Blizz knew he had implicitly agreed to bring Absol back by agreeing to this entire plan, but seeing the dark type standing in the middle of the mountaintop was still a surreal experience. He was kinda hoping the circumstances would be slightly more calm and he could actually have a discussion. Instead, they were fighting two of the strongest Pokémon he knew, plus a legendary who looked like they could overpower Zar.
Now Absol and Zygarde were joining the battle, and neither Blizz, Fanita, or Zar knew where their allegiances lay.
"Okay, no more Resonance," Blizz said as he shot an Energy Ball at the conduit Fanita was holding up. "Zar can still be affected by it."
With the Mismagius still distracted by the explosion that brought Absol back, the shards of metal she was holding together crumpled to the ground. "...Fine."
The two peeked over their cover to watch how Lucario, Scizor, and Absol were getting on. The answer was not very well.
"How was I brought back!?" Absol shouted, clashing against Lucario's Bone Rush with a Night Slash.
"I have no fucking idea what's going on!" Lucario yelled back. Now that the conduit was destroyed again, his voice was slightly calmer than before.
"Why do you speak as if you know who we are?" Scizor asked, preparing to deliver a point blank Hyper Beam. In response, Absol disengaged from Lucario and jumped back.
"I should have known he would do something like this," Absol commented, before noticing the Grovyle and Mismagius looking at the fight from afar. "...I suppose I also should have known you would be involved."
Blizz just gave a brief wave, as Lucario rushed back into Absol with Extreme Speed. Now that he was no longer on the receiving end of the attacks, the fight was a lot more fun to watch, minus the occasional Earthquakes from Xerneas and Zygarde duking it out.
At some point Zar joined him and Fanita, taking the chance to heal up from her wounds with Recover. "So, you guys brought Absol back?" she asked once the healing light faded.
"Yep, now he's fighting all the others," Blizz explained.
"I would appreciate some help here!" Absol shouted below them, frantically dodging another barrage of attacks from his former teammates. "You know I'm the only one who can help you!"
"This is just your penance," Fanita taunted. "Perhaps once you've adequately apologized for your past, we can help."
Despite the mocking tone, Absol lowered his head. "...Very well, if that is what it takes. Please, cover your ears."
Fanita recognized what he was getting at immediately, phasing into the rock below them. It took Blizz and Zar a bit more time to understand, but after seeing the Misgmagius's reaction, they figured it out and plugged their ears.
The next thing they knew, Absol began humming a haunting tune to Lucario and Scizor. Both of them were too preoccupied fighting to realize that the Perish Song was in effect until it was too late— all three of them were on a timer now.
The explorers waited a minute longer, just to be sure that the Perish Song had ended, before letting themselves hear again.
"How interesting," Fanita mused, as she watched Absol slide past a Meteor Mash and X-Scissor with Detect. "He didn't protect himself at all."
"What do you mean?" Zar asked, more focused on Zygarde and Xerneas' duel.
"Perish Song will knock out any Pokémon who hears it, including the singer. I would always get around it by making sure I couldn't hear anything before using the move, though Absol didn't do that."
"...Huh," Blizz said, continuing to watch the duel. Although now that Absol knew it would end, he stopped bothering trying to attack the others, only focused on defending himself until the battle was over.
Meanwhile, the legendaries continued their duel. While Xerneas had the type advantage, it appeared that any tactic they tried was countered by Zygarde. Moonblasts would crash into stone walls before they could hit the serpent, Geomancy was almost always met by an immediate Land's Wrath. Despite the complete lack of expressions on both Zygarde and Xerneas, it felt as if they had fought each other before, and this was only one duel in a series of battles.
That didn't stop Zar from occasionally boosting Zygarde with a Helping Hand, though.
At last, Absol's luck ran out. While trying to stay away from Lucario's Bone Rush range, he failed to notice another Hyper Beam until it crashed into his side. The blast sent him tumbling across the snow, an action Blizz was very familiar with by this point.
As Absol managed to plant his feet down, he turned to face the three spectators to the battle. Despite Lucario rapidly closing in on him, he didn't appear worried, only concerned with addressing Blizz, Fanita, and Zar.
"Please, I ask that you forgive me."
Right before Lucario would crash into the dark type, they both went limp. The Perish Song had taken effect, immediately knocking out all three of them.
With their guardians unconscious, Xerneas and Zygarde reverted back into balls of light, returning to the unconscious Lucario and Absol. In the span of a few seconds, the battlefield was back to a completely serene mountain top, minus the spires of stone still settling into position and three unconscious Pokémon.
Blizz was the first to react, sliding down to Absol's side. He used an advanced technique to confirm that Absol was not just faking unconsciousness: delivering a kick straight to the Pokémon's gut. It might be a little cruel, but Absol arguably deserved it.
When the dark type didn't react, he set to work. The last time he had to actually tie up an outlaw was before his silver rank exam, back when they had to physically drag anyone they arrested back to Nova Town on foot. His skills were rusty, and the rope was pretty much rotting away in the bag, but the muscle was still there.
He tied Absol's limbs together, then lashed his legs and head to a sturdy looking stone spire. If Absol really wanted to break free he could summon Zygarde pretty easily, but this way they'd at least get one free hit on him– and one hit from Zar would probably be strong enough.
The guildmasters were a different story. Blizz only had one rope, and all he could spare from having to restrain Absol was a length just long enough to serve as handcuffs. They ended up tying down Scizor, while Lucario's "restraint" would have to be the force of Zar's Psychic.
"...I'm gonna be honest, I'm not even sure he'll try to run," Blizz pointed out, looking at the pink hue surrounding the guildmaster. "He was sorta trying to reason with us before? It was Scizor who kept pushing us to fight."
"We still need to be cautious though," Fanita said. "Plus, there's no guarantee that Celebi won't simply revert their memories of the fight."
"But what's the deal with Lucario then? He said he fought a Celebi in the past..." Blizz looked at the guildmaster, still pinned in place with the Psychic.
Fanita looked as well, though her gaze seemed to be split between Lucario and Blizz. "I think we can ask him then."
"Do not bother."
All three of the explorers jumped to attention as Absol spoke. The dark type had finally woken up, and didn't seem to be struggling against his restraints.
"What do you mean?" Zar asked, trying to divert as little focus as possible from her grip on Lucario.
"Lucario's memory of that incident is prone to alterations," Absol explained. "It was where I first met Celebi, and the encounter devolved into a fight."
"I think you should tell us everything you know," Fanita asked sweetly, though with a faint trace of venom that made it very clear it wasn't a request. "Perhaps we may be tempted to let you go afterwards."
"Of course." Absol shut his eyes, lowering his voice slightly. "This was before Team Breaker was disbanded. Scizor and Hydreigon were busy with an outlaw mission, while Lucario and I had decided to take some... personal time together."
"Aww, you guys were on a date?" Zar asked, not quite getting the memo that they were supposed to be harsh on Absol right now.
"Please do not refer to it as such. The two of us simply wanted a place with some isolation to talk about my status of being a human."
"Wait, so you never told Scizor or Hydreigon you were human?" Blizz interrupted.
"It was not something they strictly needed to know, but with how close Lucario is to his assistant..." Absol stopped himself before he could get too heated up. "Never mind. My point is, the two of us were alone, lingering outside of Nova Town near the entrance to Overgrowth Woods."
"Can I assume this was when Celebi first appeared?" Fanita asked.
"Correct. There was a flash of green energy, and when it faded the Pokémon appeared. Celebi appeared to be confused before noticing the two of us. As soon as he saw me, he tried to attack. However, Lucario quickly came to my aid, and we defeated Celebi. The fight was… relatively quick. We did not even have to summon Xerneas or Zygarde. Though at this point, neither of us knew what a Celebi was."
"Hold on, how did the two of you beat Celebi so easily?" Zar asked. "I could barely get a scratch on him."
"I know for a fact Celebi did not have full control over his time manipulation abilities at this point. His attack and defensive power was considerable, however his actual combat skills were poor."
Fanita leaned in slightly, a silent bid for Absol to continue. Ideas were starting to fall into place, and depending on Absol's testimony she might be able to piece something together.
"We tried to figure out what happened," Absol continued. "Our first thought was that Celebi might be a strong feral, however he was wearing an accessory at the time, and while it's not unheard of for ferals to use accessories like that, Celebi's movements were too controlled to just be a normal feral."
"And, may I ask, what accessory was this?" Fanita asked. Despite the question, she already had a feeling about the answer.
"It was a pair of damaged All Weather Goggles." Absol made a gesture to Blizz with his head, though the movement was somewhat strained given how his neck was tied down. "The same kind as Blizz's. However one of the lenses was severely cracked."
Fanita laughed. "I thought that might be the case. I found the pair within Lucario's safe."
Hearing all that, Blizz ran his fingers around the rim of his own goggles. They were still completely intact, no sign of the damage they took after his fight against Absol.
"In any case," the dark type continued. "Celebi tried to warp away, but left the pair of goggles behind after the fight. Lucario held onto it as a keepsake, and to possibly have Leavanny analyze it later to see if she could find any clues regarding what the Pokémon we just fought was."
As if on cue, the pinned down Lucario began to stir. He couldn't stir very much though, before Zar's Psychic redoubled and locked him in place. He tried to look around a bit, before letting head down.
"Dammit, we lost."
"It was a very amusing fight, at least," Fanita praised, flying up to the guildmaster. "Now, we do have some questions for you."
"Fuck it, I'm down. I wanna know what's going on too."
Absol just shook his head. "As I said, it is not worth bothering."
While Fanita doubted Absol would lie to her about that, she was curious as to why that was the case, so she continued on. "Firstly, how did you know we were here, and why did you specifically come after us rather than sending one of your teams?"
"We were heading to Tenea to meet with the asshole's guild, some bullshit about the royal wedding."
"Doubtless the meeting was orchestrated by Celebi's influence," Absol whispered under his breath.
Lucario didn't notice the interruption though, continuing his explanation. "Halfway through, we saw a Taillow booking it east. We flagged her down, she said she found the S-Rank outlaws. She told us where you guys were going, so we made a detour to catch you guys."
"Not a chance in hell that wasn't Ride," Blizz commented. "She had a leather harness thing around her wings, right?"
"Yep, Hydreigon Guild badge and all the bullshit."
Blizz nodded. "That's another human down…"
"Moving on," Fanita continued. "Do you recognize the Pokemon who is tied up to your right?"
Lucario strained his head to look at the Absol beside them. "…Nope. Feels like I have though."
"You mentioned you fought Celebi before, what was up with that?" Blizz asked.
"Right, so the-"
Right as Lucario started explaining, a blurry haze overtook all of the explorer's visions, as the sky above them appeared to crack once again. When it faded, Lucario and Scizor were nowhere to be found.
"There it is..." Absol whispered. Unlike his former teammates, he remained in place, the rope bindings still tying him down.
"Where'd they go?" Zar shouted, frantically flying upwards to see if maybe they were still on the mountaintop.
"Most likely Celebi has rewritten the timeline such that they never came after you," Absol offered. "He might have been concerned that Lucario would tell you something, or that you could enlist his help."
"You don't sound very surprised," Fanita commented.
"If you had the past experience with Celebi that I had, you would not be either." Absol pressed against his bindings to make his position slightly more comfortable. Having all four legs tied together wasn't exactly a relaxing experience.
"Keep going with your story," Blizz instructed. "What happened after you beat Celebi?"
"We first went to Leavanny to ask her to analyze the goggles. The only thing she was able to tell us was that they were old. We didn't know that Celebi could travel through time at the moment, but that did support our theory that the Pokémon was a legendary. Afterwards, we sent a letter to the guild in Gremis Keep— Beheeyem had recently gained the guildmaster position, and was very well known for his research skills. We described the Pokémon and how it behaved in battle, and asked for help in identifying them."
Blizz had sat down by this point, giving Absol's story his undivided attention. Fanita was a little more careful, scrutinizing every twitch the dark type made to ensure he didn't try to escape. Meanwhile, Zar was trying to focus, but kept getting distracted by something or another every couple minutes.
"It took a few weeks to hear back," Absol continued. "We explained what happened to Scizor and Hydreigon, and while they believed us, they had no idea of what we were talking about. When we had received the letter from Gremis, our expectations were not very high."
Absol took a moment to collect himself before continuing. This time, he returned Blizz and Fanita's gaze.
"Beheeyem had informed us that there was an extremely rare legendary Pokémon known as Celebi, a species believed to have the ability to traverse time." Absol's voice took on a somber tone. "The last known record of a Celebi was hundreds of years ago, when it passed away in a crisis where the concept of fire-"
"Was unleashed on Varin, scorching a major portion of the western coast," Zar finished.
Absol looked to Zar, legitimately shocked. "Were you there at the time?"
"...No, that... dealing with that is one of the oldest memories I have," Zar admitted. "Having to fly through the wasteland and try to bring Pokémon back to it. It was my first job, I think."
"…A large number of Pokémon passed away in that crisis, including at least one legendary," Absol explained as he looked at Zar. "It may be possible Celebi was not the only one."
Zar floated back to the ground, taking the form of a shiny Grovyle to help process the news better. For some reason she found it much easier to understand these things while she was Transformed.
"…Then the previous Celebi died in this crisis, and the Celebi you and Lucario met was the replacement," Fanita summarized.
"I believe so," Absol said, his gaze still not leaving Zar. "There was a several-century long gap between this crisis and us meeting Celebi though. Obviously, when the topic of time travel is involved, such lengths of time become meaningless, however Celebi was never sighted during the interim period."
Blizz adjusted the way he was sitting, pulling his legs inwards. "So I get how you first met him and everything, but how did all of that turn into Celebi helping you out then nuking reality?"
Absol lowered his head once again. "After we had read the letter, Lucario took off to go inform the others. I was some distance behind him when Celebi appeared to me yet again. This time he was a far cry from the Pokémon we had defeated prior- he was in full control of his abilities."
Blizz didn't realize that he was leaning in, until he almost lost balance on his arm and had to readjust once again.
"He made me an offer, that if I permitted him to intervene in my affairs and make sure no one else learned of his existence aside from myself and Lucario, I could use the full extent of his abilities."
"That's almost exactly what he said to me too," Zar said. "That as long as I kept him a secret, I could use all his time-travel powers."
"May I ask, was this before or after you decided upon your plan?" Fanita questioned.
Absol's eyes squeezed shut in shame. "...Before."
"Why'd you accept a deal like that?" Blizz asked. "Like yeah, time travel powers would be really useful, but you were still on good terms with everyone in Breaker, right? Why would you just sell them out like that."
Absol's pained expression didn't fade. "In the weeks between first encountering Celebi and receiving that letter, Lucario and I's relationship had entered a... rocky phase. I foolishly believed that leveraging Celebi's abilities may allow me to recover the bond we once had."
All three explorers fell silent. Even the usually unbothered Fanita didn't know what to say at first.
"...You agreed to Celebi's terms because you were worried Lucario would dump you," Blizz summarized, not bothering to hide the incredulity in his words.
"It was not a particularly intelligent decision," Absol admitted. "Nor would it have helped me in any case. As soon as I accepted Celebi's terms, the letter vanished, and Lucario forgot what he was doing. I first requested Celebi to revert the effects of a... Apologies, I am certain the three of you don't wish to hear the details of my personal life at that time."
While Blizz was morbidly curious, on the grand scale of things that were important that ranked very close to the bottom. "You can skip a couple things."
"Very well. Over the next few weeks, the pain caused by my disaster sense from working as an explorer continued to escalate, and eventually I was unable to continue participating in Team Breaker. Lucario and I broke up shortly afterwards. Within several months, I began working on... the project-"
"Trying to end the world," Blizz offered, not willing to let Absol play that off with a euphemism.
"...Yes. The Resonance. I leveraged Celebi's help. I never explained my plans to him, but he certainly should have figured out what I was doing well before I was in any position to initiate my plans."
"He told Zar that you were supposed to win in our battle," Fanita said. "Do you know why that was?"
Absol shook his head as best he could from his position. "He was oddly enthusiastic as I requested to be taken to the different lakes and gather material for the conduits. He did not ask many questions, only those which were needed to use his abilities."
Blizz and Fanita looked at each other, starting to run out of questions regarding Celebi. Blizz gave her a pleading look, silently asking if it was okay to change topics. After thinking on it for a minute longer, just in case there was anything else she may want to ask before the conversation turned ugly, Fanita nodded.
Immediately, Blizz walked up to the bound dark type. "Okay, now that that's all covered..." He proceeded to slap Absol across the face. He wasn't sure whether or not he channeled a normal attack in there.
"I... suppose I deserve that."
"Absol, why the fuck did you try to kill everyone?"
Absol met Blizz's glare with a resigned acceptance. "I outlined my reasons before. While I certainly attempted to mislead you in the past, I had never lied. Every single time there was a crisis, I could feel it throughout my entire being. In a world like this, the disaster sense of an Absol is equal parts a blessing and curse. And as each threat was evaded, the sense of foreboding for the next one became stronger."
"So then why would you decide that the best solution is to kill everyone yourself instead?"
"...The Resonance was supposed to be a peaceful end," Absol explained. "I was under the belief that the end of Varin would be violent and painful. This was an option that ensured no Pokémon or additional humans would undergo such a fate."
Blizz opened his mouth to respond, but Absol continued before he could speak.
"However, I was wrong, and I am acutely aware of that now. Since I have been brought back from a state of non-existence, my sense of disaster is significantly more subdued than it was before. No longer do I feel the constant existential threat to all life as I once did, despite the desperation of the current circumstances."
"Even if there was some big end-all disaster, killing everyone is not the solution," Blizz pointed out, slowly becoming exacerbated by the conversation. "Let everyone try to figure out a way through it, you have no idea what they'll be capable of."
"You don't understand the strength of the disasters I sensed," Absol shot back. "If it was just a simple disaster, obviously my actions would be a drastic overreaction. But what about the Distortion World blending into our own reality, or a black hole forming at the center of the continent? Both scenarios are entirely plausible, and neither would leave any survivors."
"You can't just make the choice for them-"
"Ahem." Fanita cleared her throat, floating up to the bickering pair. "My apologies for interrupting, but I do have a question for Absol. How long ago did you first notice your sense of disaster becoming more intense than normal?"
"Approximately five years ago," Absol answered.
"And when did you first start using Celebi's power?"
His answer came out much slower than last time. "...Approximately five years ago."
"Do you think that maybe, just maybe, interacting with the walking disaster that is Celebi, while also being thrust throughout time and experiencing the feeling of pending disasters for all different eras you traveled to, might have negatively influenced your own sense for disaster?"
Absol stared at Fanita, his eyes slowly widening in horror.
"…You… That's…"
His eyes started to water.
"I... I..."
Blizz stepped back. He was still furious about what Absol had tried to do, but to see this level of vulnerability from the former human was surreal.
Every sacrifice, every Poké given to a criminal, every time he'd harmed an innocent came back to Absol. The notion of the greater good was a reasonable enough excuse for him to justify the acts, that it ultimately wouldn't matter. Only now did it dawn on him that not only was his feeling incorrect, it was his own fault for it being so.
"N…No. That can't be it…" Absol desperately looked around the mountaintop, searching for anything that could provide relief. All he found was the gazes of three Pokemon, and the ruins of a battle he indirectly caused. Tears started to descend onto the snow.
"You know, I don't quite think this is the reaction someone who was doing the right thing would have," Fanita said.
"Everything I did was… was… AHHH!" In a violent fit, Absol's head lurched downwards, cutting up the rope with a Night Slash. Before any of his captors could react, he began sprinting away, throwing himself down the slopes.
Blizz started to run after the dark type, but Fanita intercepted him. "Let him figure this out. I do not believe he will be causing any issues for us in the near future."
The Grovyle looked past the cliff face Absol just threw himself over. Far below, he could see a series of footsteps in the snow leading away. "...Fine, but we still need to figure out what to do now."
"Then why don't we set up camp here?" Fanita offered. "We'll have time to prepare, and if anyone who we may have recently ran into decides to look for us, they will know where we are."
Would Absol come looking for them? Blizz wasn't quite sure what was running through his head earlier, but the entire reason they did this was to try and see if they could get Absol on their side. It was just as likely he would take the three of them down in their sleep, but if Zar's description of Celebi was correct, trying to take him down on their own would probably lead to the same outcome.
"Let's do that," Blizz agreed. "Uh… don't have a tent or anything though. No one's gonna be bothered by the cold or whatever, right?"
Both Fanita and Zar shook their heads.
"Rad."
It wasn't very surprising that Blizz struggled to get much sleep that night. Sure, the fight was tiring, but all things considered that was probably the least painful a battle against any member of Team Breaker has ever gone.
He also had a sneaking suspicion that Fanita was right, and wanted to make sure he was awake to talk to Absol first.
Sure enough, a small snowball hitting the ground right beside Blizz roused him from his not-really-trying-to-sleep state. He lifted his goggles up and looked to the side, allowing him to see the faint outline of a quadrupedal Pokemon in the moonlight.
He wasted no time rising to his feet and walking over to the figure. As he drew closer, there was no doubt this was Absol.
Absol opened his mouth to say something, but Blizz held out a hand as he kept walking forward. The two went further along the mountain, only stopping once the Grovyle was reasonably confident they were out of the earshot of Fanita and Zar.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?"
"I… I needed some time. You and Fanita were correct. I was horrendously mistaken."
The moonlight made it too difficult to see what Absol's face was like, but with the stammering and occasional choking up, Blizz could imagine it wasn't very pretty.
"About the trying to kill everyone thing?"
"About everything! I believed with every part of my being that this was supposed to be the best option! That- that there was no possible good ending, just more and more pain until a big enough disaster kills us all. But that was all completely wrong!"
The crying from before was back, and Blizz couldn't help feeling a pang of sympathy as he watched Absol's wailing.
"I wanted to kill all of them for... that? I don't know what was I thinking, I… Blizz, please, I have no right to ask you of anything, but I need your help. I need to make things right."
The last remnants of Blizz's anger faded away, replaced by pity. Absol really had thought he was doing the right thing. On one hand, that did make Blizz feel a bit more comfortable— he considered Absol a friend at one point, and knowing that he wasn't just this secret evil maniac was a somewhat soothing thought. On the other, if Absol's plan enacted in good faith, it was an unbelievably stupid idea.
"...Alright, what you're going to do is help us deal with this bullshit," Blizz began, making a vague gesture to the air around them. "We barely know what we're dealing with aside from the fact that Celebi is way too strong. You need to help us take him down."
"Of… of course. I will do everything I can to make things right, and if this is where I can pay back my debt, then I will commit myself to it fully."
Blizz had a bit of a hard time comprehending the reversal. He was the only human to see the crazed look in Absol's eyes as he watched each legendary in the Hall of Origin fall one by one. He was the one who fought Absol within the hall, and he was the one who nearly sacrificed himself to stop it.
Though he also remembered the genuine sympathy Absol had for him after the Guilded Games, the comfort that the little house outside of Nova Town felt like, and even going as far as telling Blizz that he was human, a fact he didn't even share with his teammates.
Blizz raised his goggles up once again. He locked eyes with Absol, the pale red barely visible in the moonlight. "Promise me you're done with that plan."
Absol matched his gaze. His eyes were swollen from crying, though accompanying the sorrow was a gleam of determination. "I swear, I will do everything in my power to protect Varin. On my honor, as a human."
Blizz watched as Absol lowered his head in a bow.
"Thank you for your undeserved trust in me."
Blizz nudged the side of his head, forcing the dark type to look up. The Grovyle was reaching out to him.
"…I see." Absol raised his front paw, and shook Blizz's hand.
A/N: And redemption arc. Sorta.
So good and kinda sad news, I finished the final chapter of this fic. I can now confidently say we're looking at 44 chapters in total, and it should be on track for regular updates the entire time.
Ch 42: Under the Bridge - 12/10/22
