Blizz was still struggling to process anything as Kibo slammed a Dragon Tail into Combusken, opening up the exit from their room.
"What's going on?!" Rune cried as she scrambled to the doorway.
"I got no hecking idea!" Kibo shouted back. "But it's looking bad out there too!"
Out in the guild's main hall, a massive brawl was unfolding. Every member of the guild was trying to kill each other with an unrestrained fury. Dewott slashed at Sneasel, who in turn delivered a Sucker Punch to Rockruff. All the while they were shouting various obscenities at each other among scorching flames and falling rock.
Notably, Team Terrae, Team Vindicate, and the guildmasters were missing from the melee.
The Prince leaned towards his team leader, trying to figure out what to do right now. "Blizz, are you conscious?"
With the piercing headache completely disorienting him, Blizz could barely process the Prince's words. "...Bro what the fuck is going on?"
The Prince turned back to Kibo. "He will currently be useless. We need to evacuate."
Blizz looked around, his dazed brain still managing to put some things together. "...Where's Zar?"
"We do not know, and we will not find out until we get out of here," the Prince answered.
"Well I don't think we can take the ladder!" Kibo reported, using the door to the room as a shield to block a stray Fire Spin.
"TREECKO'S DEFINITELY A HUMAN! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS PARTNER! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME!" Chimchar charged forward, trying to batter Kibo out of the way. This would prove to be a case of an immovable object meeting an easily stoppable force, as the Jangmo-o deflected the incoming attack with a Headbutt.
"We need to get out of here..." Rune stood at the doorway, ready to fire an Aurora Beam at any of her berserking guildmates who got too close.
"YOU FUCKERS ARE DUE FOR ANOTHER COMBAT EXAM!"
That voice caused all of Apex to freeze in fear. Their guildmates going crazy was one thing, they could defend themselves well enough. But Lucario was a completely different story.
They didn't have any options, and remaining in their room would be a death trap. The Prince looked to the Treecko at his side, laying among the smoldering embers left over from the earlier Flamethrower.
"What would you do here..."
"...Gotta get out, right?" Blizz made a vague gesture in the direction of the room's window. He still had no clue what was happening, but was picking up on the occasional comment.
The Prince shifted his gaze between Blizz and the window, before sighing. He quickly threw a Shadow Ball into the window, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. "Out! We'll evacuate along the base of the canyon."
"That's a 20 meter drop!" Rune shouted, looking down. She couldn't remember the last time she actually used the window to look at the canyon itself. The river coursing through looked way too small from up here.
"THERE YOU FUCKERS ARE!"
The sudden appearance of Lucario in front of their door made Rune recoil— the guildmaster's crazed look in his eyes was utterly terrifying. Operating purely on instinct, she released an energy she didn't know she had in her. A beam of soft blue light shot out from her mouth, freezing the lower half of Lucario's body.
"THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME, YOU LEARNED ICE BEAM! LET'S SEE WHAT ELSE YOU CAN LEARN WHEN YOUR ARCEUS DAMNED LIFE IS ON THE LINE!" Despite the circumstances, Lucario's tone was weirdly encouraging, like a more intense version of his normal training sessions. Obviously, it did not quite have the reassuring effect on the explorers some of his previous lessons had.
Rune wasted no time in sprinting away— she did not want to know what would happen when Lucario unfroze himself. She jumped through the hole in the wall with none of her earlier hesitation.
Kibo followed soon after, but made sure to launch Blizz out as well by hitting his teammate with a Dragon Tail. It was definitely a lot rougher than he would like, but the circumstances were dire.
The Prince was the last one out, taking a final look into the guild for any sign of Team Terrae or Vindicate. However, when a Bone Rush tossed by Lucario managed to graze his fur, he decided he could waste no more time. He bounded through where the window once stood, coming into a free fall to the canyon below the guild.
The impact was not nice to any of them, but the momentary pain was worth it for a chance to finally catch their breath.
The Prince rose to his feet, looking over his teammates and the hole in the guild he jumped out of. "Are any of us not accounted for, Zar excluded?"
Kibo walked over to Blizz, lowering his ear to the Treecko's mouth.
"...Dude what was that for..."
"Blizz is conscious, but still confused," Kibo reported.
"Do we have any Persims?" Rune asked.
"Blizz's bag remains in the guild hall," the Prince explained. "He should consider himself lucky he sleeps with his goggles on, otherwise those would have been lost."
Blizz stirred slightly at the mention of his signature accessory. "No one's taking the goggles away..."
"And no one will be," the Prince stated. "Though we need to begin the process of evacuating Nova Town."
Kibo's mouth hung open for a moment, astonished that the Prince would do so much as suggest they run away. "Why? There's Pokémon up there who definitely need help!"
"Are you not aware of what is going on at this moment?" the Prince asked, sharpening his gaze.
Rune's eyes widened as she realized what the Prince was implying. "The Resonance..."
"Correct. As it stands, we should assume anyone in Nova Town who does not have a resistance to the phenomena will react to us the same way that Hydreigon once had, or how the other guild members are behaving now." The Prince looked up to the guild once again, the sound of fighting still audible from all the way down here. "Our priority is to get away from the city. From there we can regroup and find a means of rendezvousing with the other humans."
"O...Okay." Kibo wasn't comfortable with leaving everyone in the city in a state where they'd try to kill each other, but they didn't have many options. "I'll carry Blizz."
Prince nodded, leading the way forward alongside the river. This leading lasted for all of five seconds, before a loud explosion diverted their attention back to the guild hall.
Where there was once a small hole in the canyon's rocky face was now a gaping crater. And standing right in the center of said crater was Lucario, his eyes dead set on Team Apex.
The Prince muttered something unintelligible under his breath, before giving his teammates a command. "Hurry forward!"
Memories of Lucario absolutely demolishing them in their previous training drill rose to the top of their minds. And while sure, they were a lot stronger now, Lucario soundly defeated all four of them without so much as a scratch. Here, they had to defend Blizz, and the Prince doubted Lucario would take it easy on them this time.
Rune looked on as Lucario jumped down into the canyon and began sprinting towards them. She tried another Ice Beam, but given how fast the guildmaster was traveling, she wasn't practiced enough to aim it properly.
The Prince let out a sigh, seeing that neither Kibo or Rune were hurrying it forward. "We cannot win a fight against him, however we may be able to slow him down enough to enable an escape. Focus on disorienting him, assume that for all intents and purposes he cannot be knocked out."
Kibo deposited Blizz against a wall of the canyon and ran to Rune's side, readying a Dragon Tail.
As Lucario drew closer, he began to speed up. Streaks of white flashed by his side as he closed in on his apprentices. Kibo met the Extreme Speed head on, trying to swipe him away with his Dragon Tail. The two engaged in a clash of power for a moment, the guildmaster's raw strength being matched by the inherent force of Dragon Tail.
Right as it looked like Kibo was going to falter, a green Energy Ball flew into Lucario, causing him to lose his composure just enough for the dragon type to finish his attack. Lucario was sent flying, launched some distance upstream.
From where Blizz was sitting against the wall, he gave a thumbs up to his teammates. He then immediately collapsed— the Energy Ball took out a bit too much of his already low energy.
"We cannot rest, hurry onwards!" With some help from Kibo, the Prince raised Blizz onto his back. They stuck his hands to the Umbreon's side, where hopefully he wouldn't fall off. The Prince then charged downstream with a Quick Attack, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Lucario as they could.
This lasted for around 100 meters, before they could see the blur of blue and black gaining on them. This time the guildmaster was joined by Shinx and Chimchar, both of whom had the same ferocious glint in their eyes.
"They're catching up again!" Rune shouted. She slowed down, concentrating on the feeling of ice energy within her. In a few moments a hailstorm started up, reducing visibility for everyone but her.
"Good idea," Kibo praised as he ran along. "We can't see either though, tell us where they are."
"They're still getting closer," Rune reported. "Chimchar and Shinx are with him too. I can use Snow Cloak to try and slow them down though-"
"No, that is far too risky," the Prince interrupted. "If you are in danger we cannot help you out. Our only way to make this work is to remain as a team."
"What if I try Sheer Colding Lucario?"
"If you miss you will be utterly helpless. We cannot take such a risk without a clear backup plan."
"But we can't just keep running away either," Kibo said between his panting. "They're a heck of a lot faster than us!"
The Prince didn't say anything. Kibo was right, it was unlikely they could lose their assailants until they made it out of the canyon at a minimum. But after the nightmare that was fighting Yveltal, the Prince did not want to bank all their hopes of survival on Rune managing to pull off a Sheer Cold.
"They're getting closer!" Rune shouted, pulling the Prince out of his train of thought. True to Rune's prediction, they could see the outline of their three assailants through the mist of the hailstorm.
The Prince slowed to a stop and shook Blizz off his back. "Rune, I will support you the best I can. I ask that you please prioritize your safety over connecting an attack."
Rune gave a determined nod, and turned around. They were a decent distance from Nova Town now, so hopefully Lucario, Chimchar, and Shinx were the only ones they'd have to deal with.
"ABOUT FUCKING TIME YOU STOPPED RUNNING! NOW LET'S DO SOME REAL COMBAT PRACTICE!" Lucario summoned a Bone Rush in his paws as he slowed to a walk.
"WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE HEROES HERE!" Chimchar shouted. "WE WERE THE ONES WHO FOUND TREECKO IN THAT FOREST! WE'LL SHOW YOU WHAT WE'RE MADE OF!"
"What he said!" Even with the effect of the Resonance, Shinx's voice was still much quieter than her teammate's.
The Prince took the forward position, with Rune and Kibo at his side. "We do not care for combat at this moment, but it appears you are forcing our hand."
"DAMN RIGHT I AM!" Lucario dashed forward, seeking to bash the Prince in with a Bone Rush. His two companions ran in as well, with a Flame Wheel and Spark.
Rune easily put a stop to Shinx's advance with an Ice Beam, slowing her to a stop. Chimchar was barreling towards her as well, but she was reasonably confident she could side-step the attack with Snow Cloak.
The most concerning part of their formation was Lucario, who continuously swept at the Prince with his Bone Rush staff. For his part, the Prince managed to evade each one, using a combination of his natural agility and by melting into the shadows that lined the canyon floor.
Kibo, seeing an opportunity to help out the Prince, stepped left of the group. When Chimchar's Flame Wheel came rolling in towards Rune, he spiked the attack Lucario's way with a Dragon Tail. Lucario was too tunnel-visioned playing whack-a-mole with the Prince, and thus completely failed to notice the inbound fire type until it was too late.
While Chimchar was dazed by the impact, the only thing it seemed to do to Lucario was irritate him further. "THAT WAS FUCKING SMART! YOU GUYS ARE GOOD AT THIS!"
With another surge of speed, Lucario leaped for Kibo. His paws glowed with a very intimidating red light. Still recovering from batting Chimchar away, Kibo was in no position to get out of the way or even brace himself for the incoming Close Combat.
"KIBO!" Out of desperation, Rune fired her Sheer Cold, hoping that Lucario would be too focused on trying to beat Kibo into submission to notice the surge of ice.
Unfortunately, Lucario wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He slammed Kibo into the wall and ran after him, easily avoiding Rune's rushed attack.
Rune, on the other hand, was swaying. Summoning the now-useless wave of ice exhausted her, and she could only look on helplessly as Lucario tore into Kibo. The Jangmo-o was already unconscious, and Lucario showed no signs of stopping.
The Prince tried to divert Lucario's attention with a Foul Play, but Lucario briefly changed the target of his Close Combat to send the Umbreon flying across the canyon.
But before Lucario could further mutilate Kibo, a beam of orange and yellow energy came flying in from behind the explorers. It slammed into Lucario full force, knocking him away.
The Prince forced himself to move his head, looking at who their savior was. Just barely recognizable through the mist of the hailstorm, Scizor stood with a single claw pointed in Lucario's direction.
"Apex, did anyone else make it... Oh." Scizor approached the explorers, noticing the shape they were in.
It wasn't pretty.
Kibo was covered in bruises along with several cracked scales, the Prince's legs were shaking as he tried to rise back to his feet, Rune looked like a gentle breeze would knock her over, and Blizz was still collapsed against the wall of the canyon.
Scizor immediately set to work distributing the few healing supplies he had on hand. Orans for the Prince and Rune, and a Reviver for Kibo. He left Blizz alone for now, quickly realizing that his problems were beyond what a single health restoring berry could fix.
The Prince didn't have much time to let the berry take effect before Scizor began questioning him. "Umbreon, what happened to you and your team?"
"There appeared to be a battle going on within the guild. Everyone involved, Lucario included, appeared to be in a frenzy." Just to be safe, the Prince looked into Scizor's eyes, which didn't have the same intensity everyone else's did. "We escaped our room through the window, and began running downstream. Lucario followed us."
"You have accidentally given us a major blessing," Scizor said, looking back up the river. The Hyper Beam definitely launched Lucario a good distance, but he knew for a fact his partner would be back. "We need to knock Lucario out."
"Guys, he's coming..." Rune's warning interrupted the conversation. Though neither the Prince or Scizor could see very well through the hailstorm, they trusted Rune enough to take her warning.
The Prince gave Scizor a charged stare, before nodding. "We have been injured through the process of trying to escape him. The burden for dealing with him will fall primarily on you."
"I am aware." Scizor took out a seed with a helical inscription on it, crushing it between his claws. He was surrounded by a sphere of orange and purple energy, before emerging in his mega-evolved form.
The moment Lucario's silhouette was visible, Scizor took off. His claws glowed a bright green as he prepared to cut into the guildmaster with an X-Scissor.
Lucario met the challenge head on with a Meteor Mash, locking himself into a battle of strength with Scizor. "THERE YOU FUCKING ARE! YOU WANT TO GET IN ON THE COMBAT DRILL TOO?"
"You are not yourself," Scizor said simply.
"THAT'S BULLSHIT! I'M FEELING BETTER THAN I EVER HAVE!"
The Prince prepared to launch a Shadow Ball to help Scizor out, but a Thunderbolt whizzing over his head forced him to cancel the attack. It appeared that Team Spark was still in the battle as well.
Rune's Snow Cloaked self didn't have any such issues. She appeared behind Lucario, going for another Ice Beam against the now-stationary target. She really regretted using Sheer Cold earlier— both because this would be the perfect time for it, and that now her Ice Beam was weaker than it should be.
However, the attack caught Lucario completely by surprise, causing a critical hit. Scizor was able to win out on his X-Scissor as well, forcing Lucario to the ground.
"FUCKING NICE! THAT'S WHAT I LOVE TO SEE IN MY APPRENTICES! YOU TOO SCIZOR!" Lucario used his arms to propel himself outwards, just barely evading a Brick Break from his assistant. He took on the same silver hue from earlier, using Extreme Speed to bounce off of the walls of the canyon.
Meanwhile, the Prince was attempting to fight two versus one. While Chimchar and Shinx were by no accounts the guild's strongest explorers, and they had already taken some damage from earlier, they could still pack a punch. On top of an unyielding determination to kill, they weren't pushovers.
The Prince was given no breathing room to line up a Shadow Ball, forcing him to rely on his melee attacks. Unlike many of the other Pokémon they've fought, he couldn't leverage their strength against them with Foul Play, which left him with Quick Attack and Bite.
He focused on using Quick Attack against Chimchar. While being paralyzed would completely cripple him here, he believed he could easily win a ranged engagement against Shinx, whereas Chimchar's strength and speed was constantly forcing him on the back foot.
Jumping over a Flamethrower, the Prince closed in on Chimchar. And he would have been able to Bite down on him, had it not been for the Thunderbolt forcing him to back off. Before any follow up could come, he noticed a faint glow of red among the hail, which sent Shinx flying.
Where Shinx once stood was now Kibo. He looked terrible even with the Reviver Seed, but that didn't stop him from shooting the Prince a goofy smile.
The Prince let out a sigh as he fired a Shadow Ball at Chimchar. His teammates never ceased to choose the most reckless decisions possible.
Back at the canyon wall, Blizz began stirring. Some of his earlier exhaustion was fading away, and his headache was starting to clear up too. It was still very present and very painful, but less so than five minutes ago.
He began trying to make sense of the battlefield. The Prince and Kibo seemed to be beating up Team Spark. He's pretty sure that's a good thing.
Out on the other side of the river, Lucario seemed to be locked into a melee brawl with Scizor. Every once in a while a beam of blue light would shoot out from a particularly shadowy part of the hail storm, which he could only assume was Rune.
He tried standing up, which proceeded to make his headache go back to the intensity it had earlier. He quickly gave up on this endeavor, deciding to try something else.
After a moment of concentration, dozens of duplicate Blizzes shot out from around him. Normally, using Double Team with no intention of moving is a bad idea, but there was no way he could line up an attack here without hitting Scizor. So instead he prayed that Lucario might decide to direct his attention to one of the Blizz clones.
This gambit worked, as Lucario began Bone Rushing through each duplicate. Scizor turned back to the real Blizz, giving him a look that wordlessly communicated just how stupid of a decision this was.
Blizz was able to see why soon enough. In the process of smashing through the row of Blizz clones, Lucario was getting closer and closer to the real him.
Rune tried to slow Lucario down by throwing out Powder Snows, but this did little to deter Lucario's warpath.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU IS THE REAL ONE? DOUBLE TEAM IS A BULLSHIT MOVE!"
Before Lucario could reach Blizz, Scizor tackled the guildmaster once again, this time with Brick Break. Lucario tried to block it with his Bone Rush staff, but Brick Break proved to be adept at breaking more than just bricks. The staff snapped in two and offered no protection, as Lucario was slammed into the ground by the super-effective hit.
At last, Lucario was unconscious.
A silence permeated the battlefield, only broken by the sound of hail falling to the ground. Even that was slowing down, since the effect of Rune's Hail finally began to subside.
Across the other side of the river, the Prince and Kibo looked upon the unconscious bodies of Shinx and Chimchar.
"Please tell me that is the end of it," the Prince said, turning to face Scizor.
Scizor nodded as the sphere of purple and orange energy enveloped him once more. When it faded, he was back to his normal self. "We've set up a survivor's camp comfortably outside of the Resonance's range. I believe when Lucario wakes up he will be back to normal."
The Prince raised an eyebrow. "You believe?"
"If I am wrong he will wake up surrounded by the Pokémon who were strong enough to fight out of Nova Town. And I would rather keep him under watch than take the risk of unleashing him on the other berserking Pokémon."
"…Very well. Please, lead the way."
Kibo hopped over the stream, approaching Blizz. "Hey, you feeling any better?"
In response, Blizz tried to rise to his feet one more time. While it did exacerbate the headache, he could still see and hear without a ringing noise completely disorienting him. "Yeah, kinda."
"If you can, then I ask that you walk yourself," Scizor requested. "The rest of us will be busy transporting the others."
Blizz nodded, taking a few steps forward. He still felt off, but could at least walk. He did feel terrible that he was forcing the Prince and Kibo to carry Shinx and Chimchar, but any time he offered to help he was immediately shot down by Rune.
Even 20 minutes later, when they were further from the city and he swore he was feeling better, they still firmly rejected his proposal.
"We still have no clue what's wrong with you," Rune said. "We're not letting you push yourself until we know."
"…Then can we at least try to explain what the fuck's been happening? Because all I remember seeing was some fire in the guild, then being thrown out the window."
Scizor let out a solemn sigh. "…My leading theory is that the Resonance has found a way to-"
Scizor's sentence was cut off by the sound of all five of their badges emitting a shrill beeping noise. It lasted for a few moments, before an artificial-sounding voice started speaking.
"Attention! Attention! This is a public safety announcement. As per Exploration Federation decree, the continent of Varin is under strict quarantine effective immediately. All vessels inbound or outbound must return to their port of origin immediately."
"Anyone within: Gremis Keep, Tenea City, Cascian Archipelago West Island, Cascian Archipelago East Island, Nova Town— should evacuate the settlements at once. Do not attempt to help any Pokémon who appear to be frenzied. Do not attempt to help any Pokémon who appear to have collapsed. Avoid large groups, and wait for Federation officials to provide further instruction. This message will now repeat."
The second repetition of the message was slightly more quiet than the first, giving the five some space to collect their thoughts.
"So it appears to be affecting all the major settlements on Varin," the Prince commented.
"We must not have been the first," Kibo pointed out. "If they're saying that some Pokémon have collapsed, that means some of them are husks by now."
"...It's going on everywhere..." Rune's eyes shifted to the ground. "...What do we do..."
"Pretty much the same thing we were doing," Blizz offered, perking himself up as he walked to the center of the group. "We go in, find the conduits, smash them up, and we can figure out the whole reversing the effect thing later."
Scizor gave a slow nod, though his gaze seemed to linger on Blizz. "That will definitely help in fixing this, however the culprit is still at large. If they are not apprehended soon, any advances made will be pointless."
"But we have no evidence to suggest who Hydreigon could have been working with," the Prince pointed out.
"Let us save this discussion once we return to camp," Scizor urged. "Input from the other Pokémon who managed to escape will be helpful."
"So it's a full camp?" Kibo asked, adjusting the unconscious Chimchar on his back as he continued down the path.
"A gathering would be more precise," Scizor clarified. "Some of the more observant Pokémon who realized what was going on before they themselves could become frenzied set up a clearing."
"But didn't the alert say to avoid large groups?" Rune asked. "Gathering everyone who's not a husk in one place seems... dangerous."
Scizor let out a deep sigh. "If there is one thing any of you can count on, the single constant that holds true everywhere you go, it is that the Exploration Federation's advice is completely useless. They appear to believe it is a disease of some form. We know better."
It was difficult to say for certain, but if one were to pay very close attention, they might notice Lucario stirring slightly at the mention of shit-talking the Exploration Federation.
Rune wanted to protest slightly more, but Scizor had a point. She literally tried to use a move the Federation banned less than an hour ago.
It didn't take them much longer to reach the aforementioned gathering. When Blizz first laid eyes on it, it was… disappointing.
The entire surviving population of Nova Town, reduced to a count of less than 50. They could all fit in a grassy field no more than 40 yards long. Understandably, a melancholy grimness hung over the encampment. Various Pokémon were busy at work, giving medical attention to those who had to fight their way out of Nova Town.
The Kecleon brothers were in the center with a stall set up, handing out supplies for free.
As Blizz scanned over the survivors, he let out another deep sigh. No one from Team Terrae was here, he had no idea what happened to Team Vindicate, and Zar was still completely missing.
The only silver lining was the few familiar faces he could make out in the crowd. Leavanny seemed to be among those distributing medical aid, with some devices and scarves Blizz couldn't recognize. Tyrogue was there as well, the only other guild member he could see.
Most noteworthy, Absol was there, with a massive bruise discoloring his right side.
"Take Chimchar and Shinx to the far corner," Scizor instructed. "Jangmo-o, you will be getting a check up once the more urgent patients have been dealt with. Treecko and Vulpix, take some time to recover. You will be… very busy soon."
Blizz wasted no time in walking off on his own, finding a mostly isolated spot in the clearing to lie down.
After hours of crippling headaches and running away, he finally had the time to let things settle in.
All of his friends aside from the Prince, Rune, and Kibo are missing. Zar didn't even wake up with them.
How could they fix all of this without the other humans? Or worse, what if the others died? He had no clue how Terrae could have escaped the chaos in the guild.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do…"
A few Pokémon turned their heads at Blizz's outburst, but quickly went back to what they were doing before. He wasn't the first to say something like that, and no one believed he would be the last.
Midway through Blizz's moping, the sound of grass crunching forced him to turn his head over. Looming over him was Absol, with a sympathetic look on his face.
"…Treecko, may I ask that we talk?"
Blizz immediately pulled himself to his feet. "Yeah, for sure. Got some lead on what we need-"
Absol put up a paw, cutting him off. "I don't want to hear any of that right now. Would you mind coming with me to somewhere more private?"
Blizz tentatively followed behind Absol, as the two vanished into the woods behind the clearing. They went a short distance, still close enough to faintly make out the sound of the encampment.
"So uh, what's up?" Blizz asked, jumping up to the branch of a tree.
"…I can tell you are not taking this very well," Absol began.
"I mean, obviously. Who isn't?"
"You in particular. This is functionally the death of tens of thousands of Pokémon, an entire continent utterly annihilated."
"Then can you blame me for-"
"And yet you seem to be barely affected."
Blizz was completely thrown off by the whiplash of the accusation. "…What?"
"This is a tragedy of untold proportions, yet the only thing I have seen from you since your arrival is simple concern."
"Well… I guess that's kinda right. We know we can reverse this, but it's going to be a really long process, and it's just… a lot."
Absol nodded understandingly. "It feels as if it were just a game, correct? That all the suffering around you is artificial and contrived."
Blizz's mouth began to hang open. "…How did you know?"
"I have suffered from a similar circumstance. While I can say this is the most severe I have ever seen a crisis unfold, it is not the first. Team Breaker, before its disbandment, had attempted to resolve all of these crises, and given that I can detect them before they occur, I was in the center of everything. But at some point, the death of thousands simply becomes white noise…"
"…But isn't the point of the whole 'summoning a human to deal with this' thing done so Varin Pokémon don't have to deal with this."
Absol nodded. "That is indeed the point, and I was, for a time, fortunate enough to have Lucario, Scizor, and Hydreigon aid me in this task."
Blizz looked on for a few seconds, trying to piece together what Absol was saying. "…Don't fucking tell me-"
"My full name is Alexander Lane, and at one point I called Manchester my home."
Blizz looked at Absol for a moment, struggling to make sense of what he heard.
"Err, Manchester is a city within England," Absol clarified, noticing Blizz's blank stare.
"…You're fucking human?"
Absol nodded. "Long ago. I… saw the struggles that other former humans had to undergo, and decided that I would do everything I could to stop others from dealing with this fate. That they would be allowed to live their lives without being treated as disposable tools. The fact that you and your friends are here is a failure on my part."
"…Oh." Blizz jumped down from his branch, slowly walking forwards. "So you've… all this time?"
"I apologize for not revealing this sooner." Absol dipped his head downwards. "I felt the only appropriate time to discuss this was after you understood the same feeling I once felt."
"…And it's the feeling of this all being bullshit that you're talking about?"
"The mundanity of saving the world," Absol confirmed. "To place your heart and soul into the protection of a realm that six months ago you never even knew existed, only for a new disaster to threaten it again in 10 years. Even under vague promises of being revived in the human world, it is little more than slave labor."
"…So what does that mean for us now?"
"To be blunt, this is not your battle. If you find the individual behind all of this and defeat them, locate all the conduits, and manage to resuscitate every Pokémon who is currently a husk, it won't matter. This cycle will repeat itself again. The crisis will be different, perhaps it will be more lethal, perhaps less. Either way, it will come."
Blizz looked back to the clearing, at the way everyone was buzzing around without any conviction driving them. "You want me to just walk away from all of this?"
"No, what I am asking is that you decide what you wish to do. You have every right to walk away, as I decided to."
Blizz pondered Absol's words as he continued observing the encampment.
In his bag, the small crack in his Z-crystal grew slightly larger.
A/N: So who else is enjoying the apocalypse?
Ch 34: Heartbreaker - 10/15/22