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So I've heard through the grapevine that this chapter shakes quite a few things up, so I was looking forward a lot to writing up my thoughts about it. So let’s try something different from the past few chapters and get right into things with:
Chapter 32
"So, now what?" Nikki lay on her belly, looking at the flat screen PV mounted to the wall. There was a machoke in scrubs and a white coat doing chest compressions on a lopunny with graying fur.
... That can't possibly bode well for that poor Lopunny's lifespan, since I'm pretty sure chest compressions from a Machoke would be injurious in their own right without a firm command of their strength.
Beside her bed, Artemis' gaze wandered toward the desk in the corner of the room. It had a fridge and cabinet neatly stacked beside it. "I don't know about you, but I'm raiding the minibar." He slithered forward and opened the fridge to find tons of small, fancy bottles of various colors.
I can already see Vegna's aneurysm over the resulting bill from this. So how many weeks of detention is that one going to add up to? :V
"Charge the paddles to two hundred!" Machoke shouted. The audino standing across from him lifted two defibrillator paddles that had gel dripping off of them.
"Clear!" she shouted, before pressing the paddles down and squeezing the triggers. Lopunny opened his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, groaning.
Machoke looked at the monitor beside the bed. "He's back in sinus rhythm. Let's get him to the cath lab! Move, move, move!"
Huh. Wasn't expecting the Lopunny to be a guy, even if that is mechanically valid. So what's the obvious expy of E.R. called here?
"Man, this shit's unrealistic." Nikki shook her head. "I don't care what shape you're in, you don't bounce back from CPR like that." She picked up the remote and resumed flipping through channels.
... Not that that isn't a correct observation, but how does Nikki know this? She always had a 'slacker' vibe and I was never under the impression she was studying to become a doc. .-.
"You want anything?" Artemis asked, using a ribbon to pull out a whiskey bottle. He removed the cap with his lips and spat it onto the desk.
"To drink? Nah." Nikki scrolled past a few sports channels showing baccer matches, yawning. "Say, do they got any of them miniature bags of fancy nuts?"
The milotic opened up the cabinet and grabbed a couple of black plastic bags with his other ribbon. "These what you're looking for?"
"Hell yeah they are!" Nikki licked her lips. "Give 'em here."
inb4 the whiskey and nuts add up to something absurd like a hundred Radians for a bill. I know how hotel minibars operate, man. >:V
Can't tell if Artie having a thing for whiskey is just incidental or some sort of hint at a habit of his as a character since considering his life... yeah, I would be wholly unsurprised if he's hit the bottle a few times in life.
Artemis tossed them onto the bed. Nikki reached for one when she flipped to a channel showing a stage with Starlene standing on a podium. "Oh, brother. They gotta put her concerts on replay?" Groaning, she grabbed a bag.
"I don't think that's a rerun." Artemis took a swig of his tiny bottle. "Look there. It says 'Live from the Venishian Amphitheater.'"
"The Amphitheater?" Nikki sat up. "Why would she perform at that rundown waste of space?"
Nikki: "Just saying, being historical doesn't preclude it from being a rundown waste of space. Especially if it's obviously dilapidated." >_>;
"Let's get things started, then," the meloetta declared. She looked down. The camera panned to an aerial shot of an orchestra readying their instruments. The small lapras perched in front of them raised its conductor's baton and pointed to a kirlia seated at a piano. A surprisingly somber piano riff began to play, followed by some minor cords from the strings section.
"Bwuh?" Nikki froze, holding a walnut in front of her open mouth. "This doesn't sound anything like a song Starlene would sing. What gives?"
Rather than her usually animated choreography, Starlene merely swayed from side to side atop her pedestal.
"You'd never know.
No chance to grow.
It's all for show.
Cuz the life you lead
Is not the life you're owed."
... I take it that these lyrics are significantly more heartfelt than normal from Starlene tonight, since I saw that outro commentary in the last chapter and... yeah, this tracks pretty well with that.
Though I have to wonder what this song is based off of, since PoV's songs have very consistently either been scored to another melody or are takes off of another song's lyrics.
Nikki slowly leaned forward. Her heart rate quickened. Her right hand crushed the bag of nuts, spilling them across her bed. "No. It… it can't be…"
Well those lyrics are certainly a downer. And also really creepily appropriate for almost everyone in this story's cast.
Artemis tilted his head. "This can't be right." The milotic set the whiskey bottle down. "The music's a waltz, but the lyrics sound like something Crimson Cloud would come up w—"
"Because they're mine!" Nikki stood up on her bed. Electricity arced down the toxtricity's mohawk.
... Yeah, I had a feeling that something like this would happen from Nikki's reaction. Though what on earth is Polaris doing if they have to resort to stealing from underground acts-
... Oh wait, that's just the story of the music industry IRL. Nevermind.
"You were stupid to trust them.
They've done nothing but take.
It's obvious if you open up your eyes…"
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Nikki knew Starlene's song was getting her worked up. Like she always did to anyone listening to her music. It was something she'd spent her life building up a tolerance to. But that was quickly going by the wayside. This was personal.
Nikki: "That's not waltz music you goddamn thief!"
"I wrote those!" Nikki stomped her right foot down. "In a notebook I keep under my bed!" More electricity gathered around her hands. "I was gonna pitch it to Shredder!"
Some of the sparks jumped around the room. Artemis stiffened. "H-Hey, watch it!"
Nikki didn't register his cry. "That bitch stole them from me!"
... Well that doesn't bode well for the fate of anything that was written in that notebook. Since if one song was stolen from it...
"That you've fallen for their lies.
The crown's never on your side.
They'll fool you 'til the day you die
With talks of pure paradise.
Then ignore your anguished cries
Cuz it's all a great big lie!"
Nikki heard the audience's confusion turn to cries of protest. The orchestra continued to play, seemingly unaware of what was happening. People were standing up. Shouting their protests at the stage. She even heard cries to cut the feed, followed by other voices saying the equipment wasn't working.
Uh... yeah, if Starlene didn't drop those lyrics in on her own, I'll heavily take the under on Shredder ever allowing those to see the light of day on his label considering that reaction to them.
"My work…" Nikki's breathing grew ragged. She ignored her pounding heart, throbbing head, and sparking hands. "My work. My work my work my work my work my work!"
Artie: "I'm... just gonna back away slowly here while you have a normal one."
The last of her grip on herself slipped. With an anguished roar, she thrust her arms apart. Sparks struck a yowling Artemis. A guitar-shaped surge of electricity formed in Nikki's right hand. She stared it like it was an extension of her being, then faced the PV again.
"Just let it burn.
The crown's no longer your concern.
To simpler times you must return.
The crown… will neveeeer leeaarrrn…"
Also there is no way that everyone in Isola's circle expected this from Starlene. Considering Paradox's recent convos a while back about having Pokémon in league with him in Radiance, it's starting to make me wonder...
The lightning weapon was new. It was powerful. It was perfect.
Nikki raised the lightning guitar over her head. Artemis cried out to her, but she leaped off the bed, lunging for the PV. As if destroying it would somehow harm Starlene.
Whelp, that's certainly going to be fun to explain to Vegna in about 5 minutes.
The milotic intercepted her, however. They tumbled across the hotel room, ending up in a tangled heap by the bathroom. The lightning guitar dissolved away. Nikki thrashed about, trying to get Artemis off her.
"Lemme go! Lemme go!" she snarled. "That bitch… I'll rip her throat out! I'll kill her! I'll—"
A searing pain shot through the toxtricity's head. "Gnngh!"
Her vision blurred. One moment, she was staring at the tan ceiling. The next, hazy colors swirled in front of her. Familiar patterns of stained glass.
... Wait a minute, is the music itself inherently able to mind control its listeners? I mean, it wouldn't explain Artie's lack of a reaction, but considering how Vortex's plans include Starlene's music...
There was an orange blur in the distance.
"… to free our Benefactor… prison…"
The ceiling flickered back into view, then disappeared. She had a grip on herself again, so why was this happening? Was this like when Princess passed out during the Crowne Cup ball?
So Starlene's music is doing something to her. Since it gave Yuna a bad trip last time. And now Nikki. That is a really, really ill omen for the future regarding this alleged pop star.
Also, I see that we're seeing visions of Paradox gathering in preparation for Xeromus' big shindig. I think.
"… anoint myself emperor… Eterna Empire…"
Back to the ceiling, then back to the hazy cathedral.
Yuuuuuup, Paradox's prayer is indeed Liberi Fatali. Or it was at least up until his invocation of Eternatus there.
Nice FF series shout-out there.
Nikki finally wrestled herself free and sat up. She was back in the hotel room. Artemis lay at her side, a dazed expression on his face. Nikki blinked. She rubbed her eyes, only to hiss in pain from lingering sparks in her fingers.
Artie: "... Considering how you just had the world's freakiest vision there. Obviously not, no."
No response. Artemis' mouth opened and closed, but Nikki was no good at reading lips. Still, that had to be a sign the song had done something to him, too.
Oh. So it did affect Artie as well. Never mind, then.
She was going to nudge Artemis when the PV suddenly shut off. The lamps and circular orange lights in the ceiling fizzled out. The ventilator running along the base of the wall stopped whirring.
"A blackout?" Nikki shoved Artemis. "Hey, snap out of it. We've got a problem."
Then the entire hotel room trembled. The PV fell off the wall and shattered on the dresser, which then fell over in front of the beds.
"What the hell?" Nikki shoved Artemis several times. "Get up, you idiot! It's an earthquake!"
1: That's not what you're supposed to do in an earthquake.
2: That is very, very obviously not an earthquake
Chiaki was prepared to use the emptiness in Starlene's eyes to convince his stepsister he was right about her. But then the performance began and the grovyle knew something was seriously wrong. And not in any way he could've expected.
The grovyle had assumed Starlene's music had a hypnotic effect on anyone who listened, but proving it was the big problem. That was why he was here. Now, Chiaki had a sinking feeling that someone else had connected the dots before him. Someone with more sinister intentions.
... Wait, was Starlene recruited by Paradox and Team Eternatus? Since it sure would be one hell of a coincidence for her songs to be piggybacked on by them without her knowing about it.
And he was very adamant that he had someone in Radiance in his orbit that would throw the kingdom in despair. And... well, Starlene absolutely would fit the bill given that her normal duties are to be a distraction from Radiance's various problems for the masses
Chiaki had the X-Transceiver in his right ear frill, but hastily stuck a specialized plug in his left. The music and lyrics grew so muffled he could scarcely hear them.
He hastily grabbed two more from his right coat pocket and shoved them against Kyoko's head. "What gives?" the salazzle hissed.
"Put them on. Now," Chiaki ordered. "We have a serious problem."
Kyoko glanced at the other reporters, most of whom had dropped their equipment and notepads and were shifting about uneasily. Some were shouting at the stage.
So Starlene really was recruited by Paradox and Team Eternatus.
"See that?" Chiaki grabbed his stepsister by the strap of her black dress. "It's World Ender's sigil."
Screams rang out from beside them. They both looked left to see several of the journalists on their knees. The toxicroak that shot Chiaki the flirtatious glance gripped his head in agony. Similar cries of pain rang out from the crowd.
Kyoko's right eye twitched. "I… I…"
"You have to get to a safe house," Chiaki said. He stepped away from the stage lights. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
... I'm not sure if a 'safe house' is going to cut it here, since at the rate things are going, it's really debatable as to whether or not there's going to be a Venish left standing in about 5 minutes.
"Excuse you? I'm not some damsel." Kyoko reached into her handbag. In a blur of blue light, her black dress faded away. She crouched down on all fours, curling up her tail flaps and venting off embers and bits of purple ooze. "I can handle myself."
"Fine." Chiaki hastily turned away. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He broke into a run, passing the giant boxes for the stage equipment. Like Kyoko, he adjusted his holowear generator, swapping out the tuxedo for his jean jacket and worn shirt. Chiaki carefully looped the rose through one of the jacket's buttonholes for Cyril and stuffed the rest of his gadgets in his jacket pockets.
He rounded a corner and found a hallway leading to a locked door with an ID card reader. The togekiss guard, however, lay on the ground, stubby feet twitching erratically.
Chiaki: "Oh that's not creepy and worrisome at all. I'm... just going to get moving along from here." o_o;
Biting his lip, Chiaki grabbed Togekiss' ID badge and pressed it against the reader. The red light atop the door turned green. After hearing a click, Chiaki slammed his left shoulder against the door, thrusting it open. He emerged onto a grated stairway that crisscrossed an identical stairway coming from the opposite site of the backstage area.
"Hey! Da boss said nobody comes through here!"
Chiaki looked down and saw a skuntank and two stunky staring up at him. All three wore red hoodies that were way too small for them.
"And youse a body, so youse can't pass!" Skuntank bellowed. His tail opened up and a Sludge Bomb hurtled toward him.
... Wait, are the red hoodies a reference to something? And how on earth are these guys not being affected?
Hissing, Chiaki jumped down the staircase, spitting Bullet Seeds toward the stunky. "Cyril? We've got a problem!"
Acidic streams met the Bullet Seeds in midair, cancelling them out and flooding the staircases with smoke. Another pair of Sludge Bombs broke through the haze. Chiaki rolled away, hearing the sizzle of poisons against metal behind him. He nearly slid off the bridging platform where the two staircases met.
"C'mon, Cyril!" Chiaki groaned, scrambling to his feet. Skuntank had his large tail trained on him.
"H-Hey, ain't dat kid—" one of the stunky started, only for Chiaki to raise his prosthetic arm. Flames sheathed the mechanical Leaf Blades and he sliced through the grating in front of him.
I'd personally do one of either 'Acidic streams' or 'Streams of acid' there. Though I didn't exactly peg these guards as having met Chiaki in the past before, can't tell if that means they're mafia guys or from the Qliphoth, but guess we'll find out in short order.
His part of the platform lurched before falling down onto the partition of stairs beneath it. Chiaki dug his good claws in, riding the platform like an oversized metal sled skipping down the stairs. "Cyril, pick up, damn it!"
"What? What? What?! You're not the only one with problems on his plate!" Cyril barked, his voice distorted with every bump Chiaki hit.
"After him! Don't let him escape!" Skuntank cried, looking for a safe way to jump down and try to catch up. The Acid streams his stunky colleagues shot didn't have the distance to reach him.
"More important than the Qliphoth sabotaging Starlene's concert?" the grovyle snarled. "Eternatus' sigil was just projected on stage and the attendees are dropping like flies!"
Well, that answers that about those three goons. There are so many questions going through my head right now, though between this and in retrospect, Chiaki's antics going to Noatun and the stuff in between the lines involving Cyril, it's obvious he's been ducking in and out of the Qliphoth in person for some time. Just dunno what for.
Also, I'm not at all convinced that that concert was "sabotaged"
"Y… you're kidding?!" Some colorful vocabulary followed. "First the uPhone lead turns out to be a bust and now this? Any more bad news?"
"Yeah." Chiaki finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The platform skidded across the metal floor, kicking up sparks. Chiaki leaped off it and stumbled forward. "I found some Medici thugs further backstage. I think someone hired them to help screw up the concert."
"The Medici? Uh… you gonna be okay?" Cyril clicked his tongue nervously. "I know—"
'Medici' as the name of a mafia family, huh? I mean, I can't say it's unfitting given that they had a strong reputation for treachery and backstabbing, but I'm sure some art and Italian history buffs are having an aneurysm right about now.
"I'm fine." Grimacing, Chiaki tried to push images of a sceptile's tail and bulbs shriveling out of his mind and press forward. "What were you saying about the uPhone?" He approached another door with an ID reader, only to glance up and see a Sludge Bomb splatter on the wall above him. Growling, Chiaki turned around. With a series of bright lights and mechanical whirs, his prosthetic shot back into his elbow. The Tactical Toucher materialized in its place. It wouldn't do great against a skuntank, but it was the best Chiaki had.
"I didn't find any sort of tracking chip," Cyril growled. "Know what I did find? A small crystal rigged up to a miniature Miracle Eye TR."
Chiaki thrust his prosthetic arm into the ground. A shadowy fist materialized by Skuntank's tail as it opened to launch another Sludge Bomb. Chiaki Shadow Punched the tail. Skuntank accidentally fired at his flunkies. Toxins splattered both stunky and threatened to send them careening off the stairs.
"What are you saying, then?" The grovyle turned and fumbled for the ID card he stole. He pressed it against the reader, then slammed his right shoulder against the door.
"Paradox must be using the crystal to project something through the phone," Cyril replied. "It could be, like, subliminal messaging. And I can't risk triggering the mechanism."
Oh. Oh well that's not creepy and concerning at all.
Chiaki didn't have time for this.
"Then don't touch it! Focus on helping me!" He emerged onto blacktop. "Someone else is bound to figure it out, too. And then there'll be hell to pay."
"Okay. Yeah." Some deep breaths followed. "Where are you now?"
The amphitheater towered behind Chiaki. Several meters away sat a pink trailer littered in silver stars and music notes. He was ready to relay this information to Cyril when the greedent and nickit sitting on the steps looked up in alarm.
Chiaki: "... With a pair of inept dweebs who just cut across the stage." >_>;
Carpaccio: "Oi! The Crimson Zephyr and his apprentice aren't dweebs!"
"Uh, boss, I thought everyone was supposed to be inca… inca…" Greedent scratched his ear. "Y'know, all wibbly and wobbly."
"Dey are!" Nickit hopped onto Greedent's head. "And dose bozos were supposed to be guarding the stairs. But I guess it falls to the Crimson Zephyr to get things do—"
"Coming in hot, baby!"
A metallic sheen caught the corner of Chiaki's eye. Next thing he knew, a dark blur blindsided Nickit and Greedent and slammed them both into the ground. Chiaki crouched down, readying his prosthetic. His jaw slackened, however, when a familiar corviknight stood victoriously over the newly unconscious crooks.
Chiaki: "I rest my case-" -_-;
- Beat moment -
Chiaki: "... Hey, wait a minute..."
"See, V? What'd I tell ya? Easy pickings!" Griffon pointed a wing at Chiaki. "And look! A special prize at the bottom of this rancid cereal box. Must be our lucky day, huh?"
Chiaki: "How on earth did you know that I'd be-?!"
"… hardly."
Chiaki looked up to see Vegna hovering toward the trailer. The dusknoir crossed his arms. His skull gauntlets radiated an ominous purple glow; a mix of their ruby eyes and the pale moonlight above Vegna.
"Poor, pale, pitiable form, that I follow in a storm." Vegna looked disdainfully at Chiaki's prosthetic. "Iron tears and groans of lead bind around my aching head." He pointed a sparking index finger at the grovyle. "Come now, Paperboy. It's time to bring you back where you belong."
"I'm not going anywhere," Chiaki growled. "And neither should you. Can't you tell? This concert's being sabotaged. You're with law enforcement. Call in the Radiant Guard!"
Vegna tilted his head. "Two trespassing pieces of rubbish hardly constitute sabotage."
Chiaki: "Oh my god. Do you two seriously not see the giant World Ender sigil on the stage right now?!" >_>;
"They were sitting outside Starlene's trailer." Chiaki gestured behind him, where Polaris' compass insignia was branded on the door.
As if to further emphasize his point, the door to the backstage area flew open. Skuntank appeared with his stunky associates. "End of da line, Grovyle!"
His tail opened wide and launched a Sludge Bomb. Acid sprits from the stunky accompanied it. Vegna turned and flicked his right hand. "Block them."
"Yeah, yeah!" Griffon dashed forward and spread his wings wide, intercepting all the poisonous globs. "You don't gotta tell me. I know how squishy you are, V."
[ ]
"What the—" Skuntank's jaw dropped.
"A… ain't dat da Grim Reaper?" one stunky squeaked.
IMO, this moment probably would've worked better if you had a beat moment where the Medici goons stop and realize that they just walked in on Vegna. If you do patch something like that in, I'd recommend doing so in the spot in brackets.
Also, I can tell that things are about to get very gif related:
"And he took out the Crimson Zephyr!" the other stunky yelped, pointing his tail at Nickit and Greedent.
... Wait a minute, Carpaccio is tied to the Medicis?!
I mean, on the one hand, he's got the name for it, but I legit did not expect him to be anything other than a wannabe punk from how utterly incompetent he's been whenever he's shown up.
Vegna's eye smoldered with purple shadows. "And if you wish to avoid a premature trip to the Twilight Realm, you'll explain yourselves this instant."
Legs trembling, Skuntank staggered backward. "N… nuts to dis! Deal's off! We're outta here!"
"Wrong answer." Vegna snapped his fingers.
Griffon charged the three thugs, metallic coat glistening in the night. He slammed himself into Skuntank, then grabbed each stunky in a set of talons. "Light's out, losers! Ha ha ha!" The corviknight slammed their skulls together. Their eyes rolled back in their heads. Griffon unceremoniously dropped them on top Skuntank, who had also passed out.
Ah yes, one of those bits that you teased a while back. I think you must've added some stuff in between though, since I could've sworn I didn't see the first couple paragraphs here back then.
Vegna: "Well, I warned them."
They're still alive… I think, Chiaki thought to himself while he tried to fiddle with the door to Starlene's trailer. He could hear something whirring inside it. The source of the sabotage, perhaps? But with the door refusing to budge and the grovyle sensing Vegna's attention turning back toward him, he threw caution to the wind and rammed his prosthetic's spectral arm against the door handle.
The door rattled in place. Chiaki hopped back seconds before it fell off its hinges and onto the trailer's steps with an unceremonious thud. He had no time to gather his thoughts, however, as giant, card-shaped ice chunks careened toward him. Chiaki fell back on his rear. The ice whizzed by, stinging his head leaf.
Vegna raised his left hand. A strange circular rune appeared around it with a fire symbol in its center. "Burn."
Chiaki watched slack-jawed as Talonflame emerged in a gout of crimson fire, burning through the ice shards before spreading his wings, dispelling the flames. His shriek echoed across the blacktop.
"Did… did I just see that right?" Cyril's voice cracked in Chiaki's ear frill.
"Yeah," he whispered.
"No way. He doesn't have a Soul Dew like Yuna," Cyril exclaimed. "But that would mean he's—"
"—a necromancer." Chiaki's heart pounded in his chest. And here he thought they were only myths meant to scare children. But no… they were very real. For all he knew, Vegna's Grim Reaper moniker hid the fact that he was taking the souls of his victims.
... Never mind, that's significantly worse than summon magic. And I can see what you meant with that who comment re: 'black magic' from Shimmer a couple chapters back.
Also...
>necromancy
>in a setting right on top of a realm of the undead
That's... not a good omen for Vegna's allegiances at all there.
Chiaki could scarcely process the revelation as more icy playing cards shot out of the trailer. He rolled away from the staircase, ducking behind the front of the trailer. Talonflame spewed fire at Vegna's direction and Griffon flew in to shatter a couple of the remaining cards with slashes of his metallic wings. Vegna safely hovered above the ones that got past his birds. Chiaki hastily pressed himself against the trailer and looked out toward the sea in the distance.
"… hmm. Seems someone's played a wild card at the eleventh hour."
Chiaki didn't dare peek out from his hiding spot to identify the unfamiliar voice. Fortunately, he didn't need to. Griffon's big mouth told him everything he needed to know.
"Yo, V! Call me crazy, but ain't that Minister Charles?" the corviknight squawked.
A Mr. Rime standing at a microphone on a stage immediately popped into Chiaki's mind. Valkyrie had reported that Crowne Minister had gone missing and the Radiant Guard were searching for him even before the issue with the Needles began. What was he doing here? Was he the saboteur? Why would he do something like that?
"You seem to be misreading your hand." A chuckle sounded from the staircase. "No matter, though. I'll clear up this little miscommunication in a jiffy."
"Slice him. Torch him," Vegna ordered.
Intense bursts of heat and chilling air forced Chiaki to crawl to the other side of the trailer.
Chiaki: "... I really should've asked Cyril for some listening devices, since while this is shocking and intriguing, I get the feeling that I should be far, far away from here right about now."
"Hey, what's going on?" Cyril asked. "Did I hear Minister Charles talking?"
"I'm… not sure. But I can still hear some sort of machinery in Starlene's trailer," Chiaki whispered. He hoped Cyril heard him over Griffon's unnerving laughter and Talonflame's feral shrieks. Why would a necromancer go for a feral, anyway? Easy to manipulate?
More like easier to bring around without being a magnet for awkward questions, even if I didn't foresee that Vegna's familiar would have that sort of relationship with him.
"Are there any windows on this side? Anything we can see?"
Chiaki stood up and, sure enough, there was a large window. But curtains had been pulled over it. The grovyle could still hear the sounds of battle on the other side of the trailer, however, so he figured he could safely break in. He pressed the Tactical Toucher to the window. Its spectral hand phased through and found the bolt lock. Chiaki undid it and slid the window open. He grabbed the windowsill with his good arm and hoisted himself in. Nothing, however, could prepare him for what lay on the other side of the curtain.
There, lying strapped to a table with an oxygen mask over its blue snout, electrodes digging into its slender, blue and white-scaled body, and syringes piercing its tiny wings, tail, and neck orb… was an emaciated dragonair. Its ribs poked through its tiny frame and its eyes — forcibly taped shut — were sunken into their sockets.
WHAT. Is that Nikki's old partner? From when she used to sing bubblegum pop?
Chiaki froze. His vision flickered between the table and the small locket that Nikki had shown him.
"Is that… a dragonair?" Cyril gasped. "Look at all those machines it's connected to. I see little satellite dishes and radio frequency emitters. What's going on here? D… don't tell me this is the real Starlene?"
In Chiaki's mind, it had to be. Why else would Dragonair be hooked up to machines resembling broadcasting equipment? And she had things sticking into her skull. Clearly, they were messing with her mind. Which made Chiaki's other hypothesis all the more gut-wrenching.
"It's her."
The grovyle's rasp was barely audible, but Cyril managed to hear it. "You know her?"
"Scarlett. Nikki's friend who disappeared from Horizon."
Well, that's certainly a wham line at the end there. And that certainly explains how Nikki got her lyrics yoinked. Though what on earth is the Starlene on stage then? A meat puppet?
He shakily took a step toward the table, flinching at a series of bright flashes from outside the door. Scarlett squirmed under her restraints. Chiaki stiffened. He looked at the equipment beside the table. Bags of strange fluids and machines with pumps that moved up and down.
Chiaki's head throbbed. Images of similar devices flashed through his mind. These ones connected to a withering sceptile whose tail had lost nearly all its pine needles.
She's sedated. That machine's breathing for her, he concluded, then looked at the accompanying monitors. They were beeping red. The number beside a heart icon was shooting up! One hundred and twenty… one hundred and forty… one hundred and sixty!
This was bad. She needed help. But at this rate, Minister Charles and Vegna would catch on and intercept him. Surely one of them would get the upper hand soon enough.
He didn't have a choice. The grovyle had to break this dragonair out. But how? How?
Chiaki: "Uh... hey Cyril, are your jumps in and out of the Qliphoth able to bring medical equipment along with you?"
Cyril: "... I'm going to very heavily take the under on that, why?"
Chiaki: "Just saying, it'd solve a lot of problems for me right now."
The watch!
Though Chiaki had changed holowear outfits, Cyril had given him the watch. The one that could short out machines. If anything could break Scarlett's restraints, it was that. Chiaki raised his left arm up and used his prosthetic's ghostly fingers to set the watch to the appropriate time.
"Wait! What do you think you're doing?!" Cyril cried.
"Freeing her."
The trailer floor began to shake. The monitors flickered. Chiaki figured it was the shock of a blast from Charles or Vegna. He paid it little mind…
"Chiaki, stop! You can't short out machines when there are oxygen tanks next to—"
… until the moment he pressed the button and the machines beside him exploded in a blue-purple blaze.
Uh... yeah, I'll heavily take the under on Chiaki having successfully freed Scarlett there. Though now I'm starting to wonder if it's going to turn out she has 'Airy' as a stage name or something like that. Assuming that she didn't just get incinerated there. ^^;
"All systems nominal. As expected."
Zed floated beside the terminal overlooking Icarus' incubator. Purple light reflected off the many tubes and wires jutting off the massive violet sphere. The blue holographic screens around it all displayed the usual waveforms.
The collection of floating disks backed away from the console. It had finished its final checks for the night, which meant it was safe to enter sleep mode for a while.
Sighing, Zed turned toward the long, metal corridor leading toward the circular elevator platform. "I hope Minister Dr. Tesla returns from the decontamination soon. I need something more… stimulating to do than this."
Oh boy, time to find out what on earth this 'Project Icarus' that Vortex has been sinking ungodly amounts of money into is.
As Zed prepared to hover down the hallway, a snap echoed behind him. "Bwuh?" Zed's disembodied, bird-like head turned around. "Aaaaah!"
A crack. Right in the center of the incubator.
It glanced at the holographic screens. Their calming blue suddenly flickered to an alarming red and orange exclamation points peppered the screens as the waveforms undulated faster.
Then a second crack appeared in the purple sphere, followed by a third and a fourth and a fifth and—
"No!" Zed's ovoid arms flailed about in random directions. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Bad, bad, baddy bad!" They zipped toward the main console. "Initiate emergency shutdown! Password is Minister Doctor Tesla Rules— aiyeeeee!"
All of the cracks in the sphere linked up. Then the sphere shattered, releasing a huge purple shockwave throughout the room. Zed was flung against the railing opposite the terminal. It lay in a daze for a few seconds, watching helplessly as the shockwave set off a chain reaction.
The tubes and wires connected to the sphere caught fire in surges of purple electricity. The computer terminal and other nearby equipment exploded, raining chunks of molten metal around the secret underground laboratory.
Nice LGPE nod there. Though exactly none of this sounded like something that was supposed to have happened or a good-
... Wait a minute, this is what caused that earthquake from the first scene, isn't it?
"Nngh… no…" Zed's discoid arms twitched. They struggled to get airborne. "Have to… page Tesla. Page Arianna. This is… this is…"
A pile of red-violet sludge parted the wall of fire and thickening smoke. Zed finally got airborne and turned to flee.
"Emergency! Icarus is fre— eeEEAddGekgheiiaealurgekeilll!"
Zed's voice descended into a staticky, incoherent mess as some of the purple sludge struck it. It fell to the ground once again, between two chunks of flaming rubble. Zed only had enough time to turn around before a wave of purple slime crashed over them.
At first, Zed saw only purple.
Then came the wings. Butterfree wings. Dozens— no, hundreds— no, thousands! Flapping at random intervals.
Some of them stitched themselves together. And slowly… scenes painted themselves across the white, silken wings.
A hunk of black crystal dashing for a giant moon bat and a star cloud, roaring in agony as a pink vortex swallowed them up while a pink silhouette howled with laughter.
"No…"
A large canine with a massive, shield-shaped head getting dragged down by wave after wave of purple chains. The chains slowly solidifying into a thick, brown mask over its head.
"… stop. Please stop…"A battered riolu knelt before a hulking bewear with massive, fluid-filled arms. The bewear raised both arms… and brought them crashing down.
... Wait a minute, am- am I watching people die here? Is Project Icarus a bunch of dead people's souls taped together into this- thing?
Also, I’m pretty sure that that Zamazenta is somehow supposed to be Xeromus there. The description just matches up way too well.
"I… can't. I— B… A…"
I]A black silhouette hovering high atop an altar. Two titanic dragons and three pixies are trapped by a red mobius strip. A crystal surrounded by a golden wheel floated atop everything.[/I]
"… Up down… left left… start B A select…"
A weak stream of snow failed to reach the hovering figure. It raised a scepter, then sent a red Aura Sphere down from the heavens.
On the one hand, I'm getting very strong Zero attempting to murder her way into the Xenoblade 1 ending in GL vibes here. On the other hand, there's just no way...
The scenes spiraled around one another. Swirling and swirling and swirling and swirling.
A black hood emerged in the center of the spiral.
"You see it, don't you? The Butterfree Effect."
Zed tried to move its arms. It couldn't. The closest thing it had to an answer was [A B select.] Its voice was far more robotic than before. Its tone uneven. Like it wasn't one voice, but many overlapping voices.
"Even when things are born anew, fate wraps the world in its chains. Forces everything to march toward the final destination."
... I legit can't tell whether or not this is about to become 'surprise, PoV was a GL sequel all along' in about 5 seconds or something else entirely, since those lines, man.
Though 'Butterfree Effect' made me groan for a pun.
The spiral spun faster.
"But I've broken free. And now… I've given that same freedom to you."
Faster and faster.
"What will you do? Let the Butterfree Effect play out? Or will you, perhaps, introduce a little… anarchy?"
At last, Zed found its body. It nodded its oval head.
Wait a minute, that's from TPP. All of those bolded letters and stuff are TPP commands.
Then Project Icarus is-
"Then you too shall bear the cross as a lowly omen… Ahsen."
The hood faded into the spiral, which finally broke away. Ahsen found itself back in the wrecked lab. Water poured from the ceiling. A gift from the heavens for its christening, no doubt. It caught a glimpse of some of Icarus disappearing into one of the emergency drains. But that mattered not.
It raised its arms high. The arms briefly glitched, into the skeletal scythes of an undead kabutops, before flickering back into disks.
I'm reeling right now. I suppose I ought to have kept my mind open given that PoV's been working in bits of the franchise from the weirdest imaginable corners, but never in a million years did I imagine that that was going to be part of the plot. Let alone an important part of the plot given the vision of the Creation Trio and Lake Fairies gathering together as Ahsen is being summoned.
Path of Valor Almanac
Starlene's sabotaged song spoofs "No Time to Die," by Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, and Hans Zimmer. Part of the prayer heard in Noatun uses Latin lyrics from "Liberi Fatali," the opening theme for Final Fantasy VIII. Additionally, the chapter title is the track title for Hojo's theme in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack.
Ah, so you did spell out the musical shout outs of the chapter. Neat to know, but hey, you can't say that Paradox's prayer wasn't on-point for a setting that is as packed to the gills with FF influence as this one.
Alright, time for overall thoughts:
I... just... wow. You weren't kidding about this being the chapter where everything changed. Since when I was composing the original notes that wound up becoming this review on Discord, I basically had to spoiler everything from the second half of the first scene on. There were some really tantalizing hints as to how on earth we got here story-wise in the last scene, but nothing that I could firmly get a bead on.
As for things I didn't like, there were a couple of parts where I thought there could've been more description, but I honestly was too busy being gripped by the various twists and turns of this chapter to really mind them a whole lot.
I... honestly have no idea where on earth the plot is going to go from here, and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around some of these revelations. But I suppose that I'll just need to hang in there for about 2 weeks before I start getting answers. ^^
Kudos, @Ambyssin , and I'll be eagerly awaiting what awaits once the dust settles from this chapter.
Hello! I’ve been planning to catch up, and since I’m currently doing BLEC stuff I figured I’d hit two tasks out of the park at once. I’ll be covering the four unread chapters currently published for the review awards.
I knew something big was going to happen at the Venish segment of the story, especially after Chapter 32 dropped and everyone went ‘wtf’. And then I read it and went wtf. I can’t say I wasn’t like, expecting expecting the things that happened to happen; all of it has been teased in the story with the sublety of a sledgehammer, but I wasn’t expecting it all to come on so fast. Feels like the board was just table-flipped all at once and what comes after is going to look completely different from anything that came before.
HELIX… interesting. You have a writing style that lowkey gaslights me sometimes by making me go “wait was that a meme played straight or am I just too corrupted”, so I have no idea if this is a clever nod to TPP given the game codes ‘n stuff, or if you’re actually dragging HELIX into this. Either way, it’ll be… interesting to see play out. I’m simultaneously interested at the prospect of a… fourth party here? Is this just that phantom guy who’s probably like, Bahamut or something? And wondering how you intend to integrate something so out of left field into the story, especially when stuff’s just gone to hell and blown every pre-established plotline out of the water.
The character revelations were cool, though. I felt Chiaki going to this concert out of nowhere felt, well, out of nowhere, but the lead-up and the concert itself feels like it hit just about everyone with something. Chiaki and his stepsister dynamic (who is…. Kind of an asshole), Nikki realizing her work was stolen, Yuna being forced to go off into the Qiphloth yet again when she’d rather do anything else, and so on. Especially! The reveal at the end! Immediately when I read that trailer scene I was like “yep, I know who this is going to be”, and then it was and I was hype. I assume you’re not gonna like, kill them both in that explosion, so I can’t wait to see where that thread goes next.
Ah, wonderful. So Shimmer’s not gonna get a redemption arc; he’s gonna act like a spoiled brat and probably grow up to become Joffrey. That’s a comforting thought. Not… entirely sure what Shimmer being descended from Virizion apparently means. By monarchy rules, that would make him an illegitimate child and not the rightful heir to the throne, right? Or is that normal for this world’s rules? Not really sure what’s going on here, but given how much this scene lampshaded how terrible the royals actually are (docking salary for half a year? I mean. They were willing to de-facto leave their military commander for dead. But that’s surprisingly brutal to satisfy the whims of a single student), I’m guessing it's not something the monarchy would like to be publicly known.
I’d figured Seifer was going to be following something similar to the Keldeo’s Broken Horn plot from the movie. Seems like he might still be, but the implant he has in the meantime is an interesting divergence. Plays well into the modernism critique themes that are going on here, which you seem to be going all in on. I won’t say I didn’t experience a similar level of schadenfreude from reading the digs at how evolving medicine is made hard on purpose to get by the government, how the crowne cup is continuing basically solely for the benefit of the royal cabinet, and so on.
And then there’s Starlene. I have got… no idea what is going on with her. One on hand, I do think it’s kind of out of left-field to suddenly say that it’s established her music is hypnotic when the only real hint we’ve had about that is Yuna’s vision during her music. Maybe that’s just me being ignorant about half the pokedex or something though. On the other hand, there’s some Nope™ shit going on re: her connection to Nikki’s friend. We’ve barely seen her so I’m gonna take a guess and say she’s under the influence on the stage, but probably off it when she’s not performing. Whether she’s Fine with this or basically a prisoner of the entertainment industry remains to be seen.
I guess in terms of criticisms…
As interesting as the subversion was, I think that you were a bit too eager to flip the table here. A lot of these four chapters, in hindsight, felt less like a natural pivot into this new plotline and more like you were quickly aborting the projected plot and moving characters into place so you could have this reversal moment. Chiaki just stumbling off to this party and leaving everyone behind (which miiight have been hinted at? It’s been a while and frankly I’ve got no clue what’s going on with him), the rebels’ chip revealed to not actually be a chip and rather a part of Eterna’s batshit plan, essentially resetting them back to position A and throwing a new scenario their way, Prof. Cid being thrown out with only a scant mention and being replaced with Vegna, etc. Feels like the old plot had to be meticulously disassembled to make this new one possible. And, maybe it’s down to personal sentiment—you referred to this as a bait-and-switch, which seems to be what it is; I personally would have gone through the Venish tournament and then had this as an afterparty or something. Might be down to subjective difference. I do think, however, that if this is the Point of No Return, it comes on a bit fast. We’ve barely gotten to play around with Eternatus’ insides and the concept of the Needles, so having the plot gear throttled all the sudden felt more for the sake of keeping this at a manageable length than it did a natural component of the story. Which is, I guess, valid. But it presents an odd problem of playing around with a lot more scope than PoV seems to have room for. Or, I could just be a dummy and this isn’t as catastrophic and disrupting as I’m expecting it to be. But just from the fact that Eterna Empire seems to have gone “fuck it” and threw away the shadow cloak, I’m expecting it to have worldwide ramifications at least. Plus Venish probably sinking into poisonous water from the destruction of the earthquake.
Overall… certainly not what I was expecting, and also a whole lot more than I was expecting. I imagine the chaos isn’t gonna die down for a few more chapters yet, especially since there’s still the qiphloth mission to cover. Hopefully this time I can finally make it a whole ten chapters for a proper review without getting dragged back into this early :madness:
Taking hold of Space and Time, the Matriarch pried open the gates of tomorrow. She forged the Benefactor to offer us eternal evolution. Infinite choices.
For one does not reach infinity without dividing by Zero.
~Il Libro dell'Eternità
XxX
"It's working! I'm a freaking genius!"
Arianna paused with her right hand hovering in front of a black security keypad. Even with a bevy of machines whirring on other parts of the ship, Tesla's shouts still grated on her.
She shook her head. The gardevoir didn't have time to think about that. And as much as she liked to rain on the smarmy boltund's parade, this was one such instance where she'd rather be enjoying a nice cognac.
But no. Everything had to go to hell in a handbasket.
Arianna slammed the entry code: 0-0-0-0-0-1. Because heaven forbid Tesla follow her recommendations and change the code to something less narcissistic.
The gray door slid open. Arianna shuffled onto the ship's bridge, where Tesla was shimmying back and forth behind a gray computer console, making excited fake robot noises as he went. The giant window offered a perfect view of two massive gray pipes dumping gray fluid into the purple-tinted sea. A computer screen on the console's right side displayed real time readings of the toxin levels in the water. And the values were going down.
"Well, well. If it isn't the only person in the kingdom to outdo the genius Minister Dr. Tesla in number of titles." Tesla stopped his dancing and stiffly pivoted to face Arianna. A mechanical arm popped out of his backpack and pointed to the window. "Come to admire my latest beautiful creation, Warden Vice Chancellor Dr. Arian—"
"Zip it." Arianna held up her right hand. "We have a situation."
"I know. And, as you can see, I'm taking—"
Arianna balled her left hand into a fist. "The Diva Project is compromised."
Tesla's mechanical arm went limp, dropping to the ground with a metallic thud. "Impossible."
"She's not singing a waltz like instructed." Arianna nudged up her glasses. "Instead, she's spewing anarchistic blather. And it's whipping the crowd into a violent frenzy."
"Then shut it down." Tesla's arm retreated into his backpack. "You built the override sys—"
"Someone's locked me out." She calmly approached the boltund. "Drop the anti-psionic field. We're leaving. Now."
Tesla looked out the bridge window. "But I'm—"
Arianna quirked a brow. "Going to ignore a direct order from the chancellor?"
The ship violently lurched forward. Arianna steadied herself quickly but Tesla smacked into the console. His electronic goggles sparked and flickered.
"Disable the field!" Arianna hissed. Out the window, ripples spread across the water. A pair of wartortle deckhands were pointing at one another and shouting.
Two electronic arms popped out of Tesla's backpack and typed furiously at the keyboard. "But what about the crew?"
The ship lurched once again. The monitors littering the bridge abruptly shut off. Arianna pressed her glasses firmly against her face to hide her expression.
"Forget them. We have bigger things to worry about."
The bridge's lights went out. Emergency lights bathed the room in a red glow. Arianna floated over to Tesla and wrapped her arm around his foreleg. Her face scrunched in concentration, only relaxing when white light surrounded her and the cold grays of the ship's bridge vanished all around her.
XxX
Had Yuna first arrived in the thick haze and tarry pits of Outpost R3X a few weeks ago, it would have whipped her up into a panic. Instead, she was quick to summon Rayquaza, who conjured a tailwind that not only broke through the smog but made flying toward the flashes of battle in the distance fast and straightforward. Aside from bubbling black pools below her, there were sagging, green-yellow trees and scattered patches of land with dead grass, clumps of dirt, and mud puddles.
Eventually, at least a dozen skeletons came into view. They stood opposite Valkyrie, Seifer, and some sort of orange bird with large legs and stubby wings. The black-purple, vaguely feline creature floating above them with a crystal jammed in its right shoulder had to be Gene, Yuna figured.
"Look!" Rayquaza pointed his tail down. "Those daemons art reanimating on the spot!"
Three skeletons lay disassembled in muddy terrain, water from Seifer's Hydro Pump dripping off their scattered bones. The bones quivered, however, and inched back toward one another. They stitched themselves back into two cranidos and a rampardos. Yuna recognized the shapes from picture books back home.
Valkyrie stomped her foot. The muddy ground beneath the skeletons trembled. They collapsed atop one another, giving her enough time to look up and spot Yuna. "Nice of you to join us. These devils keep doing this!"
Seifer turned right, raised a forehoof, and blasted a skeletal cranidos with a water jet. Its head and neck bones shot back into the tar, the rest of its body collapsing. "They're not hard to defeat, but we can't maintain this stalemate!"
The tar pits bubbled. Cranidos' head reemerged, along with another bony rampardos. "I got this!" Noctum declared. He swooped down, metal coating his right wing. The black charizard rolled right past a Stone Edge spire emerging from the tar. He clubbed Rampardos' head. It flew off its neck, landing on a tiny grass island in the distance. Within a few seconds, however, it floated into the air and hovered back across the tar pits.
"Well?" Valkyrie ducked a burst of ice from a rampardos. "You got them here, idiot! Now, execute your plan or whatever!"
Yuna looked to Gene, who sent five skeletons flying back with a flick of his right wrist. He had expected them to come? They hadn't announced that. Was Gene that strong of a psychic?
"Say no more, Chompy!" Gene chirped.
"You don't get to call me that!" Valkyrie snarled, blasting two cranidos standing on a rock into the tar with a single Dragon Pulse.
"Whatever!" Gene turned to Yuna. "Hey, swap out Noodle Boy for Fluff Dergin and have him hit with me the hottest fire he can manage!"
The dreepy's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?"
"Why dost everyone keep insisting I'm a noodle?!"
"Aww, he called me fluffy! I like him!"
"Look, just do it!" Gene turned back around and sent two skeletal rampardos careening up the grass and dirt hill with a single pink energy beam.
Sighing, Yuna recalled Rayquaza into the Soul Dew. Reshiram emerged in a spiral of blue and orange flame. The display was enough to stop the skeletons clambering back onto land from the tar pits. They looked up in unison, their bony jaws dropping one after another.
Reshiram opened his mouth wide. He spewed a massive gout of blue fire.
"Perfect!" Gene declared. The flames splashed against a pink barrier, which then wrapped up the fire. Arms trembling and shoulder gem sparking, Gene brought his glowing hands together. The fiery roll further squeezed into a pink and blue ball. With every passing second, it grew brighter and brighter.
"Get those three up here!" Gene ordered through gritted teeth. Noctum grabbed Seifer off the ground, while Reshiram wrapped Valkyrie and the orange bird up in his wings and shot back into the air.
At that, the skeletons realized they lost their pray. Three rampardos roared in unison.
"Let's heat things up!" Gene cried, then hurled the glowing fireball at the ground. He immediately threw another pink barrier in front of the group.
The moment the fireball hit the ground, it erupted in a giant blue dome. The flames burnt away the skeletons, filling the already smoggy skies with extra smoke and ash.
"Whoo hoo hoo!" Gene dispelled the barrier and fanned himself with his right hand. "Now that's what I call cooking with gas!" He flashed a thumb's up to Reshiram. "Good work, Fluffy."
Reshiram puffed his chest out pridefully. Squirming in his grasp, Valkyrie rolled her eyes.
"W… was that really necessary?" Seifer wondered from his position on Noctum's back. "Those were… souls corrupted by Malice, weren't they? Like what Cyril told us?"
"Those guys? Nah." Gene waved the keldeo off with his black-yellow tail. "They were crawling out of the tar from the get-go. Probably passed away long before Eternatus schlorped up Planet Bogdan."
Seifer frowned. If he wasn't convinced, Yuna didn't blame him. It was quite the sight… and she hadn't even been there for the start of it.
"But I tried using fire on the skeletons myself and it didn't work!" Valkyrie protested. The garchomp had managed to get onto Reshiram's back, which prompted him to place the orange bird next to her. "What gives?"
"We needed sufficient pressure to blow them up. That's why I'm glad your buddies showed up." Gene pointed to Yuna. "Fluffy could make enough flames for me to compress with my psionics. Heat needs to expand, after all." The mewtwo squished his hands together. "So, when it's prevented from doing that, the pressure keeps building and building until… fwoom!" He forcibly spread his hands. "Like a graveler self-destructing!"
Gene crossed his arms, smirking. "It's basic calorimetry. Look it up."
Yuna stared blankly at him. She understood maybe half his explanation. "Um, you're welcome?"
"And what if they didn't show up, huh?" Seifer growled, pointing his horn at Gene. Was it shinier than the last time she saw the keldeo?
Gene shrugged. "I knew they'd show."
"What does that even—"
An intense ripple of purple, distorted energy raced across the land. The tar it crossed bubbled more intensely, while cracks and fissures ran through the dirt and mud of the narrow land strip running up ahead of them.
"What was that?" Reshiram looked around in a panic. "That wasn't a happy light. That was a scary, spooky, everything's about to go to hell in a handbasket light!"
Valkyrie jabbed the back of his head. "Get a grip, dweeb."
Reshiram grabbed his chest ruff with both wings.
"Whatever it was, it looked like it came from Moonshine Bayou up ahead." Gene pointed an index finger forward. The land strip disappeared into the haze.
"A bayou?" Noctum scratched his head. "What's that?"
"Swamplands," Valkyrie responded. "Marshes and humidity and junk. Good for water and grass-types." She looked over her shoulder. "But what's a bayou doing close to tar pits?"
"No idea!" Gene was surprisingly chipper considering the uncertainty of this situation. Yuna had a hard time believing he was the leader of anything with such a lackadaisical attitude.
"Maybe this part of the mystery dungeon used to be swamplands at one point, too," Reshiram proposed.
"Bah, doesn't matter." Gene waved the white dragon off. "We press on. Maybe the missing skorps are holed up in the bayou." He turned around and shouted, "Hey, Skorp! You still with us?"
Flapping wings brought Yuna's attention behind her. Out of the haze flew an honest-to-God aerodactyl.
Yuna's gills retreated into her head. "Th… that's…"
Noctum gasped "Aerodactyl? Those went extinct on Etherium millennia ago!"
"Yeah, yeah. Your buddies already flipped out over Kelly," Gene exclaimed. "No one's interested in a repeat performance." He hovered over to Aerodactyl. "We saw something fishy coming from the bayou. You up to follow us?"
Still a bit shellshocked, Yuna nearly missed the weird skorupi with incineroar hands on its limbs. Talk about a crazy mishmash.
"I suppose these skorps must be good at lending a hand to one another." Rayqauza's hearty laugh rumbled in Yuna's head.
… no. Just no.
The mewtwo signaled everyone to follow, but froze beside Reshiram. A frown crossed his features. "Wait, Cyril, slow down." He pressed a finger to his temple. "Who?"
Before Yuna could ask what was wrong, Noctum's tail flame grew in alarm. Seifer almost lost his grip on the charizard's shoulders. Valkyrie then stood up on Reshiram's back, "Not Chiaki!" She looked at Gene. "Send me back to Venish… now!" Alarm spread across her face. "I have to— he needs—"
"Whoa, whoa!" Reshiram wobbled in midair. "Please remain seated until the fluffy boy says otherwise!"
"To hell with that!" Valkyrie huffed out dragonfire. "Chiaki got caught up in an explosion! I have to save him!"
An explosion?! Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. He had to be okay. He just had to.
"You'll never get to him fast enough," Gene said, finally looking serious. "I'll go."
"Then I'm coming with you!" Valkyrie raised her arms. "He's… he's my responsibility."
Yuna didn't buy that, given how rarely she'd seen the two together. Nevertheless, Gene nodded. "Fine. Hope you don't get sick from levitation."
The mewtwo raised his right arm. A pink aura surrounded Valkyrie. Gene levitated the garchomp to his side. "The rest of you press on. We need to find out what's happening at the bayou. Skorp can give you directions."
A rift split the air open behind him. Gene and Valkyrie ducked into it without another word. The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances.
"Are we sure going ahead is a good idea?" Seifer shifted nervously on Reshiram's back. "Maybe we should wait and confirm Chiaki's okay."
Yuna liked that idea, but Kelly shrieked her disapproval. "Whoa there, girl!" Skorp exclaimed, petting the back of the aerodactyl's head.
"Somehow, I get the feeling the natives dost not want us to wait," Rayquaza said. Yuna glimpsed the end of his black tail twitching in anticipation. "Be on guard, Princess."
"Sorry there, folks." Skorp laughed nervously. "Kelly wants to save her friends real bad, eh. And so do I. We oughta follow Gene's orders."
Noctum's tail flame shrank. "A-After you, then."
Skorp nodded. With several flaps of her wings, Kelly disappeared into the smog. The rest of the group followed after her. While not as effective as Rayquaza's winds, Reshiram's tail engine dispelled some of the haze. The ground ahead grew wetter. Dirt turned to mud. The grass was grayer and crabbier. Black tar pits turned to luminescent pools of thick, purple fluid.
But all that paled in comparison to the sight of a large gray ship stuck in the middle of the poisonous lake, capsized against a wedge-shaped island like a beached wailord.
"What the heck?" Noctum's flame grew in alarm. "That symbol on the side… isn't that the Polaris logo?" He pointed to a blue compass whose needle pointed north.
"That's a waste management ship," Seifer declared. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I don't think that's always been here," Skorp mumbled, poking his three index fingers together. "Oh, it's giving me the heebie jeebies, yessir."
"Princess, look!" Rayquaza cried. "On the island the ship crashed into. It's the Needle!"
Yuna's head involuntarily swiveled right. Sure enough, at the top of the island sat a large golden rod. However, the eye-like gemstone Yuna had seen on the previous Needles was nowhere to be found. In fact, it looked as if someone had blown it off the top of the Needle. The remaining metal was littered with scorch marks.
Instead, there was an ominous purple sphere floating over the Needle. Purple tendrils ran from the sphere toward the purple ooze surrounding the island.
Yuna gulped. "Is that… the source of the poison?"
She wasn't expecting anyone to answer. Nor did she expect to hear a startled squeal to her right. The dreepy turned to find Reshiram's tail crackling with blue fire. Seifer swung his hind legs up in alarm.
"H-Hey! Stop it! Be still!" he ordered.
It was all in vain, however. Reshiram took off toward the sphere. Yuna swore she saw his eyes glistening. She was about to call to him when an anguished roar made her gills shrivel.
"LUGIA!"
XxX
The metallic hallway in Paradox Tower was filled with assorted poipole and Eternatus Brawlers offering applause to Paradox as he floated forward. A few Brawlers awkwardly tossed confetti with their large maces. Sticky shot the ones on his right glares. The confetti was blocking his tablet screen.
"A lovely sermon, sir. Or is it Your Excellency, now?"
Sticky glanced left at the large serperior slithering beside Paradox. Her head split open so a much smaller seviper poked through. "Still, I don't understand why I have to take up the archbishop mantle. I'm a fighter, not a preacher."
The naganadel agreed with her, though he figured it came down to the fact that Uroboros was the deoxys' most trusted lieutenant.
"It's only temporary," Paradox assured her, right tentacles twisting into an arm to wave her off. "I have a more permanent replacement chosen already. However, he is a bit… preoccupied at the moment. With an assignment on our Benefactor's prison."
Uroboros' red eyes narrowed. The peeled back serperior eyes followed suit. "Are you saying you've chosen an Etherian?"
Paradox paused midstride. His head swiveled atop his neck. "Are you questioning my judgement?"
The poipole in the hallway shrank back toward the walls, while the Brawlers stepped forward, maces sparking with purple energy.
"Not at all, Your Excellency." Uroboros bowed her seviper head. "I'm simply… curious. Does our Benefactor not reward an inquisitive mind?"
A chuckle followed. "Touché." Paradox turned his head around and resumed moving forward. "Yes, this fellow is Etherian. But he empathizes with our struggle." He brought his right hand to his chin. "For, like us Eternians, he has lost something dear to him: his kingdom. Taken from him wrongfully in the chaos caused by the traitor and her mate."
"I see." Uroboros licked her lips. The parts of her serperior head curled in excitement. "And what, exactly, does this fellow look like?"
"Sticky!" Paradox snapped his fingers.
Sticky sighed. He was in the middle of reading a message, but that would clearly have to wait. A few pecks of his tablet with a claw and he had the photo ready. The naganadel held up the tablet and weaved between Paradox and Uroboros so the latter could see.
"Seriously?" She squinted. "He looks like a clove of garlic." Uroboros curled her lips. "I bet he's grass-type. You'd seriously trust an archbishop with so many weaknesses?"
Paradox continued forward without answering her. His right arm unfurled into tentacles. Sticky wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer in the emperor's place.
Best to take the initiative. "I would think a Paradigm member would understand how appearances can be deceiving," he said.
"Fair enough." Uroboros' seviper head retreated. The serperior head closed and stared Sticky down. "Why the attitude, though? I saw you looking at that little rectangle like it was a piece of spoiled meat."
"Oh?" Paradox stopped in front of the door to his office. "Have you something to report, Sticky?"
"I, uh, hadn't finished reading the alert I'd been sent." Sticky hastily pulled the message back up on his tablet.
"Well, I do hope you plan on sharing." Paradox pointed his left tentacles at him.
"Of course!" Sticky flinched at the voice crack. "It, um, seems as though our network infrastructure has encountered some… technical difficulties, sir."
Silence. Sticky took that to mean he should continue. "We've lost contact with other planets aside from Axiom, sir. And our spy camera network is, according to the analysts, 'glitching out.'"
Uroboros' serperior head parted slightly. Sticky shrank back from the rows of serrated teeth on the insides of what should have been a leafy body. "A rebel attack?"
"Unlikely," Paradox scoffed.
Sticky agreed. There was no way the rebels had the wherewithal to cause this great of a system disruption. At the same time, he doubted it was some random blip in the system. Something must have happened.
"And you're going to get to the bottom of it, aren't you?"
"Eep!" Sticky wasn't expecting Paradox to be right up in his face. Had the deoxys teleported when he wasn't looking. "Of course. I'll head down to the data center at once!"
The naganadel shakily saluted with his left arm and headed back the way the small procession came. Whatever this was, it was spoiling the new emperor's coronation. And Sticky couldn't afford to let it sour what was supposed to be a big day.
XxX
Pain.
Intense, searing pain. All over Chiaki's face. But the left side had it the worst with a harsh stabbing sensation. Something was jammed there. Where his left eye was supposed to be.
And yet, it should've hurt more. He was caught in an explosion. Chiaki had just enough time to throw himself on top of Scarlett. But now everything was a total blur.
Why couldn't the grovyle feel his head leaf? Hell, why couldn't he feel anything below his neck?
He was breathing, but every breath was a struggle. Like an unseen hand kept trying to force him underwater. Broken ribs piercing his lungs, perhaps? Why no pain, then?
Chiaki had to move. An arm. A leg. Something.
No response.
Panic crept in. He had to fight it. Push it away. Panic would do him in for sure. Chiaki had to escape somehow. And that meant figuring out what things looked like, right?
His right eye was open, though. He was sure of it. It's just too blurry.
But his left eye…
No! Chiaki couldn't think about that. Couldn't think—
Blood splattered on his abdomen. His left arm clamping the leftover stump of his right.
Ringing. He heard nothing but ringing.
Right, he had the X-transceiver in one frill and a specialized ear plug in another. The explosion must've damaged his inner ears.
The panic was creeping in again. He couldn't take any calming, steady breaths.
But he couldn't hear. Couldn't see. Couldn't move.
He lifted his head. There were black and purple shapes he could barely make out. "Help me!" he screamed.
Silence, then a single, harsh order.
"Leave him. He's dead weight."
It had happened again. Obsession had given way to recklessness. Last time it cost him an arm. This time, it would cost half his sight, his hearing, and his mobility. Assuming he even made it out alive.
Every breath was getting harder. Heavier. He was sure his chest was filling with fluid. Or air. Or even both.
The blurs took shape. Metal shards digging into his chest, gut, hips, and legs. His green and red scales burned away, replaced by expanding boils and burnt flesh.
… but there was a dragonair at his feet. Scrapes and singes peppered her shabby blue scales. However, she was breathing.
She was alive. He'd protected her. He… he…
Golden light enveloped Chiaki and Scarlett. This is it, the grovyle thought. The injuries were too severe. There was no way he was bouncing back from it.
He was even more convinced when most of the pain around his head faded, along with the sensation something was stuck in his left eye socket.
But when the light faded, he was still among metal shards and other assorted rubble. Most of the debris impaling him was gone and a good portion of his burns were healed, albeit replaced by gray scales instead of his usual green and red. His left field of vision was still black, however.
That was when a large black arm reached down and grabbed Scarlett. Chiaki wanted to yell. To cry for help. But he couldn't get his lips to move.
A second arm grabbed hold of him and hoisted him into the air. Black smoke soon shrouded the burning, ruined remnants of Starlene's trailer. The arm turned Chiaki around. He saw a black, muscular chest which gave way to a black head with two fierce, red eyes.
A dragon? Chiaki wondered. That should've been impossible. Nevertheless, his mystery savior threw him over its right shoulder, beside the dragonair. There, Chiaki saw some sort of blue-striped cone sticking out of the creature's butt. Its tail? It spun like a turbine, giving off blue sparks. How was that remotely safe with a fire nearby?
It was then that Chiaki realized a familiar dusknoir and corviknight floated by the creature's tail. Griffon gesticulated wildly while Vegna stared at him. His eye was… as blue as the tail turbine.
Chiaki's head tingled. Was this… disturbingly muscular thing one of Vegna's undead minions?!
The grovyle had no time to chew on this thought, however. Vegna pointed forward. Griffon lowered his head in defeat before black shadows sucked him into Vegna's body. Chiaki's savior rose into the air and Vegna floated closer to it. He made eye contact with Chiaki for a brief moment, but it was enough for him to assume what Vegna was thinking.
He knows this is my fault.
XxX
CDL-408: Outpost R3X, Planet Bogdan A dwarf planet in the Andromeda Galaxy named for its mix of rainforests and mirelands. Some time before Eternatus claimed it, a freak accident caused tar to seep out of the planet's crust. Nearby swamps turned to tar pits, which Archbishop Chiron decided to collect and process for use in construction projects. She contracted a tribe of violently territorial drapion to work the newly made factory. Said drapion drove away the natives and feral pokémon, who had lived together peacefully up until that point.
A few centuries after Paradox assumed power, he had the drapion tribe assimilated into Eternatus Troopers after they spelled his name wrong on their tax returns. The outpost fell into a state of disrepair until it was discovered by a group of nomads: the Skorps. They're genetically identical mutant skorupi who, according to Boss Kitty, reproduce through budding. Creepy, right? Ah, the "wonders" of Eternatus' insides.
The Skorps got the outpost running again and, with the archbishop's permission, resumed supplying tar for portions of the Qliphoth. Although they work with the Paradox regime, they're sympathetic to the rebellion thanks to Boss Kitty saving them from multiple pirate raids over the years. I think the little incineroar hands they have instead of their stingers are creepy, but I'm not in charge, so I've got to put up with it.
Alright, took me a while to get everything collected and gathered for this review, let's get right into things since you left off on quite the explosive note last time:
Chapter 33
Taking hold of Space and Time, the Matriarch pried open the gates of tomorrow. She forged the Benefactor to offer us eternal evolution. Infinite choices.
For one does not reach infinity without dividing by Zero.
Okay, first off, I'm pretty sure you get an undefined result when you try to do that. Second off:
Is- Is PoV an AU where Prisma won in GL? I mean, the summary on FFN now calls it a spinoff of GL, and between "the Matriarch" having taken hold of Space and Time and the capitalized "Zero", it's very hard not to have her come to mind when reading that passage.
"It's working! I'm a freaking genius!"
Arianna paused with her right hand hovering in front of a black security keypad. Even with a bevy of machines whirring on other parts of the ship, Tesla's shouts still grated on her.
She shook her head. The gardevoir didn't have time to think about that. And as much as she liked to rain on the smarmy boltund's parade, this was one such instance where she'd rather be enjoying a nice cognac.
... Wait a minute, that giant disaster of an ending last chapter was a success for Tesla? .-.
But no. Everything had to go to hell in a handbasket.
Arianna slammed the entry code: 0-0-0-0-0-1. Because heaven forbid Tesla follow her recommendations and change the code to something less narcissistic.
That's not narcissism, that's just plain old laziness to not put in a proper entry code. Even something from Jewish or East Asian numerology would be harder to brute-force guess than that.
The gray door slid open. Arianna shuffled onto the ship's bridge, where Tesla was shimmying back and forth behind a gray computer console, making excited fake robot noises as he went. The giant window offered a perfect view of two massive gray pipes dumping gray fluid into the purple-tinted sea. A computer screen on the console's right side displayed real time readings of the toxin levels in the water. And the values were going down.
... Somehow I should be less surprised that Tesla is this childish in mannerisms. Also, that "gray fluid" doesn't totally sound dodgy and sus. Not at all.
"Well, well. If it isn't the only person in the kingdom to outdo the genius Minister Dr. Tesla in number of titles." Tesla stopped his dancing and stiffly pivoted to face Arianna. A mechanical arm popped out of his backpack and pointed to the window. "Come to admire my latest beautiful creation, Warden Vice Chancellor Dr. Arian—"
"Zip it." Arianna held up her right hand. "We have a situation."
Oh, so they were using Scarlett as a mind-control/influencing device to keep the populace in line. That's not creepy and messed up at all.
Tesla's mechanical arm went limp, dropping to the ground with a metallic thud. "Impossible."
"She's not singing a waltz like instructed." Arianna nudged up her glasses. "Instead, she's spewing anarchistic blather. And it's whipping the crowd into a violent frenzy."
To be fair, even without the whole mind-control properties, I think that the target audience for waltzes would get into a violent frenzy over getting baited and switched into a death metal cover.
"Then shut it down." Tesla's arm retreated into his backpack. "You built the override sys—"
"Someone's locked me out." She calmly approached the boltund. "Drop the anti-psionic field. We're leaving. Now."
Wait, is that what caused Scarlett to blow up last chapter?
Tesla looked out the bridge window. "But I'm—"
Arianna quirked a brow. "Going to ignore a direct order from the chancellor?"
The ship violently lurched forward. Arianna steadied herself quickly but Tesla smacked into the console. His electronic goggles sparked and flickered.
"Disable the field!" Arianna hissed. Out the window, ripples spread across the water. A pair of wartortle deckhands were pointing at one another and shouting.
Arianna: "I'm... going to assume that that's a sign that things didn't go well."
Tesla: "Gee, Einstein. You didn't need a genius like me to tell you that." >_>;
Two electronic arms popped out of Tesla's backpack and typed furiously at the keyboard. "But what about the crew?"
The ship lurched once again. The monitors littering the bridge abruptly shut off. Arianna pressed her glasses firmly against her face to hide her expression.
"Forget them. We have bigger things to worry about."
Ah yes, sacrificing your underlings for your unethical experiments. Totally the sign of guys with good intentions that aren't massive villains
The bridge's lights went out. Emergency lights bathed the room in a red glow. Arianna floated over to Tesla and wrapped her arm around his foreleg. Her face scrunched in concentration, only relaxing when white light surrounded her and the cold grays of the ship's bridge vanished all around her.
Tesla: "... I sure hope this thing holds, since I'm pretty sure we just peaced the entire crew."
Arianna: "Well, we'll find out one way or another if it does."
Had Yuna first arrived in the thick haze and tarry pits of Outpost R3X a few weeks ago, it would have whipped her up into a panic. Instead, she was quick to summon Rayquaza, who conjured a tailwind that not only broke through the smog but made flying toward the flashes of battle in the distance fast and straightforward. Aside from bubbling black pools below her, there were sagging, green-yellow trees and scattered patches of land with dead grass, clumps of dirt, and mud puddles.
Cecil: "♫ Not even a distant land, we're stuck on a whole different planet- ♫"
Yuna: "Reshiram. One, I'm pretty sure you've personally done that gag before. Two, we're in a story that leans on Final Fantasy references, not Xenoblade ones." >_>;
Cecil: "... It's thematically fitting for our current moment? Plus hey, it's a catchy beat."
Eventually, at least a dozen skeletons came into view. They stood opposite Valkyrie, Seifer, and some sort of orange bird with large legs and stubby wings. The black-purple, vaguely feline creature floating above them with a crystal jammed in its right shoulder had to be Gene, Yuna figured.
"Look!" Rayquaza pointed his tail down. "Those daemons art reanimating on the spot!"
Yuna: "... Wait a minute, daemons leave skeletons behind? But I thought that when Baptiste died-" .-.
Gallian: "I... uh... may have vaporized him with mine Hyper Beam. The foul daemon would have not a bone left to reanimate." ^^;
Three skeletons lay disassembled in muddy terrain, water from Seifer's Hydro Pump dripping off their scattered bones. The bones quivered, however, and inched back toward one another. They stitched themselves back into two cranidos and a rampardos. Yuna recognized the shapes from picture books back home.
Getting major Dry Bones vibes from this. Wonder if they also can get taken down by burning like they can in some Mario games.
Cecil: “♫ On a sea of dark matter, every minute matters, living while other lives shatter~ ♫”
Yuna: “Reshiram-?”
Cecil: ♫ Seeing ghosts scatter, as they pour out- we can handle them~ ♫
Yuna: “Reshiram!” >.<
Cecil: “Whuh?”
Yuna: “Can you be productive right now and focus on the undead dinosaurs trying to kill us? (Seriously, what on earth are with those lyrics?)” >_>;
Valkyrie stomped her foot. The muddy ground beneath the skeletons trembled. They collapsed atop one another, giving her enough time to look up and spot Yuna. "Nice of you to join us. These devils keep doing this!"
Seifer turned right, raised a forehoof, and blasted a skeletal cranidos with a water jet. Its head and neck bones shot back into the tar, the rest of its body collapsing. "They're not hard to defeat, but we can't maintain this stalemate!"
Yuna: "... Have you tried breaking the bones into smaller pieces?"
Valkyrie: "In case if you haven't noticed, but we've been trying, okay?" >.<
The tar pits bubbled. Cranidos' head reemerged, along with another bony rampardos. "I got this!" Noctum declared. He swooped down, metal coating his right wing. The black charizard rolled right past a Stone Edge spire emerging from the tar. He clubbed Rampardos' head. It flew off its neck, landing on a tiny grass island in the distance. Within a few seconds, however, it floated into the air and hovered back across the tar pits.
Cecil: "♫ Get armed, Don't look back. Shoot them with your guns. ♫"
Valkyrie: "We don't have those, genius!" >.<
Yuna: "Don't mind him, he's just running a musical gag into the ground right now." >_>;
Yuna looked to Gene, who sent five skeletons flying back with a flick of his right wrist. He had expected them to come? They hadn't announced that. Was Gene that strong of a psychic?
"Say no more, Chompy!" Gene chirped.
"You don't get to call me that!" Valkyrie snarled, blasting two cranidos standing on a rock into the tar with a single Dragon Pulse.
Gene: "I'd just like to remind you that you're not exactly in a position to pick fights with me right now." :^)
- Valkyrie's eye twitches -
Valkyrie: "I swear to god, if we weren't busy being attacked by undead dinosaurs right now." >.<
"Whatever!" Gene turned to Yuna. "Hey, swap out Noodle Boy for Fluff Dergin and have him hit with me the hottest fire he can manage!"
Yuna: "Oh sweet Bahamut's light, that's what you're worried about right now, Reshiram?" >_<;
Gallian: "I am not a noodle!"
Yuna: "Does every Sage in this story have misplaced priorities or something?" >.<
"Look, just do it!" Gene turned back around and sent two skeletal rampardos careening up the grass and dirt hill with a single pink energy beam.
Sighing, Yuna recalled Rayquaza into the Soul Dew. Reshiram emerged in a spiral of blue and orange flame. The display was enough to stop the skeletons clambering back onto land from the tar pits. They looked up in unison, their bony jaws dropping one after another.
Oh, so they are weak to fire, especially with that literally jaw-dropping reaction from them. :V
Reshiram opened his mouth wide. He spewed a massive gout of blue fire.
"Perfect!" Gene declared. The flames splashed against a pink barrier, which then wrapped up the fire. Arms trembling and shoulder gem sparking, Gene brought his glowing hands together. The fiery roll further squeezed into a pink and blue ball. With every passing second, it grew brighter and brighter.
I dunno what noises undead dinomons make to say "I call hax", but yeah. That's some prime hax there. Not sure what on earth Gene is doing, but it's some obvious anime-tier move blending. :V
"Get those three up here!" Gene ordered through gritted teeth. Noctum grabbed Seifer off the ground, while Reshiram wrapped Valkyrie and the orange bird up in his wings and shot back into the air.
At that, the skeletons realized they lost their prey. Three rampardos roared in unison.
... Wait, how on earth are they doing that when they're skeletons with nothing standing in for flesh?
"Let's heat things up!" Gene cried, then hurled the glowing fireball at the ground. He immediately threw another pink barrier in front of the group.
The moment the fireball hit the ground, it erupted in a giant blue dome. The flames burnt away the skeletons, filling the already smoggy skies with extra smoke and ash.
Yuuuup, I figured that that would wind up be the solution to those guys.
Cecil: "♫ How do I know? This godd- ♫"
Yuna: "Reshiram, seriously! Knock it off already!" >.<
Gallian: "Considering the rest of that stanza there, it is a little out-of-character for thine language to be so uncouth, Cecil." 😅
Cecil: "Bah, you two are no fun." >.<
"Whoo hoo hoo!" Gene dispelled the barrier and fanned himself with his right hand. "Now that's what I call cooking with gas!" He flashed a thumb's up to Reshiram. "Good work, Fluffy."
Reshiram puffed his chest out pridefully. Squirming in his grasp, Valkyrie rolled her eyes.
Wow, Cecil really is a giant dork. While he's got the nervous introversion down pat, it definitely would've been quite the experience if his namesake was like this in FF4. :V
"W… was that really necessary?" Seifer wondered from his position on Noctum's back. "Those were… souls corrupted by Malice, weren't they? Like what Cyril told us?"
"Those guys? Nah." Gene waved the keldeo off with his black-yellow tail. "They were crawling out of the tar from the get-go. Probably passed away long before Eternatus schlorped up Planet Bogdan."
Oh, so Eternatus can cause zombie outbreaks of a sort. That's just... wonderful. .-.
Seifer frowned. If he wasn't convinced, Yuna didn't blame him. It was quite the sight… and she hadn't even been there for the start of it.
"But I tried using fire on the skeletons myself and it didn't work!" Valkyrie protested. The garchomp had managed to get onto Reshiram's back, which prompted him to place the orange bird next to her. "What gives?"
Seifer: "Have you ever considered that that's a sign that there's just something wrong with your fi-?"
Valkyrie: "Finish that sentence and I'll cut you, pony-boy." 😠
"We needed sufficient pressure to blow them up. That's why I'm glad your buddies showed up." Gene pointed to Yuna. "Fluffy could make enough flames for me to compress with my psionics. Heat needs to expand, after all." The mewtwo squished his hands together. "So, when it's prevented from doing that, the pressure keeps building and building until… fwoom!" He forcibly spread his hands. "Like a graveler self-destructing!"
Valkyrie: "See? There was nothing wrong with my fire-"
Seifer: "That's debatable since the author's heavily implied that there is something wrong with it, but at least we figured out what the real reason was."
Gene crossed his arms, smirking. "It's basic calorimetry. Look it up."
Yuna stared blankly at him. She understood maybe half his explanation. "Um, you're welcome?"
Yuna: "... Shouldn't that have caused massive burns thanks to heat convection in such close quarters?" .-.
Gene: "... My psionics also kept me safe?"
"And what if they didn't show up, huh?" Seifer growled, pointing his horn at Gene. Was it shinier than the last time she saw the keldeo? Gene shrugged.
An intense ripple of purple, distorted energy raced across the land. The tar it crossed bubbled more intensely, while cracks and fissures ran through the dirt and mud of the narrow land strip running up ahead of them.
"What was that?" Reshiram looked around in a panic. "That wasn't a happy light. That was a scary, spooky, everything's about to go to hell in a handbasket light!"
Cecil: "... We need a bigger gun." O_O;
Valkyrie: "I dunno if that's another one of your dorky song nods, but we don't have those! And what the hell is a gun supposed to do against malice pouring out of fissures right now?!" >.<
Valkyrie jabbed the back of his head. "Get a grip, dweeb."
Reshiram grabbed his chest ruff with both wings.
"Whatever it was, it looked like it came from Moonshine Bayou up ahead." Gene pointed an index finger forward. The land strip disappeared into the haze.
Noctum: "... Wait, people make moonshine in this place? Is it even safe to drink?" .-.
Valkyrie: "Well, odds are we're going to get a chance to find out. Let's go."
"A bayou?" Noctum scratched his head. "What's that?"
"Swamplands," Valkyrie responded. "Marshes and humidity and junk. Good for water and grass-types." She looked over her shoulder. "But what's a bayou doing close to tar pits?"
"No idea!" Gene was surprisingly chipper considering the uncertainty of this situation. Yuna had a hard time believing he was the leader of anything with such a lackadaisical attitude.
Now that she mentions it... I can't tell whether that's a front that Gene puts up to get others' guards down like he evidently did with Prisma, or if that's hinting that something's up with the ship he's running on the rebellion.
"Maybe this part of the mystery dungeon used to be swamplands at one point, too," Reshiram proposed.
"Bah, doesn't matter." Gene waved the white dragon off. "We press on. Maybe the missing skorps are holed up in the bayou." He turned around and shouted, "Hey, Skorp! You still with us?"
Flapping wings brought Yuna's attention behind her. Out of the haze flew an honest-to-God aerodactyl.
Yuna's gills retreated into her head. "Th… that's…"
Noctum gasped "Aerodactyl? Those went extinct on Etherium millennia ago!"
Valkyrie: "Yeah, yeah, really shocking. We went through this like two chapters ago and we're in a realm of the undead, so let's hurry this up." >_>;
"Yeah, yeah. Your buddies already flipped out over Kelly," Gene exclaimed. "No one's interested in a repeat performance." He hovered over to Aerodactyl. "We saw something fishy coming from the bayou. You up to follow us?"
... Is there just something in the water in Etherium that makes 'mons prone to cracking these horrible puns? :V
The mewtwo signaled everyone to follow, but froze beside Reshiram. A frown crossed his features. "Wait, Cyril, slow down." He pressed a finger to his temple. "Who?"
Before Yuna could ask what was wrong, Noctum's tail flame grew in alarm. Seifer almost lost his grip on the charizard's shoulders. Valkyrie then stood up on Reshiram's back, "Not Chiaki!" She looked at Gene. "Send me back to Venish… now!" Alarm spread across her face. "I have to— he needs—"
I feel as if it might have made sense to make it more explicit that Gene is doing selective telepathy here, since I didn't quite pick up on that in a first read and initially thought that there was supposed to be an X-Transciever used here that got neglected to be described.
"Whoa, whoa!" Reshiram wobbled in midair. "Please remain seated until the fluffy boy says otherwise!"
"To hell with that!" Valkyrie huffed out dragonfire. "Chiaki got caught up in an explosion! I have to save him!"
I mean, if he got caught up in an explosion, I'm not sure how much there's going to be left of him to save. Least of all because the TR Discord promo blurb described him as 'cooked Grovyle'.
An explosion?! Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. He had to be okay. He just had to.
That... sounds like a fantastic way to tempt fate and wind up in a situation where you're bawling into Noctum's shoulders in a couple minutes, but okay there, Yuna.
"You'll never get to him fast enough," Gene said, finally looking serious. "I'll go."
"Then I'm coming with you!" Valkyrie raised her arms. "He's… he's my responsibility."
Yuna didn't buy that, given how rarely she'd seen the two together. Nevertheless, Gene nodded. "Fine. Hope you don't get sick from levitation."
I mean, sure, she moonlights under a different profession, but she is Chiaki's bodyguard. And I can't imagine she wouldn't get torn up over literally not being there for him in a time of need.
Valkyrie: "Least of all since I'm pretty sure that Sakaki's gonna kill me if something serious happened to Chiaki."
The mewtwo raised his right arm. A pink aura surrounded Valkyrie. Gene levitated the garchomp to his side. "The rest of you press on. We need to find out what's happening at the bayou. Skorp can give you directions."
A rift split the air open behind him. Gene and Valkyrie ducked into it without another word. The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances.
Seifer: "... Why did he not send Noctum with her when Noctum can Phantom Warp as well and Gene is the one who knows the lay of the land here?" >_>;
Noctum: "Er... I don't think he was really thinking that one through since we were all kinda in a panic there." .-.
"Are we sure going ahead is a good idea?" Seifer shifted nervously on Reshiram's back. "Maybe we should wait and confirm Chiaki's okay."
Yuna liked that idea, but Kelly shrieked her disapproval. "Whoa there, girl!" Skorp exclaimed, petting the back of the aerodactyl's head.
Yuna: "... I'm going to guess that we don't have much say in this matter, do we?" -_-;
"Somehow, I get the feeling the natives dost not want us to wait," Rayquaza said. Yuna glimpsed the end of his black tail twitching in anticipation. "Be on guard, Princess."
"Sorry there, folks." Skorp laughed nervously. "Kelly wants to save her friends real bad, eh. And so do I. We oughta follow Gene's orders."
Skorp nodded. With several flaps of her wings, Kelly disappeared into the smog. The rest of the group followed after her. While not as effective as Rayquaza's winds, Reshiram's tail engine dispelled some of the haze. The ground ahead grew wetter. Dirt turned to mud. The grass was grayer and crabbier. Black tar pits turned to luminescent pools of thick, purple fluid.
Yuna: "I'm pretty sure that that's not supposed to be there!"
But all that paled in comparison to the sight of a large gray ship stuck in the middle of the poisonous lake, capsized against a wedge-shaped island like a beached wailord.
... Wait a minute, is that Arianna and Tesla's ship there?
"What the heck?" Noctum's flame grew in alarm. "That symbol on the side… isn't that the Polaris logo?" He pointed to a blue compass whose needle pointed north.
"That's a waste management ship," Seifer declared. "What is the meaning of this?"
Oh, so Polaris has been dumping garbage in the Qliphoth. That totally wasn't massively tempting fate on their part.
"I don't think that's always been here," Skorp mumbled, poking his three index fingers together. "Oh, it's giving me the heebie jeebies, yessir."
"Princess, look!" Rayquaza cried. "On the island the ship crashed into. It's the Needle!"
Yuna's head involuntarily swiveled right. Sure enough, at the top of the island sat a large golden rod. However, the eye-like gemstone Yuna had seen on the previous Needles was nowhere to be found. In fact, it looked as if someone had blown it off the top of the Needle. The remaining metal was littered with scorch marks.
Instead, there was an ominous purple sphere floating over the Needle. Purple tendrils ran from the sphere toward the purple ooze surrounding the island.
Yuna gulped. "Is that… the source of the poison?"
She wasn't expecting anyone to answer. Nor did she expect to hear a startled squeal to her right. The dreepy turned to find Reshiram's tail crackling with blue fire. Seifer swung his hind legs up in alarm.
"H-Hey! Stop it! Be still!" he ordered. It was all in vain, however. Reshiram took off toward the sphere. Yuna swore she saw his eyes glistening. She was about to call to him when an anguished roar made her gills shrivel.
I mean, on one level, I guess I should've expected best birb to feature in this story given how much you like it (and it's thematically fitting for the needle location). I certainly didn't expect we'd come across it like that.
The metallic hallway in Paradox Tower was filled with assorted poipole and Eternatus Brawlers offering applause to Paradox as he floated forward. A few Brawlers awkwardly tossed confetti with their large maces. Sticky shot the ones on his right glares. The confetti was blocking his tablet screen.
Sticky: "Seriously, why do we even have that for this occasion?" >_>;
"A lovely sermon, sir. Or is it Your Excellency, now?"
Sticky glanced left at the large serperior slithering beside Paradox. Her head split open so a much smaller seviper poked through. "Still, I don't understand why I have to take up the archbishop mantle. I'm a fighter, not a preacher."
But does she job hard at being a final boss? Since the other female 'Uroboros' I'm aware of from games does a fantastic job at that. >:V
"It's only temporary," Paradox assured her, right tentacles twisting into an arm to wave her off. "I have a more permanent replacement chosen already. However, he is a bit… preoccupied at the moment. With an assignment on our Benefactor's prison."
That was not an 'inquisitive mind' there, but okay, lady.
A chuckle followed. "Touché." Paradox turned his head around and resumed moving forward. "Yes, this fellow is Etherian. But he empathizes with our struggle." He brought his right hand to his chin. "For, like us Eternians, he has lost something dear to him: his kingdom. Taken from him wrongfully in the chaos caused by the traitor and her mate."
I mean, this is really, really giving off strong 'Xeromus' vibes right about now. Like I know that you mentioned earlier in other parts of the internet he was a third party, buuuut…
"I see." Uroboros licked her lips. The parts of her serperior head curled in excitement. "And what, exactly, does this fellow look like?"
"Sticky!" Paradox snapped his fingers.
Sticky sighed. He was in the middle of reading a message, but that would clearly have to wait. A few pecks of his tablet with a claw and he had the photo ready. The naganadel held up the tablet and weaved between Paradox and Uroboros so the latter could see.
"Seriously?" She squinted. "He looks like a clove of garlic." Uroboros curled her lips. "I bet he's grass-type. You'd seriously trust an archbishop with so many weaknesses?"
Oh, well never mind then. But a clove of garlic, huh? That's... not ringing too many bells for species right about now. Dunno why.
Paradox continued forward without answering her. His right arm unfurled into tentacles. Sticky wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer in the emperor's place.
Best to take the initiative. "I would think a Paradigm member would understand how appearances can be deceiving," he said.
"Fair enough." Uroboros' seviper head retreated. The serperior head closed and stared Sticky down. "Why the attitude, though? I saw you looking at that little rectangle like it was a piece of spoiled meat."
"Well, I do hope you plan on sharing." Paradox pointed his left tentacles at him.
"Of course!" Sticky flinched at the voice crack. "It, um, seems as though our network infrastructure has encountered some… technical difficulties, sir."
Paradox: "Sticky, you can't just bring up 'technical difficulties' and leave it at that! Out with it already!"
Silence. Sticky took that to mean he should continue. "We've lost contact with other planets aside from Axiom, sir. And our spy camera network is, according to the analysts, 'glitching out.'"
Uroboros' serperior head parted slightly. Sticky shrank back from the rows of serrated teeth on the insides of what should have been a leafy body. "A rebel attack?"
Sticky agreed. There was no way the rebels had the wherewithal to cause this great of a system disruption. At the same time, he doubted it was some random blip in the system. Something must have happened.
"And you're going to get to the bottom of it, aren't you?"
"Eep!" Sticky wasn't expecting Paradox to be right up in his face. Had the deoxys teleported when he wasn't looking. "Of course. I'll head down to the data center at once!"
... I take it that even 'mons in Sticky's position don't have great job security from being Unown'd, since he sure got really scared there really fast.
The naganadel shakily saluted with his left arm and headed back the way the small procession came. Whatever this was, it was spoiling the new emperor's coronation. And Sticky couldn't afford to let it sour what was supposed to be a big day.
Intense, searing pain. All over Chiaki's face. But the left side had it the worst with a harsh stabbing sensation. Something was jammed there. Where his left eye was supposed to be.
Didn't think we were going to see 'Punished Chiaki' there, but that explosion clearly has done a number on him.
And yet, it should've hurt more. He was caught in an explosion. Chiaki had just enough time to throw himself on top of Scarlett. But now everything was a total blur.
Why couldn't the grovyle feel his head leaf? Hell, why couldn't he feel anything below his neck?
... Oh boy, we're actually going to be making him a quadruplegic, huh? I... have no idea how on earth you're going to get him out of that hole short of Cyril making him power armor.
He was breathing, but every breath was a struggle. Like an unseen hand kept trying to force him underwater. Broken ribs piercing his lungs, perhaps? Why no pain, then?
Chiaki: "D-Dammit. No. No! I-I'm fine! I'm just pinned by something right now! That's all!"
Panic crept in. He had to fight it. Push it away. Panic would do him in for sure. Chiaki had to escape somehow. And that meant figuring out what things looked like, right?
His right eye was open, though. He was sure of it. It's just too blurry.
But his left eye…
No! Chiaki couldn't think about that. Couldn't think—
This kid's going to be more machine than 'mon by the end of all this, isn't he? Since we've confirmed that he's now out at least one arm, an eye, and he might be paralyzed from the neck down right now.
Blood splattered on his abdomen. His left arm clamping the leftover stump of his right.
Ringing. He heard nothing but ringing.
Right, he had the X-transceiver in one frill and a specialized ear plug in another. The explosion must've damaged his inner ears.
The panic was creeping in again. He couldn't take any calming, steady breaths.
I... can't tell if Chiaki's going to make it through this as a chewed-up shell of who he once was, or if he's just flatly gonna die and play out the rest of the story as a Qliphother. But either way, this sense of panic and helplessness you're selling here is such a
mood.
But he couldn't hear. Couldn't see. Couldn't move.
He lifted his head. There were black and purple shapes he could barely make out. "Help me!" he screamed.
Ah yes, fantastic timing to have a flashback like that. It's like reliving the worst moment of your life, but somehow even worse.
It had happened again. Obsession had given way to recklessness. Last time it cost him an arm. This time, it would cost half his sight, his hearing, and his mobility. Assuming he even made it out alive.
Every breath was getting harder. Heavier. He was sure his chest was filling with fluid. Or air. Or even both.
The blurs took shape. Metal shards digging into his chest, gut, hips, and legs. His green and red scales burned away, replaced by expanding boils and burnt flesh.
… but there was a dragonair at his feet. Scrapes and singes peppered her shabby blue scales. However, she was breathing.
inb4 Vegna just punches in the door in about five seconds and just ruins the one thing that this sacrifice accomplished.
She was alive. He'd protected her. He… he…
Golden light enveloped Chiaki and Scarlett. This is it, the grovyle thought. The injuries were too severe. There was no way he was bouncing back from it.
He was even more convinced when most of the pain around his head faded, along with the sensation something was stuck in his left eye socket.
But when the light faded, he was still among metal shards and other assorted rubble. Most of the debris impaling him was gone and a good portion of his burns were healed, albeit replaced by gray scales instead of his usual green and red. His left field of vision was still black, however.
... I can't tell if Chiaki just evolved there or if some sort of weird voodoo just went down. Since 'gray scales' certainly aren't anywhere on normal Sceptile.
That was when a large black arm reached down and grabbed Scarlett. Chiaki wanted to yell. To cry for help. But he couldn't get his lips to move.
A second arm grabbed hold of him and hoisted him into the air. Black smoke soon shrouded the burning, ruined remnants of Starlene's trailer. The arm turned Chiaki around. He saw a black, muscular chest which gave way to a black head with two fierce, red eyes.
At first I thought that this was Vegna, but then I realized that that physical description also matches up with Gene, so...
A dragon? Chiaki wondered. That should've been impossible. Nevertheless, his mystery savior threw him over its right shoulder, beside the dragonair. There, Chiaki saw some sort of blue-striped cone sticking out of the creature's butt. Its tail? It spun like a turbine, giving off blue sparks. How was that remotely safe with a fire nearby?
It was then that Chiaki realized a familiar dusknoir and corviknight floated by the creature's tail. Griffon gesticulated wildly while Vegna stared at him. His eye was… as blue as the tail turbine.
Chiaki's head tingled. Was this… disturbingly muscular thing one of Vegna's undead minions?!
The grovyle had no time to chew on this thought, however. Vegna pointed forward. Griffon lowered his head in defeat before black shadows sucked him into Vegna's body. Chiaki's savior rose into the air and Vegna floated closer to it. He made eye contact with Chiaki for a brief moment, but it was enough for him to assume what Vegna was thinking.
CDL-408: Outpost R3X, Planet Bogdan A dwarf planet in the Andromeda Galaxy named for its mix of rainforests and mirelands. Some time before Eternatus claimed it, a freak accident caused tar to seep out of the planet's crust. Nearby swamps turned to tar pits, which Archbishop Chiron decided to collect and process for use in construction projects. She contracted a tribe of violently territorial drapion to work the newly made factory. Said drapion drove away the natives and feral pokémon, who had lived together peacefully up until that point.
A few centuries after Paradox assumed power, he had the drapion tribe assimilated into Eternatus Troopers after they spelled his name wrong on their tax returns. The outpost fell into a state of disrepair until it was discovered by a group of nomads: the Skorps. They're genetically identical mutant skorupi who, according to Boss Kitty, reproduce through budding. Creepy, right? Ah, the "wonders" of Eternatus' insides.
The Skorps got the outpost running again and, with the archbishop's permission, resumed supplying tar for portions of the Qliphoth. Although they work with the Paradox regime, they're sympathetic to the rebellion thanks to Boss Kitty saving them from multiple pirate raids over the years. I think the little incineroar hands they have instead of their stingers are creepy, but I'm not in charge, so I've got to put up with it.
Ah yes, you also shared this one. But the 'Andromeda Galaxy', huh? So Eternatus had just been zipping from galaxy to galaxy across the universe to find its next meal, huh?
Alright, time for the recap:
I... honestly have no idea what's going on anymore. Not in a bad way mind you, but it feels like the world of this setting has just blown up over the course of like the last two chapters, and things are still reeling to the point where I'm trying to make sense of what on earth the new equilibrium once all of this settles down is going to be. Chiaki's scene was definitely the most visceral one of the entire story so far, and the sequence where he increasingly panics as he realizes just how deep in the hole he is was really well-done.
As for stuff I was a bit less fond of... I'm not really sure, honestly. Maybe there were some bits that could've used more description? Maybe it'd have been nice to get a bit more closure on at least one of the plot lines going on since all but one scene ended on a cliffhanger moment, but I get the sense that things are very much supposed to be hitting the fan right now, so it might not narratively have made sense to do that.
But good work there, @Ambyssin , and I guess we'll start to see where on earth the dust will settle for this mess in about 2 weeks. I know that I'm certainly looking forward to it. ^^
The emergency stairwell thankfully had tiny white lights illuminating the way down despite the hotel's power outage. While Nikki took the stairs two or three at a time, Artemis slithered along the railing. They got a few floors down before other patrons began to enter.
"Move! Outta the way!" Nikki shouted, shoving aside multiple protesting patrons. The last of which was a shellos who left her wringing out goo from her hands. The toxtricity was glad for the distraction. Anything to keep her from thinking about what had happened in her hotel room.
Impatience soon got the better of Nikki, however. She started jumping down half of each flight of stairs, kicking up dirt and sparks. "Hey, slow down!" Artemis cried.
"Fat chance!" Nikki replied. The emergency lights flickered all around her. Her mohawk frazzled in kind. She hurried down the last two flights of stairs and barged out of the red emergency exit door.
Nikki stumbled out into a brick alleyway. She managed to catch herself before faceplanting into the dust and… questionable black streaks in the cracks between several bricks. Nikki looked around, but the buildings surrounding the back of the hotel were equally as dark. So, it ain't just this place. Great.
The emergency exit opened behind her. Artemis slithered out, panting heavily. "Thanks… for waiting," he wheezed.
"Kiss my ass, Pool Noodle." Nikki crossed her arms. "Which way gets us back to the…"
Her voice trailed off as white and blue caught the corner of her eye. Under a ground-level window to her right sat an inflatable quaxly filled to the brim with mounds of bright pink cotton candy. Nikki pointed to it. "Is… is that supposed to be there?"
Artemis looked left. His eyebrows crinkled. "I, uh, think that's a dumpster." He blinked several times. "Or it was a dumpster."
"Right, because dumpsters look like oversized bath toys!" Nikki slouched over. "Next you're going to tell me there was a circus staying in this hotel."
The milotic whipped the air with a ribbon. "I'm just as clueless as you a— whoomph!" His tail shot up and he slithered forward, revealing Pillow Princess and his stupid sylveon boytoy standing in the doorway wearing velvet bathrobes. Their faces were flushed, but frazzled.
That quake caught 'em in the middle of something, Nikki mentally sneered.
"What are you looking at?" Shimmer huffed. The ponyta stomped a forehoof on the ground. "I bet you caused all of this! If you think you can disrupt my beauty sleep the night before the first leg, then you—"
"Shimmy?" Xander tugged on Shimmer's bathrobe. "I think something's really wrong." He pointed to the inflatable quaxly with a ribbon. The second he did, purple light raced up from the brick street. Xander yelped and jumped back in the doorway, earning several annoyed cries. Nikki held her arms up defensively, but nothing bad happened.
When the toxtricity lowered them, however, she found static enveloping the dead streetlight between the hotel and the building to her right. Bit by bit, wood replaced metal, until a twisted, gnarled grandfather clock stood in the streetlight's place, awkwardly bent into the same shape as the object it replaced. A small doorway opened in the middle of it and a little fletchling cuckoo shot out on a metal coil, chirping obnoxiously.
Nikki pinched the back of her neck. She slapped her cheek. Nothing changed. Not a dream, then. Shit.
Shimmer hopped away from the emergency exit, whinnying in fright. "Th… this is…" He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "When I figure out how you're doing this… I'll see to it no one will even hire you to scrape gum off their tables!" He pointed his glowing horn at Nikki.
"Me?" Nikki's fingers tingled with lightning. "Pull your head out of your boytoy's ass! I've got nothing to do with this."
"Prove it!" Shimmer's nostrils flared.
Nikki clenched her fists. Yellow and purple sparks slowly shaped themselves into a handle. "You're the one with the hate boner. You prove it!"
"Both of you, shut up!"
A milotic tail slapped down between the two of them. "Dawdling here solves nothing." Artemis pointed a ribbon to the alley behind him. "Let's get out in front of the hotel and find someone in charge."
"Yeah! Let us out, damn it!" a gruff voice shouted from inside the emergency exit, followed by a chorus of similar cries. Xander's stubby tail drooped.
"Aha ha… my bad, everyone! Don't hold it against the prince." The sylveon raised his ribbons innocently.
"Hang on… the prince is here?"
"Do something, Your Grace!"
"I paid a lotta money to be here!"
Shimmer shrank back, ears folding at the new chorus of voices. "Xander, you idiot!"
Nikki stepped away from the quarreling lovebirds, but not without flashing the ponyta the smarmiest smirk she could muster. She and Artemis rounded the corner to head in front of the hotel when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "What the—"
"Hey, you're glowing pink!" The milotic looked around in a panic.
"Me? You are, too!" Nikki retorted. Then an unseen force hoisted the two into the air. The toxtricity flailed her arms and legs about. "I want outta this shitty nightmare!" she hissed, before landing on the hotel roof with a soft thud.
"Yeah, you and me both, sister."
"Bwuh?" Nikki looked up to find… some sort of hairless black and purple cat standing with his arms crossed and looking down at her. Her heart momentarily quickened upon seeing the obviously evil crystal wedged in the cat's shoulder, but she then remembered what that dorky servant charizard had told her and Princess back in Horizon Gardens.
"Gene, I presume?" Artemis was faster asking what was on Nikki's mind. "I thought you were supposed to be in the Qliphoth with the others."
Gene leaned back against a part of the hotel's large sign. His attempt at a hiding place, if Nikki had to guess. She then realized Valkyrie sat next to him, looking rather pale. The garchomp's arms trembled.
"I was, but your grovyle buddy had to go get himself blown up." Gene shook his head. "So, here I am. And no grilled lizard to show for it."
"Twiggy and I aren't bud— wait."
It took a moment, but the realization of Gene's words was an invisible mallet to the back of Nikki's head. "T… Twiggy blew up?" Her chest tightened. "H-He's—"
"Alive." Gene yawned into his hand.
Artemis balled up a ribbon and shook it at Gene. "Why didn't you lead with that?"
"Dramatic effect?" Gene shrugged.
"Are you asking me or telling me?!"
"Yes." Gene winked at Artemis, whose looked ready to burst a blood vessel.
"Well, where is he?" Nikki asked, finally getting back to her feet.
"Someone took him," Valkyrie whispered. The garchomp continued staring at the ground. Nikki looked to Gene for more information.
"We were going to rescue him." Gene ran his right hand along the back of the hotel sign. He rubbed his index finger and thumb, balling up the dust he had scooped up. "But when we were heading for the amphitheater — a total eyesore, if you ask me — I saw some gold light from out back. Then several figures flew off." He blew the dust ball away from his fingers. "I think I sensed a dusknoir, but there was something… off about their energy. If I had hair, it would've stood on end for sure."
The toxtricity's heart rate picked up again. "The Reaper?" She glanced at Artemis. "I thought he was supposed to be at the hotel with us?"
"Clearly he lied," Artemis said.
Gene cleared his throat. "Anyway, we followed at a distance until we saw your bud get dropped off at some hospital. Then Val told me you guys were here." He gestured to Nikki and Artemis. "And then I hoisted you both up here and explained everything."
Smirking, Gene crossed his arms. "This concludes 'Gene's Epic Story Time.' Be sure to like and subscribe for more daily content."
Nikki stared back at him blankly. What the hell was this dumb hairless cat smoking? And does he have any on him?
"I know, I know. I'm still workshopping the name." Gene nonchalantly flicked his right hand.
"Forget that." Artemis coiled his body tightly until he stood taller than Gene. "Why try and find us? It's not like we're in a position to deal with the Reaper."
"Duh." Gene blew a raspberry. "You think I'm an idiot? This isn't about your charbroiled grovyle. This is about something much more dire."
The milotic squinted. "And are you going to tell us what that is? Or is this some more dramatic effect?"
Another wall of purple light then raced past the group. The glass clamperl towering over the roof abruptly turned to pieces of blue and pink cardboard. A breeze carried the large pieces away from them. Nikki could only watch in disbelief, thankful it hadn't transformed into something more dangerous.
"I think that about sums it up." Gene shook his head, tsking. "Well, that and what's going on with the rest of your motley crew." He clenched his right fist. Ectoplasm swirled around it. "They were helping me try and rescue my friends before we got sidetracked. I'm not about to leave them high and dry when they're doing me a solid."
Nikki put her hands on her hips. "Well, isn't that nice? You didn't strike me as the touchy-feely type, Pussy."
Gene returned the toxtricity's insult with a proud smile. "Nice one." He winked at Nikki before his expression sharpened. "But seriously, as kooky as some of the stuff here might be, we oughta go inside Eternatus and rendezvous with the others." Gene tapped his temple. "Call it psychic intuition."
There was also the matter of the whole toxic water incident. Everyone besides Nikki thought it was connected to Eternatus. Now that even weirder stuff was messing with Venish, didn't it make sense to at least try and fix the toxic water?
She scratched her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Nikki looked at Valkrie. Wasn't the dour garchomp going to protest?
"Great! Then let's get a move on." Gene rubbed his hands together. "There isn't a moment to lose."
Again, Nikki expected Valkyrie to object. But she remained silent while Gene raised his hands a summoned a purple rift underneath them.
I guess she's resigned herself to losing Twiggy to the Reaper.
XxX
Yuna wasn't sure how she spotted it through the swamp's haze, but she somehow caught a glimpse of purple splotches forming on the ground ahead of Reshiram. Muttering a silent apology to Reshiram's orange-feathered passenger, she recalled the dragon to the Soul Dew. Moments later, a huge purple geyser erupted in front of the flailing bird. He managed to land on his lanky legs and backpedal to avoid lingering purple globs that peppered the mud and crabby gray grass all around him.
"Let me out! Lemme out!" Reshiram's flailing filled Yuna's mind. "Lugia! Lugia! I have to save her!"
"Calm yourself, Sir Reshiram!" Rayquaza gasped, weaving around the white dragon. "She's mine friend, too, but—"
"No, you don't understand! That's my wife!" Tears welled up in Reshiram's eyes. "We have to do something! Do something, Yuna!"
"Ye gads! Art thou serious?" Rayquaza recoiled, raising his black and red tail. "I know thou werest quite close, but Bahamut ordered you to break things off before assuming your duties."
Nothing but whimpers followed. It wrenched Yuna's gut in different directions. Bahamut preached the importance of family and intimacy, so why would he forbid the Sages from having such relationships? She also realized it sounded like Reshiram, the Sage of Truth, had lied to Bahamut and the other Sages. And on top of that, Reshiram's sadness made it hard to focus on everything else going on.
"Who or what is that?"
Yuna was thankful for Noctum's cry, even if it meant something bad. He pointed toward the poisonous haze ahead of the orange bird, where a tall, lanky silhouette grew larger and taller the closer it got.
"I thought I felt that Chiron vibe a-coming. Most distastefully bad juju."
What emerged from the haze looked… vaguely sneasel-like. If someone had dipped the sneasel in bright pink and stretched it out, of course. The way she swayed back and forth unsettled Yuna. Despite the bottom of her white dress dragging through the mud, it remained utterly pristine. As did the black, wide-brimmed hat sitting atop her head. Nobles back in Aeon had similar hats to shield from the volcanic ash.
But sneasel and weavile don't live in Aeon…
"I can see that confusion scrawled across your face, traitor." The newcomer daintily pointed her long black claws right at Yuna. "It's been some time since you've laid eyes on a sneasler, huh? The body might've changed, but Exodes persists. You know as well as I we Paradigm aren't so easily stopped."
"Is she some… alternate evolution of sneasel? Poppycock!" Rayquaza guffawed. "Next thou'll tellst me she can stretch even further and become a sneaslest."
The sneasler part threw Yuna off, but one thing was certain: the dreepy had to stay firm. Or float firm. "I'm not Chiron. You're mistaken."
"Ha ha ha!" Exodes' grin widened. "Oh, Chrion, even after all these years, your sense of timing remains… impeccable."
Noctum glided in front of Yuna defensively. Seifer poked his head out, horn flickering red. "Halt! Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!"
"Oh? A keldeo. My, my. What a… delicious specimen you are." Exodes traced a claw around her lips, then licked it with her long, black tongue. "Why not… give yourself up to the Paradigm?" The sneasler gripped the brim of her hat. "You'd make a fabulous addition to my growing army of the undead."
It wasn't hard for Yuna to put two and two together. Seifer was quickest to react, however. "So, you're behind the skeletons that attacked us, earlier! Surrender, fiend!"
"Of course I am." Exodes resumed swaying back and forth. "It's my… coronation gift to the emperor. An infinite army of the undead, made possible by these silly mutants and their budding powers."
"Emperor?" The orange bird shifted uneasily.
"Budding?" Noctum frowned.
"Like mushrooms?" Seifer glanced back at Kelly and Skorp. "Quetzal, be careful down there."
"Careful? Ha!" Exodes fanned herself with her right hand. "I could stand here and talk your ears off." She raised both hands. "But I'd much rather… demonstrate!"
Noctum and Yuna were ready. Both flew in opposite directions faster than Exodes could extend her claws toward either of them.
"Foul witch! Claws shouldn't extend that far," Rayquaza spat. "Tis an affront to nature!"
"Skorp, Kelly, look out!" Noctum cried. Yuna realized the claws were still extending. The aerodactyl behind her cawed in alarm and flapped her wings. Yuna thought it wise to attack Exodes. Fortunately, the bird was on top of it, shooting an orange blast toward Exodes from his right leg.
The sneasler jumped over the blast. Her claws didn't need to retreat. Yuna hastily concentrated, but Reshiram didn't respond. What are you doing? she mentally hissed. We need your help!
Fortunately, Kelly avoided getting grabbed. Yuna got no relief, however, as Kelly suddenly jerked left, then right. She screeched in protest, but next thing Yuna knew, she was staring down an approaching wall of dragonfire.
"Yuna!"
Flames and a large water torrent followed Noctum's cry. They snuffed out the dragonfire, giving Yuna enough time to float back. Exodes retracted her claws, allowing Yuna to see a tiny aerodactyl doll in her right claws.
"Whoa there, Kelly!" Skorp dangled from her right leg. "Why don't we take a deep breath or two, eh?"
"It's too late for her." Exodes held up the aerodactyl doll. "One little touch is all I need for my vicious voodoo to take hold." The sneasler flapped the doll's wings and Kelly responded in kind. A giant gust of wind sent Yuna reeling through the air. She heard Noctum and Seifer's hollers, followed by metal breaking apart.
"Waaaaah!"
Yuna righted herself in time for Quetzal to zip by her. Skorp landed safely on his orange-feathered back. Quetzal looked as surprised at his speed as Yuna was.
"Behind you, Princess!"
The dreepy whirled around. Exodes' free claws were heading right for her! And brimming with poison! She concentrated, but couldn't draw up Reshiram's flames. Fortunately, Rayquaza popped his black head out of the Soul Dew and blasted the claws with a Dragon Pulse. The blue bolt vaporized the toxins and the claws shot back to Exodes' hand like chains pulled through a winch crank.
Reshiram, please! Snap out of it! Yuna's frustration was bubbling up. Her arms darkened. Fearful of Rayquaza noticing, she sucked him back into the Soul Dew with a deep breath.
"… Lugia…" Sniffles echoed in Yuna's head. She couldn't believe how defeated he sounded. And all because she didn't want him rushing ahead. Reshiram would have gotten trapped by Exodes for sure if Yuna hadn't stopped him. Why couldn't he see that? He was the Sage of Truth!
"Well, well." Exodes fanned herself with her free hand. "It seems I'm not the only puppeteer here. How fitting. First you throw the whole Paradigm away like a set of unloved toys. Now you're doing the same to the ones you left us for."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Yuna retorted. "Please, stop! Nothing good is going to come from this!"
Quetzal had taken the opportunity to run out of Exodes' eyesight. Just when it looked like he'd launch a sneak attack, however, Exodes pried the Kelly doll's jaws open. Glowing rocks rained down on Quetzal from above. Squawking in surprise, the orange bird ran zigzags to try and avoid them.
"Tis a feint!" Rayquaza cried. Sure enough, Exodes slammed her free hand into the ground. A wave of purple ooze rose from the bog behind Quetzal.
"We have to blow it away!" Yuna focused on Rayquaza's soul — she wasn't going to risk Reshiram resisting again — and vibrant blue energy gathered in her arms. While Quetzal ran away from the swamp and the capsized ship, a twister rose from the ground.
Yuna realized her misstep too late, however. The tornado caught the poison tidal wave and flung the purple slime in all directions. Some hit Kelly, who shrieked in pain and plummeted from the air. Other bits struck the ship's front hull, burning through the metal around a charizard-shaped hole.
"How droll!" Exodes raised her free hand, laughing. "The more you try and 'help,' the more harm you're putting your friends through." The sneasler jerked Kelly's doll and the aerodactyl forcibly shot into the air again, flying in between Yuna and Exodes.
Yuna's gills shriveled. That blasted daemon was using Kelly as a meat shield now? How could she?
Reshiram, I'm begging you! Stop sulking! Yuna scrunched her face up. Think about the others. Think about Lugia! If we can't stop this daemon… she's going to keep hurting her!
"I could use some help over here!"
Quetzel's frightened caws drew Yuna's attention down, where he was running back toward the ship with Exodes' claws in hot pursuit. Yuna gulped. Quetzal couldn't get hit like Kelly did. Not with Noctum and Seifer still stuck in the ship.
… The ship.
"Quetzal, go in the ship!" Yuna cried.
"What?" The orange bird hopped over Exodes' claws. He kicked the air with his right leg, propelling him a few meters away. "Are you mad? I can't leave you here alone!"
"Just do it!" Yuna was getting warmer. White fur filled the back of her psyche, along with a sudden surge of determination. "I think… I think they might've found something important in there!"
"Ha! In that hunk of metal?" Exodes retracted her claws and forced the aerodactyl doll's mouth open again. More glowing rocks gathered above Quetzal. "I don't even know what it's doing—"
The sneasler's eyes widened. "Err, I mean, that thing's been there for ages! It's as empty as this aerodactyl's head!"
Quetzal caught the slip up. An orange glow surrounded him. Yowling, Skorp hung on for dear life with all three mutant hands. Quetzal surged into the Noctum-shaped hole in the ship's hull.
"Rrr… stupid, stupid, stupid!" Exodes smacked her head three times with her left hand. She jabbed the Kelly doll with her left index claw. The aerodactyl seized in the air. "After them!"
She lifted her hat and stuffed the doll into it. Kelly screeched and darted for the hole in the ship.
Now it was just the two of them. The broken needle had an ominous glow. Lugia still floated over it. Were there more purple tendrils around her or was Yuna's mind playing tricks on her?
"Last chance." Yuna clasped the edges of her Soul Dew. "We've… already dealt with daemons like you. If you let everyone go, maybe we can talk this out."
Uproarious laughter was Exodes' answer. "You think the great Lady Exodes, voodoo master of Eternatus, is going to surrender to a traitorous has been?" She flicked her right hand dismissively. "Oh, honey…"
All six of Exodes' claws glowed bright purple, as did her eyes. The purple swamps on either side of Yuna bubbled… and skeletons emerged one by one. Carracosta. Relicanth. Archeops. Three species Yuna had only seen in picture books, like the cranidos and rampardos before them.
"… what makes you think you ever had the advantage here?"
They came as a volley. Three Hydro Pumps. Two rock volleys. Way too much for Yuna to deal with. She fled right through the air, but giant purple wisps swirled all around her. She'd never seen ghostly energy so big before! Were these Shadow Balls?
I don't see an opening! Reshiram… help!
"On it!"
The flames burned Yuna's throat, forcing him to spit them out immediately. Yet, to her horror, the purple energy balls only shrank from the Blue Flare. And they were closing in all around her!
No! Oh, God, no! Yuna tensed up, bracing for what would surely be a massive hit.
There was, indeed, a flash bright enough to notice despite her closed eyes. But no pain.
"You!"
Yuna's eyes snapped open at Exodes' cry.
It was Gene. The mewtwo floated between her and Exodes, brandishing… a giant pink spoon?
"He fights with a kitchen utensil?" Rayquaza's jaw dropped. "Have we aligned ourself with a fool? Mayhap he left his jester's hat at his abode."
Gene stole a glance at Yuna and nodded. Then he rested the giant spoon on his left shoulder.
"Long time no see, Exdeath." Gene lacked the playful attitude Yuna heard earlier. "I gotta say… you picked a sporting locale for taking your voodoo act underground. Could do with a little more Cajun flare, but I don't think we're gonna find Kalosian colonists on such short notice."
Veins bulged on Exodes' forehead. "It's Exodes, now, rebel scum! And I should've figured you were a dirty enough piece of swine to associate with the traitor!"
"Oh-ho, my bad." Gene scratched his head with his free hand. "Wasn't aware you changed names. Finally realized how obviously evil that edgy moniker was?" The mewtwo's tail lazily swayed back and forth.
Well, the seriousness was nice while it lasted. Still, Yuna was thankful for the backup. Doubly so when she spotted Nikki and Artemis standing back-to-back, surrounded by damp bones with sparks dancing around them. Valkyrie glided onto a dead, toppled over tree. She squatted on the rotting wood, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
"Didn't take you for the shlocky horror flick type, Princess." Nikki's back was turned to Yuna, but the dreepy practically heard the smirk in her voice. "But after the time we've had… I could do with breaking a few bones. Flesh or no flesh." She cracked her knuckles.
Exodes glanced between the down skeletons and Gene. "Ha ha. Well, well. We've really got ourselves a party now, huh?" She adjusted her black hat, some of her earlier smarminess returning.
"Do we? Dang." Gene snapped his left fingers. "Forgot to bring my queso. Nobody can resist the cheesy dip." He put his fingers to his lips and kissed them.
"The only dipping sauce I'll be needing is your blood, rebel." Exodes pointed an index claw at Gene. "I'll drizzle it over your head and serve it up on a platter to the emperor. He'll be so thrilled, he'll make me his number two over Uroboros!"
"Emperor?" Gene tsked. "Jeez, just when I thought Paradox's head couldn't get any bigger."
"Y… Yuna?" Reshiram poked his claws together in the back of her mind. "Now that we have backup… maybe we can try and free Lugia?"
The skeletons surrounding Nikki and Artemis reanimated. They snapped at the air. Nikki raised her fists, mohawk crackling like a fire pit.
Gene brandished his giant spoon. "Try it, Exdeath. I'll have you seeing stars, just like last time."
The sneasler immediately launched her claws at Gene. She looked focused on him. Yuna agreed with Reshiram. This was her chance. She flew right, weaving around barren tree branches and tuning out the sounds of claws slamming into something hard.
But though she got farther from Exodes, she found a wall of Poison Sting needles approaching her. Yelping, the dreepy dove down, skirting the attacks while staying just above the poisonous swamp.
When she pulled up, Yuna found dozens of Skorps standing on the edge of the island, each with their mutant hands trained directly on her.
Their limbs glowed purple in unison. And, just like that, Yuna had three dozen Poison Sting needles closing in on her.
Alright, getting in a late-night special bump of my review series of this thing:
Chapter 34
The emergency stairwell thankfully had tiny white lights illuminating the way down despite the hotel's power outage. While Nikki took the stairs two or three at a time, Artemis slithered along the railing. They got a few floors down before other patrons began to enter.
"Move! Outta the way!" Nikki shouted, shoving aside multiple protesting patrons. The last of which was a shellos who left her wringing out goo from her hands. The toxtricity was glad for the distraction. Anything to keep her from thinking about what had happened in her hotel room.
Oh yeah, that's totally not a giant safety hazard that's gonna make the entire hotel hate her guts. Not that Nikki is the type to care too much about that.
Impatience soon got the better of Nikki, however. She started jumping down half of each flight of stairs, kicking up dirt and sparks. "Hey, slow down!" Artemis cried.
"Fat chance!" Nikki replied. The emergency lights flickered all around her. Her mohawk frazzled in kind. She hurried down the last two flights of stairs and barged out of the red emergency exit door.
... Pretty sure that's a fantastic way to do something like jump straight into a Ferrothorn trying to evacuate, but you do you, Nikki. ^^;
Nikki stumbled out into a brick alleyway. She managed to catch herself before faceplanting into the dust and… questionable black streaks in the cracks between several bricks. Nikki looked around, but the buildings surrounding the back of the hotel were equally as dark. So, it ain't just this place. Great.
Yeah, this is why you shouldn't go running around blindly in the dark. At least bring a flashlight or use natural abilities that behave like one for the occasion.
The emergency exit opened behind her. Artemis slithered out, panting heavily. "Thanks… for waiting," he wheezed.
"Kiss my ass, Pool Noodle." Nikki crossed her arms. "Which way gets us back to the…"
Her voice trailed off as white and blue caught the corner of her eye. Under a ground-level window to her right sat an inflatable quaxly filled to the brim with mounds of bright pink cotton candy. Nikki pointed to it. "Is… is that supposed to be there?"
Ah yes, your first Gen IX appearance in this story. You seem to be pretty aggressive about keeping PoV up to date with the series, though certainly wasn't expecting as offbeat an appearance as that as the first one.
Artemis looked left. His eyebrows crinkled. "I, uh, think that's a dumpster." He blinked several times. "Or it was a dumpster."
"Right, because dumpsters look like oversized bath toys!" Nikki slouched over. "Next you're going to tell me there was a circus staying in this hotel."
I mean, considering the author and this setting, you might not wanna rule that out so fast, Nikki. :V
The milotic whipped the air with a ribbon. "I'm just as clueless as you a— whoomph!" His tail shot up and he slithered forward, revealing Pillow Princess and his stupid sylveon boytoy standing in the doorway wearing velvet bathrobes. Their faces were flushed, but frazzled.
That quake caught 'em in the middle of something, Nikki mentally sneered.
... Those two just ran face-first into Artemis' tail end, didn' they?
"What are you looking at?" Shimmer huffed. The ponyta stomped a forehoof on the ground. "I bet you caused all of this! If you think you can disrupt my beauty sleep the night before the first leg, then you—"
Nikki: "Shimmer, I know that I get into trouble sometimes, on what planet could I have blacked out an entire city?" >_>;
Shimmer: "Black Magic. It does exist in this setting, after all."
Nikki: "... Why on earth did I even ask?" >.<
"Shimmy?" Xander tugged on Shimmer's bathrobe. "I think something's really wrong." He pointed to the inflatable quaxly with a ribbon. The second he did, purple light raced up from the brick street. Xander yelped and jumped back in the doorway, earning several annoyed cries. Nikki held her arms up defensively, but nothing bad happened.
When the toxtricity lowered them, however, she found static enveloping the dead streetlight between the hotel and the building to her right. Bit by bit, wood replaced metal, until a twisted, gnarled grandfather clock stood in the streetlight's place, awkwardly bent into the same shape as the object it replaced. A small doorway opened in the middle of it and a little fletchling cuckoo shot out on a metal coil, chirping obnoxiously.
Nikki pinched the back of her neck. She slapped her cheek. Nothing changed. Not a dream, then. Shit.
... Wait, what on earth am I reading right now? Time displacement / Timeline-rewriting like in Chrono Trigger? Since I'm pretty sure that streetlight's transformation broke at least a dozen laws of nature there.
Shimmer hopped away from the emergency exit, whinnying in fright. "Th… this is…" He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "When I figure out how you're doing this… I'll see to it no one will even hire you to scrape gum off their tables!" He pointed his glowing horn at Nikki.
"Me?" Nikki's fingers tingled with lightning. "Pull your head out of your boytoy's ass! I've got nothing to do with this."
Nikki: "I can see how you almost got your Uncle convicted in spite of him literally rigging an entire trial and jury in his favor." >_>;
Shimmer: "Okay, now I'm really convinced that you're behind this somehow." >:|
Nikki clenched her fists. Yellow and purple sparks slowly shaped themselves into a handle. "You're the one with the hate boner. You prove it!"
"Both of you, shut up!"
A milotic tail slapped down between the two of them. "Dawdling here solves nothing." Artemis pointed a ribbon to the alley behind him. "Let's get out in front of the hotel and find someone in charge."
Nikki: "... Are we just gonna ignore that we just watched a metal streetlight turn into a functioning wooden cuckoo clock?" .-.
Artemis: "Well, that's why finding the 'mon in charge would help, right?"
Nikki: "Pretty sure that they'd be way in over their head for this, just saying."
"Yeah! Let us out, damn it!" a gruff voice shouted from inside the emergency exit, followed by a chorus of similar cries. Xander's stubby tail drooped.
"Aha ha… my bad, everyone! Don't hold it against the prince." The sylveon raised his ribbons innocently.
Shimmer: "Xander, why would you volunteer that instead of just moving out of the way?" >_>;
Xander: "... I thought it'd help get them to back off your case?"
Shimmer shrank back, ears folding at the new chorus of voices. "Xander, you idiot!"
Oh hey, I wasn't far off from what actually went down there. :V
Nikki stepped away from the quarreling lovebirds, but not without flashing the ponyta the smarmiest smirk she could muster. She and Artemis rounded the corner to head in front of the hotel when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "What the—"
"Hey, you're glowing pink!" The milotic looked around in a panic.
"Me? You are, too!" Nikki retorted. Then an unseen force hoisted the two into the air. The toxtricity flailed her arms and legs about. "I want outta this shitty nightmare!" she hissed, before landing on the hotel roof with a soft thud.
Nikki: "... Pretty sure that that's not a good sign there."
Artemis: "Wait, who on earth-?" o_o;
"Bwuh?" Nikki looked up to find… some sort of hairless black and purple cat standing with his arms crossed and looking down at her. Her heart momentarily quickened upon seeing the obviously evil crystal wedged in the cat's shoulder, but she then remembered what that dorky servant charizard had told her and Princess back in Horizon Gardens.
"Gene, I presume?" Artemis was faster asking what was on Nikki's mind. "I thought you were supposed to be in the Qliphoth with the others."
Nikki: "... Have you considered getting a trenchcoat or something to hide the obviously evil crystal sticking out your shoulder? (Also, Pillow Princess can't overhear this right now, right?)"
Gene leaned back against a part of the hotel's large sign. His attempt at a hiding place, if Nikki had to guess. She then realized Valkyrie sat next to him, looking rather pale. The garchomp's arms trembled.
"I was, but your grovyle buddy had to go get himself blown up." Gene shook his head. "So, here I am. And no grilled lizard to show for it."
"Twiggy and I aren't bud— wait."
It took a moment, but the realization of Gene's words was an invisible mallet to the back of Nikki's head. "T… Twiggy blew up?" Her chest tightened. "H-He's—"
"Alive." Gene yawned into his hand.
Artemis balled up a ribbon and shook it at Gene. "Why didn't you lead with that?"
"Dramatic effect?" Gene shrugged.
"Are you asking me or telling me?!"
"Yes." Gene winked at Artemis, whose looked ready to burst a blood vessel.
Ah yes, this part again. And Gene continues his streak at being an irreverent troll in-story. You'd think that he'd pick less of a grave moment to indulge in those tendencies, though. I admittedly wasn't expecting Nikki to get this torn up over hearing Chiaki got blown up, will file that one away for the future.
Also, I so would not want to be Val when it comes time to give a report about this to Sakaki. Since I'm sure he's gonna be thrilled to hear about what happened to his kid while his bodyguard was supposed to keep tabs on him.
"Well, where is he?" Nikki asked, finally getting back to her feet.
"Someone took him," Valkyrie whispered. The garchomp continued staring at the ground. Nikki looked to Gene for more information.
"We were going to rescue him." Gene ran his right hand along the back of the hotel sign. He rubbed his index finger and thumb, balling up the dust he had scooped up. "But when we were heading for the amphitheater — a total eyesore, if you ask me — I saw some gold light from out back. Then several figures flew off." He blew the dust ball away from his fingers. "I think I sensed a dusknoir, but there was something… off about their energy. If I had hair, it would've stood on end for sure."
Nikki: "Oh, so Vegna took him."
- Beat moment -
Gene: "Wait, how on earth would you know-?"
Nikki: "Because 'Dusknoir that would make your hair stand on end if you had it' literally describes Vegna to a 't'? Especially since he hangs around birdmons that can casually fly him around? Not sure what the deal with that golden light would be, though."
The toxtricity's heart rate picked up again. "The Reaper?" She glanced at Artemis. "I thought he was supposed to be at the hotel with us?"
Oh hey, I see that Nikki actually made the same assumption there. Though it was a pretty safe bet to make considering how she doesn't exactly know a ton of other Dusknoir to compete for that description.
Gene cleared his throat. "Anyway, we followed at a distance until we saw your bud get dropped off at some hospital. Then Val told me you guys were here." He gestured to Nikki and Artemis. "And then I hoisted you both up here and explained everything."
Smirking, Gene crossed his arms. "This concludes 'Gene's Epic Story Time.' Be sure to like and subscribe for more daily content."
Nikki stared back at him blankly. What the hell was this dumb hairless cat smoking? And does he have any on him?
Guess that confirms Nikki for having used illicit substances in the past from that outro line. Though I have to wonder how it is that Gene is managing to talk like a YouTuber from present day, present time, since I didn't think there was an analogous social media culture in Radiance that tracked reality that he could've learned from. Can't tell if that's a Qliphoth thing or a hint at something deeper.
"I know, I know. I'm still workshopping the name." Gene nonchalantly flicked his right hand.
"Forget that." Artemis coiled his body tightly until he stood taller than Gene. "Why try and find us? It's not like we're in a position to deal with the Reaper."
"Duh." Gene blew a raspberry. "You think I'm an idiot? This isn't about your charbroiled grovyle. This is about something much more dire."
The milotic squinted. "And are you going to tell us what that is? Or is this some more dramatic effect?"
... I honestly can't tell what Gene will do here myself, though rule of narrative structure seems to tilt towards him actually being serious here for the sake of variety.
Another wall of purple light then raced past the group. The glass clamperl towering over the roof abruptly turned to pieces of blue and pink cardboard. A breeze carried the large pieces away from them. Nikki could only watch in disbelief, thankful it hadn't transformed into something more dangerous.
"I think that about sums it up." Gene shook his head, tsking. "Well, that and what's going on with the rest of your motley crew." He clenched his right fist. Ectoplasm swirled around it. "They were helping me try and rescue my friends before we got sidetracked. I'm not about to leave them high and dry when they're doing me a solid."
I wonder if that has to do with the side effects of Project Icarus kicking up like 2 chapters ago. Though with how casually reality itself seems to be glitching out, that doesn't bode well for the long-term future of Venish. Since if you're getting Missingno into the mix, that also opens the door to stuff like Glitch City antics.
Nikki: "Wait, what on earth is even happening right now?" .-.
Gene: "Wait, with your crew, or the freaky spontaneous transformation thing? Since you'll need to narrow that down a bit."
Nikki put her hands on her hips. "Well, isn't that nice? You didn't strike me as the touchy-feely type, Pussy."
Gene returned the toxtricity's insult with a proud smile. "Nice one." He winked at Nikki before his expression sharpened. "But seriously, as kooky as some of the stuff here might be, we oughta go inside Eternatus and rendezvous with the others." Gene tapped his temple. "Call it psychic intuition."
Oh hey, it's that one Mewtwo Discord emote, but written out. Moments like those are always fun to see.
There was also the matter of the whole toxic water incident. Everyone besides Nikki thought it was connected to Eternatus. Now that even weirder stuff was messing with Venish, didn't it make sense to at least try and fix the toxic water?
She scratched her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Nikki looked at Valkrie. Wasn't the dour garchomp going to protest?
"Great! Then let's get a move on." Gene rubbed his hands together. "There isn't a moment to lose."
Nikki: "... Uh... Chompy? You know, if you'd like to protest right now-"
Valkyrie: "Oh trust me, I'd love to right now, but claws are kinda tied." >_>;
Again, Nikki expected Valkyrie to object. But she remained silent while Gene raised his hands a summoned a purple rift underneath them.
I guess she's resigned herself to losing Twiggy to the Reaper.
More like she's being blackmailed into standing down, but it's probably a good thing you don't know about that yet, Nikki. ^^;
Yuna wasn't sure how she spotted it through the swamp's haze, but she somehow caught a glimpse of purple splotches forming on the ground ahead of Reshiram. Muttering a silent apology to Reshiram's orange-feathered passenger, she recalled the dragon to the Soul Dew. Moments later, a huge purple geyser erupted in front of the flailing bird. He managed to land on his lanky legs and backpedal to avoid lingering purple globs that peppered the mud and crabby gray grass all around him.
"Let me out! Lemme out!" Reshiram's flailing filled Yuna's mind. "Lugia! Lugia! I have to save her!"
Oh, so Lugia really is Cecil's Rosa, huh? Since I didn't recall him reacting like that when Gallian's needle was in apparent danger.
"Calm yourself, Sir Reshiram!" Rayquaza gasped, weaving around the white dragon. "She's mine friend, too, but—"
"No, you don't understand! That's my wife!" Tears welled up in Reshiram's eyes. "We have to do something! Do something, Yuna!"
"Ye gads! Art thou serious?" Rayquaza recoiled, raising his black and red tail. "I know thou werest quite close, but Bahamut ordered you to break things off before assuming your duties."
Yuuuuuuup. I mean, I personally would've gone with a flat-out 'Rosa' over the name you ultimately rolled for Lugia to complete the reference, but eh. Your story, your rules, and I can recognize a thematic echo when I see it, so good enough.
Nothing but whimpers followed. It wrenched Yuna's gut in different directions. Bahamut preached the importance of family and intimacy, so why would he forbid the Sages from having such relationships? She also realized it sounded like Reshiram, the Sage of Truth, had lied to Bahamut and the other Sages. And on top of that, Reshiram's sadness made it hard to focus on everything else going on.
Gallian: "I'd just like to point out that in some localizations, Cecil wouldst be a 'Sage of Reality', and that nothing would preclude one from bending the truth a little because of the needs of Reality-"
Cecil: "Gallian, not helping right now!"
Gallian: "... Right, mine bad. Even though it is surprising that thou would deign to keep us in the proverbial dark like this."
Yuna: "(Also, this story hasn't touched alternate localizations other than the Japanese ones, so yeah. No. This is just unprecedented behavior on Reshiram's part.)" >_>;
"Who or what is that?"
Yuna was thankful for Noctum's cry, even if it meant something bad. He pointed toward the poisonous haze ahead of the orange bird, where a tall, lanky silhouette grew larger and taller the closer it got.
"I thought I felt that Chiron vibe a-coming. Most distastefully bad juju."
Yuna: "Wait, what vibe did you feel again? A-And who is 'Chiron'?"
What emerged from the haze looked… vaguely sneasel-like. If someone had dipped the sneasel in bright pink and stretched it out, of course. The way she swayed back and forth unsettled Yuna. Despite the bottom of her white dress dragging through the mud, it remained utterly pristine. As did the black, wide-brimmed hat sitting atop her head. Nobles back in Aeon had similar hats to shield from the volcanic ash.
Ah yes, here we go, living up to the title here. Though I have to wonder how on earth Aeon manages to go with exactly zero knifecats in all of its territory? Like you'd think that even as an exclusion zone for dragons, that there'd be some non-dragon life crawling around in it.
"I can see that confusion scrawled across your face, traitor." The newcomer daintily pointed her long black claws right at Yuna. "It's been some time since you've laid eyes on a sneasler, huh? The body might've changed, but Exodes persists. You know as well as I we Paradigm aren't so easily stopped."
I'm sorry, but did that guy just say that Yuna was Chiron, as in Bahamut's wife, Chiron?
I mean, I figured that something was up with Yuna given those mysterious Giratina powers of hers, but... something still isn't adding up to me. Since I could've sworn that Chiron in the depictions we saw of her in the past was a Lunala.
"Is she some… alternate evolution of sneasel? Poppycock!" Rayquaza guffawed. "Next thou'll tellst me she can stretch even further and become a sneaslest."
Small typo there. Though how on earth can this guy sense that from Yuna? Since that doesn't strike me as something you can just casually smell out. Though I suppose Yuna somehow being the former boss of the Qliphoth would be pretty on brand with her full name including a play off of the name of one of the endgame bosses from FFX.
Noctum glided in front of Yuna defensively. Seifer poked his head out, horn flickering red. "Halt! Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!"
"Oh? A keldeo. My, my. What a… delicious specimen you are." Exodes traced a claw around her lips, then licked it with her long, black tongue. "Why not… give yourself up to the Paradigm?" The sneasler gripped the brim of her hat. "You'd make a fabulous addition to my growing army of the undead."
Seifer: "... Are you all taking battle positions? Since I really don't like where all of this is going right now."
It wasn't hard for Yuna to put two and two together. Seifer was quickest to react, however. "So, you're behind the skeletons that attacked us, earlier! Surrender, fiend!"
"Of course I am." Exodes resumed swaying back and forth. "It's my… coronation gift to the emperor. An infinite army of the undead, made possible by these silly mutants and their budding powers."
"Like mushrooms?" Seifer glanced back at Kelly and Skorp. "Quetzal, be careful down there."
"Careful? Ha!" Exodes fanned herself with her right hand. "I could stand here and talk your ears off." She raised both hands. "But I'd much rather… demonstrate!"
Noctum: "No! No! Talking our ears off is fine! We'll live with talking our ears off!" O.O;
Exodes: "Too late! Time for the greatest and last show of your mortal lives!"
Noctum and Yuna were ready. Both flew in opposite directions faster than Exodes could extend her claws toward either of them.
"Foul witch! Claws shouldn't extend that far," Rayquaza spat. "Tis an affront to nature!"
Yuna: "Rayquaza, you do realize that we're on the world full of toxic tar pits populated by mutant Skorupi with Incineroar hands, right? I think that she can take a number on the 'affront to nature' line." >_>;
Gallian: "Yes, well none of those were directly threatening our life and limb!"
"Skorp, Kelly, look out!" Noctum cried. Yuna realized the claws were still extending. The aerodactyl behind her cawed in alarm and flapped her wings. Yuna thought it wise to attack Exodes. Fortunately, the bird was on top of it, shooting an orange blast toward Exodes from his right leg.
The sneasler jumped over the blast. Her claws didn't need to retreat. Yuna hastily concentrated, but Reshiram didn't respond. What are you doing? she mentally hissed. We need your help!
Pretty sure that Cecil is bluescreening pretty hard right about now given that his wife isn't exactly in good shape from the way you found that needle, so maybe start with the emotional elephant in the room, Yuna?
Fortunately, Kelly avoided getting grabbed. Yuna got no relief, however, as Kelly suddenly jerked left, then right. She screeched in protest, but next thing Yuna knew, she was staring down an approaching wall of dragonfire.
Wait a minute, is that Exodes that's doing that? I didn't know that Sneasler learned any Dragon moves that could do that.
... Unless if that's supposed to be a hint at who Exodes used to be, since Yuna did find her appearance eerily reminiscent of an Aeon, and she out and out mentioned that she used to have a different body... But can't really tell there.
"Yuna!"
Flames and a large water torrent followed Noctum's cry. They snuffed out the dragonfire, giving Yuna enough time to float back. Exodes retracted her claws, allowing Yuna to see a tiny aerodactyl doll in her right claws.
"Whoa there, Kelly!" Skorp dangled from her right leg. "Why don't we take a deep breath or two, eh?"
Oh, so that's how you chose to depict Substitute in this story. Though how on earth did Kelly manage to pull the switcharoo in time?
"It's too late for her." Exodes held up the aerodactyl doll. "One little touch is all I need for my vicious voodoo to take hold." The sneasler flapped the doll's wings and Kelly responded in kind. A giant gust of wind sent Yuna reeling through the air. She heard Noctum and Seifer's hollers, followed by metal breaking apart.
So much for that being Substitute, though that's ever so slightly concerning there.
"Waaaaah!"
Yuna righted herself in time for Quetzal to zip by her. Skorp landed safely on his orange-feathered back. Quetzal looked as surprised at his speed as Yuna was.
"Behind you, Princess!"
The dreepy whirled around. Exodes' free claws were heading right for her! And brimming with poison! She concentrated, but couldn't draw up Reshiram's flames. Fortunately, Rayquaza popped his black head out of the Soul Dew and blasted the claws with a Dragon Pulse. The blue bolt vaporized the toxins and the claws shot back to Exodes' hand like chains pulled through a winch crank.
Gallian: "How does thoust say it again? 'That was way too close'?"
Yuna: "Reshiram, I know that this is kinda a bad time for you with us discovering your wife's needle mangled and all, but not letting the creepy voodoo Sneasel thing puppeteer me around would be nice right about now!" O_O;
Cecil:
Yuna: "Boy could this have not come at a worse time right now..."
Reshiram, please! Snap out of it! Yuna's frustration was bubbling up. Her arms darkened. Fearful of Rayquaza noticing, she sucked him back into the Soul Dew with a deep breath.
Guess I should be teeing up 'Fly Me to the Moon' right about now, huh?
"… Lugia…" Sniffles echoed in Yuna's head. She couldn't believe how defeated he sounded. And all because she didn't want him rushing ahead. Reshiram would have gotten trapped by Exodes for sure if Yuna hadn't stopped him. Why couldn't he see that? He was the Sage of Truth!
I mean, I can believe it since given how radio silent Cecil went when he's normally a giant, goofy chatterbox gave really, really strong vibes that he was emotionally BSODing right about now.
"Well, well." Exodes fanned herself with her free hand. "It seems I'm not the only puppeteer here. How fitting. First you throw the whole Paradigm away like a set of unloved toys. Now you're doing the same to the ones you left us for."
Yuna: "Look, lady. This thing is literally stuck on my body. I did not ask for this, okay?" >_>;
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Yuna retorted. "Please, stop! Nothing good is going to come from this!"
Quetzal had taken the opportunity to run out of Exodes' eyesight. Just when it looked like he'd launch a sneak attack, however, Exodes pried the Kelly doll's jaws open. Glowing rocks rained down on Quetzal from above. Squawking in surprise, the orange bird ran zigzags to try and avoid them.
"Tis a feint!" Rayquaza cried. Sure enough, Exodes slammed her free hand into the ground. A wave of purple ooze rose from the bog behind Quetzal.
"We have to blow it away!" Yuna focused on Rayquaza's soul — she wasn't going to risk Reshiram resisting again — and vibrant blue energy gathered in her arms. While Quetzal ran away from the swamp and the capsized ship, a twister rose from the ground.
Yuna realized her misstep too late, however. The tornado caught the poison tidal wave and flung the purple slime in all directions. Some hit Kelly, who shrieked in pain and plummeted from the air. Other bits struck the ship's front hull, burning through the metal around a charizard-shaped hole.
... Wait a minute, when on earth did Noctum get to the ship again? Since somehow I missed that detail. .-.
"How droll!" Exodes raised her free hand, laughing. "The more you try and 'help,' the more harm you're putting your friends through." The sneasler jerked Kelly's doll and the aerodactyl forcibly shot into the air again, flying in between Yuna and Exodes.
Yuna's gills shriveled. That blasted daemon was using Kelly as a meat shield now? How could she?
I mean, her entire fighting style is built around obviously hax black magic, so... the better question is how could she not pull something like this? ^^;
Reshiram, I'm begging you! Stop sulking! Yuna scrunched her face up. Think about the others. Think about Lugia! If we can't stop this daemon… she's going to keep hurting her!
I'm pretty sure there was a better way to make that appeal, but I can't fault Yuna too much when:
Yuna: "Reshiram? We're. Gonna. Die." O.O
Is her canonically established mindset at the moment.
"I could use some help over here!"
Quetzel's frightened caws drew Yuna's attention down, where he was running back toward the ship with Exodes' claws in hot pursuit. Yuna gulped. Quetzal couldn't get hit like Kelly did. Not with Noctum and Seifer still stuck in the ship.
Quetzal: "... Isn't that the definition of a terrible idea since I'm bulky and this cat isn't and that's an inherently cramped area-?"
Yuna: "Just do it, Quetzal!" >.<
"What?" The orange bird hopped over Exodes' claws. He kicked the air with his right leg, propelling him a few meters away. "Are you mad? I can't leave you here alone!"
"Just do it!" Yuna was getting warmer. White fur filled the back of her psyche, along with a sudden surge of determination. "I think… I think they might've found something important in there!"
Can't tell if she's bluffing or if Noctum and Seifer legit found something in there.
"Ha! In that hunk of metal?" Exodes retracted her claws and forced the aerodactyl doll's mouth open again. More glowing rocks gathered above Quetzal. "I don't even know what it's doing—"
The sneasler's eyes widened. "Err, I mean, that thing's been there for ages! It's as empty as this aerodactyl's head!"
Quetzal: "... Yeah no, I'm going for the ship. Thanks for the tipoff, Yuna. You too, evil cat lady."
Quetzal caught the slip up. An orange glow surrounded him. Yowling, Skorp hung on for dear life with all three mutant hands. Quetzal surged into the Noctum-shaped hole in the ship's hull.
"Rrr… stupid, stupid, stupid!" Exodes smacked her head three times with her left hand. She jabbed the Kelly doll with her left index claw. The aerodactyl seized in the air. "After them!"
Exodes, you do realize that you're significantly more lithe and compact than everyone else currently aboard that ship, right? Just re-enact Alien and nick the gang by stalking them through the ductwork or something.
She lifted her hat and stuffed the doll into it. Kelly screeched and darted for the hole in the ship.
Now it was just the two of them. The broken needle had an ominous glow. Lugia still floated over it. Were there more purple tendrils around her or was Yuna's mind playing tricks on her?
Right, that's why Exodes isn't going after the others herself.
And I see you dropped in some foreshadowing that Jade is a fusion. Dunno if she's always been like that, though Cecil's reaction makes me strongly doubt that.
"Last chance." Yuna clasped the edges of her Soul Dew. "We've… already dealt with daemons like you. If you let everyone go, maybe we can talk this out."
Uproarious laughter was Exodes' answer. "You think the great Lady Exodes, voodoo master of Eternatus, is going to surrender to a traitorous has been?" She flicked her right hand dismissively. "Oh, honey…"
All six of Exodes' claws glowed bright purple, as did her eyes. The purple swamps on either side of Yuna bubbled… and skeletons emerged one by one. Carracosta. Relicanth. Archeops. Three species Yuna had only seen in picture books, like the cranidos and rampardos before them.
"… what makes you think you ever had the advantage here?"
Yuna: "... The fact that you were willing to take the bait on fighting a 1v1?"
Exodes: "Did it ever occur to you that I wouldn't have done that if I thought you could actually take me?"
They came as a volley. Three Hydro Pumps. Two rock volleys. Way too much for Yuna to deal with. She fled right through the air, but giant purple wisps swirled all around her. She'd never seen ghostly energy so big before! Were these Shadow Balls?
Well, this brilliant plan is going swimmingly already.
I don't see an opening! Reshiram… help!
"On it!"
The flames burned Yuna's throat, forcing him to spit them out immediately. Yet, to her horror, the purple energy balls only shrank from the Blue Flare. And they were closing in all around her!
No! Oh, God, no! Yuna tensed up, bracing for what would surely be a massive hit.
I'm dying of laughter that Gallian finally has something that even he finds too goofy to take seriously.
Gene stole a glance at Yuna and nodded. Then he rested the giant spoon on his left shoulder.
"Long time no see, Exdeath." Gene lacked the playful attitude Yuna heard earlier. "I gotta say… you picked a sporting locale for taking your voodoo act underground. Could do with a little more Cajun flare, but I don't think we're gonna find Kalosian colonists on such short notice."
I fired up the FF wiki after seeing that name drop, and... yeah, this depiction is pretty on-brand for an ‘Exdeath’ there. So the voodoo gimmick did come from someplace.
Veins bulged on Exodes' forehead. "It's Exodes, now, rebel scum! And I should've figured you were a dirty enough piece of swine to associate with the traitor!"
WHAT. Wait, so does that mean Gene used to be on the same side as Exodes/Exdeath? What on earth was he called back in the day?
"Oh-ho, my bad." Gene scratched his head with his free hand. "Wasn't aware you changed names. Finally realized how obviously evil that edgy moniker was?" The mewtwo's tail lazily swayed back and forth.
... I can't believe that I'm just now realizing this, but this is all an elaborate mythology gag to how Exdeath's naming was handled in FF series, since he became Exodes for the FF5 OVA.
Gene: "Gotta say, I like it more than the last rename I heard you bandy around. 'Exodes' definitely rolls off the tongue better than 'X-Death', so... third time's the charm?"
- Beat moment -
Yuna: "'X-Death'? Really?"
Exodes: "Oi, shut the hell up, that isn't confirmed canon and that version of the game was garbage enough that we're better off pretending it never existed!" >_>;
Well, the seriousness was nice while it lasted. Still, Yuna was thankful for the backup. Doubly so when she spotted Nikki and Artemis standing back-to-back, surrounded by damp bones with sparks dancing around them. Valkyrie glided onto a dead, toppled over tree. She squatted on the rotting wood, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Yuna. Since you were about to become Enthralled had Gene not showed up right then and there.
"Didn't take you for the shlocky horror flick type, Princess." Nikki's back was turned to Yuna, but the dreepy practically heard the smirk in her voice. "But after the time we've had… I could do with breaking a few bones. Flesh or no flesh." She cracked her knuckles.
Somehow I doubt that's going to work out as well in practice as what you're going on about, Nikki. But okay there.
Exodes glanced between the down skeletons and Gene. "Ha ha. Well, well. We've really got ourselves a party now, huh?" She adjusted her black hat, some of her earlier smarminess returning.
"Do we? Dang." Gene snapped his left fingers. "Forgot to bring my queso. Nobody can resist the cheesy dip." He put his fingers to his lips and kissed them.
"The only dipping sauce I'll be needing is your blood, rebel." Exodes pointed an index claw at Gene. "I'll drizzle it over your head and serve it up on a platter to the emperor. He'll be so thrilled, he'll make me his number two over Uroboros!"
Wait, why on earth did you allow her to live if you already defeated her once, Gene?
The sneasler immediately launched her claws at Gene. She looked focused on him. Yuna agreed with Reshiram. This was her chance. She flew right, weaving around barren tree branches and tuning out the sounds of claws slamming into something hard.
But though she got farther from Exodes, she found a wall of Poison Sting needles approaching her. Yelping, the dreepy dove down, skirting the attacks while staying just above the poisonous swamp.
When she pulled up, Yuna found dozens of Skorps standing on the edge of the island, each with their mutant hands trained directly on her.
Their limbs glowed purple in unison. And, just like that, Yuna had three dozen Poison Sting needles closing in on her.
Oh so that's what happened to all the other Skorps. That's just... lovely.
Alright, overall thoughts:
Boy was that a big cliffhanger there. Like on one level, it felt like there wasn't that much narrative progress in the grand scheme of things, but honestly, enough major reveals just got dropped that it still felt like quite a bit just went down. Since in no particular order:
- We found out that reality is glitching out in Venish. Presumably from the aftereffects of Project Icarus starting up
- Both Bahamut and their sages were keeping secrets from each other, to the point where Yuna is finding it at odds with the teachings she's learned
- Yuna is very, very strongly implied to be Chiron. Bahamut's mate that he presumed to be dead.
- Gene has been butting heads with Paradigm for a while, and I'm pretty sure from the text is implied to have once either been part of it, or else aligned with it
- All those missing Skorps are pretty much confirmed to be puppeteered by Exodes/Exdeath
So yeah. I'm actually wondering if there will be anything that will be the same once this arc settles. Since it feels like all of the things that we thought we knew about the characters and the setting are getting run through a shredder. Not a bad thing, mind you, since it's made reading these last few chapters a really wild ride.
As for things that I didn't like... I dunno if it was the time of day when I reviewed or me just being too enthralled (har har) by the events playing out, but I honestly couldn't find much beyond a couple typos. I suppose some bits could've been more generous with description, but you've struck your colors to the mast of short chapters for a while with this story, and I won't begrudge you for sticking to your guns.
Great work as usual, @Ambyssin , and I can already tell you're not going to make the wait for a resolution in 2-ish weeks plus (maybe) seeing Lugia/Jade onscreen for the first time an easy one. :V
It was going to be a repeat of the dreaded Herbrides Lines tree. A treepeat, in other words. Noctum was absolutely sure of it the closer the ship's hull got. Another concussion. Possibly worse this time. And he had Seifer with him, to boot.
Except the metal was more like the sponges Noctum used to wash dishes back at the academy. His momentum effortlessly carried him through multiple surfaces that should've hurt, but didn't. It ended when he finally managed to dig his arms into… whatever strip of metal was underneath him and skid to a halt. He was still dizzy. The black charizard wasn't sure if he was on the floor, a wall, or the ceiling.
It didn't help that the ship was tilted, either. A result of its capsizing, obviously.
"Mrrgh. You okay, Noctum?"
"Dizzy." Though the lack of nausea concerns me. Noctum squeezed his eyes shut. At least Seifer was okay.
… Wait, was the keldeo okay?
"How about you?" Noctum was getting his bearings back. A few more deep, stinky breaths would do it. God, this place reeks.
"Unharmed, but a bit… compromised."
The spinning faded fast. Noctum opened his eyes. Seifer lay to his left, tangled in a mess of blankets, pillows, and broken wood.
"Uhh—"
"We must've landed in some of the crew's quarters," Seifer explained, struggling to get the blankets off of him. "Hey, swing your tail around. It's too dark in here."
The room had a red tint to it thanks to a couple of tiny, cracked lights overhead. It wasn't that helpful, though. Noctum swung his black-scaled tail left. The violet flames mixed with the red lights to cast an even more ominous purple glow over Seifer.
"Thanks." With the extra light, the keldeo easily wriggled free. As soon as he did, he slid down the inclined floor until he caught against the broken remnants of a bunk bed. "Okay, I guess we ought to go back out and tend to Yuna, right?"
"Ah!" Noctum's tail flame sparked in alarm. He spread his wings and jumped to his feet. His pink apron now had dirt and slime covering most of the flowers, but that didn't matter. Yuna needed backup. She—
"Guys, don't leave me! Help me! Hel— blaaauuggubble!"
Noctum and Seifer shared astonished looks. Neither had to speak to tell what the other was thinking: the ship had people on it!
"What do we do?" The charizard looked worriedly between the door below them and the hole in the wall. "Should we split up? I can go back to Yuna and you can investigate the ship."
"Absolutely not." Seifer's horn sparked. "I need your tail for light." He glanced at the door. "Besides, if this is really a waste management ship, it might have something in it that can deal with all the poison outside."
"But Yuna…" Noctum couldn't leave her again. It had happened too many times already.
"She has the Sages. And Quetzal," Seifer sternly declared. "Different look or not, I trained him myself. I have the utmost faith in his—"
"Commander!"
The orange zapdos in question dashed through the hole in the wall. Skorp clung to his back feathers. Noctum imagined Seifer would've facepalmed if he had hands.
"What are you doing?" the keldeo barked. "Get back out there! Yuna needs—"
"She told me to come here!" Quetzal squawked.
"What?" Noctum was about to push past the zapdos.
"She thought you guys might've found something." Quetzal awkwardly shuffled his gangly legs. Noctum briefly wondered if he or this "sneasler" critter had lankier legs.
"And we did. There are people on board." Seifer pointed his prosthetic horn toward the broken remnants of a doorframe. "Who we have a responsibility toward."
"Great." Noctum clapped his hands together. "You can take your bird friend and I'll go back to Yuna." He lifted his stubby right leg. "And if things get too dark, he can light the way with his weird leggy energy ball attack," the charizard added, cutting off what he assumed was Seifer's counterargument.
To his delight, the keldeo's shoulders sagged. "Very well. Stay on your guard."
Noctum smiled. "Same to you."
Right as he was about to push past Quetzal, however, shrieks filled the hole in the ship's hull. For a moment, there was a familiar silhouette. Then dragonfire filled the area. Noctum fought back with a Flamethrower of his own. When they collided and kicked up green and red smoke, Noctum turned to the others, eyes damp from the ash.
"Had a change of heart. Move, move, move!" He grabbed Skorp off of Quetzal's back and flew through the shattered door. The outside hallway was, thankfully, spacious. The ship must've been built with even larger pokémon than a charizard in mind. But everything was still slanted and poorly lit by red emergency lights.
"I don't suppose either of you were on a ship like this in your, uh, guard duties?" Noctum scratched his head.
"Actually, I have taken assignments on waste management ships before!" Quetzal chirped. When Noctum turned around, the zapdos and Seifer had blocked the doorframe using rubble from the other room.
"Great!" Noctum glided forward. Brown rust patches spread across the metal floor. The further Noctum went, the more holes started to pop up. Pink and purple light filtered up through the holes. The noxious smell from earlier was worse. Thank goodness Noctum hadn't eaten in a while.
"Then please tell me you can get us to higher ground."
Thumps came from behind the quartet. "Can we hustle our bustles a bit, eh?" Skorp tightened his grip on the shoulder straps of Noctum's apron. "I think Kelly's gonna break through any sec—"
Noctum wasn't ready for the floor in front of him to explode, however. Rusty metal shards scraped his delicate wing membranes, but he managed to shield his face. That was what mattered most.
"Run for your lii— aiiiuggggggh!"
The charizard lifted his right wing to see an oddly fuzzy wartortle head disappear through the new hole in the floor. He couldn't even react properly, because two more holes appeared in front of him. Slimy purple tentacles popped out of the holes and smacked against the walls and ceiling. Their squelching rang in Noctum's ear frills as they painted the walls with noxious purple ooze. The urge to dry heave was overwhelming.
"Don't just stand there! Attack!" Seifer bellowed.
Sizzling water stung Noctum's right shoulder. He reflexively grabbed it with his left hand.
The Scald struck the right tentacle, which exploded in a burst of slime. A burst of rotten air brought bile up in Noctum's throat. He spat some clear stomach acid at his feet.
When he looked up, white, fuzzy patches spread out over the spots the tentacles hit. The surrounding metal turned from dark to brown. It bubbled like fresh stew in one of Aeon Castle's cooking cauldrons. Burnt and rusted metal mixed with the pungent rotten egg smell already in the air. Noctum tilted his head to stave off another attempt at spitting up bile.
"Is that… mold?" There was a tremor in Seifer's voice. Even with his claims of diving into the distortion in the past, he must've never come across something like this.
"Sure looks like it," Quetzal said.
"Some of the dead trees in the bayou normally have them," Skorp explained. "But they don't eat through metal. Or smell like the world's biggest sulfur plume. Peeyew!"
Screeching echoed from behind. "Gawk later," Seifer hissed, face scrunched in disgust. "We have to press on!"
"Right." But when Noctum tried to fly ahead, the remnants of the floor burst apart. Two wiry, slime-covered arms reached for the charizard. He backpedaled in midair, spewing a Flamethrower on instinct. The flames washed across a moldy garbodor's face, who sank back through the floor. A fresh burst of rotten air buffeted the charizard, who covered his snout with his hands.
Noctum landed on the floor and an Aura Sphere singed his cheek. It sailed into Garbodor's slimy right arm, which burst apart into purple tentacles that shot toward Noctum and Seifer. The charizard wanted to Phantom Warp, but remembered his passenger. With a deep breath that almost made him hurl, Noctum shot as large a Dragon Pulse he could manage. The blue bolt swept through the tentacles, slicing clean through them. A Scald from Seifer took care of the remaining three.
"Gu—ys!" A grunt interrupted Quetzal's cry. "Kelly's here! We're getting pincered! What do we do?"
Noctum looked to Seifer. The keldeo's eyes darted about before looking toward the ceiling. "We go up."
"What?" A flurry of swipes from Quetzal's right leg dispelled Kelly's dragonfire. The orange zapdos followed up with a powerful kick to Kelly's head that left a thunderous boom echoing through the ship.
"The ship's integrity is giving way," Seifer explained. "It should be a breeze to smash through the ceiling."
"Ah, good point!" Noctum had painlessly crashed through the ship at the start of all this. He and Seifer looked up. The ceiling swelled like a boil under Noctum's Flamethrower. Seifer's ensuing Scald blasted clean through it. And not a moment too soon, as a roar told the team that Garbodor was ready for another go.
"Move!" Seifer blasted water from his hooves, shooting through the hole. Noctum looked toward Quetzal, but the zapdos bent his lanky legs and leaped up far higher than the black charizard expected.
"Hurry!" Skorp yelled.
Garbodor was halfway out of the hole, eating away at the floor and plastering white, fuzzy mold all around it. Every squelch its rotting, mold-filled body made echoed in Noctum's ear frills. As did the bubbling and gurgling from its bloated torso. Things were wriggling underneath the mold. A wartortle shell here. A silicobra tail there. Heck, Garbodor's body sucked in parts of the ship, adding to the bitter, burning metal mixing with its sulfurous stench.
It almost reminded Noctum of home. Just not in a good way. Why couldn't he have gone out to help Yuna?
… Oh, right. Kelly.
Noctum spat some dragonfire at Garbodor's face, then quickly flapped his wings. He passed through the ceiling hole and found himself hovering beside a door. Something clanged against it. Purple juice filled the tiny circular window. An agonized cry followed.
His violet tail flame grew in alarm. "We're not safe here, either!"
"You're telling me!" Quetzal pointed his stubby right wing forward. A second wartortle lay slumped and unmoving in the corner of the hallway, covered in mold from head to toe. There were two other mold piles next to it. Whatever they were… Noctum couldn't tell anymore.
And seconds later, Garbodor's left hand burst through the floor. Its moldy fingers curled around the downed crew members, filling the hall with echoing gurgles and bringing back the rotten odor from the floor below.
"Keep moving up!" Seifer ordered, though he sounded far from sure of himself. He stuck a forehoof into the hole and blasted another Scald, drawing screeches from below.
"Ohhh, poor Kelly!" Skorp blubbered. "We can't let that moldy garbodor get its grubby hands on her, eh!"
"Why is it so big, anyway?" Noctum whimpered. "It's slurping up pokémon like it was nothing!"
"I'll bet it's trance," Seifer whispered. He shook his head. "Never mind that, though. Our safety… is what matters most now!"
It hurt Noctum to admit, but Seifer was right. He couldn't risk himself — and, by association, the princess — for a feral. The black charizard flew up into the hole, but quickly threw himself into the wall to dodge slimy tentacles shooting up after him. They burst apart and Seifer and Quetzal hopped up through the hole.
"We can't keep this up," Quetzal said. "And what about the crew? Is anyone still in one piece on this—"
"Oh, thank Zacian! It's Commander Seifer!"
The keldeo froze, tail shooting up. Noctum followed the voice, across a giant metal room filled with dented pipes and tubes. A rhydon with a torn white uniform was on his hands and knees in front of some giant glass tube peppered with cracks. Gray liquid sloshed around in it. The machine's whirring was almost… relaxing compared to the shouts and slimy blubbering from the floors below.
But that begged one question: what was this thing? There were a few other pokémon around it, mostly bulky steel-types like bronzong and steelix. No wonder this is such a big ship.
Noctum shook his head. "You guys have to get out of here! There's this… this crazy big Garbodor! And it's coming for us!"
"You mean Teddy?" Rhydon lumbered to his feet just in time for one of Garbodor's hands to appear through the hole the group had gone through. "Ten o'clock! Fire!"
The bronzong beside Rhydon levitated a hose and squeezed the trigger. Some of the gray juice burst out. It effortlessly ate through Garbodor's moldy arm. Noctum's ear frills quivered from the sizzling and he buried his snout in his apron to avoid another burst of moldy air. He hastily shuffled closer to the big glass tube.
"Is… is that thing part of the crew?" Seifer asked, shakily catching his breath.
"Yeah." Rhydon ran his right arm across his forehead, wiping away oil. "We were… working with Minister Tesla. To decontaminate Venish's water supply with his antitoxin." He glanced at the glass tube. "But all of a sudden, the distortion where the Needle used to be pulled us in and we capsized!" He staggered back and forth, probably for dramatic effect. "Poor Teddy tumbled off the ship and then emerged looking like…"
"Like something out of my worst nightmares!" Quetzal shrieked. Multiple indents popped up on the wall behind him. Noctum got one look at a poster of a blissey and a sylveon in a hard hat with the caption "At Polaris, safety comes first!" before it burst apart alongside the wall it was attached to.
Garbodor's roars were as fierce as any kommo-o battle cry Noctum had ever heard. Its body jiggled like jelly, shaking the metal shards, wooden debris, and mold-covered crewmates stuck in the slime. And that nauseating odor was even worse than before! Noctum was sure his nostrils were burning now.
His violet flame shrank. "Shoot it with the antitoxin!" he begged. "Hurry!"
"We're trying!" Bronzong cried. Gray fluid splattered across Garbodor's white, fuzzy chest. The mold bubbled and sizzled. White smoke drifted toward the grated metal ceiling. It toppled over, flailing its arms and splattering corrosive slime all around it. Seifer and Quetzal backed away, forming Protect shields. The other crewmates fled for the other side of the room, Bronzong included.
"We've already gone through half our stock keeping Teddy at bay!" Rhydon shouted. "We thought Teddy was gone, but he must've roamed around the ship and eaten half the crew or something. He's so much bigger!"
Garbodor was back on its feet, roaring its displeasure. Seifer looked back at the crew "Then evacuate, damn it! We can't take this thing on our own!" He raised his forehooves and blasted huge water jets from them. Garbodor pointed two moldy fingers forward. Water collided with poison. The force sent Seifer skidding back toward Noctum. He caught the Keldeo, who ceased his attack.
"Evacuate where? There's a toxic swamp all around us!" Rhydon protested. Garbodor opened its mouth wide. It filled with purple slime.
"Quetzal, trip it up!" Seifer cried.
Eyes darting about, the zapdos frantically flapped his stubby orange wings. When it looked like Garbodor was going to flood the room with a mouthful of poison, Quetzal stomped the floor repeatedly. Noctum grabbed Seifer and flapped his wings. A tremor ran across the ground, upending Garbodor. It coughed the poison up into the ceiling. Metal sizzled and boiled away. Rusted metal overpowered Garbodor's rotten aroma.
Pipework shards and chunks of the ceiling came crashing down onto Garbodor. Noctum dropped Seifer and turned to the machine.
If there was just a way to make what they had more effective. More effective. More…
"Calm your pecs, Zardy! I'm outside." Static garbled Gene's voice slightly, but it still brought Noctum no shortage of relief. "Just tending to this crazy cat lady. I already told her I don't swing that way, but she can't keep her claws off me— heeyee! Goodness, that was close." He laughed nervously. "What's the problem?"
"Calorimetry!" Noctum looked between the antitoxin vat and Garbodor. The latter's body was slowly absorbed all the rubble that had it buried. "I need you to do calorimetry again! We have a vat of antitoxin here and—"
"Antitoxin?" Gene muttered several curses. "Speak up sooner next time! You could've saved me, like, a half-dozen close calls."
"We were a bit preoccupied ourselves," Noctum huffed. "Just hurry over."
"Fine, fine. Lemme get everything in place." Some ragged breaths followed, then, "Hey, Exodeez Nuts! Catch me if you can!"
"Wait, what?!" Noctum's tail flame grew. "Why are you bringing her here?!"
But the charizard didn't get a response.
XxX
There were very few times in Yuna's life she was thankful for her tiny size. This was one of them.
As many Poison Stings as there were, she didn't find it that hard to outmaneuver them. A quick ascent got past the first onslaught. The she u-turned in midair and dove down to avoid the next wave. The dozen skorps lining the edge of the island were charging up for another volley, so she rolled right. The wall of mutant skorupi gave way to brown mud and crabby gray grass.
"Thine adversaries art not the sharpest tools in the shed," Rayquaza scoffed. "Mayhap being controlled by that foul witch is throwing off their aim."
He had a point. The skorps were sluggish to turn and meet her. They couldn't naturally be that slow, could they?
To test that theory, the dreepy whizzed right past them, flying over the purple swamp once again. Sure enough, they lowered the limbs they were in the process of raising. Yuna allowed herself a glance across the island. Artemis had swapped places with Valkyrie, allowing Nikki to easily cut loose with dome-shaped bursts of lightning that downed the skeletons the moment they reassembled.
Valkyrie took the opportunity to try and snipe Exodes from afar with a blue-purple bolt straight from her mouth. The sneasler caught sight of the attack and jerked herself right. This left her wide open for Gene, who struck her with tiny psychic orbs from every direction. Hissing in pain, she dropped to her knees.
"Princess, look at the skorps!" Rayquaza cried.
An invisible force awkwardly yanked the skorupi into the air. If they didn't have the blankest expressions imaginable, Yuna figured they'd be panicking.
"This is our chance!" Reshiram declared. "Go! Get to Lugia!"
Yuna shot forward; a tiny green dart through the hazy air. Despite the weird, purple barrier encasing her, Lugia's features grew clearer. And they told Yuna something was very wrong.
What was that dark circle she was curled around? Was it—
"… ye gads! Dame Lugia is… clutching an egg?" Rayquaza exclaimed. "What manner of witchcraft is this?!"
All Reshiram could manage was startled squeaks.
It wasn't just that, though. Yuna abruptly stopped right before she would've collided with a dozen skorp voodoo dolls. They floated in front of the barrier, each one connected to it by a purple tendril. A familiar aerodactyl doll whizzed past them, also stuck to a tendril.
Yuna looked over her shoulder, where Exodes failed to strike Gene with her extending claws. The strike was clumsy. Gene's lips moved. A mocking taunt, perhaps? That hardly mattered.
It's her. She turned back to the broken Needle. "The daemon… she must be siphoning Lugia's power to puppet everything!"
As if the barrier heard her, it flashed red. "Thine adversaries art firing, Princess!" Rayquaza warned. Yuna shot up and watched the ensuing Poison Stings strike the voodoo dolls themselves. That finally got pained cries from the skorps.
"I bet she wasn't expecting us to get backup from the others," Reshiram surmised. "Now her attention's split between fighting Gene and staying connected to Lugia. I don't think she can handle it." He clapped his illusory wings together. "Let's blast away these silly bugs and free Lugia!"
"No!"
"What? Why?!" Reshiram's white, fluffy head popped out of the Soul Dew. "We can't let that creep hurt Lugia anymore!" He looked at the barrier. "And that weird, space-colored egg…"
Yuna winced, but had to roll right to dodge another Poison Sting barrage. "But you saw what happened to the skorps when they got hit by their own attack!" Her gills drooped. "If… if I attack the dolls, it's going to hurt them!"
She tried to look back toward Gene, but caught flashes of purple. The Poison Stings were a bit faster this time. Some nicked the end of her tail, but she flew away from the brunt of them. The dolls had followed her, however, forming a protective square in front of the barrier. How was Exodes even managing this while contending with Gene?
To make matters worse, Reshiram was halfway out of the Soul Dew. "They don't matter here! Lugia matters!" His blue eyes blazed with anger. "You promised!" He pointed a shaky wing at her. Tears glistened in his eyes. "You promised to free all the Sages! You… you can't back down now! I won't let you!"
Yuna squished Reshiram back into the Soul Dew, then dove down under more Poison Stings. "But I can't just risk all the skorps to do that! What if we turn them into Phantoms?" She could never live with herself if that happened.
Reshiram would have none of it. He fully manifested from the Soul Dew, his tail engine burning bright.
"Make a choice!"
The cold, authoritative tone was unlike anything Yuna had never heard from Reshiram.
"What art thou doing, Sir Reshiram?" Rayquaza's words wouldn't reach him, though. Because the black serpent was still in the Soul Dew.
Reshiram glanced at the dreepy. "When there's no clear path to victory, you have to make sacrifices for the greater good."
Yuna had no time to process that, as Reshiram spewed a torrent of blue fire at the dolls. The moment the attack struck, the skorps screamed. Blue flames engulfed them. Reshiram was poised to follow up with a Dragon Pulse, but the dolls detached from the purple tendrils and fell to the ground, where the muck and mud snuffed out the flames. The actual skorps then followed suit while the barrier's tendrils flailed about like balloons someone had just untied.
Inside the barrier, the egg shuddered. A crack splintered across its astral, blue and gold shell.
The dreepy's gills shriveled from that and the sizzling she heard on the ground. The hazy air filled with the stench of charred chitin.
Her gut constricted, nearly up into her head. Yuna's vision flickered.
Reshiram said that. Reshiram did that.
But Bahamut… preached compromise. If there wasn't a clear path forward, one had to make it.
He ignored that. A Sage ignored that.
"LUGIA!"
Yuna's head snapped up. The egg cracked in two more places. It trembled between Lugia's wings.
Reshiram flew straight for the barrier… and it raised two tendrils to intercept him!
She thought she had talked sense into him earlier, but she was wrong. Now she was about to lose him. Lose Lugia. Lose the egg.
Innocent people were hurt — possibly turned into Phantoms — for nothing.
Because she wasn't strong enough. Because she wasn't forceful enough.
Yuna's vision went red. Her arms were darkening, but she didn't care. Rayquaza called out to her, but she couldn't make anything out.
With a squeaky roar, Yuna thrust her arms forward. They expanded in flashes of purple. Two large, ectoplasmic wings grabbed hold of a squealing Reshiram. He flailed in between six red spikes, but Yuna didn't care. She forcibly pulled Reshiram back, narrowly avoiding the tendrils, and slammed him back into the Soul Dew.
Its golden glow felt… familiar against her shadowy wing. Yuna wasn't sure why. And she didn't care. She yanked Rayquaza out.
"Keep the tendrils at bay," the dreepy ordered. A strange haze fell over Rayquaza's red eyes. He turned and whipped up sharp wind currents, blowing all the tendrils to the other side of the barrier.
Yuna made her move. She darted toward the barrier, roaring her frustrations with all of this. Yuna whipped the newly-formed wings back and slammed them into the barrier.
White-hot flames rippled through her entire body. The wings shrank back down into her usual, nubby arms, but Yuna refused to let up. She pressed harder. She dug her arms into the barrier. She slammed her forehead into it and screamed.
And the dreepy's screams… grew deeper. Her body was burning even hotter than before! Had Reshiram mixed in his power?
… No. Rayquaza was who she was channeling. This was her voice.
Yuna shoved her whole body against the barrier, redoubling her roar. She thought she heard an explosion in the distance. It didn't matter.
The burning intensified, but Yuna refused to let up. Her arms… were getting longer. Her torso… was expanding. Light green turned to yellow and blue. Tiny, nubby legs kicked against the barrier.
"Let her out!" Yuna roared before banging her much heavier head against the purple wall in front of her.
Then Lugia's eyes snapped open… and the barrier engulfed Yuna in golden light.
Hello! Three chapters have passed since I last reviewed, and that means my streak of not being able to review ten chapters of this in a row is somehow still intact… madness_emote.png
Looks like this stretch covers mainly Yuna’s qiphloth mission, along with some interludes for Nikki/Chiaki. Not sure what to make of the whole “purple light is turning things into cardboard” stuff—I’m not sure if this is the Eterna Empire crossing over into their dimension, or whether there’s something else happening here? Seems to be either a weapon of some kind, or one of the weird outpost zones crossing over into the real world.
Right, Xander exists. Not even the narration has pretenses about him being Shimmer’s boytoy at this point :V Not sure if he’s set dressing, or if he’s going to get involved here beyond being Shimmer’s sidekick. Whichever one, I certainly hope Shimmer gets thrown back into the mix. Where he’s concerned, my comparison to Malfoy from Harry Potter still holds up, I feel. Which makes me wonder if you’re going to keep his alignment ‘privileged brat’, or if you’re planning to use this event to throw in some development for him. It’s a bit weird to me, because he does show up periodically but I feel like nothing much has been done with him yet, so I’m still waiting for something to happen now that his boat has been rocked and he had a less-than-great reaction.
It’s a weird nitpick, but I do appreciate that you’ve given weight to the injuries that happen, rather than just Hollywood-troping them. In particular I appreciated seeing the fic acknowledge that the ringing Chiaki hears after the explosion doesn’t just mean he heard an explosion and now his ears are ringing because It Was Loud, it means that his inner ear was damaged by the sound. And whoops, fluids are entering his chest and the rest of him is going the same way. Maybe being in the middle of an explosion isn’t so cool after all! Most characters would just shrug off the blast entirely, with maybe a limp or some scrapes. Here, there seems like a clear sense of what’s going on and how lethal these injuries actually are, which added to the sense of them being fatal in a way that just having described them wouldn’t have. ~~so THIS was the true purpose of medical school all along…~~
Inciniroar-handed scorupi are definitely Weird:tm:, but I gather that’s what you were going for—we don’t really get to dwell on them for too long though. Most of the three chapters are spent battling Exodes and following Noctum’s excursion through the Mold Ship. Credit where it’s due, the idea is pretty freaky! I wasn’t sure if the mold was spreading through the air like a contagion and had infected multiple pokemon on the ship or not, or if they only got infected once Teddy got his hands on them. It doesn’t seem to be normal mold, but presumably it does have spores? Hopefully that can all be undone, because otherwise… yikes.
Gene is, and has been, a memelord from the beginning. He’s the only one that makes meta references like this—or at least the only one doing it with the frequency that he does—and it has me wondering if there’s somewhere he’s pulling all these references from. Maybe this was mentioned somewhere in the earlier chapters, and I just forgot because it’s been a long while since I touched those. I generally get vibes he might have been from a different world before he wound up here. Maybe the main trainer world, even, where those things he’s referencing can actually exist for him to pull from. Not sure I’ve got much to say on Exodes/”Exdeath”. She and Gene clearly have history but for now she’s just the Level Boss. I wonder if she’ll go out the same way as the Jeanne-whats-his-name before her did, or if she’s going to have some more screentime afterwards.
Wow, I wasn’t expecting Cecil to go as far as he did. He’s been airy and pompous, but this is a side of him that we haven’t seen before. I’m guessing it’s meant to tie in on some level to him being the dragon of truth, but to what level, and to what conclusion, I’m not sure yet. I do find it ironic that if sage relationships really were forbidden, the dragon of truth was the one involved in a deception. But that might also be thematic. I’m holding thoughts on Lugia until we actually see them, especially since I don’t really have a clue what the egg is supposed to be. Aside from that it’s probably Bad News.
Interesting stuff so far. It’s hard to really get a big picture for analysis when we’re cutting away mid-battle, so that’s really all I’ve got for now. Maybe I should have waited a couple chapters to see how things shook out better, but what’s done is done. I’ll return in about five chapters or so, maybe, to see how things shake out for real this time.
Heya, taking a brief intermission from my PWCH catch up to duck in for offsite review tag, since I’ve fallen a little behind with this story.
Chapter 35
It was going to be a repeat of the dreaded Herbrides Lines tree. A treepeat, in other words. Noctum was absolutely sure of it the closer the ship's hull got. Another concussion. Possibly worse this time. And he had Seifer with him, to boot.
Except the metal was more like the sponges Noctum used to wash dishes back at the academy. His momentum effortlessly carried him through multiple surfaces that should've hurt, but didn't. It ended when he finally managed to dig his arms into… whatever strip of metal was underneath him and skid to a halt. He was still dizzy. The black charizard wasn't sure if he was on the floor, a wall, or the ceiling.
It didn't help that the ship was tilted, either. A result of its capsizing, obviously.
The spinning faded fast. Noctum opened his eyes. Seifer lay to his left, tangled in a mess of blankets, pillows, and broken wood.
"Uhh—"
"We must've landed in some of the crew's quarters," Seifer explained, struggling to get the blankets off of him. "Hey, swing your tail around. It's too dark in here."
Noctum: "... Is that remotely safe when for all we know, this odor is from a gas leak?" ._.;
Seifer: "The odorant added to natural gas doesn't smell this bad. Though seriously, give us a light here, Noctum."
The room had a red tint to it thanks to a couple of tiny, cracked lights overhead. It wasn't that helpful, though. Noctum swung his black-scaled tail left. The violet flames mixed with the red lights to cast an even more ominous purple glow over Seifer.
Seifer: "... You should really consider getting that Malice Crystal checked out sometime, by the way." ._.
Noctum: "Pretty sure that we already concluded that it's impossible to remove without killing me, so I'll save the time and energy, thanks." >_>;
"Thanks." With the extra light, the keldeo easily wriggled free. As soon as he did, he slid down the inclined floor until he caught against the broken remnants of a bunk bed. "Okay, I guess we ought to go back out and tend to Yuna, right?"
"Ah!" Noctum's tail flame sparked in alarm. He spread his wings and jumped to his feet. His pink apron now had dirt and slime covering most of the flowers, but that didn't matter. Yuna needed backup. She—
"Guys, don't leave me! Help me! Hel— blaaauuggubble!"
Seifer: "Look, you know from the way that stories work that we're going to run into whatever that thing is eventually. Let's go take a look."
Noctum and Seifer shared astonished looks. Neither had to speak to tell what the other was thinking: the ship had people on it!
"What do we do?" The charizard looked worriedly between the door below them and the hole in the wall. "Should we split up? I can go back to Yuna and you can investigate the ship."
"Absolutely not." Seifer's horn sparked. "I need your tail for light." He glanced at the door. "Besides, if this is really a waste management ship, it might have something in it that can deal with all the poison outside."
Seifer: "Also, I've seen enough horror movies to know that that's an absolutely terrible idea even without the voice in the distance screaming for help before cutting out." >_>;
"But Yuna…" Noctum couldn't leave her again. It had happened too many times already.
"She has the Sages. And Quetzal," Seifer sternly declared. "Different look or not, I trained him myself. I have the utmost faith in his—"
"Commander!"
The orange zapdos in question dashed through the hole in the wall. Skorp clung to his back feathers. Noctum imagined Seifer would've facepalmed if he had hands.
Noctum: "Okay, I'm going after Yuna right now-!" O_O;
Seifer: "Oh hell no, you are not leaving me behind in this disgusting garbage scow that for all we know has been taken over by a daemon with Quetzal of all 'mons!" >_>;
Quetzal: "Sir, you just professed your confidence in my abilities!" >v<
Seifer: "Yeah, and you just ran it through a shredder by your sudden entrance. Opinions change." >_<
"What are you doing?" the keldeo barked. "Get back out there! Yuna needs—"
Oh, so Noctum really was about to just ditch those two to go after Yuna, huh? :V
"She thought you guys might've found something." Quetzal awkwardly shuffled his gangly legs. Noctum briefly wondered if he or this "sneasler" critter had lankier legs.
"And we did. There are people on board." Seifer pointed his prosthetic horn toward the broken remnants of a doorframe. "Who we have a responsibility toward."
Noctum: "I don't know about you, but my responsibility is kinda first and foremost to Princess Yuna-"
Seifer: "Nope, the people aboard are your responsibility now too, Noctum. Don't try to weasel out of it."
"Great." Noctum clapped his hands together. "You can take your bird friend and I'll go back to Yuna." He lifted his stubby right leg. "And if things get too dark, he can light the way with his weird leggy energy ball attack," the charizard added, cutting off what he assumed was Seifer's counterargument.
Whelp, I didn't call this one. Time to see what goes horribly wrong, since I remember from pre-release teasers that Noctum has a mold-covered Wartortle... thing to fight a bit later on.
Right as he was about to push past Quetzal, however, shrieks filled the hole in the ship's hull. For a moment, there was a familiar silhouette. Then dragonfire filled the area. Noctum fought back with a Flamethrower of his own. When they collided and kicked up green and red smoke, Noctum turned to the others, eyes damp from the ash.
"Had a change of heart. Move, move, move!" He grabbed Skorp off of Quetzal's back and flew through the shattered door. The outside hallway was, thankfully, spacious. The ship must've been built with even larger pokémon than a charizard in mind. But everything was still slanted and poorly lit by red emergency lights.
Wait, was that supposed to be Exodes there? I assume that was supposed to be the idea, but things were kinda hazily described, and you'd probably want to play up whatever makes Noctum enter "nope nope nope" mode a bit more concretely for the sake of clarity.
"I don't suppose either of you were on a ship like this in your, uh, guard duties?" Noctum scratched his head.
"Actually, I have taken assignments on waste management ships before!" Quetzal chirped. When Noctum turned around, the zapdos and Seifer had blocked the doorframe using rubble from the other room.
That feels like a hilarious underutilization of a Zapdos there.
Seifer: "Quetzal, not now!" >.<
"Great!" Noctum glided forward. Brown rust patches spread across the metal floor. The further Noctum went, the more holes started to pop up. Pink and purple light filtered up through the holes. The noxious smell from earlier was worse. Thank goodness Noctum hadn't eaten in a while.
"Then please tell me you can get us to higher ground."
Noctum: "Look, aren't the emergency stairwells on these things standardized or something? Just point out where to go!" O_O;
Thumps came from behind the quartet. "Can we hustle our bustles a bit, eh?" Skorp tightened his grip on the shoulder straps of Noctum's apron. "I think Kelly's gonna break through any sec—"
Noctum wasn't ready for the floor in front of him to explode, however. Rusty metal shards scraped his delicate wing membranes, but he managed to shield his face. That was what mattered most.
Noctum: "... On second thought, I really should've just gone to Princess Yuna's aid."
The charizard lifted his right wing to see an oddly fuzzy wartortle head disappear through the new hole in the floor. He couldn't even react properly, because two more holes appeared in front of him. Slimy purple tentacles popped out of the holes and smacked against the walls and ceiling. Their squelching rang in Noctum's ear frills as they painted the walls with noxious purple ooze. The urge to dry heave was overwhelming.
"Don't just stand there! Attack!" Seifer bellowed.
Sizzling water stung Noctum's right shoulder. He reflexively grabbed it with his left hand.
The Scald struck the right tentacle, which exploded in a burst of slime. A burst of rotten air brought bile up in Noctum's throat. He spat some clear stomach acid at his feet.
When he looked up, white, fuzzy patches spread out over the spots the tentacles hit. The surrounding metal turned from dark to brown. It bubbled like fresh stew in one of Aeon Castle's cooking cauldrons. Burnt and rusted metal mixed with the pungent rotten egg smell already in the air. Noctum tilted his head to stave off another attempt at spitting up bile.
"Is that… mold?" There was a tremor in Seifer's voice. Even with his claims of diving into the distortion in the past, he must've never come across something like this.
Uh. Yeah, this segment is significantly creepier and more visceral than the version that you initially showed off. I see you put the feedback from the initial A-B test to good use there. Since this is at once very
and
.
"Some of the dead trees in the bayou normally have them," Skorp explained. "But they don't eat through metal. Or smell like the world's biggest sulfur plume. Peeyew!"
Screeching echoed from behind. "Gawk later," Seifer hissed, face scrunched in disgust. "We have to press on!"
"Right." But when Noctum tried to fly ahead, the remnants of the floor burst apart. Two wiry, slime-covered arms reached for the charizard. He backpedaled in midair, spewing a Flamethrower on instinct. The flames washed across a moldy garbodor's face, who sank back through the floor. A fresh burst of rotten air buffeted the charizard, who covered his snout with his hands.
I'm calling it now, Noctum is going to flatly lose his lunch at some point in all of this.
"Get down!" Seifer cried.
Noctum landed on the floor and an Aura Sphere singed his cheek. It sailed into Garbodor's slimy right arm, which burst apart into purple tentacles that shot toward Noctum and Seifer. The charizard wanted to Phantom Warp, but remembered his passenger. With a deep breath that almost made him hurl, Noctum shot as large a Dragon Pulse he could manage. The blue bolt swept through the tentacles, slicing clean through them. A Scald from Seifer took care of the remaining three.
Seifer: "You do realize that Kelly can fly, right?" >_>;
Noctum: "Look, I don't see you offering any better suggestions to work with here!" >.<
"What?" A flurry of swipes from Quetzal's right leg dispelled Kelly's dragonfire. The orange zapdos followed up with a powerful kick to Kelly's head that left a thunderous boom echoing through the ship.
"The ship's integrity is giving way," Seifer explained. "It should be a breeze to smash through the ceiling."
Which means, of course, that it'd also be piss easy for Kelly to do that.
"Ah, good point!" Noctum had painlessly crashed through the ship at the start of all this. He and Seifer looked up. The ceiling swelled like a boil under Noctum's Flamethrower. Seifer's ensuing Scald blasted clean through it. And not a moment too soon, as a roar told the team that Garbodor was ready for another go.
"Move!" Seifer blasted water from his hooves, shooting through the hole. Noctum looked toward Quetzal, but the zapdos bent his lanky legs and leaped up far higher than the black charizard expected.
Noctum: "Quetzal, how on earth did you-?" .-.
Seifer: "Oi! What part of 'Move!' do you not understand, Noctum?" >_>;
"Hurry!" Skorp yelled.
Garbodor was halfway out of the hole, eating away at the floor and plastering white, fuzzy mold all around it. Every squelch its rotting, mold-filled body made echoed in Noctum's ear frills. As did the bubbling and gurgling from its bloated torso. Things were wriggling underneath the mold. A wartortle shell here. A silicobra tail there. Heck, Garbodor's body sucked in parts of the ship, adding to the bitter, burning metal mixing with its sulfurous stench.
Oh, so that's what the dragonfire was supposed to be from. Uh... yeah, you probably want to explicitly mention that that silhouette earlier was Kelly's.
Noctum spat some dragonfire at Garbodor's face, then quickly flapped his wings. He passed through the ceiling hole and found himself hovering beside a door. Something clanged against it. Purple juice filled the tiny circular window. An agonized cry followed.
His violet tail flame grew in alarm. "We're not safe here, either!"
Whelp, so much for that brilliant plan of going up.
"You're telling me!" Quetzal pointed his stubby right wing forward. A second wartortle lay slumped and unmoving in the corner of the hallway, covered in mold from head to toe. There were two other mold piles next to it. Whatever they were… Noctum couldn't tell anymore.
And seconds later, Garbodor's left hand burst through the floor. Its moldy fingers curled around the downed crew members, filling the hall with echoing gurgles and bringing back the rotten odor from the floor below.
"Keep moving up!" Seifer ordered, though he sounded far from sure of himself. He stuck a forehoof into the hole and blasted another Scald, drawing screeches from below.
"Ohhh, poor Kelly!" Skorp blubbered. "We can't let that moldy garbodor get its grubby hands on her, eh!"
Noctum: "Oh my god, we're being chased by a disgusting mold monster that I'm pretty sure is a daemon and that's what you're worried about right now?!" >.<
"Why is it so big, anyway?" Noctum whimpered. "It's slurping up pokémon like it was nothing!"
"I'll bet it's trance," Seifer whispered. He shook his head. "Never mind that, though. Our safety… is what matters most now!"
Not quite, since I'm pretty sure that this is G-Max Garbodor, but I actually didn't pick up on that until just now when the mention of the thing's size came up.
It hurt Noctum to admit, but Seifer was right. He couldn't risk himself — and, by association, the princess — for a feral. The black charizard flew up into the hole, but quickly threw himself into the wall to dodge slimy tentacles shooting up after him. They burst apart and Seifer and Quetzal hopped up through the hole.
"We can't keep this up," Quetzal said. "And what about the crew? Is anyone still in one piece on this—"
The keldeo froze, tail shooting up. Noctum followed the voice, across a giant metal room filled with dented pipes and tubes. A rhydon with a torn white uniform was on his hands and knees in front of some giant glass tube peppered with cracks. Gray liquid sloshed around in it. The machine's whirring was almost… relaxing compared to the shouts and slimy blubbering from the floors below.
But that begged one question: what was this thing? There were a few other pokémon around it, mostly bulky steel-types like bronzong and steelix. No wonder this is such a big ship.
I am not convinced that that gray liquid that Tesla deployed was completely unrelated to all of this. Like this all just screams 'experiment gone horribly awry'.
Noctum shook his head. "You guys have to get out of here! There's this… this crazy big Garbodor! And it's coming for us!"
"You mean Teddy?" Rhydon lumbered to his feet just in time for one of Garbodor's hands to appear through the hole the group had gone through. "Ten o'clock! Fire!"
The bronzong beside Rhydon levitated a hose and squeezed the trigger. Some of the gray juice burst out. It effortlessly ate through Garbodor's moldy arm. Noctum's ear frills quivered from the sizzling and he buried his snout in his apron to avoid another burst of moldy air. He hastily shuffled closer to the big glass tube.
"Is… is that thing part of the crew?" Seifer asked, shakily catching his breath.
"Yeah." Rhydon ran his right arm across his forehead, wiping away oil. "We were… working with Minister Tesla. To decontaminate Venish's water supply with his antitoxin." He glanced at the glass tube. "But all of a sudden, the distortion where the Needle used to be pulled us in and we capsized!" He staggered back and forth, probably for dramatic effect. "Poor Teddy tumbled off the ship and then emerged looking like…"
"Like something out of my worst nightmares!" Quetzal shrieked. Multiple indents popped up on the wall behind him. Noctum got one look at a poster of a blissey and a sylveon in a hard hat with the caption "At Polaris, safety comes first!" before it burst apart alongside the wall it was attached to.
... Kinda wonder if it's even possible to get that guy back to normal. Like on the one hand, it worked on that Snorlax chef, on the other... uh... yeah, I'm not convinced that most of the crew is still alive right now.
Garbodor's roars were as fierce as any kommo-o battle cry Noctum had ever heard. Its body jiggled like jelly, shaking the metal shards, wooden debris, and mold-covered crewmates stuck in the slime. And that nauseating odor was even worse than before! Noctum was sure his nostrils were burning now.
His violet flame shrank. "Shoot it with the antitoxin!" he begged. "Hurry!"
I'm... pretty sure that that's going to backfire horribly somehow, but let's see where this goes.
"We're trying!" Bronzong cried. Gray fluid splattered across Garbodor's white, fuzzy chest. The mold bubbled and sizzled. White smoke drifted toward the grated metal ceiling. It toppled over, flailing its arms and splattering corrosive slime all around it. Seifer and Quetzal backed away, forming Protect shields. The other crewmates fled for the other side of the room, Bronzong included.
Oh, so that party trick exists here in this setting too, huh? Definitely handy for this sort of moment.
"We've already gone through half our stock keeping Teddy at bay!" Rhydon shouted. "We thought Teddy was gone, but he must've roamed around the ship and eaten half the crew or something. He's so much bigger!"
Garbodor was back on its feet, roaring its displeasure. Seifer looked back at the crew "Then evacuate, damn it! We can't take this thing on our own!" He raised his forehooves and blasted huge water jets from them. Garbodor pointed two moldy fingers forward. Water collided with poison. The force sent Seifer skidding back toward Noctum. He caught the Keldeo, who ceased his attack.
"Evacuate where? There's a toxic swamp all around us!" Rhydon protested. Garbodor opened its mouth wide. It filled with purple slime.
Eyes darting about, the zapdos frantically flapped his stubby orange wings. When it looked like Garbodor was going to flood the room with a mouthful of poison, Quetzal stomped the floor repeatedly. Noctum grabbed Seifer and flapped his wings. A tremor ran across the ground, upending Garbodor. It coughed the poison up into the ceiling. Metal sizzled and boiled away. Rusted metal overpowered Garbodor's rotten aroma.
Pipework shards and chunks of the ceiling came crashing down onto Garbodor. Noctum dropped Seifer and turned to the machine.
If there was just a way to make what they had more effective. More effective. More…
Oh, so they're going to try his compressed fire trick again, huh? Dunno if that's a good idea or not, but hey, you could do worse than to try that one out.
"Calm your pecs, Zardy! I'm outside." Static garbled Gene's voice slightly, but it still brought Noctum no shortage of relief. "Just tending to this crazy cat lady. I already told her I don't swing that way, but she can't keep her claws off me— heeyee! Goodness, that was close." He laughed nervously. "What's the problem?"
That entire line is a giant lol, I can see you're really having fun with Gene's character.
Noctum: "Okay, now I'm less convinced that I'm reassured by his voice." >_>;
"Calorimetry!" Noctum looked between the antitoxin vat and Garbodor. The latter's body was slowly absorbed all the rubble that had it buried. "I need you to do calorimetry again! We have a vat of antitoxin here and—"
"Antitoxin?" Gene muttered several curses. "Speak up sooner next time! You could've saved me, like, a half-dozen close calls."
That at once is hilarious, but also time to break out Bubsy again:
There were very few times in Yuna's life she was thankful for her tiny size. This was one of them.
As many Poison Stings as there were, she didn't find it that hard to outmaneuver them. A quick ascent got past the first onslaught. The she u-turned in midair and dove down to avoid the next wave. The dozen skorps lining the edge of the island were charging up for another volley, so she rolled right. The wall of mutant skorupi gave way to brown mud and crabby gray grass.
Huh. She's definitely more nimble than I thought. For a second, I thought she was going to have a lot more trouble with that ambush at the end of the last chapter.
"Thine adversaries art not the sharpest tools in the shed," Rayquaza scoffed. "Mayhap being controlled by that foul witch is throwing off their aim."
He had a point. The skorps were sluggish to turn and meet her. They couldn't naturally be that slow, could they?
I mean, they could, but yeah, being enthralled seems like it'd mess with your higher motor functions quite a bit.
To test that theory, the dreepy whizzed right past them, flying over the purple swamp once again. Sure enough, they lowered the limbs they were in the process of raising. Yuna allowed herself a glance across the island. Artemis had swapped places with Valkyrie, allowing Nikki to easily cut loose with dome-shaped bursts of lightning that downed the skeletons the moment they reassembled.
Valkyrie took the opportunity to try and snipe Exodes from afar with a blue-purple bolt straight from her mouth. The sneasler caught sight of the attack and jerked herself right. This left her wide open for Gene, who struck her with tiny psychic orbs from every direction. Hissing in pain, she dropped to her knees.
An invisible force awkwardly yanked the skorupi into the air. If they didn't have the blankest expressions imaginable, Yuna figured they'd be panicking.
"This is our chance!" Reshiram declared. "Go! Get to Lugia!"
Yuna shot forward; a tiny green dart through the hazy air. Despite the weird, purple barrier encasing her, Lugia's features grew clearer. And they told Yuna something was very wrong.
What was that dark circle she was curled around? Was it—
"… ye gads! Dame Lugia is… clutching an egg?" Rayquaza exclaimed. "What manner of witchcraft is this?!"
Wait a minute. Cecil and Jade had a kid together?!
It wasn't just that, though. Yuna abruptly stopped right before she would've collided with a dozen skorp voodoo dolls. They floated in front of the barrier, each one connected to it by a purple tendril. A familiar aerodactyl doll whizzed past them, also stuck to a tendril.
Yuna looked over her shoulder, where Exodes failed to strike Gene with her extending claws. The strike was clumsy. Gene's lips moved. A mocking taunt, perhaps? That hardly mattered.
It's her. She turned back to the broken Needle. "The daemon… she must be siphoning Lugia's power to puppet everything!"
Oh, that would explain a few things there. I guess Exodes just turned and saw Yuna trying to do her thing, huh?
As if the barrier heard her, it flashed red. "Thine adversaries art firing, Princess!" Rayquaza warned. Yuna shot up and watched the ensuing Poison Stings strike the voodoo dolls themselves. That finally got pained cries from the skorps.
"I bet she wasn't expecting us to get backup from the others," Reshiram surmised. "Now her attention's split between fighting Gene and staying connected to Lugia. I don't think she can handle it." He clapped his illusory wings together. "Let's blast away these silly bugs and free Lugia!"
Cecil: "Yuna?! It's Lugia! She's right here! What do you mean 'No'?!" O_O;
"What? Why?!" Reshiram's white, fluffy head popped out of the Soul Dew. "We can't let that creep hurt Lugia anymore!" He looked at the barrier. "And that weird, space-colored egg…"
Yuna winced, but had to roll right to dodge another Poison Sting barrage. "But you saw what happened to the skorps when they got hit by their own attack!" Her gills drooped. "If… if I attack the dolls, it's going to hurt them!"
Sure is a good thing you don't have something like a Petrify Orb to pop right about now, huh?
She tried to look back toward Gene, but caught flashes of purple. The Poison Stings were a bit faster this time. Some nicked the end of her tail, but she flew away from the brunt of them. The dolls had followed her, however, forming a protective square in front of the barrier. How was Exodes even managing this while contending with Gene?
To make matters worse, Reshiram was halfway out of the Soul Dew. "They don't matter here! Lugia matters!" His blue eyes blazed with anger. "You promised!" He pointed a shaky wing at her. Tears glistened in his eyes. "You promised to free all the Sages! You… you can't back down now! I won't let you!"
Yuna: "Uh... Reshiram? You're kinda scaring me right now." O_O;
Yuna squished Reshiram back into the Soul Dew, then dove down under more Poison Stings. "But I can't just risk all the skorps to do that! What if we turn them into Phantoms?" She could never live with herself if that happened.
Reshiram would have none of it. He fully manifested from the Soul Dew, his tail engine burning bright.
"Make a choice!"
The cold, authoritative tone was unlike anything Yuna had never heard from Reshiram.
Well. That's... a concerning train of thought coming from the Pokémon with 'dex fluff of torching kingdoms when angry.
Yuna had no time to process that, as Reshiram spewed a torrent of blue fire at the dolls. The moment the attack struck, the skorps screamed. Blue flames engulfed them. Reshiram was poised to follow up with a Dragon Pulse, but the dolls detached from the purple tendrils and fell to the ground, where the muck and mud snuffed out the flames. The actual skorps then followed suit while the barrier's tendrils flailed about like balloons someone had just untied.
Inside the barrier, the egg shuddered. A crack splintered across its astral, blue and gold shell.
The dreepy's gills shriveled from that and the sizzling she heard on the ground. The hazy air filled with the stench of charred chitin.
Her gut constricted, nearly up into her head. Yuna's vision flickered.
Well, that got really dark really fast. And I'm pretty sure that that crack in the egg wasn't a good omen at all.
Yuna: "H-Holy crap. Reshiram, what the hell?!" O.O;
Cecil: "I'm sorry, Yuna, but I'm not losing my wife for the sake of a bunch of mutant Skorupi!" >_>;
But Bahamut… preached compromise. If there wasn't a clear path forward, one had to make it.
I mean, he definitely made his path forward there, so by a certain manner of speaking, he definitely kept Bahamut's preachings.
Also, let's not get into how this Bahamut is taking after how he is in newer FF games where he's a giant dick. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate just how true your faith really is, since at this rate, you wouldn't be the first Yuna to be snookered into following a religion of evil.
Yuna's head snapped up. The egg cracked in two more places.
It trembled between Lugia's wings. Reshiram flew straight for the barrier… and it raised two tendrils to intercept him!
She thought she had talked sense into him earlier, but she was wrong. Now she was about to lose him. Lose Lugia. Lose the egg.
Innocent people were hurt — possibly turned into Phantoms — for nothing.
Well, this needle pull is certainly going well™️ at the moment.
Because she wasn't strong enough. Because she wasn't forceful enough.
Yuna's vision went red. Her arms were darkening, but she didn't care. Rayquaza called out to her, but she couldn't make anything out.
With a squeaky roar, Yuna thrust her arms forward. They expanded in flashes of purple. Two large, ectoplasmic wings grabbed hold of a squealing Reshiram. He flailed in between six red spikes, but Yuna didn't care. She forcibly pulled Reshiram back, narrowly avoiding the tendrils, and slammed him back into the Soul Dew.
Oh, so Yuna really is Giratina now, huh? I mean, I kinda gathered from paying close attention to chatter in the past plus her Bayonetta-style antics going as far back as Noatun, but this is still quite the sight to behold here.
Its golden glow felt… familiar against her shadowy wing. Yuna wasn't sure why. And she didn't care. She yanked Rayquaza out.
"Keep the tendrils at bay," the dreepy ordered. A strange haze fell over Rayquaza's red eyes. He turned and whipped up sharp wind currents, blowing all the tendrils to the other side of the barrier.
Yuna made her move. She darted toward the barrier, roaring her frustrations with all of this. Yuna whipped the newly-formed wings back and slammed them into the barrier.
Well that's creepy as hell. I see that Exodes' banter last chapter wasn't completely wrong.
White-hot flames rippled through her entire body. The wings shrank back down into her usual, nubby arms, but Yuna refused to let up. She pressed harder. She dug her arms into the barrier. She slammed her forehead into it and screamed.
And the dreepy's screams… grew deeper. Her body was burning even hotter than before! Had Reshiram mixed in his power?
… No. Rayquaza was who she was channeling. This was her voice.
Yuna shoved her whole body against the barrier, redoubling her roar. She thought she heard an explosion in the distance. It didn't matter.
Exactly none of that sounds healthy right now. And that explosion doesn't portend good things for the garbage scow from earlier.
The burning intensified, but Yuna refused to let up. Her arms… were getting longer. Her torso… was expanding. Light green turned to yellow and blue. Tiny, nubby legs kicked against the barrier.
"Let her out!" Yuna roared before banging her much heavier head against the purple wall in front of her.
Then Lugia's eyes snapped open… and the barrier engulfed Yuna in golden light.
Wow, you weren't kidding about this chapter ending with permanent changes to cast members. While I probably should've had it on my radar given Yuna's chatter about how her childhood went, I legit didn't see this one coming.
Now the question is, who's she going to shoot out of that brand-new head turret?
Alright, time for the recap:
Uh... wow. I don't know what your process is for coming up with these 5k-ish chapters, but everything since the concert started in Venish has just been a constant stream of nobrakes moments. And it felt like a lot changed in these two scenes in spite of very little movement of time and space. Like we got to find out the fate of the Polaris ship's crew, we got a dangerous encounter for Noctum and the gang teed up there, we got to find out the things that Cecil is willing to do for the ones that he loves (and boy is it not pretty), and we get a really solid glance of who Yuna really is as she crosses a Rubicon in her life. So yeah, congrats on making things such a wild ride in such little space. It's definitely one of the things about your writing that I'm a bit envious about.
As for things that I wasn't so hot on. There's not a whole lot, but the main thing is that there were a few parts that were a bit hard to follow thanks to lack of description, with a few moments in the ship sequence coming to mind. I get that you swear by third-person limited perspective these days, but at the same time, I think that taking the time to throw a few more bones on that front would've made sense. Since it's a bit of a balancing act to capture the things that a character would perceive along with what the reader needs to perceive to make sense of what's going on. And the parts in question felt like places where you still could've pulled off revealing a bit more without violating your perspective rules. It's ultimately your call as an author, but it's just something that stood out to me.
Though altogether, I had a blast with the chapter @Ambyssin , and it feels great to be caught up again. Looking forward to seeing where on earth the dust settles after all of this. ^^
Heya, this is a review for chapter 33, 34, and 35, which means I’m now fully caught up.
Another Needle, another arc. One that’s… unfortunately my least favorite one in the story so far. That’s not to say I necessarily dislike Venish arc, but I’m definitely not enjoying it as much as what came before it. I just have trouble telling what’s going on at times, and it feels like stuff™ is just kinda happening.
Coming off of a pretty confusing ending of chapter 32, in 33 the party finds the source of all the trouble: Lugia. I think this chapter is alright, even if the main thing it does is give me something to look forward to once this arc is over. Based on what I’ve seen of Lugia so far, she’ll surely be a fun addition to the cast.
Moving on to chapter 34, I feel like not much happened here actually. The party just continues doing what they’re doing and only makes a little bit of progress, even if we do find the baddie that’s been controlling Lugia. I get that you prefer to keep your chapters short, but I think this one would have benefitted from a bit more substance. Exodes seems like an alright villain at least.
Finally there’s chapter 35, which I definitely liked the least of the bunch, mainly because of the Garbodor monster. It's like reading Ahemait, but a lot more grosser. I mentioned last year that I hate the giant monster trope, and unfortunately my opinion hasn’t really changed on that. I was surprised to see another giant monster pop up though, since you mentioned when I reviewed the arc with Ahemait that it was only a minor thing. I hope it’s not gonna be a recurring trope throughout the story, since that’s a big turnoff for me.
Anyway, sorry if this review was a bit more negative than usual. Hopefully next arc will resonate a bit more with me.
On to the quotes:
The bones quivered, however, and inched back toward one another. They stitched themselves back into two cranidos and a rampardos. Yuna recognized the shapes from picture books back home.
Oh yikes, she’s creepy. I think I remember her cameoing a while back though, when Phantom Despair briefly entered the Qiphloth.
"Seriously?" She squinted. "He looks like a clove of garlic." Uroboros curled her lips. "I bet he's grass-type. You'd seriously trust an archbishop with so many weaknesses?"
Whelp, called it on Demerzel being a bad guy. Just wasn’t sure yet where he was gonna fit in with all the other villains. Though I’m definitely curious why Paradox is looking for a successor in the first place. Especially in such short order that he can’t just wait on Demerzel and needs someone to temporarily replace him,
Vegna pointed forward. Griffon lowered his head in defeat before black shadows sucked him into Vegna's body. Chiaki's savior rose into the air and Vegna floated closer to it.
How is she able to do that anyway? Same as the thing with the dolls or being strong enough to hold her own against a Mewtwo. I get that she’s using Lugia’s powers to raise the dead and all, but all her other powers seem unrelated to that. Maybe I’ve just missed an explanation, but like with Venga it feels kinda randomto me.
"He fights with a kitchen utensil?" Rayquaza's jaw dropped. "Have we aligned ourself with a fool? Mayhap he left his jester's hat at his abode."
The charizard lifted his right wing to see an oddly fuzzy wartortle head disappear through the new hole in the floor. He couldn't even react properly, because two more holes appeared in front of him. Slimy purple tentacles popped out of the holes and smacked against the walls and ceiling. Their squelching rang in Noctum's ear frills as they painted the walls with noxious purple ooze. The urge to dry heave was overwhelming.
Well… that sounds just horrifying. Ditto for a lot of the other stuff described in this scene.
Noctum got one look at a poster of a blissey and a sylveon in a hard hat with the caption "At Polaris, safety comes first!" before it burst apart alongside the wall it was attached to.
"But you saw what happened to the skorps when they got hit by their own attack!" Her gills drooped. "If… if I attack the dolls, it's going to hurt them!"
Oh, that’s devious. Exodes is not only using the dolls to control them, but also hold them hostage.
With a squeaky roar, Yuna thrust her arms forward. They expanded in flashes of purple. Two large, ectoplasmic wings grabbed hold of a squealing Reshiram. He flailed in between six red spikes, but Yuna didn't care. She forcibly pulled Reshiram back, narrowly avoiding the tendrils, and slammed him back into the Soul Dew.
Yeeaaaaah, definitely sticking to my theory that Yuna is Chiron reincarnated.
The burning intensified, but Yuna refused to let up. Her arms… were getting longer. Her torso… was expanding. Light green turned to yellow and blue. Tiny, nubby legs kicked against the barrier.
The needs of the many. The needs of the few. They matter not before the Benefactor.
~Qliphoth Proverb
XxX
Yuna was falling.
The barrier was gone. Soft, golden light fizzled out around her. There were no more poisonous tendrils. The aerodactyl voodoo doll was gone, too. Somehow, she had done it, but God was it exhausting.
She was so tired. Yuna didn't think this kind of fatigue was possible for ghost-types. Yet even as damp, musty air rippled through her ectoplasm, all Yuna wanted was to curl up for a nice, long nap.
Yuna had just enough energy left to hope her crash landing was a soft one before her eyelids fluttered shut.
XxX
Green fields gave way to rocky crags with small brooks weaving between them. Chiron flapped her wings, frowning. She could sense Lugia nearby. So, the Sage hadn't moved from where Bahamut had detected her.
Lugia ignored his summons. Bahamut was very clear; his summons required prompt response. No Sage could disregard one longer than ten minutes. Lugia had broken that rule. And after she had a string of cancelled sermons in defiance of Bahamut, Chiron could tell his temper was bubbling to the surface. She had suggested he take some time to meditate and leave Lugia to her. But she was quite surprised at how quickly and precisely Bahamut located Lugia.
Chiron descended further into a brown valley, trying to push that thought aside. The brooks grew larger, joining together and running into a crescent lake. The familiar shape brought a smile to the lunala's face. She hadn't seen this one before. Perhaps Chiron would ask Bahamut about it later.
Her smile quickly faded when she found Lugia on the lake's eastern bank, lying in the mud with her tail lazily dangling in the water. Dirt and grime caked her once-pristine, white feathers.
Chiron didn't have time to consider a proper greeting because Lugia locked eyes with her. "Come to lecture me? Then go on." Lugia lazily raised her left wing and flicked it, flinging mud into the water with splashes and brown rings. "Tell me I'm a screw up. A freeloader. Or whatever colorful language Bahamut was using back at his base."
The lunala bit her lip. So, Lugia's strategy was guilt tripping. A firm approach wasn't going to work. Chiron would attempt a soft touch, instead. "He's worried about you." She folded her right wing over her chest. "We're all worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately."
Silence. Then a bitter laugh. Lugia rolled on her back, burying herself deeper in the muck. "Ha! Worried about me? That's a good one." She smacked the muddy ground with her right wing. Chiron drifted back to avoid mud splatter.
Chiron clutched the Soul Dew around her neck with her wing claws. It was one thing for Lugia to play hooky, but it was another to belittle Bahamut and his work. Sure, Chiron had only been here a few months, yet it was long enough to conclude the golden dragon truly cared about the world.
"That attitude isn't helping your case." The lunala's words were firmer. "We are concerned, because this behavior is… unbecoming of someone in your position."
"My behavior?" Lugia sat up. Chiron had gotten through to her. "That is rich!" She scooped up a ball of mud with her right wing and hurled it at Chiron. Rolling her eyes, Chiron teleported to her right, then watched the mud sail into the lake with a brown splash.
So, Lugia wanted to act like a hatchling? Fine then. Chiron could treat her like one. Her third eye flared to life. A purple glow surrounded a squawking Lugia's wings and pinned them to her side.
"You have a responsibility to this planet and its people," Chiron exclaimed. "I may not understand all your customs, but I know you were trained to be better this. Do we not teach commoners to talk out their differences? To use words and not claws and fangs?"
She stared Lugia down. The silence lingered long enough for Chiron to wonder if Lugia was opting for the silent treatment.
"… this isn't what I signed up for." Lugia turned away, plapping her head down in the mud. "It's not fair. We speak of things we're not allowed." She put her left wing on her neck. "I wanted to help people, but as the years go by, it feels less like helping and more like sacrificing my life and my freedom!"
Chiron's third eye faded into her forehead. She folded her wings over her torso, unsure what to even make of that. "Explain."
"What does it matter to you?" Lugia swung her tail back and forth, sloshing around more muck. "Our rules don't apply to you. You didn't even bond with your Soul Dew, did you?"
"I… didn't." Chiron traced her folded wing across the gem. She needed to get Lugia to open up more, but she couldn't tell the truth. None of the Sages could know the lunala had fled Eternatus. It was too dangerous. For her and for them.
"You all… have a long apprenticeship period before you accept Bahamut's light, right?" Chiron tightened her wings around her torso. "It doesn't feel right for me to accept such power after only a few months here."
And there's no telling how his light might react with my Malice.
Lugia laughed at that, however. "Well, congratu-freaking-lations." She flung more mud with her tail. "Then you're free of his control."
Chiron narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"
Lugia sat up. There was a faint rainbow glimmer underneath the layers of mud on her belly. "See this?" She pointed to the glimmer, muck dripping off her outstretched wing digit. "Why do you think you were able to find me so fast? The Soul Dew binds us to Bahamut. So long as I have his light, he'll always know where I am."
The lunala's wing claws twitched.
He'll always know where I am.
He'll always know…
Always…
"There's nothing you can hide from me, child."
Chiron squeezed her eyes shut and blinked rapidly. That nagging presence quickly faded from her mind.
"And even if that wasn't the case, Zygarde can keep tabs on everything with that whole 'I can split myself into tiny invisible cells' thing," Lugia continued, thankfully unaware that Chiron had zoned out for a moment.
Somehow, Chiron must've opened some sort of floodgate, because Lugia wasn't stopping. "And, y'know, maybe I'd be okay with it… if commoners actually liked what I had to offer. But my sermons have some of the poorest attendance of the Luminous Sages!" She raised her filthy wings and smacked them into the muck. "People just don't get what the Sage of Harmony is. Heck, sometimes I'm not sure what it means."
Bits of mud trickled off Lugia's body. Wait, were those tears carrying the mud away?
"I just—" Lugia sniffled loudly. "I gave up my love for this. I gave up the chance for a family for this." She lay back down with an unceremonious splat. "How is it fair that we have to teach about things we're not allowed to have? Especially when Bahamut can have them."
Chiron relaxed her wings a bit. "Bahamut told me… those things would make it harder to protect the planet." She looked down at her wavy reflection in the lake. "Didn't your predecessor warn you of this?"
"I thought he was overexaggerating!" Lugia threw her wings up and smacked them against her flabby belly. "The rules sounded comically strict. But I guess they don't apply to him, because I've seen the way he looks at you. How you two will sneak off to the mountains in the north or the Armour Archipelago. How you'll cuddle together to the point where you practically melt into one another!"
She pointed her tail at Chiron. "Don't deny it, I've seen it! I didn't even know Bahamut could glow that shade of red!"
The lunala's forehead and ethereal wings reddened. "I… that's…"
Lugia rolled onto her belly and crawled through the mud. She got up to her wings and knees. "I want what you two have with Cece. I want it so, so badly. You have no idea how touch-starved I'm— waugh!"
She slipped off the bank and into the lake with a large splash. Chiron teleported back several meters, watching with a frown as brown expanded around the splash zone and a wet feather odor permeated the air.
Her gut tightened. Chiron had always been under the impression that the Sages loved their jobs. She never thought that any of them might've had regrets. Might have—
"He's unsatisfied, is he? Then you'll dispose of him. Permanently."
Rippling water snapped Chiron back to attention. Lugia surfaced, brown water cascading down her wet, dirty feathers. "Who am I kidding?" She sighed. "Maybe if I beg and plead enough, Bahamut will let me find a replacement."
Chiron drifted down toward her. "C… Can I ask you something?"
"Whatever."
The lunala flinched. "Who's Cece?"
Lugia blinked. Her cheeks flushed despite the soggy feathers. "Reshiram. His name was Cecil when he was a commoner. He was a hydreigon and I was a salazzle. My apothecary used the courier group he worked for. I met him when he crashed into my shop and… we fell so hard for each other. Then we both got scouted for Sage apprenticeships."
She bit her lip. "I… shouldn't tell you this. But the truth is that… Bahamut wanted us to end our personal relationship." Lugia pushed and pulled the water around her with her wings. "I couldn't stand the thought of it. Neither could Cecil. So, right before our christenings, we eloped."
Chiron's crescent tail twitched. "Does… does Bahamut know?"
"I'm not sure." Lugia stared at her muddled reflection. "But throughout our time as Sages, we've rarely had the opportunity to work together. Sometimes I wonder if he does know, and is punishing me for it."
Chiron's heart sank. A part of her didn't want to believe it. Bahamut was nothing but patient and caring with her since her crash landing. But the things Lugia said reminded her so much of…
She had to do something. She had to make it right.
"… take a week off."
Lugia looked up. "Bwuh?"
"Take a week off… to be with Reshiram," Chiron repeated, firmer this time. "I know a nice private grotto by the Crownelands' southeast coast."
Lugia still looked unconvinced. "You really think Bahamut will let that fly?"
"Leave him to me." The lunala winked at Lugia. "If he looks at me the way you think he does, he'll come around."
More silence. Then, Lugia shot out of the water faster than Chiron thought possible for a massive bird. This time, there was no escaping a surprise shower… or the wet, slimy hug that followed.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lugia buried her head in the crook of Chiron's neck. "I'll make it up to you, I swear!"
"You can… start by… not squeezing… so tight," Chiron wheezed.
The moment Lugia released her, everything went white.
XxX
It was times like these that made Chiron wish her wing structure was more flexible like Lugia's. The best she could do while seated in the special chair that Bahamut had carved for her was rigidly have her wings pointed in front of her, so she could gingerly hold the tiny, sleeping star cloud in her claws.
Motherhood. Chiron still found it so surreal because it shouldn't have been possible. Neither she nor Bahamut were meant to procreate. And yet, here she was. With this little bundle of joy that could teleport around and "Pew!" his delight at everyone's confusion.
"So, you got a name for the tyke yet or what?"
Chiron looked up from her son. Lugia sat opposite her on an absurdly large recliner, tossing a green grape into her open mouth.
"We do, actually." Chiron smiled warmly. "Leo."
Lugia paused in the midst of pulling a grape out of the ceramic bowl in her lap. "Leo?" She blinked. "Huh. I was expecting something more… mystical."
The lunala giggled. "Leo is a constellation of stars from the Milky Way. It was Bahamut's favorite constellation when he lived on Earth." She lifted her head a bit higher to look at the doorway behind Lugia, which was filled with golden light. "Isn't that right, dear?"
Rainbow, pupilless eyes looked back at her. "You told me that, in time, he would turn into something resembling a pyroar. And Leo was named for a mythical creature that resembled a pyroar. It seemed logical to me."
Chiron resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course he'd brush that off. Heaven forbid Bahamut admit he liked anything about Earth.
"Fair enough." Lugia resumed tossing grapes into her mouth. "So, why'd you call me here?"
"I have a request for you." Chiron leaned over and nuzzled Leo, who cooed happily in his sleep. "We would like you and Reshiram to be Leo's aunt and uncle, in a manner of speaking. Help us raise him and, if something were to happen to both of us, parent him in our stead."
Lugia's eyes widened. She misjudged the arc of her grape toss and it bounced off the tip of her snout. A psychic force caught the grape before it could hit the floor, then threw it out an open window.
"I just cleaned these floors," Bahamut growled. The light behind Lugia rippled.
"S-Sorry." Lugia grinned sheepishly. "But, like, are you sure about that? I mean—"
"… tch. You're the one who bemoaned your inability to have a family," Bahamut cut in. The gold light in the doorway dimmed. "Consider it a… concession, on my part."
Chiron frowned at him. They had discussed how they were going to explain things, but Bahamut decided to go off script. "What he means to say is that you're my friend, Lugia. I know how much family means to you, so I want you to be part of Leo's life."
In a blink of light, Bahamut was at Lugia's side. She almost tossed the bowl of grapes up in surprise when his gold light spilled over her. "But make no mistake. Your responsibilities as Sage of Harmony still come first." He pointed his right upper wing at her. "We are trusting you because we believe in you. Understand?"
"Y-Yessir!" Lugia saluted with her right wing. "I'll be the best, least-embarrassing fake aunt in the world."
While Chiron giggled again, a groaning Bahamut smacked his face with an upper wing. His golden glow brightened even further, and everything faded to white.
XxX
"Oh, my aching head."
Yuna's vision came back to her quicker than her previous dreams. Though she wanted to fester over why she saw two this time, the soft feathers and scales brushing against her ectoplasm calmed her nerves.
What had she been doing again?
… Oh, right. Qliphoth. Poison swamp. Reshiram flying off the handle because his wife, Lugia, was trapped in some daemonic barrier with an egg. Then she freed Lugia.
Hadn't she been falling?
Whatever. Yuna was comfy now. And less tired. That was all that mattered.
Maybe five more minutes with this feather blanket…
When Yuna blinked the last stars from her vision, however, she found herself clutching the egg Lugia previously held and staring at a blue belly with pink flame patterns that immediately brought salazzle to mind.
But salazzle don't have feathers.
Then Lugia's head popped in, only there were flame marks on the blue spikes that were supposed to surround her eyes.
"Hello!" she chirped.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Lugia tossed Yuna into the air and flared out her wings. "Why are we yelling?! Is that how this planet thanks people who save its inhabitants from plummeting out of the sky?"
Yuna steadied herself in midair, making sure she held onto the egg, and looked in abject horror at the scaly flaps fluttering on either side of Lugia's tail.
This was wrong. Very, very wrong. And yet, Lugia seemed blissfully unaware, tilting her head at Yuna. "Although, I guess you broke me out of that crazy nightmare I was in." She gave a thumbs up. "So, I suppose we're even, Drakloak."
"But I— wait, drakloak?!" Yuna looked around in a panic. She soon found her elongated tail and two nubby feet that hadn't been there before. "Ohmygod I'm a drakloak!" Yuna pressed her hands — there were little ridges in her ectoplasm denoting the beginnings of fingers — firmly against the egg. "When? How? Why?"
"Thine efforts in dispelling that foul barrier did the trick, Princess."
Rayquaza drifted down to Yuna's side, applauding with his tiny hands. Lugia looked at him, eyes sparkling. "Oh, wow! A chocolate noodle! And it talks!" Her tail wagged. "Is this a chocolate planet? Can I eat the ground?" She bent over and sniffed the mud, only to recoil. "Nope. Definitely not chocolate. Bummer."
Yuna's shoulders sagged, though she remained vigilant of the egg. I think I see how she and Reshiram fell for each other.
Yet the way Lugia acted was… quite different from the visions Yuna had. And Lugia still hadn't acknowledged her salazzle features.
"Wha—" Rayquaza flinched. "Dame Lugia, dost thou not remember thine comrade at arms? I'm Sir Rayquaza!"
"Lugia? Rayquaza?" She frowned. "I think you're mistaken, choco-noodle." Lugia pointed her right wing at Rayquaza. "Rayquaza's green and I only just got scouted to apprentice Lugia. The name's Jade and I… I…" Her eyes slowly widened.
Yuna's shoulders sagged further. She'd seen this routine before. Cue the freakout in three… two… one…
Jade flailed her wings about. "Why do I have wings?! Salazzle don't have wings!" She ran— well, waddled awkwardly back and forth in a panic. "And why are they white? What happened to my gray sca— ack!"
She slipped on a patch of mud and faceplanted into the muck. Jade quickly lifted herself up and looked at her muddy wing, blinking rapidly. "Well, that's a slight improvement. But I can't take mud baths forever! It'll ruin my complexion!"
All Yuna could do was stare at the… lugia? Salazzle?
"Salugia?"
Reshiram! Yuna winced. This entire time, she'd forgotten about him. He wasn't even lurking in her mind. Though once Yuna recalled what had happened before the barrier went down, a mixture of guilt and trepidation crept through her.
Still, she was his wife. Maybe he could help?
Sighing, Yuna recalled Rayquaza and summoned Reshiram. He stood opposite the muddy salugia, poking his claws together.
"Jady?" he whispered.
There was a glimmer of recognition in Jade's yellow eyes. "C… Cece? Is that… you?"
Reshiram slowly nodded. "I go by Reshiram now, but yeah." He slowly smiled. "It's me."
They stood staring silently for a moment. Then Jade flung herself at Reshiram, wrapping her wings around his torso and burying her face in his chest ruff.
"Oh em gee, look how big and fluffy you are!" She rubbed her face while Reshiram raised his wings, face and tail engine turning deep red.
"J… Jady?" His eyes darted around in a panic.
"Ah, if I died and wound up in marshmallow hell, then I accept my fate!" she chirped.
"Hang on." Reshiram squirmed a bit. "Ma… ybe we oughta… have a chat first?"
Yuna was conflicted whether to intervene or not. It sounded like Jade didn't have her memories of her time as Lugia which, if true, would make explaining things much harder.
She was about to fly down when she caught a glimpse of a silver streak. Then she heard hollers in the distance. Yuna saw Nikki hightailing it away from the capsized ship with Artemis in hot pursuit. A silver geyser had erupted from atop the ship, splattering silver fluid everywhere.
"Princess, look! The poison in the swamp is disappearing!"
Yuna glanced behind her, trying to ignore Jade somehow overpowering Reshiram and belly flopping into the mud with him. The glowing purple fluid in the swamp dissolved away, leaving dark green water. Pink lily pads and gray reeds popped out of the water as if the poison was smothering them. It still stunk, but it was closer to mildew than rotten eggs.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just the poisonous veil that lifted. Dozens of pained cries rang out in unison. Yuna's tail crinkled. She tightened her grip on the egg.
Ah… the skorps! The drakloak looked around and found their burnt, mangled bodies in a cluster by a small hole in the ground. Probably the spot where the broken Needle was.
"Well, erm, if thous art screaming, then thous art not Phantoms. Tis a good thing, yes?" Rayquaza laughed nervously.
Except I have no way of healing them! Yuna countered.
And Yuna wasn't the only one aware of the skorps' cries. A thunderous bang sounded by the silver geyser. Within a matter of seconds, a large pink sphere surged toward her, until it slammed into the ground right by Jade and Reshiram. The force sent both tumbling through the mud and into the swamp behind them.
The pink sphere faded to a more modest glow, revealing Gene. Gone was his usual, lackadaisical smirk. In its place was an intense glare with eyes that were blue and hollow. The Malice Crystal in his shoulder crackled with black electricity.
He turned and took one look at the skorps. "Who did this?"
Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. His voice had dropped several octaves to a chilling baritone. The sort of guttural growl Yuna might expect from an enraged salamence.
Gene raised his right hand. All three fingers crackled with dark energy. "Who did this?"
Yuna almost lost her grip on the egg, but curled her tail around it. "Reshiram! I'm sorry, I couldn't control him! His wife was hurt and—"
"Silence," Gene hissed. Yuna squeaked. The mewtwo lowered his arm and turned to the skorps. He raised both arms, then shot out short bursts of soft, pink light. They washed over the skorps, taking their burns with them.
"Heal Pulse?" Rayquaza gasped. "This entire time, he's known Heal Pulse?"
Gene lowered his arms, then Phantom Warped past Yuna. He thrust his right arm into the air. The swamp water rippled and out popped a soggy Reshiram with a pink glow around him.
"How dare you," Gene snarled. "They were innocents. You had no right to attack them."
Reshiram went bug-eyed. "Wait! Th… this is all a misunderstanding! Please, I—"
Dark energy crackled around Gene's left arm. It was time for Yuna to take action. She darted toward the mewtwo. "Hang on! We need to talk this out before anyone does anything else rash!"
Glare intensifying, Gene raised his left hand. "… weapons don't talk. They act."
Staring down some sort of Malice-induced attack, Yuna held up the egg. Black shadows brushed her arms and tail. "We are not your enemies. Stand down. Now."
The glow in Gene's eyes faded. There was a flicker of recognition, then he hastily stepped back, lowering both hands. A loud splash drew a flinch from Yuna. She turned around to find Jade climbing into the grass and Reshiram surfacing after a second splashdown. His wet hair obscured his face, but Yuna swore he was trembling.
"Yeah."
Yuna barely heard Gene's whispers. She looked back at the mewtwo, who crossed his arms tight. His black, yellow-tipped tail lashed at the air. "I guess… there's a lot to talk about." Gene blinked slowly. "In more ways than one."
He turned away from her just as Noctum dropped off Quetzal a few meters away. Seifer, Nikki, Valkyrie, and Artemis weren't far behind him.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Skorp hopped off Noctum's back and skittered toward the other skorps. "You're all okay, eh! You had me worried plum sick!"
"Princess!" Noctum's violet flame grew, then shrank. He was covered in silver fluid from head to toe. "Are you okay? What's with the egg?" He shook his head. "No, wait, dumb questions. Look at you!" He thrust his arms apart. "Congratulations!"
Nikki lacked Noctum's enthusiasm. "That's your evolution?" She tried forming a square with her hands. "Dunno what's up with the spacy egg, but I could eat a fancy dinner with a side salad off that block you call a head!"
"Hey, come on, show her some respect." Artemis jabbed Nikki's side with a ribbon. "Those spikes on your head look like PV antennae, but you don't see me teasing you over it."
Nikki scowled. "Well, they're cool antennae," she grumbled.
Yuna ignored Nikki. Though as much as drakloak wanted to accept Noctum's hug offer, she took one look at his soggy apron and frowned. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, this? It's okay." Noctum waved her off. "We were under attack from a mutated garbodor, but Gene blew the top off the ship and tossed Exodes into a vat of antitoxin."
"Which blew her up along with the tank," Seifer grumbled, trying to shake the silver out of his sopping hair. "Garbodor turned back to normal."
"So did the swamps." Valkyrie scanned the water surrounding the island. "Somehow."
"Yeah, sure. Just look at me!" Seifer lowered his head. "I've never been so humiliated."
"Really?" Gene spun around, a brow raised. "You'd think losing your cushy military job is way more humiliating than a little antitoxin bath."
Quetzal puffed out his feathers. "What?" He whirled on Seifer. "Her Eminence fired you?!"
Utter horror spread across Seifer's face. "I, uh—"
"Oh." Gene scratched his head. "You didn't tell him? Whoopsie-doopsie. I thought everyone here knew already." He laughed nervously.
Valkyrie glared at Gene. "Seriously? How callous can you be?"
"Doth we tell her about the outburst we just witnessed?" Rayquaza whispered. "Tis worrying how quickly he snapped back to his joking self."
No. Yuna already had enough of a headache. Plus there was something… alarming about how the mewtwo reacted to the brief flare up of her weird shadowy powers. Or was it the egg's doing?
"Well, aha ha, how about this, gang?" Gene wrang his hands together. "We get all the skorps and trapped crew members squared away, then we can have us a big ol' team talky fun time." The big smile on his face was anything but sincere. "I'll make us a campfire… oh! And we can have s'mores!"
"S'mores!" Jade hopped in front of Gene. "Where do I sign? I'll take ten! No, twenty! No, thirty!"
"Whoa, whoa, time out." Nikki held her hands up in a T. "Who's the oversized pelipper with the bad salazzle costume?"
"Hey!" Reshiram snorted out dragonfire. "That's my wife you're talking about!"
Whistling, the toxtricity looked back and forth between Jade and Reshiram. "Damn, dude. What's your secret? Cuz she's way outside your league if you ask me!"
Reshiram's response was a cross between a squeal and a balloon forcibly deflating.
Yuna groaned. "Look, can we just do what Gene says for now? I'm tired. I want out of this swamp. And standing around taking pot-shots isn't going to…" Her voice trailed off upon realizing half the group wasn't listening to her. "Seriously, guys?!"
Noctum's face was ripe with worry. Yuna didn't have to ask what the problem was, because the black charizard spoke up first.
"Your egg's hatching."
"Bwuh?" Yuna blinked a few times. No, the drakloak hadn't misheard that. Noctum called it her egg. "No, no. You've got it all wrong. This is Lugia's—"
The salugia raised her right wing. "Jade."
Yuna rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, this is Jade's egg. She was holding it while she was trapped in the barrier!"
"I was?" Jade pointed at her face. "Huh. Maybe that's why it showed up in my nightmare." She tapped her tail against her right hip repeatedly. "No idea what its deal is, though. Besides, it's clearly reacting to you, not me. Look at it glowing all white like my beau's new, fuzzy pelt!"
Reshiram squeaked again while white light crept into Yuna's vision. A white glow had, indeed, swallowed up the egg… and was creeping up Yuna's arms. Out of an abundance of caution, the drakloak set the egg down on the grass.
Four small, gold-tipped, dark blue hooves emerged from the light. The deep blue spread upward to a slender neck, then a head with a long, wispy mane resembling a starry sky. Then the rest of the light faded to reveal a dark blue torso with faint a faint red glow in the middle and tiny, blue dots. Almost like a miniature solar system. It had a small tail that, like its mane, ended in a wispy star cloud.
Yuna stared at her reflection in the weird, yellow wheel around the hatchling's torso. It didn't take long, however, for the hatchling to open its blue and yellow eyes on its black, mouthless face.
"Hi, Mom!" he chirped. His star cloud tail wagged.
"M-Mom?!" Yuna's arms trembled. "N-No, I think you're mistaken."
"You hatched me, though." The cosmic… pontya-like thingy tilted his head. "So, you're my mom!" He wagged his tail his tail again. How was a literal newborn so articulate? "Do I get a name? Huh? Huh? Huh? Do I?"
"Uh… uhhhhh…" Yuna looked at the others, but they were equally confused. Except Gene, who turned away from them.
"Wait, hang on! Something came to me." Despite not having a mouth, his sparkling eyes gave off a joy Yuna could barely describe.
"And that is?"
"Leo! Call me Leo!"
Yuna's head pounded. She opened her mouth to respond, but her vision went fuzzy and, next thing she knew, she was out like a light.
XxX
~Il Paradigma, Canto I: Exodes~ The Matriarch brought forth the Great Union when Space embraced Time and forged the singularity. Though the Union shattered, the Matriarch ensured remnants of that eternal bliss survived as our Benefactor. Now He seeks to restore the Matriarch's Great Union. Only those who fail to grasp His enlightenment would oppose such a glorious vision.
Okay, POV my beloved. It’s been a while since I’ve last reviewed this fic despite being regularly caught up with every new chapter. It was never that I didn’t enjoy the last few chapters. There were good moments, and not to mention the chapter with that mind shaking twist about Starlene being Nikki’s old plan. It was even more abhorrent to later learn that Vortex undoubtedly had something to do with it. I’d meant to review that chapter but life happened and later updates sort of made me forget about doing so. Anyway, this is a review on Chapter 36, so let’s just jump right into that now.
What I enjoyed most about this chapter is that it didn’t feel as crammed with action as the previous few chapters were. Nothing wrong with some action, but I think there was so many povs (pun intended) and lasers flying about that the meaningful character moments didn’t get much room to breathe. Here though the chapter felt more focused and easier to digest and dwell on its events.
We’re started off with a flashback of the Bahamut era after Yuna fell asleep. This is where we got to see more of Chiron the Lunala and her interactions with Lugia who’s been pretty down in the dumps over what she perceived as unfair treatment from Bahamat and declining faith in her duties. I’m curious though what was up with Chiron occasionally going afk during their chat and those flashbacks she was having. I am guessing she had a malice crystal and maaaaay have unintentionally acted as a homing beacon for Eternatus to find Etherium? Who knows? It’s all a huge guess from me.
Back in the present, Yuna wakes up and discovered that she’d evolved (yay wyrm thingy!) and Lugia is also there, except she had lost most of her memories as a Lugia. This is pretty interesting, and it does make me beg the question of just how much she’s forgotten over what span of time. At least Reshiram doesn’t seem to mind it, and Jade remembers enough to recognize him. Would’ve been pretty sadge if she’d forgotten him. Also Reshiram is pretty adorable, if you ignore the fact that he was fully willing to kill those scorps to save his wife. Gene was rightgully made about that.
Speaking of Gene, dude definitely knows a thing or two about what’s up with the weird shadowy powers Yuna has been displaying. I can smell a hook for a later scene here. Also like a very responsible high school student, Yuna already now has baby. And the baby can talk, and named himself too. And he’s an Arceus. I have several questions. This whole time I thought Bahamut’s wife and son got the Uncle Ben treatment of being perma dead, but it turns out that’s not actually the case. I think I vaguely recall a lunala being mentioned in a previous chapter too, so maybe both are still alive.
These are all some pretty amusing developments and I’m feeling pretty excited for where the story is going from here.
Alright, and since I'm tired of torturing myself with avoiding spoilers, let's pick up right where things left off last time and see what Yuna's up to with that sweet new bod of hers in…
Chapter 36
The needs of the many. The needs of the few. They matter not before the Benefactor.~Qliphoth Proverb
Wait a minute. The Qliphoth as a whole has a 'Benefactor'? As in someone that all of the Qliphoth is dependent on?' I... have no idea what on earth could cause that, but guess we're finding out one way or another.
Though I see you've been getting into chapter opening teasers yourself in recent chapters. It's a nice style, really. And a handy opportunity to show off bits and pieces of how your world(s) work that aren't necessarily in scope of the direct events of the chapter.
Yuna was falling.
The barrier was gone. Soft, golden light fizzled out around her. There were no more poisonous tendrils. The aerodactyl voodoo doll was gone, too. Somehow, she had done it, but God was it exhausting.
She was so tired. Yuna didn't think this kind of fatigue was possible for ghost-types. Yet even as damp, musty air rippled through her ectoplasm, all Yuna wanted was to curl up for a nice, long nap.
That sounds like a good reason to call for help from Gallian with your mind slave powers right about now, just saying.
Green fields gave way to rocky crags with small brooks weaving between them. Chiron flapped her wings, frowning. She could sense Lugia nearby. So, the Sage hadn't moved from where Bahamut had detected her.
Lugia ignored his summons. Bahamut was very clear; his summons required prompt response. No Sage could disregard one longer than ten minutes. Lugia had broken that rule. And after she had a string of cancelled sermons in defiance of Bahamut, Chiron could tell his temper was bubbling to the surface. She had suggested he take some time to meditate and leave Lugia to her. But she was quite surprised at how quickly and precisely Bahamut located Lugia.
... Did they have Connection Orbs back then? Otherwise how would one get out a response in that timeframe if one were on like the other side of Etherium?
Also, that gives serious 'Overbearing Boss' vibes for Bahamut there. Since expectation and that reaction doesn't exactly sound healthy there. 😰
Chiron descended further into a brown valley, trying to push that thought aside. The brooks grew larger, joining together and running into a crescent lake. The familiar shape brought a smile to the lunala's face. She hadn't seen this one before. Perhaps Chiron would ask Bahamut about it later.
Aw, how cute. Bahamut lazored a valley into existence in honor of his missus. I mean, he might've caused some mass death in the process, but it's the thought that counts!
Her smile quickly faded when she found Lugia on the lake's eastern bank, lying in the mud with her tail lazily dangling in the water. Dirt and grime caked her once-pristine, white feathers.
Chiron didn't have time to consider a proper greeting because Lugia locked eyes with her. "Come to lecture me? Then go on." Lugia lazily raised her left wing and flicked it, flinging mud into the water with splashes and brown rings. "Tell me I'm a screw up. A freeloader. Or whatever colorful language Bahamut was using back at his base."
Jade: "I'm Psychic, just like you, Chiron." >v>;
Chiron: "... Right, that's a thing."
The lunala bit her lip. So, Lugia's strategy was guilt tripping. A firm approach wasn't going to work. Chiron would attempt a soft touch, instead. "He's worried about you." She folded her right wing over her chest. "We're all worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately."
Chiron: "I mean, Bahamut might have been expressing that worry in a very loud and angry manner. But he is worried about you." ^^;
Silence. Then a bitter laugh. Lugia rolled on her back, burying herself deeper in the muck. "Ha! Worried about me? That's a good one." She smacked the muddy ground with her right wing. Chiron drifted back to avoid mud splatter.
Chiron clutched the Soul Dew around her neck with her wing claws. It was one thing for Lugia to play hooky, but it was another to belittle Bahamut and his work. Sure, Chiron had only been here a few months, yet it was long enough to conclude the golden dragon truly cared about the world.
Oh, so Bahamut is Yuna's Seymour, huh? Except she actually loved him once upon a time. At least if Exodes is to be believed about her being one and the same as Chiron.
"That attitude isn't helping your case." The lunala's words were firmer. "We are concerned, because this behavior is… unbecoming of someone in your position."
"My behavior?" Lugia sat up. Chiron had gotten through to her. "That is rich!" She scooped up a ball of mud with her right wing and hurled it at Chiron. Rolling her eyes, Chiron teleported to her right, then watched the mud sail into the lake with a brown splash.
So, Lugia wanted to act like a hatchling? Fine then. Chiron could treat her like one. Her third eye flared to life. A purple glow surrounded a squawking Lugia's wings and pinned them to her side.
Not that Jade isn't being a bit childish here, but you should really get to the bottom of what's eating her, Chiron. Since... yeah, the fact that she brought up 'My behavior' in that fashion implies that she's seen something wrong with Bahamut's.
"You have a responsibility to this planet and its people," Chiron exclaimed. "I may not understand all your customs, but I know you were trained to be better this. Do we not teach commoners to talk out their differences? To use words and not claws and fangs?"
She stared Lugia down. The silence lingered long enough for Chiron to wonder if Lugia was opting for the silent treatment.
Oh, so that's how civilization was born on this world, huh?
"… this isn't what I signed up for." Lugia turned away, plopping her head down in the mud. "It's not fair. We speak of things we're not allowed." She put her left wing on her neck. "I wanted to help people, but as the years go by, it feels less like helping and more like sacrificing my life and my freedom!"
Chiron's third eye faded into her forehead. She folded her wings over her torso, unsure what to even make of that. "Explain."
"What does it matter to you?" Lugia swung her tail back and forth, sloshing around more muck. "Our rules don't apply to you. You didn't even bond with your Soul Dew, did you?"
"I… didn't." Chiron traced her folded wing across the gem. She needed to get Lugia to open up more, but she couldn't tell the truth. None of the Sages could know the lunala had fled Eternatus. It was too dangerous. For her and for them.
Well that's totally a healthy dynamic to have for a religion/philosophical system... not.
"You all… have a long apprenticeship period before you accept Bahamut's light, right?" Chiron tightened her wings around her torso. "It doesn't feel right for me to accept such power after only a few months here."
And there's no telling how his light might react with my Malice.
Why do I get the feeling that we're going to find out how on earth that combination went down at some point in the future and it's going to turn out to be something absolutely horrifying?
Lugia laughed at that, however. "Well, congratu-freaking-lations." She flung more mud with her tail. "Then you're free of his control."
Chiron narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"
Lugia sat up. There was a faint rainbow glimmer underneath the layers of mud on her belly. "See this?" She pointed to the glimmer, muck dripping off her outstretched wing digit. "Why do you think you were able to find me so fast? The Soul Dew binds us to Bahamut. So long as I have his light, he'll always know where I am."
I... take it that that last line wasn't from Bahamut there.
"And even if that wasn't the case, Zygarde can keep tabs on everything with that whole 'I can split myself into tiny invisible cells' thing," Lugia continued, thankfully unaware that Chiron had zoned out for a moment.
Oh, so you have a Keeper of Balance in this story too, huh? It'll certainly be interesting to see what s/he's like.
Somehow, Chiron must've opened some sort of floodgate, because Lugia wasn't stopping. "And, y'know, maybe I'd be okay with it… if commoners actually liked what I had to offer. But my sermons have some of the poorest attendance of the Luminous Sages!" She raised her filthy wings and smacked them into the muck. "People just don't get what the Sage of Harmony is. Heck, sometimes I'm not sure what it means."
Are you really surprised that creatures with a fighting nature would find 'Harmony' overrated?
Bits of mud trickled off Lugia's body. Wait, were those tears carrying the mud away?
"I just—" Lugia sniffled loudly. "I gave up my love for this. I gave up the chance for a family for this." She lay back down with an unceremonious splat. "How is it fair that we have to teach about things we're not allowed to have? Especially when Bahamut can have them."
I mean, 'do as I say and not as I do' definitely sounds unhealthy and unsustainable for a belief system / philosophy. Which even before casual RP spoilers elsewhere on the net is more or less a giant klaxon blaring that something is seriously wrong with Bahamut and his entire order in this story.
Chiron relaxed her wings a bit. "Bahamut told me… those things would make it harder to protect the planet." She looked down at her wavy reflection in the lake.
"Didn't your predecessor warn you of this?" "I thought he was overexaggerating!" Lugia threw her wings up and smacked them against her flabby belly. "The rules sounded comically strict. But I guess they don't apply to him, because I've seen the way he looks at you. How you two will sneak off to the mountains in the north or the Armour Archipelago. How you'll cuddle together to the point where you practically melt into one another!"
She pointed her tail at Chiron. "Don't deny it, I've seen it! I didn't even know Bahamut could glow that shade of red!"
I don't see a whole lot that changed between here and the preview version that you shared a while back, but boy is this exchange brutal in context.
The lunala's forehead and ethereal wings reddened. "I… that's…"
Lugia rolled onto her belly and crawled through the mud. She got up to her wings and knees. "I want what you two have with Cece. I want it so, so badly. You have no idea how touch-starved I'm— waugh!"
She slipped off the bank and into the lake with a large splash. Chiron teleported back several meters, watching with a frown as brown expanded around the splash zone and a wet feather odor permeated the air.
... Chiron, I'm pretty sure that this is your sign to tell your hubby to allow Jade to relinquish her duties and go home. Since this isn't exactly going to result in a healthy working environment for anyone.
Her gut tightened. Chiron had always been under the impression that the Sages loved their jobs. She never thought that any of them might've had regrets. Might have—
"He's unsatisfied, is he? Then you'll dispose of him. Permanently."
... Oh, so that's why Chiron bailed from Eternatus.
Rippling water snapped Chiron back to attention. Lugia surfaced, brown water cascading down her wet, dirty feathers. "Who am I kidding?" She sighed. "Maybe if I beg and plead enough, Bahamut will let me find a replacement."
... Guessing that wasn't something that Jade was supposed to blurt out loud, huh?
Lugia blinked. Her cheeks flushed despite the soggy feathers. "Reshiram. His name was Cecil when he was a commoner. He was a hydreigon and I was a salazzle. My apothecary used the courier group he worked for. I met him when he crashed into my shop and… we fell so hard for each other. Then we both got scouted for Sage apprenticeships."
Oh, so that's who those two used to be, though an Apothecary!Salazzle is at once a casting that is really fitting but non-obvious, since the difference between a medicine and a poison is usually just a matter of dosage. That said, I never pictured Cecil once upon a time taking after the Gates!VoL, but you can't say there's not precedent for that depiction. Though turning a Salazzle into a bird just feels cruel and like it'd be an invitation for things to go horribly wrong due to bodily dysphoria. Should've rolled something like a Wingull for that.
She bit her lip. "I… shouldn't tell you this. But the truth is that… Bahamut wanted us to end our personal relationship." Lugia pushed and pulled the water around her with her wings. "I couldn't stand the thought of it. Neither could Cecil. So, right before our christenings, we eloped."
I'm pretty sure that the humane thing to do in that circumstance would've been to flatly reject the two thanks to conflicts of interest if the job really required 'mons who could make good on a Vow of Celibacy. Like it's better to have tears up front over rejection than... well, this.
Chiron's crescent tail twitched. "Does… does Bahamut know?"
"I'm not sure." Lugia stared at her muddled reflection. "But throughout our time as Sages, we've rarely had the opportunity to work together. Sometimes I wonder if he does know, and is punishing me for it."
Narrator: "He totally knew and was punishing her for it."
Chiron's heart sank. A part of her didn't want to believe it. Bahamut was nothing but patient and caring with her since her crash landing. But the things Lugia said reminded her so much of…
She had to do something. She had to make it right.
"… take a week off." Lugia looked up. "Bwuh?"
"Take a week off… to be with Reshiram," Chiron repeated, firmer this time. "I know a nice private grotto by the Crownelands' southeast coast."
More silence. Then, Lugia shot out of the water faster than Chiron thought possible for a massive bird. This time, there was no escaping a surprise shower… or the wet, slimy hug that followed.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lugia buried her head in the crook of Chiron's neck. "I'll make it up to you, I swear!"
"You can… start by… not squeezing… so tight," Chiron wheezed.
The moment Lugia released her, everything went white.
D'aww... I mean, sure you were breaking the rules of your faith left and right right there and teeing up massive issues with "Why does Jade get a pass from the rules but not me?" from the ranks, but it's still cute.
It was times like these that made Chiron wish her wing structure was more flexible like Lugia's. The best she could do while seated in the special chair that Bahamut had carved for her was rigidly have her wings pointed in front of her, so she could gingerly hold the tiny, sleeping star cloud in her claws.
Motherhood. Chiron still found it so surreal because it shouldn't have been possible. Neither she nor Bahamut were meant to procreate. And yet, here she was. With this little bundle of joy that could teleport around and "Pew!" his delight at everyone's confusion.
Well, that's certainly on-the-nose for a name there. Though I see that you're going with the anime's gender map for that species.
Lugia paused in the midst of pulling a grape out of the ceramic bowl in her lap. "Leo?" She blinked. "Huh. I was expecting something more… mystical."
The lunala giggled. "Leo is a constellation of stars from the Milky Way. It was Bahamut's favorite constellation when he lived on Earth." She lifted her head a bit higher to look at the doorway behind Lugia, which was filled with golden light. "Isn't that right, dear?"
Also it means "lion" and Leo there would've become a lion had he developed normally, so...
Rainbow, pupilless eyes looked back at her. "You told me that, in time, he would turn into something resembling a pyroar. And Leo was named for a mythical creature that resembled a pyroar. It seemed logical to me."
Chiron resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course he'd brush that off. Heaven forbid Bahamut admit he liked anything about Earth.
Oh, just spelling it out in the open there. Though, yeah. Helps if you have plausible deniability behind your naming choices that happen to align with your feelings of your once-home that you're in denial about.
"Fair enough." Lugia resumed tossing grapes into her mouth. "So, why'd you call me here?"
"I have a request for you." Chiron leaned over and nuzzled Leo, who cooed happily in his sleep. "We would like you and Reshiram to be Leo's aunt and uncle, in a manner of speaking. Help us raise him and, if something were to happen to both of us, parent him in our stead."
Well, I suppose that explains the egg with Jade there last chapter.
Lugia's eyes widened. She misjudged the arc of her grape toss and it bounced off the tip of her snout. A psychic force caught the grape before it could hit the floor, then threw it out an open window.
"I just cleaned these floors," Bahamut growled. The light behind Lugia rippled.
"S-Sorry." Lugia grinned sheepishly. "But, like, are you sure about that? I mean—"
"… tch. You're the one who bemoaned your inability to have a family," Bahamut cut in. The gold light in the doorway dimmed. "Consider it a… concession, on my part."
... Oh, so Chiron did sweettalk Bahamut into cutting Jade a break. Color me impressed there.
Chiron frowned at him. They had discussed how they were going to explain things, but Bahamut decided to go off script. "What he means to say is that you're my friend, Lugia. I know how much family means to you, so I want you to be part of Leo's life."
In a blink of light, Bahamut was at Lugia's side. She almost tossed the bowl of grapes up in surprise when his gold light spilled over her. "But make no mistake. Your responsibilities as Sage of Harmony still come first." He pointed his right upper wing at her. "We are trusting you because we believe in you. Understand?"
Chiron: "Dear, we talked about this." >_>;
Bahamut: "Look, as long as she wields my power, I'm allowed to set some ground rules, alright?" >:|
"Y-Yessir!" Lugia saluted with her right wing. "I'll be the best, least-embarrassing fake aunt in the world."
While Chiron giggled again, a groaning Bahamut smacked his face with an upper wing. His golden glow brightened even further, and everything faded to white.
Yuna's vision came back to her quicker than her previous dreams. Though she wanted to fester over why she saw two this time, the soft feathers and scales brushing against her ectoplasm calmed her nerves.
What had she been doing again?
… Oh, right. Qliphoth. Poison swamp. Reshiram flying off the handle because his wife, Lugia, was trapped in some daemonic barrier with an egg. Then she freed Lugia.
Jade: "You know, if you would just open your eyes for five seconds-" >v>;
Yuna: "Nrgh... I meant it about the five more minutes..."
When Yuna blinked the last stars from her vision, however, she found herself clutching the egg Lugia previously held and staring at a blue belly with pink flame patterns that immediately brought salazzle to mind.
But salazzle don't have feathers.
Then Lugia's head popped in, only there were flame marks on the blue spikes that were supposed to surround her eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Lugia tossed Yuna into the air and flared out her wings. "Why are we yelling?! Is that how this planet thanks people who save its inhabitants from plummeting out of the sky?"
I see that Yuna does not take well to seeing fusions in the flesh.
Yuna steadied herself in midair, making sure she held onto the egg, and looked in abject horror at the scaly flaps fluttering on either side of Lugia's tail.
This was wrong. Very, very wrong. And yet, Lugia seemed blissfully unaware, tilting her head at Yuna. "Although, I guess you broke me out of that crazy nightmare I was in." She gave a thumbs up. "So, I suppose we're even, Drakloak."
"But I— wait, drakloak?!" Yuna looked around in a panic. She soon found her elongated tail and two nubby feet that hadn't been there before. "Ohmygod I'm a drakloak!" Yuna pressed her hands — there were little ridges in her ectoplasm denoting the beginnings of fingers — firmly against the egg. "When? How? Why?"
Jade: "... Shouldn't you be over the moon that you have more options for attacking than being someone else's living missile right about now?"
Yuna: "Not like this!" O.O
"Thine efforts in dispelling that foul barrier did the trick, Princess."
Rayquaza drifted down to Yuna's side, applauding with his tiny hands. Lugia looked at him, eyes sparkling. "Oh, wow! A chocolate noodle! And it talks!" Her tail wagged. "Is this a chocolate planet? Can I eat the ground?" She bent over and sniffed the mud, only to recoil. "Nope. Definitely not chocolate. Bummer."
Yuna: "... Rayquaza?! How are you just okay with this?!"
"Lugia? Rayquaza?" She frowned. "I think you're mistaken, choco-noodle." Lugia pointed her right wing at Rayquaza. "Rayquaza's green and I only just got scouted to apprentice Lugia. The name's Jade and I… I…" Her eyes slowly widened.
Yuna's shoulders sagged further. She'd seen this routine before. Cue the freakout in three… two… one…
Jade flailed her wings about. "Why do I have wings?! Salazzle don't have wings!" She ran— well, waddled awkwardly back and forth in a panic. "And why are they white? What happened to my gray sca— ack!"
... Didn't see that one coming. Though can't tell if that's a side effect of the Qliphoth such that Jade has memory loss or if that's from Exodes' tampering.
She slipped on a patch of mud and faceplanted into the muck. Jade quickly lifted herself up and looked at her muddy wing, blinking rapidly. "Well, that's a slight improvement. But I can't take mud baths forever! It'll ruin my complexion!"
All Yuna could do was stare at the… lugia? Salazzle?
"Salugia?"
Reshiram! Yuna winced. This entire time, she'd forgotten about him. He wasn't even lurking in her mind. Though once Yuna recalled what had happened before the barrier went down, a mixture of guilt and trepidation crept through her.
... Not sure how Jade is going to react to that last line there, but guess we'll find out really, really fast.
They stood staring silently for a moment. Then Jade flung herself at Reshiram, wrapping her wings around his torso and burying her face in his chest ruff. "Oh em gee, look how big and fluffy you are!" She rubbed her face while Reshiram raised his wings, face and tail engine turning deep red.
"J… Jady?" His eyes darted around in a panic.
"Ah, if I died and wound up in marshmallow hell, then I accept my fate!" she chirped.
"Hang on." Reshiram squirmed a bit. "Ma… ybe we oughta… have a chat first?"
Yuna was conflicted whether to intervene or not. It sounded like Jade didn't have her memories of her time as Lugia which, if true, would make explaining things much harder.
... Considering how Jade's time as a sage went, I'm not sure her having her memories would be easier here.
She was about to fly down when she caught a glimpse of a silver streak. Then she heard hollers in the distance. Yuna saw Nikki hightailing it away from the capsized ship with Artemis in hot pursuit. A silver geyser had erupted from atop the ship, splattering silver fluid everywhere.
"Princess, look! The poison in the swamp is disappearing!"
Yuna glanced behind her, trying to ignore Jade somehow overpowering Reshiram and belly flopping into the mud with him. The glowing purple fluid in the swamp dissolved away, leaving dark green water. Pink lily pads and gray reeds popped out of the water as if the poison was smothering them. It still stunk, but it was closer to mildew than rotten eggs.
Huh. So Polaris' antivenom actually did work there. I'll be.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just the poisonous veil that lifted. Dozens of pained cries rang out in unison. Yuna's tail crinkled. She tightened her grip on the egg.
Ah… the skorps! The drakloak looked around and found their burnt, mangled bodies in a cluster by a small hole in the ground. Probably the spot where the broken Needle was.
Cecil: "I'm... just gonna take my leave and go on a nice flight far, far away from the mutant Skorupi wailing in pain right about now-"
And Yuna wasn't the only one aware of the skorps' cries. A thunderous bang sounded by the silver geyser. Within a matter of seconds, a large pink sphere surged toward her, until it slammed into the ground right by Jade and Reshiram. The force sent both tumbling through the mud and into the swamp behind them.
The pink sphere faded to a more modest glow, revealing Gene. Gone was his usual, lackadaisical smirk. In its place was an intense glare with eyes that were blue and hollow. The Malice Crystal in his shoulder crackled with black electricity.
He turned and took one look at the skorps. "Who did this?"
Jade: "Okay, seriously, Cece. What is going on right now?" OvO;
Yuna's ectoplasm quivered. His voice had dropped several octaves to a chilling baritone. The sort of guttural growl Yuna might expect from an enraged salamence.
Gene raised his right hand. All three fingers crackled with dark energy. "Who did this?"
Yuna: "... Boy what I'd give for Noctum to show up with that freaky warping ability he has right about now."
Yuna almost lost her grip on the egg, but curled her tail around it. "Reshiram! I'm sorry, I couldn't control him! His wife was hurt and—"
"Silence," Gene hissed. Yuna squeaked. The mewtwo lowered his arm and turned to the skorps. He raised both arms, then shot out short bursts of soft, pink light. They washed over the skorps, taking their burns with them.
"Heal Pulse?" Rayquaza gasped. "This entire time, he's known Heal Pulse?"
Maternal instincts in action there, I see. And yeah, chalk this up as another notch that makes me
at Gene, since... yeah, not a fan of how he seemingly jerks around everyone he comes into contact with about who he is, what his goals are, and the like.
Gene lowered his arms, then Phantom Warped past Yuna. He thrust his right arm into the air. The swamp water rippled and out popped a soggy Reshiram with a pink glow around him.
"How dare you," Gene snarled. "They were innocents. You had no right to attack them."
Reshiram went bug-eyed. "Wait! Th… this is all a misunderstanding! Please, I—"
Cecil: "Boy would now be a good time to be a Hydreiram..."
Gene: "I know Aura Sphere, you worthless waste of air!"
Cecil: "... Okay, never mind. I was just screwed no matter what. Uh... Y-Yuna? That Soul Dew would work on me getting me out of here right about now r-right?"
Dark energy crackled around Gene's left arm. It was time for Yuna to take action. She darted toward the mewtwo. "Hang on! We need to talk this out before anyone does anything else rash!"
Glare intensifying, Gene raised his left hand. "… weapons don't talk. They act."
Staring down some sort of Malice-induced attack, Yuna held up the egg. Black shadows brushed her arms and tail. "We are not your enemies. Stand down. Now."
I mean, not that what Cecil did last chapter wasn't incredibly messed up, but you'd think that having saved the Skorps from daemonization would be grounds enough to let Yuna just recall him and sort him out on her own later, Gene.
The glow in Gene's eyes faded. There was a flicker of recognition, then he hastily stepped back, lowering both hands. A loud splash drew a flinch from Yuna. She turned around to find Jade climbing into the grass and Reshiram surfacing after a second splashdown. His wet hair obscured his face, but Yuna swore he was trembling.
"Yeah."
Yuna barely heard Gene's whispers. She looked back at the mewtwo, who crossed his arms tight. His black, yellow-tipped tail lashed at the air. "I guess… there's a lot to talk about." Gene blinked slowly. "In more ways than one."
Cecil: "N-No there's not! We were just leaving right now-!" O_O;
Gene: "Nice try, buddy. But if you're expecting us to share screentime in the future, you're definitely not just gonna sweep that one under the rug!" >:|
Yuna: "Uh, yeah, honestly that was really, really messed up, Reshiram." >_>;
Cecil: "... C-Can't we not do this in front of my wife? P-Please?"
He turned away from her just as Noctum dropped off Quetzal a few meters away. Seifer, Nikki, Valkyrie, and Artemis weren't far behind him.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Skorp hopped off Noctum's back and skittered toward the other skorps. "You're all okay, eh! You had me worried plum sick!"
"Princess!" Noctum's violet flame grew, then shrank. He was covered in silver fluid from head to toe. "Are you okay? What's with the egg?" He shook his head. "No, wait, dumb questions. Look at you!" He thrust his arms apart. "Congratulations!"
Nikki lacked Noctum's enthusiasm. "That's your evolution?" She tried forming a square with her hands. "Dunno what's up with the spacy egg, but I could eat a fancy dinner with a side salad off that block you call a head!"
Yuna: "... Can we kick her back to Vegna right about now? I don't need to deal with this." >_>;
"Hey, come on, show her some respect." Artemis jabbed Nikki's side with a ribbon. "Those spikes on your head look like PV antennae, but you don't see me teasing you over it."
Nikki scowled. "Well, they're cool antennae," she grumbled.
Yuna ignored Nikki. Though as much as drakloak wanted to accept Noctum's hug offer, she took one look at his soggy apron and frowned. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, this? It's okay." Noctum waved her off. "We were under attack from a mutated garbodor, but Gene blew the top off the ship and tossed Exodes into a vat of antitoxin."
"Which blew her up along with the tank," Seifer grumbled, trying to shake the silver out of his sopping hair. "Garbodor turned back to normal."
On one level, I get that you've kinda gotten burnt out on battle sequences, but this really would've been something that would've been nice to see in at least a couple of short cuts showing at least snippets of this happening.
Oh well, authorial fiat and all that.
"So did the swamps." Valkyrie scanned the water surrounding the island. "Somehow."
"Yeah, sure. Just look at me!" Seifer lowered his head. "I've never been so humiliated."
Valkyrie: "Are you seriously comparing this unfavorably to how you came into the Qliphoth and promptly got your horn messed up?" >:|
Seifer: "Look, at least I wasn't covered in this nasty goop for that!" >.<
"Really?" Gene spun around, a brow raised. "You'd think losing your cushy military job is way more humiliating than a little antitoxin bath."
Quetzal puffed out his feathers. "What?" He whirled on Seifer. "Her Eminence fired you?!"
Utter horror spread across Seifer's face. "I, uh—"
Are you seriously asking that when this is the same 'mon actively blackmailing you right now?
"Doth we tell her about the outburst we just witnessed?" Rayquaza whispered. "Tis worrying how quickly he snapped back to his joking self."
No. Yuna already had enough of a headache. Plus there was something… alarming about how the mewtwo reacted to the brief flare up of her weird shadowy powers. Or was it the egg's doing?
... Wait a minute, so that weapon comment earlier was directed at Yuna? I mean, it would be fitting from a FF perspective considering how the term 'Chiron' is used in that series, but I didn't pick up on that until just now.
"Well, aha ha, how about this, gang?" Gene wrang his hands together. "We get all the skorps and trapped crew members squared away, then we can have us a big ol' team talky fun time." The big smile on his face was anything but sincere. "I'll make us a campfire… oh! And we can have s'mores!"
I do not trust this 'mon. I am not convinced at all that's how he truly feels at the moment after he was like 10 seconds away from brutally murdering Cecil like two minutes ago.
"S'mores!" Jade hopped in front of Gene. "Where do I sign? I'll take ten! No, twenty! No, thirty!"
"Whoa, whoa, time out." Nikki held her hands up in a T. "Who's the oversized pelipper with the bad salazzle costume?"
"Hey!" Reshiram snorted out dragonfire. "That's my wife you're talking about!"
Yuna: "Reshiram, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say that out loud." >.<
Whistling, the toxtricity looked back and forth between Jade and Reshiram. "Damn, dude. What's your secret? Cuz she's way outside your league if you ask me!"
Reshiram's response was a cross between a squeal and a balloon forcibly deflating.
I'd say "be tough and imposing when you're first dating", but I'm not convinced that Cecil wasn't also a giant dork as a Hydreigon back in the day.
Yuna groaned. "Look, can we just do what Gene says for now? I'm tired. I want out of this swamp. And standing around taking pot-shots isn't going to…" Her voice trailed off upon realizing half the group wasn't listening to her. "Seriously, guys?!"
Noctum's face was ripe with worry. Yuna didn't have to ask what the problem was, because the black charizard spoke up first.
Noctum: "But Princess Yuna, you were literally curled up on it and-"
Yuna: "That doesn't mean anything, okay?!" >_>;
"I was?" Jade pointed at her face. "Huh. Maybe that's why it showed up in my nightmare." She tapped her tail against her right hip repeatedly. "No idea what its deal is, though. Besides, it's clearly reacting to you, not me. Look at it glowing all white like my beau's new, fuzzy pelt!"
Reshiram squeaked again while white light crept into Yuna's vision. A white glow had, indeed, swallowed up the egg… and was creeping up Yuna's arms. Out of an abundance of caution, the drakloak set the egg down on the grass.
Four small, gold-tipped, dark blue hooves emerged from the light. The deep blue spread upward to a slender neck, then a head with a long, wispy mane resembling a starry sky. Then the rest of the light faded to reveal a dark blue torso with faint a faint red glow in the middle and tiny, blue dots. Almost like a miniature solar system. It had a small tail that, like its mane, ended in a wispy star cloud.
... Wait, what on earth am I looking at here? Since I'm pretty sure that this isn't a canonical 'mon design.
Yuna stared at her reflection in the weird, yellow wheel around the hatchling's torso. It didn't take long, however, for the hatchling to open its blue and yellow eyes on its black, mouthless face.
"Hi, Mom!" he chirped. His star cloud tail wagged.
"M-Mom?!" Yuna's arms trembled. "N-No, I think you're mistaken."
"You hatched me, though." The cosmic… pontya-like thingy tilted his head. "So, you're my mom!" He wagged his tail his tail again. How was a literal newborn so articulate? "Do I get a name? Huh? Huh? Huh? Do I?"
I mean, I figured from the color scheme, but I have so many questions as to how on earth he became... this. Unless if this is what Leo was originally made from as a host in the same way that Jade was fashioned from a Salazzle.
Yuna's head pounded. She opened her mouth to respond, but her vision went fuzzy and, next thing she knew, she was out like a light.
Yuna: "..." X_X
Leo: "... Uh...? Mom? Are you okay?" .-.
~Il Paradigma, Canto I: Exodes~ The Matriarch brought forth the Great Union when Space embraced Time and forged the singularity. Though the Union shattered, the Matriarch ensured remnants of that eternal bliss survived as our Benefactor. Now He seeks to restore the Matriarch's Great Union. Only those who fail to grasp His enlightenment would oppose such a glorious vision.
>Great Union of space and time
>that one trippy vision scene in the Ahsen sequence had the timespace dragons and Lake Fairies gathered trapped by a Red Chain
>... as a Giratina descended on them
>Yuna has been very consistently wielding Giratina's powers
... I might be going crazy, but is Yuna the Matriarch? The same one who's being spoken of there in that entry? I mean, I don't know how I'd reconcile it with being Chiron and her present status, but... .-.
Also:
>opens the Leo artwork
... Okay, that helps a lot for visualizing him. I... didn't pick up on the Arceus features at all from the description. I blame it on missing the mention of the wheel at first.
Alright, trying to organize my thoughts for the postmortem since my head is still spinning:
I had quite a bit of fun with the chapter, it's nice to have another Sage added to the roster, Yuna getting to celebrate Mother's Day in a certain manner of speaking, and it felt that we learned a lot about the characters this chapter. Some of it cute, some of it really, really concerning. And I'm still trying to wrap my head full around some of the implications of what just got dropped this chapter at the moment. One thing's for sure, no matter what becomes of Venish, things really aren't going back to the way they are after this. It's literally impossible from multiple definitions of the term.
As for things that I was less a fan of. I know you've nailed your colors to the mast for short chapters with a cut-down amount of battle sequences, though the way that Exodes was handled honestly did smack to me of being a bit anticlimactic when something as simple as as a couple short cuts doing things like showing Exodes catching up and then a couple blows being traded before dealing with her feels like it would've been a bit more exciting to see while what we got was very "tell and not show". But eh, you've made your feelings clear on that front, so I won't harp on too much about it.
Though all-in-all, I really enjoyed this chapter @Ambyssin , and I'm eagerly awaiting the mess that awaits the gang back in Venish. Since from what you've shown off in teasers, the gang isn't out of the woods yet by a long shot.
Entry 3
Still nothing but stars. They glow like me. They're warm like me. But they don't move. Don't talk.
Why am I here? What's my purpose?
Entry 11
Found a big planet today. It's warm and dusty, but I don't sense anyone on it. I guess I'll rest up here for a while. There's still plenty to explore! :)
Entry 20
Finally reached a planet with life. My mind's already racing with possibilities. What do they look like? How do they talk? What sorts of things can they do? Ooh, the anticipation is killing me! This is it. I'm going to have a home! With friends! :D
Entry 21
No no no no no no no no
Entry 22
The city. Gone. I did that. It was just one attack. One energy ball. But now it's
Entry 48
I don't feel as sad today. :)
Entry 141
Another failure. My wings still hurt from all the Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls. I was only trying to help them. I'm only ever trying to help.
Why do they all hate me? Why can't I just find a home? What does the universe have against me? ;–;
Entry 207
I slept in a star again. It's the closest thing I've got to something soothing. Luckily my body protects this thing. I'd hate for you to go up in flames, journal. You're all I've got against this awful universe.
XxX
Yuna came to on a cot. The fabric was rough against her ectoplasm. Almost sandpaper-like. So was the blanket on top of her, though she appreciated how dry it was compared to the swamp's humidity. Groaning, the drakloak rolled over and stared at the gray, metal ceiling with long, slender bulbs giving off red-orange light.
"How are you feeling, Princess?"
When Yuna sat up, she found Noctum sitting on a metal folding chair, his tail awkwardly wedged into the gap in the back. His scales were damp but no longer covered in the silver antitoxin. The black charizard must've discarded his apron, because the Malice Crystal was clearly visible in his stomach, bathing his corner of the room in purple.
"I've been better." Yuna rubbed her eyes with her arm. "But I guess I've also been worse."
Upon lowering her arm, Yuna found Leo lying at the foot of the cot. His blue-yellow eyes sparkled. "That was a fun trick!" His starcloud tail wagged. "Can you teach me to play dead, too, Mom?"
So, her tired mind wasn't playing a trick on her. The egg hatched into… some sort of cosmic ponyta thingy with a wheel around its stomach. And, not only did he share the name of a son that Bahamut apparently had, despite Aeon scriptures mentioning nothing about him, but he thought Yuna was his mother.
It might have been cute… if there weren't terrifying implications behind it.
"Leo…" Yuna wrung her hands together. "Why are you calling me your mom? I, um—" The drakloak wasn't sure how to phrase it delicately. "I've never laid an egg or anything."
That didn't bother Leo. If anything, it only piqued his curiosity. "You can make eggs? Does that mean you can make eatable eggs?" He hopped to his feet. "Because I don't know what an omelet is, but I want one!"
Not the response I was expecting. Yuna resisted the urge to facepalm. Articulate or not, Leo was a kid. Which just makes all the knowledge he does have disturbing.
The cosmic not-ponyta had climbed onto Yuna's lap. Her Soul Dew's silver reflected in his bright eyes. "Um, is something the matter?" Yuna asked.
"No." Despite the lack of a mouth, Leo sounded content. He pointed a gold-tipped forehoof at the Soul Dew. "I don't know what that is, but that's what makes you my mom."
Yuna looked down, then at Noctum, who silently shrugged. She also realized Jade was sitting next to him. Well, she used "sitting" loosely, as the salugia was more awkwardly propping her butt against the wall.
She brushed that aside, however, as the drakloak's mental gears hummed to life. Yuna wanted to dismiss Exodes' words as inane blathering, but the visions she had went against that. Especially that last one.
Chiron had once lived within Eternatus. She had Malice in her aura. The lunala hadn't bonded with her Soul Dew, yet she kept it on her person. And Reshiram had told her Soul Dews absorbed the knowledge and energy of their wearers over time.
So, what if… her family heirloom was actually Chiron's Soul Dew? And that was somehow tricking these daemons into thinking she was Chiron?
Yes, that was it. Yuna's mom gave her the Soul Dew when she was young… and the drakloak spent a lot of her youth in a sickly state. It had to be the Soul Dew's doing, right?
But I could take it off back then and I can't now.
"Mom?"
"Eep!" The drakloak's tail crinkled.
Leo giggled. "Ooh, your tail went all vr-r-r-r-r-r!" He vibrated in place excitedly. "Do it again!"
Yuna's tail straightened out, but rather than crinkling, she curled it up like a seashell. That still got a delight squeal from Leo, who awkwardly sat on his rump while trying to curl himself up. His wheel got in the way.
"I… whoomph… hang on! I'll get it for sure!" He was nothing if not determined.
It was a cute sight. Yuna raised a hand and giggled into it. Even though she had panicked in the moment — and still didn't understand exactly where Leo's confusion came from — she couldn't just crush the kid's spirit by not playing along.
That said, Eternatus was no place for a hatchling to run around. If Yuna was going to parent Leo, she needed to at least get him out of here. And though the drakloak could open up a portal back to Venish here and now, there were loose ends that needed tightening up. Starting with…
"Jade?" Yuna looked at the salugia.
"Present!" She held up her right wing, then fell over on her right side with a squawk. Fortunately, her head just missed the metal file cabinet. "I'm okay."
"Um, did anyone talk to you while—"
"While you were off in Lala Land? Yup!" Jade awkwardly rolled onto her belly, nodding vigorously. "Your entourage filled me in on all the deets. I was Lugia. I sacrificed myself to seal away some big, scary monster thing. Yadda yadda." The salugia lazily twirled her right wing around. "Fast forward to now where you're the only one with the power to properly free the other Sages which should definitely probably maybe stop Eterwhatever."
She beamed at Noctum. "How was that?"
The black charizard offered a shaky thumbs up.
Jade fist pumped. "Nailed it."
"I see." Yuna blinked slowly. The fact that Exodes must've broken Jade's Needle meant at least part of the salugia's explanation was false, but the drakloak wasn't in the mood for debating that part. "And, um, do you have any questions?"
"Only one."
"Go on."
The salugia hopped to her feet. "When do I get to help you kick some Ejerknatus butt, huh? Whoo-cha! Hiya!" Jade chopped the air around her with her wings. "Hoo-h—"
She slapped the file cabinet on her right and yanked her throbbing wing back. "Ow!" Jade tucked her right wing against her belly, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "Who puts a file cabinet in a bedroom?! I demand to speak with the manager!"
Leo tapped his forehooves together, giggling. "I like her. She's funny."
And a terrible influence, Yuna realized. Though there was something more concerning than Jade's… reckless enthusiasm. "Hey, shouldn't you have been sucked into the Soul Dew when I passed out?"
"Huh?" Jade looked up from nursing her wing. "You mean like it did to Cece?" She squinted at the Soul Dew. "I dunno what that fancy neck Roomba's deal is, but it doesn't speak to me or anything."
That wasn't good. The Sages were all dead, right? Yuna needed them in the Soul Dew or else they wouldn't be able to leave Eternatus with her. And the drakloak shuddered at the thought of leaving Jade back here with the likes of Gene.
"I'm guessing the fact that her appearance has been distorted has something to do with it," Noctum said, nervously tracing a black claw along his cream-colored belly. "Cyril said Malice can… warp auras in ways we hardly understand. I wouldn't be surprised if Exodes siphoning her power made her incompatible with your Soul Dew."
It was as good a theory as any, though it made Yuna guilty she hadn't gotten to Jade sooner. And what was she going to tell Reshiram?
Actually, wait, where is he? The drakloak didn't sense his presence around. Or Rayquaza's either.
But as she thought about them, a small switch showed up in her mind's eye. When Yuna probed it, a tiny, flailing Reshiram projected onto her shoulder.
"—isn't she listening to me? I need to—"
Yuna flicked the mental switch again and Reshiram disappeared.
"Ooh, cool trick!" Leo clapped his hooves together. "You made Mr. Fluffy poof away!"
Yuna looked down at her Soul Dew, then up at Noctum. "You saw that, right?"
"I did." The charizard nodded.
"I did, too!" Jade hopped beside Yuna's cot. "Cece was so adorable! I could've eaten him up." The salugia smooched the air.
But Yuna had no idea how she'd done that. Or even why.
Unless… did evolving give me better control over this thing? Yuna traced her hand around the Soul Dew. She shook her head. One thing at a time. She had to take care of Jade first. "So, um, you really want to help me?" Yuna whispered.
"Absolutely!" Jade stepped up and threw her left wing over the squeaking drakloak. "You got me out of that nightmare, Yunie! We're BFFFs, now! Or B-Triple-Fs, if you prefer."
"BFFFs?"
"Bestest flying friends forever!" Jade chirped. "I got your back, sister! Ain't no Ejerknatus gonna rain on our parade! Ya feel me?" She made a fist with her left wing and held it in front of Yuna, who looked at it like it was a questionable piece of broccoli. "Psst! This is the part where we fist bump," Jade whispered.
"Oh. S-Sorry." Yuna shakily bumped Jade's wing with her balled up hand.
"Nice!" Jade backed away. Yuna continued staring at her hand like someone had dunked it into a goodra's belly slime. "We'll have to come up with a secret handshake sometime. Maybe something like…" She raised both her wings and lightly punched the air. "Bump, bump!" Jade nuzzled the air. "Sugar!"
She was about to turn around and lift her tail when Yuna decided she'd had enough. "Okay!" The drakloak shot out of the cot. "I think we get the idea."
The salugia blinked a few times. "Oh, doy!" She facepalmed. "Can't be a secret with Nocty and Junior in the room. Good thinking!"
"Yes, fine, whatever." Yuna rubbed her temples. "How about you take Leo and, uh, brainstorm some more secret handshake ideas."
Leo tilted his head in confusion. Tail crinkling slightly, Yuna looked at him. "I need to have an, uh, private conversation with Noctum. So, go hang with Jade, okay?"
"Okay!" Leo nodded vigorously. To Yuna's complete befuddlement, he vanished in a flash of blue light. Surprised squawking turned Yuna around where she found Leo standing upside down on Jade's left wing. "How's this? Am I hanging good?"
He can teleport. Because of course. Yuna wanted to panic. A child was bad enough. But one that could disappear at a moment's notice? If not for her own rift-making abilities, that would have been a huge problem!
"It's, uh, great." The drakloak fought to stave off nervous laughter. "Keep hanging like that. And I'll catch up with you soon."
Jade hesitantly shuffled toward a black door. It slid open, offering a peek at a much larger room. Somehow, Leo remained on Jade's wing the entire time. Once the door slid closed again, Yuna collapsed back on her cot, groaning. Her ectoplasm deflated. She'd have melted into the cot's rough fabric if Noctum wasn't there.
"Something on your mind?" The charizard sounded hesitant. The tapping of claws rang in Yuna's ear frills.
"Everything's on my mind!" Yuna threw her arms up in frustration. "I've never wanted to scream so badly in my life."
"I see." Noctum's chair scraped against the floor. "Want me to find a pillow you can scream into?"
Yuna sighed. Bless Noctum for trying to cheer her up. "No." She lifted her head. "You wouldn't lie to me, right?"
"N-No." Noctum was struggling not to look offended.
"So, if I were to ask you if I'm actually adopted?"
The charizard's tail flame sparked. "Of course you aren't!"
Noctum shifted uneasily in his chair. "You know as well I that… your mother laid a bad egg alongside yours," he whispered.
"And that's the truth?"
That one hurt him. "Where is this coming from?"
Yuna hoped to stall longer to figure out a good way to explain everything, but she'd run out of time. So, the drakloak looped Noctum in on everything; Reshiram's lies, his outburst, and the visions she got from breaking Jade's barrier.
"I see." Noctum hunched over, tapping the Malice Crystal in his belly. "That's definitely a lot to take in."
"And, like, I'd have been willing to dismiss the stuff in the frozen desert as a coincidence, but now… I'm not so sure." Yuna shook her head. "I could've seen there being other light dragons, but I saw Bahamut in that vision. He was… not all that warm. Or patient. It was brief… but his attitude felt closer to the monster Razim described."
A shudder rippled from the drakloak's head to her tail. "The Sage of Truth lied to everyone, including Bahamut. And that stuff about the greater good… doesn't line up with our scriptures at all. The Sages taught us not to leave people behind, yet Reshiram was ready to sacrifice all those skorps without even a bit of hesitation." Yuna gripped her head and shook it. She sat at the edge of the cot, staring at the steel floor below her.
"What if we're wrong?" she whispered. "About the Sages. About Bahamut." Yuna shuddered. "What if… the whole kingdom was founded on a bed of lies?"
Noctum's initial silence spoke volumes. A rock might as well have dropped in Yuna's stomach at that point.
"I, uh, think it's a bit too early to jump to any rash conclusions?" Noctum rubbed the back of his head.
That didn't convince Yuna. "None of the scriptures mention Bahamut having a wife and a child. A wife whose Soul Dew my family somehow got, which means something serious happened in the past."
Her expression sharpened. "'A lie by omission is still a lie.' That's one of Reshiram's proverbs."
"You got me there," Noctum said, tail flame shrinking. He wriggled his butt until his tail was free from the back of the folding chair, then stood up. "But what does that really change?"
Noctum shook his head. "Sorry, I should've been clearer. What does that change about this moment?" He pointed to the steel floor. "Eternatus is still a threat to our home, right? And the way to protect it goes through the Needles."
He was right. And Yuna hated he was right. "Uggggh." She flopped back on the bed, kicking up her nubby feet and her tail. "I knoooooow. But I don't want to pull any more Needles." Yuna smooshed her hands against her eyelids. "I'm… afraid of what I'll see."
A scaly hand brushed Yuna's head. She poked an eye open to find Noctum sitting on her right, holding his tail up with his right hand.
"I'm afraid for you," he said. "Your mom and dad sent me with you to help keep you safe. But time and again, I'm letting you down. Letting them down."
"No." Yuna sat up and put her right hand on his left shoulder. "None of this is your fault. There's a lot going on here that's out of our control." It frustrated her, but Yuna was glad to finally say it out loud. "I know pulling the Needles is the right thing to do. I just hate that it comes with personal consequences."
Her shoulders sagged. Yuna's hand slipped off Noctum's shoulder and dropped to the coarse, itchy cot. "Does that make me selfish?"
"I think… it makes you a pokémon." Soft laughter rumbled from Noctum's belly.
Yuna relaxed a bit, adding a chuckle of her own.
"And, hey, it could be worse." Noctum shrugged. "Pulling the Needles could make you vanish. Like the hero in Shaymin the Wanderer: Sky Explorers." He gently elbowed Yuna's side. "You remember how I'd read it to you, like, once or twice a year when you were cooped up in bed?"
"And somehow it never got stale." Yuna's mind drifted back to those simpler times. Lying on her feathery bed while Noctum sat in a carved rocking chair with the leatherbound book resting on his lap.
"Well, you certainly liked it more than its sequel." Noctum chuckled to himself. "You'd always complain it was too boring."
Yuna puffed her cheeks out. "You weren't much better! Sometimes you'd fall asleep in the middle of reading it." She shook her head. "Besides, I've come to appreciate Gates of Eternity. Maybe the overall narrative isn't as gripping, but it has excellent character moments."
"Fair enough. You must've grown to like it, since you got me that limited-edition Gates of Eternity stamp set." Smiling, Noctum stuck his tongue out at Yuna.
It was a welcome reprieve, but one that sadly had to come to end.
Sighing, Yuna floated up. "Thanks, Noctum. But I need a minute alone with the Sages, okay?"
Noctum got to his feet, nodding. "Of course, Princess. I'll wait right outside." He headed for the door, which slid open to let him out.
Yuna flicked that mental switch again. This time, small projections of Reshiram and Rayquaza shot out onto the top of the file cabinet. The drakloak put on as firm of an expression as she could manage. Reshiram immediately withered.
"I see thou hast figured out a way to pause our connection." Rayquaza bobbed his black head approvingly. "Smashing job, Princess."
"Save it." Yuna flinched at her own voice. Rayquaza wasn't the one to be harsh with. She looked at Reshiram. "Well? Anything you want to say?"
"I'm… sorry?" Reshiram pecked at the top of the file cabinet like someone had spread birdseed on it. "That outburst was… wrong. And it won't happen again."
Yuna stared in disbelief. He sounded like Yuna had caught him with a wing in a cookie jar! This was way more serious! "You hurt people in a blind rage. I can't just brush that aside." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And you went against the very principles you used to teach."
Reshiram flinched. "I, uh— c-c'mon, my wife was captured…" He poked his claws together nervously. "I was desperate." He frowned at her. "What if… it was Noctum in that barrier? What would you have done, huh?"
She hadn't expected that one, but Yuna couldn't back down. "I wouldn't torch a bunch of hostages!" The drakloak loomed over Reshiram's tiny projection. "And maybe I could move on from this… but there was that cold thing you said about sacrificing for the greater good.
"We don't talk like that in the Aeon Kingdom," she continued. "And we built ourselves around your teachings." Yuna dangled her hand over Reshiram, like she was going to squish him. "Clearly we have different views on who Bahamut was as a person. So, tell me what you know."
Reshiram looked nervously at Rayquaza who, in turn, stared at the red-tipped fins on his tail. "Sir Bahamut… was a complicated individual. I believe he meant well… however he doth possessed a frightening temper. One that reared its head… more than we liketh to admit."
Yuna's throat tightened. That was the very thing she didn't want to hear.
"He was always worried something was going to ruin the planet," Reshiram whispered. "It made him… a bit of a control freak. Life around the planet needed to go exactly the way he wanted it to." He turned away from Yuna and Rayquaza. "One time… I think I found, like, a journal of his? It had his eight-pointed star on the cover, but it also had a bunch of circles and triangles in some weird pattern.
"I took a peek. There were a lot of poems. Weird things I didn't understand." Reshiram wrapped himself up with his wings. "Some of his entries, though… gave me the sense he was a worryingly lonely person before Etherium. It was almost like…" He lowered his head. "Like he viewed the planet as his last chance to find a home."
Much as Yuna didn't want to believe Reshiram, it explained a few things. Why the scriptures described Bahamut as a traveler before he created Etherium. And Chiron mentioned Bahamut living on some planet called Earth, which he apparently disliked. Bad experiences on other, life-bearing planets could certainly make someone lonely. Lonely and bitter.
But why did this have to come up now, while the world was facing a crisis? The visions made pulling the Needles tough enough. Yuna didn't think she had the mental fortitude to fight off constant festering doubts. Like…
Yuna squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't look the Sages in the eye for this one. "Did… did you know about Chiron? That she was part of Eternatus?"
The drakloak kept her eyes shut, silently praying they knew and were okay with it.
"I always had a hunch she was hiding something, but I never knew what," Reshiram responded.
Yuna winced. What about Bahamut, then?
She couldn't help but flip that mental switch in her head. When Yuna opened her eyes, both Sages were gone. She looked left, then right.
Groaning, Yuna slapped her hands against the top of the file cabinet. "Arrrrrrrrrggggh! Why did I have to get dragged into this?! Why couldn't it have been literally any other dragon?!" She slapped the file cabinet again, then lay her head atop it. "I can't even pray to Bahamut for guidance… because it turns out his guidance is worthless!"
There were knocks at the door. Yuna's head shot up. "What?" she barked.
"Yeah, uh…" Artemis' voice trailed off. "Your kid got outside the tar plant and he's staring at this… weird pillar of distortion. No one knows how it got here, either."
Yuna looked at the ceiling, fighting back the urge to slam her head against the cabinet. Why couldn't Leo have hatched sickly like she did?
"Okay. I'll just—" The drakloak didn't even wait for the door to slide open. She phrased through and immediately veered right, ignoring Noctum's voice, where green light from outside filtered through a much larger door. Yuna sped through it and out onto the metal platform stationed over the tar.
"Leo? Leo!" Yuna cupped her hands around her mouth. Good thing she had evolved. Her voice was several degrees louder than it used to be.
"Over here, Mom!"
Yuna turned right and rounded the corner. The platform continued following the factory, but there was a part in the middle that jutted out from under the shade of the processing plant's roof. And it was there that Leo sat in front of a purple, flickering light pillar. There were thousands of tiny, glitchy cubes stacked up to make it. Jade looked between him and Yuna, while multiple skorp sat close to the factory, exchanging hushed whispers.
"Ooh, poor Skorp, eh!" A skorp in a hardhat skittered back and forth in a panic. "He was fixing up that ship fer Gene and just got all schwoomped up into that thing."
"Leo, get back from there!" Yuna floated closer to him. "It looks dangerous."
He tilted his starcloud head. "Are you sure? It's calling to me. I can hear it."
"Well, uh, maybe you got some broccoli in those ear frills." Jade crossed her wings. "Because I don't hear anything."
Leo looked back at Yuna. "Don't you hear it, Mom?"
The moment the drakloak reached his side, soft whispers reached her ear frills.
"Heed my words. Come and see me. Heed my words."
"Come and see me." Leo's starcloud tail slowly brushed back and forth against the grated metal. "Can we see him?"
Yuna immediately grabbed Leo's wheel to pull him away. "Has anyone else gotten close to that thing?" She looked at the skorps, who all shook their heads in unison.
"I tried," Jade admitted, right wing obediently raised. "But it was like there was a forcefield around it or something. Check it." The salugia waddled closer to the pillar… and bonked into something invisible. "Whoomph!" She stepped back, rubbing her snout with her left wing.
"See, Leo?" Yuna tightened her grip on his wheel. "We can't go in it. So, how about we go back inside?"
"But it's waving at us," Leo whimpered. "Don't you see it?"
Yuna followed Leo's gaze. Some of the purple cubes moved back and forth quickly. Yuna would hardly call it a wave, but it was different.
Still, her mind was made up. The lecture on talking to strangers could wait. Yuna tugged on Leo's wheel, hoping to pull him away from the pillar. When she did, however, familiar black shadows pooled in her hands and feet and the wheel around Leo's torso glowed.
"Whoa, hey, what are you doing?!" Jade squawked.
Yuna couldn't respond, because the pillar was getting closer!
It only took seconds for the purple cubes to swallow Yuna and Leo up. There were a few seconds of weightlessness, then Leo's golden hooves tapped against a glass floor. Yuna looked around in a panic.
The inside of the pillar was… deceptively large, but just as purple. There were giant double helix projections twirling all around the glass platform. In the distance, Yuna swore there were pokémon silhouettes, however she couldn't make them out clearly.
"Look, Mom, a braviary!" Leo chirped. "And it's in the air without flapping its wings!" He hopped up and down excitedly.
Yuna followed his gaze and found a braviary — or, rather, a projection of one — floating several meters away from them, legs crossed and wings clasped together. Like with Jade, however, something was off beyond Braviary not flapping his wings to stay airborne. His body had gray feathers instead of blue. And his white head plume was way too big, with glowing pink feathers in front of it. Almost as if he was channeling psychic energy.
"But that can't be right," Yuna muttered.
Braviary opened his eyes. "Hm?" He met Yuna's gaze. "Ah, I can see you! I can see you!" He flapped his wings excitedly. "Can you see me?"
Yuna was hesitant to respond. Leo wasn't, however. "We sure can! I'm Leo!" He puffed his astral chest out.
The drakloak sighed. Maybe I should've given him the "don't talk to strangers" lecture after all.
"Very nice to meet you, Leo." Braviary bobbed his head politely. He landed on the glass floor and raised his right wing.
"I am unofficially known as the Lorekeeper of Dimension POV-2020. But that's quite the mouthful, so why don't you call me Alder?"
You already saw my live reacts while I was basically spamming your server as I caught up to POV over the last few days... Thus, don't feel the need to respond to the whole message, I'm just leaving these notes here and I hope you find something new or valuable in them.
Feel free to ignore advice/thoughts you don't acre for, etc etc
This is my first actual TR fic review, so take it with a grain of salt etc etc.
Your craft is excellent, your beta reader(s) are exceptional. Your ability to keep the story moving while simultaneously fleshing out the world is something I hope to be able to channel for my own writing.
Characters
Characters are absolutely your strong suit, and they carry the story and the world. I love Yuna and Nikki and Chiaki and just want to give them hecking hugs.
The trio as I grew to love them have carried me up and over the edge from being meh, into loving it. I was meh on toxtricity at first but grew to love them more and more.
The cast has grown really large, and you already know that. There's a few approaches to this:
- Cut out, reduce Alternative POVs, even if it means some characters get no screen time.
- Villain POVs in particular are ripe for leaving, especially if they're just there to say "I am evil/I am moving against the protags"
- Let some characters' sidequests resolve and allow those characters to move off-screen for some rest
(obviously there's probably more approaches)
World
One of the things I watch for in fics are characters interacting more with the world around them to make it feel more lived-in and real. Does the world feel like it exists outside of the Plot?
This is, ultimately, a shining gem of a world with a lot of really fun "soft" magic. We've kept the rules fairly clear, and I don't feel like any fights are ever won with bullshit. It's almost always characters trying bullshit until something sticks, which is a lot of fun.
I love how you show the differences between the two empires based on their various tech levels. That the empires feel more real because the characters are constantly having to interact with and deal with the systems, while trying to save the world is an exceptional point.
To your credit, I didn't realize how dark it was until like... chapter 20? or so?
The primary cast is basically all noble. They are absolutely trying to make the world better, but the society they're in is actively pushing back on it. They are just... so shitty and every character has terrible things happening to them in their backstory or as part of the main plot.
The world is grim- the entire fabric of reality is pretty much fighting the characters. It wants to be a dark, hopeless world, but the happiness of the characters and their nobility as they cut through it leaves hints of hope.
Rhetorically-speaking: What do the characters have in the world which attaches them to it? to hope for? Why don't the characters give up, given everything that's presented to them? They say they have things to hope for, but that is a thick obscuring mist. There was a point where I was like, "yeah, Despair has a point" but whether that was my own anxiety and depression I don't know.
Plot
The plot is pretty much inspired by the FF series, not having played any of them except a few of the "light" lines from Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts, I'm not the best at evaluating them. But it's pretty anime.
The action is handled really well and the fight scenes are excellent and frenetic. So far they're scrappy and barely-surviving-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth.
Given everything that's going on, I'm pretty interested to see how you handle the House Cup moving forward. So far you've introduced a lot of "silly" elements but they haven't challenges SoD while I was binging. Everything feels like it's been foreshadowed up to this point.
Pushing to keep the plot moving forward without overwhelming the more fleshed out world you've built is going to prove to be a difficult challenge.
Overall, Very Good fic, it sucked me in. It took until ~chapter ten before I was really pulled in.
Critique
I'm spoiling this section because it was 3AM and it may sound sensible but also I wrote it at 3 AM.
Everything in here (and on this whole post) should have an implicit "For Me" or "IMO" in there somewhere even if I'm acting authoritative.
Reader-Author Contract
A reader-author contract is something like: "I tell you what my fic is in the first N chapters, and you read it". Should be pretty intuitive: A fic may fail attracting readers by setting an unapproachable reader-author contract off the bat or they may lose readers if they break the contract.
For example, my fic Little Leavanny, has a critical flaw in ~chapter 26, which it's still recovering from. What I felt was a poignant and thematic double-fakeout. It didn't land, and I lost like 50 readers and most of my commenters. When a friend told me what was up, he gave me my reader-author contract rant back to me lol
I don't think Path of Valor has issues with breaking the Reader-Author contract. I think the early fic contract when the "contract" is presented to the reader are what makes it hard for readers to hop on board.
Early-Fic Contract
When a fic is being carried by the cast, the early story needs to spend time with the primary cast, to tell the reader "the story is about these characters". It's not the size of the cast, it's the number of POVs and who those POVs are. I've already beat that drum.
If there's room for revisiting early sections in the future (don't delay new chapters for it... forward momentum matters more than revisits) I recommend removing 1-2 of the POVs where all they do is show characters conspiring against Yuna. This adds unnecessary tension that doesn't ever actually get resolved.
I think someone saying "Damn, Yuna, is someone after you?" would be enough.
Swapping one of the early antagonist alt-povs with Nikki or Chiaki to reinforce to the reader that these characters are important and help the reader get over their unease with them in the early game. Nikki's in a good place to deliver the whole "There's more going on at this school than it seems" pitch without actually saying it the way that Vortex + Arianna do.
Menacing Contract:
As the story progresses, I recommend staying mindful that the archbishop and his menacing and his lackey's sections are just saying "yep, he's being evil, yep he's doing more evil". I wouldn't go into it unless we're showing a lackey gaining some extra character depth.
I'm already dealing with all the weight in the story of just the characters dealing with the shitty hands they were dealt. The threat of Eternatus and the threat of the Bishop is abundant. At this point, the story has plenty of tension and threat, and I could use some more rays of hope.
Silliness
So far silliness has been excellently deployed. I find myself wanting an actual bit of tension relief. Without some minor plot resolutions, as highly-ratcheted the tension gets, the guitar can get too-tightly strung and strings snap. This is a bigger issue for binge-readers than people reading the fic as you release.
Characters acknowledging how messed up their situation is is a good start, but they, and bingers need more downtime to explore as well as cool off a bit.
Mind Control
I have noticed among PMD fics that mind control is a thing that happens a lot. I would be wary of overusing mind control as a means of producing tension.
Miscellaneous
Overall, Yuna and crew are constantly reacting to stuff. I would love to give them actual initiative at some point or at least force the bad guys (including Xeromus) to adapt or at least be surprised even a little.
Nikki/Chiaki/Yuna going into their rooms and venting for a bit was an excellent (and needed) breath around chapter 25. It arrived not a moment too soon. Hoping for more.
As the number of Sages that are stuck with Yuna grows, her... personality? Has had less room to shine.
With the change to the Soul Dew this chapter, you resolved this concern.
(Can I please get Yuna getting frustrated and going to Nikki for some frustration management because by god Yuna needs something to let off some steam. Girl needs some eyeliner, spiked wristbands, screaming into a mic, trip to hot topic or whatever it's called... even if afterwards she decides it's not her thing, though I would LOVE to see the look on Queen Yiazmat's face)
Heya, I’ve been holding out long enough, and I've got a review tag to snag in the background of a flight that I’ve got to chase tomorrow. So let’s take a break from packing and jump right into…
Chapter 37
Entry 3
Still nothing but stars. They glow like me. They're warm like me. But they don't move. Don't talk.Why am I here? What's my purpose?
Entry 11
Found a big planet today. It's warm and dusty, but I don't sense anyone on it. I guess I'll rest up here for a while. There's still plenty to explore! :)
... Can't tell if those are being written by Chiron or Leo there. They both seem very "peppy" in vibe, though.
Entry 20
Finally reached a planet with life. My mind's already racing with possibilities. What do they look like? How do they talk? What sorts of things can they do? Ooh, the anticipation is killing me! This is it. I'm going to have a home! With friends! :D
Entry 141
Another failure. My wings still hurt from all the Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls. I was only trying to help them. I'm only ever trying to help.
Why do they all hate me? Why can't I just find a home? What does the universe have against me? ;–;
Okay, this is either Chiron or Bahamut as the narrator there. Probably. Can't tell which possibility is creepier.
Entry 207
I slept in a star again. It's the closest thing I've got to something soothing. Luckily my body protects this thing. I'd hate for you to go up in flames, journal. You're all I've got against this awful universe.
Okay, I'm convinced now. Bahamut wrote this thing. I don't know how he changed so much since then, but all those little details here and there just scream 'Ultra Necrozma'.
Yuna came to on a cot. The fabric was rough against her ectoplasm. Almost sandpaper-like. So was the blanket on top of her, though she appreciated how dry it was compared to the swamp's humidity. Groaning, the drakloak rolled over and stared at the gray, metal ceiling with long, slender bulbs giving off red-orange light.
Yuna: "Horrible. I just had the worst dream that Cecil scorched a bunch of Skorps after snapping from Lugia being in agony from her needle being messed with, me turning into an embarrassing-looking boomerang and discovering that Lugia turned into some sort of mutant Salazzle thing, and discovering that I was somehow the mother to some sort of freaky cloud llama thing-" >_>;
- Yuna raises her arms in front of her and trails off -
Yuna: "..."
Noctum: "Yeah, that... all really happened over the course of the last couple chapters." ^^;
When Yuna sat up, she found Noctum sitting on a metal folding chair, his tail awkwardly wedged into the gap in the back. His scales were damp but no longer covered in the silver antitoxin. The black charizard must've discarded his apron, because the Malice Crystal was clearly visible in his stomach, bathing his corner of the room in purple.
"I've been better." Yuna rubbed her eyes with her arm. "But I guess I've also been worse."
Yuna: "... Noctum, would it kill you to put the apron back on? Since that crystal looks more than a little unsettling right now." >_>;
Upon lowering her arm, Yuna found Leo lying at the foot of the cot. His blue-yellow eyes sparkled. "That was a fun trick!" His starcloud tail wagged. "Can you teach me to play dead, too, Mom?"
Noctum: "I'm... pretty sure that that's not a healthy response right now." .-.
So, her tired mind wasn't playing a trick on her. The egg hatched into… some sort of cosmic ponyta thingy with a wheel around its stomach. And, not only did he share the name of a son that Bahamut apparently had, despite Aeon scriptures mentioning nothing about him, but he thought Yuna was his mother.
Oh, so I wasn't all that far off with the gag about 'I just had the worst nightmare', huh?
Noctum: "Um, Princess, I don't mean to give you more to worry about, but I could've sworn the evil cat lady told you point blank that you were really some sort of 'Chiron'. That doesn't have anything to do with this, does it?"
- Beat moment -
Yuna: "..."
Noctum: "... I'll just take that as a 'yes'."
It might have been cute… if there weren't terrifying implications behind it.
Oh, so she is putting two and two together about Exodes' remarks.
"Leo…" Yuna wrung her hands together. "Why are you calling me your mom? I, um—" The drakloak wasn't sure how to phrase it delicately. "I've never laid an egg or anything."
That didn't bother Leo. If anything, it only piqued his curiosity. "You can make eggs? Does that mean you can make eatable eggs?" He hopped to his feet. "Because I don't know what an omelet is, but I want one!"
Yuna: "... This kid is going to be exhausting, I can already tell." >_>;
Not the response I was expecting. Yuna resisted the urge to facepalm. Articulate or not, Leo was a kid. Which just makes all the knowledge he does have disturbing.
The cosmic not-ponyta had climbed onto Yuna's lap. Her Soul Dew's silver reflected in his bright eyes. "Um, is something the matter?" Yuna asked.
"No." Despite the lack of a mouth, Leo sounded content. He pointed a gold-tipped forehoof at the Soul Dew. "I don't know what that is, but that's what makes you my mom."
Yuna: "Wait, what? My Soul Dew? But how on earth does that-?!"
Yuna looked down, then at Noctum, who silently shrugged. She also realized Jade was sitting next to him. Well, she used "sitting" loosely, as the salugia was more awkwardly propping her butt against the wall.
Yuna: "Seriously, would it kill you to just roost normally?" >_>;
Jade: "Look, I'm still trying to figure out how to make things come naturally to me in this body."
She brushed that aside, however, as the drakloak's mental gears hummed to life. Yuna wanted to dismiss Exodes' words as inane blathering, but the visions she had went against that. Especially that last one.
Chiron had once lived within Eternatus. She had Malice in her aura. The lunala hadn't bonded with her Soul Dew, yet she kept it on her person. And Reshiram had told her Soul Dews absorbed the knowledge and energy of their wearers over time.
But it did bond to Yuna now given that I'm pretty sure it was established she can no longer remove it in a prior chapter. Those are some... wonderful implications there.
So, what if… her family heirloom was actually Chiron's Soul Dew? And that was somehow tricking these daemons into thinking she was Chiron?
Yes, that was it. Yuna's mom gave her the Soul Dew when she was young… and the drakloak spent a lot of her youth in a sickly state. It had to be the Soul Dew's doing, right?
Noctum: "You know that the alternative is that you're just Chiron, right?"
Yuna: "I'm... not ready to consider that possibility since there are so many questions about why and how that would need to be resolved if that were even partly true." >_>;
Noctum: "Maybe you're partly Chiron or something like that? Wouldn't be the first time someone turned out to be part-Legendary in a story like ours."
But I could take it off back then and I can't now.
You're having fun with these cringe comedy moments, aren't ya? :V
Yuna's tail straightened out, but rather than crinkling, she curled it up like a seashell. That still got a delighted squeal from Leo, who awkwardly sat on his rump while trying to curl himself up. His wheel got in the way.
"I… whoomph… hang on! I'll get it for sure!" He was nothing if not determined.
Yuna: "Look, this is a stress reaction, alright? Can you not?" >_>;
Leo: "But it looks cute!" ^^
It was a cute sight. Yuna raised a hand and giggled into it. Even though she had panicked in the moment — and still didn't understand exactly where Leo's confusion came from — she couldn't just crush the kid's spirit by not playing along.
Well, never mind then. Yuna's taking this all in more stride than I expected.
That said, Eternatus was no place for a hatchling to run around. If Yuna was going to parent Leo, she needed to at least get him out of here. And though the drakloak could open up a portal back to Venish here and now, there were loose ends that needed tightening up. Starting with…
... Is that even going to be possible given that I'm pretty sure the implication is that Leo was stillborn or died really young as a child?
"Present!" She held up her right wing, then fell over on her right side with a squawk. Fortunately, her head just missed the metal file cabinet. "I'm okay."
I can already tell that her stint as the Sage of Harmony was quite something, or at least the times when she wasn't curled up in a frustrated, depressed ball.
"Um, did anyone talk to you while—"
"While you were off in Lala Land? Yup!" Jade awkwardly rolled onto her belly, nodding vigorously. "Your entourage filled me in on all the deets. I was Lugia. I sacrificed myself to seal away some big, scary monster thing. Yadda yadda." The salugia lazily twirled her right wing around. "Fast forward to now where you're the only one with the power to properly free the other Sages which should definitely probably maybe stop Eterwhatever."
"I see." Yuna blinked slowly. The fact that Exodes must've broken Jade's Needle meant at least part of the salugia's explanation was false, but the drakloak wasn't in the mood for debating that part. "And, um, do you have any questions?"
"Only one."
"Go on."
The salugia hopped to her feet. "When do I get to help you kick some Ejerknatus butt, huh? Whoo-cha! Hiya!" Jade chopped the air around her with her wings. "Hoo-h—"
Yuna: "O merciful Guiding Light, preserve me." >.<
She slapped the file cabinet on her right and yanked her throbbing wing back. "Ow!" Jade tucked her right wing against her belly, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "Who puts a file cabinet in a bedroom?! I demand to speak with the manager!"
Jade: "Can you do this sometime when I'm not in physical pain?"
And a terrible influence, Yuna realized. Though there was something more concerning than Jade's… reckless enthusiasm. "Hey, shouldn't you have been sucked into the Soul Dew when I passed out?"
"Huh?" Jade looked up from nursing her wing. "You mean like it did to Cece?" She squinted at the Soul Dew. "I dunno what that fancy neck Roomba's deal is, but it doesn't speak to me or anything."
Wonder if that's a side effect of the clock apparently getting rewinded on Jade. Though given that, I suspect that Leo doesn't respond to the Soul Dew either.
That wasn't good. The Sages were all dead, right? Yuna needed them in the Soul Dew or else they wouldn't be able to leave Eternatus with her. And the drakloak shuddered at the thought of leaving Jade back here with the likes of Gene.
"I'm guessing the fact that her appearance has been distorted has something to do with it," Noctum said, nervously tracing a black claw along his cream-colored belly. "Cyril said Malice can… warp auras in ways we hardly understand. I wouldn't be surprised if Exodes siphoning her power made her incompatible with your Soul Dew."
... Wait a minute, are those two sustained by the amount of headspace they take up in Yuna's mind? Since that has some rather disturbing implications for if Yuna were ever to get mind lazored or something like that. .-.
Yuna looked down at her Soul Dew, then up at Noctum. "You saw that, right?"
"I did." The charizard nodded.
"I did, too!" Jade hopped beside Yuna's cot. "Cece was so adorable! I could've eaten him up." The salugia smooched the air.
But Yuna had no idea how she'd done that. Or even why.
Story of my life, since I'm not sure what is exactly going on such that Yuna suddenly has a lot more control over reining in the presences in her Soul Dew.
Unless… did evolving give me better control over this thing? Yuna traced her hand around the Soul Dew. She shook her head. One thing at a time. She had to take care of Jade first. "So, um, you really want to help me?" Yuna whispered.
That one feels a little convenient if so, but you can't say that there's not a certain logic to it. Makes you wonder what she'd be able to do with the thing if/when she becomes a Dragapult.
"Absolutely!" Jade stepped up and threw her left wing over the squeaking drakloak. "You got me out of that nightmare, Yunie! We're BFFFs, now! Or B-Triple-Fs, if you prefer."
For whatever reason, I'm suddenly getting some Rikku vibes from Jade. If Rikku were more of a dork and an order of magnitude larger than Yuna from FFX.
"Bestest flying friends forever!" Jade chirped. "I got your back, sister! Ain't no Ejerknatus gonna rain on our parade! Ya feel me?" She made a fist with her left wing and held it in front of Yuna, who looked at it like it was a questionable piece of broccoli. "Psst! This is the part where we fist bump," Jade whispered.
"Oh. S-Sorry." Yuna shakily bumped Jade's wing with her balled up hand.
Yuna: "... We can fix her such that she'll go back into my Soul Dew, right? Since I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"Nice!" Jade backed away. Yuna continued staring at her hand like someone had dunked it into a goodra's belly slime. "We'll have to come up with a secret handshake sometime. Maybe something like…" She raised both her wings and lightly punched the air. "Bump, bump!" Jade nuzzled the air. "Sugar!"
This is at once cute, while I can see Yuna dying inside from all of this in live-time. :V
She was about to turn around and lift her tail when Yuna decided she'd had enough. "Okay!" The drakloak shot out of the cot. "I think we get the idea."
The salugia blinked a few times. "Oh, doy!" She facepalmed. "Can't be a secret with Nocty and Junior in the room. Good thinking!"
"Yes, fine, whatever." Yuna rubbed her temples. "How about you take Leo and, uh, brainstorm some more secret handshake ideas."
Leo tilted his head in confusion. Tail crinkling slightly, Yuna looked at him. "I need to have an, uh, private conversation with Noctum. So, go hang with Jade, okay?"
Oh, so she's about to scream externally from the shock of all of this, huh? :V
"Okay!" Leo nodded vigorously. To Yuna's complete befuddlement, he vanished in a flash of blue light. Surprised squawking turned Yuna around where she found Leo standing upside down on Jade's left wing. "How's this? Am I hanging good?"
He can teleport. Because of course. Yuna wanted to panic. A child was bad enough. But one that could disappear at a moment's notice? If not for her own rift-making abilities, that would have been a huge problem!
Probably a good thing that Aeons don't seem to have a knowledge of anti-anxiety medications, since with the rate things have been going for Yuna, I'm surprised she hasn't popped half a bottle of Polaris-branded Xanax from all of this.
Like considering how this girl just can't get a break in this story, I'm surprised that she hasn't had a nervous breakdown yet.
"It's, uh, great." The drakloak fought to stave off nervous laughter. "Keep hanging like that. And I'll catch up with you soon."
Jade hesitantly shuffled toward a black door. It slid open, offering a peek at a much larger room. Somehow, Leo remained on Jade's wing the entire time. Once the door slid closed again, Yuna collapsed back on her cot, groaning. Her ectoplasm deflated. She'd have melted into the cot's rough fabric if Noctum wasn't there.
Noctum: "Look, as far as I know, that is the truth, alright? If it's not, it'd be every bit as shocking to me as it is to you." .-.
Yuna hoped to stall longer to figure out a good way to explain everything, but she'd run out of time. So, the drakloak looped Noctum in on everything; Reshiram's lies, his outburst, and the visions she got from breaking Jade's barrier.
"I see." Noctum hunched over, tapping the Malice Crystal in his belly. "That's definitely a lot to take in."
"And, like, I'd have been willing to dismiss the stuff in the frozen desert as a coincidence, but now… I'm not so sure." Yuna shook her head. "I could've seen there being other light dragons, but I saw Bahamut in that vision. He was… not all that warm. Or patient. It was brief… but his attitude felt closer to the monster Razim described."
A shudder rippled from the drakloak's head to her tail. "The Sage of Truth lied to everyone, including Bahamut. And that stuff about the greater good… doesn't line up with our scriptures at all. The Sages taught us not to leave people behind, yet Reshiram was ready to sacrifice all those skorps without even a bit of hesitation." Yuna gripped her head and shook it. She sat at the edge of the cot, staring at the steel floor below her.
I mean, that last one wouldn't be so shocking if you played the French and German localizations where it's not truth that Reshiram is associated with as an attribute. I... could actually see a Sage with that attribute get really burny really quickly.
"What if we're wrong?" she whispered. "About the Sages. About Bahamut." Yuna shuddered. "What if… the whole kingdom was founded on a bed of lies?"
Then it'd be about par for the course for a 'Yuna' from a FF story given that literally happened with FFX!Yuna's religion and belief system as part of that game's plot. :V
Noctum's initial silence spoke volumes. A rock might as well have dropped in Yuna's stomach at that point.
"I, uh, think it's a bit too early to jump to any rash conclusions?" Noctum rubbed the back of his head.
I mean, even if I'm genre savvy enough to know that Yuna is onto something, he kinda has a point there. Also, I'm pretty sure that Radiance is founded on a comparable if not outright worse historical fiction, so I'm inclined to cut the Aeon Kingdom a bit of slack. Or at least for now.
That didn't convince Yuna. "None of the scriptures mention Bahamut having a wife and a child. A wife whose Soul Dew my family somehow got, which means something serious happened in the past."
Her expression sharpened. "'A lie by omission is still a lie.' That's one of Reshiram's proverbs."
... Is she even sure that that was the same Reshiram as Cecil that came up with that one given that her most recent visions established that it was possible for Sage positions to be transferred back in the day? ^^;
"You got me there," Noctum said, tail flame shrinking. He wriggled his butt until his tail was free from the back of the folding chair, then stood up. "But what does that really change?"
Noctum shook his head. "Sorry, I should've been clearer. What does that change about this moment?" He pointed to the steel floor. "Eternatus is still a threat to our home, right? And the way to protect it goes through the Needles."
Yuna: "... Noctum, if everything we've known all this time might be a lie, how do we even know if pulling the needles is the right thing to do?"
Noctum: "... We haven't come across anything to disprove that yet?"
He was right. And Yuna hated he was right. "Uggggh." She flopped back on the bed, kicking up her nubby feet and her tail. "I knoooooow. But I don't want to pull any more Needles." Yuna smooshed her hands against her eyelids. "I'm… afraid of what I'll see."
Yuna: "Also, I'm pretty sure that Reshiram himself told me that the world would end after they were all pulled. L-Like what if he's also wrong about us being able to defeat Eternatus afterwards? W-Wouldn't all of this be for nothing?"
Noctum: "That's... uh... a really unsettling prospect, to say the least. But I'd like to remind that others are also pulling the Needles. I'm not sure we want to find out what'll happen if they beat us to the punch for them."
A scaly hand brushed Yuna's head. She poked an eye open to find Noctum sitting on her right, holding his tail up with his right hand.
"I'm afraid for you," he said. "Your mom and dad sent me with you to help keep you safe. But time and again, I'm letting you down. Letting them down."
Uh... yeah, it's probably a good thing that Calcifer and Yiazmat don't know about all the epic fails Noctum's been having on that front as of late.
"No." Yuna sat up and put her right hand on his left shoulder. "None of this is your fault. There's a lot going on here that's out of our control." It frustrated her, but Yuna was glad to finally say it out loud. "I know pulling the Needles is the right thing to do. I just hate that it comes with personal consequences."
You see, now that you're so convinced about this after realizing that your entire belief system might be a lie, I'm starting to get the suspicion that it's not the right thing to do. There is a very long history in Squaresoft plots of protagonists’ actions unwittingly making things worse.
Her shoulders sagged. Yuna's hand slipped off Noctum's shoulder and dropped to the coarse, itchy cot. "Does that make me selfish?"
"I think… it makes you a pokémon." Soft laughter rumbled from Noctum's belly.
Yuna: "That... didn't really answer the question." ^^;
Noctum: "Honestly, I think you can be forgiven for being a little selfish from time to time, Yuna. You... haven't exactly struck me as handling school well ever since we left the Aeon Kingdom."
"And, hey, it could be worse." Noctum shrugged. "Pulling the Needles could make you vanish. Like the hero in Shaymin the Wanderer: Sky Explorers." He gently elbowed Yuna's side. "You remember how I'd read it to you, like, once or twice a year when you were cooped up in bed?"
Ah yes, getting your twofer of a nod to Shiren the Wanderer and Explorers of Sky there. Though I presume that their version of the story doesn't have the hero come back.
Also, now that you mentioned it, I'm now worried that Yuna's going to wind up getting Tidus'ed at the end of all of this. Since if she's a 'mon that's technically supposed to be dead and an artifact that absorbs wearers that bond with it with time…
"And somehow it never got stale." Yuna's mind drifted back to those simpler times. Lying on her feathery bed while Noctum sat in a carved rocking chair with the leatherbound book resting on his lap.
"Well, you certainly liked it more than its sequel." Noctum chuckled to himself. "You'd always complain it was too boring."
Yuna puffed her cheeks out. "You weren't much better! Sometimes you'd fall asleep in the middle of reading it." She shook her head. "Besides, I've come to appreciate Gates of Eternity. Maybe the overall narrative isn't as gripping, but it has excellent character moments."
Oh, so all of the PMD canon games have in-setting story echoes as a book series. Honestly kicking myself for not thinking of doing that myself earlier, since it seems like a fun little mythology gag thing, and hey, I already do my fair share of nods to other MD series.
"Fair enough. You must've grown to like it, since you got me that limited-edition Gates of Eternity stamp set." Smiling, Noctum stuck his tongue out at Yuna.
Wait, was that a legit thing for GtI pre-orders or something? Since that feels like a really specific piece of merch to bring up otherwise. Though now I'm curious as to what the analogue to Super is in this book series.
It was a welcome reprieve, but one that sadly had to come to an end.
Sighing, Yuna floated up. "Thanks, Noctum. But I need a minute alone with the Sages, okay?" Noctum got to his feet, nodding. "Of course, Princess. I'll wait right outside." He headed for the door, which slid open to let him out.
Yuna: "... Wait, why on earth am I even expecting those two to give me a straight answer when I already know that at least one of them is willing to flatly lie to others?"
Yuna flicked that mental switch again. This time, small projections of Reshiram and Rayquaza shot out onto the top of the file cabinet. The drakloak put on as firm of an expression as she could manage. Reshiram immediately withered.
"I see thou hast figured out a way to pause our connection." Rayquaza bobbed his black head approvingly. "Smashing job, Princess."
Cecil: "E-Er... wh-what I meant to say was..." O.O;
"I'm… sorry?" Reshiram pecked at the top of the file cabinet like someone had spread birdseed on it. "That outburst was… wrong. And it won't happen again."
Yuna stared in disbelief. He sounded like Yuna had caught him with a wing in a cookie jar! This was way more serious! "You hurt people in a blind rage. I can't just brush that aside." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And you went against the very principles you used to teach."
Cecil: "You see, I knew that we should've talked Bahamut into turning my position into being a 'Sage of Reality'-"
Yuna: "Seriously, Reshiram, how did you expect me to be okay with this?!" >:|
Reshiram flinched. "I, uh— c-c'mon, my wife was captured…" He poked his claws together nervously. "I was desperate." He frowned at her. "What if… it was Noctum in that barrier? What would you have done, huh?"
She hadn't expected that one, but Yuna couldn't back down. "I wouldn't torch a bunch of hostages!" The drakloak loomed over Reshiram's tiny projection. "And maybe I could move on from this… but there was that cold thing you said about sacrificing for the greater good.
You see, now I'm expecting Yuna to wind up doing something comparably messed up down the pipe from how she herself wavered there.
Also, nobody ever said truths were always pleasant, hon.
"We don't talk like that in the Aeon Kingdom," she continued. "And we built ourselves around your teachings." Yuna dangled her hand over Reshiram, like she was going to squish him. "Clearly we have different views on who Bahamut was as a person. So, tell me what you know."
Reshiram looked nervously at Rayquaza who, in turn, stared at the red-tipped fins on his tail. "Sir Bahamut… was a complicated individual. I believe he meant well… however he doth possessed a frightening temper. One that reared its head… more than we liketh to admit."
Yuna's throat tightened. That was the very thing she didn't want to hear.
Yuna: "Oh, so Bahamut really did just destroy Aquardah, huh?"
Gallian: "I mean, I'd like to assume the best of him since he was mine teacher. But... uh... I wouldst not say it'd be that surprising if he had."
"He was always worried something was going to ruin the planet," Reshiram whispered. "It made him… a bit of a control freak. Life around the planet needed to go exactly the way he wanted it to." He turned away from Yuna and Rayquaza. "One time… I think I found, like, a journal of his? It had his eight-pointed star on the cover, but it also had a bunch of circles and triangles in some weird pattern.
Oh, so Ultra Necrozma's head profile and Arceus' Creation Sigil there.
"I took a peek. There were a lot of poems. Weird things I didn't understand." Reshiram wrapped himself up with his wings. "Some of his entries, though… gave me the sense he was a worryingly lonely person before Etherium. It was almost like…" He lowered his head. "Like he viewed the planet as his last chance to find a home."
... Oh so those entries at the beginning really were written by Bahamut.
Much as Yuna didn't want to believe Reshiram, it explained a few things. Why the scriptures described Bahamut as a traveler before he created Etherium. And Chiron mentioned Bahamut living on some planet called Earth, which he apparently disliked. Bad experiences on other, life-bearing planets could certainly make someone lonely. Lonely and bitter.
But why did this have to come up now, while the world was facing a crisis? The visions made pulling the Needles tough enough. Yuna didn't think she had the mental fortitude to fight off constant festering doubts. Like…
Though boy was I not expecting to feel sorry for Bahamut given how he's basically been a giant bitter asshole in all of the depictions he's had up to this point. Like it's not an excuse, but... .-.
Groaning, Yuna slapped her hands against the top of the file cabinet. "Arrrrrrrrrggggh! Why did I have to get dragged into this?! Why couldn't it have been literally any other dragon?!" She slapped the file cabinet again, then lay her head atop it. "I can't even pray to Bahamut for guidance… because it turns out his guidance is worthless!"
There were knocks at the door. Yuna's head shot up. "What?" she barked.
"Yeah, uh…" Artemis' voice trailed off. "Your kid got outside the tar plant and he's staring at this… weird pillar of distortion. No one knows how it got here, either."
Well that's more than a little messed-up as a wish. Even if I can't fault Yuna that much with how ragged she's been run lately.
"Okay. I'll just—" The drakloak didn't even wait for the door to slide open. She phrased through and immediately veered right, ignoring Noctum's voice, where green light from outside filtered through a much larger door. Yuna sped through it and out onto the metal platform stationed over the tar.
"Leo? Leo!" Yuna cupped her hands around her mouth. Good thing she had evolved. Her voice was several degrees louder than it used to be.
"Over here, Mom!"
Yuna turned right and rounded the corner. The platform continued following the factory, but there was a part in the middle that jutted out from under the shade of the processing plant's roof. And it was there that Leo sat in front of a purple, flickering light pillar. There were thousands of tiny, glitchy cubes stacked up to make it. Jade looked between him and Yuna, while multiple skorp sat close to the factory, exchanging hushed whispers.
Yuna: "That... does not look the least bit promising for us at all." O_O;
"Ooh, poor Skorp, eh!" A skorp in a hardhat skittered back and forth in a panic. "He was fixing up that ship fer Gene and just got all schwoomped up into that thing."
"Leo, get back from there!" Yuna floated closer to him. "It looks dangerous."
Pretty sure that's your cue to ignore the voice and 'nope nope nope' out of there, since that just screams 'trouble'.
"Come and see me." Leo's starcloud tail slowly brushed back and forth against the grated metal. "Can we see him?"
Yuna immediately grabbed Leo's wheel to pull him away. "Has anyone else gotten close to that thing?" She looked at the skorps, who all shook their heads in unison.
"I tried," Jade admitted, right wing obediently raised. "But it was like there was a forcefield around it or something. Check it." The salugia waddled closer to the pillar… and bonked into something invisible. "Whoomph!" She stepped back, rubbing her snout with her left wing.
Wait, but I thought that the text literally just mentioned that one of the Skorps got sucked up into the glitchy pillar o' doom.
"See, Leo?" Yuna tightened her grip on his wheel. "We can't go in it. So, how about we go back inside?"
"But it's waving at us," Leo whimpered. "Don't you see it?"
Yuna followed Leo's gaze. Some of the purple cubes moved back and forth quickly. Yuna would hardly call it a wave, but it was different.
Still, her mind was made up. The lecture on talking to strangers could wait. Yuna tugged on Leo's wheel, hoping to pull him away from the pillar. When she did, however, familiar black shadows pooled in her hands and feet and the wheel around Leo's torso glowed.
That's quite a maternal instinct there if her Giratina powers are just kicking in for the occasion.
"Whoa, hey, what are you doing?!" Jade squawked.
Yuna couldn't respond, because the pillar was getting closer!
It only took seconds for the purple cubes to swallow Yuna and Leo up. There were a few seconds of weightlessness, then Leo's golden hooves tapped against a glass floor. Yuna looked around in a panic.
The inside of the pillar was… deceptively large, but just as purple. There were giant double helix projections twirling all around the glass platform. In the distance, Yuna swore there were pokémon silhouettes, however she couldn't make them out clearly.
"Look, Mom, a braviary!" Leo chirped. "And it's in the air without flapping its wings!" He hopped up and down excitedly.
Yuna followed his gaze and found a braviary — or, rather, a projection of one — floating several meters away from them, legs crossed and wings clasped together. Like with Jade, however, something was off beyond Braviary not flapping his wings to stay airborne. His body had gray feathers instead of blue. And his white head plume was way too big, with glowing pink feathers in front of it. Almost as if he was channeling psychic energy.
Though Alternate Dimensions huh? Guess we really are moving into a multiverse plot for this story. Wonder if the 2020 was just picked for giggles, or if that's a reference to something such as an earlier version of this story that ultimately got left on the cutting table.
Alright, time for the recap:
Not in a bad way, mind you. But it definitely feels like every moment where I've thought that surely the dust would begin to settle for this story, there's just been a new wrinkle that comes along in this plot. Like I'm not opposed to it per se, but I have to wonder what sort of unholy mess Etherium is going to be by the time the gang gets back out into it. Though at this rate, I'm not even sure it's a safe assumption to make that they'll be getting back out into their Etherium.
As for things I was a bit less hot on... there's not a whole lot. Something about Yuna's realization that 'holy crap, my entire religion and premise that my homeland and its culture were built around is a lie' felt like it could use a bit more grounding. Since as it stood, I think that Yuna established reasons to doubt it, but not definitive proof that everything about Bahamut and his teachings were wrong, while she seems to have a lot more finality around her state of mind. Like either she should be more wavery, or else it might make sense to play up in a few other ways that 'yeah, Bahamut totally wrecked Aquardah as Isfet and there is no way that he ever believed in the teachings he espoused' ought to have been beaten over her head a bit harder.
But all-in-all, I don't think that really detracted from the experience. It was a bit of a slower chapter, but taking time to digest the implications of everything that went down feels like a much-needed breather after the past few chapters, even if there was still one last bit of crazy that came barreling in at the end. I'll be looking forward to seeing where you take things from this point in about a week @Ambyssin , since it looks like you really weren't kidding about everything changing after this current arc. Including the story formula that had been building up.
Section 592: Fallers
A term designated to individuals displaced in reality due to an EFE (see "Section 107: Entropic Fissure Event" for more information). Due to the sensitive nature of such specimens, field agents should employ the standard three-pronged classification system based on the subject's mental state, physical state, and relative degree of space-time displacement.
Cognitive State Class A: Subject retains baseline cognitive function with no observed limitations.
Class B-1: Subject displays mild memory impairment as indicated by recent retrograde and/or anterograde amnesia. Other cognitive elements are intact.
Class B-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class B-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class C-1: Subject displays significant memory impairment as indicated by retrograde amnesia stretching back at least half their estimated life cycle. Anterograde amnesia may or may not be present. Other cognitive elements are intact.
Class C-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class C-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class C-3: Subject meets the criteria for Class C-1 and shows greater than four additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class D-1: Subject has complete retrograde amnesia with or without the presence of anterograde amnesia.
Class D-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class D-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class E: Subject displays complete retrograde amnesia and greater than four additional cognitive deficits. This combination makes partaking in any activities of daily living difficult.
Class F: Subject is in an unarousable state.
(Continued on next page.)
XxX
"I'm sorry… what? Dimensions? Lorekeeper?" If Yuna's head was spinning before, it was throbbing now. And as a drakloak, she no longer had gills to use as her indicator. That would take getting used to.
"I think it's like a storyteller?" Leo looked expectantly at Alder.
"Excellent way of thinking about it, Leo." The braviary applauded Leo with his wings. Yuna realized Alder had some sort of raggedy, tan cloth loosely hanging around his neck and upper chest. A necklace with the same yellow wheel as the one around Leo's chest bounced around Alder's neck.
"Thanks!" Leo chirped. "And I like your poncho." He blinked quickly. "I dunno why I know it's a poncho, but it's silly. In a good way."
Yuna had to interject for her own sanity. "Hang on." She flew between the two of them. "Someone loop me in here, because I got lost before the crazy train even left its station."
Laughing heartily, Alder rubbed the back of his head. "No, no, it's quite all right, miss… umm…"
"Yuna." The drakloak looked down. "Princess Yuna." She wasn't sure why she blurted her title out. Some inner dragon desire to outdo the braviary's "lorekeeper" thing?
The braviary flummoxed. "Of course." He bowed his head repeatedly. "Like I said… the whole 'lorekeeper' thing is unofficial. Just a title I got from my teacher who got it from his teacher who got it from her teacher and, well, you get the idea." Alder twirled his right wingtip around, whistling. "All it means is that the leader of our tribe tasked me with guarding important information."
"Your tribe?"
"Why, the monks of Shaftra Monastery, of course!"
Yuna stared blankly at Alder. The braviary rubbed his white crest, laughing nervously. "Ah, right. You don't know where that is, do you?"
"Should I?" The drakloak quirked a brow.
"Probably not." Alder's nervous laughter grew. "And, to be frank, I honestly thought the information I guarded wasn't that important… until we ended up here. Now I'm pretty sure it's quite important."
Right. Here. Some sort of… distortion pocket far larger on the inside. Yuna again looked around. The crystalline double helixes in the distance gave off purple sheens that reflected off glass hexagons floating in seemingly random directions.
"Where exactly is here?" Yuna wondered.
"Well, I was kind of hoping the fact you two showed up here meant you knew the answer." Alder continued rubbing his feather crest.
Yuna puffed out her cheeks. "You were here first."
"Not entirely, my dear." Alder raised his left wing… and stuck it right through his head. "I'm here in spirit, though! And that counts!" Though he immediately looked down at his talons and whispered, "I think?"
Deep breaths. Yuna didn't even know where to begin untangling this nightmare of a knot. "Okay, let's start simple, then. Do you, perhaps, have a guess where we are."
Alder rubbed his chin with a wing. "Tough to say. Could be a small dimensional pocket. Could be an instability in the fabric of reality itself that, left unchecked, could unravel into the collapse of the entire omniverse!"
Yuna smacked her forehead, groaning. There's nothing remotely simple about any of that! At least a few of those terms went right over her head. More questions to add to her growing list.
"But what would it be doing in Eternatus?" Leo wondered, tilting his head left and right.
Alder gasped. "Wait, you're both in Eternatus?"
Leo and Yuna nodded in unison.
"Okay." Alder tucked his wings in and paced back and forth. "Definitely leaning toward the latter theory, then. Oh dear… entropic fissures are not the type of thing you want dropped on your lap when you're still getting your bearings as a lorekeeper." He tilted his head forward and a book fell out of his head crest. Alder caught it in his right wing. "At least, if this thing's really to be believed."
"A book?" Yuna squinted. One thing at a time. She had to try and stick to that. "Is that part of the… important information?"
"Absolutely." Alder nodded enthusiastically. "It's got some of the most vital information, actually."
Yuna was worried how much further she could press this. If the information was that important, was Alder even supposed to talk about it so casually?
Then again, if it could help her get back to Outpost R3X, Yuna didn't care if this braviary was a blabberbeak. "And just what is that information?" the drakloak asked.
Alder looked down at the book, then back at Yuna. "I suppose… the simplest explanation is that it's a… compendium of sorts. Probably written by the Guardians who abandoned the outpost we converted into our monastery."
Yuna wasn't sure whether to be grateful for a simple explanation or frustrated by how vague it was. "Guardians? Like some sort of army?"
"Tough to say. Guardians is one of… several different terms to describe this group of dimension-hoppers." Alder opened the book and telekinetically flipped through its pages. "Cosmic Protectors. The Network. Overseers. Councilors. Eidolons. Socialites. Aegis. The Illuminati." He rubbed his temple with a wing. "Honestly, there are multiple pages here with suggestions for what labels to use with favored and unfavored dimensions."
Aaaaand the braviary lost Yuna again. What was more frustrating was how attentively Leo sat in front of Alder, like he was front row center in a classroom. He couldn't seriously be getting all of this… could he?
He's just being polite. That's all.
… Except Leo clearly knew a lot for a literal newborn. And Yuna couldn't just overlook that. "Uh, Leo?" The drakloak tilted her head slightly. "You've been very attentive. Is there something you'd like to ask the nice braviary?"
Leo enthusiastically nodded. "The Guardians… are they related to the awmiverse?"
"The 'omniverse,' Leo." Alder pointed his right wing at him. "And you're absolutely right." He flipped the book open again. "If this is correct, the Guardians are protectors of the omniverse. But they watch over some dimensions more closely than others."
Even though she didn't exactly know what an omniverse was, Yuna could piece it together. It sounded like "universe," and Alder spoke about dimensions, so it must have referred to a large number of universes. And Yuna was willing to bet that their universe was one of the ones these Guardians weren't watching closely, given how badly things seemed from her point of view.
But the very thought of other universes was enough to make Yuna dizzy. She needed to change the subject quickly. "So, Alder…" The drakloak wrung her hands together. "I can't help but notice your necklace looks an awful lot like the wheel around Leo's body."
Pink feathers glowing, Alder telekinetically lifted the necklace to eye level. "So it does!"
Why did he need to double check it? Yuna mentally groaned. She managed to keep a straight face, however. "I don't suppose you or that fancy book of yours could tell us what Leo is? Because I don't have a clue."
"And I don't, either," Leo chirped.
"Hmm." Again using his psionics, Alder rapidly flipped through the book. "Let me see. Belly wheel. Belly wheel. Belly… aha!" The braviary slapped his white wings against the book triumphantly. "The color scheme's quite different… and he's much smaller, but I'm fairly sure Leo here is an arceus."
Yuna loudly coughed. "C… come again?"
"Arceus." Alder bobbed his head. "I'd, uh, show you the picture, but since I'm a spiritual projection, you wouldn't actually see the book's contents."
"N-No, that's not it." Yuna waved her hands back and forth in front of her face. "It's just—"
Leo burst out laughing. "He said 'arse!' That means butt!" The cosmic arceus wiggled his dark blue hips and star cloud tail. "I'm a butt! I'm a butt!" he sang.
Yuna looked away to stop herself from joining his laughter. She cleared her throat. "Well, err, anyway, I've never heard of arceus before."
Alder closed the book and held it up. "Outside of this book, I haven't, either." He looked at Leo. "But the fact that he appeared in this…" His voice trailed off. "Huh. We really need a simpler name for this entropic fissure, assuming that's what it is. Perhaps 'instability?'"
"What about 'mystery dungeon?'" Yuna offered, because this strange pocket dimension certainly lined up with what she thought dungeons were like before she began diving into Eternatus on the regular.
"Already in use for other purposes, but I admire the enthusiasm." Alder chuckled. "Let's go with 'anomaly." He nodded to himself. "As I was saying, Leo's appearance in this anomaly, right when I discovered it through my own meditation, has to be significant."
Yuna was about to interject and ask why she was in the anomaly, but then she remembered she was holding Leo when the anomaly pulled him in. "I suppose." She rubbed her cheek with her hand. "What, do you think Leo can somehow fix this place?"
"That's my assumption," Alder stroked his chin with his left wing. "Leo, do you notice anything unusual?"
The cosmic arceus tilted his head. "Hmm." He looked around for several seconds. Leo's blue eyes suddenly sparkled. "Ah! There!" He dashed off to the right.
"What? Where are you going?" Yuna floated after him. "There's no ground up ah—"
Parts of the nearest crystalline double helix flew toward the platform, forming a bridge in front of Leo. Yuna's tail crinkled. "N-Never mind." She continued behind him, looking around nervously.
The farther Leo went, the clearer it was that the bridge was leading to something. It was… a mishmash of floating glass and energy balls. Yuna didn't recognize anything about it at first, but once they were only a few meters away, she realized there was a broken wheel in the middle of it.
A wheel exactly like Leo's.
Before Yuna could call Leo, the cosmic arceus pranced toward the floating debris and leaped into the center.
"Leo, wait!" Yuna threw her arms up to shield her eyes from a bright flash. When the light faded, Leo sat in the broken wheel. "G-Get down from there, please. It could be dangerous!"
"It's okay, Mom," Leo chirped. "It's like a puzzle. I gotta put the pieces back together."
The drakloak looked around at the glass and energy balls. Nothing about them screamed puzzle. "Are you, um, sure about that?" She rubbed her shoulder.
"Positive." Leo squinted. "I just gotta put on my thinking cap." He squeezed his eyes shut and, to Yuna's befuddlement, a wide-brimmed hat poofed onto Leo's head. It had "thinking" scrawled across its brim.
Like some earlier moments, it would've been cute if it didn't leave a gaping pit in Yuna's stomach. She turned to Alder. "Should I do something?"
The braviary shook his head. "No. I think Leo led us to the core of this anomaly. Look." He pointed his right wing forward.
Yuna glanced back at Leo. An invisible force slowly pulled various spheres and glass shards toward one another. "Leo's… doing that?" she whispered.
"It sure looks like it," Alder chirped. "We'd best let him concentrate, though."
They watched together in silence for several minutes while Leo pulled the floating rubble together, forming a… mural.
A mural of a rift. Purple and spiraling. Bigger than the portals Yuna could generate, that was for sure.
Then a loud click rang out through the area. Leo opened his eyes and his literal thinking cap disappeared in a stream of blue and white light. "All done!" He hopped out of the mural, puffy tail wagging. "What do you think?"
"I think you've fixed the anomaly!" Alder clapped his wings together. "Oh, well done, Leo. I daresay you can soundly handle them."
Yeah, but how? Yuna wondered. She blinked a few times, then frowned. "Wait, them?' Like… there are others?"
"Absolutely." Alder looked up. The double helixes and pokémon silhouettes in the distance were fading away in multicolored streams. "I fear we're on the brink of a dimensional cataclysm. And the only way to stop it is to seek out the anomalies and repair them."
Seriously? I don't have time for something like that! Things were bad enough with the Needles and Eternatus. Yuna couldn't handle something even worse getting piled on top of that. "So, what do we do?"
"The anomaly's fading." Alder folded his wings up. "Find me on Planet Chakran and we'll talk more."
"Chakran?" Yuna looked around in a panic. "Is that in Eternatus?"
"No."
"Then how are we supposed to get to it?!" Yuna growled.
It was too late for an answer, however. The anomaly finished dissolving away and purple light swallowed Yuna and Leo up.
XxX
"So, let me get this straight." Noctum stopped pacing and looked at Jade. "The princess just… disappeared inside that pillar of distortion?"
"Eeyup."
"And you made no attempt to stop her?"
Jade shrugged. "She got sucked in. Like shed scales down the drain." The salugia twirled around, making gurgling noises.
Valkyrie grunted from her position leaning against a glass tube with a hydraulic pump inside. "And we already heard the distortion's been repelling people when they try to approach. Asking the same questions over and over won't get you anywhere, hotshot." The garchomp shook her head. "Face it. Nothing we can do right now."
Noctum couldn't brush Valkyrie off this time. Not after all the things Yuna had said. About his failings. About their culture. About Bahamut. Even though Yuna insisted he shouldn't blame himself, something burned inside his gut.
The black charizard turned toward her, snorting purple fire from his nostrils. "At least I'm trying to do something to help the princess." He pointed a talon at Valkyrie. "What kind of bodyguard abandons their charge on a whim? I don't think I've even seen you two together for more than a few minutes!"
"The fake kind. Duh," Nikki scoffed from her vantage point atop a stack of crates. Noctum glared at her with a look that screamed she wasn't helping. The toxtricity raised her arms in surrender. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. That was rhetorical. Shutting up now."
Valkyrie didn't move from bracing against the tube. She kept her gaze trained on Noctum. "Don't take out your frustrations on me. Not my fault your obsessive doting over your precious princess isn't good for anything." She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I warned you about this. Maybe this'll help get the silver spoon out of your—"
Noctum moved without thinking. Before Valkyrie could finish her insult, Noctum Phantom Warped directly in front of her… and socked her right in the snout. The back of the garchomp's head hit the glass tube, leaving a small crack. Noctum pulled his hand away. Bits of blue and purple dragonfire faded to show red stains on his normally black knuckles.
"The hell?" Valkyrie staggered away from him, forearm pressed firmly to her snout to stop the blood oozing from her nostrils.
"Oh ho!" Nikki rubbed her hands together. "Now this is entertainment! Birdbrain, get me some popcorn!"
"Do you see a popcorn maker around here?" Jade responded. "Wait, what am I saying?" She awkwardly waddled toward Noctum. "Heya, buddy, maybe we should calm down and—"
Noctum snarled at Jade. The salugia hopped back with a frightened squawk. Her tail flaps curled up and released some pink smoke. Noctum ignored her antics and turned back to Valkyrie.
"Don't you dare—" He stomped his foot on the ground for emphasis, "—act like you know anything about me or what I've been through."
The Malice Crystal in his belly flickered with purple light. Noctum didn't care. He was so, so sick of taking grief from Valkyrie. He'd tried being patient. That was what the Sages preached. But if Bahamut really wasn't as benevolent as the scriptures made him out to be, then to hell with patience! The black charizard didn't care if Valkyrie was stronger. It was past time he stood up for himself.
He stepped toward her again. "Yes, I 'dote' over Yuna, because I owe her family." Noctum snorted out dragonfire. "They saved me from years of wandering Aeon's cities and wastelands, begging for any little scrap of food I could get my claws on." He bared his fangs at Valkyrie. "Some of the things I did — the humiliation I endured — I'd only wish on my worst enemies."
Valkyrie's arms slackened. Blood dribbled down her snout and dripped onto the metal platform.
"Wait," Nikki whispered. Noctum almost didn't hear her over the ringing in his ears. "You were homeless?"
Noctum nodded.
"A… as a kid?" Nikki swallowed hard. "What about your parents?"
"Never knew them," the charizard said. "My egg… hatched on the outskirts of some sulfur pits. Alone."
Valkyrie looked ready to say something. Noctum wouldn't let her. He jabbed a claw into her chest. "So, no, you don't get to stand there and judge me or my choices. Because if it wasn't for the Aeon royals…"
Grimacing, Noctum stepped back. His tone dropped to barely a whisper. "… I might not even be here."
Silence followed, though Noctum's ears still rang. Louder than the whirring and humming of tubes pumping tar up from the pits below the outpost. He saw a few skorps out of the corner of his eye, nervously whispering amongst one another.
"… geez, dude. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
Noctum held his right arm up, blocking Nikki from his view. "Don't." His tail flame shrank. An awful gnawing tugged at his gut. No doubt the Malice Crystal was reacting to this. Had it… amplified his anger in some way? Noctum wasn't sure… and didn't even care. He just wanted to see Yuna. But she was dealing with that distortion pillar.
"I'm sorry. I need some space."
The black charizard walked off, dragging his tail across the hot, sticky metal platform. A warmth that should've comforted his natural fire, but instead left him feeling even emptier.
He always figured he'd have to broach the subject with the others eventually. A part of Noctum even wondered if Yuna would let those details slip out on accident. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
Instead, Noctum had ripped that figurative bandage off himself. And it stung... in a way the charizard couldn't properly put into words.
In times like these, Noctum would've fallen back on the Aeon scriptures. But what good were those? How many were nothing but empty platitudes?
Noctum grimaced again. That's not right. As... upsetting as that possibility was, the charizard couldn't use it as a scapegoat. Not after he had told Yuna to focus on the present.
He didn't need Valkyrie's respect. Yuna still cared for him. That was what mattered... right?
Noctum was so lost in thought, he would've walked right into a metal pipe had he not heard shouts several meters to his left. The black charizard blinked a few times and turned to see Seifer leveling his horn at Gene, who stared at it with a mixture of boredom and amusement.
"What do you mean you couldn't send them all back?!" the keldeo barked. "You can open portals same as Yuna and Noctum!" The prosthetic horn flickered with red energy. "What's the point of all that bragging about your strength when you can't deliver on it?"
Evidently, Noctum wasn't the only one having a row with someone. Not that the charizard found Gene all that sympathetic. The mewtwo hadn't tried to endear himself to anyone in the group.
"The tar fumes giving you selective hearing or something?" Gene rolled his eyes. He reached a glowing index finger out to Seifer's horn and pushed it, tilting the keldeo's head away. "All those guys that got schlorped up by the oversized garbodor? Yeah, they're dead. There's no going back to Venish for any of them." The mewtwo's gaze sharpened. "Not unless you want them all eroding into Phantoms."
Seifer drew his lips back in a snarl. "But we saved them. You destroyed Exodes!" The keldeo stepped back, legs shaking. "Th... that's supposed to fix it. To fix them."
"Yeah, sure." Gene crossed his arms and lazily flicked his tail back and forth. "Maybe in whatever magical fairytale land you got trained in. But the fact of the matter is Exodes pumped that garbodor full of Malice and then he suffocated all those crew members." The mewtwo looked at the crystal in his shoulder. His eyes flickered violet. "There's no reversing that. They're part of the Qliphoth now. The sooner you accept that, the better it'll be for everyone."
Noctum's tail flame shrank. Even if Gene was telling the truth, there wasn't an ounce of sympathy behind his words. Almost like he didn't care.
"How can you say something so heartless?" Seifer huffed, nostrils flaring. "Those sailors had families and friends. People who deserve to know what happened. Who may very well need help because of this." The keldeo gestured toward the smog in the distance with a foreleg. "The Radiant Guard helps the people of Radiance."
Gene pinched his brow. "But you're not Radiant Guard anymore." The mewtwo shook his head in disbelief. "In fact, the very people you claim to serve made you into the fall guy for their failings. So, why are you still preaching like you're one of them?"
Noctum thought about interjecting... but Gene did have a point. If only that point didn't make the black charizard so... uncomfortable.
"It's the principle!" Seifer huffed. "Besides, you have no right to complain when you callously tossed that fact out without my permission!"
"I'm not complaining." Gene flicked to his right. "I'm saying you need to reevaluate your priorities." The mewtwo tapped his right index finger to his right temple. "I sifted through some of the sailors' memories. That Crowne Minister they were with got evacuated in time… while they were all left behind to get swallowed up by Eternatus."
Noctum swallowed hard. In the moment, he was too busy worrying about the tranced garbodor to think about it. A pang of guilt struck his crystal-filled gut.
"So, let me ask you this." Gene stepped toward Seifer, scowling. "If a Crowne Minister can't be assed to help his own ship's crew, why the hell should I believe your precious Radiant Guard is any better?" His eyes glowed deep blue. "And, on top of that, who do you think the Radiant government really serves?"
Seifer's eyes widened with every word Gene said. The fight drained out of the keldeo's face, along with his tan color. His eyes darted around as if the answer to Gene's questions was somewhere amidst the haze of Planet Bogdan.
Noctum looked down guiltily. He should've spoken up, but after chewing out Valkyrie earlier, a small part of him felt some satisfaction at seeing Seifer utterly flummoxed by Gene's logic. And the charizard resented himself for that. He might not have known Seifer long, but the keldeo was at least making an effort to be nicer toward him than when they first met. Which was more than Noctum could say for Gene.
"Seriously?! Do you get some sort of perverse joy out of kicking a 'mon while he's down?"
Noctum jumped. His tail flame doubled in size. "Y-Yuna?!"
He looked over his shoulder and watched the drakloak float toward Gene with a frown etched on her face. Jade waddled after her with Leo wrapped up in her wings. Nikki and Valkyrie brought up the rear, the latter still trying to stop her snout from bleeding.
How had Noctum missed her return? What about the distortion pillar? No, that would have to wait, because Yuna was squarely focused on Gene.
"I was hoping you trying to choke the spirit out of Reshiram was some freak one-off thing," Yuna growled, drawing startled looks from the others, including Noctum.
"He did what?!" The black charizard's eyes widened in alarm.
"Oh, yeah. He knocked me into the swamp, too." Jade puffed her cheeks out at Gene. "Meanie!"
"We get it," Yuna growled, before turning back to Gene. "As I was saying, I wanted it to be a one-time thing. Clearly it wasn't. I didn't think I'd prefer it when you treated all of this as a joke, but here we are."
Noctum swore he saw something black and... inky in Yuna's hands and the sides of her head. "Princess? Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Yuna waved the black charizard off. "He's the problem." She pointed at Gene. "What kind of leader are you? Brushing off civilians. Threatening and talking down to allies. It's… it's pathetic!"
A tense silence followed. Noctum cautiously spread his wings out, ready to leap to Yuna's aid if Gene flew off the handle. The mewtwo narrowed his eyes at Yuna. There were black sparks dancing around the Malice Crystal in his shoulder. It made Noctum's crystal stir. His gut squirmed and he was thankful it didn't audibly gurgle. In some regards, he was proud of Yuna for not backing down, but still worried for her safety, given what she just revealed Gene had tried to do.
However, though the mewtwo clenched his dark gray fists like he intended to attack, the ultimately turned away from Yuna, shoulders sagging. His tail dropped against the metal floor with a defeated thud.
"... you're right. I'm not much of a leader." Gene looked skyward. "Because I was never meant to be a rebel leader in the first place. I'm only here... because the real leader is missing."
Yuna used the train ride back to Horizon Academy to stumble through an explanation of what happened… sans the stuff with Reshiram. What made it hard for her was the dazed look in Noctum's eyes. He mentioned a blow to the head and the welt between his black horns was clear as day. There was also a nagging sense of an invisible feather duster tickling her chest. She figured it was the Soul Dew, which she was trying to ignore.
The dreepy tried going to her mental happy place. She was lying on the gray shag carpet of her stone wall bedroom with a hakamo-o and a vibrava opposite her. Yuna held small bottles of claw polish to use on her friends while they, in turn, painted her horns and the spokes on her tail ring.
"That's your happy place? Yeesh. That color scheme wouldn't feel out of place in a prison."
And just like that it all dissolved away into her mind's eye. Yuna fought to hide a frown. She didn't want to worry Noctum when he'd already gone through an ordeal on her behalf. However, Reshiram's presence wasn't helping her mood. Which was ironic because she should've been ecstatic.
Yuna produced an honest-to-God miracle. She had found the Sage of Truth, despite all the scriptures claiming Saint Reshiram sacrificed himself with the other Sages to end the Darkest Day. If this had happened before the day's events, Yuna would've done everything she could to get another transcontinental train up and running to get back home, where she would've undoubtedly been hailed as some sort of hero.
But no. Instead of the stern but wise Reshiram in the scriptures she'd summoned a bundle of nerves.
"That's not very nice, you know. And what's with all this 'god' and 'worship' business anyway?" Reshiram wondered. "Being a Sage meant I was a teacher. One with amazing tenure, sure, but still a teacher. Nothing worth fawning over or anything."
If Reshiram had disappeared around the Darkest Day, then there was a lot he'd have to catch up on.
"What's a lot? Gimme your best guess."
About eleven hundred years, give or take, Yuna responded. Her head was hurting again. Was this what it was like for psychic-types?
"E-Eleven hundred?!" Surprised squeaks echoed in Yuna's head. She honestly wasn't sure if that number was larger or smaller than Reshiram expected.
And she wouldn't get an answer, because the train pulled into Horizon Station. Yuna didn't even get the chance to rise out of her tan leather seat before Arianna floated into the train flanked by a couple of comfey nurses.
"The Chancellor is aware of what happened." The gardevoir nudged up her glasses. "I'm teleporting you to the infirmary immediately."
XxX
Nothing had broken through the melancholy shell that hardened around Shimmer. Not the soft silk of his favorite pink, fur-lined bathrobe. Not the cool velvet of his pink pillow case against his fluffy, cotton candy mane. And not the taste of a certain sylveon's honeydew lip gloss as he pressed his lips against Shimmer's.
Xander must've realized this, too, because he quickly broke the kiss off and sat up. He slid off Shimmer's belly and sat on a bunched-up section of Shimmer's sky-blue, down comforter. "What's going on, Shim? I thought we said we were going to have some quality time after the field trip." The sylveon's ears drooped. "Are you really that bummed the trip got upended? We've been to the Herbrides Lines so many times I've lost count. And it was your choice to run off with Vegna."
Shimmer looked into Xander's turquoise eyes, then past them to the diamond light fixture in the middle of the sky mural ceiling. "No, that's not it."
"Is this about your uncle, then?" Xander reached a ribbon out and wrapped it around Shimmer's foreleg. "I heard Magister Reinhardt remanded him to the Crowne Penitentiary until the trial."
Shimmer bit back the urge to scowl at Xander. After all, the ponyta had been there when Vegna gave that blasted feral bird the requisition to deliver to Herbrides' police station. And now his fate was in the hands of… well, he didn't know. Vegna refused to answer his questions. The nerve of that dusknoir! If the day hadn't gotten away from him, Shimmer would've gone straight to his mother and demanded she read Vegna the Riot Act.
And yet, though the thought got him heated, that wasn't the problem. "Uncle Benedict is innocent. No amount of trumped-up charges will change that. Some idiot inquisitor will have egg all over their face when this is over."
Xander frowned. "Well, if it's not that… then what?" He tucked his head and ran his other feeler along the black lace over his belly. "I put on one of my tightest outfits for you. If you weren't up for doing anything, you should've told me." He flopped down beside Shimmer, tilting his head toward the ponyta's. "Come on, Shim. Don't leave me in the dark."
"It's the dragon princess," Shimmer whispered, turning left to face the wall and the three modelling posters he'd chosen to adorn it.
One had him in a white suit with a matching bowtie and fur collar. In another, he was on his hindlegs in an open-neck polo shirt and striped stockings that went up to his thighs. And in the third, he wore an ocean-blue sundress and matching hat. Marker scribbles lined the poster's borders. Words of encouragement from influencers and celebrities applauding him for bucking traditions and setting new fashion trends.
"You mad because she ruined the trip?" Xander laughed. "C'mon, Shim. It doesn't matter. Once we bounce her team from the first leg, that'll be the end of her travels with the class."
Shimmer sighed again. "That's not it." He looked beside the posters, to a bookshelf lined with plaques, trophies, and the occasional snow globe. Awards for academic merit, beauty pageant placements, outstanding guest performances in PV shows. But there was one empty slot in the middle of the bookcase. A spot he'd kept empty since the day he started in the academy. A spot for the Crowne Cup.
The ponyta's brow furrowed. "Ignoring that she probably hurt Commander Seifer, there was something… different about her when she and the other troublemakers popped out of the distortion."
"Did she evolve or something?"
Shimmer shook his head. "Not physically. Her aura. It was so meek before she vanished. Now… it's like an iceberg. Tiny on the surface, but hiding something massive underneath."
"I see."
Silence, then Xander's ribbons draped over Shimmer's torso. A soft glow came from the ribbons. Shimmer relaxed somewhat. "I wouldn't worry about it, Shim," Xander whispered. "Even if she ends up being stronger than she looks, there's one thing we have that she can only dream of."
Shimmer turned his head slightly so Xander could see his raised brow. The sylveon leaned in so his head was next to Shimmer's. "Team synergy," he whispered, his ribbon slithering up to nestle Shimmer's chin.
A tingle ran down the pontya's spine. He glanced at his nightstand, and the framed photo of him beside an eevee with a pink ribbon and a farfetch'd struggling to hold up its massive leek.
"I suppose you're right," Shimmer said. "I guess I let the day's events get to my head." He chuckled softly.
"I concur," Xander purred. "So, why don't we do something to take your mind off of things, hmm?" The sylveon brushed some fur out of his face. "The first-years have an evening drill to run through. Want to head down to the locker room and rate the guys? And maybe, if that gets you in the mood, we can stage a tactical retreat?"
Blood rushed into Shimmer's cheeks. He smiled. "Sounds like a perfect distraction."
XxX
Groaning, Yuna flopped onto her pillow. Her gills brushed a black pillowcase. She grabbed a stufful doll to her right and wrapped her arms around it. "Well, that sucked."
A comfey nurse quickly examined her at the infirmary before concluding she had no injuries. Yuna couldn't say the same for her colleagues, however. They were all ushered back to beds while the same nurse shooed her off and told her she could visit tomorrow. Yuna begged the nurse to let her stay with Noctum, but Dr. Rafique showed up to turn her away. If the zarude was upset about seeing the group there again, he didn't let it show.
Baraz took her back to her room, but had to leave since he wasn't permitted to stay in the girls' dormitory. She figured a couple of security guards would be posted near her room or something. Not that it mattered. Yuna wanted to sleep and forget this day ever happened.
"Not to be that guy or anything, but sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make this go away."
Yuna grabbed the Soul Dew with her right hand, looking to yank it off and toss it off the bed. However, no matter how hard she tugged, the pendant wouldn't budge. Yuna pushed the stufful doll away and pulled the pendant with both hands.
No dice. It was stuck.
"It's not stuck," Reshiram said. "Now that my spirit's inside it, it's bonded with you. Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. I didn't think any empty Soul Dews existed anymore. Bahamut hadn't made any in a while, last I remember."
Yuna's brow furrowed. So now she was stuck with this thing? And Reshiram, too?
"Aww, you make it sound like a punishment." Reshiram whimpered. "Come on, I'm not a bad housemate. I pick up after myself, I do my own laundry, and I sweep up my fur when I'm shedding!" A beat passed. "Oh, wait… that stuff doesn't really apply if I'm dead, huh?"
Yuna buried her face in her pillow. Why me? All she wanted to do was bide her time and keep her head down until the treaty was signed and she could return home. But there was nothing normal about her time at Horizon Academy so far. She dreaded the very idea of getting out of bed the next morning. Who knew what horrors awaited her?
"The choices you make don't really matter."
Xeromus' statement replayed in her head. Did that crazy monster know something she didn't?
Reshiram cleared his throat. "Not to worry you or anything, but we do kind of need to discuss the whole me waking up from a lengthy slumber thing. Because there are some pretty big repercussions here. Like, world on the brink of collapse big."
Yuna lifted her head up and dragged her hands over her face. Okay, fine. She rose from her bed. You can't come out, though. This is the girls' dorm. If the guards hear a guy's voice, I'll get in serious trouble.
"That's okay. Everything you can see, I can see, too," Reshiram chirped.
Delightful.
… it wasn't. But there was nothing she could do about it.
Yuna lazily drifted toward her desk. The Aeon World Almanac sat in the middle, gifted by her parents to help with the move to Radiance. She flipped it open until she found two pages. One showing Bahamut's eight-pointed star. The other bearing World Ender's circle with five diamonds surrounding it.
I was taught that the world was shaped by Bahamut, the Luminous Creator. Yuna pointed to the sigil. He helped shepherd the world with the Luminous Sages, protectors who were blessed with some of Bahamut's power.
Yuna turned the page to a map of Etherium. The world used to be one large continent. Bahamut and the Sages didn't oversee it, however. That was left to a council. One with a lot of dragons, because their auras were most in tune with Bahamut's.
She paused and glanced at her Soul Dew. No interruptions. Was she right or was Reshiram trying to be polite? She looked expectantly, but didn't get an answer. So, Yuna flipped back to the previous pages. Then came the Darkest Day. A planet-sized daemon known as World Ender blotted out the heavens. Bahamut tried to stop it, but was destroyed. His light scattered.
The dreepy turned back to the map. World Ender's immense power fragmented the continent. But before it could completely wipe us out, the Luminous Sages banded together and sacrificed themselves to destroy World Ender. Yuna sighed. In the aftermath, dragons were blamed for the Darkest Day. Those who remained on the largest fragment of the original continent rallied around a group of fairy-types. They declared war on the dragons and those who supported Bahamut and His teachings.
Yuna placed her right hand in the middle of the map and moved it to the top left. The fairies and their allies drove the dragons into these volcanic mountains. They formed a kingdom. The one we're in right now, actually. She put her free hand on the Soul Dew. The dragons and those exiled with them were unhappy with their new living conditions. World Ender's attacks had rendered the environment far from hospitable. So, they continued mounting attacks to try and claw back some land from the fairies. But they were largely unsuccessful.
She flipped pages to another map. While similar to the first, there were large clusters of black swirls. An entire black circle surrounded the Kingdom of Radiance in the middle of the map. At some point, distortion began to sweep across the globe. The dragons stopped fighting the fairies and focused their efforts on warding off the distortion and rescuing one another from the mystery dungeons that lay inside.
Which brings us to today. Yuna shut the book. While the Aeon Kingdom, my home, has managed to keep the distortion from overrunning it, the fairies in the Kingdom of Radiance have been less successful. Mother told me they lost big, bustling cities to the distortion.
So, our two kingdoms are looking to make a treaty. My parents decided to send me to Radiance as a goodwill gesture.
… though after the week's events, Yuna couldn't say she had much goodwill left inside her.
She glanced down at the Soul Dew. No response. Yuna poked it. You going to say anything?
After a few seconds of silence, Reshiram piped up. "Okay, that makes things clearer." He paused. "Like, fifteen percent clearer at best, but that's fifteen percent better than before!"
Yuna banged her head on the almanac. Was she going to have to go through all that again? "What am I missing, then?" She couldn't keep that comment in her head.
The Soul Dew shimmered. Yuna tried to grab it, but a small tendril of white light popped out and plopped a toy-sized Reshiram on the almanac. "I thought I told you to stay in the gem," Yuna hissed.
"You did. But I thought this'd be easier." Reshiram looked up at her and flinched. "Don't swat me. I don't wanna be a pancake."
Yuna groaned. "Fine. Go ahead."
"Great. Lemme start with the easy one." He hopped off the back of the book and, grunting, tried to get it open. Yuna lifted her head and flipped the cover, allowing Reshiram to turn to the page with World Ender's sigil.
"See this?" He tapped one of the diamonds with a wing. "I don't know where or when the whole 'World Ender' thing came from… but that daemon is a planet-devouring behemoth known as Eternatus. And any tales of its death are greatly exaggerated."
Eternatus. The name clicked immediately for Yuna. It had to be the Natus that Xeromus kept referring to… and, by extension, the one in that chant from Runerigus. "How do you know that?" Yuna asked.
"Bahamut told me. Or, well, he told all the Sages." Reshiram stroked his chin. "Because he'd seen Eternatus in action before. Wiping out planets and all the life that they carried."
"… oh." Yuna looked down. Sure, one of Bahamut's teachings was that there were other worlds bearing life like Etherium did. But now Yuna wondered if Eternatus was the reason Bahamut had ever taught about such a thing.
Reshiram crossed his wings. "I think part of the reason he was so… obsessive about us Sages doing our best to preach harmony and cooperation was that he was terribly worried of Eternatus being drawn to the planet. He would always ramble about wicked hearts and maliciousness drawing Eternatus like a tauros to a miltank herd." His brow furrowed. "And I guess he was right about that in the end."
Yuna could've pressed that point, but there was something she was far more interested in. "What do you remember about the Darkest Day?"
Reshiram's luminescent fur frazzled. "Well, I remember Bahamut crashing into a mountain after getting struck by a single attack from Eternatus." He shuddered. "You were right about his light disappearing. All we found was a lump of black crystals condensed around this multicolored prism." He wrapped his wings over his torso. "I can still hear his screams of agony. None of us had ever seen him like that. He always knew how to hide if he was in pain."
"So, us Sages made a plan. We'd use the light Bahamut had given us in our Soul Dews." Reshiram pointed to Yuna's neck. "Bahamut tried to dissuade us. Said it would cost us our lives. But we were desperate. So, we sprang into action… heading to different parts of the continent. We linked our spirits together and, in tandem with Bahamut's light, created a seal that trapped Eternatus." He scratched the back of his neck. "The last thing I remember was the sensation that I was drifting off to sleep. And then I woke up in that Soul Dew."
His face scrunched up. "But I don't understand why I even woke up. Bahamut's light was supposed to be too powerful for anyone to safely contact unless they were trained." Reshiram shifted weight from one foot to the other. "I assumed, since you have one of his Soul Dews, he must've trained you. Except all the stuff you told me flies in the face of that idea."
He looked Yuna in the eye. "So, how did you break the seal?"
"I mean, you heard what I said to Noctum on the train," Yuna replied. The 'how' was obvious. It just happened. It was the 'why' that concerned her. And judging from what Reshiram had to say, he didn't have any answers.
"Yeah." Reshiram paced back and forth in front of the almanac. "Not only did you break my seal… you managed to access the space we trapped Eternatus in. Though I have no idea why my part of the seal ended up there to begin with." He slumped onto his rear. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This is a right fine mess we've fallen into. If we don't take action, the whole planet will be in trouble. If we're going to have any chance, we have to find the other Sages and break their seals, too."
Yuna frowned. "Me?" She raised her hands. "Look, I have no intention of diving back into the Qliphoth or fighting any Phantoms or anything like that. I'm just a dreepy."
Except that wasn't entirely true and Yuna knew that. "I mean… yeah, I'm a princess. But, like, look at me! I'm not a battler. I can't fight monsters if my life depended on it." She turned to her window and the blackout curtains draped over it. "Several people got hurt today… all to protect me. And I…"
Her voice trailed off as her right hand tingled. She looked down and found inky black pooling in her hand. Yuna was reminded of the spectral wings she summoned in the cathedral. She cleared her throat. "Okay, maybe I'm not entirely defenseless. But I don't think that's enough."
"Well, that's where I come in." Reshiram puffed his chest out. "Since I'm bonded to the Soul Dew, I can share my power with you."
Yuna frowned. "Uh, well, I appreciate the offer, but I'm not looking for any sort of truth-seeing magic." She couldn't imagine life as a living lie detector was any fun.
Granted, she wasn't exactly having fun now, but the point stood anyway.
"No, no. I mean like firepower." Reshiram tilted his head and coughed up a fireball. His cheeks reddened. "I promise the real goods are cooler." His expression blanked. "Err, okay, maybe not cooler. That'd be shameful for a fire-type. But, like, you get the idea."
"Right." Yuna had seen illustrations of Reshiram's flames. They were so powerful they had a shimmering blue color that no dragons or fire-types could match. "But, like, even with that power, we still need a plan. If this is as big as you say it is, we can't afford to fly blind. Or solo."
"Then rope in those people that were with you," Reshiram suggested. "They know the stakes. I'm sure they can help." He paused and looked down. "Well, okay, I'm not sure. Or even confident. But they're better than nothing."
What an endorsement. Yuna didn't like that idea one bit. "I can't ask them to get involved like that on my behalf." She looked down guiltily. "Certainly not after what happened to them today."
"You have to!" Reshiram hopped onto the book. "We can't afford to dilly-dally. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that some big putz with a bigger ego will come along and do something monumentally stupid!"
XxX
Vortex set his whiskey glass down with considerably more force than was necessary. He slumped back in his massive leather office chair, rubbing his brow. "How is it that one tiny dreepy can cause such a tyranitar-sized headache?" The charizard quickly held his free hand up. "Don't answer that. It's rhetorical."
Opposite him, Arianna nudged her glasses. "Of course, Chancellor."
"I swear, there must be a secret absol tribe stalking that girl," Vortex continued. "No one can possibly get into this much trouble by sheer happenstance." He stared at the two tiny ice cubes in his glass. "Maybe Vegna's right. Maybe she is cursed."
Arianna cleared her throat. "Apologies, Chancellor, but I feel I should mention that the salamence officer the Aeons left here to be the dragon-type Crowne Minister is talking to that dracozolt creature about the possibility someone's forging his correspondences."
Vortex rolled his eyes. "Delightful. And after this latest episode, it's going to be even harder to sweep things under the rug." He picked up the glass and swirled the ice cubes around. "Can anything else go wrong today?"
"Nrgk!"
Arianna jerked to her left, dropping her pen and notepad. Vortex's tail flame sparked. "Arianna?"
The gardevoir righted herself, but there was a distant look in her eyes. She opened her mouth, but the voice that came out wasn't hers.
"… congratulations, Chancellor. You got your wish."
Vortex's whiskey glass almost slipped right out of his hand. He managed to catch it at the last second. "Demerzel? What are you doing? Get out of my assistant's head!"
"My sincere apologies. This was easier than trying to teleport to the school." Demerzel stiffly swiveled Arianna's head left and right. "I just wanted to tell you that after hearing the Radiant Guard's briefing on the fiasco at Herbrides, Parliament decided to approve emergency funding for Project Icarus."
"Is this your idea of a joke?" Vortex's tail flame grew even brighter.
"Hardly. I'm not the pranking sort." Demerzel clumsily stepped toward Vortex's giant oak desk. "You will, however, have to provide updates to Parliament. Live updates."
Ah, there was the catch. Vortex frowned. He was not about to go showing the Icarus facility off to the louts in Parliament. The charizard sighed. "Will pictures and video footage suffice?"
"Only if you can guarantee none of it is doctored," Demerzel said.
Vortex raised his right hand. "On my honor as a charizard, you have my word."
Another clumsy step. This time back from Vortex's desk. Demerzel tilted his head. "I hope that counts for something."
"Of course it does," Vortex growled. "Now leave my assistant."
Demerzel nodded. "Very well. Though we both know there's nothing you can do to make me leave." He stiffly bowed Arianna's head. "Have a good night, Chancellor."
Arianna suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Vortex rose from his chair and flew over his desk, landing at her side.
"Nngh. My head. What happened?"
"Demerzel possessed you to tell me Icarus' funding got approved," Vortex said. He draped a wing over her back. "Are you okay?"
"I think so?" Arianna rubbed her temple. "My head's a bit fuzzy."
The charizard sighed in relief. "I'll get you a pain reliever." He hoisted the gardevoir to her feet.
"No, I'll be fine, Chancellor."
"You sure?"
"Yes." Arianna levitated her glasses back onto her face. "Now that you have the funds, what's your next move, sir?"
Vortex brought his wing back and stood up. "We get Minister Tessa—"
"It's Tesla, sir."
"Right, right." Vortex dismissed her with a wave. "We call Minister Tesla and tell him to meet us at Citadark Isle ASAP."
Arianna nodded. "Understood. I'll get right on it."
This felt like a table setting chapter. Mostly just solidifying and clarifying the information we already knew or suspected and giving us some downtime from the last action-packed segment. Also, Xander and Shimmer are a lot closer than I first realized. Interested to see whether the nebulous boundaries they've set wind up backfiring somehow.
Oh, and there were some nice character moments as well. My favorite was the description of Yuna's happy place. Paint those nails, gurl, and don't let Reshiram or anyone ruin your vibe.
The line I had the most to say about was this one:
"That's not very nice, you know. And what's with all this 'god' and 'worship' business anyway?" Reshiram wondered. "Being a Sage meant I was a teacher. One with amazing tenure, sure, but still a teacher. Nothing worth fawning over or anything."
It reminded me of the term 'vocational awe' as established by Fobazi Ettarh several years back. It was in reference to librarians and burn out, but it applies to the teaching profession as well. The dangers of mythologizing real figures are that they become symbols of reverence rather than the flawed people they were in truth. To quote Ettarh: "... when the rhetoric surrounding librarianship borders on vocational and sacred language rather than acknowledging that librarianship is a profession or a discipline, and as an institution, historically and contemporarily flawed, we do ourselves a disservice."
Another idea the article touches on is the concept of the library as a sacred place or a sanctuary. I found this interesting as well, because one could argue schools are viewed in a similar way. They're a place safe space of learning simultaneously operating separately from the rest of the world. Is this separation inherently a bad thing? No idea, honestly. But it ties in well with both the sanctity of the Academy, the exploration of isolation, and the emphasis on religion you have here. Could argue it has a certain... synergy.
Also, I'm not sure I've mentioned it yet, but I like how you're incorporating Judaism into the story. Even if it's just a few phrases sprinkled throughout, it adds a lot specific to your upbringing. Does a lot to personalize things. And I learn new things, which I also like quite a bit. Keep up the good work!
Heya, things have been a bit hectic on my end and am about to be dead activity-wise for a little over a week. Though I figured that getting out one last fresh batch of fic feedback would be as good a note as any to leave off on before then.
Chapter 38
Section 592: Fallers A term designated to individuals displaced in reality due to an EFE (see "Section 107: Entropic Fissure Event" for more information). Due to the sensitive nature of such specimens, field agents should employ the standard three-pronged classification system based on the subject's mental state, physical state, and relative degree of space-time displacement.
Cognitive State
Class A: Subject retains baseline cognitive function with no observed limitations.
Class B-1: Subject displays mild memory impairment as indicated by recent retrograde and/or anterograde amnesia. Other cognitive elements are intact.
Class B-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class B-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class C-1: Subject displays significant memory impairment as indicated by retrograde amnesia stretching back at least half their estimated life cycle. Anterograde amnesia may or may not be present. Other cognitive elements are intact.
Class C-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class C-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class C-3: Subject meets the criteria for Class C-1 and shows greater than four additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class D-1: Subject has complete retrograde amnesia with or without the presence of anterograde amnesia.
Class D-2: Subject meets the criteria for Class D-1 and shows at least one but no more than three additional cognitive deficits. See Appendix Y for a complete listing.
Class E: Subject displays complete retrograde amnesia and greater than four additional cognitive deficits. This combination makes partaking in any activities of daily living difficult.
Class F: Subject is in an unarousable state.
Oh, it's this bit that you teased. Though reading through the laundry list of Faller categories... it really sounds like Jade and Leo were Fallers at some point before they both bit it, since that would explain why they got entire chunks of their memory nuked from existence.
"I'm sorry… what? Dimensions? Lorekeeper?" If Yuna's head was spinning before, it was throbbing now. And as a drakloak, she no longer had gills to use as her indicator. That would take getting used to.
"I think it's like a storyteller?" Leo looked expectantly at Alder.
Alder: "Oi! Accuracy is a part of our job too. I'm not just spinning yarns for the sake of it!" >v>
Yuna: "... That we know of." -_-;
"Excellent way of thinking about it, Leo." The braviary applauded Leo with his wings. Yuna realized Alder had some sort of raggedy, tan cloth loosely hanging around his neck and upper chest. A necklace with the same yellow wheel as the one around Leo's chest bounced around Alder's neck.
"Thanks!" Leo chirped. "And I like your poncho." He blinked quickly. "I dunno why I know it's a poncho, but it's silly. In a good way."
That's... just straight-up Alder from the games in some universe, isn't it? Affected by whatever voodoo Fenrir mentioned allows humans to become Pokémon inside Natus, but still.
Yuna had to interject for her own sanity. "Hang on." She flew between the two of them. "Someone loop me in here, because I got lost before the crazy train even left its station."
Laughing heartily, Alder rubbed the back of his head. "No, no, it's quite all right, miss… umm…"
"Yuna." The drakloak looked down. "Princess Yuna." She wasn't sure why she blurted her title out. Some inner dragon desire to outdo the braviary's "lorekeeper" thing?
Yuna: "Being a 'Princess' is supposed to imply youth..." >.<
Alder: "With all due respect Princess, but from experience, a lot of holders of your title spend a good half of their lives just waiting to take the throne, so..." ^v^;
The braviary flummoxed. "Of course." He bowed his head repeatedly. "Like I said… the whole 'lorekeeper' thing is unofficial. Just a title I got from my teacher who got it from his teacher who got it from her teacher and, well, you get the idea." Alder twirled his right wingtip around, whistling. "All it means is that the leader of our tribe tasked me with guarding important information."
Wait, what is "Shaftra" from anyways? Since I couldn't find a hit on Bulbapedia or FFwiki for it. Or was that just a "random name to flow off the tongue" thing?
Yuna stared blankly at Alder. The braviary rubbed his white crest, laughing nervously. "Ah, right. You don't know where that is, do you?"
"Should I?" The drakloak quirked a brow.
"Probably not." Alder's nervous laughter grew. "And, to be frank, I honestly thought the information I guarded wasn't that important… until we ended up here. Now I'm pretty sure it's quite important."
Yuna: "... Wait, what's so special about this place again?"
Leo: "It looks cool?" ^^
- Blink moment -
Yuna: "... How have you been this quiet and collected for this long anyways?" .-.
Right. Here. Some sort of… distortion pocket far larger on the inside. Yuna again looked around. The crystalline double helixes in the distance gave off purple sheens that reflected off glass hexagons floating in seemingly random directions.
"Where exactly is here?" Yuna wondered.
"Well, I was kind of hoping the fact you two showed up here meant you knew the answer." Alder continued rubbing his feather crest.
Yuna puffed out her cheeks. "You were here first."
Leo: "Mom, what's that last word mean again?"
Yuna: "... Nothing you need to worry about, just pretend you didn't hear that." >_>;
"Not entirely, my dear." Alder raised his left wing… and stuck it right through his head. "I'm here in spirit, though! And that counts!" Though he immediately looked down at his talons and whispered, "I think?"
Deep breaths. Yuna didn't even know where to begin untangling this nightmare of a knot. "Okay, let's start simple, then. Do you, perhaps, have a guess where we are."
Yuna: "I swear to god, if your answer is another image macro..." >_>;
Alder rubbed his chin with a wing. "Tough to say. Could be a small dimensional pocket. Could be an instability in the fabric of reality itself that, left unchecked, could unravel into the collapse of the entire omniverse!"
Alder: "So, you know. Lots of possibilities there."
Yuna: "I'm sorry, how are you this unbothered by a place that could potentially destroy the omniverse?!"
Yuna smacked her forehead, groaning. There's nothing remotely simple about any of that! At least a few of those terms went right over her head. More questions to add to her growing list.
"But what would it be doing in Eternatus?" Leo wondered, tilting his head left and right.
Yuna: "Why, what's wrong with being in Eternatus-"
- Beat moment -
Yuna: "Okay, scratch that since there's a lot wrong with us being in there. Why are you so startled that we're in Eternatus? Aren't you here too?" >_>;
"Okay." Alder tucked his wings in and paced back and forth. "Definitely leaning toward the latter theory, then. Oh dear… entropic fissures are not the type of thing you want dropped on your lap when you're still getting your bearings as a lorekeeper." He tilted his head forward and a book fell out of his head crest. Alder caught it in his right wing. "At least, if this thing's really to be believed."
I mean, if you have to ask the question, probably not. ^^;
Then again, if it could help her get back to Outpost R3X, Yuna didn't care if this braviary was a blabberbeak. "And just what is that information?" the drakloak asked.
Alder looked down at the book, then back at Yuna. "I suppose… the simplest explanation is that it's a… compendium of sorts. Probably written by the Guardians who abandoned the outpost we converted into our monastery."
inb4 it's the story's equivalent to D's Journal from Bravely Default. Since... yeah, that would be pretty fitting to have as a book filled with knowledge linked to a Faller.
Yuna wasn't sure whether to be grateful for a simple explanation or frustrated by how vague it was. "Guardians? Like some sort of army?"
"Tough to say. Guardians is one of… several different terms to describe this group of dimension-hoppers." Alder opened the book and telekinetically flipped through its pages. "Cosmic Protectors. The Network. Overseers. Councilors. Eidolons. Socialites. Aegis. The Illuminati." He rubbed his temple with a wing. "Honestly, there are multiple pages here with suggestions for what labels to use with favored and unfavored dimensions."
Oh, Yuna's just going to straight-up become a summoner here, huh? Since I saw that 'Eidolons' in that list, and I've played enough Final Fantasy to know that that's a term for summons in multiple games from the franchise.
"Aegis" made me blink since I've been playing Xenoblade 2 lately, and if that had been pluralized...
Aaaaand the braviary lost Yuna again. What was more frustrating was how attentively Leo sat in front of Alder, like he was front row center in a classroom. He couldn't seriously be getting all of this… could he?
Leo's... actually getting all of that, isn't he? Since I was wondering why he was so suspiciously silent and absent from this scene.
… Except Leo clearly knew a lot for a literal newborn. And Yuna couldn't just overlook that. "Uh, Leo?" The drakloak tilted her head slightly. "You've been very attentive. Is there something you'd like to ask the nice braviary?"
Leo enthusiastically nodded. "The Guardians… are they related to the awmiverse?"
"The 'omniverse,' Leo." Alder pointed his right wing at him. "And you're absolutely right." He flipped the book open again. "If this is correct, the Guardians are protectors of the omniverse. But they watch over some dimensions more closely than others."
... Oh, so that's why the cover art to this story is modeled after Avengers: Infinity War's theatrical poster.
Even though she didn't exactly know what an omniverse was, Yuna could piece it together. It sounded like "universe," and Alder spoke about dimensions, so it must have referred to a large number of universes. And Yuna was willing to bet that their universe was one of the ones these Guardians weren't watching closely, given how badly things seemed from her point of view.
inb4 they've actually just been watching it like a hawk, but faceplanting repeatedly on account of the local Serpent Eating the Ground.
But the very thought of other universes was enough to make Yuna dizzy. She needed to change the subject quickly. "So, Alder…" The drakloak wrung her hands together. "I can't help but notice your necklace looks an awful lot like the wheel around Leo's body."
Pink feathers glowing, Alder telekinetically lifted the necklace to eye level. "So it does!"
Yuna: "So... are you going to explain why, or...?"
Alder: "..."
Why did he need to double check it? Yuna mentally groaned. She managed to keep a straight face, however. "I don't suppose you or that fancy book of yours could tell us what Leo is? Because I don't have a clue." "And I don't, either," Leo chirped.
Because he's not a terribly experienced Lorekeeper, so are you really surprised that he wouldn't instantly know of Pokémon he's not familiar with?
"Hmm." Again using his psionics, Alder rapidly flipped through the book. "Let me see. Belly wheel. Belly wheel. Belly… aha!" The braviary slapped his white wings against the book triumphantly. "The color scheme's quite different… and he's much smaller, but I'm fairly sure Leo here is an arceus."
Yuna: "What in Etherium is an 'Arceus'?" .-.
Alder: "Hey, I'm just reading what the book's saying, Princess. They're not exactly common Pokémon in my dimension either." ^v^;
"Arceus." Alder bobbed his head. "I'd, uh, show you the picture, but since I'm a spiritual projection, you wouldn't actually see the book's contents."
"N-No, that's not it." Yuna waved her hands back and forth in front of her face. "It's just—"
Leo burst out laughing. "He said 'arse!' That means butt!" The cosmic arceus wiggled his dark blue hips and star cloud tail. "I'm a butt! I'm a butt!" he sang.
Oh, I see we're going with JPN pronunciations here. Though Leo's really showing his maturity there.
Yuna looked away to stop herself from joining his laughter. She cleared her throat. "Well, err, anyway, I've never heard of arceus before."
Alder closed the book and held it up. "Outside of this book, I haven't, either." He looked at Leo. "But the fact that he appeared in this…" His voice trailed off. "Huh. We really need a simpler name for this entropic fissure, assuming that's what it is. Perhaps 'instability?'"
"What about 'mystery dungeon?'" Yuna offered, because this strange pocket dimension certainly lined up with what she thought dungeons were like before she began diving into Eternatus on the regular.
"Already in use for other purposes, but I admire the enthusiasm." Alder chuckled. "Let's go with 'anomaly." He nodded to himself. "As I was saying, Leo's appearance in this anomaly, right when I discovered it through my own meditation, has to be significant."
Alder: "(Aren't you not supposed to know about that given that you're from the Final Fantasy-themed setting and that's from Chrono Trigger?) And let's... stick with 'anomaly' really. Better captures the 'weird' factor."
Yuna was about to interject and ask why she was in the anomaly, but then she remembered she was holding Leo when the anomaly pulled him in. "I suppose." She rubbed her cheek with her hand. "What, do you think Leo can somehow fix this place?"
"That's my assumption," Alder stroked his chin with his left wing. "Leo, do you notice anything unusual?"
The cosmic arceus tilted his head. "Hmm." He looked around for several seconds. Leo's blue eyes suddenly sparkled. "Ah! There!" He dashed off to the right.
"What? Where are you going?" Yuna floated after him. "There's no ground up ah—"
Parts of the nearest crystalline double helix flew toward the platform, forming a bridge in front of Leo. Yuna's tail crinkled. "N-Never mind." She continued behind him, looking around nervously.
Yuna: "Okay, never mind, 'Anomaly's a pretty fitting name for this place!" O_O;
Alder: "Told ya so, Princess."
The farther Leo went, the clearer it was that the bridge was leading to something. It was… a mishmash of floating glass and energy balls. Yuna didn't recognize anything about it at first, but once they were only a few meters away, she realized there was a broken wheel in the middle of it.
A wheel exactly like Leo's.
Before Yuna could call Leo, the cosmic arceus pranced toward the floating debris and leaped into the center.
"Leo, wait!" Yuna threw her arms up to shield her eyes from a bright flash. When the light faded, Leo sat in the broken wheel. "G-Get down from there, please. It could be dangerous!"
A bit late there, Yuna. Surely nothing bad will come of this, right...?
"It's okay, Mom," Leo chirped. "It's like a puzzle. I gotta put the pieces back together."
The drakloak looked around at the glass and energy balls. Nothing about them screamed puzzle. "Are you, um, sure about that?" She rubbed her shoulder.
"Positive." Leo squinted. "I just gotta put on my thinking cap." He squeezed his eyes shut and, to Yuna's befuddlement, a wide-brimmed hat poofed onto Leo's head. It had "thinking" scrawled across its brim.
Yuna: "... Is this even safe right now?" .-.
Alder:
Yuna: "Oh yeah, that's really reassuring." ._.;
They watched together in silence for several minutes while Leo pulled the floating rubble together, forming a… mural.
A mural of a rift. Purple and spiraling. Bigger than the portals Yuna could generate, that was for sure.
Then a loud click rang out through the area. Leo opened his eyes and his literal thinking cap disappeared in a stream of blue and white light. "All done!" He hopped out of the mural, puffy tail wagging. "What do you think?"
Yuna: "... Pretty sure that I should be really, really concerned right about now." O_O;
Leo: "Huh? But why, mom? What's wrong?" :?
"I think you've fixed the anomaly!" Alder clapped his wings together. "Oh, well done, Leo. I daresay you can soundly handle them."
Yeah, but how? Yuna wondered. She blinked a few times, then frowned. "Wait, them?' Like… there are others?"
"Absolutely." Alder looked up. The double helixes and pokémon silhouettes in the distance were fading away in multicolored streams. "I fear we're on the brink of a dimensional cataclysm. And the only way to stop it is to seek out the anomalies and repair them."
Yuna: "Wait, but I've already got needles that I need to pull to deal with World Ender. How on earth am I supposed to-?" .-.
Alder: "Add it to your list of objectives?"
Seriously? I don't have time for something like that! Things were bad enough with the Needles and Eternatus. Yuna couldn't handle something even worse getting piled on top of that. "So, what do we do?"
Oh, so Yuna is freaking out about having more shoveled into her lap to deal with. Though I'm admittedly not sure how this is going to jibe with the Needle plot or if it's just getting eaten by going up one more rung of the cosmic importance ladder.
"The anomaly's fading." Alder folded his wings up. "Find me on Planet Chakran and we'll talk more."
"Chakran?" Yuna looked around in a panic. "Is that in Eternatus?"
"No."
"Then how are we supposed to get to it?!" Yuna growled.
It was too late for an answer, however. The anomaly finished dissolving away and purple light swallowed Yuna and Leo up.
Oh, so Yuna is going to become a Faller in short order. Pretty sure that that's playing with fire since I'm pretty sure that the last couple chapters strongly implied that her headspace is sustaining Fluff Dergin and Chocolate Noodle... sounds like a recipe for disaster.
... Or I suppose they could pull a FTL drive from out of Eternatus given that Gene has those and use that to get around. Assuming that that would even work.
"So, let me get this straight." Noctum stopped pacing and looked at Jade. "The princess just… disappeared inside that pillar of distortion?"
"Eeyup."
"And you made no attempt to stop her?"
Jade shrugged. "She got sucked in. Like shed scales down the drain." The salugia twirled around, making gurgling noises.
Noctum: "... I am so dead if the King and Queen find out about this."
Valkyrie grunted from her position leaning against a glass tube with a hydraulic pump inside. "And we already heard the distortion's been repelling people when they try to approach. Asking the same questions over and over won't get you anywhere, hotshot." The garchomp shook her head. "Face it. Nothing we can do right now."
Noctum couldn't brush Valkyrie off this time. Not after all the things Yuna had said. About his failings. About their culture. About Bahamut. Even though Yuna insisted he shouldn't blame himself, something burned inside his gut.
Oh, so Noctum was significantly less okay with that talk with Yuna last chapter than he came off as being at first glance. Guy sure knows how to put on a brave face.
The black charizard turned toward her, snorting purple fire from his nostrils. "At least I'm trying to do something to help the princess." He pointed a talon at Valkyrie. "What kind of bodyguard abandons their charge on a whim? I don't think I've even seen you two together for more than a few minutes!"
The one that doubles as an active hitman, but let's not talk too much about that right here and now. ^^;
"The fake kind. Duh," Nikki scoffed from her vantage point atop a stack of crates. Noctum glared at her with a look that screamed she wasn't helping. The toxtricity raised her arms in surrender. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. That was rhetorical. Shutting up now."
Also, that. Though I suspect that Noctum isn't the only one shooting her a look that could kill at the moment.
Valkyrie didn't move from bracing against the tube. She kept her gaze trained on Noctum. "Don't take out your frustrations on me. Not my fault your obsessive doting over your precious princess isn't good for anything." She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I warned you about this. Maybe this'll help get the silver spoon out of your—"
Noctum moved without thinking. Before Valkyrie could finish her insult, Noctum Phantom Warped directly in front of her… and socked her right in the snout. The back of the garchomp's head hit the glass tube, leaving a small crack. Noctum pulled his hand away. Bits of blue and purple dragonfire faded to show red stains on his normally black knuckles.
Whelp, we have officially found Noctum's trigger(s). Didn't think we'd ever get a chance to see him snap out of "submissive doormat" mode in front of others, but here we are.
"The hell?" Valkyrie staggered away from him, forearm pressed firmly to her snout to stop the blood oozing from her nostrils.
"Oh ho!" Nikki rubbed her hands together. "Now this is entertainment! Birdbrain, get me some popcorn!"
Noctum: "I... am going to regret this in about 5 seconds, aren't I?"
Nikki:
"No, no. Keep it up!"
"Do you see a popcorn maker around here?" Jade responded. "Wait, what am I saying?" She awkwardly waddled toward Noctum. "Heya, buddy, maybe we should calm down and—"
Noctum snarled at Jade. The salugia hopped back with a frightened squawk. Her tail flaps curled up and released some pink smoke. Noctum ignored her antics and turned back to Valkyrie.
"Don't you dare—" He stomped his foot on the ground for emphasis, "—act like you know anything about me or what I've been through."
Okay, that's officially confirmed as Noctum's trigger. Considering what we've seen of his past in earlier chapters. I... uh... don't really blame him for having a normal one right now.
Jade: "Um... yeah, you kinda brought that one on yourself, fish face. Even if I'm starting to get the sense that I'd ought to be anywhere but here right now."
The Malice Crystal in his belly flickered with purple light. Noctum didn't care. He was so, so sick of taking grief from Valkyrie. He'd tried being patient. That was what the Sages preached. But if Bahamut really wasn't as benevolent as the scriptures made him out to be, then to hell with patience! The black charizard didn't care if Valkyrie was stronger. It was past time he stood up for himself.
Oh, so it's his worldview getting smashed to pieces that's giving him this newfound boldness... pretty sure that that is a sign that this is about to end terribly, but... ^^;
He stepped toward her again. "Yes, I 'dote' over Yuna, because I owe her family." Noctum snorted out dragonfire. "They saved me from years of wandering Aeon's cities and wastelands, begging for any little scrap of food I could get my claws on." He bared his fangs at Valkyrie. "Some of the things I did — the humiliation I endured — I'd only wish on my worst enemies."
Valkyrie's arms slackened. Blood dribbled down her snout and dripped onto the metal platform.
Considering how broke and deprived the Aeon Kingdom sounds from a macro level... I... strongly suspect that Noctum's story isn't particularly unique out there.
"Wait," Nikki whispered. Noctum almost didn't hear her over the ringing in his ears. "You were homeless?"
Noctum nodded.
"A… as a kid?" Nikki swallowed hard. "What about your parents?"
"Never knew them," the charizard said. "My egg… hatched on the outskirts of some sulfur pits. Alone."
That... hurt to read, really. Noctum really has had an unenviable life.
Valkyrie looked ready to say something. Noctum wouldn't let her. He jabbed a claw into her chest. "So, no, you don't get to stand there and judge me or my choices. Because if it wasn't for the Aeon royals…"
Grimacing, Noctum stepped back. His tone dropped to barely a whisper. "… I might not even be here."
And cue them turning out to have a mountain of skeletons in the closet. Since I vividly remember "royal benefactors turning out to be ultra-dodgy" being a major plot point in multiple FF games that I've played.
Silence followed, though Noctum's ears still rang. Louder than the whirring and humming of tubes pumping tar up from the pits below the outpost. He saw a few skorps out of the corner of his eye, nervously whispering amongst one another.
"… geez, dude. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
Noctum held his right arm up, blocking Nikki from his view. "Don't." His tail flame shrank. An awful gnawing tugged at his gut. No doubt the Malice Crystal was reacting to this. Had it… amplified his anger in some way? Noctum wasn't sure… and didn't even care. He just wanted to see Yuna. But she was dealing with that distortion pillar.
... I hadn't even considered that as a possible thing affecting Noctum's state of mind. Boy is it sure great that that's hanging over your head while you're being forced to confront the possibility that everything that you've taken for granted to underpin your worldview might be a lie.
The black charizard walked off, dragging his tail across the hot, sticky metal platform. A warmth that should've comforted his natural fire, but instead left him feeling even emptier.
He always figured he'd have to broach the subject with the others eventually. A part of Noctum even wondered if Yuna would let those details slip out on accident. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
Instead, Noctum had ripped that figurative bandage off himself. And it stung... in a way the charizard couldn't properly put into words.
I mean, you only drug out your darkest and most humiliating chapters of your life in front of a group. I... wouldn't exactly be Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows afterwards myself.
In times like these, Noctum would've fallen back on the Aeon scriptures. But what good were those? How many were nothing but empty platitudes?
Noctum grimaced again. That's not right. As... upsetting as that possibility was, the charizard couldn't use it as a scapegoat. Not after he had told Yuna to focus on the present.
He didn't need Valkyrie's respect. Yuna still cared for him. That was what mattered... right?
I get that you're in a bad place and kinda grasping at straws right now, Noctum. But that doesn't seem remotely healthy to have as a thought process.
Noctum was so lost in thought, he would've walked right into a metal pipe had he not heard shouts several meters to his left. The black charizard blinked a few times and turned to see Seifer leveling his horn at Gene, who stared at it with a mixture of boredom and amusement.
"What do you mean you couldn't send them all back?!" the keldeo barked. "You can open portals same as Yuna and Noctum!" The prosthetic horn flickered with red energy. "What's the point of all that bragging about your strength when you can't deliver on it?"
Evidently, Noctum wasn't the only one having a row with someone. Not that the charizard found Gene all that sympathetic. The mewtwo hadn't tried to endear himself to anyone in the group.
Oh, so I'm not the only one who noticed that Gene was being a giant, abrasive asshole to everyone in his orbit.
"The tar fumes giving you selective hearing or something?" Gene rolled his eyes. He reached a glowing index finger out to Seifer's horn and pushed it, tilting the keldeo's head away. "All those guys that got schlorped up by the oversized garbodor? Yeah, they're dead. There's no going back to Venish for any of them." The mewtwo's gaze sharpened. "Not unless you want them all eroding into Phantoms."
Seifer drew his lips back in a snarl. "But we saved them. You destroyed Exodes!" The keldeo stepped back, legs shaking. "Th... that's supposed to fix it. To fix them."
"Yeah, sure." Gene crossed his arms and lazily flicked his tail back and forth. "Maybe in whatever magical fairytale land you got trained in. But the fact of the matter is Exodes pumped that garbodor full of Malice and then he suffocated all those crew members." The mewtwo looked at the crystal in his shoulder. His eyes flickered violet. "There's no reversing that. They're part of the Qliphoth now. The sooner you accept that, the better it'll be for everyone."
I can't tell if Gene just legit doesn't care, or if he's pulling an Akemi Homura where he's just withdrawing after seeing enough messed-up stuff to burn him out for an undead lifetime and hiding his feelings behind a stoic exterior.
"How can you say something so heartless?" Seifer huffed, nostrils flaring. "Those sailors had families and friends. People who deserve to know what happened. Who may very well need help because of this." The keldeo gestured toward the smog in the distance with a foreleg. "The Radiant Guard helps the people of Radiance."
Gene pinched his brow. "But you're not Radiant Guard anymore." The mewtwo shook his head in disbelief. "In fact, the very people you claim to serve made you into the fall guy for their failings. So, why are you still preaching like you're one of them?"
Noctum thought about interjecting... but Gene did have a point. If only that point didn't make the black charizard so... uncomfortable.
Because this goes beyond all of that and giving people closure about the fate of their loved ones if you can is a matter of basic decency?
After all, it wasn't the sailors or their families who screwed over Seifer's life.
"It's the principle!" Seifer huffed. "Besides, you have no right to complain when you callously tossed that fact out without my permission!"
"I'm not complaining." Gene flicked to his right. "I'm saying you need to reevaluate your priorities." The mewtwo tapped his right index finger to his right temple. "I sifted through some of the sailors' memories. That Crowne Minister they were with got evacuated in time… while they were all left behind to get swallowed up by Eternatus."
Gene: "Yeah, wonderful people you used to work for there."
Seifer: "Th-That's even more reason to try and help them! Not less!"
Noctum swallowed hard. In the moment, he was too busy worrying about the tranced garbodor to think about it. A pang of guilt struck his crystal-filled gut.
"So, let me ask you this." Gene stepped toward Seifer, scowling. "If a Crowne Minister can't be assed to help his own ship's crew, why the hell should I believe your precious Radiant Guard is any better?" His eyes glowed deep blue. "And, on top of that, who do you think the Radiant government really serves?"
I mean, not that Gene isn't being a massive asshole who's zeroing out his audience sympathy in live-time, but he's got a point there.
Seifer's eyes widened with every word Gene said. The fight drained out of the keldeo's face, along with his tan color. His eyes darted around as if the answer to Gene's questions was somewhere amidst the haze of Planet Bogdan.
Noctum looked down guiltily. He should've spoken up, but after chewing out Valkyrie earlier, a small part of him felt some satisfaction at seeing Seifer utterly flummoxed by Gene's logic. And the charizard resented himself for that. He might not have known Seifer long, but the keldeo was at least making an effort to be nicer toward him than when they first met. Which was more than Noctum could say for Gene.
Narrator: "To answer the question, yes. Yes, he does."
He looked over his shoulder and watched the drakloak float toward Gene with a frown etched on her face. Jade waddled after her with Leo wrapped up in her wings. Nikki and Valkyrie brought up the rear, the latter still trying to stop her snout from bleeding.
How had Noctum missed her return? What about the distortion pillar? No, that would have to wait, because Yuna was squarely focused on Gene.
"I was hoping you trying to choke the spirit out of Reshiram was some freak one-off thing," Yuna growled, drawing startled looks from the others, including Noctum.
"He did what?!" The black charizard's eyes widened in alarm.
Considering how livid Yuna's dialogue reads, somehow I was expecting something more "angry" than a frown there.
Also, I can clearly see that things are about to go places in this scene. Places that I doubt are good. .-.
"Oh, yeah. He knocked me into the swamp, too." Jade puffed her cheeks out at Gene. "Meanie!"
"We get it," Yuna growled, before turning back to Gene. "As I was saying, I wanted it to be a one-time thing. Clearly it wasn't. I didn't think I'd prefer it when you treated all of this as a joke, but here we are."
Noctum swore he saw something black and... inky in Yuna's hands and the sides of her head. "Princess? Are you all right?" he asked.
Yuna: "What do you think?" >:|
Noctum: "U-Uh... well... o-obviously not, but I was just trying to be polite."
"I'm fine." Yuna waved the black charizard off. "He's the problem." She pointed at Gene. "What kind of leader are you? Brushing off civilians. Threatening and talking down to allies. It's… it's pathetic!"
Uh... Yuna? As satisfying as it is to see Gene getting crap heaped on him, considering what Exodes had to say about how your power worked, you might want to be a bit more careful about those proverbial rocks you're chucking around. .-.
A tense silence followed. Noctum cautiously spread his wings out, ready to leap to Yuna's aid if Gene flew off the handle. The mewtwo narrowed his eyes at Yuna. There were black sparks dancing around the Malice Crystal in his shoulder. It made Noctum's crystal stir. His gut squirmed and he was thankful it didn't audibly gurgle. In some regards, he was proud of Yuna for not backing down, but still worried for her safety, given what she just revealed Gene had tried to do.
However, though the mewtwo clenched his dark gray fists like he intended to attack, the ultimately turned away from Yuna, shoulders sagging. His tail dropped against the metal floor with a defeated thud.
"... you're right. I'm not much of a leader." Gene looked skyward. "Because I was never meant to be a rebel leader in the first place. I'm only here... because the real leader is missing."
I mean, I kinda gathered that something was up with the way Gene was running the ship, but still.
And onto the post-mortem:
I... have no clue how on earth you manage to do it, but somehow, you've managed to make every ending for the past -checks notes- 7 chapters into something that brought out a surprise that I usually didn't see coming, this one included.
I mean, it was a bit of a slower chapter this time around, but considering how we're still reeling from the aftereffects of the last needle, I think that it can be forgiven. Especially when your transitional chapters still manage to pull some "wait, what" moments like these.
I'm honestly not sure what the new equilibrium in this story is going to look like after this point, since just this chapter, we've discovered that the fate of the entire multiverse of this setting is at stake, the crew aboard the Polaris ship that got sucked into all of this is just flatly dead, and Gene isn't the real rebel leader. Every time I think that things are starting to simmer down, a new stick of dynamite gets thrown and blows something up. And considering what I remember of teased snippets of what awaits the gang back in Venish... I'm honestly not sure when we're going to see something approaching a "normal" again.
But hey, I'm not complaining. Since it definitely keeps me on the edge of my seat with this story, and this chapter was no exception. Looking forward to picking up your next chapter when it comes in @Ambyssin . Since I'm honestly excited to see what this story has in store for its future. ^^
Chapter 39: SPECIAL ~ The World's Strongest Pokémon
Chapter 39: SPECIAL ~ The World's Strongest Pokémon
February 6, 19XX
MEW gave birth. We named the newborn Mewtwo.
The Multiparity Exogenous Womb finally produced a viable specimen, but it is nowhere close to what the sponsor is looking for. What I'm looking for.
Height: 10 cm. Weight: 0.3 kg. Heart rate: 190 bpm. Blood pressure: 50/30 mmHg.
Between that and Mewtwo's... friability to the probes, we had no choice but to place it in a stasis tube.
I wanted to think B was blowing smoke when he said the incomplete DNA was too unstable, but he's right. Even if we place more embryos in MEW, it won't matter. At best, they will be just as premature as Mewtwo. At worst, they will abort like every embryo before it, wasting precious resources.
To combat this, B suggested augmentation with human DNA.
(...)
But I can't lose all this progress. Not when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not when I can finally hold my sweet little girl's hand once more.
So, the choice is obvious. If it means he'll continue sponsoring my work, then I'll do the gene splicing.
The only thing I need to be sure of is who provides the genetic sample. No doubt the sponsor would want to do it, but I cannot allow that to happen.
Even research as ethically gray as this has a line. I refuse to allow Mewtwo to share his genes. It would spell disaster for all of Kanto.
XxX
Weightlessness.
It was floating. It didn't know why it knew it was floating, only that it was sure of it.
The next thing it registered was warmth. Again, it wasn't sure how it knew what "warmth" was. But it knew it was warm. And it liked that. Warmth was nice. It wanted more warmth.
This was troubling. It knew things. It could think. But what was it? Why was it thinking? Why did it know about concepts like weight and temperature?
Perhaps if it broke through the darkness in front of it?
Yes, that was it. It knew how to do that, too. Very simple. Just a few tiny muscles to move.
It opened its eyes. Everything was blurry. Blurry and green. More concepts it knew for some mysterious reason. And those concepts quickly linked together to form a conclusion.
Liquid. That was what it was inside. Why it was weightless. The liquid suspended it. Blinded it to what lay ahead.
It looked up, but only found more liquid.
What about down? No, still green. Left and right, then? Some gray things. Too blurry to appreciate. And its weightlessness prevented it from moving through the liquid, even though it was sure it had more muscles than the ones around its eyes.
... Wait. Something changed. There were more shapes in the distance. Shapes that moved around quickly... and then multiplied! Small circles on top of big ovals. Cylinders flailing around.
It was... amusing? Yes, that had to be it!
But amusement made it tired. Or maybe that was all the thinking? Either way, it didn't have the strength to keep its eyes open.
XxX
April 11, 19XX
At last, a breakthrough! After weeks of nothing but alpha, theta, and delta waves on the EEG, we finally caught a sustained burst of beta waves. Sure, the previous results were encouraging, but beta means Mewtwo is dreaming! Its mind is churning with activity. And the beta waveforms share similar patterns to humans.
Yes, the human gene splicing stabilized its body and let it grow, but now I have proof the genes are improving this pokémon.
If Mewtwo is developing neurons comparable to a human's, then I can do it! I can ensure Amber is just as lively and thoughtful as they day I lost her!
Today is a triumph for science.
XxX
When it opened its eyes, it wasn't in green liquid. The weightlessness was still there, so it had to be floating. But that familiar warmth was gone. Instead, it was surrounded by blue that stretched out farther than it could see. Small white clusters sat scattered across the blue expanse.
Sky. This was a sky. And the white clusters were clouds.
It looked down. There was green far below, but not the same green as before. This green was brighter. Softer, perhaps. It was also static. With tiny needles pointing up.
Grass.
The word popped into its mind instantaneously. And this much grass, underneath a clear sky, meant it was floating above plains.
But how did it get here?
That would have to wait, because it realized something else was different from before. It could move. It had two gray legs, ending with two nubby toes on each gray foot. When it turned its feet inward, it spotted an additional toe on the back of each foot.
Could it wiggle them? Yes, yes it could! It curled its toes, then uncurled them, then curled them again. The front toes moved a lot more than the back ones. Good to know.
There was a darker gray that went between its legs. It followed the dark gray, turning around to find it led to a tail. The tail lazily hung down, but it was confident it could move that, too. A swish to the left, then right. Up and down. It could even curl it up into a circle. Wow, it was so flexible!
It then spotted its left arm. There were three fingers on its hand. Each one ended with a slightly bigger sphere. It curled its fingers, then uncurled them. It flexed and extended each one individually.
It could've wasted so much more time with such simple things, had a bright flash not caught its attention.
There was a new color in the distance: gold.
Curiosity piqued, it flew— yes, flew forward. The gold got larger and larger. It wasn't long before the gold was bigger than it. And it made out other colors in the middle of gold. Red next to orange next to yellow. Greens and blues side by side. Wow, so many colors! What was with this colorful beacon?
It came to a stop. And, for the first time, it spoke.
"Hello?"
Gold brightened. The bright hurt its eyes. It had to shield them with its right arm.
"Ah, so you can talk. That's good."
Gold didn't have a mouth, but his voice was loud.
"You sound like you're echoing in my head." It rubbed its right cheek with its right hand.
"Yes, that's how telepathy works," Gold responded.
Telepathy. When psychics talk using their minds. It wasn't surprised it pulled that definition up so quickly. It seemed to know so many things.
"This is your dream, after all," Gold continued. "I'm projecting myself into your mind."
"My dream," it parroted, looking around. So, it made all of this. Except none of it was real. That probably meant it was still in the green fluid.
Best to make the most of this dream, then. Starting with its visitor. He didn't sound like he was a natural part of the dream.
"Why are you here?" it wondered.
Gold rippled. "I sensed your aura."
"Aura." It furrowed its brow. "That's... from my life force."
"Close enough," Gold said. He sounded impressed with it. "And it's unlike anything I've ever felt in my travels."
"Your travels?" Its tail drifted back and forth. "So, you get to go to lots of places? I bet that's a lot of fun."
Gold dimmed. "I... do go a lot of places, yes."
This was a new tone: sadness. It hadn't heard sadness before, but its chest grew heavy. "Why are you sad? Do you not like visiting new places?"
"I don't," Gold replied, dimming further. His rainbow dimmed, too. "The places I've gone... people are terrified of me. They don't know what I am."
It looked at the rainbow, eyes brimming with curiosity. "What are you?"
"I don't know."
"Really?" Its gaze fell toward the grass. "Because... I don't know what I am, either. I've heard the shapes say 'Mewtwo' sometimes. But I do not know what 'Mewtwo' means." It crossed its arms. "I think... it might be my name?"
"Mewtwo." Gold hummed, then gradually brightened a bit. "Well, I know Mew is a pokémon. A very rare one. You... look a bit like it. But you're not quite the same."
"Oh." Mewtwo curled its tail around its right leg. "Is that... bad?"
"Not necessarily." Gold sounded unsure. "It sounds like you're related to Mew. So, even if you don't know what you are, you do know that much. Which is good."
So, Mewtwo had a relative. Relatives were family. And, according to Gold, families were good. That was enough to get Mewtwo to uncurl its tail. "What about you? Do you have family?"
Gold dimmed again. "I do not."
Mewtwo frowned. "But you must have relatives, right?"
"I don't."
"What about friends?" It knew they weren't necessarily the same thing as family, but could still be good.
"None." Gold sighed. "I've been many places, but I've never been able to stay for long. This planet... I'm new to it. Like you, I suppose. But I'm hiding. Because I'm afraid of what will happen if someone finds me."
"Oh." Mewtwo looked down again. Another term popped into its head. "That sounds lonely."
Gold dimmed further. "It is." He sounded exhausted. Mewtwo wrung its hands. Gold didn't seem that bad to it. Even if Mewtwo didn't know what Gold was.
"Maybe... I could be your friend?" Mewtwo floated closer to Gold. His light was warm. Not the same warm as the green liquid, but still comforting. The end of Mewtwo's tail wagged ever so slightly.
"I... am practically a stranger to you." Gold drifted back slightly. "You should be more cautious. Especially since I'm projecting into your dream."
Mewtwo's tail drooped. "Sorry. I just thought... because we have things in common, we'd make good friends."
Silence followed. Since Mewtwo couldn't see a face, it had no idea what Gold was thinking. His glow pulsated the entire time. Maybe Mewtwo was supposed to say something else? Except it didn't know what else to say. All it could do was stare at Gold with a pleading look in its eyes.
Eventually, Gold sighed. It was softer than before, however. "Okay. I suppose... there's no harm in us getting together again." After a pause, Gold added, "In your dreams. It's still too dangerous for me to leave my hiding place."
A smile slowly spread across Mewtwo's face. "Great! Thank you, Gold!"
His glow flickered in surprise. "Gold?" A chuckle echoed across the plains. "Ah, I guess I didn't tell you my name."
Mewtwo shook his head.
"You can call me Bahamut."
XxX
June 7, 19XX
We're making tremendous progress. We drained Mewtwo's pod and disconnected its breathing and feeding tubes for six hours today without incident. Vitals were stable. Cardiac telemetry showed no arrhythmias.
Mewtwo possesses a strong intellect. Each time we interact with it, its fund of knowledge has grown by leaps and bounds. It's exceeding all of our projections. We have a pokémon that displays reasoning and critical thinking skills on par with university-level students. And this is after only four weeks of cognitive exercises.
I knew B's DNA was the correct choice to use, but this is simply astounding. Not to mention how impressive its EEGs look when it slumbers.
Surely, when I present this information to G, he will be pleased with our decision regarding the human genes.
And, of course, my personal project is bearing fruit. Amber's second embryo successfully implanted in the artificial uterus. I'll do an ultrasound in two weeks to assess for cardiac activity.
Everything is going smoothly. This is beyond my wildest dreams.
XxX
Mewtwo had gotten good at cultivating its dream landscape. Today, it made a large, grass-covered hill looking over a pond as still and blue as the sky above. Mewtwo sat on the edge of the hill, lazily kicking its legs at the air.
"I think they're going to permanently let me out of the pod soon." It wagged the end of its tail. "The humans are really impressed with me."
"As they should. You're a fast learner."
Mewtwo looked over its right shoulder. Bahamut was next to it. He matched Mewtwo's height, though he was still nothing more than a gold silhouette with multicolored slits in the middle.
"Well, I've got a good teacher." It smiled at Bahamut, earning a pleased hum in the process.
"Flatterer."
Mewtwo stuck its tongue out playfully, then turned back to look at its distant reflection in the pond. "What about you? Have you left your hiding spot yet?"
There was a long pause, then Bahamut bent forward. "I have, actually. And I met someone. A human."
"And?" Mewtwo twirled its right hand around. "What kind of meeting? Good? Bad? Somewhere in the middle?"
"Good, I think."
"You think?"
Bahamut slowly nodded. "It was… strange. The human was young. A child, I think? And… he didn't speak at all."
That was strange. The humans that looked after Mewtwo all spoke. A bit too quick for its liking, too. "Was he afraid of you?"
"Surprisingly, no," Bahamut replied. "In fact, he had this… look about him. A fierce determination in his eyes. I've never seen a look like it."
"So, what did you do?" Mewtwo rested its hands behind its head. "Sit in silence and stare at each other?" It had unsuccessfully tried to win multiple staring contests against Bahamut.
"We battled."
"You fought him?" Mewtwo's eyes widened.
"Not him directly. His pokémon." Bahamut chuckled again. "It was strange. Even though he didn't speak, his pokémon partners knew exactly what to do. And they were deceptively strong. Especially his pikachu and charizard."
He paused, then added, "I never thought I'd say this, but it was actually… fun."
Mewtwo raised a brow. "Okay. Why does that confuse you?"
Bahamut's gold silhouette prickled. "I have only ever fought to survive. To stop people from hurting me. The thought of battling being fun is... strange. Foreign. I'm not sure what to make of it."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Mewtwo wondered.
"I appreciate the offer, but it's fine." A part of Bahamut's silhouette pet Mewtwo's head. It purred. "Because I looked into the pokémon's minds. They genuinely like this human. They're happy."
"Which is good," Mewtwo chirped. But when silence followed, it whispered, "Right?"
"Yes." Bahamut sounded tired. "It makes me wonder... if this is what I've been searching for all this time."
Mewtwo's eyes widened in recognition. "You mean a home?"
"Exactly. A home... with this human." Bahamut shifted about on the edge of the hill. "I admit that the thought of going inside one of those small spheres scares me. But the pokémon insisted they are okay inside the 'poké balls' as they're called."
That sounded familiar. Either Mewtwo's caretakers had mentioned poké balls or it was another concept it was created knowing. "What will you do?" it asked.
"I told the human I'd like to see him again," Bahamut responded. "That way I have some more time to think it over." He fixed his asymmetric rainbow shapes on Mewtwo. "And this way... neither of us have to worry about this connection being severed."
Mewtwo smiled. "That's very generous of you."
Bahamut's glow brightened. "That's what friends do for each other, right?"
XxX
June 21, 19XX
Mewtwo is gone. G showed up unannounced with an entire Rocket attaché. Perhaps Mewtwo sensed their ill intent, because it awakened from slumber and broke out of its containment tube. G captured it in something he called a "Master Ball." Then his stooges confiscated everything. Every file. Every hard drive.
They took Amber, too. Without a power source, the artificial womb will fail within thirty minutes.
B was nowhere to be found. Did he know this was coming? Why didn't he warn me?
All of my hard work— everything I was building is gone.
XxX
Mewtwo was small. Small and cold. Floating in some sort of void.
How did it get here? One moment, Bahamut was warning it. Telling it the ones who had created it were criminals and begging Mewtwo to break out of its confinement. But when it did as Bahamut instructed, it found a new human in a black suit waiting for it.
Now, it was floating in some sort of void. And the void was cold. Mewtwo didn't like this cold. It wanted it to—
Light spilled across Mewtwo's vision. The void gave way to a black floor. It was softer than the lab. Carpet? Mewtwo found itself looking at a pair of fancy black shoes. It followed those shoes to black dress pants, then a black suit jacket, and ending at a black-haired head with a confident smirk plastered across its face.
Mewtwo saw the patch with a red R on the man's breast pocket. That same red R was etched into the carpet behind him.
Its neck tube prickled. Mewtwo had to show defiance. This human had taken it from what was familiar. It wouldn't allow that to go unchecked. Mewtwo stood up and curled its lips into a snarl. Its eyes glowed deep blue as it tried to intimidate this new human.
But he wasn't impressed. Still smirking, he snapped his fingers.
Mewtwo didn't register what was happening until something hard and sharp struck the side of its head. It crumpled to the ground.
This was a new sensation: pain. And pain was terrible.
Vision blurry, Mewtwo spotted a rhydon foot. The human must've ordered it to pelt Mewtwo with rocks. But he didn't say anything.
Mewtwo's heartrate quickened. Bahamut said the silent human was a child, right? This man wasn't a child. Why could Rhydon understand what he wanted, then? Was Bahamut's friend related to him? Was that why he was trying to warn Mewtwo?
"You lack discipline."
… Never mind. He could speak. And his voice sent chills down Mewtwo's spine and neck tube. His voice wasn't like Bahamut's. It was cold. Detached.
Mewtwo refused to dignify him with telepathy. It hissed at Suit Man, then turned left and pointed its left hand at Rhydon. Satisfaction washed over Mewtwo as it effortlessly ensnared Rhydon and the rock spires it was readying in a psychic grip. Mewtwo flung Rhydon back, where it shattered a black coffee table.
"Better." Suit Man was clapping now. Slowly. That was sarcastic clapping. Mewtwo was sure of it. "But that is a fraction of the ferocity I'm looking for."
Mewtwo growled, tail lashing at the air. What he was looking for? Suit Man didn't deserve anything from Mewtwo.
Suit Man shook his head. That stupid smirk had yet to leave his face. "This is what I was afraid of. The human genes those lab rattata chose made you soft. All that dreaming set things back. But it's no matter." He stuck his hands into his coat pockets. "I will fix what those classless charlatans broke."
Fix? Nothing about Mewtwo needed fixing. It was happy as it was. How dare Suit Man talk about it that way.
"I can tell by the look on your face that you're ill-informed of your circumstances." Suit Man tapped his right temple with his right index finger. "I'm the one truly responsible for your creation. You are my tool. You exist to serve Team Rocket… as the world's strongest pokémon."
The smirk finally vanished, replaced by a stoic expression. Suit Man held up a strange purple ball with red nodules on it. "This is the proof that I own you."
Even though Mewtwo had never seen it before, it instantly realized it was the source of the void. Snarling, Mewtwo lunged for Suit Man.
He smirked once more and held up the ball. Mewtwo never got to strike him. Instead, it was back in the small, weightless void. Only this time, there wasn't silence. Suit Man continued to speak.
"No matter how strong the psyche, I can break it with some... proper instruction." A loud chuckle echo through the void. "Their mistake was putting too much emphasis on your mind and not on your physical strength. You're not some bleeding heart. You're a weapon."
The void shook. Was Suit Man moving Mewtwo's capture device? "I'll make sure to harden that heart you grew while you were sleeping. When we're finished... you'll be nothing but a blank slate. Ready and willing to do exactly what I order you to do the moment I order you to do it.
"I hope you enjoyed your precious dreams, because they're the last ones you'll ever have."
XxX
Mewtwo had its prey, a milotic, ensnared in its psychic grip. It didn't have to look back at Boss for orders. A single finger snap and it knew.
A mere flick of its wrist, and Milotic went flying past the edge of the arena. It slammed into the wall, leaving cracks in the Earth Badge that was painted there. That would be fixed by tomorrow, so the damage didn't matter.
It pulled Milotic away, sensing it was already unconscious. The prey was defeated, but its work wasn't done. Mewtwo readied to slam it into the wall again.
"Wait, stop! She's out!" a young brunette in a pink blouse cried. "It's over! Y-You won! Please, make it stop!"
Stop? No. A weapon didn't stop until its job was finished.
Perhaps today was the day. The day it got to fell a pokémon during one of these pointless gym ba—
Boss snapped his fingers.
Tsking, Mewtwo twisted its right hand a few degrees clockwise. Milotic went flying limply through the air. She barreled into her trainer, trapping the girl underneath her large, serpentine frame. Mewtwo swished its tail back and forth in amusement. It could obliterate both of them effortlessly. But, as usual, Boss required Mewtwo to show restraint. How irksome.
"In the end, you were nothing but boring."
Mewtwo glanced at Boss. Shadows obscured him, but Mewtwo's Miracle Eye let it see him sitting in his black leather chair, one leg crossed over the other and head resting on his left fist while his right jotted down notes on a memo pad.
"It's clear to me, Miss Neza, that your previous badges were obtained by dumb luck," Boss continued. "Or, perhaps, my colleagues were overly lenient. Regardless, the Indigo Plateau is no place for simpleton trainers with grandeur delusions. For both our sakes, I think it's best you never show your face here again. In fact..." He leaned forward. Just enough so his forehead stuck out from the shadows. "... I think it's best if you don't even remember Viridian has a gym."
He raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. That was Mewtwo's cue to end this farce the usual way. It turned back to Neza, eyes glowing pink, and raised its left hand. Mewtwo slid the girl out. Panicking, she kicked at the air with her legs. Mewtwo tightened its grip and she went stiff as a board.
"Oh, and don't worry about your pokémon." Boss chuckled. "We'll make sure they're put to good use. Doing real work for real trainers."
Mewtwo raised its other hand. It pulled six poké balls out of Neza's bag and dropped them over by Milotic's unconscious form. Neza's blue eyes widened. Tears glistened in their corners.
But then the glow in Mewtwo's eyes deepened. It saw into the girl's mind — her perspective as her six trusted partners were effortlessly dispatched by it — and erased those memories completely.
For a few fleeting moments, Mewtwo saw emptiness in Neza's eyes. Then she vanished in a rush of blue light as Mewtwo teleported her to the outskirts of Viridian City.
Thus, another gym battle came to an end. The hundred and twentieth challenger Mewtwo had dealt with. There were, of course, plenty of challengers Boss determined completely unworthy of its time, dispatching them with his other pokémon and sending them running off with their nonexistent tails between their legs. But ones who caught his attention, like Neza, would face Mewtwo. And when they lost, it would eject them with their memories in tatters; Mewtwo taking their pokémon for Team Rocket to "reprogram." Nobody asked questions because it was too infrequent. Boss was careful not to allow "interesting" challengers too close to one another.
And, just like the previous hundred and nineteen times, Mewtwo was bored. The young trainers could not put up a fraction of a fight. And Mewtwo couldn't fight to kill like it would on a proper mission for Team Rocket.
It was displeasing, but at the end of the day, Mewtwo was a weapon. It did what it was ordered to. Nothing more, nothing less.
Though something was different about today. Instead of calling it back, Boss rose from his seat. He approached Mewtwo, and it finally realized that Persian had been out of its ball the entire time. Likely sitting obediently beside Boss's chair.
"Excellent work, Mewtwo." Boss stuck his hands into his coat pockets. "I'm confident you're ready."
Mewtwo quirked a brow. It could read Boss's mind, but it was simpler to hear the answer from his lips.
"One of my teams told me that Zapdos has touched down at an abandoned power plant near the eastern coast," Boss explained. Persian arched her back slightly. She wasn't a fan of electric-types, clearly. "You're going to engage it. Understood?"
Mewtwo nodded.
Finally, it had a worthy opponent.
XxX
The lightning was too large to dodge with teleportation. Mewtwo crossed its arms. A blue barrier materialized around it. The Thunder struck the barrier, pushing Mewtwo toward the ceiling. Closer and closer.
A finger snap sounded. Mewtwo thrust its arms apart. The remaining lightning evaporated.
Zapdos landed in the middle of some rubble, panting heavily. His Thunders were growing more desperate. He was desperate.
Sure, Mewtwo couldn't restrain Zapdos telekinetically. But it preferred the backup strategy: knocking out Zapdos so he couldn't deflect Boss's Master Ball with his attacks.
Zapdos' lightning was strong, but Mewtwo was stronger. And victory was within reach.
"Now."
Standing behind his Rhydon, Boss snapped his fingers. Mewtwo's eyes and fingers glowed. Pink orbs completely surrounded Zapdos. He realized what was happening and raised his wings to take off.
However, Mewtwo was faster on the draw. It had to be. It was the world's strongest pokémon.
Mewtwo brought its arms together. The psychic orbs converged on Zapdos. A pink explosion swallowed Zapdos up along with the rubble and several broken machines dented and scorched by their battle. Mewtwo stared at it, chest rising and falling.
This was its first time using that attack in battle. Psystrike— that was what Boss called it. It was truly devastating. A powerful attack for a powerful pokémon. One that could go toe to toe with the legends themselves.
When the smoke and pink light faded, Zapdos was gone. In his place... was a Master Ball.
That was it. The prey was captured. Mewtwo had won. It truly was the strongest.
Several Rocket grunts funneled in, surrounding the inert Master Ball. Boss casually approached it, waving them off. Persian sauntered after him, flashing an intimidating grin at the nearest grunt, who couldn't help but flinch.
"One down, two to go." Boss knelt down and picked up the Master Ball. "Think of the possibilities. What government officials would pay to have pokémon like this under their control. We'll have them wrapped around our fingers like the suits at Silph and the spineless Viridian cops."
Mewtwo descended toward the ground. Two more meant Articuno and Moltres. The former might provide more of a challenge, if for no other reason than she could generate a hailstorm to throw Mewtwo off and damage it.
Boss turned back to Mewtwo. "I hope you're prepared. Once you've dealt with the other two birds, there'll be one more Kantonian target for you to hunt."
Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. Only one pokémon came to mind. The one it was created from: Mew.
XxX
Psychic probing proved frustrating for Mewtwo. It wasn't anything it hadn't done before, but Mew was elusive. Mewtwo was mentally probing over great distances. It was pushing itself. And, in some regards, it was exciting. Exhilarating. A true challenge for its powers, after Articuno and Moltres weren't up to the task.
But something was slowing down the process. No, not something. Someone. Another powerful psychic. Whoever it was, they were trying to worm their way into Mewtwo's probing. It refused to allow such intrusion. The mission was what mattered the most.
At first, Mewtwo relished the challenge of probing while keeping that powerful psychic at bay. However, after six weeks, it had grown boring.
Why was Mew so cowardly? Why did Mew refuse to show themselves for Mewtwo? Because it was afraid?
... Good. Mew should be.
The seventh week, however, finally brought Mewtwo the results it wanted.
It envisioned a shockingly small island. Triangular, with cool green grass surrounding soft, gray dirt. The island had three trees; one on each of its corners. And in the center of the island sat something small, pink, and vaguely feline.
She opened her eyes. Soft and blue. Brimming with curiosity. Mew tilted her head.
Mewtwo severed the mental connection immediately. Its mind returned to the cold, sterile gray room it sat in the middle of. It looked up at the map of Kanto fixed to the gray wall in front of it. Mewtwo flicked its right index finger. A black marker levitated up toward the small chain of islands far to the south. It circled the southwestern island of the archipelago.
A Rocket grunt stationed at the door pulled a radio from his belt. "Subject has marked a location. It's Birth Island. Repeat, it thinks Mew is on Birth Island."
Birth Island? What a ridiculous name. And Mewtwo wasn't about to wait for the humans to get their acts together. It had its orders.
A blink of light and it was in Boss's office. He was already standing at the side of his black oak desk, right hand outstretched. Mewtwo grabbed it and the two disappeared.
Within seconds, they stood on the very same grass Mewtwo had envisioned minutes ago. Mew was still in the center of the triangular island. Before she could turn to acknowledge them, Mewtwo thrust its right arm forward, flinging a Shadow Ball into her.
She squealed in pain, skipping across the ground. At that speed, she'd tumble off the island. Mewtwo teleported by the north tree, two more Shadow Balls at the ready. It threw them both down. They slammed into Mew, hammering her into the ground.
The cries echoed in Mewtwo's mind. How pathetic she was. This was the creature it was created from? What an absolute joke. Even some of those gym challengers put up an attempt at a fight.
Boss wanted Mew? In Mewtwo's eyes, she wasn't worth it. She wasn't strong. It was strong. The strongest. Superior to Mew in every way.
And yet, when Mew looked up at it, bruised eyes brimming with tears, Mewtwo hesitated. The fourth Shadow Ball it was charging shrank ever so slightly.
Mew seized on that hesitation. Her body glowed. She shakily rose into the air. Mewtwo realized she was going to teleport away.
But then a red glow surrounded her and she dropped back to the ground with a pained squeak. Mewtwo looked up and saw Boss's honchkrow standing obediently at his side, eyes glowing the same shade of red.
Mean Look. Of course Boss had a contingency. One he likely thought he wouldn't have to use.
"Disappointing." Boss took a step toward Mewtwo, flashing his trademark amused smirk. "No matter. It looks incapacitated enough. I'll simply deal with your... lapse in judgement back at the base," he continued, producing a fresh Master Ball from his pocket. Boss lobbed it toward Mew, who was too weakened to even see it coming.
It should have been a successful capture, but then a purple, checkered hole opened up in the ground and swallowed Mew up. Mewtwo was bewildered for a moment, and that proved enough to stop it from diving into the hole after Mew. It faceplanted in the ground, then the Master Ball struck its rump for added humiliation.
"Up." Boss snapped his fingers. Mewtwo pressed its hands to the grass and levitated up, then spun itself upright. It was sure what Boss's order would be. The lack of his usual smirk told Mewtwo as much.
"Track it. Now."
Mewtwo shut its eyes and concentrated. It didn't need to work that hard, however. Mew's weakened aura was relatively close by. On Cinnabar.
And with her... was the same psychic force that had been trying to break into its projections while it was tracking Mew. Eyes narrowing, it teleported to Boss's side, nodding to signal it knew where Mew was. He recalled Honchkrow, then Mewtwo grabbed his shoulder and they vanished once more.
This time they landed on ragged earth. Warm, rocky terrain. There was ash and smoke choking the skies far above them and their platform gave way to a steep drop several meters to their left.
"The volcano." If Boss was surprised, he didn't show it.
Glimmering gold light drew Mewtwo's attention behind them both. The platform gave way to a large cave bathed in bright light. But the light quickly dimmed, allowing Mewtwo to see Mew lying wrapped up in the arms of a boy wearing blue jeans, a red, sleeveless coat, and a red cap with a white brim. Her injuries were completely healed.
A pikachu on the boy's right shoulder locked eyes with Mewtwo. His cheeks crackled with electricity. Then a gold, crystal leg slid in front of the boy. Mewtwo looked up, past a crystal torso with three gold spikes and four wings, to a head that resembled an eight-pointed star.
"Mewtwo?" The dragon's beak was open in surprise. "I've been trying to reach you for months! What happened to—" He stopped himself. Red and orange pooled in his eye sockets. "What are you doing? Don't you know who that is? He's the one I was warning you about! Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket!"
Mewtwo's tail twitched. There was something... naggingly familiar about this gold dragon. But whatever it was didn't matter. He was in the way of Mewtwo's target. Its mission.
"What are you doing?" Boss's tone was sharp. "That's an obstacle. You know what you have to do."
Mewtwo crouched down, then teleported right beside the dragon's torso.
"Wait, stop!" the dragon cried, but Mewtwo had a Shadow Ball at the ready. It thrust it into the dragon's crystal chassis. The dragon buckled left, mismatched rainbow eyes rippling. "Mewtwo, stop this! It's me, Bahamut! I'm your friend, remember?"
Friends? Laughable. Weapons didn't have friends. They had targets. And this "Bahamut" character just made himself one. Mewtwo charged another Shadow Ball, but was startled when a powerful psychic force sent it tumbling back, losing that lavender energy in the process.
Bahamut looked to the boy carrying Mew. He shook his head at the dragon. Mewtwo tried seizing on the opening, teleporting behind Bahamut and shooting another Shadow Ball right into the strange, eight-pointed star emblazoned on the back of his head.
But unlike Mewtwo's previous targets, Bahamut lashed backward with his golden tail. Suddenly, Mewtwo was forming a barrier to avoid getting hit by its own Shadow Ball.
Was he… taunting Mewtwo? Not even deigning to face it while fighting?
Utterly insulting! Mewtwo wouldn't let this stand. It saw Bahamut reaching a wing toward the boy. He, his pikachu, a charizard, and a venusaur were heading toward Boss who, in turn, summoned his persian, rhydon, and nidoking.
Mewtwo channeled electricity into its fist and teleported behind Bahamut's head. It punched, but to its shock, the back of Bahamut's head was not solid. Next thing it knew, one of Bahamut's glowing wings had clubbed it and knocked it into the cave wall.
"We're taking this outside," Bahamut growled. His rainbow eyes brimmed with shades of purple.
One moment, Mewtwo was pulling itself out of a Mewtwo-shaped hole in the cave wall. The next, it was falling toward the volcano's mouth, limbs flailing. Mewtwo quickly regained its composure, but when it turned around two sharp, purple blades slashed its chest.
This pain was different. Not like the blows Mewtwo had suffered before. It was a deep, lingering pain. Mewtwo put its right hand to its chest and pulled it back. The hand was red.
Blood. Its blood. Bahamut made it bleed.
Prey was supposed to bleed. Not Mewtwo. It was a predator. A weapon. The world's strongest pokémon.
Curling its lips into a snarl, Mewtwo flung one Shadow Ball, then another, and then a third. Bahamut clasped his wings together. Strange purple spheres intercepted the Shadow Balls, then purple blades identical to the ones that had slashed Mewtwo destroyed its attacks.
"I trusted you!" Bahamut snarled. Blue-purple dragon energy bristled in its beak. "I shared my secrets with you! My hopes! My fears!" He spat the Dragon Pulse forward. Mewtwo easily evaded it and had Shadow Balls ready to counter.
But the attack wasn't done. A portal opened up behind Mewtwo. Just like the one that had sucked in Mew.
It only had seconds to get out of the way of the blue bolt. The same one it had dodged before.
Bahamut was sending his own attacks through portals? Impossible! Mewtwo couldn't do that. But it was the strongest! It had to be! That was why it was created!
"We were friends!" Bahamut descended toward the mouth of the volcano. Mewtwo couldn't teleport fast enough to catch it. "Friends bonding over our shared origins! Or so I thought."
Hissing, Mewtwo fired two Shadow Balls, then started gathering an Ice Beam in its hands. Bahamut shredded both Shadow Balls, but was unprepared for the Ice Beam. Blue ice splattered across his crystal chest while he roared in anger.
Mewtwo smiled gleefully. This was where it turned the tide. Where it seized mom—
Was that lava heading directly for it?
"You were using me, weren't you?" Bahamut said. His body glowed pink as he steered a large glob of lava in Mewtwo's direction. It teleported several meters away. That wasn't good enough. The lava was still coming.
"I told you to run away, but you didn't!" Bahamut continued. "Those dreams you shared with me… were nothing but lies! They were all his orders, weren't they? Trying to get to me! To abuse me just like everyone else!"
With a loud grunt, Mewtwo wrestled psychic control of the lava from Bahamut. It flung it into the ocean, where it'd cool into… some stupid looking rock, probably. Maybe.
... It might've deep fried a few dozen fish in the process. Such was life.
Bahamut wasn't done, though. Now he was shooting glowing rocks through the air. Power Gem. This was getting frustrating.
Mewtwo weaved around the first two rocks, then blasted two more with a small Shadow Ball. It teleported behind Bahamut. Surely, it would be too slow to turn around and—
The dragon spat a blue bolt forward... into a portal. Another one opened in front of Mewtwo. It brought its arms together, deflecting the Dragon Pulse with a blue barrier. The moment the attack faded, Mewtwo teleported right behind Bahamut, and sprayed the dragon's golden back with an Ice Beam.
That got another furious roar. Bahamut lurched forward. His pained cries were oh so satisfying. Even with all his fancy tricks, Mewtwo could still get the upper hand. It just had to be ready for the counteratt—
Mewtwo teleported a few meters below Bahamut, watching his golden tail swipe at nothing but air. It fired a Shadow Ball right into the dragon's ethereal rump. Payback for Mewtwo's earlier humiliation on Birth Island.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Bahamut thrashed in midair. His pain turned to agony. Excellent. Mewtwo was going to complete its mission after all.
Two portals opened on either side of it. Mewtwo shot up before Bahamut's wings could squish in, then teleported forward while a Dragon Pulse sailed hopelessly behind it. The dragon was getting desperate. Mewtwo was getting to him. Perfect.
It shot a Shadow Ball toward Bahamut's crystal face, but that one was a feint. Bahamut snuffed it out with a burst of pink energy, leaving Mewtwo open to strike the back of Bahamut's head with an Ice Beam.
This time, it didn't let up. Curling back its lips, Mewtwo kept the ice going. Harder. Harder. More power.
Bahamut screamed. Ice and frost coated his head. Blue trickled across gold. His ethereal glow dimmed. Mewtwo had to keep going. It would freeze this dragon solid if it meant showing him that it was superior.
However, Mewtwo sensed a familiar aura. Two auras, actually. Boss and his honchkrow. Had he felled the child? He must have, because a Master Ball came flying in from below. It struck Bahamut's left foot... and plinked off harmlessly.
Mewtwo glanced at Boss. What about Mew? The child had her. Had Boss taken her?
It got its answer. Boss snapped his fingers. Teeth gritted, Mewtwo halted its Ice Beam. Its arms and hands burned from holding the attack that long.
Boss balanced carefully atop Honchkrow. "A respectable effort, but it ends here, you overgrown light fixture."
Bahamut managed to shake the ice away from his face, but a part of his crystal face sloughed off, landing on the volcano's rim. His head tendrils throbbed. A red tint took over his body. A sign of his rage? Mewtwo held its arms at the ready, just in case.
"Where is the child?!" Bahamut's telepathic voice boomed. Mewtwo imagined boss heard it, too.
"Tending to his injured pokémon." Boss smirked. "Whether he remains safe comes down to your cooperation." He lifted another Master Ball out of his pocket. "Oh, and I suppose her fate is in your nonexistent hands, as well."
He opened the ball. Red light spewed forward. Honchkrow snapped at it with his beak... and plucked a weakened Mew out of the light. He clamped his beak around Mew's neck. She squealed in pain.
Bahamut's eyes simmered like the lava bubbling beneath them. "No..."
Mewtwo quirked a brow. That wasn't telepathy. He spoke in human tongues?
"Tell me where your poké ball is... or my pet is going to enjoy a very rare snack." Boss stroked the side of Honchkrow's head.
"You wouldn't!" Bahamut lashed at the air with his tail.
Boss snapped his fingers. Honchkrow clamped down further. Mew's weak flailing stopped. Cyanosis crept across her paws and face.
"I only need a complete sample of her DNA. It matters not if she's dead or alive," Boss scoffed. "It's all up to you. Serve Team Rocket like the tool you are... or watch your friends' lives slip away."
Bahamut stared Boss down. His multicolored eyes were impossible to read, but Mewtwo's ESP told it the dragon's rage was building. Mewtwo clenched its fists, ready to strike in case Bahamut tried anything funny.
"... all the same..."
Amused, Boss tilted his head slightly. "Come again?"
"Every place. Every planet. All the same." Bahamut's entire body pulsated with light. "Not again. I won't..."
Mewtwo drew on its psionics. It sought to bind Bahamut in place in midair, even if it took all its strength.
"I won't let anyone hurt me again!"
A massive explosion of golden light slammed into Mewtwo, hammering it down into the volcano's rim. The impact sent the most intense pain it had ever felt coursing down its entire body. And then... it felt nothing below its neck.
Its vision was fuzzy, but it couldn't sense its arms or legs. Couldn't move them. Each breath was a struggle.
What had just happened? Mewtwo tried concentrating. It saw something small and black freefalling.
Boss. Mewtwo had to save him. But it couldn't move. Couldn't do anything but watch as its creator fell into the lava, leaving behind nothing but brief flames.
Bahamut wasn't done, however. His anguished roars split apart the air over the volcano. Now the dragon had the boy and Mew in his psychic grasp. He dropped them through a portal, before turning and locking eyes with Mewtwo.
It tried to do something. Move a limb. A muscle. Anything below its neck.
There was a brief flash, then pressure in Mewtwo's right shoulder. Now every breath was even more of a struggle.
Mewtwo gave a gasp, then a gurgle. Heavy fluid was pooling in its throat. Blood, probably. Mewtwo couldn't turn its head, but saw the culprit out of the corner of its eye.
The chunk of crystal its Ice Beam had dislodged from Bahamut's face sat firmly embedded in its shoulder. If it hadn't lost all feeling, Mewtwo imagined it would be in excruciating pain.
Bahamut continued grunting and snarling like an enraged feral. He clutched his head with his upper wings. "Scum. Vile scum." The dragon thrashed about in midair. "Aesir. This planet doesn't deserve it. These souls would taint it. They deserve... destruction, alongside Eternatus."
What was his blabbering about?
It didn't matter. Mewtwo had lost. It wasn't the strongest. It had become prey... and its hunter was about to strike the killing blow.
"Have to... draw it here..." Bahamut rose into the sky. "One strike. One Photon Geyser... to summon it!"
The last thing Mewtwo saw was a massive ball of golden light heading for the volcano. It didn't try to struggle in vain. It simply bowed its head and yielded to the inevitable.
XxX
May 29, 20XX
It's my fault. I'm sure of it.
Every station was talking about it. Cinnabar Island sunk into the ocean by a strike from a giant dragon of golden light. Fuchsia flooded by the resulting tsunami.
Who knows how many perished?
It matters not, because it proved to just be a preamble. As I sit here writing this, something truly monstrous has blotted out the sun itself. It's like the palm of a planet-sized hand, with one of its fingers lingering over Kanto.
People are pouring onto the streets. Some to stare in awe. Others to try and flee underground.
I do not think it will do them any good.
No doubt, I brought about this punishment. I tried to defy Mother Nature, and She took notice. Took notice and sent agents of unfathomable power to judge the entire planet for the actions of a select few.
All I wanted was to see my sweet Amber again. I never meant for things to spiral out of control like this. If I could, I'd go back and refuse his offer. Or sabotage the project so it could never have reached the point it did.
If, by some miracle, anyone finds this journal, then know this: we dreamed of creating the world's strongest pokémon... and we failed.
~Wataru Fuji
XxX
Mewtwo gasped. Its eyes snapped open, then immediately closed from the blinding white light. It hissed in annoyance.
"Dang it, Nova! I said red light. Red!" exclaimed an unfamiliar voice with a... digital tint to it. "Yes, that switch on the right." A mechanical sigh. "Good. Sorry about that, buddy. Place should be easier on the eyes."
Mewtwo was much slower to open its eyes this time. The room had a high, gray ceiling with red lights, but that was all Mewtwo could see. Any attempts to move met with failure. Even its head, which was the last thing it remembered being able to move.
"Sorry about the restraints, big fella." The voice chuckled nervously. "We needed them in place to pump all that seawater out of your lungs and stomach. And, uh, from the look of things, you'll have to put up with them until we can fix your spine up."
Water inside its hollow organs?
... Right. That infernal dragon had pinned it onto Cinnabar's volcano, then charged up some sort of massive attack. Mewtwo must've gone down with the island... and someone fished it up.
But if it had drowned... wouldn't it be dead?
"He's confused," a new voice exclaimed. Was that the "Nova" the first voice was addressing?
"I can see that, Nova. But no point overloading him with information right now."
Him?
No, Mewtwo was an it. A weapon.
... A failed weapon.
Failed weapons didn't deserve any acknowledgement. They deserved to be tossed away like the trash they were.
Finally, a gray, reptilian head poked into Mewtwo's view. But this reptile... was mechanical? A robot? Its yellow-blue eyes were screens, not eyeballs. Eyes that gave off purple and yellow sparks like they were stupidly long eyelashes.
"Good to see you're awake, pal." Lizard Bot bobbed his head, showing off his large, purple casque. "Unfortunately, I've got to put you back to sleep. We have a lot of work to do to fix you up."
Lizard Bot winked at Mewtwo. "Don't worry, though. Ol' Miraidon'll do his best to get you up on your feet again."
Up on its feet? What was the point. It was nothing but a failed weapon. Hardly worth this "Miraidon" person's time.
Mewtwo couldn't object, however. Because Miraidon brought some sort of plastic mask toward Mewtwo's face. Within a matter of seconds, it had drifted off back to sleep.
XxX
It had no idea how much time had passed. Mewtwo lost track of how many times Miraidon woke it from slumber and asked it to do mundane things like wiggling its toes or pointing at him with different fingers.
The right arm was still a problem, though. The shard from Bahamut's crystal face was still wedged in there.
Miraidon hovered at Mewtwo's right side. "I've gone through a lot of scenarios. Trying to figure out how we can get thing out of you." He pointed to the crystal with a metal claw. "But I can't see a path forward. It's pierced too many vital structures."
If it was a waste of time, then Miraidon should have simply left Mewtwo alone. Except Miraidon wasn't Boss. He didn't have that same absolute control Boss had. Which meant Mewtwo would need to make its wishes known. And that meant... speaking through the mind, right?
Except just trying to concentrate on its psychic power made it dizzy. The red lights overhead blurred together.
That wouldn't do. There had to be something it could try. After observing humans speaking for months, maybe it picked up on enough? It was intelligent. Or supposed to be.
Concentrate. Focus. Move the lips. Tighten the throat.
"Don't… bother…"
… There. Perfect.
Miraidon frowned. "Don't bother with what?"
"Helping… me." Mewtwo sucked in a sharp breath. "I'm—"
"Not worth it?"
That was Nova's voice. He was perturbed. "I warned you, Mira. You saw the scans. It's going to be an uphill battle."
Mewtwo tried to move, but it was exhausted despite just waking up.
"You are worth the time," Nova said. "Even if you don't think it."
Miraidon looked past Mewtwo. "I admire your enthusiasm, Nova. And I see where you're coming from." He gestured to the crystal in Mewtwo's right shoulder. "But how do you propose we handle this?"
"Imbue the crystal with Malice."
"Are you mad?" Miraidon's eyes flickered like dying lightbulbs. "We have no idea how he'd respond to something like that."
"He can't move his right arm and has other functional impairments," Nova countered. "If we gradually infuse Malice into the crystal, he can build up a tolerance to it."
Miraidon crossed his arms. "How gradual are you talking?"
"Possibly decades."
Mewtwo didn't like this idea. The mere name "Malice" sounded like a terrifying prospect, but Mewtwo was completely at their mercy. It was their prey.
This pounding in its chest must have been what all its targets felt when it confronted them.
Something bubbled in its stomach. Guilt? Mewtwo wasn't entirely sure.
But maybe the Malice would have side effects. Maybe it would let Mewtwo forget its humiliating loss.
"Do it," Mewtwo rasped.
Miraidon's eyes displayed exclamation points. "Are you sure? You heard Nova, right? We might have to keep you asleep for a very long time."
Mewtwo narrowed its eyes at Miraidon. "Do it."
A mechanical sigh followed. "Very well. If you understand the risks, then we'll proceed." He looked past Mewtwo. "Nova, I expect you to be on top of this."
"Absolutely."
XxX
Mewtwo stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror, glaring at its reflection. It ran its left hand across its darkened skin, then grabbed its tail to look at the yellow, ethereal glow it now had. The same glow as the crystal in Mewtwo's right shoulder. No longer an inert gem. It pulsated with power. Unfamiliar power.
Yet that power was what let Mewtwo move its right arm and breathe easier than it had before. And it somehow kept its body from atrophying, so it was clearly something special. Though Mewtwo had to sacrifice its teleportation abilities to regain the use of its right arm. It had no doubt that would prove a difficult adjustment.
"How are you feeling?"
Mewtwo's frown deepened. It was Nova. Mewtwo was sick of this "type: full" checking in on it. It was a powerful weapon, not some dainty fledgling taking its first steps from the nest.
Perhaps being blunt would shoo Nova off. "Bad," Mewtwo grunted. It turned to the type: full, casting a judgmental look at his black and white, zebstrika-like pelt, clumps of turquois scales, and gold, insectoid forelegs.
"Well, hey, at least it's not 'terrible' or 'miserable.'" Nova wagged his turquoise fish tail. An absolute eyesore. "That's progress."
Bluntness didn't work. Onto intimidation, then.
Mewtwo's tail lashed against the mirror. A high-pitched ding reverberated through the room. Nova's triangular ears folded slightly. Satisfaction pinched at Mewtwo's second neck.
"I think I get it." Sighing, Nova pivoted to his right. "You don't want me around. Probably got a lot on your mind." His blue eyes scanned the gray metal wall, even though Mewtwo was sure he knew it was empty. "It's a lot to take in."
Maybe it was, but Mewtwo was intelligent enough to understand what had happened. Earth was absorbed by a titan known as Eternatus. Now it, along with the entire planet, were inside the titan. In some sort of galactic purgatory. And the Malice that was used to fix Mewtwo was Eternatus' energy.
Energy it could produce from absolutely nothing, which was utterly illogical. Such a power violated the most basic laws of thermodynamics. Even a weapon like Mewtwo needed to get the power for its attacks from somewhere.
Mewtwo pinched its brow and shook its head. Why couldn't Nova get the message and leave? It wanted to be alone.
"You can talk to me," Nova said. The type: full lowered his head. His necklace ruffled his white fur. "Bottling things up will only make it easier for the Malice to overtake you."
Mewtwo growled its annoyance and clenched its fists. "I don't want to talk. Weapons don't talk."
Nova frowned. Mewtwo studied his face. That weird mix of white fur and a gold, robot beak. Was Nova... pitying it?
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" Mewtwo took a step toward Nova. Its right shoulder burned. The crystal glowed brighter. "I'm thinking... of the most efficient way to kill you. Do I crush your skull with Psychic? Pull apart your inner circuitry? Or simply grind you into dust with a relentless onslaught of Shadow Balls?"
Mewtwo firmed up its stance, practically daring Nova to call it out for such cruel remarks.
Instead, the type: full smirked. "Well, that's colorful." He tilted his head. "And, deep down, I'm wondering what would happen if I slashed open that second neck of yours. Would you go limp? Lose control of certain bodily functions?"
Nova crouched slightly. Playfully? What the hell was he doing?
"And your tail! It's fused with your abdomen. What would happen if I sliced it off?"
Mewtwo stepped back. It almost lost its footing. Was Nova messing with it? Such violent rhetoric mixed with such a cheerful tone. Jokes weren't things weapons needed to be concerned with, but Mewtwo was pretty sure this was not how one was meant to joke around.
Sighing, Nova stood up tall. "Dang, I thought you'd catch on quicker. Guess you're still pretty out of it."
Now, Mewtwo had to say something. "Are you mocking me?"
Nova shook his head. "You're intelligent. I figured you had already connected the dots."
"About what?"
Nova's expression sharpened. "That you're not the only living weapon birthed by science."
Mewtwo's gaze fell to its feet. It shifted about silently. In the back of its head, it had considered such a possibility. Between the "type: full" designation and Nova's odd, piecemeal design, there was nothing about him that screamed natural. But some illogical part of Mewtwo's mind steered it away from those thoughts.
Was it pride? It wasn't like being a creation was something to be proud of.
"So what?" Mewtwo muttered. "I don't want your pity. Pity is for the weak."
"And you're strong. You're a killer." Sighing, Nova shook his head. In a strange accent, he declared, "We're not so different, you and I."
Mewtwo glared at him. Nova chuckled. "Aww, c'mon. It's from a movie!"
Movies? The moving, talking pictures that humans liked? What purpose did watching movies serve?
... Nothing.
"I don't care." Mewtwo stepped forward. "Stand aside." It stood tall, trying to make it clear it would shove Nova out of the way if necessary.
However, Nova stepped toward Mewtwo. "Matriarch built me and my siblings to carry out Her will," he said, expression stern. "For the longest time, I believed in everything She said. Completed every order without so much as flinching."
Mewtwo's yellow tail twitched. It recalled mention of Matriarch before. Some sort of... ruler of this realm?
"Even though I saw the anguish on other people's faces, Matriarch convinced me that they were wrong," Nova continued. The bird-like crest over his head drooped slightly. "That I was wrong to ask questions about them. She told me— no, all of us that only She knew what was right for us. What was good for us."
A shudder ran down to Nova's fish tail. It all sounded... vaguely familiar to Mewtwo. But it wasn't quite the same. "Why do you speak plurally?"
"Because I'm not the only type: full." Nova looked down. "I'm actually the prototype. Matriarch produced more. Ones that wouldn't think for themselves, so they wouldn't question Her orders."
Now that rang a bell. "Right." Mewtwo crossed its arms. "Weapons don't think. They act."
Nova bobbed his head. "But you're not just a weapon. You're a person. With thoughts, beliefs, hopes, and dreams. You deserve to live your own life." Nova looked down, curling his gold talons slightly. "It took me far too long to realize that... and now I'm trying to rectify that."
He offered Mewtwo a shaky smile. "And that starts with helping someone I can relate to."
Mewtwo looked at the type: full, brow furrowed. It crossed its arms and looked away. "Well, I don't need help. What I need... is to be stronger. Strong enough to defeat the dragon that humiliated me."
Nova's tail drooped. "Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But it should be your desire. Not someone else's."
He turned away from Mewtwo. "Good talk, I guess? Mira says you can have a bit more time before we have to start your next treatment."
Talons scraped metal as Nova left the room. Mewtwo turned back to the mirror, tail lazily drifting back and forth.
"... my own desire," it whispered.
XxX
Mewtwo sat awkwardly on a metal stool, hunched over and staring across the bright white room... at Mew.
There were, apparently, plenty of mew in Eternatus. But Nova had somehow tracked down the one from Earth. The one it had hunted down and harmed. It was tough not to snarl at Mew. It wasn't her fault that damned dragon went berserk and... felled Mewtwo.
Still, Mewtwo thought this was stupid. Nova wanted it to apologize to Mew. For what? It was carrying out its orders. If anything, the dragon should apologize for messing up its mission.
A metal beak nudged Mewtwo's tail. It sighed. "Hello... Mew. I'm here to... say I'm sorry."
Mew tilted her head. Her eyes were so large. Brimming with curiosity.
... It was nauseating.
Nova nudged Mewtwo's tail again. It took a lot of restraint not to snap at the type: full. "I'm sorry... that you were my target. It was... wrong to hunt you down. Try to capture you... and stuff."
Silence hung in the air. Mewtwo could've dropped a pin and it would ring throughout the room.
Mew floated forward... and bonked Mewtwo's head.
Its blue eyes flickered red. "What was that for?"
"Mew mewmew mew!" she squeaked.
Mewtwo blinked incredulously. Eternatus' freaky insides were supposed to synchronize everyone to one language. Yet Mew spoke like a feral.
"I, uh—" Mewtwo was at a loss for words.
Mew bonked Mewtwo's head again, then blew a raspberry at it. She floated off, cheeks puffed out. Mewtwo turned to Nova, shoulders sagging.
"Well, that was—" Nova looked at the floor, squinting, "—something. How do you feel?"
"Like a loser," Mewtwo hissed.
Nova offered a shaky smile. "At least you're being honest. That's good, right?"
"Hardly." The crystal in Mewtwo's shoulder sparked. "This was a waste of time."
The type: full sat down. "My mistake. I think I... overestimated your situation."
Mewtwo narrowed its eyes. "Overestimated?"
"Your mental state," Nova continued. "You can certainly reason and think for yourself... but it looks like whoever controlled you neutered your emotional intelligence."
"Emotions are for the weak." Mewtwo snorted. Its tail flicked to its right. "They only get in the way."
"That's because you were forced to think that way," Nova countered. "You're not being controlled anymore, so there's no need to—"
"It's not about control!" Mewtwo snapped. Psychic energy brimmed in its hands as it stomped its right foot down. "It's about power! Being the strongest! I was supposed to be undefeatable... until one stupid dragon destroyed me with a single attack."
It turned away from Nova. "And now... I'm supposed to accept this ridiculous idea that I'm 'only kind of dead,' but trapped inside some giant creature full of unimaginable power?" Mewtwo clenched its fists. Its shoulder tingled from the Malice Crystal sparking with dark energy. "All while my long slumbers are plagued by constant repeats of the dragon humiliating me?"
Mewtwo couldn't hold it in anymore. It pivoted left... and threw a psychically-charged punch at its stool. The seat on top dented, but didn't break. Pain shot through Mewtwo's right hand. It pulled its throbbing hand back and stared at it, teeth gritted.
"... you don't get to stand there and tell me what I can think," it whispered. "I don't care if you're artificial. You don't know what I've been through."
Silence followed. Nova stepped back, crest drooping. "I didn't know you were having nightmares," he whispered. "You could've told one of us."
"Why, so you could try and 'fix' it?" Mewtwo growled. "I told you, I don't want your help. I... I just—"
The energy dissipated. Mewtwo hardly did anything, yet it was exhausted. It slumped down onto its rear, arms draped at its sides.
"What's the point of fixing me? I have nothing left," Mewtwo whispered. "Defeating enemies with overwhelming power was my purpose. What do I do without that purpose?"
If Boss were here, he would have undoubtedly called the gesture for what it was: pathetic.
But he wasn't. Nova was. And the type: full padded up to Mewtwo's side, and slid onto his belly beside it. "That's the beautiful part: you can decide that for yourself. It doesn't have to be today. Or tomorrow. Or even this year. But if you keep moving forward, you'll find that purpose."
Mewtwo didn't make eye contact. "How do you know?"
"Because when I abandoned Matriarch, I didn't know what to do with myself, either," Nova confessed. "I wandered from planet to planet for a while — stowing away in ships and transporters to avoid detection — until I met Mira. He took me to his moonbase... and I felt that spark helping him rehabilitate people while fighting against Matriarch's forces."
Tail sticking up, Mewtwo finally met Nova's soft gaze. "I beg your pardon?"
It took a second for Nova to realize what he said. When he did, the type: full's blue eyes lit up and he laughed. "Wow, I probably should've led with that earlier, huh?"
Mewtwo glowered at Nova. "Take this seriously."
"Okay, okay." Nova took a deep breath to dispel his last few chuckles. "Your purpose was to fight, right?"
"Fight to impose Team Rocket's vision upon the world," Mewtwo interjected.
"... charming." Nova grinned sheepishly when Mewtwo glared at him. "Anyway, what's stopping you from retooling that purpose under a different cause? Like, instead of fighting for organized crime, fight to help free Eternatus from Matriarch's control."
Mewtwo crossed its arms. It wasn't an idiot. It saw immediate flaws with that idea. "If it was really that simple, wouldn't you have taken Matriarch out on your own?"
Nova flinched. "Got me there." He brushed his gold forelegs against one another. "Truth is that, yeah, Mira and I have been trying to put together a team. To start a rebellion. But it's proving a lot more difficult than I expected."
"And you think a failed weapon will be the difference maker?" Mewtwo looked down at its dark gray hands. "You already mutated me with Eternatus' energy. That makes me a liability, not an ally."
"It's not like I'd be sending you out to fight the Paradigm right away." Nova sounded exasperated. "Yeah, it'll take a while. A long while. But time is a luxury we happen to have inside Eternatus."
He extended his right foreleg toward Mewtwo. "If you stick with me, I promise to make sure you're free of any possible Malice side effects. And I'll help you claim an identity of your own."
Mewtwo quirked a brow at Nova's foreleg. "What's in it for you?"
"Your company."
"Excu—" Saliva went down the wrong pipe and Mewtwo broke into a coughing fit. Nova... wanted to spend time with it? Despite all Mewtwo's attempts to push the type: full away?
The back of Mewtwo's head throbbed. It briefly saw a mental image of a gold silhouette in the middle of windswept plains.
"Sorry. I just thought... because we have things in common, we'd make good friends."
Mewtwo rubbed the back of its head.
It had said that once, hadn't it? When and where? Mewtwo had never seen that memory before.
... Or had it?
"You want... my company?" it whispered, staring again at Nova's foreleg.
"Everyone can do with a friend," Nova whispered back. "Even if they don't think it."
Mewtwo looked into Nova's eyes, then back at his foreleg, and then at his eyes again. It fidgeted with its hands and squirmed and place. Mewtwo didn't know the first thing about being a friend. Or, rather, the basic knowledge was there, but the tools needed to apply that knowledge practically were not.
But how could it say that without trying? That would be... like declaring an attack beyond its capabilities without training.
... Yes. Friendship wasn't beyond Mewtwo's abilities. It simply needed training, like with anything else.
"I... suppose so," Mewtwo muttered. It put its left hand on the floor. Its left thumb crossed one of Nova's talons.
Though brief, a chill ran down Mewtwo's neck tube. It was... strangely pleasant?
"Great!" The blue, scaly underside of Nova's tail scraped against the floor. Both of them flinched. "Whoops!" He looked back at his hindquarters. "Tails, am I right? Kinda jealous yours is prehensile. Wish they'd factored that into my designs."
Mewtwo scratched its head. "D... do people normally christen their friendships by talking about their backsides?"
"No. It was a joke." Nova stood up, chuckling. "If you want something to mark the occasion, how about a name?"
"I have a name. I am Mewtwo."
"No, that's your designation," Nova said. "Like how I'm a type: full."
"But I am the only Mewtwo."
Nova shrugged. "I still think you could use a proper name. Something to help you build your own sense of identity." He walked in front of Mewtwo and crouched down. "So, lemme ask ya. Do you see yourself as masculine? Feminine? Nonbinary?" Nova paused. "I can list others if those don't work."
"No, that's fine." Mewtwo got to its feet. "I suppose... I feel a certain tug with, erm, masculinity?" It rubbed the back of its head. This was beyond awkward.
Nova's eyes lit up. "Great! Then I've got the perfect name."
"And that is?"
"Gene. You're Mewtwo Gene!" Nova's tail wagged. "What do you think?"
After about a minute letting the name roll around in it— no, his head, Gene nodded slowly.
"... I can work with that."
XxX
Gene sprang back, but didn't put enough power into his legs. The blue, glowing blade grazed his belly. Gene tumbled through the air. He sensed someone coming up from behind. Fighting and steel energy. Zamazenta?
He thrusted both hands forward. Flames shot out, turning him into a large, fiery wheel. There was a startled yip. Gene sailed past Zamazenta, then steadied himself and dispelled the flames. Though the mewtwo wanted to attack him, Zacian was sailing through the air, blade at the ready.
"Nnngh." Gene raised his hands to try catching Zacian with his ESP. But Zamazenta's shield glowed a fiery crimson. He lunged for Gene, knocking the mewtwo back.
"All right, I think that's a good stopping point."
Nova trotted onto the tan arena, cheek bolts slowly turning in their sockets. "So, what do you think?" he looked at Gene. "These two are pretty great, right?"
Gene crossed his arms. "Real pokémon don't need weapons to fight." He cast a judgmental look at Zacian.
"My blade can cut through just about anything when I'm concentrating," she boasted. Her sword vanished in a stream of blue and gold light, taking her gold crown and wing-like armor plates with it. She shook herself out. "It sounds more like jealousy to me."
"Agreed," Zamazenta grunted. Like his older sister, the gold shield around his head vanished, letting him stretch his neck out. "You could criticize her, or you could try it for yourself."
Gene tilted his head. Try what for himself?
"I don't know, brother." Smirking, Zacian shook her head. "Gene does not strike me as the creative type. I bet he couldn't come up with a decent weapon no matter how much psychic power he has."
"Is that a challenge?" Gene cracked his knuckles, then tilted his neck from side to side until his spine popped. "I can come up with a psychic weapon. Check it."
Brow furrowed in concentration, Gene clapped his hands together. Pink energy brimmed in his hands. He focused on that energy. It was slippery, but the mewtwo could make it malleable. The first step was to solidify it, which happened when he held his hands together like a circular cup.
Good. Now, Gene needed to expand it; keep things solid while adding more psionic material to it. He envisioned a resistance band in his hands and slowly pulled. His arm muscles tensed. Gene exhaled slowly. The pink bubble elongated into a pink rectangular prism. Gene stretched it further, until it was practically his wingspan.
The last part was shaping it. The mewtwo's eyes glowed a deep blue. A blue circle traced itself along one end of the pink prism, then carved out a small circular basin.
Gene planted his weapon down like a staff. "Done!" He flashed a toothy grin at Nova.
"It's... a spoon?" Nova tilted his head. Zacian and Zamazenta exchanged amused looks.
"Ah, yes, truly terrifying." Zamazenta's words dripped with sarcasm. "I'm quaking in terror."
"Oi, don't knock the spoon." Gene slashed the air to his right, then whirled left and thrust the spoon. "Alakazam use small ones for their attacks. So, a big one should let me do even stronger strikes."
"Uh-huh." Zacian approached her brother's side. "I think we'd best leave him to Nova. Perhaps he's dehydrated or something?"
The two dogs headed for the double doors on the other side of the arena. Gene dispelled the spoon in a flurry of pink mist. "Cowards!" he called. "You're just afraid I'd spoon your butts into next week!"
Nova stumbled with a squawk. His blue eyes widened. "I, uh, think you might want to rephrase that one."
Gene stared blankly. "Why?"
"Err... never mind." Nova recomposed himself. "So, what did you think?"
"And what about you?" Nova got closer, tilting his head. "You've been sparring a lot now. For what it's worth, I don't think you looked as... aggressive."
Gene frowned. "Yeah, but I was sloppy." His shoulders sagged. "I was trying to keep my... killer instincts in check. I'm not well-suited for that kind of multitasking."
"Or it takes a lot of getting used to," Nova said, winking. "Regardless, I'm proud of you. You've made a lot of progress."
The mewtwo's cheeks burned. "... tch. You're just saying that."
Nova nudged Gene's chin with his beak. Gene's tail scrunched up. "Nngh. Cut it out!"
"What did I tell you about the negative self-talk?" Nova asked, smirking.
Gene pouted. "That's it beneath me."
"I don't think I phrased it like that, but close enough." Nova chuckled. "You sure you're not picking up some humor from all the movies we're watching?"
"Please. Any pyukumuku with half a brain could do that." Gene rolled his eyes. "I'm a super-intelligent being. I could absorb details about those movies in my sleep."
Nova grinned. "Ah, some boasting!" He playfully nudged Gene's left shoulder. "Way better than self-deprecation."
Gene's cheeks burned again. The type: full always knew how to catch him off guard.
In the past, Gene wouldn't have stood for that. Now he found it... charming?
... Yeah. Charming enough to give the mewtwo goosebumps.
"If you're going to stare into space, you can at least tell me what you're thinking." Nova crossed his right foreleg over his left. His necklace brushed against his white fur.
"Thinking?" Mewtwo scratched his nose. "I was thinking... about how much longer you intend to keep this operation in the planning stages. You've got Miraidon and the dogs. And that stupid espeon who seems obsessed with you."
Nova winced. "Yeah, I'm doing my best to ignore Selene's... enthusiasm."
"I could wipe her memories for you," Gene offered, lifting his right hand.
"No. We need all the help we can get," Nova said. "Even hers."
Gene frowned. "Then you still don't think we're ready?"
"I'm not sure." Nova sat on his haunches. "I'm still making this up as we go."
"Yeah. And I recall saying improvisation is not my strong suit," Gene scoffed.
"Is that so?" Nova got up and approached Gene. He brushed his side against the mewtwo's. "Maybe we need to... make a few changes to your training regimen?"
If Gene's face wasn't red before, it certainly was now.
XxX
The stasis capsule was a gray, metal tube with dark, one-way glass. Gene stood in front of it with his right hand braced against the door. "I have to do this, don't I?"
"We both know it's the safest thing to do," Nova said. Gene didn't bother looking at him. How could he after that slip up? The last Paradigm daemon almost turned him against Zacian and Zamazenta. Those aggressive urges Gene had worked so hard to control tugged at the edges of his psyche. His mind was like a barricade and those urges were chipping away at it.
"I get it." Gene's shoulders sagged. "But that means... I can't help with the final assault, can I?"
Nova appeared on the mewtwo's left, shaking his head. "We've come too far."
Gene sucked in a heavy breath. The tip of his Malice Crystal glistened in the one-way glass. "I know. That doesn't make it sting any less."
Nova leaned his head on Gene's left shoulder. "I want you there. But I wouldn't know what to do with myself if Matriarch got control of you."
Gene tilted his head. Warmth flooded his face as his cheek brushed Nova's fur and metal cheek bolt. "I don't want to lose you," he whispered. A part of Gene was shocked he even managed to admit that out loud. How things change.
"I won't let that happen," Nova said. "We have a plan. Chiron knows her way around Valhalla. Even if there's resistance, we can take the most direct path to Eternatus' core."
The mewtwo still had a hard time believing the archbishop had defected to Nova's cause, but supposedly she had fled Eternatus and spent time living on the planet it had just been sealed inside.
"And you trust her?" Gene asked.
"I do."
"What about her husband?" Gene hadn't met the guy. Only heard about some sentient black crystal that fought alongside Chiron.
"He's proven himself a capable fighter. And he's a total grouch, too." Nova playfully nibbled Gene's shoulder. "I think you two would hit it off."
Gene rolled his eyes. "Very funny."
"Look, the two had a kid together. That's gotta mean something, right?" Nova exclaimed, breaking off the embrace.
"I guess." Gene sighed and opened the tube's glass door. "Nothing left to do but hope it all works out, then."
Nova nudged the mewtwo's side. "Hey, look at that. Talking about your hopes." The type: full smiled. His fish tail wagged.
Gene blinked a few times until the realization sunk in. He blushed. "Y-Yes, well." Gene coughed into his left hand. "I guess I finally found my dream... like you told me to."
"Gonna share it?" Nova raised a brow.
The mewtwo shakily turned to Nova. "I want to be at your side... to greet the dawn of a new era in this alien realm."
Nova's tail wagged faster. "How poetic. Maybe some of those romance flicks rubbed off on you after all?" He winked, deepening Gene's blush.
"Don't ruin the moment," Gene growled. He took a few breaths to steady himself, then braced his left arm against the side of the stasis tube. "Stay safe out there."
"Good luck," Nova whispered.
"Same to you."
Gene climbed into the tube. He pulled the plastic mask over his face, then heard the hydraulic hisses of the closing door.
It wasn't long before he drifted to sleep.
XxX
When Gene woke up, the stasis tube door didn't open. There was no rush of cool air to great him. In fact, the mask on his face wasn't even producing any oxygen. Gene pulled it off. It detached from the top of the tube and struck his head.
Growling his frustrations, Gene blasted the mask and the door with a point blank Psybeam. The glass shattered and spilled out onto the floor.
Immediately, Gene went on alert. Instead of the lab's bright white lights, all he saw were some dull red glows in the corner. The facility's emergency lighting. Why was it active? Was there a power failure?
The mewtwo floated out of the broken tube to find the lab was but a shell of how he remembered it. Overturned tables, shattered monitors and glass beakers. And so, so much dust.
His heart rate quickened. The Malice Crystal burned in his shoulder.
How long had he been asleep? Where was Nova? Where was Nova?
Gene lunged for the door. It didn't slide open. The glass windows beside it were cracked. Claw marks ran across the walls.
The mewtwo fired one Shadow Ball, then another. The door flew off its hinges and hit the opposite wall with a clang. Gene found the hallway as dark as the lab. Only a smattering of emergency lights.
More claw marks lined the walls, practically alternating with patches of scorched metal and huge dents.
Someone had attacked this place. But who... and why?
Gene's yellow-tipped tail twitched. He sensed a powerful psychic aura not too far ahead. Resounding thumps echoed throughout the hallway. The mewtwo wasn't sure what to expect... until he finally laid eyes on a clump of black crystals repeatedly punching the wall.
And through those motions, Gene was able to glimpse an eight-pointed star on the back of what he assumed was the big crystal's head.
Eight-pointed... star...
It all came rushing back to the surface. The golden dragon's roars of fury. His blindingly fast attacks. Gene getting impaled with part of the dragon's face before being left for dead.
Gene's Malice Crystal sparked. He let his Shadow Balls do the talking, hurling two of them right at the crystal, who didn't notice them until it was too late.
"Where are they, Bahamut?!" Gene snarled. The Malice Crystal was glowing and Gene felt its power coursing through him.
Bahamut slowly rose into the air. A dim rainbow prism sparked underneath all the black crystals. "You," he whispered. "So, you were the mutts' ally."
"Where's Nova?!" The mewtwo fired another Shadow Ball. Bahamut caught it in his psychic grip and smashed it against the wall to his right.
"Gone," Bahamut rasped. "They're all... gone. And it's... still here." He scraped his claws against the wall. "Never good enough. I need power. More power."
The rational part of Gene's mind might have said Bahamut's answer was too fragmented to make sense. However, Gene's emotions were fully in control.
Nova had told Gene he trusted Bahamut. And that trust was betrayed.
The type: full was gone. Gene's dream was dead. All because of Bahamut.
He had to pay. Gene had to avenge Nova.
Bahamut wasn't a golden dragon. Gene had the Malice Crystal.
With a feral screech, Gene shot a massive Shadow Ball at Bahamut. He tried teleporting past it, but Gene was ready. He formed his psychic spoon and slashed Bahamut. Over and over and over again. Bahamut tried to fight back, but the mewtwo parried every swipe of his big, crystal arms.
"Nova was a good person! He believed in me when I wouldn't!" Gene drove the spoon into Bahamut's rainbow prism. "He trusted you! I trusted you! This is all your fault!"
Gene cleaved Bahamut's crystal form in half and blasted both sides away. He hunched over, glaring with all the hatred he could muster. Rage he had spent all this time burying... thanks to Nova.
But it was over. He'd avenged Nova. He—
A purple aura surrounded Bahamut's halves. Dark bolts shot out from the top half and pulled the bottom half back. Bahamut's rainbow prism glowed once again, albeit weaker than before.
"I... will... get more power." Bahamut's arms trembled. "And I... will... finish... what I started."
Eyes wide, Gene summoned his spoon and lunged for Bahamut again. But the large crystal husk sank into a wormhole and the mewtwo sailed into empty air until he rolled to a stop on his hands and knees.
Gene looked down. He raised his right hand... and punched the floor underneath him.
Then, for the first time in his life, Gene shed tears.
