Chapter 75 – Descend
He's supposed to be dead!
Star could barely run. Barely focus to fire an Aura Sphere, or anything, at what Anam had become. The sight of Owen and Eon being consumed by the wraiths had left her not knowing how to feel. Disbelief—that was all she could feel. That this had all been a single, giant nightmare, a warning that she should have just worked with them all from the start.
But she wasn't waking up. By now, Hecto would have nudged her awake, told her it was alright, and asked to talk about it. That wasn't happening. Hecto was nowhere. He still hadn't found Amia. And Anam had become the demon they thought they had annihilated a thousand years ago.
Amia's soulless body lay on the ground where Owen had been taken. There was no way that they could have saved her in time; the wraiths wrapped around her next. Gahi, stunned only for a second, shook his head and flew backward. He was too panicked to use his Psychic powers. Now that he was back to normal, did he even know how to tap into them again?
Star tried to find her voice—she wanted to shout, to remind him, to do anything in this useless body of Manny's. No—it wasn't his fault. She had exerted herself too much, and now…
"And now, the useless one… is you."
Star swung her arm to her right, screaming. She hit something and it dissolved into mist.
Wraiths flooded the caverns. Step blasted several with Ice Beams; ADAM stayed close to her, while Enet scrambled away from a horde. Her illusions didn't work well here. All of the smoke left clear disturbances whenever the Zoroark moved invisibly.
"And it's all your fault."
Star spun around, using her momentum for a powerful kick on another formless wraith. She stumbled after it passed through, surprised at Manny's strength, and fell on her back. She squeaked—her tail bent in an odd direction.
She rolled back to her feet, only to see Anam's blackened form staring down at her, towering over the Lucario.
"If only they would listen."
Star flinched, taking another step back. She blasted Anam with an Aura Sphere, then fired a half-formed one from her other paw. Neither did anything; ADAM's 'Normalize' aura had worn off. Perhaps it was because the Porygon-Z had fled the entryway.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Step had rammed her way through the wraiths, losing only an icy arm and part of her tail in the process, while carrying ADAM under her remaining arm. The wraiths tried to ambush her, but she radiated too much icy energy—like a sort of frosted Protect—for them to break through as easily. Willow was balanced on the top of Zena's horn, zapping several wraiths from her vantage point. But the Milotic was surrounded, and despite Anam being so focused on Star, the wraiths acted on their own.
Zena screamed for Owen again—Star didn't know if that had been the first time, or the first one that she had noticed. Demitri and Mispy, still fused as Mimi, couldn't find a way out of the caves. Still, it wasn't like they were trying anymore.
Enet and the rest of Team Alloy had stayed behind with Zena, perhaps in an effort to free Owen from the wraiths that had enveloped him. "No!" Star yelled. "Run away! He's already gone!"
"They would never trust you."
Anam blasted Star with another beam of shadows. She wailed, the force of the explosion sending her tumbling across the cave. The wraiths swelled, covering huge swaths of the floor in their shapeless darkness. They concentrated around Zena next, latching onto her lower half in an effort to pull her under. Some readied weak beams of shadow at her sides, but Enet blasted several of them with more electricity and dark slashes.
Gahi slammed down onto the ground, earthen explosions dissolving even more. Any wraith they hit fell with ease, but that didn't stop even more from replacing them. The source was Anam. They came, endlessly, from him. If they wanted to stop the wraiths, they had to stop him—even Anam ran out of energy, presumably.
And Star was the only one who could do that, now.
"And so you'll help them, even after what they did to you?" The demon possessing Anam took a single step toward Star; in return, Star took another one back. "Do they deserve it? You're wondering that. If they were smart, they would have fled. Yet now they're caring for the spirit that I had already claimed."
"Yet you're not f-finishing me off." Star focused her energy into a Flash Cannon this time, blasting Anam with white light. It took off part of his shoulder, but tar-like slime took its place. "Because you can't. I'm—"
"I can easily end this." Anam reached toward Star, but she yelped and hopped away. The momentum carried her too far and she fell backward, though she pivoted so she didn't crush her tail again.
Star scrambled up, but Anam stomped on her thigh, slime enveloping and pinning her down. She didn't feel any pain, but she also couldn't move; panicking, she fired more Flash Cannons at him. When Anam moved away, his leg remained on her—it had become another wraith, staring emptily at her.
"N-no—get away. You don't—"
"I'm keeping you here." Anam leaned forward, wrapping his hand around her neck. She jerked her head away, but Anam squeezed tight. A hoarse squeak escaped her and nothing more. "I want you to witness your failures before I claim you last."
He pulled her up. Her arms hanged limply by her sides, and Anam turned her so she could see, just in time, the wraiths topple over Zena. She fired Hydro Pumps in random directions, each one completely missing its mark. Mimi screamed and slashed at the wraiths that had surrounded Zena, readying another Solar Beam.
But it was all useless. Gahi's Earth Power, Enet's Thunder Bolt, the Solar Beams, the Hydro Pumps… There were just too many wraiths.
"Because I am the source of them. And as you said… Anam is the strongest."
"St-stop that!" Star shouted, slamming her fist into Anam's face. It sank into his cheek; she yanked her arm back, shaking off the slime futilely.
"All of the Guardians that you had tormented. The plan you laid out just to try to make as if everything was okay. The lies you wove to keep them all content, like there was no other way…"
Anam leaned forward, empty eyes piercingly staring at Star's. She couldn't look away—Anam's hand was wrapped around her head, preventing any movement. But then, he forced her to stare at his torso instead, which began to ripple and split open. Star couldn't find her voice to scream, so she only watched with wide eyes. There wasn't anything inside but more darkness, but when it split further, she saw through to the other side. He widened more and more until it became an empty window to the battle.
Zena had been completely overtaken by wraiths, her ribbons reaching uselessly for where the wraiths had wrapped around Owen. Next to her was Mimi, who had been bogged down by too many to fight off fast enough. A Solar Beam exploded from within the pile of darkness, but only a few rays of light had escaped before being snuffed out. Haxorus fists smashed through more wraiths, but several others enveloped the holes made.
Gahi grabbed onto Mimi's shoulders, beating his wings as hard as he could to break her free. That only made him get caught up in the wave of wraiths that had already consumed several of the others. Star didn't know what happened to them—but she couldn't sense Enet or Trina, and Step, ADAM, and Willow felt incredibly faint. They were either distant, or…
"Already gone. That's what you fear. And it's all because you failed to destroy me. Because you failed to even notice me…"
"Y-you… you can't…" Star tried to turn her head again, but Anam's gooey hands kept her still. "How are you still alive? We—we destroyed you."
"Yet, you didn't."
Star couldn't watch anymore. She forced her eyes closed, trying to ignore the desperate shouts of the others. She heard their prayers—desperate cries to the heavens for some way to save them. They weren't coherent sentences. They were primal thoughts. Star curled up more, held up only by Anam's grip.
"I said," Anam said, "you need to watch."
Tiny tendrils slithered around Star's face and through her fur, collecting around her eyelids.
"St-stop… stop…"
They tugged her eyelids up. She twitched her head; she felt them like a thick spiderweb. All she could see were the lumps of Zena, Mimi, and Gahi, trapped beneath the wraiths. Their struggles became progressively weaker, Hydro Pumps and Earth Powers completely absorbed by the sheer quantity of darkness around them.
At the far end of the hall, Step and Jerry fought off wraiths at the fringes of the shadow swamp. Jerry was barely standing, while Step was closer to the entrance. A small collection of wraiths separated the two of them, and Star had no idea what happened to the rest of them.
Just then, a flash of light appeared behind Step. An Alakazam, who tapped on her back. She shouted in surprise—but then, in another flash, both he and the Aggron disappeared. Only Jerry remained.
But the wraiths were all around him, and he was too weak to fly.
"Do you want to know something, Star? None of them trusted you. They resented you. For everything that you did to put them in their situations, for all of the secrets you kept from them, that you still keep… too afraid to face your old shames. Thinking that they would judge you for what had happened. For what happened to Quartz. For what happened to the humans who saved you."
Star couldn't watch. But she couldn't close her eyes—Anam wouldn't let her. She gritted her teeth and did what she could to look away—the last of her own free will that Anam was allowing of her. She turned her eyes, and only her eyes, downward, staring at his feet. She just had to gather a bit of her strength back and she could get away. She could let him talk.
Something crept along her face again. And then she felt a pressure—a strange, new, sharp pressure around her eyes. And then, by force, her view went back to the wraiths.
"I won't let you run away from your problems. I won't let you look away."
Star's mouth opened, but she couldn't make any sound. A weak whimper escaped after a few seconds of struggle, but her view was firmly locked. The tendrils had locked her eyes in place.
Jerry swiped at several wraiths away, but several more latched onto his back. He roared and spun around, but that was when the second wave toppled over him. A few wraiths landed on his scarf. They screeched, dissolving instantly.
Anam's colors flashed purple again, little swirls of light fighting to escape from the oppressive darkness. His grip loosened from Star's eyes just enough for her to feel it. She had only a second to react.
Star closed her eyes and focused as much as she could, holding her breath. Before the demon could catch what she was trying to do, everything faded away, and she withdrew deep into Manny's body, ejecting herself from the Fighting Core.
Relief washed over her even during her fall—her tiny, feline body bobbled in the air just below the golden orb in the center of the Fighting Realm. Nobody else was in the Core's main chamber.
Too exhausted to float straight, Star struggled to fly out of the first room. Behind her, the Core rumbled with a distant roar, countless spirits inside suddenly bursting out and flying past her. Their embers materialized into little Riolu, mostly, but others transformed into different, smaller forms, all eager and hasty to get out of the room.
"Wh-what's—"
The Core was swirling with black smog.
"We have to find Manny!" one of the Riolu shouted.
"Faster, faster!"
"Hurry!"
One ember had half-formed into a Riolu before a black tendril wrapped around its body, tugging it back into the Core. He screamed, followed by several failed escape attempts by other spirits.
Star didn't look back after the first time. The spirits were right: she had to find Manny. Not because he could take down this darkness—none of them could alone, at this point—but because he was surely on his way back, and he would run right into the demon's trap if she didn't stop him.
The screens overlooking the fighting arenas displayed empty fields and barren seats. Exercise equipment lay strewn about, some still running with nobody on them. Once a source of happy nostalgia, the strange devices now reminded Star of the human world—something that she did not want to be thinking about during this chase.
After several rooms that seemed to repeat the same abandoned scenery, several Aura Spheres flew through the air a single passage away.
"Manny?"
It wasn't Manny, but it was a lookalike—Star could only tell because his aura didn't radiate the same power that the true Guardian did.
"Star? What're you doing here?" the lookalike said. "Doll and Elbee are further back, we—"
He fired another Aura Sphere, disintegrating a wraith that had climbed onto the wall. That one had been in the shape of a Spinarak.
"Sorry about that. We're trying to fight off these wraiths! They came outta nowhere—maybe from Aether Forest? That's the only place we're connected to from here, I mean, except the Aura Sea, but—"
"Everyone needs to get out of here."
"What do you—"
"Oy!"
Star's heart sank.
The real Manny burst through a collection of wraiths with a single punch, pointing at Star. "What're yeh doing here? Get outta here befer these wraiths get ya!"
"No, you get out!" Star shouted. "The—Anam, the—the source is right inside Hot Spot! And he's trying to—"
Star realized that Manny was not staring at her, but behind her. She turned back just in time to see a wave of shadows topple over her.
For a few, terrifying seconds, Star's world went dark. She could hear his voice all around her, no way to escape it. His voice was no longer being said to her—it was being injected right into her consciousness.
It's as I told you. You can't escape your problems by running. Even as you abandoned them all… I will always find you.
Star blasted the darkness in front of her with a Psychic wave. She saw brief flashes of light and nothing more; she was still too exhausted, the very strain of unleashing any attack in the spirit world leaving her fatigued and fading. And if she faded while this thing was around her, what would…
Do you think any of them would ever come to your rescue after what you did? Do you think you deserve that?
Star blasted again. A single dot of light blessed her vision, but it was fleeting. The oppressive darkness collapsed around her, squeezing her spirit. She tried to breathe, like her spirit actually needed it, but the air only left her.
Answer me. Do you think you deserve anything from all those that you've wronged? For all their lives you've destroyed? For every century they suffered?
Star's ears rang. Every beat of her heart filled her hearing and throbbed against her temples. She couldn't speak back.
You don't. You never did. Because this world was born of an original mistake. I was born from it.
Star was too strained to fully register her surprise. This demon had nothing to do with any of them. It was just an anomaly! How could she have possibly created—
Even now, you deny. Deny, deny, deny, deny, DENY.
"A-ahh—" Something cracked. Star didn't know where. She couldn't feel anything for parts of her body.
It's no wonder I'm so familiar with the emotion when the gods themselves are plagued with it. I've had enough. Give up.
Star made one more Psychic blast, but this time, not even a speck of light got to her. She tried again, but the blast was even weaker than the last time. Her cries made no sound; was there even any air around her?
The ringing in her ears was back. She couldn't feel anything below her neck. She wasn't even sure if there was anything left. It was all numb and cold.
You created me. You created me like the rest of this world. Accept it. Accept your punishment.
She couldn't think anymore. All she could hear was the demon's words in her mind.
Let the world you created consume you. Just as it always happens to those who meddle with their own design…
Sleep was all she wanted. A long nap, away from all the trouble. She didn't care about the Hunters or the Guardians or Barky or…
Hecto…
The thought crossed her mind for only a few, fleeting seconds. He was still out there, searching for Amia, and what would happen to him if she…
Light flooded her vision, as did air into her lungs. A huge, blue paw wrapped around her chest, yanking her out of the demon's expansive form. A split-second later, she saw the blurry image of Manny. He was saying something, but she wasn't sure what. He sounded concerned.
Her body jerked around when he jumped away, still holding her tight. The air rushed around her thin fur, stinging every inch that it touched. Did a whimper escape her? She was sure it did, but she couldn't hear it… But then Manny's paw pressed onto her back, holding her firmly.
She didn't hear him, but she knew what he said. That she was okay. It was odd how she could have that weak connection with him, even now—she didn't need to hear him or understand him to feel how he felt.
It was funny, people like him.
But Manny was still running away, and rather than get better, the stinging was only getting worse. Her vision, once blurry, was now fading completely. She whimpered again, wanting to see the light, but it didn't come back. Manny held her tight against his chest; she felt the hard, cold spike against her cheek, and the warm, firm muscles beneath his fur.
Unable to see anything, her mind started to make it all up. She saw Hecto, a Dusknoir, floating in front of her. His single, blazing eye stared intensely.
Star, hold on. You will be okay.
Behind Hecto was a Riolu standing atop a Drampa. The Riolu held out a paw, sticking his leftmost digit up.
We'll figure this out, hah!
The Drampa nodded, knocking the Riolu off balance in the process.
A demon like this is formidable, but I don't see why we should stop now.
Then she saw a Samurott and Cacturne appear on either side of them. The Samurott brandished her blade menacingly.
If that thing thinks it can just wipe us out, he's got another thing coming!
Er, let's just be careful about it. Head on, we might, um, die.
Star begged the illusions to listen to her and help her now. But that was all they were. Illusions. None of them cared about her anymore.
Manny's paws held her firmly again, tucking her beneath his arms. He weaved left and right, then flipped, kicking something. Then, he pressed her against his fur again, dodging something. He shouted and staggered, now holding Star with just one arm.
A final image appeared behind all the others. But this one confused Star. She knew Manny, the little Riolu who tried to save the world. And he knew about all his partners back then: Yen, Doll, and Elbee. But… who was…
The statue of a Shiftry appeared behind the rest, floating stoically.
Do what you want, Star, but you will let me fight him first.
Star's world tumbled around her. Manny lost his hold on her and she hit the floor. The coldness of the tile seeped into her body, but an even colder, vile feeling crept over her after. Manny shouted, but his voice was distant. He didn't pick her up.
The images disappeared—melted away in a black fog. In the middle of it all, a crackling, red sphere shined through.
The past is the past… Finite and gone. Just like you.
The shadows invaded her skin, rotting her from the inside. With no strength to fight back, she only screamed in her mind. There were no words to give, only primal thoughts to survive and fight and live. The red sphere faded away. Her consciousness slipped away, going somewhere else.
Whispers filled her head. They were urgent whispers, not threatening, but not calming, either. None of it made sense, but she got a feeling from it. The voices sounded so familiar. A different demon.
Struggle!
Star's arms, wherever they were, twitched.
She channeled energy from a place she didn't know and sent it forward.
And then everything stopped.
"Manny! We have to go!"
Elbee swung her body around, making a crescent-shaped slash of water around her entire left side with her blade. Several wraiths split in two, disintegrating, but several more oozed out from the ground. The Samurott snorted proudly, but then turned her attention back to her leader.
"STAR!" Manny shouted for the umpteenth time, slamming his fist downward. The shockwave rolled the ground, turning the wraiths all around him into mist. He then disappeared where he stood, utilizing the blink's worth of transport that Extreme Speed granted him, and reappeared where he had seen Star last. He plunged his paws into the darkness, punching and kicking his way through, but felt no sign of her.
"She's already gone, Manny! We need to save ourselves!" Doll swung her arm next, a volley of needles impaling the wraiths to her right. Then, the Cacturne rolled, dodging one of the many blasts that the wraiths had attempted to shoot at her. "They're starting to get stronger, Manny! The guy's channeling more power into them or something!"
Elbee sliced through another set. Manny jumped away from the advancing wall of darkness towering over them like a landslide.
"She ain't gonna be gone that easy!" Manny shouted back. "Star's stronger'n that! She's—"
A shadowy blast struck Manny on the side, making him curse loudly. He slammed his fist into the ground again, clearing an entire column's worth of wraiths with the shockwave. His muscles were already starting to feel strained—a manifestation of his fatigued spirit. No matter how much he wanted to fight, these wraiths won by sheer numbers. He had no idea where the core of this thing was, either, unless this was just an onslaught with no end.
He jumped away and stumbled, losing his balance. If he fell on his back, the wraiths would surely take advantage of his prone state. In an attempt to roll and fall on his paws instead, he instead landed face first into Elbee's side. She grabbed him and flung him onto her back, then leapt into the air with jets of water from her feet.
"Hang on tight, Manny," the Samurott said. "Doll!"
"Right here!" The Cacturne slammed her arms into the ground; the momentum sent her flying forward. After a flip, she swung onto Samurott, catching on her body with her needles. Elbee shrieked, but held strong, and by the time Doll had clambered on completely, they had left the bulk of the wraiths behind.
"Where's the color trio?" Elbee said.
"Further," Manny grunted, forming a few Aura Spheres to keep the wraiths from advancing. It hardly left an impact; most of their evasion came from their ride being so fast.
"You can't sense their auras?" Doll said.
"Was never good at that." The Lucario tried to form another Aura Sphere, but the sheer act left his arms feeling like jelly. It dissipated before he could fire.
"Just hold still, Manny. This place is draining too much of our power. It was bad enough trying to fight our way in!" Elbee blasted a jet of water forward, clearing the way. Doll took out the flanks, standing on top of Elbee to blast Pin Missiles in both directions.
"How do we even get out of here, again?"
"Further," Manny urged.
Without a sense of direction, Elbee kept moving forward, repeating the same patterns again while doing her best to conserve her energy. A Hydro Pump here, a Pin Missile there—somehow, they had a decent enough rhythm despite the wraiths trying to surprise them around every corner.
What did surprise them was a wave of blue embers disintegrating a clump of wraiths to their right. Beneath the wraiths was a flailing Garchomp, hissing and snapping at anything that tried to get close.
"Who's—"
"Oy, that's Clair!" Manny said, pointing. "Clair! O'er here!"
The Garchomp stopped fighting to look.
"Clair—oh, that one mutant spirit that gave you trouble," Elbee recalled.
"I remember watching that fight," Doll said. "You stole her spirit last, right?"
"Yeah, 'cause she kept puttin' up a fight," Manny said. "Clair! This way!"
She obeyed without a second thought, though she did hiss at a few wraiths on her way to them. Further ahead, shockwaves indicated the presence of Azu, Verd, and Roh.
"Perfect," Manny said. "C'mon! We gotta go!"
"Guardian Manny!" Azu declared. "You won't believe how many wraiths I've defeated! Out of the three of us, I would say that I claimed the most of—"
"Time to go, scalebag!" Elbee said, shoving past him. Doll fired another set of Pin Missiles at the few remaining wraiths that had made it this far in the ruined Fighting Realm.
The Feraligatr, Infernape, and Chesnaught chased after Elbee, but they still protested despite this.
"But what about the other spirits?!" Verd said.
Roh's head-flame was at least three times its normal size. "We can't leave them! We—"
"Already gone! Star's gone! We gotta—" Manny's voice cracked. "Gotta regroup!"
Clair stopped and spun around.
Elbee stopped next. "What's she—"
"Keep goin'!" Manny said. "She knows what she's doin'!"
She hesitated for only a second before catching up with the rest. Clair, once the wraiths got close, growled. She jumped into the air and slammed into the ground; it heaved, an Earthquake destroying all of the wraiths in that section of the gym at once. Veiled in a huge swath of smoke, Clair spun around and caught up to the rest of them with ease, a confident smirk on her face.
"Good job, Clair," Manny muttered. At least he could save one of them… even if, in a way, she had only saved herself.
The rooms of the Fighting Realm transitioned into patches of grass overtaking the concrete. Walls broke apart for trees. Soon, the artificial landscape of the Fighting Realm faded to the mystical aura of Aether Forest.
"Where now?" Elbee asked breathlessly.
"I—"
A beam of darkness blasted Clair on the side. She shrieked, hissing and rubbing at her now limp arm; a Pin Missile from Doll took out the wraith that had been hiding. "This place is infested, too!"
"Then we just gotta keep running," Manny said, pointing forward. "Let's find another Guardian's spot!"
"Who should we try?!"
Manny thought about who they could see. They ran forward blindly; if Manny's Orb was somehow infected with the wraiths, then that meant so was all of Hot Spot. All of them would be a risk. There was no way Eon would be happy to greet them, either, or any of the Hunters.
"Ferget the Guardians," Manny said grudgingly. "We're heading ter the Hall of Origin."
The Hall of Origin felt emptier than usual.
Like something was missing. Yet, for the most part, Arceus had always been there in relative solitude, watching the world from above, with what limited interface he had been allowed.
Rhys had been very cordial. Perhaps part of it was because he had been too exhausted from the wraiths attacking him, but he had always been very respectful. But the wraiths attacking at all was a concern. Once Star returned, they would have to deliberate on how to deal with it. Assuming she was interested in doing that at all.
Arceus narrowed his eyes at the wall, tapping a hoof on the pristine floor. Perhaps this stress would finally be enough for her to give up her power entirely. Then he could fix the return of the wraiths and the Hunters in one motion.
And then the silence was disturbed by the loud pitter-patter of several large Pokémon—though, compared to him, they were still insignificantly tiny.
He sensed various Fighting auras, as well as the unmistakable aura of…
"Manny." Arceus turned and looked down at the Lucario, a small, cordial grin in his eyes. Still, there was a hint of concern. "Why are you here?"
"Hey, big guy, eh…" Manny panted a few times, then motioned behind him to the others. "Can yeh help out Clair first?"
"Clair?" Arceus surveyed Manny's spirits. There were the three mutants that Manny had assimilated into his Core—Roh, Verd, and Azu. The Chesnaught in particular seemed shaken, being comforted by the Infernape with gentle pats on the arm.
Then there was Doll and Elbee. The latter was missing a few needles, but she seemed fine. Elbee, however, could barely stand, and it looked like the Samurott had been running across all of Aether Forest.
Were the wraiths already back there? He had told the Trinity to keep an eye on their Dungeons for now, just in case wraiths tried to attack them. The last thing he needed was for them to run into trouble in their own domain like the other careless Guardians might.
Then there was Yen, who had someone on his back… a Garchomp. The only one he didn't recognize. Arceus floated over to Yen and felt her artificial aura radiating off, just like the mutant trio, and hid his grimace. He'd much rather do away with someone like her, but Manny was the one making the request…
"Of course."
Arceus inspected Clair. She had countless injuries over her body, each one lined with black fog that suggested a wraith's shadows. That would be trivial. He tapped his hoof on the ground, washing Clair in a radiant light. The shadows dispelled instantly, leaving only the wounds behind. Another tap and the wounds sealed themselves.
"Thanks," Manny said.
"What happened?"
"Wraith's source was inside'm."
Even Arceus couldn't hide his widening eyes. "What do you mean, inside?"
"Hot Spot's infested with wraiths. I dunno if they got out. I couldn't get ter my Orb, 'cause wraiths were coming outta the core. Star was there, too, but…"
Arceus saw a flash of regret in Manny's eyes. He knew that look. That he failed to save someone—but he was still trying to keep a strong face. "What do you mean?" Arceus said. "Where's Star?"
Manny couldn't answer, so Yen did. "The wraiths got her. She's… gone."
"…Gone."
"We saw it happen," Elbee said immediately, clutching at one of her blades with a trembling paw. "There's no way Star escaped. They… they got her."
"…The empty feeling…" Arceus looked up. "Star's influence is gone."
"How bad is that?" Manny asked.
"Well. That part is not catastrophic." Arceus shook his head. "Star and I shared many of our blessings, and a lot of what we did is self-sustaining. However, with Star gone…"
Filaments of light sprouted from his back, Arceus simply too eager to hide it. "I have some work to do."
"Eh—what? Wait, we gotta regroup and need ter take down this thing!"
"I will. And for that to happen, I need to do a few things so I can step in directly."
Arceus hastily walked across the Hall of Origin, deeper into its chambers. At the far end, opposite of where Manny had entered, was another white door large enough to open for Arceus to enter.
"With Star gone, nothing is holding me back," he said. "It's time I returned."
With every Luminous Orb in Kilo rendered useless, only the flames of Pokémon and their natural light source kept the world from falling into complete darkness. It had been a cloudy night for the eastern parts of Kilo. Chilling winds bit at Spice's scales. She had lost count of how many days she'd gone without sleeping, but now, even if she was tired, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to fall asleep.
"How is he doing?" Spice asked.
"He's doing better," Mamoswine said. "That Delphox really is a fighter."
"Can I see him yet?"
"Not yet. The healers still need to take a look at him. We don't have any good Heal Pulse users in this village… We usually just relied on Orans and Revivers. Oh, I'm so sorry…"
"No, don't be." Spice looked down the road. A helpful Chandelure was passing out torches to other villagers; his own body glowed with an eerie light to keep the rest from going blind.
"Need one?" Chandelure asked, levitating one of the torches toward Spice.
"Thanks." She grabbed it, holding it above her head. Chandelure spat a few blue flames toward it, igniting the wood. Blue transitioned to a more natural orange once the wood caught fire properly.
"Everyone's panicked auras have been a little tasty," Chandelure admitted guiltily. "But I'm starting to feel bad. A little light should calm them down, right?"
The town was already starting to feel brighter. Almost… too bright. "Yeah, uh, you've got some pretty strong fire, actually. Maybe we should shove you in the ceiling and—what?"
Chandelure's gaze was focused behind and above her. Almost afraid to turn around—the day was already hectic as it was—she spotted something glowing in the distance. It was dim, but steadily got brighter.
"Okay, what in Mew's name…"
The glow was bright enough that it sharply contrasted the night sky, leaving a very clear shape to see.
"Wait a second," the Salazzle said, absently running a claw along her scar. It was starting to throb—she felt a weak presence coming from that spire. It reminded her of how that thunderstorm in Nightshade Forest had made her scales tingle. The memory left her chest with a weak, burning sensation.
She refocused on the bright, tall structure. It looked like some kind of triangle, or a—"That's the Spire of Trials!"
"Spire of Trials?" Chandelure said. "That weird Dungeon that just has a bunch of ferals that punch you to death?"
"Yeah, but… I heard the Dungeon suddenly lost all of its inhabitants a while back. Now it's glowing?" Spice frowned. "Has the world gone insane?!"
"Probably."
Spice flashed a glare at Chandelure.
"What?! Waypoints broke, Orbs broke, even Orans broke. How do you break an entire species of berry?! World's gone—AHH!"
Spice had to shield her eyes, too. The Spire of Trials had become like a second sun; shrieks of the village filled the air. Then, the ground rumbled, just softly enough that it didn't knock anything over, but just enough that it still made Spice crouch down as a precaution.
The light dimmed to something more tolerable again.
"Holy…"
Chandelure, if he had a mouth, would have been agape. Instead, Spice saw his flame flicker with awe, shrinking at the sight of the source of the glow.
"Yep. That's pretty holy, alright," said a nearby Empoleon, pointing a wing forward.
A quick scan of the roads revealed a few Pokémon kneeling or bowing on the ground, all in the same direction, muttering something fervently under their breaths. Spice's scales felt like they had bristled—a cold shiver ran down her spine, and her tails flicked a bit of poison mist behind her. "Sorry," she murmured, but then, finally, looked back at the source of the ever-dimming glow.
The Spire of Trials was gone. Replacing it was an even taller structure made of luminous, white marble. It pierced through the sky, the top just as wide as the bottom. It seemed thinner, yet taller than the Spire.
And at the top was a gleaming, white figure. It was too far away to see what it was, but the way so many Pokémon had fervently bowed down, Spice felt a sinking feeling in her gut.
And then the white dot flashed. First, countless trails of white light went off in all directions—long tendrils that lit up the sky in a web of white, flowing lines. Then, those faded, forming a bright, yellow-gold, unmistakable wheel of light above the tower.
"Arceus! Oh, it's Arceus! He's returned!"
Countless Pokémon cheered and raised their heads, arms, wings—anything that they could to wave at their god, no matter if the Creator could actually see them.
Spice squeezed her hands, unable to get rid of that horrible feeling on her scales. She should be happy. If all those stories about Arceus were true, then they were saved, weren't they?
The wheel finally faded, as did the light, and even the tower had been reduced to nothing but a small glow. And with the glow, the cheers faded, too, though the rush of optimism within the crowd was palpable.
Spice breathed out sharply through her nose.
Now she remembered.
"Well, would you look at that," Spice acknowledged, tapping her claws on her hips. "Destiny Tower's risen again."
Tall trees with no leaves thwarted any attempt to see beyond a few layers of the forest. Left, right, none of that mattered. Up? The sky was a perpetual, ominous crimson. The ground a bleak, ashen brown. Everything smelled of ruin. What kind of ruin was hard to discern. Rot? No, it wasn't quite rot, not just that. Flames, fire? Possibly, but perhaps only as a trick of the mind. Dust, age, perhaps?
"Oh, dear. It all looks the same."
A green Gardevoir held her hand against the tree trunk. Its outer layer crumbled to the touch, revealing soft, squishy insides that, too, withered away if she pressed too hard. Amia grimaced, brushing it off, but it was persistent. Her hands were speckled with that strange blackness.
She could only go forward. But she had no idea where anybody was, or where she was, or anything of the sort. One second, she was fighting Star within the Grass Core. The next, she had been hit by one of Hecto's many arrows. Then, she had blacked out—appearing in the aura sea… or did she? She couldn't remember. It had been so fast. A strange force—it felt like something had pulled her in an odd direction, against the sea's flow.
Then, she was groggily waking up in this strange, endless rot with a red sky, a black ground, and dead trees. The forest in particular reminded her of Rotwood Fen, back when she used to live in the south. It didn't bring back pleasant memories.
She shook her head. Focus, dear, focus. Where was Alex? Was Owen okay? Did they defeat Star? What about Eon?
None of that mattered if she couldn't even find them to learn the answer.
Amia was about to take another step when she felt a light rumble in the ground. She blinked, staring at the trees. Bits of loose ash and rot fell from the branches; she had to shield her eyes from the stray particles.
The rumbling was getting louder. She recognized the sound—she heard it often from Zena when she was exploring Hot Spot. It must have been a serpent… but the sound was too loud, too powerful. Deeper than Zena's, and she was already exceptionally large.
And then it got softer. Whatever it was, it was slithering away, now. The tension in Amia's chest—which she had only just realized she had—loosened.
Something shuffled behind her. The tension came back; Amia spun around, raising her hands to strike—and then screamed.