Poppin' Arms ~ Training Facility

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut's style was to get right to the point. That's what every fiber of his being told him. But he looked at the words projecting above him. He thought about what had happened on Cibus. Perhaps, cutting to the chase wasn't the best idea in this situation. The necrozma floated a bit into the air.

"You like flying, right?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I do!" Owen replied enthusiastically, spreading his wings.

Is this why he wanted to visit?
No, he's just being nice.
That's nice of him.
What's he looking for?

"I'll follow your lead," he said. "This town is pretty big, but I don't think we'll be able to go too far before getting turned around."

 

[Ambyssin]

"That's fine." Bahamut headed east. Silent at first, then, "I take it you have personal experience with someone like me? My so-called species?"

 

[Namohysip]

"A little," Owen said.

Only a little because it's still hazy.
A long, long time ago.
You have a few things in common.
I've never seen him as a crystal, though.

He followed after Bahamut, drifting left and right to have something other than a static direction.

 

[Ambyssin]

Hazy, huh?

Bahamut flipped upside-down and continued forward. With no blood, nothing could rush to his head. And with no organs, there was no vertigo. "When I first met you, your memories were a bit... scrambled. Is this something that happens to you a lot?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Yeah."

It's ridiculous.
Part of a curse back home.
It's nice to have things in order for once.

"It doesn't really matter while I'm here, though. Once I go back to my real home, it's going to get scrambled again. Maybe one day I'll break the curse." Owen sighed. "...I guess it's only appropriate that my memories got messed up first-thing to happen when I arrived here, too."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut's core flickered asymmetrically. "The fact that you are aware of its existence means it is within your power to break such a cycle." Was that oddly optimistic for him? Yes. But the good news about this body was that, as Owen even confessed, he didn't know enough about it for that blasted Perceive of his to tell whether Bahamut was sincere with that statement. Hell, he wasn't even sure, either. "I'm sure it must be painful for someone like you, who thrives on connections with others. Such a curse would be far better for someone like me. Create an unintentional chance to course correct."

The mindscape version was aware of a block, though. Bahamut paused. "Where do you think this mess up is?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen gestured downward. "This town is a representation of a lot of my memories. Maybe all of them. Each house is a different part of it. There's one house in the outskirts that's a little different. It's weird. I think that's where the block is."

But I can't do anything there.
It's creepy.
There's a box.

"There, do you see it? That green house with the brown roof. Far at the edge."

Recent memories. From Cibus.
Not very many of those...

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut looked where Owen pointed. "I do see it." He floated toward it. Blocks taking the form of boxes wasn't something unfamiliar. There was that old adage about daemon boxes that would spring hellspawns on those who opened them. No guarantee things would turn out like that, of course.

He glided toward the house's door. Bahamut paused by it. "There was one planet," he said to Owen. "Mostly charizard and their families. It's one of the first planets where I was chased off from despite wanting to find a home. Perhaps I held onto that resentment... and extended it toward most of your kind. Not that that's really an apology. Just thought you should know."

Bahamut opened the door.

 

[Namohysip]

Old person, old grudges.
At least you admit it.
I try not to hold grudges.
It's not healthy.

"Yeah..." Owen followed, frowning. "I guess even people like you can have... you know. Biases."

That stick across worlds.
That color your perceptions later.
That make you stuck.
If the world changes, do you change with it?

Inside the room was a bare home with three rooms. Two of them were empty and devoid of anything, like all the furniture had been stripped away and put somewhere else. In the back of the main room, with no colors or paints or decorations, was a small, red box with a gleaming lock in the middle.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Even people like me?" Bahamut floated forward. "Whatever people think of Joule or others who look like me, I never had the power to alter reality. Eternatus' energy is what blighted me. Otherwise I'd have been with my wife and son by now."

He approached the box. Bahamut could try to shatter the lock with sheer force. That might have been too damaging to risk, though. He lowered himself and inserted a claw into the keyhole.

 

[Namohysip]

"No, not like that," Owen said. "People who are aged and experienced and have seen more and know more. That's all."

The inner thoughts said nothing this time. It didn't look like Owen had omitted anything from his truths.

Wait.
Don't do it.
Wait.

"Um," Owen cleared his throat. "I--I've never touched that. It feels like a bad idea..."

It's scary.
I don't want to be here.
I don't want to be here.

There was a coldness coming from the box. It felt like it was watching him.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut stopped. It did seem to be resonating with Owen. Not in a good way, either. Bahamut withdrew his claw and turned to Owen. "You meditate, correct?

"Well, this is your mind." He spoke with conviction. "That—" he pointed to the box "—is like a representation of the curse you spoke of. An outside force trying to exert its will over your mind." His gems sparked. "You've let it stay cozy in its littler corner this whole time, but that stops here. I don't know how much of yourself you project into Wishkeeper, though I could certainly guess. But you are clearly powerful. Stronger than this." Bahamut pointed to the lock.

"I want you to focus on that. Strength. Power. Control. I've seen what you're capable of. Show me that tenacity."

 

[Namohysip]

"Strength... power... control..." Owen gulped.

I'm always outclassed.
I'm surrounded by gods, here and at home.
I'̕l̨l͘ ̴n̢e҉ver be in ͟c̴ontr͝ol.

While hesitant, Owen did step a little closer, staring the box down. It did nothing to react, yet the air was gradually cooling around them. The ambient buzz of the mindscape quieted. The afternoon sun transitioned quickly to twilight until Bahamut's light and Owen's flame were all that kept the world visible.

"Someone... put that there," Owen said. "I... but if nobody else can remove it, and it was meant for me, how am I supposed to?"

That's been my life.
Seals to control me. To manipulate me.
This is all the same.
I͘'̵m͡ ṕo͠w͠e͢rle̵s͏s ͠t̡o ̵sto̕p̕ it.

"I'm not Wishkeeper. I haven't been him for a long time. But... but he's still... me. That's right. He is. And..." He tried to harden his gaze.

There's nothing you can do.
Run away and leave it alone.
You'll die.
Y͘ou'͡ll̡ ͜di̧e͏

The lock's glow dimmed a little.

"There's... a key somewhere," Owen said, somewhere between a trance and awake. "But it's not hidden... physically."

 

[Ambyssin]

"That's because you're the key." Bahamut rested a hand on Owen's shoulder. "You say you've never been in control... but this isn't Kilo. This is Cibus. It only becomes another seal if you stand by and let it.

"Gods? You've handled numerous ones here. You keep getting more power with every fight. Do you really intend to run away after everything you've done."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen balled up his fists, brow furrowed. "I won't," he said. "I'm just... worried."

It's going to backfire.
What if it's sealed for a reason?
The more memories I get, the less happy I become.
What if I was better off ignorant?
...I can't do that.

"I need to know the truth," Owen said to himself. "That's how it's always been."

But his legs were still glued to his spot. He was saying it, and it had to be the truth, but his legs wouldn't move.

I can't.
I can't.
Ỳơu c͏a̶n't͏.

"...Bahamut..." Owen looked strained. "I... can't move closer."

Something's grabbing me.
Please help me.
Y͝òu͘ c̶a͏nn̴ot̛ ̀be͏ ̴h̨elpe͠d.

 

[Ambyssin]

"You can," Bahamut countered. "It's not like you to surrender. This is why you meditate, isn't it? Beat all this ridiculous self-doubt at its own game. You want power. More power." Though as he said it, Bahamut was probing around for the source. With mindscapes, he wasn't restrained by whatever cruddy body Diyem through together. His mind was still one sharpened from hundreds of millennia. If he had to take action, he would.

 

[Namohysip]

There seemed to be a presence wrapped around Owen's torso like a cloud, or a serpent. Something between the two. It was invisible to Owen, perhaps even to his Perceive, or specifically to Owen. Perhaps it had been implanted when he was most vulnerable. But little tendrils from this hazy thing reached up to the letters above Owen's head, rearranging them and drawing out new ones, making statements that were not Owen's, yet became his.

"Power... I do," Owen said, and those tendrils struggled to place more letters down.

I need power to fight.
I have to beat this.
I'm not afraid, I'm frustrated.
Yo̷u ͘c̷a͟n͝'͜t w̢i͘n.
I can win.
I wo̷n͘'t ͝le͏t̴ yo̴u̶.

It was digging into Owen's head, pushing past scales and bone. Owen winced, like it was only a dull pain, but to Bahamut, it was a grotesque display. The world was getting darker. The box seemed to be absorbing the light around it, including Bahamut's own.

"Something's... here," Owen said as one of his eyes disappeared in the dark. Dumbly, he raised his hand and reached for the thing boring into his skull, but more tendrils latched onto it and tried to pull it down.

But he fought it. He grasped onto the thing and it hissed loudly. Cyan aether gushed from the wound, and now Owen had both hands grasping at it.

A low, hissing noise echoed from the box. The skies outside had turned a blotchy purple.

 

[Ambyssin]

Well, he certainly was tenacious, Bahamut would give him that. Though perhaps a bit foolish. That thing... and that color in the sky. Of course it made him think of Eternatus. Why wouldn't it?

Bahamut conjured a Shining Blade and drove it right at the middle of the thing, where the tendrils were spawning from.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen yelped in surprise and tried to move away from the attack, but it clung too close. The blade grazed the creature and it hissed, trying to puppet Owen toward the blade to get hit by it instead.

"Oh, no you don't--Bahamut, what is it? Do you see it?!"

I can take a hit or two.
It can't.
Don't be afraid to hit me.
Y̢ou'͠l͢l ̶ķiĺl hi̛m i̧f ̢y̛ou͟ ҉tr̛y.͝

The winds swirled around in a great twister, blocking out several nearby buildings and all of the faraway ones. The storm howled something cruel. The box rumbled, black-red fissures creeping along the floor with the box as its source.