Auranosa Walled Gardens

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion couldn't help be somewhat amused at Jade and Virga bickering, given he had a funny feeling there was souls-choosing-things nonsense responsible. He considered telling them the same thing he'd constantly been told back when he was a Null, which was that even if they didn't like it, their souls must have just subconsciously chosen to call for and offer help to one another. That would probably reduce both of their opinions of him, so he shut up and kept that thought to himself. (He'd never liked hearing it either, after all.)

Seeing the Porygon shell come alive made his eyes lit up. Maybe the body itself wouldn't do them much good if Betel's astral whatever wasn't connected to it, but they actually might be on good enough terms with Sada to ask her for help, especially if the Lighthouse hardware had the same kind of ability to interface from the field that her Iron Moth now that it was semi-functional. "Actually, Virga's idea might not actually be as bad as you'd expect."

Was that rude? He hadn't meant it to sound rude but honestly it absolutely was. He offered the Rookidee a consolatory bow, to convey the apology even if telepathy didn't do a good enough job of getting it across. "Or, as unlikely to work as one might assume after our last mission. Which you didn't know about. Not a reflection on you."

He cleared his throat and returned to the point he was making. "We met a big dragon, looked kinda like-" (He took a moment to picture Sada) "-who turned out to be Betel's creator. She is, as of quite recently, a former Coven member. Used to be an AI herself before she got, uhh, turned into meat by dimensional fuckery. Seems to care about Betel and Amida as now housed by her Iron Moth thingy. I bet she'll help!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Wait, the buff lizard bitch built Betel?" Which was a sentence of all time, as far as Nova was concerned. "Slight problem. She's at the Mesa and we're... in Bumblefuck, Nowheresville."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf wanted to say more, demand to know why she thought she had the right to speak to Jade like that, but Jade herself was busying herself with Beetle's body now. If she didn't want to get into it right now, fair enough. It wasn't really Leaf's place to say. (But it wasn't fair, either.)

She watched them jump-start the porygon, watched as Beetle did... well, not much in response. Figuring out how to help them was a higher priority, she admitted. (And then maybe, once they were better, they could send Virga home.)

"Well, the lizard bitch—uh, the professor, I guess—she's an offworlder, isn't she? And she's got some kinda connection to Beetle. And when I asked her what was wrong with them, she seemed like she also felt messed up. So, uh. She might not still be back there?" Didn't mean she was here, either. Otherwise everyone probably would be. But it was a better lead than nothing, right? "If we can move Beetle now, we might as well keep going and see if we find her, or anyone else."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Let's try following the aqueducts back where we started and see if that gets us anywhere." Nova lowered his head and began to push Betel as he walked. It wasn't particularly hard, since he was used to ferrying Wayfarers around.

 

[Chibi Pika]

While Jade was mildly baffled by the 'lizard bitch' line of discussion (which didn't seem like it'd been getting an explanation anytime soon...), the takeaway was simple enough. Betel's creator was an offworlder and she'd likely been sucked into the same distortion as the Wayfarers. That meant...

"So if we can manage to find our way out of her and get to the others, then that means we might find her," Jade said slowly, feeling another glimmer of hope rising. Granted, she had no clue how hard it would be to find the others, but it was a start. It also meant that she could just focus on helping Betel and not think too hard about Lugia being here (or what it meant that the universe had decided Lugia should be her partner).

She offered the vine she'd tied around Betel to either Gladion or Nova, since they'd both have the weight advantage at least. "Well, let's see if we can make our way there."

She walked out ahead of the others, sticking close to Leaf and letting Virga trail behind.

<><><>​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Following the aqueducts brought the Wayfarers swiftly enough to a domed building of sandstone and glass – it was an odd thing, seeing windows intact in an ancient ruin. Investigation would reveal a shimmering protective field that rippled at one's touch, amanating from tiny wonder orbs inset at the base of each pane.

Inside was a kind of circular plaza, suspended over a vast reservoir, which itself connected to the aqueduct system outside. The platform was connected to the building's entrance by a long walkway, itself made of glass and stone. Around the basin's rim, enormous stone machinery – carved with runic or heiroglyphic incriptions and inset with more orbs – slowly churned away, pumping the water where it was needed. The platform itself supported a kind of central control system, a sort of sandstone altar, flickering with ancient and decrepit holographic panels.

Standing just beside, a familiar ochre-coloured dragon was poring over this control system, deep enough in concentration that it took a moment for her to register the arrival of the Wayfarers. When the Koraidon noticed them, she looked up and stepped forward, smiling amiably and extending an expansive gesture to indicate the room around her.

"¡Ah! Aquí están," said Professor Sada. "Bienvenidos al Control de la Cisterna. ¿Llegaron ilesos? ¿Y están todos?"

Brilliant. More language barrier problems to contend with.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova blinked once. Twice. Then he shook his head.

"No. Aquí estamos todos." He gestured to the rest of the group. Then Nova pointed at Betel. "Y tenemos 'Lighthouse,' si recuerdo el nombre corectamente." His gaze drifted to the strange construct. "¿Dónde esta Control de la Cisterna?"

"No. Here were are all. And we have 'Lighthouse,' if I'm remembering the name correctly. Where is Cistern Control?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Seeing incomprehension on everyone's faces but Nova's, she cleared her throat and tried again.

"There you are," she said again. "Soko ni ita yo." Cycling through a few languages until she identified some that the new arrivals would understand, she settled on saying everything in both Johtoan Nihonese and Standard Galarish. Apparently she spoke just about any language fluently – she didn't even have an accent.

"Welcome to Cistern Control. Did you all make it here unharmed? And, is everyone accounted for?"

Then, turning to Nova, she smiled and bowed her head in greeting.

"Cistern Control is what I am calling this facility we have entered. Thank you for bringing Lighthouse with you – I see that they are... hibernating, but intact. I will examine them once we have dealt with the present situation."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova's cheek bolts turned once. There was something about Sada that pinged him as familiar. He decided it wasn't worth addressing at this point.

"It sounds as though someone was forcing Lighthouse to summon Amida's partner," he said. "But, since the command couldn't be rejected, it was instead altered to summon other people instead. So, while we get out of here, I think it's best that you tell us what, exactly, was going on with the people you were working for."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion glanced between the other Wayfarers present, not quite understanding anything being said himself. Hopefully, with Betel here, translation would be back online soon.

"I supposed to be understanding this? Je parlez Alolen et Kalosienne. But it's probably fine as long as someone's following along?"

He made his way towards the altar. Did this place really have some kinda hologram projection technology? That felt so far beyond the realm of anything he'd seen in Forlas so far that he couldn't help but be curious about it.

 

[Phoenixsong]

...Oh. Well, that was easy. Easier if they'd actually found anyone else along the way, but the one person who had any shot at all at fixing Beetle was definitely the next best thing.

None of the languages the professor cycled through meant all that much to her, but the telepathy'd been doing okayish so far. "Is this place the heart?" It sure seemed fancy enough, even compared to the rest of the ornate ruins they'd wandered through to get here. "Or if it's not, have you figured out how to get there from here?"

At least she didn't seem too worried about the fact that Beetle was offline—hopefully that meant they'd really be okay—but as far as Leaf was concerned, the sooner they could get the poor guy back to being themselves, the better.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I supposed to be understanding this? Je parlez Alolen et Kalosienne. But it's probably fine as long as someone's following along?"

"Ah, mes excuses, Gladion. Je peux aussi parler Kalosie' si besoin.

It seemed Sada would happily reel off everything she said in as many languages as needed, like some sort of airport tannoy announcer.

"Is this place the heart?" It sure seemed fancy enough, even compared to the rest of the ornate ruins they'd wandered through to get here. "Or if it's not, have you figured out how to get there from here?"

"This does appear to be the heart of the dungeon, yes," replied Sada, evenly. "Or at least, the 'shell' of it. I understand that Betel was able to provide an exit from dungeons once you reached the heart – perhaps we can find a way to achieve that even with them in hibernation."

She kept the 'cheerful university seminar tutor' affectation, but didn't emote much apart from that. Still, something in her eyes betrayed a little excitement.

"It is my belief that if we can give the dungeon what it requires of us, then I may be able to access the systems here more fully. The civilisation that built this place had an advanced understanding of what are now called 'wonder orbs', and made great use of them in their technology..."

Sada seemed likely to continue like this at length, periodically translating into two other languages, until Nova interjected—

"It sounds as though someone was forcing Lighthouse to summon Amida's partner," he said. "But, since the command couldn't be rejected, it was instead altered to summon other people instead. So, while we get out of here, I think it's best that you tell us what, exactly, was going on with the people you were working for."

"Yes, that was the goal of my expedition. I had no special interest in that particular objective, but it was the belief of many in the CDE that we could use Lighthouse – that is to say, Betel – to make the Saint of Victory appear to us. There have been a number of attempts to affect such a result before, both using Betel and by other means. Even occult means. Naturally, these did not meet with any success."

The Koraidon glanced at the unfamilliar new Wayfarers.

"Welcome to Forlas," she said, pleasantly. "My name is Professor Sada. Like you, I am not originally from this world. I hope for us to work together in finding our way out of this mystery dungeon."

She took a breath.

"Forurasu e yōkoso..."

And continued.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade blinked at the... buff lizard(?) matching the description Nova and Gladion had given. Apparently Leaf was right to suppose that the professor might have been forcibly teleported along with the rest of them, because here she was, enthusiastically exploring the heart of the dungeon as if nothing were more natural. Jade still wasn't too sure what to make of the whole 'used to be an AI' thing. (That could happen???) She'd cycled through a handful of languages that Jade vaguely recognized but thankfully Tohjoan was one of them, so that was good.

"Cistern Control is what I am calling this facility we have entered. Thank you for bringing Lighthouse with you – I see that they are... hibernating, but intact. I will examine them once we have dealt with the present situation."

Jade pulled on the vine, allowing the inert Porygon to drift to the front of the group. "I think the mass summon"—if Nova was right and Betel really had summoned partners for all of them—"must have been too big a strain. We haven't been able to connect with their astral form either."

Virga hopped forward, observing the professor as she pored over the wonder orbs installed beneath the windows. At least this one spoke a human language she was familiar with; no need to decipher psychic abstractions. "I'm to understand that without this 'beetle,' our group will be unable to understand the languages spoken in this world, as well as being unable to travel long distances and significantly less coordinated in combat."

Jade bristled. "That's right," she replied tersely. Part of her was now wishing that she hadn't answered Virga's questions about Betel's functionality during the dungeon trek.

Virga flitted up to perch on the edge of the low sandstone wall encircling the plaza. "Good. The sooner we solve that inconvenience, the sooner they can tell me why they saw fit to—"

"It doesn't matter if it's inconvenient," Jade snapped suddenly, slamming a paw against the wall. "It matters because they're alive, and they can feel sad, or hurt, or scared just like anyone else, and that's important. Not whatever stupid endless tasks we're constantly badgering them for like they're our servant, that they're always doing for us without even complaining because they only ever wanted to help us even though no one ever appreciated them!" Not even her.

Jade sank back on her haunches, burying her face in her knees with her tail lashing, trying not to think about the way her throat clenched up at the end there.

Virga blinked at her in stupefied disbelief. "Wh... I have just arrived here, I have not even met this—!" Her words cut off sharply as she realized, yet again, that it was impossible to stand her ground in any semblance with this cursed form.

She turned away with a huff, avoiding Jade's eye. Clearly the girl was severely compromised and lashing out over past events and self-directed frustration—that much was apparent even if she weren't able to feel it through their link.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Perhaps now's not the time to hash this out." Nova leaned in Virga's direction and telepathically sent him and only him a quick, "I'd say settle it like pokémon, but as it stands, Jade would hand you your nonexistent ass on a silver platter."

He sniffed around at Cistern Control. "Okay, so what do we need to offer to make something happen?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

"I'm sure if Beetle'd had the time to know what they were getting into, they'd have chosen someone better for the job," Leaf snorted. She moved past Virga and toward the strange screens. Nova was right, it wasn't really the time... but it felt way easier to be annoyed than some of the other feelings trying to creep their way in, right now. They really hadn't done much for Beetle, had they...

She watched the images and panels that flickered around the altar, admittedly a little distracted. Other than whatever the professor had been conjuring, all this seemed a lot fancier than the crunchy stuff the Coven had brought to the mesa. And all of it from wonder orbs, huh? She almost went to fish one of her own out of her bag to compare before remembering that she didn't have any, because she didn't have her bag. Right.

She was tempted to poke one of the floating panels with her horn, but just about managed to hold back. Not the time for randomly pressing buttons, either. "D'you know what any of this says?" she asked the professor.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Telepathy wasn't really suitable for communicating the nuances of what Jade was saying, but her body language made it clear how she was feeling on its own. She and Virga were arguing about Betel? Gladion'd had some thoughts about Betel back as a Null that were awkward to look back on now, so he wasn't shocked Virga'd said something about them to piss Jade off... But at this point, he understood where Jade seemed to be coming from more. He sat down beside her in silent solidarity, not really feeling like telepathy was suitable for communicating something like that.

After a moment, he looked up at Sada. "So, we need full access to this place to help Betel?" (Or was that just an unrelated curiosity? He was interested in whatever this place had going on, but Betel was his top priority.)