Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[Virgil134]

Pleo looked up at the sound of Bahamut's voice and turned around, expecting to see the giant cat he'd gotten to know at this point, but instead he saw a Pokémon that looked like...

"A-Ah! Joule!"

The Lugia let out a startled squawk and reflexively beat his wings, only to pause as he noticed the Pokémon before him not only had differently colored armor than Joule, but even seemed slightly smaller. He blinked puzzedly for a moment, before thinking back to what the Necrozma had sounded like.

"Wait... Bahamut?"

 

[Ambyssin]

The necrozma raised an upper wing. "Guilty." He slithered forward to get a better look at Pleo's book. Was that the Tree of Life in it? No, no, he had to be polite. "How are you holding up?"

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo looked back at the book behind him, before turning over to Bahamut again.

"I was trying to read about the Tree of Life because Diyem needs to go there to get Cabot and the others back," the young Lugia explained, before drooping his head. "But... it's hard to read since there's lots of difficult words and barely any pictures in it."

 

[Ambyssin]

Ah, right. Even though the shades were their own beings, they were all based off someone. And it seemed Pleo might've been the youngest one. And of course the lugia wanted to get Cabot back as soon as possible. Cabot would probably try to do that. But Pleo didn't know what Bahamut did. Nor was he sure if telling the young bird was such a good idea.

"The Tree... might not be as readily available as you're hoping."

 

[Virgil134]

"Huh?"

Pleo tilted his head. "Why not? Didn't Diyem say that we're gonna go on a trip?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"That... also remains to be seen." Pink spread out in Bahamut's eyes. "We need to determine how many of us would be able to go. And I do not believe we'll be going into the Tree, so much as looking around." The tip of his tail tapped against the carpeted floor. "And, assuming that all happens, there are... certain decisions we have to weigh out. Like how much energy can safely be taken from Tree. We may be able to revive everyone in one fell swoop.

"And there's the matter of Arceus. Joule gravely wounded him. He needs the Tree's energy to recover." Bahamut looked at the book Pleo was reading. But the pages didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. "I know that you all want to recover your friends, but is it fair to keep that energy from Arceus when this is his planet? It's... a lot to consider."

 

[Virgil134]

"But, can't we just do both?" Pleo asked. "Diyem and Arceus can both get healed at the tree, right?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"I would hope so, but I'm not sure they can both be healed at the same time." Bahamut needed a comparison. Something that could actually speak to the kid.

Wait, Cabot was some sort of sailor, right? Come on, stupid brain prism. Make a sailing analogy.

"Imagine you have two very large boats that are trying to sail through a very narrow canal," he said, lifting his upper wings over Pleo's head. "Both boats can't go at the same time. They won't fit. And you risk having them crash into each other." Bahamut clapped his upper wings together once. "But if they sail through one after another, they'll make it just fine so long as the second ship waits long enough that it won't run into the first ship." As he spoke, he moved his right wing forward, then his left.

"That's what I'm thinking might have to happen with the Tree." Bahamut brought his wings back. "Arceus and Diyem are very large ships. They probably need a lot of energy to be healed. Probably more than the Tree can give us at once. And we don't want both of them to be improperly healed. So, we might have to heal Arceus, then wait for the Tree to recharge, and then heal Diyem."

 

[Virgil134]

"O-Oh..."

Bahamut's story had made sense to Pleo, who looked down towards the ground, his mood having visibly deflated.

"I mean, I guess that makes sense..." he murmured. "Arceus is pretty important to the world and Cabot could still be revived afterwards..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Yeah." Bahamut sighed. Was he unhappy with this arrangement, too, or because he was one of the few weighing such decisions? If Owen were still alive, he'd probably think about it even if he wasn't interested in discussing it. "And, of course, we have to keep in mind that Maple and Cibus' natives are still... uncomfortable with letting Dark Matter get this close to the Tree in the first place."

Of course Bahamut was dancing around the issue that was really in his head. Diyem told him to keep his trap shut.

... but Pleo looked so... defeated by his statements. The guy was probably similar to who he was based on. Which meant Cabot's world had a baby lugia running around it.

Was he really that cruel that he'd hide the truth from a kid who just wanted their friend back?

If it were Io in his place, what would you do?

Another sigh. This one was more... defeated. "There's... another issue at play." Bahamut coiled around Pleo until his head could get level with the little lugia's. "But I need you to promise me you will not tell anyone else about this."

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo blinked in surprise, before craning his head to look around the room. Seeing that there was nobody else besides him and Bahamut, he turned back to face him with a nod and spoke up in a low whisper.

"Okay, I promise."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut looked Pleo dead in the eye. "The Tree is compromised. Eternatus is inside it. Which means... there's a good chance it isn't safe to heal Arceus or Dark Matter."

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo's beak flopped open out of shock and he almost let out a startled cry in his response, only to catch himself in time. The young Lugia looked around the room again to make sure there was really nobody there, before beating out his wings.

"B-But we need the tree to bring Cabot and the others back!" he exclaimed in a hushed tone. "And- And, if Eternatus is there, then..."

 

[Ambyssin]

“Giving Arceus or Diyem its energy may corrupt them the same way Darkwhite was.” Bahamut sighed. “Now you understand the dilemma. Imagine if we had to fight our own allies because the revival process corrupts them. It took the entire team to deal with Darkwhite. Now our numbers are fewer.”

 

[Virgil134]

"But what do we do then?" Pleo asked. "Maybe Cabot could think of a plan if he was here, but he's not..."

The Lugia looked at Bahamut expectantly.

 

[Ambyssin]

"We weigh our options," Bahamut responded. "Gather the team together. Lay all the cards on the table and have people offer ideas for what we can do." He tapped his beak with a claw. "Personally, I think we ought to include Maple, her team, and the assorted guardians of this world. Though I believe Dark Matter will disagree with me on that." He shook his head. "I just think that, given what's at stake, we should all be working together, not hiding things.

"I can't say I know Cabot better than you, but even I feel like that's something he'd advocate for."

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo nodded. "Right, he would. Maple and the others are our friends too, so he wouldn't want us to exclude them."

 

[Ambyssin]

"But our 'boss' doesn't feel the same way," Bahamut growled, using air quotes with his upper wings. "I think it likely he's going to advocate sneaking into the tree or something. Which I cannot see ending well for anyone."

He uncoiled and backed away to give Pleo some space. "It's a shame we lost the folks we did. They'd built up a lot of ties with the Cibus natives. They could've convinced the natives to help us in our endeavors." He shook his head. "I doubt they'd listen to an old grouch like me."

 

[Virgil134]

"But we can't just sneak in!" Pleo piped up. "That would be mean and wrong of us to do!"

The young Lugia paused at Bahamut's last statement. "And... why wouldn't they? Doesn't Maple really like you?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Why wouldn't they? Because he was basically the team's antithesis. Every time there was a decision, Bahamut always seemed to offer a counterpoint. Even when he finally opted to take the moral high road and go for saving Joule, his surviving teammates were unhappy. At least, they were in the moment. Even Pleo. Maybe they didn't feel that way anymore in hindsight, but it still stood.

And when the team met, Bahamut was pretty sure they wouldn't like what he had to say. It wasn't like he wanted the others to keep rotting inside Diyem. But the whole team saw what Eternatus' corruption could do. If there was a chance the fallen would come back wrong, Bahamut needed to prevent that. He might not have had qualms about fighting them if the need arose, but he believed the others would struggle with that.

As for Maple...

"Maple is..." Bahamut's voice trailed off. He pointed to Pleo's book. "She's as tough to read as that book is for you."

It didn't occur to him that that might be a mean-spirited comment until he said it. His head tendrils receded a bit. "... tell you what. How about we read through the book together? I'll answer whatever questions you have about it." He slithered back up to the table, draping his tail protectively behind Pleo.

At least, for a time, Bahamut could put some of the nastier thoughts aside.

<><><>​