Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Path of Valor

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 136: Jolly Roger That

Yuna slumped over in her leather seat, gazing out the ship's front window as it flew through Eternatus' deep space innards. Bright stars and auroras passed them by in colorful blurs, along with planets near and far.

It would have been a beautiful sight, if things weren't more dire than the last time they'd done this. How long ago was that flight? It had been to find the first anomaly dungeon, right?

The chair beside hers squeaked. Nikki swiveled it back, then forth, then tucked her legs in and spun around.

"How much longer until we do the thing?" she wondered. While spinning, the toxtricity pointed to the radio tuner on the dashboard.

Footsteps came from behind Yuna. Igneous appeared between Nikki and the dragapult. He knelt down, holding up an index card that contained Gene's instructions for getting to Larkharr.

"Now's as good a time as any." The grovlazzle grabbed the dial and turned it, moving the tuning needle along the dashboard of numbers.

"Can't believe a freaking spaceship has an old-timey radio." Nikki shook her head. "And we're supposed to turn it on, right?"

"Yeah." Igneous pulled his claws away. "Gene called the station Pirate Radio."

"Psssht." Nikki flicked her right hand dismissively. "What do you suppose pirates listen to, anyway? Doubt they have good taste in music. Especially if this has anything to do with that dweeb Gilbert."

"S'pose it's sea shanties," Jaeger mused. He knelt on the empty solo cot in the back of the ship, resting his arms on the windowsill and gazing out at deep space. Vince and Shimmer occupied each of the bunk beds opposite Jaeger's cot. The ponytales poked his head up while the purple koraidon looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"Only one way to find out." Nikki leaned forward from her chair and pressed the button to activate the radio.

White flashed around the ship. Meeping, Yuna grabbed the base of her tail to stop it from shooting into her torso.

"What was that?" she squeaked. A soft guitar line played from the radio.

"If you wake at midnight and you hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind or looking in the street."

Igneous stood up. "Gene's notes say Cyril modified the ship with a cloaker that looks the part of a pirate vehicle if we're playing pirate radio."

"Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by."

Yuna was tempted to smush her face up against the windshield in the hopes of figuring out what had changed. The dragapult instead slumped further down in her seat.

"And if this doesn't work?" she wondered.

Igneous shrugged. "It hasn't failed Gene yet."

Nikki spun around in her chair, smacking Igneous upside the head in the process.

"Hey!" The grovlazzle's leafy tails smoldered. "What's your problem?"

"Are you trying to jinx us?" The toxtricity stopped spinning to glare at him.

"She's right." Jaeger spun around to sit on the bed. "Tempting fate there, mate."

"Whatever." Igneous held his arms up and stepped away from the radio. "We should be there soon, right? So, we'll know one way or another if this works."

At that, the radio speakers crackled with a bit of static.

"Ah. A fine song!" an unfamiliar female voice said. "Tis a fine song indeed. Ye be listening to W-ARR Pirate Radio! The finest swashbuckling station this side of Eternatus!"

Nikki rested her hands behind her head. "Oh. Guess they actually have a DJ."

"I hate to butt in, me hearties, but I got an announcement," the DJ continued. "W-ARR be going off the air fer a couple of hours on account o' an important event: the execution of Chatot Gilbert!"

Yuna's tail shriveled up. "WHAT?!" She stared slack-jawed at the radio.

"Trespassers will be shot and/or skewered on sight," the DJ declared. "And, on behalf of Cap'n Blackskull, remember Article 3, Section 5, Subsections C and P o' the Pirate Code: never blow up your own bloody ship and never be committing insurance fraud! We be pirates! We have standards!"

"Gilbert's the one we need, isn't he?" Shimmer whined. The ponytales pawed nervously at the edge of his bed. "What do we do?"

"Land first." Jaeger hopped off the cot. "Anything else is just jumping to conclusions."

Turbulence racked the ship. Yuna's tail wrapped around the base of her seat. She dug her claws into the armrest. "What was that?"

"Think we passed into the mystery dungeon." Igneous pointed toward the windshield. "Looks like Larkharr's coming into view."

Yuna looked out the windshield and found... half of a dark green-blue planet. Its right side was nothing but rubble and debris floating in the midst of a strange gray aurora.

"Well that's really reassuring," Nikki scoffed. "Not." Scowling, she crossed her arms. "We sure Boss Kitty's good for this?"

"Even if we aren't, we can't get a hold of him," Vince whimpered. The purple koraidon stretched out on his bed now that Jaeger wasn't sitting on it. "Didn't he say the pirates' mystery dungeon would block the X-transceiver?"

"Yeah, yeah." Nikki waved Vince off. "Thanks for the reminder, Negative Nancy."

Vince's antennae drooped.

As the ship pulled closer to the part of Larkharr still intact, it descended into a gray, cloudy sky. Yuna expected to see lightning flickering all around her but the ship passed through the cloud line without issue. There wasn't even any thunder rumbling around them.

"Okay." Igneous crouched down. "I guess they even programmed in a landing spot?"

The ship remained steady. Yuna saw no signs of enemy fire... or anything to suggest the pirates were onto them.

Instead, choppy waters swirled about below the ship. Jagged mountains jutted toward the sky. Patches of green clung to them. Trees that were too far down for Yuna to make out, if she had to guess.

"This place is, like, ninety percent ocean." Nikki frowned. "How do we know there even is a place to land?" The toxtricity scratched her head. "What if the ship's just gonna, like, orbit around... and we'll have to freaking jump down to the surface?"

"That'd be bad." Shimmer's tails curled up. "We only have two fliers."

Nikki drummed her fingers against the arm rest. "Yeah, and Twiggy ain't exactly got the muscles for carrying any of us all the way down there."

Igneous glared at her. Jaeger caught their attention with a whistle. He jerked his head at Vince.

"This fella can glide down." The lycanroc mutt tapped the edge of the bed Vince lay on. "Those antennae unfurl into wings."

Yuna nodded once. Jaeger was right. Brother Kora did have those large wings coming from his head.

"B-But I haven't used my wings like this," Vince whimpered.

"So, what? You saying you too much of a weakling to do it?" Nikki leaned over, resting her right arm on her legs. "All you've done since you got here is mope. Aren't you supposed to be an Overseer or whatever?"

Yuna uncurled her tail from around the base of the chair and stuck it out in front of the toxtricity. "We get it, Nikki."

The dragapult's expression sharpened. "Look. Like it or not, this is the situation, Vince. It's time for you to start pulling your weight." She pointed to Nikki. "Not everyone needs to have crazy powers to contribute something here. You can surely glide down to safety, can't you?"

Vince looked down, frowning.

"Umm, guys?" Shimmer slid out of his bed. "The ship stopped moving."

Yuna looked out the window. The ship hovered high in the air, above a thick haze obscuring whatever was below.

She exhaled deeply. "Looks like we really do have to descend the old-fashioned way." Yuna looked right at Vince. "Like it or not, you're up."

Vince's antennae curled up. Jaeger rolled his eyes.

"Look mate." He crossed his arms. "Can you or can't you use your wings?"

After a few seconds of silence, Vince mumbled, "I can."

"Then that settles it." Jaeger clapped his hands. "Those who can fly will fly. Vince'll carry the rest of us."

"Um..." Vince looked between Jaeger, Nikki, and Shimmer nervously. "I think there's too many of you. M-Mainly because Shimmer's on four legs. That's not really a body type I can accommodate with other folks."

Yuna pinched her brow. "Then I'll take care of him. You focus on Nikki and Jaeger. Deal?"

Vince nodded. "Just, um, be careful opening the door. We're pretty high up and the difference in pressure might—"

Yuna opened the door... far from gently.

"Crap crap crap crap!"

Despite Vince's panicked shouting, nothing sucked anyone out of the ship. Shrugging, Yuna flicked her right wrist toward the door. Blue flames swirled around and Reshiram appeared in front of her.

Yuna stared at Reshiram— or, rather, its projection. Floating there silently. Fiery energy brimmed within it, but she didn't sense a spirit.

"Uhh." Nikki scratched her head. "Is Crotch Fuzz broken? Usually he'd start spouting off about something by now."

"I'll explain later." Yuna waved the toxtricity off. "Let's go, Shimmer."

The ponytales cautiously stepped on Reshiram's back. Reshiram remained silent, even as Yuna flew out the door.

She caught a glimpse of his empty blue eyes. Her ectoplasm rippled. Maybe she could spare a moment to search for his spirit again?

Yuna took a deep breath. No, this wasn't the time. They had bigger things to worry about.

With a wave of her right arm, she beckoned Reshiram after her. They descended through the fog. The air tasted as salty as the fries at the outpost. Waves churned and sloshed beneath them.

"I see islands," Shimmer pointed a forehoof over Reshiram's right wing. "And there's some really big metal circle in the middle."

Yuna saw it, too. There was a tower beside the metal circle. And she definitely heard voices from that direction. Including a shrill one that stuck out above all the others.

"Non, non, non! Vous do not understand! Ze corviknight robot... it had to go boom! It was part of my brilliant planning to stop ze rebels!"

"Oh for pity's sake." Shimmer groaned atop Reshiram's back. "This is about what happened in Khelifet? Really?"

Yuna blinked once, then recalled Noctum telling her that Gilbert had blown up his own machine after Noctum thrashed it. The word "sore loser" got tossed around a lot.

What Yuna wasn't expecting was to hear the whines and crackles of speakers coming from below. Her tail crinkled in surprise.

"Ye know the rules, Gilbert! Me bots are like me ships! Irreplaceable!"

"I... I think that's Captain Blackskull," Shimmer said.

Yuna doubted it could be anyone else. She descended toward the metal circle even faster. A quick glance up revealed that Vince had successfully unfurled his wings from his antennae. But he glided so slowly. What a pain.

"Mon capitaine, if vous would just—"

"Save it! I won't be hearing any o' your lip! It be the kraken's belly for ye!"

"NON! ANYZING BUT ZAT!"

A loud bell rang. And rang. And rang and rang.

Good god, it was so loud Yuna figured its echo would carry across the entire plan— err, half planet.

"Ohh Mister Squiggles!"

The water around the metal circle frothed and bubbled. Raucous cheers erupted from the surface as several large, dark green tentacles emerged from the ocean.

"Sacre bleu! If anyone wishes to sauver moi, now would be ze most excellent time!"

Part of Yuna wondered if Blackskull would be more willing to negotiate if they just let Gilbert get eaten. But, pompous blowhard or not, she wasn't about to let someone get devoured.

She launched four Dragon Darts from her horns down toward the surface. They struck some of the giant tentacles reaching toward the middle of the metal circle. A garbled cry rang out. The tentacles all retreated into the water.

Shouts rang out from below the dragapult.

"What was that?"

"Is there a mutiny?!"​

"No, you dolt! Look up there!"​

"Wait, who's that?!"

"I dunno!"

"Cap'n! What do we do?!"​

Yuna opted not to go any further down. She stuck her right arm out and Reshiram stopped, too. Vince was still higher in the air.

Heavy thudding footsteps rang out from the metal platform. Smaller bodies parted, leaving way for a large, black-scaled tyrantrum to march toward the edge. He looked up. Yuna could barely make out a gemstone in place of one of his eyes.

He raised his right arm. The hook that sat in place of his hand suddenly morphed into a megaphone.

"Ye be trespassing on private grounds, lassie!" Blackskull bellowed. "Nobody stands between pirates and pirate justice!"

As silly as it was, a comeback popped into Yuna's head. "Well, it's a good thing we're floating up here."

A few individuals in the crowd laughed. Blackskull glared at them, his gem eye glowing a brilliant emerald. That promptly shut them up.

"Mon Capitaine, I swear, I did not do anyzing to cause zis!"

Yuna traced Gilbert's voice and found the chatot tied up to a large metal pole on the opposite side of the platform. His wings and legs were restrained. Why they didn't also tie his beak shut was beyond Yuna. Maybe they gave him a chance to plead his case?

Blackskull turned around and shouted at Gilbert, megaphone and all. "I be well aware of that, ye stinking bilge pipe!"

"Gene sent us!" Shimmer said, sticking his head up from behind Reshiram's wings. "Because we need your help! The emperor has—"

"A Rift Ripper?" Blackskull cut in.

Yuna's eyes widened. "Wait, you know about that?!"

"Haaah ha ha ha!" Blackskull turned to the other pirates. "Laugh with me, me hearties!"

As the crowd of pirates erupted with laughter, the tyrantrum's gem eye glowed blue. A projection of Paradox appeared over the metal platform. He appeared to be in an office of some sort, looking between a camera and a bank of monitors.

"W... what is this?" Yuna said. It was some sort of illusion, right?

"We bugged the emperor's office!" Blackskull announced, ending the pirate crowd's laughter. "Greatest mark we've ever hit."

Shimmer gasped. "No way. So the reason you've managed to avoid the emperor this whole time..."

"Is because we've known his every move!" Blackskull proclaimed.

"How hasn't he found this bug?" Shimmer said. "Surely by now Paradox would have caught on."

"That be a trade secret," Blackskull said. The projection vanished back into his gem eye. "Or, rather, a pirate secret!"

Several pirates cheered, raising hooks, wings, and arms.

"You cannot be serious!" Yuna's griseous core flickered. "If you've known that... then why the hell are you sitting on this?! Why not work with Gene? Why not go after this guy?!"

Blackskull laughed at that. "Tis more fun to plunder instead, lass!" He turned to the crowd. "Ain't that right, lads?"

The crowd gave a raucous, "AYE, CAP'N!"

"Ummm, guys?" Vince called from above. "I really need somewhere to safely land! I can't exactly fly, y'know!"

The last of Yuna's patience burnt to ashes. She was willing to be polite over the nonsense with Gilbert and the kraken. But to know the emperor's movements and just... just do nothing with that. How much of all the awful stuff happening could've been avoided?

With a loud snarl, Yuna wreathed Reshiram in black, shadowy energy. Shimmer whinnied in fright on Reshiram's back.

"Yuna, what are you doing?!"

"This!"

The dragapult pointed to the metal platform. Reshiram unleashed a Blue Flare larger than any Yuna had seen the proper Sage perform. It was so large it almost startled Yuna, but her anger toward the pirates was far greater.

All the pirates on the platform scattered. Most ran toward the opposite end, where a couple of flying ships were moored. Blackskull fled with them as blue flames washed over the platform.

"Eeek! Non! Keep ze fire away from moiiiiii!" Gilbert squirmed on his post, but couldn't break free of his restraints.

"There's your landing spot," Yuna growled, directing Vince toward the now empty platform.

"So, ye be picking a fight with me on me own turf, Dragapult?" Blackskull called as the ship he boarded took to the air. He was still talking into his megaphone hand. "Ye've got pepper in yer pants, lass. I'll give ye that."

"I'm not wearing pants!" Yuna snarled. "I've literally never worn them!" She was beyond done with these dolts. "I'll give you one chance. Cooperate with Gene's resistance."

"How about a counteroffer, landlubber?" Blackskull pointed his hand down toward the water. "Iron Claw Carly breaks ye like a toothpick!"

Right as Vince landed with Jaeger and Nikki, a giant kingler machine emerged from the water, shooting water jets to propel it into the sky toward Yuna. Its full beard of frothy bubbles trailed after it.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh!" Vince backpedaled toward the post where Gilbert was tied up, bowling Jaeger and Nikki over in the process.

"Don't run toward moi!" Gilbert squirmed in place. "I do not want to be ze meal for Carly! Make with the rebelling!"

Yuna pointed Reshiram toward the platform. It zipped through the air, but Carly opened one of its claws and unleashed a giant torrent of water. Yuna dove down, directing Reshiram down and left. Both dragons barely skirted the attack, though Shimmer was clearly losing his grip on Reshiram's back.

"Jump, dumbass!" Nikki shouted. She smacked her gills several times. "Nice beard, you bucket of bolts! Definitely not compensating for something!"

Electric amps raced toward Carly from behind. Yuna flew up and shot two Dragon Darts at Carly to hold its attention. It effortlessly swatted them aside with its other claw, but Nikki's Overdrive hit two of its legs from below. The legs curled inward.

Though it couldn't have bothered Carly much, since the robo-kingler pointed its right claw at Yuna. She now stared down a massive burst of water. Yuna sped to her left, sucking her tail into her torso on purpose for once. She barely skirted the water. Was it a giant Hydro Pump or something else?

It didn't matter. Reverse time kicked in and slowed things to a crawl. Yuna pumped Dragon Darts into Carly's face. The dreepy-shaped blue arrows struck Carly's beard, poking holes in all the frothy bubbles. However, Carly wasn't remotely shaken when Reverse Time ended.

To make matters worse, while the pirate ship carrying Blackskull flew into the air, the other one remained moored by the platform. A variety of electric and water-types leaped back onto the platform, rushing the others down.

"****!" Nikki sent Overdrive waves rippled out around her, only for a manectric to draw in the lightning and absorb it. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

"Ye really thought ye could waltz in here and not expect any trouble?" Blackskull taunted. "We Blackskull Buccaneers are in it fer ourselves, lass! That be the long and short of it!"

Carly closed the distance with Yuna, swinging its giant claws at the dragapult. Rather than flying back, however, Yuna instead flew toward the robo-kingler. She dove down toward its legs, avoiding the double Crabhammers.

Reverse time triggered again. Yuna knew there was no point to hold back. Who cares if she used her powers in front of Blackskull? The guy was a prick anyway.

Yuna kicked both her legs out. Giant giratina legs swung up beside her, slamming Carly from below. Yuna flew behind Carly, striking once more with a giratina leg.

When the time stop ended, dents appeared in Carly's metal hide. It tumbled up into the air, jetpack sputtering.

Another giratina leg emerged above Carly to slam its head and send it careening down toward the ocean. Sharp wind swirled around Yuna's griseous core.

"Ray!" she cried, summoning the black serpent in a streak of emerald light. He whipped up a large tornado near the surface of the water. The tornado caught Carly and, despite the bot's large frame, flung it around in midair like it was nothing but a trash bag.

"Cap'n, what is that?!"

"The lass be cheating!"

"It be something right out o' Dewott Jones' locker!"

For once, using her giratina powers didn't bother Yuna. In fact, it felt good. She wasn't desperately flailing around for once. She was in control. She had this.

Rayquaza stopped the tornado and broke into a Dragon Ascent dive. He pierced right through Carly's torso. Its arms broke off and dropped toward the water as an emerald arrow burst out of its back. Carly erupted in a brilliant orange explosion.

But Yuna's victory quickly gave way to something big and heavy striking her back. Then flames washed across her backside. Yuna tumbled through the air. Rayquaza vanished into fine emerald mist.

It was Blackskull's ship. It had trained cannons on her! And they were firing giant bunched up clusters of blast seeds!

"Don't get cocky, Dragapult!" Blackskull crooned. "We got plenty more firepower!"

Yuna caught herself and intercepted the blast seed cannonballs with well-aimed Dragon Darts. She looked right and found that the blast had knocked her far enough away from the platform that she'd totally lost sight of it.

She couldn't even fly toward it, either. Geysers erupted from the water beneath her. Two more robo-kingler appeared, frothy beards peppering the water's surface with extra brine.

Yelping, Yuna flew up and left. Two giant streams of water raced past her. Reverse time triggered, but Yuna was too far from the new Carlies. She shot four Dragon Darts toward them, but they fizzled out when her reverse time wore off.

Light flashed to her right. The ships were still firing at her! Yuna kept flying left, the platform getting further and further from her.

The dragapult swiped at the air behind her. Two spectral wings swatted the blast seed cannonballs, trying to knock them into the two Carlies. Unfortunately, all her giratina wings did was detonate the cannonballs, filling the sky with smoke and orange light.

High-pressure water burst through the light, striking Yuna from below. Hollering, she tumbled down through the air. The ocean's churning waves rushed up to meet her.

"Now that be more like it! Fire away, lads!"

Griseous core flashing, Yuna stopped her fall. She flew along the surface of the water. Waves splashed over her. Salt stung her eyes and ectoplasm. Yuna didn't care.

While instinct screamed to transform into Giratina, that was the wrong move. Yuna let herself get cocky and had already paid the price. She couldn't let anger cloud her judgement. She didn't need to make herself a giant target.

Instead, green light funneled toward one of Yuna's horns. As she snaked along the water surface, she tilted her head up just enough to blast Shaymin in sky form at the nearest Carly.

To Yuna's delight, the robo-kingler didn't see Shaymin coming. A burst of bright green energy struck its jetpack and blew it apart.

The other Carly fired a water geyser from its open pincer. Yuna seized the opening. She jabbed the air repeatedly with her claws as she flew. Giratina tendrils materialized and stabbed Carly's large claw like it was a piece of meat on a dinner plate.

They managed to blow Carly's claw apart, leaving it with no defense against Shaymin's Seed Flares pummeling it on the same side. Like the other Carly, its jetpack blew apart and it dropped from the air, flailing its one good claw around.

"There!" Blackskull shouted from above. "The landlubber be trying to sneak attack from the water!"

Several orange flashes peppered the air over Yuna. Splashes surrounded the dragapult, followed by salty geysers as the blast seed cannonballs exploded.

Yuna tried to open a rift and get herself easily back in the air, then remembered that wouldn't work here. Instead, she dove into the water. Sudden bursts jostled her left, then right, then down. Blast seed cannonballs kept striking the water's surface and exploding. Between the dark water below her and the orange flashes and sloshing brine above her, Yuna had no idea what was going on.

That blasted pirate ship! Just how much ammo did it have? And could she really stay down here, given all the robots had emerged from the depths?

Of course not. Yuna would simply have to hitch a ride.

In an emerald flash, Rayquaza emerged. Yuna grabbed onto his back. Emerald light surrounded him as he shot up through the water. His Dragon Ascent effortlessly carved through the explosions, carrying Yuna higher and higher.

Engines roared and cannons fired to her left. Grunting, Yuna tugged one of Rayquaza's dorsal fins. She jerked the fin as left as she could, then suddenly let go. Rayquaza continued forward like a brilliant emerald comet streaking across the sky.

"Divert all power to the starboard shield!" Blackskull roared through his megaphone. "And I want all me crew boarding their ships posthaste!"

The cannonfire abruptly stopped. A shield made of green hexagonal tiles appeared on the ship's right side. Rayquaza slammed into it. The hexagonal tiles flickered, but the shield held strong. Dragon Ascent's emerald energy evaporated.

Yuna had to work quickly. There was no telling how quickly this backup would arrive. She recalled Rayquaza, then summoned him again for another Dragon Ascent charge.

"Keep the shields up!" Blackskull bellowed.

This time, however, Yuna thrust her hands forward. Two giratina legs kicked the shield. The tiles flickered once again. Then Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent collided with the shield.

The tiles exploded into fragments of green light that quickly faded away. At Yuna's direction, Rayquaza thrashed his head back and forth. Wind blades sliced through the ship's masts. Pirates on the bridge screamed as the masts fell over, slid off the ship, and tumbled down into the ocean.

"It's over! Surrender!" Yuna snarled. Her core glowed bright emerald in her chest as she prepared to have Rayquaza use another Dragon Ascent.

"Surrendering be against the Pirate Code, lass!" Blackskull shouted back.

"Then have it your way!" Yuna's tail whipped the air. Rayquaza reared back to charge into the Ship's hull with a Dragon Ascent. Pirates on the deck launched all manner of ice, lightning, water, and wind blades at Rayquaza.

But it was all a feint. Yuna whipped the air with her tail again. Rayquaza looped through the air, dodging the pirates' various attacks, then dove toward the deck. He reached out to grab Blackskull right out from behind the steering wheel. Because if she had their captain, the crew had to stand down, right?

Rayquaza nabbed the tyrantrum. However, he didn't get more than a few meters back into the air when Blackskull suddenly exploded in a burst of blue and orange napalm. With his defenses weakened from all the Dragon Ascents, Rayquaza dissolved away, writhing about in wordless pain.

Guilt mixed with utter shock as Yuna watched Blackskull's gem eye tumble back onto the deck. None of the crew seemed particularly bothered, either. They weren't shouting. Or attacking. Or even panicking.

What just happened? Had that been a dummy the whole time? Was Blackskull simply a robot?

"That's enough!"

Yuna's tail crinkled at an unfamiliar, shrill voice. Jet engines fwooshed behind her. Yuna spun around, ready to defend herself from another ship or robot, only for her jaw to drop when she saw who was flying toward her.

It was Miraidon! He matched the pictures from Gene's album perfectly.

The dragapult expected the pirates to make a move, but the ones on the ship all stood around, exchanging awkward looks. Those with hands wrung them together nervously. Nobody made a move at Yuna or Miraidon.

Yuna's intensity from fighting fizzled away. In its place, confusion bubbled up from the unexpected newcomer.

"What the— huh? What are you doing here?!" Yuna looked back toward the ship. "You need to get back. It's dangerous here!"

Miraidon shook his head. "Hardly. I'm here to put an end to this, before you do any more damage to my crew."

At first, Miraidon's words didn't really sink in. "What are you talking about?" Yuna thrust her arms apart in exasperation. "Gene sent us here to get Blackskull's help in dealing with the emperor."

"And I am Captain Blackskull." Miraidon pointed at his long, glowing neck. "Or I was... until you came in here and mucked everything up."

Spoiler: End Notes

Chapter art by https://bsky.app/profile/lraphl.bsky.social

The referenced song at the start is a musical adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "A Smuggler's Song," and is performed by Robin Jeffrey and Tim Laycock.

 

[heatran_ran]

Thanks for posting this! I just came across this fic and love your writing style!

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 137: And the Empire Strikes Back

A couple of beeps sounded behind Sticky. The naganadel turned around from the holographic monitors to find Arianna looking at the tablet he'd once used to keep track of things for Paradox."

"Call from..." The gardevoir sighed. "Illustrious Ultimate Supreme Grand Emperor Paradox." Arianna squinted. "Didn't he only have four titles yesterday?"

"He must've promoted himself again." Sticky waved his right arm dismissively. "Patch him through."

Arianna pressed on the tablet. Speakers in Sticky's office crackled to life.

"I trust you're settling in nicely, Warden?" the deoxys greeted.

"Yessir."

"And how is your new assistant faring?"

Sticky looked at Arianna. She stoically nudged up her glasses. The tablet's light reflected off her lenses to obscure her eyes.

"Decently," Sticky said. A couple of days was hardly enough time to get a good sense of her. But thus far she followed instructions and didn't talk back. Once again, Paradox was right.

"Excellent. Now, I need a status report on the Eternatus Siphoner. Is it functional?"

Sticky almost shot paint out of his main needle in surprise. Paradox was already asking about it? They had only started building it last week!

"I, uh, don't think so." Sticky rubbed the back of his head. He looked at Arianna. "What's our progress?"

The gardevoir looked down at the tablet. "It seems like the main framework is in place, but laborers need to finish with the plating, the tubing, and the Eterna energy buffers."

"I see." There was a pause, then Paradox continued, "I'll warp over prisoners from my other facilities. We need it ready by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Sticky leaned back against the railing opposite the control module for his office. "Sir, if this device is really as important as you say, then—"

"I'm afraid it cannot wait," Paradox scoffed. "I'll send over as much prison labor as needed. Could be hundreds or thousands."

Sticky swallowed hard. That was... quite a lot to dump on him.

"In the meantime, did we finish any maximum security cells?"

"Seriously?" Sticky looked up at a nearby speaker. "We only started that project last week, too!"

"Is that a 'no,' Sticky?" Paradox growled.

Sticky pinched his brow. "I believe there's one that's operational." He pushed himself off the railing, then floated to the holographic keyboard and typed away frantically. Windows pulled up on his holographic screen. "We haven't finished the testing, but it should hold... maybe two dozen prisoners?"

"Hmm. Well, it might be a tight fit, but I suppose that's good enough."

"Sir?"

"Prep the maximum security cell, Sticky."

"So, no more testing, then?"

"Don't have the time, I'm afraid," Paradox said. "The rebels are proving to be... nuisances. It's looking like I may need to take a significant risk and offer Uroboros up in order to nail down the rebels."

Alarm flashed across Sticky's face. "But sir, she's the only lieutenant we have left! If you lose her—"

"Then I will make do," Paradox cut in. "If it comes to that, so be it."

"Um, s-sir?"

"I never lose, Sticky. Whatever it takes, I'll make it happen."

The call cut off abruptly, leaving Sticky floating behind the railing, gazing up at the ceiling in shock.

Arianna cleared her throat. "Perhaps I'll give you some space."

Sticky whirled around. "I think not. You heard him! Prepare that maximum security cell and get us ready to receive those prisoners!"

XxX​

Igneous spun right through the air. Two multicolored Signal Beams rushed by him, nearly clipping his right volcarona wing.

"Aggh! Almost had 'im that time!" cried a vikavolt.

"Hold still, ya mangy lizard!" a ribombee added. Both pirate bugs readied Signal Beams to fire again.

Igneous spat two fireballs and forced them to scatter in opposite directions. He beat his wings to move forward, closer to the middle of the metal platform.

Things were going badly. Beneath him, Nikki pushed out electric sound waves and Jaeger dropped green-tinged rocks from above, knocking several pirates off the platform and down toward the water. Shimmer had his back to his teammates. The ponytales swept an Ice Beam across the ground, tripping up a wigglytuff, a sawsbuck with metal horns and legs, and a heracross with a metal carapace.

Shimmer conjured a large Light Screen and charged forward. The pirates were too slow to get up, so the light wall shoved them off the platform.

Igneous looked left and saw another half dozen pirates leap off the docked ship. And all the while, Vince did nothing but leap between large, jagged rocks surrounding the platform. Sure, some of the pirates were chasing him down. But it hardly did their group any good.

"Left, Twiggy!" Nikki shouted from below. Igneous glanced left, then summoned honedge to swipe at a charging escavalier. He kicked the bug away, then flew higher in the air.

Igneous twirled around. Fireballs filled the air around him. He heard several hollers around him. One was Escavalier. The others were a vanilluxe and emolga. Igneous followed up his Fiery Dance by chucking Honedge toward Vanilluxe. The blade knocked Vanilluxe out of the sky before returning to Igneous' claws.

"There's too many of them!" Shimmer whinnied from the platform.

"Non! Zis is barely ze fraction of ze crew!" Gilbert corrected. The chatot remained tied to a metal pole. Luckily, the kraken's tentacles hadn't resurfaced to take another shot at him.

"Not helping, dumbass!" Nikki snarled.

Igneous dove down, weaving left past swipes from Escavalier's lances. He peppered the metal platform with Bullet Seeds, stopping two electabuzz and a luxio from charging Nikki down while resisting her Overdrives. Luxio flopped onto their belly, while the electabuzz tried Thunder Punching the grovlazzle.

But Igneous managed to pull back up, giving Jaeger room to run in and... take one of the Thunder Punches in the snout?!

The lycanroc mutt smirked, before his body sheened with white light. He punched the electabuzz that socked him. White light exploded out of his fist, rocketing electabuzz into their two teammates and flinging them off the platform.

"Oh! Nice Counter!" Vince cheered, leaping from his rocky perch behind Gilbert's pole toward one on his left. Two togetic pirates flew after him, along with the vikavolt from earlier.

"Can it, Dick Joke!" Nikki snarled at the purple koraidon. "Why don't you stop running like a pussy and actually do something!"

"This is the best I can do!" Vince protested.

"Screw that!" Nikki blindly flung a Venoshock to her left. "Everyone else is digging deep! Where the hell's your fighting spirit? Are you really okay with any of the **** you heard that blowhard saying?"

"O-Of course I'm not!" Vince cried.

"Iggy, behind you!" Shimmer shouted.

Igneous flapped his volcarona wings, but a sharp pain spread across his back. Honedge and his wings dissolved in bursts of smoke. Gray metal rushed up to meet Igneous.

But the grovlazzle stopped short of a nasty crash landing. He caught sight of Shimmer several meters away, horn glowing pink.

"Thanks!" Igneous called. He brought his volcarona wings back. When the ponytales released his psychic grip, Igneous flew back into the air.

"Then do something besides just flying around!" Nikki was still arguing with Vince. "I thought you stupid Overseers were supposed to help people and ****!"

"I'm not in the right form," Vince protested. The purple koraidon leaped between rocky spires somewhere in the distance.

"Stop bitching about that!" Sparks from Nikki's Overdrive crackled below Igneous. "Everyone else has been able to pull crazy powers out of their asses, so you can, too! I won't take no for an answer, Dick Joke!"

Igneous couldn't pay them much mind, though. A few pirates readied their ship's cannons. The grovlazzle couldn't let them fire. So, he conjured Honedge again, and hurled it forward.

The blade landed directly in the cannon's barrel. Igneous clapped his claws together. An orange explosion engulfed the cannon. Napalm and flaming wood spilled out over the deck, sending all the pirates readying themselves to join the fight scrambling to try and deal with it.

Smirking, Igneous returned his attention to the metal platform, only to wince when an empoleon broadsided Shimmer with Steel Wing. The ponytales tumbled across the metal platform, where a bronzong was getting ready to knock Shimmer into the ocean.

This was bad! Could Shimmer even swim?

He dove toward them, volcarona wings beating as fast as Igneous could make them. But he wasn't fast enough. Bronzong Heavy Slammed Shimmer, knocking him clear off the platform.

"****!" Igneous surged toward the edge of the platform.

"See?" Nikki shouted from behind him. "If you stopped being such a whiny *****, then you could've actually fought with us and Twinkie wouldn't've—"

"ALL RIGHT! I GET IT!"

Igneous caught a burst of neon purple light in the corner of his eye. Then a blur of neon and white raced by, nearly knocking the grovlazzle out of the air. Igneous managed to grab the edge of the platform and hoist himself up.

As soon as he was on his feet, Vince emerged from below the edge of the platform. The purple koraidon was back on two legs, with Shimmer slung over his shoulder. He dropped the ponytales beside Igneous.

"You want fighting?" Vince spread his wings. Orange energy glowed all around him. "I'LL GIVE YOU FIGHTING!"

The purple koraidon curled up and, like a living pinball, bounced between bronzong and two shiftry charging at Igneous and Shimmer. Then he ricocheted over to the jolteon and two sawsbuck trying to get at Nikki. Each collision led to a burst of orange energy that jettisoned a pirate off the platform.

Vince zipped this way and that. Igneous couldn't even keep track of the orange blur. Not until Vince skidded to a halt in the center of the platform. His dewlap expanded and contracted with each ragged breath.

"Haaah... haaaaah... there. Happy?" Vince's wings curled back up into antennae.

"Oooh la la!" Gilbert called. "Such speed! Such finesse!"

"Quiet you!" Nikki kicked the pole he was tied to. "Or I'm chucking this into the ocean."

"Non! Please make with ze untying!" Gilbert squirmed against his restraints. "I am willing to look past our previous spats... and upgrade you from 'enemies' to 'frenemies' in exchange for ze generosity!"

The toxtricity crossed her arms. "Hmm. Tempting." She tapped a foot on the ground. "How about you throw in some pirate treasure and then we'll talk."

Vince whirled on Nikki. "Seriously?!"

"Re-hee-lax!" Nikki raised her hands. "It's a joke. A joke!"

"None of that will be necessary, Gilbert," came an unfamiliar male voice high in the air. "The jig is up, I'm afraid."

Startled, Igneous' tails caught fire. He looked up to find Yuna floating toward him— or, rather, toward Nikki.

"Princess, there you are!" Nikki jogged toward her. "Sheesh, you look like ****! What happened?"

"I'm letting him explain." Yuna pointed behind her. A second beaten-up ship landed by the docks, opposite the ship that was still somewhat on fire. And shortly after, a metal serpent floated toward the group.

"Wait." Igneous' head leaf simmered. "Isn't that Miraidon?"

Yuna's shoulders sagged. "Eeyup."

"The hell's he doing here?" Nikki wondered. Her eyes slowly widened. "Wait... are you shitting me?"

"About?" Shimmer looked between the girls in confusion. "Can someone loop me in?"

"I'm the leader of these space pirates," Miraidon declared. "Captain Blackskull was one of my many inventions. A front to keep me safe... since I can't actually use any moves."

"WHAT?!" Shimmer's tails puffed out. "Did your crew know about this?"

"Of course." Miraidon bobbed his head. "They all had to take a vow of pirate secrecy to join."

"Oui, secrecy is a part of ze Pirate Code!" Gilbert chirped. He shut his beak when everyone gave him the stink eye in unison.

"B-But—" Vince poked at the webbing between two of his fingers. "Shane wanted these guys to search you out. You're an Overseer!"

"Was an Overseer." Miraidon dismissed Vince with a wave of his right hand. He focused on Jaeger and Vince. "Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed you never put two and two together."

The lycanroc mutt shrugged. "Math was never my strong suit, mate."

Now that Igneous thought about it, it did clear up a big mystery surrounding the Blackskull Buccaneers.

Yuna's tail crinkled. "So, the reason why you could get your ships through to Radiance and warp your crew away when they got hurt... is because you've known about this kind of stuff the whole time."

Miraidon grinned. "And knew how to make it happen with the proper resources."

"But what about all of the tech?" Igneous walked around the platform, scratching his neck. "Like metal limbs on your crew members or, y'know, cloaking devices for your ships."

"Also from my Overseer days." Miraidon laughed. "Though the supplies have to come from somewhere. What do you think half our raids are for?"

Embers smoldered on Igneous' tail leaves. "Don't tell me... that raid on Herbrides involved stealing a ton of electronics."

"To repurpose into tools for the crew." Miraidon pivoted toward the ships. "Isn't that right?"

"Aye, cap'n!" a couple of togetic shouted, before resuming bringing water buckets to the ship whose deck was still on fire.

"Did Gene know about this?" Yuna wondered, frown deepening.

"Of course." Miraidon tapped his metallic neck. "We had an agreement. He wouldn't blab about Larkharr to the emperor's troops and I'd provide him with intel I gathered. How do you think the guy's avoided the emperor all this time without any real teammates besides that flaming zoroark?"

Yuna opened her mouth to respond, only to shut it. Igneous didn't blame her. He was at a loss for words, too.

"I don't care about the logistics!" Vince stomped his right leg angrily. "What about the morality? We're supposed to help people! Not steal from them!" He waved his right arm around. "This world's suffering and you're choosing to add to that?"

At that, Miraidon groaned. "Are we really going to litigate this here?"

Igneous finally found his voice. "I mean... I'd like an explanation." The grovlazzle looked at the others. He managed to get nods from Nikki, Shimmer, and Yuna.

"Fine." Miraidon waved his right arm around. "Someone bring me a chair."

Two pelipper with metal beaks flew over from the ship that wasn't on fire. They dropped a suspiciously miraidon-shaped chair on the platform. Miraidon hovered over to it. He unsurprisingly fit into it like a plug going in an electrical socket.

"I was always a tinkerer for the Overseers," Miraidon said. "Coming up with devices to help them monitor worlds or rehabilitate souls. It was... fine."

Igneous crossed his arms. "Until it wasn't, I imagine."

"It was so repetitive and so boring." Miraidon rolled his eyes. "The paperwork was the worst! Soooo many forms."

He leaned forward slightly, bracing his arms on the sides of the chair. "So, when I heard there was going to be a big investigation of dimension POV-2020 — that's you guys, by the way — I leaped at the opportunity to go."

A long, protracted sigh followed. Miraidon slumped down in his chair. "Except I just ended up doing the exact same things I was already doing."

He quickly sat back up. "I was getting ready to lodge a complaint when I heard the higher-ups wanted to end the investigation. That's when I decided to cut my ties and stick around here. I snuck away from the outpost and managed to get sucked into Eternatus."

Igneous raised a brow. "And that's how you got involved with Nova? And later Gene?"

"Exactly." Miraidon pointed at the grovlazzle. "I had a chance to finally build different devices with a very different purpose: overthrowing an evil ruler of some wretched hellscape. Who wouldn't want to do that?"

"Except Matriarch wasn't evil," Yuna countered. The dragapult floated toward Miraidon's chair. "And your mission to stop her ended in disaster... with an actual evil getting released from his seal and an opportunistic evil taking advantage of the moment to begin a long, long reign of terror."

"Ah! Ah!" Miraidon wagged his right arm at Yuna. "See, that second part's the important bit. It's when I realized that some worlds are just beyond saving."

Igneous frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"That Enamorus would, in a critical moment, choose not to try and help us regroup, but instead seize some semblance of power for herself to live out her fantasies?" Miraidon shook his head. "It made me see this world for what it is. One that's never going to find a happy ending."

Miraidon's thrusters coughed out a bit of smoke. "Figured that, if I was going to be stuck until the universe eventually collapsed on itself, then I could at least have an entertaining time with my gizmos and machines. So, I became a pirate! And went on swashbuckling adventures raiding everything from towns to imperial bases."

Igneous stood there in stunned silence. The others were equally baffled. Even Nikki kept her mouth shut for once.

"That's insane!" Vince finally blurted out. "What kind of messed up thinking is that?"

"Hey now." Miraidon looked offended. "It's not like I turned to wanton destruction. My crew focused mostly on the emperor's bases... or on places strongly affiliated with him. And I recruited folks who suffered illness or injured limbs... steering them away from that godawful mewgenics stuff the emperor parades around."

"It's still not right." Vince's dewlap expanded. "It's... it's almost like you're the one running and hiding! Hiding behind all your fancy machines."

Miraidon frowned. "You're green, aren't you? An Overseer rookie." He squinted. "Cuz that sounds like the same kind of idealism I had when I first started out." Shaking his head, he leaned back in his chair again. "Give it time, bud. The Overseers will lose their luster soon enough."

"All right, that's enough!" Igneous marched toward Miraidon, head leaf simmering. "You've said your piece. And now here's ours."

He raised one claw. "The emperor's invading our home and opening up a bunch of rifts in the process." Igneous raised a second claw. "Meanwhile, Zodiark is whole again and close to full power." He raised a third claw. "Most of us rebels are actually reincarnations from these old worlds Matriarch mentioned to you."

Igneous paused to take a breath. "And now we've got an arceus with most of his plates, a Voice of Life, and almost an entire Red Chain.

"We can fix this." Igneous curled his claws. Embers crackled around them. "But we need to stop Paradox and get the final Red Chain fragment now. Before all his rift-making destroys the universe. So please..." Igneous pointed over Miraidon's chair, toward the ships. "Work with us. Your crew can help put a stop to Paradox for good."

The grovlazzle expected a protracted silence, however Miraidon rose from the chair. "All right. Sure."

Igneous blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah." Miraidon stretched his arms. "It's as good a reason as any." He shook his head. "Besides, if I said no, you'd just keep blabbing at me until I relented."

It was far from a ringing endorsement, but Igneous didn't care. They'd gotten what they came here for.

"While we are making ze requests, would someone mind untying moi?" Gilbert squawked. "Ze ropes, zey are chafing my wings."

Instead of anyone responding to the chatot, Yuna floated closer to Miraidon. "Okay, then we need to set out now. The emperor's invaded my home. And we have no idea how the others are holding up."

"Well, you guys mucked up two of my ships." Miraidon jerked his head toward the docks. The pirates had finally managed to put out the fire on the ship deck. "But I've got plenty more in waiting."

He waved his right arm and one of the pelipper that brought over Miraidon's chair returned. She spat up Blackskull's gem eye. Miraidon caught it and held it up.

"In the meantime, this can give us a good idea of what the emperor's up to," he exclaimed. Miraidon tapped the gem and a projection of Paradox appeared above the group.

There was no surrounding scenery. The deoxys held some sort of blaster-like device with a large spherical barrel made of triangular tiles. The tiles then opened up, revealing some sort of pink slate inside of it.

"Wait..." Yuna's eyes widened in alarm. "That's a plate! That's one of Leo's plates! What's it doing with the emperor?!"

That finally wiped the bored expression off Miraidon's face. "What the heck?"

"And there... you... are..."

Igneous saw flashes of purple out of the corner of his eyes. "RUN!" the grovlazzle shouted, volcarona wings flaring to life.

But his warning came too late. A jagged purple rift opened underneath the group. Other rifts opened up in the distance.

Miraidon's jet thrusters sputtered. "No! The emperor found our base!" He glared at Yuna. "Did you lead him here?!"

"Of course not!" Yuna said.

A cacophony of cries and screams spread across the area. Igneous flapped his wings as fast as he possibly could, but the rift was pulling him in!

"Iggy!" Shimmer cried to his right. Igneous caught the ponytales reaching a foreleg toward him before sinking through the purple rift entirely. Then Jaeger and Vince vanished, followed by Miraidon and Nikki. Even Yuna couldn't get away, disappearing into blue and purple with a frustrated snarl.

Igneous kept struggling, but purple and blue filled his vision more and more. The last thing the grovlazzle saw before Larkharr disappeared was a deoxys floating in the distance, frantically looking around. He seemed to calm down after several seconds, then pointed a strange blaster-like device to his left.

XxX​

Noctum zigzagged through the air, dodging thorny Seed Bombs that burst apart, showering poison down toward the mountains beneath him. He swiped the air with his right arm. A Spacial Rend crescent tore through the air and sliced off two of Uroboros' thorny tendrils.

She shrieked. Her serperior head split open, exposing the seviper inside.

"There!" the cosmic charizard shouted.

"On it!" Diamond galloped through the air past Noctum. The cosmic keldeo leaped up, yellow horn shimmering with blue energy. He unleashed a tachyon beam that filled the ash-choked sky with a vibrant blue.

Roar of Time struck Uroboros' seviper body. Her upper half froze in place with her torso and tail wriggling about in a panic.

Thorny vines emerged, swiping furiously at the air. Noctum flew up to dodge poisonous globules, but caught sight of Valkyrie weaving her way past the vines.

Dragon Claws flared up as she lunged forward. She swiped at a dangling flap of Uroboros' serperior head. The garchomp cleaved right through it. It sailed down between the mountains.

Uroboros' upper half began moving again. Noctum opened a rift and yanked Valkyrie through, helping her narrowly avoid a torrent of toxic sludge Uroboros spewed.

"I seriously hope no one's down on the ground," Valkyrie said, swinging herself onto Noctum's back.

"Right." The cosmic charizard carried her higher into the air, out of swiping range from Uroboros' vines. "Um, Val?"

"What?"

"Is it just me or is she, y'know, not putting up that much of a fight?" Noctum spun around and rapid fired half a dozen blue fireballs. They connected with vines beneath him, burning their ends off.

Uroboros whipped her tail up, shrieking, "Stupid rebels! Die already!"

Noctum easily avoided her tail. Then a Secret Sword cleaved off two more of her vines. They plummeted from the sky while Diamond jetted up with Hydro Pumps from his hooves to dodge a Sludge Wave.

"Stand still!" Uroboros hissed.

"I'll pass, thanks!" Diamond retorted, steering himself away from Uroboros before landing on empty air ahead of Noctum.

"You're right," Valkyrie said. "I know you guys have gotten stronger, but still. This was the lieutenant Paradox kept in reserve?"

And it wasn't like they overwhelmed the giant serperior with sheer numbers. It was only the three of them!

Uroboros' body rippled. Thorny Seed Bombs filled the air around her, drifting further and further away.

"Let me off," Valkyrie said. "I can't do much on your back."

"Right. Hang on." Noctum tucked in his nebula wings. He dove down toward where he knew Valkyrie could safely walk around on the air. Seed Bombs grew closer, but Noctum was faster. He dropped Valkyrie off in midair then continued into a rift.

It deposited him behind Uroboros right as the Seed Bombs exploded. Purple ooze rained down, but Valkyrie strafed clockwise around Uroboros and Diamond got past the toxins with Hydro Pump jets from his hooves.

Noctum funneled blue-purple energy along his arms, waiting for the right moment. Uroboros seemed too preoccupied with Diamond and Valkyrie to focus on him.

"Where is he?" she hissed. "Where's that stupid-looking charizard?"

Uroboros' tail lashed at the air. Noctum flapped his wings twice to avoid the tail tip. He held his charge. And judging from the blue-purple flicker far ahead of him, Diamond had a Roar of Time at the ready.

The moment Noctum saw the large blue beam, he hurled a giant Spacial Rend crescent at Uroboros, aiming for her injured serperior head.

"I won't fall for that again!" she snarled. Thorny vines emerged from her neck to try and deflect.

But a garchomp came speeding in from Uroboros' right and sliced through the vines. Before Noctum could try to open a rift and pull Valkyrie through, she broke into a glide from her momentum, sailing clear of the Roar of Time. It slammed into Uroboros' open serperior head at the same time as Noctum's Spacial Rend.

A brilliant blue-purple nebula erupted around Uroboros. The explosion was so loud it muffled her screams. Noctum even had to look away, throwing an arm up to shield his eyes.

Another blast sounded far to his right. Noctum lowered his arm to see one of the Eternatus Terraformers crashing, orange flames and smoke trailing off it.

"Yes, that's it!" Cid cheered through the X-transceiver. "They're down to their last Terraformer. It's off to the north of Uroboros!"

A dark purple blur rushed over toward Noctum. Gene came to a stop.

"You good here?" The mega mewtwo looked over his shoulder, where the blue purple nebula continued swirling around. Occasional swathes of serperior green poked through. Was Uroboros getting spun around like a garment in a washing machine?

"I think so?" Noctum shrugged. "She's got, like, infinite vines or something, but we're clearly managing."

"Yeah. Never did have a solution for those." Gene's starcloud tail twitched in irritation. He looked past Noctum. "Widget and Bahamut are heading for the last Terraformer. Hang tight for another few minutes."

He zipped away before Noctum could say anything. But the timing worked out, since Uroboros had freed herself from the explosion. Her serperior head was gone, leaving the tiny seviper completely exposed inside the serperior neck. And her tail was completely missing, with purple sludge dribbling out of the leftover stump.

"This... this is impossible!" Uroboros inner seviper flailed about. "Where did you get such power? This can't be Gene's work! I don't understand!"

She still hadn't turned to Noctum. The cosmic charizard slowed his wing beating, descending toward Uroboros' serperior tail stump.

He spewed a blue Flamethrower at Uroboros' backside. To Noctum's delight, his flames ignited the purple sludge, setting Uroboros' lower half ablaze. Shrieking, she flailed about in midair, summoning vines two at a time to frantically put out the flames.

"Diamond, try to slice those vines," Noctum said, hoping the X-transceiver would relay his message.

Orange light flashed ahead of him. Two of Uroboros' vines burst apart at the seems, splattering more ooze along her body. This spread the flames to her upper torso. Purple smoke melded with orange flames.

"Crud!" Noctum frantically flapped his wings to put some distance between himself and Uroboros. He was going to have to find a way to stop that poisonous cloud from spreading too far, or all the resistance members would breathe it in.

"Well, this is certainly disappointing. I expected better of you, Uroboros."

Noctum's tail flame shrank. Right. Paradox's projection. It had gone silent while they fought Uroboros. Why was the deoxys speaking up now?

"M-My emperor, please!" Uroboros thrashed harder in midair, but Noctum's flames still clung to her. "Just... just give me a bit more power! Share your power and I will crush these rebels!"

Something's wrong. Even if Noctum was stronger, his flames couldn't keep burning like this. There had to be a reason.

A knot formed in Noctum's stomach. He frantically searched around for Valkyrie until he spotted the garchomp through the purple haze.

"Don't worry, my dear," Paradox's projection declared. "You've already done just that."

Uroboros stopped writhing. Her eyes bugged out. Orange light beams poke out from the fire, one after the other.

Noctum's eyes widened. "SHE'S GONNA BLOW!"

He dove into a rift, colliding with a startled Valkyrie.

"Get off me, dork!"

Noctum wrapped his wings around the garchomp as much as he could. He tried to get her back through the rift.

But the cosmic charizard wasn't fast enough. Behind him, Uroboros' screams turned into a thunderous explosion. White-hot energy slammed into Noctum and Valkyrie.

The world spun all around Noctum. He tried to hold on to Valkyrie, but the more he spun, the more his grip slipped. Soon, he lost his hold on Valkyrie all together.

Everything spun too fast for Noctum to see her. He tried to shout her name, but was cut off when he crashed into a mountaintop. There were a few seconds of pain, then he blacked out.

XxX​

Gene heard the blast behind him. He turned around to see a massive orange shockwave racing toward him. The mega mewtwo Phantom Warped through it. Golden flashes to his right told him Bahamut teleported through it.

Widget wasn't so lucky, however. The shockwave slammed into him and sent the miraivally tumbling out of the air.

"****!" Gene held out his right hand to open a rift in Widget's path. But orange light from his left flooded his vision.

His eyes widened for all of a second before the Eternatus Terraformer exploded just like Uroboros. This time, Gene couldn't react.

Next thing he knew, Gene lay in a crater. His whole body ached. A protracted groan escaped his lips.

"You moron! Look at what you've done to us?"

"Damn it." Arms trembling, Gene managed to push his upper half up. "He must've... rigged them... to set off... giant explosions." He coughed up a bit of dust. "But why? She was... his last lieutenant..."

"It worked?"

Gene's blood ran cold. He knew that voice.

"Aha ha... HA HA HA! Of course it worked! I'm Illustrious Ultimate Supreme Grand Emperor Paradox! My plans are flawless! Just like me!"

"Flee now. We cannot win this!"

Bright blue and red lights surrounded Gene... from dozens— no, hundreds of Eternatus Gunners and Bombardiers. All with their blasters trained on him. And floating above them all, clutching some sort of blaster-like device, was Paradox. He wore a positively unhinged expression.

"Who needs lieutenants?" Paradox looked around at all the troopers. "Not me! Not when I have singlehandedly stopped the rebels with my brilliant plan!"

"Ha!" Gene tried to push himself further off the ground. But his arms burned. Between that explosion and the rough landing that made the crater he was in, he was in no fit state to do anything. So, he had to stall. Stall so that the others could regroup.

"Sacrificing yourself here does nothing for anyone!" Dark Matter snarled. "Listen to me for once! Run!"

"You were... winging it," Gene wheezed. "Just like I do. Besides, the resistance... is much bigger than me."

He managed to smirk at the deoxys. "Killing me... won't solve anything. I think... your days are numbered."

"Ah ha ha ha ha! Marvelous!" Paradox clapped his left tentacles together. His expression had settled back into one that radiated confidence. "Defiant until the bitter end, I see. There's just one slight problem with your hypothesis, Mewtwo."

Paradox zipped down from the sky, bringing a foot down on Gene's back. The wind rushed out of Gene's lungs.

"Insolent fool! You've ruined us both!"

"All your little friends are already mine." Paradox stepped off Gene's back. The spherical chamber of his device opened up, revealing a pink slate inside of it. "Including the ones you sent gallivanting after Captain Blackskull." He paused. "That's right. I found the pirates. Because I. Am. Brilliant." He jabbed Gene. "Unlike you."

"That's a plate," Dark Matter said. "We are truly finished. Your regret and confusion are so strong they're practically crushing me."

"But don't worry, they'll get to enjoy a lovely stay at Citidark Isle, courtesy of me." Paradox's free tentacles wriggled with delight that matched his tone. "Which is a lot more than I can say for you."

"What's that... supposed to mean?" Gene's priorities had shifted. Now he needed to buy time so he could have enough energy to conjure a rift. And with the beating that explosion dealt, the mega mewtwo was struggling.

I could really use a hand here.

"I'm trying, but I'm in pain, too."

"If I kill you... Eternatus would claim your soul." Paradox shook his head. "I won't allow you to spoil my victory with any more of your ridiculous shenanigans. And thankfully... I don't have to!"

He pointed the device at Gene. Red and purple energy surged around Leo's plate.

Gene's eyes widened in realization. That was how Paradox was making rifts. He must've sucked up everyone else... and now Gene was next!

C'mon... c'mon! Rift, rift, rift!

But try as Gene might, he couldn't muster up enough energy. His whole body screamed in protest. His shoulder crystals burned hotter than they'd ever had. Even his chest core felt like it would melt right into his heart.

"Why give you even a sliver of a chance at stopping me when my Rift Ripper lets me... exile you?" Paradox declared. "I do hope you enjoy this little trip, Mewtwo. Because I'm sending you so far from this world you'll never return!"

Gene could only let out a frustrated snarl as he tried to lunge for Paradox, only for the Rift Ripper to go off. He fell through a blue and purple rift, landing along frigid ice that sent him sliding further and further away.

He heard loud cries from the rift, followed by Paradox shouting, "If you're so eager to join your pathetic leader... then join him!"

Silvally and lucario-shaped silhouettes flew out of the rift before it closed. Gene then slammed into a snowbank. Snow tumbled on top of him.

The sudden cold proved too much for Gene, who finally passed out.

XxX

~Il Paradigma, No. V: Uroboros, the Hierophant~
Once a loyal seviper enforcing Matriarch's vision over Eternatus, she was the sole doubtful voice speaking out against the emperor's rise to power. For her disobedience, her small body was stuffed inside a serperior that the emperor mutated to an immense size. She became known and feared for her ability to generate large amounts of toxins immune to any medical interventions.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
The Hierophant is the fifth of the major arcana. It symbolizes righteousness, sacredness, hierarchy, orthodoxy, and moral righteousness. In the reverse position, it can symbolize unorthodoxy, gullible nature, and originality.

Spoiler: Chapter Art

Raph (@lraphl.bsky.social)

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[Ambyssin]

Chapter 138: To the Winds

​

Shane's raised golden wings froze before he could flap them. He looked around the gaping blue-violet sea of Ginnungagap. Scanned some of the jigsaw-like islets floating around. As empty and barren as ever, save for the occasional crystalline tree or bush.

One such islet floated past him. A crystal tree sprouted from its base. Light refracted off the tree. An aurora of colors danced across the necrozma's chest, fading away as the islet passed him by.

All the while, his golden body twitched and rippled like he was covered in bug bites demanding immediate scratching.

What was that? Shane brought an upper wing to his chest and draped it over his top chest spike. He looked over his shoulder. POV-2020 was vaguely in that direction. Though it was quite far away.

He sensed something. He was sure of it. A feeling... not unlike what happened when his old team had triumphed in their toughest battle. Like a great darkness had... suddenly been purged. With an equally great power torn away like the lid of a cardboard box.

"No." Shane's tail lashed at the air. "Don't tell me..."

The rainbows of his mismatched eyes swirling into a panicked purple. Shane vigorously flapped his wings, taking off in the direction he came. He couldn't get too close to POV-2020, but he had to find out what direction that nagging sense was going.

Great powers were missing. And if he went to the high-ranking Overseers, it would ruin everything. So, he'd have to find them himself.

XxX​

"Get up. Now."

Dark Matter's harsh orders roused Gene from unconsciousness. Frigid snow surrounded him. The cold stung, but at the same time there was some relief in his aching arms and legs. Why was that?

Oh. Right.

Paradox had sprung one hell of a trap on Gene. But instead of trying to kill the mega mewtwo, he'd tossed him into some random world. A nasty ice world, if first impressions were anything to go off.

Grunting, Gene dug himself out of the snowbank. It didn't do him much good, though. Fierce winds blew snow all around him. He couldn't tell if it was actually snowing or if this was old snow getting swept off the ground. Perhaps a mix?

Gene could barely see a dozen meters around him. There was the snowbank behind him and to his left sat a tree so thoroughly iced over he wondered if it was actually made of the stuff.

"Look at where your recklessness has gotten us," Dark Matter growled. The back of Gene's head throbbed. "Cast away to a frozen prison. A fate worse than death."

Gene brushed snow off his arms. We're still alive. That means there's still a chance to—

"Don't give me that," Dark Matter cut in. "This exile has blunted my powers but I can still tell you don't believe that." Its disgust grew with every word. "We have no idea where we are. We lack the power to escape. Leo cannot possibly find us like this. Face it. We've lost. It's over. There's nothing left to do but wait for the inevitable end at Zodiark's hands."

As much as Gene wanted to retort, he had nothing. Anything he said would amount to no more than empty bluster.

"I didn't see it coming." Gene's starcloud tail lashed at the air, flinging snow and slush off. "Paradox valued his lieutenants... and Uroboros was the last one. For him to just... booby trap her and cast her aside like that..." He shook his head. "He must believe that Rift Ripper gadget of his makes him invincible."

"We both saw the psychic-type plate within that contraption," Dark Matter said. "A plate and a Red Chain fragment. No wonder he swept us aside. You let your numbers and your allies' power boost make you overconfident. And that overconfidence killed the resistance."

Gene's shoulder crystals crackled with purple energy. "Enough!" He thumped his chest core. "I know I screwed up. I don't need you beating that dead ponyta! Leave me alone and let me think of a way out of this!"

Silence followed, save for the howling winter winds. Snow quickly dusted Gene's chest core, only to melt away from the warmth it gave off.

Instead of Dark Matter retorting, however, Gene heard bitter laughter in front of him, followed by increasingly loud crunching of snow.

A lucario with a starry pelt emerged from the wall of white. The last of a tired, bitter laugh escaped Bahamut's snout. He stopped in front of Gene. Widget then emerged from the snow squall. He was back in his cosmic form, but his starcloud seemed much duller than usual.

"A way out of this? That's rich." Bahamut started walking again. Toward the iced over tree. "We've been flung across reality to who knows where." He threw up his arms. "There's no mystery dungeon linking our world to this one."

Bahamut held out a paw. Gold embers crackled around it, but his blade failed to materialize.

"Which means much of our powers are inaccessible." He brought his paw back and crossed his arms. Bahamut scowled at the tree. "We might as well be in an icy prison."

"You sound like Dark Matter," Gene scoffed.

Bahamut turned his scowl on Gene. "Oh, please. Your bravado is worthless here. You have nothing. We have nothing."

"At least someone has some sense around here."

"Guys, please!" Widget whined. He shook snow off his black pelt. "Arguing won't get us anywhere. The best thing we can do right now is try to find civilization."

"Hmph." Bahamut shook his head. "You really think Paradox would send us somewhere populated? The best way to ensure no chance of recovery would be to place us in an empty world." He gestured all around him. "And this fits the bill perfectly."

"... Hmm."

Gene's starcloud tail twitched. Of all the interjections Dark Matter could make, humming in thought was not one Gene expected. What's up?

"It's strange," Dark Matter said. "But I feel something... familiar approaching us."

Familiar? Gene quirked a brow. In what way?

Widget took a step toward Bahamut. "So, you'd rather just stand here and freeze to death?"

"Of course not." Bahamut leaned over, brow furrowing. "But I don't want to walk blindly through a snowstorm, either."

"Don't you still have an aura sense?"

Gene turned away from his bickering teammates. When he did, he squinted.

It was faint, but he swore there was a silhouette in the snow wall up ahead. Gene took one step forward. Then another.

Answer my question, he said to Dark Matter.

"I feel... myself?"

Gene paused mid step. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

The mega mewtwo got his answer quite quickly when the silhouette turned into a long, slender ice cat that emerged from the snow. It had black, blade-like saber teeth whose bases protruded through the roof of its mouth.

But that was meaningless compared to the large, snowflake-shaped crystal protruding from its head. It brought the different pokémon corrupted by Leo's plates to mind.

Gene tensed up. He tried to conjure his spoon but found he couldn't.

"Can I... help you?" Gene said. He sensed Bahamut and Widget approaching. They must've seen the cat, too.

"Who are you?" the cat said. Its tone was neutral. But there was more life in it than the Whispers they'd come across. That got Gene to relax a bit.

"We're... not from here," Widget said. His starcloud ruff constricted. "An enemy sent us here. We're trying to get back home."

"Back home." The cat shook his head. "I see no reason for that. You are troubled. I can tell. Why not let the ice cool your troubles?"

"I was right."

Stop being vague, Gene mentally growled.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Widget said. He looked around. "Is, um, this your snowstorm?"

"It is." The cat nodded. "I am Chien-Pao. I speak for this world's savior: the Bittercold."

XxX​

The rift deposited Yuna and her teammates inside some sort of cell. There was a metal floor underneath her and eerie orange barriers surrounding her on all sides. But when the rift vanished, the cell's ceiling wasn't there.

Yuna tried to fly up, but another orange barrier immediately materialized. Worse yet, the dragapult couldn't even get herself off the ground.

"Nnngh." Shimmer staggered to his feet. "What happened?"

"What happened is the freaking emperor got the jump on us!" Nikki stomped up to the barrier. "We gotta bust out of here somehow!"

She smacked her gills... and nothing happened.

"The hell?" Nikki looked down at her gills. The toxtricity thumped them again. And again. And again. "Where's my damn attack?"

She brought her hands together... and failed to conjure even a single glob of poison. Nikki turned to Yuna. "Princess! Do some weird Giratina ****! We need that pronto!"

"Right." Though it was going to be awkward with Yuna stuck on her belly. Still, the dragapult had to try.

She focused on her griseous core and... nothing. Yuna couldn't bring forth any chaos energy. Or summon one of the Sages. She sensed the energy. But it was like someone had put a glass wall in front of her to stop her from getting to it. And she couldn't break through the glass.

Yuna's tail constricted. "It's not working."

"Seriously?" Nikki looked at the others. "What about you guys?"

Jaeger looked down at his paws. "'m shooting blanks, mate." He looked over his shoulder at Vince. The purple koraidon tried punching the barrier. Orange energy shocked him.

"YOW!"

He fell on his rear, smoke trailing off his hand as he wrung it out. "Th... this is bad. Worse than bad, even!"

Shouts and startled cries rang out all around Yuna. She inched along the floor of her cell and managed to prop her head up.

What Yuna found was a massive spherical room housing row upon row of prison cells. These ones only had orange barriers in place of doors, while the walls and ceilings were pure metal. There were silhouettes behind those barriers, but Yuna couldn't make out who they belonged to.

"I... I think I hear Miraidon." One of Shimmer's ears stuck up a bit higher. "And a bunch of pirates."

Igneous walked toward the opposite corner of the cell. "Those voices... nnngh, what did they call him, again?" The grovalzzle tapped a foot on the ground repeatedly until his eyes lit up. "Got it."

He cupped his claws by his cheeks and yelled, "Crimson Zephyr, that you? Where the hell are we?"

Through the loud voices, a familiar shrill one cried, "Nyek nyek neyk! I know that voice! It's that dumb Ryujin lizard!" His cackling echoed around the prison. "Sakaki's son done got himself tossed into Citadark! What a riot!"

Yuna's eyes widened. Citadark?

She shot the others a horrified look. They'd seen that awful advertisement Paradox put together for Citadark Isle... and now they were in the prison? This was terrible!

"Um, boss? Should we be telling Big Gus?" Rookie's voice came from the same direction as Carpaccio's. "I know he's still asleep and all."

"Butt out, nuts-for-brains! We ain't even gonna talk to them no more!"

"****." Nikki stepped back from the barrier, jamming her hands into her jacket pockets. "What are we supposed to do now? It sounds like Paradox even got the damn pirates."

"We keep our chins up, mates," Jaeger said. The lycanroc mutt sat down on the floor. "The others'll regroup to spring us o—"

The ceiling barrier suddenly disappeared. Another rift opened overhead and spat out a screaming salugia. Yelping, Yuna rolled close to the barrier to avoid being squished.

"Get your fat ass off me!" Shimmer hollered from underneath Jade.

More bodies tumbled out of the rift. A cosmic keldeo, a cosmic milotic, and a dragonair. A psychic articuno, black moltres, and orange zapdos. An obstagoon and two urshifu. And finally, a dragapult.

While Igneous tried to get Shimmer out from underneath Jade's hips, the rift shut. The orange grid reappeared as a ceiling over the cell.

[Maximum security cell at capacity,] a mechanized voice announced from some unseen loudspeakers. [Now maximizing security.]

The barriers surrounding the cell shifted from the same orange as all the other cells to an eerie shade of purple. Yuna still couldn't get herself off the ground. She was forced to crawl over to Diamond, who'd safely slid off Jade. He gazed at the nearest barrier with a look of shame.

"What happened?" Yuna asked. "Where's Gene?"

"Paradox sprung a horrid trap on us." Diamond shuddered. "He killed off his own troops to generate a massive explosion." He lowered his head. "It caught us all off guard."

"An explosion?" Yuna propped herself up a bit more to get closer to eye level with Diamond. "You don't mean—"

"I don't think anyone died." Diamond's starcloud tail crinkled. "But Gene, Bahamut, and Widget were caught up in one blast. Noctum and Valkyrie in another. The shockwaves got to the rest of us." He shuddered. "I saw Paradox drop Gene, Bahamut, and Widget through a rift. Then he turned his rifts on everyone else."

Yuna ectoplasm shriveled. Paradox had beaten them?

What about the rest of her family? What about the Aeon Kingdom?

"What happened to everyone else?" was what she ended up whispering.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about them."

Paradox floated up to the cell. There was some strange purple needle creature—a naganadel, if Yuna remembered Cyril's briefings—following. And behind both of them... was a familiar gardevoir, who had one hand firmly pressed against her glasses to hide her face.

"Arianna?" Shimmer pushed past Jade's tail to get to the front of the cell. "You... you're working for Paradox now?!"

"Your rank-and-file soldiers are being processed and sent to regular cells along with the merry band of pirates you helped lead me toward." Paradox declared, his tentacles wriggling excitedly. "I can't turn them all into Eternatus Troopers at once, but I certainly intend to.

"And as for you lot..." The deoxys' tentacles melded into arms that he folded behind his back. Paradox leaned forward. "Come tomorrow, you'll be nothing but batteries powering the machines that will aid me in my many conquests!"

"No way!" Jade squawked. "He can't do that... can he?"

"I can now." Though Paradox lacked a mouth, he was practically smirking at them. "And you want to know what the best part is? No one's coming to save you!"

His right arm unraveled into tentacles that grabbed the portal-making device the nagandel was carrying. Paradox pointed it at the cell. The spherical chamber opened at the front, showing purple energy crackling around one of Leo's plates.

"I've exiled Mewtwo and a couple of his merry sidekicks to some random empty universe with no hopes of any possible escape!" Paradox exclaimed. The device's chamber closed. "So, I invite you all to sit back and enjoy what precious little time you have left."

He turned to Naganadel. "Now that that monk spilled the beans, I'm off to run a little errand. As soon as your preparations are complete, Sticky, have their cell transported to the Siphoner."

"Understood, sir." Sticky saluted.

Paradox looked back at the cell one last time. "Game over, rebels. You lose."

He opened a rift behind him with his device and floated into it. It shut behind him. Sticky barked orders at Arianna to help tend to the new prisoner registrations. Then he guided her out of the prison chamber.

Yuna's ectoplasmic body deflated. Groaning, Nikki slumped down beside her.

"Well, we're screwed. Officially," the toxtricity said. "****, how did things get this bad?"

A gold-tipped forehoof stomped the ground between Nikki and Yuna.

"You cannot think like that," Diamond said.

"Dude, we're in Paradox's super prison about to get turned into some kind of freaky-deaky battery." Nikki waved her right arm around. "I think it's fair to say we're freaking done for."

"No. Not yet." The keldeo shook his head. "There's still Leo, remember?" He looked around. "And I do not see Noctum or Valkyrie, either."

He took a steady breath. "There's still a chance. They can make something happen."

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Can I have whatever you're huffing?"

"I'm serious." Diamond gazed at the purple barrier. "I... I must hang on to hope. This cannot be the end."

"You just want to see your husband again," Nikki scoffed.

Yuna put a hand on Nikki's leg. "No, he's right. Even if we're stuck here, we're not totally out of the fight yet."

Grunting, she pushed her upper half off the ground a bit.

"I'll trust Leo. And Noctum, too. I believe... they can make something happen."

XxX​

Noctum woke, then immediately coughed up dirt and mud. He rolled over on his side until his harsh, hacking coughs stopped. Sharp pain shot down his left arm. Both his wings, too. They were broken for sure. And his left shoulder dislocated. It was an awful crash. The world kept spinning.

Still, despite the pain, the cosmic charizard forced himself to sit up. "Valk—"

He coughed up a bit more dirt. "Val!" Noctum shouted. "Val, you there?"

A groan came from somewhere to Noctum's right. He saw a garchomp dorsal fin through all the ash and smoke.

They'd crashed into some sort of rut. Sharp slopes surrounded them. Noctum felt around. His right arm grazed a rock. Noctum draped his arm around the rock and propped himself up against it.

His legs weren't broken, thankfully, but god did they burn. He couldn't believe Paradox was willing to go so far as to blow up his trusted second-in-command just to try and do the resistance in.

"Val?" Noctum called again.

She lay on her stomach. The garchomp wasn't moving.

Even though he'd heard a groan before, panic set in. "Val!" Noctum pushed himself off the rock. He dropped to a knee, hissing in pain. "H-Hang on, Val. I... I just gotta—"

"There you are!"

Leo's voice was strained. Purple and gold light streamed in from overhead. Noctum's neck was too sore to look up and locate the cosmic arceus. Fortunately, Leo made it easy for Noctum, landing between him and Valkyrie.

"You guys okay?" Leo shook his head. "Who am I kidding? Dumb question. Lemme just, uhm..."

His golden wheel turned a soft blue. Noctum heard splashing water droplets. Silver flooded his vision. Soothing water dribbled over him.

Noctum sucked in a sharp breath. Leo's silver water relocated Noctum's left arm and, with a couple of painful cricks and cracks, set his wings back to normal.

The burning left Noctum's legs as silver mist evaporated. Noctum held out his arms. He curled and uncurled his fingers.

"What was that?" Noctum asked.

"Divine Life Dew." Leo's wheel shifted back to gold. "Kinda like godly bathwater when you think about it."

Frowning, Noctum tilted his head.

"Ehhh, forget I said that." Leo turned to Valkyrie. "You good?"

Slowly, Valkyrie lifted her arms and dug her claws into the ashen ground. She pushed herself to her knees, spitting ash out of her mouth. The garchomp rubbed her belly to try and clean off the ash.

"Fine." Though she sounded shaken. "How bad is it?"

"Totes scuffed." Leo's starcloud hair and tail dimmed. "Paradox got everyone but you two. Sent Gene, Widget, and Bahamut to another dimension at complete random. I think the rest are in Citadark."

Valkyrie tensed up. She braced her arms at her sides again. Claws scraped against the ground.

"What about the team that went to Larkharr?" she said.

"We heard the emperor boasting he'd gotten them, too." Leo sighed. "It's... only us. I could try to go into Ginnungagap to see if there are traces of Gene to follow, but that'd totes screw us over even worse."

Noctum swallowed hard. He looked over his shoulder. "What about Aeon?"

The ground rumbled. Noctum thought he saw flashes of purple in the smoke.

"No..." His tail flame shrank.

Leo traced a forehoof through the ash. "More Terraformers showed up. But this was why Yiazmat worked to get everyone underground, wasn't it?" He looked skyward. "It'll take some time for Paradox to realize he's transforming empty villages. And we can use that time."

"So to start, we gotta get you both back to the outpost."

He didn't wait for Noctum to respond. With a tap of a hind hoof, Leo opened a rift behind him. Noctum shuffled into it, with Valkyrie following him. They made their way into the hangar, where the solemn mood was palpable.

Cyril stood hunched over one of the keyboards at the computer bank, conversing with a skorp in a chair the zoroark had shoved aside. Cid was seated in a chair next to the computer bank, eyes closed and large head resting against a stack of crates someone must have moved to let the orbeetle rest.

"We back," Leo said, walking across the hangar. "Anything change?"

Neither Cid nor Cyril responded. But Noctum heard a throat clearing to his left. It was Alder and Koraidon.

"The emperor found Shaftra." Koraidon's dewlap grew and shrank as he nervously tapped it.

"Wait, what?!" Noctum's tail flame expanded. It rippled behind him. "Why? How? What happened?"

"There was a monk that we had lost contact with after that business in Jubilife City." Alder folded his wings. The braviary's talons nervously tapped the ground. "I suspect Paradox captured them at some point. And now I can't reach any of the monks who are supposed to be there."

That was bad. "I bet Paradox sent them to Citadark." Noctum ran a claw along his nebula chest. "What do we now?" He looked around the room. "Us three are the only heavy hitters left among the resistance, right?"

"Yep." Cyril clicked his tongue. The cosmic zoroark stood up from the skorps' computer and slowly walked over. "I mean... I can fight. But you guys outclass me."

"Only one thing we can do." Leo's expression sharpened. "We bust 'em out."

Noctum raised a brow. "Bust them out?"

Valkyrie slowly approached the cosmic arceus, arms crossed. "A prison break, then."

Leo laughed awkwardly. "Well, you did bust out of the place once."

"When it was in the sea far off the Venish coast," Valkyrie countered. "And back when Polaris ran it. Not Paradox. He's clearly changed the place a lot in a very short time."

"Which is bound to mean there are dozens of flaws and vulnerabilities we can exploit," Leo countered. "C'mon, you're the assassin. That oughta be the first thing that springs to mind!"

Instead of responding, Valkyrie bit her lip. Noctum frowned. He was pretty confident he knew what was up, but was it really his place to say anything?

"Are you saying you won't do it?" Leo asked.

"N-No." Valkyrie stepped back. The garchomp looked away. "Just trying to think of alternatives." She snorted out a couple of dragonfire embers. "I mean... you two are absolute eyesores with your flashy appearances. You're not built for an infiltration mission."

"Pssssht." Leo puffed his chest out. "I got that on lock. Check it."

Green and yellow energy swirled around the cosmic arceus. He shrank down. And down and down and down.

After a few seconds, a tiny joltik stood at Valkyrie's feet.

"See?" Leo's voice was so squeaky now. "Ready to infiltrate!"

"And we can just slap a Morph-O-Tron on Noctum." Cyril clapped Noctum's back between his shoulder blades. The cosmic charizard jumped, tail flame pulsating once. He frowned at Cyril, who dismissed him with a light chuckle.

"We could even give you one, too, Valkyrie," the zoroark offered.

Valkyrie scratched her right arm with a claw. "I... suppose that could help us sneak in. Whether it's through the old route... or a new one Paradox created remains to be seen."

Noctum couldn't keep sitting on what he was thinking. But he really didn't want to expose Valkyrie's worries. So he stepped up to the garchomp's side and whispered, "It's okay to say you're scared about going back there. I'm scared... and I've never been."

"What'cha whispering about?" Joltik Leo squeaked from down on the floor.

Sighing, Valkyrie lightly shoved Noctum. "I'm... not exactly thrilled at the prospect of returning to Citadark." She crossed her arms. "Considering the time I spent there. And what happened."

Cyril stuck his hands into his starry mane. "Well, you could think about it as getting a little revenge."

"What's the point?" Valkyrie's tail tapped the floor. "It was Tesla who made things so miserable. And last I heard, the dude's a vegetable."

"True." Tapping his chin, Cyril strolled back toward the computer bank. "Then again... that Gus guy is the one responsible for getting sent there, right?"

Valkyrie tensed. "He is. What are you getting at?"

Cyril looked at one of the skorps. "Cid said he'd gotten hauled off to Citadark, right?"

"You bet your bippy!" Skorp exclaimed, clapping his tiny, weird incineroar hands together.

"And there you have it." Cyril turned around, smirking. "It's your chance to really get one over on the guy... by storming the place and spurring a prison break." He clasped his index claws together by his snout. His smirk turned to a wicked grin. "But leaving that asshole locked up."

Noctum frowned. He didn't really see how that made for good motivation to—

"Sure. Fine. Good enough." Valkyrie shrugged. "When do we leave?"

Noctum's tail flame shrank. "Err..." He nervously scratched his nebula belly. "I know we're pressed for time, but could we take a little breather first?" Noctum looked at the joltik by Valkyrie's feet. "Even with Leo's healing, I'm wiped."

"Yeah." Valkyrie slowly rotated her right arm. "We should refuel. Get something to eat. We can use that time to go over what I remember about the place's layout. That can give us something to start with."

Leo grew back into a cosmic arceus. "Works for me." He stretched out a hind leg. "Should we head for the restaurant?"

"No need." Cyril walked toward the hangar door, waving at them. "I'll grab you whatever you want. You focus on relaxing."

The trio each gave their orders to the cosmic zoroark, who headed out the hangar door shortly after. Valkyrie plopped down on the floor, bracing her arms by her sides. Noctum lumbered over toward a stack of crates and sat down so he could rest his back against them.

He took one deep breath. Then a second. And a third.

Noctum had no idea what Citadark Isle would hold. But they had to break the others out. There was no room for mistakes here.

It's do or die. He swallowed hard. I hope we can pull it off.

Spoiler: Chapter Art

Raph (@lraphl.bsky.social)

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bsky.app

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 139: You're Bugging Me

Cyril equipped Noctum and Valkyrie with Morph-O-Trons that disguised them both as wimpod. Valkyrie protested, looking disdainfully at Noctum's disguised form. Noctum didn't bother reacting to it. All they needed to do was use the disguises to slip into the prison, right?

Leo opened up a rift that led to a dark, rocky crag. Living in Aeon, Noctum hadn't experienced that many storms. So, stepping into Citadark Isle's pouring rain proved surprising. Thunder rumbled overhead. Lightning flashed above them. The dark clouds were so thick and dense, Noctum wondered if they'd somehow gone back to Aeon by mistake. Leo confirmed they were in the right spot.

At first, the cosmic charizard worried the rain would hurt. Yet, for whatever reason, it didn't bother him at all. It couldn't have been the wimpod disguise. So, was it Palkia's power?

Noctum cautiously approached the edge of the crag. A vast ocean stretched out in front of him. Choppy water churned and churned. Its surface endlessly rippled from the raindrops bombarding it.

"Over here," Valkyrie whispered. She stood on the other side of the crag, facing the opposite direction. Noctum approached her and followed her gaze. The rocky crags stretched out into the distance, where Noctum saw some sort of giant metal facility with a dome and cylindrical towers. A purple and red ship descended from the storm clouds toward the building, quickly disappearing behind it.

"It's big," Noctum said. "Is it like what you remember?"

Valkyrie's fake wimpod body nodded. "The island seems... bigger than what I remember, too." She tapped the rocky ground beneath her feet. "It was almost entirely the prison when it was back in Radiance."

Their X-transceivers crackled. "I think that's a difference in the water levels," Cid said.

"Yeah. That ocean's not natural." Cyril grunted in annoyance. "If I'm remembering correctly, Paradox used this place to test some sort of weather machine. Problem is, the device wouldn't stop once it was turned on. So, rather than dismantling it, Paradox just... left it running."

Swallowing hard, Noctum looked down at the water crashing against the crag. "Then this ocean..."

"Is a giant flood," Cyril said.

"Great. That may complicate things," Valkyrie said.

Noctum frowned, though he doubted his wimpod disguise would show that. "What do you mean?"

"Citadark has a hydroelectric power station in its base," Valkyrie explained. "That's what I used to bust out." Her fake wimpod tail stuck up. "There are vents on the surface. But these disguises don't actually make us smaller. We'd get stuck in the vents and caught for sure."

That was a problem. Especially since Noctum didn't actually know how to swim. And Leo would have to blow his cover to help him.

"No cap," Leo said. The joltik hopped in place.

"Hmm?" Valkyrie turned toward him. "You have an idea?"

Leo nodded. A salmon glow surrounded him. He transformed into a cutiefly. "Your Morph-O-Trons are gonna stop working if I do this, but it should be a'ight."

"And what exactly are you doing?" Valkyrie asked.

"This." Leo rubbed his tiny hands together, then pointed them at Noctum and Valkyrie.

Pink light flashed around Noctum. Next thing the cosmic charizard knew, Leo practically towered over him.

"What the—" He looked at a spiky outcropping on the crag. It was monstrous. Heck, individual raindrops splattered across his entire body. He hacked up water from his snout.

"Why's everything so big all of a sudden?"

"Did you... shrink us?!" Valkyrie stood beside her Morph-O-Tron band. It was now bigger than the garchomp!

"Sure did." Leo transformed back into a joltik. Chittering laughter filled the air. "Can't believe it totes worked."

Valkyrie leered at him. "You didn't even know what you were doing?!"

"Saw it on an over-the-top show the skorps were watching." Leo hopped in place. "There was a fairy-type joltik who made a bunch of the cast tiny using fairy energy." He looked up at the outcropping. "What was it called again? Legs of Genesis or something?"

"Well, turn me back!" Valkyrie huffed out teeny tiny dragonfire embers.

"Nah, fam. This is how we get in." Leo pointed a leg toward the prison.

Noctum followed his leg. With the change in size, the distance to the prison now felt enormous compared to before. "Are we... going there on foot?"

Frowning, he spread his wings out. They were so small. Just like the rest of him, he supposed.

"We'll exhaust ourselves just getting there!" Valkyrie huffed.

"I got this." Leo skittered up to them. "Hop on my back. I'll be your taxi."

With a flap of his tiny wings, the cosmic charizard got onto Leo's back. "Won't that tire you out?"

At that, Leo held out a foreleg. Gray feathers materialized in front of him, then promptly vanished.

Suddenly, the rain stopped. The wind blew at Noctum's back, drying out his sopping wings instantly.

Valkyrie paused her climbing to look back. "Tailwind?"

"You got it," Leo chirped.

Huh. Noctum supposed that... would make Leo faster. And opening a rift to get any closer would get them spotted for sure.

"All right." Valkyrie sat down next to Noctum on Leo's back. "Don't screw this up."

Leo shook his head. "I got this on lock."

And with that, the joltik took off, speedily skittering across the crag. Leo reached the edge, then shot a spool of electrified threads toward the next crag. It served like a zip line, drawing Leo across the water and onto rocky ground without much difficulty.

The Tailwind did wonders. Noctum had trouble holding on. He didn't want to dig his claws into Leo's back. Though, glancing at Valkyrie, it appeared the garchomp chose to do that. And it didn't slow Leo down in the slightest.

"You okay?" Noctum asked, using his claws to tighten his grip on Leo's back.

"Fine." Valkyrie kept her gaze trained ahead. "You don't need to keep pressing me on it."

"R-Right." Noctum's tail flame shrank. "But, uh, I'm here if you need me."

"Yeah, I can see that," Valkyrie scoffed, though Noctum caught the faintest hint of a relieved smile on her face. And that was good enough for him.

After darting across a few more rocky crags, Leo refreshed his Tailwind. His path took him through a small tunnel in a rock face. Probably a natural deformity, given its jagged shape.

On the other side sat metal platforms raised high above the water. Eternatus Gunners and Brawlers patrolled the platforms. Behind them sat the prison, atop a massive wall of rock and concrete. Searchlights moved around from inside the complex. Two of the Brawlers on the platform manned searchlights of their own, maneuvering them along the wall.

Two Gunners stood by some sort of console. One used a joystick to control a crane moving giant metal crates onto a lower down platform next to the rock wall.

"Did you catch last night's episode of All My Stakataka?" the Gunner at the joystick asked his counterpart.

"I did!" the other cheerfully responded. "Ugh, can you believe Stakateresa left Stakaterry for his evil twin brother, Stakatempleton?"

"It's completely ridiculous!" the first Gunner threw up his blaster arms. "The writers have pulled a lot of baloney in the past, but this takes the cake!" He shook his head. "It's been downhill since season 75. Still, I'm in it to see how it all ends."

"I feel you." The second Gunner shook his head. "Even the All My Stakataka subreflectit agrees... the writers really jumped the sharpedo with this one."

"Seriously?" The first Gunner returned his blaster arms to the controls. The crane picked up another box and began to move it down to the lower platform. "They never agree on anything!"

One of the Brawlers walked over to join them. "It's wild! Maybe the emperor will send the station an angry letter and get them to retcon it!"

The three Troopers broke into laughter.

"What are we waiting for?" Valkyrie hissed in a whisper.

"Trying to see if there's a vent somewhere on the other side," Leo responded.

"Well, let's get over there first." Valkyrie jabbed the joltik's back. "Can you climb on the underside of these platforms?"

"Can you guys hang on?"

"I'll manage." Valkyrie looked to Noctum.

"Uhh, I guess?" Noctum tightened his grip.

"A'ight. We out." Leo skittered out of the tunnel and used some jagged rocks bordering the platform to easily make his way to the platform's underside.

Noctum's world flipped upside down, but the cosmic charizard's grip held even as Leo headed forward. He didn't conjure a Tailwind this time. Noctum figured that was too risky now that there were actual guards around.

The joltik skittered on ahead. Noctum could scarcely hear the tinks and tunks of Leo's tiny steps over the pounding rain and loud metal thunks of patrolling Eternatus Troopers. But that was a good thing. It meant the shrinking worked. So far, anyway.

Leo kept to the underside of the platforms, using electrified webbing to zip between them. Noctum held his breath for every zip, but nothing seemed to happen. He only heard glimpses of vague conversations about Eternavision programming atop the platforms.

Once Leo reached the end of the lowest platform, he skittered around to the edge of the platform. Large stacks of metal crates were lined up against the massive rock and concrete wall. However, there was enough space for a tiny joltik to easily maneuver through. Which is exactly what Leo did.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Valkyrie whispered. "We may find a vent or a drain some—"

She jerked some fur on Leo's back, then pointed to her left. "There, a vent!"

"Shhh." Noctum put an index finger to his snout.

"Bruh. I can barely hear you two over the sounds of that crane moving all the boxes," Leo scoffed.

"Right." Noctum tittered. "Then let's get into the vent."

"Venting like sussy bakas," Leo declared, skittering toward the vent bolted to a portion of concrete.

"The hell does that mean?" Valkyrie growled.

"Stuff." Leo stopped at the vent. The grate's gaps weren't big enough for him to slip through. "We gotta get this grate off."

"Say no more." Valkyrie hopped off the joltik's back. The garchomp proceeded to use her claws like glorified screwdrivers, getting the bolts off. Noctum and Leo helped her gently put the grate against the crate right behind them.

With the grate taken care of, Noctum and Valkyrie climbed back onto Leo. He hopped into the vent, which quickly went upwards. Noctum could easily fly up himself, while Leo didn't look to have any problems maneuvering along one of the vent's walls.

It reminded Noctum of infiltrating that uPhone factory. God, that felt like forever ago. It had been, what, three or four months now?

Boy, how things have changed.

There were no fans stopping their ascent. Once a rush of hot air threatened to blow them back down, but Leo and Valkyrie alerted Noctum and he dug his tiny claws into the opposite vent wall to keep himself in place.

Eventually, Noctum spotted an orange glow in the distance. He also heard muffled whirring and clanking.

"I think we're getting close to the proper facility," Valkyrie said.

"Right." Noctum's starry tail flame nervously rippled. "Um, actually, now that we are inside... what should we be doing?" He kept flapping his wings. The orange light drew closer. "This place is huge. How can we possibly find the others without getting caught?"

Valkyrie shook her head. "We're not going to."

Noctum blinking. "What."

The garchomp sighed. "Were you not paying attention before we left? I told you guys... we're going to the warden's office."

"Because you think there are master controls for the facility there, right?" Cid asked through the X-transceiver line.

"Bingo." Valkyrie smirked. "We should be able to open up the cells from there." She tapped Leo's back. "And he's got that program Cyril gave us that'll let him access the system."

"And if that doesn't work?" Noctum asked.

"Then we employ a little... gentle persuasion to get the warden to tell us where they are."

Noctum knew full well there'd be nothing gentle about Valkyrie's persuasion. But he kept that thought to himself.

They reached the end of their climb, with the ventilation shaft turning sharply horizontal. The orange lights were from grates that opened out into... some part of the facility. At least, Noctum guessed they were within the prison confines, given the robotic announcement he could hear.

[Attention inmates. Due to the overwhelming success of Emperor Paradox Appreciation Day, we have decided to extend the event by infinity plus one days. Please adjust your calendars accordingly.]

Valkyrie pushed past Noctum. The garchomp approached one of the grates and looked down into it.

"Cafeteria," she said. "Looks like Block D. The eastern quadrant of the prison." Valkyrie looked down the ventilation shaft. "When Citadark was on Radiance, the warden's office was in the northeast quadrant. In one of the highest towers. So, we're actually closer than I thought."

"That's good, right?" Noctum smiled at her.

"Well, it's not bad," Valkyrie said. She got off Leo's back and strolled forward.

"C'mon, you could be a bit positive," Leo said, skittering after her.

Valkyrie grunted. "Keep quiet. We don't want anyone to think there's something crawling around the vents."

Leo continued ahead, snickering. "Yeah, cuz that'd be sus."

Noctum followed them, sighing and shaking his head. He passed by several more grates, all showing the cafeteria. Assorted pokémon filled rows of tables. Some as big as onix and steelix, who needed two whole tables to themselves.

None of the species matched Yuna and the others, however. Not that Noctum truly expected to find them that easily. But God it would have been nice for something to actually be simple.

[Inmate HC17B, Flygon, G, please report to the D Block custodial office for cleaning duty. Again, Inmate HC17B, Flygon, G, please report to the D Block custodial office for cleaning duty.]

That announcement was much louder. Though, for all Noctum knew, that could have been because there were loudspeakers hanging near the part of the vent they were walking through.

"Path branches up ahead," Leo announced. "Looks like there're vents going left, right, and up."

"If we came from the east, then right goes north." Valkyrie held up her right arm. "We go that way first."

"Works for me." Leo skittered ahead and turned right at the junction. Valkyrie quickly followed the joltik.

Noctum paused to look through one more grate. A group of plusle, minun, dedenne, and togedemaru sat at a table that was too big for them, eating food in silence.

Grimacing, the cosmic charizard flew after his teammates. Hopefully, they could find the warden's office quickly.

XxX​

As soon as Chien-Pao finished introducing himself, he turned and walked back into the snow. No hostilities. No demands that they leave even though they didn't know how to. He just... left.

"Imbecile. Follow him."

Gene's starcloud tail twitched. He silently beckoned Bahamut and Widget to follow him, then trudged through the snow after Chien-Pao.

"So... the Bittercold, huh?" Gene said.

"The Bittercold saved this world from itself," Chien-Pao declared. Curiously, the snow seemed to part as Chien-Pao walked through it, offering Gene some visibility of the path ahead.

They walked across a snowy plateau. Gene saw a drop-off in the distance, but couldn't make anything out beyond that.

"Saved it?" Bahamut looked around. The cosmic lucario brushed snow off his arms. "It's a frozen wasteland out here."

If Chien-Pao was offended, he didn't show it. "The world wished for emptiness. That is what the Bittercold provided."

Widget squawked in alarm. The silvally's starcloud neck ruff puffed out. "E-Emptiness?"

"Yes." Chien-Pao continued forward, albeit at a slower pace. "The world was full of suffering. Sadness, resentment, bitterness, envy, and heartbreak. All that and more weighed down people's hearts."

He looked skyward. "With such heaviness, people yearned for emptiness. For stillness. For an eternal quiet."

His footsteps crunched in the snow. The edge of the plateau grew closer. Gene noticed a few blurry shapes. Shapes that soon turned to outlines of pokémon. An emolga and a dunsparce beside a swanna and a quagsire.

... Only they were ice sculptures. They had to be, right?

"No. You're lying to yourself."

Chien-Pao walked by emolga and dunsparce. "The Bittercold heard those wishes. To give the people the empty stillness they desired, it froze the world."

Widget looked at Swanna. "Th... then these are... actual people?"

"Yes. Granted blissful slumber from their pains and woes."

Gene's chest core burned a bit.

"Now I remember." Dark Matter sighed. "In worlds like this one... the Bittercold is an offshoot of me. Or we're connected. Feeding off people's negativity. Believing the solution to negativity's constant presence is to end the world."

"Then we're walking past frozen corpses," Bahamut growled. He leered at Quagsire, then rapped their icy body with a paw.

"Is there anyone who's not frozen?" Widget wondered, hesitantly walking toward Chien-Pao. "Like you?"

"No." Chien-Pao resumed walking. He approached the edge of the plateau. With the snowstorm parting for him, Gene was able to see into the distance.

A sprawling ice palace sat in the valley below. There were icy swirls around it and big, pointed towers jutting into the stormy skies.

"But those who helped spurn the Bittercold's existence are enshrined inside the palace," Chien-Pao continued.

"Riiiiight." Arms crossed, Gene gazed at the palace. "And the Bittercold?"

"Also within the palace," Chien-Pao replied. They tilted their head up a bit. "Atop the tallest spire."

Gene entertained the idea of asking Chien-Pao to take them to the Bittercold. But, from what he heard, the mega mewtwo doubted the Bittercold would even be interested in helping them. It would probably try to freeze them.

"You are all uncertain," Chien-Pao exclaimed, looking at Widget in particular. "You believe what the Bittercold has done is wrong."

"Of course I do!" Widget squawked. "You can't possibly tell me this is what everyone wanted."

"Mmm. That's right." Dark Matter gave an annoyed grunt. "The Voice of Life was rather hands on in tackling the Bittercold of our old world."

Chien-Pao looked off into the distance. "You're right. I can't." He shook his head. "The Bittercold believed enough felt that way to justify freezing the world."

"Yeah, because that's all it can think of," Gene cut in. The mega mewtwo walked up to Chien-Pao, shaking his head. "I don't believe your master or whatever can really understand the opposite side of the coin. The joys that life and companionship can bring."

Silence followed, saved for the howling of the snowstorm's winds. Chien-Pao slowly turned back to them. He scrutinized the trio.

"You do not seem that joyous with one another," he said.

Bahamut crossed his arms. "Hmph. That's a hell of an understatement."

Gene shot the cosmic lucario a look that said he wasn't helping. Bahamut turned his head away, scowling.

"We don't have to be buddy-buddy all the time," Gene said, pinching his brow. "Life... isn't perfect. It can't be. There'll be plenty of sadness and anguish."

Chien-Pao tilted his head. "You sound as though you speak from experience."

"I do." Gene's starcloud tail curled up. "We've... all experienced quite a bit of it. And have fought against it for a while." His gaze fell to the snowy ground. "Some of us longer than others."

"But you are still in pain," Chien-Pao said. "Then doesn't it make sense to give up?" Blue light twinkled around his snowflake Tera jewel. "Wounds of the heart... can be as much a struggle to heal as physical ones. And they can pile up and pile up and pile up. Sadness and anguish crush the soul."

Gene's shoulder crystals flickered red. "That doesn't mean you stop fighting." He held out his right hand and made a fist. "There are always ups and downs. That's why... people should work together to get through the downs and lift the ups even higher.

"Even when things are pushed to the brink... you don't give up."

Chien-Pao stared blankly at Gene. Then he tossed out an accusation. "You do not believe that with your whole being."

Widget looked between Gene and Chien-Pao in confusion. Gene uncurled his fist and held up his right hand to stop the cosmic silvally from butting in.

"You can sense it, huh?"

Chien-Pao bobbed his head once. "As I'm sure you could with me."

"Tch. Then are we talking to the Dark Matter of this place?" Bahamut said. He looked toward the palace. "A Dark Matter that succeeded?"

"In a manner of speaking," Gene responded, still focused on Chien-Pao. "You're right. Part of me does think that fighting's worthless. That we can't win. That we're better off giving up and accepting what's to come. Blah, blah, blah."

He rolled his eyes. "But that nagging doubt has been there for a long time, and I've managed to push past it. Because I've always had someone standing by me."

Gene stomped a foot down. "These aren't things to forge alone. I've got a team. Even if we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, we support one another. That's how we get through this."

The mega mewtwo stepped toward Chien-Pao. "And what about you? These people who were so desperate for emptiness... did they have teams? What about the people who were together?" He looked back toward the frozen pokémon they'd passed earlier.

Chien-Pao didn't have a response at first. He turned around and looked out across the snow-covered valley. Slowly, he lifted his head, eyes tracing the palace in the distance.

"He is uncertain."

Statement of the obvious right there, Gene mentally scoffed.

"I believe... some of them were." Chien-Pao's ice Tera jewel dimmed. "Not in the way you described, however. More that they... stumbled upon one another and worked in parallel to grow the Bittercold's power."

"Uh-huuuh." Gene crossed his arms. "And what do you think about this?"

Chien-Pao shook his head. "It is not my place to think about this. I am the Bittercold's emissary. The ones I described earlier are responsible for my existence. So that I could conjure the palace before you. The Bittercold used it to plunge the world into emptiness."

His Tera jewel brightened. "I was part of the emptiness... until your arrival."

"Wait" Widget approached the edge of the plateau. "You were frozen, too? That doesn't sound like much of an emissary."

"My job was already done." Chien-Pao looked over his shoulder. "But the Bittercold wanted the disturbance investigated. To ensure nothing would break the world's stillness."

He returned his gaze toward the valley. "You are that disturbance, of course. And your hearts are wrought with so much pain. I should grant you all emptiness. Free you from your strife."

Gene's chest core flickered. This was neither the time nor the place to fight. Especially if his powers were dulled.

"You never answered my question, though," Gene said. "What do you think about this?"

"It is not an emissary's place to answer."

"Don't give me that." Gene stepped forward, leaning over. "I know you realize we're alike. Yet we've walked very different paths. I'm sure you're thinking something." He flicked his right arm. "So, come out and say it."

Chien-Pao grimaced. "I... must preserve the world's stillness. Your beliefs... are antithetical to my purpose."

"What are you talking about?" Widget said. He took another cautious step forward. "No one should decide your purpose except you."

Chien-Pao turned his gaze on Widget. The cosmic silvally continued, "I was... built with a specific purpose in mind. And at first, I followed it without question." He glanced at Gene. "But then his team opened my eyes to the truth. And I turned away from that purpose to fight for a different future.

"Even after hearing about a new purpose, I'm trying to stay true to myself." Widget stuck his golden foreleg out. "Nothing's stopping you from doing the same. Because that's what it's like to live."

It was a good point. Gene didn't expect it to change Chien-Pao's mind—part of that was probably Dark Matter's pessimism cropping up again—but he was glad Widget put it out there.

Silence took over the group again, aside from howling wind. Then snow crunched beneath Chien-Pao's paws as he walked back and forth along the plateau's edge. He kept glancing at the palace, Tera jewel getting dimmer and dimmer.

"Very well," he finally said. His snowflake Tera jewel glowed a brighter blue.

"Huh?" Widget tilted his head. "Are you... going to help us?"

"I shall." Chien-Pao nodded. "Though I do not fully understand where you're coming from... I feel strong convictions. Like I did from those that brought the Bittercold into existence."

"Oddly charitable," Dark Matter muttered. "Be on your guard for a trap."

Gene resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Still, he could at least press for details.

The mega mewtwo lazily traced his foot through the snow. "So, what does helping entail?"

"Someone has been communicating with the Bittercold," Chien-Pao said, looking skyward. "Requesting entrance to this world. At first, I did not understand it." His tail flicked in the group's direction. "But now I think they are here for you."

Gene stiffened. Someone was here for them? Had the emperor followed them? Or sent something to make sure they stayed in exile?

"See? You get your hopes up for one second and—"

"Then let them in," Widget said, trotting to the edge of the cliff. "I don't believe they can change what's going on with your world. There's nothing to lose here."

"That is what we're working on." Chien-Pao returned his gaze to the palace. "Please give us a moment."

He walked a few paces along the plateau's edge, away from the others. His Tera jewel glowed brighter. The light drifted in the palace's direction.

"Hmph." Bahamut approached Gene, one arm crossed under his chest spike and another swatting at snow that drifted in through Chien-Pao's buffer. "What are the odds this isn't something good for us?"

Gene sighed. "If you ask Dark Matter, almost a hundred percent."

Widget's chest ruff deflated. "The emperor does have that Rift Ripper. He could send anyone or anything after us."

Bahamut scowled. "And we lack our powers to properly fight back."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions." Gene stood tall, watching Chien-Pao intently. "Maybe things will be okay."

"I am finished," Chien-Pao announced, though he didn't turn to face them. "Your visitor has arrived."

Despite urging caution, Gene instinctively tensed up. He took a stance meant for conjuring his spoon, except it couldn't materialize.

A strange, checkerboard portal appeared in front of them. Gene crouched down, expecting an attack to come flying in.

"Hey. That's not like any of our rifts," Widget pointed out.

Instead of an attack, gray-white paws stepped into the snow, followed by a fluffy body and nine fluffy white tails. A rainbow gem sparkled underneath their chest fur.

"An... ice ninetales?" Bahamut leaned forward. "Why do you have a Soul Dew in your chest?"

"Oh, that's my core." Ninetales looked at Gene. "Y'know, like what he's got. But full of light instead of shadows."

Not an enemy, then. Gene relaxed his stance.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"We talked indirectly the other day." A somber smile appeared on Ninetales' muzzle. "Wish our first in-person meeting could be under better circumstances, but I'll take what I can get."

He stepped toward Widget and extended a foreleg. "I'm Shane. And I'm here to get you back to your home."

XxX​

CDL902: Citadark Isle, Orre
According to Boss Kitty, this place was going to be the origin of some sort of criminal syndicate. But Matriarch's surveillance picked up on their activity and she dispatched Nova and his type: full units to put a stop to them before they ever gained any sort of traction. So, it stayed an empty island until the emperor rose to power. He plucked it out of the sea as a show of force toward Earth and tossed it into some distortion, where it reappeared in Radiance.

Enamorus must've found it and had it converted into the kingdom's main prison. As time went on and tech improved, Polaris used the prison for experiments and as a cheap labor source. Now it seems it's back in the empire...

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 140: Well-Deserved Break

​

Noctum, Leo, and Valkyrie continued their way through the vents unimpeded. They kept silent, leaving only the sounds of the prison below them to listen in on.

[Attention prisoners. Inmate FB21B, Quilava, F, please report to the Assimilation Chamber for Eternatus Trooper assimilation. Again, Inmate FB21B, Quilava, F, please report to the Assimilation Chamber for Eternatus Trooper assimilation.]

Noctum winced. He did recall that stupid advertisement for the prison mentioning they could assimilate people here.

"There's a lot of loud machinery for a jail," Leo muttered. "What do you suppose they're working on here?"

"No idea." Valkyrie pressed forward, scowling. "It's probably bad, though."

"Yeah." Leo skittered after the garchomp. They reached another fork in the path, with one option going straight up. Valkyrie climbed onto the joltik's back.

"You don't think it sus that Paradox could get all this set up so quickly?" Leo wondered, beginning to climb along the vent wall.

"Of course it's suspicious." Gruning, Noctum flew after them. The cosmic charizard looked down to make sure no tail embers drifted out of the nearby vent grate. "I mean, it looked like there was a lot of machinery getting delivered outside."

"He's consolidating," Valkyrie said, clinging to Leo's back as he scaled the wall. "Moving equipment from other jails to this one cuz it's bigger and fancier and whatnot."

Noctum frowned. Wasn't the whole point of the empire that it outpaced the Kingdom of Radiance when it came to technology?

Sighing, he continued flying up the vent. Was there much of a point to thinking about it?

[Will the medical team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, medical team to— err, scratch that. Will the Body Disposal Team please report to the B Block rec room? Repeat, Body Disposal Team to the B Block rec room.]

Wincing, Noctum shut his eyes. Whatever that was about sounded... bad. And like something he didn't want to dwell on.

A different thought popped into Noctum's head instead. "What if he's using this jail to make more Terraformers or Rift Rippers?"

Leo hummed in thought. "Well, that'd bite. But a mass jailbreak could jelly up that jam in an instant."

Noctum frowned. That had to be a Leoism for messing up the emperor's plans, right?

The trio reached the top of the vertical shaft. Only one path lay ahead of them, going slightly left. The vent got wider. Blue and orange light spilled out from a large wall-mounted grate a few meters away.

As soon as Valkyrie got off Leo's back, she stuck an arm out. "This might be it," the garchomp whispered. "No talking. Let's try and get a closer look."

While Leo and Valkyrie crept closer, Noctum chose to remain in the air. The cosmic charizard figured it would give him better maneuvering if anything unexpected happened.

They got closer and closer to the vent, until they could eventually see into some sort of circular office. There were multiple Eternatus Gunners and Brawlers patrolling the perimeter. Several holographic monitors lit up the center of the room. The naganadel thingy from Cid's briefing floated there, looking between the monitors. But beside him...

"Ah!" Noctum's tail flame expanded. He quickly landed beside Valkyrie and Leo.

Valkyrie smacked the cosmic charizard's shoulder, shushing him. "What are you doing?" she hissed in a whisper.

"That gardevoir next to the warden." Noctum pointed at the grate. "I recognize her. She was Vortex's assistant. What's she doing here? Did she defect or something?"

"Does it matter?" Valkyrie scoffed. "What you really ought to think about is how we get Cyril's program into that computer in the middle of the room."

Leo studied the grate intently. "This looks hella scuffed, ngl."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Meaning?"

The joltik shook his head. "That many bodies in there? Ain't no way we stealthing it, tiny or not. The warden could probably lock down that computer and leave us totally hosed."

He turned around and pointed in the direction they'd come from. "And even if we set off a disturbance somewhere else, that wouldn't cause everyone to leave this office. We'd still have the same problem to contend with."

Gulping, Noctum grabbed his tail to try and keep the starry flame under control. "That, um, does sound concerning." He looked at Valkyrie. "What do we do?"

"Tch." Valkyrie crossed her arms. "If we can't stealth... then we might have to go with good old-fashioned brute force."

"What?" Noctum managed to keep his voice down. "How can we even do that? If Leo unshrinks us then we'll get stuck in the vent... but if he does it out there, then they'll just attack him."

"Then Leo'll have to be the one to strike first." Valkyrie jerked her head at the joltik. "We can sit around debating this until we're blue in the face, but we don't have that luxury. Just listen."

They crept closer to the grate.

"—Getting closer to completion," the warden said, pointing to one of the holographic monitors. "We should begin the transfer process for those rebels. How soon can we get the apparatus moving?"

"Within the next ten minutes," Arianna exclaimed. The gardevoir poked at a tablet in her left arm.

"See?" Valkyrie stepped back from the grate. "It sounds like they've got something planned for the others."

"A'ight." Leo skittered up to the grate. "I'm-a Judgment, then. When you see the blinding flash, that's your cue. I'll aim it to bust this grate open, so stand back."

Noctum flapped his wings and flew back from the grate, while Valkyrie walked after him. Leo slipped out through the bottom slit in the grate.

"So." Valkyrie crossed her arms. "Your Palkia half know what the hell a Judgment is or—"

Before Valkyrie could finish her question, brilliant gray light erupted from the office, followed by surprised shouts and hollers.

"That's the cue!" Noctum flew forward, squeezing himself through a slit in the grate.

Seconds later, a tingle ran along his spine. He stretched back out into normal size. Thankfully, it didn't hurt at all. Which left Noctum free to get to work.

"Go for it, Val!" he called, spewing blue flames toward the back of the room. A couple of panicked Eternatus Gunners tried to counter with Water Pulses, but Noctum's flames overpowered them.

The cosmic charizard landed and spread his arms out. All the Eternatus Troopers in the back of the room were taken care of. And a bunch of loud clangs came from behind Noctum, in the front of the room.

"Sound the alarms!" an unfamiliar male voice cried. Noctum looked left to see that Naganadel and Arianna had made it over to the side of the room. An orange barrier formed around them, repelling the brown Earth Power plume Leo kicked up around them.

"This is Sticky! Get me reinforcements!" The nagandel pointed his large needle at Noctum accusingly. "Do not let them leave this room alive!"

Rifts opened ahead of Noctum. A dozen Eternatus Gunners poured out, blasters filling the room with water jets. Noctum threw up a Protect and dove for cover behind one of the computer consoles.

"There's too many of them!" he cried.

Blinding light erupted all around him, followed by the screams and hollers of Eternatus Gunners. Noctum poked his head up to find a dozen unown getting teleported out of the room. Leo stood in front of the rifts in his full cosmic arceus splendor.

"Bring it!" He trotted in place. "Ya boi's locked in."

"Send all available units!" Sticky shouted. "Lock down the systems and facility! I don't know what kind of tricks you rebels are pulling, but this is my prison! I'm in charge here!"

More Eternatus Gunners filed out of the rifts. Noctum spat a blue Flamethrower at two of them, only for a dome of fire to erupt around Leo. The Lava Plume blew the Gunners apart.

"Yeah. Uh, keep up the good work." Noctum gave Leo two shaky thumbs up before turning to Valkyrie. The garchomp paced angrily in front of Sticky's circular workstation. There was no holographic screen.

"What's wrong?" Noctum scratched his head. "Is it not working?"

"What does it look like?" Valkyrie gestured to the air over Sticky's desk. "He shut the system down!"

"You really think I wouldn't take measures to protect the prison server?" Sticky crooned. Noctum spat an angry Dragon Pulse toward the nagandel, but his orange shield deflected it like it was nothing.

Valkyrie stomped toward him. "Well, turn the computers back on." She conjured Dragon Claws and swiped at his shield. The barrier rippled from every strike, but it held firm. "You can't hide behind this forever!"

Her gaze shifted to the gardevoir trembling behind Sticky. "C'mon! You can't possibly expect to come out of this okay siding with this asshole!"

"Ha!" Sticky gripped the inside of his barrier. "My assistant answers to me and me alone, filthy rebel!"

"Relax, guys."

Noctum jumped at Cyril's voice. He glanced back to make sure Leo was still holding off the Eternatus Troopers. Which he was. A brilliant bolt of lightning launched an Iron Jugulis back, shattering the office windows. It tumbled down what Noctum imagined was a long drop.

Two Iron Hands joined a dozen Eternatus Bombardiers climbing out of the rifts.

"This would be an excellent time for some good news." Chittering, Noctum ducked two Hydro Pumps. From the ground, he spewed a Flamethrower forward that got one of the Bombardier's mechanical legs. It fell back into three other Bombardiers. Noctum hurled a Spacial Rend crescent forward, cleaving right through the Bombardiers, whose exploding bodies ejected their unown pilots out the broken window.

"Copy that." Cyril chuckled. "Good news time."

"What's going on?" Sticky cried to Noctum's left. The cosmic charizard spun around to see the holographic screen back on. It showed a chibified Cyril dancing around, grabbing pixelated file and folder icons and sifting through them.

"The system shouldn't be turning itself on!" Sticky whirled on Arianna. "Are you up to something? Answer me now!"

"S-Sir, I'd never—"

"That driver you plugged in gave me remote control of the server," Cyril explained. "Took me a little bit to abort the lockdown, but now I can dooooo this."

Alarm sirens blared out through the office. Noctum's tail flame swelled. A Hydro Pump caught him unaware and sent him back, through the holographic screen and slamming into the glass wall overlooking some of the prison cells down below.

[Emergency. Emergency. Widespread power outage detected. Reserve power online.]

Noctum fell to the ground, stars filling his vision. Was he hearing things? The lights were still on in the office, so...

More alarm bells rang out, along with shouts and cries. And they weren't the thuds and clanks coming from the other side of the room, either. Noctum shakily pulled himself up and looked out the glass wall.

The cell barriers were down! Prisoners flooded out toward the main chamber!

Attacks of all stars and stripes lit up the air as some angry prisoners exchanged fire with Eternatus Gunners and Bombardiers charging into the chamber through its three entrances.

"Divert all reserve power to the VIP transporter!" Sticky shouted.

Noctum turned back around. The shield surrounding Arianna and Sticky shifted from orange to blue.

"But sir," the gardevoir said, looking at her tablet. "The prison cells are offline. It sounds like they're rioting out there."

"And it won't matter once we get those priority prisoners into—"

Before Sticky could finish his sentence, a blue flash engulfed him and Arianna. When the light faded, they'd disappeared.

"H-Hey!" Noctum hopped to his feet. "Where'd they go?"

"Must've teleported." Valkyrie jumped back to avoid an Ice Beam from an Eternatus Gunner in front of her. Then Leo barreled into it with an Extreme Speed, knocking it into the other Gunners. They all tumbled out the hole in the window.

"But they were saying something about priority prisoners." Noctum's tail flame rippled. "You don't think—"

"It's totes the others." Leo turned around. "Duck."

"Huh?"

Noctum realized what Leo meant when he saw the cosmic arceus' wheel glowing bright white. He sprawled out on his belly. Heat washed over his backside, then shattering glass filled his ear frills.

"C'mon!" Leo called, racing past Noctum. By the time the cosmic charizard was back on his feet, Leo was out the window and inside the large prison chamber. Valkyrie rode atop his back.

Alarm sirens blared louder as Noctum flew after them.

[Riot in progress. Riot in progress. All available Troopers deploy immediately.]

"Any ideas where these 'priority prisoners' are?" Noctum called. Bright colors flashed beneath him. One of the doors on the other end of the room blew off its hinges. An Iron Hands stood in the doorway, a mechanical fist outstretched.

[I must... hand it to you rebels!] Iron Hands called, looking up toward Noctum. [You saved us a lot of trouble by turning yourselves in like this!]

"Ugh, we don't have time for this." Leo shook his head. He jumped higher in the air to avoid an errant Water Pulse and fireball. "We gotta strategerize here."

Clearing his throat, Leo shouted, "Ahhhhh! This is terrible! We're completely outmatched! Especially with all this chaos!" His eyes welled with tears. "Please don't hurt us and toss us in with the other priority prisoners!"

Cyril's groans rippled through the X-transceiver line. "Are you freaking kidding me? There's no way that actually—"

[Ha!]

A laugh came from one of two Iron Moths that flew toward Leo and Valkyrie.

[First thing we're doing is dragging you to A block and tossing you in with the others!] the other Iron Moth said. Both launched poisonous globules at Leo, only for the cosmic arceus' wheel to turn brown. Large Mud Bombs snuffed out the Sludge Bombs, then a second volley knocked both Iron Moths out of the air.

"... I stand corrected," Cyril said.

"Geeeeeeeeeet duuuuuuuunked on!" Leo shouted, raining Mud Bombs on Iron Hands to open a path through the door.

Noctum formed a Protect and used it to get through the random attacks whizzing all around him. The chamber was a cacophony of frenzied shouts and cries. Most of these pokémon seemed completely unrelated to one another. Noctum didn't recognize any Aeons or monks. Had they all gotten brought to A block?

"Where's A block, exactly?" he asked as they went through a long hallway. Eternatus Bombardiers unleashed a Blizzard barrage to try and stop them in their tracks, but Leo switched to fire-type and used a wall of hot air to counter them. Valkyrie then leaped off his back and slammed into the ground. An Earthquake knocked the Bombardiers over, giving Noctum room to blast them with blue flames and blow apart their robot bodies.

"East! We have to go east!" Valkyrie sprinted forward. "This is the right way. C'mon!"

Leo galloped after her while Noctum flapped his wings to keep up.

"Wait!" The cosmic charziard sped up as they approached another doorway. "If stealth's out the window, why doesn't Leo make a rift to A block?"

Leo skidded to a halt. His starry pelt flickered. "Huh." He tapped a hind hoof on the ground. "I... don't feel like anything's blocking me? Lemme just..."

His wheel flashed purple. A jagged rift opened up in the doorway.

"Easy claps!" Leo cheered, galloping through the rift.

"Idiot! Brace yourself for attacks," Valkyrie growled, stomping after him. Sighing, Noctum brought up the rear again.

The room on the other side was another large, dome-like chamber. It had rows and rows of deactivated cells. But this time around, Noctum recognized the prisoners fighting with Eternatus Troopers.

"Your Highness!" Noctum called, looking toward the third cell row where Yiazmat and two salamence kept an Iron Jugulis at bay with Dragon Darts and Dragon Pulses.

"Noctum, focus!" Valkyrie snapped to his right.

When he looked toward her, he found a large, rhombus-shaped cell in the middle of the room. It held his teammates in it... but it was still online!

So that's what Sticky meant.

"Leo?" Yuna floated toward the nearest orange barrier to the cosmic arceus. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

"Prison break." Leo puffed out his chest. "It's straight flames."

"Don't just stand there, kid!" Nikki smacked the barrier with an elbow. "Get us out of here! Use your freaking god powers or some ****!"

"Nobody's busting any of you out!"

Noctum's tail flame rippled. He looked all around, but he couldn't find Sticky. Were the loudspeakers still online even with the power failure?

"The only thing you have to look forward to is serving as the emperor's glorious batteries!"

[Priority prisoner transport system online. Please standby for priority prisoner transport.]

"The hell?" Nikki resumed banging on the barrier. "Do something!"

"Uh... uhhhhhhh..." Leo pointed a forehoof at the barrier. A white beam came out of his golden hoof... only to fizzle out harmlessly against the shield.

"Stand back!" Noctum tried a Spacial Rend crescent. It had cleaved through plenty of things before, so why not a shield?

But the barrier even managed to absorb his Spacial Rend. And when it did, the floor around the priority cell shot toward the ceiling.

"Hey!" Noctum flapped his wings and took to the air. "Give them back!"

"Never!" Sticky shouted. "They can't escape serving the empire... forever!"

Noctum gathered energy for a stronger Spacial Rend, but he wasn't enough. The cell zipped along the ceiling and disappeared through some large hatch in the air.

"No!" The cosmic charizard's tail flame sparked with anger. He whirled on Leo and Valkyrie. "We have to go after them!"

Valkyrie held her arm up. "You go after 'em. And tell us where they're going."

"What?" Noctum almost snorted out tufts of fire. "We're a team. We need to stick together."

Large explosions came from the fourth row of cells. A couple of dragonite went tumbling down toward the next row.

"I get that." Valkyrie pointed a claw toward the explosion. "But they're our allies, too. And they need our help."

"But—"

"Plus, we'll tire ourselves out chasing the cell," Valkyrie continued. "So, Leo and I will stay here. You're fast. Tail the cell. Once it looks like it's reaching its destination. Tell us. Then Leo can get everyone there."

Noctum frowned. What Valkyrie said made sense, but splitting up still left a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Valkyrie put her right arm on his shoulder. The garchomp's expression... was softer than usual.

"I'm asking you to trust me here, Noctum."

The cosmic charizard looked at Valkyrie arm and claw. His tail flame pulsated rapidly.

"Are you going to stand there talking or are you going to help?" Yiazmat shouted from the third cell row.

"Right." Noctum flapped his wings, rising into the air. "Okay, leave it to me."

He turned and flew as fast as his wings would carry him in the direction the priority cell had gone. The hatch had shut, but one well aimed Spacial Rend blew it open. And he saw the cell on the other side of the next room. Noctum tried another Spacial Rend, aiming for the rail that carried the cell along. His heart sank when, like before, it fizzled out harmlessly.

So, whatever power the facility still had left was going toward protecting this cell... no matter what happened to the rest of the prison? That sounded like desperation to Noctum. In which case, he'd just have to keep up with the cell!

Noctum could do this. For Valkyrie. For everyone.

XxX​

Though Chien-Pao had given the group a bit of space, an awkward silence hung in the air. The snow continued to swirl around without actually hitting them. Widget couldn't quite tell if that was still Chien-Pao or if this Shane guy also had some power to block out the weather.

Widget didn't exactly have his powers, but he knew this wasn't a simple ice ninetales. There was a blinding aura to him. It made it hard for Widget to even look at Shane. So, the cosmic silvally instead looked at the ground. He poked the snow with a gold talon.

"So, you're the guy, huh?" Gene clicked his tongue. "The one Vince works for?"

"That'd be me," Shane said.

The mega mewtwo crossed his arms. "And you're finally intervening directly because..."

"Hmph." Bahamut waved Gene off dismissively. "We're nowhere near home. Didn't you remember what he said? He can't get close to the world's divine power without setting off a reaction. But since that isn't here..."

"The hell are me and Widget then?" Gene said. With his name brought in, Widget finally stood at attention.

Shane laughed nervously. "You are divine, in a sense. Just... not the kind that causes the interference."

Widget wasn't sure if that was meant to be good or bad. He kept silent.

"Then you know the route back to our world?" Bahamut said. His expression was stern and he struggled to make eye contact with Shane. Widget vaguely recalled some tenuous, not good association between the two, but drew a blank over the specifics.

"I do." Shane bobbed his head once. "I can get you pretty far. Then you'll have to cover the rest of the way."

Bahamut's brow furrowed. "And yet, this 'interference' didn't stop you from showing up all those years ago."

Shane's tails curled up. "W-Well, your world was... much more stable back then. I don't want to risk anything bad happening now by showing up."

"Or you're scared of other Overseers," Bahamut accused, aura feelers tensing. "If this situation is truly so terrible, they should step in to deal with Zodiark and fix our world."

"That's... complicated." Shane's ears folded.

Widget frowned. "Well, could you tell us how?" He figured a friendlier voice would be more productive than Bahamut interrogating the guy.

"As a whole, the Overseers are more... observers than actors." Shane lifted two of his right tails. "For them to intervene in the affairs of a world, it takes something truly devastating. Like, a world that is endless suffering with no hope of recovery or a crisis threatening the safety of multiple uninvolved worlds."

Bahamut stomped a foot in the snow. "Which this is." He looked at Widget. "Back me up here. This is a multi-layered crisis."

"Yeah." Widget poked at the snow some more with a gold talon. "It's not just the whole Zodiark thing. What about all the new souls made in our world? If we were to try and put all the collided worlds back, where do they end up?"

And, of course, Xeromus' claims rattled around in Widget's head. If the worlds separated, would Widget separate with them?

"Breathe." The ninetales bowed his head slightly. "I see where you're coming from. And that's why the Overseers are intervening."

Widget's starry neck ruff shriveled up. "Wait, you don't mean they're going to blow our world up, do you?"

"Nope." A few of Shane's tails wiggled. "They're out in Ginnungagap. Zodiark has flooded it with Whispers while he evades our detection. We're keeping that at bay while stabilizing the space-time distortions that someone's causing by opening rifts with reckless abandon."

Gene pinched his brow. "Thaaaaaaaat'd be the emperor. And his 'precious' Rift Ripper." The mega mewtwo held his arms out. "He's a deoxys. Controls most of the world. And has one of Leo's plates powering a rift-making machine."

Shane flinched. "Yeesh. Yeah, that'd do it." He looked up at the snowy sky. "Sounds to me like we don't have a moment to lose, then. You guys ready?"

"Yes." Bahamut walked toward Shane. The cosmic lucario's aura feelers twitched. "Are you sure Whispers won't assault us?"

"I can't be sure of that." Shane laughed nervously.

"Seriously?" Gene's chest core flickered. Was Dark Matter talking to him or something? "And you thought to show up alone?"

"I'm not alone." Shane turned his snout in Chien-Pao's direction. "But we agreed I'd be the one to come through."

Both Bahamut and Gene eyed the ninetales skeptically. Widget didn't see a problem with it. Besides, this was just wasting time.

Sighing, Shane's tails drooped. "Look, I get it. Everything about this situation sucks. And, as someone who contributed it to it, words alone can't express how sorry I am about what's happened."

He took a step toward the trio. "You guys have been fighting for a while — some longer than others — and I know what that's like." Shane took a deep breath. "I also know what's it like to be in a desperate situation. And nearly end up at each other's throats.

"That's why you need to lean on one another for support." Shane curled two of his tails around one another. "This isn't just some 'power of friendship' rallying speech or anything. It's going to take a village to put things right."

Shane extended a foreleg. "And my teammates and I want to be part of that village, as best we can."

More silence followed. Neither Gene nor Bahamut made a move toward Shane. But the ninetales sounded sincere to Widget. The cosmic silvally extended his own foreleg.

Surprisingly, Bahamut beat him to the punch, grabbing Shane's foreleg in a paw and shaking it. "Don't make me regret this," he growled.

"I'll do my best," Shane responded, winking. He turned to Chien-Pao. "And thank you for cooperating. Once I'm done with these guys, would it be okay if I came back to see you again?"

Chien-Pao stared blankly. The snowflake Tera jewel on his head pulsated. Widget tensed. Was the Bittercold trying something?

Then the pulsations faded. Cracks ran through the Tera gem, and it dropped into snowy fragments at Chien-Pao's feet. For the first time, a small smile spread over his muzzle.

"I think I'd like that." He bobbed his head. "I'm sure we'd have much to discuss."

"That's the spirit!" Laughing, Shane turned to the others. The gemstone in his chest fur glowed brightly. Shane fanned his tails out. A checkerboard portal formed underneath them.

"W-Wait!" Widget's neck ruff puffed out. "H-How are we getting through Ginnungagap?"

"Oh, I'll carry you," Shane said. Then, in a flash of golden light, he grew into a gold light dragon. Exactly like what Bahamut used to be.

Widget gulped. "Uhhh, am I gonna catch on fire if I grab you?"

"What? No way!" Shane laughed. "My light's soft, like a ponyta's pelt!" The necrozma sank into the wormhole. "Now climb aboard. There's no time to lose!"

Widget jumped onto Shane's back, followed shortly by Gene and Bahamut. Shane took off flying through the blue-purple ocean that was the mystery dungeon between worlds. Widget watched random crystal islets of all shapes and sizes pass him by. Gold and silver blurs zoomed across a round, upside-down island, chasing away Walking Wake Whispers. Those must have been Shane's teammates.

Taking a deep breath, Widget looked straight ahead.

I hope we're not too late.

Spoiler: Chapter Art

Raph (@lraphl.bsky.social)

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