Chapter 10: Final Rush
POV: 3rd
Atmos rumbled uneasily as he circled over Geosenge and the large, crystalline flower that had bloomed in the center of it. The route to the south - with all its gravestones and ruins - had a large crowd of figures in it. Red suits could barely be made out as they rushed back and forth between the stones, making sure that other figures of various sizes were attached to them and unable to run off. "I do not like the looks of this place. It reeks of death."
"It'll reek of more of it if we don't do something fast," Maria said worriedly. "Land by the gate at the southern end of town; I want to see if that team you mentioned earlier is waiting for us over there."
Atmos dipped down a little, then circled around the flower, giving it as wide a berth as he dared before landing next to one of the wooden cabins, which had been overturned when the weapon had burst out of the ground. The group slipped off, and Atmos quickly took off.
"I don't blame him for leaving so fast." Tails' tails shuddered. "There's something about this place…."
"Yeah." Maria nodded a little. "We have to hurry if we're going to be able to take this all out before they fire that thing."
"I couldn't agree more!" A yellow, rodent-like Pokemon came out from the underbrush near the edge of the town, red bandanna tied around his neck with a badge pinned to it - a gold PokeBall with a red gem for a button and wings sprouting from either side of the sphere. "That's why I came here personally to take care of what we can out here while you go after the goons manning the weapon itself."
"If you want, I can have my ships fly a few passes, maybe do a bit of strafing nearby, that should put their heads down for a few minutes." Ada offered. "They're about… ten kilometers out, but that's about two minutes of travel time, maybe… ninety seconds if I tell them to kick in the afterburners." She activated her Ki, "Speaking of which, how much fuel do you have?"
::Eight tons:: Keely responded.
"So that's… about twelve hours sublight, six FTL. If it takes that long we've got bigger problems than running out of gas. Be ready to do some intimidation runs over the middle of town if I call." Ada disconnected and nodded to Hunter, "Oy'an, I need you to be ready to go to the ship and sync up at a moment's notice. If there's any warning shots fired, you'll be aiming. I don't trust Condor not to take matters into his own hands and try to shoot the flower."
"You have weapons in the atmosphere?" the Pokemon frowned, worried. "And Atmos hasn't-"
"He probably inspected them and left them alone," Maria responded quickly. "Pika - who else is here with you?"
"Mana insisted on coming, and Grove and Celese as well." Pika motioned to the bushes behind him. "They're scouting out the area that the captured Pokemon are being held; hopefully Grove and Celese will be able to come up with something so that we can get everyone loose."
Maria nodded. "Good call. Be careful - the Flares have Fire, Dark, and Poison-Types at their disposal, unless the ones in there don't have theirs." She nodded to the southern gate, where four Flare goons were standing. "Do what you can to slow them down - we're going on ahead to take out their main base of operations here."
Pika gave a thumbs-up. "I'll let you know if I need anything." He dove back into the bushes and disappeared from sight.
"Grove, Mana, and Celese?" Khrista raised an eyebrow.
"Grovyle, Manaphy, and Celebi," Maria replied without batting an eye. "Specifically, the Grovyle and Celebi from the future timeline, now in the present." She looked around at the overturned cabins, then looked at Khrista with a pointed expression. "Where's the entrance into their base of operations here?"
"Wherever it is, we'll need a bit of rapid entry most likely," Ada's Ki reactivated, "Hunter, get over there, Keely, I need you here, full throttle. Tell Hotshot it's time to rock and roll,"
::Affirmative Commander:: The Ki emitted a building roar of drives followed by a loud clunk sound as the landing gear disconnected from whatever patch of ground Keely was set down on, ::Ready in two minutes::
"You're losing your edge Vulcan, I heard that excitement," Ada grinned. Hunter flashed out in a teleport and Ada disconnected.
"The base's entrance is over this way." Khrista motioned for the group to follow her, and she started running around the perimeter of the town towards a path that led off to the northwest. "It's disguised as a pillar of rock; it leads straight into an elevator!"
"Underground, huh? Sounds like they've had this place for years, then." Maria looked around at the turned-over town. "I didn't hear any chatter from the townsfolk about recent construction when we came through here last!"
"Lysandre could have disguised it years ago as something that was beneficial to the town!" Clemont spoke up. "I think I remember hearing something about him being up here when he was setting up the Holo-Caster network that most of Kalos runs on!"
"So he's been working on this for years?" Tails asked in surprise.
"He could have started it, then stopped when Cyrus happened," Khrista replied as they reached the rock pillar she'd mentioned. "And then he left everything to collect dust before all this happened." She looked the pillar up and down, frowning. "It looks like the elevator doors aren't accessible right this moment...they must've expected us and sealed off the entrance."
"Then we're gonna have to figure out how to break it open," Maria replied.
"No problem," Ada transformed into Composite just as the familiar brick-like silhouette of a Keelback class combat freighter came over the horizon, "We can just blast it open." Hatches on the top and bottom of the vessel opened, deploying two laser turrets on the bottom and two missile racks on the top. Risa and Composite's enhanced vision allowed them to see a very happy Metroid awkwardly strapped into the pilot's seat.
"Since when do you have a Keelback?" Risa asked.
"Since before your computers could handle fighters, and speaking of which…" A hatch on the bottom of the modified freighter lowered, revealing a fighter that looked like a cross between a delta and a horseshoe with laser weapons on the insides of its mandibles in the bay. The fighter –a Galactic Federation F63 Condor Gelid G - launched with a bright flash of light and roar of sound. Composite deployed the digitizing laser and aimed at the pillar, prompting the entire party to scramble out of the way.
A red aura surrounded the front of the pillar, and Composite announced "Hotshot, We've got your target."
::Time to break some windows!:: an exuberant male voice emerged from Composite's open helmet. The fighter overflew the city, scattering terrified grunts in all directions. It flipped on its tail and flew straight towards the pillar, releasing a sonic boom as its afterburners lit with a roar.
"Whoa!" Tails' ears went straight up. "That's fast!"
"What kind of technology is that?" Clemont asked in amazement. His glasses flashed. "I've got to replicate that!"
"You know what they say, 'Infantry exists to paint targets…'" A brilliant flash of light connected the fighter and pillar, vaporizing the front and revealing the elevator car, "'...For people with real guns.'" Composite said conversationally, retracting their digitizer.
Maria gulped. "I'm glad you gave us a warning! I'd hate to have been caught up in that!"
"No kidding," Khrista agreed.
"Composite, your quills!" Espeon said, worried.
"What about the-Woah! Cuttn' it a little close aren't you Hotshot?" Composite reached a hand up and touched their quills, which seemed to have lost integrity at the tips from the blast. One brief flicker of energy later the damage was repaired.
::No problems though, right?:: the fighter's AI asked.
"Just be a little more careful next time." Composite's visor rezed translucent red, "Now, go back to scaring the goons, no vaping any of them, as for us, we've got a base to take down."
::Got it Skipper:: the muffled voice replied before disconnecting.
Tails blinked a couple times before he shook his head, ears flopping a little. "That is some incredible technology, Composite. Where did you manage to find something like that?"
"The dimension is represented by a game called Elite Dangerous. We know it exists in this dimension because somebody," they gave a pointed look to Camanion, "Spends more time playing it then she does working. And that's nothing. That ship," Composite gestured towards the freighter, "Can do several thousand times the speed of light when the Frame Shift Drive comes online, jumping up to about fifteen light years in about ten seconds. Camanion built a secondary hyperdrive that allows her to go interdimensional. The fighter is capable of traveling at just under Mach 1 at full throttle and can do about Mach 1.5 with the afterburners. It's a constant source of annoyance that the freighter's burner speed is about two meters per second slower than his full throttle. The freighter's lasers can hit ground targets from orbit and can drop titanium rods that hit the ground with enough kinetic force to vaporize anything in a fifty meter radius or so." The two ships continued to fly over the town, firing beams that missed grunts by inches with some enthusiasm.
"That's impressive," Tails commented. "You'll have to give me the pointers later, after we've taken care of Team Flare."
"Speaking of which, we'd better get down there." Maria jabbed a thumb at the elevator car. "Come on; we probably don't have much time before they try to power it up and do who knows what to the world as a result."
"Yeah, the big scary ships aren't going to hold them for long before they realize that they won't actually do anything," Risa agreed, stepping toward the elevator.
The group stepped into the elevator - which was actually larger than the one that had been in the Flare base below Lumiose - and eyed the control panel that was sitting on a small platform in the center of the elevator.
There were only two buttons on it.
"Going down," Maria commented. She pressed down on the down arrow.
The elevator jolted, then started down the elevator shaft at a rather quick speed. Maria gripped Delta's PokeBall as she and Khrista exchanged determined looks.
Risa exchanged slightly nervous looks with her sisters and reloaded her stun gun. Composite checked that their blades were dulled and sheathed them. Camanion pulled her whip out of Hammerspace and clipped it to her belt. Espeon's gem glowed slightly as she prepared to use her power.
The elevator came to a smooth stop at the bottom of the shaft. They exchanged looks again, then looked back at the elevator door as it opened up behind them.
The room beyond looked like a control center - very much similar to the kind that was in space centers. Men and women in red suits or lab coats moved about from one computer to another, talking among themselves. A set of stairs led up to a higher-up platform that was in front of a glass wall, which showed a dark, circular shaft. Inside the shaft, red and black cables were suspended in the air, leading up towards the surface and down far, far below where they stood now.
"All right." Maria took in a breath, then stepped out of the elevator with purpose. Her metal boots clanged against the floor with enough force to get the people present to turn their heads to look over at them.
""Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam," Camanion murmured under her breath.
"Let's try not to," Ada murmured in return. "I don't care if it's a good day for it, I don't intend to die."
As the heads of the Flare goons turned, the group caught sight of black boxes on the backs of their necks.
Composite grimaced, "This… could be a problem."
"Some of them don't feel right," Espeon commented, "Not like humans, not quite like holograms, but they're close."
Composite outright stiffened, "Great. At the worst possible time too. We'll have to lure them out before the Disks start flying."
Maria glanced back at them, frowning a little out of worry as Khrista's eyes narrowed.
"Welcome."
Maria's head turned back sharply towards the raised platform at the end of the room they were approaching, eyes locking with the sharp blue eyes of Lysandre, who stood at the top of the stairs.
"The ultimate weapon's flower has finally bloomed above the soil." Lysandre motioned back to the glass wall behind him, but his movements seemed somewhat stiff. "Don't you find its beauty captivating? As we speak, it draws its energy from the Legendary Pokémon below us." He looked back at the group. "Maria! I apologize that the weapon was unearthed even after you chose not to awaken it in the lab. But conflicting egos drive this world – things don't always go the way you want!"
"Black-boxed," Khrista muttered. Her shirt flickered bright yellow; her hands twitched, sparks flying off her fingertips.
"Risa, can you tell which ones don't belong?" Composite asked.
"Yes," Risa nodded in agreement. She clenched her right fist and summoned her DC-17m in blaster rifle form, this time attached to her arm like a Buster. She immediately turned and drilled a hole through one of the Flare grunts. Before anyone had a chance to react, the grunt gave a disappointed yell, glowed orange, and dissolved into the air with a distinct bzzzeeet! sound.
Maria jumped. "What the-"
"Fcon ICPs," Composite growled. "If you can tell the difference - never mind." About half the grunts came to attention and their human forms faded into humanoid figures in gray armor with purple circuit patterns drawn on them. "- slot them, they don't understand surrender." Their voice rose to a bellow, "ALL NON-COMBATANTS, HIT THE DECK!"
Despite their mind-controlled state, the Flare grunts had no problem obeying that order, taking cover behind whatever came to hand. Switch, lacking weapons, did the same.
"Rogue Program Located, Identifier: Composite, Orders: Return rogue program or proof of deresolution," one of the ICPs said in a monotone. It pulled a Disk off of its back and threw it at Composite. Composite drew their own Disk from its place on their back and blocked the attack before returning the favor.
Lysandre gave a pained look, as if his mind-controlled brain was having trouble comprehending the situation. "Wha-? Who? How?"
Camanion shot forward and tackled him to the ground just in time to keep him from being decapitated by an off-course Disk. "Sorry sir, but what part of 'hit the deck' did you not understand?" She telekinetically swept him behind a console.
Hunter flashed into the room behind Composite. "The goons up top got brave and started taking potshots… hey, where'd the softwares come from?"
"Does it matter?" Risa asked, "They're Fcon goons."
"Can I-"
"Yes ad'ika, you can eat them," Composite nodded.
"Duu'mhi redalur," Hunter murmured. He shot forward and latched onto one of the ICP's heads.
Camanion took a second to parse the compressed speech before smirking, "Yes, let's dance." She pulled a large laser pointer out of hammerspace and clicked some sort of passcode on a few buttons along it. A visible blue line of light shot out of it, causing the floor to smoke. "Let's dance indeed."
"Maria, Khrista, they're probably weak to fire," Composite noted. They telekinetically slapped down the heads of a group of especially stupid goon just in time for Risa to hose the nearby ICPs with her blaster.
"Hmph." The sparks faded from Khrista's hands as her shirt swirled, gaining a deep red color with the bright yellow. Flames quickly gathered on her hands and crawled up her shoulders.
Maria's arms quickly became covered in flames as well. "Fire, huh? Sounds like these guys'll be a piece of cake!"
Maria and Khrista quickly moved back-to-back and lunged towards a pair of figures that were coming up on them, Disks raised over their heads. "Flame Charge!"
Bzzzt!
Maria came to a stop shortly after ramming through the not-actually-a-Flare-grunt, blinking in surprise at the orange bits as they dissolved into nothing. She shook her head. "It's just like battling Heartless; these things aren't actually capable of thought...yeah." She glared over at another who threw a Disk in her direction, ducked under it, and rammed into him with another fire-coated tackle, as well.
"The perfect grunts, they can obey orders, but they can't question and they can't disobey," Hunter said, squealing happily as his target derezed. Composite's blades sharpened and flashed with green energy as they joined the melee.
Camanion flew up to a higher platform and focused her beam on one of the ICPs, quickly overheating it and causing it to dissolve. Risa got a similar idea and swapped the barrel and magazine of her rifle, converting it from a rapid-fire weapon to a sniper rifle and joined Camanion on her perch, spitting a colorful stream of multilingual profanity
"Don't you usually suppress your emotions in combat?" Camanion asked her sister.
"I'm trying an experiment," Risa snarled..
Espeon's jewel glowed and one of the ICPs was ripped limb-from-limb at the strength of her attack. Composite sheathed one of their blades and summoned their own double-barreled HECU SPAS-12, derezing three ICPs with a single blast.
Risa fired two shots, derezing two ICPs. Sizzling shell casings clattered to the floor below, prompting a Flare grunt to yelp and scramble away from the two that landed right next to her nose. A pair if ICPs threw Disks at Composite. Composite shook their head and made the two disks slam into the wrong programs.
It wasn't too much longer before all the grunts that had been ICPs were completely cleared out, leaving only two scientists and one Flare grunt with his back up against one of the walls. The crushed remains of a black box lay on the ground near him - it was likely that he had slammed against the wall too hard and disabled the device in the process, because he looked absolutely terrified.
Maria and Khrista relaxed out of their attacking stances, then turned and looked up at Lysandre with disapproving frowns as he looked down at them with muted shock.
"How about this?" Maria raised an eyebrow. "We won't let you have your way. You're not setting that weapon off; we're going down below now to release the Legendary Pokemon."
Lysandre blinked a couple times, then shook his head. "Even though resources, space, and energy on this planet are limited, the number of people and Pokémon has increased to an unsustainable level. Whether it's money or energy, the ones who steal are the ones who win in this world. I have the resources to bring the population down to a manageable level, and the will to do it."
"That's probably what Cyrus was thinking when he decided to remake the world," Khrista spoke up. "Just because your idea's different doesn't make you any better, either. Or more beautiful, no matter what you might claim."
Lysandre hesitated. It looked like he wanted to say something, but Khrista's statement had left him without really all that room to say anything in response.
Sparks flew from Khrista's fingers again, and she held up a hand before flicking her wrist. "Thundershock."
The thin, weak burst of electricity zipped through the air and hit the black box that was barely visible on the back of Lysandre's neck. He winced, stumbling back and away a little as the thing fell off his neck and bounced a couple times on the ground, fizzing and spitting from the overload of electrical energy.
Lysandre rubbed at the back of his neck, shook his head, blinked a couple times in confusion. A moment later, his eyes snapped wide, and he looked up at the group. "You don't have much time. Take that door - quickly!" He pointed towards an open door that led down a stairwell.
Khrista nodded. "Get out of here while you still can, Lysandre. We'll take care of things from here - and keep that box with you; it might be a good idea to have proof that you weren't yourself during all this."
Lysandre nodded and grabbed the box before running out of the base, motioning to the Flare grunt and the two scientists to follow him out. They did so in a scrambling panic and were soon cleared out of the base, taking the elevator up with them.
Khrista looked back at the others. "Let's get down there; something tells me we're gonna find more boxed goons down there, so be ready."
Maria cracked her knuckles. "We've been able to avoid getting hit with those so far; we'll be able to handle the rest of them, no problem."
Lethal weapons were swapped out and replaced with non-lethal counterparts. Composite sliced the power cable of an information terminal in half and used it to charge their electrical powers and said, "Let's go." Their visor faded to translucency.
The group moved through the doorway that Lysandre had pointed out before he bolted, and they started working their way through the hall and down sets of stairs.
Khrista looked around, her eyes narrowing as she frowned. "Something's not right...we should be running into Flare goons every few feet down here, but I'm not seeing anybody."
"Considering that we not only just ran into mindless programs given form and we've got something else interfering in what's going on, I wouldn't be surprised that this part is different." Maria's eyes narrowed at the empty hallway ahead of them. "Still, this does feel wrong, somehow."
Composite's visor changed rapidly through different colors, "Yeah, it's too quiet. And it's been too long since anyone's been through here. We're not even seeing residual heat signatures from human passage."
"Not good," Maria muttered.
Because there wasn't anyone who was trying to slow them down, they soon reached the base of the passage and found themselves in front of a dark red door with the Flare logo and an electronic lock with a key pad sitting right in the middle.
"I've got this!" Clemont moved forward, pulling a device out from somewhere on his person. "I've been meaning to test this for a while - it's a machine meant to break electronic locks."
"Well, that seems quite convenient," Maria commented.
"Shauna gets it in the game and follows the player down here," Khrista said, poking Maria in the side. "She uses it and gets it open, but-"
Krrzzt!
Clemont jumped back from the lock in surprise as his device fell to the ground and broke into its base parts. "Shoot; it broke!"
"But the lock's open." Tails pointed at the light that was on top of the keypad, which had shifted from red to green. "We can go in anytime."
"'The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster,'" Hunter quoted, "And I don't need a nose to smell trouble."
"Yeah, I agree," Camanion said, "But given the choice, let's do this." She nervously tossed one of Composite's stun grenades from hand to hand, claws extended in agitation.
Maria nodded grimly in agreement. "Right. Let's get in there and take care of this thing before it destroys everything." She strode towards the door, the rest following close behind.
The Flare-themed door jolted, then split and slid open, revealing a dark, circular chamber with no visible ceiling, simply blackness high above their heads. In the center of the room were two pedestals with cables coming out of them, pulsing with energy. On one was what looked like a leafless, petrified tree. On the other, an egg-shaped object.
And between the two pedestals stood Xerosic, a crazed grin on his face and his hands on his hips.
"Ha! So you did come! I had predicted that you would! The masters are going to be quite pleased about this!" Xerosic rubbed his hands together eagerly, his glasses flashing despite the fact that there was very little light in the chamber.
Composite murmured a vile D'ni curse. Maria clenched her fists and frowned at Xerosic, but there was a nervous glint in her eyes. "Masters? What are you talking about?"
"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? That fool Lysandre was planning on destroying this weapon and not using it at all - a disgrace on his family name, he said! He didn't realize how much power it had, how much potential for changing the world and making it over new, so that my masters could move in! And then you came along, and it gained even more potential - as a way to lure you in!" Xerosic pointed at Maria. "My masters want you as their lead soldier, little World Jumper! And you are coming with me whether you like it or not!"
He snapped his fingers, and the pedestals spat out one cable each, catching Maria by surprise and coiling around her arms tightly.
"H-hey!" Maria pulled back, trying to pull her arms out of the cables, but their hold only tightened; the sound of metal groaning could be heard. "L-let me go!"
"I don't think so!"
"We do," Composite's blades flashed with telekinetic energy, giving them lightsaber-like cutting qualities. They disappeared from sight and the cables fell apart with screeches of metal-on-metal. Composite reappeared, not even breathing hard from the exertion, blades still lit. They glared at Xerosic, "And next time we start cutting organic cables too." It occurred to Composite a second later that the scumbag might not be sane enough to understand that 'organic cables' meant his neck.
Maria stumbled back and quickly regained her balance as soon as the cables fell to the ground, arms dented in slightly from the force the cables had exerted. "Owowowowowow." Her voice came out as more of a hiss.
Xerosic frowned, not startled but certainly annoyed by this rather abrupt turn of events. "We weren't expecting you to get involved in this." His expression brightened. "No matter. You will all be turned over to the masters, then - they'll appreciate a few extra foot soldiers."
The tree and egg-like cocoon shook on their pedestals.
"Oh, yeah?" Khrista started hovering in the air, her shirt shimmering a myriad of colors. "Well we don't appreciate the idea of being foot soldiers. Psycho Cut!"
Khrista made two downward slashing motions with her arms, sending out twin slashes of purple-pink energy at the cables that extended up from the pedestals towards whatever happened to be in the darkness high above their heads.
"Xerneas! Yveltal!" Khrista barked. "Wake up!"
Maria looked at Khrista sharply as the tree and the egg started to shake even more violently, now surrounded by sparks of blue energy. "What? Those are the Legendaries?"
"Tch." Xerosic's brow furrowed, and he took a couple steps back, behind the pedestals. "They still have energy left? But I calculated exactly - they should be completely drained of any and all life force by now!"
"When you're draining life energy, always take more than you think they have," Hunter piped up, "Take it from someone who uses life energy as food."
"Don't give him any more ideas than he's already had!" Khrista snapped at the Metroid.
"And if you try to contact your Masters," Composite summoned their shotgun, "you'll have a shell in you before you can say two words."
The two dormant forms continued to shake, then started to glow before exploding into larger shapes: a large deer with a sprawling rack of antlers, and a Y-shaped creature with its forearms resembling wings.
The light quickly faded from both, revealing that the deer was mostly blue in color, and woven in among his antlers were bands of glowing colors. The other creature was clearly bird-like, and red with black lines like thick veins spread across its wingspan, and a white, furry collar around its red and black neck.
"Whoa…" Maria stared up at the two Legendaries with wide eyes.
Xerneas and Yveltal eyed the group down below them, then turned their attention to Xerosic, who was starting to move back to the other side of the chamber.
"So, you are the one who has been causing havoc and imbalance." Xerneas inclined his head, looking down on Xerosic with a disdained expression.
"I don't think this one learned from what happened in Sinnoh." Yveltal's voice was gruffer than the other Legendary's, and there was an eager growl mixed in. "I say we give this one the punishment that he deserves."
"I could not agree more."
The two Legendaries sprang down from their respective pedestals and started to move towards Xerosic, Xerneas' horns glowing with power as Yveltal's chest started emitting a brighter red color, that pulsed through his entire form.
"Do not think you can defeat the Dark Arms so easily!" Xerosic shrieked. "There is still enough energy gathered for a single shot!" He raised his hand high, thumb already pressing down on a remote control's switch.
"No!" Maria looked on in horror as Xerneas and Yveltal stopped short of the scientist. "You - why?!"
Composite's hand shot out and the remote went flying before the button was fully pressed. Espeon looked up, gem flashing, "It's still hot, I think it's going to fire whether or not the remote is triggered."
"Yveltal, get them out of here!" Xerneas kicked Xerosic in the head, sending him flying against the back wall and causing the man to collapse.
Yveltal grumbled something, then turned and flew over to where the group was standing. Xerneas galloped over a moment later, antlers still shining with power.
Khrista's shirt turned bright gold. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Xerneas dipped his head, leaving his antlers in reach of the group as Yveltal extended a wing. "Grab hold, and do not let go. Hurry!"
Maria latched onto Yveltal's wing instantly, gripping one of his claws. Khrista put a hand on her shoulder. Tails and Clemont ran over to Xerneas and grabbed onto one of his antlers. Risa returned to Camanion's computer as her creator retracted her claws and latched onto an antler as well. Composite grabbed onto a claw, Hunter and Espeon landing on their shoulders, a bit of a tight squeeze, but better than nothing. Camanion held out a hand and Switch grabbed on with a grip almost tight enough to break bone.
"Teleport!" Xerneas and Yveltal shouted together as the entire cavern started to shake and rumble.
There was a bright flash, and suddenly the entire group was standing above ground near the center of Geosenge. They caught sight of the closing top of the flower-shaped weapon dropping into the ground at a fast rate before an explosion came up from below, blowing dust and fire in all directions.
Xerneas flicked his head, and a bright blue shield came into existence between them and the explosion, protecting the group from the backlash. When it had passed, the shield dropped.
Maria looked around at Geosenge and let out a sigh of relief. "Everything's still here."
"Of course it is," Yveltal grumbled. "The weapon was to turn against itself if it was ever used again. That fool did not realize it."
::Aww…:: Risa deployed into the physical world, "I was hoping to do that myself." A brick with a large hazard symbol she was holding derezed, "Nonetheless, pretty explosion."
Yveltal chuckled darkly, a rather sinister smile crossing his face. "Yes, quite."
Xerneas shot him a look of disapproval, then looked down at the group. "I thank you for coming to our and Kalos' aid. I fear that, without the actions that you have taken today, the entire region would have become very much out of balance."
"I'm just glad that we managed to get here in time," Maria replied. She frowned. "Still, though, this shouldn't have happened."
"No, it should not have," Xerneas agreed.
"Whatever bozo decided to interfere really should think twice before doing stuff like that," Yveltal muttered.
"Xerosic mentioned something about dark arms," Khrista spoke up. She looked over at Maria. "I think those are the masters he was talking about - the people who decided to make this happen."
"Could be." Tails tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I haven't heard of any race with that name before, but it sounds too close to the Black Arms that Shadow fought against pre-merge."
"We were thinking the same thing. Maybe the remnants of the Black Arms allied with - or were absorbed by - another race?" Composite put on a thoughtful expression, "Of course, it could just be a coincidence, but in our experience, that's pretty uncommon."
"Well, whoever they are, they messed with the wrong world." Maria clenched her fists. "And if they try to set so much as a foot in any dimension again to take it over, I'll be ready for them."
"Think they're your red-eyed nightmares, then?" Khrista asked.
"Oh, yeah. That's definitely them." Maria's eyes sparked. "Xerosic's talk about taking me in matched with my nightmares exactly. Now that I know that and at least some of what they're aiming for, I know what to keep an eye on. I'll be ready the next time I see any of those black boxes."
"While that is all well and good, there is...something else, that has occurred here today." Xerneas looked back at the giant hole in the ground where the weapon had been moments before. "The man who used this three thousand years ago exposed himself to its energies directly. As a result, he has become much more...long-lived, than most."
"Which really irks me because I have been waiting to collect his soul and bring it to the afterlife ever since he set it off," Yveltal growled.
"You're talking about AZ," Clemont realized. "But...what does he have to do with today?"
"You were exposed to that same energy." Xerneas lowered his head to look at Clemont first, then at the others in turn. "While it is not as much energy as what AZ faced, you are still affected in the same manner."
Maria's eyes widened sharply. "You're saying we could end up living as long as AZ."
"Huh," Composite thought, then snorted, "As reckless as we - the group, that is - seem to be, we doubt that'll be as much of an issue as you'd think," They grinned, "Of course, we - personally - probably aren't even technically alive by the scientific definition, so it's a bit of a non issue."
"Regardless, the time that a soul has in the physical realm is finite," Xerneas replied. He looked at Maria. "Use the time you have wisely, extended or not, eternal or not."
Maria swallowed and nodded a little.
Xerneas lifted his head. "I believe it is time we took our leave of this place. Perhaps I shall do some traveling of my own, and return to my forest at the end of my time awake."
Yveltal growled. "The world has changed much. I would like to see how these finite creatures are coping with the changes that the Mobians brought." He grinned a little. "Perhaps even see what makes them so special."
The Legendary raised his wings, and with a powerful flap shot up into the air, climbing quickly before disappearing into the clouds above their heads. Xerneas' entire form flashed seconds later, and he disappeared from sight.
"...well, that was...different," Maria said. "Normally one of them would offer to travel with me through the eighth Gym and the Elite Four. Not that I mind it or anything - it's just...different. Huh."
Camanion smirked, "Doubt you'll need the help kid."
Maria laughed. "Yeah, definitely not! My team's near level 60 - they normally don't get this high by now! The Elite Four's gonna be no problem." She paused. "Speaking of which, though...Team Flare's been taken care of - they're not going to be around causing anymore problems. I still want to beat the League here, but as soon as I do that, I'm planning on heading back home." She looked over at Khrista. "What about you?"
Khrista shook her head. "I graduated from high school, same as you did. I don't really need any more education back at home, and I'd kind of like to stick around here." Khrista motioned to Geosenge. "Besides, I think I fit in better here than anywhere else."
"Clemont and I should probably get back to Lumiose and let Professor Sycamore know what's happened," Tails piped up. "It'd probably be a good idea if we looked into this strange energy some, too, just in case it has other effects besides giving us near-eternal life." He paused. "Man, that's a long time…"
Maria nodded, then looked over at Camanion, Risa, Composite, and Hunter. "What do you guys want to do now? If you're gonna stick with me, I'm afraid you'll only be able to travel with me as far as the entrance to Victory Road - Trainers challenging the Elite Four have to take that path alone, besides their team, and I know that Hunter doesn't like the cold, so Snowbelle might not be a place you guys want to hit next."
"That depends… Hunter, where did you send the ship?" Composite asked the young Metroid.
"I told them to go to Mars, but they may have bugged out to Wolf 359 when they saw the bang," Hunter bobbed slightly, somewhat nervous.
"Good. Unless they decided to disobey you, in which case they're probably thinking they could get away with the dark side of the moon or something. Bit of a bad call in that case, since they can't make repairs there," Composite thought, "We'll probably split up here. Actually…" They thought for a moment and turned to Maria, "You mentioned a cousin who does high tech stuff?" They pulled a flash drive out of Hammerspace, "Some data on digitizing lasers and sentient AI. It also has our comm code if you ever need to contact us. Any old device should work, the code knows where it's going," they tossed the drive to a somewhat surprised Maria.
"Whoa!" Maria caught the drive, a small smirk crossing her face. "Cool! Joshua's definitely gonna get a kick out of this. Thanks!"
"I'm staying with you, Sol'buir," Espeon said, "Oy'an was discussing Mando'a names and I think I'll go with Ruusaan."
"Reliable one… good choice. And what was that you called us? Sol'buir? United one…? That's good, we never thought of that… Anyway, Ni Kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Ruusaan. Welcome to the family." The newly named Ruusaan seemed to swell with pride, waving her tail in happiness.
"Actually, splitting up might not be the best idea," Camanion stated, "I still haven't finished analyzing the black boxes yet. I've got most of the software decoded, but I'm about to start work on the hardware. I'm sure you'll want the results as soon as I have them."
Hunter game a slight squeal, "But I don't want to go to a snow town!"
Composite smirked and said into thin air, "Keely, get rid of him."
"I'd proba-" The Metroid vanished mid-complaint as the ship - certainly too close to have properly followed orders about distance - teleported him out. Composite silently pulled the boxes from Hammerspace and tossed them to Camanion, who caught them and slipped them into Hammerspace in a single motion.
Maria winced a little at that, brow furrowing.
Khrista's expression darkened. "Yeah, that's a pretty good point. Whatever it is that's going on with those boxes and the Dark Arms, it'd be a good idea if we knew what was coming with them if we ever hear from them again."
"You can use my lab in Lumiose to pick it apart," Clemont offered. "Tails and I are sharing what equipment we have, and there's plenty of computer power there if you think you need something to supplement what you already have."
"And I have Maria's comm number, so we can still get into contact with her while she's in this dimension," Tails added. "And she's going to be here for a few days yet, since she hasn't taken on the Elite Four yet. Or the eighth Gym, for that matter."
"Yeah!" Maria nodded in agreement. "And now that Team Flare's been taken care of, I can slow down at least a little and help my team get stronger to the point that the Kalos Elite Four won't be a problem. I figure that Delta is more than strong enough to take out the Gym in Snowbelle; it's probably an Ice one."
"Try definitely." Khrista gave a dry smirk.
"Before we go…" Composite mused, "Hey Maria, you wanna have a quick spar?"
Maria inclined her head at the question. "A spar? Hm. Well, I don't see why not." She shrugged. "I had thought that I'd end up fighting myself more against Team Flare, but other than what happened in the base before we went after Xerosic, I haven't really had to do much." She smirked a little. "So I guess I'm not against it."
"If you're gonna spar, you probably shouldn't do it so close to that pit." Khrista pointed at the giant hole next to them.
"You make a good point. Our situational awareness is pretty good, but even we fail to notice a pitfall on occasion. Usually to our detriment," Composite nodded and glanced around. "Nice clearing over there though. How's that?"
"Yeah, that'll work." Khrista nodded. "It's far enough away from town and the gravestones on Route 10 to put them in harm's way."
"Should I fight too?" Ruusaan asked.
Composite laughed, "No ad'ika, while the best way to win a one-on-one fight may be to be the third person to show up, there's a difference between a friendly spar and a full battle."
"Definitely." Maria nodded. "Spars are more like training, when you're testing the other person. Battles are when you're aiming to knock them to the ground and have them beg for mercy."
"With that said," Composite headed over to the clearing, "Duu'mhi geroya, Let's play," they drew their blades, ensured they were properly dulled, and assumed a ready position.
Maria followed after Composite and took up a position across the clearing from her. A smirk went across her face for a moment before it was replaced with a determined expression, and Maria took up a somewhat defensive stance with her fists up in front of her. Sparks of fire flew off the tips of her knuckles.
Clemont pushed his glasses further up his nose. "This is going to be interesting. I haven't seen the Champion of Five Regions face off against an opponent like this before."
"It'll definitely be interesting to see how much stronger Maria's gotten since I last saw her," Tails agreed.
Composite inclined their head to their opponent, "Let's do this." They shot forward, blades swinging in from left and right.
Maria ducked down and shot forward, flames starting to lick at her shoulders before covering her upper half in a sudden wave of energy in her own form of a Flame Charge.
Composite yelped and dove out of the way, slashing at Maria's legs on the way past.
Maria yelped and stumbled, Composite's blades scraping against her armor as they went past. Maria managed to regain her balance and spun on one foot to face Composite again, her right arm shifting into her Buster as she went. Maria quickly aimed at Composite and fired a sphere of yellow, sparking energy - a Stun Shot.
"Bad idea," Composite's left hand flashed out, absorbing the electric attack and sending it back in a beam of arcing electricity.
"Ya!" Maria moved to get out of the beam's way by scrambling to the left, but an arching branch off the main beam still hit her anyway, causing her right arm to go limp, sparks shooting off it. She hissed at the pain of it, then held up her left hand and started shooting fireballs at Composite.
Composite yelped and dodged, their right hand taking some damage from the assault.
"Don't think this is gonna be easy!" Maria clenched her left fist tightly, and a curved blade shot out from the side of her left forearm, curving around her clenched fist. It became covered in flames a moment later, and she lunged forward, aiming to slash at Composite's legs herself.
Composite grimaced and leapt in a flip, barely evading the slash and bringing the flat of their left sword on the top of Maria's head, "We wouldn't have it any other way!"
The blade collided with its intended target. "Ow!" Maria landed on the ground, face-first, then looked up with an annoyed snarl before she spat a fireball at Composite and scrambled to her feet.
Composite's left arm blackened from the heat. "You're strong with your element. Changing tactics!" Composite popped up the same way they would to transform into Ada. Green energy swirled around them and they transformed into a matte gray robot with three rotating weapon arms below and a physical shield in front.
The sparks stopped flying off Maria's right arm as she took a step back in surprise at the transformation; she blinked a couple times before she grinned. She aimed her Buster at Composite again, only this time she shot out an orange orb of energy - her default shot. Then she started running around the clearing as her Buster started to glow, gathering energy.
The robot deflected the small shot off of its shield and brought two of its weapons into line. Both activated, firing a stream of flaming rubber bullets.
"Ow! Flash-ow-Fire!" Maria took the hits from the rubber bullets as they bounced off her armor, leaving nearly unnoticeable dents as their flames were abruptly sucked from them on contact. Then Maria aimed her Buster at the robot. "Charged Buster Shot!"
The explosion of orange energy that came out was bigger than Maria's head.
The robot emitted a mechanical shriek, attempting to both dodge and angle its shield to deflect as much of the attack as possible, but still took the brunt of the blast. It seemed to skid backward, the relatively weak weapon arms squealing in protest at the unaccustomed g-forces. It seemed to shake itself and reconfigured its weapons, replacing fire with electricity.
Maria had not been expecting the abrupt change in weaponry, and ended up paying for being in the line of the bullets. Her movements stumbled, and a shield of fire quickly flashed into existence and sent the bullets bouncing in different directions as sparks flew from Maria's joints; she wasn't going to be able to move very much until it wore off.
Maria growled in frustration, fire starting to gather on her twitching limbs. "Come on, come on...Fire Blast!"
An explosion of flames whipped out from Maria in a five-pronged shape towards her opponent.
Composite swirled with energy and transformed into some sort of crocodile-like creature that was clearly meant to anchor to a wall. The fire blast had some effect, but less than it would have on the robot and certainly less than it would have on Composite's normal form. Once the flames died down, they transformed into a purple humanoid with green highlights on its arms, firing three long streams of energy from its hands.
Maria yelped and rolled in order to avoid the energy streams, taking her shield of fire with her. Two of them missed, but one hit her in the foot, shooting a neat hole through her armor.
Maria let out a mechanical shriek that caused their audience to flinch back at the noise, then glared at Composite's new form as fire started to gather even more over the Reploid. "White Flare!"
The explosion of red-white fire was a little harder to dodge; it split into multiple tendrils and shot at Composite from multiple angles, boxing them in.
The Zebesian gave an angry chatter and exploded into tendrils of red energy that slipped through any crack they could find and reformed Composite on the outside. "Okay… that was good… Our turn…" Their voice reconfigured into a loud shriek, "HEARTS ON FIRE… STRONG DESIRE… RAGES DEEP WITHIN…"
"Gah!" Maria stumbled back, her fire shield flickering and dying at the noise as she clapped her hands over her ears in order to block out the noise as much as she could.
"That's Maria's Theme!" Khrista exclaimed in surprise.
"Her what?" Tails looked at Khrista in confusion.
"It's music that resonates with her a little," Khrista explained quickly. "I heard it last year, but…" She frowned in confusion. "How does Composite know it?"
"Happy accident," Composite said, returning their voice to normal, "Just happened to be playing when we cut loose. We always play music in our helmet in combat, helps us with rhythm. Good song though."
Maria waited for a second, then lowered her hands from her ears with a wince as Khrista nodded. "Geez, that was loud." Maria winced and put a hand to her left ear, standing more on her right leg than her left, which had the hole from the energy beam cut through it. "My ears are still ringing a little. I'm definitely gonna need some repairs…." She shook her head, trying to get rid of the ringing.
Composite remained in a defensive pose for a few seconds before sheathing their blades and saying, "And…. Endex. Sorry about the foot."
Maria looked down at her left foot. "At least you didn't cut it clean off. Khrista, you mind blasting me? I want to try something."
"Not a problem." Khrista's shirt turned a deep red, and she breathed in before spitting out a flamethrower, encasing Maria completely in flames.
"Flash Fire!"
The fire was sucked into Maria's form; the dents in her armor from the little rubber bullets suddenly came undone with the sound of hail hitting a tin roof, and the hole in her foot closed in on itself.
Tails came over instantly and grabbed Maria's foot before she could put it on the ground. "It's almost like it wasn't even cut through!" He looked up. "How did you know that would work?"
"I didn't." Maria shrugged. "I just figured that, since I get energy back from absorbing fire, it could help fix things. And I guess it does!" She laughed a little, looking down at her foot with something of an amazed expression. "I'll have to remember that next time I go up against someone and I don't have anything nearby to do repairs."
"How did you…? I knew you could transform but… I didn't know it could affect your skills and abilities," Ruusaan asked, almost lost for words.
"Oh, that? Well… we can get morph forms in two ways. We can make them ourselves, like we did with Ada and our ball form," Composite briefly transformed into.a red sphere roughly one meter in diameter, "Or we can copy them, like we did with the forms we used in battle." They attempted to transform into another form, but the energy exploded away from them early, prompting a yelp, "Okay, apparently we can't use Samus's form here. Must be a range thing. We can't use the same form as someone who currently occupies the same dimension, though there are some exceptions apparently. Like say the Zebesian form we used comes from the same as Samus. Apparently grunts have less limitations than others."
"Well, Samus and Pokemon are both part of the same group when it comes to video games," Khrista pointed out. "I wouldn't be surprised if she'd be able to cross over and stop by here every once in a while."
"Here's hoping that if she does she doesn't point her weaponry at anybody," Maria responded as Tails let go of her foot.
"In our experience, Samus doesn't shoot first, she waits for the other person to attack. And then annihilates them. Unless it's Ridley, and then she skips the waiting part. Understandable if you know their history," Composite replied.
"I doubt she will," Tails responded. "If she knows about Pokemon because of the Smash tournaments, she knows how things work around here at least a little." He looked over at Clemont and Camanion. "Do you guys want to head back to Lumiose now? It's early afternoon, so there's plenty of time to get started on analyzing the data in those mind control devices."
"Now's as good a time as any," Camanion nodded.
Tails nodded, then looked over at Switch, who had been pretty quiet over the course of the match. "What about you?"
"I'm sticking with my mentor. I've got nothing left in Kalos to stay for," Switch replied. "I'm willing to help with the analysis."
"And the more help you guys get, the sooner we can get answers," Maria said with a determined nod. She considered saying something else, then looked over at Composite and cocked her head to one side curiously. "That copy thing. Does it let you copy pretty much anybody you come in contact with?"
"Well… probably. We've got a form that wouldn't fit in this clearing," Composite said, trying to figure out where Maria was going with this.
Maria's eyebrows shot up at that. "Wha - really?"
"Why are you asking them that?" Khrista asked, frowning. "It's not like you can do that." Her eyes narrowed. "Can you?"
Maria snorted and waved off Khrista's stare. "Nah, nah; I've only got my firepower and that's it; I don't have a Copy Chip or whatever it is that Rock and Xavier use to copy weapons." She looked at Composite. "It's just that, well, all things considered, I was wondering if you've got all your weaknesses covered."
"Not really, fire's still a bit of an issue for us," Composite thought for a moment, "It mostly bypasses our data shell and can hit physical components."
"I was wondering why those things fell apart so easily back in the Flare base," Maria muttered, remembering the programs that they had taken down. "I've got a natural defense against it causing me harm, so maybe I'd be able to give you some help against things like that."
"We can see that working…" Composite placed their hand on Maria's shoulder, "Download!" Text scrolled along their display as the new data loaded.
Copy Form
Name: Maria
Type: Hardware Sentient with unknown components
Strengths: Durable, Immune to Fire
Weaknesses: Difficult to self-repair
Abilities: Pyrokinesis, Superhuman strength, Buster with fire, electric, and ice
Copy Complete
Verification Complete
Their appearance flickered, matching Maria's for a second before returning to normal.
Maria instinctively shuddered – probably at the scanning beam effect from the download.
"Maria?" Khrista asked in concern.
"I'm fine." Maria stepped back a little, shaking her head. "Just felt like Ratchet with that medical scanner. Bit too ticklish for my liking."
Composite's hand jerked back, "Something did not like that."
Maria blinked at that, then frowned. "What do you-"
"The Protocol!" Tails blurted out.
Maria stiffened at that, eyes widening. "Oh, yeah...that thing."
"The… Protocol?" Camanion asked, unable to stop herself.
Sensing that it was a sensitive subject, Composite said, "Must be some sort of defense system. Something like ours."
"...something like that," Maria said carefully. "It didn't do anything when you copied my abilities, did it?"
"It sort of scanned our own process and then must have decided that we weren't doing anything we shouldn't be and ignored us. All it really did was warn us to disconnect quickly," Composite shrugged, "It must have specific parameters that we didn't violate."
Maria rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, it does that. Last program that decided it wanted to slip in wanted to do a few things that my systems wouldn't have liked, so it got kicked out rather violently."
"Brainiac?" Khrista asked.
Maria shook her head. "Limited virus, at the start of the summer."
"Oh." Khrista blinked a couple times. "Must've happened after I left."
Maria snorted. "Probably, yeah. Either that, or you popped out after Joshua and I left and before we came back." She looked over at Composite. "I'm glad it didn't think you were too dangerous; I don't know what would have happened then, and I don't think I want to find out."
"We don't either," Composite nodded, "We didn't sense much of its usage - and we didn't try - but we did sense enough to tell that it's got teeth, and from what you've said, sharp ones."
"Considering what it defends against, it has to," Tails replied. He looked at Maria, cocking his head to one side as he looked her up and down. "Well, you look and sound like you've been able to keep yourself in one piece, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried, huh?" He smiled a little, then pulled out a PokeBall, releasing a humanoid Pokemon with a long mustache and two spoons held in three-fingered claws. "Alec, we're gonna need a teleport back to the lab in Lumiose."
"Just say the word." The Alakazam dipped his head in an elegant nod.
Tails looked over at Clemont, Switch, and Camanion. "Whenever you guys are ready."
"Qapla'," Camanion nodded to Composite. Risa returned to her computer, ready for transport.
"Eh… keep trying. Anyway, Ret'urcye mhi," Composite responded.
Switch nodded, "Let's go."
Tails motioned the group closer to Alec, and the Pokemon's spoons flashed before they disappeared in a bright pink-purple flash, leaving Khrista, Maria, and Composite standing alone.
"Well, I guess we're starting to split, then." Maria sighed and looked over at Composite. "So, where are you headed next?"
"Honestly, not sure." Composite thought for a moment and transformed into Ada, "We'll probably just wander for a bit, put Ruu through her paces, eventually head out to somewhere. Either I'll know by then or we'll just choose somewhere and show up."
Hunter teleported down, "Bu'ir, what'd you do that for?"
"Didn't want to listen to your complaining about the ice, which we aren't going to, so I thought you'd want to say goodbye," Ada shrugged at the irritated Metroid, before cheering him up by opening a brief argument, "And if I ever catch you sitting in my seat again, I'll push you out the airlock!"
"I can take it, you know I can!" Hunter squealed indignantly.
"And yet you complain about being too cold at the freezing point of water," Ada pointed out, "When you survive just fine at absolute zero. Anyway, we'll continue this conversation later," She inclined her head to Maria and Khrista, Ret'urcye mhi, maybe we'll meet again."
"Yeah, maybe." Maria nodded as Khrista inclined her head.
"Ad'ike, let's go," Ada nodded to Hunter and Ruusaan. The three turned and walked off in no particular direction.
"Bye!" Hunter made a sort of bobbing wave motion.
And that's the chapter. The primary crossover component is complete, but Camanion still needs to analyze the boxes. I'll have that up in the next few days, so see you then!
Glossary of Mando'a words
Duu'mhi redalur!: Let's dance! (Self made, literally "Allow us dance," battle cry)
Duumir: Allow, permit
Mhi: We, us (Plural pronoun)
Redalur: Dance, usually not a euphemism for fight
Solus: One, united, together, lonely
Solan: United one (nickname and alias of Composite, self made)
Sol'buir: Variant of Solan used by Oy'an and Ruusaan, literally Mama Solan
Ni Kyr'tayl gai sa'ad: Followed by a name, Mandalorian adoption ceremony in its entirety (Literally "I know your name as my child." Possibly one of the most important ceremonies in Mandalorian culture.)
Ret'urcye mhi: Goodbye (literally "Maybe we'll meet again.")
Geroya: Play (literally "almost hunt")