Chapter 54: Somber Musings

Diva Project first phase was successful. The subject took the maximum allotted dose of proto-ether with no visible adverse effects. Energy readings remained persistently elevated compared to her pre-treatment tests.

The next step will remain confidential, even to Vortex. Proto-ether alone is not enough to produce the results Vortex wants. A dragonair does not have the kind of psychic energy required for such an undertaking. But there is something that does have that power: the Needles scattered around the kingdom.

It’s risky, of course. There are many writings that describe people’s bodies breaking down simply from coming into contact with a Needle. But Dragonair has proto-ether flowing through her veins. No one else can make such a claim. In addition, the Needle I’ve selected has traces of dragon energy in it. I believe this shared typing will synergize with Dragonair, increasing the odds of phase two’s success.

Everyone had somewhere to be except Igneous. Yuna’s mother shepherded her off, while Nikki ran to find a place to lay Scarlett down. Even Valkyrie seemed to avoid the grovlazzle at first, saying she needed to find Sakaki and running off without another word. Gene took the rest of the ragtag group back with him, which left Igneous standing in a rather empty kitchen, staring at a rarely used stove and microwave. Only the hum of the lights and refrigerator broke the silence.

The grovlazzle silently approached the fridge and opened it up. If he remembered correctly— yep, his father still kept dehydrated berries in there. Igneous thought they sucked, but they weren’t for him. They were for Scarlett. He grabbed a couple of leppas, took them out of their foil packaging, and brought them to the sink. It wheezed to life. Igneous yanked his hands back and scrutinized the water running from the faucet for several seconds before deciding it was clear and clean.

When he ran the leppas under the water, they expanded and assumed their normal red and yellow colors. Satisfied, Igneous shut the faucet off.

“Hey.”

“Shit!” Igneous nearly threw the berries away in surprise. He looked over his shoulder, where Valkyrie stood propped in the doorway, pivoted to make room for her dorsal fin.

“You know I hate it when you do that,” the grovlazzle hissed. He headed for the doorway. “You made it clear you wanted to avoid me, so… lemme pass and I’ll be out of your scales.”

“It wasn’t—” Valkyrie looked away, brow furrowing. “I was shocked. We found freaking Lugia got fuzed with salazzle, so to see the same thing happen to you was…” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t really know what happened, but I should’ve been there for you.”

Igneous couldn’t fault her. He never told the garchomp his plans in Venish, nor could either of them have foreseen what actually happened. Despite that, her demeanor was… different than when he’d last seen her. “Something happened to you as well,” Igneous said with conviction.

Valkyrie pivoted further from him. “I might’ve… blown up a little at the butler dweeb.” She rubbed the back of her head. “It’s complicated. All of this shit’s complicated. Makes me wish I could go back to taking contracts from you and your father. Just a place to be and a target to kill.”

Igneous’ back prickled, giving off a few embers. “I’ve gotta go check on Scarlett.” He held up the berries, then hastily pushed past the garchomp and headed into the carpeted hallway, checking open doorways for any signs of Nikki or Scarlett.

He found them in a small room at the end of the hallway, empty except for haphazardly stacked cardboard boxes and an unfolded cot with a thin mattress. Nikki sat on its edge, eyes fixed on Scarlett. She tapped her right foot rapidly.

“C’mon, sis,” the toxtricity whispered. “Wake up. Please.”

Igneous knocked on the open door. “I brought a couple of leppas.”

Nikki looked up and scrutinized the grovlazzle’s appearance. “The hell’s with the body paint? Pretty sure there are sluttier holowear outfits.”

“You’re a riot,” Igneous deadpanned.

“Did you get messed up by Eterna junk?” Nikki raised a brow like she already knew the answer.

“Yeah.” Lying was easier at this point.

“Damn.” Nikki dug her fingers into the mattress’ plastic cover. “I, uh—”

Igneous stayed silent. If he told Nikki he went to Starlene’s concert, she’d no doubt press him for details. It wasn’t his place to tell her what learned about Scarlett. Not when the toxtricity had finally reunited with her.

“Got careless,” the grovlazzle said, shaking his head. “And that freak Xeromus got the jump on me.”

The name sent a wave of recognition crashing over Nikki. “I see.” The toxtricity’s mane crackled. “Was he in Vellguarde, too?”

“Yeah. I tried fighting him, but then that giant robot showed up and he fled.” At least that was the truth.

“Well, next time we better get his ass,” Nikki growled. “Why can’t you call in your yakuza buddies you apparently have?” She shook her head in disbelief. “That ‘family business’ bit you dropped back in Horizon? Hell of a double meaning.”

Igneous scowled. “You think I was going to talk about the Ryujin when Vegna could have been listening?”

Nikki’s mohawk sparked again. “I think you should’ve brought it up at some poin—”

“Mrrgggh…”

The dragonair squirmed on the bed. Nikki scooched closer. “Sis? Sis, can you hear me?”

Scarlett blinked several times. “Ni… kki?”

“Give her some space, will ya?” Igneous growled. Nikki relented, but not without frowning at the grovlazzle. He ignored her disapproval and knelt down by the side of the bed. “Heya.” Igneous held up the leppas. “Thought you might be hungry.”

Scarlett’s snout twitched. “Where are we?”

“Back in Scale City,” Igneous replied. “You passed out after finishing your song.”

“Ah.” Scarlett grabbed each leppa with her mouth and set them next to her. She bit into a quarter of one. Red juice dribbled on the mattress and trickled down her blue scales. “But the big robot’s gone, right?”

Igneous nodded. “I think your song gave the people fighting it the boost they needed.” He sat down and scooted back to give the dragonair some more space. “Though that apparition you summoned… why Latias?”

Scarlett almost choked on her bite of leppa. “L… Latiwhonow?”

Nikki’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, I’m with her. The hell’s a latias?”

“A red and white dragon with pointy wings and a long neck.” Igneous wasn’t sure how else he could describe it. Maybe a comparison? “Kinda resembles a dragapult’s head, actually.” He shook his head. “It’s one of the Sages in Aeon scriptures. Has a twin brother that’s blue and white. Latios.”

“Wow. Real creative naming.” Nikki rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess, the Sages of Brotherhood and Sisterhood?”

Igneous blinked a few times. “Pretty sure that’s actually right.”

Scarlett stiffened. She proceeded to eat the second leppa much faster than the first.

“So, wait, you summoned Latias?” Nikki looked at Scarlett. “Like how Yuna summons Crotch Fuzz and Space Noodle?”

Igneous had to admit, it sure looked similar, but he preferred to keep that to himself. “Hard to say.” The more he chewed on it, however, the more Igneous wondered if his bringing up Nikki to Scarlett somehow led to the dragonair summoning Latias.

The toxtricity squinted at him, then looked at Scarlett. “Did you get tossed into the distortion or something?”

Scarlett tensed. Her tiny wings folded tightly against her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Then what happened?” Nikki leaned over. “I’ve been so damn worried about you. I went to Horizon after you disappeared and I kept searching for you. I was so sure Vortex did something to you.”

This was bad. Igneous needed to say something. “Nikki—”

She didn’t hear him. “So, spill, sis.” Nikki’s mohawk frazzled. “Why did you disappear?”

“I… I…” Scarlett’s eyes darted around.

Nikki leaned closer. “What’s the matter? It’s… it’s me, sis. You can tell me what happened.”

Igneous reached to grab Nikki by her leather jacket when Scarlett’s neck bauble glowed. The grovlazzle shrank back from the light, as did Nikki.

The toxtricity gasped. “The hell?”

“Can she really tell you?”

Igneous sucked in a sharp breath. That voice…

The light faded. Starlene stood in front of Scarlett on the mattress, looking down at Nikki with a stern expression.

Silence hung over the room as confusion spread over Nikki’s face. She opened and closed her mouth several times. Igneous debated whether or not to feign shock, but couldn’t figure out what was going through Nikki’s head. Neither could Scarlett, judging by the dragonair’s unwillingness to stop looking at the corner of the bed.

Nikki held her right hand up, then lowered it. She leaned left, trying to look past Starlene. The meloetta hovered right, arms crossed. “Let me make it simple for you,” she said. “It’s exactly what you think it is.”

More silence followed. Igneous figured Nikki was at a loss for words, because when she finally spoke up, all she could manage was a meek, “Why?”

Scarlett glanced at Nikki and saw the hurt on her face. Her neck bauble flickered and Starlene sighed. “She did it for herself.”

Again, Nikki didn’t immediately respond. Igneous thought it quite uncharacteristic of her to choose her words, or lack of them, so carefully. Scarlett must have meant even more to the toxtricity than Igneous realized.

“That doesn’t tell me anything.” Nikki fought to avoid sounding confrontational. She tugged uneasily at her jacket sleeves.

Igneous hated this painfully uncomfortable silence, but the grovlazzle was torn between telling Nikki the full truth and respecting Scarlett’s privacy. He looked at the shaggy brown carpet, silently willing Scarlett to find her voice… or at least have Starlene say more on her behalf.

“She couldn’t put up with all the harassment at Horizon,” the meloetta finally said. “But she didn’t want to return to Blightsmuth a failure. So, when Vortex approached her with an offer to become a pop sensation, she took it.” Starlene glanced at Scarlett, who still avoided everyone else’s eye contact. “I’m what resulted. A part of Scarlett, yet not.” She put her hand to her chest. “In essence… I’m the ideal version of Scarlett that she wishes she could be.”

I guess that’s one way to put it, Igneous figured. However, a sudden flurry of sparks quickly told the grovlazzle it was not what Nikki wanted to hear. He scooted back across the floor and hopped to his feet.

“Ideal self?” Nikki stood up, mohawk turning red. “What’s ideal about working for Vortex?!“

“Nikki.” Igneous hesitantly stepped toward the toxtricity, then jumped back a second later, narrowly dodging a swipe from her electrified right hand.

“Don’t ‘Nikki’ me, Twiggy!” she hissed, not taking her eyes off Scarlett. “I went through the same shit when I went to Horizon to try and find you! But I refused to take it, just like Shredder taught us!” Nikki stomped her right foot down. Her mohawk flared. “Why didn’t you say something? We’re sisters, we—”

“Because of our dream, Nikki!”

Starlene rippled with static. She glanced at Scarlett, who still faced the corner of the room despite being the one who shouted. The meloetta’s eyes flickered blue.

Igneous again tried to step between them. “Maybe we should all just take a minute or two?”

This time, Nikki and Starlene glared at him. “Butt out!” they said in unison. The grovlazzle stepped back, biting down on the inside of his cheek, as silence took over the room once more. Nikki and Starlene stared each other down until the toxtricity spoke up.

“Our dream?”

“Of superstardom,” Starlene responded, crossing her arms. “Even when your old act found some success, there was always this doubt Scarlett had about her own role in that.”

“What are you talking about?” Nikki’s mohawk slowly faded back to its normal yellow. “They loved your voice!”

“But they didn’t love her looks,” Starlene quickly countered. “And a year at Horizon made it abundantly clear to her: as long as she looked the way she did, she’d never reach that dream.”

So, it was more than the bullying getting to her? Igneous couldn’t tell if Scarlett was tweaking her explanation for Nikki’s sake or not.

“That doesn’t change anything.” Anger simmered behind Nikki’s words, muted compared to earlier. “You should’ve talked to me. Talked to Shredder.” She dug her hands into her jacket pockets. “Instead you went to Vortex?“

“Yes, she did. I already explained it,” Starlene said. “She thought that, with Vortex’s help, you two could still reach your dreams.”

“But I wanted to reach it with you, Scarlett!” Nikki tried to push past Starlene, but the meloetta blocked her off. “Are you even listening to this? Why can’t you say it directly to my face?” Her mohawk darkened. “I deserve better than this… this glorified mouthpiece!”

Grimacing, Scarlett finally made eye contact with the toxtricity. “It’s not like I knew Vortex was gonna give me kooky hypno powers!”

“Forget that shit!” Nikki stomped her right foot down. “What about the lyrics you wrote? Stupid bubbly, suck up nonsense!”

“I know that!” Scarlett tensed up further. “But I put up with it because it was a stepping stone. I knew if I could just ride things out enough, I could tell you the truth and we could link up properly as a new, better act.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn’t want a new act?” Nikki’s mohawk got even more jagged. Igneous didn’t dare step toward her. “I liked what we had. I wanted more of that.“

“But you would never get more of that,” Starlene countered, crossing her arms. “Not as long as Scarlett remained a dragon.”

Igneous reacted a moment too late. Nikki’s mohawk erupted into a mix of red and purple as she shouted, “Shut up!” and her lightning guitar appeared in her right hand. Starlene’s body rippled and she threw an arm over her face to shield herself from all the sparks. Scarlett shrank back further, coiling toward the far corner of the bed.

“Cool it, Nikki,” Igneous said. The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped forward, only to jump back when Nikki whirled on him.

“You knew… didn’t you?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Knew what?”

“About all of this!” The toxtricity gestured at Scarlett and Starlene.

Igneous wasn’t sure whether the truth or a lie would make things any worse, so he opted for the former. “I knew some of it. Because I was at the Starlene concert that got sabotaged. I found her in a trailer and… took her away, in a manner of speaking.”

A tense silence emerged while Nikki looked back and forth between everyone else. Her mohawk and lightning guitar continued to send a shower of sparks onto the shaggy floor and plastic-coated mattress.

Eventually, the guitar evaporated and her mohawk faded back to yellow. The toxtricity jammed her hands into her pockets. “Move aside, Twiggy,” she said.

“You’re leaving?”

“No, I’m going to walk into the damn wall.” Nikki glared at him. “Of course I’m leaving. Now, move or I’ll make you move.”

Sighing, Igneous stepped aside. Nikki stormed past him. Her footsteps quickly grew more distant. Right when Igneous looked to move toward the bed, however, a loud thud echoed from the hallway. The grovlazzle quickly darted out the door and looked to his right.

He found a jagged, fist-shaped hole in the wall by the staircase door. Tiny bits of poison trickled down from the hole, eating away at the dull gray wallpaper.

Yuna finished wiping away the last tears from her damp eyes. She had no idea how long she cried for after telling her mother to leave. Rhythmic ticking told her a clock was somewhere in the small room, but she didn’t care to find it. Instead, the drakloak remained on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Its rough texture brought the sand of the desert city Team Bastion helped to mind.

Who am I? Yuna ran her right hand over the Soul Dew. Why am I even here?

The more she thought about it, the more jumbled her situation got. A Soul Dew possibly belonging to Bahamut’s dead mate had bonded with her, yet she could open rifts between places like Gene and Noctum with their Malice powers. She kept seeing visions of the dead mate’s time with Bahamut, but then she summoned daemonic ghost wings when she got angry.

… And none of that even considered how Leo fit into this messy picture.

Yuna threw her hands over her face and shouted, “Arrrgh! I hate this! I hate it so much!” She smacked her right hand against the floor. “I want to go back!”

Back to simpler times living in the castle in Drasbraznav and getting annoyed at her many siblings’ antics. Hell, she would even take being bedridden with sickness again!

Maybe being broken out of a crystal is why I was so sick to begin with.

The drakloak grabbed her Soul Dew and tugged. Her ectoplasm jiggled uncomfortably. Yuna relented, groaning. She forced Rayquaza and Reshiram’s presences away… for, like, the tenth time since her mother had left. Even if they had good intentions, Yuna didn’t want to hear from them. She just wanted to be alone.

“Oh, hey, is this the room where we lie around and feel like garbage?”

Yuna tilted her head back slightly to find Nikki’s upside-down form in the doorway. She held her swollen right hand in her left.

“Uhh…”

The toxtricity’s shoulders sagged. “Never mind. If anyone asks, you didn’t see me.” She turned to leave.

Yuna rolled onto her stomach. “No, w-wait! I—” She reached her right arm out even though it wouldn’t do anything. “You just surprised me, that’s all.”

“So, you do feel like garbage?” Nikki looked back over her shoulder.

The drakloak deflated. “I think garbage actually feels better than me right now.”

Nikki walked inside the room, heading right past Yuna. “That’s a mood.” She stopped by the same cabinet Yiazmat had pulled the sparkling water out of earlier. It was still open. Nikki crouched down and, judging by all the clinking glass Yuna heard, rummaged around. “What happened to you? Mom get on your case?”

Yuna inched her way across the floor, phased through the same chair she sat in earlier, and popped up on it. She lay her rectangular head on the armrest closest to Nikki. “If ‘get on your case’ means ‘admitted she lied to you your whole life,’ then yes.”

The toxtricity paused with her left arm still wedged into the cabinet. “Sounds serious.”

“Turns out I’m adopted. An orphan found in a crystal, not an egg.” Yuna didn’t realize she admitted it so casually until it was already out in the open.

“… oh.”

Nikki slowly pulled her left arm out and thrust a clear bottle at Yuna. “Here. Think you need this more than I do.”

Yuna stared at the blue label with little wingull stickers outlining it. “Sack-eee?”

“It’s, like, made from rice. Label says it’s sweet.” Nikki uncorked the bottle and filled a small glass. She placed it on the armrest by Yuna’s head.

The drakloak snout twitched. “Is this, like, wine or something?” She didn’t think it was the best idea to drink that when she already felt crummy.

“It’s got an alcohol measurement.” Nikki twisted the bottle for Yuna to better see the “twenty percent alcohol by volume” on the label. “Nature’s painkiller.” She lifted the bottle up and took a swig directly from it. Her mohawk frazzled. “Eeegh. Yeah, that’s sweet. Not my preferred thing, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Yuna stared at the cup Nikki poured her. Nature’s painkiller, huh?

Technically, she had a headache from… all of this nonsense.

To hell with it.

Yuna threw back the entire glass. A chill ran down her back. The drakloak’s ectoplasm rippled. She smacked her lips and blinked a few times. Was her headache dulling already?

“Huh. Not so bad, I guess.”

“Want some more?” Nikki tilted the bottle toward her. Its contents swished inside.

“Uhh, you just drank right out of that,” Yuna said, frowning. It was one thing to share a glass with a family member she lived around. This felt a bit different.

“Fine then.” The toxtricity shrugged. “More for me.”

“No, wait.” Yuna almost slid over the armrest and onto the floor. She managed to wrap her left hand around the glass and hold it up. “Give.”

“That’s the spirit.” Nikki poured the drakloak another glass. “Heh. Didn’t mean for the pun.”

“Pardon?” Yuna took the glass back with a look of confusion.

“Spirits are a kind of booze, too.” Nikki shook her head. “The kind of stuff even poison-types like me can get woozy from.”

“Oh.” Yuna looked down at her glass. “You, uh, know a bit about that, huh?”

“Only what I’ve heard the snobs at the academy say,” Nikki scoffed. She held the bottle up. “So here’s to… shitty birth parents who abandoned us. May they get eaten by Eternatus if they’re not already dead.”

Yuna winced. That was a bit harsh to say about people neither of them knew. Nevertheless, the drakloak held up her glass and Nikki clinked the bottle against it. She took another swig and Yuna, likewise, down her glass. Her ectoplasm rippled even more.

“Mmm. Another.” Yuna held the glass further out. Sake splooshed into it. Yuna downed it just as quickly.

Had the room gotten brighter? Eh, Yuna didn’t care. Her inner ectoplasm was warmer. And not the kind of warmth Reshiram’s fire made. This warmth was nice. She deflated a bit, brushing her nubby feet against the chair’s leather.

“Sounds like a hum of approval to me.” Chuckling, Nikki drank more from the bottle. She ran her right arm across her lips. “What did I tell ya? Nature’s painkiller.”

“Yeah.” Yuna’s gaze fell toward Nikki’s right hand. “What about you? That’s not from the fight with the… big robo thingy, right?” Yuna didn’t realize her words had a bit of slurring to them.

“Nah.” Nikki held up her right hand, then took another sip of sake. “I punched a hole in a wall.”

“Whaaa?” Yuna inched forward on her chair. “Why? What did the wall do to you?”

“Erm, Princess, perhaps thou shouldst consider drinking some water instead?”

Shut up, Noodle. Yuna willed Rayquaza’s presence away.

The toxtricity shook her head. “You’re not the only one who had family lying to your face.”

“Family?” Yuna stared blankly at the sake bottle for a bit before the dots connected. “Oh, you mean the other noodle. Airy.” She tilted her head slightly, giggling and pushing her glass toward Nikki for another round. “She looked kinda cute. From a distance, anyway.”

Nikki snorted, nearly spilling the sake she poured for Yuna. “Not so cute when you realize she’s Starlene,” the toxtricity grumbled.

Yuna almost spat out the sake, but managed to swallow it. “Whaaaaaaaat? But she doesn’t look like Starlene!”

“It’s some kind of psychic shit,” Nikki growled. She took another swig of sake. “Point is that Scarlett lied to me. She couldn’t even tell the truth to my face. Had to summon Starlene to get all huffy at me.” She drank more sake. “Like we hadn’t spent our entire lives together or anything! She kept throwing excuses in my face!”

“Oh. That’s, um, not good.” Yuna traced her right hand around the rim of her glass. “No wonder you said you felt like garbage.”

A bitter laugh followed. Nikki poured Yuna more sake then took another sip for herself. “That’s not even the best part! Wanna know the best part?” She leaned over, gesturing with her swollen right hand.

“What?”

“Twiggy knew!” Nikki laughed again, then drank more sake. “And he was going to keep his mouth shut if I hadn’t pried the truth out of Scarlett.”

Yuna flinched. “I see.” She slowly drank the glass Nikki poured her. That warmth spread even further through her ectoplasm. “So, you punched the wall instead of him?”

Nikki blinked a few times. “Damn, I should’ve punched his stupid sunburnt snout.” She drank more from the bottle, then dropped it onto the carpeted floor where it landed with a muffled thud. “You’re pretty smart. Maybe I ought to call you Blockhead, since you’re not a princess anymore.”

Yuna let out something between a laugh and a squeak at that. She knocked her glass over and it plinked off the empty bottle. The drakloak burst into further laughter, rapping her right hand against the armrest. She had no idea why she was laughing. Nothing was funny about this. Yuna couldn’t help herself.

“Okay, okay.” Nikki waved her left hand in front of her face, fighting off her own snickers. “I’m putting you down as a giggling drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” Yuna said. “I’ve had mead before!”

But when the drakloak attempted to float up to demonstrate that she was okay, she wound up sliding over the armrest and faceplanting onto the floor next to the empty glass and sake bottle. “See?” Yuna raised her right arm to save face. “Totally fine.”

Both girls stared at each other silently for a few seconds, before they both burst into laughter. Nikki slouched over in her chair slightly and wiped a couple of tears from her eyes. “Man, I needed that more than I thought. Still want to throttle Twiggy, but I feel a bit better.”

Yuna did, too. This didn’t change anything about her current predicament, but at least a bit of the weight had lifted from her tiny, ectoplasmic shoulders.

… Or maybe that was the sake. Hard to tell with all the warmth inside her.

“Hey, Princess?”

“Yeah?” Yuna looked up at Nikki.

“Let’s save the universe, okay?”

Nikki stuck her left arm out. Yuna stared at her closed fist, blinking. “Okay?”

“I mean it. This is our chance to show up these dolts who brush us off and lie to our faces. You feel me?”

Yuna stared at Nikki’s fist for a little while longer, before she reached her own hand out and bumped it. “Let’s save the universe.”