Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Path of Valor

[JFought]

I'm back! Here to do a set of chapters for January! I wanted to do twelve for blitz, but since I couldn't manage it, I decided to try and do some extra reading for this month. I did eight this time, for a very specific reason that'll come up at the end of this.

Thoughts on Chapters 45 to 52:

• We finally get to see more of Ryujin in this set, and the way they fit into the world is starting to make more sense now. Reptiles are discriminated against in the Aeon Kingdom, and so Ryujin is what was built underneath that (literally). And that's how Yiazmat has connections to their leader. In hindsight, the fact that they're called Ryujin should've made it more obvious, but actually getting to see Scale City helps to really put it into context.
• Poor Chiaki. He's Igneous now, so he can't play video games anymore . I do wonder how the name change will go over with the main party: I don't expect he'll be Chiaki again anytime soon, but it remains to be seen how his status as a fugitive will resolve. Also poor Scarlett too. I like the parellel being drawn between the two here, where they both just wanted to feel important and respected by their peers.
• Demerzel is doing something with Shimmer... Keeping my thoughts to myself on that, there's still a lot up in the air.
• Valkyrie give her backstory to Noctum during their fight, which does raise some questions, given Gene had called her Prisma earlier in the fic. Is her story with Ryujin a cover? I had almost thought that the overseer stuff we learn a little later was going to connect back to her, but the overseers seem fully unaware of who she is, so whatever's going on, it must be confined to this universe. It's also possible Prisma is going to mean something else later on, but I suppose I'll see.
• Speaking of overseer stuff, it seems like this is where the "Guiding Light" sequel promise really comes into play. Some of it is definitely going over my head a little (what the heck happened to shane at the end of that fic), but that's mostly just from my perspective as someone who only read halfway through and is trying to pick up the missing pieces. The fic still seems relatively self-contained, though I'll be interested to see how this all ties into the plot. Obviously Paradox is not going to be content with just taking over this dimension, but the GL ties specifically seem to be the main reason for the omniversal scale, and there's been a lot of teasing for it so far with all the Ahsen stuff, so I'm curious. I suppose we'll learn more once we meet that stranded agent (tessa, maybe?).

• Quetzal puffed out his feathers. "I still cannot believe nobody told me we were having a strategy meeting! I didn't even have any time to prepare for this!"
  
  "You were napping. I didn't want to be rude." Jade laughed nervously.
  
  "I just forgot." Gene shrugged.

  admittedly i completely forgot about him too ^^; (was he actually forgotten about in that scene?)
  
  

• "Return, Guardian!" Xeromus called.

  ...ansem?
  
  

• Rebels? Oh, shit, it's Gene?!

  Unfortunately this is a dead link now.
  
  
• Finally, Despiar/Necrozma/Bahamut reveals his role in the plot: he's the Masked Man of this needle-pulling adventure! It seems like we've mostly dropped the Despair moniker though. It's nice to see that he has a role after all (and a meaningful one at that), though I'm still trying to piece together why he was introduced so early on as "Despair" in the first place. I'm still going to reserve my judgement, as there are still a few things that haven't really become totally clear yet. But critically speaking, I'm still in that mindset of questioning his purpose in the story.
• Commenting specifically on the Centiskorcher fight, I really liked it. Certain aspects of it were a little hard to keep track of, but like, overall I really liked the pacing of the fight. The reveals, the cutaways to Paradox, the music choices, Scarlett's moment of redemption, it all came together really well here. Definitely one of the highlights of the fic so far. It's also interesting to see that Scarlett has her own sage, too! That makes two characters other than Yuna (and now bahamut) who have sages under their command.
• Also poor Widget. He didn't last as long as an antagonist as I thought he might (though his replacement might fare better). It seems like Paradox's self-destruct command failed somehow, though the chapter cuts off before we really get to see. I'm feeling like everything's set up for Widget to get an arc here, so I'm interested to see where this goes in the next chapter.

Spoiler: Typos and Errors

Gene couldn't fully Phantom Warm away from two Hydro Cannons.

new ability unlocked?

On the one hand, Igneous was glad the dragpult caught on quickly.

He wasn't about to say she was carrying a few Sages around with her. That would really set the dragpult off.

These are both fairly close to each other in the same chapter.

And with that...

holy shit this really is final fantasy

I have now caught up to my own first review post! (and in one more chapter, I'll catch up to my second.) Seeing it there kind of puts things into perspective, knowing now that this isn't even the fic's halfway point. Though I suppose it's also been three years since (double though, that would mean the majority of this fic was published in the second half of it's lifespan).

Looking back at that comment though, more than Final Fantasy, I've really been feeling the Ratchet and Clank inspirations (especially from Rift Apart). It helps that the main villain and his forces are transparently an expy for Emperor Nefarious (the musical number was a really fun way to reference content that only made it into the credits of that game), but it's all over the sci-fi elements and overall tone of the story, too. Really, the story takes inspiration from so many sources that singling out Final Fantasy feels reductive in hindsight. I suppose I should count myself lucky to even be able to catch half of them ^^;.

Anyway, this was a good set! And it ended with what felt like a pretty big win for our characters, too. Next chapter it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of reunions, so I'll see you again in February for how that goes!

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 139: You're Bugging Me

Cyril equipped Noctum and Valkyrie with Morph-O-Trons that disguised them both as wimpod. Valkyrie protested, looking disdainfully at Noctum's disguised form. Noctum didn't bother reacting to it. All they needed to do was use the disguises to slip into the prison, right?

Leo opened up a rift that led to a dark, rocky crag. Living in Aeon, Noctum hadn't experienced that many storms. So, stepping into Citadark Isle's pouring rain proved surprising. Thunder rumbled overhead. Lightning flashed above them. The dark clouds were so thick and dense, Noctum wondered if they'd somehow gone back to Aeon by mistake. Leo confirmed they were in the right spot.

At first, the cosmic charizard worried the rain would hurt. Yet, for whatever reason, it didn't bother him at all. It couldn't have been the wimpod disguise. So, was it Palkia's power?

Noctum cautiously approached the edge of the crag. A vast ocean stretched out in front of him. Choppy water churned and churned. Its surface endlessly rippled from the raindrops bombarding it.

"Over here," Valkyrie whispered. She stood on the other side of the crag, facing the opposite direction. Noctum approached her and followed her gaze. The rocky crags stretched out into the distance, where Noctum saw some sort of giant metal facility with a dome and cylindrical towers. A purple and red ship descended from the storm clouds toward the building, quickly disappearing behind it.

"It's big," Noctum said. "Is it like what you remember?"

Valkyrie's fake wimpod body nodded. "The island seems... bigger than what I remember, too." She tapped the rocky ground beneath her feet. "It was almost entirely the prison when it was back in Radiance."

Their X-transceivers crackled. "I think that's a difference in the water levels," Cid said.

"Yeah. That ocean's not natural." Cyril grunted in annoyance. "If I'm remembering correctly, Paradox used this place to test some sort of weather machine. Problem is, the device wouldn't stop once it was turned on. So, rather than dismantling it, Paradox just... left it running."

Swallowing hard, Noctum looked down at the water crashing against the crag. "Then this ocean..."

"Is a giant flood," Cyril said.

"Great. That may complicate things," Valkyrie said.

Noctum frowned, though he doubted his wimpod disguise would show that. "What do you mean?"

"Citadark has a hydroelectric power station in its base," Valkyrie explained. "That's what I used to bust out." Her fake wimpod tail stuck up. "There are vents on the surface. But these disguises don't actually make us smaller. We'd get stuck in the vents and caught for sure."

That was a problem. Especially since Noctum didn't actually know how to swim. And Leo would have to blow his cover to help him.

"No cap," Leo said. The joltik hopped in place.

"Hmm?" Valkyrie turned toward him. "You have an idea?"

Leo nodded. A salmon glow surrounded him. He transformed into a cutiefly. "Your Morph-O-Trons are gonna stop working if I do this, but it should be a'ight."

"And what exactly are you doing?" Valkyrie asked.

"This." Leo rubbed his tiny hands together, then pointed them at Noctum and Valkyrie.

Pink light flashed around Noctum. Next thing the cosmic charizard knew, Leo practically towered over him.

"What the—" He looked at a spiky outcropping on the crag. It was monstrous. Heck, individual raindrops splattered across his entire body. He hacked up water from his snout.

"Why's everything so big all of a sudden?"

"Did you... shrink us?!" Valkyrie stood beside her Morph-O-Tron band. It was now bigger than the garchomp!

"Sure did." Leo transformed back into a joltik. Chittering laughter filled the air. "Can't believe it totes worked."

Valkyrie leered at him. "You didn't even know what you were doing?!"

"Saw it on an over-the-top show the skorps were watching." Leo hopped in place. "There was a fairy-type joltik who made a bunch of the cast tiny using fairy energy." He looked up at the outcropping. "What was it called again? Legs of Genesis or something?"

"Well, turn me back!" Valkyrie huffed out teeny tiny dragonfire embers.

"Nah, fam. This is how we get in." Leo pointed a leg toward the prison.

Noctum followed his leg. With the change in size, the distance to the prison now felt enormous compared to before. "Are we... going there on foot?"

Frowning, he spread his wings out. They were so small. Just like the rest of him, he supposed.

"We'll exhaust ourselves just getting there!" Valkyrie huffed.

"I got this." Leo skittered up to them. "Hop on my back. I'll be your taxi."

With a flap of his tiny wings, the cosmic charizard got onto Leo's back. "Won't that tire you out?"

At that, Leo held out a foreleg. Gray feathers materialized in front of him, then promptly vanished.

Suddenly, the rain stopped. The wind blew at Noctum's back, drying out his sopping wings instantly.

Valkyrie paused her climbing to look back. "Tailwind?"

"You got it," Leo chirped.

Huh. Noctum supposed that... would make Leo faster. And opening a rift to get any closer would get them spotted for sure.

"All right." Valkyrie sat down next to Noctum on Leo's back. "Don't screw this up."

Leo shook his head. "I got this on lock."

And with that, the joltik took off, speedily skittering across the crag. Leo reached the edge, then shot a spool of electrified threads toward the next crag. It served like a zip line, drawing Leo across the water and onto rocky ground without much difficulty.

The Tailwind did wonders. Noctum had trouble holding on. He didn't want to dig his claws into Leo's back. Though, glancing at Valkyrie, it appeared the garchomp chose to do that. And it didn't slow Leo down in the slightest.

"You okay?" Noctum asked, using his claws to tighten his grip on Leo's back.

"Fine." Valkyrie kept her gaze trained ahead. "You don't need to keep pressing me on it."

"R-Right." Noctum's tail flame shrank. "But, uh, I'm here if you need me."

"Yeah, I can see that," Valkyrie scoffed, though Noctum caught the faintest hint of a relieved smile on her face. And that was good enough for him.

After darting across a few more rocky crags, Leo refreshed his Tailwind. His path took him through a small tunnel in a rock face. Probably a natural deformity, given its jagged shape.

On the other side sat metal platforms raised high above the water. Eternatus Gunners and Brawlers patrolled the platforms. Behind them sat the prison, atop a massive wall of rock and concrete. Searchlights moved around from inside the complex. Two of the Brawlers on the platform manned searchlights of their own, maneuvering them along the wall.

Two Gunners stood by some sort of console. One used a joystick to control a crane moving giant metal crates onto a lower down platform next to the rock wall.

"Did you catch last night's episode of All My Stakataka?" the Gunner at the joystick asked his counterpart.

"I did!" the other cheerfully responded. "Ugh, can you believe Stakateresa left Stakaterry for his evil twin brother, Stakatempleton?"

"It's completely ridiculous!" the first Gunner threw up his blaster arms. "The writers have pulled a lot of baloney in the past, but this takes the cake!" He shook his head. "It's been downhill since season 75. Still, I'm in it to see how it all ends."

"I feel you." The second Gunner shook his head. "Even the All My Stakataka subreflectit agrees... the writers really jumped the sharpedo with this one."

"Seriously?" The first Gunner returned his blaster arms to the controls. The crane picked up another box and began to move it down to the lower platform. "They never agree on anything!"

One of the Brawlers walked over to join them. "It's wild! Maybe the emperor will send the station an angry letter and get them to retcon it!"

The three Troopers broke into laughter.

"What are we waiting for?" Valkyrie hissed in a whisper.

"Trying to see if there's a vent somewhere on the other side," Leo responded.

"Well, let's get over there first." Valkyrie jabbed the joltik's back. "Can you climb on the underside of these platforms?"

"Can you guys hang on?"

"I'll manage." Valkyrie looked to Noctum.

"Uhh, I guess?" Noctum tightened his grip.

"A'ight. We out." Leo skittered out of the tunnel and used some jagged rocks bordering the platform to easily make his way to the platform's underside.

Noctum's world flipped upside down, but the cosmic charizard's grip held even as Leo headed forward. He didn't conjure a Tailwind this time. Noctum figured that was too risky now that there were actual guards around.

The joltik skittered on ahead. Noctum could scarcely hear the tinks and tunks of Leo's tiny steps over the pounding rain and loud metal thunks of patrolling Eternatus Troopers. But that was a good thing. It meant the shrinking worked. So far, anyway.

Leo kept to the underside of the platforms, using electrified webbing to zip between them. Noctum held his breath for every zip, but nothing seemed to happen. He only heard glimpses of vague conversations about Eternavision programming atop the platforms.

Once Leo reached the end of the lowest platform, he skittered around to the edge of the platform. Large stacks of metal crates were lined up against the massive rock and concrete wall. However, there was enough space for a tiny joltik to easily maneuver through. Which is exactly what Leo did.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Valkyrie whispered. "We may find a vent or a drain some—"

She jerked some fur on Leo's back, then pointed to her left. "There, a vent!"

"Shhh." Noctum put an index finger to his snout.

"Bruh. I can barely hear you two over the sounds of that crane moving all the boxes," Leo scoffed.

"Right." Noctum tittered. "Then let's get into the vent."

"Venting like sussy bakas," Leo declared, skittering toward the vent bolted to a portion of concrete.

"The hell does that mean?" Valkyrie growled.

"Stuff." Leo stopped at the vent. The grate's gaps weren't big enough for him to slip through. "We gotta get this grate off."

"Say no more." Valkyrie hopped off the joltik's back. The garchomp proceeded to use her claws like glorified screwdrivers, getting the bolts off. Noctum and Leo helped her gently put the grate against the crate right behind them.

With the grate taken care of, Noctum and Valkyrie climbed back onto Leo. He hopped into the vent, which quickly went upwards. Noctum could easily fly up himself, while Leo didn't look to have any problems maneuvering along one of the vent's walls.

It reminded Noctum of infiltrating that uPhone factory. God, that felt like forever ago. It had been, what, three or four months now?

Boy, how things have changed.

There were no fans stopping their ascent. Once a rush of hot air threatened to blow them back down, but Leo and Valkyrie alerted Noctum and he dug his tiny claws into the opposite vent wall to keep himself in place.

Eventually, Noctum spotted an orange glow in the distance. He also heard muffled whirring and clanking.

"I think we're getting close to the proper facility," Valkyrie said.

"Right." Noctum's starry tail flame nervously rippled. "Um, actually, now that we are inside... what should we be doing?" He kept flapping his wings. The orange light drew closer. "This place is huge. How can we possibly find the others without getting caught?"

Valkyrie shook her head. "We're not going to."

Noctum blinking. "What."

The garchomp sighed. "Were you not paying attention before we left? I told you guys... we're going to the warden's office."

"Because you think there are master controls for the facility there, right?" Cid asked through the X-transceiver line.

"Bingo." Valkyrie smirked. "We should be able to open up the cells from there." She tapped Leo's back. "And he's got that program Cyril gave us that'll let him access the system."

"And if that doesn't work?" Noctum asked.

"Then we employ a little... gentle persuasion to get the warden to tell us where they are."

Noctum knew full well there'd be nothing gentle about Valkyrie's persuasion. But he kept that thought to himself.

They reached the end of their climb, with the ventilation shaft turning sharply horizontal. The orange lights were from grates that opened out into... some part of the facility. At least, Noctum guessed they were within the prison confines, given the robotic announcement he could hear.

[Attention inmates. Due to the overwhelming success of Emperor Paradox Appreciation Day, we have decided to extend the event by infinity plus one days. Please adjust your calendars accordingly.]

Valkyrie pushed past Noctum. The garchomp approached one of the grates and looked down into it.

"Cafeteria," she said. "Looks like Block D. The eastern quadrant of the prison." Valkyrie looked down the ventilation shaft. "When Citadark was on Radiance, the warden's office was in the northeast quadrant. In one of the highest towers. So, we're actually closer than I thought."

"That's good, right?" Noctum smiled at her.

"Well, it's not bad," Valkyrie said. She got off Leo's back and strolled forward.

"C'mon, you could be a bit positive," Leo said, skittering after her.

Valkyrie grunted. "Keep quiet. We don't want anyone to think there's something crawling around the vents."

Leo continued ahead, snickering. "Yeah, cuz that'd be sus."

Noctum followed them, sighing and shaking his head. He passed by several more grates, all showing the cafeteria. Assorted pokémon filled rows of tables. Some as big as onix and steelix, who needed two whole tables to themselves.

None of the species matched Yuna and the others, however. Not that Noctum truly expected to find them that easily. But God it would have been nice for something to actually be simple.

[Inmate HC17B, Flygon, G, please report to the D Block custodial office for cleaning duty. Again, Inmate HC17B, Flygon, G, please report to the D Block custodial office for cleaning duty.]

That announcement was much louder. Though, for all Noctum knew, that could have been because there were loudspeakers hanging near the part of the vent they were walking through.

"Path branches up ahead," Leo announced. "Looks like there're vents going left, right, and up."

"If we came from the east, then right goes north." Valkyrie held up her right arm. "We go that way first."

"Works for me." Leo skittered ahead and turned right at the junction. Valkyrie quickly followed the joltik.

Noctum paused to look through one more grate. A group of plusle, minun, dedenne, and togedemaru sat at a table that was too big for them, eating food in silence.

Grimacing, the cosmic charizard flew after his teammates. Hopefully, they could find the warden's office quickly.

XxX​

As soon as Chien-Pao finished introducing himself, he turned and walked back into the snow. No hostilities. No demands that they leave even though they didn't know how to. He just... left.

"Imbecile. Follow him."

Gene's starcloud tail twitched. He silently beckoned Bahamut and Widget to follow him, then trudged through the snow after Chien-Pao.

"So... the Bittercold, huh?" Gene said.

"The Bittercold saved this world from itself," Chien-Pao declared. Curiously, the snow seemed to part as Chien-Pao walked through it, offering Gene some visibility of the path ahead.

They walked across a snowy plateau. Gene saw a drop-off in the distance, but couldn't make anything out beyond that.

"Saved it?" Bahamut looked around. The cosmic lucario brushed snow off his arms. "It's a frozen wasteland out here."

If Chien-Pao was offended, he didn't show it. "The world wished for emptiness. That is what the Bittercold provided."

Widget squawked in alarm. The silvally's starcloud neck ruff puffed out. "E-Emptiness?"

"Yes." Chien-Pao continued forward, albeit at a slower pace. "The world was full of suffering. Sadness, resentment, bitterness, envy, and heartbreak. All that and more weighed down people's hearts."

He looked skyward. "With such heaviness, people yearned for emptiness. For stillness. For an eternal quiet."

His footsteps crunched in the snow. The edge of the plateau grew closer. Gene noticed a few blurry shapes. Shapes that soon turned to outlines of pokémon. An emolga and a dunsparce beside a swanna and a quagsire.

... Only they were ice sculptures. They had to be, right?

"No. You're lying to yourself."

Chien-Pao walked by emolga and dunsparce. "The Bittercold heard those wishes. To give the people the empty stillness they desired, it froze the world."

Widget looked at Swanna. "Th... then these are... actual people?"

"Yes. Granted blissful slumber from their pains and woes."

Gene's chest core burned a bit.

"Now I remember." Dark Matter sighed. "In worlds like this one... the Bittercold is an offshoot of me. Or we're connected. Feeding off people's negativity. Believing the solution to negativity's constant presence is to end the world."

"Then we're walking past frozen corpses," Bahamut growled. He leered at Quagsire, then rapped their icy body with a paw.

"Is there anyone who's not frozen?" Widget wondered, hesitantly walking toward Chien-Pao. "Like you?"

"No." Chien-Pao resumed walking. He approached the edge of the plateau. With the snowstorm parting for him, Gene was able to see into the distance.

A sprawling ice palace sat in the valley below. There were icy swirls around it and big, pointed towers jutting into the stormy skies.

"But those who helped spurn the Bittercold's existence are enshrined inside the palace," Chien-Pao continued.

"Riiiiight." Arms crossed, Gene gazed at the palace. "And the Bittercold?"

"Also within the palace," Chien-Pao replied. They tilted their head up a bit. "Atop the tallest spire."

Gene entertained the idea of asking Chien-Pao to take them to the Bittercold. But, from what he heard, the mega mewtwo doubted the Bittercold would even be interested in helping them. It would probably try to freeze them.

"You are all uncertain," Chien-Pao exclaimed, looking at Widget in particular. "You believe what the Bittercold has done is wrong."

"Of course I do!" Widget squawked. "You can't possibly tell me this is what everyone wanted."

"Mmm. That's right." Dark Matter gave an annoyed grunt. "The Voice of Life was rather hands on in tackling the Bittercold of our old world."

Chien-Pao looked off into the distance. "You're right. I can't." He shook his head. "The Bittercold believed enough felt that way to justify freezing the world."

"Yeah, because that's all it can think of," Gene cut in. The mega mewtwo walked up to Chien-Pao, shaking his head. "I don't believe your master or whatever can really understand the opposite side of the coin. The joys that life and companionship can bring."

Silence followed, saved for the howling of the snowstorm's winds. Chien-Pao slowly turned back to them. He scrutinized the trio.

"You do not seem that joyous with one another," he said.

Bahamut crossed his arms. "Hmph. That's a hell of an understatement."

Gene shot the cosmic lucario a look that said he wasn't helping. Bahamut turned his head away, scowling.

"We don't have to be buddy-buddy all the time," Gene said, pinching his brow. "Life... isn't perfect. It can't be. There'll be plenty of sadness and anguish."

Chien-Pao tilted his head. "You sound as though you speak from experience."

"I do." Gene's starcloud tail curled up. "We've... all experienced quite a bit of it. And have fought against it for a while." His gaze fell to the snowy ground. "Some of us longer than others."

"But you are still in pain," Chien-Pao said. "Then doesn't it make sense to give up?" Blue light twinkled around his snowflake Tera jewel. "Wounds of the heart... can be as much a struggle to heal as physical ones. And they can pile up and pile up and pile up. Sadness and anguish crush the soul."

Gene's shoulder crystals flickered red. "That doesn't mean you stop fighting." He held out his right hand and made a fist. "There are always ups and downs. That's why... people should work together to get through the downs and lift the ups even higher.

"Even when things are pushed to the brink... you don't give up."

Chien-Pao stared blankly at Gene. Then he tossed out an accusation. "You do not believe that with your whole being."

Widget looked between Gene and Chien-Pao in confusion. Gene uncurled his fist and held up his right hand to stop the cosmic silvally from butting in.

"You can sense it, huh?"

Chien-Pao bobbed his head once. "As I'm sure you could with me."

"Tch. Then are we talking to the Dark Matter of this place?" Bahamut said. He looked toward the palace. "A Dark Matter that succeeded?"

"In a manner of speaking," Gene responded, still focused on Chien-Pao. "You're right. Part of me does think that fighting's worthless. That we can't win. That we're better off giving up and accepting what's to come. Blah, blah, blah."

He rolled his eyes. "But that nagging doubt has been there for a long time, and I've managed to push past it. Because I've always had someone standing by me."

Gene stomped a foot down. "These aren't things to forge alone. I've got a team. Even if we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, we support one another. That's how we get through this."

The mega mewtwo stepped toward Chien-Pao. "And what about you? These people who were so desperate for emptiness... did they have teams? What about the people who were together?" He looked back toward the frozen pokémon they'd passed earlier.

Chien-Pao didn't have a response at first. He turned around and looked out across the snow-covered valley. Slowly, he lifted his head, eyes tracing the palace in the distance.

"He is uncertain."

Statement of the obvious right there, Gene mentally scoffed.

"I believe... some of them were." Chien-Pao's ice Tera jewel dimmed. "Not in the way you described, however. More that they... stumbled upon one another and worked in parallel to grow the Bittercold's power."

"Uh-huuuh." Gene crossed his arms. "And what do you think about this?"

Chien-Pao shook his head. "It is not my place to think about this. I am the Bittercold's emissary. The ones I described earlier are responsible for my existence. So that I could conjure the palace before you. The Bittercold used it to plunge the world into emptiness."

His Tera jewel brightened. "I was part of the emptiness... until your arrival."

"Wait" Widget approached the edge of the plateau. "You were frozen, too? That doesn't sound like much of an emissary."

"My job was already done." Chien-Pao looked over his shoulder. "But the Bittercold wanted the disturbance investigated. To ensure nothing would break the world's stillness."

He returned his gaze toward the valley. "You are that disturbance, of course. And your hearts are wrought with so much pain. I should grant you all emptiness. Free you from your strife."

Gene's chest core flickered. This was neither the time nor the place to fight. Especially if his powers were dulled.

"You never answered my question, though," Gene said. "What do you think about this?"

"It is not an emissary's place to answer."

"Don't give me that." Gene stepped forward, leaning over. "I know you realize we're alike. Yet we've walked very different paths. I'm sure you're thinking something." He flicked his right arm. "So, come out and say it."

Chien-Pao grimaced. "I... must preserve the world's stillness. Your beliefs... are antithetical to my purpose."

"What are you talking about?" Widget said. He took another cautious step forward. "No one should decide your purpose except you."

Chien-Pao turned his gaze on Widget. The cosmic silvally continued, "I was... built with a specific purpose in mind. And at first, I followed it without question." He glanced at Gene. "But then his team opened my eyes to the truth. And I turned away from that purpose to fight for a different future.

"Even after hearing about a new purpose, I'm trying to stay true to myself." Widget stuck his golden foreleg out. "Nothing's stopping you from doing the same. Because that's what it's like to live."

It was a good point. Gene didn't expect it to change Chien-Pao's mind—part of that was probably Dark Matter's pessimism cropping up again—but he was glad Widget put it out there.

Silence took over the group again, aside from howling wind. Then snow crunched beneath Chien-Pao's paws as he walked back and forth along the plateau's edge. He kept glancing at the palace, Tera jewel getting dimmer and dimmer.

"Very well," he finally said. His snowflake Tera jewel glowed a brighter blue.

"Huh?" Widget tilted his head. "Are you... going to help us?"

"I shall." Chien-Pao nodded. "Though I do not fully understand where you're coming from... I feel strong convictions. Like I did from those that brought the Bittercold into existence."

"Oddly charitable," Dark Matter muttered. "Be on your guard for a trap."

Gene resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Still, he could at least press for details.

The mega mewtwo lazily traced his foot through the snow. "So, what does helping entail?"

"Someone has been communicating with the Bittercold," Chien-Pao said, looking skyward. "Requesting entrance to this world. At first, I did not understand it." His tail flicked in the group's direction. "But now I think they are here for you."

Gene stiffened. Someone was here for them? Had the emperor followed them? Or sent something to make sure they stayed in exile?

"See? You get your hopes up for one second and—"

"Then let them in," Widget said, trotting to the edge of the cliff. "I don't believe they can change what's going on with your world. There's nothing to lose here."

"That is what we're working on." Chien-Pao returned his gaze to the palace. "Please give us a moment."

He walked a few paces along the plateau's edge, away from the others. His Tera jewel glowed brighter. The light drifted in the palace's direction.

"Hmph." Bahamut approached Gene, one arm crossed under his chest spike and another swatting at snow that drifted in through Chien-Pao's buffer. "What are the odds this isn't something good for us?"

Gene sighed. "If you ask Dark Matter, almost a hundred percent."

Widget's chest ruff deflated. "The emperor does have that Rift Ripper. He could send anyone or anything after us."

Bahamut scowled. "And we lack our powers to properly fight back."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions." Gene stood tall, watching Chien-Pao intently. "Maybe things will be okay."

"I am finished," Chien-Pao announced, though he didn't turn to face them. "Your visitor has arrived."

Despite urging caution, Gene instinctively tensed up. He took a stance meant for conjuring his spoon, except it couldn't materialize.

A strange, checkerboard portal appeared in front of them. Gene crouched down, expecting an attack to come flying in.

"Hey. That's not like any of our rifts," Widget pointed out.

Instead of an attack, gray-white paws stepped into the snow, followed by a fluffy body and nine fluffy white tails. A rainbow gem sparkled underneath their chest fur.

"An... ice ninetales?" Bahamut leaned forward. "Why do you have a Soul Dew in your chest?"

"Oh, that's my core." Ninetales looked at Gene. "Y'know, like what he's got. But full of light instead of shadows."

Not an enemy, then. Gene relaxed his stance.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"We talked indirectly the other day." A somber smile appeared on Ninetales' muzzle. "Wish our first in-person meeting could be under better circumstances, but I'll take what I can get."

He stepped toward Widget and extended a foreleg. "I'm Shane. And I'm here to get you back to your home."

XxX​

CDL902: Citadark Isle, Orre
According to Boss Kitty, this place was going to be the origin of some sort of criminal syndicate. But Matriarch's surveillance picked up on their activity and she dispatched Nova and his type: full units to put a stop to them before they ever gained any sort of traction. So, it stayed an empty island until the emperor rose to power. He plucked it out of the sea as a show of force toward Earth and tossed it into some distortion, where it reappeared in Radiance.

Enamorus must've found it and had it converted into the kingdom's main prison. As time went on and tech improved, Polaris used the prison for experiments and as a cheap labor source. Now it seems it's back in the empire...

 

[BlizzardBricks]

It's been too long since I've been able to read this story. So I figured instead of reviewing each chapter I need to catch up on one at a time, I'll do a blitz and get them all done in one go. I may comment on fewer things per chapter, but this should allow me to finally catch up

Chapter 135​

"Guildmaster... why?" Nero stomped a foreleg down. "Why are you helping this guy?!"

The lucario looked away, aura feelers tensing.

You're in too deep Guildmaster. Even if you don't like this, you stood by while your own child was attacked and passed away. Either fight Volo now, or accept this is on you!

Cid exhaled. "My Dynascan says those large creatures are Eternatus Terraformers." He spoke into a podium with a special X-transceiver attached to it. "According to Alder, they resemble a... smaller form that Eternatus has taken in other worlds. But I have no idea how the emperor got access to that kind of information."

Nice! It took me a moment to realize that the Terraformers are probably just Eternatus from the games, but I love the way they're integrated here

"Do let your capturing Eternatus Troopers know if you have any sort of dietary restrictions," Paradox's projection continued. "We offer a range of different options for your imprisonment, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, keto-friendly..."

Hey, at least Paradox is a somewhat benevolent dictator. Not many who would recognize dietary restrictions like that. Also, where does the meat come from in this world?

"I concur!" Diamond stopped shooting Hydro Pumps from his legs and fell from the air. Lightning bolts whizzed overhead. The blue and gray poncho he'd swapped his previous attire out for flapped against his legs.

Diamond, I love the attire, but did you really take time to change outfits? I guess the God of Time always has to look his finest

Noctum saw the first explosion and scanned the sky for signs of a familiar garchomp. Blue and purple light from his nebula belly filtered to his left, where he spotted Valkyrie running away.

Shipping fuel!

The garchomp pointed behind her. "You can rift us over there, right?"

"Wait... us?"

Valkyrie climbed onto a grunting Noctum's back. "Not about to let you charge there alone. We're a team. Y'got that?"

Please you two, I know now isn't the best time, but just confess already!

Noctum gulped. He really hoped Yuna's team was faring better than they were.

And, you jinxed it Noctum

Chapter 136​

It would have been a beautiful sight, if things weren't more dire than the last time they'd done this. How long ago was that flight? It had been to find the first anomaly dungeon, right?

Man, that takes me back to reading that chapter for the first time. I think I was still in college when it released

Footsteps came from behind Yuna. Igneous appeared between Nikki and the dragapult. He knelt down, holding up an index card that contained Gene's instructions for getting to Larkharr.

Man, how long has it been since Yuna, Nikki, and Igneous were on an adventure together like this, where it was primarily focused on them? Was it back during the school chapters?

The ponytales poked his head up while the purple koraidon looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

Vince, c'mon man. Shane himself had faith in you, so show everyone that it wasn't misplaced

Yuna was tempted to smush her face up against the windshield in the hopes of figuring out what had changed. The dragapult instead slumped further down in her seat.

Let your inner child out Yuna! Though, the horns might make it difficult to view out the window

"I hate to butt in, me hearties, but I got an announcement," the DJ continued. "W-ARR be going off the air fer a couple of hours on account o' an important event: the execution of Chatot Gilbert!"

And... there's the timeline getting pushed forward

"Uhh." Nikki scratched her head. "Is Crotch Fuzz broken? Usually he'd start spouting off about something by now."

So the others don't know what happened to Yuna and the Sages then. Man, I don't envy her eventual conversation with Jade

The last of Yuna's patience burnt to ashes. She was willing to be polite over the nonsense with Gilbert and the kraken. But to know the emperor's movements and just... just do nothing with that. How much of all the awful stuff happening could've been avoided?

Let it out Yuna! Don't you want to go apeshit?

For once, using her giratina powers didn't bother Yuna. In fact, it felt good. She wasn't desperately flailing around for once. She was in control. She had this.

Let it out girl!

At first, Miraidon's words didn't really sink in. "What are you talking about?" Yuna thrust her arms apart in exasperation. "Gene sent us here to get Blackskull's help in dealing with the emperor."

"And I am Captain Blackskull." Miraidon pointed at his long, glowing neck. "Or I was... until you came in here and mucked everything up."

Seriously! I didn't seeing that reveal coming, and I love it. But in universe, Miraidon has been sitting around watching the Empire and Eternatus expand their reach, and did nothing! Dude, you're an Overseer!

Chapter 137​

Sticky looked at Arianna. She stoically nudged up her glasses. The tablet's light reflected off her lenses to obscure her eyes.

I've seen enough anime to know Arianna is planning something!

"You want fighting?" Vince spread his wings. Orange energy glowed all around him. "I'LL GIVE YOU FIGHTING!"

Finally! Let it out Vince!

"I'm the leader of these space pirates," Miraidon declared. "Captain Blackskull was one of my many inventions. A front to keep me safe... since I can't actually use any moves."

Huh, I wonder why that might be, since Jaeger and Vince can both use their moves in POV-2020

"That Enamorus would, in a critical moment, choose not to try and help us regroup, but instead seize some semblance of power for herself to live out her fantasies?" Miraidon shook his head. "It made me see this world for what it is. One that's never going to find a happy ending."

Seriously!? I though the nihilism was done after Xeromus had been dealt with. Miraidon, if you aren't happy with how the Overseers function, then do something about it. I'm sure there are others in the organization with the same beliefs as you. Change things from within, that sort of thing. Instead, you ran away, and sat on the sidelines

"Is it just me or is she, y'know, not putting up that much of a fight?" Noctum spun around and rapid fired half a dozen blue fireballs. They connected with vines beneath him, burning their ends off.

I knew things were too good to be true...

He heard loud cries from the rift, followed by Paradox shouting, "If you're so eager to join your pathetic leader... then join him!"

Silvally and lucario-shaped silhouettes flew out of the rift before it closed. Gene then slammed into a snowbank. Snow tumbled on top of him.

The sudden cold proved too much for Gene, who finally passed out.

Hopefully Gene, Bahamut, and Widget can figure out what to do. They have great chemistry together, and I love reading them interacting with each other

Chapter 138​

Great powers were missing. And if he went to the high-ranking Overseers, it would ruin everything. So, he'd have to find them himself.

Oh damn, is he emerging from the sidelines? I know I've asked that before, but with how things have progressed, Shane has to play his hand eventually

"It's strange," Dark Matter said. "But I feel something... familiar approaching us."

Could it be?

The mega mewtwo got his answer quite quickly when the silhouette turned into a long, slender ice cat that emerged from the snow. It had black, blade-like saber teeth whose bases protruded through the roof of its mouth.

Chien Pao? I suppose now all we need is the fire fish to complete the collection
I really love how this fic has adapted to suit Gen 9, even though it originally started out as a Gen 8 PMD fic. I think it helps build out the world, by having all these new Pokemon appear, hailing from different dimensions, being created by the Empire, etc.

"It is." The cat nodded. "I am Chien-Pao. I speak for this world's savior: the Bittercold."

Now I get why Dark Matter said that he felt something familiar. My Guiding Light brainrot made me think of Shane, but since both Dark Matter and the Bittercold are manifestations of negativity, they should be familiar to each other. The snow should have also tipped me off lol

He turned to Naganadel. "Now that that monk spilled the beans, I'm off to run a little errand. As soon as your preparations are complete, Sticky, have their cell transported to the Siphoner."

So does this mean Paradox now knows about the omniverse and the Ginnungagap?

"Divine Life Dew." Leo's wheel shifted back to gold. "Kinda like godly bathwater when you think about it."

Not the time Leo!

After a few seconds, a tiny joltik stood at Valkyrie's feet.

"See?" Leo's voice was so squeaky now. "Ready to infiltrate!"

Never change Leo. I bet he has the Mission Impossible theme playing in his head

It's do or die. He swallowed hard. I hope we can pull it off.

I hope this time you don't jinx it Noctum.

Funnily enough, as I'm writing all this out, Chapter 139 gets posted. I'll save that for it's own review though, which I should hopefully have out soon. I've loved this arc a ton, and it's been great finally (mostly) catching up on this story. The action was so fun to read and visualize, the included music links really suited each scene, and Raph's artwork is amazing.

I can't wait to read the next chapter and see how the heroes get out of where they now find themselves. Kudos! 💙

 

[BlizzardBricks]

Chapter 139​

"Did you... shrink us?!" Valkyrie stood beside her Morph-O-Tron band. It was now bigger than the garchomp!

C-could Leo always do that? Why didn't he think of that earlier?

"Saw it on an over-the-top show the skorps were watching." Leo hopped in place. "There was a fairy-type joltik who made a bunch of the cast tiny using fairy energy." He looked up at the outcropping. "What was it called again? Legs of Genesis or something?"

Is this a Evangelion reference? I've never seen the anime to know

"Fine." Valkyrie kept her gaze trained ahead. "You don't need to keep pressing me on it."

"R-Right." Noctum's tail flame shrank. "But, uh, I'm here if you need me."

I love the friendship these two have, and the shipper in me really wants them to kiss

"Did you catch last night's episode of All My Stakataka?" the Gunner at the joystick asked his counterpart.

Hey! This is the same show one of the Ultra Recon Squad members was watching during the Team Paradox sequence in Guiding Light! (We just got to this part in the livedub lol)

"Venting like sussy bakas," Leo declared, skittering toward the vent bolted to a portion of concrete.

"The hell does that mean?" Valkyrie growled.

Not the time Leo!

It reminded Noctum of infiltrating that uPhone factory. God, that felt like forever ago. It had been, what, three or four months now?

Boy, how things have changed.

No kidding Noctum. I still remember reading that chapter as it first came out...

None of the species matched Yuna and the others, however. Not that Noctum truly expected to find them that easily. But God it would have been nice for something to actually be simple.

Noctum, don't jinx it! Also, you're a protagonist. Don't you know things never are simple for them?

His footsteps crunched in the snow. The edge of the plateau grew closer. Gene noticed a few blurry shapes. Shapes that soon turned to outlines of pokémon. An emolga and a dunsparce beside a swanna and a quagsire.

... Only they were ice sculptures. They had to be, right?

Man, that image is terrifying. I can only imagine the fear the Gates characters had as they saw the ice racing towards them, realizing that the Gates hero and partner failed somehow
... oh no, that means Espeon and Umbreon got frozen too!

"What are you talking about?" Widget said. He took another cautious step forward. "No one should decide your purpose except you."

Widget is best boi! I love just how pure he is, and he's right in my opinion. Everyone should be able to decide their purpose, destiny, or whatever one calls it for themselves. To let others decide it just means that you lose your ability to choose, and means you just decide to accept whatever comes your way, be it good or ill.

Instead of an attack, gray-white paws stepped into the snow, followed by a fluffy body and nine fluffy white tails. A rainbow gem sparkled underneath their chest fur.

He stepped toward Widget and extended a foreleg. "I'm Shane. And I'm here to get you back to your home."

LET'S GO!
Will Bahamut recognize Shane as the same Overseer he encountered long ago?

I can't wait to see what will happen next chapter!
Kudos! 💙

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 140: Well-Deserved Break

​

Noctum, Leo, and Valkyrie continued their way through the vents unimpeded. They kept silent, leaving only the sounds of the prison below them to listen in on.

[Attention prisoners. Inmate FB21B, Quilava, F, please report to the Assimilation Chamber for Eternatus Trooper assimilation. Again, Inmate FB21B, Quilava, F, please report to the Assimilation Chamber for Eternatus Trooper assimilation.]

Noctum winced. He did recall that stupid advertisement for the prison mentioning they could assimilate people here.

"There's a lot of loud machinery for a jail," Leo muttered. "What do you suppose they're working on here?"

"No idea." Valkyrie pressed forward, scowling. "It's probably bad, though."

"Yeah." Leo skittered after the garchomp. They reached another fork in the path, with one option going straight up. Valkyrie climbed onto the joltik's back.

"You don't think it sus that Paradox could get all this set up so quickly?" Leo wondered, beginning to climb along the vent wall.

"Of course it's suspicious." Gruning, Noctum flew after them. The cosmic charizard looked down to make sure no tail embers drifted out of the nearby vent grate. "I mean, it looked like there was a lot of machinery getting delivered outside."

"He's consolidating," Valkyrie said, clinging to Leo's back as he scaled the wall. "Moving equipment from other jails to this one cuz it's bigger and fancier and whatnot."

Noctum frowned. Wasn't the whole point of the empire that it outpaced the Kingdom of Radiance when it came to technology?

Sighing, he continued flying up the vent. Was there much of a point to thinking about it?

[Will the medical team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, medical team to— err, scratch that. Will the Body Disposal Team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, Body Disposal Team to the B Block rec room.]

Wincing, Noctum shut his eyes. Whatever that was about sounded... bad. And like something he didn't want to dwell on.

A different thought popped into Noctum's head instead. "What if he's using this jail to make more Terraformers or Rift Rippers?"

Leo hummed in thought. "Well, that'd bite. But a mass jailbreak could jelly up that jam in an instant."

Noctum frowned. That had to be a Leoism for messing up the emperor's plans, right?

The trio reached the top of the vertical shaft. Only one path lay ahead of them, going slightly left. The vent got wider. Blue and orange light spilled out from a large wall-mounted grate a few meters away.

As soon as Valkyrie got off Leo's back, she stuck an arm out. "This might be it," the garchomp whispered. "No talking. Let's try and get a closer look."

While Leo and Valkyrie crept closer, Noctum chose to remain in the air. The cosmic charizard figured it would give him better maneuvering if anything unexpected happened.

They got closer and closer to the vent, until they could eventually see into some sort of circular office. There were multiple Eternatus Gunners and Brawlers patrolling the perimeter. Several holographic monitors lit up the center of the room. The naganadel thingy from Cid's briefing floated there, looking between the monitors. But beside him...

"Ah!" Noctum's tail flame expanded. He quickly landed beside Valkyrie and Leo.

Valkyrie smacked the cosmic charizard's shoulder, shushing him. "What are you doing?" she hissed in a whisper.

"That gardevoir next to the warden." Noctum pointed at the grate. "I recognize her. She was Vortex's assistant. What's she doing here? Did she defect or something?"

"Does it matter?" Valkyrie scoffed. "What you really ought to think about is how we get Cyril's program into that computer in the middle of the room."

Leo studied the grate intently. "This looks hella scuffed, ngl."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Meaning?"

The joltik shook his head. "That many bodies in there? Ain't no way we stealthing it, tiny or not. The warden could probably lock down that computer and leave us totally hosed."

He turned around and pointed in the direction they'd come from. "And even if we set off a disturbance somewhere else, that wouldn't cause everyone to leave this office. We'd still have the same problem to contend with."

Gulping, Noctum grabbed his tail to try and keep the starry flame under control. "That, um, does sound concerning." He looked at Valkyrie. "What do we do?"

"Tch." Valkyrie crossed her arms. "If we can't stealth... then we might have to go with good old-fashioned brute force."

"What?" Noctum managed to keep his voice down. "How can we even do that? If Leo unshrinks us then we'll get stuck in the vent... but if he does it out there, then they'll just attack him."

"Then Leo'll have to be the one to strike first." Valkyrie jerked her head at the joltik. "We can sit around debating this until we're blue in the face, but we don't have that luxury. Just listen."

They crept closer to the grate.

"—Getting closer to completion," the warden said, pointing to one of the holographic monitors. "We should begin the transfer process for those rebels. How soon can we get the apparatus moving?"

"Within the next ten minutes," Arianna exclaimed. The gardevoir poked at a tablet in her left arm.

"See?" Valkyrie stepped back from the grate. "It sounds like they've got something planned for the others."

"A'ight." Leo skittered up to the grate. "I'm-a Judgment, then. When you see the blinding flash, that's your cue. I'll aim it to bust this grate open, so stand back."

Noctum flapped his wings and flew back from the grate, while Valkyrie walked after him. Leo slipped out through the bottom slit in the grate.

"So." Valkyrie crossed her arms. "Your Palkia half know what the hell a Judgment is or—"

Before Valkyrie could finish her question, brilliant gray light erupted from the office, followed by surprised shouts and hollers.

"That's the cue!" Noctum flew forward, squeezing himself through a slit in the grate.

Seconds later, a tingle ran along his spine. He stretched back out into normal size. Thankfully, it didn't hurt at all. Which left Noctum free to get to work.

"Go for it, Val!" he called, spewing blue flames toward the back of the room. A couple of panicked Eternatus Gunners tried to counter with Water Pulses, but Noctum's flames overpowered them.

The cosmic charizard landed and spread his arms out. All the Eternatus Troopers in the back of the room were taken care of. And a bunch of loud clangs came from behind Noctum, in the front of the room.

"Sound the alarms!" an unfamiliar male voice cried. Noctum looked left to see that Naganadel and Arianna had made it over to the side of the room. An orange barrier formed around them, repelling the brown Earth Power plume Leo kicked up around them.

"This is Sticky! Get me reinforcements!" The nagandel pointed his large needle at Noctum accusingly. "Do not let them leave this room alive!"

Rifts opened ahead of Noctum. A dozen Eternatus Gunners poured out, blasters filling the room with water jets. Noctum threw up a Protect and dove for cover behind one of the computer consoles.

"There's too many of them!" he cried.

Blinding light erupted all around him, followed by the screams and hollers of Eternatus Gunners. Noctum poked his head up to find a dozen unown getting teleported out of the room. Leo stood in front of the rifts in his full cosmic arceus splendor.

"Bring it!" He trotted in place. "Ya boi's locked in."

"Send all available units!" Sticky shouted. "Lock down the systems and facility! I don't know what kind of tricks you rebels are pulling, but this is my prison! I'm in charge here!"

More Eternatus Gunners filed out of the rifts. Noctum spat a blue Flamethrower at two of them, only for a dome of fire to erupt around Leo. The Lava Plume blew the Gunners apart.

"Yeah. Uh, keep up the good work." Noctum gave Leo two shaky thumbs up before turning to Valkyrie. The garchomp paced angrily in front of Sticky's circular workstation. There was no holographic screen.

"What's wrong?" Noctum scratched his head. "Is it not working?"

"What does it look like?" Valkyrie gestured to the air over Sticky's desk. "He shut the system down!"

"You really think I wouldn't take measures to protect the prison server?" Sticky crooned. Noctum spat an angry Dragon Pulse toward the nagandel, but his orange shield deflected it like it was nothing.

Valkyrie stomped toward him. "Well, turn the computers back on." She conjured Dragon Claws and swiped at his shield. The barrier rippled from every strike, but it held firm. "You can't hide behind this forever!"

Her gaze shifted to the gardevoir trembling behind Sticky. "C'mon! You can't possibly expect to come out of this okay siding with this asshole!"

"Ha!" Sticky gripped the inside of his barrier. "My assistant answers to me and me alone, filthy rebel!"

"Relax, guys."

Noctum jumped at Cyril's voice. He glanced back to make sure Leo was still holding off the Eternatus Troopers. Which he was. A brilliant bolt of lightning launched an Iron Jugulis back, shattering the office windows. It tumbled down what Noctum imagined was a long drop.

Two Iron Hands joined a dozen Eternatus Bombardiers climbing out of the rifts.

"This would be an excellent time for some good news." Chittering, Noctum ducked two Hydro Pumps. From the ground, he spewed a Flamethrower forward that got one of the Bombardier's mechanical legs. It fell back into three other Bombardiers. Noctum hurled a Spacial Rend crescent forward, cleaving right through the Bombardiers, whose exploding bodies ejected their unown pilots out the broken window.

"Copy that." Cyril chuckled. "Good news time."

"What's going on?" Sticky cried to Noctum's left. The cosmic charizard spun around to see the holographic screen back on. It showed a chibified Cyril dancing around, grabbing pixelated file and folder icons and sifting through them.

"The system shouldn't be turning itself on!" Sticky whirled on Arianna. "Are you up to something? Answer me now!"

"S-Sir, I'd never—"

"That driver you plugged in gave me remote control of the server," Cyril explained. "Took me a little bit to abort the lockdown, but now I can dooooo this."

Alarm sirens blared out through the office. Noctum's tail flame swelled. A Hydro Pump caught him unaware and sent him back, through the holographic screen and slamming into the glass wall overlooking some of the prison cells down below.

[Emergency. Emergency. Widespread power outage detected. Reserve power online.]

Noctum fell to the ground, stars filling his vision. Was he hearing things? The lights were still on in the office, so...

More alarm bells rang out, along with shouts and cries. And they weren't the thuds and clanks coming from the other side of the room, either. Noctum shakily pulled himself up and looked out the glass wall.

The cell barriers were down! Prisoners flooded out toward the main chamber!

Attacks of all stars and stripes lit up the air as some angry prisoners exchanged fire with Eternatus Gunners and Bombardiers charging into the chamber through its three entrances.

"Divert all reserve power to the VIP transporter!" Sticky shouted.

Noctum turned back around. The shield surrounding Arianna and Sticky shifted from orange to blue.

"But sir," the gardevoir said, looking at her tablet. "The prison cells are offline. It sounds like they're rioting out there."

"And it won't matter once we get those priority prisoners into—"

Before Sticky could finish his sentence, a blue flash engulfed him and Arianna. When the light faded, they'd disappeared.

"H-Hey!" Noctum hopped to his feet. "Where'd they go?"

"Must've teleported." Valkyrie jumped back to avoid an Ice Beam from an Eternatus Gunner in front of her. Then Leo barreled into it with an Extreme Speed, knocking it into the other Gunners. They all tumbled out the hole in the window.

"But they were saying something about priority prisoners." Noctum's tail flame rippled. "You don't think—"

"It's totes the others." Leo turned around. "Duck."

"Huh?"

Noctum realized what Leo meant when he saw the cosmic arceus' wheel glowing bright white. He sprawled out on his belly. Heat washed over his backside, then shattering glass filled his ear frills.

"C'mon!" Leo called, racing past Noctum. By the time the cosmic charizard was back on his feet, Leo was out the window and inside the large prison chamber. Valkyrie rode atop his back.

Alarm sirens blared louder as Noctum flew after them.

[Riot in progress. Riot in progress. All available Troopers deploy immediately.]

"Any ideas where these 'priority prisoners' are?" Noctum called. Bright colors flashed beneath him. One of the doors on the other end of the room blew off its hinges. An Iron Hands stood in the doorway, a mechanical fist outstretched.

[I must... hand it to you rebels!] Iron Hands called, looking up toward Noctum. [You saved us a lot of trouble by turning yourselves in like this!]

"Ugh, we don't have time for this." Leo shook his head. He jumped higher in the air to avoid an errant Water Pulse and fireball. "We gotta strategerize here."

Clearing his throat, Leo shouted, "Ahhhhh! This is terrible! We're completely outmatched! Especially with all this chaos!" His eyes welled with tears. "Please don't hurt us and toss us in with the other priority prisoners!"

Cyril's groans rippled through the X-transceiver line. "Are you freaking kidding me? There's no way that actually—"

[Ha!]

A laugh came from one of two Iron Moths that flew toward Leo and Valkyrie.

[First thing we're doing is dragging you to A block and tossing you in with the others!] the other Iron Moth said. Both launched poisonous globules at Leo, only for the cosmic arceus' wheel to turn brown. Large Mud Bombs snuffed out the Sludge Bombs, then a second volley knocked both Iron Moths out of the air.

"... I stand corrected," Cyril said.

"Geeeeeeeeeet duuuuuuuunked on!" Leo shouted, raining Mud Bombs on Iron Hands to open a path through the door.

Noctum formed a Protect and used it to get through the random attacks whizzing all around him. The chamber was a cacophony of frenzied shouts and cries. Most of these pokémon seemed completely unrelated to one another. Noctum didn't recognize any Aeons or monks. Had they all gotten brought to A block?

"Where's A block, exactly?" he asked as they went through a long hallway. Eternatus Bombardiers unleashed a Blizzard barrage to try and stop them in their tracks, but Leo switched to fire-type and used a wall of hot air to counter them. Valkyrie then leaped off his back and slammed into the ground. An Earthquake knocked the Bombardiers over, giving Noctum room to blast them with blue flames and blow apart their robot bodies.

"East! We have to go east!" Valkyrie sprinted forward. "This is the right way. C'mon!"

Leo galloped after her while Noctum flapped his wings to keep up.

"Wait!" The cosmic charziard sped up as they approached another doorway. "If stealth's out the window, why doesn't Leo make a rift to A block?"

Leo skidded to a halt. His starry pelt flickered. "Huh." He tapped a hind hoof on the ground. "I... don't feel like anything's blocking me? Lemme just..."

His wheel flashed purple. A jagged rift opened up in the doorway.

"Easy claps!" Leo cheered, galloping through the rift.

"Idiot! Brace yourself for attacks," Valkyrie growled, stomping after him. Sighing, Noctum brought up the rear again.

The room on the other side was another large, dome-like chamber. It had rows and rows of deactivated cells. But this time around, Noctum recognized the prisoners fighting with Eternatus Troopers.

"Your Highness!" Noctum called, looking toward the third cell row where Yiazmat and two salamence kept an Iron Jugulis at bay with Dragon Darts and Dragon Pulses.

"Noctum, focus!" Valkyrie snapped to his right.

When he looked toward her, he found a large, rhombus-shaped cell in the middle of the room. It held his teammates in it... but it was still online!

So that's what Sticky meant.

"Leo?" Yuna floated toward the nearest orange barrier to the cosmic arceus. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

"Prison break." Leo puffed out his chest. "It's straight flames."

"Don't just stand there, kid!" Nikki smacked the barrier with an elbow. "Get us out of here! Use your freaking god powers or some shit!"

"Nobody's busting any of you out!"

Noctum's tail flame rippled. He looked all around, but he couldn't find Sticky. Were the loudspeakers still online even with the power failure?

"The only thing you have to look forward to is serving as the emperor's glorious batteries!"

[Priority prisoner transport system online. Please standby for priority prisoner transport.]

"The hell?" Nikki resumed banging on the barrier. "Do something!"

"Uh... uhhhhhhh..." Leo pointed a forehoof at the barrier. A white beam came out of his golden hoof... only to fizzle out harmlessly against the shield.

"Stand back!" Noctum tried a Spacial Rend crescent. It had cleaved through plenty of things before, so why not a shield?

But the barrier even managed to absorb his Spacial Rend. And when it did, the floor around the priority cell shot toward the ceiling.

"Hey!" Noctum flapped his wings and took to the air. "Give them back!"

"Never!" Sticky shouted. "They can't escape serving the empire... forever!"

Noctum gathered energy for a stronger Spacial Rend, but he wasn't enough. The cell zipped along the ceiling and disappeared through some large hatch in the air.

"No!" The cosmic charizard's tail flame sparked with anger. He whirled on Leo and Valkyrie. "We have to go after them!"

Valkyrie held her arm up. "You go after 'em. And tell us where they're going."

"What?" Noctum almost snorted out tufts of fire. "We're a team. We need to stick together."

Large explosions came from the fourth row of cells. A couple of dragonite went tumbling down toward the next row.

"I get that." Valkyrie pointed a claw toward the explosion. "But they're our allies, too. And they need our help."

"But—"

"Plus, we'll tire ourselves out chasing the cell," Valkyrie continued. "So, Leo and I will stay here. You're fast. Tail the cell. Once it looks like it's reaching its destination. Tell us. Then Leo can get everyone there."

Noctum frowned. What Valkyrie said made sense, but splitting up still left a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Valkyrie put her right arm on his shoulder. The garchomp's expression... was softer than usual.

"I'm asking you to trust me here, Noctum."

The cosmic charizard looked at Valkyrie arm and claw. His tail flame pulsated rapidly.

"Are you going to stand there talking or are you going to help?" Yiazmat shouted from the third cell row.

"Right." Noctum flapped his wings, rising into the air. "Okay, leave it to me."

He turned and flew as fast as his wings would carry him in the direction the priority cell had gone. The hatch had shut, but one well aimed Spacial Rend blew it open. And he saw the cell on the other side of the next room. Noctum tried another Spacial Rend, aiming for the rail that carried the cell along. His heart sank when, like before, it fizzled out harmlessly.

So, whatever power the facility still had left was going toward protecting this cell... no matter what happened to the rest of the prison? That sounded like desperation to Noctum. In which case, he'd just have to keep up with the cell!

Noctum could do this. For Valkyrie. For everyone.

XxX​

Though Chien-Pao had given the group a bit of space, an awkward silence hung in the air. The snow continued to swirl around without actually hitting them. Widget couldn't quite tell if that was still Chien-Pao or if this Shane guy also had some power to block out the weather.

Widget didn't exactly have his powers, but he knew this wasn't a simple ice ninetales. There was a blinding aura to him. It made it hard for Widget to even look at Shane. So, the cosmic silvally instead looked at the ground. He poked the snow with a gold talon.

"So, you're the guy, huh?" Gene clicked his tongue. "The one Vince works for?"

"That'd be me," Shane said.

The mega mewtwo crossed his arms. "And you're finally intervening directly because..."

"Hmph." Bahamut waved Gene off dismissively. "We're nowhere near home. Didn't you remember what he said? He can't get close to the world's divine power without setting off a reaction. But since that isn't here..."

"The hell are me and Widget then?" Gene said. With his name brought in, Widget finally stood at attention.

Shane laughed nervously. "You are divine, in a sense. Just... not the kind that causes the interference."

Widget wasn't sure if that was meant to be good or bad. He kept silent.

"Then you know the route back to our world?" Bahamut said. His expression was stern and he struggled to make eye contact with Shane. Widget vaguely recalled some tenuous, not good association between the two, but drew a blank over the specifics.

"I do." Shane bobbed his head once. "I can get you pretty far. Then you'll have to cover the rest of the way."

Bahamut's brow furrowed. "And yet, this 'interference' didn't stop you from showing up all those years ago."

Shane's tails curled up. "W-Well, your world was... much more stable back then. I don't want to risk anything bad happening now by showing up."

"Or you're scared of other Overseers," Bahamut accused, aura feelers tensing. "If this situation is truly so terrible, they should step in to deal with Zodiark and fix our world."

"That's... complicated." Shane's ears folded.

Widget frowned. "Well, could you tell us how?" He figured a friendlier voice would be more productive than Bahamut interrogating the guy.

"As a whole, the Overseers are more... observers than actors." Shane lifted two of his right tails. "For them to intervene in the affairs of a world, it takes something truly devastating. Like, a world that is endless suffering with no hope of recovery or a crisis threatening the safety of multiple uninvolved worlds."

Bahamut stomped a foot in the snow. "Which this is." He looked at Widget. "Back me up here. This is a multi-layered crisis."

"Yeah." Widget poked at the snow some more with a gold talon. "It's not just the whole Zodiark thing. What about all the new souls made in our world? If we were to try and put all the collided worlds back, where do they end up?"

And, of course, Xeromus' claims rattled around in Widget's head. If the worlds separated, would Widget separate with them?

"Breathe." The ninetales bowed his head slightly. "I see where you're coming from. And that's why the Overseers are intervening."

Widget's starry neck ruff shriveled up. "Wait, you don't mean they're going to blow our world up, do you?"

"Nope." A few of Shane's tails wiggled. "They're out in Ginnungagap. Zodiark has flooded it with Whispers while he evades our detection. We're keeping that at bay while stabilizing the space-time distortions that someone's causing by opening rifts with reckless abandon."

Gene pinched his brow. "Thaaaaaaaat'd be the emperor. And his 'precious' Rift Ripper." The mega mewtwo held his arms out. "He's a deoxys. Controls most of the world. And has one of Leo's plates powering a rift-making machine."

Shane flinched. "Yeesh. Yeah, that'd do it." He looked up at the snowy sky. "Sounds to me like we don't have a moment to lose, then. You guys ready?"

"Yes." Bahamut walked toward Shane. The cosmic lucario's aura feelers twitched. "Are you sure Whispers won't assault us?"

"I can't be sure of that." Shane laughed nervously.

"Seriously?" Gene's chest core flickered. Was Dark Matter talking to him or something? "And you thought to show up alone?"

"I'm not alone." Shane turned his snout in Chien-Pao's direction. "But we agreed I'd be the one to come through."

Both Bahamut and Gene eyed the ninetales skeptically. Widget didn't see a problem with it. Besides, this was just wasting time.

Sighing, Shane's tails drooped. "Look, I get it. Everything about this situation sucks. And, as someone who contributed it to it, words alone can't express how sorry I am about what's happened."

He took a step toward the trio. "You guys have been fighting for a while — some longer than others — and I know what that's like." Shane took a deep breath. "I also know what's it like to be in a desperate situation. And nearly end up at each other's throats.

"That's why you need to lean on one another for support." Shane curled two of his tails around one another. "This isn't just some 'power of friendship' rallying speech or anything. It's going to take a village to put things right."

Shane extended a foreleg. "And my teammates and I want to be part of that village, as best we can."

More silence followed. Neither Gene nor Bahamut made a move toward Shane. But the ninetales sounded sincere to Widget. The cosmic silvally extended his own foreleg.

Surprisingly, Bahamut beat him to the punch, grabbing Shane's foreleg in a paw and shaking it. "Don't make me regret this," he growled.

"I'll do my best," Shane responded, winking. He turned to Chien-Pao. "And thank you for cooperating. Once I'm done with these guys, would it be okay if I came back to see you again?"

Chien-Pao stared blankly. The snowflake Tera jewel on his head pulsated. Widget tensed. Was the Bittercold trying something?

Then the pulsations faded. Cracks ran through the Tera gem, and it dropped into snowy fragments at Chien-Pao's feet. For the first time, a small smile spread over his muzzle.

"I think I'd like that." He bobbed his head. "I'm sure we'd have much to discuss."

"That's the spirit!" Laughing, Shane turned to the others. The gemstone in his chest fur glowed brightly. Shane fanned his tails out. A checkerboard portal formed underneath them.

"W-Wait!" Widget's neck ruff puffed out. "H-How are we getting through Ginnungagap?"

"Oh, I'll carry you," Shane said. Then, in a flash of golden light, he grew into a gold light dragon. Exactly like what Bahamut used to be.

Widget gulped. "Uhhh, am I gonna catch on fire if I grab you?"

"What? No way!" Shane laughed. "My light's soft, like a ponyta's pelt!" The necrozma sank into the wormhole. "Now climb aboard. There's no time to lose!"

Widget jumped onto Shane's back, followed shortly by Gene and Bahamut. Shane took off flying through the blue-purple ocean that was the mystery dungeon between worlds. Widget watched random crystal islets of all shapes and sizes pass him by. Gold and silver blurs zoomed across a round, upside-down island, chasing away Walking Wake Whispers. Those must have been Shane's teammates.

Taking a deep breath, Widget looked straight ahead.

I hope we're not too late.

Spoiler: Chapter Art

Raph (@lraphl.bsky.social)

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[BlizzardBricks]

Chapter 140​

Another amazing chapter, and wishing you a great Valentine's Day, Amby!

[Will the medical team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, medical team to— err, scratch that. Will the Body Disposal Team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, Body Disposal Team to the B Block rec room.]

Seriously? What kind of a prison just lets prisoners go at it until they kill one another? Even from a purely logical standpoint, those prisoners are to be turned into Eternatroopers, right? So letting them fight just means the Emperor will lose troops.

Noctum frowned. That had to be a Leoism for messing up the emperor's plans, right?

It's happened so often that the rebellion has a word for it

"Then Leo'll have to be the one to strike first." Valkyrie jerked her head at the joltik. "We can sit around debating this until we're blue in the face, but we don't have that luxury. Just listen."

Yeah, Valkyrie's right. If you keep debating, you'll just get stuck in analysis paralysis

"What's going on?" Sticky cried to Noctum's left. The cosmic charizard spun around to see the holographic screen back on. It showed a chibified Cyril dancing around, grabbing pixelated file and folder icons and sifting through them.

Every great hacker has an animation that plays when infiltrating a system!

"Geeeeeeeeeet duuuuuuuunked on!" Leo shouted, raining Mud Bombs on Iron Hands to open a path through the door.

Not the time, Leo? At least he can back up his words I suppose lol

"Wait!" The cosmic charziard sped up as they approached another doorway. "If stealth's out the window, why doesn't Leo make a rift to A block?"

Leo skidded to a halt. His starry pelt flickered. "Huh." He tapped a hind hoof on the ground. "I... don't feel like anything's blocking me? Lemme just..."

His wheel flashed purple. A jagged rift opened up in the doorway.

Now that's thinking with portals!

Valkyrie put her right arm on his shoulder. The garchomp's expression... was softer than usual.

"I'm asking you to trust me here, Noctum."

At this point I'm probably going in circles repeating myself, but I love Valkyrie's and Noctum's relationship and interactions with each other

Bahamut said. His expression was stern and he struggled to make eye contact with Shane.

So he definitely recognizes Shane then. At least he can control himself enough to not fly off the handle compared to their last encounter.

"I also know what's it like to be in a desperate situation. And nearly end up at each other's throats.

Understatement of the century, Shane!

Gold and silver blurs zoomed across a round, upside-down island, chasing away Walking Wake Whispers. Those must have been Shane's teammates.

Am I right to assume the blurs are Angel and Tama? Angel I can see assisting Shane, though I'm surprised Tama agreed, giving his previous interactions with Shane. I wonder what changed?

I know I've said this dozens of times before, but this story has been so much fun to follow along and see where it goes, though all the twists and turns. So as always, I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here, and kudos! 💙