Rocky Road ~ House of Diyem, Eien, Mellow, and Toast

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut simply drifted a bit to his left, cutting off any view between Mewtwo and the parasite. "Is this the part where he get him out for actual medical attention?" He flicked a wing again, forming more Morning Sun energy to trickle down over the two of them. And Owen, too, as a precaution.

 

[Negrek]

For a second Nate could only stare, confused, while Owen's words started to echo, the air around him filling with glowing smoke. That wasn't what he'd thought Owen mea--

A moment later it was over, the parasite restrained and the mewtwo collapsed in a heap. Nate remained frozen a moment longer in shock, then took a step forward, making for the mewtwo.

But Brisa and Bahamut and Red were already over there. What could he do, anyhow? He'd only be in the way. Rocky looked about to join the others, too, but after a glance at Nate reluctantly remained where he was.

Nate grimaced and turned instead to the captured parasite. He'd never really seen one up close like this. "Nice work," he said to Owen. "I see what you meant about risky. Like that plan, though. Classic."

And then, lowly, he added, "Can you tell? Is the dark matter still in the mewtwo? Or is it... in here?" He focused on the parasite wrapped in its layers of protects.

Nate used Foresight!

 

[Namohysip]

This parasite didn't seem that strong. In fact, it looked like it was quite depleted, perhaps even starved, or at the end of its life, whatever life it might have had. It writhed against the barrier, its golden light occasionally flashing with each impact, but Owen restored its barriers each time.

"I don't sense any, you know, Shadows in him in the way you'd expect from something like a Dark Matter," Owen reported. "Maybe it was just residual energy, or stolen energy. I'm feeling more from that Parasite, actually..."

Red stood next to Brisa as Mewtwo tried to get up, but his muscles, or perhaps it was his spirit, looked too weak.

Mewtwo's energy is fading rapidly. I don't think summoning him will be a good idea until we can stabilize him.

"How do we fix that?" Owen asked. "What do you mean by fading?"

All of his energy was siphoned into that thing that came out of it. Now he is in a form that cannot be maintained with the energy he has left. There's... nothing you can do about that. Once you stop channeling energy into him... he will fade.

"What?" Owen looked up, and Red looked concerned as he approached and sat next to Mewtwo. He curled up, strength fading--no, his whole body seemed to be fading. "There... has to be something we can... I thought we were goin to save him! Diyem?"

He said nothing.

"Diyem?! You said we would save him!"

Mewtwo's colors weren't going back to normal. His fingers... Now that they were up close, they could see how thin they were compared to Karat's, how somehow skeletal his form seemed. His dark eyes stared at Brisa. No words came from him in either voice nor thought, but even though that sense of peace was flowing through him, Mewtwo looked like he didn't know how to understand it. He didn't know what to think about those around him; it was as if he could not comprehend their friendliness. So, he felt nothing, and only stared.

 

[Ambyssin]

"What if we gave him an Ultra Stone?" Bahamut wondered. The description Diyem gave sounded eerily similar to what seemed to happen with Sword in the aftermath of all the Worldcore nonsense. "He might be able to resonate with it. Even if temporarily."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded. "That's a good suggestion. Diyem, can ya expedite our acquisition of one of the fuckin' things, by any chance? Or an alternative of some kind? Y'can make bodies, after all, can't ya?"

She grimaced, staring back at Mewtwo's blank expression. She didn't have the power to heal, to sustain others. All she could do was promise that there was no need to fight.

"I don't reckon the poor critter is capable of speech," mused Sombra. "I can't help but fear that we're only gonna be prolongin' his sufferin' at a risk to ourselves."

"This is the right thing t'do," replied Brisa, evenly.

"I know. That's why we gotta be brave."

 

[Negrek]

It was at least reassuring that they probably weren't going to have to do a second exorcism on the mewtwo to get rid of the dark matter, but what Diyem said after was most definitely not at all fucking reassuring.

"What?!" Nate said. He abandoned the caged parasite and hurried over to where the mewtwo was lying, horribly thin, horribly... fading. Goddammit. He knew this had all come too easy. He knew it. For a moment he could only stare, losing the thread of the conversation.

When Bahamut spoke up, though... "Yeah, it's worth a shot," Nate said, giving himself a brief shake. No fucking standing around all stupid like an asshole. They had to figure a way out of this, and fast. "I got one." He nodded at Rocky, who found one of the last stones near the bottom of the bag and tossed it to Brisa. They probably needed Bahamut to keep with the morning suns for as long as he could.

"I want to try a pokéball first, though. If it works, that'd be the simplest way. No weird side-effects like what happened to Sword." Nate took a deep breath. "All we gotta do is get him stable enough to take back to Cibus. Then Buffet should be able to help him, or Pop, or hell, maybe one of the fucking Sodas. He's the one who healed Sword when this happened to her." Fuck. This had happened to Sword. And he hadn't even thought to guard against it. Hadn't expected it. Fucking idiot.

Nate knelt down by the mewtwo, Rocky hovering behind him, ready to take out the pokéball but keeping it under wraps for now. "Hey," Nate said. "We want to try and capture you so we can take you somewhere with healers. Is that okay? Can you blink once for yes, twice for no?"

If that didn't get a response, fuck it, he'd grab the ball from Rocky and try it anyway. You were allowed to catch without asking if somebody was gonna fucking die if you didn't. But you couldn't just not try.

Diyem, can you send that Voice of Death guy of yours over here? The gengar? Nate asked. I doubt he's got any kind of healing, but if this doesn't work, I think he might be able to help us. Hope. Hope he might be able to help. But the goddamn mewtwo wasn't going to spend all his life a fucking slave only to die immediately once he got free. That was just too fucked up to even contemplate.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa caught the useful lump in one paw, and nodded a wordless thanks.

Count on Nate to have a good plan. Guy was an oddball, but the team owed a lot to him. Maybe she should buy him a drink sometime or something. Unless he was a kid. Was he a kid? She didn't fucking know, she never talked to the guy. Wind and weather.

"Here's hopin' this works," whispered her Shadow.

 

[Namohysip]

I am already sending Garro your way. I have the same power. But...

"But if you do that, he'll become a Void Shadow. Is that right?" Owen asked, looking up.

...Yes. If I use my powers on Mewtwo as he is... he will reduce to a Void Shadow. A lost spirit. That is what they all are, after all. But... it would help him recover. It may take a long time, though, for him to come to anything close to what he used to be, if that. A time measured in years or more.

Fading, fading, and it didn't look like a ball was going to work. It didn't react, either because the Voidlands wasn't operating in the same way, or because the other ball was still active.

Mewtwo reached toward Brisa and held her on the shoulder. It didn't look like he knew what he was doing at first. He only stared at her; there was no Psychic pull, no presence of corruption, nothing at all. But then he held Brisa's shoulder a little tighter--and she'd feel his grip fade. Not because he was weakening, but because his fingers were just a haze.

He's scared, Owen reported darkly. I think he's realizing what's happening.

Garro emerged from a nearby tree--the Gengar disappeared underground again, reappearing a few paces away with a dark power flowing around his claws. He was glancing up, expression a pensive frown. He was speaking with Diyem about something.

"Try it," Owen said to Brisa. "Nothing to lose, right? Voidlands is a semi-plane--material and immaterial. I think if we take him into the stone here, it'll carry over to the living world, too."

No words, no thoughts, only a feeling. Mewtwo was barely able to hold his spirit together, and he was finally afraid, yet he had no power to do anything. If they did nothing, he would be gone in a matter of minutes, perhaps less.

 

[Negrek]

Nate's grip tightened viciously around the pokéball when it failed to react. Too much to hope for indeed. He nodded curtly without taking his eyes off the dissolving form of Mewtwo. "Try the stone, then."

But at the same time he had a private question for Diyem. Diyem, when you were saying using your powers on the mewtwo would make him a void shadow, does that mean no matter what it is you do? Because I was thinking, Garro... he can't heal nobody, but could he siphon energy from somebody else into the mewtwo? Would that turn the guy into a void shadow, too, even if the person the energy was coming from wasn't shadowy?

Rocky turned suddenly to look over his shoulder, ears standing straight up. "Do you hear something?"

Nate ignored him.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem answered Nate just as privately. ...I do not know if something like that would work. This is a different kind of injury. It would be the equivalent of giving blood to a bleeding person, but without any attempts to close the wound. Turning him into a Void Shadow would stop this 'bleeding.' But perhaps using a Core would also...

 

[Negrek]

Nate nodded again. Thanks. Didn't sound like that would necessarily be a better solution than going straight to void shadow. Nate watched, face set and scowling, to see whether the ultra stone would fare any better than the pokéball.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Alright," said Brisa, softly. "All of y'all, you've done what y'can."

She nodded a thanks to Nate for the core, and Bahamut for his healing, and looked Mewtwo in the eye.

Don't be afraid. This is the best chance we have of helping you. Live.

Brisa touched the stone to Mewtwo's chest.

 

[Ambyssin]

If it didn't work, Bahamut figured he could try pumping the guy full of light. Though he was loathe to resort to such a tactic.

 

[Namohysip]

And, perhaps for only a moment--but that was all they needed--Mewtwo believed Brisa. He pulled away, he tried to push back, but he had no strength left. After one moment where he opened his mouth, perhaps to breathe... he disappeared into a fine, purple dust. Owen looked like he was panicking inwardly, searching for a sign of him, but his Perceive saw nothing. Wishkeeper, however, was calm and watching.

The haze drifted around listlessly, not disappearing, but not condensing, either. A closer inspection would reveal that it was going toward the core. And then, with a thin trail of smoke siphoned inside... he vanished, and the core gave off a soft, gentle glow.

Something reached out to Brisa. It seemed confused, but no longer afraid. And then... silence.

"...He fell asleep," Wishkeeper reported. "But..."

Garro's wide smile returned. "He's stable. I don't believe it, you guys did something to save him. Who'da thought. And here I was expecting another Void Shadow to take care of."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Yes, yes, pats on the back and all that jazz." Bahamut looked skyward. "He can be extracted in this state, correct?" He looked at the parasite. "And what about this blasted thing?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate let out a huge, weary breath, and slumped forward, rubbing his face. "Good Christ," he groaned. Rocky turned back around and gave him a playful nudge, grinning. Nate shoved him away, but he was smiling.

"All right. We good to get the fuck out of here, then?" he asked. "Ain't missing nothing? And that thing's good to go to the lab?" He pointed at the parasite in its cage of protects. "Ain't gonna disintegrate before we get there or shit like that?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"If it does, then good riddance," Bahamut scoffed.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen, stay back with Bahamut to maintain the barrier while I withdraw the others. Then, we will need some time to rematerialize it and deliver it to the lab in the same way. It might be useful for study in comparison with the other, diminutive one found in Maple.

Owen seemed ready enough and gave the others the go-ahead to withdraw. Even Garro disappeared again, looking pleased. With a sudden, pulling sensation, the group disappeared from the Voidlands and reawakened in Diyem's home, aside from Bahamut and Owen.

However, next to them was something curious--a pile of dust that had once been nothing but stone. It was where Mewtwo had once been...

 

[Negrek]

Back in the real world. Nate took another deep breath. Yeah. The Voidlands really hadn't seemed all that bad, to be honest. Maybe the air here tasted kinda different, but it wasn't, like, super fucking oppressive out there or nothing. Nate supposed that if Diyem could create Veritas City, there was no reason all the rest of his inner realm or whatever the fuck had to be a complete shithole.

Supposedly Diyem wasn't a normal dark matter, though. Nate was suddenly gripped by the wish that he could have seen what Maple's Voidlands looked like to compare.

The pile of dust made Nate involuntarily glance over at the newly-occupied ultra stone. "Okay, so, what, are we going to, uh, put that in the infirmary? So they can take care of the mewtwo when he... hatches?" Would that even be necessary.

Rocky was looking back over his shoulder, as though he could somehow still see the Voidlands from where they were standing. There was somebody watching us, you know, he said in Nate's head.

What? I didn't see nobody, Nate said.

No, but you heard--

I didn't hear nothing, Nate said firmly. Not like it matters. We ain't going back there never.

Rocky frowned, lips pressed into a thin line, but he left it at that. Good. Nate turned away and crossed his arms, trying to focus on what they needed to do now that they had the parasite and the mewtwo both back here. No point worrying about the Voidlands. They weren't so scary anyway.

 

[Namohysip]

"Yes," Diyem said, looking down. "I will take. Mewtwo into my custody for now. I do not think he will be in any danger." He walked toward the core and gestured for his core, which was, indeed, gently glowing and dimming with life, like it was breathing.

After a pause, Diyem nodded and summoned Bahamut and Owen next, restoring their statues, while spontaneously, he also pointed to the ash that Mewtwo had once been. Writhing about, Owen quickly sent a Protect around it, sealing it again.

It somehow seemed even uglier in the living world. It hissed and squelched, slamming against the barrier as black sludge coated the walls. Owen screwed his face in disgust.

"All right. Let's just take this to the lab. Mewtwo's going to need time to... recover, right?"

"Mm." Diyem nodded.