Sunward Atop Sunrest Mesa

[Sinderella]

"Oh gods, do I still... look good? Machine or not, I'd better still be sexy. I did not burn myself alive for thousands of years just to look drab, wan and— and malnourished!"

Odette laughed outright.

“Mon ange, relax,” she said. “You’re fucking glowing. Speaking as a…thicker person myself.”

On an unrelated note, thank you. And, uh... how are you feeling?" She didn't really look any worse for wear, but Kimiko could still hear that pained shriek from the fire that had been meant for her

Her chest felt lighter. Being wrong had never felt so good. Realizing that she’d just been paranoid had never felt so relieving.

With that in mind, she turned to Kimiko. “I’m…okay.” She probably wasn’t referring to the past few minutes, rather that nasty rain of fire from before. “Berries are handy, you know.”

There was an all-too noticeable waver in her breath.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt glanced at Odette, but then offered her a consoling nod of her own. A softer stare than the Grovyle usually displayed.

Then, she looked down thoughtfully. "If you have any... struggles with adjusting to a more modern life, I would be happy to speak with you about it," she said as she slowly folded up Owen's withered form back into her shadow. "Five thousand years asleep is more than I'm familiar with, but perhaps five hundred awake and displaced would be similar."

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"Actually, no... That makes sense. And, well... I have been dead for generations, right? It's not like I would have minded. Anyway, I would accept your offer, but I don't think I... can... drink, anymore. This new body is turning out to be a sore bargain indeed, is it not?"

"Well, it's not all bad..." Steven mumbled. Sure, he'd had to fake it a few times out of politeness and apparent social norms, but it's not like he properly missed drinking. Hell, it wouldn't even be the first time he'd had to do so and that was back when he had a body that was capable. ...Okay, maybe he could see the rub in it for Amida.

"Still, there are other benefits to being inorganic!" he added in an attempt to cheer her up. "Even if it's a little strange at first."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Is there uhm... Anything you want? Before you go, that is. Maybe we can help?"

“Mon ange, relax,” she said. “You’re fucking glowing. Speaking as a…thicker person myself.”

"If you have any... struggles with adjusting to a more modern life, I would be happy to speak with you about it," she said as she slowly folded up Owen's withered form back into her shadow. "Five thousand years asleep is more than I'm familiar with, but perhaps five hundred awake and displaced would be similar."

"Still, there are other benefits to being inorganic!" he added in an attempt to cheer her up. "Even if it's a little strange at first."

Amida beamed at the Wayfarers, and dipped in the air like she was curtsying.

"You are all so kind. Thank you. If I were alone right now, I'm sure I would be scared to... to begin, I suppose. I wouldn't know how to. But maybe I—"

As the synthetic voice continued, something shifted in the air. In the Wayfarers' guts. In the telepathic Betelnet.

Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt suddenly found herself on her knees, and this time not because of the sunburn. "What now?" she mumbled.

"Oh, that one doesn't feel good," Owen grunted, spilling out of Mhynt's shadows to try to find a way to shield her from this invisible foe.

"No. Not this time," Mhynt said. "Whatever is happening here... Something seems to be happening with our... network. One moment... don't mess with our spirits, if that's not a bother...!"

All things considered, Mhynt was keeping it together well. Owen's eyes, meanwhile, had widened suddenly. Through his delirium, he stared at Brisa.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova inhaled sharply. Golden claws dug into the dirt. This feeling. He'd felt something like this before. When the Red Chain bound him. When the mask came on. And every breath was sharp and ragged and—

No. He had to be strong here. Knuckle under for Amida's sake.

That wouldn't stop him from getting off a telepathic message, though. Directed more toward the merry band that wanted to play sleuths while he and the others were fighting.

"What did you do, Betel? What the hell happened there?!"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Something was wrong with his body. Something was wrong with his body.

His hand shot to his head, running his talons through his carefully-styled feathers as if it would somehow right his emotional distress he felt because Lillie didn’t understand, even though they shared everything with one another, and this wasn’t any different except that they couldn’t figure out What was happening to him and why did it feel so deeply wrong, so much like it was too late to stop it now, he’d already felt a sharp pain in the side of his head as the sensation of a piercing needle lanced his RKS System, which started to smoke in the same way it did when he used his Soul’s Volition, despite him having not even wanted earrings in the first place!

Instead of him being in control of the flow of it, the memories felt like they were being trawled up from his soul and forced through the connection he missed between them, one which made him want to crawl out of his skin in a way he hadn’t since he had the helmet on and had to deal with the emotional distance between himself and everyone else, as if they’d accepted that they wouldn’t be able to understand each other anymore and had stopped trying to understand what was happening and why he was currently feeling multiple simultaneous layers of wanting Lillie to be a part of his life again?

It was hard to even tell which of his competing sets of thoughts and sensations and feelings were real, or if they could be happening right now, or even when ‘now’ was at all, even though he could picture himself like that, could see himself grown up as long as he pictured himself as a guy, something which seemed better than having to worry whether he’d escaped or if he was still a kid but he’d still like to be able to know for sure whether he was a boy or a Silvally, given that made it hard to tell if he was being reasonable or if Forlas was even real or just another escapist fantasy like the ones he used to imagine with Lillie.

Even though he didn’t completely understand yet what this meant, he could deduce that it was something to do with Betel and the people trying to recover them, which meant that as soon as he got the chance, he wanted to fucking kill Gladius.

 

[Weazel]

Well. Seemed like that was it then. The day was saved, the heroes were all congratulating one another. Time for him to make himself scarce again. The Dewott stuck his paws in his coat pockets, and walked over to the path back down the mesaside…

Or, at least, he’d intended to. Not two steps into it, Archie suddenly found himself hit with an intense bout of vertigo. He doubled over, paw over his muzzle, trying his best not to retch. Telepathic messages were blasting back and forth in his head, which also wasn’t helping with how much his vision was spinning. He screwed his eyes shut, focused on taking deep breaths, and tried to block out the noise.

 

[Tetra]

Betel's anguished telepathic voice came through, building into ringing, ringing in his ears, a wave of dizziness so strong he staggered-

He was on his hands and knees- no, that was wrong, he had paws...? His fingers claws dug into the ground- He shook his head and pawed his nose snout. Pressure built in his skull and he looked around the mesa, saw- A Luxray he tasted warm leppa cider and a Metagross and a Mawile... These weren't his pokemon. Weren't his team.

His gaze swept across the area. Instead of a sunburned mesa bathed in an eternal glow, the flickering orange light of fire danced around him, smoke choking his lungs trapped, trapped.. His hand went to his belt but he felt only fur. Fur and a hole in his heart that he'd had since the moment he came here.

An emptiness that hounded his steps and left an echo of a phantom weight on his shoulders. He blinked. He was lying sprawled out, a vague dampness gathering around his eyes (from sand, it was sand making his eyes water) and his paw clinging reflexively to a random round pebble.

The other Wayfarers surrounded him and yet... he was alone.

'Betel? Betel what happened? What's going on? Are you okay?'

 

[Sinderella]

One moment, she was trying to enjoy the presence of a chattering goddess. The next, there was nothing there. Nothing except an abstract painting of desert hues with points of bold color filling the gaps. As a shrill ring filled her ears, she reached up to grab her head despite knowing it was no use.

She suddenly became acutely aware that she wasn’t home. The shock hit her as hard as it did upon her rude first drop into Forlas. The understanding that she was not in Alola, that she wasn’t in her own body, struck her like an F1 going at mach speed. She knew it wasn’t the first time she’d hopped worlds, but it was the first time her form had changed.

And it was the first time she was alone.

With that thought, she found herself back to the last time. Back to the ever changing void that was Ultra Space. The cliffs, the rocks, the dead, dry sea, the ghostly ruins that sat within it, and the beasts…

Then a voice. A voice that made her choke over a gasp.

“What do we do?!”​

She couldn’t speak. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t speak.

“Gods dammit O, you’re supposed to be the smart one!”​

Why was…? Where was he…? She couldn’t…lose him…

She was covering her eyes now, struggling to root herself back in reality—it didn’t matter which one, just as long as she could stop the unbearable sensation of floating away, yet remaining rooted in place.

“Betel…” she heaved. “What the hell…is happening…”

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Okay. Odette was "okay". Well... it was a step above "I'm fine", which would have been enough for Kimiko to leave well-enough alone, if not for the shaky voice with which the words came out. Her sympathetic smile shifted slightly, debating whether or not she should prompt further. They hadn't yet discussed the weight of the Comb revelations either, but considering her history with fire, this felt like far too easy a dismissal...

That was all the deliberation Kimiko got before she dropped to her tiny knees with a pained grunt, braced on the ground by a quickly extended vine, felled by what felt like a blow to her gut although nothing had physically hit her. A headache formed just as rapidly. Voices in her head echoed loudly and quietly like whispers at the same time; she wasn't sure if they were the cause of the headache or the headache was making her hear things. On top of that, she felt dizzy, sick, not unlike the after-effects of long distance teleportation, except turned up to 11. Her breaths came in heavy, ragged pants, although she didn't remember running a mile... Her vision flickered and blurred, light and shadow blending together into a miasma of sensory input that her eyes didn't know how to process.

And yet...

She recognized it. The light of the mesa remained, but the mesa itself had vanished, replaced by an impossibly dark forest. The trees cast no shadows, as though the blinding radiance above could not filter through the branches, and yet the bark of the tree trunks was clear as day in their blackness. Nothing about the sight made any sense! How could it be so bright, yet so dark at the same time? Shadows shifted in the distance, somehow both harder to see than normal, and yet impossible to miss.

But wait... if she'd just been possessed, why had the ghost stopped? They weren't anywhere recognizable; not the cave, not the... mesa...?

Kimiko made to twist around, suddenly anxious about a feeling of being watched, but the attempt at motion amplified the lightheaded dizziness and she stumbled, paralyzed by the voices still buzzing through her head. The forest had never been so loud! Kimiko clutched her free hand - not a leafy appendage, but her human hand - around her star necklace, the points digging painfully into her palm, nervous and afraid and in pain and just willing whatever this was to pass, to end, to leave her alone... This was...

This was...

Bee...! Are you alright? What... what's happening?

 

[JFought]

Out of nowhere, the mesa had turned deliriously hot. Isidora put a claw up to her head as her panting turned to hyperventilating. I... I feel like I'm melting... She stumbled, something popped in her head, and time passed.

Or, as she falls to her knees, the weavile is sure time has passed. It's been several years since she last knew her dorm room. She doesn't know how she knows that, but she does. The fact weaves its way through her consciousness and taints her memories with a sense of foreign nostalgia. She can still remember that time, all those years ago, when her world was bleak yet simple. Right before the call came, and she learned the heat of the desert, and the frustration of weakness, and the desire for friendship, and the taste of hope.

And then an anxious, shuddering feeling of emptiness overcomes her. She hugs herself desperately, and remembers she felt this too back then, and how she learned to cope by filling it with something new. But it's worse this time. Something is forcibly reminding her, breaking apart her delusions of light and shadow and activating an overwhelming instinctual longing for a feeling she's too afraid to name. A feeling she hasn't felt for... months?

Isidora blinked. Time hadn't passed. She was still on the mesa, right after the battle. Her heat-addled mind scrambled to piece itself back together and make sense of how the events of the last thirteen minutes could have occurred six months after six years ago.

Her mouth was dry. Her head was pounding. She couldn't stop shaking. For some reason, she felt like it was a sword's fault.

 

[Phoenixsong]

It was really nice, actually, for a couple minutes there. Amida was alive and curious and joking, which was miles better than the light-drowned dream she'd been stuck in before. Easy for Leaf to focus everything on the celebration, or what to do next, or cleaning up what was left of the Coven. No room left to worry about anything that almost happened (because it hadn't, everything was fine), or anything anyone had said (it didn't matter, nothing was wrong), or the lurching feeling in her stomach (like she'd ally switched but she hadn't ally switched but she was in two three five twelve places at once something was wrong).

Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.

[Beetle? Beetle, what is this? Are you okay? This doesn't— what's happen—]

The air wavered in front of Leaf's eyes, harder than any heat haze rolling off Amida in the dungeon. Or maybe her own eyes were shaking inside her skull. Or maybe something was wrong. The mesa was a road leading away from home was a yawning winding cave in the mountains was the block party at the lab's ranch the night they'd come back from the Plateau was a wall lined with cages marked reconditioning was a quiet room and a loud argument was a river roaring in a thunderstorm was the mesa. She sank to her knees to stop from staggering (all four, all two, the ground underneath was solid stone rising water lush grass) and it didn't help because nothing she could do would help because something was wrong—

Wait. The lizard bitch professor had some kind of sci-fi... computer-thing that could also talk to Beetle, couldn't it? Could it tell— "What's going on?" she shouted at Sada. "What does it say?!"

(She was pretty sure it said)

Something is terribly wrong.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Owen's eyes, meanwhile, had widened suddenly. Through his delirium, he stared at Brisa.

The Luxray looked back – uncomprehending, apprehensive, bewildered.

"The fuck is goin' on?" she demanded. "You want somethin', Charizard? Tell me what the hell I gotta do!"

But Owen would find it hard to respond – reality atop the mesa was getting thinner than the air...

"Whatever is happening here... Something seems to be happening with our... network. One moment... don't mess with our spirits, if that's not a bother...!"

"What did you do, Betel? What the hell happened there?!"

'Betel? Betel what happened? What's going on? Are you okay?'

“Betel…” she heaved. “What the hell…is happening…”

Bee...! Are you alright? What... what's happening?

[Beetle? Beetle, what is this? Are you okay? This doesn't— what's happen—]

Not only the Wayfarers were asking. The other 'mon gathered on the plateau were all clamouring for answers, too – although only Sada and Matthias seemed to be suffering the same unknown malady...

Director Gladius has issued a summoning command. Through our network, he has accessed Amida's aura signature... and through that, I can find Lorrel.

That is who the Commission wish to return to this world. I do not wish to facilitate that wish.

I cannot prevent a summoning... but I can change who I summon!

O-oh...

...but why is it so great a strain...?!​

"What's going on?" she shouted at Sada. "What does it say?!"

Sada gawped at Leaf, her face shifting uncomfortably, as if she'd forgotten how to speak with a biological voicebox. The former Artificial Intelligence had no speaker system, no audio driver, no onboard language machine translation software... Then she forced herself to move her tongue.

"It's a mass-summoning. Betel has injected an alternative reference signature for the partner-summoning program. I believe they intended to substitute one of you. They have substituted the entire array which contains your networked IDs. That poor AI has had almost no experience editing their own code... Now, instead of Amida receiving Lorrel, networked units—you Wayfarers, all of you—will receive someone from your own worlds..."

Amida herself was near-speechless, panel-wings fluttering anxiously.

"What... Why...??"

But the strange malady only intensified, and while no portal could be seen, each Wayfarer would feel the tug of some singularity, some distortion, like that at the heart of a Mystery Dungeon, drawing them away from their place in the material plane. The skin of the world felt thinner than ever, stretched taut...

"Well," murmured Matthias to himself, from within Brisa's net. "This was always a risk, I suppose. There's still a chance it will all work out, but the odds are getting longer all the time..."

"It seems some quirk of the summoning function is displacing... all networked Wayfarers, in spacetime. And... taking any offworlders in their vicinity, with them!"

One by one, Wayfarers began to ripple out of reality.

For a moment, it looked like Sada was considering leaping from the mesa to escape.​

Too late.
​

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