Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Main Lobby

[Dragonfree]

"Yeah, that definitely checks out. Not real optimistic about trying to invoke the fucking power of friendship on somebody we've never even actually met." God, Maple. Dave couldn't be entirely thrilled about bringing her along, but sure, if she and Joule were an item she was probably their best bet for actually shaking him out of Giovanni's control.

 

[Ambyssin]

"The big issue will be convincing her it's an avenue worth pursuing," Bahamut said. "She's like me. Unflinchingly stubborn. Perhaps Owen will get through to her. He's so sickeningly optimistic that way."

 

[Dragonfree]

"...Huh. Maple doesn't want to try getting through to him?" Jeez. Imagine telling Joule that afterwards.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I'm not sure about that. Only that her response the first time was to attack Joule," Bahamut said, thinking back to the battle in the Reverse World. "So, I expect that to be her kneejerk reaction."

 

[Dragonfree]

Yeah, come to think of it. Wow. "Jesus. That's cold."

Probably about what they should've expected from somebody who'd cheerfully worked with them for a while only to then threaten to kill them all if they stepped a toe out of line, though, honestly. Why the fuck was he even surprised.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Mmm. I guess we'll see one way or another how receptive she is to the idea," Bahamut said. He turned away from Dave. "Now then, there's something I have to attend to. Take care."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Yeah. Sure. Thanks for the chat."

Dave looked after Bahamut as he left. Well, he supposed this'd been reasonably productive on net.

"Maple must think there's no way to save Joule," Mia said.

"I guess. But why the fuck would she? We've already saved like a dozen mind-controlled legendaries; why not him?"

She frowned. "Maybe she has information that we don't."

"Or maybe she's been dying to get rid of him. Who the fuck knows."

Mia shrugged. Maybe they should see what Maple had to say about all this.

<><><><><>

 

[Ambyssin]

After leaving the meeting, Bahamut headed back to the guild. There were things he needed to do to prepare. Items to purchase. Aural tweaks. That kind of stuff. But, frankly, he wasn't sure how the city was functioning. Was anything even open? Arceus might've known, but Bahamut wasn't going to stick around while Owen Seven tried to use his world's logic to come up with ideas that would get the team killed. They had a plan. It was time to execute the plan.

He just needed to find someone working at the guild. They'd know what shops were open for sure.

 

[Virgil134]

After the meeting at Destiny Tower, Cabot decided to head back to the guild. With Pleo volunteering to get any items they’d need for their upcoming battle, Cabot opted to take the time they had left to unwind a little. After all, with how much depended on their fight with Joule it was important to go into battle feeling well rested and in a good state of mind.

When he entered the guild he immediately noticed Bahamut standing in the middle of the lobby, seemingly searching for something. Cabot narrowed his eyes slightly and let out a small sigh, before attempting to silently walk past the Necrozma.

 

[Ambyssin]

“I see you found your voice again,” Bahamut said. He sensed Cabot’s entry but didn’t turn to make eye contact. “It looks like we had the same idea for fighting Joule all along.”

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot paused and blinked, turning over to Bahamut with a skeptical glance.

"Wait, your plan literally involved bringing Joule into the Reverse World?"

 

[Ambyssin]

He shrugged. “It felt like the most logical course of action. The attack is charged. Trying to knock him out won’t change that. So take the attack and push it somewhere else.”

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot tilted his head and continued to look at Bahamut skeptically. What were the odds that Bahamut's vague plan just happens to match up with his, including the part about bringing Joule to the Reverse World specifically? Something which Bahamut is of course telling him after he'd already told his own plan to the rest of the team.

"Sure..." he murmured. "Though I hope being secretive over nothing was worth it."

 

[Ambyssin]

“My apologies. But in the moment, I didn’t know there was going to be some big strategy meeting.”

 

[Virgil134]

"H-Huh?!"

Cabot looked at Bahamut in stunned surprise. He was... apologizing? After how Bahamut had acted towards him all this time that was probably the last thing he had expected to hear from him right now.

"I mean... o-okay..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I might've made a few too many assumptions in the moment," Bahamut continued. "I'm not used to being surrounded by people who are," he sucked in a sharp breath, "stronger than I am. With what we learned about Maple and Voices of Life, my assumption was that the aggression she displays was learned. And the most likely culprit for teaching her that, to me, was Joule.

"Hence, I was concerned that too many people knowing what would happen would tip Joule off somehow." His core flickered. "But if Maple was willing to have a strategy meeting, I suppose that concern was unfounded." Bahamut scratched his head. "Now if only fighting Joule can go that smoothly."

 

[Virgil134]

"Well... it's good you realized that..."

Cabot continued to stare at Bahamut in befuddlement, when his comment about fighting Joule snapped him back to attention.

"Right. It won't be an easy fight," he nodded. "Even in the Reverse World Joule's attacks will still be very powerful, and that 'second wind' ability of his, or however Maple calls it, means we can't just take him down in one fell swoop. So we're gonna have to endure a bunch of his attacks no matter what."

The Cranidos shook his head. "But I'm not too worried. I know we'll all get through it fine, just like we always do," he said, before crossing his arms. "Though I should try to think of a good way for us to deal with that Catastrophe attack of his. If it's constantly gonna hit the entire team at once it will be hard to dodge, and it wouldn't be very efficient if everyone has to use Protect constantly..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"It's not a complete solution... but after some experimenting with these shadows, I've fashioned the dark aura into a variation of Wide Guard." Bahamut's two arms tapped their claws together. "The shield isn't good enough to withstand the full attack, but it should be better than nothing."

Or it would backfire. But that was only a problem for Bahamut, not the others.

 

[Virgil134]

"Wait, you can do that?" Cabot asked. "Since if so, that would be great. Even if it can't block the entire attack, blocking part of it means the rest will be easier to dodge once the shield breaks. And I think we should be able to handle whatever does hit us afterwards..."

The Cranidos paused a moment as he realized one potential problem.

"Though if your move is a lot like Wide Guard, does that mean it will fail if you use it too often?

 

[Ambyssin]

"Only if the shield doesn't actually block anything," Bahamut replied. "If it repels attacks, I can keep using it. Though I don't exactly want to use it too often, since I'm not looking for the shadows to grow too difficult to manage." He looked past Cabot. "I know how much you lot like the powers the Blacklight has given you all."