ARC 2, CHAPTER 4
by zuperZACH“What… What was that?” Stella asked as soon as they knew the coast was clear.
“I-I don’t know!” Zari exclaimed. “There were two of them… but now there’s only one? What happened?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” came another voice. Stella and Zari turned towards the foreign voice, and were immediately greeted by someone they knew, but didn’t expect. A Serperior. “They’re fusing.”
“Fusing?” Stella tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
Crown sighed. “When I met you, I noticed your Greninja friend. Something about him seemed familiar… so I decided to follow you. And now my suspicions are confirmed.”
“Suspicions? About what?” Zari asked.
“Your friend… and the Sylveon he’s with… they got split in two. Two parts of one entity. And they fused back together as one being again.”
At that moment, everything clicked together. “That… that’s what happened at Moonlight base!” Stella exclaimed. “When Irima and that other Greninja ran into each other, they fused! That’s why he insisted on being called Larei now… that’s his real name.”
Crown nodded. “But… I’m afraid that’s not entirely good news. At least for his companion.”
“What do you mean?” Zari asked.
“When that Sylveon fused with her part… and the other people who were in the same situation like that Chandelure too… their souls got corrupted.”
“H-Huh?”
Crown solemnly nodded. “The two parts are clashing together, and the body can’t handle it. The result… a twisted mind with ill intentions. Whatever that Sylveon is planning with your friend… it’s no good.”
Zari quietly gasped. Larei was in trouble! Whether he was in danger, or he was the danger, that Sylveon was going to make sure of either. They knew they had to do something, but before that, she had one other thing on her mind.
“Wait,” Zari started. “Larei doesn’t seen twisted at all. If he did fuse with his other part, how come he didn’t get corrupted?”
Stella and Zari both thought about this question. They thought about what had happened in the moment that Larei fused. And that’s when it hit Stella.
“The machine!”
Crown nodded. “That machine is what caused all of this too.”
Zari looked at the snake. “Crown… how do you know all of this?”
A long silence followed the question. After a while, Crown sighed, closing his eyes. “I guess I should explain everything. From the beginning…”
“No! I can’t lose you!”
“Come on, stay with us!”
“Larei!”
“Nejire, stop! It’s not working!”
“I can’t lose him, Clover! I just can’t!” The Sylveon turned to the Servine next to her, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Nejire… there’s nothing we can do…” Clover said, regretfully. “He’s gone.”
Nejire, still in shock, looked devastated. The tears started streaming down her face. Was there really nothing they could do? That’s when she got an idea. She used a ribbon to wipe away the tears, then turned back to Clover with a determined look.
“Maybe there is something we can do.”
“Huh?” Clover looked at her with a confused expression.
“I know someone who can help,” she said. “We can save him! Help me carry him!”
“So you want to save your dying friend?”
“Yes! More than anything! Please, Jazzy, you’ve never let me down before…”
The Jigglypuff put a hand on her chin in thought. “Well, we have been working on something that could just do that.”
“We?” Clover furrowed an eyebrow suspiciously.
“Yes, we,” came another voice. Jazzy turned expectedly to the voice, as a somewhat robotic pokémon walked in.
“Who are you?” Clover asked, his suspicions only raising.
“Name’s Xenilis,” the newcomer responded. “And yes, we have just the thing that will help you.”
“I’ll do anything if it saves Larei,” Nejire said desperately.
“Very well, then,” Xenilis said, walking to another part of the room, where the duo could now see an odd machine. “This machine can save your friend. It’ll split apart his body and his soul, creating new ones for each. But don’t worry, we can fuse them back together, good as new.”
“Oh, that’s perfect!” Nejire exclaimed. “Let’s hurry, then!”
“Wait, Nejire… I don’t know about this,” Clover worriedly said. “This seems really sketchy…”
“It’s the only way to save Larei,” Nejire argued, turning to Clover. “I’m not losing my true love.”
The splitting process was successful. After it was done, there resulted two pokémon: a Froakie and a Greninja. Both were unconscious, but seemed fine otherwise.
Nejire let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you for helping us, thank you!”
“Hey, don’t mention it,” Xenilis said with a smile.
“Okay, we can fuse them back together, right? I want my Larei back!”
“Yeah… see, we’re not doing that…” Jazzy said in a serious tone.
Nejire’s smile dropped. “W-What?”
“You see,” Jazzy explained. “This experiment was top secret, and isn’t exactly legal either.”
“And that makes you two witnesses,” Xenilis added. “And, well, we can’t have that, can we?”
“W-What?!” Clover yelled. “You bastards! Just wait until-“
“Oh, I’m afraid it’s already too late for you two,” Xenilis said with a wicked grin. “Darmur, take care of the snake.”
“Gladly,” said an unknown voice. Suddenly, from a black void, out came a Dragapult right behind Clover. Clover jumped forward in surprise, narrowly dodging the Phantom Force attack.
“Clover!” Nejire squeaked, attempting to run to him. She was immediately stopped by Jazzy teleporting in front of her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she said maliciously. Before Nejire could react, Xenilis grabbed the ribbon on her head and lifted her up. Nejire squealed in pain, squirming helplessly.
“Come here, you stupid serpent,” Darmur said. Clover noticed his claws glowing an odd green color. He recognized that as Dragon Claw, and knew what to do. Just as Darmur charged towards him, Clover swung his tail at him. Darmur saw the counterattack plain as day, but from his tail, a medium-sized flame shot out at him. Darmur wasn’t expecting anything like that, and even though it didn’t hurt very much, he staggered back in surprise. This worked perfectly for Clover, and he quickly ran off while the Dragapult was stunned. He got his bearings soon enough, and took chase after the Servine.
Nejire just watched on in shock, but when they were both out of view, she looked back at Jazzy, who was just grinning at her triumphantly.
“Now… we’re gonna make sure you keep quiet about this whole thing for good,” she said, matter-of-factly.
Nejire just stared at her; half fearfully, half spitefully. “A-Are you gonna kill me?”
Jazzy thought for a bit. Then, her eyes seemed to glint thoughtfully. “Nah… I’ve got a better idea,” she said, turning toward the machine.
“I managed to escape… but Nejire… well, you can guess what happened to her.”
A long silence followed Crown’s story. Crown kept his eyes shut, and Stella and Zari were speechless.
“Crown… I…” Zari paused, trying to find the right words to say. “I’m sorry…”
Crown sighed. “It’s not your fault. I should have done something about it… but it was too late.”
“We… we can do something about it!” Stella exclaimed. “We can help them!”
“No…” Crown said. “That’s not a good idea.”
“W-Why not?” Zari asked.
“So, this is my pathetic little soul?” Jazzy and the Sylveon next to her were staring at an unconscious Eevee in front of them.
“That’s right,” Jazzy said to her. “She won’t remember a thing, so we have no use for her.”
“Alright. So what do we do with her, then?”
“Eh, we can just get rid of her,” Jazzy said.
“Alright! Let’s kill her, then!”
“That’s not possible, I’m afraid,” Jazzy said, shaking her head. “She’s only your soul. Since you’re the body, you’re the only one who can die.”
“Aww, that’s no fun!”
“We can just throw her out. She won’t wake up for a few years at least! She’s not a threat at all.”
The Sylveon turned to Jazzy questioningly. “And what about me?”
Jazzy looked at her with a smile. “How would you like to become my assistant?”
“Whaaat? Little ol’ me?”
“I like you. Your enthusiasm and murderous intent is just what I want in an assistant. Xenilis already made off with that indigo amphibian… so, I want to start a new team. Plus, you still know of our secret, so I think it just makes sense!” The Sylveon couldn’t help but smile too, with a giddy giggle. “So, what do you say?”
“How could I say no? Count me in!” the Sylveon said, motioning a ribbon at herself.
“Well then… welcome aboard… Phobia.”
The Sylveon wrapped a ribbon around Jazzy’s shoulder. “Thanks, Jazzy! I love my new name!”
“I only have one request for you right now, Phobia,” Jazzy said in a more serious tone. “That green snake you once knew is still out there.”
“Oh, him? What about that serious serpent?” Phobia asked, unimpressed.
“He won’t be easy to find… but whenever you get the chance… kill him.”
“She’s still hunting me down,” Crown responded. “She’s already tried once before… and if Phobia is still in there…” Crown trailed off and paused. “That’s why I went into hiding with my team… I knew they would keep me safe…”
“Your team… went into hiding?” Zari quietly said after a pause. Crown went silent, looking away. Maybe he said too much.
“Crown… our friend is in trouble,” Stella said. “And even if he doesn’t want our help… w-we have to help him!”
“I know… but there’s no way to help them. Their souls are corrupted, remember? How do we untwist them? There isn’t a way we can do that.”
“No, there has to be a way to-” Zari cut herself off as she noticed something. A red fog had been gathering around them while they were talking, and it had gotten thick enough that she finally noticed it. Stella did too.
“What’s going-” Stella started. But suddenly a burst of fog surrounded the area. The group couldn’t see a thing in the fog! Luckily, the fog quickly disappated. But when they could see again, they noticed something they couldn’t see.
“Crown?” Zari called. “Crown, where did you go?”
The Dreamsavers then heard a chuckle. They turned to it, and within the fog, they saw Nejire.
“Thanks for helping me find my target!” she said. “I’ll take good care of him!” Nejire snickered. “Well… I suppose I’ll give you a chance. If you want him back, you can come and get him. There’s a shack in the forest not far from here. We’ll see you there!” Nejire giggled again and dived into the remaints of the fog. When the fog dissappeared fully, she was gone.
Things were quickly spiraling downwards now.
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