Chapter 60: Praepollens Fortitudo

“You saw that, right?”

Molayne pressed his goggles against his face. “An emerald comet. It has to be Lord Rayquaza!” He tightly gripped Magnezone’s railing. “He’s here to save us from the eruption!”

That was the most awake Molayne had sounded since Seifer met him. The keldeo bit his lip, however, when he thought about the rest of his team. It was far more likely Yuna had summoned their dimension’s Rayquaza to take care of it.

Then again, hadn’t he told them he didn’t think there was anything he could do about it? What had changed so quickly?

The remaining people waiting to evacuate broke into applause while Molayne directed them toward the boats with surprising vigor. Seifer continued staring at the volcano.

I hope you know what you’re doing.

“Keep us safe!” Yuna cried, pointing up. Rayquaza shot skyward, shrouding himself in emerald light. He charged through the closest orange fists, blowing them apart in a shower of red and green sparks before whipping his body around to face Chernabog.

“Ha!” Chernabog stomped the ground. Stone Edge spires raced toward Yuna, Leo, and Nikki. She looked up, but Rayquaza was too far away.

“Nikki, look out!” Yuna took Leo off her head and held him tight while speeding away from the giant rocks.

“The hell do you exp—” Nikki started before a pink aura surrounded her and yanked her into the air. “Gah! No! No more flying!”

“Sheesh, that how you thank a cat for saving your ass?” Gene scoffed. Widget flew past him, electricity whirring around his cheek bolts. Chernabog saw the ensuing Thunderbolt coming and yanked up a chunk of the ground to wield like a shield.

“Figures you’re cowardly enough to hide behind numbers,” Chernabog growled, ripping the electrified rock in half and tossing one piece at Widget and another at the charging Rayquaza to force them both back. “But the champ can take you all down! The best defense… is a good offense! Hoo ha!”

“Thou hast that backwards!” Rayquaza said, corkscrewing away from the electrified rock. Gene dropped Nikki back on the ground, then surrounded Chernabog with Psystrike orbs.

“You won’t say that when I— hurrrgh!” Chernabog spread his arms out. Black energy coalesced through his fists. The mega machamp spun around like an oversized green top, batting Gene’s Psystrike away before beelining toward Nikki.

“Shit!” She backpedaled only to end up on her rear. “Shit, shit, shit!”

Rayquaza managed to swoop in and grab Nikki before Chernabog’s Darkest Lariat would’ve blended her into a toxtricity smoothie. Yuna sighed in relief, however it proved fleeting when Chernabog didn’t stop spinning. In fact, he spun so fast he rose into the air, threatening to chase after Rayquaza.

“I-Impossible!” he cried.

“I’m gonna snap ya like a Slim Jim!” Chernabog roared from within his black tornado. The very air itself seemed to distort around him.

Gene shot lightning from his hands to no avail. Widget tried showering Chernabog in Thunder Wave sparks, but his spinning effortlessly turned them away.

Yuna tensed up. Much as she hated to do it, she needed to find those icky shadows and pull them out to help her friends. Come on. Please.

The strange power responded. A quick tingle in her hands and Yuna instinctively punched the air. A large gray leg struck Chernabog, punching him in the opposite direction as his spinning. The machamp slowed down. Yuna silently cheered while watching him drift back toward safe footing atop the volcano.

Gene seized the opportunity to fire a pink Psybeam and push Chernabog back even further. The mewtwo quickly looked around. “Where’s Nikki? We have to get her and Leo out of here.”

“The hell?!” Nikki hissed, squirming in Rayquaza’s small black arms. “You can’t toss me aside like that! I’m—”

“A liability up here!” Gene growled, Malice Crystal sparking. “We can’t fight this meathead if we have to worry about protecting you!” He threw open a rift behind him. “This isn’t up for debate. Widget, go with them.”

“What?!” The type: full’s thruster jets sputtered briefly. “But I—”

“A hero protects those who need protecting, doesn’t he?” Gene said, yellow-tipped tail lashing at the air.

Widget rubbed his forelegs together. “I guess.”

“Seriously?” Nikki continued struggling in Rayquaza’s grasp. “Princess, say something! You can’t let him do this to me!”

But a sudden roar from Chernabog brought the debate to a screeching halt. The sky filled with giant red fists yet again.

“Go! Now!” Gene hollered.

All Yuna could offer Nikki was an attempt at an apologetic look before Gene’s telekinesis flung her through the rift. Widget charged after her, carrying Leo on his back.

“Defend!” Yuna said, waving her right arm without even realizing it. Rayquaza coiled his body up and blasted the fists apart with a large Hyper Beam.

“What the—” Molayne struggled to steady himself atop Magnezone. “Something’s going on up there. Rayquaza’s fighting someone. Or something.”

Seifer nodded silently. He recognized the giant fists. When was the last time he even used Dyna Fist? Against Xeromus? But when the keldeo used that move, it didn’t flood the sky with them!

“We have to focus on finishing the evacuation,” he said, trying to force his nerves down. “Jade, how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay!” the salugia chirped, spitting a couple of stems onto the ground by Seifer’s feet. “These leppas are perfect pick-me-ups!”

“Right.” Molayne shook his head. “If you can push yourself a bit more, this would be the last haul of people.”

Jade nodded. The crowd was nothing more than about seventy people, however that was more than she’d carried before. She took a deep breath and smacked her face with her wings.

“Yeah. I’ve got this. One more load!” Jade crouched down and spread her wings out.

“Trimming down your numbers cuz you’re scared of the champ won’t save ya!” Chernabog flexed with his upper right arm while his other three yanked out chunks of the ground and hurled them through the air.

Yuna flew into a rift and popped out next to Rayquaza. She grabbed one of his fins while he strafed around Chernabog to try and take a shot at his backside.

“Chernamania is panoramic!” the giga machamp shouted, kicking his right leg back and sending more rock shards careening toward them. Yuna swiped her right arm sideways. One of the shadowy legs shot out in front of Rayquaza and shattered the rocks into tiny pieces.

“Thou hast gained control over those strange shadowy limbs?” Rayquaza said.

“I, uh, maybe?” Yuna said, vaguely recalling the times she had inexplicably used them against Runerigus and Exodes’ barrier.

“Pay attention!” Gene called while whipping up a Hurricane and sending harsh winds barreling toward Chernabog.

“A pincer attack, then,” Rayquaza said. He whipped his tail forward and spun it around rapidly. His intense whirlwind and Gene’s Hurricane had sandwiched Chernabog. He silently crouched down. Was he going to jump up? Did he even have the leg strength to go high enough to dodge both moves?

It didn’t matter. Yuna couldn’t give him that chance. “Rrrgh.” The drakloak managed to pry her right arm off Rayquaza’s back fin and slap the air. Inky shadows fizzled around her, then a giant gray leg hit Chernabog the moment he tried to jump.

“Grrraaaagh!” The mega machamp crashed back into the ground and both cyclones collided with him stuck in the center. Squeaking, Yuna pressed her face against Rayquaza. Thankfully, however, she didn’t experience any whiplash.

“Steel yourself, Princess,” Rayquaza said, briefly glancing at her. “My Delta Stream means wayward winds shant touch you.”

“R-Right.” Yuna poked her head from behind Rayquaza. Those were two powerful flying-type moves. Maybe they were enough to take him down?

The volcano’s rim shook. Yuna watched small cracks spread out below where Rayquaza floated and groaned. Of course it couldn’t be that simple.

“You!” Chernabog was on his hands and knees, but distorted energy crackled around his belt.

“Imagine a rebel fighting fair,” Gene scoffed, unleashing a flurry of pink orbs. Rayquaza took the mewtwo’s cue and whipped up another fierce whirlwind to pummel Chernabog from behind.

“No! Not… over… yet!“

Chernabog stood up. His back arched violently. He pivoted sideways… and his belly split apart, revealing rows of jagged teeth that had no place in a giga machamp’s stomach.

Yuna shrieked. Red, distorted tendrils emerged from Chernabog’s new, gaping maw. They sliced through Gene’s Psystrike and Rayquaza’s winds. An eerie stillness settled over the volcano. Silence, save for the dripping of strange, orange fluid from Chernabog’s gut.

Then the drakloak’s vision flickered. Her Soul Dew burned against her ectoplasmic chest.

“Are you really that surprised? It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed again… Yaldabaoth.”

Yuna tensed up. That wasn’t Reshiram’s voice. Heck, it wasn’t even a single voice. More like thousands talking inside her head in unison. But what did they mean? Did Chiron have some sort of second name?

“Yeah, not into cheap horror schlock,” Gene said, more Psystrike orbs at the ready. “I prefer the meathead routine. At least then I get nice pecs to ogle.”

“The champ doesn’t quit!” Chernabog roared. He took a step back. “The champ will bring you all down!” His words lacked his earlier bravado. Instead they had an air of desperation about them.

Gene hurled the Psystrike at Chernabog. The mega machamp flexed all four arms… and large orange chairs appeared in his hands. “By god, he’s bringing out the steel chairs!” Chernabog said, swinging them around and batting a dumbstruck Gene’s Psystrike away before tossing the energy chairs at the mewtwo as if they were strangely shaped Focus Blasts.

Rayquaza took the opportunity to fire another Hyper Beam, but Chernabog stood his ground. His stomach mouth opening even wider than before

Yuna’s ectoplasm rippled. Was Chernabog getting closer?

“Impossible!” Rayquaza spun around in the air. “He… he sucked up my Hyper Beam! He’s trying to suck us up!”

Delta Stream wasn’t helping them. Rayquaza made no headway attempting to escape the giant vortex forming in Chernabog’s maw.

“You seek to bring your chaos to this world and drag it toward stagnation. Consider this intervention a righteous gift.”

This was so not the time for another Xeromus-esque ominous voice to talk vaguely about fate. But was it claiming to be responsible for Chernabog’s behavior? Didn’t he work for Paradox?

“Do something, Rayquaza!” Yuna cried.

“I am… trying!” He sounded strained. And Yuna found her grip slipping fast. Maybe she could form a rift and have them fall into it? That would get them out of the way, sure, but it wouldn’t stop Chernabog’s rampage.

The cracks in the ground were getting deeper, too. At this rate, Chernabog would break through the volcanic rim. And if this was really the body of some ancient god, then…

“Relinquish the fight. Let my hands grab hold of this world to preserve it for eternity.”

No, she couldn’t relinquish! Think, Yuna, think!

The second mouth formed from distortion. Distortion that came from the giga machamp’s belt. A belt with a fist-shaped crystal. It had to have flooded him with extra fighting energy.

If Rayquaza’s whirlwinds weren’t enough, then she had to use the strongest technique at his disposal!

Sucking in a sharp breath, Yuna thrust her hands into Rayquaza’s back. “Let him suck us up! Charge at him with Dragon Ascent!”

“Art thou mad?!”

“Do it!” Yuna cried. The shadows slipped into Rayquaza’s back. He tensed up, then whirled around and charged toward Chernabog and the jagged rows of teeth peppering his second mouth. His tassels stiffened. Emerald energy blanketed his black, serpentine form.

The drakloak barely heard Gene’s cry of, “What are you doing?!” as she and Rayquaza charged toward Chernabog.

Closer and closer. Yuna could make out each individual tooth. Jagged, serrated, and glowing the same color as the fist-shaped gem on the mega machamp’s belt. That gave her some reassurance her thinking was on the right track, but the pitch black in the middle still frightened her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and dug her arms deeper into Rayquaza’s back.

One final roar from Chernabog, then silence followed.

No pain. No more fierce winds. Yuna wasn’t sure if they were even moving anymore. She wasn’t dead though. Though darkness surrounded them, Dragon Ascent’s emerald sheen held firm.. Yuna’s hands remained inside Rayquaza while she silently willed him to press on… even though there wasn’t a clear on to press to.

“Such pitiable naivete, Yaldabaoth.”

The voice — voices? Yuna still wasn’t sure — had followed them.

Something flickered ahead of the duo. A face? There was too much distortion to tell.

“You fight for nothing. This world’s fate — like all others — has been affirmed. Only I can shape it to be part of something greater. You would cast it into stagnant oblivion.”

“This isn’t my world,” Yuna countered. Shadows still trickled into Rayquaza’s back from her arms. The Dragon Ascent charge continued, yet the distorted face didn’t grow any closer.

“It’s not too late to seize the power of choice presented to you. Surrender and allow your souls to pass to the Overworld. And soon after, you will bask in the glory of a reality defined by eternity.”

Still annoyingly vague. But the talk of choices and eternity brought Xeromus to mind, so the drakloak chose to shoot her shot.

“I take it you’re Natus? The one who’ll envelop everyone in his love?”

God, phrasing it like that sounded disgusting.

The face flickered briefly. Did its expression change? “If that is how you prefer to address me, I will not resist.”

What a ridiculous non-answer!

“Fine,” she said, then plunged the rest of her arms deeper into Rayquaza. “But like I said, this isn’t my home, so it’s not my choice to make. We’re done here.”

Now the face was definitely getting closer. Yes, Rayquaza was making progress! They would bust out of this void and take the enemy down!

“Surely you realize this is but a vessel? I care not what becomes of it.”

The face disappeared and then the darkness shattered as if it was a window Rayquaza had flown directly into.

“The hell?!”

An emerald shockwave rippled through the sky. Nikki threw her right arm over her face. She couldn’t believe this was happening. First Boss Kitty tossed her aside like a used napkin while Princess stood by and watched. Now it looked like the fight was ending and she had absolutely no clue what would happen. What if Boss Kitty and Princess got sent back home and the rest of them were stranded here?

“Hey, Leo, where are you going?”

Nikki moved her arm and saw Widget flying after the fake dreepy, who was heading up the mountain. “Oi!” Her mohawk flared up. “Don’t just leave me here!”

Widget stopped. He looked between Nikki and Leo, who was getting further away. Sighing, he shot back down to the ground.

“Hurry. We’ve got to catch him.” Widget pivoted to let Nikki climb aboard.

“This wouldn’t have been a problem if I didn’t get benched,” the toxtricity growled.

She would have words for Princess… assuming they weren’t too late.

Rayquaza surged forward for a bit before Yuna realized magma bubbled far beneath them both and pulled her hands out of his back.

“Haah… haaargh…”

Rayquaza wheezed a couple of times. His mega evolution faded away in a faint rainbow shimmer, then his whole body dissolved back into Yuna’s Soul Dew. The drakloak turned around and caught a quick glimpse of a machamp body with a giant hole through the midsection before it, too, dissolved away in streams of red and gray.

Gene was already heading toward the volcanic rim, because Chernabog had left two things behind: some sort of big red bug with massive, bulging, fluid-filled arms, and an orange, rectangular stone that dropped to the ground with a loud clang.

The moment it did, an orange beam shot toward the distortion hanging over the volcano, and bright white light flooded the area.

It took all of ten seconds for Team Bureau to realize that Noctum didn’t have the flying speed to keep up with Yiazmat and the pizza truck. Fortunately, Cyril had a backup plan in mind. The large metal pizza spinning on the roof of the truck opened up to reveal some sort of strange table-like device that the black charizard could lay down on. He stuck his head into a circular telescope and found himself looking at Eternatus Gunners flying ahead of them in the distance while the truck rumbled across the dirt on the side of the railroad track.

“So, uh, tell me again what I’m supposed to do up here?” Noctum said. He didn’t like the tight space around his head. It made him think of dark, rocky caves despite the lack of dark and rock.

“It’s a super scope lens,” Cyril said. “You can swivel around to aim yourself at enemies. Then fire off an attack like you’re in a normal battle and the super scope will do the rest.”

Fire off an attack? Noctum found that easy for the cosmic zoroark to say. He wasn’t the one with his head squeezed into the uncomfortable metal tube!

“Are you sure about this?” he asked. “How do I even aim?”

“Turn your head. Duh,” Cyril replied. “If you need to aim way off to the side or behind us, then you turn your body, too.”

Raising a brow, Noctum tried moving his head left. The aiming scope settled on an Eternatus Gunner flying with its long, tentacle legs undulating behind it.

Now he had to use an attack. Flamethrower was his best move. The black charizard still didn’t feel right shooting fire with his head in such a tight tube, but managed to push through the displeasure. A quick burst of orange fire, then a bright flash, and suddenly Noctum saw the Gunner’s glass dome shatter and the unown pilot free fall toward the ground alongside the remnants of its robotic body.

“Nice shot!” Cyril said. “Hurry, before they catch onto us.”

Hurry, he says, Noctum mentally grumbled. Like he could magically rapid fire Flamethrowers at the drop of a hat. Perhaps small fireballs, instead? Quantity sounded more important, here.

Noctum moved the scope and shot another fireball. He moved a bit right and fired again. Then a third, fourth, and fifth time. Five explosions rewarded his efforts, and it was at that point he saw a few of the Gunners realizing their numbers had thinned.

“Guuuuys, they’re pointing at us,” he said, tightening his grip on the strange table. Sure, there were buckles strapping him in, but one couldn’t be too careful. “I think the element of surprise is gone!”

“That’s when we kick the afterburners on!” Cyril declared.

Noctum stiffened. “The afterwhatnow?”

It turned out that meant going even faster. Noctum yelped, though the metal tube shielded him from the worst of the whiplash. He managed to refocus, only for the pizza truck to suddenly swerve left, then right. Noctum spun out atop the firing platform. “Waaah! Hey, a little warning, please?”

“We’re taking fire, dweeb,” Valkyrie said. “Get it together and hit ’em back.”

Again, Noctum fought back the urge for a biting retort. Just trying to keep himself aiming straight with the car swerving through the dirt was proving a problem. He caught glimpses of blue darts streaking through the air and meeting brown clumps in midair. The Gunners’ had their Hidden Powers tuned to ground-type, apparently.

Noctum tightened his gut muscles and dug his elbows and knees into the firing platform. That managed to stop the spinning. He trained the super scope ahead and shot three fireballs, downing one Eternatus Gunner while the other two managed to negate the fireballs with bursts of clay and dirt.

Ahead of him, Yiazmat rolled away from a couple of Hidden Powers and fired more dreepy-shaped purple energy blasts from her horns. The Gunner she aimed at couldn’t get out of the way fast enough and blew up. Yiazmat pulled up to dodge the ensuing shrapnel. She was even faster than Noctum remembered. Had she been training while they were away?

“Hey! No one said to stop firing!” Igneous growled through Noctum’s X-transceiver. “We’re not close enough to attack.”

“Sorry.” Noctum turned and shot a couple of fireballs, but the Gunner he aimed at dropped down and dodged the blasts. It was ready to strike back, when its glass dome suddenly shattered and the unown toppled out. A purple saucer flew by and Noctum watched it fire a white beam and destroy another Gunner.

“I see genesect!” Noctum shouted. “… I think?”

“Yeah, that’s them, all right,” Cyril said. “That means we’re catching up. Keep your eyes peeled for the train.”

The pizza truck swerved left, kicking up a wall of dirt and striking the side of the train track. Noctum gasped, his firing platform spinning wildly as Cyril turned right to try and steady the truck amidst all the dust clouds and fluttering grass blades in the air.

Noctum thought he saw Hidden Power clay mounds careening toward him, but they burst apart into dust clouds. A gray blur rushed by.

“Hang in there, Noctum!” Yiazmat called back.

“Damn it! We can’t zigzag like this forever,” Igneous hissed. “We’ve got to do something. What are all these buttons back here for, huh?”

“Well, there’s another super scope lens built into the right side,” Cyril said. “But it’s not exactly, y’know, finished yet. If you try to use it, you could fall out of the truck.”

The black charizard regained his bearings, but the sight he trained his own super scope on had become a bevy of purple saucers and Eternatus Gunners lighting the sky up with white beams, clay balls… and Flamethrowers, to boot. Some of the Gunners must have been prepped with fire-typing instead.

Noctum gulped. What if he hit a genesect? He wasn’t trying to get their attention turned on the pizza truck. Especially when he could actually see the train’s caboose rattling on ahead. And quickly, at that. Igneous was right after all. This wasn’t any ordinary freight train.

“Val, wait! What are you doing?” the grovlazzle cried.

Loud clangs and whirred sounded to Noctum’s right.

“Evening the odds a bit,” the garchomp declared.

Next thing Noctum knew, a Dragon Pulse burst through the dusty air, destroying an Eternatus Trooper too preoccupied with flanking a genesect. The weird purple disc looked around. Noctum saw its red lightbulb-like eyes flash.

A second Dragon Pulse punched a hole in the dust and took out another Gunner. Yiazmat’s Dragon Darts struck a third one, allowing a genesect to easily blow it up. Like the first, that one stopped and trained its mechanical eyes on the dragapult, which flickered with red light.

Suddenly, three genesect broke off their pursuit of Eternatus Gunners and beelined for the pizza truck. “Oh no!” Noctum squeezed his elbows and knees tighter against the firing platform. “They’re mad at us!”

“Then I’ll get rid of ’em, too,” Valkyrie said. A Dragon Pulse headed for one of the genesect, but it proved much faster than the Eternatus Gunners, easily veering out of the way. Its two buddies shot white beams, with one missing the pizza truck to the right and the other striking right at the head.

“Gah!” Cyril yelped. The truck swerved light and right from the zoroark’s attempts to stop it from spinning out.

Noctum’s head banged against the top of the super scope, then his whole world was spinning. “Agggh!” The black charizard felt his Malice Crystal stirring in his gut. Likely keeping him from getting nauseous, for better or worse. “This is a bad idea! We should get out of here!”

“And let them win?” Valkyrie hissed. “Fat chance!”

“They’re still firing on us!” Igneous shouted.

Dragon Darts and a Dragon Pulse met the genesect’s white energy blasts and stalemated them. Noctum stopped spinning long enough to shoot a Flamethrower through the super scope. It scorched the genesect closest to the pizza track. Though it wasn’t destroyed, it careened toward the ground, giving the truck more than enough time to pass it up.

They had made up more ground thanks to the genesect matching the Eternatus Gunners’ firepower. Though the dirt filling the air didn’t hurt, either, even if it reduced visibility a bit. Noctum could see silhouettes. That was all he needed to send out a few fireballs while Valkyrie’s bursts of dragonfire peppered the dusty air with blue-purple sparks and embers.

A volley of white beams and clay Hidden Power lumps emerged in response. Cyril swerved right, then left.

“Gah!”

“Val!”

Noctum was spinning again. He caught the faintest glimpse of Igneous grabbing Valkyrie to keep the garchomp from falling off her firing platform.

“Hang on!” Cyril shouted.

“What now?” Igneous groaned.

Noctum wildly shot out fireballs. Cyril had banked hard toward the rail tracks. The pizza truck hit the side and launched into the air, propelled further ahead by the roaring thrusters. “Seriously?!” Noctum hollered.

“Seize the opening!” Yiazmat declared. Dragon Darts peppered the air, striking multiple Gunners and genesect. Noctum spat out several fireballs, destroying the damaged Gunners and at least grounding the genesect units.

The pizza truck landed on the opposite side of the tracks with a heavy thud. Noctum’s head again slammed against the top of the super scope lens. The black charizard blinked the stars out of his vision to find the truck had come even with some of the train’s rear cars.

“We… we caught up?” Noctum laughed nervously. “We caught up! We—”

Why did the air around him feel dryer? And colder?

“Something’s happening atop the train!” Yiazmat cried, darting away from the truck.

Noctum caught a flash of blue and white… then a tremendous spear-shaped icicle beelining right for them!

Instinct took hold and he exhaled as many flames as he could through the super scope lens. Valkyrie added a Dragon Pulse of her own. For a moment, it looked like it wouldn’t be enough, but a second gout of fire emerged and broke through. Ice chunks peppered the ground and tracks, forcing Cyril to swerve the pizza truck through them.

“What the hell was that?” Igneous said. “My flames could actually reach it, but…”

“It was no genesect,” Cyril said. “Cid, you getting anything with that Dyna Scan of yours?”

Silence at first. Another blue-white flash popped up. Cyril slowed the truck down enough for the train to fully pass by, then jumped the train tracks yet again. Noctum focused his cover fire behind the truck this time, managing to peg a few Gunners with fireballs.

“Someone’s atop the train,” Cid said. “It’s an icy aura. But I’ve never felt one like this before!”

“Gee, that’s reassuring!” Valkyrie scoffed. “Did Xeromus leave us an extra surprise knowing we’d give chase?”

“I don’t know, but speaking of surprises, you guys might want to think about evacuating,” Cid said, voice getting more nervous with every word.

“Why? We’re already so damn close,” Igneous said.

Noctum was in the process of turning back to face the train when sudden bursts of warm air peppered his tail and flank. Yelping, the charizard turned back to find the air behind the truck lighting up orange with five-pronged Fire Blast explosions. Molten genesect shrapnel rained down on the dirt and tracks. And out of the smoke appeared three large, mechanical hydreigon heads, followed by the rest of its huge metal torso.

“G-G…” The black charizard swallowed hard. “Giant hydreigon robot!”

Cid tittered through the X-transceiver. “That’s why.”

Path of Valor Almanac
Strength is, depending on the deck, either the eighth or, more commonly, eleventh card in the Major Arcana. It is thought to represent power, energy, action, and complete success. It has also been referred to as Fortitude, one of the cardinal virtues of classical philosophy. Hence the use of its Latin form, Fortitutdo, in the chapter title.