Chapter 27: Liberation
Floyd cut down the last Cleanser, bowling him over Ren's leg-locked form behind his legs and burying his lightsaber into his forehead beneath his helmet before cutting the head off entirely. The shadow magic leeched away into the air and dissolved.
The attack left Floyd looking in just the right direction to watch the firestorm tear through a city block and leave the roads, buildings and cars left on the street little less than smoking slag.
And Olivier began to laugh.
"Well well! I win but I lose! It seems Corinth really DID get the job done!" she taunted, mania dripping from every syllable. She looked demonic through the hazy shadows and the fiery light from the explosion.
"No," Ren murmured, and Onyx bowed her head.
"Oh, but it's true!" Olivier shouted. "I do believe…yes, I can feel two souls ready to come to my call! But…oh, what's this? Tabby is hanging on by a thread it seems!" She leered at him from above, giving him a grandiose bow. "Go on then, Black Sun! Run to her! Save her! Be her knight in shining armor! And while you do that, I'll tear you apart!"
His own shadow leapt up to attack him, as did Ren's and Onyx's, while Olivier let loose a maniacal scream and charged towards them, her shadow blotting out the sun and the natural colors of the world.
Floyd was forced to defend himself. His shadow seemed as good at fighting as he was, and worse, it had the power to pierce through his armor. If he even turned his attention for a second from the fight, he would die.
He couldn't save Tabby.
Zero and Griffin were to the east. Vanessa and Nerevor would be fighting the charge of Cleansers to the north.
There was no one left to help her.
Tabby, Floyd thought, I'm sorry.
His vision blurred with tears of frustration, and he struck back with everything he had, determined to avenge Tabby's death.
###
The staff dropped from Nerevor's hands, and he fell backwards as his colleagues, friends, and family charged around him to repulse more of the Elites trying to force their way through a gap in the Fighting type lines.
Vanessa stopped moving and knelt by his side, touching his shoulder gingerly.
A tear rolled down his cheek and into his white beard.
"Marissa," he wept. He was their source of strength, but as of now, Nerevor felt as though he couldn't work a spell to save his life. "Marissa, I…I failed you. You trusted me…and I failed you."
He couldn't even apologize as he bowed his head and wept for another one of his children lost to this damned war.
###
…
…
…
It was cold.
A big difference to a few minutes ago.
Tabby opened her eyes and stared into a white void.
She sighed and looked down. She was wearing white sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and felt better than she had in months, maybe even in years. She felt as though she could run for miles and miles without stopping, felt like she could fire off Blast Burns like they were Embers.
Which meant…
"Damn it," Tabby said, closing her eyes.
She was dead.
She was silent for a long time, and eventually sat with her head between her knees. She wanted to cry but no tears came.
She just felt…empty.
She wanted to go back and help. She needed to know that her friends would be alright. Then she could rest. But not a moment before. Maybe she could find a way to commune with Arceus…if he really even existed.
There seemed to be nothing here. How long had she been sitting here? A day? A year? A millennia? Maybe Snowpoint had been overgrown with weeds and moss and all of her friends had already been sent to their early graves.
"My, my. Still worrying about the living, I see?"
Tabby's head snapped up and looked around for the source of the voice.
"Such strong emotions you humans have. Though I suppose I'm not one to talk, am I?"
Right in front of her face, a small pink creature with a gray belly appeared, its two tails bejeweled with rubies waving playfully in the air.
"Mesprit," Tabby said, her jaw going slack with awe.
"Indeed," Mesprit said, the jewel in its forehead humming with psychic power. "You say you can't rest until you know if your friends are safe? Well human, I believe that we can help each other."
###
As Olivier's nails hardened into claws and she truly became a monster, as his own shadow leapt at him and tried to kill him, Floyd realized what the shadow's weakness was.
The message in Regigigas' chamber was just a means to an end. His Light powers weren't antithetical to the shadows, but they provided a sure-fire way to hit her. Floyd slashed with his lightsaber, and Olivier's body ripped apart and flowed around the crimson blade. She struck back with a slash from her shadow-wreathed talons, and Floyd's forearm snapped up to deflect it. His entire body was wreathed in light, and the shadow rebounded from it as though they quite literally couldn't exist in its presence. Floyd responded with a punch, and Olivier flinched away from the blow much more than what was required. Pivoting in the opening, Floyd brought his fist around and punched straight through his own shadow's chest. It collapsed to the ground and flowed to his feet, pointing in the right direction now.
Ren let out a snarl as her shadow slashed at her and opened a line of blood on her face. Onyx danced around her shadow and managed to stab it in the back with her claws, purple energy raging around them as she withdrew and slashed through the shadow. At the same time, Ren retreated and blew her shadow away with a Dark Pulse that streamed from her mouth. Both shadows returned to their natural state, and Floyd's Pokemon wasted no time in rushing Olivier. If Floyd's powers made Olivier fearful, the power of Ren and Onyx combined had her downright terrified. She conjured walls of shadow as the Pokemon rushed her, Onyx being just nimble enough to weave around them and slash her claws down her frontside.
Olivier shrieked in pain, and black slime oozed from the deep gashes instead of blood.
The overwhelming pressure radiating from her lessened. It wasn't much, barely enough to feel it, but Floyd was almost certain that it had lessened.
That blow from Onyx likely would have killed a regular woman, and technically it had. Olivier hadn't just been absorbing the souls of the dead to use for her army. It was likely that the Ghost Plate could amplify its powers when charged with those souls.
But what if Floyd exhausted her supply?
It was time to find out.
Floyd sheathed the lightsaber and punched Olivier square in the face. The strength behind the blow should have turned her head into putty, but it merely exploded into shadows and reformed as she was sent over the edge of the rooftop and into open air. As soon as her face had regenerated, Olivier bellowed and threw her arms out at her sides, a volley of Shadow Balls ripping from her body to swarm Floyd and his Pokemon.
"Sneasel!" Onyx cried, leaping in front of them. There was a pulse of negative energy, and a wall of darkness erupted from the Sneasel's small body, wide enough and thick enough to turn the impact of the Shadow Balls. "Sneasel snea! Sneasel!"
"Smart girl!" Ren shouted. "Boss, let's do it!"
Floyd nodded and clenched his fists, straining every muscle in his body as he called for every iota of power in his body to help him one last time. To his left, Ren's form flickered as she reacted to his stirring power, and both of their voices began to rise in a shout.
The torrent of Shadow Balls stopped, and was replaced by a gale of terrible wind that howled and shrieked for blood. Onyx kept up her dark shield, but she cried out and almost lost her footing.
The shouting reached a crescendo. Floyd could almost feel something inside of him snap, like a dam that had finally reached its limit. Power came flooding out of him, the sun on his chest almost as bright as the one in the sky. The howling wind lessened to a gust, and Onyx glanced behind herself in awe.
Ren was different. Floyd had never seen her Mega Evolve this way, but it almost looked like she was changing into something else. She howled and gnashed her teeth as her claws carved splinters into the stone, growing more muscular and taller. Her teeth grit together in a furious snarl, and unless Floyd was mistaken, her eyes flashed white repeatedly. But whether it was a trick of the light or if she was turning into something else and just couldn't get there, Ren howled again, and her Mega Evolution completed in its entirety, a furious multi-colored light splintering the air around her as her faux-wings gusted Aura and forced Olivier away from them into open air.
Floyd felt her anger, her hatred for Olivier. He felt her sorrow over Tabby's death, one that resonated so deeply with Floyd it hurt to think about. This was Ren at her strongest, because every cell in both of their bodies wanted the same thing.
They wanted Olivier dead.
Floyd threw his hands forward, a dazzling beam of light erupting from his fingers and crashing through the shadows into Olivier. He couldn't hear her scream over the winds, but she lost her grip on her power and dropped like a stone.
"Go!" Floyd ordered. He and his Pokemon sprinted for the edge and didn't hesitate to leap over it, pursuing Olivier the long way down.
Regaining her stance, Olivier screamed again and shot towards them, bleeding shadows the entire way. Her fist hammered against Floyd's crossed arms and nearly sent him flying through the glass panes of Central Tower. Her strength was enhanced as well, but not nearly as much as Floyd's. He struck back and buried his fist in her gut, more black slime flying from her mouth as Ren spat a Dark Pulse from her maw. It drilled through the layer of shadows surrounding Olivier to connect with her face, and once again her head exploded in shadowy threads. Onyx flipped end over end, icicles glittering to life and screaming towards her reforming body to pierce through them like a hot knife through butter. She couldn't scream without a head, but her body jerked like it was still alive and feeling the pain. One hand snapped up and flexed, a lance of withering shadow flying towards them as the other reached behind her towards the approaching buildings. A tendril of shadows shot from her arm and attached to a nearby rooftop, pulling her body along to heal.
Ren shouted and batted aside the lance of shadow, her horn constantly flaring with purple light. "I need you to throw me, Floyd!" she ordered. Floyd lowered both of his arms and clasped his hands, and Ren crouched on her haunches atop his forearms, as if preparing to pounce. Heaving, Ren's furred body went flying towards Olivier, wreathed in negative energy as she let out a catlike yowl. She slammed into Olivier with titanic force and began to slash and rake at her with claw and horn, not giving her a moment to fully regenerate. Floyd grabbed Onyx out of midair and rocketed towards the melee, landing behind Olivier and throwing Onyx towards her. Her claws fully extended and wicked sharp, they punched right through her flesh and hooked in, the Sneasel hanging on for dear life. She was no stranger to combat it seemed, as she began to let loose Dark Pulse after Dark Pulse through her hands, destroying Olivier from the inside out.
Olivier's wails of agony caused the air itself to vibrate as she tried her best to shake Onyx off. Ren and Floyd didn't let up for a second, rushing forward in a tag team. They worked flawlessly together, not even having to look at each other to know their next moved. Ren darted in, barely able to be seen as a trail of purple and white, hamstringing Olivier and sending her to the ground. She leapt back out of the way as Floyd's boot hammered into her sternum and sent her flying into the air. Onyx, still on her back, released her hold and sent Olivier crashing back down to the rooftop with another Dark Pulse.
The pressure lessened again.
With another wail of agony, Olivier thrust her hands to the sky, and shadows of every kind leapt up to attack. The shadows cast by buildings from the sun, their own shadows, and even more tormented souls of the dead. All of it swirled together in a raging beam that cut through the air faster than the naked eye could see. It was all Floyd could do to ward against it, crossing his arms as the sun on his chest let out a violent chiming sound. A shimmering halo of white light formed a few feet across in diameter, the shadows billowing around it. Ren leapt out of the circle and crossed the gap between their power struggle, slicing her horn down Olivier's left arm. It fell away into black shadows as Olivier snarled in pain, her attack fading away as the limb regenerated almost immediately. Fingers hooked into talons, she unleashed another volley of shadows this time…but not at them.
Her shadows attacked their own shadows, and Floyd felt the blows as though they were on his own flesh. Both he and Ren were hammered over and over again by what felt like heavy-handed punches, forced back from Olivier's panting body from the weight of her assault.
"Sneasel!" Onyx cried, dropping from the sky and going on the offensive. Olivier whirled without a second thought, a Shadow Claw blurring to rip Onyx's throat out. Onyx countered with both hands that were covered in negative energy, straining with all of the might her little body could muster. But she was still a Pokemon, which meant she was incredibly strong even for her size. She shoved away the Shadow Claw and sank both of her claws into Olivier's legs, bringing her to the ground and returning the favor, ripping out her throat. Black slime spewed over the rooftop and the shadow assault ended, both Ren and Floyd racing forward and charging straight into Olivier's kneeling form. Their attack snapped something in her body and sent the three of them tumbling from the rooftop to land in the street. A large number of civilians were still present in this part of Central, fleeing in abject terror from the pillar of shadow that was slowly enveloping more of Central Tower's surroundings.
"Citizens!" Olivier growled. "Give me…give me your souls! Your god commands it!" She made a chopping gesture, and the shadows the innocent humans and their weak Pokemon snapped like a cloth in the wind. They began to flow towards her like liquid on the pavement, and the victims began to choke where they stood.
"NO!" Ren roared. A Night Slash cut through the air and through the shadows that bled on the stone, and the spell fell apart. Olivier whirled and engaged both Ren and Floyd in a furious melee, driving them into the street and striking with enough force to shatter bone. Ren was forced to dodge her attacks, but Floyd guarded with his metal limbs, every strike reverberating up and down the metal, though it held.
"A pathetic resistance!" Olivier spat as she raked over and over again with her Shadow Claws, her movements a blur. "Even with your powers, you can't hope to kill me!" She over-balanced on another slash, and Floyd ducked into her guard, his glowing fist shattering bone as it slammed into her forehead. Once again she exploded into shadowy threads, and into even more as Ren shot behind her and ripped her horn down her back.
This time, and Floyd was absolutely sure of it, she didn't reform as quickly as before.
"Maybe not immediately!" Ren taunted. "But you made one giant-ass mistake, bitch!" She reared back and brought one front paw forward to crunch into Olivier's reforming chest in a Brutal Swing, sending her flying back on the street and crunching through asphalt. Incoming traffic veered off the road at the battle, and slowly the main road began to empty of civilians.
Olivier coughed as her head reformed, then let out a reedy laugh as she swayed on her feet. "And what mistake would that be, little Absol?"
"Where we're from, life throws a whole lot more at us than some floozy drunk on power she doesn't understand!" Ren shouted. "We've fought regenerators more powerful than you, and the only way to defeat them is the simplest method of them all!"
That touched a nerve of sorts in some way for Olivier, because her voice cracked in a scream of rage as the sky darkened. The sun seemed to flicker in the sky as Olivier summoned a vortex of shadow around her and beckoned. A storm of shadow blades cracked the ground and slithered towards them in jagged patterns. Once again, Floyd called that circle of light around his feet, but he wasn't powerful enough to stop all of the blades. Some slid right by them, others cut through his armor and struck his flesh underneath, biting him with pain and a chill that tried to spread but was repulsed by his innate power. Ren took a couple of wounds too, blood sparkling in her lush white fur, but it only seemed to make her angrier. Throwing his hands back with a guttural roar, the shadows dissolved as Ren shot forward again with an animalistic scream that caused even Floyd to become a little fearful. Combined with the Aura blazing from the fur on her back, Olivier turned into a bolt of black light and ran for it, fleeing in the face of Ren's seemingly increasing power. But Ren had apparently prepared for that, and Floyd watched her use Pursuit, the attack magnified by her Mega Evolution. Ren turned into a trail of negative energy, pursuing the tyrant up and down buildings and even managing to follow her into midair. Floyd leapt up and flew after them, throwing a powerful punch that landed and turned Olivier's head into writhing shadow. It was more frantic, scattered, like a wind was blowing through it and steadily making it harder and harder to reform.
"The truth is," Ren began, taking another swipe with her claws, "is that all of you regenerators are all the same! Now you tell us!" Olivier's headless body swung at Ren, but she managed to strike first, a Sucker Punch sending Olivier reeling into the center of the road. "How many times will we have to kill you before you stay dead!?" The battle was getting to her, boiling her blood, and Floyd couldn't help but share her passion.
He'd been in many, many fights, and this one was nearing its end.
Olivier managed to stand, her head finally reforming. The pressure had lessened so much that the earth was no longer shaking with the Ghost Plate's power, and an expression of terror had replaced the smug insanity that had once filled Olivier's pallid face.
"Fire! Open fire!"
Floyd touched down with Ren as the guardsmen of Snowpoint drew their weapons and fired at their leader. He covered Ren with his cloak, bullets losing their momentum against the wraithcloth as some missed. The ones that hit killed Olivier over and over again, ripping her body to shadowy threads again and again.
Some of the threads never managed to reconnect with the main body, falling to the ground to completely dissipate.
Olivier roared, more than a note of fear in her voice as she raked her claws through the air. The air vibrated and a wall of shadow rushed towards the brave men, none of whom had a scrap of magic to spare. But brave Onyx leapt in front of them all, crying out for everything she was worth and throwing back the shadows with her strongest Dark Pulse yet, keeping them from drinking away the lives of the men. Her attention pulled in too many places at once, he and Ren closed the gap and began to pummel without stopping. Olivier's claws blurred over Floyd's head, and his fist connected with her chin in a titanic uppercut, sending her flying away into the air. The guardsmen, all with Growlithe or Arcanine, opened fire again while their Pokemon let loose blasts of flame at her falling body, enveloping it in a fiery explosion.
The pressure thrummed in Floyd's head, and he saw the pillar of shadow around Central Tower shrink and reveal the sides of the building, untouched by the vortex of energy.
Olivier emerged from the plume of smoke, obviously in pain as she fell, unable to fly any more. Her powers waning, Floyd watched her make a clawing gesture as she crashed to the ground.
###
Nerevor fought with much rage in his heart as the Elites made another push forward. The melee wings had dropped back, too many wounded and too many dying or dead for Nerevor's liking. He instead threw firestorms and blizzards, hails of Aura Spheres and crushing Psychic force over and over again. He wouldn't stop until every single undead was destroyed.
And suddenly, every single one collapsed where they stood. Some fell on their lightsabers, some fell backwards, but every single one fell over as though something had severed their magic.
The entirety of the Sanctuary fighting force looked stunned and confused as the battle came to an abrupt end. Nerevor saw the entire army use their magical senses and watch the torrent of stolen life shoot towards Central.
"They're doing it," Vanessa said in awe. "Olivier's in a corner!"
"Go!" Nerevor bellowed. "Go! Defeat her!"
###
"Here we go!" Zero shouted, jumping up and down on the sidewalk. "I don't do magic but I can sure as hell feel that! Kick her ass! Floyd! Ren!"
The Gym Trainers, the pedestrians, anyone around him took up the call, raising their hands to the sky, to Central, where the amassed shadows began to shrink for good.
"This is it!" Griffin roared behind him. "Make her pay for what she's done! Let that monster have it!"
###
Mesprit allowed Tabby to watch the chaotic battle from the strange void she was in. She had no idea if what she was seeing was happening in real-time or if it had happened a hundred, maybe a thousand, maybe a million years ago. But seeing Floyd and Ren fight for everything they were worth, hearing all 1,081,752 souls in Snowpoint City cry out for justice, Tabby just couldn't help but cheer with them.
"GO ON, YOU TWO!" Tabby shouted at the battle, not caring if Arceus himself was watching her. "NOW'S THE TIME TO PUT OLIVIER DOWN!"
###
Floyd watched the tendrils of shadow reconnect with Olivier's body as she crashed to the ground. That had to be the last of the dead, and knowing her, it was the last of her undead army too.
But the pressure had failed to even double to what it was now; pathetic, fleeting…
Weak.
He heard an entire city screaming in his ears as he rushed forward with his partner, engaging in one last brawl with the tyrant of Snowpoint City. She attacked their shadows once again, and he felt the blows drill into his flesh.
He pushed forward. Pain was an old friend to both himself and Ren, and it was touching his mind, not his body. The light around his body was far from weak like the Ghost Plate's flickering power, and Olivier managed to dance around a few of his blows before catching an elbow to the face. Her head exploded and reformed within seconds, her eyes still wide with terror as she retreated even further. The blades of shadow she'd conjured earlier leapt up from her feet and stabbed dozens of times a second, Floyd barely keeping ahead of the blows. She struck with claws of shadow, even breathed it as she tried every single trick in the book to bring him down.
But her form was sloppy with fear and exhaustion, revealing the truth that Olivier was most definitely not a warrior. She was one single human clinging to a scrap of power, and that power was about ready to give out on her. A sloppy claw missed his body by miles and Floyd vaulted over her body as Ren circled around and delivered a brutal Sucker Punch to her jaw. Their battle had taken them directly in front of Central Tower, and the attack sent Olivier flying into the air, her body crashing in the concrete courtyard before the tower's entrance.
"Ren!" Floyd boomed. The Absol landed right next to him and combined her power with his own, horn and cupped hands flashing with every scrap of energy they could manifest. They moved as one, voices raised in a shout that hummed with power as Floyd unleashed his strongest Solar Flare yet. The beam was large enough to carry up to the tower's third floor, and completely whited out all of their surroundings.
The shadowy pillar that was Central Tower winked out entirely as Olivier was enveloped by their final attack.
###
Olivier had believed that surrendering control to the void would allow her to escape from the worst of her situation. She had trusted the Ghost Plate with her fate, and it had whispered that she'd made the right choice.
That, she realized, had been the Ghost Plate's final lie.
She heard Floyd and Ren screaming together as the beam of energy drilled into her body, stripping away layer after layer, life after life that she had stolen. She resisted for as long as she could, pushed with every muscle in her body, but it was no use.
She felt her hold on the Ghost Plate shatter as it fled her body, all of her strength going with.
Olivier began screaming with them as the entire city demanded her defeat.
She began screaming and never, ever stopped.
###
The explosion rocked Central, and was so strong that every quarter in Snowpoint felt it. The forests to the south and the mountains to the north were shaken by the blast, all of the Pokemon within them seeking shelter or higher ground to watch the dazzling array of lights in the center of the human city light up the world for a few moments.
Far, far away, he awoke once again, more alarmed this time.
They were the same, somehow. Had he stolen the power? No, that was impossible. Not even a rogue would be able to muster up that much divine power.
They were the same.
Rarely had he felt any emotion in the past.
But now he felt…anticipation.
He drifted back into a deep slumber, dreaming of his mysterious stranger.
###
Floyd gazed upon the rubble of the Central Tower courtyard, unfazed by the destruction of Olivier's legacy. An odd stillness had overtaken Snowpoint City, one of astonishment, of muted terror, of relief.
Of change.
The dust cleared just enough for Floyd to see Olivier's body. Her face was frozen in horror just like all of the victims she'd forced into the suits of armor to make her army of "Cleansers". Her flesh was forever marred by the Ghost Plate inhabiting her body and devouring it when she had lost control, her void-like eyes staring at nothing.
"Good luck," Floyd muttered, "you damned fool."
The tyrant's body seemed to petrify, then crumbled into dust.
"Boss," Ren said, urgency over taking the weariness in her voice. "Tabby."
He didn't spare Olivier's remains a second glance as he and Ren sprinted away towards where the firestorm had come from, Onyx pursuing them above the rooftops. If he tried to fly, he'd either pass out or make it a few feet before slamming into something. He was extremely light-headed, and the sun on his chest refused to stop shining, as though ready to explode.
He'd used all the power he could today, and maybe for a little while, but he'd use more if he had a chance to save Tabby's life.
###
Ren steeled herself as they came to what was presumably the site of Tabby's fight. Immediately, she realized that she had to have been fighting Corinth. There was no reason that she would have used so much fire, and Ren hadn't seen the anemic little worm since a press conference on television.
And if Corinth had been strong enough to redirect one of Floyd's attacks, even if it had cost him grievous wounds…Tabby might not have been up to the task without paying a tremendous price.
But even as they arrived on the scene, even as Ren told herself that she might not like what she saw, she still wasn't ready to see Blitz cradling Tabby's lifeless body in his arms, tears running down his bloody muzzle as he gazed up at the three of them helplessly.
As a contrast to Olivier, Tabby looked so peaceful in death. Resigned. Like she'd known what she was doing right up to the end. It hadn't been an enemy spell that had killed her; she wasn't frostbitten or frozen in anyway. She was sooty and dry, the sweat that she'd broken out leaving her hair stuck to her forehead.
Her own strain had killed her.
A lump formed in Ren's throat. She didn't even really like most humans. She had her family back home, she had Floyd.
She had never thought she'd be sad for anyone else.
Floyd fell to his knees next to her, completely silent as his body shook.
Ren could lift cars in her Mega-Evolved form, could outrun energy blasts and fight god-powered tyrants to a standstill.
But here, with something as simple as saving someone who'd given so much for their city, she could do nothing.
Her eyes burned with tears as she lowered her head in a moment of grief and silence for the fallen hero.
###
Tabby watched her friends weep over her lifeless body. She wanted to call out to them, tell them that she could see them, but it was useless. They wouldn't hear her.
She was sad…but not as sad as she ought to be.
Death hadn't hurt…she'd gone quickly, and hadn't even felt when she'd left her body. And her friends…more had probably perished than she would have liked, but watching the city cheer Floyd on, she'd seen the ones she'd loved the most. They were alive, and had made it through the fighting.
That would have to be enough.
Tabby sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Okay." She took a deep breath and faced Mesprit. "Okay."
"Interesting," Mesprit said. "Why do you cry?"
"Because my family is okay," Tabby said. "Because Floyd and Ren can find their way home now. Because…because everything we worked for wasn't in vain."
"But not for your own death?"
Tabby laughed. "Being sad about me dying won't bring me back. I'm not okay with it, but…but as long as they're still alive, it's a price I'm willing to pay. I'm sick of watching people around me be killed, and if the people I love never have to go through something like this again until they all die peacefully in old age, then I'll die a hundred times over."
"But why?" Mesprit asked, and Tabby was reminded of a small child confused about the world. "You humans live…100 years? 150? Less than that for the ones that are not magically inclined. How can such a short time amount to anything worth caring so much about that you would sacrifice your lives for?"
"Because we love each other," Tabby said immediately. It was so simple; how could Mesprit not see it. "If you're asking why we love each other, I'm not sure. Humans are stubborn. Look at Snowpoint, at my friends. We could've given up so long ago, allowed Olivier to control us and manipulate us until we ended up worse off than we are now. But we didn't. We pushed on, survived. Being stubborn is one of the greatest traits we have…besides love."
And that was true, wasn't it? She'd used Blast Burn knowing that she would die, that her heart would give out from the strain. But knowing that Corinth wouldn't hurt Blitz, wouldn't go after Floyd or Ren or Nerevor…that had made it okay.
"So you would identify your species as…stubborn and loving?" Mesprit asked. "That is how you would describe yourselves?"
"Maybe not all of us," Tabby said with a shrug. "But I know for a fact it describes me."
Mesprit was silent for a very long time, its tails twitching and waving as it thought on Tabby's words. She turned her attention back to the veil she could see her friends through, and a pang hit her heart as she saw Blitz place his forehead atop hers.
"I have been alive for countless eons," Mesprit finally said. "Stretches of time so vast, even speculating on it would shatter your mortal brain. I was there when the first Mew evolved into the subset of regular Pokemon, and I was present when your species split from those Pokemon. In all my countless years, and all the years to come I would imagine, I don't believe I will ever fully understand you humans." Mesprit smiled, its half-lidded eyes sparkling. "That is what makes you so interesting. I must…understand."
Mesprit gestured behind its body, and a square of purple light flared to life behind it. In the bottom left corner was a pinpoint of light, standing out to Tabby's eyes and ingraining itself in her brain.
"You do not know what this is now," Mesprit said, "but you will…when the time is right. But first, you must survive. Your fight is not yet over."
Tabby's eyes widened. "Wait…do you mean…?"
Mesprit's smile widened, and Tabby began to feel a wind on her face. "Your father."
Tabby blinked. "My…what about him?"
"I can give you the answers you do not know that you seek," Mesprit said. "Find me, and I will tell you the truth about your father's fate. But consider this a gift…and a test. Farewell, Tabitha of the humans. Know that you truly are…"
Mesprit disappeared from her vision, and Tabby was blinded.
"…a Being of Emotion."