Chapter 144 – Triple Luck
There was no way Star had given Qitlan the Reset Key. The very aura that would send Owen back to an amnesiac Charmander. The key that would make him forget everything, erase his current self, and start anew all over again. Under Alexander. A shadowy soldier. The perfect killer.
But there Qitlan stood, the Key in an orb, and the most confident smile on his face. It wasn't a bluff.
"Now, I understand how much you value being yourself," Qitlan said, taking a step forward.
Owen took one back, sensing guards at the other end of the hall. But with Qitlan there, they didn't advance just yet.
"Surrender," Qitlan said, "and we won't have to use this. It would be inconvenient, I admit, to have you down to Charmander, building you up. It's simply better if you were yourself, as you are now, all your strength, under Alexander. You'll be with Mhynt, too. I'm sure she would be happy to… share her time with you. A happy soldier is a loyal soldier."
"You led me down here on purpose," Owen said. "But you didn't do it to my other half yet, did you?"
"Not just yet. You were… the larger threat." Qitlan nodded. "So, come quietly, will you? I can just make another for your other half, if you're warning him right now."
Owen hid a wince, but his heart was hammering in his chest. Key. The Key. He was going to be Reset. He was going to…
His heart rate was slowing down. The flame on his tail dimmed to something a little calmer. Mesprit had his hand on his shoulder. While the red sprite was trembling, he seemed to be trying to dull Owen's emotions. Uxie had her hand on his other shoulder.
"Stay calm," she said. "Think this through…"
Calm. But this was bad. The Reset Key would undo all of his progress. He could try to flee, but then he would make more from Star, and then what? That wasn't a good option, as far as Owen was concerned.
If he did lose himself… he would just become helpless again. But his other self wouldn't. But would he want to sacrifice his wings just to give the other Owen the chance to flee? Would he then fight… himself? How quickly would he be strengthened? How damaging would that be to himself?
He'd already witnessed one 'recombination' nearly completely erase someone. Rhys wasn't even there anymore, not the same at all.
Qitlan approached and the Reset Key was a little brighter. That confidence in his strut told Owen that he knew he'd won. But it still didn't make any sense. Why was he so confident, why wasn't the other Owen under his control?
He had to take a chance. Reset and lose everything, and put his faith into the other Owen, or flee and leave Star behind. Star, who had caved and provided that Key, despite telling her to hang on a little longer. Did she think granting this would have been better? Or was she trying to stop her torment? Star was selfish enough to do that, but why now? Why had she held out for so long, only to give him a trump card at the very end?
It wasn't adding up.
But Qitlan's confidence. Why? He knew it was real. It…
Owen glanced at Uxie. He thought about all those times he had been genuinely happy, despite living a lie. Despite his memories being modified. To someone with Perceive like him, he would have looked genuinely normal, all those false lives.
What if…
Could that be the answer?
How many seconds had passed? Everything felt slow, and his emotions were starting to run high again, pushing past Mesprit's suppression. He looked strained. Uxie looked like she was trying to get a good shot, but would Qitlan resist it? He was much stronger than any of the guards; there was no telling. He couldn't gamble with that.
Qitlan took one more step forward and raised the orb skyward. The guards seemed ready to attack. This was it. It all boiled down to one decision.
Could he trust Star to hang on just a little more? To not give in and produce the Reset Key? Was this a perfect bluff?
And could he trust the other Owen to pick up where he'd left off if this all failed?
To both… He had his answer.
Owen grabbed a sphere of his own, this one of platinum glass. He crushed it and grabbed Mesprit and Uxie by the waist.
At the same time, Qitlan crushed the orb and let a shockwave of strange energy overtake the hall. Owen jumped to the side, plunging himself into the wall like it was just another doorway.
The aura still hit him, though, and for a horrifying, sinking moment, he wondered if he would be stuck in the wall, reset, dormant, confused, and he'd just doomed Mesprit and Uxie to the same fate.
Everything went dark; Owen couldn't see. But his Perceive gave him all the answers he needed as he held his breath—he couldn't breathe anymore, either—and kept Uxie and Mesprit against his chest.
Another second passed. And then another. Nothing was happening.
He could also tell if they were strained or not. The blessing would last about as long as Rayquaza's, so he only had a minute or so.
"Owen, we can't breathe. Hurry!" Uxie urged. "Take us somewhere!"
The shockwave didn't feel at all like a Reset Key. Was it fake after all? Did Star trick him? But he was too keen for that…
Didn't matter. Now he could rescue the others. Owen ascended to the higher floors, hoping Qitlan would scatter with the others to clear the way to Star.
South Null Village was under siege by a two-person army. One was Aster, who blipped wherever he pleased, taking down defending guards in one hit each time before disappearing to the next part of the street. His mobility disrupted any attempts at the guards from keeping a tight formation.
That made Leph's job a lot easier. Compared to Aster, who was just there to cause a ruckus, Alexander had given Leph very specific instructions: Get to the Tree and extract the spirits inside.
From high above, Leph wasn't sure how to interpret it all. The aerial guards were being knocked to the ground at once. Some of them seemed to be more powerful than the rest by huge margins. In particular, a Milotic partnered with a Zoroark kept Aster from going anywhere near the Tree. The Zoroark's mane crackled with electricity, while the Milotic swam through the ground like it was water.
A Marshadow and a Lucario battled with their backs facing each other, giving Aster no way to break their coverage. They fought in sync so well that even Leph couldn't see an easy opening. Strange. Something about that Lucario was familiar to her…
That wasn't important. Her next Judgement was fully charged. From her back, filaments of light exploded out, curved through the air, and rained upon the streets. The explosions drowned out the screams, but Leph had a feeling she hadn't hit anyone badly.
A part of her wondered if the small casualties would set off Alexander. Maybe she should kill a few just so he wouldn't bother her…
No. Her main goal was the Tree of Life. That meant if she did just that, it would show her focus and loyal discipline.
Below, Aster was being pushed away by an onslaught of attacks that had caught him off guard. That Milotic was troublesome… Why was she so determined? She considered taking her out so Aster could have more even footing.
Leph directed a few of the filaments of light toward Milotic. They weren't even paying attention to the blast.
The first filament lanced her through the chest harmlessly. Her whole body distorted and faded away…
Zoroark. Of course.
Perhaps that was also why Aster was having so much trouble. Fine. She just had to be fast. With a cold, calculated movement, she disappeared and reappeared next to the tree; a reaction of countless guards bombarded her with weak, quick strikes. She tapped her foot and rocked the ground in an Earthquake, and then blasted more light in a cone over her back. Leph winced slightly. She'd killed a few of the weaker ones. She could feel their lives disappear, reclaimed by the Voidlands.
"OWEN!" cried a deep, feminine voice. The Milotic, and perhaps this time real. Leph was about to conjure another Judgement, but Aster appeared between them.
"I've got them, Leph!"
"Right." No time to think. She just had to follow orders. Follow orders, and she'd live another day as herself. She shoved a hoof into the bark of the tree—
And everything went white.
She stumbled back, the tree's bark disappearing. The blinding sunlight disoriented her. Her rear touched another tree and she leapt back, but it was perfectly normal. Just a healthy oak tree.
Healthy… oak tree.
Leph stopped to admire it. It called to her in some deep, wistful way.
The sunlight felt so real. The warmth from the blue sky. They had flashes of that under South Null, but she had to destroy it. That was her assignment. Where did—
She felt a presence behind her. She whirled around and fired a single beam of light.
Clang!
An ethereal ring shook the ground. The light bounced off of a golden barrier and careened into another tree, which toppled over. Behind the shield was a huge, towering Charizard. Taller than she was. Up close, she'd have to crane her neck.
"Y… you…"
The Charizard smiled, nodding. "It's just me, Leph." His voice was just like she remembered. Deep, powerful, scary… but it was a scary voice that would ward off others. A voice she had trusted, once, before it had all gone wrong. And… this manipulator knew that, so he assumed this form.
"Don't try to—"
"I can't do anything here." He bowed his head. "This is all just a vision, Leph. A second in the Voidlands… it's probably minutes in here. You have time to take me away."
"You…" Leph hesitated. It was the same voice, but… "You aren't acting like… him. Who are you?!"
"The memories of… Wishkeeper are with another Owen," he said. "But I know bits and pieces. And I know who you are; the other Owen told me."
"Did he tell you that you led an army to kill Necrozma?"
"He did." Owen nodded. "But I would have avoided it, if he agreed to spare Kilo. You know that."
"You… you were the one who caused all this," Leph said. "The whole reason I'm in the Voidlands… It's because—"
"—Alexander took my place, and succumbed to Dark Matter's power. And then, when it consumed him, he became… too powerful, even for Dark Matter to fight against. I'm not going to deflect blame entirely, but… don't forget, things only became worse when I was taken out."
"If you just accepted Kilo's end… none of this would have happened," Leph said. "I still blame you."
The mockery of Wishkeeper nodded. His flame dimmed.
"And what are you doing now?" Leph asked. "Trying to fix your mistakes? Trying to atone? You… you deserve to be Voided the same as any of Alexander's victims. You try living a life where you're nothing but a shell!"
She fired another beam of energy, which was deflected without him even moving.
Leph went on. "All the pain I went through under that Hydreigon's tyranny, all because you couldn't trust Necrozma! Now I'm—" She choked up, wincing. Her vision was blurry with tears. "Now I'm…"
Owen gestured behind him. "There's a place I like to meditate," he said. "Before you take me away, would you like me to show you?"
"Why?" Leph accused.
"It helps clear your head. And… I don't think anything I say here will make you feel better. Just that I'm sorry. I've done a lot of thinking about what I could have done better, what I'd tell people if I could. But what happened, happened. Even with Dialga on my side, I know I can't go back and undo it. Not without making things a whole lot worse."
He led her down the clearing, filled with healthy trees with a foreign, green color for their leaves. Everything was so bright. It unnerved her.
The Charizard eventually settled against a tree a little wider than he was, and tall enough to rival the Castle. She leaned back a little to see the top. It, too, was empty, filled only with leaves.
She sat next to him, on edge, waiting for some kind of attack. None came.
"How's Aster been?" Owen asked. "Seems he's a good fighter. But when he learned it was me, there was… a lot of hurt in his eyes."
"He's confused. That's all," Leph said. "He tries to turn everything into a game to cope."
"I don't blame him. At least he was happy for most of it… even if… Well. He's probably killed a lot of people, hasn't he?"
No reply. Leph didn't want to follow this thinking. She didn't need reminders. She had to survive; it wasn't like she was actually killing them anyway. They still lived. They still stayed in the Voidlands. She killed nobody.
A huge wing draped over Leph.
"I know you can dispel that," Owen said, gesturing to the ring around her abdomen.
She shrank away, but that warmth was… nostalgic. Had she been cared for by him like this in the past? She couldn't remember anymore. Did Alexander take that memory away? Or was she tricking herself?
Alexander promised that as long as she obeyed, she would keep her memories. She was still herself. She still had all of herself. She had to.
Had to.
"I can," Leph replied. "But I don't trust you like that."
Owen tilted his head a little, but the wing started to pull away.
"It's cold here," Leph murmured.
The wing stopped. Her Arceus ring of gold and emerald prodded at the membrane. It was probably uncomfortable to hold it over her like that.
"Well, alright," Owen said, holding his position. "Sorry that I evacuated all the spirits here. It's just me. But I think that's the one Alexander wanted the most, isn't it?"
"Probably…"
"I'm not mad at you for it. I'll come with you quietly."
"Well, it's not like you have a choice. I'm… going to take you back. That's what you deserve."
"But could you do something for me?" Owen asked. "I think it will free you."
"You won't trick me."
"Why would I trick you, Leph?" Owen asked. "You… you do remember, right? I remember enough that I want to help you. My enemy is Alexander, not you… so…"
And Leph also knew that perhaps even here, Owen could read her body's tells. Was this even her body, though? This was all some sort of spiritual vision. Maybe Owen's Perceive didn't work here. But did he still have the power to read her past? Mhynt did. Owen had the same blessing, the ability to read a spirit's path.
But… there wasn't really anything to be seen there. Nothing that he could use against her. It would just be more reasons why she hated him for all he'd caused.
"Leph?" Owen asked.
"What?"
"The favor. Would you hear me out?"
"Say what you want, but then I'm taking you."
"The me in Cipher City can free you from Alexander," Owen said. "If you fly north and see him, will you stop and help?"
"What if you're lying?"
"Then take him back to Alexander, too. You can't lose here." Owen leaned a wing over Leph, nodding. "I want you to be free. That's always what I've been fighting for, and… I've learned from my mistakes. Right now, that's all that matters. Being free from the Voidlands. It's possible, Leph. Don't forget that. Okay?"
Leph sighed and placed a hoof on his thigh. His body dissolved into nothing but a cyan bubble with a gold center, which she placed in her chest.
"Don't forget," she mumbled, the environment around her dissolving. "That's what I've been trying to do this whole time…"
Owen and Swampert had underestimated just how much they could resolve at once.
They had split up. Owen sent Swampert to the higher floors, making sure he tapped on every coin that had been set down the day prior, as well as tip over every vase that he'd put down, even doubling back if he had the opportunity. It was all just a diversion. Owen hadn't put anything in those vases—no resources—so it was just a distraction to get them paranoid.
The problem was getting to the dungeons. All the stairs were heavily guarded and Owen lacked the brute strength to pierce through. His Perceive didn't give him any proper hints, either. He could only sense, far below him, that the other, Charizard Owen was being held up by some other mishap. He wasn't communicating, so he could only guess what the standoff was.
The Charizard had remarked that he knew where the Charmeleon was, but couldn't properly sense him. That was strange, but Owen also couldn't sense himself well. Something was blocking his Perceive, but only for his own body. He didn't know what interference that was, but the pain in his chest made him hope it wasn't some disruptor they'd lodged in him somehow. Was that even possible?
Qitlan was holding something, but it was invisible to his Perceive.
"Stop!" called a guard once again, and Owen sidestepped on his way down the hall to dodge a rock the guard had conjured and tossed his way. He instead turned around the corner and sprinted to the stairway. For once, it didn't seem to be occupied.
Tumbling down from the upper stairway, weaving past a few other guards, was Swampert, covered in welts and cuts from narrowly dodged attacks.
"Swampert?!" Owen called.
"Kid, you really got me in hot water this time!" Swampert grabbed him by the shoulders and throttled him. "Why?! Why did you make me tilt all those vases?! What was your plan?!"
"D-diversion?!" Owen said with a nervous titter. "Hey, by the way, I'm also being chased!"
Both sets of guards closed in on them. Swampert grabbed Owen and held him up.
"I—I got him!"
"Hey! Let me go, let me go!" Owen cried, kicking his legs and swinging his tail. He could feel Swampert's uncertainty, his brief, furtive glances. He was desperate for Owen to think of a plan.
What was he supposed to come up with?! They were cornered!
The guards, however, seemed confused. "What?" said the leading Blaziken.
"I got him!" Swampert said again, holding Owen up like a prize. "Where do I take him?"
"Uh… To King Alexander, I think," Blaziken said. "He should be around here, right? Take him upstairs!"
Swampert offered a wobbly grin and nodded.
"…Hang on a second, that's Servant!" cried a Beheeyem in the back. "He's working for Owen! They're in cahoots!"
So much for that, Owen thought, wincing. "Agk—squeezing, you're squeezing me!" Owen hissed.
"…I guess I'm done for now," Swampert said as the guards murmured loudly with one another. "You really trapped me, huh?"
"Th-that's not what I wanted," Owen mumbled, genuine. They were trapped and he was hoping they would spare him if this had gone wrong, but…
"You said you're going to free everyone eventually," Swampert said. "…Is that true?"
"If I get out of here…" Owen's shoulders sagged. They were closing in, taking careful paces, like they were expecting him to pull something. But Owen was out of ideas.
"Then I have nothing to lose." Swampert tucked Owen under his arm like luggage.
"What—"
"HAAAAAAA!" Swampert charged down the hall and raised his free arm high. He conjured a massive wave of water behind him, towering over him and all the other guards, who immediately opened fire. Owen squeaked and held his hands forward, creating a Protect.
With oddly quick thinking, Swampert positioned Owen just in time to block most of the hits before charging forward again, surfing on his own wave to gain extra distance.
Why is using me as a shield intuitive?!
But it was working, for whatever few seconds they'd needed to press forward. As Swampert dashed past the break in the crowd he'd made, putting all of that exercise to good use, he dug through a pouch on his side. It wasn't filled with much, but it did have that little pebble that Owen had gifted him. He squeezed it tight and a strange, golden energy coursed through his arm.
Owen wasn't sure what went through Swampert's mind just then. All he knew was that everything the guards were now throwing at him did nothing. Even as he fled through and took every hit, even as Owen's Protect shattered.
"You told the truth!" Swampert roared, tears rolling from his eyes. Flames, ice, and blades conjured of the elements cut through Swampert, but he took all of it and powered on. Step by step, unimpeded. "I remember!" Swampert roared. "I remember my name!"
Owen gasped, narrowly blocking a stray blast as the brief energy faded from Swampert's system.
"My name… is Artur! Born in Pyrock… in the outskirts! And I remember!"
He slammed into the wall and conjured more waves of water to push him down the hall to another set of stairs.
"Well," said an icy, familiar voice, "I'm so happy you could remember… before losing it again!"
"Watch out!" Owen shouted.
Artur held Owen forward and Owen erected a shield, narrowly parrying a concentrated beam of darkness. It sizzled, stinging his scales even past the Protect, which dissolved by the time it was over. The walls around him had been perfectly burned in a circle where the blast had sprayed.
And far ahead was Alexander, flying toward them. On his back was Mhynt, who hopped off and dashed ahead even faster.
"W-wait!" Artur shouted. "I'm—"
Mhynt drew her Honedge from the darkness and leapt. Owen crossed his arms to gamble on another Protect in time, but he was too slow. The blade nicked him on the cheek and plunged into Artur's heart.
The Swampert opened his mouth in surprise and terror. It didn't seem like pain. Perhaps it never had the chance to catch up to him, because seconds later, Artur turned to dust. Embers of life siphoned into the blade, giving the once-dull eye a very dim glow.
Owen hit the ground and lost his breath. "Uff—"
Mhynt pointed the blade at him next, just as Alexander drifted closer with a devilish grin on all three heads.
"And here we are," he said. "Thought you could escape with this little trick? Qitlan already trapped the 'other you' here… and Leph and Aster are burning down that Tree of Life as we speak. You will soon be nowhere but in my clutches, whelp… And for what you've done… you certainly exhausted all of your privileges here. It'll be back to the dungeons with you."
Mhynt grabbed Owen by the arm and forced him to stand, using her blade to coax him up to make up for her height.
"Come, Mhynt," Alexander said, spinning around. "Let's reunite him with his old cell."
"Of course," Mhynt replied.
Owen glanced down at Mhynt, betrayed. He couldn't get a read on her. As far as he could tell… she was genuinely going to take him over. She had no tell, none at all.
No. He had to believe in her. He had nothing left but faith in others to pull through. Maybe Mhynt had an idea after all. Maybe—
There was a hand coming out of the floor. That was weird.
Mhynt stifled a startled chirp when it grabbed her legs. Another hand grabbed Owen's tail.
And suddenly, they were pulled under.
Qitlan marched toward Beheeyem and grabbed him by the neck.
"Ngk—!"
"Why did you lie to me?" Qitlan said, holding a finger to his temple. "Choose wisely or I'll give your brother your skull."
"Y-y-yikes!" Beheeyem wriggled a little. "Y-y-you said t-t-to make you think we got it! For a bluff! To fool his Perceive! Please don't kill me!"
"What?" Qitlan hissed.
Beheeyem hastily clicked two fingers together, and a bind against Qitlan's mind suddenly split open, and the true memories resurfaced in a rush. The hasty steps down the dungeon. The quick thinking, the gamble, the false orb of light energy.
Qitlan released Beheeyem and sprinted down the hall. "Secure Mew," he ordered. "Where is she located now?!"
He addressed the first guard he saw—a Golduck who still looked dazed by something that had happened before.
"WHERE IS SHE?" Qitlan roared, shooting Golduck in the arm.
He quacked in pain and crumpled to the side. "I don't know! They didn't tell me! H-hey, do you know what Hydro Pump is?"
"Useless." Qitlan sprinted down the halls again, but skidded to a stop when he heard a commotion down a different hall. Green lights and purple smoke…
He saw a wraith skittering down the hall just as he turned, but it was all the way on the opposite side. He saw several guards crumpled on the ground, but no Owen. He didn't produce green flames, did he? No, the Grass Orb… what if—No. They'd flame-proofed those chains; he wouldn't have been able to break Mew loose so easily, and he didn't have much physical strength.
"What happened?" Qitlan asked, catching the smell of the purple gas. It muddled his mind. He shook it off, but saw that all of the guards seemed both dazed and wounded. Some kind of toxin…
One seemed to be in better shape because he was giggling. "Speak to me, what happened?"
"Pretty lady…" The dazed Weavile giggled.
Qitlan shoved him away and checked the room. The door had a hole melted through it, but it also looked like it had been blasted by some other kind of energy, too. Green scales littered the ground, oddly hexagonal in shape. Deeper inside, past the two-door chamber, was an empty cell.
Empty cell. Empty cell. And the chains looked like they'd been rusted away and then chopped by incredible force.
The whole room had that intoxicating smell in the air. Qitlan didn't wait any longer, knowing that it was the wraith.
Down several more halls, but the Void Shadow was fast. Whose Void Shadow was it? Dark Matter was dead, or at least useless; the only other one who could control Void Shadows was Alexander. Who?
Qitlan recognized this area. The center of the basement of Cipher Castle, the connection to Kilo through a great crater. Nobody could pass through, but sometimes wanderers found their way inside to be converted to guards. Easy, strong labor.
But a Void Shadow couldn't escape through there. Smirking, Qitlan continued forward, knowing it was cornered.
The door creaked open, heavy but accessible—because what could possibly escape through here?—but he noticed the unused lock had been melted through anyway by some corrosive liquid.
And the Void Shadow was nowhere to be seen.
"What?!"
So, naturally, it had survived up ahead. Qitlan sprinted through the door and into the large, empty room, but he never reached the other side. Instead, the world around him shifted from a dark, blue-black dungeon to a brown, arid field.
And suddenly it felt like his whole body was on fire. He hissed, blinded by the light, and staggered back to safety until the burning stopped.
"Qitlan, sir!" cried a few guards.
"By the Void, why did he go through?!"
"Someone, get a medic!"
"Qitlan, are you okay?!"
Qitlan groaned, looking at his hands. All the skin was gone. He could only imagine what the rest of him must have looked like. He whispered, "Star… Star is here, somewhere. Somewhere in the outskirts is her Void Shadow. Get her… She went through. She must have been reclaimed. Get her… get her…!"
His vision was darkening. The pain was too much, even for him. As the medics descended upon him, he could only hope that Alexander would not be disappointed… Qitlan imagined falling into Alexander's embrace, feeling his tough scales. That he didn't fail. And that they would get them again.
With a little smile, he allowed himself to fall unconscious.
Owen really was carrying them out like groceries.
Mesprit and Azelf were in his left arm. Cipher Owen and Mhynt were in his right. Conjuring an updraft for himself, Owen glided through the main floor of Cipher Castle, making a straight shot toward the grand entrance.
"Wait!" Mesprit cried. "We forgot Mew!"
"Taken care of," Charizard Owen said.
"What? I can't sense her!" Charmeleon Owen yelped.
"I sensed someone fleeing with her while rescuing you. Don't know who, but they fled through some spot in the dungeons and then vanished. I think they're safe. Star felt relieved."
"But what if it's all a ploy?" Mesprit cried.
"We're out of tricks, I—I need to have faith." He faltered a little. "I'm sorry, this plan didn't go as well as I thought. I couldn't get to Star in time and I sensed you were cornered, too. I messed up."
"Don't beat yourself up yet." Uxie focused ahead. "Mesprit and I are out of power. You only have Azelf's blessing left. And a whole fleet of guards are about to pursue us."
"I—I think I'll figure out a way to get past the guards. I just need a little more timing. Hey, by the way, question. Those… powers you had on emotion and knowledge. Do they affect Dark Pokémon, too?"
"Well, yes. Those are divine powers, not Psychic powers. Though, strong Pokémon can resist it, if you're thinking of trying that on Alexander…"
"Would it work for at least a little while?"
"If a 'little while' means seconds, then perhaps so. But right now, we aren't at our best. Our other halves are not part of us. Don't expect it to work for more than a few instances."
"Good enough," Owen growled to himself.
Charmeleon Owen, meanwhile, was holding Mhynt's shoulder. "Hey," he said. "Can Alexander control you if he figures out what happened?"
"It's possible," Mhynt said.
"Then now's the time for me to try to free you."
"So you really can do that?" Charizard Owen asked.
Charmeleon Owen nodded. "I think I reawakened some of Diyem's blessings in me. Mhynt, are you…?"
"…And you won't control me next?"
Both Owens looked betrayed, but Charmeleon Owen recovered faster. "I don't know how, and I don't want to find out."
"Decide fast! They're closing in!"
By now, the city lights were below them, beautiful crystals amid a black sea of stone. From all four sides, winged guards were already catching up. Even the ground guards were taking aim, and Owen just remembered the sentry spire would also be firing at him. But this time, he didn't have Rayquaza's blessing to get him through. He only had one last blessing.
"Fine, do it," Mhynt hissed.
The Charmeleon grabbed Mhynt with one arm over her shoulder. He tensed, but Charizard Owen still couldn't get a read for what was in his counterpart's body, which unnerved him. Why was his Perceive acting up like that? It was like something was blocking his senses, absorbing it from the inside.
Shadowy energy raced along the smaller Owen's shoulders and into his arms, seeping into Mhynt's. Then, he tugged, and an even greater shadow tore its way out of Mhynt, who was suddenly gasping for air and squeezing her little fingers over Charizard Owen's arms.
"I can't… breathe…" Mhynt whimpered.
"A little more," Owen begged as he pulled. "Skies, there's a lot of Alexander in here…"
That made Mhynt wince even more, so Charizard Owen held her a little more firmly as he dodged between stray blasts from below. "You're fine, Mhynt," he said gently. That relaxed her muscles a little. "Not long now."
"Got it!" The other Owen finally yanked something free from Mhynt, which burst from her shoulder yet left no wound. Mhynt screamed and tucked her head against her carrier's chest, pounding her fist against his arm. Despite her size, the strikes nearly knocked Owen off balance, but it also helped him dodge the first blast from the sentinel spire.
"Gah! It's really firing already?!" Mesprit said.
Then came an explosion up ahead. The missed shot had hit a building instead, and it was collapsing in front of them.
"Oh, gods…"
Owen wished his Perceive wasn't active, but as he flew over the building, he couldn't help but count how many were trapped inside the rubble.
"Don't slow down," Uxie said.
"I wasn't going to—" Owen wasn't sure if he was lying. Maybe he would have tried to help. But Uxie reminded him that he couldn't. But… "But they're trapped—"
"Save them by saving the Voidlands. If you go down, the guards will—OWEN!"
Owen descended toward the building. The guards were fifteen seconds away from him at most. Alexander was speeding towards them at the same time. At the rate this was going, they would meet him at the same time Alexander would.
Uxie was shouting various curses into his mind, commanding him to fly away. But he knew the timing of the sentry tower now. He had a bit. And this was just what he needed for the final stretch out of the city.
Landing on the ground, Owen released Mhynt. "How good are your powers as Lunala?" Owen asked immediately.
"What?"
"You can change into her, right? You're whole?"
"I… I haven't used that light in a very long time, Owen. The darkness corroded it into—" Her eyes widened with realization.
"Please, try." Owen loosened his hold, and then glanced at the cloud of guards coming in, parting ways for Alexander himself to approach. "You need to use that light and get us far south. Maybe… halfway. That should be enough."
"I can't be precise like that… I'll…"
He lunged forward and held his arms out, crafting a Protect just in time to parry a shadowy lance. It deflected into the ground where it turned the stone to shadowy dust.
"What if I fail?" Mhynt asked, the smallest hint of helplessness in her voice.
"Then I have another backup. Try, don't be afraid, Mhynt! Anything is enough!"
The Treecko winced again and nodded. Then, she tensed herself, and her expression grew firm. Uxie and Mesprit floated just behind Owen, still tapped out. Charmeleon Owen was pushing a few pieces of rubble aside by conjuring some vines. Some Pokémon under the surface pushed their way through the rubble. At least most of the buried Pokémon were hardy; being able to breathe was the concern, not the weight of the debris.
"I'm sensing a strong power in the way," Mhynt said. "I don't know how to do warp travel in the Voidlands, not… not right now, I can't get past—"
"Go in front of it," Owen said. "That's Leph and Aster. Has to be."
"Don't we want to avoid—"
"Other-me has it covered. Do it!"
The guards wouldn't wait, so Owen bought some precious seconds. He grabbed the final blessing and smashed it. From the orb of light, blue energy enveloped everything within at least hundreds of feet in all directions. And suddenly, all of the guards stopped advancing. Even Alexander faltered.
Their will to fight had been sapped. For how long, Owen wouldn't risk. But with their empty wills… maybe he could try to get into their heads. Alexander was a lost cause, but the guards…
"Look at what your so-called leader has done just to get me." Owen spread his wings to look bigger. "Sacrificing innocent civilians, not even caring how many he destroys, just because he's afraid of my power!"
"Don't listen to him," Alexander hissed, trying to conjure some of his Shadows again. One of his heads looked much darker than the rest of him again, like he was struggling to maintain its shape. "You… what trick is this…"
"If you want to defect, if you're tired of living in the Voidlands," Owen roared, "come to South Null. Defect! Come with your head low, surrender, and you will find a new home away from Alexander."
"Your words fall on deaf ears!" Alexander spat. "Now FALL!"
At first, Owen thought Mhynt's body had torn apart. It horrified him. But then, wings replaced where her back had blown away. Where her legs and limbs had shriveled, a great body of cosmic colors came into being, complete with the head of an upward crescent moon. She was strained, but she raised her wings and blasted over Owen's shoulder, striking Alexander directly when he was focused on his own strike. Alexander tried to throw what he had, a faded lance of darkness.
On reflex, Owen reached toward it and pulled at that same aura. He tried to trace it—it was so slow compared to Alexander's other attacks—but it was too strange. He couldn't figure out how to copy it.
Charmeleon Owen rushed forward next, grasping at the energy with his claws in the same way. Filaments of dark strings traced through the air and into his claws like he was toying with a puppet, and then the Charmeleon pulled. The lance was in his hands. Then, like it burned him, he hurled it back at Alexander, who was too disoriented to defend. It struck him in the chest, sending him careening past all of the guards with a frustrated roar.
Mhynt's wings stretched as far as they could. There was a great light behind him that was expanding outward. Mhynt's wings collapsed around them all. Everything was too bright, then too dark, and then too bright again. It burned, then it was cold, and then…
South Null was burning, and Leph flew away from it with Aster on her back and one more spirit within her chest.
"…Leph…" Aster tapped on the wheel over her abdomen. "If we're doing bad things for someone who's bad, because if we didn't, we'd die… are we bad?"
Leph sighed. Why now, after so many centuries, was he now thinking about the philosophy behind all this playing? Owen must have reminded him of times gone by.
Because of course Owen would do that. He had practically raised them, even if it was here and there. Unlike the Legends, he knew how to interact with mortals. He remembered how to think the way a mortal did, and now so was Aster. Was that better? Worse?
"It's just how things are," Leph said quietly. "We don't have a choice. Worrying about it won't help anything. It'll just… make you feel worse."
But that was probably how Aster had coped all this time. It had finally caught up to him. Now, Leph only wished she could be as carefree as he had been…
A bright light assaulted her vision and her flight path. She yelped and abruptly halted her flight; Aster slammed into the back of her neck. When the stars faded from Leph's vision, she saw a Charizard, a Charmeleon, several small Pokémon, and a huge pile of rubble. She could sense many lives underneath the rubble.
"What in the world…" Leph descended. "Aster! Lift those stones. There are Pokémon inside!"
"Okay!" Aster hopped off of Leph and focused, his whole body radiating violet light. Stones glowed with the same color, arranging themselves into neat stacks and freeing many injured and battered Pokémon underneath.
Leph heard a light chuckle in her mind.
There he is.
Leph, startled, looked around. "Who's there?"
Sorry. I was just watching. It's me, Owen. In here.
She looked down toward her chest. Then at the sky.
Up ahead. That's the rest of me. Mind… handing me over?
Leph stared uneasily at the downed Charizard. Azelf, Mesprit, she recognized those two, as well as a Charmeleon under his wings. There was even…
"Mhynt!" Leph trotted over. "Mhynt, you look awful!"
The Treecko was withered like a leaf. Her back looked torn apart by something, and her arms and legs bent at odd angles. Leph tried to focus some healing energy toward her, which helped a little…
"Leph…" Mhynt wheezed, reaching up. "Get… get Owen… to… free you."
"What?"
"I'm… I'm free, Leph…" Mhynt limply squeezed Leph's golden hooves. "I've never felt… so…"
"Save your strength," Leph whispered.
The Charizard was stirring, but the Charmeleon got up first, groaning. "Don't remember that being part of the travel…" He wobbled to his feet. "…Leph?"
"H-hi…"
"Hi."
"Rescue complete!" Aster said cheerfully, holding about twenty Pokémon in a lazy cloud above his head.
"Set them down," Owen and Leph requested.
"Oh—sorry."
Leph turned her attention back to Owen. "There… are two of you."
Three, actually.
"Er, yeah, long story."
Mesprit and Azelf helped Mhynt stand, but then realized they were better off carrying her. She could barely stay conscious. Charizard Owen, meanwhile, took her in his arms and nodded firmly, assuring them she would be okay.
"You… you really can do it?" Leph asked. "You can… just do it like that? Undo what Alexander did to me?"
"It's why he's afraid of me," Owen said. "I take it other-me told you everything?"
"…How… how did you plan all of this?" Leph asked. "I can't believe it."
"Alexander used to work under me. Between the notes all of my selves shared, I knew some of his strategies. And… I didn't know for sure. But if he sent you two to South Null, I knew how it would go. I'm… glad I was right." He held out his hands. "May I be whole? Then I think I'll have the strength to free you."
But if she disobeyed, Alexander would Void her. That would be the end. She'd be gone. She'd be nothing.
Remember what I said, Leph. Alexander doesn't matter anymore. Please… trust me one last time. Isn't this exactly what you said you'd do?
It was. It really was.
But after so many centuries… it seemed too good to be true. Getting this change… facing everything she'd done, after being free from that darkness…
You can do it, Leph. Do it for Aster.
Aster…
The Mewtwo was chatting happily with the confused civilians, who seemed varying degrees between startled and scared. His happy laughs. Were they fake? Could they be real again?
"Okay." Filaments of light emerged from Leph's back, and then, from between the back of her shoulders, they drew out a single golden orb. Gingerly, she let it drift toward Owen, but the moment she let go, it zapped into the Charizard's chest.
"Guh—" He staggered back and nearly squished Mesprit when he landed on his rear, squeezing his head.
"…Um… Owen—"
He held up a hand and then resumed squeezing his head.
They stood there, awkwardly, for a few seconds.
Then, "Wasn't expecting it to be that fast…" Owen shook his head. "Sorry. Was sorting through some… memory-shock? Yeah, let's call it that…" He breathed a deep sigh. "How far are we from South Null?"
"By wing, only a few minutes," Leph said. "Not long at all if Aster Teleports us there."
"Everyone here?" Owen asked, concerned.
"At such a short distance, he can handle it."
"Right… okay. Let's get that done. The sooner we can get out of here the better."
Zena was a nervous wreck. Even while she was in the hospital, her trivial wounds getting looked at, she couldn't stop thinking about if Owen's absurd plan was actually going to work. Doubts that maybe he'd planned too much and too many cascading things were about to go horribly wrong. That maybe Owen shouldn't have pushed himself so far just to get an edge on Qitlan's infinite planning. He'd exchanged careful strategy in favor of doing something unexpected and spontaneous, but wouldn't that result in losing and sacrificing too much?
"Yer lost in thought again."
She gasped, glancing at the door. "Don't scare me like that," she murmured at Marshadow, who closed the door behind him and offered an apologetic smile.
"Nah, sorry. Kinda comes with the bod'." He hopped onto the hospital bed and asked with his eyes if that was acceptable. Zena didn't object. "Anyway, just checkin' on everyone. You got a lotta bad hits, y'know. Worse than most."
"I suppose I'm a larger target," Zena admitted. "Any news about Owen?"
"Well, the scouts saw Leph stop her movements," Marshadow remarked. "Was pretty weird. Saw a lot of random building rubble suddenly appear in the air, too. Double weird. Not sure what that's all about, heh."
"Oi, oi, y'left me behind!" someone called as the door burst open again, revealing a bulky Lucario.
"Manny," greeted Zena with a small sigh. Gods, she was listening to him in stereo.
"Hey Zeeny," Manny greeted, earning a slight twinge of perplexed annoyance from the Milotic. "How's my double talkin'?"
"Well, he told me about the scouts…"
"Cool, yeah, since ol' Marshadow's hastier, he didn' get the latest," Manny said with a smirk.
"Now c'mon, I ain't gonna have a pretty lady waitin'!" Marshadow said.
Manny held up his arms, but then smiled at Zena. "Owen's comin' back. Looks like he pulled off a real miracle this time."
"What?! How many—er, how much of Owen? All of him?"
"Yeppers, all three, if y'ask me. Dunno how that one got pulled off. Missin' Star, though…"
Zena's first thought was that it didn't matter, but then she remembered how important that actually was… She winced, now a little guilty for the thought. "Let's go. I want to see him."
