Year 902 – Faucher Hideout
"AGH!" Babylas flew across the lab, crashing through workstations with potions spilling over his head. He flipped off his hands, dodging a powerful strike from his assailant that split the floor apart in an eruption of pink aura. "Shadow Armament!" He pulled a mace from his shadow storage and infused it with a powerful aura of shadow. "HA!" He lunged across the room and swung at his attacker.
She lifted her hand and stopped the mace in its tracks. Babylas stared in bewilderment as his attacks continued to leave no mark upon the mercenary. It was as if her skin was harder than steel, yet it also felt as if his strikes had no weight behind them the moment he struck.
What kind of power did she possess?
"Collapsing Tiger."
Babylas felt the tip of her fingers touch his chest before being dealt a brutal, one-inch punch. He vomited spectral blood and collapsed to the floor, trembling in pain. She swung her leg and bashed him across the room once again.
"AGH!" Babylas cried, crumbling against the broken lab tables. He dug around in his shadow for whatever he had left and procured a dagger. He held it in a reverse grip and picked himself up, staggering over himself. He covered his left eye, the wound reopening and spilling blood over his mouth. "Agh…"
"Enough stalling," the mercenary said, stepping closer into the moonlight peering through the collapsed roof. The Mienshao, who dressed in regal red robes, stood before the shaking Banette with a coldness in her eyes glowing in radiant pink. "Relinquish the last of the Faucher bloodline, and I may let you live."
Babylas spat some blood onto the floor and raised his dagger. "Sorry…but that's a breach in my contract. Can't let you."
She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you so insistent on protecting this foul bloodline? Are you not aware of the harm they've brought to this region with their practices? Death is almost too good for them."
Babylas glared. "I'm no saint myself, so I can't sympathize."
"Then you can die a fool." She pulled her fist back, channeling her energy through her knuckles. "Enlightened Dragon—"
"RrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Babylas and the mercenary froze as a fierce roar permeated from below the hideout. An intense pressure rushed over them, shaking the shambling lab. Cracks opened up in the floor, spilling out a miasma of darkness tainted in red.
Babylas glared. "What the—"
THUD!
Babylas and the mercenary looked around as some of her subordinates started passing out one by one, as if overcome by the pressure's influence. Babylas stumbled back and held his head, sensing a foreboding dread come over him. He almost passed out on the spot himself, but held himself together.
The mercenary glared at the crumbling floor, unfazed by the exuding pressure. "What is this…?"
Their eyes widened as giant, shadowy claws burst their way out from the floor…and the blood-red eyes of a monster peeked out from below.
With greater vigor than before, Phoebe went on the offensive, slashing and swinging at Babylas with reckless abandonment while the Banette placed himself on the defensive. Phoebe's attacks were wild and uncoordinated, striking like a savage beast mauling at its prey until it stopped twitching.
Babylas deflected her strikes with ease, armed with only Agni while the rest of his arsenal had been separated from him. He glanced at the glowing runes etched across his body, the binding chains of the Negation Bullet lodged in his shoulder.
One of the risks of battle was dealing with opponents who specialized in negating techniques. Because of the complex web of combos that can be put into an enhanced move, taking out a core part of the technique could dismantle an entire fighting style. Moves like Torment, Taunt, and especially Imprison were banes on the battlefield.
In Babylas' case, it was far worse. Endless Darkness allowed him to manipulate and link the shadows under his own. Phantom Force, its normal form, was a key component to his Vault of the Underworld. Without either, he was unable to change his weapons without calling upon his Shedinja. Plus, with the darkness within them no longer linked, the weapons available to him were entirely up to whichever Shedinja they went to upon the negation.
And now that Phoebe had access to Phantom Force—
"Phantom Force!" Phoebe disengaged from their clash and fell back into a portal.
Babylas spun around and blocked a strike from above. Phoebe flipped out from the shadow portal, striking multiple times onto Babylas' guard, and landed for a lunging strike.
Babylas parried her attack again and swung his flaming katana. Phoebe pressed her tail down to steady her balance and blocked, catching the sword between her weapons. "Magni!"
Still amped up on Speed Boost, the megapede circled around Babylas and charged in with his Stinging Spear. Babylas twisted his katana and broke out of Phoebe's vise before striking back against the toxic horns. Magni's greater size pushed back against Babylas' guard, dragging him toward the wall.
Babylas' eyes flashed, and he swapped places with a Shedinja, though the switch wasn't as seamless as usual. It happened like a regular Ally Switch.
Magni stopped his charge, tightening his horns around the Shedinja, and tossed it back to Phoebe. She lunged and crossed her weapons to rip the carapace to shreds. However, upon swinging, an arm extended from the Shedinja's back and parried her strike with Agni.
"Agh…!" Phoebe growled.
Babylas pulled himself out from the Shedinja, now armed with Majestic Wind. "I can still jump between my Shedinja's storage space so long as they grant manually transport me." He hopped out and swung the ribbon sword.
Phoebe swung her blades wildly, deflecting the bending blade's multiangled strikes. She tossed her wind sword into her tail hand and jumped out of the bending blade's range. "Maelstrom Cleave: Phantom Force!" She spun on her hands and fired a projectile wind slash laced in shadow.
Babylas sidestepped the attack, feeling the razor-sharp winds grazing his cheek. The wind slash cleaved through the floor effortlessly, leaving behind a scar of hissing shadow. A tear between the realm of mortals and the realm of shadows.
Fascinating.
"Again!" Phoebe leapt into the air and whirled her tail, firing off a myriad of shadow wind slashes.
Babylas coiled Majestic Wind and jumped back as the slash attacks struck down violently over the space, scarring the walls and ceiling with portals into the darkness. The more scars that overlapped with each other, the large the portals became, leaving very little room to navigate.
"Stinging Shower!" Babylas looked back as Magni fired toxic missiles while the Banette was in midair.
Babylas unwound Majestic Wind and cut down the missiles in a flurry of slashes, but the explosions that followed threw him back. He signaled to a Shedinja to land on safe ground, then swapped places with it.
"Got ya!" Phoebe tossed her heated dagger into the air and kicked the hilt, sending the dagger flying into the Shedinja's face. Its shell crackled and hissed, smoke expelling from the hollow vessel, before crumbling to pieces. Phoebe leapt across the shadowy terrain and caught her dagger. "Seven left!"
Babylas snapped his fingers, calling a Shedinja from the darkness. He traded away Majestic Wind and dug around until he found Natura. I need to be more careful with how I use my swaps. More importantly, I need to get this bullet out of my shoulder before Amos escapes with Evelot.
"Natura: Shadow Armament!" He raised the club-like axe, wrapping it in a blazing aura of shadow.
Phoebe skipped around the scarred floor and winced. "Shadow what?"
"Take this!" He swung, causing the axe to grow in size and sweep across the space.
Phoebe ducked her head while Magni stood his ground and tanked the hit. The megapede roared in pain, feeling the axe head digging into his side, but he tightened his muscles and bashed his head against the axe to knock it away.
"And again!" Babylas raised the axe up, plowing it through the ceiling as it grew even larger, and swung it down on top of them.
"Phantom Force!" Phoebe lunged for Magni and pulled him through a shadow portal just before the axe crushed them. It sent tremors across the floor, breaking it apart and collapsing the room on itself.
Babylas fell with the raining debris, swinging the axe around to obliterate any debris the duo could be hiding behind. He then slammed the axe into the next floor down and rode it down as it shrunk to normal size.
"Surprise!" Phoebe popped out of a portal and swung at Babylas.
He blocked it with his axe, but suddenly went flying backwards as Magni charged out from the portal afterwards. The megapede roared, clutching around the wooden axe with his Stinging Scissors and dragged Babylas through the ground.
Phoebe hopped off Magni's head and clanged her weapons together. "Maelstrom Blaze!" She swung and fired down a superheated wind slash, slicing through Babylas' axe like bread.
"Shadow Armament!"
Even with the axe head sliced off, Natura was still a massive club. Empowered by Babylas' spirit, the club grew to great size instantly and battered into Magni's underside, throwing the beastly megapede into the air. Babylas pulled himself out of the ground, pulling off the scorched half of his cloak, and whipped the club through the air.
"Detect!" Phoebe automatically responded to the attack, using her tail to grapple and swing herself around it. She gripped to its wooden hide and raced down on all fours with her dagger clutched between her teeth. "Take this—"
BAM!
Babylas threw an uppercut into her jaw at blinding speed. "Sucker Punch." He grabbed her by the collar and slammed her into the floor.
"RAAAAAHHHHHH!" Magni dove from above and tried to crush Babylas under his weight, but he switched places with a Shedinja in the nick of time.
Phoebe sprung up and grappled the Shedinja. "Got ya!" She raised her dagger to stab it, but its halo raised and fired Flash in her face. "AAAAAGH!" She recoiled, covering her one eye and dropping her dagger. "Son of a—"
Babylas sprung from the Shedinja's back, taking hold of Terra this time. As the Shedinja disappeared, he slammed the hammer down, causing the floor to shift and tremble. The ground uplifted in front of him, sweeping Phoebe and Magni up in a wave of stone.
"Shadow Armament!" He wrapped his shadow aura around the hammer and swiped the ground, lobbing empowered stones at the duo.
Phoebe pulled herself together first. Reacting on impulse, she widened her blinded eye and cast a Phantom Force in front of themselves to intercept the attack.
"Aaaaaagh…!" She rubbed her eye, blinking it multiple times until she got half her vision back. "Now I know how Lamecaster feels during the noon—WHOA!" She ducked back, dodging a swing from the earth hammer.
Babylas spun it over his head and brought it down over Phoebe, who cartwheeled out of the way as it tore open the floor. Magni roared, charging through the debris, and tried to rend Babylas in his Stinging Spear attack. Babylas slammed the hammer down, destabilizing the ground again to throw the megapede's balance off. He kicked Magni in the side, knocking him over, and raised the hammer to smash the Scolipede's head in.
"Maelstrom Blaze!" He sensed the approach of flame and jumped back from the heated wind slash. Phoebe raced after him, channeling Phantom Force around her wind cleaver. "Maelstrom Cleave: Phantom Force!" She fired the shadowy wind slash, splitting the floor open in darkness.
"Shadow Armament!" Babylas reapplied the darkness around his hammer and swung back against her attack, disrupting it. "This is idiotic, Phoebe."
She smirked. "Oh, I don't know. I seem to be doing better than our last fight. At least we've destroyed a few of your Shedinja, and you're even scraped up a bit. Brute force for the win!"
Babylas glared. "Do you even know what's best for Evelot? I'm protecting her from forces she doesn't understand."
Phoebe scowled. "She's not a little kid, Babylas! She can decide that for herself!"
"And does she understand what's best for herself?"
"Do you even hear yourself right now? You sound possessive!" She scoffed. "Oh, but what else do I expect from the man who wants everything?"
"I'm not…possessive…" he said, his voice carrying some hesitance.
"Evelot may be a bit of scaredy cat, but that doesn't give you the right to upend her whole life under the self-proclaimed pretense you're protecting her!"
Babylas scoffed. "You know her just as well as I do. What do you think will happen if she finds out the truth?"
"…" Phoebe looked away.
"If she remembers what happened, she'll be playing into the destiny Absalom foresaw for her. Evelot has always had these feelings for that night. Wouldn't you do the same if you were in my position?"
"…"
"I just need her to stay down here until the end of the moon. That's it."
"…" Phoebe glared. "And you'll still deliver her to Last Autumn to keep her from knowing the truth."
"Phoebe—"
"I thought I was protecting her by keeping the truth secret." Phoebe closed her eye and sighed. "Maybe if I told her sooner, she would've had more time to process it. But no, I chose to stay silent because I knew what kind of monsters prey on the weak out here. I was one of those monsters."
"…" Babylas looked away shamefully.
"Whatever consequences come after today…" Phoebe raised her weapons. "I'll accept my mistakes here and now."
"…" Babylas sighed and raised Terra in the Aipom's direction, his mind lost on her words. Have I really been treating Evelot as just another gold coin on my pile of treasure? Am I really doing the right thing here?
"Evelot! Evelot, wake up!"
Amos shook the comatose Mimikyu with his mechanical claw, unable to reach her without being jolted back. Whatever darkness covered her, it was preventing him from picking her up and escaping while Babylas was distracted. Though he didn't like their chances of getting away from Babylas, their plan already hinged on dumb luck and guts.
Even with all that in mind, the plan didn't include being halted by whatever curse had befallen the sweet Mimikyu.
"Evelot, seriously, we don't have time for this!" Amos pleaded. "Babylas' technique is only going to be disabled for so long! Please, just listen to me and come back to us! We're going to get you out of here!"
Evelot remained silently, lost in the swirling miasma of thoughts that plagued her subconscious. Amos knelt to eye level and peered at the swirling red vortex encompassing her right eye. It reminded him of Babylas' left eye. How have he and Phoebe never noticed this peculiar trait of hers? Did she always have this eye?
Or was it lying dormant until now?
Amos growled and stood up, looking toward the ceiling. "Absalom! Where the fuck are you?! Release Evelot from…whatever this is!" He stomped the ground and yelled, "Don't even act like you're not listening in on this! What's your game! What do you get out of tormenting Evelot? What did she ever do to you?!"
The silence that answered back only made him angrier.
"I tore my way through the worst this land had the offer! We've killed your Deadly Seven! Only you and Babylas are left! So, why don't you face me like a man, Absalom?! If I win, I get Evelot back! Come on! Show me what you got, you decrepit ape! I'm not scared of you—"
RIIIIIIP!
Amos froze. He craned his neck, looking back at Evelot, and saw a tear unraveling through the left side of her costume's head. The fabric came undone, and shadow spilled out like a noxious fog. Liquid shadow dripped like blood, smearing the innocent eyes and smile of the costume. Something seemed to be…crawling within the head.
Amos stepped back, confused and scared by the wriggling within the costume. "E-Evelot?"
"You don't understand anything, Amos Lancaster."
Amos looked around with a start, sweeping his pincer gun for a target. His eyes soon fell upon his own shadow, where two red eyes peered back at him.
"I am the acolyte of Fate's Tapestry. I…was gifted with eyes that could peer into the weaving threads of destiny. I am merely allowing Evelot Faucher to experience the destiny she has been denying herself."
Amos growled. "You call this destiny? Do you have any idea what will happen if she faces that monster?! She's not a killer! She's going to be killed if I let this happen!"
"That is for her to decide. I am the one who allows her to finish her tapestry. It is nearly complete. Would you like to see the makings of yours—"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Amos panted heavily as the room went silent again. He stared at the three bullet holes marked into the head of his shadow, then snarled at the invader. "Screw destiny. I don't know what kind of bullshit you're trying to sell me, but it just sounds like an excuse to fuck with people's lives! Evelot isn't going anywhere! We're here to rescue her, and there's nothing you can do to stop us!"
"…They say those who reject destiny are doomed to fulfil it. If you continue down this path, Amos Lancaster, you will face despair unlike anything ever endured." The red eyes closed, and Amos felt his shadow become lighter.
"Asshole." He glanced back worriedly at the darkness spilling from Evelot's costume. Evelot. Please, whatever this guy promised you, don't look at it. Please.
"HA!" Phoebe bounced off the walls, leaping through the air and raining down a flurry of shadow slashes.
Babylas weaved through the blades as they continued to pile over the floor, scarring them in portals leading into the shadows. He twirled Terra over his head before striking across the ground and firing shadow-infused rock at the flying Aipom. Phoebe fired back, slicing the rock with her wind cleaver before landing on the shadow-scarred ground.
"Maelstrom Cleave—" She reared the broken blade back as she wagged her tail, infusing a move into the weapon. "Oh, come on—Psycho Shift!" She fired a psychically charged wind slash that added no real benefit to the attack.
Babylas struck the ground, raising a pillar of earth to intercept the attack. A shadow loomed over him, and he jumped back as Magni threw down his Stinging Smash attack. Needle-covered rock exploded and fired out in all directions. Babylas twirled the war hammer and deflected the rock from himself.
"Maelstrom Cleave—" Phoebe infused another random move into her blade and smirked. "Ooh, this one works nicely! Volt Tackle!" She sliced the air, firing a blade of dense, electrified air at high speed.
Babylas swung Terra into the attack and braced himself, the collision of attacks pushing back and forth and ripping apart the area around them in the clash of pressure.
Magni raised himself up and summoned another spiked boulder between his horns. "Stinging Smash!" He threw the boulder at Babylas.
If Babylas swapped places, he would be needlessly expending another of his Shedinja. It would surely be destroyed by either of the attacks. Acting fast, he called upon one of his Shedinja from the shadows, commanding it to expel the first weapon in its storage.
"Trick!"
Terra traded places with just the weapon he needed: Sacred Jewel. He gripped the shield tightly and tilted back, sliding the lightning-infused wind slash around himself while tanking the rock falling on top of his head. As the rubble cleared, he snapped his fingers, commanding the Shedinja to go on the offensive.
Magni aimed to attack with Stinging Spear, but the Shedinja possessed the recently traded Terra with Poltergeist and hurled it at him. Magni swung and deflected the hammer with his poison-laced horns and leapt back. "Stinging Shriek!" He sucked in a deep breath and let loose a powerful roar laced with poisoned needles.
Babylas bunkered behind his shield and tanked the shockwave, the needles pinging off shield. His Shedinja fell back in the shockwave, collapsing the ground as it became infected with the toxins. Babylas charged through the sonic roar and bashed his shield into Magni's neck, cutting off the attack. Another Shedinja soon appeared and dragged its companion through the shadows.
"Maelstrom Cleave—" Babylas looked back as Phoebe flipped through the air with wind blade channeling a greater deal of wind. "Acrobatics!" Spiraling through the air, she struck down on top of Babylas' guard.
His shield held up against the attack, but he sensed something striking from behind. He reached around and caught Phoebe's tail, armed with her heated dagger and projecting through a Phantom Force portal.
"Maelstrom Cleave—" Phoebe disengaged, pulling her tail loose, and leapt off his shield. "Spike Cannon!" She fired wind-like needles into his shield.
Babylas continued guarding against the bombardment of attacks right as Magni pulled himself up and charged him down. "Stinging Scissors!" He elongated his horns into massive blades and tried to pin Babylas in a vise grip, but the ghost puppet swung the shield around and caught the pincer-like horns, prying them open.
"Night Shade!" He jumped up, his eyes sparking with darkness, and fired a beam of shadow into megapede, throwing him across the room. He took back his shield and tossed it at Phoebe.
"Maelstrom Cleave—" She performed an upward swing of her wind cleaver, creating a strong current of wind the forced the shield's trajectory off course. "Storm Throw!" The shield bounced all over the room before lodging itself into one of the shadow scars in the floor. "Annnnd…Calm Mind!" The winds whirled wildly around the cleaver as she fired off a stronger wind slash.
"Night Shade!" Babylas fired shadow beams from his eyes, blasting into the attack until it was disrupted. He lunged through the smoke and flew at Phoebe, decking her across the face with a solid right hook.
"AGH!" She dragged her heels down to stay up and fired into Babylas at close range. "Maelstrom Cleave: Spore!" The infested wind slash sliced into Babylas, dealing a huge cut across his chest. "Now, go to sleep, you son of a—GAH!"
He struck her with a left hook, then proceeded to unleash a barrage of punches that juggled her off her feet. Two to the sides, one in the chin, several to the stomach, and one last backhand to the face that sent her skipping across the floor and crashing into the wall.
He flicked the greens spores off his face and smirked. "Insomnia, remember? Haven't slept once my whole life."
Phoebe pulled herself up, spitting blood onto the floor. Yeah, yeah, keep boasting, jerk. You're not dodging as much as before. I've finally got you on the ropes, huh? I might actually be able to kill you at this rate. Clutching her dagger and sword tightly, she leapt back into the fray, howling like a madwoman.
Babylas leaned back, dodging her first swing, and counterattacked with Sucker Punch to the nose. Phoebe rolled with the punch, tossing her dagger into her tail, and swung at his face. Babylas blocked, but jumped back as Phoebe swung her wind cleaver while doing a handstand.
"RAAHHH!" Magni charged in while Babylas was off the ground, striking him from behind with Stinging Spear. "Die, Shadow Man!"
Babylas rolled with the attack, sliding along Magni's horns, and kicked him in the back of the head. The megapede skidded across his face, but rolled back to his feet and lunged against with his poisoned horns. Babylas landed by his shield, dislodged it, and endured the second attack. He deflected the horns off the shield and slammed its edge into Magni's neck.
"RAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Magni howled in pain, but pushed through and brought down his Stinging Smash technique.
Babylas leapt out of the way, leading Phoebe to rush him down through the scattered rubble. "Maelstrom Cleave: Aromatic Mist!" A pink haze erupted from around the broken sword, surrounding Phoebe, then she fired the wind slash.
Babylas deflected it off his shield and swung at Phoebe. She dropped to her knees, sliding under the attack, and kicked her legs into the back of Babylas', knocking him to the ground.
"Maelstrom Cleave: Twister!" A purplish whirlwind surrounded her wind cleaver. Phoebe slid back onto her feet and fired at the downed Banette.
Babylas spun around and once again obliterated her attack against Sacred Jewel's nigh impenetrable hide. "Heh. Are you just going to keep spamming random attacks until you get one that works? You're better off hitting me with my own Phantom Force."
Phoebe smirked. "Oh, you want me to stop going easy on you, hotshot?" She reared the broken blade back, wrapping it in a whirlwind of shadow. "Then may death rain upon your sorry hide! Maelstrom Cleave: Phantom Force!" She swung wildly, littering the air in front of her in a barrage of shadow slashes.
Babylas' left eye flickered wildly, tracking the movement of each attack. He dashed forward, weaving around Phoebe's myriad of slashing attacks with the grace of a breeze. He tossed his shield ahead, letting it bounce and roll off the floor like a runaway wagon wheel, before bursting forth with a delayed boost from Night Shade.
Phoebe braced herself, but Magni came to her aid in the nick of time, catching the shield within his Stinging Scissors. The Aipom seized her chance, diving under the spinning shield and firing another barrage of slashes at Babylas.
He hopped and skipped around her attacks, but the cluster of shadow scars in the floor became too much. His heel caught the edge of a large scar, causing him to trip. Phoebe jumped into the air and reared the wind cleaver back with all her might. "Get wrecked!" She swung, unleashing the largest shadow wind slash she could muster.
"…Heh."
Babylas instantly swapped places with a Shedinja, letting it be cut in two in his place. Phoebe smirked as the haunted carapace split in two. "HA! Scared, Babylas?! Now you only have six Shedinja left!"
"…And now you're out of time."
Her eye widened as a darkness spilled out from the deceased carapace, launching at her. "W-What the?!" Like dark flames, the shadows consumed her, yet they did no real harm to her. Instead, she felt a part of her energy being sapped away. The shadows that flickered off her wind cleaver vanished like a puff of smoke, and the purple glow in her eye faded within the darkness as well.
Phoebe landed on her face, quickly scrambling to her feet to check what had happened. She tried to reapply Phantom Force, but couldn't get so much as a spark.
"W-What did you—"
Tink, tink, tink!
She turned with a start as a bullet covered in ectoplasmic blood bounced toward her feet. Her eyes widened, looking upon Babylas as he severed and reattached his arm, causing the bullet that had been lodged within to fall loose. The archaic runes that etched across his skin faded into mist.
"Grudge." Babylas smirked. "You got too complacent landing hits on me. You didn't even consider the possibility I was pretending to get sloppy."
Phoebe's eye twitched. "W-What…?"
He bowed to her. "Well, this has been fun, but I believe I have to deal with the scorpion now. We'll finish this in a moment."
"Babylas, don't you dare—" She lunged at him, but he already vanished into the shadows the second she moved.
Magni's horns snapped together as Sacred Jewel disappeared from his hold. He depowered his horns and looked at Phoebe worriedly. "Amos?"
Phoebe grimaced. "We need to find the stairs. Now."
Amos stared at the vacant Mimikyu's dull, pulsating eyes, wondering what the innocent creature was seeing. Was it possible her memories could be so repressed that not even Absalom could draw the truth out from her? Does Evelot truly remember what happened that night?
He frowned. "Evelot—"
WOOSH!
Amos' eyes widened. "What the—"
CRACK!
He didn't have time to yelp in pain as his left side took a direct hit from Babylas' Divine One, sending him crashing into the wall. He peeled out from the Gligar-sized crater and fell onto his face as Babylas approached him, swinging Divine One playfully.
"Got to admit, Lancaster, that was one smooth plan you had up there." Babylas glared. "Too bad you wasted the opportunity—"
Amos raised his pincer and immediately fired on the puppet with sand bullets. Babylas deflected them with quick flicks of his chain staff, but Amos suddenly launched off the ground on a cloud of sand and tackled into the Banette's midsection, slamming him across the floor.
"Did I?!" He extended his pincer blade and stabbed into Babylas' head, only for the darkness to peel away and reveal a Shedinja.
CRACK!
A second blow struck at his right side, knocking him into the wall again. He collapsed to the floor, cradling his bruised abdomen. Some of his ribs definitely had to be broken after taking a hit like that.
Babylas casually twirled Divine One, glaring down at the squirming Gligar. "You can't protect her. I'm the only one who can keep Evelot safe."
Amos pressed his back to the wall and lifted himself with his legs. He panted softly, glaring at the smug Banette. "What…do you know? Does she know you tried to kill us? Does she know what you plan to do with her? Even if you protect her from Last Autumn, all you're doing is putting more people in danger. All that at the cost of her happiness. You just take and take without consideration of the world around you, don't you?"
Babylas glared. "You and Phoebe think you know me…"
"It doesn't matter what I know or don't know. You truly live up to your name of Greed. Everything else is beneath you. All you care for is satisfying your hunt for the unobtainable. Evelot's just another means to get to that, huh?"
"I do care about Evelot—"
"If you truly cared about her, you would let her figure things out for herself!" Amos snapped. "This poor girl has been through so much already, and you think killing her friends—no, fuck that! Killing her family is any better?! She already lost her parents and siblings! Maybe connections like that don't hold as much weight for you, but it does to her!"
"I understand family—"
"Do you? Do you really? As far as Phoebe has explained to me, you were raised off tales from your father's pirating adventures before he had you! Actually, that explains everything! You're just a pirate! A filthy pirate who cares only for riches and adventure! You never cared about Evelot!"
"What could you possibly do to keep her safe?" Babylas argued back, now starting to get heated himself. "Maybe my methods are extreme, but I've made a name for myself. Last Autumn won't hurt her so long as I stand in the way."
Amos glared. "If you actually believed that, why haven't you just killed the main source of this nightmare? If you actually believe you were that strong, why is Absalom still alive?!"
"…" Babylas looked away.
Amos aimed his pincer gun at the ghost puppet. "If you really cared about Evelot, you should just let her go. It's all our fault she ended up this far in the darkness. Now, we need to do everything we can to set things right. Whatever unshackled beast you think she'll become from all of this, I'm not standing around and waiting to help. Evelot is coming with us, and we will keep her safe from those nightmares."
"…" Babylas clenched Divine One tightly. "Lancaster, you—"
"Unshackled…beast…"
Both men froze. Their eyes turned slowly toward the standstill Mimikyu, who finally began to move. Her head twitched, the split in her costume widening. The thick miasma of darkness spilled out in greater volumes, spilling out over the floor.
Amos and Babylas carefully stepped back, watching as gnarly shadow hands reached out from under the costume and clawed at the floor. Arms reached out from within the costume's head, wrapping its fingers around the fabric. The painted face became even more distorted, colors smearing into each other. The limited light receded more and more as several arms spilled out from under the wriggling costume.
"A beast…awakened that night…" A distorted voice echoed from within the costume, sounding like Evelot, yet not quite. "That night…everything changed. Everything…everything…blood was spilt. A monster awakened to a monster. I remember."
Amos' eyes trembled, staring at the gangly arms stretching out from under Evelot's costume. "E-Evelot…?"
Babylas dropped his stance, staring at the Mimikyu with a saddened expression. Kitten…
"I remember…that night…"
Evelot's scarf came loose, fluttering onto the ground. She clawed into the floor, dragging herself toward the stunned men as her right eye glowed in an intense red. Each movement looked painful and unnatural, a violent twitch with every inch forward. A disgusting, crackling sound like bone scraping against itself.
"The night…Evelot Faucher died…"