Chapter 77: City of Unfortunate Events

It wasn’t quite the level of chaos Seifer had seen in the shaky videos of Venish, but that wasn’t for lack of trying. Various muscular pokémon ran down the main street, tossing small seeds at nearby shops and restaurants. A few lobbed the seeds up toward buildings with higher floors. Seifer quickly realized they were blast seeds when assorted vines and bushes caught fire. The flames raced along the greenery. Embers and fireballs leapt from one building to the next.

“Noctum? We need backup!” Seifer called, keeping his distance from the Medicis and instead shooting targeted Hydro Pumps from his forehooves to take out some of the fires before they could spread too far. “Preferably people who can put out fires! Tulpise is under a blast seed siege!”

“Uhh, what about, y’know, people to fight with you?”

“Protecting civilians comes first!” Seifer barked, galloping down the street. An orange blur streaked by him and sent a machoke tumbling head over heels into a pair of stunky. All of them were out cold.

“I’ll do what I can, sir,” Quetzal said, before zipping further down the dusty road. Seifer slowly followed him, satisfied his Hydro Pumps had calmed most of the fires immediately around him.

Glass shattered a few dozen meters away. Fireballs erupted from broken windows and screams filled the air. Seifer galloped in that direction, only to skid to a halt. A bright red Focus Blast whizzed by him, striking a flower shop. Dirt, mud, and bits of ceramic pottery doused the keldeo, who staggered away in a daze.

“Bros, check it!” A sawk pointed right at him while waving his left arm around frantically. “It’s the keldebro the boss told us about!”

Seifer stiffened. Of course the Medicis would know who he was. Yet it sounded like they were actively looking for him.

“You got a sweet bounty on your head, brosephina!” Sawk flexed. “And my squad’s gonna bag— waugh!“

A giant, fluid-filled, muscular arm picked Sawk up and tossed him at a couple of charging throh. They all rolled to a stop in the muddy remnants of some sort of fountain.

Seifer kept his distance from the source of his aid: the giant muscle bug that Team Bastion recovered after beating Chernabog. What was it called again? Buzzweight? Buzzoff?

Bah, he didn’t have time for this! “Hey, you! Can you put out fires?”

“Ja, little pony boy! Who do you think you are talking to?”

“Get the keldebro, bros!”

The massive muscle bug hefted up a huge chunk of dirt and soil in his fluid-filled arms and hurled it at some oncoming hawlucha and heracross. It barreled right into them and carried them straight toward a burning building. The dirt exploded, miraculously putting out the flames.

Seifer stared ahead, blinking. “I, uh— sure. That’ll do. Keep doing that!”

“For Buzzwole Biff, it is walking cake!” Biff scooped up another giant chunk of ground in each arm and raced forward, propelled by his buzzing wings. Seifer galloped after him, only to turn right at the junction by the destroyed fountain. Several Medicis lay unconscious already, orange sparks suggesting Quetzal had gotten to them first.

Goodness, the zapdos was far faster than Seifer remembered. Whatever the Phantom had done to him had given him quite the power boost. Thank goodness he’s back on our side. The keldeo shot up toward an apartment balcony with Hydro Pump jets from his hooves. He figured he’d get a better sense of where people were who needed rescuing from higher ground.

“Cid, what’s your Dynascan telling you?” Seifer asked. “It’s a mess of smoke and embers around here. Where are the civilians?”

“You’re not going to believe this… but they’re rapidly leaving city limits!” Cid exclaimed. “Most of the people I’m sensing left are you and the Medicis!”

Seifer’s jaw slackened. To keep his composure, he shot a Hydro Pump from his balcony vantage point. It snuffed out a pair of blast seeds hurled by more hawlucha before they could strike a bookstore. “What do you mean? How could anyone possibly evacuate a whole city that fast?!”

“There were some powerful spikes in psychic energy,” Cid said.

“Then why didn’t you say something!” the keldeo huffed. He shot into the air again, deciding the vantage point was useless if most of the civilians were gone.

“Shoot him out of the sky, brocaholics!”

Seifer immediately recognized the voice: a certain megaphone-touting grapploct who’d rioted in Venish and Casaroja. But he had little recourse against three blast seeds hurtling toward him. Seifer braced for an explosive impact, only for a giant dirt clump to strike the seeds instead. They still exploded, knocking Seifer from the air and into the ground with a much rougher landing. But the dirt blocked the worst of it… in return for giving him yet another dirt shower. His pelt was now more brown than tan and blue.

“Bros, look at the bug bro’s gains!” A poliwrath gripped his head in surprise. “He’s totes cheating! Or living the dream! I wanna marry hi—”

Quetzal sped up behind Poliwrath. An electrified kick sent him careening down the dusty road, knocking over other Medicis like bowling pins. “This is ridiculous!” the orange zapdos huffed. He easily jumped out of the way of a skuntank’s Sludge Bomb. Moments later, Biff had grabbed Skuntank by the tail and hurled them over a smoking building.

“Nein. Is good workout.” The buzzwole flexed. “Biceps and triceps feeling good!”

“No, I mean this… opposition!” Quetzal stood on guard while Grapploct frantically pointed at them with two of his tentacles. “It’s a farce!” He glanced at Seifer. “Are we sure we’re not getting baited into a trap?”

Seifer pointed his horn forward. An Aura Sphere rifled out, striking a pignite in the stomach and sending them rolling back. Grapploct fell back toward the remnants of some outdoor café, waving his free tentacles around angrily.

“It’s hard to be sure of anything,” the keldeo admitted, frowning. “And where the heck did Igneous go? I thought he was supposed to be behind us?”

It was then that loud static erupted from Seifer’s X-transceiver. Ears folding, Seifer winced. “Cid, what are you doing?”

But it wasn’t Cid that responded. Instead, Igneous greeted them with a frantic cry of, “Imperial robots outside the city!”

Quetzal immediately stood at attention. “Where outside?”

“Heading for the stat— shit!“

Igneous’ line abruptly cut to static. Quetzal looked at Seifer expectantly. “Well?”

“Higher ground first!” Hydro Pumps propelled the keldeo into the air.

“Ugh, easy for you to say!” Quetzal flapped his tiny orange wings in annoyance, before Biff swooped in, plucking him from the ground and carrying him up toward one of the city’s taller buildings.

Seifer saw the volcarona robots approaching the city. “Do any of you recognize that weird bubble attack?”

“Can’t say that I do,” Quetzal responded. He lightly pecked Biff’s shoulder and somehow the buzzwole got the cue to fly toward a different roof further away from the robots. Seifer flew after them with Hydro Pump jets. The robots’ approach was surprisingly slow, so the team was able to gain several more buildings worth of distance from them. They stopped in the middle of a rooftop terrace.

“But we should call for backup. Cyril, are you there? Who can head over to Tulpise?”

Frantic shouts came from the ground, along with a number of pokémon pointing. Except they were pointing in the opposite direction of the volcarona. The keldeo noticed something yellow poking out from behind a building. Then gray light filled the yellow.

“Down!” Seifer shouted, blasting Hydro Pumps from his hooves to get off the roof. Biff grabbed Quetzal and flew after Seifer. Moments later, a large Flash Cannon rippled through the air, tearing shingles off roofs and flinging branches and vines around haphazardly.

“What the hell is that?!” Quetzal cawed, orange feathers puffing up. “It looks like a giant meltan! Don’t tell me the empire’s pincering the city!”

But Seifer followed the Flash Cannon until it caught one of the volcarona robots by surprise. Two of its orange, triangular wings folded back slightly. Its orange mechanical eyes flashed yellow. The other robot hovered toward it.

“I think that one’s on our side?” Seifer said, landing atop another roof. The giant robot meltan was already moving around the city’s perimeter to flank the volcarona bots.

“Do you still want that backup?” Cyril asked. The X-transceiver crackled, but Seifer didn’t know if it was a lousy connection or all the wind getting kicked up. “It looks like these volcarobots are in the same encrypted data file as Iron Jugulis. They’re Iron Moths.”

“Hold that thought.” Seifer glanced over his shoulder to make sure Biff and Quetzal were with him. “Cid, what are you sensing in the city?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s mostly Medicis outside of you guys,” the orbeetle replied.

“Then we’re passing on the backup,” Seifer said. “If the civilians were evacuated, then let the giant meltan slug it out with these Iron Moths.

“Hang on,” Cid cut in. “I’m sensing peculiar psychic energy near Melmetal.”

“Melwhonow?” Seifer raised a brow.

“The giant meltan,” Cid said. “In any case, the energy’s quite similar to the spikes I sensed when the population was disappearing. So— hang on. What was that, Scarlett?”

“There they are, bros! Get ’em!”

“We’re being tailed!” Quetzal pointed a leg down toward the ground. The megaphone-wielding grapploct pointed a tentacle at them. Several blast seeds hurtled through the air toward them. Seifer leveled his horn. An Aura Sphere whizzed through the air. When it struck one blast seed, the ensuing explosion triggered the other ones.

“Move!” Seifer fired Hydro Pumps from his hooves yet again, heading for the eastern end of the city. Both Iron Moths spun in place in the distance, kicking up fireballs to try and scorch Melmetal.

“Shimmer! Scarlett thinks it’s Shimmer!” Cid cried.

Seifer landed on a square-shaped roof and galloped across it, watching Melmetal spin away, deflecting whatever flames it could. “I don’t follow.”

“Igneous and Scarlett met Shimmer at Horizon Academy and he told them he was working on something for Tulpise,” Cid hurriedly explained. “And, well, where do all the meltan work?”

“Okay, fine!” Seifer reached the end of the roof and shot back into the air. He landed on another nearby roof and continued galloping. “Makes sense to me! Then we’ll leave it to him, I guess!”

He felt a bit bad about it. All the beautiful greenery of the city was worth defending. But the resistance had much more important things to worry about.

The keldeo was going to fly off with another Hydro Pump when he spotted a large Flamethrower shooting straight up in the air off in the distance. It wasn’t anywhere near the Iron Moths, which were still back at the station.

“Did you see that?” Quetzal called, still uncomfortably cradled in Biff’s massive buzzwole arms.

Seifer nodded. “If it’s not the Iron Moths… then it might be Igneous!”

“Bumomomomo!” Melmetal thumped its chest as the two machines crashed into one another and fell to the ground. From his vantage point atop one of the mossy Tulpise roofs, Shimmer afforded himself a small smile. Who would’ve thought Arianna could wrangle all the meltan together into this hulking giant? And it was holding its own despite these volcarobots — Iron Moths, according to Demerzel — packing fire-type moves.

“Don’t get cocky,” Shimmer called. He did his best not to move too much. The strange metal prongs spiraling around his horn were delicate, according to Arianna. And the gardevoir had no idea what would happen if they were to lose control of Melmetal. “Strike while they’re down!”

The ponytales funneled a bit of psychic energy toward his horn. His controller lit up. Yellow lightning churned around Melmetal’s lugnut hands. It charged down the Iron Moths, but one spun off of its counterpart, buffeting Melmetal with fireballs.

“Defend!” Shimmer’s horn sparked. Melmetal held up its electrified hands, absorbing some of the flames, but not all of them.

And the other Iron Moth had enough time to right itself and spew flames at Melmetal’s right leg. “Bumo bumoooo!” Melmetal lifted its leg and slowly fell backwards.

“Idiot!” Shimmer funneled more energy into his horn. A pink barrier stopped Melmetal’s fall. Melemetal stomped its right foot down, smothering the flames with dirt and soil until they weren’t a problem.

[Stand down! This city belongs to the emperor!] one of the Iron Moths declared, its triangular wings crackling with electricity of their own.

Shimmer stiffened. That voice. He recognized it. But from where?

The ponytales shook his head. No time. Melmetal had to act first. Shimmer’s horn lit up. Melmetal lunged, using the foot it smothered in soil to deliver a swift kick to the electrified Iron Moth. The High Horsepower looked quite devastating, cracking three of its wings and sending it skipping back along the ground.

[Jean!] the other Iron Moth cried. It immediately retaliated with a whirlwind of fireballs. Melmetal had little it could do against the Fiery Dance, stumbling away as fireballs peppered its gray body.

Wait, Jean? Shimmer’s gaze fell to the mossy roof for a moment. Then his eyes widened in shock.

Jean was a classmate. A volcarona classmate. And with a twin brother, to boot! Did that mean… the emperor had turned them into robots?!

[Jean, activate healing protocols!] the Iron Moth declared. It was already gathering flames for another attack.

[I know, Dean!] The synthesizer dampened Jean’s growling.

Shimmer’s ears flicked at the mention of healing. He sent another psychic ping to Melmetal, but Dean was faster, spinning around in another Fiery Dance. Shimmer swapped to defensive measures of his own. He pointed his horn toward the attack. A pink barrier appeared and caught the fireballs like fish in a net. Shimmer flicked his head right. His barrier shot the fireballs back toward Dean. Startled, the Iron Moth fired hastily conjured poison globs to snuff its own Fiery Dance out.

Unfortunately, Shimmer had neglected Jean, who hovered right back to Dean’s side. There were still some cracks in its armor and wings, but it had clearly healed.

This wasn’t good. Maybe Shimmer could make a plea toward the classmates who were still inside? Arianna had said her silly device could project through Melmetal. It was time to put that to the test.

“What do you two think you’re doing?!” Melmetal bellowed, amplifying Shimmer’s voice enough to almost make the ponytales stumble back on the rooftop in surprise.

The Iron Moth’s mechanical eyes flickered. [That voice… Shimmer?] Jean’s triangular wings buzzed a bit faster. [What are you doing?]

“I asked you first!” Shimmer countered through Melmetal. “Tulpise is your home! Why are you out to wreck it?”

[What good is there in protecting a home built on a bed of lies?] Dean spat. Flames danced around the Iron Moth’s orange wings. [Your whole family’s been lying to everyone! And you’ve got the gall to act like you’re the hero in all of this?]

Shimmer’s nostrils flared. The nerve of these two! He gathered energy in his horn. Melmetal quickly spun its electrified hands around and socked both Iron Moths before either could unleash an attack.

“So, because of my mother’s mistakes, a whole city needs to be leveled?” Shimmer spat. Melmetal stayed close to them, raising its right leg on Shimmer’s orders to strike with another High Horsepower. “Where’s the sense in that? Look at yourselves! You’re being used!“

[We’re making a difference!] Jean said, shooting fireballs around haphazardly. [The world needs Eternatus! Paradox will be a better leader than you could ever dream of!]

Melmetal stood tall under Shimmer’s orders, enduring the Fiery Dance to bring its earth-encrusted foot crashing down onto Dean. The Iron Moth cracked and splintered. Three of its wings broke off. Shimmer winced. He hadn’t intended to strike that hard. Weren’t ground attacks supposed to be neutral on volcarona? Did Iron Moths actually have a different type?

[Dean!] Jean’s triangular wings glowed bright orange. It unleashed another fireball whirlwind. Shimmer’s horn glowed, producing a psychic shield to deflect most of the Fiery Dance. The ponytales had a golden opportunity and needed to leverage it now. He was the one in control.

“Enough of this!” Shimmer declared through Melmetal. He had it step down a bit on Dean. Not enough to do anything, but the grating of metal echoed across the field. “Stand down and I’ll let you have your brother back. There’s no point to fighting. I know you’re here to kidnap people for Eternatus’ army, so I evacuated the city!”

[What?] Jean’s hovering dropped a bit. [H-How did you—]

A purple and red streak shot past Jean. Pierced Melmetal right above the hexagonal gap in its chest. Then it slammed into the ground behind Melmetal, revealing something… vaguely like a helmetless version of the strange creature Shimmer had seen on PV. Only much more purple and red. And entirely mechanical.

Melmetal buckled. It dropped to one knee.

“Bumomomoooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Shimmer’s eyes widened. Meltan were falling out of Melmetal by the dozen.

It shrank down and down. Melting into a gray puddle of inert meltan. Shimmer’s nine tails frazzled. He looked between the puddle and the thing that had brought Melmetal down with a single strike.

[Huh?] Jean’s wings buzzed erratically. It was just as confused.

[Mission parameters have changed.] The new machine turned back to Jean. [Capture them.] It pointed a red talon at the meltan.

[But the emperor said—]

The newcomer’s cheek bolts crackled with purple energy. [Mission parameters have changed. Capture them or I will terminate you.]

Jean’s electronic eyes flickered yellow. Her wings produced green beams. Green bubbles trapped swathes of meltan at a time. They hovered to Jean’s side.

Shimmer’s heart pounded in his chest. He backed up across the roof. How had the script flipped on its head in just a matter of seconds?! He had to get Demerzel here. And Arianna. They had to get him out of h—

The ponytales jumped back. Slivers of his white hair drifted in front of him, revealing the mechanical beast standing right where he’d been moments ago. Purple and red energy crackled in its talons.

“Wh… at…” Shimmer staggered away. He was at least a couple of hundred meters away. How could this thing have closed the distance so quickly?!

(Art by Sylfeanne)

[Hostile unit identified.] The machine’s electronic eyes glowed red. [Surrender in the name of Emperor Paradox.]

Shimmer concentrated as hard as he could. “Demerzel? You have to get me out of here! We have a problem! I’m in danger!”

[Hostility still detected. Proceeding with termination.]

It shot toward Shimmer, purple energy intensifying around its forelegs. Shimmer desperately fired a Psybeam, but the machine quickly dodged left. It dodged right from Shimmer’s follow-up.

“Demerzel!”

The machine suddenly stopped. It looked over its shoulder. The pixels in its eyes spun around like loading icons.

[Mission parameters have changed.] It jumped away from a dumbstruck Shimmer. [Returning to base.]

What? That was it? This thing was just going to leave him? It was out for his blood not even a second ago!

Shimmer shot another Psybeam, but the machine lunged off the rooftop. The ponytales staggered forward, heart racing. What had it seen that prompted such a hasty retreat?

It didn’t take much searching for Shimmer to find what he was looking for: a large pillar of gray and yellow distortion in the middle of the field. And it was spreading toward Tulpise!

“Demerzel, the city’s about to be overtaken by a dungeon!” Shimmer ran back and forth across the grassy rooftop, pointing his horn in any direction he could think of as if it were a dish trying to find a signal. “Melmetal’s lost. Get me out of here!”

The ponytales waited for a few seconds before a strange jolt rattled him from horn to tails. A jolt that only came from Demerzel’s teleportation.

Igneous dropped to the ground, watching the strange green beam sail overhead. It ended as a green bubble that popped. Try as he might, the grovlazzle couldn’t figure out what attack that was. A weird Signal Beam, perhaps?

He caught more green light in the corner of his eye and dashed right. Green beams streaked by him, turning into more popping bubbles.

It was time to get moving. Figuring the city was more important to whatever machines were coming, Igneous doubled back. One of the robot volcarona shot one last green beam at him, but Igneous easily outran it with some timely propulsion from his fiery wings. They dissolved into this back.

When the bots didn’t turn back around, Igneous figured it was safe to coordinate with the others. “Guys? The robots—”

His X-transceiver greeted him with harsh static. Igneous immediately shut it off, spun around, and spat Bullet Seeds behind him.

“Piss off, Xeromus!” he growled. Who else could disrupt his comm line?

Instead of chains or a canine-shaped shield, however, his Bullet Seeds slammed into bulky static cubes. They broke apart into tiny black and white pixels and scattered to the wind.

[OMEGALUL! This (ADGE BREAK) is already over! No bathroom breaks h— UP START B A UP UP DOWN!]

The static gave way to Ahsen’s disjointed discs pulling themselves in different directions. A skeletal kabutops head briefly popped in and out of existence.

Igneous stepped back. He conjured his honedge in his right hand. Xeromus alone was enough of a problem, but Ahsen, too? Igneous was in way too far over his head. He couldn’t afford a repeat of Venish. It was time to cut his losses. The grovlazzle had to regroup with someone. Anyone.

[LEFT LEFT L—] Ahsen stopped jerking. [Oh? Trying to (ALT-F4) your way out of this? Where’s the (START9) in that, (FRIEND OF THE STREAM)?] More static ran along Ahsen’s arms, briefly turning them into L-shaped, pixelated cubes. [This is the (MOMENT) you’ve been waiting for! Time for (HELIX) to take the stage!]

Ahsen descended into shouting more directions, his discoid body flopping about to and fro. Igneous seized the opening, swiping Honedge upwards on instinct. A fiery crescent struck Ahsen and set him ablaze. He dropped to the ground, twitching and spasming in a mess of strange static and occasional bones— wait, was that an aerodactyl skull in place of Ahsen’s head? What the hell was this omen?

[(LIT AF!) (LIT AF!)] Ahsen’s tone was surprisingly gleeful for someone who was currently on fire.

Damn it, I have to get out of here! The grovlazzle’s wings flared to life. He started heading further away from the city. If there was ever a time for Scarlett’s singing to help him out, it was now.

Igneous didn’t get more than a handful of meters before a pillar of distortion erupted behind Ahsen, who’d somehow managed to put himself out and return to shouting directions. Two beady red eyes pierced through the distortion, then Igneous saw a tan, wispy silhouette.

(Art by Adam)

The cloud daemon! It was here?! And it had crystals growing on its legs.

Damn it, had it gained some sort of power?!

At the same time, the ground trembled. Igneous glanced over his shoulder and thought he saw a gray, hulking blob stomping around Tulpise’s outskirts.

This was way too much. The grovlazzle didn’t have time to search for Cid and Scarlett. So, Igneous did the one thing he could think of: tilt his head skyward and belt out a Flamethrower. With any luck, it’d serve as a flare to signal there was trouble.

The cloud daemon took that as a signal to go on the offensive. Its wispy form shimmered. The air around Igneous grew thin, as if the daemon was sucking it all up to make a vacuum. Igneous backpedaled. Honedge vanished into orange mist.

A gray flash erupted to Igneous’ left. He barely managed to avoid it. The grovlazzle’s fiery wings shot him away from the daemon.

These weren’t conventional strikes Igneous was dealing with. He flew just a bit over the grass, weaving behind sudden bursts of gray and silver that matched the crystals on the cloud daemon’s legs. The grovlazzle stole glances backwards to see Cloudy gliding toward him. Its crystals sparked at the same time as the strange energy bursts.

Where were Cid and Scarlett? Surely, they must’ve seen that Flamethrower. “Help!” Igneous shouted. “Scarlett, start sing— gah!“

Igneous rolled right to avoid a crystalline burst. He flicked his right hand back, hurling a fireball at Cloudy. The grovlazzle didn’t hear anything to suggest the attack hit. Could it even hit? He couldn’t do a thing against it back on the train. But it was entirely a cloud then. It had crystals, now! That had to mean something.

The grovlazzle dove down. Skidding across the ground, he spewed Bullet Seeds at Cloudy’s right foreleg. But hexagonal crystals materialized out of nowhere. The Bullet Seeds vanished the moment they hit the crystals, like they’d never even existed to begin with.

[Your (START9) flavor is all wrong!] Ahsen buzzed, though Igneous had no idea where he was.

Cloudy’s crystals flickered asynchronously. It produced something between a roar and a garbled wail, but its voice was so heavily distorted that Igneous could hardly tell what it sounded like.

Still, the force of its voice along was enough to blow Igneous off his feet. As he tumbled back, a dusty trail superimposed itself over the grass. A thick forest flickered in and out all around Igneous.

He watched patiently from the cover of the thick trees as the riolu jogged down the path, beckoning the ice vulpix to follow.

Igneous forcefully shook his head. Focus, damn it!

Cloudy’s eyes flashed gray. Igneous dove out of the way of more crystal flashes. He spat a few Bullet Seeds at Cloudy’s right foreleg, then switched to a Flamethrower heading for its left. Igneous smirked when the hexagonal barrier appeared to snuff out his Bullet Seeds, leaving his Flamethrower to strike the crystals.

A bell-like chime echoed across the field, alongside another garbled wail from the beast. Gasping, Igneous dropped to his knees. He threw his hands over his head.

His insides were on fire! And not in a healthy way, either!

Nickie’s Powder Snow caused a trapinch to slip and tumble toward Tessa, who hit it right in the face with a Force Palm.

“I yield! I yield!” Trapinch squealed, trying to bury his head in the ground.

Igneous doubled over in pain, gripping his stomach. Something’s… tearing through my insides! He looked up at Cloudy.

“Yeh tumhara aasliyat hain.”

What? There Cloudy went, speaking nonsense gibberish again. Igneous had to fight it. Stand up!

Cloudy’s crystals flickered. An even more intense weight gripped Igneous stomach.

“Nice one, Nikkie!” The riolu held out her right paw for Nickie to high five. Except the ice vulpix faceplanted when she tried to reciprocate. Tessa’s aura feelers shot up in alarm. “Ah, right! Sorry! Forgot you’re still getting used to the ‘all-fours’ thing.”

Chuckling, the volcarona finally made his presence known by hovering out from the dense trees. “Sharp work, you two. Don’t think we’ve had a duo solve the entrance test that fast before.”

Igneous dropped to all fours, tucking his head down against his chest and screaming, “Get out… of my head!”

“Yeh tumhara aasliyat hain.”

Cloudy was getting closer. Closer. The air around Igneous was thinning. Warping. More and more it felt like he was in the forest and not the field outside Tulpise.

“Tumhara kismat apariharya hain.”

Igneous’ vision flooded with hundreds and hundreds of butterfree wings, falling away to reveal a strange specter with hair like Leo’s that blocked part of their face. Giant shadows coalesced around the specter, forming a gray and gold dragon’s head.

“Strike them down!”

The pressure suddenly lifted. The air stopped thinning. Igneous’ ears rang, but he was vaguely aware of wet and squishy ground around him.

“Igneous! Are you okay? Say something!”

That was Seifer. The keldeo was back from the city? Grunting, Igneous tried to push himself up from the ground. Cloudy was roaring again, however. The grovlazzle braced himself for another painful, trippy vision, but it didn’t come.

Instead, he heard music. And there were vocals, but Igneous’ ears were still ringing. He couldn’t quite make them out. But it didn’t matter. The message was loud and clear.

Scarlett was here. Her words could protect him. Protect all of them.

Breathing heavily, Igneous got back to his feet. His flames stirred in his gut. Seifer shot him a worried look.

“I’m okay. I’ve… got this.”

Honedge appeared in Igneous’ right hand. He shot forward, gripping Honedge tightly. Cloudy’s expression was unreadable, but its crystals flashed. Igneous held Honedge up… and parried the crystal bursts!

His fiery wings propelled him toward Cloudy’s right foreleg. Igneous slashed at the crystals with Honedge. They didn’t shatter, but there was a satisfying claaaaaaaaang and they darkened considerably. Cloudy roared, but Scarlett’s singing kept Igneous’ head clear as he zipped around to Cloudy’s right hind leg and struck again.

“Tum… hara!”

Cloudy’s body rippled and pulsated. Igneous kept up his charge, striking each of its left legs in quick succession.

[WTF?]

Igneous saw Ahsen flopping around in a panic… and Xeromus watching from behind the glitchy mess of floating discs.

[There’s no (PRESS F TO PAY RESPECTS) here!] Ahsen’s arms turned into bony aerodactyl wings. [You can’t (BAN HELIX). (CHAT) is too (STRONK)!]

The grovlazzle U-turned in midair, doubling back toward Ahsen. “I’ve had… enough out of you!” Igneous snarled, flames swirling around Honedge. Ahsen tried shooting balls of pixels at Igneous, but he rolled left, then right. He swung Honedge upward, slicing Ahsen’s discoid head in half and knocking it away from his body.

Ahsen’s body flew around haphazardly, flailing its arms around. Pixelated tendrils pulled the halves of its head back together.

Igneous locked eyes with Xeromus. He had Scarlett’s power backing him up. He could put a stop to them today. Make sure they never bother anyone again.

Wings flaring up, Igneous divebombed the corrupted silvally. Yet Xeromus’ gray eyes were filled with admiration.

Snarling, the grovlazzle thrust Honedge at Xeromus as hard as he could manage. But all Igneous did was pierce through black smoke and slam into the ground. Grass and soil erupted around him. Igneous grabbed Honedge out of the dirt and spun around to find Ahsen and Xeromus had regrouped by the cloud daemon’s sides.

“You can bear your fangs at fate all you want!” Xeromus’s chains rattled on his legs. “It will not change anything!“

Shadows burst forth from Xeromus’ legs, swallowing the trio up and leaving Igneous staring across the field at a dumbfounded Seifer. And that beefy buzzwole guy bridal carrying Quetzal.

Igneous had several questions, but Scarlett’s singing quickly faded. And with it went all of the grovlazzle’s second wind. Honedge vanished as Igneous dropped to one knee.

The ground shook once more. Then a pillar of purple and red distortion erupted from where Xeromus once stood. It reached and clawed at the grass and dirt, slowly spreading toward Tulpise.

Seifer and the others managed to get around it. Panic spread across the keldeo’s face. He was trying to think of something. Anything to stave off the distortion’s advance.

It wasn’t worth it. Igneous was spent. He imagined the others were tired, too. They had no choice but to leave.

“Outpost,” Igneous rasped. “We must… go back.”

Path of Valor Almanac
“Yeh tumhara aasliyat hain,” is Hindi that loosely translates to “This is your reality.” Similarly, “Tumhara kismat apariharya hain,” is a loose Hindi translation of “Your fate is unavoidable.” My thanks to ExplosiveTurkey, of PMD: Canon Breakage fame for his assistance!