for that.

...Was it already nearly over?