Chapter Eighteen: 2(Fourth) Child
MikaelBrigman
Golurk-Platinum
- Pronouns
- he/him
A spear of light swept across a wave of Pokémon with hazy auras and closed hearts, dissolving as it blew them all back.
"Get out of my way!" came a guttural scream, as Blanche reformed another spear and let his anger be fuelled by the burning heat strapped to his chest. The Infinity Battery dimmed as a rod of energy formed in his hands before it clicked back to normal efficiency.
A Pansear leapt towards him, the Fire-type monkey bursting into flames as it traveled. He planted his foot and swung his spear into it, throwing it back into the crowds.
The church was in his sight, the door replaced by a gaping hole. It was only so far down the road, but there were dozens, maybe hundreds of feral forest Pokémon trying to stop him, pulsating towards and away from him in droves.
The air around him was enveloped in a hazy smog suddenly, and Ash appeared to intercept a Sawsbuck's attempt to gore him with its antlers. One half of his Doublade was trapped, before it tightened its ribbon around them and drained
"Go," Ash said, his voice traveling only through the communications uplink as he became a whirlwind of blades amongst the waves.
Time slowed back down for Blanche as a path was cleared. His stomach revolted, but he pushed through, moving faster than the Pokémon could see and react to him.
He burst into the church, feeling the light on his back dissipate as the rustic building cut it away.
Audino was standing tall against a purple-shelled Pokémon as it approached. Omanyte littered the floor, their shells cracked and flickering with a black aura. Ariel was standing at the far wall, arms outstretched as if to shield the hundreds of residents that had crowded into the building.
A hatch opened on the Pokémon's back, like a cannon.
Blanche ran forward, cranking down his artificial speed. His innards slammed into his ribcage, and it felt like his head was going to explode, but he ran anyway,
A pulse of black, liquid-like aura shot out of the back and splashed onto Audino.
The spear of light solidified, and the moment, no, the very millisecond that it had, he threw it at the Anomaly.
"STRIKE!"
No sooner than the spear's dissipation did the shield appear in his hands, thrusters already burning.
He slid to a stop to put distance between it and Audino, holding up the shield. The Anomaly was coated in purple metal, its form insect-like, and its eyes seemingly painted with vantablack.
An Anomalous Genesect, then? How?
Blanche's mind ran faster than it ever had before. Bug and Steel. Need fire. Blazing Sword? No, MissingNo wasn't there, he couldn't feel it in the atmosphere.
Its mouth clicked, though it didn't move. It… retreated, almost.
Something struck him from behind, and he heard the voice of an angel. Pure energy irradiated his body, burning like the sun on diamond shards.
Audino?
Its ears were limp, the antennas uncurled. Its body was emitting a dark haze, and when it looked at him, all he could feel was hate.
Was that really Audino?
The Dazzling Gleam subsided as it rushed towards him. He pointed his feet at both Pokémon, even as the Genesect didn't move.
Audino wasn't a physical attacker, and with a pang of guilt, he kicked it across the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, before turning back to the Genesect. It wasn't attacking, it wasn't moving, it was just… staring. Its mouth clicked up and down, and he assumed that the screeches and beeps were substitutes for vocal chords.
Blanche hefted his shield. "Don't look so innocent, that'll only make this take longer," he pleaded.
Genesect clicked at him again, still refusing to move.
Blanche took a step forward, pulling his shield closer to his face and detaching his bolter from his belt.
Genesect disappeared. The only reason he knew it wasn't teleportation was because the wind whistled in the seconds that followed.
His bolter was knocked from his hands as heat engulfed him from behind. Electricity ran down his arms and threw his interface into disarray as he was blasted from his feet.
It appeared against just above him, charging an icy-blue orb between its pincers.
He rolled to the side and just barely avoided most of the frost, only catching some of the attack on his arm. He held up his shield behind him in time to catch the hit, but to be thrown from his feet anyway.
The shield was dented and cracked along its edges. The thrusters refused to boost, and his Battery ticked away near-silently. His helmet finally broke as a pincer slammed down onto it, shattering into two halves of plastic and metal. The whoosh of metal approaching him again was the only sure-fire way he knew that he was going to die.
"Stop."
Ariel's arms trembled as she pointed the bolter at Genesect, primed to shoot Aura-canceling rounds. The Anomaly didn't so much as click at her in response, as if gauging her abilities.
"Don't hurt them," she said softly, tears trailing down her face. "Don't. Please. I've tried to repent, I've tried to give up what's wrong inside of me, I've tried to make this life of mine mean something. Please. Don't make me throw it all away."
Genesect didn't move. It stood entirely still.
His elbows clicked as he tried to push himself up. "Don't!" Blanche yelled.
It disappeared.
Ariel's eyes widened a fraction as a pincer came down from behind her.
He could see it in her eyes. The flashing of a life gone by spent trying to help others at sacrifice to herself. He didn't know what she struggled with, why she had left before, or what reasons she had for becoming who she was.
Whatever it was she had struggled with, he could only hope that she'd forgive him for not being able to help. Maybe he'd meet her again. If God was merciful and Helix wasn't too far removed, they might see each other again someday.
The pincer kept moving towards her, beginning to frost over as energy gathered.
Ariel burst into flames.
Red and orange light licked across the room as Genesect was forced back into the air. Pressure washed across his face as the temperature in the room seemed to double. Blanche stared on as her silhouette remained standing resolutely, and her cry became absolute like a fire bell in the night.
White-hot and trailing around her neck like a wreath they settled. Like the mane of a beast, the flames fell down around her like hair.
"You will not hurt them!" she cried as the flames floated upwards, spiraling into themselves like a halo. "I know they can never accept a hypocrite like me, but I don't care! You will not hurt them, and I will never, ever let you!"
A pillar of flame shot from her body, bending and curving around the Genesect like a set of three rings before imploding.
"You've hurt my friends, you've hurt my family, I'm tired of hiding from you!" she yelled, steam curling from her body as another pillar burst from her outstretched hands. "If my Lord will not forgive me, then so be it, but I can't accept He would want me to sit idly by as His people and Pokémon are hurt!" Another torrent of white-hot fire surrounded Genesect, melting away the blast that it had attempted to charge.
"This flame is my hope."
Light swirled through the broken stained glass, as if from the sun itself, and became solid flames cast down on the Anomaly.
"This flame is my future."
Genesect was surrounded on all sides by a burst of seemingly holy fire. Its clicking and beeping was entirely drowned out by the screaming of heat in the air.
Ariel pointed at Genesect, the wreath of fire billowing around her. "This flame is who I am! I may be no better than a Pyroar, but I will be the Pyroar of Helix! I will wear that title, even if it goes against everything I am, as long as it allows me to protect… my… FAMILY!"
Pillars intercepted Genesect as it attempted to fly away, coming from the ground and from the rafters, filling the church with an almost holy light. A vertical and horizontal lash of fire intersected across it, blowing it out the already shattered window with a cry.
Smoke still curled from beneath Ariel's wreath. Sweat soaked her brow as her headdress burned away.
Blanche pushed himself up, still processing what he was seeing.
She picked up Audino, resisting its struggle in her grip as it lashed out against her, and ran out of the hole that had been torn in the front door.
His eyes widened and he stumbled to his feet. His broken Gear and helmet dissolved at his feet as he ran after her.
Genesect landed in the central street, creating a crater and a shockwave of dust and gravel. Shadow Pokémon surrounded the crater, either knocked to the sides by the impact or already knocked out by Ash, Gin, a returned Salem, and their Pokémon.
Ariel threw her arm up like she was summoning a mountain as she ran towards it, but instead a great blade of fire erupted from the earth and swept down the street.
"Call for Pokéballs!" Blanche yelled. They needed to capture the damn Anomaly, not let Ariel make herself a killer.
It was hazy, so he couldn't be certain they heard him, but the best he could do was hope.
Genesect blasted a pillar of ice in return, cutting the fire in two before it could dissipate. It rose into the air, just barely levitating and looking around, clearly trying to reorient itself.
Gin leapt into the air, grabbed onto Genesect's helmet, and kicked it square in the middle of each eye. There was a wave of darkness as he jumped back, flipping in the air to land in a crouch.
Genesect charged another shot, its target changed to Gin, but was cut off by another pillar of fire.
Plusle and Minun clapped their hands together, and a hazy field surrounded them, Salem, and Meowstic. Meowstic's eyes glowed pink as the air seemed to distort and compress around Genesect, feeding the flames further and crushing them into a tight sphere around the Bug-Steel-type.
It exploded outwards, sending licks of flame and drops of molten metal flying as it flew higher into the air, just beyond their reach.
There was a burst of purple gas below it, then on the wall of the church, then on its roof, and then on its very highest point, before metal glinted in the sky.
Ash appeared above the Genesect, holding his blade aloft and poised to strike. He dropped multiple pellets as more plumes followed, before they compressed below him into a seemingly solid plate. With a crack of metal on glass, they exploded onto Genesect like shrapnel.
Genesect flew out of the way, dodging each bit of the poisonous meteor shower, but Ash kept falling towards him, brandishing his second blade, one that was a bright red in coloration.
Whatever words he said, whatever aria he spoke, Blanche didn't hear them, as Ash exploded into movement, jumping from each shard that surrounded Genesect and cutting it faster than it could respond, faster than Blanche could even blink.
Genesect charged a shot, shooting off a wild beam of torrential water that missed Ash, but forced him to dodge downwards and end the assault.
"How is this thing not knocked out yet?" Blanche asked, breathing heavily. Steam was beginning to rise from the ground as the water soaked into the super-heated gravel roads. The air was soaked with humidity, but Genesect still flew in the air. The lenses of its eyes were cracked, seeming to protect the true eyes, and its armor was broken in some places showing a deep brown shell beneath.
As it rose higher into the air, Ash reached for more of his gas pellets, only to find that they had none left. With no leverage, no working flight abilities between any of them… it was a doomed effort.
Naturally, as soon as this thought occurred to him, it was quickly un-occurred by a serpentine black and green-scaled dragon tackling it out of the air.
"He-eeeeeey, newbies! Came as fast as I could, but I'm sorry if I missed some stuff." Rosa said, tapping her knuckles against her helmet as soon as she finished landing. Gin's stance seemed to gain a bit less fatigue, recognizing the familiarity of the girl.
Blanche sighed deeply, before letting out a laugh. "Right. I think we're about to start wrapping up. If you're here, though…"
He heard the tumbling of rocks behind him as a Stone Edge pierced the Heavens and took Genesect right along with it. He turned and saw Serena slide to a stop down the side of the pillar, princess-carrying Shauna while both were in full morph.
"Hey, someone ask the boss lady what Ariel's code name should be," Blanche said, smirking for what felt like the first time in years. He turned fully towards the hovering Genesect as it tried to recover. A meteor shower of purple scales fell down upon it as Tencent's 50% form craned its neck and cried out. Genesect tried dodging, but the scales came fast and heavy.
"Are you sure that's necessary?" Ariel asked, breathing heavily. Audino was still struggling in her grip, but her hold was iron-clad.
"Of course," he said, giving the widest smile he could. "You're one of us. You always have been. You've never had anything to fear."
"I… suppose you're right. I don't know why I've ever thought otherwise," she said, letting out a sigh of relief.
Shauna's arm came away from the side of her helmet, as if adjusting it. "Professor Sy- Yew has cleared Ariel to be FLARE Ranger 07, Eryngo!"
A thought occurred to him, but it was such an aside that he simply forgot. Something about rhymes and acronyms.
He looked up at the Genesect as thunder roared across the sky and a transformer exploded by the MagLev station. It struck the Bug and Steel-type and brought it low.
Genesect floated up, weaker than it had before. It wavered up and down, the thruster on its back strengthening and weakening in power.
"I think we're getting close to the end of the tunnel!" Blanche held up his fist. "Shell it with everything we've got!"
It was a brutal affair. Lighting through the soaked earth, Draco Meteors from the sky, Earthquake's that threatened to bury it alive, a close combat of swords that moved faster than the eye could see, kicks delivered in between when it seemed like they might stop, blasts of psychokinetic energy and pressure, spears of light, and pillars of flame.
At the end of it all, in a crater created with destruction, the earth glittered like glass as Genesect lay unconscious, armor broken from its body and its form revealed as some sort of pseudo-Kabutops. Plastic and metal tubing exposed that led into its body, providing reinforcement to the exoskeleton.
Blanche kneeled beside it, quiet for a moment in thought. Ultimately, he held up his hand and waved the others off. A Pokéball appeared in his hands, the uplink to his suit maintained even if could not see it, and he placed it on the Pokémon.
One, two, three.
It clicked.
Just another thing without a home.
Its abilities were forced onto it, clearly. Did it really want to fight them? Did it know that it had a choice? Could it really be blamed for anything?
What he wanted more than almost anything was to keep something like it from being created again. But, in his small life in Kalos, he could only hope that there was someone to carry that torch for him.
Colress frowned as FLARE's public safety briefing crossed his desk a long while later. It contained few specifics, but the town was close enough to where the prototype had been released for it to be obvious.
Hmph. He didn't have anything personally against the Helixian Church, but it was just so… unscientific. Few Legendaries with ties to their religion had been discovered, meanwhile Legendaries that chose to communicate with humans would swear by unknown, but higher powers.
His lab had been dim, but grew brighter as the door opened.
"Hm? Who is it? Are you the UR's representative?" he asked, turning towards the threshold.
"No, I'm with Interpol," the silhouette in the door said. "Technically," they added as an aside. There were strange outcroppings on his body. They were blocky, almost. Armor, perhaps? Unusual for an investigator.
"How can I help you?" Colress asked, swinging back and forth in his chair. "And may I have your name? I am Colress, of course."
They spoke, already on a different line of thought. "Now, I'm not the smartest guy, but I heard about something strange happening in Kalos. Something involving a Pokémon that seemed a lot like one of your past experiments. Those kids in FLARE are pretty competent, so they had it covered, but it seems strange that something like it would show up twice."
"Now, I assure you, though the Anomaly looked similar to my experimental Genesect, I was uninvolved. Perhaps the original had some offspring in the wilderness," he offered with a barely concealed smirk.
"Ah, yeah, that makes sense," they said. "But you know, I don't think I said anything about Genesect. I can understand that you've probably been accused already and are feeling a bit defensive, so I won't hold it against you. But you know what? The saying, eh, once is a happening, twice is a coincidence, three times is a…"
"A conspiracy?" Colress offered. "It really is a coincidence, though."
"Ah, that might have been it. I like to call it a pattern though. Odd Pokémon that are genetically modified and run wild… I've seen that four times now. Isn't that strange?"
Colress tilted his head. "Not from me. The incident with the Golurk Synchro Project was a result of the test subject's inability to cooperate, and the initial Genesect was a mistake, I'll admit."
"See, I don't think that's true, because… you know, when I see stars, I just really want to draw lines between 'em, you know? Like a dot puzzle."
"Connect the dots?"
"Yeah. See… this lab is strangely close to a lab I found around… what was it, nine years ago?"
Colress wracked his memories. That old thing? Of course, it was known to Team Plasma at the time, but it had been destroyed. And this man didn't sound like any scientist or grunt he knew, so who could it…
Colress had been absently twirling a pen for the entirety of the conversation. He dropped it.
"See, Colress, you work in patterns. You've made two Pokémon so far that haven't worked so well. A little after the Heavens Shattered, you made the first Genesect. I should know, since I fought it until it calmed down and started helping me. And a while before that, say, I must have been ten years old. Right around when I found my partner Pokémon. You've tried to duplicate Golurk since then, but differently. Now, another Genesect shows up. Really, what am I supposed to believe?"
The figure seemed to double in size, becoming rounder.
"I think you, me, and my old pal Golurk are going to have a wonderful chat."
Blanche made the executive decision to not move out of their home in Little Kanto. The row house was familiar, but more importantly, it was where his family was. Mrs. Grace never viewed them as a burden, except for maybe when they couldn't stop Augustine from stopping by to flirt. Ariel needed a home in the city again, and for the same reason he hadn't wanted to stay, he didn't want to leave Ariel alone.
Serena, Shauna, and Rosa didn't stick around very long. They helped with cleaning up the rest of the Shadow Pokémon, though the three new Espers (excluding Ariel, who had collapsed not minutes after the calm had set in) had handled it well enough.
FLARE was extraditing them all to Orre for nature-based rehabilitation, as well as help from Professor Krane, the UR's declared expert. Ariel hadn't wanted to part with Audino, and Michael wanted to speak with his old mentor. In the end, the two had left for a few weeks for treatment.
Honestly, not that he was feeling big-brother instinct or whatever, but if that pairing happened, he couldn't see it going too badly. Though if it did, he might have needed to have a manly discussion with everyone in FLARE. No, actually, he needed that discussion to happen without the Professor.
And then… months passed. Life continued on. Anomalies happened, he trained at the gym with Gin and whoever else from FLARE wanted to tag along, usually Whitley and/or Clemont. Anomalies happened, he and Ariel made hollow promises of starting a new church where everyone would be welcome regardless of the status quo. Between her being a nun, not a clergy, and him being an amnesiac with a job and a rather unclear understanding of what "God" was, it probably wasn't happening anytime soon, but it was nice to dream. Anomalies happened, he would see footage of Serena or Shauna's Gym Battles on TV and cheer as they decimated their competition. Fennekin and Froakie had already evolved by the time April rolled around, and they were popping up as local heroes on the GTS from what he could tell. It felt good to support them, even if they were always dozens of miles away.
The current FLARE team earned the acronym of AURAE, which was supposedly plural for aura and a pun on Aveline's part. So yes, it was literally years in the making.
Huh. Years.
It really hadn't occurred to Blanche that his life, for the most part, was ordinary. Not in terms of sanity, not by a long shot, but in that it had routine. He knew what to expect. It was usually "the unexpected," but in ways he could rationalize. Anything he couldn't, well, he'd just say "welcome to the insane world of Pokémon" as if that explained anything.
It was almost a shame that it couldn't last forever.
In late April, a dart shot across the Alola Region archipelago, spraying sea water as the stark white hull cut across the choppy seas.
On a muddy beach, the boat came to dock, rolling up and down with the water. From the sealed exterior, a hatch opened and expanded outwards, forming a walkway onto the disturbed earth.
A woman with curtains of nearly white blonde hair stepped out, flanked by an aging man with green glasses and a gaited woman in a pink turtleneck.
"Faba, report," Lusamine said, charging across the grass towards the center of the small island.
"We lost contact with the lab at approximately twelve in the morning, nearly midnight," the man said, hunching over a clipboard. "Initially it was believed to be the workers on staff fooling around again, but the attempts to establish communications have failed.
"Tch." Her pleasant smile quickly morphed into a scowl. "This is important work, I won't have it be spoiled by…"
Her words trailed off as the tree line fell away, along with the earth, and further, the earth beneath her feet. She skidded down the side of the gravelly rockfall, landing in a thin layer of mud.
"What on…"
"Oh, Madame President, are you alright?" Wicke called, supporting herself on a tree as she looked over the edge.
Lusamine stared across the blasted out crater. It was dozens, maybe hundreds of feet in diameter. Ocean water slowly trickled into the basin as the tide rose further. There seemed to be further holes in the earth, going deeper down though she couldn't see inside.
"Is this an Ultra Beast attack?" she asked in awe, bringing herself to her feet. Immediately, she felt that itch in her skull that said otherwise.
An Ultra Beast wouldn't have explained the uniformity or the scale of the blast.
And it certainly wouldn't explain the footprints.
Lysandre received the call for aid.
"Have Dahlia report, immediately," he said to Augustine, his back turned as he looked out of his office window.
Below, as always, blue and red glows revolved around each other, though the sources of the light never quite became apparent.
"You're sure?" the Professor asked. He wrung his hands nervously. "This is it?"
"The Aether Foundation has many projects. The details were not fully disclosed to me, it is independent from the UR, however…" Lysandre tapped his fingers together. "The facility destroyed was labeled as cell research. They don't exactly hide what cells they're trying to duplicate. If it has reawakened, it will be amassing its power through its cells."
Augustine stopped fidgeting. "You're certain, then. Everything will be as you said it was?"
Lysandre didn't respond for a moment. "I can't guarantee for certain, but I believe it will bring us closer than we are now. Make contact with Dahlia. Have her and her core report to me, and I will guide them to the pipeline." He paused. "Do not inform Amaranth or the other Rangers. That boy knows too much already."
Augustine gave a small laugh. "Heh. You don't have anything to worry about from him, I was joking when I said he was like you…"
"If he is like me in any way, then he will fight tooth and nail to prevent me from doing what must be done."
"Do we really have to do this?"
"You have reported yourself that the core is inseparable from Dahlia. If both must be used, then so be it."
"You're a… real tough cookie, Lysandre." Augustine forced a smile though his body was trying to frown. "This will bring them all back?"
"It will make it possible. That is Xerneas and Yveltal's domain, after all. It is Zygarde that will restore balance."
The glowing lights at the bottom of the pipeline continued to revolve.
A few days later, safe from the pouring rain, the door to a little house in Little Kanto slammed open. "Yo!"
Blanche's attention was shaken from the hot chocolate he was attempting to brew. "Huh?" He looked over to the door and nearly dropped his spoon. "Oh, Rosa! What's up?"
Rosa shook herself off of the rain, shaking herself rapidly like, well, Tencent didn't seem to get wet but vibrated the moisture off like it was. "Nothing much, just got called back to the city by FLARE." She walked over to the table and dropped her traveling pack, before beginning to ring out her ponytails. "How about you, B-meister?"
She'd picked up the nickname from Tierno at some point, though he couldn't quite remember when.
He shrugged, turning the stove on low and leaning against the counter. "Ariel's settled back in well, and she's volunteering at the Pokémon Center in the plaza in her spare time." He tapped his chin in thought. "She usually deescalates fights with Espers before they get too bad."
"She does tend to inspire that in people," Rosa said, staring off into space before tilting her head. "What's it called in the eastern regions? Mo-eh?"
Blanche felt an egg sliding down his spine, though it was completely imagined. "No clue. I swear, though, it feels like there's an Anomaly every other day now, it's ridiculous," he sighed. "Is that why they called you back in?"
"Actually, I dunno. The Professor just called and said I needed to be back on stand-by as soon as possible," Rosa said.
Tencent barked in agreement, resting its hexagonal head on the table and just staring into the wall dumbly.
"Which one?" Blanche asked.
"Professor Sycamore," she answered honestly.
"No, which one?" he clarified.
"Oh, tall, dark and handsome. Why?" she asked.
Blanche thought he had a point to raise for a moment, but dropped it. "Never mind. How's the Gym Challenge going?"
Rosa leaned to pick up her bag for a moment. She held out a badge case, showcasing four badges that glittered beneath the ceiling fan. "Ta-da!"
If Blanche could whistle, he would have. "Dang, four already? It's barely even May. How are, uh, how is Tierno doing? I knew you were traveling with him."
"Not wondering how Shauna is?" she teased.
He rolled his eyes. No, really, that's what happened. He was a mature young man, and so definitely wasn't averting his gaze to avoid the question.
"Yeah, maybe I am, alright?" he admitted, perhaps a bit louder than he needed to. "It's not that important anyway. How's Tierno?"
She rested her chin on her palm. "Dancing with the stars, last time I saw him. He got caught up with a traveling band of Pikachu performers in Coumarine Town, and I think they were heading to Laverre City."
"Aw, man, he didn't visit?"
"Hey, he's an artist. Those types take a while to get where they're going. It's not about the destination, y'know?"
"Right…" Blanche said, before changing the subject. "So, have you run into any of the others?"
"No, not yet," Rosa sighed, before laughing. "A bunch of Slowpokes, am I right?"
"Not Tierno, though?" Blanche asked.
"He's an artist!" she said, suddenly defensive.
Fair game, Blanche thought. "Right, right. Have you caught any cool Pokémon?"
It was as if he had dumped water on a sizzling flame. It sounded like it too, though he didn't notice. Rosa slumped into her palm. "No, not yet. They always run away when me and Tencent get close." She looked past him. "The milk is boiling, B-meister."
"Huh?" His head whipped to the side, and indeed, bubbles were curdling over the sides of the metal pot and splashing onto the stove. "Oh, shifffaafafff-" he almost cracked the plastic, turning the dial all the way off. The milk was caked onto the pot's sides, and he had noticeably less than he started with. "No, I can't swear, don't swear…"
Rosa was cracking up behind him, with Tencent barking with a rhythm suspiciously similar to a laugh. And was that Chespin?
He sighed as he dumped out the pot and gave up on the effort entirely. Steam curled around his face as he washed it out with cold water.
"You know… you didn't say much about how you were doing," she said.
"Not much to say," he said, wringing out a sponge. "FLARE stuff, working out, training a little with Chespin."
"That's plenty! So, how buff are you? Can you deadlift a Hippowdon yet?" She was suddenly behind him, grasping at his upper arms.
"I don't know, probably not." He lightly swatted at her hands. "Stop that, I'm washing dishes."
"Show me the muscles, B-meister!"
Blanche flexed, but he was still trying to work at the burnt milk.
"Da-aaaaaaaaang. Do you do anything but lift in your spare time?"
"Read books sometimes. Watch the news. Sometimes I think I should pick up a part-time job just to occupy myself, but I'd inevitably get fired for running out when there's an Anomaly or scheduling conflicts…"
Rosa suddenly jumped on his back, nearly strangling him with her arms. "Giddy-up!"
He dropped the pot with a clang, stumbling back. "Agh, I'm-"
"I'm not that heavy! Pignite-back ride, come on!" She kicked him with her knees, still wringing out his neck.
"Chespin, help!"
The Grass-type whipped him in the back of the head with a vine, missing Rosa entirely.
"Ches…" he muttered, discouraged.
Tencent, of course, did nothing as well, continuing to bark out laughter like there was no tomorrow.
"You're both traitors to the male speci- Ack-"
"Less talking! Giddy up!"
I'm not making it to June if this keeps up, Blanche thought, before sighing and resigning himself to his fate.
There is a being with many names.
The One Divided, the One United. An inefficient but accurate translation of ancient texts.
The Equalizer. A more modern name for the legend, as well as simplifying its meaning.
The King in the Mountain.
There is likely no title more accurate for Zygarde.
He still slumbers deep within the Terminus Cave.
AN:
I think I've done my job with foreshadowing.. Ariel's twist was planned from the beginning, she's a deeper character than just a nice bible-thumper. That's the image she wants to project. Everyone has an ideal image like that, except maybe Blanche on account of him being Blanche and Serena on account of her being Serena.
Ariel doesn't know exactly how the Aural Shell bolters work. They look like actual, if bulky, guns. She assumed it was an actual gun that while it might not have killed the Genesect, would carry the intent to. If you shoot a guy in plate armor and they die, you still shot them even if you didn't think it would kill them. Minor thing, but not something I've mentioned before.
This is your final warning, savor your filler now or forever hold your peace, because the dom-com section is over and we're shifting into… heh, shifting into Turbo.
I've got my ACT and other obligations this week, so I'll be taking another hiatus, but I'll be back on the 20th. Peace.
"Get out of my way!" came a guttural scream, as Blanche reformed another spear and let his anger be fuelled by the burning heat strapped to his chest. The Infinity Battery dimmed as a rod of energy formed in his hands before it clicked back to normal efficiency.
A Pansear leapt towards him, the Fire-type monkey bursting into flames as it traveled. He planted his foot and swung his spear into it, throwing it back into the crowds.
The church was in his sight, the door replaced by a gaping hole. It was only so far down the road, but there were dozens, maybe hundreds of feral forest Pokémon trying to stop him, pulsating towards and away from him in droves.
The air around him was enveloped in a hazy smog suddenly, and Ash appeared to intercept a Sawsbuck's attempt to gore him with its antlers. One half of his Doublade was trapped, before it tightened its ribbon around them and drained
"Go," Ash said, his voice traveling only through the communications uplink as he became a whirlwind of blades amongst the waves.
Time slowed back down for Blanche as a path was cleared. His stomach revolted, but he pushed through, moving faster than the Pokémon could see and react to him.
He burst into the church, feeling the light on his back dissipate as the rustic building cut it away.
Audino was standing tall against a purple-shelled Pokémon as it approached. Omanyte littered the floor, their shells cracked and flickering with a black aura. Ariel was standing at the far wall, arms outstretched as if to shield the hundreds of residents that had crowded into the building.
A hatch opened on the Pokémon's back, like a cannon.
Blanche ran forward, cranking down his artificial speed. His innards slammed into his ribcage, and it felt like his head was going to explode, but he ran anyway,
A pulse of black, liquid-like aura shot out of the back and splashed onto Audino.
The spear of light solidified, and the moment, no, the very millisecond that it had, he threw it at the Anomaly.
"STRIKE!"
No sooner than the spear's dissipation did the shield appear in his hands, thrusters already burning.
He slid to a stop to put distance between it and Audino, holding up the shield. The Anomaly was coated in purple metal, its form insect-like, and its eyes seemingly painted with vantablack.
An Anomalous Genesect, then? How?
Blanche's mind ran faster than it ever had before. Bug and Steel. Need fire. Blazing Sword? No, MissingNo wasn't there, he couldn't feel it in the atmosphere.
Its mouth clicked, though it didn't move. It… retreated, almost.
Something struck him from behind, and he heard the voice of an angel. Pure energy irradiated his body, burning like the sun on diamond shards.
Audino?
Its ears were limp, the antennas uncurled. Its body was emitting a dark haze, and when it looked at him, all he could feel was hate.
Was that really Audino?
The Dazzling Gleam subsided as it rushed towards him. He pointed his feet at both Pokémon, even as the Genesect didn't move.
Audino wasn't a physical attacker, and with a pang of guilt, he kicked it across the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, before turning back to the Genesect. It wasn't attacking, it wasn't moving, it was just… staring. Its mouth clicked up and down, and he assumed that the screeches and beeps were substitutes for vocal chords.
Blanche hefted his shield. "Don't look so innocent, that'll only make this take longer," he pleaded.
Genesect clicked at him again, still refusing to move.
Blanche took a step forward, pulling his shield closer to his face and detaching his bolter from his belt.
Genesect disappeared. The only reason he knew it wasn't teleportation was because the wind whistled in the seconds that followed.
His bolter was knocked from his hands as heat engulfed him from behind. Electricity ran down his arms and threw his interface into disarray as he was blasted from his feet.
It appeared against just above him, charging an icy-blue orb between its pincers.
He rolled to the side and just barely avoided most of the frost, only catching some of the attack on his arm. He held up his shield behind him in time to catch the hit, but to be thrown from his feet anyway.
The shield was dented and cracked along its edges. The thrusters refused to boost, and his Battery ticked away near-silently. His helmet finally broke as a pincer slammed down onto it, shattering into two halves of plastic and metal. The whoosh of metal approaching him again was the only sure-fire way he knew that he was going to die.
"Stop."
Ariel's arms trembled as she pointed the bolter at Genesect, primed to shoot Aura-canceling rounds. The Anomaly didn't so much as click at her in response, as if gauging her abilities.
"Don't hurt them," she said softly, tears trailing down her face. "Don't. Please. I've tried to repent, I've tried to give up what's wrong inside of me, I've tried to make this life of mine mean something. Please. Don't make me throw it all away."
Genesect didn't move. It stood entirely still.
His elbows clicked as he tried to push himself up. "Don't!" Blanche yelled.
It disappeared.
Ariel's eyes widened a fraction as a pincer came down from behind her.
He could see it in her eyes. The flashing of a life gone by spent trying to help others at sacrifice to herself. He didn't know what she struggled with, why she had left before, or what reasons she had for becoming who she was.
Whatever it was she had struggled with, he could only hope that she'd forgive him for not being able to help. Maybe he'd meet her again. If God was merciful and Helix wasn't too far removed, they might see each other again someday.
The pincer kept moving towards her, beginning to frost over as energy gathered.
Ariel burst into flames.
Red and orange light licked across the room as Genesect was forced back into the air. Pressure washed across his face as the temperature in the room seemed to double. Blanche stared on as her silhouette remained standing resolutely, and her cry became absolute like a fire bell in the night.
White-hot and trailing around her neck like a wreath they settled. Like the mane of a beast, the flames fell down around her like hair.
"You will not hurt them!" she cried as the flames floated upwards, spiraling into themselves like a halo. "I know they can never accept a hypocrite like me, but I don't care! You will not hurt them, and I will never, ever let you!"
A pillar of flame shot from her body, bending and curving around the Genesect like a set of three rings before imploding.
"You've hurt my friends, you've hurt my family, I'm tired of hiding from you!" she yelled, steam curling from her body as another pillar burst from her outstretched hands. "If my Lord will not forgive me, then so be it, but I can't accept He would want me to sit idly by as His people and Pokémon are hurt!" Another torrent of white-hot fire surrounded Genesect, melting away the blast that it had attempted to charge.
"This flame is my hope."
Light swirled through the broken stained glass, as if from the sun itself, and became solid flames cast down on the Anomaly.
"This flame is my future."
Genesect was surrounded on all sides by a burst of seemingly holy fire. Its clicking and beeping was entirely drowned out by the screaming of heat in the air.
Ariel pointed at Genesect, the wreath of fire billowing around her. "This flame is who I am! I may be no better than a Pyroar, but I will be the Pyroar of Helix! I will wear that title, even if it goes against everything I am, as long as it allows me to protect… my… FAMILY!"
Pillars intercepted Genesect as it attempted to fly away, coming from the ground and from the rafters, filling the church with an almost holy light. A vertical and horizontal lash of fire intersected across it, blowing it out the already shattered window with a cry.
Smoke still curled from beneath Ariel's wreath. Sweat soaked her brow as her headdress burned away.
Blanche pushed himself up, still processing what he was seeing.
She picked up Audino, resisting its struggle in her grip as it lashed out against her, and ran out of the hole that had been torn in the front door.
His eyes widened and he stumbled to his feet. His broken Gear and helmet dissolved at his feet as he ran after her.
Genesect landed in the central street, creating a crater and a shockwave of dust and gravel. Shadow Pokémon surrounded the crater, either knocked to the sides by the impact or already knocked out by Ash, Gin, a returned Salem, and their Pokémon.
Ariel threw her arm up like she was summoning a mountain as she ran towards it, but instead a great blade of fire erupted from the earth and swept down the street.
"Call for Pokéballs!" Blanche yelled. They needed to capture the damn Anomaly, not let Ariel make herself a killer.
It was hazy, so he couldn't be certain they heard him, but the best he could do was hope.
Genesect blasted a pillar of ice in return, cutting the fire in two before it could dissipate. It rose into the air, just barely levitating and looking around, clearly trying to reorient itself.
Gin leapt into the air, grabbed onto Genesect's helmet, and kicked it square in the middle of each eye. There was a wave of darkness as he jumped back, flipping in the air to land in a crouch.
Genesect charged another shot, its target changed to Gin, but was cut off by another pillar of fire.
Plusle and Minun clapped their hands together, and a hazy field surrounded them, Salem, and Meowstic. Meowstic's eyes glowed pink as the air seemed to distort and compress around Genesect, feeding the flames further and crushing them into a tight sphere around the Bug-Steel-type.
It exploded outwards, sending licks of flame and drops of molten metal flying as it flew higher into the air, just beyond their reach.
There was a burst of purple gas below it, then on the wall of the church, then on its roof, and then on its very highest point, before metal glinted in the sky.
Ash appeared above the Genesect, holding his blade aloft and poised to strike. He dropped multiple pellets as more plumes followed, before they compressed below him into a seemingly solid plate. With a crack of metal on glass, they exploded onto Genesect like shrapnel.
Genesect flew out of the way, dodging each bit of the poisonous meteor shower, but Ash kept falling towards him, brandishing his second blade, one that was a bright red in coloration.
Whatever words he said, whatever aria he spoke, Blanche didn't hear them, as Ash exploded into movement, jumping from each shard that surrounded Genesect and cutting it faster than it could respond, faster than Blanche could even blink.
Genesect charged a shot, shooting off a wild beam of torrential water that missed Ash, but forced him to dodge downwards and end the assault.
"How is this thing not knocked out yet?" Blanche asked, breathing heavily. Steam was beginning to rise from the ground as the water soaked into the super-heated gravel roads. The air was soaked with humidity, but Genesect still flew in the air. The lenses of its eyes were cracked, seeming to protect the true eyes, and its armor was broken in some places showing a deep brown shell beneath.
As it rose higher into the air, Ash reached for more of his gas pellets, only to find that they had none left. With no leverage, no working flight abilities between any of them… it was a doomed effort.
Naturally, as soon as this thought occurred to him, it was quickly un-occurred by a serpentine black and green-scaled dragon tackling it out of the air.
"He-eeeeeey, newbies! Came as fast as I could, but I'm sorry if I missed some stuff." Rosa said, tapping her knuckles against her helmet as soon as she finished landing. Gin's stance seemed to gain a bit less fatigue, recognizing the familiarity of the girl.
Blanche sighed deeply, before letting out a laugh. "Right. I think we're about to start wrapping up. If you're here, though…"
He heard the tumbling of rocks behind him as a Stone Edge pierced the Heavens and took Genesect right along with it. He turned and saw Serena slide to a stop down the side of the pillar, princess-carrying Shauna while both were in full morph.
"Hey, someone ask the boss lady what Ariel's code name should be," Blanche said, smirking for what felt like the first time in years. He turned fully towards the hovering Genesect as it tried to recover. A meteor shower of purple scales fell down upon it as Tencent's 50% form craned its neck and cried out. Genesect tried dodging, but the scales came fast and heavy.
"Are you sure that's necessary?" Ariel asked, breathing heavily. Audino was still struggling in her grip, but her hold was iron-clad.
"Of course," he said, giving the widest smile he could. "You're one of us. You always have been. You've never had anything to fear."
"I… suppose you're right. I don't know why I've ever thought otherwise," she said, letting out a sigh of relief.
Shauna's arm came away from the side of her helmet, as if adjusting it. "Professor Sy- Yew has cleared Ariel to be FLARE Ranger 07, Eryngo!"
A thought occurred to him, but it was such an aside that he simply forgot. Something about rhymes and acronyms.
He looked up at the Genesect as thunder roared across the sky and a transformer exploded by the MagLev station. It struck the Bug and Steel-type and brought it low.
Genesect floated up, weaker than it had before. It wavered up and down, the thruster on its back strengthening and weakening in power.
"I think we're getting close to the end of the tunnel!" Blanche held up his fist. "Shell it with everything we've got!"
It was a brutal affair. Lighting through the soaked earth, Draco Meteors from the sky, Earthquake's that threatened to bury it alive, a close combat of swords that moved faster than the eye could see, kicks delivered in between when it seemed like they might stop, blasts of psychokinetic energy and pressure, spears of light, and pillars of flame.
At the end of it all, in a crater created with destruction, the earth glittered like glass as Genesect lay unconscious, armor broken from its body and its form revealed as some sort of pseudo-Kabutops. Plastic and metal tubing exposed that led into its body, providing reinforcement to the exoskeleton.
Blanche kneeled beside it, quiet for a moment in thought. Ultimately, he held up his hand and waved the others off. A Pokéball appeared in his hands, the uplink to his suit maintained even if could not see it, and he placed it on the Pokémon.
One, two, three.
It clicked.
Just another thing without a home.
Its abilities were forced onto it, clearly. Did it really want to fight them? Did it know that it had a choice? Could it really be blamed for anything?
What he wanted more than almost anything was to keep something like it from being created again. But, in his small life in Kalos, he could only hope that there was someone to carry that torch for him.
Colress frowned as FLARE's public safety briefing crossed his desk a long while later. It contained few specifics, but the town was close enough to where the prototype had been released for it to be obvious.
Hmph. He didn't have anything personally against the Helixian Church, but it was just so… unscientific. Few Legendaries with ties to their religion had been discovered, meanwhile Legendaries that chose to communicate with humans would swear by unknown, but higher powers.
His lab had been dim, but grew brighter as the door opened.
"Hm? Who is it? Are you the UR's representative?" he asked, turning towards the threshold.
"No, I'm with Interpol," the silhouette in the door said. "Technically," they added as an aside. There were strange outcroppings on his body. They were blocky, almost. Armor, perhaps? Unusual for an investigator.
"How can I help you?" Colress asked, swinging back and forth in his chair. "And may I have your name? I am Colress, of course."
They spoke, already on a different line of thought. "Now, I'm not the smartest guy, but I heard about something strange happening in Kalos. Something involving a Pokémon that seemed a lot like one of your past experiments. Those kids in FLARE are pretty competent, so they had it covered, but it seems strange that something like it would show up twice."
"Now, I assure you, though the Anomaly looked similar to my experimental Genesect, I was uninvolved. Perhaps the original had some offspring in the wilderness," he offered with a barely concealed smirk.
"Ah, yeah, that makes sense," they said. "But you know, I don't think I said anything about Genesect. I can understand that you've probably been accused already and are feeling a bit defensive, so I won't hold it against you. But you know what? The saying, eh, once is a happening, twice is a coincidence, three times is a…"
"A conspiracy?" Colress offered. "It really is a coincidence, though."
"Ah, that might have been it. I like to call it a pattern though. Odd Pokémon that are genetically modified and run wild… I've seen that four times now. Isn't that strange?"
Colress tilted his head. "Not from me. The incident with the Golurk Synchro Project was a result of the test subject's inability to cooperate, and the initial Genesect was a mistake, I'll admit."
"See, I don't think that's true, because… you know, when I see stars, I just really want to draw lines between 'em, you know? Like a dot puzzle."
"Connect the dots?"
"Yeah. See… this lab is strangely close to a lab I found around… what was it, nine years ago?"
Colress wracked his memories. That old thing? Of course, it was known to Team Plasma at the time, but it had been destroyed. And this man didn't sound like any scientist or grunt he knew, so who could it…
Colress had been absently twirling a pen for the entirety of the conversation. He dropped it.
"See, Colress, you work in patterns. You've made two Pokémon so far that haven't worked so well. A little after the Heavens Shattered, you made the first Genesect. I should know, since I fought it until it calmed down and started helping me. And a while before that, say, I must have been ten years old. Right around when I found my partner Pokémon. You've tried to duplicate Golurk since then, but differently. Now, another Genesect shows up. Really, what am I supposed to believe?"
The figure seemed to double in size, becoming rounder.
"I think you, me, and my old pal Golurk are going to have a wonderful chat."
Blanche made the executive decision to not move out of their home in Little Kanto. The row house was familiar, but more importantly, it was where his family was. Mrs. Grace never viewed them as a burden, except for maybe when they couldn't stop Augustine from stopping by to flirt. Ariel needed a home in the city again, and for the same reason he hadn't wanted to stay, he didn't want to leave Ariel alone.
Serena, Shauna, and Rosa didn't stick around very long. They helped with cleaning up the rest of the Shadow Pokémon, though the three new Espers (excluding Ariel, who had collapsed not minutes after the calm had set in) had handled it well enough.
FLARE was extraditing them all to Orre for nature-based rehabilitation, as well as help from Professor Krane, the UR's declared expert. Ariel hadn't wanted to part with Audino, and Michael wanted to speak with his old mentor. In the end, the two had left for a few weeks for treatment.
Honestly, not that he was feeling big-brother instinct or whatever, but if that pairing happened, he couldn't see it going too badly. Though if it did, he might have needed to have a manly discussion with everyone in FLARE. No, actually, he needed that discussion to happen without the Professor.
And then… months passed. Life continued on. Anomalies happened, he trained at the gym with Gin and whoever else from FLARE wanted to tag along, usually Whitley and/or Clemont. Anomalies happened, he and Ariel made hollow promises of starting a new church where everyone would be welcome regardless of the status quo. Between her being a nun, not a clergy, and him being an amnesiac with a job and a rather unclear understanding of what "God" was, it probably wasn't happening anytime soon, but it was nice to dream. Anomalies happened, he would see footage of Serena or Shauna's Gym Battles on TV and cheer as they decimated their competition. Fennekin and Froakie had already evolved by the time April rolled around, and they were popping up as local heroes on the GTS from what he could tell. It felt good to support them, even if they were always dozens of miles away.
The current FLARE team earned the acronym of AURAE, which was supposedly plural for aura and a pun on Aveline's part. So yes, it was literally years in the making.
Huh. Years.
It really hadn't occurred to Blanche that his life, for the most part, was ordinary. Not in terms of sanity, not by a long shot, but in that it had routine. He knew what to expect. It was usually "the unexpected," but in ways he could rationalize. Anything he couldn't, well, he'd just say "welcome to the insane world of Pokémon" as if that explained anything.
It was almost a shame that it couldn't last forever.
In late April, a dart shot across the Alola Region archipelago, spraying sea water as the stark white hull cut across the choppy seas.
On a muddy beach, the boat came to dock, rolling up and down with the water. From the sealed exterior, a hatch opened and expanded outwards, forming a walkway onto the disturbed earth.
A woman with curtains of nearly white blonde hair stepped out, flanked by an aging man with green glasses and a gaited woman in a pink turtleneck.
"Faba, report," Lusamine said, charging across the grass towards the center of the small island.
"We lost contact with the lab at approximately twelve in the morning, nearly midnight," the man said, hunching over a clipboard. "Initially it was believed to be the workers on staff fooling around again, but the attempts to establish communications have failed.
"Tch." Her pleasant smile quickly morphed into a scowl. "This is important work, I won't have it be spoiled by…"
Her words trailed off as the tree line fell away, along with the earth, and further, the earth beneath her feet. She skidded down the side of the gravelly rockfall, landing in a thin layer of mud.
"What on…"
"Oh, Madame President, are you alright?" Wicke called, supporting herself on a tree as she looked over the edge.
Lusamine stared across the blasted out crater. It was dozens, maybe hundreds of feet in diameter. Ocean water slowly trickled into the basin as the tide rose further. There seemed to be further holes in the earth, going deeper down though she couldn't see inside.
"Is this an Ultra Beast attack?" she asked in awe, bringing herself to her feet. Immediately, she felt that itch in her skull that said otherwise.
An Ultra Beast wouldn't have explained the uniformity or the scale of the blast.
And it certainly wouldn't explain the footprints.
Lysandre received the call for aid.
"Have Dahlia report, immediately," he said to Augustine, his back turned as he looked out of his office window.
Below, as always, blue and red glows revolved around each other, though the sources of the light never quite became apparent.
"You're sure?" the Professor asked. He wrung his hands nervously. "This is it?"
"The Aether Foundation has many projects. The details were not fully disclosed to me, it is independent from the UR, however…" Lysandre tapped his fingers together. "The facility destroyed was labeled as cell research. They don't exactly hide what cells they're trying to duplicate. If it has reawakened, it will be amassing its power through its cells."
Augustine stopped fidgeting. "You're certain, then. Everything will be as you said it was?"
Lysandre didn't respond for a moment. "I can't guarantee for certain, but I believe it will bring us closer than we are now. Make contact with Dahlia. Have her and her core report to me, and I will guide them to the pipeline." He paused. "Do not inform Amaranth or the other Rangers. That boy knows too much already."
Augustine gave a small laugh. "Heh. You don't have anything to worry about from him, I was joking when I said he was like you…"
"If he is like me in any way, then he will fight tooth and nail to prevent me from doing what must be done."
"Do we really have to do this?"
"You have reported yourself that the core is inseparable from Dahlia. If both must be used, then so be it."
"You're a… real tough cookie, Lysandre." Augustine forced a smile though his body was trying to frown. "This will bring them all back?"
"It will make it possible. That is Xerneas and Yveltal's domain, after all. It is Zygarde that will restore balance."
The glowing lights at the bottom of the pipeline continued to revolve.
A few days later, safe from the pouring rain, the door to a little house in Little Kanto slammed open. "Yo!"
Blanche's attention was shaken from the hot chocolate he was attempting to brew. "Huh?" He looked over to the door and nearly dropped his spoon. "Oh, Rosa! What's up?"
Rosa shook herself off of the rain, shaking herself rapidly like, well, Tencent didn't seem to get wet but vibrated the moisture off like it was. "Nothing much, just got called back to the city by FLARE." She walked over to the table and dropped her traveling pack, before beginning to ring out her ponytails. "How about you, B-meister?"
She'd picked up the nickname from Tierno at some point, though he couldn't quite remember when.
He shrugged, turning the stove on low and leaning against the counter. "Ariel's settled back in well, and she's volunteering at the Pokémon Center in the plaza in her spare time." He tapped his chin in thought. "She usually deescalates fights with Espers before they get too bad."
"She does tend to inspire that in people," Rosa said, staring off into space before tilting her head. "What's it called in the eastern regions? Mo-eh?"
Blanche felt an egg sliding down his spine, though it was completely imagined. "No clue. I swear, though, it feels like there's an Anomaly every other day now, it's ridiculous," he sighed. "Is that why they called you back in?"
"Actually, I dunno. The Professor just called and said I needed to be back on stand-by as soon as possible," Rosa said.
Tencent barked in agreement, resting its hexagonal head on the table and just staring into the wall dumbly.
"Which one?" Blanche asked.
"Professor Sycamore," she answered honestly.
"No, which one?" he clarified.
"Oh, tall, dark and handsome. Why?" she asked.
Blanche thought he had a point to raise for a moment, but dropped it. "Never mind. How's the Gym Challenge going?"
Rosa leaned to pick up her bag for a moment. She held out a badge case, showcasing four badges that glittered beneath the ceiling fan. "Ta-da!"
If Blanche could whistle, he would have. "Dang, four already? It's barely even May. How are, uh, how is Tierno doing? I knew you were traveling with him."
"Not wondering how Shauna is?" she teased.
He rolled his eyes. No, really, that's what happened. He was a mature young man, and so definitely wasn't averting his gaze to avoid the question.
"Yeah, maybe I am, alright?" he admitted, perhaps a bit louder than he needed to. "It's not that important anyway. How's Tierno?"
She rested her chin on her palm. "Dancing with the stars, last time I saw him. He got caught up with a traveling band of Pikachu performers in Coumarine Town, and I think they were heading to Laverre City."
"Aw, man, he didn't visit?"
"Hey, he's an artist. Those types take a while to get where they're going. It's not about the destination, y'know?"
"Right…" Blanche said, before changing the subject. "So, have you run into any of the others?"
"No, not yet," Rosa sighed, before laughing. "A bunch of Slowpokes, am I right?"
"Not Tierno, though?" Blanche asked.
"He's an artist!" she said, suddenly defensive.
Fair game, Blanche thought. "Right, right. Have you caught any cool Pokémon?"
It was as if he had dumped water on a sizzling flame. It sounded like it too, though he didn't notice. Rosa slumped into her palm. "No, not yet. They always run away when me and Tencent get close." She looked past him. "The milk is boiling, B-meister."
"Huh?" His head whipped to the side, and indeed, bubbles were curdling over the sides of the metal pot and splashing onto the stove. "Oh, shifffaafafff-" he almost cracked the plastic, turning the dial all the way off. The milk was caked onto the pot's sides, and he had noticeably less than he started with. "No, I can't swear, don't swear…"
Rosa was cracking up behind him, with Tencent barking with a rhythm suspiciously similar to a laugh. And was that Chespin?
He sighed as he dumped out the pot and gave up on the effort entirely. Steam curled around his face as he washed it out with cold water.
"You know… you didn't say much about how you were doing," she said.
"Not much to say," he said, wringing out a sponge. "FLARE stuff, working out, training a little with Chespin."
"That's plenty! So, how buff are you? Can you deadlift a Hippowdon yet?" She was suddenly behind him, grasping at his upper arms.
"I don't know, probably not." He lightly swatted at her hands. "Stop that, I'm washing dishes."
"Show me the muscles, B-meister!"
Blanche flexed, but he was still trying to work at the burnt milk.
"Da-aaaaaaaaang. Do you do anything but lift in your spare time?"
"Read books sometimes. Watch the news. Sometimes I think I should pick up a part-time job just to occupy myself, but I'd inevitably get fired for running out when there's an Anomaly or scheduling conflicts…"
Rosa suddenly jumped on his back, nearly strangling him with her arms. "Giddy-up!"
He dropped the pot with a clang, stumbling back. "Agh, I'm-"
"I'm not that heavy! Pignite-back ride, come on!" She kicked him with her knees, still wringing out his neck.
"Chespin, help!"
The Grass-type whipped him in the back of the head with a vine, missing Rosa entirely.
"Ches…" he muttered, discouraged.
Tencent, of course, did nothing as well, continuing to bark out laughter like there was no tomorrow.
"You're both traitors to the male speci- Ack-"
"Less talking! Giddy up!"
I'm not making it to June if this keeps up, Blanche thought, before sighing and resigning himself to his fate.
There is a being with many names.
The One Divided, the One United. An inefficient but accurate translation of ancient texts.
The Equalizer. A more modern name for the legend, as well as simplifying its meaning.
The King in the Mountain.
There is likely no title more accurate for Zygarde.
He still slumbers deep within the Terminus Cave.
AN:
I think I've done my job with foreshadowing.. Ariel's twist was planned from the beginning, she's a deeper character than just a nice bible-thumper. That's the image she wants to project. Everyone has an ideal image like that, except maybe Blanche on account of him being Blanche and Serena on account of her being Serena.
Ariel doesn't know exactly how the Aural Shell bolters work. They look like actual, if bulky, guns. She assumed it was an actual gun that while it might not have killed the Genesect, would carry the intent to. If you shoot a guy in plate armor and they die, you still shot them even if you didn't think it would kill them. Minor thing, but not something I've mentioned before.
This is your final warning, savor your filler now or forever hold your peace, because the dom-com section is over and we're shifting into… heh, shifting into Turbo.
I've got my ACT and other obligations this week, so I'll be taking another hiatus, but I'll be back on the 20th. Peace.