Chapter 42: Life, the Universe, and Everything

CONFIDENTIAL
Based on the analysis of the damaged chips discovered by my Troopers, I’m issuing a memo to all Paradigm lieutenants. This is a security level omega alert. If you’re reading this and you’re not of the Paradigm, report to your nearest Tartarus Intake Facility or face erosion. I have personally placed trackers on each of these, so I will know if they leave Eterna City. And the trackers are armed to detonate if you try to disable or remove them. There’ll be no funny business.

Although fragmented, data suggests a portion of Matriarch was focused on “The Butterfree Effect.” I cannot tell you what this is. Only that there were scattered mentions of four things:

1) Mismatched beast.
2) Missing number.
3) Radiant beauty.
4) Genetic morpho.

Three of these seem to refer to living creatures. I assume the fourth does, too. The Earth Pokédex refers to Mewtwo as the “Genetic Pokémon,” so it is likely capturing the rebel Gene will allow me to solve the riddle of the Butterfree Effect. Still, I want everyone to be on the lookout for anyone who could match one of these vague descriptions. They are to be brought to me dead or alive. But preferably alive, so I can get some answers.

Toodles, all. Keep up the good work.
Paradox

Chiaki awoke in a fit of coughs thanks to a tube that had been shoved down his throat. Several nurses — at least, he assumed these audino were nurses — funneled into the room and removed the tube, along with a wad of mucus and saliva. The result left the grovyle’s throat drier than he ever thought possible.

“Wah… ter,” he croaked. Chiaki wanted to reach an arm up, but his limbs didn’t respond. There was, however, a white band with a barcode around his left arm… and a silver metal ring above it that was also attached to the bed’s side railing. It looked like an element-proofed restraining cuff. The type Stoutland Yard officers slapped on suspects to haul them off to a holding cell.

“Absolutely not,” the lone audino who remained in the room replied. “With the amount of smoke inhalation you suffered, you’re not even clear for a swallow study. And stop talking. We spent too long controlling the swelling in your throat.” She turned and left, shaking her head and muttered about entitled kids.

That was when it all flooded back. The explosion his EMP triggered. Awaking with no sensation below his neck or ability to move. And Vegna showing up with a giant black dragon and hauling him away.

Though, from what Chiaki could tell, the ringing in his ear frills was gone, as were the X-transceiver fragments that had melted into his head. Instead, there was some sort of… metal implant attached to each of his temples. Hearing implants, probably.

It was obvious by now, but the white board hanging across from his bed confirmed he was, indeed, in a hospital. It listed a Sally as his assigned nurse, a Dr. Dwyer as the burn unit attending, a Dr. Francine as the cardiothoracic surgeon, a Dr. O’Boyle as the neurosurgeon, and a Dr. Lobo as the pulmonoligst. The only problem was a shield and blue cross etched into the top right of the white board, with a small “Healing Wish” scrawled beneath it.

Healing Wish? How the hell did I end up in Vellgaurde?

Vegna must have brought Chiaki here. But what for? Chiaki was under arrest. Wouldn’t it have been easier for Vegna to keep him in Venish?

Chiaki’s throat tightened. Did something bad happen to Venish?

“Finally awake, are we?”

A curtain and glass door to Chiaki’s left slid open and the Grim Reaper floated in. Talonflame was surprisingly absent, which Chiaki chalked up to hospital visitor regulations. Vegna’s gold inquisitor’s badge was pinned on the shawl of his black hood. It reflected a bit of the red from Vegna’s eye.

Chiaki said nothing. Partly because he wouldn’t give Vegna any ammunition… and partly because his throat was too dry and sore.

“As I’m sure you’ve already realized, the doctors here are not miracle workers,” Vegna said. “Your paralysis could not be fixed. There is a fair amount of scarring in your lungs. And there’s a cardiac contusion. They had to restart your heart during surgery. Quite impressive how weak electric attacks can be repurposed to save lives.”

Vegna held out his right hand. Black shadows conjured a crimson chalice in the shape of a small blastoise skull. He raised it in Chiaki’s direction. “A toast… to the consequences of one’s actions.” The dusknoir tipped the chalice into his creepy stomach mouth. “Ah, such delectable poetic irony. You wanted so badly to make a name for yourself… and now you are nothing. A withered blade of grass whose consolation prize for dodging the gates of hell is a long stay on Citadark Isle.”

Chiaki drew his lips back slightly. This was another tactic to get him talking. It had to be. Yet those words stung, because Chiaki knew Vegna spoke the truth.

“I don’t expect you to talk.” Vegna downed the chalice’s remaining contents, then tossed it into his stomach mouth. “You’re too hurt.” He approached the foot of Chiaki’s bed. “Unfortunately for you, I have ways around that.”

The grovyle sucked in a sharp breath. Telepathy?

He blinked. No, of course the dusknoir could do that. And it gave Chiaki an avenue to turn the pressure back on Vegna. “Lemme guess, that was lesson one of necromancy school?”

“Hardly,” Vegna scoffed. He pivoted left, chuckling. “Lesson two.”

That was a joke. It had to be. “So, the Grim Reaper moniker has truth to it,” he mentally scoffed. “I bet you kill those people to take their souls.”

“You can sift through every line of Radiance law. You’ll find nothing about necromancy.” Vegna’s tone suggested he’d done exactly that at some point. “But you’re wrong, just like the general public. I pick souls to take carefully.”

Chiaki didn’t believe that. A bigmouthed corviknight and feral talonflame hardly seemed like Vegna’s kind of company. “Like that black dragon?”

A brilliant blue overtook Vegna’s eye. “You mean Zekrom?”

The grovyle’s face tensed. “As in the Luminous Sage?”

Vegna nodded. He held out his right hand and a book materialized in it. Chiaki immediately recognized the eight-pointed star from Yuna’s Soul Dew. “You—”

“All one needs for necromancy is an Abyssal Relic.” The dusknoir opened the book and absentmindedly thumbed through the pages. “It’s a common, everyday item bathed in the sins of an impure soul.” He shut the book and it vanished in shadowfire. “This journal was positively rife with sin. Filled to the brim with passages showing a depraved mind warped by loneliness and heartbreak. It was the perfect item to make into a relic. A quick sacrificial ritual and it was ready.”

He scratched the side of his tiny head. “I had another relic candidate — the husk of a crimson honedge — but, alas, I lost it when moving from my law school lodgings to the Ministry of Justice.”

Chiaki’s head pounded. He wasn’t interested in diving into such a… morbid explanation. He was still too focused on Zekrom. “But if you control Zekrom, then that proves the Radiance history books are lying. And Aeon’s version of events is closer to the truth.”

Vegna nodded. “A reasonable deduction.”

Chiaki needed several seconds to keep his breathing under control. “Why keep that to yourself? Why not go public?”

“Why do you care?” Vegna braced his hands against the plastic rail at the foot of Chiaki’s bed. “You’re a citizen here, not Aeon. Or are you, perhaps, hinting at a certain connection? One that would, say, drive you to try and harm the Radiant Diva?”

Shit! He said too much. This was what Chiaki wasn’t supposed to do. At the very least, Chiaki had some inkling what Vegna was thinking. And it was, in his opinion, foolish. “Oh, come on. You were there. You saw Minister Charles. Someone else sabotaged her show!”

Vegna’s eye shifted from blue to an ominous red. “And yet… it was you I found in the center of the wreckage after the trailer blew up, along with fragments of equipment capable of generating such an explosion.”

This was when Chiaki should have gone silent. But Vegna had gotten under his skin. “It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I was trying to stop the sabotage!”

To that, Vegna pivoted toward the far corner of the room. A PV set turned on, showing shaky, static-filled footage of Venish’s streets. People running for their lives. Some getting dragged through rifts. Others struck by debris or buried under rubble.

“The immediate aftermath of your accident,” Vegna explained. “And why I had you brought to Vellguarde.” He shut the PV off and again braced his hands on Chiaki’s bed. His eye bathed the Grovyle’s blue hospital blanket in red. “Maybe you had no intent to harm, but there was clear intent behind your initial trespassing and what followed. You didn’t care about the possible consequences, so your actions meet the criteria for reckless endangerment. Perhaps even criminally negligent homicide.”

“What?!” Chiaki would’ve squirmed in his bed if he could still move. “You’ve got tunnel vision. Use your head, damn it! Didn’t you see who was in the trailer with me? It was the academy student who went missing!” His breathing was quickening enough for the monitors to his right to beep. Chiaki took several seconds to stop himself from wheezing. “You ought to be investigating Polaris. They kidnapped her. I was trying to save her.”

Sighing, Vegna floated toward the door. “Then perhaps it’s best you hear it from the serpent’s mouth. Suffice to say, however, you’re the guilty party in this.”

“I’m not!” Chiaki growled. “You’re not listening to me! This isn’t fair!”

Vegna paused with his left hand by the motion sensor to open the door. He bowed his head slightly.

“What is just is not always fair… and what is fair is not always just.”

He waved his left hand. The door and its curtain slid open.

“Where are you going?” Chiaki struggled to lift his head.

“To file your charges with the Ministry of Justice,” Vegna responded. He began hovering out the door.

“Wait!” Chiaki’s head fell back against his pillow. “You can’t leave me like this! Don’t I at least get a phone call?”

But he got no response. The dusknoir was gone. In his place, Chiaki heard scratches. Scales slithering against a metal floor. Chiaki tilted his head and found dusty dragonair approaching his bedside.

Before the grovyle could raise his eyes in an attempt at a greeting, the blue tip of Scarlett’s tail smacked Chiaki’s cheek.

“You complete and total ass!“

The bauble on Scarlett’s neck glowed. A small projection of Starlene appeared on the dragonair’s head. “What the hell were you thinking breaking into my trailer? If someone saw me there… it would have ruined everything!”

Chiaki silently blinked. He was too stunned for anything else. A dragonair shouldn’t have been capable of telepathy. But as the meloetta projection showed, she wasn’t an ordinary dragonair.

However, what she told Chiaki was even more alarming. “You were in danger. From agents of World Ender!”

“I had it under control!” Starlene huffed, her cheeks puffing out along with Scarlett’s. “The transmitter had an emergency psionic shutdown sequence. I was gonna engage it, but nooooooo. You had to try and play the big, brave knight rescuing the helpless damsel.”

Scarlett jabbed the side of Chiaki’s bed. “I didn’t need a rescue,” she growled.

She was delusional. She had to be. “Look at yourself.” Chiaki would’ve pointed to Scarlett if he could. “You’re emaciated. I found you looking like a pincushion. Polaris is abusing you. They… they clearly did something to—”

Starlene held up her right hand. “Nothing I didn’t approve of or ask for.”

Chiaki narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“I figured you wouldn’t.” Scarlett casually tossed a bag onto Chiaki’s bed. He couldn’t feel it smack his lap, but the whoompf of the blankets suggested she used more force than necessary. “So, I brought a copy of my contract. That I willingly signed.” The dragonair fished out a stack of papers and plopped them down on Chiaki’s chest.

Polaris’ logo was clear as day, along with two sets of signatures. One was definitely Vortex’s.

“Nothing was done without my consent and authorization,” Starlene continued. Chiaki was getting sick of the two swapping with one another.

“But that doesn’t—”

“Stop.” Starlene rolled her eyes. “You’re in no position to lecture me.” The meloetta crossed her arms. “The fact is that, in my time at Horizon, I quickly learned that, even with an elite education, I was never going to get anywhere in life. No matter how hard I worked, everyone would always see me as another ‘filthy dragon’ who got handouts from the crown.

“That’s when Vortex came to me with an offer to change everything. To cast off these scales and be a gamechanger using Dynaforce.” Starlene hopped onto the bed and thrust her right arm up in a pose. “He told me I could make music that would reach every corner of the kingdom and bring smiles to people’s faces. I wouldn’t be a second-class citizen anymore. I’d be a somebody. And I was getting real close to permanently transforming into my diva form before you loused it all up!”

Chiaki frowned. This couldn’t have been the real Scarlett. Too much of what she said went against what Nikki told him.

“What about Nikki?”

“Who do you think got more of the attention when we were a duo?” Scarlett growled. “Wasn’t me, that’s for sure.”

Before Chiaki could object, Scarlett sighed and shook her head. “There’s no bad blood with Nikki. Hell, I’ve sent a lot of the earnings from my concerts and merch sales back to Blightsmuth.” She flicked her tail dismissively. “Which makes me the lifeline keeping that city afloat. Something you nearly screwed up.

“If people find out my secret, I’ll be ruined.” Scarlett narrowed her eyes at the grovyle. “So, bedbound or not, you don’t say a word about this to anyone. Not here. Not in Citadark once they haul your ass away.”

She turned away from him. Starlene dissolved back into Scarlett’s neck bauble. “For both our sakes, this better be the last time I see your ugly, half-burnt face.”

The dragonair slithered away, leaving Chiaki staring at the glass door as it slid close.

All Chiaki wanted was to expose the truth. But this? This was worse than he could’ve imagined.

Everything had gone belly up. Like when he tried to avenge his mother. But now the consequences extended beyond the loss of his right arm.

There was no overcoming this. Even if Cyril could get him walking again, what good would that do? Vegna wanted him carted off to Citadark.

It didn’t matter if Chiaki was innocent. If the grovyle somehow bested Vegna in court, he would wake up inside Eternatus… never again able to leave it.

His vision grew blurry. Was the grovyle tired?

… No, these were tears. It was a good thing he was alone. Because Chiaki wasn’t supposed to cry. He was the Ryujin heir. He had to be strong.

Except he wasn’t. His clansmon were right: he was dead weight.

At least now he looked the part, too.

[Life? Death? ResidentSleeper. The (CHAT) wants (THRILLS), (CHILLS), and (KILLS). It wants (HELIX)!]

Chiaki tried letting out a startled cry and his throat erupted in burning pain. His eyes darted around until he noticed the far corner of the room full of static-filled red squares. The squares quickly disappeared in mismatched blips of black and white light, revealing weird blue and red ovals floating around, twitching and spasming.

[No need to hold your (CLAP EMOJI)s.] The thing was speaking in a disturbingly robotic tone whose pitch switched between low and high without warning. Every word sounded like it was coming out of a radio or an old PV speaker. And it all sent static ripples through the thing’s disjointed discs. [I would be (MUTED FOR TEN MINUTES) too if I met (CHAT)’s number two (BIRD JESUS), aaabaaajss Ahsen.]

It looked at the window. [Copyright(C)February2014norightsreserved.]

The grovyle looked around frantically, but couldn’t find anything resembling those emergency call buttons hospital rooms were supposed to have. If one was there, it was out of sight, thanks to his severely limited movement. And he couldn’t shout for help with his throat in pain like this.

Two discs — Ahsen’s arms, maybe? — drooped. [Boy, talk about a tough (A, B, SELECT, UP, DOWN.)] As it shouted directions, Ahsen’s body moved as if someone else controlled it, even slamming it into the ceiling and floor.

Ahsen picked itself up, limbs twitching. [What’s with the (EYES EMOJI)? This is no OMEGALULing matter. I (EYES EMOJI) you, laying there like a sad sack. Full of FeelsBadMan.]

Chiaki understood very little of what this thing was spewing… which probably meant it was in cahoots with Xeromus. How else could it show up out of nowhere entirely unprompted?

The grovyle took deep breaths. If he could get out one shout, maybe he could get some help.

[Hey, hey, there’s no need to (DON’T TOUCH THAT TOTODILE).] Ahsen floated closer to Chiaki’s bed, only to abruptly stop and jerk around in different directions. [(DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, UP, LEFT.)]

It regained control of itself. [All I want is to offer you a chance. A chance at some (START9).] Ahsen vibrated excitedly. [A deal as good as (FREE MONTHLY SUBSCRIBER WITH PRIME GAMING.)

[You want the moves? The schmooves? The grooves?] Ahesen pointed its arms at Chiaki’s limp body. [(HELIX) can give. (HELIX) can take. A little (START9) is all (HELIX) asks for in return.]

Ahsen waved its limbs around. [Keep them (CLICK)ing. Keep them (STICK)ing. (READ)ing. (WATCH)ing. (TWEET)ing. But not (DELETE)ing.]

The grovyle had enough. He opened his mouth and tried as hard as he could to shout for help. However, white hot pain shot down his throat. Chiaki coughed up red-tinged saliva.

[OMEGALUL.] Ashen’s head swiveled around thanks to its lack of anything resembling a neck. [Sometimes it be like that. Kappa.] It drifted closer to Chiaki’s bed. [The choices are yours and yours alone. (START, START, B, A, B, UP, UP).]

Ahsen rose up, hitting the ceiling multiple times. When it finally drifted back toward Chiaki’s bed, it had something balancing precariously in its discoid arms.

A rusty sword? No, that wasn’t right. Chiaki squinted to get the stars out of his vision from his shouting attempt.

… It was a honedge. Rust coated much of its body, but there were bits of red on its blade… and an empty socket where its eye should have been.

Chiaki held his breath. That couldn’t have been right. Everything about it matched up with—

[Don’t try to 5Head this, (STRIMMER). They are who we thought they were.] Ahsen twitched and jerked about excitedly. [You want (UP, LEFT, LEFT, DOWN) movement. (HELIX) knows it. You can’t (GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS).] The creep was hovering by Chiaki’s head, now. [So, take the (STICK OF TRUTH) and open your retinas. Reclaim your (OW, THE EDGE) now for the low, low price of.]

This thing was talking crazy. Chiaki knew that. It didn’t even properly finish that last sentence!

… And yet it sounded like Ahsen was offering him a way to walk again.

It was too good to be true. An obvious deal with the devil. But what did the grovyle really have to lose at this point? He was bedbound, couldn’t talk, and on a fast track to Citadark. He knew Ryujin policy well enough by now. If the law caught up with someone, there were no lifelines. That was how the clan kept operating all these years. Chiaki would have no support. And against the likes of the Grim Reaper, the two outcomes were a guilty verdict… or a one-way trip to the Qliphoth.

Chiaki had hit rock bottom. As far as he was concerned, there was nowhere to go but up.

He shakily tilted his head toward Ahsen. Perhaps the glitch recognized the look in his eyes, because it buzzed excitedly. [You will take the (DROP)?]

The grovyle slowly nodded.

Ahsen’s limbs twitched. [Warning: if you consent to the terms and agreements of this (END USER LICENSE)—]

Static overtook Ahsen’s head. Its body appeared to go limb for a moment and a much deeper, non-robotic voice said, “You accept everything that will happen from now on.”

Well, that was ominous as hell.

Still, recklessness had landed Chiaki in this situation. If there was ever a time to double down, this was it.

… Probably. Despite the Ryujin operating casinos, Chiaki knew little about gambling. Regardless, the grovyle nodded at Ahsen once again, a more determined look in his eyes.

Ahsen flailed its limbs around. [PogChamp! I knew you would (PAYMENT SUCCESSFULLY PROCESSED).] It bobbed its head at the sword. [Enjoy the (START9) and don’t forget to (HIT THAT FOLLOW BUTTON AND RING THE BELL).]

Static cubes engulfed Ahsen. They all disappeared, leaving Chiaki alone with the empty, rusted honedge. The grovyle stared at it, blinking slowly. Was something supposed to happen? Did he did magic words?

No, if this was Vegna’s Abyssal Relic candidate, then there was some sort of ritual he needed to perform. If only he had access to that informa—

It was brief, but Chiaki saw embers flicker around Honedge’s empty eye socket. The grovyle held his breath, but one of the monitors started beeping, so he exhaled. More embers lazily drifted out of the eye socket, which now had a faint red glow.

Honedge wasn’t inert. There was something there!

The red glow got brighter. It shifted to an orange bubble that expanded several centimeters before popping… and releasing a joltik-sized, luminescent orange butterfree.

What the hell? Chiaki watched the butterfree fly around the honedge husk, which stopped glowing. It had no face, hands, feet, or antennae. Every flap of its tiny wings produced even tinier embers that fizzled out in the air.

Finally, after a few loops around the sword, it fluttered toward Chiaki. The grovyle went cross-eyed watching it come closer and closer and land on his snout.

For a second, Chiaki thought he might sneeze. Then the butterfree glowed brighter and, with a sudden flash, dissolved into orange light that went up his mouth and nostrils.

Chiaki’s eyes widened. Warmth spread down his entire body… and he felt it below his neck! At first it was nice and soothing. But it progressively got hotter. Too hot to handle!

With a startled grunt, Chiaki threw the covers off his bed. He wasn’t even processing that he could move again, because he was too busy watching in horror as his green skin burnt to a black that brought his stepsiblings to mind. The restraint melted off his arm and plopped onto the floor uselessly. His once pink belly turned the same shade of orange as the tiny butterfree. Bit by bit, his right arm regrew itself, but with the same black skin as the rest of his body. And yellow, flame-like markings traced themselves along his skin.

Chiaki’s vision flickered. The hospital room disappeared, replaced by a torrent of fire.

A figure similar to Gene stared directly ahead. Orange, triangular wings and a helmet reminiscent of a volcarona appeared in gouts of fire. It raised its left hand and summoned a blade.

The burning intensified in Chiaki’s head and rear. “Ah… graaagh!“

He leaned forward and threw his yellow hands onto his head. The hearing aids popped out of his ear frills. Chiaki’s leaf was regrowing, too, but it was happening too fast. And it felt way too long.

The figure slashed at the air with its sword. Flaming crescents descended upon the battered forms of a swampert and a blaziken who each wore a broken gold wristband.

With a pained holler, Chiaki rolled out of bed. Any jubilance he might’ve had at regaining his movement was gone when he glimpsed what used to be his stubby leaf tails elongating into flaps like Kyoko’s.

“Wh… at’s happ… ening… to me?”

Chiaki’s vision flashed again. He thrashed about, screaming.

The figure thrust its sword into the ground. Giant, fiery tornadoes erupted from the earth, swallowing up Rayquaza and Latias.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Gasping, Chiaki sat up. Scarlett stood slack-jawed in the doorway. Chiaki looked down at his orange belly and black, charred skin. Medical staff were slipping in past the dragonair.

“Hey, where’s the patient?” A gardevoir looked around, eyes narrowing. “What’s going on here? I’m getting Sir Vegna!”

Chiaki acted without thinking. With a snarl, he spewed fire — freaking fire! — and the gardevoir backpedaled out of the doorway with a shriek. Scarlett dropped to her belly.

“What the hell?” she hissed.

“Call a code gray!” someone shouted from the gathering crowd.

Chiaki lunged for Scarlett and grabbed hold of the dragonair. “H-Hey! Let go of me!” she cried. Her neck bauble glowed, but Chiaki wrapped it and the dragonair’s snout up in his arms and sprinted for the far side of the room.

The honedge husk appeared at his side and slashed at the window. It shattered, raining glass down and the husk disappeared. Chiaki felt a weight in the pit of his stomach, but kept running.

“Stop him!” an unfamiliar voice barked.

Scarlett thrashed about in Chiaki’s grip to no avail. The charred grovyle leaped through the broken window… and discovered his room was six stories off the ground!

He and Scarlett tumbled through open air for a few seconds. Then Chiaki’s back burnt… and the falling stopped. He was moving past the flat and pointed roofs of Vellguarde’s buildings. His arms muffled Scarlett’s cries.

Chiaki glanced over his shoulder to see flaming volcarona wings flapping effortlessly.

Whatever the husk had done to Chiaki, he didn’t have time to think over it. The hospital was sounding the alarm. Stoutland Yard would undoubtedly be after him. He had to keep moving… with his screaming passenger in tow.

(Art by Stoat)