Frontier Town Main Street

[Weazel]

These surprised reactions were increasingly becoming his favorites. Dustin watched, toothy smirk plastered on his face, as Silver’s face and jaw worked between several different expressions and half-formed sentences. He waited for the response the Sneasel would settle on. Belief? Doubt? Outright rejection? Maybe he’d ask Archie for confirmation, the Dewott was too straight edge to lie.

When the Sneasel instead instructed him to prove it, the Buizel was surprised, but all the more interested. Especially when the weasel summoned up a ghostly manifestation of his counterpart and told him to strike it down ‘with the power of a god.’ All but daring him to use Aeroblast in the middle of town. That was risky, potentially dangerous even… Dustin loved the idea!

“Very impressive,” he hummed, looking the bird up and down. “You got some kind of blessing?”

To be honest, he’d dreamed of shooting that pompous turkey out of the sky once or twice. It seemed like every time they met, the haughty bird had some cutting remark, or another new way to tell him just how much he was failing to live up to his predecessor. This might not be his Ho-Oh, or even a real Ho-Oh at all, but he’d enjoy this.

“Well, if you insist…”

The Buizel felt the power well up within him. It came easier to him the longer he spent time on Forlas, and the more strength he recovered. The Buizel laid his paw on the hilt of his revolver. Archie finally turned to face them again, and immediately went slack jawed, ears and whiskers drooping.

“Dustin, wait-!”

The Buizel drew his pistol, gave it a twirl, and grasped it in both paws, aiming at the Ho-Oh apparition. Using the end of the barrel as its origin point, the blast of compressed air gathered, and then fired!

Dustin used Aeroblast!

 

[Cresselia92]

“Very impressive,” he hummed, looking the bird up and down. “You got some kind of blessing?”

Silver blinked, both surprised by Dustin’s nonchalance and by the question itself. Back when he was younger, he most likely would have felt entitled to get some blessing from a powerful legendary and to command it, even if that meant using brute force. But now? He highly doubted that any legendary would even consider allying with someone with a stained heart like him and they would be right.

“Hmm, maybe?” he muttered uncertainly as he pushed back those thoughts, then glanced sideways at the spectral bird. It stared back at him with those same unblinking eyes. “Truthfully, I’m not sure where this tiny Ho-Oh comes from. All I can say is that I’ve been having strange dreams from time to time with Ho-Oh — or Spectrum, as he told me once — talking to me. Something must’ve happened back home, before I came here, but I still don’t know exactly what.”

And whatever questions he might have, Silver couldn’t ask them to the bird-brainless flying by his side. After all, it was just a devoid reflection of his own soul… was it?

“Well, if you insist…”

The shadows in his mind receded as the adrenaline rushed through his system. Silver smirked back at Dustin, eager to find out the truth. “Alright! Time to see what you’ve got!” he called, before glancing back at the bird. “Let’s do it, Spectrum!”

Hearing that name toward itself seemed to have some effect on the tiny bird. Its usually emotionless stare grew sharper, matching the determination of its soul-linked human and echoing the godly pride of the real deal from his world. Said determination didn’t falter even as Dustin aimed his pistol at its glorious figure, although it could sense a wave of nervousness cursing through its human as the loud whistle of cutting winds reached his ears.

Silver might have heard it once, but that was enough to be memorable, while the real Spectrum might heard it plenty of times, but its shadow didn’t remember.

Still, that Buizel had been in Forlas for only a few days. How could it channel so much power so quickly? Those claims, and the winds… oh gods, so they were genuine!

Damn! That could get ugly really fast! Fly higher!

Heeding the mental command, Spectrum flapped its majestic wings and soared as high as it could, leaving behind a golden trail of embers. The droning noise grew stronger, the power coalesced into a single point, and the winds raced toward the tiny Ho-Oh.

Much to the duo’s shock, the winds sliced near effortlessly through the wall of fire, and Spectrum felt its force draining as it took an aerial slash after the other. Sensing Silver’s unease growing, Spectrum pushed the barrier toward the vulnerable ‘mons and stands to protect them, taking the full brunt of the massive beam. Its shape became more and more distorted as the gusts whiffed its spectral flames, and the barriers flickered as the bird began to lose control and stamina.

But even if that Spectrum was a pale imitation of the real Ho-Oh, the legendary energy pulsed from within Silver’s soul, as if reacting to Dustin’s power. Golden flames burned within Spectrum’s core, and that eternal fire wasn’t of Radiant origin.

Spectrum used Sac—!

At last, the two opposing energies reached their breaking point and the maelstrom of silver winds and golden flames imploded. Stray gusts clashed against the walls of golden fire and they mutually dissipated in clouds of metallic-tinted smoke.

A golden feather appeared inside Silver’s chest once Spectrum vanished, but he didn’t seem to register it. He stared blankly at the colorful remains of the clashing powers, which had sent a hot breeze across the street, and he slowly turned back to Dustin. Only one word tumbled out of his mouth, brimming with awe. “Whoa…”