Ambyssin
Winter can't come soon enough
Chapter 117: D1V1D3 BY Z3R0
Igneous watched Tessa practically skipping through the Observatory's central hub. Her bag flapped against her side with every step she took.
"Someone's in a good mood today." The volcarona chuckled.
"Yep!" Tessa's tail wagged. The riolu held up a piece of paper. "Da— I mean, the guildmaster gave me a special solo assignment over in Dewdrop Woods."
"In... Dewdrop Woods?" Igneous' wings flapped slower. That was odd. Sure, Tessa's snowpix teammate wasn't exactly an ace explorer, but he knew for a fact that Team Radiance took missions in much tougher dungeons than piddly old Dewdrop Woods.
"Some idiot tourist lost a valuable gem," Tessa continued. "And they're a friend of the guildmaster. So, he asked me to step in."
Before Igneous could say anything, her eyes sparkled and she added, "The payout's nuts!" She looked down at the paper. "With this... I can get that gift for Nikki."
Her tail was wagging faster. And was that a bit of red poking through her blue fur?
"This gift is that important?" Igneous mumbled. Tiny nervous embers flitted off his wings.
Tessa nodded with so much energy Igneous thought her head might pop up. "I... I really like her." She kicked at the ground bashfully. "And I'm not an aura expert like the guildmasters, but I think she likes me the same way."
Determination spread over her face. "So, I'm going to do this." Tessa curled her paws up, crunching the paper in the process. "And come tonight... m-maybe Nikki and I will be more than just teammates."
The riolu sprinted over to the stairs. Igneous tried to fly after her.
"Tessa, wait!" he called, but she'd already leaped up the stairs by the time he reached them.
XxX
Nikki casually walked across the wrecked amphitheater stage, hands resting behind her head. Penny stood next to the Starmobile. Espvee and Sylvee brushed themselves against her legs.
"So, uh..." The toxtricity looked between Penny and DJ Vice. "Our bud's sealing off the dungeon. That means we're going home soon."
Penny looked around the stage and the seating. "Probs for the best." She pulled her hood over her head. "This was a bit too much excitement for me. My social battery's gonna be dead for the next week."
"Veeeee?" Espvee nudged Penny's leg, the red gem on her head glowing. Penny scratched Espvee's head, earning satisfied purrs.
"Right." Nikki brushed her hand against her electric mohawk. A tingle ran along her fingers. "So, uh, does that mean it's back to your 'lair' or whatever?"
At that, Penny looked at DJ Vice. "I dunno." He shrugged. "You said you're scared of the director sending you home, right?" He looked up at the Starmobile. "But is that any scarier than what just happened?"
"N-no." Penny adjusted her eevee backpack. "It's not."
She took a deep breath. "I guess... I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stay in touch with you guys if I went back to Galar."
DJ Vice raised a brow. "Why not?"
Penny's shoulders sagged. "My family is... a handful. Real social battery drain."
Nikki tugged the collar of her leather jacket. There wasn't much she could offer, given her own family situation. She glanced at Shimmer, but the ponytales had already vanished, along with Xander. Scarlett was fading out, too.
"But now that I've gotten to meet you guys in person, I think I can handle it." A small smile came to Penny's face.
Sylvee curled her ribbons around Penny's leg. "Fiiiaaaa!"
"Right." Penny hiked up the straps of her eevee backpack. "I think we can make it work. O-Or maybe talk with the director about what happened. Get him to understand our side better."
DJ Vice bobbed his head. "Right on. Right on. Saving Levincia's gotta be a point in our favor." He gave Penny a thumb's up. "We'll get through this."
Penny glanced at Nikki. "For a bunch of shonen characters, you weren't half bad. I'll almost miss you guys." She looked down at Nikki's legs, which the toxtricity realized were vanishing. "Almost."
"Heh." Nikki rubbed one of her triangular horns. "Still dunno what shonen means, but I appreciated the chance to rock out. This was... the most helpful I've felt toward my team in quite a bit."
She held up metal horns at the two humans. "Catch you on the flip side."
With Penny and her eeveelutions waving, the amphitheater vanished in a stream of white light.
XxX
The team moved slowly through the hallways that followed Cerberus' chamber. Crystals coated every surface, just like the corridor before it. This time, however, no broken snippets of an announcement echoed all around them. Nor was there anything they could glean from inside the crystals. They continued forward. Yuna let Gene and Bahamut lead the way. Widget remained the slowest, crest tightened and starcloud ruff deflated.
"You okay?" Yuna asked.
The cosmic silvally shook his head. "Head hurts," he whimpered. "It's been getting worse." Widget looked at the crystal ceiling. "I'm... afraid of what we'll find at the top of the mountain."
Yuna slowed her floating. The dragapult put her hand on Widget's back. "Well, you've got the three of us for support."
"Right." Widget sight. He walked a bit faster. Bahamut and Gene were already waiting by the next door. Yuna's ectoplasm tightened around her griseous core as they got closer.
"Um..." Yuna put her hand on the amber gem. "Does anyone else... sense something familiar nearby?"
"Yeah." Gene knocked on the door. The thunks reverberated all around them, thanks to all the crystals. "Could be a trick."
"If it is, we simply strike down that trick." Bahamut lightly shoved the mega mewtwo. "Let us proceed."
He pressed a paw to the door, but it wouldn't budge. It wasn't until Widget and Yuna had caught up to them that the door slowly slid open with a long, droning hiss.
"What the—" Widget's crest fanned out in alarm. His starcloud ruff rippled. "It's an abyss!"
Yuna hovered through the door, a concerned look on her face. There was a single rocky platform on the other side. More than spacious enough to accommodate the quartet. Beyond that, however, was an abyss of swirling reds, purples, blues, and blacks. Bits of rubble and debris floated haphazardly through the air. And the place was huge. There was no way this could fit inside of Mount Coronet.
Was this an illusion? Or maybe the mountain was a mystery dungeon?
"It's not totally empty," Gene exclaimed, floating up to Yuna's side. He pointed up and to the right. "Look."
She followed his index finger and spotted a floating platform. Roughly the same size as the one they were on, to boot. And when Yuna squinted, she could see another even further in the distance.
"Hmph. Then we simply fly to it," Bahamut declared. The cosmic lucario walked over to Widget.
Yuna was about to agree with him when that tightness from earlier gripped her chest ectoplasm. "Nnngh... what now?"
"Whoa!" Widget squawked in surprise as white light erupted to the foursome's right.
"Mom, are you there?"
"Huh?" Yuna's tail crinkled. "Leo?!"
The light vanished to reveal not only the cosmic arceus, but Nikki, Scarlett, and Shimmer, too. Why were they here? How were they here?
Not helping things was Bahamut conjuring a light blade. "It's a trick of this infernal mountain. Let's—"
Gene flicked the cosmic lucario's right ear. "C'mon, I know you can sense 'em. They're the real deal." The mega mewtwo floated toward them, ignoring Bahamut's growls. "But seriously... what are you guys doing here?" He tilted his head in Leo's direction. "I'm sure Boy Wonder over here's responsible. Doesn't exactly give us a play-by-play, though."
"There was another mystery dungeon," Leo announced. He was looking out at the abyss and the floating platforms off in the distance. "Xander made the anom—"
Shimmer whinnied in fright and rapidly turned around, tails frazzled. "Wait, where's Xander? You didn't leave him there, did you?"
"No." Leo rolled his eyes. "Tempting as it was, I sent him back to the outpost. And that's getting a bit ahead of things."
As Leo discussed Xander's stupid show tournament devolving into interruptions by pirates and another Paradigm Lieutenant, Yuna noticed how much bigger Leo was. He must've gotten his hands on quite a few plates, given he now stood several heads taller than her. Leo was two and a half Widgets big!
"... When Nikki and Scarlett came to the rescue with their music and that literally brought the house down on that prick," Leo said. "Then I took the Blank, Zap, Toxic, and Pixie Plates from the core, felt Mom's aura, and got us all here."
Yuna blinked several times and turned to Nikki.
"Well, we can't take all the credit." Nikki dusted off her leather jacket. "That DJ Vice guy actually wrote the music. I just did what I do best." She strummed her gills.
"So, you were the difference maker?" Yuna said.
Nikki's mohawk grew larger. "Eh, I wouldn't—"
Leo leaned into Yuna's line of sight while pointing a hind hoof toward the dragonair beside him. "It was GGs until these two crashed the party."
"Right." Yuna's tail crinkled slightly. More of Leo's weird lingo. A part of her felt guilty that she missed an entire anomaly dungeon. But it sounded like the others had everything under control. "Thanks, Nikki. I'm glad you were there to help."
The toxtricity's mohawk turned bright pink. "I-It was nothing." She hiked her jacket up slightly as if she could hide her mohawk.
"Oh please." Bahamut stomped in between them, aura feelers tense. "Keep it in your bedroom."
"Sheesh, Gramps." Leo sighed. "Would it kill you to give her a 'nicely done' or something?"
Bahamut glared at Leo. "You're a fool if you can't see the problem here." The cosmic lucario pointed to Leo and Yuna. "Why the hell would he sense Yunavresca's aura inside the mystery dungeon core when we've been here the entire time?"
Dead silence. Yuna looked down at her slowly undulating tail. Bahamut had a good point. Even if he could've delivered it more politely.
Gene drifted past Bahamut, clicking his tongue. "I'm guessing you've got a theory."
"He was manipulated," Bahamut said, brow furrowing. "Into warping here." He pointed to the ground. "For some reason."
A loud bell rang somewhere in the distance. Yuna gasped as her levitation faltered and her triangular head smacked against the ground. "Whoomf!" She used her wiry arms to push her upper half up.
"H-Hey, I can't float!" Yuna said, looking around for someone to help. Leo trotted over and bucked her up onto her back, allowing her to see that Gene, too, was forced onto the ground.
"See?" Silver light swirled around Bahamut's paws. "There was a trap lying in wait for Leo. And now it's sprung!"
"Not yet."
A chill ran through Yuna's ectoplasm.
"That voice," Widget whimpered, looking to Yuna.
The dragapult nodded. "Zodiark." She craned her triangular head up as best she could. "Whatever you're trying won't work!"
"I am not trying anything." Their voice carried through the abyss until it was a distant echo. "All the players have not yet arrived."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Nikki approached the edge of the platform, lightning guitar at the ready. Though Yuna saw her arms trembling.
"How about we watch together?"
Two staticky rifts appeared in front of the group.
"I-Iggy!"
Shimmer galloped past Leo, with Scarlett nervously slithering after him. He stopped in front of one of the rifts, where Igneous, Noctum, and Valkyrie were making their way through some sort of corridor. But why was everything in black and white?
Yuna glanced at the other rift to find Jade struggling to weave through Ice Beams fired by a trio of genesect.
"What's going on here?" She looked at Shimmer. "I thought the genesect all got destroyed by Vortex!"
But the ponytales was too focused on the rift showing Igneous to answer her.
"It would seem your friends have met with some... difficulties. Whether they overcome them matters not. But we shall watch. See if they have what it takes to join you... and learn the truth."
XxX
Igneous' head pounded. Groaning, the grovlazzle rolled onto his back. Stars swirled around his vision.
"Ugggggggggggh." He rubbed his head with his claws. "What happened?"
Silence followed. Igneous' vision stopped swirling, allowing him to see nothing but glitchy, black and white cubes flickering in and out of existence at random over his head.
Wait.
Igneous blinked once. Twice.
This wasn't the colosseum. And hadn't he just said something out loud? Why didn't he hear himself speak?
He hastily sat up. His arms and legs were black and white.
... Everything was black and white. From the stone floor to the mirrored walls showing endlessly telescoping reflections of Igneous, Noctum, and Valkyrie. The cosmic charizard and garchomp were out cold, so Igneous' first order of business was to get them up.
(Art by SketchyGarden)
"Heeeeeeeey!" Igneous shouted... except no words came out.
Instead, the mirrors showed a black and white box over his head. It contained the cry he'd made toward his allies.
"What the hell?!" Again, Igneous heard nothing. And what he wanted to say instead appeared in the box.
It was a dialogue box. Like in an old pixelated video game.
Igneous turned around and around. Mirrors on both sides? Everything in black and white? His words getting put inside a literal text box?
... If this wasn't a mystery dungeon, Igneous might as well have eaten his own head leaf.
Well, calling out to them wouldn't work. Igneous settled for prodding the two dragons with his foot until they got up.
"Nnnngh... what?" Valkyrie's groan displayed in a text box of her own.
Igneous tried to grab the text box floating over his head, but his claws phased right through it. Tails curling up, he knelt down and, with a good deal of effort, got both Noctum and Valkyrie onto their feet.
"Whoa, hey, what's the big idea?" Valkyrie's text box turned all spikey, as if trying to tell Igneous she was upset.
"We're in a mystery dungeon." Igneous gestured around him.
Valkyrie's eyes widened. "The hell— why did those words appear over your head?!"
Noctum pointed above the garchomp. "It happened to you, too."
He blinked, then looked up. "A-And me." Noctum fidgeted nervously. "Oh dear..."
"Is Gus around?" Valkyrie wondered, looking mostly at the mirrors.
Igneous also looked around. "If he is, he's not here. We should get moving."
"Yeah, but which way?" Noctum looked left, then right. He even held up his tail, only to grimace at the black and white flame. "Everything looks the same."
"No, wait." Valkyrie poked Noctum's side with a claw. "There's a staircase over there. And, uh..."
Igneous followed where the garchomp was pointing. There was... some sort of black and white sprite at the base of the stairs. He cautiously crept closer.
It seemed to be... a tiny, pixelated human. Holding a book, maybe? Between how small and blurry the sprite was, Igneous couldn't say for sure.
Before he could size it up any further, he caught Noctum's text box appearing out of the corner of his eyes.
"Um, hello? Do you know where we are?"
Igneous froze as a new text box appeared over the tiny man.
OAK: Hello there! Welcome to the world of POKéMON!
"W... what?"
Igneous conjured Honedge. Good, at least that still worked in this godforsaken place.
OAK: My name is OAK! People call me the POKéMON PROF!
The sprite hadn't moved at all. And why was this guy saying his name when his text box already showed it? This had to be a dungeon construct. Better for Igneous to get rid of it now and—
A black and white beam came in from his right and struck OAK... who split in two. And then the two split into four and four text boxes appeared in front of the trio.
OAK: This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON!
OAK: This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON!
OAK: This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON!
OAK: This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON!
"Let's just go past them!" Noctum pleaded. His Phantom Warp afterimages passed Igneous by, only to strike one of the text boxes and bounce back. The four sprites remained completely still.
"H-Huh? But that's never failed before!"
OAK: For some people, POKéMON are pets.
OAK: For some people, POKéMON are pets.
OAK: For some people, POKéMON are pets.
OAK: For some people, POKéMON are pets.
"It's okay." Igneous clutched Honedge tightly. "We just need to wait for an opening..."
OAK: Others use them f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝.
OAK: Others use them f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝.
OAK: Others use them f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝.
OAK: Others use them f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝.
f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̖̐̄̿f̸̣̓̽̌͜i̸̛̖g̶̘̉h̶͍̩̏̀͊t̷̞̃͒̆ṣ̸̻̗͝f̴̖̈́͛͑o̵̬̖̦̍̋r̶̗̩͑ ̵̣̐̄̿
The words had glitched out and broken through the text boxes.
"Screw it! Now!" Igneous charged forward, slashing furiously with Honedge. To his delight, it cleaved through the text boxes and sprites like they were nothing. He ran through the hole he'd created, with Noctum and Valkyrie hot on his tail.
However, Igneous quickly found more text boxes swarming him.
OAK: <player>! This isn't the time to use that!
OAK: <player>! This isn't the time to use that!
OAK: <player>! This isn't the time to use that!
OAK: <player>! Ṫ̸̢̔̕ͅḧ̶̔̄͜i̴̘̱͂s̴̙̲̻̿̆́ ̸͓̏̓i̷͇͚̟͌͘s̸̜̺̗̎n̶̢͎̔̉͘'̸͎̀͝t̵̘̝͈͗ ̷̫̘̬̇͘͝ẗ̷̗́̒̍h̵͇͖̄e̴̤̿̾̊ ̷̰̀̃t̷̪̐̇ȋ̴͇̋m̷̡͘ȩ̵͉̌ ̴̩̂ṱ̷̍́͠o̵̼͍͚̔̎ ̸̖̩̰͒͝u̷͙͗̈́̚ŝ̷͇͉͔͑͋ẻ̴͇̺͍͊ ̸̣̞́t̶̙̃̅ḫ̴̨͙̎̋̑a̵̩̐͂͘͜ţ̴̣̹̆!̵̰̙̓
"Back off!" The grovlazzle spun in a circle, swinging Honedge around to slice through the text boxes with ease. A burning tingle ran down his back, like his volcarona wings wanted to burst out.
Things finally "quieted" down. The stairs were surrounded by black walls and appeared to be going up toward a black hole. Igneous glanced back at Noctum and Valkyrie.
"How did this happen?" the garchomp wondered. "I remember fighting Gus and that ursaluna, and then..." Her brow furrowed. She rubbed her forehead with a wiry arm. "It gets all fuzzy."
"I think I heard someone," Noctum said, scratching his chin. "But I didn't recognize the voice. It was loud. And kinda creepy."
They had gotten close to the black hole at the top of the stairs. Suddenly there was a flash of white light. When it vanished, they found themselves in another room full of mirrors. The floor and ceiling were gray tiles.
Valkyrie frowned. "What's with those?" She pointed a claw forward. "Since when do dungeons make skeletons?"
"They look like Kelly," Noctum added, tilting his head. "But why aren't they moving? Shouldn't they try to attack us?"
The skeletal aerodactyl sprites were small like OAK. They were frozen in place in midair. Igneous had no idea what to make of them.
[Well, well, well. If it isn't (FRIEND OF THE STREAM)!]
Igneous' blood ran cold. This was the voice Valkyrie claimed to hear. The grovlazzle was sure of it. And, unlike the trio, Igneous could actually hear him. That had to mean he was in control of the dungeon.
"It was you!" He pointed a claw accusingly toward the ceiling. "Ahsen!"
A round of applause echoed around the room. Numerous colorful clapping hands filled the room. Igneous spat a fireball toward one of the emotes, but it vanished and the fireball struck the mirror to his left instead.
The moment it did, all the aerodactyl skeleton sprites each moved slightly in different directions.
[Nice (4HEAD)ing, (FRIEND OF THE STREAM)!] Ahsen's weird, buzzing laughter reverberated around the room. [This is what we've been waiting for. The (STREAM VALUE)!]
Igneous was in no mood to deal with Ahsen's usual brand of stupidity. "Where the hell are we?" he demanded.
[You mean you don't know? OMEGALUL.]
This time Valkyrie swept a Dragon Pulse through all the laughing emotes. Again, the skeletal aerodactyl sprites moved slightly. A few of them were approaching the group.
[Look! Look with (YOUR SPECIAL s)!]
Ahsen's voice faded away and a new text box appeared in the center of the room.
~WELCOME TO GLITCH CITY~
Static rippled across the text box.
~W3LC0M3 T0 GL1TCH C1TY~
~̴̲̝̊W̸̱̾3̶̯̪̏L̵̺̗̑C̸͔͖͆̋0̷̯̇̋M̴̼̓͊ͅ3̶͍̾͗ ̸̈́͆͜T̷̼̃̔0̸̠̩́ ̵͙͊G̴̖̚L̵̜͕̾̑1̶̻͛́T̸̻͐̍Ç̵͉̃Ḩ̶̜͊̚ ̶̠̇Č̵͙͝1̶̳̌̉T̴̨̫̿̕Y̷̟̹͋̌~̸̦̅
~̵͎̈́W̵͇̜̅̚3̷̤̓L̶͕̠̿̓C̵̛̦̈0̵̦̰̅̀M̵̙̊3̵̨͙͛͊ ̶̰̈͝Z̸̨̥̈́̕3̸͇̄R̸͍͔̽0̴̯̐̄͜ ̷̼̬͗G̷̯̍̉Ḽ̸̓̒1̷͎̀T̴̼͐Ć̴̗͗͜H̷̘͚̄ ̴̢̊͌2̵̛͈F̷͚̒͘~̸̬̳̊́
~Z3R0 1SL3 2F~
The text box burst apart. A wave of static energy washed over Igneous, Noctum, and Valkyrie. Igneous' back tingled again, but it quickly died down.
,,˙ʇuǝɹǝɟɟᴉp ʎuɐ lǝǝɟ ʇ,uop I,, ˙punoɹɐ pǝʞool ǝᴉɹʎʞlɐΛ ,,¿ʇɐɥʇ sɐʍ ʇɐɥM,,
Igneous' head leaf caught fire. "What are you talking about? You're standing on the ceiling!"
"I've got a problem, too!" Noctum declared. He was stuck on the mirror on the right side of the room.
[WTF? Your (POWER LEVELS) didn't get (ALT+F4)'d?] Ahsen's voice projected through the room again. [Sometimes it be like that. I'll just have to (STREAM VALUE) a different (START9)! Why don't you make your way to my (EVIL LAIR)? It'll be (GOOD, CLEAN, FUN FOR THE WHOLE)]
Ahsen's voice cut out. Igneous waited for him to finish that sentence, but the room was dead silent. And all the aerodactyl skeletons were squarely focused on him.
"Look, it doesn't matter if he's screwing with gravity." Igneous raised Honedge. "We press on and find him. I bet if we can stop him, that'll make the dungeon disappear."
The grovlazzle charged forward. With every step he took, however, the aerodactyl moved, too. A couple conjured pixelated blobs, but Igneous easily cut through them with Honedge. He reached the stairs on the other side of the room in no time, with Noctum and Valkyrie not far behind despite being stuck on the wall and ceiling.
"I bet that 'lair' of his is at the top," Noctum said. "Let's take the stairs and keep climbing."
Igneous wasn't sure how both dragons could actually use the stairs if they were stuck like that. Noctum even tried to fly but found his wings wouldn't lift him off the wall. Eventually, Valkyrie stomped across the ceiling with a huff and vanished into the darkness at the top of the stairs. A worried Noctum lumbered after her. Igneous quickly ran after them.
~Z3R0 1SL3 3F~
Like before, there was a flash of white light and then the trio found themselves in another room walled by mirrors. But this one had a lot of partitions that created jagged, dizzying reflections. There were more aerodactyl skeleton sprites scattered around the room, but Igneous couldn't tell if they were reflections or not.
˙pǝlʍoɹƃ ǝᴉɹʎʞlɐΛ ,,'ʞɔns ɐuuoƃ sᴉ sᴉɥ┴,,
"How far do we have to go to find this Ahsen guy?" Noctum wondered. With every step he took to try and get closer to Igneous, some of the sprites moved.
A burst of black and white pixels headed toward Igneous. He countered with a black and white fireball that flew the attack apart. "Look, it doesn't matter. We just have to keep going."
But that tingling in Igneous' back hadn't gone away. He had a sinking feeling something nasty was waiting for them deeper into the dungeon.
XxX
It was like watching a video on fast forward. Igneous, Noctum, and Valkyrie were moving so quickly that Yuna could scarcely keep up with what she saw in the rift. Rapidly moving black and white pixels flickered inside the rift. And all the mirrors around her teammates disoriented the dragapult enough to force her to look away.
"What did you do to them, Zodiark?" Yuna growled. Shadows bubbled around her chest.
"Nothing," Zodiark replied. Their voice was much less distorted than back in Blueberry Academy. They sounded bored. "I have no control over what an omen's actions. It seems the Glitched Omen is determined to drag his counterpart out kicking and screaming."
Yuna's shadows spread down her tail. Omen? She'd heard that before. All of them had. From Xeromus.
"I bet you're the one who corrupted this Ahsen guy!" Gene pointed an accusatory finger toward the red and purple sky. His shoulder crystals crackled with black lightning. "Just like you did to Nova!"
"I did not corrupt your husband, Dark Matter." Zodiark sounded uninterested despite the verbal rebuke. "I showed him the truth. That his cause was a folly. That his battles wrought suffering, when he thought he was saving everyone. It is not my fault he lost his grip on reality when faced with the futility of his actions."
"Liar." Red energy crackled around Gene's chest core. "You shadowed him, bastard!"
"I did what was necessary to ease his suffering," Zodiark said.
Gene hurled a shadowy lance up toward the sky. It didn't strike anything, but it at least got the shadows to evaporate.
"Temper, Dark Matter," Zodiark tutted. "Though I suppose I am preaching to the choir in that regard."
Leo walked toward the edge of the platform, shaking his head. "This is pointless. There was a second dungeon in Khelifet, right? Let's go there and help the others out."
"Wait!" Shimmer galloped to Leo's side. "What's going on with Iggy? Why are they fighting some... some sort of crazy glitch monster?"
Huh? Yuna turned back toward the rift, but only saw Igneous running by with a panicked look on his face. She was going to suggest Leo go through with his idea of warping to Khelifet, but the cosmic arceus' eyes were glued to the rift, too.
XxX
~Z3R0 1SL3 4P3X~
~Z3R0 1SL3 4P3X~
Things had blurred together into a monotony that matched the black and white, pixelated aesthetic of this dungeon. Even the mirrors had given way to empty white walls as the trio climbed up the floors. Ahsen wasn't even speaking to them, either.
But that changed the moment a set of stairs led not to yet another white room, but an office. One that brought Sakaki's at the Radiant Beacon to mind. There were oak walls with shelves lined by... glitching pixelated blobs. Which was still weird.
But there was a window looking out over... a black and red sky.
"I think we found the 'evil lair,'" Valkyrie sneered, air quoting with her claws.
"Hey, I'm not stuck on the wall anymore." Noctum's tail flame grew larger. "And you're not on the ceiling."
The garchomp leered at the wooden desk opposite them. "Somehow I can't find it in myself to be happy."
She pointed across the room. There was a static flicker above the desk and, in the blink of an eye, Ahsen appeared. The porygon-Z—Igneous was sure of the species now, but didn't know why he could suddenly make that connection—hovered in place, his discoid body twitching erratically.
"It's over, Ahsen!" Igneous growled. "Get rid of this mystery dungeon now."
[Over?] Ahsen's head spun in place, sometimes turning into a skeletal aerodactyl head. Just like all the sprites they'd come across on the floors below. [OMEGALUL! The (START9) is just beginning, (FRIEND OF THE STREAM)!]
As he'd done before, Ahsen shouted random directions, with his body getting jerked around. Unlike the other times, though, Igneous saw something different.
Chains. Faint silver chains yanking Ahsen around.
"Screw this." Valkyrie squared up her stance. "I'm not in the mood to listen to nonsense."
She spat a Dragon Pulse toward Ahsen, but it plinked off a shield made of pixelated blocks and struck the oak wall on Ahsen's right.
[Don't be such a (ResidentSleeper).] Ahsen flailed his discoid arms around. [This is between (CHAT) and (CERTIFIED FRIEND OF THE STREAM).] He pointed both arms squarely at Igneous.
The grovlazzle's tails curled up. "I don't have anything to say to you."
Ahsen's head turned into a skeletal kabutops. His arms turned to kabutops scythes that he clapped together.
[Let me say thanks. Thanks for (SUPPORTING THE STREAM).]
Igneous' back burned again. This... had to be about Honedge, didn't it? About taking the cursed relic from Ahsen.
[Thanks to your certified (4Head) play, I am (EATING GOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD)!] Ahsen's head turned back to a porygon-Z and spun around excitedly. He shouted a few more directions that the chains yanked him in. [I can hear (HELIX). See (HELIX). Taste (HELIX). And (HELIX) tastes like]
He suddenly stopped talking again. His body shifted to an L-shaped cluster of pixelated blocks, then back into porygon-Z.
[Don't you see it?] Ahsen vibrated in place. [All the (CHAT)s out there? All the (START9) waiting to be spread? It's (WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT).]
His vibrating intensified. [I'm about to (MAKE THE MOTHER OF ALL OMELETS, JACK)!] Ahsen's head rotated around his body. [So why are you and your (1Head)s trying to #@$% me over right before we get to the good stuff?! What are you, a (CORPORATE CEO)?]
Valkyrie squinted. "Did... did he just censor bleep himself?"
[Well, (WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT)!] Ahsen's discoid arms flailed around so far from his torso Igneous expected them to fly out of the room. [(NO, WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT)! Get it through your #@*!ing skull you (BEAUTIFUL GAY SALAD)!]
Igneous' tail leaves caught fire. "E-Excuse me?!"
Noctum's tail flame shrank. "Why's the room shaking?" He flapped his wings, but couldn't get himself into the air.
Ahsen's arms grabbed the pixelated blobs and the shelves and brought them over to his torso. He squished them together until the pixels mashed together into a fossil. One shaped like a helix.
[If you won't accept (HELIX), then I'll (PRIME GAMING) the acceptance into you!] Ahsen declared. The porygon-Z pressed the helix fossil into his torso. A sizzling noise echoed around the room. [After all...]
The sizzling spread to the walls. To the ceiling. To the floor. Everything burned away until the group was surrounded by a sea of pixelated text boxes. All of them had random directions or buttons on them. And they were changing by the second.
[... Everyone's favorite (BIRD-TYPE POKéMON)...]
Ahsen pulsated several times, before his body exploded into a giant, writhing mess of black blobs and tentacles. Pixelated blocks flickered in an out of existence all around Ahsen's body.
[... Knows how to put on (A REALLY BIG SHOW)!]