Reverse World ~ Downsideup City

[Namohysip]

And the glint continued to grow in Mewtwo's eyes, and the smirk became something less of amusement and more of... hunger. A human sort of hunger. Greed.

The light warped around him and he made another shockwave. Starr had become noticeably stronger--flames danced in the air and around her body, singing her very aura. The coils of electricity wrapped around Mewtwo's legs...

But it was all dispelled by a single blast of Psychic energy, knocking the two of them into Potluck, who had been running forward for the rescue.

"Hey, hey! I want to play, too!" Darkwhite, who had been munching on a sack of berry snacks, tossed the food aside and ran toward Mewtwo. "You look like you'd be a lot of fun! I'm--"

His eyes flashed again. There was slightly more anger in this one, almost imperceptibly present. Almost.

Darkwhite went flying backwards, smashing into the wall. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and they were a little crossed, too, like she'd hit her head a little too hard. But then she shook, and she was back to normal. "What was that for?!"

 

[Ambyssin]

Good. Good. It was working. Well, Bahamut counted on two evolutions. Lucky devils, those girls. They couldn't count on that again. This wasn't some fantasy piece where the heroes got superpowers in the eleventh hour.

"Get into the damn portal. NOW." It wasn't shadow corrupting his voice. He was just sick of this nonsense. Let Darkwhite and this other cretin piss each other off. This team was in no state to continue this fight.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa hadn't felt this much like herself since Veritas City. The body and the mind were interconnected, so they said. Her ranger persona took over: they were laughably outclassed, but Darkwhite might yet prove a sufficient distraction; they should make an abrupt retreat. Ranger Escarpa pushed herself up and reached out to grip Starr by the shoulder.

"He's beyond us. We need to go. Now."

Starr uttered something foul and confused. Her wild eyes and tense stance told Brisa what she needed to know. Time to go.

Brisa turned to Potluck and gave a firm nod. "Get us out of here if y'can, fella."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Did Brisa and Starr both just? At the same time?

There was no time for this. They were free, the portal was open now, and Celeste didn’t want to be left behind with Darkwhite and Mewtwo. Their strength came from being in a group, he hadn’t forgotten what had happened when Darkwhite had caught him alone. He turned and ran to the portal.

 

[Persephone]

Between her type advantage and dragon dad yelling at her to get into the car now, young lady, Cuicatl decided to cut her losses. She ran in the general direction of where she thought the portal was.

 

[Disco]

Mellow looked between Darkwhite and the strange Pokemon, but decided not to question it. The Luxio was heading towards the group too. She jumped in the portal and bolted towards her hut out in the woods.

 

[Negrek]

And yup, that was pretty much what happened when you decided to go toe-to-toe with Mewtwo. A little thing like evolution wasn't enough to save you against that monster. Nate had had at least a little hope that DarkWhite might be able to at least distract the guy, but apparently not.

The weird chimera guy had run out to grab the people still throwing themselves at the clone. Anybody else wanted to do something stupid... That was on them. Nate joined the mad dash for the portal, moving at a not-very-brisk mudkip top speed.

 

[Dragonfree]

The tendrils of shadow twirling around Dave's body grew and twisted as he abandoned his attempt to protect Brisa. The coldness in his chest rose, and he had only the wherewithal to realize in a panicked moment that something was very wrong before it drowned him.

Nobody was paying all that much attention to him as something began to form out of the shadows, a quivering apparition of a second Poochyena, curled up in a ball, a bright yellow glow in its eyes.

"I can't keep anyone safe," it muttered, its voice distorted, staring blankly at nothing. "People I love keep dying and I can't do anything to stop it. Nobody even likes me. I just fuck up everything."

Dave's ears twitched. "Who are you?" he snapped at the apparition, dragging himself to his feet. He fixed his gaze on the smirking Mewtwo. He could still fight. "Fuck off."

"Every day feels like hell," said the Shadow. "I don't really want to live. Is that normal?"

Dave turned back to it, a manic, not-entirely-sane rage in his eyes. "Yeah? Not my fucking problem. Piss off and bother someone else."

The Shadow was not listening. "The only thing I still wake up in the morning for is the Pokémorphs. The ones that are left, anyway."

"Wh-- how do you know my fucking kids?" Dave's hackles rose. "Bizarre fucking creep. Go away."

He made a mad dash for the Mewtwo, more shadows flaring up around him. "Come get me, motherfucker!" he snarled, preparing a Shadow Charge. The other him drifted along with him, shaking its head. "Come on!"

 

[Negrek]

There was an explosion of yelling from somewhere behind Nate. Oh, yeah, there was the something stupid.

Against his better judgement, he looked over his shoulder. The poochyena, barking his head off at Mewtwo, surrounded by dark haze. More goddamn fucking shadow bullshit. Nate's heart lurched to see the poochyena, howling defiantly, throw himself towards the sneering nightmare cat. "Get over here, you fuckwit!" Nate yelled. "Don't make somebody have to go out there and get you!"

 

[Jedi Shulk]

"Get into the damn portal. NOW."

Fay jumped into the portal without hesitation.

 

[Namohysip]

Time after time they keep jumping at him like flies, but they were surprisingly durable. It would be very easy if he just killed a few of them now, and that glint in his eyes suggested the only thing holding him back was he was trying to choose which one to kill, and which one to steal. Perhaps he got too greedy, because that one second of hesitation--ignoring the routine wave of energy that knocked Dave back like all the rest--Darkwhite went barreling into him. With Dave in the way, he was too distracted to counter her.

"I'm not gonna let you ignore me! These guys are weak but you don't get to ignore me!"

Darkwhite used Darkwhite Combo, dealing 1, 20, and 300 damage!

The barrage was enough to force Mewtwo's hand. He formed an actual sphere of cyan energy and blasted it toward Darkwhite, knocking her far and away once more. He then drifted forward--but realized that there was something on the ground. Grass? Here?

Owen was green, but those leaves and flowers were falling away in favor of orange scales and an ember. He slammed his foot on the ground and a pillar of fire erupted where the grass once was, and the entire field around Mewtwo became an inferno of flames, warping the light.

Finally, a distraction to flee.

"C'mon, kids!" Soda shouted, distorting the light further to warp their foe's vision. "Time to GO!"

 

[Cresselia92]

...That foul imitation of a daemon is calling, son. Thou shall not stay in such a threatening place. Those psychics could easily tear thee apart...

Oh? Icetales glanced briefly at the specter by his side. He was trying to ignore his presence by focusing on his comrades and making sure they fled through the portal. Though, that moment of interest toward his wellbeing was... bizarre? Why did he care about that--?

...which is something that only yours truly can claim. So do not let thyself be ended needlessly by those sociopathic felines, thou foolish lad!

Ah. Yes. That was Father, alright. Always brimming with such a lovely combination of silver tongue and death threats. Just like home... How nice!

"Much obliged, Father..." muttered Icetales venomously, before staring at the two psychics. He could see some of his comrades who were still staying uncomfortably close to the two combatants, so he took a sharp breath and howled. The chilly scream rippled across the entire battlefield, and Icetales hoped that the remaining folks had heard him.

"We must skedaddle, everyone! Pronto!" he yelled with all his voice. He rushed toward the portal and waited for the others. He wasn't going to leave anyone behind and was more than ready to fire a preventive ice attack against any fiend, if the situation called for it.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave crawled to his feet with a heave of effort. His entire body hurt. The Shadow hovered over him, shuddering, eyes closed.

"...It was my fault they even went to the church. I told them where--"

Dave froze. "What the fuck are you talking about?!" he snarled. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I know perfectly well who I am."

"That's nice. Now shut the fuck up."

The Mudkip was yelling at him about coming back. Yeah, right. Why should he?

"Can't you do any better than that?!" he yelled at the Mewtwo before charging back towards him.

 

[Ambyssin]

For pity's sake.

Bahamut hurled his stone into the portal. His core was giving off white smoke. His head cracked. With a groan, Bahamut lifted the Blacklight Dragon up...

"We. Are. Not. Doing. This. Now!"

... and shoved it into the portal. His hands shattered under the strain.

"Someone get that idiot poochyena out of here so he can have his existential crisis somewhere it won't kill him!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's brain was shunting options left and right as she fled that thing alongside Potluck with Starr in tow. She heard Bahamut bark an undirected order. Dave? Dave. Goddamnit Dave you picked a fine hour to get Shadowed.

Her eyes flashed with radiance, and she seized both the poochyena and his Shadow in bars of light. The Shadow burned away as Shadows did, and Dave's muzzle froze in a rictus of confused anger. The Arrest didn't hurt much, but it did tend to shock the recipient.

Brisa barrelled into the Shadow, dissipating it, and grabbed Dave by the scruff without warning. By wind, he was half her size now. That suited her just fine. Time to fucking go.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Oi! I can't... keep this thing... open much longer!"

Bahamut's tiny feet broke off his body and rolled across the ground.

 

[Namohysip]

Team Spectrum hastily shuffled through the portal, and God Squad followed shortly after, though a few lingered behind--Truffle, to maintain a ward, but it was fading. Soda, to keep up an illusion, yet it felt as if Mewtwo was staring straight through it. And finally, Owen, who was trying to maintain another inferno. He made sure to keep behind Soda and Truffle as everyone else, exhausted, made their escape.

For a brief second, Owen and Mewtwo locked eyes. He still had that amused glint, but Owen's was one of challenge.

Will you fight me, too? his eyes asked.

But Owen ignored it and waited until the very last of the team fell through. Owen hopped back, but crossed his arms just in time to block a parting shot from Mewtwo, and the portal finally closed.

 

[Phoenixsong]

First three legends with power beyond what she could readily understand, and then only one but all of them together with a broken, burning dragon behind them, shades raining from the sky, Maple went down, Maple went down and if she went down then what did they have, and now the mewtwo and its vanishing powers sweeping them aside like nothing, they were too weak for this, too spent, too tired, they had to get out, Bahamut could only hold the portal open for so long and they had to get out, everyone had to get out, everyone was in danger, and, and, and. Panic welled up inside her, panic and desperation and something else, something hot and tingling that snapped in her ears over the din of everyone else’s flight.

Skara ran for the portal. As much as you could call it running, anyway—tiny legs meant for inching up a tree did not take well to a mad dash for one's life. Stupid, slow, tiny legs. And yet...

Stay back. You shouldn’t run. Not yet. Buy them time. Do something.

So slow. Shouldn't have been this slow. Hard to move, hard to run when she was this hot, this itchy, something crawling up and down her back much faster than she could make her legs go.

Don’t be stupid. Get out. There’s nothing you can do anyway.

She ran anyway, pushed harder. One foot in front of the other in front of the other in front of the…

Don’t be a coward. You agreed to this. She believed you could do this. You have to do this. Embrace it and do this.

Her legs felt like lead. Like they were tied together. Why was this so hard? Why did she feel heavy? Big and hot and slow and heavy, like a thunder wave still sizzling through her and locking her limbs in place. The portal seemed so far ahead. Hazy? Fading? Everything was going white.

You’re already slowing people down. Move faster, before you make it worse.

Focus. Not the time. Keep moving. The portal was still there. Ignore the burning and the stinging and the voices and just go.

You have to do this. Why are you even here if you can’t do this? If you can’t protect people here, what do you expect to do back home? Get stronger. Accept who you are. Accept what you are. Do something.

It was bright. So bright. Not radiance-bright, not golden and glowing and warm, but blue-white–hot and searing. So slow. So hard to move. Was she even moving? Her limbs were numb. Her entire body was numb. Buzzing filled her ears.

Everyone else is leaving. It’s the sensible thing to do. Be sensible. Knowing when to run away is all you have.

Push forward. Push harder. Just a little harder. Just a little further. Squint through the light filling her vision. The portal was still there. People were still rushing through. (Stay back and make sure. They don't need you to.) It was close. Just a little harder.

She just wanted to go…

Skara pitched forward with the last of her momentum, tumbled through the portal, and landed—wherever they had landed—flat on her side.

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

The backwards peace of the Reverse World was instantly disrupted by countless Legends, Team Spectrum, God Squad, and the corrupted Joule all appearing in the sky. Far away from them was the main settlement of this strange land, and high above was Joule and Arceus and the great ball of death between them. It was still flying, and striking the Reverse World had unknown effects--something that was apparently bad enough that they had to prevent it from striking anywhere sensitive, too.

"Not this world, not my world," Pop said. "Your chaos is really killing my vibe, Joule!"

Arceus used Genesis Sacrifice!

Blacklight That Burns the Sky redirected toward Arceus!

It's too big to avoid!

Arceus winced, flying back as fast as he could, but the ball was faster--unexpectedly fast. Too fast. He wasn't going to be able to get away on time at this rate. He winced--the stray arcs of dark electricity nipping at his fur and hooves as he flew further and further away.

"Oh no!" Owen pointed. "Arceus! He can't get away!"

"He's trying to Teleport, but the energy is disrupting it," Karat said with a snarl. "All that planning, for nothing... He's going to have to take the full hit."

"But... but we planned so much!" Cal shouted at the sky. "C'mon, Pop! A little faster!"

"Even if he goes faster," Truffle said, "that blast has to go somewhere. I don't think even Maple would be able to--where's Maple?"

"Gyeeeuugh!" Leg pointed a tendril at the sky.

A Smeargle flew through the air, clutching something under her arms. She hopped from space to space, sliding between portals in the short-range in an effort to overcome the disrupting force.

"What is that?" Soda tried to get a better look, holding a paw above his eyes. "Looks like some kinda giant gemstone..."

"...Ng--that's not a gemstone!" Owen gasped. "That's SILVER!"

"Apologies for this--just a moment," Maple muttered for only Silver to hear--though he was still unconscious. She wrapped her arms around him and pushed inward, wincing as his body broke through her skin. His body shined, as did Maple's.

<><><>

"I was wondering," Arceus said to Maple, standing atop Destiny Tower, "about those strange life forms you're familiar with. The... what Silver has become. Do you think it would be just enough, perhaps... perhaps with his involvement with Giovanni, could his energy pierce the distortions?"

"...I don't know how much energy Silver has to spare. But... I do know what you mean."

"Perhaps that is what we need. Even if it's just for one shot..."

"Is this what all that teleportation and portal talk gave to you?" Maple asked, smiling wryly. "I thought you were going to ask Palkia for help."

"Palkia will be busy with something else," Arceus replied. "Maple... may I ask this of you?"

"Of course."

<><><>

Maple teleported next to Arceus! Maple pulled Arceus away! They both took grazing damage!

Blacklight That Burns the Sky detonated far away!
Maple: A grazing 8778!
Arceus: A grazing CRITICAL 14,106 damage!

Maple and Silver split apart!

Karat caught the trio as they reappeared nearby. Silver looked mostly unharmed aside from a few nicks and scratches; Maple, who had taken the bulk of the blast, had several wounds all over her body, each one oozing luminous, golden blood. Arceus was wincing at several burns, and it looked like his powers had been heavily disrupted. Arceus didn't look like he was as strong as he should have been... And Maple, having been so desperate, looked like that attack did a real number to her as well.

But Arceus was beaming. "It worked," he said, even as the shockwave of the blast deafened them. Joule loomed over them all, trembling with either rage, instability, or both. He let out an ear-splitting shriek.

"Everyone!" Arceus shouted, rising despite his injuries. He was in no condition to keep fighting for a while, not that he could even if he wanted. That saving grace was one-shot. "The winds of fate have given us some tailwind! Strike back, and end the Blacklight once and for all!"

Voice of Blacklight Joule is attacking!

HP: 99,999
Charge: 0%

Arceus survived the attack!
Team Spectrum gained +1 Valor!

Special Condition: Don't let Blacklight That Burns the Sky fire off more than twice!
Total blasts so far: 1

"Don't forget the plan!" Karat said. "Call out to Giratina if you want to switch to the normal plane! But she can't do that quickly--Joule will probably be able to get an attack onto you, too!"

Additionally, the air in the Reverse World, charged with Blacklight, seemed to be warping even further. It felt just like what had happened against the Creation Trio...

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Cynthian, look! Arceus is okay!" Ivy said, clapping her flowers cheerfully.

"Yeah, I'm so relieved." Cynthian exhaled deeply. She'd been holding her breath from the moment Joule's attack started closing in on Arceus.

"Now, all we have to do is bring Joule back to his senses before he fires another one of those. Isn't that right, folks?" she said with a confident smile.