Location: Prehistoric Ruins B5th floor and B6th floor (writing this as I explore)
So, we found the Mawile, Buizel, Bunnelby and Dedenne statues.
It...man, it hit kinda hard. This was how far they made it before the Beheeyem turned on them. Eris tried to warn them, but they had no way of knowing for sure...and the entire time we've been traversing the Submerged Cave and the ruins, they've been trapped in the Voidlands. Buizel, Bunnelby, and Dedenne were trapped with the Void Shadows, so...
Lyra was quick to lash out at Yemer for what happened, but he brushed off the situation like it was nothing. We already knew he was being controlled by Dark Matter at the time, but even so I understood Lyra's anger. These were our friends, our colleagues...folks who stood up for us or welcomed us as part of their family. To see Yemer be so dismissive of their fate made me sick.
How could he do that? I know he was probably just rushing through so he didn't have to think about what he did, but for him to brush off the fates of our colleagues like it meant nothing sparked a little anger in me. I decided to do something petty and insult him.
"I gotta hand it to Nuzleaf and Yveltal. They pulled off one rotten scheme. What I don't get is why the Beheeyem needed to act so cowardly for theirs."
That grabbed Yemer's attention and he whipped around to glare at me. Cowardly?
Nuzleaf and Yveltal made their intentions clear before they turned us to stone, and it was three legendaries, three Society members, and Krookodile versus the two of them. Everyone on Revelation Mountain Summit knew of their sinister intentions and lost to them when they used their void powers. But according to Mawile and Dedenne, you Beheeyem didn't bother revealing your true intentions before taking them out. You kept up the ruse of the "friendly ruins guardians" and took them out unexpectedly. If Nuzleaf and Yveltal could easily take out the seven of us, surely the three of you Beheeyem would've easily taken out the four Society members after revealing your true identities, right?
Yemer glared at me wordlessly. Ah, good. Struck a nerve. However, I wasn't finished yet. Bringing that up made me think of something else.
Unless, of course, Dark Matter only gave you Beheeyem enough power to turn the Society members to stone while gifting the bulk of its power to Nuzleaf and Yveltal for playing such a key role in its plans. I mean, Nuzleaf was practically toying with his powers, using it to float himself back into a standing position instead of picking himself up off the ground. That's gotta be somewhat insulting, right? With the three of you, it mighta taken a lot of effort just to petrify those four Pokémon. Or maybe it took a lot more energy to subdue Nuzleaf and Yveltal than it took to subdue the three of you, in which case, wow, that's kind of sad.
Come to think of it, we've been seeing a lot of not-stone Pokémon in both these ruins and the Submerged Cave. For an entity bent on turning every Pokémon to stone, Dark Matter sure was merciful towards the Pokémon in these two Mystery Dungeons. If he gave you guys more power, he could've had a lot more energy stolen and we'd be discovering a lotta statues. But we've only seen those four Society members...
He looked off to the side, then at the ground. I'd made my point and successfully agitated him, but I wasn't focused on insulting him anymore. I was focused on finishing my train of thought.
Doesn't that infuriate you? I mean, you Beheeyem have played a key role in Nuzleaf's deceptive plan since I first awoke, yet you were treated like second-rate minions. You even had to intentionally antagonize yourselves, making it more difficult to go anywhere or do anything without drawing attention. You guys put more backbone into the plan than anyone, yet you-
Yemer cut me off by saying it was his fault. It was all his fault he and the other two were treated like crap. His fault they resorted to using cowardly tactics. He messed up, and complicated the plan, and...and they only had one more chance to make themselves useful. If they failed, they woulda been turned to stone. That's why they were only given the bare minimum of power needed to complete their jobs.
At this point, he wasn't even floating anymore. He sat against one of the ruin walls and looked down at the three orbs on his left hand. Lyra rose an eyebrow at me, then gestured towards him. I sighed quietly, sat next to him, and asked him what he meant.
"Back when you lived in Serene Village, Dark Matter needed most of its energy to control Yveltal and attack legendary Pokémon. It let us have free will at times and let us roam around if we weren't carrying out missions. Well, we were in a field at the edge of the village awaiting instructions from Nuzleaf when a village kid lost her toy. I...knew where her toy was and retrieved it for her. She was afraid of approaching a stranger, so I used my psychic powers to float it over to her. She expressed such adorable amazement at my 'awesome brain powers'. I...it was the first time I..."
Yemer stopped and inhaled deeply. He said he needed to take a step back.
"Before Dark Matter possesses you, you need to accept its deal. It slithers into your head and offers you a chance to get back at the world. It offers you extreme power in exchange for your cooperation. A long time ago...I accepted its deal. I used my powers for revenge, so I owed it my cooperation. And it had it. I never regretted my choice until...until I interacted with that kid.
That kid never did anything wrong to the world. She was innocent, yet the things Dark Matter had me do would eventually lead to her being robbed of her future. That...that didn't sit right with me. I started doubting myself, Dark Matter, and the deal I made with it. One of the other Beheeyem overheard my thoughts and started conversing with me telepathically. He reminded me that it was too late to turn back since I accepted the deal. We kept going back and forth.
I guess I stared intensely at the kid while we conversed because her mother freaked out. The two rushed off before I could explain I wasn't necessarily looking at the kid. Then I guess you heard about us lurking near the village, got spooked and fled to Lively Town."
...Oh! That's right! I remember now! Gimme a sec, gonna flip back to the older entry.
Okay, it was entry #70. Some villagers were talking about mysterious Pokémon lurking near the edge of the village. These mystery Pokémon who were staring intensely at Budew...I'd deduced that it was the Beheeyem, but the specific one had been Yemer?
Ohhhhhh, I get it now. That's how he messed up. By alerting me to their presence, they gave me cause to flee. Nuzleaf tried to reassure me and keep me in the village, but I was too spooked and ran off, thus complicating their plan. That's why Nuzleaf had to hire Krookodile to lure me back to Revelation Mountain, and...okay. I see.
And that's why Yemer was demoted. One more slip-up after that huge one and...yeah. Alright.
Yeesh. Dark Matter doesn't tolerate missteps, huh? Come to think of it, that night Nuzleaf was scolding me coulda been Dark Matter's influence leaking through. I had unintentionally risked a blown cover by revealing my human origins.
Heh. Between Yemer and I, we were a perfect duo of accidental Dark Matter irritants. Maybe we could be friends after all.
So, one has to accept Dark Matter's deal before it invades one's soul? Well, I guess that makes sense. If Dark Matter truly had the power to invade anyone's heart, wouldn't he have simply replaced the Beheeyem with different minions after their first screw-up? Or have more minions for that matter? For an entity bent on taking over the world, possessing only five minions seems a little...underwhelming. Inefficient. Restricting your minions to five makes sense if you can't get folks to accept your crappy deal.
But...Yemer accepted it. For a psychic-type with an oversized head, that wasn't a very smart thing to do.
Ah, but the poor guy was already feeling down. Now wasn't the time for criticism.
I told him that he may have put a wrench in Dark Matter's plans, but he gave us the push we needed to get out there and explore the world. We accomplished Lyra's dream and met so many new friends thanks to him. I...hm...okay, that's not exactly motivating, I know. That's...mm... "I know you messed up but look at how much that benefitted us!"
I didn't mean it in that way.
I...ugh, why do I have to be so bad at talking? You don't...see...okay. Slow...down...deep...breaths. No need to rush. I can do this. Think the words, then say them. I wrapped one of my vines around his right hand and uttered a soft sigh before calmly trying again.
I told him that returning Budew's toy and doubting the choice he made wasn't a mistake. It was his saving grace. He proved he had a conscious. He wasn't just Dark Matter's puppet. He was an individual who regretted his actions and thought about how they would affect another. Was it a mistake for him to accept Dark Matter's deal? I don't fuckin' know. I don't know what happened to warrant offering him the deal in the first place, so it's not my place to judge.
Lyra wanted to share her own opinion, but I held up my vine to silence her. I already knew what she was gonna say (probably something along the lines of "Of course it was a mistake!"), but now wasn't the time for that. This was between me and him.
I told Yemer there came a point in everyone's life where they wish they could go back in time and choose differently, but it's what we decide that defines who we are. Obviously, that doesn't make a lick of difference when Dark Matter is controlling him, but he's not being controlled now, right?
His eyes remained glued to the ground as he shook his head 'no'.
I added that a certain someone once gave me some sagely words to remember. Your younger self had nobody on his side, right? Don't you wish you could go back in time and give him a big hug? Promise him that everything will be okay?
Aww...I saw Lyra smile before she turned away. Whose situation would those words better be suited for?
Yemer was quiet as he stared at the floor. I tried to read his expression, but...no go. Was he still upset? Was he self-loathing? Did anything I said register?
I...ugh. Okay. I came clean to him and confessed that I only said that provocative stuff because I didn't like how indifferent he was about the Society members being turned to stone. I mean, these were our colleagues, our friends. Even if he was controlled when he petrified them, passing by without even acknowledging them seemed a little callous.
"Oh...I'm sorry. Didn't mean to dismiss the moment. I just didn't want to linger and think about...you know. The last time I was here."
Yeah, I figured that was the case. I apologized as well. I was being petty in belittling him and his friends when they weren't in control of their actions. That was neither fair nor appropriate.
Yemer side-eyed me for a sec. "Heh. You sure are determined to cheer up someone you don't trust. Even if it means backpedaling your snide remarks."
I replied that he's awful soft for someone who once made me paranoid. Even if I didn't trust him, I wasn't some heartless fiend who was gonna leave him stewing in misery.
"Who are you calling soft? I'll have you know, I can tumble with the best of them."
Ha! Yeah, sure. Battle veterans tremble before the almighty Yemer, returner of lost toys to little girls everywhere. I retracted my vine, then playfully shoved him with it. Told him he's about as hardened as a bundle of Skitties. Speaking of that, why did he return Budew's toy in the first place? Woulda been real easy for him to simply ignore her.
He looked back at the ground and narrowed his eyes a bit. After a few seconds of contemplation, he admitted that he didn't really know. It was automatic. He saw Budew was upset. He knew what she was looking for. He retrieved it. He returned it. Did it really matter why?
Perhaps. Even after accepting Dark Matter's deal and deciding to get revenge on the world, he still cared about its denizens. Some might've accepted the deal because they thought the world was worth destroying, but it sounded like Yemer only accepted it because he wanted the power. Once he realized the gravity of the situation, he wasn't totally on board with it. Maybe Dark Matter's influence on him wasn't as strong as it was on the others, which could've played a key role in how he was able to free himself.
He made a thoughtful sound as he kept his eyes locked on the ground. I got up and dusted myself off.
"If it's any comfort, I'm glad you accepted Dark Matter's deal. We got to meet you and get to know you, and we wouldn't be talking now if you hadn't."
Yemer said that's an awful thing to say. After all, I don't know the extent of what Dark Matter made him do.
Maybe not, but what you did hardly matters now. Dark Matter's influence doesn't define you, nor do your past decisions. You've been given a second chance. Decide what you want to do with it. Do you wanna sit on the ruin floor and continue moping, or do you wanna mentally hug your past self, pick yourself up off the ground, and carry on?
He stared at me for a bit, then made a small noise before hovering up again. As Lyra got up from her position some feet away, we gathered our things and prepared to delve into the ruins.
Before we could though, Yemer stopped me and was gonna say something before changing his mind. He said it was nothing, then rushed ahead with Lyra. I rose an eyebrow at him before huffing a sigh and following after them.
He was either about to thank me for saying what I did or warn me about the trap he's luring us into. Either way, he changed his mind so it's irrelevant now I suppose. It also occurred to me that while we were having that little heart-to-heart, our friends were still in peril. Yeah, shoulda streamlined that entire talk for them. Fuck's sake, their statues were in the same room as us.
Well...nothing to be done about it now. I really shouldn't be writing while exploring, so I'm gonna stop for now.
A/N: Did that "no Pokemon statues around at all outside Serene Village and Lively Town" plot hole not bother anyone else when they got to this point? I mean, I get not having dungeon Pokemon would've made the game dull and too easy, but they coulda made a dungeon where the rooms/corridors were shaped out of rows and rows of Pokemon turned to stone or...something. Coulda done something with that for Mystery Dungeons, but they didn't.