Draco: Alpha dammit, I am just doubling up on the painful moments.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Spectra: The Fool's Wisdom

"I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me."

Driftwalker shook her head. "No, it's not your fault," she insisted. "A seaside journey would be most enjoyable under normal circumstances."

Oichi sighed. "Still, I should have asked before plotting our course. I shouldn't have just assumed you would be comfortable with it."

"Apology accepted," Driftwalker conceded, "but you needn't hold yourself to it."

Iron Valiant gave an accusing cry.

"I never said you didn't enjoy the water," Driftwalker protested. "I was speaking strictly for myself."

They were approaching the town around Spectra Castle by now; as they prepared to circle around, they were caught off-guard by a tremor. Oichi was concerned more crystals were about to manifest when a brilliant electricity began to surge outward from one side of the crystal formation... and then a sound like lightning coming down to earth.

Driftwalker lowered the hand she had raised to shield herself. "Such powerful voltage!"

"Is that... the Black Yang?!" Oichi exclaimed.

"Lady Oichi!" The familiar voice drew her attention to find two figures in red and white running in their direction. "Thank the Alpha you're here!"

"Okuni!" Oichi started towards her. "Is that Brother?"

"It is," Okuni insisted as she and Volcarona slowed to a stop. "You have to stop him! He and Zekrom are fighting off the attackers!"

Her words caught Oichi off-guard. "What? Hold on, why would we stop him from defending Spectra?"

"Because he won't stop!" Okuni insisted. "He doesn't step back, he doesn't let anyone else stand guard, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat! He just stands there with Zekrom and fights whatever comes out!"

"What!?" Oichi exclaimed. "Why would he-!?"

Okuni's gaze fell. "...Lady Nō and Mitsuki were inside the castle when the crystals appeared."

"Oh no..." Turning without another word, Oichi sprinted into town, Wigglytuff hot on her heels. Okuni and Driftwalker traded glances before charging after her, followed swiftly by Valiant, Hatterene, and Volcarona.

The hollow of this crystal cluster didn't stand at the entrance to town as it had elsewhere, but was rather pointed towards the Spectra battlefield - and the Black Yang was standing not quite arm's length away from it. An encampment of Warriors and their Pokémon was gathered at the attacker's end, but they could only watch, fearful gazes on each face. As Oichi approached, Zekrom brought a vicious Lightning Strike down on an incoming Stoutland, knocking out the Big-Hearted Pokémon from the voltage alone even before the impact launched it backwards into the crystal's opening. Nobunaga was indeed there, in the center of the battlefield - his longsword was planted in the ground, his hands resting upon the hilt, and his hair was undone, hanging wild around his face as he stood motionless behind the legendary Pokémon.

"Brother!" Oichi came up beside him. "What are you doing?!"

"...Sister." Nobunaga's voice was hoarse and dry, confirming what Okuni had said earlier. "You should know-"

"Never mind the attackers!" Oichi protested. "They're not powerful - a well-trained army can fight them off! You have to come away!"

"Leave me be." Whatever strength he was trying to give his voice, it was clear he barely had the strength to speak at all. "I will mind the front line."

"No you won't!" Oichi snapped. "You're not invincible, Brother! You'll die if you don't-"

"SO WHAT IF I DO!?"

A force unbidden filled Nobunaga's voice as he rounded on Oichi, and she saw the tears welling in his eyes. "Maybe I want to die! What point is there in living when they're gone!?"

"No..." Oichi shook her head. "Brother, you can't-!"

"I can and I will!" Nobunaga roared. "I have nothing more to live for! I will defend this kingdom she loved, no matter what it takes, and if Antimatter claims me in so doing then so be it!"

An armoured hand collided with his chest, and Dragnorans turned to find Driftwalker standing to there. "Lord Nobunaga, listen to me," she proclaimed. "Lady Nōhime is alive."

"How dare you-!?"

"Evia and Kaguya were taken, too," Oichi insisted. "Kirlia was with them - but not the others. Glaceon, Sylveon, Espeon, and Flareon were all in town with me - and they were fine." Nobunaga's anger halted at that. "You know as well as I do how badly the death of one Link partner can affect the other, especially in a Link as potent as theirs. If Evia had died, you know damn well they would have been broken by it!"

"Even so-!"

"I have been victim to crystals such as these before," Driftwalker proclaimed, and Nobunaga's retort died in his throat. "They consumed several places in my homeland, and cast me out into another region. Lost - but unharmed. The only wounds I suffered before my awakening are those I could not prevent from happening while I was unconscious. I was able to find my way home, in time." She pulled her hand away. "If you truly believe that Nōhime is dead... then you believe her helpless, unable to defend herself against aught that she might encounter where she is now. Do you truly think so little of your beloved?"

Nobunaga's eyes widened, and the tears flowed. "Then I... She is..."

"Alive," Oichi insisted. "Alive, and making her way home. Doubtless bringing Mitsuki with her."

"Oh, Kichō..."

Nobunaga's sword toppled; his legs faltered, and his eyes fell closed. Oichi quickly moved forward to catch him, and the Warriors of Spectra quickly charged forward to help them. "Prepare a medical bed!" she commanded. "Bring me fresh water, a supply of berries, and something to crush them with! He needs-" A cry from the crystals drew her attention. "Oh, for Alpha's sake, didn't they just finish?!"

"It must have been the first one of the assault," Driftwalker insisted, stepping forward as Valiant joined her. "Leave the defense to us; you treat him."

"Thank you." Oichi, Wigglytuff, and Hatterene made to take Nobunaga into town as the Warriors of Spectra moved to join Driftwalker. Iron Valiant knelt down and drove his blades into the ground, pulling his arms away to detach them and then grabbing each by the handle in a backhand grip as he rose; he drove the handles together to join them and swept the weapon back at his side. Volcarona stepped up to his side, as did a Gengar, Dusknoir, and Chandelure; from the crystals emerged a Venomoth, Claydol, Dewgong, Cloyster, and Shiftry.

Zekrom gave a threatening roar, bringing down a Lightning Strike on the Venomoth; regret was immediately apparent on the Poison Moth Pokémon's face before the voltage connected for a nigh-instant knockout. The others managed to dash past the Black Yang while it was distracted; a burst of Earth Power from Claydol narrowly missed the Ghost-types, and Gengar and Dusknoir both hurled Shadow Balls at it to knock it out in short order.

Chandelure's Fire Spin raged on Dewgong and Cloyster, but Shiftry managed to avoid the heat, slipping through between blazes and charging at Valiant. Each swing of a bitter Leaf Blade was parried on the double-bladed weapon, and then Valiant leapt skyward with a spin, using the momentum to bring a vicious Spirit Break down on the Wicked Pokémon, throwing it backwards and leaving it tumbling. As soon as the Fire Spin subsided, Chandelure found himself struck by an ineffective Icicle Spear and a rather more painful Aqua Jet; Volcarona quickly leapt between the two Water/Ice-types and twisted into a Fiery Dance to batter them both before the Luring Pokémon finished them off with another Fire Spin.

Shiftry managed to right itself, and was preparing for another charge at Valiant until a Lightning Strike slammed into its back to finish it off.

Crystalline dust swirled around each of the knocked-out Pokémon, who had vanished before it scattered; Zekrom gave a triumphant roar, prompting the gathered Pokémon to cry in victory as well. Relieved sighs spread across the Spectran Warriors as they started back towards their camp, and Valiant returned one blade of his glaive to his left arm before tossing up the other and swiping his right arm to catch it on the descent.

"Bit of a showboater, isn't he?" Okuni mused.

"I swear he's trying to be showier every time we end up in battle," Driftwalker muttered.

Valiant looked offended at her remark.

Okuni giggled. "That just means he fits right into Spectra," she mused. Then, her face falling; "Which is more than can be said for you."

Driftwalker turned to her. "Pardon?"

"The bizarre Pokémon could be written off by your remarks about not being from Ransei," Okuni mused, "but that falls flat with your own behaviour." She closed her parasol and hung it over her arm. "Neither I nor Lady Oichi mentioned Nobunaga's name, nor Lady Nō's full name."

"You must be joking," Driftwalker protested. "I offered to join her in travelling Ransei to help people and find aid for a counteroffensive. Do you really think she didn't mention the names of the Warlords before we went to meet with them?"

"Even if I choose to believe you," Okuni argued, "you said the same thing in front of Lady Oichi. And she's no fool like her brother - she'll put two and two together, as soon as she has a moment to think."

"Bold of you to assume that there even are two and two to put together," Driftwalker countered. "I have nothing to hide from her."

Okuni glared. "Then why do you wear a mask to cover your eyes?"

Driftwalker started. "My... eyes?"

"That's the real giveaway," Okuni mused. "Shinobi want to blend into the shadows, so they'll wear dark colours all over. And some people want to intimidate an opponent, so they'll wear a fearsome mask. But neither will cover their eyes, not outright. They pick a piece that frames them, to leave them unobscured without making them obvious. Or a shaded surface, to dilute light going in and out. There are only two reasons to obscure your eyes outright with a mask - if they are non-functional, and disturbing to look at... or if you want to hide something, and stop people from peering through the window."

Driftwalker fell silent.

"Lady Oichi tried to hide something from her ally, once long ago," Okuni mused. "And when it came to light, Lady Evia was outraged. So you'd better think well on whether what you have to hide... is worth receiving that kind of anger."

She opened her parasol again, starting towards the camp.

"You know..." Driftwalker's remark had the wanderer slowing to a stop. "It's kind of rude to call someone a fool for what they do in grief."

Okuni giggled. "Oh, that's not what I meant," she insisted. "The Fool of Dragnor is infamous for the things he's done in his youth."

+x+x+x+

A few hours later, Driftwalker and Okuni made their way to the medical bed that Oichi and Hatterene had managed to set up. Nobunaga was lying on the bed; his eyes were open, though the strength still seemed to be gone from his body. Oichi's staff was empty, and there was a well-used mortar and pestle on a small table next to her seat.

"How is he?" Driftwalker asked.

"Alive," Oichi mused. "But he won't be in any condition to fight or even travel for a while." Then, to Nobunaga; "I don't want you doing anything more intensive than reading a book for a week, do you hear me?"

"Under normal circumstances, I would agree," Nobunaga confessed. "But you didn't come all the way to the Dragnor Trigram just to check whether Nobunaga was alive."

Oichi sighed. "That can wait."

"Can it really?" Okuni asked. "Pokémon keep coming out of those crystals. If you have a plan for how to stop them, I don't know if we can wait for him to recover his strength before we put it in motion."

"It's not just about whether I have a plan," Oichi insisted, "it's about the prerequisites for that plan."

Driftwalker spoke up. "These crystals, and the Pokémon that come from them, are the work of men," she explained. "If we find the men responsible, we can unmake their efforts. But while we are doing so, the attacks will continue. Dedicating a force to a counteroffensive means that there are fewer Warriors and Pokémon defending Ransei..."

"...unless we find a way to halt their advance first," Nobunaga observed. "If we stem the tide at all but one of the crystals, then we can use the last remaining crystal as our road to strike back."

"Exactly," Oichi proclaimed. "That is why I've been travelling - to distribute com-crystals. If anyone figures out a way to bar the way for the attacking Pokémon to come after us, they can pass it on to everyone."

Nobunaga closed his eyes. "...Take Zekrom with you, when you continue on to Dragnor," he insisted. "And send Hydreigon back here to me. If... if Kichō is alive, then... I have no reason to..."

Okuni sighed. "You were trying to spare him," she observed. "You knew that if he was near enough when you died, it would resonate through your Link. With how strongly you two are connected, his mind would break - he'd be driven berserk, a thoughtless frenzy that wouldn't end until his own death."

"I wish I could say I put that much thought into it," Nobunaga admitted. "But I have the Black Yang to thank for the distance between us."

Oichi raised her gaze. "You mentioned once that you first met Zekrom in an unusual sky garden in Violight," she recalled. "And that he only appeared to you again after Evia claimed Terrera and Illusio while preparing to oppose you."

Nobunaga nodded. "Yes. Imagine, then, my surprise when I received a missive from Ginchiyo saying that the same unusual sky garden had appeared again - when it hadn't the last time Zekrom served as my partner." Oichi started. "I left Hydreigon behind to defend Dragnor with Ranmaru while I went to investigate. We were en route back to Dragnor when the crystals began to appear, and I immediately came here to look for Nō."

"She could have mentioned that, instead of making subtle remarks about the thunderclouds," Oichi muttered.

"You've noticed, then," Nobunaga observed. "Legendary Pokémon, throughout Ransei, luring so many Warriors out of the castles before the crystals consumed them." He opened his eyes. "I think that's part of why it broke me so much, to realize she was inside when it happened. Why was she the exception? Why did it not appear to keep her safe?"

Oichi's gaze fell. "Shingen and Kenshin were in their castles, too," she mused. "Neither Groudon nor Mewtwo appeared to lure them out, either."

Driftwalker shook her head. "But the other Warriors were already out and about," she pointed out. "Terrera, Illusio, and here in Spectra." Her gaze rose. "And yet, there were Warriors in some of the castles where such a disturbance did appear. Masamune said Magoichi was hosting Kai while they investigated the ravine that appeared in the mountain, and Hanzō was training on his own in Viperia Castle."

Okuni fingered her parasol. "What does it mean?"

"Perhaps..." Nobunaga closed his eyes again. "Perhaps they mean to provide a road home."

Draco: Okay, that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, going in.

Credit to AdavalWasHere, that discussion about how the death of a Warrior or Pokémon affects their Link partner arose as part of a conversation with her. I already alluded to some detrimental effects in Ancient Ruination, but the exact symptoms as mentioned here have only been concocted with her help... and were largely for her benefit to begin with. She's working on Infinite What-Ifs, an original story of Warriors and Pokémon written from the jumping-off point of "the existence of Pokémon Conquest prevented a Pokémon/FireEmblem crossover from happening".