Alexandria Beneath the Red Star

[Jackie Cat]

On the western edge of the Hesperic Ocean, a crowd of pokémon gathered on a beach. Pale sand turned pink from the red light up above, while the ocean turned dark, save for flecks of foam atop its waves. Short grasses swayed in the sea breeze. The air was warm, and smelt of salt, burnt sugar, and ozone.

At the edge of vision, a Shadow flickered. A boundary between the rest of the world and a sphere of spacetime centred on the anomaly that burned the sky. Invisible head-on, but possible to perceive indirectly. Powehi's barrier.

Laura counted heads, checking everyone was definitely present. Everyone that was ready to fight.

"Powehi?" she called, softly. Was he in that fiery rift right now, holding it closed?

 

[Namohysip]

"Are we fighting out in the open, or will this be a more private affair?" Mhynt wondered to herself, arms crossed. "Hm. I suppose in a place like this, there isn't a big difference in the grand scheme of things... We won't be here much longer to suffer any attention if this all goes well."

"I hope we don't strain him, or Betel, too much from all this," Owen said. Despite this, his body seemed to fizzle and flare with the eagerness to fight, as usual.

"Powehi is a god, is he not?" Zena asked. "...Assuming he's among the more responsible ones... I'd like to hope he knows his limits. Especially a pessimistic god."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

It was hard to say whether the appearance of Powehi's barrier made the overall effect of the red start more or less creepy. Gladion felt better under the protection of Powehi's shadows. Lillian found the effect offputting. Powehi hadn't even shown yet, and she already had a hand on the hilt of her rapier.

"You nervous at all?" Gladion asked, despite being easily able to intuit the answer.

"I practised. I'm fine. Are you?"

"Nah." This was a lie. It came out his mouth without a second thought given to the fact that Lillian would know it to be one before it ever even crossed his lips. It was never meant to be anything more than a polite fiction. "You know what they say about battles. Win or lose, the most important thing is to have fun. It'll be fine, just let me..."

With a subtle roll of her eyes subtle enough to go unnoticed, Lillian cut him off.

"...take the hits. We've had this conversation before, stop fretting."

Gladion smirked, and a bit of emotional warmth crept into his deadpan. There was a passing thought he'd had a while back, a distraction that seemed welcome and easy to deliver from this position in the conversation.

"As your older brother, I'm afraid it's my solemn duty to fret."

Lillian disagreed with that assessment. She could retain information that she had been told before. Couching it in a joke that'd gotten old before their ages had hit double digits didn't make it any less patronizing. "You still haven't moved on from that dumb joke?"

"Hey, it's actually meaningfully true now that I've got seven months here. And it's relevant: See, back when I was your age I was fighting Pawniard. This is a whole different grade of learning curve."

It hadn't yet occurred to her to think about the amount of time Gladion had spent here while, based on the fact that their final days in their world lined up, nothing was happening for her. She groaned. The odds of Gladion letting the older twin joke go before whatever sliver of this adventure they got to share in ended felt slim. She pushed back that it still didn't count because they were still just twins, knowingly giving into the distractions of those well-wrought old battle lines. They could easily keep going at this subject until Powehi arrived. (It was better than the nerves, at least.)

 

[canisaries]

Andre had seen plenty of awe-inspiring views on his time on Forlas, and each time he'd remembered he would forget it all once he left. He'd attempted to enjoy what he could while it lasted, but multiple times the situation had been too dire for him to feel comfortable 'enjoying' anything. This was one of those times.

He glanced at Ben. The newly-evolved ursaring no longer seemed to be as bothered by him as he'd been before. While that talk on the outskirts of Frontier Town had been... painful, in more ways than one, it seemed to have been for the better. For Ben, for the Wayfarers, maybe even Andre himself. He didn't know.

He sighed and turned his gaze back to the red star, squinting his eyes. He foresaw a lot of fire in the near future, which wasn't great for a grass type, but maybe he could still pull his weight as support. He'd packed his saddlebags full of healing items for that exact purpose.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave compulsively kept looking back at Jean, so strange in her new Ninetales form. But at least she said she felt good in the Ninetales form. She wanted to help. And as cold as Powehi was, this was a battle to test them. She wouldn't be in serious danger.

So fine. Here they were, father and daughter. Mightyena and Ninetales. Going to fight together. What the fuck.

This whole place was fucking unnerving, but he stayed close to her and waited for Powehi to show himself.

 

[Tetra]

Warm sand shifted under Koa's new paws as he made his way up the beach to join the Wayfarers. He moved with confidence, steps light despite the gravity of the situation. And with an odd familiarity... Something about this form... Anubis followed at his side, their shoulders now brushing. No more constantly craning to look up at his partner. They saw eye to eye now, literally.

Earlier, he'd passed by a mirror. Dark gray-blue fur, fluffy and spiked mane on the top of his head. He'd kept staring, unflinching, at his reflection. Golden brown eyes gazed back. Not blue, not a nightmare.

Just... himself.

And finally, maybe for the first time since arriving on Forlas, maybe since as long as he could remember... that was enough.

He turned his attention to the red star overhead. A stir of excitement rippled through him, dire as this was. Had he done this before? Fighting an entity beyond even a Saint?

Anubis' steady gaze met his own for a moment, and he nodded. Despite his serious demeanor, the subtle flick of his tail gave away the Houndoom's own eagerness at meeting the shadowy entity. We're ready, Powehi.

Shadows flickered at the corner of his vision, almost beckoning.

'Ready, Betel?'

 

[Jackie Cat]

Had he done this before? Fighting an entity beyond even a Saint?

Nobody had ever done this before – save maybe a single Victini, thousands of years ago.

"Ready," confirmed Betel, their telepathy crackling with more feeling in person than it ever did when they'd been disembodied.

The Red Star pulsed, brightened, and for a stomach-tugging moment seemed as if it would blow open in some explosion of energy. It did not. A faint halo of light ringed its circumference, gold against its red.

A rough cough sounded from behind the Wayfarers as Powehi cleared his throat.

"You came," he observed, in his usual dust-dry voice. "Good."

Despite what many might expect, the Lucario looked less haggard than he had when he had fought against Alexander. There was a strange glint in his eye, almost eager. His voice seemed to thrum, as if Radiance from the rift had seeped into him somehow. He looked healthy. Strong enough to fight, in fact.

"My... counterpart. Has agreed to maintain the Red Star's stability while we carry out our battle. You will fight me first. I trust that you all are ready?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt noted the better conditions. "Well, we've seen you worse," she commented. "Thank you, by the way, for assisting us with that. And now you're assisting us again." She exhaled. "The power to oppose the gods, and then to halt the usurpers. We already did it once with Alexander... but he was reckless. Now we're dealing with Arthur, who had plenty of time to plan and learn about this world. He recognized his weaknesses... We could learn a thing or two about that when beating someone stronger, back home, can't we, Owen?"

"Mhm. But for now... is there anything we should know before we fight? What's the win condition, so we don't, uh... beat you up too badly, or the other way around?"

"...Your... counterpart?" Zena added.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade's paws sank into the sand as she made her way down the beach under the ominous glow of the red star. She knew it wasn't really a star, exactly, but it sure felt like one. Powehi was here, too, and it occurred to her that this was the first time she'd actually seen him outside of the dreamscape. And now they were going to fight him. She wasn't nervous about the battle, really, not after everything they'd been through. She just, really wanted this to work out, for Betel's sake.

Virga touched down next to her, metallic talons sinking into the sand and a rush of air spilling out around her wings. Jade had mostly gotten used to the Corviknight completely dwarfing her in size now—it was basically a return to their previous arrangement, after all. The few weeks of making Lugia look up to her for a change had been kinda nice, though.

She flashed Betel a reassuring smile with a small wave before turning to Powehi. "I think we're ready, yeah." When Mhynt asked about the conditions of the battle, a thought occurred to her. "Is it just going to be you, fighting all of us?" Not that she doubted he was strong enough, it was just a strange mental image when he wasn't some huge imposing Legendary Pokémon.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Mhm. But for now... is there anything we should know before we fight? What's the win condition, so we don't, uh... beat you up too badly, or the other way around?"

"Is it just going to be you, fighting all of us?"

Malachai cleared his throat. "Our transit here was a little... rushed. I was given to understand that we were here to address the Red Star, but instead we are to duel this... itinerant warrior?"

Of course, Malachai hadn't fit inside the Sun Stone, and had been hastily updated by a feverish Laura on the way. She blanched, embarrassed.

"Well, ideally we'd get all our allies to come with us for that. But we sorta hurried here to rendezvous with Powehi in case it was about to burst any hour now. And, uh. Well, we knew he wanted to fight us anyway, 'cause that's to strengthen Betel for the fight with Arthur. I guess we're doing it now, though?"

"Indeed we are," cut in Powehi, smoothly. "I have my means of battling a large number of opponents at once. You are at little risk of destroying me. You can hardly produce enough Radiance to burn away all the grief and pain that has ever been felt by millions upon millions of 'mon..."

He forced a thin, joyless smile, and something glinted in his paw. It looked like jade beads of some kind, comma-shaped, like magatama. He toyed with the beads, and they clinked gently against each other.

Powehi is accompanied by four additional aura signatures. The aura signatures... of legendary pokémon!

The Lucario smirked, as if he knew that Betel's network had just informed the Wayfarers that he was unalone.

"We will fight until either party is unable to battle – or until your little star finds the inner strength to handle limitless exotic energies, and the emotions associated with them. You understand, don't you, Betelgeuse?"

The little computer-bird nodded. "I understand, Dark Matter."

"...Your... counterpart?"

Powehi looked sidelong at Zena and nodded stiffly.

"I am the collective... pain of this world, comprised of every ill-feeling, every dark thought, every lost dream. She is the world-spirit, the Voice of Life, the collective will of all living things. She is brightness and hope, the beacon of Radiance that draws heroic souls to this world... and she is called Auriga."

The name worked its way out of the jackal's mouth as if he'd not said it in lifetimes. He described her slowly, almost reverently, as if it were newly-discovered lore, wondrous and unfamiliar. Had something happened recently between the two of them?

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt flinched. "Auriga?" she repeated, recalling that name. "A Voice and a Dark Matter working together? Owen, is that not..."

"I heard that it's pretty rare... and then there's the whole thing in another world that I vaguely remember, but..."

"A Voice... I'm not familiar with what that means, but if this person is another 'embodiment' of a world, then I suppose it'd be good practice," Zena said.

After the initial shock, however, something else caught Mhynt's attention.

"This isn't really about who makes the other fall," she said. "We shouldn't necessarily be aiming to defeat you... It sounds more like we should be trying to pivot our strategies to push ourselves to the limits of corruption to stress-train our spiritual muscles... and, therefore, allow Betel to truly harness that power, as our conduit.

"That's the true purpose of this fight. Isn't it? And you suggest we play along."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Powehi chuckled grimly.

"You might say that, yes... Either way, I intend to make you work for your victory. I shall not be a gentle teacher."

The Lucario snapped his fingers, and the Red Star fell away into the ocean like a sunset that took only an instant. In its place came night, and stars in a black sky, and cool air. The ocean stilled, the wind dropped, and the hum of Magna City died away.

The sand beneath their paws was silver, and the hills around them the colour of half-remembered dreams.

"Welcome to Lethe, everyone."

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