Sand Continent ~ Isle of Light

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa—no, Ranger Escarpa—barked an order to the team: "He's Radiant! Use your own Radiance! Prove we're no demons!"

Her eyes blazed gold as she summon restraining bars of light with all the effort she had, with all the power that Luz could lend her, a Radiant Arrest to challenge a god of the heavens.

 

[Ambyssin]

"No, don't!" Bahamut's eyes and core shifted to red. "Attacking in any way shape or form will only validate his delusions." There was also the chance of it reacting to Rayquaza's radiant energy and causing even more problems.

 

[Namohysip]

The electrified aura caged Rayquaza partially, but then dissipated just as quickly--he was too strong to suppress with just one strike like that, and it seemed that they got him mad instead.

"How DARE you... I may have been weakened by the darkness during the Meteoric Omen, but I am far from weakened today!" Rayquaza was stalling, trying to charge more energy. "Today, I harness the power of the meteor itself... today, you will see..."

Something bright and gold radiated upward form Rayquaza, coalescing into golden boulders. But the lights were flickering, and golden cracks were forming along Rayquaza's body. He winced, arms trembling, but he clenched his jaw and said, "I will... wipe you where you stand!"

"Hold!" Maple shouted. "Rayquaza, I don't know what's happened to you, but do not launch that attack! You have innocents here as well, regardless of your stance on the interlopers! And your body... it isn't stable! The power is too much for you!"

"Nothing is too much for me!" Rayquaza spat.

"He's going to Meltdown," Truffle reported lowly. "Unless we can calm him right now, I don't think this will end without one."

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv took a step back, then began running towards Rayquaza. A fearful, yet brave expression was on their face.

"Rayquaza!" they shouted. "We're not here to fight you! We're here to help! Listen to us!"

A pleasant, calming aroma eminated from their autumn-red leaf.

"In my world, my uncle helped you figure out about the meteor! I don't know if you're the same Rayquaza he met, but I still know what happened! You listened to him in another world, now listen to me!" Saltriv shouted. "Please, listen!"

They attempted to Soothe Rayquaza.

 

[Namohysip]

Somehow, by some miracle, this gave Rayquaza pause. It was too specific, too elaborate, to have been made up on the spot. But Rayquaza also narrowed his eyes. Despite how far away they were from Rayquaza, Saltriv's words carried on the wind, which had been weakening in favor of the Blinding Meteor that loomed over the island.

"...You... won't trick me!" Rayquaza snarled. "How do I know you aren't making this up?"

The meteor wavered, but the cracks along Rayquaza's body were getting wider. He seemed to be in pain, suppressing the inevitable.

"It's alright!" Owen said. "We won't attack! We were just trying to be careful--we don't want to hurt this island! Look around you!" Owen gestured around rapidly. "Don't attack here! It's... dangerous! For everyone! You're a protector of this world, right?!"

Silence from Rayquaza; the winds howled; the sand pelted at their bodies in light gusts. The meteor still rumbled high above; a single flick would send it flying down toward them. Rayquaza winced again, his breaths tinged with gold mist.

That alarmed Truffle. "He's teetering," he said. "No sudden moves. He could still get out of this..."

But before they had a chance to wait it out, Rayquaza glanced behind him, like someone had gotten his attention. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came--

Rayquaza turned crimson-red. His body melted into light and siphoned downward, onto the ground, where a blue-black, two-legged figure stood in the middle of the glassy impact site, holding a sphere. It seemed to also have a cream-colored chest.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Another of those blasted capture devices." Bahamut's eyes shifted blue to match the color of the newcomer. "That answers that." He looked toward the source of Rayquaza's pause: Saltriv. "Something changed about your aura for a moment there. Whatever you did... hold onto it. I bet it'll come in handy in the future."

The necrozma opted to ignore Brisa. He could've given her some strong words for nearly making things even worse, but Saltriv had bailed them out. "It would seem... we should go back and report this. Or do you want to stick around and risk getting captured by one of those devices?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen gulped, nodding. Realizing he was still on Bahamut and he wouldn't see that, he said, "Yeah, I don't think we can take on that guy right now. He looks like..." Owen squinted, but he was till too far away.

"Emissaries of Darkness!" shouted the figure far ahead. Now that they drew closer, just a little, they saw that it was a Lucario. "I know what your true goal is by interfering with this world."

Maple squinted, suddenly bothered by something. Like some old memory had surfaced... But she couldn't tell why.

"You intend to strike at the Tree of Life once more and claim its power as your own. I will not let that happen!" Lucario pointed toward them. "I know that you need this world preserved to complete your plans... So I will give you an ultimatum. In ten days, I will be waiting for you at the western peak of the Great Canyon. If you do not meet me then... I shall bring the battle to you."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut tilted his head. "Tree of Life? Never heard of it." He doubted that dumb puppy could hear him anyway. "But the way the puppy's addressed us... sounds like he can sense Diyem in our auras." A pensive yellow took over his eyes and core. Bahamut picked Owen up with one of his prismatic hands and dangled the charmeleon in front of him to make eye contact.

"So, we lose contact with our boss and not long after this puppy shows up with clear knowledge of our auras," he said. "Call me crazy, but I doubt this is a coincidence."

 

[windskull]

"How dare you suggest I would do anything to harm Xerneas' domain!" Nip said, his voice coming out in a low, guttural growl. He started to creep forward atop Bahamut's back, ready to leap forward and tear the lucario to shreds for daring to call his honor into question. But the necrozma's words of warning held him back. Despite everything, he feared the strange, magical device that could hold him captive.

With his eyes narrowed and his lips drawn back into a snarl, he let out a hiss before saying, "you best hope I don't see you again."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's hackles went up at the vanishing of a greater legendary into another of those devices. Was this stranger aligned with that mewtwo?

"You're under a misapprehension about our intentions, Stranger!" she called. "We could talk this out, if you'd only stop 'n' listen!"

What was the use? But she could only try.

Luz gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Worth a shot, darlin'," she said, quietly.

If only this fella would listen...

 

[Namohysip]

Lucario looked like he was scoffing. Meanwhile, Owen kicked a little to get some leverage while Bahamut held him, frowning at how he was being handled. But now wasn't the time to focus on minor rudeness. "You aren't going back to thinking Diyem is trying to betray us, are you?" Owen asked.

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical of anything your team says," Lucario called back. "You destroyed Telum, and now you're here to destroy Cibus. Do not think you can do the same trick twice... This world already conquered Dark Matter, and it will do it again! I will make this right."

He swung his arm threateningly, but no attack came. After all, they had ten days.

Maple squeezed Potluck's shoulder blades. "T-Telum... no, it..."

Just then, a flash of light appeared behind him, solidifying instantly into a Mewtwo. Lucario looked back, nodding. In another flash, they both disappeared.

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv watched, mouth agape in shock. They didn't speak until the strange Lucario disappeared.

"Rayquaza...we were so close!" they shouted in frustration. "I almost convinced them! And now..."

They looked down at the ground.

 

[TheGOAT]

Oh. So there were folks out there who thought Team Spectrum were the bad guys, somehow. Powerful folks. Conspiracy theorists, Astrid assumed. The Lucario had called them Emissaries of Darkness—whatever that meant.

She stretched her eyelids. “…Wow. This sucks.”

 

[Ambyssin]

"Please. It's the opposite, Owen." Bahamut booped the charmeleon's nose with his other hand. "I think that puppy may have engaged in some sort of foul play that caused our boss to go silent on us." He sat Owen back down. "You did see who showed up behind the puppy just then, right? Between that and Maple's reaction to this 'Telum' business, I fet the feeling there's more we don't know about everything going on here."

He walked along the air to Potluck's location. "Something you want to tell us?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Telum... was... my world. Was my world. Before..." Maple stared at where Lucario had been. "That... that was... Shield. That was Shield. It'd been... so long, yet... he's the same. How is..."

Truffle's expression darkened, landing beside her. "Shield? The human who was supposed to defeat Dark Matter?" He looked to the others, then at Maple, who seemed shell-shocked. "...We shall regroup at the Guild and discuss this with the team."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut had a bad feeling about this.

 

[IFBench]

So did Saltriv.

 

[windskull]

Nip was too busy being mad to have a bad feeling.

 

[Namohysip]

With everything wrapped together, it seemed that their time on the Isle of Light was over. Perhaps they could investigate later, but it was dangerous to stay there for the time being, especially with all the glass and the risk of a return from that Lucario.

Without another word, the team departed, and a meeting was set up for all those interested in discussing what had happened.

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

Melted glass covered the crater where Rayquaza had once emerged from with Shield and Karat. It shimmered under the hot sun, creating a glittering, prismatic field for the team to carefully step through. Maple took the liberty of blowing away the sharper shards of glass as they made their way to the epicenter of the crater.

Darkwhite giggled behind her, looking left and right. "Huhuhu... here again, here again," she said quietly, black eyes darting left and right. "Hey hey hey hey hey!" Darkwhite wrapped around Owen's neck and squeezed, causing him to gasp and struggle. "Do you see anything yet? Anything? Huh, do ya?"

"Can't... breathe...!"

Wishkeeper tugged Darkwhite away and she giggled, winking at him. "I like it when they get rough."

Wishkeeper grimaced, dropping her.

"Not yet," Owen said, rubbing his throat. "Maybe when we get closer to the center... the ground there looks disturbed, like maybe there's a passageway..."

"I'm glad we brought a smaller team for this," Maple said. "We're working for stealth here. Soda, are you keeping up the illusion?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

Of the God Squad, only Maple and Soda had come for this trip. Owen was also summoned for the sake of his Perceive to find as much as they could. From there, they also got a select team of other Spectrum members to give them at least a little strength in numbers, in addition to extra eyes. Owen's Perceive, after all, was not as strong as it was back home. With how foreign the technology was, Owen would surely miss things, too. At least, that was Maple's theory.