Chapter 182 - Burn The Sky
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Chapter 182 – Burn The Sky
Black rain and bright flashes plagued the great fissure that was War’s End.
This was where they had found Valle so long ago. Owen winced as the black water stung his scales. Shadows. And he was naturally Radiant most of the time. Did he need to channel Shadows to counter the sting?
There was a great irony in that. He knew he’d need to tap into Radiance again later, but for now…
The flame on his tail darkened. Owen wiped his hand on an invisible wall before him, forming a black shield to confirm that Shadows were now the dominant energy within him.
Instantly, that stinging eased. Just as he thought; the corrupt rains only ate away at those not already shrouded in darkness.
“Okay,” Owen whispered, mind racing with his priorities. Safety of the guards. Securing Necrozma and Emily. Making sure their special forces had a clear shot. Could he accomplish all of them at once? Most of them? What was the best option?
He naturally tended toward protecting the guards. They could divert and distract, but against something like Emily, Owen wasn’t sure if even their divine forces could put much of a dent in her. That was what the whole plan was for in the first place. Why was she so strong?
Within Owen’s range, he saw many Pokémon hiding under makeshift shelters, unable to recover against the onslaught of the Shadow Sky. Even against others trying to suppress the downpour with their own weather, Emily’s Shadows overpowered it.
Getting the backup Hearts’ forces in healthier conditions was Owen’s priority.
The air shook with a concussive wave. Owen braced against the ground, wincing when the wind left him from the shock. If that did damage to him, he could only guess the damage the other Hearts suffered.
He tuned his Perceive. Yes, several had doubled over, bleeding from their noses or mouths. Others, sturdier, carried them to get assistance, and that’s when Owen decided on his priorities.
Owen stomped next to the Waypoint he’d entered from and channeled his Shadow blessings into the ground. Then, he focused on his Protect.
First, the barrier appeared around him. Then, he shrank it until the barrier pressed against his scales and siphoned into his body. A pulse of power rolled through his shoulders and into his hands.
He slammed them onto the ground. A dark ring radiated around the center of where he stood. He pressed more, tail flaring with black fire, until his aura’s reach went far enough to reach the Waypoint. Then he pressed a few feet further, creating a ring about twenty feet in diameter.
“Hrrrgh!”
And from the ring emerged a dome ten feet high, so dark it obscured much of the outside world, but something that deflected the rain… and withstood its darkness.
It wouldn’t last long. But he had to hold it to keep the essence there. He remembered doing this before, a hazy time many years ago… He remembered rain and thunder and fire that time. Why was this familiar? He shook his head.
Moments later, the Waypoint activated, sending in Zena with the first batch of the Circle’s teams. Team Alloy was among them.
“Guys! Sorry for the short notice, but I have a quick mission. Prioritize yourselves, but try to get the hurt Pokémon out there into this barrier.”
Gahi, among the first to arrive, disappeared. Moments later, Gahi returned with two Pokémon under his arms.
“Oi, Demitri!” he huffed. “Need yer strength!”
“I’ll heal,” Mispy added, sliding to the fallen.
With a thankful nod, Owen swiftly flew out of the barrier once he was confident it was set up properly. Just as he left, he suddenly doubled back.
“And!” he added. “Reinforce this barrier where you can! Reflect, Light Screen, anything to maintain it so the Shadows keep their shape.”
“They’re… a substance?” Mispy asked.
“I—I don’t know, Pokémon energy contains it, so barriers keep it barrier-shaped.” Owen shrugged hastily. “And tell everyone the same thing. That’s the plan until everyone’s gathered.”
They all nodded just as Zena left to gather the next batch.
Moments later, Phol entered the dome, having to duck to get inside, while hauling a Roserade and Heliolisk over his shoulder. Owen helped set them down.
“How are things?” Owen asked.
“Bad.” His fur was darker, like he’d been covered in ashy water, and his stance was hunched over to conserve energy. “But better now that you’re here to back us up.”
“Right.” Owen looked Phol over. “You should stay here now. The others are helping to gather the rest.”
“I can still go out and—”
“No, because I need you to do something harder. Hold up your arms to the barrier above.”
Phol gave Owen a quizzical look. Lightning flashed outside, followed shortly by a rumble and two roars. He held his arms up.
Owen brought one arm down and pointed a claw at the Incineroar. “Bestow,” he whispered.
Ownership of the barrier transferred from Owen to Phol; its aura tether invisible snapped from Owen and latched onto Phol.
“Ng—”
“Hold it steady.”
“…This is… the strongest barrier I’ve…”
“But you can hold it?”
Phol’s arms steadied after the initial shock. He brought them down, but stared at it as little embers flowed around his waist.
“Yes. I have it now,” he said.
“It’ll follow you, so don’t move too much. People will get rained on.”
“Understood. Now leave.”
Owen couldn’t help but smile wryly at the directness. But Phol had a point.
Okay. With that done, Owen now had to gauge the threat level of two gods clashing in the skies.
The dark waters pelted his body harmlessly; the flashing lights dazzled his vision. He dulled his Perceive to ignore the rain, turning them into a blurry swath so he could focus on larger bodies in the air. In the dark, he Perceived a hollow, fleshy Lugia-shaped thing warring against a collection of floating crystals. Necrozma was made of mostly ‘light’-like energy in his battle form, making detecting his actual movements difficult in the light-eating rains.
He couldn’t tell who was more tired, or if they were in a deadlock. He was a good hundred or so feet above the ground, and they were another fifty feet higher. He couldn’t see where the energy blasts were going and could only guess through how Emily’s mouth opened or the way Necrozma’s crystals shifted. Sometimes, he caught glimmers of shockwaves as the air compressed enough that his Perceive detected it. Otherwise, he could see very little. This was not a fight for him to dive into recklessly.
Relying on his eyes for once, Owen squinted past the flashes and the blurring rain. Each flash showed an outline of the fight. Necrozma was a mixture of black and white rather than his usual, golden glow. The power of Chaos drove him; even his Radiance went against his senses. But why were they fighting? Or was Necrozma resisting the Shadows?
This was the last development they expected. It felt like it was on the cusp of being advantageous, had it not been for how they could no longer control Emily’s trajectory. The distortions in the air… Owen felt a Dungeon forming. If this went any longer, it could slowly rip a hole in the patchwork he’d made with the Worldcore, undoing all the Dungeon seals.
Lightning flashed, dazzling Owen again. He covered his eyes. That one was too close.
Then came a blast searing over his head. He roared—Radiance, that was Radiance, and it burned. It was like he was Grass in an inferno.
Owen desperately scratched at his head out of instinct, putting out a fire that wasn’t there. He spiraled halfway to the ground to recover.
The two vessels of Dark Matter continued their clash in the skies. That was just a stray blast. In this obscuring rain, Owen couldn’t parry the attacks properly. But if he could get a rhythm for it…
Another flash. This time, Owen timed his Protect blindly just as a bolt nicked the barrier. Perfect! Owen reached for that power and grasped it for himself, studying it.
The Mimic worked. He was getting good at this, even for exotic attacks like these. Still stray shots, so they didn’t notice Owen. This was just random destruction.
Good enough for now. Owen descended into the Shadow Protect dome.
By now, most of the Circle had come together.
“What’s the situation?” Diyem asked, though it sounded more like a demand. He was a dark Charizard again.
“Necrozma and Emily are fighting each other. Do you have any idea why that’s happening?”
“No.” Diyem’s throat rumbled with a pensive growl. “My only theory is Necrozma’s resisting and lashing out. Can we use that to our advantage?”
“They didn’t even notice I was there,” Owen said. “I think we should prepare the Circle a little further off. Then, we have our blasters coax them into the Circle, and we use Tanneth as a lure once we can separate Necrozma from Emily.”
Amia spoke up, “Is there any sign of one of them losing?”
“I can’t tell. To my Perceive, Necrozma’s just crystals and Emily’s… Emily.”
Another thunderclap made several guards shudder.
“Get the Hearts that’re too shaken out of here,” Owen said. “How are our numbers?”
“We lost about a quarter of our forces,” Diyem said. “Most of them to injuries, but a few are corpses somewhere on the field.”
Cold pressure held Owen’s heart, but he nodded. This was going to happen. The Hearts insisted on fighting, but they were fighting gods.
“Hey, don’t get distracted,” Sera piped up, clenching her right paw. “We’ll get all that sorted once this is over. Remember, gods can step in when gods mess up. Xerneas can try to get them back… if we have a world left! Right?!”
“Right. Right.” That was true. Even Barky wouldn’t object to that use of Xerneas’ power.
“Remember,” Diyem said firmly, “As far as this divine war is concerned, death is transferring from one squad to another. The dead are preparing the aether for whatever darkness leaks that way. Our only true losses are those who fall to Shadows.”
“Right.” So long as Xerneas survived…
Getting a pep talk from the emissary of darkness. Owen held back a smile when he addressed the Circle with a rally.
“The flashes come in a rhythm! At the next flash, five seconds after, fly south!” He pointed. “Get on your fliers, and then fly a distance of Gahi’s five seconds!”
“Heh. That a challenge?” Gahi flexed his wings and nodded. “Sure, I’ll lead.”
“Gahi, try to glow with your… star-wings, too. It might cut through the dark to guide everyone else your way.”
“Yeh.”
The dazzling lights barely cut through the Shadow dome.
“That’s the flash,” Owen hastily shouted.
One… two… three…
Something boomed five feet from the dome’s east side. A wayward blast narrowly missed them.
Four… five.
“Circle, GO!”
The dome emptied until it was just a handful of others that Owen hadn’t included in the Circle as combat backup. Among them was Zena, tending to several wounded Hearts, and Aster, hiding from the flashing explosions.
“Aster, where’s your Mom?”
“H-huh?”
Owen heard a curse, followed by Star entering his Perceive range.
“Never mind,” Owen said. “Star!”
“Hey, Owen,” Star grunted, dripping with black rainwater. “I got some intel for you.” She cursed a few more times as she tried to lighten several bruise-like patches on her body.
“Star, what were you—fine, what intel?”
“If you attack Necrozma, he attacks back and draws closer to you. Emily follows Necrozma. Attack Emily, she ignores you, so don’t bother. But I think a big enough hit can knock her around.”
“That’s… that’s useful,” Owen agreed. If they struck Necrozma enough, they could lure him to the Circle, and then knock Emily into it. Then it was just a matter of capturing Emily and completing the Purification. But… they could not let Necrozma get close to the Circle. He’d obliterate them.
“Also, your plan didn’t have me in it, but it’s got Barky. Does he know when to Teleport there after his bombardment?”
“I’ll send him a prayer,” Owen said. “That lower back brain of his is still working, right?”
“Butt brain, yeah.” Star nodded. Despite a few dark splotches on her thigh and left cheek, she was energized again. “What’s my job?”
“Are you sure you can keep fighting, Star? We can’t lose another god here.”
“I’ll be fiiine.” Star nodded. “If things get hairy, I’ll blip out, promise.”
He didn’t like Star’s assurances. Flimsy. Overconfident. She was still scared of Shadows, but she was also strong as one of Kilo’s main gods…
No time to hesitate. “I’ll go left. You go right. Try to follow my flame and stay opposite of me.”
“I’ll put up a big, purple barrier, so follow that,” Star said. “Are we trying to play target practice with them?”
“It’ll divert attention from the Hearts.” And they couldn’t afford to be hit as often.
Another flash and boom on the ground. Several remaining Hearts shuddered at the prospect of going out again.
One Heart sputtered, “I-if I die, Xerneas will revive us, right?”
“Forget that, I don’t wanna learn what dying feels like!” another Heart said. “But… that’s… p-part of the job. At least for now…”
“Don’t get too close. Just strike at Necrozma when you can see. And when you’re weak, dive back into this barrier and into the Waypoint if you have to fall back. Okay. Everyone, positions! Ready… go!”
Owen returned to the skies. Star flashed her violet barrier as she disappeared into the flashing darkness. Dark water splashed over Owen’s scales, instantly blinding him at his high speed.
Once they entered his Perceive range again, Owen slowed until the water wasn’t obscuring his vision as badly. Between flashes, he saw Emily’s outline. The two titans were locked into a melee brawl, Necrozma’s wings burning into Emily’s body just as quickly as she could regenerate.
This time, he was ready for the stray blasts. He parried the first one and twisted his body so the shield propelled him away from the incoming wave, diverting most of the force into the horizon. He could only hope that most people had already evacuated from the far reaches of the combat zone.
The second blast came from Emily, finally paying attention to the new fighter in the fray. Owen had a guess it was his Radiance. Twisting, dark air spiraled toward Owen and he dove down. Star’s purple sphere gave him a reference point for where to stay relative to Necrozma and Emily, distorted as it was from the rain against his shield.
“Owen! Owen!” He barely heard his Communicator over the latest flash and snap of the dark sky. She hastily rummaged through his bag, his claw necklace tapping his chin, and pulled it out.
“Eon?” Owen could only guess by how the voice sounded like him.
“Beammaker is online! The power is… a little weak without Lavender, and a lot of the equipment is damaged, but we can get one good shot! Where do we aim?”
Where to aim. Emily would regenerate it. They didn’t need to hurt Emily. It was Necrozma that was the problem.
“Aim at Necrozma. When I shout to fire, do it, okay? We need to get him out of the picture for this to work!”
“Okay!”
Hopefully, Nate would get the signal from that.
Arceus, can you hear me? Owen said. If you can take aim, strike Necrozma through the dark. We can handle Emily as long as Necrozma is down.
He received no answer. He could only hope Barky was ready with his Judgment to smite from Destiny Tower.
A whirlwind formed on all sides with Owen in the eye of the storm. He shifted his Protect into a full sphere and closed up his body’s stance. Another Shadow Aeroblast carved the air and compressed his Protect to the point where its resonant pressure strained his bones. The wind was starting to break through the cracks. Something thumped repeatedly against his chin—his mother’s claw on his necklace again.
His eyes trailed down to try to adjust it when he happened to see a bright light from below. Necrozma had pulled away from Emily to strike him!
“Gah!”
Owen’s barrier, as a sphere, couldn’t take a direct blast from Necrozma. He sacrificed his back protection to the last of the Aeroblast and concentrated the Protect toward Necrozma’s Chaos light.
It was narrowly enough. Owen grasped at the same energy, siphoning a small strip of it until it coiled around his wrist, crackling like fire under rain.
Emily was flying toward Tanneth’s spot again…
He closed his wings and went into a free fall. He had to catch up to Emily, though he kept his shield behind him now. He needed some distance. A dazzling flash of light blinded him again and he squeezed his eyes shut.
Owen focused on his Perceive, sparing a second to make sure he wasn’t about to be ambushed—only to spot a single entity fending Emily off singlehandedly. Struggling, making no progress on harming her, but holding her off.
“Migami—no! You can’t keep it together as—”
“We got this!” Migami shouted back. “Heh! We got a little desperate, but we learned somethin’ new, Owen!”
“What?” Owen whispered. They were… sane.
“The reason our fusion went wrong all the time,” Migami continued. They dodged an Aeroblast with grace before flinging an axe straight into Emily’s eye, earning a roar of anger. “Wasn’t Nevren’s calcs at all! Wasn’t even an instability with the power!”
Migami Teleported behind Emily and struck several times with quick jabs and finished with a Solar Beam once Emily spun around. Then, they disappeared and did the same thing again, finishing this time with a two-fisted slam on her back. She went pinwheeling fifty feet down.
“It was the Trio! Our other halves!” Migami sliced at Emily’s wing, taking it clean off. It regrew in seconds. “They were th’ missin’ regulator, an’ Nevren couldn’ see them in all the math, I bet!”
“The… the Decree messed up his schematics for us?!” Owen whispered.
Of course. Eon had been trying to come up with this fusion project for a while, but didn’t realize that even with Demitri, Mispy, and Gahi as three of the components, their incomplete souls lacked the stability for a fusion. None of the other mutants were irreparably berserk, just them…
Something warm distracted Owen, and it wasn’t just the warm fuzzies of his friends fighting by his side. He glanced down and realized that something in his bag—soaked with blackened rain—was glowing hot. Gaining some distance, he rummaged inside.
“Oh—”
That marble Xerneas had gifted him. They’d tried to train it and get it working in the human world, but it never worked beyond a slight boost in power. But this was different. What was going on?
“Circle’s online and ready!” Eon reported through the Communicator. “I’m coordinating with some people at the Lab for the Beammaker, but…!”
The Circle… Was that somehow resonating with this marble?
“Ah—!”
Suddenly, a rainbow light completely overtook Owen’s vision. It felt like hot water doused his whole body, tingling his scales and shifting parts of his body all at once. He was amorphous and then solid in a matter of seconds, the rush of battle suddenly thrilling him. But then, he reflexively regained his senses and thrashed within a barrier that had formed around him, shattering it all at once.
“E-eh?!” Migami shouted. “Owen! Did yeh Shadow?!”
“What?” Owen looked at his claws. His scales had turned… black? And from his cheeks, he saw blue flames. What? And why did…
No. Not important right now. He could look it over later. His Perceive still worked; he still felt sane. That was all that mattered.
Another flash lit the sky. The light pushed through his eyelids, revealing the pattern of his scales even while his eyes were closed. He felt Migami suddenly flinch from it. At that moment, Emily changed directions for a slam against the fused trio.
“Migami! Watch out!” Owen said. “This is a big one!”
“Doin’ what I can!” They blipped behind Emily again. This time, she was faster, striking Migami with a single, shockwave-producing wing slap. Migami tumbled into the air and out of Owen’s Perceive.
They’d be fine. They’d be fine. Emily was going after them, but not after Tanneth. And that meant he could focus on Necrozma. He saw the crystals that made up Necrozma’s body shift. He recognized the gesture—he was conjuring a wormhole.
“Oh, no, you don’t!”
Owen beat his wings hard and conjured a blast of wind that nearly tore his wings apart. But they endured. He slammed headfirst into Necrozma’s chest, conjuring his Chaos spear, and plunged it toward his chest. Necrozma dodged to the left, toward the wormhole. Owen shifted for a shoulder check, slamming into Necrozma with a grazing blow—narrowly enough to spin Necrozma away from the wormhole, which fizzled out.
Owen pulled his hand back, retracting the spear and turning it into a shapeless blob, and slammed it against Necrozma’s prism chest. His body was like a pool of magma, yet his Fiery form couldn’t resist it. The Chaos in his palm turned into a puddle of volatile energy. He infused his own and pressed into Necrozma’s prism armor.
It cracked. That surprised Owen. This transformation… How much stronger were his claws? Everything felt so feeble against his raw strength.
The air pressure behind him changed dramatically.
With a powerful shove, Owen corkscrewed through the air and used the new cracks in Necrozma’s armor to hook his claws inside. He whirled Necrozma toward the incoming Aeroblast, giving his Protect a break.
The dragon of light screeched wordlessly. His tail formed several Chaos spikes that stabbed Owen along his gut and chest.
He wailed and let go, but now Necrozma was on the advance. Another beam of light shot through the cracks of Owen’s barrier, leaving a series of holes and lines across Owen’s chest.
Wheezing, Owen Perceived the parts of his own body that had suddenly been burned straight through. About forty percent through his body. That was going to hurt later. For now, adrenaline kept him swinging.
“Move aside, Owen,” Necrozma snarled. Owen was surprised he was lucid enough to speak.
“Necrozma!” He could talk? “What are you doing? Snap out of it!”
“There is nothing to snap out of. I am ending this world, as it always should have been.”
Oh, good. Diyem’s nihilism was what had appealed to Necrozma.
“The Shadows are talking, Necrozma. We can fix all of this if you just—”
“Like you ‘fixed’ every other time?” Necrozma countered.
They both dodged one of Emily’s stray Aeroblasts. It rumbled the ground, twisting a whole field of earth and trees into a muddy slurry. Seconds later, Migami shot Emily on the cheek with a Solar Beam—feeble under the darkened sky. It was enough to draw her attention.
Unlike Necrozma, Emily was nothing but a raging beast. The Shadows had taken her over completely and shoved whatever was ‘Emily’ deep into darkness, leaving nothing but an emissary of destruction behind.
But Necrozma. Maybe Owen could still reach out to him…
“Necrozma, please! It’s not just me this time! The whole world wants this!”
Necrozma scoffed, his body undulating with Chaotic light. Emily lunged for Necrozma, only for him to form a wormhole and warp Emily past him and to Owen, who parried her back with a Protect, kiting around her huge body. She tumbled to the ground, disoriented, giving Necrozma and Emily some time apart.
“Then show me the world’s strength.”
He raised his head and faced the sky. Suddenly, Owen couldn’t see anything. The Shadow Sky siphoned into a sphere above Necrozma.
A low hum shook the air, rattling Owen’s chest and skull. That sphere was stronger than anything he’d seen before.
Wait! This was what Nate usually dispelled. It was their clash to stop Necrozma from destroying the world outright. But Nate… he was still too far away, wasn’t he? Necrozma had gone completely off course.
If this struck Kilo…
The Chaotic ball burned the sky. Sunlight poured through the cracks in the clouds and siphoned into the sphere.
“This will explode and annihilate every physical trace of you… perhaps even every spiritual trace, too. That is divine energy. And I should have done this a very long time ago.”
“I’m thankful you didn’t,” Owen said back, searching for an opening, “and I know Kilo was always hanging on a thread, Necrozma! At your mercy… the mercy of the Overseers!” There was no opening—not without risking that light annihilating Kilo. “But now we’ll prove it! By purifying you… and then Emily!”
“Then show me that power… before mine obliterates you! Show it, Usurper!”
The ball was nearly charged. Even Necrozma looked like he was struggling to keep it contained. Owen could only watch and wait. He formed a plan… but it relied on a lot of faith in his own strength.
“So, you knew I was a Usurper all along? Was that the term you gave me?”
“Of course. It’s why you had to be eliminated… by erasure. Yet even then, you returned.”
The hum of the ball reached its apex and then let out a shockwave. It was like staring at a marble that mixed the darkest black with the brightest white in a swirling, blinding vortex.
“Now, Owen. Your final test!”
Necrozma curved his body forward and hurled the ball toward Owen. The Charizard raised his hands and formed a Protect, only to realize that this, if deflected, would do even more damage than if it exploded in the air.
“What will you do?!” Necrozma roared over the rumble. “Dodge it, and flee your burden? Deflect it, and offset the suffering to the world? Or will you face it and die in Kilo’s place?!”
The ball of Chaos struck Owen’s Protect. But rather than deflect, Owen inverted the shield’s curve, turning it into a bowl.
The Charizard roared, every muscle and every bit of his aura channeled into his shield. Chaos crackled over the edges and whipped at his cheeks, and shoulders, his wings and his legs. He couldn’t hold out like this. The edges of the Protect cracked, light pouring like stardust in the air. Lightning flashed, thunder boomed; he could barely hear.
He just had to grasp it. He had to grasp this energy and control it. Just… flex his aura a little more…
“Fall!”
“Owen!” Star cried. A surge of energy washed over him like sunlight after a storm. She touched his shoulders a moment later, not minding the blood. “Sorry, I had to break formation,” she said. “Keep going! I’ll channel the energy I can!”
The second wind was appreciated, but Owen’s elbows still strained. Star formed a Psychic platform for him to dig his feet into, and even then, his knees buckled against the incoming blast. He could only Perceive things now; his vision was clouded by the black-white, smoldering ball of Chaos behind his thinning Protect.
“It won’t be enough,” Necrozma said. “You cannot grasp the power of an Overseer.”
Owen hissed. He couldn’t afford a word, not even a word, without losing his concentration. He clenched his fists as the Protect closed in on the barrier, though it still couldn’t fully encapsulate it. Wait. Star had Teleported in.
Desperate, he grasped at the power that lingered near Star… yes! It was still there! He pulled at the power she’d utilized seconds ago… He’d need it soon.
His Protect cracked. He focused again, enclosing it more and more. Just a little further and he could make his move. Necrozma was pouring more and more power into the blast from afar. At this rate, if it exploded, a new mark would be on Kilo’s map, one larger than War’s End.
The barrier fragmented, Chaos energy slicing across Owen’s muzzle. He winced and refocused on the Protect. He needed to pinpoint just the right spot…
“Owen, you can’t hold out much longer!” Star whispered frantically. “My barrier can’t—”
Owen tuned her out. Not yet. Just a bit more. The barrier almost completely enclosed the blast; he only needed a second for Necrozma to let up his onslaught. Blast by blast, the ball got more unstable, fighting against an ever-enclosing barrier. Sometimes, Necrozma tried to strike Owen from the sides with Wormhole-borne attacks—it was Star who deflected those.
Necrozma had forgotten one thing with this blast. Owen was not just a Usurper who grasped at the powers of others and took it as his own, however temporary. He was also…
Owen’s tail abruptly wrapped around Star, who made a startled squeak. Then, he utilized the power he’d grasped from her and Teleported himself, Star, and the ball attached to his Protect all at once.
“What?!”
Suddenly, Owen closed the gap between the two of them.
And where Owen had been holding the ball of Chaos… Necrozma stood instead, within the great Protect barrier.
Along with a Usurper, Owen was also a Bestower.
“Radiant Bestow,” Owen breathed. Necrozma bathed in the Chaotic storm, prismatic eyes darting around to search for any kind of opening.
Owen let go of Star with his tail before flipping through the air. His tail thwacked the Protect barrier—now Bestowed upon and attached to Necrozma—skyward.
Necrozma immediately tried to warp away—but the Protect followed him no matter where he went, attached to his aura. And Necrozma was too frenzied to realize this in time… Or, considering he was inside that barrier, in too much pain.
But he was still too close. Owen breathed in and paused. “Star,” he said, “help here!”
“Uhh—help what?!”
Owen breathed a far-reaching jet of fire toward the ball as Necrozma roared from within. The warping had stopped—but Necrozma was out of his Perceive range. He didn’t know if he was charging to break out or simply unconscious.
“Oh, okay!” Star glowed and Teleported higher, creating a Psychic funnel that attached the Owen’s motes of fire, giving them a more solid presence. They pelted the Protect higher and higher. Necrozma couldn’t escape anywhere while inside—and if Owen had to guess, even if he tried to Wormhole out, the Protect would follow him.
But it was still too close for that kind of blast. “Eon!” Owen shouted into his Communicator.
“I—I see it!”
They’d spent centuries together. Owen prayed Eon understood what he meant: “FIRE!”
Less than a second later, a blinding line cut through the darkness and struck Necrozma’s sphere dead-on. Owen couldn’t hear anything after that. A new beam soared from over the horizon… The two beams countered each other, the net force propelling Necrozma higher and higher into the sky without straying in another direction.
“Nate! Nate got his shot!” Owen cheered.
“Hey, Owen!” Star shouted. “Maybe we should get down! That blast is…!”
Owen glanced up. Something had ruptured. Uh oh.
“Cover your eyes!” Owen shouted.
But even when Owen did, he saw the pattern of the scales on his eyelids and the outline of his fingers’ bones. Star yelped in surprise and spun around. Owen Perceived her back spontaneously combusting. He Teleported between her and the blast, shielding her from the incoming energy even as his scales burned from a fire he could not fully comprehend. He never knew light could burn so much.
And then the blast caught up to them. The light was so much faster than shockwaves.
Owen couldn’t hear. One moment, there was a great, booming pop, and then something in his head snapped, and then he couldn’t hear anymore. He tasted metal. He pinwheeled through the air, catching the ground several thousand feet below with every rotation. Then, he closed his eyes, trying to refocus. In what felt like a second, the ground was suddenly only a hundred feet away.
Coldness undulated over his body starting from his head and ending at his tail. His orange scales returned and that prismatic aura faded. And the fatigue of the battle hit him just as fast.
“Kh—”
Purple energy slowed his fall. He stretched his wings and called on the winds, slowing himself completely.
The trees were on fire. The sand was pulverized like glass. But… Yes. The barrier was still up, like a last bastion that protected those who hid there. In fact, the original fighting area had taken very little of the blast.
That was a relief…
“Owen!” Star suddenly cried.
The air’s density shifted.
Emily!
The realization had Owen acting on reflex, putting up a barrier on all sides, but it wasn’t enough. His barrier, after all the strain, was too flimsy. Dark winds cut through his golden Protect like butter—Owen realized his mistake of using Radiance too late—and then sliced open his scales just as easily. It spun and throttled him effortlessly through the wind. Owen clutched at his neck, holding his necklace in place, as he careened out of the blast line and toward the ground.
He stretched his wings. One wing didn’t respond. One of his horns was blasted off his head—his Perceive wasn’t nearly as accurate, but… was he missing that wing? He opened his eyes with blurry vision and saw something vaguely wing-shaped spiraling ten feet away from him.
That’s probably bad.
Owen thought it calmly. He didn’t have the energy to panic anymore. He tried to channel the winds, but his aura was shot; he tried to glide down the old-fashioned way, but it wasn’t enough with just one tattered wing.
He wondered if Barky would be able to act in time if he prayed.
And then he felt Star under him, using her tiny but strong body to slow his fall. Slower and slower—it felt like a glide. He was flying.
Owen Perceived the ground coming faster than a glide.
Oh.
With the last of his strength, Owen grabbed Star’s tiny body with one hand, wrapping it gently yet firmly around her abdomen. He tossed her skyward.
He struck the ground and lost his second horn. A sickening crack rattled his neck in one place and his spine in two more. He lost all feeling in his legs. Nostalgic.
For a few seconds, Owen braced for something more to happen, though all he could brace was a weak furrow of his brow. Nothing came. Everything was, for a blissful moment, peaceful. The wind blew ash and embers into his face, reminding him of a home long ago. He held his necklace, tracing the rope to the great claw at the bottom. Still intact. He’d have laughed if he could have.
Something tiny was slapping his face. Felt like a little Mew. It was Eon or Star. Probably Star. That made more sense.
He couldn’t talk or see or hear, though. That made this awkward. Instead, he focused on trying to repair himself. He couldn’t quite feel it… but he tapped into his Orb. After all this time, it still had its use. His limbs dissolved into roots that dug through the soil, expanding, and gathering nutrients. His one remaining wing grew leaves that soaked in the sunlight the blast had pierced through the skies. So much warmer…
Star, Owen thought, realizing prayers would still get to her. Go to the others… Lure Emily. Complete the Circle. I can’t do anything right now…
The tiny paws stopped shaking him.
I’ll be fine. Can’t you tell? I’ve been through worse. I still have my head this time.
A silence. Owen wondered if Star was still there. A foot kicked his cheek. Yeah, he deserved that one… But then, he felt her touch his cheek again. And then a hug… and then, her presence was gone. Good enough.
It was getting hard to stay awake. Even as energy flowed into him, the warmth and peace after all that happened left him exhausted.
He could only hope that the others could do it without him… and perhaps, he could recover fast enough to do his part in time.
Arceus, Owen prayed. Fire your charge now! I got rid of Necrozma!
Even with his mind fogging up with warmth and darkness, he pressed out one final shout.
It’s time to complete the Circle!
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