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Ranger HQ Ranger Union HQ

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Wes shuffled in last, content to stay near the back while the others asked their questions. He nodded to the others—well, everyone except Koa—and eyed the Relic on Sybil’s desk. It was a relief to see the Relic still in one piece, though hearing that it’s power was depleted wasn’t the most encouraging thing to hear, especially after facing down Alexander’s terrifying might.

“Any ideas on what we can do to restore it?” He asked. “Or maybe…Luz would know? Maybe Radiance is the key.”
 
Sybil seemed thoughtful at Mhynt's question. "It's hard to say given that the Relic does not have the power to test that theory," she answered, tapping a hoof on the ground. "Even when we retrieved it from the Oasis, it felt weak likely due to the amount of time it remained undisturbed and I do not believe that using it as an escape helped very much in that regard."

She looked at Steven with a nod. "It certainly would be the ideal scenario. If we're able to restore its power, I'm certain we'd be able to do something like that, though it may take time." She looked at her 'souvenir' then back at Steven. "Why the limb of a Shadow pokémon, of course! More specifically the manetric's leg that was retrieved after the zweilous' attack," Sybil answered. The orbs in her antlers pulsed with psychic power as she brought the item forward and unwrapped it revealing, peppered in multicoloured dust, what remained of Ein.

"Did you know that Shadow aura lingers on any removed appendage for up to a few days after its removal? Even if I had to be quick, this leg was more than ideal for testing how the Relic interacted with Shadow." She rewrapped the leg and put it to the side, considering Wes' suggestion.

"Radiance..." Sybil said with a hum. "Why not test it now? You all are wielders of that power now, aren't you? Even just a little bit should be enough to indicate how the two may interact."
 
"Very resourceful," Mhynt said with a curious lilt in her voice. "This... aura. Can it be used for anything else?" she asked. "If we get a powerful enough psychic or other such specialist, would they be able to tap into the aura's history, or even its latent thoughts when it was attached to a living, whole creature? What information is stored inside the aura of a separated appendage, I wonder..."
 
A shudder passed through Koa at the sight of the Manectric's leg, and he focused instead on what Sybil had said about the possibility of curing shadowed pokemon. Slow and accelerate bodily processes? He was tempted to reach out himself to try and produce some radiance, but he stopped himself. Maybe best to let someone else handle it first.

"What's the safest way to test Radiance? If we've already been exposed, would just touching it be enough, or do we need to use Radiance on it?"
 
An Espeon blinked into existence, perched neatly on one side of Sybil's desk. She briefly licked one paw and swept it over her ears and scalp before looking closely at the items before her – with 'eyes' that were not eyes, but burnt-orange clouds of light.

"Hello there," she said. She seemed to be speaking to the mummified hindleg, rather than to the pokémon present.

"Ah, hello! I'm Sinopa," she added, apparently remembering herself and addressing the Wayfarers. "Spirit of Pueblo Hideout."

She turned to 'look' at Mhynt.

"Aura usually dissipates from move-created matter in seconds, and severed appendages in minutes, at most. It seems Shadow endures a little longer, and longer still with Sybil's great care, but all that can be read from it is the merest impression of the owner's feelings at the time the limb was lost. There is no consciousness, memory, or will residing inside it – only the ghost of Manectric's emotions."

She winked at Koa. "Nobody knows how to test Radiance safely! No Saint has ever walked into a laboratory to be examined, after all. These experiments are that rare and precious thing – something new and unknown!"
 
What.

Right. Okay. She just had a dismembered leg. Sitting on her desk. Like a godsdamn paperweight. Totally normal and sane behavior.

Wes tried to hide his horror and disgust at the nauseating sight, and was nearly successful when the Espeon suddenly appeared out of scorching nowhere. He jumped, bumping noisily into a stack of knickknacks behind him. Gods in a gilded goblet, what the hell had he gotten himself into here, exactly?

Well, now that he’d gone and drawn attention to himself, might as well roll with it. He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to pretend like he hadn’t just jumped out of his skin. “Well, how ‘unsafe’ are we talking? I can give it a try, provided you’re not going to do something that’ll make me…explode. Or something.”

Okay, maybe that was a little rude. But it was hard to be tactful while staring right at a godsdamned severed leg. These people weren’t exactly giving him any confidence that exploding a test subject was off the table.
 
Sybil had already started her explanation by the time Wes filtered in as seemingly the last of their little group who’d be reprising an appearance. The Dewott drifted close to the Lycanroc, who’d also chosen to remain towards the rear of their little gathering, and took some comfort in his presence. Something about being here in this room was setting him off, though Archie didn’t have any idea of what it was until the Wyrdeer showed them just what it was she had wrapped up on her desk.

“That’s a man’s leg,” Archie muttered to himself.

Ein’s leg specifically, by the sound of it. Bad enough they’d failed to actually save the man – bastard though he was, no one deserved a messy and painful death – but they’d gone and made a science experiment out of his remains. He wasn’t even exactly sure, given Sybil’s explanation, if she’d actually even needed the leg to test her theories. If all she needed was to test how the relic interacted with Shadow, then could they not have called upon the shadow themselves? Or gotten a volunteer from one of Cipher’s victims? Had they really needed Ein’s leg? They were going to bury that, right? Surely the man deserved at least that?

Wes nearly bringing down a shelf of curios beside them brought the Dewott back to reality. Archie shot the Lycanroc a sympathetic look, though secretly he was happy at least one other member of their group seemed as disturbed by Sybil’s little science experiment as he was. Koa and Steven hadn’t said anything positive or negative about it, and Mhynt seemed almost enthusiastic about the fact that the Wyrdeer was holding onto a dead man’s severed leg.

“You’re certainly spoiled for options here,” the Dewott said, looking back at Sybil, “For either Radiance or Shadow.”

He put additional emphasis on that last word. He really didn’t think she’d needed to Ein’s leg.
 
Steven visibly recoiled when Sybil unwrapped the leg. Her souvenir was a leg. She had someone's leg. And not because they'd chosen to donate it to science.

"I, um, thank you," he managed, a slightly woozy look crossing his expression. "How, uh, innovative."

He was rather grateful when she wrapped it back up again, and had just about gotten over the shock when an Espeon materialized out of thin air. Mercifully, Wes's startled jump proved to be noisier than his own, and it gave him enough time to settle his composure once more.

"Sinopa, well met. If a bit suddenly," he added with a small chuckle.

Steven projected a mental introduction to Sinopa, much like he would do with his partner Metagross back home, so as to not draw the conversation off track.

He quickly fixed his attention back to Sybil.

"I also wonder how Radiance might interact with the Relic. Not like the, ah, the souvenir, (he was not going to say leg--), where the Relic acts upon an object that exhibits Radiance. But when it is acted up on by Radiance itself."

He brought a claw to his chin, drifting closer to the Relic again. (But being quite mindful of where the leg sat.)

"I've wondered this ever since we ran into the Cipher goons at the Oasis. They said something about 'filling the Relic with shadows' so as to corrupt its healing power. If we were to imbue it with Radiance...? I wonder..."

"Is that also something we could test?"
 
Mhynt nodded quietly to herself. "Emotions themselves are useful to deduce how Ein was feeling. If it was a standard surprise, then we can assume Alexander just wanted power for power's sake. Anything else... we'd need to see if foul play happened somewhere. Good to meet you." She nodded at Sinopa.

She drew her Leaf Blade, tinged with light. "Perhaps I can channel Radiance into the relic, then?"
 
Sinopa smiled warmly at Mhynt, and then peered at her blade with great interest.

"I'd love to see what happens if you do," she remarked, her tail quivering on end with anticipation.
 
"I'm not sure! I'm not the Radiance wielder here," was Sybil's reply at the questions of using Radiance on the Relic. She then tittered at Archie. "But please do keep Shadow away from it. This leg is safe as there are only trace amounts and that allows for a far more controlled interaction. Besides," she added nonchalantly. "If you get into researching dungeons, you're bound to find something worse out there, this is nothing."

Sybil stepped aside when Mhynt drew her blade, inviting her to channel it in and the moment the light touched the stone, it pulsed with a gentle light, each pulse illuminating its groves and ridges further. Everyone within the room felt it wash over them, so gentle and soothing, that power that felt so faded and then inert when they had first found the Relic.

However, the moment would swiftly be cut short for Archie, Koa and Mhynt as they would be beset by a horrid wave of nausea, worse than anything they would have felt within the Oasis.

Sybil, none the wiser, watched the display in awe. "It worked, it worked!" she exclaimed. "Now just how can we test it to see how it can purify?" she asked those around her, particularly Sinopa who had been helping the wyrdeer out with her research since attaining the Relic.
 
“Your hunk of Shadow meat is probably a good place to start,” Wes blurted.

Dammit. He was really in danger of making an ass of himself. He flicked his ears apologetically and mumbled, “Sorry. Wasn’t prepared to see dismembered limbs today, is all. Point still stands, though.”

Gruesome leg aside, he felt a surge of hope that matched Sybil’s delight. Finally, they were getting somewhere! He dared to take a step away from the back wall to admire the Relic, oblivious to Koa, Mhynt, and Archie’s expressions.
 
Oh the leg was safe, was it? Thankfully he didn’t think Sybil payed attention to him long enough to see the expression the Dewott made at her – lips pursed, brow furrowed. That didn’t stay long either though, as the moment Mhynt poured Radiance into the relic, the nausea he’d been expecting from the moment he’d walked into the room finally came roaring back to him. The Dewott gagged, covering his muzzle with a paw, and slumped backwards against the doorframe, not trusting his legs to keep him upright without help. Somehow, this felt even worse than when Steven had been carrying him and the relic in either claw.

“Shouldn’t’ve come here,” he muttered to himself. Imagine how much worse it would be if he was right up beside the rock, rather than across the room? He dared himself to look up, towards Koa. How bad was it for the Electrike?
 
Excitement pulsed in Koa as he watched Mhynt extend her blade. Maybe this would be it. A way to heal him and Archie. His pelt prickled and he tensed as he watched the stone begin to glow.

In the heat of the moment, the experience in the Oasis had slipped from his mind. Almost instantly he had to clamp his jaws shut as he gagged involuntarily, then dry heaved. He fought to keep his limbs from trembling. Unsurprisingly, Archie looked like he was having an equally poor time. What scared him more was that Mhynt had reacted as well. As he'd feared.

He waited a good several seconds trying to wrestle his feelings under control, without much success. "Should we... try to help... one of the prisoners Alex left?" he panted. He wanted to suggest Archie or Mhynt, or even himself, but would that make it worse?
 
Mhynt kept quietly to herself, dread clutching at her chest. She knew it was true intuitively, and yet to get it confirmed...

"...We should cure ourselves first," Mhynt said. "We're stronger. Energy like this could kill someone weaker." She looked repulsed by the energy, but... She steeled herself. "Koa, Archie. You two have been infected longer. If you are hesitant, I can try it. I'm... afflicted the same as you are."
 
Koa grimaced. "You don't think it can corrupt the stone, can it?" He glanced uneasily at it as he backed up a few feet. "Or hurt you?" It wouldn't seriously hurt Mhynt would it?

If being close to it was this bad, then how bad would it be to touch it?
 
"It should be Koa first," Archie said, "Just in case something happens, and only one of us can be cured."

The Dewott pushed himself the rest of the way back to his feet, and tried to stand strong. The last thing he wanted was to look weak, or scared, even though honestly he felt both. Still, Koa was just a child, he and Mhynt were adults. It was only right that he got help before they did. The Electrike didn't deserve to suffer like this.

"Assuming it's safe to touch," he added, looking between Mhynt, Sybil, and Sinopa. Surely one or all of them would say something if it wasn't?
 
"I'm afraid that won't provide much information at all," Sybil said to Wes. "Very little of the aura remains and at this point, it will be incredibly difficult to tell if the aura vanishes due to natural expiry or the effects of the Relic. Besides, if we're able to deduce the emotional state of the owner at the time of severing through that aura, it would be in our best interest to preserve it for as long as possible."

Sybil then looked at the three ailed Wayfarers thoughtfully. "Ideally, it should be able to cure whatever is affecting you three but we cannot know for certain until someone tries it," she explained. She made no effort to stand back in the way, allowing them to test it if they so desired.
 
Steven watched in wide-eyed wonder as the Relic glowed with Radiance-imbued power. His wonder, though, quickly turned to dread at the state of three of their party; one more than was affected at the Oasis. If the Relic had healing properties, why was it harming them instead?

He hung in tense and uncertain silence, eyes darting between his three stricken teammates, waiting to see what would happen.
 
Squeezing his eyes shut, he steeled himself. You don't deserve to He wanted this to be over, but he owed at least that much to Mhynt, didn't he? It was his attack that gave Alex an opening to get her.

"No. Mhynt, you go. It'll be worse if he gets you..."
 
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