Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[Negrek]

"Oh. Well, yeah, that looks a bit more like something that'd fuck up a planet or two." Nate considered the floating image for a couple seconds, then sighed. "There's zero fucking chance we're getting out of this without fighting that shit, ain't there?"

"Yesss. It's gonna be epic!" Rocky bounded away again, whooping and jumping gleefully from one piece of furniture to another. Nate watched him go, already feeling tired. He probably needed to get the familiar outside or something before he exploded from excitement.

"Well, thanks. That was helpful," he said to Maple. "Lots to fucking think about. I guess we'll see if anything interesting turns up in that mewtwo's secret base or whatever the fuck. Maybe try to mess with Darkwhite a bit, who the hell knows."

 

[Namohysip]

Maple nodded, and then her eyes drifted back to the Ultra Stone under her hand. She rolled it to and fro, then said, "Yes. I'll be sure to get things prepared soon..."

The Ultra Stone wobbled back at her but Maple didn't react.

And then an odd silence sank in, where Maple might have forgotten they were there.

 

[Negrek]

Nate was perfectly content to slip away and let Maple think about whatever she was gonna think about, but people rarely managed to forget Rocky was around for long. "Bye, Maple! Bye, Maple's shade! Get lets of energy so you can turn into somebody awesome! Think lots of happy thoughts for them, Maple, you know they love happy--hey! Stop. Stop--okay, okay, fine. Bye again, Maple!"

If Nate hadn't kept headbutting Rocky's leg, the familiar would probably have found some excuse to keep hanging around, but at least this time Nate managed to herd him out of the room with minimal complaining.

"Maple's so cool," Rocky said once they were out in the hall, making for the exit as fast as Nate's little legs could take him.

"You say that about literally fucking everybody."

"Yeah, but Maple's really cool," Rocky said, grinning broadly at nothing. "Traveling the cosmos, destroying the Dark Matters! Hanging out with space dragons! Leading the greatest team in the universe! Fwoom!" He takes a swing at empty air, gauntlet glowing white with energy.

"Okay, but remember that the only reason she's off doing that stuff is her entire fucking planet got annihilated. It ain't exactly a fun little adventure out there."

"Oh, that always happens to heroes, though," Rocky says blithely. "That's normal. You think Maple's ever seen any cool planets? Like, like one where gravity's backwards? Or, or where it rains candy? We should've asked. I bet she's been all the best places."

"Yeah." Nate sighed. "Cool shit. Sure."

"I can't wait until we fight Eternatus," the familiar went on. "We're gonna fight it, right? Maybe we're gonna fight five. We keep fighting such crazy things! Maybe we'll fight in space! I wonder what space is like. It must be so fun to float around all the time!"

The familiar babbled on while Nate followed silently at his side, scowling down at the floor, all the way out of the guild.

<><><>​

 

[Ambyssin]

Elsewhere in the guild, Bahamut paused mid-step and violently sneezed. He looked around in confusion, then continued forward, muttering under his breath.

<><><>​

 

[Ambyssin]

Multiple times Bahamut had tried to enter the study only to sense other occupants and bail. Eventually his persistence paid off and the room finally emptied out. No Maple, no Silver... and no desk space or chairs that accommodated his stature. Not that it really mattered. As long as the book he needed was still there, he'd be fine.

To his luck, Bahamut found an almanac section discussing the Isle of Light. With such a name, he had to know more. Was there an abundance of light he could snack on? If so... giant hole in the ground or not, he'd just go lurk there away from the rest of the team.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz hadn't been alive all that long, but she reckoned she had her life pretty much figured out by now. Meet interesting people, see interesting places, do interesting things, and have as much fun as possible kicking ass until you eventually stopped existing. Researching the various enemies of Cibus, and by extension, Team Spectrum, was not exactly her idea of interesting, but it was something to do, and it would come in handy with the other major part of being alive. Helping people.

She'd already gone about interviewing all the talkative types, and so it was time to hit the library. Or the study, anyway. Closer to home, less likely to draw stares, and—oh, and Bahamut was present. She hadn't grilled him yet.

"Howdy, fella. Don't believe I've had the pleasure, but Brisa's memories are tellin' me you're Necrozma Bahamut, is that right? I'm her familiar, Zeraora Luz."

 

[Ambyssin]

"... fascinating." Bahamut's pupilless eyes remained fixed on the book. "Introducing yourself as 'Brisa's familiar' almost implies you're a possession of hers as opposed to a unique living creature. None of the other former shades have spoken in such a way."

In all likelihood, there was no deeper meaning behind the word choice. It was just what came to mind. But on the off chance there was some sort of... specific relationship between Brisa and whoever this shade was based on, it would provide some useful information for the future. He could pursue the matter, but perhaps he'd just store it away for later.

"Do you need me for something? I know you haven't been around as long, but in the three months we've been stuck here most everyone has avoided me unless it was absolutely necessary."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Introducing yourself as 'Brisa's familiar' almost implies you're a possession of hers as opposed to a unique living creature. None of the other former shades have spoken in such a way."

Luz shrugged. "I ain't under any pretensions about who and what I am. I'm more her than I am anyone else. My personality is borderline parasitic on the gal's subconscious. It ain't subtle. Wonder what that says about you 'n' yer poipole fella?"

"Do you need me for something? I know you haven't been around as long, but in the three months we've been stuck here most everyone has avoided me unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, that's 'cause you're an intractable sonofabitch. But you knew that, huh? I reckon that's how you want things. Don't matter to me."

She laughed, and leant against a bookcase as casually as anyone had ever leant against anything.

"Brisa's memories are tellin' me you're a well-travelled fella. I wanna pick yer ancient brain about Eternatus, deoxys, and whatnot. Yer own species, too. We gotta have enough pieces between us by now, collectively, to piece together some kinda picture of our situation."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Poipole is... exactly as I remember him from days long past." Bahamut shifted position. "Well, he's his original species again. But most of the time I knew him he looked like that. So, no, I would say my psyche had little influence on him." His brand of caustic, bitter thinking would likely have manifested into someone like Darklaw. Though given what he'd heard Brisa say of her delphox father, perhaps seeing the two in one space would've offered a pittance of amusement.

"As for your request... you'll have to be more specific." His eyes and core shifted to pink. "There's nothing I can tell you about Joule. Before I met Maple, I wasn't even aware there were others like me. And I cannot manipulate reality like Joule can. I merely wielded light to exude overwhelming force against enemies."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged expansively. "Nothin', huh? Not even a weakness you might share with him?"

She took out her notepad and pencil and put the pencil between her teeth a moment.

"Besides, I can quiz Maple about Joule. I wanna know what you know about Deoxys, Eternatus, stuff like that."

 

[Ambyssin]

"You strip of his light if you want to cripple him," Bahamut said. "Do that, and he'll be in such excruciating pain he won't be able to function properly." He crossed one forepaw in font of the other.

"Deoxys are mutants. The result of high-energy light colliding together in the depths of deep space." A blue tint took over his eyes. "At least, that's how they are in my dimension. They attempt to communicate with light patterns of varying wavelength. And they can shift their forms due to the highly unstable nature of their bodies."

His eyes and core darkened. "Eternatus is... a planet-destroying monstrosity. It does not think. It does not feel. It defies nature and reality by producing limitless amounts of energy without any source. Energy that is corrosive to any who come in contact with it. I've seen numerous reactions. Pokémon growing to titanic size. Appearances mutated. Spouting extra heads and limbs. Changing types or species entirely." He shook his head. "And all irreversible."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded, took her notes, asked a couple of clarifying questions.

"Alright. Here's where I'm at now. You've had longer to think about these critters than anyone on the posse, you've had the most opportunity to put the pieces together. The way I hear it, you've even encountered an instance of Team Rocket. So... Is what we've seen makin' any more sense to you than it is to everyone else? D'you have a theory?"

 

[Namohysip]

The Isle of Light did not have much information on it that the group wouldn't have already known. It was a location in the northeast of the Sand Continent, named after the way the sun tended to shine brightly there due to its steady hillsides and pale sands. It was apparently also the preferred spot for a few Legendary Pokemon, but that could be said about a number of locations. It was, otherwise, a simple location to visit for the sights.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Eternatus warps the fabric of reality around itself. Possibly without realizing it." Bahamut shut the book. It didn't look like this Isle of Light had what he wanted. Pity. "I can't form much more than some basic guesses. But the way I see it is quite simple. The first issue to befall this world was a single magikarp growing to large scale. Absolutely a result of Eternatus." He lifted his right hand. "Around that time, Maple and her team show up here." He lifted his left hand. "Then we followed along to try and deal with the problem."

Bahamut smashed his hands together. "And from there, things began to spiral further out of control with shades and radiance and all that ridiculous nonsense." He tilted his head toward the ceiling. "So, if you ask me... all of this is, in some respect, our team's faults. From wherever its hiding, Eternatus reacted to our presence. To Maple and her team by warping time to bring forth corrupted versions of people from her destroyed world. And to our team through the shadows and these Team Rocket characters. I understand that several team members have experience with varying versions of Team Rocket."

He yawned. "That's my belief. That time-space fuckery is at play. And our missing leader may be partly, but unintentionally, to blame."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz grinned to herself. This guy's takes were brilliantly entertaining. She wondered what Brisa would have to say about them, then realised she already pretty much knew.

Bahamut has it in his head that everythin' that happens is somehow his fuckin' responsibility, and therefore his fuckin' fault. The team, too, is somehow his responsibility, never mind that he's just another member, which makes everythin' our fault too. Guess that's what bein' a mindreadin' do-gooder does to you eventually. I'd pay to see him and Jesse in a room together.

"So you reckon... that even though we arrived in response to Eternatus, Diyem's Posse and the God Squad are responsible for Eternatus. Quite an insight ya got there, fella. Love to hear how you think a human-made machine with powers based on Dark Matter could possibly be a scheme by a critter that neither thinks nor feels."

Her grin widened. What was this guy's Shadow like, she wondered? What dark thoughts lurked in his core? With his history, ability and personality, surely they were dire.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut sighed. So, Brisa's friend had the same tendency to misconstrue things as she did. At least now it made more sense to him why Brisa had such bad blood with Starr early on. Etherium lacked stereotypes about impulsive electric-types acting before thinking things through, but perhaps such was not the case in other worlds. Tragic.

"You misunderstand me." His eyes and core flickered orange. "I said that my guess is the Blacklight and Team Rocket are Eternatus' involuntary responses to our presence in this world, along with Maple." The jagged spikes on his forepaws crackled with light. "We have to stay here... to break through the corruption, but also because with Dark Matter missing there's no guarantee we can safely return to our original bodies should the worst befall us."

Though Bahamut considered that a blessing. Perhaps he could finally accept death's sweet embrace and not get shoved back into his cursed, broken body?

"However, as long as we remain here, I would expect more surprises to pop up that we have to deal with."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged. "Reckon I understood you just fine. Just not seein' how somethin' as sophisticated as an artificial Dark Matter can be accredited to involuntary actions by a mindless hungerin' beast. Not to mention... that mewtwo fella, Silver's pa, has control of Joule. That's a means of interdimensional travel all his own. Reckon that's more likely how he got here, meself."

She stretched languidly. "Anyway, all that Dark Matter business you guys have to worry about is ♋︎ ♌︎♓︎⧫︎ ♋︎♌︎⬧︎⧫︎❒︎♋︎♍︎⧫︎ ♐︎♏︎❒︎ ❍︎♏︎📬︎ ✌︎⬧︎ ♐︎♋︎❒︎ ♋︎⬧︎ ✋︎🕯︎❍︎ ♍︎□︎■︎♍︎♏︎❒︎■︎♏︎♎︎📪︎ ✋︎🕯︎❍︎ ♋︎ 👍︎♓︎♌︎◆︎⬧︎ ■︎♋︎⧫︎♓︎❖︎♏︎📪︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ✋︎ ♋︎♓︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♑︎□︎♓︎■︎🕯︎ ♋︎■︎⍓︎⬥︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎ ⬥︎♒︎♏︎■︎ ♋︎●︎●︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ♓︎⬧︎ □︎❖︎♏︎❒︎📬︎ 🕈︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎🕯︎⬧︎ ⬧︎□︎ ♐︎◆︎■︎■︎⍓︎✍︎✂︎

She cocked her head at Bahamut's progressive incomprehension. Okay, if he was gonna be like that... She shrugged again and went to leave, grabbing a few relevant looking books on her way out to take back to Brisa's place. Something to read at night. In the meantime, the best place to learn more about the threat at hand would be the Isle of Light...

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut just watched her go. There had been a momentary fuzziness in the back of his head, but the pieces quickly started to come back together. Perks of being psychic, he supposed. He'd have to be tuned to telepathy more in the future.

"... you're welcome to think whatever you want," he whispered, scowling. "Just don't come crying to me if things unravel in a way you're unprepared for."

<><><>​

 

[Persephone]

"Why are we here again, Cuicatl droned?"

"So that you can make strategies and stuff," Val answered. "That should help you feel better."

"Being entirely alone in silence will make me feel better?"

"Well..." Okay, Val hadn't entirely thought this one through. It wasn't in her nature. "Maybe? And you won't be alone! I'm here."

Cuicatl muttered something that Val couldn't quite hear. Ill me, maybe?

 

[Fusion]

After taking more time than she probably actually needed to recover, Vix figured she might as well spend some time alone to recollect herself and get ready for whatever was to come. If Puddle's barely-legible note was anything to go by, it and a few others already went to the Isle of Light to search for clues, so now was as good as time as any to feed into her loneliness put her brain to work again and tinker with her strategies a bit more.

It was more a roll of the die whether she went to the library or the study, but she ended up going to the latter in the end. She was about to go to her usual spot when...

"Being entirely alone in silence will make me feel better?"

"Well..." Okay, Val hadn't entirely thought this one through. It wasn't in her nature. "Maybe? And you won't be alone! I'm here."

There was that odd, faint sensation in that air that Vix only ever felt when someone was feeling down. She didn't even give herself the chance to decide whether or not to check in on whoever this was before she floated on over to them.

"Oh, hey there Cuicatl! And Valentina, right?" Vix waved, sounding chipper. "What're you up to?"