Chapter 35: Spa Episode
Steaming warmth washed over Lumi as he submerged once again, eyes squinted. He let his limbs go limp, allowed his twin tails and fur to drift carelessly in the water, and only put in enough effort to not tip head over heel.
His cloudy pearl drifted in front of him from the string around his neck. The sight of it near him, in its rightful place after being separated for so long, only topped off his good mood.
The comforting heat of the spring, combined with his unhurried heart rate allowed him to sit there for several minutes before his lungs kindly reminded him to get some air. With languid motion, he pushed up with his foot paws and broke the surface. Lumi released a long, happy yawn, the comparatively cool air a refreshing contrast to the heated water that dripped off of him. Fur entirely matted along his body and over his eyes, he let himself float to the edge until his back hit a wall.
Steam wafted in and around his nose. He arched his back just enough to hear a satisfying pop and felt tingles of pleasure run all along his body. After another contented sigh, eyes still covered by his drooping fur, he inclined his head to the left where he knew Van sat.
"Hey, you think I should put more of those scented rocks in?"
He received a low, semi-affirming grunt in reply. Taking that as a go-ahead, he turned slightly to the right and, deciding it would be a little helpful to actually see, pushed some of the white and blue fur up away from his eyes.
Beyond the canyon plateau girded by a low railing, the setting sun descended behind tall cliffs, making way for the newly birthed stars in the night sky in a show of radiant purples and oranges. Below, Atlas' nightlife gradually awoke as lights popped up in a display of brilliance far, far below. He counted himself fortunate to witness such a sight, the feeling of being so far above the grand city only furthered the weightless sensation in his chest.
He turned from the view to the pile of different colored spherical rocks nestled in a wooden bowl only a few feet away. With a light exertion of his recently freed psychic power, he telekinetically lifted a few light purple rocks and hovered them over the water, getting a nice look at the rest of his guild.
The first act of the Absol Guild following the verdict and impressive settlement they received was a celebration at one of the more exclusive bath houses present in the city; the Torkoal Springs. Carved within the face of a canyon wall, their reservation allowed them access to the Springs' exclusive open air-package that featured a full night of relaxation in the natural hot springs at the top of the plateau.
It also afforded a view of the Atlas city-scape below and the chance to soak in the heated mineral water that sprung from a particular geyser deep within a long-dormant volcano, said to bring healing and mental relief.
The special bath rocks were a nice bonus too, he thought as he dropped a few into the water in front of him.
They released a satisfying sizzle that simultaneously heated the water and allowed the refreshing scent of lavender to permeate the air, along with a healthy dose of steam that only partially obscured the view of his fellow apprentices. He observed how they lounged in and around the water on varying elevations from the natural ridges that let the water flow into cascading pools all around them, the stone smoothed from the continuous flow. Luminous rocks were embedded all around the spa that, along with the moon and stars, provided ample lighting in the night.
A low stone barricade constructed in the center of the pools separated the guys and the girls to give a little privacy. Naturally, most observed the call for decorum, although he did view some from both sides leaning up against the wall to chat with each other. He spotted Clara, Esther, and Willow in a group talking and, in the former two's case, laughing about something that he couldn't hear from this distance.
The ghost must have sensed his gaze because she turned her head a bit to look over her shoulder at him. With a smirk, Lumi leaned forward and picked up his cup of berry juice from the tray that floated on the water, then raised it in her direction. Her zipper mouth grinned widely and she also raised a cup to him before downing it all in one swoop and falling backward to splash into the water on her side, which caused Clara to let out another squeal of laughter.
He snickered. Everything still felt like waking up from a pleasant dream, one so good it left everyone giddy and energized as they grappled with the reality of it all being real. It seemed impossible not to share in the collective good mood.
At least, this seemed true for most of them, he thought as he glanced to the side at Van while taking a sip from his cup.
The Scrafty had barely spoken, both on the way here and since they had dipped into the water. His mouth seemed pressed into a neutral line, arms spread out to rest on the pool's edge, and his eyes were furrowed in thoughtfulness.
Now that he observed his Partner closer, Lumi noted that Van seemed to have bulked up a little the past couple months. His arms sported more defined muscles than before, and it seemed he had to adjust the shed skin on his legs a bit less as the same could be said for his lower half. Not like he had been twig thin or anything, but it was especially apparent given they hadn't seen each other for such a long period of time.
Lumi put his cup down, scooched over, and poked Van in the arm.
"Nice gains," he said, grinning. "Would I be correct in thinking you're trying to impress a certain someone?"
Van raised an eye as the Meowstic leaned in with a smirk, then lightly pushed him away with a snort.
"More like I'm tryna avoid gettin' chewed out by a certain someone. You got Damia's workout instructions the same as the rest of the team, and you know she'd work us to the bone if she found out we skimped out."
He scratched his face then poked Lumi in the stomach with a claw. "Speaking of, I dunno mon, I'm feelin' a little pudge here in the middle. Just can't shake that baby fat, huh?"
"C-come on!" Lumi laughed as he tried, and failed, to shield himself from Van continuing to poke him, causing light splashes around them.
"Nothing to be ashamed of, Partner. You know, some mon like their mates a little soft. Got someone in mind you're tryna attract?"
Lumi's cheeks burned at how masterfully Van redirected his own tease back at him, and he huffed. "I swear I did the workouts. I just don't really put on muscle and my fur got kinda grown out."
"Uh-huh. Sure." Van relented. Lumi considered it a small victory that he got a few snickers out of him, but Van soon returned to glowering at the water soon after. Lumi hummed, and noted that he hadn't even touched his drink.
"Not thirsty?" he ventured. It took Van a second to register that he asked the question.
"Oh, nah," he shrugged absentmindedly.
"Oh, okay." He idly splashed the water for a moment. "…You doing alright?"
Van blinked. He chewed his lip, inhaled, and released a long sigh. "I'm good bro, I'm just…processing, y'know? Coming to terms with everything is a lot."
Lumi nodded, eyes wide to encourage him to continue. Van grabbed his own shoulder, eyes downcast.
"…It was hard. I uh, I missed you, Lumi." He glanced up at him. "I missed Clara, missed Damia, missed Gill, Reed, Luster, Valence, Archer, everyone I got so used to seeing. I realized that I'd never in my whole life ever been alone like that. Not used to it. Always had someone next to me, whether that's one of my siblings or any of the other guild mates. The past couple months were uh…they were…"
He felt Lumi's paw on his shoulder, then the sensation of wet fur on his scales as the Meowstic brushed up closer to him. Van grunted, but extended his arm to pull Lumi closer in a side hug. He squeezed him closer, but turned his head away, not wanting to show Lumi the expression on his face.
"Sorry. I know we're supposed to be happy and everything. I'm just-"
"I would have gone insane if I didn't hear from you." Lumi blurted. "The letters helped, really, but if I learned anything while I was locked up, it's that I'm just kinda a wreck on my own. Not much good for anything, without you or someone there to pull me from my own thoughts, so, uh..."
The eloquent response he wanted to convey didn't quite come to him, too many thoughts and feelings jockeying to be the first ones spoken. He gave up after a few seconds of mouth wagging, and shook his head.
"I'm just saying, don't feel bad. It was hard for me too, but we're here now." He smiled up at Van. "I'm not leaving you anytime soon, we're in this together, and we can go back to how things used to be."
Van snorted at that, and lightly noogied Lumi. "I'm pretty sure you only experienced 'how things used to be' for a couple days," he said. "But that's actually something else that's been on my mind. Like…"
He scrunched his eyes as he took a moment to collect his thoughts. "So, I was thinking a lot while I was in my cell. About all that happened before we got thrown in there, with that team of wackos we were chasing, all we learned about Dungeons that kinda showed we still really don't know much of anything, the whole Legendary..." he waved a claw as he struggled to find an appropriate word, "...stuff!"
"It was a long couple of weeks, for sure." Lumi nodded sagely.
"Right!? So, I'm thinking about all that, and at the same time, I'm already knowing that shit has just gotten progressively more complex in the time that we've been outta commission. And now we're here, where the guild has basically a clean slate, a brand new lease on life, and I'm just trying to figure out where we go from here or...where I go from here, really. Like, what's my place in all this, exactly?"
He punctuated his point with a rough sigh directed up at the moon. Lumi cocked his head to the side slightly and flicked one folded ear.
"Your place? I don't think I understand, wouldn't your place be with the guild?"
"I mean-" His red crest wobbled a bit with how hard he shook his head. "It's moreso in regard to everything we did that, when looking back...it's hard to believe I was a part of it," he said the last part softly. "Mon, we really discovered brand new Dungeon types, fought off terrorists and Hunters, and even squared up with Xerneas. I didn't know I was capable of doing anything like that, and now I'm wondering if I'm supposed to go back to all that or if I should just do what I did before and hang out in my workshop all day or...or something else, I dunno..."
"Well, what do you want to do?" asked Lumi.
"You ask that like it's so easy to answer...Lumi the whole reason I joined was just to try and send some cash back to my family so we could pay bills. I wasn't thinking I would get caught up in all this, and I still do want to provide for them, but..."
"But...?" A slight grin grew on the Meowstic's face as he led on with the question, to which Van could only huff and look to the side.
"But...now that I've kinda experienced all that and seen what we could do, I'm sort of wondering...what else we could do?" He looked down at his claws again, brows furrowed. "What else...I could do?"
"Mmmmmm, okay. I think I see." Lumi's grin turned just a bit more smug, and he leaned back with another sip. "You're not really asking anything, you just want to hear confirmation."
Van's shoulder's stiffened. "What? Confirmation on what?" he asked, to which Lumi could only roll his eyes and snicker.
"That yes, you're capable of being a badass, and you should let yourself be a badass. Or are you telling me there wasn't a little voice in your head that was having the time of its life when you were dipping and dodging around Xerneas?"
"That little voice was screaming its head off because it was terrified for literally all of it, mon."
"But was it fun?" He leaned in, golden eyes almost manically wide. Van shoved him away for some breathing room, but his grin betrayed him.
"...Maybe."
"Knew it."
"But even still, I just can't shake the feeling that it'd be kinda...selfish, in a way? Even if you've managed to slightly infect me with your fucked up idea of a good time, and don't get me wrong, you are insane-"
"Love you too."
"I promised I would do this to take care of my mom and siblings. Shouldn't that be my main priority, instead of going out and getting involved in whatever crazy thing is going on out there?"
"Well, who said you can't do both? Why did you go to Hollow Garden in the first place? Was it just because it seemed like a fun thing to do at the time?"
"Hell no."
"Right. It was because you saw that there was a problem that could threaten your family, and you realized you were one of the only people willing and able to do something about it. You didn't stop being an Absol apprentice, if anything you were just applying all that we've learned." Lumi's eyes rolled up and he squinted in thought. "...Applying it, very aggressively."
"Heh, well when you put it like that..."
"Plus, do you remember one of the main goals of our Partnership?"
"Don't die."
Van's flat response made Lumi roll his eyes. "I meant the other one."
"Yeah, yeah, that we would save the world, and make something that would shake it forever," A sigh left Van's lips, but he couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. "Trust me, I didn't forget, as much as I sometimes wish I did."
"Starting to think we can't do it?"
"I'm starting to think we could. That's the problem."
"Whatever you two think you can do, just make sure you don't embarrass the guild while you're out saving and/or harassing the world," came a nasally voice from above them. "Our Team Nova must keep a good reputation if they are to be proper representatives of the best our guild can offer, after all."
Van and Lumi turned up and saw an Alolan Meowth with a towel wrapped around his waist, standing on the walkway behind them. He idly inspected his claws, although by the way his pupils kept shifting to the two of them, it was clear it was mostly for show. Behind him stood his Partner, the Heliolisk named Valence, who as usual was completely silent as he leaned up against the railing.
Once he realized who had spoken, Van sighed and even his head crest seemed to droop. "Ah, if it ain't Luster. I see your time in the Hole didn't make you any less of a party pooper."
Luster smirked and folded his arms. The koban on his head gleamed along with his fangs. "I would say you were doing enough of that tonight on your own, dear Van. I never took you for one to be prone to such uncertainty."
"Wait…" said Lumi. "Luster, how long were you listening to our conversation?"
"What you should be asking is, 'Luster, can you find it in your heart to grace us with your magnificent intellect which will surely produce creations beyond our comprehension in the trials to come?' and while normally the answer would be a firm negative in light of what is surely to be a busy schedule, I would be willing to make an exception for the ones who went to such lengths to clear the guild's name."
"Is this your way of saying you'll help us out if we need it?" asked Lumi, to which Luster went back to checking his claws.
"I am simply stating that, if there ever were a set of individuals that could put my designs through the proper field tests, it would be the ones willing to do battle with a Legendary, of all things. And, to be frank..." He turned his head just a tad to obscure some of his face. "It's not as if you got the celebration such feats would deserve, so it would only be proper as your superiors that Valance and I do what we can to enable whatever it is that compels you to go to such lengths."
He blinked, then coughed into his paw, "A-all for the continued advancement of science, of course," he finished in a quick breath.
While Van looked up at the gray cat with a bemused, if slightly suspicious gaze, Lumi glanced over at Valence. The Heliolisk held his stare for a beat, before his long tail curled on the ground and he gave a quick thumbs up. It made Lumi chuckle, and he beamed up at Luster.
"You like us."
"Don't flatter yourself. It's simply an offer," huffed Luster who quickly put a paw to his chest and hurled his nose in the air. "Honestly Lumi, you especially should be chomping at the bit to learn what I know, particularly if you paid attention to the daily progress updates I sent out to each apprentice while imprisoned explaining my theories on improving the study of Aether conduits as an alternative means to power rudimentary devices, most notably with the method of etching specific channels into an object to mimic a move pattern. While this practice isn't unknown, it is nevertheless underutilized in most of our current technology, which-"
A surge of water burst from the pool to splash all over Luster that put an end to his monologue. The Totodile who caused it let out a pleased sigh, blue scales glistening in the light. Lumi recognized him as Gill, one of the apprentices in Dynamo he'd only spoken to occasionally.
"Ah, sorry, I couldn't help myself. He just kinda keeps going if you let him," Gill chuckled, uncaring of the affronted glare Luster threw his way. "But he's right about one thing, you guys really deserve a lot more than what you got when you came back from your mission all that time ago. Honestly, we can consider this a celebration for you guys as well. You've more than earned it."
"Aw, ain't no need for that, mon. This is a win for the whole guild, we don't need to make it about us." Van tried to wave him down, tone modest, but yelped as a stream of juice fell from above to top off his cup. The stream alternated to fill Lumi's cup as well, and he glanced up to see the Hoothoot Reed with a bottle of cider clutched in his talon as he flapped above them.
"On the contrary," started Reed, who primly set the bottle down and alighted at the edge of the spring. "I do believe we would be quite ungrateful if we did not suitably recognize your role in not just the Absol Guild's continued operations, but for proving that we can be just as capable of valiant heroism as any of the other guilds. This is the first time we've been known for...well, really known for anything other than being untrustworthy nuisances and menaces to society. And to think, the two of you combined don't even have a year of experience at this guild either, it truly puts us to shame..."
"Totally! Lighten up!" From ahead, the Vulpix, Hazel, doggy paddled closer to them, along with a small but growing crowd of their fellow apprentices all with smiles on their faces. "You guys are the closest thing we have to heroes, so enjoy it!"
The heated water churned and splashed with their approach, turning their once relaxing hot spring dip into something a bit more chaotic. Lumi had to grab their floating trays in his telekinesis to keep them from overturning, and he and Van shared a quick glance, unsure of where this was headed.
Basil's purple form zoomed from behind the apprentices and latched onto Van's face. His arms flailed, and Lumi giggled as the Gligar's pincers managed to hold on to his own berry drink even when attached to Van. Basil's tail swished in droopy circles as he slid down to plop in between them, and raised his glass high in the air while giggling.
"Wooooooo! Let's get drunk and have fun!" screamed the child. It caused the larger group to momentarily stop their advance in concern.
"That's not alcohol, that's just berry juice. We told him that already." Galvantula Garland's aged voice spoke up as he kept his balance on top of a larger apprentice.
"Hehehe, I'm woozy!" Basil slurped some more of his drink, then reached out to pull both Lumi and Van down closer to him by the backs of their necks.
"You're heroes!" He began to sway side to side. "Heroes! Heroes! Heroes!"
Before they could say anything, someone yanked the two of them into the crowd, and somehow through all the jostling and splashing and smiling, Lumi and Van found themselves lifted into the air.
"Heroes!"
"Heroes!"
"Heroes!"
Everyone's chant rang louder and louder in the night. Neither of the two could resist laughing as they got tossed up and down in the air. From afar, they saw that the girl's side had also collectively ganged up on Clara and repeatedly tossed the giggling Spinda up hard enough for her to flip in midair.
"Nova!"
"Nova!"
"Nova!"
Now that he thought about it, Lumi didn't spy Damia anywhere over there, but he didn't pay it too much mind, too swept up in the collective jubilance of his fellow apprentices. Even Van let go of whatever reservations he had and let himself get flung into the air with a loud, raucous laugh that Lumi hadn't heard from him yet.
Though unexpected, Lumi couldn't deny just how good it felt to be celebrated by his peers. It barely even occurred to him that the rest of the guild was aware of any of what his team was trying to do while they were on the run. He was never one to care much for popularity (if he was, he'd have never considered the Absol Guild to begin with), but being recognized for his team's efforts left a warm, content feeling in his chest that made him close his eyes and go along with being thrown up and down.
Up.
Down.
Up.
Down.
Up.
Down.
…
…
…
…Why'd it get quiet?
The silence and lack of the expected uppies made Lumi scrunch his face in confusion, and he opened his eyes to see what was wrong.
The gray, unmoving forms of his fellow apprentices, cheerful expressions stuck as if chiseled in stone, sent a jolt of alarm through him that made his fur stand on end. Water droplets splashed up from prior motion hung suspended like tiny jewels in midair, and the absence of the night breeze underscored the silence.
He blinked. Oh, time had stopped. In all the excitement, it seemed he hadn't registered Tempo's signals of the sudden blocking of the stream. He supposed he should take it as a sign of good progress that the temporal change felt so natural that he hardly noticed, but at the moment the sight of a massive blue and white head and two beady red eyes entering his vision to stare down at him occupied pretty much all of his attention.
Dialga spoke, and the sound of its dual-toned voice drop kicked his eardrums in the silence.
"Greetings, Lumiere."
"…huh." He took a moment to process its sudden appearance. Lumi huffed out a breath and rubbed his eyes. "Uh, hi?"
"I am pleased to see you," said Dialga. Lumi's eyelids fluttered as he tried to get his bearings.
"Alright, just…hang on let me…" Given that time had stopped right as he was about to be launched in the air, Lumi found himself in the awkward position of being scrutinized by a Legendary as he tried to climb his way out of the frozen embrace of his fellow apprentice's many limbs. He spent a few moments trying to untangle his left leg from between someone's arms before he sensed Dialga's head get closer.
He only had time to yowl as Dialga bit down on a portion of his nape and lifted him out of the crowd, only to deposit him gently on the water outside. Lumi's rump hit a hard surface. He looked down and realized the water itself had frozen, becoming a solid surface that he could sit somewhat comfortably on. With all the moving around, all the ripples and sloshes in the spring became frozen as well, so he positioned himself to sit on a small wave.
"It was my desire to congratulate you on achieving a desired outcome," Dialga lumbered forward and settled on his front a few meters away from him. The light from the glowing rocks embedded in the spring caused their metal breastplate and braces on its head to emit a dull gleam.
He swept his gaze over the frozen forms of cheering apprentices. "It was not my intention to interrupt the festivities."
"Mmmm..." Lumi studied Dialga with pensive eyes, and brought his knees close to his chest as he gathered his thoughts. "So, you know what happened at the trial, then? With the verdict?"
Dialga nodded. "Celebi kept me informed, as she has for these past few months of your progress. I am told you faced the judges with the same level of thought and care as you give most things. It was a source of some enjoyment for her."
"I'll choose to take that as a compliment." The image of Celebi hiding somewhere in the Hall of Reshiram's ceiling, eating popcorn while laughing at the proceedings below popped into his head, and he had to suppress a smirk. "But the verdict turned out good. Better than I think any of us expected, actually."
Lumi gestured around at all of his guild in the hot springs. "A lot of us are still reeling from it. Trying to figure out what it means for us moving forward." His eyes furrowed and he grabbed onto one of his tails. "To be honest, I think most of them gave up hope at some point. They're happy and smiling now, but I can tell that a lot of them were resigned to something way worse."
He tightened his grip on his tail. Van's words from earlier came to the forefront and he sighed. "I'm just glad I could help give them something that they deserve."
"Were you resigned as well, my kin? Did you accept the possibility of being locked away for the rest of your days?"
"I couldn't. Not for a second. Anything less than this moment, right now, wouldn't have been good enough."
Dialga's stare weighed heavy on him for a few moments before the great dragon's eyes squinted. "This is reassuring to hear. You should be proud, Lumiere."
Lumi only hummed in reply and turned slightly to face the city skyline. The sound of his and Dialga's breath filled the eerie stillness in the paused time, and it was only when he felt it stretched on enough to be awkward that he turned back to his Bonded Legendary.
"...So...?" he ventured. A low, curious rumble emanated from Dialga's throat, and Lumi furrowed his brow. "What were you gonna tell me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, don't you have like, a message for me? Or some kind of charge for me to go do something now that I'm not in a cell?" He folded his arms. "An update on the Keystones, maybe? I heard Aether is spreading way more in the Mist continent, which means a Leyline there must have been destabilized."
"I can provide that if you wish, although I did not come here with that intention."
Lumi paused, confused. "Really?"
"I wanted to congratulate you. I said as much when I arrived. I am told that discussing such matters during celebratory occasions would be inappropriate," replied Dialga, to which Lumi frowned and looked at the ground. "You seem disappointed."
"..." Lumi bit the inside of his cheek. He tapped the frozen water with a paw as he tried to formulate a response.
"I'm just surprised. Don't really know what to think, it's been so long since I last spoke to you."
"Has it? We had a conversation just recently."
"Just rec...wh-huh?" The level of confidence that Dialga said that gaslit him into trying to remember to see if he actually did miss something. "I…did we?"
"Yes, on top of the building that your guild took shelter in. We discussed the nature of our bond, and established that Celebi would oversee your training. Do you truly not remember?"
The fact that Dialga had the gall to be concerned when asking that bewildered him.
"I-of course I remember but that was almost three months ago! That wasn't recent!"
"...Elaborate."
"Do you want to know what's recent? How about when I was stuck in a cell throwing paper at the wall for weeks on end? Or before that, when I was dangling in a stupid darkness cage over a pit of lava? Or, oh I don't know, when I literally paused Hollow Garden, the thing you told me to do!"
With every word, Lumi walked closer to Dialga, arms thrown out in utter disbelief. For their part, Dialga's expression remained unchanged as they observed the gesticulating Meowstic.
"Literally any of those times would have made more sense than you showing up right now. I was wondering where you were, I figured you would have had something to say to me, but now you come out of nowhere and don't even want to talk about anything in particular? Like, I get that Celebi is sort of our go-between, but even still, I just don't get it. I can barely tell if you really care about this whole saving the world thing or our bond, or, whatever."
After he finished his rant, Lumi folded his arms and waited for Dialga to speak. They were still. So still in fact that he wondered if perhaps he had finally said something that actually bothered it.
"I have offended you." Its voice seemed contemplative, and it narrowed its eyes at nothing as if trying to ponder out of puzzle.
"...Sure. Yes, I feel 'offended,' if that's the word we're going with." Lumi shrugged. At this point, he was just trying to figure out how to actually get a read on the Legendary. This whole situation just felt so weird.
"This is perplexing. This was not my intention," it finally said. "I had thought I had accounted for prolonged absences, yet it seems I was overzealous and supplied my models with insufficient data for an optimal meeting schedule. Even this impromptu visit that goes outside of the model only seems to underscore its inadequacy and undermines my intentions."
As Dialga continued on, Lumi was treated to the fascinating image of the large and imposing Temporal Legendary muttering to itself under its breath, so lost in its thoughts that it had ceased to address him altogether. Distracted as it was, it didn't even notice Lumi poke its leg, or when he gave it a firm pat to try and get its attention.
"Uh, you alright?" he asked to no avail. After some deliberation, Lumi latched on to one of the metal ridges on Dialga's leg and used it as leverage to climb up onto their knee. Dialga's incredibly smooth yet firm scales threatened to make him slip off, however once he climbed up onto the dragon's back, he had no issue in using the fin-like protrusions on the back of its neck as a ladder to its head. With a little hop, he grabbed onto the metal that girded Dialga's face and stood on the piece of metal that framed its jaw.
In addition to being able to enjoy a view from the height of a couple stories tall, this vantage point also let him hear some of Dialga's words, which had devolved into distracted murmurings under its breath. He hung on to one of the metal ridges and crouched low.
"-peat the same mistake. Must set reminders for myself. Perhaps consult Celebi in regard to mortal relational activities..."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
Dialga's eyes snapped upward and to the right. A low, breathy sound like empty bellows rumbled through its chest.
"I have not abandoned you, my kin. There was intention in my absence. I wished to demonstrate my trust in your abilities to accomplish your task, and I did not want to interfere in your actions in order to establish a proper baseline of events."
It didn't seem bothered by his presence on its head. Rather, based on how their eyes fell and its head tilted slightly, Lumi got the sense that it seemed more remorseful than anything.
"Additionally, it seems in my attempts to not overburden you with my presence, I overestimated the amount of time we should spend apart, to where it must have resembled neglect. A failing owed to my inexperience with mortal perspectives on the passage of time. My apologies."
"Yeah, well..." Lumi considered Dialga's words and put a paw out to gently rest on its forehead. "I did talk to Celebi a little about this, and she did tell me some things that helped me understand your deal a bit more. Kind of." He paused.
"You're old."
Dialga's eyes squinted just a little more. "Were it only so simple." With another bellowing sigh, it continued, voice low like a whisper. "If the years I've seen were drops of water, they could drown the earth. Yet it is this very truth that renders me ill equipped in the face of things outside of my duties. It has resulted in some circumstances I find regrettable."
Dialga's head jolted, and Lumi hung on as they lowered their head until it was mostly level with the ground. Seeing the cue, he hopped off and turned around to face them, noting how they chose to keep themselves closer to the ground.
Face-to-face, the black pit that housed Dialga's sharp gaze communicated more than its words alone, and he saw its eyes differently. At that moment, its blood-red glare didn't burn from an empty void, but rather from a thick, churning ocean that overlapped with the experience of so much that it appeared black, and to even try to properly glimpse it all would threaten to swallow you whole.
For the first time in their relationship, Lumi's heartbeat increased from the simple reminder that he knew nothing about this creature who doted on him and called him kin. He wondered what titanic weight burdened its gaze and made it rest on someone like him.
"Regrets? How could someone like you have regrets?" he asked. "Couldn't you just...you know...try again? You've said that you've done it before."
"I have recorded only a few absolute certainties. One of them is that regrets accumulate in direct proportion to years lived. I have found no one exempt."
"It seems like at some point, it would be too hard to keep going. It'd be too heavy."
"For you, I am emboldened to try," it said. Its earnestness sent a warm feeling up Lumi's chest, and he sighed.
"Thanks...and, apology accepted. I'm sorry for doubting that you really cared."
"There are no apologies necessary."
"Alright. I'm glad we could get that out of the way. Although..." He grunted as he reached his arms up to stretch. "This whole conversation has kinda been a downer on the mood. No offense."
"If that is the case, I will not overstay my welcome." Dialga raised their head and the gem on their chest started to glow a dim blue. "Enjoy the rest of your night my kin, I will see you soon enough anyw-"
"Wait, that's not what I meant. Just hang on..." Lumi glanced around the frozen spring and his eyes landed on a nearby tray, still topped with two cups and a bottle of what looked like an occa brandy.
Figuring that whoever it belonged to wouldn't mind sharing (not like they could necessarily complain about it now), Lumi scampered over to the petrified objects and laid a paw on them. The moments around them were still, but not irreversibly so. With some focus he willed whatever block held them in place and let time flow in the immediate area. It felt a bit like popping a hole in a water balloon.
At his touch, the color gradually returned to the tray and the water directly under it. The drink in the cups sloshed with renewed activity, and he grinned as he grabbed the tray and went to lay it in front of Dialga, who had observed the whole thing with quiet curiosity.
"You said you wanted to congratulate me? Why not stay to celebrate a little too?" The bottle glowed blue as Lumi lifted it and carefully poured some more into one of the cups until it almost overflowed, then hovered the cup up to Dialga. However, in his excitement, he accidentally poured a bit too much power into the telekinesis, causing it to accelerate fast enough to smack and shatter against Dialga's front.
Lumi cringed as the sound of broken glass shattered the silence, and watched the drink dribble down its metal breastplate.
"Oh, uh, sorry..." His ears drooped. "They had this thing on my neck that suppressed my Power, and it was a few months so...yeah..."
Dialga observed the mess on its front for a few moments before it chuffed. It raised its head towards a Wooper attendant, locked frozen in mid-step on the walkway, and snagged the jar it carried on its head in its own telekinetic grasp. Lumi blinked as the jug of wine zoomed to hover in front of him.
"Won't you raise your cup, Lumiere?" it asked. Lumi blinked, but soon a giddy chuckle left his lips as he raised his own cup towards Dialga's. However, just as he was about to clink them together, another idea popped in his head. He glanced over at the frozen crowd of his fellow apprentices and zeroed in on the form of his Partner high in the air without a care in the world.
His grin widened. "One sec, I know how to make this better."
It all happened too quickly from Van's perspective.
One second he was on cloud nine, enjoying the admiration he received from his peers, people he had come to view as a second family. The stars shone bright, and for the first time he felt lighter, and not just because of the weightless sensation of being at the apex of his height.
The next second, Lumi's face glitched into existence above him. Before he could process anything, his back hit an unreasonably hard surface rather than the warm embrace of waiting arms. The wind got knocked out of him, he bounced off and then hit another surface as hard as concrete, while Lumi bounced off of him and landed on his front a few feet away.
"Wh-cough-eeugggghh..." a low, pained groan left his lips as he tried to reach around and clutch his back, interrupted by intermittent coughs.
"Ooh, wow...I didn't think that through..." Van rolled over and saw Lumi get to his knees and shake his head. The Meowstic hobbled over to him and leaned down to help him up. "You alright?"
With a grunt, Van accepted the proffered paw. "What...Lumi what-" He blinked, and finally noticed how everything was gray and their friends were stuck in their positions like statues.
"What the fu-"
"Please practice caution when returning a subject to the normal flow of time. It will retain the properties it had at the moment it was halted, including motion." A voice resonating with dual tones powerful enough to ring in his ears made him jolt in surprise. When Van turned to the source of the voice and beheld Dialga in all its glory, his eyes became the size of dinner plates and his knees turned to jelly.
Lumi must have interpreted the way Van grabbed onto him in a deathgrip and how his legs locked in fear as needing some assistance in moving, which he gladly provided as he dragged his Partner even closer to the temporal god the size of a building.
"Yeah, yeah I got it," said Lumi. Van almost felt betrayed by how Lumi continued towards Dialga, oblivious to his squeaks of fear as he attempted to tell him to please not go any closer. Yet it didn't matter as they stopped only a few meters in front of the dragon and Lumi turned to him with a wide smile.
"Hey, let me go get Clara real quick, we're celebrating!" He then handed him a cup full of some drink and scampered off towards the other side of the spring. Van would have reached out to grab Lumi by the tails and force him to explain what exactly was happening, but at the moment all his arms could do was shake violently as he tried to avoid eye contact with Dialga.
This became a bit more difficult to do as the thing leaned its head down to study him further.
"Van. You are my-"
"AAAAHSHYIIT!"
On impulse, Van yelled and threw his arms out to try and shield himself from whatever wrath Dialga must have had in store. After a few wrath-less seconds when he realized he still drew breath, he peeked open his eyes past his arms.
Dialga stared at him, their snout now dripping with whatever liquid was in the cup Van tossed up in a panic. Every drop that hit the ground seemed especially loud and awkward in the silence. Despite this, it carried on unphased by the spill.
"You are my kin's companion. A privilege to meet you. I thank you for accompanying him this far."
Very unsure of where this conversation was going, it took everything in Van to maintain eye contact with the dragon. "...Y-yeah...sure. Nice to meet you, your, uh, majesty...I can, uh, try and get a towel, or…" he trailed off lamely, but then something it said caught up to him.
"You…know my name?"
"I have heard much about you from different sources. I have been told you are brave, and committed to the wellbeing of those around you." It tilted its head at him, and blinked. "Are you well?"
"I'm…yeah I'm doin' fine…" he muttered. His eyes scanned the eerily quiet and colorless spring. The lack of any wind managed to still send a chill up his spine.
"It seems Lumiere did not consider you would be ill at ease in a temporal environment like this. I would have taken a slower, more measured approach to acclimate you."
"I, uh, don't think slow and measured is really his style," said Van.
"Yes. I have noticed," agreed Dialga. Whether they meant it in jest or were serious, Van grew a shaky smile anyway.
"Oooh! Hiiiiiiii!" Clara's bubbly voice brought some levity to the silence. She stumbled her way over frozen waves with Lumi trailing behind. Her swirls spun quicker and quicker as she got closer to him and Dialga.
"Dialga, c'mere!" she said when she was only a few meters away, arms held up in expectation. To Van's surprise, Dialga actually lowered its head down towards her and let her wrap her arms around its snout in a hug. Its expression did not change, although the sound of something heavy sliding ahead brought his attention to how its long tail gently wagged along the ground.
"Clara. It is good to see you well." A low rumble underscored Dialga's words, and Clara giggled and nuzzled its head. Van watched in fascination and bonked Lumi on the head without looking when the Meowstic came up alongside him.
"Ohmigosh, it's been so long. How are you? Did Lumi already fill you in on everything? You know we were jailed for like two months, right? It was terrible! I spent so much time crying and thinking and crying and singing and crying and reading and reading a lot actually I read so much I got through my entire backlog of romance novels which made crying a lot easier but it wasn't that bad because sometimes I would imagine that you would come break me in-"
A red hot blush bloomed on her face and she hopped away from Dialga's head with her paws behind her back. The two boys burst out laughing the instant the words left her mouth.
"OUT! Break me out! That's what I-"
"Ayo!?"
"Hehehehe! See? See what I wrote to you about?" Lumi elbowed Van in the side, to which the Scrafty nodded with a big smirk.
"Yeah, I see it now."
"What'd you tell him? Stop laughing!" Clara ran forward and tackled Van to the ground, who was still laughing at her expense. He shielded himself from her trying to bat at his face, before she got up and scrambled after Lumi next. Rather than let himself be tackled, Lumi cackled as he sidestepped each of her clumsy lunges, which only got more determined. So much so that in their little game, Clara accidentally kicked one of the drink cups hard enough for it to fly and shatter against Dialga's foreleg.
The tinkle of glass shards hitting the ground made them flinch, and as one they turned to look at Dialga. At this point it spotted beverage stains along its chestpiece, left leg, and a line that dripped down its face, however it seemed to hardly pay these messes any mind.
Its eyes were wide as if entranced, and its mouth hung open enough for its razor sharp teeth to be shown in full display. A low, airy wheeze rocked its form with tremors, its version of a bellowing laugh.
The sound made Van's pupils dilate, although the other two seemed more at ease with the noise.
"Why do you stop? Have you run out of libations to pour out on me?" it asked, and levitated its jug from before to hover in front of them.
At the same time, the broken shards of glass that littered the ground, along with their contents splashed everywhere, lifted up in the air. Lumi, Van, and Clara watched in rapt attention as the scattered pieces of the cups reformed before their eyes, while the spilled liquid simultaneously reformed and rewound back into the now reconstituted cups they came from. The three glasses, full of their contents, were levitated up for them to receive, which they did so in delight.
Lumi stepped forward and raised his glass in the air, and his team members followed suit. Dialga soon hovered his jug next to their glasses, and they all brought them together.
Clink!
"Cheers!" The three said, and took a hearty gulp of their drinks. Or at least Van and Clara did so. The moment the taste hit Lumi's tongue and burned down his throat, his eyes widened and he coughed most of it back up.
"I thought you didn't drink?" asked Van with a raised brow as Lumi doubled over.
"I thought I could try..." sputtered Lumi with a shake of his head.
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Clara pumped her arms as Dialga hovered the jug over its head and poured the whole thing into its mouth. Alcohol streamed out until only drips escaped the tip. Once it finished and set the jug primply on the ground, it leaned down closer to her level, inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled a loud, long sigh. Its expression never shifted from its straightforward glare, and yet it had Clara giggling into her paws all the same.
"Alright, your majesty!" said Van, and in a moment of boldness stepped forward. "Hey, if you drink too much of that, is time gonna start going backwards or something?"
"It would take much more than this for my judgment to be impaired," replied Dialga. It shifted its legs to slide out from under it, and took on a much more relaxed and leisurely position on its side rather than the more uptight one from before. "It has been some time since I have partaken in such indulgences as this. Only on rare occasions, but those have since ceased."
"Damn, I didn't know you got down like that." Van grinned up at Dialga and took another swig of his glass. Next to him, Lumi wore a determined frown as he switched tactics and instead lapped up tiny amounts of his drink with his tongue.
"Since ceased? What occasions do you mean?" he asked somewhat distractedly. His face soured with each lick. A low hum emitted from Dialga's throat as it seemed to ponder something, and its gaze narrowed as it recalled a memory.
"An age ago, much before Dungeons appeared in the world, banquets were held every hundred or so years. I was loosely responsible for scheduling them," it said.
Clara leaned forward in intrigue. "Banquets? Were they with the other Legendaries and Mythicals?"
"Indeed. They were somewhat lavish events that were hosted on a rotating basis between each of our domains. They allowed the rare opportunity for us to gather as one and appraise each other of the world's affairs, among other things."
"That sounds fun! What kinds of things did you do at them? What were the other Legends like?" asked Clara. Van and Lumi leaned in as well to hear. It was a few moments before it spoke.
"They were...fascinating. Loud. Stimulating." It hesitated, pupils flashed to the ground for a quarter-second before raising them again. "I had stopped attending after a time, and sent Celebi in my place. Question her for details of the proceedings, if you have an opportunity."
Clara hummed in slight disappointment. "Why'd you stop going?"
"I did not see my presence as necessary. I was obliged to organize, not attend."
Its tone held an air of finality to it, one that stopped Clara's followup comment cold. Lumi observed Dialga quietly, their private conversation from earlier running through his mind.
"When was the last banquet?" Van broke the silence after a few moments.
"Roughly sixteen hundred years ago. I believe the last one to host one was Xerneas," it replied.
The name sobered the mood like cold water. Memories of screaming, wailing, and frantic violence erupted in each of the three's heads. Clara and Lumi shared a look, the image of Xerneas' graceful body broken by roots and her face frozen solid in peace still fresh in their minds as if it was yesterday. They frowned.
"You met her, yes?" asked Dialga with no shift in tone. Clara frowned in confusion at that, while Van huffed out a humorless laugh.
"You could say that. Didn't really get a chance to introduce ourselves on account of her tryin' to blow us up. She was in a bad way, mon…" His eyes widened when he realized his slip. "Crap I mean, your maje-"
"Van, you occupy a similar standing to my kin on account of your partnership. You are effectively his counterpart, so you may dispense with formalities in my presence."
"Oh. Uh, alright." Van's eyes widened, surprised.
"And to your point, it does not surprise me that she was in that state. She had been exposed to intense amounts of distortion for over a millenia, and her guardianship of the keystone would have only escalated the atrophy of her body and sense of reality. That you were able to prevail in spite of this is a testament to your collective skill."
"Well, sure, but…isn't that kind of harsh to say?" Clara swirled her drink around, uncertainty written on her face. "She sounded so hopeless, Dialga. Even when we could get her to talk for a few seconds, it just sounded like she had already given up. And when we said that you had sent Lumi there to try and fix things..."
"It was like she expected you to leave her to die instead," Lumi finished for her. He set his drink to the side, and sat up cross-legged. "Did you forget about her, or something? If you knew that she was going to suffer for over a thousand years and just left her, then I have an issue with that."
Lumi's tone remained light and easy, but both Van and Clara caught the way his ears pricked up, alert, and subtle force in his words. Him and Dialga locked eyes for a moment and seemed to have a conversation with their eyes alone.
"Do you insinuate that I did not care?"
"That's the impression you're giving, that's all."
"Xerneas was aware of the risks. It was a duty she agreed to."
Although Dialga's voice remained level, its posture became a bit more rigid. Its tail stopped its languid slide across the frozen pool, and it released what could have been interpreted as a frustrated sigh.
"It was not my place to interfere, yet I bid you go regardless."
It brought its attention down to Clara.
"You spoke with her. Did she say anything else?"
She hesitated, but nodded after a bit. "She mentioned something about Palkia. If...Palkia's gambit had come to fruition. Do you know anything about that?"
Dialga studied her for a long moment. Its attention shifted to Van, and then Lumi as it seemed to consider something.
"Very well. I will share this. The gambit she referred to is the plan enacted by my counterpart, Palkia. You have not seen her, but you have come into contact with those she has enlisted to further her goals, led by Noivern. She created the Keystones, and consequently the Dungeons as you know them today, in order to prevent the distortion present in the world from subsuming it completely. However, they were only ever a stopgap measure, and even then, insufficient for the larger channels of distortion that exist.
"Thus, several of the more powerful Legendaries volunteered their bodies, which could withstand that level of distortion for prolonged periods, to bolster the regulation of the Keystones entrusted to them. Xerneas was one such Legendary, and there are others scattered around the world in their domains, which have been transformed by that same energy."
Dialga paused to allow them time to digest that information. Rightly so, as beyond learning more about the nature of Dungeons, the simple revelation of where all the Legendaries had actually been these past thousand or so years was a lot to swallow.
Van scratched his chin and held his claw up. Dialga nodded down at him.
"If I'm following, it sounds like Palkia would want to keep the Keystones and those Legendaries in operation as long as possible. But it looked like Noivern's crew was aiming to destroy those things, and the Legendaries that came with them, so..." Van clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I dunno, something ain't adding up."
"I am inclined to agree. As my counterpart does not communicate with me, I am unsure of her motives. This prompted me to observe the outcome of her actions unopposed in a separate time."
"You saw another time? What happened?" asked Clara, very curious.
"The plan fails," it replied. At their blank stares, it continued. "At least, by whatever standard I could apply. If allowed to fully destabilize the Dungeons, distortion runs unchecked throughout the entire earth in a chaotic mess until it becomes functionally uninhabitable. What I find curious is that Palkia is surely aware of this outcome, yet continues on this path in spite of it. Like me, her desire is to safeguard the world, and she was very recently brought back to her senses from a brief fit of madness, so I know she is in her right mind. Therefore, whatever true aim she seeks to realize in the world's destruction eludes me.
"This is why, through Bonding with Lumiere, I have decided to intervene, in order to generate an outcome different than what would be a certain fail-state."
"Dialga, I have a question," asked Lumi. "Say hypothetically we do pause all the keystones in every Leyline, like you asked? Apparently pausing one caused every Dungeon in the Bright Continent to become all gray and lifeless, including some of the surrounding environments. What would happen on a wider scale?"
"I am unfamiliar with this particular sequence of events, although I would postulate that something akin to a mass petrification would take place. Enough distortion frozen in time may result in a cease in its production entirely, which could have a similar effect on most natural processes in the world."
"Wouldn't that make your plan just as bad as Palkia's then? A world completely stuck and frozen in time sounds as much of a fail state as one dissolved by too much aether activity." He swirled his still mostly full cup in idle contemplation. "They're both crappy plans, just in different ways."
"In a manner of speaking, perhaps you are correct," replied Dialga. On the side, Van looked between his Partner and the god of time, who seemed strangely alright with one of its plans being called 'crappy.'
"However, from another perspective, I have provided you with the tools with which to impact the future, namely the ability to manipulate Keystones on a fundamental level. Already, you have shifted it from a course of certain doom, to now one of only potential doom. This too is progress."
With its telepathic grip, the dragon snagged another jug of alcohol from somewhere and casually swished it around in the air.
"Do you recall when you and Clara first visited me in my tower? Then, I bid you to go and halt distortion in 'any dungeon you came across'. I did not say this to be misleading, rather I intended to make my charge simple to understand and to urge you to make that first shift in events. If I might be more candid, as you are adamant about me being, then if you so desired..."
The cork popped off the jug, and Dialga casually downed it in front of all of them again. Its gaze drifted to the city skyline as it exhaled, setting the jug down gently to its side.
"You could ignore the keystones entirely from this point on, if that is what you determine to be the best course of action. You would still have my blessing, regardless."
Lumi's ears perked up at that, and he let out a thoughtful hum. Van however, scratched his head in confusion
"Wait, hold on. So, are we going to halt the Keystones, or not? How, uh, how do we actually win here?" He looked to Clara with a pleading look. "Am I dumb for asking that?"
She shrugged and took another sip. "I'm only mostly following the conversation, so I don't think so?" she said, honestly.
"I don't think we know how to win, right now. And..." Lumi's eyes widened, and he looked up at Dialga as new understanding dawned on him. "And...you don't either?"
"If we hold 'winning' to be the outcome where the world remains stable and conducive to continued life, then at this stage, I suggest you and those close to you take very good notes of events as they occur. Engage in proper research and seek to understand what is happening in this world as it develops. This may help in identifying a proper solution."
"That makes sense, yeah," Lumi nodded, and went back to sipping at his drink, hating it the whole time. To the side, Clara couldn't help but chuckle.
"Neither of you seem very worried about not having a plan for the world possibly ending."
As one, both Dialga and Lumi looked at her with confusion.
"Would worrying do anything? We'll figure something out," remarked Lumi.
Dialga nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I am confident a solution will present itself in time."
She looked between both of them for a bit and couldn't help the light, twinkling giggle that escaped her mouth.
Van had his brows furrowed, all of the information received struggling to process in his head. He crossed his arms and huffed. "Ugh...you know I wish Damia were here. She should have heard all of this too, now we'll have to fill her in later. Where is she, anyway?"
"At a meeting with Vert and Headmaster Wifflytuff," answered Clara. "They're hashing out some more details with the Guild, so Damia needs to be there, along with Brook and Purl. I felt a little guilty that she had to handle some serious business while we got to relax at a hot spring, but she's a Guild Head, so..."
"It is actually fortunate your companion Damia is at that meeting. I have sent my servant Celebi ahead to notify her of a potential avenue that could lead to more consistent interaction between us. I thought it appropriate, as she is in a position of leadership and can influence that decision."
"Oh, so you're actually going through with it?" Excitement tinged Lumi's voice, and he grinned.
"It is something you and I desire, my kin," said Dialga. "I have my reservations, however I cannot deny that I am...interested."
"Me personally, I am very okay with more continued interaction with Dialga," said Clara, tone level. "But, how would that work, exactly? I mean it's not like we can just go to his tower, that took so much effort the last time."
"Lumiere, perhaps you'd like to enlighten your team of the plan you created while you were imprisoned?" Prompted Dialga. One of Lumi's ears flicked, and he shrugged.
"Less of a plan, more of a little idea that just kept growing,"
Van went to go sit next to him and elbowed him in the shoulder. "Okay, well don't keep us in suspense mon, what is it?"
Clara crowded around him too, eye swirls quickening in anticipation. Lumi's fang glimmered as his smile widened.
"Okay well, I was thinking about how much time we lost, and thought it would be cool if we had a way to play catch up, so to speak. It'll take some time to make all these item concepts we've had come to life, you know? And it got me thinking...
"What if we just moved the guild to Temporal Tower?"
A/N: The next time time seems to be moving too slow or too fast for you, maybe chalk it up to Dialga drinking just a little bit too much.