Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Path of Valor

[Gyeig]

Review of chapters 5 and 6​

Spoiler

Alright, let’s give this another go, then. Two chapters this time so I have something substantial to talk about.

So before picking up this fic again, I went back and reread my previous review to get back up to speed - I’m playing it safe after my initial encounter with PoV back in 2022. At this point, I’m… mostly aware of what’s going on, though there belongs a question mark at the end of that statement.

That’s a good segway into the first point, which is that I feel like the overarching narrative and what Yuna’s up to aren’t particularly well connected at the moment. It doesn’t necessarily have to be, but I feel like anything to do with Dynamaxing or the state of the world is written in such a way that it assumes the reader already knows all of the background information, or even who these characters are deep down and what their motivations are. That might be interesting for rereads if you’re really into this fic and want to experience it in a new light, but it’s hard for a newcomer to piece all of this together.

That said, I did enjoy Yuna, Nikki, Chiaki, and the whole Crowne Cup segment in Chapter 5 quite a bit. It’s paced well, the characters are clear, develop nicely and don’t feel super out there. These are the highlights of the fic for me. In fact, I feel like they would have an interesting perspective on ongoing events. Like the school cook getting Dynamaxed, for example. How would students react to that?

Alright, I’m keeping my commentary limited here. I do feel like these chapters did improve on the first few by a bit, but I’m still pretty cautious about this fic overall. There were still times where the amount of worldbuilding in a scene was so high that I had to read back a few times just to clear up what was happening - something that isn’t made easier by the amount of characters introduced already. But hey, that’s just me.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Heya Ambee. This is my first actual review for this fic in quite a while despite binging 20+ chapters straight not too long ago haha. I’ll be reading Ch54 for this one so here we gooooo.

This chapter continues from the aftermath of Paradox’s attack on LEGO CITY Etherium which blew up in his face and Yuna learning about her true origins, which she did not take well. Can anyone blame her for that really?

The first scene begins with our new resident femboy, Igneous, grabbing some berries and having a quick chat with Valkyrie along the way. I love how everyone immediately notices his cosmetic changes lol, not like it was something he could even hide to begin with.

When Nikki and Scarlett finally had their talk it made me a bit sad to see them have a falling out. It really showed how Scarlett allowed her insecurities to get the better of her and would’ve probably kept procrastinating on telling Nikki the truth had she not been thrown into this mess. I felt bad for Igneous too lmao for how awkward he was in the middle of it. At least he managed to escape being punched in the face by a Toxtricity. He even got hit by the ‘you knew this all along! >:(‘ trope.

Following that, we got to watch Yuna and Nikki get their first taste of alcohol! Or at least it’s Yuna’s first time lol. I didn’t expect her to be a giggly drunk, but it matches up with her character. That aside, this was a pretty nice scene to read through. After all the madness they’ve experienced in such a short timeframe, a break like this was just what they needed. Their bonds are now strengthened as are their goals to save the universe. I hope Yuna doesn’t get weighed down by the inevitable hangover in the morning though.

Overall, I really enjoyed this chapter. It was really good getting back into this story again. So many enjoyable characters all around.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 90: Secret Herbrides and Spices​

"Seriously?"

Tessa looked at the paper that Nickie nudged across the floor to her. It had crude doodles of spiked rings.

"Yeah!" Nickie's tails wagged asynchronously. "Look, this bandanna you leant me is nice. But it's not my style." She nudged at the blue cloth with her snout.

"Not your... style?" Tessa picked up the paper. "So you'd rather wear—"

"Spiked collars and anklets!" Nickie's tails wagged faster. "I had spiked wristbands back home. They were great. I'd love something like that here." Her eyes sparkled. "And then maybe I can grow out my hair so it covers up one of my eyes a bit. Gimme that 'heartthrob' look." She swished her tails to the side and stuck a foreleg out in a pose accentuated by the sparkling of her icy pelt.

Tessa blinked. "Huh."

The vulpix frowned. "Something wrong?"

"I guess I... thought you'd go for softer accessories."

"Oh." Nickie's ears folded. "Well, I—" She brushed her forelegs together. "Now that you know the truth I thought... I could be more of my, y'know, authentic self around you."

"Hmm?" The realization set in a moment later for the riolu. "Ah!"

She lightly hit her head a few times. "Stupid, stupid!" Tessa folded up the paper. "Of course you should do that."

"Then you'll help me find a place that sells these?" Nickie regained her earlier enthusiasm.

"Totally."

"And maybe some fur dye?" Nickie looked back at her right flank. "I was thinking some pinks and purples..."

Tessa walked over and slung an arm around Nickie. "I'm sure we've got the funds for it."

XxX​

As the name implied, Herbrides' Hilltop Mall sat on a decently sized hill toward the center of the city. The entrance offered a view of grain and wheat fields beyond city limits, along with the rows of tan-colored buildings fanning out in all directions.

Inside, however, the white floor was so pristine that Yuna could see an outline of her reflection. Though the dragapult had to admit she liked how the floor sparkled under the sunlight spilling in through the mall's glass roof.

"So, what d'ya think, Princess?"

Nikki clapped Yuna on the back as she passed her by. The toxtricity ran a hand along the top of a neat, rectangular bush planted in a pot in the middle of the floor.

"It's, um, something?" Yuna waited until Igneous walked past before continuing forward. She glanced over her shoulder. Scarlett had on some sort of cloak to hide her face, while Shimmer was disguised as a fire-type ponyta.

Truthfully, she still wasn't sure why Nikki insisted on dragging her here. The whole reason part of the resistance was in Herbrides was to sweep the city itself. Cid mentioned something about the distortion that swallowed up Tulpise spreading south, and that was all Seifer needed to demand they move out.

"You don't really think the empire's going to spawn in this mall, do you?" Yuna wondered, keeping her voice down. Plenty of folks were heading in both directions. A fact that Shimmer and Scarlett both seemed spooked by.

"Of course not." Nikki adjusted her leather jacket. "But we needed a change of scenery." She walked backward. "C'mon. A week of nothing but artificial light and Cyril's dumb outpost is so boring."

"I guess." Yuna did find the natural sunlight refreshing after another week of mind-numbing training exercises. "Though we could get sunlight outside, too."

"Sure, sure." Nikki dismissed her with a wave. "But then we wouldn't get to take you to your first mall!"

This was about Yuna? The dragapult's head swiveled left and right. There were glass windows with two and four-legged mannequins draped in cloaks and jackets. One store displayed wooden shelves lined with trays of assorted baked goods. The store next to it had big glass containers full of wrapped candies and chocolates.

It was kind of like the market in Saint Zygardesberg. Except the shops were stacked into multiple floors instead of lining a single street.

"Wait a tic," Reshiram piped up. "How are you supposed to buy anything? You don't have any radians on you."

Yuna passed that concern along to Nikki. The toxtricity snickered. She flicked her right hand out. A tiny plastic rectangle popped up between her fingers.

"Since when do you have a credit card?" Scarlett slithered past Nikki, stopping by a fountain and eyeing the marble primarina statue spitting up water. The brionne scattered along the fountain's rim also spat water. And were those coins glistening on the floor?

It was weird, yet Yuna found all the sparkling coins and rippling water relaxing. She could've stared at the bottom of the fountain all day, but Nikki's voice caught her attention.

"Since I swiped it outta lover boy's hair." Nikki stuck her hands up by her mohawk and wiggled her fingers while making a kissy face.

Arms crossed, Igneous rested against one of the stone brionne. "And what happens when Cyril realizes he has a bunch of new charges on his credit card?"

"Nothing." Nikki tucked the card back into a small, zippered pocket on her jacket. In a hushed voice, she added, "Dude illegally mints his own radians. He won't care."

Igneous' brows twitched in irritation while Nikki continued past the fountain. Gulping, Yuna followed.

"At least it's better than outright shoplifting?" she offered with a nervous smile.

"Niiice. Looking at the bright side." Shaymin nodded his tiny head in her subconscious. "I dig it. Say, they got any good eats around here?"

What does it matter? You're a spirit! Groaning, Yuna shoved the Sages out of her head. "So, what exactly are we going to do here? I'm not, like, looking to buy food or clothes."

"No duh." Nikki picked up the pace. "C'mon. Map said it's back here on the third floor." The toxtricity pointed toward a moving staircase in the far distance. She pushed her way past an older simipour and simisage. "Stand aside, geezers!"

Yuna muttered an apology as she floated after Nikki. She swerved past an inteleon, whose sobble child on their shoulder promptly began crying and turned invisible. She weaved under the large frames of a couple of garganacle, nearly crashing into a painting canvas with a smeargle sitting beside it. Yuna floated ahead, flashing Smeargle a nervous grin. They shook their head and returned to... painting a portrait of a plusle and minun couple sitting on a stool next to the canvas and holding hands.

Why is this so... nostalgic?

"Because of thine market trips back home?" Rayquaza wondered.

Maybe? The market did bustle, yes. But the ash choking the skies over Saint Zygardesberg made it tough to appreciate her time there.

"Perhaps it's Giratina's memories, then."

Reshiram's thought sent a chill down Yuna's ectoplasm. She barely avoided an elderly espathra moving much slower than surrounding foot traffic. For a moment, the pristine white floors turned to a dirt road. Instead of a toxtricity shoving people aside, a familiar black-haired girl waved Yuna over before jogging down the dirt road toward a small wooden building with some sort of toolbox outside it.

"Let's craft some smoke balls together! They'll totally help us look for the pokémon causing those storms!"

"Keep up, Yuna!"

Scarlett's voice snapped the dragapult to attention. Nikki was already heading up the escalator, with Igneous and the dragonair about to get on.

"Sorry!" Yuna squeaked. She decided to fly higher up, over everyone else, to keep pace with the others.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Reshiram cut in.

Yeah, sure. But Nikki said we're here to have fun. Yuna reached Igneous and Scarlett. So drop it, okay?

Sighing, Reshiram retreated from her mind. Yuna hovered up the escalator. The others got off at the third floor. Nikki walked a few meters away, toward a flashing neon "GAME BUSTERS ARCADE" sign above open glass doors. She stood with her hands proudly on her hips.

"Seriously?!" Igneous' head leaf and tails simmered. "You dragged us here for a damn arcade? We're not a pack of kids, you know."

"Oh, step off your high rapidash." Not turning around, Nikki waved the grovlazzle off. "You're never too old to let your inner child out for a spell. Think of it like a team-building exercise."

She finally looked over her shoulder. "Speaking of high rapidash, where's Pillow Prince?"

Yuna's eyes widened. Right, Shimmer. He was with them before. What happened?

"Tch." Igneous crossed his arms. "Right when you ran off, he said Demerzel contacted him. So, he left."

Scarlett frowned. "I thought Gene had gotten rid of that whole connection."

"He kept a part of it." Igneous pinched his brow in annoyance. "He still wants to keep tabs on his mothers, apparently. Tried to tell him it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen."

So, the ponytales was off to meet with Demerzel, then? That was... not going to bite them, was it? The look in Igneous' eyes suggested it wouldn't, but it made Yuna nervous anyway.

"Well, forget him." Nikki stepped toward the others, rubbing her hands together. "This evens things out perfectly."

"For what?" Scarlett wondered, looking between Nikki and the arcade. Though the door was open, it was quite dark on the other side.

"For a little two-on-two air hockey action." Nikki punched the air while her mohawk flared up with excitement. "Since Princess has to learn the ropes, I'll take her. And you two can be together." A wry grin spread over her face. "Y'know, since you've been spending soooo much time together~"

Igneous' head leaf caught fire, which he immediately snuffed out. "Why should you get decide?"

"Aww, what's the matter?" Nikki was at Igneous side in an instant. She noogied his head. "Afraid of getting your ass kicked in a friendly competition?"

"Knock it off!" Igneous shoved her away. "The teams are—"

Scarlett's tail wrapped around the grovlazzle's leg. "You don't have a problem with me not having limbs, do you?"

The simmering returned to his head leaf. "N-Not at all." Igneous clenched his fist. "We can... kick their asses just fine."

Nikki's grin widened. "Now that's the spirit! C'mon!"

Before Yuna could say anything, Nikki had her by the arm and was running for the arcade entrance.

XxX​

Herbrides. Why did it have to spread toward Herbrides? was all Seifer could think to himself as he walked along a side street. Cyril was beside him, in the guise of a dark-type zoroark. He held a small rectangular radar.

"Still nothing." Cyril tapped the screen with an illusory red claw. He shifted his weight mid-step. "All clear on the ground to the west. We'll keep going clockwise."

"Understood," Widget said through the X-transceiver line. "We're good, too."

Seifer quickened his pace. The tan roads and tan buildings could practically melt together.

"Y'know, never did get why so many houses on the outskirts are circular," Cyril said, taking his eyes off his radar and casually moving ahead. "Makes 'em look a bit like bunkers."

"Simulates the hills," Artemis responded. He was slithering a few paces back of them, sticking his head up. Enjoy the cool breeze, perhaps? The air was rather stuffy in the outpost. "At least, I think it does," the milotic mumbled.

"And people actually pay decent money for these?" Cyril walked past a couple of the domed houses, eyeing them skeptically. A dolliv tending to a small petunia garden in front of their house shot the zoroark a nasty look.

"Ah-ha, whoops." Cyril rubbed his fake red hair. "Might've gotten a bit too loud."

Seifer locked eyes with Dolliv. Their eyes instantly widened. Seifer started walking faster.

"Oh, Commander Seifer! Lovely to see you again!" Dolliv waved.

"Move," Seifer hissed to Cyril in a whisper. Putting on the fakest smile he could muster, he turned and waved a forehoof to Dolliv. "Good morning, Tunie. Your garden's still as radiant as ever. Apologies I can't chat. I'm on the clock."

Ignoring Artemis' bewildered expression, the keldeo hoofed it forward. A granbull and an alcremie with two milcery children playing together in a fenced yard looked over and waved. Seifer nodded respectfully, continuing forward.

"What's the rush, Seif?" Cyril said, breaking into a jog to keep pace with Seifer's trot. "Where's the fire?"

"We have to find somewhere hidden." Seifer's eyes darted around. These people weren't supposed to be home! They should've been out and about on a nice morning like this!

"Heeeeey!" Artemis sounded annoyed. "C'mon, you're both faster than me on the ground!"

Seifer turned left toward a dustier road. A minute of trotting would reach city limits. The homes here were spaced apart, but there was a grass wall dividing them. It was good enough cover.

"I need an illusion," the keldeo said.

Cyril caught up with him. "Ser... iously?" He hunched over, taking deep breaths. "Thought we had this discussion earlier."

"That was before I realized where in this city Gene sent us." Seifer shrank back nervously. "My family's got a vacation home in this neighborhood. People aren't recognizing me because of my old position. They're neighbors."

Eyes widening, Cyril stood up. "Ohhhh." Then his shock turned to annoyance. "Well, why didn't you mention that before? I could've told Boss Kitty not to send us here."

"We were in a bit of a hurry and it's a big city," Seifer mumbled.

"Then forget it." Cyril put his hands on his hips. "Boss Kitty, you there? Change of plans. You've gotta cover the ground here."

"It might be too late for that."

Seifer jumped at Artemis' voice. The milotic pointed a ribbon back. "There's a cobalion and terrakion heading this way." His eyebrows drooped. "Your uncle and father, if I'm remembering right."

The keldeo's blood ran cold. He shot Cyril a pleading look. Sighing, the zoroark snapped his fake red claws. Blue light surrounded Seifer. It faded to reveal a fairy rapidash guise.

"Okay," Seifer whispered. "Now we continue on like nothing—"

"Oi, you three! What's going on over there?"

Terrakion's sharp voice drew the trio's gazes. Seifer's heart leaped into his chest as Terrakion and Cobalion marched toward them. Deep breaths. He had Cyril's illusion. And the zoroark had proven himself a capable liar on many occasions.

"Just out for a stroll." Cyril stretched his arms up. "My friend here wanted to grab a photo by this grass wall." He slung an arm over a startled Artemis' horn. "He's from Venish. Never left the place before that whole insanity." Cyril lazily traced a circle with an index claw.

"Quiet, you!" Terrakion stomped a forehoof down. The dirt shifted under everyone's feet. "This ain't some touristy loitering spot, Zoroark. Whatever you're up to, better fess up."

Seifer's breaths came in short gasps. His uncle never was the patient type. Had he really seen through Cyril's lie?

For his part, the zoroark rested his hands behind his mane. "It's also not some restricted area, bud."

"Bud? Do I look like your cellmate?" Terrakion's eyes narrowed. "It's Greyson. Commander Greyson."

Wait, what? Oh, if only Seifer had real psychic power. He could reach out to Cyril telepathically. Because something was wrong. Greyson was a retired Stoutland Yard chief. He never worked for the Radiant Guard.

"That so? My bad." Cyril raised his hands innocently. The small smile on his face betrayed the tense look in his eyes. "Don't keep up much with the news. Wasn't aware Her Eminence had named a new commander."

"Two new commanders." Greyson jerked his head in Cobalion's direction. "Or, one new and one returning. Picking up the pieces from that useless waste of space that got the boot."

The fake rapidash did his best not to flinch. Seifer's father and uncle were his replacements? Of course. Why look for new blood when Isola could just turn to Seifer's family? If she truly was some nefarious body snatcher, it would even let her keep a close eye on them just in case.

What was Seifer supposed to do here? He had to say something before this got out of hand. "A-Apologies. We actually got a bit, um, turned around." Seifer stepped to Cyril's side. "And my friend's too proud to ask for directions."

"Fat chance," Greyson scoffed.

Cobalion wrinkled his nose. "Agreed. Something reeks about this. No sane fairy would pal around with some lying, low-life zoroark."

Seifer suppressed a wince. Memories of his father cursing out assorted species at the dinner table flickered through his head.

"Excuse me?" Cyril growled. He kept his expression as neutral as possible. "I'm not looking for trouble, dude."

"That's Commander Tobias, you ruffian." Cobalion stood up straight, as if to emphasize the half meter of height he had over Cyril.

"Uh-huh." Cyril's tone somehow stayed even. "Well, I hate to disappoint, but this 'lying low-life' is nothing but a humble mechanic."

"Then what's a grease mankey doing out in the nice part of Herbrides, huh?" Greyson said. Red energy sparked around the terrakion's forehead. "I say we take 'em all in for questioning."

"I wanted to make a day trip here with my boyfriend." Cyril put his hand on Seifer's back. The fake rapidash almost lost his composure. What was the zoroark thinking outing their relationship? If anything broke Seifer's illusion...

"And I've been living with him since the attack on Venish." Artemis tapped the ground by Cyril's feet with his tailfins. "So, I'm third-wheeling."

Greyson eyed the milotic with a look of disgust. "I ain't buying it. You?"

Tobias shook his head. "As I said, no decent milotic or rapidash would slum it with a zoroark." The cobalion's eyes narrowed. "Much less court one."

For a moment, Seifer thought there was genuine hurt in Cyril's eyes. But he quickly masked it with his stoic expression. "So, what, you're bringing me to a station because I'm a zoroark?"

"No." Tobias rolled his eyes. "Because you're a zoroark looking and acting suspicious. And these two are clearly accomplices. Now, quiet down and start walking. Or do I have to slap a muzzle on you, runt?"

However, before anyone had the chance to respond, Seifer caught a streak of orange out of the corner of his eye. "Down!" he screamed, shoving Cyril to the ground. A giant fireball struck the dome-shaped house to their right, blowing the roof open. Rubble struck a blue Protect shield that spilled out from Seifer's horn in the nick of time.

... His black, ridged prosthetic horn.

Seifer's eyes slowly widened.

"S-Seifer?!" Tobias gasped. The keldeo glanced back to see Artemis coiled around a dazed Cyril. His illusions had failed, leaving his cosmic fur on full display.

"What is the meaning of this, boy?" Greyson said.

"More fire!" Artemis shouted. Though he spat streams of water, they couldn't stand up against the fireballs. They struck other domed houses. Screams rang out. Two gogoat and several skiddo ran out of one building, while a tropius and fidough sprinted out of another.

"What did you do?" Tobias bellowed, leveling his glowing Sacred Sword at the trio.

Bells rang out from the sky. Multiple birds appeared out of seemingly nowhere, with wartortle and raichu perched on their backs.

"Avast! Ahoy! Yo ho! Yo ho! Our time tis finally here!" a kilowattrel sang.

"We'll plunder like mad!" a pidgeot added.

"There's booty to be had!" sang a swellow with sparking wings.

"Fer the Blackskull Buccaneers!" the wartortle and raichu all sang in unison, before leaping from their fliers back and raining Hydro Pumps and Thunderbolts on the group from above.

XxX​

"Do you ever think about the day you were born?"

From their position atop the roof of the shuttered Herbrides Crowne Minister's office building, Widget glanced at Gene. The shadowy mewtwo's tail crinkled.

"Seriously?" His Malice Crystal dimmed. "Who leads with a question like that?"

"I do, apparently," Widget responded. He looked down at his golden talons, curling and uncurling them. "I was... curious. Since you were built. Like me."

Pinching his brow, Gene walked over and leaned against the yellow brick chimney. "No. I don't."

"Oh." Widget's cheek bolts turned once. "Okay." The cosmic silvally curled his fish tail slightly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"Don't guilt trip me, Squirt." Gene crossed one leg over another. His eyes remained shut. "I don't think about it because there isn't much to it. Doing a bunch of stupid tests for stupider human scientists." He clenched his fist. "Then Giovanni captured me when I was supposed to be fully released from stasis. Everything after that's a huge blur until Nova took me in."

"Right." Widget nodded slowly. "Do you suppress those memories?"

Gene shook his head. Widget watched his Malice Crystal darken. "I don't have to. Nova suppressed them for me."

The silvally's starcloud swirled around slowly. "All the Eterna energy treatments?"

"In a sense." Gene repeatedly ran a finger up and down the Malice Crystal. "Giovanni... did something to me. He made me so... empty inside. To better function as his 'weapon.'"

At the mention of 'empty,' Widget swore he saw some sort of black crystal sphere looming behind Gene. And it... tugged on a part of him. His scaly hide was itching.

"Nova and Miraidon... sealed that part of me off," Gene continued. He held his hand out and strange black shadows swirled around his fingers.

The itchiness in Widget's scales got worse. He wasn't sure whether to say anything about that sphere. Surely it was an illusion, right?

"It's something called 'shadowing.'" Gene dispelled the energy. "Nova never told me why he and Miraidon knew how to do this. Though I'm betting the latter being one of those Overseers has something to do with it."

"Shadowing?" Widget's scales thankfully weren't crawling anymore.

"It's when you seal away a pokémon's spirit," Gene explained. "Normally, doing so turns pokémon into vicious beasts driven by their most negative emotions."

Except Widget wouldn't classify Gene as vicious. If anything, that applied to Necrozma. "You don't seem that way," he mumbled.

"Because Miraidon and Nova had a loophole." Gene placed his hand over his heart. "They sealed off that... thing Giovanni put into me to make me empty. Since he'd done that not long after I was 'born,' I never got to develop my real spirit. But sealing that thing was enough to turn me shadow.

"It's why I look like this." Gene pushed off the chimney. Lazily walked toward Widget with his hands resting behind his head. "And how my real heart or soul or whatever you want to call it was able to safely grow on its own."

Widget shifted uncomfortably. The explanation didn't sit right with him. "If that part of you is sealed, why do you remember stuff you did for Team Rocket?"

"Sometimes that thing tries to force its way out," Gene admitted. He looked at his hands. It was subtle, but they were shaking. "To convince me to give into despair and emptiness... and become a weapon again."

"Wait." The cosmic silvally's crest fanned out. "Doesn't that sound a bit like the reincarnated soul stuff?"

Shrugging, Gene lowered his arms. "I don't try to read into it."

Widget's gut squirmed. "So, um, is the reason you don't act all that serious—"

"That's me trying to keep it at bay." Gene pointed at his glowing Malice Crystal. "And it worked... until last week. I was too desperate in Wyndon... and drew on some of that thing's power."

His shoulders sagged. "It's been tugging on the back of my mind ever since. Whispering the same tired things about emptiness and hatred."

The mewtwo shook his head. "Why are you grilling me on this, anyway?" He sized Widget up. "Is this about the other week? Are you still stuck on that?"

There wasn't any point hiding it from Gene. "Yes!" Widget squawked. His starcloud and cheek bolts dimmed. "I just— I don't understand." He shook his head. "I can't understand."

Grimacing, Widget's talons dug into the stone roof. "The day the emperor turned me on... he was so happy. I thought... he was proud of me." His head crest drooped. "I did everything he told me to. Because he said it would make me a hero. That it would make everyone proud of me."

"Uh-huh. Cuz we know the emperor's such an honest guy." Gene tilted his head. "I thought you talked to a bunch of birddogfish in one of the mystery dungeons and it put you at ease. Why the backsliding?"

"That was before Yuna went and just... just dropped a mental Draco Meteor!" Widget responded. His starcloud flickered erratically. He squeezed his eyes shut. "I thought— no, I believed the emperor had tricked me, yet I still chose to listen. But what if that's not true?"

He took a step toward the shadowy mewtwo. "You said it yourself last week." Widget was sure Gene thought him pathetic, but pressed on anyway. "There was nothing biologic about me before Leo intervened. What if... what if everything I did wasn't my choice? Simply lines of code instead?!"

A pained grimace spread over his feet. "The moment I woke up on Chakran, Leo had already shared his power with me." Widget shook his head repeatedly, like he was bucking off a small feral who'd latched onto his neck. "Everything that's happened since... how can I be sure?"

Gene remained still. "Sure of what?"

"That these are really my choices?!" Widget's voice cracked. His gold talons scraped the stone beneath them. Blurry blue and purple light melted together. White fur painted over his cosmic form. Forelegs gave way to reshiram wings. "That I want to fight these battles? That Leo didn't just... rewrite the emperor's code? Or... or stuff some old, dormant soul into my body?

"Even the stuff you were saying about some force of emptiness felt... familiar for some reason."

(Art by Jungabeast.)

Widget glimpsed at his new wings. So white and fluffy. Was this... another one of his transformations? Why was it showing up now?

Pushing those specific thoughts aside, the reshivally sank to his belly. "How can I know?" He folded his new wings over his head. "How can I trust myself... when I don't even know if I've always had a soul?"

Silence followed. Widget slowly slid his wings off his head. White fur brushed against rough, dirty stone.

"There more to your rant or you done?"

Widget looked up. Gene had pivoted away from him. His yellow-tipped tail curled and uncurled in irritation.

"I thought... you understood," the reshivally whimpered. "Or maybe you remembered something about Nova you could tell me."

"Well, sorry to disappoint." Gene shrugged. "Yeah, Nova was better at this stuff than I was. That's what made him an effective leader, I guess. While yours truly just wings it."

Nothing about that reassured Widget. Then again, it sounded like Gene didn't care.

"It's funny." Gene stopped curling and uncurling his tail. "I'm plain trash at the whole 'leader' thing, yet thanks to Princess I've ended up with a resistance that's at least ten times as big as Nova's."

There was an obvious question to ask: why didn't Gene try and better his leadership skills? Yet Widget kept his beak shut. He'd poured his heart out to Gene. Selfish as it sounded, Widget didn't want to make this about the shadow mewtwo.

Surprisingly, Gene floated to Widget's side and sat down beside him. "Guess there's one thing I can offer." He put a hand on Widget's right wing. "Nova always told me that it's just as easy to worry about the future as it is to get caught up in the past."

Widget picked his head up. Where was Gene going with this? "If you're going to tell me to live for the present—"

A finger to Widget's beak shushed him. Gene shook his head. "Should you live in the present? Yeah. I do." He pulled his hand back. "Still gotta look to the future, though. One step at a time."

Gene tapped his right temple. "If we let the fear of an unknown future bury us, then we're not living."

He pointed at Widget. "In your case, if you let this paralyze you, then it doesn't matter how you were made or if you have a soul." His Malice Crystal flickered. "At that point, you're letting everyone and everything around you control you. And how's that any different from what you're worried about?"

The reshivally blinked once. Twice.

It... made sense. In a twisted sort of way.

He exhaled loudly, blowing a couple of pebbles by his beak toward Gene's foot. "I suppose." Widget pushed himself to a sitting position. "Might need to work on your pep talks, though."

"That was recycled material." Gene waved Widget off dismissively.

"Then your recycling skills need work," Widget deadpanned.

"Like your stand up skills?" Gene countered, a smirk forming.

Widget couldn't help but smirk back. "Touché."

Then a flash of orange caught his attention. "What the heck?" Widget pushed Gene away. "H-Hey! Someone's shooting fireballs at the street!"

"The hell?" Gene whirled around. Fireballs appeared out of seemingly nowhere, striking building rooftops. Laughter filled the skies. The shadowy mewtwo's tail crinkled. "You can't be serious."

"What is it?" Widget tried to sense what was shooting the fireballs, but came up empty.

"It's the pirates." Gene hovered into the air. "They must be cloaking their ships."

"With what?" Widget's new tail turbine whirred to life, sending him up next to Gene. "I can't even sense them!"

Gene tapped his right antennae. "Attention resistance, we—"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't mon least favorite kitty cat!"

Widget squawked. Embers crackled around his tail turbine. "Was that Gilbert on our comm line?!"

"Damn it, are they stealing our signal? How?!" Gene's yellow-tipped tail lashed at the air. "Where the hell's Cyril?"

More building rooftops caught fire. People flooded the streets. "What do we do?" Widget said.

"Start blasting, of course!" Gene blindly slung a Shadow Ball in the direction of where the fireballs were forming.

Widget swallowed hard. He had no idea why the pirates were here. Or how they were here, for that matter. But Widget knew the resistance had to get rid of them quickly, before the whole city got swept up in chaos.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 91: Now You See Me​

Well, shit.

That's another world they're gonna tell me to stay away from. But what was I supposed to do? You hear all this yapping about bonds between humans and pokémon. So I can't stand by and watch some kid harass an ogerpon cuz he thinks he's entitled to be her trainer cuz he likes her so much.

The worst part was it was like an awful look back at the distant past. Cuz I'm not sure I'd have acted much different back when I was human.

Sometimes this omniverse stuff's a bitch.

XxX​

Leo ran into the hanger not long after Noctum and Valkyrie. It was a mess of skorps darting about between computer consoles, several pointing and waving their mutant incineroar hands.

"What's the matter?" Noctum wondered, looking between the skorps and Cid. The orbeetle's spots flashed asynchronously with the funny sensors attached to them.

"What isn't the matter?!" Cid responded, staring at Cyril's "big board" of computer screens. "This is a nightmare! I can't get a hold of anyone who's over in Tulpise. I just keep hearing that annoying chatot pirate."

The cosmic arceus trotted up to the dragons' sides. Both of them flinched. "Isn't this thing supposed to be a secure magical line?!" the garchomp hissed. "What gives?"

"M-Maybe Gilbert stole an X-transceiver the last time he was here?" Noctum tapped his index claws together. Valkyrie gently smacked the back of his head with her right elbow fin. "Hey, it was a suggestion!"

"Tough. There isn't a Gene or Cyril around for me to slap." Valkyrie crossed her arms. "Why the hell do they even let that pipsqueak and his crew show up here if they're against us?"

"Technically it's not Gilbert's—" Noctum saw Valkyrie's death glare and shrank back. "Never mind."

Rolling his eyes, Leo approached the small computer array. "So, like, what's really the sitch? Cuz why would you complain about pirates if you weren't trying to reach the teams in Herbrides?"

Cid wobbled as his levitation momentarily faltered. "Right. Quite perceptive." The orbeetle pointed at a skorp. One of the larger monitors brought up footage of some kind of heavy machinery embedded in a craggy brown environment.

Leo's eyes widened. That rippling static in the center...

"We got us an anomaly, eh!" the skorp who pulled the footage up exclaimed.

"Where are we looking at?" Valkyrie said. Heavy metal thuds followed from her running up behind Leo.

"Iron Island," Skorp said. "Think it's part of that there Sinnoh region."

Sinnoh. Sinnoh. Why was that name familiar? "Wait." Leo stood up straight. "Isn't that on the same planet we found the last anomaly on? The one with that Indigo Plateau place?"

"It's not just that." Cid motioned at skorp. "Next recording."

What came up was blurry. A rush of purple and navy blue slammed into a large, upright sandaconda that was practically a living brown twister. Sandaconda slammed into a rock wall. Boulders and scraps of machinery crashed down on it from above.

The footage flickered a few times. When it steadied, purple, armored legs and fiery blades vanished into the static. Instead of a sandaconda, there was a tiny orange pixie at the base of the rubble. Leo's starcloud tail curled up. Had he seen those big V-shaped ears before? Why did they make him think of wheels?

"That big ol' sandaconda matches one of Cyril's descripterinos for a Paradigm lieutenant!" Skorp boxed the air in front of him. "But looks like some ceruledge gave her the ol' one-two and made off with her power!"

No, it couldn't be just "some ceruledge." It was a Whisper. It had to be. And if they couldn't reach his mom and her friends...

Leo stepped toward Cid. "Are those empire dweebs at the island already?"

Three of Cid's spots glowed. "I don't think so. Why do you—"

"Don't wait up for me." Leo turned around.

"Whoa, hey!" Noctum reached for the cosmic arceus. "What are you doing?"

"Going there."

"Hang on." The cosmic charizard frowned. "We have to come up with a plan. You can't go rushing in looking like that."

"Then I won't." Leo concentrated on two of the plates nestled deep in his spirit. His body squashed and stretched, molded by the energy he drew out of the plates. Bright light filled his vision.

"A heracross?" Valkyrie gasped. "Since when can the kid transform?!"

Leo's opened his chitinous elytron. Wings buzzing, he hovered into the air. "If we make a plan, the empire's going to storm the island. We don't have time. I'm out."

He wouldn't wait for anyone's protests. Leo slashed the air with his pronged horn. Warm sunlight spilled out from the rift. Leo shot through it, though he didn't immediately close it behind him. Might as well let the others have a shot at it.

The anomaly rift sat a couple of dozen meters away, amidst the wreckage of a bunch of machinery. Black bands and plating from conveyer belts to his left. Broken remains of lifts and platforms to his right. There were even a few hard hats and worker vests poking out from piles of dirt littered around the rift.

Leo beelined for the pulsating static sphere. It grew a bit with every pulsation, chewing away at steel beams, pistons, and other wreckage. He glimpsed the orange pixie from earlier. Those two dragons would totes take care of her. No way they didn't follow him.

The heracross flew into the static without a second thought. It brought him into a tunnel of bright lights and swirling, distorted colors. Leo saw jagged, island-shaped crystals in the distance. Sparkling lines crisscrossed far in the distance, too blurry to get any other features from.

He was in that Ginnungagap place again. Like with the first anomaly they'd flown through. That's fine. All Leo had to do was fly through this tunnel, and he'd reach the dimensional mystery dungeon on the other side. Easy pe—

"Ohhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

Was that... a flailing toxtricity ahead of him?

It was! It was Nikki! And judging by the big, spectral wing reaching out to grab her...

"Mom!" Leo shouted, surging toward her without a second thought.

XxX​

Air hockey truly was a strange game. Yuna was often transfixed on all the tiny holes in the white table shooting constant air streams. Large enough to lift the red plastic puck millimeters off the table, but small enough not to do anything else.

"Ten to nine," Nikki declared. "Game point, baby!"

Igneous was leaning so far forward he was practically climbing onto the table. He struck the puck with his green handle. It banked off the gray wall, but Nikki intercepted with a quick swipe. The puck zigzagged back to Igneous' side. Holding her handle in her mouth, Scarlett slid it forward, but only clipped the side of the puck. Igneous missed his ensuing swipe, but course corrected to pin the puck in the corner.

Every click and clack of the puck satisfied Yuna in a way she couldn't put to words. She'd have to see about coming up with some sort of similar game for the taverns in Aeon when this was all over.

"C'mon, Twiggy." Nikki's mohawk sparked. She ran her handle back and forth rapidly at the center of the table. "No camping on the puck! Only pussies camp!"

Igneous gently tapped the puck, then slammed his handle into it. The puck beelined by Nikki's handle. "Shit!"

"Eep!" Yuna swiped right with both arms. She got the side of the puck. It banked backwards. Her ectoplasm shriveled. She quickly relaxed when the puck struck the corner of the goal and bounced back. Yuna gave it a hearty smack with her handle. It banked off the wall just past midfield.

"Gow eeh!" At its middling speed, Scarlett easily intercepted the puck. Nikki blocked her shot. Scarlett missed the counter, but Igneous swiped his handle all the way to his right, practically knocking the dragonair over in the process.

When the puck clacked off a wall, a distant rumble followed. Scarlett's neck bauble flickered. She looked up, as did Yuna.

"Did you guys hear that?" she said.

A couple of more clacks. Nikki lightly shoved Yuna, who watched the lights rattle in the ceiling.

"Um, guys?" Yuna's tail crinkled. "I think we have a prob—"

"Don't interrupt!" Nikki growled. More clacking followed.

"Yeah!" Igneous said. "This is important!"

The next rumble was louder. The pachirisu twins who were watching the group from the next-door ping pong table exchanged panicked expressions, then leaped off and headed for the exit.

Scarlett spat out her handle. "We have a problem!" She grabbed Igneous with her tail and pulled his head up. "The whole pace is shaking!"

One last clack sounded, followed by a crunchy "What a goal!" from the speakers overhead. Igneous and Scarlett's goal flashed with blue light.

"Winner! Winner!" the same crunchy announcer voice declared. A small spotlight shined on Yuna and Nikki from the box-shaped scoreboard above the table.

"Ha!" Nikki pumped her fist. "Suck it, Twiggy! Loo-hoo-seeeer!" She made an L with her hand and pressed it against her forehead.

"Like hell you won!" The grovlazzle's head leaf caught fire. He stomped over to the toxtricity. "You saw that. Scarlett grabbed me! The goal doesn't count! Redo!"

"Guys, seriously?!" Scarlett cried.

"Aww, boo hoo." Nikki rubbed her cheeks as if she was crying. "Cry me a river. Scarlett was being gentle with y—"

Yuna heard the crash seconds before a part of the ceiling collapsed. She thrust her hands forward. Two gray, shadowy legs shielded her friends from the rubble. Screams erupted all around her as the arcade patrons and staff made a beeline for the exit.

"What the hell?!" Mohawk frazzled, Nikki hopped back onto the ping pong table.

The dust settled and showed a giant metal... claw? It had multiple colorful arcade cabinets ensnared in its grasp. And there was an electabuzz with a magmortar-esque cannon in place of their left arm riding on it.

"We got the cabinets! Hoist me up, mateys!" Electabuzz shouted.

As fast as the claw appeared, it shot up through the hole in the ceiling.

"Wait, mateys?" Igneous sprinted toward the hole. "I don't see anything!" He tapped the side of his head. "Gene, someone just made off with arcade cabinets from the mall! What's going on?"

Yuna heard distant crashes and rumbles that mirrored those that preceded the giant claw. She also flipped on her X-transceiver.

"—need to explain anything to vous, kitty cat! Why wouldn't we take ze advantage for a fresh place to plunder?"

"No way," Yuna whispered. She flipped her X-transceiver off. "It's the pirates! And they're in our X-transceiver line!"

"No fooling?" Nikki leaped off the ping pong table. "Then we've gotta regroup with the others."

"How?" Igneous volcarona wings burst out of his back in swathes of fire. "Gene's not responding. It's like he can't even hear me!"

More crashes sounded in the distance. "Ahh, forget that!" Scarlett's white wings unfurled. She flew toward the hole. "It's not safe inside! Let's go!"

Igneous and Scarlett were first through the broken ceiling. Yuna hovered in place while Nikki ran up the wall and along the ceiling, her feet surrounded by blue electricity. When the toxtricity was through the hole, Yuna darted after her.

The back part of the mall was concrete. Which was a good thing, since most of its glass ceiling wasn't there anymore.

"The hell is this?" Nikki's mohawk undulated wildly. "Giant claws shooting out from nowhere?"

Flashes of gray metal peppered the air in front of them. Assorted large electronic appliances vanishing alongside the metal claws gripping them.

"They're hiding their ships." Igneous looked around. He gripped his red honedge in his hands. "That has to be it."

"With what? A freaking zoroark armada?" Nikki strummed her gills. "I say we shoot straight over where the roof was and see what happens."

Igneous held the honedge up. "Or we have Starlene sense them." He glanced at the dragonair.

"R-Right!" Scarlett's neck bauble glowed pink. Starlene appeared. Her electronic wings glowed in time with Scarlett's bauble.

"Uhh..." The latias frowned. "I'm not getting anything." She wrinkled her snout. "No way they can block psychics. These are pirates, not the empire!"

Swirling blue ice emerged right in front of them. "Move!" Yuna yelped. The quartet all broke off in different directions. When the Blizzard buffeted the stone part of the roof, everything slowed to a crawl around Yuna. It was like someone painted the whole world around her in a purple crystal glaze. And an unseen clock loudly ticked in her head.

She'd seen this before. When she dodged Leo's attacks while training with him. Why could she move normally? Is this... from Yaldabaoth?

Yuna couldn't call out to her friends. They were barely moving. But what she could do was fly away from the Blizzard. After a couple of seconds, the crystal tinge vanished. Everything moved normally again.

"H-Hey! Princess, what are you doing?!"

The dragapult turned. Scarlett struggled to juggle her own flight with Starlene levitating Nikki. She glanced up and saw another Blizzard forming from nothing.

"Malpirg!" Yuna shouted. Shadows twisted in her hands, and then Reshiram appeared in gouts of blue fire. He gathered a giant orange fireball and spat it into the Blizzard, blowing it apart in a torrent of steam.

"Watch over them!" Yuna ordered, then returned to focusing on the destroyed roof.

Blue flickered in the corner of her vision. Yuna rolled away from an Ice Beam in the nick of time. Like before, everything took on a crystal tinge and slowed to a crawl. Yuna seized her opportunity, flying toward the shattered glass roof. She glanced at the mall. Her shadows tugged on her long tail.

"Yes, I see it." Yuna gulped as the time crystal thingy stopped. She'd have to come up with a better name later. Because there was an anomaly in the mall! The pirates couldn't have made it... could they?

No, she didn't have time to consider the why. Yuna tapped the right side of her head.

"— a fool's errand to interfere. Zese snobby so-and-sos could use ze excitement!"

Yuna's tail lashed the air. The line was still down. How was she supposed to get a hold of Leo like this?!

"Ice Beam from above!"

Igneous' shout alerted Yuna. She rolled right. The crystal time stasis took over again. Curiously, Yuna noted Reshiram moving at full speed. "Fire! There!" The dragapult pointed toward the empty space where the Ice Beam formed.

Reshiram immediately spewed a Blue Flare. When the time stasis faded, a blue barrier flickered in and out of existence. The flames barely poked through it. Startled shouts came from the other side.

"It's their ship!" Reshiram said, tail turbine crackling. "Or, uh, a ship. I dunno. This is conf— eep!" He frantically darted left and right as Ice Beams and a massive Blizzard rained down from above.

"Help! I'm allergic to grog-scented ice!"

Yuna reached her right arm out. Reshiram returned in a stream of light. "Nikki!" she shouted.

"A bit busy!" The toxtricity batted Ice Shards away with her lightning guitar before they could strike Scarlett. Yuna shot toward her.

"Whoa, hey!" Nikki gasped when Yuna wrapped her up in her large tail. "What's the big idea? At least buy me dinner first!"

"Cut the jokes! Anomaly in the mall," Yuna said. She took off away from a flummoxing Scarlett. "I can't reach Leo."

"Then rift us back to the outpost!" Nikki squirmed in Yuna's grasp. The dragapult wasn't bothered, speeding past Ice Beams before they could even prove a problem. She flew through the empty space between the hallways on the third and second floors.

"It's growing... and fast!" Yuna realized. "We have to see what we're dealing with."

"What about Twiggy and Scarlett?" Nikki tried to look up.

Yuna paused and looked back. Flames swept overhead, striking against the same blue barrier as Reshiram's attack earlier.

"Someone has to try and help people out here," Yuna mumbled. "We're already disjointed."

Nikki didn't offer a counterargument, so Yuna took that as her cue to fly into the static. Bright, multicolored lights flooded her vision. Her ectoplasm was tugged in six different directions. Grunting, Yuna lost her grip on Nikki. Arms flailing, the toxtricity fell through the open air.

"Ohhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

Instinct took hold. Yuna stretched her right arm out. A spectral wing appeared to catch Nikki. It wrapped protectively around her like some grotesque, oversized scarf.

"Mom!"

The dragapult's head whipped around. A heracross sped toward her. But that voice...

"Leo?!" Yuna rubbed her eyes. A familiar cosmic arceus replaced the heracross. "What are you doing here? Did you come through Tulpise?"

"No!" Leo galloped toward her, despite the lack of ground. In a flash of blue and white light, he shifted to a large altaria and snagged Nikki out of the spectral wing.

"Whoa, hey!" Nikki almost fell off his back in surprise. "The kid's carrying me now?!"

Yuna flew after him. Unexpected arrival or not, she still had to find the mystery dungeon on the other side. And this bright, flashing tunnel had to be pointing them in the right direction. "How did you get here then, Leo?"

"Anomaly showed up in Eternatus' Earth!" Leo said. "And it spat me out here."

This was bad. If it sent him into the same Ginnungagap tunnel as the Tulpise anomaly, then they were connected! "Was yours growing quickly, too?"

"Yeah!" Leo flapped his wings, moving right. "Head's up! There's big— agh!"

The altaria banked left. Yuna followed his flight path. The bright lights made it hard to discern what he was dodging until she got close and saw big blue circles for herself.

"Right! No, left!" Nikki yelped. "Wait— gaaah!"

There was a loud pop followed by an explosion... of blue juice?

Yuna slowed up. The juice splattered against the light of the tunnel and dissolved into blue smoke. The dragapult sped forward. Her facial ectoplasm rippled.

"Blueberries?" Yuna cringed. More giant blueberries floated haphazardly inside of the tunnel. Leo, covered in blueberry juice, struggled to maneuver around them. "Watch out!" She surged forward. "Rayquaza, go!"

An emerald arrow torpedoed through the tunnel, passing Leo by and ramming through blueberry clusters. Rayquaza stopped his Dragon Ascent charge and looked back at the blue mist. "Tis not the manner of treachery I expected when I awoke this morning, Princess! Why art these oversized fruits attacking us?"

"I dunno!" Yuna pressed onward. With a bit of concentration, dragon energy sparked in her horns. To her delight, dreepy-shaped blue blasts shot out of her horns, popping a couple of blueberries and letting the juice-stained Leo and Nikki fly past.

"It's gotta be cuz of the mystery dungeon." Leo flapped his damp wings, flicking blueberry juice all along the tunnel.

"Ugh, seriously?!" Nikki was still desperately trying to wring juice out of her jacket. "The hell's on the other side, Dieticianopolis? I get my antioxidants already, damn it!"

"We shall find out soon enough!" Rayquaza declared. After a brief recharge, he Dragon Ascented ahead. Blueberry juice filled the air, then evaporated against the harsh light of the Ginnungagap tunnel. "I see a distorted rift up ahead! Tis the dungeon for sure! Tally ho!"

The path ahead was clear of any giant blueberries. Which was enough for Yuna to recall Rayquaza in streams of black and emerald light. Leo flew toward the dungeon. Yuna was ready to head after him when a ripple in the bright tunnel wall caught her attention.

"Hmm?" The dragapult looked to the tunnel wall on her right. Everything outside remained a swirl of blues, purples, and smudgy gray shapes in the distance. But there was one blur darting quickly around the tunnel wall.

A purple, white, and black blur.

"No, no, no! C'mon, shrink! Shrink!"

That voice... it's Vince!

Even though the rift was still a few hundred meters away, the tunnel was pulling her toward it. Yuna fought against it, her tail undulating rapidly as if she were a fish swimming upstream. It had to be the real Vince out there. Not just one of his projections. And that meant real answers! If she could just reach him...

God, this tug was strong. Yuna was getting tired. The lights were getting brighter. "C'mon, I just—"

"Stupid anomaly! Cut it out!"

No, she couldn't let this chance slip through her fingers! Focus!

Roaring, the dragapult's arms stretched out into Giratina's large, black wings. She slammed the red spikes into the tunnel wall. Light filaments exploded all around her. A burning pain shot through her wings.

"Rrrrgggh... you won't... get away!"

Keeping her left wing buried in the light wall to stop her descent, Yuna forced her right wing deeper into it. The pain was awful. But she had to endure. Fight it for that chance at grabbing the Overseer.

Bit by bit, the wall parted, until Yuna's wing finally burst through. Rough scales grazed the black ectoplasm. Gotcha!

A surprisingly high-pitched scream rang out as Yuna coiled her wing around the rough scales and yanked the wing back through the wall and into the tunnel.

And there was the purple and white koraidon, eyes wide with terror. His legs kicked at the air.

"No, wait, stop! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Getting us... some backup!" With one last snarl, Yuna ripped herself off the light wall and hurled Vince through the remaining Ginnungagap tunnel beneath her as hard as she could. He tumbled away from her, screaming pleas for Yuna to send him back. Instead, the dragapult watched the fuzzy rift a hundred meters below her swallow Vince up.

She fell through the rift not long after. Sky blue light spilled over her. It faded quickly to a bright blue sky and yellow sun reflecting off a giant white and blue dome.

Yuna threw her arms over her face. Talk about one heck of a glare! "Guys?" she called out, still blinking rapidly to adjust to the light.

"Down here, Princess!"

After several more seconds, Yuna spotted Nikki waving to him atop the white dome. She stood under an impromptu shower supplied by a pelipper. Leo, judging by the golden glint in his eyes. Vince was next to them... however, he was now on all-fours for some reason. His dewlap had deflated, his feathery crest looked far less impressive, and his tail was curled up to resemble a wheel. He refused to meet anyone's gaze.

Yuna quickly confirmed there was a fuzzy rift above her, though it blended in quite well with the bright sunshine. Then she flew down to join her teammates. "Good to see you're both okay."

"And juice free," Leo said. He stopped spitting up water. Nikki stepped away to take off her leather jacket and wring it out over the dome. "That was hella disgusting. Remind me to stay away from berries for a while."

"Uh... sure." Yuna rubbed the back of her neck. Oversized fruit was weird, but far from the worst thing they had to contend with.

"So, uh, what's with the plus one?" Leo pointed a wing at Vince. "That's Vince, right? Why does he look like he'd be featured in an ad for low testosterone?"

Yuna did not want to acknowledge that comparison. She knew Leo was watching EV programs during their down time. But what channels?

"This is a nightmare," Vince mumbled. "I'm hallucinating." The purple and white koraidon squeezed his eyes shut. "I just gotta wake up. Wake up and— eyowch!"

Nikki had whipped his right flank with her soggy jacket. Vince stumbled forward. His feathery horns curled up.

"Yup, not dreaming." The toxtricity resumed wringing water from her jacket. "How'd you find him?"

"He was outside the tunnel in Ginnungagap," Yuna explained. "Figured this was a good chance to finally be face to face with someone who knows what's going on."

Vince shrank back. He shook his head rapidly. "You idiots! Do you have any idea how bad this is?!"

"Tch. Yeah." Nikki waved her right arm dismissively. She put her right index finger against her head. "We've already had it drilled into our skulls a dozen times. 'Dimensional cataclysm.' 'The end of life as we know it.' Blah, blah, blah. Frankly, it's about time at least one of your weirdo secret society decided to pull their weight around here."

"You don't get it!" Vince's dewlap puffed out. He stepped toward Nikki. "I was keeping the anomaly in check! Because this one was growing out of control! And there's a real chance it does some serious damage and ruins me helping you guys behind the scenes!"

He looked toward the rift. "I have to go back. I—"

"No." Yuna hovered higher in the air. "If this anomaly's really growing that fast, then we need you here."

Vince shrank back again. "It won't work." His horns curled up further. "You dragged me in here. I don't have most of my powers. I'm—" He looked down at his webbed feet. "I'm just a koraidon here."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Nikki's mohawk sparked. "Are you an Overseer or aren't you?"

"There's a protocol!" Vince said. "Higher-ranking Overseers can keep some of their powers when they enter worlds on their own. But most of the time, if we want to be at our best, we have to coordinate with the gods to gain access."

He walked away from them, looking out at the sprawling blue surrounding the dome. "But that didn't happen. And I'm a very junior overseer."

"What about Leo?" Yuna gestured to the pelipper. "He can still change his form and everything."

"Because some of his power is in this realm by accident," Vince exclaimed.

Right, his plates. Yuna looked out over the water. This dome was practically in the middle of the ocean. Where were they?

Having put her jacket back on, Nikki crossed her arms. "So, you're saying you're useless, then?" She rolled her eyes. "Puh-leeze. If I can find ways to make a difference, then you can."

Yuna was tempted to say something to Nikki, but her ectoplasm rippled. Her tail tugged on her lower half. The dragapult spun around. Leo was already looking in that direction, flapping his wings slowly.

"It's... some sort of small battlefield?" Yuna floated over to Leo. It wasn't a large arena, but it was just as white and sparkling as the dome. There were some humans scattered around. One standing at the edge of the battlefield had hair that practically looked like an onion.

Her ectoplasm rippled again.

"It's them," Leo said.

"Huh?" Yuna followed the pelipper's gaze until she found a ceruledge standing on the opposite side of the battlefield. Sunlight glinted off the two crystals jutting out of his head. One resembled a ghostly blob and the other was just a jagged black box with a smirking face.

"That's the Whisper." Leo pointed a wing at Ceruledge. "I saw them go through the rift in Eternatus after defeating a Paradigm member."

A Whisper with two of Leo's plates in its possession. And one that had defeated a Paradigm member, to boot?

As Ceruledge raised his blades and let out a triumphant laugh, Yuna looked back at Vince and Nikki. They stared at her with perplexed expressions.

What do I do? We're not prepared for this!

 

[Arukona]

Hi Amby! Back again for another chapter, since there's a Review Tag claim up for grabs at United, and I figured I'd make more progress towards catching up, which I have been slacking on, admittedly.

But hey - anything towards getting even just a bit more caught up.

Now let's dive back into it, where Volo Mr Butterfree Effect was about to give another of his lectures to Yuna...

Chapter 80

And change and I tend to go together like ice cream and horseradish. Which I only tried on a dare, for the record!

Ice cream and horseradish together feels like something a certain Necrozma in another fic might take to very well.

Overseer

Overworld

Ah yes, a 'same brain as Namo' moment. And the mention of Diyem reminds me of an earlier thing I heard in passing, where one of these chapters features a number of shout-outs to Blacklight and Dodra - so I imagine we'll see that in the next bit.

Another thing that's occurred to me upon seeing Diyem's name is that during my reading of this fic, among all the references and shout-outs to popular media, I don't recall seeing a ton of references to other PMD fics, or at least not any I recognised. Out of curiosity, were there any in previous chapters?

If I'm being honest, it kinda feels like I'm back in high school. Except I'm the new kid who transferred in in the middle of the semester.

Interesting - not too unlike how Yuna felt in the beginning of this fic.

Now into the chapter itself, where Butterfree Effect is being their usual philosophical doomer self. I can sympathise with Yuna wanting to get the hell away from him just so she won't have to listen to any of his schtick.

Wasn't that the whole reason they sent Walking Wake after her to avoid this?

Some slight amending.

"I bet you had something to do with it."

"How flattering." Butterfree Effect was amused, despite their distorted voice. "However, I am as much a bystander in this as you."

Evil, but not responsible for all the evil in the world. Multiple forces at play here, although I reckon the anomalies are probably behind all this.

"They claim this young man was 'betrayed' by those he thought closest to him. And then he vanished in the aftermath."

Oh. Oh. I see where we're going with this, partly due to what I also heard in passing around this part of the story. Looks like we have some interesting chapters ahead involving a certain 10-year-old who has 26 years of Trainer experience.

It's not an entertaining tale. In fact, I've seen 3,741 worlds just like this. And they have all turned out the same way."

Holy shit, the diss on Ash Betrayal fics. And weaved so well into the story too! I wonder, because I'm curious - is the 3,741 number derived from the search results of Ash Betrayal fics on FFN?

"Whether gradually or abruptly, the story always ends.

Ain't that the truth. Though gradually's nearly always the better outcome, particularly when it comes to stories.

And yet, Yuna didn't slow down. In fact, she sped up. Was she getting lighter?

A sign she might be close to evolution, maybe? Because from what I heard, that's not too far off either from this point in the fic.

Even with all the dumb destiny talk Butterfree Effect spewed, there was one thing they hadn't brought up: this wasn't Yuna's decision to make alone. There was a whole team she could run this by.

Once again, the Power of Friendship proves to be the way forward.

And now over to Igneous, who's traipsing through a cemetery. Touch wood that ghosts and/or zombies won't emerge from the graves and ambush him. (Also, hmm, Ga'ran's first theme for this part? Interesting choice of music.)

The argument between Igneous and Sakaki clearly shows there's a good bit to go before these two can bury the hatchet and start afresh.

And now Scarlett hears Igneous's backstory. A bit of a theory's occurring to me as I hear it again - what killed Reina was Salazzle poison, and Sakaki ended up marrying a Salazzle fashionista shortly after. Hmmmmmm....I wonder if these two things might be connected?

So the takeaway from this whole thing is that Igneous needs a shoulder to lean on. Well, with Scarlett around, there's a prime candidate for that. Minus having shoulders, of course.

Now back to Yuna and her gang, where things are now a mite tricky with how to contain the anomaly in the vault and prevent it from destroying multiple places beyond merely Wyndon.

Seifer snrked, to Yuna's surprise. Since when did the keldeo like sarcasm?

I reckon hearing enough of a certain Zoroark's dry wit might've weaned our resident Keldeo to learn to enjoy it.

Busting out the Rain Code tracks here, aren't we? I like 'em, though; good choice of music.

Sounds like quite the plan Gene's got, to create chaos as a diversion. And actually, I just had a thought; considering who the gang's gonna be up against in the next few chapters...it could be a bit like a reversal of Mewtwo Strikes Back, with Gene as the good guy and you-know-who as the baddie. Though given how Ash Betrayal fics usually are, I'm presuming the latter won't be alone, when the gang do confront him.

Conclusion

Good stuff! I'm very intrigued to read the next few chapters, given what's been alluded to in this chapter by Volo Butterfree Effect regarding the gold medalist, and particularly with how Chapter 83 is apparently a very chapter with some possible universe-shattering revelations. All stuff to look forward to, and I'm gonna try make a real effort to get caught up now.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 92: Now You Don't​

OS Incident Report #9467
SUBJECT: Necrozma Shane
LOCATION: Mossui Town, Kitakami (Dimension POV-4940)
VIOLATIONS: Unauthorized use of loaned divine power, unauthorized interference with mortal affairs
DESCRIPTION: The subject is found to have intervened with a human child's attempt at earning the partnership of an ogerpon. According to the local zygarde, observations via cell reveal the subject jumped in to stop the boy from catching Ogerpon. Subject claims that the boy didn't consider Ogerpon's feelings and was going to catch her without her approval. When the boy sent his own pokémon out to battle the subject and became increasingly agitated, the subject utilized Photon Geysers to knock out his pokémon, then fled with Ogerpon. The cell reports the boy returning home distraught. He was muttering comments about getting strong enough to capture both the subject and Ogerpon.

As a preliminary measure, the subject is now on probation. He is henceforth banned from POV-4940. We will assign a new Overseer to observe that Earth. Further disciplinary action is pending based on follow up reports from the local zygarde.

XxX​

Despite the initial volley and a few potshots from the kilowattrel and pidgeot circling high above them, the real problem was that the pirates on the ground weren't even trying to go for Seifer or the others. Instead, they'd booked it in the direction of assorted houses, blowing the walls and dome-shaped roofs open with clusters of blast seeds wrapped in strange wiring.

Seifer tried to shoot a girafarig with a metallic tail while it ran out of a house levitating a dishwasher. But they easily dodged his Aura Sphere and retaliated with a Psybeam. While Seifer dodged the pink laser, a chain wrapped Girafarig up and hoisted them into the air along with the dishwasher.

... To say nothing of the other commotion in the area.

"Completely and utterly disgraceful!" Tobias snarled from across the road. The cobalion swung his Sacred Sword at a wartortle, who tumbled back into a cloud of ectoplasm from Cyril's mane. With a holler, the wartortle vanished in a blue flash.

"The hell?" Cyril hopped back, then rolled away to dodge a Thunderbolt from above. "It's like the emperor's troops. They have some sort of failsafe teleporter?"

"Quiet, you mangy peasant!" Tobias snarled, deftly sidestepping a Thunderbolt and Air Slash crescents coming from above. He glared at Seifer, which the keldeo quickly looked away from.

"First you sully our family name by failing to uphold your sworn oaths and getting canned!" Tobias continued. Seifer's face scrunched up. He met an incoming Hydro Pump from behind several bushes with an Aura Sphere. Then he galloped forward and coated the bushes in frosty air. The damp foliage froze instantly from the Icy Wind, and the floatzel responsible for the Hydro Pumps slipped and fell on his rear.

"Then you run away from the kingdom like a dirty coward!"

Seifer leveled his prosthetic horn at Floatzel. "W-Wait, matey! At least let me hear the rest." He held up his paws. "It be getting to the good part!"

A point-blank Aura Sphere sent Floatzel tumbling back into thorny rose bushes. His hollers stopped when he vanished in a flash of blue light.

"Above you!"

The keldeo slid along the icy ground at Artemis' call. He spun around and shot Hydro Pumps skyward with his forehooves. But the kilowattrel that tried to zap him flew way too high for them to reach.

"And now you show up out of the blue with this tacky-furred loser calling himself your boyfriend?" Tobias hadn't left his spot half a block over, slicing through a Dark Pulse from an unseen foe with his Sacred Sword. Grayson covered him, summoning rocky spires that sent wartortle and sneasel with flaming head feathers running scared. "That better have been a joke, rapscallion!"

"Okay, seriously?" Cyril ducked a swipe of a fire-feathered sneasel's flaming claws. "You don't gotta flex your thesaurus on me, jackass!"

"Stuff it, Father," Seifer growled. He stayed on the move, skidding across the ice he made while looking for nearby pirates to attack. A blast from behind made him spin around. Two espurr with metallic ears appeared from a hole in the roof, levitating a PV set.

"Drop it!" The keldeo raised his forehooves and shot dual Hydro Pumps. One espurr panicked and stepped in front to erect a barrier. The other couldn't keep the PV set up and it plummeted through the hole in the roof. Seifer shot again as the crashing of glass and metal rang out from the house.

"Fall back!" the barrier-wielding espurr squeaked. Both disappeared in blue flashes. Seifer's brow furrowed. Maybe Cyril was right, and they did have teleporters at their disposal. But where were they taking the pirates to?

"Rrrghgh... out of my sight!"

Heavy metallic hooves slammed against the ground following Tobias' cry. Seifer turned and, whinnying in fright, hit the deck. A hollering fire-feathered sneasel careened past Seifer. They hit a swing set, which spun them rapidly around the wooden crossbar, then flung them skyward where they crashed into a kilowattrel taking aim at Seifer. Both vanished in flashes of white and blue.

Tobias stopped at Seifer's side. "We are not dropping this." The cobalion's venomous tone made Seifer's neck fur stand on end.

But he spotted Air Slash crescents peppering Artemis and Cyril. "We are!" Seifer shot past Tobias with Hydro Pump jets. "Get away from them!" He slung an Aura Sphere skyward. The pidgeot above his teammates couldn't dodge in time, instead vanishing like the others.

Seifer skidded to a halt on the street. "You okay?"

"I've had worse." Cyril shook himself out. "And I'm hearing worse."

"Hmph! A filthy liar and an incompetent fighter!" Behind the trio, Grayson shielded himself from Dark Pulses with Stone Edge spires. "Why am I not surprised? And after blowing off all your father's arrangements!" The terrakion struck the rocks, knocking them toward some panicking sneasel.

"Are you serious right now?!" Seifer's prosthetic horn sparked. "We should be focusing on repelling these pirates!"

"Maybe we ought to shift focus to getting people to safety, instead?" Artemis proposed. The milotic barely managed to slither away from a Thunderbolt. He fired a retaliatory Ice Beam. A loud squawk told him he hit his mark. "There are screams and explosions in the distance!"

A house several meters ahead had its door blown off its hinges. Two wartortle ran out with an air fryer and multiple blenders. Metal wires grabbed them and hoisted them into the sky before anyone could get an attack off.

"You're right." Seifer kept his gaze skyward in case anyone tried to strike from above. "It's a lost cause staying here."

"What a farce!" Tobias bucked a croconaw with his Sacred Sword. "Is abandoning your duty all you can think about now?"

Rolling his eyes, Seifer gestured down the street with his forehoof. "Let's move. I hear voices coming from that direction."

Before the keldeo could break into a trot, however, Grayson cut him off. "Where do you think you're going?" The terrakion narrowed his eyes. "You've got some nerve defying your father like that. And after everything he did for you before you threw your life away."

Seifer hadn't felt this small since Isola had sacked him. He wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of dodge. Seifer shot Cyril a pleading look.

"Oh-ho-kay. No. I've had enough of this shit."

His tail scrunched up. "Cyril..."

"Don't, Seif." The cosmic zoroark stepped to Seifer's side, his gaze still trained on Tobias. "I don't care what you think of me or how much you prattle on about honor and duty." He put his hands on his hips. "Because even though we've only been around each other about three months, I bet I know Seifer better than you do. And you freaking raised him!"

Conflicted over whether to interject, Seifer opened his closed his mouth repeatedly. The few remaining pirates in the area had stopped what they were doing. Even the lone kilowattrel left in the air idly flapped their wings, not sniping at anyone from above.

"How dare you." The cobalion stomped a forehoof on the pavement. "I'm not about to let some street trash zoroark lecture me about my son!"

"It ain't a lecture, it's the truth!" Cyril leaned forward, starcloud mane rippling. "This whole time, Seif's been helping us fight against Eternatus. He hasn't abandoned anything! You're the ones who've been sitting on your asses until now." The cosmic zoroark shook his head. "You don't give a damn about Seif. You just want him to be your vision of perfect."

Seifer looked down at the pavement. His stomach twisted into a knot. All the earlier jabs and nasty comments he'd made toward Yuna and Noctum ran through his head. He recalled dinnertime conversations about "Aeon scum" and "hick dragons." Silhouettes of assorted Radiant Guardsmon making similar comments flickered around him. Comments he always ignored... because they'd always surrounded him.

His ears swiveled left toward some crunching. Seifer spotted a crocalor tossing handfuls of potato chips into his large mouth. His prosthetic horn flickered.

"What?" Crocalor shrugged innocently. "This be better than me soaps!"

A Shadow Ball whizzed past Seifer, rippling his tail and mane. It hit Crocalor and the chip bag. Crocalor disappeared in a flash of blue light while the bag's contents spilled out across the grass and scorched rose bushes.

"Maybe things won't work out between us," Cyril continued, walking in a circle along the pavement. He raised his hands up. "Or maybe there are wedding bells in the future."

Though Seifer again opened his mouth, words failed him. Cyril... really felt that strongly about him?

"Doesn't change the fact that I love Seifer." Cyril gestured at the keldeo. "And no amount of your petty name-calling will change that."

And to punctuate it, the cosmic zoroark spat a wad of saliva at Tobias' face.

The cobalion's eyes twitched as the spit trickled onto his red and pink Radiant Guard uniform. Tobias turned to Grayson. "You saw that, right?"

"Indeed." The terrakion nodded. "He's threatening us."

Cyril relaxed his aggressive stance. "Excuse me?"

"Exactly." Tobias' Sacred Sword materialized. "So, I've got full reason to do this!"

"Father, stop!" Seifer finally found his voice seconds before Tobias lunged for Cyril, aiming to ram him through with his Sacred Sword. The glowing horn dissipated, however, the moment it touched Cyril's cosmic chest fluff.

"What in blazes?!" Tobias stumbled and fell onto the pavement.

"Never seen a ghost-type zoroark, have ya?" Cyril rubbed his nose with a yellow claw. He turned away from Tobias. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say the last time you showed your wife any affection was when you guys made Seifer. Cuz this right here?" He gestured to Tobias and Grayson. "Absolute maidenless behavior."

"You cur!" Tobias got to his feet. "Grayson, help me o—"

"ENOUGH!"

Dual Hydro Pumps struck both Seifer's father and uncle, drenching them and their uniforms. Seifer dropped back to all fours, shaking his head. "This... this childish idiocy has run its course!" He stomped over to Cyril. "You want to know why I didn't go home after getting fired? This right here! I wasn't about to let myself be humiliated!"

Cyril smiled at Seifer, but the keldeo turned his glare on him. "Don't act like you're innocent in all of this! You riled them up! We could've already been helping other people by now!" Seifer paused. All the screams and cries from earlier had stopped. The few pirates still in the area were quiet, undoubtedly watching this for their own amusement.

He brushed his flank against Cyril's side. "I'm... glad you stood up for me. But there's a time and place for this." Seifer turned away from everyone. "We have work to do. So, forget about them."

"Forget about us?!" Grayson's hooves thumped against the pavement.

Seifer started forward. Thankfully, Cyril and Artemis got the message and followed him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tobias roared. "I am your father, Seifer! You get back here right this second!"

The keldeo responded by veering slightly until he was right beside Cyril. His tail swished against the cosmic zoroark's leg.

"You're dead to us, you ungrateful runt!" Tobias shouted. His voice grew more distant. So, they really weren't coming along. "Do you hear me? You'll never set foot in our estate again after this stunt!"

"Good," Seifer said, too quiet for his father to hear. "Because I never want to go back as long as you're around."

He pressed onward, trying to shift his attention away from his family and toward protecting the city.

XxX​

"You call those your strongest warriors?! Pathetic!"

Ceruledge slashed at the air in front of him. It rippled with distortion. The people standing across from him took cautious steps back, save for Onion Hair who remained on his hands and knees, staring at the ground.

"I want a real fight!" Ceruledge paced back and forth. "A true warrior who can provide a duel worthy of the mighty Gilgamesh, who is me!"

The crystals atop his head crackled with energy. "I can scarcely believe it. An entire world where the creatures are the weapons themselves! And you're telling me they're frail? Flimsy?! Feeble?! Other insults beginning with F?!" Gilgamesh repeatedly swiped at the air with every cry.

"Tis a tragedy of the highest caliber! How could there be nothing here worthy of my collection?"

Yuna tensed at a hand on her shoulder. Nikki leaned over beside the dragapult's head. "Talk about a full course of ham," she said. "So, time to crash this sorry-looking party?"

Before she had the chance to respond, an unseen force grabbed both Yuna and Nikki from behind and dragged them across the gray, metallic roof. "What the hell?!" The toxtricity flailed about. "Oi, Lizard Breath, let go!"

One final thrust brought Yuna to the ground with a grunt. She quickly pushed herself up to find Vince looking to his left. "Don't look at me! It's this guy's fault!"

Yuna's core flickered. "Gene?!" Had the shadowy mewtwo ended up following them after all? But wouldn't Vince know Gene right off the bat?

... No, something was wrong. Gene's Malice Crystal was in his right shoulder, not his left.

"Dumb-dumbs not from here. Grishi sense it." The unfamiliar mewtwo's eyes flickered pink. "Dumb-dumbs with Ceru down there?" Dark energy swirled around his hand. "Grishi will blow to smithereens. Then blow smithereens to super smithereens."

Okay, this definitely wasn't Gene. "No, we're not with, uh, Ceru?"

"I think he means the Whisper," Leo said. Still in his pelipper guise, he flew in place a fair distance away. But he honked in surprise when Grishi blipped over to him.

Yuna was so used to Gene's Phantom Warping, it took her a moment to realize Grishi teleported. "Look, we don't have time for this," the dragapult said. "We're here to stop Ceruledge. Because he's putting our world in danger. So, leave us alone. This doesn't concern you."

Grishi crossed his arms. "Pultpult waltzes into Grishi's home and thinks can tell Grishi what to do?" He shook his head. "Bad comedian. Nothing for Grishi to laugh at."

"I'm not—" Yuna cut herself with a groan as she squeezed her temples with her hands. She was at a loss what to do about this... bizarre mewtwo. And the others seemed just as confused. Leo continued to drift further away from Grishi.

"Hrrrm." Grishi landed on the metallic roof, crossing his arms. "This all it takes to put Pultpult and friends at loss for words." He shook his head. "Sad sight. Dumb-dumbs indeed."

That last jab was enough to get Nikki back to her feet. "Oi!" The toxtricity's mohawk flared. "If you wanna help, then say it. If not, then stay outta our way." She stared Grishi down. The shadowy mewtwo's look remained one of indifference.

... Until he held his hands up. And a ripple of blue light turned Grishi... considerably fluffier than before.

"Fine. Grishi play along."

"Huh? A zoroark?" Vince's dewlap puffed out. Then the purple and white koraidon tilted his head. "Wait, no... zoroark mane. And chest fur. But still mewtwo?" His feathery horns drooped. "I'm so confused here."

(Art by Leche)

"Then Seerseer butt out." Grishi flicked his fuzzy tail dismissively. "Clearly biggest dumb-dumb here."

Yuna's core flashed. Was Grishi implying he knew Vince was an Overseer?

"What's your deal, then?" Nikki eyed the... zoroark-mewtwo mishmash. Zorotwo. "You clearly know more than you let on."

"And dumb-dumbs don't?" Orange claws appeared from Grishi's fuzzy fingers. "Land Grishi's home, not building. Blueberry Academy in Unova region." Grishi knelt down and tapped the metal with his claws. "Stupid humans build fancy pants school in middle of ocean, off coast of Castelia City."

"This thing's a school?" Nikki walked carefully across the roof. "It's not even that big."

"School very big." Grishi stood up, a serious look in his eyes. "Mostly underwater."

"Underwater?" Yuna swallowed hard. Memories of her unpleasant dip into Wyndon River flooded back. The harsh currents and frigid water sent chills through her ectoplasm.

"Talking waste time." Grishi floated into the air. The zorotwo's eyes glowed bright blue and his claws retracted into his fingers. "Grishi show instead."

Nikki's mohawk grew. "Wait, what are you—"

An intense psychic force took hold of Yuna before Nikki could finish her statement. Everything was a swirl of bright colors. Up was down. Left was right. God, why was everything spinning? Good thing dragapult didn't have stomachs.

It all came to an abrupt stop when Yuna fell onto crisp green grass. "Oww..." She rubbed her triangular head, then slowly sat up. "Did you just teleport us?"

"Grishi did. Slower with group, but still saves time."

The zorotwo was somewhere behind Yuna. However, any desire to give him the stink eye faded when she saw the sprawling grasslands stretched out in front of her. Small trees and bushes were haphazardly interspersed between misshapen, round and jagged rocks. It was also... disturbingly flat. Unnaturally flat, in fact.

Hoofbeats accompanied swishing grass to Yuna's right. Deerling scampered away, with a trio of sawsbuck eyeing the group suspiciously. When their gazes fell on Grishi, however, their expressions softened. With respectful nods, they turned to trot after the deerling.

"The hell is this?!" Nikki's cry snapped Yuna to attention. The toxtricity stood on a nearby flat rock, cupping her hands around her eyes. "Are those... canyons over there? And there's freaking miniature snowy mountains next to them!"

"Indeed. Is Blueberry Terarium." Grishi blipped in front of them. Curiously, he was disguised as a reuniclus. "Biggest part of school. With giant dome to protect people from crushing pressure of ocean depths."

Yuna tensed. They really were underwater, then. And quite deep, judging by how Grishi described it.

"A dome?" Leo, still in pelipper form, flew around. "It looks like the same bright, sunny sky from earlier."

Grishi wagged a gelatinous finger. "That humans' trick. Panels simulating daytime and nighttime for pokémon living here." He turned pointed skyward. "Core unmasks trick. Powers Terarium. But now is powering big problem."

The quartet followed Grishi's gaze high into the sky. Yuna feared she'd look right into sunlight — artificial or not — but instead there was... something spherical dangling from a ceiling that wasn't really there. A ball of static pulsated like a heart. Every ripple swallowed motes of gold and silver light trying to escape.

"Grishi not know how humans set up auxiliary power," he continued. "Do know that static ick growing. Grishi was watching it until sensing your arrival."

"The dungeon core!" Leo landed. In a flash of blue, he went from pelipper to scyther. "We gotta scope out that Gilgamesh guy so I can seal this."

"Oh?" Grishi turned. The fake reuniclus looked Leo over. "Form shifted. Aura's scythery. Mew?" He waved his gelatinous arms. "Grishi gave info. Now time for outsiders to do same, like promised."

Everyone's gazes fell on Yuna. She looked back at Vince. He was the Overseer. If anyone should do the explaining, it was him. But the purple and white koraidon stayed silent and Grishi's scrutinizing gaze fixed on her.

Seriously? Yuna wasn't going to let this slide. "Ask him." She pointed a claw at Vince. "He's the one who knows the most about all of this dimensional instability stuff."

To her surprise, Grishi shook his head. "Grishi said it before: Seerseer biggest dumb-dumb. Grishi won't listen to Seerseer."

Yuna flinched. Maybe Leo could— nope, he'd turned away and was slicing and jabbing at the air, as if training to fight.

"I wonder if this Grishi guy's worked with Overseers before," Reshiram said. In Yuna's mind, he tapped his chin with a wing claw. "Would certainly explain why he seems to know about them."

"Sounds like they harshed his mellow in the past," Shaymin added, perched atop Reshiram's head. "Think this is one of those times you gotta be the bigger 'mon and go with the flow here."

But Yuna was tired of being the bigger 'mon. Sighing, the dragapult straightened herself up. "We're from another dimension. Our world's... unstable. And it's causing some sort of... breakdown in space-time."

She gestured to Leo, who had moved on to slicing the grass. Trimmed grass clippings fell by the scyther's feet. "Leo is... the arceus of our world. But the plates he needs to stabilize everything have been scattered to different worlds. Like this one."

The small head inside Grishi's gelatinous body bowed in thought.

Leo finally stopped trimming the grass. "And there's this whack ass dude called Zodiark who's also after the plates. And making these anomalies. Maybe." He shrugged. "Not sure, tbh. But he keeps conjuring these nasty pokémon — we call 'em Whispers — to get in the way."

Yuna nodded her approval. Then a yawn in the back of her head made her tail jiggle. Can I help you?

"Was just thinking," Cresselia mumbled. "Aaaaaaawmbout this Whisper. Gilgaaaawmesh talked all normal and stuff."

"Verily! Like Chernabog," Rayquaza added. "T'was a Paradigm member, yes? I believe Gilgamesh might be, too."

But Leo mentioned seeing Gilgamesh take a Paradigm member's power and run off into the anomaly, Yuna pointed out. The scyther was saying something else while pacing in front of Grishi, blades at the ready. Wouldn't that make him a Whisper first?

"Does it even matter?" Shaymin wondered. "He's bad, so we gotta take him out. Them's the breaks."

A simple conclusion, but what Yuna ultimately agreed with. She tuned the Sages out to focus on the others again.

"... Will allow you to dive into static ick and make it go away?" Grishi said. Leo stopped pacing and nodded.

"It's the core of this mystery dungeon. Once I seal it, everything's dope," Leo declared.

"But we haven't faced one Whisper with multiple plates," Vince said, pawing at the grass with a foreleg.

"What's this 'we' business?!" Nikki stomped toward the purple and white koraidon, cracking her neck. "We've done all the heavy lifting while you've sat on your scaly ass and left vague hints about Red Chains and Overseers blowing up our home if we don't do good enough!" She jabbed an accusatory finger into his left flank.

"I, well—" Vince shrank onto his belly. Then Grishi appeared between Vince and Nikki, holding up his hands.

"Blame game not helpful," the fake reuniclus declared. "Anger go to Whisper. Think he retreated down here in time we've been talking." He turned away from them both. Grass tickled his gelatinous body as he bobbed through the air. "Very strange that plate corruption resembles Terastalization."

Terawhatnow? Yuna tilted her head. "I'm not sure I follow."

Grishi stopped. "Hmm? Terastalization not exist in Pultpult's world?" He looked to Leo for confirmation.

"I've never heard of anyone sprouting crystals from their head." Nikki shrugged.

"Our records didn't indicate anything of the sort," Vince added, only to flinch when Grishi looked ready to shush him.

"Is strange process where magic crystal energy changes pokémon's typing," Grishi explained. "Core uses this energy to power Terarium. Grishi senses it." He shook his head. "But only can change to one type. Not two. Whisper very strange."

"This core itself is strange," Yuna said. She floated over to Grishi's side. "The mystery dungeon portal is growing quicker than any other back in our world."

"And it's in multiple places," Leo reminded her. He traced a circle in the air with each scythe.

Grishi hummed in thought. "Perhaps core growing around big source of Tera energy what making it so unstable." He drifted forward. "Then time of essence. Come! We go find Whisper."

Sparks of blue and black energy erupted in the distance. "Think we know where it is." Nikki hiked up her jacket. "We teleporting over there or not? Could give us the jump on him."

"W-Wait!" Vince stepped away cautiously. "Maybe we should strike from a safe distance instead? It's not like Gilgamesh is psychic."

"Seriously?" Nikki's mohawk frazzled as she whirled on the koraidon. "The hell's your problem? I thought you Overseers were supposed to be uber strong and shit!"

"I'm still new to this," Vince whimpered. His feathery horns curled up. "That strength comes from ages of training... which I haven't exactly gotten."

"So, what, you're just a wimp, then?"

"I literally can't battle in this form!" Vince said, shifting uneasily. "Us koraidon need to be in our battle forms."

Nikki shook her head in disbelief. "What about standing on two legs gets you fighting fit? Is your species a giant dick joke or something?"

"Nikki..." Yuna reached toward the toxtricity. Nikki held her hands up.

"All right, all right. I'll lay off." She started forward, hands still raised. "If he's that insistent he can't do diddly squat, then let him stay here. The kid'll have to remember to warp him back with us." She cracked her knuckles. "Then we can actually drill him for information."

"Please don't," Vince whispered.

Yuna could only shrug at Vince. Nikki was being a bit too harsh, sure, but Vince wasn't exactly the most helpful. And they were on a time crunch. "Let's get going. I think we should keep our distance and see what we're up against."

"Then Grishi warp group part of way." The reuniclus held his hand up, pausing to glance at Vince. "Except Seerseer."

Yuna braced herself for the world to spin once again. What she wasn't counting on, however, was Leo suddenly buzzing off to the left. She tried to call out to him, but Grishi activated the teleport. After a few dizzying seconds, she found herself up against a rock face. Grishi had put them in a patch of dirt surrounded by large rocks.

"Leo? Leo, where'd you go?" The dragapult looked around. He hadn't flown far, so surely the teleport must've—

"Leo run out of Grishi's range." He floated up toward the top of one of the rocks and stopped. "What Leo thinking? If Leo saw something, should've told others."

"What do we do, then?" Nikki looked around for anything she could use a footstool to get closer to where Grishi was floating. "Go back for him, right?"

However, Yuna's core rapidly flashed. "I... I don't think we can," she whispered.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?"

The core's flickering only got faster. Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. It had to be her powers reacting to something nearby.

"The Whisper." Yuna tensed up, like she was waiting for a surprise attack. "It's getting close. We have to be ready for—"

Except, instead of any ghost or dark attacks, the ground beneath Nikki's feet trembled. "An Earthquake?! Since when the hell do ceruledge get that?!"

Yuna grabbed the toxtricity and flew toward Grishi. "It no ceruledge," the fake reuniclus declared. A faint pink glow surrounded his body.

"Then what—"

Grishi silenced Nikki with his telekinesis. His gelatinous form rippled.

"Different Tera energy nearby. Ground-type." His words were grim. "Grishi think... there third plate here, in different Whisper."

XxX​

GL Exploration Log: Castelia City, Unova (Dimension POV-4940)
Hustle and bustle. Just like the Big Apple when I'd go to visit it way back in my human life. The people are generally more polite than New Yorkers. Though I wonder if that's because I'm a fluffy ice fox and not some guy meandering around while people are trying to speed walk to their jobs.

There was a lot of hubbub around the harbor, though. Apparently, there's an aquatic construction project beginning. Something about building a school on the water? With some kind of underwater biodome that can withstand the ocean's crushing pressure? Not sure, but I'm going to have to revisit this place to check on the progress.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 93: Terra Firma​

I have another finding to report on the space core. In addition to Dreamweaver, the vast reservoir of energy within it, I've found something else. Something that almost feels... alive?

I'm not sure if that's the right phrase to describe this. What it is is some sort of... nigh encyclopedic array of knowledge. Of this world. Of seemingly countless worlds beyond ours. Information on every pokémon, even those consigned to myths and legends. Details about realms where pokémon don't exist. Worlds where pokémon are instead creatures beyond comprehension dubbed Ultra Beasts. There are even records of pokémon forming civilizations similar to our own.

The rational side of me wants to dismiss this as some sort of fantasy wrought by the space core's power. But the knowledge can be relayed to me as if I was conversing with another human. If I ask the space core questions, this encyclopedic entity provides me with logical, factual answers.

Is there truly a living soul within the space core? Or is this... some sort of artificial construct beyond even my wildest comprehension?

UPDATE: I asked the construct if I could name it and it said I could! It just gets stranger. I've gone with "Zodiark" for now, in reference to the zodiac. It fits well against Dreamweaver, in my opinion.

XxX​

Still holding Nikki, Yuna flew to Grishi's side. The toxtricity managed to swing herself out of Yuna's grasp and grab hold of the edge of the large rock. She pulled herself up but stayed on her stomach.

"I don't see anything," Nikki whispered. "Where's this ground-type beast, huh?"

The rock trembled, as did the ground beneath. Grishi's gelatinous body flickered blue. "There!" He pointed to the right. Then he levitated Nikki beside him.

"Gah! Hey!" Nikki's hands and feet twitched. "Why's everyone yanking me around? I'm not a ragdoll, damn it!"

"Quiet!" Grishi hissed. His gaze stayed focused to the right, where a herd of bouffalant ran away from... something vaguely sawsbuck-esque. If the sawsbuck looked like it was made of pottery and had a giant bowl on its head. A bowl filled with brown crystals that looked like a clump of dirt covered in grass.

"That's gotta be it," Yuna mumbled. "But I've never seen a pokémon like that before." Her tail crinkled. "What is it?"

"Ting-Lu," Grishi replied. "Strange pokémon. Brought to life from bowl on head." He shook his head. "Colors not right, though. That because Whisper?"

"Yeah." Some of the other Whispers had strange color schemes. Not that Yuna had a normal frame of reference here. She'd have to take Grishi's word for it. Ting-Lu continued to stomp across the ground a few hundred meters away. Cracks and fissures ran through the dirt. A couple of small trees splintered and fell to their sides.

"It's not paying us any attention," Nikki whispered. "Let's try and take a shot at it from afar."

"Ground-type," Yuna whispered. She glanced at Nikki, recalling the whole kerfuffle with fighting Chernabog. "Nikki, do you think you should let us take the lead here?"

The toxtricity frowned. "I said shoot from afar," she muttered.

"Right. But as long as we're together..." Yuna flinched when the ground rumbled yet again. Unfezant and tranquil flew away from Ting-Lu, squawking their alarm.

She didn't want to keep Nikki out of things, but it wasn't safe. Yuna fidgeted nervously. She was being polite, unlike Gene.

"Maybe have her search for Leo?" Reshiram offered. But Yuna knew that would just upset her.

"Okay." Nikki scooched back across the rock. "I'll wait. See if I can find an opening to Boomburst him."

Yuna stayed silent. Did Nikki really have the range to pull that off? Maybe if she or Grishi could knock Ting-Lu into the air. But did Yuna even have anything to strike the Whisper effectively?

"Think that's my cue." Shaymin hopped off Reshiram's head in the back of Yuna's mind. "Time for a mini adventure. Shoot me out of a horn like I'm a dreepy."

What? Did he have any idea how fast dragpult horns could fire?

"Relax." Shaymin hopped in place. His mossy fur fluttered with excitement "Rayquaza's taken me skydiving before. I know fast."

The mental image was too much for Yuna to bother verifying with Rayquaza if it was true. "Okay," Yuna said to the others. "I'm going to shoot Shaymin. When you see some grass move, uhh I guess we attack?"

Grishi said nothing. Yuna assumed he had no objections. Her core sent green light up her right shoulder into one of her right horns. The sudden weight change told Yuna Shaymin was in position.

Ting-Lu had its back toward them, spreading cracks through the dirt with every step. It was time to act. Yuna concentrated on her right horns. After tensing a moment, a green streak soared forward.

"Go!" Yuna raced after Shaymin. Green rings encircled the miniature green comet careening toward Ting-Lu. The rings descended on Ting-Lu, showering it in green light that quickly faded to mist. The smell of grass clippings quickly filled the air. Now in sky form, Shaymin flew out of the mist, brimming with green light.

"Keep striking from a distance!" Rayquaza said. "Seed Flare doth lower the fiend's defenses to your ranged strikes, Princess!"

That was simple enough now that Yuna had Dragon Darts. She prepared to fire when a sudden heaviness dragged her down from the air. She hit the grass with a startled squeak. And a grunt further ahead suggested the same thing happened to Shaymin.

"Is this, nrrrgh, Gravity?" Shaymin's voice was strained. Yuna struggled to pick her head up out of the grass... which tickled her ectoplasm while the ground shook.

Up! Up! She had to get back into the air somehow.

A sudden spark of inspiration led to two spectral wings emerging and pushing against the ground. It launched Yuna just high enough to dodge the Earthquake before she landed in a dirt patch. Shaymin, on the other hand, grunted in pain several meters away.

Ting-Lu fixed its attention on Yuna. Purple static fanned out of the crystal dirt mound on its head and formed Zodiark's masked face.

"So, you finally pulled back the curtain." Their voice was as distorted as ever. "Even in a dragapult shell, I know it's you, Yaldabaoth. Back to your usual pattern of hostility."

Ting-Lu reared up again, but green Seed Flare rings flew in from behind and struck it. It stumbled. Zodiark's facial projection flickered. Ting-Lu spun around. Yuna decided to follow Shaymin's lead. Even stuck in the grass, she could still attack. If she angled her head right...

"You are the one bringing chaos and suffering to this world," Zodiark continued. "Just as your past interference led to a world filled with suffering."

Yuna fired dreepy-shaped blue energy spears. Ting-Lu stomped a fore and hind hoof against the ground. Mounds of dirt sprouted up in front and behind it, stopping both Yuna's Dragon Darts and another Seed Flare that Shaymin had fired from the opposite side of the field.

"How predictable." The silhouette of Zodiark's head phased through a dirt wall. "Like refusing to acknowledge your own failures."

Suddenly the dirt mound was flying forward. It was going to crush Yuna! The dragapult tried to go airborne but couldn't. She did the next best thing and rolled right. Despite her triangular head slowing her movement, Yuna got out of the way. And when the dirt mound passed her by, the world crystalized and everything slowed to a crawl.

Just like before. The pressing weight wasn't there. Yuna quickly shot Dragon Darts from her horns. When the time stop wore off, Yuna was forced to the ground once again. But the Darts caught Ting-Lu by surprise. Then Seed Flares struck it from behind.

"Why press this attack? What do you think you'll accomplish?" Zodiark's face flickered in and out from around Ting-Lu. "The more you force this Whisper to strain, the greater the risk you place on this facility."

"I don't, nnrrgh, believe you." Yuna pushed against the ground. Why was this infernal Gravity lasting so long? And where the hell was Grishi?!

"You should." Zodiark's wheel-shaped mask turned into a hexagonal panel. "The core helps with the dome's integrity."

Ting-Lu turned... and ran away from Yuna.

"He's bailing!" Shaymin cried. Grass shuffled several meters ahead of Yuna as Shaymin came to regroup.

"What do you think will happen to all the people here if a part of the dome breaks, Yaldabaoth?" Zodiark asked. "It seems this Whisper wants to break it. What will you do? If you keep fighting it, you may be the one to break the dome instead."

The silhouette faded away. Gravity's intense weight subsided. But Ting-Lu was already bounding south, kicking up grass and dirt. There was a rock wall stretching out along what had to be the edge of the Terarium. And Ting-Lu had its head lowered like it was going to try and ram it.

"Shaymin!" Yuna called. A stream of green light shot into her core. Then Shaymin reappeared on Yuna's head while she flew after him.

XxX​

Leo flew as fast as his scyther wings could carry him. Which was pretty quick, all things considered. Fast enough to zip past grass, shrubbery, and trees toward a downward slope that led to weird stations made of glowing white cubes.

He dropped to the ground the moment his suspicions were confirmed: Onion Hair had come down here. The scyther's eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

But how did he spot Onion Hair so easily? The sky plate, maybe? A literal bird's eye view...

Leo walked forward. Onion Hair had put six poké balls into a red and white cylinder. Soft light bathed them.

A healing machine. Like what Pokémon Centers used.

The scyther blinked. Those terms had popped into his head. It was almost instinctual.

Must have heard it from Alder.

Leo kept moving forward. Something about the way Onion Hair watched the healing machine didn't sit right with him.

"... Change tactics." Onion Hair was talking to himself. "Ceruledge's aggressive. Lot of offense. Need to find a way to slow him down. Incineroar's Intimidate. Then pivot with Parting Shot out to Grimmsnarl. If I can Trick a Ring Target onto him..."

Ceruledge? Leo's eyes widened. Onion Hair was going to go after Gilgamesh again? He lost last time! And this guy had no idea Gilgamesh was a Whisper. That was too dangerous!

The healing machine turned off. "Finally!" Onion Hair gathered up the poké balls.

Leo had to act fast. But what could he do? If he tried actually talking to Onion Hair, he might freak the kid out.

... Except Onion Hair already heard Gilgamesh talking.

"Ah, screw it." The scyther sped down the slope. He jumped into the air.

"WAIT!" Leo cried, flying over a metal arch and landing beside Onion Hair on the edge of the white cube platform. "You can't go after Ceruledge again! He'll hand you a giant L for sure!" He held up his scythe arms.

Onion Hair jumped, dropping the two poké balls he held. As he bent down to pick them up, he kept his eyes trained on Leo. The scyther noticed the heavy bags under his eyes... and an increasingly empty look the longer Onion Hair made eye contact.

"Talking... pokémon..." Onion Hair stood up. He was practically looking past Leo. An indifferent expression settled across his face. "This doesn't involve you. Stand aside. I'm the strongest trainer in this place. That means you've gotta listen to me."

Seriously? Leo raised a brow. This guy had to be at least a little bit younger than him.

... Or younger than he felt with four of his plates, anyway.

"Can't do that." Leo widened his stance. "Ceruledge has something that belongs to me. I'm gonna take it back."

"Then you can have it when I'm finished beating him." Onion Hair started forward. "I don't care if you can talk. I'm in charge here."

Leo sidestepped right, holding up his arms. "You can't battle him."

"I can and I will." The empty look in Onion Hair's eyes turned to scorn. "What are you going to do? You're one scyther. Do you even have a trainer?"

"I don't." Leo's wings buzzed nervously. "But I'm totes strong. And I think... sending your pokémon at Ceruledge again so quickly after losing to him is a major fail."

"Don't you dare speak for my pokémon!" Onion Hair snarled. There was a hint of... frenzy in his eyes. "I understand them plenty! Just like I understood the ogre!"

He tapped a clenched fist against his thigh repeatedly. "Strong trainers make strong pokémon. My pokémon are strong. Because I'm strong."

He wasn't looking at Leo, though. It was almost like Onion Hair was talking to someone else. But who?

"I'm the strongest person here." Onion Hair's fist tapped against his thigh faster and faster. "I'm beating Ceruledge. You can't stop me. Ninetales can't stop me..."

Leo frowned. Ninetales?

He sidestepped Leo and ran onto the grassy field. "I know what I'm doing!"

The kid was surprisingly nimble. But Leo was faster. He flew past Onion Hair and hovered in his path. "Then use me as your pokémon instead!" the scyther begged.

Onion Hair skidded to a halt. "You can't be serious." He tapped his heel against the ground repeatedly, kicking up a small divot in the grass. "Even Terastalized, Ceruledge still has fire-type attacks. You'll get torched."

"Nah, I'd win!" Leo insisted. Sure, he hadn't directly fought a Whisper before. But he had four plates. His powers were growing. Why else could he change into other pokémon?

"Typing's still important." Onion Hair shook his head. "You don't have a trainer. So, you haven't had real training. You're not strong enough."

"I've trained plenty." This was going nowhere. And every second wasted talking was time for Gilgamesh to do... something. Or the other Whisper that he left Yuna and Nikki to deal with. "I'll prove it to you! One-vee-one me!"

There was a flicker of that earlier madness in Onion Hair's eyes. Then an eerie smile crept onto his face. "Okay, yeah." He was tapping his fist against his leg again. "Fine. I'll show you how out of your depth you are by knocking you out. Then you can't get in my way."

Onion Hair had already pulled a poké ball out of his hoodie pocket and tossed it to the side. A dragonite emerged, stretching his arms out. He looked at Onion Hair, then Leo.

"Battle time," Onion Hair said. He hunched over, resting his right arm on his right knee. "Get set."

Dragonite nodded. His expression sharpened. The beating of his wings intensified.

"Strike first! Extreme Speed to the chest!"

Leo's eyes widened. He has—

A scaly shoulder slammed into the scyther's torso. Leo barely had the time to fold in his wings before hitting the grass and rolling to a stop, bracing himself with his arms.

"Follow up. Breaking Swipes. Down, then side."

With a roar, blue energy shrouded Dragonite's arms. A few flaps of his wings closed the gap with Leo. He rolled right, dodging a downward swipe of Dragonite's right arm. But Dragonite followed up swinging his left arm sideways.

Leo pooled energy into his arms and raised them up. His X-scissor clashed with the Breaking Swipe.

"Regroup," Onion Hair said, still hunched over. The order came with a flash of that frenzy in his eyes.

(Right! Back!) Dragonite broke away, flying back to Kieran's side.

Sighing in relief, Leo righted himself. His arms felt... weaker than earlier. It must have been the Breaking Swipe. Gah, there were so many moves to keep track of! And only ones with types matching his plates were clear in his mind.

"Give up." Onion Hair had his eyes locked on Leo. "You're already looking shaky."

Leo held his arms at his sides. "I'm just getting started."

Much as Leo dreaded showing any of his serious power, he was at a disadvantage as a scyther. He had to change tactics.

"Extreme Speed! Grab him!"

Not again! Leo shot higher into the air. Dragonite passed underneath.

"Thunder straight above!"

He has Thunder?!

(Okay! Up!) Lightning crackled in Dragonite's arms. He hurled a large bolt skyward. Leo barely managed to spin out of the way.

Finally, an opening! Leo rained Air Slash blades down from the air, just like he'd seen Noctum do time after time.

"Take it! Then retaliate with Thunder!"

Wait, what?!

Dragonite crossed his arms over his face. The Air Slash blades forced him to land, but he stood tough and hurled another lightning bolt. Leo couldn't end his own attack in time. The scyther plummeted from the air in a burst of sparks, crashing into the ground.

Nothing had hurt Leo like this before. He shakily propped himself up.

"See? I told you." Onion Hair hadn't broken his stance the entire time. That frenzy returned to his eyes. "You're not strong enough. Stand aside."

"N... no..." Leo couldn't give in here. He finally had enough power to do something. He couldn't stumble at the first hurdle like this!

His wings buzzed slowly. A soft, sky-blue light surrounded him. The lingering pain from Dragonite's Thunder faded.

"He's Roosting!" Onion Hair cried. "Extreme Speed now!"

Leo was a bit further from Dragonite compared to the start of the battle. Which gave him enough time to run left and dodge Dragonite's shoulder.

"Follow up! Breaking Swipes, double right!"

(No move!) Dragonite growled, blue energy returning to his arms. Leo kept running across the grass, however. This wasn't the time to stand around. He had to stay on the move— no, Leo had to change forms.

Stop thinking about types. Leo's scyther feet swished through the grass. Dragonite was gaining on him in the air.

"Redirect! Extreme Speed when you're close enough!" Onion Hair shouted.

If Dragonite was expecting him to keep running, then Leo had to act now. He skidded to a halt, focusing on the plates swirling around inside him.

Water... water... WATER!

Thin wings and bladed arms gave way to a shell and shoulder-mounted cannons. Cannons that Leo aimed at a startled Dragonite.

They fired dual water bursts large enough for the recoil to send Leo onto his back. A startled holler told him the Water Spout hit its mark. Leo rocked himself back and forth to get to his feet. He found Dragonite lying in a rapidly muddying puddle closer to Onion Hair than earlier.

The boy's stance had broken. That frenzy had given way to shock, followed by a panic. "Get up!" Onion Hair shouted, pointing at Leo. "Getupgetupgetup! Thunder! Blastoise are way slower!"

Leo couldn't let that attack get off. He bent over slightly to account for the recoil, then Water Spouts gushed from his cannons. Dragonite was too busy gathering lightning and could only widen his eyes before getting drenched. He slid across damp, muddy grass, flailing his arms and legs around. His roar of protest grew steadily weaker until his arms and legs flopped by his sides.

The blastoise shambled forward a bit, keeping his cannons trained on Dragonite. He only relaxed when, after several seconds, Onion Hair dropped to his knees.

"No..." Onion Hair stared down at the grass. There was a vacant look in his eyes. The same one Leo thought he saw when Gilgamesh was gloating after his win outside the school.

"Not fair," the kid mumbled. "It's not fair... not fair... not fair!" Onion Hair smacked the grass with his fist repeatedly. "Why? Why do you keep getting in my way like this?!"

Leo frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"It's you..." Still on all fours, Onion Hair looked up. His eyes were still empty. "That ninetales who humiliated back home. You're doing all this to me!" Onion Hair's right eye twitched. "I bet you're the one controlling Ceruledge, too!"

Dragonite managed to stumble his way back to Onion Hair's side. (Kieran?) Wincing, he leaned over to try and pick his trainer back up.

"Huh?" Kieran blinked at Dragonite. "Oh, right. You should rest for now." He took out Dragonite's poké ball and returned him. "Guess I've got to heal him again." Kieran's grip on the ball tightened.

"I don't know any ninetales," Leo insisted. How much did he really want to tell Kieran? The kid wasn't in a good frame of mind.

"I don't believe you." Kieran got back to his feet. "You can talk. Ninetales and Ceruledge can talk. You're all related."

The blastoise looked down. "Well, Ceruledge is someone I'm trying to stop. Because he has things that belong to me. And they're powering him up." He shuffled back from Kieran and turned to look out over the grassy fields. "I'm from a different world. Ceruledge has helped make a mystery dungeon linking my world to your school. And I have to seal it off before it's too late."

Kieran looked confused. But Leo would take that over the earlier emptiness. "I don't want you fighting Ceruledge because you could get seriously hurt. Same for your pokémon."

"But he didn't do that when we battled outside of school." Kieran fiddled with the lock of hair dangling from his forehead. "All he said was he wanted someone to give him a real challenge. And kept talking about weapons to collect..."

Now that was strange. A Whisper who only wanted to have a good battle? Weren't they all vicious daemons who went on rampages?

... But the only person Leo had seen Gilgamesh attack was that Paradigm Lieutenant back in his world's Iron Island. And even then, he left the victini that emerged alone and went into the rift.

Leo lazily kicked his leg back and forth along the grass. "Okay, maybe Ceruledge isn't harmful. It's still not your fight. I won our battle."

"Yeah. Yeah, you did."

The blastoise winced. Kieran was trying to guilt-trip him. Why else would that have sounded so depressing?

Then again, Leo's performance against Kieran was far from flawless. And Gilgamesh had both dark and ghost-type, on top of the fire-type stuff that a ceruledge could usually do. Leo didn't have fairy-type at his disposal. He'd have to rely on water and flying. And it was a lot to keep track of.

Maybe a trainer could help me out here?

Sighing, Leo turned around. "I guess... we could work together?"

Kieran started fiddling with that dangling lock of hair again. "Like, you want to be my pokémon?"

"Well, you can't catch me." Leo shook his head. "And... you'd have to keep this a secret."

"I can do that." Kieran kicked his heel against the dirt repeatedly. He looked over Leo's shoulder, toward the middle of the Terarium. "What kind of secret?"

Perhaps this wasn't the best idea. But screw it. Leo was already taking big risks separating from the others. What was one more?

He shifted back into his cosmic arceus form. "This is what I really look like. I can use pretty much any move that's bug, fighting, flying, or water-type. But against that ceruledge, only two types make sense. And that's where I need you to help me out."

"Any move?" Kieran's eyes widened. He looked down, rapping his fist against his thigh. "Wowzers..."

"I don't know what happened to you with Ninetales," Leo continued. "You don't seem like a bad guy. Maybe a little crazy with all that strength stuff." But hopefully this could snap Kieran out of that. "I'll look past it. So, you in?"

He extended a foreleg to Kieran, who blinked at it.

"Are you... asking me to shake on it?"

"Was thinking more fist bump, but if you want the boring option—"

Kieran tapped Leo's raised hoof with an open palm. "C'mon. I think Ceruledge is hanging out in the center of the Terarium. We'd better hurry."

Leo bucked a startled Kieran onto his back. "Four legs are faster than two," he said, then galloped off across the field.

XxX​

It wasn't hard for Igneous and Scarlett to find Gene and Widget. The shadowy mewtwo and miraivally were floating over streets full of people fleeing away from the mall. Widget kept shooting Thunderbolts that would suddenly come to a stop against open air, then Gene would punch through Shadow Balls.

"What about the people down there?" Scarlett flapped her wings. "Shouldn't we be helping them?"

"Dunno. Don't you guys think it's weird that the pirates aren't actually attacking anyone?" Starlene countered.

Igneous was at a loss. It was too much happening at one time and every time he tried turning on his X-transceiver he was met with Gene bickering with Gilbert.

"We'll get answers the direct way," the grovlazzle said. With several flaps of his volcarona wings he sped through the air to catch up.

Just like Starlene said, however, no one was firing on him. Even the initial volley he and Scarlett weaved through to distract the pirates had died down. Just what was going on?

He reluctantly turned the X-transceiver back on.

"... Still be here!" Gilbert scoffed. "You could whisk zese stupid so-and-sos away in seconds."

"And incite a mass panic in the process!" Gene growled, tail lashing at the air. "Just tell me what you're up to and I won't blow up your command ship."

"Ah, mon petit kitty cat." Gilbert tsked through the radio. "Always lacking in ze genteelmonly ways. Perhaps you should try asking nicely. Or sending ze flowers."

Another Thunderbolt crackled through the air. Igneous finally saw a hint of a barrier, which parted long enough for Gene to sling a Shadow Ball through. But it quickly vanished. If it had hit anyone, Igneous couldn't tell. And there were no screams, either.

"Hey!" Igneous stopped a couple of meters behind Gene. "What are we doing just floating around here for?"

"Trying to get through these obnoxious barriers," Gene said. "Your timing's impeccable. Summon that crazy sword of yours. Maybe your freako powers can get rid of the shield."

"Okay, but why?" Igneous said.

Sighing, Gene pinched a brow. "Because cloaking and disrupting our comms wasn't part of the deal."

Widget sputtered. His thrusters stalled for a moment and he dropped from the air with a squawk before hastily recovering. "I'm sorry, what?

Embers crackled around Igneous' leafy tails. "The hell do you mean? You're saying you planned this?!"

"Oh, this wasn't my idea. It was Boy Wonder's." Gene flicked his right arm dismissively.

"Who?" Scarlett fluttered in place. Though her nervous tone of voice told Igneous she already had a hunch.

"Shimmer." Gene's tail lazily swished back and forth. "To make his mom look bad, he wanted the pirates cause some property damage without actually attacking anyone." He rubbed his snout. "Except us. Which is what I negotiated." His expression soured. "Where'd the dweeb run off to, anyway?"

There were so many things wrong with Gene's claims that the grovlazzle didn't know where to begin. "We came here to investigate spreading distortion! You were going to put us in the line of fire for... for..."

"It was you who fired ze first shots at us!" Gilbert countered through their disrupted comm line. "We were all set for ze simple smash et grab but zen you made with ze shooting of our faces. Plus, ze anomaly wasn't part of ze deal."

"But you had the cloaks up first!" Widget said, still glaring at Gene. Igneous was miffed with the shadowy mewtwo, but also found Shimmer's convenient disappearing act incredibly suspicious.

"Oui, because mon capitaine detected ze anomaly before we set out for ze raid!" Gilbert replied.

Igneous wings buzzed in surprise. Blackskull had known about the anomaly the whole time? Before Team Bastion found it? Just what the hell were these pirates?!

"As soon as mon mateys have ze last of ze electronics mon capitaine needs, we make with ze leaving!"

"Then we stop fighting!" Scarlett said, fluttering her small wings nervously. "If we shoot ships out of the sky, they could crash down on the city and anyone who's below us!" The dragonair pointed her tail down. There was a park with assorted corviknight, pidgeot, braviary, staraptor, and groups of squawkabilly carrying large flying carriages. People were shoving their ways into them.

"And besides, the anomaly's back in the middle of the mall." Igneous looked over his shoulder. The static wasn't visible, so it thankfully hadn't gone past the destroyed roof. "Looked to be growing quickly. We ought to find the others and figure out how to deal with it."

"Oui! Zat is a vonderful idea!" Gilbert exclaimed. "In fact, ze last of ze crew has reported back. So, allow me to make with ze sweetening of ze pot!"

"The hell does that mean?!" Igneous said, but the connection to Gilbert went dead. Before the grovlazzle could ask Gene what the next steps were, bright blue flashes lit up the midday sky. Four large space pirate ships appeared, each surrounded by a glistening blue barrier.

"Gene, what did you do?" Widget said, eyes darting around.

A large projection appeared above the ship closest to the quartet. A black-scaled tyrantrum head gazed down at them. The gemstone in place of their right eye glistened.

"A fair morrow, Herbrides scallywags!" Tyrantrum's projection bellowed. "This be Cap'n Blackskull, scourge of the galaxy! And five-time reigning runner-up in Hoenn Digest's semi-annual homemade butterscotch pudding competition!"

At first, there was silence. Then, one or two screams from down on the ground turned to ten. Then twenty. Then hundreds. People redoubled their efforts to get into the flying taxis, or sprinted through the park to get as far away from the mall and the nearby town square as possible.

"On behalf of me crew, I'd like to personally thank ye fer contributing yer machines to the Blackskull Buccaneers!" Blackskull continued, his gemstone eye crackling with amber energy. "We'll be sure to take good care of 'em, won't we lads?"

Raucous cheers filled the air from the flying ships.

Igneous hovered closer to Gene. "Was this part of your plan?" He leveled his claws at the shadowy mewtwo.

Gene held up an index finger. "Give it a sec."

"I'd say to take the losses up with yer insurance, but I don't think ye landlubbers cover space pirate raids!" Blackskull said, before his holographic head roared with laughter. "If I were ye, I'd go banging on the palace doors of yer lackadaisical queen and useless Radiant Guard! Where even are they, hmm?"

Okay, that certainly sounded like something they'd script to make Isola sound bad. Maybe the pirates had gone back to the original deal?

... Igneous was still going to ream Shimmer a new asshole when he got hold of the ponytales.

"Now then, as fer ye resistance blokes." Blackskull gazed down at Igneous and the others. "I think ye oughta be hustling yer bustles. That there rift be looking a touch unstable, if ye catch me drift."

As if on cue, a circular wall of purple light raced out from the mall. Igneous scales burned against his back when the light rushed past him.

Smaller purple rifts burst open between the ships and the ground. Fresh screams rose up as rows of trees in the park suddenly sprouted berries large enough to snap said trees at their trunks and send them crashing into the ground.

Blackskull looked around at the other ships "Fall back, me hearties! We be late fer our monthly team-building yoga class at Sandygast Saul's Meditation Station!"

"You're leaving?" Gene's shoulder crystal sparked. "What about no hurt civilians?"

"Bah, fine!" Blackskull's crystal eye glowed. "Ye want some help? I'll give ye ol' Iron Beak Barbarossa!"

As the flying ships vanished one by one, a blue, circular portal opened over a street where a crowd of pokémon were attempting to flee from the rifts opening in the sky. A large, robotic cramorant flew out, beak wide open, and swallowed everyone up.

Scarlett flew in front of the others and was about to protest, when she saw Barbarossa flying away from the rifts. Her bauble flashed pink. "Starlene says they're okay." She paused. "I think."

"Great." Widget's voice cracked. He nervously rubbed his forelegs together. "But what do we do? Go after Yuna?"

"No." Gene held his hand up. "Find Cyril and the others. I can get a bunch of these folks evacuated." He cracked his knuckles. "It'll be a piece of cake."

Igneous was still mad at Gene. But that could wait for later. And with the pirates gone, their communications should have been back online.

"Cyril, you there?" the grovlazzle asked. "Where are you?"

"... out... but... thing..."

Static garbled the cosmic zoroark's response. Igneous' breath caught in his throat.

"No..."

"What's wrong?" Widget's cheek bolts turned slowly in their sockets. "You don't think it's the anomaly messing with our X-transceivers, do you?"

Igneous shook his head. They were supposed to be on the periphery of the city. If they were far from the anomaly portal, then...

"The last time my line went dead, it was because Xeromus showed up! And that means they're in trouble!"

The grovlazzle's wings ignited. "We have to try and find them now!"

"Iggy, wait!" Scarlett called, but Igneous shot off to the west, leaving a trail of embers behind him.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 94: Battle on the Big Bridge​

Yuna's 'pot-shots from a distance' strategy wasn't working. Ting-Lu wasn't exactly speeding toward the giant rock wall surrounding the Terarium, but it was raising dirt mounds out of the ground and leaping between them to dodge Shaymin's Seed Flares. Every leap served to launch Ting-Lu's platforms at Yuna. The dragapult struggled to balance dodging them while giving Shaymin good aim and keeping enough distance to avoid falling victim to Ting-Lu's Gravity.

And that weird crystalline time stop — she was calling it "reverse time" since it had to come from her giratina side — was hurting, not helping.

Ting-Lu was about two-thirds of the way to the edge of the Terarium. It raised a clay mound from the ground, uprooting trees and shredding bushes apart so nothing but twigs and crumpled leaves remained.

"There!" Shaymin fired a Seed Flare. Ting-Lu leaped from the mound, kicking clay chunks at Yuna and landing on a lower dirt platform. The green rings harmlessly flew past while Yuna rolled left to avoid the clay.

"Such a feeble demonstration." Zodiark's voice carried from where Ting-Lu was. A staticky projection of their face swirled around the large dirt crystal in Ting-Lu's head bowl. "It's nothing if not emblematic of your one-sided, futile struggle."

"Shut up!" Yuna focused on her core. It rippled with distortion. Heat pooled in her horns, drawing a yelp from Shaymin. To her surprise, sun-shaped white arrows streaked through the air and exploded around Ting-Lu. The Whisper tumbled from its platform. Zodiark's silhouette vanished.

The dragapult blinked. "Um... that wasn't a normal Dragon Darts."

"Who cares?" Shaymin scooted forward on her triangular head. Seed Flare rings streamed down toward Ting-Lu. However, a giant dirt hand emerged behind Ting-Lu. It grabbed the Seed Flare and squeezed. Dirt exploded outward, forcing Yuna and Shaymin back.

"Harsh." Shaymin whistled. "It's molding the ground as it sees fit. Not grateful at all!"

Yuna tried shooting the sun arrows through the lingering dusty cloud. Ting-Lu emerged from the cloud atop another clay platform. A dark, dreadful aura gathered around it. Whatever that attack was, Yuna didn't intend to take it.

She expected a beam or blast. So, the dragapult was caught off guard when a black and red dome emerged around Ting-Lu, spreading out rapidly.

"Ah!" Yuna opened a rift to flee when a white flash blinded her.

"Sorry Grishi late! Had to make pitstop!"

Yuna opened her eyes to find the zorotwo floating there, holding up a black barrier with one hand and some sort of metal ring with another.

"Where have you— ugh, never mind!" Yuna's tail undulated rapidly. "Did you stop that attack?"

He shook his head. "Grishi shield Yuna from Ruination. Bad time if hit."

Ruination? Grishi knew what that attack was?

It didn't matter. Ting-Lu was charging it again while leaping toward a taller clay platform. "Well, you're here now. So start helping!" Yuna flew around the zorotwo.

"Y'know, you could show him some gratitude," Shaymin mused. "Since he came back."

Yuna's response was to tilt her head, sending Shaymin tumbling into one of her horns. She fired him straight toward Ting-Lu.

"It was a joooooooooooooooooooooooke!" Tiny limbs flailing, Shaymin unleashed a close-ranged Seed Flare. Ting-Lu was too busy readying its Ruination to dodge. The green rings peppered its right flank. Its clay platform crumbled, sending it straight to the ground.

"Yuna stay back!" Grishi ordered before the dragapult could go pick up Shaymin. Instead, he shifted to his sky form and flew back. Girshi teleported over Ting-Lu. He held up the metal ring, then it vanished inside an illusory plastic cup. Just like the type she saw stacked on some of the water coolers in the outpost hanger.

The cup appeared by Ting-Lu's side in a flash. As soon as it righted itself, the metal ring was stuck around its ankle. Ting-Lu noticed this. The ominous Ruination aura crackled around its body once again.

Grishi vanished once again, only to reappear seconds later—

"Hey Ting-LOSER! Look up!"

Yuna's jaw dropped as a freefalling Nikki swung her lightning guitar around. It struck Ting-Lu's vaguely equine face. Cracks spiderwebbed their way along its body. When it tried to retaliate, its limbs locked up and it fell over on its side. Grishi yanked the toxtricity away with his ESP.

"Oh-ho, shit, it actually worked!" Nikki laughed nervously.

"What just happened?" Yuna wanted to glare at Nikki and Grishi, but the bigger focus was on taking out this Whisper. She ordered Shaymin to fire more Seed Flares.

"Ring Target." The zorotwo traced a claw in a circle. "Grishi steal from school store. It remove Ting-Lu electric immunity. So Nikki can paralyze."

Another dirt hand erupted from the ground to deflect Shaymin's Seed Flares. Ting-Lu's garbled roar filled the air. A furious chorus of wing flaps behind Yuna suggested more birds were fleeing north.

"Hey, bastard's getting away!" Nikki said, pointing east. Ting-Lu surfed a wave of dirt across the grassy plains, uprooting trees and knocking boulders over. "Where the hell's this thing going? The dome's that way?"

"Who cares! After it!" Yuna flew ahead. Though Ting-Lu's limbs twitched with paralysis, the dirt wave carried it much faster than it was going before.

"With all the cracks along its body, it must be on its last legs!" Rayquaza said. "Tally ho!"

Yuna was catching up, but she wasn't expecting the dirt wave to fling Ting-Lu through the air. The Whisper sailed over the remaining plains and some wall made of brightly glowing cubes. It landed in the middle of a sandy beach.

"What's it doing? It's a ground-type, isn't it?"

"Sand's kinda ground," Shaymin said. "Think palossand."

Ting-Lu roared again. The sand around it swirled and rippled. A giant sandcastle erupted from the beach. Sandy cannons aimed at the approaching dragapult and fired Mud Bombs at her.

"Gah!" Yuna retaliated with a Dragon Darts volley, destroying one Mud Bomb. Shaymin's Seed Flare took care of the other.

"Princess! There art more cannons firing on the dome! The fiend is trying to destroy it from a distance!"

Massive Mud Bombs sailed over the sparkling water beneath them. Yuna couldn't stop those, even if she did open a rift!

"On your left!" Shaymin cried. Seed Flare rings lit up the sky. Then wet sand showered Yuna from above.

Hissing, she threw her arms over her head. "I need some help here!"

"What do you think we're doing?!" Nikki growled from somewhere to the dragapult's left. "We're taking too much fire!"

A loud ding reverberated through the Terarium. Yuna saw mud splattered against a hexagonal tile. It was a gap in the dome's artificial sky. And more Mud Bombs were heading toward that spot!

Yuna flew toward them, shooting sun-shaped arrows alongside Shaymin's Seed Flares.

"Behind Yuna!" Grishi shouted. She turned to see the black dome of Ruination energy racing toward her.

"Eep!" Yuna flew away from it as fast as she could manage. The attack fizzled out without reaching her, but now she was too far from the giant sandcastle to get an attack on Ting-Lu.

How were they supposed to topple this thing under a constant Mud Bomb barrage?

... Wait.

She remembered Gene dealing with something like this before. What was it that Noctum called it?

No, that's not important! Yuna shook her head. "Shaymin! Go to Grishi and Nikki. Shoot a Seed Flare at Grishi and have Nikki shoot a Boomburst your attack. Tell Grishi to catch it!"

"Huh?"

"No questions! Go!" She jerked her head, transferring Shaymin into a horn, then blasted him back toward Ting-Lu and the giant sandcastle.

"Nooooot cooooooooooooooool!" Shaymin hollered. Fortunately, he shifted to sky form and weaved between Mud Bombs from the sandcastle's cannons.

Yuna focused on shooting down Mud Bombs heading for the dome with Dragon Darts. It filled the air with brown clouds. Clumps of wet sand splattered against her triangular head. They stung a bit, but she'd bear with the pain if it meant taking out Ting-Lu.

She shot down two more Mud Bombs. The cannons in the distance fired another three. Her horns were hurting. Yuna couldn't give up, though. Shaymin was flying quickly around Grishi and Nikki. That was a good thing, right?

Three Dragon Darts blew apart the Mud Bombs, filling the air with a sandy cloud once again. It quickly vanished, however, as a large green explosion swept the cloud away. A rush of wind smelling of freshly-trimmed grass almost swept Yuna up, but she maintained her position in midair.

When the green light faded, the giant sandcastle was collapsing upon itself. Ting-Lu desperately pawed at the air to try not to get sucked into the mound of sand, but it was a losing effort. Yuna sped forward and added insult to injury with a couple more sun-shaped arrows.

Ting-Lu's wedge-shaped earth crystal shattered seconds before the sinking mount of sand swallowed it up.

"Good idea."

Yuna's tail crinkled at Grishi blipping over to her side. "Hmm?"

The zorotwo sheathed and unsheathed his claws repeatedly. "Trapping exploding Seed Flares in psychic bubble to build pressure for bigger explosion. Good idea." He nodded approvingly. "Not bad for novice reverser. Grishi impressed."

"Um, thanks?" Yuna was sorely tempted to ask what "novice reverser" meant. But before she could, static burst out of the sand. It streamed toward the Terarium's core dangling from that tiny metal panel that looked like it floated in midair.

Just like back in Wyndon, Zodiark's masked face appeared in the lines of static.

"This changes nothing, Yaldabaoth," they said. "You will not drag these worlds into stagnation. Your pointless resistance will meet its inevitable end. That is your fate."

Yuna refused to give Zodiark the pleasure of a rebuttal, watching silently as the projection dissolved away with the remaining static.

Sighing in relief, she recalled Shaymin back into her core. Things had gotten hairy for a bit, but they managed. And she held her own for once.

"Heeeeeey!"

Down on the beach, Nikki hopped up and down and waved her arms around. "Not to kill the mood, but don't we still have Gilgamesh to deal with? And you need to find your kid!"

Yuna winced. Right, Leo had run off on them.

"Dost thou think he wouldst challenge Gilgamesh on his own?"

Well now the possibility certainly occurred to her! Swallowing hard, the dragapult turned to Grishi. "I think we're still gonna need a bit of help. I've gotta find my son... and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid!"

XxX​

The center of the Terarium was a raised platform made from the same glowing cubes fanning out in the cardinal directions. Gilgamesh paced across the middle of it. The ghost and dark crystals atop his head glistened under the dome's artificial light.

Leo galloped through the air. A tiny voice told him this was beyond boneheaded, but he didn't care. He'd already broken off from the group and gotten involved with Kieran. It was full Luxray Jenkins or bust!

So what if that never worked out for Igneous? Leo was an arceus!

"—not believe how ridiculous this is!" The ceruledge raised his arms. "My arms are fire swords! How can this world not have a warrior to give me a proper challenge?" He looked up, toward the corrupted core dangling from the top of the dome. "Stupid interdimensional rift! Why spit me out here? It's a waste, I tell you!"

Gilgamesh spotted what appeared to be a cylindrical recycling bin. "Yes, this kind of waste!" He raised his arms to slice the bin into ribbons.

Well, if he was rambling about a challenge, it was as good a time as any for Leo to make his presence known. "You ready?" he asked Kieran.

"I was ready before," Kieran said. Then hastily added, "I mean, uh, sure."

"I've got your challenge right here!" Leo cried, leaping through the air and landing atop a set of pristine white stairs. He stuck his right foreleg and left hind leg out. That was a cool enough pose, right?

Gilgamesh looked past Leo at first. "The boy from before!" He pointed a fiery sword arm at Kieran. "You've summoned another to battle with?"

"Yeah." Kieran slid off Leo's back. "And we're going to beat you this time."

Static energy rippled around Gilgamesh's head crystals. Leo glanced upward. Was the dungeon core trying to contact him?

If it was, Gilgamesh didn't seem to care. "Only one summon this time?" He scrutinized Leo. "What makes you think you're a worthy challenger? You cannot even free yourself from the confines of that fence you're stuck in!"

Of course this guy had to bring up Leo's wheel. Absolute cringe right there. It was part of the cosmic arceus. "It's a conduit for my power, dumba—"

He cut himself off the moment he met Kieran's gaze. Right, schoolkid. Leo had to watch his language.

"A source of power?" Gilgamesh's eyes surprisingly lit up with interest. "Oh ho ho! In that case... I accept your challenge! Perhaps your fence shall prove itself a weapon worthy of the rift's mightiest warrior, Gilgamesh!" The ceruledge raised his sword arms over his head. "Who is me!"

Okay, yep. This guy was absolute cringe. It was like someone took Rayquaza and dialed the ham meter up past eleven. At least that meant Gilgamesh wasn't under Zodiark's control. No Whisper would treat this like some RP session.

... And Leo could take advantage of that.

"One request." He held up a foreleg. "We take this fight outside. To that big, empty bridge."

"Huh?" Kieran tensed. "Why there?"

"There are too many wild pokémon down here," Leo said. "I don't want any of them getting hurt if things get crazy."

"Fine!" The ceruledge shrugged. "But there will be no other accommodations or delays!"

He pivoted and slashed at the air with his bladed arms. Sunshine— real sunshine spilled in through a jagged rift.

"Oh, wowzers..." Kieran shifted closer to Leo. "This really is a big deal, huh?"

Leo hoisted Kieran onto his back and followed Gilgamesh through the rift. They emerged on a long, white bridge. Wide enough for vehicles to pass, but there was no one in sight. And they were far enough from the school building that Leo could barely make it out.

"Now then, the time for pleasantries and-slash-or banter is behind us!" Gilgamesh declared. The crystals on his head twinkled. "Now is the time where we fight like honorable men!"

He stopped and looked at his fiery sword arms. "Or an honorable man with swords for hands and a possibly honorable steed-stuck-in-fence thing! Mwahahaha!" Gilgamesh brought his arms by his sides. "Engarde!"

Leo scarcely had time to let Kieran slide off him when Gilgamesh charged right at him. The cosmic arceus leaped over swipes from the ceruledge's fiery blades.

"Stick to the air!" Kieran said. The initial shock must have worn off because his earlier stoic expression was back. "You've got greater mobility!"

Leo galloped away from Gilgamesh's attempts at swatting him from the sky. "Why you!" He stomped the ground angrily. "How dare you use gravity against me like that! Here's what the Bladesman of Legend thinks of your aerodynamics!"

His head crystals brimmed with energy. Gilgamesh furiously slashed at the air. Purple and black crescents soared toward Leo. The cosmic arceus galloped through the air along the bridge, but the crescents gave chase.

"They're homing in," Kieran called. "Try blasting them apart with something big!"

Oh. Duh. Leo turned around. Something big could be another Water Spout, so Leo pointed his head at the oncoming energy crescents. Water gushed from a blue gleam over his forehead. The crescents melted away like dirt carried down to sewers in a rainstorm.

"He's charging you down!" Kieran cried. "Below you!"

"Huh?"

Gilgamesh was right underneath him! How'd he close the gap that quickly?!

The ceruledge spun around into a fiery tornado. Leo only had time to cross his legs over his sensitive underbelly before Gilgamesh knocked him further in the air. Leo shook out his legs. They stung from lingering embers.

"Mwahahaha!" Gilgamesh landed on the ground and pointed his right sword arm upward. "Only a truly mighty warrior can defy your defiance of gravity! Are you not astonished? Do your knees not quake with fear?!"

"Strike now!" Kieran had his hands cupped over his mouth. "Hydro Pump!"

Leo drew on the splash plate. Another blue shimmer rippled in front of his head. But instead of a scattershot of water, he sent one high-pressure stream toward Gilgamesh. The ceruledge stood his ground, swiping at the air as if he was rapidly throwing punches. His furious slashes protected him from the Hydro Pump, until Leo was forced to break it off.

"Is that the best you've got? Ha!" Gilgamesh's head crystals glowed. "No, I shall laugh a second time! Ha ha!" Black energy gathered in his blades, making them big enough to reach Leo!

"Run left!" Kieran said. Leo galloped through the air toward him, narrowly dodging Gilgamesh's giant sword arms. He saw a bit of panic in Kieran's eyes.

"Now counter like before!"

Leo shot another Hydro Pump from his forehead. Enlarging his blades made Gilgamesh's movements slower, so the water struck his right side. He tumbled along the white ground, sword arms shrinking back to their normal size.

The cosmic arceus' wheel shimmered. Okay, he got a proper hit in. This wasn't so bad! Yeah, he totally had this!

But why did Kieran look so concerned?

"What's wrong?" Leo said, keeping his eyes on Gilgamesh. He slung small water globules toward the ceruledge to keep him away.

"He wasn't doing this stuff when he battled my team." Kieran rapped his right fist against his right thigh. "Was he really holding back the whole time?"

Leo couldn't say. But something must've told him to take Leo seriously. Was Zodiark actually talking to Gilgamesh?

"Well, I still need your help," Leo insisted. Gilgamesh was back on his feet, weaving past the small water globs. The cosmic arceus galloped left, crossing along the bridge. He swapped to Air Slash crescents. The faster wind spears caught Gilgamesh off guard, with one striking his leg. He buckled dropping to one knee.

"I know! I'm trying! I just—" Kieran squeezed the dangling lock of his hair. "C'mon... c'mon... be strong! Be strong!" He tapped his head repeatedly with his fist.

"Don't think you can keep me away forever!" Gilgamesh stood back up, then ran toward the opposite end of the bridge as Leo. He jumped toward the glass wall and kicked off it. Purple energy sheathed his sword arms. Gilgamesh slashed the air, sending purple bursts shaped like his ghost crystal toward Leo.

Leo froze, unsure which direction to go.

"Dr... drop down!"

"But I'm high up!"

"Just trust me!"

The cosmic arceus obliged Leo, plummeting from the air while Gilgamesh's miniature ghosts flew overhead.

"Wide open!" The ceruledge dropped to the ground after Leo and slammed his swords down. Fiery shockwaves rushed toward Leo.

He tried to jump over, but the first one proved taller than Leo expected. It scorched his hooves enough to where it was too painful to gallop higher in the air. Leo fell into the second shockwave, which sent him tumbling toward the glass wall behind him.

The flames hurt. And the embers lingered on his body. Tiny spurs of burning pain peppered his pelt at random every second.

How could this be happening? He had four plates... and was much bigger. Leo should've been holding his own. The monks told him arceus were so powerful.

What was Leo thinking? Training with Yuna and Alder wasn't nearly the same thing as charging into battle like this. He was screwing the pooch big time! The universe was depending on him and he was totally failing!

"Gah! Sorry!" Kieran was thumping the side of his head again. "Should've told you to blast through that. Stupid, stupid!"

"Mwahahaha!" Flames gathered around Gilgamesh's blades. "You can't expect some impromptu partnership to stand up to me! And here I thought you'd give me a challenge!"

The ceruledge charged Leo down. Eyes wide, the cosmic arceus pointed his forehooves at Gilgamesh and shot dual Hydro Pump streams at him. Gilgamesh ducked one, but couldn't avoid the other.

"Agh!" He tumbled back, giving Leo the time he needed to scramble back to Kieran's side.

A lightbulb went off. Leo' shook himself out, flinging embers off his starry purple pelt. "He's right. We don't know each other well. And I've never had a trainer." His expression sharpened. "But isn't battling like this supposed to be about having fun?"

Kieran looked like Leo had slapped him across the face.

"I'm making the same mistake too." Leo stood protectively in front of Kieran while Gilgamesh rolled to his feet. "We gotta stop thinking this is about showing how strong we are. And have fun with this instead."

Because Gilgamesh wasn't going for the kill or anything. He was showboating like there was an audience here.

"Have... fun?" Kieran looked at his sneakers.

"I said no pleasantries!" Gilgamesh bellowed, sending more dark crescents toward Leo.

"It wasn't pleasantries!" Leo said. Though his legs still burned, he managed to jump up and gallop over the strikes. "We were just talking about how funny it is you're getting hit by water." Another blue shimmer rippled in front of his head. "I guess you could say... you're all washed up!"

The Hydro Pump streamed toward Gilgamesh while he was trying to grow the size of his sword arms again. It swept the ceruledge up. He slid along the bridge, coming to a stop in a puddle.

"Y-You..." Gilgamesh's eye twitched. "Using me, the mighty Gilgamesh, for a cheesy one-liner and striking successfully?!" He held his sword arms at his side. "Ha ha... mwahahahaha! Yes, yes! This is precisely what I wanted! A worthy challenger at last! My blood is pumping!"

Leo didn't like his excitement, but he had to play along, right? That was how the cosmic arceus made it fun. "And I'll do it again!" He shot another Hydro Pump from his forehead, but Gilgamesh was far enough away to dodge, moving to Leo's right.

"It's time! The ultimate technique of the ultimate swordsman!" Gilgamesh raised his bladed arms up. The crystals funneled energy into them. "Behold my power! And my beautiful collection!"

"Attack him while he's charging!" Kieran called.

Nodding, Leo closed the gap a bit to shoot Air Slash blades. But a wall of dark and ghost energy swallowed up his Air Slashes. The energy coalesced over Gilgamesh into four ectoplasmic hands, each one clutching a different sword forged of pitch black energy. One was absurdly blocky and rectangular. Another was a thin blade longer than Leo and Kieran put together. The third was a crystal scimitar and the last was a sword with a sun-shaped hilt.

"What the..." Kieran stepped back. "What sort of attack is that?"

Leo had no idea. And the blades looked terrifying. But moments like these were when he had to trust in the "heart of the cards" or whatever. Gilgamesh wasn't trying to kill him. Just knock him out with a really flashy attack.

"Now, taste the might of Gilgamesh!" The ceruledge's head crystals flashed. And the swords pointed at Leo.

"I'm, uh, all full, thanks!" Leo said, his starcloud tail drooping between his legs.

"Go!" Gilgamesh pointed his right sword arm forward. The blocky sword headed for Leo, slashing furiously at the air in a wild, zigzagging pattern.

"Don't give up! Move back toward me!"

Leo acknowledged Kieran's words with a quick nod, then galloped away. He sounded a bit more enthusiastic than before. Was he taking Leo's suggestion to heart?

"There's no escape from me!"

"The long sword's shooting something at you!" Kieran said, pointing up. Leo looked over his shoulder and saw what looked like black Draco Meteors streaming toward him. The blocky sword was still advancing, too.

"I can't deflect those!" Leo galloped higher into the air. To the point where was struggling to make out Kieran on the ground.

"A fool's errand!" Gilgamesh declared. The scimitar careened toward Leo like a bone club hurled by a marowak. Leo tried blasting it out of the air with a Hydro Pump, but the blade cleaved right through it.

"Eep!" Leo dropped from the air, only for his eyes to widen as the sword with the sun hilt went straight for him.

There was no time to dodge! He had to brace himself and—

The sword struck his head. A squeak reverberated through the open air. Leo stared blankly at the sword. The other three abruptly stopped attacking.

"What?" Gilgamesh was in disbelief. "He shrugged off an attack from the legendary Excalibur?!"

"Wait, like the sword from the Galarian fairy tale about the Darkest Day?" Kieran sounded confused.

Leo looked at the blade's sun hilt and squinted. "Um, this says Excalipoor. Are you sure you're talking about the right sword?"

After several seconds of silence, the ghostly sword vanished in a plume of shadowfire.

"Curses, curses, curses!" Gilgamesh stomped around angrily. "I won't let anyone make a fool out of me! Including myself! Tis no matter! Three swords is still enough to slice you into fence-based confetti!"

The ceruledge pointed at Leo. Gilgamesh's remaining dark swords prepared to go on the offensive again. Leo shot a Hydro Pump at Gilgamesh, who jumped back to dodge it. Then the air around Leo filled up with dark meteors once again.

"There's too many of them!" Leo cried. He galloped right, barely leaping over the scimitar, and stopped over the ocean. He glanced at Kieran, who looked deep in thought.

Then he saw the cosmic arceus over the water and his eyes lit up. "That's it! The answer's been in front of us the whole time! Surf! Flood the bridge!"

Leo's eyes widened, but Kieran was already running back toward the school. The message was clear. He trusted Leo to make this happen.

The cosmic arceus ducked the scimitar, then leaped over the blocky sword. He sprinted through the air over the bridge. When he reached the ocean on the bridge's other side, he drew on the splash plate's energy.

Ocean water that lapped against the pillars suspending the bridge rose higher and higher. The swords had turned around and were shooting across the bridge. But Leo had to hold. Just a bit longer. A biiiiit longer...

"NOW!" Kieran shouted from a distance.

Leo sent the giant wall of water crashing over the bridge's glass wall.

"What the— gaaaaaaaaaaah!"

His improvised Surf swept Gilgamesh up in a wave, flinging the ceruledge around between the two glass walls like a pinball in a machine. The dark swords and their ghostly hands disappeared in bursts of purple and black fire. Leo held his ground, swirling water around between the sides of the bridge until he saw flurries of sparkles and a playing card evaporate into thin air. Then two static streams shot toward the school like arrows.

Leo sent the water racing up the glass walls and crashing back down into the ocean. Gilgamesh spun to a stop in the middle of the ground. Even from his position in the air, Leo could tell Gilgamesh was out cold.

The cosmic arceus drifted back toward the bridge before his flight gave out. He hit the ground hard and staggered forward. "Haah... haaah... certified gameeeeeeer."

"Leo!"

He tensed. That wasn't Kieran's voice. It was Yuna's! And by the time he was able to turn around, the dragapult was right in front of him.

"What did you—" Yuna stopped herself, looking past Leo. "Did you fight that Whisper on your own? What were you thinking?! You could've gotten seriously hurt!" She wrinkled her snout. "You look exhausted and your fur's—"

"Re-hee-lax." Leo took several deep breaths. "I was cooking." He tilted his head right. Kieran was cautiously approaching, gaze mostly focused on Yuna. Leo pointed at him with a forehoof.

"Besides, I wasn't on my own. I had some help."

Kieran stopped his approach. He looked like a deerling in the headlights when Yuna turned to stare him down.

"Me?" Kieran fiddled with his dangling lock of hair. "Well, uh—"

"We were... having fun," Leo said. "That goes for the Whisper, too. He just wanted... a fun battle. And we gave it to him." He glanced at Kieran again. "Right?"

That blank look returned to Kieran's face. "Right. Fun..."

"Oooooogh."

Leo's starry pelt flickered. Gilgamesh was awake already? He turned around to find the ceruledge staggering back to his feet.

"Unbelievable." He approached the glass wall on Leo's right and leaned against it. "To think you bested me, the bladesman of legend!" This time his laugh was much weaker. "Such fiery passion. It's been far too long... since I've had a truly spirited fight." Gilgamesh raised a shaky sword arm. "You must... let me fight you again."

Yuna flew in front of Leo protectively. "No can do. We have important work to do. To stop the dimensions from collapsing on themselves."

"W-What?" Kieran recoiled. "Wowzers, I really am out of my depth, aren't I?"

Gilgamesh stared intently at Yuna. "Enkidu, is that you?"

Leo looked between his mother and Gilgamesh. The dragapult was ready to light him up with Dragon Darts.

"I don't have time to entertain whatever fantasies are floating around your head," Yuna scoffed. She turned to Leo. "We have to seal the dungeon core now. The rifts were unstable on our side, remember?"

Leo winced. Right, he'd nearly forgotten.

"So, let's get a move on. We'll leave that weirdo to Grishi." Yuna opened a rift behind her. She looked at Kieran. "Sorry we can't stick around. But we're on a tight time crunch." She flew into the rift, beckoning Leo along.

He slowly walked toward it, then paused to look at Kieran again. "Thanks." Leo bobbed his head. "For what it's worth, I think you're a good trainer. I hope you can have fun battles again after we leave."

Kieran was mostly focused on the rift. "Right." He nodded slowly. "Fun battles."

Leo wasn't sure he'd get much more out of the kid. He stepped through the rift. As he did, though, he heard one last thing from Kieran.

"Good luck with... whatever your quest is. I'm sure you can succeed!"

XxX

~Vessel of Ruin: Ting-Lu~
The Affirmer sought to recreate the Red Chain. Its power would let Him wield the Original One as an extension of His being. However, such a legend is only strongest within its domain. The Affirmer recognized this. So, He tried to capture legends across different worlds. And when the Renegade interfered, He aimed to forge a Red Chain spanning multiple universes, then bind legends from an unrelated world. For this clash of energies would shatter the domains, unlocking the power over fate itself: Phenomenal Affirmation.

XxX

~Il Paradigma, No. X: Gilgamesh, the Wheel of Fortune~
A mysterious weapons collector and self-proclaimed bladesman of legend. He was drawn to the dungeon core from an interdimensional rift. His fiery passion helped him seize parts of the core's power for himself, which he used to travel through the anomaly into Eternatus and take the Wheel of Fortune from its previous holder.

It seems he's not truly malevolent. Instead, he seeks a worthy challenger to satisfy his thirst for battle.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
The Wheel of Fortune is the tenth tarot card in the major arcana, symbolizing destiny, fortune, success, and luck in its upright position.

Gilgamesh is a recurring joke character and superboss in the Final Fantasy series. In his debut game, he falls into an interdimensional rift toward the end of the story. He has since proceeded to show up in multiple games in the franchise, usually referencing the interdimensional rift.

A frequent technique of his involves wielding weapons from other Final Fantasy games. For this chapter, he summons Cloud's Buster Sword, Sephiroth's Masamune, Odin's Zantetsuken, and Excalipoor. The latter is a running gag weapon associated with Gilgamesh. As a forgery of Excalibur, it deals one damage.

This is the most blatant of this fic's unashamed references. I promise nothing else will be as bad as this one.

 

[Arukona]

Well, another Review Tag on United, so you know what that means. A bit more into the story today! (And this also doubles as revenge for that surprise review you gave of Chapter 32 of Dual Wills, so I may as well return the favour with a review of my own.)

Chapter 81

Bahamut still seething over Gene, I see. And knowing him, he probably won't rest until our resident Mewtwo is dead with his power sucked from him.

And looks we're starting off with the fruity duo this time. This oughta be fun.

"Only a sith deals in absolutes, young keldewan."

Ah, so there's a Star Wars franchise expy where Cyril comes from. I wonder if it's as big a sensation in Eterna City as Star Wars is on Earth.

"You never saw Space Wars? The hero's a keldeo like you."

So would that mean SpaceWars!Leia would be a Virizion? Or would that also mean the equivalent of Darth Vader would also be a Sword of Justice? Because I have to admit, a quadruped Darth Vader is a tad difficult and somewhat funny to imagine.

The keldeo squinted in thought. "Uhh..." He frowned. Nothing was springing to mind right away. "Do educational pictures from back in my Horizon Academy days count?"

Someone's sheltered.

"No need for the prequel or sequel trilogy. Pure trash right there."

But what about the memes of the prequels? Surely even Cyril would have a chuckle at those. (Although that brings into question if the Space Wars prequels are even full of memeworthy lines as opposed to their Earth equivalent and are just bad overall.)

"I was not... aware people got that passionate about movies," Seifer muttered.

Oh, Seifer, you have no idea...

Interesting how different fics use different methods by which our fic protagonists use to disguise their scent in times of stealth. Fobbie has Durin Berries in his two longfics while you have more modern means here with tar.

Cyril hip-checked the keldeo,

Well, as Cyril implied in a previous chapter, his hips don't lie.

"It would appear Team Rocket exists in this world," Cid said, eyeing Gene nervously.

I wonder if this means we might get to see a certain iconic trio...or an AU version of them, at least.

"It's just three of them!" Nikki said, mohawk rippling.

Oh, dang, we are. Maybe.

They couldn't be that high on the totem pole. Otherwise, Cid would have senses an abundance of Rockets scattered around.

All of whom would probably have Level 18 Rattatas and would be of no trouble to our resident Mewtwo.

Great to see (or hear) Meowth, Jessie and James squabbling it out just like an episode right out of the anime. A well-portrayed depiction right here.

Interesting how this is gonna play out - so Team Rocket are gonna be allies against the presumed antagonist of Ash? That is a fascinating way to spin things. Then again, you know what they say about enemies of enemies...

That would've been curious, but these Rockets neither attacked him nor chucked poké balls.

You assume way too much of these three, Gene.

"Sheesh, dis guy do impressions of da boss or sometin'? He loves dat tick!"

"Eggplant color and physique aside, the resemblance is uncanny," James added.

I wonder how Team Rocket would react if they ever met Igneous's father. Given that Sakaki is presumably named after Giovanni's JP name.

"Or pineapple on pizza!" James added.

Oh God, are we getting to a time where pineapple on pizza is considered a 'classic' dish? I sure as hell hope not, because pineapple sure as hell does not belong on pizza.

"You want us around to get da twerp outta danger!"

Another reminder that our resident iconic trio are not exactly the brightest flames on the Chandelure.

Unless this wobbuffet and meowth are all they have...

I mean, they normally have a few other 'mons, right? Unless this is Journeys' canon, in which case I'm not sure because I never watched Journeys.

I've gotten us our backup for Operation Gone With the Wyndon."

Several groans crackled through his X-transceiver. "Puh-lease tell me you didn't have that one pre-prepared," Artemis said.

Pretty neat name for an operation, and I'm willing to bet money Gene might've pre-prepared that one.

Gene, Quetzal, and Jade would act as big, scary pokémon under Team Rocket's control and "attack" the stadium.

Somehow I get the feeling that any 'scary' factor Jade has would evaporate once her ditziness comes to the fore.

Friends with benefits. Nothing more."

Seifer followed Cyril, raising a brow. "Benefits? Like you gave each other insurance? And vacation days?"

Ohhhhh boy. Looks like our resident Keldeo has a lot to learn about the terms of this kinda life by Cyril's side.

"Honestly? No. I don't want that stuffiness." Certainly not while trying to save the omniverse or whatever. "What we have is... not what I was expecting. But it's a pleasant surprise."

Looks like the last vestiges of his stuffy, uptight attitude that he had seventy-five chapters prior are in the process of withering away, if they haven't already.

"What's with the side eye?" Jade pouted. "So, I had a second helping of chocolate cake last night." She put her right wing on her right hip. "The salazzle part's got curves for days. That ain't changing."

Given the friend-shaped nature some folks depict Lugia, perhaps it's not surprising that Jade isn't exactly what you'd call slender.

And dang, looks like the gang got cornered by the Eternatus Troopers.

"Authorization granted for full anti-zoroark excessive force!"

"How splendid!" another Bombardier cheered. "I bet fifty eternabucks I'll bag the furball!"

C'mon, fifty eternabucks sounds like a lowball. I'd bet at least a hundred if I was in their shoes.

A couple of Focus Blasts knocked her back on her rear, though she didn't look all that harmed by them.

The benefit of being a Poison/Psychic type. And also being a bit pudgy to cushion the fall.

"No! Get Drumstick and Birdbrain through the rift first!" Gene barked.

Those are codenames of all time. Gene sure has a knack for names, alright.

A gray metallic burst struck it from below, then a pair of dreepy-shaped blue bolts hit its right arm, destroying the blaster.

Oh yeah, I forgot Yiazmat doesn't yeet her babies at opponents like other Dragapult do.

"Waah! Hey!" Jade flailed around before landing on Quetzal's back. Despite the size difference, Quetzal managed to carry her on his back.

Somehow this reminds of Mario riding on the baby Yoshi in Paper Mario: TTYD, in terms of 'small guy carrying someone much bigger than him.'

"If they head through the rift, they'll screw everything up! You have to keep them at bay."

Time for a defensive position of a location. Now I'm reminded of the many maps of this nature throughout the Fire Emblem series.

Even with reinforcements, keeping them away from the rift was going to be a tall order.

Continuing the Fire Emblem analogy - if around 13-14 young adults can defend a position against a whole army, surely you lot would be able to do it, right?

Though I want to say part of that is because Paradox has his own Pokémon League in Planet Axiom, the center of his empire.

I wonder what the Elite Four is in that League. Some future fic bosses, maybe?

Chapter 82
Would've only done one chapter for the Review Tag, but I am curious as to what lies ahead in the next two chapters, and so I'll continue on until Chapter 83 for this review.

Noctum somersaulted, dodging a Rock Blast,

That would've ended badly if it landed. As we all know, throwing even a pebble at a Charizard would make them roar with pain.

"Hey!" one Eternatus Gunner shouted, trying to follow Noctum with its blasters. "No fair! Someone tell the lizard dodging is not permitted!"

Should've packed Aura Sphere or Swift attacks in your arsenal, bozos.

"Did that idiot... seriously dab on us?"

Bro, it's 2024. Who the hell dabs anymore?

"But get back in the air, you dweeb!

I'm now reminded of that one part in Chapter 12 of Kid Icarus: Uprising where Viridi says, "Rise, my children, and pluck this dweeb from the air!" I wonder if Noctum will be plucked from the air, or if he'll get lucky like Pit did.

"They've got the numbers, but they're not advancing on the rift," the mega garchomp said, pointing a scythe-like arm left.

Probably meaning their goal is to seize Gene, as well as Cyril and the rest that have been nothing but nuisances towards Paradox and Eternatus. Or it could be that the rift is not important to them.

He swerved past the first two, but the third clubbed him in the jaw.

Dang. Looks like he didn't get lucky.

"They hit him," she said.

"Huh?"

"Calcifer! With a strange blast!"

Well, this is a certified "oh no" moment.

On the other side of League Headquarters, a duraludon head poked up. And up. And up. They were growing to the size of one of the gigantic buildings from Eterna City!

Another Gigantamax duel, eh? I can imagine this'll be a tricky one to get around. And Yuna certainly won't take it well when she realises her father's become an enemy.

Now over to Quetzal and Jade, where we have a "I wanna get back in the fray! Our allies are still out there!" moment from them.

It could've been fun to watch the battles unfold. Or even take part.

... Ah, who was he kidding? Gene would wipe the floor with any of these trainers.

Getting nostalgic for the olden days, are we, Gene? I can imagine there's still something of a battleheart within him, even after all those years under Giovanni's command.

"Your pathetic Coronation is canceled!" Gene whipped up a Hurricane in the center of the stadium.

Funny how Gene says this in an almost villain-like manner, yet this is a protagonist doing this. I always kinda like when we see our protags behaving in a villain-esque way.

Assorted corviknight and staraptor with humans atop them making made beelines for the shadowy mewtwo.

Could they be knights or aerial guards of some kind? (Also slight correction here)

There was an absurdly long meowth robot at the western edge of the stadium.

A replica of a Gigantamax Meowth, by the looks of it. I'm assuming this is a reference to Journeys?

"This party's over, so prepare for trouble!"

"And we'll find our pika prize to make it double!"

Ah yes, it wouldn't be a Team Rocket appearance without this iconic sequence. (And funny, that's not the first time the Team Rocket motto's been in an Ambyfic... )

Ah yes, Team Rocket's near attacking of Jade acting as yet another reminder that sometimes wildcard allies can be tricky to keep on side.

The idiots weren't even using poké balls.

No wonder they've never caught Pikachu after all these years if they still forget this basic step.

No auras in the stadium - yet I get the feeling that unresolved plot point of the disappeared Champion is gonna re-emerge at any moment now...

And now over to Yuna and Nikki, who are getting that safe unlocked.

Oh hey, it's Shiva. Sure has been a hot minute since we saw them last. To think it's been this long since we saw the very first character of the fic.

And Ifrit too! Lotta old faces making a reappearance.

An unfamiliar human appeared by the strange articuno's side. The brim of his red and white hat obscured his face. But the pikachu on his shoulder had an empty look about him.

Aaaaaand there he is. Didn't know that an Ash Betrayal fic could end up like this, although now that I think about it, Ash being granted two powerful Legendary Pokémon to get back at those who wronged him doesn't sound out of the realm of possibility for an Ash Betrayal fic premise.

"Oh, c'mon, seriously?!" Nikki ran after him. "No fair! I can't even fly!"

Nikki's lack of flight is really shaping up to be quite a downside given the amount of main characters in this fic who can fly. There's definitely some degree of jealousy from her about that, surely?

"I see that." Yuna backed further away. With both previous cores, they stopped pokémon with those weird crystals growing off them before going inside. "Maybe its... accessibility is related to those crystals? Like, we have to shatter them?"

Ah yes, I've seen this in a good amount of dungeons and boss fights in video games. Destroy the suspicious looking crystals to find the way forward/damage the weak points of the boss.

And now we're out on the field. Pity it's abandoned and there's no audience to watch Yuna excel at this. Then again, with the way Shiva and Ash outmanoeuvre her here, perhaps that's for the better.

Looks like Yuna's mastery over her shadows isn't quite perfect.

"No more talking." The human shook his head. "It's boring. As boring as an opponent who can't fight back."

Ah, I see he must have had his arc already about defeating everyone in the tournament. All about that power fantasy, eh?

Quite a chilling description describing Yuna's desperate feeling being pinned down by Shiva's attacks and being overwhelmed by the feeling of drowning. Pretty well written - it does convey Yuna's plight pretty well. Although...

After a final, desperate wriggle... Yuna went still.

That ain't good.

But given there are more chapters...clearly it doesn't end here.

Chapter 83
From what I heard in passing, this chapter is apparently quite major and climactic. I look forward to seeing what goes down here.

This intro looks like something from the Matriarch, if I had to guess. Been a while since we saw her last, isn't it? Been a good few chapters, at least.

I know he was there. Because of the photos that changed in Grandmother's house. Was he involved with this hero? Did he choose to stay in that time?

Oh, she's referring to Volo. Who in this present day seems to have become the Butterfree Effect...

Now over to Yuna, who's dead. Maybe. Though judging by this music, as well as the red and purple swirling overhead...maybe she's in ancient Hisui? Somehow?

The Soul Dew!

It was gone! Her chest was bare for the first time in almost two months.

Well, that's a new development. Maybe this is a realm to test Yuna on some level? After which Yuna might be able to command the Soul Dew Legendaries a bit more directly, perhaps?

Maybe she really was dead, then? And she bonded with her Soul Dew, so perhaps she was inside it...

Though there's that possibility as well.

These puddle-like shadows - I guess we'll learn what they're all about. These shadows that have helped Yuna throughout her adventure, and now I'm wondering if Giratina has anything to do with them by any chance...

Two legs, a bit of an oversized head, and two head... baubles?

... No, aura feelers.

"A riolu?"

Oh hi, the might-as-well-be mascot of the PMD series.

Oof, brutal scene involving that Riolu and the Bewear.

And Butterfree Effect's appearance...now I wonder when exactly it was that Volo became Butterfree Effect? Guess we'll have to dig deeper for that one.

Black sludge rose out of the violently rippling puddle. Growing higher and higher until there was practically a hill of black slime casting a wide shadow over Yuna. Spectral wings emerged from either side of the beast. Pristine crimson spikes illuminated two tiny red dots poking through the cylindrical head of... whatever this was.

And there he is - Giratina the Renegade himself. Although curious how he refers to himself as 'we' - why might that be? Could it be that the 'we' are souls of past beings, maybe?

Oh hey, a Xenoblade track. Neato.

How fitting that the being named Yaldabaoth finally rears its head at the exact same time that a Xenoblade track is playing. Funny coincidence there. (Or was that planned?)

"Well that's... too much of a mouthful.

Skill issue.

Since Butterfree Effect kept insisting this thing was some sort of chaos magnet.

I mean, given all the stuff that Yuna's gotten caught up in since the early days of this fic, Butterfree Effect's presumption wouldn't be too far off course.

"Giratina, strike her down!"

There was another human silhouette. And as Yuna felt herself lunging forward, the silhouette stretched and squashed.

So more proof that Yuna has the memories of Giratina? Though now, judging by the fic there was once a sunnier version of this ruined hall...I'm presuming that the Hisui we saw there has fallen into ruin somehow. Was that Eternatus's fault, or could it have been Butterfree Effect?

Chaos looked down guiltily.

There is no way to make this gentle.

Interesting how Chaos/Yaldabaoth/Giratina feels guilt about all of this. It isn't quite like Giratina being a stoic grump like I've seen him depicted in some other fics.

Black slime dripped and trickled into the puddle beneath Chaos. It bothered her even though she'd been around plenty of the goodra line in her life.

Well, one key difference being that Goodra don't drip black slime, and if they did, that would be a cause for concern.

We are together... because we are one.

Figured that might've been the case. Though given that Yuna is also Chiron, a Lunala, when exactly did this happen?

A shadow was there. She tried to reach a mangled blue arm out. Nickie...

Oh, back to that flashback a few chapters ago. But that could only mean that Yuna is in fact...

We have no choice. You must understand the truth.

Sometimes the truth is not a sweet thing to deliver, and it seems that Chaos understands that more than anyone. Perhaps that's where his guilt from earlier stems from.

"We'll fix this, Nickie," she promised. "I can't imagine what it feels like. But you've worked with me despite that pain." She extended her paw toward Nickie. "I wish I could be that strong."

And then there's the mystery of Nickie, this Icepix - a human. Could that be what that pain is? A longing to be human again, or something of that nature?

We heard your dying pleas. Too much of your soul had faded from its mortal coil. So, we gave you ours to fill the void.

Ah, so that explains it. So it wasn't that Yuna and Chaos were one to begin with; rather, Yuna bonded with Chaos to fill the void of what was left.

Temporal Tower.

She still had time. She could still stop it, right?

The scent of blood drifted over her.

Nickie and Nero. Others too, like a latias and a zoroark. Unmoving. Covered in gashes.

"NO!"

Really is feeling more and more like a bad ending Guiding Light AU, especially with how Latias and Zoroark - two prominent characters in GL - show up here, unmoving, covered in gashes and very possibly dead. Though I'm now realising that a certain Zoroark and a certain Latias are quite important characters in this fic too. So could it be that Cyril and Starlene are...reincarnations of these fallen allies of Yuna before?

Six bodies were wrapped in the Red Chain. Five had red wheels that matched the dimming golden one around the belly of the one screaming loudest: Arceus.

Representing the Legendaries in Yuna's Soul Dew, perhaps? And the one screaming loudest - Arceus - could Leo in the present day be a reincarnated form of this dying Arceus right here?

"I am the only one worthy of wielding the power of the legends themselves! Now witness the dawn of a new world! A perfect world free of all suffering!"

Interesting how Butterfree Effect kinda has parallels with Cyrus here as well, with how Cyrus also used the Red Chain on Legendaries for the exact same purpose of creating a new world.

"Continuing down this path will lead you to discover several horrible truths. And without that tenacity... the weight of those truths will crush you."

Seems the terror that truth can be was something Vegna understood too. (Then again, dealing in truth was part of his day job as an Inquisitor.)

But watching Yuna seeing these truths and break down to them...it's impossible not to feel sorry for her like this.

The reverse. A realm on the opposite side. We are the guardian of the reverse.

A way to portray Giratina less like Lucifer and more like an actual guardian whose role is paramount to the world's stability. Not too unlike his depiction in Giratina and the Sky Warrior.

Aeon and Radiance dwell in the reverse world. A realm that should not bear life, much less countless civilizations.

Wow, so they're quite an exception in all the worlds? And Eternatus has sunk its fangs into Radiance, which could well threaten the balance of the reverse world. Concerning if true.

Although I wonder: is this another 'same brain' moment with Namo and HoC? Because this doesn't feel too dissimilar to how Kilo exists as an anomaly outside the normal world and should not have existed for multiple generations, yet did all the same. Couldn't help but feel there was a similarity there.

The difference in size is a result of the universe's broken creation process.

One that Yuna and co. might have to correct by fic's end, perchance?

Destroying Eternatus is tantamount to destroying the universe. And the reverse world will die with it.

And there's the Wham Line. Continuing in their quest and succeeding in it will ensure the demise of the world as they know it. Yet...the other alternative is not much better, with Eternatus threatening to swallow up the reverse world and bring it into Paradox's sphere, under which a cruel reality as his servants await. Not much wiggle room there - but Door 3 has to exist, surely? A way to bring down both Eternatus and manage to salvage the universe. Or...recreate it anew, as has been done in the ending of grand epics like this.

Aeon's patron — the dragon of light — forced a permanent union between regular and reverse. This is why the planet is falling apart. We must sever this union.

So the whole thing is Bahamut's fault, then? Man, this guy really is the one who pushed the dominoes, and now they're all careening down towards an end goal of the world's end. Another point against him, that's for sure. Sure, Eternatus is the Big Bad, but this guy is a piece of work in his own right. Especially with how his empty shell continues to dog the efforts of the party.

Many giratina are violently protective toward the reverse world. We once struggled to control our instincts, to the point of attacking the Creator. For that, we were branded the Renegade. And, like many of our kind, the Creator sealed most of our power within the reverse world.

So Giratina as it exists across the world is very much benevolent, but its instincts can prove too powerful for it. A pity for it, to be shunned, despised and forgotten by the world like that.

One day, we met a human. Lost and confused. He claimed he was torn away from his time.

Oh hey, it's Volo. Before he became the Butterfree Effect. Guess we'll find out how he became the way he is today.

The human wanted us to work together to stop them. To prove our combined worth to the Creator.

The two of them had the same goal from the start, by the looks of it. After all, if Giratina could get in Arceus's good graces again, maybe he too could escape the confines of his banishment. And Volo could be acknowledged by the one he worshipped.

Another human silhouette rose from the puddle and stood in opposition to Butterfree Effect. The one that briefly turned into Yiazmat when Yuna was charging at it in an earlier vision.

Hold on a minute. Could this possibly mean that Yiazmat is a reincarnated Akari?

Until the human reached a world inhabited only by pokémon.

So Volo/Butterfree Effect invaded the Guiding Light world and messed up the timeline there, making it a bad ending?

Did she have several pasts... all spent trying and failing to catch Butterfree Effect?

So it's a matter of Fate repeating itself over and over, is it? And is that why Butterfree Effect has this smug confidence about him, because he feels Yuna will never be able to catch him? What would it take to break the cycle?

We attacked the human. Disrupted his new world's creation. The result... was a backwards, incomplete world. With life split between the regular and reverse.

And that's how the world's process of creation became messed up and ultimately part of the factor of what led to the current backsliding state of the world in which Eternatus cannot be dethroned from the world without ending. This is some loredrop, alright...

Despite all our training, this stranger's violent temperament... overpowered our will. He seized our power over the reverse world. In effect, the dragon of light became the Renegade Pokémon of the newly-made universe.

And then in turn he became shunned by Radiance as they became a nation of dragon haters. Not hard to see why he became a despised figure once Yuna and co. learned more about him...but then, to think this was the same Bahamut that was worshipped like a god at the beginning. Amazing how perceptions can change over eighty chapters, eh?

Bahamut's light... must have been how he did all this crazy stuff in the reverse world. And if that power was supposed to belong to Yuna... then it was no wonder she bonded with the Soul Dew when Chiron didn't. That was her power all along!

So a protagonist that has both powers over light and shadow...Funny, where have I heard that before in a certain other fic?

Your illness was a result of our reunion. You remained sick while our broken soul healed. Even though you recovered, we remained dormant until recently. Recuperating from our time within the dragon of light.

And that's that mystery solved. Damn, this really has been a rollercoaster of big reveals this chapter.

Oh hey, Towering Shadow! I love this song. A very fitting theme for this chapter, alright, given how it's the theme of 'the big reveal' in the game it's from. And it certainly fits the shocking revelations that have been revealed during this chapter.

Two cards appeared in front of their wing spikes. One with an orange and yellow sun, the other bearing a blue and purple crescent moon. Each had a mixture of letters on them. "XVIII" for the moon card and "XIX" for the sun card.

Tarot cards, by the looks of it?

Presumably the encroachment of death is coming more upon Yuna, and if she and Chaos combine, then this can be staved off. And when Chaos said to "shed your drakloak guise," could that possibly mean...evolution?

"Give me... a bit more power," the drakloak said. "Enough to fight the Whispers."

Oh, I think I know what's going to happen, based on an art piece I saw in passing and was accidentally spoiled on...

We shall assist, but it is only a matter of time until you yield to the inevitable.

So we might well see Giratina!Yuna yet? (And on another note, I realise that the premise of 'main protagonist not wanting to become a Legendary for fear of losing themself' strikes again - I've heard that exact same thing before from a certain Charizard protagonist.)

Her new chest crystal spread light across her body.

Is that going to be her new Soul Dew, by any chance? And if so, what about the other Sages she's collected thus far? How will they react to Yuna's new form?

And now over to Gene and Quetzal, where our resident bird sees his comrade of old and evidently is getting cold feet over it all.

These Team Rocket people have stolen a lot of pokémon with their, err, giant meowth machine. I think they might fly the coop soon."

A pity that while they were allies, they are still unreliable as ever.

"Your friend is gone," the trainer on Shiva's back said. "They were boring. As are you. Nothing but dodges and quips. Do you even have a reason to be here?"

I suppose Betrayed Ash would want an all-out battle that wouldn't involve any kind of dodging whatsoever. Although that's somewhat hypocritical of him to dismiss quips, given how he dished out a boatload of absolute savage burns in the anime's early series.

A dragapult appeared over Shiva's head.

She's fully evolved! After all those fears at the beginning of the fic about how she struggled to evolve, it's great to see her become a Dragapult at last.

So looks like Ash is gonna survive. I wouldn't be surprised if he continues to go unnamed, although this is still remarkable to see Ash himself in a PMD fic. Is that a first by PMD fic standards, by any chance?

Dang, that's quite the attack that Gene managed to pull off.

All the while, the dragapult weaved through the beams, blasting dreepy-shaped bolts straight into Shiva's face.

That Dragapult agility coming into its own here.

"Now flock off, Feather Face!"

Oh hey, that's a line from both Devil May Cry and Bayonetta (even I, with my limited knowledge of both series, know of this). Should've figured that with how often those two series have been referenced in more recent chapters, that this line would show up here.

Though part of it briefly congealed into something resembling a face. A human face.

"Welcome back, Yaldabaoth."

Butterfree Effect still hanging around, I see. Although the note of the human face makes me wonder; is that Arceus cross-wheel decoration on his face gonna fall away anytime soon?

"Whoever has Leo, get him ready to seal the anomaly core. I'm coming to get him."

He's gonna be in for quite a surprise when he finds his mom's grown an extra long tail with Giratina inhabiting her. Wonder how he'll feel about that?

Looks like we'll have to wait till next time for the ultimate conclusion of the Wyndon arc. But wow, is there a lot to talk about...

Conclusion
A bit longer than the normal length for Review Tag reviews like this one, but being curious about Chapter 83 for a long time compelled me to finally see what it was all about. And man, I was not disappointed by what I saw.

Firstly, it was great to see Team Rocket. Icons of the anime with a classic, memorable dynamic that's replicated very well here. And it was honestly a great twist to see them made into allies (albeit unreliable ones with their own agenda) seeing as how Ash is portrayed in a more villainous light in this arc. And of course the best part with them was seeing them recite their motto from the top of the Gigagigameowth, which put a big smile on my face as I read it.

Secondly, the whole premise of this part being an Ash Betrayal fic parody with Ash as the villain was inspired; a genuinely unique concept that I never dreamed of seeing in a PMD fic. Maybe that's because most writers don't want to touch them with a ten foot pole - understandable given they tend to be of subpar quality as fics - and so they're not even willing to castigate it in writing. But you went ahead and did it anyway. And that would mark the first PMD fic I'm aware of that Ash technically appears in. So that's a bit of an achievement.

And thirdly, Chapter 83. Multiple times has this been alluded to as a Wham Episode of a chapter, so I went in expecting that, and holy hell, I was not disappointed. From revealing that Aeon and Radiance are part of the reverse world, to uncovering the origins of the Butterfree Effect, to Bahamut essentially being the Renegade of this world's universe, there was a lot to be revealed in this chapter, and damn were they some revelations alright. But then there was also the great news of Yuna evolving into a Dragapult, which was great to see, and I look forward to seeing what powers are under her control now that she's more closely bonded with Giratina.

There's also the usual praise that comes with just about every PoV review I do - the comedy gold dialogue, the endearing characters (especially Cyril and Seifer in this arc with the very fruity relationship they have now

) and the worldbuilding shine through as always.

Fantastic job with these chapters, Amby. I look forward to reading more.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Alright, it's been waaaaay too long since I last poked this, but the most recent Review Tag is as good an excuse to get straight back into the grind, so let's start the process of belatedly catching up with:

Chapter 85

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

OS Discrepancy Petition #94862048
PETITIONER: [Redacted]

CATEGORY: Other
SUBCATEGORY: Not Applicable
COMMENT: Look, I don't know which category this goes under. Just read the description! DIMENSION: POV-2020
LOCATION: Not Applicable

Ah yes, I smell Overseer antics. Let's see how much of a disaster this turns out to be.

DOES THIS PERTAIN TO SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS (Y/N)?
Yes

HOW MANY INDIVIDUALS ARE INVOLVED?
One

WHAT AURAL STATUSES APPLY TO THE INDIVIDUAL(S)?
Unsure/decline to answer

ARE YOU SEEKING TO OPEN AN INVESTIGATION?
Yes

>aural statuses

That's certainly a very specific thing to ask for. I wonder what on earth sample answers to that field would even look like.

PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DISCREPANCY. INCLUDE REASONS FOR SEEKING TO OPEN AN INVESTIGATION IF YOU ANSWERED "YES" TO THE ABOVE.
I was going to a group session and there was a new member. A necrozma with an aura of mostly shadows augmented by a secondary light source. He called himself "Bahamut" and referred to a few details we found while investigating POV-2020. I didn't want to pry as to the exact circumstances of why he was in this group, but I'm thinking he's some sort of copy.

Wait, a copy ? Is this Tama from Blacklight/Dodra or something?

Whether he's a copy or the real deal doesn't matter, though. Someone was somehow able to get something out of POV-2020 and I'm betting it's after the dimension was sealed off given some of the stuff this guy was saying. And I shouldn't have to tell you guys why that's bad. The quarantine's coming undone! We need, like, a bunch of people on this ASAP!

Okay, yeah. This is Tama, even if you kinda gave it away via Word of God.
[*][11:23 PM]

PETITION STATUS: Closed. Not eligible for appeal.
REVIEWER RESPONSE: We are already aware of the situation. Senior Overseers checked Ginnungagap and found no vulnerabilities in the seal.
ADDENDUM: The petitioner has been placed under probation for trying to circumvent this case's final status by repeatedly refiling this petition as new discrepancies.
ADDENDUM #2: One millicycle following the above addendum, minute vulnerabilities were discovered on POV-2020's seal. The petitioner is off probation. See Incident Report POV-2020-10 or personnel file "Void Bahamut" for more details.

I wonder who on earth was the one that filed these reports, since they were clearly quite determined that this was a terrible thing happening.

ADDENDUM #3: Personnel file "Void Bahamut" was renamed to "Tama" following the subject's requested name change.

Aaaaaand there it is. But what is the meta behind why Tama got his name, anyways?

The stadium's torn up ground shook every few seconds. A result of the giant robot continuing to stomp around outside. Gene kept his eyes fixed on the meowth head, weighing his options.

Oh right, the TRio still had that stomping around. Though ominous BGM is ominous.

Yuna had gone off to get the kid and seal the anomaly. That meant everyone would return home soon, right? He couldn't let those Rockets walk off with scores of pokémon. Yet that metal hull looked quite sturdy. And if Gene didn't aim his attacks precisely, he could injure the captured pokémon or break captured poké balls.

EMPs, son. They were built for moments like these.

"Jade. You still have eyes in the sky?" Gene asked. He wasn't trying to sense the salugia's aura. "Robot still causing problems for people?"

"I don't think so?" Jade replied. She's flown somewhere outside the stadium. "It's walking around a plaza in front of the stadium. No one's there. Maybe they're taking a victory lap?"

I mean, that would definitely be on-brand for those three given that they did stop to gloat on more than a few occasions in the anime.

Gene's yellow-tipped tail lashed back and forth in irritation. He drifted closer to the ground. Quetzal paced nervously between Ifrit and Shiva's unconscious forms. The orange zapdos locked eyes with Gene.

"They'll wake up, right?" Quetzal glanced at the birds. "They're breathing, so they have to be okay. Just because they didn't turn back to normal doesn't mean there's a problem." He stuck a bulky leg up. "I didn't turn back to normal."

"You mean back to electric and flying?"

Wait, what on earth does Quetzal even look like holding his foot up like that?

Quetzal shot the snickering toxtricity behind him a dirty look. He turned back to Gene. "You have to know something about this, don't you?" His feathers puffed out. "What about the buzzwole? He got corrupted by a fighting-type core."

"And I seem to recall it took a few days before he woke up," Nikki countered. Tiny sparks jumped off her mohawk. "Meanwhile, the kid's coming to." She jerked her head in the direction of the young trainer who'd been on Shiva's back earlier. His red and white pokébase cap was torn, as was his blue vest and the white shirt underneath.

I'm not convinced that this is exactly a good thing right now.

Gene hastily Phantom Warped over, practically flinging Nikki aside with a burst of levitation.

"The he— hrrrmmmph!"

A quick bit of ESP silenced Nikki. The kid was bound to freak, but better for an actual psychic like Gene to talk with him. Try and smooth stuff over.

Are- Are they actually going to drag him around for a while on their journeys, or...? .-.

As long as that robot doesn't fly the coop.

The boy's eyes opened. "What?" He blinked slowly. "Ugh. So tired." He slowly sat up, running a hand through his black hair. "Pikachu? Did we make it to..."

He met Gene's gaze and his voice trailed off. The shadowy mewtwo opted for telepathy. "Hello there. I need you to remain calm. You've been in an accident."

Cue the freakout in 3... 2...

Gene expected panicked screams, but instead got a tilt of the boy's head. "Mewtwo?" he said, raising a brow. "What happened to you? Your color's all weird." He eyed the Malice Crystal. "And that doesn't look healthy!" His concerned expression intensified. "And what about all the pokémon you said you're protecting?"

Huh. Betrayed!Ash in this universe has clearly seen it all.

Oh, wonderful. This dimension had a mewtwo. Gene decided against grappling with those implications. But he didn't feel as remorseful about ripping the proverbial bandage off.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the mewtwo you know. Name's Gene. Here from another universe. Can I get a name?"

"Yeah." The boy slowly got to his feet. "The name's Ash Ketchum. From—" He reached up to adjust his hat only to cut himself off. His expression darkened as his fingers grazed the torn fabric. "Pallet Town, I guess."

That hesitation doesn't bode well for the state of Pallet Town in this universe.

"You guess?" Now it was Gene's turn to raise a brow.

Ash tipped the brim of his cap down so it obscured his face. "Something happened. My friends and family... turned against me. Took all of my pokémon away, saying I didn't deserve them. Only one who stood by me was Pikachu." He lifted his cap brim. "Ah! Pikachu!" Ash cupped his hands over his mouth. "Piiikachuuuuu!"

I'm cringing already. But I suppose that you did say upfront you were rolling a Betrayed!Ash for this arc, so...

"Relax, he's fine."

Gene's Malice Crystal sparked as Nikki walked up, carrying Pikachu by the tail. "Out cold. But fine," she said.

"Oh no!" Ash ran right past Gene. "Pikachu, what happened to you?"

"Brainwashed. Same as you." Nikki made a cuckoo sign. Gene immediately glared at her and pulled Pikachu away with a telekinetic yank.

Can't tell if this is going to result in a freakout or if Ash will just shrug it off since TR!Meowth also talks just fine in this universe.

"Here." Gene handed Pikachu over to Ash, who cradled him in his arms. "You seem remarkably calm for someone who just saw a pokémon talking like a human." He paused. "And casually claim you were brainwashed."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Ash shuddered. "And I know a talking meowth."

Well, that answers that. And oh right, there was that one episode where Ash got possessed by an evil king's spirit or something like that.

"Right. Team Rocket." Gene resisted the urge to turn around and look for the robot.

"Wait, they're here?" Ash almost took on a fighting stance before remembering he was holding Pikachu. "Don't tell me they're up to something! I—" He stopped and glanced down at Pikachu. "—don't have a way to stop them." His shoulders sagged.

Yeeeeah, I take it that this Betrayed!Ash hasn't exactly gotten to the "rebound" part of his character arc just yet.

Gene held up a hand. "One step at a time, kid. Let's go back to Pallet for a second. What do you actually remember?"

Ash frowned and looked away. The shadowy mewtwo rolled his eyes. "We can do this the easy way or the 'powerful psychic sifts through my thoughts' way. I'm pretty sure you'd prefer the former."

There was an awkward silence. Then Ash stepped back. "That's more like Mewtwo," he mumbled. He fixed his gaze on Pikachu. "I don't want to remember it. They were all just... so angry with me. And I don't even understand why! Calling me an idiot and a fool and stuff."

I mean... they technically had a point considering his canonical depiction, just saying. ^^;

Tail twitching, Gene nodded slowly. "And did anything else seem off about them. Like, say, facial expressions?"

Ash's face scrunched up in thought. "Uhh, I don't really know." He lightly kicked at the dirt under his sneakers. "All that stuff they said piled up so quickly I just shut down. I felt so empty." Ash then held up Pikachu. "Pikachu shocked them all and managed to get me away. And it felt like... like he knew what would be able to help me. So, I followed him." He looked around. "And now I'm here."

inb4 Ash's friends and family were also manipulated by whoever brainwashed him

It was hardly concrete. But from that alone, Gene had a sneaking suspicion that the mysterious voice that warned Yuna about the kid being in the vault in the first place was behind this.

Oh, so that's how you're working this into the broader plot.

"Okay." Gene clasped his hands together in front of his head. "So, like, I get you think all your friends and family hate you or whatever. But there are definitely people who care about you." Now the shadowy mewtwo allowed himself to turn around. "Those Team Rocket doofuses were worried about you. They agreed to work together with my team so we could rescue you."

Ash's eyes widened. "They did what?!"

Yeah, they're kinda sentimental idiots like that. We know.

"Oi, pick up the pace!"

Gene glanced at Nikki, whose legs and waist were fading away. The three birds were also mostly gone.

Shit. "Okay, look." Giving up on telepathy, Gene floated into the air. "I don't have time to give you a 'ra ra sis boom ba' pep talk, kid. You got hurt. Two options for that." Gene raised one finger. "You can let it drag you down and become some depressed loner no one actually wants to be around." He then punched his right hand with his left. "Or you can 'fight' like hell and get to the bottom of it.

Those are two prevailing archetypes for stories in this subgenre, aren't they? Since this feels like some sort of meta reference thing.

"It's up to you." Gene turned around. His legs were disappearing. "As for me... I've got a 'partnership' to break."

The shadowy mewtwo charged through the air. To his relief, the robot was still there... but it was heading into the water.

One shot. He had to make it count.

"We got a buncha pokémon! We got a buncha pokémon!"

Gene: "See, I did have a plan for that. (Also, catchy background music there.)"

... Wait. Why did Gene have to shoot? What if he just... ripped whatever was holding the captured pokémon out of the damn machine?

Wait, he can just sense that so casually?

But would that work?

His waist was fading. Gene was out of time. He thrust his arms in front of him, concentrating on his ESP as much as he could.

"We got a buncha pok—"

"EEP! Jessie! The hull!" James screamed.

Cue the explosive failure in 3... 2...

Gene didn't care that those idiots were still using their megaphones. Something heavy tugged against his psionic sense.

"Rrrrgh. Our deal's... off!"

He mentally yanked with all his might. The robot's back shattered as a stack of metal cages came flying out, landing in the grass by the riverbed.

Gene: "Probably a good thing that everyone was in Pokéballs, since... uh... yeah, that'd have been a pretty ugly mess there." ^^;

Team Rocket's microphones amplified their screams as the giant puncture in the hull caused sparks and explosive bursts to race all along the meowth robot.

Right before Gene faded out of the dimension completely, the head exploded. The Rockets and their wobbuffet careened through the air. Gene somehow managed to hear one final cry from them.

"We're blasting off agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain!"

Yeah, I knew it. It just wouldn't be right to send off the TRio without them getting flying lessons yet again.

"Please stand by for a message from Grand Emperor Paradox!"

Before I clicked the link, I at first thought you were going for a reference to:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCmok5i4uhk


But Paradox is probably a bit too competent for that to really work, alas.

Noctum awoke to an obnoxiously cheerful news bulletin music blaring out of the speakers surrounding Cyril's tower of computer monitors. Someone laid him down atop a large crate, giving him a perfect view of the top left computer monitor. It showed the Eterna Empire sigil before quickly cutting to footage of where Noctum and the others had just been.

Indigo Plateau was a mess of torn up ground and rubble from the building, but a combination of assorted ground-type 'mons and Eternatus Troopers were working quite quickly to clean things up.

They're doing this under threat of getting Unown'd, aren't they? ^^;

Everything came rushing back at once. The Trooper assault, with the king's forced transformation into Halvus. The devastating Dyna Depletion attacks. Noctum throwing himself into one. The strange visions and that searing pain from his Malice Crystal...

Noctum glanced at his belly. It was still blue. His wings were still jagged and his tail flame was a starcloud like Cyril's mane and Leo's pelt.

Why? The mega charizard kept hearing that one phrase over and over in his head.

Lustrous heart. Lustrous. Lustrous...

Oh, so Noctum now looks like those Cosmic!Megazard artworks that you commissioned a while back. Since that description is certainly consistent with it.

"As some of you are not doubt aware," Paradox began, snapping Noctum's attention back to the monitor, "another one of those dreadful rifts opened up on Earth's beloved Indigo Plateau."

The deoxys then walked in front of the footage. Noctum's starcloud mouth flames rippled. "W-Wait, he's there?!"

Paradox is about to blame all of this on the Resistance, isn't he?

From his spot beside the monitors, Cyril rolled his eyes. "It's a greenscreen, dumbass."

Seifer's prosthetic horn poked his right hip. "Ow!" The cosmic zoroark's black fur flickered red. "What?"

"They don't have greenscreens back in Aeon," Noctum mumbled, looking down dejectedly.

Cyril: "Right, you're all living in the Middle Ages or something like that... um... we should probably get around to fixing that sometime soon."

"Thanks to the strong work of my Eternatus Troopers and support from Paradigm Lieutenant Halvus, the rift has been successfully dealt with!" Paradox declared, tentacles coiling into arms as he applauded footage of the hulking duraludon they had to battle. He then faded out so the footage could zoom in on the building.

"It's already halfway rebuilt?!" Noctum's jaw slackened. "What kind of devilry is this?"

I can't tell if this is legit or if Paradox is just going full Baghdad Bob right now.

He was immediately shushed by Cyril and a few skorps seated behind some of the keyboards.

"Unfortunately, there was some collateral property damage during the process," Paradox continued. "But not to worry. As you can see, repairs are well underway. The Indigo League should be good as new by tomorrow."

The deoxys reappeared on screen. "It's exactly as I told you all. This whole silly little rift situation is entirely under control. Thanks to me, your beloved grand emperor!" Paradox slowly bowed. "That will be all for now. Have a pleasant day."

Seifer: "... So is he just blatantly lying and having Zoroark cast Illusions, or...? Since I don't understand how anything that big could be half-rebuilt in less than a day."

A new male voice followed the end of Paradox's bulletin. "We now return you to a new episode of All My Stakataka."

Two of the skorps clapped their mutant incineroar hands together excitedly, only for their moods to deflate when Cyril pressed a button and shut the monitor off.

Sighing, he ran yellow claws through his starcloud mane. "Well, that's just peachy." He lazily walked across the hanger floor.

Your video link here is dead on the TR version, what was this meant to be?

Noctum slowly sat up. "What do you mean?"

"He means the emperor took our hard work and spun it to make himself look like the hero," Valkyrie spat. The garchomp sat on a metal crate to Noctum's left, watching as a few helioptile and croconaw tended to some of the Aeon soldiers injured fighting Halvus.

Wait, there's also random Helioptile and Croconaw in Aeon? Are they meant to have married in with the other dragons?

"Oh." Noctum tapped his claws together nervously. "Can't we, um, send our own message with the truth?" He looked expectantly at Cyril. "Like when you hacked the blimps in Eterna City!"

Cyril froze. He scratched his right ear. "Dude, the emperor had video footage to back it up. And we bailed before the rift vanished, remember?"

"What about a big, fancy illusion?" Noctum offered. Surely, there was something they could do to compete with this evil greenscreen.

I mean, if Illusions can get captured on camera and look convincing, you'd think that video footage would not be treated as definitive proof of anything, just saying.

The cosmic zoroark pinched his brow. "Ugh. No." He held up his right hand, which disappeared. "Just because I can illusion enough of an invisibility dome to hide a few of us doesn't mean I can conjure up some elaborate scene to make people think Paradox used a deep fake." Cyril dispelled the illusion around his hand. "I'm not that strong. I can just... actually fight like a pokémon now."

Noctum: "But you're saying that it's possible-?" ^^;
Cyril: "Noctum, I don't know anyone capable of doing that, okay?!"

Noctum's shoulders sagged. "So, what, we stand around and take our licks?" He might've personally had more concerning things to worry about, but he welcomed the distraction. Noctum looked around the hangar. "I can't be the only one who thinks that sucks, right?"

"Tch. Amateur."

The mega charizard's cosmic tail flame shrank. Wincing, Noctum glanced at Valkyrie. "What now?"

Wait, Valkyrie's actually going to propose a solution here? Or is she just going to go "oh well, we tried, it happens"?

"So we can't compete with his propaganda machine." Valkyrie waved dismissively. Curiously, she continued staring at the floor. "Whatever. Let the emperor think he's all big and successful. We're still dismantling the Paradigm. This keeps us under the radar."

To the public. Not to his regime. There's a difference between the two, Val.

Noctum supposed that was true. But weren't they also trying to expand their ranks? Wouldn't it help if they could show people in the empire that their leader might be vulnerable?

Metallic hoofbeats interrupted Noctum's train of thought. Seifer stopped beside him. "I think... talking strategy ought to wait until everyone's together." He glanced over his shoulder. "And, perhaps, rested up."

[ ]

"Ah!" Noctum's tail flame expanded. "The king and queen!" He tried to drop from his perch, but a wave of vertigo stopped him. Noctum braced himself against the edge of the crate. "Where did—"

I think that you're missing some reminder in the narration about Calcifer and Yiazmat here, since even I got thrown by how abruptly this came up, even if it makes sense with the benefit of the past chapters' context.

"Your queen took your king off to a private room the moment we returned." Seifer pointed to the hanger's exit with a forehoof. "Baraz showed up to help them along, too."

"And Yuna and the others aren't back yet," Cyril added, tapping a foot impatiently.

"Oh," Noctum mumbled. So that was what Seifer meant when he suggested waiting.

"Huh. Speak of the devil."

Well, sounds like we were in for a short wait here.

Noctum hastily turned left at Valkyrie's comment. An array of blue lights peppered the area in front of the hangar's large ship door. Valkyrie abruptly hopped off her seat, silently walking toward Noctum's crate.

"We're back, bitches!"

Nikki was first to step out of the light, stretching her arms up. "A bit of an annoyance, but nothing we couldn't—"

"Commander!"

An orange blur whizzed over to the keldeo, who whinnied in surprise when he saw two unconscious birds on Quetzal's back. Noctum didn't recognize them.

Oh right. I'm pretty sure that nobody on this side of things has seen Yuna's new body. That one is going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

Seifer's prosthetic horn flickered. "Wait, Quetzal, are these who I think they are?"

"Ifrit and Shiva, sir." Quetzal adjusted them on his back. "They were corrupted and turned into Phantoms."

"They're actually Whispers!" Gene and Nikki heckled simultaneously.

Quetzal: "Whatever! It's not like that that's any better!" >v>;

"Ugh, whatever!" Quetzal was practically trotting in place. "We have to get them somewhere to rest." He looked around at some of the dragons. "Somewhere, uh, better than here?"

Man, when I call 'em, I call 'em.

Cyril walked over, scratching his ear. "Just head into the hall and take a couple of rights. You'll find a special infirmary."

"Thanks!" The orange zapdos zipped away. Cyril's cosmic hair rippled from the wind Quetzal's momentum kicked up. He fiddled with locks of hair.

"All right. Anything else?"

"Wait, where'd Mom and Dad go?"

Noctum turned left. Had Yuna's voice gotten a bit deeper?

Alright, now it's time for the freakout about Yuna's new looks.

A dragapult floated beside a larger Leo. But her tail. And that weird gem in her chest...

Noctum's eyes widened. Why was that gem... familiar?

"P-Princess?"

Wait, so if Yuna is linked to Giratina and Noctum is just straight-up Palkia... who on earth is Dialga?

"What?" Yuna raised a brow, then looked down at her torso. "Oh, right. Yeah, this happened."

"All that and spades, apparently." Nikki clapped Yuna's back.

She squeaked, then frowned at the toxtricity. "Seriously?"

"You're gonna complain about a congratulatory back pat?" Nikki snickered. "Guess you've got thin skin." She paused. "Or no skin."

Yuna: "Nikki, I'm part of a royal line, and in its palace right now. I need to show some level of decorum here!" >_>;

Yuna rolled her eyes. Noctum wasn't waiting any longer. Despite the vertigo, he was at the dragapult's side in an instant. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?" He looked her over. This nagging familiarity brought back everything that happened to him. "Should I get your mother?"

"I should be asking you that." Yuna scrutinized his appearance. She had the same concerned expression as him. God, his head was hurting. Noctum took it as a sign to give her a bit of space.

I mean... is it just a sign to give her space? Since considering who those two are linked to / were originally...

"Look, we had to deal with a couple of the Whispers," Yuna slowly continued. "And I evolved. We got the plates." She gestured to Leo, who stuck a foreleg and hind leg out. Some sort of pose, Noctum figured. "There were two this time, though. And a Needle, to boot."

"Wait, what?" Gene decided to sit on the same stack of crates Valkyrie used before. "Two plates and a Needle?"

Translation: "Your author is just speeding things right along for the plot, since the Relevant MacGuffin count has kinda exploded a bit."

"Yeeeessss?" Yuna's tail rippled. "Didn't I just say that?"

"Yeah, yeah." Gene's tail twitched in irritation. He crossed his right leg over his left, then swapped. "Yo, Kora!"

"Hmm?" Koraidon turned around from the far corner of the room, where he was gathering up monks.

"Got an explanation for this?" Gene gestured at Yuna.

Something something, story needs to speed up, something something omniverse is increasingly having problems.

"Ah, apologies." Koraidon bowed slowly. "I'm making sure everyone got back okay. What was it you said?"

Gene facepalmed. "Oi, Widget. You were on crowd control, too. Gimme a machine headcount."

Widget's eyes flickered blue, then yellow, then purple. "Everyone's present and accounted for. Including Cid." He blinked several times, then shook his head. "Ugh, at least ask politely next time. I don't like having to run that part of my processor anymore."

Oh, so there's a distinction between the biological and machine side of Widget. Or at least I think that that's the implication there.

Yuna cleared her throat. "Alder already offered a possibility. That plates and Needles are getting drawn toward one another. Which might be why things stabilized for a time before." She wiggled her right arm up and down. "They're, like, migrating to each other."

"Aww, snap! That oughta make it tough for Necrozma to— awk!"

Yeah, I had a feeling with that prediction of why there was suddenly a MacGuffin dump.

Yuna: "No, that's more of the complete opposite, really." .-.

In the front corner, Vegna grabbed Griffon's beak and forced it shut. The corviknight disappeared into the dusknoir in a stream of black smoke. "There's more you're not telling us, isn't there, Yunavresca?"

Yuna's gold-ringed tail crinkled up. She did her best to straighten it out. "I, uh—" Yuna fidgeted nervously. "Yeah." She took a shaky breath. "There's a lot to share. And it's, um, best that everyone's here for it."

Vegna: "So that's a 'yes', then." -;
Yuna: "Look, I'm getting to it, okay?!" >.<

Nikki crossed her arms. "Define 'everyone.' We got most of the squad here." The toxtricity gestured at the hangar.

"Quetzal," Yuna said. "And Igneous and Scarlett."

"What about Pillow Prince?"

"Shimmer too," Yuna said. "And I don't see Artemis, Baraz, or Alder." She glanced at Noctum. "And no one's told me what happened to Mom and Dad..."

Noctum:

Yuna: "... Okay, what happened?"

Her eyes darted between his cosmic tail flame and the ones at the sides of his mouth. "... Or you, apparently. Your Malice Crystal is gone. And you're mega?"

"Think he absorbed it."

Noctum tensed at a scaly arm on his right shoulder. Valkyrie had gotten the jump on him again.

Huh, I hadn't even realized that. But I suppose that it makes sense given that this story wound up treating Dynamaxing and Mega Evolution as the same phenomenon.

"Calcifer was hit by some strange blast," the garchomp explained. "It corrupted him like other Paradigm daemons we've seen. So, we had to fight him." She glanced at Noctum. "Your butler buddy... saved me from a blast that could've torn me to shreds."

He blinked in surprise. So, she was acknowledging it? Noctum figured she was too prideful. Though it sounds like it's bugging her...

Sounds like a recipe for traumatic history storytime sometime in the near future, since I feel as if this reaction from Val isn't coming from nowhere.

"We were able to beat the daemon, but your father's unconscious." Noctum scanned the hangar and noticed Biff off to the right... lying on his back, bench pressing one of the metal crates. And a few hakamo-o sitting on top of it. "It might be like Buzzwole. He'll need time before he wakes up."

Noctum offered her a nervous smile. It must have been good enough, since Yuna's worried expression faded slightly.

Huh, that turned out better than I thought it would.

"All right." The dragapult rubbed her ectoplasmic temples. "Let's get everyone else here. Then we can talk."

She looked around the room and gulped. "We can... talk."

Looks like I might have used that nervous laughter gif a bit fast.

Noctum went to drape a wing over her, but stopped. Yuna was almost double his size now. The gesture looked silly. And Yuna knew that, judging by the confused look she gave him.

"I'll, uh, help you gather them up!" Noctum offered, laughing nervously.

"Okay." She glanced at Nikki and Gene. "Keep everyone occupied for a bit, okay."

Yuna: "Though don't feel rushed here! Take your time, really!" O_O;

"Oh, sure." Gene rolled his eyes. "We'll play canasta or something." He waved his right arm dismissively.

With a flap of his wings, Noctum followed Yuna. Lots of things were changing quickly. It left a sinking feeling in his newly-healed gut.

... And what the heck's canasta?!

Snerk. This story's sense of humor never gets old.

"We're definitely close."

Ninetales' soft, white legs brushed against tall grass as he padded his way forward. The rising sun cast a soothing orange-yellow glow over the Wild Area. The chirps of assorted birds sounded in the distance. But there wasn't much activity in this particular patch of the sprawling plains.

"Mmm. There aren't any pokémon nearby. Suppose people randomly crashing out of the sky would send them running off."

Ah yes,

has entered the chat. But 'We're', huh? Wonder who's accompanying him right now?

Plodding along beside Ninetales, a pyroar with a gray mane yawned loudly. "Why am I here, exactly?"

Ninetales froze mid-step. "Uhh..."

"They're not a threat." Pyroar paused beside Ninetales to fix his stern gaze on him.

I'm going to go ahead and guess that this is Tama. Since this sounds consistent with what I've heard of his appearance in Dodran Phantasms.

"I know, but I thought some company would be nice!" Ninetales' tails wagged asynchronously.

Pyroar snorted gray fire at his feet. Ninetales jumped back with a yip. "H-Hey, c'mon!"

"I wanted a vacation," Pyroar grumbled, shambling forward. "Deserved one, you ungrateful—"

Ah yes, I see that he hasn't changed too much from his appearance in Blacklight at heart.

Flinching, Ninetales quickened his pace. "I'm aware. I was there, too!"

"For all of five minutes."

Another flinch. Ninetales almost tripped over a rock hidden by the tall grass. "Yeah, well that was enough to save your hide for a bit, wasn't it?"

Is this a Dodran Phantasms reference? Or completely unrelated?

Pyroar's expression only hardened. "Your quarry lies ahead."

"Right." Ninetales shuffled forward, trying to imagine Pyroar training his unamused look elsewhere. It was fine. He was just being his usual self.

"... Had it in da palm of our hands."

"I told you two we should've flown the coop."

"You? Puh-lease! You wanted us ta head for da city and try to snag a bigger haul!"

Oh, so Shane is tracking Yuna and the rest of the protagonist party. I should've put that together a lot sooner than this, but I suppose that this confirms it.

"WOOOBBBBBAAAFFFEET!"

"Hey! Don't side with them!"

Ninetales chuckled. Yup, definitely who he was looking for. Swishing his hair behind him, the fox hopped through the remainder of the tall grass and popped out on the other side.

That has to be a weird feeling for

given that he's effectively about to hold a conversation with characters he grew up watching on TV.

"Hello!" he telepathically chirped. And, yep, these three Rockets looked exactly like what he was expecting.

"Aaaaah!" James backed up against a large boulder.

"Jessie, make the psychics go away!" Jessie was on her feet, glaring at James. "That's no psychic-type, you dolt!"

Cue the surprise Necrozma to reveal that James isn't as far off as Jessie thinks.

"What's an Alolan ninetales doing all da way over in Galar?" Meowth wondered.

"M-Maybe he wants to join Team Rocket?" James laughed nervously.

Ninetales had to cut in fast, or he'd be stuck listening to their babbling for a while. And he could feel Pyroar's glare on the back of his head.

Tama: "Can I burn them?"
Shane: "Tama, no."

"Sorry. Not interested," he said. "But I did catch a glimpse of what happened in Wyndon." Ninetales pivoted to his left. "I'm actually after the person who made your, uh, twerp friend disappear."

"Friend?!" Meowth unsheathed his claws. "What an insult! I oughta turn dat pelt into a fancy coat for da boss!"

"You're welcome to try!" Ninetales winked at Meowth, who stumbled over to James. "Except I can't stay all that long. Basically, I'm asking if you guys might be willing to help me out later. With the guy who caused your problems."

Ah yes, trusting the TRio for your lead on a potential multiverse-ending anomaly. What could possibly go wrong here?

The three Rockets looked at one another. And Ninetales got a strong sense they were going to shoot him down, so he quickly tried to save face. "Aaaand I fully intend to make it worth your while! Scout's honor!"

That only made them more skeptical.

"What could a ninetales possibly have to offer us?" Jessie wondered.

Tama: "Free flying lessons if you don't hurry this up-"
Shane: "Tama, hush."

At that, Ninetales stuck his forepaw out. Concentrating, he drew on a well of light deep down. He nudged it along his forehead, until it took shape into a familiar Z-Crystal. Ninetales rolled it over to them.

"How's that for starters?"

The Rockets looked down at the crystal, then up at Ninetales. "Dis some kinda magic trick?" Meowth wondered.

Shane:

Ninetales nudged the crystal closer, gesturing for Meowth to pick it up. Meowth's whiskers twitched the moment he touched the Z-Crystal. There was a tiny spark of gray embers running along his arm.

"You're welcome to use it," Ninetales said. "Or not. Gave one to your twerp buddy, too. Just in case." He winked at them.

Ah yes, this won't cause any issues later on, I'm sure.

That seemed like as good a place as any to leave things off. Ninetales turned to bound back into the tall grass.

"Hey, wait!" James called. "When are you even going to call us? And whatever for?"

Ninetales' ears swiveled in thought. "Oh, that?" He stepped toward the tall grass. "When the time's right... you'll know."

Honestly, I'm half-expecting this to be building up to some sort of riff off of the Bravely Default 1 final boss with how much Shane has been gathering future help from across the omniverse.

He hopped into the tall grass. The grass fluttered against him as he ran. It didn't take him long to reach Pyroar. "See? Didn't take too long." Ninetales' tails wagged. "And we're good to go."

Pyroar's face remained stern. He crouched down slightly, pressing a forepaw into the dirt. Motes of gray light spread out from his forepaw.

Ninetales braced himself. Within seconds, the tall grass and cool Galarian morning air fell away, replaced by the sharp blues and purples and fierce, rippling winds of Ginnungagap.

I'm... not convinced that it's remotely healthy for him to be in there and doing this, just saying. .-.

Four luminescent gray wings burst from Pyroar's back. Gray crystals tore away at his body until, with a powerful flap of his four wings, the grayscale necrozma that emerged flew off into the depths of the mystery dungeon between worlds.

With a brilliant ripple of golden light, Ninetales, too, shed his body for one that matched his counterpart. His gold light surged through the swirling blues and purples, passing strangely shaped crystal chunks. And rocky islands with barren trees that grew upside down. A few had glass light bulbs sprouting from their branches instead of leaves.

The gold necrozma got a bit ahead and looked back. "C'mon, Bah—"

"Tama."

Oh, so that's what he's up to now. Though just how many Necrozma are there on the staff list for the Overseers, anyways?

"Right." Head tendrils shriveling, he continued forward. Ever since he learned about Tama — an anomalous copy of Bahamut another Overseer accidentally created from the real one's empty shell — he tried to spend time with the guy. There was friction, but he had the patience for it.

Though it seemed his hopes that Tama would be more amicable with him following their time apart were unfounded.

Oh, so he was just as much of a giant pill after the events of Blacklight, huh?

"St-still, you could at least, y'know, say something instead of looking so dour."

"What's your plan, Shane?" Tama flapped his gray wings. "I'll look as dour as I want until you give me more than a 'trust me, bro.'"

I mean, this honestly feels like a bit of a valid criticism here. ^^;

Shane nearly stopped mid-flight, which would've been bad, since he had to roll right to avoid splatting against a donut-shaped island. Or was it a malasada-shaped one?

"Whoa, whoa. Who told you I had a plan?" Shane's golden tail crinkled. "I have an idea. A train of thought!"

He glanced back at Tama, whose mismatched gray eyes were narrowing. "That's worse."

"I-I'm not good with plans," Shane squeaked. The squeaks echoed through Ginnungagap. Distorted eighth and sixteenth notes spawned on a distant island, then broke apart into clusters of ethereal chatot that flew off in all directions. "There's no guarantee this goes anywhere, but I'm holding out hope." A mix of green and orange spread over his eyes. "I don't need to tell you about the power of hope, do I?"

Tama: "Shane, 'hope' isn't a strategy here!" >_>;

Tama looked offended at the notion. He flew faster, closing the gap with Shane. "How many citations are you racking up for this? Last I heard, you weren't to meddle with that world anymore."

Shane's golden glow dimmed. "I don't—" He flew faster. "It's not meddling. I'm trying to be proactive. They're working hard on the inside. Only seems right to lend a discrete hand from outside."

Shane, with how hard this story pulls from Squeenix RPG vibes, I'm not convinced that this isn't going to wind up ending in tears later on.

"Doubt they see it that way." Tama passed him, snorting. "I think it's something else."

"Like what?" Shane flew faster, then banked left. He passed by several small islands with tiny ripples. Means of entering other worlds.

Tama didn't respond, though. He continued ahead silently. "Where is it, again?"

Shane frowned. This guy was supposed to give straight answers. Why the evasiveness? "A few more down," he said, flying further ahead so he could locate the origin point for his little pocket.

Cabot: "Excuse me? Are we talking about the same 'mon that was on Cibus here?"

Tama: "Quiet, you. You're not even supposed to be in this corner of the omniverse right now."

After passing a few more of the small islands, Shane made it to one haphazardly littered with shrubbery. Bushes of vulpix and ninetales tails. Shane felt Tama's disapproval crawling along his ethereal back, but shrugged it off. He approached the small, distorted ripple and pressed an upper wing to it. A golden ring of light spread out, like water rippling after a pebble was dropped in it.

Wait, like they're literally growing from those bushes? What on earth are these islands? .-.

A familiar checkerboard portal formed. Shane turned aside and gestured to it with an upper wing. Tama simply flew past silently. Sighing, Shane followed the gray necrozma inside a dark, circular room.

"Will you give me an answer now?" he wondered, watching Tama curl up in the middle of the room in an almost serpent-like fashion. Tama gazed up. There was no ceiling. Only a seemingly endless sea of stars stretching overhead.

"Fine." Tama folded up his lower wings. "It's attachment."

Shane landed on the ground. He tucked his wings in and concentrated, shrinking down. And down. Tama grew steadily larger as Shane's golden form shrank to a much more... silvally shape. Yet still a mix of light and crystals.

Oh, so that's why you commissioned all that art and emotes of the Silvally/Necrozma fusion. I'm guessing that Shane does this to hold onto memories of Nero.

"I was kinda hoping there was more to it," Shane said, golden talons clicking against the crystal floor. He strode toward Tama. Gold light melded with gray.

"There is." Tama slowly slid onto his side. "But I'm tired."

Squawking, Shane almost lost his footing and faceplanted. "S-Seriously?!"

"You pulled me away from my vacation," Tama huffed. He rolled onto his back, crossing one gray crystalline leg over another and resting his head against his upper wings.

Wow, somebody's petty there.

It wasn't funny. And much as Shane wanted to say that, that would just play into Tama's hands. Wings. Whatever.

Um... you two are friends with each other, right?

"Should I get you a beach towel? Maybe one of those drinks with the funny umbrellas?"

"That'd be a start," Tama scoffed.

"Please." Shane rolled his rainbow eyes. "We both know you don't eat or drink."

"You shouldn't, either." Tama tapped a lower wing against one of his chest spikes. Each clink echoed through the room. "Surely you've heard about your reputation, no?"

Shane's head crest shrank a bit. "Maybe?"

Whelp, time to find out what

has grown to be known for since the events of Guiding Light.

"The almighty idiot." Tama held up his other lower wing... and popped it from its joint. "Who always seems to break things." The gray necrozma's wing reattached on its own. "Before fixing them in a way more senior Overseers would never consider."

That... definitely sounds like Shane, yes. Though I sure hope that those past instances were a bit less apocalyptic than his time as a main protagonist in GL. ^^;

He shook his head. "The one who sees the trees but not the forest. The god who thinks like a mortal. Who, despite it being a shrinking fraction of his whole life, still keeps the memories of his days in Horizon freshest in his mind."

A part of me feels like this is some sort of meta commentary regarding GL and its prominence in the fandom, but maybe I'm overthinking things here.

Tama slowly rolled onto his side again. "An immense amount of power... yet always reluctant to use it."

There was some slight resentment behind Tama's words. Shane pawed nervously at the ground. "Well, yeah. I mean... y'know... 'with great power comes great responsibility' and all that."

I take it that Bahamut is meant to be the path not taken for Shane and his wakeup call arc in which he snaps out his jerkass phase treating everything as a game since... uh... yeah, it's not that hard to reconcile Bahamut with being "Shane, if he didn't grow up and only became more withdrawn and his personality issues in Early!GL festered for a few millennia" premise-wise.

Tama's gray eyes swirled with disapproval. "Ah, yes, your favorite line you ripped from some comic."

"Cuz it's a good line." Shane laughed nervously. His gaze fell to a jagged reflection in one of the crystal walls. "Where are you going with this?"

"You want to fix this because you still haven't let go." Tama practically slithered across the ground, curling around the smaller silvcrozma. "You see POV-2020 as a second chance of sorts. To fix lingering shadows of regret." Bits of dark shadows bubbled within his gray body. "Small, but enough for someone who zeroes in on the little things."

Okay, yeah, this absolutely smacks of meta commentary by Tama here. And it makes me all the more confident that Shane's attempts to interfere with the story are going to wind up causing huge problems later on.

Shane's cheek bolts turned slowly in his sockets. Was that really it? Or was Tama looking for the most negative reason? "Maybe I just want to help them so a lot of people don't get hurt."

Yeah, that sounded right. Shane straightened up a bit. "It's not about me. And, like, they're still the ones at the front of this. If I can help them from the sidelines, then that's good enough."

He blinked slowly. "... I think. Never did learn sports metaphors."

Tama: "Okay, yeah, sure. Whatever helps you feel better Shane."

Shane: "Look, it is, okay?!"

Tama's grayscale eyes stitched themselves into vaguely humanoid proportions so he could roll them. "If you insist." He uncurled from around Shane and began to float away.

"Wait, you're already leaving?"

"I want to find that beach again."

Huh. That music... actually works surprisingly well with the idea of someone starting to head off to the beach. Is that the context that it was originally used in in DR3?

Shane flinched. "Right." His cheek bolts flickered like dying light bulbs. "You're not, y'know, going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

Tama stared at the exit. "... Against my better judgment."

"Good. I can work with that."

Oh, so Tama does like him... probably. Maybe.

"Fine." Tama held an upper wing up. Gray light rippled. Another wormhole appeared. Ginnungagap's blue and purple swirls peeked in from the other side. Tama glanced back at Shane. "I will say one thing, though."

The silvcrozma tilted his golden head. "And that is?"

"You're off the mark on one key assumption."

Tama was about to fly through the portal, but Shane couldn't leave it at that. "Wait! What's that supposed to mean?"

That Tama's going to get in one last bit of snark and a stern reminder that you're not in New York anymore in terms of story themes compared to GL?

The question hung in the air for several seconds. Tama practically curled an upper wing against the wormhole's outer ring like it was a railing. He sighed.

"Bahamut and I are not versions of the friend you couldn't save. We never were." Tama shook his head.

"As loath as I am to admit it... we're alternate versions of you."

Wait, so is Shane just finding this out, or...?

Though that was definitely quite the dive back into this story. I was starting to wonder how long it'd take until

started interacting with the plot more directly given all those little teases earlier, though it sounds like the time has finally come. I gather that the main point of this chapter beyond having the dust settle from the last Anomaly hunt was to introduce Tama into the story. There's some parts about it where I'm of two minds of it, but I think that by and large the introduction did its job, along with the explicit reveal that Bahamut is an AU version of Shane that was implied like one or two chapters ago.

I don't have a whole lot to complain about mechanically for this chapter. A part of me did feel like Tama was getting a bit into Continuity Lockout territory, since had I not been spoiled about how he's the same as "Bahamut" from Blacklight and was in Dodran Phantasms where his present name comes from, the details behind him would've meant a whole lot of nothing to me if all I had to go on was knowledge of GL's events. There's still a decent chunk of details surrounding him that don't really mean anything to me, but I'm admittedly not sure if anything can really be done there since it's kinda hard to Cliffs Notes 2 RPs worth of character arcs in a single scene.

But all-in-all, I had a good time, and it's nice to be back in this story @Ambyssin . Hopefully I'll be able to get to a bit more of it sometime soon. ^^

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I was feeling a bit too wiped for creativity today, so Imma do the next best thing and hippity hoppity back into PoV to make the next Review Tag my property with…

Chapter 86

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

After considerable effort, I've finished my preliminary analysis of the Space Core artifact I discovered on my most recent expedition up Mount Coronet. The results are simply astounding!

Ah yes, I found this mystical artifact in question:

According to my calculations, the space core has a near-bottomless supply of energy at its disposal. Initial testing suggests this energy is capable of warping space and time around it. The display brought to mind stories from Celestic Town dealing with Dialga and Palkia. At first, I was tempted to dismiss the fact that the Space Core matches depictions of the Original One's torso as a coincidence, but now I'm certain there's more to it.

Is this meant to be a part of Arceus, or...? Though it's giving me some "monolith with stubby crossarms" vibes right about now.

It's still too early to draw any concrete conclusions, but I believe this is exactly what I've been looking for. With the Space Core's power, I can build a device that will solve every remaining mystery of our world. I can bring humans and pokémon closer together and guide us all toward a shining future where dreams come true.

As such, I've dubbed these energy reserves the "Dreamweaver." There are some other signals I must follow up on, so expect additional reports.

Oh hey, I've seen this movie before:

Since, yeah, this just screams "guy blinded with possibility messes around with things that really, really should not be"

Yuna found herself waiting longer than intended to spill the beans. Just when it seemed like everyone invited would gather, Gene floated the idea of taking it somewhere less cramped. That way there was at least some extra time for people to rest. So, the dragapult had to wait until Guzzie closed the restaurant.

Oh, well that's an ominous soundtrack for a briefing if I ever heard one.

... It was an annoying wait. One made worse by Reshiram continually prodding at her mind, as she expected. Fortunately, Yuna had a much easier time keeping him out of her subconscious than she did before.

Oh right, she's basically at max strength for manipulating her spirits right now... maybe, I suppose that I can't rule out Yuna out and out becoming Giratina at some point in the future considering how this fic seemingly has no end to its level of serial escalation.

Eventually, the restaurant shuttered for the night. People trickled in. Gene levitated aside some tables and chairs to give Yuna a "spot of prime real estate" to talk.

And talk she did. Yuna described as much as she could think of. Zodiark and the Butterfree Effect. Getting blasted into that river in Wyndon. The strange temple-like place she woke up in. And, of course, what Yaldabaoth had to say about all of this.

Yuna: "They're... not freaking out too hard right now, right? (Please tell me they're not freaking out too hard...)" ^^;

If the silence that followed was anything to go by, Yuna perhaps went a bit overboard with the information dump. The silence unnerved her enough that when a loud thud and the scratching of metal against metal came from the other side of the room, Yuna jolted. Her tail shriveled and she reflexively tucked her arms over her new core.

"Sorry." Guzzie held his four pincered arms up, along with his tail. "Guzzie was making snacks. Didn't realize you moved everything around." He gently placed four trays down by a table of skorps, sliggoo, and baxcalibur.

Yuna: "... Yeah, I suppose that I should've kept all the random soldiers out of this since this definitely isn't helping my stage fright right now."

"Here. Meat and veggie-lover nachos." The guzzlord slowly backed away until he reached the kitchen doors. They creaked shut behind him.

Fortunately, that awkward performance was enough to get someone talking.

"Lemme get this straight," Nikki said, hand raised as she lounged on two chairs, squishing a skorp who tried to claim the seat her legs dangled off as his own. "So this place." The toxtricity pointed at the floor. "The Eterna Empire or whatever... it's the real world?"

inb4 resolving the conflict results in Etherium getting collectively Tidus'ed, since I remember the last FF game I played in which there were parts of the world that weren't quite real.

Yuna nodded.

"And where we live," Nikki pointed to herself, then Yuna, then waved behind her, "is some kind of opposite land?"

"That's... pretty much how I interpreted reverse world," Yuna responded, tapping her claws together.

Nikki frowned. "So, Eternatus schlorping up worlds is actually an attempt at restoring balance to the universe?" "I think so."

Yeeeeeeah, I honestly would be shocked if the resolution to this story was anything other than "hard reset PoV-2020" given that everything about it is profoundly messed up.

"But Bahamut doesn't like that." Nikki swung her legs off the other chair. The skorp on the chair's back hopped off it before it fell back on the floor. "And wants to destroy it?"

"Uhh..." Yuna rubbed her shoulder.

"Even though doing so would destroy the universe because of that dumb balance garbage?"

After a bit of hesitation, Yuna circled back to the first part of the toxtricity's claim. "It's more like he was the reverse world's guardian and was violently protective of it."

I have to wonder what he saw in this world, given that Bahamut uh... isn't exactly super personable, so you'd think he'd have problems getting attached to things from it.

"To-may-to, to-mah-to." Nikki waved Yuna off, crossing one leg over another. "Cuz it sounds like the only reason that happened is he took your power. Because you're actually, like, some big shadow daemon thingy that controls the reverse world."

"I suppose that's one way of putting it." Yuna slowly landed on a chair, draping her arms and torso over the back of it.

Boy does that suddenly give Bahamut's relationship with Chiron some really messed-up vibes when you stop to think about it.

"And your inner daemon actually knew the thing that's causing all the anomalies." Nikki's mohawk frazzled. "Then chased it across worlds until you clashed in some place with only pokémon. The end result being..." Her voice trailed off and she gestured all around her. A small neon hamburger bolted to one of the pillars flickered before the bulbs died and it went dark. "... All this shit."

Yuna: "Yeah, great going there, by the way, Chaos." >_>;

There was only one thing missing. "I think there's a chance some of us lived in that world before." Yuna squeezed the back of the chair. "And because we wanted to stop Zodiark so badly, we ended up here with new lives."

Huh, so sheer willpower was the determinant for reincarnation in PoV-2020... maybe. Given that thar apparently be Xenoblade parallels in this story, I can think of a few other alternative explanations even if there's no hard confirmations just yet.

"Wow!" Griffon fluttered his metal wings from atop an arcade cabinet behind Nikki's table. "I'm impressed you followed it all."

"Kiss my ass, emo skarmory!" Nikki's mohawk erupted with sparks. "I know how to pay attention to important shit!" She leaned forward in her chair, scowling. "Which is why something about this doesn't make sense."

Snerk. Though I suppose it makes sense that the two main snarkers in this story would butt heads with each other like this.

The dragonair curled on the pink cushion next to her coiled up tight. "And that is?" Scarlett wondered.

"Why now?"

Silence. Perhaps Nikki was letting it hang in the air. Or collecting her thoughts further.

Sure enough, the toxtricity continued, "The universe has been around plenty long." She pointed across the room, where Gene leaned against the bar and Cyril sat at a barstool quietly sipping some luminescent blue beverage. "Long enough for these two to have outlived us several times over." Nikki crossed her arms and squinted. "So, why is this all happening now? If there's reincarnation or whatever... why didn't anyone come back at the beginning?"

You sure about that one, Nikki? Since we know for a fact that it's not Yuna's first rodeo living in PoV-2020.

Nikki stood up and looked around the room. "I can't be the only one thinking this, right? Why let all this shit build up when someone could've offed Zodiark early?"

Rule of dramatic effect?

Some murmurs followed, mainly from assorted skorps and dragons. But golden embers drew Yuna's attention back toward the arcade cabinet. Vegna had Bahamut's journal out, flipping through pages. From his right shoulder, Talonflame leaned his beak toward the book every so often.

"I see the past, present, and future existing all at once before me." Vegna dropped the book on the table in front of him. The thwap made Jade's tail flaps curl. Bits of pink smoke rose from her tail.

Wait, does Vegna mean this literally, or…?

"Ah-ha. Sorry." The salugia laughed nervously.

Ignoring her, Vegna placed his right index finger squarely on the center of whatever page he'd opened to.

"Zodiark is mentioned in the journal," he declared.

Heads quickly turned toward the back left corner of the restaurant. "That so?" Jaeger scratched his right ear. "Y' thinking that we're missing something, then?"

Nikki: "Yeah, yeah, cut to the chase and answer the question of 'why now', Ghostface."

"Indeed." Vegna put a stronger emphasis on that last syllable. He tapped the tome repeatedly with his index finger. "It's written here. The Matriarch program was part of Eternatus' core. It sounds as though Matriarch was sealing off Zodiark." The dusknoir flipped a page. "Bahamut describes a moment where he saw a human with a hairstyle like Leo's, who quickly shattered into countless pieces that vanished on the spot."

... Who we just saw in Wyndon, so that's probably as good a sign as any that Zodiark's seal broke.

Widget shifted in place nervously on his cushion in the center of the room. His starcloud swirled around his neck. "Does that mean Leo and his plates are actually the pieces of Zodiark?"

Yuna picked her head up a bit. Zodiark had mentioned wanting to take the plates for themselves back in Wyndon. But how could they do that if they were only a projection? Maybe from bonding with the anomaly long enough?

Or it could be that. But I'm going to go ahead and guess that PoV-2020 will also be toast if Butterfree Effect gets his way.

"I think it's the opposite, actually." Alder was quick to raise a wing. A pink glow spread over his white, feathery afro. "Leo represents the rightful creator of this universe. Zodiark sounds more like the one who caused an errant creation process. So, by giving Leo the plates, we keep them away from Zodiark."

Yuna: "... I'm so confused right now. You're telling me that Leo, the 'mon who somehow is apparently my kid... is the rightful creator of the universe?! How on earth does any of that work?"

A couple of tables over, Igneous cleared his throat. He'd leaned back enough to prop his chair against the table, with only its hind legs on the ground. "And the Red Chain fragments? They could be part of this, too."

"Already ate the ones we had."

Igneous almost fell off his chair trying to turn and locate Leo. Yuna pointed up to where the cosmic arceus stood on the ceiling. Something the dragapult was choosing not to think too hard about.

"Ate them?" Igneous sputtered.

"Absorbed them. Ate them." Leo shrugged. "Sigurd gave me his and I took the one we recharged with the big collider. Makes more sense than leaving them out in the open."

Huh. I didn't realize that he was doing that. But that makes me wonder if there's a way to steal these powers from Leo, since if he already lost them once in the past...

Several people murmured their agreement. Beside Igneous, however, Shimmer kneaded his hooves against his cushion "Is there, um, any way to get them out?" he wondered.

Oh, so we are going to be dealing with this topic in the story.

Leo looked down from the ceiling. "Probably. But I don't see a reason to." He squinted. The gems in his wheel flickered. "Unless you're saying you want one. Which is hella sus, b-t-dubs."

Yeeeeeah, sounds like letting Leo collect all the Arceus-related MacGuffins all in one place isn't a risk-free exercise. Makes me wonder if someone's inevitably going to steal them from him.

Yuna almost sputtered, both at Leo's accusation and the bizarre lingo that came with it. She hadn't taught him any of that. And judging by the looks her mother, Noctum, and a few other dragons gave her, they also wondered what was up.

"Err, no, just a strategy concern." Shimmer's fluffy tails puffed out. There were even more eyes on him than on Leo and Yuna. The ponytales looked ready to bolt from the room.

I'm going to take that as a sign that Cyril taught Leo how to netspeak.

"He's asking because there's a chance his mother has one of the fragments," Igneous said. Shimmer went wide-eyed. "So, yeah, it is something we ought to know. Because we might need those fragments to counter hers."

Right. That whole business with Isola possibly being some Red Chain-powered body snatcher. Yuna caught Vegna's eye flickering blue with Zekrom's lightning. He recalled the tome with a flick of his wrist and backed up against the arcade machine.

Oh right, I actually completely forgot that that was a thing with Isola. Guess that's a sign that that's going to be coming up fast in the plot.

"Tch. That's all well and good." Nikki swung her legs off her chair and stood up. "But I'm still stuck on where I was before."

"Oh, brother." Griffon spread out his wings. "I thought you were good. You need us to say it slower or something, toots?"

Nikki's response was to silently raise an electrified fist. Vegna grabbed the corviknight's outstretched wing. Griffon disappeared into Vegna's body. "Continue, Nicolette."

Whelp, show's over for Griffon, it seems. Though I have to wonder what threshold Vegna uses to determine "yeah, we're done here" with him.

"Uhh, yeah." Nikki hesitantly lowered her fist. Still creeped out by Vegna, Yuna figured. "So, like, Necrozma. Wants to destroy Eternatus and stuff." The toxtricity jammed her hands into her pockets. "What the hell does pulling Needles have to do with that? He can already cross over inside Eternatus. So, why doesn't he just make a break for the damn core?"

Silence greeted Nikki again. Yuna had to admit it was a good question. One she didn't have a solid answer for. She glanced at Vegna, who was looking out the glass wall toward the arena.

Oh boy, he's being evasive right now. That can only portend good things™️ at the moment.

"Necrozma wants to have as much power at his disposal as possible," the dusknoir said. "The Needles represent Sages who hold portions of his light. He wants it back."

"Not to mention... if yanking the Needles severs the connection between Eternatus and the reverse world, he'd want to do that," Sigurd proposed, moving his wheelchair slightly forward from the edge of the bar. "Even if he lost this mysterious Renegade power, he might still have instincts driving him to protect the reverse world."

Oh, so it's because he's an undead on autopilot. I suppose that that's as good an explanation as any.

That was pretty much Yuna's take on it. She nodded at Sigurd who, satisfied, moved his chair back against the side of the bar.

"It's kinda hard to get a read on him," Yuna said. "But he's a Whisper, so I doubt anything he's doing is really going to make sense."

Okay, now the fact that you're saying this is starting to make me think that he does have some sort of undergirding logic to him that you're overlooking.

After a few seconds of Nikki squinting at Yuna, she took her hands out of her pockets and flopped back in her chair. "Well, shit." The toxtricity draped her right arm over the back of the chair. "I got nothing else." She slumped over to her left, practically draping herself across the table. The skorp from earlier barely skittered out of the way in time. "Gonna... need to chew on it for a bit."

Gene popped out of a Phantom Warp in the middle of the room. "Might be best for everyone." His yellow-tipped tail lazily drifted back and forth. "We can keep tossing around questions until we're blue in the face." Gene shook his head. "But Princess laid all the cards out as she knows 'em. Everyone oughta call it a night. Capiche?"

I'm actually a bit curious as to how everyone else is reacting to this right now, since we mostly got Yuna and Nikki's reactions, but I'm having some trouble getting a read on the others in the cast like Igneous.

Not a single soul objected to the shadowy mewtwo. "Great." He landed atop the mechanical tauros in the middle of the room. "Then you're all dismissed. Good work. Pats on the back. G'night, sleep tight, and all that happy nonsense."

And the resistance's intrepid leader was the first to fly out of the room.

Scarlett: "Yeah, that's gonna be a bit hard after hearing all of that, just saying." ._.

After everyone broke away from the restaurant, Yuna expected people to come over and pester her with more questions. When that didn't happen, she settled for returning to her room. Yuna lay on her back. Her cot didn't fit her anymore as a dragapult, forcing her to tuck in her legs and curl her tail up just to fit.

Ominous DR song is ominous.

She studied the metal ceiling. Her eyes jumped between dents and small rusted streaks. Anything to pass the time.

"You did the right thing telling them," Reshiram said. His presence tickled the back of Yuna's mind.

It was too much, Yuna responded, though she couldn't imagine how one would explain all of this gradually. Still, didn't make her feel any less guilty. Yuna traced a claw over the cot's rough blanket. If it overwhelmed me, it's bound to have overwhelmed all of them. She tilted her head by the door. Think they're avoiding me?

Yeah, I kinda gathered that it was a lot to take in from how quiet everything was at the end, but it still might have been nice to get things beaten over the head harder as to how shocked (or not) different characters were by passing mentions about their reactions.

"I think it's too soon to jump to conclusions," Reshiram said. "Like Gene said. Everyone needs time to process this."

Yuna wondered how much time they'd have. Would new anomalies spring up or did sealing the last one give the resistance another reprieve?

"Just do whaaaaaaaaaat I do. Sleep it off," Cresselia said.

Yeah, that hasn't worked for Yuna in this story. Ever.

Except it wasn't really time to sleep. Yuna forced Cresselia and Reshiram out of her mind. She rubbed her eyes. There were tiny stars in the corners of her vision. Yuna rubbed again. No good. Was she getting floaters? Baraz dealt with those, but he said that was because he was old. Was the stress aging her?

"... ckie..."

Yuna sat up. She propped her triangular head against the wall. "Someone there?" Yuna called, watching the door.

Oh, it's another needle vision, isn't it?

More stars danced around the edge of her vision. She rubbed her eyes again. And when she opened them, the bare room had hazy silhouettes against an even hazier brown floor. Though blurry, she recognized one: an icy vulpix.

As things grew more solid, Yuna realized Icepix was standing in front of a mirror. She gazed at her reflection, flicking random tails and producing icy mist.

When Icepix sighed, the brown floor and walls came into focus, painting over Yuna's bedroom. Her cot melted into a doorway and her ectoplasmic body shrank down and sprouted blue and black fur.

"Nickie?"

Well, scratch that about a needle vision. We going 'past life vision' here.

Though Celeste music, huh? Wonder where you're going with this.

The icepix jolted. Her tails poofed out, sprinkling cold mist that fogged up against the mirror.

"Oh." Nickie shifted nervously. "Hey, Tessa. Sorry, I was... lost in thought, I guess."

Tessa sighed. "I figured." She stepped into the room. The luminous orbs bathed her in dim orange. A couple of months into her guild time and she still wasn't used to these custom nighttime orbs Magearna made for people to use in the evenings.

I take it that Team Radiance-2020 was around together for quite a bit longer than their GL counterparts since it sounds like their guild had some time to slow down and enjoy life together in a way that the guild in GL did not.

"That obvious, huh?" Nickie was trying to brush the frost off the mirror with her tails, but that only smudged up the mirror.

"Well, you didn't touch your dinner." Tessa jogged over to some wooden shelves on her left, grabbed an old cloth, and headed to the mirror. "I had a hunch." The riolu wiped the mirror with the cloth.

"Ah." Nickie's ears folded. "Guess I didn't have much of an appetite. Did Nero end up eating my portion?"

Oh, so they had a Nero, too. I don't remember if that was confirmed or not in a prior chapter, but it sounds like POV-2020 really is separated from GL's universe by a small handful of fateful changes.

"Yeah. Think he slipped into a food coma." Tessa laughed. Nickie joined her, though her laughter was clearly forced.

"What's bothering you?" Tessa tossed the cloth onto the floor. "Is it about what Mom and Dad told us? That stuff about checking the Worldcore to see if you're—"

Oh, well, this suddenly got a lot sadder for those who read GL, since Tessa-2020 had loving parents who were together and her GL counterpart, uh... didn't.

"What if a faller doesn't want to leave?"

Okay, yeah, sounds like POV-2020 was on-track to a very different chronology of events since it sounds like there was no analogue to Prisma having a normal one to motivate her to go off and create the Prism Virus.

Nickie spoke so quickly Tessa needed a moment to parse the icepix's question. She opened and closed her mouth several times. All Tessa managed was a, "Huh?"

Nickie stepped back, her tails curling. "What if... a faller would rather stay here?"

Tessa stared blankly. Nickie shuffled back further.

"Your paren— I mean, the guildmasters said fallers can be dangerous because they can make dungeons unstable. Or cause dungeons to form."

... This is what brought Yaldabaoth and Volo to their world, wasn't it?

She rubbed her forelegs together. "So, say the Worldcore decides I'm not supposed to be here. I'd have to go home, right?"

"That's what I've always thought," Tessa said, rubbing the back of her head. "It sure sounds like fallers go back home. The only people who've stayed behind are some heroes the Voice of Life summoned." Her aura feelers crinkled. "At least, that's how it's gone in the stories of the old heroes."

As she rambled, Nickie inched closer to the mirror again. She gazed at her reflection.

Huh, that actually makes me wonder if this is something that Shane would've had to go through had he not deleted Mystery Dungeons from existence in his universe.

... Or maybe it still happened anyways given that he's out being an Overseer and not chilling back in the world he helped save.

"Wait." Tessa gave Nickie space to stand in front of the mirror. The icepix's words were finally sinking in. "You really don't want to go home? E-Even though you remember your life?" Her aura feelers throbbed. "Don't you miss being human?"

Nickie winced. But why? It wasn't that surprising a question, was it?

Nickie: "Tessa, seriously. Learn to read a room. You're supposed to pick up on feelings, remember?" >_>;

"Of course there's stuff I miss," Nickie said. She hadn't taken her eyes off her reflection. "I miss television. And video games." Nickie shook her head. "I miss not being covered in a fur coat the whole time. Or smelling way too much stuff. And having hands with freaking thumbs!

"... God, I miss thumbs."

She let out a tired laugh that turned into more of a bark. "Oh, and I could do without this shitty screechy voice, too."

I mean, she got her wish eventually? Though that makes me wonder if there are things about Nikki in the present day that she subconsciously just feels are "off" much like her preincarnation did.

Tessa fidgeted with her paws. "Then why—"

Nickie silently stared at her reflection. She reached a foreleg out and put her forepaw against its reflection on the mirror. "Because, even that stuff couldn't make it feel right."

And the Celeste music is back. I'm admittedly spoiled as to where I think this conversation is about to go, but I suppose let's see how the reveal plays out.

"Huh?"

Silence followed. Nickie looked between Tessa and her reflection. She hung her head.

"Never mind. You wouldn't understand."

Tessa's aura feelers crinkled. Those glimmers in the corners of Nickie's eyes. Tears?

Tessa: "... Nickie, what's wrong?"

"Then explain." Tessa was at the icepix's side in an instant. "You're my partner, Nickie." She paused. "I'd... rather not have you leave, either. If I can understand, then maybe—"

"I don't know!"

Nickie shrank back, as if her own cry frightened her. She slid onto her belly. "I'm not sure... how I can explain it to you."

Oh. Well, Tessa didn't want to leave Nickie hanging like this. She sat down opposite Nickie, placing her paws on her crossed legs.

"Try me," the riolu said.

Tessa: "Like was there something wrong about the life you left behind as a human? If so, what?"

Nickie stared blankly at her. She blinked silently. "I—" Nickie stopped herself, then took a steady breath. "Okay. I'll try."

After a few deep breaths, Nickie said, "It never felt right. My old human body." She kneaded the stone floor with her paws. "Like, uh... your parents are both lucario, right?"

Tessa nodded slowly.

"Okay." Nickie looked a bit less uncertain. "Imagine one of your parents was, I dunno, a blaziken instead." She reached her left forepaw out. "And you hatched a torchic instead of a riolu. But, like, deep down you don't think that's right. You feel like you're supposed to be a riolu, not a torchic."

Oh right, species is not matrilineal in this setting, so Nickie's example here can actually happen. Or at least potentially.

Though huh, I just noticed the note about Tessa's parents, guess there must be more different with POV-2020's canonworld than I initially thought since this would be flatly impossible in a "close to GL" universe since Lucario were effectively extinct there post-Super.

She looked at Tessa. "What would you do?"

"What would... I do?" Tessa couldn't help parroting the question. It sounded like Nickie was talking about some weird situation where someone's soul felt their body didn't match. In which case, Tessa imagined that would be pretty upsetting. Though it was hard for her to get into that mindset.

"Well, um, I guess I'd... try to change it?"

Tessa: "I mean, there's Transfer Orbs? I don't know how long they last, but that'd be one way of going about it... (Even if it'd probably just as easily make things even worse...)" ^^;

Nickie smiled somberly. Had Tessa given the right answer, then?

"My human body..." The icepix trailed off. She swallowed hard. "What if I told you that, as a human, I'm a guy?"

Tessa stiffened. What was that supposed to mean? Crazy things happened to fallers that got dragged across worlds, so a gender swap wouldn't be out of the question.

Oh hey, so Nick got Crux of the Self'd in this continuity.

But hang on. With what Nickie was saying...

"You, um, didn't like that, did you?"

Nickie's smile was less somber. "I was trying to change it. Humans have ways to do that where I'm from." She laughed nervously. "It's not as easy as tossing an orb on the ground, though. It takes time. I was working with... some humans who deal with this kind of stuff. And my mom was helping, too. Because I wouldn't have made much progress otherwise."

I wonder if this backstory detail was created as part of this story and its setting for Nickie, or if Nick having gender dysphoria was always something that you associated with Nickie's GL counterpart character.

Tessa couldn't help but raise a brow. This happened enough to humans to where there were jobs about this?

I suppose that's a sign that bodily dysphoria wasn't particularly common in POV-2020's original world. Either that or nobody really thought there was anything that could be done about the cases that were around.

"It was small changes," Nickie continued, brushing a forepaw back and forth on the ground. Back and forth. Back and forth. "At school, mostly." She laughed nervously again. "Wearing different clothes. Having people call me Nickie instead of Nick or Nicholas."

Oh, well scratch that about Nickie being Von'd, there.

"And that... made you happy?"

"It helped," Nickie said. "At school, anyway. Most folks were understanding." Her fur bristled. "But at home... I couldn't do that stuff. Not around my dad, at least. So, I hid all that stuff. I'd be Nickie at school but Nick around family." She shook her head. "And it was exhausting. But I thought if I could keep it up for a bit longer... I'd be able to make it to the biggest steps. The ones that'd really help me feel better."

Oh yeah, that totally sounds like a healthy family and life dynamic. Not.

Tessa's aura feelers throbbed again. If Nickie was a girl here, then... did that mean she'd made it?

But wait, Nickie's smile had faded. Her ears folded.

"Did something happen?" Tessa scooched closer.

Nickie nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut. Took shaky breaths. "There was this guy." Her tails crinkled. "My neighbor, Shane. We were in a lot of the same classes and we'd been close friends for a long time. But I was drifting apart from him. Especially when I made these changes."

Oh. Oh boy. So Shane pulled a knife twist on Nickie just like his GL counterpart did, if over something that probably hurt a lot more emotionally.

Despite her tension, Nickie smiled. "I was spending a lot of time around our school's theater. With other folks I'd met in drama and music classes. I really liked them... and they helped me out a ton."

Tessa nodded slowly. "And Shane?"

"He, uh... seemed uncomfortable for a lot of that time," Nickie said. Her smile faded again. "When I thought I'd made it to the biggest steps, I ended up telling him. And he... he..."

The icepix hung her head. Tessa reached out toward her, only to freeze when Nickie whispered the rest of her thought.

"... He ratted me out to my dad."

Just the way Nickie said it made Tessa's heart skip a beat. It was bad. She was sure of it. And the riolu didn't want to press Nickie if it would only hurt her.

She scooched closer. "Nickie..."

"Dad had a temper. I always knew that." Nickie shuddered. "But I'd... I'd never seen him so angry." Her fur stood on end. "And that was when he was talking to my mom. He... didn't fly off the handle at me. But he put his foot down. Said that as long as I was part of his family, I had to follow his rules. And that meant stopping everything I was doing."

Yeah, I knew it. I do wonder if it would've made sense to play up the angle that Nickie's dad was already known/strongly suspected to be opposed to transitioning a bit more prior to this point. Maybe it's the adult in me that's veering into middle age speaking, but while it's almost certainly not the intent of the story, pulling a "hey dad, I'm about to make a permanent, life-altering decision before I've left high school and mom says I can do it" feels like a recipe for problems that would've been completely avoidable from just being open about things earlier on.

Tessa was sorely tempted to ask if Nickie left, but her gut told her that was a bad idea. She settled on a gentler, "What happened after that?"

"I had to stop the medicine I'd been on before," Nickie whispered. "And my dad spoke with my school. Made them change the classes I was in." She lay her head on her forelegs. "It just... I felt worse and worse as the days and weeks went on."

I take it that Nickie hadn't moved too far past the level of hormone pills by this point, since you'd think that it'd be hard to hide the cost of the more involved drugs from this process unless mom just did all the finances in the household.

"I'm sorry." Tessa didn't know why she blurted that out. She wasn't there. And the riolu was still trying to wrap her head around parts of the explanation. Still, she scooched beside the icepix. Put her paw on Nickie's shoulder.

"That's why I don't want to go back," Nickie whimpered. "Even though there's annoying stuff about being a vulpix." She turned a tearful gaze on Tessa. "Hearing my voice. A-And everyone saying I'm a girl and calling me Nickie. It's..."

Nickie leaned her head into Tessa's belly. "It's what I wanted. For my human self, at least. And just the thought of losing it..."

And thus, for want of escape from a dysfunctional household, a world was doomed.

Tessa stiffened. She didn't take her paw off Nickie's shoulder. "Um, maybe we can talk to the Voice of Life or curry favor with a powerful enough legend? Then we could... send you home with that fixed." If there were good things about being human, then the best thing was to find a middle ground, right?

But Nickie rubbed her face against Tessa's belly. "I think... I'm better off here." The icepix sat back up. "I didn't want to say anything, though. You guys have been great to me. Figured, I dunno, I'd be spitting on your generosity. Make all that investigative work for naught. And not to mention the whole thing about fallers. I'm not looking to put y'all in danger!"

She sighed and shook her head. "I guess... something about how sure and confident you are made me think Ihave to go back home."

I take it that Nickie came to POV-2020's canonworld differently than in GL, since... uh... yeah, I was going to say, that there wasn't really a way to go back back then.

Tessa sat there silently. Judging by the guilty look on Nickie's face, that was all of it.

The riolu let her paw slide down to the floor. "I see."

And the Celeste music makes a return. You're really getting quite a bit of mileage out of this one.

Nickie flinched. Tessa's aura feelers tensed from the icepix's panic. She had to keep talking quickly before Nickie got the wrong idea.

"I had no idea." Tessa sat up a bit straighter. "It's, uh, kinda relieving to hear?" Her aura feelers curled up. "Which is, uh... dang, there's probably a better way of saying that."

Guilt and elation wrestled in her head while her aura sense told her she was confusing Nickie. "I, uh, know I put on a confident face. But the truth is I get nervous, too." Tessa's shoulders sagged. "About being able to pull off our jobs. Impress the guild." She swallowed hard. "My parents."

"Seriously? They love you."

Tessa: "Um... yeah, it's a bit more complicated than that. Trust me, it's not exactly something that's easy for me to miss."

"Yeah. That's why... I don't want to let them down."

Without even thinking, Tessa leaned her head against Nikki's shoulder. The icepix's fur bristled but she didn't pull away.

"Tessa, what are you—"

"I wish I could be that strong."

"Huh?"

"Sorry." Tessa fidgeted nervously. "It's just... hearing about that stuff from the human world... that was all I could think about. If it were me... I think I'd have given up at some point. But you pressed on. Even through those struggles. That's," she took a steady breath, "stronger than any single Force Palm or Aura Sphere."

I'll admit, that this one fell a little flat for me since we didn't really get a lot of focus on Nickie soldiering on after Shane outed her to her dad since it felt more like she was spiraling before she got yeeted into POV-2020. It might have worked better if Nickie got in a brief bit about continuing on post-happening unsure how she'd manage or something like that that would ground Tessa's "I wish I could be like you" moment a bit firmer.

"S-Seriously?" Nickie's fur prickled, though there was a hint of eagerness in her voice.

Tessa laughed. "Would you believe me if I said I've been hoping you'd be able to stay?"

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Now it was Nickie's turn to laugh. "You're joshing me, right?"

The riolu finally realized where her head was and lifted it back up. "Isn't Josh a name?" she squeaked.

I honestly am starting to expect to hear at some point in the future that "Nickie stayed in POV-2020 even though everyone knew it was dangerous" will wind up being the thing that set their encounter with Yaldabaoth and Butterfree Effect into motion. Since it just feels like we're getting warned repeatedly that that's a potential hazard only to be brushing it away because friendship and good feelings ATM.

Oh, great, her aura feelers were throbbing. Giving away her embarrassment. Lovely.

"Yeah. And it also means joking." Nickie laughed louder. "You really want me sticking around?"

Tessa managed to get her feelers under control. "I mean... yeah? You're fun." She smiled at Nickie. "You're funny, too. It's... nice being around you."

Boy is this different from the dynamic that Yuna and Nikki have had for most of the story thus far.

Nickie blinked. "There are plenty of folks around here."

"I know." Tessa shifted on the floor. "But you're my partner. And that's something special. At least, it is to me."

Nickie stared blankly at her. "Y'mean 'partner' like 'teammate,' right?" Her tails puffed out. "Cuz that, uh, can mean something a lot different to us humans."

Tessa laughed nervously. Her aura feelers were twitching again. "I know. It's the same for us pokémon." She smiled at the icepix. "Besides, the fact that you did show up here as a girl... maybe we're wrong?"

Yeah, there's absolutely no way that this is just platonic between these two. Though I suppose that it is on-brand for a Tessa to wind up falling for her immediate human teammate.

"Hmm?"

"Maybe you're not a faller. Maybe you were brought here for a reason?"

Silence. Tessa held her breath. Then she heard fwips. Nickie's tails brushing against the floor.

"Well, that's..." Nickie glanced at the mirror, then at Tessa. "Huh. Hadn't thought about that."

I swear, if my theory of Nickie staying behind being related to how POV-2020 got oopsed pans out, this moment is going to be absolutely brutal in hindsight.

She scooted left. Her side brushed against Tessa's. "Maybe we should visit the Worldcore, then."

"And after that?" Tessa wondered, her gaze trailing to the floor. To her paw beside Nickie's.

"I'm not thinking that far ahead yet."

"... Yo."

Yuna nodded slowly. "That's fair, Nickie. Tomorrow's another day." The dragapult tapped her chin. "Maybe we'll look for a low-key job or two to take."

"The hell are you talking about, Princess?"

Oh, well that got really awkward really fast.

The icepix brushed her foreleg against her snout, but ended up putting it on Yuna's thigh instead of the floor. "I think that's a great idea. Maybe we can hit the spa after? My fur's getting kinda matted."

"I was thinking the same thing. The room's full of vulpix fur." Yuna laughed and rubbed the icepix's back. "You're my partner for a reason."

"Snap out of it, Princess!"

A harsh electric guitar chord shattered the icepix and revealed Nikki standing in the doorway with one hand resting on her gills.

"GAH!"

Oh, well. That music's a good sign for where things are going to go. Not.

Yuna: "... Oh my god, you overheard all of that, didn't you?"

Yuna abruptly jerked back, smacking her triangular head against the wall. Ectoplasm rippling, she blinked the stars from her vision.

"N-Nikki? Hi. When did, um, you get here?" "Couple of minutes ago."

The toxtricity kicked the door shut with her leg.

... I was joking with that last line.

"Can I, um, help you?" Yuna's tail crinkled.

"I dunno." Nikki stared Yuna down. "You gonna lay there looking like a feral deerling in the headlights or you gonna tell me why you're talking about jobs and vulpix fur?"

Yuna:

Though that's an end of a chapter, time for the recap. I take it that this was basically an "oh yeah, this is where we came from episode", with some things thrown out explicitly at the table and others strongly hinted at. For what it's worth, I think that things generally turned out a bit well on that front, especially since it's becoming more and more apparent that POV-2020 is more than "POV-2017 with a small number of fateful tweaks". And of course we just go and leave Yuna with a big ball of awkwardness to untangle next time, if that's even possible for her.

Criticism-wise, I kinda wish we saw more of the gang's post-facto reaction to Yuna's big infodump of all the things that are horribly wrong about their universe to them, but I suppose that as a third person limited PoV story, you have the excuse of Yuna not noticing them from her inner turmoil. I kinda gather that the second scene was meant to be the big star of the show here, though there were some things about its execution I wasn't fully sold on. There were a couple of points regarding the arc of Nickie's life pre-yeeting to POV-2020's PMD canonworld that I felt would've been a bit more impactful with more detail and time spent developing them. But at the same time, I kinda wonder if the flashback to Tessa's conversation would've worked better spread out across two smaller visions with the second better contextualizing the first. I also wonder if thematically, it'd have been better to deal with at least part of the content revealed in that vision from Nikki's PoV since it is a very intimate part of her character's backstory and viewing it all through the eyes of a third party made it feel like something was missing.

But I suppose that there are future chapters to wind up learning more about these characters. Hope the feedback was fun to follow tonight @Ambyssin , and I'll be looking forward to reading more in the future.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 95: Samay Khatam​

Something's wrong.

I've been detecting this... increasing resonance between Dreamweaver and Zodiark. I thought at first it was merely the interplay between the former's power and the latter's knowledge. But a more recent analysis suggests this resonance is far more... antagonistic. My previous hypothesis was that Dreamweaver was simply a well of power. However, it seems like Dreamweaver might actually be some sort of entity like Zodiark.

These two entities feel like they're trying to undermine one another. It's producing... concerning readouts. I must find a way to counter this resonance. Otherwise, I fear the Space Globe may begin to destabilize.

Fortunately, I have an idea. If I can tap into aspects of both Dreamweaver and Zodiark, I may be able to devise a program that can counter their virtual quarreling.

XxX​

Noctum sat on a steel beam, lazily swinging his dangling legs. He looked across the rocky crags and interwoven machinery of Iron Island. Much of the equipment warped and contorted as the anomaly inched forward. It had already grown to encompass half of the island.

And yet, no Eternatus Troopers had shown up. Valkyrie and Jade even found the unconscious victini from the video feed, taken them back to the outpost, and returned to join him without any issue.

Naturally, that meant the garchomp was on guard, pacing back and forth along a rock face and gazing out at the ocean. "Tell me you're at least a bit on edge," Valkyrie growled.

"I am." The cosmic charizard rubbed the back of his head. "Because of the rift. Leo just... dove into it. And our communications are still down, too." Noctum leaned forward slightly. "At least the ocean breeze is nice, though. We don't have that back home."

"Why are we sticking around here, anyway?" Jade sat on the opposite side of the metal beam. She dangled a hard hat from the tip of her tail. "If Leo seals the mystery dungeon, he'll go back to the outpost. Maybe we ought to try and go to Herbrides? That's where the others were supposed to be, right?"

Noctum sat up straight. It wasn't a bad idea...

"Someone has to keep an eye on this this place," Valkyrie huffed. "You're just worried because Yuna's there and she's got your mate in her chest crystal."

She looked down, squinting. "Which is a sentence of all time."

Jade sighed. "Why couldn't he be in my chest instead?"

Noctum tilted his head. "Wouldn't you rather he not be stuck as a spirit?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "She was joking, you dork."

"Yeah." Jade brushed a wing along her belly. "This scale-feather mix isn't comfy, anyway. But Cece's floofy chest is soooo dreamyyyyyyy~"

The cosmic charziard looked over his shoulder, hoping for any excuse to stop the conversation before it went further. And he immediately found one when he realized all the metal scaffolding and equipment was back to normal.

"Wait." Noctum's starry tail flame rippled. He flapped his wings once to rise off the steel beam. "The rift is gone!"

Noctum flew forward, scanning the area. There was no static or anything. "Did Leo seal it?"

Valkyrie ran across the steel beam. "Cid, you read us?"

"Ah, I do! Thank goodness!" The orbeetle laughed nervously. "And I'm picking you up with my Dynascan. What happened?"

"Rift disappeared," Valkyrie said, tapping her right foot against the beam. "What's happening in Herbrides? Is your signal back there?"

"I'm afraid not." Cid tittered. "There are plenty of folks here on standby who could go there. I think."

The garchomp frowned. "Have any of them actually been to Herbrides? As far as I know, Leo's the only one who's made rifts to places he doesn't know!"

Noctum's tail flame grew. "I've gone to the Herbrides Lines!" He spun around in midair. "It's not exactly in the city itself, though."

"Good enough!" Valkyrie clapped her claws together. "Let's get some reinforcements at the outpost then head over ASAP."

"Can we get some snacks, too?" Jade flew over to them. "I'm hungry."

Valkyrie glared at her.

"N-Never mind. Quick outpost stop it is."

XxX​

Perhaps Yuna should've expected the dungeon core to take the form of an ethereal graveyard. What else could mix ground, ghost, and dark-types together so effectively? The dragapult floated past rows of black tombstones shaped to resemble everything from gengar to absol to sandaconda.

However, she was too focused on the cosmic arceus trotting ahead of her to care what form the core took. "I asked you a question, Leo. Why did you run off without telling anyone?"

"You were already heading through the rift." Leo shook his head and kept walking. "I thought I sensed that kid in the Terarium. Got a bad vibe." He swished his cosmic mane. "That was right, B-T-dubs."

There was that slang again. Had Leo acted like that the entire time he fought Gilgamesh? "You still could've said you'd catch up with us," Yuna said. "I was worried sick!"

Liar. She'd gotten so preoccupied with Ting-Lu that Leo had practically sipped her mind while fighting it. But he didn't need to hear that.

"Well, like I said. I gamed." Leo's hooves crunched against brown soil. Brown and dark gray glows shimmered a few hundred meters ahead of the cosmic arceus. There was a black void between them. Yuna sure hoped that was the dark-type plate.

"Whisper was friendly, anyway," Leo continued. "Friendly enough, at least. Never in any real danger."

"And you think that excuses it?" Yuna's tail rippled. "Maybe nothing bad happened this time. But what about the next time you pull a stunt like that? We both know how much is at stake he—"

Leo whirled on her, his starry fur flickering. "That's exactly why I had to do this!"

Yuna froze beside a morgrem-shaped tombstone. "What?"

"I'm Arceus." Leo's wheel dimmed. "At the end of the day, I have to fix our world. How can I possibly think I'm capable of doing that if I'm always sitting on the sidelines while you guys do all the fighting?"

"Well, that's—" Yuna stopped. Could she even call Leo a child anymore?

Certainly not based on the way he acted. And what Alder had told her he'd read in his archives, to boot.

"Okay." The dragapult held her hands up. "You've got a point. I guess I hadn't stopped to consider your, uh, changes because of how fast this anomaly popped up and how quickly it was growing. And I treated you like you were still a kid as a result."

Leo stood a bit taller. He had no mouth, but Yuna felt like he was somehow smirking. She sternly crossed her arms.

"With that said, though, you still shouldn't dive into the fray on your own." Yuna floated up to the cosmic arceus and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're a team. Maybe you're the one who has to fix our world. But this," she gestured toward the plates floating ahead of them, "is something you have backup for. You've got to use it."

She straightened up. Was there a comparison that could help Yuna get the message across?

Well, given some of his new behavior...

"Even Gene can't do this stuff on his own. He at least had Cyril before the rest of us came into the picture."

Leo shifted his weight uneasily. "But I had Kieran acting as my trainer..."

He looked down silently. Slowly but surely, guilt bubbled up in the cosmic arceus' eyes. His starry pelt and golden wheel dimmed.

"Aww, man. I almost threw big time, huh?"

Yuna didn't want to ask Leo what that meant. "Let's just agree to learn from this mistake, okay?"

He nodded. "Can I get my plates now?"

"Yeah."

They continued down the graveyard. The pokémon-shaped tombstones shifted to mixtures of dark gray and black. After another minute, they found the three plates floating in midair. A triangle of brown light, dark gray light, and black shadows swirled around them.

"Let's see what they say."

Yuna leaned forward. Her core burned in her chest, as usual. She resisted in order to read the engravings on the three plates.

When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate.

The other side of this world was given by the Original One to its raging third.

Two make matter, and three make spirit, shaping the world.

Yuna backed away. She gave Leo a go-ahead signal with her tail. Leo walked up toward them. The plates' glow reflected off his golden wheel.

One of the engravings was quite clear. And it lined up with Yaldabaoth's claims about being the reverse world's guardian. Of course a giratina would guard a realm that was created for it.

Yuna drew blanks on the other two, though. The shards of what became the ground-type plate? Arceus? Was that why Leo grew with every plate he absorbed?

And that last one... her memories of that Temporal Tower place showed five pokémon wrapped in the Red Chain besides Arceus. What were the odds those were the five that plate referred to?

She threw her up to block flashes of brown and gray light. When Yuna lowered her arm, Leo was now taller than her. Black vapor and gray ectoplasm swirled around his legs while his mane was now made of sand.

"Neat, huh?" Will-O-Wisps spun around Leo's neck.

"Yeah." Yuna tilted her head. "I think you should seal the core, though. It's growing fast, remember?"

"Right." Leo turned around. He traced that familiar pattern of circles, squares, and triangles in the air. "Oh, uh, Mom? About before..."

"Something wrong?"

"I'm staying back this time," Leo said.

Yuna's tail crinkled. "Excuse me?"

"It won't be for long!" Leo said. "I just... I need to try something. It involves that purple koraidon."

"Leo..."

"I'll be quick, I promise." Leo's wheel lit up.

Yuna felt an invisible force grabbing hold of her. "Wait! At least tell me what you're planning!"

"I'm trying to find the guy Vince works for," Leo said as Yuna grew further away from him. "If it doesn't work, I'll bring Vince back with me."

"But how do you know you can get back?"

It was too late, though. Leo became a tiny speck in a matter of seconds, then white light swallowed Yuna up.

XxX​

Seifer's heart pounded in his chest as he passed by familiar buildings, warped and distorted by purple cracks and fissures in the air. To his right, purple light spilled over one of his favorite bakeries, draining the green and white awning over the entrance of its color. The windows shattered and black berries tumbled out onto the street.

"You guys are seeing this too, right?" Artemis used a small plume of water to carry himself past Seifer. "Everything's turning into fruit!"

Static engulfed a cafe a block ahead of the keldeo. The outdoor furniture morphed into asparagus that fell apart while dark gray nanab berries replaced the door handles.

"Yeah." Cyril was ahead of them, his starcloud mane even wilder than usual. "I don't think this is the distortion we were tracking. It's gotta be an anomaly."

Then there must have been a portal somewhere, right? Seifer galloped after Cyril, wincing from berry juice staining his hooves. Screams and footsteps echoed around him. People who were no doubt trying to flee.

"We have to try and direct these people out of the city!" Seifer insisted. Another small rift opened overhead. "Look out!" He slung an Aura Sphere from his horn, blowing apart... more berries.

"Augh!" Juice rained on Cyril. The zoroark's starry mane deflated. "Okay, it's annoying, but not deadly." He tried to shake himself dry, but the juice was too sticky. "I don't know this place well and Cid's not an option."

Artemis dropped to the ground by the fruit and juice-covered cafe. "Isn't there an exit a few blocks north of here?" He gestured forward with a ribbon.

Seifer nodded. "Yes. There's a large road that connects to the byway leading to Tulpise." He galloped past the cafe, scanning the surrounding buildings. Seifer needed higher ground... and a way to project his voice. "I don't suppose you brought any, like, megaphones in your gear, did you?"

Cyril lifted his sticky mane to show his dumbfounded expression. "No? Who brings a megaphone to a scouting mission?"

Fair. Seifer would have to improvise, then. He headed left for a two-story square building relatively untouched save for giant lettuce leaves in place of its windows. Hydro Pumps from Seifer's hooves carried him onto the roof. It was still sturdy.

Most people were moving north already. But there was a lot of confusion. A tauros bucked a marshtomp and quilladin couple out of his way and was about to trample over a family of dedenne. People kept shoving a mandibuzz, stopping her from taking off with her vullaby chick in tow.

This was bad. Even if the rifts were just making fruit, people were getting hurt.

Seifer took a deep breath.

"EVERYONE NEEDS TO REMAIN CALM!"

The shout's intensity surprised Seifer. For a moment, he found himself looking not at the crowded street but at a black void that lit up blue with energy from a furious roar.

"It's Commander Seifer!"

"Is the Radiant Guard here?"​

"I thought he got sacked!"​

"Ow, you're stepping on my tail, you bitch!"

"Then don't shove it in my face!"​

Seifer snapped to attention. Focus.

"I need everyone to head north in an orderly fashion!" The keldeo pointed his right forehoof down the street. "Those of you closest to me, move to Granger Street." He jerked his head back. "Those furthest from me, cross to Bartlett Street." Seifer moved his right forehoof so it pointed at the street behind the buildings opposite him.

"Keep your pace uniform!" Seifer continued. "Larger 'mon have to carry smaller 'mon!" He stomped his forehoof on the street. "Let's go, let's go! No chit chat or dawdling!"

People began to fan out from the street by the office building. Another wall of purple light raced across the area. Seifer suppressed a wince. "Remain calm! We have this under control!" He looked over his shoulder. Cyril and Artemis had managed to climb up a nearby three-story brick building's emergency stairwell. They were on the roof, scanning the sky for signs of trouble.

Seifer nodded to them, then jetted over to the next building north of him with Hydro Pumps. "Keep it up!" he said. The keldeo narrowed his eyes at a skittish ursaring about to barrel into a quagsire. "Hey, Ursaring! No shoving! Carry Quagsire if you have to!"

Another purple wall rippled through the air. This time a rift opened behind Seifer. He saw a large orange roll out onto the street. It would bowl the civilians over if Seifer didn't do something!

The keldeo leaped from the building roof, using Hydro Pumps from his hooves to safely land behind the group of people. He stared down the giant orange. Oh, if only he could still use Secret Sword!

Aura Sphere will have to do! Seifer shot the blue energy ball from his horn. It hit dead center, dimpling the peel and slowing the orange. Seifer shot another one, leaving another dimple.

It was getting closer. Seifer backed away. He shot a third Aura Sphere.

That one did the trick! The peel tore open and large orange slices toppled over.

The Spacial Rend crescents broke apart, warping the void around him.

"Pathetic!" Seifer sneered. "But I'm not surprised. You can't match up to me!"

Loud crashes jolted Seifer. Two orange slices struck the side of the house on Seifer's right, breaking the outer walls and window. The house's foundations surprisingly held, but Seifer didn't want to stick around.

Hydro Pump jets carried him back to the top of the same building he'd jumped off of. Things were quiet. The streets were totally empty! Where were the people?

Cyril was waving him down from the same building as before.

"What happened?" Seifer asked.

"The lot of 'em got levitated away." The cosmic zoroark pointed skyward. "I think Boss Kitty's aware of the situation."

Seifer looked around but saw no signs of a shadowy mewtwo in the area. "He grabbed them from... somewhere else in the city entirely?" That was an impressive and concerning amount of range.

Maybe Starlene is here and powered him up?

Raspy laughter filled the air before Seifer could suggest they head back into the city to find Gene. His blood ran cold. And judging from the flash of panic in Artemis' eyes, the milotic must've realized the same thing.

"We have to go!" Artemis' eyes darted around, trying to find the source.

"Agreed." Seifer galloped toward the edge of the building roof, only to skid to a halt before a small dome of black shadows.

"Seif!" Cyril shouted from the other roof. He and Artemis scrambled for the emergency stairwell.

Chained, chitinous forelegs emerged from the shadows, followed by the rest of Xeromus' cloaked body. His beady gray eyes were unreadable beneath his stone mask.

"The veil is lifting," the helmeted silvally said. He let out a few raucous coughs. "Your shoulders are heavy with the burden of truth. Keh heh." Xeromus sucked in a sharp breath. "An incomplete truth, perhaps. But enough for you to realize just how special you all are. The great potential dwelling within!"

Seifer remained tense. Ready to blast this freak with Hydro Pumps at a moment's notice. Yet Xeromus sounded different this time. He wasn't spouting his usual nonsense about futility.

"We got some folks out of here, but there's trouble!" Cyril shouted, but it didn't sound like he was talking to Seifer. Were the X-transceivers back up? "Something's really wrong here!"

"You clawed your way out toward rebirth to right an egregious wrong," Xeromus continued, eyeing Seifer with interest. Chains scraped the brick rooftop as he slowly paced to the keldeo's right. "You can condemn chaos. You can walk a path of valor toward a bright, eternal future! Guided by the Affirmer!"

That sounded a bit more like his earlier crazy talk. Which was more than enough for Seifer. He shot water jets from his forehooves. Xeromus' cloak bristled and some sort of shadowy canine emerged to swallow the attacks up like they were nothing.

Seifer tensed. Igneous had mentioned a spectral beast. Now that Seifer saw it for himself, though, it looked... a bit similar to Queen Calliope. Except for the almost shield-shaped head.

"Ha ha..." Xeromus shook his head. "I get it. Why trust the word of a lowly omen acting as a stepping stone for everyone to become part of something greater?"

"I don't think you get anything," Seifer countered. "If you did, you'd be fighting whatever forces are doing this to you!" He stomped a forehoof down. "It's Zodiark, isn't it? Just like how they control Whispers! But you're better than that! I know you're capable of doing good, Nova."

"̷̢̳͐Ḭ̸͑̒ ̶̛̺͂a̴̗̔ͅm̸̖̏͝ ̷̹̦̉̄d̷̜͈͝ỏ̷͙̝͌i̶̘̒͘n̴̫͂g̸͙͂ ̶̩͑́g̴͇̋͑ơ̵̝͑ŏ̵̼d̵͎̓.̶̨̄ ̵͋̑͜Y̴̛̦̬o̸̖̓ù̵̖̟r̴͈̮͒ ̸̡̱͗o̴̟̓͐l̴̹̬͋d̵͚͍̈́̈ ̴̨͋̒ș̴̓͑o̸̜̲͝u̸̙̟͒l̶̥͊̄ ̶͓̀̋s̶̛̭i̸͕͐m̸̞͂p̷̦͙̅l̵̢̢̈́͝ỷ̶͉̔ ̵͈̌̈́s̸͇͆i̴̭̒̒ṃ̶̒́p̷̌̍͜l̶͍̾y̶̼̮̎̀ ̴̠̈́ṟ̴̢̓̚ȇ̴̢f̴̙̪͒́u̴̳̬͘ş̷̀e̵̠͔̔̃ş̸̆̕ ̸̲͒t̴̡̍ȯ̸͍̔ ̵͍͎̌ċ̵̫h̴̻̺̒̓ḁ̶̟̀n̸͛ͅg̸͕͘͠e̵̞̍͌͜.̷̰͇̆͆"̶̻͇̿̌

"You're supposed to be better than this!"

Seifer reared up his hind legs. His blue-gray body rippled with a metallic sheen. "Yet time and time again you cause nothing but problems and headaches? Why can you not be still in your pocket and focus on your duty?"

Across from him, Space's pink shoulder gems bristled with energy. "I didn't do anything wrong! You always assume! Rush to conclusions! You're the embodiment of time! Where's your patience?!"

"Seifer, look out!"

Cyril's scream brought the keldeo to attention. Yellow crystals emerged from a larger specter behind Xeromus. Seifer dove to his right. The crystals struck the brick roof and shattered. Seifer scrambled to the edge of the roof, barely dodging yellow sparks.

Electricity? He looked at Xeromus, who had stepped to the side to reveal the familiar four-legged cloud monster from Tulpise. Its legs were now completely covered in those strange crystals. Were they responsible for the lightning?

"Tum sachmuch badle nahi ho."

The cloud daemon's body rippled. A larger version of Leo briefly appeared in its place, with pristine white fur instead of Leo's starry, blue-purple pelt. Then it melted away, revealing the cloud daemon now had a crystal wheel around its torso. Just like Leo's.

The Creator stared down at Seifer in disapproval. Golden light poured down from the heavens.

"It's not my fault!" Seifer cried. "It's Palkia! It's always Palkia!"

Seifer caught a yellow flash out of the corner of his eye. He fired Hydro Pumps and blasted the yellow crystals away.

"Get away from him!" Cyril growled. He and Artemis had gotten up on the same roof. The cosmic zoroark tossed a Shadow Ball toward the cloud daemon. Xeromus' cloak bristled, however. The spectral wolf reappeared and swallowed the shadow ball in its wispy maw.

"Your mind is struggling," Xeromus said. His gaze was firmly fixed on Seifer. As was the cloud daemon. "But there is not as much to reconcile between past and present as you think. Your vanity. Your arrogance. Your sins. They are the same now as they were before."

"Don't listen to him," Cyril scoffed. Ghostly energy swirled around his mane. "They're just trying to distract us. Because it's all they can do."

"Right!" Seifer reared up, pointing one foreleg toward Xeromus and the other toward the cloud daemon. No way Xeromus could block both the Hydro Pumps that followed at once, right?

Sure enough, the wolf appeared to protect the cloud daemon, leaving Xeromus to get doused. He stood tall, however, shaking his helmeted head.

A colorless crystal sprouted from the rooftop, stopping scalding hot water from hitting the cloud daemon's left side. Artemis shrank back, curling up his ribbons.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"It's so tragic." Xeromus took ragged breaths. "All this time apart. You'd think you'd recognize your creator. The rightful arceus of this world."

The gems on the cloud daemon's legs turned yellow. Stormy clouds formed over the roof.

"Move!" Seifer barked, waiting until he saw yellow flashes overhead to dash left. He barely skirted the lightning bolts that followed. Cyril had managed to yank Artemis out of the way, too.

Seifer stepped out of the rift, eyeing the small contingent of humans standing in their temple dedicated to the Creator.

He eyed the small sphere in the black-haired girl's hand. Palkia was inside the thing. He was sure of it.

Foolishness. Utter foolishness. Palkia let a human capture them?

Then Seifer was right. He was the better of the two. And now he would prove it!

He roared. Multicolored light poured out in a dome around the temple.

"Down, Seif!"

The keldeo dropped to his belly. Yellow gemstones whizzed over him. Static ran down the tip of his horn. His mane puffed out a bit.

"The truth is right in front of you!" Xeromus spat. "And yet you're happy to blindly follow the status quo! To let chaos reign and follow Giratina's lead!" There was a flicker of... something in Xeromus' beady gray eyes, but Seifer wasn't sure what.

"Why else would you feed Arceus' power to some pretender?"

Seifer fired an Aura Sphere from his horn. Cyril and Artemis followed his lead, adding a Shadow Ball and Scald stream.

Another large colorless crystal emerged from the ground to deflect the attacks, then quickly disappeared.

"Tumhara ghamandh tumhara ant hoga."

Palkia emerged from the ball and guarded the humans against Seifer's Roar of Time. The roof and pillars of the temple exploded. Marble debris tumbled down the mountain.

The humans looked to Palkia with admiration. Even the one with blue hair — who had offered Seifer prayers so many times before — looked aghast at his actions.

He wouldn't stand for this! Seifer absorbed the lingering energy around him. His body morphed and twisted, gradually resembling the Creator's form.

Seifer was better. He would show these humans that Time was superior to Space!

"It's tragic." Xeromus' raspy laughter carried across the rooftop. "In the end, you still haven't learned to swallow your pride and put others before yourself. Time truly is a flat circle."

The cloud da— no, Arceus' leg crystals were turning yellow again.

"You're wrong, Nova!"

Seifer's neck prickled at Cyril's harsh interjection. The zoroark's starcloud mane rippled.

"He's not selfish! Far from it!" Cyril had a Shadow Ball in each hand. He tossed one toward Arceus and the other toward Xeromus. "He's here, isn't he? Putting his life on the line to try and save this world!"

Crystals and the spectral wolf easily stopped Cyril's attacks before they could hurt their targets.

"Hell, he was working to get the people here to safety!" Cyril continued. "And that's after this kingdom treated him like dirt and his shitty dad and uncle all but disowned him! If that's not selfless, I don't know what is!"

While Cyril spoke, Seifer saw Artemis slithering along the side of the roof. The milotic managed to sneak in a small Scald that splashed against Arceus' left foreleg crystal. It staggered back. A distorted hiss filled the air.

Seifer winced. Artemis flickered in and out with the silhouette of a blue-haired human.

The keldeo's breath caught in his throat.

"Akari's right." The blue-haired man looked at Seifer, arms crossed. "You have to bury the hatchet with Palkia." He scratched the back of his head. "Much like we ought to do with the Pearl Clan."

"You can lead them by example," the black-haired girl said, patting Seifer's metallic foreleg.

Arceus roared once again. A harsh wind whipped up across the rooftop. Seifer dug his hooves in to stay rooted to the ground as best he could, but he was unprepared for Xeromus' chains unraveling from his legs and slashing at him repeatedly.

"Aggggh!" Seifer's legs buckled. The winds pushed him back. He tried to call out to Cyril and Artemis. The cosmic zoroark was on all fours, digging his claws into the brick and gritting his teeth.

"Heeeelp! Heeeeeeeeelp!"

Artemis was pinned against the far corner of the roof. Arceus had turned to the milotic, lightning crackling around its crystals.

"Arte— nngh!"

Xeromus chains sliced at Seifer's torso. Blue fur dropped to the ground, followed by red splotches.

"Seif!"

The wind was howling. Cyril's mane muffled his cries. Thunderclouds gathered over Arceus and Artemis. The milotic's eyes were full of dread.

Full of dread... like the day he failed to stand up for Artemis. The day Vortex kicked him out of Horizon Academy. The day Artemis lost his future.

The blue-haired man looked at his transformation with eyes full of dread.

Seifer galloped forward. Through the pain and the wind. He saw the yellow light forming overhead.

"Tum kismat se ladh nahi sakte!"

"SEIFER, NO!"

The keldeo summoned a Protect shield and leaped into the air. At first, it held against the massive lightning surge. Artemis had managed to slip out from underneath Seifer.

Then the shield shattered.

(Art by Raph)

Yellow flooded Seifer's vision. His prosthetic horn was a veritable lightning rod funneling the electricity through him. Pure agony drew the briefest of screams.

Giratina's Earth Power toppled Seifer, taking the last of his strength with him. As his vision blurred, he saw the other human — the one whose hair resembled the Creator's — smirking at him. Practically laughing at his failure.

Purple shadows spread across him. A mask of the creator's wheel covered his face.

"Defeated again, Dialga. Because that is your fate."

The horrifying pain stopped. Seifer managed one final, ragged breath, before the last of his consciousness was plunged into an endless black abyss.

XxX

~Resurgent Creator: Dreamweaver Risen~
Red Chain in hand, the Affirmer believed a world without humans would provide refuge from the Renegade. Yet still, they tailed Him. He remained in hiding, biding His time until the Renegade took pity on a dying riolu. While they were preoccupied, He unleashed the Red Chain on that world's creators.

Salvation was within reach, only to be denied at the last second when the Renegade lashed out.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
"Samay khatam" is Hindi for "out of time."
"Tum sachmuch badle nahi ho" is Hindi for "you haven't really changed."
"Tumhara ghamandh tumhara ant hoga" is Hindi for "your pride will be your end."
"Tum kismat se ladh nahi sakte" is Hindi for "you cannot fight fate."

Thanks to ExplosiveTurkey for his help with the Hindi translations. And lastly, a handy chart to show those of you who made it this far where things stand.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, firing this up for that Review Tag that I claimed, since it'll be a wee bit hard for me to get that done in daylight hours. Though last time we left off with some big backstory reveals and Yuna in a bit of an awkward situation, so let's see where things go this time in…

Chapter 87

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

It's disappointing my gut feeling about POV-2020 was right. I'm miffed that my bosses wouldn't believe me. I've been at this a while now. I like to think I've got a good eye for these things.

But I guess I've also jumped the gun too many times for their liking. Maybe there was a better way to go about this than spamming the same report repeatedly.

Ah yes, this is

again, I can already tell. Since it's definitely consistent with the reporter the last Overseer report from the prior chapter kept complaining about.

They've ordered me to keep my nose out of this, of course. But I can't sit still. Whether we all like it or not, I'm involved in this. I was practically the first domino that fell over in this ridiculous conga line.

... Yeah, still not good with metaphors.

Wait, beyond the obvious that POV-2020 has been reshaped unnaturally to put Evil!Shane in Giratina's place? Just what has he been up to since GL…? .-.

Yuna's ectoplasm shriveled. The dragapult instinctively grabbed her rough gray blanket and dragged it up past her amber core.

She was mumbling to herself— no, to a memory. And Nikki heard it.

Ah yes, that background music is totally a good omen for how things are going to go here. /s

Sure, the whole "reincarnated souls" thing got brought up at the meeting. However, Yuna never went into specifics. She wasn't sure how to broach the subject with Nikki. But it looked like she wouldn't get the chance to think it over.

That actually makes me wonder how much of POV-2020 is affected by that phenomenon, or if some mystical golden monolith entity is bringing back the characters that matter to the plot for reasons™️

Reshiram stirred in the back of her head. No doubt encouraging honesty. Yuna kept him at bay. Her gaze remained fixed on Nikki as the toxtricity leaned against the wall opposite Yuna's cot.

"Not a fan of the silent treatment, Princess," she said. Sparks jumped off her mane and fizzled away before hitting the shag carpet on the floor.

Yuna: "... Wait, you have a mane?" .-.
Nikki: "Headcrest, frill, mane. Same difference. And stop trying to change the subject!"

"I know." Yuna forced herself to sit up. It was much more awkward with such a bulky tail. She had to phase it through the cot, which practically defeated the bed's purpose in the first place. "I'm having trouble collecting my thoughts."

"Then I'll make it easy." Nikki sounded more tired than upset. "You think I'm one of 'em, don't you?" She shut her eyes and tucked her chin against her chest. "These reincarnated souls or whatever."

Yuna nodded.

Yuna: "Is... that... a problem?"

Nikki's face scrunched up. Yuna considered saying something, but the toxtricity beat her to the punch.

"Did we know each other? Is that what you were spacing out over?"

"I think so." Yuna blinked, then hastily added, "F-For the first question, really."

That only furrowed Nikki's brow further. "Great. Cool."

Yuna: "Er... you're really not reacting like this is 'great' and 'cool' right now." ._.;
Nikki: "It's called 'sarcasm', Princess."

Yuna couldn't peg Nikki's tone. And she was avoiding Yuna's gaze. Tapping her right foot on the carpet repeatedly. Even her expression was... muddled. Was she upset? Annoyed? Sad?

"So, who am I talking to?"

"Huh?" Yuna straightened up. What kind of question was that?

"You heard me." Nikki bit her lip. "Are you really Princess? Or Yalwhatever?"

Hadn't Yuna already explained it? She traced her hand around her core. "I'm using Giratina's power. But it's still me. I couldn't... let go like that."

"Then why are you dwelling on this past stuff so much?"

Yuna: "Because it's literally been flashing in front of my eyes at inconvenient moments in recent chapters? Look, I didn't ask for this, okay?" >_>;

Nikki finally met Yuna's gaze. And the dragapult had nothing for her. She was simply lying in her bed when that memory came to her. Had Giratina foisted it onto her? It couldn't have been random chance...

Yuna had to come up with something. Nikki was still staring her down.

Yuna: "But I thought that I just gave-" .-.
Nikki: "Canonical explanations, thanks." >:|

"I dunno... maybe there's something in the past that can help us here?" she mumbled.

"Like what?" Nikki leaned against the wall again. "What was so important from back then it got you hallucinating or whatever?"

So Nikki did want to know. Yuna pushed her covers down and leaned against the wall behind the cot.

Yuna: "You... really would've saved me a lot of stress if you were just forward about things, just saying."

She told the toxtricity what she saw. The icepix's confession about being a human. And the circumstances of her human life.

At first, Nikki didn't say anything. Then, to Yuna's surprise, her yellow mohawk shrank. "You've gotta be shitting me," she mumbled, looking like the dragapult had slapped her across the face.

"Um..." Yuna stiffened.

"It's not real." Nikki held up her right hand. "That was just some... mind game someone was playing with you. Zodiark, maybe." Her left hand squeezed her leather jacket pocket. "No way it's real."

Narrator: "It was 💯 real."

"Sounds like denial to me."

Damn it, she'd let Reshiram in. Yuna shoved him out of her mind. "Why do you think that? It'd be a pretty strange dream for me to have."

"It's not real!"

Ah yes, the ominous DR3 soundtrack tunes rear their head again. Though I had a feeling things were going to start going off the rails in this conversation.

Nikki swung her right arm. Her fist slammed against the metal wall. Hissing, she grabbed her right hand with her left and pressed it against her chest gills. The toxtricity kept mumbling, "Not real."

"Nikki." Yuna inched forward on the bed. Her tail was still mostly phased through it, but the end of it did poke out from under the bed. Yuna quickly realized it looked like she was coaxing Nikki toward her with her tail and hastily pulled it underneath.

"Is something wrong?" Yuna wondered. She recalled what Tessa said to Nickie when the icepix seemed unsure of herself. "You can tell me. I don't... want to see you upset."

I'm a bit unsure why Nikki's reacting so viscerally to this myself unless it's that whole fear of "losing yourself to a past entity" thing she had with Yuna but applied to herself.

After a few seconds of silence, Nikki's loud sigh filled the room. A metallic scraping followed from Nikki's waist spikes and the metal wall. She slid down to a seated position on the floor.

"This doesn't leave the room, okay?"

"Okay." Yuna pushed herself off the wall and leaned over. The dragapult winged it earlier, but was that memory actually important to the present?

"I didn't hatch in Blightsmuth, y'know," Nikki said, wrapping her arms around her legs and leaning forward so her chin was on her knees. "Don't really remember anything before it. Hell, I don't remember being a toxel. Shredder's the one who looked after me and Scarlett when we were growing up."

Did- Did Nikki go through the same life arc as Nickie? I mean, there are Transfer Orbs lying around in this setting and we know they can be used to facilitate gender transitions...

She glanced at the door, as if she expected the dragonair to open it. But it remained still. And Nikki's mohawk was still missing.

"Then how'd you end up in Blightsmuth?"

"Hospital," Nikki said.

The dragapult raised a brow. "Huh?"

Yuna: "I... don't know if I follow there."

"There used to be a small town near Blightsmuth." Nikki remained still. "More upscale and stuff, but still under Shredder's jurisdiction because it was closer to Blightsmuth than anywhere else."

After a heavy breath, the toxtricity said, "I got left at a hospital there. By my parents."

... Ow.

It took a moment, but Yuna eventually caught on. She gripped the edge of her bed. "Hang on. Then your parents—"

"Citadark," Nikki flatly replied. "Apparently they left me at the hospital with some kinda nasty illness."

Yuna tensed up. "Wait, but I—"

Nikki held up a hand to cut her off. "Not the same thing. I got sick... because my parents forced me to evolve into a toxtricity too young. Way too young."

Huh, so there are side effects to evolving outside of a natural window of time for a Pokémon... or at least in POV-2020.

Which totally bodes well for how all those Champion teams from more mainline dimensions turned out given that the typical game protagonist takes their Pokémon from base to full evo in the span of like a summer.

"Forced?" Yuna didn't think anyone could force a 'mon to evolve.

"They used, like, steroids and pills and stuff," Nikki growled. "And they're what made me sick." She stretched out her legs, then braced her arms at her sides. "What no one's sure of is if I was born male or my parents did something else on top of all the meds. Cuz everything was so out of whack."

Yuna's eyes widened in realization. "Would that—"

Oh, so Nikki really did have the same life arc as Nickie. Or at least its strongly implied here. And the "steroids and pills and stuff" bit reminds me a bit of AHFA's Joy Seed lore. Wonder if that's what they were in some capacity.

"I didn't want to be a guy," Nikki said. "Most folks around Blightsmuth were nice enough about it. But the doctors wouldn't let me use a transfer orb until they get all the hormone stuff under control. It took years."

She shuddered. "Everything felt wrong. And not because I evolved so fast."

Yeah, I knew it. Though I suppose this might be related to how you apparently dropped in some bigger tweaks to your first 10 chapters, since I was going to say that I didn't remember any foreshadowing pointing towards this reveal aside from last chapter.

Nikki curled her fingers, grabbing and tugging on the carpet's shag threads. "That's why I can't believe what you saw. I won't. I—" She opened her eyes. "That'd mean... the same thing happened to me in two different lives!"

Yes, Nikki. It's called "eternal recurrence", and it wouldn't be the first time a Squaresoft game had a major character whose different reincarnations had strong similarities for life trajectories between them.

Yuna winced. No wonder Nikki could comfort her after her mother said she was adopted. She'd gone through something even worse!

"I can't—" Sucking in a sharp breath, Nikki curled her legs up again. "I refuse... to believe... it'd happen twice."

... I mean, considering how Yuna apparently also had a life as Chiron, is Nikki sure that she's only gone through this twice before?

Yuna wasn't sure whether to go to Nikki's side or give her space. Tessa went to Nickie's side in her memory, but the icepix's attitude was different than the toxtricity's. This must be why she's always had a chip on her shoulder. Even after we ditched school.

I always figured it was the rampant classism everywhere that did it, but I can't imagine that this helped, no.

"I'm sorry," was what Yuna went with. She also settled for a middle ground of scooching halfway across the floor. It put her near Nikki, but not right next to her. "I never could've imagined."

"Of course you couldn't." Nikki flicked her left wrist dismissively. "I don't make a habit of telling people. Because it's... in the past."

She tensed up. "Even if... what you say is true... it's the distant past. It doesn't matter. I'm—" Nikki's mohawk slowly crackled to life. "I'm Toxtricity Nikki, damn it! Not some vulpix or a dude or any of that shit!"

Yuna: "... I mean, technically, you used to be a-"
Nikki: "Don't you dare finish that sentence! I don't need this right now!"

Yuna's gut told her to inch closer, so she did. Nikki didn't push her away. Yuna scooted closer. Again, Nikki didn't move.

"Are you mad?" the dragapult whispered.

"Yeah."

"Mad at me?"

Nikki: "It's more of a 'life, the universe, and everything' moment right now. Especially the universe since it apparently thought it was funny to put me through not being able to be myself in my own body twice." >_>;
Yuna: "... Technically, it's 'twice that we know of-"
Nikki:

"Dunno." Nikki glanced at Yuna.

"Would you rather I keep quiet?"

"For a bit."

Ah yes, I can already tell that things will be... unpleasant if Yuna winds up slipping up on this for whatever reason. Since we already saw how Nickie getting outed ended.

So, Yuna pulled up to Nikki's side and awkwardly sat with her back against the wall. The room was silent save for the gentle hum of the long, slender lights on the ceiling. They stared at Yuna's cot with its crumpled gray blanket and worn white bedsheet torn at its edges.

Then Nikki lifted her right arm... and gently strummed her chest gills. The notes sounded... softer than what Yuna was used to. Almost like a different instrument. She wasn't sure whether to ask about it.

Is it meant to literally be something like the piano music potholed here? Or is the implication that Nikki would've evolved into a Low Key Toxtricity had her evolution progressed naturally?

After several seconds, however, Yuna's curiosity got the better of her. "What is this?"

"Piano tune Scarlett and I first heard in some trashy movie we liked," Nikki said. She continued to strum away, looking at the bed. "'Claire de Lunatone.' It's a... gentle melody. Not my style. But Scarlett had a record of it. She'd play it when I was upset."

Oh, well. That answers the question there, I suppose. Though I'm impressed her gills have enough range to mimic a piano semi-closely.

Yuna offered Nikki a small smile. Knocks at the door stopped the dragapult from saying anything, however. She glanced at Nikki, who stopped strumming.

"It's your room." The toxtricity put her hands on the floor by her hips. "Not gonna stop you from answering it."

"It's open," Yuna called. The door creaked open and a familiar dragonair poked her head in.

"Hey. Thought I heard Claire de Lunatone in here," Scarlett said. "Everything okay?"

- Yuna glances back at Nikki -

Yuna: "Did... you play that song a lot back when you two were together or something?"
Nikki: "... Something like that."

"Not really," was Nikki's response. "But it is what it is."

Frowning, Scarlett slithered inside. "Having trouble with all of this? I know my head's spinning."

"I wasn't sure how much to say," Yuna mumbled. She tried to cover her core with her hands but it was too big. "So, I just kinda threw it all out there."

"No kidding."

Igneous' voice startled Yuna. She sat up straighter as the grovlazzle walked in.

So... odds that Yuna outs that Igneous used to be a bug in about two minutes?

Nikki: "Gee, why don't we just invite the entire briefing from earlier down here at this rate?" >_>;

"Seriously?" Nikki leaned forward, squinting at Igneous. And a ponytales was hovering in the doorway, unsure whether to enter. Yuna reluctantly waved Shimmer in. He awkwardly shuffled to Igneous' side in the opposite corner of the room.

"What, you three some sort of package deal now?" Nikki pointed between them. "Been spending an awful lot of time together lately."

I was joking about the "entire briefing from earlier", though it certainly looks like we're well on our way to getting there at this rate.

Shimmer's face reddened. He tried to turn toward the wall, but Igneous nudged Shimmer with his right leg. Shimmer jolted stiff.

"We were talking," Igneous said, arms crossed. "About everything Yuna said."

He and Scarlett exchanged a look. Yuna had a sinking feeling about it, but Nikki beat her to the punch.

"Don't tell me... you guys have been having visions like Princess?"

Oh, so Igneous might already know about his past life as a literal invertebrate. That would certainly speed this along a bit.

"Yeah. I see... a different life." Igneous held up his hands, turning them over and back. Over and back. "An icy vulpix and a riolu. They call themselves Nickie and Tessa. And..." He put his hands against the wall. "I'm there, too. As a volcarona." Fiery embers crackled behind his back.

Well, that was a fast confirmation.

There was a white flash. Then Yuna found a volcarona in Igneous' place. Orange wings buzzed. Embers crackled around him.

"We knew each other, then." Yuna's voice cracked.

Nikki: "I swear to god, first we have to worry about our world getting eaten by a giant skeletal tapeworm, then our universe exploding and peaceing god-knows-how-many others, and now we have potential timeloop BS to worry about, too? Can we just go on strike from the plot and bail for a less messed-up dimension already?" >_>;
Igneous: "No, since we inevitably fade and get sent back to ours whenever we do that."
Nikki: "... Wonderful."

"I'm not the only one." Igneous tucked his head down but cracked an eye open at Scarlett. "Am I?"

The dragonair bit her lip. "Been having weird dreams since Venish. None of them made sense." Her wings slowly caressed her neck bauble, which flickered pink. "I thought I was Starlene — or, well, a latias — in them. And I also saw an ice vulpix named Nickie. She was asking me for help to stop an evil human."

Oh, so Scarlett was also there back then. Even if she's pretty different from GL!Latias personality-wise. Though that makes me wonder who on earth Shimmer was...

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Nikki's mohawk sparked. The carpet fibers underneath her prickled from the static. With a startled squeak, Yuna scooted left.

"I'm not," Scarlett said, looking down at her tail.

"And you?" The toxtricity pointed at Shimmer.

"Nothing." The ponytales shook his head.

Whelp, I suppose there was bound to be a combo breaker. We'll just leave a question mark beside Shimmer for now

"Great. I'm on the outside looking in with Pillow Prince." Nikki rapped her right fist against the carpet.

"Gee, thanks." Shimmer's ears folded against his head.

"Suck it up." Nikki slouched forward. "You're not the one hearing three people say had the same crummy thing happen to you in two different lifetimes."

It's totally more than just 'two', I can already tell.

Shimmer gave her a blank look but said nothing. Yuna was also at a loss. Of the group, Nikki was the most active Team Bastion member who hadn't gotten any wild powers or crazy transformation. Even that lightning guitar was a standard Dynaforce technique. Any toxtricity could pull it off with the proper training, according to Cid.

Right, since Nickie came to POV-2020's canonworld as a Faller and not in the same fashion as Shane in POV-2017 where he was himself, Dark Matter, and Solgaleo in a blender.

"We don't have to talk about this anymore if you don't want to," Yuna mumbled.

"It's wild." Sighing, Nikki straightened up. "We knew each other in these past lives. And now we're... together again?" Her laugh turned to a snort. "Do you have any idea how much shit had to happen for all of us to end up here in the first place?"

"The spirit never forgets."

Aaaand the DR3 music's back. Though it certainly sounds like someone's been rigging the odds in their fa-

- Peeks back up at the chapter teaser -

Oh.

Oh.

I mean, I'm not 💯sure that's where this is going, but...

Yuna winced at Igneous' words. The grovlazzle's leaves crinkled. "Xeromus said that to me before I had my first vision. And then the cloud daemon he summoned gave me more of them." He crossed his arms. "I've kept having them since Tulpise. And now it has me wondering if there's a deeper meaning to all of us being together like this. Like our spirits were... drawn to one another because of the past."

"Like fate?" Scarlett raised a brow.

I'm thinking more "outside interference" at this rate, since this is starting to get a bit beyond 'fate', just saying.

The dragonair's question sent a chill down Yuna's ectoplasm. A silhouette of Zodiark's masked face flickered all around her.

"In the end, you cannot stray from the path of chaos."

Yuna: "... Oh yeah, that's a face that I really needed to see right now. Not."

"Listen to you guys." Nikki thumping the wall between her and Yuna jolted the dragapult to attention. "You sound like freaking Zodiark. And that pisses me off."

She glanced at Yuna. "I need to know it's you, Princess. Not Yalwhatever." Nikki looked around the room. "All of you have to stop with this 'past lives' shit and focus on the present. Because if you're telling the truth, we failed to stop Zodiark back then.

... I just realized, but I could've sworn it was mentioned earlier in the story that Starlene was one of Bahamut's Sages... if that's so:

A: Who's to say that was the only time they failed to stop Zodiark?
B: Who's to say everyone who was present back before POV-2020 was reshaped is whole right now? Since it would explain a thing or two about Nikki lacking paranormal attributes.

"And if you get too wrapped up in the past, then none of us are gonna have a future."

The toxtricity's words hung in the air. It was a good point. If Yaldabaoth kept failing to catch and stop Zodiark across multiple worlds, then what good did any of their memories do for Yuna? Provide her with a long list of mistakes to avoid?

To encourage you to fire up Streetpass and get lots and lots of other worlds to come and bail you out when fighting your setting-deleting final boss with some bitchin' background music blaring in the background.

I mean, yeah, the odds of that actually happening are probably like 5% given how this story likes to rugpull expectations, but it'd definitely be on brand at this rate.

"We're not giving up on the present," Igneous insisted. "But we might need to understand the past better to succeed this time."

... Or you could time travel to a point where Zodiark is still weak and beatable. Since that's also something that's been done in a Squaresoft game and would lean in with the 'learning from the past' shtick thematically.

Which was more or less what Yuna said before. Still, there had to be something she could offer Nikki to assuage the toxtricity's fears.

Yuna leaned over and put her hand on Nikki's left shoulder. "I won't get stuck in the past. If I had, I would've let the shadows take control."

I'm not remotely convinced that it's going to be that easy later on in the story.

Nikki focused on Yuna's hand. Her mohawk rippled as fast as static on one of Cyril's monitors.

"Giratina... came to me because I had a wish." Yuna recalled the black, inky giratina silhouette rising from that stone floor. "A wish to be stronger, because I couldn't help the people I cared about."

She paused. Nikki must've read between the lines because Yuna swore her mohawk turned pink for a second.

"But it's... hard." Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. "The visions I've seen... that riolu sounded so confident. So sure of everything." A melancholic chuckle escaped her lips. "Almost like you."

... Which would probably explain a thing or two about why she took a hard L back then. ^^;

Nikki frowned. "I don't think we got body-swapped, Princess."

"Right." Yuna managed to avoid stammering. "It's more that... Tessa became part of Giratina. Because it was the only way she could see her wish through." The dragapult shakily smiled at Nikki. "But me? Yaldabaoth terrifies me." She laughed nervously. "I can't do the same thing."

Can't tell if that's personality drift across incarnations or else if that's just a sign that Yuna has a character development arc in her future. I'm presently leaning towards the latter, since there was definitely a time in GL when Tessa was absolutely not confident in herself and her ability to make a difference.

She expected Igneous' bewildered look. Yuna took her hand off Nikki's shoulder. "Uh, I mean, I can draw on their power. But I don't... think I know the full extent of what these chaos powers can do. And I'm not sure I want to find out."

Igneous must not have liked that. He conjured that weird red honedge in his hand. "You may not get a choice in that," the grovlazzle said. "If chaos energy is needed to stop the emperor or Zodiark—"

Yuna: "Um... Igneous, what are you doing?"

"The hell?" Nikki stood up. "There you go, sounding like our enemies again." She frowned at Scarlett and Shimmer. "One of you please talk sense into Twiggy."

"It's okay, Nikki."

The toxtricity glanced at Yuna, who rose up beside her. "Maybe it's the wrong decision. But this is my decision. Like you said, I don't want the past dictating the present. If that happens..." Her shoulders sagged. "Well, I feel like that's just proving Zodiark's point. That none of this really matters."

I feel as if there's some sort of meta commentary for Zodiark's whole futility shtick, but maybe I'm reading too much into things.

Igneous glanced at the sword. Then at the others. Scarlett tilted her head at him. Yuna couldn't quite see her face, but Shimmer's bewilderment and Igneous' pained expression painted enough of a picture.

Sighing, the grovlazzle dispelled the blade. "God, my head hurts." Now it was his turn to slump down onto the floor, rubbing his right head with his right hand. "What am I even supposed to do at a time like this?"

Nikki: "Um... maybe start by bringing us up to speed a bit, Twiggy? Since I'm kinda out of the loop about what you're going on about."

Yuna doubted Gene's suggestion to call it a night would work. Nobody looked tired.

Scarlett slithered between the two of them.

"Spicy secrets."

The two guys beside her exchanged incredulous looks. Yuna tilted her triangular head. "Huh?"

She was even more surprised when recognition spread over Nikki's face. "You still remember that?" The toxtricity scratched her head. "Shit, how long's it been?"

Yuna: "... I'm so lost right now. Nikki, what on earth is she going on about?" .-.

"A while." Scarlett's wings folded back against her head. "But I can't think of a better time for it."

Shimmer raised a forehoof. "What does that mean?"

"It's a Blightsmuth thing," Nikki said. "If folks were heated with other, they'd either battle it out or go for spicy secrets."

"I take it that isn't a food..." Shimmer's tails curled up.

"Everyone says a stupid or embarrassing secret they keep," Scarlett explained, slithering toward the door to face Igneous and Shimmer. "It reminds us that we're not so different."

Oh, so it's like truth or dare... with more physical violence involved. ^^;

"We all make mistakes and shit," Nikki added, pantomiming a puppet with her right hand. "Fine. You go first then, Twiggy." The toxtricity slowly spun around and plopped herself down on Yuna's cot.

"Me?" Igneous' head leaf caught fire. "It's your game. You go first."

Someone clearly has some spicy secrets indeed in his past. >:V

"Whatever." Nikki leaned over, resting her chin on her clasped hands. Then she abruptly sat up straight. "A'ight. The first time I ever tried to make out with someone... I sneezed right in her face.

Still floating in the middle of the room, Yuna put her hands over her mouth to stop stifling her urge to giggle.

"Wait, is that why folks back home were calling you 'Snotty' for a couple of weeks?" Scarlett draped her upper half over the edge of Yuna's cot. "I thought you had a cold or something!"

Off to a great start already.

"Nope. And Tina wouldn't speak to me for a month after that." Nikki sighed and flopped on her side on the bed. "All right, Princess, you go."

"M-Me?" Yuna's ectoplasm shriveled. Some sort of personal secret? Wasn't all the Giratina stuff a big enough thing?

"Uhh..." The dragapult tapped her golden claws together. "Even though I'm twenty, I really miss getting shot out of Mom's horns."

Nikki: "... That's seriously your big secret? I could've guessed that one."

She got strange looks, but didn't expect a whinny from Shimmer. "I'm... sorry?" The ponytales' horn flickered.

"Dragapult shoot their dreepy out of their horns." Yuna pointed to hers. "It's really fun! You go super fast! I think I was supposed to outgrow it, but I never did... even though I haven't gotten shot in a very long time."

"Damn. That's hardcore."

Ah yes, I vaguely remember you teasing this snippet a few months back. So that's where it's used.

As Nikki laughed, Yuna pointed to Shimmer. "I think it's only fair you go next. Royal courtesy and all."

Flinching, Shimmer shuffled out of the corner. He looked slightly less uncomfortable than he was during the heavier talk the group was having.

"I've got... a lotta secrets. And skeletons." Shimmer tapped a forehoof on the ground.

Nikki: "Let's... stick with 'secrets', since I'd really like to not have my respect for you go back to zero again." >_>;

"Don't kill the mood," Nikki heckled. Yuna turned and frowned at her. She projected a tiny electric halo over her head.

... Wait, Yuna can literally do

as an expression?

"Okay, you guys know that old Radiant Guard medical show?" Shimmer asked.

"R-Gash?" Igneous said.

"Yep." Shimmer clicked his tongue. "The way I realized I liked guys is because I had the biggest crush on Hawlucha Pierce." His horn glistened brightly. "I kept a signed, wall-sized poster of him in my dorm at Horizon."

"Shut up!" Scarlett gasped. The dragonair uncoiled so her head was by Shimmer's. "I love Pierce!"

The ponytales' expression brightened. "Really?"

"Yeah, he was the best!" Scarlett's tiny wings fluttered with excitement. "And the actor's a classy guy, too."

Ah yes, a bone to help Shimmer out of his complex about dragons... assuming he still has that after his whole life and sense of self-worth got shot to pieces like 30 chapters ago.

Even Nikki managed a chuckle, despite her dislike of Shimmer. A grin had replaced her earlier dour expression. She caught Yuna's gaze. Her mohawk turned pink again and she looked away, whistling to herself. Likewise, Yuna folded her arms over her now glowing core.

"All right, Iggy," Shimmer said.

[ ]

"Eh, not sure if I should really confess this, but what the hell." Igneous stood up. "So, my stepsister Becca—"

IMO, it might make sense to show Igneous' reaction a bit more if he's intended to falter a bit before answering.

"I thought I recognized one of those salazzle," Shimmer cut in.

"Yeah." Igneous was struggling to keep up his stoic expression. "I used to go to nightclubs in her Holowear outfits."

Yeah, I can see why he was evasive there.

Nikki burst out laughing at that. The bed jostled from the toxtricity kicking it repeatedly.

Igneous' tails ignited. "What's so funny?"

"Pics or it didn't happen!" Nikki scoffed.

I would be shocked if Igneous actually held onto any given how much of a personally embarrassing secret this is for him, but...

The grovlazzle's brow twitched. "Fine. I'll do you one better."

He hopped to this feet and produced a small ring.

"Wait, why do you have a holowear ring now?" Scarlett wondered.

"Swiped it off Becca to sneak around Scale City the other week." Igneous slipped the ring around one of his claws. It flickered blue, then in a flash of white light, a black dress with golden trimmings wrapped around Igneous torso. He held his hands up like he had an invisible dance partner.

I like how you went and commissioned art of this moment. Definitely putting that Salazzle half of his body to work there.

"Believe me now?"

Nikki laughed so hard her eyes watered. "You never pegged me as the kind of guy who'd ever get in touch with his feminine side!" The toxtricity rolled onto her stomach and smiled sweetly at Igneous.

Igneous: "Hey! Bishie swordsmen is a running genre staple!"

Nikki: "Oh, I think crossdressing with your stepsister's stolen holowear goes well beyond 'bishie', Twiggy."

"Says the one in the heavy leather jacket," Igneous countered. The ring flashed with light and the outfit disappeared.

"W-Well, I think it's cool," Shimmer said.

"Yeah! We need more twink grovyle in this world!"

"Starlene!" Scarlett squeaked, covering her glowing neck bauble with her wings.

Well, now he has to do this again at some point in the future. >:V

Even if she didn't understand the joke, Yuna found herself laughing with the others. The last of her worries from the earlier conversation faded. Washed away by a silly game started by friends she was happy to have at her side.

Yuna: "... Which knowing this story means that something's going to come along and ruin it in like a scene." -_-;

Gene rarely walked. His feet were not structured with walking in mind. Only floating. Sometimes it was worth it, though. If for no other reason than to prepare for circumstances where levitation wasn't possible.

He'd been walking through the outpost halls, stopping by rooms to see if he sensed anything off. Things were quiet.

... Mewtwo can walk with those legs?

Maybe my mind's just ruined from Smash Bros animating it floating just barely off the ground, but...

... Save for the cosmic silvally walking beside him.

"You're really not thinking about it? At all?" Widget wondered. His gold talons clicked against the metal with every step.

"What's there to think about?" Shrugging, Gene headed for a door to the staircase. He opened it the old-fashioned way, then took the stairs down two or three at a time.

Your old boyfriend that Widget clearly reminds you of?

"What if it applies to you, too?" Widget climbed down faster. Gene figured he had to. Four legs would get tangled on stairs otherwise.

Widget paused halfway toward the second floor. "Wouldn't you want to know about your past life?"

Gene rolled his eyes. What a stupid question. "Why? So I can bum myself out if that life turned out better than what I have now?"

I mean, Gene already effectively remembers a prior life of his, so...

Widget opened his beak, then said nothing.

Got him. Gene walked by, tapping his right temple. "I got a decent enough gig here. Why jelly my jam by throwing some dumb reincarnation nonsense into it?"

Yeah, your author's not going to let you get away with that if you stick around in this story for long enough. Since you are one of the more focused-on characters.

He rounded another bend in the stairs. Widget's starcloud swirled in confusion. His head crest fanned out and he dashed to catch up. "What's that even mean?"

"It means don't worry about it." Gene flicked his wrist dismissively. "You're basically a machine—"

"Biosynthetic." Widget reached Gene's side and scampered past him.

"Pfft." Gene stopped mid-step and held his hand up. "Remember what you looked like before Leo gave you a starry paint job? Nothing biologic about that." He continued up. "You were a machine. So, that whole reincarnation talk doesn't apply to you."

Widget: "... No, I was very clearly at least half organic matter by volume."

Gene: "Whatever, the point is that you were created in this universe, so what are the odds you have some reused soul in you?"

It should've relieved Widget, but the slow rotation of his cheek bolts and the drooping of the fish tail told Gene he was off the mark. The shadowy mewtwo pinched his brow. "What?"

"What if that's not true?" Widget said. "What if the whole reason Leo could break me out of the emperor's programming is because there was always a soul inside."

I mean... that would be a fair argument, just saying.

"Are you having dreams about some other life?" Gene wondered.

Widget shook his head.

"Then there's your answer." Gene flicked his wrist. The door at the bottom of the stairs opened up. He strode across the metallic hallway, resting his hands behind his head. "You've got absolutely nothing to worry—"

Why was there music coming from someone's room? Gene had the restaurant jukebox memorized, and this wasn't one of the tracks.

What @ that training video

He continued forward. The music was from Yuna's room. And it sounded nothing like what a bunch of technologically inept dragons could create. Too many retro synths.

"Hot drinks reeeaaaly get you going! Warms you uuuup, when you feel you're slowiiiing!"

I'm guessing that this is Starlene's spicy secret in action right about now.

"Is that... Starlene?" Widget marched up to the door. "What kind of song is that?"

"Weavies, we always serve it right away! Add a smile and have a nice daaaaay~"

Oh, so that's the in-setting equivalent of 'Wendy's'. Though not 'Weavie's' there?

Gene stared blankly at the door. Widget's starcloud ruff swirled around his neck. "Should I knock? I think someone's having a nervous breakdown in there."

"Seriously?!" Igneous' cry cut the music off.

"What's the matter, Twiggy?" Nikki's laughter drifted into the hallway next.

I mean, at least Gene didn't walk in on the holowear secret?

"That was you two?!"

"What part of 'we got our start doing terrible corporate jingles and shit' didn't register, dumbass?"

"I worked at a Weavies and they used that song!" Igneous sounded mortified. "Had some poor schlubs lip syncing along to make a training music video!"

I can only imagine his face when they go into their bubblegum pop phase, since I remember Igneous mentioning he was a big fan of their songs back then.

"Gene?" Widget hissed in a whisper.

"Leave 'em be." The shadowy mewtwo turned around, waving dismissively.

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Let the kids have their fun." Gene headed back toward the staircase.

Probably for the best since they'd probably collectively die of embarrassment if Gene or Widget came in.

"Kids?" Widget trotted after him. "They're at least young adults... I think?"

"Ha!" Gene threw his hands behind his head. "Far as I'm concerned, you're all a bunch of dumb kids compared to me."

Yeah, I suppose Gene really does have a license to be a crotchety old man when he wants to be.

He opened the stairway door up and stood against it. "So, you coming upstairs or not?"

"Well, my room's on the third floor." The cosmic silvally approached the door. "But what about you? You sleep down here."

"I'm heading to the restaurant." Gene stepped into the stairwell. "Unova's Goofiest Home Movies starts in five. You're welcome to join. Or not. You wanna wallow in existential dread, be my guest."

By the time the shadowy mewtwo floated into the air, Widget's sighs echoed through the stairwell. Gene looked down and saw him walking up the stairs, mumbling about humans and video cameras.

D'aww. They're getting close to each other~

Path of Valor Almanac
The lyrics briefly alluded to at the end of the second scene are part of a 1980s training video used by Wendy's. Search "Hot Drinks" on YouTube to see it in all its glory.

For the record, this is all BarbarousKing's fault. He used a SNES-ported version of the song in his latest Kaizo Mario ROM hack.

I take it that it was this one? Since that defintely sounds fairly fitting as a SNES tune. Wonder if it'd have made sense to pothole to whatever version of the song you heard in that ROMhack, since I'm surely not the only one who'd be interested in hearing what that sounded like.

Alright, time for the recap. But boy has it been a long time when there was just a chapter of the gang taking a moment to breathe and shoot the breeze with each other. Though I suppose it's a nice change of pace from the otherwise normally breakneck escalation and stuff blowing up in the background. That's not to say that the chapter was all fluff, it did a good job at bringing the core of Team Bastion closer to each other and posed some questions about their past that I'm sure will be quite something to get full answers to.

I don't have a whole lot to complain about here beyond a couple spots with some nitpick-tier critiques of punctuation and one spot where I thought that you passed up a chance to get in some extra lols by focusing on character reactions a bit more. There might have been more worth pointing out, but I was honestly too busy having fun seeing the gang make fools of themselves and bonding to really notice them.

Though I hope the feedback was fun and helpful @Ambyssin . I've got... uh... a ways to getting fully caught up, but at least so far, the chapters along the way have been a fun ride and gotten me looking forward to what's coming next.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 96: Red Lupus​

Simple code alone isn't going to be enough to mediate Dreamweaver and Zodiark. I thought a program could work against them, but they both seemed to adapt to my first few builds. What manner of construct are they? Could they be artificial intelligences?

AI is mostly speculative right now. But given how much power the Space Globe has, I think the solution is to effectively counterbalance their ever-evolving states with one of my own. An AI that will mediate these two.

Trying to make something of that magnitude from scratch would prove difficult, however. And I don't believe I have the luxury of taking my time with it. So, I'll use myself as the basis for this AI. It should be doable with the Space Globe's power.

This time I'll succeed. I have to succeed.

XxX​

For once, Igneous listened to someone else's cries not to rush ahead. He stayed with Gene and the others rather than flying off in desperate search of Cyril, Seifer, and Artemis. True to his word from earlier, Gene went about levitating large swathes of people outside the city. At least, the ones that hadn't already been taken by the robot cramorant the pirates left behind to help.

Some wattrel and kilowattrel Whispers emerged from rifts toward the northern side of the city, which Igneous and Widget focused on. They used dual Flamethrowers to shatter the birds before they could pepper Gene with lightning. Even Scarlett helped. Starlene put Light Screens up and deflected stray Thunderbolts from a couple of extra kilowattrel that spawned higher in the sky, leaving Widget to snipe them down with Flamethrowers.

"I think that's the brunt of it," Gene declared between shaky breaths. Pink mist evaporated off his hands and glowing eyes.

Igneous glanced down. A rainbow of fruit juice was splattered across buildings. And oversized berries littered some of the streets. There wasn't anyone in sight, though. Barbarossa was flying along Herbrides' outskirts south of the group. It had that part of the city handled, in Igneous' opinion.

"We should get going." The grovlazzle's wings buzzed. "They were covering the north, right?"

Before Gene could answer, yellow flashes erupted in the distance.

"Northwest!" Widget's head crest crackled with static. "Are those thunderclouds? They're so concentrated."

"That's gotta be them," Igneous said. "Come on!"

"On it." Gene shot toward the sparking clouds. Igneous flew after the shadowy mewtwo, ducking and weaving around a couple of rifts that opened and shot glowing iapapa berries to his left and right.

More lightning erupted in the same spot as before. This time, though, Igneous heard screams.

"Shit!" Gene's tail lashed at the air. "Cyril? Cyril!" He shot forward in a blaze of blue and pink energy.

"H-Hey, wait up!" Widget's thrusters erupted in flames, carrying him after Gene. Igneous followed behind them.

Gene suddenly dove out of the air.

"What did you do, Nova? What did you do?!"

A deafening crack filled the air, followed by an intense burst of wind. Igneous struggled to stay upright. A yelp behind him suggested Scarlett fared similarly.

Igneous steadied himself and continued forward, only for his eyes to widen.

Gene floated upside down over Xeromus, spoon stalemated against a black barrier. And the cloud daemon — it had a crystal wheel just like Leo's now — loomed over a scorched, smoldering body.

... A body with the broken remnants of a metal horn next to it.

"Me? A worthless omen like me only has one role to play in your lives," Xeromus said. His cloaked shoulders tensed and Gene was forced to back off. "He's the one who martyred himself! He let his past swallow him up, just as the Affirmer predicted!"

Electricity crackled in the cloud daemon's leg gems. Cyril was running toward the body. He was going to get shocked if Igneous didn't do something.

"Get back!" the grovlazzle shouted. Though he couldn't tear his eyes from the burnt body, he thrust his right arm forward. Igneous' honedge husk flew toward the cloud daemon's right hind leg. It turned its head. Lightning vaporized Honedge, but Igneous rolled right and spewed flames from his mouth at the daemon. And a Thunderbolt came flying in from his left, courtesy of Widget.

"Seifer! Seifer, hang on!" Cyril practically draped himself over the scorched keldeo. Tears blurred his yellow eyes.

There was no way Seifer was still alive, right? There wasn't a single patch of untouched fur on his pelt.

The grovlazzle landed beside them while Widget headed for the cloud daemon. What could Igneous do here? What was the team player move?

It was getting Cyril and Seifer away from here, right?

But Igneous couldn't carry them both. And what about Artemis? The milotic was coiled up on the opposite corner of the roof, staring at Seifer in abject horror.

"Damn it, Nova! It's not supposed to be like this!" Gene snarled. Psystrike orbs surrounded the helmeted silvally. But Xeromus' chains unfurled and slashed away at the orbs before they could strike him.

Igneous winced. Considering how aggressive he'd been toward Xeromus in the past, he could scarcely imagine what was going through Gene's head.

But this wasn't the time for offense. For once... they had to hold back.

"Gene! Gene!" Igneous waved the shadowy mewtwo down. The cloud daemon tried to shoot lightning at him, but Widget barreled into it. Somehow, despite the gaseous form, Widget forced the cloud daemon off the roof and across the street onto the wrecked house a block north of him.

"You're dealing with me!" Widget declared. In a flash of white light, miraivally turned to reshivally. Blue flames erupted on that house rooftop.

"What?" Gene snapped at Igneous, slashing furiously against another black shield Xeromus conjured.

"We have to go!" Igneous gestured at the sobbing zoroark. "Seifer needs medical attention! You're the only one who can levitate them and open rifts!"

"He's dead!"

Gene's Malice Crystal sparked with purple energy. What was up with his voice just then?!

"Look at him! No one survives an injury like that!" He summoned his spoon once again. "I have to do this! I made a promise!"

The shadowy mewtwo dove down. Xeromus' gray eyes flickered with interest.

"Gene, please!" Igneous charged forward. Xeromus couldn't stop two strikes from opposing sides, right? Another black shield formed to deflect a swing of Gene's blackened spoon. Igneous readied his Leaf Blades, only to yelp when the red wolf emerged behind Xeromus. He barely had enough time to conjure Honedge and deflect swipes of the wolf's spectral claws.

"No. I can't— I won't—" Gene tried to force the spoon forward, but Xeromus' barrier held firm. Igneous' wings carried him back to Cyril's side. The wolf didn't give chase.

Something was clearly wrong here. Gene's attacks looked like that weird beam Nikki mentioned seeing Gene fire in Wyndon. But why were Xeromus' barriers giving off the same dark smoke?

"Then let me stay back!" Igneous said. He glanced right and saw Scarlett was still hovering a couple of blocks away. "Widget and I can hold the line with a little help. At least until you get them somewhere safe!"

Fire and lightning swirled around the house on Igneous' left. The reshivally was racing around, dodging yellow crystals that burst into explosive lightning.

"What will you do, Gene?" Xeromus' raspy laughter filled the air. "Tend to that old failure... or keep your promise?" He raked his claws across the brick roof. "Come on! Let me drive you to even greater heights! You and the rest of this tragic world!"

"Don't listen to him!" Igneous said. He darted forward again, knees crouched as he expected the wolf to pop up again. When he saw the red flashes, the grovlazzle sprang up and spewed flames from his mouth. They washed across the top of the wolf's head and its growls filled the air. Igneous hovered higher to keep his distance.

"Nova's still in there! I'm sure he's fighting!" Igneous looked between Gene and Cyril. The cosmic zoroark hadn't budged from lying over Seifer's burnt body. "But every second we waste here won't help Seifer! Cyril's your friend, too! Don't you know what he's feeling right now?"

Gene Phantom Warped right past Xeromus and Igneous. "Fine! You better keep them both here!"

"Wh— hey!"

ESP yanked a startled Artemis into the air. Gene dragged him away along with Cyril and Seifer.

Igneous summoned Honedge again. "Starlene, we need your singing!"

"You got it!" the latias chirped from several meters behind the grovlazzle.

Starlene's music filled the air for all of a second, before a playing card materialized over Xeromus' helmeted head. Igneous saw an "XV" on it for a moment before the red wolf completely engulfed Xeromus. A distorted howl filled the air.

"Agggggh!" Igneous' wings fizzled out, sending him falling toward the roof.

His fur and chitin burst apart. Igneous' volcarona body fell from the air. What had happened to him? Why did he feel so weightless?

"Go now." Zodiark walked beside his fallen body. "You know exactly what to do: find a strong soul. And have the battles you so desperately want."

Igneous hit the corner of the roof. He sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. Igneous fell to the ground with a heavy thud and rolled across the dirt.

"Nnngh. Oww..." The grovlazzle grabbed his right shoulder in pain.

"Ha ha ha... haaahaaahaaahaaa!"

(Art by Raph)

The dusty ground trembled. Xeromus landed on the opposite side of the street. The red wolf still surrounded him. Xeromus' gray eyes shimmered from within the silhouette.

"He... lp. Scar... let..." Igneous tried to get to his feet but God his arm and legs hurt.

"Something's wrong!" The dragonair was flying panicked circles overhead. "I... I can't summon Starlene!"

Igneous' eyes widened.

"I won't let you perpetuate this world's stagnation!" Xeromus' voice was much deeper than before. And the wolf's spectral mouth moved in time with his words. The wolf slammed its forepaws into the ground. Shards of stained glass erupted like Stone Edge spires.

Move, move, MOVE! Igneous told himself. The grovlazzle fought through the pain and managed to scramble left, even avoiding the wolf charging through the stained glass spires with a red, shield-shaped aura.

Igneous' breath caught in his throat. A shield-shaped canine. He'd heard about that from one of the others, hadn't he? Think, Igneous, think!

It wasn't coming to him in the heat of battle, though. If he could just get Xeromus talking. The guy never shut up anyway.

"That card... so you are with the empire!" Igneous accused. He spewed a Flamethrower at Xeromus, but it was swallowed up by the same black shield as Gene's previous attacks.

For a moment, Xeromus froze. "No, I—"

That softer voice was cut off. Xeromus jerked his head right. "Of course you'd make that conclusion," he said.

Igneous tensed. That brief hesitation... and the loss of that strange, guttural backing to his voice. Then Nova really was in there. And something had a hold of him. A power similar to what Gene had just used. But the mewtwo could control it, while the opposite was true for Nova. Still, there had to be a way to free him. If Gene could do it, why couldn't Nova?

Xeromus' chains rattled on his forelegs. The red wolf returned to cover him. Xeromus slowly walked into the middle of the street. Igneous matched his movements, keeping a dozen meters between them. Sparks and flames crackled in the air northeast of him as Widget flew circles around the cloud daemon.

"Anything to fit that stale narrative. Justify repeating your past mistakes." Xeromus' gray eyes flickered. The spectral wolf lunged for Igneous, slashing with shadowy claws. Igneous jumped back to avoid the first swipes, then parried the next two with Honedge. He drove the blade into the red wolf's wispy chest as it readied for a third strike.

It broke into red mist that swirled back toward Xeromus. Igneous glanced up. Scarlett wasn't flying around anymore. She must've landed on a roof. "Keep trying to get Starlene back!" Igneous begged.

He kept Honedge at his side. "I don't know what mistakes you're talking about, Nova."

"You can lie to yourself all you want. We both know the truth!" Xeromus said. He and Igneous continued to circle around one another in the intersection. "That emperor is a nobody. A bit player. His choices are meaningless. Unlike yours."

"What are you talking about?" Igneous spewed Bullet Seeds at Xeromus' mask. Then he dove right and switched to a Flamethrower. Xeromus opted to block the second strike. Bullet Seeds peppered his mask. Tiny thunks rang out in the air.

"How disappointing." Xeromus shook his head. "To be one of the privileged few blessed with a second life... only to waste it defending this backwards world."

"The past is the past!" Igneous shot a single fireball. He dashed left and shot a second, then banked right and went for a full Flamethrower.

"Guardian!" Xeromus hunched over and the red wolf emerged before with another guttural snarl. Stained glass Stone Edges erupted all around Xeromus to deflect Igneous' flames. Then the wolf smashed the glass shards, filling the air with them.

"Shit!" Igneous charged forward, slashing wildly with Honedge. Plinks and dings littered the air. His head leaf burned. Red, spectral paws were swinging at him. Rather than parrying, however, Igneous slid along the dusty ground. The swipes went over his head. Igneous swung Honedge wildly. It collided against one of Xeromus' chained forelegs. He toppled onto his side.

"Please help..."

The grovlazzle heard the voice for all of a second before the spectral wolf howled. It lunged for the grovlazzle from behind, slamming into him and knocking him down a side street. By the time Igneous managed to get back to his feet, so had Xeromus.

"You've let the past deceive you into thinking you're doing the right thing when you're only continuing this cycle of stagnation!" Xeromus declared. "You know better. The universe is fundamentally flawed. The reverse and normal worlds twisted and broken."

Xeromus jerked his head left. "Don't... listen..."

He jerked his head right again. Igneous' eyes widened. Was this fight making a difference? Did Igneous need to keep pressuring Xeromus' corrupted state in order to free Nova?

"You can't save this world!" Xeromus hissed. "To 'save' it is to damn it to a protracted demise!"

"That's not true!" Igneous glanced up. Still no signs of Starlene, but plenty of fire and lightning from far to his left. At least that meant Widget was still standing. "We're going to fix everything!"

"By feeding the Creator's power to a false idol?" Xeromus descended into hysterical, wheezing laughter. "The true Creator is with me! Arceus Dreamweaver defends themselves from that toy you call your friend."

He thrust his helmeted head upward. His guardian mirrored the gesture. The cloud daemon raced overhead, outrunning a Blue Flare that exploded behind it. Widget emerged from the smoke, then turned left to trail after the thing that Xeromus was calling Dreamweaver.

Igneous seized his opening, charging forward with a burst of speed from his fiery wings. He closed the gap in seconds and struck Xeromus' right side with his Leaf Blades.

"Liar! You're the one screwing everything up!" the grovlazzle growled. He jumped away from the spectral wolf's retaliatory swipes, landing on a corner of the intersection. "Keep fighting, Nova! I can hear you!"

"Dreamweaver exists for the Affirmer to wield!" Xeromus said. "To forge the Eternaverse!"

He locked eyes with Igneous. "Giratina drives you to repeat the past. Continue an endless cycle of chaos that ensnares all worlds in suffering and uncertainty. Dangles the sword of oblivion over their heads. So that no matter how good life may seem now, there is a guarantee of future agony!"

Stained glass Stone Edges again erupted from the ground. With his wings back, Igneous could safely fly over them. The red wolf leaped skyward this time. Igneous barely managed to roll left of the shield-shaped red blur as it streaked past.

His head leaf and tails caught fire. A lightbulb went off in his head. And maybe it could reach Nova...

"Zamazenta!" Igneous blurted out. "Your guardian... is your old resistance teammate!"

Xeromus' gray eyes brightened a bit. The red wolf returned to surround him in an instant. Igneous hastily landed back on the ground, fearing that distorted howl that took away his wings earlier.

"This is... all because of Zodiark, isn't it?" Igneous said. He summoned Honedge again to be on the safe side. "But you don't really believe them, do you? Why else would you leave Gene that recording telling him to take up your mantle?"

There was a brief flicker of sadness— no, longing in Xeromus' eyes. But he quickly jerked his head left, then right.

"That was when I was still in denial!" Xeromus countered. Zamazenta's specter lunged for Igneous once again, but the grovlazzle rolled forward to dodge. He threw Honedge, then scrambled left toward the opposite corner of the intersection.

A crunch filled his ear frills. Igneous skidded to a halt just as his honedge husk hit the ground and dissolved away. Xeromus continued staring at the intersection corner where Igneous had been.

"I'm sorry." The softer voice was louder than before. "I can't... control it. You have to... stop me..."

Then he slowly turned toward the grovlazzle... revealing a crack in the center of his mask.

"Nova! Listen to me, please!" Igneous begged. Some of the mask was broken. He was hearing Nova. He was getting through whatever Zodiark did to him. Maybe Nova didn't need to control this corruption like Gene could. Not if Igneous could free him! With just a little bit more effort—

Xeromus' cloak rippled and shadows swarmed his body.

"Keh heh... haaah..." Xeromus hunched over. Zamazenta reemerged again with another distorted howl. Igneous dropped to his knees and threw his hands over his ear frills.

Nova and Zamazenta roared in pain as the Red Chain dragged them together. Brown stone grew over the former's face while the latter dissolved into red mist. The mist draped itself over Nova's cape, shredding apart the fabric and darkening it from turquoise to a deep blue.

"I don't care who you are!" an unfamiliar female voice shouted. "Such beautiful power... belongs to me!"

"Ahaahaa!" Xeromus sucked in a sharp breath. "Haahaahaahaahaaa!" He smacked the ground with a foreleg. "There's nobody for you to 'save!' Just like there's nothing in this world to save! The only salvation lies with the Affirmer!"

Before Igneous could get back to his feet, however, a black and purple blur rushed in from above and slammed into Xeromus. A burst of wind and dust blew Igneous down the road. When the dust settled, a shadowy mega mewtwo stood with his back to the grovlazzle. Black sparks danced around the crystals in each of his shoulders.

"So that's what happened," Gene said, fists raised. "Zodiark made you a shadow pokémon, didn't he?!"

Shadow pokémon? Igneous struggled to get back up. It sounded like Gene knew exactly what the problem was. But that was good! That meant he was bound to know a solution, right?

A red blur leaped onto the roof of a building to Gene's left. Xeromus emerged from the blur, staggering across the roof and coughing loudly.

"We can fix it, Nova!" Gene shot into the air. "Please, you have to let me—"

Zamazenta's specter lunged for Gene, knocking him out of the air. Gene landed upright on the ground, skidding back toward Igneous.

"There are... no loopholes here..." Xeromus sucked in sharp breaths. Igneous lost sight of him, so he sprinted to Gene's side. "There's only one end for someone like me."

The helmeted silvally looked around, thrashing his head back and forth. "Nnnnnnrrgghhh. But it's not time. It can't happen yet."

Eyes widening, Igneous took to the skies. "He's gonna flee!"

Gene rocketed past the grovlazzle, but he was too late. His psychic waves grabbed nothing but black wisps. Xeromus was gone.

A squawk rang out behind Igneous. He turned to see Widget stumble on a slanted brick roof two blocks north. The reshivally took to the air before he would have tumbled off the building. He looked around in confusion.

"Where'd it go?!" Widget caught Igneous' gaze. "Don't tell me..."

Igneous bowed his head. "They got away."

"And what about the others?" Widget looked past Igneous.

Gene stared silently at the spot on the roof where Xeromus had been. "Ran into Zardy and Chompy and passed them off. They should be back at the outpost." He slowly landed on that building roof. Gene's mega evolution vanished in swirls of black and purple.

"What were you talking about at the end, there?" Igneous asked, swooping down to land next to Gene. "Shadow pokémon? The hell's that mean?"

"Not now."

"Excuse me?"

Gene held up his glowing right hand. "Not. Now."

He walked a few paces away from Igneous and tapped the side of his head. "Can anyone read me? Are comms back?"

Igneous tapped the side of his head in time to hear Cid say, "... Got your signal! And not a moment too soon!"

"What?" Widget landed to Igneous' left. He shifted back to his cosmic form, panting heavily. "What's that supposed to mean, more trouble?"

"Unfortunately." Cid tittered. "Something's happened in Dazzels. Vegna was able to help us open a rift there, but I have no idea what we're looking at. Some sort of giant charizard with wings of fire!"

"We can't..."

That was Scarlett. Good, she sounded okay. Igneous looked right to find the dragonair gliding down to the roof. She folded up her wings and landed between him and Gene.

"My head hurts." Scarlett coiled up, tiny wings folding over her neck bauble. "I'm—"

"These guys with me aren't in any state to keep fighting," Gene said. "We'll regroup with you back at the outpost first." He looked at the others. "That sound good?"

Igneous nodded. His head was positively spinning from all of this. There was no way he'd be able to help.

But if it was Dazzels, did that mean this had something to do with Shimmer? Was this why the ponyta had ditched them back in the mall?

The different thoughts swirled around in Igneous' head as he stumbled toward the rift that Gene had opened in the middle of the roof.

XxX​

Leo reappeared by the Terarium's core. With the static gone, he got a full course of brilliant gold and silver light. The cosmic arceus galloped through the air, blinking stars out of his vision. He wondered how anyone could perform maintenance on the core with it shining so bright.

Eh, not important.

He was totes winging this. Which meant he'd have to tread carefully here, especially after he told Yuna to trust him.

Leo's gut check was good, though. This was going to work.

... Okay, it had a fifty-fifty shot of working. But Leo was still going to try and do everything he could to bolster those odds.

First step was locating Vince. Leo stayed close to the Terarium dome. The artificial sky was actually no brighter up close than it was on the ground. Some sort of weird human trickery, no doubt.

Now, where had that purple koraidon gotten off to? The team had left him somewhere in the savannah biome, if Leo recalled. Had he stayed there?

Leo trotted toward the southern part of the dome, only to stop when a familiar zoroark-mewtwo mishmash popped in front of him in a blue flash.

"What Leo still doing here?" Grishi rested his right cheek against his right wrist. He sheathed and unsheathed his glowing orange claws. "Leo think Grishi blind? Core is gone. Leo should be gone."

Crud! Leo wasn't counting on Grishi actually sticking around. He figured Grishi had better things to do with his time.

"I, uh—" The cosmic arceus brushed his forelegs together nervously. He had to think of something before this opportunity slipped through his hooves. And Vince along with it.

Wait, didn't Grishi know Vince was an Overseer?

At least, some of his early comments sounded that way. Then that was Leo's way in.

"Okay, look." Leo walked through the air to Grishi's side. "That koraidon Overseer guy? I think he's hiding stuff that we need to know to help our world." He looked down. A flock of vullaby and mandibuzz were flying below the duo. "And my vibe check says since we pulled him into this world, his boss is going to come and find him. Then we can really get some answers."

Grishi raised a brow. Did he not believe Leo, even though he was telling the truth?

"So, seerseer fish you want to use to catch bigger fish." Grishi nodded slowly. His fuzzy tail lazily swished back and forth. "Fine."

"Fine?" Leo tilted his head.

"Grishi will help."

Leo's starcloud mane and tail sparkled. "Really?"

"Yes. Because Leo has precious little time."

"E-Excuse me?" The hell was that supposed to mean? Leo wasn't dying. And his plates were keeping him anchored to this world for now.

Grishi put his right paw on Leo's right shoulder. "Bigger fish here already. With human from before. Come."

And before Leo could get another word in, his world twisted around. The spiral of colors was... actually not as disorienting as last time. Maybe it was the extra power from more plates? Or perhaps Grishi was just better at teleporting others when there were fewer people involved?

Either way, Leo's golden hooves landed on freshly cut green grass.

"... As I don't want to admit it, I get it."

That was Kieran! Leo looked up to find the kid a few dozen meters away, twirling his dangling lock of black and purple hair and repeatedly tapping his foot.

"I guess... I thought loving Ogerpon meant I was entitled to have her as a partner." Kieran's shoulders sagged. "But that's not how it works. A good trainer's... gotta consider their pokémon's feelings."

He fixed his gaze on ninetales with snowy, blue-white fur. Gilgamesh was there, too, but appeared to be fast asleep.

And the ice ninetales... stood beside Vince! That had to be Vince's boss, then!

Leo turned to Grishi, but the zorotwo was nowhere to be found. Instead, Vince met his gaze and the purple koraidon's eyes widened. He tugged on Ninetales' leftmost tails.

Suddenly a heavy pressure weighed Leo down. He couldn't even manage to cry out, because Leo fell right over on his face.

"Huh? Wait, I thought you hated me!" Kieran continued. Leo tried to pull himself upright, but the pressure was too intense. Was it ESP?

Oh, he had the dread plate now! He just had to focus on its power and... nothing. Leo still couldn't get up. What the hell kind of power was this? No way that was just a simple ice ninetales!

"A Z-Crystal?" Kieran sounded confused, but Leo couldn't see what was happening. "I've read about them, but— hmm?"

Leo squirmed on the ground. It did no good. Damn it, Grishi! I thought you wanted to help!

"Just press it to my head when the time's right?" Kieran asked. "Uhh, I guess I can manage that. But how will I know when that time is?"

The cosmic arceus reached out to as many of his plates as he could and he still couldn't fight against the intense force pinning him down. His legs were locked. Leo kept tasting dirt with every attempt at moving.

"Okay. Then I'll—"

Kieran was suddenly cut off. The pressure on Leo faded in an instant. He scrambled to his feet to find Grishi floating where Kieran had once stood.

"Long time no see, seerseer," the zorotwo said. His tail curled and uncurled. "Think you have something that belongs to Grishi and friend." He jerked his head at Vince, then at Leo.

Ninetales' tails puffed out. His eyes shimmered gold for a brief instant, only for a purple aura to crackle around Grishi.

"Ah, ah." Grishi wagged his left index digit at Ninetales. "This Grishi's domain, too. Seerseer helped with that, remember? No using borrowed power to run."

Leo's wheel flickered. Was Grishi implying he was a god for this world? That'd certainly explain why he knew about Overseers.

He didn't care about the previous history, though. It was time to act. Even if that action was just blurting stuff out.

"Who are you?!" Leo galloped toward Ninetales and Vince. "What are you and Vince doing to my world? Why won't he tell us what's really going on?!"

Ninetales finally acknowledged Leo with a bewildered look. His tails frazzled even after he managed to put on a straight face.

"It's not something you need to know," Ninetales said.

"Then why did you give Kieran something?" Leo countered. He took another step toward them. If Grishi was keeping them in place somehow, Leo could definitely get answers.

"It's a contingency," Ninetales responded. He spoke concerningly fast. Had he said that without thinking? "You're doing a good job, so I don't think we'll even need it. You just have to keep sealing up the mystery dungeons."

Leo's eyes narrowed. "Why would you have come here if you knew I was sealing this dungeon?" He made his wheel glow with orange fighting energy.

"Grishi thinks seerseer should answer," the zorotwo mused. A wry grin crept across his face.

"Look, I can't, okay?" Ninetales barked, huffing out frosty air.

Vince stepped away, biting his lower lip. "Boss..."

"Don't." Ninetales held two tails up in Vince's direction. The purple koraidon shrank down. Ninetales shook his head. His tails kept twitching. Some sort of nervous tick? "I'd love to tell you what's going on. Really. But I just... can't. Because if I do, it could screw up all the hard work you're doing."

Leo's mane and tail dimmed. What was that supposed to mean? The truth could help the resistance, right?

"Please," Ninetales whispered. "You have to trust me."

"That tall order for complete stranger," Grishi scoffed. He clapped his hands together. "Grishi propose deal instead. Seerseer leave sad, sorry korkor with Leo. Then can go back to being troublemaker like before."

"What?!" Vince's antennae unfurled into feathery wings, then wrapped themselves back up. "No deal! You can't possibly—"

Ninetales hung his head. "Okay."

"Seriously, dude?!" Vince whirled on Ninetales, looking like someone had stolen his lunch. "You can't leave me with them. I'm not in battle mode. I'm useless like this!"

Sighing, Ninetales put a foreleg on Vince's right shoulder. "If you were strong enough to go poking around in Ginnungagap behind my back, then you're strong enough to get your battle mode working again."

Vince shrank back, whimpering.

"Seerseer shake on deal?" Grishi said.

Ninetales turned and extended a foreleg to Grishi, who shook his head. "Shake with Leo." He pointed at the cosmic arceus.

Leo stiffened. This wasn't some sort of trap, was it? Ninetales' aura... was something Leo couldn't even get a solid read on. It was practically blinding!

"Uh... okay." He hesitantly shuffled across the grass. Leo extended his forehoof so that its tip just barely touched Ninetales' forepaw. They awkwardly shook forelegs for all of a second before they simultaneously pulled their forelegs back. Leo's golden hoof was practically on fire. He wanted to sprint over to the beach biome and plunge it into the water.

"Then deal is deal." Grishi dusted off his hands. "We'll be on way to Leo's world. Seerseer stay so no funny business, then take Ceruledge and leave."

Leo's tail shot up. "Hang on. 'We?'"

Smirking, Grishi jerked his head in Vince's direction. "Someone has to make sure this dumb-dumb doesn't run off."

Vince shrank down to his belly, whimpering.

"I guess... that's okay?" Leo doubted he could stop Grishi if he tried. He glanced between the zorotwo and the Overseers.

Leo opened a rift back into Ginnungagap. This wasn't exactly the result he was hoping for, but at the very least he wasn't coming back empty handed. Leo had info and a bargaining chip of sorts in the form of a purple koraidon. Surely the resistance would be able to do something with this.

XxX

~Il Paradigma, No. XV: Xeromus, the Devil~
The Matriarch's enforcer turned against her. He laid the seeds for her eventual destruction, throwing the Qliphoth into a tumultuous period that would only stabilize when another of her creations seized power for himself. Most records of him were expunged from the public. The brunt of the treasonous allegations shifted to the most recent wielder of the Moon.

But as the years passed, people whispered rumors of a mad beast wandering the realm, declaring an impending end to the Qliphoth. That it would mark the beginning of salvation for everyone.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
The Devil is the fifteenth Major Arcana. In the upright position it symbolizes ravage, violence, extraordinary efforts, force, and things that are predestined but not necessarily evil. In the reversed state it represents evil fatality, weakness, and pettiness.

This chapter is named for the music track that serves as the main boss theme for Strider, a recurring fae wolf beast enemy, in Bayonetta 3.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 97: Fiery Vortex​

I want to leave a record of this somewhere. Yes, POV-2020 is under quarantine, and no one's supposed to be interacting with it. But every time I pass it by I sense something distinctly off. I've probed that universe as best as I could without disturbing the seal. And I continue to find a specific blighted soul. A shadow pokémon, if I had to guess. Their heart is closed off so tightly.

Well, I finally made a bit of progress last time. The soul responded. He's a silvally, but a helmet was forced onto him. I think the person that shadowed him is responsible. His memories are... a bit jumbled. I'm not really sure what to do.

But the strange thing... something about him was familiar. It was the same... irritation of my light Bahamut gave me before he attacked me.

XxX​

Demerzel's message came through Shimmer's gemcom. The ponytales cursed his luck. After going out of his way to bug Gene and get a bunch of pirates to agree to cause problems in Herbrides to make his mother look bad, now was when Demerzel decided to call out for him? He hadn't heard anything from Demerzel since Tulpise.

But Shimmer knew that Demerzel also had an interest in getting rid of the parasite that was, apparently, Queen Isola. Even if his interest lay in the Red Chain fragment that everyone was confident Isola had. It was partly why Demerzel was trying to use Shimmer.

... Well, that and the fact that Paradox was apparently holding some partner of his as a captive and blackmailing him into working against Isola. Though Shimmer imagined the Red Chain fragment was a far stronger motivator. Since, presumably, he could rescue his partner with it.

Still, if Demerzel was calling, then perhaps that meant he knew Shimmer's mother was up to something. And Shimmer couldn't bear not knowing what that was. So, he snuck out of the mall and slinked off to the outskirts of Herbrides, where he waited for the calyrex to appear. And waited. And waited.

Even when some sort of invisible enemy appeared within Herbrides' skies and began blasting some of the buildings and spawning pokémon, Shimmer stayed put. The pirates hadn't mentioned cloaking technology, which made him nervous. But as much as Shimmer wanted to run back into the city, he didn't want Demerzel getting involved in any of this. Shimmer had to trust what the resistance was doing. And hope they didn't hold this against him.

Demerzel eventually showed up to teleport Shimmer to the same warehouse where he'd activated the genesect several weeks ago. They were even lined up in neat rows like before.

There were fewer genesect than last time, with many scrapped fighting against the empire. And Arianna was walking through them, eyes glowing blue. Was she doing some psychic scan on them? Did that stuff even matter when they were machines?

"You've certainly been busy." Demerzel sat atop a metal railing. He crossed one long leg over another. If that was meant to be an accusation, Demerzel kept his tone worryingly soft. "I've been trying to reach you since last night."

"Sorry." Shimmer pawed at the metal ground with an icy forehoof. He'd already rehearsed an excuse for this very occasion. "I've been keeping tabs on this so-called resistance Aeon's royals are working with. They're fighting the Eterna Empire from within."

"Oh?" Demerzel rested a paw under his chin. "Is that a fact?" He looked right, where the breaker circuit that turned the genesect on was bolted to the wall. "Perhaps that's why the emperor has been so antsy as of late."

Given Shimmer had eavesdropped on one of Paradox's goons blackmailing Demerzel, he could hazard a guess what the calyrex meant. "I take it Minister Charles paid you a visit recently?" Shimmer said.

Demerzel nodded. "Said that I need to do something to move things along right away. Strike at the heart of the kingdom since Dazzels is too far from any distortion pockets the empire can access."

Arianna froze with her right arm hovering over one of the genesect. "They're telling you to attack Dazzels?"

"Indeed." Demerzel pushed himself off the railing. "But I had already planted the seeds for such an occasion long before Charles' threat."

"What?!" Arianna's glasses went askew. She glanced at Shimmer.

"I'm with her." Shimmer nodded at the gardevoir. "Of course you should—"

"It can't be stopped," Demerzel cut in, expression stern.

Whinnying, Shimmer's tails frazzled. "The heck's that supposed to mean?!"

"A very important prisoner got hold of a very unstable power and is about to make a break for it," Demerzel said. He glanced up at the black ceiling. "Well, if my calculations are correct, anyway."

Shimmer did his best to avoid his shocked expression changing to one of suspicion. They'd paid a visit to someone fitting that description the other month: Vortex. Shimmer had been escorting Vegna out of the prison and ended up leaving Demerzel alone with the charizard. Between that and Demerzel's tone, he was clearly implying he'd given out the unstable power.

"That's illogical." Arianna resumed walking between genesect units. She tapped each one she passed on its head and her eyes flickered blue. "One prisoner cannot possibly cause problems for the whole capital city."

"Be that as it may, this is a golden opportunity for you, Your Grace." Demerzel turned to Shimmer. Was he smirking? This was nothing to smirk about! "The chance to sway the public's favor over to you and away from your mothers. Put them in a bind, so to speak."

He hovered toward the breaker switch in the corner of the room. "Public opinion is already on shaky ground with your mothers. First they didn't step in with Venish. Then they went and assigned Seifer's relatives to lead the Radiant Guard."

The calyrex shook his head. "Relatives who've been seen vacationing in Herbrides for most of their tenure."

Shimmer's tails nearly puffed out. Did that mean the Radiant Guard's new leaders were in Herbrides?

... No, no. He couldn't think about that. Focus!

Instead, Shimmer went with, "And? I completely botched things in Tulpise." The memories of Melmetal breaking apart and that awful robot silvally staring him down rushed back into Shimmer's mind.

"You got people evacuated safely," Demerzel countered, pointing a nubby paw at Shimmer. "And now you have a chance to save Dazzels from a threat while your mothers sit on their rumps, ignoring the plights of the people."

Shimmer looked between Demerzel and all the rows of genesect. "Using them?" He pointed his horn left.

"Indeed." Demerzel clapped his hands.

Nothing happened at first. The calyrex cleared his throat. "Arianna?"

"Right." The gardevoir nudged her glasses up. Shimmer watched the strange, spiral-shaped pairing device he used for Melmetal float toward him. Arianna fixed it around his horn with her telekinesis. "There we are."

"Good." Demerzel opened the breaker panel and flipped the switches. Row by row, the genesect's red eyes lit up. They all stood at attention.

"Of course, you'll have backup," Demerzel continued, shutting the breaker panel.

"You and Arianna again?" Shimmer kept his gaze on the genesect. Should he test that the control device worked on them?

"More than that." The calyrex's neck beads glowed pink, along with his eyes. "Go on. His Grace can hear you."

"Shimmer's there?"

The ponytales' tails poofed out in surprise. "That voice... Reno?!"

"You bet. And I've got Rufus and Vincent here, too." Reno laughed. "Not really sure why D-man's roping us into this. Guess he watched our crowning good performance in last year's Crowne Cup and thought we could help fight off whatever bad stuff's about to go down."

Shimmer took a steady breath. He hadn't seen the cinderace in a couple of months. Not since his mother ended the academic year and shuttered all the schools in the kingdom. He glanced at Demerzel. "Why them?"

"You need people you can trust helping you out." Demerzel shrugged. "It's clear to me you have... reservations about my conduct and character."

He was right. But still... Team Striker were athletes. "You guys are okay with this?" Shimmer asked. "I know your training to join the pro baccer circuit's pretty hard, but it's kind of apples and oranges, don't you think?"

"I expressed those concerns to Mr. Demerzel," Vincent said. Shimmer recognized the inteleon's "I'm three steps ahead of you" tone. "We're to assist with any Phantoms that may appear and direct people toward city exits in case they have to evacuate."

Okay. Shimmer supposed evacuation assistance was more reasonable.

"You've gotta be agile for stuff like that," Rufus added. "Right up our all— holy shit!"

"What?" Panicking, Shimmer looked at Demerzel. "What is it?"

"Dudes, did you see that giant flaming pillar?!" Rufus said.

"Yeah! Looks like it was coming from over by the prison." Reno's voice trembled a bit.

"... Just like Mr. Demerzel predicted," Vincent muttered.

Shimmer's heart thundered in his chest. What had Demerzel pulled him into? What was this power he'd given Vortex?!

"It's time." Demerzel folded his hands behind his back. "Mobilize your genesect. I'll get you to an attacking point."

"A-All of us?" Shimmer pivoted left. The genesect still stood at attention. How was one calyrex possibly going to teleport all of—

Wait, what was Shimmer thinking? It was Demerzel that got all the civilians out of Tulpise. He clearly had immense psychic power. Was that normal for calyrex... or was something helping him out?

"Okay, yeah! People are panicking!" Reno said. His voice was shaky. Demerzel must not have given Team Striker all the details. "W-We got this, guys! It's the fourth quarter and we're down by three..."

"Your Grace." Demerzel blipped over to Shimmer's side. "We have to go. Activate the genesect."

Shimmer concentrated on his horn. Like with Melmetal back in Tulpise, the ponytales projected a thought.

Standby for battle.

The genesect's cannons whirred to life. Demerzel nodded. Then the room disappeared in a blinding blue flash.

XxX​

Demerzel dropped Shimmer and his genesect off on a stretch of tarmac a few hundred meters from the razor wire-topped metal walls surrounding the Dazzels Penitentiary.

... Walls that the building-sized charizard walking away from Shimmer had melted into liquid metal.

"Where is she?"

This was the power Demerzel had given Vortex? But this was... this was like some of the Paradigm members or Whispers that Yuna and her friends talked about! Why could Demerzel do this?

Shimmer could scarcely stop his legs from trembling. Oh, why hadn't he stayed with Igneous in Herbrides?

"Your Grace, what are you doing?" Demerzel forced a small radio communicator on Shimmer's ear. "You have to stop him!"

The ground shook again. Shimmer couldn't stand there quivering in fright. Vortex was heading toward the city!

"Right." Shimmer pointed his horn at the genesect flanking him.

Their electronic eyes flashed and their cannons hummed on their backs. The genesect rocketed into the air in groups of two or three.

"Where's Isola?" Vortex snarled. He flapped his wings, which failed to lift him into the air. Shimmer wasn't sure his wings even functioned anymore because they were literally made of fire.

The ponytales cautiously galloped after the genesect. Fire wouldn't mix well with the icy powers Demerzel had given him. But the genesect had ways to change the type of blasts they shot from their cannons, didn't they?

Use water! Shimmer projected the order through his horn. He caught flashes of blue in the air. The genesect circled Vortex. Large water globs peppered the gigantic charizard. Vortex threw his arms up, hissing. Steam filled the air.

Shimmer stopped running. Keep it up! Make sure you stay in flight! He hoped that would be enough for the genesect.

Snarling, Vortex swatted at the air. "No. I won't... be pushed around. I won't... let little insects stop me!" He inhaled, then spewed a huge wave of fire. It bathed the dusty ground far ahead of Shimmer in red and orange. A few genesect were caught up in the blast and burnt to ashes.

And the fire kept going and going. Flames carried off into the distance. Toward the city!

It was too far for Shimmer to hear anything, but he could see flames buffeting some of the buildings. The air in the distance became thick and hazy with smoke.

"Guys, talk to me!" Shimmer said. He really hoped the radio worked with Team Striker.

"I think some warehouses on the outskirts of the city just got hit with fire!" Reno said. "What's going on, Your Grace?!"

Vortex continued forward, spinning his massive body around. His flaming wings and outstretched arms clipped some of the genesect, knocking them from the air.

"A giant charizard!" Shimmer galloped forward again. He'd left the tarmac behind for the dusty ground Vortex was walking along. Though the ponytales took care to keep away from the molten, bubbling spots Vortex had walked on.

"Giant... wait, is that Vortex?" Vincent caught on quick. "PNN's been giving almost daily updates on him. They said he'd fallen ill! Is he a Phantom now?"

Shimmer was about to answer when he caught a flaming, scrapped genesect careening toward him. The ponytales flung it behind him with a telekinetic burst, stumbling and whinnying when the ensuing explosion's hot air grazed his tails.

"Something like that!" He sent another order to keep firing to the genesect. More steam filled the air to his left. Vortex hadn't stopped walking, though. His quaking steps forced Shimmer to stop running.

"Do you know who I am?" Vortex snarled at the genesect circling around him. "I'm the one who deserves to run this kingdom. Not Isola. Me! Me, me, me, me!"

Vortex's roar jolted Shimmer, who stumbled and faceplanted in the dirt. Fierce winds disheveled his tails and icy mane. When Shimmer scrambled back to his feet, he saw several genesect lying in shattered remains in the scorched, almost glassy dirt to his left. The buildings in the distance crumbled, waves of dirt spilled out toward the desert.

All the while, the titanic charizard continued forward. The remaining genesect kept shooting water globs, but they were evaporating into steam before they could even hit Vortex.

Shimmer stood there, heart pounding in his chest. Images of Melmetal's crumbling form superimposed themselves over Vortex.

He couldn't do anything. Shimmer was failing. Just like in Tulpise. Just like always.

"Out of my way!" Vortex uselessly flapped his flaming wings, then took another lumbering step forward, leaving blazing dust in his wake. "Where's Isola? I'll kill her! Burn her to ashes! Then the kingdom will see me for the savior I really am!"

Shimmer shrank away from the bubbling footprints in the sand. "I can't..." His tails curled up against his legs. Most of the genesect were gone. Smoldering metallic scraps littered the sandy ground. "It's not working. He's too—"

Blue lightning filled the air around Vortex. Then a bright blue ball slammed into his snout. Shimmer watched it scrunch up from the impact. Molten saliva melted the remaining genesect and splattered on the ground around the giant charizard. Shimmer's ears folded from the awful sizzling that rang in them.

"Good grief! I always knew this guy was full of hot hair, but this is ridiculous! Ain't that right, V?"

Shimmer's eyes widened. He recognized that stupid voice! The ponytales scanned the air— yep, Griffon was circling around a dusknoir who floated in place directly in Vortex's path.

But Shimmer had no idea what was up with the giant black dragon hovering between Vegna and Vortex. It had to be the source of the blue lightning, though. Its tail was a freaking turbine!

... And come to think of it, wasn't there a lingering static charge when Vegna saved Shimmer back in Venish? Was Vegna the source of this dragon? What the hell was going on here?!

"You!" More fiery slobber dribbled from Vortex's broken muzzle. He shuffled forward, kicking up ashen plumes. "Isola lapdog!"

Vegna lazily shook his head. "They stripped him to his little shirt and bound him in an iron chain. And burned him in a holy place where many had been burned before."

Vortex's response was to spew a giant Flamethrower. Vegna thrust his right arm forward. The black dragon discharged tremendous bolts of blue lightning. And they actually kept Vortex's flames from advancing on Dazzels' outskirts like before!

"Always the fool rushing to conclusions." Vegna kept his right arm extended. "When did I ever say I was on Isola's side? If anyone's the puppet in this little theater production, it's you."

Shimmer's tails curled up. What was Vegna implying? Did he know about the corrupted power Demerzel had given Vortex? No, surely he would've told the resistance about that. Maybe he was theorizing on the spot?

The massive charizard growled and snapped at the air with his maw. "I'm no one's puppet! I own this kingdom! It's all me!"

Shimmer had stood around long enough. Swallowing hard, he galloped closer to the battle. Though the ponytales hesitated when he spotted blurs in the air out of the corner of his eye. Were those... other flying-types? They were keeping their distance, unlike Vegna.

Don't tell me... the press is here?

Another collision of fire and lightning sent Shimmer scrambling to his right with a frightened whinny."

"Yo, V! Peep the ground! It's Dimmer!" Griffon cawed. The corviknight still circled around Vegna, but kept his gaze trained on Shimmer.

Even if the press was here, Shimmer had to say something. Especially now that Vortex was following Griffon's gaze.

"I know you're upset!" Shimmer shouted, flinching when his voice cracked. "But we know there's something wrong with my mother! It's— she's some sort of parasite!"

From up in the air, Vegna's eye crackled with red energy. He thrust his right arm to the side. Blue lightning gathered around the blue dragon, who charged toward Vortex. The giant charizard spewed titanic flames from his mouth, pushing the dragon back until Vegna forced them to retreat.

"What?" Vortex again looked at Shimmer. The ponytales backed away. Vortex was going to burn him alive!

"You were right!" Shimmer said. He didn't have time to stop and consider his words. "I looked into the things you said and you were right! There's a... terrible pattern of behavior in my family! And it only makes sense... if there's a parasite who's moving from generation to generation!

"A parasite... who'll come for me next!"

Vegna gave another signal. The black dragon charged forward. Vortex was too slow to react this time. The dragon slammed into the left side of Vortex's head. It whipped left. Roaring in pain, Vortex wobbled. His giant legs made it hard to regain his balance.

That was when Shimmer saw an orange gleam in the distance. "Behind you, Vegna!" he cried.

The dusknoir drifted away from Shimmer seconds before an orange beam swept across the ground, kicking up huge plumes of dust and debris. An unexpected shockwave upended Shimmer and sent him skidding through the dirt. Even once the ponytales had rolled to a stop, his world wouldn't stop spinning. He couldn't get back to his feet without falling over and nearly throwing up.

But that was fine. Even if he'd gone and screwed things up, backup had arrived. The other resistance members could take over. They were stronger. They'd actually beaten Whispers. All Shimmer would do is get in their way.

He remained on the ground, head meekly buried under his forelegs. If the others could bail him out of this, then Shimmer was done with Demerzel. No more sticking his neck out and screwing anything up for everyone else.

XxX​

The moment Noctum handed Seifer off to the healers, he learned about the threat in Dazzels. It was a place he hadn't been before, so the cosmic charizard couldn't just open a rift and go there.

Fortunately, Vegna was around and had, through considerable strain, forced open a golden portal. Noctum went through the rift with Jade and Valkyrie in tow. Vegna was nowhere to be found on the other side, but there were people flooding the streets, fleeing from burning buildings. The flames were spreading rapidly.

They had to try something to contain the fires.

"Jade, can you help put these out?" Noctum wondered. His own attacks wouldn't help whatsoever.

"Huh? You know air just spreads fire around, right?" Jade flapped her wings in place, looking around nervously.

"Not wind, dumbass." Valkyrie jabbed Jade's back with her elbow. "Water! Lugia have water, right?"

"Ow! Hey! That's a sensitive spot!" Jade's tail flaps curled. Pink gas drifted behind her. "And I dunno! I haven't used water moves since I woke up."

"No time like the present then." The garchomp climbed up Jade's back and forcefully pointed her head down. A building of mostly glass shattered as its foundations ignited. "Do it!"

The salugia's eyes twitched. Valkyrie's jerking of her neck made her stiffen. "Agh, no, wait! Not like that! Not liiiiiiaaaaayyiii—"

Orange energy was building up in Jade's mouth. That wasn't any water attack, though. It was Jade's Aeroblast! She couldn't fire that into the city!

"Valkyrie, turn her head right!" Noctum pointed ahead of him, toward the dusty plains and the giant charizard in the distance.

Grunting, Valkyrie dug her arms into Jade's neck. Jade twisted right, then fired the Aeroblast. It swept along the ground, leveling a warehouse that the flames had spared. Then it continued outside the city.

"Stay here and deal with the flames," Noctum said, flying after the Aeroblast and ignoring Valkyrie's protests. He flew through a wall of dust. The air got thicker and warmer. It blurred and warped all around him. Just how intense was this heat? Was this all the giant charizard's doing?

Well, whoever this charizard was, they needed to be—

A sudden gust of hot wind dispelled the dirt in the air. Noctum got a good look at the giant charizard's white belly... and the candelabra-shaped crystal wedged into his chest.

It was just like how Yuna described Whispers who were using the power of Leo's plates!

Like when fighting Halvus, Noctum's gut burned. The plate didn't belong to this charizard. It belonged to Leo!

Noctum flew right. The big charizard was occupied with Vegna and Zekrom. Blue-violet light swirled around Noctum's arms. He didn't know why he could do this. But he was following his gut.

The cosmic charizard swiped the air in front of him. Crescents of brilliant blue energy raced forward. They hit the giant charizard's left shoulder, warping everything around them. Cracks and lines filled the air as Charizard roared.

Noctum stiffened. The energy dissolved from his arms. His tail flame shrank.

That voice... Vortex?!

Red and black static rippled out from the crystal in Vortex's belly. Almost like the corrupted plate was reacting to Noctum's presence.

Wait, was a mystery dungeon about to form?

"It's not fair!" Vortex snarled.

Yelping, Noctum flew up. A dragon-shaped torrent of fire passed underneath him.

"Why do you get to have it? That power... and dragon typing!" There was a wild look in Vortex's eyes. Flames swirled around his giant nostrils. "You're a hick! A troglodyte!"

A fiery twister erupted all around Vortex. Noctum flew further back. Vegna and Zekrom also had to put some distance in the opposite direction.

"You know what I had? Nothing!" The flames wouldn't dissipate. It was hard to even see the giant charizard behind his wall of fire. Was the ground turning to glass around Vortex? "Parents in dead end, blue collar jobs. A disease that left me without fire. Without any moves!

"And you know what I did? I clawed my way up from the bottom!" Vortex's fiery dome spewed flaming pillars in all directions. Noctum dove down to dodge one, then strafed left to avoid another. "I didn't grovel or kowtow to any royals! I earned my keep and my respect! I'm a self-made 'mon! I'm everything you're not, you worthless, lowly servant!"

Noctum's head rang.

Time floating opposite him. Shouting about how much better they were.

Gasping, Noctum corkscrewed right, avoiding another flaming pillar. The cosmic flames in his mouth grew larger alongside his tail flame. Blue-violet light swirled around his claws.

No more.

"Shut the hell up!" Noctum swiped his arms forward. Blue-violet crescents swarmed Vortex's fiery dome. The flames rippled and flickered. Glowing lines crisscrossed the dome. They shattered, breaking the dome apart entirely.

That was when the cosmic charizard swooped in. The energy around his arms grew even brighter. It spread into his wings. Down his belly. Across his tail.

"You don't get to talk to me like that!" Noctum dodged a large gout of fire and slammed his glowing arm into Vortex's right shoulder. "I owe my life to that family! They took me off the street!"

He backed away from a swipe of Vortex's left arm, then unleashed a flurry of Air Slash crescents. They sliced through Vortex's arm. Over the giant charizard's roars, magma dripped onto the ground and sizzled by Vortex's feet.

"I don't care what you did to reach the top!" Noctum rolled left to dodge a giant fireball, then right. He flung more blue-violet blasts at Vortex's face. Vortex screamed in pain. "I care about doing what's right! I care about helping my family! I care..."

Vortex tried to gather more flames, but Noctum shot toward the crystal chandelier in his stomach and drove a spear of spacial energy directly into that.

"... About getting Leo his plate back! So hand it over!"

Static energy exploded out in all directions. Noctum felt something warm and smooth within the crystal and pulled. He glimpsed an orange rectangle and brought it close to his glowing blue belly. Noctum opened a rift and fell back into it.

He landed on the ground a hundred meters away from a rapidly-shrinking Vortex. Static dissolved away, leaving nothing but an unconscious charizard lying in the middle of a glassy circle.

The plate tingled against his chest. Noctum held it at arm's length. The blue was much brighter than before. Blue auroras and stars swirled around his belly, like waves rolling across water.

It wasn't just his belly, either. His wings were full of glowing blue auroras. So was the underside of his tail. He ran a claw over his belly. Blue light glistened around his claws, coalescing into a pink sphere he was able to hold with his claws.

(Art by Leche)

I guess... more of Palkia's power is coming out.

Noctum glanced upward. Vegna pointed to Noctum's left. Griffon flew in that direction while Zekrom disappeared in a stream of golden light.

What was with these other birds, though? There were pidgeot and unfezant and swellow carrying cameras. Were people recording this?

"Fear not, good citizens! Thanks to Prince Shimmer's quick thinking in conjunction with supportive allies in Aeon... Charizard Vortex's rampage was stopped!"

The cosmic charizard stiffened. That was Demerzel's voice!

And moments later, Demerzel appeared in front of all the birds, gesturing wildly. Whatever he was saying to them, Noctum couldn't hear. He was too far away.

"Yo. V says to rift back to your buds. We gotta vamoose."

"Gah!" Noctum's tail flame shrank. He turned to find Griffon and Vegna beside him. The former had Shimmer draped over his back. The ponytales looked incredibly guilty.

"He's spinning it," Shimmer muttered. "Demerzel's trying to make himself and me into the heroes here."

"Huh?" Noctum's now yellow eyes dimmed. Putting aside the question of why Shimmer was even here when Noctum knew he had gone to the Herbrides Hilltop Mall with Yuna, the cosmic charizard was still lost. "What do you mean spinning? Who's he talking to?"

"We can discuss it in full later," Vegna said. "Leave now. I'll grab Vortex while Demerzel's grandstanding for the press."

Noctum's eyes widened. Those birds were reporters?!

"Why—"

Red energy crackled around Vegna's eye.

"Because we all played into Demerzel's hand. And I suspect things may soon turn volatile here."

(Art by Sylfeanne)

XxX​

"... Yourselves why Shimmer was the one trying to stop this from happening?"

Justine watched the footage of Demerzel, mouth agape. It took every ounce of willpower not to trash the PV set with her Sacred Sword.

"Where is Her Eminence? Where is the Radiant Guard?" Demerzel gestured around him. The cameras panned to shots of smoking craters and dirt melted into glass by Vortex's assault. "What if I told you the acting commanders — both relatives of Keldeo Seifer — were in fact vacationing in Herbrides. A city that, by the way, simultaneously came under fire from denizens of World Ender!"

He pointed at the cameras. "Call up your news stations if you don't believe me. But there was a mass evacuation from the city just as Prince Shimmer arranged for Tulpise before it fell into distortion."

Justine couldn't take this anymore. "Mute, damn it!" the virizion hissed. The PV went silent. Fuming, she turned around. "Say the word, Izzy! I'll haul his ass to Citadark!"

But rather than glaring at the PV like Justine, Isola sat facing a large, heart-shaped vanity mirror, running a heart-shaped brush through her luscious pink mane.

"Are you for real?" Justine stomped up to Isola. "Weren't you listening? That... that literal egghead is committing high treason! And freaking Vegna was there fighting Vortex! We should arrest them both! Stage public executions! I—"

"Peace, darling."

Isola's brush booped Justine's snout. The virizion crossed her eyes and found tiny sparkles around her nostrils. "How can you be so calm?" She blinked rapidly until her vision was back to normal. "At this rate, people are going to take the streets!"

"They won't." Isola set the brush down on a pink, heart-shaped table beside the mirror. The rapidash got to her feet. Her armored breastplate glowed gold under the sunlight drifting in through the windows.

Justine shifted her weight nervously. "Well, what about the servants in the palace?"

"They will be fine." Isola smiled serenely at her mate.

The virizon's cheeks flushed. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm skeptical, Izzy." She glanced at the PV screen. Demerzel was still talking and gesticulating wildly. "He's playing us for saps."

"Let him think that."

Justine stiffened as Isola's voice got closer. The rapidash sauntered up to her. Something about the way light glinted off that breastplate made Justine weak in the knees.

"But we... we have to do something," Justine whispered. "There's a fire in northeast Dazzels. It could—"

"It'll be fine." Isola was right in front of Justine. She nuzzled the virizion's right cheek. "I'll take care of everything, sweetie. I always have~"

"Y-Yeah." Justine's hind legs shook from Isola's warm breath on her neck. "But how?"

"Like this."

Justine's spine-tingling pleasure gave way to a sharp, intense pain in her chest. The air rushed out of her lungs. Justine tried to take a breath, but something heavy weighed on her chest.

She looked down... and found a dagger of crimson energy piercing her chest. It came from the red gem in the center of Isola's breastplate.

"Iz... zy... why?"

Justine coughed up a small amount of blood. A psychic force caught the droplets before they could splatter on Isola's shoulder. She levitated them into the trashcan by the door of her bedroom.

"Shhh." Isola pressed her muzzle to Justine's... and forced the blade in further. The sharp pain turned to an intense burning. Justine tried to scream— to breathe.

Her legs felt so heavy— no, they were heavy. Why were they turning to metal?

"It's okay, sweetie," Isola whispered, kissing Justine's cheek as she forced the blade in deeper. "I forgive you for doubting me. Even if it was such an ugly thing for you to do."

She needed to scream. Fight back. Do something. But as the metal raced up Justine's legs, all she could do was stare blankly.

"Admittedly, I haven't tested this yet," Isola continued. That sickeningly sweet smile hadn't left her face. "But if that pitiful deoxys can turn 'mon to machine with the Red Chain, why can't I? I wield it far more beautifully than he ever could."

The rapidash forced Justine to look her in the eyes. "Besides, there can be beauty in a machine who will never doubt. Never question. Always follow orders."

Justine couldn't even get her mouth open. Her legs were fully metallic. And the metal was spreading down her torso. From the dagger— no, from the gem in Isola's breastplate.

"Don't worry, sweetie." Isola nuzzled her side again. "I'm doing this for both of us."

She kissed Justine's snout... and the same green metal started to inch across her face. "Once we're through here..."

For a brief instant, Justine swore she saw a pink serpent replace Isola's head.

"... Everyone will see just how beautiful we truly are."

XxX

~Flames of Ruin: Vortex~
There are those who would claim the Affirmer is evil. Heartless. Soulless. But the Affirmer acts because His heart aches for the suffering that plagues reality. That is why He kept His pokémon partners with Him. Why He continued to care for them throughout His mission.​

 

[tomatorade]

Putting the V in V-wheel since 1965.

Read chapter 3 and 4 for this one. Now is the time I don't know how to structure my reviews anymore.

Banquet Time

Interesting to see the comparison of dragon life (in Yuna's mind) to bougie fairy life. Don't remember if it was mentioned but I wonder about population size. I'd assume there be less dragons than fairies but maybe that's untrue and Yuna lamenting the size of the gathering is more rooted in culture, which I know is also quite different.

Anyway, we continue on the poor Yuna train lol. She will never catch a break. At least Noctum is having a good time with his quiches.

Also plastic exists huh. Foreshadowing the POV climate change arc perhaps?

Chiaki's introduction is really something. Very edgy boy. It feels very deliberate that he keep leading her into different directions of conversation and then blocking her as if he didn't know what he was doing lol. Or maybe he's just not as good of a ninja as he'd like to think. Bros rolling his eyes and tch-ing as if he wasn't the one who came up to talk to her. He's a very dorky kind of cool. Reminds me of kids who wore suits and sunglasses and sat at the back of the class. It's interesting that he knows about Bahamut, though. Maybe in a school that wasn't so racism it could go unexamined, but given how little other characters seem to care about dragon civilisation, that's something worth noting.

Also we get her crowne cup team! don't remember if the definitely evil principal selected them in the last chapters but what a team to put together lol. certainly not built for success, but then I have to wonder why. Maybe just trying to get Yuna out of the way early. Though this is for a very early tournament arc in the shonen cycle so who knows how it will go.

i know what holowear is now. People talked about it all the time and it took way too long to realise the name is quite literal. And my first fanfic introduction is Vortex as a rhinestone Guy Fieri. Tragic. Says a lot about his general shallowness though.

Of course Shimmer is in the glee club.

Don't have much to say about most of the Starlene performance. Musical numbers in writing are generally quite awkward given it's nearly impossible to imply any sort of rhythm or melody without reference and only through words. And this is not an exception, unfortunately. A positive element is that it manages to, maybe accidentaly, communicate Yuna's discomfort through the song. I can only imagine her sitting there, utterly vibeless, trying to connect with what the other students are hearing.

Of course maybe 'vibeless' is not severe enough to describe Yuna's reaction. This is how I feel when an overly happy pop song comes on the radio fr. I get it, Yuna.

It is interesting, though. Her reaction makes me think the song i also somehow a fairy-type move I'm assuming Starlene is meloetta? unless I missed something. And looking it up, she does learn alluring voice which seems like a good fit for this. Of course, it should also maybe hurt the other students so idk what the physics are. Interestign either way. I have to wonder if this was intentional or the glee club bonked their heads real hard and not thinking this through but I imagine that will be answered soon.

Damn

Then we get a brief interlude to watch a man die :)

I guess I don't actually know yet what happens when one enter the distortion, but I don't imagine it's anything good.

Another appearance of that omen guy who I still don't understand. Obviously there's more going on than just a weirdo but all that's till being set up. I almost worry you're showing your hand too early. I don't know how much headspace the crowne cup will take up but being honest, I'm less interested in that than all the mystery dungeon and political machination stuff going on around it. Once again, I will have to wait and see but I fear one might end up distracting from the other.

Otherwise I don;t have too much else to say n the chapter. You continue to set things up but it's hard to say what the story is supposed to look like from here on out when there's so many directions to go and characters to follow.

Vortex, my beloved

Ah so I guess it was an accident and not a coordinated terrorist attack by the glee club.

I do have to agree that Yuna's luck is insane though. She just keep losing it's crazy.

It's fun to see Vortex sweat a little but, though. I'm imagining him getting his commeuppance later and it's already so sweet. Maybe he mega evolves and has to grpple with being a real dragon. I love that his first thought is to also test Starlene's music on Yuna's parents lol. What a guy, I'm sure that would end well.

Oh, nevermind. He decides to one up himself and do something even worse. Incredible. I don't even have to pretend, I know this will not end well.

Don't remember if this projet Icarus was mentioned before, but my immediate assumption is something to do with mystery dungeons. Call it my gamer intuition, but I would put money on that. Especially given Vortex seems to not be so free with details so it's likely some shady bullshit. I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved with this evil mystery dungeon presence stuff, but I also doubt it. I feel like we would've had hints of that if so.

Another interesting detail is Starlene's music apparently havign power. It kinda confirms my earlier theory, though it could also just be metaphorical.

Yuna has a tournament arc PT 1

Zarude cameo. When did you write this? Are you the source for this creature?

Lot of fun little ghosty details here. Not sure where gills would be on a dreepy but I will not question your expertise. I love it every time you mention her many possible interation with her ectoplasma and the fun ways you interpret a spooky ghost.

I think this whole thing has only made me more curious as to the effects of Starlene's song. Obviously there's the vision of who I'm assuming to be giratina or something like that. WHich could just be a hallucination, but also couldn't. But everythign around it has been confusion so far. Maybe my initial assumption is correct and I'm looking too deep into it but It's had a lot of weight placed on it.

Anyway, yeah, bro, Chiaki, bro, you're only here to make sure the team is fine. Sure.

And Nikki is also here. She's kinder than I expected to Yuna but that's also not saying much considering most characters she meets do not seem to like her lol. The lack of transparency does not give me a lot of faith in her, though.

I guess I shouldnt be surprised that we're already getting into Crowne cup stuff, but I am. I've alluded to this, but it's an extremely early place for a tournament arc, with barely enought time for Yuna to settle in before being thrown into the deep end.

I will say that Nikki's presence is sorely needed in the dynamic. It has not been very long with Chiaki but he's such an edgy wet blanket and Yuna is so meek that having Nikki around to be fun and push back against Chiaki is very necessary to not get frustrated with the back and forth. It hasn't irritated me so far in the only one and a half conversations we've had with Chiaki, but I can imagine it grating unless they start forming some sort of rapport. Or just keep Nikki around. idk

I will say the explanation for teh Crowne cup round goes on for a while and for what is relatively straightforward. Especially considering the scenes before were quite short, it feels kind of wonky to have so much straightforward summary while little else is happening. It does a fairly decent job setting up the hype for the competition at least.

Crowning is such a corporate synergy buzzword verb and I, too, wanted to die every time it was used.

What a way to end the chapter lol. I don't really have time for another chapter unfortunately, but I want to read more if only to make sure Yuna and Chiaki weren't fucking evaporated by Nikki's music. It's not my favourite method of introducing a cliffhanger tbh. I find it more frustrating than intriguing when you set up a mystery on the final line rather than pay something off and leave the audience to think. YMMV, of course. Admittedly it's also somewhat frustrating considering how much you set up the round in this chapter and then cut the second it starts going.

Well we're in the thick of it now. Obviously the story is about so much more than the Crowne cup which just leaves me to wonder where it fits in. I find each individual chapter to be paced very well, but the school element of the fic seems to be going by very quickly. Same with the background mystery dungeon stuff, which I think has more to do with you opening the fic with it and consistently sprinkling relevant little scenes here and there. Thi all depends on what the fic will actually be about in the long run, of course. Like I said earlier, it's difficult to say which thread will end up being more important than the others at the moment so maybe this pacing will end up making sense a little further down the line.

Otherwise I enjoyed this. These were very transitional chapters overall and did a lot to cement the characters and events in the fic rather than twist stuff around, so I have maybe a little less to say than I thought I would. I did have fun though

: )

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Alright, uh... this has been a bit longer of a break from this story than I intended to take, but I kinda fell down a review game rabbit hole last month. Fortunately, this came back up for Review Tag again, so it felt like as good an excuse to jump back into:

Chapter 88

Also, cue the theme song:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZ-MySzAac

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

TO: Grand Emperor Paradox
FROM: Cassius
SUBJECT: Update from Radiance

I looked into the situation at this "Tulpise" place. The best conclusion I can draw is that there were other interlopers who are responsible for distortion swallowing up the city. Unfortunately, none of the Medici 'mon I sent to attack the place laid eyes on them. At the very least, it doesn't seem like they're resistance members.

Oh, well, that sounds promising there. /s

There is some good news, though. I think the political climate in Radiance is shifting. I already mentioned how that charizard CEO was tossed into prison for high treason. But the tabloids here are reporting that the dusknoir inquisitor known as the Grim Reaper has vanished. Furthermore, Calyrex seems to be taking our instructions to heart and working with Radiance's crown prince to undermine the current queen. While the news still trumpets her, the Medicis think public opinion toward Isola has dipped.

Do you have someone lined up to step into the Paradigm as the Lovers? If not, my recommendation is you expedite the process. I'm going to be meeting with the Medici's leader, Don Giuseppe. He claims to have an idea about how they could cause further discord for the kingdom.

Damn, Carpaccio's parents are just causing all the problems back in Radiance right now. Though I remember you mentioning Xander was intended to take a firm turn to the dark side, I wonder if this is related to that.

The newly-made infirmaries were simply larger outpost suites hastily converted into open rooms with several beds and a handful of cabinets on wheels. They were full of medical supplies, some of which Seifer recognized and others he didn't.

Huh. Kalos music, eh? That one was definitely unexpected there.

Shiva and Ifrit's slumbering forms occupied the two beds in the back right corner. Disheveled sheets on several other cots told him people had been here. No sign of Calcifer, though. Yiazmat must've taken him somewhere else to rest.

Quetzal paced across the middle of the room, watching Cid. The orbeetle's spots gently pulsated with pink energy. A gardevoir and lucario stood by watching. Healers on loan from the monks.

I take it that everyone else was a bit less worse for wear than these two by this point. Either that or they're being effectively detained ATM.

"Well?" Quetzal lifted his stubby orange wings. "Anything?"

Sighing, Cid backed away from the beds. "They seem fine physically. Though I'm no doctor." He looked at Lucario, who nodded.

"What about up here?" Quetzal tried to gesture to his head, but the orange zapdos quickly gave up. And here Seifer thought Quetzal had gotten used to the short wings and large legs.

But does he also 'kweh'?

"I don't think I sensed anything." Cid scratched the side of his head. "Then again, the same was true for Buzzwole."

Quetzal resumed pacing. "So, in the end, we just have to hope they wake up?" His feathers bristled, generating orange sparks. "There's got to be something else we can try."

I mean, considering how you found those two, are you sure you want them to wake up, Quetzal?

"Perhaps a purifying incense?" Gardevoir tapped her chin in thought. "I'd have to check if we have enough supplies for that."

"Yes, please do." Quetzal nodded at her. Gardevoir waved at Lucario and the two headed for a door on Seifer's left. Another room, probably.

Wait, a what now? Was this ever established to exist prior to this point in the story?

By the time the healers were through the door, Quetzal had trudged to the keldeo's side. "If only we could get them to wake up quicker. Then we might be able to get some answers."

Seifer's tail bristled. "Erm." He shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe we shouldn't jump straight into questioning them?"

"But Commander—"

"Seifer." He paused, looking down. "Please stick with Seifer." He didn't want to admit how uncomfortable his old title was making him out loud.

Seifer: "Yeeeeah, I was kind of a giant ass back then, wasn't I?"

Luckily, Quetzal acknowledged his request. "Right. Seifer." The orange zapdos walked in place. "Don't you want to get to the bottom of everything? I might not remember much of what happened, but surely they will."

That's a bold assumption if I ever heard one given that you'd think that the effects of them being broken from Bahamut's control or what have you would be fairly consistent.

"Perhaps." Seifer turned away from the other two birds. "But I think they should have the time to rest up before we pepper them with questions."

Quetzal stepped in front of him. "We're in a predicament here, though. Anything—"

"Stop." Seifer raised a forehoof and pressed it against Quetzal's side. "This isn't like the Radiant Guard. We're in a much different situation. I know you want answers. Everyone wants answers." He sighed. "But this calls for patience."

Wow, Seifer really has changed from his Radiant Guard days.

"Right." Quetzal shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Sorry, sir."

Seifer squinted.

"Uhh, I m-mean sorry?" Quetzal stiffened. "A plain ol' sorry." He backed away. "Nothing hierarchical about it."

Seifer: "... I don't know how much I believe you there."

After a few more seconds, Seifer's expression eased up. He headed for the door. "I'm heading out. If you want to stay here, you're more than welcome."

"Oh, wait, there is one thing!"

Seifer stopped beside the cots closest to the door. "Yes?"

"It's about Gene." Quetzal's feathers puffed out slightly. "I saw Gene use this weird attack against Ifrit."

AA1 music, huh? Time to see where this one goes.

A weird attack? That hardly gave Seifer anything to go off. "Weird in what way?"

He didn't get an immediate response, so he turned to find Quetzal's head tilted in thought. "How can I describe it?" The orange zapdos tapped a talon against the gray carpet. "It was a big beam. But it was a mix of purple, black, and red."

"Like a... Dark Pulse?" Seifer wondered. Quetzal's description didn't sound that wild.

Huh, I suppose that's a sign that I'm still mentally in Gen 4 for my Pokémon attack appearances, since at first I was "wait, Dark Pulse has red in its animation"?

"No. I've seen enough Dark Pulses to know that definitely wasn't one," Quetzal huffed. "I'm not sure what type it was." His beak crinkled a bit. "Or if it even was a type."

Now it sure sounded like Quetzal was talking crazy. "Every attack needs a type," Seifer said.

Pre-Gen 5!Curse: "Am I a joke to you?"

"I know that." Quetzal looked offended. "But this beam, it..." His voice trailed off. Was he struggling to find the words? "Just feeling the heat from the beam filled my chest with this... this suffocating dread. I think it made me more panicked than I already was." His eyes darted around nervously. "It was almost like... like something was trying to pull my insides out of me!"

Seifer: "I mean, he is a Psychic, Quetzal, so he very well could've-"
Quetzal: "Yeah, but as a beam, though!" OvO;

"That so?" Seifer's brow furrowed. Hadn't they called Gene out for some... disturbing behavior back on Planet Bogdan?

Was that the part where he almost made Cecil an ex-spirit? Or am I thinking of the wrong moment there?

He blinked a few times. "That crystal in his shoulder is full of Malice, isn't it? Perhaps the attack was Malice-based?"

Quetzal stiffened. "That could be it."

So... that would mean that it was an attack using D-Max/G-Max energy?

Frankly, Seifer found these different energy types too confusing. "I'd rather let the others figure it out. If he's not turning the attack on us, then it's not my problem."

He imagined Quetzal would protest that, but Seifer was too tired to hear him out any further. Especially when he wasn't part of the Wyndon team. The keldeo headed for the door and nudged it open.

"I'll keep them in my thoughts."

He pointed a hoof back toward where the articuno and moltres slept. Then he stepped through the door, took a right, and walked down the metal hallway.

Thankfully, Quetzal didn't call out for him. So it was easy for Seifer to push that nagging guilt out of his head.

IMO, your first paragraph works better being divided up into smaller description and dialogue ones.

"... Just so confusing. Like, was it wrong of me to step away like that?"

Seifer lay on a red couch. Orange sunlight drifted over him from a window. All artificial, of course. But the light was still nice against his freshly showered pelt.

Oh, well. I see the BGM has taken a turn again. Though that reminds me that we never did really get to see Professor Monokuma in this story up to this point.

"Eh. You're fine."

Cyril's voice carried through an open door from the corner of the room beside the couch. Seifer watched the yellow light for signs the cosmic zoroark was coming, but found nothing. Whatever he was doing in that kitchenette, he was really into it.

Right, Cyril set up a burger joint as his base's cover. I should be less surprised that he's good at cooking.

"Are you just saying that because we're together?" Seifer crossed one forehoof over the other.

A laugh came from the kitchenette. "Sheesh. Someone's determined to make himself the bad guy in this situation."

"I'm being serious." Seifer frowned, though it wasn't like Cyril could see that.

"Of course you are." A blobby shadow finally blotted out the yellow light. "And here I thought I'd established myself as a straight shooter."

I always saw him as a "need-to-know-basis" guy from how he runs his missions, really.

Seifer opened his mouth, then Cyril added, "Well, straight when it comes to telling people stuff."

The keldeo shut his mouth. He covered his head with his forelegs, groaning.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it."

I think the joke went over my head there. Unless the idea is that Seifer is calling Cyril bossy.

Footsteps grew louder. Seifer picked his head up and saw Cyril approaching with a plate in one hand and a bowl of berries in the other. Steam wafted off the former, but the cosmic zoroark set the latter down beside Seifer. Then he sat on the other side of the couch.

"Ah, finally. Dinner." Cyril grabbed the spoon on the edge of the plate with his left hand.

"Is that... curry?" Seifer's nostrils twitched.

Ah yes, going back to our Gen 8-themed story roots, I see.

"Oh, did you want some?" Cyril twirled the spoon around in his yellow claws. "I make it spicy, so I figured you wouldn't be interested."

He was right. "It's not that." Seifer shook his head. "More that you, uh, never struck me as the type for curry."

"Wasn't aware curry had a type." Cyril ate a spoonful of his dinner.

It technically has several since curries are fairly varied depending on the region they're made in and their variety. For instance, if you're not super into spices, Thai curries are a good fit.

"When did you develop a taste for it?" Seifer wondered.

"When I was taking jobs for the—"

Cyril stopped himself. Seifer raised a brow. The cosmic zoroark looked between Seifer and his meal, then shoved a spoonful in his mouth. "Point taken."

Oh, Cyril was about to blurt out 'Ryujin' there, wasn't he? Since that was certainly a swift change of topic on his part.

Between more bites of curry, Cyril said, "But, seriously, does what happened with Quetzal bother you that much?"

Nodding, Seifer reached for one of the berries in the bowl. He took a few bites, then properly responded, "It wasn't right. I should've done more for him, but instead I excused myself. Simply because I was tired."

Cyril fiddled with the spoon still in his mouth. "And that's bad because?"

"Because, even if we're not in the Radiant Guard anymore, people should support their teammates when they're hurting." Seifer decided to let that statement hang in the air and reached for another berry. He figured Cyril would chew on that for a while.

I mean, if you've genuinely got nothing for ideas of how to help them, sometimes awkwardly shuffling off stage left is for the best?

Instead, the cosmic zoroark ate more of the curry, then tapped his spoon against his plate. "Eh. I guess." His ears swiveled. "At the same time, though, if you're not in the headspace for it, how good a job can you really do supporting someone?"

Ah yes, I see that Cyril's just going and making the same argument there.

The keldeo's mouthful of berry nearly went down the wrong pipe. He swallowed hard, straightening up his neck. "E-Excuse me?"

"You gotta take care of yourself before taking care of others," Cyril continued. He pointed the spoon at Seifer. "Whether it's stuff like this... or in the heat of battle."

Seifer frowned. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, should I have put on my serious face?" Cyril swallowed another spoonful of curry. Then his expression hardened. "How's this?"

Cute picture accompaniment (on TR) there.

"It's n-not funny." Seifer shuffled back a bit on the couch.

"It's kinda funny." Cyril chuckled.

Seifer's cheeks flushed as a grin tried fighting its way onto his face. He let the cosmic zoroark mess with him again.

Yeah, it's kinda been a trend for you this story, huh? :V

To his surprise, Cyril sighed as he took another spoonful of curry. "Nah, I get it. Maybe it's some of my cynicism bubbling up." He eyed the curry, then ate the spoonful. "But I figured, now that we've been in this situation for a little while, it was sinking in for you."

"What was sinking in?" Seifer raised a brow.

"That anything goes when you're fighting with your back against the wall."

This... sounds like it could potentially lead to situations that would grenade your relationship. Just saying, Cyril.

Cyril silently polished off his plate, then set it on a small table next to the couch. All the while, Seifer tried and failed to piece together a proper response. There were a lot of layers to unpack. Was Cyril talking about the different sides of the conflict? The resources they had compared to the resistance? Or just the sheer scope that came with a looming dimensional cataclysm?

Cyril: "... Yes."
Seifer: "Cyril, for god's sake, don't pull this 'Mathematician's Answer' routine on me right now!" >_>;

"I'm losing you, aren't I?" Cyril held his hands up. "The point I'm trying to make is that this fight isn't like anything you did in the Radiant Guard. It's unpredictable. Constantly shifting." He put his hands together and spun them around one another. "Yes, it's important that we try and help each other out. But when things are in flux like this, there's no shame in keeping yourself safe so you can live to fight another day."

That explanation hardly satisfied Seifer. "You're right. You do sound cynical."

Sound cynical? Though I guess that's one way to tell that Cyril's seen a lot of underlings die during his tenure in the Resistance, since his mindset definitely gives vibes of someone coming to terms with past loss.

Ears flattening, Cyril turned away slightly. "Figures." His mane dimmed. "Just answer me one thing."

"Okay."

He glanced at the keldeo. "When you were in the Radiant Guard, did you ever face down an extended conflict?"

Seifer stiffened. "Are you talking about a war?"

I mean... yes? That tends to be part and parcel of mounting a violent revolutionary movement, Seifer.

"Not necessarily." Cyril eyed Seifer. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the war between Aeon and Radiance had gone cold by the time you'd joined the Guard's ranks."

He guessed right. Seifer nodded slowly. "Then what do you mean by extended conflict?"

"Something that stretches beyond a single battle," Cyril said, waving his right arm around. "Cuz, like, if all you ever did was fight one-off battles with Phantoms or raid yakuza hideouts, then you've never had to deal with prolonged fighting." His mane dimmed again. "And the toll it can take on you up here." He tapped his forehead with a yellow claw.

Yeah, I had a feeling that Cyril had seen some stuff in the past considering his "look out for number one" mentality earlier.

"I—"

Seifer stopped. His gaze fell to the shaggy blue carpet on the floor. Had he done anything beyond what Cyril described? Couldn't some of the yakuza clans count? But if that was the case, they'd have launched counterattacks against us. Which never happened. It was always the Guard launching small, coordinated strikes. And they weren't even the ones responsible for gathering the intel. That usually fell to Stoutland Yard.

That actually makes me wonder why Sakaki never got into the business of 'plata o plomo'. I suppose the connections with Aeon were a bit too much to risk getting discovered through antics like that.

"All this stuff about honor and virtue..." Cyril slowly twirled his right hand in a circle, until he draped his right arm over the couch cushion. "It's coming from your parents, isn't it? Making sure you'd be the perfect little soldier, just like they were."

That look in Cyril's eyes went right through Seifer. He'd read the keldeo again. Heck, his parents had warned him about zoroark. Hard to interrogate because the tricksters knew how to get under people's skin. Find their vulnerable spots and pounce.

Cyril: "I mean, it helps that Pokémon in the Radiant Guard kinda had a type, just saying."

A hand on his shoulder nearly made Seifer jump. The berry bowl wobbled, but Cyril stopped it with his left hand. Seifer looked at Cyril's right hand on his shoulder. His cheeks flushed.

"I, uh—" He squeezed his eyes shut. "Sorry. It's always, um, surprising. That you can guess what's going on so easily."

Cyril gently squeezed Seifer's shoulder. "You can talk about it, y'know."

Cyril: "Also, again, you kinda have a ty-"
Seifer: "Alright, alright, I get it!" >_>;

"I know. It's just—" Seifer stopped. He followed the right arm back toward Cyril's torso and the puffy, stellar chest fluff. Seifer could've stared at it for hours. But he forced himself to squeeze his eyes shut. "All this fessing up and stuff. Makes it feel more like you're my therapist and not my boyfriend."

No, no, he's very obviously your boyfriend from a line of internal thoughts like that

Seifer wasn't expecting a squeak. He poked an eye open. Cyril actually looked flummoxed. He grabbed an iapapa berry and shoved it in his mouth... only to promptly turn and spit it onto his plate.

"Blech!" He rubbed his snout. "Iapapa? What was I thinking? That shit wasn't even ripe yet."

"Not a fan?"

Cyril set the bowl down. "Hardly." He ran a yellow claw across his even yellower tongue. Seifer wondered if he should quip about berries coating his tongue enough to make it stop glowing in the dark.

Oh, so Cyril isn't fond of sour foods. Duly noted.

Instead, he seized on the zoroark's bizarre reaction. "I actually got a rise out of you for once."

"Yeah." Cyril leaned back on the couch. He took a few deep breaths. "Wasn't expecting something like that, but maybe you have a point." Cyril crossed his right leg over his left. "All right. I'll even out the scales a bit."

Seifer straightened his posture on the couch. What did Cyril mean by that? "You, um, want me to be your therapist?"

Well. That was quite the turnaround there, but I suppose we did need to get around to finding out about Cyril's life problems in more detail since it's been a while since they were acknowledged in the story.

The instant Seifer finished, Cyril leaned over and flicked the keldeo's prosthetic horn. "H-Hey!" Seifer did his best to stay poised. "What else am I meant to take from 'even out the scales?'"

"That I'd say something super personal to you." Chuckling, Cyril shook his head. "Unless you want me to grab a clip-on tie and fake glasses for you." He leaned over. "Is Doctor Seifer entering the building?"

So... gray trenchcoat when? /s

Oh, stars, his horn was flickering, wasn't it? Seifer swallowed hard. "Just go with what you meant from the start, please."

"I was joshing you." Cyril playfully nudged Seifer's side. The smirk left his face as he leaned over. "Y'know that stuff Yuna said about other lives? Think it applies to me, too."

So... he's the counterpart to whatever Gallian's boyfriend was called? Or...?

Seifer pushed himself off his belly. Sitting on this couch was awkward with four legs, but he managed it well enough to scooch beside the cosmic zoroark. "Don't tell me you've had visions."

"Dreams, actually." Cyril rubbedthe gems in his legs. "Occasionally. Since Leo gave me some of his power."

Oh, so there's a direct correlation between the characters that Leo gives the cosmic makeover and having preincarnations, huh?

Then there was a chance it was just Leo's stuff Cyril was seeing, right? Except the look on Cyril's face said otherwise. Hesitantly, Seifer asked, "What are they like?"

"I'm a zoroark." Cyril's whole body flashed blue. His old, dark-type zoroark disguise took its place, complete with his pink accessories littered with white hearts. "Live in some cave lit up by glimmering crystals. I go forage for treasures in a nearby mystery dungeon, then sell 'em to some traveling kecleon merchant. And there's this midnight lycanroc who I end up the rebound for after a dusk lycanroc turns him down."

Yeah, I knew it. Though I see Midnight in this universe actually had a happy(?) existence.

He shrugged. "It's a pretty ho-hum life."

Seifer played the explanation back in his head while scrutinizing Cyril's illusion. "You don't think... you turning into a zoroark was, like, fate or something, do you?"

Cyril shrugged again.

"A-And did you, um, accessorize like that in your dreams?"

"Yep."

I just had the belated realization that in a really, really warped sense, Shane x Tessa was still a thing in this setting.

Seifer's tail bristled. "Then the bandana and leggings—"

"Thigh-highs."

The keldeo blanked. "Err, yes, they're leggings that go up to your th—"

Cyril pressed a yellow claw to Seifer's snout. "No, they're called thigh-highs."

Seifer: "Ooookay then, moving right along..."

Seifer rolled his eyes. Such a trivial detail to split hairs over. "Whatever. Point is... you got them for yourself here, too, didn't you?"

"I did." Cyril tiptoed his claws up Seifer's snout. "Did you want me to start wearing them again? I thought the starry markings and leg gems were a nice replacement."

This time Seifer "fought" back, lightly whacking Cyril's left leg. The illusion faded. "I'm serious, Cyril," Seifer said. "Aren't you a little concerned about the similarities? What if all your past memories come flooding in and overwhelm you?"

Cyril:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14

"In case if you hadn't gathered, I've kinda already had no shortage of problems in life already, so I'm not super interested in dwelling on ones from prior ones either."

The cosmic zoroark responded with a long sigh. "That's what I was asking myself when we were all together listening to Yuna." He leaned back, looking across the room. "I'm conflicted, Seif."

Seif? Why did that give the keldeo beautifly in his stomach?

... Is that a sign that Seifer also has a preincarnation himself?

"I have powers." Cyril snapped his yellow claws. A few tiny embers dissolved around them. "I can fight again, after ages of sitting on the sidelines fiddling with machines." He tilted his head left, smiling at Seifer. "I fought with you. And, yeah, it was scary staring down Halvus up close. But being there with you... made me feel more alive than I can remember."

... Not really convinced that this will end particularly well, but...

Now Seifer definitely had beautifly in his stomach. Yet part of him knew Cyril was putting on a brave face. "There's more to it, right?" he whispered.

"It's great. But I fear there's a price." Cyril held his hands up and turned them over. "Exactly what you said. Those memories are going to come racing back, aren't they? And then what'll happen? How do I stay grounded? Reconcile past from present?"

His ears folded. "How do I stop myself from degrading into a Whisper?"

See above, though that certainly took a dark turn fast.

Seifer's eyes slowly widened. Cyril had mentioned concerns about eroding. Back when they'd first met, if Seifer remembered correctly. "I see." He scooted closer. "I didn't realize."

"I didn't tell you." Cyril slouched forward.

For once, Seifer was the one with the verbal opening. "Y'know, you could've mentioned that before." He leaned forward. "Looks like you've got as much reason to lean on me as I do to lean on you."

Ah yes, thus the chapter title, I see.

"Heh." Cyril rubbed the bridge of his snout. "Suppose so." He turned slightly, eyeing the keldeo. "You wanted to have me for support." Cyril twirled a lock of his hair. "I thought I could keep that stuff buried down and be your big, strong supportive shoulder." A dry laugh followed. "And I'm the one who hinted that these things are a two-way street. Pretty pathetic, huh?"

Seifer: "C-Cyril, it's not pathetic! You've just had a lot to deal with and-!"

"It's kind of relieving, in a way," Seifer admitted, earning a quirked brow from Cyril. "W-Well, y'know..." He shifted in place, laughing nervously. "From a reliability standpoint." He gestured out with his left foreleg. Not that there was anything worth pointing at beyond an old EV screen and a bunch of electronic boxes on the shelves underneath.

"It tells me that we've both got things to help each other work on," Seifer continued. "Because that's what partners do. Right?"

This is going to wind up leading to a hot and steamy fade to black like in P3, isn't it?

After a few seconds, a fluffy arm draped over Seifer's shoulder. "Look at you." Cyril leaned over, tickling Seifer's chin with a yellow claw. "Sounding all wise and philosophical." He grinned at the keldeo. "I knew I made a good choice with you."

Seifer shrank to his belly and covered his head with his forelegs.

"All right. Enough of the doom and gloom."

Feeling pretty good about that prediction right about now.

There was a creak, followed by the cushions next to Seifer puffing up slightly. He pulled his forelegs away to find Cyril walking across the room, arching his back. The cosmic zoroark swung open a small metal door, revealing shelves stocked with small plastic containers.

"What are you doing?" Seifer slid back up into a sitting position.

That's what I'd like to know since I'm not sure what those canisters are there.

Cyril bent over — unnaturally, clearly trying to fluster the keldeo — and grabbed three of the covers. He pivoted, leaning against the doorframe, and dangled the cases for Seifer to see.

"Movie night!" Cyril walked toward the shelves full of electronics. "I said I'd show you Space Wars, So, we're watching Space Wars." He knelt down by one of the metal boxes. "The good ones, at least. Like I said, the other six are trash. But if you ever want to get shitfaced and laugh at 'em, maybe I can be tempted."

Surprised that given how much of an Not!OT fan Cyril is, that he doesn't have the equivalent of the Laserdisc Trilogy box set, since that's widely regarded as the best home release version of the movies even to this day.

Seifer was so transfixed on the "movie night" part, the rest of the cosmic zoroark's rambling went right over his head. So, he nodded along dumbly.

"Whatever you say."

So does Cyril also have a Starballs Blu-Ray buried somewhere in there?

Sticky hovered around the giant glass tank. He went from eyeing the readouts on the monitor to looking at the bars and lines fluctuating on his tablet. The naganadel leaned over and tapped the glass. The gray ooze inside wriggled.

"Well, Sticky?"

He finished his lap around the tank, staring at his tablet. "There's definitely some magnetic resonance. Not enough to reproduce what was on Iron Enforcer's recording. But it's progress compared to the previous weeks."

Oh, so those Meltan that got yoinked like 20 chapters ago were going to become relevant again.

"What did I tell you?"

Wincing, Sticky looked up to see a sylveon sauntering in front of Paradox. He had no idea why the deoxys didn't just smite that imbecile on the spot. Or, if he didn't want to dirty his tentacles, give Iron Enforcer the order. No, instead the type: full sat in the corner, plugged into a charging station.

Your video link in this part is broken. And ohai, Xander. Though the Metal Sonic-vibing Silvally has a name now, duly noted.

"That the little meltan creatures could combine into a titan," Paradox said. His tentacles twisted into arms he folded behind his back. "Two weeks of testing and we've yet to verify these claims, Whatsyourface."

"Xander, Your Excellency." The sylveon bowed, extending his ribbons. "And I told you they could. I didn't say how." He gestured to Sticky. "But you heard your secretary—"

"Executive assistant," Sticky interjected. He wanted so badly to smear Xander's face with toxins from his large needle. But the emperor must've brought him down for a reason.

... Oh, Paradox is going to attempt to use Xander to turn Shimmer, isn't he? Since I can see that opener talking about Paradigm trying to get a new operative to fill the 'Lovers' arcana slot.

"Right, right." Xander waved him off with two ribbons. "Point is, my intel was primo. I told you tipping off that overgrown vegetable would get you assets... and it did!" He pointed a ribbon at the tank. "Sure, it may take some time. But while we have them like this, why not try adding your own little spin on it? Make 'em even better than what they were in the recording?"

Oh, so Dermezel is getting manipulated himself. Makes you wonder just how many wheels within wheels there are with the various schemes and plots in this story.

Sticky was ready to jump in when he noticed the curious gleam in Paradox's eyes. "You think the titan can be improved?" Paradox wondered.

"I'm sure you can come up with something." Xander's eyes sparkled and his stubby tail wagged.

Paradox blipped right past Xander, appearing at Sticky's side. The naganadel stiffened. "Sir?"

Sticky: -Staring at Xander-

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, boy." Paradox flicked his right hand dismissively. "I know a brown-nosing clout chaser when I see one. A real useful asset would take initiative." He put his hand on Sticky's back. "Even, perhaps, take quite the risk."

Harsh, but 💯accurate, especially given that Shimmer more or less explicitly stated that Xander was like this in his scene on the hill with Igneous.

The deoxys leaned over and pointed to the recharging Iron Enforcer unit. "In case it's not clear, if I catch even the slightest whiff of deception from your new toy..." His right hand uncoiled. Paradox traced a tentacle across Sticky's neck. "... I'll build a fireplace in my office just to mount your head over it."

Sticky: "(Gee, no pressure there.)"

Sticky swallowed hard. "Understood, sir." But there was nothing to fear. Iron Enforcer was purely a machine. Maybe that gave it less potential than W1-DG3T had, but in return, it would show steadfast loyalty to the emperor.

Xander: -whistles innocently and plays with feelers-
Sticky: "(... Okay, note to self, he's not allowed to get within the same room as Iron Enforcer if I'm not also present.)"

"Good. Now, where was I?" Paradox recoiled his right tentacles into an arm. "Ah, yes. Our clout chaser."

He teleported into the middle of the charcoal gray lab. "I do appreciate a good kiss-up." Paradox's gem flickered. A pink glow surrounded Xander, who shrank back slightly. "And stringing the outsiders' prince along so you'd get a taste of real political power? That kind of initiative deserves proper credit. Don't you think, Sticky?"

Sticky: "Your Excellency, are you freaking kidding me right now?!"

No. The sylveon threw himself at Paradox first out of any of his classmates. If things somehow took a turn in the ongoing conflict, Xander would be first to jump ship. Sticky was sure of it. The guy was a certified, grade A coward only loyal to himself.

Also harsh, but once again, also 💯accurate.

Paradox cleared his throat. Sticky stiffened. "Of course, sir."

"Proper credit?" Xander stood up straight. "Like, what? Will I get my own Eternatus Troopers to command or something?"

"No. I have a much better idea." The deoxys teleported to a shut metal panel in the gray wall. He lowered his head toward a red circle.

Xander:

[Retinal scan confirmed,] an electronic voice declared. [Welcome back, Grand Emperor Paradox.]

"Oh, good, you already updated my title in the systems," Paradox said, opening the panel to reveal two racks meant for holding syringes. They were empty, save for one teeming with glowing silver fluid.

Xander wilted the moment he saw the large needle attached to the syringe. "U-Um, I already had all my shots, y'know..."

Yeeeeeah, this isn't going to end remotely well for Xander, I can already tell.

Sticky recognized the syringe immediately. When had the emperor moved it here from the Harvester? "S-Sir, you're giving him the Lovers?"

Oh. Well, guess we won't need Shimmer in order to get our Lovers Paradigm operative here.

"I am." Paradox teleported in front of Xander. "See, one of my Paradigm lieutenants retired a while back. The first to ever do so. But like any good leader, your humble grand emperor granted his request." The deoxys pantomimed wiping a tear. "Try as I might, however, I simply could not find a worthy replacement. That is... until now."

The realization set in for the sylveon. That hideous stubby tail of his wagged again. "Moi, a lieutenant for you? Oh, I couldn't think of anything better!"

Cue the buyer's remorse in 3... 2...

He tapped a ribbon to his chin. "Well, maybe I could, but they're not the types of things for polite conversation."

Snerk.

"Sir, do I really need to be here for this?" Sticky focused squarely on his tablet as he cycled through security cam feeds and tried not to think about what he was hearing.

Yeah, I'm going to heavily take the under on Xander surviving the next 10 chapters, especially since Sticky has a very strong moment to intentionally set him up for failure.

"You do for this part." Paradox snapped his fingers and Sticky floated at attention. "If you accept this power, Sylveon, then you're hereby assigned to investigate one of the spots where these strange needle-like structures from the outside appeared." The deoxys shook his head. "The ones we had a read on have vanished suddenly and one of my army's targets was in pursuit of them. So, you have to get to the bottom of it."

"Perfect. Nobody gets to a bottom quite like me." Xander winked.

Sticky: "... Your Excellency, I'd just like to remind that it's not too late to dispose of him like the Barraskewda."

Paradox: "Quiet, Sticky. Anyhow, let's get straight to your promotion, Sylveon."

Sticky looked down at his tablet again. Oh, what he wouldn't give to "accidentally" turn on Iron Enforcer and set it to "maim."

Paradox rolled his eyes. "Quaint. Now, while you do this, you're free to curry favor and clout with the public to your liking. Just as long as you follow my orders and, of course, sing the praises of my benevolent, iron-fisted regime." He levitated the needle and syringe beside Xander. "Do we have a deal?"

Damn, one word off from being able to shout out that one Dr. Nefarious transmission from R&C UYA... unless this is something that Rift Apart also did as well.

The sylveon nodded enthusiastically.

"Good." Paradox's eyes sparked and he plunged the needle into Xander's left flank.

Cue the screaming right about... now.

Xander's screams were even more shrill, screechy, and pathetic than Sticky could've imagined. And they kept going as the plunger pushed all the silver fluid from the syringe into Xander's left hind thigh.

Yeah, Xander really should've asked for anaesthesia first, huh?

"There we are." Paradox turned away and his ESP withdrew the needle. "You'll likely need a day or two to get acclimated to this. Sticky will show you to—"

A dull thud echoed through the lab the moment Xander passed out. Blood oozed from the puncture site.

Sticky:

"I'll go and send for someone to clean up this mess-"

Paradox sighed and shook his head. "Sticky, take him to his new quarters."

"Me?" Why couldn't the emperor just teleport him there? It would be much faster.

Because he's the Emperor and with his personality, there's exactly zero way he'd be doing any work he couldn't farm out to some unfortunate peon like you?

The deoxys glared at Sticky as if he'd read the naganadel's thoughts. Sighing, Sticky floated over to the unconscious sylveon. He went to pick Xander up when a better idea came to mind.

Sticky pointed his large needle at Xander and launched a stream of paint. It splattered over Xander, before hardening to a rubbery consistency. Sticky dipped his large needle into the edge of the goo before floating forward. His makeshift net dragged Xander's limp form behind him.

Ah yes, just getting in all of the disrespect right now.

"Careful, Sticky. We don't want to damage our merchandise," Paradox called.

The naganadel pause. "Sir, you do realize he's going to betray us the moment someone makes him a better offer, right?"

Paradox blipped over to Sticky's side. "Oh, I'm counting on it."

Oh, that doesn't bode well at all for Xander or whoever he ultimately jumps ship to.

Sticky tensed. "S-Sir?"

"Relax, Sticky." Paradox put his hand on Sticky's shoulder. "Remember, your grand emperor is always one step ahead."

He gestured to the door, then teleported away. Sticky stared into the empty, dimly lit hallway. He floated out of the lab, hoping Paradox wasn't just blowing smoke.

Oh, well that's an ominous note to end on there.

Alright, and made it to the end. I take it that we've kicked off a fresh arc in this story, since it looks like that lull that's been around in the past few chapters of this story is just about done if that outro scene is anything to go by. But all-in-all, I thought that this chapter did a pretty good job at interleaving some plot hooks that I'd honestly kinda forgotten about, and it'll be interesting to see where they go in the future.

I don't really have a whole lot to complain about this chapter barring a couple more nitpicky spots like a couple paragraphs I didn't like the formatting of, or a line where you had a bit of a missed opportunity for a meta reference. There might have been more issues beyond what I saw, but I was too busy being entertained by where things were going, which I suppose is the mark of a chapter well done.

We'll see how fast things go back to crazytown in this story next time, @Ambyssin . I dunno how well I'll be able to catch up before Review Blitz rolls around again, but you've certainly given me a lot to look forward to in this story.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 98: Great Personal Cost​

The first few weeks after Tessa passed were... not all that different, honestly. Making her a spirit gave her back some of the energy that had waned the last few years. And, well, we knew this was coming. We'd prepared for it. In some ways, things haven't changed. She's just... not always around. Sometimes I need to use my light to conjure her.

This arrangement won't last forever. We agreed on that. Even if my powers can distort her sense of time, she doesn't want to be summoned as a spirit forever. She'll want to rest for good eventually.

I'm not sure when that time will come, but I'll be ready. After all... I have support.

XxX​

Yuna put her now empty glass of water down on the metal table. She glanced right, but the door from the restaurant to the living quarters was still shut. Just like it was a minute ago. And a minute before that. And a minute before that.

Yet everyone else's eyes were locked on it. Even as bowls of meat and vegetable stew Guzzie had given the team had long gone cold. The lone exception was Artemis, who was coiled up against the wall on the other side of the table and staring at a gray pillar. Yuna didn't think milotic could get such empty looks in their eyes. Though, given what she'd heard, she didn't blame him.

Having to leave Leo behind and trust he could handle himself was bad enough. Coming back to find Seifer in critical condition and Vortex rampaging toward Radiance's capital almost made Yuna want to ask Guzzie what the strongest thing he had to drink in his bar was.

"This is a good thing, right?" The dragapult stole glances at the door. Still closed. "They wouldn't be taking so long if they hadn't found a way to save Seifer."

"Maybe." Nikki leaned forward in her chair. "Or they're trying to figure out how to break the bad news to us."

"Don't say that!"

Cyril slammed his hands down on the table. Red soup splattered out of everyone's bowls. The cosmic zoroark's fur shifted between red and black.

"There's no way I'm the only one thinking it," Nikki retorted, glancing around the table. "Right?"

Igneous stared down at his soup. Scarlett avoided Cyril's gaze. "I'm not," the dragonair mumbled.

"Heeee's a goneeeeer for suuuuure!"

Scarlett's eyes widened in horror. She covered her neck bauble with her wings when Cyril glared daggers at her. "I, uh, will have to have a talk. With myself."

She shrank down toward the floor as Cyril leaned toward her. Igneous shot his arm out. "Berating her won't accomplish anything."

Cyril eyed the grovlazzle's arm like he was about to tear it off. Cid hastily sat up and cleared his throat. "Ah, if I might interject?" The orbeetle's spots glowed pink. "Vegna and Team Bureau are back." He pressed his right hand to his temple. "With Shimmer, apparently. And Vortex?"

Igneous jumped out of his seat surprisingly fast. "Shimmer's with them? How is he?"

"Aww, worried about your new boytoy?"

"No!" Igneous' head leaf caught fire. Nikki laughed harder when the grovlazzle brandished a Leaf Blade at her. "I want to know he's okay so I can kick his ass guilt-free."

"Suuuuuuuuuure you do." Nikki waved him off dismissively. "And I'm a holowear supermodel."

"Pipe down, all of you."

Cyril lunged over the table, nearly knocking a startled Yuna off her chair in the process. He scrambled to his feet and dashed toward the now-open door, where Koraidon stood.

"No..." Cyril staggered to a halt. "No, no. Wipe that look off your face." He waved his arms in front of his head. His starcloud mane rippled like violent waves crashing on the shore. "You're not here with news. You're... you're..."

Koraidon bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare!"

"The healers did everything they could." Koraidon clasped his hands together.

"NO!" Cyril dropped to his knees. "You're lying, damn it!"

"I wish I was," Koraidon said. "But Seifer was already gone by the time the healers got him." His feathered horns drooped. "He never had a chance."

Yuna's chest ectoplasm tightened. Her core flickered erratically.

Cyril's fur was a fiery red. He shoved Koraidon aside and ran through the door.

"Ah, Cyril! Wait!" Koraidon turned and ran after him.

"Should we... follow him?" Yuna wondered, somewhat amazed she even managed to get that sentence out. Her head was practically spinning.

No one responded, though. Scarlett stared at her blurry reflection in her untouched soup. A tense Igneous was braced against the wall, clutching his right arm. Nikki was looking at the floor and Artemis hadn't budged from the last time Yuna checked him. He could've fooled her into thinking he was a statue if Yuna didn't know better.

"I should... go check on Team Bureau." Cid hovered into the air, spots flickering erratically. The orbeetle headed for the door to the residential quarters before Yuna could react.

She looked at the others. "Guys?"

Nothing.

"Someone say something." The dragapult fidgeted nervously. "I don't— I'm not sure what to do here."

"And you think we are?" Scarlett whispered, worriedly rubbing her neck bauble with a wing. "Why'd you have to say that, Starlene? I look like an absolute tool now."

Nikki's chair creaked against the floor. Yuna waited for the toxtricity to offer something. She'd even settle for something crass. But Nikki shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and quietly headed for the restaurant's other exit leading toward the outpost.

"Wait, Nikki!" Yuna flew after her. Nikki held her right hand up to stop the dragapult.

"Don't."

Yuna's tail shriveled.

"Need some air." Nikki's mohawk dimmed. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She continued toward the door, which slid open to let her through.

When Yuna turned back around, she found the other door opening to let Igneous and Scarlett through. "Wait, guys!"

Though she sped toward them, they didn't acknowledge her. And they were already halfway through the glass tunnel leading to the residential quarters by the time Yuna reached the door.

Her shoulders sagged. Yuna couldn't be alone. Not now. She needed something to do or people to be around. Or else she'd... she'd...

A whimpering Tessa lay in the dirt. Ears ringing. Snout broken. Tears blurring her vision.

Yuna shook her head. She forced a rift open into the hanger and darted into it. Noctum and the others were there. The cosmic charizard... clutched an orange rectangle that looked a lot like one of Leo's plates. But he was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Noctum!" She flew across the hanger, passing Valkyrie and Vegna talking to Cid. The garchomp had Vortex slung over her shoulder while the dusknoir loomed over Shimmer. Yuna didn't care, though. Why wasn't anyone helping Noctum? He looked ill!

"Are you okay?" Yuna waved her arms around. When she got no response, she put her hands on his shoulders. "Noctum, say something? Are you hurt? Did you get sick?"

"Time... time..."

"Huh?" Yuna nudged the cosmic charizard, but he kept mumbling the same thing. "Hey, guys? I think something's wrong with Noctum!"

"We know." Valkyrie glanced at her. "Soon as we got back, he said Seifer's dead and he's been like that ever since."

Yuna glared at her. "So you thought it'd be okay to leave him like this? He needs help!"

"I was going to get him a healer," the garchomp growled. "But I have to handle this charizard first." She adjusted her tenuous grip on Vortex, not caring that her claws dug into his thighs.

"Then I'll go get one," Yuna said. "Most of them are over by... by..."

Her tail partially retracted into her torso. Valkyrie snorted blue purple embers.

"I figured." She turned away from Yuna and stomped across the hangar with her passenger in tow.

Swallowing hard, Yuna turned back to Noctum. The cosmic charizard continued to stare blankly at the ceiling.

"Valkyrie's going to get some healers," Yuna assured him. She hovered to Noctum's side. "It's going to be okay." Except her voice was shaky. Yuna couldn't come up with anything more substantial than that. And Noctum still wasn't acknowledging her.

"As cold as this sounds, you won't get through to him."

Maxie walked over from the large computer terminal setup on the other side of the hanger. There were fewer skorps at the consoles than usual.

The ghostly typhlosion nudged his goggles. "He's in shock."

Yuna figured that was the case. "But why?"

"Hard to say." Maxie shrugged. "Something to do with his makeover, perhaps. I see it changed again."

"His makeover..." Yuna eyed the blue auroras in his belly and wings.

He crossed his stubby arms. "Did you ever ask him about what happened during the fight against Halvus?"

The dragapult winced. "No." She figured they could talk about it when Noctum was ready. That was a reasonable thing to do, right?

"Well, hindsight's twenty-twenty and all." Maxie pinched the bridge of his goggles. "You can stay by his side. But it appears he's holding a plate. You ought to take that to Leo." The ghostly typhlosion looked around the hangar. "Where is he, anyway?"

Yuna stiffened. "He, um, had one last thing to take care of on the other side of the anomaly."

"I thought you sealed it," Maxie said, narrowing his eyes. "What's going on here?"

"I, um—" Yuna's head pounded again. She wanted to leave. No, she had to leave.

Without even thinking, she bent over and pulled the plate out of Noctum's grasp. The cosmic charizard resumed mumbling to himself. Yuna backed away, guilt and panic squirming around her insides.

"Wait, where are you going?" Maxie's fiery collar churned. "I asked you a question."

Yuna turned and opened a small rift. The dragapult shot through it, landing on a cot with a blue blanket. The cleffa and eevee dolls on the bed bounced up and landed next to her.

Groaning, Yuna set the plate down next to them. She flopped down on her back, even though that meant her triangular head was slightly propped up.

"Why are we in Leo's room?"

Yuna didn't bother pushing Reshiram away. She traced her right hand over her core and tossed two motes of light next to the plate. Reshiram and Rayquaza appeared in splashes of blue light.

"Mayhaps we're waiting to bestow this plate upon him whence he returns," Rayquaza said, coiling up beside it.

"Guys, please." Yuna squished her temples. "I really... can't do this with you right now."

Broken face in the dirt. The taste of blood and soil. Every breath a struggle.

She kneaded her hands against the blue blanket, trying to will away those images.

"It's, um, okay to be upset," Reshiram whispered, walked up to Yuna's face. "Even if he wasn't exactly your friend, he was your teammate."

Yuna tensed. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to fill her head with something else. Something like... like the bed of hot coals behind her parents castle! Yuna envisioned the rhythmically pulsating orange glow the coals gave off under the ash-choked skies. The clusters of embers drifting through the air.

Soft fur tickled Tessa's belly. She woke up to a faceful of two icepix tails tickling her snout. Oh God, she was going to sneeze. Roll away, roll away!

"No sneezing," Yuna mumbled.

"Wait, sneeze?" Reshiram shot into the air, flapping his tiny wings. "I'm not looking to get blown away like a dust mite!"

Crap, she'd said that out loud. Yuna opened her eyes and rubbed her face. "It's fine, Reshiram. I was..."

"Old memories?" Rayquaza wondered, still coiled up next to the plate. Yuna nodded.

Reshiram hesitantly landed next to Rayquaza. He looked ready to book it into the air at a moment's notice.

"If thou art that troubled by Sir Seifer's demise—"

"It's stupid," Yuna blurted out, only to throw her hands over her mouth and look down shamefully. "I mean, well, in the back of my head I've always known we've been at risk of dying. It's been that way since the Noatun mystery dungeon." She sighed. "But, well..."

As she trailed off, Reshiram scratched his tiny chin with a tiny wing claw. "We've always avoided it until now, so you started to take your safety for granted. That fear faded." He folded his wings at his sides. "So, it's a shock to the system."

Yuna stared at Reshiram, blinking slowly. He was the Sage of Truth... and had a glimpse into her headspace. And nothing she'd thought about since she heard the news had anything to do with Seifer himself. Or even Cyril, who'd just lost his boyfriend.

"It's me," the dragapult whispered.

"Hmm?"

She tilted her head down. Small shadowy ripples lapped at the edges of her core. "I'm upset... because of me," Yuna mumbled. "Because it reminds me... of Tessa dying." She folded her hands over the core, hoping the two Sages couldn't see the shadows. "If I die here... will it go the same way? Will Giratina take over?"

The chaos energy was like tiny needles poking her hands. "Could Giratina just 'kill' me at any moment? We have an agreement, but what's stopping them from breaking it?"

God, Yuna had really taken that for granted, hadn't she? Talking about the past life stuff with the others last week never changed her situation. It simply... made it easier for her to ignore it.

Rayquaza and Reshiram were silent. Yuna didn't blame them. What could they say to reassure her? That she had a strong enough will to resist it? Well, that wouldn't matter if something killed her.

It's only a matter of time before you yield to the inevitable.

... Or maybe they were simply biding their time. Maybe Giratina expected Yuna to lose heart and let them take her over.

Loud knocks at the door jolted Yuna upright. "C-Come in?" she squeaked. The tiny Sages returned to her core as the door opened. Yuna's fleeting hope Nikki had gone looking for her was dashed when a familiar dusknoir floated in.

"What do you want?" Yuna somewhat sank into Leo's bed.

"And now his eternal life like a dream was obliterated." Vegna flicked his right hand and the door shut behind him. The dusknoir drifted forward... and placed a biscuit on a napkin by Yuna's feet.

She eyed it like it was poisoned. "Uhh..."

"Eat. You need your strength." Vegna pushed the biscuit closer to her. "The specter of death casts a harsh, chilling weight. It takes considerable endurance to rise against it."

Frowning, Yuna took the biscuit. "Sounds like you're telling me to get over it."

Vegna's eye dimmed. He backed away from Leo's bed, crossing his arms. "Perhaps I... could've phrased it better. This is not something one simply 'gets over.'"

"Then what did you mean?" Yuna hesitantly bit into the biscuit. It was surprisingly good. And warm, too.

"Death is a difficult burden to bear," Vegna said. "It's easy to let it paralyze you. Especially when it's something you've experienced for yourself."

Yuna's ectoplasm shriveled. It made her missaim her bite. Biscuit fragments dropped onto the blue blanket. Sighing, Yuna picked them up and stuffed them in her mouth.

"You're worried about this conflict, aren't you?" Vegna put his right hand on his chest. "About what it could do to your present self."

"Why do you care?" Yuna shot back. Of course the inquisitor would see through her quickly. The dragapult didn't want Vegna to have the satisfaction.

So she was surprised when the dusknoir backed further away and slouched against the wall. His arms were still crossed and his head was bowed in thought. "You have the power... to shape the future. For the better."

Squinting at Vegna, Yuna finished the biscuit. "Because of Giratina?"

Vegna shook his head. "Their power might play a role, sure. But I'm talking about what's up here." He tapped the side of his head with his index finger. "Your will."

Yuna had a hard time believing that. She lay on her side, still eyeing Vegna skeptically. "Where is this all coming from?"

The dusknoir silently stared at the ceiling. Then he whispered, "A place of regret, perhaps. I'm not proud of the things I've done."

That was too vague for Yuna. Perhaps if she put it together with his earlier comments about death, she could hazard a guess what Vegna meant.

"Are the rumors true, then?" she asked.

"Which ones?"

"The Grim Reaper stuff," Yuna said. "That you kill people who are found innocent in cases you prosecute."

"No." Vegna's response was instantaneous. He squeezed his crossed arms with his hands.

"Then why haven't you ever said anything about it publicly?"

"Selfishness."

Yuna raised a brow. Wouldn't the selfish thing be to call out such a nasty reputation? She pushed herself up to a seated position. "I don't follow."

"Part of me believed it my penance for lifetimes of caustic decisions made out of selfishness." Vegna held his right hand up and looked at the golden cracks running through his ectoplasm. "Vengeance simmered beneath every action I've done in service of the Kingdom of Radiance."

God, she wished Vegna would turn down the flowery language. Stupid poetry obsession.

Before Yuna could force him to elaborate, however, a stream of blue light spilled out of her core. A tiny Reshiram materialized in front of Vegna.

"It's you," Reshiram whispered. He pointed his right wing at Vegna.

"Huh?" Yuna frowned.

Reshiram looked back at her apologetically. "When he explained the situation with Necrozma to us... and he talked about Bahamut's journal... something didn't sit right with me."

Vegna looked away from Reshiram.

"Wait, like your truth sense?" Yuna said. It wasn't like Reshiram had brought it up with her lately. The dragapult figured her chaos powers had made him lose it. Or at least weakened it to the point of uselessness.

"I thought maybe I was mistaken," Reshiram continued. "I mean, lawyers seem like the types who can twist the truth around in ways that could fool even me." He shook his head. "But how you're talking right now is eerily familiar."

"Wait, familiar?" Yuna's eyes widened. "As in—"

Reshiram pointed his wing at Vegna again. "You're not some random person who stumbled on Bahamut and took his journal. You're the soul that was severed from his body. You're Bahamut."

Silence, save for the humming of the lights in the ceiling. Reshiram held his wing out. Vegna stared at the door. Yuna looked between the two, unsure whether to say anything.

Finally, Vegna bowed his head.

"There's a reason I told your predecessor to scout you in spite of your shortcomings. I never could get anything past you, Cecil."

XxX​

Igneous ended up going to the room he shared with Scarlett and Shimmer instead of looking for Valkyrie and the ponytales. His ear frills hadn't stopped ringing. The dragonair hadn't said anything to him, either. She slithered onto her bed and coiled up tight around her pink pillow. Igneous opted to lie on his back with his right knee bent and his left leg straight. Outside of switching his legs' positions, he hadn't moved.

The volcarona lay on the ground. His body burned. And not in the usual way his inner fire or Flame Body did. This was painful. Like hooks digging into his wings and chitin, trying to yank something out of him.

"I'm sorry." The man with the arceus hairdo loomed over Igneous. "A few of us must bear this awful burden. But the end result will be a world free of suffering. "

Igneous could only cry out in pain. The spiritomb by his lower half swirled around faster and faster. And the tugging got worse and worse.

"You're seeing it too, aren't you?"

"Huh?" The volcarona looked around in a panic, trying to find where that female voice was coming from.

"Yooooooo, Igggggyyyyy! Snap out of it!"

A psychic tug on Igneous' head leaf jolted him upright. "The hell?!" He sprang off his bed, Leaf Blades at the ready... only for them to fizzle out when he found Starlene floating in front of him. She turned and disappeared into Scarlett's neck bauble.

"What— why—" Igneous rubbed his head. "The leaf's sensitive," he mumbled.

"Sorry." Scarlett poked her bed with the tip of her tail. "You were, um, shaking?" The dragonair shook her head. "No, more like trembling. I was trying to snap you out of it."

"Oh." Igneous slumped onto the floor, curling his arms around his bent knees. "I think I was... remembering something from that past life."

"Your death?"

His leafy tails nearly caught fire but Igneous managed to control himself. "W-Whatever would give you that idea?"

Shuddering, Scarlett tucked her head down so her coiled body hid her neck bauble. "It's what I saw."

Now it was Igneous' turn to shudder. How could he respond to something like that? "I'm sorry," the grovlazzle mumbled, though he didn't sound that sure of himself. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's not much to say." Scarlett's wings drooped. "I think I was fighting that Zodiark person. Or his pokémon. They were too strong. I got overwhelmed." She suppressed a wince.

Voice cracking, she said, "It hurt a lot."

Igneous scooted toward her bed. He was about to reach an arm out to her when his X-transceiver buzzed. Seriously?

He got to his feet and plucked the X-transceiver off the bed. "Sorry, now's not a good ti—"

"I'm running the story."

His blood went cold. That was Sakaki. Brow furrowing, Igneous held the X-transceiver up toward Scarlett and flipped the speakerphone mode on. "What's going on here?" he growled.

"I thought you already knew about the attack in Dazzels," Sakaki said. "Valkyrie was there, wasn't she?"

"Haven't gotten all the details," Igneous said. God, he sounded exhausted. "I was in the thick of Herbrides. And we... lost someone in the fight there."

"I see."

Silence came from the other end, but Sakaki hadn't hung up. Igneous was going to do it for him when the nidoking continued, "Are you okay? You're not thinking about your mother, are you?"

The audino nurse and oranguru doctor finished pulling out the breathing tube. A wheeze escaped the withered sceptile's lips. More like a deflating balloon than a proper breath.

"Well, I am now," the grovlazzle seethed. Scarlett shot him a worried look. "Whatever you need to say, say it."

Another pause followed, then, "News outlets were broadcasting the attack. Demerzel showed up and made the same wild claims about the body snatcher on live Polarisvision. Now they're circling the wagons. Calling him an insurgent. Some are implying he's actually a Ryujin plant."

Igneous stomach churned. He really didn't need this right now. The grovlazzle hadn't even had the strength to find Shimmer and get answers from him.

"I'm running a full exposé in a special edition of the Radiant Beacon," Sakaki announced. "It's all hands on deck. We're printing extra copies to give to our people embedded in the refugee camps for those who fled Tulpise and Venish."

"Okay." Igneous pinched his brow. "Anything else?"

"Once it's out there, I'm pulling everyone but our hidden scouts back to Scale City. Things are going to get volatile."

"That's just a guess, though."

"Call it a gut feeling," Sakaki said. "That's all I have. Give my regards to your dragonair friend."

Igneous glared at the X-transceiver. "She's been listening in."

And he hung up before Sakaki could respond. Igneous tossed the X-transceiver onto his bed where it bounced onto his pillow. He plopped down on the edge of the bed, putting his head in his hands.

"Great. Just great. Can this day get any worse?"

The door handle jiggled, then opened with a loud creak. Igneous and Scarlett looked across the room in unison.

Shimmer stood in the doorway. His tails puffed out.

"Ah. You're, uh, already here." He shrank down. "I don't suppose I can lead with an 'I'm sorry,' huh?"

As much as Igneous wanted to march right up to Shimmer and sock the ponytales in the snout, he couldn't muster up the energy. The grovlazzle only managed to scooch to the edge of his cot, hunch over, and rest his head on his hands.

Fortunately, a certain latias had Igneous' wish covered. Starlene zipped to Shimmer's side and immediately chomped on his ear.

"You totaw dumbash!"

"Ow, oww! Leggo!" Shimmer shook his head and his horn sparked. Starlene backed off, only to jab him in the side with her left wing.

"Not until you explain yourself, buster!" Starlene hovered away when Shimmer glared at her. She punched the air with her tiny hands for a few seconds. Then she vanished back into Scarlett's neck bauble.

"S-Sorry." The dragonair coiled tightly around her pillow and squeezed it. "It's, um, been quite a day."

"Her heart's in the right place." Igneous lifted his head off his hands. "What the hell were you thinking plotting some backroom deal with pirates and then gallivanting off right before they showed up?!"

The ponytales' ears folded. "I wasn't planning on that last part. And I honestly thought Gene would loop you guys in."

"Oh, so you assumed!"

Starlene popped out of meeping Scarlett pointing an accusatory claw at Shimmer. "And you know what they say about assuming." She twirled around and pointed at her conical rear.

"He gets it!" Scarlett hissed. The dragonair managed to get Starlene back into her neck bauble. She repositioned herself on the bed so she was lying atop her pillow. She covered her bauble with her wings.

Sighing, Igneous sat up straighter. "Gene does whatever he feels like. You can't leave shit like that for him." The grovlazzle crossed his right leg over his left. "But I wanna know why you went ahead with such an asinine idea."

"W-Well, in hindsight... I prob— no, definitely shouldn't have." Shimmer shrank back toward the closed door, looking at his frosty hooves.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Technically you didn't phrase it as a question?"

Igneous' head leaf simmered. Shimmer dropped to his belly and covered his head with his forelegs. "I was afraid, okay! Afraid Mom's been up to something in the background!" Shudders racked the ponytales' body. "I thought she'd be able to track me here. And you guys have been so busy running around doing stuff I didn't think I had any other options!"

He poked his head out from his forelegs. Even with one eye open, Shimmer's expression was rather pathetic. But a part of Igneous wouldn't buy it. He clasped his hands together and tapped his chin.

"So, even though I took you in and offered to help, you still felt it better to get Gene to set you up with complete strangers?" the grovlazzle growled.

Shimmer squeaked and ducked back under his foreleg. "Well, when you put it like that it really does sound pathetic, huh?"

"Yes."

"Dayum. Twink on twink violence. He's gonna need a rawst berry for that one."

Igneous side-eyed Scarlett, who was rubbing her head so vigorously against her pillow he wondered if the dragonair was trying to phase into it out of embarrassment.

"We've got a right to be angry," the grovlazzle said. His posture slouched a bit. He tapped his claws against his blanket. "Because it wasn't just the pirates. They gave way to a new anomaly and then Xeromus showed up."

He looked at the door. "You could argue Seifer would still be here if you'd told us what was going on."

That one seemed to get to Shimmer, who shuddered again. "I'm sorry!" he blurted out repeatedly. "I'd never— I didn't want this to happen. I was trying to, y'know, make something happen. Like you guys."

"Yeah. That's why I'm mad." Igneous crossed his arms and shook his head. "I've been there. When my mom died. I tried to be the one to make things happen. Didn't tell anyone." His left claws tightened around his right elbow to try and stop the tingling. "Lost an arm for it."

Shimmer winced.

"But it wasn't just that." Igneous squeezed his elbow tighter. Why wouldn't the damn pins and needles go away? "I lost the respect of everyone around me."

"At your... dad's newspaper?" Shimmer uncovered his head and slowly raised it.

Igneous sighed. He wasn't entirely sure if this was a good idea. But given the day's events, he decided to rip the bandage off.

"No. In the Ryujin." The grovlazzle tucked his head down. "Mom was the leader. Dad had an inkling, but never pressed the matter."

He was, of course, twisting the truth. Even though part of Igneous wanted to out Sakaki, his instincts drove him to protect his father. "I was supposed to take over. But after I tried to go after her killers on my own, the clan had doubts. They think I'm reckless. Dead weight.

"Sound familiar?" Igneous eyed Shimmer as the ponytales lifted his head up more. There was confusion sprawled across his face. Igneous quickly added, "I wasn't sure if you'd try to run off to your mothers if I told you the truth. But since you were willing to talk pirates into raiding one of your kingdom's cities, clearly it doesn't matter anymore."

That undercut whatever Shimmer was planning to say, since he poked dejectedly at the floor with an icy forehoof. "I see," he whispered.

"I'm not entirely clean either," Scarlett piped up. "I willingly let Vortex and his scientists do all sorts of weird stuff to me so I could get famous." The dragonair rolled her head onto its side. "There was, like, an entire page of side effects this stuff was going to do. Like draining the color from my scales, giving me cataracts, turning me sterile and—"

Igneous accidentally sucked in a sharp breath and descended into a coughing fit. He and Shimmer traded bewildered looks.

"Ah, sorry. TMI?"

"Yeaaaaah." Igneous thumped his chest until the last of the coughing faded. "But, well, do you get the point, Shimmer? We've been where you are. We don't want to see you make the same dumb decisions." He glanced at Scarlett. "Right?"

Scarlett nodded. "It sounds like you... know you weren't that good of a person back at the academy. The way to fix it isn't by running off on your own to, I dunno, prove something." Her right wing slowly flapped in place.

"Good point." Igneous jabbed the air with a claw. "Like it or not, your mom's one piece of a larger puzzle here. We're juggling a lot. So, if you really want to apologize, then you have to get with the program. Cooperate."

He slid off the side of the bed and onto the floor. "I'm still learning that part myself, so I guess saying that makes me an asshole. But whatever. There's too much at stake."

Igneous stretched his arms up so his claws grabbed at the bed covers. "That's my spiel. I'm not out to hate you or anything, Shimmer. Especially since I... see myself in you. Which has been... confusing."

An awkward silence followed. Shimmer rested his head on the carpet. "You see it too, huh?" He sighed, coating the carpet by his nostrils in a thin layer of frost.

Embers crackled on Igneous' head leaf. The way Shimmer spoke, it was almost like—

"Oh, brother."

Starlene materialized. Scarlett picked her head up, ready to recall her, when the latias held up her hands.

"I'll be gentle," she promised. "We're both thinking it."

"Thinking what?" Igneous frowned.

"That while you're crushing on us, Shimmer's crushing on you." Starlene made a little triangle with her claws. "And I think, deep down, you're a bit torn."

Shimmer's horn flickered and Igneous tensed up to avoid his head leaf catching fire.

"C'mon, don't deny it." Starlene drifted toward the floor, looking between the two guys. "He's stuck close to you, Iggy. And you haven't pushed him away."

"Cuz I'm not trying to alienate him." Igneous waved Starlene off dismissively.

"It's true for me," Shimmer admitted, pulling some of his frosty mane over his face in shame. "But I figured, I dunno, this was just another Xander situation. That you'd been nice to me and, with time, I'd realize there wasn't any connection." He laughed nervously. "I mean, y'know, I never thought I'd even find a reptile attractive."

If that was meant to be a compliment, it missed the mark. Igneous shut his eyes and gently massaged his brow. Try as he might, the grovlazzle couldn't muster up a response.

Sighing, Starlene flopped onto the floor. "Jeez, it's like pulling teeth."

"Gentler," Scarlett chided.

Igneous opened his eyes to see Starlene picking at carpet fibers. "Fine, fine." She locked eyes with Igneous. "You still crushing on us?" The latias pointed to Scarlett.

"Uhh..."

"Yes or no."

"Maybe?"

"Yeesh." Starlene rolled her eyes. She turned her head in Shimmer's direction. "What about him?"

Igneous tried to straighten out the leaves on his right arm.

"I think we have to be more specific," Scarlett said. The dragonair pointed her tail at Shimmer. "Do you find him attractive?"

"I, uh—"

"Yes or no."

The grovlazzle's head leaf crinkled. When did this become an interrogation? "Yes," he admitted in a whisper.

"Do you think you like him?" Scarlett asked. "In a 'we should go on a date' sort of way?"

That one stumped Igneous. Sure, he saw himself in the ponytales... but was that a good thing or a bad thing?

All Igneous could manage was scratching his head. Shimmer was still hiding his face behind his hair, so Igneous had no idea how he was taking this.

"Okay." Scarlett lifted her head up and recoiled around her pillow. Starlene vanished back into her neck bauble. "Then I think... we're all in similar places."

Igneous frowned. "In what way?"

"Uncertainty." Scarlett brushed tip of her tail back and forth across her blanket. "We're all conflicted about whether or not our feelings are real." The dragonair pointed her tiny wing at Shimmer. "Because of the past." She pointed the wing at Igneous. "Or the present."

Then she looked down at her pillow. "Or the future."

Shimmer finally brushed his hair out of his face so he could look at Scarlett. "Referring to yourself?"

"Yeah. Cuz, like..." Still rubbing her tail against her blanket, Scarlett stole a glance at Igneous. "I've, y'know, seen the changes you've been making. You stuck by me in Herbrides. And tried to save Seifer, even recognizing Gene gave him the best chance. You didn't run off this time."

Igneous heart fluttered, but he kept his expression stoic. "I hear a 'but' in there."

Wings drooping, Scarlett sighed. "It's hard for me to, like, rationalize thinking about love or whatever when it feels like the world's on fire. And I don't know if that's because of Polaris' experiments or something else."

As much as Igneous wanted to jump to Scarlett's defense, he stayed his tongue. She had said it before: she didn't want a white knight. Maybe she wants validation.

"That's fair." Igneous' claws dropped to his sides. He tapped them against the carpet. "We haven't even talked about that shit Xeromus said about the cloud daemon being the 'real arceus.'"

"And I don't want to." Scarlett shook her head. "He's lying for Zodiark's sake."

Igneous nodded, though he had the nagging sense they were missing something. Still, if Scarlett didn't want to press it, then he'd drop it. "Yeah. It was just, y'know, an example. Of what could make it hard to think about love and relationships and stuff."

Shimmer got to his feet and made his way over to his bed in the corner opposite the door to their room. "Great," he muttered. "Does that make me a bad person for thinking about it, then?"

Talk about a lose-lose question. Igneous doubted he could say anything that wouldn't upset Shimmer. He silently watched the ponytales climb onto his bed.

"No. People have needs," Scarlett said, to Igneous' surprise. "And, like, if you two want to test the waters, go ahead. Only thing that matters is trying to help the resistance, right?"

There had to be better ways to phrase that. A tingle ran down the grovlazzle's spine and he wasn't sure if that was out of awkwardness or potential excitement.

"I don't know." He stood up and flopped onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow. "It's been a long day. I just want to sleep."

"What was that?" Scarlett asked.

Igneous tilted his head right. "I just want to sleep. Maybe tomorrow we can, I dunno, do something low-key. Nikki and Yuna can join, too."

Assuming there wasn't some resistance issue they had to tackle, of course.

He didn't bother waiting to see if either of them responded, however. Igneous smushed his face into his pillow, dug his arms underneath it, and tried to will himself to sleep.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Whelp, I’m not fully sure where this one’s gonna go, since this next chapter looks chunky for your standards. But given that your story conveniently popped up on ⁠review-tag again, I figured it was time to stop falling behind further with:

Chapter 89

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

It's simply astounding!

Thanks to my studies of the Space Globe, I'm making tremendous strides in understanding how the legends of our world operate. The attacks we've come to associate with them in our myths are in fact manifestations of their powers over nature itself!

Oh, so basically, when you turn a Legendary's power up to 11, it straight-up has reality warping effects, huh?

Take Palkia, for example. The stories surrounding the Hisuian heroes describe crescents of energy that warped the air around them. The Galaxy Team member who befriended them called the attack "Spacial Rend" in Hisui's first pokédex, since the crescents were cutting through space.

But the Spacial Rend spoken of in stories in an incomplete version. At their strongest, Palkia takes hold of the very fabric of space itself and pulls and weaves it in an unfathomable number of different directions. To a human, this would appear as innumerable crisscrossing lines through the air that shatter like glass.

Yeah, I knew it. Though it kinda checks out given how the N's Tao has that one cutscene late in B1W1 where it just casually vaporizes a bunch of pools of water in front of you.

I'm beyond enthralled! To think that space itself can be molded and manipulated like plain old matter! Perhaps we humans could find a way to harness that for ourselves. Space is infinite, so theoretically it could grant us a source of unlimited energy.

I've already submitted the findings to The International Journal of Pokémon Studies. I'm sure they'll accept my manuscript... and then funding will pour in. And with that, I can achieve my dreams: the construction of Celestica Labs, the foundation for a better tomorrow for humans and pokémon alike!

Yeah, Cynthia totally didn't get her funding lined up for this, I can already tell.

Night or day, torches gave the Aeon Castle living room a soft, orange glow. The torches were placed a safe distance from the tables pushed aside and the chairs stripped of their cushions to make a haphazard pile in the middle of the floor.

Oh hello, Xenoblade 1 music. What are you doing leaking out of my writing playlist?

... A pile that two squealing dreepy shot toward at blinding speeds, crashing into the cushions with soft fwumps. They popped out, giggling excitedly.

"Us next! Us next!" Two slightly larger dreepy floated up toward Yuna's triangular head.

Ah yes, Yuna's having a turn turning her siblings into projectiles.

"Easy, easy." Yuna held her hands up. "I'm still new to this, guys. I need a moment to focus."

"Booo!" one dreepy said while the other blew a raspberry at the dragapult.

"Okay, okay, fine." Yuna sighed when her younger siblings flew up and squeezed themselves into her horns. It was a bit strange, then it felt oddly natural. Like Yuna was meant to be doing this.

Natural instincts be like that. Even if I'll take the under on Yuna having kids of her own one day to do this with.

Yuna angled her head at the pile of cushions and shot her siblings forward. Like the smaller dreepy before them, they struck the pile. Their tiny ectoplasmic tails wriggled with delight. They high-fived one another once they were free from the cushions.

Simple pleasures! :V

"They seem to be enjoying themselves."

Chuckling, Baraz waddled up to Yuna's left. Yuna's two youngest siblings hovered next to him, each clutching matching salandit plushies that she and Yiazmat had made for them. Both looked up eagerly at Yuna's horns.

What is the story behind why they have those in-setting anyways? Beyond the obvious meta that it's a subtle cameo of Spice from HoC?

"You guys want a turn?" Yuna asked.

They nodded in unison.

"Well, I don't think Sweet and Spicy can come along," Baraz said. The dracozolt leaned over and opened his tiny hands.

Wait, does Spice legit have a sibling named something along those lines in HoC? Or was that to make the cute pun there?

"Aww, really?" One of the dreepy clutched her plushie tighter.

"Spicy would get hurt if I shot her from my horn," Yuna said, tapping the yellow edge of her triangular head with a golden claw.

Her youngest sisters looked at one another, then reluctantly parted with their salandit dolls. Yuna leaned over to let them fly into her horns. The dragapult shot her sisters into the cushion pile. They squealed in delight, while their four older siblings helped them get free of the cushions.

"Again! Again!" they shouted.

Yuna: "They're... going to keep me busy doing this for a while, aren't they?" .-.

"Oh boy," Yuna muttered.

Yeah, I had a feeling the novelty was starting to wear off.

Fortunately, the door on the other side of the room opened. "Yo, Princess!" Nikki stepped inside cradling a large bag of kettle corn in her arms. "I got what you wanted and—" She cut herself off to stare at the pile of cushions.

"Uhh, I don't think that's how you build a pillow fort, half-pints."

Yunasis #1: "It's not a fort! It's a cushion!"

"Guys, look! Your big sister's friend brought you chocolate-covered kettle corn!" Yuna pointed an index claw at Nikki. "Why don't you go help yourselves?"

"Chocolate?!"

"Oooooh! I want chocolate!"

"Yeah! Gimme, gimme!"

They can eat that without getting sick? Though I suppose that's one way to tell that at the very least Dreepy are more tolerant to food toxins than most IRL animals are.

The dreepy darted toward the startled toxtricity. Yuna shot Nikki an apologetic look before she was besieged by Yuna's siblings, reaching their arms toward the kettle corn and squirming around Nikki's arms and legs.

I can already see Nikki's death glare after things settle down a bit.

Chuckling, Baraz turned to Yuna. "Not that I don't appreciate the unannounced visit, but... I'm guessing this has to do with what happened on the other side?"

Yuna nodded slowly. Baraz had brought Calcifer to an infirmary but hadn't stuck around after that. How much did he know?

"Is the king okay?" the dracozolt whispered.

"I'm not sure," Yuna replied, watching Nikki set the kettle corn bag down for all the dreepy. She stayed near it, scratching her head when, predictably, the bag's contents spilled out over the floor.

Yuna: "I mean, he's not dead at least? So that's a start?"

"I hope so," she continued. "Especially since I pretty much spilled the beans about Bahamut, y'know, not being benevolent." Yuna wrung her hands apologetically. "And, well, I'm dealing with a lot."

"[ ] An escape, then," Baraz said. He offered one of the salandit dolls. Spicy, if Yuna wasn't mistaken.

"Maybe." Yuna took the doll and turned it over in her hands. Spicy looked the same as it did when she and Yiazmat finished it. No extra stitches or anything to suggest someone repaired it. "It certainly left my head spinning."

IMO, Baraz's line is a little too short. It might be worth adding something to the effect of "So this here is [...]" or something like that, then. Since it reads a little abrupt coming after Yuna's line.

"Hey, Mom, am I ever gonna have a brother or sister?" Tessa shouted.

Oh boy, the visions are back.

"There's no shame in a quiet break," Baraz said, looking over the other salandit doll. "Going back to familiar comforts."

"Is that speaking from experience?"

"Of course." Tiny sparks crackled around Baraz's beak. "Take that tea you always see me with. The servant who trained me taught me how to make it. The taste is comforting."

Baraz: "Even if I think that you've well outgrown being shot out of another's horns by now." ^^;

Yuna's siblings were scooping kettle corn off the floor and shoving it in their mouths while an exasperated Nikki looked on.

"I wouldn't exactly say shooting them out of my horns like I'm Mom is, y'know, a familiar comfort," the dragapult said.

"Well, it kinda is. Just mirrored," Reshiram piped up.

Cecil: "Also, you seemed to be having a lot of fun vicariously through them, so-"
Yuna: "Whatever!" >_>;

"Perhaps. But you seem relaxed." Baraz looked across the room. "And they're so happy to see you."

"Should I tell them about Dad?"

"I won't force you."

They quietly watched as the kettle corn disappeared from the floor. Nikki had grabbed the bag with the remaining kettle corn. She walked over, tossing a kernel in her mouth.

Yuna: "I... don't suppose we can just tell them that mom and dad went on a vacation, can we?"

"Your siblings are crazy, Princess." Nikki tossed in another kernel. Then another. "Eight of 'em? How'd you stay sane?"

"Well, I didn't see 'em that often," Yuna admitted, holding Spicy up. "Really sick, remember?"

"Fair." Nikki tilted the bag toward Yuna. "You want?"

I sure hope that Calcifer and Yiazmat drew up a firm line of succession, otherwise the disputes over the throne after they're gone are going to be wild.

She declined at first, but the toxtricity shook the bag slightly. Rolling her eyes, Yuna skewered a couple of kernels with her claws and ate them. [ ]

"Not bad."

"Don't lie." Nikki smirked. "You liiiiiiiike iiiiiiiit~"

Yuna's tail curled up. "Yeah, I do."

IMO, it might make sense to have given a little more attention to Yuna's reaction, e.x. if she starts out chewing slowly, but then it picks up or something.

Baraz chuckled at them. "Should I get a spare bed set up for her in your room then, Princess?"

The dragapult tensed. Nikki tilted her head. "Oh, we spending the night here?"

"I was gonna," Yuna mumbled.

"Count me in." Nikki shook the kettle corn at Baraz.

Yuna: "Wait, but I didn't invite-"

"Very well." The dracozolt took Spicy from Yuna's hand. "I'll prep for your first slumber party in years."

Nikki laughed at that, drawing the attention of Yuna's siblings.

"Baraz!" Yuna hissed in a whisper.

"Kidding!" Baraz turned and headed toward the dreepy. But Yuna's tail was shrinking into her torso from embarrassment.

She's going to get roped into having a slumber party anyways, isn't she? >:V

Noctum entered the private room Yiazmat retreated to. Calcifer lay on the lone bed fast asleep. The dragapult sat next to him, her right hand by the duraludon's head. Given her body structure, her tail had phased through the folding chair and curled around its legs. She braced herself against a cabinet full of healing supplies with her left hand.

Oh hey, FF8 music. It's been a while since we've leaned back into the PSX FF vibes that this story started out with.

"How is he?" the mega charizard asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Sleeping." Yiazmat traced her hand across the bedsheet. "I don't see injuries, but who knows what's going on inside."

Noctum reflexively looked down at his stomach. He's not the only one.

Noctum: "Wait, if he's 'sleeping' now, that means that he woke up sometime earlier... right?" ^^;

"You're stuck in that form now?" Yiazmat wondered, eyeing the starcloud fire at the tip of Noctum's black tail.

"Maybe." Noctum scratched the side of his head. Fortunately, a round of deep breathing turned off the starry flames trailing off the edges of his mouth. "Haven't thought about it much." He traced a claw around the top of his belly. "Part of it... feels kinda right? Like it's meant to be."

Oh, so this is how Charizard used to look like in Etherium, huh? Since I distinctly remember there being a story about Bahamut taking away Charizard's dragon-ness in-setting.

Yiazmat hummed in thought, drumming her left fingers against the side of the cabinet. "The Book of Aeon says there was a time when charizard always looked like that." She gestured at Noctum. "Well, with blue flames. But you get the idea."

See, I knew Noctum's remark sounded familiar. Though I have to wonder what on earth happened back then such that the default state of Charizard was to be Mega Evolved.

Noctum nodded. He knew the story well. While trying to quell a fury within the charizard, Bahamut caused them to gain dragon-typing. They continued to be restless, creating problems for the Sages. Bahamut then found a way to reverse the change and strip their dragon typing.

Ahh, so that's the story of how they worked. Though Megazard Y just has never existed at all in Etherium, huh?

"Will you try to change back?" the dragapult asked.

Shrugging, Noctum approached the bedside. He hadn't given it any thought. "Right now, I want to do what I can to help everyone." Noctum grabbed the blanket on the bed and pulled it up to cover more of Calcifer. "How are you holding up?"

At first, there was more tapping of fingers against the metal cabinet. Then Yiazmat bowed her head. "I've had better days." She tilted her head in Calcifer's direction. "I want to pray for his safety, but..."

Noctum: "I'm... just going to take that as a 'poorly' there." ._.

That won't do anything. Noctum winced. Yiazmat had taken everything from Bahamut's journal to heart. And now all the troops knew the truth about Bahamut, too.

Well, we're not hearing about others being on suicide watch right now, so they're probably taking things in stride at the moment?

"Well, if there's anything you need, let me know." Noctum leaned over and put his right hand on Yiazmat's shoulder.

The moment he did, blue-purple sparks raced down Yiazmat's torso and Noctum's right arm. Both of them yelped in surprise.

Noctum: "Ooooh, that can't be good."

She stood amidst muddy ground. Rain poured all around her. Droplets dribbled off pillars. Some broken, others overturned. Her merchant friend stood beside a pile of rubble and crumbled marble.

Adjusting his hat, the merchant said, "Have a look at this, A̶̫̓k̴͙̉a̸̳̅r̷̙͌i̴͈̊"

Step by sloshy step, she approached him. With a better look at it through the rain, the crumbled marble... was probably a statue's base.

"This statue has been kept here," her friend said. Holding his hat to shield his smiling face from the rain, he looked past her. "Far from the statues of Ḋ̸͈i̷̞̍â̶̞͙l̴̼̥g̶̭͒a̸͔͇ and P̷̭̓älkia."

Whelp, we PLA flashbacking now.

Shaking his head, he pet the top of the marble pile. "Broken and shattered. And yet it remains." He turned to her. "Do you know what it is?"

She opened her mouth. What came out was muffled. Everything around her flickered. In and out. In and out. In and—

The merchant marched around the ruined statue. Tracing his right hand along the side of it. "You see, ever since I was young, whenever I met with something painful or heartbreaking... I couldn't help but wonder why life was so unfair."

Wait, are these honest-to-goodness lines from the game? Or are these ones you cooked up for the story?

He tilted his head up. Rain cascaded over the somber smile on his face. "Why I was cursed to live through such things." He turned to her.

The look in his eyes... one of understanding. She'd seen it before. Masked by confusion, yes. But it was the same confusion I̷̩͖n̶̝͗g̷̝̔o̵̭̱ had whilst climbing the Highlands with her.

"Of course, I imagine we all go through something like that," he continued, smiling sweetly at her. She focused on the rubble surrounding the ruined statue.

I take it that the Zalgotext is meant to be Noctum's mind glitching out on certain key term names. Though it makes me wonder if all of them also have reincarnations in the present day or not.

"Eventually, I chose to direct all my energy into my own natural curiosity and ambition."

She flinched. He was by her side once again, gesturing proudly behind her. "And what tickled my curiosity more strongly than anything were the mysteries to be found in legends. In history. And in ruins."

Akari: "Um... okay? Also, you're being really, really creepy right now, Volo."

Noctum: "... What on earth is this anyways? Who are these people?" ._.

He put his hand on her shoulder. She went as stiff as the shattered statue at her feet. The merchant leaned over and whispered, "You see, I fancied that by unraveling these mysteries, I̷̟̫ ̴͕͔c̴̹̀ò̶̖ù̷̦l̵̤̰ḋ̶̢̚ ̷̛͉f̴̗̦ḯ̷nd ǫũt höw țḩe ̶̡̱ẁ̷͉o̴̖̠r̶̼̯l̸d ȋtșel̴̰̃f̴͚̏ ̷̡came to̸ be."

His smile was full of confidence once again.

"Ǎ̵̟̦ñ̶͕̹d̵̟̞ ̶̢̟w̸̱̲í̸̙̳t̵͍h ẗ̪h̴͉͔a̷̬͎t̷̙̾ ̸̨̫k̸̫ǹỏw̷͇̫lèdḡẹ, ṁaẏb̬e̴͈͂ ̵͎͚e̸̬̫v̶̢̥ë̶̤n ḟǒŗģë̠ ̴̥̳ȧ̵ ṇew, ̵̖̃b̷etṯer wo̷̧̗r̷̲͕l̴̝̹d̴̪̥!̵"

Well, he technically went one better than just a 'world' there.

Noctum stumbled back and fell on his rear. Yiazmat's trembling arms were outstretched. Her eyes, widened like a feral facing down a predator, darted around the room. She looked at Calcifer and recoiled.

"Your Highness?"

Yiazmat flinched. Dragonfire brimmed in her horns. Noctum froze, fearing any slight movement would set her off.

"You need to leave."

Noctum: "I- I- Wh-What? Your Highness? What's going on? Why are you holding me at Dragon Dart-point and why's the background music suddenly super ominous-?"

It was barely a whisper. Noctum's tail flame shrank. "I—"

"NOW!" Yiazmat shrieked.

Frightened, Noctum bolted to his feet while the dragapult repeatedly screamed, "Get out!" The mega charizard fumbled with the door, then stumbled out into the hall. A Dragon Dart smacked the door shut. The clap echoed through the hallway.

Oh, that's totally going to do wonders for Noctum's self-esteem given how big a part Yiazmat and the royal family were in his earlier life.

Noctum staggered forward, clutching his ringing head and bracing his right arm against the metal wall.

He landed on the temple floor. The central space of the humans' monument to the Creator. The two women looked at him, faces full of awe.

He recognized the one on the left. She sent him prayers and the gifts of song. He concentrated on her. She stumbled slightly, resting a hand on her blonde hair.

How on earth would he see anything past that hand given that it's been strongly implied that Noctum used to be Palkia back in human times?

"A-Almighty Sinnoh?!" She looked to the girl with black hair, then the young man who offered prayers to his sibling. "I think Almighty Sinnoh is speaking with me!"

Distorted cubes flickered around her. A garchomp's silhouette swallowed her up. The black-haired girl vanished, too. Replaced by a dragapult. By Yiazmat.

Oh, so that's who those two are in the present day... I think.

A loud slam snapped Noctum to attention. He found Valkyrie's claw inches in front of his snout. She scraped it along the wall, then put it on the tip of Noctum's snout. His tail flame flickered.

"You don't get to do that," the garchomp growled. Noctum practically wilted from her glare.

"Do what?"

"Play the big hero in the heat of battle then stumble through here with some faraway look in your eye." Valkyrie pulled her arm back.

Noctum: "Um, yeah, I'm kinda having an unfolding life crisis right about now, could you cut me some slack here?" ._.

"What?" Noctum shuffled back. Thankfully, Valkyrie didn't close the distance.

"Don't play dumb with me." Crossing her arms, she turned away from him. "You were going to let that Dyna Depletion shred you to ribbons." Her voice trembled by the end of that sentence. "And for what?"

Noctum raised a brow. Wasn't it obvious? "To keep you guys sa— ack!"

Valkyrie whirled on the mega charizard, shoving him against the same wall she'd scratched with her claw. "You could've closed that rift while staying next to me!" She brandished a claw at the tip of his snout. "But instead you plopped yourself in the line of fire like... like an absolute bonehead!"

Oh, she likes him. I can already tell from this reaction.

She kept her claw in place. It had a purple tinge. If Noctum even opened his mouth, his snout would graze the poison.

And, threatening or not, she did have a point. In hindsight, he made a stupid decision. But he had to move Valkyrie's arm to say anything. So he reached up and pulled it. She looked ready to rip his face off, so Noctum quickly blurted out, "Yes, you're right! I was dumb!"

Noctum: "Next time, can you just scream at me instead of getting physically violent like that?"

The admission sapped the fight from Valkyrie. She stepped back, folding her arms tightly over her torso.

"Don't do it again," she whispered, then walked off to Noctum's right.

"Wait!" He lumbered after her. They couldn't leave things like that. It was beyond awkward. Especially knowing they might work together when another mission popped up.

Huh. More PLA music here? I suppose it's time to see where you're going with this.

Valkyrie only quickened her pace, though, rounding a corner and shoving the door to the stairwell open with her shoulder. Noctum flapped his wings and glided after her. She was already up two flights by the time he entered the stairs. He flew up. She took them three or four at a time, then booked it out a door on the third floor.

Noctum kept following and, realizing she was about to close the door and lock it, Phantom Warped. It carried him through the door even as it slammed shut, which sent him barreling into Valkyrie. The two dragons ended up in a heap on the small shag carpet in the middle of her room.

"Get off me you idiot!"

"Ow! Okay! Sor— eeeeee!"

The pain from a rough, scaly knee to his groin was indescribable. It lingered even as Valkyrie rolled him onto his back. She put her right foot on his belly.

Oh so that's where this part wound up in this story.

Noctum: "H-How did that even work? There's not supposed to even be anything down there for reptiles!"

Valkyrie: "Nerve endings. You have a bipedal bodyplan, so there's still enough down there to work with for sending a message." >:(

"What do you want from me?" the garchomp growled.

"T-to apologize?"

Valkyrie applied pressure. Noctum managed to roll out from underneath her leg and stumble to his feet. "I didn't want to leave things so awkward," he insisted, holding up his hands.

Noctum: "Even if that's probably kind of a moot point by now."

"This is your idea of making things less awkward?" Valkyrie gestured around the room. "Is it an Aeon custom to phase into people's rooms without their permission?"

"No." Noctum folded his wings up and looked down guiltily. "I guess I thought you'd ignore me if I stood by your door." He glanced over his shoulder, tittering. "And it's hard to have a conversation through a metal wall."

Yeeeeeah, you should've just talked at the door, just saying, Noctum.

The ensuing groan lasted until Valkyrie had flopped down on her bed. Noctum wondered if he should step closer, but got an answer when the garchomp held up her right arm.

"Don't. I just... I can't with you."

Noctum's cheek flames almost reignited, but he kept them under control. "Can't, um, what?"

"This." She pointed both arms at him. "Tossing yourself at devastating attacks for my sake, then cracking nervous jokes with me." Valkyrie smacked her right arm against the bed. "What am I to you?"

The love of his life~ ❤️

"My teammate?" Noctum blurted out.

The glare that followed told him to think harder. He shifted nervously. Tried to look away from Valkyrie's glare.

What was Valkyrie to him, really? If they weren't on a mission, then they tended to verbally spar. That... wasn't a good thing, right? To say nothing of what happened between them on Chakran.

Come on, Noctum, your author's only been teasing this ship for like 40 chapters now. o<o

And yet, she kept standing by Noctum. Even as his world kept getting flipped on its head, she was always there. With some harsh words, sure. Still...

"I guess... you're my friend," Noctum whispered.

Valkyrie's glare practically dissolved away. After a protracted silence, she whispered, "Why?"

"Do I need a reason?" Noctum tried keeping his tone soft. "We look out for each other, so—"

"That's not good enough, damn it!"

Noctum: "I mean... you're also kinda cute when you're not inches away from physical violence?" ^///^

Noctum flinched. His starry tail flame flickered. As he considered a response, the mega charizard slid down to sit on the floor. The way she kept pushing back... Noctum could only draw one conclusion.

Sighing, he tucked his head down. "I think... you'll be upset no matter what I say." Noctum took a deep breath. "But you have helped me. Even if you're terse." He paused. "And callous."

Valkyrie: "... Please tell me that this isn't some complex from you being a bodyguard. Honestly, I'd take hearing 'because you're hot' better." >_>;

The garchomp surprisingly flinched. Noctum took that as a cue to continue. "But if it wasn't for you, I don't think I would've gotten past learning the truth about Aeonism." He looked at the ceiling. "Or a lot of the stuff we've learned about the world as a whole.

"So, yeah, I think you're my friend." He held his right hand up and crossed his claws. "Even if we're not buddy-buddy."

Huh. I'm surprised this wasn't played up more beyond that short moment after the initial reveal. Though I suppose there's been a lot of other faces competing for screentime.

Noctum grabbed his tail and pulled it beside him, watching the starcloud fire swirl around. He waited for Valkyrie to respond. Or snap at him and tell him to leave.

Nothing happened, however. All Noctum heard were short, sharp breaths. He glanced at Valkyrie. There was confusion sprawled across her face. Something else was there, too. Something he didn't recognize at first. Because Noctum wondered if Valkyrie was even capable of it.

Fear.

Noctum: "... (Oh that background music isn't promising.) Um... Val? Are you okay right now?" ._.

Did he dare scooch closer to her?

... She locked eyes with him. He recognized that look. It was plastered over his face when, as a charmander, he wandered somewhere he shouldn't have... and found himself running for his life.

Boy, Noctum had quite the childhood there.

"I can't," she whispered, rubbing her wiry arms against her thighs. "I can't. I can't."

This time, Noctum stayed silent because he was genuinely at a loss for words. She kept rubbing her legs. Breathing sharply. The mega charizard feared she was going to nick herself with her own claws.

Valkyrie squeezed her eyes shut. Dug her claws into the sides of her bed. Cotton and feathers spilled out. Then, bit by bit, her breathing slowed. Her expression sharpened.

Finally, Noctum found his voice. "Whatever's wrong... you can tell me."

Noctum: "Just... uh... maybe keep your pointy bits a healthy distance from me while you're doing so?" ^^;

The garchomp pivoted away. Noctum's heart skipped a beat. All that time to come up with something and he blew it!

"You don't get it."

What wasn't he getting? Noctum barely managed to stop himself from scooting forward. What was he missing?

... Wait! The stuff she said back at the monastery. Was that it? Was that why it was hard to get her to open up unless she was angry?

I... might need a refresher on this one. Let's see if the text obliges.

"It's because of what happened to you before." Noctum fidgeted with the end of his tail. "Medicis turning on you to save their own skin."

Valkyrie nodded, trying to hide a pained expression. "The last time I ever opened up to anyone... my ass got hauled off to Citadark." She looked at her claws. A purple tinge overtook them for a split second. "After that... I told myself it'd never happen again."

Oh, well. That got really sad really quickly.

Noctum resisted the urge to squeeze his own tail. But he had to know. "Becoming an assassin—"

"Was my decision," Valkyrie cut in. If she was ashamed, she hid it well. "Sakaki offered me different options to pay off my debt to the clan. And I chose that one."

Because it would keep everyone else at a distance, Noctum realized.

Now that I think about it, this seems to be a bit of a recurring character dynamic for Squeenix games. Since I can think of a few different ones where "loner consciously pushing away the world" is a thing offhand.

She wasn't prickly because of the job... but because she was trying to protect herself. So, their other arguments, then. Was she trying to understand him? Was that her crying for help?

"... I admit it."

Noctum blinked. "Huh?"

"I'm jealous of you." Valkyrie folded her arms in her lap. "Of the life you found. And what you made for yourself." She sighed. "I thought... even if you had people who loved you, I was still stronger. And that was what mattered with this whole dimensional crisis.

Noctum: "I mean, you kinda still are from the way that you casually threw me off of you earlier?" ^^;
Valkyrie: "Read the room, Noctum."

"But that?" The garchomp gestured to him. "I can't compete with that."

Static rippled across Noctum's vision, replacing Valkyrie with that blonde woman.

"I can't compete with that. Not Mighty Palkia," she said, yet there was a serene smile plastered on her face.

Yeah, Valkyrie was once AU!Cynthia. Since I remember the name that Gene addressed her by that suddenly got her to shut up nice and quick.

"Why does it have to be a competition?" Noctum said. His words pushed the static away, restoring Valkyrie and her slightly torn bed.

Valkyrie tensed. "I didn't mean it like that. I just... I'm supposed to be strong enough to handle myself. That's what I trained for." She looked away. "Getting caught off guard in battle like today... it's embarrassing."

Noctum: "... That's life? Everyone gets on the wrong side of a battle sometimes, right?"

Valkyrie: "Noctum, I'm not supposed to be 'everyone'!" >.<

Oh, so it was a pride thing. Noctum opened his mouth, but Valkyrie brandished her left claw at him.

"Don't you dare say 'I'm sorry.'"

Eyeing his shrinking tail flame, he shut his mouth. Noctum wasn't sure how else to respond. Things were only going to get tougher, weren't they?

But this wasn't a problem they could solve in one sitting. Noctum figured Valkyrie knew that, too, judging by the apprehension on her face.

Yeah, this doesn't seem remotely healthy right now. Even if I'm not really sure what would be needed to give Valkyrie a hard corrective and try something different.

He could keep pushing. And maybe that was the right call. Noctum couldn't bring himself to do that, though.

"Okay." The mega charizard got to his feet. "No apologies. Instead, how about a 'can I sit next to you?'"

There was a flash of that earlier, almost feral fear in Valkyrie's eyes. She managed to stuff it down. "Fine."

One of those Medicis who betrayed her was close/intimate with Val, huh? Since the poor 'mon just seems utterly terrified of anything approximating emotional closeness.

Noctum slowly approached her bed and sat down on her left. The bed creaked from the added weight. Noctum said nothing. Valkyrie stayed silent, too.

There were no clocks around. Noctum doubted much time had passed. Yet it might as well have been an eternity.

Noctum: "Well. Um... I don't suppose there's anything you'd like me to do to try and lift the mood?"

Eventually, though, rough scales brushed against his shoulder. Instincts screamed to react in some way, but Noctum remained still. He caught Valkyrie's head on his shoulder out of the corner of his eyes, avoiding the spikes there.

One part of Noctum begged him to return the gesture. Another said to push her away, reminding him of what happened with Yiazmat.

But as Noctum glimpsed the garchomp slowly relaxing, that first part won out. Slowly, he extended his right wing.

Valkyrie didn't move. She'd shut her eyes.

Yeah, I knew that she liked him.

Though a small gesture, it was clear. She was trusting him.

Carefully, Noctum draped his jagged wing underneath Valkyrie's dorsal fin.

Her rough scales hurt his wing membrane. But the warmth that flowed through his chest made it all worthwhile.

That art is adorable. @Adamhuarts did a really good job at bringing this moment to life.

As the night rolled on, Leo found himself unable to sleep. At first, he thought maybe there was too much nervous energy from having more plates. So, he tried shifting his appearance around. He was even able to take on the guise of other pokémon with the plates' power.

It was cool, until he tried to think about why he could do that. Which gave him a headache.

Ah yes, back to the PLA music jukebox.

The cosmic arceus decided to take a walk in the hopes of clearing his head. He left his room, headed down a metal hallway, and took the stairs down to the same sublevel as the hangar.

Leo walked down the gray, windowless corridor. Maybe if he floated out in space he'd fall asleep?

But then I'd worry everyone when they wake up.

Also, I'm pretty sure that you're on Paradox's radar. If not now, then in the very near future.

He rounded a corner and continued down another drab metallic hallway, starcloud fur dimming.

Would it have killed Gene to do something with the residential side of the outpost? All this gray sucked ass. Maybe the sheer monotony of it would lull Leo to sleep.

Well, someone's certainly been growing up fast. Kinda wild to think about how Leo's gone from mentally being babby to being a moody teenager over the course of this story.

He froze mid-step.

Two spirits were nearby. What if they sensed him?

Shit, this was bad. The last thing he needed was an earful from Yuna for wandering around at night.

... Wait! There was an easy fix. He just had to concentrate. C'mon, focus.

... Wait, is he about to teleport?

Leo's wheel flickered blue. In an instant, the cosmic arceus melted into a tiny puddle by the edge of one of the metal doors. Perfect timing, too, since the spirits in question rounded the corner.

Not quite teleportation, but still a neat party trick there.

Gene and... that Veggie guy! Leo couldn't remember the dusknoir's name, but that felt close enough.

... Okay, what are you two up to right now?

"That's your plan, is it?" The shadowy mewtwo's arms were crossed. He wore an unusually stern expression. "Do what you can to help, then disappear into the afterlife forever?"

"I figured you'd be happy to hear that," Veggie said.

They both stopped. Leo tried to keep his puddle as still as possible. Could they sense him? Was the jig up already?

"Hard to take anything you say at face value," Gene said. His tail twitched in irritation.

Oh, so these two have a history with each other, huh? I suppose I should be less surprised considering how long Gene's been around, but I was still a bit surprised to discover this.

"And yet, despite ample time to reveal the truth, you haven't," Veggie countered. His eye flickered blue.

Still creepy, Leo thought. He had to focus, though. Puddle. He was nothing but water. Too many thoughts and they'd sense his spirit.

Gene's Malice Crystal flickered. "Unlike you, I have a bunch of people to look after. Causing a panic in the outpost isn't productive for the resistance."

Oh yeah, that's totally not going to wind up causing problems for everyone down the road. /s

"Nor is the distrust you'd sow amongst the Aeons," Veggie cut in. Now his eye glowed a solid, steady blue. "Fascinating. Your convictions have changed."

"The situation's changed." Gene leaned back against the wall and crossed his right leg over his left. "You clearly understand that, too. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

"I truly mean it." Veggie turned away from Gene. "If the last Needles are pulled, I'll die. Necrozma shall truly become invincible."

Um... yeah, that feels like kind of a big detail that should be shared with the rest of the team, just saying.

Gene raised a brow. "Implying he isn't right now? You told Yuna we'd have to locate Necrozma's 'lost spirit' to defeat him."

"I've reconsidered our approach."

Leo concentrated hard on staying liquified. Veggie had lied about that? Why hadn't Reshiram said something to Yuna, then?

Simple. He didn't recognize that it was a lie.

"There's a chance." Veggie held up an index finger. "If you accept Arceus' blessing—"

Gene's eyes and shoulder crystal glowed purple. "You mean your son's." He pushed off the wall and moved to walk away. "I knew you were full of it."

I'm sorry, WHAT. Implying that Vegna is the part of Bahamut that he cast off to become the undead... thing he is now?

Veggie stuck his arm in Gene's path. The shadowy mewtwo stopped, glaring at Veggie. If Leo had proper ears in puddle form, they'd be ringing.

"It's not the same," Veggie whispered.

"Come again?"

"Even if there are traces of the soul I remember, it will never be the same." Veggie bowed his head. "He's not my son."

I'm just gonna take that as a confirmation and... yeah, this was really something that they should've brought up at the briefing, since I can already see how this is going to risk grenading the Resistance right now.

Gene put his hands on his hips. "And what about Yuna? Y'know she told a bunch of us she's Chiron, right?"

Leo was still in as much of a daze as he could afford whilst suppressing his spirit to maintain puddle form. But something about the way Gene phrased that...

Veggie rested his right hand on the wall. The blue glow faded from his eye. "She's not my wife." Blue electricity swarmed his eye once again. "I cannot get attached. If I do, I'll fall back into old habits. Seek to recombine and—"

That, and I think that the reveal would probably be the definition of anti-romance given the sort of vibes that Vegna has consistently given off to her in this story.

"Seriously?" Gene's tail lashed at the air. "So, better you off yourself? Take this secret to your grave?"

"Times on times he divided, and measured space by space in his ninefold darkness." Veggie slowly shook his head. "You of all people should understand this is the correct decision. I've made too many mistakes. I'm long past the point of redemption—"

... Wait, implying that Vegna isn't the only part of Bahamut strutting around out there? .-.

Gene's glare turned to indifference. "Yeah. Sure. You're right." The shadowy mewtwo laughed bitterly. "Screw me for thinking your brush with mortality had changed anything."

He started to walk off. Veggie's eye faded back to red. "Where are you going?"

"To bed. I gotta meet with that ponyta twink tomorrow."

"We're not finished here."

Oh, well that tone of voice wasn't ominous at all there.

The shadowy mewtwo whirled on Veggie. His shoulder crystal crackled with red and black energy. A blade of shadows manifested in his right hand. And there was... something behind him.

Leo was trying his hardest to keep himself and his aura hidden. But that shadowy blade... felt like it was trying to claw Leo's spirit out into the open.

And that thing behind Gene — a black, crystal sphere with a glowing red core — made Leo want to reform and run. Run far away.

Why was it... familiar? Was Veggie seeing it, too? He had to be, right?

I'm sorry, did you just imply that Gene is an incarnation of Void from GL?

"We are finished." Gene leveled the blade at Veggie. "I'm not taking the kid's power. I'll do this my own way."

The dusknoir drifted back. "This... this is..."

"You spent a while around Overseers," Gene growled. "I'm sure shadow-type came up once or twice."

Wow, Vegna's actually afraid for once in this story. I guess he must still have some residual memories of what he's seeing at the moment.

Veggie's eye dimmed. "How long... have you had this power?"

"Too long." Gene brought the blade closer. "But I can't control it. I keep it suppressed." He jerked his head at his glowing Malice Crystal.

Leo felt that awful clawing again. When he looked at the crystal sphere behind Gene, he saw a chilling emptiness. How was Veggie not reacting to it?

"The reason I didn't go to fight Matriarch was because I couldn't control it." Gene's shadowy blade rippled. Crackled with red and purple lightning. "Nova was afraid I'd turn against the team. And then I lost him."

Um. Yeah, there is exactly zero way this is going to turn out well once word gets out courtesy of Leo.

Veggie started to drift further away, but Gene's psychic grip took hold and brought him closer. The dusknoir tried to keep his head away from the blade. "And so... you've feared... calling on it?"

"Until today," Gene said. His eyes flashed blue. "I used that power on those damn birds. Can't keep hiding it now, can I? I'll—"

The crystal sphere behind Gene pulsated. His face contorted in pain, then the shadowy mewtwo brought his hand back as if he was going to spear Vegna with the shadow blade.

"—Perhaps I should kill you after all. The fear and panic it would cause... it could grow my power. Enough to pull off the impossible and destroy Necrozma."

Gene, you're scaring me right now. Well, more than you already were from the big reveal.

Leo lost sight of the hallway. He saw a dark, starry sky. A black miasma surrounded a rainbow tree whose colors were fading into the black mist.

"All this fear. All this anguish. The world cries out for its suffering to end. I shall grant that wish. Burn away all the suffering in the fires of the sun!"

"One shot. One chance," Leo said. He flung a delphox and a meganium toward the tree. "The world's hope rests with you!"

... Or Gene could be Dark Matter. That's a possibility, too.

Gene locked eyes with where Leo was hiding as a puddle. He released Veggie and staggered back, clutching his head and shaking it.

"I, nngh, told you..."

The glow in the shadowy mewtwo's Malice Crystal faded. And the crystal sphere vanished, too. "Hard to... control."

He knows about Leo, doesn't he?

He glanced in Leo's direction again. Veggie looked over his shoulder. Leo did his best to remain as still as he could as a puddle, but the dusknoir raised his left hand. Blue sparks crackled around it.

"How long were you hiding there?" Veggie said.

Leo reformed from the puddle. The cosmic arceus looked down guiltily at his golden hooves. There were things he could say, but the words weren't coming to him.

"You tell no one what you heard," Veggie said. The sparks spread along his right hand. "Understand?"

Leo: "I'm sorry, but are you freaking kidding me?! You're my dad and Gene has some evil... thing inside of him! Why on earth am I supposed to not tell anyone about that?!"

Leo looked over to Gene, but the shadowy mewtwo had vanished. Had he disappeared into a rift or fled toward the staircase?

Small blue bolts peppered the ground by Leo's forelegs. He hopped back, starcloud mane flickering.

"I asked you a question, boy." Veggie's eye cast an eerie blue glow over Leo.

"I understand," Leo squeaked. "I won't say anything."

Worst. Father. Ever. Though it makes me wonder if Bahamut had similar interactions with Leo back in their shared life.

Veggie turned away. The sparks disappeared, but gold mist and ectoplasm melted off the dusknoir's right arm. "I'm holding you to that."

And he floated off, leaving Leo alone in the hallway once again. The cosmic arceus' head pounded.

That shadowy blade. That crystal sphere. What was that vision? Was that... something that happened? Was he a reincarnated soul, too?

Even if that makes me wonder if Leo was necessarily Arceus originally given that we saw what I presume to be the Super protagonists and Arceus was busy being a statue canonically.

How could he talk about this with anyone if he promised not to say anything?

Vision fuzzy, Leo staggered toward the stairwell.

He needed time. Leo couldn't make any decisions yet. He had to think things over. Try and make sense of all of this... even if it was on his own.

Leo's head spun too much to levitate up the stairs. So, he clumsily climbed them.

Sleep was definitely off the table now.

I'm not convinced that he's going to be able to keep this to himself for long.

"Y'shoulda seen it, Maxie! I was slicin' 'n dicin' bots left and right! Hyah! Sha-ha!"

Oh hey, it's been a while since we saw Archie and Maxie. Let's see what we're doing now.

Artemis wasn't sure what he was expecting as he slithered through the hangar in search of the bag he'd left there. Archie slashing the air with a jagged seamitar wasn't anywhere near the top of the list.

Shaking his head, the ghostly typhlosion looked up from the book he was reading. "I know you were. I was there."

Archie froze mid-thrust. "Oh yeah. Suppose yeh were."

Maxie:

"You were too busy jetting around to notice." Maxie nudged his goggles. "I was with some of the dragons keeping their distance."

Yeah, close enough, really.

He noticed Artemis. "Can I help you, Milotic?"

Artemis' ribbons curled. "Ah, no. Not at all." He spotted his bag beside some boxes and slithered toward it. "Just, y'know, grabbing my bag. Forgot it when I left."

"Uh-huh." Maxie returned his gaze to his book.

As Artemis grabbed the bag, however, Archie said, "Yer antsy."

Huh. I didn't really get that vibe up to this point. I wonder if it'd have made sense to play up in the narration a bit harder.

"Huh?" The milotic coiled up. "Well, it's kind of hard not to be after what we heard."

"Not about that." The dark samurott leveled a jagged seamitar at Artemis. "Yer itching to do something. I can feel it in my bones." Archie looked over his shoulder. "C'mon, Maxie. Back me up here."

Maxie silently turned a page in his book.

Archie scowled. "Lousy killjoy..."

Whelp, time to find out how accurate Archie's perception of others is shortly.

"I heard that," Maxie scoffed, nudging up his goggles.

"Whatever." Archie sheathed the jagged seamitar. "Point is, yer tired of sitting on the sidelines. Yeh need to do something. It's written all over yer face."

Seriously? Artemis doubted some weird-looking samurott could tell that solely from his expression. It was a bluff. Artemis wouldn't entertain it. He uncoiled and slithered for the door to the residential quarters.

Whelp, Archie confirmed for having some crazy insight into other people. I suppose it goes with the territory as an ex-villainous team leader.

"Yeh can lie to yerself all yeh want!" Archie bellowed. "Yeh'll just keep getting antsier and antsier until yeh pop!"

At the laughter that followed, Artemis whirled around. "So, what of it?" The milotic's ribbons bristled. "You've seen the insanity for yourself! I can't stand up to any of that." He raised his right ribbon. "Everyone's on an entirely different level. Yeah, I helped hold the line against that crazy sneasler, but that was pure luck!"

He lowered his ribbon, shaking his head. "I'm a dishwasher, for pity's sake. Any training fell by the wayside once the Radiant Guard and Vortex screwed me over."

Live look at Artie right now:

Before Artemis could continue to the door, Archie said, "So, yer not even gonna try to fix it?"

Artemis froze. "Fix it? What's there to fix?"

"C'mon. I ain't summoning no giant dragons outta a gem in my chest." Archie thumped his armored chest with a foreleg. "Maxie ain't, either. Not stopping us from fighting."

I mean, sure it might end terribly for them eventually, but they're not wrong.

"Indeed." Maxie turned the page in his book. "And what of all the Aeon soldiers?"

"They're soldiers," Artemis countered. "Their whole job revolves around this." His brows drooped. "I lost my chance at being a soldier."

"And it'll stay lost if yeh don't do anything about it," Archie scoffed.

I mean, considering how we've had exactly zero of them get explored in any depth, I'm honestly expecting them to get Rem Canyon'd at some point in the future.

The milotic's brows and ribbons crinkled. "Like what?"

"Lendin' a fin, o' course!" Archie slapped a foreleg against the metal floor. "Even if yer just fightin' the dumb bots, it's more than sitting around here." He rocked back and forth. "Yer a pokémon. Battlin' is in yer blood, whether yeh like it or not."

"Not doing anything to change your feeling of worthlessness is naught but learned helplessness," Maxie added. The ghostly typhlosion still hadn't looked up from his book. "And that's rather pathetic for a milotic."

Shots fired there. Though I suppose we'll see how this plays with Artie.

Artemis flinched. They were right. He was repeating the same mistakes that kept him stuck in his dead-end job back at Horizon. Back then was too afraid Vortex had blacklisted him, so he just... stayed there, bemoaning the hand life had dealt him.

"Okay, fine." Artemis turned away from them. "I'll give it a shot."

Wow. That turned out better than I expected.

"Aye, that's the spirit!" Archie raised a jagged seamitar. "Why don't yeh join us fer some training tomorrow? I can whip yeh into fighting shape!"

Given the twinkle in Archie's eyes, Artemis wondered if actual whipping was involved. "I'll, uh, consider it." He turned toward the door. "Thanks."

The milotic slithered out of the hangar and into the hallway. He had a lot to think about. So a nice, hot shower was in order.

I suppose that that's a sign that we'll be seeing more of Artie in this upcoming arc, since it's admittedly been a while since he really had much story focus.

Alright, made it to the end. So you said that this was the last cooldown chapter before things started heating up again, which I suppose was technically correct, but that scene with Leo, man. Like there's a lot of implications behind that one given that it reveals that there's multiple ticking time bombs on the team and their entire mission and I'm not convinced at all that Gene and Vegna's attempts to keep them under wraps won't wind up ending in tears for everyone involved. I'm honestly impressed at how you seemed to have a little something for everyone in terms of mood this chapter.

In terms of criticisms, there were a couple points that I noticed that I felt could've been expanded a little more, and a part of me wonders if the chapter would've been more effective had it ended with Leo's scene given that it was the tensest one in the entire chapter and the one that's probably the most important to where things are going to wind up going in the future. That said, it didn't really get in the way of my enjoyment of the chapter as a whole, and in the end, they're fairly small criticisms.

Good work @Ambyssin . I dunno how soon I can catch up with this story since I've kinda been in a busier season of life lately, but you've definitely been doing a good job keeping me on my toes with this story, and I'll be looking forward to seeing where you take it.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, coming back to this to try and close the distance with this story's current events a bit more with…

Chapter 90

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

"Seriously?"

Tessa looked at the paper that Nickie nudged across the floor to her. It had crude doodles of spiked rings.

"Yeah!" Nickie's tails wagged asynchronously. "Look, this bandanna you leant me is nice. But it's not my style." She nudged at the blue cloth with her snout.

Well, that would explain a thing or two about Nikki's current fashion sensibilities. Though I wonder if this means that we'll ever see her get to rock a choker at some point.

"Not your... style?" Tessa picked up the paper. "So you'd rather wear—"

"Spiked collars and anklets!" Nickie's tails wagged faster. "I had spiked wristbands back home. They were great. I'd love something like that here." Her eyes sparkled. "And then maybe I can grow out my hair so it covers up one of my eyes a bit. Gimme that 'heartthrob' look." She swished her tails to the side and stuck a foreleg out in a pose accentuated by the sparkling of her icy pelt.

Oh, so even back in the human world, Nickie was going through a punk phase.

Tessa blinked. "Huh."

The vulpix frowned. "Something wrong?"

"I guess I... thought you'd go for softer accessories."

"Oh." Nickie's ears folded. "Well, I—" She brushed her forelegs together. "Now that you know the truth I thought... I could be more of my, y'know, authentic self around you."

I distinctly remember that Nikki had a similar character arc earlier in the story, I wonder just how much of each characters' overbroad life events were repeated/echoed in their AU!GL incarnations' experiences.

"Hmm?" The realization set in a moment later for the riolu. "Ah!"

She lightly hit her head a few times. "Stupid, stupid!" Tessa folded up the paper. "Of course you should do that."

Can't tell if this is an allusion to Tessa remembering how Nickie wasn't able to be herself back in the human world or else if there's another story here that we'll see sometime down the road.

"Then you'll help me find a place that sells these?" Nickie regained her earlier enthusiasm.

"Totally."

"And maybe some fur dye?" Nickie looked back at her right flank. "I was thinking some pinks and purples..."

Tessa walked over and slung an arm around Nickie. "I'm sure we've got the funds for it."

Oh no, she's becoming an OC-

Nickie: "Hey, if there can be out-and-out fusions in this story that people take seriously, I can have a dye job, okay?!"

As the name implied, Herbrides' Hilltop Mall sat on a decently sized hill toward the center of the city. The entrance offered a view of grain and wheat fields beyond city limits, along with the rows of tan-colored buildings fanning out in all directions.

That BGM is reminding me that I have this game rotting in my backlog right now and I should really get around to it once writing, reviewing, and XB3FR stop making me make glub glub noises.

Inside, however, the white floor was so pristine that Yuna could see an outline of her reflection. Though the dragapult had to admit she liked how the floor sparkled under the sunlight spilling in through the mall's glass roof.

"So, what d'ya think, Princess?"

Nikki clapped Yuna on the back as she passed her by. The toxtricity ran a hand along the top of a neat, rectangular bush planted in a pot in the middle of the floor.

Yuna: "I... uh, never really saw you as the mall type, really."

"It's, um, something?" Yuna waited until Igneous walked past before continuing forward. She glanced over her shoulder. Scarlett had on some sort of cloak to hide her face, while Shimmer was disguised as a fire-type ponyta.

Also, is this literally based off the Alive Mall, just not overgrown, or is this just a generic mall whipped up here?

Truthfully, she still wasn't sure why Nikki insisted on dragging her here. The whole reason part of the resistance was in Herbrides was to sweep the city itself. Cid mentioned something about the distortion that swallowed up Tulpise spreading south, and that was all Seifer needed to demand they move out.

I mean, on the positive side, that probably helps with booking cheap hotel rooms right now, since I imagine that if that news is public that the Herbrides have likely cleared out considerably.

"You don't really think the empire's going to spawn in this mall, do you?" Yuna wondered, keeping her voice down. Plenty of folks were heading in both directions. A fact that Shimmer and Scarlett both seemed spooked by.

"Of course not." Nikki adjusted her leather jacket. "But we needed a change of scenery." She walked backward. "C'mon. A week of nothing but artificial light and Cyril's dumb outpost is so boring."

"I guess." Yuna did find the natural sunlight refreshing after another week of mind-numbing training exercises. "Though we could get sunlight outside, too."

"Sure, sure." Nikki dismissed her with a wave. "But then we wouldn't get to take you to your first mall!"

Nikki: "Which I'm honestly kinda shocked that you've managed this all this time, since foreign royalty going on spending sprees isn't exactly a rare thing."

This was about Yuna? The dragapult's head swiveled left and right. There were glass windows with two and four-legged mannequins draped in cloaks and jackets. One store displayed wooden shelves lined with trays of assorted baked goods. The store next to it had big glass containers full of wrapped candies and chocolates.

It was kind of like the market in Saint Zygardesberg. Except the shops were stacked into multiple floors instead of lining a single street.

Oh, so their markets haven't yet reached the stage of "multi-story arcade" yet. Honestly a little surprising given how many dragonmons can casually fly, but I suppose that's decently on-brand for pre-industrial life.

"Wait a tic," Reshiram piped up. "How are you supposed to buy anything? You don't have any radians on you."

Yuna passed that concern along to Nikki. The toxtricity snickered. She flicked her right hand out. A tiny plastic rectangle popped up between her fingers.

"Since when do you have a credit card?" Scarlett slithered past Nikki, stopping by a fountain and eyeing the marble primarina statue spitting up water. The brionne scattered along the fountain's rim also spat water. And were those coins glistening on the floor?

Cue the theme song:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ZZjObnOt4

It was weird, yet Yuna found all the sparkling coins and rippling water relaxing. She could've stared at the bottom of the fountain all day, but Nikki's voice caught her attention.

Oh, she has a treasure hoard back in Aeon, doesn't she? Since I can see that mesmerized look at those coins there. :V

"Since I swiped it outta lover boy's hair." Nikki stuck her hands up by her mohawk and wiggled her fingers while making a kissy face.

Arms crossed, Igneous rested against one of the stone brionne. "And what happens when Cyril realizes he has a bunch of new charges on his credit card?"

"Nothing." Nikki tucked the card back into a small, zippered pocket on her jacket. In a hushed voice, she added, "Dude illegally mints his own radians. He won't care."

Wait, radians are a cryptocurrency in this setting? Or does Cyril literally have a mint pressing counterfeit bills in the basement of his burger joint?

Igneous' brows twitched in irritation while Nikki continued past the fountain. Gulping, Yuna followed.

"At least it's better than outright shoplifting?" she offered with a nervous smile.

I'm going to die of laughter if you actually wind up doing a reference to that one Proud Family sequence.

"Niiice. Looking at the bright side." Shaymin nodded his tiny head in her subconscious. "I dig it. Say, they got any good eats around here?"

What does it matter? You're a spirit! Groaning, Yuna shoved the Sages out of her head. "So, what exactly are we going to do here? I'm not, like, looking to buy food or clothes."

"No duh." Nikki picked up the pace. "C'mon. Map said it's back here on the third floor." The toxtricity pointed toward a moving staircase in the far distance. She pushed her way past an older simipour and simisage. "Stand aside, geezers!"

So... arcade or movie theater?

Yuna muttered an apology as she floated after Nikki. She swerved past an inteleon, whose sobble child on their shoulder promptly began crying and turned invisible. She weaved under the large frames of a couple of garganacle, nearly crashing into a painting canvas with a smeargle sitting beside it. Yuna floated ahead, flashing Smeargle a nervous grin. They shook their head and returned to... painting a portrait of a plusle and minun couple sitting on a stool next to the canvas and holding hands.

Wait, Sobble can do that canonically? .-.

Why is this so... nostalgic?

"Because of thine market trips back home?" Rayquaza wondered.

Maybe? The market did bustle, yes. But the ash choking the skies over Saint Zygardesberg made it tough to appreciate her time there.

"Perhaps it's Giratina's memories, then."

... Wait, implying that Tessa managed to go back with Nickie to her world at least on one occasion? Since that would certainly be one way for a mall like this to be nostalgic to her.

Reshiram's thought sent a chill down Yuna's ectoplasm. She barely avoided an elderly espathra moving much slower than surrounding foot traffic. For a moment, the pristine white floors turned to a dirt road. Instead of a toxtricity shoving people aside, a familiar black-haired girl waved Yuna over before jogging down the dirt road toward a small wooden building with some sort of toolbox outside it.

"Let's craft some smoke balls together! They'll totally help us look for the pokémon causing those storms!"

Huh, guess she really is seeing Giratina's memories there, since that's straight outta PLA.

"Keep up, Yuna!"

Scarlett's voice snapped the dragapult to attention. Nikki was already heading up the escalator, with Igneous and the dragonair about to get on.

"Sorry!" Yuna squeaked. She decided to fly higher up, over everyone else, to keep pace with the others.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Reshiram cut in.

Yuna: "... No comment." >_>;

Yeah, sure. But Nikki said we're here to have fun. Yuna reached Igneous and Scarlett. So drop it, okay?

Sighing, Reshiram retreated from her mind. Yuna hovered up the escalator. The others got off at the third floor. Nikki walked a few meters away, toward a flashing neon "GAME BUSTERS ARCADE" sign above open glass doors. She stood with her hands proudly on her hips.

Yeah, I had a feeling that they were going to something like this. That's definitely something you don't see in many malls anymore.

"Seriously?!" Igneous' head leaf and tails simmered. "You dragged us here for a damn arcade? We're not a pack of kids, you know."

"Oh, step off your high rapidash." Not turning around, Nikki waved the grovlazzle off. "You're never too old to let your inner child out for a spell. Think of it like a team-building exercise."

And it'll be time to see the groaner bland name counterparts you came up with for different games inside.

She finally looked over her shoulder. "Speaking of high rapidash, where's Pillow Prince?"

Yuna's eyes widened. Right, Shimmer. He was with them before. What happened?

"Tch." Igneous crossed his arms. "Right when you ran off, he said Demerzel contacted him. So, he left."

Yuna: "Oh for crying out-!" >.<
Nikki: "Wait, but isn't that a good thing? Since with all due respect, but Pillow Prince didn't strike me as the type to handle games well unless he won all the time."

Scarlett frowned. "I thought Gene had gotten rid of that whole connection."

"He kept a part of it." Igneous pinched his brow in annoyance. "He still wants to keep tabs on his mothers, apparently. Tried to tell him it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen."

Well, I suppose that's a sign that this casual day out at the mall isn't going to stay a casual day out at the mall for long.

So, the ponytales was off to meet with Demerzel, then? That was... not going to bite them, was it? The look in Igneous' eyes suggested it wouldn't, but it made Yuna nervous anyway.

Narrator: "It will absolutely come to bite them."

"Well, forget him." Nikki stepped toward the others, rubbing her hands together. "This evens things out perfectly."

"For what?" Scarlett wondered, looking between Nikki and the arcade. Though the door was open, it was quite dark on the other side.

"For a little two-on-two air hockey action." Nikki punched the air while her mohawk flared up with excitement. "Since Princess has to learn the ropes, I'll take her. And you two can be together." A wry grin spread over her face. "Y'know, since you've been spending soooo much time together~"

Yeah, I figured that Nikki would take Shimmer's absence in stride, though no group game of Mario Kart Arcade GP?

Igneous' head leaf caught fire, which he immediately snuffed out. "Why should you get decide?"

"Aww, what's the matter?" Nikki was at Igneous side in an instant. She noogied his head. "Afraid of getting your ass kicked in a friendly competition?"

Nikki has a lot of experience with pressing buttons to get her way in life, doesn't she?

"Knock it off!" Igneous shoved her away. "The teams are—"

Scarlett's tail wrapped around the grovlazzle's leg. "You don't have a problem with me not having limbs, do you?"

The simmering returned to his head leaf. "N-Not at all." Igneous clenched his fist. "We can... kick their asses just fine."

Well, that's going to be a sight to behold from Team Igneous' end.

Nikki's grin widened. "Now that's the spirit! C'mon!"

Before Yuna could say anything, Nikki had her by the arm and was running for the arcade entrance.

Ah yes, time to find out if "no limbs" or "no experience" is the bigger handicap in air hockey.

Herbrides. Why did it have to spread toward Herbrides? was all Seifer could think to himself as he walked along a side street. Cyril was beside him, in the guise of a dark-type zoroark. He held a small rectangular radar.

Oh huh, that's definitely different from how I remembered Poshley Heights' music sounding, but it's not a bad remix.

"Still nothing." Cyril tapped the screen with an illusory red claw. He shifted his weight mid-step. "All clear on the ground to the west. We'll keep going clockwise."

"Understood," Widget said through the X-transceiver line. "We're good, too."

Seifer quickened his pace. The tan roads and tan buildings could practically melt together.

Whelp, I'm just going to take this as a confirmation that fun and games at the mall is going to come to a screeching end shortly.

"Y'know, never did get why so many houses on the outskirts are circular," Cyril said, taking his eyes off his radar and casually moving ahead. "Makes 'em look a bit like bunkers."

"Simulates the hills," Artemis responded. He was slithering a few paces back of them, sticking his head up. Enjoy the cool breeze, perhaps? The air was rather stuffy in the outpost. "At least, I think it does," the milotic mumbled.

"And people actually pay decent money for these?" Cyril walked past a couple of the domed houses, eyeing them skeptically. A dolliv tending to a small petunia garden in front of their house shot the zoroark a nasty look.

"Ah-ha, whoops." Cyril rubbed his fake red hair. "Might've gotten a bit too loud."

Snerk. This fic's sense of humor never ceases to entertain.

Seifer locked eyes with Dolliv. Their eyes instantly widened. Seifer started walking faster.

"Oh, Commander Seifer! Lovely to see you again!" Dolliv waved.

"Move," Seifer hissed to Cyril in a whisper. Putting on the fakest smile he could muster, he turned and waved a forehoof to Dolliv. "Good morning, Tunie. Your garden's still as radiant as ever. Apologies I can't chat. I'm on the clock."

... Oh right, Arboliva has a midevo. I honestly completely forgot since Smoliv and its evos are just kinda forgettable to begin with. ^^;

Ignoring Artemis' bewildered expression, the keldeo hoofed it forward. A granbull and an alcremie with two milcery children playing together in a fenced yard looked over and waved. Seifer nodded respectfully, continuing forward.

"What's the rush, Seif?" Cyril said, breaking into a jog to keep pace with Seifer's trot. "Where's the fire?"

"We have to find somewhere hidden." Seifer's eyes darted around. These people weren't supposed to be home! They should've been out and about on a nice morning like this!

Can't tell if these are all people from the Radiant Guard or if Seifer grew up here once upon a time.

"Heeeeey!" Artemis sounded annoyed. "C'mon, you're both faster than me on the ground!"

Seifer turned left toward a dustier road. A minute of trotting would reach city limits. The homes here were spaced apart, but there was a grass wall dividing them. It was good enough cover.

"I need an illusion," the keldeo said.

Okay, yeah, this feels like Seifer's hometown right now, since I'm guessing the implication is that these bunker-homes aren't exactly cheap since those sure sound like hedges there.

Cyril caught up with him. "Ser... iously?" He hunched over, taking deep breaths. "Thought we had this discussion earlier."

"That was before I realized where in this city Gene sent us." Seifer shrank back nervously. "My family's got a vacation home in this neighborhood. People aren't recognizing me because of my old position. They're neighbors."

Well, I was in the right neighborhood (har har) with my guess, at least.

Eyes widening, Cyril stood up. "Ohhhh." Then his shock turned to annoyance. "Well, why didn't you mention that before? I could've told Boss Kitty not to send us here."

"We were in a bit of a hurry and it's a big city," Seifer mumbled.

"Then forget it." Cyril put his hands on his hips. "Boss Kitty, you there? Change of plans. You've gotta cover the ground here."

Wait, it is? I was under the assumption that Herbrides was basically a backwater from its first appearance in the story.

"It might be too late for that."

Seifer jumped at Artemis' voice. The milotic pointed a ribbon back. "There's a cobalion and terrakion heading this way." His eyebrows drooped. "Your uncle and father, if I'm remembering right."

... That actually makes me wonder just how close Seifer is to the royal line of succession, since Justine is also a Muskedeer and this family relation can't but help but make me

a bit.

The keldeo's blood ran cold. He shot Cyril a pleading look. Sighing, the zoroark snapped his fake red claws. Blue light surrounded Seifer. It faded to reveal a fairy rapidash guise.

"Okay," Seifer whispered. "Now we continue on like nothing—"

"Oi, you three! What's going on over there?"

Oh, they are related to Justine, aren't they? Since this music just screams "work in the legal system" right now.

Terrakion's sharp voice drew the trio's gazes. Seifer's heart leaped into his chest as Terrakion and Cobalion marched toward them. Deep breaths. He had Cyril's illusion. And the zoroark had proven himself a capable liar on many occasions.

"Just out for a stroll." Cyril stretched his arms up. "My friend here wanted to grab a photo by this grass wall." He slung an arm over a startled Artemis' horn. "He's from Venish. Never left the place before that whole insanity." Cyril lazily traced a circle with an index claw.

Watch as these two just casually see through this lie in like 5 seconds.

"Quiet, you!" Terrakion stomped a forehoof down. The dirt shifted under everyone's feet. "This ain't some touristy loitering spot, Zoroark. Whatever you're up to, better fess up."

Seifer's breaths came in short gasps. His uncle never was the patient type. Had he really seen through Cyril's lie?

I mean, if my guess as to his background is right... er, yeah, he really did.

For his part, the zoroark rested his hands behind his mane. "It's also not some restricted area, bud."

"Bud? Do I look like your cellmate?" Terrakion's eyes narrowed. "It's Greyson. Commander Greyson."

Do these two have a history with each other, or...?

Wait, what? Oh, if only Seifer had real psychic power. He could reach out to Cyril telepathically. Because something was wrong. Greyson was a retired Stoutland Yard chief. He never worked for the Radiant Guard.

Oh, so my guess as to the guy's background was right after all.

"That so? My bad." Cyril raised his hands innocently. The small smile on his face betrayed the tense look in his eyes. "Don't keep up much with the news. Wasn't aware Her Eminence had named a new commander."

"Two new commanders." Greyson jerked his head in Cobalion's direction. "Or, one new and one returning. Picking up the pieces from that useless waste of space that got the boot."

Seifer: "(... Either they're stringing us along, or a lot has changed back home since we were last here.)"

The fake rapidash did his best not to flinch. Seifer's father and uncle were his replacements? Of course. Why look for new blood when Isola could just turn to Seifer's family? If she truly was some nefarious body snatcher, it would even let her keep a close eye on them just in case.

I mean, if my guess about Justine being in your family is right, Seifer...

What was Seifer supposed to do here? He had to say something before this got out of hand. "A-Apologies. We actually got a bit, um, turned around." Seifer stepped to Cyril's side. "And my friend's too proud to ask for directions."

"Fat chance," Greyson scoffed.

Cobalion wrinkled his nose. "Agreed. Something reeks about this. No sane fairy would pal around with some lying, low-life zoroark."

Cyril: "Oi, bub! Chill it with the stereotypes there!"

Cobalion: "It's not a stereotype if it reflects basic expectations of our society."

Seifer suppressed a wince. Memories of his father cursing out assorted species at the dinner table flickered through his head.

So does Radiance just suck to live in if you're any non-Fighting-type species that takes an L to fairies or something? Since I certainly didn't see the hate-on for Zoroark coming here.

"Excuse me?" Cyril growled. He kept his expression as neutral as possible. "I'm not looking for trouble, dude."

"That's Commander Tobias, you ruffian." Cobalion stood up straight, as if to emphasize the half meter of height he had over Cyril.

"Uh-huh." Cyril's tone somehow stayed even. "Well, I hate to disappoint, but this 'lying low-life' is nothing but a humble mechanic."

Lol. Lmao.

Artemis: "(Would this be a bad time to bring up his counterfeiting operation-?)"
Seifer: "(Yes!)" >_>;

"Then what's a grease mankey doing out in the nice part of Herbrides, huh?" Greyson said. Red energy sparked around the terrakion's forehead. "I say we take 'em all in for questioning."

"I wanted to make a day trip here with my boyfriend." Cyril put his hand on Seifer's back. The fake rapidash almost lost his composure. What was the zoroark thinking outing their relationship? If anything broke Seifer's illusion...

He's not and he's getting hot and bothered. Since knowing that one of these two is ex-Stoutland Yard gives me vibes that they're going through an impromptu interrogation at the moment.

"And I've been living with him since the attack on Venish." Artemis tapped the ground by Cyril's feet with his tailfins. "So, I'm third-wheeling."

Greyson eyed the milotic with a look of disgust. "I ain't buying it. You?"

Tobias shook his head. "As I said, no decent milotic or rapidash would slum it with a zoroark." The cobalion's eyes narrowed. "Much less court one."

Cyril:

Seifer: "(... Yeah, in retrospect, I should've brought Cyril up to speed about Radiant class mores, huh?)"

Artie: "(I mean, I kinda forgot all about them by virtue of being a janitor for like a decade.)"

For a moment, Seifer thought there was genuine hurt in Cyril's eyes. But he quickly masked it with his stoic expression. "So, what, you're bringing me to a station because I'm a zoroark?"

"No." Tobias rolled his eyes. "Because you're a zoroark looking and acting suspicious. And these two are clearly accomplices. Now, quiet down and start walking. Or do I have to slap a muzzle on you, runt?"

Aaand I see that these two are pulling out all the stops to murder their sympathy with the audience. Which probably doesn't bode well for their mortality in this story.

However, before anyone had the chance to respond, Seifer caught a streak of orange out of the corner of his eye. "Down!" he screamed, shoving Cyril to the ground. A giant fireball struck the dome-shaped house to their right, blowing the roof open. Rubble struck a blue Protect shield that spilled out from Seifer's horn in the nick of time.

These two must have quite a bit of money to burn, since those repairs aren't going to be cheap.

... His black, ridged prosthetic horn.

Seifer's eyes slowly widened.

Seifer:

"S-Seifer?!" Tobias gasped. The keldeo glanced back to see Artemis coiled around a dazed Cyril. His illusions had failed, leaving his cosmic fur on full display.

"What is the meaning of this, boy?" Greyson said.

Seifer: "Oh boy, this day just had to go and get more awkward right now. Well... uh..."

"More fire!" Artemis shouted. Though he spat streams of water, they couldn't stand up against the fireballs. They struck other domed houses. Screams rang out. Two gogoat and several skiddo ran out of one building, while a tropius and fidough sprinted out of another.

"What did you do?" Tobias bellowed, leveling his glowing Sacred Sword at the trio.

Bells rang out from the sky. Multiple birds appeared out of seemingly nowhere, with wartortle and raichu perched on their backs.

Wait, the space pirates are actually back to do something again in this story? Since I can hear that BGM right now.

"Avast! Ahoy! Yo ho! Yo ho! Our time tis finally here!" a kilowattrel sang.

"We'll plunder like mad!" a pidgeot added.

"There's booty to be had!" sang a swellow with sparking wings.

"Fer the Blackskull Buccaneers!" the wartortle and raichu all sang in unison, before leaping from their fliers back and raining Hydro Pumps and Thunderbolts on the group from above.

Well, that was unexpected. Though I'll heavily take the under on those guys not being smeared across the ground the next time we check up on Seifer's end of things.

"Do you ever think about the day you were born?"

From their position atop the roof of the shuttered Herbrides Crowne Minister's office building, Widget glanced at Gene. The shadowy mewtwo's tail crinkled.

"Seriously?" His Malice Crystal dimmed. "Who leads with a question like that?"

"I do, apparently," Widget responded. He looked down at his golden talons, curling and uncurling them. "I was... curious. Since you were built. Like me."

Gene: "Look, I already had a 14k word special going into this at length a couple years ago, so I'd rather not have to repeat it all right here and now." >_>;

Pinching his brow, Gene walked over and leaned against the yellow brick chimney. "No. I don't."

Oh, so he's literally

-ing right now, huh? o<o

"Oh." Widget's cheek bolts turned once. "Okay." The cosmic silvally curled his fish tail slightly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"Don't guilt trip me, Squirt." Gene crossed one leg over another. His eyes remained shut. "I don't think about it because there isn't much to it. Doing a bunch of stupid tests for stupider human scientists." He clenched his fist. "Then Giovanni captured me when I was supposed to be fully released from stasis. Everything after that's a huge blur until Nova took me in."

Widget: "Wait, but I thought you said that you had at 14k word special that was all about-" .^. Gene: "Which we're not going to get into right now, thanks." >_>;

"Right." Widget nodded slowly. "Do you suppress those memories?"

Gene shook his head. Widget watched his Malice Crystal darken. "I don't have to. Nova suppressed them for me."

I feel as if I should be more worried about how casually Gene is lying right now. Unless if by his standards, the things that we saw in the special are a blur to him since they're a handful of moments he recalls over heaven-knows-how-long time-wise.

The silvally's starcloud swirled around slowly. "All the Eterna energy treatments?"

"In a sense." Gene repeatedly ran a finger up and down the Malice Crystal. "Giovanni... did something to me. He made me so... empty inside. To better function as his 'weapon.'"

Related, or unrelated to him being Dark Matter back in the GL AU?

At the mention of 'empty,' Widget swore he saw some sort of black crystal sphere looming behind Gene. And it... tugged on a part of him. His scaly hide was itching.

That doesn't bode well at all for how well Gene's got that all under control at the moment.

"Nova and Miraidon... sealed that part of me off," Gene continued. He held his hand out and strange black shadows swirled around his fingers.

The itchiness in Widget's scales got worse. He wasn't sure whether to say anything about that sphere. Surely it was an illusion, right?

Narrator: "It was absolutely not an illusion."

"It's something called 'shadowing.'" Gene dispelled the energy. "Nova never told me why he and Miraidon knew how to do this. Though I'm betting the latter being one of those Overseers has something to do with it."

"Shadowing?" Widget's scales thankfully weren't crawling anymore.

Huh. I wonder if that's where Gene got his Dark Matter part of him from

"It's when you seal away a pokémon's spirit," Gene explained. "Normally, doing so turns pokémon into vicious beasts driven by their most negative emotions."

Except Widget wouldn't classify Gene as vicious. If anything, that applied to Necrozma. "You don't seem that way," he mumbled.

"Because Miraidon and Nova had a loophole." Gene placed his hand over his heart. "They sealed off that... thing Giovanni put into me to make me empty. Since he'd done that not long after I was 'born,' I never got to develop my real spirit. But sealing that thing was enough to turn me shadow.

Wait, wait, wait. Did you just casually imply that Giovanni had access to Dark Matter? In a mainline universe (which, granted, was built off the ruins of a PMD universe built off the ruins of another mainline universe)?

"It's why I look like this." Gene pushed off the chimney. Lazily walked toward Widget with his hands resting behind his head. "And how my real heart or soul or whatever you want to call it was able to safely grow on its own."

Widget shifted uncomfortably. The explanation didn't sit right with him. "If that part of you is sealed, why do you remember stuff you did for Team Rocket?"

"Sometimes that thing tries to force its way out," Gene admitted. He looked at his hands. It was subtle, but they were shaking. "To convince me to give into despair and emptiness... and become a weapon again."

So... the solution is to constantly keep a stash of MDMA handy for Gene to dive into and push those negative thoughts away?

"Wait." The cosmic silvally's crest fanned out. "Doesn't that sound a bit like the reincarnated soul stuff?"

Shrugging, Gene lowered his arms. "I don't try to read into it."

Widget's gut squirmed. "So, um, is the reason you don't act all that serious—"

"That's me trying to keep it at bay." Gene pointed at his glowing Malice Crystal. "And it worked... until last week. I was too desperate in Wyndon... and drew on some of that thing's power."

Oh, so there's actually a reason beyond emotions for Gene to put up that joker front that he has, though I suppose it makes sense given what you established is lurking inside him just last chapter.

His shoulders sagged. "It's been tugging on the back of my mind ever since. Whispering the same tired things about emptiness and hatred."

The mewtwo shook his head. "Why are you grilling me on this, anyway?" He sized Widget up. "Is this about the other week? Are you still stuck on that?"

There wasn't any point hiding it from Gene. "Yes!" Widget squawked. His starcloud and cheek bolts dimmed. "I just— I don't understand." He shook his head. "I can't understand."

It might have made sense to have Gene refer to what's going on here a bit more explicitly, since I'll admit that I drew blanks on what he was referring to there.

Gene: "... Run it by me again as to why you're still hung up on this again?"

Grimacing, Widget's talons dug into the stone roof. "The day the emperor turned me on... he was so happy. I thought... he was proud of me." His head crest drooped. "I did everything he told me to. Because he said it would make me a hero. That it would make everyone proud of me."

"Uh-huh. Cuz we know the emperor's such an honest guy." Gene tilted his head. "I thought you talked to a bunch of birddogfish in one of the mystery dungeons and it put you at ease. Why the backsliding?"

"That was before Yuna went and just... just dropped a mental Draco Meteor!" Widget responded. His starcloud flickered erratically. He squeezed his eyes shut. "I thought— no, I believed the emperor had tricked me, yet I still chose to listen. But what if that's not true?"

Oh, it's this theme from Chrono Trigger. Interesting usage here.

Gene: "Then it'd mean that you made some bad life choices, changed your mind, and then made better ones? It's not super uncommon in stories, so what's the hangup there?"

He took a step toward the shadowy mewtwo. "You said it yourself last week." Widget was sure Gene thought him pathetic, but pressed on anyway. "There was nothing biological about me before Leo intervened. What if... what if everything I did wasn't my choice? Simply lines of code instead?!"

Oh hey, this is basically Robo's dilemma from Chrono Trigger. Dunno if that influenced the song choice at all, but it's a cute parallel.

A pained grimace spread over his feet. "The moment I woke up on Chakran, Leo had already shared his power with me." Widget shook his head repeatedly, like he was bucking off a small feral who'd latched onto his neck. "Everything that's happened since... how can I be sure?"

Gene remained still. "Sure of what?"

"That these are really my choices?!" Widget's voice cracked. His gold talons scraped the stone beneath them. Blurry blue and purple light melted together. White fur painted over his cosmic form. Forelegs gave way to reshiram wings. "That I want to fight these battles? That Leo didn't just... rewrite the emperor's code? Or... or stuff some old, dormant soul into my body?

"Even the stuff you were saying about some force of emptiness felt... familiar for some reason."

I hadn't considered that angle at all, but now that Widget mentions it...

Widget glimpsed at his new wings. So white and fluffy. Was this... another one of his transformations? Why was it showing up now?

So he used to be

once upon a time? Or is this one of the perks of being a bootleg llama god?

Pushing those specific thoughts aside, the reshivally sank to his belly. "How can I know?" He folded his new wings over his head. "How can I trust myself... when I don't even know if I've always had a soul?"

Gene: "... You'll have others to give you a stiff smack and set you straight if the worst comes to pass? (At least it'll be a hell of a lot easier with you than with me...)" ^^;

Silence followed. Widget slowly slid his wings off his head. White fur brushed against rough, dirty stone.

"There more to your rant or you done?"

Widget looked up. Gene had pivoted away from him. His yellow-tipped tail curled and uncurled in irritation.

I... am not convinced that that was the best choice of words in response, Gene.

"I thought... you understood," the reshivally whimpered. "Or maybe you remembered something about Nova you could tell me."

"Well, sorry to disappoint." Gene shrugged. "Yeah, Nova was better at this stuff than I was. That's what made him an effective leader, I guess. While yours truly just wings it."

Nothing about that reassured Widget. Then again, it sounded like Gene didn't care.

Widget, remember that Gene literally just went through an entire spiel about how he has to put up fake indifference and devil-may-care-ness in order to suppress the influence of Dark Matter or whatever that is that's sharing his body. Are you sure that he doesn't care right now? Or just that he doesn't think he can indulge this safely?

"It's funny." Gene stopped curling and uncurling his tail. "I'm plain trash at the whole 'leader' thing, yet thanks to Princess I've ended up with a resistance that's at leastten times as big as Nova's."

There was an obvious question to ask: why didn't Gene try and better his leadership skills? Yet Widget kept his beak shut. He'd poured his heart out to Gene. Selfish as it sounded, Widget didn't want to make this about the shadow mewtwo.

Something something imposter syndrome. Something something lying to everyone about multiple things that could cause an existential crisis of morale.

Surprisingly, Gene floated to Widget's side and sat down beside him. "Guess there's one thing I can offer." He put a hand on Widget's right wing. "Nova always told me that it's just as easy to worry about the future as it is to get caught up in the past."

Widget picked his head up. Where was Gene going with this? "If you're going to tell me to live for the present—"

A finger to Widget's beak shushed him. Gene shook his head. "Should you live in the present? Yeah. I do." He pulled his hand back. "Still gotta look to the future, though. One step at a time."

Widget: "B-But what good does it do if someone can just swoop in at any moment and permanently make me someone else?"

Gene: "(... Yeah, I dunno if I have a good answer to that. Though let's just not say that out loud to him right now...)" ._.;

Gene tapped his right temple. "If we let the fear of an unknown future bury us, then we're not living."

He pointed at Widget. "In your case, if you let this paralyze you, then it doesn't matter how you were made or if you have a soul." His Malice Crystal flickered. "At that point, you're letting everyone and everything around you control you. And how's that any different from what you're worried about?"

The reshivally blinked once. Twice.

It... made sense. In a twisted sort of way.

Widget: "... Isn't this just deliberately living in denial?" .^.
Gene: "I prefer to think of it as acknowledging that the future's always uncertain and that it doesn't make sense to worry about it until it's a bit more tangible."

He exhaled loudly, blowing a couple of pebbles by his beak toward Gene's foot. "I suppose." Widget pushed himself to a sitting position. "Might need to work on your pep talks, though."

"That was recycled material." Gene waved Widget off dismissively.

Gene, why would you just go and say that? Though does that mean that he told Nova a version of this once?

"Then your recycling skills need work," Widget deadpanned.

"Like your stand up skills?" Gene countered, a smirk forming.

Widget couldn't help but smirk back. "Touché."

There we go, that's probably a bit more effective as a mood-lifter.

Then a flash of orange caught his attention. "What the heck?" Widget pushed Gene away. "H-Hey! Someone's shooting fireballs at the street!"

Oh, so that raid's affecting all of Herbrides right now, huh?

"The hell?" Gene whirled around. Fireballs appeared out of seemingly nowhere, striking building rooftops. Laughter filled the skies. The shadowy mewtwo's tail crinkled. "You can't be serious."

"What is it?" Widget tried to sense what was shooting the fireballs, but came up empty.

"It's the pirates." Gene hovered into the air. "They must be cloaking their ships."

"With what?" Widget's new tail turbine whirred to life, sending him up next to Gene. "I can't even sense them!"

... They struck a deal with Paradox and are taking part in whatever it was that he wanted Xander to get up to, huh?

Gene tapped his right antennae. "Attention resistance, we—"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't mon least favorite kitty cat!"

Widget squawked. Embers crackled around his tail turbine. "Was that Gilbert on our comm line?!"

Yeah, in retrospect, letting them casually hang around your base in the Qliphoth was probably a bad idea, huh?

"Damn it, are they stealing our signal? How?!" Gene's yellow-tipped tail lashed at the air. "Where the hell's Cyril?"

More building rooftops caught fire. People flooded the streets. "What do we do?" Widget said.

"Start blasting, of course!" Gene blindly slung a Shadow Ball in the direction of where the fireballs were forming.

Widget swallowed hard. He had no idea why the pirates were here. Or how they were here, for that matter. But Widget knew the resistance had to get rid of them quickly, before the whole city got swept up in chaos.

I think you're a bit late on avoiding the whole 'whole city got swept up in the chaos' part there, but I suppose that'll be a story for another day.

Alright, made it to the end. That one definitely slammed the door shut on the lull that we've been in for the past couple chapters in this story. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be Gilbert and the gang to be the ones who did it either, even if I remain wholly unconvinced that they're not raising their hell without someone helping them out here. Also, Seifer's family sucks hard, but you did a good job at making a memorable (and

-worthy) first impression of them. I suppose that it's only to be expected given that early on in the story, Seifer wasn't all that different.

I honestly had trouble spotting any real flaws in this chapter aside from a couple parts where I thought that references to past events might have merited spelling out a bit more clearly (especially the one that Gene refers to in his exchange with Widget) since this story's getting a bit up there in length and is usually fairly event-dense, so some more reminders for people jumping in after a while would be welcome.

But all-in-all, I thought that this was a good kickoff to a new arc. We'll see where things go in the next few chapters, but thus far things look promising @Ambyssin , and I'll be looking forward to getting a better look of Herbrides and its current minor problems with massive property damage sometime soon.