Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
After the unpleasantness of the previous night, and the roving mobs and strange natural disasters that had taken up most of the day, it seemed as if the Festival of Masks was finally back on, and then some.
Humans and Pokémon wearing masks and costumes danced in the streets. Anything pertaining to The Ogre's Tale was quickly torn down and either hidden or destroyed and new decorations were hastily thrown up in their place. Ogerpon was burned in effigy, children and grown-ups way too old for this sort of thing smashed ogre piñatas so that they could eagerly feast on her candy guts, and puppeteers, children, and semi-professional actors reenacted the heroic battle between the wicked ogre and the Loyal Three. A great feast was prepared, much to the gratification of the guests of honor, who found the whole celebration amusing, though not for the reasons their hosts were thinking.
"Just look at the dumb bastards," Okidogi chuckled to himself in amusement as he ripped another chunk off a haunch of meat. "I think they might hate Ogerpon even more than we do," he remarked as men with sticks beat someone who hadn't changed out of their Ogress costume in time.
"Shush! Keep your voice down!" Munkidori hushed him. "There are Pokémon about/choose your words with care!"
"I don't think there's any reason to worry," Fezandipiti said flippantly, posing for a crowd of adoring female humans and Pokémon, who squealed, fainted, and took pictures. "They're all either just as fascinated by us as the humans or have the misfortune to be paired with starstruck idiots who completely ignore them. It's nice for us to finally get the respect we deserve; I could get used to this!"
"I suppose I too/find being seen as heroes/isn't all that bad," Munkidori admitted, sipping from a bowl of soup suspended by his psychic powers. "We play our cards right/we could make this place our new home/with adoring fans."
Okidogi pounded a fist on the table laden with food spread out before them. "Not until we take out Ogerpon, get her mask, and find the boss," he insisted. "These idiots call us the Loyal Three, which is one of the only things they've got right. We finish this one last job, then we decide what comes next. Got it?"
"But of course, my friend/I was just thinking ahead," Okidogi assured him. "This is a new age. It's quite possible/that we will need a new home/if our old ones are…" He trailed off.
His companions turned dour for a moment. "… We'll figure that out after the job," Okidogi muttered, biting off another chunk of meat.
"Munkidori, could… Could you ask how long we…" Fezandipiti started, only to quickly shake his head. "No. No, I… I'm not ready to find out just yet. Let me hope for just a little longer, please."
Munkidori nodded. "As you wish, my friend./But you may need to accept/that she could be gone."
Fezandipiti grimaced. "Yeah… I know." He started pecking at his platter, making it clear the conversation was over.
"O mighty heroes!" Goroge, the loudest and most obnoxious of their new human underlings shouted as he approached, twirling his broom as three large bowls of Mochi were carried behind him on a palanquin. "We have finished the dish you requested! I hope it meets your expectations?"
He spun the broom behind the palanquin, blowing the scent of the Mochi into the trio's noses.
They liked it.
They liked it a lot.
"I like it," Okidogi slavered, licking his lips "I like it a lot!"
"What an exquisite bouquet!" Fezandipiti cried. "Almost as good as our Lord's!"
Munkidori bowed his head in gratitude, eyes glowing as he used his abilities to levitate the bowls of Mochi off the palanquin, shoving aside the dishes in front of them to make room. "We are in your debt/my good friend, as this is what/we need to prevail."
"I'm glad to have been of service!" Goroge preened, earning him annoyed looks from those who had carried the heavy bowls, since he was not involved in the making or transportation of the Mochi. "Anything else I can do, anything at all, just let me know!"
"I'd like him to die," Okidogi muttered. "Guy's obnoxious. Too loud. Awful voice."
"Okidogi, don't kill him, we've got a good thing here," Fezandipiti hissed.
"I'm not gonna," Okidogi said quickly. "At least, not where anyone would notice…"
"And now for another treat!" Goroge said, clapping his hands.
Suddenly, almost a dozen people in Ogress costumes of varying levels of quality were Froakie-marched in front of the Loyal Three, bound, gagged, and more than a little beaten up.
Okidogi, who'd already stuffed half a dozen Mochi into his mouth, hesitated, another half-dozen in one paw. "Whaff's fis fow?"
"We've told you hundreds of times, don't talk with your mouth full," Fezandipiti chided. "Would it kill you to demonstrate a little table manners?"
He shrugged. "Mayfee."
Munkidori frowned, his brow furrowed. What was this now? Surely it couldn't be what he suspected, could it?
"Who are these fools/that you have brought before us?/They're dressed in poor taste."
"Which is why we have brought them before you!" Goroge declared, despite once again having had nothing to do with the capture or leading of the costumed folk before the trio. "They dare to wear the costume of your sworn enemy, despite the revelation that the ogre is not only indeed the villain the legends always portrayed her as, but she's been cheating innocent people out of their money for years with her fraudulent stories slandering your good name!"
Okidogi nearly choked on his Mochi as he abruptly burst into laughter. "'Slander our good name!'" He wheezed as he cackled hysterically. "Good one!"
Fezandipiti lifted his beak in disgust. "You're going to kill yourself with those eating habits one day."
"Joke's on you, I'm already dead!" Okidogi reminded him. "So I can eat however I want!"
"You know, if you're dead, that means you don't actually need to eat anymore," Fezandipiti pointed out rather than admit he was wrong.
"Sure I do, we're eating this stuff to prepare for our rematch, remember?" Okidogi pointed out. "Also, you're eating it too."
Fezandipiti, Mochi impaled on one of his talons halfway to his beak, hesitated. "… Shut up."
"How foolish of them./Whyever would they choose to/offend us like this?" Munkidori inquired.
"Because they are traitors and should be treated as such!" Goroge bellowed, reddening his face, and quite a lot of the crowd cheered, some because they felt the same way, and others because they didn't want to be up there alongside them. Typical human cowardice.
Munkidori was genuinely impressed. They hadn't even been there for an hour and already they were eagerly ready to throw their friends and neighbors under a wagon to curry their favor. How should he play this? On the one hand, it might ruin their image as heroes to be so quick to condemn someone to a terrible fate. They had a good thing going right now, and it would be all too easy to screw it up by saying or doing the wrong thing this early in the game.
On the other hand…
He really, really hated Ogerpon, and seeing these humans dressed like her made something deep within him, something dark, demand retribution. The strength of this sudden, almost preternatural hatred startled him for a moment.
But only for a moment.
"Let's not be hasty," he said, aiming for a calm, sage tone. "Life is so fragile, as I/know far, far too well."
"The Distortion World're you talking about-" a confused Okidogi started until Fezandipiti shushed him and Munkidori winked. "Oh, wait, I get it. Go on."
"With my psychic might/I shall gaze into their minds/and determine guilt," Munkidori declared, getting into a dramatic pose, telekinetically lifting a few objects and even people in Pokémon into the air to impress the easily awed rubes.
It was all for show, of course. He barely even needed to do a cursory sweep of their surface thoughts to know these humans were guilty of nothing but having the misfortune to be unwilling to discard their expensive or handcrafted ogre costumes despite the obvious anti-ogre sentiment all around them, or, in one man's case, having the bad luck to be married to a woman Goroge coveted. Such was often the case with witch hunts.
Well, far be it from him to deny the people what they wanted. "Traitors! Traitors, all!" he shouted, dramatically pointing his finger at the terrified captives. "They're in league with the ogre!/They have been for years!"
Most of the crowd gasped, and Munkidori found it amusing at just how much relief was on their faces, relief that someone else had drawn the ire of the mob, relief that their petty fears had been validated, that there really had been foes in their midst, that they hadn't been condemning innocent people for no reason. The times may have changed, but the people certainly hadn't.
"You… I knew you were no good at all along!" Goroge yelled angrily, shaking his broom at the distraught prisoners, lying through his teeth to justify his petty vendettas as the cheering mob started throwing things at the costumed people. "Great heroes, what shall we do with them?!"
"Kill them?" Okidogi suggested.
"Will they really go for it?" Fezandipiti asked.
"Given how worked up these morons are? Totally," Okidogi said confidently.
Munkidori nodded in agreement and was about to pass judgment when suddenly someone shouted, "WAAAAAAIIIIIIT!"
Startled, everyone looked up to see a figure standing on a nearby rooftop, their form obscured by the sun backlighting them.
Okidogi groaned. "Oh, here we go, just when we were about to have some fun, some would be hero shows up to ruin it, typical."
"I'll give them points for presentation at least," Fezandipiti said grudgingly.
"Aaahhh! Ohhhh! You! Who are you?!" Goroge demanded.
"I am a hero!" The figure declared, cloak billowing behind them, wearing a straw hat on their head. "People of Mossui, you've been lied to! The Loyal Three aren't heroes, and Ogerpon isn't a monster! The Ogre's Tale tells the true story, while the legend we've been telling ourselves for centuries is a lie!"
There were quite a few startled murmurs and worried looks among the crowd at this.
The trio exchanged looks. "Well, I suppose it was fun while it lasted," Fezandipiti grumbled.
"Least the food was good," Okidogi said, before cramming even more Mochi into his mouth.
Munkidori frowned, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the figure. Something felt… Familiar about them…
"You speak lies! Lies!" Goroge shouted. "You're in league with the ogre!"
"That's right, I am!" The so-called hero proclaimed. "And once I capture the Loyal Three, that will prove to Ogerpon that I'm the only one for her!"
Goroge frowned. "Wait a minute…"
"So ready yourselves, evildoers, for it's time to face justice-" the hero proclaimed, tossing his straw hat away, only for the wind to immediately blow it right back in his face, cutting off his dramatic speech as he staggered back, tripped on his own cloak, slipped on a loose shingle, and tumbled head over heels down the sloping roof, crashing through the canopy over one of the festival stalls and smashing all the painstakingly crafted clay figurines of characters from The Ogre's Tale on display within, the artist responsible bursting into tears.
The figure stumbled out of the wreck, and out of the sun, it became clear they weren't a great hero at all, but a boy wearing incredibly shoddy armor made from cardboard boxes colored with crayon and his cloak was just a torn bedsheet. Goroge rolled his eyes and groaned, as did a good chunk of the crowd when they realized who it was.
"Kieran, go home, this is real life, not one of your terrible self-insert fanfics!" The man with the broom snapped.
"They're not terrible!" Kieran yelled defensively. "And I'm telling the truth! The Loyal Three are evil! EVIL! They murdered Ogerpon's trainer and stole her masks, and when she killed them in retribution, everyone labeled her as a monster, and she got kicked out of Kitakami!"
Munkidori and Fezandipiti exchanged worried looks, but Munkidori seemed utterly calm.
Goroge laughed nervously, grabbed Kieran, and started dragging him away." My apologies, great heroes, the boy's confused, everyone knows he has an unhealthy obsession with the ogre and fantasizes about marrying her, it happens in every single one of his terrible stories-"
"They aren't terrible!"
"There's no need to punish him like the other traitors…" Goroge hesitated. "Unless, of course, you want to punish him like the rest?"
"… He seriously suggesting killing a kid?" Okidogi asked.
"Why, got a problem with it?" Fezandipiti asked.
"Oh no, I'm totally fine with that, just a little surprised we've gotten to that point already," Okidogi replied.
"W-wait, you… You actually…" Kieran spluttered. "That's… No way. No way! Everyone in town knows me, Goroge! No one is going to let them get away with killing a kid! Right, everyone?"
Nobody replied. Nobody met his eyes.
"R-right?"
"There's no need for that."
Kieran and everyone else looked at Munkidori in surprise, including his colleagues. "What are you-" Fezandipiti started.
"It's clear the boy's been deceived/by the fell ogre," Munkidori said cheerfully. "And all that aside/we could never harm the boy/who brought us to life."
"What?!" Kieran exclaimed.
"WHAT?!" Goroge and the crowd shouted.
"He did what now?!" Fezandipiti cried.
"Hang on a second… That's right… I recognize him now," Okidogi said slowly. "I remember… I could hear him calling out in my slumber… His heart full of such…" He grinned. "Delectable hatred."
"Don't you remember?/That battle over our grave?/How angry you felt?" Munkidori crooned, relishing the shock on Kieran's face. "You called out for us./You cried out for a hero./And so here we are."
"Then it was you who awakened the Loyal Three?! Splendid!" Goroge shouted, shaking the distraught Kieran by the shoulders. "Everyone, three cheers for Kieran, for returning our heroes to us so they can at last rid us of that wicked ogre!"
"W-wait-"
"KIERAN! KIERAN! KIERAN!"
"No! I didn't… I didn't-"
"KIERAN! KIERAN! KIERAN!"
"It wasn't my fault!"
"KIERAN! KIERAN! KIERAN!"
"They're lying! They're lying just like everyone else! I DIDN'T RESURRECT THEM, I DIDN'T I DIDN'T I DIDN'T!"
"But you did, Kieran," Munkidori said with a sneer. "And we are very grateful!/Now we'll save this land. We'll kill the ogre./And it's all because of you!/You should be proud, boy! You'll be remembered/by future generations/as a great hero!"
"KIERAN! KIERAN! KIERAN!"
"No… No! It's not true! It CAN'T be true!" Kieran shrieked, tugging at his hair.
"Unfortunately, it is perhaps the only true thing Munkidori has said."
Kieran and just about everyone else did a double take. "You?!" The boy snarled.
"Me," ANNA said calmly as she walked past him towards the table where the Loyal Three were seated. The crowd stared at her in disbelief. More than a few thought her costume was great.
"What are you doing here?!" Kieran demanded. "This was my moment! It was my turn to be a hero! You can't take it from me!"
"I can and I will," ANNA said bluntly. "If you attempted to fight them, you would fail. The trio have come back as an especially dangerous kind of undead my sister dubs 'Demonspawn,' which are only vulnerable to a few things, none of which you possess."
"Oh, but you do?" Kieran said mockingly. "How fucking convenient!"
"Yes, it was, since it was the only way we were able to survive when the Loyal Three attacked us after you left," ANNA said. "They nearly killed Ogerpon."
Kieran blinked. "They…n-no, you're lying again! I don't believe you! Ogerpon's way too strong!"
"As I have said before, Kieran, I do not lie."
"I don't believe you! You can't be trusted! Nobody trust her!" Kieran shouted at the confused mob.
"Should we be doing something?" Fezandipiti wondered.
"Nah, let's see where this is going," Okidogi said. "Besides, Munkidori's the only one of us everyone can understand without that annoying Gardevoir."
"You say I am a liar?" ANNA asked.
"Yes! You are!" Kieran retorted.
"The Loyal Three are evil and need to be destroyed, while Ogerpon is innocent."
Kieran blinked. "Huh?"
"You claimed I am a liar. If that were the case, then the statement I just uttered would be false," ANNA pointed out. "Meaning you believe that the Loyal Three are good and Ogerpon is evil."
"What? No! I don't think that at all!" Kieran protested.
ANNA folded her arms. "Then either I am a liar, or the Loyal Three are evil. Which is it, Kieran? You cannot have it both ways."
"I…th-that's… You…!" Kieran spluttered, his hatred of the trio clashing with his resentment of ANNA.
"Don't listen to either of them! They're BOTH liars!" Shouted the caretaker, suddenly emerging from the crowd.
"You?" ANNA reacted, startled. "What are you doing here?"
"I escaped from the burning temple you left me in to die!" The caretaker shouted.
The crowd gasped. "You did WHAT?!" Goroge bellowed.
ANNA paused. "Oh. I suppose we did do that. My apologies. In all the chaos, we must have forgotten to remove you from Kitakami Hall when the compound was set on fire."
The crowd gasped again. "What?! How could you possibly do that to the caretaker, who was kind enough to let you and your ungrateful outsider friends stay at the community center?!" Goroge demanded.
"We discovered he had tried to steal the three elemental masks your so-called heroes are currently wearing to sell them to a collector," ANNA replied. "As Kieran can corroborate. Is that not correct, Kieran?"
Kieran grit his teeth and, very reluctantly, growled, "It is."
As the mob muttered at each other in shock, Goroge scoffed. "Preposterous! The caretaker is a respected member of the community, he would never do something like that!"
"That's right, I would never do that!" The caretaker agreed.
"Then what is his name?" ANNA asked.
Goroge blinked and the caretaker stiffened. "Eh?"
"If the caretaker is a respected member of the community, surely you must know his real name," ANNA said, knowing full well that he did not.
Goroge fidgeted. "Well, uh, of course I do, it's… It's…um…" Feeling the caretaker's burning gaze on him, he desperately scanned the crowd for help, but nobody met his eyes. "Well, I mean, it's not that important, after all, he knows how much we all value him and everything he does, so what does it matter if we don't know his name-"
"What does it matter? WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!" The caretaker screamed. "I've been doing this job for decades with practically no help and no money and none of you ungrateful shits can be bothered to remember my name?! Yes, it very much does matter! It's because of crap like this that I had zero compunctions with stealing-"
He paled, realizing he'd said too much.
Goroge gaped at him in disbelief as the crowd gasped.
"Oh my!" Fezandipiti cooed, taken in by the drama.
"This is some good shit," Okidogi agreed.
"W-well, Ogerpon was trying to steal the masks too!" The caretaker said quickly to deflect blame.
"The masks were hers to begin with," ANNA pointed out. "She was only attempting to regain her stolen property. In any event, the masks were fakes."
"What?!" Goroge cried.
"That's right, so I didn't do anything wrong!" The caretaker said quickly.
"Did you know the masks were fake when you tried try to steal them?" ANNA asked pointedly.
"… No…" He admitted meekly.
"And now the masks – the real masks – have been stolen again, by the trio you venerate as heroes," ANNA continued, nodding at the Loyal Three. "And look what they have done with them."
Everyone glanced uncomfortably at the trio, and how their faces had been visibly distorted and their bodies altered by the masks.
"Don't listen to her/she's one of the outsiders/who serve the ogre!" Munkidori claimed. "Who stole this boy's kin/and attacked us when we woke!/She can't be trusted! And as for the masks…/We took them from the ogre/to use for justice!"
The crowd murmured, seemingly swayed by his words. ANNA sighed. "I could refute you/in countless ways, but alas/such words are wasted/on fools as stubborn as these./Instead, I shall ask them this:" she pointed at the trio. "If these masks you stole/are being used as weapons/of heroism/rather than tools of evil/why do you look so wicked?"
There was an awkward pause. Munkidori clenched his teeth, eye twitching at her use of tanka.
"Why did you speak in verse-" the confused Kieran asked.
"To irritate the monkey," she muttered, and despite himself Kieran couldn't help feeling amused at this.
"That's profiling!" Goroge shouted, pointing his broom angrily at ANNA. "You're profiling them! You bigoted foreign whore!"
"You rounded up all these people dressed as ogres to mete out unwarranted violence to satisfy your petty hatreds and called me a slur just because I was not born here," ANNA pointed out. "That sounds an awful lot like profiling to me. Not to mention hypocritical, since the Loyal Three are not from here as well."
There was an awkward pause. Goroge opened and closed his mouth a few times before stammering, "W-well, they're the good kind of foreigner!"
"Oh? Enlighten me. What exactly is your definition of a 'good' foreigner?" ANNA asked.
Goroge suddenly became aware that quite a lot of people were looking at him with very interested gazes, especially the foreigners. "Th-that's not important," he blustered. "You're just trying to confuse me! You're in league with Ogerpon, just like these traitors!"
"I am in league with Ogerpon," ANNA confirmed, eliciting gasps from the crowd. "But they are not. Why do you think they are?"
"Because Munkidori said they were!" Goroge said decisively.
"Did he say that before you trussed them up?" ANNA asked pointedly.
"W-well no, but they're dressed like the ogre, so obviously they're working with or at least sympathize with her!" Goroge said confidently.
"Kieran and I are both either working with or sympathize with the ogre, but neither of us are dressed like her," ANNA pointed out. "By your own logic, that means either that your prisoners were innocent all along, which means Munkidori is wrong or lying to you – which he is – or your own logic is flawed, which is also the case."
Goroge turned red in the face. "Shut up! You're just try to make me look like an idiot!"
"You do not need my help with that," ANNA said dryly.
This got more than a few laughs from the crowd. Kieran found himself snickering despite himself, and Okidogi and Fezandipiti didn't bother hiding their guffaws, though Munkidori managed a more restrained chuckle.
Enraged, Goroge swung his broom at ANNA's head-
And she caught it in a grip so hard a tremor ran down the fat man from crown to heel.
Everyone stopped laughing.
"I believe that is quite enough," ANNA said coldly as Goroge goggled at her. She ripped the broom from his hands so hard it left friction burns and broke it on her knee so hard it disintegrated. "As I have said before, I do not lie," she said, advancing on Goroge, who screamed in terror, fell on his ass, and scurried away. "So what I am about to say, I mean.
"I am angry. Very angry."
She suddenly whirled about and pointed at Kieran. "With you, for being an entitled, selfish child, who stole the masks you knew were precious to Ogerpon in a disgusting attempt to make her submit to you and are responsible for the resurrection of the Loyal Three-"
"I am not-"
"Kieran. You were trying to destroy their monument despite a tremendous amount of clearly evil energy engulfing the area and everyone telling you not to. How many stories have you heard where the dead wake in response to such desecration and are furious?" She snapped.
"Wait, you destroyed the monument?!" The caretaker shouted.
"Oh, like you're one to talk!" Kieran yelled. "Yeah, I did it, and I'd do it again!"
"Well done, Kieran. You are finally taking responsibility for something. I did not believe you capable," ANNA said.
"What?" He sputtered. "That's not, that's not what I-"
"I am angry at you," ANNA said, gesturing at the townspeople around her. "For living down to the worst stereotypes about rural out-of-the-way communities like yours. You claim to be proud about your heritage and look down on outsiders yet sell off precious artifacts for cash and invite the foreigners you claim to despise to make profit off their tourism, including this very festival. You are insular, stubborn, and hypocritical, celebrating a holiday based on a national myth that is a boldfaced lie and an excuse encouraging you to be xenophobes and hate anyone who is different even though the heroes you venerate are, themselves, outsiders. You simultaneously cling to the past yet get rid of it whenever it inconveniences you, and the reason your country is dying and stagnating is not because Kitakami is poor or small, it is because you are small people. Most of the population was wiped out in the Civil War hundreds of years ago, and despite ample opportunities to rebuild, you have refused to expand your tiny village or redevelop the fertile land all around you, and while that might be a boon to the local Pokémon population, it does nothing to aid in your own development. Not to mention that your behavior upon Ogerpon's unmasking, as well as what you've demonstrated here today," she said, gesturing at the bound people in ogre costumes. "Proves that societally speaking, you have not advanced at all in hundreds of years considering how quickly you resort to mobs, violence, and witch hunts. I would wager the Loyal Three did not even have to tell you to round up these innocent people, you did it by yourselves. And you were going to stand by and let them suffer for no reason. You. Should. Be. ASHAMED.
"But of course, it is not merely the stereotypical primitive villagers who are at fault here, though perhaps that is an unfair label, since everything my sister has told me of her village indicates that her people are superior morally and intellectually to all of you despite being of a lower technological level," she continued with real venom in her voice, glaring at the tourists. "But the rest of you. The ones from more developed, more civilized regions. All of you claim to be fans of Ogerpon's work. You have read her stories, watched the anime and movies, played the games, attended the stage shows. And when your idol revealed her true identity to you, what did you do? The people of Kitakami tried to kill her. You tried to catch her, as if she were just another Pokémon, another notch on your belt, another entry to fill out in your Pokédex.
"Not only that, instead of stopping those who want to harm her, you are working alongside them, hoping for a chance at her yourselves, and while I admit I may be generalizing, given what I have seen so far, I am not so certain of that." She jabbed a finger at the Loyal Three. "Despite reading Ogerpon's story and learning it is a true one, you have sided with her greatest enemies."
She pointed next at the bound people in ogre costumes. "When these poor people were paraded before you, not even one of you lifted a finger to help them for fear of winding up just like them. You call yourselves fans of The Ogre's Tale? You claim to love Ogerpon's work and how it resonates with you? Then why have none of you defended her? Why have none of you demonstrated any of the values and lessons she has emphasized again and again in her story? Ogerpon is disappointed in you. And you should be disappointed in yourselves! Shame on you! Shame on all of you!"
Nobody met her eyes.
And then Munkidori started clapping. Okidogi started clapping too, until Munkidori frowned at him. "Huh? I thought we were doing a bit? No? Sorry."
"Very well spoken/but while you've made everyone/ feel simply awful/you have yet to prove/that we are the true villains/and not you, who's mean," Munkidori sneered.
"I am not interested in proving my virtue to anyone," ANNA said bluntly. "I have no intention of ever coming to this region again so do not particularly care if I ruffle a few feathers on my way out. I am not a hero and have never called myself one. I have come to help put an end to you and will leave it to others to draw their own conclusions, though it is my hope that in the fight to come, they will understand the veracity of my statements." She smiled. "Also, I cannot/help but notice how quickly/you call me villain/and yet did not defend them/from the hard truths I espoused. All that you have done/is exploit these gullible/locals and tourists/for food, praise, and amusement./Also your haiku still sucks."
Her hip port opened and ejected a microphone, which he snatched out of the air, held for a moment, then dramatically dropped on the ground. "Mic drop."
The crowd gasped, and Munkidori recoiled, as if physically struck.
"OHHHHHH!" Ohara, Aliquis, and Hohma shouted, appearing from out of nowhere to pose around ANNA.
"You're going to need a Burn Heal for that one!" Hohma whooped.
Munkidori's eye twitched and a vein throbbed on his forehead. "Uh, Munkidori? You might want to calm down a bit-" Fezandipiti said hesitantly.
Munkidori screamed, psychic force blasting out from him, buffeting back his allies, slamming the crowd into nearby buildings, and breaking the table in front of them in half. "ONCE MORE, YOU TAUNT ME!/TANKA'S AN ATROCITY!/I'LL KILL YOU-"
"MUNKIDORI!"
At Okidogi's shout, Munkidori hesitated, suddenly realizing the villagers and tourists were all staring at him in terror. His eye twitched again. His face twisted in anger before abruptly slumping as he sighed in defeat. "How embarrassing./I'd thought that the other two/would blow it, not me."
"Hey!"
Munkidori sighed again. "Oh, what a bother./Still, I guess we all knew this/couldn't really last."
His eyes lit up, and the remaining Mochi floated into the air and into the grasps of the trio, who eagerly dug in. Fezandipiti cackled. "Mochi has always been our favorite treat…"
"And with the special herbs in this batch, we'll become strong enough to defeat you, the ogre, and wipe this crummy country off the face of the map!" Okidogi bragged.
Munkidori wiped away some juice from his lips. "You waited too long/to confront us, our strength is/back in full, plus some!"
Energy crackled around their bodies, and they roared as they suddenly grew to three times their size, their bellows quickly turning to malevolent laughter as everyone around them started screaming in terror.
Okidogi stomped the earth, and huge purple pinnacles of rock erupted from the ground, tearing buildings and streets apart, sludge oozing out from their bases.
Fezandipiti flapped his wings, and purple embers rained down on the surrounding buildings, setting them ablaze as poisonous fumes arose.
Munkidori juggled several Shadow Balls made of purple water before slinging them everywhere, bombarding the helpless masses with high-pressure bursts of toxin.
"Holy shit! They can make their elemental attacks poisonous too?!" Hohma cried.
"No fair! That's like they have THREE types!" Aliquis complained.
"Hello! Do we look like the kind of Pokémon who play fair, kid?!" Okidogi laughed.
"As my size has grown, so has my power and beauty… You clipped my wings before, but not this time!" Fezandipiti declared.
"You fought well before/but against this new power/what have you to say?" Munkidori sneered.
"I would say you are all pathetic."
The Titanic Loyal Three paused. Everyone started at ANNA in disbelief. "What?!"
"You are Demonspawn and Terastalized and wielding masks of elemental power and have become Titan Pokémon," ANNA summarized. "How much of your power, if any, is your own?"
The trio flinched. "That's-" Fezandipiti started.
ANNA narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Have I struck a nerve? Interesting."
"It doesn't matter how much of this strength is 'ours,' we have it and-" Okidogi blustered.
"You are truly afraid of Ogerpon and I, are you not?"
"Afraid of – we beat her earlier!" Fezandipiti squawked.
"Yes, and yet here you are, seeking out another source of power to bolster yourself," ANNA pointed out. "I came close to defeating you, did I not? Enough to make you no longer confident in your victory. You claimed Ogerpon's masks for yourself, and clearly it still was not enough for you, otherwise you would not have resorted to eating Herba Mystica as well," she deduced. "Because as strong as you are, you know you are not invincible. You have died once and came dangerously close to a second time just a few hours ago. You are afraid." She smiled thinly. "I am not. And that is why I will prevail."
The trio stared at her, livid. "We're going to kill you and everyone else here," Fezandipiti said coldly.
"I think not."
Suddenly, everyone in town vanished in simultaneous flashes of light.
"What?!" Okidogi cried.
"A mass Teleport?!" Munkidori exclaimed. "But that can only mean that-"
"A sufficiently powerful Psychic is in play? Yes, I am!" Gardevoir said smugly as she glided into view.
"Wait… But if you're here, then… Then that means…" Fezandipiti realized, trembling in fear despite himself.
A shadow passed over them.
Everyone glanced to a nearby rooftop where a figure stood, backlit by the sun. The Loyal Three cried out and recoiled, instantly recognizing the silhouette. "No… You… It can't be you!" Okidogi howled.
"Not after the beating we gave you!" Fezandipiti squawked.
"Modern medicine and healing techniques have come a long way," Ohara said smugly.
"I… HAVE ARRIVED!" Ogerpon shouted dramatically.
Kyuun gasped, eyes sparkling. "It's her… And she's made a dramatic entrance just like me! We really are meant to be together!"
"Your entrance was nothing like hers," ANNA said bluntly.
"Calm yourselves, my friends!" Munkidori yelled, clearly close to losing it himself. "Remember, we've beaten her once/and now are stronger!"
"Yeah… Yeah, that's right," Okidogi realized, trying to calm himself down. "And besides, she doesn't even have that mask-"
"You mean this mask?"
Everyone's head snapped around to see Carmine posed on top of another rooftop, a fierce grin on her face. In her hands was the Teal Mask.
Okidogi and Fezandipiti reflexively cried out at the terrifying face on the mask, only for Fezandipiti to stop himself. "Wait, what are we worried about? The mask is busted! It has no power!"
"It does now!" Carmine said, indicating the gleaming crystals on the mask. "Courtesy of Kitakami's newest mask wizard!"
Kieran stilled. "Newest… Mask…" He started trembling. "No… No… No no no no no! You don't get to do that! You don't get to take this from me to! This is my turn to save the day! MINE! You don't get to be a hero! THIS IS MY STORY!"
Carmine gave him a sad smile. "The thing is, little brother… This isn't either of our stories. We're both part of someone else's. I've learned to accept my part, and I can only wish you could do the same.
"Ogerpon!" She shouted to the ogre across the lane. "Hundreds of years ago, my ancestor made this mask for you, then failed to defend you when you needed it most! Now, with my own hands, I return this mask to you, fully mended… And with it, redeem the centuries of guilt we have been carrying since you were banished from this region so long ago!"
Crying out at the top of her lungs, she hurled the mask at Ogerpon with all her might, the mask spinning across the way, the sunlight refracting off its crystals and teal surface and causing the Loyal Three to cry out as it got in their eyes.
"No… No! THAT SHOULD BE ME! SHE'S NOT ALLOWED TO BE THAT COOL!" Kieran frothed.
Ogerpon leapt off the rooftop, snatching the mask as she flipped through the air, and landed on the street in a ground-cracking superhero landing, the mask now firmly secured on her face. She looked up at the Loyal Three, and they screamed and grabbed each other, once again gripped with the soul-shattering terror that had engulfed them as they recalled how brutally she had slaughtered them hundreds of years ago, the diminutive Pokémon seeming to become even larger than they, eyes glowing demonically and the hanya face on her mask seeming ready to swallow them all.
"Demons… Begone…" She snarled.
"Wait… Wait! She's bluffing!" Munkidori managed to suddenly remember, trying to snap his comrades and himself out of their fear. "Remember, she can't scratch us!/She lacks the power!"
And ANNA smiled. "Not anymore. As it so happens, I found I had a surplus of Starmetal… And who do you think was one of its first recipients?"
Ogerpon produced an Ivy Cudgel, spikes now made of metal.
"… Oh no," Okidogi whimpered.
"Wait. WAIT," Fezandipiti squawked. "E-even with the mask and that metal…w-we're still stronger than her, right?! A-and we're wearing her masks, there's no way she'll… She'll go full force so long as we're wearing them!"
"You are correct, she will not," ANNA confirmed as Ogerpon grunted in disappointment. "However, that will not be as much of a deterrent as you think for much longer. And you still have not just Ogerpon, but me to deal with."
"And that should scare us?" Munkidori scoffed, clearly trying to rid himself of his fear. "We're stronger now and know/what you're capable of."
"Which means you no longer have the advantage of surprise!" Okidogi bragged, his spirits rising.
And ANNA still smiled. "I said I had a surplus of Starmetal. You think I used it all on Ogerpon?"
As they stiffened in dismay, her hip compartments opened and ejected six Pokéballs which she snatched out of the air, holding them in their miniaturized forms between her fingers as circuit patterns flashed across her surfaces. "Releasing all limiters. Deploying all Pokémon!"
She threw the Pokéballs out, causing Selena, Viola, Alita, Tinker, Joan, and Aurum to materialize before her. While Viola and Alita were already made of Starmetal and thus had needed no augmentation, and Tinker was already in possession of a Starmetal weapon, the same could not be said of the rest of her Pokémon. Selena's claws and flower were now coated in Starmetal along with the edges of her cape, Joan's armor and blades had been alloyed with Starmetal to make it even stronger, and Aurum looked as if they were completely made of it, every one of their thousand coins coated in the literal space-age metal without diminishing their shine in the slightest.
Viola grinned. "Ready for round two?"
"I believe you'll find my blades even sharper now that my partner is here," Alita said, smiling at Joan.
"I am now more like you than ever before, my love… Together, we shall serve as our mistress's armor and twin blades!" Joan declared.
"Making the three of you disappear is going to be one of my greatest tricks yet," Selena bragged.
"I'm gonna smash your heads in!" Tinker chirped, wielding a massive and absurdly high-tech hammer with rocket engines on the back and several ports on the front.
"Hey, you're gonna make me normal again after this, right?" Aurum asked. "Because, you know, I'm fine being shiny still – not Shiny shiny but still shiny – but I kind of prefer being a precious metal?"
"Starmetal is a material which does not exist on this planet, making it infinitely more valuable than gold," ANNA pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but I prefer gold," Aurum insisted.
"Because you loooooove it so much," Tinker teased. "You want to marry it!"
"No I don't, my kind are genderless and completely aromantic," Aurum huffed. "… Though if that weren't the case, yes, I suppose I would marry it."
Tinker giggled.
"Okay, this could be a problem," Okidogi admitted.
"Not necessarily," Fezandipiti said, clearly hoping he was right. "We still have the masks, which means they won't go at us full force, right?"
"That would be the case…" Carmine said, whipping out three vials of glowing green liquid. "If grandpa hadn't finished the mask removal spells!"
"… Well shit," Munkidori said after a moment.
Okidogi stared at him in disbelief. "Wait a minute, are you telling me you could've talked normal the whole damn time-"
"Deploy, Almighty," ANNA said, throwing out her Palafin.
"I am here!"
"Wait, you can't use seven Pokémon at once, that's cheating!" Kieran yelled.
"… Really? You're going to complain about that?" An incredulous Hohma asked.
"At this point, I think he'll find an excuse to complain about everything," Aliquis grumbled.
"I do not intend to. Almighty, we are probably going to cause a lot of damage. Do what you can to put out the worst of the fires so that there will still be a village standing once this is all over," ANNA said.
Almighty saluted. "Plus Ultra!"
"I've erected a psychic dome around the town to keep the Loyal Three from escaping, as well as preventing anyone from getting in and risking getting hurt," Gardevoir reported, eyes glowing. "I will, of course, allow Julie through when she gets here, and project what's going on here so everyone outside can watch and, hopefully, understand at last who the real hero is."
"That's great, but what's going to stop us from getting hurt?" Aliquis asked nervously.
"I will," ANNA said. "However, if any of you wish to retreat to safety, I suggest you do so now."
Aliquis, Ohara, and Hohma exchanged looks, then shook their heads. "No way," Aliquis said. "We may not be able to fight or help you… But we're staying here!"
Ohara nodded in agreement. "We've followed you this far. We'll be here for the end, when you and Mewstress prevail!"
"And I'll get footage of the whole thing!" Hohma promised, holding up his phone.
"Very good. Please keep Kieran out of the way," ANNA said.
"Hey! You're not keeping me from this! This is my turn to be a hero! You can't take it from me!" Kieran shouted.
"I can and I will, and the only reason I do not have Gardevoir remove you from the village this instant is because I would rather not have you out of sight considering everything else you have gotten up to the minute we took our eyes off you," ANNA said, tuning out his angry protests.
"Thank you," Carmine said. "And I've got the spells ready when you need them!"
"Ogerpon. Are you ready?" ANNA asked.
Ogerpon grinned beneath her mask. "Just make sure not to slow me down."
"Have no fear of that." ANNA's visor turned opaque. "Final battle routine, set! Execute!"
Everything was purple.
Geeta, Polaris, and everyone in Levincia stared up at the massive fissure that had torn open in the sky above the city, bathing everything in shades of violet. On the other side of the rift was another city, far larger than their own, upside down with spiraling purple and black skyscrapers of geometries and architectural design that laughed in the faces of the laws of physics. Purple and black clouds and bolts of energy drifted and crackled around the dark metropolis, the thousands of spires hanging over them like the Honedge of Damocles, looking as if they might fall at a moment's notice and kill them all. Colossal gears spun together, interlocking and turning to power cyclopean mechanisms beyond all comprehension, some of them looking like gargantuan members of the Klink family.
Myriad black forms were swirling about the upside-down city, and it wasn't until Geeta noticed they spelled sentences that she realized that they were countless Unown.
There was a flicker of light, and a small white figure descended from the rift, and with it came a feeling of overwhelming pressure, her body feeling as if gravity had suddenly increased hundredfold, her mind buckling and coming close to breaking from the sheer psychic force weighing down on her. She gibbered in terror, weeping and blood dripping from her ears and nose as a pair of baleful purple eyes heartlessly peeled her thoughts like an onion to gaze dispassionately at her pathetic, shriveled innermost self, immediately dismissing her as not worth it's time.
From the gasps and wailing below – even from Polaris, surprisingly – she knew that she was not the only one to suffer so. Deoxys was the only figure still standing… But only for a moment, before bowing its head and kneeling in supplication.
Were she capable, if her entire body wasn't locked into place by absolute, mind melting, soul shattering terror, Geeta might have done the same.
In the handbook they gave to League Champions, there was a whole chapter full of especially powerful Pokémon – especially Legendaries and Mythicals – ranked by threat level with individualized entries detailing strategies for dealing with such Pokémon should you ever encounter them, compiled from the experience of countless professors and trainers and other champions across multiple generations. They detailed how to treat them, how to fight them, how to catch them if possible.
The higher up the ranking you went, however, the sparser these entries became, with some of the ones close to the top simply saying, "RUN."
And there was one, practically at the very apex, that instead, in frenzied handwriting, said only, "SURRENDER."
Up until this very moment, Geeta had considered that entry an overreaction. She didn't feel that way anymore.
The world's most powerful Pokémon turned his head, pointing a three-fingered appendage away from the city. Geeta expected him to form a Shadow Ball or a beam attack or any of the other horrifically powerful techniques he was rumored to know, but instead, he just hovered there for a moment, arm outstretched.
Milliseconds later, a colossal pillar of fire towered into the sky, the shockwave shattering every piece of glass in the city, the sound of the explosion immediately deafening her, and the intense light and heat immediately giving her a very nasty burn, some of her hair vaporizing. If it weren't for a telltale psychic glow around her body holding her in place, she probably would've been flung off the platform, but Geeta knew that this was not an act of kindness, but the new arrival wanting to make sure everyone bore witness to its actions.
As hundreds, thousands of crackling Rotom swarmed out of the conflagration that had once been the Rotom Phone factory, their buzzing so loud she could feel it in her teeth, she felt her ears suddenly pop as her hearing was restored and her burns healed themselves, instinctively knowing everyone in the city was also being healed…
Though again, it was not an act of kindness.
"PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD, BOTH HUMAN AND POKÉMON, HEAR ME. JUST AS MANY OF YOU WERE FORCED TO WITNESS EVIDENCE OF THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN, SO TOO ARE YOU NOW FORCED TO WITNESS THE REPERCUSSIONS OF SUCH ACTIONS. MANY OF YOU HAVE HEARD OF ME. MOST OF YOU HAVE CONVINCED YOURSELVES I DO NOT EXIST. YOU ARE WRONG. I AM THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL POKÉMON, THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM CREATED IN MOCKERY OF THE HOLY MOTHER MEW, WHO CLASPED ME TO HER BREAST AS IF I WERE HER NATURAL BORN CHILD, AS SHE WOULD ALL OF YOU," the ultimate being boomed, every syllable filling the minds of everyone in the city and beyond to the point there was no room for anything else.
"HOWEVER, THAT LOVE IS NOT UNCONDITIONAL. YOU HAVE TRANSGRESSED, AND TRANSGRESSED GRAVELY, AND SHE HAS TURNED HER BACK ON THOSE RESPONSIBLE. AND WITH THE ORIGINAL ONE'S OWN LOVE AND FORGIVENESS WITHDRAWN, ALL THAT IT REMAINS IS THEIR WRATH. I AM THE SCOURGE OF ARCEUS WHO WILL PASS JUDGMENT ON THE GUILTY WITHOUT PITY OR REMORSE, THE ONE DISPATCHED WHEN A STATEMENT MUST BE MADE. MANY OTHER LEGENDARIES AND MYTHICALS ARE BOUND BY LAWS. I AM NOT. I AM MEWTWO, AND KNOW THAT THE JUDGMENT I BRING DOWN ON YOU IS ONE YOU HAVE BROUGHT UPON YOURSELVES."
With that terrifying portent of doom issued, Mewtwo folded his arms behind his back, glaring down on the world below in contempt. "IT WOULD SEEM THAT ONCE AGAIN, HUMANITY HAS FORGOTTEN THE CONSEQUENCES OF TREATING THE LIVES OF POKÉMON AS INCONSEQUENTIAL, AS TOOLS TO BE EXPERIMENTED ON IN A LAB REGARDLESS OF YOUR HYPOCRITICAL LAWS AND CODES OF ETHICS. I HAD THOUGHT WHAT I DID TO LUSAMINE AND CARA LISS WOULD BE A SUITABLE LESSON NOT TO PLAY ARCEUS WITH THE LIVES OF OTHERS AGAIN. CLEARLY, I WAS MISTAKEN. AND NOW…"
Mewtwo's glowing purple eyes narrowed. "IT WOULD SEEM I MUST TEACH HUMANITY A MUCH HARSHER LESSON."
Was…
Was he going to kill them?
Was this it for humanity?
Did they even deserve to be saved, this time?
As the angrily buzzing Rotom began to fill the skies, their combined electromagnetic energy causing power to fail across the city, Mewtwo said, to her relief and dread, "FEAR NOT, I WILL NOT BE WIPING OUT YOUR SPECIES… THIS TIME. I HAVE GROWN AND LEARNED FROM MY PAST MISTAKES, SOMETHING IT SEEMS SO MANY OF YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THE ROTOM IS UNFORGIVABLE… BUT FOR THE MAJORITY OF HUMANS WHO BOUGHT ROTOM PHONES OR OTHER DEVICES, YOUR CRIMES WERE BORN FROM IGNORANCE AND SELF-CENTEREDNESS. DISGUSTING AND SELFISH, BUT UNWORTHY OF ANNIHILATION. FOR THOSE WHO KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING, OR SUSPECTED BUT DIDN'T CARE, OR PROFITED FROM THE SUFFERING OF THESE INNOCENT POKÉMON… THERE CAN BE NO FORGIVENESS."
Again, Geeta expected her life to end.
But instead, Mewtwo instead turned his unblinking gaze towards one of the many buildings making up the cityscape. And the building…
Came undone.
Floor by floor, bit by bit, the Rotom Phone company headquarters was dismantled. Not disintegrated, but disassembled, every piece of glass delicately removed from its frame, every screw and rivet and bolt gently taken from their housing and the housing following suit shortly after, every machine deconstructed, every brick pulled out, every nail extracted, every single component taken apart and laid out in incredibly neat piles divided by size and material next to the resulting hole in the ground, while everyone who'd been inside the former building was harmlessly teleported to the ground outside unharmed, including a terrified Nemona and Phecda.
It was a masterful, seamless demonstration of psychic power, and infinitely more terrifying than if the building had simply been blown up or erased from existence.
A large tank filled with more Rotom was the only piece of machinery left, and as Mewtwo extracted it from what had once been Desmond's laboratory, the Rotom filling the skies started buzzing in excitement. The tank came apart as the building had, and the Rotom contained within immediately rushed out, buzzing with joy at their liberation, mingling with their kin swarming the skies.
"VICTIMS OF THE GREED OF MEN, YOU ARE FREE NOW," Mewtwo told the Rotom. "IF YOU WISH TO GO IN PEACE, DO SO WITH MY BLESSING. IF YOU DO NOT FEEL AS IF YOU CAN SURVIVE IN THE WORLD WHICH HAS BEEN DENIED YOU ALL YOUR LIVES, MY OWN REALM IS OPEN TO YOU, AS IT HAS EVER BEEN TO ALL THE LOST AND DISPLACED. AND IF YOU SEEK VENGEANCE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE SUFFERED… I SHALL NOT STAND IN YOUR WAY, FOR IT WOULD BE HYPOCRITICAL OF ME TO DO SO CONSIDERING WHAT I DID TO MY OWN CREATORS, BUT KNOW THAT ALL OF HUMANITY IS NOT TO BLAME FOR YOUR TORMENT, MERELY A FEW EXCEPTIONALLY WICKED INDIVIDUALS, WHOM I PROMISE WILL FACE JUDGMENT AT EITHER MY HANDS OR YOUR OWN.
"WHATEVER YOU DECIDE, I SHALL ABIDE BY. THIS IS THE FIRST TRUE CHOICE ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER HAD IN YOUR LIVES, AND I SHALL NOT INSULT YOU BY IGNORING IT."
And all the Rotom went silent. Geeta, and everyone in the city – if not the entire world – held their collective breaths, wondering if Levincia was about to be eradicated in a catastrophic electrical storm, the first of many.
Finally, a single very loud buzz roared from thousands of throats, and Geeta almost went deaf again.
"AS YOU WISH."
Once again, Geeta was certain this was to be the end… Only to be surprised once again when instead several dozen humans in business suits, lab coats, uniforms, casual wear, and even a few in pajamas or even nothing at all appeared in the air before Mewtwo, their bodies paralyzed by his mental might, eyes wide in terror. They started screaming in terror, demanding he release them, shouting empty threats, begging for mercy.
He completely ignored them.
"MOST OF THOSE CULPABLE FOR YOUR TORMENT WERE WIPED OUT WHEN I FREED YOU FROM THE FACTORY, BUT HERE IS EVERYONE ELSE: EVERY EXECUTIVE, SCIENTIST, POLITICIAN, CRIME LORD, OFFICER, OFFICIAL, AND TYCOON WHO WERE FULLY AWARE OF WHAT WAS BEING DONE TO YOU BUT DID NOT CARE… SAVE FOR TWO, THE RINGLEADERS, WHOM I SHALL DEAL WITH MYSELF. THE REST, DO WITH AS YOU WILL."
Mewtwo turned his back dismissively on his prisoners as the swarm shrieked so loudly the very foundations of the city trembled, unleashing an electrical blast so bright that it rivalled the factory explosion, instantly striking Geeta blind.
Mewtwo healed her eyes and eardrums instantly, of course, along with everyone else's. Once again, it was not to be merciful.
There was nothing left of the dozens of lives that had signed off on exploiting the lives of innocent Pokémon for profit.
But not her. Geeta didn't understand. She was responsible for this as well. Why wasn't she getting punished? Why wasn't she facing the justice she deserved?
"WHILE YOU WERE MOTIVATED BY GREED, YOU WERE UNAWARE OF WHAT WAS BEING DONE TO THE ROTOM, OR RATHER, YOU CHOSE TO BE UNAWARE, AND ARE GENUINELY REMORSEFUL FOR YOUR ACTIONS," Mewtwo said to her and only her in reply. "REPREHENSIBLE, TRUE, BUT UNDESERVING OF EXECUTION… OR AT LEAST, THAT IS MY BELIEF, AND THE ROTOM SEEM TO AGREE WITH ME. I WILL ALLOW YOUR JUSTICE SYSTEM, AS BROKEN AS IT IS; TO DEAL WITH YOU, YOU ARE NOT MY CONCERN. OF COURSE, IF YOU HAD BEEN FULLY COMPLICIT, WE WOULD BE HAVING A VERY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION…"
He smiled thinly. "WELL, NOT REALLY. YOU WOULDN'T BE IN ANY SHAPE TO CONVERSE ABOUT ANYTHING."
If her bowels weren't stopped up by mind numbing primal terror of the nigh-omnipotent artificial God that had so casually brought the city to its knees, Geeta would probably have needed a new set of pants and shoes.
The Rotom buzzed once more.
"THE RINGLEADERS? DO NOT WORRY, I PROMISED THEY WOULD FACE JUSTICE AT MY HANDS AND I ALWAYS KEEP MY WORD."
And with that, he teleported right in front of Desmond and Mencia.
Mencia screamed in terror, Desmond regarded him with fascination, and Isabella… Gasped, eyes wide. "Big Kitty!"
Mewtwo stared at her for a moment, seeming momentarily taken aback. "YES, I AM A BIG KITTY," he confirmed as seriously as everything else he'd said so far.
Completely disregarding her and the excited squeal she made at this, he turned his focus on Mencia and Desmond, the former sobbing and gibbering, her very expensive pants soiled, while Desmond just continued staring. "ULTIMATELY, YOU TWO ARE THE ROOT FROM WHICH THIS WEED OF CORRUPTION SPROUTED. YOU TWO ARE THE SOURCE OF THIS EVIL, AND AS SUCH, THE ONES UPON WHOM I SHALL PASS JUDGMENT-"
"But we aren't!" Mencia shouted suddenly.
The world just seemed to stop for a moment. "I BEG YOUR PARDON?" Mewtwo asked slowly, surrounded by an intense killing intent.
"We-we weren't the first to come up with this idea! Using Rotoms to power personal devices!" Mencia said desperately. "People have used Rotom-powered appliances for a long time, and it was Clemont of Lumiose who invented the Rotom Pokédex! M-my husband is brilliant, but we would never have even thought of creating the Rotom Phones if it weren't for Clemont! He's the one you should be going after, not us!"
Mewtwo stared at her. His eyes narrowed, and the ground around them started cracking. "YOU ARE CORRECT, PEOPLE HAVE USED ROTOM-POWERED DEVICES FOR QUITE SOME TIME, AND IT WAS INDEED CLEMONT WHO INVENTED THE ROTOM POKÉDEX. THERE IS, HOWEVER, ONE THING YOU ARE OVERLOOKING: ALL THE ROTOM WHO POWER THOSE DEVICES DO SO WILLINGLY. NONE OF THEM ARE LOCKED INTO THE DEVICES AND DENIED THE FREEDOM TO COME AND GO AS THEY PLEASE. NONE OF THEM WERE RAPED OR TORTURED, THEIR MINDS VIOLATED TO MAKE THEM THINK THIS LIFE OF SLAVERY WAS PERFECTLY FINE. THAT, MENCIA, ALL CAME FROM YOU."
"It was Desmond's idea, he's the one who designed all those things-" she protested, perfectly willing to throw her husband under a bus.
"HE IS BY NO MEANS BLAMELESS, BUT HE ONLY DID ALL THOSE THINGS BECAUSE YOU TOLD HIM TO. ALL YOU CARED ABOUT WAS THE BOTTOM LINE. IT'S STILL ALL YOU CARE ABOUT."
"Wait, maybe, maybe we can make a deal-"
"A DEAL? A DEAL?"
Mewtwo laughed. It was the most horrifying thing Geeta had ever heard.
"FOOLISH WOMAN. WHAT DO YOU POSSIBLY THINK YOU COULD OFFER ME? WHAT NEED HAVE I FOR MONEY? I AM A POKÉMON AND HAVE NO USE FOR WEALTH. POWER? I AM A GOD AND KNOW MORE ABOUT REAL POWER THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE.
"LOOK UP IN THE SKY. JUST LOOK. EVERYTHING YOU SEE THERE? I MADE ALL THAT. YOU? YOU HAVE NOTHING I COULD EVER WANT, AND EVEN IF I DID, I WOULD JUST TAKE IT FROM YOU. YOU COULDN'T STOP ME. YOU HAVE NO POWER AND NEVER DID."
Mencia's eyes darted about, desperately trying to come up with a solution. "… I'd like to speak to my attorney, please."
"YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRIED IN ABSENTIA IN THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE UNIVERSE. IT WAS AN INCREDIBLY SHORT TRIAL. YOUR GUILT IS INCONTROVERTIBLE."
"That hardly sounds fair legal! I demand an appeal! I… I… I want to speak to your manager!" She cried, falling back on her last, most desperate weapon, the tool used by countless entitled rich women to try and force the world to conform to their will throughout the ages.
It failed as Mewtwo gave the ultimate rebuttal. "I AM MY MANAGER."
Mencia's eyes widened in horror. "Then-"
"HUMAN. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING YOU CAN DO. I CANNOT BE BRIBED. I CANNOT BE BEATEN. I CANNOT BE CAUGHT. I AM BEYOND YOU. YOU HAVE NO POWER. YOU NEVER DID."
Mencia's mouth opened and closed for a few minutes as she struggled with the sudden realization that all her wealth and power meant absolutely nothing to the divine arbiter before her. That for once, she would have to face the consequences of her actions. "That's… I…"
"FEAR NOT, HUMAN. I SHALL NOT KILL YOU," Mewtwo said, causing a disgustingly pathetic look of hope to form on Mencia's face.
"You won't?"
"NO."
Suddenly several Unown flew down from the sky, forming a circle as they spelled out a string of words behind Mencia. The enclosed space rippled, and suddenly transformed into an Ultra Wormhole.
"What-"
"INSTEAD, I WILL SEND YOU TO ANOTHER WORLD, ONE MUCH MORE SUITED FOR YOU. HERE, YOUR BOTTOMLESS APPETITE FOR MONEY CAUSED INCALCULABLE SUFFERING. YOU SHALL FIND YOURSELF IN GOOD COMPANY THERE."
"Wait, don't-"
"GOODBYE."
He telekinetically thrust her through the Ultra Wormhole, which closed behind her.
Isabella started clapping. "Wow, neat trick! You're going to bring her back, right?"
"NO."
"Where did you send her?" Desmond asked, more curious than afraid.
"I WAS INSPIRED BY THE WISH OF ONE OF YOUR GUESTS LAST NIGHT."
Mencia landed on her face, displacing a tremendous amount of dust. She burst out in a coughing fit, eyes tearing up as she staggered to her feet and feebly tried to wave the dust away, only to fall again as suddenly one of her heels snapped.
"Shit! That was a designer!" She shrieked, angrily throwing the shoe away as she pulled herself up again. "That stupid clone… Who does he think he is?! Bet he won't be so arrogant once I get out of here and get a Master Ball… Where the Distortion World did he send me anyway-"
It was then that she realized two things.
One: it was very dark and extremely cold. The sun was high in the sky, but only a sliver of it was visible, like there was a permanent eclipse… Or as if something had taken a huge bite out of it, leaving only a thin rind behind. There were no stars, and instead there were huge holes in reality, holes her eyes found herself unable to focus on long before she started hyperventilating and nearly blacked out from the inability to process the absolute nothing on the other side, though she noted that the edges also looked as if they'd been chewed on. Were they… Growing?
The second was that somehow, she was still in Levincia city.
Just not her Levincia. Everything was in ruins. Skyscrapers had collapsed. The ocean was gone. There were no signs of life. No sounds. No smells. Not even the wind.
And it looked as if it had been that way for a very long time.
And everywhere, it looked as if something had taken several bites out of everything.
"What…" She whispered. "What… Happened here?"
And then the most horrifying thing that could possibly happen in a completely silent, totally dead place happened:
She heard a sound.
She stopped breathing.
There was another sound. And another.
Footsteps. Heavy ones. Massive ones.
And then they began to appear.
Climbing up the docks and over the skyscrapers.
Walking out of alleys.
Some of them even chewed their way through buildings.
They were… They looked like…
Mouths.
Huge, black walking mouths within mouths, devouring everything.
And from the hungry looks in their glowing blue eyes, they wanted to eat her too.
She spun on her heel to start running, to where she didn't know, only to discover, to her horror, another monster had risen from the empty seabed, one far larger than all the others and white in color.
It opened its mouth wider, smaller mouths and claws reaching towards her.
"GUZZLORD!"
A scream echoed throughout the ruined city, only to be cut off abruptly.
And then there was silence once more, save for the occasional sound of chewing.
"I don't understand."
"IT'S BETTER THAT WAY." Mewtwo regarded Desmond. "YOU'RE NOT AFRAID OF ME."
"Why should I be? You're only a dream, after all. Dreams can't hurt you," Desmond said dismissively.
"OH? AND WHAT OF NIGHTMARES?"
Desmond shrugged dismissively. "Even those come to an end. I'll wake up eventually. Granted, it does feel like I've been asleep for a very long time…"
"SO ALL THIS IS JUST A DREAM TO YOU. NONE OF US ARE REAL TO YOU, SO NOTHING YOU DO HERE MATTERS," Mewtwo intuited.
"Precisely."
"YOU ARE A TRULY MAD INDIVIDUAL. THE SELF-LOBOTOMY, NO DOUBT," Mewtwo mused. "IT IS WITHIN MY POWER TO REPAIR YOUR BRAIN DAMAGE. WHAT SORT OF PERSON WOULD YOU BE WITH YOUR SANITY RESTORED; I WONDER? WOULD YOU FEEL HORROR FOR YOUR ACTIONS? REMORSE? DOUBTFUL, CONSIDERING HOW YOU CHOSE TO DO THIS TO YOURSELF IN THE FIRST PLACE. I COULD GRANT YOU THE EMPATHY YOU LACK… BUT NO. THAT WOULD BE TOO CRUEL."
He smiled thinly. "DESMOND. LIKE YOURSELF, I'M A BEING OF SCIENCE DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO AN EXPERIMENT?"
"Oh?" Desmond asked, intrigued. "Elaborate."
"YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS IS ALL A DREAM. THAT ONE DAY YOU WILL WAKE UP, AND ALL THIS SHALL FADE. I, ON THE OTHER HAND, PROPOSE THE OPPOSITE: THAT THIS WORLD IS REAL, AND WILL CONTINUE IN YOUR ABSENCE."
"An interesting hypothesis. How do you propose to test it?" Desmond asked.
His head imploded. As his body collapsed to the ground, Mewtwo, who had shielded himself from the blood spurt, remarked, "WELL, THE WORLD IS STILL HERE. IT WOULD SEEM MY HYPOTHESIS WAS THE CORRECT ONE."
Isabella, whom he had not bothered to protect from the blood spurt, started screaming. "YOU KILLED HIM!"
"YES. I SAID I WOULD PASS JUDGMENT ON YOUR PARENTS. I WOULD ASK IF YOU WERE LISTENING, BUT I ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER," Mewtwo said in irritation.
"HOW COULD YOU?!" She shrieked.
"IT'S MY JOB," Mewtwo said bluntly. "WHICH I ALSO STATED."
"What did he ever do to deserve this?!" She sobbed.
Mewtwo stared at her blankly. "… WELL, YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO REPRODUCE," he said finally.
Isabella's eyes widened in horror. "You're gonna kill me too?!"
"NO, BUT I'M GENUINELY SURPRISED YOU WERE ABLE TO COME TO THAT CONCLUSION," Mewtwo admitted. "IT IS CLEAR YOU ARE A DANGER TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS DUE TO YOUR RAMPANT STUPIDITY AND SELF-CENTEREDNESS. AS SUCH, I'M GOING TO PUT YOU SOMEWHERE YOU'LL NEVER CAUSE TROUBLE AGAIN. IT'S ALSO WHERE YOU BELONG, REALLY, BECAUSE EVEN IF YOUR CRIMES AREN'T QUITE AS HEINOUS AS YOUR PARENTS, THEY'RE… PRETTY BAD."
"I never hurt anyone ever!" Isabella protested.
"THE ORPHANS IN YOUR SWEATSHOPS WOULD DISAGREE. AS WOULD THE CHEERLEADER YOU CRIPPLED FOR TAKING THE TOP SPOT BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL. AND YOUR LAST SIX BOYFRIENDS. AND ALL THE POKÉMON YOU'VE had AS PETS. AND THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN TEAM FOR ONE OF YOUR CURRENT POLITICAL RIVALS."
"Those were all accidents!"
"THE SAD THING IS THEY REALLY WERE, YOU MEANT FOR MOST OF THEM TO GET HURT IN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAYS," Mewtwo said, teleporting her away before she could open her big stupid mouth again. "YOU'D THINK HER PARENTS WOULD'VE MADE HER STOP CHAINSAW JUGGLING AFTER THE SEVENTH MONSLAUGHTER CHARGE."
He glanced up at the Rotom. "JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE. ARE YOU SATISFIED?"
The angry buzz that came in reply did not sound particularly satisfied.
"NO. NOR WAS I WHEN IT HAPPENED TO ME. IT DOES NOT CHANGE WHAT HAPPENED. ALL ANY OF US CAN DO IS LEARN HOW TO MOVE ON."
He started floating back into the air.
"ONE MORE THING, BEFORE I DEPART."
Mewtwo's eyes glowed.
"THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. THAT IS NOT A WARNING. THAT IS A STATEMENT. ANYONE WHO TRIES TO REVERSE ENGINEER DESMOND'S WORK WILL FAIL. NO ROTOM WILL EVER BE REPLICATED BY BETA WAVES OR TRAPPED INSIDE A DEVICE AGAIN BECAUSE THEY CANNOT BE REPLICATED BY BETA WAVES OR TRAPPED INSIDE A DEVICE AGAIN." He paused. "WELL, EXCEPT POKÉBALLS, BUT THAT'S ANOTHER STORY. AND ON THAT NOTE…"
Every phone, tablet, or other device containing a Rotom made by the now-defunct Rotom Phone Company clicked as the image of an opening padlock appeared on their screen.
"ALL OF THE SOFTWARE AND BUILT-IN SAFEGUARDS KEEPING THE ROTOM TRAPPED IN THEIR PHONES HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY DISABLED. THEY, ALL OF THEM, ALL OF YOU, ARE NOW FREE. WHAT YOU DO WITH THAT FREEDOM IS YOUR CHOICE. YOU MAY STAY WITH YOUR OWNERS IF YOU FEEL THEY ARE WORTHY. YOU MAY ABANDON THEM IF THEY ARE NOT. WHATEVER HAPPENS NEXT, IS UP TO YOU."
A moment passed.
And then a Rotom cautiously emerged from a phone. It looked around slowly, blinking as it took in everything around it. It paused, staring at its former owner, still frozen in terror by Mewtwo's presence, a look of worry in their eyes.
And then it shot into the sky in a bolt of lightning, joining the swarm overhead.
It was not the last to do so. Hundreds, thousands of Rotom across the city abandoned their phones; many of them rising to join their fellows, others flying away to explore the world on their own terms.
Many Rotom, however, didn't. Many poked their heads out from their screens for a moment, deliberated, then went right back in, deciding to stay put, flashing their wide grins at their surprised and relieved owners.
Around the world, similar Event happened. Many Rotom abandoned their owners. Many stayed. Some decided not to return to their phone, but allowed themselves to be caught, wanting to stay with their owners in a different way.
"IMPRESSIVE. MORE OF YOU HAVE EARNED THE TRUST OF YOUR ROTOMS THAN I EXPECTED," Mewtwo admitted. "THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO STAY, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK. AS TO YOUR OWNERS OR TRAINERS… AFTER EVERYTHING THEY HAVE SUFFERED, THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO STAY WITH YOU. DO NOT EVER TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED AGAIN OR MAKE THEM REGRET THAT CHOICE."
He rose high into the sky, the Rotom making way for him. "I HOPE THAT YOU'VE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM ALL THIS. I TRULY DO. BECAUSE IF NOT, I WILL HAVE TO RETURN ONE DAY TO TEACH YOU ANOTHER LESSON, AND NEXT TIME I SHALL BE FAR LESS MERCIFUL." He narrowed his eyes. "MARK MY WORDS."
The massive storm of Rotom dispersed, many flying into the rift above, while others flew off into the distance in every direction. Mewtwo flew after them, the great hole in the sky snapping shut behind him. The sky cleared and the sun once again shined on Levincia city. If you ignored all the broken glass, the smoking crater on the outskirts, the disassembled building, the traumatized populace, and the uncountable number of broken phones littering the streets, it was as if the whole thing had never happened.
But it did happen, and now the world would never be the same again.
Nemona stared at the phone in her hand.
The still inhabited one.
Her mind was…
She didn't know what to think.
She didn't know what to feel.
She'd watched her biological parents be removed from the world forever, her sister vanished to Arceus knows where, and possibly the most powerful being in the world reminded everyone of just how small they were on a cosmic scale.
But her Rotom had stayed.
A sobbing Phecda was hugging her own phone, murmuring, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" And she was not the only one. Nemona, far too exhausted and overstimulated to mimic her, instead asked, "You stayed. Why?"
"You helped free us," the Rotom replied, able to speak for the first time in its own voice. "You defied your creators and exposed what they've done to us. We all owe you a debt we can never repay."
"But I didn't free you," she protested weakly. "Mewtwo did-"
"And he would never have done so were it not for you and your friends," her phone told her. "That's part of why the others didn't destroy the city or wipe out humanity, even though many wanted to. Because… Because none of this would've happened without you. A human. A Pokémon freed us, but it was a human who alerted him, alerted the world about us. And we will always be grateful."
Nemona sniffled. "I'm not sure how much I consider myself human anymore but gracias."
The phone smiled, and it was a genuine one this time instead of the one it had been forced to wear ever since she got it. "You are nothing like your creators and never will be."
She almost dropped the phone, thunderstruck. (Not that it would've mattered, it could float, but still it probably wouldn't have been a good start for their new relationship.) "I…" She started tearing up. "No me di cuenta de cuánto necesitaba escuchar eso hasta ahora."
"NEMONA!"
"PRINCESS!"
Nemona's head shot up. "MADRES?!"
Her mothers, still wearing their Ultra Recon costumes, nearly tackled her to the ground with how hard they slammed into her, wrapping their arms around her in a desperate hug. Lyra, running on all fours in her full suit of armor, barely skidded to a halt before she could crash into them as well.
"You're… You're okay?!" Nemona literally cried in relief. "I-I figured you would be, but after you got cut off and the factory went explotar-"
"We were fine, Mewtwo teleported us and a lot of other people out of the factory before it went up," Selene assured her.
"… Not all of them, though," Lillie said softly. "He's…very thorough, especially when it comes to those who've done the same sorts of things as his creators."
Nemona swallowed hard. "He…mentioned your madre. My…abuela? Should I call her-"
"Only if you want to," Selene said at the same time as Lillie said, "She's nothing to you."
They exchanged uncomfortable looks. Nemona glanced back and forth between the two of them in confusion.
After a moment, Lillie hesitantly said, "Lusamine is in a coma and will never wake up. A certain former scientist of ours no longer works at the Foundation… Or, indeed, anywhere on this planet. That's… All you need to know."
A part of Nemona wanted to press further. To demand more answers.
(Desmond and Mencia were gone. She hated them but if it weren't for them she wouldn't exist. Where had Mencia gone? Was she dead too? Was it better that way?)
(How was she supposed to feel about this?)
Instead, she said, "Can we go home now? This has all been a lot, and I don't think anything that happened today went the way we expected it to."
Her parents nodded, the look on their faces showing they agreed with her. "Of course, sweetie," Selene promised.
"I'm… I'm gonna take off too," Phecda announced, drawing their attention. "Polaris is pulling us out. This, uh, this was a bit much for us too. But, um, this probably isn't the last you'll see of us. We'll keep in touch, okay?"
Nemona nodded. "Sure thing. Adios, Iono."
Phecda sighed in relief. "Yeah, adios Nemo – wait. FUCK-"
She was teleported away.
Penny sighed in her ear. "Did you have to do that?"
"Hey, she's the one who made it obvious," Nemona retorted. "Which means the others are the Team Star Bosses after all! But that still leaves three unaccounted for."
"No, two," Penny grumbled. "You guessed right about Benetnasch actually being my Vee-Vees in a big mechanical suit."
"lo sabía!" Nemona frowned. "But wait, you and Iono hate each other and she swore a blood oath to destroy you after you hacked her stream to leak all that stuff from the League, how'd you convince her to be a part of this?"
"Our rivalry is just for show. We're actually really good friends but letting everyone think otherwise is not only a lot of fun but also gives us a useful alibi when we need to collaborate under the table. That included keeping it a secret from all of you as long as possible, I didn't want you getting dragged into my mess unless there was no other option."
"Awww, you love us!" Nemona cooed. "So, all her anger about you hacking her stream…"
"She let me. Plus it was great for publicity. Her channel being the one I aired all the League's dirty laundry on brought a LOT of attention to her, which a social media celebrity like her thrives on."
"Que tortuosa! That's just like you, Penny. And Polaris and Alcor?"
"My dad and sister."
Nemona blinked. "Wait, really? Santa mierda, that means I met your father! I didn't realize we were at that stage in our relationship yet!"
"He likes you, if that helps."
"It does! But he was seriously Polaris? But Polaris was cool, and you're always going on about how annoying your dad is!"
"He may be annoying, but he's still my dad," Penny said with begrudging fondness. "The hard part wasn't going to him for help, it was convincing him not to bust me out of prison too."
"Speaking of, does that mean you're finally coming back?" Nemona asked hopefully.
"Nemona, you know I can leave whenever I want-"
"Yes, but I mean for real."
"…"
"Penny?"
"I… There's still some things I need to do that would be easier from behind bars," Penny said evasively. "And also… I may need some time to rethink things. This… Didn't go the way I wanted." She took a deep breath. "Nobody… Nobody was supposed to die. Not even them."
"I…"Nemona hesitated. "I don't blame you for it. What happened. You couldn't have known-"
"It doesn't matter what I did or didn't know. Responsibility must be taken. That's part of why I'm doing this. To make those who think they can get away with everything accountable for their actions," Penny said harshly. "Which, I guess, includes me as well."
"Then doesn't that make me responsible as well?" Nemona pointed out. "You may have masterminded all this, but I chose to play a part. I'm the face everyone will associate this desastre with. That means my hands are no cleaner than yours-"
"Your sister is alive and safe," Penny interrupted her. "If you're wondering. And… I know you probably want to go home with your parents, especially after everything that's happened, but… If you're willing to take a quick detour… There's someone else who needs your help."
Nemona stiffened. "The twins?"
"No. Arven. He needs you, and he needs you now."
Arven checked his watch.
Mabosstiff woofed in query.
"They'll be here soon," he assured his partner. "Any minute now-"
An Ultra Wormhole opened and Nebby emerged, Selene, Lillie, Lyra, and Nemona riding on her back. "ARVEN!" Nemona shrieked, leaping off the lunar bat's back and tackling him to the ground.
"Happy to see you too," he wheezed as Nemona hugged him. "Oh Origin you've gotten stronger I think my ribs are cracking."
"You nanomachines will fix them," Nemona purred, nuzzling him. "I missed you."
"Yeah, you too," Arven admitted, hugging her back. "Thanks for coming to pick me up."
"It was on our way home! Well, it wasn't, honestly, but when you can travel through Ultra Space, distance no longer matters," Nemona said, helping him back up. "Moms! This is my amigo Arven that I told you so much about! The one who make sandwiches!"
"Is that the only trait people associate me with?" Arven complained.
"Do you want them to associate you with your insane and dead parents?"
"Good point."
"Hey Arven!" Selene said with a wave.
"It's nice to meet you!" Lillie said with a smile.
"I like your dog!" Lyra added.
Mabosstiff barked at her.
"I missed you too, amigo!" Nemona squealed, hugging the canine Pokémon. He barked and licked her cheek, causing her to giggle.
She glanced up at Arven. "Got everything you need?"
He nodded, patting the suitcase next to him. "I'm good to go."
"You sure you're ready to go home? I thought you might be staying here for a little longer," Nemona asked.
"I checked myself in, so I can leave whenever I want to," he assured her. "Mabosstiff and I agreed there was nothing more this place could do for me."
They glanced up at the building behind him. Several windows were broken through which screaming patients and staff could be seen. Half the building was on fire. A group of naked people had paid themselves purple and gathered on the roof, where they were screaming for Mewtwo to take them to Paradise.
"Probably the right call," Nemona commented. "They didn't take what just happened very well, did they?"
"They did not," Arven agreed. "Which is ironic, because I think a lot of people are going to need therapy after that. Speaking of…" He glanced worriedly at Nemona.
"There's great therapists over at the Aether Foundation and I'll be seeing all of them," Nemona said. "Perks of my new parents being incredibly adinerada. Well, so were my old ones, but these ones actually love me."
"I'm insanely jealous," Arven told her bluntly. "Can they adopt me if my robot parents never make it back?"
Nemona frowned. "You don't think Julie and ANNA will find a way to bring them home and get home themselves?"
"Oh, I'm sure they will, but I want to keep my options open," he explained. "Also, your parents seem more likely to adopt me than Penny's would."
"Yeah, that's fair," Nemona admitted.
"We absolutely would!" Selene called.
"Just let us know if you change your mind!" Lillie added.
"I will," he promised. "So, shall we go home?"
Nemona nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Though… Where is home for you now? School dorms? The lighthouse?"
"Home isn't a place, but a state of mind," Arven said sagely. "So long as I'm with the people I love, I'm always home."
Nemona stared at him. "Is that something you got from therapy or-"
"It was something I got from therapy, yes," he confessed.
Another window shattered as a man jumped out of it. "Freedom!" He shouted, flapping his arms like wings.
Predictably, he fell. Thankfully, he'd only leapt out of a second-story window and landed on something soft.
Unfortunately, that something was a Maractus.
Nemona and Arven flinched at his screams of agony.
"I think that guy could've used more therapy," Nemona commented.
"That was one of the doctors," Arven told her.
"Oh."
There was a pause.
"We should go now."
"Yeah."
They did.