Chapter 16: The Red Planet

Compared to the fortress-like Crowne Court, the nearby rail station Yuna floated back and forth in front of was… underwhelming. Heck, calling it a proper station wasn’t right. There were no ticket kiosks or fences to keep people away from the tracks. Not even a building. Just a raised stone platform with a metal roof and some signposts reading “Crowne Court South,” implying there must have been other Crowne Courts throughout the kingdom.

Yuna kept glancing back at the gravel road leading uphill, partially obscured by layers of oak trees whose leaves showed the first signs of yellowing for autumn. She feared Shimmer had tailed her and was going to drag her back to the lodging area before her teammates showed up.

“I’d say that’s an unrealistic worry.” Reshiram chuckled. “That ponyta regards you with as much warmth as someone gives a booger they find smeared against the edge of a table.”

Wow, gee, that sure makes me feel better.

“Huh, really?”

“No! That was sarcasm!” Yuna facepalmed, then realized she said that out loud and hastily looked around. Fortunately, there was no one there.

God, it had only been a little over a week and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could take this Soul Dew business. And now she was going after another Sage. Was Saint Rayquaza going to listen in on her every thought, too? And would he be completely different than the scriptures?

Reshiram whined. “Hey, I’m right here. If you’ve got a problem, say something.”

Before Yuna could retort, a train whistle sounded in the distance. A single circular light beam broke through walls of trees to the left of the train platform. The rusty red train pulled up to the station, which could only accommodate its frontmost car. Two metal doors slid open at opposite ends. Yuna’s teammates stepped out the rear door.

Finally managing a smile, Yuna floated toward them. “Thanks for getting here on such short notice.” She waved at them, but abruptly stopped when neither of them made eye contact.

“Yeah, about that…” Nikki scratched the back of her head before a thin, chitinous arm tried to push her aside.

“Do you want to explain to me what this is about, Princess?”

Yuna’s gills shriveled. “Professor Cid. What an, uh, unexpected surprise.” In her head, she offered much more colorful words at this new development.

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Reshiram growled.

I didn’t say anything out loud.

“Well, I was on my way back to my office after a meeting in Horizon Gardens when I noticed these two heading for the station.” Cid pointed to a bag Chiaki had against his jean jacket. “When I saw Chiaki lugging this bag, I had a feeling something was up, so I followed you.” He narrowed his eyes at Yuna. “You’re supposed to be taking part in that trial Vegna set you up for tomorrow, correct? So, what’s going on here?”

Yuna wanted to lie. But Cid was a psychic-type. Even if he wasn’t strong, who was to say he couldn’t read her mind?

“If you’re worried about me, I’m pretty sure that Bahamut designed Soul Dews to evade psychics’ ESP,” Reshiram said.

You’re pretty sure?

“If I had to give a number: 85.27 percent.”

Yuna didn’t want to point out how oddly specific that was.

“Besides, this all feels like a moot point. Cid got sucked into the Qliphoth last time, didn’t he?” Reshiram reminded her. “I’d say honesty’s the best policy here.” He paused. “Granted, I’m a bit biased, but that doesn’t matter.”

“My pendant reacted when I was in the Crowne Court.” Yuna tapped the Soul Dew with an arm. “And then Xeromus showed up saying that the Court’s built over a spot where a Needle once stood.”

Cid’s spots flickered. “A Needle, here? Impossible. I’ve never come across any records stating as such.” He crossed his arms. “Besides, if that were the case, then the Court would’ve been swallowed up by distortion like all the other Needles recently were.”

“That’s just it. Xeromus said that was going to happen tomorrow morning!” Yuna threw her arms up. “Unless I can break the Needle like I did to the one in Hebrides.” Once the gate was open, Yuna couldn’t stop the words from pouring out. “I tried calling Seifer because, well, that was what he told me to do if something bad happened. But I couldn’t reach him. The trinket he gave kept telling me his number had been disconnected. So, I did the next best thing I could think of… and called Chiaki.”

Cid hovered in front of Chiaki and Nikki, looking over both disapprovingly. “And rather than report this to someone, you thought that, what, you’d go charging blindly into the Qliphoth again?”

Chiaki scowled. “And just who was I supposed to talk to about this? You don’t even have the full story about what’s going on here and you’re already making assumptions.” He crossed his arms and looked away. “You think anyone in charge would actually listen to me? Or Nikki, for that matter?”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “Love you too, Twiggy.”

“Be that as it may, I can’t let you three go off and do something reckless.” Cid pointed at Yuna. “Especially not you. You don’t even have any guards. What will happen if you come across Phantoms? Or another one of those large daemons?”

Nikki rested her hands behind her head. “Man, I told you to let me clobber him once we stepped off the train.”

Yuna looked down. Cid had a point. It was Seifer’s Dynaforce that made all the difference against Runerigus. Team Bastion couldn’t depend on that this time. Was this too rash? If they failed, the courthouse would definitely be doomed.

“She’s got protection!”

Reshiram burst out of the Soul Dew in a spray of white and orange light. Cid dropped to the ground, his large head making him roll to a stop close to the gap in the platform for the train tracks. “Th… tha… that’s…” He pointed a trembling finger at Reshiram.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Yuna hovered in front of Reshiram’s face, waving her arms frantically. “If someone sees you, we’ll be in a heap of trouble. No popping up in public without my permission.”

“It’s late at night. I don’t think anyone’s coming.” Reshiram bent over, tail smoldering with blue and red embers. “I needed your teacher to see that you have help. Good help, at that. Maybe not the greatest, but still good.”

Nikki tilted her head. “Wow, someone sure knows how to sell themselves. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you were single back in the day.”

Reshiram’s face reddened. “Honesty is paramount. I can’t lie and tell him I’m at my peak when I’m a spirit.”

Chiaki looked up from swapping Bold and Brash out for the Hooker. “Whatever. This isn’t productive.” He leveled his prosthetic at Cid. “Look, Professor, I get you’re worried about us. But let’s be real here, you can’t stop us on your own. One way or another, we’re heading to the Qliphoth. So, you can either go report us to someone… or come with.”

“What? We ain’t seriously bringing Chrome Dome. He’s a walking liability.” Nikki glanced at the orbeetle, who hovered off the ground. “Okay, floating liability.” Scowling, she mumbled, “Stupid psychic-types.”

“What he lacks in power he makes up for in other areas,” Chiaki countered. “His Dynascan might help us locate the Needle quicker, for starters.”

Cid’s eyes widened. “No way am I going. I almost got squished to death last time.”

“So did I. You don’t see me complaining.” Chiaki turned his snout up.

Reshiram stuck his fluffy head between the two. “If I may offer a suggestion, orbeetle are good with supportive actions, correct? Things like Reflect and Light Screen?” He fluttered his eyelids at Cid. “We’re not asking you to fight. These kids could benefit from some adult supervision.”

Nikki’s mane frazzled. “I ain’t in daycare, Crotch Fuzz!”

Reshiram’s head shot up and his fur puffed out. “It’s a beauty tuft! Why are you even looking there?”

“Make yourself smaller if you want good eye contact,” Nikki growled. She put her hand to her head and flicked it in Reshiram’s direction to show how she barely went up past his waist.

“Okay, that’s enough of this conversation.” Yuna floated up to Reshiram and squished his snout against the Soul Dew. It sucked him back up like one of those vacuum cleaners she’d seen Noctum geek out about a few days ago. Sighing, she turned to Cid. “I’m sorry, but we’re wasting time here. I don’t feel safe enough trying to make a rift close to the courthouse. I need to do it over in the forest.”

Cid rubbed his shoulder. “How do you even know what you heard is the truth?”

“I don’t.” Yuna clutched her bag’s strap. “But so long as the possibility is there, I— meep!“

Nikki grabbed her by the tail while walking toward the stairs. “Yeah, yeah. Save the big action protagonist speech for another time. We doing this shit or what?”

Yuna flopped against Nikki’s back, cheeks puff out. Sighing, Chiaki followed after them. Cid poked his fingers together for a few seconds, before hovering after them. “I sure hope you’re right about this, Princess,” he said once the team was safely in the depths of the thick trees and away from the road.

Nikki set Yuna down. The dreepy looked down at the ground, only to squeeze her eyes shut. For all her bluster, she hadn’t actually thought about how she’d get another rift open. It happened in desperation the first time.

What to do? She heard mumbles from Reshiram, but couldn’t parse anything. Yuna took another breath. She pictured Eternatus’ sigil. The circle with five diamonds surrounding it. Just like she’d seen in the books. And the Herbrides Lines. And Noatun.

Take us there.

Pressure gripped Yuna’s head, then a purple and white glow erupted around her.

Swirling red filled Yuna’s vision when the light faded. The air was frigid and coarse from sand particles. Yuna shielded her eyes with an arm. Did I stay awake this time or pass out?

“You didn’t pass out. But you ended up in a desert,” Reshiram said. “A cold, red desert. There are icebergs jutting out of the sand! I mean, I knew deserts could get cold at nighttime, but we’re talking a kind of cold a place would have to be stuck in for centuries. Assuming this kind of stuff is actually scientifically possible in the first place. I mean, it’s amazing either way, don’t you think?”

Hissing made Yuna’s gills shrivel. Something hard and plastic was shoved into Yuna’s ectoplasmic gut. “Oomph!”

“T… ake it…”

Chiaki could barely speak. Yuna cracked an eye open to see the grovyle shivering. Frost coated the end of his head leaf. There was a pair of goggles in his outstretched hand. Yuna grabbed them and slipped them over her eyes. The grittiness went away.

“Safety goggles?” she said.

Chiaki nodded, then fell onto his rear. He dropped his bag, pulled out gauze, and began wrapping it around his feet. They seemed more blue-green than usual. Yuna could sympathize. This frigid air left her ectoplasm less wispy than she would’ve liked.

“Yo, Chrome Dome.” Nikki stood a couple of meters away on red-orange sand, wearing an identical pair of goggles. She looked up at a blue, luminescent ice block jutting out from the sand. The air around her was red and hazy. “You got an explanation for this in that big head of yours?”

Cid stared at the dark sky. It was pitch-black, save for red clouds. His spots lit up blue, followed by his eyes. Pink energy wisps trailed down toward the ground. Cid nodded slowly, then the light faded. “This is Aquardah,” he said. “It’s one of a few cities on a planet consisting almost entirely of a desert with red sand.” Cid leaned over and levitated up some sand. It blew away in streams thanks to the wind.

“Why the hell is it so damn cold, then?” Nikki approached the group, squeezing her jacket over her gills. “My gills are gonna freeze like this.”

“Perhaps the planet was far from a sun?” Yuna theorized. For all they knew, it might’ve only had ice-types on it.

“It’s possible.” Cid stroked his chitinous chin.

Yuna’s Soul Dew shimmered and Reshiram popped out. The air around her immediately warmed, filling her with relief. “Bahamut told us that planets absorbed by Eternatus are stuck in whatever state they were last in. So, by that logic, it’s also possible that it was nighttime when this city was sucked into the Qliphoth.”

“Whatever.” Nikki shuffled closer to Reshiram. “If this is a city, then where are the buildings? I just see sand.” The toxtricity scowled. “And I hate sand. It’s rough. It’s coarse. And it gets everywhere.”

“Well, you are rather weak to ground-types.” Reshiram chuckled, earning him a scathing look. He held up his wings. “What? I’m not lying.”

“I’ve got something,” Cid exclaimed. He held up his right hand. Pink energy surrounded it. A hole formed in the hazy red air, revealing the edge of a stone building layered with a sheet of ice.

Chiaki was already walking in that direction before Cid cut off his ESP. “Let’s get moving. With any luck, we’ll find shelter and can plot our next move.”

“I’ll admit, this would be fascinating if it wasn’t… unnerving,” Cid said, eyes darting back and forth. A fair amount of the sand had lifted from the air, allowing Team Bastion to better see rows of limestone buildings, some of which had circular domes for roofs. They were scuffed beyond measure. Icy blue streaks filled cracks and crevices. Similar blue patches lined the dirt road. Frigid white mist rose off them.

“In what way?” Reshiram led the group so that his tail engine could keep them warm. Chiaki was closest to him, still looking pained.

“We teach people that mystery dungeons are landscapes that are so badly warped by distortion that they’re impossible to understand,” Cid replied. “I’ve read reports of rescued people mumbling about settlements, but it was always dismissed as a side effect of distortion exposure.”

“Guess you wish you’d brought a camera,” Nikki quipped. “Frankly, I don’t see where the danger is. Place is deserted.” She stopped and immediately facepalmed. “That… was an unintentional pun.”

Yuna couldn’t help but chuckle at it. Reshiram did, too, so she didn’t feel as guilty. “It was like this last time, too,” she said. “Aside from a few Phantoms, things were otherwise very qui—”

There was a heavy thud, followed by a bloodcurdling scream. Sand grains falling from the roofs and building crevices gave Yuna an idea of just how heavy that thud was.

Nikki elbowed Yuna’s side. “You just had to open your big mouth, didn’t you? If we die, I’m haunting your ass.”

“Me?” Yuna’s cheeks puffed up. “You called the place deserted!”

“We need to hide.” Cid’s spots flashed multiple colors. “Something’s coming this way. And its aura is all over the place!”

Ripples spready through the fog further down the street. A krokorok stumbled out, only to fall flat on its face. It promptly turned around and held its hands up. “Please… don’t do this! I have a wife and two kids!”

A massive, barbed tongue shot out of the fog, smothering Krokorok and muffling his terrified screams. “Oh God!” Yuna squealed as the tongue retreated into the fog, taking Krokorok with it.

Reshiram poked his claws together. “Hey guys? Maybe now’s not a good time to bring this up, but in the spirit of honesty I feel I should tell you that one of my biggest fears back in my pre-Sage days was getting eaten by a bigger predator.” He hesitantly shuffled back. “So, uh, I’m totally in favor of making a run for it before we figure out who or what that tongue belongs to.”

More ripples spread through the fog. A massive, hippowdon foreleg slammed into the ground, shattering one of the ice patches. A krookodile head emerged from the fog as a second hippowdon foreleg struck the ground. Sand and ice particles poured off the nearby buildings. The monster crept forward. Its upper half was indeed hippowdon, but its lower half and hind legs clearly belonged to a luxray.

Hollow gray eyes glared down at Team Bastion. The hippowdown ports on its back spewed blue mist. It opened its mouth wide, letting its barbed tongue loll out while it roared.

Reshiram’s tail dimmed. “Too late. Time to panic!”

“Nobody’s… panicking here.” Chiaki’s voice trembled, though that was more from the cold than anything. “Two-thirds of this thing is weak to grass. Fire in the hole!” He spat a Bullet Stream seed forward. It struck squarely between the monster’s eyes, but it didn’t move a muscle. Instead, vessels bulged out on its eyes and krookodile head.

It shot its barbed tongue out. Screaming, Reshiram tackled everyone to the ground. Yuna couldn’t even gasp. Reshiram’s fur blanketed her before she got the chance.

“We’ve gotta get out of here.” Reshiram flapped his wings once. “Ooh, but there’s no way you guys can outrun something that big. What do we do? What do we do?”

The daemon reared its head back for another go with its tongue when a pink beam struck the right side of the hippowdon area. It roared its displeasure as it toppled over to its left, reducing a nearby house to rubble.

“What just happened?” Nikki stared at the dust rising from the rubble.

“There!” Reshiram pointed ahead with his right wing.

Standing atop the house opposite the one the monster fell on, a slowking in a tattered cloak waved its arms frantically.

“This way! We must get to the palace or Ahemait will devour us all!”

Team Bastion exchanged concerned looks. Was it really safe to trust a complete stranger? “It could be a trap,” Cid whispered. “He lulls us into a false sense of security so he can kill us himself!”

The ground rumbled behind them. Ahemait’s head popped out from the rubble, blinking rapidly.

Nikki’s mohawk frazzled. “You’ve been watching too many horror flicks, Chrome Dome. Let’s beat it before we get beaten!”

Yuna nodded, then flew off alongside Nikki and Reshiram. They got about a dozen meters before Chiaki cried, “Look out!”

The dreepy turned and saw a massive rubble slab careening right toward her. Screaming, she squeezed her eyes shut. A chill ran through her body, following by a rough, gritty sensation. Yuna opened her eyes as a heavy thud sounded behind her. She sighed in relief.

“Woah, did you just, like, turn invisible?” Nikki stopped in a gap between two houses.

Yuna looked behind her. A giant boulder sat in the splintered remains of a wooden door. “Yeah. I did.”

“Compliment yourself later,” Chiaki snarled, grabbing a gasping Yuna. “Like when we get away from this thing!”

He shot the Hooker up and it latched onto a roof. Chiaki dropped Yuna, who flew up while the grovyle brought Nikki up to the roof with him. Ahemait saw this, too, however, and already had another rubble slab in its gaping maw.

“Nice going, Twiggy! You made us sitting ducklett!”

A wall of sand grains and ice particles swept in front of the building. Reshiram flew in front of them, blue energy sparking around his mouth. A Dragon Pulse raced forward, striking the rubble and blowing it up in Ahemait’s face.

“That’ll do the trick! Now hustle your bustles!” With a flap of his wings, Reshiram headed for Slowking.

“He can’t be serious with that phrasing.” Nikki facepalmed, then ran across the roof.

Yuna took one look back and saw ice shards forming in the air around Ahemait. She shot after her teammates. “Wait for me!” The dreepy made out Slowking waving at them from a couple of buildings over. Fortunately, the gaps between houses were small enough for Chiaki and Nikki to get across without much issue.

“All right, bud, where’s this so-called palace place?” Nikki sized Slowking up while he did the same to her.

“Well, we—” Slowking’s crown pulsated pink. He looked up. His eyes widened in alarm. “Fire your strongest attacks up, now!” Psychic energy gathered at the front of his crown.

“Huh?” Yuna looked up to find a massive Icicle Crash spear forming over them. With no beam-based attacks at her disposal, the dreepy could do nothing but scream.

Vortex hated Citadark, even when he didn’t have to set foot in the prison complex dripping with the stench of sweaty inmates. Its underground facility was cold and smelled of sterile metal. Glass panes surrounded the elevator platform to offer the charizard a dim view of the chasm-like maze of steel pipes crisscrossing through the underground facility.

He was a flier. Heights shouldn’t have bothered him. But something about this descent always unsettled him. Perhaps his innate dislike of caves? Rocks didn’t get along with charizard, after all.

Just keep Tessa focused and you can be out of here quickly, he told himself as the platform came to a stop. Circular steel doors slid open. A glass walkway extended out toward a metal platform with several monitors and control panels. Floor lights turned on with every few steps Vortex took.

“There he is! The ‘mon of the hour! Can we give the Chancellor a welcoming ovation?”

Speakers crackled. An audience’s applause buffeted Vortex’s ear frills. He pinched his brow with two fingers. “Cut the theatrics, Tessa. You already know why I’m here.”

The cheers abruptly turned to boos and hisses before the speakers shut off. Vortex stopped at the end of the glass walkway as a chair spun around. The boltund seated in it had an unreadable expression behind his red-tinted lab goggles.

“It’s Doctor Tesla. Or Minister Tesla. Or Doctor Minister Tesla. I’m not picky.” He grinned. “You could even try Minister Doctor Tesla. Nobody’s used that one yet. You sell yourself as a trailblazer, right?” He flashed pearly white teeth. “Or was that a tail-blazer? No, that can’t be right. You’re usually the one getting his tail blazed. I think it was an incineroar last time, no?”

This was the other thing he hated about Citadark. Tesla was obnoxious. Yet Tesla was the only one in the kingdom who could put Vortex’s ideas into practice. It didn’t make the fact that he abused his position to do the most frustrating things any less annoying, though.

Vortex made a mental note to have Arianna sweep his Horizon Gardens home for one of Tesla’s spying devices. He stomped his right leg down. “Status report. Now.“

Tesla sighed. His chair rose into the air on three mechanical legs that wouldn’t look out of place on a metagross. It stomped toward Vortex. He also noticed that strange stack of floating disks that always followed Tesla around. Heavens, how he hated that thing. Why did Tesla make it in the first place?

“The incubation chamber is finished,” Tesla declared. “I started the ether infusion at 0700 this morning.” A mechanical arm popped out of Tesla’s metal backpack and pressed a few buttons on his chair. “I know you’re the ‘all business’ type, so I’ll let you see for yourself.”

Giant lights switched on in sets of two, revealing a massive red orb suspended behind Tesla’s control panel. Several large metal coils and wires were connected to it. Various screens showed numbers, lines of codes, and fluctuating bars and lines. Vortex couldn’t make heads or tails of any of it. That was why he had people like Tesla working for him.

“I don’t understand.” Vortex was surprised, but in a good way. “When you gave me the information for Parliament, you estimated a four-week construction time for the incubation chamber. You haven’t even had the funding for five days and—”

Tesla stiffly pivoted to his right while making little “zzt” noises. “With all the time Parliament spent bickering over funding allocation, subsequent prototype revisions enabled the genius Dr. Tesla to identify and systematically update bugs and errors in Icarus’ design, allowing the final product to be completed ahead of and under chronologic and monetary estimates, respectively.”

Vortex looked up at the boltund, blinking slowly. “What?”

Sighing, Tesla snapped his robot hand’s fingers. “Zed!”

The floating discs twitched. “Dr. Tesla made design changes in the four months it took you to secure the funding.” It paused. “Sir.”

Vortex quirked a brow. “And you’re sure this new design will work?”

“Yes, though I’m currently trying to determine the optimal ether infusion rate,” Tesla replied. He pushed some buttons on the right armrest and small blue screens popped up from his goggles. “Once I have it, I can give you a precise timetable for when Icarus will be ready for our delightful diva to power it up.”

It sounded too good to be true. “You didn’t cut any corners?”

Tesla laughed, slapping a forepaw against his seat. “Aww, Vorty, that’s so cute!” A second robot arm shot out from his backpack and pinched Vortex’s cheek. The charizard slapped it away. “But I never cut corners.” He shifted to sit sideways in the chair, making more noises. “We can’t both be the smartest person in the room, you know. Otherwise, they’d have to change it to the ‘smartest people in the room.’ And that just doesn’t have the same panache. You feel me?”

Silence. Tesla looked over at Zed. “What about you?”

Zed nodded, its bill flopping about. “Of course, sir.”

Vortex had had enough Tesla for one day. “Do you have the footage for Parliament?”

Tesla’s chair lowered to the ground. One of the robot arms retreated into his backpack and popped back out with a disk. “Here. This has everything you’re looking for. We’re talking high-quality, critic-wowing, Lemmy-award winning material here!”

Vortex swiped the disk. He pocketed it and turned back toward the glass walkway. “Oh, one more thing. I’ve learned that Seifer’s been booted from the Radiant Guard.” He considered not bringing it up after Tesla casually dropped that he was spying on Vortex again. But Tesla could further Polaris’ standing with the info in ways Vortex couldn’t. It was a business investment.

“Meaning?”

Vortex brushed the side of his tan blazer. “If, off the record, you wanted to use your extra Icarus funding to try and make some improvements to the Guard, I don’t think you’d get any objections from your colleagues in Parliament.”

He raised his right hand and lazily waved it. “Do take care, Tessa.“

Vortex walked away, clasping the CD in his jacket pocket tight. The trip was worth the headache after all.