Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Virgil134]

"H-Huh?! Of course I am!" Cabot replied. "I fight to reunite the Empire and keep it safe! How's that not good a cause?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Empire." Bahamut clasped his lower wings together. "Perhaps such a phrase holds a different connotation on your planet. Where I'm from, an empire refers to several territories living under the rule of a single authority figure." He shook his head. "And I do not believe that such power should be in the hands of one or two individuals."

Again, Bahamut brought his head down so he was close to eye level with Cabot. "Have you ever thought about why you live in an empire in the first place? It can't have magically sprouted up from nothing. At some point in history... someone had to have conquered the lands your team claims to protect." His tone remained even. Less judgmental and more... casually spouting hypotheses. "And you claim you're fighting to 'reunite.' Which means that, surely, there were folks who were quite unhappy with the way they were treated... and chose to rebel. Are you saying, then, that your bosses know what's best for them? That you will force them to be ruled over by your leader once again? Can you say with absolute certainty that that is for the best?"

 

[Virgil134]

"But Anyilla wasn't conquered, it was founded by one of the legendary heroes who brought peace and prevented my world from being destroyed even more," Cabot protested. "Everyone was happy when King Aquila became king, so why shouldn't his descendants still rule the Empire? I even met Queen Aleria and she's super nice!"

The Cranidos paused a moment as he thought about how to respond to the next part. "And... those Pokémon that rebelled, the Company, only did that because they're bad and power hungry! They literally betrayed the Empire and took over half of Anyilla, and all they do is make the 'mons that live under them miserable, so of course defeating them is for the best! Everyone will be happy once that happens."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I have heard such an idea many times... including on Etherium itself." Bahamut didn't budge an inch. He offered Cabot no real indication how he was feeling. Just his usual pensive gaze. Difficult to discern with his lack of pupils and different colors bubbling around. "Then answer me this, my little solider: have you and your shipmates ever come across anyone who was... mistreated by this empire you serve?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot opened his mouth to answer with a reflexive 'Of course not!', only to catch himself. One could certainly argue that hunting down Pleo and dragging him off to Giotto counted as mistreating him, especially with how miserable Pleo was during his stay... But, he also befriended Pleo and eventually convinced Nagant to let him go when they found him again on Haipheh. Surely none of that would have been possible if the Empire was bad.

Besides, they let Pleo's friends go free when they got to Giotto, which is certainly something the Company would not have done. They probably would have just shipped them off to Nagrobek, but instead Pleo's friends got to see the best city in all of Anyilla! Not to mention that the Company's trying to kidnap Pleo so they can use him as a weapon, whereas he and the rest of the crew only took him to Giotto in order to save him from them. With how negative Bahamut always is, does all of that really count for his definition of mistreatment?

"N-No. Nothing that didn't work out in the end."

 

[Ambyssin]

"You hesitated quite a bit there, little one. And that stuttering..." He leaned closer to Cabot. His beak pushed against the cranidos' head. "Could it be... that you were trying to justify heinous actions to yourself? Actions that you personally disagreed with... but went through with anyway?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot took a step backwards when Bahamut's beak pushed up against his head.

"That's not..."

He hesitated again, before shaking his head and glaring up at Bahamut.

"No, I said it was fine!" Cabot huffed. "And why do you suddenly care so much anyway?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut bowed his head slightly. "You told me not to give up on my world, right? What if I told you that the only way to ensure Etherium's survival would be to free Eternatus? It would extinguish all life on the planet... but the planet itself would survive, allowing the cycle of life to begin anew. If it remains anchored, it will rip the planet apart from its core." He uncoiled and floated on the surface of the water. "If you're getting so defensive about me raising the possibility your actions as a soldier might not be altruistic... how do you expect me to be able to make a choice between sacrificing everyone for the sake of the planet... and watching it crumble away?"

 

[Virgil134]

"Wha..."

Cabot gave Bahamut a blank stare, unsure what to say for a moment, before speaking back up.

"But there's no way that those are your only choices!" he replied. "You said there were kingdoms in your world right? Why don't you try to convince their leaders to fight Eternatus with you? That way everyone can prepare to fight Eternatus together, and then once everyone is ready you release it and take it out."

The Cranidos paused briefly as another idea came to mind. "Or what about Diyem? Maybe you can even ask him for help! If he's willing to send us to save Cibus, surely he'd be willing to do the same for your world if things are that bad."

 

[Ambyssin]

It seemed that the little cranidos had selective hearing. "As I told you... those who are in power would rather the populace remain blissfully ignorant than face their grim reality." Bahamut turned toward the sea. "Likewise, even if His Darkness sent you all to Etherium with his protections... you would all still fall to Eternatus' corrosive energy. It is a beast that defies nature. Besides... even if it could be killed, doing so in such close proximity to Etherium would guarantee the planet's destruction anyway."

Still hovering a few centimeters above the ocean's surface, Bahamut curled both sets of wings up. "Having spoken with the stars... I believe I know why the summons for Cibus reached me. His Darkness wants me here because he knows that a sinful creature like me has the killer instinct needed to make the difficult decisions should things come to that." He shook his head. "Regardless who's responsible for this — Darkwhite or the alternate Dark Matter or Eternatus — we may very well have to kill them in order to ensure Cibus' safety. But I'll bet our boss thinks the bulk of the team is incapable of that. That they will instead try to talk things out... or reach some sort of understanding.

"But a creature like Darkwhite does not listen to reason. Each encounter... our words have failed to sway her." He traced his tail along the water. "So, if worst comes to worst, I will bear the burden of sin so no one else has to."

 

[Virgil134]

It seemed that the little cranidos had selective hearing. "As I told you... those who are in power would rather the populace remain blissfully ignorant than face their grim reality." Bahamut turned toward the sea. "Likewise, even if His Darkness sent you all to Etherium with his protections... you would all still fall to Eternatus' corrosive energy. It is a beast that defies nature. Besides... even if it could be killed, doing so in such close proximity to Etherium would guarantee the planet's destruction anyway."

"Well, how do you know for sure that they wouldn't listen to you?" Cabot asked. "You said it's been a thousand years, but you also said that you spend most of it wandering around the Distortion on your planet. Have you ever tried talking to the 'mons who are in charge right now? And if we save Cibus by defeating Eternatus, why wouldn't we be able to do the same with the one in your world?"

Still hovering a few centimeters above the ocean's surface, Bahamut curled both sets of wings up. "Having spoken with the stars... I believe I know why the summons for Cibus reached me. His Darkness wants me here because he knows that a sinful creature like me has the killer instinct needed to make the difficult decisions should things come to that." He shook his head. "Regardless who's responsible for this — Darkwhite or the alternate Dark Matter or Eternatus — we may very well have to kill them in order to ensure Cibus' safety. But I'll bet our boss thinks the bulk of the team is incapable of that. That they will instead try to talk things out... or reach some sort of understanding.

"But a creature like Darkwhite does not listen to reason. Each encounter... our words have failed to sway her." He traced his tail along the water. "So, if worst comes to worst, I will bear the burden of sin so no one else has to."

"What... are you talking about? Stars aren't alive and can't talk to you," Cabot said, frowning slightly. "Look, if Eternatus is behind all of this and it really does act on instinct alone then... I guess I can understand why killing it might be needed. But you can't outright say the same about Darkwhite or another Dark Matter. Darkwhite could be like the possessed Pokémon we've seen so far. Maybe something has driven her mad and instead of killing her we can save her. And if it's another Dark Matter... well, just look at Diyem. Everyone can change and it's probably not thinking clearly right now."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I was a star once, little one," Bahamut chided, flicking a small amount of water in Cabot's direction. "It's only natural I'd want to speak with my brethren." It was pointless continuing to reason with this cranidos. "It's clear to me that the eternatus here and the one home are two very different beings. Otherwise, we would see one of its five heads bearing down on us from the heavens. Furthermore, our boss admitted that he was destroyed. The fact that he is guiding us suggests that some sort of outside phenomenon must have reassembled him to attempt some sort of rehabilitation."

He shook his head. "I do not expect you to understand where I'm coming from. You are young. You are pure. And, of course, you will forget all of this the moment we part ways. Your empire will return to being your concern."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot flinched from the water hitting him, prompting him to glare back at Bahamut. "But, the only reason Diyem is like this is because he was accepted for what he was. That's not the same as outright killing him, which is what you're suggesting for this other Dark Matter."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shrugged. "Then we will accept this alternate Dark Matter for what it is. Maybe our boss could absorb it into his own consciousness."

 

[Virgil134]

"Wh- That's not what I meant at all! You don't befriend someone by absorbing him."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Accepting a Dark Matter does not mean you're befriending them," Bahamut said. "Look at our boss. Even though no one aside from the plant is giving him grief over his secret, I do not think you'd find many folks calling him their friend. Perhaps you and Owen. But you two share the same beliefs that everything will work out for the best if you believe and hope hard enough."

 

[Virgil134]

"I know accepting it doesn't mean that, but it's still possible afterwards," Cabot insisted, crossing his arms.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I prefer not to take such chances. However, we are interlopers in this world." Bahamut cracked another grin. "Perhaps I'll just leave decisions like that to the actual inhabitants of this planet."

 

[Virgil134]

"Well, maybe, but it also means that there's no reason to already talk about killing anyone."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I only brought it up because our fearless leader offered similar sentiments when I figured out his true identity." Bahamut chuckled. "If you have a problem with it, perhaps you should take it up with him?"