Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Path of Valor

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, just sliding right in before the Saturday update later today, since it felt like as good an occasion as any to try and get caught up with this story.

Chapter 49

High above the Eterna City skyline, in the thick, black and purple clouds, Gene turned to Jade and her orange zapdos passenger.

"It's going to be quick." The mewtwo snapped his fingers. "Once the rift opens, I shoot a Fire Blast into the fueling console and light the spa up like an oversized candle. Then we go charging in and you'd best be ready for Troopers to swarm us."

Words do not begin to describe how poorly planned this all sounds right now.

I do wonder if this would've worked better with the description and dialogue separated, though.

Quetzal puffed out his feathers. "I still cannot believe nobody told me we were having a strategy meeting! I didn't even have any time to prepare for this!"

So I'm not the only one who's having red flags tripped about how this entire mission is being organized, huh?

"You were napping. I didn't want to be rude." Jade laughed nervously.

"I just forgot." Gene shrugged.

"You're a powerful psychic!" Quetzal huffed.

... I'm frankly going to be more surprised if this mission ends well than if it results in a massive fail right about now. Since Gene has been consistently one step behind Paradox up to this point, and this just screams "not gonna end well".

"Oh, gee, look at the time." Gene glanced at a wristwatch he didn't have. "Mission's a go." He flicked his right wrist, opening a jagged rift. The mewtwo had looked over images of the place to know exactly where to aim his Fire Blast. The five-pronged flame struck a metal tower. Gene threw up a pink barrier, shielding himself and his allies from a fiery explosion while the sounds of mechanical shouts and cries filled his ears.

Quetzal: "Oh boy, here goes nothing."

"Now!" Gene flew into his rift. Through thick black smoke and tiny red embers he saw a huge crater in what was once some sort of pool. Lounge chairs and the remnants of a rooftop bar lay scattered about like big metal pretzels. The blimp was unharmed, displaying weather footage while a castform meteorologist gestured at the weather map.

"It's the rebel mewtwo!"

Jade: "Wait, they just have blimps going around displaying the weather forecast?"

Quetzal: "Look, freaky lizard-bird-lady, can we focus on not dying from the massive salvo of attacks that's going to be coming our way in about two seconds?!" OvO;

Right on cue, Dark Pulses and Signal Beams punched through the wall of smoke. Gene Phantom Warped to his right, the attacks passing harmlessly through numerous mewtwo-shaped afterimages. At least a dozen Eternatus Gunners hovered a few meters away from him and more were floating up from behind.

Jade: "What are we, chopped liver?"

Gene gathered a large Aura Sphere over his head and... bowled it through midair toward the Gunners in front of him. He quickly Phantom Warped back into the smoke to dodge a fresh volley of Dark Pulses.

"Despicable rebels!" a Gunner shouted. "First they loiter on our rooftops without an approved permit and now they assault our day spa! Is nothing sacred to them?"

Gene: "Nope!" ^^
Quetzal: "I swear, you all need to get your priorities adjusted." >v>;

Gene surged out from the smoke, flames gathering in his hands. "Sacred? Ha! Do I look like an entei to you?" He tossed a Fire Blast toward several of the Gunners below him. Their Dark Pulses sailed wide of stopping the Fire Blast, which blew five of them up. Their unown pilots careened through the air before disappearing in purple smoke puffs. A pity Gene didn't have a way of stopping that. Then he could keep Paradox from reinforcing his ranks so quickly.

There's... a story behind that comment, isn't there? Though wait, are these Unown effectively immortal if their robot suits get wiped? Since I'm not sure if the smoke puffs are meant to be emergency teleports or if they died and got sent to a soul recycler or something like that.

"No, you look like a disobedient cat that needs a good spritzing!" a much larger, gray Eternatus Trooper with giant cannons for arms boasted. Gene couldn't fully Phantom Warp away from two Hydro Cannons. A deluge of water blasted him toward the propaganda blimp, but the mewtwo caught himself, wringing his arms out.

Oh, great. Bombardiers, Gene mentally hissed.

... Wait, where are Jade and Quetzal in all of this? Since now I'm starting to get worried.

"Now! Freeze the rebel!"

"Hey, where's my backup?!" Gene growled, forming a large pink barrier that barely held against a slew of hail and ice chunks from three Bombardiers.

"Sorry! Sorry! Still getting used to the flying thi—eeeeeeeeeeek!"

Jade crashed into the Bombardier on Gene's left. "Ah, hello!" the salugia chirped. "Come here often?"

Oh, there they are. Or at least Jade anyways.

"Every Friday, actually," the Bombardier responded, before the unown inside narrowed its eye. "Hey, wait a second!"

Quetzal: "Again, priorities!" >v<;
Jade: "No! No! I was pretty good with the freaky robot guy not thinking about killing me here!" OvO;

Jade's mouth was bright orange. The resulting orange beam effortlessly tore through the Bombardier and both of his companions.

So, that's Aeroblast. Gene had to admit it was even more impressive up close.

I... did not know that's how Aeroblast was originally depicted in the anime. I thought the Smash-style wind vortex o' doom was just a consistent depiction. TIL.

No, wait, this wasn't the time for that! Not with ten Gunners trained on both of them! "Duck!" he cried.

"Duck?" Jade blinked. "No, salug— aah!"

Quetzal: "Again. Priorities!" >v<;
Jade: "Yes, yes, I get the point!"

Gene used Hurricane. Jade barely got out of the way of the ensuing vortex. It sucked up the Gunners like dirt through a vacuum hose, shredding through their bodies and blowing the unown pilots away.

"Cool trick!" The salugia clapped her feet together. "When can I learn?"

Gene: "... How do you not already know this again?"

Jade: "I've been asleep in a crystal needle for 1100 years? That probably helps, right?"

"Later!" Gene growled. More Gunners and Bombardiers had taken to the skies. There must have been teleporters nearby. C'mon, Cyril! How much longer do you need, huh?

This... was happening in the middle of Cyril hitting on Seifer last chapter, wasn't it?

As if the zoroark somehow heard Gene, the weather report abruptly cut out replaced with footage of Cyril standing in front of a camera. Gene turned and hurled two dozen Psystrike orbs toward some newly arrived Gunners. They unleashed their own volley of Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls. Though Gene's onslaught won out, none of the Gunners went down. Some of them ejected their UFO-like cockpits and flew after Gene.

Not that this isn't a good show, but I'm surprised that the Eternabot gang isn't just camping from some overlooking windows and opting to snipe from above right now while distracting Gene with suppressive fire from another direction.

"Attention Eterna City! This is the voice of the resistance," Cyril said, the prerecorded message amplified by the blimp's speakers. They were... a lot louder than Gene remembered. Maybe because he was used to hearing the blimp from a distance?

Can't tell if that's going to be significant or not.

Jade: "My ears!"

Quetzal: "Was it really too much to ask for decent earpro for this mission?" @v@

"For the emperor!" a Trooper shouted, her cockpit glowing brightly. Sensing what was coming, Gene summoned his spoon and whacked the Trooper back into several others. Explosions lit up the sky like orange fireworks.

Gene: "Boy am I glad that Paradox hasn't gotten around to teaching his grunts to shoot before bantering." ^^;

"This is the voice of the truth. And the truth is... we need to talk."

"Guuuuuuys, I could really use some help down here!"

Gene looked down. An orange bolt streaked across the cratered ground, narrowly dodging the spiky maces of a dozen Eternatus Brawlers.

Oh, there's Quetzal right now. Yeah, I kinda had a bad feeling about him just fading to the background there in the midst of the massive zerg rush of Troopers.

"Hey! Even if it's been blown up, running on a pool deck is hazardous!" one Brawler shouted.

"And illegal!" A second wound up and launched his right mace at Quetzal. Ice swirled around the spikes. Quetzal was running out of room, so Gene dove down and tossed a Fire Blast in the middle of the Brawlers. The five-pronged explosion knocked them off their feet.

Gene: "... I did remember to aim away from Quetzal in the middle of all that, right?"
Quetzal: "You're supposed to ask yourself that before attacking!" >v<;
Gene: "Hey, no time to question my moves."

"Your so-called emperor is lying to you! First off... those new uPhones you got? They're full of gizmos to hypnotize you whenever Paradox wants! And the rifts you see in the sky are dangerous! They're a sign that space and time are collapsing... in a way that not even Eternatus can protect us from!"

Why do I get the suspicion that the reaction from the locals on the street is basically going to be a variation of?:

Since the civvies in this story writ large have come off as pretty apathetic. Not that mass brainwashing wouldn't help with that.

One of the Brawlers leaped back to his feet and pointed a mace skyward. "It's a trick! Attack the blimp! The revolution must not be telivi—"

Quetzal charged forward and delivered a tremendous kick to the Brawler. With a thundering boom, the cockpit dislodged from the robotic torso and skipped across the charred ground, crashing into a second Brawler. Both bots and their unown vanished in a small blue blast.

Quetzal: "Whew, that bought us some time."

Gene: "Guess we should be thankful that Paradox didn't think of rolling out vehicle killswitches just yet." ^^
Jade: "Wait, those exist here?!"

Gene: "I'm frankly more surprised that they apparently don't yet given how 'Black Mirror with Magitech' Eterna City is in general." ^^;

"Birdbrain, help out Drumstick! I got things up here!" Gene ordered, shooting back up and sniping a pair of Bombardiers' cockpits with well-aimed Psybeams. "Pool Noodle, you read me? We're just about done here! Got anything from the drone yet?"

He Phantom Warped left past three Signal Beams, which bounced off one of the blimp's screens.

"Yeah. Bad news. I, uh, think Paradox might've persuaded his captives to join his cause?"

I'm not sure how on earth he managed that, though that's gonna be a sight to behold.

Paradox made Sticky's instructions perfectly clear: stay offstage in the auditorium until the promotional video finished. So the naganadel hid behind a stage right curtain, glancing between the giant projector screen and the rows of dark, unfilled seats.

A sliver of white light appeared at the far end of the room. Sticky adjusted his headset. "Please take your seats. The program will begin momentarily."

>Paradox has a promotional video for the QN

I'm surprised and yet considering the overall tone of this story, I suppose that I really, really shouldn't be right now.

It was too dark to make out anything other than silhouettes, but Sticky heard the murmurs of uncertainty. Young adults questioning where they were and what would happen to them and why the elevator that brought them here played smooth jazz. A few kept begging someone called Vincenzo to do something.

Sticky wasn't sure what the emperor saw in this lot. They sounded terrified out of their wits. Why not assimilate them into Eternatus Troopers?

The naganadel shook his head. His Excellency knew what he was doing.

Whether it's rational is another thing entirely, but hey. Paradox has had a good batting average thus far, so let's see where this goes.

Enough time passed. Sticky drifted toward a control panel in the backstage wall and flicked a switch. He was too far from the rear of the auditorium to hear the projector whirr to life, but he clearly saw the screen light up. And the captives fell quiet. A good start as bright, colorful words appeared on the screen.

Paradox Pictures Presents

An Emperor Paradox Production

Written, Narrated, Produced, and Directed by Emperor Paradox

ETERNATUS AND YOU: LEARNING TO LOVE OUR BENEFACTOR

This... is a brainwashing video, isn't it?

A tiny dot appeared on screen along with a soft, gentle violin piece. "In the beginning, our universe was a singularity. Unified and in perfect harmony." Hearts and rainbows peppered the singularity on screen. "But those wonderful times sadly wouldn't last."

Oh, so Paradox/Eternatus' goal is basically an assimilation plot of the whole universe. I guess that would explain why he's so hellbent on breaking free of Etherium to keep Natus doing its thing.

The color drained from the rainbows and the hearts shattered. The singularity rippled, then an explosion filled the screen with streaks of static and bright colors. Sticky made a mental note to consider a photosensitivity warning for future iterations of this broadcast.

"A cataclysmic event shattered the singularity and flung life and matter to the furthest reaches imaginable! Our universe, it seemed, was doomed to a state of disarray and fragmentation."

I'm guessing that this universe was basically formed from a mainline world getting DPPt BAD ENDed considering those visions of the Timespace Trio gathering around Mt. Coronet like 15 chapters ago—oh wait, there were Time Gears in that sequence, huh?

Wait. So is this some fork of Guiding Light having gotten BAD ENDed then? Since it’d certainly explain a couple things about some of those other visions that were very strongly vibing after it.

Then the camera zoomed in toward purple scales. "But what's this drifting aimlessly where the singularity once sat? Could it be... a remnant of some sort?"

"It's just a big hand!" one captive crooned.

Sticky fought the urge to reveal himself and scold the heckler. The Benefactor only looked like a giant hand to the unenlightened, after all.

At first I thought that was Master Hand, but I'm guessing that's supposed to be G-Max Natus there.

"Yes, it is! Behold: Eternatus! Our universe's last hope at reunification!" On the screen, Eternatus began to slowly drift through the cosmos. "This is where you now find yourselves within. And I'm sure that sounds rather frightening."

Yeah, I figured.

A few terrified eevee walked across the screen and nodded as if the narrator addressed them directly.

"But worry not, friends. Eternatus is not something to fear." Eternatus drifted over to the eevee and pet them all. Their fluffy tails wagged in unison. "Eternatus, you see, is our Benefactor. He provides us all with a single home and unlimited energy with which we can live our best lives."

More like "best unlives", but minor details there.

In a whoosh of blurry special effects, the footage shifted to a flyover of Eterna City, showcasing all the neon buildings, holographic displays, and flying vehicles moving in organized fashion.

"Impressive, isn't it?" the narrator said. The eevee reappeared in one of the flying cars, all wearing sunglasses. One tilted them down slightly to look at the camera and nod. "Unfortunately, however, our Benefactor is suffering."

I'm snerking at these propaganda Eevee here. I wonder how many takes it took to get this scenario drawn up, since this entire sequence with them has been gold thus far.

The hovercar screeched to a halt as sinister black crystals emerged from the shadows. "Ages ago, Eternatus came to your planet to welcome it back like an old friend... only to find a vicious monster waiting for it."

Ah yes, Bahamut doing his thing and trapping Natus inside his adoptive planet.

While the eevee all puffed their fur out in terror, silhouettes of dragons appeared around the crystal creature. "That monster — worshipped blindly by the dragons of your world — sent his minions to seal our beloved Eternatus within your planet."

I... am beginning to see how Paradox managed to talk everyone onboard with this cheesy propaganda video. Since sheltered, naive upper-class twits meeting information that feeds into confirmation bias about 'mons they don't particularly like... .-.

That earned reactions from the crowd. Sticky dared not peer out from behind the curtain, but there were scattered mentions of things like World Ender, Prince Shimmer, and... a dreepy?

... Right. Cassius had informed Paradox of some sort of dragon exchange student, but the records given by Guile Hideout suggested she wasn't among the captives. Neither was the ponyta prince.

This is a really bad omen for where things are going to go with these guys.

Back on screen, the eevee stood beside their destroyed car, shivering in terror.

"To make matters worse, your people have magnified our suffering by stealing our Benefactor's energy and claiming it as your own." Giant straws emerged from the ground around the eevee, who all scattered in a panic. "Do you want to know what's in the 'ether' you boast of using to power your land?

Given that Ether is basically "Mako, but somehow worse", my money's on Eternatus' lifeblood.

"Yes, that's right: our citizens." Straws captured two of the eevee and sucked them off screen. "And the souls of those who have passed away here." Straws sucked up the remaining eevee, leaving the streets empty.

... Wow, that was somehow even worse than what I was expecting.

"So, what does this mean for you?" the narrator asked as a giant hand pointed its index finger out at the auditorium. "Well, we're not interested in revenge, if that's what you're afraid of. Oh no..."

The camera pulled back toward a building rooftop with an array of different pokémon looking into it. "All we ask is that you consider the wrongs your people have committed... and join us in helping Eternatus claim his freedom. Help us make a better future... for everyone."

I like how nobody's questioning anything they've heard from this video thus far. Though I suppose that if it runs off the same bad juju as Starlene's music... it might not occur to them to question things.

With the rooftop crowd smiling and waving at the camera a large THE END scrawled across the screen, followed by rapidly moving credits listing Emperor Paradox under everything... including the "special thanks" section at the end.

The screen shut off and the projector rolled back into the ceiling, signaling Sticky's cue. "And now, please welcome our beloved leader: Emperor Paradox!" The naganadel threw another switch on the control panel and spotlights shined on the middle of the stage, where the deoxys had appeared in a flash of light. A dramatic orchestral piece carried through the auditorium speakers.

"Laaaa laaaaa la la la la la la la la laaaaa laaaaa!"

Huh. I didn't realize that's what Emperor Nefarious sounded like. I wonder what the story is behind him sounding so different from the vanilla Doctor in R&C.

Paradox confidently strode toward the front of the stage.

"So here you are.
A step from the top.
A better life
Your kingdom has not.
Our lengthy story to achieve success
Is a tiring affair
So I've one request..."

Wow, it actually works with the melody of Emperor Nefarious' song. How long did it take you to make everything fit just right anyways?

Paradox dropped to one knee and extended his right tentacles like he was ready to propose to the audience.

"Join me at the top
Why don't you?
Join me
Where the worlds align."

The deoxys stood up.

"Yes, join me at top.
Why won't you?
Join me
And let our powers combine!"

Okay, I'm beginning to understand how the kids wind up making cause with Paradox, since this song is "Death to Squishies"-tier in terms of catchiness.

He kicked his triangular legs out.

"I'll even dance and sing a ditty!
So, join me.
While I extend you pity.
Cause there's one bit I forgot."

Sticky threw the final switch and the Eterna Empire's sigil appeared behind Paradox. He gestured behind him.

"We're everything you're not!"

... So wait, is there also some sort of Epic Fail version of Paradox in another universe that's terrible at singing like vanilla Dr. Nefarious is? Because given how hard Paradox mainlines Emperor Nefarious here and it being established that PoV's in a multiverse within the past couple chapters...

The naganadel flew out onstage. "Ha!"

"Aha!" Paradox clapped. "Pretty good, eh?"

"It's wonderful, sir!" Sticky chirped, remembering the script Paradox gave him earlier.

"Then shall I continue?"

- Cue the entire class of Horizon Gardens bopping along with the music in the background -
Sticky: "Yeah, sounds like as good a time as any, really." ^^

"Of course!"

Paradox folded his tentacles behind his back and paced at the front of the stage. "Forget about your worthless cities.
Streets littered with panic and frenzied screams.
You've all struck great fortune now that you're here!"

Well that got dark fast, but given how the average Radiant noble's attitude towards commoners is downright sociopathic... I would be wholly unsurprised that this wasn't at least a net wash in terms of sentiment for the audience.

Paradox gestured to the gemstone in his chest.

"Guided by your flawless emperor right heeeere."

He again dropped to one knee.

You really need to make a commission of this scene at one point, since it's absolutely hilarious to play out mentally.

"Join me at the top.
Why don't you?
Join me
Where the worlds align."

Paradox stood up and stomped his right foot down.

"Since I will never stop.
No I won't!
So join me.
Go on, fall in line!

... I just realized that Sticky is Paradox's Lawrence in this story, just with less passive-aggressive snark. Now I'm really curious as to if there's an AU where Paradox and Sticky have more stock R&C personalities, since I can already tell that they'd be even more of a riot than these two.

Sticky: "(My Emperor, was the song supposed to take on a threatening undertone right there?)" ^^;
Paradox: "(Yes, now quiet, Sticky.)"

"You've sat and listened to my reason
To stop your kingdom's power seizing
So join me at this spot
Because we're everything you're not!"

Paradox looked at Sticky. "Who are we?"

"Evolved greatness!"

He pointed out to the audience. "And who are they?"

Sticky frowned. "Oof, I'm not going to say it."

Cue the chorus of annoyed if somewhat muted 'Hey!'s in the audience.

Paradox stomped his right food down again. "They're no good without me!"

"Right!"

"How dare they ever doubt me!"

"Yes!"

"Take the final chorus and seal the case!"

I kinda wonder given that this song and dance has been going on for a while if there ought to have been more body language described during this back and forth bit with Sticky, and more of a glimpse of how the audience is reacting, especially if their reactions have some funny moments here and there.

Sticky nodded vigorously. "They'll join you at the top!"

"Yes they will!"

Goodness, Sticky thought his singing voice awful. "They'll join you where the worlds align!"

"And boy I'm so freaking hot!"

Sticky laughed nervously. "You're scalding."

... Wait, I might need to walk that 'Sticky is Lawrence' back given that he's filling in for Dr. Nefarious down to the terribad singing talent. There's a story to be told there if that's what he really is role-wise, though.

Paradox pointed back to the audience. "I should burn them up!"

Sticky shook his head. "But you will not!"

Paradox nodded. "It makes me oh so glad."

"And magnanimous!" Sticky flew right beside Paradox.

"To serve a cause so rad!"

Okay, it's official. I need to buy and play Rift Apart at some point.

"Great Eternatus!" Sticky slung his arm over Paradox's shoulder.

The deoxys looked back out at the crowd. "So, join me in my plot!"

"Because..." He glanced at Paradox and they proceeded to the final line in unison.

"We're everything you're nooooooot!"

"Eternatus on top!" Sticky added, raising his free arm in celebration.

Paradox: "So? How'd it go? You all love it, I can already tell. Because of course you'd love my singing talent." ^^

"Ah, that was even more delightful than when I wrote it out." Paradox's tentacles coiled into hands for him to clap approvingly. "Lights, please." He snapped his right fingers and the auditorium lights finally came on... to reveal a barraskewda charging right for the deoxys!

Paradox: "Tch, there's always an uncultured type in groups like these."

"Sir!" Sticky aimed his needles forward, but Paradox was on top of it. He held up his right hand and Barraskewda suddenly stopped. The weird metal backpack on his torso compressed around his body.

"What's this?" Paradox tilted his head. "Were you... trying to attack me? And after I rolled out the figurative red carpet for you and your precious students?"

Cue Vicenzo blurting out his involvement with producing Ether and then dying in painful, horrible fashion in about 10 seconds.

Barraskewda struggled in the emperor's psychic grip, but managed a defiant glare. "Send us... home."

The deoxys sighed. "A pity. I really tried being reasonable." He stepped toward Barraskewda. "But I suppose I shouldn't have expected much from your ilk."

... Wait, how are the students reacting to all of this right now anyways?

Sticky thought he knew what was coming when Paradox unfurled his blue and orange tentacles unfurled and grabbed hold of Barraskewda. But, no, the deoxys didn't turn Barraskewda into an unown. Instead, his scales pulsated. Brown, crusty masses sprouted up all over his torso, inside his mouth, and across his tail.

The naganadel briefly saw the pain and panic in Barraskewda's eyes before those, too, were crusted over with bloody scar tissue.

Well that went places fast.

"Minister!" A sirfetch'd raised his leek. "What did you do to him?"

"Riddled his body with cancer, of course." Paradox stepped forward once again and released his grip on Barraskewda, who dropped to the carpeted ground in front of the stage, twitching. "His heart should stop beating right around..."

Barraskewda went still.

Though Paradox can do that?

"... now." Paradox hovered into the air, his tentacles rippling at his sides. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I'm Deoxys Paradox, emperor of Eternatus. I am a pokémon like you... but one forged from a mutated virus."

Ah, so you're rolling with that take of Deoxys for this story.

His right tentacles coiled into an arm that he thumped against his chest. "For organic pokémon, cells are your building blocks. Viruses rewrite your DNA to mutate your cells. Which means that I am the essence of evolution itself!"

"You sound like an absolute nutter!" a weavile spat.

And sounds like someone's going to be an ex-Weavile shortly.

I suppose you're entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it is," Paradox said, chuckling into his hand. "It doesn't change your situation. Your planet has oppressed Eternatus and His people long enough. We will not sit idly by while you turn us into electricity for your filthy cities."

"It's not like any of us are responsible for that!" a luxray growled.

Sticky: "No, no. You kinda are given that you're next in line to run Etherium's government and institutions after your parents die off and presumably have an ability to influence their decision making."

Luxray: "B-But we haven't run anything yet!"

"Really now?" Paradox folded his tentacles behind his back. "Show of hands, class, how many of you have parents or siblings with important positions in your school chancellor's company?"

At first no one responded. Then an aromatisse's hand shot up, followed by the right leg of the dodrio standing next to her. Soon there were at least a dozen hesitant limbs raised.

... How is that Dodrio still standing in that pose anyways? Or is it doing that while seated?

"Top marks for honesty," Paradox said. He landed back on the edge of the stage. "So then, your choice is simple. Join the Eterna Empire willingly and help Eternatus reunite our universe. Or resist us... and suffer the same fate as your minister."

... Well that would explain a lot about how Artie saw them joining cause with Paradox there.

Sticky tensed. Barraskewda's tumor-ridden body pulsated with sickly purple energy. Light streamed out of his body, leaving behind a dark husk that quickly became shrouded in shadows. The newly formed Phantom screeched and lunged toward a bug-eyed sylveon. Paradox blasted it with a pink beam and it exploded in a burst of black smoke.

... Oh right, that happens when you die down here. .-.

The students all shared panicked expressions and muttered amongst one another. While they did, Sticky's fanny pack buzzed. The naganadel back away from the emperor, whispering an apology. He produced his uPhone and clicked the green button on screen to accept the call. "Sticky here."

"Finally! We've been calling for the last five minutes!" a frenzied voice cried. "The resistance has hijacked the propaganda blimp by the Paradox Day Spa. They spilled the beans on the uPhone project and are linking the emperor to the rifts!"

Sticky: "(Could you have picked a worse time to bring this up right now?! And you haven't shot the blimp out of the sky five minutes ago why?!)" >_>;
Phone Trooper: "... Because then I'd have to explain why we shot a blimp out of the sky? They're not exactly cheap, you know."

Sticky stiffened. That was bad. Like, the emperor would assimilate poipole out of anger bad. "What are our Troopers doing?" he whispered.

"The rebel Gene has new allies. Strong allies. They can't get to the blimp. You have to do something!"

Sticky: "(Dammit, of all the times to put off rolling out those vehicle killswitches.)" >.<

"Hang on." Sticky hovered forward, where Paradox was watching Sirfetch'd argue with a sylveon.

"... seriously considering this?!"

"I am!" Sylveon stepped toward the stage. "And I suggest everyone else does the same. I'm not getting turned into some ugly monster!"

And of course Xander would be a complete, spineless POS like this.

"Your Excellency?" Sticky tapped Paradox on the shoulder. "The resistance hijacked one of your propaganda blimps."

"What?" Paradox turned, barely staying composed. Sticky hastily relayed what the poipole analyst on the other end of the line told him. The deoxys' tentacles curled and uncurled. Then he grabbed the uPhone from Sticky's hands.

"S-Sir?"

Sticky: "(I-I'm beginning to get the distinct sense that I should get out of dodge quickly right about now.)"

"Ready the Seekerskorch," he hissed into the phone. "A pilot? Yes, I actually have the perfect one in mind. Just prepare the device." The deoxys hung up and shoved the uPhone into Sticky's chest.

"Oomph!" The naganadel opted not to question Paradox's decision. Because he likely knew the pilot Paradox had in mind: a certain type: full who was itching to prove himself.

Oh, so we're going to see W1DG3T's first deployment, huh?

"Once the sylveon stepped forward, most of the rest of the class joined him," Artemis explained. "There was a sirfetch'd and a weavile who resisted. The emperor decided to have some Troopers arrest them."

I'm... guessing that that's the end of Robin in that case, since that definitely isn't a good omen for his life expectancy.

Gene weaved around three midair Dark Pulses and sliced the nearest Gunner with his spoon. The unown pilot yelped as he tumbled out of his mechanical body. Gene then flung the empty robot into the other two Gunners, who blew apart in a flurry of pink and blue sparks.

"Anything else?" the mewtwo asked.

"No. The emperor teleported away. I've got the drone back," Artemis responded.

Artemis: "So... uh... are we going to rescue those two? Or...? Since I'm pretty sure that they're going to get cancer'd to death within the hour." .-.
Gene: "Look, bring it up sometime when I don't have my hands full!" >_>;

"Then lay low. We'll pick you up shortly." Gene took a moment to scan for Jade and Quetzal's auras. Fortunately, they were close together in the ruined spa. Unfortunately, Brawlers swarmed them from all sides.

"Hey!" Jade blasted one Brawler into several others. "Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to hit a lady?! I wanna speak to your supervisor!"

... And you've just been leaving those two to fend for themselves in this mission that had less than 30 minutes of planning why, Gene?

"Eternatus Troopers do not discriminate on the basis of species or gender!" a Brawler countered. "We are equal opportunity subjugators!" He wound an electrified mace up and launched it at Jade.

"Ahh!" The salugia took the mace directly to her face... and her body melted into a purple puddle. Gene froze in the midst of readying a Fire Blast.

"The hell?"

Did. Did Jade just die?

Like on one level, it'd be really shocking given that she's been around for less than 10 chapters, but...

The puddle hastily reformed into Jade, who looked around in confusion. "Huh? What happened? Why's everyone looking at me funny?"

"She's cheating!" the Brawler that attacked Jade shouted. "I'll have to punch her harder!"

Oh, well nevermind then. Even if I'm not sure what on earth just happened.

An orange streak rushed by, knocking the Brawlers back and destroying them in a flurry of loud kicks. Quetzal skidded to a halt beside Jade. "You turned into liquid poison," he squawked.

Jade blinked. "I did what?"

"You didn't intend to do that?!" Quetzal's feathers puffed out.

"No!" Jade looked back at her tail. "I don't wanna be some goopy monster! I can't snuggle with Cece that way!"

Quetzal: "Jade, priorities here!" >v<;

"Save the bickering for later," Gene interrupted, pinching his brow. Startling or not, Jade's unwanted skill could prove useful. He'd have to remember it. "Our broadcast is finished, so it's time we took our leave."

"Yes! You need to get out of there right away!"

Gene: "Wait, Cyril? Is that you? Why do you suddenly sound so wound up right now?"

Gene's tail crinkled. That was Cid's voice. "Something the matter?"

"The scanners are picking up a massive Malice energy signature!" the orbeetle cried. "It was so big it shorted out Cyril's machine!"

"What?! That's impossible!" Cyril growled.

Oh, so that was Cid he was hearing. I kinda wonder if there could've been more to make that obvious since I didn't pick up on that right away.

The air above the team brightened. A loud hum reverberated in Gene's ears. The mewtwo looked up in time to see the largest Hyper Beam he had ever laid eyes on utterly decimate the propaganda blimp and bathe the surrounding buildings in blinding white light.

"****! Everyone into the rift!" Gene shouted, his Malice Crystal glowing purple as he threw open a rift on the ground. Quetzal shoved a squawking Jade through and jumped in after her. Gene quickly followed, glimpsing burning debris raining down on what remained of the day spa.

That... was W1DG3T in action, wasn't it? Though boy that kid has some punch to him if that's so. .-.

He stumbled across the rooftop Cyril and Seifer were waiting on. Neither of them acknowledged Gene's return, and the mewtwo quickly figured out why.

A gigantic mechanical mega centiskorch flew over Eterna City, blanking out what little light the purple and black sky overhead offered. It slithered and undulated away from the team's rooftop position.

Oh, well scratch that about W1DG3T. It's his toy that did that.

"Wh... what is that thing?" Quetzal stumbled backward. "It reminds me of a trance centiskorch, but they're not that big!"

"I have zero desire to be squashed by a bug," Jade said, tail flaps curling up in fright. "I'm a flying-type now. I should be doing the squashing!"

Seifer: "Um, Gene? If you could Phantom Warp right about now that'd be really nice-" O_O;
Gene: "Hang on a second, I need to see what we're dealing with here."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Cid said. "Cyril, do you have any idea what that could be?"

The zoroark stood in front of his laptop, slouched over in disbelief. "No," he muttered. "Whatever that is... I have nothing to go off of. We're flying blind."

Seifer: "All I heard was a lot of words saying 'let's Phantom Warp the hell out of here right now'-" O.O
Gene: "Chill, Horseface! We don't even know if it's safe for me to do that at the moment!"

"And it looks like it's heading away from the city." Seifer hesitantly approached the edge of the rooftop. "What do we do? What can we do?"

Everyone looked expectantly at Gene, but the mewtwo had nothing. The emperor had pulled a giant battleship out of nowhere. He wasn't about to try charging after it.

"Nothing right now," Gene said, gripping his right shoulder. The Malice Crystal pulsated weakly. "Let's get Artemis... and regroup back on Outpost R3X."

He heard no objections, so Gene raised his right hand a threw a rift open in the middle of the group.

Oh, so they are playing the "time to go" card. Smart. Even if that basically leaves like a chapter for them to do anything about Robin or that one random Weavile who are otherwise going to die painful, horrible deaths.

CDL-201B: Eternatus Gunner
The standard Eternatus Trooper model. Because every evil army needs its grunt-level soldiers, right? Their blasters are augmented through Hidden Power mechanisms, so no matter who they face in battle, they'll always fire off the most effective attacks to harm their opponents. And the blasters have some sort of security mechanism in them, since even when Boss Kitty's made off with one in the past, I haven't gotten it to fire or work. And I can't replicate the technology either.

Sure, they're not terribly powerful on their own, but when you can surround a lawbreaker with two dozen of 'em, they'll fold like a poker player in an unlucky streak.

... Wait, is that photo from Rift Apart, or from an earlier R&C game? Though so that's what they look like.

CDL-201C: Eternatus Bombardier
The physical embodiment of "death from above." These units sacrifice Hidden Power augmentation for quad-barreled blasters capable of firing off devastating attacks like Hyper Beam and its various elemental cousins without the need for recharging! It's hard for anyone to think straight when they're trying to dodge Hydro Cannons and Blast Burns raining down on them.

I hoped I could repurpose their blasters and sell them to other lawbreakers, but the recoil is far too strong for any average human or pokémon to deal with. The Bombardiers' arms must have shock absorbers in them.

Uh, yeah. I can see why Gene was freaking out after running into these guys, since that's definitely something you don't want to face down with some heavy weaponry. (Though now I'm curious if Cyril's got a prototype RYNO sitting on his workbench that's going to come out at some point.)

Path of Valor Almanac
Paradox's song is spoofing "Join Me at the Top," with music by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama, lyrics by Lauren Mee and Nick Folkman, and vocals by Robin Atkin Downes and Armin Shimmerman.

>spoofing

I mean, is it a spoof if it captures almost exactly the same vibe as the original, just adapted for the particulars of another setting? Though I for one am looking forward to the Otherworld cover at some point.

Though onto the postmortem:

Well that chapter got dark as hell. Certainly been a while since anything like that has happened on-screen and the Mood Whiplash was out in force, even if everything wound up shaking out in a fairly believable fashion for the various characters involved. Though boy was that a suspenseful note to end on, since if anything goes wrong with that attempt to extract Artie and maybe Robin (and the rando Weavile, I guess), there's going to be a body (or more properly, Phantom) count from Operation Follow Me on the heroes' side.

As for things that could've been a bit better, while the propaganda movie sequence and cover of Join Me at the Top were funny and peak PoV, I did wonder if a couple bits of it were a bit "wall-of-dialogue"-y and would've worked with more description. Also, the audience almost completely vanished from view during the entire thing when checking up on them here and there would've both acknowledged their existence and better given the audience an idea of how they were parsing everything that was playing out. You also had a couple stray typos here and there. Nothing major, but still stuff you want to smooth out.

Though altogether, this was definitely a wilder ride than I was expecting for a chapter @Ambyssin , and it managed to make me at once

and

harder than most other chapters of this story have up to this point. Congrats, and we'll see where things shake out from here in about 12 hours.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 50: Overseer and Out​

Your flagrant disregard for our protocols cannot go unpunished.

Between letting you live undisturbed in your home dimension for numerous generations of descendants, tending to your type: full compatriot's desire to join his mate in the afterlife, and fixing the countless space-time anomalies your reckless actions generated, we have more than accommodated your wishes.

So, you must understand your actions come as an egregious betrayal of trust. You have served as an Overseer long enough to understand our policies. POV-2020 is far too dangerous. The focus must be on containment until we either figure out how to safely extract the stranded agent or she escapes of her own volition.

Cast aside whatever foolish sentiments you have over POV-2020 and focus on your assignments. You are not an explorer anymore. You have not been one for eons.

Consider this a notice of probation. We will monitor your every action and movement for as long as we feel is necessary.

XxX​

Yuna was initially skeptical over the monks' claims they grew meat in a garden like it was some sort of plant. The sandwiches she had for dinner, however, put that skepticism to rest. At first, the drakloak wondered why sandwiches, in particular, but a couple of monks mentioned they were Koraidon's favorite thing to eat. Yuna wasn't complaining, even though the monks all responded "Yes," when she asked what Koraidon's favorite sandwich was.

It all reminded her of home. Of evenings long past where she lay in her mother's horn while the dragapult leaned over a boiling pot stirring meat and veggies around as a stew boiled on a stovetop.

A yawning Leo asked Yuna if he could get some fresh air, so the drakloak led him out of the metal-walled dining room and out onto the rocky plateau. The cosmic arceus walked up to a mound of dirt and sat down on it, gazing up at the aurora that rippled out between the planet's three moons. A pretty sight, compared to Aeon's ash-choked sky.

"Are you upset, Mom?"

Leo's question caught Yuna off guard. "No?" There wasn't anything for her to be upset over right now.

"About the anomalies." The cosmic arceus looked over his shoulder. "You feel... sad. And I don't want you to be sad."

Yuna winced. Leo could float, so she should've expected he'd have other psychic powers. "Well, um..." She rubbed her right shoulder. "It's not the best news to hear, yeah. But sometimes, like, adults have to do things even when they don't want to."

"Oh." Leo's starcloud mane dimmed. "That sounds bad."

It was. And, for a moment, Yuna was tempted to say that. Instead, she focused on her Soul Dew and a tiny Reshiram materialized at the base of the dirt mound so Yuna could give him a disapproving look.

"It's important, Leo." The drakloak kept her tone as soft as possible. "And you shouldn't have to deal with it on your own."

"But I have Mr. Alder and the monks!" Leo's wheel glowed dimly. "They can help me while you look for your Needle thingies!"

Yuna bit her lip. Although Leo's maturity impressed her, it wasn't so simple. "Leo, you heard Koraidon, right? The monks... don't actually battle. Only Archie and Maxie do." The drakloak shook her head. "It's not safe for you to stay with them while looking for anomalies."

Leo looked down. He poked the dirt with a forehoof. "Right."

Sighing, Yuna floated next to him and gently rubbed his shoulders. "I appreciate you wanting to make things better for me, but I don't think this is something I can avoid." She glanced at Reshiram. "Besides, the state of the Needles won't matter if the omniverse collapses on itself, right?"

"Yeah." Reshiram bobbed his head. His fluffy hair fluttered in the evening breeze. "It's why I didn't say anything. Because it's the truth."

Yuna squinted. "But your truth is that you want to help the other Sages."

Shuffling in place, Reshiram looked down guiltily. "Can you blame me? After what happened to Lugia, I'm afraid for the others." He took a deep breath. "But it won't mean much if Leo doesn't seal the anomalies, will it? We could rescue them from the Needles... but also not rescue them if the omniverse collapses."

He clasped locks of white hair in his claws and tugged. "Ugh, it's so confusing. Why can't the Needles and the anomalies be linked together? We found the first one on Outpost R3X after you yanked the nearby Needle. Maybe that's the key?"

"Then why did nothing happen when I pulled the other two Needles?" Yuna pointed out.

"Because of, y'know, whatever happened out in Venish?" Reshiram was grasping at straws. They both knew it.

... Yet Yuna couldn't deny it sounded plausible. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.

"Well, Koraidon and Alder said they'd put their heads together and give us a next step." The drakloak lay down on the ground, looking up at the closest and largest of Chakran's moons as it bathed the night sky in faint purple. "So, it's not worth trying to plan for anything."

Reshiram voiced no objections. Silence overtook the trio, save for Leo shuffling closer to Yuna. Though the cosmic arceus tried to lie on his side, the best he could do was digging his wheel slightly into the ground, leaving him several centimeters off the ground with his legs dangling.

Yuna stifled a giggle. Was this what it was like for her mother when she was a hatchling?

"So, this is where you ran off to."

The drakloak tilted her head slightly and saw Nikki approaching with her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets.

"I wouldn't fall asleep out here if I were you." The toxtricity smirked. "Air's pretty dusty here. Can't be good for the little guy." She tilted her head in Leo's direction.

The cosmic arceus sniffed the air. "Oh, is this what dusty smells like? I thought it was a stinky smell." His starcloud tail wagged a bit. "Like your funny jacket!"

"What?!" Nikki's mohawk crackled. "My jacket's not—" Her nostrils twitched. Nikki pulled her right arm out of its sleeve and pulled her jacket back to take a big whiff of it. Scowling, she pulled it back on. "That's just sweat from the impromptu workout. Nothing wrong with it!"

"It's still stinky," Leo chirped. "But I guess poison-types don't mind stinky, huh?"

Nikki cracked her knuckles. "Oi, Princess, tell Squirt to treat us adults with a bit of respect!"

"Um, treat Nikki with respect, Leo," Yuna said, though she knew it wasn't convincing.

"Okay." Leo tapped a forehoof in the dirt. "Sorry I called you stinky."

The toxtricity pinched her brow. "We have to take him with us, don't we?"

"Yes?" Yuna frowned. What sort of question was that?

"What's got your butt chafed?" Reshiram asked. "You seemed like you enjoyed your dinner."

"Pfbt." Nikki flicked her right wrist dismissively. "It was a sandwich. Do you have any idea how many sandwiches I've made in my lifetime?"

Reshiram stroked his chin. "I'm going to guess... a four-digit number."

"I—" Nikki abruptly went silent. She pivoted, muttering, "Stupid truth dragon."

Reshiram puffed his chest out while Leo giggled his approval.

"I guess it was a decent sandwich," Nikki admitted, tugging at her jacket collar. "Usually I just make peanut butter and jelly. Cheap and ready in seconds." The toxtricity scratched her chin. "I don't know whether to be impressed or concerned about how... into sandwich making Koraidon got."

Yuna shrugged. "Is it any weirder than your obsession with your jackets?"

"Totally!" Nikki huffed. "Collecting cool jackets is a genuine thing! Sandwiches are sandwiches!"

"I can't believe you're even having this conversation," Reshiram said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Though maybe it is a welcome reprieve from the more serious subject matter." He twiddled his hair. "Zekky would preach the importance of taking time to appreciate the little things. 'Stop and smell the strawberries!'" Reshiram pretended to sniff at the air... only to break down into a coughing fit.

"Gah!" He threw his wings over his snout. "Dust! In my nose!"

"Zekky?" Smirking, Nikki raised a brow. "Does Jade know you have a pet name for someone else?"

Reshiram's face reddened. "I-It's not a pet name! Zekky's my counterpart, the Sage of Ideals! That's all!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

A content sigh escaped Yuna. As silly as it was, this made the trip to Chakran feel more like a vacation and less like some sort of important mission.

Too bad it couldn't last. The drakloak kept glancing toward the tall metal building, expecting to see a shadow emerge from it and beckon them back.

"Was there something you wanted from us, Nikki?" Reshiram asked. Yuna kept looking at the building, but no one popped up. The drakloak was hesitant to lower her guard at all.

"Not really," Nikki replied. "You already got the good news about our mega evolutions. If we get into trouble again, I'll really be able to pack a punch."

"Hopefully that won't be necessary, but I'm sure Gene will be happy at least," Yuna said, scratching the side of her rectangular head.

"Ah, there you lot are!"

The drakloak flinched, then sighed at Archie's booming voice. The samurott bounded toward them, waving one of his jagged seamitars around.

"You'd better get inside to Brother Kora! Something wild's happening!"

Yuna resisted the urge to facepalm. It really was too much to ask for a quiet evening.

XxX​

When dinner finished, Noctum offered to help the monks wash their dishes. Although they had large sinks comparable to the kitchens at Horizon Academy, they didn't use the automated soap dispensers or electric power washers, opting to do everything by hand with soap and washcloths. In some ways, Noctum found it therapeutic after the day's exhaustive events. The warm, sudsy water was nice against his dry, black scales.

But with a dozen monks at the charizard's side, dishwashing didn't take more than ten minutes. Noctum returned to the dining room to find it empty. His first instinct was to go find Yuna and see how the drakloak was doing, but he had no idea where she went. Figuring she went outside, Noctum lumbered through the metal hallway until he was outside the repurposed observatory, where he found Valkyrie crouched atop a rock several meters to his left.

Noctum hesitated, figuring the garchomp wanted nothing to do with him right now. Still, his curiosity got the better of him and he slowly approached. "Hey," the charizard said. Valkyrie didn't respond, but by that logic she wasn't shooing him away, so he continued forward until he was beside Valkyrie. "I, uh—" He stopped, scratching the back of his head.

"If you're here to apologize, don't."

He winced. I guess I was considering it. After all, Noctum had lost it. If Maxie hadn't intervened, he would have seriously hurt her. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." Valkyrie avoided looking at Noctum. "Only my pride that's hurt."

Noctum looked down. "I see. Because of what I said?"

"No, idiot." Valkyrie traced her right claw along the rock. "Do you have any idea how hard I've trained under the Ryujin? I had to be ready for anything, after all." She finally looked at him. "So imagine my surprise when, after all the training I've gone through, I get beaten to the mega evolution punch by a butler."

"Ah." Noctum rubbed his shoulder. "Well, uh, you weren't that far behind. Aha ha... ha..."

Valkyrie scooped up some dirt in her right arm and threw it at Noctum. The black charizard raised his arms. "Okay, yeah, I deserved that." He laughed nervously.

"Make whatever bad jokes you want," Valkyrie growled. "It's not going to win me over."

The black charizard shuffled uneasily. "You're right. I had no idea you'd gone through such ordeals. You have every right to be upset."

Valkyrie continued looking out across the mesa. "All throughout dinner, I kept asking myself if you were right."

"About?"

"Wanting what you have," Valkyrie replied. She crossed one leg over the other and braced her arms on either side of her. "If I had found some warm, loving nobles to take me in and treat me like family to some degree, would I be a different person? Brighter? More approachable?"

Noctum wasn't sure whether to answer. He shrugged, knowing Valkyrie wasn't watching, and said nothing.

"Heh." Valkyrie huffed out violet embers. "You kept your trap shut for once. Maybe you are learning."

The black charizard's violet flame dimmed a bit. Did Valkyrie even know how to give genuine compliments?

"Sorry." The garchomp sighed. "Didn't mean for that to sound so backhanded." Vakyrie shook her head, like she was berating herself. "Been a long day. Surprised how beat I am." She held her right arm up and turned it back and forth. "I guess... there's a drawback to mega evolving. The fatigue that follows might make it hard on us."

Noctum looked down and traced a claw around his Malice Crystal. His fatigue was more mental than physical, but he thought it best not to dispute Valkyrie. "Meaning, what?"

"Gotta be judicious with mega evolving." Valkyrie got to her feet, grunting. "Can't just use it every fight."

The two shared a knowing look. "So, we have to keep an eye on Nikki?" Noctum said.

"Maybe." Valkyrie smirked. "Unless you've got a thing for shoulder spikes and blue flames in your mouth all the time." She walked toward him, shrugging. "Seriously. How do you even manage to speak like that? Wouldn't you just douse someone in fire?"

"I figure it's like haxorus' cheeks." Noctum held his hands on either side of his jaw and wiggled his fingers. "They can use those blades to attack, but they can get on fine without 'em."

"Maybe." Valkyrie's brow furrowed. "If some magical being like Bahamut really did create life on Etherium, what were they thinking giving haxorus a giant axe face?"

"The same thing they were thinking when they gave garchomp bladed arms?" Noctum mused.

"I guess Bahamut has a secret spike fetish," Valkyrie said with a snorting laugh. She reached the black charizard's side and crossed her arms.

"Thanks," she said. "For coming to check on me."

Noctum's tail flame brightened. "You're wel—"

"Don't make a big deal of it," Valkyrie growled, jabbing Noctum's Malice Crystal with her claw. "You're still a total dweeb. Just not an insufferable one."

"O-Okay." Noctum nodded politely. Baby steps, I s'pose.

"I'm hitting the hay." The garchomp yawned into her right arm. "I suggest you do the same. That dumb cat could swing by to rope us into something at any moment."

Noctum briefly thought about Gene and the others back in Eternatus. Was everything okay? Hopefully, seeing as no one had reached out to them.

"Ah, good. It wasn't hard to find you at all."

Maxie approached the duo, adjusting his goggles. "I suggest you follow me inside."

Valkyrie raised a brow. "You showing us to the sleeping quarters? I'm bushed."

"No." The typhlosion's purple flames flickered around his neck. "It's Brother Kora. I believe he's... made contact with someone beyond this dimension."

XxX​

Yuna hardly had time to process Koraidon's... bizarre color change when Noctum and Valkyrie burst through the door into the study.

"What the hell?" Valkyrie walked forward, arms at her sides. "What's with the white, orange, and neon purple dye job? Can he mega evolve?"

"There is an extra set of purple horns," Noctum said, scratching his chin. "But even Nikki's mega evolution looks more impressive."

"Hey, screw you!" Nikki growled. "I happen to think that color scheme's pretty boss. He's even got, like, speaker level bars around his big ol' wheel thingy." She cupped her hands in front of her chest gills.

"Dewlap," Leo reminded her.

"Whatever." Nikki rolled her eyes. "Everyone's here, so give us the dumb, monkish explanation already."

"Easy, ladies." Koraidon raised his hands and flashed a toothy grin at Nikki and Yuna. To the drakloak's surprise, his fangs glistened. And did he sound... higher pitched than before? "No need to fight over yours truly. Even if I'm only here in spirit."

Leo tilted his starcloud head. "You're... not Mr. Brother Kora, are you?"

"Hot dang, the kid's the quickest one of the bunch." Not-Koraidon laughed into his right hand. "Guess that tracks. Wouldn't be a mystery dungeon-filled calamity if there wasn't a child stuck in the middle of it."

Nikki's knuckles and mane crackled. "I suggest you start talking or I'm liable to punch that pretty boy face of yours."

Not-Koraidon shook his head. "Sheesh, tough crowd." He took a deep breath. "Junior Overseer Koraidon Vincent, at your service." He thumped his dewlap. "I'm, uh, 'borrowing' my counterpart so I can talk to you guys."

Yuna's brow furrowed in thought. That name sounded awfully familiar.

"I see that look in your eyes, Drakloak." Vincent cupped his hands around his eyes, pantomiming goggles. "Lemme guess, you know another Vincent?"

"We do, yeah. An inteleon. Smug jackass," Nikki said, jogging Yuna's memory of the unpleasant lunch Shimmer dragged her to back at Horizon Academy. "You about to tell us that was a disguise?"

"What? No way." Vincent scratched his chin. "I like my guys with a bit more meat on their bones. Like ninetales!"

"Uh-huh." Nikki didn't sound convinced. Yuna's tail crinkled. She thought Vincent was talking about eating, and there certainly weren't any ferals among the group.

"If it's easier, you can call me Vince. Or Vin. Just not Vinnie!"

"N-Now hang on a sec." Noctum waved his arms around to get Vince's attention. "Did you... hijack Brother Kora's body?!"

"What? Noooo! 'Hijack' sounds so uncool." Vince ran his right hand through his white, feathery mane. "It's more like... he's sharing it." He turned to Alder. "You get it, right! When you probe Ginnungagap—"

"Ginnuwhosap?" Leo tilted his head. "Did you sneeze? Should we look for a tissue?"

"Ginnungagap, the cosmic mystery dungeon," Vince elaborated. "It's got a bunch of different names, but it represents the space between dimensions. It's the fabric of reality itself. And it's punching holes into your universe. Which is why I've been a-knocking on your back door for a while, now."

Nikki's sniggers filled the room. Yuna shot the toxtricity a confused look. "I'll tell you later," Nikki said, waving her off.

Alder cleared his throat. "Is this like... how I found Leo and the anomaly on Bogdan?"

"You betcha." Vince snapped his fingers in approval. "I sensed Koraidon's meditation and made contact. Now, I'm borrowing his energy to manifest here." He grinned. "Trust me, it's as cool as it sounds."

Yuna still thought it sounded like bodysnatching, but given she currently housed two big dragons of her own, she wasn't about to play semantics with this newcomer. It was the other stuff that had her attention.

"So, you're an Overseer?" The drakloak crossed her arms. "The group that abandoned this place?" If she remembered Koraidon's explanation correctly, she wasn't keen on trusting this apparent newcomer.

"Ah. You, uh, know about that, huh?" Vince laughed nervously. "That was before my time. And way above my paygrade. It's why I'm here!" He spread his arms out. "Those old idiots thought sealing this dimension off would keep everyone safe, but they're wrong." The purple and white koraidon glanced around nervously. "And, uh, we gotta talk fast. I don't know how much more time I can spend here before Big S gets wind of what I'm doing."

Yuna frowned. "Big S?"

"My boss. Big, bright fella!" Vincent locked eyes with Yuna. "You might recognize the type." He held his index finger up. It sparked with purple energy and the purple and white koraidon traced a familiar eight-pointed star in the air.

"Bahamut?!" Noctum blurted out.

"If that's what you call those big ol' crystal lugs here." Vince waved his hands and the drawing disappeared. "I, uh, might've already gotten Big S torn a new asshole trying to circumvent policy. Which is bad cuz, y'know, their asses are made of light, so—"

Valkyrie stomped toward him. "So, you're making up for that... by doubling down on going behind everyone's backs?" She raised a claw at him. "Do all you so-called Overseers have the common sense of feral magikarp?"

"Oh-ho, ouch!" Vince cringed. "Guess I don't need to be psychic to tell who the resident edgelord is here." He gave Valkyrie a thumbs up. "Way to play up the species stereotypes."

"... I'm taking his head off his shoulders," Valkyrie growled, blue-purple dragon energy gathering around her claws.

"W-wait, wait!" Alder shot between the garchomp and purple koraidon. "That's still our Kora!"

Valkyrie froze in front of the braviary, then slowly lowered her arms. "He's got sixty seconds to say something useful."

While Yuna didn't approve of Valkyrie's death threats, she had to admit she was skeptical of this, too. "You have to look it from our vantage point." The drakloak gestured to the group. "We've already had a lot of craziness shoved down our throats. I have magical Needles I'm looking to pull out of the ground and dimensional anomalies to track down. If you need something done, find someone else or do it yourself."

"Ah, but that's it!" Vince pointed at Yuna. "What if I told you there's a way to deal with both those problems in one fell swoop?"

"I'd say stop beating around the bush and tell us," Nikki scoffed.

"Forty-five seconds," Valkyrie added.

"Man, this is good. Do we have any popcorn?" Archie whispered, to which Maxie shoved the samurott away.

"All you need to do is reassemble the Red Chain," Vince explained. "It's literally a red freaking chain. But it has the power to fix all the dimensional instabilities, including Eternatus!" He grinned broadly. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

Silence greeted Vince's explanation. "Sounds too good to be true," Valkyrie said, shaking her head. "Why should we believe you? Especially if you're part of a group that abandoned this world in the first place!"

"Because I'm sticking my neck out, here." Vince gave them puppy dog eyes. "D'ya know what'll happen if Big S finds out what I'm doing? The higher ups could unmake me with a snap!"

"Big deal." Nikki rolled her eyes. "We've been staring death in the face for a while now."

"No, this is worse than death." Vince's expression finally sharpened. "The higher ups could make it so that I never existed in the first place. Not a soul would even remember me."

Nikki yawned into her hand. "Sounds fake to me. I say we let Chompy kick his teeth in."

"Best idea I've heard all night," Valkyrie said, licking her lips eagerly.

"Wait!" Leo hopped onto Yuna's head. The drakloak flinched. "I... think we should listen to him. He sounds sincere to me."

"Leo." Yuna frowned. She didn't want to chastise him for being too trusting but the cosmic arceus was just a kid. And this was a bit too important to simply leave to blind faith.

"When he mentioned a Red Chain, I... felt something funny in my belly," Leo admitted, gently tapping his forehooves on Yuna's head. "Like it's something I'm supposed to know all about, but don't."

"You cannot be serious." Nikki facepalmed. "No way there's a freaking chain that can fix space and time. That sounds so... stupid!"

"No more stupid than using giant needles to seal away a planet-sized monster shaped like a hand, am I right?" Vince smirked when silence fell over the group.

"Okay, maybe that dolt does know a thing or two," Nikki muttered.

"Ha, yes!" Vince triumphantly fist-pumped, then immediately winced. His whites and purples flickered like static. "****! I'm running out of time here." He looked around frantically. "Okay, look. If you want to fix this whole Needle and anomaly issue, then you need to go Centropolis on Quasar Prime."

Yuna raised a brow. "And that's... inside Eternatus?"

Vince nodded. "Once there, find the branch office of the Devon Corporation and look for a man named Sigurd Stone. He'll know what to do."

"Wait, but how?" Noctum's wings fluttered nervously. "If our world is sealed off, no one should know anything about this."

Vince's purple and white flickered again. "There's another Overseer there. She's been trapped in your dimension for a long time." He looked around. "That's all I can give you right now. I'll try to reach out again soon."

Yuna still had questions, but the moment Vince stopped speaking, his colors faded and Koraidon was back, balancing on his tail with his eyes shut. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

"That was... quite the out of body experience." He chuckled nervously.

The room fell into silence yet again as Yuna chewed on this. First the Needles, then the anomalies, and now Yuna was supposed to believe there was a way to handle both of those issues... without chasing them directly?

It sounded too good to be true. But Leo believed Vince. And that was going to be enough to get her to go with him to this Quasar Prime place.

Another Overseer. Yuna gently lifted Leo off her head. "So, uh, what's the next step here? Do we call Gene?" Could they even call Gene?

"I, uh, think that's for the best," Noctum said, pulling an X-transceiver out of his satchel. His face lit up when it beeped to life. "Oh, hey! I think I have reception! I— hello?" His purple tail flame doubled. "Wait, Cid? Is that you? H-Hang on, slow down. What's happening to Vellguarde?!"

The black charizard shuffled nervously. "O-Okay, we'll get ready." Noctum nodded quickly. "He's already on his way? G-Got it! We'll be out in a second." He lowered the X-transceiver and looked at Koraidon.

"We, um... have to go. Like... right now." Noctum met Yuna's gaze and added, "Seems the emperor decided to attack Vellguarde. With a giant battleship. That Gene's never seen before."

The drakloak's tail crinkled. Clearly, a quiet night to prepare for Quasar Prime was off the table.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
Ginnungagap ("gaping abyss" is old Norse) is the primordial void described in the Norse creation mythos, the Gylfaginning.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I felt like trying to get caught up a bit sooner post-release this chapter, so let's just jump straight into things:

Chapter 50

Your flagrant disregard for our protocols cannot go unpunished.

Between letting you live undisturbed in your home dimension for numerous generations of descendants, tending to your type: full compatriot's desire to join his mate in the afterlife, and fixing the countless space-time anomalies your reckless actions generated, we have more than accommodated your wishes.

This... is Bahamut on the receiving end again, isn't it?

So, you must understand your actions come as an egregious betrayal of trust. You have served as an Overseer long enough to understand our policies. POV-2020 is far too dangerous. The focus must be on containment until we either figure out how to safely extract the stranded agent or she escapes of her own volition.

Cast aside whatever foolish sentiments you have over POV-2020 and focus on your assignments. You are not an explorer anymore. You have not been one for eons.

Consider this a notice of probation. We will monitor your every action and movement for as long as we feel is necessary.

... Wait a minute. This is Shane on the receiving end, isn't it?

>talking about POV-2020 from the outside looking in
>"type:full" companion with a mate
>background as an explorer

Like that's literally the note that GL left off on, just far enough along time-wise that Selene would've kicked the bucket. Can't say I ever saw something like this coming back when PoV started.

Yuna was initially skeptical over the monks' claims they grew meat in a garden like it was some sort of plant. The sandwiches she had for dinner, however, put that skepticism to rest. At first, the drakloak wondered why sandwiches, in particular, but a couple of monks mentioned they were Koraidon's favorite thing to eat. Yuna wasn't complaining, even though the monks all responded "Yes," when she asked what Koraidon's favorite sandwich was.

Wait, so cultured meat, or is said meat literally growing off a plant here?

It all reminded her of home. Of evenings long past where she lay in her mother's horn while the dragapult leaned over a boiling pot stirring meat and veggies around as a stew boiled on a stovetop.

Well, Yiazmat was definitely more hands-on than I was expecting a queen to be in terms of managing her daily life.

A yawning Leo asked Yuna if he could get some fresh air, so the drakloak led him out of the metal-walled dining room and out onto the rocky plateau. The cosmic arceus walked up to a mound of dirt and sat down on it, gazing up at the aurora that rippled out between the planet's three moons. A pretty sight, compared to Aeon's ash-choked sky.

... Wait, did Yuna ever see the moon and the stars prior to leaving the Aeon Kingdom? Since if not, boy has that got to mess with their perspective and culture something fierce. .-.

"Are you upset, Mom?"

Leo's question caught Yuna off guard. "No?" There wasn't anything for her to be upset over right now.

"About the anomalies." The cosmic arceus looked over his shoulder. "You feel... sad. And I don't want you to be sad."

Yuna: "More like stressed, since good God I am not prepared to deal with any of this right now."

Yuna winced. Leo could float, so she should've expected he'd have other psychic powers. "Well, um..." She rubbed her right shoulder. "It's not the best news to hear, yeah. But sometimes, like, adults have to do things even when they don't want to."

Oh hey, it's literally the note that Yuna starts off on as a character in FF10. Even if I don't think "screw this, I'm doing my own thing" to Alder will turn out well. ^^;

"Oh." Leo's starcloud mane dimmed. "That sounds bad."

It was. And, for a moment, Yuna was tempted to say that. Instead, she focused on her Soul Dew and a tiny Reshiram materialized at the base of the dirt mound so Yuna could give him a disapproving look.

Cecil: "H-Huh?! What did I have to do with-?!" O_O;
Yuna: "Your stunt in the Qliphoth literally tipped me off that my entire belief system I've had since childhood was a lie." >_>;
Cecil: "... Right, that's a thing. But... uh... isn't it better that you know the truth now rather than going around under misguided assumptions?" ^^;

"It's important, Leo." The drakloak kept her tone as soft as possible. "And you shouldn't have to deal with it on your own."

"But I have Mr. Alder and the monks!" Leo's wheel glowed dimly. "They can help me while you look for your Needle thingies!"

Oh, so that's why Yuna's upset right now. Guess it makes sense that her mom subconscious is kicking in about her child that's technically already died once.

Yuna bit her lip. Although Leo's maturity impressed her, it wasn't so simple. "Leo, you heard Koraidon, right? The monks... don't actually battle. Only Archie and Maxie do." The drakloak shook her head. "It's not safe for you to stay with them while looking for anomalies."

Leo looked down. He poked the dirt with a forehoof. "Right."

Yuna: "I'm not fully sure how they've been able to survive all this time when there's apparently hostile powers capable of space travel, buuuut..." >_>;

Sighing, Yuna floated next to him and gently rubbed his shoulders. "I appreciate you wanting to make things better for me, but I don't think this is something I can avoid." She glanced at Reshiram. "Besides, the state of the Needles won't matter if the omniverse collapses on itself, right?"

"Yeah." Reshiram bobbed his head. His fluffy hair fluttered in the evening breeze. "It's why I didn't say anything. Because it's the truth."

Yuna: "... Doesn't that count as lying by omission there?"

Cecil: "I mean, if you already figured out the truth on your own... no, not really?"

Yuna squinted. "But your truth is that you want to help the other Sages."

I mean, that's technically more "Jade" there from what we've seen, buuuut...

Shuffling in place, Reshiram looked down guiltily. "Can you blame me? After what happened to Lugia, I'm afraid for the others." He took a deep breath. "But it won't mean much if Leo doesn't seal the anomalies, will it? We could rescue them from the Needles... but also not rescue them if the omniverse collapses."

I am not convinced that those two things aren't directly related with one another. Like it just feels so Squaresoft/Squeenix in plot for "pulling the needles will actively destabilize POV-2020's barrier to the the rest of the multiverse".

He clasped locks of white hair in his claws and tugged. "Ugh, it's so confusing. Why can't the Needles and the anomalies be linked together? We found the first one on Outpost R3X after you yanked the nearby Needle. Maybe that's the key?"

See, I was onto something there. Cecil agrees with me.

"Then why did nothing happen when I pulled the other two Needles?" Yuna pointed out.

"Because of, y'know, whatever happened out in Venish?" Reshiram was grasping at straws. They both knew it.

... Yet Yuna couldn't deny it sounded plausible. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.

Yuna, you're in a story that takes influence from PSX FF games. "Unlikely events that come back to bite you hard" are literally part and parcel of those games' plots.

"Well, Koraidon and Alder said they'd put their heads together and give us a next step." The drakloak lay down on the ground, looking up at the closest and largest of Chakran's moons as it bathed the night sky in faint purple. "So, it's not worth trying to plan for anything."

I'm not sure how wise that assumption is, though I suppose it makes sense to not go out on a limb only for Koraidon and Alder to cut it out from under oneself.

Reshiram voiced no objections. Silence overtook the trio, save for Leo shuffling closer to Yuna. Though the cosmic arceus tried to lie on his side, the best he could do was digging his wheel slightly into the ground, leaving him several centimeters off the ground with his legs dangling.

Yuna stifled a giggle. Was this what it was like for her mother when she was a hatchling?

I mean, if you have to ask the question, Yuna... :V

Leo: "... Wait, I can get myself unstuck from this position easily, right?" ^^;

"So, this is where you ran off to."

The drakloak tilted her head slightly and saw Nikki approaching with her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets.

"I wouldn't fall asleep out here if I were you." The toxtricity smirked. "Air's pretty dusty here. Can't be good for the little guy." She tilted her head in Leo's direction.

Yuna: "... Wait, weren't you just at a Gauntlet of Peril and/or Doom? Are you alright, Nikki?" .-.
Nikki: "(Wait, were you even there when I got dragged along for that?) And meh, could be worse, I suppose."

The cosmic arceus sniffed the air. "Oh, is this what dusty smells like? I thought it was a stinky smell." His starcloud tail wagged a bit. "Like your funny jacket!"

"What?!" Nikki's mohawk crackled. "My jacket's not—" Her nostrils twitched. Nikki pulled her right arm out of its sleeve and pulled her jacket back to take a big whiff of it. Scowling, she pulled it back on. "That's just sweat from the impromptu workout. Nothing wrong with it!"

Yuna: "I'm... just gonna scoot a few feet over this way."

"It's still stinky," Leo chirped. "But I guess poison-types don't mind stinky, huh?"

Nikki cracked her knuckles. "Oi, Princess, tell Squirt to treat us adults with a bit of respect!"

This feels ever-so-slightly ill-advised given that a part of Yuna still subconsciously knows that Leo is her child.

"Um, treat Nikki with respect, Leo," Yuna said, though she knew it wasn't convincing.

"Okay." Leo tapped a forehoof in the dirt. "Sorry I called you stinky."

Cecil: "Technically, he never actually said-"
Yuna: "(Reshiram, pipe down!)" >_>;

The toxtricity pinched her brow. "We have to take him with us, don't we?"

"Yes?" Yuna frowned. What sort of question was that?

"What's got your butt chafed?" Reshiram asked. "You seemed like you enjoyed your dinner."

Discovering what her G-Max form looked like in a mirror.

"Pfbt." Nikki flicked her right wrist dismissively. "It was a sandwich. Do you have any idea how many sandwiches I've made in my lifetime?"

Reshiram stroked his chin. "I'm going to guess... a four-digit number."

"I—" Nikki abruptly went silent. She pivoted, muttering, "Stupid truth dragon."

Cecil: "Wait, you actually kept track?" .-.
Nikki: "No, more like you're comically missing the point I was trying to make." >_>;

Reshiram puffed his chest out while Leo giggled his approval.

"I guess it was a decent sandwich," Nikki admitted, tugging at her jacket collar. "Usually I just make peanut butter and jelly. Cheap and ready in seconds." The toxtricity scratched her chin. "I don't know whether to be impressed or concerned about how... into sandwich making Koraidon got."

... Wait, so is Koraidon just flatly the Scarlet Koraidon? Or is the sandwich thing just a mythology gag?

Yuna shrugged. "Is it any weirder than your obsession with your jackets?"

"Totally!" Nikki huffed. "Collecting cool jackets is a genuine thing! Sandwiches are sandwiches!"

I think you're grossly underestimating the sorts of things that people can form obsessions over, Nikki. :V

"I can't believe you're even having this conversation," Reshiram said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Though maybe it is a welcome reprieve from the more serious subject matter." He twiddled his hair. "Zekky would preach the importance of taking time to appreciate the little things. 'Stop and smell the strawberries!'" Reshiram pretended to sniff at the air... only to break down into a coughing fit.

Oh, so Zekrom who may or may not be Theodore/Golbez is going to become important in this story in a little bit, huh?

"Gah!" He threw his wings over his snout. "Dust! In my nose!"

Leo: "So it is stinky..."

"Zekky?" Smirking, Nikki raised a brow. "Does Jade know you have a pet name for someone else?"

Reshiram's face reddened. "I-It's not a pet name! Zekky's my counterpart, the Sage of Ideals! That's all!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

Wow, somebody's not able to tell convincing fibs there. Since that was totally a pet name there.

A content sigh escaped Yuna. As silly as it was, this made the trip to Chakran feel more like a vacation and less like some sort of important mission.

Too bad it couldn't last. The drakloak kept glancing toward the tall metal building, expecting to see a shadow emerge from it and beckon them back.

"Was there something you wanted from us, Nikki?" Reshiram asked. Yuna kept looking at the building, but no one popped up. The drakloak was hesitant to lower her guard at all.

Yuna: "... I swear, the second I turn away from this place, something's going to happen, won't it?" >_>;

"Not really," Nikki replied. "You already got the good news about our mega evolutions. If we get into trouble again, I'll really be able to pack a punch."

"Hopefully that won't be necessary, but I'm sure Gene will be happy at least," Yuna said, scratching the side of her rectangular head.

"Ah, there you lot are!"

The drakloak flinched, then sighed at Archie's booming voice. The samurott bounded toward them, waving one of his jagged seamitars around.

Yuna: "Oh boy, here we go."

"You'd better get inside to Brother Kora! Something wild's happening!"

Yuna resisted the urge to facepalm. It really was too much to ask for a quiet evening.

I mean, considering the batting average of the story you're in... yeah, you should probably know better by now than to expect a lasting break from your author, Yuna.

When dinner finished, Noctum offered to help the monks wash their dishes. Although they had large sinks comparable to the kitchens at Horizon Academy, they didn't use the automated soap dispensers or electric power washers, opting to do everything by hand with soap and washcloths. In some ways, Noctum found it therapeutic after the day's exhaustive events. The warm, sudsy water was nice against his dry, black scales.

Wouldn't have expected to hear that from a Charizard, though I suppose the warmth is carrying it heavily for him.

But with a dozen monks at the charizard's side, dishwashing didn't take more than ten minutes. Noctum returned to the dining room to find it empty. His first instinct was to go find Yuna and see how the drakloak was doing, but he had no idea where she went. Figuring she went outside, Noctum lumbered through the metal hallway until he was outside the repurposed observatory, where he found Valkyrie crouched atop a rock several meters to his left.

Noctum hesitated, figuring the garchomp wanted nothing to do with him right now. Still, his curiosity got the better of him and he slowly approached. "Hey," the charizard said. Valkyrie didn't respond, but by that logic she wasn't shooing him away, so he continued forward until he was beside Valkyrie. "I, uh—" He stopped, scratching the back of his head.

Noctum: "I'm going to regret this in about 5 seconds, aren't I?" ^^;

"If you're here to apologize, don't."

He winced. I guess I was considering it. After all, Noctum had lost it. If Maxie hadn't intervened, he would have seriously hurt her. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Noctum: "I mean, you did kinda unload years of emotional baggage on me in front of a spectated battlefield earlier, so..."

"I'm fine." Valkyrie avoided looking at Noctum. "Only my pride that's hurt."

Noctum looked down. "I see. Because of what I said?"

Noctum: "Since knowing dragons, uh... I'm not sure if that's really all that fine."

"No, idiot." Valkyrie traced her right claw along the rock. "Do you have any idea how hard I've trained under the Ryujin? I had to be ready for anything, after all." She finally looked at him. "So imagine my surprise when, after all the training I've gone through, I get beaten to the mega evolution punch by a butler."

Noctum: "Again, I'm a bodyguard."

Valkyrie: "Whatever!" >.<

"Ah." Noctum rubbed his shoulder. "Well, uh, you weren't that far behind. Aha ha... ha..."

Valkyrie scooped up some dirt in her right arm and threw it at Noctum. The black charizard raised his arms. "Okay, yeah, I deserved that." He laughed nervously.

No, he really didn't. But I don't think Val's mood would've improved much if Noctum got testy and explicitly made that argument to her.

"Make whatever bad jokes you want," Valkyrie growled. "It's not going to win me over."

The black charizard shuffled uneasily. "You're right. I had no idea you'd gone through such ordeals. You have every right to be upset."

You see, I would be more inclined to not just go "now we're even" with Val if she hadn't just blown off your own life troubles. Since even if it's not quite being a test subject and getting Delta'd, uh... yeah, Noctum's own backstory isn't exactly enviable.

Valkyrie continued looking out across the mesa. "All throughout dinner, I kept asking myself if you were right."

"About?"

"Wanting what you have," Valkyrie replied. She crossed one leg over the other and braced her arms on either side of her. "If I had found some warm, loving nobles to take me in and treat me like family to some degree, would I be a different person? Brighter? More approachable?"

... I'm now curious about what the universe would look like had Val and Noctum been switched around while they were young by some cosmic accident. Since given how Noctum almost went off the deep end right after Megazarding... .-.

Noctum wasn't sure whether to answer. He shrugged, knowing Valkyrie wasn't watching, and said nothing.

"Heh." Valkyrie huffed out violet embers. "You kept your trap shut for once. Maybe you are learning."

The black charizard's violet flame dimmed a bit. Did Valkyrie even know how to give genuine compliments?

Noctum, if you have to ask...

"Sorry." The garchomp sighed. "Didn't mean for that to sound so backhanded." Vakyrie shook her head, like she was berating herself. "Been a long day. Surprised how beat I am." She held her right arm up and turned it back and forth. "I guess... there's a drawback to mega evolving. The fatigue that follows might make it hard on us."

... Well, she can at least express genuine contrition, at least. Was a little surprised there given how stand-offish Val has been the entire story.

Noctum looked down and traced a claw around his Malice Crystal. His fatigue was more mental than physical, but he thought it best not to dispute Valkyrie. "Meaning, what?"

"Gotta be judicious with mega evolving." Valkyrie got to her feet, grunting. "Can't just use it every fight."

Noctum: "Wait, how do we know this if Archie and Maxie didn't tell-"
Valkyrie: "Because if you're feeling anything like me right now, you're about ready to crash into bed for the night? How long do you think we're going to last if we go into a boss rush like this?" >_>;

The two shared a knowing look. "So, we have to keep an eye on Nikki?" Noctum said.

"Maybe." Valkyrie smirked. "Unless you've got a thing for shoulder spikes and blue flames in your mouth all the time." She walked toward him, shrugging. "Seriously. How do you even manage to speak like that? Wouldn't you just douse someone in fire?"

... Wait, but I could've sworn that Noctum spoke fine with that while Megazard-Xed two chapters ago unless I was forgetting something.

"I figure it's like haxorus' cheeks." Noctum held his hands on either side of his jaw and wiggled his fingers. "They can use those blades to attack, but they can get on fine without 'em."

Ah yes, just casually calling back to what happened to the Gates partner in GL.

"Maybe." Valkyrie's brow furrowed. "If some magical being like Bahamut really did create life on Etherium, what were they thinking giving haxorus a giant axe face?"

He was lazy and wanted a handy-dandy way to always have a can opener nearby? :V

"The same thing they were thinking when they gave garchomp bladed arms?" Noctum mused.

"I guess Bahamut has a secret spike fetish," Valkyrie said with a snorting laugh. She reached the black charizard's side and crossed her arms.

I mean, considering Necrozma's various designs...

"Thanks," she said. "For coming to check on me."

Noctum's tail flame brightened. "You're wel—"

"Don't make a big deal of it," Valkyrie growled, jabbing Noctum's Malice Crystal with her claw. "You're still a total dweeb. Just not an insufferable one."

Oh, so she does like him. Even if she's not ready to admit it just yet. o<o

"O-Okay." Noctum nodded politely. Baby steps, I s'pose.

"I'm hitting the hay." The garchomp yawned into her right arm. "I suggest you do the same. That dumb cat could swing by to rope us into something at any moment."

That's... exactly what happens and the incident that called Yuna in, isn't it?

Noctum briefly thought about Gene and the others back in Eternatus. Was everything okay? Hopefully, seeing as no one had reached out to them.

"Ah, good. It wasn't hard to find you at all."

Maxie approached the duo, adjusting his goggles. "I suggest you follow me inside."

Oh, well never mind then. The incident is something else.

Valkyrie raised a brow. "You showing us to the sleeping quarters? I'm bushed."

"No." The typhlosion's purple flames flickered around his neck. "It's Brother Kora. I believe he's... made contact with someone beyond this dimension."

- Peeks up at first scene flashback -

... Did he make contact with Shane? .-.

Yuna hardly had time to process Koraidon's... bizarre color change when Noctum and Valkyrie burst through the door into the study.

"What the hell?" Valkyrie walked forward, arms at her sides. "What's with the white, orange, and neon purple dye job? Can he mega evolve?"

"There is an extra set of purple horns," Noctum said, scratching his chin. "But even Nikki's mega evolution looks more impressive."

Oh, so this is where that character you've been making all those commissions of recently is going to pop up, huh?

"Hey, screw you!" Nikki growled. "I happen to think that color scheme's pretty boss. He's even got, like, speaker level bars around his big ol' wheel thingy." She cupped her hands in front of her chest gills.

"Dewlap," Leo reminded her.

"Whatever." Nikki rolled her eyes. "Everyone's here, so give us the dumb, monkish explanation already."

Yuna: "Um, this change in appearance is just superficial, right?" .-.

"Easy, ladies." Koraidon raised his hands and flashed a toothy grin at Nikki and Yuna. To the drakloak's surprise, his fangs glistened. And did he sound... higher pitched than before? "No need to fight over yours truly. Even if I'm only here in spirit."

Leo tilted his starcloud head. "You're... not Mr. Brother Kora, are you?"

I mean, he certainly sounds different enough to be someone completely different, so...

"Hot dang, the kid's the quickest one of the bunch." Not-Koraidon laughed into his right hand. "Guess that tracks. Wouldn't be a mystery dungeon-filled calamity if there wasn't a child stuck in the middle of it."

Nikki's knuckles and mane crackled. "I suggest you start talking or I'm liable to punch that pretty boy face of yours."

Not-Koraidon shook his head. "Sheesh, tough crowd." He took a deep breath. "Junior Overseer Koraidon Vincent, at your service." He thumped his dewlap. "I'm, uh, 'borrowing' my counterpart so I can talk to you guys."

Oh, so he's possessing Brother Kora right now. Though I have to wonder what on earth Vincent is normally, especially with those looks.

Yuna's brow furrowed in thought. That name sounded awfully familiar.

"I see that look in your eyes, Drakloak." Vincent cupped his hands around his eyes, pantomiming goggles. "Lemme guess, you know another Vincent?"

Nikki: "Isn't he that one jackass from Team Turks or whatever it's called from school?"
Yuna: "Now that you mention it, the name does sound like one I've heard from there, yes..."

"We do, yeah. An inteleon. Smug jackass," Nikki said, jogging Yuna's memory of the unpleasant lunch Shimmer dragged her to back at Horizon Academy. "You about to tell us that was a disguise?"

Oh wow, I was right on the money for how Nikki parsed him.

"What? No way." Vincent scratched his chin. "I like my guys with a bit more meat on their bones. Like ninetales!"

"Uh-huh." Nikki didn't sound convinced. Yuna's tail crinkled. She thought Vincent was talking about eating, and there certainly weren't any ferals among the group.

Yuna: "I'm... just gonna float away quietly right now-" O_O;
Vincent: "Chill, lady. It's a figure of speech."

"If it's easier, you can call me Vince. Or Vin. Just not Vinnie!"

"N-Now hang on a sec." Noctum waved his arms around to get Vince's attention. "Did you... hijack Brother Kora's body?!"

Vincent:

Yuna: "Well that's not totally weird and creepy at all-" O.O
Vincent: "Relax, I'll give it back to him when I'm done."

"What? Noooo! 'Hijack' sounds so uncool." Vince ran his right hand through his white, feathery mane. "It's more like... he's sharing it." He turned to Alder. "You get it, right! When you probe Ginnungagap—"

"Ginnuwhosap?" Leo tilted his head. "Did you sneeze? Should we look for a tissue?"

"Ginnungagap, the cosmic mystery dungeon," Vince elaborated. "It's got a bunch of different names, but it represents the space between dimensions. It's the fabric of reality itself. And it's punching holes into your universe. Which is why I've been a-knocking on your back door for a while, now."

The what now-?

- Fires up Wikipedia -

Oh. Oh. Somehow I should've seen it coming that you'd have pulled from Norse mythology again given your mention that the Overseers are "Aesir" and they chill in a "Valhalla" but TIL.

Nikki's sniggers filled the room. Yuna shot the toxtricity a confused look. "I'll tell you later," Nikki said, waving her off.

Alder cleared his throat. "Is this like... how I found Leo and the anomaly on Bogdan?"

"You betcha." Vince snapped his fingers in approval. "I sensed Koraidon's meditation and made contact. Now, I'm borrowing his energy to manifest here." He grinned. "Trust me, it's as cool as it sounds."

Yuna: "... Wait, but who are you really? And can we even trust you?" .-.
Vincent: "I mean, would you really rather face all of this on your own in the dark?"

Yuna still thought it sounded like bodysnatching, but given she currently housed two big dragons of her own, she wasn't about to play semantics with this newcomer. It was the other stuff that had her attention.

"So, you're an Overseer?" The drakloak crossed her arms. "The group that abandoned this place?" If she remembered Koraidon's explanation correctly, she wasn't keen on trusting this apparent newcomer.

So I'm not the only one that finds Vincent a bit shifty and dubious right now.

"Ah. You, uh, know about that, huh?" Vince laughed nervously. "That was before my time. And way above my paygrade. It's why I'm here!" He spread his arms out. "Those old idiots thought sealing this dimension off would keep everyone safe, but they're wrong." The purple and white koraidon glanced around nervously. "And, uh, we gotta talk fast. I don't know how much more time I can spend here before Big S gets wind of what I'm doing."

Yuna frowned. "Big S?"

It's Shane, isn't it?

"My boss. Big, bright fella!" Vincent locked eyes with Yuna. "You might recognize the type." He held his index finger up. It sparked with purple energy and the purple and white koraidon traced a familiar eight-pointed star in the air.

"Bahamut?!" Noctum blurted out.

Yeah, it's Shane.

"If that's what you call those big ol' crystal lugs here." Vince waved his hands and the drawing disappeared. "I, uh, might've already gotten Big S torn a new asshole trying to circumvent policy. Which is bad cuz, y'know, their asses are made of light, so—"

Valkyrie stomped toward him. "So, you're making up for that... by doubling down on going behind everyone's backs?" She raised a claw at him. "Do all you so-called Overseers have the common sense of feral magikarp?"

Well, this one obviously does. Though I'm not terribly convinced that "Big S" is fully in the dark here, since I'm pretty sure he's the party who was being addressed in the opening flashback.

"Oh-ho, ouch!" Vince cringed. "Guess I don't need to be psychic to tell who the resident edgelord is here." He gave Valkyrie a thumbs up. "Way to play up the species stereotypes."

"... I'm taking his head off his shoulders," Valkyrie growled, blue-purple dragon energy gathering around her claws.

"W-wait, wait!" Alder shot between the garchomp and purple koraidon. "That's still our Kora!"

Vincent: "Also, you do realize that I can just body-hop if you cut down my current one, right?"

Valkyrie: "If I kill you enough times, then maybe you'll get the message-!" >:|
Noctum: "Val, no!"

Valkyrie froze in front of the braviary, then slowly lowered her arms. "He's got sixty seconds to say something useful."

While Yuna didn't approve of Valkyrie's death threats, she had to admit she was skeptical of this, too. "You have to look it from our vantage point." The drakloak gestured to the group. "We've already had a lot of craziness shoved down our throats. I have magical Needles I'm looking to pull out of the ground and dimensional anomalies to track down. If you need something done, find someone else or do it yourself."

They are absolutely interrelated and Vincent is here to spell that out, isn't he?

"Ah, but that's it!" Vince pointed at Yuna. "What if I told you there's a way to deal with both those problems in one fell swoop?"

- Beat moment -
Yuna: "Wait, you mean that Reshiram was right about those two things being related to each other?!"

Nikki: "Pretty sure that's where this is going, so we might as well listen to what Vince has to say here. (Besides, I think I like the cut of his jib!)" ^^

"I'd say stop beating around the bush and tell us," Nikki scoffed.

"Forty-five seconds," Valkyrie added.

"Man, this is good. Do we have any popcorn?" Archie whispered, to which Maxie shoved the samurott away.

Well Archie is certainly a barrel of laughs in this continuity.

"All you need to do is reassemble the Red Chain," Vince explained. "It's literally a red freaking chain. But it has the power to fix all the dimensional instabilities, including Eternatus!" He grinned broadly. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

Yeah, okay there, Vincent. I've seen what that thing does in mainline, and the fact that you're just bandying this around this glibly right now is setting off major red flags at the moment.

Silence greeted Vince's explanation. "Sounds too good to be true," Valkyrie said, shaking her head. "Why should we believe you? Especially if you're part of a group that abandoned this world in the first place!"

"Because I'm sticking my neck out, here." Vince gave them puppy dog eyes. "D'ya know what'll happen if Big S finds out what I'm doing? The higher ups could unmake me with a snap!"

Yeah, I don't trust this guy. Since someone acting in good faith who needed this thing would explain very soberly to be careful while putting it together since it's canonically a tool that give its wielder the power to boss at least one Timespace Dragon around into rebooting the universe.

"Big deal." Nikki rolled her eyes. "We've been staring death in the face for a while now."

"No, this is worse than death." Vince's expression finally sharpened. "The higher ups could make it so that I never existed in the first place. Not a soul would even remember me."

Nikki:

Vincent: "Look, it's worse than it sounds, okay? Hasn't anyone told you that being forgotten is a much worse fate than death?" >_>;
Yuna: "That's a Xenoblade thing, though-"
Vincent: "Yeah, and the dragoon rat from FF9 was of the same school herself. It's a premise a whole lot of stories agree upon, alright?"

Nikki yawned into her hand. "Sounds fake to me. I say we let Chompy kick his teeth in."

"Best idea I've heard all night," Valkyrie said, licking her lips eagerly.

Wow, I was joking about Nikki "oh no, anyway"-ing as a reaction. Guess that's a sign I'm getting a decent feel for how she ticks.

"Wait!" Leo hopped onto Yuna's head. The drakloak flinched. "I... think we should listen to him. He sounds sincere to me."

Ah yes, childlike naivete in action right now. Since I honestly am in Camp Nikki right at the moment.

"Leo." Yuna frowned. She didn't want to chastise him for being too trusting but the cosmic arceus was just a kid. And this was a bit too important to simply leave to blind faith.

"When he mentioned a Red Chain, I... felt something funny in my belly," Leo admitted, gently tapping his forehooves on Yuna's head. "Like it's something I'm supposed to know all about, but don't."

Yes, and there's a good reason for that. And not because it's a super happy fun accessory to keep around on you.

"You cannot be serious." Nikki facepalmed. "No way there's a freaking chain that can fix space and time. That sounds so... stupid!"

Bring it up with Game Freak, Nikki. Since not too many chains allow you to reboot the universe if you please.

"No more stupid than using giant needles to seal away a planet-sized monster shaped like a hand, am I right?" Vince smirked when silence fell over the group.

"Okay, maybe that dolt does know a thing or two," Nikki muttered.

I mean, I played a game where "needles holding back a world-wrecking entity" was a major plot point, so yeah. That admittedly sounds a bit less stupid to me and more like "you really, really don't want to do this unless if you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing or else just that desperate".

"Ha, yes!" Vince triumphantly fist-pumped, then immediately winced. His whites and purples flickered like static. "****! I'm running out of time here." He looked around frantically. "Okay, look. If you want to fix this whole Needle and anomaly issue, then you need to go Centropolis on Quasar Prime."

Yuna raised a brow. "And that's... inside Eternatus?" Vince nodded.

"Once there, find the branch office of the Devon Corporation and look for a man named Sigurd Stone. He'll know what to do."

Wow, didn't think I'd ever be seeing those terms slung around in a PMD story.

"Wait, but how?" Noctum's wings fluttered nervously. "If our world is sealed off, no one should know anything about this."

Vince's purple and white flickered again. "There's another Overseer there. She's been trapped in your dimension for a long time." He looked around. "That's all I can give you right now. I'll try to reach out again soon."

Oh well that's ominous and not dodgy and sus at all.

Yuna still had questions, but the moment Vince stopped speaking, his colors faded and Koraidon was back, balancing on his tail with his eyes shut. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

"That was... quite the out of body experience." He chuckled nervously.

Oh right, Kora was technically conscious for all of that. .-.

The room fell into silence yet again as Yuna chewed on this. First the Needles, then the anomalies, and now Yuna was supposed to believe there was a way to handle both of those issues... without chasing them directly?

Nikki: "I mean, yeah it's more than a little sus, but hey. These chapters are on a pretty strict word budget, so..."

It sounded too good to be true. But Leo believed Vince. And that was going to be enough to get her to go with him to this Quasar Prime place.

This... is going to wind up coming back to bite them all in the ass at some point, isn't it?

Another Overseer. Yuna gently lifted Leo off her head. "So, uh, what's the next step here? Do we call Gene?" Could they even call Gene?

"I, uh, think that's for the best," Noctum said, pulling an X-transceiver out of his satchel. His face lit up when it beeped to life. "Oh, hey! I think I have reception! I— hello?" His purple tail flame doubled. "Wait, Cid? Is that you? H-Hang on, slow down. What's happening to Vellguarde?!"

Wow, this team (and setting) really just can't catch a break, huh?

The black charizard shuffled nervously. "O-Okay, we'll get ready." Noctum nodded quickly. "He's already on his way? G-Got it! We'll be out in a second." He lowered the X-transceiver and looked at Koraidon.

"We, um... have to go. Like... right now." Noctum met Yuna's gaze and added, "Seems the emperor decided to attack Vellguarde. With a giant battleship. That Gene's never seen before."

The drakloak's tail crinkled. Clearly, a quiet night to prepare for Quasar Prime was off the table.

Wait, that thing can leave the Qliphoth?!

I... wasn't expecting that, but I suppose the next few chapters are going to be quite the fireworks show.

Path of Valor Almanac
Ginnungagap ("gaping abyss" is old Norse) is the primordial void described in the Norse creation mythos, the Gylfaginning.

And ah yes, there's the explanation of what 'Ginnungagap' is for the general readerbase. I take it that you've been coming down harder on Norse theming for the stuff further up the totem pole in this setting.

Okay, onto the recap:

I see we've gone straight back to flooring the accelerator in this story, since boy did a lot escalate in short order. Also, maybe it's just a side effect of me playing Bravely Default, but I just do not trust Vince(nt) right about now, since his general demeanor and what he presents as a solution to the gang's problems raises some questions, to put it lightly. I'm not sure how I feel about the strong implication that Shane is the Overseer from the opening + Vince(nt)'s boss. Since... uh... that implies he's considerably less happy than we last saw him in GL. Though I suppose one thing at a time for the future.

For stuff I didn't like... I honestly don't have a whole lot to complain about. The chapter kept my attention for the full ride, it did a decent mix of character development and exposition while teeing up things to get right back into action in the very next chapter, which makes sense balance-wise given that the last chapter was very action-heavy. We'll see how things shake out next chapter, but things seem really promising.

Kudos, and till next time, @Ambyssin ^^

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 51: Rubrum Caelum​

Crimson skies marked the start of the Darkest Day. The heavens bled as World Ender set its sights upon our sacred lands, its size without compare. The people, gripped by fear and horror, turned their plights upon Bahamut, our God.

"Save us, please! You must drive the invader back and restore the light!"

Bahamut recognized their pleas. For this land was His home as well. And all were His people, whether they followed His teachings or not. Thus did He summon His Sages and face down the great daemon blotting out the heavens.

But even with the hope of the land behind Him, victory would not be His to take.

From the Book of Aeon

XxX​

Getting back to the surface required taking a different waypoint that would put the newly-established bureau in Vellguarde. Igneous was surprised his father hadn't shut down all the waypoints leading directly into cities in the wake of Venish's ongoing crisis. Was that waypoint in danger? Had Kyoko shut it down when she entered the safe house?

... Feh. Not even worth asking her, Igneous thought, leaning against the glass door of the small building that housed the Ryujin's Vellguarde waypoint. He stared at the wooden desk and cabinets of the rundown lobby across from him, tapping a claw impatiently.

How long did Yiazmat and Scarlett need? They had already watched news footage back at Ryujin HQ showing the baccer stadium in the southeast now served as a temporary staging area for those who fled Venish. And Igneous knew he would have to take them there. The longer they waited, the closer sunrise got.

Finally, he spotted a shadow amidst the dark lobby. Then another, narrower shadow. Yiazmat opened the building's inner door and held it for Scarlett. She had a long, tattered cloak draped over her. It made her look bulkier and hid her facial features, sure, but it didn't exactly hide her entire figure.

"Sorry," Scarlett muttered. "Had trouble finding a good cloak."

"A pity your kind can't learn Minimize," Yiazmat said, shaking her head solemnly. "Then you could shrink down and hide in one of my horns."

"The same horn your kind shoots your offspring out of?" Igneous said, a brow raised.

"Dragapult haven't done that in battle since the days of Bahamut," Yiazmat retorted, narrowing her eyes. "Save the snark for after we find my daughter."

"Fine." Igneous shoved the front door open with his shoulder and held it for the ladies. They headed out onto the smoothly paved street. The grovlazzle shut the door, revealing it was actually one-way glass. "Stay close to me and follow my directions. Got it?"

"As long as you're polite with those directions, dearie," Yiazmat replied, an eerily sweet smile on her face.

A chill ran down Igneous' spine. Is she really Yuna's mom?

XxX​

As it turned out, a quiet walk made it easy for Igneous to give polite directions. Vellguarde's well-paved roads, though cold against his scaly feet, were deserted. None of the stone buildings with their pointed spires had lights on. Sure, people were probably sleeping, but the grovlazzle expected to see something other than streetlights in a supposedly busy city.

Yet the further they went, the more nothing they encountered. Even streetside bars boasting business hours late into the night had their doors locked and their lights off.

"Does this city not have anything for nocturnal pokémon?" Yiazmat looked around. "I was told such accommodations existed the last time I visited."

"It does." Igneous crossed his arms, eyes darting from their sidewalk to the one opposite them. "The baccer stadium's pretty new and there wasn't enough space to build it up in the commercial district. So, they made it near a residential district. Still..."

"Maybe there's a curfew in effect?" Scarlett whispered, a slight tremble to her voice. "Because of what happened in Venish?"

So, the grovlazzle wasn't the only one unnerved. "Where's the Radiant Guard, then?" he said. "Someone would have to enforce the curfew. And they'd have been on us by now."

At that point, Yiazmat stopped floating ahead of them. "Valid points." She backed underneath an awning, clasping her hands together. "As much as I want to find Yuna, walking into some sort of trap accomplishes nothing." She glanced up. "Perhaps a quick bit of aerial surveillance?"

The ground rumbled. Red light flashed in the distance. Igneous tensed, but instead of screams, he heard... applause?

"What was that?" Scarlett squeaked, coiling up under the same awning as Yiazmat.

"It looked like an energy surge," Yiazmat said, narrowing her eyes. "Can you fly?"

"Me?" Scarlett pointed her tail at her face. "I, well, yes, but it's been quite some time." She pulled her cloak back to show her dulled scales. "They gave me some vitamins and minerals, but I'm not sure if that gives me my full strength back."

"I see. One moment." Yiazmat reached into a pocket and produced a few tiny blue gelatin pieces.

"Are those... gummy candies?" Scarlett's rounded snout twitched.

"They're energy gummies," the dragapult explained. "We grow them for times when we have to venture deep into the mountains and can't take food stores with us." She leaned forward. "Open up."

Scarlett tensed. "I'm not so sure I should e—"

Yiazmat shoved the gummies in while Scarlett was speaking. The dragonair's eyes widened incredulously but she chewed and swallowed them. Igneous wanted to give Yiazmat the business for that move, but that desire evaporated the moment Scarlett's tiny wings unfurled to their full sizes and flapped in place.

"I... huh?" Scarlett blinked in surprise. "What the hell's in those gummies?!"

"Aeon secret. Now follow me." The dragapult scooped Igneous up, ignoring his protests, and carried him into the air. They soared over the pointed rooftops in a matter of seconds and headed further south. Wingbeats behind them confirmed that, even out of practice, Scarlett could follow them. Guess there really was something special in those gummies.

"Slow down!" the dragonair pleaded. "This is... harder than it used to be!"

With a large, metal dome looming in front of them, Yiazmat landed on one of the rooftops, dropping Igneous on its stone tiles. The grovlazzle surveyed the baccer stadium. Though it had lights on, they were yellow and blue. The energy came from elsewhere. But where?

A sudden pain gripped his head. "Nngrk." Igneous clutched his right temple. Warm. No, hot! Like back in the hospital?

He kept his eyes open and looked right. There were people. Small specks walking to his left.

"Who's that?"

The grovlazzle turned left. Yiazmat stared at a wooden podium in the distance. Though too far for Igneous to properly make out who was standing atop it, he instinctively tensed up. The hot pain flashed through his head again.

"The ether you believe in will betray you! Rain fury upon your city! But Natus can shield you from it. Accept His love and build something greater as one."

As one.

As one.

AS ONE.

Igneous doubled over in pain. His back burned. The volcarona wings he spawned at the hospital burst out of his back in surges of orange fire.

"It's him."

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Scarlett cried. "What about keeping a low profile?!"

But Igneous had already leapt from the roof, surging forward on his fiery wings. The figure atop the podium came into view with gray, beady eyes sparkling through the heavy, stone helmet encasing them.

Flames shrouded Igneous as he slammed into Xeromus. The grovlazzle continued forward, the momentum of the blow carrying Xeromus as far away from the assembled crowd as possible. When the attack at last fizzled out, Xeromus dropped down in the middle of a barren field while Igneous remained airborne. The burning under his scales hadn't gone away. And that was on purpose.

Now Igneous was sure Xeromus and Ahsen were working together. Why else would the powers he got from the glitch react this way?

"Heh. Keh heh." Xeromus broke down coughing. "Amazing. That you would treat a lowly omen like me to the powers born of your metamorphosis."

"Shut up!" Igneous summoned flaming leaf blades at his sides. "I've had enough of your garbage. I'm not letting you hurt anyone else!"

"Hurt?" Xeromus seemed genuinely shocked. "Think nothing of the sort. I only seek to spread the joy of Natus' love! To let it blanket the world in a protective cloak!"

Igneous lunged for Xeromus in a burst of fiery speed. He stood his ground, however, erupting in a crimson glow. The grovlazzle's leaf blades clanged off something hard.

An espeon's small, pink form melted into a white cloud with a pink figure riding atop it.

The flames died down around Igneous' arms he staggered back, taking in the view of a crimson, shield-shaped canine head. It fixed empty yellow eyes on him before dissolving into chains that wrapped around Xeromus' legs.

"You see the rifts in the sky, don't you? A grand union is upon us!" Xeromus declared, holding his helmeted head up. "Where Natus' love will shower everyone. No matter how big or small. Weak or strong. Poor or rich. Human or pokémon."

Human? Igneous tried to reignite his leef blades to no avail. Had that barrier sapped some of his strength?

"Natus offers the same love for everyone. A love brimming with equality," Xeromus continued. "Yet too many sides want to twist that love into something horrid! I only want people to see the truth with their own eyes and ears!"

"No, you want to poison people with deluded thoughts!" Igneous surprised himself when he spat out a mixture of flames and Bullet Seeds. Bright orbs surrounded Xeromus. Fireballs, ice shards, and small lightning bolts canceled out Igneous' strike. Tri Attack? The grovlazzle hopped back, trying to look for an opening.

"The only poison comes from the ether and those whose minds it has warped," Xeromus countered, thrashing his head back and forth. "That's why I'm not striking back at you, even as you press your attack. Because I'm walking the path set out for me."

"Not striking back?" Igneous spewed more flames and Bullet Seeds. "Then what the hell do you call that stunt back at Herbrides?!"

Xeromus couldn't react fast enough and staggered backward, tucking his head down to take the attack on his helmet. "A regretful, shortsighted attempt... at bestowing choice upon you and your friends."

"Stop speaking in riddles, damn it!" Igneous took to the air again, his volcarona wings quickly carrying him up. He spewed flames at Xeromus' backside, but the chimera's cloak rippled. The crimson shield dog emerged in shadowy ripples and swallowed his flamethrower like a beverage sucked through an oversized straw. It lingered, empty eyes fixed on Igneous as the grovlazzle's arc took him past Xeromus and back onto the ground.

"Return, Guardian!" Xeromus called. The shield dog sank back into Xeromus' cloak. Wheezing, the chimera struggled to turn around and face Igneous. "I bear no ill will. Attacking you serves no purpose. My choices, as those of many others, do not matter."

"Then why bother doing any of this?" Igneous hissed.

Xeromus simply looked up in response. Purple light bathed Igneous. The grovlazzle threw an arm over his head while looking up. A giant rift had opened over the city and out popped... the head of some sort of giant, robotic trance centiskorch?!

"What the—"

[Attention evildoers! I have come to make an announcement!] An unfamiliar robotic voice boomed throughout the sky. [It is time to bring you all to JUSTICE! Hell yeah! Eat my giant justice laser!]

Red streaked across the night sky. The centiskorch mecha's face opened, unleashing a giant blue laser that headed right for the baccer stadium.

"No!" Igneous could only look on in horror as it drew closer and closer...

... And banked off a purple, domed barrier. The laser pierced through the red sky until it had died down into nothing.

XxX​

"Sticky."

Sitting at a computer terminal, the naganadel jumped to attention. He spun his chair around to find Paradox watching a feed from the Seekerskorch's cockpit. "Yes, Your Excellency?"

"Did my eyes deceive me... or did the Max Hyper Beam just get deflected by a barrier?"

The deoxys' chilling tone made Sticky gulped. "That, um, appears to be the case, sir."

[You were right, Father!] W1-DG3T's voice crackled through the office speakers. [Our enemies are truly despicable! Using the Benefactor's power in such an awful way!]

Paradox's upper right tentacle slammed against his desk. "Then charge ahead already!" he barked. "Tear that barrier apart and bring His captors to their knees!"

Sticky hastily turned back to his computer. Even if W1-DG3T was right, there was no way the Etherians could forge a barrier that strong using Eterna energy... right?

XxX​

Igneous stood there, arms and jaw slackened, utterly unsure which was more terrifying: the Hyper Beam to end all Hyper Beams or the shield that appeared out of nowhere and effortlessly parried it. The grovlazzle looked over his shoulder, but only saw Xeromus standing there, a twinkle in his gray eyes.

He couldn't have... could he? Igneous tensed up, ready to strike again.

"Do you understand now?" Xeromus rasped. "Even with the ether sinking its teeth into your planet's hide, Natus still believes in you all. He shields you with his love!"

"Oh, shut up!" Igneous spat. Xeromus made even less sense than before. "If Eternatus wants free of its prison, why the hell would it block an attack from its innards?!" He brought his fiery leaf blades out and sped toward Xeromus. This time, he feinted left, then banked right and swung to strike Xeromus' left foreleg.

But even though Xeromus was too slow to move himself away, the shield dog's red face emerged from his knee and crunched down on Igneous' leaf blades.

The pink cloud rider summoned a tornado full of hearts and sent it toward a small starcloud while a starry, oversized crobat shot toward it, tears streaming from three eyes.

Igneous' flames again died down. He staggered back, trying to get the feeling back in his arms. A thunderous boom sounded behind him. By the time Igneous looked over his shoulder, more light had died down and small specs flew around the giant centiskorch robot.

"What are you playing at?" he said to Xeromus. "Enough riddles. I want answers!"

Xeromus thrashed his helmeted head back and forth, staving off a coughing fit. "I see. So, you don't have a path forward yet. Unfortunate. Perhaps... you need more time."

Igneous spat another mix of bullet seeds and fireballs at Xeromus. The chimera's cloak glowed and, in a blink, he reappears a few yards left of Igneous. "It's as I said before. My choices, like so many others, do not matter." Xeromus wheezed a few times. "All because of the single truth uniting all worlds no matter how far apart.

"But Natus' love can rewrite that truth. The truth of stagnation," Xeromus continued. "My choices are set in stone. A lowly omen like me can only watch and wait. But you... you can lay your own path forward. To forge the new singular truth."

Yeah, I'm done with this. Igneous turned away. "My path forward will be getting rid of you and your stupid floating disc crony. Consider yourself lucky there are bigger fish to fry right now."

"Keh heh." Xeromus staggered backward. "I do look forward to seeing what happens next."

Igneous glanced over his shoulder. Spectral hands emerged from the ground, enveloping Xeromus. He was gone the moment the grovlazzle took to the air again. Igneous hovered there, squinting at the small figures flying around the robot centiskorch.

[I should have known the despicable rebel would show his face!] the voice boomed. [It does not matter how many people you trick into working for you. I will defeat you in the name of JUSTICE!]

Rebels? Oh, ****, it's Gene?! Igneous focused and, sure enough, he could barely make out the mewtwo charging some sort of attack alongside Reshiram. Yes, Igneous would recognize that fuzzball of a dragon anywhere. So, was Yuna here, too? And is Valkyrie with her?

XxX​

"What are we supposed to do against this thing? It's the size of a damn skyscraper!" Nikki shouted from atop Reshiram's back.

Yuna was plenty used to things outsizing her from all her years as a dreepy, sure, but she was so not prepared for this. And all of its red and yellow segments shot fireballs into the air independent of one another. The drakloak stayed out of range of it all, thankfully, but none of her piddly little attacks would make so much as a scratch against the machine.

"I don't get it either." Gene zipped between flaming pillars, tossing strange pink orbs that harmlessly plinked off the metallic exoskeleton. "If this thing's some kinda battleship, there's no way that many blasters could fire independently! Not without a bunch of people working different controls and coordinating in unison. The empire isn't capable of that."

"Then how do you explain this, huh?" Valkyrie snarled as a gout of fire swallowed her and Noctum's tandem Dragon Pulses whole.

"I'd rather not!" Jade squawked, stopping in midair and yanking her tail out of the way of a steam burst. Probably a Heat Wave. "I might've liked it hot back in the day, but this thing's too spicy for the pepper!"

Reshiram paused beside her. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know, but I'm confident this is too spicy for the pep— GAH!"

Reshiram shoved Jade aside, taking the brunt of a second Heat Wave. Nikki hollered atop his back, struggling to cling to his neck. "Hey, Crotch Fuzz! Don't forget your very squishy passenger who could fall to her death up here!"

"Sorry! I— back!" Reshiram's tail revved up. A gout of Blue Flare barely managed to hold off a massive fireball.

Yuna bit her lower lip. "Cyril? Professor Cid? Is there anything you can give us? We're in a serious bind here!"

XxX​

"They have to fall back!" Seifer paced nervously in front of multiple monitors, stealing panicked looks at Cyril and Cid. The orbeetle sat on stacked milk crates, with several electrodes connected to his head spots and hooked up to Cyril's monitors. "They're hopelessly outgunned!"

He was conflicted between their wellbeing and that of Vellguarde's, but the mystery barrier made the keldeo's priorities clear. "Tell Gene to retreat! We need an actual plan here!"

Cyril's spots glowed blue. "I think it's coming into focus for me." He pinched his brow. "That thing is called the Seekerskorch. Gene's right about it not being organic." The orbeetle squinted. "But he's wrong about how it's being controlled."

Artemis quirked a brow. "In what way?"

"There's a single pilot."

XxX​

"You're kidding!" Gene flummoxed, then shot in front of Yuna and managed to turn away a spiraling Heat Wave with a burst of pink energy. "No Paradigm lieutenant can handle something like this! Their brains are just little togedemaru running around on tiny rodent wheels!"

[Give up, evil rebel!] the pilot said. Yuna winced from the volume, ectoplasm rippling. Leaving Leo back on Bogdan was the right decision. [Your days of terrorizing the brave souls of Eternatus are over!]

The Seekerskorch's head coiled back toward Team Bastion. Its fiery face split apart, revealing flames and electricity gathering within it.

"Holy ****!" Gene threw his right arm out. A rift appeared in front of him. Yuna darted in behind him. They reappeared beside Reshiram, Jade, and Nikki. Seconds later, plasma surged through the air. The crimson sky briefly lit up as blue as daytime.

What do we do? What do we do? I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Yuna's entire body trembled. Was this what it was like for the Sages when they faced down Eternatus on the Darkest Day?

How was she supposed to help Leo save the omniverse like this?

"Cid! Can your freaky-deaky scan tell us how warm that machine's back is?" Gene wondered.

"What's that supposed to do?" Cid responded.

"Taking potshots at a distance isn't getting us anywhere," Gene growled, tail lashing the air. Seekerskorch's head slowly turned toward him and Yuna. The drakloak opted to fly away, recognizing the mewtwo was the primary target. "I'm thinking we have to try percussive maintenance."

"You can't be serious, Boss Kitty," Cyril said.

Another plasma beam split the air. If Yuna had hair, it would have undoubtedly stood on end. And sure enough, a prickly Reshiram flew toward her, his hair puffed out like a pom-pom oricorio's wings. "That sure sounded like his serious voice to me," Reshiram squeaked.

"The hell you on, Crotch Fuzz? He doesn't have a serious voice!" Nikki huffed.

"If I may interject?" Cid said. "My analysis suggests that the Seekerskorch's cannons are mounted on the edges of its segments, where a normal centiskorch's legs would be. Its exoskeleton is heat resistant, so you should be able to land on it safely."

"Works for me!" Gene shot forward in a pink blur. "Crotch Fuzz, follow me!"

"Stop calling me that! It's a beauty tuft!" Reshiram whined, flying after the mewtwo. Yuna shielded her face from the heat given off by his tail turbine. The drakloak had no idea what Gene wanted, but she needed to give him a better opening, right?

She waved her arms around, hoping Noctum and Jade would pick up on it. Or maybe Valkyrie. Yuna then shouted, "You're wrong! We're not doing anything evil! We're trying to help people!"

The Seekerskorch head paused. [Ha! Funny joke, but I knew you would say something like that. Your mind games will not work on me, captor. I am a paragon of justice!]

Three huge Flamethrowers cut through the air. Yuna was far enough away to weave between them. "You keep using that word, but we don't even know what you mean by it!" she called back.

[Then that makes you stupid!] the pilot countered. [You trapped Eternatus against His will. And now I am going to free Him so everyone living inside Him can be happy.]

Yuna frowned. The pilot spoke with a childishness that reminded her of Leo. It couldn't be an actual child, though. Probably someone whose mind was messed up by the emperor. But he wasn't attacking Gene or Reshiram, so Yuna's distraction was working!

"How is that justice?" Yuna shook her head. "If you free Eternatus, then you destroy our planet!"

[No, Eternatus will absorb you guys. And you will learn to be happy like all of His citizens.]

XxX​

Paradox hunched over the communicator on his desk. "What do you think you're doing, W1-DG3T?! The rebel is on your ship! Attack!" He smacked the desk with his tentacles. "Fire everything!"

XxX​

The Seekerskorch's many cannons crackled with fire and lightning. And the fiery antennae on its metal face darkened with ectoplasm. [That was a mean trick!] the pilot growled. [And I am going to make you all pay for it!]

Yuna braced herself for the worst when the Seekerskorch violently lurched to its left. Its head spewed giant spectral... pieces of furniture? Regardless how stupid it looked, the attack sailed higher into the red sky until it faded away. The drakloak cautiously flew closer and saw Nikki's electric guitar planted squarely into the middle of one of the Seekerskorch's segments. Purple sparks danced around it.

"No tricks or gimmicks here, tin can!" Nikki sneered. "Just a good old fashioned drum line, baby!" She stuck her tongue out and made metal horns with her fingers while a yelping Reshiram flew away. Gene shot down from the air and whacked the lightning guitar as hard as he could with his psychic spoon, driving it fully inside the Seekerskorch's middle segment. Purple sparks spread across the metal exoskeleton.

[What the— that is impossible!]

Smirking, Gene saluted the Seekerskorch's head and hopped back into a rift, transporting him over Yuna's head. Seconds later, the middle segment exploded in a massive cloud of purple, red, and yellow. The segments behind the destroyed one plummeted from the sky. Jade and Noctum flew further from the rest of Team Bastion in tandem.

"Ahh, I love me a good fireworks show," Gene said, applauding his handiwork. "Now if we can just replicate that at the head of what's left, we might have a shot at this."

"Uh, Gene?" Cid interjected. "I think whoever's piloting is in the head. You'll have a much tougher time getting there."

"Got any other ideas, then, Professor?" Gene scoffed.

"I do, actually," Cyril said. "If you can open rifts like that, why not turn its own attacks back on it?"

Yuna's tail crinkled. That sounded difficult to pull off, but potentially effective. Too bad the remaining part of the Seekerskorch had chosen to switch tactics. Instead of Flamethrowers and Heat Waves, it launched bundles of flaming webs... that were homing in on their position!

"Gotta go!" the drakloak squeak, diving toward the ground. No good; the web missile kept giving chase. "You can't be serious!" she groaned. Yuna tried opening her mouth and spewing some dragonfire, but the web missile barreled right through her Dragon Breath.

Do what Cid suggested, dummy! she told herself. Concentrating, Yuna tore a rift open between her and the fireball. It was too small to fully redirect the web missile, but large enough to break the attack. Unfortunately for the drakloak, the missile's remnants rained over her. Strands of fiery webbing covered her rectangular head. Hissing, Yuna frantically rubbed her head, but that spread the flames onto her hands.

With no other recourse, Yuna dove onto the grass and rolled around. That put the flames out, but left the webs — and plenty of grass blades — stuck to her head.

[You really think that was clever, huh?] the pilot sneered. [Well, enjoy your little victory while it lasts, because you will not pull the wool over my eyes again. For great justice! For Eternatus!]

The Seekerskorch unleashed another missile barrage and... either Yuna was crazy or she really did see sound effects like "BAMF" and "KABOOM" project themselves over the Seekerskorch while it fired.

Either way, she figured the ground was the safest spot to stay to deal with this. So, the drakloak prepared herself to dodge... only for a sharp, stabbing pain to grip her head. Yuna sucked in a sharp breath. She had to focus on the fight. On staying in one piece.

Dark, shadowy tendrils wrapped themselves around a golden Needle planted firmly in the ground.

A Needle? No, that didn't make any sense. What was happen— oh, God, her head hurt.

And, wait, why was her Soul Dew glowing brighter? Was Reshiram at his limit or something? He hadn't been out that long!

"Return to me..."

Right as two web missiles homed in on her, the pain grew to be too much. Vision blinded by the Soul Dew's light, Yuna could only muster a single scream.

XxX​

Crystal tendrils sliced through Eternatus Bombardiers, sending their pilots careening off the stone rooftop. Off in the distance, more Bombardiers pressed their advance. Necrozma didn't care, however. His prize was right in front of him. There was nothing these weak, insignificant machines could do to him. No matter how many the dumb, metallic midnight lycanroc standing in front of his Needle summoned, he'd destroy them.

Necrozma strode forward on his large, misshapen crystal legs. The shadows swirling around him gave him a strange, humanoid appearance.

"Don't you dare!" Lycanroc hissed. He dug his hands into the ground, tearing up chunks of the metal roof and hurling them forward.

"Pointless," Necrozma said. He flicked his right wrist. Two orbs of distorted light raced to meet the metal shards, blowing them apart. Necrozma turned and stomped the ground. Electric geysers raced behind him, catching the charging Bombardiers off guard and blowing them apart.

Lycanroc thought Necrozma was distracted. He thought wrong. A crystal tentacle lurched out of Necrozma's shadows and coiled around a charging Lycanroc.

Necrozma turned back around. He hefted Lycanroc up to eye level. "Weak. Pathetic," he growled. "You guard power that isn't yours. Power you don't understand."

Lycanroc squirmed in Necrozma's grasp, but he tightened his grip. Shadows covered Lycanroc's mouth before he could retort.

"No words." Necrozma strode closer to the Needle. To his power. "You only delay the inevitable. I will destroy this realm..."

The tentacle unfurled, whipping Lycanroc back toward more oncoming Eternatus troopers. He hurled a distorted light ball after them, bathing them in a rainbow geyser. Necrozma reached forward with his right arm and grabbed the needle. An emerald flash pushed his shadows apart briefly.

"Return to me... Zygarde."

Necrozma pulled the needle. A burst of emerald light shot up, then a thousand glistening spears rained down all around him. The roof crumbled to dust while Necrozma floated where the Needle once sat. He glimpsed a fresh wave of Eternatus Troopers approaching.

As nice it would be to give them all a taste of the power he just reclaimed, his efforts were better spent elsewhere. He slashed the air in front of him with his left arm and vanished into a jagged rift.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 52: Ordo Totalis​

"I've brought it up before, but in light of those complaints you got yesterday, I think it's worth revisiting."

Chiron sat against a tree, red eyes fixed on the setting sun in the distance. Leo slumbered in the lunala's curled up, crescent moon tail. She gently draped her right wing over the cosmog.

A flicker of gold light drew her attention right, where Bahamut coiled around a large boulder, tapping his right upper wing against it in irritation. "It's about Zygarde, isn't it?"

"Ever the astute psychic," Chiron teased, a smirk tugging at her lips.

Bahamut's rainbow eyes bubbled with red and orange. "His work is instrumental in maintaining order. He's a big reason why Sages can intervene before things escalate."

"It might be important, but it's wrong." Chiron had to keep her voice steady to avoid disturbing Leo's slumber. "Zygarde's power is remarkable, yes, but splitting him into his cells to monitor every corner of the planet is... an invasion of privacy."

"It's a necessary precaution," Bahamut countered. "For the safety of—"

Chiron frowned. "If you really love this world and want it to flourish, then you have to trust the people living here and let them live their lives without wondering if they're being watched." She was dancing around the issue as best she could. The lunala didn't want to compare Zygarde to Matriarch and her type: full army out loud. Her husband had good intentions, but his past experiences clouded them.

"How did you even know to create Zygarde in the first place?" she wondered. Eternatus had absorbed planets with them in the past, but she couldn't recall if Bahamut visited any of them. "Earth was the planet you spent the longest on and it didn't—"

Bahamut tensed. "I can't answer that."

"You can't answer?" Chiron tilted her head. "Or you won't?"

The light dragon dimmed. "I—" His rainbow eyes swirled around like small twisters. After a protracted silence, Bahamut whispered, "It's complicated."

Chiron wanted to float over to him but still had Leo wrapped in her tail. She instead opened a tiny wormhole and stuck her head into it. Her head appeared at Bahamut's side and brushed his gold, crystal cheek. "We made vows, remember? I'll never turn my back on you. If it's a secret... you can trust me with it."

"I want to," Bahamut said. "But what if something happens to you? This secret... can't afford to get out."

Chiron pondered that for a second. Then it clicked. "It's something about Chakran, right? You said you spent a long time there."

Bahamut's light rippled. Chiron knew she hit her mark. He sighed. "Yes. There were numerous zygarde on Chakran. They were part of the Overseers."

"Overseers?" Chiron pulled her head back through the wormhole and cautiously pet Leo's forehead.

"A group that is, essentially, the eyes of all worlds," Bahamut explained. "They watch over the omniverse to maintain its stability."

"Omniverse?" Chiron sucked in a sharp breath. There really were other universes out there, then. She couldn't fault Bahamut's caution. If Matriarch ever learned of that... there was no telling the consequences.

"I actually asked them to deal with Eternatus," Bahamut admitted. "They refused... and abandoned the planet — and our universe — instead."

"I see." Chiron looked down at Leo. The cosmog still slumbered peacefully, his pom-pom arms glowing and dimming with every breath he took. "Why would you use your light to craft zygarde Sages, then? Isn't it just a painful reminder of your time on Chakran?"

"Perhaps. But, again, I saw their zygarde in action," Bahamut replied, lowering his head onto the top of the rock. "Splitting themselves into cells to observe a hundred places at once. A powerful tool."

"Powerful, but unsettling," Chiron countered. She gestured with her left wing. "Try to look at it from a different perspective. How would you feel if you learned that someone was constantly spying on your every move?"

Bahamut didn't respond at first. The rippling through his body and wings told Chiron enough, however. He clenched his jaw and looked away. "I suppose... I'd feel hurt. Upset."

Chiron offered a small smile. "Like some of the sermon attendees, perhaps?"

A loud sigh. Bahamut lowered his head onto the rock again. "Yes, you're right. As usual. I'm too reckless and paranoid."

"I didn't say that," Chiron cut in. "There's no need to beat yourself up over this."

"Then what do you suggest?" Pleading greens and yellows pooled in Bahamut's eyes.

"Perhaps you should scale back Zygarde's duties," Chiron offered. "Gradually, if it will ease your mind. And then, in the future..." Her voice trailed off as she twirled a tiny claw around in the circle.

"... Zygarde should be the last Sage of Order," Bahamut whispered.

"Read my mind again, I see." Chiron chuckled. "I love it when you're in sync with me."

Bahamut's body and eyes reddened. "Yes, well... perhaps it is for the best. After all, I'm getting old." He rolled off the rock and onto the grass, looking up at the sky. "I have to start trusting the world to keep turning without me."

"Wise words." Chiron bobbed her head. "But you'll hang on until Leo's all grown up, right?"

At that, Bahamut laughed. "Which of us called me stubborn to a fault, again?"

XxX​

"... na! Yu... ere?"

The drakloak heard... someone. But the ringing in her ears and the stars in her vision were too loud and too bright. She sucked in a sharp breath, furiously rubbing her eyes and begging the light to fade.

Why a vision now? She hadn't pulled a Needle! Her Soul Dew couldn't have reacted to the Seekerskorch, else she would've conked out right when she saw it.

Did that mean...

"Princess, are you okay? Yuna, please answer me!"

She finally picked up on Noctum's voice. The black charizard picked her up off the ground and cradled her in his arms. Relief flooded his face when Yuna made proper eye contact. "Oh, thank God. Are you hurt?"

Arms trembling, Yuna grabbed his right shoulder. "N... Needle..."

"Hmm?" Noctum frowned. "Do you think a Needle's nearby?"

"No. I—" She took a few breaths to steady herself. "A Needle got pulled. By someone else." Yuna squeezed her eyes shut. "Someone else is pulling Needles!"

"Are you serious?" Valkyrie growled. Yuna couldn't see the garchomp.

"I'm sure." Yuna managed to collect herself enough to float out of Noctum's grasp. "Every Needle I've pulled so far, I've had a... vision from the past about the Sage sealed inside. And I just had one where Bahamut was talking with his wife about Zygarde."

Thunderous explosions rang out. Bright blue fireballs filled up the sky. Meeping, Yuna darted away from Noctum and Valkyrie on reflex.

"Tch." Valkyrie kicked up some grass and dirt. "There's no point discussing this here. Either you rejoin the fight or rift yourself over to Venish and then Bogdan. You're a liability like this."

"Valkyrie," Noctum growled, purple tail flame sparking.

The garchomp bit her lip. "Sorry. Gene's just struggling to redirect any of that bolt bucket's attacks. Even with half the mech trashed, too many things are happening at once."

Yuna looked down guiltily. "I tried to do that... but my rifts are too small to swallow up its attacks." She looked up and saw Reshiram struggling to escape a dozen web missiles. Though he shot bright blue Dragon Pulses and Nikki hurled poisonous globs from her fingers, they weren't enough to stop the missiles.

"I can't leave." The drakloak flew to Noctum's side. "Reshiram would disappear with me. I'm not doing that to Nikki."

"Oh, right. Good point." Valkyrie stomped up to Noctum. "Guess we'd better get back to it." She hopped onto the black charizard's back. "Onward, less-than-noble steed!" Valkyrie shouted, kicking Noctum's rear.

"Yow! Hey!" His Malice Crystal and tail flame sparked. "Rude!"

XxX​

Igneous had opted to fall back and relocate Scarlett and Yiazmat, which didn't prove challenging. The two of them had found their way to the baccer stadium and, apparently, offered to help the Radiant Guard with crowd control as they got people to evacuate. A fairy rapidash officer had proposed summoning flying taxis to get people away from the area, but the constant appearance of the mystery barrier to ward off any attacks was enough to get him to hold off on the order.

Though the grovlazzle had no idea how long the barrier would hold, it soon stopped being an issue. An explosion rocked the sky and half the robot broke apart and plummeted to the ground. After that, it solely focused on its airborne assailants. But that didn't stop the sky from filling with a bevy of orange and blue explosions.

"The brigade captain said everyone's outside the stadium," Scarlett said, gliding in for a landing beside Igneous, whose gaze remained fixed in the distance. "Um, is everything okay?"

"Whoever's fighting that thing isn't making any more progress," Igneous said, arms crossed and right foot tapping the paved ground impatiently. "It's shooting a whole bunch of attacks that can track them."

[You really think I will let you turn my attacks against me? As if!] the pilot said. [I am just getting started!]

More orange cones filled the skies. The grovlazzle could barely make out who was actually fighting the machine anymore, losing them amidst orange explosions and red smoke. "If there's nothing else for me to do here, then I should try to help them."

"Are you crazy?" Scarlett gasped. "Even with whatever creepy powers let you fly and light stuff on fire, you can't stand up to that."

"What would you rather me do?" Igneous growled, whirling on Scarlett. "Stand here gawking like all of them." He gestured behind them both, to the fairy rapidash from before and a much larger granbull whose magenta uniform had several bars and badges on it.

"Only fools charge in when defeat is a certainty," Yiazmat chided, hovering toward the duo. "Warriors know their limits and plan accordingly."

"Tch. That another Aeonism?" Igneous scoffed.

"One of Saint Urshifu's teachings," Yiazmat said. "We all saw half that machine break apart. Whoever's already there is clearly operating with more information than we have. If any of us try to approach, we may become a liability for our unknown allies."

More explosions thundered behind them. Igneous turned around, biting his lower lip. The giant robot wasn't going down. How could it keep firing so many attacks without having to recharge or anything? It was totally ridiculous.

"Igneous," Yiazmat growled. "Do not go charging off again."

The grovlazzle's claws balled into fists. "I think I know who's fighting that battleship and I'm not turning my back on them."

Yiazmat raised a brow, but then her eyes slowly widened. "Wait. What are you implying?"

On the one hand, Igneous was glad the dragpult caught on quickly. On the other hand, Yiazmat catching on meant he had to come clean about Yuna. Something he was pretty sure she wouldn't want anyone to do, least of all to her mother.

Igneous curled and uncurled his claws. "It's Yuna and Noctum. They're part of that group in the sky."

That one got a reaction from Yiazmat. Her tail whipped at the air. Scarlett tensed. "How do you know that?"

"Because she's already fought multiple battles inside of World Ender," Igneous hastily responded. "Some of which I was there for."

"What?" Yiazmat blinked several times. "You... and Yuna... but..." Her eyes darted around. "She can't really defend herself! Why?!" The dragapult looked up in horror. "Oh, God. Yuna!" Yiazmat looked ready to bolt.

"Whoa, hang on." Scarlett waved her tail in front of Yiazmat's face. "What happened to warriors planning accordingly?"

Yiazmat's horns bristled with dragonfire. Scarlett shrank back. "I know what I said," Yiazmat growled. "But if that's really my daughter up there, I can't leave her fending for herself."

"She's not alone," Igneous said, resisting the temptation for a snide remark about her sudden attitude shift. "There are a lot of powerful pokémon with her." He wasn't about to say she was carrying a few Sages around with her. That would really set the dragpult off.

"Still. I want to support her." Yiazmat balled up her fists. "But not even Cosmic Blessing can deal with something that big."

Another flurry of orange explosions lit up the sky.

XxX​

"Agggggh!"

Yuna pinwheeled through the air, covered in even more webbing than before. It was getting hard to move her body the way she wanted. She looked down at her Soul Dew. "C'mon, stupid shadow wing thingies! You've shown up every other time our backs are against the wall. Do something!"

"Princess, from above!" Noctum cried.

The drakloak looked up and shrieked. She shot toward the ground, but the heat behind her grew stronger. Was the attack getting closer? No, it was a second web missile joining the one already giving chase to her.

"I can't get a good opening," Gene hissed, but Yuna wasn't sure from where.

[And it will stay that way until you rebels surrender!] the pilot said.

XxX​

"Well?" Igneous looked at Yiazmat. "Do we have a plan or not?"

Yiazmat turned to Scarlett. "It's up to you."

"Me?" The dragonair pointed her tail at her head. "Oh no. I haven't fought a battle in... in..."

"Not to fight," Yiazmat drifted closer. "That siren song of yours. You have to put it to use to help them." She pointed back toward the battle with her tail.

"H-Huh?" Scarlett shrank back. "I—" She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I've never tried to direct my songs toward specific people. I'm not even sure it would work like that! I could end up powering up the battleship... or whipping the crowd back there into a frenzy!"

More explosions bathed the sky in blue and orange. The crowd several meters away grew more restless.

"Try it anyway," Yiazmat ordered. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Scarlett looked down at the ground. "I can't," she whispered. "Not after last time."

Igneous squinted. In the distance, he saw Nikki clinging to Reshiram for dear life as he flew midair loops to get two fireballs to crash into each other.

"Then don't do it for our sakes," the grovlazzle said. "Do it for Nikki's."

The dragonair stiffened. "What did you just say?"

"Nikki's up there, too!" Igneous jerked his head in the machine's direction. "Fighting for her life... because she wants to see you again." He pointed a claw at Scarlett's cloak-covered torso. "She doesn't know the truth yet. She still believes you're like a sister to her."

He let those words hang in the air. Scarlett's eyes darted around. She opened and closed her mouth several times. Whatever Igneous thought she'd say, she couldn't muster it.

The grovlazzle was going to continue when Scarlett finally whispered, "She really said that?"

"Yes." Igneous stepped toward Scarlett. "The whole reason she came to Horizon was because she was worried about you. She knows you're a good person at heart. Now you have a chance to prove her right. And show your Dynamuse can be used for good."

Scarlett trembled underneath her tattered cloak. More explosions thundered in the distance. Wincing, the dragonair slithered forward.

"Okay! I... I'll try."

She looked over her shoulder again. "Um... I can move farther away from them, right? I don't want anyone to see."

Igneous nodded. He and Yiazmat formed a wall of sorts, blocking Scarlett from seeing the crowd. They moved forward cautiously. Most of the attacks remained in the air, but a few stray fireballs struck trees and dirt mounds in the distance, setting them ablaze.

"Do it for Nikki. Do it for Nikki."

Igneous didn't respond to Scarlett's whispers. She was trying to psych herself up. They were asking a lot of her. Unfairly so, now that Igneous chewed on it longer. Scarlett had been through a lot. Maybe I should say something different to her?

The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped toward Scarlett, whose head was bowed. Before Igneous could say anything, however, the dragonair's neck bauble glowed bright pink. A burst of pink light erupted from Scarlett. Igneous stumbled back in a daze, eyes screwed shut.

"What the... you summoned Starlene?!"

"Starlene?" Yiazmat's voice was full of awe. "No. It's... it's Saint Latias!"

XxX​

"Reshiram!" Yuna cried, corkscrewing away from a web missile that blew up not too far behind her. "Get Nikki to Jade!" She brushed her hand over the Soul Dew, whose glow had faded. "Someone cover them!"

Gene zipped over, whipping up a Hurricane. The intense winds proved enough to turn away a pair of web missiles and let Nikki hop safely onto Gene's back. However, the salugia squawked and suddenly lost altitude. Gene pointed his right hand down and caught her.

"It's no good. Birdbrain ain't used to having a passenger," Gene called back. "I'm grounding you two."

"What?! But we need the extra help!" Valkyrie growled.

"This isn't up for debate," Gene hissed, opening a rift underneath him and dropping Jade and Nikki straight through it.

"Then we need a new plan," Valkyrie hissed. She and Noctum rolled right. A web missile sailed past and Gene vaporized it with a burst of psychic energy before it could loop around and follow them.

The garchomp was right, though. Making the Seekerskorch smaller made it harder to get close and try anything. They couldn't keep dodging these seemingly endless volleys.

[How is this for a plan? You give up now, and your evil flunkies can get rehabilitated!] the pilot declared, before another volley of fireballs lit up the sky.

XxX​

Paradox almost slammed his headset down on his desk. "What are you blabbering about, fool?! There's no rehabilitation. They're monsters. Destroy them!"

Sticky winced. How was calling his son a fool supposed to keep him following orders?

XxX​

"Gene, this is hopeless!" Yuna flew after the mewtwo to stay clear of all the homing fireballs. "I'm tapped out. Your redirecting plan failed. We can't get close to the Seekerskorch." Her shoulders sagged. "How are we supposed to get out of this?"

"I'm thinking!" Gene hissed. "You eggheads are welcome to butt in anytime, by the way!"

"I wish I had something, but I'm lost, too," Cid said. "The Seekerskorch must have some sort of mechanism to prevent overheating. It's the only explanation I can think of for why it can unleash so many attacks without that happening."

"Delightful!" Gene's voice brimmed with mock enthusiasm.

Yuna was ready to give the mewtwo another earful when a bright crimson light erupted in the distance. "Oh, now what?!" She gripped the sides of her rectangular head.

"Dost thou not hear it?" Rayquaza asked. "Music! Of the, err, guitar variety, I believe? That is what Miss Nikki called it, correct?"

"What?" Yuna looked around. "I don't hear any—"

"Let my song... give you strength!"

"Eek!" Yuna's torso retreated into her head. That voice wasn't familiar, but it was in her head like the Sages'. "What's going on?" She looked at Gene, but the mewtwo was fixated on the crimson light in the distance.

"You hear it too, don't you?" he mumbled.

"Don't ignore the writing on the wall, yeaaaah
It's up to you, you can't let it fall
We've come too far
We're on the cusp
So don't back down
Keep the pressure on!"

Up ahead, the Seekerskorch unleashed a fresh volley of flaming web missiles. This time, however, it brought its head around to charge up another monstrous Hyper Beam in its open mouth.

"Gene! Move!" Yuna shouted. When she flew away, it was faster than she thought possible as a drakloak. It didn't make sense, wasn't she supposed to be exhausted?

"We're not gonna fade away and
Become a footnote in history.
Our hearts beating together as one
Fangs and claws ready and waiting to take you down!"

The Hyper Beam filled the crimson sky with brilliant blue... only for surging purple to split right through it.

Yuna blinked and rubbed her eyes.

No, she wasn't imagining it. A bulkier Gene with longer limbs and a Malice Crystal in each shoulder surged through the Hyper Beam, a barrier of psychic energy in front of him.

[Huh?! What the—]

"To take— to take you down!
To take— to take you dooooo-oooooo-oooown!
To take you down!"

The transformed mewtwo kept up his charge until he forced the Hyper Beam back on its attacker. The Seekerskorch flailed about in midair. Huge chunks of its face plates burst off, tumbling to the ground as flaming debris.

XxX​

"Whoa!" Jade's jaw slackened. "Did you see that?! The weird kitty got big! And grew another crystal!" She had her hands cupped over her eyes.

Nikki wasn't paying attention, however. She stared at red and white light in the distance, blinking slowly.

Spoiler

Nikki by @Chibi Pika, gifted by @Virgil134 and @Spiteful Murkrow

"That song," she whispered, looking down at her gills.

"Time ticks away like grains of sand
Our lives sealed, cruel fate slips right through our hands"

"I... I know this song!" Nikki instinctively thrust her hands out. Her lightning guitar appeared in a burst of yellow and pink. "Scarlett and I made it! She'd sing it during battle clubs in Blightsmuth while I played guitar!"

"We'll stare fate back in its ugly face, screaming our creed:
'You won't forget me! You won't forget me!'"

Before Nikki even realized it, she was moving her hands across her lightning guitar as if she was playing a real one.

She wasn't standing in a field anymore, but sitting on a stack of cardboard boxes against a grimy brick wall. Nikki held a small pink guitar in her tiny toxel hands, slowly strumming chords while an obstagoon deflected an attack from an scrafty with an X-shaped barrier. Several other dark-types whooped and thumped their limbs, cheering the name Shredder.

Beside Nikki, a dratini wriggled in delight, belting out lyrics while waving a tattered, black and white flag with her tiny tail.

Snapping back to the present, Nikki spoke without realizing it. "We're gonna be strong like him one day, right, sis?"

XxX​

"What is the meaning of this?!" Paradox darted back and forth in front of his monitor array. "Where's the footage? Why have we lost our signals?!" He whirled on Sticky. "Answer me!"

The nagandel looked down at his own console, which was a mess of static. "I... I don't know, sir. There appears to be some sort of interference."

"I can see that, you blithering numbskull!" Paradox gripped his headset tightly with his right tentacles. "W1-DG3T, status report... now!"

XxX​

Gene was a purple bullet darting around the Seekerskorch, leaving smoldering dents behind on its metallic exoskeleton.

[No! Stop! This is impossible!] Every attempt the pilot made at striking Gene with an attack from one of the remaining cannons ended with the cannon cleaved off the Seekerskorch by Gene's psychic spoon. [Y... you are the bad guy! You are not allowed to win! I have to stop you! I have to save the universe!]

Yuna's gut squirmed, but it wasn't a bad feeling. More like... something or someone calling out to her from within.

"We're not gonna fade away and
Become a footnote in history.
All this spite grows inside of us
These memories we'll throw back at you—"

The drakloak darted toward the Seekeskorch as it coiled around Gene. Its body glowed. It was clearly up to something and she needed to stop it. Even if a small voice was telling her to turn back. Even though her rational self knew that was a bad idea.

She could do this! She could make a difference!

"Cuz we are the ones
Who shape our destiny
Fighting to be free
We'll claim victory!"

Yuna punched the air with her right arm. A giant gray leg appeared in front of her and stamped the Seekerskorch. Mechanical screeching filled the air.

She punched again. Another giant gray leg appeared, denting one of the Seekerskorch's segments.

With a loud roar, Yuna kept punching. More and more gray legs pummeled the Seekerskorch's exoskeleton... until its segments began to break apart.

[No... no! I cannot— I must not— I— Father!]

XxX​

"Still no response. Still no signal," Sticky reported, frantically typing at his keyboard. The console monitor suddenly sparked. Yelping, the nagandel barely managed to duck in time to avoid shrapnel as his monitor shattered and a flurry of sparks raced across the room.

"That's enough!" Paradox removed his headset and held it in front of his face like it was a living thing he intended to strangle. "Computer, execute Type: Zodiark 0.0.1 self-destruct sequence!"

[Command acknowledged,] a feminine voice responded. [Password?]

Paradox's right eye twitched. He gripped the headset even tighter. "Why do I need a password? I'm the emperor! How about I just obliterate you instead?!"

[Password accepted. Initializing self-destruct sequence.]

XxX​

"Something's happening, Gene!" Yuna cried, noticing the Seekerskorch's head segment glowing while the rest of them fell to the ground in a massive, flaming wreckage.

"Way ahead of you!" the mewtwo responded, surging in front of the Seekerskorch's head. "Sorry, kid, but the real good guys are coming out on top this time."

He pointed his arm forward and a giant pink energy beam. It shattered the top of the Seekerskorch.

"I see the pilot!" Cid cried. "It's... Xeromus?!"

"What?!" Yuna shot forward. A purple and red blur fell toward the ground, faster than she could fly.

"No, wait, it's not quite the same. There's no mask or cloak," Cid said. "But whoever they are, they're falling fast!"

"I can see that!" Sucking in a sharp breath, Yuna instinctively stuck her right hand out. A giant, shadowy wing appeared and caught the falling pilot between three red spikes.

XxX​

"Okay, stop! Stop!" Igneous sprinted toward Scarlett and the spectral latias hovering above her. "It's over! You can stop!"

Scarlett and Latias turned to Igneous in unison. The latter evaporated in red and white mist. Igneous saw Scarlett's eyes rolling back in her head and dove forward, barely catching her before she would've struck the ground.

The dragonair blinked blearily. "D... did I do good?" she whispered.

"More than good." Igneous nodded slowly. "You did great."

As her eyes closed, a smile spread over Scarlett's face.

A sudden gust brushed the grovlazzle's backside. By the time he turned around, Yiazmat was already halfway toward the wreckage.

XxX​

Paradox stared at his static-filled monitors, still gripping the headset. "Well? What happened? Sticky, give me something!"

The naganadel had nothing. His computer was a smoldering wreck. "Sir, my terminal is—"

"I don't want excuses," the deoxys hissed. Paradox looked at the ceiling. "Computer? Status on the self-destruct sequence?"

[Loading. Loading. Please stand by.]

Paradox was ready to throw his headset at the ceiling.

[Self-destruct sequence completed successfully, Your Excellency.]

Silence. After a solid minute, Paradox turned and placed the headset on his desk. His tentacles coiled into hands that he braced on either side of his headset.

"Sticky. Call Uroboros," he said. "I want the Paradigm fully mobilized."

Without hesitation, Sticky vigorously nodded and sped toward the door.

XxX​

As the drakloak gently lowered the creature to the ground, she acknowledged its body shape was a lot like Xeromus'. But its entire torso was red and translucent, like it was made of glass.

Gene landed at the same time Yuna placed the pilot on the ground, then turned back to normal in a flash of orange and blue light. Noctum and Valkyrie landed beside him.

"What the hell was that?" Valkyrie rubbed her head. "You guys heard a rock song, too, right? It was like... if Starlene turned punk."

"I don't feel tired at all." Noctum tapped the top of his Malice Crystal. "And you!" He pointed to Gene. "I didn't know you could mega evolve!"

Gene's tail swished back and forth. "Uh, neither could I." He held his right hand up and turned it back and forth. "I wish I had an explanation, but I don't." The mewtwo shook his head. "We can talk about it later. How's that pilot?"

When he looked left, his tail abruptly stiffened. The panic was clear in his eyes. "Impossible," he whispered.

"What's impossible?" Valkyrie said, quirking a brow.

"Nothing." Gene waved her off. He knelt beside the pilot.

"Is it dead?" the garchomp wondered.

"No. Just unconscious." Gene ran a hand across the pilot's red torso. His Malice Crystal sparked and he pulled his hand back. "Yeah, we're gonna have to dig deeper into this."

"Let's gather up, first," Noctum suggested, slowly flapping his wings in place. "We need to get Jade and Nik—"

"Yuna? Yunavresca!"

The drakloak stiffened. She glanced over her shoulder.

A dragapult in sleek black armor surged toward her, a mix of shock and worry on her face.

"The hell?" Valkyrie tugged Noctum's wing. "Is that—"

Yuna managed to find her voice.

"Mom?!"

XxX​

CDL347: Giga Pursuit Unit, Seekerskorch
A prototype flying battleship for the Eternatus Troopers, fashioned to appear like a mega evolved centiskorch. With a psorexium exoskeleton and dozens of side-mounted cannons, it can unleash a devastating rain of destruction on its target. The only issue is that the battleship is presently designed for a single pilot. Controlling all the weapons has proven to be too difficult for any Eternatus Troopers, so the prototype was shelved.

Why did the emperor suddenly deploy it now? And who did he scrounge up to pilot it? Its appearance is seriously concerning...

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
Scarlett's battle song spoofs GH()ST (pronounced "ghost"), the battle theme of Viola from Bayonetta 3, with music by Tomoki Kameyama and vocals by Mikaila Delgado.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 53: Queenly Majesties​

It is unfortunate to hear about Beowolf's defeat at Necrozma's hands. But let's face it, sir, he's far from the most productive Paradigm lieutenant of the bunch. He's a five or a six in a hand where you have royals, after all. Maybe you can come up with something unimportant for him to do when he finishes regenerating.

That aside, I've done some digging based on the reports you passed along to me. I believe I can draw two conclusions. The first is rather simple: there are no records of any "Zacian" present on Etherium prior to our Benefactor's arrival. The so-called Luminous Sages did not have a Zacian in their ranks. Yet Radiant history is full of mentions of one who co-founded the kingdom and served alongside a rapidash as its first queen... and continued to serve as a figurehead for countless generations, far exceeding any realistic pokémon lifespan.

The second conclusion deals with the aforementioned Sages. Comparing the reports you provided me with Aeon scriptures and this foolish minister's knowledge of certain... legendary species returning to Etherium despite sacrificing themselves to seal our Benefactor, the math doesn't add up.

Between the original number of seals and the Sage descendants living in Etherium, one is unaccounted for. And I think it's a fairy-type, to boot.

Could it be possible the so-called Zacian these Radiants speak of is actually the missing Sage? I'll have to keep digging, but I suspect our Benefactor's energy is involved in this.

XxX​

Things passed by in a blur for Yuna. One moment her mother had her wrapped up in a hug filling the drakloak's ear frills with murmurs of "big" and "proud" and other things Yuna couldn't recall. Then the next thing she knew, she sat on a leather office chair far too big for her wispy body. A few small circular tables littered the carpeted floor in front of her. One had small water bottles. Another had a plate of berries. A third bore bars wrapped in silver foil.

Where am I? Yuna looked around, finding landscape paintings staring at her... and two more office chairs occupied by a dragapult and a black charizard. The former stared intently at the latter's belly.

"Did you black out?" Reshiram whispered in the back of her head.

Yeah. Seeing Mom... I guess it shocked me so much I blanked.

"Gene gathered everyone up and said he needed to bring the pilot we captured to Cyril right away," Reshiram explained. "Nikki was holding a dragonair — I think the one she was looking for all this time? — and your edgy grovyle friend is now half-salzzle, too. Noctum suggested we go somewhere to recuperate, and your mother demanded we be sent to a specific building in Scale City. So, that's where we are."

Yuna stared at the floor, blinking slowly. She supposed that made sense. But Scale City? The name was... vaguely familiar. Her mother had mentioned it before, back when she lived at home. Did that mean they were in Aeon?

"The group kinda split up after that," Reshiram continued. "Valkyrie went off on her own, Nikki took the dragonair away, and Noctum brought you here. Which just about covers everything."

The drakloak silently thanked Reshiram for the recap. She remained slouched in her chair, unsure of what to say to her mother. It hadn't been that long since she bid the dragapult farewell, and yet it felt like an eternity had passed.

"Noctum told me what happened."

Squeaking, Yuna squirmed in her chair, struggling to sit upright. Her bulkier, rectangular head was harder to prop up than she was used to. "W-What do you mean?"

"That you were both sucked inside World Ender— sorry, Eternatus." Yiazmat slowly sat up in her seat. "That you are releasing Sages from their seals and gathering them in our family heirloom." She locked eyes with the Soul Dew. Yuna couldn't tell if she was upset.

"Ah." Yuna subconsciously pawed at the Soul Dew. "It's... complicated."

"I can tell." Yiazmat looked away, biting her lower lip. "Though that explains one thing."

Noctum leaned forward. "Which is?"

"When your grandmother gave that to me, she told me, 'One day, its purpose will become clear.'" Yiazmat rose from her chair and floated toward the cabinet on Yuna's left. "She said she heard it from her mother who heard it from her mother who heard it from her mother." She put her hands on the top of the cabinet, sighing. "That one line percolated through our family for God only knows how long. Certainly long before we assumed control of Aeon."

"Wait, so you knew this was important?" Yuna's Soul Dew had regained some of its luster, but it was still recharging from its prolonged use.

"I honestly thought your grandmother was being superstitious," Yiazmat admitted. She opened the cabinet's glass door and pulled out a tray with a couple of glasses and a green bottle. It hissed when she opened it. The dragapult poured herself a glass of fizzy water. She paused with her right hand wrapped around the glass. "Can you summon Saint Reshiram right now?"

"Uhh... not exactly?" Yuna ran her left hand across the gem's cool glass. "It has a limit. And that battle kinda reached it. Maybe I can... do a tiny version." Her face scrunched up in concentration. That fiery blaze in the back of her mind was as slippery as boiling noodles. She managed to latch on and tug.

A small, translucent Reshiram formed on the arm of her office chair. He looked around. "Hello." Reshiram waved awkwardly. "I, uh, guess you're Yuna's mom?"

A croak got caught in Yiazmat's throat. She put a hand to her mouth, then hastily sipped some sparkling water. "Goodness. Is that nasally voice... because of his size?"

"No? I always sound like this." Reshiram puffed his cheeks out.

"I see." Yiazmat set the glass down. "Very well. I want you and Yuna to listen carefully to me."

The drakloak tensed. This didn't sound good.

"Your father and I went back and forth on whether to share this... but it's too pressing to discuss this matter with him." Sighing, Yiazmat tucked her head down. "Yuna, you're not my daughter by blood."

It didn't sink in for Yuna at first. She saw Noctum slump back in his chair, jaw open in disbelief, but didn't acknowledge him. Yuna shook her head. "No. You told me my twin was a bad egg. Which was probably related to why I was so sick when I was younger."

"We lied," Yiazmat flatly said. She took another sip of sparkling water. "Your father... found you while leading a construction team building a trench to divert magma flow from one of the volcanoes. You were not an egg... but rather a silhouette encased in a crystal." The dragapult hesitantly glanced over her shoulder. "Much like the one in Noctum's gut."

Yuna glanced at Noctum, who stared at his Malice Crystal in disbelief. He didn't know either. No way the black charizard could put on such a convincing act for all these years. She met Reshiram's gaze. He didn't have to say anything to her. The look in his eyes made it clear: Yiazmat spoke the truth.

It had to be the truth. Why else would she say that? It made no sense for her to craft such a bizarre lie. So, why did Yiazmat lie about it all these years? Did she really have that little faith in Yuna's ability to handle the truth? Why make her believe she had a twin sibling she would never meet?

Too many thoughts twisted themselves around in Yuna's head. It didn't make sense to her. "Why?" was all the drakloak could manage.

"You'd already had such a rough time of things," Yiazmat whispered, tracing a claw along the rim of her glass. "With how sick you had been... I thought it would just hurt you more to hear that we weren't your real parents." She shut her eyes. "Your father disagreed with me, but ultimately ceded the subject."

Of course he did. Her parents were good partners, but Calcifer often deferred to Yiazmat. Yuna wished he had tried asserting himself more on this subject. "I don't... understand," the drakloak muttered. "Avoid hurting me? You had me convinced my sibling died before they could hatch! How is that—"

She gripped the sides of her head. That same feeling from the battle was back. Something— no, someone trying to push themselves through her ectoplasm. It wasn't a Sage, that was for sure. Yuna ignored Reshiram's concerned look and turned away from them.

"In hindsight... I made the wrong decision," Yiazmat said. "And I am deeply sorry for that, Yunavresca."

The dragapult sounded sincere. But sorry was just a word. It didn't change anything. Yuna curled her hands into the leather armrest. "What about the throne?" she said. "Everyone thinks I'm next in line. That's why you sent me here." Yuna dug her hands deeper into the leather. "Is that a lie, too?"

"No."

"What?" That made even less sense. Why would Yuna ascend to the throne if she wasn't truly the queen's daughter?

"I couldn't care less about a bloodline," Yiazmat said. "You remember your history lessons, yes? Our family has only ruled Aeon for five generations. You're still my eldest daughter. The throne is yours."

Was that supposed to comfort Yuna? She glanced over her shoulder. Her mother stared remorsefully at the autumn hill landscape hanging above the drink cabinet.

"I completely understand if you need time and space," the dragapult said. She finished the glass of sparkling water. "As Bahamut says: 'time may not heal all wounds, but it can at least begin to close them.'"

Yuna smacked her hands against the armrest without realizing it. Noctum sat up straight in his chair, Malice Crystal flickering nervously.

"Don't drag him into this," Yuna growled.

Yiazmat blinked slowly. "What?"

"Don't fall back on those worthless, two-faced platitudes," Yuna hissed. A tiny, rational voice in the back of her head told her this wasn't worth getting upset over, but Yuna ignored it. After all, Yiazmat piled on another lie, even if she wasn't aware of it. "Guess Noctum didn't give you the whole story."

The dragapult turned away from the cabinet, tilting her large, triangular head. "Come again? What whole story?"

"Bahamut's a sham!" Yuna smacked the armrest and floated off her chair. "Aeonism is a sham. A bunch of lies and half-truths cobbled together with paste and rope!" She saw her mother ready to retort and her tail lashed at the air. That inky black bubbled in her leg nubs. "Every Needle I've pulled... has shown me visions of the past. When Bahamut and the Sages were alive.

"They're not gods. They were average pokémon like you and me who took jobs working for Bahamut," Yuna continued while the darkness spread to her torso. "And when they were tired of it, Bahamut found replacements and passed on their powers. There is no Saint Reshiram... because there's been a bunch of 'em!"

Yiazmat looked down. Reshiram shrank even smaller. "G... guilty," he said, laughing nervously.

"And Bahamut himself? He was a terrible person! Spiteful, temperamental, and paranoid." Yuna gripped the sides of her rectangular head and shook it. "Those other worlds the Book of Aeon mentions? He ravaged cities! Sank islands!"

The drakloak's breathing finally slowed. Her body trembled. "We... we worship a lie. We worship a monster." She sank back onto the chair and turned on her side.

Silence permeated the room. Slowly, the darkness retreated down her torso and leg nubs, like water draining out of a bathtub. Yuna expected Yiazmat to say something. Anything. But she stayed quiet. So did Noctum and Reshiram.

The tiny voice from before told her she blew up over nothing. Yiazmat still loved her and she was trying to show her that.

Yuna pushed those thoughts away. She didn't want to acknowledge them. She wanted... privacy. Privacy she couldn't get because of that infernal Soul Dew binding two souls to her.

... Maybe it was a good thing someone else was pulling Needles. She wouldn't have to deal with any other voices in her head that could pop out of her chest at a moment's notice.

And what about Leo? Yuna still had him to worry about. What was he even doing, stuck waiting on Bogdan with the others? She wasn't really going to introduce him as her son to Yiazmat, was she?

"Go," Yuna whispered.

"Princess?" Noctum leaned forward.

"Just go. Both of you." Yuna curled up tighter. "I can't. Not right now."

She couldn't see them with her face pressed firmly against the corner of the giant leather chair. But she heard shuffling, then a door creaking open.

"I'm sorry I hid the truth from you, Yuna. I still love you, though. That will never change."

Yuna picked her head up. Yiazmat looked back at her, tail crinkled with worry. She smiled weakly at the drakloak, but Yuna lowered her head back on the arm rest and closed her eyes.

Deep down, Yuna believed her mother loved her. But it didn't leave her feeling any less empty inside.

XxX​

Vortex knew Dazzels had holding cells. Rarely used holding cells, judging by the dust clinging to the walls of the sterile gray interrogation room the charizard found himself in. He squirmed in his cold, metal chair. Vortex's gray jumpsuit itched something fierce and the shackles around his wrists and ankles were no better.

"You should count your blessings," the dusknoir floating toward the opposite end of the gray table said. Vegna turned a file over repeatedly in his hand. "Under normal circumstances, we'd jam a fire ring in that snout of yours to stop any funny business. I've heard it described as uncomfortable. Suffocating, even."

Vortex curled his fingers — the Radiant Guard applied adhesive padding to his claws before tossing him in his cell — around the jumpsuit's rough fabric. Vegna was saying that to get under his scales. Because he knew the reason why Vortex didn't need a fire ring. He wouldn't suffer the indignity of getting toyed with. "We both know what you want to say, so say it."

"Very well." Vegna opened the file, his red eye flickering in amusement. "A genuine case of imprisonerre. Never thought I'd live to see the day." He paused to chuckle. "Or unlive, depending on your definition of ghost-types." The dusknoir set the file on the table. "It certainly explains a few things.

"Forgive the discourtesy of my attempts at playing armchair psychologist." Vegna drifted down until he was right next to the table's edge. "Your drive to build Polaris into what it is today... I'm quite sure you were compensating for your inability to use attacks. To succeed in business where you failed at the elements. To have society see you as a success. After all... it wouldn't matter if you were influential enough, would it? Money can make the world go 'round, and all that jazz."

There. Vegna put it out in the open. Vortex drew his lips back in a snarl. "Trying to dig up a motive for my 'crimes,' I see." The charizard leaned forward. "We both know it's pointless. This is a farce. Her Em— Isola is scapegoating me for all of this. Conjuring up charges out of thin air to suit her narrative."

He placed his shackled hands on the table. "You're an intelligent 'mon. Surely you realize that if I'm truly guilty of high treason, High Inquisitor Justine would handle the case." Vortex's own words echoed in his head. He had plenty of time to draw his conclusions. Even if they terrified him, it did Vortex no good to keep them to himself. "The only reason you're here... is because you're the Grim Reaper."

Vegna stayed silent. His eye pulsated with red light. Another intimidation tactic.

"She wants me dead," Vortex said, a bitterness to his words. "And while she could easily find me guilty and drag me off to get the needle, that takes time. Time I could use to talk." He tapped his fingers against the table. "It would be far easier for her if I were to... suddenly suffer an unfortunate accident. Just like Benedict. Just like every defendant who steps foot in the Reaper's court. That's the real reason you're here, isn't it?"

The dusknoir's expression didn't change. He eventually pivoted to his right. "Rage, fury, intense indignation in cataracts of fire, blood and gall. In whirlwinds of sulfurous smoke and enormous forms of energy; all the seven deadly sins of the soul."

Vortex rolled his eyes. He knew Vegna's fondness for strange crypticisms. Supposedly they were poem stanzas, but they read like nothing one could find on Etherium. The charizard wasn't outwardly impressed, but his heart was hammering. It sure sounded like the Reaper was here to kill him. There were no cameras. Vortex hadn't seen any Radiant Guard in what felt like hours.

"You truly have no remorse for your actions, do you?" Vegna said, still looking at the dust-covered wall to his right.

"I did nothing wrong," Vortex growled. His tail flame would have sparked, but it was covered by a special cone. "You said it yourself: what good is a charizard that can't breathe fire? Or curry the wind to their favor?" He leaned forward further. "I built myself up from nothing using my wits and cunning. There's nothing criminal about that. I saw a way to make Radiance better and I seized the opportunity. The wealth and notoriety that came with it were what I deserved."

"Nothing criminal." Vegna turned back to the table, flipping through pages. "Even as the pollution from your energy production wiped entire cities off the map, you knowingly hid the true source of ether from Parliament, the public, and the crown."

"No. No, you stop right there." Vortex held up his shackled hands. "Who do you think it was who told me about World Ender still being inside the planet in the first place?" His nostrils flared. "Why, Her Eminence, Queen Isola, of course."

"Really?" Vegna crossed his arms. "That's your defense?"

"It's the truth," Vortex countered. "The original ether plants used supplies of crystals I had gathered. Isola took notice. I saw an opportunity to spread my ideas to all of Radiance. She recognized the potential... and then assured me there would be ways to counter any repercussions from tapping into the distortion."

"And when this wasn't the case?" Vegna's red eye crackled. "You chose to stay silent?"

"When it wasn't the case... the idea for Icarus came about," Vortex said, tensing up. Vegna was losing his patience. The end was coming, so the charizard had to finish saying his piece quickly. "A promise of unlimited energy... and an end to the distortion. Isola was the one who discovered the Icarus specimen and had Tesla locate it. We were confident in its capabilities."

He sat up straight in his chair. "It all goes back to Isola. I'm sure of it. I chose to sit on that information as my insurance policy. You need to have a good insurance policy to succeed in business. I can't expect a lawyer to understand that." Vortex gripped the edge of the table with his padded fingers. "But it's the truth! I combed through Horizon Academy's records after becoming Chancellor. Isola... is not the same person she was as a student.

"Princess Isola loved painting and gardening... a-and she braided her hair and her tail in the most childish way one could think of." Vortex could hear his nerves showing through. Vegna's stoicism had finally cracked his facade. "But most importantly... she was due to get engaged to a male primarina. It was going to happen at the conclusion of the Crowne Cup. The previous chancellor was helping to plan the engagement with Isola in secret."

Vortex looked down and shook his head. "But it never happened. Instead, she dumps the primarina and, a few weeks later, all the tabloids are reporting she's taken Justine as a consort and offered her the position of High Inquisitor when she'd never shown the slightest interest in ladies! And those hobbies I mentioned? Tell me, have you ever heard of her engaging in them at all?" The charizard scooched himself to the edge of his seat. "No! They're not even mentioned in media interviews! Doesn't that strike you as the least bit suspicious?"

He had nearly slid off his seat. Vortex propped himself against the edge of the table. "It's not just her, either. Don't you find it strange Radiance has only ever had queens sit upon the throne? Not a single king in the entire lineage!" He would've thrown his arms apart in exaggeration if they weren't shackled.

"You're an inquisitor, for pity's sake!" Vortex exclaimed. "You can't seriously believe Shimmer is the first male to be born in the royal family's history, can you? You have no idea how much I've had to bend over backwards for him at his mothers' orders." He began counting on his fingers. "Fixing grades. Sweeping misconduct allegations under the rug thanks to his... poor choice of behavior in public settings with and without that sylveon by his side. Rigging the Crowne Cup challenges to ensure his team would cruise to victory. But I went through with it all because I believed in my vision for the future of this kingdom— no, the future of the planet! And Isola returns that favor by stabbing me in the back?!"

Vortex slouched over, panting heavily. Somehow, he'd gotten his entire spiel out there. Vegna had not once interrupted him. The dusknoir merely floated there, bathing Vortex in red light from his eye. The charizard slid himself back into his seat. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he muttered. "The wealthiest 'mon in all of Radiance ranting like a raving mad lunatic before the Grim Reaper."

More silence.

"Say something, damn it!" Vortex stomped his shackled feet against the metal floor.

"In fierce anguish and qunchless flames, to the deserts and rocks He ran raging to hide, but He could not."

Vortex tensed. Vegna's eye... had shifted blue as the spoke. The dusknoir closed up his folder. "Before you conspired with the crown to open Citadark Isle, I worked my way up the penal ranks to become an executioner." He picked the folder up and returned to turning it over and back in his right hand. "But after learning about the... changing political landscape, I chose to attend law school and later join the Ministry of Justice. Tell me... why do you think that is?"

The charizard tensed up. He... he knows? He knows there's something wrong? But then why would he willingly work for a broken system? Unless... he was benefitting from that broken system, too! Just like Vortex!

He had to make one last plea. One final attempt to sway the Reaper to his side and—

The interrogation room door slammed open. "That will be enough, Mister Vegna."

Vegna and Vortex looked over in unison. Demerzel floated in the doorway, but that wasn't his voice they'd heard. No, instead he floated to the side... and an icy chill entered the room. Vegna's eye sparked. "What manner of trickery is this, Clown Prince?"

Vortex tilted his head. That can't be right. Vegna addressed someone that looked vaguely like Shimmer, but too many things were wrong. His horn was far longer, with streaks of icy white along it. He had a flowing, sparkling white mane and several glittery white tails where his puffy pink one was supposed to be.

(Art by Zoeoie)

"That's Prince Shimmer, Inquisitor." The ponyta narrowed his eyes. "I suggest you address me as such if you value your job."

He never spoke with such conviction. And Shimmer was practically at eye level with Vortex's standing height! What had happened to him?

"You're dismissed, Vegna." Demerzel gestured to the open doorway.

Vegna's eye darkened. He tensed up and Vortex noticed a sudden ripple in his ectoplasm. "I'm not finished questioning the accused."

"You are now." Shimmer leveled his long horn at Vegna. The room grew even colder. "On my authority."

The dusknoir floated in silence, then tucked his folder underneath his right arm. A right arm that Vortex swore look different than it did a mere minute ago. The charizard squinted. Were those faint white lines in his ectoplasm? Almost like tiny fissures Vortex would get between his scales when they got chafed after a night of entertainment.

... No, Vortex had to be seeing things. A ghost couldn't have anything like that.

"Am I to be escorted out, then?" Vegna asked.

"You are." Shimmer walked behind Vegna, keeping his horn levied. "Move. Now." He followed Vegna out of the room. The door slammed shut behind the two. Demerzel folded his nubby arms under his robe and turned to Vortex.

"Here to gloat, are you?" the charizard growled. "You did something to Shimmer, didn't you?" There was no way someone could undergo a change like that.

"Actually, you did." A slight smile tugged at Demerzel's lips. "Your company and its lovely pollution." He crossed his lanky legs. "The good prince, distraught over the loss of his dear friends and having learned that he, like you, is nothing but a runt, chose to subject himself to a full course of World Ender's distortion." Demerzel shook his obnoxiously large head. "I figured you, of all people, would admire such conviction."

Vortex wasn't believing that for a second. "I don't know if you're some sleeper agent for Aeon... or you have your own agenda. Whatever it is, you'll never achieve it." He raised his shaking, shackled hands and rested them on his chest. "Look at me. I'm the proof. You've risen political ranks quickly because you did something to curry Isola's favor... and now she's just stringing you along. And when she has no further use for you," he dropped his hands onto his lap, wincing from the heavy shackles, "she'll get rid of you. Like she's doing to me."

Demerzel stroked his chin with his right hand. "I suppose that's not an... unreasonable conclusion to draw from this. But really now..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head, sighing. "If you are truly such a skilled entrepreneur, you should have planned for such an occurrence." He floated back and forth at the other end of the table. "You were playing the long game. Introducing all these 'conveniences' into the world designed to make your company and, by extension, you beloved by the people. To the point where the crown could never do anything to touch you lest they risk massive public outcry."

The charizard looked down at his lap, blinking slowly. He gripped the fabric of his jumpsuit again, brow furrowing. Demerzel repeatedly claimed he was a mutant whimsicott. Exposed to the distortion. Did that mean...

"You're working for them," he whispered, unable to look back up at Demerzel. "You're not an agent for Aeon, you're an agent for World Ender!"

Demerzel sighed again. "You're entitled to think whatever you want. But I'm not interested in power or public admiration. I truly believe it's long past time for Radiance and Aeon to bury the hatchet. Unite against a shared enemy. Consider it... a parting gift for this sad, sorry little rock."

Parting gift? What did Demerzel even mean by that?

"Your friend Tesla had some positively fascinating memories rattling around in that swollen head of his," Demerzel continued. "These genesect you two planned to replace the Radiant Guard with? Quite interesting. I do hope you don't mind if I activate them."

Vortex's eyes barely had time to widen before an invisible force gripped his head and pulled it up to look Demerzel in the eyes.

"In fact, I hope you don't mind if I comb over all of Tesla's... facilities," he said, a cheerful smile on his face. "There's a lot of value sitting there, after all. I'd hate for it to waste away because Isola decided to throw you both under the bus."

This was bad. The charizard struggled to even get his mouth open an issue a retort. Demerzel's psychic grasp was too strong. Had the mutant... really gone through Tesla's memories and seen all the boltund's projects? There had to be ones Vortex knew nothing about! But why bother admitting that out loud?

Did... did Demerzel know the Reaper was coming for Vortex? Is that why he was here? To make sure he could get his paws on Vortex before the Reaper could claim him as his next victim?!

"Now then." Demerzel cleared his throat. "Shall we begin?"

The pressure on Vortex's head intensified. Even without any attacks, Vortex could tolerate heat. But this pressure quickly turned to an unbearable burning pain. The charizard couldn't even scream. Demerzel had complete control of his whole head.

The burning pain grew and receded in waves. No doubt from Demerzel delving deeper into the recesses of Vortex's mind. His vision grew blurry. There was nothing the charizard could do. No way to fight back or cry for help.

Then, for a few brief seconds, the blurriness gave way to something else entirely.

A golden dragon of light looked around at multiple smaller brown and emerald creatures that looked like they were made entirely of hexagons. They trained arm cannons and strips of multicolored hexagonal scales on the dragon. All the while, a few riolu and lucario with white and gold fur looked at him. Some with tears in their eyes. Others with fangs bared as they hurled their frustrations at him. Begging them to see all the good their grandfather had done for them. That he had made a mistake calling in these zygarde.

With a sharp gasp, Vortex fell forward. His head smacked against the cold metal of the interrogation room's table. Vortex's heart hammered in his chest, his breath ragged.

"Y... you..." Vortex struggled to blink away his double vision. Get two Demerzels back into one. "Wh... o are..."

"Shhh." Demerzel leaned in and pressed a nubby paw to Vortex's snout. "I have what I need." A pleasant smile spread across his face. "And since you were so cooperative, I'll leave you with a special gift. I know how frustrated your impresonerre makes you. I did just sift through your memories, after all. So, how about... I give you that fire you've so desperately desired?"

Vortex's eyes suddenly widened. A psychic grip forced his head up once again. Demerzel placed a strange red square against his snout. Vortex crossed his eyes and, for a brief second, saw a message carved into it.

The power of defeated giants infuses this Plate.

Then the square disappeared in a flicker of orange light. Vortex's nostrils tingled, like he'd huffed some bright powder. His head slammed back on the desk as Demerzel released his psychic grip.

"The changes won't happen instantaneously. But when they do begin, you'll know." Demerzel turned to the door, opening it with a flick of his wrist. "In the meantime, I would advise you not to think too hard on, well, anything. Your mind's in a fragile place right now. And I'd hate to see you end up a vegetable like the good doctor."

Vortex heard hoofbeats.

"We're leaving," Shimmer said.

"And Vegna?"

"I saw something interesting," Shimmer replied. "When he thought he was safely away from me... he braced himself against the side of the front staircase, talking about being on a timer and having to 'find that mewtwo.'"

"Oh? Did something happen?" Demerzel's voice grew distant, but Vortex could make out one final thing.

"Part of his body dissolved away... leaving holes in his arms and hands."

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, doing a bit of an on-and-off migration of reviews across platforms. But when I first started putting things together for this review it was still technically your birthday for -checks notes- an hour and 48 minutes, so that seemed like as good a time as any to stop falling behind further with this story since it sounded like things were about to get really, really lit from where I left off.

So picking right up with…

Chapter 51

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Crimson skies marked the start of the Darkest Day. The heavens bled as World Ender set its sights upon our sacred lands, its size without compare. The people, gripped by fear and horror, turned their plights upon Bahamut, our God.

"Save us, please! You must drive the invader back and restore the light!"

Knowing Bahamut, there's a nonzero chance that he summoned Eternatus to Etherium in the first place.

Bahamut recognized their pleas. For this land was His home as well. And all were His people, whether they followed His teachings or not. Thus did He summon His Sages and face down the great daemon blotting out the heavens.

But even with the hope of the land behind Him, victory would not be His to take.

From the Book of Aeon

Oh, so we really are going to have the BD1 boss music play at some point in this story, huh? Since it certainly would've been fitting for that moment in the Book of Aeon, even if it's obviously not a reliable account there.

Getting back to the surface required taking a different waypoint that would put the newly-established bureau in Vellguarde. Igneous was surprised his father hadn't shut down all the waypoints leading directly into cities in the wake of Venish's ongoing crisis. Was that waypoint in danger? Had Kyoko shut it down when she entered the safe house?

Narrator:

... Feh. Not even worth asking her, Igneous thought, leaning against the glass door of the small building that housed the Ryujin's Vellguarde waypoint. He stared at the wooden desk and cabinets of the rundown lobby across from him, tapping a claw impatiently.

No, it was really, really worth asking her.

Though now I have the mental image of these Waypoint lobbies playing elevator music in them.

How long did Yiazmat and Scarlett need? They had already watched news footage back at Ryujin HQ showing the baccer stadium in the southeast now served as a temporary staging area for those who fled Venish. And Igneous knew he would have to take them there. The longer they waited, the closer sunrise got.

Wait, is Igneous not able to just wear the holowear equivalent of a bedsheet ghost outfit so that way he looks like a normal Grovyle again? Since you'd think that he'd default to trying to do something like that if at all possible.

Finally, he spotted a shadow amidst the dark lobby. Then another, narrower shadow. Yiazmat opened the building's inner door and held it for Scarlett. She had a long, tattered cloak draped over her. It made her look bulkier and hid her facial features, sure, but it didn't exactly hide her entire figure.

"Sorry," Scarlett muttered. "Had trouble finding a good cloak."

Igneous: "How is that not going to make her stand out even more?" >.<
Kyoko: "Look, clothing is the norm in Radiance, she'll at least stand out less than going around as a draconic dart-thrower." >_>;

"A pity your kind can't learn Minimize," Yiazmat said, shaking her head solemnly. "Then you could shrink down and hide in one of my horns."

... Wait, just how much does Minimize shrink a Pokémon in this setting anyways?

"The same horn your kind shoots your offspring out of?" Igneous said, a brow raised.

"Dragapult haven't done that in battle since the days of Bahamut," Yiazmat retorted, narrowing her eyes. "Save the snark for after we find my daughter."

Wouldn't have guessed that, though I suppose that would help with cutting down childhood mortality among Dreepy line 'mons in this setting and explains why the kids stayed home in that sequence of Yiazmat gearing up to head out.

"Fine." Igneous shoved the front door open with his shoulder and held it for the ladies. They headed out onto the smoothly paved street. The grovlazzle shut the door, revealing it was actually one-way glass. "Stay close to me and follow my directions. Got it?"

Since, you know. Your decision-making kinda got you turned into a quadraplegic and then into a fusion by an evil sword. But you do you, Igneous.

"As long as you're polite with those directions, dearie," Yiazmat replied, an eerily sweet smile on her face.

A chill ran down Igneous' spine. Is she really Yuna's mom?

I'm pretty sure that she's not, but you don't know that at this point in time, Igneous.

As it turned out, a quiet walk made it easy for Igneous to give polite directions. Vellguarde's well-paved roads, though cold against his scaly feet, were deserted. None of the stone buildings with their pointed spires had lights on. Sure, people were probably sleeping, but the grovlazzle expected to see something other than streetlights in a supposedly busy city.

Nice Bayo3 song drop there.

Igneous: "Oh yeah, that's not ominous and foreboding at all there."

Yet the further they went, the more nothing they encountered. Even streetside bars boasting business hours late into the night had their doors locked and their lights off.

"Does this city not have anything for nocturnal pokémon?" Yiazmat looked around. "I was told such accommodations existed the last time I visited."

Scarlett: "Maybe there's a curfew in effect right now? Things have been going kinda crazy in Radiance since... well, everything in Venish happened."
Kyoko: "Wouldn't that have shown up on the news broadcasts earlier, though?"

"It does." Igneous crossed his arms, eyes darting from their sidewalk to the one opposite them. "The baccer stadium's pretty new and there wasn't enough space to build it up in the commercial district. So, they made it near a residential district. Still..."

"Maybe there's a curfew in effect?" Scarlett whispered, a slight tremble to her voice. "Because of what happened in Venish?"

Man, can I call 'em or what? :V

So, the grovlazzle wasn't the only one unnerved. "Where's the Radiant Guard, then?" he said. "Someone would have to enforce the curfew. And they'd have been on us by now."

Igneous: "... Is it just me, or is everyone getting a bad feeling about all this at the moment?"

Scarlett: "No, no. This is creepy and weird for me, too." ._.

At that point, Yiazmat stopped floating ahead of them. "Valid points." She backed underneath an awning, clasping her hands together. "As much as I want to find Yuna, walking into some sort of trap accomplishes nothing." She glanced up. "Perhaps a quick bit of aerial surveillance?"

Kyoko: "Queenie, the entire point of you going around in that cloak is to avoid drawing attention to yourself. How does flying up into the middle of the sky not do that?" >_>;
Yiazmat: "Look, I don't see you making any other suggestions right now!"

The ground rumbled. Red light flashed in the distance. Igneous tensed, but instead of screams, he heard... applause?

The town's been brainwashed, hasn't it?

"What was that?" Scarlett squeaked, coiling up under the same awning as Yiazmat.

"It looked like an energy surge," Yiazmat said, narrowing her eyes. "Can you fly?"

"Me?" Scarlett pointed her tail at her face. "I, well, yes, but it's been quite some time." She pulled her cloak back to show her dulled scales. "They gave me some vitamins and minerals, but I'm not sure if that gives me my full strength back."

Oh, so Scarlett has "Alice Problems", huh?

"I see. One moment." Yiazmat reached into a pocket and produced a few tiny blue gelatin pieces.

"Are those... gummy candies?" Scarlett's rounded snout twitched.

At first, I thought those were Exp Candies from their design. Though considering this story's penchant for having franchise concepts under alt-names, I guess they could still be Exp Candies.

"They're energy gummies," the dragapult explained. "We grow them for times when we have to venture deep into the mountains and can't take food stores with us." She leaned forward. "Open up."

Wait, you can grow gummis in this world? Like off a plant? .-.

Scarlett tensed. "I'm not so sure I should e—"

Yiazmat shoved the gummies in while Scarlett was speaking. The dragonair's eyes widened incredulously but she chewed and swallowed them. Igneous wanted to give Yiazmat the business for that move, but that desire evaporated the moment Scarlett's tiny wings unfurled to their full sizes and flapped in place.

"I... huh?" Scarlett blinked in surprise. "What the hell's in those gummies?!"

Narrator:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AuSdjrDG2c

"Aeon secret. Now follow me."

The dragapult scooped Igneous up, ignoring his protests, and carried him into the air. They soared over the pointed rooftops in a matter of seconds and headed further south. Wingbeats behind them confirmed that, even out of practice, Scarlett could follow them. Guess there really was something special in those gummies.

Would recommend splitting the dialogue off from the rest of the paragraph. Though boy am I feeling pretty confident in my prediction that those gummis are basically packed full of drugs, since it's giving off some major "just popped some amphetamines" vibes right now.

"Slow down!" the dragonair pleaded. "This is... harder than it used to be!"

With a large, metal dome looming in front of them, Yiazmat landed on one of the rooftops, dropping Igneous on its stone tiles. The grovlazzle surveyed the baccer stadium. Though it had lights on, they were yellow and blue. The energy came from elsewhere. But where?

Scarlett: "We're going to regret finding out the answer in like 5 seconds, aren't we?"

A sudden pain gripped his head. "Nngrk." Igneous clutched his right temple. Warm. No, hot! Like back in the hospital?

Ah, so Ahsen's calling in a favor now, huh?

He kept his eyes open and looked right. There were people. Small specks walking to his left.

"Who's that?"

The grovlazzle turned left. Yiazmat stared at a wooden podium in the distance. Though too far for Igneous to properly make out who was standing atop it, he instinctively tensed up. The hot pain flashed through his head again.

Kyoko: "Um, Chiaki. Are you doing alright right now?"

Igneous: "P-Perfectly fine at the moment!"

"The ether you believe in will betray you! Rain fury upon your city! But Natus can shield you from it. Accept His love and build something greater as one."

As one.

As one.

AS ONE.

Oh, so the city is being brainwashed at the moment. By Xeromus, no less.

Igneous doubled over in pain. His back burned. The volcarona wings he spawned at the hospital burst out of his back in surges of orange fire.

"It's him."

Kyoko: "'Perfectly fine', my ass! Chiaki, what the hell?!"

Igneous: "Look, I'll explain later, alright? Point is that we've got a fight inbound right now!"

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Scarlett cried. "What about keeping a low profile?!"

Yeah, that plan's thoroughly dead and buried now even if the Bayo3 music isn't just casually blaring from out of nowhere at the moment. Hope you're a good improviser, Scarlett.

But Igneous had already leapt from the roof, surging forward on his fiery wings. The figure atop the podium came into view with gray, beady eyes sparkling through the heavy, stone helmet encasing them.

Mood music:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLs3CoxBvVc

Xeromus: "You flatter me, but I am a mere omen. Even if that will be all that is necessary to stop your interference."

Flames shrouded Igneous as he slammed into Xeromus. The grovlazzle continued forward, the momentum of the blow carrying Xeromus as far away from the assembled crowd as possible. When the attack at last fizzled out, Xeromus dropped down in the middle of a barren field while Igneous remained airborne. The burning under his scales hadn't gone away. And that was on purpose.

Now Igneous was sure Xeromus and Ahsen were working together. Why else would the powers he got from the glitch react this way?

Igneous: "... I'm suddenly starting to feel really worried about what on earth I signed up for from that whole obvious 'deal with the devil' back at the hospital."

"Heh. Keh heh." Xeromus broke down coughing. "Amazing. That you would treat a lowly omen like me to the powers born of your metamorphosis."

"Shut up!" Igneous summoned flaming leaf blades at his sides. "I've had enough of your garbage. I'm not letting you hurt anyone else!"

Xeromus: "One: it's liberation from this sorry state of affairs. Two: are you really going to pull this on me when it was you that destroyed-"

Igneous: "Shut. UP!"

"Hurt?" Xeromus seemed genuinely shocked. "Think nothing of the sort. I only seek to spread the joy of Natus' love! To let it blanket the world in a protective cloak!"

Ah yes. How "joyful" there.

Igneous lunged for Xeromus in a burst of fiery speed. He stood his ground, however, erupting in a crimson glow. The grovlazzle's leaf blades clanged off something hard.

An espeon's small, pink form melted into a white cloud with a pink figure riding atop it.

Oh, this is Nova's stalker lover and Xeromus really is Nova, but brainwashed, isn't he?

The flames died down around Igneous' arms he staggered back, taking in the view of a crimson, shield-shaped canine head. It fixed empty yellow eyes on him before dissolving into chains that wrapped around Xeromus' legs.

Oh, so Xeromus is just casually slinging around Zamazenta's spirit, huh? Or at least I assume that's the implication based off the Espeon from earlier.

"You see the rifts in the sky, don't you? A grand union is upon us!" Xeromus declared, holding his helmeted head up. "Where Natus' love will shower everyone. No matter how big or small. Weak or strong. Poor or rich. Human or pokémon."

... I just realized, but if Xeromus weren't a guy, this would be scarily alike a few moments with Jena in Astral Chain right now. Helps that it's also a game made by PG.

Human? Igneous tried to reignite his leaf blades to no avail. Had that barrier sapped some of his strength?

Igneous: "Now you're just making words up here!"
Xeromus: "Oh, you poor deluded soul. Don't worry, after embracing Natus' love, you too will be lifted out of ignorant darkness."

"Natus offers the same love for everyone. A love brimming with equality," Xeromus continued. "Yet too many sides want to twist that love into something horrid! I only want people to see the truth with their own eyes and ears!"

Ah yes, the equality of the grave. Only the best equality out there. /s

"No, you want to poison people with deluded thoughts!" Igneous surprised himself when he spat out a mixture of flames and Bullet Seeds. Bright orbs surrounded Xeromus. Fireballs, ice shards, and small lightning bolts canceled out Igneous' strike. Tri Attack? The grovlazzle hopped back, trying to look for an opening.

Igneous: "(Seriously, the hell is this guy? What else does he sling around?)"

"The only poison comes from the ether and those whose minds it has warped," Xeromus countered, thrashing his head back and forth. "That's why I'm not striking back at you, even as you press your attack. Because I'm walking the path set out for me."

"Not striking back?" Igneous spewed more flames and Bullet Seeds. "Then what the hell do you call that stunt back at Herbrides?!"

Xeromus: "An enlightening experience."

Xeromus couldn't react fast enough and staggered backward, tucking his head down to take the attack on his helmet. "A regretful, shortsighted attempt... at bestowing choice upon you and your friends."

Oh, so now he's just gone into "you will accept Natus' love" mode, huh?

"Stop speaking in riddles, damn it!" Igneous took to the air again, his volcarona wings quickly carrying him up. He spewed flames at Xeromus' backside, but the chimera's cloak rippled. The crimson shield dog emerged in shadowy ripples and swallowed his flamethrower like a beverage sucked through an oversized straw. It lingered, empty eyes fixed on Igneous as the grovlazzle's arc took him past Xeromus and back onto the ground.

... Wait, so is Xeromus himself also a necromancer? Or is this closer to what Nero had going on with the souls that were used to rebuild his body in GL?

"Return, Guardian!" Xeromus called. The shield dog sank back into Xeromus' cloak. Wheezing, the chimera struggled to turn around and face Igneous. "I bear no ill will. Attacking you serves no purpose. My choices, as those of many others, do not matter."

"Then why bother doing any of this?" Igneous hissed.

Xeromus simply looked up in response. Purple light bathed Igneous. The grovlazzle threw an arm over his head while looking up. A giant rift had opened over the city and out popped... the head of some sort of giant, robotic trance centiskorch?! "What the—"

Xeromus: "To tell you of things to come. I am an omen, after all."

[Attention evildoers! I have come to make an announcement!] An unfamiliar robotic voice boomed throughout the sky. [It is time to bring you all to JUSTICE! Hell yeah! Eat my giant justice laser!]

Ah yes, W1DG3T has entered the chat. I'm a little surprised that he doesn't have a QN-themed version of the Team America: World Police theme song blaring in his cockpit right now, but that might be a little outside his thematic age bracket.

Red streaked across the night sky. The centiskorch mecha's face opened, unleashing a giant blue laser that headed right for the baccer stadium.

"No!" Igneous could only look on in horror as it drew closer and closer...

... And banked off a purple, domed barrier. The laser pierced through the red sky until it had died down into nothing.

W1DG3T: "Hey what the-?! Th-That should've fried that evildoer base like it was nothing!"

"Sticky."

Sitting at a computer terminal, the naganadel jumped to attention. He spun his chair around to find Paradox watching a feed from the Seekerskorch's cockpit. "Yes, Your Excellency?"

"Did my eyes deceive me... or did the Max Hyper Beam just get deflected by a barrier?"

Sticky: "M-Maybe? I-Is that a problem?"

Paradox: "..."

Sticky: "... Yeah, of course it would be a problem."

The deoxys' chilling tone made Sticky gulped. "That, um, appears to be the case, sir."

[You were right, Father!] W1-DG3T's voice crackled through the office speakers. [Our enemies are truly despicable! Using the Benefactor's power in such an awful way!]

Oh, this is one of those Distortion shields that was mentioned in passing like 30 chapters ago, isn't it?

Paradox's upper right tentacle slammed against his desk. "Then charge ahead already!" he barked. "Tear that barrier apart and bring His captors to their knees!"

Sticky hastily turned back to his computer. Even if W1-DG3T was right, there was no way the Etherians could forge a barrier that strong using Eterna energy... right?

Sticky: "... Though the fact that I have to ask myself this is making me really unnerved right now."

Igneous stood there, arms and jaw slackened, utterly unsure which was more terrifying: the Hyper Beam to end all Hyper Beams or the shield that appeared out of nowhere and effortlessly parried it. The grovlazzle looked over his shoulder, but only saw Xeromus standing there, a twinkle in his gray eyes.

He couldn't have... could he? Igneous tensed up, ready to strike again.

... Wait, so Xeromus did that? I wouldn't have pegged that if that's really what happened.

"Do you understand now?" Xeromus rasped. "Even with the ether sinking its teeth into your planet's hide, Natus still believes in you all. He shields you with his love!"

inb4 that's really Gene who did that.

"Oh, shut up!" Igneous spat. Xeromus made even less sense than before. "If Eternatus wants free of its prison, why the hell would it block an attack from its innards?!" He brought his fiery leaf blades out and sped toward Xeromus. This time, he feinted left, then banked right and swung to strike Xeromus' left foreleg.

The same principle behind not sheltering behind a car door in a gunfight. The attack could carry on and hit an unwanted target. Possibly. It's a little hard to tell how powerful W1DG3T's laser really is since we didn't see it impact anything.

But even though Xeromus was too slow to move himself away, the shield dog's red face emerged from his knee and crunched down on Igneous' leaf blades.

The pink cloud rider summoned a tornado full of hearts and sent it toward a small starcloud while a starry, oversized crobat shot toward it, tears streaming from three eyes.

... Actually, wait, why is the bit with Xeromus' Espeon familiar in italics anyways? What's the significance there?

Igneous' flames again died down. He staggered back, trying to get the feeling back in his arms. A thunderous boom sounded behind him. By the time Igneous looked over his shoulder, more light had died down and small specs flew around the giant centiskorch robot.

"What are you playing at?" he said to Xeromus. "Enough riddles. I want answers!"

Xeromus:

Igneous: "Oh come on, it's been two years in this story already! Out with it!"

Xeromus thrashed his helmeted head back and forth, staving off a coughing fit. "I see. So, you don't have a path forward yet. Unfortunate. Perhaps... you need more time."

Igneous: "... I'm sorry, but are you talking about helping me here, or...? Since now you're really confusing me." ._.;

Igneous spat another mix of bullet seeds and fireballs at Xeromus. The chimera's cloak glowed and, in a blink, he reappears a few yards left of Igneous. "It's as I said before. My choices, like so many others, do not matter." Xeromus wheezed a few times. "All because of the single truth uniting all worlds no matter how far apart.

"42"?

Xeromus: "Does this look like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? No? Then no, the answer's not '42'!" >_>;

"But Natus' love can rewrite that truth. The truth of stagnation," Xeromus continued. "My choices are set in stone. A lowly omen like me can only watch and wait. But you... you can lay your own path forward. To forge the new singular truth."

... I have to wonder how much of what Xeromus is saying here is really true and how much of it is fatalism on his own part.

Yeah, I'm done with this. Igneous turned away. "My path forward will be getting rid of you and your stupid floating disc crony. Consider yourself lucky there are bigger fish to fry right now."

"Keh heh." Xeromus staggered backward. "I do look forward to seeing what happens next."

Which is a terrible omen (har har) for where things will wind up going this chapter.

Igneous glanced over his shoulder. Spectral hands emerged from the ground, enveloping Xeromus. He was gone the moment the grovlazzle took to the air again. Igneous hovered there, squinting at the small figures flying around the robot centiskorch.

Igneous: "Wait... is he supposed to do that? Since I'm pretty sure that he's not supposed to be able to do that."

[I should have known the despicable rebel would show his face!] the voice boomed. [It does not matter how many people you trick into working for you. I will defeat you in the name of JUSTICE!]

Rebels? Oh, ****, it's Gene?! Igneous focused and, sure enough, he could barely make out the mewtwo charging some sort of attack alongside Reshiram. Yes, Igneous would recognize that fuzzball of a dragon anywhere. So, was Yuna here, too? And is Valkyrie with her?

Nice mix of the FF7 battle theme there. Though sounds like a decent advertisement to play FF7R sometime. After FF7 since FF7R goes off in its own direction plot-wise at the 1/3 mark.

"What are we supposed to do against this thing? It's the size of a damn skyscraper!" Nikki shouted from atop Reshiram's back.

Beat it up and yeet it into the sun? It is a bit of a Bayo series tradition.

Yuna was plenty used to things outsizing her from all her years as a dreepy, sure, but she was so not prepared for this. And all of its red and yellow segments shot fireballs into the air independent of one another. The drakloak stayed out of range of it all, thankfully, but none of her piddly little attacks would make so much as a scratch against the machine.

Nikki: "Maybe we'll get some ideas if we tee up some fight music?"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmWtzNP8aw

Nikki: "Ah yeah, that gets the noggin' joggin'." ^^
Yuna: "We are so dead right now."

"I don't get it either." Gene zipped between flaming pillars, tossing strange pink orbs that harmlessly plinked off the metallic exoskeleton. "If this thing's some kinda battleship, there's no way that many blasters could fire independently! Not without a bunch of people working different controls and coordinating in unison. The empire isn't capable of that."

... Isn't that literally just the equivalent of having that command center full of drone pilots that GotG2 had going on? Like that shouldn't be impossible with the QN's established tech level.

"Then how do you explain this, huh?" Valkyrie snarled as a gout of fire swallowed her and Noctum's tandem Dragon Pulses whole.

"I'd rather not!" Jade squawked, stopping in midair and yanking her tail out of the way of a steam burst. Probably a Heat Wave. "I might've liked it hot back in the day, but this thing's too spicy for the pepper!"

Nikki: "Okay, seriously! Isn't there some sort of exhaust port we can exploit to blow this thing up or-?"
Valkyrie: "Kid, does this look like Star Wars to you?!" >.<
Nikki: "Hey! You were the one who said the author dumped a bunch of jokes about that series in that one scene like 20 chapters ago!" >_>;

Reshiram paused beside her. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know, but I'm confident this is too spicy for the pep— GAH!"

Reshiram shoved Jade aside, taking the brunt of a second Heat Wave. Nikki hollered atop his back, struggling to cling to his neck. "Hey, Crotch Fuzz! Don't forget your very squishy passenger who could fall to her death up here!"

Cecil: "Right, uh... sorry?" ^^;
Nikki: "I need to pick a better mount next time." >.<

"Sorry! I— back!" Reshiram's tail revved up. A gout of Blue Flare barely managed to hold off a massive fireball.

Yuna bit her lower lip. "Cyril? Professor Cid? Is there anything you can give us? We're in a serious bind here!"

- Cue getting static as a response -
Yuna: "... Professor Cid?"

"They have to fall back!" Seifer paced nervously in front of multiple monitors, stealing panicked looks at Cyril and Cid. The orbeetle sat on stacked milk crates, with several electrodes connected to his head spots and hooked up to Cyril's monitors. "They're hopelessly outgunned!"

Cyril: "So... just another Tuesday for us?"

Seifer: "For you maybe, but this doesn't happen on my Tuesdays!" O_O;

He was conflicted between their wellbeing and that of Vellguarde's, but the mystery barrier made the keldeo's priorities clear. "Tell Gene to retreat! We need an actual plan here!"

Cyril's spots glowed blue. "I think it's coming into focus for me." He pinched his brow. "That thing is called the Seekerskorch. Gene's right about it not being organic." The orbeetle squinted. "But he's wrong about how it's being controlled."

... Wait, does that thing have a bunch of onboard pilots or something in that case?

Artemis quirked a brow. "In what way?"

"There's a single pilot."

... Wait W1DG3T can do that?! O_O;

"You're kidding!" Gene flummoxed, then shot in front of Yuna and managed to turn away a spiraling Heat Wave with a burst of pink energy. "No Paradigm lieutenant can handle something like this! Their brains are just little togedemaru running around on tiny rodent wheels!"

Bold of you to assume that it's a Paradigm operative running the show right now, Gene.

[Give up, evil rebel!] the pilot said. Yuna winced from the volume, ectoplasm rippling. Leaving Leo back on Bogdan was the right decision. [Your days of terrorizing the brave souls of Eternatus are over!]

Nikki: "Y'know, that rock track with the ominous Latin chanting isn't really helping me think of something right now."
Yuna: "Gee, you think?!" >_>;
Nikki: "Guess that's a sign to try a new one, huh?"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPwGWpBz5Q0

Yuna: "That's just a remix of the last song!"

The Seekerskorch's head coiled back toward Team Bastion. Its fiery face split apart, revealing flames and electricity gathering within it.

"Holy ****!" Gene threw his right arm out. A rift appeared in front of him. Yuna darted in behind him. They reappeared beside Reshiram, Jade, and Nikki. Seconds later, plasma surged through the air. The crimson sky briefly lit up as blue as daytime.

All:

What do we do? What do we do? I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Yuna's entire body trembled. Was this what it was like for the Sages when they faced down Eternatus on the Darkest Day?

Cecil: "Kinda, except for the part where we. Uh... died." ^^;
Yuna: "Not helping, Reshiram!" >.<

How was she supposed to help Leo save the omniverse like this?

"Cid! Can your freaky-deaky scan tell us how warm that machine's back is?" Gene wondered.

"What's that supposed to do?" Cid responded.

Oh, so they are going to attempt to Death Star it. And probably take out half of Vellguarde in the process if they succeed. ^^;

"Taking potshots at a distance isn't getting us anywhere," Gene growled, tail lashing the air. Seekerskorch's head slowly turned toward him and Yuna. The drakloak opted to fly away, recognizing the mewtwo was the primary target. "I'm thinking we have to try percussive maintenance."

"You can't be serious, Boss Kitty," Cyril said.

Oh no, he's perfectly serious, Cyril. You of all 'mons should know that by now.

Another plasma beam split the air. If Yuna had hair, it would have undoubtedly stood on end. And sure enough, a prickly Reshiram flew toward her, his hair puffed out like a pom-pom oricorio's wings. "That sure sounded like his serious voice to me," Reshiram squeaked.

"The hell you on, Crotch Fuzz? He doesn't have a serious voice!" Nikki huffed.

"If I may interject?" Cid said. "My analysis suggests that the Seekerskorch's cannons are mounted on the edges of its segments, where a normal centiskorch's legs would be. Its exoskeleton is heat resistant, so you should be able to land on it safely."

Valkyrie: "And if your analysis is wrong?"

Cid: "Then you get vaporized in short order."
Noctum: "Oh great, no pressure at all."

"Works for me!" Gene shot forward in a pink blur. "Crotch Fuzz, follow me!"

"Stop calling me that! It's a beauty tuft!" Reshiram whined, flying after the mewtwo. Yuna shielded her face from the heat given off by his tail turbine. The drakloak had no idea what Gene wanted, but she needed to give him a better opening, right?

Narrator: "It is not a beauty tuft-"
Cecil: "Stop. Talking!"

She waved her arms around, hoping Noctum and Jade would pick up on it. Or maybe Valkyrie. Yuna then shouted, "You're wrong! We're not doing anything evil! We're trying to help people!"

Now would probably be a bad time to point out to Yuna what the track record of that ending terribly in Squaresoft games is, wouldn't it? ^^;

The Seekerskorch head paused. [Ha! Funny joke, but I knew you would say something like that. Your mind games will not work on me, captor. I am a paragon of justice!]

Nikki: "Citation needed."
Yuna: "Didn't we just use that joke earlier?"

Nikki: "No, no, that was with an image macro. That's me saying it-"
Yuna: "But you- And- Wh-Whatever! I need to stay focused here!" >.<

Three huge Flamethrowers cut through the air. Yuna was far enough away to weave between them. "You keep using that word, but we don't even know what you mean by it!" she called back.

[Then that makes you stupid!] the pilot countered. [You trapped Eternatus against His will. And now I am going to free Him so everyone living inside Him can be happy.]

Oh, so Yuna really is Chiron either reincarnated or transmigrated into her present body, huh?

Yuna frowned. The pilot spoke with a childishness that reminded her of Leo. It couldn't be an actual child, though. Probably someone whose mind was messed up by the emperor. But he wasn't attacking Gene or Reshiram, so Yuna's distraction was working!

No, he's an actual child. Or at least mentally.

Also 12 words thought seconds from disaster there.

"How is that justice?" Yuna shook her head. "If you free Eternatus, then you destroy our planet!"

[No, Eternatus will absorb you guys. And you will learn to be happy like all of His citizens.]

"""happy"""

Though yeah, kinda doing anti-advertisement in live time there, W1DG3T.

Paradox hunched over the communicator on his desk. "What do you think you're doing, W1-DG3T?! The rebel is on your ship! Attack!" He smacked the desk with his tentacles. "Fire everything!"

Whelp, somebody's going to get 'retired' in short order at this rate. Or else is going to go through Kahr's character arc from Xenogears all over again.

The Seekerskorch's many cannons crackled with fire and lightning. And the fiery antennae on its metal face darkened with ectoplasm. [That was a mean trick!] the pilot growled. [And I am going to make you all pay for it!]

Yuna: "... Cid, you're sure he can't hit us in this position right now, right?"

Yuna braced herself for the worst when the Seekerskorch violently lurched to its left. Its head spewed giant spectral... pieces of furniture? Regardless how stupid it looked, the attack sailed higher into the red sky until it faded away. The drakloak cautiously flew closer and saw Nikki's electric guitar planted squarely into the middle of one of the Seekerskorch's segments. Purple sparks danced around it.

"No tricks or gimmicks here, tin can!" Nikki sneered. "Just a good old fashioned drum line, baby!"

She stuck her tongue out and made metal horns with her fingers while a yelping Reshiram flew away. Gene shot down from the air and whacked the lightning guitar as hard as he could with his psychic spoon, driving it fully inside the Seekerskorch's middle segment. Purple sparks spread across the metal exoskeleton.

Would suggest splitting Nikki's line off from the rest of paragraph there to make both parts stand out a bit more.

[What the— that is impossible!]

Smirking, Gene saluted the Seekerskorch's head and hopped back into a rift, transporting him over Yuna's head. Seconds later, the middle segment exploded in a massive cloud of purple, red, and yellow. The segments behind the destroyed one plummeted from the sky. Jade and Noctum flew further from the rest of Team Bastion in tandem.

This... does not bode well for how W1DG3T's going to be dealt with by Paradox. ^^;

"Ahh, I love me a good fireworks show," Gene said, applauding his handiwork. "Now if we can just replicate that at the head of what's left, we might have a shot at this."

"Uh, Gene?" Cid interjected. "I think whoever's piloting is in the head. You'll have a much tougher time getting there."

Gene: "Oh come on, seriously?!"

Cid: "I mean, my analysis could be wrong, but... uh. These readouts are what they are." ^^;

"Got any other ideas, then, Professor?" Gene scoffed.

"I do, actually," Cyril said. "If you can open rifts like that, why not turn its own attacks back on it?"

Don't make me break out Bubsy again, since if it was really that painless to open up portals with Malice shenanigans, I'm sure Gene would already be doing it on a regular basis.

Yuna's tail crinkled. That sounded difficult to pull off, but potentially effective. Too bad the remaining part of the Seekerskorch had chosen to switch tactics. Instead of Flamethrowers and Heat Waves, it launched bundles of flaming webs... that were homing in on their position!

"Gotta go!" the drakloak squeak, diving toward the ground. No good; the web missile kept giving chase. "You can't be serious!" she groaned. Yuna tried opening her mouth and spewing some dragonfire, but the web missile barreled right through her Dragon Breath.

Ah yes. A missile launcher dying to a missile. Talk about an ironic way to go out there.

Do what Cid suggested, dummy! she told herself. Concentrating, Yuna tore a rift open between her and the fireball. It was too small to fully redirect the web missile, but large enough to break the attack. Unfortunately for the drakloak, the missile's remnants rained over her. Strands of fiery webbing covered her rectangular head. Hissing, Yuna frantically rubbed her head, but that spread the flames onto her hands.

Never mind, it's just String Shot in a fast-moving can. That fortunately didn't spew a ton of shrapnel everywhere.

With no other recourse, Yuna dove onto the grass and rolled around. That put the flames out, but left the webs — and plenty of grass blades — stuck to her head.

[You really think that was clever, huh?] the pilot sneered. [Well, enjoy your little victory while it lasts, because you will not pull the wool over my eyes again. For great justice! For Eternatus!]

Yuna: "Boy, could things get any worse right now?"

The Seekerskorch unleashed another missile barrage and... either Yuna was crazy or she really did see sound effects like "BAMF" and "KABOOM" project themselves over the Seekerskorch while it fired.

-snerk-

Of course. :V

Either way, she figured the ground was the safest spot to stay to deal with this. So, the drakloak prepared herself to dodge... only for a sharp, stabbing pain to grip her head. Yuna sucked in a sharp breath. She had to focus on the fight. On staying in one piece.

Dark, shadowy tendrils wrapped themselves around a golden Needle planted firmly in the ground.

This... was all being used as a distraction by Xeromus, wasn't it?

A Needle? No, that didn't make any sense. What was happen— oh, God, her head hurt.

And, wait, why was her Soul Dew glowing brighter? Was Reshiram at his limit or something? He hadn't been out that long!

"Return to me..."

Scratch that, by Bahamut. Though boy are things going to go sideways in short order.

Right as two web missiles homed in on her, the pain grew to be too much. Vision blinded by the Soul Dew's light, Yuna could only muster a single scream.

Cid: "Yuna? Y-Yuna?! Are you okay?! Say something!"

Crystal tendrils sliced through Eternatus Bombardiers, sending their pilots careening off the stone rooftop. Off in the distance, more Bombardiers pressed their advance. Necrozma didn't care, however. His prize was right in front of him. There was nothing these weak, insignificant machines could do to him. No matter how many the dumb, metallic midnight lycanroc standing in front of his Needle summoned, he'd destroy them.

Oh, so Bahamut has indeed entered the chat for the race for the Needles.

Necrozma strode forward on his large, misshapen crystal legs. The shadows swirling around him gave him a strange, humanoid appearance.

"Don't you dare!" Lycanroc hissed. He dug his hands into the ground, tearing up chunks of the metal roof and hurling them forward.

Let's see here. One Lycanroc, or a crystal light dragon well known in canon fluff for its power and flying into violent rages? Yeah, I know who my money is on for this fight.

"Pointless," Necrozma said. He flicked his right wrist. Two orbs of distorted light raced to meet the metal shards, blowing them apart. Necrozma turned and stomped the ground. Electric geysers raced behind him, catching the charging Bombardiers off guard and blowing them apart.

Lycanroc thought Necrozma was distracted. He thought wrong. A crystal tentacle lurched out of Necrozma's shadows and coiled around a charging Lycanroc.

Whelp, it was nice knowing you, Lycanroc.

Necrozma turned back around. He hefted Lycanroc up to eye level. "Weak. Pathetic," he growled. "You guard power that isn't yours. Power you don't understand."

Lycanroc squirmed in Necrozma's grasp, but he tightened his grip. Shadows covered Lycanroc's mouth before he could retort.

... Wait, are we going to see Bahamut do that same party trick as Necky from GL? Since boy would that be a creepy callback if he did that.

"No words." Necrozma strode closer to the Needle. To his power. "You only delay the inevitable. I will destroy this realm..."

The tentacle unfurled, whipping Lycanroc back toward more oncoming Eternatus troopers. He hurled a distorted light ball after them, bathing them in a rainbow geyser. Necrozma reached forward with his right arm and grabbed the needle. An emerald flash pushed his shadows apart briefly.

Well nevermind, Bahamut's just vaporizing him.

"Return to me... Zygarde."

Welp.

Necrozma pulled the needle. A burst of emerald light shot up, then a thousand glistening spears rained down all around him. The roof crumbled to dust while Necrozma floated where the Needle once sat. He glimpsed a fresh wave of Eternatus Troopers approaching.

WELP

As nice it would be to give them all a taste of the power he just reclaimed, his efforts were better spent elsewhere. He slashed the air in front of him with his left arm and vanished into a jagged rift.

I can already tell that Yuna is going to have a normal one after she comes to and realizes what on earth just happened here.

Though a little late for your birthday here, but I suppose that it's time for my thoughts of this chapter and what was my last one of 2022:

Altogether, I thought that it was a nice change of pace. It was a lot more active than I remember a lot of PoV chapters being in the past, and the scene structure reflected it since I don't think there's been a PoV chapter with this many scene cuts in the past. It seemed to sell the sense of things unfolding in rapid-fire across multiple places pretty well.

As for things that I felt could've been done better. I'm honestly unsure. Maybe it'd have been nice to get Igneous and Yuna's groups back together formally, but eh. They and Seekerscorch haven't gone anywhere, and I assume that's what Chapter 52 will be all about. Other than that and a couple typos... I don't really have a whole lot to complain about since I was honestly too busy just enjoying watching events playing out, especially that ending and what it portends for the future.

Kudos on the chapter @Ambyssin , and happy belated birthday. Here's to another year of adventures in your story, and I'll be all there for it. ^^

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

And onto the next migrated chapter review. Featuring another title with ominous Latin phrases that totally aren't bad portents for the cast. Let's get straight into…

Chapter 52

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

"I've brought it up before, but in light of those complaints you got yesterday, I think it's worth revisiting."

Chiron sat against a tree, red eyes fixed on the setting sun in the distance. Leo slumbered in the lunala's curled up, crescent moon tail. She gently draped her right wing over the cosmog.

A flicker of gold light drew her attention right, where Bahamut coiled around a large boulder, tapping his right upper wing against it in irritation. "It's about Zygarde, isn't it?"

I... didn't think that he was going to become plot important this soon after appearing, though I suppose I ought to have known better considering the note 51 ended on.

"Ever the astute psychic," Chiron teased, a smirk tugging at her lips.

Bahamut's rainbow eyes bubbled with red and orange. "His work is instrumental in maintaining order. He's a big reason why Sages can intervene before things escalate."

That... doesn't sound good at all for the gang given that Bahamut has Squishy's power back for himself.

"It might be important, but it's wrong." Chiron had to keep her voice steady to avoid disturbing Leo's slumber. "Zygarde's power is remarkable, yes, but splitting him into his cells to monitor every corner of the planet is... an invasion of privacy."

Bahamut: "Chiron, of all of the problems facing this planet right now, you're seriously hung up over a lack of privacy?"

"It's a necessary precaution," Bahamut countered. "For the safety of—"

Chiron frowned. "If you really love this world and want it to flourish, then you have to trust the people living here and let them live their lives without wondering if they're being watched." She was dancing around the issue as best she could. The lunala didn't want to compare Zygarde to Matriarch and her type: full army out loud. Her husband had good intentions, but his past experiences clouded them.

To say nothing about your good intentions there, Chiron. Since I'm not convinced that pulling Zygarde back would've been a flatly good thing there even if you've got a point.

"How did you even know to create Zygarde in the first place?" she wondered. Eternatus had absorbed planets with them in the past, but she couldn't recall if Bahamut visited any of them. "Earth was the planet you spent the longest on and it didn't—"

Bahamut tensed. "I can't answer that."

Translation: "I was on another planet with a Zygarde before this one, which may or may not be inside Eternatus right now."

"You can't answer?" Chiron tilted her head. "Or you won't?"

The light dragon dimmed. "I—" His rainbow eyes swirled around like small twisters. After a protracted silence, Bahamut whispered, "It's complicated."

Chiron: "... I'll just take that as an 'I won't'."

Chiron wanted to float over to him but still had Leo wrapped in her tail. She instead opened a tiny wormhole and stuck her head into it. Her head appeared at Bahamut's side and brushed his gold, crystal cheek. "We made vows, remember? I'll never turn my back on you. If it's a secret... you can trust me with it."

... I actually can't tell how Chiron would've ever reacted to Bahamut coming clean about his past deeds to her and if she'd have ultimately forgiven them, or if it would've been a wedge that they just never got past.

"I want to," Bahamut said. "But what if something happens to you? This secret... can't afford to get out."

I mean, it can, it would just completely destroy the order you were painstakingly working to create 1100 years ago.

Chiron pondered that for a second. Then it clicked. "It's something about Chakran, right? You said you spent a long time there."

Bahamut's light rippled. Chiron knew she hit her mark. He sighed. "Yes. There were numerous zygarde on Chakran. They were part of the Overseers."

That is not a good omen at all of what became of them.

"Overseers?" Chiron pulled her head back through the wormhole and cautiously pet Leo's forehead.

"A group that is, essentially, the eyes of all worlds," Bahamut explained. "They watch over the omniverse to maintain its stability."

And they've been doing a bang-up job at that, truly. /s

"Omniverse?" Chiron sucked in a sharp breath. There really were other universes out there, then. She couldn't fault Bahamut's caution. If Matriarch ever learned of that... there was no telling the consequences.

"I actually asked them to deal with Eternatus," Bahamut admitted. "They refused... and abandoned the planet — and our universe — instead."

Chiron: "I'm sorry, what?" ._.
Bahamut: "More accurately, they wrote us off as being so much of a threat to the rest of the Omniverse that we were better off being sealed off and abandoned. Is that what you wanted to hear?" >_>;

"I see." Chiron looked down at Leo. The cosmog still slumbered peacefully, his pom-pom arms glowing and dimming with every breath he took. "Why would you use your light to craft zygarde Sages, then? Isn't it just a painful reminder of your time on Chakran?"

"Perhaps. But, again, I saw their zygarde in action," Bahamut replied, lowering his head onto the top of the rock. "Splitting themselves into cells to observe a hundred places at once. A powerful tool."

Oh, I see you're taking after Gen 7's distribution of Cells, since Anime!Zygarde sure felt like he had a lot more than a hundred of those buggers crawling around.

"Powerful, but unsettling," Chiron countered. She gestured with her left wing. "Try to look at it from a different perspective. How would you feel if you learned that someone was constantly spying on your every move?"

Bahamut didn't respond at first. The rippling through his body and wings told Chiron enough, however. He clenched his jaw and looked away. "I suppose... I'd feel hurt. Upset."

inb4 someone wound up doing just that to Bahamut. Chiron: "I figured. Do you see the point that I'm getting at, Bahamut?"

Chiron offered a small smile. "Like some of the sermon attendees, perhaps?"

A loud sigh. Bahamut lowered his head onto the rock again. "Yes, you're right. As usual. I'm too reckless and paranoid."

Wow. Bahamut's actually being reasonable for once? Guess love really does conquer all.

"I didn't say that," Chiron cut in. "There's no need to beat yourself up over this."

"Then what do you suggest?" Pleading greens and yellows pooled in Bahamut's eyes.

"Perhaps you should scale back Zygarde's duties," Chiron offered. "Gradually, if it will ease your mind. And then, in the future..." Her voice trailed off as she twirled a tiny claw around in the circle.

Bahamut: "... This is still going to involve there still being a Zygarde at the end, right?" ^^;
- Cue long, awkward pause -
Bahamut: "... Right?" ._.;

"... Zygarde should be the last Sage of Order," Bahamut whispered.

"Read my mind again, I see." Chiron chuckled. "I love it when you're in sync with me."

Zygarde wasn't the last Sage of Order, was he?

Bahamut's body and eyes reddened. "Yes, well... perhaps it is for the best. After all, I'm getting old." He rolled off the rock and onto the grass, looking up at the sky. "I have to start trusting the world to keep turning without me."

Yeah, fantastic job Bahamut's been doing with that lately. Even if I'm not fully sure if he's in his right mind right now.

"Wise words." Chiron bobbed her head. "But you'll hang on until Leo's all grown up, right?"

At that, Bahamut laughed. "Which of us called me stubborn to a fault, again?"

D'aww... even if everything obviously went to pot not long after all this.

"... na! Yu... ere?"

Yuna: "... Ow. Though who on earth is-?" @.@

The drakloak heard... someone. But the ringing in her ears and the stars in her vision were too loud and too bright. She sucked in a sharp breath, furiously rubbing her eyes and begging the light to fade.

Why a vision now? She hadn't pulled a Needle! Her Soul Dew couldn't have reacted to the Seekerskorch, else she would've conked out right when she saw it.

- Yuna beat moment -

Yuna: "Oh my god. Tell me that doesn't mean that someone else pulled a-"

(Though I'm just realizing that this is also what happened to Yuna during Starlene's concert at Horizon Gardens. I think, anyways.)

Did that mean...

"Princess, are you okay? Yuna, please answer me!"

She finally picked up on Noctum's voice. The black charizard picked her up off the ground and cradled her in his arms. Relief flooded his face when Yuna made proper eye contact. "Oh, thank God. Are you hurt?"

Ah yes, Yuna's bodyguard to the rescue. Though I wonder how fast she's connected the dots in-setting? Since I can't imagine that she will take that well at all.

Arms trembling, Yuna grabbed his right shoulder. "N... Needle..."

"Hmm?" Noctum frowned. "Do you think a Needle's nearby?"

Yuna: "Noctum, s-someone else just pulled one!"

Noctum: "... I'm sorry, come again?"

"No. I—" She took a few breaths to steady herself. "A Needle got pulled. By someone else." Yuna squeezed her eyes shut. "Someone else is pulling Needles!"

"Are you serious?" Valkyrie growled. Yuna couldn't see the garchomp.

Oh, so Val's here for this, too, huh? Guess she really is growing close to Noctum in live-time.

"I'm sure." Yuna managed to collect herself enough to float out of Noctum's grasp. "Every Needle I've pulled so far, I've had a... vision from the past about the Sage sealed inside. And I just had one where Bahamut was talking with his wife about Zygarde."

Val: "Couldn't you have had this sometime where there wasn't a giant metal bug trying to goosh us?" >_>;
Yuna: "No, I can't! Because these things literally come whenever a Needle gets pulled out!"

Thunderous explosions rang out. Bright blue fireballs filled up the sky. Meeping, Yuna darted away from Noctum and Valkyrie on reflex.

"Tch." Valkyrie kicked up some grass and dirt. "There's no point discussing this here. Either you rejoin the fight or rift yourself over to Venish and then Bogdan. You're a liability like this."

Harsh, but she's not wrong there. Since... uh, yeah. Sitting around mentally BSODing sounds like a fast way to die in these circumstances.

"Valkyrie," Noctum growled, purple tail flame sparking.

The garchomp bit her lip. "Sorry. Gene's just struggling to redirect any of that bolt bucket's attacks. Even with half the mech trashed, too many things are happening at once."

Wow, Val displaying contrition? Sure don't see that often.

Yuna looked down guiltily. "I tried to do that... but my rifts are too small to swallow up its attacks." She looked up and saw Reshiram struggling to escape a dozen web missiles. Though he shot bright blue Dragon Pulses and Nikki hurled poisonous globs from her fingers, they weren't enough to stop the missiles.

- Cue the web missiles blowing up in unison and a disgusted cry ringing out -
Cecil: "Ew! It's all in my fur! Get it out! Get it out!"
- On the ground, Val shakes her head -
Val: "So, er... any brilliant ideas here that don't involve waiting around to die, then?"

"I can't leave." The drakloak flew to Noctum's side. "Reshiram would disappear with me. I'm not doing that to Nikki."

Val: "Why on earth is that even a thing?!" >_>;
Yuna: "Look, I don't have an explanation for why the Soul Dew does that, okay? It just does!" >.<

"Oh, right. Good point." Valkyrie stomped up to Noctum. "Guess we'd better get back to it." She hopped onto the black charizard's back. "Onward, less-than-noble steed!" Valkyrie shouted, kicking Noctum's rear.

"Yow! Hey!" His Malice Crystal and tail flame sparked. "Rude!"

Noctum: "Val, seriously! Show a little respect to the 'mon you're counting on to fly you around!"

Igneous had opted to fall back and relocate Scarlett and Yiazmat, which didn't prove challenging. The two of them had found their way to the baccer stadium and, apparently, offered to help the Radiant Guard with crowd control as they got people to evacuate. A fairy rapidash officer had proposed summoning flying taxis to get people away from the area, but the constant appearance of the mystery barrier to ward off any attacks was enough to get him to hold off on the order.

Igneous: "I... don't suppose that you have Teleport Gems lying around, do you?"

Radiant Guard #1: "What is this, one of your children's stories? Why don't you just go ahead and suggest we use a stoneship like in Shaymin the Wanderer: Sky Explorers?" >_>;

Though the grovlazzle had no idea how long the barrier would hold, it soon stopped being an issue. An explosion rocked the sky and half the robot broke apart and plummeted to the ground. After that, it solely focused on its airborne assailants. But that didn't stop the sky from filling with a bevy of orange and blue explosions.

Igneous: "... Are you sure that you don't have any Teleport Gems? Since this would be a really good time to use them-"

Radiant Guard #2: "We don't have them, okay?" >.<

"The brigade captain said everyone's outside the stadium," Scarlett said, gliding in for a landing beside Igneous, whose gaze remained fixed in the distance. "Um, is everything okay?"

"Whoever's fighting that thing isn't making any more progress," Igneous said, arms crossed and right foot tapping the paved ground impatiently. "It's shooting a whole bunch of attacks that can track them."

Yiazmat: "Grov... lazzle, is it? You do realize that's exactly the sort of thing one would say right before the giant steel bug of doom would start making progress, right?"

[You really think I will let you turn my attacks against me? As if!] the pilot said. [I am just getting started!]

Kyoko: "You just had to run your trap, didn't you, Chiaki?" >.<

More orange cones filled the skies. The grovlazzle could barely make out who was actually fighting the machine anymore, losing them amidst orange explosions and red smoke. "If there's nothing else for me to do here, then I should try to help them."

"Are you crazy?" Scarlett gasped. "Even with whatever creepy powers let you fly and light stuff on fire, you can't stand up to that."

Igneous: "Considering how whatever gave me this power had freaky reality-warping abilities... I wouldn't be too sure about that, Scarlett." ^^;

"What would you rather me do?" Igneous growled, whirling on Scarlett. "Stand here gawking like all of them?" He gestured behind them both, to the fairy rapidash from before and a much larger granbull whose magenta uniform had several bars and badges on it.

"Only fools charge in when defeat is a certainty," Yiazmat chided, hovering toward the duo. "Warriors know their limits and plan accordingly."

Well, smart ones, anyways. History is littered with the bones of warriors who picked dumb fights and paid the ultimate price for it.

"Tch. That another Aeonism?" Igneous scoffed.

"One of Saint Urshifu's teachings," Yiazmat said. "We all saw half that machine break apart. Whoever's already there is clearly operating with more information than we have. If any of us try to approach, we may become a liability for our unknown allies."

That actually makes me curious now as to how Aeons generally feel about the likes of Seifer or the Minister twins who are progeny rocking the forms of their saints, but wielding that power to keep them penned up in the mountains. I presume various shades of "not well".

More explosions thundered behind them. Igneous turned around, biting his lower lip. The giant robot wasn't going down. How could it keep firing so many attacks without having to recharge or anything? It was totally ridiculous.

inb4 it's being powered by energy that's being transmitted to it from a giant, glowy- oh right, wrong series to draw reference from, huh?

"Igneous," Yiazmat growled. "Do not go charging off again."

The grovlazzle's claws balled into fists. "I think I know who's fighting that battleship and I'm not turning my back on them."

Kyoko: "Chiaki, need I remind you that the last time you went charging into a situation, you wound up becoming a quadruplegic and getting stuck like you are now?" >_>;
Igneous: "

My last last one brought me to Scale City along with Scarlett. So it didn't end that badly."

Yiazmat raised a brow, but then her eyes slowly widened. "Wait. What are you implying?"

On the one hand, Igneous was glad the dragpult caught on quickly. On the other hand, Yiazmat catching on meant he had to come clean about Yuna. Something he was pretty sure she wouldn't want anyone to do, least of all to her mother.

Because there's strong odds she'd promptly go "yeah no, screw this, you are going straight back to Aeon while Radiance can have fun getting eaten by Distortion"

Igneous curled and uncurled his claws. "It's Yuna and Noctum. They're part of that group in the sky."

That one got a reaction from Yiazmat. Her tail whipped at the air. Scarlett tensed. "How do you know that?"

Igneous: "... Do you want the short version or the long version?" ^^;
Yiazmat: "Look, just answer the question right now!"

"Because she's already fought multiple battles inside of World Ender," Igneous hastily responded. "Some of which I was there for."

"What?" Yiazmat blinked several times. "You... and Yuna... but..." Her eyes darted around. "She can't really defend herself! Why?!" The dragapult looked up in horror. "Oh, God. Yuna!" Yiazmat looked ready to bolt.

Igneous: "What was that about warriors not charging in earlier?" >_>;
Yiazmat: "This isn't a 'warrior' thing, this is a 'mother and my baby's out there about to get blown to bits' thing!"

"Whoa, hang on." Scarlett waved her tail in front of Yiazmat's face. "What happened to warriors planning accordingly?"

Yiazmat's horns bristled with dragonfire. Scarlett shrank back. "I know what I said," Yiazmat growled. "But if that's really my daughter up there, I can't leave her fending for herself."

Yeah, I called it, if a bit less formal than the real deal.

"She's not alone," Igneous said, resisting the temptation for a snide remark about her sudden attitude shift. "There are a lot of powerful pokémon with her." He wasn't about to say she was carrying a few Sages around with her. That would really set the dragpult off.

... That actually makes me wonder if Dragapult can retract their tails/bodies into their heads like Dreepy to become stress boomerangs as well.

"Still. I want to support her." Yiazmat balled up her fists. "But not even Cosmic Blessing can deal with something that big."

Another flurry of orange explosions lit up the sky.

Yiazmat: "Alright, that's it, we're going-!"
Scarlett: "Oi! Let's at least try to plan out our entrance first!" O_O;

"Agggggh!"

Yuna pinwheeled through the air, covered in even more webbing than before. It was getting hard to move her body the way she wanted. She looked down at her Soul Dew. "C'mon, stupid shadow wing thingies! You've shown up every other time our backs were against the wall. Do something!"

Small verb tense error.

Yuna's Giratina Powers:

"Princess, from above!" Noctum cried.

The drakloak looked up and shrieked. She shot toward the ground, but the heat behind her grew stronger. Was the attack getting closer? No, it was a second web missile joining the one already giving chase to her.

Yuna: "Oh for god's sakes! Any day would be nice now, powers!"

"I can't get a good opening," Gene hissed, but Yuna wasn't sure from where.

[And it will stay that way until you rebels surrender!] the pilot said.

Probably a good thing that Yuna isn't aware that her mom is here right now. Since I'm not fully convinced Yiazmat's going to make it through the entire chapter. ^^;

"Well?" Igneous looked at Yiazmat. "Do we have a plan or not?"

Yiazmat turned to Scarlett. "It's up to you."

"Me?" The dragonair pointed her tail at her head. "Oh no. I haven't fought a battle in... in..."

Yiazmat: "Alternatively, you let me come up with the plan, which is going to be some variation of 'go in with horns blazing-'"
Scarlett: "Alright! Alright! I'll come up with something!" O_O;

"Not to fight," Yiazmat drifted closer. "That siren song of yours. You have to put it to use to help them." She pointed back toward the battle with her tail.

"H-Huh?" Scarlett shrank back. "I—" She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I've never tried to direct my songs toward specific people. I'm not even sure it would work like that! I could end up powering up the battleship... or whipping the crowd back there into a frenzy!"

... That actually makes me wonder if Scarlett's discography has a cover of 'Death to Squishies' buried somewhere in it.

More explosions bathed the sky in blue and orange. The crowd several meters away grew more restless.

"Try it anyway," Yiazmat ordered. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Wow, Yiazmat really does lose her sobriety once family gets on the line. That's... a terrible sign for how she would handle crises with that as a complicating factor.

Scarlett looked down at the ground. "I can't," she whispered. "Not after last time."

Igneous squinted. In the distance, he saw Nikki clinging to Reshiram for dear life as he flew midair loops to get two fireballs to crash into each other.

"Then don't do it for our sakes," the grovlazzle said. "Do it for Nikki's."

Scarlett: "... You do realize that Nikki in all likelihood would wish that I was dead if she found out that I was stealing songs from her, right?"

Igneous: "You do realize that Nikki's right there and going to fall to her death if something about this equation doesn't change fast, right?" >_>;

The dragonair stiffened. "What did you just say?"

"Nikki's up there, too!" Igneous jerked his head in the machine's direction. "Fighting for her life... because she wants to see you again." He pointed a claw at Scarlett's cloak-covered torso. "She doesn't know the truth yet. She still believes you're like a sister to her."

Which will last approximately all of five seconds once she finds out that Scarlett is Starlene since she saw that bit with the stolen lyrics in Venish.

He let those words hang in the air. Scarlett's eyes darted around. She opened and closed her mouth several times. Whatever Igneous thought she'd say, she couldn't muster it.

The grovlazzle was going to continue when Scarlett finally whispered, "She really said that?"

"Yes." Igneous stepped toward Scarlett. "The whole reason she came to Horizon was because she was worried about you. She knows you're a good person at heart. Now you have a chance to prove her right. And show your Dynamuse can be used for good."

Igneous: "Look, what else is it going to take to get you to belt something out? Do I need to fire up background music here?" >_>;

Scarlett trembled underneath her tattered cloak. More explosions thundered in the distance. Wincing, the dragonair slithered forward.

"Okay! I... I'll try."

Scarlett: "I just want to emphasize that if anything bad happens, that this wasn't my idea." ._.;

She looked over her shoulder again. "Um... I can move farther away from them, right? I don't want anyone to see."

Igneous nodded. He and Yiazmat formed a wall of sorts, blocking Scarlett from seeing the crowd. They moved forward cautiously. Most of the attacks remained in the air, but a few stray fireballs struck trees and dirt mounds in the distance, setting them ablaze.

Scarlett: "Do you have any better way of blocking me off from-?" O_O;
All:

Yiazmat: "Now hop to it and start singing, Dragonair."

"Do it for Nikki. Do it for Nikki."

Igneous didn't respond to Scarlett's whispers. She was trying to psych herself up. They were asking a lot of her. Unfairly so, now that Igneous chewed on it longer. Scarlett had been through a lot. Maybe I should say something different to her?

Oh, so you are shipping these two, huh? :V

The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped toward Scarlett, whose head was bowed. Before Igneous could say anything, however, the dragonair's neck bauble glowed bright pink. A burst of pink light erupted from Scarlett. Igneous stumbled back in a daze, eyes screwed shut.

"What the... you summoned Starlene?!"

Igneous:

"Starlene?" Yiazmat's voice was full of awe. "No. It's... it's Saint Latias!"

... She can do that?!

"Reshiram!" Yuna cried, corkscrewing away from a web missile that blew up not too far behind her. "Get Nikki to Jade!" She brushed her hand over the Soul Dew, whose glow had faded. "Someone cover them!"

Gene zipped over, whipping up a Hurricane. The intense winds proved enough to turn away a pair of web missiles and let Nikki hop safely onto Gene's back. However, the salugia squawked and suddenly lost altitude. Gene pointed his right hand down and caught her.

"It's no good. Birdbrain ain't used to having a passenger," Gene called back. "I'm grounding you two."

Jade: "Was the 'Birdbrain' really necessary?"

Gene: "Is that seriously your hangup right now?" >_>;

"What?! But we need the extra help!" Valkyrie growled.

"This isn't up for debate," Gene hissed, opening a rift underneath him and dropping Jade and Nikki straight through it.

inb4 this messes things up by making Scarlett panic on the ground or something like that.

"Then we need a new plan," Valkyrie hissed. She and Noctum rolled right. A web missile sailed past and Gene vaporized it with a burst of psychic energy before it could loop around and follow them.

The garchomp was right, though. Making the Seekerskorch smaller made it harder to get close and try anything. They couldn't keep dodging these seemingly endless volleys.

Yuna: "I don't suppose we could do something like try and make Protect walls to slowly advance-?"

Val: "Yuna, there's like 6 of us to work with here!"

[How is this for a plan? You give up now, and your evil flunkies can get rehabilitated!] the pilot declared, before another volley of fireballs lit up the sky.

Noctum: "Wait, how can he even hear us in between all of this stuff blowing up around us?!" O_O;

Paradox almost slammed his headset down on his desk. "What are you blabbering about, fool?! There's no rehabilitation. They're monsters. Destroy them!"

Sticky winced. How was calling his son a fool supposed to keep him following orders?

Oh, so W1DG3T really is going to wind up going full Kahr, isn't he?

"Gene, this is hopeless!" Yuna flew after the mewtwo to stay clear of all the homing fireballs. "I'm tapped out. Your redirecting plan failed. We can't get close to the Seekerskorch." Her shoulders sagged. "How are we supposed to get out of this?"

"I'm thinking!" Gene hissed. "You eggheads are welcome to butt in anytime, by the way!"

Noctum: "Technically, Yuna's more of a 'boomerang'-head-" ^^;
Gene: "Whatever!" >.<

"I wish I had something, but I'm lost, too," Cid said. "The Seekerskorch must have some sort of mechanism to prevent overheating. It's the only explanation I can think of for why it can unleash so many attacks without that happening."

Oh, so they really are going to pull a Death Star on this thing, huh?

"Delightful!" Gene's voice brimmed with mock enthusiasm.

Yuna was ready to give the mewtwo another earful when a bright crimson light erupted in the distance. "Oh, now what?!" She gripped the sides of her rectangular head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTHgZjVO-x0
Yuna: "Wait, wha-? Where on earth did that come fro-?"

"Dost thou not hear it?" Rayquaza asked. "Music! Of the, err, guitar variety, I believe? That is what Miss Nikki called it, correct?"

"What?" Yuna looked around. "I don't hear any—"

"Let my song... give you strength!"

Oh, so we really are getting BGM fired up in the background, even if I was off on what it'd be.

"Eek!" Yuna's torso retreated into her head. That voice wasn't familiar, but it was in her head like the Sages'. "What's going on?" She looked at Gene, but the mewtwo was fixated on the crimson light in the distance.

"You hear it too, don't you?" he mumbled.

"Don't ignore the writing on the wall, yeaaaah
It's up to you, you can't let it fall
We've come too far
We're on the cusp
So don't back down
Keep the pressure on!"

Yuna: "You know, for some weird reason I was expecting something with lyrics about the moon or something like that-"
- Cue a voice from far, far below -
Scarlett: "Hey! Stop complaining about a good thing and just roll with it already!" >.<

Up ahead, the Seekerskorch unleashed a fresh volley of flaming web missiles. This time, however, it brought its head around to charge up another monstrous Hyper Beam in its open mouth.

"Gene! Move!" Yuna shouted. When she flew away, it was faster than she thought possible as a drakloak. It didn't make sense, wasn't she supposed to be exhausted?

"We're not gonna fade away and
Become a footnote in history.
Our hearts beating together as one
Fangs and claws ready and waiting to take you down!"

That actually makes me wonder if Nikki would find these lyrics recognizable or not, or if this was something Scarlett cooked up after they parted ways.

The Hyper Beam filled the crimson sky with brilliant blue... only for surging purple to split right through it.

Yuna blinked and rubbed her eyes.

Yuna: "Wait, was that a Dragon Pulse?!"

No, she wasn't imagining it. A bulkier Gene with longer limbs and a Malice Crystal in each shoulder surged through the Hyper Beam, a barrier of psychic energy in front of him.

[Huh?! What the—]

Gene: "Nope, it's just me! Your friendly Rebel Leader at your service!" ^_^
Yuna: "You can do that?! Why on earth did you wait this long?!" O_O;

"To take— to take you down!
To take— to take you dooooo-oooooo-oooown!
To take you down!"

The transformed mewtwo kept up his charge until he forced the Hyper Beam back on its attacker. The Seekerskorch flailed about in midair. Huge chunks of its face plates burst off, tumbling to the ground as flaming debris.

Oh, so Scarlett's song tranced Gene into Gene-X, huh? Since after firing up a reference page, it basically reads like a Shadow Mewtwo version of that.

"Whoa!" Jade's jaw slackened. "Did you see that?! The weird kitty got big! And grew another crystal!" She had her hands cupped over her eyes.

Nikki wasn't paying attention, however. She stared at red and white light in the distance, blinking slowly.

Oh, so Nikki does recognize these lyrics. And nice use of that birthday art there.

"That song," she whispered, looking down at her gills.

"Time ticks away like grains of sand
Our lives sealed, cruel fate slips right through our hands"

Nikki: "That's one that I worked on with..."

"I... I know this song!" Nikki instinctively thrust her hands out. Her lightning guitar appeared in a burst of yellow and pink. "Scarlett and I made it! She'd sing it during battle clubs in Blightsmuth while I played guitar!"

Nikki: "S-So she's there?! Scarlett's out there right now?!" O_O;

"We'll stare fate back in its ugly face, screaming our creed:
'You won't forget me! You won't forget me!'"

Before Nikki even realized it, she was moving her hands across her lightning guitar as if she was playing a real one.

Oh, so Scarlett's song is going to be able to make more than just Gene Trance, huh?

She wasn't standing in a field anymore, but sitting on a stack of cardboard boxes against a grimy brick wall. Nikki held a small pink guitar in her tiny toxel hands, slowly strumming chords while an obstagoon deflected an attack from an scrafty with an X-shaped barrier. Several other dark-types whooped and thumped their limbs, cheering the name Shredder.

Wait, a real one, or a toy one? Though the image is a cute one to think of, even if it makes me wonder how on earth instrument sizes would ever be able to be standardized in PoV's setting.

Beside Nikki, a dratini wriggled in delight, belting out lyrics while waving a tattered, black and white flag with her tiny tail.

Snapping back to the present, Nikki spoke without realizing it. "We're gonna be strong like him one day, right, sis?"

Blightsmuth's or is this something else?

"What is the meaning of this?!" Paradox darted back and forth in front of his monitor array. "Where's the footage? Why have we lost our signals?!" He whirled on Sticky. "Answer me!"

The nagandel looked down at his own console, which was a mess of static. "I... I don't know, sir. There appears to be some sort of interference."

"I can see that, you blithering numbskull!" Paradox gripped his headset tightly with his right tentacles. "W1-DG3T, status report... now!"

inb4 he gets answered with an earful of rock music and throws the headset aside in a rage.

Gene was a purple bullet darting around the Seekerskorch, leaving smoldering dents behind on its metallic exoskeleton.

[No! Stop! This is impossible!] Every attempt the pilot made at striking Gene with an attack from one of the remaining cannons ended with the cannon cleaved off the Seekerskorch by Gene's psychic spoon. [Y... you are the bad guy! You are not allowed to win! I have to stop you! I have to save the universe!]

Gene: "Okay, one: You're the bad guy. Two: Our story takes after Final Fantasy games, bad guys taking Ws in their plots and making the good guys miserable literally happens all the time!"
Noctum: "Um, Gene, maybe you could not point this out to the obvious bad guy right here?"

Yuna's gut squirmed, but it wasn't a bad feeling. More like... something or someone calling out to her from within.

"We're not gonna fade away and
Become a footnote in history.
All this spite grows inside of us
These memories we'll throw back at you—"

Oh, so now her Giratina powers are going to kick in, huh?

The drakloak darted toward the Seekeskorch as it coiled around Gene. Its body glowed. It was clearly up to something and she needed to stop it. Even if a small voice was telling her to turn back. Even though her rational self knew that was a bad idea.

She could do this! She could make a difference!

Yup, I called it.

"Cuz we are the ones
Who shape our destiny
Fighting to be free
We'll claim victory!"

Yuna punched the air with her right arm. A giant gray leg appeared in front of her and stamped the Seekerskorch. Mechanical screeching filled the air.

Oh, so Yuna used an Up Smash there. :V

She punched again. Another giant gray leg appeared, denting one of the Seekerskorch's segments.

With a loud roar, Yuna kept punching. More and more gray legs pummeled the Seekerskorch's exoskeleton... until its segments began to break apart.

[No... no! I cannot— I must not— I— Father!]

Paradox: "... Sticky, please tell me we have the Amnesia Ray ready to go? I can already tell we're going to need to put it to use. Possibly also on myself so that way I can forget about this debacle."

"Still no response. Still no signal," Sticky reported, frantically typing at his keyboard. The console monitor suddenly sparked. Yelping, the nagandel barely managed to duck in time to avoid shrapnel as his monitor shattered and a flurry of sparks raced across the room.

"That's enough!" Paradox removed his headset and held it in front of his face like it was a living thing he intended to strangle. "Computer, execute Type: Zodiark 0.0.1 self-destruct sequence!"

Well, nevermind then.

[Command acknowledged,] a feminine voice responded. [Password?]

Paradox's right eye twitched. He gripped the headset even tighter. "Why do I need a password? I'm the emperor! How about I just obliterate you instead?!"

[Password accepted. Initializing self-destruct sequence.]

Boy is Paradox lucky nobody captured an audio recording of that, since that feels like such a potential exploit in the waiting there.

"Something's happening, Gene!" Yuna cried, noticing the Seekerskorch's head segment glowing while the rest of them fell to the ground in a massive, flaming wreckage.

"Way ahead of you!" the mewtwo responded, surging in front of the Seekerskorch's head. "Sorry, kid, but the real good guys are coming out on top this time."

Oh, so W1DG3T's just going to bite it here, huh? Though I suppose Paradox did say he was a beta product, implying that he has other W1DG3Ts queued up just waiting to go with a few finishing touches.

He pointed his arm forward and a giant pink energy beam. It shattered the top of the Seekerskorch.

"I see the pilot!" Cid cried. "It's... Xeromus?!"

W1DG3T: "H-Huh?! Who's Xeromus?! One of your rebel allies?!"
Yuna: "Cid, I don't think that that's-"

"What?!" Yuna shot forward. A purple and red blur fell toward the ground, faster than she could fly.

"No, wait, it's not quite the same. There's no mask or cloak," Cid said. "But whoever they are, they're falling fast!"

Val:

Noctum: "Um, Val? Considering how the pilot had a speech pattern that really sounded like a 12-year old, I think we might not want to just let him fall to his death here." .-.

"I can see that!" Sucking in a sharp breath, Yuna instinctively stuck her right hand out. A giant, shadowy wing appeared and caught the falling pilot between three red spikes.

... I sure hope that self-destruct mechanism isn't integrated into W1DG3T directly, since otherwise boy is that gonna hurt.

"Okay, stop! Stop!" Igneous sprinted toward Scarlett and the spectral latias hovering above her. "It's over! You can stop!"

Scarlett and Latias turned to Igneous in unison. The latter evaporated in red and white mist. Igneous saw Scarlett's eyes rolling back in her head and dove forward, barely catching her before she would've struck the ground.

... Wait, so Latias was the one who sang that song there? It was a little unclear to me, but I'm guessing that's the implication from her dispelling like that.

The dragonair blinked blearily. "D... did I do good?" she whispered.

"More than good." Igneous nodded slowly. "You did great."

As her eyes closed, a smile spread over Scarlett's face.

Igneous: "Uh... she is just exhausted, right?" ._.

A sudden gust brushed the grovlazzle's backside. By the time he turned around, Yiazmat was already halfway toward the wreckage.

Oh that's not a good sign there. .-.

Paradox stared at his static-filled monitors, still gripping the headset. "Well? What happened? Sticky, give me something!"

The naganadel had nothing. His computer was a smoldering wreck. "Sir, my terminal is—"

"I don't want excuses," the deoxys hissed. Paradox looked at the ceiling. "Computer? Status on the self-destruct sequence?"

[Loading. Loading. Please stand by.]

... W1DG3T's going to blow up in delayed fashion and take out members of the party, isn't he?

Paradox was ready to throw his headset at the ceiling.

[Self-destruct sequence completed successfully, Your Excellency.]

... Well then, time to see how much of an unholy mess that turns out to be.

Silence. After a solid minute, Paradox turned and placed the headset on his desk. His tentacles coiled into hands that he braced on either side of his headset.

"Sticky. Call Uroboros," he said. "I want the Paradigm fully mobilized."

Without hesitation, Sticky vigorously nodded and sped toward the door.

Wait, so no explosion through the line there? Though I suppose it was a bit soon to be getting rid of Paradigm story-wise.

As the drakloak gently lowered the creature to the ground, she acknowledged its body shape was a lot like Xeromus'. But its entire torso was red and translucent, like it was made of glass.

Oh, that is not a good sign for the note this chapter's going to end on.

Gene landed at the same time Yuna placed the pilot on the ground, then turned back to normal in a flash of orange and blue light. Noctum and Valkyrie landed beside him.

"What the hell was that?" Valkyrie rubbed her head. "You guys heard a rock song, too, right? It was like... if Starlene turned punk."

... Waaaaait, so how many phases as musicians did Nikki and Scarlett go through? Since Chiaki definitely remembered them for their Bubblegum Pop...

"I don't feel tired at all." Noctum tapped the top of his Malice Crystal. "And you!" He pointed to Gene. "I didn't know you could mega evolve!"

Oh, so Gene did Trance from Scarlett's song.

Gene's tail swished back and forth. "Uh, neither could I." He held his right hand up and turned it back and forth. "I wish I had an explanation, but I don't." The mewtwo shook his head. "We can talk about it later. How's that pilot?"

When he looked left, his tail abruptly stiffened. The panic was clear in his eyes. "Impossible," he whispered.

Gene: "What, you getting your tail whipped? No, that's just Tuesday for me-"
W1DG3T: "B-But you're the bad guys, I'm not supposed to lose to you!"

"What's impossible?" Valkyrie said, quirking a brow.

"Nothing." Gene waved her off. He knelt beside the pilot.

"Is it dead?" the garchomp wondered.

Not yet, anyways.

"No. Just unconscious." Gene ran a hand across the pilot's red torso. His Malice Crystal sparked and he pulled his hand back. "Yeah, we're gonna have to dig deeper into this."

"Let's gather up, first," Noctum suggested, slowly flapping his wings in place. "We need to get Jade and Nik—"

"Yuna? Yunavresca!"

Yuna: "... That voice. Oh my god."

The drakloak stiffened. She glanced over her shoulder.

A dragapult in sleek black armor surged toward her, a mix of shock and worry on her face.

"The hell?" Valkyrie tugged Noctum's wing. "Is that—"

Yuna managed to find her voice.

"Mom?!"

Well, I can already tell that these two have quite the reunion ahead of them. Even if I'm a little surprised that W1DG3T hasn't blown up on the gang just yet. Either that self-destruct sequence takes care of him another way, something got interrupted with it, or he's going to blow up next chapter.

CDL347: Giga Pursuit Unit, Seekerskorch

A prototype flying battleship for the Eternatus Troopers, fashioned to appear like a mega evolved centiskorch. With a psorexium exoskeleton and dozens of side-mounted cannons, it can unleash a devastating rain of destruction on its target. The only issue is that the battleship is presently designed for a single pilot. Controlling all the weapons has proven to be too difficult for any Eternatus Troopers, so the prototype was shelved.

Why did the emperor suddenly deploy it now? And who did he scrounge up to pilot it? Its appearance is seriously concerning...

Oh right, Cyril is the one who writes these logs. I forgot about that little detail, but it's a nice touch there.

Path of Valor Almanac

Scarlett's battle song spoofs GH()ST (pronounced "ghost"), the battle theme of Viola from Bayonetta 3, with music by Tomoki Kameyama and vocals by Mikaila Delgado.

And there's the blurb about the song drop in-story. For reference, if you ever branch out to other Platinum Games songs for Scarlett's playlist, I'd recommend the female version of 'Dark Hero' from Astral Chain as a solid contender for a genre and thematic fit.

Alright, time for that post-mortem: Another actiony chapter, since this and the prior chapter's structuring is really different from just about every chapter of PoV prior to them. So it did a good job at keeping things feeling fresh... even if I'm just a little

at the possibility of things taking an explosive turn right off the bat next time. I also liked how we're finally getting all the main branches of the protagonist party all together in one place, even if I'm not fully convinced they're all going to start sortieing together right here and now since there must be a voice in Yiazmat's head going "yeah, no, my baby girl's going home and away from this mess" right now.

As for weaknesses. I honestly don't have that much to complain about. Maybe being a bit more explicit about how it's Latias doing the singing that's buffing Gene and the party there? Other than that, everything seemed pretty put together well if under an obvious constraint of "the chapter needs to be about 5000 words", which you've made obvious isn't going anywhere for normal chapters.

Kudos on the chapter @Ambyssin , and at long last, I'm caught up on your story again, and eagerly awaiting whatever comes to pass in 53 this coming weekend. ^^

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, took a couple attempts, but I'm back to catch up with PoV's latest and greatest:

Chapter 53

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

It is unfortunate to hear about Beowolf's defeat at Necrozma's hands. But let's face it, sir, he's far from the most productive Paradigm lieutenant of the bunch. He's a five or a six in a hand where you have royals, after all. Maybe you can come up with something unimportant for him to do when he finishes regenerating.

Wait, that Lycanroc survived getting lazored by Bahamut two chapters ago? .-.

That aside, I've done some digging based on the reports you passed along to me. I believe I can draw two conclusions. The first is rather simple: there are no records of any "Zacian" present on Etherium prior to our Benefactor's arrival. The so-called Luminous Sages did not have a Zacian in their ranks. Yet Radiant history is full of mentions of one who co-founded the kingdom and served alongside a rapidash as its first queen... and continued to serve as a figurehead for countless generations, far exceeding any realistic pokémon lifespan.

... Is Zacian also a defector from the QN or something? Since that seems like quite a coinky-dink there that there'd be a Zacian only after the Benefactor first arrived to Etherium.

The second conclusion deals with the aforementioned Sages. Comparing the reports you provided me with Aeon scriptures and this foolish minister's knowledge of certain... legendary species returning to Etherium despite sacrificing themselves to seal our Benefactor, the math doesn't add up.

Between the original number of seals and the Sage descendants living in Etherium, one is unaccounted for. And I think it's a fairy-type, to boot.

... Wait, how many seals are there on Natus anyways? At first I thought it was like 7-10, but if living descendants of Sages count as well, now I can't tell. .-.

Could it be possible the so-called Zacian these Radiants speak of is actually the missing Sage? I'll have to keep digging, but I suspect our Benefactor's energy is involved in this.

inb4 Zacian is a red herring.

Things passed by in a blur for Yuna. One moment her mother had her wrapped up in a hug filling the drakloak's ear frills with murmurs of "big" and "proud" and other things Yuna couldn't recall. Then the next thing she knew, she sat on a leather office chair far too big for her wispy body. A few small circular tables littered the carpeted floor in front of her. One had small water bottles. Another had a plate of berries. A third bore bars wrapped in silver foil.

At first I thought those were literal silver ingots, but then I realized that that's more likely just candy. So Yuna and/or her family have a sweet tooth, huh?

Where am I? Yuna looked around, finding landscape paintings staring at her... and two more office chairs occupied by a dragapult and a black charizard. The former stared intently at the latter's belly.

Yuna: "Seriously, how do I not have any recollection of getting here right now?"

"Did you black out?" Reshiram whispered in the back of her head.

Yeah. Seeing Mom... I guess it shocked me so much I blanked.

Well, I guess that would do it on the "reason for not having any recollection of getting here" front.

"Gene gathered everyone up and said he needed to bring the pilot we captured to Cyril right away," Reshiram explained. "Nikki was holding a dragonair — I think the one she was looking for all this time? — and your edgy grovyle friend is now half-salzzle, too. Noctum suggested we go somewhere to recuperate, and your mother demanded we be sent to a specific building in Scale City. So, that's where we are."

So wait, was the computer BSing Paradox about that self-destruct sequence? Since I was kinda expecting that W1DG3T would've blown up by now. ^^;

Yuna stared at the floor, blinking slowly. She supposed that made sense. But Scale City? The name was... vaguely familiar. Her mother had mentioned it before, back when she lived at home. Did that mean they were in Aeon?

Yiazmat: "Er... not quite, honey. Just try and pace yourself. This could take a while." ^^;

"The group kinda split up after that," Reshiram continued. "Valkyrie went off on her own, Nikki took the dragonair away, and Noctum brought you here. Which just about covers everything."

Well, I suppose that would save a few thousand words' worth of just cutting to the chase for a story. Even if I kinda wonder if there were moments worth showing depicting the gang reuniting over the smoking wreckage of W1DG3T's ride, especially if Nikki and Scarlett were both there for it.

The drakloak silently thanked Reshiram for the recap. She remained slouched in her chair, unsure of what to say to her mother. It hadn't been that long since she bid the dragapult farewell, and yet it felt like an eternity had passed.

Yuna: "Um... so... how much do you know about the past... uh... what's it been by now? A month?"

"Noctum told me what happened."

Squeaking, Yuna squirmed in her chair, struggling to sit upright. Her bulkier, rectangular head was harder to prop up than she was used to. "W-What do you mean?"

Yuna: "Noctum, why would you do that?!"

Noctum: "Sorry, Princess. But your parents are kinda the ones who took me under their wings and gave me my present job, so..." ^^;

"That you were both sucked inside World Ender— sorry, Eternatus." Yiazmat slowly sat up in her seat. "That you are releasing Sages from their seals and gathering them in our family heirloom." She locked eyes with the Soul Dew. Yuna couldn't tell if she was upset.

Yuna: "Mom, I swear. It's for a good reason!" O_O;

"Ah." Yuna subconsciously pawed at the Soul Dew. "It's... complicated."

"I can tell." Yiazmat looked away, biting her lower lip. "Though that explains one thing."

Wait, it... does?

Noctum leaned forward. "Which is?"

"When your grandmother gave that to me, she told me, 'One day, its purpose will become clear.'" Yiazmat rose from her chair and floated toward the cabinet on Yuna's left. "She said she heard it from her mother who heard it from her mother who heard it from her mother."

She put her hands on the top of the cabinet, sighing. "That one line percolated through our family for God only knows how long. Certainly long before we assumed control of Aeon."

Would suggest a split of this paragraph. Though I can't tell if Yiazmat's family has just been fated to one day host a wielder of the Soul Dew, or if this is Garnet from FF9 all over again, but without the motherly queen being a power-tripping psychopath.

"Wait, so you knew this was important?" Yuna's Soul Dew had regained some of its luster, but it was still recharging from its prolonged use.

Yiazmat:

Yuna: "Sounds more like that statement's completely backwards if you ask me." >_>;

"I honestly thought your grandmother was being superstitious," Yiazmat admitted.

She opened the cabinet's glass door and pulled out a tray with a couple of glasses and a green bottle. It hissed when she opened it. The dragapult poured herself a glass of fizzy water. She paused with her right hand wrapped around the glass.

"Can you summon Saint Reshiram right now?"

Oh, well never mind. Guess the reaction image was onto something after all.

Though would suggest hacking this paragraph up into pieces between its dialogue and non-dialogue parts.

"Uhh... not exactly?" Yuna ran her left hand across the gem's cool glass. "It has a limit. And that battle kinda reached it. Maybe I can... do a tiny version." Her face scrunched up in concentration. That fiery blaze in the back of her mind was as slippery as boiling noodles. She managed to latch on and tug.

A small, translucent Reshiram formed on the arm of her office chair. He looked around. "Hello." Reshiram waved awkwardly. "I, uh, guess you're Yuna's mom?"

Yiazmat: "... I was expecting something a bit more than this, really." ._.
Cecil: "I've got my powers whenever we're in Eternatus, at least?" ^^;

A croak got caught in Yiazmat's throat. She put a hand to her mouth, then hastily sipped some sparkling water. "Goodness. Is that nasally voice... because of his size?"

Oh, so Yiazmat almost had that one moment with Violet Parr from TI2 happen to her, huh? :V

"No? I always sound like this." Reshiram puffed his cheeks out.

"I see." Yiazmat set the glass down. "Very well. I want you and Yuna to listen carefully to me."

The drakloak tensed. This didn't sound good.

Yuna: "Y-Yes?"

"Your father and I went back and forth on whether to share this... but it's too pressing to discuss this matter with him." Sighing, Yiazmat tucked her head down. "Yuna, you're not my daughter by blood."

Holy crap, it really is Garnet from FF9 all over again.

I was saying that as a joke, but I suppose something about that 'twin egg going bad' thing a while back did feel a bit sus. Also, I now find it kinda hilarious that 'Garnet' was the name that @Virgil134 rolled for the blink-and-miss cameo of Yuna from Birbtales, since boy did that turn out to be fitting right about now.

It didn't sink in for Yuna at first. She saw Noctum slump back in his chair, jaw open in disbelief, but didn't acknowledge him. Yuna shook her head. "No. You told me my twin was a bad egg. Which was probably related to why I was so sick when I was younger."

So, is Yuna going to roll a rename for herself on the spot here too? Or did she have one prior to adoption similar to how Garnet/Dagger did in FF9?

"We lied," Yiazmat flatly said. She took another sip of sparkling water. "Your father... found you while leading a construction team building a trench to divert magma flow from one of the volcanoes. You were not an egg... but rather a silhouette encased in a crystal." The dragapult hesitantly glanced over her shoulder. "Much like the one in Noctum's gut."

... Wait, then what on earth is Yuna if that's how she was found? .-.

Yuna glanced at Noctum, who stared at his Malice Crystal in disbelief. He didn't know either. No way the black charizard could put on such a convincing act for all these years. She met Reshiram's gaze. He didn't have to say anything to her. The look in his eyes made it clear: Yiazmat spoke the truth.

Yuna's... going to have trouble trusting anyone from the Aeon royal family again after this, isn't she?

It had to be the truth. Why else would she say that? It made no sense for her to craft such a bizarre lie. So, why did Yiazmat lie about it all these years? Did she really have that little faith in Yuna's ability to handle the truth? Why make her believe she had a twin sibling she would never meet?

Yuna: "Seriously, mom. What the hell?!"

Too many thoughts twisted themselves around in Yuna's head. It didn't make sense to her. "Why?" was all the drakloak could manage.

"You'd already had such a rough time of things," Yiazmat whispered, tracing a claw along the rim of her glass. "With how sick you had been... I thought it would just hurt you more to hear that we weren't your real parents." She shut her eyes. "Your father disagreed with me, but ultimately ceded the subject."

Yiazmat: "In retrospect, I... probably should've paid him more heed, huh?" ._.;

Of course he did. Her parents were good partners, but Calcifer often deferred to Yiazmat. Yuna wished he had tried asserting himself more on this subject. "I don't... understand," the drakloak muttered. "Avoid hurting me? You had me convinced my sibling died before they could hatch! How is that—"

Live view of Yuna right now:

She gripped the sides of her head. That same feeling from the battle was back. Something— no, someone trying to push themselves through her ectoplasm. It wasn't a Sage, that was for sure. Yuna ignored Reshiram's concerned look and turned away from them.

Totally a good sign there, I'm sure.

"In hindsight... I made the wrong decision," Yiazmat said. "And I am deeply sorry for that, Yunavresca."

The dragapult sounded sincere. But sorry was just a word. It didn't change anything. Yuna curled her hands into the leather armrest. "What about the throne?" she said. "Everyone thinks I'm next in line. That's why you sent me here." Yuna dug her hands deeper into the leather. "Is that a lie, too?"

"No."

Yuna: "What- but- you just told me that I'm not your biological daughter! How on earth does that not mean-?!"

"What?" That made even less sense. Why would Yuna ascend to the throne if she wasn't truly the queen's daughter?

"I couldn't care less about a bloodline," Yiazmat said. "You remember your history lessons, yes? Our family has only ruled Aeon for five generations. You're still my eldest daughter. The throne is yours."

Not sure how the other kids are going to feel about that, but you can't say that it's not without historical precedent.

Was that supposed to comfort Yuna? She glanced over her shoulder. Her mother stared remorsefully at the autumn hill landscape hanging above the drink cabinet.

"I completely understand if you need time and space," the dragapult said. She finished the glass of sparkling water. "As Bahamut says: 'time may not heal all wounds, but it can at least begin to close them.'"

Yuna:

Yiazmat: "... Fortunately, you're of a long-lived species, since I can tell that you're going to need a decent amount of it to come to terms with things."

Yuna smacked her hands against the armrest without realizing it. Noctum sat up straight in his chair, Malice Crystal flickering nervously.

"Don't drag him into this," Yuna growled.

Yiazmat blinked slowly. "What?"

Yiazmat: "Are you talking about Noctum? Since I didn't even mention-" ._.;

"Don't fall back on those worthless, two-faced platitudes," Yuna hissed. A tiny, rational voice in the back of her head told her this wasn't worth getting upset over, but Yuna ignored it. After all, Yiazmat piled on another lie, even if she wasn't aware of it. "Guess Noctum didn't give you the whole story."

Noctum: "Yuna, what are you doing?!"

Yuna: "Look, if we're just ripping off the bandages here, we might as well go all the way." >_>;

The dragapult turned away from the cabinet, tilting her large, triangular head. "Come again? What whole story?"

"Bahamut's a sham!" Yuna smacked the armrest and floated off her chair. "Aeonism is a sham. A bunch of lies and half-truths cobbled together with paste and rope!" She saw her mother ready to retort and her tail lashed at the air. That inky black bubbled in her leg nubs. "Every Needle I've pulled... has shown me visions of the past. When Bahamut and the Sages were alive.

But what if the true Aeonism was the friends you made along the way?

Yuna: "That's not how any of this works!"

"They're not gods. They were average pokémon like you and me who took jobs working for Bahamut," Yuna continued while the darkness spread to her torso. "And when they were tired of it, Bahamut found replacements and passed on their powers. There is no Saint Reshiram... because there's been a bunch of 'em!"

>dat bit in underline

Yiazmat looked down. Reshiram shrank even smaller. "G... guilty," he said, laughing nervously.

"And Bahamut himself? He was a terrible person! Spiteful, temperamental, and paranoid." Yuna gripped the sides of her rectangular head and shook it. "Those other worlds the Book of Aeon mentions? He ravaged cities! Sank islands!"

Yiazmat: "B-But for all you know those visions weren't accurate, and-" O_O;
Noctum: "Um, Your Majesty? Thus far, everything that we've been coming across has been corroborating them more and not really disproving them, so I wouldn't get your hopes up." ._.

The drakloak's breathing finally slowed. Her body trembled. "We... we worship a lie. We worship a monster." She sank back onto the chair and turned on her side.

Which I'm sure is going to do wonders for the legitimacy of Aeon's crown and the stability of its society and politics.

Silence permeated the room. Slowly, the darkness retreated down her torso and leg nubs, like water draining out of a bathtub. Yuna expected Yiazmat to say something. Anything. But she stayed quiet. So did Noctum and Reshiram.

Cecil: "Er... what were we supposed to say here again? Since... uh... you kinda just smashed your mother's worldview to pieces in live time here."
Yuna: "I don't know? Shock? Vehement denial? Anything?!"

The tiny voice from before told her she blew up over nothing. Yiazmat still loved her and she was trying to show her that.

Yuna pushed those thoughts away. She didn't want to acknowledge them. She wanted... privacy. Privacy she couldn't get because of that infernal Soul Dew binding two souls to her.

Yuna's going to leave the room and go and cry into a corner for a while, isn't she?

... Maybe it was a good thing someone else was pulling Needles. She wouldn't have to deal with any other voices in her head that could pop out of her chest at a moment's notice.

No, it's really... not, to say the least. Especially if they work like the ones in M3 did. .-.

And what about Leo? Yuna still had him to worry about. What was he even doing, stuck waiting on Bogdan with the others? She wasn't really going to introduce him as her son to Yiazmat, was she?

Yuna: "Look, I'm sorry, I can't deal with this right now!"

"Go," Yuna whispered.

"Princess?" Noctum leaned forward.

"Just go. Both of you." Yuna curled up tighter. "I can't. Not right now."

Yeah, I figured. So she really is going to curl up and cry for a while, huh?

She couldn't see them with her face pressed firmly against the corner of the giant leather chair. But she heard shuffling, then a door creaking open.

"I'm sorry I hid the truth from you, Yuna. I still love you, though. That will never change."

That... doesn't bode well for Yiazmat's long-term lifespan there. Since meta-wise this is the sort of thing that gets said not long before a character gets killed off. .-.

Yuna picked her head up. Yiazmat looked back at her, tail crinkled with worry. She smiled weakly at the drakloak, but Yuna lowered her head back on the arm rest and closed her eyes.

Deep down, Yuna believed her mother loved her. But it didn't leave her feeling any less empty inside.

I mean, at least she's keeping her eyes dry for now? Things could've gone worse, right? ^^;

Vortex knew Dazzels had holding cells. Rarely used holding cells, judging by the dust clinging to the walls of the sterile gray interrogation room the charizard found himself in. He squirmed in his cold, metal chair. Vortex's gray jumpsuit itched something fierce and the shackles around his wrists and ankles were no better.

Ah yes, it's this scene that's been teased a couple of times on some Discord servers.

"You should count your blessings," the dusknoir floating toward the opposite end of the gray table said. Vegna turned a file over repeatedly in his hand. "Under normal circumstances, we'd jam a fire ring in that snout of yours to stop any funny business. I've heard it described as uncomfortable. Suffocating, even."

Wait, what does that track from DMC5 play in anyways such that you picked it for this moment?

Vortex curled his fingers — the Radiant Guard applied adhesive padding to his claws before tossing him in his cell — around the jumpsuit's rough fabric. Vegna was saying that to get under his scales. Because he knew the reason why Vortex didn't need a fire ring. He wouldn't suffer the indignity of getting toyed with. "We both know what you want to say, so say it."

Oh, that's different from the draft I saw teased, since in that one Vortex just flatly had his claws clipped. I'm curious as to what the story behind the change was internally.

"Very well." Vegna opened the file, his red eye flickering in amusement. "A genuine case of imprisonerre. Never thought I'd live to see the day." He paused to chuckle. "Or unlive, depending on your definition of ghost-types." The dusknoir set the file on the table. "It certainly explains a few things.

Wait, is that a term from something / misspelling of one? Since when I try to run it through a search engine, it turns up nothing other than your chapter text.

"Forgive the discourtesy of my attempts at playing armchair psychologist." Vegna drifted down until he was right next to the table's edge. "Your drive to build Polaris into what it is today... I'm quite sure you were compensating for your inability to use attacks. To succeed in business where you failed at the elements. To have society see you as a success. After all... it wouldn't matter if you were influential enough, would it? Money can make the world go 'round, and all that jazz."

You know, I should have suspected that something was up with Vortex from the way that he was just casually being a dick and lording it over Noctum, but even then, I wasn't expecting this. Also, I see that Vegna knows a thing or two about getting under the skin of perps brought before him.

There. Vegna put it out in the open. Vortex drew his lips back in a snarl. "Trying to dig up a motive for my 'crimes,' I see." The charizard leaned forward. "We both know it's pointless. This is a farce. Her Em— Isola is scapegoating me for all of this. Conjuring up charges out of thin air to suit her narrative."

Vegna: "You do realize that you're not exactly making it hard for her and even in normal times the crown would have a solid case for making sure you never saw the light of day again for untold counts of criminal negligence, right?"

He placed his shackled hands on the table. "You're an intelligent 'mon. Surely you realize that if I'm truly guilty of high treason, High Inquisitor Justine would handle the case." Vortex's own words echoed in his head. He had plenty of time to draw his conclusions. Even if they terrified him, it did Vortex no good to keep them to himself. "The only reason you're here... is because you're the Grim Reaper."

Allow me to fetch the appropriate image for this moment, Vortex:

Vegna stayed silent. His eye pulsated with red light. Another intimidation tactic.

"She wants me dead," Vortex said, a bitterness to his words. "And while she could easily find me guilty and drag me off to get the needle, that takes time. Time I could use to talk." He tapped his fingers against the table. "It would be far easier for her if I were to... suddenly suffer an unfortunate accident. Just like Benedict. Just like every defendant who steps foot in the Reaper's court. That's the real reason you're here, isn't it?"

Can't tell if Vortex is onto something here or if Vegna's going to offer to cut him a deal he can't refuse.

The dusknoir's expression didn't change. He eventually pivoted to his right. "Rage, fury, intense indignation in cataracts of fire, blood and gall. In whirlwinds of sulfurous smoke and enormous forms of energy; all the seven deadly sins of the soul."

Vortex rolled his eyes. He knew Vegna's fondness for strange crypticisms. Supposedly they were poem stanzas, but they read like nothing one could find on Etherium. The charizard wasn't outwardly impressed, but his heart was hammering. It sure sounded like the Reaper was here to kill him. There were no cameras. Vortex hadn't seen any Radiant Guard in what felt like hours.

I honestly can't tell whether or not Vegna's going to ice Vortex myself. Even if I wonder what he'd gain from not doing that at the moment.

"You truly have no remorse for your actions, do you?" Vegna said, still looking at the dust-covered wall to his right.

"I did nothing wrong," Vortex growled. His tail flame would have sparked, but it was covered by a special cone. "You said it yourself: what good is a charizard that can't breathe fire? Or curry the wind to their favor?" He leaned forward further. "I built myself up from nothing using my wits and cunning. There's nothing criminal about that. I saw a way to make Radiance better and I seized the opportunity. The wealth and notoriety that came with it were what I deserved."

Vortex, you do realize that if you're trying to survive past the next five minutes, it generally helps if you don't try and tank your sympathy with the audience, right?

"Nothing criminal." Vegna turned back to the table, flipping through pages. "Even as the pollution from your energy production wiped entire cities off the map, you knowingly hid the true source of ether from Parliament, the public, and the crown."

"No. No, you stop right there." Vortex held up his shackled hands. "Who do you think it was who told me about World Ender still being inside the planet in the first place?" His nostrils flared. "Why, Her Eminence, Queen Isola, of course."

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqgW-2orQQg


I'm sorry, what?

"Really?" Vegna crossed his arms. "That's your defense?"

"It's the truth," Vortex countered. "The original ether plants used supplies of crystals I had gathered. Isola took notice. I saw an opportunity to spread my ideas to all of Radiance. She recognized the potential... and then assured me there would be ways to counter any repercussions from tapping into the distortion."

Vegna:

"So are you going to offer some evidence? Or keep blowing hot air in my face?"

"And when this wasn't the case?" Vegna's red eye crackled. "You chose to stay silent?"

"When it wasn't the case... the idea for Icarus came about," Vortex said, tensing up. Vegna was losing his patience. The end was coming, so the charizard had to finish saying his piece quickly. "A promise of unlimited energy... and an end to the distortion. Isola was the one who discovered the Icarus specimen and had Tesla locate it. We were confident in its capabilities."

The 'Icarus specimen'? The hell is that thing?

He sat up straight in his chair. "It all goes back to Isola. I'm sure of it. I chose to sit on that information as my insurance policy. You need to have a good insurance policy to succeed in business. I can't expect a lawyer to understand that." Vortex gripped the edge of the table with his padded fingers. "But it's the truth! I combed through Horizon Academy's records after becoming Chancellor. Isola... is not the same person she was as a student.

Oh, so Isola really is the Queen Brahne of this story, huh?

"Princess Isola loved painting and gardening... a-and she braided her hair and her tail in the most childish way one could think of." Vortex could hear his nerves showing through. Vegna's stoicism had finally cracked his facade. "But most importantly... she was due to get engaged to a male primarina. It was going to happen at the conclusion of the Crowne Cup. The previous chancellor was helping to plan the engagement with Isola in secret."

Vegna: "And how is Isola's old love life relevant to any of this again?"

Vortex looked down and shook his head. "But it never happened. Instead, she dumps the primarina and, a few weeks later, all the tabloids are reporting she's taken Justine as a consort and offered her the position of High Inquisitor when she'd never shown the slightest interest in ladies! And those hobbies I mentioned? Tell me, have you ever heard of her engaging in them at all?" The charizard scooched himself to the edge of his seat. "No! They're not even mentioned in media interviews! Doesn't that strike you as the least bit suspicious?"

... Starting to get the vibe that Isola got killed and replaced right about now, or else brainwashed. Can't tell which of the two seems more plausible right now. .-.

He had nearly slid off his seat. Vortex propped himself against the edge of the table. "It's not just her, either. Don't you find it strange Radiance has only ever had queens sit upon the throne? Not a single king in the entire lineage!" He would've thrown his arms apart in exaggeration if they weren't shackled.

Vegna: "If you're done, Charizard, I think that we can just move right along to the-" -;
Vortex: "That's not all I have to say here!"

"You're an inquisitor, for pity's sake!" Vortex exclaimed. "You can't seriously believe Shimmer is the first male to be born in the royal family's history, can you? You have no idea how much I've had to bend over backwards for him at his mothers' orders." He began counting on his fingers. "Fixing grades. Sweeping misconduct allegations under the rug thanks to his... poor choice of behavior in public settings with and without that sylveon by his side. Rigging the Crowne Cup challenges to ensure his team would cruise to victory. But I went through with it all because I believed in my vision for the future of this kingdom— no, the future of the planet! And Isola returns that favor by stabbing me in the back?!"

Wow, you really did model Shimmer after Sebastian DeBeste from AAI2. Though considering what that implies about Isola as a parent considering what his dad was like...

Vortex slouched over, panting heavily. Somehow, he'd gotten his entire spiel out there. Vegna had not once interrupted him. The dusknoir merely floated there, bathing Vortex in red light from his eye. The charizard slid himself back into his seat. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he muttered. "The wealthiest 'mon in all of Radiance ranting like a raving mad lunatic before the Grim Reaper."

Vegna already knows about all of this dirty laundry, doesn't he?

More silence.

"Say something, damn it!" Vortex stomped his shackled feet against the metal floor.

Vegna:

"In fierce anguish and qunchless flames, to the deserts and rocks He ran raging to hide, but He could not."

Vortex tensed. Vegna's eye... had shifted blue as the spoke. The dusknoir closed up his folder. "Before you conspired with the crown to open Citadark Isle, I worked my way up the penal ranks to become an executioner." He picked the folder up and returned to turning it over and back in his right hand. "But after learning about the... changing political landscape, I chose to attend law school and later join the Ministry of Justice. Tell me... why do you think that is?"

Vortex: "I'm... not gonna like the answer to this question, am I?"

The charizard tensed up. He... he knows? He knows there's something wrong? But then why would he willingly work for a broken system? Unless... he was benefitting from that broken system, too! Just like Vortex!

I mean, he is a necromancer, and being an executioner would by nature give him access to a steady stream of dead people, so...

He had to make one last plea. One final attempt to sway the Reaper to his side and—

The interrogation room door slammed open. "That will be enough, Mister Vegna."

Well, sounds like the axe won't be falling on Vortex just yet.

Vegna and Vortex looked over in unison. Demerzel floated in the doorway, but that wasn't his voice they'd heard. No, instead he floated to the side... and an icy chill entered the room. Vegna's eye sparked. "What manner of trickery is this, Clown Prince?"

Vortex tilted his head. That can't be right. Vegna addressed someone that looked vaguely like Shimmer, but too many things were wrong. His horn was far longer, with streaks of icy white along it. He had a flowing, sparkling white mane and several glittery white tails where his puffy pink one was supposed to be.

Oh, so that's what that Rapitales you commissioned art of is. Shimmer from what's probably 20-30 chapters into the future from this point in time.

"That's Prince Shimmer, Inquisitor." The ponyta narrowed his eyes. "I suggest you address me as such if you value your job."

He never spoke with such conviction. And Shimmer was practically at eye level with Vortex's standing height! What had happened to him?

His offscreen makeover from like 4-5 chapters ago, obviously.

"You're dismissed, Vegna." Demerzel gestured to the open doorway.

Vegna's eye darkened. He tensed up and Vortex noticed a sudden ripple in his ectoplasm. "I'm not finished questioning the accused."

Vegna: "Back off, egghead! He's mine!"

"You are now." Shimmer leveled his long horn at Vegna. The room grew even colder. "On my authority."

The dusknoir floated in silence, then tucked his folder underneath his right arm. A right arm that Vortex swore looked different than it did a mere minute ago. The charizard squinted. Were those faint white lines in his ectoplasm? Almost like tiny fissures Vortex would get between his scales when they got chafed after a night of entertainment.

Can't tell what that's supposed to be a sign of, but the 'mon is clearly not just a normal Dusknoir.

... No, Vortex had to be seeing things. A ghost couldn't have anything like that.

"Am I to be escorted out, then?" Vegna asked.

"You are." Shimmer walked behind Vegna, keeping his horn levied. "Move. Now." He followed Vegna out of the room. The door slammed shut behind the two. Demerzel folded his nubby arms under his robe and turned to Vortex.

Ah yes, only good things can come of this since you've pretty much confirmed elsewhere that Dermezel is the 'Kuja' of this story.

"Here to gloat, are you?" the charizard growled. "You did something to Shimmer, didn't you?" There was no way someone could undergo a change like that.

"Actually, you did." A slight smile tugged at Demerzel's lips. "Your company and its lovely pollution." He crossed his lanky legs. "The good prince, distraught over the loss of his dear friends and having learned that he, like you, is nothing but a runt, chose to subject himself to a full course of World Ender's distortion." Demerzel shook his obnoxiously large head. "I figured you, of all people, would admire such conviction."

Oh, so Ether pollution can cause eviolitis, huh?

That... sounds like a pretty serious side effect there, though I'd expect no less from 'Mako, but somehow worse' as a power source.

Vortex wasn't believing that for a second. "I don't know if you're some sleeper agent for Aeon... or you have your own agenda. Whatever it is, you'll never achieve it." He raised his shaking, shackled hands and rested them on his chest. "Look at me. I'm the proof. You've risen political ranks quickly because you did something to curry Isola's favor... and now she's just stringing you along. And when she has no further use for you," he dropped his hands onto his lap, wincing from the heavy shackles, "she'll get rid of you. Like she's doing to me."

Dermezel: "Oh you poor, sweet, summer child. You really think that it's Isola who's stringing me along?"

Demerzel stroked his chin with his right hand. "I suppose that's not an... unreasonable conclusion to draw from this. But really now..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head, sighing. "If you are truly such a skilled entrepreneur, you should have planned for such an occurrence." He floated back and forth at the other end of the table. "You were playing the long game. Introducing all these 'conveniences' into the world designed to make your company and, by extension, you beloved by the people. To the point where the crown could never do anything to touch you lest they risk massive public outcry."

I mean, there were those Genesect that Polaris was sitting on. Was honestly a bit surprised that they didn't get trotted out as a dead man's switch sort of thing.

The charizard looked down at his lap, blinking slowly. He gripped the fabric of his jumpsuit again, brow furrowing. Demerzel repeatedly claimed he was a mutant whimsicott. Exposed to the distortion. Did that mean...

"You're working for them," he whispered, unable to look back up at Demerzel. "You're not an agent for Aeon, you're an agent for World Ender!"

Ah yes, the part where the story just throws it out onto the table that Dermezel is this story's 'Kuja'. Down to having his same character theme.

Demerzel sighed again. "You're entitled to think whatever you want. But I'm not interested in power or public admiration. I truly believe it's long past time for Radiance and Aeon to bury the hatchet. Unite against a shared enemy. Consider it... a parting gift for this sad, sorry little rock."

Parting gift? What did Demerzel even mean by that?

Translation: "Your world's going to get eaten up and then Natus is off to go and munch more planets."

"Your friend Tesla had some positively fascinating memories rattling around in that swollen head of his," Demerzel continued. "These genesect you two planned to replace the Radiant Guard with? Quite interesting. I do hope you don't mind if I activate them."

Oh, so those things are going to come into play. I just didn't get who'd be pushing the buttons at the control right.

Vortex's eyes barely had time to widen before an invisible force gripped his head and pulled it up to look Demerzel in the eyes.

"In fact, I hope you don't mind if I comb over all of Tesla's... facilities," he said, a cheerful smile on his face. "There's a lot of value sitting there, after all. I'd hate for it to waste away because Isola decided to throw you both under the bus."

Wait, is Tesla even alive right now? Since from the way that Dermezel was talking a couple paragraphs ago...

This was bad. The charizard struggled to even get his mouth open an issue a retort. Demerzel's psychic grasp was too strong. Had the mutant... really gone through Tesla's memories and seen all the boltund's projects? There had to be ones Vortex knew nothing about! But why bother admitting that out loud?

Dermezel: "Again, who do you think is the one stringing the other along here, Vortex?"

Vortex: "N-Not Isola?"

Dermezel: "Good answer. I always liked perceptive types."

Did... did Demerzel know the Reaper was coming for Vortex? Is that why he was here? To make sure he could get his paws on Vortex before the Reaper could claim him as his next victim?!

I'm not fully convinced that that's what's happening since Vegna's kills wind up in the front yard of Dermezel's buddies, buuuut...

"Now then." Demerzel cleared his throat. "Shall we begin?"

The pressure on Vortex's head intensified. Even without any attacks, Vortex could tolerate heat. But this pressure quickly turned to an unbearable burning pain. The charizard couldn't even scream. Demerzel had complete control of his whole head.

Vortex is getting a one-way trip to the QN by the end of this scene, isn't he?

The burning pain grew and receded in waves. No doubt from Demerzel delving deeper into the recesses of Vortex's mind. His vision grew blurry. There was nothing the charizard could do. No way to fight back or cry for help.

Then, for a few brief seconds, the blurriness gave way to something else entirely.

Vortex: "H-Huh? Wh-Wha-?"

A golden dragon of light looked around at multiple smaller brown and emerald creatures that looked like they were made entirely of hexagons. They trained arm cannons and strips of multicolored hexagonal scales on the dragon. All the while, a few riolu and lucario with white and gold fur looked at him. Some with tears in their eyes. Others with fangs bared as they hurled their frustrations at him. Begging them to see all the good their grandfather had done for them. That he had made a mistake calling in these zygarde.

Wait, this is Shane from after the events of some version of GL, isn’t it? Since white-and-gold-furred Riolu and Lucario? After the note GL ended on?

With a sharp gasp, Vortex fell forward. His head smacked against the cold metal of the interrogation room's table. Vortex's heart hammered in his chest, his breath ragged.

"Y... you..." Vortex struggled to blink away his double vision. Get two Demerzels back into one. "Wh... o are..."

Dermezel: "The 'Kuja' of this story? I thought the background music made it fairly obvious-"

Vortex: "No, what you are for our world. What did you just show me and how the hell did you know about it?!"

"Shhh." Demerzel leaned in and pressed a nubby paw to Vortex's snout. "I have what I need." A pleasant smile spread across his face. "And since you were so cooperative, I'll leave you with a special gift. I know how frustrated your impresonerre makes you. I did just sift through your memories, after all. So, how about... I give you that fire you've so desperately desired?"

Oh, so Vortex isn't leaving this story just yet.

Dermezel: "Alternatively, I turn and leave and let Vegna have his way with you. Your choice, really, since I can work with either outcome."

Vortex's eyes suddenly widened. A psychic grip forced his head up once again. Demerzel placed a strange red square against his snout. Vortex crossed his eyes and, for a brief second, saw a message carved into it.

The power of defeated giants infuses this Plate.

Wait, Dermezel just casually has Arceus' elemental plates lying around?! O_O;

Then the square disappeared in a flicker of orange light. Vortex's nostrils tingled, like he'd huffed some bright powder. His head slammed back on the desk as Demerzel released his psychic grip.

"The changes won't happen instantaneously. But when they do begin, you'll know." Demerzel turned to the door, opening it with a flick of his wrist. "In the meantime, I would advise you not to think too hard on, well, anything. Your mind's in a fragile place right now. And I'd hate to see you end up a vegetable like the good doctor."

Oh, so that's what happened to Tesla after Dermezel was done with him.

So wait, given that Dermezel exposed Vortex to the Fire Plate, does that mean he's going to become a Megazard-Y, or...?

Vortex heard hoofbeats.

"We're leaving," Shimmer said.

"And Vegna?"

"I saw something interesting," Shimmer replied. "When he thought he was safely away from me... he braced himself against the side of the front staircase, talking about being on a timer and having to 'find that mewtwo.'"

... Can't tell if Vegna and Dermezel are in cahoots or if he's a loose cannon as a character right now. I can see arguments either way, really.

"Oh? Did something happen?" Demerzel's voice grew distant, but Vortex could make out one final thing.

"Part of his body dissolved away... leaving holes in his arms and hands."

Well then.

Alright, onto the summary:

Since in no particular order, we got a reveal that Yuna's entire life has been a lie, Dermezel outs himself as Kuja, but with a bigger head that new member of the Paradigm who's manipulating events in Radiance to his bidding to free Natus and now is about to start up those Genesect from like 20 chapters ago, at least 2 major characters have been recruited onto the side of Team Eternatus, and Vegna's body is starting to disappear on him and he needs to track down Gene before then for reasons. Like it genuinely feels like a lot just happened within the span of two scenes and 5300 words, in ways that are setting a new paradigm (har har) that's going to affect the rest of the story's run. I'm not sure what the secret sauce you use for making PoV feel twisty and earth-shattering with every other update is, but it was out in force this chapter, much to its benefit.

The one real complaint that I have is that it might have been worth showing off some of the gang's meetup in the wake of defeating W1DG3T to show how some of the groups that are now split up again reacted to each other, but eh. I suppose that's also perfectly doable in future chapters, and I understand the meta argument for speeding things along on a tight wordcount budget.

But glad to be caught up again, and kudos with the chapter @Ambyssin . You've definitely given me a lot to look forward to in about a week and a half. ^^

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 54: Somber Musings​

Diva Project first phase was successful. The subject took the maximum allotted dose of proto-ether with no visible adverse effects. Energy readings remained persistently elevated compared to her pre-treatment tests.

The next step will remain confidential, even to Vortex. Proto-ether alone is not enough to produce the results Vortex wants. A dragonair does not have the kind of psychic energy required for such an undertaking. But there is something that does have that power: the Needles scattered around the kingdom.

It's risky, of course. There are many writings that describe people's bodies breaking down simply from coming into contact with a Needle. But Dragonair has proto-ether flowing through her veins. No one else can make such a claim. In addition, the Needle I've selected has traces of dragon energy in it. I believe this shared typing will synergize with Dragonair, increasing the odds of phase two's success.

XxX​

Everyone had somewhere to be except Igneous. Yuna's mother shepherded her off, while Nikki ran to find a place to lay Scarlett down. Even Valkyrie seemed to avoid the grovlazzle at first, saying she needed to find Sakaki and running off without another word. Gene took the rest of the ragtag group back with him, which left Igneous standing in a rather empty kitchen, staring at a rarely used stove and microwave. Only the hum of the lights and refrigerator broke the silence.

The grovlazzle silently approached the fridge and opened it up. If he remembered correctly— yep, his father still kept dehydrated berries in there. Igneous thought they sucked, but they weren't for him. They were for Scarlett. He grabbed a couple of leppas, took them out of their foil packaging, and brought them to the sink. It wheezed to life. Igneous yanked his hands back and scrutinized the water running from the faucet for several seconds before deciding it was clear and clean.

When he ran the leppas under the water, they expanded and assumed their normal red and yellow colors. Satisfied, Igneous shut the faucet off.

"Hey."

"****!" Igneous nearly threw the berries away in surprise. He looked over his shoulder, where Valkyrie stood propped in the doorway, pivoted to make room for her dorsal fin.

"You know I hate it when you do that," the grovlazzle hissed. He headed for the doorway. "You made it clear you wanted to avoid me, so... lemme pass and I'll be out of your scales."

"It wasn't—" Valkyrie looked away, brow furrowing. "I was shocked. We found freaking Lugia got fuzed with salazzle, so to see the same thing happen to you was..." Her voice trailed off. "I don't really know what happened, but I should've been there for you."

Igneous couldn't fault her. He never told the garchomp his plans in Venish, nor could either of them have foreseen what actually happened. Despite that, her demeanor was... different than when he'd last seen her. "Something happened to you as well," Igneous said with conviction.

Valkyrie pivoted further from him. "I might've... blown up a little at the butler dweeb." She rubbed the back of her head. "It's complicated. All of this ****'s complicated. Makes me wish I could go back to taking contracts from you and your father. Just a place to be and a target to kill."

Igneous' back prickled, giving off a few embers. "I've gotta go check on Scarlett." He held up the berries, then hastily pushed past the garchomp and headed into the carpeted hallway, checking open doorways for any signs of Nikki or Scarlett.

He found them in a small room at the end of the hallway, empty except for haphazardly stacked cardboard boxes and an unfolded cot with a thin mattress. Nikki sat on its edge, eyes fixed on Scarlett. She tapped her right foot rapidly.

"C'mon, sis," the toxtricity whispered. "Wake up. Please."

Igneous knocked on the open door. "I brought a couple of leppas."

Nikki looked up and scrutinized the grovlazzle's appearance. "The hell's with the body paint? Pretty sure there are sluttier holowear outfits."

"You're a riot," Igneous deadpanned.

"Did you get messed up by Eterna junk?" Nikki raised a brow like she already knew the answer.

"Yeah." Lying was easier at this point.

"Damn." Nikki dug her fingers into the mattress' plastic cover. "I, uh—"

Igneous stayed silent. If he told Nikki he went to Starlene's concert, she'd no doubt press him for details. It wasn't his place to tell her what learned about Scarlett. Not when the toxtricity had finally reunited with her.

"Got careless," the grovlazzle said, shaking his head. "And that freak Xeromus got the jump on me."

The name sent a wave of recognition crashing over Nikki. "I see." The toxtricity's mane crackled. "Was he in Vellguarde, too?"

"Yeah. I tried fighting him, but then that giant robot showed up and he fled." At least that was the truth.

"Well, next time we better get his ass," Nikki growled. "Why can't you call in your yakuza buddies you apparently have?" She shook her head in disbelief. "That 'family business' bit you dropped back in Horizon? Hell of a double meaning."

Igneous scowled. "You think I was going to talk about the Ryujin when Vegna could have been listening?"

Nikki's mohawk sparked again. "I think you should've brought it up at some poin—"

"Mrrgggh..."

The dragonair squirmed on the bed. Nikki scooched closer. "Sis? Sis, can you hear me?"

Scarlett blinked several times. "Ni... kki?"

"Give her some space, will ya?" Igneous growled. Nikki relented, but not without frowning at the grovlazzle. He ignored her disapproval and knelt down by the side of the bed. "Heya." Igneous held up the leppas. "Thought you might be hungry."

Scarlett's snout twitched. "Where are we?"

"Back in Scale City," Igneous replied. "You passed out after finishing your song."

"Ah." Scarlett grabbed each leppa with her mouth and set them next to her. She bit into a quarter of one. Red juice dribbled on the mattress and trickled down her blue scales. "But the big robot's gone, right?"

Igneous nodded. "I think your song gave the people fighting it the boost they needed." He sat down and scooted back to give the dragonair some more space. "Though that apparition you summoned... why Latias?"

Scarlett almost choked on her bite of leppa. "L... Latiwhonow?"

Nikki's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I'm with her. The hell's a latias?"

"A red and white dragon with pointy wings and a long neck." Igneous wasn't sure how else he could describe it. Maybe a comparison? "Kinda resembles a dragapult's head, actually." He shook his head. "It's one of the Sages in Aeon scriptures. Has a twin brother that's blue and white. Latios."

"Wow. Real creative naming." Nikki rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess, the Sages of Brotherhood and Sisterhood?"

Igneous blinked a few times. "Pretty sure that's actually right."

Scarlett stiffened. She proceeded to eat the second leppa much faster than the first.

"So, wait, you summoned Latias?" Nikki looked at Scarlett. "Like how Yuna summons Crotch Fuzz and Space Noodle?"

Igneous had to admit, it sure looked similar, but he preferred to keep that to himself. "Hard to say." The more he chewed on it, however, the more Igneous wondered if his bringing up Nikki to Scarlett somehow led to the dragonair summoning Latias.

The toxtricity squinted at him, then looked at Scarlett. "Did you get tossed into the distortion or something?"

Scarlett tensed. Her tiny wings folded tightly against her head. "No," she whispered.

"Then what happened?" Nikki leaned over. "I've been so damn worried about you. I went to Horizon after you disappeared and I kept searching for you. I was so sure Vortex did something to you."

This was bad. Igneous needed to say something. "Nikki—"

She didn't hear him. "So, spill, sis." Nikki's mohawk frazzled. "Why did you disappear?"

"I... I..." Scarlett's eyes darted around.

Nikki leaned closer. "What's the matter? It's... it's me, sis. You can tell me what happened."

Igneous reached to grab Nikki by her leather jacket when Scarlett's neck bauble glowed. The grovlazzle shrank back from the light, as did Nikki.

The toxtricity gasped. "The hell?"

"Can she really tell you?"

Igneous sucked in a sharp breath. That voice...

The light faded. Starlene stood in front of Scarlett on the mattress, looking down at Nikki with a stern expression.

Silence hung over the room as confusion spread over Nikki's face. She opened and closed her mouth several times. Igneous debated whether or not to feign shock, but couldn't figure out what was going through Nikki's head. Neither could Scarlett, judging by the dragonair's unwillingness to stop looking at the corner of the bed.

Nikki held her right hand up, then lowered it. She leaned left, trying to look past Starlene. The meloetta hovered right, arms crossed. "Let me make it simple for you," she said. "It's exactly what you think it is."

More silence followed. Igneous figured Nikki was at a loss for words, because when she finally spoke up, all she could manage was a meek, "Why?"

Scarlett glanced at Nikki and saw the hurt on her face. Her neck bauble flickered and Starlene sighed. "She did it for herself."

Again, Nikki didn't immediately respond. Igneous thought it quite uncharacteristic of her to choose her words, or lack of them, so carefully. Scarlett must have meant even more to the toxtricity than Igneous realized.

"That doesn't tell me anything." Nikki fought to avoid sounding confrontational. She tugged uneasily at her jacket sleeves.

Igneous hated this painfully uncomfortable silence, but the grovlazzle was torn between telling Nikki the full truth and respecting Scarlett's privacy. He looked at the shaggy brown carpet, silently willing Scarlett to find her voice... or at least have Starlene say more on her behalf.

"She couldn't put up with all the harassment at Horizon," the meloetta finally said. "But she didn't want to return to Blightsmuth a failure. So, when Vortex approached her with an offer to become a pop sensation, she took it." Starlene glanced at Scarlett, who still avoided everyone else's eye contact. "I'm what resulted. A part of Scarlett, yet not." She put her hand to her chest. "In essence... I'm the ideal version of Scarlett that she wishes she could be."

I guess that's one way to put it, Igneous figured. However, a sudden flurry of sparks quickly told the grovlazzle it was not what Nikki wanted to hear. He scooted back across the floor and hopped to his feet.

"Ideal self?" Nikki stood up, mohawk turning red. "What's ideal about working for Vortex?!"

"Nikki." Igneous hesitantly stepped toward the toxtricity, then jumped back a second later, narrowly dodging a swipe from her electrified right hand.

"Don't 'Nikki' me, Twiggy!" she hissed, not taking her eyes off Scarlett. "I went through the same **** when I went to Horizon to try and find you! But I refused to take it, just like Shredder taught us!" Nikki stomped her right foot down. Her mohawk flared. "Why didn't you say something? We're sisters, we—"

"Because of our dream, Nikki!"

Starlene rippled with static. She glanced at Scarlett, who still faced the corner of the room despite being the one who shouted. The meloetta's eyes flickered blue.

Igneous again tried to step between them. "Maybe we should all just take a minute or two?"

This time, Nikki and Starlene glared at him. "Butt out!" they said in unison. The grovlazzle stepped back, biting down on the inside of his cheek, as silence took over the room once more. Nikki and Starlene stared each other down until the toxtricity spoke up.

"Our dream?"

"Of superstardom," Starlene responded, crossing her arms. "Even when your old act found some success, there was always this doubt Scarlett had about her own role in that."

"What are you talking about?" Nikki's mohawk slowly faded back to its normal yellow. "They loved your voice!"

"But they didn't love her looks," Starlene quickly countered. "And a year at Horizon made it abundantly clear to her: as long as she looked the way she did, she'd never reach that dream."

So, it was more than the bullying getting to her? Igneous couldn't tell if Scarlett was tweaking her explanation for Nikki's sake or not.

"That doesn't change anything." Anger simmered behind Nikki's words, muted compared to earlier. "You should've talked to me. Talked to Shredder." She dug her hands into her jacket pockets. "Instead you went to Vortex?"

"Yes, she did. I already explained it," Starlene said. "She thought that, with Vortex's help, you two could still reach your dreams."

"But I wanted to reach it with you, Scarlett!" Nikki tried to push past Starlene, but the meloetta blocked her off. "Are you even listening to this? Why can't you say it directly to my face?" Her mohawk darkened. "I deserve better than this... this glorified mouthpiece!"

Grimacing, Scarlett finally made eye contact with the toxtricity. "It's not like I knew Vortex was gonna give me kooky hypno powers!"

"Forget that ****!" Nikki stomped her right foot down. "What about the lyrics you wrote? Stupid bubbly, suck up nonsense!"

"I know that!" Scarlett tensed up further. "But I put up with it because it was a stepping stone. I knew if I could just ride things out enough, I could tell you the truth and we could link up properly as a new, better act."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn't want a new act?" Nikki's mohawk got even more jagged. Igneous didn't dare step toward her. "I liked what we had. I wanted more of that."

"But you would never get more of that," Starlene countered, crossing her arms. "Not as long as Scarlett remained a dragon."

Igneous reacted a moment too late. Nikki's mohawk erupted into a mix of red and purple as she shouted, "Shut up!" and her lightning guitar appeared in her right hand. Starlene's body rippled and she threw an arm over her face to shield herself from all the sparks. Scarlett shrank back further, coiling toward the far corner of the bed.

"Cool it, Nikki," Igneous said. The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped forward, only to jump back when Nikki whirled on him.

"You knew... didn't you?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Knew what?"

"About all of this!" The toxtricity gestured at Scarlett and Starlene.

Igneous wasn't sure whether the truth or a lie would make things any worse, so he opted for the former. "I knew some of it. Because I was at the Starlene concert that got sabotaged. I found her in a trailer and... took her away, in a manner of speaking."

A tense silence emerged while Nikki looked back and forth between everyone else. Her mohawk and lightning guitar continued to send a shower of sparks onto the shaggy floor and plastic-coated mattress.

Eventually, the guitar evaporated and her mohawk faded back to yellow. The toxtricity jammed her hands into her pockets. "Move aside, Twiggy," she said.

"You're leaving?"

"No, I'm going to walk into the damn wall." Nikki glared at him. "Of course I'm leaving. Now, move or I'll make you move."

Sighing, Igneous stepped aside. Nikki stormed past him. Her footsteps quickly grew more distant. Right when Igneous looked to move toward the bed, however, a loud thud echoed from the hallway. The grovlazzle quickly darted out the door and looked to his right.

He found a jagged, fist-shaped hole in the wall by the staircase door. Tiny bits of poison trickled down from the hole, eating away at the dull gray wallpaper.

XxX​

Yuna finished wiping away the last tears from her damp eyes. She had no idea how long she cried for after telling her mother to leave. Rhythmic ticking told her a clock was somewhere in the small room, but she didn't care to find it. Instead, the drakloak remained on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Its rough texture brought the sand of the desert city Team Bastion helped to mind.

Who am I? Yuna ran her right hand over the Soul Dew. Why am I even here?

The more she thought about it, the more jumbled her situation got. A Soul Dew possibly belonging to Bahamut's dead mate had bonded with her, yet she could open rifts between places like Gene and Noctum with their Malice powers. She kept seeing visions of the dead mate's time with Bahamut, but then she summoned daemonic ghost wings when she got angry.

... And none of that even considered how Leo fit into this messy picture.

Yuna threw her hands over her face and shouted, "Arrrgh! I hate this! I hate it so much!" She smacked her right hand against the floor. "I want to go back!"

Back to simpler times living in the castle in Drasbraznav and getting annoyed at her many siblings' antics. Hell, she would even take being bedridden with sickness again!

Maybe being broken out of a crystal is why I was so sick to begin with.

The drakloak grabbed her Soul Dew and tugged. Her ectoplasm jiggled uncomfortably. Yuna relented, groaning. She forced Rayquaza and Reshiram's presences away... for, like, the tenth time since her mother had left. Even if they had good intentions, Yuna didn't want to hear from them. She just wanted to be alone.

"Oh, hey, is this the room where we lie around and feel like garbage?"

Yuna tilted her head back slightly to find Nikki's upside-down form in the doorway. She held her swollen right hand in her left.

"Uhh..."

The toxtricity's shoulders sagged. "Never mind. If anyone asks, you didn't see me." She turned to leave.

Yuna rolled onto her stomach. "No, w-wait! I—" She reached her right arm out even though it wouldn't do anything. "You just surprised me, that's all."

"So, you do feel like garbage?" Nikki looked back over her shoulder.

The drakloak deflated. "I think garbage actually feels better than me right now."

Nikki walked inside the room, heading right past Yuna. "That's a mood." She stopped by the same cabinet Yiazmat had pulled the sparkling water out of earlier. It was still open. Nikki crouched down and, judging by all the clinking glass Yuna heard, rummaged around. "What happened to you? Mom get on your case?"

Yuna inched her way across the floor, phased through the same chair she sat in earlier, and popped up on it. She lay her rectangular head on the armrest closest to Nikki. "If 'get on your case' means 'admitted she lied to you your whole life,' then yes."

The toxtricity paused with her left arm still wedged into the cabinet. "Sounds serious."

"Turns out I'm adopted. An orphan found in a crystal, not an egg." Yuna didn't realize she admitted it so casually until it was already out in the open.

"... oh."

Nikki slowly pulled her left arm out and thrust a clear bottle at Yuna. "Here. Think you need this more than I do."

Yuna stared at the blue label with little wingull stickers outlining it. "Sack-eee?"

"It's, like, made from rice. Label says it's sweet." Nikki uncorked the bottle and filled a small glass. She placed it on the armrest by Yuna's head.

The drakloak snout twitched. "Is this, like, wine or something?" She didn't think it was the best idea to drink that when she already felt crummy.

"It's got an alcohol measurement." Nikki twisted the bottle for Yuna to better see the "twenty percent alcohol by volume" on the label. "Nature's painkiller." She lifted the bottle up and took a swig directly from it. Her mohawk frazzled. "Eeegh. Yeah, that's sweet. Not my preferred thing, but beggars can't be choosers."

Yuna stared at the cup Nikki poured her. Nature's painkiller, huh?

Technically, she had a headache from... all of this nonsense.

To hell with it.

Yuna threw back the entire glass. A chill ran down her back. The drakloak's ectoplasm rippled. She smacked her lips and blinked a few times. Was her headache dulling already?

"Huh. Not so bad, I guess."

"Want some more?" Nikki tilted the bottle toward her. Its contents swished inside.

"Uhh, you just drank right out of that," Yuna said, frowning. It was one thing to share a glass with a family member she lived around. This felt a bit different.

"Fine then." The toxtricity shrugged. "More for me."

"No, wait." Yuna almost slid over the armrest and onto the floor. She managed to wrap her left hand around the glass and hold it up. "Give."

"That's the spirit." Nikki poured the drakloak another glass. "Heh. Didn't mean for the pun."

"Pardon?" Yuna took the glass back with a look of confusion.

"Spirits are a kind of booze, too." Nikki shook her head. "The kind of stuff even poison-types like me can get woozy from."

"Oh." Yuna looked down at her glass. "You, uh, know a bit about that, huh?"

"Only what I've heard the snobs at the academy say," Nikki scoffed. She held the bottle up. "So here's to... shitty birth parents who abandoned us. May they get eaten by Eternatus if they're not already dead."

Yuna winced. That was a bit harsh to say about people neither of them knew. Nevertheless, the drakloak held up her glass and Nikki clinked the bottle against it. She took another swig and Yuna, likewise, down her glass. Her ectoplasm rippled even more.

"Mmm. Another." Yuna held the glass further out. Sake splooshed into it. Yuna downed it just as quickly.

Had the room gotten brighter? Eh, Yuna didn't care. Her inner ectoplasm was warmer. And not the kind of warmth Reshiram's fire made. This warmth was nice. She deflated a bit, brushing her nubby feet against the chair's leather.

"Sounds like a hum of approval to me." Chuckling, Nikki drank more from the bottle. She ran her right arm across her lips. "What did I tell ya? Nature's painkiller."

"Yeah." Yuna's gaze fell toward Nikki's right hand. "What about you? That's not from the fight with the... big robo thingy, right?" Yuna didn't realize her words had a bit of slurring to them.

"Nah." Nikki held up her right hand, then took another sip of sake. "I punched a hole in a wall."

"Whaaa?" Yuna inched forward on her chair. "Why? What did the wall do to you?"

"Erm, Princess, perhaps thou shouldst consider drinking some water instead?"

Shut up, Noodle. Yuna willed Rayquaza's presence away.

The toxtricity shook her head. "You're not the only one who had family lying to your face."

"Family?" Yuna stared blankly at the sake bottle for a bit before the dots connected. "Oh, you mean the other noodle. Airy." She tilted her head slightly, giggling and pushing her glass toward Nikki for another round. "She looked kinda cute. From a distance, anyway."

Nikki snorted, nearly spilling the sake she poured for Yuna. "Not so cute when you realize she's Starlene," the toxtricity grumbled.

Yuna almost spat out the sake, but managed to swallow it. "Whaaaaaaaat? But she doesn't look like Starlene!"

"It's some kind of psychic ****," Nikki growled. She took another swig of sake. "Point is that Scarlett lied to me. She couldn't even tell the truth to my face. Had to summon Starlene to get all huffy at me." She drank more sake. "Like we hadn't spent our entire lives together or anything! She kept throwing excuses in my face!"

"Oh. That's, um, not good." Yuna traced her right hand around the rim of her glass. "No wonder you said you felt like garbage."

A bitter laugh followed. Nikki poured Yuna more sake then took another sip for herself. "That's not even the best part! Wanna know the best part?" She leaned over, gesturing with her swollen right hand.

"What?"

"Twiggy knew!" Nikki laughed again, then drank more sake. "And he was going to keep his mouth shut if I hadn't pried the truth out of Scarlett."

Yuna flinched. "I see." She slowly drank the glass Nikki poured her. That warmth spread even further through her ectoplasm. "So, you punched the wall instead of him?"

Nikki blinked a few times. "Damn, I should've punched his stupid sunburnt snout." She drank more from the bottle, then dropped it onto the carpeted floor where it landed with a muffled thud. "You're pretty smart. Maybe I ought to call you Blockhead, since you're not a princess anymore."

Yuna let out something between a laugh and a squeak at that. She knocked her glass over and it plinked off the empty bottle. The drakloak burst into further laughter, rapping her right hand against the armrest. She had no idea why she was laughing. Nothing was funny about this. Yuna couldn't help herself.

"Okay, okay." Nikki waved her left hand in front of her face, fighting off her own snickers. "I'm putting you down as a giggling drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Yuna said. "I've had mead before!"

But when the drakloak attempted to float up to demonstrate that she was okay, she wound up sliding over the armrest and faceplanting onto the floor next to the empty glass and sake bottle. "See?" Yuna raised her right arm to save face. "Totally fine."

Both girls stared at each other silently for a few seconds, before they both burst into laughter. Nikki slouched over in her chair slightly and wiped a couple of tears from her eyes. "Man, I needed that more than I thought. Still want to throttle Twiggy, but I feel a bit better."

Yuna did, too. This didn't change anything about her current predicament, but at least a bit of the weight had lifted from her tiny, ectoplasmic shoulders.

... Or maybe that was the sake. Hard to tell with all the warmth inside her.

"Hey, Princess?"

"Yeah?" Yuna looked up at Nikki.

"Let's save the universe, okay?"

Nikki stuck her left arm out. Yuna stared at her closed fist, blinking. "Okay?"

"I mean it. This is our chance to show up these dolts who brush us off and lie to our faces. You feel me?"

Yuna stared at Nikki's fist for a little while longer, before she reached her own hand out and bumped it. "Let's save the universe."

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I've been waiting long enough to get caught up with this story and the next chapter's nice and short. Sounds as good a reason as any to jump right in to…

Chapter 54

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Diva Project first phase was successful. The subject took the maximum allotted dose of proto-ether with no visible adverse effects. Energy readings remained persistently elevated compared to her pre-treatment tests.

... Wait, there's proto-ether, too? Given that ether is effectively soul energy what on earth is it in 'proto' state, then? .-.

The next step will remain confidential, even to Vortex. Proto-ether alone is not enough to produce the results Vortex wants. A dragonair does not have the kind of psychic energy required for such an undertaking. But there is something that does have that power: the Needles scattered around the kingdom.

It's risky, of course. There are many writings that describe people's bodies breaking down simply from coming into contact with a Needle. But Dragonair has proto-ether flowing through her veins. No one else can make such a claim. In addition, the Needle I've selected has traces of dragon energy in it. I believe this shared typing will synergize with Dragonair, increasing the odds of phase two's success.

Oh, so that's how she got her ability to summon Latias, huh?

Everyone had somewhere to be except Igneous. Yuna's mother shepherded her off, while Nikki ran to find a place to lay Scarlett down. Even Valkyrie seemed to avoid the grovlazzle at first, saying she needed to find Sakaki and running off without another word. Gene took the rest of the ragtag group back with him, which left Igneous standing in a rather empty kitchen, staring at a rarely used stove and microwave. Only the hum of the lights and refrigerator broke the silence.

Igneous:

The grovlazzle silently approached the fridge and opened it up. If he remembered correctly— yep, his father still kept dehydrated berries in there. Igneous thought they sucked, but they weren't for him. They were for Scarlett. He grabbed a couple of leppas, took them out of their foil packaging, and brought them to the sink. It wheezed to life. Igneous yanked his hands back and scrutinized the water running from the faucet for several seconds before deciding it was clear and clean.

Wait, are they in a bag together or is each leppa in its own wrapper? Since boy does that sound wasteful if it's the latter.

Also, how old is Sakaki anyways? Since this sounds like some serious 'old man' food right now.

When he ran the leppas under the water, they expanded and assumed their normal red and yellow colors. Satisfied, Igneous shut the faucet off.

That's not how dried fruit works, hon. Though something something "it's magical berries" so I won't question it too much.

"Hey."

"****!" Igneous nearly threw the berries away in surprise. He looked over his shoulder, where Valkyrie stood propped in the doorway, pivoted to make room for her dorsal fin.

Oh, so Igneous wasn't supposed to be here, huh?

"You know I hate it when you do that," the grovlazzle hissed. He headed for the doorway. "You made it clear you wanted to avoid me, so... lemme pass and I'll be out of your scales."

"It wasn't—" Valkyrie looked away, brow furrowing. "I was shocked. We found freaking Lugia got fused with salazzle, so to see the same thing happen to you was..." Her voice trailed off. "I don't really know what happened, but I should've been there for you."

Chiaki really is related to Jade, huh? Since I can see that parallelism there.

Igneous couldn't fault her. He never told the garchomp his plans in Venish, nor could either of them have foreseen what actually happened. Despite that, her demeanor was... different than when he'd last seen her. "Something happened to you as well," Igneous said with conviction.

She got a boyfriend? :V

Valkyrie pivoted further from him. "I might've... blown up a little at the butler dweeb." She rubbed the back of her head. "It's complicated. All of this ****'s complicated. Makes me wish I could go back to taking contracts from you and your father. Just a place to be and a target to kill."

Igneous: "... You like him, don't you-?"
Valkyrie: "Chiaki, let's move on, please." >_>;

Igneous' back prickled, giving off a few embers. "I've gotta go check on Scarlett." He held up the berries, then hastily pushed past the garchomp and headed into the carpeted hallway, checking open doorways for any signs of Nikki or Scarlett.

Must be those Volcarona genes in him, since admittedly, I wasn't expecting Igneous to casually kick up external fire like that.

Valkyrie: "Wait, you mean you don't know where she is right now?"

Igneous: "She was here just a minute ago!"

He found them in a small room at the end of the hallway, empty except for haphazardly stacked cardboard boxes and an unfolded cot with a thin mattress. Nikki sat on its edge, eyes fixed on Scarlett. She tapped her right foot rapidly.

"C'mon, sis," the toxtricity whispered. "Wake up. Please."

Oh. Guess that performance a couple chapters ago took more out of Scarlett than I thought it did. Kinda wonder if this should've been hinted at more in Ch. 53, though.

Igneous knocked on the open door. "I brought a couple of leppas."

Nikki looked up and scrutinized the grovlazzle's appearance. "The hell's with the body paint? Pretty sure there are sluttier holowear outfits."

"You're a riot," Igneous deadpanned.

Igneous: "Look, it's a long story that may or may not have involved a deal with the devil. Let's worry about it sometime after Scarlett's feeling healthy again, okay?" >_>;

"Did you get messed up by Eterna junk?" Nikki raised a brow like she already knew the answer.

"Yeah." Lying was easier at this point.

I mean, for all you know, you're technically not lying since you don't know what on earth Ahsen's power with that Honedge husk came from, but...

"Damn." Nikki dug her fingers into the mattress' plastic cover. "I, uh—"

Igneous stayed silent. If he told Nikki he went to Starlene's concert, she'd no doubt press him for details. It wasn't his place to tell her what learned about Scarlett. Not when the toxtricity had finally reunited with her.

This feels like an absolutely terrible idea that's going to wind up biting everyone in the rear later.

"Got careless," the grovlazzle said, shaking his head. "And that freak Xeromus got the jump on me."

Watch as Xeromus just casually deconfirms this the next time he crosses paths with the gang.

The name sent a wave of recognition crashing over Nikki. "I see." The toxtricity's mane crackled. "Was he in Vellguarde, too?"

"Yeah. I tried fighting him, but then that giant robot showed up and he fled." At least that was the truth.

Nikki: "Weird. Is he not on the same team as the Eterna guys or something? Since with how much he goes on about 'Natus'-"
Igneous: "Nikki, I'm getting to it, okay?"

"Well, next time we better get his ass," Nikki growled. "Why can't you call in your yakuza buddies you apparently have?" She shook her head in disbelief. "That 'family business' bit you dropped back in Horizon? Hell of a double meaning."

Igneous scowled. "You think I was going to talk about the Ryujin when Vegna could have been listening?"

Nikki: "... Yes? Aren't yakuza types supposed to be brazen enough to have public listings in telephone directories?"

Igneous: "Nikki, I'm not calling them in in front of the freaking Grim Reaper!"

Nikki's mohawk sparked again. "I think you should've brought it up at some poin—"

"Mrrgggh..."

For a sec, I read that as 'mrgrgr'. But looks like Scarlett's up.

The dragonair squirmed on the bed. Nikki scooched closer. "Sis? Sis, can you hear me?"

Scarlett blinked several times. "Ni... kki?"

Scarlett: "Um... h-hi? And how much do you know about what I've been up to for the past few years?"

"Give her some space, will ya?" Igneous growled. Nikki relented, but not without frowning at the grovlazzle. He ignored her disapproval and knelt down by the side of the bed. "Heya." Igneous held up the leppas. "Thought you might be hungry."

Scarlett's snout twitched. "Where are we?"

"Back in Scale City," Igneous replied. "You passed out after finishing your song."

Scarlett: "Wow, already? How on earth did we-?" .-.
Igneous: "Waypoint."
Scarlett: "... Right. That's a thing in this setting."

"Ah." Scarlett grabbed each leppa with her mouth and set them next to her. She bit into a quarter of one. Red juice dribbled on the mattress and trickled down her blue scales. "But the big robot's gone, right?"

Igneous nodded. "I think your song gave the people fighting it the boost they needed." He sat down and scooted back to give the dragonair some more space. "Though that apparition you summoned... why Latias?"

Ah yes, time to find out how cognizant Scarlett is of the experimentation done on her. Since we as readers know the cause of this from the opening, buuuuut...

Scarlett almost choked on her bite of leppa. "L... Latiwhonow?"

Nikki's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I'm with her. The hell's a latias?"

I'm feeling pretty good about that prediction that the Ryujin are of Aeon but not in it, since it would explain a few things about how Igneous is cognizant of the dead dragon legendary that a dragon born and raised in Radiance is not.

"A red and white dragon with pointy wings and a long neck." Igneous wasn't sure how else he could describe it. Maybe a comparison? "Kinda resembles a dragapult's head, actually." He shook his head. "It's one of the Sages in Aeon scriptures. Has a twin brother that's blue and white. Latios."

Yeah, feeling really good about that prediction. Since that is a lot of knowledge about the Aeons given that a literal dragon from Radiance is completely in the dark about all this.

"Wow. Real creative naming." Nikki rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess, the Sages of Brotherhood and Sisterhood?"

Igneous blinked a few times. "Pretty sure that's actually right."

Really now? I would've pegged them as the Sages of 'stealing things and running away really quickly' given that one questline from RBDX. :V

Scarlett stiffened. She proceeded to eat the second leppa much faster than the first.

"So, wait, you summoned Latias?" Nikki looked at Scarlett. "Like how Yuna summons Crotch Fuzz and Space Noodle?"

Scarlett: "I... U-Uh... M-Maybe?" O_O;

Igneous had to admit, it sure looked similar, but he preferred to keep that to himself. "Hard to say." The more he chewed on it, however, the more Igneous wondered if his bringing up Nikki to Scarlett somehow led to the dragonair summoning Latias.

The toxtricity squinted at him, then looked at Scarlett. "Did you get tossed into the distortion or something?"

Scarlett tensed. Her tiny wings folded tightly against her head. "No," she whispered.

Oh, so the awful truth is coming out to Nikki this chapter, huh?

"Then what happened?" Nikki leaned over. "I've been so damn worried about you. I went to Horizon after you disappeared and I kept searching for you. I was so sure Vortex did something to you."

This was bad. Igneous needed to say something. "Nikki—"

She didn't hear him. "So, spill, sis." Nikki's mohawk frazzled. "Why did you disappear?"

Igneous: "Um... Nikki? Maybe it'd be for the best to let Scarlett take it easy and-"

Nikki: "Can it, Twiggy. Scarlett was about to say something, she might as well get things off her chest now."
Scarlett: "I'm a snake with wings. Since when do we have 'chests'-?"
Nikki: "Whatever, you get what I meant."

"I... I..." Scarlett's eyes darted around.

Nikki leaned closer. "What's the matter? It's... it's me, sis. You can tell me what happened."

I can already feel the

energy in the air right now.

Igneous reached to grab Nikki by her leather jacket when Scarlett's neck bauble glowed. The grovlazzle shrank back from the light, as did Nikki.

The toxtricity gasped. "The hell?"

"Can she really tell you?"

Song title related to the timeline? Or did this happen further back than 18-ish months ago?

Igneous sucked in a sharp breath. That voice...

The light faded. Starlene stood in front of Scarlett on the mattress, looking down at Nikki with a stern expression.

Cue the ranting angrish about "You stole my songs!" in 3... 2...

Silence hung over the room as confusion spread over Nikki's face. She opened and closed her mouth several times. Igneous debated whether or not to feign shock, but couldn't figure out what was going through Nikki's head. Neither could Scarlett, judging by the dragonair's unwillingness to stop looking at the corner of the bed.

Nikki held her right hand up, then lowered it. She leaned left, trying to look past Starlene. The meloetta hovered right, arms crossed. "Let me make it simple for you," she said. "It's exactly what you think it is."

Oh yeah, that's a good omen for Nikki and Scarlett's friendship making it past this scene intact. Not.

More silence followed. Igneous figured Nikki was at a loss for words, because when she finally spoke up, all she could manage was a meek, "Why?"

Well, that turned out better than I expected, since I was expecting more angry shouting right about there.

Scarlett glanced at Nikki and saw the hurt on her face. Her neck bauble flickered and Starlene sighed. "She did it for herself."

Again, Nikki didn't immediately respond. Igneous thought it quite uncharacteristic of her to choose her words, or lack of them, so carefully. Scarlett must have meant even more to the toxtricity than Igneous realized.

Igneous: "So, uh... How are you holding up, Nikki?"
Nikki:

Igneous: "Yeah, I kinda figured." ._.;

"That doesn't tell me anything." Nikki fought to avoid sounding confrontational. She tugged uneasily at her jacket sleeves.

Igneous hated this painfully uncomfortable silence, but the grovlazzle was torn between telling Nikki the full truth and respecting Scarlett's privacy. He looked at the shaggy brown carpet, silently willing Scarlett to find her voice... or at least have Starlene say more on her behalf.

No, no, you really want to have Scarlett say this herself and not through Starlene given Nikki's... uh... opinions about Starlene.

"She couldn't put up with all the harassment at Horizon," the meloetta finally said. "But she didn't want to return to Blightsmuth a failure. So, when Vortex approached her with an offer to become a pop sensation, she took it." Starlene glanced at Scarlett, who still avoided everyone else's eye contact. "I'm what resulted. A part of Scarlett, yet not." She put her hand to her chest. "In essence... I'm the ideal version of Scarlett that she wishes she could be."

Boy is life in Radiance warped if its residents find themselves idealizing bodies that aren't natural to them and radically different in layout and attribute. Though it makes me wonder if this is a recurring trend among Radiant dragonmons.

I guess that's one way to put it, Igneous figured. However, a sudden flurry of sparks quickly told the grovlazzle it was not what Nikki wanted to hear. He scooted back across the floor and hopped to his feet.

"Ideal self?" Nikki stood up, mohawk turning red. "What's ideal about working for Vortex?!"

See, this is why you should've said these things directly and not through Starlene, Scarlett.

Igneous: "Nikki, you do realize that Scarlett just told you that she was effectively bullied out of school in Horizon, right? Like I get that Vortex sucks, but I dunno, is it really that impossible to believe that she'd want some sort of escape from that-?"

Nikki: "Shut up, Twiggy! Nobody asked you!"

"Nikki." Igneous hesitantly stepped toward the toxtricity, then jumped back a second later, narrowly dodging a swipe from her electrified right hand.

"Don't 'Nikki' me, Twiggy!" she hissed, not taking her eyes off Scarlett. "I went through the same **** when I went to Horizon to try and find you! But I refused to take it, just like Shredder taught us!" Nikki stomped her right foot down. Her mohawk flared. "Why didn't you say something? We're sisters, we—"

Pride, as Scarlett mentioned earlier about not wanting to come home a failure.

"Because of our dream, Nikki!"

Starlene rippled with static. She glanced at Scarlett, who still faced the corner of the room despite being the one who shouted. The meloetta's eyes flickered blue.

Igneous again tried to step between them. "Maybe we should all just take a minute or two?"

Cue Igneous getting punted out of the way by Nikki in

-mode

This time, Nikki and Starlene glared at him. "Butt out!" they said in unison. The grovlazzle stepped back, biting down on the inside of his cheek, as silence took over the room once more. Nikki and Starlene stared each other down until the toxtricity spoke up.

Wew, managing to get both sides of a dispute mad at you. Though yeah, I guess I was onto something about Nikki and Scarlett's friendship having problems after the end of this scene.

"Our dream?"

"Of superstardom," Starlene responded, crossing her arms. "Even when your old act found some success, there was always this doubt Scarlett had about her own role in that."

"What are you talking about?" Nikki's mohawk slowly faded back to its normal yellow. "They loved your voice!"

Oh, so Scarlett felt overshadowed and went full green-eyed monster on Nikki, which encouraged her to make the jump, huh?

"But they didn't love her looks," Starlene quickly countered. "And a year at Horizon made it abundantly clear to her: as long as she looked the way she did, she'd never reach that dream."

So, it was more than the bullying getting to her? Igneous couldn't tell if Scarlett was tweaking her explanation for Nikki's sake or not.

I guess I should be wholly unsurprised that Scarlett was burning her biological body out in the back of a trailer for the past who-knows-how-many-years. Since if she started to view her Dragonair body as a millstone to her dreams to begin with... why would she feel an urge to take care of it?

"That doesn't change anything." Anger simmered behind Nikki's words, muted compared to earlier. "You should've talked to me. Talked to Shredder." She dug her hands into her jacket pockets. "Instead you went to Vortex?"

Starlene:

Nikki: "But you-! And-! Why?!"

"Yes, she did. I already explained it," Starlene said. "She thought that, with Vortex's help, you two could still reach your dreams."

"But I wanted to reach it with you, Scarlett!" Nikki tried to push past Starlene, but the meloetta blocked her off. "Are you even listening to this? Why can't you say it directly to my face?" Her mohawk darkened. "I deserve better than this... this glorified mouthpiece!"

Told you you shouldn't have used Starlene to say this, Scarlett.

Grimacing, Scarlett finally made eye contact with the toxtricity. "It's not like I knew Vortex was gonna give me kooky hypno powers!"

"Forget that ****!" Nikki stomped her right foot down. "What about the lyrics you wrote? Stupid bubbly, suck up nonsense!"

Scarlett totally didn't write those lyrics on her own, didn't she? Since I know how manufactured pop stars work in reality, and she literally was one.

"I know that!" Scarlett tensed up further. "But I put up with it because it was a stepping stone. I knew if I could just ride things out enough, I could tell you the truth and we could link up properly as a new, better act."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn't want a new act?" Nikki's mohawk got even more jagged. Igneous didn't dare step toward her. "I liked what we had. I wanted more of that."

Wait, so Nikki liked their Bubblegum Pop phase? Or is that also something that she's dumping on Scarlett about here at the moment?

"But you would never get more of that," Starlene countered, crossing her arms. "Not as long as Scarlett remained a dragon."

I mean... considering the absolute state of society in Radiance, that probably was accurate short of introducing rock to Aeon and making it catch on there.

Igneous reacted a moment too late. Nikki's mohawk erupted into a mix of red and purple as she shouted, "Shut up!" and her lightning guitar appeared in her right hand. Starlene's body rippled and she threw an arm over her face to shield herself from all the sparks. Scarlett shrank back further, coiling toward the far corner of the bed.

Oh, so this conversation did ultimately wind up going into the "screaming match" direction. Even if it took a bit longer than I expected to get here.

"Cool it, Nikki," Igneous said. The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped forward, only to jump back when Nikki whirled on him.

"You knew... didn't you?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Knew what?"

"About all of this!" The toxtricity gestured at Scarlett and Starlene.

Igneous: "Uh... do you want the answer you'd like to hear, or...?"

Nikki: "Oh my god, Twiggy! Just stop beating around the bush and fess up already!"

Igneous wasn't sure whether the truth or a lie would make things any worse, so he opted for the former. "I knew some of it. Because I was at the Starlene concert that got sabotaged. I found her in a trailer and... took her away, in a manner of speaking."

A tense silence emerged while Nikki looked back and forth between everyone else. Her mohawk and lightning guitar continued to send a shower of sparks onto the shaggy floor and plastic-coated mattress.

Scarlett: "... Igneous? You're able to summon those Volcarona wings and fly away right now, right? Since I kinda get the feeling that we should be far, far away from here right now."

Eventually, the guitar evaporated and her mohawk faded back to yellow. The toxtricity jammed her hands into her pockets. "Move aside, Twiggy," she said.

"You're leaving?"

"No, I'm going to walk into the damn wall." Nikki glared at him. "Of course I'm leaving. Now, move or I'll make you move."

That seems ever so slightly ill-advised given that Igneous is laden with unholy glitch power right about now, but... uh... yeah, probably for the best to give Nikki some space.

Sighing, Igneous stepped aside. Nikki stormed past him. Her footsteps quickly grew more distant. Right when Igneous looked to move toward the bed, however, a loud thud echoed from the hallway. The grovlazzle quickly darted out the door and looked to his right.

He found a jagged, fist-shaped hole in the wall by the staircase door. Tiny bits of poison trickled down from the hole, eating away at the dull gray wallpaper.

Igneous: "Oh that one's gonna be fun to explain to dad when he sees it."

Yuna finished wiping away the last tears from her damp eyes. She had no idea how long she cried for after telling her mother to leave. Rhythmic ticking told her a clock was somewhere in the small room, but she didn't care to find it. Instead, the drakloak remained on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Its rough texture brought the sand of the desert city Team Bastion helped to mind.

Oh, so Yuna did lose her composure after that last scene of hers in 53. I kinda figured that things would've gotten to her, even if she held up better than I expected with others present in the room with her.

Who am I? Yuna ran her right hand over the Soul Dew. Why am I even here?

Oh hey, it's Zidane's same existential dilemma from Disc 3-ish FF9.

The more she thought about it, the more jumbled her situation got. A Soul Dew possibly belonging to Bahamut's dead mate had bonded with her, yet she could open rifts between places like Gene and Noctum with their Malice powers. She kept seeing visions of the dead mate's time with Bahamut, but then she summoned daemonic ghost wings when she got angry.

... And none of that even considered how Leo fit into this messy picture.

Yeah, that's what I'd like to know too. Since Paradigm treats Yuna as if she's flatly Chiron. But how on earth did Chiron go from a Lunala to a Giratina... thing?

Yuna threw her hands over her face and shouted, "Arrrgh! I hate this! I hate it so much!" She smacked her right hand against the floor. "I want to go back!"

Cecil: "Wait, to being a space rock?"

Yuna: "To not knowing about any of this! To just being a normal princess!" >.<

Back to simpler times living in the castle in Drasbraznav and getting annoyed at her many siblings' antics. Hell, she would even take being bedridden with sickness again!

Yeah, I figured that would be about Yuna's reaction there.

Maybe being broken out of a crystal is why I was so sick to begin with.

Dark, but it's certainly plausible given that getting separated from that crystal had to be quite the shock.

The drakloak grabbed her Soul Dew and tugged. Her ectoplasm jiggled uncomfortably. Yuna relented, groaning. She forced Rayquaza and Reshiram's presences away... for, like, the tenth time since her mother had left. Even if they had good intentions, Yuna didn't want to hear from them. She just wanted to be alone.

Yuna: "Seriously, can I just go on strike from the plot and run away to another story at this rate?"

Gallian: "Given that thou art our main hope at staving off an omniversal disaster, that would be fairly ill-advised, Princess." ^^;

"Oh, hey, is this the room where we lie around and feel like garbage?"

Huh, wasn't expecting the Danganronpa music there. Though ohai, Nikki.

Yuna tilted her head back slightly to find Nikki's upside-down form in the doorway. She held her swollen right hand in her left.

"Uhh..."

Yuna: "Nikki, what did you do?" O_O
Nikki: "Punched a hole into a wall. Don't mind it, it happens."

The toxtricity's shoulders sagged. "Never mind. If anyone asks, you didn't see me." She turned to leave.

Yuna rolled onto her stomach. "No, w-wait! I—" She reached her right arm out even though it wouldn't do anything. "You just surprised me, that's all."

Oh, so Yuna does want company right now.

"So, you do feel like garbage?" Nikki looked back over her shoulder.

The drakloak deflated. "I think garbage actually feels better than me right now."

- Meanwhile, just outside the window, a Garbodor does a Michigan J. Frog routine on a Scale City street -
Nikki: "Huh, no kidding there-"
Yuna: "Nikki, you know what I meant." >_>;

Nikki walked inside the room, heading right past Yuna. "That's a mood." She stopped by the same cabinet Yiazmat had pulled the sparkling water out of earlier. It was still open. Nikki crouched down and, judging by all the clinking glass Yuna heard, rummaged around. "What happened to you? Mom get on your case?"

Yuna: "I found out that I fell from the sky in some freaky crystal thing, my entire purpose in life is to be stuck to this accursed Soul Dew, oh and I was adopted and my parents never told me about it until an hour ago."

Nikki: "... And your mom got on your case too, right?"

Yuna inched her way across the floor, phased through the same chair she sat in earlier, and popped up on it. She lay her rectangular head on the armrest closest to Nikki. "If 'get on your case' means 'admitted she lied to you your whole life,' then yes."

Yeah, I figured. And this section is unintentionally lulzy if you read it right after the past cutaway gag.

The toxtricity paused with her left arm still wedged into the cabinet. "Sounds serious."

"Turns out I'm adopted. An orphan found in a crystal, not an egg." Yuna didn't realize she admitted it so casually until it was already out in the open. "... oh."

Nikki: "At least you don't worry about having to find your original parents?" ^^;
Yuna: "..."

Nikki: "Right, should've known better than to think that would lift your mood."

Nikki slowly pulled her left arm out and thrust a clear bottle at Yuna. "Here. Think you need this more than I do."

Yuna stared at the blue label with little wingull stickers outlining it. "Sack-eee?"

Oh, it's sake. And I can already tell that Yuna's going to hate this since sake is really strong as a spirit and very much an acquired taste.

"It's, like, made from rice. Label says it's sweet." Nikki uncorked the bottle and filled a small glass. She placed it on the armrest by Yuna's head.

The drakloak snout twitched. "Is this, like, wine or something?" She didn't think it was the best idea to drink that when she already felt crummy.

Nikki: "

Look, you know that 'mead' you've got back home? This is comparable to a strong version of that, just probably doesn't taste as sweet since it's not made from honey."

"It's got an alcohol measurement." Nikki twisted the bottle for Yuna to better see the "twenty percent alcohol by volume" on the label. "Nature's painkiller." She lifted the bottle up and took a swig directly from it. Her mohawk frazzled. "Eeegh. Yeah, that's sweet. Not my preferred thing, but beggars can't be choosers."

How often has Nikki gotten drunk anyways? Though it sounds like they're most likely drinking a nigori sake, since the taste and ABV are all consistent with a stronger one of those. Probably a good thing that Nikki brought this along instead of a dry sake, though, since that definitely would take some getting used to for someone used to mead as a default cultural drink.

Yuna stared at the cup Nikki poured her. Nature's painkiller, huh?

Technically, she had a headache from... all of this nonsense.

To hell with it.

inb4 the label on the bottle is 'Drunken Dragon' or something like that, since this sounds like a recipe to get Yuna nice and sloshed in short order since she canonically has not drunk much and going in cold with something comparable to a fortified wine sounds like a recipe for problems.

Yuna threw back the entire glass. A chill ran down her back. The drakloak's ectoplasm rippled. She smacked her lips and blinked a few times. Was her headache dulling already?

"Huh. Not so bad, I guess."

This girl's going to have a killer hangover in the morning, I can already tell.

"Want some more?" Nikki tilted the bottle toward her. Its contents swished inside.

"Uhh, you just drank right out of that," Yuna said, frowning. It was one thing to share a glass with a family member she lived around. This felt a bit different.

"Fine then." The toxtricity shrugged. "More for me."

Okay, how much has Nikki drunk in the past? Since if she's going through a bottle of sake to drown her sorrows like this, it makes me wonder just how frequent these 'medication' episodes are given that she blithely referred to booze as 'nature's painkiller'.

"No, wait." Yuna almost slid over the armrest and onto the floor. She managed to wrap her left hand around the glass and hold it up. "Give."

"That's the spirit." Nikki poured the drakloak another glass. "Heh. Didn't mean for the pun."

That pun was totally intentional, wasn't it?

"Pardon?" Yuna took the glass back with a look of confusion.

"Spirits are a kind of booze, too." Nikki shook her head. "The kind of stuff even poison-types like me can get woozy from."

"Oh." Yuna looked down at her glass. "You, uh, know a bit about that, huh?"

Yeah, I kinda figured, though I suppose it's time to hear from the horse's mouth.

"Only what I've heard the snobs at the academy say," Nikki scoffed. She held the bottle up. "So here's to... shitty birth parents who abandoned us. May they get eaten by Eternatus if they're not already dead."

Oh, so that's Nikki's life story. I guess I should've suspected something like this given how prominent Scarlett and Shredder were in her memories with nothing about her mother or father mentioned.

Yuna winced. That was a bit harsh to say about people neither of them knew. Nevertheless, the drakloak held up her glass and Nikki clinked the bottle against it. She took another swig and Yuna, likewise, down her glass. Her ectoplasm rippled even more.

What does a drunken Drakloak look like anyways?

"Mmm. Another." Yuna held the glass further out. Sake splooshed into it. Yuna downed it just as quickly.

Had the room gotten brighter? Eh, Yuna didn't care. Her inner ectoplasm was warmer. And not the kind of warmth Reshiram's fire made. This warmth was nice. She deflated a bit, brushing her nubby feet against the chair's leather.

Yup, she's getting nice and wasted right about now, since Drakloak is barely larger than a human child and she's just gone through 3 cups of a 20% ABV drink.

"Sounds like a hum of approval to me." Chuckling, Nikki drank more from the bottle. She ran her right arm across her lips. "What did I tell ya? Nature's painkiller."

"Yeah." Yuna's gaze fell toward Nikki's right hand. "What about you? That's not from the fight with the... big robo thingy, right?" Yuna didn't realize her words had a bit of slurring to them.

Called it. Though just how fast did that alcohol go through her system? Since I could've sworn that it normally takes like 15 minutes for the full effect of a drink to kick in for humans.

"Nah." Nikki held up her right hand, then took another sip of sake. "I punched a hole in a wall."

"Whaaa?" Yuna inched forward on her chair. "Why? What did the wall do to you?"

"Erm, Princess, perhaps thou shouldst consider drinking some water instead?"

Yuna:

Gallian: "... Boy doth I hope thine mother doesn't float through the door to see this." ._.;

Shut up, Noodle. Yuna willed Rayquaza's presence away.

Wow, rude. Though it makes me wonder if Yuna is ever going to come to terms with the Sages she's got swirling around in her Soul Dew, since she never has really gotten used to having them around.

The toxtricity shook her head. "You're not the only one who had family lying to your face."

"Family?" Yuna stared blankly at the sake bottle for a bit before the dots connected. "Oh, you mean the other noodle. Airy." She tilted her head slightly, giggling and pushing her glass toward Nikki for another round. "She looked kinda cute. From a distance, anyway."

Ah yes, the obligatory GL nod getting dropped in. And I see you're playing around with another ship, if one being driven heavily by beer goggles at the moment.

Nikki snorted, nearly spilling the sake she poured for Yuna. "Not so cute when you realize she's Starlene," the toxtricity grumbled.

Oh, the 'cute' comment is about Scarlett. I misread that earlier.

Yuna almost spat out the sake, but managed to swallow it. "Whaaaaaaaat? But she doesn't look like Starlene!"

Nikki: "Yeah, story of my life, really."

"It's some kind of psychic ****," Nikki growled. She took another swig of sake. "Point is that Scarlett lied to me. She couldn't even tell the truth to my face. Had to summon Starlene to get all huffy at me." She drank more sake. "Like we hadn't spent our entire lives together or anything! She kept throwing excuses in my face!"

Not that Scarlett wasn't being downright awful to Chiaki/Igneous in Vellguarde Hospital, but I'm not wholly convinced that Scarlett would've arrived at the same destination had she not been effectively bullied out of Horizon Gardens.

"Oh. That's, um, not good." Yuna traced her right hand around the rim of her glass. "No wonder you said you felt like garbage."

A bitter laugh followed. Nikki poured Yuna more sake then took another sip for herself. "That's not even the best part! Wanna know the best part?" She leaned over, gesturing with her swollen right hand.

"What?"

"Twiggy knew!" Nikki laughed again, then drank more sake. "And he was going to keep his mouth shut if I hadn't pried the truth out of Scarlett."

inb4 Yuna spits her drink out this time.

Yuna flinched. "I see." She slowly drank the glass Nikki poured her. That warmth spread even further through her ectoplasm. "So, you punched the wall instead of him?"

Well, never mind then. Though I hope Lum Berries work on hangovers in this setting, since these girls are going to need the help in the morning.

Nikki blinked a few times. "Damn, I should've punched his stupid sunburnt snout." She drank more from the bottle, then dropped it onto the carpeted floor where it landed with a muffled thud. "You're pretty smart. Maybe I ought to call you Blockhead, since you're not a princess anymore."

Well, Nikki certainly got nice and wasted fast considering this dialogue.

Yuna let out something between a laugh and a squeak at that. She knocked her glass over and it plinked off the empty bottle. The drakloak burst into further laughter, rapping her right hand against the armrest. She had no idea why she was laughing. Nothing was funny about this. Yuna couldn't help herself.

Yes, that's a side effect of going through like 5 glasses of sake when you have the body mass of a human child. I'll frankly be surprised if you don't black out from the alcohol's effects peaking in about 5-10 minutes from this point.

"Okay, okay." Nikki waved her left hand in front of her face, fighting off her own snickers. "I'm putting you down as a giggling drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Yuna said. "I've had mead before!"

Narrator: "She is drunk and only going to get drunker as the alcohol kicks in."

But when the drakloak attempted to float up to demonstrate that she was okay, she wound up sliding over the armrest and faceplanting onto the floor next to the empty glass and sake bottle. "See?" Yuna raised her right arm to save face. "Totally fine."

Nikki: "I rest my case, Blockhead."

Both girls stared at each other silently for a few seconds, before they both burst into laughter. Nikki slouched over in her chair slightly and wiped a couple of tears from her eyes. "Man, I needed that more than I thought. Still want to throttle Twiggy, but I feel a bit better."

Yuna did, too. This didn't change anything about her current predicament, but at least a bit of the weight had lifted from her tiny, ectoplasmic shoulders.

... Or maybe that was the sake. Hard to tell with all the warmth inside her.

Narrator: "It's the sake making her feel the weight lifting from her shoulders."

"Hey, Princess?"

"Yeah?" Yuna looked up at Nikki.

"Let's save the universe, okay?"

Yuna: “Nikki, go home, you’re drunk.”
Nikki: “Heh, look who’s talking, Blockhead…”

Nikki stuck her left arm out. Yuna stared at her closed fist, blinking. "Okay?"

"I mean it. This is our chance to show up these dolts who brush us off and lie to our faces. You feel me?"

Yuna stared at Nikki's fist for a little while longer, before she reached her own hand out and bumped it. "Let's save the universe."

Cute, though I can already see the frantic attempts at a takeback when Yuna's a bit more sober.

Alright, made it to the end. This felt basically like an aftermath / transitional chapter, though I honestly am kinda surprised that Yuna hasn't done something like this drinking episode in the 50+ chapters prior to this since she's been under a lot of stress and pressure all this time. Guess even she has her limits.

I liked the character exploration in this chapter, where we got to see a bit more about who Nikki and Yuna are as persons, even if I kinda winced a little at how naturally Yuna is taking to running roughshod over the Sages she's been collecting. As for weaknesses... I don't think that much stood out other than that it might have been nice to have a bit more explicit leadup to some of the things that happened, since it admittedly took me a while to register that Igneous and Scarlett were in Scale City, much less that Scarlett was worn out badly enough to need to be cared for in the wake of summoning Latias.

But in the end, I don't think that those issues were really enough to take me out of things. It was a chapter that burned a few bridges and drowned some sorrows in strong booze, and it did both of those things pretty well. So kudos on that front @Ambyssin . I'll be looking forward to seeing the inevitable fallout in about a week.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 55: Type: Full of It​

All personnel, please be advised of an uptick in Ruinous Whispers in the realms neighboring POV-2020.

As a reminder, worlds plagued by instabilities will find souls leaking into Ginnungagap. These spirits are shackled by the chaotic space-time energy of the cosmic mystery dungeon, transforming into vicious beasts we've dubbed "Ruinous Whispers." The Whispers will mutate into distorted versions of pokémon classically associated with destructive myths permeating the omniverse.

Those who have dealt with dimensions containing incarnations of Cipher suggest this process bears similarity to the "shadowfication" of pokémon in those universes. Thus, if you can pacify a Whisper, you should try to. However, if the situation is too dangerous, defeating a Whisper in battle will eject it back out into Ginnungagap or, if you're already there, will temporarily destroy it until it reforms in a random location a quarter-cycle later.

XxX​

Seifer never thought he'd miss Bogdan's sticky, tar-filled atmosphere, yet somehow all the dirt carried by Chakran gusts and breezes had him longing to return to the humid factory. Dust coated his pelt and mane, both badly disheveled and in need of a good shower and brushing. By Calliope's sword, he yearned to have his uniform back, shielding his tan fur from the elements.

But no, he got fired. And it turned out the cause he'd dedicated all his life to wasn't so noble after all.

This was all the keldeo could chew on while he sat atop the mesa, watching the resistance's two real members gesticulate wildly at one another, the strange, Xeromus-like creature lying on the ground, and the smoldering remnants of one of Cyril's laptops.

Apparently, this "type: full" creature had security measures the likes of which Cyril had never seen before. Because the moment he tried to access its so-called databanks — which Seifer found disturbing since the thing sure looked alive, but apparently it was actually a machine? — his laptop went up in flames, forcing Artemis to douse it with water. Gene sent himself away through a rift and returned several minutes later with a new laptop... and the two descended into their current argument.

"... you expect me to do here. Paradox took the term firewall a bit too literally," Cyril growled, throwing up his white-furred arms in exasperation.

"Then let me do a little psychic probing." Gene tapped his right temple. "I bet I can put a stop to it."

Cyril rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Gene's left shoulder. "Whatever copium you're huffing, gimme some, Boss Kitty. Psionics don't translate to hard code." He paused. "Okay, maybe they do in video games or movies, but this is real life."

"Well, we gotta do something." Gene crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the dusty ground. "I can't leave him asleep indefinitely."

Quetzal stuck his right leg out and cleared his throat. "Can't we just, y'know, destroy him?"

"No!" Gene hissed, tail lashing at the air.

"But he tried to kill you with a giant centiskorch robot!" Quetzal's feathers puffed out. "He's clearly not on our side! I say we disassemble him and—"

"Not happening!" Gene's eyes and Malice Crystal flickered purple. The orange zapdos shrank back.

"Sheesh, it was just a suggestion."

One that a part of Seifer agreed with. When someone threatened the lives of Radiant Guardsmon, the keldeo could use any means to stop them. Even if it meant ending the enemy's life.

But that thing is our prisoner now. Seifer looked at the type: full's weird, empty red and purple body and bit his lip.

"How much of this is because you look at this guy and see Nova?" Cyril wondered, raising a brow.

Gene's tail twitched. "That's— he has nothing to do with this."

Seifer swore he saw the mewtwo's dark gray cheeks redden. He sighed and turned around, figuring he had nothing to contribute.

"How long have they been going at it?" Jade wondered, waddling over with Leo at her side.

"Too long." Seifer slouched over, sighing. "They're getting nowhere." He stared at the ground, blinking a few times. "Wait, how are you even here, anyway? And how did you leave to fight the Seekerskorch?" The keldeo thought Jade had to stay in Eternatus for her own safety.

"Oh, that? Cyril gave me a quick fix. Check it!" Jade spun around and lifted up her tail.

"What are you doing?!" Seifer turned away, eyes squeezed shut. "I didn't ask you to accost me!"

"Aww, don't be such a stiff!" Jade giggled. "Just a little crystal strapped to my tail."

Seifer poked an eye open. As Jade implied, a tiny Malice Crystal sat in the middle of a harness wrapped around the base of her tail.

Leo had a better view and tilted his head curiously. "So, it's a butt harness?"

"What? Nonono!" The salugia lowered her tail and waved her wings in front of her face.

"It totally is!" Leo snorted with laughter.

"No, it's a tail harness!" Jade puffed her cheeks out. "People with big tails use them for saddlebags and stuff!"

"And your tail grows out of your butt!" The cosmic arceus turned around and wagged his small starcloud tail at Jade.

"Oi, pipe down, children!" Gene growled. "The adults are trying to think over here!"

Leo's starcloud pelt dimmed and he lowered his head guiltily. Jade pouted at the mewtwo and Seifer rolled his eyes. "You can't blame Leo. We're all sitting around while you two argue about technologic jargon." The keldeo brushed his right forehoof across the ground. "Why don't you both take a step back and cool off?"

"This is time-sensitive, Pony-boy," Gene countered, jerking his head at his slumbering captive.

"Why won't you let him wake up?" Leo wondered, having approached the type: full with a curious glint in his eyes.

Gene pinched his brow. "Because he'll try to hurt us if we do. That's why I need Cyril to look into his..." His voice trailed off. "Cyril can look at his mind and figure out what Paradox did to make it all mean and nasty. But the emperor has protected his mind, so it's dangerous for us to try."

Leo looked between Gene and the pilot. "Listen, Leo." Jade extended her left wing in front of him. "Let's leave the grumps to grump it out with each other."

"... I can't."

Seifer's horn flickered. "Kid, this doesn't concern you."

"It does."

A sudden chill ran down the keldeo's spine. Leo had a seriousness to his voice Seifer had never heard from the cosmic arceus.

"He feels... familiar." Leo stepped forward again. "I have to help him." His starcloud mane glowed a bit brighter. "No, I need to."

"Whoa, time out." Gene held his hands up in a T. "Weren't you listening to me? This guy's dangerous. I'm not letting some kid do any whacky voodoo to this type: full."

A massive weight pressed down on Seifer's shoulders. Neighing in surprise, his legs buckled.

"The hell?!" Cyril gasped as he suddenly faceplanted. Jade, Gene, and Quetzal also dropped to their knees.

"We're connected," Leo said. His eyes brimmed with strange golden light. The same energy surrounded his wheel and the tips of his hooves. Leo stepped up to the pilot's side, but Seifer couldn't so much as move a muscle to stop him. It was like someone had piled dumbbells on his back... or turned gravity up so high it would crush him into a keldeo pancake!

Leo took a deep breath and lifted his right forehoof.

(Art by @Dragonfree)

"Bediyaan tod do!"

The intense weight lifted from Seifer's body. He sucked in a sharp breath while a golden pulse rippled through the pilot's body. Black, wispy fur filled the once-empty red and purple torso, brightening to a cosmic purple along his hind legs. Gold crescents, much like the ones around Leo's neck, protruded from his hind legs. Gold trimming encased the pilot's forelegs, tail, beak, and headcrest.

(Art by Inku.)

While Leo stepped back, a blue and purple nebula swirled around the pilot's neck, matching the ones in the arceus' head and tail.

"You idiot!" Gene hopped to his feet, Malice Crystal flaring red. "What did you do?!"

Loud beeping drew Seifer's attention left. Cyril spun around and stared at his laptop screen, which had a new window with a rapidly filling progress bar.

"What in the—" The ghostly zoroark practically lunged for his laptop. "I'm in?" He knelt down by the laptop as windows flooded the screen, bathing Cyril in gray and white light. "I don't believe it! Databank uploading!" He looked over his shoulder at Leo, utterly bewildered. "What did you do, kid?"

Leo looked between the pilot and Cyril. "His soul was wrapped up in heavy chains. I broke them."

Seifer tilted his head. What was that supposed to mean? Well, whatever it was left Gene staring dumbly at the pilot, mouth agape. He silently raised his right arm and pushed his jaw shut.

"You have it too, Mr. Zoroark," Leo said, lowering his head sadly. "It feels different, but I can hear your soul crying under the chains."

"Eh?" Cyril's red-tipped hair crinkled. "Look, kid, I'm not interested in any of your fancy light shows. I'm fine the way things are." He held his arms out.

"You're not, though." Leo spoke with surprising conviction again. "You can't use moves or anything, can you? I can sense it. Strange energy wrapping itself around your soul."

Seifer caught the longing in Cyril's eyes for the briefest second. The white zoroark hastily regained a neutral expression, but the damage was done. His white fur flickered. Leo's expression sharpened.

"Please let me help," he whispered.

Cyril looked at his right hand. Flexed his red claws. Then he stuck his right arm out. "Just make it quick," he mumbled.

Seifer stepped forward. "Hang on, Cyril. Are you sure about this?"

But Leo acted quicker than Cyril could respond. He placed his right forehoof in Cyril's hand and, once again, a golden pulse rippled through Cyril's body.

"Gah!" The zoroark was unprepared for the bright light, which turned his white fur black as night and his mane the same blue-purple as Leo's. Cyril held his arms up and stared at their yellow claws and red gemstones. "What did you do?! I didn't ask for a makeover!"

Leo winced. "I, um... I unchained your soul, but it was crying out for so long it didn't have a lot of power of its own. So, I shared some of mine?"

(Art by JungaBeast.)

"Seriously?" Cyril turned around, looking at the constellation-like yellow markings on his fur. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

It was Seifer's turn to gawk now, utterly transfixed by the now-cosmic zoroark standing there and brushing Leo off with a flick of his left hand before turning back and sitting by his laptop with a determined look on his face.

"Dude, is your horn glowing?"

Seifer's tail bristled. He shuffled away from Jade. "Don't be ridiculous! It... it's a prosthetic!"

"It was totally glowing!" the salugia chirped. "It's okay if you're jealous. I won't tell." She elbowed the air next to the keldeo, winking. Seifer stomped away from her in a huff.

"Well, what's in these files or memories or whatever?" Seifer asked Cyril.

"Seriously? I need time to parse through all this ****." Cyril threw his arms up in exasperation.

"We don't have that," Gene said. "The pilot's waking up."

"What?" Cyril's black-furred body flickered red for a moment. Seifer raised his brows. "Put him back to sleep, then!"

"Can't." Gene flicked his right wrist out. Nothing happened. "Whatever Boy Wonder did to him is stopping my Hypnosis."

"But you can restrain him, right?" Quetzal crouched down, ready to spring into action if things took a turn for the worst. Seifer, however, bit his lip. Maybe they needed to not default to violence here?

The pilot's eyes opened. "What... happened?" He stretched his legs out, joints popping. His voice sounded significantly less mechanical than when he piloted the Seekerskorch.

Everyone stood in silence, waiting to see what the pilot would do. To Seifer's surprise, Gene knelt down by him. "Hey," he said.

"You!" the pilot squawked. His attempts at scrambling to his feet only led to him tumbling back from the mewtwo, legs flailing. The pilot stared at his golden forelegs and his gold beak went agape. "What did you do to me?" His starcloud swirled rapidly around his neck. "Back off or I'll... I'll..."

"Okay."

Gene held his hands up and stepped back from the pilot. Seifer wondered if Gene had somehow read his mind about taking a gentler approach. He glanced at the others and found them all shuffling further away from the pilot, save for Leo. The cosmic arceus sat down, eyeing the type: full with interest while his starcloud tail swished against the dusty ground.

The pilot finally got to his feet. "Whatever you're trying, it's not gonna work!" he huffed. "Father will come and get me. And he'll toss you in prison where you belong!"

Gene looked up at the sky. The sun had nearly set, leaving a sprawling purple-red sky filled with stars and two of Chakran's moons. "Yeah, you're free to believe that, but it's not happening," the mewtwo said, tail lazily drifting back and forth.

"Like I care what a filthy rebel thinks!" the type: full spat. His cheek bolts revved in their sockets.

Chuckling, Gene lifted his left arm and sniffed. "Guess it has been a bit since my last shower. But filth or not, it's more than a thought." He scratched the side of his face, glancing at the others. "You guys must realize it too, right? What the emperor did... or, rather, didn't do?"

Seifer frowned. What point was there in acting cryptic?

Then it hit the keldeo.

"Paradox never sent any backup," Seifer said. "Even when things turned in our favor."

"Oh yeah." Jade clapped her wings together, then held up her left index digit. "And after we broke your big robo-thingy and were all tired and stuff, he didn't even try to send reinforcements to jump us or rescue you."

The pilot didn't flinch at Seifer's statement, but Jade's explanation gave him pause. His eyes darted around frantically, like he was grasping for an excuse just out of reach.

"That's... because I'm... a hero." The pilot's starcloud dimmed, along with his eyes. "Father sent me on my own... so no one else would have to get hurt!"

"No one else getting hurt?" Emboldened, Seifer stepped forward. "Do you even know what you shot at with your machine?"

"People imprisoning Eternatus," the type: full said, trying to sound confident.

The keldeo forced himself to stay calm and avoid shouting his counterargument. "No. They were refugees. People who lost their homes because your father attacked their city."

"Because you all are keeping our home trapped in your planet!" the pilot said, though he kept glancing around nervously.

"That happened a very long time ago," Jade said, trying to make her voice gentle. She waddled up to Seifer's side. "All of the people on Etherium right now? They have nothing to do with Eternatus." She placed her left wing against her chest. "I know... because I'm one of the ones who sealed it. Me and my friends."

Seifer couldn't help quirking a brow. Hadn't Jade forgotten her time as a Sage? I guess she doesn't need to remember the details to say that.

"You're lying." The pilot's voice trembled. "Father taught me not to trust outworlders. He knew you'd try to sway me with twisted words!"

"We're not lying." Seifer shook his head. "My kingdom — the one you attacked unprovoked — lied to us about Eternatus for generations. I was taught that Eternatus was defeated, not sealed. All the people you tried to attack were taught the same."

Wincing, the pilot stepped back. "No. That's not right. Because I'm a hero! I'm... Eternatus' protector!" He shook his black-furred head. "Heroes don't hurt the innocent! You guys have to be guilty. Father is—"

"If your father really cares that much about you, why did he include a remote self-destruct sequence only he could trigger?"

Seifer pivoted left, flashing Cyril a worried look. The cosmic zoroark held his laptop in his right hand, having disconnected it from its crystalline charger. That's a heck of a bluff to make, Seifer thought. Cyril had an impressive poker face.

"Don't you badmouth my father like that!" the pilot snarled. His nebula trickled toward his head crest and tail, almost like they were actually conduits for whatever power Leo had foolishly given the pilot. "He's doing what he can to keep Eternatus afloat!"

"Then why, on top of the self-destruct program, are there a bunch of restricted files detailing a 'battle mode?'" Cyril asked, again holding out his laptop. "He planned to use you as nothing more than a template for mass producing type: fulls... which would help him conquer the entire universe in the name of Eternatus." He put the laptop down and tilted the screen for the pilot to have a better look. "That sound heroic to you?"

Gene stiffened at the mention of mass production. No doubt reminiscing about Nova and his fate. Seifer wondered if Gene was considering the possibility the emperor found Nova's body and... repurposed it to create this type: full. It probably wasn't the case, but Seifer wasn't going to drag Xeromus into this conversation.

The pilot's eyes poured over Cyril's laptop screen. His gold talons dug into the dirt. "This is a trick. You wrote fake things," he muttered. "That's... what zoroark do. They trick and deceive and lie."

Cyril's ears folded against his head. Seifer stomped a forehoof down. "What about the rest of us, huh? You think we'd all lie to you? I'm far from a convincing liar. Cyril and Gene can read me like an open book."

It stung to admit that out loud, but if it meant getting somewhere with this stubborn type: full, Seifer would swallow his pride.

"No. That's..." The pilot shook his head and pawed at the ground. "You have to be lying. If you're not, then... then..."

Small water droplets peppered the dirt under the type: full. Was he crying?

"Tears?" the pilot whispered. "That can't be right. I don't make tears! Heroes don't cry! I—"

The ground trembled. Dirt clumps bounced and pebbles rolled around. "Earthquake!" Jade squawked, hopping into the air with a flap of her wings. "Ladies first!"

Seifer stood at attention, only to shudder as distorted purple light washed across the mesa. The nearby buildings vanished behind fragmented purple light resembling broken glass. "What's going on?" The keldeo whirled on Gene. "What did you do?"

"Me? This ain't me!" Gene raised his right hand, channeling energy from his Malice Crystal. "Nngh. It's not working!"

"Behind you, Boss Kitty!"

The mewtwo looked over his shoulder then, gasping, Phantom Warped up seconds before a blue-purple bolt would have struck him square between the shoulder blades. Seifer backpedaled as the beam swept across the ground. "Jade, protect Leo!" he cried.

"On it!" the salugia replied, swooping down and grabbing hold of the bewildered arceus. Seifer looked toward where he believed the Dragon Pulse came from... and found some sort of floating orb inside what looked like a giant dragon's head.

"That's... a regidrago?" Cyril's mane frazzled. "What's it doing here?"

"Forget that!" Ice swirled around Gene's hands. "Who dunked it in lemon-lime soda?"

"Ajagar!"

The dragon head's empty eye sockets glowed and, within seconds, blue-purple fireballs littered the sky. "****!" Gene shot his Ice Beam at Regidrago, who pivoted the dragon head so the snout acted like a shield, deflecting the mewtwo's attack. He Phantom Warped away from the dragonfireballs.

Seifer rolled on his back and blasted water from all four hooves to keep him safe. "Someone want to tell me what a regidrago is?!"

"Isn't it self explanatory?" Jade squawked, setting Leo down a fair distance away from the others. "It's a big ol' dragon head!" Orange energy gathered in her beak.

"Ajagaaaaaar!" The dots in Regidrago's sphere flickered asynchronously. Blue-violet energy gathered around its core.

"I can see that!" Seifer hissed. "But why is this a thing?!" The keldeo rolled back onto his feet and shot an Aura Sphere toward Regidrago. Jade added her orange, conical Aeroblast and Gene shot out another Ice Beam. Regidrago unleashed a large Dragon Pulse and swept it through the air, carving through the trio's attacks and sending Gene flying up to dodge the beam.

"Look around you!" Gene's tail whipped at the air. His eyes glowed pink. Psystrike orbs materialized around Regidrago, whose dragon head eyes glowed yet again. Psychic energy clashed with dragonfire as pink and blue explosions surrounded Regidrago.

Seifer used the opening to launch another Aura Sphere through the smoke. He sorely missed his Secret Sword, but this was the best he could manage with Cyril's prosthetic. "Yeah, it looks like we're surrounded by rifts! What of it?"

Regidrago surged out of the smoke, making a beeline for Gene. The mewtwo summoned his psychic spoon and swiped. Regidrago met the slash with the chin of its dragon head. However, Gene was faster to follow up, striking from another angle to hit Regidrago's core. He unleashed a flurry of spoon slashes, ending with a kick from his ice-encrusted leg straight in the center of Regidrago's dots. It tumbled back through the air with a distorted wail.

"I bet it's some byproduct of the dimensions breaking down," Cyril said, gathering up all his equipment and stuffing it into his blue-purple mane. "Hey, robo-mutt! Do you believe us now?"

Seifer glanced at the pilot, who could only stare dumbfounded at Regidrago. Gene surrounded it with more Psystrike orbs, but a Dragon Pulse emerged from Regidrago's core and swept through most of them. Its eye sockets flickered and dragonfireballs peppered the skies above everyone.

Groaning, Seifer fell onto his back again, but the dragonfireballs were much faster this time. He couldn't Hydro Pump away the ones heading for him and the dragonfire seared his messy flanks. Gritting his teeth, Seifer spun back up to his feet and whipped dirty, sweaty hair out of his eyes.

He filled the air with Icy Wind to try and slow down the frantic thing. Regidrago was too preoccupied meeting Gene's Ice Beam with a Dragon Pulse to pay attention to Seifer's attack. It didn't do much, but Regidrago momentarily lost some of its altitude. Gene's Ice Beam overpowered his Dragon Pulse, covering the dots on its core in a thin sheet of ice.

Gene darted forward, psychic spoon at the ready. He jammed the thing into Regidrago's icy core, which shattered with an audible crash. The mewtwo kicked Regidrago away, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Seifer kept his horn trained on it. "Is it dead?" He had no idea how Regidrago worked, but that sure looked like a killing blow.

Gene floated above it, Malice Crystal sparking. "I think it's taken care— damn it!"

The mewtwo opened a rift and reached his right hand into it. Seifer saw a second rift pop up next to the still-stunned type: full. Gene grabbed the pilot and yanked him through the rift mere seconds before Regidrago exploded in a flurry of yellow and violet light. The detonation whipped up enough wind to knock Seifer onto his rump with a startled whinny.

"Yeesh! Talk about a sore loser!" Jade said, having wrapped Leo up with her wings to shield him from the harsh gusts.

Seifer again whipped hair out of his face. With Regidrago's detonation, the strange dome that encased the group faded away, returning Chakran's calming purple and orange sky.

It only stayed calm for a few seconds, however, as shouts quickly followed.

"Good gracious! What happened?!" Cid's buzzing filled Seifer's ears. The orbeetle flew toward the group, with Alder, Artemis, and Kora not far behind him.

"We got attacked, that's what," Quetzal huffed, shaking dust from his feathers.

"Attacked?" Alder raised a brow. "We saw you all vanish into an anomaly!" The braviary glanced at Leo. "Did you save them from it?"

The cosmic arceus shook his head.

"I thought this place was supposed to be safe," Quetzal said, pacing back and forth. "What's going on here?" He looked to Alder and Kora for answers.

"I'm afraid... the dimensional instabilities are getting worse," Kora said, wings curling back up into antennae. "That's the only reasonable explanation."

"Then we have to regroup with the others and come up with a plan!" Quetzal looked at Seifer for support. "Right, Commander?"

But the keldeo was only half paying attention to them. He was more focused on Gene and the pilot. The former set the latter down on the ground.

"You saved me," the type: full whispered.

"I did."

"And you saved me... after destroying the Seekerskorch." His triangular ears folded slightly. "Why?"

Gene's tail crinkled and his malice crystal flickered. "Because you're not my enemy. I'd rather have you as a friend." He stuck his right hand out. "You saw all of that. If someone doesn't put a stop to your father, stuff like that will happen to everyone. Including the people you swore to protect. And I need all the help I can get to prevent it."

The pilot silently looked at Gene's outstretched hand. Seifer held his breath, waiting to see if the mewtwo could actually win this type: full over.

"... I still don't fully trust you," he mumbled, pivoting away slightly. "But I don't want to disappear, either. So, I guess I'm stuck with you for now."

Sighing, Gene pulled his hand back. "Fair enough. You got a name?"

"I am serial number W1-DG3T."

"So, Widget, then. Got it."

Widget narrowed his eyes. "Is that supposed to be clever? I—"

"Aggggggggh!"

Seifer's tail shot up in alarm. He whirled on Jade, who had knelt down next to Leo. "Leo?" The salugia nudged his side. "Leo, what's wrong?" She nudged him harder.

The cosmic arceus locked eyes with Jade and Seifer for a second, before his pelt and wheel dimmed and he fell over on his side.

That was quickly followed by another thump and a, "Damn it! Gimme a hand, Cyril," from Gene.

When Seifer turned around, he found Cyril running over to Gene, who knelt beside an unconscious Widget.

XxX​

OSL: Mawrauder of Ruin, Rakman
Whispers taking the form of off-colored regidrago. Though ferocious and fervent attackers, they are single-minded, almost exclusively sticking to dragon-type attacks even when their opponent is a fairy. Do not underestimate them, however. Their Dragon Pulses can carve through mountains with ease.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
Rakman comes from "samyag karman," the factor of "right action" from the Buddhist Eightfold Path.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I see there's a new chapter up. Going to be doing something that I haven't done in a while now by jumping in and reviewing the new chapter of this story (almost) day and date to its release:

Chapter 55

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

All personnel, please be advised of an uptick in Ruinous Whispers in the realms neighboring POV-2020.

Oh, so shadowmons are leaking out of Yuna's universe and into neighboring ones, huh?

As a reminder, worlds plagued by instabilities will find souls leaking into Ginnungagap. These spirits are shackled by the chaotic space-time energy of the cosmic mystery dungeon, transforming into vicious beasts we've dubbed "Ruinous Whispers." The Whispers will mutate into distorted versions of pokémon classically associated with destructive myths permeating the omniverse.

Oh, so that's the story of Paradigm, huh? Since the description of what these "Ruinous Whispers" become sounds very much like the Paradigm operatives we've seen in the past.

... Though wait, is this the place where their souls go to after "dying"? If so, does that mean that Exodes and Baptiste never really died?

Those who have dealt with dimensions containing incarnations of Cipher suggest this process bears similarity to the "shadowfication" of pokémon in those universes. Thus, if you can pacify a Whisper, you should try to. However, if the situation is too dangerous, defeating a Whisper in battle will eject it back out into Ginnungagap or, if you're already there, will temporarily destroy it until it reforms in a random location a quarter-cycle later.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about that read that those Paradigm operatives that I thought kicked the bucket are still around and going to come back to be annoying at some point.

Seifer never thought he'd miss Bogdan's sticky, tar-filled atmosphere, yet somehow all the dirt carried by Chakran gusts and breezes had him longing to return to the humid factory. Dust coated his pelt and mane, both badly disheveled and in need of a good shower and brushing. By Calliope's sword, he yearned to have his uniform back, shielding his tan fur from the elements.

Nice song link there, though that makes me a bit

about what Chakran is really like since boy is that background music ominous there.

But no, he got fired. And it turned out the cause he'd dedicated all his life to wasn't so noble after all.

Since it feels like there's at least a half-a-dozen other characters that are in Seifer's same boat right about now.

This was all the keldeo could chew on while he sat atop the mesa, watching the resistance's two real members gesticulated wildly at one another, the strange, Xeromus-like creature lying on the ground, and the smoldering remnants of one of Cyril's laptops.

Small verb tense error there. Though time to find out what Gene and Cyril are so testy about.

Apparently, this "type: full" creature had security measures the likes of which Cyril had never seen before. Because the moment he tried to access its so-called databanks — which Seifer found disturbing since the thing sure looked alive, but apparently it was actually a machine? — his laptop went up in flames, forcing Artemis to douse it with water. Gene sent himself away through a rift and returned several minutes later with a new laptop... and the two descended into their current argument.

Though that's cyborgs for you, Seifer. I'm guessing that in spite of Radiance's tech level, that this is even technically feasible in their setting is not common knowledge.

"... you expect me to do here? Paradox took the term firewall a bit too literally," Cyril growled, throwing up his white-furred arms in exasperation.

So wait, does W1-DG3T just auto-cast Fira every time someone tries to mess with the machine part of his body or something? Though would format the first sentence from Cyril as a question there.

"Then let me do a little psychic probing." Gene tapped his right temple. "I bet I can put a stop to it."

Oh hey, it's the Discord emote / that one tic from Giovanni all over again. Though that makes me wonder if Guile Hideout also has a habit of doing this himself.

Cyril rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Gene's left shoulder. "Whatever copium you're huffing, gimme some, Boss Kitty. Psionics don't translate to hard code." He paused. "Okay, maybe they do in video games or movies, but this is real life."

TIL that 'copium' exists as a phrase in this setting. I should be less surprised given that 'angy' does as well, but I still did a double-take there.

"Well, we gotta do something." Gene crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the dusty ground. "I can't leave him asleep indefinitely."

I mean, technically, you could, but there's a decent chance that one way or another W1-DG3T would just never wake up afterwards, so it's probably for the best not to just let W1-DG3T be all Sleeping Beauty there.

Quetzal stuck his right leg out and cleared his throat. "Can't we just, y'know, destroy him?"

"No!" Gene hissed, tail lashing at the air.

Gene thinks that W1-DG3T is Nova, doesn't he? Since even if W1-DG3T is a Type: Full, this feels like a lot of personal attachment to some kid he's just met.

"But he tried to kill you with a giant centiskorch robot!" Quetzal's feathers puffed out. "He's clearly not on our side! I say we disassemble him and—"

"Not happening!" Gene's eyes and Malice Crystal flickered purple. The orange zapdos shrank back.

Yeah, Gene thinks he's Nova. Guess we'll find out how right or not he is about things soon enough.

"Sheesh, it was just a suggestion."

Gene: "A stupid one. Never say that to me again!"

One that a part of Seifer agreed with. When someone threatened the lives of Radiant Guardsmon, the keldeo could use any means to stop them. Even if it meant ending the enemy's life.

So how many people has Seifer killed in the past anyways? Since with the sort of attitude he used to have... I kinda get the feeling that he was fairly relaxed about his definition of 'threatening the lives of Radiant Guardsmon'.

But that thing is our prisoner now. Seifer looked at the type: full's weird, empty red and purple body and bit his lip.

Oh, so Radiance has a policy of taking POWs and not just taking them around back and shooting them in front of a ditch. I'm honestly a little surprised given how much of a regressive craphole it can be in other regards, though I suppose that it's better than the alternative.

"How much of this is because you look at this guy and see Nova?" Cyril wondered, raising a brow.

Close to 100%, even if I suspect Gene will get top

about being accused of that.

Gene's tail twitched. "That's— he has nothing to do with this."

Seifer swore he saw the mewtwo's dark gray cheeks redden. He sighed and turned around, figuring he had nothing to contribute.

I mean, it was only obvious, but I suppose that this is the formal proof that W1-DG3T resembling Nova is informing huge chunks of Gene's decision-making right about now.

"How long have they been going at it?" Jade wondered, waddling over with Leo at her side.

"Too long." Seifer slouched over, sighing. "They're getting nowhere." He stared at the ground, blinking a few times. "Wait, how are you even here, anyway? And how did you leave to fight the Seekerskorch?" The keldeo thought Jade had to stay in Eternatus for her own safety.

... Actually, I'm curious about that myself. Did Gene implant a Malice crystal in her or something?

"Oh, that? Cyril gave me a quick fix. Check it!" Jade spun around and lifted up her tail.

"What are you doing?!" Seifer turned away, eyes squeezed shut. "I didn't ask you to accost me!"

"Aww, don't be such a stiff!" Jade giggled. "Just a little crystal strapped to my tail."

Oh, it's this scene. Though simply holding Malice allows residents of the Qliphoth to come out? I suppose that while it was obviously chosen for the cringe comedy potential, that this positioning would be a bit hard to target on a Lugia short of going full "shove things into places that would be awkward conversation starters". Sounds handy, if like a recipe for things going horribly wrong if anything were to ever happen to the crystal.

Though wait, is there a reason why Jade and other Qliphoth residents can only have one Malice crystal? Are there side effects from being around too much Malice at once or something? Since from a system redundancy perspective, you'd think that kitting Jade out with more than one crystal would've been significantly safer for her in the event that something happened to one of them.\

Seifer poked an eye open. As Jade implied, a tiny Malice Crystal sat in the middle of a harness wrapped around the base of her tail.

Leo had a better view and tilted his head curiously. "So, it's a butt harness?"

"What? Nonono!" The salugia lowered her tail and waved her wings in front of her face.

Narrator: "It's a butt harness. Especially if Jade's biology as a Salugia takes after what hers was like as a Salazzle."

"It totally is!" Leo snorted with laughter.

"No, it's a tail harness!" Jade puffed her cheeks out. "People with big tails use them for saddlebags and stuff!"

Leo: "'Big tails,' huh?"

Jade: "Look, do I need to get your mother involved to get your mind out of the gutter?" >v<

"And your tail grows out of your butt!" The cosmic arceus turned around and wagged his small starcloud tail at Jade.

"Oi, pipe down, children!" Gene growled. "The adults are trying to think over here!"

>"""adults"""

Yeah, okay, Gene. I don't know if I'd reflexively call you an 'adult' in mindset from some of your past antics. >:V

Leo's starcloud pelt dimmed and he lowered his head guiltily. Jade pouted at the mewtwo and Seifer rolled his eyes. "You can't blame Leo. We're all sitting around while you two argue about technologic jargon."

The keldeo brushed his right forehoof across the ground. "Why don't you both take a step back and cool off?"

Would recommend splitting this paragraph since you have two separate parties speaking lines of dialogue. Unless if I'm tripping and the second is also somehow also being said by Jade.

"This is time-sensitive, Pony-boy," Gene countered, jerking his head at his slumbering captive.

"Why won't you let him wake up?" Leo wondered, having approached the type: full with a curious glint in his eyes.

Gene: "Because if he wakes up under the same mental state he lost consciousness in, he'd try to incinerate us with a Hyper Beam or something like that off the bat?"

Seifer: "... I'm sorry, why are you so invested in this fishdog thing's well-being again?"

Gene pinched his brow. "Because he'll try to hurt us if we do. That's why I need Cyril to look into his..." His voice trailed off. "Cyril can look at his mind and figure out what Paradox did to make it all mean and nasty. But the emperor has protected his mind, so it's dangerous for us to try."

Yeah, I figured. Though doesn't this technically amount to an attempt at counter-brainwashing a captive given that you're literally screwing around with the contents of his mind?

I mean, not that Paradox didn't start it first, but this does feel like it could rapidly raise a few ethical quandries depending on what Gene changes under the hood there.

Leo looked between Gene and the pilot. "Listen, Leo." Jade extended her left wing in front of him. "Let's leave the grumps to grump it out with each other."

"... I can't."

... Wasn't expecting that one. Wonder why Leo's unable to just back off here?

Seifer's horn flickered. "Kid, this doesn't concern you."

"It does."

Seifer: "What on earth do you mean 'it does'? Leo, you literally never saw this fishdog thing prior to a couple hours ago!"

A sudden chill ran down the keldeo's spine. Leo had a seriousness to his voice Seifer had never heard from the cosmic arceus.

"He feels... familiar." Leo stepped forward again. "I have to help him." His starcloud mane glowed a bit brighter. "No, I need to."

Oh, so W1-DG3T really is Nova... somehow. Not sure what the story behind it is or how Leo met him in life, but I suppose that's a story for another day.

"Whoa, time out." Gene held his hands up in a T. "Weren't you listening to me? This guy's dangerous. I'm not letting some kid do any whacky voodoo to this type: full."

A massive weight pressed down on Seifer's shoulders. Neighing in surprise, his legs buckled.

Seifer: "Nevermind, then! Whacky voodoo it is!" O_O;

"The hell?!" Cyril gasped as he suddenly faceplanted. Jade, Gene, and Quetzal also dropped to their knees.

"We're connected," Leo said. His eyes brimmed with strange golden light. The same energy surrounded his wheel and the tips of his hooves. Leo stepped up to the pilot's side, but Seifer couldn't so much as move a muscle to stop him. It was like someone had piled dumbbells on his back... or turned gravity up so high it would crush him into a keldeo pancake!

Leo took a deep breath and lifted his right forehoof.

Wait, what does that Bayo 3 song play from anyways? Though for alternative theme music, might I suggest the humble:

Since hey, that's also a decent theme song for folks being interlinked (har har) with one another.

"Bediyaan tod do!"

Wait, does that actually mean anything there-?

Oh, Hindi, huh? For 'Break the shackles', no less. That's certainly new there. If you wanted to split hairs there, this should technically be in Sanskrit if you wanted to lean in harder with South Asian mysticism / mythology vibes, but there's apparently bupkis for reliable resources that I can turn up for that from a casual Google, so I won't judge too harshly.

The intense weight lifted from Seifer's body. He sucked in a sharp breath while a golden pulse rippled through the pilot's body. Black, wispy fur filled the once-empty red and purple torso, brightening to a cosmic purple along his hind legs. Gold crescents, much like the ones around Leo's neck, protruded from his hind legs. Gold trimming encased the pilot's forelegs, tail, beak, and headcrest.

>dat second image embed

Boy does teeing up that one XB3 song feel appropriate right about now.

While Leo stepped back, a blue and purple nebula swirled around the pilot's neck, matching the ones in the arceus' head and tail.

"You idiot!" Gene hopped to his feet, Malice Crystal flaring red. "What did you do?!"

Leo: "I triggered an Interlink?"

Gene: "That doesn't exist in our setting! Leo, what the hell is this?!"

Loud beeping drew Seifer's attention left. Cyril spun around and stared at his laptop screen, which had a new window with a rapidly filling progress bar.

"What in the—" The ghostly zoroark practically lunged for his laptop. "I'm in?" He knelt down by the laptop as windows flooded the screen, bathing Cyril in gray and white light. "I don't believe it! Databank uploading!" He looked over his shoulder at Leo, utterly bewildered. "What did you do, kid?"

Leo: "I thought that I already answered that I triggered an-" ^^;
Cyril: "Okay, one, you're not fused with this kid, so no. Second, we don't have that mechanic in this story!" >.<
Leo: "I mean, if there ever winds up being a Kyurem that becomes important later on..."

Cyril: "Leo, just answer the question already!" >_>;

Leo looked between the pilot and Cyril. "His soul was wrapped up in heavy chains. I broke them."

Cyril: "Wait, huh? But how does that even-?"

Leo: "Hey, I dunno, man. Just don't question a good thing too hard?"

Seifer tilted his head. What was that supposed to mean? Well, whatever it was left Gene staring dumbly at the pilot, mouth agape. He silently raised his right arm and pushed his jaw shut.

"You have it too, Mr. Zoroark," Leo said, lowering his head sadly. "It feels different, but I can hear your soul crying under the chains."

Cyril: "Oooookay, I'm just going to scoot over far, far away from you right now." O_O;

"Eh?" Cyril's red-tipped hair crinkled. "Look, kid, I'm not interested in any of your fancy light shows. I'm fine the way things are." He held his arms out.

"You're not, though." Leo spoke with surprising conviction again. "You can't use moves or anything, can you? I can sense it. Strange energy wrapping itself around your soul."

Imprisonerre is some sort of Malice-related malady, isn't it? Since this sounds exactly like Vortex's Imprisonerre that he was revealed to have a couple chapters back.

Seifer caught the longing in Cyril's eyes for the briefest second. The white zoroark hastily regained a neutral expression, but the damage was done. His white fur flickered. Leo's expression sharpened.

"Please let me help," he whispered.

I'm half-expecting that Cyril will go full Bugs Bunny "no" macro, but then again, I suppose we do need that Cosmic Zoroark you keep commissioning pieces for in this story at some point, and given what happened to W1-DG3T...

Cyril looked at his right hand. Flexed his red claws. Then he stuck his right arm out. "Just make it quick," he mumbled.

Seifer stepped forward. "Hang on, Cyril. Are you sure about this?"

But Leo acted quicker than Cyril could respond. He placed his right forehoof in Cyril's hand and, once again, a golden pulse rippled through Cyril's body.

Cyril: "Oh, that doesn't look healthy at all-"

Leo: Just hold tight! It doesn't hurt at all!"

"Gah!" The zoroark was unprepared for the bright light, which turned his white fur black as night and his mane the same blue-purple as Leo's. Cyril held his arms up and stared at their yellow claws and red gemstones. "What did you do?! I didn't ask for a makeover!"

Leo winced. "I, um... I unchained your soul, but it was crying out for so long it didn't have a lot of power of its own. So, I shared some of mine?"

Oh, so the Cosmic Zoroark really was Cyril all along. Though wait, is he just going to look like this for the rest of the story? Or is this a super mode for him that he can slip in and out of?

"Seriously?" Cyril turned around, looking at the constellation-like yellow markings on his fur. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Use attacks? Since I'm pretty sure your Imprisonerre or whatever is messing with your ability to attack no longer applies in this state, Cyril.

It was Seifer's turn to gawk now, utterly transfixed by the now-cosmic zoroark standing there and brushing Leo off with a flick of his left hand before turning back and sitting by his laptop with a determined look on his face.

"Dude, is your horn glowing?"

Oh, so Seifer is gay for Cyril himself and it's not just a one-way street there. Though I suppose his fabulous new do wouldn't hurt for pushing those buttons in him.

Seifer's tail bristled. He shuffled away from Jade. "Don't be ridiculous! It... it's a prosthetic!"

Narrator: "It was absolutely glowing."

"It was totally glowing!" the salugia chirped. "It's okay if you're jealous. I won't tell." She elbowed the air next to the keldeo, winking. Seifer stomped away from her in a huff.

Yeah, I called it.

"Well, what's in these files or memories or whatever?" Seifer asked Cyril.

"Seriously? I need time to parse through all this ****." Cyril threw his arms up in exasperation.

Cyril: "What, do you expect god-knows-how-many petabytes of data to be something that I can just pick through in the blink of an eye here?" >_>;

"We don't have that," Gene said. "The pilot's waking up."

Oh, so even after getting (possibly) deprogrammed, W1-DG3T still has his thing for the in-setting Dragon Ball expy, huh? Duly noted for the future.

"What?" Cyril's black-furred body flickered red for a moment. Seifer raised his brows. "Put him back to sleep, then!"

"Can't." Gene flicked his right wrist out. Nothing happened. "Whatever Boy Wonder did to him is stopping my Hypnosis."

Seifer: "... Leo, those 'soul chain' things that you broke did also make the fishdog stop reflexively hating us, right?"

"But you can restrain him, right?" Quetzal crouched down, ready to spring into action if things took a turn for the worst. Seifer, however, bit his lip. Maybe they needed to not default to violence here?

That would probably be a good idea since you have no idea what on earth potential side effects of that makeover Leo just gave W1-DG3T could potentially entail.

The pilot's eyes opened. "What... happened?" He stretched his legs out, joints popping. His voice sounded significantly less mechanical than when he piloted the Seekerskorch.

Oh, so he really was deprogrammed, huh? Or else I guess getting a Cosmic Arceus mode gave him a fleshier throat.

Everyone stood in silence, waiting to see what the pilot would do. To Seifer's surprise, Gene knelt down by him. "Hey," he said.

"You!" the pilot squawked. His attempts at scrambling to his feet only led to him tumbling back from the mewtwo, legs flailing. The pilot stared at his golden forelegs and his gold beak went agape. "What did you do to me?" His starcloud swirled rapidly around his neck. "Back off or I'll... I'll..."

Oh, well nevermind about the 'deprogramming' bit. Guess the gang's not out of the woods on that front just yet.

"Okay."

Gene held his hands up and stepped back from the pilot. Seifer wondered if Gene had somehow read his mind about taking a gentler approach. He glanced at the others and found them all shuffling further away from the pilot, save for Leo. The cosmic arceus sat down, eyeing the type: full with interest while his starcloud tail swished against the dusty ground.

I mean, he is a psychic that used to be able to zip around Kanto on a whim. I would frankly be more surprised if Gene wasn't able to casually mind-read others in this close of proximity to him even after his debuff.

The pilot finally got to his feet. "Whatever you're trying, it's not gonna work!" he huffed. "Father will come and get me. And he'll toss you in prison where you belong!"

Gene: "Dammit, Leo. Your 'soul chain' thing couldn't have also scrubbed all that indoctrination that Paradox saddled him with, huh?"

Leo: "Look, I was literally just doing what came naturally to me. Plus that'd be kinda narratively cheap, don't you think?"

Gene looked up at the sky. The sun had nearly set, leaving a sprawling purple-red sky filled with stars and two of Chakran's moons. "Yeah, you're free to believe that, but it's not happening," the mewtwo said, tail lazily drifting back and forth.

"Like I care what a filthy rebel thinks!" the type: full spat. His cheek bolts revved in their sockets.

Oh, so W1-DG3T's busy

-ing in live-time, I see. Though I'm genuinely wondering if this really is Nova, and if so, how on earth Gene knows that.

Chuckling, Gene lifted his left arm and sniffed. "Guess it has been a bit since my last shower. But filth or not, it's more than a thought." He scratched the side of his face, glancing at the others. "You guys must realize it too, right? What the emperor did... or, rather, didn't do?"

Seifer frowned. What point was there in acting cryptic?

Seifer: "Gene, seriously, just spit it out already." >_>;

Then it hit the keldeo.

"Paradox never sent any backup," Seifer said. "Even when things turned in our favor."

Seifer: "Wait, but... why?"
Gene: "Because he was using the kid's fighting as some sort of experiment. Add extra variables, and you muddy the observable results."

"Oh yeah." Jade clapped her wings together, then held up her left index digit. "And after we broke your big robo-thingy and were all tired and stuff, he didn't even try to send reinforcements to jump us or rescue you."

W1-DG3T: "F-Father wouldn't do something like that to me! H-He's my father!"

Seifer: "You do realize that your 'father' is a creepy tentacle alien thing that looks nothing like you, right? Have you ever considered that you're not really related to him?"

The pilot didn't flinch at Seifer's statement, but Jade's explanation gave him pause. His eyes darted around frantically, like he was grasping for an excuse just out of reach.

"That's... because I'm... a hero." The pilot's starcloud dimmed, along with his eyes. "Father sent me on my own... so no one else would have to get hurt!"

Leo:

Gene: "Leo, please. Just stick to being an innocent little kid right now." >.<

"No one else getting hurt?" Emboldened, Seifer stepped forward. "Do you even know what you shot at with your machine?"

"People imprisoning Eternatus," the type: full said, trying to sound confident.

Wow, W1-DG3T's already wavering, huh? Maybe we'll actually see him switch sides in this chapter. Maybe.

The keldeo forced himself to stay calm and avoid shouting his counterargument. "No. They were refugees. People who lost their homes because your father attacked their city."

W1-DG3T: "B-But they were still imprisoning Eternatus! Father told me all about how you surface dwellers keep them chained down!"
Seifer: "Kid, most of those Pokémon had never heard of Eternatus outside of myths and storybooks. If it wasn't for their home falling into a Distortion the other day, they'd probably be more concerned about watching the latest episode of The Weakest Link on PV."

"Because you all are keeping our home trapped in your planet!" the pilot said, though he kept glancing around nervously.

Yeah, W1-DG3T's wavering. Though I have to wonder how he's going to react after breaking since I'm not fully convinced that the process of him making a Heel-Face Turn is going to go completely smoothly.

"That happened a very long time ago," Jade said, trying to make her voice gentle. She waddled up to Seifer's side. "All of the people on Etherium right now? They have nothing to do with Eternatus." She placed her left wing against her chest. "I know... because I'm one of the ones who sealed it. Me and my friends."

Ah yes, there's a macro for this moment for these two:

Seifer couldn't help quirking a brow. Hadn't Jade forgotten her time as a Sage? I guess she doesn't need to remember the details to say that.

"You're lying." The pilot's voice trembled. "Father taught me not to trust outworlders. He knew you'd try to sway me with twisted words!"

Jade: "Then why don't you sound convinced with yourself right now?"
W1-DG3T: "I... I... j-just have a lot to process right now! That's all!"

"We're not lying." Seifer shook his head. "My kingdom — the one you attacked unprovoked — lied to us about Eternatus for generations. I was taught that Eternatus was defeated, not sealed. All the people you tried to attack were taught the same."

Wincing, the pilot stepped back. "No. That's not right. Because I'm a hero! I'm... Eternatus' protector!" He shook his black-furred head. "Heroes don't hurt the innocent! You guys have to be guilty. Father is—"

W1-DG3T, heroes attacking the innocent in Squaresoft/Squeenix games has literally been around for close to 30 years at this point. Like the protag of FF4 literally did it enough times that the moment when he finally got out from his old job in the story, half of the first town he visited basically turned and bolted after seeing him.

"If your father really cares that much about you, why did he include a remote self-destruct sequence only he could trigger?"

W1-DG3T:

Gene: "Do I need to pull it out and wave it in front of your face, or...?"

Seifer pivoted left, flashing Cyril a worried look. The cosmic zoroark held his laptop in his right hand, having disconnected it from its crystalline charger. That's a heck of a bluff to make, Seifer thought. Cyril had an impressive poker face.

Cyril: "That... wasn't a bluff, Seifer."
Seifer: "Wait, huh? But how on earth do you know this-?" .-.

"Don't you badmouth my father like that!" the pilot snarled. His nebula trickled toward his head crest and tail, almost like they were actually conduits for whatever power Leo had foolishly given the pilot. "He's doing what he can to keep Eternatus afloat!"

W1-DG3T, don't make me break out the Bender gif again. Though I take it that dad didn't let you outside your bedroom much.

"Then why, on top of the self-destruct program, are there a bunch of restricted files detailing a 'battle mode?'" Cyril asked, again holding out his laptop. "He planned to use you as nothing more than a template for mass producing type: fulls... which would help him conquer the entire universe in the name of Eternatus." He put the laptop down and tilted the screen for the pilot to have a better look. "That sound heroic to you?"

W1-DG3T: "I... I-I... Th-This doesn't mean anything! I-It's all a deepfake! Y-Yeah! That's what's going on!"

Cyril: "Look, do I need to make your body do involuntary movements with this thing to prove that I pulled this from your brain? (Though how on earth do you know about deepfakes?)"

Gene stiffened at the mention of mass production. No doubt reminiscing about Nova and his fate. Seifer wondered if Gene was considering the possibility the emperor found Nova's body and... repurposed it to create this type: full. It probably wasn't the case, but Seifer wasn't going to drag Xeromus into this conversation.

Which is exactly the reason why Gene is getting this uppity about trying to intervene with a tyke bomb that's meant to go off to kill him. I can already tell.

The pilot's eyes poured over Cyril's laptop screen. His gold talons dug into the dirt. "This is a trick. You wrote fake things," he muttered. "That's... what zoroark do. They trick and deceive and lie."

Wew, I was joking about the deepfake comment there, though yeah, I was kinda gathering from the way W1-DG3T kept digging in his heels that he was going to put up a fight for being persuaded.

Cyril's ears folded against his head. Seifer stomped a forehoof down. "What about the rest of us, huh? You think we'd all lie to you? I'm far from a convincing liar. Cyril and Gene can read me like an open book."

W1-DG3T: "Y-You're all on the same side! Y-You could've coordinated beforehand!"

Seifer:

"Seriously, what is it going to take to get through to you here?" >_>;

It stung to admit that out loud, but if it meant getting somewhere with this stubborn type: full, Seifer would swallow his pride.

"No. That's..." The pilot shook his head and pawed at the ground. "You have to be lying. If you're not, then... then..."

Small water droplets peppered the dirt under the type: full. Was he crying?

I mean, he's only seriously considering right now that his entire life as he knew it was a lie, so that's probably doing a number on W1-DG3T's self-esteem right about now. So... yes?

"Tears?" the pilot whispered. "That can't be right. I don't make tears! Heroes don't cry! I—"

Just how heavily edited was the Dragon Ball ripoff that he watched? Since I could've sworn that DB had multiple moments where the heroes do exactly that in the story.

The ground trembled. Dirt clumps bounced and pebbles rolled around. "Earthquake!" Jade squawked, hopping into the air with a flap of her wings. "Ladies first!"

Seifer: "Jade! Read a room!" >.<

Seifer stood at attention, only to shudder as distorted purple light washed across the mesa. The nearby buildings vanished behind fragmented purple light resembling broken glass. "What's going on?" The keldeo whirled on Gene. "What did you do?"

Jade: "I was reading the room, really. Since... uh... yeah, that's kinda a thing right now."

"Me? This ain't me!" Gene raised his right hand, channeling energy from his Malice Crystal. "Nngh. It's not working!"

All:

Seifer: "Wait, what?! What do you mean it's not working?!"

"Behind you, Boss Kitty!"

The mewtwo looked over his shoulder then, gasping, Phantom Warped up seconds before a blue-purple bolt would have struck him square between the shoulder blades. Seifer backpedaled as the beam swept across the ground. "Jade, protect Leo!" he cried.

Oh, they've got company, I see. Guess Paradox wasn't just going to take losing W1-DG3T just sitting down.

"On it!" the salugia replied, swooping down and grabbing hold of the bewildered arceus. Seifer looked toward where he believed the Dragon Pulse came from... and found some sort of floating orb inside what looked like a giant dragon's head.

"That's... a regidrago?" Cyril's mane frazzled. "What's it doing here?"

>Mawrauder of Ruin - Rakman

Though what's with the repeating Devanagari at the bottom there?

"Forget that!" Ice swirled around Gene's hands. "Who dunked it in lemon-lime soda?"

... Now that you mention it, I'm curious as to what on earth is going on there myself, since that's definitely not shiny colorations...

"Ajagar!"

Oh, so "Dragon!" in Hindi this time, huh? Is that a recurring motif in Bayo 3 or something? Since I noticed that you potholed to another song from it here.

The dragon head's empty eye sockets glowed and, within seconds, blue-purple fireballs littered the sky. "****!" Gene shot his Ice Beam at Regidrago, who pivoted the dragon head so the snout acted like a shield, deflecting the mewtwo's attack. He Phantom Warped away from the dragonfireballs.

So wait, if Paradox also has a Regieleki, does that mean that it's going to screech something like 'Tarit!' or 'Bijlī!' at the top of its likely nonexistent lungs?

Seifer rolled on his back and blasted water from all four hooves to keep him safe. "Someone want to tell me what a regidrago is?!"

Gene: "So you know how Regirock and the like are embodiments of-?"
Seifer: "No! I've literally never heard those names before!" >.<
Gene: "Right. Well, point is, start slinging Fairy and Ice moves if you've got 'em!" o_o;

"Isn't it self explanatory?" Jade squawked, setting Leo down a fair distance away from the others. "It's a big ol' dragon head!" Orange energy gathered in her beak.

Gene: "That's literally what I just sai-"
Jade: "Not canon, so it doesn't count!"

"Ajagaaaaaar!" The dots in Regidrago's sphere flickered asynchronously. Blue-violet energy gathered around its core.

So wait, why is this thing screeching "Dragon!" over and over again anyways? I feel there's some sort of story behind that.

"I can see that!" Seifer hissed. "But why is this a thing?!" The keldeo rolled back onto his feet and shot an Aura Sphere toward Regidrago. Jade added her orange, conical Aeroblast and Gene shot out another Ice Beam. Regidrago unleashed a large Dragon Pulse and swept it through the air, carving through the trio's attacks and sending Gene flying up to dodge the beam.

Why not is the better question, since it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that PoV has rolled out onto the stage to deal with. o<o

"Look around you!" Gene's tail whipped at the air. His eyes glowed pink. Psystrike orbs materialized around Regidrago, whose dragon head eyes glowed yet again. Psychic energy clashed with dragonfire as pink and blue explosions surrounded Regidrago.

Seifer used the opening to launch another Aura Sphere through the smoke. He sorely missed his Secret Sword, but this was the best he could manage with Cyril's prosthetic. "Yeah, it looks like we're surrounded by rifts! What of it?"

They're going to be facing bogeys that can pop in and out of those things ad nauseum, aren't they?

Regidrago surged out of the smoke, making a beeline for Gene. The mewtwo summoned his psychic spoon and swiped. Regidrago met the slash with the chin of its dragon head. However, Gene was faster to follow up, striking from another angle to hit Regidrago's core. He unleashed a flurry of spoon slashes, ending with a kick from his ice-encrusted leg straight in the center of Regidrago's dots. It tumbled back through the air with a distorted wail.

"I bet it's some byproduct of the dimensions breaking down," Cyril said, gathering up all his equipment and stuffing it into his blue-purple mane. "Hey, robo-mutt! Do you believe us now?"

W1-DG3T:

Gene: "Good enough for me! Just help us out here!"

Seifer glanced at the pilot, who could only stare dumbfounded at Regidrago. Gene surrounded it with more Psystrike orbs, but a Dragon Pulse emerged from Regidrago's core and swept through most of them. Its eye sockets flickered and dragonfireballs peppered the skies above everyone.

Oh, so W1-DG3T really is blue-screening right about now, huh?

Groaning, Seifer fell onto his back again, but the dragonfireballs were much faster this time. He couldn't Hydro Pump away the ones heading for him and the dragonfire seared his messy flanks. Gritting his teeth, Seifer spun back up to his feet and whipped dirty, sweaty hair out of his eyes.

He filled the air with Icy Wind to try and slow down the frantic thing. Regidrago was too preoccupied meeting Gene's Ice Beam with a Dragon Pulse to pay attention to Seifer's attack. It didn't do much, but Regidrago momentarily lost some of its altitude. Gene's Ice Beam overpowered his Dragon Pulse, covering the dots on its core in a thin sheet of ice.

Seifer: "Wait, it felt that right? That had to have hurt it, didn't it-?"

Gene darted forward, psychic spoon at the ready. He jammed the thing into Regidrago's icy core, which shattered with an audible crash. The mewtwo kicked Regidrago away, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Seifer kept his horn trained on it. "Is it dead?" He had no idea how Regidrago worked, but that sure looked like a killing blow.

Since just by asking these questions, you all but confirm that this thing isn't dead, Seifer.

Gene floated above it, Malice Crystal sparking. "I think it's taken care— damn it!"

Yeah, I figured.

The mewtwo opened a rift and reached his right hand into it. Seifer saw a second rift pop up next to the still-stunned type: full. Gene grabbed the pilot and yanked him through the rift mere seconds before Regidrago exploded in a flurry of yellow and violet light. The detonation whipped up enough wind to knock Seifer onto his rump with a startled whinny.

Whelp, I sure hope there wasn't anything of value around where they were fighting on Chakran, since that's not going to be good for any nearby property. ^^;

"Yeesh! Talk about a sore loser!" Jade said, having wrapped Leo up with her wings to shield him from the harsh gusts.

Seifer again whipped hair out of his face. With Regidrago's detonation, the strange dome that encased the group faded away, returning Chakran's calming purple and orange sky.

It only stayed calm for a few seconds, however, as shouts quickly followed.

That just happened in full view of the monastery, didn't it?

"Good gracious! What happened?!" Cid's buzzing filled Seifer's ears. The orbeetle flew toward the group, with Alder, Artemis, and Kora not far behind him.

"We got attacked, that's what," Quetzal huffed, shaking dust from his feathers.

"Attacked?" Alder raised a brow. "We saw you all vanish into an anomaly!" The braviary glanced at Leo. "Did you save them from it?"

You really do need to fire up some more Astral Chain music, you know that? Since this is giving me major vibes of the "And then suddenly, Astral Plane time!" moments from that game.

The cosmic arceus shook his head.

"I thought this place was supposed to be safe," Quetzal said, pacing back and forth. "What's going on here?" He looked to Alder and Kora for answers.

Your universe is starting to implode and collide with others. Wouldn't be the first story out there that I've heard that had that as a premise.

"I'm afraid... the dimensional instabilities are getting worse," Kora said, wings curling back up into antennae. "That's the only reasonable explanation."

Yeah, see above.

"Then we have to regroup with the others and come up with a plan!" Quetzal looked at Seifer for support. "Right, Commander?"

Leo: "Wait, but wasn't the plan 'Something something, pull needles. Something something, fix distortions'?"

Quetzal: "A real plan for this!" OvO;

But the keldeo was only half paying attention to them. He was more focused on Gene and the pilot. The former set the latter down on the ground.

"You saved me," the type: full whispered.

"I did."

Seifer: "I mean, did you really expect me to just leave a troubled child to die in an explosion?"

W1-DG3T: "But... I'm your enemy..."
Seifer: "Well, you were our enemy, anyways."

"And you saved me... after destroying the Seekerskorch." His triangular ears folded slightly. "Why?"

Gene's tail crinkled and his malice crystal flickered. "Because you're not my enemy. I'd rather have you as a friend." He stuck his right hand out. "You saw all of that. If someone doesn't put a stop to your father, stuff like that will happen to everyone. Including the people you swore to protect. And I need all the help I can get to prevent it."

Gene: "Seriously, if you can just come around to 'my dad's deeply misguided and needs to be stopped for his own good', I'll live with it right now. Since boy have you been stubborn about assuming the absolute best about him and his motives this chapter." >_>;

The pilot silently looked at Gene's outstretched hand. Seifer held his breath, waiting to see if the mewtwo could actually win this type: full over.

"... I still don't fully trust you," he mumbled, pivoting away slightly. "But I don't want to disappear, either. So, I guess I'm stuck with you for now."

Gene: "Are you kidding me?!"

Seifer: "Gene, just roll with it for now. The kid's been through a lot lately."

Sighing, Gene pulled his hand back. "Fair enough. You got a name?"

"I am serial number W1-DG3T."

"So, Widget, then. Got it."

Oh, so we're no longer going to be writing out Widget's name with the numbers and hyphen, huh? Well that'll make my life a bit easier as a reviewer.

Widget narrowed his eyes. "Is that supposed to be clever? I—"

"Aggggggggh!"

Seifer's tail shot up in alarm. He whirled on Jade, who had knelt down next to Leo. "Leo?" The salugia nudged his side. "Leo, what's wrong?" She nudged him harder.

Jade: "Let's... agree to never tell your mother about any of this, huh? B-But what's happening to you, Leo?"

The cosmic arceus locked eyes with Jade and Seifer for a second, before his pelt and wheel dimmed and he fell over on his side.

That was quickly followed by another thump and a, "Damn it! Gimme a hand, Cyril," from Gene.

When Seifer turned around, he found Cyril running over to Gene, who knelt beside an unconscious Widget.

Oh, so Leo depleted his powers in that fight somehow, huh? Or at least I kinda get the vibe that that's what happened there, even if I'm not fully sure just what happened to cause it.

OSL: Mawrauder of Ruin, Rakman
Whispers taking the form of off-colored regidrago. Though ferocious and fervent attackers, they are single-minded, almost exclusively sticking to dragon-type attacks even when their opponent is a fairy. Do not underestimate them, however. Their Dragon Pulses can carve through mountains with ease.

Oh, so a new challenger has entered the chat, I see. Since this is officially the first Ruinous Whisper we've seen onscreen in this story. I guess I should've expected something like this would happen from the opening blurb.

Path of Valor Almanac
Rakman comes from "samyag karman," the factor of "right action" from the Buddhist Eightfold Path.

TIL, though wait, does that mean that stuff from Ginnungagap is going to be Dharmic-themed in terms of mythology / vibes? Wouldn't have expected that from the Norse name.

Alright, onto the postmortem of this thing. But that definitely caught me off-guard when I was expecting something a bit more transitional from the lack of focus of any of Team Bastion's members. Guess we're just mashing the gas pedal harder and harder here since we're seeing signs of Etherium's very universe start to break down in live time and glimpses of a threat beyond even Paradox and the QN in terms of threat level. I certainly wasn't expecting that to happen when from what I've heard from you in terms of meta chatter, we're about a third of the way through PoV in terms of story run.

Beyond the escalation of stakes, I think that the main draw was the emotional component and getting Widget to open up a bit and question himself, and show sides to him beyond his "wannabe hero for the bad guys" shtick. I also like how you made the decision to have him not fully come around to Team Hero at the end. Like it'd have been really easy to take the simple route and just have him complete his Heel-Face Turn in this chapter, but making things more of a journey promises interesting scenarios for the future, and I'll be looking forward to seeing them.

For things that I have for critiques... beyond the small handful of typos that I spotted... maybe there could've been a bit more grounding description establishing where the gang was on Chakran? Otherwise, I honestly can't think of much to complain about. It was a chapter built to catch the readers off-guard, and it delivered pretty well given that it went from 0-100 fairly fast. Which is quite the portent for how crazy things are going to get for Team Bastion proper in short order.

Good work @Ambyssin , and it's nice being able to review this story a bit closer to initial release once again. Hope the feedback was fun to pick through, since you'll definitely be keeping me on my toes until next time.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 56: Cosmogeny​

Hey Vincent,

Sorry for the cloak and dagger routine, but I need to use the analog method for this one.

Overseers are mobilizing, but it's to keep nearby worlds from getting dragged closer to POV-2020. It's real bad. I'm hearing reports of Whisper sightings. They want me around in case there's any spirit guidance that has to happen.

But I don't plan on sitting on my haunches. If things are that bad, the seal on POV-2020 is getting looser. Could probably go there physically if I try hard enough. The only issue is getting these prying eyes off my back. I'm hoping the fact that I sense Jaeger might give me more wiggle room, but it's hard to say.

Sorry you can't come along, but I'm not in a position to cover for you.

All I ask is that if you're going to stick your neck out, don't do anything stupider than I did in my early Horizon days. Things are unraveling pretty fast, but I think fixing it's more of a marathon than a sprint.

... Hopefully. Never was good with metaphors.

Oh, and make sure you burn this note when you're done with it. Can't have it falling into the wrong hands. ;P

The purple and white koraidon folded the note up, sighing.

Perhaps this was the "darkest night" his teacher's old team motto spoke of...

XxX​

Shimmer no longer cared about cold steel beneath his hooves. The floor couldn't scuff his immaculate hooves anymore. Not with the icy air swirling around them. He paced across the top of a metallic staircase, gazing out at the rows of purple machines with saucer-like heads bearing heavy gray cannons.

Just how did Tesla come up with this design? And how did the boltund make so many of them? The ponyta figured Demerzel was facetious when he said he'd provide Shimmer an army. Yet here Shimmer was, eating his words like humble pie.

"You really think these things can replace the Radiant Guard?" Shimmer wondered. He kept his distance, unnerved by the glassy red spheres meant to pass as eyes.

"They are stronger and faster," Demerzel responded. He floated next to a large switchboard, scrutinizing it intently. "And they have disks that change the element they can fire from the cannons on their heads."

Shimmer rolled his eyes. "Big deal. Pokémon use attacks of different types all the time."

"It's a big deal because it's a big cannon." Demerzel chuckled. "If you want to swing the public's favor in your direction, you need to make a big splash. And this is the biggest splash I can think of." He glanced over his shoulder. "The next time World Ender's forces mount an assault, the genesect will repel them. And you, as their commander, will get the credit."

The ponyta's heart fluttered. He liked the sound of that. Of people seeing him as more than just a pretty face. And after his blunder in front of Parliament, he needed to prove he was a competent leader. Someone who could step in where his mother had failed.

"Perhaps, with enough victories, they'll even compare you to Adelaide," Demerzel continued. He floated back from the switch board. "Based on Tesla's memories, I've set everything up. All I need to do is throw the activation switch and they'll come online. You remember the authorization code I told you, yes?"

Sighing, Shimmer nodded. He wished he could forget it.

"Then shall we begin?"

Shimmer paused for a moment, before remembering his helplessness against the mysterious knight. Watching as he lost Xander. As Vegna belittled him. As his mothers called him a failure behind his back.

"Do it."

Demerzel raised his left hand... and the underground bunker shook. The bright white ceiling lights flickered. Shimmer's nine tails curled up. "What's going on?"

"Some sort of tremor, perhaps?" Demerzel turned around. "Give me a moment. I'll investigate, Your Grace." He bowed to the ponyta and vanished in a flash of green light.

Shimmer resumed pacing. Tesla was supposed to be smart. No way he built this bunker by a fault line. Which meant it was either a strong quake... or something else entirely.

Fortunately, Shimmer would get a quick answer. Demerzel reappeared, a grim expression on his face. "It's as I feared. Not a tremor, but World Ender further destabilizing the planet."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Shimmer asked.

Demerzel's eyes glowed blue. He projected an image of the night sky into Shimmer's mind. Only a large, jagged rift tore right through it.

"What is this?" Shimmer growled, frost swirling around his icy mane and tails.

The mental image faded and Demerzel turned back to the switchboard. "A sign of why you need this army, Your Grace." He raised his right hand. Blue light encased a large lever beside the switchboard. An unseen force pulled the lever down. Loud whirrs and hums filled the bunker, followed by the scrapes of metal on metal.

Shimmer turned to the genesect. Row by row, they stood up. They aimed their cannons forward.

[Input authorization code,] a mechanical voice declared. It belonged to the genesect in the middle of the front row; red, unlike the others. Perhaps it was supposed to be the leader?

Shimmer cleared his throat. "Minister Doctor Tesla is the greatest genius of our generation."

Red's eyes flickered green. [Access approved. Welcome, system administrator. Please issue your commands.]

A grin slowly spread across Shimmer's face. He turned to Demerzel. "Figure out where World Ender's forces intend to strike. We'll be ready for them this time."

Demerzel curtsied to the ponyta. "As you wish."

XxX​

Igneous was at a loss for words. In the blink of an eye, he went from sitting beside Scarlett, telling her that Nikki simply needed time to cool off, to floating weightless above a field of dead, gray grass. Only occasional pieces of stone covered in equally gray moss stuck out. Well, that and the familiar helmeted figure standing a few meters away from him.

The grovlazzle tried to form Leaf Blades at his elbows, but he couldn't. He looked down to find his body practically see-through.

And he wasn't alone, either. First an apparition of some blue-purple, four-legged critter with a wheel around his belly appeared on his right. Then came... some sort of black-furred mishmash creature with a starcloud around its neck that resembled Wheel Kid's. The two of them locked eyes with each other. It looked to Igneous like they were trying to speak with one another, but no words came out.

Igneous couldn't move toward them. His legs, weightless and transparent, wouldn't move. He opened his mouth and tried to call them.

... Nothing.

Nothing until Xeromus' coughing fit broke the silence.

"You can see it, can't you, Natus?" Xeromus rasped. "The first rungs on the ladder you must climb. To become the new truth of all worlds."

Natus? Igneous frowned. They were surrounded by distortion, sure, but was Xeromus really talking to it thinking it was Eternatus?

[He is still getting set up for the (Big Stream)! The (Pre-Stream Bangers) haven't faded out yet!]

Igneous' snout wrinkled in disgust. He scanned the field for signs of Ahsen, yet he couldn't find that accursed cluster of floating discs. Perhaps he was in front of Xeromus? A pity Igneous couldn't walk around. Or attack.

Why was he here? And why was Wheel Kid here? He glanced at the little cosmic fuzzball, who shrank away from Xeromus, ethereal glow dimming.

Xeromus hacked and coughed until he shook his head back and forth. His helmet and chains rattled. "I know. The struggle you face is great. And though I am a mere omen, I will walk the path laid out for me, so you may envelope all worlds in your love!" He took several heavy, wheezing breaths. "So, rise! Rise so you may begin your climb toward the grand union! Toward Ragnarok!"

A small purple beam shot up from the ground, piercing through the distortion. Then another. And another. Soon there were ten— no, twenty!

The ground trembled, like it had before Igneous ended up here. Dirt and pebbles tumbled through the dead grass. Wheel Kid looked around in a panic, rubbing his forehooves together. The other mutt had its gaze locked on Xeromus.

Igneous tried to shoot Bullet Seeds at Xeromus. Nothing came out. Was this some sort of out of body experience? The power he took from Ahsen must have caused this to happen. Igneous silently cursed the two creeps as the purple beams faded.

[Are my (Eyes Emoji) deceiving me?] Ahsen buzzed excitedly. [He's moving! (PogChamp)s in the (CHAT). (HELIX)'s (Body Is Ready)!]

What the hell are they going on about? Igneous couldn't move around to see what caused the purple beams. He didn't need to, however, because the answer quickly made itself apparent in the form of a brown, gaseous blob with a wispy stalk of a head and neck and tiny, beady red eyes that slowly looked down at Xeromus.

"Still too fragmented," he said between deep, raspy breaths. "But do not worry. I shall bear the burden of piecing you back together. In fact..."

He slowly turned around and locked eyes with Igneous.

"I believe a reunion will be upon us sooner than you think."

An invisible force grabbed hold of Igneous and yanked him away from Xeromus and the creepy cloud monster. He had only seconds to see the same thing happen to Wheel Kid and his strange friend before he found himself back in the Ryujin base, staring up at a white, granular ceiling.

"Igneous?" A dragonair snout peeked into his field of view. "Igneous, can you hear me?"

The grovlazzle sat up, nearly headbutting Scarlett, who managed to back away in the nick of time. A shudder ran down his body.

"Where's Valkyrie? I have to... I have to..."

"I already called Gene."

Igneous looked over his shoulder.

Valkyrie stood in the doorway, brow furrowed. "What happened?"

"Something bad," the grovlazzle whispered. "Something real bad."

XxX​

Accounting for everyone Gene brought with him from Chakran, Sakaki's boardroom didn't have enough space. Not unless they planned for half the group to stand on the table or float awkwardly near the walls and ceiling. So, the nidoking directed everyone to a large, empty room in the base's cellar. Igneous had never been in it, but it was well-stocked with various supplies neatly organized on shelves. Perhaps it was some sort of emergency bunker, in case Radiant authorities ever breached Scale City.

Once everyone got settled, Gene explained what had happened with Wheel Kid, whose name was Leo, Cyril, and Widget, the captured pilot. Or that was what Gene called the type: full, anyway. Throughout the mewtwo's explanation, Cyril kept looking at his arms and legs and shifting uncomfortably, while Seifer stole glances at the now-cosmic flavored zoroark.

He wasn't the only one acting funny, either. Yuna lay draped over Nikki's shoulder and the two of them kept their distance from Noctum, Scarlett, and Yiazmat. The drakloak kept throwing her hands over her mouth, but Igneous swore he heard Yuna on the brink of multiple giggle fits.

"... then Thicc Bird screamed and, next thing any of us knew, Junior and Widget were out like lights." Gene crossed his arms. His Malice Crystal pulsated slowly. "Any questions?"

"T... Thicc Bird?" Jade looked over her shoulder, frowning. Igneous still found her appearance unsettling given his own circumstances, but at least he had advance warning about her from Valkyrie. "Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so many of Kora's sandwiches..."

Gene rolled his eyes. "Any important questions?"

"Yeah, I got one." Nikki raised her right hand up, but she was looking at Widget. "So, we kicked his ass and now he has to be our friend?"

"No." Gene pinched his brow. "We got him to recognize the gravity of the situation and agree to work with us."

"Pfbt. Sure. What kinda stupid cartoon **** is this?" Nikki waved her right arm dismissively. Yuna stifled another giggled. "You just want him around cuz he looks like Nova."

Igneous raised a brow. "Who's Nova?"

"His boooooyfriiiiiend." Nikki sounded like a grade schooler talking about cooties on the playground. "He was a type: full, too, until he bit the big one thanks to everyone's favorite asshole lightbulb."

The grovlazzle tensed up. Between Nikki and Yuna's incessant stifled giggling, he could only conclude the two had gotten their hands on something fermented. Igneous quickly sideyed Sakaki. Judging by the dumbfounded look on the nidoking's face, he'd reached the same conclusion. And here I thought he kept all his sake in his personal office.

Gene's eyes flickered blue. "She means Bahamut, for the record." The mewtwo looked at Yiazmat, who tapped her index claws together.

"I see," the dragapult whispered. "My daughter... suggested that, perhaps, Bahamut was not as benevolent as we teach our people."

Nikki snorted loudly. "That's putting it mildly. The spooky evil gem in Boss Kitty's shoulder? It was part of the asshole lightbulb's face."

Igneous, Sakaki, and Yiazmat all glanced at Gene in surprise. Wasn't that a Malice Crystal? How could it have come from Bahamut?

"Look, this isn't productive." Gene held up his hands. "I'll give you the full story another time. We need to focus on the here and now."

"I think that's a bit difficult for some of us to do right now," Yiazmat said, stealing glances at her daughter. "Yunavresca, what's gotten into you?"

"Me?" Yuna stiffened on Nikki's shoulder. "Nothing. I'm fiiiiiiine." She waved her right hand dismissively.

"... she's drunk."

Several heads turned in Cyril's direction. The cosmic zoroark shook his head. "Look, I run a bar and grill. I know a drunk 'mon when I see one." He pointed at Nikki. "She's buzzed at best, since poison-types resist alcohol."

"Well, someone help me snap her out of it," Yiazmat said, her tail undulating rapidly. "I don't have the means to whip up the drink that counters alcohol in ghosts."

"Think it's a bit late for that one," Cyril deadpanned. "Maybe we ought to put her on a cot so she can sleep it off?"

However, Leo cautiously approached Nikki and Yuna, tilting his head. "Mom, are you okay?"

Yuna looked down at Leo, blinking. Igneous hastily coughed into his arm. 'Mom?' Just how much did I miss after I went rogue?

"Mommy's fiiiiine." Yuna tried leaning over to pet Leo's head. She ended up sliding off Nikki's shoulder and falling to the floor with a splat.

Leo's eyes widened in alarm. He quickly lifted his right forehoof and his wheel shimmered with green light. A soft green aura enveloped Yuna. The drakloak floated back into the air. "Huh?" She blinked several times, then rubbed her eyes. "What's everyone looking at me for?"

"Mr. Cyril called you drunk," Leo said, sticking a hind leg back in the cosmic zoroark's direction. "So, I tried to fix it." He wagged his starcloud tail. "Do you feel any better?"

"I, uh... guess so?" Yuna rubbed the back of her neck. Yiazmat hadn't taken her eyes off the drakloak. Igneous couldn't blame her, given the early part of their exchange. Yuna must have realized it, too, because she glanced at Yiazmat. "Something wrong?"

"He called you 'mother." The dragapult narrowed her eyes. "Is this some practical joke because of what I said earlier?"

"No." Yuna sucked in a breath. "I rescued his egg, which hatched not long after. Do the math."

Thank the stars. Igneous found that explanation better than the alternative.

"And now he sees you as his mother?" Yiazmat looked at the cosmic arceus, befuddled. Leo's mane and tail sparkled.

"So, you're our grandma?" His tail swished back and forth. "Wow! Are we going to get to meet Grandpa, too?"

Yuna frowned. "We?" She tilted her head. "Leo, there's only one of you. You didn't strain yourself healing me, right?"

Leo shook his head and again stretched his right hind leg back. "I'm talking about Widget, of course. He's my big brother!"

"What?!"

Widget and Yuna blurted it out simultaneously. They stared at each other, then Leo, then each other again.

"Leo, sweetie." Yuna sighed and put her hand on his head. "You can't go calling random people your sibling." She frowned. "Even if they do look a bit like you."

"I guess you were too drunk to pay attention to Gene's explanation," Valkyrie scoffed. "Leo senses a connection with Widget." The garchomp smirked. "So, congrats on a second kid. And you didn't even have to hold hands. Or whatever you ghosts do to make eggs."

Yuna took one look at her flabbergasted mother and her torso shot up into her rectangular head. Igneous thought it best to interject before things got even worse. "Okay, I think everyone's said their pieces on the matter. Yuna's healed up, so we can get back to business." He looked at Gene. "Isn't that right?"

"Well said, Four Twenty." Gene nodded approvingly at Igneous.

"The hell did you call me?"

"Nothing." Gene flicked his tail dismissively. "You were the one who reached out to me originally, weren't you? You got something to tell the group beyond what happened to our intrepid starkids?"

"I do, actually." Igneous crossed his arms. "I know what happened to them when they passed out, because I ended up where they did. We all had... well, I guess you could call it an out of body experience."

"Care to elaborate?" Valkyrie raised a brow.

Igneous hastily recounted what he saw in the strange clearing, with Xeromus speaking into the distortion and summoning some strange, wispy creature from it.

"Hmm." Artemis scratched his chin. "So, I think it's safe to say the quakes and the giant rift that popped up in the sky are a direct result of what you saw."

"It would appear fate is dragging us toward a second Darkest Day whether we like it or not," Yiazmat ominously declared.

"I don't get it." Cid shook his massive head. "I thought Natus referred to Eternatus, which is less of a living creature and more a cosmologic entity." He paused and looked at Cyril, Leo, and Widget. "Err, a different kind of cosmology."

"We get it," Cyril deadpanned. "But, yeah, the orbeetle's got a point. Plus Eternatus still isn't actually free yet. Otherwise this planet would've broken apart already."

"I mean... Xeromus has a few dozen screws loose." Nikki did a cuckoo gesture. "Nobody should take anything he says seriously."

"And what about the cloud creature he summoned?" Igneous immediately countered. He had kept his gaze fixed on Gene, whose face remained scrunched up in confusion.

"Sounds like an ass that needs kicking to me." Nikki punched her right hand with her left.

"Time out." Gene stepped into the middle of the circle of bodies. "Someone wanna tell me who Xeromus is? I can see half of you avoiding eye contact with me. Doesn't take a genius to tell it's got something to do with me."

Silence at first. No one wanted to speak up, though Igneous wasn't entirely sure what answer Gene was looking for. Was it a detail he missed learning about the mewtwo?

A sigh from Yuna indicated the drakloak chose to take one for the team. "Xeromus is a helmet-wearing type: full with chains around his legs and a creepy black cloak covering most of his body." She rubbed her right shoulder. "And, well, your photo album showed pictures of Nova in a turquoise cloak and anklets, so—"

"—So you think he's Nova?"

Gene's gaze fell to the floor. His Malice Crystal pulsated wildly on his shoulder. Igneous held his breath, unsure if Gene planned to blow up at them or not.

Instead, the mewtwo took a deep breath. "Well, if we don't know where exactly he is, we shouldn't throw our resources into finding him. Not when there are more pressing matters to consider." He pivoted toward Alder and Cid. The braviary sat perched on the orbeetle's massive head. "Isn't that right?"

Igneous exhaled in relief. A small part of the grovlazzle thought he could learn a bit from Gene, since he definitely wanted to find Ahsen and Xeromus to dish out some revenge.

"Yes." Alder bowed his head. "Kora and I are in agreement, the stability of our dimension is worsening. I agree with Milotic's assessment that whatever Xeromus did brought us that much closer to a dimensional cataclysm."

He paused, as if considering his next words carefully. "And given how Eternatus itself doesn't seem bound by the laws of nature, I believe it's serving as the focal point for the breakdown of space and time." The braviary lifted his gray and white wing. "A beacon drawing in instabilities and turning them into full-blown anomalies."

Nikki scratched her right horn. "I only followed, like, half of that, but I'm gonna assume it's bad. Cuz Afro Bird sounds all ominous and ****."

Cid's spots glowed blue. "I think Alder's right. My Dynascan's gotten progressively stronger since Starlene's sabotaged concert. And when Leo and Widget went unconscious, I swear I could sense places within Eternatus getting sucked into dimensional anomalies."

"Pulled into Ginnungagap, the mystery dungeon between worlds," Alder elaborated, his head feathers glowing pink in time with Cid's spots.

"Seriously?" Cyril whistled. "That's some impressive range."

The orbeetle shifted about uncomfortably. "Perhaps, but I'm worried what it might mean for my own health and safety the longer this goes on."

"We'll keep an eye on it, then," Gene said with a dismissive wave. "Alder, you got something else for us?"

The psychic braviary nodded. "Based on my readings, it seems like we'd have to seal the anomalies from their other sides to stop them from expanding in our universe."

"Which means, what, going to different dimensions?" Nikki dusted the sides of her leather jacket. "Man, from Eternatus, to outer space, to dimension hopping. Hell of a road trip."

"There's a plus side to this, though," Cyril cut in. The cosmic zoroark nonchalantly kicked his right leg back and forth. "The emperor must not realize what's going on. His interplanetary network has had disruptions since that concert. And even if he does put two and two together... he's in no position to actually fix anything."

Gene snapped his fingers. "Which is precisely where we come in. This is how we turn the tides against the empire."

"Oh, and hopefully learn more about this Red Chain that Vince told us about," Alder chirped. When Yuna and Nikki tilted their heads in confusion, he added, "Quasar Prime is one of the areas that got trapped within an anomaly."

It was then that Sakaki finally decided to make his presence known by clearing his throat. He tucked a small crystal into his blazer pocket.

"That's all well and good, Mr. Gene, but I'm not in a position to offer the Bureau of Eternatus Investigators to your little rebellion." The nidoking folded his hands behind his back. "We have issues within Radiance that need addressing. Someone has to work to keep the people here safe, because the Isola regime certainly won't.

"Case in point, some of my spies report seeing strange, almost robotic bug pokémon emerging from the outskirts of Casaroja." Sakaki's brow furrowed. "They're heading in the direction of an anti-Parliament protest by Centrado Station."

"So?" Nikki threw her arms up. "Bout time people woke up and saw the queen and her dumb playboy son for the idiots they are."

Yiazmat's tail crinkled. "You don't think... they're calling in machines to attack protestors, do you?"

"I don't have enough information to answer that," Sakaki said. "But the timing is suspicious in the wake of all these Eternatus-related revelations that came out of Parliament."

Igneous stole a quick glance at Scarlett. The dragonair had slithered back away from the circle, curling up in the corner with a guilty expression on her face. He shot her an apologetic look, but she didn't see it.

"That so?" Gene had a mixture of curiosity and thinly veiled contempt on his face. Did he know Sakaki from somewhere?

... No, that wasn't right. Sakaki initially seemed quite surprised with the mewtwo's arrival, and he was usually good at hiding his emotions.

"Sure, whatever." Gene waved his right arm dismissively. "Divide and conquer. How's this for an arrangement, then?" The mewtwo pointed to Igneous and Yiazmat. "You can keep your son and your ally." He then pointed at Noctum and Valkyrie. "And I'll give you Zardy and Chompy, too."

"H-Hey!" Noctum's Malice Crystal flickered. He looked at Yiazmat and winced. "Err, not that I wouldn't mind working with you, Your Highness. It's just... I'm supposed to look after Yuna."

"Hasn't really worked out for you, though," Gene pointed out, to which the black charizard wilted. "And Team Bureau needs someone who can open rifts. Meaning you." He smirked. "I'm giving you Chompy, at least. You two work well together." He jerked his head at Igneous. "And she can be back with her charge after all the griping."

Igneous thought that rather belittling, but let it slide. Because it would be nice to work with Valkyrie again. He did feel the need to advocate for someone else, though. "Scarlett stays with us, too."

"Who?" Gene looked over his shoulder. "Oh, right, the singing noodle. Yeah, sure, go nuts." He hastily pivoted to point at Yuna, Nikki, Jade, Seifer, and Widget. "You guys are heading to Quasar Prime with me. We'll keep the Team Bastion moniker for ease of communication."

"What about Leo?" Jade asked.

"He's coming too." Gene snapped his right fingers. Cyril reached into his mane and produced a metal collar.

"The Morph-O-Tron. Figured it makes sense to disguise him as a dreepy," Cyril explained. "He can ride on Yuna's head."

"Cool!" Leo's eyes sparkled. "Hear that, Widget? Family mission!" He hopped in place excitedly.

Igneous resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Alder will head back to Chakran and work with Kora on their meditative whatever," Gene continued. "The rest of you will support Cid and Cyril. You guys are Team Copter. Our proverbial eyes in the sky."

The cosmic zoroark bobbed his head. "Cid's able to sync his Dynascan up with my X-transceivers. We should be able to keep in touch that way, though I'm not sure if it'll hold up when you guys cross through a rift."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Gene exclaimed. He stepped into the middle of the group, "So, is everyone good with this plan? Any objections?"

Quetzal stuck his right leg out. "Why am I stuck on the sidelines?"

"Team Copter needs some muscle," Gene replied. "Maybe we'll rotate around later. Any other questions? Comments? Concerns?"

Total silence. Igneous wanted to rest more, but it wasn't like this situation was going to stop escalating.

"Good." Gene clapped his hands. "Then, let's get to work on our final preparations and move out."

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I saw that a new chapter was up, given the ongoing Review Event on Union, I figured that was as good a reason as any to just dive right into this story with…

Chapter 56

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Hey Vincent,

Sorry for the cloak and dagger routine, but I need to use the analog method for this one.

Overseers are mobilizing, but it's to keep nearby worlds from getting dragged closer to POV-2020. It's real bad. I'm hearing reports of Whisper sightings. They want me around in case there's any spirit guidance that has to happen.

"Spirit guidance", huh? So PoV's cosmology takes after HoC's in the sense that there's spirit realms floating around out there?

Though that mention of "worlds" plural getting dragged closer to POV-2020 is prime

fuel. And given what happened last chapter, I suppose we might see the first rumblings of that in this one.

But I don't plan on sitting on my haunches. If things are that bad, the seal on POV-2020 is getting looser. Could probably go there physically if I try hard enough. The only issue is getting these prying eyes off my back. I'm hoping the fact that I sense Jaeger might give me more wiggle room, but it's hard to say.

'Jaeger', huh? I'm guessing that that's meant in the 'hunter' sense and not in the 'light infantry' one, though I'll be keeping an eye out for that one in the future since I know that PoV takes after HoC in the sense that very few names mentioned don't go on to become important at some point.

Sorry you can't come along, but I'm not in a position to cover for you.

All I ask is that if you're going to stick your neck out, don't do anything stupider than I did in my early Horizon days. Things are unraveling pretty fast, but I think fixing it's more of a marathon than a sprint.

Oh, so the author of this letter or whatever this is an incarnation of Shane of some sort. So he really did have some involvement with Vincent mucking around in POV-2020.

... Hopefully. Never was good with metaphors.

Oh, and make sure you burn this note when you're done with it. Can't have it falling into the wrong hands. ;P

Yeah, the author is totally Shane or some AU of him. Since boy is this general thought process familiar right now.

The purple and white koraidon folded the note up, sighing.

Perhaps this was the "darkest night" his teacher's old team motto spoke of...

Yeah, I called it, not that there weren't a bunch of blatant hints toward this end already.

Shimmer no longer cared about cold steel beneath his hooves. The floor couldn't scuff his immaculate hooves anymore. Not with the icy air swirling around them. He paced across the top of a metallic staircase, gazing out at the rows of purple machines with saucer-like heads bearing heavy gray cannons.

... Boy is that theme music ominous now that Shimmer is rocking it. So I was onto something about someone from the Radiant royal line ultimately going the Queen Brahne route, even if I was wrong about who it'd be.

Just how did Tesla come up with this design? And how did the boltund make so many of them? The ponyta figured Demerzel was facetious when he said he'd provide Shimmer an army. Yet here Shimmer was, eating his words like humble pie.

Oh, so those Genesect are going to become relevant in the near future, huh?

"You really think these things can replace the Radiant Guard?" Shimmer wondered. He kept his distance, unnerved by the glassy red spheres meant to pass as eyes.

I see that even in this setting, the good old-fashioned "Sycorax Gaze" freaks more normal Pokémon out something fierce.

"They are stronger and faster," Demerzel responded. He floated next to a large switchboard, scrutinizing it intently. "And they have disks that change the element they can fire from the cannons on their heads."

Fantastic combination there for a setting where the average Joe is hugely depowered compared to canonical Pokémon, really.

Shimmer rolled his eyes. "Big deal. Pokémon use attacks of different types all the time."

"It's a big deal because it's a big cannon." Demerzel chuckled. "If you want to swing the public's favor in your direction, you need to make a big splash. And this is the biggest splash I can think of." He glanced over his shoulder. "The next time World Ender's forces mount an assault, the genesect will repel them. And you, as their commander, will get the credit."

I'm not exactly convinced that that's how things are going to play out there, though I must say that I hadn't considered the possibility of Dermezel being a free actor in this story. I suppose I should've given that you've mentioned offhand that he's the Kuja of PoV.

The ponyta's heart fluttered. He liked the sound of that. Of people seeing him as more than just a pretty face. And after his blunder in front of Parliament, he needed to prove he was a competent leader. Someone who could step in where his mother had failed.

By dutifully doing everything that Dermezel tells you to do-?

Shimmer: "Shut up! I'm the one calling the shots here, okay?!"

Dermezel: "(Yes, yes, keep telling yourself that...) Anyhow, as I was saying..."

"Perhaps, with enough victories, they'll even compare you to Adelaide," Demerzel continued. He floated back from the switch board. "Based on Tesla's memories, I've set everything up. All I need to do is throw the activation switch and they'll come online. You remember the authorization code I told you, yes?"

[*][12:19 AM]

Not that Shimmer is the type to realize that Dermezel is just transparently pandering to his ego in live-time here.

Sighing, Shimmer nodded. He wished he could forget it.

"Then shall we begin?"

Shimmer: "I don't see how this is much of a decision. I give the code, wake up these bug-bot things, and get my army to stop World Ender. Sounds pretty open-and-shut to me!"

Shimmer paused for a moment, before remembering his helplessness against the mysterious knight. Watching as he lost Xander. As Vegna belittled him. As his mothers called him a failure behind his back.

"Do it."

Though I suppose that it's time to see if Dermezel is the type to knife people in the back immediately after getting what he wants or if he's going to keep stringing Shimmer along for a while.

Demerzel raised his left hand... and the underground bunker shook. The bright white ceiling lights flickered. Shimmer's nine tails curled up. "What's going on?"

Well, things might be going wrong faster than anyone anticipated there. ^^;

"Some sort of tremor, perhaps?" Demerzel turned around. "Give me a moment. I'll investigate, Your Grace." He bowed to the ponyta and vanished in a flash of green light.

Shimmer resumed pacing. Tesla was supposed to be smart. No way he built this bunker by a fault line. Which meant it was either a strong quake... or something else entirely.

Narrator: "It's something else entirely, obviously."

Fortunately, Shimmer would get a quick answer. Demerzel reappeared, a grim expression on his face. "It's as I feared. Not a tremor, but World Ender further destabilizing the planet."

Ah yes, well that's all just peachy there. Even if "planet" might be overselling it a tad given that everything outside a fairly narrow geographical region is basically "step into here and de facto die"-land.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Shimmer asked.

Demerzel's eyes glowed blue. He projected an image of the night sky into Shimmer's mind. Only a large, jagged rift tore right through it.

"What is this?" Shimmer growled, frost swirling around his icy mane and tails.

Shimmer: "Wait, World Eater can literally tear holes into the sky-?"

Dermezel: "Please save all questions until after the mental projection is finished, thank you."

The mental image faded and Demerzel turned back to the switchboard. "A sign of why you need this army, Your Grace." He raised his right hand. Blue light encased a large lever beside the switchboard. An unseen force pulled the lever down. Loud whirrs and hums filled the bunker, followed by the scrapes of metal on metal.

Shimmer turned to the genesect. Row by row, they stood up. They aimed their cannons forward.

inb4 all of that was just a transparent lie and it was something completely unrelated to World Ender. I wouldn't exactly put it past Dermezel there.

[Input authorization code,] a mechanical voice declared. It belonged to the genesect in the middle of the front row; red, unlike the others. Perhaps it was supposed to be the leader?

Shimmer cleared his throat. "Minister Doctor Tesla is the greatest genius of our generation."

Shimmer: "God, I feel dirty just saying that out loud."

Dermezel: "Don't mind it, Your Grace. Sometimes you just need to indulge a fool's vanity to get what you want."

Red's eyes flickered green. [Access approved. Welcome, system administrator. Please issue your commands.]

Shimmer: "So... I just tell it to do things, or...?"
Dermezel: "Given that Tesla clearly is a flash over function type, I suppose testing whether or not his system is voice activated makes more sense than trying to find documentation of a couple hundred terminal commands."

A grin slowly spread across Shimmer's face. He turned to Demerzel. "Figure out where World Ender's forces intend to strike. We'll be ready for them this time."

Demerzel curtsied to the ponyta. "As you wish."

Ah yes, where """World Ender's forces""" intend to strike. I like how it just doesn't occur to Shimmer at all to keep any oversight over Dermezel after he unnaturally altered his body earlier in the day.

Igneous was at a loss for words. In the blink of an eye, he went from sitting beside Scarlett, telling her that Nikki simply needed time to cool off, to floating weightless above a field of dead, gray grass. Only occasional pieces of stone covered in equally gray moss stuck out. Well, that and the familiar helmeted figure standing a few meters away from him.

Wait, a helmeted figure? That one is new to me.

The grovlazzle tried to form Leaf Blades at his elbows, but he couldn't. He looked down to find his body practically see-through.

And he wasn't alone, either. First an apparition of some blue-purple, four-legged critter with a wheel around his belly appeared on his right. Then came... some sort of black-furred mishmash creature with a starcloud around its neck that resembled Wheel Kid's. The two of them locked eyes with each other. It looked to Igneous like they were trying to speak with one another, but no words came out.

Never mind then. I suppose that I should've seen that one coming since that indeed would be a "familiar helmeted figure" there. Though ohai Cosmic!Widget and Cosmic!Cyril.

Igneous couldn't move toward them. His legs, weightless and transparent, wouldn't move. He opened his mouth and tried to call them.

... Nothing.

Nothing until Xeromus' coughing fit broke the silence.

Igneous: "Oh my god. Why are you here?! Nobody asked for you to be here!"

"You can see it, can't you, Natus?" Xeromus rasped. "The first rungs on the ladder you must climb. To become the new truth of all worlds."

Ominous OST is ominous. Though so Eternatus is sapient under it all. Even if the "new truth of all worlds" is extremely foreboding and I'm pretty sure directly related to the threat of omniversal collapse looming over the story as a whole in the background.

Natus? Igneous frowned. They were surrounded by distortion, sure, but was Xeromus really talking to it thinking it was Eternatus?

Ah yes, "thinking" it's Eternatus. Have you ever considered that there might be another explanation to all this, Igneous?

[He is still getting set up for the (Big Stream)! The (Pre-Stream Bangers) haven't faded out yet!]

Wait, huh? There's another robot voice here chiming in at the moment? Since that's definitely not anywhere as stiff and mechanical as I'd have expected from a "robot voice" there.

Igneous' snout wrinkled in disgust. He scanned the field for signs of Ahsen, yet he couldn't find that accursed cluster of floating discs. Perhaps he was in front of Xeromus? A pity Igneous couldn't walk around. Or attack.

Astral projection be like that. Which I'm pretty sure is what's happening to you right now, Igneous.

Why was he here? And why was Wheel Kid here? He glanced at the little cosmic fuzzball, who shrank away from Xeromus, ethereal glow dimming.

Xeromus hacked and coughed until he shook his head back and forth. His helmet and chains rattled. "I know. The struggle you face is great. And though I am a mere omen, I will walk the path laid out for me, so you may envelope all worlds in your love!" He took several heavy, wheezing breaths. "So, rise! Rise so you may begin your climb toward the grand union! Toward Ragnarok!"

Oh, so Xeromus is essentially aiming to help Natus reboot the omniverse in its own image by starting up a new singularity thing kinda like those visions from the past that we've seen, huh?

A small purple beam shot up from the ground, piercing through the distortion. Then another. And another. Soon there were ten— no, twenty!

Igneous: "I'm... just gonna guess that that isn't remotely good right now."

The ground trembled, like it had before Igneous ended up here. Dirt and pebbles tumbled through the dead grass. Wheel Kid looked around in a panic, rubbing his forehooves together. The other mutt had its gaze locked on Xeromus.

Igneous tried to shoot Bullet Seeds at Xeromus. Nothing came out. Was this some sort of out of body experience? The power he took from Ahsen must have caused this to happen. Igneous silently cursed the two creeps as the purple beams faded.

Again, astral projection, Igneous. Never heard of the idea before from a game or something?

[Are my (Eyes Emoji) deceiving me?] Ahsen buzzed excitedly. [He's moving! (PogChamp)s in the (CHAT). (HELIX)'s (Body Is Ready)!]

Oh, that would explain the robot voice. Somehow I missed that that voice from earlier was definitely Ahsen. Though what on earth is Ahsen's powerset anyways given that it can apparently induce astral projections for Pokémon it has affected.

What the hell are they going on about? Igneous couldn't move around to see what caused the purple beams. He didn't need to, however, because the answer quickly made itself apparent in the form of a brown, gaseous blob with a wispy stalk of a head and neck and tiny, beady red eyes that slowly looked down at Xeromus.

Wait, so Natus' true form is Beta Arceus? I suppose that would explain a thing or two about why Eternatus is so different relative to its canonical properties in this story.

"Still too fragmented," he said between deep, raspy breaths. "But do not worry. I shall bear the burden of piecing you back together. In fact..."

He slowly turned around and locked eyes with Igneous.

"I believe a reunion will be upon us sooner than you think."

Oh, so that's why those Plates were mentioned floating around in earlier chapters. I take it that Xeromus is looking for those in order to power up Natus.

An invisible force grabbed hold of Igneous and yanked him away from Xeromus and the creepy cloud monster. He had only seconds to see the same thing happen to Wheel Kid and his strange friend before he found himself back in the Ryujin base, staring up at a white, granular ceiling.

Oh, well that's a good omen for how Leo and his buddies are doing right about now. Not.

"Igneous?" A dragonair snout peeked into his field of view. "Igneous, can you hear me?"

The grovlazzle sat up, nearly headbutting Scarlett, who managed to back away in the nick of time. A shudder ran down his body.

"Where's Valkyrie? I have to... I have to..."

Scarlett: "Have to what? Igneous, you look like you've seen a ghost!"
Igneous: "God, I wish. I'm pretty sure that I've just seen something much, much worse."

"I already called Gene."

Igneous looked over his shoulder.

Valkyrie stood in the doorway, brow furrowed. "What happened?"

Igneous: "... Do you want the long version or the short version?" ^^;
Valkyrie: "Chiaki, just spit it out already."

"Something bad," the grovlazzle whispered. "Something real bad."

Which I'm sure that Yuna is just going to love hearing about once she hears about it and realizes that Leo's likely in serious danger right now.

Accounting for everyone Gene brought with him from Chakran, Sakaki's boardroom didn't have enough space. Not unless they planned for half the group to stand on the table or float awkwardly near the walls and ceiling. So, the nidoking directed everyone to a large, empty room in the base's cellar. Igneous had never been in it, but it was well-stocked with various supplies neatly organized on shelves. Perhaps it was some sort of emergency bunker, in case Radiant authorities ever breached Scale City.

Some tense music there. Though boy is this local Yakuza crazy-equipped right now. Just what sort of stuff do they get up to on the surface to justify half this stuff?

Once everyone got settled, Gene explained what had happened with Wheel Kid, whose name was Leo, Cyril, and Widget, the captured pilot. Or that was what Gene called the type: full, anyway. Throughout the mewtwo's explanation, Cyril kept looking at his arms and legs and shifting uncomfortably, while Seifer stole glances at the now-cosmic flavored zoroark.

Seifer: "Um... that will wear off eventually, right?"

Gene: "I'm not sure, actually. Especially since you'd think that 'unshackling a soul' would be kind of a lasting-"
Cyril: "Oh my god, Gene, can we not right now?" >.<

He wasn't the only one acting funny, either. Yuna lay draped over Nikki's shoulder and the two of them kept their distance from Noctum, Scarlett, and Yiazmat. The drakloak kept throwing her hands over her mouth, but Igneous swore he heard Yuna on the brink of multiple giggle fits.

"... then Thicc Bird screamed and, next thing any of us knew, Junior and Widget were out like lights." Gene crossed his arms. His Malice Crystal pulsated slowly. "Any questions?"

Quetzal: "T-Thicc Bird?!" >v<
Gene: "I mean, did you want me to lie and call you petite?"

"T... Thicc Bird?" Jade looked over her shoulder, frowning. Igneous still found her appearance unsettling given his own circumstances, but at least he had advance warning about her from Valkyrie. "Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so many of Kora's sandwiches..."

Well, never mind then. Wrong thicc bird there, even if I got the overall reaction correct.

Gene rolled his eyes. "Any important questions?"

"Yeah, I got one." Nikki raised her right hand up, but she was looking at Widget. "So, we kicked his ass and now he has to be our friend?"

Gene: "I mean, that is how it tends to work in anime, so..." ^^
Nikki: "But we live in real life..."

"No." Gene pinched his brow. "We got him to recognize the gravity of the situation and agree to work with us."

Nikki: "Meh, close enough to count."

"Pfbt. Sure. What kinda stupid cartoon **** is this?" Nikki waved her right arm dismissively. Yuna stifled another giggled. "You just want him around cuz he looks like Nova."

Igneous raised a brow. "Who's Nova?"

I mean, I'm not fully convinced that Widget just looks like Nova, but yes. That is undoubtedly hugely impacting Gene's decision-making right about now.

"His boooooyfriiiiiend." Nikki sounded like a grade schooler talking about cooties on the playground. "He was a type: full, too, until he bit the big one thanks to everyone's favorite asshole lightbulb."

Which given Yuna's idle musings about Xeromus and Nova being the same in the past... might be only mostly dead. If that.

The grovlazzle tensed up. Between Nikki and Yuna's incessant stifled giggling, he could only conclude the two had gotten their hands on something fermented. Igneous quickly sideyed Sakaki. Judging by the dumbfounded look on the nidoking's face, he'd reached the same conclusion. And here I thought he kept all his sake in his personal office.

Oh. So that's why Yuna's laughing so much during this meeting when she's never displayed this sort of side to her in public. Guess that's one way to know that it hasn't been that long since that outro scene where she and Nikki were getting wasted.

Gene's eyes flickered blue. "She means Bahamut, for the record." The mewtwo looked at Yiazmat, who tapped her index claws together.

Nikki: "So... guilty as charged, then?"

Gene: "Look, keep this up and you're sitting this briefing out until you sober up!"

"I see," the dragapult whispered. "My daughter... suggested that, perhaps, Bahamut was not as benevolent as we teach our people."

Nikki snorted loudly. "That's putting it mildly. The spooky evil gem in Boss Kitty's shoulder? It was part of the asshole lightbulb's face."

Oh right, I'd forgotten about that detail in the past. Though that makes me wonder if it's reflected in Bahamut's depictions in art as like a scar or something or if he got better after the whole Cinnabar Island incident.

Igneous, Sakaki, and Yiazmat all glanced at Gene in surprise. Wasn't that a Malice Crystal? How could it have come from Bahamut?

"Look, this isn't productive." Gene held up his hands. "I'll give you the full story another time. We need to focus on the here and now."

Ah yes, going ahead and teasing Special Episode 2 for the future, I see.

Even if I'm a little surprised that he didn't opt for "ask Yuna/your daughter when she's less drunk".

"I think that's a bit difficult for some of us to do right now," Yiazmat said, stealing glances at her daughter. "Yunavresca, what's gotten into you?"

"Me?" Yuna stiffened on Nikki's shoulder. "Nothing. I'm fiiiiiiine." She waved her right hand dismissively.

"... she's drunk."

Wait, who's saying that last line there? Yiazmat? Or a third party? Though I can already see Yiazmat's mood taking an

turn in live-time right about now.

Several heads turned in Cyril's direction. The cosmic zoroark shook his head. "Look, I run a bar and grill. I know a drunk 'mon when I see one." He pointed at Nikki. "She's buzzed at best, since poison-types resist alcohol."

Oh, well there's our speaker there. And yeah, Yuna also going through as much sake as Nikki did without a type-resist and a smaller body... would definitely be a recipe for getting nice and wasted.

Though that makes me wonder if Lum Berries and things made from them would be able to help control the effects of drunkenness and hangovers to an extent given that they work on Confusion in the games.

"Well, someone help me snap her out of it," Yiazmat said, her tail undulating rapidly. "I don't have the means to whip up the drink that counters alcohol in ghosts."

... That exists in this setting? Though noted. Wonder if we're ever going to actually see it depicted onscreen at some point.

"Think it's a bit late for that one," Cyril deadpanned. "Maybe we ought to put her on a cot so she can sleep it off?"

That would be wise, even if rule of funny and plot says that you're likely not getting rid of Yuna from this scene so easily.

However, Leo cautiously approached Nikki and Yuna, tilting his head. "Mom, are you okay?"

Yuna looked down at Leo, blinking. Igneous hastily coughed into his arm. 'Mom?' Just how much did I miss after I went rogue?

Nikki: "More than you could ever know, Twiggy."
Igneous: "I... suppose that I should ask someone for a recap later once everyone's sober." ._.;

"Mommy's fiiiiine." Yuna tried leaning over to pet Leo's head. She ended up sliding off Nikki's shoulder and falling to the floor with a splat.

Leo: "Uh, yeah. You're not fine." ._.;
Yiazmat: "Thank the great Guiding Light that this is a closed-door meeting, I can only imagine the stories that would go around back home if this came out."

Leo's eyes widened in alarm. He quickly lifted his right forehoof and his wheel shimmered with green light. A soft green aura enveloped Yuna. The drakloak floated back into the air. "Huh?" She blinked several times, then rubbed her eyes. "What's everyone looking at me for?"

"Mr. Cyril called you drunk," Leo said, sticking a hind leg back in the cosmic zoroark's direction. "So, I tried to fix it." He wagged his starcloud tail. "Do you feel any better?"

... Wait, what on earth did Leo do to spot-fix drunkeness there?

"I, uh... guess so?" Yuna rubbed the back of her neck. Yiazmat hadn't taken her eyes off the drakloak. Igneous couldn't blame her, given the early part of their exchange. Yuna must have realized it, too, because she glanced at Yiazmat. "Something wrong?"

Yuna: "I... didn't do anything too improper while I was sloshed, did I?"

"He called you 'mother." The dragapult narrowed her eyes. "Is this some practical joke because of what I said earlier?"

"No." Yuna sucked in a breath. "I rescued his egg, which hatched not long after. Do the math."

Yuna: "Look, it's just imprinting and doesn't mean anything deeper than that, okay-?"

Jade: "Actually... didn't you have those visions about-?"
Yuna: "Look, it's just imprinting, that's all! (... I hope.)"

Thank the stars. Igneous found that explanation better than the alternative.

Narrator: "The alternative's more accurate as an explanation."

"And now he sees you as his mother?" Yiazmat looked at the cosmic arceus, befuddled. Leo's mane and tail sparkled.

"So, you're our grandma?" His tail swished back and forth. "Wow! Are we going to get to meet Grandpa, too?"

Boy would that be a sight to behold, assuming that Leo doesn't wind up giving off a negative first impression here.

Yuna frowned. "We?" She tilted her head. "Leo, there's only one of you. You didn't strain yourself healing me, right?"

Leo shook his head and again stretched his right hind leg back. "I'm talking about Widget, of course. He's my big brother!"

"What?!"

I'd trot out the Kyubey image macro, but considering how weird what PoV's cosmology that we know of is like in this story thus far... I won't rule it out there.

Widget and Yuna blurted it out simultaneously. They stared at each other, then Leo, then each other again.

"Leo, sweetie." Yuna sighed and put her hand on his head. "You can't go calling random people your sibling." She frowned. "Even if they do look a bit like you."

Yiazmat: "I mean, technically, you can, but it's socially awkward and it doesn't truly make them a sibling of yours." >_>;

"I guess you were too drunk to pay attention to Gene's explanation," Valkyrie scoffed. "Leo senses a connection with Widget." The garchomp smirked. "So, congrats on a second kid. And you didn't even have to hold hands. Or whatever you ghosts do to make eggs."

I can already hear Yuna and Yiazmat quietly retching in the background right now.

Yuna took one look at her flabbergasted mother and her torso shot up into her rectangular head. Igneous thought it best to interject before things got even worse. "Okay, I think everyone's said their pieces on the matter. Yuna's healed up, so we can get back to business." He looked at Gene. "Isn't that right?"

"Well said, Four Twenty." Gene nodded approvingly at Igneous.

Igneous: "'Four Twenty'?"

Gene: "You're a weed that's being blazed, so..."
Igneous: "Is that supposed to be a drug joke or something? Since I'm not sure if we even have that reference in this world."

"The hell did you call me?"

Nevermind, maybe they do have '420' as weed slang in this world.

"Nothing." Gene flicked his tail dismissively. "You were the one who reached out to me originally, weren't you? You got something to tell the group beyond what happened to our intrepid starkids?"

"I do, actually." Igneous crossed his arms. "I know what happened to them when they passed out, because I ended up where they did. We all had... well, I guess you could call it an out of body experience."

Oh, so Igneous also passed out too in the middle of all of that? Though I suppose that if so that that would be one way to put two and two together in short order.

"Care to elaborate?" Valkyrie raised a brow.

Igneous hastily recounted what he saw in the strange clearing, with Xeromus speaking into the distortion and summoning some strange, wispy creature from it.

Igneous:

Valkyrie: "Really, Igneous?"

Igneous: "Look, I'm not writing out an entire scene a second time, alright? Let's just cut to the chase here!" >_>;

"Hmm." Artemis scratched his chin. "So, I think it's safe to say the quakes and the giant rift that popped up in the sky are a direct result of what you saw."

"It would appear fate is dragging us toward a second Darkest Day whether we like it or not," Yiazmat ominously declared.

No, that's more the efforts of multiple bad actors including Xeromus there.

"I don't get it." Cid shook his massive head. "I thought Natus referred to Eternatus, which is less of a living creature and more a cosmologic entity." He paused and looked at Cyril, Leo, and Widget. "Err, a different kind of cosmology."

"We get it," Cyril deadpanned. "But, yeah, the orbeetle's got a point. Plus Eternatus still isn't actually free yet. Otherwise this planet would've broken apart already."

I mean, considering how we've found out that multiple mythologies and belief systems in this world are apparently all founded on lies, are you really that surprised that 'Natus' might turn out to be something different from what you initially assumed?

"I mean... Xeromus has a few dozen screws loose." Nikki did a cuckoo gesture. "Nobody should take anything he says seriously."

Nikki, don't make me break out the Bubsy meme again.

"And what about the cloud creature he summoned?" Igneous immediately countered. He had kept his gaze fixed on Gene, whose face remained scrunched up in confusion.

"Sounds like an ass that needs kicking to me." Nikki punched her right hand with her left.

Igneous: "... Okay, yes, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't potentially know things that we don't right now." >_>;

"Time out." Gene stepped into the middle of the circle of bodies. "Someone wanna tell me who Xeromus is? I can see half of you avoiding eye contact with me. Doesn't take a genius to tell it's got something to do with me."

This... probably should have been described a bit more explicitly in the story, since I didn't get the vibe that this was happening in the background while Igneous and Nikki were talking about Xeromus there.

Silence at first. No one wanted to speak up, though Igneous wasn't entirely sure what answer Gene was looking for. Was it a detail he missed learning about the mewtwo?

Igneous: "... Okay, how much did I miss between whatever you all got up to while I was busy getting hospitalized?" ._.;
Gene: "A lot, but don't change the subject here. Who is this Xeromus, and what does he have to do with me?"

A sigh from Yuna indicated the drakloak chose to take one for the team. "Xeromus is a helmet-wearing type: full with chains around his legs and a creepy black cloak covering most of his body." She rubbed her right shoulder. "And, well, your photo album showed pictures of Nova in a turquoise cloak and anklets, so—"

"—So you think he's Nova?"

Yuna: "... You said it and not me? Especially since it didn't exactly sound like Type: Full with free will were exactly common."

Gene's gaze fell to the floor. His Malice Crystal pulsated wildly on his shoulder. Igneous held his breath, unsure if Gene planned to blow up at them or not.

Well, he's definitely thinking long and hard about it, at least.

Instead, the mewtwo took a deep breath. "Well, if we don't know where exactly he is, we shouldn't throw our resources into finding him. Not when there are more pressing matters to consider." He pivoted toward Alder and Cid. The braviary sat perched on the orbeetle's massive head. "Isn't that right?"

That took every ounce of Gene's willpower to not just drop everything and go for Xeromus, didn't it?

Igneous exhaled in relief. A small part of the grovlazzle thought he could learn a bit from Gene, since he definitely wanted to find Ahsen and Xeromus to dish out some revenge.

Ah yes, you are totally prepared for that to end well and not in a one-sided slaughter there, Igneous. /s

"Yes." Alder bowed his head. "Kora and I are in agreement, the stability of our dimension is worsening. I agree with Milotic's assessment that whatever Xeromus did brought us that much closer to a dimensional cataclysm."

Gene: "Wait, so you mean we actually have a reason to go and look for Nov- er, Xero-" Cyril: "Boss Kitty, no." >_>;

He paused, as if considering his next words carefully. "And given how Eternatus itself doesn't seem bound by the laws of nature, I believe it's serving as the focal point for the breakdown of space and time." The braviary lifted his gray and white wing. "A beacon drawing in instabilities and turning them into full-blown anomalies."

Well that would certainly explain a few things going on both in the opening and in the scene watching Xeromus talk with Beta!Arceus there.

Nikki scratched her right horn. "I only followed, like, half of that, but I'm gonna assume it's bad. Cuz Afro Bird sounds all ominous and ****."

Cid's spots glowed blue. "I think Alder's right. My Dynascan's gotten progressively stronger since Starlene's sabotaged concert. And when Leo and Widget went unconscious, I swear I could sense places within Eternatus getting sucked into dimensional anomalies."

This kinda would've been neat to see properly in the story, but I suppose that a Cid-vision scene will need to wait for another day.

"Pulled into Ginnungagap, the mystery dungeon between worlds," Alder elaborated, his head feathers glowing pink in time with Cid's spots.

"Seriously?" Cyril whistled. "That's some impressive range."

Wait, Cyril knows about Ginnungagap? I didn't see that one coming. .-.

The orbeetle shifted about uncomfortably. "Perhaps, but I'm worried what it might mean for my own health and safety the longer this goes on."

"We'll keep an eye on it, then," Gene said with a dismissive wave. "Alder, you got something else for us?"

Oh yeah, I'm sure that dismissive wave made Cid feel so much better there.

The psychic braviary nodded. "Based on my readings, it seems like we'd have to seal the anomalies from their other sides to stop them from expanding in our universe."

... Wait, but how do you get back home if you do that? Since doesn't that by virtue result in someone getting left behind in another universe outside of POV-2020? ^^;

"Which means, what, going to different dimensions?" Nikki dusted the sides of her leather jacket. "Man, from Eternatus, to outer space, to dimension hopping. Hell of a road trip."

I wonder if this is the final level of scale escalation that we're going to see from this story or if there's somehow another level on top of this that's going to be added at some point. Since I'll admit that I hadn't seen the 'multiverse' angle coming last year until it happened.

"There's a plus side to this, though," Cyril cut in. The cosmic zoroark nonchalantly kicked his right leg back and forth. "The emperor must not realize what's going on. His interplanetary network has had disruptions since that concert. And even if he does put two and two together... he's in no position to actually fix anything."

You know what they say about assuming, Cyril...

Though I suppose that that's one way of hinting at that Paradox isn't the true big bad of the story.

Gene snapped his fingers. "Which is precisely where we come in. This is how we turn the tides against the empire."

"Oh, and hopefully learn more about this Red Chain that Vince told us about," Alder chirped. When Yuna and Nikki tilted their heads in confusion, he added, "Quasar Prime is one of the areas that got trapped within an anomaly."

With all due respect, Gene. But you may have gotten your priorities a wee bit reversed since stopping the Eterna Empire is kinda moot if all of POV-2020 gets pulled into Ginnungagap.

It was then that Sakaki finally decided to make his presence known by clearing his throat. He tucked a small crystal into his blazer pocket.

"That's all well and good, Mr. Gene, but I'm not in a position to offer the Bureau of Eternatus Investigators to your little rebellion." The nidoking folded his hands behind his back. "We have issues within Radiance that need addressing. Someone has to work to keep the people here safe, because the Isola regime certainly won't.

Sakaki: "Also a portion of the readerbase was protesting the lack of focus and action here on Etherium lately, so it'd do you well to throw them a bone."

"Case in point, some of my spies report seeing strange, almost robotic bug pokémon emerging from the outskirts of Casaroja." Sakaki's brow furrowed. "They're heading in the direction of an anti-Parliament protest by Centrado Station."

"Red house", huh? Though I just knew that "stopping World Ender's forces" was going to lead to something completely different from what Shimmer's reflexive assumptions would be.

... Not that he reads as the type to really care about slaughtering a few hundred/thousand commoners since he didn't exactly have a high opinion about their value as people in the scene where he and his classmates were bailing from Venish.

"So?" Nikki threw her arms up. "Bout time people woke up and saw the queen and her dumb playboy son for the idiots they are."

Yiazmat's tail crinkled. "You don't think... they're calling in machines to attack protestors, do you?"

Sakaki:

Yuna: "Wait, but why? The existing government's legitimacy is already tenuous and-"
Sakaki: "And that's exactly when governments make rash and escalatory decisions like this. Much like any Pokémon backed into a corner and threatened."

"I don't have enough information to answer that," Sakaki said. "But the timing is suspicious in the wake of all these Eternatus-related revelations that came out of Parliament."

Igneous stole a quick glance at Scarlett. The dragonair had slithered back away from the circle, curling up in the corner with a guilty expression on her face. He shot her an apologetic look, but she didn't see it.

Igneous: "(Boy is it a good thing that she had to adopt a different form for her stage persona, since it'd be beyond awkward for people on the street to put two and two together...)"

"That so?" Gene had a mixture of curiosity and thinly veiled contempt on his face. Did he know Sakaki from somewhere?

Waaaaaaait, but I thought that Gio burned up in a lava pit and that if he did get rezzed, that he's busy being Guile Hideout. So then how on earth does Gene...?

... No, that wasn't right. Sakaki initially seemed quite surprised with the mewtwo's arrival, and he was usually good at hiding his emotions.

Well, guess these two really do know each other. Though I can't tell if that's a sign that Sakaki is somehow Gio all along, or if he's his Nidoking that took a name after his old boss in memory of him.

"Sure, whatever." Gene waved his right arm dismissively. "Divide and conquer. How's this for an arrangement, then?" The mewtwo pointed to Igneous and Yiazmat. "You can keep your son and your ally." He then pointed at Noctum and Valkyrie. "And I'll give you Zardy and Chompy, too."

Noctum: "H-Huh?! Gene! Don't I get a say in all of-?!"

Valkyrie: "I mean, did you really want to work separately from each other, Zardy?"

Noctum: "Well... no... b-but I can't just go about and join forces with a mafia-!" Igneous: "Yakuza."
Noctum: "Wh-Whatever! I'm supposed to be a royal bodyguard! Not palling around with organized crime syndicates!"

"H-Hey!" Noctum's Malice Crystal flickered. He looked at Yiazmat and winced. "Err, not that I wouldn't mind working with you, Your Highness. It's just... I'm supposed to look after Yuna."

Cue Noctum getting relieved of duty in 3... 2...

"Hasn't really worked out for you, though," Gene pointed out, to which the black charizard wilted. "And Team Bureau needs someone who can open rifts. Meaning you." He smirked. "I'm giving you Chompy, at least. You two work well together." He jerked his head at Igneous. "And she can be back with her charge after all the griping."

But you can't say that Gene doesn't have a point there.

Igneous thought that rather belittling, but let it slide. Because it would be nice to work with Valkyrie again. He did feel the need to advocate for someone else, though. "Scarlett stays with us, too."

Scarlett: "Igneous?! Why on earth would you-?!"

Igneous: "You just seemed like you needed someone to have your back, that's all. And well, you're not exactly close friends with anyone else yet, so..."

"Who?" Gene looked over his shoulder. "Oh, right, the singing noodle. Yeah, sure, go nuts." He hastily pivoted to point at Yuna, Nikki, Jade, Seifer, and Widget. "You guys are heading to Quasar Prime with me. We'll keep the Team Bastion moniker for ease of communication."

So Team Bastion and Team Bureau, huh? Wonder if things will eventually grow to the point that there will be a third B-team with how many characters are in this story.

"What about Leo?" Jade asked.

"He's coming too." Gene snapped his right fingers. Cyril reached into his mane and produced a metal collar.

"The Morph-O-Tron. Figured it makes sense to disguise him as a dreepy," Cyril explained. "He can ride on Yuna's head."

Ah, taking after R&C, I see. Since this feels like a non-weaponized and less permanent Morph-O-Ray from that same series.

"Cool!" Leo's eyes sparkled. "Hear that, Widget? Family mission!" He hopped in place excitedly.

Igneous resisted the urge to facepalm.

inb4 this winds up becoming a soul-crushing nightmare, since there's a reason why in militaries, family members stopped getting deployed together in the same units.

"Alder will head back to Chakran and work with Kora on their meditative whatever," Gene continued. "The rest of you will support Cid and Cyril. You guys are Team Copter. Our proverbial eyes in the sky."

Oh, so there is a third team after all. Even if I wasn't expecting it to be a 'C' team there.

The cosmic zoroark bobbed his head. "Cid's able to sync his Dynascan up with my X-transceivers. We should be able to keep in touch that way, though I'm not sure if it'll hold up when you guys cross through a rift."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Gene exclaimed. He stepped into the middle of the group, "So, is everyone good with this plan? Any objections?"

Igneous: "... Shouldn't we be taking a bit more time to plan things out than-?"

Gene: "Nah, this is just my style. Always worked fine for me!"

Quetzal stuck his right leg out. "Why am I stuck on the sidelines?"

"Team Copter needs some muscle," Gene replied. "Maybe we'll rotate around later. Any other questions? Comments? Concerns?"

Wonder if that's a meta joke about Quetzal being out of the limelight (since we never did get a lot of followup with Shiva and Ifrit) or if it's foreshadowing that he's going to get a decent amount of attention in the near future.

Total silence. Igneous wanted to rest more, but it wasn't like this situation was going to stop escalating.

"Good." Gene clapped his hands. "Then, let's get to work on our final preparations and move out."

I swear that one of these days, Gene's pantsing is going to come back to bite him. Even if he's had a long streak of proving me wrong for when his luck would run out.

Alright, time for that post-mortem:

Today's chapter felt like another transitional one, but at the same time, it still felt like stuff happened even if it was mostly a bunch of conversations plus an astral projection scene. Probably because we've seen pieces moved in place for things to go hard and fast in the near future on multiple levels. It does make me wonder how that's going to be handled since just from the protagonists' side, there's three ongoing plot threads, but hey. You already brought them together once before, and they're working in coordination with each other. I can already tell that this won't be the last time we see everyone together in a room like this.

The characterization and humor were on-point like always, and I suppose that having Namo as a beta reader must help a lot for managing the layers on the onion to get peeled back for reveals. Since while we learned quite a bit in this chapter, it felt like there were some things that while I could make a guess at, that the full explanation was lying just out of reach a bit. Though hey, it's a tried and true way of keeping the audience glued and tuning back in in the future.

As for criticisms, while you have staked out a definitive style that is a bit lighter on description than most and made things work in the story writ large. There's a couple points where I wondered if you cut things a little too far to the bone. The bit where we only find out about Gene getting uneasy looks away after the topic of Xeromus potentially being Nova came up comes to mind, since we didn't exactly see that, or any acknowledgement from Igneous after the fact of "... huh, Yuna and the others really are avoiding eye contact" given that that meeting scene is from his perspective. It might make sense to add a couple small bits here and there in those moments in particular.

But other than that, the chapter was solid as always. Kudos on the good work, @Ambyssin . And I'll be looking forward to your next update in a couple weeks. ^^

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 57: Getting Hot in the Kitchen​

Eternatus' insides looked identical to outer space. Blackness filled with occasional colorful spots denoting other planets it had absorbed. Yuna expected something more... horrifying, given everything Eternatus-related she'd experienced up to this point. The drakloak took the small victory and pulled her head away from the window. She lay down on the cot in the back of the spaceship. Leo, now disguised as a dreepy, snuggled up against her.

"So, we're looking for a guy who's part of a company that exists on this planet in name only?" Nikki scooched back on her own cot, leaning against the ship's wall. "Sounds like a fantastic way to run around like torchic with our heads cut off."

"And that's not even accounting for whatever the dimensional anomaly's done to the place," Seifer said, anxiously tapping a forehoof on his leather seat. "We could use the ship to cover ground faster, I suppose, but that doesn't drastically improve the situation."

"At least we have a photo," Gene said from the pilot's seat. The mewtwo flicked his right wrist, levitating up a color photo of a man with very pale skin and thin, silver hair. Even though she'd never seen a human face to face, Yuna found him sickly.

"Personal experiences can cloud one's gut impressions," Reshiram piped up. "You were sick for a while. Now you might be more sensitive to such things."

Gee, thanks, Yuna mentally growled.

"S-Sorry," Reshiram squeaked.

The X-transceiver speaker crackled. Yuna flinched. Though she hated the thought of more voices rattling around her head, she couldn't afford not to take an X-transceiver and constantly be in the dark.

"We've finished gathering up the data," Cyril announced.

"Go ahead." Gene returned his attention to the ship's dashboard. Yuna spotted a blue and purple fissure in the distance. Their destination, probably.

"Right. So, like Nikki said, the Devon Corporation branch you're looking for is little more than a shell outfit," Cyril explained. "Only a PO Box and a single employee."

"That being this Sigurd Stone fellow?" Seifer asked. He, too, couldn't take his eyes off the fissure. Yuna wondered how nervous he was.

"Correct," Cyril replied. "Originally, Devon manufactured electronic devices, but after Eternatus absorbed Earth, the company took a contract with the Matriarch to mass produce type: full units based on schematics from something called the Aether Foundation."

A squeaking mattress made Yuna's tail crinkle. She looked up at the cot above hers, expecting Widget to say something. But the cosmic type: full stayed silent.

"One of the last missions I did with Nova involved raiding Devon's headquarters and remove all traces of type: full data from their servers," Gene added, a twinge of nostalgia in his voice. "And, well, once Matriarch went offline they couldn't do business as usual."

"Right. So, they pivoted to architecture and civil engineering," Cyril continued. "They still take contracts for the empire. The current president, Stephanie Stone, isn't shy about her support for Paradox. You should see her Chatter page."

"I'd rather take your word for it," Gene scoffed.

They were at the fissure. Purple and blue expanded around the ship, as if some ethereal hand was grabbing hold and pulling it in. Yuna resisted the urge to squirm and disturb Leo. Instinct told her to flee the rift, yet she couldn't control the ship. She had to go through it. Too much was at stake.

"From what I can tell, Sigurd is Stephanie's son. Spends his time researching Centroviner Volcano's geothermal energy," Cyril said.

"A volcano?" Nikki glanced nervously at her leather jacket. "It's on Earth, right?"

"No, it's on Quasar Prime," Gene responded.

"Greeeeeat." The toxtricity took her jacket off and threw it onto the nearby pillow. "I bet you're happy, huh, Princess?"

Yuna had to admit, the prospect of a volcanic landscape offered reminders of home. It was a nice, if strange, comfort. "But what does the volcano matter?" the drakloak wondered.

"Sigurd thinks the volcano houses a slumbering, mutant zygarde," Cyril said. "He writes about all his findings on his blog, because it sounds like he's blacklisted from academic journals. Probably his mother's handiwork, if I had to guess."

"Heh." Nikki snickered her hand. "Hear that, Princess? You're not the only one estranged from a parent. He'll fit right in with us!"

Yuna got stuck on the mention of a mutant zygarde. She recalled brief parts of the vision where an unknown force pulled out a Needle and called for Saint Zygarde.

After blinking a few times, the drakloak shook her head. "I... I'm not estranged from Mom," Yuna mumbled, tapping her right hand against her blanket. "I just... need a bit more time before I talk to her again."

The ship lurched. Yuna bounced into the air with a squeak, nearly bonking the bottom of Widget's top bunk. "Hey! A little warning next time!" she growled.

"Sorry." Gene now held the steering wheel tightly. "We're inside the rift. I think the ship's having some trouble with the gravity. Maybe you guys should head for the seats and buckle up?" He flipped a switch beside him. Red seatbelt icons came to life near the top of the ship's walls.

"This is Ginnwhatever?" Nikki hopped out of her bed and plopped down in one of the nearby chairs. Rather than fastening her seatbelt, she simply gripped the arm rests. "Looks like the pictures in those dumb biology textbooks that'd put me to sleep in a wink. At least the neon aesthetic's pretty cool."

Clutching Leo in her arms, Yuna floated into the seat opposite Nikki's, wondering what the toxtricity meant. She saw shimmering, multicolored shards that brought broken glass to mind. In some ways, it resembled the rifts she made, but on a massive scale.

"I don't get it," the drakloak admitted, making sure the seatbelt secured both her and Leo. "What's sciency about this?"

"Crystals and light motes connected together to look like neural networks or DNA," Widget replied. He hesitantly climbed into the seat opposite Seifer, brow furrowing. "If you look closely, you can see light streaming across the shards. Like neuronal signals charging down axons and leaping across synapses."

Yuna had no idea what the cosmic type: full was talking about. She instead focused on the small, luminescent islands in the distance. Some were sideways. Others upside down. Crystal coils sprouted from the islands. Otherworldly tree equivalents, perhaps?

Then again, maybe the drakloak was better off not focusing too hard on any of it. Vincent called this place the space-time mystery dungeon, didn't he? So, of course it hurt her head trying to think about it. Mystery dungeons didn't make a lick of sense!

A bright blue flash enveloped the ship windows. It shuddered again. Squealing, Yuna tried not to squeeze Leo too tight. "Gene?" she whispered.

"We're fine!" the mewtwo insisted. "Just a little, uh, transdimensional lightning storm?" He scratched his head. "Sure, yeah, let's go with that."

"That doesn't sound remotely fine!" Reshiram squawked, nearly forcing himself out of Yuna's Soul Dew to make his protests known to everyone else. She didn't blame him when Gene sounded like he was grasping at straws.

More blue light streaked by the ship's windshield. Yuna opted to close her eyes. She imagined one of Drasbraznav's nearby volcanoes. The drakloak visualized the huge plumes of smoke and sulfur drifting into the sky. Tiny embers floated around her while she hovered through the castle courtyard, bobbing her head at the gummy bushes a couple of vibrava groundskeepers tended to.

"Can you guys hear me?"

Yuna kept her eyes closed, only silently acknowledging Cid's voice. Guess the X-transeivers could work inside an anomaly. She had no idea just how much Cid's powers had grown, but at least she had a connection to home through all this madness.

And to think, minutes ago she mentally complained about having the X-transceiver.

"Sheesh! That bright light's killer!" Nikki cried, before the ship jostled once again.

We're okay. We're okay. We're—

"Wh... what? This can't be right!"

Widget's cry was enough to get Yuna to open her eyes. They'd left the strange shattered glass behind, entering a purple and red sky full of ash and fireballs. And it was easy to see why.

"Is that the volcano?" Yuna said, resisting the urge to get out of her seat and fly to the front of the ship. At first she wondered if she was still daydreaming. But a quick pinch of her cheek told her otherwise.

Well, that and the fact that it easily dwarfed the volcanoes back home.

"No." Gene gripped the steering wheel tight. "This is far bigger than Centroviner."

"... that sounds bad," the drakloak squeaked.

"Thou tellest me! The volcanoes I remember doth not hold a candle to this behemoth!" Rayquaza exclaimed. "Tis a blade of sulfur and brimstone piercing the heavens!"

"It might be part of the anomaly. Look at the fireballs." Seifer leaned forward, frowning.

Lava, fireballs, and sulfur clouds sat frozen in midair, casting distorted shadows down the volcanic mountain.

Yuna blinked a few times, then rubbed her eyes to confirm she wasn't imagining things. Her breath grew shaky. "That's... not how eruptions work."

"No duh." Nikki held her fingers in front of her face in the shape of a rectangle. "Someone hit a literal pause button. Talk about a hell of a view."

"None of this makes any sense!" Widget curled gold talons around the edge of his seat. "How can a giant volcano just... appear from the ether? And what about the people of Centropolis?"

"Wait, there's a city here?" Nikki got out of her seat and squished her face up against the nearby window. "Oh, damn, Jigsaw Puppy's right! Look at all those little dots scurrying down there!"

Yuna didn't have to press herself to any windows. She glimpsed multicolored dots far below the ship. She had no idea if they represented humans, pokémon, or a mix of the two. All she knew was that they could see the danger clear as day and were trying to flee.

Nikki's mohawk frazzled. "What idiot builds a city next to a damn volcano?"

Yuna's torso shriveled. "Uh..."

The toxtricity facepalmed. "Ah. Right. Forget I said anything."

"No, hang on." Gene stopped moving the ship forward. He rested his arm against the dashboard. "This isn't right, either. Centropolis isn't this close to Centroviner."

"If the volcano is the anomaly, then that would explain the contradiction," Cid piped up. "It spawned beside the city, and now it's in the process of erupting. Perhaps a volcano from another dimension was drawn to Centropolis because of the similarities?"

"Then all the movement we're seeing must be an evacuation attempt," Seifer concluded. He gazed out the window. "I don't know how we'd even begin searching for Mr. Stone in such conditions."

Widget nearly hopped out of his chair. "Forget about that! If they're in an anomaly, there's nowhere for them to evacuate to!" The cosmic type: full looked around nervously. "And who knows how long the lava and fire will remain frozen in midair. We have to do something!"

"Got any bright ideas, then?" Nikki crossed her arms. Widget went silent. "Yeah, didn't think so. Frozen in time or not, lava's still lava. It's not like we can just... push it somewhere else."

"But he's a powerful psychic." Widget pointed a gold talon at Gene. "If anyone could do that, it's him."

The mewtwo rolled his eyes. "Much as I appreciate getting gassed up, psychic powers don't trump time stasis magic."

"How would you know?!" Widget countered, blue-purple light swirling around his cheek bolts.

"Basic techniques like Trick Room have messed with the speed of my telekinesis," Gene admitted, nearly slouching over the steering wheel.

"Guys?" Leo said. The fake dreepy squirmed in Yuna's gasp, but she was too deep in thought herself.

She pressed her hand against the Soul Dew and out popped a small Rayquaza. "What about you?" the drakloak said.

"Me?" Rayquaza's red eyes blinked. "What dost thou expect me to do?"

"Guuuuuuys?" Leo freed himself and floated into the middle of the group, waving his arms around.

"I don't know." Yuna rubbed her right shoulder. "But the legends say your transformed state could create wind so powerful it could shield an entire city from any sort of weather!"

Seifer raised a brow. "So, what, you want him to blow the lava away?"

Yuna flinched. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

Rayquaza frowned. "But Princess, I hath not used mega evolution since I forged my part of Eternatus' seal." He clicked his index claws together. "I doth not know if I'm capable of it in this state."

"Guys!"

"Eep!" Yuna's torso schlurped into her rectangular head. "Something wrong, Leo?" The fake dreepy was surprisingly loud given his tiny body.

"Yes." He puffed out his ectoplasmic cheeks. "Everyone's talking about saving Centropolis, but we're not in Centropolis!"

That was enough to get Widget out of his seat. "What are you talking about? We know Quasar Prime got swallowed by an anomaly. That's why we're here."

Still frowning, Leo floated onto Yuna's head and pointed to the window behind her. "Then explain that."

Everyone in the ship turned in the direction Leo was pointing. Smoke and fire filled the air, with tall buildings lining the ground and tiny dots all trying to move in the same direction. But what really caught Yuna's attention was a group of pelipper flying several meters away, carrying some sort of electronic sign.

EMERGENCY ALERT: ALL MALIE CITY RESIDENTS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!

XxX​

Noctum had never gone into a safe house before. He didn't exactly understand what made it safe to begin with. By all accounts, the house the waypoint had taken Team Bureau to lacked any strong fortifications. Apparently, that was the point, though? "Safe" meant unassuming. And that unassuming nature allowed it to provide safety to its inhabitants... from the Radiant Guard and Stoutland Yard.

That didn't detract from the living room's coziness, though. Pictures of trains and the supposedly-famed Centrado Station sat on soft blue and pink-striped wallpaper. Bookshelves housed pieces covering the history of Radiance's railway system, along with engineering textbooks, and some unassuming nature photography collections. Model train sets sat on tables and the carpeted floor. The black charizard even flipped a switch on one and the tiny train began chugging along the tiny track.

"Why is this place so train-themed, anyway?" Yiazmat wondered, floating somewhere behind Noctum. He sat on the floor, still watching the model train set in action. The rhythmic rattling of the train on the tracks brought a smile to his face. He had no idea why he found it soothing. It was a lot more... involved than his stamp collection, that was for sure.

"This is the type of place an elderly couple would inhabit," Valkyrie responded. She stopped pacing near Noctum. He looked up and saw the incredulous expression on the garchomp's face.

"What? I think this is pretty cool." Noctum beamed at her.

"... tch. Dork." Valkyrie rolled her eyes and resumed pacing. "It's easy for cops to leave an elderly couple alone. And a place full of keepsakes from someone's glory days as a civil engineer is a good enough cover to stash our waypoint."

"Casaroja is the birthplace of Radiance's railway system," Igneous added. He sat on one side of an old sofa, leaning on its armrest. "Plenty of people who live here work there or have worked there."

Noctum nodded. That lined up with the goal of making this place as unassuming as possible. "So, how long do we stay here, exactly?"

"Just waiting to hear from our eyes on the ground," Igneous said, sitting up a bit straighter in his seat. "You trust this Dimitri guy, right?"

Yiazmat looked insulted at the question. "Of course. I'd have sent Baraz with him, but I'm afraid he'd draw a bit too much attention." She lowered her head glumly. "For obvious reasons, of course."

"Seems like it was a pretty stupid idea to even bring him to Radiance in the first place."

Noctum was sorely tempted to stand up and issue a retort to Valkyrie, but Yiazmat responded first. "That's a fair, if blunt, point. Yuna likes him, though. I wanted her to be as happy as she could, given the circumstances."

Valkyrie shrugged. "Whatever. Guess it's all moot anyway thanks to all this ****."

Noctum sighed in relief at Valkyrie dropping the subject. Maybe she was getting better at reigning in her attitude after all. The black charizard returned his attention to the model train, which had fallen off the track. He gingerly picked it up and placed it back on the track, where it immediately resumed moving. His tail flame grew a bit.

"Oh, that reminds me, Noctum. I had Gene go retrieve something for you."

Yiazmat floated over and dropped a circular armor plate beside him. Noctum looked at it and quickly realized it would cover his belly. "Ah." He glanced at the dragapult. "You don't want people to see this in public." Noctum pointed a finger at the Malice Crystal in his belly.

"Would you?" Valkyrie piped up. "Scarlett doesn't even want to go out in the city thanks to her mug getting plastered all over the news. That belly gem of yours may as well be an 'I'm suspicious' sign."

The black charizard sighed. "I know." He nudged the armor piece with his left hand. "Just sucks I have to deal with it."

"Welcome to the club," Igneous said, lazily raising his right arm and waving it around.

Noctum managed to stop himself from countering that the grovlazzle consciously chose his present situation. He returned his attention to the train, which had finished another lap across the tracks.

"Sorry for the delay. The scouts finally reported back to me."

Sakaki's voice crackled through Noctum's X-transceiver. Everyone else in the room perked up in attention.

"What can you tell us?" Yiazmat floated toward the doorway that led out of the living room.

"Things remain peaceful so far," Sakaki reported. "A crowd is parading around the entrance to Centrado Station. It seems that a grapploct and a conkeldurr in red sweat suits are leading the crowd in chants of some... choice words."

Valkyrie kicked her leg back against the wall she leaned on. "Medicis? Figured they'd try to twist this into free publicity. Doesn't concern us."

"It does," Igneous growled. His tails smoldered with embers.

Noctum raised his right hand. "In what way?"

"When I crashed Starlene's backstage area at the Venish concert, there were Medici thugs guarding it." Igneous grimaced. "Including this nickit and greedent duo guarding her trailer alongside the Mr. Rime I'm pretty sure is Minister Charles, but brainwashed to work for Eternatus."

The black charizard chewed on that for a moment, then hopped to his feet with an, "Ahh!" He flinched when his tail knocked over a portion of the model train track. "I, uh— Yuna mentioned those two." Noctum bent down to try and tidy up the mess. "They're the ones who attacked her that morning at the academy."

"A rival syndicate went after my daughter?" Yiazmat sounded ready to fly out the door and challenge the Medicis herself. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Perhaps this protest is the work of Eternatus' forces, then?"

"... tch. I bet the Medicis would hitch their wagon to Paradox's to save their sorry asses." Valkyrie huffed out blue-purple embers. "What do you think?"

Noctum finished putting the broken train track pieces together and stood up. "Um, what about the robo bugs? Are they here, too?"

"They're not at the protest," Sakaki said. "In fact, we believe one was sighted going into the train station."

"So, they're going to ride a train?" Noctum wondered, scratching his head. That seemed stupid. They could fly, right? Why would they need a train?

"Cyril, you there?" Igneous said, tapping his right foot on the carpet. "Any chance you can get any information on Centrado's rail schedule?"

"Pfbt. 'Any chance,' he says." Cyril's chuckling filled Noctum's ear frills. "Yeah, I looked into it when I spotted the bugs on a camera feed. They're genesect, by the way. Old fossils the emperor tried bringing to life and outfitting with giant cannons. When they proved no match for Boss Kitty, he scrapped the project."

"So how the hell did Isola get a hold of them?" Valkyrie growled.

"Beats me," Cyril replied. "I'm just here to be the schedule lookup guy, apparently." He laughed again while Valkyrie rolled her eyes and huffed more dragonfire embers. "And it looks as though Centrado station is closed to commuter rail transit today."

"What?" Igneous tensed up. The grovlazzle's tails curled. "That's impossible. Centrado's the biggest station in the country. It never shutters."

"I don't know what to tell ya, kid," Cyril said. "I only see authorization details for one train: a heavily armored freighter. Other details are redacted."

Valkyrie pushed herself off the wall. "A freight train? Those don't usually run through there. Where's it heading?"

Cyril sighed. "Redacted."

Noctum frowned. "Freight trains carry supplies?"

Igneous and Valkyrie nodded.

"Maybe they're bringing stuff to help Venish?" the black charizard said. "We're, uh, not that far from it. And if they're worried about something bad happening to the supplies, they'd want to keep it a secret, right?"

"You really expect me to believe Isola would activate a swarm of these genesect thingies for a supply run?" Valkyrie scoffed. "Nah." She paced in the doorway. "Something stinks to high heaven about this. I want a closer look."

Yiazmat's tail crinkled. "I'm still worried about this protest, but that does sound concerning."

Noctum stretched out his wings. "Then let's fly over and—"

"Idiot. We can't fly to a place crawling with guards," Valkyrie said. "We gotta go on foot."

Igneous quirked a brow. "And what should we do when we actually get there? There'll be Radiant Guard on the ground, too."

A toothy grin spread over the garchomp's mouth. "We rile up the protesters a bit. And when the Radiant Guard jumps in to quash it, we sneak into the station."

Yiazmat shook her head. "I'm not looking to cause a scene."

"Then leave it to me." Valkyrie thumped her chest with her right arm. "I know how to get under Medici skin."

"No, I mean in general." The dragapult crossed her arms. "There has to be a way to get there that doesn't involve whipping a peaceful protest into a frenzy."

"We still don't know how legit this protest actually is, though," Igneous said, frowning. "If the empire's got a plan, maybe Val crashing the party will unknowingly disrupt it?"

"It's reckless," Yiazmat countered. "I don't like it."

The grovlazzle flinched at her first comment. He turned away from Yiazmat, scowling. "Got any better ideas?"

"If I may?"

That was Cid.

Valkyrie sighed. "Oh, great, the egghead."

"Casaroja's sewer system includes the rail station. You might be able to get in that way."

"Hell no!" The garchomp wrinkled her snout in disgust. "I ain't wading through sewage. I'll take my chances with my idea."

"You will not."

Valkyrie stiffened at Sakaki's voice. The fight immediately drained from her face. "Sir?" she whispered.

"You are valuable assets and I will not see you risk yourselves unnecessarily," the nidoking said. "Try the sewer method first. If there are guards down there, then Valkyrie can enact her plan. Is that a deal?"

Noctum wondered whether Igneous or Valkyrie had to agree. The grovlazzle bowed his head. "Yes, sir," he said, his tone neutral.

"Good. Keep us updated."

Igneous sucked in a sharp breath. "Will do."

Noctum swallowed hard. So, this was the kind of authority a Yakuza boss wielded? It made his neck scales prickle. And the queen cooperates with him willingly?

The black charizard pushed those thoughts aside as he lumbered toward the doorway.

XxX​

"Madame Archbishop."

Sticky saluted the oversized serperior propelling herself across the cold steel floor with her thorny vines. Dozens of poipole and xurkitree workers similarly stood at attention, a few of the former shifting about nervously. The naganadel floated after her, making for the giant, mechanical hydreigon hanging from harnesses on the other side of the room.

Uroboros' serperior head split apart, revealing the seviper inside. She scrutinized the machine. "This is it, then?"

"Yes." Sticky glanced down at his tablet. "An autonomous combat unit made with multiple parts of the hydreigon evolution line and Eterna energy, running off data from the defunct Type: Zodiark alpha model. We call it the Iron Jugulis."

"I don't care what it's called," Uroboros scoffed. She yawned into a thorny vine. "We both know the emperor only cares that it gets results."

"Right." Sticky returned his attention to his tablet. "This was, um, cobbled together quite quickly, so it may—"

"Bring it online."

"I beg your pardon?"

The seviper head stared Sticky down. "Bring it online. Cassius just informed His Excellency the Benefactor's prisoners are sending their pathetic aid shipment to the city we ransacked. We can't allow that to happen."

"Could we not send some Eternatus Troopers, instead?" Sticky asked. This seemed like a bad idea hot on the heels of losing both the Seekerskorch and its pilot.

"We will. But His Excellency wants bigger fire power, as well."

"I understand." Sticky looked over his shoulder and nodded at some poipole. They floated away in a hurry. "The team will get right on that."

"Very good." The seviper retreated back inside the serperior head, which closed itself back up.

As Uroboros turned to leave the room, the Iron Jugulis whirred to life. Bright purple light from its LED heads spilled over Sticky.

For the Benefactor.

XxX​

OSL: Ginnungagap, the Cosmic Mystery Dungeon
Also known as the bridge between worlds. This constantly shifting realm of space-time is the threads holding the omniverse together. The deeper one travels through it, the more it changes to reflect the states of nearby dimensions. However, any living soul that spends too long inside of it will find themselves blown away to a distant corner of the omniverse. This can lead a soul to corrode into a Whisper.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I suppose that it's been long enough since I've kept current with this story, time to see what's been cooking in the background as part of…

Chapter 57

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Eternatus' insides looked identical to outer space. Blackness filled with occasional colorful spots denoting other planets it had absorbed. Yuna expected something more... horrifying, given everything Eternatus-related she'd experienced up to this point. The drakloak took the small victory and pulled her head away from the window. She lay down on the cot in the back of the spaceship. Leo, now disguised as a dreepy, snuggled up against her.

inb4 it wraps right around to horrifying once you go and examine that space a bit more closely. Since hey, movies like Event Horizon demonstrate that you can indeed have horrifying and wince-inducing imagery in space.

"So, we're looking for a guy who's part of a company that exists on this planet in name only?" Nikki scooched back on her own cot, leaning against the ship's wall. "Sounds like a fantastic way to run around like torchic with our heads cut off."

Nikki: "Seriously, couldn't we have just put in a call or something?"

Gene: "At these distances? We'd be waiting literal years to hear a response back."

"And that's not even accounting for whatever the dimensional anomaly's done to the place," Seifer said, anxiously tapping a forehoof on his leather seat. "We could use the ship to cover ground faster, I suppose, but that doesn't drastically improve the situation."

Gene's got his priorities straight for his starcraft. Though if nothing else, you can't say that these jaunts through space aren't comfortable.

"At least we have a photo," Gene said from the pilot's seat. The mewtwo flicked his right wrist, levitating up a color photo of a man with very pale skin and thin, silver hair. Even though she'd never seen a human face to face, Yuna found him sickly.

So just how close is this guy to becoming a phantom anyways if someone with literally zero frame of reference for what's normal for humans thinks he looks weak and sickly?

"Personal experiences can cloud one's gut impressions," Reshiram piped up. "You were sick for a while. Now you might be more sensitive to such things."

Gee, thanks, Yuna mentally growled.

"S-Sorry," Reshiram squeaked.

Not that that wasn't really insensitive and blunt, but Cecil isn't wrong there, just saying.

The X-transceiver speaker crackled. Yuna flinched. Though she hated the thought of more voices rattling around her head, she couldn't afford not to take an X-transceiver and constantly be in the dark.

Wait, X-transcievers don't have an audio / headset component and operate off of telepathy? I didn't pick up on that in the past if that's the implication there.

"We've finished gathering up the data," Cyril announced.

"Go ahead." Gene returned his attention to the ship's dashboard. Yuna spotted a blue and purple fissure in the distance. Their destination, probably.

Trippy background music is trippy. Though what made you pick this song in particular?

"Right. So, like Nikki said, the Devon Corporation branch you're looking for is little more than a shell outfit," Cyril explained. "Only a PO Box and a single employee."

"That being this Sigurd Stone fellow?" Seifer asked. He, too, couldn't take his eyes off the fissure. Yuna wondered how nervous he was.

"Correct," Cyril replied. "Originally, Devon manufactured electronic devices, but after Eternatus absorbed Earth, the company took a contract with the Matriarch to mass produce type: full units based on schematics from something called the Aether Foundation."

Ah yes, this part again. Though I have to wonder how on earth Devon got the tooling necessary to build these things given that SnS implies that RKS Labs was only able to make the 4th Type: Null through industrial espionage.

A squeaking mattress made Yuna's tail crinkle. She looked up at the cot above hers, expecting Widget to say something. But the cosmic type: full stayed silent.

"One of the last missions I did with Nova involved raiding Devon's headquarters and remove all traces of type: full data from their servers," Gene added, a twinge of nostalgia in his voice. "And, well, once Matriarch went offline they couldn't do business as usual."

Nikki: "Oh boy, he's going to wax poetic about his old boyfriend right about now, isn't he?" >_>;

"Right. So, they pivoted to architecture and civil engineering," Cyril continued. "They still take contracts for the empire. The current president, Stephanie Stone, isn't shy about her support for Paradox. You should see her Chatter page."

Does she even have a choice given that with the ship that Paradox runs, I'd frankly be shocked if he didn't expropriate businesses run by people that weren't rabid supporters of his? Since Paradox feels very much like the sort of guy who'd have just flatly taken Devon over if its leadership wasn't giving him paeans over social media.

"I'd rather take your word for it," Gene scoffed.

They were at the fissure. Purple and blue expanded around the ship, as if some ethereal hand was grabbing hold and pulling it in. Yuna resisted the urge to squirm and disturb Leo. Instinct told her to flee the rift, yet she couldn't control the ship. She had to go through it. Too much was at stake.

Yuna:

"Boy am I getting a bad feeling about this right now."

"From what I can tell, Sigurd is Stephanie's son. Spends his time researching Centroviner Volcano's geothermal energy," Cyril said.

'Centroviner', huh? Wonder what the backstory behind that one is. Though what on earth would undead people need geothermal energy for-

Wait, they're taking on a new contract with Paradox, aren't they?

"A volcano?" Nikki glanced nervously at her leather jacket. "It's on Earth, right?"

"No, it's on Quasar Prime," Gene responded.

"Greeeeeat." The toxtricity took her jacket off and threw it onto the nearby pillow. "I bet you're happy, huh, Princess?"

Yuna: "Considering how depressing the volcanoes make everything back home look... no, not particularly."

Yuna had to admit, the prospect of a volcanic landscape offered reminders of home. It was a nice, if strange, comfort. "But what does the volcano matter?" the drakloak wondered.

Huh. Didn't see her actually liking being in such environments given that every time Aeon's been described, it sounds like a poverty-stricken backwater, but noted in that case.

"Sigurd thinks the volcano houses a slumbering, mutant zygarde," Cyril said. "He writes about all his findings on his blog, because it sounds like he's blacklisted from academic journals. Probably his mother's handiwork, if I had to guess."

... Which Bahamut captured like 2 chapters ago, didn't he?

"Heh." Nikki snickered her hand. "Hear that, Princess? You're not the only one estranged from a parent. He'll fit right in with us!"

I am not convinced the bit in underlined is going to wind up aging well, though I suppose there's only one way to find out.

Yuna got stuck on the mention of a mutant zygarde. She recalled brief parts of the vision where an unknown force pulled out a Needle and called for Saint Zygarde.

Yeah, feeling really good about that prediction that there's no Zygarde left to collect.

After blinking a few times, the drakloak shook her head. "I... I'm not estranged from Mom," Yuna mumbled, tapping her right hand against her blanket. "I just... need a bit more time before I talk to her again."

Nikki: "Yeah, you're totally estranged from her-"
Yuna: "Nikki, shut. Up. We're just in a bit of a mutual disagreement right now, that's all." >_>;

The ship lurched. Yuna bounced into the air with a squeak, nearly bonking the bottom of Widget's top bunk. "Hey! A little warning next time!" she growled.

... Wait, but isn't Yuna constantly floating/levitating by default? Or is the idea that she was resting and then got air time?

"Sorry." Gene now held the steering wheel tightly. "We're inside the rift. I think the ship's having some trouble with the gravity. Maybe you guys should head for the seats and buckle up?" He flipped a switch beside him. Red seatbelt icons came to life near the top of the ship's walls.

Hope nobody had any open drink containers prior to this, since that's going to quickly become a mess otherwise.

"This is Ginnwhatever?" Nikki hopped out of her bed and plopped down in one of the nearby chairs. Rather than fastening her seatbelt, she simply gripped the arm rests. "Looks like the pictures in those dumb biology textbooks that'd put me to sleep in a wink. At least the neon aesthetic's pretty cool."

... Wait, what on earth do those surroundings look like if it looks like "pictures in those dumb biology textbooks"? Since I'm having trouble visualizing this right now.

Clutching Leo in her arms, Yuna floated into the seat opposite Nikki's, wondering what the toxtricity meant. She saw shimmering, multicolored shards that brought broken glass to mind. In some ways, it resembled the rifts she made, but on a massive scale.

... What on earth is in a Radiant biology text book if "glass shards" are an aesthetic you can encounter inside them? .-.

"I don't get it," the drakloak admitted, making sure the seatbelt secured both her and Leo. "What's sciency about this?"

"Crystals and light motes connected together to look like neural networks or DNA," Widget replied. He hesitantly climbed into the seat opposite Seifer, brow furrowing. "If you look closely, you can see light streaming across the shards. Like neuronal signals charging down axons and leaping across synapses."

Oh. That's why it looks like pictures from a biology textbook. Though wait, does this mean that this is Mega Evolution central? Since that motif is also very prominent in Mega Stones and for Mega Evolution and the like.

Yuna had no idea what the cosmic type: full was talking about. She instead focused on the small, luminescent islands in the distance. Some were sideways. Others upside down. Crystal coils sprouted from the islands. Otherworldly tree equivalents, perhaps?

Also, getting strong late-game FF9 vibes right about now. Though that's probably very much deliberate considering the meta of this story.

Then again, maybe the drakloak was better off not focusing too hard on any of it. Vincent called this place the space-time mystery dungeon, didn't he? So, of course it hurt her head trying to think about it. Mystery dungeons didn't make a lick of sense!

Not sure that's the wisest idea there given how plot-important this place is, but... yeah, might want to take things a bit slow, Yuna.

A bright blue flash enveloped the ship windows. It shuddered again. Squealing, Yuna tried not to squeeze Leo too tight. "Gene?" she whispered.

"We're fine!" the mewtwo insisted. "Just a little, uh, transdimensional lightning storm?" He scratched his head. "Sure, yeah, let's go with that."

Yuna: "Gene, could you have tried any harder to make me feel not fine right now?!" >.<
Gene: "I mean, I could've said that we weren't and had decent odds of all dying horribly? Would that have made you feel better?"

"That doesn't sound remotely fine!" Reshiram squawked, nearly forcing himself out of Yuna's Soul Dew to make his protests known to everyone else. She didn't blame him when Gene sounded like he was grasping at straws.

Yeah, I figured.

More blue light streaked by the ship's windshield. Yuna opted to close her eyes. She imagined one of Drasbraznav's nearby volcanoes. The drakloak visualized the huge plumes of smoke and sulfur drifting into the sky. Tiny embers floated around her while she hovered through the castle courtyard, bobbing her head at the gummy bushes a couple of vibrava groundskeepers tended to.

'Gummy bushes', huh? So gummis in this setting are just straight-up plants in this setting? Or did Yuna mean that the bushes were sticky to the touch?

"Can you guys hear me?"

Yuna kept her eyes closed, only silently acknowledging Cid's voice. Guess the X-transeivers could work inside an anomaly. She had no idea just how much Cid's powers had grown, but at least she had a connection to home through all this madness.

Yuna: "... Ever get the feeling that we should ask Cid how he's been doing sometime? Since it sure feels like a lot's been happening with him that we don't know about." ^^;
Nikki: "Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine."

And to think, minutes ago she mentally complained about having the X-transceiver.

"Sheesh! That bright light's killer!" Nikki cried, before the ship jostled once again.

No sunglasses or window coverings on hand to deal with a moment like this, huh? Feels like a bit of an oversight on Gene's part. But eh, he's always been a more screwloose type.

We're okay. We're okay. We're—

"Wh... what? This can't be right!"

Narrator: "They are not okay."

Widget's cry was enough to get Yuna to open her eyes. They'd left the strange shattered glass behind, entering a purple and red sky full of ash and fireballs. And it was easy to see why.

"Is that the volcano?" Yuna said, resisting the urge to get out of her seat and fly to the front of the ship. At first she wondered if she was still daydreaming. But a quick pinch of her cheek told her otherwise.

I mean, that sure looks like the volcano right about now. Also, cue the alt theme music:

Well, that and the fact that it easily dwarfed the volcanoes back home.

So on a scale of "Yellowstone, but active" to "Olympus Mons", how big are we talking here?

"No." Gene gripped the steering wheel tight. "This is far bigger than Centroviner."

"... that sounds bad," the drakloak squeaked.

Cecil: "Oh my god. Who on earth put him in charge of driving this thing?!"

"Thou tellest me! The volcanoes I remember doth not hold a candle to this behemoth!" Rayquaza exclaimed. "Tis a blade of sulfur and brimstone piercing the heavens!"

Whelp, sounds an awful lot like we're hitting the 'Olympus Mons' end of the scale. Though inb4 this is indeed the volcano they were looking for, but it's having a normal one after Bahamut did his thing.

"It might be part of the anomaly. Look at the fireballs." Seifer leaned forward, frowning.

Lava, fireballs, and sulfur clouds sat frozen in midair, casting distorted shadows down the volcanic mountain.

Yuna blinked a few times, then rubbed her eyes to confirm she wasn't imagining things. Her breath grew shaky. "That's... not how eruptions work."

So Mystery Dungeons can trigger giganticism. Filing that one away for the future.

"No duh." Nikki held her fingers in front of her face in the shape of a rectangle. "Someone hit a literal pause button. Talk about a hell of a view."

"None of this makes any sense!" Widget curled gold talons around the edge of his seat. "How can a giant volcano just... appear from the ether? And what about the people of Centropolis?"

I'm guessing that those people aren't doing too hot right now. Or alternatively, they're doing way, way too hot right now. ^^;

"Wait, there's a city here?" Nikki got out of her seat and squished her face up against the nearby window. "Oh, damn, Jigsaw Puppy's right! Look at all those little dots scurrying down there!"

Cue hearing the distant background screaming in 3... 2...

Yuna didn't have to press herself to any windows. She glimpsed multicolored dots far below the ship. She had no idea if they represented humans, pokémon, or a mix of the two. All she knew was that they could see the danger clear as day and were trying to flee.

Yeah, I knew it.

Nikki's mohawk frazzled. "What idiot builds a city next to a damn volcano?"

Yuna's torso shriveled. "Uh..."

Yuna: "I feel attacked right now." >_>;

The toxtricity facepalmed. "Ah. Right. Forget I said anything."

So wait, are there any major settlements in Aeon that aren't in spitting distance of volcanoes? Or is that just the norm out there?

"No, hang on." Gene stopped moving the ship forward. He rested his arm against the dashboard. "This isn't right, either. Centropolis isn't this close to Centroviner."

It would be if the volcano erupted and grew. Just saying, Gene.

"If the volcano is the anomaly, then that would explain the contradiction," Cid piped up. "It spawned beside the city, and now it's in the process of erupting. Perhaps a volcano from another dimension was drawn to Centropolis because of the similarities?"

Oh hey, boy does that sound familiar with some of my recent gaming fare. Next thing, you'll tell me that there's also moments where these colliding chunks of omniverse delete each other from existence.

"Then all the movement we're seeing must be an evacuation attempt," Seifer concluded. He gazed out the window. "I don't know how we'd even begin searching for Mr. Stone in such conditions."

Yuna: "We could start by trying to call him since these X-Transciever things seem to always work no matter where we are?"

- Beat moment -
Seifer: "Wait, Gene. Can we do that right now?"

Widget nearly hopped out of his chair. "Forget about that! If they're in an anomaly, there's nowhere for them to evacuate to!" The cosmic type: full looked around nervously. "And who knows how long the lava and fire will remain frozen in midair. We have to do something!"

Huh, so Widget's hero programming does give him priorities other than fighting for Eterna and deleting rebels. I at first was surprised by this, but I suppose I shouldn't be given that even if put together by a villainous faction, Widget was meant to be a hero on their behalf.

"Got any bright ideas, then?" Nikki crossed her arms. Widget went silent. "Yeah, didn't think so. Frozen in time or not, lava's still lava. It's not like we can just... push it somewhere else."

I snerked at the Spongebob meme there.

"But he's a powerful psychic." Widget pointed a gold talon at Gene. "If anyone could do that, it's him."

- Gene looks blankly out the window for a moment -
Gene: "... Kid, I know that I'm good, but I'm not that good." >.<

The mewtwo rolled his eyes. "Much as I appreciate getting gassed up, psychic powers don't trump time stasis magic."

"How would you know?!" Widget countered, blue-purple light swirling around his cheek bolts.

Wait, Gene has actually tried something like this before? Wasn't expecting that one. .-.

"Basic techniques like Trick Room have messed with the speed of my telekinesis," Gene admitted, nearly slouching over the steering wheel.

"Guys?" Leo said. The fake dreepy squirmed in Yuna's gasp, but she was too deep in thought herself.

They're about to run into a ball of lava right now, aren't they?

She pressed her hand against the Soul Dew and out popped a small Rayquaza. "What about you?" the drakloak said.

"Me?" Rayquaza's red eyes blinked. "What dost thou expect me to do?"

"Guuuuuuys?" Leo freed himself and floated into the middle of the group, waving his arms around.

Cue the crash in 3... 2...

"I don't know." Yuna rubbed her right shoulder. "But the legends say your transformed state could create wind so powerful it could shield an entire city from any sort of weather!"

Seifer raised a brow. "So, what, you want him to blow the lava away?"

Yuna flinched. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

Leo:

Yuna: "... Leo? Is something wrong?"

Rayquaza frowned. "But Princess, I hath not used mega evolution since I forged my part of Eternatus' seal." He clicked his index claws together. "I doth not know if I'm capable of it in this state."

"Guys!"

Cue the hull loss event right about...

"Eep!" Yuna's torso schlurped into her rectangular head. "Something wrong, Leo?" The fake dreepy was surprisingly loud given his tiny body.

"Yes." He puffed out his ectoplasmic cheeks. "Everyone's talking about saving Centropolis, but we're not in Centropolis!"

Yuna: "Wait, wha-? Then where on earth are...?"

That was enough to get Widget out of his seat. "What are you talking about? We know Quasar Prime got swallowed by an anomaly. That's why we're here."

Still frowning, Leo floated onto Yuna's head and pointed to the window behind her. "Then explain that."

Everyone in the ship turned in the direction Leo was pointing. Smoke and fire filled the air, with tall buildings lining the ground and tiny dots all trying to move in the same direction. But what really caught Yuna's attention was a group of pelipper flying several meters away, carrying some sort of electronic sign.

EMERGENCY ALERT: ALL MALIE CITY RESIDENTS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!

... Didn't see that one coming. Though wait, are they all even in POV-2020 still right now? .-.

Noctum had never gone into a safe house before. He didn't exactly understand what made it safe to begin with. By all accounts, the house the waypoint had taken Team Bureau to lacked any strong fortifications. Apparently, that was the point, though? "Safe" meant unassuming. And that unassuming nature allowed it to provide safety to its inhabitants... from the Radiant Guard and Stoutland Yard.

I take it that there weren't drills back home of what to do in the event that Yuna needed to be whisked out of harm's way in the event of something like a foreign invasion, huh? Though nice soundtrack.

That didn't detract from the living room's coziness, though. Pictures of trains and the supposedly-famed Centrado Station sat on soft blue and pink-striped wallpaper. Bookshelves housed pieces covering the history of Radiance's railway system, along with engineering textbooks, and some unassuming nature photography collections. Model train sets sat on tables and the carpeted floor. The black charizard even flipped a switch on one and the tiny train began chugging along the tiny track.

Ah right, we were headed off to Radiance's little chunk of Not!Paldea. Will be interesting to see if it took after any particular parts of Spain thematically.

"Why is this place so train-themed, anyway?" Yiazmat wondered, floating somewhere behind Noctum. He sat on the floor, still watching the model train set in action. The rhythmic rattling of the train on the tracks brought a smile to his face. He had no idea why he found it soothing. It was a lot more... involved than his stamp collection, that was for sure.

Whelp, I know what's going to be on Noctum's wishlist for whatever analogue Aeon has for Christmas.

"This is the type of place an elderly couple would inhabit," Valkyrie responded. She stopped pacing near Noctum. He looked up and saw the incredulous expression on the garchomp's face.

"What? I think this is pretty cool." Noctum beamed at her.

Valkyrie: "... Of course you would."

"... tch. Dork." Valkyrie rolled her eyes and resumed pacing. "It's easy for cops to leave an elderly couple alone. And a place full of keepsakes from someone's glory days as a civil engineer is a good enough cover to stash our waypoint."

... Wait, so how on earth did the elderly couple get roped into this? Were they always linked to the Ryujin? Or did they get threatened into playing ball?

"Casaroja is the birthplace of Radiance's railway system," Igneous added. He sat on one side of an old sofa, leaning on its armrest. "Plenty of people who live here work there or have worked there."

So in other words, if this place is pulling from Spain, it'll vibe either with Barcelona or Madrid, since those are the two big cities in the history of Spanish railways.

Noctum nodded. That lined up with the goal of making this place as unassuming as possible. "So, how long do we stay here, exactly?"

"Just waiting to hear from our eyes on the ground," Igneous said, sitting up a bit straighter in his seat. "You trust this Dimitri guy, right?"

Oh, so we're finally going to see who Noctum and Baraz's boss is this chapter, huh? Or at least, I think that's where this is going.

Yiazmat looked insulted at the question. "Of course. I'd have sent Baraz with him, but I'm afraid he'd draw a bit too much attention." She lowered her head glumly. "For obvious reasons, of course."

Yeah, I suppose literally being halves of two separate Pokémon taped together would do that. Even if that makes me wonder what Dimitri's (though it's spelled "Dimitry" in some earlier chapters) species is.

"Seems like it was a pretty stupid idea to even bring him to Radiance in the first place."

Noctum was sorely tempted to stand up and issue a retort to Valkyrie, but Yiazmat responded first. "That's a fair, if blunt, point. Yuna likes him, though. I wanted her to be as happy as she could, given the circumstances."

Valkyrie: "Hasn't she not seen him in close to 20 chapters at this point?"

Noctum: "Look, I don't control how screentime gets divided up in this story, okay? The point is that he was intended to be there for her." >_>;

Valkyrie shrugged. "Whatever. Guess it's all moot anyway thanks to all this ****."

I can hear Baraz audibly protesting in the background for more of a role in this story right now. >:V

Noctum sighed in relief at Valkyrie dropping the subject. Maybe she was getting better at reigning in her attitude after all. The black charizard returned his attention to the model train, which had fallen off the track. He gingerly picked it up and placed it back on the track, where it immediately resumed moving. His tail flame grew a bit.

Valkyrie: "... Seriously, Noctum?"

Noctum: "What? It's mesmerizing!"

"Oh, that reminds me, Noctum. I had Gene go retrieve something for you."

Yiazmat floated over and dropped a circular armor plate beside him. Noctum looked at it and quickly realized it would cover his belly. "Ah." He glanced at the dragapult. "You don't want people to see this in public." Noctum pointed a finger at the Malice Crystal in his belly.

Oh hey, Noctum's going to get a chance to get his M08 on. Now we just need the rest of the armor suit. :V

"Would you?" Valkyrie piped up. "Scarlett doesn't even want to go out in the city thanks to her mug getting plastered all over the news. That belly gem of yours may as well be an 'I'm suspicious' sign."

The black charizard sighed. "I know." He nudged the armor piece with his left hand. "Just sucks I have to deal with it."

Noctum: "Not that going around as an armored Aeon is likely to really endear me much more to passers-by in these parts." >_>;

"Welcome to the club," Igneous said, lazily raising his right arm and waving it around.

Noctum managed to stop himself from countering that the grovlazzle consciously chose his present situation. He returned his attention to the train, which had finished another lap across the tracks.

Igneous: "Okay, seriously, can someone unplug that thing? We need to stay focused here!" >.<

"Sorry for the delay. The scouts finally reported back to me."

Sakaki's voice crackled through Noctum's X-transceiver. Everyone else in the room perked up in attention.

"What can you tell us?" Yiazmat floated toward the doorway that led out of the living room.

Wonder if said scouts managed to pick up on the death bugs rolling their way, or if that's going to wind up being a nasty surprise.

"Things remain peaceful so far," Sakaki reported. "A crowd is parading around the entrance to Centrado Station. It seems that a grapploct and a conkeldurr in red sweat suits are leading the crowd in chants of some... choice words."

>the Medicis made it out of Venish

Valkyrie kicked her leg back against the wall she leaned on. "Medicis? Figured they'd try to twist this into free publicity. Doesn't concern us."

"It does," Igneous growled. His tails smoldered with embers.

Noctum raised his right hand. "In what way?"

I mean, they were only butting heads and trying to snatch Scarlett out from under Chiaki/Igneous back in Venish, so...

Even if I'm not convinced that picking a fight with them right now is really such a smart idea.

"When I crashed Starlene's backstage area at the Venish concert, there were Medici thugs guarding it." Igneous grimaced. "Including this nickit and greedent duo guarding her trailer alongside the Mr. Rime I'm pretty sure is Minister Charles, but brainwashed to work for Eternatus."

>"""brainwashed"""

Yeah, let's go with that.

The black charizard chewed on that for a moment, then hopped to his feet with an, "Ahh!" He flinched when his tail knocked over a portion of the model train track. "I, uh— Yuna mentioned those two." Noctum bent down to try and tidy up the mess. "They're the ones who attacked her that morning at the academy."

"A rival syndicate went after my daughter?" Yiazmat sounded ready to fly out the door and challenge the Medicis herself. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Perhaps this protest is the work of Eternatus' forces, then?"

... So the Aeons really are connected to the Ryujin, huh? Since I can see that comment of Yiazmat's there. Makes me wonder which of the two is ultimately calling the shots relative to the other.

"... tch. I bet the Medicis would hitch their wagon to Paradox's to save their sorry asses." Valkyrie huffed out blue-purple embers. "What do you think?"

... Which sounds like an absolutely terrible and short-sighted idea, but par for the course for most criminals, really.

Noctum finished putting the broken train track pieces together and stood up. "Um, what about the robo bugs? Are they here, too?"

"They're not at the protest," Sakaki said. "In fact, we believe one was sighted going into the train station."

So they do know about the robo bugs. But that ain't good there.

"So, they're going to ride a train?" Noctum wondered, scratching his head. That seemed stupid. They could fly, right? Why would they need a train?

"Cyril, you there?" Igneous said, tapping his right foot on the carpet. "Any chance you can get any information on Centrado's rail schedule?"

"Pfbt. 'Any chance,' he says." Cyril's chuckling filled Noctum's ear frills. "Yeah, I looked into it when I spotted the bugs on a camera feed. They're genesect, by the way. Old fossils the emperor tried bringing to life and outfitting with giant cannons. When they proved no match for Boss Kitty, he scrapped the project."

Wow, so Polaris really was functionally being used as a front by the QN to mess with the surface world. Since those Genesect they allegedly built are literally copy-pastes of failed tech from the QN.

"So how the hell did Isola get a hold of them?" Valkyrie growled.

"Beats me," Cyril replied. "I'm just here to be the schedule lookup guy, apparently." He laughed again while Valkyrie rolled her eyes and huffed more dragonfire embers. "And it looks as though Centrado station is closed to commuter rail transit today."

*cough cough* Dermezel totally did it.

"What?" Igneous tensed up. The grovlazzle's tails curled. "That's impossible. Centrado's the biggest station in the country. It never shutters."

"I don't know what to tell ya, kid," Cyril said. "I only see authorization details for one train: a heavily armored freighter. Other details are redacted."

Oh, so we're about to relive the FF7 opening, huh? Since it sure feels like we're about to relive the FF7 opening.

Valkyrie pushed herself off the wall. "A freight train? Those don't usually run through there. Where's it heading?"

Cyril sighed. "Redacted."

Noctum frowned. "Freight trains carry supplies?"

Igneous: "Noctum, just what on earth do you think 'freight' is-?"

Noctum: "Look, we don't have a ton of vehicles that aren't Pokémon powered back in Aeon, alright?" >_>;

Igneous and Valkyrie nodded.

"Maybe they're bringing stuff to help Venish?" the black charizard said. "We're, uh, not that far from it. And if they're worried about something bad happening to the supplies, they'd want to keep it a secret, right?"

I'd be shocked if this was even semi-correct.

"You really expect me to believe Isola would activate a swarm of these genesect thingies for a supply run?" Valkyrie scoffed. "Nah." She paced in the doorway. "Something stinks to high heaven about this. I want a closer look."

No, but her kid who's off his rocker and being played like a fiddle by her closest adviser might do it.

Yiazmat's tail crinkled. "I'm still worried about this protest, but that does sound concerning."

Noctum stretched out his wings. "Then let's fly over and—"

"Idiot. We can't fly to a place crawling with guards," Valkyrie said. "We gotta go on foot."

Wait, why is that an issue again? Since they'll be spotted? Or is the airspace closed or something?

Igneous quirked a brow. "And what should we do when we actually get there? There'll be Radiant Guard on the ground, too."

A toothy grin spread over the garchomp's mouth. "We rile up the protesters a bit. And when the Radiant Guard jumps in to quash it, we sneak into the station."

Wow, that sounds more than a little messed-up as a plan there. Definitely clever, though.

Yiazmat shook her head. "I'm not looking to cause a scene."

"Then leave it to me." Valkyrie thumped her chest with her right arm. "I know how to get under Medici skin."

"No, I mean in general." The dragapult crossed her arms. "There has to be a way to get there that doesn't involve whipping a peaceful protest into a frenzy."

Valkyrie: "Oh come on, are you really implying that these Radiant Guard clods don't have it coming?" >:|
Yiazmat: "I was thinking more of the protestors, but yes, actually." >_>;
Valkyrie: "Look, half of that crowd's a bunch of speciesist assholes anyways, who cares if the Radiant Guard cracks a few of their heads?" >.<

"We still don't know how legit this protest actually is, though," Igneous said, frowning. "If the empire's got a plan, maybe Val crashing the party will unknowingly disrupt it?"

"It's reckless," Yiazmat countered. "I don't like it."

Which knowing how plots like these work, means that we're going to do it and then swiftly regret it an hour later.

The grovlazzle flinched at her first comment. He turned away from Yiazmat, scowling. "Got any better ideas?"

"If I may?"

That was Cid.

Valkyrie sighed. "Oh, great, the egghead."

Valkyrie: "Look, if you're going to take Queen Boomerang's side here, this had better be good." >_>;

"Casaroja's sewer system includes the rail station. You might be able to get in that way."

Noctum: "Well, looks like you got your wish, Your Highness. Though... uh... are we sure we don't want to stick with riling up the crowd?"

"Hell no!" The garchomp wrinkled her snout in disgust. "I ain't wading through sewage. I'll take my chances with my idea."

"You will not."

Valkyrie stiffened at Sakaki's voice. The fight immediately drained from her face. "Sir?" she whispered.

Whelp, guess Val's wading through sewage after all. Though I'm reminded of that one moment from R&C2 where Ratchet gets similarly surprised by getting tasked to do a sewer run. o<o

"You are valuable assets and I will not see you risk yourselves unnecessarily," the nidoking said. "Try the sewer method first. If there are guards down there, then Valkyrie can enact her plan. Is that a deal?"

Valkyrie: "Boss, can we flip things around such that we don't start with literally jumping straight into other people's sh-"

Sakaki:

"The tunnels are waiting, Valkyrie. Get to it."

Noctum wondered whether Igneous or Valkyrie had to agree. The grovlazzle bowed his head. "Yes, sir," he said, his tone neutral.

"Good. Keep us updated."

Igneous sucked in a sharp breath. "Will do."

Valkyrie: "Chiaki! If you didn't like the idea either, you could've spoken up-!"

Igneous: "No, that's just the daddy issues in action. Come on, let's get down there... and hope that they're well-ventilated since otherwise I'm probably going to blow something up just strutting around." >_>;

Noctum swallowed hard. So, this was the kind of authority a Yakuza boss wielded? It made his neck scales prickle. And the queen cooperates with him willingly?

The black charizard pushed those thoughts aside as he lumbered toward the doorway.

Huh, guess that the Ryujin might be the ones calling the shots in this arrangement after all from that line from Noctum. Though I stand by my theory that the Ryujin go way, way back with Aeon in history. It would explain a lot about the stuff that's been happening.

"Madame Archbishop."

Oh, well that's ominous. And not just because of the ominous song potholed. Time to see who got Paradox's job as a hand-me-down.

Sticky saluted the oversized serperior propelling herself across the cold steel floor with her thorny vines. Dozens of poipole and xurkitree workers similarly stood at attention, a few of the former shifting about nervously. The naganadel floated after her, making for the giant, mechanical hydreigon hanging from harnesses on the other side of the room.

Uroboros' serperior head split apart, revealing the seviper inside. She scrutinized the machine. "This is it, then?"

Ah, there's our verdict there. And I see you're already throwing Paradox 'mons into the fray, even if I suspect that this one actually might turn out to be less weird than canonical Iron Jugulis.

"Yes." Sticky glanced down at his tablet. "An autonomous combat unit made with multiple parts of the hydreigon evolution line and Eterna energy, running off data from the defunct Type: Zodiark alpha model. We call it the Iron Jugulis."

Ah yes, putting this into the package of a mechanical Hydreigon. What could possibly go wrong?

"I don't care what it's called," Uroboros scoffed. She yawned into a thorny vine. "We both know the emperor only cares that it gets results."

"Right." Sticky returned his attention to his tablet. "This was, um, cobbled together quite quickly, so it may—"

"Bring it online."

"I beg your pardon?"

Sticky: "Uroboros, did you not just hear me say that we cobbled this together quickly and-"

The seviper head stared Sticky down. "Bring it online. Cassius just informed His Excellency the Benefactor's prisoners are sending their pathetic aid shipment to the city we ransacked. We can't allow that to happen."

Wait, so Dermezel wasn't completely lying through his teeth to Shimmer? Wasn't expecting that one.

"Could we not send some Eternatus Troopers, instead?" Sticky asked. This seemed like a bad idea hot on the heels of losing both the Seekerskorch and its pilot.

"We will. But His Excellency wants bigger fire power, as well."

Though I can already tell that events in Casaroja are going to get explosive in short order.

"I understand." Sticky looked over his shoulder and nodded at some poipole. They floated away in a hurry. "The team will get right on that."

"Very good." The seviper retreated back inside the serperior head, which closed itself back up.

As Uroboros turned to leave the room, the Iron Jugulis whirred to life. Bright purple light from its LED heads spilled over Sticky.

For the Benefactor.

Sticky: "I'm... just going to back away and put a safe distance between myself and Iron Jugulis right about now."

OSL: Ginnungagap, the Cosmic Mystery Dungeon
Also known as the bridge between worlds. This constantly shifting realm of space-time is the threads holding the omniverse together. The deeper one travels through it, the more it changes to reflect the states of nearby dimensions. However, any living soul that spends too long inside of it will find themselves blown away to a distant corner of the omniverse. This can lead a soul to corrode into a Whisper.

Boy does that sound convenient as a plot device for teeing up crossovers with other ones. Though I suppose that all but confirms that Yuna and the rest of Team Gene aren't in PoV-2020 right now.

Alright, made it to the end. Definitely an ominous note to leave things on on multiple fronts, though I have to wonder how on earth you manage to keep things ramping up like this. Since every time when I think we've hit a peak for crazy in this story, something comes along to prove me wrong. Definitely doing a good job at keeping your audience on its toes.

As for criticisms... I don't have too many, other than that while you lampshaded it a bit, it does feel like some of the characters are being neglected a bit and it makes me wonder if/when we'll see them again in more detail. Cid and Baraz come to mind in particular. Though I suppose I can't harp on things too hard given that at this point in time, the story has 6+ active plot perspectives and each individual chapter usually only has enough space to get to at most 3 of them at once. Something to keep in mind for if a condensing is in the cards further along in the plot.

But all-in-all, I had fun with things @Ambyssin . Especially with the way you're tying in plot threads that I had honestly forgotten about for a while. Best of luck with your writing, and I'll be looking forward to the new chapter this weekend.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 58: City Slicking​

I'd say I'm pretty new to this journaling thing. Don't even remember who suggested it. The group leader? Maybe one of the Diyems? Guess my memory is getting fuzzier, but when you were once mortal, some things stick. I bet some gods have every memory filed away neatly like papers in a cabinet.

I start my "assignment" tomorrow. It's not that strict or well-defined, really. I'm traveling to other worlds and cataloging them. Like the people watching I'd sometimes do when I visited my grandparents in the Big Apple. When I go to another world, I'll be bound by whatever rules govern it, so I won't be nearly as powerful. It's kind of relieving to hear that, to be honest. Even though I've had plenty of time to practice with my powers, I'm always worried about overdoing it. Especially now that I've got a new body for my core.

I'm glad that, if I find spirits I need to guide or encounter something serious, there are people I can reach out to for advice. I've done enough "leading." I'm content to watch the days go by.

XxX​

After realizing this wasn't the city the team expected to find, no one protested Gene's decision to quickly land the ship on the outskirts. Apparently, it had something called a "cloaking device," that would keep it hidden. The mewtwo parked it on a large grassy knoll overlooking the city and its strange buildings with roofs of wavy tiles. Like an ocean of tiles if oceans were brown instead of blue.

The moment Yuna floated out of the ship, her body shriveled. Sirens blared. People's cries and the rhythmic thumping of footsteps on gravel filled the air. So did a rainbow assortment of different flying pokémon. The drakloak spotted a flygon carrying what must have been a human family, while multiple pelipper held several tiny humans — children, probably — in their giant orange beaks. They kept stealing glances at the lava suspended overhead. No doubt fearful the time freeze would stop.

But some of the flying pokémon weren't heading toward the ocean in the distance. Yuna spotted magnezone and metang ridden by humans in blue uniforms. It reminded her a bit of what Seifer wore before he got fired. She glanced at the keldeo who himself was looking at his flanks with a wistful longing in his eyes.

"It looks like there's a police force trying to lead an evacuation," Seifer said, sighing.

"This isn't the time to get nostalgic!" Widget's cheek bolts revved up in their sockets. "This is the time to take action! To save people!"

Yuna squinted. She thought Widget's behavior was a bit silly, but he had a point. They couldn't sit around.

"Hey, Mom?"

Leo poked his fake dreepy head into Yuna's line of sight. "Do you think any of these people are from our dimension?"

That was what she originally assumed. Since the city name didn't match what the team expected, however, all bets were off. The drakloak shrugged and nudged Leo's head. "Whatever the case, I think we need to help."

"Help how?" Nikki scratched her head. "I've never talked to a human. Would they even understand us?"

"Well, you do have a super powerful, telepathy-equipped psychic on your side." Gene swam on his back through midair, tapping his temple. "If anyone can get the message across, it's me."

"Then why not find someone who looks like they're in charge so we can get to the bottom of this?" Seifer said, squinting at the mewtwo.

Gene stopped swimming and winked at Seifer. "Of course. Shouldn't be too hard." He jerked his head behind him. "One of those officers has to be calling the shots. I'll pick 'em out quick as a flash."

He took off for the nearest metang-riding policewoman, leaving the rest of Team Bastion behind. "What do we do in the meantime?" Widget paced around, his starcloud swirling around his neck. "Maybe get a better sense of what's going on with the volcano?"

"You wanna walk up to a bunch of lava suspended in midair?" Nikki slowly bowed. "Sure thing, be my guest. It's your funeral."

"We shouldn't stand around waiting for Gene," the cosmic type: full countered. "Not when a whole city's in danger!"

"A volcano's too much for some of us to handle." The toxtricity crossed her arms. "I bet the heat alone will fry your circuits or some ****."

Widget opened his beak, then closed it. He shuffled away from Nikki, brushing his gold forelegs together and looking around nervously. "What about Drakloak?" Widget looked at Yuna. "You said something about that chocolate noodle that burst out of your pendant earlier."

Before Yuna could respond, her Soul Dew glistened. Rayquaza's small, black head poked out of it. "Now, see here! Tis Sir Noodle!" He blinked several times. "No, wait, I meant Rayquaza! At least have the decency to address me by name."

"Okay, Sir Noodle Rayquaza." Widget stepped toward Yuna. "Isn't there some way you can help?"

"I said my piece back on the ship." Rayquaza looked down glumly. "Mayhaps my mega evolution could allow it, but I doth not know if I can achieve it anymore."

Widget's ears and head crest drooped. Yuna believe Rayquaza, but could tell Widget wouldn't except that answer.

"Look, Widget—"

"Yo."

"Meep!"

Yuna shriveled up at Gene's surprise return, inadvertently sucking Rayquaza back into the Soul Dew. "Cripes! A little warning next time!" she hissed over Leo's giggling.

"I love it when your body does that," the fake dreepy chirped, clapping his hands.

Gene landed on the grass, smirking. "That was the warning." He snapped his fingers and pointed his right hand up. "Meet Lieutenant Molayne."

A particularly pale human rode toward them on a magnezone. His blue helmet didn't fully hide his blonde hair and, even though he wore goggles over his eyes, Yuna spotted bags. Given the circumstances, she didn't blame the guy for being exhausted.

"This is your vaunted team?" Molyane sounded as tired as Yuna thought he looked. "Good grief. First Lanakila Volcano and now Mewtwo shows up out of the blue with some random pack of kiddos?" He practically leaned over the strange guard rail surrounding Magnezone's head. "I'd tell Magnezone to give me a jolt to make sure I'm not dreaming, but I did that already."

"Oi, who you calling a kid?" Nikki's mohawk sparked.

"Bulu's horns!" Molayne tightly gripped Magnezone's guardrail. "She can talk?!"

"I can do a lot more than that." Nikki cracked her knuckles. "We're here to fix stuff, so give us stuff that needs fixing!"

Yuna glanced at Gene, who appeared just as surprised as Molayne. She figured he used his psychic powers to translate. Guess not. Weird.

"Is it?" Reshiram hummed in her mind. "We could all read that emergency sign before, right? Why wouldn't we be able to understand the people here?

It's the "why" I'm concerned with. Though Yuna knew Reshiram wouldn't have an explanation. She'd have to keep this thought in mind for later.

Molayne pinched his brow, nearling cupping a finger underneath his goggles. "This has gotta be some sort of Plasma Society shenanigans. I mean, Team Plasma made Mewtwo. There's a dozen movies and counting on it. Why wouldn't that N guy come up with pokémon-to-human translators?"

"No idea what the hell a Team Plasma is," Gene said, nonchalantly waving Molayne off. "Did I not mention we're from another dimension? Because we're from another dimension."

Silence. Molayne rubbed his temples, groaning. "You could've led with that."

"Wait, you're not surprised?" Yuna raised a brow.

Something on Molayne's right chest crackled to life. A radio, if Yuna had to guess. He grabbed the black square and pressed the button. "What's the situation?"

"It's terrible, sir! Turtonator stampede!" a panicked female voice cried.

"What?"

Yuna didn't think a single word could sound that exhausting. How sleep deprived was this guy?

"Turtonator don't stampede," Molayne said.

"They do when a rock slide's carrying them right in the direction of one of our city evacuation paths!"

"Perfect." Gene snapped his fingers. "I can handle a rock-and-turtonator slide no problem. And it'll give us a closer look at the volcano."

"I can't just have civilians throwing themselves in like that—" Molayne stopped himself. "Wait, what am I saying? This isn't the time for semantics." He tapped Magnezone with his right foot. "Gimme the keldeo. People see a Sword of Justice helping with evacuation and maybe it'll ease some of the panic."

"You can have him and the bird." Gene jerked his head in Jade's direction.

"Yes, sir." Jade saluted, but smacked her face with her right wing. "Ow! Stupid big yaoi lugia wings."

Seifer didn't acknowledge the order, however. Yuna saw him mouthing "Sword of Justice" to himself repeatedly, until Molayne blew a whistle and he jumped to attention with a whinny.

"Get your acts together and follow me," Molayne said, turning toward the city atop Magnezone. "The rest of you, get to the northwest on the double."

He zoomed off. Jade flapped after him with Seifer on her back.

"You heard him." Gene cracked his knuckles. "I'll play turtonator wrangler while you guys try and get a closer look at the volcano."

Yuna glanced at the lava frozen in time. Well, it's some semblance of a plan...

XxX​

Noctum assumed sewers were similar to damp caves: dark, cramped, and panic-inducing for pokémon with crippling rock weaknesses like charizard. Instead, Igneous and Valkyrie led Team Bureau into a spacious area with large, arched ceilings of gray and red stone. Heck, Noctum could have flown alongside Yiazmat if he really wanted.

The black charizard stared at the water streaming between two large stone walkways littered with random metal tiles. Some of them had these machines with levers and wheels and colorful buttons that Noctum had to resist the urge to press. He followed tubing to metal sheets in the waterway. Darker water headed toward the metal sheets, and lighter water flowed away from them.

"It's like magic," Noctum muttered, scratching his chin while he walked beside Igneous.

"They're treatment and filtration systems," Igneous scoffed. "Dirty sewer water goes in, the dirt and grime gets filtered, chemicals purify what's left, and cleaner water goes out."

Noctum scrutinized one of the metal sheets. He couldn't see any of the stuff the grovlazzle described, so as far as the charizard was concerned, it was magic.

"It's a lot cleaner than I expected," Valkyrie said. The garchomp kept at the front of the group, eyes darting around. Noctum wondered if she expected some sort of ambush.

The genesect wouldn't go into the sewers, would they?

"What were you expecting, exactly?" Yiazmat wondered. Unlike the others, the dragapult flew over the water, eyes trained in front of her.

"Muk and grimer," Valkyrie replied. "There are rainbow-colored ones here in Radiance that can clean up pollution. Thought cities employed them to work in sewers like these."

"Don't forget weezing," Igneous added. "Though I guess they're better suited for filtering air."

"If I had to guess, Polaris automated all this stuff. Put those muk and grimer out of jobs," Valkyrie said.

Noctum didn't think it was that simple. "Don't they need someone to, like, check on the equipment?" He figured workers had to be around somewhere. Would they try to chase the team away?

"There are totally some engineers who maintain this stuff," Cyril chimed in through the X-transceiver. "My guess is they make rounds at specific times and otherwise keep tabs from a more... pleasant location."

"Wait." Noctum froze, grabbing his tail and bringing it close to his body. "Does that mean... there are cameras here? Are we being watched?"

"Of course there are cameras. How else are they supposed to keep watch of this place?"

Noctum stiffened and gripped his tail tighter. "W-Why didn't anyone say so in the first place?!" The black charizard looked around in a panic. "How is this any better than taking our chances with the crowd?"

Igneous silently raised his right hand, producing some sort of rod. It flickered with light not unlike Noctum's tail flame.

"What does a stick have to do with this?" Noctum said.

"It's a jammer, you dolt," Valkyrie scoffed.

Noctum stumbled. His wings unfolded to stop him from taking a plunge into the sewer water. "Jam, like for eating? Are you magically covering the cameras in jam?" He looked down at his armor-covered belly and mumbled, "I could go for some jam. Grape jam and toast."

Valkyrie facepalmed.

Cyril's chuckles crackled through Noctum's X-transceiver. "That rod emits a signal to block nearby cameras. And only cameras. Can't have the sewer system going offline on us, after all."

"That still means we can be tracked, doesn't it?" Yiazmat said, eyes darting left and right as she rounded a corner in the sewer next to Valkyrie. "Whoever's watching could trace the path of blocked cameras to find us."

Valkyrie clapped her arm fins together. "Which is why we need to stop dawdling to answer questions from dense charizard and start picking up the pace." The garchomp leaned forward, walking faster over the stone and metal corridor. Igneous jogged after her.

Noctum's tail flame shrank slightly. With weak flaps of his wings, he took to the air to avoid holding up the group with his stubbier legs.

"Do you always get like this on your assignments?" he wondered.

"No. Because I usually work alone." Valkyrie stopped at a sewer intersection. "And I don't have to go very far to take out a target. We done playing twenty questions?"

Noctum's shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry. Still not up to speed on all this stuff."

"Neither is your queen, but she's kept quiet," Valkyrie huffed.

Yiazmat tapped her index fingers together. "Admittedly I have more experience from prior trips here."

And correspondence with Sakaki, Noctum silently added.

"Okay, head right and then the third corridor on the right side should get you into the station," Cyril instructed.

With a running start, Valkyrie glided over the sewer water onto the opposite metal platform so she could proceed. Igneous followed after her, manifesting fiery volcarona wings to cross the gap. Noctum and Yiazmat exchanged a look, then flew after them.

"You fly well for someone meant to be grounded," Yiazmat said to Igneous. The grovlazzle didn't respond, but the slight wince told Noctum he wasn't pleased with the compliment.

"Found the spot." Valkyrie waved the others over while pointing at the wall with her other arm.

When Noctum reached the garchomp, he saw the metal corridor that gave way to a grated ramp ending at a cold, gray door with both a Polaris logo and an icon of a train car. Plainly obvious, but the strange black square on the right side of the door gave Noctum pause.

"Wait." The black charizard crossed his arms and squinted. "This door is locked, isn't it?"

"Yup." Valkyrie walked toward it anyway.

Eyes widening, Noctum flew after her. "Hang on. You're not about to try and bust it down, are you?"

Valkyrie paused to smirk at Noctum. "Please. We have better ways of dealing with that."

Noctum blinked. "We do?"

"Well, I do." Cyril chuckled through the X-transceiver.

A few seconds passed and the black box suddenly lit up green. Hisses and whirrs echoed down the corridor as the floor magically swallowed up the steel door.

"... oh," Noctum whispered. Cyril must have used some of his magical machine hacking.

"You coming or not?" Valkyrie called, already halfway up the ramp alongside Igneous and Yiazmat.

"Yeah!" Noctum flapped his wings, but stopped short when loud rumbling filled his ears. He looked down. Definitely not my belly.

The rumbling got louder, accompanied by the whining of metal grinding against metal. Instinctual fear of a cave in gripped Noctum. His tail flame shrank. His heart thundered in his chest. "What's going on?" His pupils narrowed. "We have to get out of here!"

"Relax." Valkyrie held up her arms and waved them. "The train's leaving. Don't you remember the noise from when you went to Herbrides?"

Noctum's heart rate steadied. "It's... much different underground." He tapped his claws together nervously.

"Wait, but we're trying to catch that train, are we not?" Yiazmat said. The dragapult shot toward the door. "Quickly!"

Igneous and Valkyrie exchanged concerned looks, then dashed after her. Noctum again brought up the rear, entering a red and brown stairwell with a visible elevator shaft next to it. The elevator platform was on the ground level, so the black charizard chose to fly up and make up ground with the others.

"Oi, Cyril, what gives?" Valkyrie growled, taking the stairs two or three at a time. "I thought you said the train was scheduled to leave in forty minutes. We couldn't have been down there that long."

"Yeah, I know," the cosmic zoroark responded. "They must've given an incorrect departure time. Whatever's on that train, they really don't want anyone finding out about it."

"Well, it's a freight train," Igneous said. He was the first to reach the top of the staircase, with Noctum emerging through a gap in the elevator shaft not long after. The brown door in front of the grovlazzle didn't have a lock. "It can't move that fast, but I have no idea how we'd catch it."

Igneous gestured to the door and Valkyrie rammed her shoulder against it, opening it. A dimly lit hallway stretched out in front of Team Bureau. Yellow lights lined the ceiling and floor, some shaped like arrows pointing in different directions.

"Which way to the tracks?" Yiazmat wondered, hovering into the hallway. Noctum could barely see her under the lights. "Perhaps they left some loading equipment around that we can use to get a better idea of what happened."

"Head for the fourth intersection, go left, and take that hallway to the second door," Cyril responded. "That'll put you at the track the train left from. I've got the camera footage."

"Got it." Yiazmat nodded to the others. "Let's work in teams of two. Igneous, you're with me. Valkyrie and Noctum, bring up the rear."

The garchomp looked ready to protest, but Yiazmat appeared in the doorway, grabbed a startled igneous, and shot off down the hallway.

"Fine." Valkyrie licked her lips. "Keep up with me, dork." Then she took off running.

Sighing, Noctum flew after her, wings beating hard to keep pace. The black charizard had no idea why they were rushing if the train had already left. They had lost the point of coming to the station in the first place. Why skulk around and risk getting caught by Radiant Guard just for a chance at finding some boxes or machinery?

"We're almost at the railyard door," Igneous announced. "Cyril, are you looking at the video footage at all?"

Noctum flapped his wings faster. Even with a passenger, Yiazmat was as fast as ever. He and Valkyrie had only passed the third intersection, with nothing but red and brown stones and tiny yellow lights surrounding them. Noctum wasn't surprised no one was around. There was nothing here worth guarding, from what he could tell.

"Yeah. The genesect follow the train as it leaves the station," Cyril reported. "I guess they did show up to offer an armored escort and— wait, hold on. The hell is that yellow cloud by the middle car?"

Valkyrie tucked her head down, increasing her speed. Noctum's tail flame flickered. Though he kept flapping his wings, Valkyrie was faster on the ground than he was in the air. He had a pretty good idea of why she was running faster, though.

"Is the cloud still there?" Noctum asked.

"No. It went inside the train," Cyril said. "Nobody even seemed to notice it. Let me change to a different cam—"

"Xeromus!"

Noctum sucked in a sharp breath. Of all the things Cid could have blurted out through the X-transceiver, that was arguably the worst option. A metallic slam sounded ahead of the black charizard. He guessed Igneous or Yiazmat had opened the door into the railyard. He still had sight of Valkyrie after making the turn at the fourth intersection.

"How can you be sure of that?" Cyril asked. "The footage isn't that great."

"I recognize the cloak of the monster who's attacked me multiple times," Cid responded.

Valkyrie went through the railyard door. Noctum reached it before it fully shut and thrust it open with his right arm. Bright daylight forced him to throw an arm up to shield his face. He landed on cold, stone ground, blinking rapidly until he finally adjusted to the daylight.

If the sewer's ceilings had high arches, the railyard's were massive. Large red arches with glass panels in between that tinted the daylight slightly orange. Red train tracks ran in neat parallel lines, alternating with red brick platforms for passengers to board.

In fact, red was the dominant theme. Red benches. Red railings. Red ramps and stairs leading down to the boarding platforms. Blank screens with red borders that probably showed rail schedules under normal circumstances. Even the garbage cans were red!

It was a bit much, in Noctum's opinion. But this wasn't the time to critique the interior design. "Anyone see Xeromus?" The black charizard looked around, but outside of his teammates he didn't see anyone in the railyard.

"No." Igneous hovered in the air with his fiery wings, Leaf Blades at the ready. "We must have missed him.

"So what are those things flying in the distance, then?" Yiazmat wondered, hovering back and forth the closest to where the railyard opened to the outside, with train tracks running in different directions to exit the city. "They remind me of metallic beheeyem."

Noctum's tail sparked. Oh no. He flew toward Yiazmat, following the dragapult's gaze. Sure enough, he saw Eternatus Gunners flying away from the city. Noctum looked over his shoulder. "Eternatus Troopers! I bet they're going after the train!"

"Seriously?" Valkyrie jogged toward them. "Okay, there's got to be something going on with that train. Why send a bunch of troops to attack if it's just a simple supply run?"

Yiazmat crossed her arms. "To demoralize the enemy, perhaps? It could be seen as a wartime tactic. Deprive civilians of supplies to entice the enemy to surrender."

Noctum resisted the urge to point out how concerning it was Yiazmat immediately jumped to such a thought. No trains existed in Aeon until after Yiazmat became queen, meaning she must have come up with the idea herself in case the treaty went south.

"Is it worth getting involved, though?" Valkyrie crossed her arms and squinted. "Let the empire and the genesect blast each other apart. Makes our lives easier. Besides, our assignment was to investigate what the genesect are up to. We know they're not disrupting the protests, so we're done here."

The garchomp was right. Plus, they were four pokémon and only Yiazmat had a chance of catching up to the Troopers and genesect. It sounded like the safest thing to do was go back and plan their next move from the safety house.

... At least, Noctum thought that until Igneous abruptly whirled around, Leaf Blades igniting and snarled, "I know you're there, Xeromus! Show yourself!"

Wheezing laughter emerged behind Noctum. He flew away from it, but spun around in midair and remained on guard. Black, inky tendrils twisted and coiled around one another, settling into the tattered cloak draped over Xeromus' large body. His gray, beady eyes focused on Igneous.

"Isn't it funny? How the ether spawns such clashing forces?" Xeromus' helmeted head swayed from side to side. "It says conflicting things, yet those words all point toward the same truth."

"Shut up!" Igneous spewed flaming bullet seeds at Xeromus, but he vanished in a puff of dark smoke, reappearing beside Valkyrie.

"Don't chase them. Retreat," he rasped. "Because your choices don't matter."

Valkyrie tried to slash him with dragon claws, but he again disappeared. Xeromus reappeared upside-down in midair. Noctum wondered if he should try and attack, but thought it useless. Even with that bulky helmet and heavy chains, Xeromus effortlessly teleported circles around them.

"Why are you here?" Noctum growled. At least, keeping him babbling would stop him from attacking... right?

"I was seeing off a friend." Xeromus sounded jovial. He locked eyes with Igneous again. "I'm sure you're familiar with him."

The grovlazzle's eyes widened. His tails curled up and smoldered. "Damn it! That yellow cloud Cyril saw... it was the monster I saw him summon when I passed out!"

"A monster? I see. So, that is how you would view our savior." Xeromus shook his head, coughs rattling his helmet. "Then the ether still digs its claws into you. Just as it sends two opposing sides at one another, knowing the only outcome is that of stagnation."

Noctum had... no idea what Xeromus was talking about, but it got a reaction out of Igneous. Leaf blades fizzling out, he gripped his head and shook it. "You put... a daemon on that train! You want it to attack Venish!"

"A worthless omen like me has no real desires," Xeromus replied, shaking his head amidst another coughing fit. "This is about Natus offering his Love to those who have suffered enough. Saving them from the ether's steady march toward stagnation. Turning back," he glanced at Valkyrie, "is what the ether wants. It continues that march."

There was one thing Noctum could try. Based on a hunch Yuna had. He clenched his fists. "Why are you doing this, Nova? You still have a real desire! Gene is still here... hoping for your return!"

Xeromus didn't even acknowledge Noctum. He vanished in another puff of smoke and reappeared where the railyard opened to the outside. "I can't influence you, because nothing I do matters. Nothing I say matters. The ether will continue marching on its path regardless what happens. Natus will try to fight it through sharing His love, but who he gets to share it with falls on a choice only you can make." Xeromus looked at Igneous again, before another coughing fit overtook him.

"The train route to Venish... it crosses a bridge, yes?" he continued, turning his back to the group. "An old, stone bridge over a quaint little lake with a quaint little village beside it."

Yiazmat blasted fireballs from her horns at Xeromus, but spectral chains emerged from his cloak and strangled them, snuffing out the flames.

"If the ether's forces clash for too long, they may destroy the bridge. Keh heh..." Wheezing stifled Xeromus' excitement. "And then the train shall fall. And the quaint little lake with its quaint little village will welcome Natus' embrace with open arms.

"Or, perhaps, the train makes it across... but the fighting continues into Venish." Xeromus slowly turned around. "The paths look different, but the ending is the same. Unless, that is, you choose to act." He looked at Igneous again.

The grovlazzle responded by summoning... a crimson honedge? He hurled it at Xeromus and, for the first time, Noctum saw genuine alarm in the beast's eyes. He didn't teleport or parry, but lunged out of the way.

"Keh heh. Such fiery defiance." Xeromus wheezed heavily. "I'm glad... Natus chose you, to accept His special gift."

He shuffled away from Team Bureau. "I can't wait... to see... what you choose. I'm sure... it will be interesting."

Igneous dove toward the sword, but Xeromus vanished in a cloud of shadowy chains before he could grab it. "Damn it!" Embers smoldered on the grovlazzle's tail.

"He's bluffing," Valkyrie growled. "He has to be, right?"

"He's not." Cid tittered in Noctum's ear frill. "There is a rather long bridge on the route to Venish. It never got renovated because it's a historical spot for the nearby town."

Noctum swallowed hard. "Then... do we try and chase after them? Only the queen is fast enough to make up ground."

"I think Cyril has an idea. He ran off," Cid said.

"Hell yeah I do." Cyril's shout startled Noctum, who nearly pulled off the X-transceiver. "Noctum, open a rift to the entrance of my outpost."

"Uh... okay." The black charizard was skeptical, but he figured that Cyril might have had a ship for the team to use. He flew outside and concentrated on the Malice Crystal in his stomach. The jagged purple rift splintered open in front of him. An engine's roar followed and Noctum had seconds to fly out of the way before a rounded vehicle painted to look like a piplup drifted out of the rift and skidded to a halt on the boundary between the railyard and the outside tracks.

"What the hell?" Valkyrie's jaw slackened. "Is that... a freaking pizza truck?"

The truck had a piplup head, complete with an orange beak that sported black spokes on either side, and eyes representing windows. One of them rolled down and the cosmic zoroark stuck his head out. He wore a pokebase cap resembling a piplup's head.

"A modified pizza truck, thank you very much!" Cyril said. "That old clunker hovership we drove around Eterna City in can't catch up to the train with the head start it has. This baby's got some... special features. Now, hop in. We've got a train to catch."

The piplup's torso, which had a picture of a piplup with a comical mustache, chef's hat, and white apron holding a pizza box reading "Pippino's Pizza," opened up on the same side as Cyril. Instead of any sort of oven or kitchen area like a food truck supposedly had, the black charizard saw strange monitors and black leather seats.

He took a step forward, but Cyril thumped his right arm against the side of the truck. "Not you. I need you and the queen covering our six. Got it?"

Noctum spread his wings out and looked skeptically at them. "Are you sure? I'm not nearly as fast a flier."

"I'm sure," Cyril said. Igneous and Valkyrie had climbed aboard. Both looked at Noctum and shrugged.

"This better work, Cyril," the grovlazzle growled.

Cyril smirked. "Trust me. If I can get a pizza across Eterna City in thirty minutes or less, I can catch a train." He ducked his head back inside and rolled up the window. The rear door also closed as the engine roared to life once again.

"And we're off!" Cyril declared. The truck weaved into a spot between two sets of train tracks and took off across the dirt.

Startled, Noctum scrambled into the air and flew after the truck. Yiazmat passed him almost immediately.

The black charizard gulped. I sure hope this works.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 59: Fist of the Warmth Star​

"Everyone, please! Stay in line! We're getting you onto the ships as fast as we can!"

Despite a human policewoman talking into a megaphone from atop a hovering metang, Seifer saw people pushing and shoving. Some humans had smaller humans in their arms. Others carried pokémon. A few rode larger pokémon like mudsdale that were unnerved by all the activity.

"What exactly is the problem that we can help with?" Seifer asked, clinging to Jade's back as best he could. He wasn't even sure if the salugia could use any psychic powers like Gene. Not that he knew what good ESP would do in this situation.

"Getting people on the boats," Molayne responded. He pointed far ahead, where more police officers directed scared humans of different shapes and sizes down two wooden docks toward a couple of gray boats. "We have boats in the harbor on standby, but we only have two docks. It's not quick enough."

Seifer looked over his shoulder. A couple of pelipper flew in the opposite direction from him and Jade. "Couldn't you... fly people out to the other boats?"

"With what pokémon?" Molayne sighed and rubbed his temples. "The pelipper mail carriers are the best we've got and they can fit, at best, two adults in their beaks."

"With me!" Jade chirped, holding her head high. "I can fit a bunch of people on my back. I bet I can lift more with some psychic energy, too."

Seifer blinked. "You actually have those powers?" he whispered. "I thought you lost them and became poison."

In response, an unseen force lifted the whinnying keldeo off Jade's back, only to plop him back on a second later. "Okay, okay. You still have them," he said.

"Yeah, sure. Great idea." Molayne hardly sounded enthused. "Let's make your big entrance, then. Maybe it'll calm people down." He tapped Magnezone lightly with his foot and drifted down closer to the ground. Jade glanced back at Seifer, who shrugged, assuming Molayne wanted them to follow. The salugia descended. It didn't take long for them both to hear the gasps and see the humans pointing at them, shock and awe sprawled across their faces.

"Please remain calm! Keldeo of the Swords of Justice is here and brought a friend to help you all onto the boats!" Even Molayne's megaphone shouting sounded tired. "His friend will fly waves of you to one of the other boats in the harbor, all right? No pushing or shoving! We're working as fast as we can!"

Molayne gestured toward an open area between the two docks where Jade could safely land. Seifer hopped onto the stone ground. There were a lot of human eyes on him, some pleading, others filled with intrigue. He'd experienced this before when he showed up with the Radiant Guard, but this time felt... different.

He knew Molayne understood them earlier, but Seifer feared a talking pokémon would spook the crowd even more. So, he simply raised up on his hindlegs and funneled some energy into his prosthetic horn. It lit up and he pointed it to Jade, who seemed to pick up on the gesture, because she lowered herself to her belly and folded up her wings to let people climb aboard.

Seifer pointed his horn at the closest people and they ambled their way toward the salugia. No pushing or shoving. Most were dumbstruck by Jade's presence, though for all Seifer knew the salazzle traits could have been the reason.

"Good, good. Now, you lot over there, you're heading on the next ship," Molayne said through the speakerphone. Magnezone lifted its two magnet hands and formed a glistening light screen in an attempt at making a proper divide.

Boat horns blared behind Seifer. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the ship to his right backing away from the dock. Another ship moved in, but left enough room for the departing ship to keep backing up. The keldeo briefly recalled Widget's concerns. Would this boat even be able to get anywhere?

A glance up at the sky told him it didn't matter. The lava only hung over parts of the city. As long as everyone got onto the water, they would be okay.

"Everyone hanging on to something?" Jade said, looking back at the humans and pokémon who had climbed aboard.

"You can talk?!" exclaimed one dark-skinned human with shoulder-length black hair. The togetic in his arms gazed at Jade in awe.

"Of course I can. I'm a lugia!" Jade grinned at them. "Now, let's just get some of your, uh, citymates along for the lift." She glanced at Molayne, who scratched his head, then pointed in front of the salugia.

Magnezone hovered in front of them. "Lugia's going to levitate this group over to one of the ships," he announced. "I want you all to relax so she can concentrate."

Nodding, Jade's eyes lit up blue. A blue outline surrounded about a dozen people, lifting them up. Jade flapped her wings to join them in the air, and it wasn't long before she was off toward the ocean. At the same time, the new ship had docked and lowered entry ramps. Two policemen tapped their arcanine companions, who both howled loudly.

Molayne jolted. "Okay, Group A, please board the boat. Single file. No pushing," he ordered, with Magnezone shifting the Light Screen to keep the cordoned off part of the crowd in order.

Seifer couldn't make any barriers of his own, but he could at least try to help with dividing the crowd between the other dock and Jade. The keldeo lit up his horn and approached a point to his left.

Fortunately, Molayne caught the gesture. He said something into his radio and, within seconds, two policewomen on metang had hovered over. The metang put up light screens of their own.

The keldeo nodded his approval and stepped back, while Molayne hovered toward him atop Magnezone. "Quick thinking," he said, hardly sounding appreciative.

Seifer bit his lip. Crisis situation or not, Molayne's attitude irked him in a way he was struggling to put into words. But that half hearted attempt at a compliment finally got Seifer's thoughts together.

"Are you okay?" Seifer said, raising a brow. "I understand this is a delicate situation and all, but people are looking to you to reassure them and ease their fears. Even if you're tired, you have to try and keep up a positive appearance, or else their faith in you will waver."

Molayne pressed the bridge of his goggles, sighing. "Seriously? Is my sense of justice not pure enough for the great Keldeo? Look, I'm just trying to get through this thing in one piece, okay?" He glanced up at the static volcano in the distance. "None of this makes any sense. Lanakila Volcano has been dormant as far back as recorded history. Why is it erupting now? Groudon couldn't—"

Seifer tilted his head. "Groudon?" He didn't recognize that name.

"One of the super-ancient pokémon?" Molayne's words dripped with disbelief. "Waged an endless war with its water-loving equal, Kyogre, until the mighty Lord Rayquaza quelled them both, spreading out Kyogre into the world's oceans and putting Groudon's body to rest as Lanakila Volcano while both their souls slumbered within the core of the planet?"

The only one that stuck out was Rayquaza, having a title showing reverence for him like what the Aeons did.

"C'mon, man, don't they teach you about this in legend school?" Molayne scratched his head. "Whatever. Lugia's back. Let's get the next set of passengers ready."

The second loading process went much faster. And the boat on the second dock backed away for a new one to take its place. Thanks to the metang and their light screens, loading more people from the newly-dubbed Group C onto the next boat didn't prove much of an issue, especially with Seifer keeping an eye on them to make sure they stayed calm.

That left them another moment of respite. "Why join the police then?" Seifer asked, scanning the crowd to make sure people stayed under control. It had thinned out a bit thanks to their efforts and the lava remained frozen in midair, to the keldeo's relief.

"Why does it matter to you?" Molayne fired back. "Your justice sense gonna keep you up at night if you don't get an answer?"

Seifer frowned at the Nikki-like response. Hardly the kind of attitude an officer should display. Though Seifer wanted to stand his ground, he realized that wouldn't make any headway. "Because it sounds like our situations are reversed."

"What's that supposed to— never mind, back to work." Molayne pointed toward a returning Jade, as well as the ship loading Group A backing away from the dock.

"How we looking back there, Rola?" Molayne asked into his radio.

"Getting smaller by the minute," a female voice chirped. "We got extra fliers from Akala and Poni and the whole Poké Ride Fleet came out in force!"

Seifer glanced up while Jade loaded her next pack of people. Sure enough, the sky was full of assorted flying types. Some tropius here, some talonflame there, and lots of charizard. Even some birds with giant, striped beaks that Seifer never saw before. Pokémon that didn't exist on Etherium, perhaps?

After helping Jade, Seifer turned back to Molayne. "I know this will sound crazy, but we're from another dimension."

He paused, awaiting Molayne's disbelief, but he merely yawned into his elbow. "And?"

"You're not surprised?"

"Clearly they didn't teach you about Ultra Wormholes in legends school, either," Molayne mused. "What's your point?"

"I was the head of my country's military in my own dimension," Seifer explained. "Until the queen had me take the fall for something that wasn't even my fault." The keldeo lowered his head. "And I loved that job. Or at least I thought I did. So, seeing someone who has what I lost..." Seifer tensed up. "I feel like my sense of right and wrong is all messed up. So, I thought that seeing you in action and talking to you might remind me of what it means to fight to protect people."

"Well, you wouldn't be the first person I've disappointed," Molayne said, slouching against Magnezone's railing. After an awkward silence, he continued, "My parents wanted me to be a police officer because most of my family is on the force. But I wanted to be an astronomer."

"Yet it sounds like you followed their orders," Seifer said. Much like he did with his own family's history of the Radiant Guard. He never considered other occupations because he was sure that was where he'd end up.

"No." Molayne gripped Magnezone's railing tightly. "The problem is I couldn't get accepted to any university with an astronomy program. I kept screwing up the college admissions test, because I'd fall asleep studying. I never wanted to join the force, but I needed money to get my own place, so my folks made some calls and here I am."

"But you're a lieutenant now," Seifer pointed out. If he was that disinterested, he'd never get promoted, right? "And besides, couldn't you find another job?"

Molayne sighed. "That takes effort. It's easier to stay where I am. It's family connections that have gotten me promoted in rank. Besides... sometimes there are moments where the job's worth it. When people thank me for helping them or pokémon are happy I helped them with a problem. Almost makes me feel like I made the right decision."

He looked up. Jade was on her way back. "Almost," he whispered.

Seifer looked at Molayne, then Jade, then up at the sky. "Well, I'm just a stranger to you, but for what it's worth, if you can make it through this crisis, I think you can make it through anything." The keldeo tapped a forehoof on the ground. "Including this university entrance exam."

Jade landed behind the two. "How many more trips am I making?" She lifted her right wing. "I'm doing okay. But I might need to do a few stretches."

Molayne quickly glanced at Seifer. "Tell you what. If we get through this... I'll think about it."

Seifer nodded his approval and Molayne hovered back up on Magnezone to direct more of Group B to board Jade. He focused his attention on the people from Group C heading toward the nearest ship. Seifer was about to direct them to stop when an emerald gleam caught the corner of his eye.

He turned left and saw an emerald streak charging right through the lava like a knife cutting butter. "What the— who's doing that?"

XxX​

There was no smell of sulfur. No orange embers drifting through the air. Ash didn't choke the sky and cloud the bright red and orange hanging over Yuna's head. Yet thunderous booms sounded from atop the mountain, suggesting something was going on.

To say nothing of the rumbling ground. Rocks ranging from the drakloak's size to larger than a mamoswine tumbled down, only to run into a pink wall a meter in front of Gene. The mewtwo held both hands up, concentrating intently as he plucked out panicked turtonator one by one and suspended them higher in the air.

He'd already sent the officer watching over the area away and ordered Widget to go find somewhere he could safely deliver everyone without an issue.

"I still can't believe he could transform like that!" Leo chirped, flying in excited circles in front of Yuna. "He was all blue and shiny." The fake dreepy clapped his hands together. "He kinda looked like that Miraidon guy from Mr. Gene's scrapbook, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Nikki said, scratching her head. "Which is a can of wurmple I don't want to open right now when there's freaking lava suspended over us!" The toxtricity tapped her right foot on the grass. "Now that we're here, can we let Space Noodle out to take a closer look?"

Yuna silently agreed. Particularly because the atmosphere around the volcano struck her as... off. Maybe it was the time anomaly. Or the fact that, according to the police lady Gene shooed away, the volcano was supposedly the dormant body of some super duper old pokémon god. She glanced at her Soul Dew. Are you okay with lending us a hand?

"I can at least take this requested look," Rayquaza declared. Nodding, Yuna focused on that glimmering spark of light within the jewel and mentally tugged on it. Rayquaza emerged at full size, corkscrewing his way into the air to a chorus of surprised turtantor noises.

"Found a place for the turtanator!" Widget shouted, zooming through the air. His Miraidon-esque form replaced his hind legs with jet boosters similar to Gene's ship, letting him effortlessly close the distance with the others. "There's an empty beach to the south. We can drop everything off there!"

"We?" Gene grunted, arms shaking slightly. "I don't... see you... carrying anything."

"Then cut the quips and follow me!" the type: full said, reversing the direction of his jet boosters to fly away from Gene. With a strained grunt, the mewtwo took to the air, dragging all the rocks and turtonator with him.

"They make a great couple," Nikki quipped, earning a stink eye from Yuna. The toxtricity raised her hands. "It's the nerves, Princess. Trying to do whatever I can to not think about the lava."

"Right." The drakloak wrung her hands together. She didn't blame Nikki, because she was doing the same thing. Albeit for different reasons. Why didn't this volcano sit right with her? No matter how much Yuna tried not to think about it, she kept looking up.

"Mom, are you okay?"

Leo waved a fake dreepy hand in front of her.

"I'm... thinking," Yuna responded, gently pushing Leo's hand away with her rectangular head. "I can't shake the feeling we're missing something here."

"Because the lava has a weird aura?" Leo said, tilting his head.

"Huh?" Yuna blinked. "How do you know that?"

"Dunno." Leo tilted his head up. "I just don't get a real lava-y sense from the stuff up there."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Nikki's mohawk crackled. "You saying it's not lava? If it ain't lava, then what the hell is it?!"

"FISTS!"

A black streak charged toward them, then abruptly stopped. Rayquaza coiled his serpentine body around nervously. "Tis not flames hanging above our heads, but fists! Giant fists of red and orange!"

"What." Nikki stared blankly at Rayquaza. "Say psyche right now."

"Nay. Tis not psionics, but fighting energy." Rayquaza punched the air with his tiny black hands. "Something is making literal fisticuffs."

The mountainside rumbled yet again. Nikki struggled to stay on her feet. Everyone looked up to see a sudden burst of red-orange light. What looked like another fireball sat frozen high in the sky.

"Okay, fine, whatever." Nikki waved her hands in front of her face. "Let's say Space Noodle's telling the truth. Then he can do something about it. Flying trumps fighting."

Leo and Yuna looked hopefully at Rayquaza. "I... still fear my base form is not enough to help," he said, looking down guiltily.

"Seriously?!" Nikki smacked her forehead. "What, do you have performance anxiety? Can't get it going? I hear they make pills for that."

Rayquaza had a response ready, but Yuna didn't hear it. All the drakloak heard was ringing in her head as she slowly looked up from her bickering teammates toward the fighting energy blanketing the sky.

If it wasn't lava, then was it actually frozen in time? Or was someone or something putting it there deliberately? If only she could get Rayquaza to power up. Then he could charge right at the strange energy!

Trance. Mega evolution. Powering up.

Powering... up...

Rock spires surrounded Chiron. A tomb that would collapse on her any second. She had caught a brief glimpse of Matriarch's form — a one-eyed lucario — before having to contort her slender form to avoid the Stone Edge spears shredding her delicate wing membranes apart. The lunala recognized the boisterous laughter on the other side. He had such a penchant for showing off.

And her psionics were currently failing her. Likely Matriarch's doing. So, Chiron had no ESP. No wormholes to throw the Stone Edges back at their creator.

But that was fine. This was what that training was about. She never bonded with her Soul Dew, but she had watched the Sages carefully. And by digging into her Eterna energy, maybe she could...

She could...

Yuna hadn't realized the inky blackness had pooled into her hands until she thrust them in the still-arguing Rayquaza's direction and shouted, "Vgeg zong!"

Rayquaza suddenly stiffened. Shadows briefly draped across his serpentine body, hidden well by his black scales. Then orange light engulfed Rayquaza. "Ye gads!" he cried, voice deepening. He shot out of the orange light, holden tassels fluttering and an emerald sheen lighting up the ground below him.

"Whoooa!" Leo's eyes sparkled. "Is that Uncle Ray's mega evolution? It's so long! He's a super noodle, now!" He shook his head. "No, wait, mega noodle!"

Nikki shot Yuna a suspicious look. "What did you do to him, Princess?"

"I, uh— I don't know?" the drakloak squeaked. She quickly tried to save face. "Do you think you're up to dealing with the magic fists now?"

"But of course!" Rayquaza's tail lashed with eagerness. "I hath not felt this alive in years!" He coiled around and gestured for Yuna to climb aboard. "Or, more accurately, centuries!"

Yuna flew forward and grabbed onto one of Rayquaza's black fins. Leo positioned himself on Yuna's head once again.

"Right, then. Tally ho!" Rayquaza declared.

"The hell?!" Nikki scrambled across the ground. "Don't leave without mee-eee-ahhhhhh!"

The toxtricity managed to grab the fins on Rayquaza's tail seconds before he shot into the air. His golden tassels straightened out on either side of his torso. Brilliant emerald light spilled over his body from his golden horns. Truly, Rayquaza was an emerald arrow surging up through the sky.

"Now, foul energy, taste the true might of Dragon Ascent!"

The intense winds whipping up around Rayquaza drowned out Nikki's screams and the emerald light blotted out Yuna's view of the strange orange fists. She focused on keeping hold of Rayquaza's fin through bouts of turbulence. Nothing she couldn't handle, but a bit of jostling. As if two dragons were headbutting one another in a contest of strength. Hopefully that meant Dragon Ascent was doing something...

That turbulence continued. Yuna's attention remained on the fin. Leo said... something. Yuna didn't hear him. She thought her X-transceiver might've gone off but it was hard for her to tell with the constant howling and whistling all around her.

Reshiram, do you see anything?

"Rayquaza's back and some emerald light," he responded. "I don't have a magically increased line of sight compared to you."

Yuna wondered how fast they were going. The Aeon scriptures described Mega Rayquaza orbiting the planet in only an hour or two. She doubted it was that fast. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to hold on. But she still felt like Rayquaza was covering a great distance. Was he effortlessly carving through the fighting energy? How much of it was left behind?

The drakloak soon got a concrete answer when Rayquaza abruptly stopped and fired a Dragon Pulse straight toward the mouth of the volcano. Yuna quickly looked around her and found clear skies.

... Well, mostly clear. Some orange still remained closer to the volcano. And, now that the sky was clearer, Yuna spotted a swirling vortex of distortion hanging above it. How much you want to bet that's the source of our anomaly?

"Nothing." After a beat, Reshiram added, "I don't have any money, remember?"

"Can we puh-lease land somewhere?!" Nikki hollered, clinging to one of Rayquaza's tailfins and kicking at the air with her legs. "My arms are cramping up!"

"Tis not safe atop the volcano!" Rayquaza declared. "A foul beast doth tried to knock me out of the sky!"

"You're damn straight I did!" a loud, booming voice shot back. "No one turns out the lights on Chernabog without Chernabog's say so!"

It was tough to make out at first, but Yuna soon spotted a large machamp standing on the rim of the volcano. He pointed accusingly at them with an upper right hand that looked more like volcanic rock than the bluish-gray Yuna was used to seeing. Another mega evolution? It didn't look that impressive compared to Rayquaza's.

"Hey! I'm talking to you chumps!" Chernabog shook his upper right fist at them. His other three arms... flexed, with the lower ones pointing to a belt that had a red, fist-shaped crystal inside it. "No one gives the champ the quiet treatment!"

Even at a distance, Yuna got that same sinking feeling in her ectoplasm that she got when staring down Runerigus, Baptiste, and Exodes. Which could only mean one thing...

"Um, Gene?" Yuna squeaked. "I think one of Paradox's goons is here. Does the name Chernabog mean anything to you?"

"Oh, that blowhard?" Gene groaned. "Give us a minute. We're almost done here. Just keep him talking."

Yuna frowned. Nikki was better suited to that idea, but was too busy clinging to Rayquaza for dear life. "Can you fly around to the other side of the volcano?" she said, before blinking and shaking her head. "No, wait. I have a better idea."

But first, she had to distract the machamp. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" Yuna shouted. "We're just trying to keep the people in this city safe!"

The drakloak immediately focused on the other side of the volcano from Chernabog. She opened a rift in front of her and tapped Rayquaza's back. He hastily flew through it, dropping Nikki onto jagged, rocky ground. The toxtricity stumbled forward, relief flooding her face.

"Oh, sweet, glorious land!" Nikki dropped to her knees. "I'd kiss you but I've no idea where you've—"

"DOWN!"

A furious twister whipped up, deflecting a giant orange energy blast into the mouth of the volcano. Rayquaza flew in front of Nikki, assuming the closest thing to a protective stance a serpent could muster.

"Chernabog thought something stank!" The machamp slowly stomped toward the group. "The kind of stink that only a dirty traitor could make!" He flexed his large pecs, then pointed directly at Yuna. "That's right, Chiron! Maybe your noodle friend let you outmuscle Baptiste and Exodes, but now you've got the champ to contend with! Hoo-hah!" Chernabog punched the air with his lower arms and flexed with his upper ones.

Yuna didn't flinch. It wasn't the first time she'd heard one of Paradox's thugs throw Chiron's name around. And, given the strange visions, it probably wouldn't be the last. Just another punch the drakloak had to roll with.

The difference this time was that Leo was around, so she had to keep a safe distance from Chernabog.

"I don't like him, Mom," the fake dreepy whispered. "He's the real stinky one."

"I know. Let's stay on our toes," Yuna whispered back.

"Uh, technically neither of you have toes," Reshiram interjected.

Not now!

"S-Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"The hell are you ranting about?" Nikki said, shrugging at the oversized machamp. "You're the one who sent an entire city into a panic, aren't you? Doesn't seem very champ-like to me."

"It ain't the champ's fault if they're a bunch of haters!" Chernabog countered, flexing all four arms. "Chernabog was in the middle of getting ready to wow his Chernamaniacs back home, when suddenly he appeared up here." He glared at Yuna. "He bets the traitor's behind this! But you can't take Chernabog to the mat! Not when he feels stronger than ever! Oh yeah!"

Half the things Chernabog said went right over Yuna's head, but his belt crackled with orange energy at that last statement. She also noticed Leo looking intently at Chernabog's belt. Yuna doubted it was a coincidence, but it wasn't safe to look any deeper into the matter.

"First, Chernabog will smash ya! Hoo ha!" The machamp punched the air with his lower hands. "Then he'll punch a hole right back home to where his adoring crowd of Chernamaniacs is waiting!"

So that was it. It wasn't a volcanic eruption. This meathead seriously thought he could punch his way out of the dimensional anomaly!

"Now then," Chernabog cracked his knuckles. "It's time for dirty traitors to smell what the champ is cooking! Ohhhh yeeeeee—"

Several bursts of pink energy slammed into Chernabog's pecs. He staggered backward, waving his arms around. Yuna looked up to see Gene and Widget emerging from a rift. The mewtwo slowly clapped.

"Nice makeover there, chumpion." Gene flashed a toothy grin. "But I think you're a bit turned around. The children's party in need of a clown is on the next island over."

"You!" Chernabog thumped his chest. "Of course, it all makes sense! The traitor and the rebel teaming up. History repeating itself with the ultimate heel combination!"

The machamp jogged in place, his belt sparking with orange energy. "The champ's got only one thing to say to you, kitty cat."

Gene tilted his head in amusement. "And that is?"

Chernabog took a deep breath and bellowed, "Where ya gonna be... when Chernamania comes for thee!"

The sky above Team Bastion suddenly darkened. Yuna looked up and yelped in surprise.

Dozens of giant orange fists threatened to smash them into the volcano.

XxX​

GL Exploration Log: Malie City, Alola (Dimension POV-2409)
I've gone to a few Alolas already and always found them a bit unsettling with their dedication to solgaleo, lunala, and necrozma. I knew this one would be quite different from the start, since history-related stuff I found in Hoenn didn't talk much about this world's Groudon and Kyogre. It turns out that the two super-ancient pokémon waged a great war early on in the planet's history. Their clashes led to the formation of various continents, but eventually Rayquaza swooped in and ended their fighting. Kyogre's spirit dispersed into the oceans while its body sank into the dark underwater abyss. Groudon settled in what became Ula'ula Island, its body becoming the massive, but perpetually dormant Lanakila Volcano.

A bunch of Johto and Kanto immigrants filled out the island, though I'm not sure why they built their city so close to the volcano. Maybe its height lets them be closer to Rayquaza? Like draconids and Sky Pillars in dimensions where those are present.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
Yuna's cry of "Vgeg zong" is a rough Enochian translation of "strong winds." Enochian is an occult language from sixteenth-century England that, according to creators John Dee and Edward Kelley, was constructed based on messages received from angels.

Chernobog is an alleged Polabian Slavic deity that is classically known for being portrayed as a god of misfortune in Helmod's Chronicle. A variation of him appears in several Disney productions — most notably Fantasia, its sequel, and Kingdom Hearts — as a large, winged demon.

 

[Ambyssin]

Chapter 60: Praepollens Fortitudo​

"You saw that, right?"

Molayne pressed his goggles against his face. "An emerald comet. It has to be Lord Rayquaza!" He tightly gripped Magnezone's railing. "He's here to save us from the eruption!"

That was the most awake Molayne had sounded since Seifer met him. The keldeo bit his lip, however, when he thought about the rest of his team. It was far more likely Yuna had summoned their dimension's Rayquaza to take care of it.

Then again, hadn't he told them he didn't think there was anything he could do about it? What had changed so quickly?

The remaining people waiting to evacuate broke into applause while Molayne directed them toward the boats with surprising vigor. Seifer continued staring at the volcano.

I hope you know what you're doing.

XxX​

"Keep us safe!" Yuna cried, pointing up. Rayquaza shot skyward, shrouding himself in emerald light. He charged through the closest orange fists, blowing them apart in a shower of red and green sparks before whipping his body around to face Chernabog.

"Ha!" Chernabog stomped the ground. Stone Edge spires raced toward Yuna, Leo, and Nikki. She looked up, but Rayquaza was too far away.

"Nikki, look out!" Yuna took Leo off her head and held him tight while speeding away from the giant rocks.

"The hell do you exp—" Nikki started before a pink aura surrounded her and yanked her into the air. "Gah! No! No more flying!"

"Sheesh, that how you thank a cat for saving your ass?" Gene scoffed. Widget flew past him, electricity whirring around his cheek bolts. Chernabog saw the ensuing Thunderbolt coming and yanked up a chunk of the ground to wield like a shield.

"Figures you're cowardly enough to hide behind numbers," Chernabog growled, ripping the electrified rock in half and tossing one piece at Widget and another at the charging Rayquaza to force them both back. "But the champ can take you all down! The best defense... is a good offense! Hoo ha!"

"Thou hast that backwards!" Rayquaza said, corkscrewing away from the electrified rock. Gene dropped Nikki back on the ground, then surrounded Chernabog with Psystrike orbs.

"You won't say that when I— hurrrgh!" Chernabog spread his arms out. Black energy coalesced through his fists. The mega machamp spun around like an oversized green top, batting Gene's Psystrike away before beelining toward Nikki.

"****!" She backpedaled only to end up on her rear. "****, ****, ****!"

Rayquaza managed to swoop in and grab Nikki before Chernabog's Darkest Lariat would've blended her into a toxtricity smoothie. Yuna sighed in relief, however it proved fleeting when Chernabog didn't stop spinning. In fact, he spun so fast he rose into the air, threatening to chase after Rayquaza.

"I-Impossible!" he cried.

"I'm gonna snap ya like a Slim Jim!" Chernabog roared from within his black tornado. The very air itself seemed to distort around him.

Gene shot lightning from his hands to no avail. Widget tried showering Chernabog in Thunder Wave sparks, but his spinning effortlessly turned them away.

Yuna tensed up. Much as she hated to do it, she needed to find those icky shadows and pull them out to help her friends. Come on. Please.

The strange power responded. A quick tingle in her hands and Yuna instinctively punched the air. A large gray leg struck Chernabog, punching him in the opposite direction as his spinning. The machamp slowed down. Yuna silently cheered while watching him drift back toward safe footing atop the volcano.

Gene seized the opportunity to fire a pink Psybeam and push Chernabog back even further. The mewtwo quickly looked around. "Where's Nikki? We have to get her and Leo out of here."

"The hell?!" Nikki hissed, squirming in Rayquaza's small black arms. "You can't toss me aside like that! I'm—"

"A liability up here!" Gene growled, Malice Crystal sparking. "We can't fight this meathead if we have to worry about protecting you!" He threw open a rift behind him. "This isn't up for debate. Widget, go with them."

"What?!" The type: full's thruster jets sputtered briefly. "But I—"

"A hero protects those who need protecting, doesn't he?" Gene said, yellow-tipped tail lashing at the air.

Widget rubbed his forelegs together. "I guess."

"Seriously?" Nikki continued struggling in Rayquaza's grasp. "Princess, say something! You can't let him do this to me!"

But a sudden roar from Chernabog brought the debate to a screeching halt. The sky filled with giant red fists yet again.

"Go! Now!" Gene hollered.

All Yuna could offer Nikki was an attempt at an apologetic look before Gene's telekinesis flung her through the rift. Widget charged after her, carrying Leo on his back.

"Defend!" Yuna said, waving her right arm without even realizing it. Rayquaza coiled his body up and blasted the fists apart with a large Hyper Beam.

XxX​

"What the—" Molayne struggled to steady himself atop Magnezone. "Something's going on up there. Rayquaza's fighting someone. Or something."

Seifer nodded silently. He recognized the giant fists. When was the last time he even used Dyna Fist? Against Xeromus? But when the keldeo used that move, it didn't flood the sky with them!

"We have to focus on finishing the evacuation," he said, trying to force his nerves down. "Jade, how are you holding up?"

"I'm okay!" the salugia chirped, spitting a couple of stems onto the ground by Seifer's feet. "These leppas are perfect pick-me-ups!"

"Right." Molayne shook his head. "If you can push yourself a bit more, this would be the last haul of people."

Jade nodded. The crowd was nothing more than about seventy people, however that was more than she'd carried before. She took a deep breath and smacked her face with her wings.

"Yeah. I've got this. One more load!" Jade crouched down and spread her wings out.

XxX​

"Trimming down your numbers cuz you're scared of the champ won't save ya!" Chernabog flexed with his upper right arm while his other three yanked out chunks of the ground and hurled them through the air.

Yuna flew into a rift and popped out next to Rayquaza. She grabbed one of his fins while he strafed around Chernabog to try and take a shot at his backside.

"Chernamania is panoramic!" the giga machamp shouted, kicking his right leg back and sending more rock shards careening toward them. Yuna swiped her right arm sideways. One of the shadowy legs shot out in front of Rayquaza and shattered the rocks into tiny pieces.

"Thou hast gained control over those strange shadowy limbs?" Rayquaza said.

"I, uh, maybe?" Yuna said, vaguely recalling the times she had inexplicably used them against Runerigus and Exodes' barrier.

"Pay attention!" Gene called while whipping up a Hurricane and sending harsh winds barreling toward Chernabog.

"A pincer attack, then," Rayquaza said. He whipped his tail forward and spun it around rapidly. His intense whirlwind and Gene's Hurricane had sandwiched Chernabog. He silently crouched down. Was he going to jump up? Did he even have the leg strength to go high enough to dodge both moves?

It didn't matter. Yuna couldn't give him that chance. "Rrrgh." The drakloak managed to pry her right arm off Rayquaza's back fin and slap the air. Inky shadows fizzled around her, then a giant gray leg hit Chernabog the moment he tried to jump.

"Grrraaaagh!" The mega machamp crashed back into the ground and both cyclones collided with him stuck in the center. Squeaking, Yuna pressed her face against Rayquaza. Thankfully, however, she didn't experience any whiplash.

"Steel yourself, Princess," Rayquaza said, briefly glancing at her. "My Delta Stream means wayward winds shant touch you."

"R-Right." Yuna poked her head from behind Rayquaza. Those were two powerful flying-type moves. Maybe they were enough to take him down?

The volcano's rim shook. Yuna watched small cracks spread out below where Rayquaza floated and groaned. Of course it couldn't be that simple.

"You!" Chernabog was on his hands and knees, but distorted energy crackled around his belt.

"Imagine a rebel fighting fair," Gene scoffed, unleashing a flurry of pink orbs. Rayquaza took the mewtwo's cue and whipped up another fierce whirlwind to pummel Chernabog from behind.

"No! Not... over... yet!"

Chernabog stood up. His back arched violently. He pivoted sideways... and his belly split apart, revealing rows of jagged teeth that had no place in a giga machamp's stomach.

Yuna shrieked. Red, distorted tendrils emerged from Chernabog's new, gaping maw. They sliced through Gene's Psystrike and Rayquaza's winds. An eerie stillness settled over the volcano. Silence, save for the dripping of strange, orange fluid from Chernabog's gut.

Then the drakloak's vision flickered. Her Soul Dew burned against her ectoplasmic chest.

"Are you really that surprised? It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed again... Yaldabaoth."

Yuna tensed up. That wasn't Reshiram's voice. Heck, it wasn't even a single voice. More like thousands talking inside her head in unison. But what did they mean? Did Chiron have some sort of second name?

"Yeah, not into cheap horror schlock," Gene said, more Psystrike orbs at the ready. "I prefer the meathead routine. At least then I get nice pecs to ogle."

"The champ doesn't quit!" Chernabog roared. He took a step back. "The champ will bring you all down!" His words lacked his earlier bravado. Instead they had an air of desperation about them.

Gene hurled the Psystrike at Chernabog. The mega machamp flexed all four arms... and large orange chairs appeared in his hands. "By god, he's bringing out the steel chairs!" Chernabog said, swinging them around and batting a dumbstruck Gene's Psystrike away before tossing the energy chairs at the mewtwo as if they were strangely shaped Focus Blasts.

Rayquaza took the opportunity to fire another Hyper Beam, but Chernabog stood his ground. His stomach mouth opening even wider than before

Yuna's ectoplasm rippled. Was Chernabog getting closer?

"Impossible!" Rayquaza spun around in the air. "He... he sucked up my Hyper Beam! He's trying to suck us up!"

Delta Stream wasn't helping them. Rayquaza made no headway attempting to escape the giant vortex forming in Chernabog's maw.

"You seek to bring your chaos to this world and drag it toward stagnation. Consider this intervention a righteous gift."

This was so not the time for another Xeromus-esque ominous voice to talk vaguely about fate. But was it claiming to be responsible for Chernabog's behavior? Didn't he work for Paradox?

"Do something, Rayquaza!" Yuna cried.

"I am... trying!" He sounded strained. And Yuna found her grip slipping fast. Maybe she could form a rift and have them fall into it? That would get them out of the way, sure, but it wouldn't stop Chernabog's rampage.

The cracks in the ground were getting deeper, too. At this rate, Chernabog would break through the volcanic rim. And if this was really the body of some ancient god, then...

"Relinquish the fight. Let my hands grab hold of this world to preserve it for eternity."

No, she couldn't relinquish! Think, Yuna, think!

The second mouth formed from distortion. Distortion that came from the giga machamp's belt. A belt with a fist-shaped crystal. It had to have flooded him with extra fighting energy.

If Rayquaza's whirlwinds weren't enough, then she had to use the strongest technique at his disposal!

Sucking in a sharp breath, Yuna thrust her hands into Rayquaza's back. "Let him suck us up! Charge at him with Dragon Ascent!"

"Art thou mad?!"

"Do it!" Yuna cried. The shadows slipped into Rayquaza's back. He tensed up, then whirled around and charged toward Chernabog and the jagged rows of teeth peppering his second mouth. His tassels stiffened. Emerald energy blanketed his black, serpentine form.

The drakloak barely heard Gene's cry of, "What are you doing?!" as she and Rayquaza charged toward Chernabog.

Closer and closer. Yuna could make out each individual tooth. Jagged, serrated, and glowing the same color as the fist-shaped gem on the mega machamp's belt. That gave her some reassurance her thinking was on the right track, but the pitch black in the middle still frightened her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and dug her arms deeper into Rayquaza's back.

One final roar from Chernabog, then silence followed.

No pain. No more fierce winds. Yuna wasn't sure if they were even moving anymore. She wasn't dead though. Though darkness surrounded them, Dragon Ascent's emerald sheen held firm.. Yuna's hands remained inside Rayquaza while she silently willed him to press on... even though there wasn't a clear on to press to.

"Such pitiable naivete, Yaldabaoth."

The voice — voices? Yuna still wasn't sure — had followed them.

Something flickered ahead of the duo. A face? There was too much distortion to tell.

"You fight for nothing. This world's fate — like all others — has been affirmed. Only I can shape it to be part of something greater. You would cast it into stagnant oblivion."

"This isn't my world," Yuna countered. Shadows still trickled into Rayquaza's back from her arms. The Dragon Ascent charge continued, yet the distorted face didn't grow any closer.

"It's not too late to seize the power of choice presented to you. Surrender and allow your souls to pass to the Overworld. And soon after, you will bask in the glory of a reality defined by eternity."

Still annoyingly vague. But the talk of choices and eternity brought Xeromus to mind, so the drakloak chose to shoot her shot.

"I take it you're Natus? The one who'll envelop everyone in his love?"

God, phrasing it like that sounded disgusting.

The face flickered briefly. Did its expression change? "If that is how you prefer to address me, I will not resist."

What a ridiculous non-answer!

"Fine," she said, then plunged the rest of her arms deeper into Rayquaza. "But like I said, this isn't my home, so it's not my choice to make. We're done here."

Now the face was definitely getting closer. Yes, Rayquaza was making progress! They would bust out of this void and take the enemy down!

"Surely you realize this is but a vessel? I care not what becomes of it."

The face disappeared and then the darkness shattered as if it was a window Rayquaza had flown directly into.

XxX​

"The hell?!"

An emerald shockwave rippled through the sky. Nikki threw her right arm over her face. She couldn't believe this was happening. First Boss Kitty tossed her aside like a used napkin while Princess stood by and watched. Now it looked like the fight was ending and she had absolutely no clue what would happen. What if Boss Kitty and Princess got sent back home and the rest of them were stranded here?

"Hey, Leo, where are you going?"

Nikki moved her arm and saw Widget flying after the fake dreepy, who was heading up the mountain. "Oi!" Her mohawk flared up. "Don't just leave me here!"

Widget stopped. He looked between Nikki and Leo, who was getting further away. Sighing, he shot back down to the ground.

"Hurry. We've got to catch him." Widget pivoted to let Nikki climb aboard.

"This wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't get benched," the toxtricity growled.

She would have words for Princess... assuming they weren't too late.

XxX​

Rayquaza surged forward for a bit before Yuna realized magma bubbled far beneath them both and pulled her hands out of his back.

"Haah... haaargh..."

Rayquaza wheezed a couple of times. His mega evolution faded away in a faint rainbow shimmer, then his whole body dissolved back into Yuna's Soul Dew. The drakloak turned around and caught a quick glimpse of a machamp body with a giant hole through the midsection before it, too, dissolved away in streams of red and gray.

Gene was already heading toward the volcanic rim, because Chernabog had left two things behind: some sort of big red bug with massive, bulging, fluid-filled arms, and an orange, rectangular stone that dropped to the ground with a loud clang.

The moment it did, an orange beam shot toward the distortion hanging over the volcano, and bright white light flooded the area.

XxX​

It took all of ten seconds for Team Bureau to realize that Noctum didn't have the flying speed to keep up with Yiazmat and the pizza truck. Fortunately, Cyril had a backup plan in mind. The large metal pizza spinning on the roof of the truck opened up to reveal some sort of strange table-like device that the black charizard could lay down on. He stuck his head into a circular telescope and found himself looking at Eternatus Gunners flying ahead of them in the distance while the truck rumbled across the dirt on the side of the railroad track.

"So, uh, tell me again what I'm supposed to do up here?" Noctum said. He didn't like the tight space around his head. It made him think of dark, rocky caves despite the lack of dark and rock.

"It's a super scope lens," Cyril said. "You can swivel around to aim yourself at enemies. Then fire off an attack like you're in a normal battle and the super scope will do the rest."

Fire off an attack? Noctum found that easy for the cosmic zoroark to say. He wasn't the one with his head squeezed into the uncomfortable metal tube!

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. "How do I even aim?"

"Turn your head. Duh," Cyril replied. "If you need to aim way off to the side or behind us, then you turn your body, too."

Raising a brow, Noctum tried moving his head left. The aiming scope settled on an Eternatus Gunner flying with its long, tentacle legs undulating behind it.

Now he had to use an attack. Flamethrower was his best move. The black charizard still didn't feel right shooting fire with his head in such a tight tube, but managed to push through the displeasure. A quick burst of orange fire, then a bright flash, and suddenly Noctum saw the Gunner's glass dome shatter and the unown pilot free fall toward the ground alongside the remnants of its robotic body.

"Nice shot!" Cyril said. "Hurry, before they catch onto us."

Hurry, he says, Noctum mentally grumbled. Like he could magically rapid fire Flamethrowers at the drop of a hat. Perhaps small fireballs, instead? Quantity sounded more important, here.

Noctum moved the scope and shot another fireball. He moved a bit right and fired again. Then a third, fourth, and fifth time. Five explosions rewarded his efforts, and it was at that point he saw a few of the Gunners realizing their numbers had thinned.

"Guuuuys, they're pointing at us," he said, tightening his grip on the strange table. Sure, there were buckles strapping him in, but one couldn't be too careful. "I think the element of surprise is gone!"

"That's when we kick the afterburners on!" Cyril declared.

Noctum stiffened. "The afterwhatnow?"

It turned out that meant going even faster. Noctum yelped, though the metal tube shielded him from the worst of the whiplash. He managed to refocus, only for the pizza truck to suddenly swerve left, then right. Noctum spun out atop the firing platform. "Waaah! Hey, a little warning, please?"

"We're taking fire, dweeb," Valkyrie said. "Get it together and hit 'em back."

Again, Noctum fought back the urge for a biting retort. Just trying to keep himself aiming straight with the car swerving through the dirt was proving a problem. He caught glimpses of blue darts streaking through the air and meeting brown clumps in midair. The Gunners' had their Hidden Powers tuned to ground-type, apparently.

Noctum tightened his gut muscles and dug his elbows and knees into the firing platform. That managed to stop the spinning. He trained the super scope ahead and shot three fireballs, downing one Eternatus Gunner while the other two managed to negate the fireballs with bursts of clay and dirt.

Ahead of him, Yiazmat rolled away from a couple of Hidden Powers and fired more dreepy-shaped purple energy blasts from her horns. The Gunner she aimed at couldn't get out of the way fast enough and blew up. Yiazmat pulled up to dodge the ensuing shrapnel. She was even faster than Noctum remembered. Had she been training while they were away?

"Hey! No one said to stop firing!" Igneous growled through Noctum's X-transceiver. "We're not close enough to attack."

"Sorry." Noctum turned and shot a couple of fireballs, but the Gunner he aimed at dropped down and dodged the blasts. It was ready to strike back, when its glass dome suddenly shattered and the unown toppled out. A purple saucer flew by and Noctum watched it fire a white beam and destroy another Gunner.

"I see genesect!" Noctum shouted. "... I think?"

"Yeah, that's them, all right," Cyril said. "That means we're catching up. Keep your eyes peeled for the train."

The pizza truck swerved left, kicking up a wall of dirt and striking the side of the train track. Noctum gasped, his firing platform spinning wildly as Cyril turned right to try and steady the truck amidst all the dust clouds and fluttering grass blades in the air.

Noctum thought he saw Hidden Power clay mounds careening toward him, but they burst apart into dust clouds. A gray blur rushed by.

"Hang in there, Noctum!" Yiazmat called back.

"Damn it! We can't zigzag like this forever," Igneous hissed. "We've got to do something. What are all these buttons back here for, huh?"

"Well, there's another super scope lens built into the right side," Cyril said. "But it's not exactly, y'know, finished yet. If you try to use it, you could fall out of the truck."

The black charizard regained his bearings, but the sight he trained his own super scope on had become a bevy of purple saucers and Eternatus Gunners lighting the sky up with white beams, clay balls... and Flamethrowers, to boot. Some of the Gunners must have been prepped with fire-typing instead.

Noctum gulped. What if he hit a genesect? He wasn't trying to get their attention turned on the pizza truck. Especially when he could actually see the train's caboose rattling on ahead. And quickly, at that. Igneous was right after all. This wasn't any ordinary freight train.

"Val, wait! What are you doing?" the grovlazzle cried.

Loud clangs and whirred sounded to Noctum's right.

"Evening the odds a bit," the garchomp declared.

Next thing Noctum knew, a Dragon Pulse burst through the dusty air, destroying an Eternatus Trooper too preoccupied with flanking a genesect. The weird purple disc looked around. Noctum saw its red lightbulb-like eyes flash.

A second Dragon Pulse punched a hole in the dust and took out another Gunner. Yiazmat's Dragon Darts struck a third one, allowing a genesect to easily blow it up. Like the first, that one stopped and trained its mechanical eyes on the dragapult, which flickered with red light.

Suddenly, three genesect broke off their pursuit of Eternatus Gunners and beelined for the pizza truck. "Oh no!" Noctum squeezed his elbows and knees tighter against the firing platform. "They're mad at us!"

"Then I'll get rid of 'em, too," Valkyrie said. A Dragon Pulse headed for one of the genesect, but it proved much faster than the Eternatus Gunners, easily veering out of the way. Its two buddies shot white beams, with one missing the pizza truck to the right and the other striking right at the head.

"Gah!" Cyril yelped. The truck swerved light and right from the zoroark's attempts to stop it from spinning out.

Noctum's head banged against the top of the super scope, then his whole world was spinning. "Agggh!" The black charizard felt his Malice Crystal stirring in his gut. Likely keeping him from getting nauseous, for better or worse. "This is a bad idea! We should get out of here!"

"And let them win?" Valkyrie hissed. "Fat chance!"

"They're still firing on us!" Igneous shouted.

Dragon Darts and a Dragon Pulse met the genesect's white energy blasts and stalemated them. Noctum stopped spinning long enough to shoot a Flamethrower through the super scope. It scorched the genesect closest to the pizza track. Though it wasn't destroyed, it careened toward the ground, giving the truck more than enough time to pass it up.

They had made up more ground thanks to the genesect matching the Eternatus Gunners' firepower. Though the dirt filling the air didn't hurt, either, even if it reduced visibility a bit. Noctum could see silhouettes. That was all he needed to send out a few fireballs while Valkyrie's bursts of dragonfire peppered the dusty air with blue-purple sparks and embers.

A volley of white beams and clay Hidden Power lumps emerged in response. Cyril swerved right, then left.

"Gah!"

"Val!"

Noctum was spinning again. He caught the faintest glimpse of Igneous grabbing Valkyrie to keep the garchomp from falling off her firing platform.

"Hang on!" Cyril shouted.

"What now?" Igneous groaned.

Noctum wildly shot out fireballs. Cyril had banked hard toward the rail tracks. The pizza truck hit the side and launched into the air, propelled further ahead by the roaring thrusters. "Seriously?!" Noctum hollered.

"Seize the opening!" Yiazmat declared. Dragon Darts peppered the air, striking multiple Gunners and genesect. Noctum spat out several fireballs, destroying the damaged Gunners and at least grounding the genesect units.

The pizza truck landed on the opposite side of the tracks with a heavy thud. Noctum's head again slammed against the top of the super scope lens. The black charizard blinked the stars out of his vision to find the truck had come even with some of the train's rear cars.

"We... we caught up?" Noctum laughed nervously. "We caught up! We—"

Why did the air around him feel dryer? And colder?

"Something's happening atop the train!" Yiazmat cried, darting away from the truck.

Noctum caught a flash of blue and white... then a tremendous spear-shaped icicle beelining right for them!

Instinct took hold and he exhaled as many flames as he could through the super scope lens. Valkyrie added a Dragon Pulse of her own. For a moment, it looked like it wouldn't be enough, but a second gout of fire emerged and broke through. Ice chunks peppered the ground and tracks, forcing Cyril to swerve the pizza truck through them.

"What the hell was that?" Igneous said. "My flames could actually reach it, but..."

"It was no genesect," Cyril said. "Cid, you getting anything with that Dyna Scan of yours?"

Silence at first. Another blue-white flash popped up. Cyril slowed the truck down enough for the train to fully pass by, then jumped the train tracks yet again. Noctum focused his cover fire behind the truck this time, managing to peg a few Gunners with fireballs.

"Someone's atop the train," Cid said. "It's an icy aura. But I've never felt one like this before!"

"Gee, that's reassuring!" Valkyrie scoffed. "Did Xeromus leave us an extra surprise knowing we'd give chase?"

"I don't know, but speaking of surprises, you guys might want to think about evacuating," Cid said, voice getting more nervous with every word.

"Why? We're already so damn close," Igneous said.

Noctum was in the process of turning back to face the train when sudden bursts of warm air peppered his tail and flank. Yelping, the charizard turned back to find the air behind the truck lighting up orange with five-pronged Fire Blast explosions. Molten genesect shrapnel rained down on the dirt and tracks. And out of the smoke appeared three large, mechanical hydreigon heads, followed by the rest of its huge metal torso.

"G-G..." The black charizard swallowed hard. "Giant hydreigon robot!"

Cid tittered through the X-transceiver. "That's why."

XxX

~Il Paradigma, No. XI: Chernabog, the Strength~
Unparalleled in his muscular might, he earned the trust of the Matriarch through his relentless, no-holds-barred fighting style, dispatching foe after foe without the need for breaks. His burning spirit persisted even after his body gave out from old age, hopping from muscular host to muscular host to fight for the pride of the Benefactor's loyal followers.

ADDENDUM: With Paradox's rise to power, he was dispatched on fewer assignments. Ever restless, he kept himself occupied through highly-publicized show fights, earning him scores of adoring fans through the many generations of the Benefactor's confinement.

XxX​

Path of Valor Almanac
Strength is, depending on the deck, either the eighth or, more commonly, eleventh card in the Major Arcana. It is thought to represent power, energy, action, and complete success. It has also been referred to as Fortitude, one of the cardinal virtues of classical philosophy. Hence the use of its Latin form, Fortitutdo, in the chapter title.