Part 7: The Grove

Chapter 48: Mutilated

I don't wanna spam people's emails if they have notifications so I'll probably only upload a couple more today.

I don't own Pokémon.


Alli

Few half-an-hours later (or however people wanted to count the time now), Flicker and I were up at Brink Boulevard, that mesh of chain-link fence, construction projects, and the ceaseless smell of broken sewage lines. Now, more than ever, the place was doing poorly. Some steel girders had fallen into piles from big fenced off areas, all dirty without a proper layer of concrete yet. Some of the iron on the fencing was broken through, the fencing warped either inward or outward, depending on entry or exit. I always liked coming here whenever the chance presented itself – 'guess I had any chance to come around to Brink nowadays. I had a good time flying around through the unfinished structures, looking down on it thinkin' about how useless it all seemed. Being above everything else gave me this sense of superiority that I had to try and suppress. Gotta say, it wasn't the worst of my concerns! One of my concerns was more or less connected to the floating islands that showed up pretty recently, and, were it not for the lighting of the sun making it look like clouds, I could've caught a nice view of it on Brink. Was always too afraid to fly that high.

But yeah. Place looked like shit here. Every time I tasted the air with my tongue, I was reminded of how having better senses in certain areas meant you had to cope with the bad stuff twice or thrice or 'more-ice' (whatever) as much. Some things tasted and smelled different. Apples tasted different. Potatoes tasted different. The air around Brink tasted like somebody took a dookie in an old shoe. Glad I didn't need to wear shoes. Made the thought a little more pleasant somehow.

All the pavement here was soggy and cracked, the largest puddles in Autumnridge soaking the streets 'cause the area's drainage system was sub-par, 'till the renovations were complete, and boy they sure took their sweet time with those. It always seemed like the community agreed to have this corner of town look like this just 'cause the crime levels around Autumnridge were so low that, surely, having a clammy, crumbly apartment-ridden neighborhood gave the police force something to do – like a quota to meet. Maybe it was Dad who told me that once. He'd been assigned for tasks here more than anywhere else in town. Sure could've used his help now, but...

Flicker was cute. She tried to avoid the deeper puddles whenever she could. I turned back to her periodically to see if she was scouting the ground ahead for any sign of hazards. Hell, I didn't blame her. If I still had to walk on two (or four) legs, I wouldn't want to trudge around in the trashy muck of a lack any real gutter system here. Flicker didn't seem familiar with the area anyway, and, without all the machines blasting, jackhammers pounding, and cranes creaking, it didn't ring too close to home for me either. The only noise to encounter here was the infrequent drizzle or stream of polluted water from a higher elevation to a lower culmination of the stuff, accompanied by the rustic glow of amber-scarlet lined buildings shining with said liquid. Cold sweat, I thought. It looked like all the buildings, rusty signs, and half-erected offices and whatnot were drenched in their own cold sweat. Gave me the chills hard.

I shivered. Mostly, I did it 'cause I was freezing my lack of nuts or tits off (got the short end of the stick on this whole gender bender business). Despite what illness the backdrop and color of Brink did for Flicker, I doubted she was having too much trouble, being both clothed and covered in all that fur. Man, mammals. Took it for granted, I really did.

We passed by some low-income housing. Funny how all these buildings were pretty much still standing when a lot of the houses back on Orion didn't make it. I looked for any wear and tear, and, well, anything that was there had to've already been there before the Wave hit. There was damage, but it was mostly in the streets; the cars, traffic lights, etc., and anything beyond that must've looked nearly as crappy as before, just under a nice blue sky with a smiling sun.

"Oooh, Alli, I am SO jealous of you right now!" Flicker commented. I turned my head quickly, startled by the sudden speech. God, it really was quiet around here.

"Why'zat?"

"You're floaty! Why couldn't I have been a skywisp, too?" she asked. I tried to picture her as one, but I could only see another 'me' or Charley, er Mari... Whatever she wanted to be called.

"You're askin' me? I ain't know how the Wave works! I used to be a Pokémon before it got really weird, and... well, hey, here I am now." I gestured openly, as if to showcase my body.

She looked like she needed to stop and process that, 'cause the look she gave me had more disbelief in it than confidence that she was going to land the next step without falling over. We kept moving. I was flying backwards now.

"You were a Pokémon? I didn't know that!"

"Eyup," I nodded proudly. Wasn't sure why. "For some reason – I think it's got to do with the Crossblade – I became a skywisp."

"The Crossblade..." she cooed, rubbing under her chin with her pointer finger. "I've heard so little about it. It's a Symbi, correct?"

"Eh, shrug," I shrugged as I said that. "Your guess is as good as mine. I... I want to find out more about the Crossblade, actually."

I had to fight back the urge to let any mention of Rayse slip my forked tongue.

"I hope you do, but be careful. I've heard from Charley that it's very dangerous," she recalled. "Hehe, Alli, what kind of Pokémon were you? I bet you were so cute!"

I smirked and bobbed my head from side to side. Prolly blushed some, too.

"I, uh, was a shinx! Little electric cat." I said.

"Oh! What...?" she blinked half a dozen times.

I disregarded that at the slight sensation of air behind me growing more spacious.

A split-second later, there was a presence – a thump. My back pressed against something oddly shaped after touching my lightning rod. Whatever I bumped into reacted, and I felt air produced from it, like it was in motion. Wait. What?! I bumped into somebody?!

I turned about so quickly that the bottom half of my body nearly wrung itself. I noticed a large open alleyway midway through the turn. To the right of that, a bright pink floating, dressy creature stared me back with caution loud in its shining eyes, one of its tiny gray hands pressed to its cheek like it had done something regrettable.

Before even assessing the situation, I put a hand on my bar and grasped, ready to swing.

"Alli, no!" Flicker called out desperately.

I didn't take my eyes off of the floating pink girl, nor did she take her eyes from me, but it sure looked like she wanted to make as much distance between herself and I without making it too sudden. Then, it clicked. It was Atti. I was facing down Atti. I felt the tension in my hand escape, freeing the stress from my shoulder. I pulled my arm away from the metal rod strapped to my back slowly, while Atti just hovered there, muted and afraid.

"What are the chances of that?" I started, eying over the gown-adorned little diamond doll Atti had the misfortune of turning into. "We were hoping to bump into you, Atti."

He – or maybe she – shook her head, but her expression didn't change.

"You look so concerned, Atti! But everything is okay. Come on now. What's the matter?" Flicker approached her endearingly, but it didn't goad any change in Atti's face.

"What do you want...?" she finally asked, like she wanted no part of us.

"What do we want?" I repeated her. "We want to know what YOU want. Word is, you're not happy with the Grove."

"Wh-what if I'm not? What'll you do...?" she asked. She was so apprehensive that it was contagious. I felt static electricity against my back, my hair sticking.

"What would you like us to do?" Flicker inquired.

"Stop... sheltering me..." she meekly whimpered, the frown across her face growing. She hid it, looking down, large vaguely heart-shaped diamond blocking her eyes slightly. "Like I'm some sort of princess..."

"That's not our choice, you know? We don't think anything different of you, Atti," Flicker said. "You're still our friend. We're just protecting you!"

"Friend? How can you say that when you're not even Travis anymore?" Atti grumbled.

Travis? Who—what, Flicker?

I looked at the stylish blue bunny I'd wanted to call Sparkly, 'cause she was always so pampery and girly. Travis?

"I don't want to go back. I can't stay there. Diancie – she gets closer when I..." she stopped, hurriedly putting her hands up to her head and shaking it. "I don't want to think that way! No one understands. Caden treats me like a girl. Charley's not my dad anymore. You're not even Travis! I'm Atti! I'm..."

I backed away from the conversation, drawing some attention to myself. I needed the space, though. I needed to really LOOK at who was talking to one another. Travis and Atti. I couldn't see it. My eyes paced back and forth so quickly, taking in everything they could. Travis and Atti. I only really got to meet them when Bryan brought 'em to the Grove and we showed them around. They were just Pokémon back then – uh, a marill and a chespin. And I was a shinx. This was where things ended up? Really? First off, we were all dudes, and now?! What kind of joke was this?! I didn't even have a SLIGHT awareness that Flicker could've been anyone I knew.

"Flicker," I began. "'The hell? Y-you, uh... You're Travis?!"

"I... I was." she confirmed disapprovingly of it. With the way her voice trembled, it sounded like she didn't want to admit to it. Maybe she wanted to erase Travis and be someone completely new, 'cause the person she looked like now couldn't have possibly been Travis. Same with Atti, but with a different approach. Atti wanted himself back. He wanted to fight so hard for his identity that he would've left safety in search for it.

That reminded me of myself, when I still gave a shit. It reminded me of when I wasn't willing to accept the body, but the body was all I had 'n it happened to have the name Al no matter what shape it took. 'Cept for now, because the deeper you went into the Wave, the less likely you were gonna come out the other side with the name you went in with. It was... like all this water on Brink. It was all dirty, 'cause it had 'us' in it. All our crap and human murk. It washed all of the humanity off of us, then decided we still weren't clean enough and gave us another shower, 'till it washed off our hope of ever going back. Somewhere in all that dirty water was an identity – and maybe if you looked into the puddles on a clear enough day, you could see a reflection of your old self. But the day never really came, so rest in peace.

Was that why Atti came here? Did he find meaning in all this filth? Probably not – I was looking way too into that; though, I did recall with Travis and Bryan that all their problems together started with one of 'em floating in the river.

"I never wanted to become anybody different. It was never my choice," Flicker paused, opening a hand and staring at the palm. "I've been at the center of one of the biggest research projects in Delta Meadow for years. They need me, because they want to change me. Now, because of Gamma, they don't need me. I thought I was safe from change, but then... my Symbi... I think my Symbi is going to permanently change the person I am."

"Symbi?" Atti chirped.

"Yes. I would have never thought that Susano'o was capable of that, but now I'm beginning to think that Travis is being erased in favor of Flicker."

"But why?! Why can't we just be US?! Why does the Wave have to change who we ARE?!" Atti raised her voice. With every question asked, she slammed her small fists against her waist. "I don't WANT to be Diancie! I don't WANT to be a Champion!"

Champion?

I wanted to interject, when I noticed a drizzle of red liquid spill from above. It drained from a broken pipe lining the apartment building. It appeared to coalesce into a puddle behind Atti without either she or Flicker noticing. The fluid was viscous, and with the louder Atti's voice became, the more of it seemed to drizzle silently, oozing as one sickly, stringy stream of glistening gore.

"I wish Cruce didn't disappear. He was still human, unlike everybody else. He couldn't even GET infected!" she went on, much to my dismay, because the things she was saying distracted me from the growing puddle of red, metal-scented goop. Again, my eyes flicked back and forth. Atti, goop, Atti, goop.

"Cruce is human? Where is he?" I gave.

"He's gone. Paige said he had to have Tripped by now. She didn't want me to follow him, but she's just like everyone else who wants me to stay and be someone I'm not." Atti explained. Good that she still had the decency to give a distinct explanation through her tantrum, but she still made it all about herself.

"That's not true. Paige doesn't want you to get hurt, that's all." Flicker told her.

"Then why does she and everyone else let Caden go outside the Grove?! What makes him special?!" she blared again.

Goddamn kids. I didn't ever plan on having any, and if reproducing wasn't anything to worry about with this body, then I would've gladly taken it over being male, but somehow I felt wrong on so many levels to assume that.

I wanted to smack Atti upside the head, but I still had some standards telling me not to hit (most) girls, even in this weird situation, needless to say anymore. Paired with the slow dripping of the red goop, the urge sank away back into the deep recesses of my muscles while I grew even more concerned that the liquid was coming to a halt. I checked the puddle behind Atti and, uh, it didn't seem to be as full as I expected. For the volume of liquid that fell there, I would'a thought there was a small pool by now. This was when I noticed that the ooze was crawling. It was moving away from us. Problem, I thought. Big problem. I should've announced that the moment I saw it spilling.

Instinctively, I flew myself over the girls and got a better angle on the bloody goo. It'd already stopped pouring from the detached gutter pipe lining the apartment. I checked down that gutter for any more. It was all gone. I swerved over to the nearby second floor balcony on the same building, scanning the road it overlooked. A barricade of cones, caution signs, and police cars was set up some yards from where Flicker and I had been. It looked like a decent enough location for somebody to hole up, were it not for the 'great lake' of a puddle that swamped the section of the street. While it was hard to gauge under the tint of dark red light of the sun, an oily discoloration shined in the little tainted pool, the water and red substance failing to mix. I turned back for one moment to see if Flicker and Atti were still okay, and then next time I looked over to that blockade, someone was just sitting there. Sitting in that pool with what looked like his legs out in front of him and his arms back, leaning into the water, a third of his body submerged.

No doubt, that was Bryan.

He was smiling, his head raised back, two tails poking high out of the water. I could remember what we called him, 'cause of his species. Bryzel – he was a buizel, and here he was again, even if his fur was stained heavily with red, whites of his eyes glazed over with a sheet of black, pupils bright orange, and shit if I could forget to notice the red ooze dribbling off of his chin.

Again, I reached back and grabbed my lightning rod, but I didn't draw it. I watched, and I waited.

"Kkhee..." I heard him cackle from all the way up here.

"Bry?" said Flicker. "Is that you?"

"Traviiiiis," Bryan called for his friend in a way that suggested seduction. "Long time no see, buddy."

"Bry!" Flicker gasped, tense.

"You look nice now, so nice! Khehe, you and Atti! You look pretty. But..." he frowned so abruptly that the motion of his cheeks caused a drop of red to fling from his face. "I hope you haven't forgotten... khhe, who you are to me. That would make me so sad...!"

"Of course not, Bry – never. There's no way I'd ever forget what you did for me. Before you, I didn't have a chance, but ever since the day we met, I've been happy to say that I've finally made a real friend," Flicker told him. "And I've been scared sick to think I might never see you again."

"But I'm right here! Khehe, hi~," he waved, leaning to one side to do so, before splashing his paw back into the murk. "You wanna... come back to me? 'Cause I wanna... kkhe, have you back."

"Then why don't you get over here, shitface?" I called him out, hand steady on the rod. "Or do we REALLY want you Fluxin' up our Grove? That's what you are now, right? A dirty Flux?"

"Hheee... Kkkhhkhehehe!" he laughed, flailing in the muck.

"Alli," Flicker lashed at me. I didn't look her way. "N-no, don't say that about Bry. He can be fixed! Young can think of something. Maybe Secany and Rayse – maybe... they can..."

"Flux..." Atti spoke. "This is Flux."

"What, have you never seen it before?" I asked, coming back down to their level. "Wow, and you're always sneaking out. How did you stroll through Brink without meeting a Flux until now?"

"No, I know Flux. I've always known Flux. It's a bloody curse among my people!" Atti announced, with a foreign inflection – literally. She spoke with a new accent; a melodic English one that formed to her voice more naturally than Atti's usual demeanor. Following that, she threw both hands against her mouth like she'd spoken too much profanity.

Bryan got to his hind legs slowly, eerily, wobbling with his arms swinging in front of him. His back hunched, he gave a wide toothy grin, ripples flowing, shining at his hindquarters in the rank water. His fur was matted with brownish red stains and what looked to be cuts or seams in his body.

"Atti..." Bryan groaned, disappointed. "You don't sound like yourself. Don't tell me you're... going BLUE on meeeekkkhhehehehe~..."

"Blue?" Atti cooed, her hands trickling from her mouth, covering her chin instead. "I'm Blue?"

"Yeah. Blue, da-boo-dee-da-boo-dye, join Flicker and I," I rhymed jokingly. We didn't need to sit here and debate nonsense. "Don't listen to him. Pretend you can't even hear him. There's not much left of Bryan in that thing."

Flicker wanted to object. I heard it in her sharp gasp. She couldn't speak up, though.

"You just don't like me. You never liked me, Al~! I bet you like me MORE now. I know I do! Khehehhekkhhh!" he cackled, nothing but a husk.

"Ah-ha!" Flicker snapped her furry fingers. "I knew it, Al! Al Sanders!"

I shook my head.

"Yeah, we'll sit down and talk about that LATER, 'Travis'," I told her over my shoulder, before turning back to 'Bryan', giving a hearty tug on my lightning rod and drawing it from its bindings. I felt the strap around me tighten to compensate for the lost weight, all of that instead put on my left arm as I pointed the jagged metal bar at that masquerading buizel sack of crap. "You're a Flux now, bitch, so that means I get to go ham on you and you won't feel a thing. Y'won't even care."

"Al..." Bryan sang. "You never liked me."

"I didn't... say that." I snarled. His eyes sparkled and sang a terrifying scream.

"Then say it~."

...

...I felt a heartbeat within me echo...

It didn't belong to me, but...

It shared a rhythm and a space with the heartbeat that was already there.

"I never liked you..." I admitted, without shame.

This feeling...

"Say it louder...!" he commanded.

"I never liked you."

I'm angry. I wasn't angry before. Why...?

"LOUDER! I want to hear it AGAIN! The truth makes me so happy-happy-HAPPY!"

"I NEVER LIKED YOU!" I screamed, if not to satisfy him, to satisfy me.

No. I don't care. I'm angry. I want to be angry.

There's a color inside of me that wants to come out.

Clean all the slime of emotions that mix all their colors together to form a dirty black.

I want to cry that black out through my eyes

and break down the walls holding everything else inside,

so Red shines loudest.

Xima. Was this... what you meant?

"You need to make those memories again. When you do that, you'll find yourself again and again, a Siren and a Flux. The colors mixed together, and for once, the Crossblade wants you to be one before you can be three."

My muscles disobeyed me. I flew straight for the husk of a Pokémon with golden electricity crackling around me, popping over my shouting and the rush of air flowing past me. Closer came Bryan and louder became his eyes, wider his grin, deeper the gash in my confused heart, bleeding out that pain that I had once felt when I brandished a cruciform blade. Tunnel vision ailed me, pulsating blurs encompassing every angle of sight that wasn't the red pool before me. I remembered flying quickly, making a swiping motion, presumably with the arm holding the bar, and hitting something that reacted in such a gelatinous way, without the satisfaction of the clang or the thud, the hard stop, the breaking of bones and skin. No, none of that. I hit, and what I hit... melted.

Tunnel vision befell me... I saw nothing. I felt only... anger... I felt only anger. I...

Wet...? Why... wet?

Where did Travis... Atti? Where did Bryan?

...Cold... can't swim... salty... saline.

Couldn't thrash. Couldn't swing, swipe, scream. But, noise. Noise came. The heartbeat, pounding more quickly than before, speeding up while mine slowed down. I breathed in that sound and cried out mine.

Where is he?! Where did he go?! Why can't I see?! I can't even... see...!

Everybody?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?! FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU ALL!

Who's that? Who's... Is that... the heartbeat? I can see it...? I see... a... sound, and it's... telling me to repeat... V-...

Vy...ro...

"Stop that this instant, you ruffian! I will NOT have you stoop so low!"

Whose voice...?

"Right then. Get up. Go on. Up you come – I shan't wait long."

I felt myself obeying – a need to obey, rather. I was moving, but every sensation was different than before. No longer could I roll my shoulders. No longer could I flick out my tongue and taste the air. I was heavy, made heavier by the wetness surrounding me. Whatever my arms did, my back 'arms' had to do as well, in order for me to make any progress – to stand and to move. Legs. Legs again.

I opened my eyes, hacked up something gross, and plastered my... ears... against my skull. The undersides of my eyelids itched, but I didn't try to rub them. My legs were submerged in a pool of slimy, oily water, surrounded by police vehicles, caution signs, some barbed that was uncomfortably close to me. Upon seeing it, my body registered the harrowing pain I was in. My back stung as though it'd been sliced open. My nostrils burned like I'd inhaled poison. My lungs were the same, and my heart... was sore. I made a mistake. I did something I regretted, but I couldn't remember what it was.

It was like when you got mad – so mad that you may as well've been drunk. A hangover. Heart hangover. What the fuck happened?

I felt my head droop like I was hanging it low. I thought to look into the water to see a reflection of myself, but my head kept drooping. It drooped, drooped, drooped some more, until it fell so quickly that I couldn't lift it. It fell away – I fell away, and went into the water. I was having a nightmare. Everything felt so real. My head left my body – of course it did. I was way out of my mind. I couldn't see anymore. I closed my eyes, planted face first in the puddle. For some reason, I could still breath, but not through my mouth or nose. My lungs weren't breathing. Instead, it was that electricity within me that breathed, pulsing, a magnetic response – something I couldn't control. What a weird dream...

"ECK! O-oh dear me and all things holy, EW," the English girl shrieked, and I heard it all just fine even underwater like this. "Just look at you! You're one of THEM now! O-oh dear. O-oooh no, what do I...? EEEW!"

Wait, what? Something was touching me – both sides of my head. My ears – the ones attached to my head – took over 'hearing' everything around me. I heard what sounded like a heavy ball lifted out of a pool of water, drops leaving it, sinking away. At the same time, drops of water drizzled from my chin, my muzzle, my ears. I was looking forward. Atti's arms were on either side of my eyes – she was holding me by the cheeks, cringing all the while. She actually tried looking away.

It was then that I got it. I figured it out. Dream!? Negative.

My fuckin' head fell off. Goddammit, my head fell off. And she was holding it.

Wait, my head fell off – Why was I still alive?!

"Huh? How-" I swallowed – nothing happened. My eyes darted around. "HOW?!"

"Oooohhh, I can feel your jaw when you talk..." she gagged.

"Wh-... Atti?" I gasped.

"Atti? N-not quite," she stammered. "The situation demanded that I come forth instead. I'm Diancie, the Royal Pink Princess."

"What did you – Diancie?! But you're...!" I paused. I wasn't sure what to freak out more about: my headless...ness, or Atti. This was what Atti looked like the last time I saw him or her, with the long ribbons, crystals, dress, gray skin – but now it wasn't Atti?

"Don't make that your biggest concern. You might have bigger things to worry about. Like, um... Eghhh." she groaned, holding back another gag. In her hands, she spun my face around. I tried to follow her own gaze with my eyes until I could no longer; instead, I found my body slumped over in the big puddle where Bryan had been sitting. None of my stuff was there. Just a cleanly decapitated body of a shinx – no, luxio. Where the fur used to be blue, it was red, with markings on each joint that suggested severe cuts – cuts deep enough to amputate a body part, or worse.

I couldn't – thank God – see the vertebrae or anything sticking out of my neck, since that part of me was submerged. How was I thinking? How was I breathing? Well, whatever, I was doing it all well enough to keep on living. I could inhale air and exhale it, but it didn't give me the same feeling as before. It didn't revitalize me or replenish me. Instead, something else was doing that. My 'spark'. My 'lightning', wherever it was, was breathing all the air around Diancie and me.

I was a gory mess. I was a Flux.

"I'm Flux..." I said.

"Yes, you are," she told me regrettably. "I don't know how, but please put yourself back together, lest I be sick."

So I did that. I put myself back together using that 'spark'. Once Diancie put my head close enough to my body, I took a deep breath, or whatever felt like a deep breath that didn't use my chest. It sucked my head back into place, covering my body with that sticky sensation of static, fur standing out, electricity burning so hot that it fried any bloody water from my fur and left me cool and damp with an oily coat. Once my body was back together, I functioned as I normally would, but it took me a few tries to get out of the puddle. I lost my legs, then my tail, and then my head again. Using the static – maybe it was like magnetism, I reformed again. I held my breath, tightening the ionic bonds that held my body parts together. It was like pressing something against glue long enough for it to stay.

I walked with shaky confidence. I felt loose, my muscles slightly sore, and that was all. I felt no pain when I became mutilated, maybe other than a slight scratching feeling for a brief second. That was all there was to it. In fact, the worst of it came when I had to take those breaths. It was like I had to boil my flesh and make it stick back together, which begged the question: How many times could I do it? Maybe I should've been asking WHY I could do it.

Diancie and I retreated back to that alleyway she'd flown out of. She told me that I became a Flux in my rampage. I couldn't remember any rampage at all. I got angry, then I wanted to fly forward and hit Bryan, but there was more to it than that. She told me everything. She told me that I made a mess of him. I made such a mess that Flicker tried to clean it up. She sided with Bryan. She gave into him. I was shot down by what appeared to be a futuristic rifle. That was the best Diancie could explain it. It struck me in the back, and by the time I was earthbound, it was too late to rush in and snap me out of my frenzy. I lost control.

That was when I changed, she said. She told me that I transformed in that puddle of gore, screaming and shaking, but the transformation wasn't slow. It was instantaneous. It wasn't a process, like the ones I'd witnessed back in the day. Maybe if I was all there to realize what was going on, it could've felt something like the time I turned into a skywisp in the... Timescape...

I'm Al again. I'm a luxio, but I came back different. That power that Xima told me to seek out – Flux. I found it, and now I got this body back. This is what it's become? This is what Flux does?

Of course it is. I already knew that.

Diancie reminded me just how much I knew of it. She told me that Bryan's buizel guise didn't last long against my onslaught of thunderbolts and whatnot. He tore out of his own skin and fur and fought me in the form of this blobby blood monster. He said he was Vis because of his vision, his viscera, his being a 'part' of Travis. I'd seen it all before somewhere underwater. Somewhere, sometime before this. It was raining back then.

...

"Bryan and Travis. Where are they now?" I asked, cautious of my breathing, unknowing whether or not any lack of it would literally break me apart.

"You're going after them?! Are you mad?!" Diancie clamored.

"'Guess I was, but... I'm okay now. Why is that, Diancie? If I was REALLY a Flux, then why am I not still locked in one feeling? And if you know why, then there must be SOME way we can get Bryan back." I said, pacing back and forth, inadvertently pleading with her.

She hesitated, folding her small gray hands together and looking awry with a frown.

"Well, you see," she began. "Such concerns with one feeling are exactly those of which I cannot understand. Why have you broken free of your Flux emotion? Even someone as prestigious as me, with my tireless nights of research, couldn't say."

"You don't know, then. Great. Good team." I sighed.

"Why, you! Mind your tongue, you repulsive Pokémon! You should be showering me with praise by this point." she pouted, crossing her little arms.

"Why? You took over a little boy's body and mind and scared him into running out into danger, and now I'm Fluxed up. Why should I thank you?"

"Ugh! Because I STAYED with you and made sure that you were okay," she argued, leaning inward and glaring at me with those big jewel-like eyes. "It takes courage to believe in a Flux, especially one as dangerous as you posed to be."

"Courage or stupidity? 'Cause you just said you didn't understand me. That's not bravery. You said you researched Flux, and you still don't know why I got away without losing my mind. So, what if I attacked you the second I woke up?"

"Well, you didn't. Your head fell off." she smiled bashfully.

"Huh. Yeah." I nearly laughed and forgot why I was arguing with her at all.

"The real reason, Alli..."

"Al. I'm Al now." I told her as politely as possible.

"Al," she corrected herself. "Is that I sensed Gamma inside of you. The most important thing I learned about Gamma is that it is a poison, and Flux did come from it in some respect. Gamma is its parent. Perhaps step-parent, but nonetheless...

Against us Champions, Flux is as ineffective as it can possibly be. It may threaten our appearance, but it, dare I say, shouldn't hinder our mentality. As Champions, we are both cursed and blessed with more Gamma than any Pokémon can sustain. Mythicals such as I, being what powerful creatures we are, may resist Flux by accepting Gamma into our bodies. However, only few 'common' Pokémon can do this alongside us to truly ignore the most devastating impact of Flux, and one such Pokémon is eevee, evolutions included. Eevee has tremendous evolutionary capability, allowing it to, at the very least, evolve into Flux, rather then what all other Pokémon would do; devolve into Flux.

That was when things were much simpler. The science was less convoluted. Now, Gamma comes in four colors, and you seem to have many of them.

I want to believe that is what allowed you to withstand the nightmarish draw of Flux. Your spirit just has no room left for anything else.

But that doesn't explain your transformation into a luxio. Then, there's still much to learn. As always."

"I'm... just so messed up that the world doesn't know what to do with me," I paraphrased it. That was what she said. I was such a clusterfuck that you couldn't ram any more weird space magic into me without ripping me apart, and, wow, check me out now. "At least I'm a guy again."

"How would you know? Perhaps your privates fell off as well? Oh, forgive me, that was lewd..." she giggled.

"THAT WOULD HAPPEN, WOULDN'T IT?!"

I took it way too seriously, though. I gasped so quickly that I hiccuped. I threw my head down and looked between my legs, and when I did that, I felt the top of my head hit against the wet concrete, stuck staring at my black feet upside down. Well, there was a lot to look at down there, including all the lacerations, detachable segments, and... this was the kinkiest thing that had ever happened to me, and I could say that having turned into a girl. Twice.

"Ohhh, your... head's fallen... again." Diancie shyly informed me.

"Yep. Does that. 'S'fine." I told her. Not amused. 'Specially since my open neck was hanging above me and drizzling blood onto my chin.

"No, it is... so disgusting..." she chuckled sheepishly, putting her oddly warm hands on my cheeks once more, rotating me back vertically, and then pushing one open part of my neck against the other. I breathed in, let the magnetism bind me, making a bunch'a sick squishy noises. Then, I felt good as new. I took another deep breath for good measure and noticed she was still holding my cheeks, despite my head already being where it needed to be. "There you go. All better?"

I felt a playful grin crawl across my lips.

"Al better," I confirmed. "So, what do we do? We can't just leave Travis out there."

"I know," she let go of my cheeks. "But we would be putting ourselves in too much danger. There is no telling whether or not they've Tripped by now."

"You're right. I forgot about that. We came so far without Tripping..." I sighed. "It's not like we have a way to get Bry back either, and if Travis has decided to go with him... there's nothing we can do. Charley's gonna have to sweep up our mess, and that Doc Young guy won't be thrilled."

"I'll share the blame with you. It's only noble of me~." she offered.

"Hopefully no one gets blamed, or I might just fall apart." I smirked.

"You are... so awfully accepting of that..." she grimaced.

Having forgotten the dangers lurking within the area, we decided to head back the way Flicker and I had come. It was strange, that walk. I saw everything in the same hue of red and shades of black and gray, dripping with water, washed over with rusty gloss, all the rubble in the construction sites and broken fencing – all of the things that made Brink look so dirty, and even dirtier with a bird's eye view. Now, I was grounded. I felt like I didn't have a choice but to be a part of the filth. I was the filth, actually. I was Flux, and I should've belonged here, but this pretty little diva decided I was still good enough to come back to where the sun shined just a little bit less red and where the people were a little less hostile. Good for her. Good for both of us. I didn't want to have to live like that again. I did it once, back when I was a shinx, and that was enough. I needed a home. I needed buddies. Maybe that was why I was so angry with Bryan. I never liked the way he acted around Topher or Emelina, but I liked that I didn't like it. It was familiar. So familiar that I called him a friend, and he was being really shitty at that right now. I didn't hate him...

I wanted the guy to get better, but I was going to need more than myself to get him back to our side. Travis, too. Diancie didn't have the answer, but maybe Rayse did. She knew a lot about Flux, yeah? I didn't learn anything about the Crossblade, other than it prolly being responsible for saving my hide from going nuts, but that was fine. I was a luxio again. It had to be better than learning nothing at all.

I just had to hope people at the Grove wouldn't be too scared of me. I was a walking dismemberment act. You didn't just let that into your house.

...

At the Grove

I was met with mixed reception. People didn't know what to think when they saw Diancie and I. They were either relieved to see that one of us had come back or horrified to see she came back with a Flux just trottin' next to her like everything was okay. Even I knew it wasn't, 'cause we didn't come back with good news. After all that I said I wanted to do, I accomplished none of it. I didn't bring Bryan back. I didn't really help Flicker the way I wanted to. I hardly helped myself in that regard, and, most of all, I didn't even rescue Atti and she sure didn't rescue me. We came back to the Grove as total strangers.

The first few to greet us were the local 'mommies' and 'daddies'. They weren't leaders, but they were older than the brunt of us, so they were allowed to say more things and get away with it most often. They made decisions, helped keep the Grove fed, and, most importantly, punished the bad boys and girls who went out and stayed past curfew. Luckily, that wasn't us. Mrs. Maire and one of my teachers, Mr. Davidson, went easy on us, even though the two of them showed some apparent remorse for Flicker. I didn't really get the connection between them, but despite the lack of any harsh reaction, Mrs. Maire did say she would let Doc Young know, and that wasn't fun to think about.

Anne Maire. She was sad. What was she again? A deerling? She looked so hurt when she saw Diancie, because she must've known that this was Atti the last time they spoke. It could've been the last time they would ever speak. I had no idea how long Diancie planned to stay around, but any length of time was more than enough to remind this lonely mother that her sons and their friends were all gone. Vince, Drew, Atti, Zatch, Zack. Danithan and Zelda... Caden was still around, but I must've heard him complain once or twice about the same kind of thing Atti was worried about, and look at her now. Well, if Anne was bothered so much, I would've hated to hear what Charley had to say about her 'second son' getting taken in by Gamma. Maybe both of them were my fault.

We had some eyes on us after leaving the tree. I went right back to my tent, but I didn't slip inside just yet. The adrenaline flowing through my... wherever adrenaline flowed through me now, forgot to shut off. I still had to do something, even if it wasn't that big of a deal. I couldn't sleep or rest yet. I couldn't even if I wanted to. Walking was a chore now – I was just getting used to the whole flight business and now I was grounded again, with detachable legs. Sparked some trouble, y'know? And, boy, even though I was a skywisp in a teensy little town of Pokémon, I still felt more like a member of a community than how I did now.

And yet Diancie accepted me right away. She even followed me back to my tent.

"That poor lady," said Diancie, folded her hands at her chest and looking back to the tree. "She looked so put down, and she was so lenient with us. Oh, Al, I feel simply miserable. What can I do to help her? She's such a sweet Pokémon."

"Huh?" I murmured, staring at the open flap of my dusty, poorly kept tent. I thought about it. What could Diancie ever do? I couldn't just tell her to 'turn back into Atti to make Anne feel better'. "Yeah, it sucks."

Uncomfortable silence. I didn't enter my tent. I had nothing to do in there, but my whole body felt wrong. I was soggy. I wanted to shake my head free of the water caught in my black mane, but I was afraid of my head flying off and freaking out everyone around me more than I needed to. But, really, what good was I anywhere else if I wasn't just keeping quiet and taking naps? Diplomacy? Been there.

"Well, is that all? Hardly a fitting end, if I say so myself," Diancie huffed. "Though, I would say that the light of the Grove is an acquiescence. Such contrast to the dreary state of that town. It is much nicer here than I remember."

"Yeah." I agreed, blasé.

I sniffed. I could smell frustration, and this time, it wasn't my own, 'cause mine stank. This one smelled all pretty. I turned around. Yep, she was glaring at me. Felt it. Called it, even.

"Oh come on, is your head on straight?"

"I'unno. You're the last one who put it on. Haha, more jokes, wheee..." I groaned. I wanted to tell her something, but I forgot what it was the moment I saw her expression shift, as if she wasn't paying attention to me any longer.

At that point, something pushed against my left cheek. It was slightly wet and warm. It breathed, and it smelled like baked... lemons. Flowery baked lemons. I stood still, eyes wide, tail raised, just letting the object push against me. It was then that I saw Diancie nervously put a palm against her right cheek.

"You smell like muk pie!" she told me – not Diancie, but a voice singsonging right into my face. Her breath was sweet and rosy. I turned and, somehow, I was met with blue, rosy eyes all the same, hiding beneath a bright pink hood.

"Rayse?!" Diancie gasped.

The sylveon stepped away from me and hopped in place.

"Didi?! Is that'chyuu?!" Rayse replied.

"Oh goodness, Rayse," Diancie cried out happily, as Rayse's thin ribbons shot out from underneath her cloak to caress and hug the floating Pokémon. The two embraced each other shortly, Rayse going as far as to stand on her hind legs and use her front legs to wrap around Diancie's oddly shaped body. "How long must it have been since I last saw you?"

"Gosh, I dunno, Didums~! Time's not doing it's job right now!" said the other Champion, setting back down on all fours and pointing her nose to the sky.

"I did wonder about that, but the matters before myself and my Flux were more pressing." she – wait, what?!

"Whoa, hang on 'Didums'," I mocked. "'Your' Flux?"

"Why, yes! You're my Flux! Did you not think that someone wouldn't watch over you to make sure you don't explode again?" she asked, rhetorical, and I didn't even get to answer.

"It's 'taytay, Diddlies~," Rayse started. How many nicknames was she going to throw out there? "Can he be my Flux? Pwease?"

"Waah? Ohh, fine," Diancie obliged, dramatically placing a palm to her chest and holding the other out before her hanging limp. "He was much too filthy for my tastes anyway."

"But, Diancie, my feelings." I teased her.

"Ah, yes. Your feelings! I'm so proud that you still have so many of them! Al, of course I wouldn't abandon you – you're so intriguing! I will 'share' you with Rayse, yes?"

"Yeah, let's do that," Rayse exclaimed. "Because it's Al, and Al's a goo'boy~!"

"A 'goo' boy?" I inquired.

"And a goo'girl, 'cause she was a wispy, wasn't she?" Rayse asked.

"Does it not bother you two that I went from something like that to something like this? I'm hideous, right? Scale of one to ten. How gross am I?"

I braced myself.

"Oh... seventeen." Diancie shyly answered.

"N-no, not how 'old' am I – how 'GROSS' am I?"

"Oh. Very well. Thirty."

"Out of ten?!" I frowned.

"Oh so very out of ten." she smiled.

"Nooo, I dun think he's gross~," Rayse announced, hopping up next to me and smushing her cheek up against mine, lifting both of our heads and forcing half of my face to smile with the sheer power of her own grin. "He's a hero! You should know as much, Didi. It takes a lot to beat Flux. You guys gotta tell me the story! What'd you do?! Where's Flicky-poo?"

"Er," I sniffed, still stuck up against her cheek. I was afraid the force of her rubbing was going to rip my head off. Actually, stuff was getting a bit loose again. I took a deep breath, but that still didn't comfort me, so I simply stepped away. She looked so disappointed in that. "Most of it's not good news. It could have gone a lot better."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'll tell you, but," I stopped, swallowed spit, and looked around. Most of the other Pokémon had gone back to their own business by now. "Didn't you wanna stay incognito? We're right in the open."

"Mmmmm...~" Rayse thought to herself like she had forgotten that desperate attempt to hide behind some trash, rolling her eyes. Such a weirdo. I kind of liked her though. Friendly and outgoing, but she was klutzy. A little... too klutzy.

"Wait a second," a third girl's voice broke in. We all turned at once, watching a tall, pearly white-fluffed lady walk into the scene, one slender hand over the scarf of silky fur at her neck, the other flicking one of her elegant tufts of the same fluff over her shoulder, as she did the very same motion with her head to move the white bangs from her eyes. "I have to hear this."

"Cadi," I addressed our cinccino Siren, beautifully clad in that half-human body. "Did you ever miss out on the fun today..."

At the request of Cadi, we gathered together in a small, isolated part of the Grove where the creek bent and scrambled into a quiet spot some thick oaks and willows, the trees hanging low enough to force us to walk through the shallow creek in place of any bend or bank on the water's edge. 'Guess no one wanted to come back here, but this water was flowing away from the Grove, so it wasn't like we were contaminating it. In any case, plenty of paces later, we reached a little round pocket of grass and mud surrounded by higher terrain, rocks, and the shroud of leaves we'd walked around. This spot was nothing much but a den wholly hidden away from everything else. How nice. Within the Grove, a quaint spot hidden from society, there was something like that within itself. A spot hidden away. The walk here was enough to calm me down. I almost yawned a couple times along the way.

It wasn't lonely here. The strangely colored, lightly glowing rock was here – the same that had crashed into the rock in the center of the obsidian circle. This was the meteorite, and the largest piece of it at that. How'd it get here, I wondered? Somebody just set it down right in the dirt, and, dark though the area would've been, its glow was enough to make the place lively, even homely. The creek ran through here, so pitching up a tent back here might've been nice. Kinda small space though. Plus, the smell of all that Gamma coming from the rock would've gotten to me sooner or later. Though, I was getting used to it by the hour.

"Behold," Cadi eagerly revealed, holding an arm out to the meteorite like an exhibit at a museum. "Today's handiwork!"

"You moved the meteorite here? That's insane! The thing's gotta weight a ton." I commented.

"She had some help~!" Rayse interjected, leaping atop the meteorite and sitting herself down, throwing back her hood and letting her ears go tall. She looked so happy up there, wagging her tail.

"You two moved it? Still though. 'Sides, you never answered me back there: What happened to going undercover?" I asked.

"I'm still hush-hush," Rayse nodded. "But if you're gonna share your Crossblade stories with Arcadia, then I thought it wouldn't hurt to let her in on our secret, too!"

"Well, this is beautiful...!" Diancie murmured to herself, approaching the meteorite with fascination, touching her hand against it. We didn't pay it much mind.

"So, Alli-Al! Did ya learn anything new?" Rayse asked me. I felt the pressure build up inside me. I thought it made me look guilty.

"Furthermore," Cadi stepped beside me. "What the heck happened to you?"

"I got Fluxed," I sighed. "That's why I look this way. I'm a luxio, just like before. Er, before, I was a shinx, but..."

"But'cha evolved!" Rayse said.

"I did that, yeah. It was in a fight with Katalyn. I'm... not sure who won," I shook my head. "Flicker and I found Bryan, and he set me off. I don't know how he did it. He turned me back into a Pokémon."

"Fluxes are contagious," Rayse began. "If they're 'in tune' enough with another Pokémon's feelings, they can get under their skin – literally – and cause havoc. Fluxes can tamper with you in ways you would hardly even notice. It's said that their eyes are the most dangerous parts of their body. That'll get'cha the most. Once they've got you hooked on a feeling, they'll reel you in and suck all the emotion out of you – all but one emotion!

Um..." she paused, moving a front paw to her right eye and rubbing there, before looking at it. "A Flux almost got me once... while I was here. I tried to resist, but my brother Nirbie..."

"Oh no, Rayse..." Diancie backed away from the rock and looked at her fellow. "It can happen? We CAN be Fluxed?"

"O'course, Didi. Champions can Flux other Champions. Remember?"

"You'll... have to forgive me. I've only just come to. But I wonder who could have Fluxed Ni—wait, who is 'Nirbie'?" asked Diancie.

"Erm, big 'ol story! Anyway, sorries! I'm chatty~!" Rayse giggled.

"That's okay," Cadi said. "But, wow, Alli. Or, Al. Will I not be able to do your hair anymore?"

I thought about it, and, yeah, it was great that Cadi and I could have girl time, and she was the only one I got to do that with. There was something self-fulfilling about it. Felt nice that I could share that with somebody without being judged. But, Alli, the skywisp, wasn't gone forever, was she?

I looked straight into the meteorite. I tried to look through it. Inside of that rock was a dimension or a world or SOMETHING that had a beach stretching into, like, forever. That was where I met them. Alli and... that siren version of me. I met them there with Xima, and Xima said that I was infected with the Crossblade to some degree.

"Rayse." I said, suspicious.

"Yarp?" she perked up.

"If I have the Crossblade," I stopped, looked up at her, and felt apprehension swell up in my chest. "Don't I have two 'others', like you?"

"Yeah, you have'ta. So, that's gonna mean your skywispy self is out there somewhere." she answered. No, I thought. They weren't out 'anywhere'.

Maybe... they're in there.

I looked at the meteorite again.

"If that were true," I said. "Then where is she if I was the one 'being' her? That was my body – that skywisp. I turned INTO this Pokémon."

"Hmmm..." Rayse hummed, stood up, and hopped off of the rock, walking up next to Diancie. "Kat and Secany and the human Katalyn – they're all separate. BLAH, why is the Crossblade so complicated?!"

"Uh, yo, I don't think it is," I looked down at the grass. "I think it's just me. I'm complicated."

"We should go see Kat," suggested Cadi. "She might know something that we're missing."

"That's an idea! Can we do that idea?" Rayse asked for permission. Didn't even need to, but I was inclined to reject it. My body wasn't all there – I wasn't ready to go on a search for another wildly unpredictable person.

"It's not a bad call, but – hey, I don't know about you guys; I'm beat. I need to take it easy, and..." I stopped, feeling a cumbersome convulsion work its way through my chest, my throat, and my jaw, as I let out a wide yawn, giving into the action about halfway through. I couldn't fight it, so I might as well have let all my muscles just go and chill for a few seconds – take a breather.

I yawned, and... then my chin struck grass pretty suddenly, clamping my jaw shut. I blinked. Somebody screamed. Sounded like Cadi. It wasn't very loud, but it startled me so much that I jumped – part of me, rather. The other part was just sitting here in the wet, now bloody grass looking up at Diancie and Rayse.

"A-A-AL! AL?!" Cadi shrieked.

Rayse made the most impressed face I'd ever seen out of any Pokémon. Her lips and cheeks were sucked inward and her eyes were scared open wide. Looked like a startled cat. I half-expected her tail to go fluffy. Fluffier.

"Ooogh, really now, let's get that sorted." Diancie chuckled – er, fake-chuckled. She did it in a way that showed just how nervous she was to be slightly more used to this sort of thing happening than the others. Following that, she picked me up, screwed me back on, and I tried not to gag at the sensation of spinal fluid dripping into my throat. Really, c'mon, this shit was way worse for me than it was for anyone watching.

"Eheh," I sputtered, too afraid to pop my neck after having breathed in. Diancie's hands left my cheeks again. "Pretend that, uh... other things... just happened."

"Gh-... Gonna... go...!" Cadi pointed back to camp, throwing two fingers over her mouth and dashing away, splashing clumsily through the creek. I watched her off. Rayse ran into my view, then stopped partway into the creek, chasing after the Siren. She looked back at Diancie and I and whistled.

"JEEZ, Al, and I thought I was the circus performer. Hey I gotta go see Cadi be sick! Brings me back to the good times~... Laters, tomaters~!"

Rayse hopped off, actually just bouncing her way through the creek, no running necessary. Each bounce made an audible and visible splash until she took the bend around some trees.

"What..." I said, leaving my jaw hanging.

"It's best you don't ask." Diancie informed me. I took it to heart.

With all that behind us, she and I took after the other two, paced much more casually. I felt the need to turn back and give the meteorite another stare-down. It wasn't calling me or anything so much as I had to make sure that Alli was still alive. I knew what transformation felt like – I'd done it enough times now. The first time, when I saw Laza, was a big, painful deal, but after the matter, I still felt like me. Turning into a Flux from a skywisp felt like something I couldn't put into human words – no language on this planet had the vocabulary for what my heart, mind, and body went through. Regarding Alli, it was like I abandoned her, and now she was lost.

I hope she's okay.

It'd kill me if I found out she was done for.

(Al: Fluxed Luxio)