He had been having a very nice dream. He had been king, Dad had been alive, smiling at him, he got to see Selene daily without having to worry about anyone catching them, he talked to Eve regularly, he got to play loads of games, etc.
And then the storm hit, threw him back to the unpleasant reality. The crate flew across the cargo hold and cracked sharply against the wall, lasting only a few seconds before shattering into tiny little fragments.
"I… buh… wuh?" Helios groaned, tons of tiny splinters lodged inside his scales and under his claws. He would have stood up if the ship didn't twist the other way and throw him to the other end of the hold.
Helios screamed as he flew through the air. Once again, he impacted the wall, leaving him dazed and slightly stunned.
"Whu… whus happenenn…" he groaned, before spitting some blood out of his mouth; he had bitten his tongue. "Sl...slate?" There, he could talk again.
Helios didn't get to hear Slate's answer, as again the ship flipped. Helios fell to the other side of the wall - this time a bit more prepared, he grabbed the side of one of the lighter, unbroken crates to steady himself.
The ship started turning again, so Helios had to jump to a nearby crate to get a new hold. "Slate, what's happening?!"
Now Helios took a look around the cargo hold. Slate had gotten up immediately and had already adapted to the situation, jumping from crate to crate like he was doing. "Helios! Keep yourself steady!"
"I'm trying!" Helios nearly slipped off of the crate. "Slate, what's happening?!"
"It's a storm, but they aren't supposed to be this…" Slate trailed off. "Damn it, it's Kyogre's Nightmare!"
"What?!"
Slate jumped to another crate. "An insanely powerful storm! It comes every time Kyogre has a nightmare in his sleep!"
"That's great - what are we supposed to do?!"
"Brace yourself!"
"With what?!"
"ANYTHING!"
Helios cursed under his breath, before jumping to another crate. "Is there any safer place on this ship?!"
"Not really!"
Damn it! Helios was still a little groggy from waking up, though he was at least able to dodge some falling Iapapa Berries. "How long will this last?!"
Slate grabbed the side of the hull. "I don't know, but we'll have to weather it! Come here so I can hold on to you!"
Helios was about to jump to a crate closer to Slate before a terrible thought struck him. "Slate, the others! What about them?!"
"What about them?"
Helios glared at him before looking around for the door leading to the other hold.
"Helios, you better not be thinking about actually-"
He found the door. Making the leaps necessary, he made his way to the door. Behind him, he could hear Slate growl before letting go of the hull and following him.
Of course, the ship had to turn one more time, forcing Helios to jump to another crate and slow down long enough for the ship to flip again. That allowed Slate enough time to catch up to Helios and grab him.
"Helios, we have to stay safe! There's no point in risking our lives just to find them!"
"I have to know if they're okay! Selene isn't as tough as us!" Helios raged, before pushing Slate off of him. The fact that he was able to do so must have surprised Slate since it gave Helios a head start to make his way to the door. It didn't take too much time for Slate to regain his bearings and attempt to catch Helios again, but by that point, it was too late.
Helios leaped from the last crate and latched on to the wooden hull near the door. His claws were definitely not made for this sort of thing, and he nearly cried from shards of wood being driven up inside three of his claws. Still, he persevered, before wrenching the door open and throwing himself into the other hold.
There, he saw Eve, awake, confused, and barely clinging on to a particularly small box. There, he saw Selene, wings crumpled and throwing up the little food she must have eaten on the hold.
And there, he saw Kite, jumping between crates and staring at Selene and Eve with utter disbelief.
Helios jumped down from the door, which let Slate in as well. "Helios, I swear, you need to… to…" Slate didn't even bother finishing his chastisement, because he too saw Kite.
Kite, having heard Slate's voice, turned around to face them, his face twisting. "You two as well?" Kite twisted around. "Kapun, why are they on your ship?!"
Helios blinked as he realized that two Pokemon were next to Kite. One was a puny Zorua, around half the size a Zorua should be. The other was Kapun, looking like he was going to have a heart attack.
"Kite, I can," Kapun began meekly, looking down shamefully. "I can explain."
"Why are they on this ship?!"
Kapun would have answered, but the ship decided it was just the right time for another flipping. Helios and Slate instantly had to find a good crate to jump to and quickly did so. Kite, the Zorua, and Kapun did so as well, though they jumped to different crates. Eve simply clung on to dear life to the single crate that was for some reason not getting thrown around, while Selene just flew to the other end of the ship.
At that second, Helios's determination solidified. Whatever nefarious reason Kite was here for, Helios wouldn't stand for it. Not if it delayed him from saving Selene, and not if it put any of them in danger. They could take care of Kite at any time, by putting him into Reporting Mode. Selene, though, had to be helped now.
"Slate, go take care of Eve! I'll go get Selene!"
Helios tried to jump to a crate in Selene's direction, only for Slate to immediately grab him and pull him back to the crate they were standing on. "Helios, back to the hold!" he ordered.
Helios stared at Slate, mouth agape. "That's… no!" Slate pushed Helios through the door, forced it shut, and locked it. "Slate, let me in! Let me in!" There was no response - whatever was happening, Slate was keeping him out of it.
He had to break through, no matter what. Helios scratched and scrabbled at the door, trying to force it open, yet nothing was working in any sense whatsoever. Punching, kicking, nothing. There weren't any doors heading out of the hold, either, since the only door leading to the rest of the ship was in the hold everyone else was in.
If there was nothing else he could do, then he had only one option. Flames burned in his mouth, before spewing towards the wooden door. However, a second after the door caught alight with flames, Helios realized how utterly stupid that decision was.
"No, no, no!" It was all for naught - the fire was now spreading. Helios tried looking around for something, anything, to put out the fire, but any sand or water the ship had for firefighting had already spilled. "Damn it!"
This was bad, this was bad. Not only was the door burning to cinders, but now the walls around it were as well. Now there was nothing he could do to stop it. Cursing, Helios jumped through the flaming remnants of the door once more.
There, he witnessed hellfire. Mixed with his flames were draconic embers - instead of saving Selene or Eve, Slate must have escalated the fight against Kite. Right now, Slate was toe-to-toe with both Kite and the Zorua.
It took a second or two for him to realize that Slate wasn't losing. He wasn't doing well, no one really could in the environment, but with the flipping ship and the conflagrations, the environment was terrible for everyone, and no one was doing well.
And… Kite wasn't attacking. The Pokemon launching all the attacks at Slate was the Zorua, who was sending Snarls his way and scratching Slate to the best of their ability. Kite was just running away, and even that looked hard since…
Helios's blood went cold. Kite's paws were amputated - he had no front claws, and it looked like he was having trouble just remaining situated on the battlefield. Slate was sending attacks both his way and the Zorua's, and all Kite was doing was dodging.
This was his chance, Helios had to-
A painful shriek cut through the battlefield. Helios whipped around and saw Eve clambering to her paws, barely managing to get ahold of herself on the battlefield. Selene, though, was still being flung around.
Then Helios noticed that in one of the flips of the ship, Selene had twisted her foot. She could barely move, ill as she was. Every time the ship flipped, she would lose what little footing she had and smash into the other end of the ship.
Slate could handle Kite for now. Helios jumped from crate to crate, heading to where Selene would fall, since he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to get there in time before the flip. Luckily, he'd guessed accurately, and as the ship flipped one more time, Helios barely managed to grab her before she went SPLAT on the hull again.
That did leave Helios with a face full of Selene's bile, but at least she was conscious enough to throw up. "Selene, are you okay?!"
Selene coughed. "I… I could be doing better," she admitted. As the ship flipped again, Helios jumped with Selene and grabbed the hull. "T-Thanks."
"Just stay here," Helios ordered. "You're in no condition to fight right now, and I don't want to worry about you."
Selene frowned. "Well, I'll stay safe for you, I guess." Had Helios been a little savvier and a little less frenetic then, he would have detected the sarcasm. As it was…
"Great!" Helios smiled, before turning to the battle. Eve was still situating herself, while Slate was slowly starting to flag. That Zorua, whoever they were, were good at fighting. They wrapped themselves in illusions at every opportunity, and whenever Slate tried to guess where they were, the Zorua would turn out to be somewhere else, ready with another Snarl to weaken Slate's draconic breath or a Scratch to hurt Slate more.
Kite, meanwhile, was just sitting still and looking at his amputated hands. Maybe he was tired? If Helios could knock him out and go help Slate, they could take care of everything!
Then Kite's front paws glowed with a brilliant flash of light, making everyone shield their eyes. When his vision managed to recover, Helios looked at Kite again - and a shiver went down his spine.
Kite's paws and claws had returned - not as they originally were, not flesh, fur, and blood, but metallic and clunky. The clunkiness didn't matter, though, when Kite charged at Slate, jamming his new paws in Slate's giant mouth and electrocuting his saliva, burning Slate's tongue and making his best friend… scream.
Helios saw red. Without even thinking, he charged at the burning, bloody battlefield intending to destroy the unholy monster that had caused everyone so much grief. But in the middle of his charge, Helios fell to the ground - someone had grabbed his tail. A second later, after Helios came to a stop, they let go of his tail. Helios slowly picked himself up and turned to look at who got in his way.
"Helios, don't." Kapun requested. "You're making a mistake."
"Mistake?" What was Kapun talking about? "I know Kite's dangerous, but Slate's in trouble! I have to help him!" Eve had finally gotten to her feet and was helping Slate in his battle, shooting Swift stars at Kite and the Zorua - stars that they couldn't dodge with or without illusions. The two of them were gaining ground again, but Helios was still worried that Kite and his new Zorua friend could undo that if they pulled themselves together.
"That's not what I meant. You… you shouldn't fight Kite."
"Like I said, they need my help." Helios tried to turn around to go to his friends, but Kapun grabbed him and threw him back.
"Like I said, you shouldn't fight Kite." Kapun's voice was less apologetic and more annoyed now. "None of you should be fighting right now."
Helios must have been dazed because he had to be hearing things incorrectly. "Kapun, he's trying to kill us! He's a monster - now come help me take him and his friend down."
"Like I said, don't fight him! This isn't a battle you should be having, and he and Rowan are just-"
"Rowan?"
Helios's interruption caught Kapun off-guard. "I…"
Several things that Helios had previously worried and wondered about suddenly clicked into place. "That's why you didn't want us to help you with your plan? Because you were working with these two?"
Kapun frowned. "They have names, you know."
Helios balled his claws into his fists. "How long, Kapun? How long have you been betraying us?"
"... you know what? Fuck this." Kapun's stance slid into one ready for battle. "I've had enough of you, of you and your friends. Kite and Rowan - they've helped me miles, leagues more than you ever have."
Oh, this again. "You're helping Kite and Rowan because we're parasites? Are you doing it to spite us?" Helios didn't know if what he was feeling now was hate or pity for just how dumb Kapun was.
"For you?" Kapun's hollow laughter, though, was putting him on a sharper edge. "Oh, fuck off. All you did was make the past week more stressful. I don't hate you, not anymore, but you're less than useless to me right now."
Useless.
Useless.
Helios didn't know what about that managed to set him off, but he found himself snarling and charging at Kapun with a mouthful of fire and raised claws. Kapun dodged his swipes, though, and kept speaking between counterattacks. "All you did was assuage a few of my worries. Everything else - enacting the plan, killing Kenki, giving me hope? That was from those two."
Kapun charged into Helios, sending him flying into a wall. Helios barely managed to pull himself out of the way of another Dragon Breath. "You're an idiot, Kapun. You know nothing about his true nature, about what he really is."
"That he's a Collared?"
Helios froze.
"Yeah, that one thing you did for me was give me the information I needed to know that Kite wasn't going to betray me. Reporting Mode is really useful for that sort of thing, after all." Kapun's glare intensified. "You can be proud of that, and that alone. Then again, it wasn't on purpose, and you were keeping it from me… never mind. I guess you are a parasitic failure, then."
Helios couldn't move. Kapun's words cut through him just as Uncle Theus's words had. He barely even noticed the second time Kapun tackled him, as lost as he was.
"Everything you've done on purpose was to exploit me and my father. Take our food and drink, sleep in my room, abuse our kindness and use us for your pointless revenge." The ship flipped again, and when Helios regained his bearings, Kapun was right in front of him. "And now? Your friend is putting people I actually give a damn about in danger. So, no, I don't think you should fight Kite or Rowan. But, ah, right, you're royalty. I guess opinions from fucking peasants like me don't really matter."
Kapun grabbed Helios's tail with his jaw and threw him across the hold. Helios tumbled to the ground, barely able to move or even think.
"I don't give a shit that Kite's a Collared. I already used Reporting Mode to uncover the truth about him, and he's barely tried to keep the truth from me. I know he's murdered, and I know the dangers with siding with him. But as far as I'm concerned? He's been kinder and more helpful to me than you will ever be."
Everything was wrong, everything was wrong. "He - he's trying to hurt Slate!"
"Even if I gave a shit, Slate attacked first. Oh, unless you think Kite would start a fight without his paws?" Kapun waited for an answer. "Thought so. You all brought this on yourselves, and you guys sure as hell will be paying the price for it."
"He's a monster!" Strangely, Helios felt he was grasping at straws, even though he was right. "Everything he's done has ruined everyone's lives!"
Kapun leaned his head back before throwing it forward, launching a Dragon Breath and forcing him to dodge. As he licked his chops of draconic energy, Kapun continued speaking. "So I'm not a member of 'everyone'? He's helped me, you rotten Prince. Get that through your thick skull. I'm not fighting you because I'm an idiot, I'm fighting you because he's my friend, and a better one than you'll ever be."
Something in him broke.
Helios inhaled, before grabbing a wooden plank that was near him and lighting it up with a Dragon Breath of his own. Kapun wasn't going to listen, no matter how much sense Helios made. "You brought this on yourself, Kapun."
Kapun's eyes widened, but by that point, it was already too late for him. Before Kapun could run, fight, or do anything else, Helios struck.
Culus hissed, dodging another of Slate's swipes and intercepting another of those Swift stars with a crate. This battle was going nowhere, and already the exhaustion of creating those metallic prosthetics was catching up to him.
Culus wasn't sure how all hell broke loose so quickly. A minute after Rowan and Kapun pulled him out of 'Reporting Mode', the ship started turning and flipping like a toddler's toy. Culus barely managed to stop himself from repeatedly smashing against the side of the hull over and over, having to grab onto some of the stronger crates with his teeth.
The next thing he knew, Selene was running away from them, while that Eevee girl (Eve?) flopped around like a ragdoll. He was only barely pulling himself together when the Prince and his bodyguard opened the door from another hold.
It didn't take too long to figure out exactly who in the room was responsible for hiding their existence, especially considering how Kapun looked like everyone was pointing Kenki's scimitars at him. Culus tried to get something resembling an explanation out of him, but then the bodyguard threw Helios back into the hold and started throwing out Dragon Breaths at him, starting the battle.
Culus could barely keep up at first - Slate was surprisingly good. Not as good as Culus usually was, and definitely not as good as Kenki, but better than your average citizen by a long shot. Normally, even with the heavy type disadvantage, Culus would be able to make short work of the Gible.
Except that was when Culus wasn't a god damn amputee! Battling became hard when your reflexes dulled from exhaustion and weakness and became damn near impossible the instant he realized he had no actual way of fighting back.
Rowan was the saving grace in that fight, continuously drawing the Gible away from him and allowing him to catch his breath. As soon as the Gible's attention was occupied, he ran and scarfed down as many Oran and Sitrus berries as he could.
Then, when he had eaten enough and Slate finally managed to get through Rowan's illusionary defense, Culus had performed the only thing that he could. The creation, which would give him the edge he needed to fight.
The new metallic paws weren't perfect, weren't close to being perfect. He barely managed to figure out a way to make the claws retractable (electromagnetic motors were feasible movement options when you could make electricity at will) - having the precise maneuvering needed for battle was simply too difficult for him to create with what little time he had.
Even with the bone-breaking exhaustion the super-expensive creation needed, Culus managed to force himself to fight. He was even managing to make something resembling headway against Slate before she joined the fray.
Eve had perched herself on a crate, jumping between crates as the ship tossed in the waves and firing Swift stars where neither he nor Rowan could get to her. Since you couldn't dodge Swift stars, illusions didn't help, and because Culus had no real defensive options other than dodging and couldn't take any hits in his current state, intercepting them every time was a necessity.
And every time Culus so much as aimed at her, she would flee behind a stack of boxes and shield herself for at most a few seconds.
Culus rolled next to Rowan, a hazy plan concocting in his mind. "Stall Slate, I need to take care of her." Culus only gave Rowan enough time to nod before he dodged out of the way of one last swipe from Slate. An instant later, Rowan cloaked him in an invisibility illusion.
Like a flowchart, that prompted Eve to throw another Swift star at him, letting the star guide Slate's attack. Scrounging up what little energy he had left, Culus grabbed a piece of wood lying on a crate and threw himself into a Quick Attack, using the additional kinetic energy to slash through the star.
Eve shrieked, before throwing herself behind some crates as predicted. As the ship began to flip again, Culus followed her, holding on to the stick as he did so.
While he pursued the fleeing Eve, Culus felt his muscles burning. His vision began to waver, and he noticed that Eve was now using Quick Attack to boost her speed as well.
She had fucking adapted and using his dodging technique as well. The bitch.
His muscles began failing, and as the ship flipped once more, Culus tumbled to the ground, feeling like everything was on fire. The pain was causing him to nearly tear up, but entering Logic Mode would be among the worst things to happen, next to him entering Reporting Mode.
Even with his vision blurry and a horrible sense of vertigo twisting his senses, he could tell that Eve had stopped running away. The feeling soon grew into a sense of certainty as he saw Eve's shadow creep upon him.
"... I didn't expect to be the one to take you down." Neither did he. "But even now, a Collared like you is too dangerous."
Wait, she knew?
"Time to put you in Reporting Mode, then." The sense of panic that caused - not for the information leak, but the lack of control Culus had over his consciousness - made him use up anything he had left for one last attack.
Thundershock wasn't a strong move, not in the least. Even so, it managed to hit home, causing Eve to shriek in pain. Culus pumped as much electricity he could into the attack, but one final flip of the ship cut off the move and sent him flying across the ship.
As Culus impacted the wall, bile filled his mouth. This was a new limit, now. First, it was in the castle, then it was on the way to Pinnaleis, then it was against Kenki, both times, and now…
And now he had lost. There was nothing to it - the Thundershock simply hadn't been strong enough. Even with how tired she must have been - an untrained Eevee of her age simply couldn't lob around Swifts like they were nothing - Culus hadn't pushed far enough for that attack to finish her. He didn't even know how he was still conscious after all of that.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
Bile dribbled out of his mouth as he slowly raised his head and turned it toward the sound. Kapun was screaming, a long and burning slash down his side as Helios (when had he turned up again?) wielded a long stick burning with draconic energy. Said Prince was now looking down at the stick in horror as if only just realizing what he had done.
Culus wanted to go help Kapun, to drive the Prince away. He also wanted to beat Eve's face into a pulp, to not have his paws be inferior and mode of metal, and to be free. Instead, Culus remained collapsed on the ground as the ship began to flip once more.
"Helios, what have you dooooooaAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" Eve began shouting at the prince, before the ship's flipping caught up with her and sent her tumbling into Culus as they sailed across the hull and smashed into the other side of the wall.
"I hate you, I hate you all." Culus mumbled into her body as it squished him into the hull. "This is hell."
"Shut up," Eve replied venomously, getting off him as the ship returned to a semi-stable position (at least, for a few seconds). "None of us are going to let someone like you roam free. Once we find your master, we'll force you to submit yourself to the law."
Culus laughed hollowly. "If you find him, let me know. Good luck with that." Seeing Eve's teeth grind hatefully was something of a balm to him. "In the meantime, go fuck off."
Eve kicked him, but he couldn't feel it through everything else. She was about to go for a second before she froze. "... where's Selene?"
"Hell if I know."
Eve looked around as the ship started to flip again. "Selene? SELENE?!" Eve's look of panic grew. "SELENE, WHERE ARE-"
BOOM!
The door leading from the main entrance to the rest of the ship burst wide open, as a Dragonite barreled through it. "Are you four alright…" The Dragonite's face paled as the carnage the battlefield had become was presented on full display. Culus followed the Dragonite's line of vision to see what he was looking at.
All five other fighters had converged into one spot. Selene, who had disappeared at some point, was now lying in a heap on one of the crates, unconscious. Helios had frozen completely, a look of panic, shock, and terror on his face, while Slate was fighting to protect him from a vengeful Rowan. Kapun had collapsed and was bleeding heavily off in a corner as the battle continued.
"This is just hell," Culus mumbled.
That was enough to trigger the Dragonite into action. With a roar, he jumped into the fray, shocking Slate and Rowan into stopping for a second, long enough for the Dragonite to hit Slate with an Ice Punch to knock him out, and to hit Rowan with a powerful Mega Punch.
There was a split-second pause, then he rounded on Helios with an Aqua Tail. Once all the conscious people had been taken out, he flew toward Kapun and cradled him in his arms, dousing the fire nearby as he did so.
"Kapun, Kapun, Kapun…" he murmured, looking scared beyond all belief. The Dragonite (who Culus belatedly realized was Kapun's father) then frantically looked around the hold for something.
"Selene… Kapun…" Eve had forgotten his presence, it seemed, as she could only look on at the scene with complete shock. "What… happened?"
That was the last thing Culus heard before a piercing crack lit everything up, a bolt of lighting finally breaking the battered ship into pieces.
The next thing he knew, he was clinging on to a plank of wood as everything inside the ship fell into the storm. A giant circular wave had appeared, trapping the ship inside it. Every piece of debris, every sailor, every combatant, every god damn piece of fruit, even him - everything was spiraling out of control in the middle of the whirlpool.
Right now, Culus was grabbing onto the wood limply with his four limbs and tightly with his mouth. Breathing had become next to impossible, because of his head bobbing into the waves constantly. Slowly, he was dragged into the center of the vortex, like everything else.
Then, somehow, he appeared next to Selene, who had finally woken up from unconsciousness. The strange girl was staring at everything in fear, as she tried to swim in vain against the ridiculously fast current.
For some reason he didn't know, he growled as loudly as he could and stretched one of his limbs out. Selene, having heard the growl, twisted around to look at him, before quickly grabbing his leg and using him to anchor herself to his piece of wood. He nearly screamed as, in her jostling, she nearly pushed him off his piece of wood.
"WHY?" she screamed - to the air, to him, to her fate, he didn't know.
Why, indeed. There was no reason for all of this, for any of this. The second the storm had started, things simply grew progressively worse and worse. Kapun had been sliced, he didn't know whether Rowan was still alive, his mode of transportation to Illusuria had been destroyed, and he was now likely to die alongside someone who wanted him to suffer a fate worse than death.
It had to stop. Everything… everything… it all had to stop. He couldn't handle it like this now. No more conflict, no more stress, nothing.
Please.
And then he stopped twisting. Culus blearily managed to open his eyes.
The vortex was still spinning wildly. Debris and fruit and corpses of sailors still spun around in nature's cruel grasp. Wherever Culus looked, there was still chaos.
But around him, in a small meter-long radius, there was an isle of artificial calm. No waves, very little motion, just the gentle bobbing of waves. Culus would call it a miracle from a legendary, except he knew it was him - this feeling of forced calm, of chained energy, came from the same source as his creation.
A power that came purely from within, born from his plea for peace.
"S… stop it." Selene's warble brought his attention to his back. She was… different. She had pressed against him, almost painfully so, and her muscles looked to be spasming. "You're hurting m...me. It's… it's getting worse. Please… d-death is worse than this."
Oh, fuck you.
Culus didn't give a damn what she wanted. Right now, he was the only reason she hadn't drowned. He gave up a portion of his wooden lifeline for her, and she was bossing him around in return. And the thing she was asking? For him to deactivate this helpful new ability, one which allowed him to keep himself safe in this natural disaster.
"P… please!" She begged, crying. "I… it's destroying me."
And so, Culus let go. Not because of Selene, mind you, but because he had to. The utter annoyance he held toward her disrupted his control of the power and disrupted the forced calm. Even though Culus tried to regain a hold of it, he couldn't, not now that everything had fallen into chaos again and he couldn't clear his mind.
Though Selene burbled a sigh of relief next to him (had the power really been worse than death?), his panic grew as they spun faster and faster in the vortex. Their last saving grace, gone.
And now the aftereffects of the new power came. He felt dizzy, more than what the vortex was causing. The power was now twisting, pressing, pushing his insides. His vision slowly started to grow blurry, spotty… dark…
"You're lucky I owe Kair a favor."
A deep, grating voice cut through the stupor. He felt two massive metallic arms grab him and Selene.
"Now make this easy on me and go to sleep."
A dim yellow light appeared above him. Culus's eyes, taking in the light, slowly started to nod off.
Maybe… just maybe… he'd live.
"D...Dad?"
Kapun blearily opened his eyes. He was lying in a bed in some… house. Thick sheets of rain hammered against glass windows, and little droplets of water leaked inside from the ceiling - though a roaring fireplace kept away the chill.
And sleeping in a chair next to the fireplace, was someone Kapun wasn't expecting - Dad.
Upon Kapun's tentative question, Dad woke up, fluttering his eyes as he woke up. Dad's confused face quickly broke out into a smile, and he quickly scrambled out of his chair to scoop Kapun up into his arms.
"Kapun, are you feeling okay?" Dad asked joyfully. "Is there anything I can get you?"
"Anything you can - ow." Kapun had shifted around in his father's arms and accidentally made his giant new scar twinge. "An Oran Berry or two wouldn't hurt…"
Dad grimaced. "I had to use most of them to heal you and your… friends." Dad looked to the side. "You were terribly injured, and I had to call in a favor to rescue you all from the Nightmare. You'll have to grin and bear it until I get more supplies."
"Oh… great." This would definitely suck. "Dad, what was that storm? It came out of nowhere... made everything all topsy-turvy."
Dad looked out the window, staring through the sheets of glass. "Kyogre's Nightmare. A worldwide supernatural disaster, one that happens every century or so when Kyogre begins to dream again. Hurricanes and tropical storms bombard the coastlines, only stopped from going further inward by Lugia's protective whirlwinds. In the middle of the sea, there's no protection from tsunami traps and the whirlpools that come with them."
The sheets of rain poured harder. "How long does it last?"
"A month? Maybe two?" Kapun's face fell. "Just joking - at its longest, a day or two. Cresselia doesn't let it last for too long. Soon enough, the rains will calm down, and things will go back to normal - at least, for the high seas. For us, I fear that it won't be so simple."
Kapun winced. "Right. Dad, there's a lot that I have to explain."
Dad's face grew sharper. "Yes, there is. To begin everything, why are you here? As far as we were concerned, you were to stay back in Pinnaleis and take care of yourself for the duration of my trading venture."
"Yeah, well, that was what was supposed to happen," Kapun muttered. "It didn't really work out like that, though. I didn't really have any other choice but to stow aboard."
Dad narrowed his eyes. "Does this have to do with the criminal we have sleeping in the other room, Kapun?" Kapun quailed under his glare. "It was a mistake to ask you that first question - now, start from when you stopped telling me what was going on."
"... it was the day between Selene's arrival and Helios's," Kapun said after a few seconds of mentally tracing the story back. "Kite showed up in front of the gates, demanding to be let in. After a scuffle, they let him in - I don't know what happened after that since my boss was the one who brought him to Kenki." Kapun took a deep breath. "But the next day, he was working next to me, alongside a Zorua named Rowan."
Dad tapped his shoulders. "Are they threats, Kapun?"
"N-No - at least, I don't think they are. Not unless you're the one to provoke the fight." As far as he knew, Kite had never slashed first. It had always been in retaliation. "As long as you don't directly threaten the two of them and leave them be, they'll leave you alone."
Dad grimaced, holding his arms tight. "... I'll hold my judgment for now," Dad eventually said. "But be warned - if I judge Kite to be too threatening based on what you've said, I will take decisive action."
"Right…" Kapun had to watch his words carefully. "Well, they eventually told me to shove off, since I made it clear I didn't want to be there." Dad nodded approvingly. "When I did that, I came back home, and… you know what happened."
Dad nodded again. "And after you threw your tantrum-"
"It wasn't a tantrum, Dad!" Kapun complained. "They were all that I said they were, and more! I should have been louder!" Kapun's scar sang out in twinges of painful agreement.
Dad rolled his eyes. "And after you left?"
"I was so pissed that I went right back to work, so I could have someone to complain to." Kapun explained. "One thing led to another, and I told the two of them our whole story with Kenki."
Dad tensed. "The whole story?"
"Well, not everything - just what put us into the mess we were in." Dad relaxed. "Kite dragged the whole thing out of me - not with force, just with charisma!" From Dad's face, it looked like he thought Kite had tortured him. "Once I had told him everything, he came up with a plan to forge permission on Kenki's list for us."
Dad's eyes blazed. "And you followed through with it? Kapun, I kept on telling you that we'd manage, and you did something so risky!"
"With the new parasites, we were losing the rest of the food we had stockpiled! Time wouldn't wait forever, and I had to do the least risky thing out of all of us for the plan!"
Dad growled, before straining to calm himself down. "What has happened cannot be undone - but tell me this, Kapun. What was this plan you were confident in?"
"I wasn't confident in it, but…" Kapun bit his lip. "Kite can use stamina and energy to make objects out of thin air. He made bombs with it, and the plan was for Rowan and I to blow them up-"
Suddenly, Dad stood up. "I've heard enough."
"No, no, Dad!" Kapun tried to stand up as well, but his injury caused him to fall to the wall. Luckily, that was enough to draw Dad's attention back to him. "D-Dad, it's fine. He gave us more than enough time to prepare and perfect the plan. Our job went off perfectly!"
"But he put you in danger!" Dad repeated, eyes ablaze. "He showed no respect for your life by giving you something like that. I wouldn't give anyone that job, not even Kenki himself!"
"Dad, it's because he respected me that he gave me that job!" Kapun countered. "He wanted me to prove to myself that I could actually pull something like that off! It was something I needed to do."
Dad growled but stood back down. "This had better improve, or I'll make sure that he suffers the consequences of endangering you like that."
Kapun shivered. "Well… I was really scared by the idea of blowing things up, so Kite gave me the afternoon after Helios and Slate came to think over my choice." Dad nodded. "When I was thinking over it, I came by the warehouse and saw Helios and his friends… talking."
Dad tensed. "Talking about… what?"
"About things I didn't understand until later." Kapun took a deep breath - now to get started on the hard part. How was he going to explain the Collared to him? "You see, Kite has this… problem. It has to do with that weird collar he has around his neck, and-"
Dad's eyebrows rose. "You… you can't be speaking about…" Dad clenched his fists tightly. "Kapun, did you follow them."
"Y-yes?" How did Dad know? "I followed them into a warehouse, and-"
Dad growled. "And into the Illicity, right?"
"R-right."
"And so you know about the Collared, then?"
His eyes widened. "Y-yeah! How do you know?"
"They explained it to me, on their first day in Pinnaleis. You would have found out too, had you not left before they began explaining." Did they tell Dad too? "Then you too must know how truly dangerous Kite can be, Kapun!"
"Y-yeah!" Kapun agreed. "Which is why, the first chance I got, I used a special command on him to make him tell the truth." Dad's eyes widened. "I found out from what Selene and Slate told the others. I forced him to tell me what his plans with me and our plans in general actually were."
"And?" Dad asked, leaning forward.
"He wasn't planning to betray us - at least, not yet. He was going to go through with the plan, as he told us. But even with that, I was still scared."
Dad nodded. "As you should be."
"Still, on the day of the plan, I detonated the bombs as I was supposed to, and the plan went off without a hitch. The fact that we're here now is proof of that, right?"
"But then why are you here, Kapun?"
"Kenki… he found out. He found out and he attacked us as we were bringing Kite to stow aboard the ship." Kapun smiled, even as Dad looked incredibly alarmed at the fact. "Kite stayed behind and sacrificed himself for us, to give us enough time to escape. Though, I convinced Rowan to go back and fight to protect him."
"And… you succeeded?" Dad asked tentatively.
Kenki grinned. "We killed him, Dad. We killed him." As Dad froze in shock, he continued. "I bought a Devolve Orb, Gummi, and Energy Seed from the Illicity. I used the Devolve Orb on Kenki to devolve him into a Dewott, ate a Gummi to make myself think faster, and went head-to-head against a weaker Kenki."
"You fought Kenki?" Dad whispered, horrified. "One-on-one?"
"One-on-one." That would be one of the crowning achievements of his life. "Although, he knocked me out before I could do any real damage to him. I just gave Kite enough time to eat the Seed and make another bomb - though, before they could light it on fire, Kenki cut off Kite's paws."
"So, how did you…"
"Oh, according to Rowan, it was made with 'sodium' or whatever, which allowed it to burn in water." Dad's eyes widened. "It blew him into a steel container - then, Kite, a total boss, went up to Kenki, sank his fangs into him, and electrocuted him until he died."
"So you… killed Kenki?" Dad asked again, a strange look in his eyes. "Or rather, Kite killed Kenki?"
"According to Rowan, Kite said that he needed to 'finish the job'." A thought occurred to him. "Do you think killing Kenki was another order his master gave to him?" Maybe it was one of those orders given to him before his amnesia?
"Maybe," Dad hedged. "Either way, Kite is too far too dangerous to-"
"At least let me finish first," Kapun hastily interrupted, before Dad could get any momentum to 'take care' of Kite. "After that, he fell unconscious, and with only a little time to spare, Rowan and I snuck him aboard the ship. I don't think we're welcome in Pinnaleis anymore."
"That's what I was afraid of." Kapun sighed. "It looks like… everything is going to change, then."
"... yeah." No more Pinnaleis. Now he and Dad were stuck in a foreign land with a bunch of strangers willing to tear out each other's throats. "I'm… sorry, Dad."
"Sorry won't change the fact that you're complicit in murder, Kapun." Dad's words cut through him harsher than they ever had before. "There's simply nothing that you can say that will help us get out of this situation. We'll adapt, but I want you to know that what you've done is inexcusable."
"... right, Dad." Kapun bowed his head. "I should have come for you for a lot of this."
"Yes, you should have," Dad declared. "Especially when you boarded the ship. If so, we could have avoided your injury. I would have protected you."
Kapun felt tiny tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. Luckily, this hair covered them up, so Dad wouldn't be able to see. "R-right."
"And now, we get to it." Dad pierced him with another glare. "Explain what happened on the ship - everything."
Kapun grimaced. "I'll… I'll do my best," he agreed before starting. "We started nursing ourselves back to health - Kite had suffered the most, so that was what we took care of first and foremost. I had a giant headache from eating the Gummi, but it stopped eventually. We took turns looking for food and keeping lookouts, and Rowan and I grew a little closer. And then… Kite woke up."
"And what happened when he woke up?" Dad pressed.
"We talked a bit, Rowan forced Kite to explain his 'making' power, and…" Kapun hesitated. "I confronted him about being a Collared." Before Dad could do anything, Kapun rushed the last part through. "Then I got permission from him to use the tell-the-truth command!"
"You… did?" Dad asked, perplexed.
"Yeah - and through a lot of questioning, we figured some stuff out. He didn't really steal the Life Harp, a Zoroark was the one to do so." Dad's eyes widened. "He was given amnesia by some command we don't know anything about and was forced to lie about what really happened on the night of the theft."
"And the murder of the guard?"
Kapun winced. "Probably a command from his master. I don't see him killing so casually. Kenki was a one-time thing, I think."
"What else did you find out?"
"Well, a 'Logic Mode' and a Berserk mode exist, though we don't know the exact commands for them. Logic Mode comes when he cries and Berserk Mode comes when the collar gem breaks. Logic Mode is…"
Dad held up his hands. "I get it, I get it. Is there anything else important?"
Kapun shrugged. "Not really. He's trying to track down the Zoroark and take back the Life Harp - that's his goal. We just spent a lot of time trying to pull all the information out, since Reporting Mode is so confusing."
Dad crossed his arms. "So you learned everything - then what happened?"
"The Nightmare hit."
Dad winced. "Ah…"
"All the boxes that those four were staying in broke quickly, right in front of us. Kite was confused and wanted answers from me, but before I could tell him, Slate went and attacked Kite, forcing him and Rowan to fight back. Then Eve joined the fight, and Kite made metal prosthetics for himself to allow him to fight."
Kapun winced, feeling his side. "Then Helios went to try and help them hurt Kite, and at that point I had enough of those four. So I stopped Helios's attack and battled him myself. And I said some… not very nice things, and I guess that was enough for Helios to burn a stick with Dragon Breath and slice me."
Dad's eyes blazed. "So it was the Prince that did this?"
Kapun was more than ready to throw that asshole under the bus. "Yup. After that, I was out of the fight. I didn't really catch what happened after that, but I think Rowan tried to hurt Helios in revenge, and Slate tried to protect Helios in response. I don't know what happened to Selene or Eve or Kite, though. Then you came, and, well, you know the rest." Time for his question. "So… what happened after that? I was a little… weird, after that."
Dad settled down in his chair. "Alright. A lightning bolt broke the ship, forcing you all into the whirlpool. I managed to keep you out of it, but the other six were still in danger, so I called on a favor from an old friend to come rescue you all."
Kapun nodded. "And then?" Kapun was a little concerned with how Dad managed to call in a favor in the middle of Kyogre's Nightmare, but it wasn't really important.
"Then the two of us brought you seven to this little cottage near Logain." Dad gestured around wildly. "It belongs to him, and he let us use it for recovery. We'll have to leave soon, since we're only cashing in on a favor, but for now, we can recover with it."
Logain? "So, we're in Illusuria, then?"
"Absolutely. So remember to be careful. Regilia and Illusuria have a good relationship, and even though Regilia doesn't have punitive power over here, Illusuria is more than happy to cooperate. I heard that some of Regilia's prisoners come over here, even."
Kite was not going to be happy about that. "So… what do we do now?"
Dad sighed, before walking over to the fireplace and throwing some logs of wood into it. "Heal. Your friends need it, your enemies need it, everyone needs it. If I need to, I can force them to cooperate - I went up against Kenki, remember?" Kapun smiled - there was some fire left in Dad's bones.
"So, we just… wait?"
Dad slapped his belly. "We wait and eat some Apples. We still have plenty of those left, and I'm famished." Kapun snorted. "If you can check, see if any of the others are awake and invite them. I have some questions for them, after all."
Kapun managed to steady himself, and with a bit of patience and the use of willpower and strength, walked forward. "Sure, Dad. This won't stop me." He was going to milk this for all it was worth from Helios. A royal in his debt - how about that?!
Kapun wobbled to one of the doors. Pushing it open, he was greeted by the sight of Eve and Selene sleeping. For once, Selene looked happy - maybe she was having a pleasant dream? Kapun wasn't even going to try and wake them up, so he closed the door and headed to the next room.
Inside this room, Helios slept fitfully. Kapun relished in his pain, before turning to a giant hole in the upturned wood that led underground. Other than confirming the fact that they were on the ground floor of a building, it rose a question - why the hell was there a hole here?
"Hrmrmm…" Oh joy, he was waking up. "Whuhuh… whut happened?"
Helios opened his eyes and turned to face Kapun, upon which he froze. "I… um…"
"You will pay me back." Kapun stated.
Helios gulped. "I will pay you back," he repeated.
"You will not cross me until you do so." The repetition was slower and less willing this time. "Now, do you have any idea why there's a hole in the ground?"
"A… hole?" Helios repeated dumbly. Kapun gestured to the topic in question. "I… that looks like something Slate would make." Slate - the Gible. He would be here too, so…
A bad, bad feeling started crawling up his spine. He wobbled as quickly as he could to the final room, Helios following in confusion. And when he opened the final door, his suspicions were confirmed.
Rowan was sleeping like a log.
...
That was it.
"That's the guy that was following Kite!" Helios stated, narrowing his eyes. "We have to…"
"Helios, follow me." His voice carried the weight of command. "I have to check something with Dad."
"Kair's here too?"
"That's not important, follow me." Kapun wobbled back out of the room. "Dad?" he shouted. "Dad!"
Dad swooped in right in front of him. "Kapun, what's wrong?" His eyes sharpened. "Has Helios been making more problems for you?"
"Not important, Dad." Kapun said, over Helios's fearful stuttering. "Are there any other places to sleep other than where I was sleeping or these three rooms?"
Dad shook his head. "I've been sleeping on the armchair, so no. Is there a problem?"
And that clinched it. "Slate kidnapped Kite."
Zennitas juggled an Apple between his fingers while he stared at the dark skies above. He hadn't expected the Nightmare (no one had, really. It came as often as a worldwide plague), but it was a sight to behold nonetheless. Lightning flashing through clouds, though no rain came, and a silent wind blew through Felmagador Canyon.
Three weeks since the Twin Moon Ball. Three weeks since Phosophor told him to keep that time-bomb of an ancient relic and bring it here today.
Three boring weeks. After all, if he was taking this job, he couldn't take other jobs. Other than it being bad business to juggle multiple requests like a circus performer, if he failed at this job, he'd get Phosophor's wrath.
And no one wanted that.
No one.
He'd spoken to Kenki, several times, about Phosophor. Kenki never spoke ill of him, never criticizing any of Phosophor's decisions. Powerful charisma, a patient will. According to Kenki, Phosphor had a large temper, and as long as you didn't fuck up too badly, he'd look the other way and send Collared to go clean it up.
But if you ever interfered with Phosophor's goals, you'd lose everything. Your friends gone, your family Collared, your achievements soon forgotten by the world, and your dreams in smoke. Zennitas could run and hide with the best of them, but sooner or later, Phosophor would catch up.
And he could take everything from you, even in death. Kenki's thousand-yard stare was testament enough to that.
It was only a few seconds later, after thinking this thought, did Zennitas realize that Phosophor had appeared, facing him only a few feet away.
"Did you bring it?" Phosophor asked.
Zennitas pulled the Life Harp out of the bag. "Here it is, pristine as it was crafted." He tried handing it over, but Phosophor refused.
"Not yet - there is something I needed you to do first." Phosophor looked at him carefully. "Did you give it to anyone else during your job? Anyone at all? For even a second"
Zennitas scoffed. "Of course not. I'm a Zoroark of my word, and you asked me to hold on to it."
"Then you must hold onto it for a little while longer. It has been a full lunar cycle since the theft occurred, correct?"
"I… suppose?" An inkling of what Phosophor wanted from him shot through him. "Did you want me to hold onto the Life Harp for a ritual?"
"Naturally." Phosophor said with ease. "The Life Harp stores energy the longer it isn't played, and the effects are stronger with a person it had bonded with. The minimum amount of time required to make a bond is a lunar cycle, and since you are the last person to have touched it for that amount of time, you are one person it has bonded with."
"... right." Zennitas looked at the Harp questioningly. "So… will this ritual be dangerous to me?"
Phosophor snorted. "As the strummer, of course not. I will be the one shouldering the burden. All you need to do is play the correct melody." Out of literally nowhere, Phosophor pulled out a sheet of music paper. "Tempo and the length of the beats don't matter, only the order of the notes. That's how the Harp takes commands, after all."
"Okay, okay, hold it." Zennitas held out his hands. "Sorry for the interruption, but what the fuck are we doing here, in the middle of Felmagador Canyon? What sort of ritual are you trying to pull off?"
Phosophor stared at him until Zennitas felt uncomfortable. Eventually, he spoke. "Tell me, Zennitas. What do you know of Regigigas?"
…
"Regigigas? The continent mover?" Phosophor nodded. "He's… slow?"
"Did you know, Zennitas, that Regigigas has moss growing on him? Always, no matter the environment or time?"
This had to be a prank. "Get to the point, would you?"
"Regigigas's body is nutrient-rich and filled with life. And where there is room for life to grow, it does so."
"And?"
"The moss wasn't the only plant-life that grew on Regigigas. So too did a tree."
Zennitas connected the dots, before looking at the Harp in his hands. "And this is made from that tree?"
"Precisely."
"But… why?"
"Mew, I suspect. Regigigas was too powerful, too active, to let life grow in peace. All the other legendaries had taken up guardian roles or else fled from the biosphere, all but Regigigas. Mew struck down the tree, and robbed it of its energy source."
Zennitas blinked. "Is… is Regigigas actually a Grass-type?" Then he made a connection. "Wait, so is Regigigas like a Torterra?"
"Perhaps, before Mew struck down its Tree. And perhaps Mew modeled Torterra off of Regigigas. All of that is speculation." Phosophor explained. "Regardless, once Mew tore off the Tree and turned it into the Tree of Life, Regigigas was crippled. Yet still it was too powerful - its strength of its mere presence warped the world around it."
"... right…"
"So, before hiding the Tree of Life forever, Mew tore a bough off the Tree and handed it to Meloetta for fashioning. And when the Life Harp was complete, Meloetta approached Regigigas, here in this canyon, and performed the Song of Life. From it came the Regi trio."
"... why?"
"To limit Regigigas. Each member of the Regi trio stole a portion of Regigigas's soul to power their own, the Life Harp giving them the essence needed to exist in the first place. Without a soul, Regigigas was powerless. Only when the Regi trio reunite with Regigigas can he ever awaken."
Zennitas brandished the piece of paper. "And this music is the Song of Life?"
"Precisely. Play anything else, and you will simply charge anyone around you with life energy, empowering and healing them, and nothing else" Phosophor looked at the stormy sky. "There is excessive energy in the air… it is drawn to the Life Harp. I had not predicted the Nightmare, but I will take full advantage of it."
Phosophor stood in the center of the clearing. "Now, Zennitas. Play."
Zennitas looked over the Song a few times to memorize it, then, with a deep breath, began to play. Luckily, Zennitas had dabbled with instruments before (Hyder, the one bitch he had kids with, loved them as much as she loved gambling. Sucks for her that she lost both). With ease, his claws played the song.
There was a strange shift in the air as he played the song. It was almost as if the canyon walls had heard the song before, given the way the echo sounded almost happy despite his half-hearted strumming. Slowly, as Phosophor exclusively began to glow, Zennitas realized that what Phosophor told him was no myth.
And then… something went wrong. Despite his perfect playing, the canyon rejected the Song. Phosophor growled in pain and annoyance as the Song continued to its frustrating conclusion.
Now next to Phosophor was a small, immobile pile of rocks, in the shape of a Regi golem. Yet, any life that was in it quickly dispersed. As the Life Harp went dark, its energy drained, Phosophor looked at the pile of rocks.
Then, with a large metallic arm, tentacle, Zennitas didn't know which was worse, he crushed it into smithereens.
"Zennitas, leave." There was none of Phosophor's patience, none of his charisma. All had left in place of pure, unbridled anger. "You played your part to perfection, and I might have more tasks for you yet. Meet with Meteor tomorrow for you payment."
"... Phosophor?"
"My nephew nearly died this morning, because of the Nightmare. My son did die. I have been severely wounded in the process of trying to save a life, and I have learned that the last five years of my life have been an utter waste. Because, like everything else, the Song doesn't work on me."
Just before he left, Phosophor looked at him with lonely, empty eyes.
"I have shit to work through."
Finally arrived, haven't we? Pinnaleis was fun and all, but Illusuria is where it's at next. Hopefully, I'll be able to maintain my current momentum and keep writing well.
If you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to fav, follow, and review. They really mean a lot to me.
See you later!
