Part 7: The Grove
Chapter 53: To Mute Oneself
Alli = skywisp Sanders, Al = Luxio Flux Sanders, Sandy = Luxio anthro Sanders
Mnesia = confused at his old fanfictions.
At least it's not The Circle/Wave/fate arc.
I don't own Pokémon.
"Young...?"
"Oh hello, 'Mama' Anne."
"Yup, the little feller sure loves callin' me that."
"Shame I couldn't ever wear that name. Mama Young. Tch, I can't even take it seriously."
"Y'done did everything you could, Hon."
"Hmph. Everything I could do? Because of everything I could do, the Inner Circle fell apart."
"You 'n I both know that was the best th'could'a happened for a lot of folks, myself included."
"And still, your husband is... what he is."
"I know. Believe me, I know. Can't even call myself his wife no more. Heck, I can't even say I'm a mom either."
"Caden sure thinks differently."
"Eyup, but I don't think the boy's got long left."
"Why do you say that?"
"That gal Diancie told me Caden's not gonna be able to duke it out 'gainst Victini no more, one of them Champion kids. She 'n I've talked some – said my boy Vince turned into a Champion, too. 'Nother girl by the name of Jirachi's out there. Same deal for her."
"Goddammit... Funny you mention that."
"Why?"
"IMOs-HX-6-7. That's why."
"Oh, Hon, you know I've long gone far from that Delta Meadow chatter."
"Hm. Well, I met Jirachi. I never met who she used to be, but that didn't matter when all I had to do was pump Gamma into her and write down numbers."
"Mm, really?"
"Yeah. She and another girl, Willow – I let 'em go. They were fast friends, but the two of them were clueless. Could hardly tell up from down."
"Where are they now?"
"Don't know. I was hoping they followed us out of the Deep, but I haven't seen them since. It's miserable, Anne, having this many... kids, to worry about."
"Y'wanna fill that gap so bad, I understand. I know you need to worry, but the more you do, the more your Flux shows."
"I know, I just..."
"It'll all come together. Jirachi's a Champion, so she'll tough it out, I'm sure. Knowing my baby turned into one of 'em, I have faith that Vince'll be okay, too."
"Maybe you're right. I can't help but feel a little more relaxed with Diancie around. I'm still worried about Jirachi, but I'm more worried about Willow."
"Who is Willow, by chance? I know y'went'n told me what she is, but who is she?"
"She was the last straw for me. When they brought her in for me, I was working on other things. I told you before. I had Nikki. She was my side project. Then, Sam had me torture Nikki with another project. We called it Cryhex."
…
…
…
Rayse
Nooo, no no no no noooo!
NO! NO NO NO!
Nononononono...
Not this again. Back and forth with it.
Why is it happening to me?!
Am I special?
I don't remember!
Brother told me nothing...
And because of that, I...
Ridge Hospital
That parking lot again. There it was. I remembered the hill on the black street going up to it, short trees and clean soil on the banks at either side of the street, surrounding by neat brick walls. Right! The way up to the place looked better than anything else in the whole town by now, but the place itself looked WORSE than everything in the whole town. I was running up that street, weaving through stalled vehicles whenever needed, having to make a leap of faith here and there, because a lotta the time, I was looking back, making sure there was no one after me. As I ran and jumped, the cold air bit me like a snake, its poison going all into my veins and gouging out the worst in me, like that... Crossblade...
Up the hill, up the hill, I went, until I met the bit open stretch of road and lamps again, sitting up against the invading woodland's line of trees. It all looked like it when I left with Secany, but this time I was coming back, facing the gigantic eyesore of a building casting its red-hued shadow in front of the broken sun that made the world so frigid.
I kept going at a steady trot, no sprint or struggle to get away anymore. Nobody followed me. My nose and ears couldn't tell me anything right now. They were plugged with something salty and sour. It was like I was sick, but with a different flavor of nasty. I was shaking, too. It wasn't because of the cold. I was afraid to go back, but every time I looked back, I felt the fear welling up in my nose and mouth and ears more, and, in my eyes, I noticed dark smudges. Bringing an empty ribbon up to my face, I looked at its bright magenta tip. I kept it in view while I jogged, the feeler bobbing with my movements. Did I want to rub my face? Why did I need to ask that? Why did I worry about what my face looked like? I wore this cloak for a reason.
Instead of wiping my eyes, the feelers trailing from the bow at my neck reached back, pinched my hood, and lifted it carefully through the slots made for my ears, tucking my head bow underneath it. I pulled it as far over my face as I could, until it was so hard to see that I worried I would've bumped into things on the way over to that building.
I didn't though. I went on, remembering that angry ashy face that drew me here, fangs bore, yelling at me. All of their faces – everybody looking at me like I was a monster. Jira, mostly. I almost hurt her. I was mad at her. I was so mad at her that I even thought about living in a world without her, and because I had this new power to make that happen, I wanted to do it.
I sniffed, smelled a vague tinge of metal, and bit my lips with my fangs as I pressed on into the overpass. I was out of the sun now, and the depths of black ahead me looked so much more inviting than the last time I was here, open to the broken world with broken glass at its floor like before.
"Hahaha, made it~! Hahaha! Here! Haha!" I laughed in loud, short breaths, but I didn't ever remember having the thought. I didn't want to laugh like that. I was out of breath and nervous, but I laughed even before I ever wanted to.
I picked up movement. Shadows raced across the dirtied floor in the empty lobby ahead. I felt my eyes follow the shapes so quickly and precisely that it hurt beneath the smudginess, like the gunk had some kind of drag effect on my pupils. There was rumbling underfoot so sudden that it made me hop in place, run in place, then turn around while doing all that, turn around again, and run inside. I didn't think about it. My body did it, not me.
And no sooner did I do that than I realized why I was here again. I wasn't just running away. I was still scared of this place after what I'd seen it do, but now I felt more afraid of everything else. Now, the fear that once made me turn a blind, nervous eye to this crumbling hospital drove me here. I wanted to know! I set out to get RID of the Crossblade, and since this was where it all started, I wanted to know just how ugly both the inside and outside of this place looked – if its inside looked as ugly as mine. If it did, then I would've known who I was and what I needed to do because of that.
When I got inside, I didn't see any shadows, despite my head flicking around, whole body turning so fast that my ribbons didn't have time to catch up with it and almost got tangled in my stupid clothes – gah, I HATED clothes!
Nobody here? Nobody here?! It was a little brighter, though. My eyes got used to the light real fast, and what little red spilled inside from the open lot outside colored the room just bright enough for me to see the desk and chairs littered about. Yeah, this place! It looked like somebody came here and looted it, but then ran away in a frenzy 'cause they didn't like the vibe it gave them, even if they didn't have Gamma to tell them it was musky and gross in here. At least I wasn't alone in that regard, but I WANTED to be alone!
I saw it again. My ears flew high and I felt my lips and muzzle curl into an unintentional snarl. My tail was wagging, but only out of instinct and excitement. I wasn't happy about anything. I came this dirty building to be alone, and that shadow floundering around the corner was looking at me, peeking into my conscience with white, happy slits, stabbing away, saying RUDE things, and I didn't appreciate it! It must'a known I wanted to chase it away, 'cause it disappeared, scampering off loudly and wetly.
"NO! Come BACK!" I barked. I said it deeper than I thought I could, commanding from my throat.
I felt my two front feelers begin to burn as they coiled together around a shape. The nauseating fire traveled along them like fuses, working its way to my chest and burning everything in there. From that hot acidic feeling came a sparkle of purple, flushing the lobby with a flickering light. I'd beckoned my Crossblade, pointed forward, its throbbing motions pumping and beating with my heart. It hurt, and I ran with it, footsteps heavy and careless. Nothing I stepped on – no glass or shards of wood – hurt as much as this throbbing, ripping me open and sewing me shut every throb.
I turned the same corner the shadow did and saw it scramming off, about to vanish into another room. I felt my throat giggle loudly, the noise repeating itself in the pulsating tentacles dangling off of my Crossblade's blade-bindy thing.
As the shape went into this room, something dragging behind it – a tail or whatever – went up, so I needed to up now, 'cause this tiny room was all vertical and high rather than wide. When I got in there, I bent my neck back and looked up at the funny, spirally square shape all these ramps made together, going up, up, and away, and I could just about catch glimpses and jitter-ditters of the fickle thing that was fleeing from me. Was it scared? Somehow, I didn't find myself caring!
"Whoop~!" I yelped, flinging my lower ribbons up while they quickly uncoiled, releasing the pulsing Cross. Having thrown it into the air, it started to glow the same color as my ribbons – a hazy, pastel purple. While it did a good job lighting up the ramps some more, I had other ideas!
The purple haze quickly swooshed all crazy-fast across my whole body. For a sec, I felt lighter than light, then I was all heavy and sluggy again, holding a familiar hilt in one ribbon.
A quick warp up a couple floors was always nice to do, but it really HURT when I did that!
"Ouchie!" I squeaked, watching the small figure only a couple meters away hastily close a door behind it, moving into the next set of long, straight rooms of nothing but broken lights and mold.
I was starting to fall, so I threw my blade again, got all misty, felt my lungs implode as I became light, and then I was standing on solid ground again. Warp trick!
"Oouuchie!" I repeated, wheezing it out, shaking my head wildly until slobber flew out. I tried to ignore that pain in favor of the rhythmic pumping of my heart and disembodied tentacle things on my blade!
When that didn't work, I yowled, and raised a feeler up high carrying the weight of the blade. I swung down, impacting with a crack and thump, the tip of my feeler sliding to the cross section of the blade. The furthest blade punctured through the stony door so easy that I hardly felt anything other than the sharp jab of ouch from the sudden stop. Grasping the inner end of the hilt with two feelers, I started to pull, the heavy material visibly shimmering and melting as the blade cleaved through it like warm, sloppy butter. Loud hissing accompanied the steam that was produced by greenish ooze leaking from the blade and the door, slightly brightening all the action. The ooze crawled along the door, eating up all the material, smelly steam soon filling the space the door used to.
I was happy with my work! I let my head drop as the blade finally slipped all the way through its path. The acid started to pool around my paws, bubbling and hissing, but I couldn't feel a thing anymore! I was numb to all the burning on the outside. I grinned, lifted my head, and felt another giggle boil in my throat, so slimy...
"C'mon, silly! Stop it! You're hurting me!" I told the thing I was running after. Everything I'd ever wanted to do with it before melted away into one, weird and fun desire – melt IT away, so it didn't have to make me chase it. It was cold, and the puddle I could've melted it into would have been warm, so I could be cozy!
I staggered and ran on into the dark hallway, windows behind open doors hardly doing much for light other than staining the walls with a dim, bloody taint. I was up here once! I went into one of these rooms, lining most of the walls that didn't lead to more hallways. I tried to listen for anything that sounded like heavy breathing, but all I could hear was my own, playing a symphony to the deep timpani of heartbeat that always seemed so much louder when I had the Cross out and with me. My footsteps slapped against the ground, acid caught in my feet leaving behind teeny hissing sounds.
I came to a crossing and stopped, still tapping my feet against the tile, running in place again. Hiss, hiss, I sang to myself~! I looked down one corridor and it had way too much dark, but the other corridor had way too much door, and I had to decide between more door or more dark. Then, I looked behind me, just 'cause I wanted to see how much dark 'n door THAT way had. I noticed the figure THERE instead of anywhere ahead. It juked me! It jumpity-juked me, didn't it?! It stood still for a second, and in that second, I started to run. I had trouble getting traction, all slippery and crazy against the tile for a sec, 'till I caught myself on one of the paw-pad-shaped dents that my acid steps must've left!
"Hi! Howdy-heya-hiii~! Where've you been going?!" I asked rampantly, claws scratching at the floor as I picked up speed. Wait, I didn't even have claws, did I?!
This time, the figure didn't even move. It stood all steady, as far as I could tell from my wobbly running. Running around this way, I wanted to bounce off the walls, tumble forward – more than anything, I wanted to become a mesh of STUFF that was going after this shady figure, like a big old dirty mess ready to get even dirtier!
But...! But...
But...?
"Huh?!" I gasped, the image of the person becoming more of an image than a person, and that wasn't the fairest thing in the world since I'd spent so much energy getting here, yuck.
I came to a near-full-stop, leaning myself back even though my legs just wanted to keep going. I had to slide a little, and when I did, the figure got all ghostly and see-through. When my nose just about touched it, it went away, fading out of, uh, existence? I was right on top of where it used to be. Felt like it was still there, but I was all shaky and jumpy, so my senses weren't very coordinated. What was it, I wondered? It looked like a Pokémon on two legs, but it also looked a little kerfuffled up everywhere – like, it was turned away from me, since I didn't see its shiny white eyes, but I still saw SOMETHING shiny, like metal reflecting the tiny bit of light coming in from outside.
Other than that, no! Nothing. Black fur, maybe? Smelled like Flux, although I wasn't too sure if that was me anymore.
Rumbling! Rumbling again! This time, it was LOUD, and it came from around me, then above me. I looked to the wall, then to the ceiling, as bits and pieces of stuff behind the ceiling loudly crashed and crumpled. It was like... somebody was crawling through a vent? I heard loud mechanical snaps and bangs against hollow surfaces somewhere I couldn't see. I raised my Crossblade in two of my ribbons, pointed up at the ceiling like something was gonna pop out of one of the light panels at any moment and take a nice stab up the butt!
But actually, the lights. That was a funny thing, 'cause they started flickering and going crazy wherever the noise was. If it was far, the lights far away started going on and off. It started far, for sure, but as the sounds crawled closer, so did the lights, like a killer carnival ride. Or like a trick house!
I waited and watched as the buzzing of the lights accompanied the reckless banging, flicking on and off, trailing ever closer from down that dismal, damp and grody corridor.
It slowed down as it came closer. I felt a smirk stretch one side of my mouth high.
Click and buzz, thud, click and buzz, thud, and then it all got so much quieter, as the closest light to the one I was standing beneath started flicking, and underneath that, suddenly, the figure was there, flicking as an image in accordance to each flare of light.
Its face was hidden, but underneath the strobe effect of the unstable light, it was moving its head up. I wanted to show courtesy! I wanted to let this ghosty Pokémon SEE me again before I melted it into goop. It was so strange though. I kind of felt my heart racing, and not just 'cause my blade was out and here and hurting me inside, but because I was standing still, being just as scared as I was if the person in front of me was someone that I knew and cared about, like... Vay, all over again.
But how could it be? That was... bonkers?
A fleshy rip, ligaments and bone tearing and breaking or something. The Pokémon's back erupted, something bursting out from its left and spraying the wall beside it with a black goo, glistening and running down the wall in long, syrupy strands. Mechanical whirring hummed and chirped with the jerky motions of the object that'd thrust out of the Pokémon. It was a wing, bleeding with oily substance, half-artificial with curved blades that moved independent of one another, but dependent of the flesh-covered bar up top that ended in a toothy blade, right before a wad of reddish goop that owned a half-shut eye, its pupil black and lifeless.
In spots, it looked like this mutated Pokémon had been sliced apart and stitched back together again with flesh-like tubes indicating the former wounds. Something about the 'patches' of flesh appeared as mechanical as the wings in that they had metal lacing, like wires and whatnot, reinforcing them to the 'mon's body. When it showed me its eyes, they weren't as bright white as before; instead, they were... 'something'? They were wholesome and so detached from their owner's body, irises a sad pink, complete with those trademark Flux tears wandering all the way down to the shady fluff around its neck. Markings on its chest, nearly concealed by the metal-fused flesh binding it together, lit up burgundy, an insignia with a central triangle marking and prongs reaching out from each of its points. The same burgundy light showed on a diamond-shaped device on its wrist.
A mutated zorua?
"Whoa, you're their robot friend!?" I stuttered. I lost my Gamma-fueled flurry. My rampage was put out like a whimsy little fire in a rainstorm.
"Initiaaa-a-a—izing," said the robotic Flux, its effeminate computerized voice desynced, out of tune and so, so broken. Its mouth wasn't moving as it spoke. Instead, the triangular shape at its chest lit up brighter with each syllable. "Subje-ect identi-f—ed as-as-as-as—Error. Err-oooorrrr-r-r."
"Uhhh, that's... Rayse!" I corrected the little zorobot. It didn't look like it cared.
"Sub-j-j," it spat out static. "Perceived thr-r-rrrreat. Acti-tivating-ting lux modu-."
Its arm, twitchy and crazy, lifted quickly. It went up so fast that it actually pulled the rest of the bot's body forward, like it was being puppeteered. The rhombus around its wrist started to gather particles of reddish pink energy from nowhere obvious. I looked to one side of me. Wall. I looked to the other side of me. Wall. I looked behind me. Stairway leading down, but it was the furthest thing away. I didn't even need to turn back around. The light above the zorobot was trivialized by the light gathered at its device. That must've meant I was in for a big boom that I was not... really ready... for?
My ears went up at the sound of a natural voice – a girl's voice, a whispery, shady tone under the building energy and noise. Indistinct and quiet, I couldn't hear what she said, only that she said something.
I couldn't put my tongue on it. I couldn't even put my brain on it! The sound of that girl's voice wasn't even all that familiar, but, more than everything I saw from the zorobot, it put me at ease, even though I knew I was in a teensy bit of twub.
It's 'kay, Rayse! You're okay! You're not all gone yet. Put yourself back together, sylvie. You can do it a lot better than whoever did it for this robobbo!
When I spun about, I did it with refreshed resolve, biting down hard and facing the music...! But it was too bright to see. It got so hot that the corrosive throbbing suddenly felt a whole lot less like something and more like the last thing I had left to keep myself afloat...!
…
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…
The Grove
"Cryhex? The little cyborg?"
"She came here with me 'n the other girls. 'Guess they didn't ever get back from their adventure, and that's made it so much worse."
"So, Cryhex wasn't a bad robot? I never got that impression from it. It was like a LARS unit, right?"
"No. Cryhex was a person that Sam tricked into being another person, but the poor thing kept dying on Sam, so... enough Gamma and life support hardware later, we had a living mess of metal and wires. Cryhex had processors from LARS units, but the biggest thing about the project was that it outperformed the original HX experiments with Travis in only days. It's main processor was the remains of a person's burnt heart."
"Neuro-cardio cellular technology, readjusted and hypothesized time 'n time again for HX."
"Mm."
"And you're tellin' me that dumb idea actually worked? You mean t'say that, all the work we did back in the day, Sam went and got it up and goin' that quick?"
"We didn't have Gamma back at the old facility, but it still makes me sick knowing that all the work we did showed up blank against Gamma. I can't imagine Chevron ever took it well. Would explain half the shit he's done, and now Sam's after Gamma like it's the most precious thing in the world. That old idiot's forgotten what matters."
"Oh, Young, Hon, don't write him off like that. I'm sure he still knows somewhere in his own heart what's right."
"She. Sam's a skywisp now."
"Oh my, that's... Well, now, with what you were sayin' – what does Cryhex have to do with Willow?"
"Yeah. That charred heart that Sam... 'installed', into Cryhex?
That was Willow's, taken from her old body, burnt to a crisp.
Willow never did remember who she was, 'cause her heart was gone. Instead, she had Gamma there. She shouldn't even be alive, but because of Gamma, she couldn't die. IMOs-HX-6. 'Immortals'.
And Cryhex hasn't come back, so I'm not holding my breath for any miracles that Willow will one day end up remembering who she was."
"We could always tell the poor dear..."
"That's one thing. You could tell her, but she probably wouldn't believe you.
'Hey, you, you actually got turned into a robot.'
Tch. She has to feel it, you know? And how can she feel that without a heart guiding her?
Maybe that's why she's so close to Jirachi. They're all Gamma, and Gamma's the only heart she has left to cling to."
"That's something. If nothin' else, that's a connection they share. I just hope the best for 'em, like all the Champions. Seems like they all used to be folks so close to me."
…
…
...
Ridge Hospital
Alli
Cross in one hand, leaving behind a trail of sparks, I darted through the icy, still drift of red Autumnridge, a wisp on a mission, no time to be cautious of Trip spots. One arm was full of needles from wielding the Crossblade, and the other's hand was sore as shit from punching that Fluxbag Vay in the face, but both of them, regardless of the pain, carried satisfaction and victory, and that led me through the sky again, just as it did before I thought I could ever amount to anything in the Grove.
Sad enough, that 'satisfaction and victory' led me back to the hospital, standing over an open parking lot with abandoned cars, cracked with flora growing out of it, and all that shun and sorry memory wallowing in the cold breeze of a colder sun, red and lost. Had I known Rayse was coming here, I would've picked up a buddy or two. Maybe that squirrel girl. She was cute. Had that twinge of derpy allure in her eyes. All four of them? Eh. Prolly not best to have gone and put her through a nightmare like the hospital. Though, she's been around the Flux, so she must have known already that shit was pretty metal.
Locked in the cold mid-sky, I stared at the edifice, trying to make sense of its darkness within through a window too dusty to have seen through up close. The whole thing was crumbling, like it was under some kind of pressure. If anything, the woodland was trying to take it over. I always wondered why that was happening. Ridge Hospital's foundation was failing, which might've had to do with why everything looked decrepit. But then, the whole town was falling to bits.
I let my tongue pop out to get some more info about the place, its scent poisoned with Gamma of all colors. That would've been the only drawing force for me. Gamma filled a gap, and since Rayse was some of the best Gamma out there, I needed her. She was part of the team.
I looked at the invading treeline. Nah, she wouldn't do that. She was running away from us. Woods around here are too close to the Grove. She wouldn't go back there. She's here. I smell her.
Is she really here? Nothing says she couldn't've dipped into the woods.
Just then, in the space of speculation, the windows burned with a bright red glow. An booming pulse blew out a number of them that weren't already missing. Not a half-second following that, an enormous bang broke both sound barrier and a portion of the building's facade. A chunk of cement whooshed by me. Not thinking, I only shielded my face with my free arm, instead of flying away from the bright explosion. My heart skipped a few beats.
"Ah-!" I yelped, peering ahead underneath my arm.
Re-bar that wasn't blown to shreds was warped and crooked, forced out of the building's new, massive hole. Dust, glass, and rocks were showering around me. I felt a few of them hit me, offering none more than little stings that couldn't much phase my scales. When I looked toward the damage, I saw a figure approaching the last stable re-bar hanging, bent and uncertain, yet with this creature's tiny feet, suitable. On the overhang below the blast, someone lay, a victim of the attack who was still... in one piece?! Somehow?!
"Holy shit," I mumbled, at first positive that the sylveon down there was her, but upon closer glance... "It's Rayse...?"
She didn't look as good as I'd thought. She was still a sylveon, but she had a lot more red on her than I remembered. Namely, the blue of her front paws and her ears was becoming consumed with red coloring.
She stirred, pushing herself to her feet quickly, moving her feelers to her hood and lowering it, letting her other ribbons come out and breathe. Not only did they do that, but they formed a double helix wherein her purplish, toxic Crossblade could rest. In a daze, she looked up to the sky, found me, and froze, the blue of her eyes waning to purple, with tarry tear markings under her eyes, threatening the rosiness of her cheeks.
Then I returned to the creature on the re-bar. Pat.
"Pat?!" I shouted. She noticed me.
Pat looked so much worse than before, despite not being in fragments. I didn't have enough time to soak in the detail, before she dropped from the bar to join Rayse on the unintended balcony. The two were fighting. I could tell as much by the way Rayse turned around, poised with legs wide, ready to defend herself.
"Yo, girls! Up here!" I waved frantically, but they'd already acknowledged me beforehand. Now, they were fighting, Pat's 'systems' fully functioning. She had out her lightsaber-ass weapon around her wrist and her gross flesh-blade wing. Despite the Flux additions to her body, she was as nimble as before, and BECAUSE of the Flux on Rayse, she was growing sloppy, so much less graceful than I'd seen her prior. Even then, she wasn't all that graceful. She was brutal.
I didn't even really know what I was watching anymore – what was I supposed to be concerned with anymore?! Rayse was getting Fluxed? Pat was Fluxed? Pat was BACK?! They were FIGHTING?! Why?! I had to stop it!
But, again, I was stopped, before I had the chance to dive in and make a difference.
"Wait!" somebody called.
I grunted in frustration.
"What?!" I growled, letting myself simmer a sec before turning.
There you are, I thought. They followed me. 'Course they did. Starry-headed back-stabbing Jirachi and crazy crying fire Willow. They came up to me in the air, Jirachi's saw Crossblade not held, but hovering behind her, held up by whatever force she beckoned. Willow's flushy, flamey cheeks were smoothed out, more rigid somehow, less... unsure.
"Hey," I greeted, gut bubbling with tension. I didn't like Jirachi's Crossblade. I couldn't help but be wary of her. "You gonna stay where I can see you this time?"
"U-um, I'm so sorry," Jirachi whimpered, her voice so frail. She withdrew her arms closer to her chest, afraid. Such a kid. "I won't do that again. I promise!"
"Fine, just... Okay, cool, good." I said.
"Is that, um, Rayse?! Who's she fighting now?" Jirachi asked.
"It's... Pat." I said to myself. I didn't care if these two heard it or not. Just hearing myself say the name was all I needed. Putting my voice to the notion that Pat was still alive was a feeling I needed to let smolder.
"Pat..." Willow gasped. Did she hear me. She couldn't have. She spoke it independently.
Rayse was leaping up and over obstacles, off the building's front wall, trying to evade Pat's attacks, cycling between shots and swipes with the same weapon. While a fighter versatile enough to pose a threat in both close and long distance was something to be reckoned with, Rayse herself really liked to punish her opponent with overkill for missing a number of times. She was fleet-footed enough to stay out of range of Pat's wing, which would've carved her up (though if she survived crashing into a building and through a building, I had to give credit to Gamma for being a pretty decent glue). Pat herself was performing a lot better against a Crossblade than she did formerly. When the space was closed between the two, Rayse became merciless. Her attacks alternated from ribbon to ribbon, tossing her Crossblade between them, often attempting a pounce. Pat was limber in the face of every one of these swipes, until Rayse mixed up her moves a little more, throwing strange rings of blue light forth by spinning her ribbons like fan blades when they were free of the Cross.
Pat fled the balcony, dropping down to the parking lot below. Her large, sick wing flapped twice, easing her landing, then carrying her away from a potential strike from Rayse above. On the second flap, she blocked herself with the blades. It was then that I noticed an, er, eye at the end of the wing, which, strangely, ruptured in a reddish flame. I hadn't seen this attack from Pat before.
As Rayse pursued her, the attack commenced, the fiery eye brimming, firing a bizarre laser into the asphalt, grimy red bubbles gently straying from the main laser. The heat from the beam was so concentrated that I could feel it as much as the surge of warmth from the explosion before. Plus, it smelled like watered down blood. As the laser cut through the ground in a spastic zig-zag pattern, Rayse had no issue avoiding it. However, the attack left a trail red glowing and festering. The trail erupted into columns of red, oily matter, engulfing the air around Rayse. For the short length of time that the columns burst, I found it more difficult to breathe, like oxygen was being sapped from me.
The columns parted for a blade, repulsed and warped apart by a single blade thrust through them. It struck Pat, despite her defenses. A loud clang from down there, and Pat was completely still, but I didn't see the thorny barb of Rayse's Cross sticking out of the back of her head. I saw it wedged between two of her wing-blades.
A purplish mist surrounded the Crossblade. The mist burst outwards, Rayse filling its spot. She could warp to her Crossblade? I needed to learn that sooner or later.
They had parried one another. Rayse was holding her blade as close to Pat's head as it had been to Jirachi's, but Pat was holding the blade as well. 'Guess the Crossblade couldn't 'cut through anything' like advertised, or maybe Rayse's heart just wasn't in it.
I acted rashly. I dove into the scene to make one of my own. Plummeting to the earth, the fitful scents of their battle passed me by, the odd taste of one Gamma peeling against another sizzling on my tongue. Shutting the gap between me and them in a moment, I reached forward, around Pat, noticing how gnarly her Flux was up close, but paying little mind to it as I snatched her right arm and pulled it back, drawing her into cover. With my added strength, I saw sparks flair from her wing, pulling away from Rayse's blade.
Now, I was in her place. I saw my own blade-bearing arm swing forth, not so much for Rayse, but for her Cross, catching it just as Pat's wing did, only in one of the angles of my bolt-shaped points. It all happened too quickly for Rayse to react much to, and in that time, I witnessed her motivation to slay Pat, or at least remove her from her way. A harrowing squint accented the glare she took to battle, further garnished by the black tears now bleeding into the red circles on her cheeks, Flux melting Rayse away into a heap. Trading this blow with her, my heart sank.
But, not for long. Her expression lifted when she saw me. I must have stolen her strength, as she was letting me push her feeler-held Crossblade down to the ground, until its own foremost blade hit the asphalt. I checked her eyes. They were meeker than before, pacified.
"Heeeey, hey," I said coolly, guiding her to any form of calmer stance. I came in closer, feeling slightly betrayed at how long she was taking to settle down. "It's okay. It's me. 'S just me now..."
"Hu-...huh?" Rayse cried with sundered breaths. "You're...!"
"You know me," I smiled, as the last drop of strength leaked outta her, her weapon barely held in a limp feeler. I could feel her warm breaths on me begging me to come even closer. I put my free hand on my Cross' hilt, pulling it closer and freeing it from Rayse's. I turned it downward, then just dropped it, draping my arms around the sylveon's neck and leaning my head against one side of hers. "Don't fight her. I bet she's as scared as you."
"But you...-" she gasped, as if only noticing now I was holding her. I heard a clang similar to the noise my blade made when dropped, then felt a comforting softness laying in strips across my back. She smelled of ashes and flowers even now. "You...'re right. I know you're right. But it's...!"
"Don't explain anything. You don't have to," I reassured her, petting the back of her head. "If it's Flux, I know. If it's the Crossblade, I know that, too."
"Okay," she exhaled, reprieved. "I-I don't know how you hold it in. How can you?"
"I don't know. I would say it's because I have nothing left to lose, but that's not true at all," I said, turning my snout to touch her cheek. I remembered a moment with Emelina lost. I shut my eyes for fear of losing that again, took a gentle sniff, and remembered her face. Her human face, then her Pokémon face. "Rayse, i-it's gonna be okay."
"Ohhh, mmpphhh," she groaned. At first I was put off and curious at the same time, but then I recalled who I was hugging. "Mmmmmtrying not to cry... MMM...!"
I wanted to remark on her Flux tears, but the matter might've been sensitive.
"Yeah, same," I just said. I was fine, really. It was fact that Rayse was important to me, and I was stating it as it was. How long I'd known her? Well, objectively, not long at all. How long I felt like I'd known her? That went deeper. Deeper than time. "You're doing good."
"Thank you, Alliiii~..." she sang softly. "Thank you for being you."
"Hrk-!" I choked. 'Kay, that one got me a little. My eyes felt a bit misty, as I squeezed around her tighter.
"Dat-da-a-base—fail—lure to ac-sssss-..." Pat sputtered behind me. Was so glad she didn't pull a Jirachi on my back.
I nodded my head a little and let go of Rayse, facing the messy Pat. Her wing and arms were twitchy.
"You're gonna make me do that to you, too, huh?" I teased her, pointing over my shoulder at the sylveon here. "A'ight, fine, get over here."
I opened my arms and moved closer. As close as she let me, before she swung her right arm forward, aiming at me with it. I tried to react. Not clutch enough. A screechy zap, flash of red. The sudden spike in my chest, right at my shoulder line, told me I didn't get out of the way in time. I shrieked quickly, but no noise came out. I slapped both hands over the spot. I felt at it. Too scared to feel for a hole. Everything burnt. She shot me in the throat. She just shot me in the throat. It started stinging more loudly.
Huh...?!
"Warn-warning. Ww-w-w-w-w-nnnnn-" she buzzed. Her head was twitching, too, out of sync with the rest of her body, like every part of her was malfunctioning differently.
My throat was burning. Tears were already spilling from my eyes. I tried to cry.
This was bad. This didn't seem as bad as before, but it was getting worse with every murmur and rejection I tried to vocalize. Even a whine was impossible. I tried saying her name. I couldn't. I tried mouthing her name. Motions of my mouth scratched against the scorch of my neck and throat. No matter how hard I tried, nothing came out of my mouth. Nothing. I tried everything. Hard sounds, random sounds, I...! I couldn't...
"Alli!" Rayse called. I closed my eyes again, but I felt the familiar softness of her ribbons tug me somewhere, and then leave me. I sank to the freezing ground, too occupied with the burning to care.
Shouts of desist. A repeat of before, I thought. I felt myself squirming and choking quietly, cold asphalt touching me everywhere. I opened my eyes and looked for my Crossblade. The Crossblade! Yes! It was a different kind of pain, wasn't it?! No time. Needed it! I needed it!
I found it, just laying next to me. One hand tight over my throat, I threw the other against its hilt and lifted. That arm sent a needly sting throughout me, replacing the fire in my neck. I could cope with that. Didn't convince me to take my other hand off of my neck, but I at least could lay still for a sec and think about the stupid mistake that I made twice in a row now: STOP GETTING IN BETWEEN FIGHTS! I would'a screamed that to myself right now if I could. Instead, I just took a few deep breaths while screams elsewhere carried on. They were orderly. Rayse was participating in them. Jirachi and Willow came down to join her, I gathered.
What did you shoot me with, Pat?!
"Jira, NO! Go AWAY!" Rayse hollered with as much aggression as an angry child.
"Not a chance! Not when we've come this far! This is for me AND Willow, and if you don't like it, too bad!" Jirachi argued.
"Huh?! Willow?!" Rayse asked.
"No," Willow objected, defiant.
It was then that I turned to face the scene. Pat was being constrained by Rayse. It really was a repeat of before, except Rayse's blade wasn't with her. She was using all of her feelers to keep Pat's most dangerous limbs bound, rather than hold any intent to hurt her. Good girl. Willow, on the other hand, used the hand-like appendage garnishing her fiery tail to reach out and grab Pat's head. The hand grew in size to fit Pat's head in it.
"It's for you and Pat, Jirachi." Willow said to the mechanical Flux.
"Wa-rrnnn-nin-ningg-g—g-" Pat fizzled, ready to blow a fuse if she hadn't already. I saw this as my chance to intervene again, and even felt my Crossblade hand tighten. What I didn't see was myself getting collaterally damaged for the fuckteenth time. I let it all happen. I didn't do a thing. I couldn't – not anymore. My Flux form was missing limbs. My Siren form was missing guts. This form was missing her throat.
"W-wait, Willow, what're you gonna do?!" Jirachi inquired, desperate. Her Crossblade was still following her.
"I'm gonna do what I should've done to Delta Meadow. I should've showed them all how wrong they were about Gamma." she claimed.
"Wrong about Gamma? Hold on, what do you..." Jirachi said.
"Stoppit, she's one of Alli's friends!" said Rayse.
"Wrong. She never was. She's got something of mine, and I'm taking it back," Willow paused. "And I need you two to trust me. Please."
"I don't understand..." Jirachi started.
"It's alright. I'll be back soon. Trust me, and I'll trust you, just like I've always done." Willow expressed.
"Be back soon? Wh-... Okay, I... I trust you. I know I got mad at you before, but I trust you." Jirachi relented.
Yet, Rayse didn't so easily. She looked back at me quickly. Though it was brief, I saw her lips curl down into a deep frown. It really didn't look good on her. I couldn't even say a thing against Willow. I wanted her to stop. I didn't want her to hurt Pat, but she was so determined. She wasn't bad either. She didn't even seem all that confused. She spoke like she knew what she wanted to do. She had that over a lot of us.
All eyes were on Rayse now.
"It has nothing to do with you, Rayse. It's for me and Jirachi, and... for Alli, too. I know she'll be happy with this." Willow reinforced. She was speaking for me like she knew me, but we'd just met. Didn't we? It didn't feel like the rapport I had with Rayse, but maybe it was. Maybe we met somewhere else. Somewhere deeper than time? My gut (thankfully still here) told me otherwise.
"Nnneeh, FINE," she suddenly snapped, pulling her feelers away at once and hopping back. Even she caught herself off by it. "Do it!"
"Thank you," Willow smiled. First smile I'd seen her give Rayse. First smile I'd ever seen from her, actually. She had full control over Pat, whom she lifted from the ground with ease. Pat's limbs were readjusting. Willow didn't have long until she was gonna get some serious resistance. "I guess Delta Meadow was right about something:
Purging.
I always thought it sounded crazy – well...
Here we go!" she yelled, the little thing pausing for a second, then taking Pat and herself high into the air, above the hospital, leaving behind a trail of embers and smoke. She was going so fast. My neck was hurting just keeping up with her, thanks to this injury.
Though she became smaller, her bright body let me keep tabs on her. She looked like a flare by now. I trusted Pat was still there, but I couldn't see her anymore. It was just a bright firework fighting a winning battle against the dim red sun.
The flare went up so high that she must've been touching the clouds. A little further, and she would've been up there with the sky islands, but she stopped. Not that, she flickered out. She went away. She was gone.
Then, the sky cracked open and burst. The boom was so loud that I went numb – eyes, tail, tongue, snout. Were I not holding my Crossblade, the pain may have been a little more intense.
The explosion was vast, an infernal nova vaporizing every cloud around it, painting the sky with a new sun.
I was shaking.
The blast was unthinkable. Its round shape, brighter in the center, persisting in the sky unnaturally, incinerating everything around it over and over and over again. It would have consumed everything.
But it consumed those two instead. I had to watch Pat die... again? No, I didn't believe that. Willow wouldn't-
"Gee, what a downer," somebody male said, right behind me. I froze at the voice. I didn't know it, or did I? What?! Who?! "Aww, sorry Nephi, but she sure made a nice firework! Hhhhahahaha!"
I flopped onto my belly, keeping my hand over the wound. A yellow petal zipped into the ground inches from my nose. It was swallowed up by a perfectly round hole. Physically at a loss for words, I crawled up to the hole and pushed my snout against the ground. Darkness. Cackling echoed into that darkness. Rumbling. The wheezy cackling drifted away, as the light settled back to its gentle, empty redness. The inferno ended, leaving behind a sweet, chemical scent.
Troubled silence enchanted me. I thought about the guy who just talked to me. Was he following me? I was lightheaded, too much to care about him for the time. He said Nephi's name, but... Everything was going so fast.
Pat...
I rolled back over, letting my blade-bearing arm out at its length, watching the sky settle, the clouds gone. I could see the shady underside of Aera Firma's suspended earth now. Everything had been left so much brighter, the shattered sun no longer vying with as much cloud cover. It still had the floating islands to shine through, but still... it was brighter.
I wished the same went for Pat's, uh... immediate future...
I lifted my back, sitting up. Jirachi was looking at me like I'd beckoned her. I blinked.
"Jira!" Rayse poked her with a feeler and pointed to the sky with another. No sooner, the other Pokémon looked high. I did the same. A figure was falling, its silhouette vaguely bipedal, bound to coming crashing down headfirst. Go figure they were intact. Everyone was put together so much better than, say, me.
Jirachi abandoned her Crossblade, the thing falling out of her telekinetic grasp. Arms out, she flew up to the plummeting figure and reached for it, but without the intent of catching. Her arms were a little too stubby to hold anything much other than things smaller than her. Instead, like the Crossblade before, she worked an unseen tether around the figure and slowed her descent, netting her in telekinetic power. It should've been more thrilling to watch, since the figure had a couple seconds to spare before it went splat. 'Guess if it could survive an explosion like that, 'splat' wasn't an issue. Nonethewhats, Jirachi caught it – her, since the figure looked like a... girl Pokémon, but like neither of the girls who were in the sky a sec ago.
Jirachi turned her upright and set her down, her lock of black hair at the back of her head flopping in accordance. Looked like a ponytail. Didn't quite go with what the Pokémon was. Flat and balanced on her small feet, the new Pokémon tilted her head back, closed eyes and fresh face looking into the sky. New Pokémon, I thought to myself. That was the incorrect choice of thought. I'd seen this one before. The first Pat, right after she transformed from her human self.
Blue skin or scales darker than mine, a round head with a wide fin at the top of it, orange 'whisker' features at either side of her big mouth, separating darker from brighter blue body color. The same color found itself covering her wide tail fin. I remembered being told somewhere that this was a Pokémon that didn't naturally stand on two legs and have little hands as she did.
"Oooooh?" Rayse cooed. "And thus was summoned, a magical flying mudkip mutant?"
"Err," Jirachi began, flying to the Pokémon's side. "Willow...? Is that you? You didn't say you'd... explode."
"Oh," said the Pokémon, eyelids lifting, showing purple pupils. "I kind of can't believe it worked."
"Wh... WHAT?! You mean you didn't know you'd come back?!" Jirachi exclaimed in anguish.
The Pokémon looked at her arms.
"Part of me thought I was already gone. That was the... Cryhex part," she said. Pat said. That was the voice of Pat, like an older Willow, less sporadic, much cooler. "But another part knew in her heart what she was doing would work. The... Willow part."
"S-so it's really you, Willow? You're okay? You're... You remember yourself, don't you?" Jirachi queried.
"Yes. Patricia Vienna," she smiled and nodded. "Because of you, Jirachi. You've made sure I get to stay awhile longer. No time to rest in pieces."
"A-... Awesome..." Jirachi mewled.
"Very," Pat commented. She looked forward to Rayse. "You too. Sorry I attacked, I... suppose we ought to talk some more, Rayse."
I wanted to be with them. I knew I was hurt, but the reunion was so sweet. I needed to have it, too. I was ready to burst out with joy and skywisp blood, but I held myself back the best I could. I took my time and I slithered forward, weakly picking myself up. I looked back to the floor to see if I'd left an unsightly stain, of which there wasn't. Cool. No hole going all the way through me. I swayed as I flew, each movement more difficult to recover from than I'd anticipated, but I was at least proud of myself for getting up. The girls noticed my movement. I nodded to 'em silently.
"What'cha up to Alli? You okay? Can I see your owie?" Rayse offered, trotting to me.
"Eehe, Al," Patty suddenly jumped and clapped a couple times, a total one-eighty from her attitude a sec ago. That was how I knew it was her. "I missed you. I-I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"Not you, Willow, but I think..." Jirachi stopped. Never much cared to finish most of her thoughts, I guess.
They had all gathered around me as I sank lower, just to feel everyone's warmth surround me. I wanted to thank them. I was too scared to do anything but smile. I didn't even laugh. My Crossblade fizzled away, all the, uh, static stabbing into my body relinquishing itself to the pain in my throat. It was so much more concentrated, but I could deal with it now. I had the resolve.
I found Pat's small blue hand reaching out to me. The gesture was so much like her – so randomly appealing, charming, polite. I put my free hand on it. Cold air sliced into me. She tugged me into her, and I felt two warm arms caress me. She smelled so much like smoke – so much like ashes, even. Yeah, cute. She blew up, but that was all Gamma, so... so now Pat could be a fun freak like the rest of us. Like she wasn't already before this.
I hugged her back with the one arm I wasn't afraid to use. I missed her, too. I wanted to tell her that. I wanted to ask how she came back. I even felt my mouth start to move. I asked the questions, but no noise came out. I couldn't ask a damn thing. Whatever. I had another hug from someone else that I cared about.
"Awww, fwiendsies~," Rayse chipped in a high-pitched baby voice. Her ribbons wrapped around the two of us, squishing us closer together. "Jira, know any healing moves for Alli?"
"Healing moves? Uhmm... I haven't practiced any... in a while?" she admitted.
"Hmm, 'kay, back to the Grove then. No more fighting and trying to kill each other. It always makes Alli hurt." said Rayse.
I'm that much of a liability, eh? I thought it, but I couldn't say it aloud. 'Course. It got a chest spasm out of me, the closest thing to a laugh I could accomplish.
"Super agreed," Jirachi said. Her voice told me she was still ashamed and horrified that she hurt me so badly back in the street. Wouldn't have known what else she would've been feeling by now. "I'm sorry, Alli."
"Me, too. Sorry, Al." Pat added, moving her head 'till I felt her soft whisker-spikes against my cheek. She didn't need to apologize.
Stop apologizing. You don't need to do that. I'm not mad at any of you.
"Can I steal her?" Rayse asked. I would've mumbled. No vibration or anything, though, as I felt myself pulled away from Pat by the same ribbons holding us together. A pair of two, then another pair of two, wrapping around me. In a blurry moment, I was brought up to Rayse, cradled beneath her chin.
Safety, I thought. Hard to believe I was pushing her Crossblade away with mine minutes ago. Her eyes met mine. They looked a lot better with a sweet little smile beneath 'em. It didn't much matter how crazy the black tears beneath her eyes were. Her face was still so... fruity, to look at. I whiffed her Gamma, closed my eyes, and felt a cautious, wet lap against my cheek. 'Guess she licked me there.
"Little wispy babboo~," she mused with that baby voice again. "No more getting wrecked. 'Kay? I've been doing a bad job keeping my head up.
You can hold yours high with all that Gamma inside you. There's no reason a Champion like me shouldn't be able to. You and Patricia proved all that right here!
Keep doing that. You're doing a great job. I'm gonna take you home, so you can heal up and keep being my role-model. After all, we're not done yet!"
Rayse...
I swear, I'll end up getting killed because of you. But that should say how I feel about you. I feel rewarded. I chose you, and now Pat's back. I'll help you through Flux and the Crossblade. I'll fight this nightmare through to the end with you. You, Cadi, Pat, Diancie, Caden, Kat... everybody.
…
I wasn't sure when, but...
I felt one of my hands grip around one of Rayse's feelers. She was bobbing while I held it, so we were going somewhere. She was walking. I heard her voice with Pat's and Jirachi's. I could still smell her perfumey Gamma dancing in my nostrils. I didn't open my eyes to it. It was all good. My neck was still hurting, but I could at least be hurt all cuddled up and in good company.
