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.
