Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Infirmary

[Namohysip]

A pause followed, perhaps because the ball of negativity was considering her words, or perhaps because he was still very tired. Despite this, though, he responded well. "Discussion is something I will accept," he replied simply. "About what? Owen is already filling me in on the strategy you are coming up with. I do not think I will be able to help. I can barely form a body for myself as it is..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, and approached to sit by the bed. She was so tired.

"Glad t'hear Owen is fillin' you in. Wasn't sure how caught up you'd be, given yer condition an' all."

She took her time with her words. No need to rush. She'd already spent so much of the day's time and there was only so much left she could achieve.

"It's been a stranger time even than it was before, without you around," she said at last. "Leadership and direction in short supply, suspicions growing perpetually among ourselves and among Cibus natives, somehow pullin' through nonetheless."

She eyed the entity she called both Dark Matter and 'friend'. "I want to start takin' coordination of our efforts and addressin' concerns more seriously. Startin' with the matter of Giovanni's claim that there are spies in Team Spectrum. I never really credited it, but it's had everyone on edge. Is there a chance he weren't lyin', Diyem? Can you know fer sure that all of us are above board?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm..." Diyem seemed to sigh, or at least make something akin to one. "I have been watching the actions of what you have been doing even while I was imprisoned. And while I was not able to reach out to you, I saw flashes of what you were trying to reach out to me over. And of what I have seen... I would have known immediately if any of you were spying." The red sphere glowed softly. "If we do have a spy in our midst, or multiple spies, they are not from those that I brought here."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa let out a short, humourless laugh of relief.

"I sore needed t'hear that. Okay. Good."

What next, then?

"Alright. D'you have any insight into Giovanni's plans given what we know now? It feels like we're collectin' tiny pieces of a shattered whole picture. He's usin' radiance, shadows, and the power of Eternatus t'create somethin', but we don't know the details. We don't know the goddamn truth of it. Nor do we even know his motivation, 'cept raw fuckin' power."

As she spoke, a growl ripped itself from her chest, but she kept her head. She let the shadows exist almost comfortably around her mane, accepted that there was anger, and fear, and let them be.

 

[Namohysip]

And to this, Diyem hesitated. There was something there to someone as perceptive as Brisa that perhaps others had also noticed. Could Owen have, too, or did his Perceive not extend to expressionless balls of Shadow energy?

"Giovanni is using some kind of energy related to Eternatus," he said. "I've... known that for a while. I did not know for sure until I'd arrived... but that must be what is happening, somehow. But..." He went silent again. There was more. He was hesitating. Why now? "...Even if you defeat Joule... this problem is far from over. Giovanni might recover from that attack. And..."

The darkness shifted and the sphere rolled a little more under the covers. It was at least three layers thick, but his voice reverberated as if there was no cover at all.

"I know where Eternatus is."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's ears perked up.

"This a 'prowl up an' take 'em out' kinda knowledge, or somethin' else desperately terifyin' to fret about?" she asked, her voice dust-dry.

She already knew this wasn't good news, or Diyem would get to the point. It didn't really matter. The threats facing them were always dire, the thing was to be prepared however daunting it felt.

"...Tell me. Whatever it is you know, Diyem, I wanna know too."

 

[Namohysip]

"We will need to be delicate about this," Diyem said. "If the people of Cibus find out... there will be hell to pay. We cannot tell them or it would go about completely wrong. They wouldn't... understand. But, Eternatus..." Diyem quieted down, like he was worried someone else might hear him. "She is within the Tree of Life."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Ah. Naturally. Brisa grimaced.

"Kinda had a feelin' she'd be in the world's guts," she replied, hushing her voice in kind. "So this doesn't just mean she's actively workin' at puttin' hurt on Cibus, but that to put a stop to her . . . we gotta convince everyone that Dark Matter and his posse want to go to the Tree of Life purely outta altruism and not at all to do what Dark Matter always does at the Tree of Life."

She chuckled bitterly. "More of the same, ain't it. An' I'm guessin' her distortions will make it hard to determine that she's actually there, too. That's too fuckin' bad. Y'got a plan?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...No." Diyem shifted under the blankets again. "Only that we absolutely cannot tell Maple. We know her traumas. We cannot tell Arceus. The crisis of my parallel is too recent in the god's memory. This will be... our ultimate deception toward them, if we want any hope in taking Eternatus down before it's too late. I wish there was some other way, but..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The shadows churned. Deception. It didn't come easily to Brisa to accept deception. It had been tough to deceive Buffet about Diyem's willingness to speak to him even with a white lie. Still...

"I'll respect yer judgment," she growled. "Even though with shadows coursin' through me I still ain't fuckin' happy about it."

She pawed behind her ear and huffed. "I had a moment with Maple earlier. The end of it was, she decided to make some time to get t'know an' trust the posse. If we can save Joule, maybe she'll trust us enough that we can share this knowledge with her."

Or maybe we'll just have to fight her. We could do it, probably. If we can take out Joule, we can take out damn near anything in creation.

 

[Namohysip]

"What she will do when she finds out..." Diyem shuddered under the blankets, as if he actually had a body now. "...I do not want to find out. She will turn me into an ethereal salad."

More silence, though it seemed that Diyem had a little energy compared to before. Maybe company was helpful if it was done right. Still, he refused to come out from the covers.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Master yer fuckin' fear, Diyem," hissed Brisa. "Y'ain't alone here. Whatever happens, I'll speak in yer defence."

She scoffed. "Why, I'm willin' to bet you never even thought you could set foot on Cibus without being exterminated on sight, now, did ya? Yet, here you are. Arceus and Maple alike are allowing you to live despite what and who you are, even though you're vulnerable. Maybe it's pragmatism; maybe it's faith. But it sure ain't 'cause it's slipped their minds. Do you take my meanin', Dark Matter?"

 

[Namohysip]

"No," Diyem replied with an annoyed growl that sounded a little higher pitched than it should have been. "Because there is a difference between being Dark Matter and defeating the enemies that appear, and being Dark Matter and attacking the Tree of Life... again."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa curled her lip back, then stopped herself, shook her mane free of a little excess shadow, and returned to the steady hum of darkness she'd been maintaining.

"Y'ain't exactly wrong. But yer framin' it without any goddamn nuance! You're so scared that folks won't trust you, even though the situation ain't remotely the same, that you'd rather be deceptive than come clean. Is that wisdom? Is it yer true nature? Or is it maybe just a fear to get the fuck over? 'Cause y'ain't so above all this just by bein' Dark Matter. You're also a person, Diyem."

 

[Namohysip]

"I am LITERALLY everything wrong with the world I came from. I may be a person now but I always will be someone spawned of darkness, and my powers will forever damn me to that fate." The blankets shuffled again, angrier this time, like he was sitting up, or at least rising higher. "The only thing that kept Maple from killing you outright was Arceus saying not to. If things go awry in any way, it will spell the end for me, for you, and perhaps even for returning to your world. I am the embodiment of evil, Brisa."

Diyem had pointed at her--so he had a body?--and some of the blankets fell away. It revealed a tiny, scaly hand of orange scales. As the rest of the blankets slid off, it revealed a tiny, Charmander form, like he'd just hatched out of an egg. He even seemed top-heavy. Hastily, he bundled up again and hid inside the blankets. "She may trust you... but only because she thinks I might be misleading you."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Goddamnit. That grouchy bastard. Brisa closed her eyes and let a snarl of discontent peter out, until she was once again stable.

"I'm not convinced y'ain't jus' hidin' under them there blankets 'cause yer embarrassed to look like a newborn," she said, at last. "You'll get over yerself soon enough. We all did, when we turned up in lil' unevolved bodies."

She clenched her jaw. It was becoming a strain to keep the shadows at a suitable intensity without lashing out.

"I ain't here to debate moral philosophy with ya, Diyem. Spawn of darkness, embodiment of evil, sinister what-have-you—I don't really give a shit about yer origins. I, an' th'rest of yer posse, are doin' our damndedest to protect Cibus no matter how much pain an' sufferin' we've endured, on this world or any other. Hell, some of us are motivated by our anguish. That's why I'm so ready to put my trust in you. In Dark Matter. 'Cause dark feelings ain't wrong, they're part of bein' a fuckin' person. Argue all y'like. I ain't fuckin' wrong."

 

[Namohysip]

A long sigh followed, and Diyem let the silence fill the void. He seemed to shake his head from under the covers. "I know how you see me. I know how the team sees me. I can sense all of their negativity or the absence of it when thinking of me. Owen continues to be an insufferable bastion of light. Cabot will literally not go a day without visiting me. But Maple has yet to so much as appear in this room, and frankly I don't blame her." He shuffled and finally pulled the blankets off of himself. They fell off his tiny, barely defined shoulders, and his tail flopped out, revealing the black flame beneath.

"What reason does she have to trust me beyond her traumas?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa yanked at her cheek fur in frustration.

"There y'go again. Reducin' the situation too damn much."

She let out a long sigh of her own.

"I ain't expectin' Maple to pay a visit to ya durin' yer recovery outta the goodness of her heart. I'm expectin' Maple to believe that workin' with us will continue to pay off once we save Joule and she makes good on her promise to reach out to the posse. I realise time ain't exactly on our side, but we're gettin' pretty good at beatin' the odds."

She held up a paw for silence as she calibrated her shadows again. She dismissed the immediate thoughts that came to her about dragging Diyem bodily into the presence of Voice of Light Blade, of whiplashing Maple until she felt something of Brisa's fervour, of appealling to every emotional and rational impulse they had. Diyem deserved better than half-baked ideas.

"You an' Maple ain't as different to each other as you both seem t'think, and you'll be better off trustin' each other. I'm gonna get the both of ya to believe that, somehow. I ain't hopeful it'll happen in the next ten minutes, but I'm countin' on it happenin' at all. You just let me figure out how."

 

[Namohysip]

"...Do as you like..." Diyem's little shoulders slumped and he tried to stand, but his legs wobbled and he collapsed back into bed. "Cursed body... can barely manage something as basic as..." He shook his head, sighing. "...One word of advice," he said. "Do not tell Maple that she and I are at all similar. She will take it the wrong way." And frankly, he felt like he was talking it the wrong way now.

He took a steady breath. Talking was exhausting him. Keeping up the deep, reverberating, warped voice he was normally capable of was... tiring. "You can get rid of your Shadows," he finally said. "I'm... stable. You don't need to push yourself for my wellbeing." He had to stop again, looking like he was meditating. his black flame had gotten smaller, but when he focused, it returned to a normal size. It seemed to go down every time he talked. "Talking... drains my energy. Keeping up my proper voice. I could easily rely on this body to do the speaking..." But that could potentially be a worse fate.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"He must have truly been desperate to save this world to go that far. It does make me wonder... why. But... he is recovering now. I don't want to press him. He is Dark Matter, after all. But... he does not behave like the ones I usually see. The ones that are usually vanquished from worlds such as these."

Brisa smirked a little. It was an unfamiliar expression and didn't fit well on her muzzle.

"I'm fine. As fer you, if it won't kill ya to use a normal goddamn voice then get th'fuck over yerself and use it. Anyway, despite all yer skepticism, my chinwag with Maple leads me to believe you're excessively pessimistic on the matter, even by yer own miserable standards. Neither of you can easily conceive of workin' with the other, but to save this world, I suspect you'll damn well have to. And while you are yet to think it possible, she at least recognises that yer motives ain't like what she's used to from yer wretched kind."

Brisa let out a deep breath and finally let the shadows go.

"One last thing, Diyem. How can I best make myself useful, that I ain't already doin'?"