Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

[Ambyssin]

"Pah. Hero's Aura?" Bahamut's beak clicked. "That was a lie spawned by Dark Matter. He didn't select us specifically. We were just the souls he happened to be able to latch onto."

And of course the question was asked about how bad things were. Bahamut sighed. "My universe is plagued by a version of Eternatus that is far more... malevolent than Eien or whatever your journey's version was." He flicked an upper wing dismissively. "Eternatus is a planet-sized daemon that vaporizes worlds and absorbs their inhabitants into its collective, where they rot for eternity, subject to the whims of other daemons that feed off their souls.

"I traveled to countless planets with life, trying to do good deeds so I could find a home for myself. They all chased me away. And many were then destroyed." Bahamut's head dimmed. "So, I helped to return life to a destroyed planet. But Eternatus attacked my home of Etherium. Corrupted my core so I live without light, in constant pain. My friends sacrificed themselves to seal it. But its corrosive energy is eating the planet away. I can't think of a safe way to dispose of it without destroying Etherium."

He picked some dirt up with his tail. "So, I'm faced with the prospect of sacrificing my home to protect countless worlds I've never even seen before."

 

[Soniclink137]

"Ah...I see." The prospect was something Lucius had to wrap his head around. He wasn't too unused to the idea of an Eternatus corrupting something, Eien was in the Tree of Life back in their version of Cibus and he could only imagine the damage she could have caused if she were malevolent. "Is there no way of extracting your Eternatus from the planet and destroying it? It sounds...powerful, yeah, but it doesn't sound too different from what Dark Matter was on Cibus, or other worlds similar to it. And Dark Matter managed to be destroyed eventually, or at least the Dark Matter from my world isn't around anymore."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Eternatus is sealed in a... pocket of sorts," Bahamut growled. "I already tried destroying it while it was in the pocket. I failed. If it is to be destroyed, the seal must be broken. But doing so may crush Etherium in the process."

 

[Soniclink137]

Lucius wasn't sure why it would be impossible to destroy Eternatus in that pocket, but he figured Bahamut probably had an answer for that question, so he didn't bother. Instead, he tried to think of possibilities.

"Hmm...if it were to be released, is it possible to overwhelm it with sheer numbers, or is it too powerful for that? Does it have any weaknesses that can be exploited? Any magic that it fears? Our Eien was powerful, but she wasn't invincible, so I imagine your Eternatus isn't either."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Eien is small," Bahamut responded. "Eternatus is the size of a planet. Destroying it from within is the only option. But I can't control what it does while I'm inside."

 

[Soniclink137]

"So...what your saying is that you have only a small chance of victory, if that huh?" Lucius asked. He stood there thinking for a moment. "If it's the only way...I don't know if you can do anything else but unseal it and hope against all hope you can destroy it. Otherwise it'll slowly eat everything away anyways. But that's not a...very good answer. The possible loss for doing so...all innocent lives lost." Lucius gave a sigh. "I wish I knew what to say. But I don't. Outside of guesses and possibilities that don't amount to much without being in your situation, I really can't say anything. And I am the last Pokémon in the world who could tell someone not to give up hope."

 

[Ambyssin]

The red and purple in Bahamut's eyes swirled into iris-like circles. "And why is that?"

 

[Soniclink137]

Lucius looked away. "Because I don't have much hope for my situation in my world. I know what I have to do, and I'm going to go forward regardless. Whether I like it or not, I'm one of the few on my world who's able to stop it. But I still can't help but wish that anyone else were in my place. Someone stronger, someone smarter, someone more competent. Someone who just...isn't me."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut leaned toward Lucius. "One of the few means there are others. Which means you're not alone. Which means these others may understand your reservations."

He leaned back. "Besides, if you were successful in stopping your iteration of the blacklight, I don't see why you can't be successful with... whatever it is that's bothering your home world."

 

[Soniclink137]

"I wasn't successful. My team was. And I don't have...all this power in my world." Lucius looked at his paws. "It's funny, actually. I went from losing all my powers from my old world and having to adapt to this new one, to having more power here then I could ever hope to have back home. I'm so much weaker there than I am here, something I see time and time again with enemies that are just...so powerful it's overwhelming. Like, in my world, a group of humans are planning on doing what Soda did. Destroying the world with a laser from the moon. You guys could stop it thanks to your Blacklight powers and there being so many of you. How can four Pokémon without those powers possible hope to do the same?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shrugged. "I know very little about your world and who lives in it, so I cannot give an accurate answer. But if it's anything like this world, there are powerful people you could seek out aid from."

 

[Soniclink137]

"I have, sort of. The Expedition Society of my world is helping out. But the most they can do is help us get to the moon. Once we're there, we're on our own." Lucius took a deep breath. "Sorry. I know it's a dower topic. I'm just...terrified of making a mistake and watching my allies all fall and everything be destroyed."

 

[Ambyssin]

"You can get to them, though." Bahamut's head turned without his body moving. "Which means you can fight. You do have the power to fight, do you not?"

 

[Soniclink137]

Lucius took a moment before nodding. "I...do, yeah. I'm not...entirely powerless in my world."

 

[Ambyssin]

"And what is it that you can do?"

 

[Soniclink137]

"Similar to what I do here, sorta. I'm sturdy so can fight in the front while also being able to create barriers that protect my allies from danger," Lucius waved his paw and a barrier appeared. "Not quite to the level I can here, but it's similar in concept. There's...not much I have beyond that, though. I'm the strongest of my group, but I tend to still get grabbed and dragged around a lot. And despite being sturdy, I tend to fall fast if everything focuses on me."

 

[Ambyssin]

"A burden that often accompanies power, I'm afraid," Bahamut said, bowing his head.

 

[Soniclink137]

"I guess." Lucius sighed. "I suppose it's...well not comforting, but at least nice to know that even a Legendary like you with all the power in the world still struggles with things. Maybe power isn't what I need to focus on after all."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Legendary?" Bahamut shook his head. "That concept doesn't exist where I'm from." He flicked an upper wing. "Regardless, you have a team, so you can focus on complementing one another. Or something."

 

[Soniclink137]

Lucius tilted his head. "The concept of a Legendary doesn't exist in your world? That's...really odd. The concept of a Legendary is everything in my world. That I can draw holy power from Xerneas is only possible because he is a Legendary. What are Pokemon like you called in your world, if not Legendaries?"