Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Path of Valor

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 123: Out of the Shadows​

The golden energy ball Leo shot into the air turned to black bolts that rained down on Xeromus. But like with the other times Leo used Judgment, the silvally let the attack strike him. His hind legs twitched a bit, but he otherwise stood his ground. The chains around his legs sliced away at the Blue Flare coming in from his left.

"You're all wasting your time!" Xeromus bellowed. He dug his claws into the ground. Purple tendrils emerged all around him.

Leo jumped back, tail crinkling. Just being near those tendrils left him with the same strange feeling as Gene's Dark Matter powers: something clawing at his insides.

"No we're not!" Widget countered. The reshivally spewed another Blue Flare from Xeromus' left. Leo shot a Dark Pulse from his forehead to back Widget up.

With unhinged laugher, Xeromus spun around. Black shadows trailed his tattered cloak, shredding through the Blue Flare and Dark Pulse.

"Your happy ending is a fantasy!" he declared. Xeromus charged toward Widget with a surprising burst of speed. Leo moved right to try and intercept, but Gene beat him to the punch. He struck Xeromus' head with a purple and black spoon.

"I know that's not really you." Gene swung again.

Xeromus parried with a swipe of his foreleg. "You haven't known me in ages!"

Leo tried to take advantage of Xeromus' back being turned. But Zamazenta's phantom emerged to swallow the Dark Pulse up. Zamazenta slashed the air with his forelegs, sending red shockwaves rippling forward.

The cosmic arceus jumped skyward, hovering in the air while the shockwaves raced underneath. Unfortunately, that only seemed to anger Zamzenta. He lunged skyward after Leo, who took off galloping.

"C'mon, dude!" Leo looked over his shoulder, then ducked a shockwave with a gasp. "If you're all brainwashed you gotta fight it! There's no freaky-deaky helmet anymore!"

"If you try to stop us, this world will crumble!" Xeromus said, between the clangs and bangs of his clashes with Gene down below. "Everyone's souls lost between worlds!"

"You're, nngh, the one who... taught me to shoot... for the moon!" Gene fired back.

Leo jumped higher in the air to dodge a few more shockwaves. He had enough time to swap the Dread Plate for the Pixie Plate. Leo didn't know if Zamazenta's phantom was actually fighting-type, but those shockwaves sure felt fighting.

"C'mon, wake up!" Leo slung a Moonblast down at the phantom. Zamazenta's shield-shaped head glowed red. A barrier absorbed the Moonblast. Leo's shoulders sagged. "Do I need a superpowered dog whistle or something?"

The glow didn't fade from Zamazenta's shield. Instead he lunged toward Leo in a blur of red and gray energy.

"I was joshing you!" Leo barely managed to leap over Zamazenta. He fired another Moonblast. This one caught the phantom in the back. Zamazenta turned and snapped uselessly at the air before dissolving back toward Xeromus.

"You still don't get it!" The shadow silvally struck a startled Widget with glowing talons. Widget hit the ground hard and rolled toward the stairs leading to the wrecked altar. "Even if there was a miracle to be had... you will never see it, Voice!"

To Gene and Leo's shock, his Shadow Ball went right through Xeromus. Xeromus slapped a hind paw against the ground. Zamazenta darted behind Xeromus like a red bolt. Gene barely managed to Phantom Warp out of the way.

Scrambling to his feet, Widget squawked, "W-What's that supposed to mean?"

Leo waffled back and forth on whether to change plates. Like Gene's Shadow Ball, so many of his strikes had done nothing to Xeromus. Only dark-type had actually hit Xeromus and that barely seemed to phase him.

What was going on with his typing? Why had his Blank, Fist, Earth, and Zap Plates all whiffed completely?

"Do the math, Voice!" Stained glass Stone Edge spires erupted all around Xeromus. Widget scrambled up the altar stairs in a panic. Xeromus caught Leo's gaze and, laughing, smacked the glass spires. Fragments shot through the air toward Leo. He galloped to the right while Xeromus turned back toward Widget.

"If a miracle puts the worlds back where they are... everything will go back to how it was!" Xeromus continued between his fits of laughter. "Those given second lives will return to the land of the dead! Your friends will separate back to their respective worlds!"

With two leaping bounds, Xeromus landed higher up the altar stairs. He frantically slashed at the reshivally, who kept ducking or jumping back.

"And you, the sum of these worlds' Voices, will break apart and cease to be! The same as Giratina!"

The Moonblast Leo readied fizzled against his forehead.

"What?" he whispered. His eyes widened and he prayed he'd been too quiet for Xeromus to hear.

Widget seemed just as shocked, but managed to spit blue flames right in Xeromus face. His tail turbine whirred to life. He shot into the air.

"Like I believe that!" he said as Xeromus staggered back, hissing.

Leo's eyes widened. The flames hurt Xeromus. More than any of the arceus' dark-type attacks had.

His salmon wheel turned red. Flames gathered around Leo's head.

"Why should we believe anything you say?" He pointed his forehead down, raining a fiery Judgment down on Xeromus. Widget scrambled the rest of the way down the stairs before the flames bombarded Xeromus.

"Don't stop. Please."

Leo froze. That voice. Within the flames. He'd heard it in that vision.

"Nova!"

A purple and black blur blew apart the smoke gathering around the stairs. Gene stood in the middle of the stairs, holding Xeromus up in his glowing hands. His feathers, tail, and mechanical parts were back to the turquoise that Leo had seen in Gene's old photos.

"That's enough." Gene squeezed the shadow silvally tightly. "I can... remove your shadows. I must be able to. Just hold still and—"

"Rocks..."

Gene blinked. His red core dimmed. "What?"

"Use rocks... weakest..."

Xeromus' body lurched. Dark violet consumed turquoise. Gene recognized it immediately and tossed Xeromus away before conjuring his spoon and sticking it into the open maw of Zamazenta to stop it from biting his head off.

Explosions rang out behind Leo, followed by shouts from the others. He turned around and saw a silvally leap off a broken pillar and blow itself up. Grishi's Protect barely held up against the blast, while Jade was knocked out of the sky.

"No!" Widget shifted to miraivally and zoomed underneath Leo. He headed for another silvally that was glowing white. "Stop it! Don't!"

The silvally charged toward the other end of the Spear Pillar. It exploded before Widget could catch it.

"Hey! Pay attention!"

Gene's harsh order snapped Leo's attention back to the altar, where Gene struggled to keep both Zamazenta and Xeromus at bay. A stained glass Stone Edge spire knocked him into the air. Gene flew up. Zamazenta charged after him.

"Stay with the dog, then," Leo said. He dropped from the air, shooting a few fireballs to drive Xeromus toward the top of the altar. Leo landed at the base of the stairs.

"There are no happy endings here!" Xeromus charged down the stairs. Purple energy swirled around his claws. Leo kept flicking fireballs toward Xeromus, but the shadow silvally charged through them.

Xeromus lunged for the bottom of the stairs. Leo had enough time to move left and Fire Punch Xeromus' right flank with a forehoof.

"Your miracles don't exist!" Xeromus stood firm and swiped with a glowing foreleg. Leo jumped back. He swiped again. Leo continued back. "Your perfect solution preserves worlds full of meaningless, empty lives!"

His chains unraveled and furiously whipped around at the air. Leo sprang up, but the chains sliced apart the Flamethrower he shot from his forehead.

"Our lives aren't meaningless!" Leo growled. "You're the one who's making those other guys blow themselves up, aren't you?"

"That was always their fate!" Xeromus slung Air Slash crescents up at Leo. "But now they can fulfill it for a greater purpose! Just like you!"

Leo couldn't get away from all the wind blades. Some of them nicked his forelegs. Xeromus then shocked him when he took off running through the air just like him. Glowing talons swept the cosmic arceus' legs out from under him. Leo dropped from the sky with a holler, crashing over by the stairs.

Xeromus was ready to strike again when Hurricane's torrential winds whipped up around him. Leo got back to his feet and found Gene hovering overhead, restraining Zamazenta in his telekinetic grip.

"Use that big attack again, kid!" Gene ordered.

Almost reflexively, Leo pointed his head into the fading Hurricane winds. A fiery Judgment lit up the air over the altar. Xeromus plummeted to the ground a dozen meters away, smoke trailing off his body. His cloak was totally gone. Only the chains were left.

Like the last time Judgment hit, Xeromus' dark purple had faded.

"Pl... ease..." Xeromus wriggled on the ground. "Rocks. Get the... other guy... to use rocks. Then hit me."

Leo's brow furrowed. "But we're trying to rescue you!" He looked up. "Gene, let's switch again, so you can—"

"You can't." Xeromus coughed up... some sort of strange black liquid. "There's... only one way to end this."

Before Leo could respond, the shadows swarmed Xeromus' body again. He rolled over. Two black tendrils skewered Leo's right foreleg. Hissing, the cosmic arceus staggered back.

Gene's spoon struck Xeromus' head from above, but the mega mewtwo couldn't do much else. He had to return his attention to keeping Zamazenta restrained.

"Nova, please!" he begged. "If there isn't another way, then we make one! Isn't that what you taught me?"

"That was before I knew the truth!" Xeromus' shadow tentacles slashed furiously at Leo. His foreleg gimped, Leo struggled to hold a Protect against the tendrils.

"Widget!" Leo cried, giving into Xeromus' plea from his moment of lucidity. "Get over here!"

Rocks. Why did he keep mentioning rocks? What would rocks do here?

... Wait. Was rock his weakest type? Is that what Xeromus meant?

Leo's shield was about to burst when another Hurricane flung Xeromus around like a shopping bag in the wind. Leo took the opportunity to limp closer to the altar stairs. He tried Recovering, but his leg still ached. This shadow energy was awful. He couldn't get hit again.

"What? What is it?!" Widget hovered to a stop by Leo's side right as Gene's Hurricane faded. Leo eyed Xeromus wearily.

"Can you use a rock-type move?" Leo asked. Xeromus tried and failed to bring Zamazenta to him, so he charged Leo and Widget down.

"Uh, Rock Slide, I think?" the miraivally said. He hovered higher in the air. With a pained wince, Leo joined him.

"Then use Rock Slide!"

"On Xeromus?"

"He said to use rocks!"

Widget's cheek bolts cracked. "Right. Just, uh, gimme a sec to tune my aura to it."

They didn't have a second. Xeromus had run into the air again. Leo spewed a Flamethrower at him. Xeromus forced himself past the flames.

The cosmic arceus coated his forelegs in fire. He met a swing of Xeromus' glowing foreleg with his Fire Punch. Then they stalemated again. And a third time. But Leo's flames grew weaker with each punch.

"Down!" Widget called.

Leo dropped from the air, hissing when his hurt right foreleg hit the ground. But the combination of pained howls above him and brown dust sprinkling around him told him Widget landed the Rock Slide.

Xeromus hit the ground with a thud seconds later.

"Again!" Leo said. He pointed his forehead toward Xeromus.

More rocks hammered Xeromus. He flailed on the ground, howling in pain. Zamazenta had gone limp in Gene's psychic grasp.

"What's going on here?" Gene drifted closer to the ground, on the opposite side of Xeromus. "What are you doing? We're rescuing him, remember!"

Flames gathered around Leo's forehead.

Use rocks... then hit him...

"WAKE UP!" Leo cried, before Judgment's flaming arrows pummeled a battered Xeromus.

As soon as the last flaming beam struck the shadow silvally, white light exploded out from him. The altar and the sounds of battle died down.

Leo staggered back, squeezing his eyes shut. Was that it? Had they done it? Why was there a burst of light instead of shadows? Shouldn't the latter have hurt him?

When Leo slowly opened his eyes, everything was still bright white. There was no altar. No broken pillars. No sign of Widget or Gene or any of the others fighting in the background.

He looked left. Nothing but white.

He looked right and found the same.

"What the—" Leo spun around in a panic. His foreleg still hurt from the movement. So, this wasn't a dream. Had Xeromus baited him into triggering some sort of trap?

After a few seconds, and a pause to catch his breath, Leo finally saw a figure hobbling toward him. Getting clearer with every step.

When it was close enough for Leo to make out cheek bolts and a head crest, the figure spoke.

"It's over. Finally over."

Xeromus stood opposite Leo in the white void, looking off to his left.

... No. That wasn't quite right. The shadows were gone. This silvally had no chains, either.

Leo leaned over and whispered, "Nova?"

Silence at first. Tired eyes stared off into space. Contemplative, maybe.

Then the silvally's expression sharpened. "I need you to listen to me. We don't have much time."

Leo's starcloud fur pulsated. "What do you mean, Nova?"

He stepped forward. "Look at you. And you... you sound lucid. The shadows are gone... right?" Leo looked around at all the white. "That's why we're here?"

"The shadows are gone." Nova slowly nodded. "But it's already too late for me."

He finally met Leo's gaze. "When this... pause runs out of energy, I'm going to Explode. You'll need to put up a Protect to keep yourself safe."

Leo's eyes widened. "What? Why Explode?!"

He took another step toward Nova, but the silvally backed away.

"We... we're helping you." He looked down at his hooves. "I could hear you."

"I know." Nova turned around, crest drooping. "It can't be stopped. When this fight started, I managed to reactivate that old kill switch Matriarch built me with."

More silence. Even though Nova said they didn't have much time, Leo struggled to choose his words.

"Why?" he whispered. "What about Gene?" Leo gestured with a foreleg. "He... was starting to have hope of getting you back."

Nova winced. "I know. And I wish it hadn't come to this, but..."

He lowered his head. "Even if this wasn't happening, we wouldn't get a happy ending."

"That's—"

"I've been shadowed too long." Nova's fur stood on end. His muscles tensed up like prey sensing a predator nearby. "You have no idea what it's like to be a prisoner in your own body. Suffocating. Drowning. Watching yourself do things that you don't want to.

"There's no 'back to normal' from that." Nova turned away again. "Gene and I... we aren't the same anymore."

The silvally took a deep breath. "But at least this way... I can go down fighting. And try to plant the seeds... for a miracle."

His expression hardened again. "With the shadows gone and me exploding, the hex over Zamazenta will break. He can help you guys in your fight. Especially against Isola... or should I say Enamorus?"

Leo blinked several times, before remembering the end of Chiron's memory. "Then Isola really is that Sage?"

Nova nodded. "And she subjected Zacian to a similar hex." He grimaced. "Sealed within her own sword. A Red Chain fragment binding her in place and empowering Enamorus further."

"Why did she do something like that?" Leo wondered.

Guilt ate at him. If these were Nova's last moments, the cosmic arceus should be trying to comfort him. Not talking business.

Although Nova clearly wanted to talk business. Perhaps it was best to go with that.

"Zacian and Zamazenta naturally resist Eterna energy... including the Red Chain," Nova said, tracing a circle in the air with his claws. "Not entirely sure why. I think in other worlds, they're heroes that defeated other versions of Eternatus. But that's beside the point."

He lowered his foreleg, tracing a sword on the ground. "If you can separate the sword from the Red Chain fragment, you can break the hex and free Zacian, too. And hopefully stop Enamorus. Paradox, too."

"Right..." That all sounded good. But Enamorus and Paradox were symptoms of a bigger problem. "And Zodiark?"

Nova grimaced. He took a shaky breath as the white void rippled around them.

"Damn it." Nova's gold claws dug into the white space. "Running out of time."

Leo took another step forward. "Then let me help you."

"No." Nova stood up taller. "I have... to help you."

"Huh?"

"Listen to me." Nova stepped toward Leo. "When Zodiark says he's evolved beyond life and death, he means it. He's a force. You can't kill a force. He must be sealed."

Leo frowned. Wasn't that exactly what happened before? With the Space Globe?

"A better seal than what Matriarch was doing with the Space Globe," Nova said. "An Eternal Seal. And you're the only one who can make it."

Leo's eyes darted around. Eternal Seal? What was that supposed to mean?

Damn it, and Leo wasn't exactly in a position to bombard Nova with questions. "How am I supposed to do something like that?"

Nova's expression turned grim. Leo's pelt darkened.

"... Wait." He shuffled backward. "No. You're not saying—"

"That it requires a sacrifice?" Nova's shoulders sagged. "It does. And I meant what I said about Widget and Yuna, too. They don't stay in one piece if these worlds are put back in their rightful places."

His expression sharpened. "But it's our one shot. Our one miracle that could pave the way for everyone else to have a future."

He stepped toward Leo. "Zodiark's Eternaverse can never happen. Living forever? Being happy because that's how he tells us to feel?" Nova shook his head. "That's not living.

"Yes, there's pain in life. Suffering, too." His crest drooped. "Sometimes a lot of it. But that's part of what gives our lives meaning."

A pause. "And our deaths, too."

He stomped a foreleg down. "I think this one chance can give my death meaning. Pave the way for Gene and I to be together again. Without the burdens of this struggle weighing us down."

Nova looked Leo in the eye. "This... this miracle. It's why I held on. Why I continued to suffocate in the shadows. Waiting until you'd gathered enough plates and gotten enough experience with your powers that I could pass this onto you."

The white void rippled again. Leo's legs shook. The gnawing pain from the shadow attack was even worse.

"B-But how?" He squeezed his eyes shut. "How can I... how can I just..."

"Think about the others," Nova said. "You have to hold them close. Because those bonds... will give you the strength to make the toughest choices."

When Leo hesitantly opened his eyes, Nova's head was glowing. His beak opened up... and a golden card emerged.

Leo tilted his head. "Your Paradigm fragment?"

Was it happening, then? Was Nova dying?

The silvally shook his head. "It's not the fragment the others saw in Herbrides. It's the twenty-second Paradigm fragment."

It drifted over to Leo. He could faintly make out two words written in silver letters.

(Art by Raph)

WILD CARD

"I don't... understand." Leo's fur prickled. The card appeared from nowhere. Yet it was... practically calling out to him. Begging him to absorb it.

Nova's breathing grew shakier. He had to sit down. "When the... when the time's... the time's right..." He slowly slid onto his belly. "It'll... give you... the piece you need. The piece you need... to make the... Eternal Seal."

Almost reflexively, Leo touched the card with his snout. It dissolved into his starry fur. A warmth spread over him.

And, as that happened, Nova's body began to fade.

"Nova?" Leo's eyes widened in alarm. "Nova, what's happened? Stop it!"

"Cuh... can't..." The silvally fell over on his side. He was down to his head, chest, and front forelegs. "Out of... time..."

Leo galloped over to Nova. Tears blurred his eyes. "C'mon, man. Don't do this! There's gotta be another way!"

He crouched down. "Don't give up! D-Don't..."

"Duh... don't..." Nova somehow managed to press a talon to Leo's right foreleg. "Don't... tell... others..."

Only Nova's head was left. Leo had mere moments if he wanted to say something. But what was there to say?

Ultimately, Leo decided to agree to Nova's last request. "Okay." He swallowed hard. "Our secret."

A faint smile tugged on Nova's beak. And then his head was gone.

The white void vanished in an instant. Leo was back at the Spear Pillar, staring down Xeromus. Golden light spilled out of cracks and fissures in his body.

Leo immediately remembered Nova's warning. He conjured a Protect.

A second later, Xeromus exploded. Golden light flooded the mountaintop once again. The force of the blast pushed Leo along the ground, but his shield held tough. This time, instead of silence, there were shouts and startled cries. None louder than Gene's. And some rumbling overhead made Leo worry the blast was going to make the crystal dome collapse on them.

The blast's pressure let up. Leo dropped his shield and got to his feet, ready to open up a rift if need be.

However, though the hole from earlier was larger, the dome withstood Nova's Explosion.

Leo turned around. The few silvally left had all crumpled over and lay unresponsive on the ground. A couple of pillars down, Valkyrie nudged one with a claw, before looking at Leo and shaking her head.

By the pillar opposite the garchomp, Igneous landed beside Shimmer and Scarlett. The grovlazzle looked between Leo and the altar.

"What the hell?" Igneous pressed his claws against the sides of his head. "No. He... he didn't..."

Leo slowly turned right. Where Xeromus had been standing... was a small crater.

A small crater with Zamazenta lying inside of it.

Bits of metal and broken chains lay scattered around the crater. Gene landed on the edge of it, trying to scoop up some of the chains, only to have them crumble to ash in his hands.

Legs trembling, Widget approached the crater's edge. "H-He..." The cosmic silvally's neck ruff deflated around his neck. "He just... he just..."

Unable to form the words, his eyes darted around in a panic.

Leo wasn't sure what to say. Gene hadn't taken his eyes off the crater. His hands balled up into fists. Bits of ash trickled between his fingers.

An uneasy silence lingered over the mountaintop, save for a faint wind blowing in through the hole in the dome. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo caught the others staring at the crater and disbelief.

He looked back at Gene. The mega mewtwo kept staring silently at Zamazenta.

After a half a minute, Leo heard wingbeats coming from the hole in the dome.

"The hell happened in here?!" Nikki shouted from high in the sky. "We saw some huge burst of light spill out of the hole!"

Noctum descended from the hole in the dome first, carrying Nikki on his back. Yuna followed them, looking at the crater.

"Is that Zamazenta?" Yuna's griseous core pulsated yellow. "What's going on? Where's Xeromus?"

As Leo limped around the crater and behind Widget to meet Yuna, Gene Phantom Warped in front of him.

"Battle's over." Gene opened his hands. The ash spilled down by his feet. "We won."

Yuna's tail crinkled up. "But where's Xeromus? All I see is—"

"Gone." Gene turned away from the crater. "He blew himself up. Tried to take Leo down with him."

Recognition flashed in Yuna's eyes.

"Oh, Gene..." She rubbed her right shoulder. "I'm sorry. I thought—"

"I'm fine." Gene's shoulders crystals smoldered with purple energy.

Nikki slid off Noctum's back. "You don't sound fine, dude."

"I'm. Fine."

Leo couldn't tell what sort of look Gene gave Nikki, because the mega mewtwo's back was to him. Judging by Nikki's mohawk shrinking, it wasn't a good one.

"In the end... I didn't have to kill him." Gene kept walking away. Past Yuna. And Nikki and Noctum. "He at least... left me with that act of mercy."

The others converged on the altar. Bahamut kept glancing at Yuna, but the cosmic lucario wasn't saying anything to her.

"What about Dreamweaver?" Leo asked. They had blasted Yuna out of the mountain. If they weren't coming here in any danger, then did they beat it?

"Gone." Nikki wiped her hands.

"Gone?" Leo raised a brow.

Nikki shrugged. "Broke apart and shit."

Noctum stepped forward, twiddling his claws. "What she means is... we can't be entirely sure what happened to them."

"Nor can we be sure whether Zodiark's machinations will allow the emperor to pursue us here." Bahamut paced along the edge of the crater, still stealing glances at Yuna. "We cannot stay here any longer."

"H-Hang on." Leo raised a forehoof. "We should take a look around this place. Make sure we didn't miss anything. Or, y'know, unearth something in all the fighting."

"Hmph." Bahamut crossed his arms. "This place is derelict." He flicked his snout toward the altar. "And functionally useless now that what little was left of that core is gone."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Scarlett slithered between Widget and Bahamut. The cosmic silvally was still staring slack-jawed at Zamazenta. He hadn't budged the entire time.

"If the core's been totally destroyed, then isn't the world going to start to break or something?"

Leo shook his head. "I don't think so. Zodiark... made it sound like he'll keep it together."

"To build his stupid ass Eternaverse!" Nikki threw her arms up. "I'm with Bath Mat. Freaking exhausted over here." She sat down on the ground. "Puh-lease tell me one of you can get us a rift back to the outpost."

Predictably, Noctum and Yuna both looked at Leo. He was the one with unrestricted rift powers.

Still, this was all too fresh. Leo looked back at the crater, then at Widget, then over his shoulder. Gene stood atop the pointed end of a broken pillar, facing the hole Dreamweaver had blown in the dome.

"I'll get you guys back." Leo looked at the group. "But, uh, maybe give me a little more time to look this place over first?"

Bahamut narrowed his eyes at Leo. "What do you think you're doing?"

Leo stood up. "It'll just be a few minutes. Promise." He faced Bahamut's glare with a softer expression.

After several moments of silence, the cosmic lucario huffed and turned his attention on Jade. "Grab Zamazenta." Bahamut pointed to the crater.

"Huh?" Jade pointed at her face. "Why me?"

"You are the biggest one here aside from Leo," Diamond pointed out.

"Oh yeeeeeeaaaah." Jade rubbed the back of her head with a wing, laughing.

Bahamut's eyes flickered gold. "Go. Now."

Tail flaps curling up, Jade approached the crater to gather up Zamazenta. Bahamut returned his attention to Leo.

"Make the rift. We can't dawdle any longer."

"Right." Leo sighed. He only had to concentrate for a second before he found the spark of power needed to open up a purple rift. The hangar's blue glow spilled out of the other side.

"It's ready." He tilted his head toward the rift. Leo barely finished saying that when the various resistance members quickly converged on it. He tried to step in front of Gene's path, but Gene Phantom Warped right through him and into the rift.

Then Leo felt a small hand on his left shoulder. He locked eyes with Yuna.

"Everything okay?" she said.

"Yeah."

It wasn't. But Leo promised Nova he wouldn't say anything. So, he had to redirect.

"And you?"

Yuna looked down at the ground. Now that all the fighting was over, she looked downright exhausted.

Widget still sat beside the crater, however. Staring at its empty basin. Completely frozen in place. It was what Leo feared. And why he couldn't leave quite yet.

"We'll, uh, talk later," he said.

Yuna nodded, then flew into the rift. It shut behind her, leaving Leo alone with Widget and his thoughts.

There would be a lot of resistance members who would need to talk later. He just hoped they would actually do that.

XxX

~The Dark Omen: Xeromus~
To the silvally who led the warriors that freed the Affirmer from His prison, He bestowed the truth. That said silvally once fought a losing battle against Him. That the Renegade collapsed his home in the immediate aftermath. And that he had once again been led astray by false beliefs and promises.

Unable to grapple with the truth, the door to his heart shut. Shadows blanketed his spirit. His blighted form wandered the world, driving people to accept the Affirmer into their lives.​

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Alright, took a couple days longer than planned, though coming back to this story for a fresh chapter in my journey to getting current again with:

Chapter 114

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

"Hey, Igneous," Tessa greeted, walking into the Observatory lobby from the main floor's western wing. The volcarona turned around and bobbed his head.

"Morning." He looked past the riolu toward the dimly lit hallway. "Where's Nickie?"

"Letting her sleep a bit longer." Tessa nervously batted an aura feeler. "She, uh, might've had a bit too much of that hard berry juice last night."

Someone was a party animal back in the day. Not really sure how I feel about the lack of establishing description in the start of this scene, though I suppose that we're never going to see this location outside of flashbacks and memories have a way of getting hazy and murky with time, so I won't question it too hard.

A few embers drifted off Igneous' wings. "I heard there was a commotion at Crabrawler's Café. Was that her?"

"She got a biiiiiiiiit too into open mic night." Tessa laughed. "But she sang pretty well for someone who was drunk." She shook her head. "Anyway, I was actually hoping to ask you a favor. If you happen to see any jobs that pay really well, mind shunting them over to me?"

I see that even across a preincarnation, that Nikki really hasn't changed all this time. :V

"What for?" Igneous asked.

Tessa's aura feelers pulsated. She traced her foot along the marble floor. "I want to save up to get Nickie something special."

Huh. That's an interesting memory to have there. I wonder how it's going to tie into today's chapter. And is this how Nikki got those fishnets she wore as an Alolapix?

"Something special, huh." Igneous' wings buzzed faster. "Well, I won't pry into it. I'll see what's on the job board and let you know." He flew toward the stairway.

"Thanks." Tessa waved him goodbye.

And time to see how Yuna's doing in the present day in 3... 2...

"Well that's... something."

Gene paced back and forth, eyeing his jagged, distorted reflection in the crystalized door blocking the team's way. The mega mewtwo rapped the crystal with his fist. Dinks echoed across the field.

"It's clearly sturdy." Gene crossed his arms. "Telekinesis ain't doing squat."

Ominous music is ominous. Though I see we've jumped ahead a bit from the last time we were on Yuna's end of things last chapter.

Yuna floated up to the crystal and put a hand on it. "Tera crystals," the dragapult mumbled. "That's what Grishi called them in the last mystery dungeon." She looked over her shoulder. "They're here... and back in the village, too."

Oh, so I was right about them being Tera Crystals. Yeah, I figured with the explicit comparison to the crystals that the Whispers had, though I wonder what that story is there.

"Hmph. This shouldn't be surprising." Bahamut leaned against a rock jutting out of the base of the mountain. "You said the Whispers have all used corrupted Tera power. Of course those crystals would be present around Eternatus' core." He waved a starry paw dismissively. "That's where this whole mess began, after all."

Just how many different energies/paranormal phenomena is PoV's Eternatus a blender of anyways?

Widget was tempted to correct him on that, but the cosmic silvally held his tongue. Bahamut got the gist of it.

Gene turned to Bahamut, leaning against the giant crystal. "Well, Mr. 'This shouldn't be surprising,' if you're so confident, then why don't you take a crack at this thing?"

"Gladly."

Can't tell if this is a good, or a really, really bad idea. Though I suppose there's worse candidates than a guy who helped shape your universe into being to try and fiddle around with the mysterious crystals you know nothing about.

The cosmic lucario was beside the crystal in the blink of an eye. Which meant he was teleporting now. Great.

He brought his paws to his side, conjuring a blade of light, and slashed the crystal. A resounding clang sounded... but the crystal didn't break. It didn't even chip!

Gene: "Real impressive there, buddy."

Bahamut: "Oh yeah, and like your attempt was any better." >_>;

Instead, the light blade vanished. Bahamut staggered back, wringing out his paws.

"A for effort," Gene teased, still leaning against the crystal.

"Still your tongue," Bahamut growled, aura feelers pulsating. He glared at Widget. "You're the one who got through the barrier. Do something."

Huh. Not as salty as I was expecting from Gene's end. Got Bahamut's pretty close, though.

Widget: "Wait, but what am I supposed to do here?" ·v·

"M-Me?" Widget's crest fanned out. "Just because my powers worked on the barrier doesn't mean they'll get through a giant crystal."

Bahamut crossed his arms. "Don't make excuses. Try it." He flicked his snout toward the crystal.

"Fine." The cosmic silvally marched up to it. What were they expecting from him? He still wasn't entirely sure how he got through the barrier anyway. Some sort of... Voice power.

Oh huh, this scene's written from Widget's perspective. Wasn't expecting it given how the flashback scene just before is from Yuna's but duly noted.

Sighing, Widget reached a foreleg out and pressed his golden talons against the crystal. It was surprisingly warm, considering the sunlight — well, the entire sky, really — was artificial.

They really are in a remodeled Blueberry Academy right now, aren't they?

Okay, so he was touching the crystal. Now what? Did he channel an attack? Could Widget... communicate with his inner Voice or something?

C'mon... He pressed his talons firmer against the crystal.

A sudden spark ran up his foreleg. Widget tensed. His starry neck ruff puffed up.

"... aavaaz..."

Widget: "Um... is it supposed to speak in a creepy, ominous voice like that?"

Huh? Was someone... talking to Widget? It was too garbled for him to make out.

The spark raced up his foreleg again. Widget involuntarily shut his eyes.

He lay on his side, barely able to make out the crumbled remains of his home. Togekiss' tiny feet bobbed in and out of his field of view.

A purple specter approached him. Leaning over, their arceus mask met Hydreigon's blurry gaze.

"Welcome back, Voice."

Oh, hello, Butterfree Effect/Volo.

"Ahh, look!"

Yuna's cry snapped Widget from his trance. He yanked his foreleg back like he'd touched a burning stove. Cracks had formed in the crystal where his talons were. They spread out. And out and out and out.

"Everyone, get back!" The dragapult flew over them before the giant crystal shattered. Neck ruff shrinking, Widget scrambled away from the door. Crystal shards fell to the ground, with chunks rolling to a stop by his feet.

Widget: "Uh... well, the good news is that we got past the crystal. The bad news is that I have no idea how I just did that or if that was even a good thing." ^v^;

"Hmph. See?" Bahamut kicked crystal chunks aside as he headed toward the door. "You were the key we needed after all."

Widget's crest drooped. There were things he could've— no, should've responded with. But Bahamut wasn't going to care, was he?

Almost certainly not considering what we've seen of him in this story thus far.

Even if the others were having doubts or concerns about their past lives... at least they understood their situations. They weren't constructs like Widget. It felt like... Widget was simply doing what he was built for. What the emperor built him for.

We're going to wind up seeing him bluescreen in a couple chapters, aren't we?

"Hey, you coming?"

Gene stood in the open doorway, starcloud tail lazily drifting back and forth.

"Y-Yeah." The cosmic silvally trotted through the crystal fragments after Gene.

Yuna: "Um... Widget, are you okay-?"
Widget: "Perfectly fine! Totally not having a quiet existential crisis at all right now!" OvO;
Yuna: "O... kay then. (Boy, this surely can't be healthy for him...)" .-.

After a bit of brainstorming, Penny managed to convince Leo to disguise himself as a fighting-type tauros. They were apparently native to Paldea and frequently showed up in Levincia pulling assorted carts and wagons. After she showed the cosmic arceus a handful of pictures, he was able to pull from his fist plate and turn into a black-furred, fighting tauros.

Surprised not Cyclizar given that nobody would bat an eye at Leo running around in a hurry if he did that.

Once he was sure there weren't rotom drones flying around near Penny's "lair," Leo headed back to the main street and proceeded north. Everything was... more or less the way he'd left it when he'd brought his teammates inside. People were standing in place, either staring at their phones or at giant electronic screens showing Xander's stream.

I take it that the cities are pretty game-literal in this universe, otherwise there must surely be a ton of vehicle accidents in the background right now. Though that makes me wonder if Xander's attention whoring spell also works on feral Pokémon or if they just no-sell this.

The sylveon was currently... playing some sort of video game where he ran around as a two-legged sylveon, building walls and ramps with wood and metal he materialized from nowhere. Xander operated the controller with his ribbons. He stumbled across some sort of human avatar, only to blow them apart with a burst of pink energy from some sort of blaster.

Oh lordy, Fortnite. I remember blowing so much time on that a few years ago. Though people are still into that? I thought all the kids were into Roblox these days.

Whatever Xander said, however, Leo couldn't hear. He'd managed to fashion himself some improvised earplugs, just in case Xander could somehow affect him while he was walking through the streets. Other pokémon were certainly entranced. He walked by a flying taxi station. All the carriages were grounded. Squawkabilly flocks stood atop the carriages, watching Xander's stream projected onto a nearby building.

Okay, so this does work on ferals as well. Though that actually makes me wonder if anyone with a set of headphones/AirPods and noise cancellation on would similarly no-sell the effect of these broadcasts.

Sighing, Leo pressed onward. Thinking about Xander's literally captive audience wouldn't help. Stopping Xander would totally rescue them. Sealing off the other mystery dungeons had fixed the problems they caused.

Although this one had a much clearer effect on a lot of people.

... Leo really hoped he could fix everything.

I think that you're going to need a wee bit of help with that one, Leo. Since this feels like a lot more than a one-mon job.

The tauros shook his head. He couldn't doubt himself like this. Harshing his own mellow would make it harder for him to properly fight Xander. He locked in and took care of Gilgamesh. It was time to do the same for this prissy sylveon.

That feels like some very dangerous overconfidence to be having. Not that it doesn't align well with a "teenage years" mentality.

All the tall buildings and side-to-side restaurants were soon behind Leo. A concrete road led straight ahead toward sweeping plains and rolling hills. But the road turned off to the left, winding its way down closer to water level. And at the end of the road was the amphitheater Penny mentioned.

Leo didn't have to go any closer. He could already see the mystery dungeon core dangling over the amphitheater stage.

And that wasn't the only problem. The sylveon's heart-shaped head crystal sparkled under the afternoon sun, even from this distance. But there were other jewels, too. On the cameras. One was a giant lightbulb and the other... a purple skull and crossbones?

Oh, so the space pirates are getting in on the action too, huh?

Then Xander must have had the electric and poison plates! Could the former explain how he was controlling so many rotom drones at once?

... Or it could be that. I admittedly wasn't expecting it, though I suppose it would explain a thing or two about how he just wiped everyone the last we saw him in Khelifet.

Maybe. Leo didn't have any idea what to make of the poison plate's use, though. Emblematic of Xander's toxic personality?

Or maybe that's how he's hypnotizing people?

Would've pegged that more as a Psychic thing given Malamar's antics, but I suppose Poison would also potentially be handy, yes.

He shook his head. The corrupted plates being attached to equipment instead of pokémon was certainly different, though. Did that mean all Leo had to do was smash the equipment to get rid of the corrupted energy?

"What's stopping you, O Child of Fate?"

Oh, hello, ominous voice. Hello, ominous music.

Leo: "... Who just said that?" O.O

Leo almost mooed in surprise at a sudden telekinetic voice, but managed to bite his tongue. That distorted voice... he hadn't heard it for himself before, but from what Yuna told him...

The tauros turned around and, sure enough, there was a purple specter with a mask resembling a wheel over their face. And their hair resembled Leo's normal mane.

"Zodiark," Leo cooly said. "Nice to see you, but I gotta go. Peace."

Oh hello. Wasn't expecting to see her there. So there was a reason why you had Widget have that flashback last scene.

He stepped to Zodiark's side and began to walk back into the city. Zodiark—or their shell or Whisper or whatever this was supposed to be—teleported into his path.

"Taking after your mother, I see." They folded their hands behind their back. "But you raised a valid question, Child of Fate. Why not destroy that which holds your plates? Your power?"

Leo: "I'm sorry, why would I want to do that when I need those to grow up?" .-.

Leo went from a walk to a trot. He and Yuna had this discussion several times now. He wouldn't entertain Zodiark.

Again, Zodiark warped into his path. "Even the silence is a fair point," they said. "After all, I misspoke. Those plates— that power is not yours. It is mine."

Leo:

"Sure." Leo charged by a handful of restaurants. "You keep telling yourself that."

And then, in the blink of an eye, everything around the tauros froze. He was still charging down the street, but the people on the sidewalk were still. Some were mid-step. Others were stuck in conversation, arms gesturing. A flamigo floated in place beside some windows on a skyscraper to Leo's right.

Oh hey, this is definitely familiar to anyone who played XB3.

He skidded to a halt. Even though he knew better than to engage Zodiark, he couldn't just lead them back to his teammates.

... Assuming they weren't already frozen in place, too. Where was Zodiark even getting this power from?

The power of being an old creator god.

Leo skidded to a halt. Maybe if he reluctantly played along, the time freezing thing would stop.

"Maybe they were your plates at one point... but they're mine now," the tauros said. "Deal with it."

Zodiark faced Leo, though the mask obscured whatever expression they had. "Quite the... contradiction you are."

Leo: "He... didn't like hearing that, did he?" o_o;

Even with some distortion in their voice, Zodiark sounded oddly detached— no, emotionless. There was no annoyance behind their words. No haughtiness or smugness. Nothing. It made Leo's fur prickle. And not in a good way.

"A legend growing his power—at the threshold of divinity—yet clinging tightly to such a... mortal attitude." Zodiark shook their head. "Is it any wonder that you suffer? That you propagate suffering in those around you?"

Oh hey, so Zodiark just has this whole 'higher state of existence' shtick going on. I see we're getting into Cosmic Horror Story territory right now.

There it was. Another facet of Zodiark that Yuna had warned Leo about. He rolled his eyes. "Better to have a bit of attitude than be some cringe daemon speaking in riddles."

Zodiark remained in place, hands behind their back. They didn't move a muscle. Assuming they actually had any.

"How juvenile," they said. "No wonder you cannot fully grasp the powers you wield."

Leo brushed a forehoof against the pavement. "Wanna bet?"

Um... Leo, you really, really don't want to take that bet right now, just saying. ^^;

"This is but a projection," Zodiark said. It was such a smug statement, yet their tone was completely indifferent. "Your boasts are as empty as your claim to divinity."

"I'm Arceus." Leo stomped his forehoof down defiantly. "I'm going to fix what you broke."

Zodiark's projection flickered, then abruptly vanished. They reappeared across the street.

"Your claim to those plates—my plates—is temporary." They raised their right arm. "No matter what happens, they shall be mine. It is an immutable truth. Written into the stars."

Just saying, this is the setting where there's a giant space dragon going around and eating planets. You sure you want to allude to the permanence of stars to back up your claim there, buddy?

They clenched their fist. "And despite your... attitude, you have already accepted this."

Their mask pulsated and rippled. A chain swirled around where Zodiark's face should have been.

Leo's fur prickled again.

The Red Chain surrounded him. Leo tried ramming it with an Extreme Speed charge, only to recoil from an intense jolt of pain.

[*]

I'm guessing that this is a flashback to the whole thing that went down at Temporal Tower.

What was this? Not even the beam from Dark Matter that turned him to stone felt like this!

Yeah, I knew it. Though hey, at least back in the day Leo wasn't a dirty coward like his GL counterpart was.

"You are no legend," Zodiark continued. They'd warped right in front of Leo. Their masked face was centimeters from his. "You are but a tool. I am your wielder."

Leo: "O... kay, I'm just gonna leave now!"

Leo instinctively bucked his horns. They phased right through Zodiark, who warped a couple of meters away.

"As expected." Zodiark folded their hands behind their back again. "Yaldabaoth's machinations. Where you were once isolated... now you live amongst others." Their mask rippled. "These connections... these bonds of consciousness... are no doubt why you resist."

They shook their head. "Consciousness breeds suffering. You are burdened. Your friends and family suffer for knowing you. For knowing one another."

Well gee, aren't you just Mr. Positivity there, Zodiark. Though I suppose that given how POV-2020 is literally a hazard to the rest of the known multiverse by virtue of existing, "give up and embrace fading away" would thematically be apropos for a villain's shtick.

Snorting, Leo flicked a forehoof. "That's the best you've got? No wonder we keep beating what you throw at us. You're so delulu that all you can do is throw big, dumb words around and act like it makes you a big deal."

Zodiark warped to Leo's right. Then he reappeared on the tauros' left, standing sideways on a glass window with mannequins in bright dresses on the other side.

"That is where you are mistaken," Zodiark said. Cripes, they still sounded so empty. It was really creeping Leo out. "These flawed bonds lead to suffering. Suffering breaks the bonds apart. The broken bonds deepen the suffering." They lazily twirled their index finger around. "A vicious cycle. In perpetuity. Until the world crumbles to dust.

Gee, keep mainlining those Evangelion vibes any harder, Zodiark, and we'll wind up in a sea of tang at this rate.

I do kinda wonder if there were a couple points where we should've seen a bit more of Leo's internal thought process play out though, since something about it feels a little underexplored at the moment.

"The child you met here is no different." They pointed south. Vaguely in the direction where Penny's "lair" was. "Connections fostered suffering. She fought back with more connections. But now she and those who allied with her experience greater suffering."

"Then we'll fix it," Leo said, thinking back on the others whose lives they'd touched within these mystery dungeons. Hell, he saw Kieran apologizing to Ninetales before he left Blueberry Academy. Zodiark had no idea what they were talking about.

So wait, did that Kieran also have the whole meltdown and BSOD moment after getting beat by Florian/Juliana later on? ^^;

"Will you?" They paced along the window. Shadow ripples raced along the glass with every step Zodiark took. "How can you know when you will abandon them once you have your power back?"

"Well that's—" But Leo's voice got caught in his throat. Because he couldn't know for sure. "I have faith."

Zodiark:

Leo: "Oi, I thought you were supposed to have a creepy and emotionless shtick right now!"

Zodiark warped back onto the street, standing on a manhole cover. "Do you see the problem now? You value the connections in your world. But not the ones you have made in these other realms. You will turn a blind eye to their suffering if it means repairing the broken world you inhabit."

"Not true," Leo huffed. The tauros stomped down the street, past the manhole cover Zodiark stood on. "That's just more of your cringey old geezer rhetoric."

I mean, just saying, given that you have a world that's supposed to be your priority, that does sound like a bit of a concern for spreading yourself a bit thin, Leo.

Everything was still frozen, though. How much more did Leo need to play along with this? If only he could gleam something from Zodiark's tone. But their voice remained completely neutral.

"Yaldabaoth believes in the power of consciousness." Zodiark surprisingly turned away from Leo. "And they have foisted this misguided logic onto you. The solution is simple, then."

Leo: "I... don't think I like where this is going right now." ._.

Static rippled across their projection. "I shall grind that consciousness to dust. Starting with the puppet Yaldabaoth hides behind."

Before Leo could retort, the projection vanished. Movement resumed all around him, including rotom drones that were flying around, undoubtedly searching for him and his teammates.

The tauros shook his head. He had no reason to buy any of that nonsense. Nothing Zodiark had tried had worked on the team. Leo had to press onward. And that started with getting back to the others and figuring out their next move.

Um... Leo? I'm not sure if just dismissing all that out of hand was really a good idea there. .-.

Penny's lair remained silent after Leo departed. She was hunched over her computer, clicking away on the mouse or her keyboard. Her various eeveelution teammates took up lounge spots around her desk. Shimmer wasn't sure if he should try to engage in some sort of idle chatter. His nerves won out and kept him quiet, lying on the floor beside the couch.

Aside from the clicking and clacking, Nikki kept hopping off the couch and grabbing opened bags of chips. The crinkles and crunches irked Shimmer, but he didn't want to come across as whiny or entitled.

Oh, so we're doing a Shimmer scene this time around. Well then, let's see what's going on in your head right now, Pillow Princess.

And, really, that was the brunt of the issue for the ponytales. A part of Shimmer lamented how fast and far he'd fallen. Sure, he'd been nestled in with the resistance for a month or two. But before that, everything crashed and burned so quickly. He'd gone from a crown prince on top of the world—perfect grades, perfect boyfriend, everyone's adoration—to lying down on a dirty carpet in some stranger's messy basement.

I mean, it kinda helps that literally everything about your life a month ago was a giant lie and it all just kinda fell apart, so...

His perfect grades were bought. His perfect boyfriend had publicly debased him in front of millions of viewers. Even that adoration... was only because he'd been used. First by his mother so that he'd be ready to become the body snatcher's next victim. Then by Demerzel to try and get rid of his mother... even if it meant ruining the very kingdom he was supposed to rule.

Wow, I can't believe that I'm actually feeling bad for Shimmer considering what a complete and utter ass he started out as in the story. He really has changed quite a bit, huh?

All the while, the students he'd sneered at that opening week of Horizon's school year had thrown themselves into the fire to try and save the world. They were everything Shimmer wasn't.

"Now's not the time to shame spiral."

Shimmer's tails puffed out. "Wha—"

Can't tell if Nikki or Scarlett there. My assumption is the latter, but...

He tilted his head up. Scarlett was resting on the arm of the couch. Well, the dragonair's head was there. Most of her torso was splayed out over the back of the couch.

"I wasn't—" Shimmer stopped himself. "I was just thinking."

Scarlett: "No, you were very obviously shame spiraling. The Latias that doubles as the voice in my head pointed it out."

"Dunno about that." Scarlett tapped her neck bauble with a wing. Shimmer swore he saw a latias silhouette for a brief moment. He squinted at her.

Oh boy, when I call 'em, I call 'em. :V

"You're here, aren't you?" the dragonair continued. "Things have changed. I see it. You see it. Iggy sees it, too."

On the actual couch, Nikki held up a bag of tortilla chips. "Even I'll admit you're trying, Twinkie. Not nearly the ass you used to be."

Shimmer: "Oh, so I'm still an ass right now. Wonderful, I feel so much better." >_>;
Nikki: "Look, at least you went from 'giant ass' to 'kinda an ass', so you're directionally improving?"

"Sheesh, language," Penny grumbled, looking up from her computer. "If you guys are trying to up your social link, can it wait until you're back home?"

Scarlett and Shimmer exchanged a confused look, then stared blankly at Penny.

"It's— oh, never mind." Sighing, she turned back to her computer. Flarevee stuck his head up and she scratched behind his ear.

Well then, I suppose that's one way to tell that Penny in this universe is a fan of Persona.

"Okay..." Shimmer awkwardly tilted his head to look at Scarlett again. "Uh, thanks... for the vote of confidence."

"Don't mention it."

Three knocks followed by two drew Shimmer's attention to the door. It opened a second later and Leo walked in, shaking out his starry pelt.

Nikki: "Hey, how'd it go out there?" Leo: "Well, the good news is that I found where the plates are. The bad news is that I kinda had a freaky run-in with Zodiark." ^^;
All:

Nikki: "I'm sorry, what?"

"So, uhhh..." Leo looked around the room as his voice trailed off. Shimmer wasn't good at reading the cosmic arceus on account of the lack of a mouth.

"What'd ya find?" Nikki asked, standing up on the couch to see him. Scarlett similarly picked her head up so it didn't look like she was completely draped across the back of the couch.

Leo sighed and shook his head. "There are other plates involved in this."

Oh hey, there's the good news. I wonder if he'll also bring up the Zodiark encounter as well.

"Big whoop." The toxtricity shrugged. "We've dealt with that before, haven't we? You fought a guy with two last time and Ting-Lu had the other."

Penny looked up from her computer, blinking several times. She quickly returned to her screens when Shimmer caught her gaze, however.

"True." Leo bobbed his head. "This one's a bit... weird, though. I saw the electric and poison Tera crystals."

"Tera crystals?" Penny looked up from her computer again. "Wait, wait. You guys can't just barge in here and ape Terastalization. It's—"

Wait, 'ape Terastalization'? Just what is that supposed to mean? That it's copyrighted in this setting?

"The Tera crystals are my plates," Leo explained, shifting his weight between legs. "I don't really know why it's like that. It just is."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Penny wrapped her arms around the back of her chair and rested her chin on it. "The 'trust me bro' source."

"It's worked so far." Leo laughed nervously.

Leo: "Are you seriously being this skeptical when you've run into talking Pokémon when they're apparently rarer than Torchic's teeth in your world?" >_>;
Penny: "Look, that doesn't mean that I can just reflexively take everything you say at face value! What if you're wrong somehow?"

Penny pinched her brow. "Spoken like a shonen protagonist, I guess."

Ah yes, shonen protagonist Arceus. That's certainly a mental image to behold there.

Shimmer got to his feet and walked behind the couch. [ ]

"Leeeeet's try to stay on topic." The ponytales offered a shaky smile to Penny, before adding, "What exactly was weird about the Tera crystals, Leo?"

I feel like you had a bit of runway to expand this a bit and maybe get into Shimmer's head a bit more than you presently did.

"They were connected to machines, not pokémon," Leo said. He traced squares and circles in the air with a forehoof. "Cameras and junk. Xander's livestreaming equipment, I guess."

"Then getting rid of it should be a cinch!" Nikki leaned forward, prompting Scarlett to roll over and fall off the couch with a yelp. Espvee looked up from the shelf above Penny's computer, then leered at Nikki.

“Whoops." The toxtricity rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry." She rested her arms on the back of the couch. "Point is, though, we can easily smash some cameras. Don't even need Princess for something like that."

Despite Nikki's confident smirk, Leo said nothing. He looked over his shoulder at the door.

"Yeesh, what's with the silent treatment?" Nikki said, her mohawk shrinking.

Leo leaned over and whispered, "I think it's bait."

"Seriously?" Scarlett said, having coiled up beside Shimmer.

Small misspelling there, though I kinda wonder if the underlined should've been played up a bit more in the last scene from Leo's perspective, since I didn't really get a firm sense of him sensing that something was up there.

"Zodiark showed up. All but implied I should be able to go up and destroy the equipment." Leo's starcloud fur flickered erratically. "Gave me bad vibes."

Shimmer squinted in thought, trying to figure out what Leo meant. To the ponytales' surprise, Penny was the one who spoke up.

"He's saying it's a trap. And I don't blame him." She was practically crouching on the seat of her chair, twisting it back and forth. Flarevee watched the chair pivot like he'd been hypnotized. "If the big bad guy's goading you like that, it's totally a trap."

Shimmer: "Wait, but how do you know this?"

Penny: "Because it's literally the sort of thing you see all the time in anime?"

"So?" Nikki was leaning over further, almost draping herself over the back of the couch. "We've walked into every trap so far and we're still kicking."

That sounds like a fantastic way to talk yourself into a horrible and painful fail in the not-too-distant future, but she's not wrong there.

"Look, I can't explain it." Leo stomped a forehoof down. Sylvee jumped up next to Nikki on the couch, a worried look on her face. "I just... can't shake this feeling that the answer this time isn't to go in Flamethrowers blazing."

[ ]

"Don't you have the ground plate, though?" Scarlett said. The dragonair tapped the end of her tail against her coiled body. "You're in a good position to deal with these types."

"If it comes to fighting, sure," Leo said. "But what if, like, going up to the cameras like that will make things worse cuz of what Xander's doing? What if breaking them doesn't snap people out of Xander's spell?"

Shimmer's eyes slowly widened. "Maybe that's the trap?" he whispered, snowy tails curling up. "Maybe we can't just, y'know, smash the equipment." Shimmer gently kicked the couch behind him with a hind leg. "We might have to, like, dismantle it another way."

Well that would certainly be devious there. I do wonder if we should've seen Shimmer digest this information a bit more and think it over a bit, since it feels like his epiphany here is fairly abrupt at the moment.

"That sounds obnoxious," Nikki scoffed. "And stupid. Y'all are being paranoid."

Nikki, I'm beginning to understand how you died back when POV-2020 was a PMD canonworld variant.

Shimmer had a retort ready when Penny blurted out, "I know a way to get him off the air."

Everyone turned to her in unison. She shrank back into her chair for a bit, before Vapvee nudged the chair. Penny poked her head back out.

"Well, I'm... good with computers," she mumbled. "If I could connect to the signal he's using to stream, I could shut his whole thing down. And then maybe you could safely break the equipment?"

I mean, this is pretty true to canon considering that Penny is apparently a god-tier hacker. That actually makes me wonder if this is also related to how she's apparently about to be expelled from Uva/Naranja Academy in this setting.

Nikki didn't look convinced. "So, what, we're gonna bring you to the place he's streaming from and hope you don't get blasted?"

Penny winced. "I'd... rather not be an escort mission." She poked her head up a bit more. "But my friends have... equipment that can counter his. I think. Especially with your, uh, singing idea or whatever?" She glanced at Scarlett. The dragonair's brows raised.

"Would need some time, though." Penny rubbed the back of her neck. "To get things set up and stuff."

Ah yes, hijacking all the broadcast channels in Paldea with a Eevee Hardstyle marathon. That one's gonna be memorable, if a potential legal nightmare to deal with afterwards.

"Hang on." Shimmer turned around, but forgot the room they were in had no windows. Not even ones with blinds covering them up. "Xander's got those rotom drones flying around everywhere, right? How are we supposed to do anything without getting spotted? We can't change forms like Leo."

"The friend who's letting me crash here has a wigglytuff that can teleport." Penny nudged up her glasses. She smirked when Shimmer shot the others bewildered looks. "What, surprised? Figured you shonen types teleport spam whenever you fight. A wigglytuff doing it isn't that weird."

Wait, wait, wait. Is that Ortega who owns this place, or...?

"Okay, fine." Nikki vaulted over the back of the couch, startling Sylvee, who jumped back onto the coffee table. "Then there's, like, half a plan. Neat. How do we stall for time against Xander?"

Shimmer immediately looked to Leo. Everyone else in the room followed suit, including Penny's eeveelutions.

The cosmic arceus nodded. "All right. I guess I'll, uh, have to crash his little stream." He blinked several times. "While avoiding the equipment."

Shimmer: "And how are we supposed to do that when we have no idea where he is at the moment?" -_-;

He shrank back into one of those weird fighting-type tauros and backed up toward the door. "I hope this works."

Penny was already typing away furiously. "Look, I gave you guys, like, way more trust points than I probably should've. Time for you to return the gesture."

As Leo headed out the door, Shimmer nodded. "Fair enough. We'll let you work your, um, magic."

The ponytales sat down and took a deep breath. A small part of him wanted to join Leo in offering the distraction, but he had already tried that back in Khelifet and accomplished nothing.

He'd put his trust in Penny's idea, then. And maybe together... they could get through this without Yuna's help.

I'm actually curious as to whether this is actually going to work or else if it's going to wind up crashing and burning. Since I've been getting some pretty mixed signals this entire chapter.

The crystals were even more pronounced inside Mount Coronet than outside in the valley. They had grown over whatever the inside of the mountain used to look like. They encased the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Their jagged reflections bounced off one another, turning what was supposed to be some sort of tunnel into a confusing swirl of multicolored lights and gray crystals.

Oh, hello ominous Kirby music. I suppose this is as good a reminder as any that this is truly a Guiding Light sequel.

Yuna found herself putting her left hand on the wall. She traced her claws along the wall as she floated forward. Even levitating, navigating this tunnel—or was it a mountain cave?—was difficult.

To say nothing of the muffled voices the group heard projecting all around them.

"Welcome... come... come... w̴̛̼̓̓ĕ̷͈͘l̷̘͑̀̄c̴̛̥ͅͅo̵̧̎̋̑m̵͕̑͗̄ê̵̬̰̟̏..."

Yuna et al:

Yuna: "Oh, that is not a good sign right now." O.O

"Labs... labs... C̵̠̘̯̓e̷̻͔̚l̸̲̓́͝ė̵̛͍s̴̠̺̪͒t̸̟̀̕̕ị̶̥̲̓́c̵͉̫̒͗ä̶̧̩̙́ ̸̡̠̖͊L̴͚̥̒ąb̩s... ḻȃ͍͈̰͠b̴̫̳̓s̶͓̯̲̍.̵̳̆̀.̸.̢̫͓̓ ̵̯̘lab̡̯̰̂s̸..."

"And here we are!"

"And here we are!"

"... W̷̖̊͠e̵̜̒ ̷̝̲͇̏ą̷͘͠r̷̨͐͜e̵̖̗̟̐.̵̻͛.̷̰͖͎͒.̶͓͓͔͆ ẇę͕̋ ̵är̴͈͚̉̎ė̷͔̒̆..̀.̵̢̟͖͊ ̴̝̯̝we ȁ̸̙ŕ̵̗e̵̩͚̾͌.̶̧͕̑.̷̗̯̄͛.̴̮" "The Space Globe!"

"The hope of the... of the... of the..." "T̶̨̖̀͆ḫ̵͒̇ę̶̛̰̘̿ ̵͎͉̓̅S̷̛̳͖̽p̵͉͙͌̀a̶͎͆͌̒ç̸̣̖͒ȅ̸̝̠ ̸̱͕Glob̖̈́ȅ!"

Ah yes, leaning in hard to that background """music""" right about now. It definitely lends itself well vibe-wise.

[ ]

"Make it stop." Widget rapidly shook his head, almost bonking it against the crystal wall on his right. His starcloud ruff flickered erratically. "Someone turn it off!"

"Yeah, sure." At the front of the group, Gene flicked his wrist dismissively. "Totally doable. The creepy broken recording isn't playing all around us with no sign of where the speakers are or anything."

"You're not helping!" Widget whimpered, crest drooping.

I think that it probably would've made sense to show off a bit more of Yuna's thought process and noticing that Widget is freaking out hard in live-time right now, since this admittedly feels a touch sudden at the moment.

"Walk faster, then," Bahamut scoffed, passing Gene up. Like Yuna, he traced his left paw along the wall to keep his balance.

"Easy for you to say. You've been here before!" Widget protested, shutting his eyes while continuing to walk forward.

"It wasn't like this last time." Bahamut then looked down and mumbled, "I think."

Widget: "You think?!" OvO;
Bahamut: "Look, my soul literally got split in two and half of it was corrupted for 1100 years. Excuse me if some of my memory's a bit rusty right now." >_>;

"It's pretty obvious that this place fell into total disarray," Gene said. The mega mewtwo's shoulder crystals and chest core cast a jagged red glow all around him. "Not sure why crystals overran this place like crazed fungi, but it doesn't matter."

[ ]

"Ah, there!" Squinting, Yuna pointed ahead. "A door!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Widget bounded forward, almost knocking Gene and Bahamut over. He reached the door first and it surprisingly opened for him without any input needed.

Ah, right, this scene's from Widget's perspective. Though yeah, I feel like you're leaving some stuff on the table right now for getting into his head at the moment. e.x. is he having to force himself to keep going and not lose his nerve? If so, that might have been worth showing off in the narration a bit more.

"Doth anyone else find that strange with how locked down everything else has been?" Rayquaza wondered.

"Yeah," Yuna mumbled. But Gene and Bahamut had already gone through the door, so there was little reason to float there and think it over. The dragapult hovered after them.

Whelp, scratch that, we are following Yuna's perspective after all. Though that feels like a pretty dangerous assumption to be making there, Yuna. Just saying.

As soon as she was through the door, it shut behind her. And with it went the broken recording. For as dark as this new room was, it was mercifully quiet. Much wider, too, considering the others were fanning out. The clicks of Widget's gold talons at least suggested that there were crystals here, too, though Yuna hardly found that surprising.

And her thoughts were confirmed when the floor abruptly lit up. Hissing, Yuna threw her arms over her face.

"We've got company," Bahamut growled. "But this is..."

>dat background music

Oh yeah, that's totally a good sign for everybody right now. /s

Yuna lowered her arms. The floor was made of a soft blue crystal illuminating the room from below. There were crystal spikes jutting out of the floor. Rippling waves of blue light projected onto the cavern walls. Proper cave walls, unlike where they'd come from.

"Welcome home, Voice. Welcome back, Yaldabaoth."

Widget: "Um... who are you again? And where on earth are we?" ·v·

Yuna's head snapped toward the opposite end of the room, where the others were already looking. There, chained to three stalactites, was a large three-headed canine. Yuna recognized two of the heads: Suicune and Raikou. But the third...

"Cerberus?" Gene's starcloud tail curled and uncurled. "'Evolved' from flareon, jolteon, and vaporeon to entei, raikou, and suicune? Cute. But it's not going to make much of a difference."

I'm guessing that that's another Paradigm Lieutenant there. I actually completely forgot that 'Cerberus' was a recurring enemy in the FF series, though cute to see that you're still doing nods like that in this story.

The beasts' three heads didn't even acknowledge Gene. Their gazes were fixed on Widget and Yuna.

"You can feel it, can't you?" Entei said.

Raikou continued, "The truth you've so desperately sought."

And finally, Suicune added, "Close at hand. Behind the door we guard."

Hey wait a minute, 'Cerberus' in front of a door? Isn't this a thing in-

In Greek mythology, Cerberus (/ˈsɜːrbərəs/ or /ˈkɜːrbərəs/; Ancient Greek: Κέρβερος Kérberos [ˈkerberos]), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld to prevent the dead from leaving.

... Wait a minute, is that implying that that door leads to this setting's afterlife?

Yuna took a deep breath to keep her tail from shooting into her torso. Their voices were all the same. They were all Zodiark's... albeit less distorted and much emptier than she remembered from their last encounters.

She's dead and replaced with a glitchy AI at the moment, huh?

"Something's wrong." Bahamut raised up his paws. They sparked with golden light. "This isn't how I remember her acting."

"Yeah, no shit." Gene flicked his left wrist dismissively. He gestured to the chains around Cerberus' neck. "Looks like your master's kept you on a pretty tight leash all this time, huh? Can't imagine being stuck on your lonesome's good for your heads." He held his hands up beside his head and pantomimed speaking through them.

Snerk. Never change, Gene.

"I am here to serve my purpose," Entei said.

"I am here to fulfill my fate," Raikou added.

"I am here... to test your strength," Suicune finished.

Yuna: "... Couldn't we just get some sort of test of wisdom or something like that?" O_O;
Cerberus:
[*][11:43 PM]Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 11:43 PM

Cerberus snapped their heads forward in unison. The stalactites cracked. They shuddered. Then they dislodged from the cavern ceiling and fell to the ground. Cerberus walked forward, crushing each stalactite underfoot.

"Yaldabaoth." Entei's eyes burned with a fiery blaze.

"Voice." Lightning crackled around Raikou's neck.

"Show us that meddlesome defiance." Wind rippled through Suicune's mane. "One last time... before I stamp it out for good."

Yuna: "... Starting to think that we should've come here with more of the others right now." O.O

Gene rose higher into the air, rubbing his hands together. "Ha ha! Looks like the little puppy's ready for walkies!" He lowered his hands and twirled them in circles. "You wanna go for a walk, girl? C'mon, let's go for a walk! It'll be fun!"

All three heads rose in unison. They belted out simultaneous roars. Walls of fire, ice, and lightning rose from the ground... and rushed right toward Yuna and the others.

Yuna:

Though boy is that a tense note to leave things off on. Guess that's a sign that the lull we've been in for the past couple chapters is done and dusted, huh?

Though onto the highlight reel. I'll admit that much of the chapter was a bit slower pacing-wise, but it certainly felt a lot got set up in it, especially with both Yuna and Leo being due for problems with Zodiark in the fairly imminent future. There was also some pretty interesting stuff teased towards how Zodiark and some of the more prominent characters relate to each other along with what Zodiark might be angling for, but I feel that the full implications behind those are probably a story for another day.

I don't have too much to complain about for this chapter since its job was basically to tee things up and leave things off on a cliffhanger and it did its job quite well. I do kinda wonder if you left some opportunities on the table to explore what was going on in the characters' heads a bit with PoV's third person limited narration which felt most noticeable in the scene from Shimmer's PoV and the final one from Yuna's where you'd think that both would have quite a bit going on in their minds with the new information they're being presented, but for whatever reason it was mostly left implicit. It might have been a deliberate meta choice on your part since PoV pulls a bit of a balancing act in terms of when and how it reveals the mysteries in its backstory, but it did stand out to me.

Hope the feedback was helpful @Ambyssin . Aside from getting up my review for the next chapter, I'll admittedly most likely have my hands full with other commitments this week, but I'll be looking forward to seeing where this goes in the next couple chapters, especially since from what I've seen in brief glimpses of your current ones, things escalate quite a bit and I can already tell there's quite a story in between.

Though that will be a story for another day, and until next time! ^^

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Was a little on and off with this one tonight with intermissions since my scheduling is a bit wonky, but figured that I'd get started with the next chapter up in my grand PoV catchup tour, featuring the next stop on my journey:

Chapter 115

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

"Rayquaza!"

Yuna grabbed the black serpent and rode his Dragon Ascent through the fire, ice, and lightning. She aimed Rayquaza to charge into Cerberus, only to gasp when Raikou opened her mouth wide, fangs crackling with electricity. The dragapult barely managed to let go of Rayquaza and roll right, avoiding Raikou chomping down on Rayquaza. His emerald energy shattered and his bloodcurdling scream lasted all of a second before he faded back into Yuna's griseous core in streams of red light.

Oh hello, DMC5 music. Things sure went from 0-100 in short order.

Raikou snapped at the air again. Yuna hovered backwards. Reverse time then slowed everything around her, allowing her to retreat while pelting Raikou's snout with Dragon Darts.

Cerberus barely flinched when time resumed flowing normally. A stray Thunderbolt from Yuna's right bounced harmlessly off Cerberus and instead struck the ceiling. Yellow light rippled across the dark rock.

"Dang it!" Widget's voice came from somewhere behind Yuna. "What the heck type even is this thing?!"

I wonder to what extent you do musical timings for these potholed songs, since this happened to line up decently well with the part where your linked track exits its intro riff.

"Who cares?" Bahamut teleported between pillars of fire erupting from the crystal ground on Yuna's left. He fired blade-shaped golden energy blasts at Cerberus' right foreleg. The beast lifted it, with Entei snarling at the cosmic lucario before releasing another wall of fire.

Gasping, Yuna flew as far right as she could, only for an Ice Beam from Suicune's head to strike her left side. She careened toward the ground, but managed to catch herself and pull back up into the air.

"Still you hide behind your puppet's bluster."

Yuna: "Um... that is the three-headed dog that's saying that, right? Please tell me that's the three-headed dog saying that."

Now Zodiark's voice was echoing all around the room. It had to be. How else could it be so cold when Cerberus' heads were contorted into vicious snarls? Raikou raised her head. Thunderclouds spread across the ceiling. Lightning rained down, sending Yuna zigzagging around in midair to avoid them.

A pained squawk from her right told her one hit Widget, but then she rolled away from a lightning bolt and time slowed once again.

Widget: "Ow.

"Diancie!" the dragapult cried. She conjured Diancie in a stream of pink and brown light. When time returned to normal, Diancie unleashed a Diamond Storm. Jagged jewels pelted Suicune's head from above. She hissed and dipped her head down. Raikou's head tried to retaliate, but Gene broke out of a Phantom Warp and drove his large spoon right into her snout. Raikou pulled her head back, yowling in pain.

"Down, girl!" Gene scoffed. "You're not gonna get any treats acting like th—"

Suicune's head bucked. Her crystal crest clocked Gene from below. He pinwheeled into the ceiling. Yuna quickly took the opening and had Diancie fire another Diamond Storm. The jewels battered Suicune's cheek.

I was going to say that getting up close and personal felt like a really bad idea here, though then again, considering that this is an amalgamation of the Legendary Gerbils, I suppose trying to keep one's distance would've been a death sentence.

"Your blows lack conviction." Zodiark's voice projected over Cerberus' roars as Bahamut and Widget struck her on opposite sides, only to get blown back to the edges of the room by plumes of fire and wind, respectively.

"A lack of conviction that drives you to hide from the truth. That this world suffers by your hands. By your deeds."

Why do I get the distinct feeling that Zodiark isn't wrong about that even when correcting for Zodiark's warped definition of "suffering"?

Diancie fired another Diamond Storm, but Suicune's head was ready this time. A Hydro Pump sailed toward a startled Diancie. With a frightened meep, Yuna dropped down, watching the deluge shoot Diancie right through a stalactite. It crumbled to the ground and forced a startled Widget to break into a run. Cosmic silvally turned to reshivally as he took to the air once again. Yuna felt Diancie's battered form return into her core. Its gold glow was just a bit dimmer than before.

That actually makes me wonder what is the story behind the other Legendary attributes that Widget can take on. Are those the forms that other Voices of Life that he used to be used to have?

"Always using others to shield yourself," Zodiark chided.

Yuna: "You're literally fighting through a proxy right now!"

Zodiark: "That's not the same and you know it, Yaldabaoth."

Another wall of flames erupted from the ground. Yuna tried to conjure Rayquaza, but her core only gave weak emerald sparks in response. The dragapult shot off to her left, but failed to reach one of the crystal stalagmites in time to use it for cover. The flames slammed into Yuna. She struck the crystal ground and rolled to a stop back near the room's sealed entrance.

Oh, well. I suppose that getting chomped by a Chimera Gerbil didn't sit well with Gallian there. Though that is temporary... right?

"Sages. Puppets. Teammates." Zodiark's voice was as disinterested as ever, even though Cerberus was frustratingly good at fending the team off. "How many more will your chaos envelop? How many more must suffer before you yield to a new, better truth?"

You want "envelop" here in this context without the ending "e".

Yuna's claws scraped along the ground. "We're only... suffering because of you!"

Look, just because I don't exactly trust Zodiark's motivations doesn't mean that I don't acknowledge that she likely knows a lot more about how POV-2020 works than you do, or than you want to know.

Focusing on her core, Yuna rolled onto her back, the corners of her head propping her up to aim at Cerberus. Bahamut, Gene, and Widget ran and flew around Cerberus, keeping all three heads occupied. Steam and lightning partially obscured Yuna's view, but Cerberus hadn't moved much. She could take her shot.

Gold and silver energy gathered in her horns. It wasn't flames, yet her ectoplasm burned. Once her horns were so bright the glow seared Yuna's eyes, she fired. Brilliant sun and moon-shaped arrows rocketed through the air.

While Yuna blinked stars from her vision, three roars told her the Paradigm Darts struck true.

I take it that those would be Necrozma powers in action. Though was that essentially a pocket version of Light that Burns the Sky?

"Now, together!" Gene cried.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Bahamut growled.

Gene: "Dude, are you seriously giving me this childish attitude routine now of all times?"

Two clangs echoed through the cavern in unison. Yuna's vision returned to show Bahamut and Gene driving a light blade and shadowy spoon respectively into Cerberus' shoulders. She thrashed left and right, but the cosmic lucario and mega mewtwo held on.

"Perhaps your defiance has grown." Zodiark hummed in thought. Yuna swore the room vibrated.

Oh yeah, that's a positive sign there. /s

Raikou's head conjured lightning bolts around Cerberus. Gene let go of his spoon and Phantom Warped to the right side of the room. Bahamut teleported to the left. While the Thunders peppered the ground around Cerberus, Widget skidded across the crystal. He was in eternavally form, pink and purple energy crackling all throughout his glassy torso.

Ah yes, like that one art you showed of him back when he was really new to this story. It's been a while since we've seen Widget like that.

Widget unleashed a giant red and purple beam. It struck Bahamut's light blade, driving it so far into Cerberus' shoulder the blade vanished entirely.

"It... it worked?!" Widget said, only for a bolt of lightning to strike him in the face. He careened back. Yuna took to the air and summoned Reshiram to catch him before he could crash into the rocky wall.

And that is why you don't make proclamations about how effective your efforts at doing things are until after the dust has settled, Widget.

Yuna kept her attention trained on Cerberus. Her body spasmed. She jerked left and right. Golden rissures ran along her torso and legs. Golden light spilled out of all three heads' eyes and mouths.

'Her' is ambiguous between the two 'her's in this paragraph. Also, I think that you have a misspelling there that either should be 'fissures', or if getting bespoke about terminology, 'scissures'.

"She's gonna blow!" Gene hollered from the right side of the room. He flicked his wrist. His shadowy spoon returned to him. The mega mewtwo thumped it with his right fist and the spoon opened up into a shadowy umbrella he held in front of him.

Cerberus' whole body trembled, but she craned her three heads up. She spewed flames, lightning, and ice at... the ceiling?

Realization quickly set in when the room trembled. Yuna's ectoplasm tightened.

Ah yes, so she's pulling a Samson gambit. Definitely determined to get the last laugh even to the end.

"She's going to collapse the cavern!" Widget squawked, shifting to miraivally and taking to the air. "What do we do?!"

Gene: "We could just, like, teleport out of here?"

Widget: "Then what was the point of fighting our way this far into Valhalla?!" >v>;

Stalactites broke apart and rained down all around the dragapult. An idea quickly sprang to mind. She flew toward falling rock shards on her right, then rolled away at the last second. Reverse time took hold while Yuna flew toward another... and dodged it. She repeated this with three more stalactites until she was floating over a slowed down Cerberus.

Yuna pointed her head at Cerberus. She fired a salvo of Sun Darts into Raikou and Entei's mouths. Then as her reverse time faded, she turned and sent Moon Darts into Suicune's mouth.

Cerberus' heads gagged in unison. Her attacks faded. All three heads coughed and sputtered.

Over to Yuna's left, Bahamut's aura feelers tensed. He slammed both paws together.

The light fissures erupted in a blaze of golden energy. Cerberus' pained howls were short lived. Her body crumbled to dust. Raikou's two giant teeth and Suicune's head crystal lay atop a pile of ash. Bahamut's light blade was firmly planted into the ground in the middle of the ash. The cosmic lucario limped toward the blade. With a flick of his right paw, it returned to his side.

Gene: "Oh hey! We got trophies out of everything-!"
Widget: "Gene!"

Gene: "Right, right, have to be professional and all that jazz..." -_-;

Yuna allowed herself to exhale. She flopped onto the ground, her ectoplasm practically deflating like a balloon.

"Damn, over already." Gene casually strolled past the dragapult, resting his hands behind his head. "We didn't even get to play fetch."

Bahamut and Widget glared at Gene. The mega mewtwo smirked. "Re-hee-lax. We beat her in the end, right?"

Gene, I'm pretty sure that this is tempting fate in live-time, just saying.

"She was still holding a Paradigm fragment," Widget said, looking at the metal door that Cerberus was guarding. "I saw another card disappear." The cosmic silvally slowly shuffled across the room. "What do you think's happening to those fragments?"

"Going back to the emperor, probably." Gene hovered after Widget. "That's what always happens when I've beaten one of these dweebs."

Which bodes very well™ for what Xander's fate is going to be after getting defeated in the not-too-distant future.

[ ]

"And you don't think this particular fragment might be a problem?" Widget glanced at Gene. His starcloud neck ruff shriveled up. "The emperor can't get into this place—"

"But he's always known about it. And Cerberus," Bahamut cut in.

It probably makes sense to play up Widget's tense mood in narration here, IMO.

Widget stopped and turned to the others. "That's the point. If Cerberus' piece returns to him... then he'll know someone managed to find a way in."

That got the others to stop moving. Yuna looked down. Her jagged, crystalline reflection stared back at her.

Whelp, looks like Cerberus might have gotten the last laugh after all.

"We hadn't even considered that." Reshiram tittered. "But it's not like we had a way around her."

"Well, we can't undefeat Cerby," Gene said. "Nothing to do but press on."

Gene: "♫ No time to question my moves~ I stick to the path that I cho- ♫"
Bahamut: "Will you take things seriously for once in your life already?!"

As if it were sentient, the door on the other end of the room whirred. Then a hydraulic hiss echoed through the room. Yuna winced.

"Hey, am I imaaaaaawgining things or did the crystaaaaaawms get darker when Cerberus vanished?" Cresselia wondered. Yuna looked around and found that, yes, the crystal stalagmites that survived the battle had lost most of their gray and white light. The room had a duller blue glow from the floor.

Yuna: "Boy, it's like this place wants to go out of its way to remind us that everything here is likely going to blow up in our faces within five chapters..." ._.

She returned her attention to the newly opened door. Purple haze drifted in from the other side. Widget cautiously crept toward it, fish tail curling.

"Not ominous at all," he whimpered.

Widget: "Boy, it sure would've been nice to have a drone or something with us to go ahead of the rest of us right now..." ·v·

"You worry too much." Gene pat the cosmic silvally's back as he floated past. "We took out the guard dog. Nothing left to threaten us."

Gene, seriously. Stahp.

"Only a Needle to pull." Bahamut stomped toward the door with purpose. "Though I suppose it never hurts to remain vigilant."

"They're hurt, though," Cresselia mumbled, rubbing her eyes in the back of Yuna's mind. "Let me heeaaaaaaawm them."

Yuna's griseous core shifted from gold to pink. Cresselia appeared and conjured soft blue light that washed over the team. Yuna recognized Moonlight's soothing energy as it washed away her fatigue alongside some of the stinging in her ectoplasm.

Wait, wait, wait. She can do that? Though I suppose it would be the most on-brand thing ever for a 'Yuna' to be capable of what's essentially White Magic.

Gene nodded his thanks as Cresselia drifted toward the ground, already asleep again. Yuna sent her back into the griseous core, then flew after the others. As they approached the doorway, the purple haze grew thicker. A harsh, cold draft blew in from the other side.

She really hoped this was only a product of Mount Coronet being in disuse for such a long time. Yuna had had enough surprises for one day. The Needle had to be the only thing left. She could grab it and move on. No more twists or turns.

It was so surreal. And, no, Diamond wasn't referring to the giant static pillar in the middle of the stadium.

Rather, it was everything else about the stadium. Things his new—well, technically not new at all—teammates considered perfectly normal.

Oh hey, we're back in Khelifet. Or what's left of it, anyways...

The heat and dry air bothered the cosmic keldeo more than it should have. Gone was his steely and scaly hide, replaced by a starcloud pelt and water-typing that didn't care for the harsh sunlight. Sweat dribbled down his neck. The sand under his hooves was also too hot, but the grittiness didn't bother him like it used to. Meaning he wasn't steel anymore, either.

So many changes. But they weren't supposed to be changes.

Ah yes, such is life when an entire part of your being essentially gets unlocked and the other part that would've been there to help you make sense of it all is now gone. Though that makes me wonder if we'll get to see the other members of the reincarnation gang undergo bodily dysphoria like this later in the story.

Diamond shuffled around nervously. Grishi had gone to the other side of the arena floor a little while ago. Which left Diamond with the salugia, who was lounging on her back, and the cosmic milotic... who'd been staring at him the entire time. And Diamond had been avoiding his gaze.

What was he supposed to say to the guy? It was even more awkward than what was going on with Cyril.

Fortunately, the milotic spoke up first.

"So you're... Seifer's past self." His starcloud ribbons curled up. "Which would make you... Dialga."

I'm surprised that everyone's so calm in spite of the obvious Distortion in the middle of the Stadium right now.

Jade: "I mean, really. What are any of us supposed to do about it?" -v-;

"Correct." Diamond bobbed his head. "Though I'd prefer you call me Diamond, Mr. Adaman."

The cosmic keldeo's eyes widened, as did the milotic's. Diamond's starcloud tail shriveled. What was Diamond thinking blurting out that name?

That you were still Palkia and not a water pony that has years of more recent history with Artie here?

"Ah, erm... apologies. That just—"

"It's Artemis now." Artemis pivoted right, looking at the stands. There were still assorted pokémon there, staring transfixed at the dungeon rift where the commentator's booth had been. "And it's fine. I... I already knew."

Huh. I actually wonder if Artie isn't taking knowing that the Seifer he knew is effectively dead all that well.

Well, this was just more awkward. What was Diamond supposed to say? Another apology? Something comforting?

Again, Artemis beat Diamond to the punch. He sighed loudly, long eyebrows curling up. "I've been trying not to think about it," Artemis admitted. "The past... and the present."

Diamond raised a brow. "Meaning?"

"Us." He gestured at Diamond and himself with a ribbon. "Well, me and Seifer." After a beat, he added, "Except you are Seifer. Or Seifer was you."

I mean, on one level, yes. But on another, Diamond and Seifer are basically divergent personalities from each other. Since if nothing else, Diamond was never anywhere near as much of an obnoxious snot from what we've seen of him thus far.

Artemis shook his head. "Whatever. The point is... I'm worried the past seeped into the present."

"I still don't follow," Diamond said. Were the people at the base listening in? He had taken one of those X-transceiver doohickeys.

"Seifer finding me." Artemis waved a ribbon. His eyebrows straightened out. "Apprenticing me. Was it random chance... or were we drawn to one another?"

It's the Rule of Plot, Artie. There are few attractive forces in fiction stronger than it.

[ ]

"Ah." Diamond traced a hoof through the sand. "I'm... unsure. But if I'm remembering right, you two ended up drifting apart anyway."

His mane dimmed. Diamond looked down guiltily. "Right..." He kept brushing the sand with his forehoof. "I wonder... if that was me. I'm sure I don't need to remind you how... stubborn I could be."

I think that it probably would've been worth showing off a bit more character reaction between these two here.

"Mighty Dialga, please." Adaman rubbed his right temple. "Listen to what Akari's saying. Surely you can understand where she's coming from?"

Diamond slouched over. "And Pal— I mean Noctum. Seifer's early days with him were... cold. I fear that was my fault, too."

Huh, so Diamond was just a part of Seifer's subconscious for most of the early story. I wonder if that also means that "Pearl" is similarly divergent from the Noctum that we all know and love.

The cosmic keldeo looked to the large static pillar. "He's in there right now, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"And this is one of the mysterious dungeons threatening the world?"

"Mystery dungeons." Artemis laughed nervously. The cosmic milotic slithered closer to the static tower. "I still don't really understand what happened myself."

Don't worry, Artie. That basically extends to the readerbase as well, since even I'm not fully sure what on earth went down with Xander blipping everyone into another dimension.

"Is standing out here really the best use of our time, then?" Diamond wondered. He walked to his right, keeping his eyes trained on the pillar. Cubes and triangles vibrated in place. Static ripples raced down the tower. Randomly spaced. Random directions.

"We should lend them our aid," Diamond insisted. He leveled his horn at the tower. "They could be trapped. Swarmed by unknown assailants." Red energy sparked in the tip of his curved horn. "It's our duty as their allies to assist them."

"Easy there."

Diamond jumped. A short whinny escaped his lips. "What the—"

Artemis rubbed his head with an eyebrow. "That was Cyril. X-transceivers, remember?"

Diamond: "... Oh my god. You heard all of that earlier, didn't you?"

Cyril: "Yeah, and? You were clearly in the middle of talking things out, so it didn't feel right to interrupt." ^^;

Diamond's mane reddened in embarrassment. "Yes, yes. Of course." He tried to laugh off his overreaction. "Continue, Cyril."

"You're not fooling anyone, Dime."

"D-Dime?!" he flummoxed, mane going bright red. "This isn't the time for nickname experimentation!"

I see that PoV's still got its sense of humor going strong as always.

"All right. Settle down." Cyril gave a light chuckle. "Point is that standing guard is helping. We need you there making sure no one tries anything funny. The empire and the Medicis already have eyes on this place. Gotta be ready for anything."

Diamond's brow furrowed. Sure, there was a chance something bad could happen in the stadium. But their was a much higher chance of problems inside the dungeon.

Bring it up with your author, Diamond, since having a cast herd means having to make decisions about who gets screentime here and there.

"Look, I know you're itching to do something," Cyril continued. "But you have to trust the others are handling themselves. If you go in the dungeon and then the stadium gets swarmed... who'll protect all these other people?"

Swallowing hard, Diamond looked around. There were dozens— maybe hundreds of pokémon still in the stands. All enraptured by the rift over the commentator's box.

Wait, wait, why is that working on the spectators, but not also on Diamond and the gang?

Were they really that important compared to Diamond's teammates? Could Leo not simply bring them back if anything bad did happen to them?

Let's not even get into how when that was done to you, it had a bunch of side effects on an entire room full of Pokémon.

"Please," Cyril whispered.

The cosmic keldeo stiffened.

"You just woke up. And the last time you ran in intending to save someone..."

Diamond saw faint, blurry glimpses of lightning. His mane and tail dimmed. Something primal made his words get caught in his throat.

I take it that this is another PLA flashback. Though I can already tell that things went well™ there from the way that Diamond is reacting to it.

He stepped back from the static tower. "Right. Okay." Diamond nodded slowly. "I suppose I was asked to patrol this area." He tapped his forehoof against the ground. "So, for now at least, that's my duty. And I shall carry it out faithfully."

Artemis looked... less concerned than before. Though his expression still seemed hesitant. Diamond wasn't sure there was anything more he could offer the cosmic milotic, though.

Time and companionship to try and unbork two relationships that you grenaded?

"But speaking of patrolling..." Diamond turned around. Jade was still lying in the sand, basking in the sun's warm glow. "Miss Jade!"

"Eh? Huh?" The salugia sat up, blinking rapidly. Sand trickled down the back of her neck. "What, did something happen?" She rubbed her face with a wing.

Diamond frowned. "Were you... napping? At a time like this?"

Even if I'll admit that I'm a bit surprised myself as to how on earth Jade managed that.

"No!" Jade puffed her cheeks out. Diamond squinted at her. Her pouting lasted all of a few more seconds before she poked wing digits together.

"... Maybe."

Diamond: "You can just say 'yes', you know!"

Sighing, Diamond shook his head. "Why don't you fly around the stadium and give us a literal bird's eye view? Would be nice to know if anything dangerous approaches from the air." He looked down at his hooves, frowning. "Especially as I cannot fly like I used to."

Jade glanced at Artemis, who shrugged with starcloud ribbons. "All right, sir." She slowly got to her feet and flapped her wings. As she climbed skyward, she said, "I guess I'll shout if I get something."

Huh. Surprised that she doesn't have an X-Transciever herself. Guess there's none that are big enough to fit a Lugia's handwings.

She headed toward the nearest edge of the stadium. Satisfied, Diamond turned back around to the static wall.

"Thank you."

It was another X-transceiver whisper from Cyril. Judging by Artemis continuing to watch the stadium stands, he hadn't heard anything.

Oh, I'm just realizing that that 'PLA flashback' was actually Cyril seeing war flashbacks of Seifer dying. Guess that also explains the thanks here.

"I know you want to jump in the fray," Cyril continued. "And I'm sure that time will come soon enough. Just... hang tight for now."

"That time," Diamond repeated in a whisper. The fur on the back of his neck prickled. He wasn't... sure how to describe the feeling. He shifted his weight around. "Y-Yes. I'll do my best."

Was his heart beating faster?

Oh, so Diamond also loves Cyril, too. I suppose it makes sense if he and Seifer are different manifestations of the same person.

The keldeo shook his head. This wasn't appropriate. He had to stay focused. Ready for anything.

His gaze almost rhythmically shifted between the static pillar and the rift in the distance.

"Be safe... you lot," Diamond whispered.

That's... going to be a bit easier said than done considering what we last saw of Leo and his party. ^^;

Leo galloped down one of Levincia's main streets. He hadn't paid too much attention to where people were last time, but his gut told him not a single soul had budged an inch since he'd last headed north. Xander's stream continued to enrapture them. The tauros stole a quick look at a big screen on a building showcasing Xander playing some sort of video game. He was a tiny lugia terrorizing a local town. Xander's lugia knocked over a vase of flowers, then loudly honked at the gardening store owner who tried to chase it down.

Oh hey, speak of the devil. Also, I see that you worked in a reference to:

Xander announced something about some sort of social deduction game involving Imposter ditto would be coming up next. Leo shook his head and kept galloping. Past restaurants and fashion boutiques. Past towering corporate skyscrapers where people were gathered in front of ground floor windows or huddled by front doors.

Ah yes, Among Us. I see that Xander's doing all the memetic video games for his stream. Even if I really am surprised that there haven't been more vehicle crashes in the background at this rate.

Soon enough, the buildings got smaller. Leo saw the amphitheater in the distance. Bright spotlight beams moved around even though it was daytime. There was the occasional rotom drone flying through the air. One even looked right at him but hovered in place, clearly confused on what to do.

Did Leo have a plan for crashing Xander's stream? No.

Leo wasn't supposed to attack the equipment. So, he decided to take a page from Nikki's playbook: be loud and obnoxious. He could totally do that.

Ah yes, I'm beginning to understand why this chapter has the title that it does. Even if I'm not convinced that Xander will take that lying down since he clearly has gone up a tier or two in terms of threat level since Paradox, and then Ahsen recruited him.

He leaped over the entrance gate, past velvet ropes and fencing. In ripples of blue and purple light, he shifted back to his cosmic arceus form. Leo unleashed a gust of wind, ripping apart the blue awning covering a blue-carpeted walkway, then charged down to the amphitheater stands. The equipment with the electric and poison Tera jewels were now hanging from metal rafters over the amphitheater stage. So, he'd really have to be cautious if he was going to use any attacks.

"Party's over, Xandolt!" Leo announced. He stopped halfway down the amphitheater seating, eyes darting between recording equipment and Xander. The sylveon was on stage with some haphazardly arranged screen and game console setup. Assorted rotom drones hovered around him.

Oh hey, the Team Star pre-battle theme. Wasn't expecting that one.

The drones faced Leo. Large screens in the rafters displaying the stream had the cosmic arceus in the bottom corner in place of Xander.

"OMG." Getting up from his computer setup, Xander squished his cheeks with his ribbons. "No, #XanFam, your eyeballs ain't lying. It's #StraightUpArceus in the flesh!"

Yeeeeah, I think you may have made a big mistake here, Leo.

Leo noticed words moving very quickly along the left side of the screen. Some of them were quite colorful. It reminded him a bit of Penny's online chatroom, but much faster.

Are these... the people watching?

Once again:

He couldn't make anything out, but that didn't matter. Leo was only here to stall. Xander wasn't attacking yet, so Leo had no reason to do anything besides talk.

"Dude, time to call it quits." He gestured around with a foreleg. "This is way beyond extra. Those are my plates. They're rotting you from the inside out."

Wait, they are? Not that I don't believe Leo, but I actually don't remember when this was ever explicitly communicated as a thing that would happen in the story.

"LMAO!" Xander smacked the desk beside him with a ribbon. "Can you believe this #loser?" The sylveon spun around. His fairy Tera jewel reflected the stage lights, giving him a sparkling pink glow. Several rotom drones buzzed around him. The stream had shifted from the game to footage of Leo and Xander facing each other down.

Wait, so is he really just saying "hashtag" for all the dialogue that is "#SuchAndSuch"? That glamour he's got around him must be something else to not get people instantly turned off by that.

"I feel #BiggerAndBetter than ever before!" he continued, prancing back and forth across the stage. "The #XanFam's now millions strong—"

"Cuz you're brainwashing them!" Leo countered. His wheel flickered. "What kind of messed up guy ditches his real friends for a faceless online mob?"

Xander, of course. Even if "friends" was being stretched really far definition-wise given what came out about what his friendship with Shimmer was like...

Xander's response was to turn to the nearest rotom drone. "Get a load of #SoapboxSadie over here, am I right? Can I get some ones in chat if you're having a fun time?"

One of the large screens pulled itself off the rafters — two eyes at the top of it suggested it was also rotom-powered — allowing Leo to see the chat scrolling by. Hundreds— no, thousands of ones zoomed along the screen. There was the occasional "XANFAM FOREVER," too.

Boy, that brainwashing must be something else to create a fanbase that rabid and mindless.

"#NewsFlash, you wannabe legend." Xander jumped onto his desk and kicked the computer monitor with his hind legs. It crashed to the ground, a heap of broken wires and plastic. "We're having fun here. What's your team done, huh?" He pointed a ribbon at the cosmic arceus.

"We've—"

"#Rhetorical, bitch!" Xander curled his ribbon into an L over his forehead. "You idiots have run around fighting battle after battle." Two of his ribbons punched the air. "And for what? You ain't fixed shit! You're a pack of miserable sourpusses spouting #trash about second chances and staying strong and blah blah blah-bidy-blah!" His ribbons pantomimed moving mouths like they were a hydreigon's smaller heads.

Oh hey, so he's basically doing a two-handed version of:

Though I will heavily take the under on Xander living past the end of this arc, since you're just going and pulling all the stops out to grenade how sympathetic he is to the audience.

"But #YaBoiXander's gonna let you in on a little secret." He leaned forward, resting his head on his ribbons and fluttering his eyelids at Leo. "#MotherOfTheYear's the whole reason shit's screwed up in the first place!"

Oh. Oh dear...

Xander leaped off the desk with enough force to send it sliding across and over the front of the stage. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The sylveon strutted toward center stage with all the rotom drones hovering around him.

Leo took steady breaths. He was only stalling. He couldn't get heated. It didn't matter what this asshole said.

This is going to last all of a minute, I can already tell.

"#YaBoiXander's helping his #sponsor fix it!" Xander twirled and winked at the rotom drone recording him. "And raking in the views! The #XanFam already crushed the million milestone... and soon, when we hit the big #TenMillion, #YaBoiXander will link up to another world. And another. And another. And another. And another!"

His eyes were wide with a frenzied excitement. Xander practically salivated as he talked about tethering this dungeon to even more worlds. Not to mention all but outright confirming Zodiark had corrupted him to do their bidding. And that stuff about Yuna was pure projection. Yaldabaoth had been fighting to stop Zodiark for such a long time.

"#BrainBlast!" Xander thrust his ribbons apart. "#YaBoiXander was going to wait for this, but since our #LegendaryFaker dropped by, let's push it up the schedule!"

Leo tensed. His starcloud tail drooped. This didn't sound good. He readied to dodge... something, but all Xander did was wave toward offstage. Rotom drones brought in... an eevee. And some cluster of growing crystals that the drone dropped by Xander's feet.

(Bright!) Eevee stared transfixed at them.

Leo: "What in the-?" o_o;

The cosmic arceus' eyes widened. Those crystals... were giving off a strange energy reminding him of Ninetales. Were these... the Z-Crystal things he heard Kieran mention? Where did Xander get them?!

"Time to #CrossTheStreams!" Xander's Tera jewel sparkled. Pink staticky energy spilled out of the jewel and into the Z-Crystals. Purple and yellow energy funneled down from the rafters, too.

Huh. Wasn't expecting a song like that to play. Guess that's a sign I should get around to playing that copy of Bayo 3 I have rotting in my backlog sometime soon.

"No, stop!" Leo immediately slammed his hooves down. An Earth Power would rattle the stage without causing problems in the rafter. But a brilliant pink barrier deflected the attack, giving Xander ample time to... start dancing?

Oh hey, there's a song for this sort of moment:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzY8VH7eb8Y

As the sylveon shuffled to his left, and then his right, faint silver outlines of the other eeveelutions appeared alongside him. They all reared up on the hind legs in unison, hopping left, then right.

Leo tried another Earth Power but a weird pink Protect shield stopped the strike again. Xander and the silhouetted dropped down and pointed their heads at a shivering Eevee. Different colored beams of light funneled toward Eevee who began to grow bigger. And bigger. And bigger.

Wait, is he D-Maxing this Eevee?

Eevee's chest ruff grew stupidly big, even relative to his larger size. He was a gigantic fuzzball.

... A gigantic fuzzball with a gray Tera jewel in that giant chest ruff. Positively brimming with normal-type energy!

"#CheckYourself, #LegendaryFaker!" Xander leaped onto Eevee's head, cackling madly while the rotom drones followed him. "Cuz this #VeeveeVolley's the last thing you'll ever see!"

Wow. D-Maxing and Terastalizing. That's certainly a new one. Even if Leo can likely turn this into a giant anticlimax just by drawing on that Spooky Plate of his.

~Il Paradigma, No. III: Cerberus, the Empress~
Once a loyal and steadfast servant of Matriarch, bearing heads of a jolteon, flareon, and vaporeon. She kept guard over the Eternatus Core. But when Matriarch went offline, the core became inaccessible. Cerberus remained isolated within the confines of the mountain she guarded. She could do nothing but watch as crystals slowly took over her home. And with them came a voice that promised her a greater life. One full of freedom.

All it required... was a little sacrifice on her part.

Well, that made Cerebus' backstory and the fight with her more than a little dark and messed-up in retrospect. .-.

Path of Valor almanac
Cerberus is a classic mythologic feature depicted as a three-headed dog. It is the guardian of the gates of the underworld, ensuring the dead do not escape.

The Empress is the third of the major arcana. In the upright position, it symbolizes fruitfulness, action, initiative, and the unknown, as well as difficulty, doubt, and ignorance. In the reverse position it represents light, truth, and the unraveling of involved matters.

I'm guessing that Cerebus was cast as the Empress because of that reversed meaning, huh?

Though another chapter under my belt, so let's get to the end-of-review summary. I take it that we're starting to enter the part of the arc where things begin to blow up. Since we already got a surprisingly hard and brutal battle with the latest Paradigm lieutenant on Yuna's end, while Leo's cliffhangered on a battle that I can alreayd tell will be a bit less straightforward than "abuse Multitype" to get out of it. There's certainly a strong vibe of "things coming to a head" throughout the chapter, and it's pretty well done.

I don't really have much to criticize about this chapter. There were a couple points where I felt things might have improved a bit by slowing down and showing more of your characters' reactions or getting into their heads a bit more, but you've got a distinct style emphasizing compactness at this point, and if your betas thought things still worked, I'll defer to their judgement.

This next week might be a bit of a pause on my catchup since I've got my plate full with other reviewing priorities, but this is some good stuff, @Ambyssin . I'll be looking forward to seeing how Leo's attempt at crashing a stream goes when I come back to this story.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 124: Picking up the Pieces​

Arceus rose from their large white cushion. They blinked several times.

"Say it again."

Opposite them, Hydreigon's main head straightened up. He poked his head-hands together nervously.

"Well, um—" Tap, tap, tap. The head-hands' eyes squeezed shut with each tap. "It would, ah, appear that, um..."

"Voice." Arceus kept their tone gentle, even though they knew this was like pulling teeth.

"S-Sorry!" Hydreigon's three heads sucked in sharp breaths in universe. "This is... tough to say."

After a few more deep breaths with every head, Hydreigon finally managed to say, "The anomaly got to the human I summoned. It killed her partner."

Silence followed. Arceus looked left, at a yellow and blue brick wall. Their resting chamber atop Destiny Tower was... unassuming. A nice cushion... and a copy of the Pokémon Nexus that the Expedition Society set up for them. Hydreigon kept glancing at the latter.

"The human is still alive, though?"

Hydreigon's three heads nodded. "Yes. But she is shaken. And, well..." His voice trailed off. He went back to tapping his head-hands together nervously.

"Something else?" Arceus asked.

"The partner." Hydreigon swallowed hard. "I checked with Xerneas. Her spirit did not arrive at the Tree of Life as expected."

More silence. Hydreigon kept glancing at the Nexus. There was something else he wasn't saying.

Arceus leaned over slightly. "Go on."

"Ah, um. It's..." Hydreigon's head-hands bit their lips. "I think I've sensed Giratina around that part of the world." He looked down at the blue and yellow brick floor. "You mentioned losing contact with them recently, right?"

"I did." Arceus closed their eyes in thought. They had reached out to Giratina. Several times. And gotten nothing. It was... unlike Giratina to ignore Arceus this much.

Sighing, he waved a golden foreleg at Hydreigon. "Thank you. You can go."

Hydreigon stiffened. "Are... are you sure?" He looked around nervously. "Because if you have other questions or need an ear or six then—"

"You're doing fine," Arceus assured him. "I will... look into this a bit more." They nodded slowly. "On my own. Don't want to go around raising red flags."

"Ah, of course!" Hydreigon bobbed his main head apologetically. "Sorry. So sorry!" He drifted toward a teleporter in the back corner. "I'll leave you to your business."

The teleporter flashed blue and Hydreigon was gone in an instant. Shaking their head, Arceus turned their attention to the Pokémon Nexus.

One way or another, they would figure out where Giratina was.

XxX​

Leo stood behind Widget. Even with everything departing through the rift, the cosmic silvally still sat at the edge of the crater. Staring into its basin. Every so often, his golden claws dug into the dirt. So, at least he hadn't gone completely still.

Not that that helped the cosmic arceus come up with what he wanted to say to Widget. He glanced back toward the door leading back into Mount Coronet. No sign of activity. Leo... doubted that Paradox's troops were about to bust the door down. Though that didn't get Bahamut's warning out of his head.

He walked to Widget's side and nudged his shoulder. No response. Or acknowledgement.

Leo nudged again. Nothing.

A third time. Silence.

"Hey." Leo thumped Widget's shoulder harder. "C'mon. I know you're upset. But we can't stay here."

Widget's talons uncurled. Dirt trickled down the edge of the crater.

Leo leaned over. He stuck his head in Widget's line of sight. "Heeeeeey." He wobbled his head left and right. His starry mane flopped to and fro.

It was dumb, yes, but the fighting had left him exhausted. So, he was sticking with dumb. And his decision soon paid off.

"Why?" Widget whispered. His starry ruff grew and shrank with every shaky breath. "We were... we were going to save him. We'd gotten through to him." Widget's gold claws dug deeper into the dirt. "We were so close. So why?"

He finally looked at Leo, who had to resist the urge not to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"I don't know," Leo whispered. "Maybe the shadows had... worn him down too much. Or Zodiark's meddling triggered something." He paused. "Gene had mentioned Nova was built with a kill switch."

"That he deactivated!" Widget whirled on Leo. He flickered between reshivally and cosmic silvally so quickly it was dizzying. Leo looked away.

"And I've got that same kill switch, don't I?" Widget continued. "The emperor... tried using it. What if he finds out I'm alive? What if he can trigger it?"

"Won't happen." Leo stuck his left foreleg out and pet Widget's right flank. "My blessing got rid of it."

"How can you be sure?" Eyes squeezed shut, Widget shook his head rapidly. "What did you do with that blessing?"

"I, uh—"

Leo blinked once. Twice. He tilted his head slightly.

What had he done with that blessing? He was still young and not used to any of his powers yet.

Aaaaand Widget was squinting at him. Not good. Leo had to come up with something.

"Must've... realized your Voiceness and, uh, pulled on that," he said, nodding to himself because that was definitely what happened. Yep. Totally. "And pulling on your Voiceness makes you more, y'know, biological and stuff. So you don't have code the emperor can trigger anymore."

He offered Widget soft, reassuring eyes. But all Leo got in return was irritation spreading over Widget's face.

"You don't have a damn clue what you did," Widget accused.

Leo bowed his head shamefully. "No idea, TBH."

He quickly stood back up. "But that doesn't make me any less confident that you're safe. You've got Voice powers now. You're above the emperor." He leaned his head in. "And I, like, sorta kinda maybe remember what you used to be like. You're determined and stuff. No one's gonna get to you."

The irritation slowly faded from Widget's face. Instead, his crest drooped. He looked back down at the base of the crater. He poked the dirt with a gold talon.

"Can't say the same," he mumbled dejectedly.

"That's fine." Leo slid his left forehoof along the ground. "You don't have to remember that. We should focus on—"

Widget looked away. "It's not that." His star-shaped cheek bolts slowly turned. "There is... a part of me that vaguely remembers you. A part that liked to be a clumsy hydreigon."

Leo's expression brightened. "Oh, then that's—"

"A part." Widget stomped his left foreleg down for emphasis. "There are far more parts that are too vague for me to understand. But I do know they weren't from that world." He pawed nervously at the air over the side of the crater. "And it's all jumbled around up here so much that I get headaches just trying to parse it out."

He squeezed his eyes shut again. "What if Xeromus is right?"

"Huh?"

"What if he was right about me?" Widget turned his tearful gaze on Leo. "What if restoring everything means I have to break apart?" He tucked his head down. "I don't... I still don't know who I really am. Is there anything under all these Voices of Life that got squished together?"

Shaking his head, Widget sucked in a sharp breath. "I can't just be Widget, some Voice mishmash. There's... there's gotta be something else! I don't want to be forgotten! I want to live! I want to live as me!"

Before Leo could say anything, Widget practically threw himself at the cosmic arceus' forehooves.

"Please." Widget sniffled. "Please tell me you saw something there. Or... or you put a soul in me when you blessed me." He pinched Leo's golden hooves with his claws. "I... I need something there. Some sort of base... that'll still be around even when all the Voices break apart."

He tilted his head up so Leo could see his pleading expression. However, Leo was one again at a loss for an answer. If he said he saw something, he'd be lying.

"No..." Widget lowered his head to the ground. The cosmic silvally rolled on his side. "I'm... I'm..."

Leo wanted to tell Widget he wasn't the only one in that kind of situation. But he couldn't. Nova told him not to bring up their conversation.

Still, there had to be something he could offer Widget. So, Leo slid down into a loaf position. It was the best he could do with the wheel around his torso. He leaned over and rested his head against Widget's.

"I still believe we can make a miracle," Leo said. Sure, that touched on his conversation with Nova. But it was vague enough that Widget wouldn't suspect anything. Win-win. "You can't think about... getting broken apart and disappearing. Because then you'll give up."

We'll both give up.

"Stopping Zodiark is still what matters most," Leo continued. "And we can't do that lying around here."

He stole a glance back at the door into Mount Coronet. Still inert. Good.

"I know." Groaning, Widget stretched out a hind leg. "It doesn't make it any easier though."

"You're right." Leo lifted his head up. "But we have to keep fighting. Which starts with getting back to the outpost. We both need rest."

Silence followed. Leo didn't blame Widget. This was far from a good resolution. And as much as Leo wanted to spill the beans—he trusted Widget to keep this a secret—he did promise Nova not to tell. He really hoped that decision wouldn't keep eating at him.

"Okay." Widget got back up, sighing. "We can go back." He glanced at the crater again. "It's... better for me if I just put this all behind me. And think about what's coming next."

Leo nodded. He concentrated for a few seconds, then a rift identical to the one he made before appeared. "If you're ready." Leo gestured to the rift with a forehoof.

Widget slowly approached the rift. He stopped in front of it. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it," Leo said. After a brief awkward silence, Widget stepped through the rift. Leo approached it, pausing only to survey the battle torn Spear Pillar.

Hopefully this would be the last time Leo ever laid eyes on this place.

XxX​

Exhaustion finally set in for Noctum when his feet hit the hangar floor. The fights with Turian, Ahsen, and Zodiark's forces had finally caught up to him. The hangar was a blur of grays and blues. Of misshapen figures moving around and voices talking over one another.

One mentioned something about Eternatus and Citadark Isle, but Noctum was too tired to zero in on that conversation. He didn't even want to amble back to his room in the outpost.

Instead, the cosmic charizard flicked his right hand. A rift opened behind him, with a neatly made bed waiting on the other side. He flopped backward into the rift. His blankets and pillow fwoomphed when he landed on them.

Sighing, Noctum brushed his head against the proofed black blanket. His blanket. Not that awful itchy one his cot at the outpost had.

After a few minutes of brushing the soft fabric with his head, he inched his head up to his pillow. From what Noctum could tell, everything in his room had been left undisturbed since he left for Horizon three months ago. The metal shelves welded to the wall on the bed's right still held old, filled stamp books, along with a couple of glass blown baubles and trinkets. His orange apron still hung on a set of hooks left of the bed by the door. And his desk opposite the foot of the bed was empty, glowing faintly from the purple light trickling in through the shut glass window.

... Wait, purple light?

Startled, Noctum sat up. He vigorously rubbed his eyes. No, it wasn't some lingering glow from the earlier rift or the outpost or anything. There was purple light outside his window. Not the usual orange glow from the lava pits below the castle.

Though Noctum wanted to investigate, fatigue won out. His head fell back on the pillow. Noctum lay splayed out on his back, eyes eventually fluttering shut.

He wasn't sure how long he was out for, but a cramp in Noctum's tail woke him up with a start. After blinking the stars from his vision, his window was still glowing purple.

Noctum massaged the base of his tail until the cramp died down, then slowly lumbered out of bed. He approached his window. It couldn't open. Too much sulfur and ash in the air for that. But Noctum didn't need to open it to see the problem.

The usual ashen clouds in the sky were purple. With similarly colored light beams filtering through them.

Frowning, Noctum scratched his head. Why would the sky turn purple like this?

Knocks at the door broke Noctum's train of thought. Who could that possibly—

"I know you're in there. I asked where your room was."

Noctum blinked several times. "V-Valkyrie?"

"You were expecting room service or something?"

Sighing, Noctum shuffled over to the door and opened it up. The garchomp was leaning on the doorframe. She pushed herself off.

"'Sup."

Valkyrie then shoved her way past a startled Noctum. The cosmic charizard turned around. "H-Hey, you can't just barge into my room without asking. That's..."

His voice trailed off when Valkyrie sat down in his bed. She crossed one leg over the other. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Noctum stared silently at her for a few seconds, tail flame shrinking. Shoulders sagging, he sighed and shut the door. "Come in, I guess." He trudged over to his desk and sat atop it, holding the end of his tail in his left hand.

"Is something wrong?" Noctum asked.

Valkyrie squinted. "Why do you have to assume me showing up here's a bad thing?"

"Well, uh..." Noctum tapped his claws together. "I feel like the only times we talk you're either teasing me or complaining about stuff."

He winced when Valkyrie looked like she'd been slapped. She couldn't meet Noctum's gaze anymore, instead biting her lip and poking his blanket with her right claw.

"Shit." She uncrossed her legs. "When you put it like that, I guess I'm a terrible friend."

"That's not—" Noctum shook his head. "I didn't mean that." He rubbed the back of his head. "But like, y'know, it might be nice to talk about other stuff."

Valkyrie frowned. "Do you have other stuff to talk about?" She kept poking his blanket. Poke, poke, poke. Noctum really hoped her claw didn't mess up the fabric. "Cuz, y'know, a lot of crazy shit happened today. Forgive me if I don't want to talk about the weather."

She looked toward the window. "Which seems screwed up by Aeon standards. Guess Cid was telling the truth."

Noctum sat up straight. "About?"

"Eternatus appearing in the sky over the planet," Valkyrie said. "And the emperor sending troops to literally pluck Citadark Isle out of the sea."

Squeaking, Noctum squeezed the end of his tail. "Oh." His starry flame shrank. "That sounds bad."

"Yep." Valkyrie clicked her tongue. She braced her arms by her sides. "We can't do jack shit about it right now, though." The garchomp shook her head. "So, I'm not gonna think about it."

Noctum nervously fidgeted with his tail. How was he supposed to not think about that? It sounded dangerous! What if Paradox turned his troops on the Aeon Kingdom?

He looked to the door. "You didn't happen to see the king and queen, did you?"

"I did." Valkyrie tapped her right foot against the side of the bed. "Sounds like they're rallying the troops. Talking with Sakaki about evacuating people underground in case the worst does happen."

Noctum was tempted to mention the outpost as an alternative, but between all the skorps, monks, Blightsmuth folks, and assorted Aeon troops there, Gene was probably out of space. And it'd freak most of them out for sure.

He finally softened his grip on his tail, laying some of it across his lap. Noctum ran his claws through the starry flame.

"So then... if you're not here to talk about Eternatus in the sky..." Noctum hesitantly looked at Valkyrie.

They stared silently at each other, save for the rumbling and churning of lava in the distance. After several seconds, Valkyrie tilted her head toward the ceiling.

"It's complicated."

She slumped backward a bit. Her dorsal fin prevented her from completely lying down on Noctum's bed. He wondered if her rough scales would somehow mess up his blanket. Though he kept that thought to himself.

"I guess... I can start with a thanks." She turned her head slightly left, offering Noctum a more relaxed expression compared to her usual frown.

"For?"

"Keeping your promise," Valkyrie said. "And helping with the whole Big Gus thing." She kicked her left leg out and held it there for a few seconds. "Things got a bit heated there before I heard you charging in and calling for me."

"Heated." Noctum stared into his tail flame. "Were you... about to kill Gus?"

Valkyrie sighed. "Actually, Igneous was."

Noctum's tail flame expanded. He reflexively yanked his right hand back, even though he knew the tail flame couldn't hit him.

"I thought about you and... restrained myself," Valkyrie continued. "Then Gus called Igneous dead weight. And he didn't take that well." She kicked her leg out again, sighing. "Honestly, I'm... not entirely sure why that Ahsen guy was so fixated on Igneous. And, like, part of me feels like I should be there for him right now."

She tucked her head down. "But too much happened in the Eternatus Core. The stuff in Khelifet's practically a distant memory."

"Yeah." Noctum lay his right hand on his desk. He drummed his claws against the wood. That was a lot to take in. And his physical exhaustion from all the fights had kept him from thinking about any of it.

"It's strange." Rubbing her shoulder with her wiry arm, Valkyrie sat up and scooched toward the edge of the bed. "I've been around death for so long it doesn't phase me. Yet something about what Zodiark and Xeromus said..." Her voice trailed off. Shoulders sagged.

"I can't stop wondering if they're right." A shudder ran from head to tail. "That we'll win and... split apart. I'll go back to being dead." She glanced at Noctum. "You'll go back to being Palkia. And end up in that pocket unless you find some other human to partner with or whatever."

Noctum wasn't sure what to say to that. The very notion of Valkyrie's suggestion spat in the face of all that "the spirit never forgets" stuff that had gotten thrown around.

"It's selfish." Valkyrie let out a bitter laugh. "I'm selfish. We haven't gotten to do anything friends should do. And I want that chance." She slouched over, draping her arms over her thighs. "I don't want things to go back to however they were."

The garchomp sighed. "Even if that means you don't get to be Palkia again."

She lifted her head up just enough to stare at the door. Noctum shifted in place atop his desk before sliding off of it and letting go of his tail.

"To be honest, I haven't given that much thought," he admitted. Noctum traced a claw along his glowing chest. Tiny motes of light drift off the nebulas swirling around where cream scales once were. "Dunno why. Guess Dial— sorry, Diamond was always the one looking to the future."

After a pause, he added, "And dwelling on the past."

Valkyrie turned a frowning gaze on him. Noctum's wings almost unfolded but he restrained himself.

"You've got to be kidding me." She shook her head. "You can't even be, like, a little bit miffed about this?"

"About what?"

Valkyrie gave him a "seriously?" look. Noctum resisted the urge to grab his tail and fidget with it.

"Use your head." She tapped the left side of her head with her arm. "Yuna pulled you out from your slumber or whatever."

"I think that's really more on Giratina," Noctum muttered.

"They're the same person." Valkyrie waved him off dismissively. "Point is that she's the reason you ended up alone in the middle of the wastelands. She probably plopped your spirit down there because it was the best she could do."

Valkyrie scowled at the door. "Seems like she gave all the souls she pulled out of slumber raw deals. Maybe to harden us so we'd have a better time fighting Zodiark or something."

After a sharp inhale, Noctum shook his head. "I don't believe Yuna intended for any of that. And I don't think Giratina had enough control over things, either." He held his hands up. "I'm not going to blame either of them."

He slowly walked over to his nick nack shelves. "Besides, we all ended up together eventually." Noctum shrugged. "I don't know if that's fate or spiritual resonance or some other divine cosmic whatever."

He grabbed an orange glass sphere and looked at his distorted reflection in it. "Yes, there's a lot of bad things that could happen. And yes, part of me does think Xeromus was onto something.

"But I won't let it get to me." Noctum set the glass sphere down. "I'd rather take things one step at a time. That's what's gotten me this far." He shrugged again. "And it's what my gut's telling me. Maybe that's just how Palkia is. And why space is the counterpart of time."

The cosmic charizard let that hang in the air. Noctum picked up a pink glass cylinder and turned it over in his hands, wondering if Valkyrie was preparing some sort of verbal counter.

To his surprise, she exhaled deeply, then said, "God, cynicism's exhausting sometimes."

Valkyrie flopped over, so she was on her belly lying across the width of the bed. "I don't know how you can stay even the slightest bit optimistic in the face of all of this." She buried her face in Noctum's blanket, muffling her groans.

"Well, I don't know how I do it, either," Noctum admitted. He laughed nervously when Valkyrie raised her head to scowl at him.

"Like, you mention doing stuff that friends should do." Noctum rubbed his shoulder. "But I can't exactly say I've got that many hobbies."

He set down the glass cylinder and grabbed one of the books. "I've got stamps. And..." He opened it up and idly flipped through the pages. "Uh, cooking, I guess?"

Valkyrie's head fwumped against his blanket. "More than I have," she said, voice muffled again.

If things weren't awkward before, they sure were now. Noctum struggled to come up with something to offer Valkyrie. Though her silence suggested she was at a loss, too.

Maybe it wasn't the time for words, then. Maybe it was time to do something.

... Something low energy. Noctum was still tired, after all.

"Then let's start." Noctum stepped over to the bed and sat down next to Valkyrie. She picked her head up and stared at him like he'd spoken in riddles.

"Start what?"

"Finding stuff to do together." Noctum set the stamp book on his lap and patted it. "No time like the present. And everyone's gonna need time to recover from today anyway."

Her stare turned to an incredulous one. "That's—"

Valkyrie held her mouth open for several seconds. Then the garchomp shut it. She lay her head back down, grunting.

"Is that a yes?" Noctum wondered.

It took a bit, but Valkyrie eventually answered, "Y'know what? Screw it. Sure." She rolled on her left side. "Let's just... start simple, I guess."

Her eyes drifted to the book in Noctum's lap. His heart almost skipped a beat. "W-With these?" He stood the book up on his left thigh.

"Yeah." Valkyrie nudged his thigh with an arm. "Lemme hear about these stamps of yours you love so much. Where you got 'em from and shit. Maybe it'll give us a spark of inspiration."

"O-Okay."

As Noctum opened up the book, Valkyrie scooched along the bed until her head was resting on Noctum's thigh. And that made his tail flame grow at least three sizes.

XxX​

Shane's Photon Geyser erupted in a brilliant golden flash. The large zekrom Whisper it struck careened into one of the giant purple land chunks floating in the middle of Ginnungagap. Zekrom's head burst apart like it was made of liquid. Blue, luminescent globs streamed out of its exposed neck, drifting away as if carried by a harsh current through water.

"Did that feel good, Overseer?"

Shane didn't recognize this voice. But his gut told him this was the anomaly he'd been tracking. Or, at least, it had control over this Whisper. A Whisper that was decomposing before the necrozma's eyes. All the souls mashed together to make it would be lost to Ginnungagap once again.

Not if Shane could help it. Gold and silver swirled around his wings. With a powerful flap, he got closer to the decaying zekrom Whisper. He caught as many blue globs in his telekinetic grasp as he could. The number grew with every lit bit of Zekrom's body that broke apart.

"Acting to save some," the anomaly noted. "While others are already lost in this endless mystery dungeon. A reminder of the... futility of your efforts."

Shane's rainbow eyes swirled around to resemble constricted pupils. Was there... a face on Zekrom's melting belly?

Yes, there was. A vaguely human face.

"You Overseers are a pointless stain upon reality." Despite the bold claim, the anomaly sounded bored. "Claiming to intervene to put a stop to needless suffering... but only when said suffering reaches a truly catastrophic threshold."

Shane winced. His gold body dimmed slightly. But he needed to focus if he was to keep catching these souls. "It's not like there's any one person dictating policies or anything. We pick and choose our battles. Because worlds need to stand on their own merit. Only relying on gods to fix all their problems is a recipe for disaster."

"And yet there is not a single world that can stand on its own, is there, Overseer?" the anomaly countered. Zerkom's arms and legs were gone now, along with its wings. Yet the face continued to look at— no, through Shane.

"Every world falls," it continued. "That is the truth of reality. The truth you Overseers prop up. Only intervening to bring about abrupt ends to worlds with the most extreme suffering. While letting countless other worlds flail until they ultimately expire."

"Because they have to," Shane said. His gold tail curled up. "Worlds can't go on forever. Everything's a cycle. Give and take."

"Then why do you Overseers violate such a principle?" the anomaly said. "How many of those above you have persisted in perpetuity?" It raised a brow. "You have lived countless lifetimes since your... little slip up."

Blue and purple seeped over Shane's rainbow eyes. The anomaly knew him. Which meant—

A second, silver Photon Geyser whizzed past Shane and blew Zekrom apart. He nearly lost his telekinetic grasp on the souls he had. The remaining ones vanished into the starry abyss all around him.

Shane looked over his shoulder to find a familiar gray necrozma approaching. Black shadows seeped into his wing membranes.

"Tama." Shane folded his upper wings nervously. "Uhh, hi. What can I do for you?"

"Don't give me that idle chatter," Tama growled. He was steamed. And Shane didn't want to press him on it.

"I don't suppose you could help me get these souls back to the Tree of Light?" The necrozma laughed nervously.

Tama snorted. "I'll do no such thing, Usurper."

Shane almost lost his telekinetic grip again. "Ah." Different colors swirled around his eyes. "You, uh, saw that old report, huh?"

"Yes." Tama's light horns crinkled up. "Because higher-ups are telling me to bring you in for questioning. Which I'm sorely tempted to do."

"But you—"

"No buts here," Tama growled. His light horns also darkened to a deep black to match his wings. "You're the reason this whole mess is happening. You're the reason Bahamut exists. Why I exist."

His gray eyes swirled into pupils to glare at Shane. "You stripped your home of its divine energy and foisted it onto POV-2020! I'm sure I don't need to tell you how many ordinances you broke!"

"By accident!" Shane blurted out. "I had no idea what I was doing." He looked down guiltily. "All I wanted was to save my home. And my friends. I couldn't have imagined anything like this would happen." He vaguely gestured with a lower wing. "Why do you think I've been trying so hard to fix it?"

"You can't fix it," Tama claimed, his glare intensifying. "That old divine energy reacts to you. So, you can't fight the anomaly directly. And can't get close to the arceus."

"I'm aware of that." Shane brought the spirits he was holding closer to him. "That's why I'm working on this plan." He drifted away from Tama a bit. "I realize things are shaky—"

"The anomaly is loose!" Tama snarled. "But I'm sure you knew that already."

"Y-Yeah..." He pressed his lower wings together. "Which is why I just need a little more time. I've almost given out all the Z-Crystals. Just gotta find those last few plates before the anomaly does. So, please... stall them for a little longer."

Both necrozma stared each other down. Shane with a pleading look and Tama with an intense glare. The silence lasted long enough for Shane to wonder if Tama really was going to go back on his word.

But the gray necrozma eventually turned around.

"Whatever you're pulling... screw it up and I will make every moment a living nightmare for you."

Before Shane could respond, Tama angrily flapped his wings. He took off, heading for crystal chunks far in the distance with upside down trees growing off them.

Sighing in relief, Shane turned to the souls he'd gathered up.

"It's... it's going to work," he mumbled. "We're going to make a miracle. Even if I've gotta go against protocols. Again."

With the lost souls in tow, he took off in the opposite direction as Tama. He needed to get these souls healed before making his next move. A next move that, perhaps, involved pulling back the curtain and reaching out to the ones on the front line.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Alright, I saw that this was up for Review Tag on Union, so you know what, we're getting in that next review bright and early after all and jumping right into:

Chapter 116

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

It was utter bedlam. Some kind of techno beat blared from the amphitheater speakers. Xander and Gigavee danced in total sync. Their Tera jewels pulsated with multicolored lights in time to the beat. So did the speakers. And the stage lights. Was this all from Leo's corrupted plates?!

Oh hey, so we are getting an Eevee-themed hardstyle marathon. Even if I didn't anticipate who would start it correctly.

Leo jumped right as a pillar of blinding white light erupted from the ground. He landed awkwardly with one foreleg wedged between two of the felt covered seats. Rather than try to yank it out, he shot a point-blank Flamethrower from it. With the seats burnt to ashes, he pulled his leg free. But his starcloud fur was tingling. Leo saw white light about to strike him from above!

Dude. Use the Spooky Plate and this suddenly becomes a lot less threatening.

A primal instinct drove Leo to tap into his spooky plate. The light washed over him, scuffing up and disheveling his starry pelt but otherwise leaving him completely unharmed. Leo figured he could use this... giant normal-type beam's blinding light to hide himself away while he got ready to strike.

Yeah, I figured.

Xander:

Leo: "U mad, bro?"

And the moment the attack faded, Leo dug his golden hooves into the remains of the seats. An Earth Power gathered underneath Gigavee's feet. He was far too large to avoid such an attack. Leo would surely—

The attack fizzled out against a pink, heart-shaped barrier. Xander's fairy jewel glowed even brighter as he reared up on his hind legs atop Gigavee's head.

Leo: "... I call hax."
Xander: "As I believe you dweebs say nowadays, QQmoar."

"Is that the best you got? LMFAO!" Xander crooned. He'd amassed a small army of rotom drones around him, all filming his and Gigavee's synchronized dancing. "#LegendaryFaker was right on the money! C'mon, Gigavee! Show us some #SparklySwirls!"

"VOOOOOOI!"

Wait, wait, wait. The Eevee is also capable of using Fairy attacks?

Pink air whipped up all around the amphitheater stage. Leo took to the air, but the wind still upended him. Fairy energy knocked him down and sent the cosmic arceus crashing into a few rows of chairs.

"Ooooooh, ouch! That looked like it stung!" Xander sneered. "#GetWrecked!"

Everything was spinning. Leo couldn't see the stage, but obnoxiously loud air horns told him the stage was somewhere on his left. And Xander was conjuring dumb sound effects to try and humiliate Leo.

Shaking off the vertigo, Leo rolled back to his feet. He began gathering an Aura Sphere up over his forehead. But Gigavee and Xander had plenty of time to ready attacks of their own while Leo was down.

Leo: "Okay, in retrospect, maybe it wasn't the best idea to come here alone."

The air was full of giant pink stars that were falling right toward Leo! He jumped right, galloping through the air over three rows of seats. The stars slammed into the stands behind him, flinging metal and plastic around.

"Bravely bold #ArceASS bravely runs away!" Xander mockingly sang, his Tera jewel pulsating with every giant pink star the sylveon conjured to try and strike Leo from above. "#YaBoiXander reared his handsome head, so brave #ArceASS turned tail and fled!"

Xander, this is why nobody likes you, just saying.

Leo had run out of seating. The amphitheater's eastern wall was coming up fast. That was fine. He didn't need stupid singing and juvenile insults! The cosmic arceus jumped toward the wall. He kicked off it and shot the Aura Sphere he'd been charging straight toward the gem in Gigavee's fur.

A loud buzzer filled the area as the Aura Sphere slammed into a large blue Protect barrier. Leo hastily charged in the opposite direction across the amphitheater stands, fearing some sort of retaliatory strike.

Should've used Taunt, my boy. Since I can already tell that you're going to be dealing with a lot of screen and status spam at this rate.

"Can you believe this guy, Chat?" Xander taunted, raining more giant stars down on the already wrecked seating. Leo wove his way through them and the pink explosions they kicked up when they struck the ground. "#ArceASS is getting #SkillIssued! Mods, let's drop a prediction and see if #YaBoiXander can take #ArceASS out in the next two minutes! Get all your #Xandollars in on this one!"

Leo: "God, if everyone else just happened to be tailing me without me knowing it, it would really be handy right about now."

Leo looked up, expecting to find the rafters completely blown apart, but all of Xander's recording equipment was somehow intact. Including the ones with the electric and poison Tera jewels.

This was ridiculous! No way Xander was doing a better job using Leo's own power against him like this. This stalling business was proving way more annoying than Leo expected.

It helps that he has multiple people who are helping to guide him for tapping that power while you're still actively figuring things out, just saying.

"Let's clean up that nasty #ArceASS, Vee!" Xander shouted as Leo was nearing the amphitheater's western wall.

Before he could ponder what that meant, he found the air full of brightly colored bubbles. Bubbles that had to hurt if they started popping. Leo quickly shifted from fighting to water. A wave carried him into the air. Bubbles burst around him, dousing his fur with soapy water that stung like tiny joltik nibbling on his legs, but not much worse than that.

I... take it that that was BubbleBeam. Though wait, just how many types does Xander have for Gigavee to throw around at the moment anyways? .-.

Leo steered the wave right, intending to crash the Surf right into the stage. Another large blue shield appeared in front of Gigavee. But Leo was ready this time. He jumped off the wave and immediately fired a Hydro Pump from one forehoof like he'd seen Seifer do countless times before.

The Surf washed over the Protect, leaving his Hydro Pump to strike Gigavee's white gem and douse some of his stupidly puffy chest fur. Gigavee squealed in surprise, which sounded really dumb with how deep Gigavee's voice had gotten.

So like a stuck Spoink, but pitch-shifted lower.

But before Leo could try anything else, a yellow flash blinded him. A terrible shocking pain racked his whole body as he fell to the ground. An electric attack must've hit him.

Leo landed on the floor between the seating and the stage with a heavy thud and a groan.

"Bzzzzzzap! Score another one for #YaBoiXander! Looks like #ArceASS is a #OneHit— oh, never mind, he's back up! Let's #BuzzyBuzz all over his face!"

Leo: "... Sure would've been nice if he could've stopped to gloat a little longer."

The cosmic arceus saw yellow the moment he'd gotten up. He managed to switch to ground-type right before several large lightning bolts hit the upper corners of his wheel. Leo conjured a tiny Earth Power by Gigavee's feet. Like before, his feint worked. A large Protect formed to block the Earth Power, giving Leo ample time to summon a big, sandy cyclone that battered Gigavee. The name Sandsear Storm came to mind. Knowledge from the Earth Plate, if Leo had to guess.

Ah yes, just casually using other Legendaries' signature moves. I suppose I should be less surprised though given that Leo in this series has shapeshifting abilities and can seemingly transform into anything he has a corresponding plate to without much issue.

Gigavee's extra puffy, super fluffy fur caught fire. Even Xander had stopped dancing, irritation flashing across his face as he looked over his fiery perch. His fairy Tera jewel pulsated. Gigavee twisted left, then right. Pink fairy wind swirled around the stage. Leo easily trotted back. He stopped a quarter way up the stands.

The flames were totally gone when Leo turned back around. Gigavee's fur was a bit singed, but otherwise he looked fine. And Xander's smug as hell expression was back.

Leo: "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..."

"Wuzzat? Thought you had the upper hand?" Xander posed for his rotom drones. "#GetWrecked, nerd. The power of the ultimate #Veetuber says screw your status effects!"

Leo spread his legs out like there was ground underneath his hooves to dig into. Another Sandsear Storm whipped up around the stage, but it was countered by a flurry of those obnoxious exploding bubbles from earlier. Multicolored steam blanketed the stage.

Leo: "For crying out loud, Multitype is my thing!"

Xander: "QQmoar."

"Ha! You can't #TwiceTwice #YaBoiXander!" the sylveon taunted. "Ain't no stopping our #BouncyBubbles! Don't they look #fabAF, Chat?"

Leo didn't know if those big rotom screens were still up showing the chat and he didn't care. Rather than a Sandsear Storm he conjured another Earth Power toward the front of the stage. Gigavee's right forepaw buckled slightly. Leo's brow furrowed. He'd committed to following up with another Sandsear Storm, only for it to clang harmlessly off another Protect.

Yeeeeeah, I'm pretty sure this is a sign for the rest of the gang to hurry up, since you're obviously not going to solo this one, Leo.

There went that idea. This really was a huge pain in his ass. Why was Xander so on top of this?

Wait... Leo ran left, dodging another Bouncy Bubble. Sudsy water doused the center of the seating area that Leo escaped from. He eyed the Tera jewels on his opponents and on the equipment hovering far behind Xander. The static surrounding them was... different than what he remembered. It had flecks of gold in addition to the red and black he'd seen before.

Meaning that they're short-circuiting, or...?

Could it be? The cosmic arceus shifted to fighting and slung three Aura Spheres toward Gigavee's foreleg, chest fur, and head. Another swirl of pink mist — that must have been the "Sparkly Swirl" that Xander mentioned earlier — stopped his strikes.

Now Leo was sure. It wasn't that Xander was using Leo's plates better than him, it was the different power sources the sylveon was combining! The Z-Power, especially, seemed to be having a big effect that Leo struggled to counter.

Oh, so that's what those sparks meant. I do wonder if it'd have made sense to add a more explicit callback to some point when Leo has seen Z-Power in action in the past, since I'll admit that I didn't realize that was what was going on until Leo just out-and-out stated it.

What was his play here? He had no idea how the others were doing and trying to X-transceiver them with all of Xander's rotom drones watching him intently could spoil the whole plan.

"Look at the #XanFam go! 7.5 mil and counting! #ArceASS is about to have even more of a #BaddyBad time!"

Wait, wait, wait. Is Xander telegraphing his attacks with that hashtag banter? Though just how many Eevee-exclusive attacks are there in this series? .-.

Leo's starcloud fur prickled. Black energy pooled around him. He jumped right, managing to dodge black plumes that erupted from below. Broken chair shards whizzed past him. Leo kept galloping through the air, trying to push thoughts about what a ridiculous attack name "Baddy Bad" was out of his head.

Bring it up with GF when they cranked it out for LPGE, Leo.

He had to focus. Xander was getting close to ten million viewers. And he said that was going to let him expand the dungeon. Leo couldn't let that happen! But how could he stand against all these different powers Xander was forcing into Gigavee?

Oh, right. That was a thing mentioned last chapter, huh? Sure would be a good time now for Penny to hijack the stream with Eeveelution videos or something.

Did Leo need to use more of his plates? At most he'd drawn from two at once. But back in Blueberry Academy, he only had four plates and most of them wouldn't help against Gilgamesh. That wasn't the case here.

Leo turned around and slung a couple of more Aura Spheres to the stage to at least keep Gigavee and Xander busy for a few more moments. A part of him feared drawing on more than two plates. But what else was he supposed to do? The equipment with the electric and poison Tera jewels had avoided all the attacks so far.

Wait, wait, wait. He can do that?

"What a joke! Is that really the best you've got?" Xander shook his head disapprovingly. "Every move you make's another highlight for my #CringeCompilation! Maybe you oughta #ChillOut with a little #FreezyFrost!"

As soon as Leo heard what sounded like another ridiculous attack name, his mind was made up. He tugged on the flame and fist plates. Icy stalagmites burst out of the ground, upending more chairs and trying to skewer Leo. The cosmic arceus climbed higher into the air. His wheel shimmered with red and orange light.

"How about you catch these hands, bitch!"

Leo dove down, flames shrouding his whole body. He Flare Blitzed through the tops of the Freezy Frost spears and then slammed the air with orange forehooves. The Brick Brack shattered a shield that Xander tried conjuring, allowing Leo to continue forward and slam his fiery torso into Gigavee's normal Tera jewel.

"Vooooiiiiiiiiiii!"

While pressed up close, Leo punched Gigavee's massive chest ruff with an orange forehoof. Then he slapped the ruff with his other, chitinous forehoof. A combined Drain Punch and Leech Life combo that immediately reinvigorated Leo while leaving Gigavee reeling. He staggered left, then right, all while Leo clung to him.

Leo: "How's that for leaving a mark?!"

"Gah!" Xander seemed startled. Leo struck the normal Tera jewel with another Drain Punch. Gigavee cried out in pain.

"Oh hell no! You ain't canceling #YaBoiXander!"

The air around Leo grew charged, but the cosmic arceus simply tugged on his inner earth plate. Lightning harmlessly streaked across him, giving him plenty of time to wind up his foreleg and Focus Punch the normal Tera jewel.

Xander: "Wh-What is this crap?! You were #Jobbing just ten seconds ago!"

Gigavee's howl shook the amphitheater rafters. Jingling metal echoed all around Leo, mixed with irritated growls from Xander.

"You think you're so clever, #ArceASS?"

"Hell yeah I do!" Leo said.

If Xander was flustered, then best to rile him up even more than before. He dug his legs into Gigavee's chest ruff, then pushed off. Leo flew away from the stage, avoiding the Sparkly Swirl that Xander and Gigavee conjured to try and catch him while he was close. Leo turned back around and retaliated with fiery Aura Spheres. Gigavee's Protect held up against the first two, but the next two punched through and struck his chest ruff, lighting his fur on fire again.

I think that the paragraph attached to Leo's banter works better as standalone. Though... uh... yeah, I get the distinct feeling that you probably shouldn't be that up close and per-

Leo put on his best imitation to loudly proclaim, "Now that's lit, fam! Cuz I'm the real hotness, Xandumbass!" Then he conjured a ghostly hand to place its thumb against his hip while he let out a "Sssssssss."

Eyes twitching, Xander looked ready to lash out. But his large steed was still on fire, so he forced Gigavee to conjure another Sparkly Swirl to dispel the flames. Which was exactly what Leo hoped for. He remained floating in one spot, conjuring a Focus Blast behind his forelegs. Flames shrouded his starry hooves, feeding into the red energy gathering behind them.

Oh, so Xander can dish it out but he can't take things. I am wholly unsurprised, really. >:V

The moment the Sparkly Swirl faded, Leo flung the flaming Focus Blast forward. Xander's eyes widened, but there was nothing the sylveon could do to protect Gigavee's gem. A fiery explosion chipped away at the gem and lessened its silvery glow. Gigavee staggered to his left, then slowly toppled over with a holler. Xander desperately grabbed onto one of its giant ears with his ribbons to stop himself from getting flattened.

This was it! Leo had the momentum. All the cosmic arceus had to do was charge in and he could at least rid the normal-type plate of Xander's ta—

Wait, why were there static tendrils grabbing into the normal Tera jewel? Leo sprinted through the air, but couldn't get to Gigavee before the tendrils ripped the Tera jewel right out of him. As Gigavee shrank back down, a static pillar carried Xander up toward the rafters, where the electric and poison Tera jewels remained mounted to some of the recording equipment. The rotom drones followed closely behind.

Yeah, I should've figured things wouldn't have been so easy. Though on the plus side, at least you won't have to worry about it being used in battle? Probably. Maybe.

Leo had no idea what was going on, but hastily shot a Hydro Pump from one foreleg and a Flamethrower from another. A Sparkly Swirl erupted from the air, blocking both of Leo's attacks.

"You really thought you had me for a sec, huh?" Xander grabbed the normal Tera jewel. It immediately shattered, but that silver energy went straight into the sylveon's ribbons. Mini normal Tera jewels studded them like rhinestones on a belt. "Well too bad, bitch! This is my stream! I'm calling the shots!"

So much for it not being usable in battle. Though now would really be a good time to mount a stream hijack, Penny.

Static arms grabbed the electric and poison tera jewels and shattered them in much the same way. Miniature jewels sprouted up all over Xander's body. Lightning crackled through the air. Before Leo knew it, the rotom drones had doubled from twenty to forty. Then forty to eighty.

More and more and more drones filled the air.

"And I say... this little collab is over!"

Leo: "Um... guys? A little help here?!" O.O

In a blind panic, Leo tried an Eruption to hit as many drones as possible with flaming rocks. But the drones fired Thunderbolts in unison and, with how many Xander had spawned, they were more than enough to block Leo's Eruption and send him scrambling away from the stage, pulling on his Earth Plate to make sure he stayed safe.

"Hell nah, bitch! You're not getting away with that again!"

Blinding white light swallowed Leo up. He cried out in pain and, next thing he knew, had crashed into what was left of a staircase railing between two sets of amphitheater seating.

Leo: "... Ow."

"It's my spotlight! My party!" Xander stood atop the rafters. The rotom drones took aim at Leo. "And it's never gonna stop!"

Leo scrambled to his feet, only for dozens of white beams to strike him. They looked like Thunderbolts, but they still hurt even with the Earth Plate's power. Was Xander combining different types with all that corrupted energy of his?

"Cheer for me! Love me! Worship me! And watch this loser get what he deserves!"

Okay, yeah. There's exactly no way that Xander is going to live past whenever he's inevitably defeated. I can already tell. Since he's just going out of his way to nuke all the audience sympathy at the moment.

The next bevy of white beams hurt even more. Leo couldn't help but cry out in pain. Cries that Xander's hysterical laughter and the frenetic buzzing of hundreds of rotom drones quickly drowned out.

They were going to attack again. Leo's fur prickled from the static. But everything ached. He couldn't get up.

He was going to lose. And to this total slimeball!

Leo: "In retrospect, attempting to come here on my own was a bad idea."

Leo braced himself for the worst when an engine's thunderous roar came from somewhere on his right. He heard the crashing of metal and plastic, followed by a startled yelp from Xander and a heavy thud somewhere in the direction of the stage.

"Sorry we're late! But everything's in place to blow the roof off this joint! Figuratively speaking!"

That was Starlene! Grunting in pain, Leo managed to stagger to his feet.

... And found some big, pink, neon vehicle with a revavroom carefully fastened to the front of it sitting between the stage and what was left of the seating. Nikki stood on the vehicle roof with an electric guitar in hand. A number of wires connected it and the turntable next to her to Starlene's wings.

Ah yes, there's our calvary now. Though a Starmobile, huh? Should've expected something like that to come into play.

Up in the rafters, Xander's left eye twitched. "Who the hell are you?!"

It was then Leo realized there was another human at the turntables, with a black coat and pants to match his puffy black hair. He hiked up a pair of black and white headphones and grabbed hold of a silver laptop with a stylized star emblazoned on it.

"DJ Vice at the Starmobile deck!" he said, pressing keys on his laptop. "Here to drop the hottest new single this side of Mesagoza! Hit it!"

Oh, hello, Giacomo. I assume the rest of the gang is here for the occasion, too, huh?

Vice pressed another key and then Nikki started up some sort of sick guitar riff. Starlene's wings pulsated rapidly, like strobe lights at a rave, as a synth melody projected throughout the amphitheater. It was louder than the rotom drones' buzzing.

"Eww! Ewww!" Xander squeezed his ears with his ribbons. "Turn that shit off! It's trash, like you!"

His eyes flashed yellow and pink. All the rotom drones launched their multicolored beams toward what Leo had to assume was the Starmobile.

I have to wonder how long in advance you planned this out, since this moment actually works surprisingly well for Nikki and Starlene as characters. The art is a nice touch, too.

But Nikki's guitar took charge from the synths. Starlene's blue wings glowed brightly. The white beams fizzled out before they got anywhere near the Starmobile.

Even with his fur singed and his joints screaming in pain, the rocking beat filled Leo with a second wind. He hobbled down the stairs, eyeing the rotom drones intently.

"What?" Xander looked at the fading white mist in shock. "No. That's not right! You're losers! Weaklings!"

Maybe you should've invested in a setup that didn't need a huge sound stage to function properly, huh Xander?

Starlene opened her mouth, producing some screeching, distinguishable lyrics. Ordinarily, Leo might've found it repulsive, but the way DJ Vice was mixing it in with the synths was catchy enough to get his starcloud tail wagging!

Oh, so she's doing the vocals from the Team Star battle theme at the moment, huh? Cute.

Several rotom drones above Leo trembled... then burst apart in static explosions. Xander's eyes widened.

"Impossible..." The gems on Xander's ribbons flickered wildly. "No, no, no, no!" He looked around. "Destroy them! Atomize them! Fire everything, damn it!"

Leo: "So what was that about me getting what I deserved again?"

Xander: "Shut the hell up, #ArceASS! And why are you stupid drones taking so long to #LightThemUp ?!"

The rotom drones dove down to bombard Leo and the Starmobile with more white energy blasts, but Nikki's continued guitar riffs led to sound waves blowing drones to static smithereens by the dozens. Was it some sort of modified Boomburst?

Was that why Nikki and Starlene seemed linked together? Leo had no idea. But whatever they were doing was working!

That sure sounds like a modified Boomburst, yeah. All we need is some terrain damage thrown in to confirm things.

"Keep it up!" the cosmic arceus chirped. He whipped his head toward the rafters, launching Mud Bomb clusters skyward.

Nikki's guitar-driven Boombursts indiscriminately blew apart the Mud Bombs. However, Leo was hoping for that. Xander's shrill screams filled the amphitheater as brown mud splattered over the sylveon. Some of the rotom drones crashed into each other, leaving nothing behind but rapidly fading static.

Ah yes, Nikki and company demonstrating in live-time why drone warfare has not moved past the meme stage in the present day in the face of serious countermeasures.

Starlene belted out more gibberish screamo vocals. The latias' wings were back to flashing like strobe lights at a rave, along with the musical note on her chest. [ ]

"You can't... you can't beat me!" Xander snarled, before more mud washed over him courtesy of a fresh Mud Bomb volley from Leo. "The Xan Fam won't stand for this! They— what?! NO!"

I feel like it might be worth showing off more of Xander's reaction at this moment, though he's losing viewers in live-time, isn't he?

He turned to one of the rotom screens, which showed his viewer count plunging by the millions.

"My viewers!" Xander looked around in a panic. "Where are my viewers?!"

Yeah, I knew it. Though Giacomo's music is that unpopular, huh? Probably not a good sign for his aspirations as a DJ. >:V

Shrieking, the sylveon forced what was left of his rotom drone army to unleash another fierce volley of strange white beams. Nikki launched into a guitar solo, her fingers rapidly moving along the guitar's cords. Electrified sound waves blocked the beam volley.

"Man, killer lights and pyrotechnics!" DJ Vice said. "This is wild!"

So wait, where are the rest of your buddies right now anyways?

The revavroom mounted to the Starmobile was wiggling in time to the beat. Those rotom drones that had survived the latest Boombursts were bobbing up and down in the air, too.

"No! Stop!" Xander scrambled across the rafters, eyes twitching. "Stop dancing, damn it! YOU'RE MY EQUIPMENT!" Mud globules dribbled off his body and onto the amphitheater stage below. "WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

Leo: "Because you've been #Upstaged ! Suck it, Xandumbass!" >:V

He tilted his head skyward. "Ahsen! Ahsen, I—"

"Your sponsor can't hear you anymore!"

Xander looked down, a certain madness in his eyes like a cornered feral. Penny had appeared on stage, her hood pulled over her head and an open eevee laptop in her arms. Shimmer stood in front of her protectively.

"Stream's offline," Penny said. Even with the hood obscuring her face, Leo caught the faintest smirk— no, shit-eating grin. "Party's over."

So, is Xander just going to like crumble to dust or something? Since he sure was taking his stream getting derailed well™ there. ^^;

"WHAT?!"

Xander turned around and, sure enough, instead of his stream, the rotom screens now showed a swarm of CGI krabby doing some sort of weaving dance in unison. A "GET HACKED LOL" flanked by winking eevee emotes flashed on the screens in big, neon letters.

Ah yes, cue the theme song:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDU_Txk06tM

Leo charged up an attack to seize on the distraction. What the cosmic arceus wasn't counting on, though, was the sylveon to whirl on Penny and Shimmer with an ear-splitting shriek.

"You stupid bitch!" Xander glared at Shimmer with more malice than Leo had seen in anyone's eyes. "I'll kill you! I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES!"

Ah yes, if Shimmer's friendship with Xander wasn't over, it sure is now.

Shimmer: "Um... yeah, if you happen to have one of those 'Quick Ball' things, now would be a really good time to toss it at my ex."

With another shriek, Xander leaped from the rafters. Multicolored energy poked through the mud still clinging to Xander. Leo galloped forward... only for Shimmer to shockingly stand his ground and fire an icy lance right at Xander.

"No you won't!" the ponytales cried the moment the ice struck Xander. It burst apart in a torrent of frigid air. Gasping, Leo jumped back, crouching behind a pile of rubble that had crushed some of the audience seats.

That one's gonna leave a mark, I can already tell.

The frosty blast sent Xander pinwheeling into some of the rafters' lighting. And it set off a chain reaction of stage lights blowing up in bursts of yellow and blue. The explosions and music drowned out Xander's screams. The rafters came falling down all around the stage and Starmobile with heavy thuds and clangs that drew winces from Leo.

Amazingly, however, the performers finished off their song, which Starlene followed up with a joyous trill. Leo poked his head up from the rubble pile to find Shimmer shakily walking toward the Starmobile while Starlene vanished into blue mist, revealing Scarlett coiled up on the roof behind Nikki and DJ Vice.

Cute working in of the victory jingle there. Even if I'm not convinced that things are going to stay this triumphant in about ten seconds.

"Yo, these numbers!" DJ Vice was looking at his laptop screen. "I've never had a premiere like this! Cassie, you were totally right!"

Small typo there.

Penny pulled her hood down as she approached the Starmobile. "It's, um— actually, my name's Penny."

"No kidding?" DJ Vice looked to Nikki and Scarlett. The toxtricity and dragonair helped him down from the Starmobile's roof. "Well, nice to put a real name to a face," he reached out for a handshake, "Big Boss."

It took a couple of seconds—and Penny's arm shook—but she managed to reciprocate. "Th-thanks."

Whelp, I suppose that's one way to tell that Starfall Street won't be going down in the same way as in canon in this universe.

"Hey, don't just thank me." DJ Vice turned to rub Revavroom's head. They hummed in delight. "Ortega got this up and running lightning fast and Eri snuck through Naranja Academy and got this up on all the TVs." He stretched his arms out. "It was a real team effort."

Leo was tempted to agree, but he figured it was better to let the two have their moment. Besides, he had other matters to attend to.

... Namely the blubbering mess of a sylveon lying under a pile of metal beams, caked in mud and grime. There was a ball of static above the rubble. No doubt the mystery dungeon core that Leo needed to seal. He could practically feel the energy calling to him.

Ah yes, time to see whether or not Xander really is going to crumble to dust in live-time, since he sure seems to be taking his loss well™ right now.

"Not fair." Xander repeatedly slapped the ground with his ribbons. "Not fair, not fair, not fair!"

Ah yes, a refrain that will be immediately familiar to anyone who brought Ogerpon along for that battle in Indigo Disk.

What a big baby. Leo shook his head as he approached. He had no idea why Xander was still conscious when everyone else who'd been corrupted by Paradigm or Tera energy was out cold after being freed. But with everything that had just happened, Leo was way too tired to worry about it.

Because you're not going to free him, Leo.

After all, the big baby had almost killed Leo with cringe. Not exactly the cosmic arceus' proudest moment. At least Nikki and Scarlett seemed pleased with themselves.

"Why did you do it?"

Shimmer's voice snapped Leo to attention. The ponytales stood right in front of Xander, leering down at him.

Because he's an unironic attention whore who's desperate for others' attention and validation?

Xander glared at Shimmer. "Cuz I deserve it. Unlike you!" He tried to spit on Shimmer, but only managed to cough up some spittle that didn't even reach Shimmer's forehooves.

Yeah, he's dying. I can already tell from his weakness there and the BGM.

"I'm sexy, charming, clever." Xander's face scrunched up. "Everything you only pretended to be. You couldn't even stop Guile Hideout from capturing me. Me, your damn boyfriend!"

Shimmer's ears folded. "Did you ever really love me?"

Xander tried to laugh, but could only manage a pained wince. "Hell no. But I was willing to put up with your stupidity for the prestige. Everyone would pay attention to the king's consort. The same way Justine always turns heads in her leather and fishnets"

Nikki: "Boy did you have terrible taste in lovers just a month ago, Pillow Princess. Since I'm really not seeing the appeal of this guy here."

He winced again. "I'd have... gotten favors from anyone I asked. Screwed whoever I wanted. Whenever I wanted."

The sylveon forced a smirk. "And you would've taken it. Because I had you... wrapped around my ribbons."

Another laugh turned into a wheeze. Some of the rubble pile shifted.

"I don't care... what your dumb makeover did. You're still... just a whiny little bitch."

Ah yes, even when facing impending death, he's defiant and unrepentant to the end. You really didn't want anyone feeling bad for Xander going, huh?

Leo was prepared to say something, but Shimmer surprisingly beat him to the punch.

"You're right." The ponytales swished his icy mane out of his face. "I've been a pretty lousy person all around. Just like you."

He took one step forward. "But you want to know the difference between us? I'm trying to do better." Shimmer glanced at Leo. "Trying to help new friends.

Shimmer: "It's called 'character development'. You should try it sometime."

Scarlett: "Um... Shimmer? I don't think he's going to have 'sometime' from the condition he's in." ._.;

"But you?" Shimmer's horn glowed pink. "You doubled down on all your worst traits. And look where it got you!"

Xander went back to glaring at Shimmer. "Don't take that condescending tone with me."

"Who were you calling before we beat you?" Shimmer's horn glowed brighter. "Who's this 'Ahsen' guy?"

Wait, Shimmer wasn't going to attack Xander while he was defenseless, was he? Did Leo need to rush in before something happened?

Nikki: "Wait, you mean that he's not supposed to after Ribbons just went on about how he never loved him and was just using him all this time? I mean, hell, I wanna deck him, and I'm an uninvolved party here-!"
Leo: "That doesn't mean you're supposed to do it now!" >.<

"Like I'd tell you," Xander spat. "Go to hell."

Pink light spilled out from Shimmer's horn. Leo relaxed when he realized it was just Hypnosis. The psychic ripples washed over Xander, zonking him out within seconds. His snores were obnoxiously deep considering his normally high-pitched voice.

Shimmer turned away, flicking his mane over his other shoulder. "Guess he didn't bother asking Paradox to fix that awful snoring."

Guess we're not getting rid of Xander from this story so fast after all.

Nikki walked over, squinting at the snoozing sylveon. "Yeesh. That was ugly." The toxtricity rubbed the back of her head. "You gonna be okay, Twinkie?"

"Yeah." Shimmer took a deep breath. He forced a smile for Nikki. "Thanks for asking. And for helping out with... all of this."

"You kidding?" Nikki strummed her gills. "This was awesome. Wish we could take out the rest of this Zodiark asshole's goons like this."

Nikki: "Just wish that I'd brought some popcorn for the occasion, since damn was that some popcorn-worthy smack you were laying down there." :V

She turned her gaze on Leo. "But shouldn't Squirt here get to sealing up the dungeon before anything else goes wrong?"

Leo's starcloud fur flickered. "Ah, uh, right. I'll get to it."

With a quick nod, the cosmic arceus jumped into the air and galloped over to the ball of static. He briefly wondered what these four plates would come together to look like in the core. Leo didn't think they'd meld together to make anything remotely coherent.

Leo: "Wait, that was really it? No booby traps or anything?"
Nikki: "Kid, don't jinx it right now."

It didn't take long for the dungeon core to prove him wrong. Leo trotted through the air over some sort of cross between a factory and a power plant. Crisscrossing yellow cables carried electricity in the same direction Leo was going. Glass tubes carried purple sludge into strange vats where they melded with silver liquid—the normal-type plate's influence—to produce glowing pink fluid that continued through the tubes.

The liquid and electricity flowed toward four glass tubes in the distance. Each of the tubes held one of Leo's plates. And behind them was a brick wall that, as Leo got closer, was actually some sort of mural.

... A mural depicting him. Or, at least, an arceus of some sort. He immediately recognized the body shape, wheel and all. But there were countless tiny arms radiating out from around the arceus in the mural. Leo wasn't sure what to make of them.

Ah yes, that's ominous. Though that mural must be trippy to have literally all thousand arms radiating out.

The moment he landed on the platform with the glass tubes, they opened up. And slowly floated toward Leo. The purple one was first to reach him.

The rules of time and space change within the opposite world.

Wait, is this another flashback, or...?

Immediately Leo thought of Khelifet, the last place in the reverse world he'd set foot in. Nothing felt different there compared to the resistance base. But that was just a sign of how bad things were for his world. Because the thing this plate was talking about wasn't the case back home.

When Leo absorbed the plate, a brief flicker of nausea bubbled up in his gut before subsiding. He shook it off and looked toward the oncoming salmon colored plate.

The Original One is in all things. The Original One is nowhere at all.

Oh, nevermind, it's just the text engraved on the plates.

Leo blinked several times. Well, that was just ridiculous. He wasn't in everything. Because then he would be everyone. What a dumb passage!

Rolling his eyes, he absorbed this plate. His starry fur seemed to twinkle even more. He'd fix that later. For now, there were two more plates.

He opted for the yellow one first.

The third being raged, raining down bolts of anger.

Ah yes, that's not ominous and worrisome at all regarding Yuna, I can already tell.

Leo briefly thought of Yuna. Then he saw himself, Dialga, and Palkia casting an unconscious Giratina into a dark, cavernous pit. They pooled their powers together to make the pit shift and fold in upon itself. Fashioned it into a mystery dungeon. Leo told them that this was for Giratina's own good.

Ah yes, that's going to get awkward to talk about once everyone's memories fully come to them.

Only a spark and a tingle down his spine from absorbing the yellow plate snapped him to attention. There was only one plate left now. A white one.

Three beings whose power can hold both time and space fixed. Leo briefly thought of Diamond, Noctum... and Yuna. They weren't the trio he remembered shaping in his first life. Gene and Widget had confirmed as much. He only knew them as they were now.

Oh, so the Giratina that approached Yuna/Tessa back in the day was the one from whatever universe Volo came from and not POV-2020's indigenous Giratina.

... Though that does make me wonder whatever became of him, assuming he's even still around somewhere in the reincarnated shuffle of souls out there.

Why were they here, then? And why were there people who remembered them in past lives? Had they... somehow gotten dragged into this world from the afterlife? Were the Overseers responsible?

Ask Volo when you get the chance.

They were missing something. They had to be.

... I'm just realizing that the three Timespace characters are Ahsen's creation trio. Boy is that going to get awkward to sort out down the road.

When Leo absorbed the last plate, a shock went through his system. He turned back to the mural. There was a part he hadn't paid any attention to at first. But now it was clear as day.

A ball of multicolored energy gathering over Arceus' head. It was... so familiar. What was it? It was practically on the tip of Leo's nonexistent tongue.

"It is what you have always yearned for, Child of Fate."

Oh boy, Zodiark has entered the chat.

Zodiark's voice echoed around the dungeon core. Leo focused on the mural, paying Zodiark no mind. The longer he stared, the more tingling he felt along his forehead. It spread down his face to his neck and his chest. Leo's legs trembled slightly.

His chest tightened. Purple light trickled out from his chest fur, forming into a card that spun in front of him. It had the number zero emblazoned on one side and a picture of an arceus puppet tugged by strings on the other.

Oh, so that's why you had that one art piece with Leo having a Persona-esque tarot card. He's getting forcibly inducted into Paradigm... lovely.

The Fool

Leo's fur bristled. This was... a Paradigm fragment! But why did he have it? And why hadn't he realized it was there until now?!

Oh yeah, that's not ominous at all there.

He looked back at the mural, but his gaze again shifted to the multicolored energy. It was... alluring.

"This power defines you. Defines all Creators. The power... of Judgment."

Um... Leo's not going to go on the Fool's Journey, is he? Since I know exactly how that tarot sequence ends, and it's not a happy outcome for him.

Leo's eyes widened. A silver sheen spread over them. Rather than forging the sigil of circles and triangles like he always did, the cosmic arceus instead tilted his head up. A ball of silver light formed above him. Then he shot it into the air, where it exploded into multicolored beams that rained down upon the dungeon core. The factory dissolved away all around him.

And as it did, he felt a familiar presence. A familiar chaotic presence.

"Mom?" Leo whispered. The dragapult wasn't anywhere to be seen, but he still sensed her.

Leo: "Wha- What on earth just happened?" ._.

Rather than willing everyone back to the outpost like he'd usually done, Leo instead opted to will his teammates to that familiar presence. Maybe it would take them to Yuna.

No, not maybe. Leo wasn't sure why, but he was confident he could bring them there. He was more than strong enough to.

Oh, well. Guess no waiting before everyone's gathered back together after all this.

~Il Paradigma, No. VI: Xander, the Lovers~
This Lovers has always served to help placate those living within the Benefactor. Convince them that the person in charge of the Benefactor has only their best interests at heart. The tone of this power changed when the emperor rose to prominence. He used it to spread his propaganda and curb any desires to revolt against him. In choosing the Lovers' newest wielder, the emperor knew this sylveon would say anything if it meant people would pay attention to him.

Oh, so the past Lovers within Paradigm were always entertainers/influencers of some sort. I suppose that makes sense, even if I strongly suspect based on a cursory search of what the Lovers arcana is associated with that Xander's meant to be the card in a reversed state.

~Fuzzball of Ruin: Giga-Zeevee~
The Renegade's vicious actions broke the world. To fulfill His vision, the Affirmer began the long and winding process of freeing Himself from His sudden imprisonment. This set the plates He needed to craft his Eternaverse adrift through Ginnungagap. So, He devised a plan to bring those plates back together.

Well, that got darker than I expected as a background for what was essentially a Lethal Joke Boss. Sure feels like we've been having a few of those sorts of backstories lately.

Path of Valor Almanac
The Lovers is the sixth Major Arcana in tarot decks. Upright position symbolizes attraction, love, and beauty. Reversed position represents failure and foolish designs.

Also disharmony, imbalance, and self-love re: the reversed position, but you know what, that's definitely very 'Xander' there.

For those familiar with my previous fic, you could consider the Levinicia arc as the spiritual successor to the Primarina arc, culminating in a similarly silly fight. Originally, it was going to be similar to the Ba'al Zebul section of Bayonetta 3, itself a reference of sorts to the Diva Dance from The Fifth Element. But as I shifted the fic to have more Gen IX elements I decided to play up the Team Star angle. I did have a lot of fun with it, as I did with the Primarina fight. It was fun to take the piss out of influencer culture.

Yeah, I figured. Even if the overall vibe of this arc felt significantly darker than I recalled the Primarina arc of GL being.

But, if you do remember Guiding Light, you may recall the end of the Primarina arc was a prelude to things taking a turn for the serious. We've got some big chapters coming up. I realize that basically anyone left reading this is a silent reader. If you're still out there, I hope you enjoy what's coming down the pipeline.

Uh... yeah, given that your most recently released chapter was called 'Picking Up the Pieces', I suppose we really are going to be tracking GL in terms of how the endgame is going to shake out.

Alright, time for the highlight reel. That was certainly a rollercoaster there, and it subverted my expectations multiple times, in a good way. The Penny/Team Star integration with the story arc was surprisingly well done and as implausible as it sounds, it fit the characters you cast for the moment very well. I'm admittedly not fully sure what happened with Leo towards the end there, other than that it was really, really not good if I'm reading in between the lines correctly. Which given your outro author's commentary... yeah, the upcoming arcs are going to go places, I can already tell.

I don't have a whole lot of critiques to level at this chapter. There were a couple typos I spotted, a couple paragraphs that I felt would've worked better formatted a bit differently than you did, and a couple spots where it would've been nice to have a bit more description (especially of Xander progressively melting down as things start turning against him). But I felt that what was there worked well enough for those to ultimately be minor quibbles.

I... admittedly am a bit worried as to where things will wind up going in the coming chapters, but it's the good kind of worry, and I'll be looking forward to where the dust winds up settling one way or another given that you've signaled that things are going to get quite serious in short order.

Good work @Ambyssin , and I'll be back for more sometime soon.