Sunward Atop Sunrest Mesa

[Chibi Pika]

"I'm still fighting for what I believe in – what I've always believed in! I'm still fighting for you, whether you accept that or not!"

"Can you say the same, my knight? Are you still fighting for a end you believe in – that you believe is possible to achieve?"

"Or are you resigned to fail with your principles intact?"

Valere breathed hard, blades up in a defensive stance. Fight for his convictions?

"I've... been doing that... all my life!" he retorted, his voice cracking with the strain of the lie.

He'd never stopped believing he was right, he'd kept fighting for the same ideals, but conviction...? He'd been bled dry of it long ago. Matthias had accused him of not believing he could win. It was true. He expected to lose, if he kept on like this.

He practically welcomed it. The relief of it. The catharsis of proving his body would die before his loyalty ever could. The chance to rest, to let his blood water the soul of the planet he'd fought to protect...

But no such cleansing wound ever came. Instead, Isidora joined him in battle, then other Wayfarers, then the snarling Luxray clanner – and suddenly the fight looked winnable. It looked easy, even.

He could do this after all. Not alone, no, but he didn't need to be alone.

"I haven't failed yet, Matthias!" Valere roared, lightning tracing the edges of his blades. "So long as we both live, I'll keep fighting!"

Valere's STRONG CRITICAL Thunder Punch dealt 93 damage to Matthias! KO!!

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"That seems unlikely. I think perhaps you're just stabbing in the dark, hoping to wound my feelings. You'll need to try again, Gladion. But watch out, I know enough to make my own counter-attacks on your heart, Mohn."

That was it, then. Confirmation of who Neo was, in the final moments before everything exploded into chaos.

Steven's command to stop, even without being directed at Gladion, felt so forceful it quelled him for a moment. But there was no time to breathe, much less to take a break. They had to stop that aura signature bouncing off the airship's comms, or Amida would never be able to live in peace without Coven agents tracking her down. Without Neo headhunting her. Picturing how far they were willing to go to secure their source of Radiance made him sick with anger and anxiety. On one hand, he could probably figure that they didn't know Sage had become a stable source of Shadow and Radiance based on the fact they'd done all this before trying to grab them again. On the other hand, it meant that they would never be able to live safely in this world without fear of the Congress for Directed Fucking Evolution coming after them.

Because of Neo. Because of a version of him. There was something so sick about it. He wanted to scream, or cry, or break something. Settling on the latter, he threw a dark-type shouldercheck into the radio set so that nobody would have to listen to Neo's stupid fucking head voice anymore. Then he shattered his Escape Orb to get up to the airship and set about ripping through as much of it as possible, to tear off any panelling weak enough to be torn apart with beak, claws, and shadow, looking for electrical wiring to rip out of the walls. He'd rationalize this as trying to take down the comms and foil Neo, but more than anything at that moment he wanted to deal as much damage to Coven property as was physically possible for him.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Matthias, felled by Valere's final blow, collapsed to the ground.

In an instant, a net of electric energy fired into him, restraining him in the event of his recovery.

"I'll hold 'im," growled Brisa. "Wind an' weather, it feels good to get one over this fella."

It wasn't over yet, though.

With a noiseless collapse, the dungeon winked out of existence. The ghostly apparitions of the Wayfarer squad within, the Commission's fallen research expedition, and the solar divinity that was Amida... At last, they all came into sharp relief.

The golden Volcarona's body – itself composed mostly of pure aura energy – had burst like an overripe fruit. The Radiance within bled profusely from her cracked exoskeleton like the lifeblood she no longer had. Even so, the shade of Owen spread his dark wings around her, not to snuff her out, but to insulate her, to slow the process, just as a dome of snow can shelter a fire from the polar wind, or how throttling the supply of air can prolong its burning...

"The Living Sun!" cried Aurelia, raising her arms in praise. "Lady Surekhi has woken from eternal rest!"

"...a true night comes at last..."​

"Something is wrong," hissed Estelle, her blades burning hotter. "The Sun fades before my eyes!"

Silent alarms went off in Betel's telepathic net.

The Sun... Amida...! Her aura is destabilising!

Professor Sada spared a single glance at Amida before lumbering forwards, in the direction of the 'Iron Radiance' construct.

"Her aura is destabilising!" she said, raising her voice without shouting – perhaps she'd never learned how. "There is little time—I must prepare the vessel!"

I am detecting Radiance in excess of what the vessel can contain—enough to pose a direct threat to the surrounding area. Only an exceptionally powerful individual could hope to act as a reservoir for the excess energy.

The Koraidon issued a voice-activation command to the metal moth, and a HUD composed of amber light flickered into the air between them. Her hands waved through menus and displays, and typed out queries and commands.

"There is too much Radiance...!" muttered Sada, as she worked. "Only an especially powerful pokémon would be capable of acting as a reserve for the excess energy. Lighthouse, if you can hear me... Identify any such 'mon capable of travelling to this point within the critical timeframe."

'Lighthouse'. By that, she must mean Betel. The artificial Voice of Life. Her creation.

Working on it...
...
Confirmed: Lord Articuno is most likely to be capable of the task, with 68% confidence.

"Lighthouse, where is Articuno now?"

Lord Articuno is currently in the central Sojavena region, within teleportation range.

Sada's draconic neck swung round at the nearest Wayfarer.

"Wayfarer! Can you call Articuno here? They might be able to handle the excess Radiance!"

[ ] Optional Objective A: summon Articuno to help preserve Amida.
[ ] Optional Objective B: destroy the Iron Radiance to let Amida die.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Everything shifted and then went solid, from standing to weightless to heavy as the last of the dungeon fell apart. They were still on the mesa but back on the mesa, now, the phantom equipment and scattering Coven techs Leaf had gleefully imagined herself crashing through suddenly very real and hemming in the space—though most of them were already pretty thoroughly banged up, thanks to the others.

The light hadn't stopped. Amida was falling apart. Literally splitting open like a butterfree climbing out of its metapod shell, but the only thing emerging was just... disappearing. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was They were just trying to help, to keep her safe from the Coven, they she hadn't meant to—

...It's too late. You... tried. But you couldn't know what was going to happen. There's no way to fix something like this. Just let her die with dignity.

She didn't want it to be too late, there had to be something... the bitch lizard, she was talking, shouting about something. (To Beetle?) The... the robot? The thing in the crate. (Oh.) If Beetle thought that could hold her, then maybe... but wouldn't that mean the Coven would just get what they wanted?

"Amida?" she asked, still squinting in the excess light and through the tears blurring at the edges of her vision. "Do you... want to stay? We might be able to help, and maybe we could still help you find Lorrel, but..." Leaf sure as hell didn't care what the Coven wanted. But it didn't really matter what they wanted, either. "Or... or do you just want to rest?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Amida?" she asked, still squinting in the excess light and through the tears blurring at the edges of her vision. "Do you... want to stay? We might be able to help, and maybe we could still help you find Lorrel, but..." Leaf sure as hell didn't care what the Coven wanted. But it didn't really matter what they wanted, either. "Or... or do you just want to rest?"

Supernatural light slipped into Leaf's mind, as aura touched aura.

Without true voice, Amida spoke to her.

"For days uncounted, I have rested... while world and time passed me by."

"I became light and warmth that others might survive..."

"...yet still I hoped against hope that I, too, would see a true dawn again."

"I do not know the world as you have seen it... but I have watched another, as he came to love the world-that-was."

"...I would live, still, if I could do so with that person."​

 

[Ambyssin]

Well, it sounded like a decision had been made then. Nova looked around.

Wait, when did the Wayfarers get a metagr— ohhhh, Steven must've evolved. Good for him. Hopefully? Maybe? He hadn't really considered what evolving was like for all these humans. Oops.

Nova ejected his Fire Memory and swapped it for the Psychic Memory. Red glowing parts shifted to a softer pink.

"Steven!" he shouted. "If this bird's nearby, we should be able to reach them with enough psychic power!"

 

[Tetra]

Thunder from above shook Koa to his core. His ears flattened aginst his skull, canine instincts making him crouch low, tail tucking as he gazed upward. Tension kept his limbs from shaking but did nothing to still his heart. Failure. What would it feel like to die?

"Stop."

The command reverberated through Koa, making his bones hum and his body tremble with awe. For a moment, he stood stock still as he stared at the shining new Metagross before them.

A wild grin overtook his jaws, as his own radiance swept away fear. "Hah! Doing great, Steven!" he howled in reply. A moment later Matthias was downed and trapped, and he shot a satisfied smirk toward Brisa (how many people would evolve before he did?)

There was no more time to celebrate or congratulate, however. Not in the overbearing, blinding light of the Sun bursting forth from the hazy, collapsing dungeon, searing his vision and sending golden spots dancing about. Distantly, he heard Sada's voice.

Save her? Now she wanted to- After all she'd done, after bringing them here and causing this!?

His brain buzzed with tangled emotions and the frenetic pressure of everything happening altogether. "Can we even... Can Articuno even be trusted?" Half to himself, mostly. Could Sada be trusted? What if the Covenant still got their hands on Amida... Not there was time for debate, it sounded like. Or time to think of a better way. They had to save Amida. She wanted to live and he wouldn't let her die.

"Do it!" he called to Steven. Not that he thought the Metagross needed extra prompting. He knew Steven would see it too. It was the only way to save the sun. To save Amida.

 

[Weazel]

And, just like that, it was over. The dungeon collapsed around them, and they were deposited, with Amida’s fleeting ghost, back in reality. It looked like their comrades were just wrapping up here, as well. All that was left was to destroy the mechanical moth, and make sure no one would be able to weaponize the Sun’s power. Archie flourished his scalchops, and…

They weren’t fighting anymore? What!? They were just going to do what the Covenant came here to do anyway!? Just trust that it would be fine!? No, this had to be a bad joke. They couldn’t actually-

“You can’t be serious!?” Archie yelled. “You can’t actually believe they’re going to just let Amida go free, after all this!? Destroy that thing, before it’s too late!”

 

[Namohysip]

Owen's primary goal was keeping Amida safe for now. His wings remained shrouded around her as insulation, even as it poked holes in his Shadowy body, though he didn't seem too pained. Or, if he was, he wasn't showing it.

"I've got a hold on her for now," Owen reported.

But more importantly... Owen listened at Sada's words. Countenance had changed. And his Perceive was telling him something a lot clearer.

"I don't think that... uh, lizard thing is lying! Hey, that machine... while we wait for Articuno, can you promise us that you won't force Amida for your own gains? She deserves to live a normal life! And... let her make her own choice after on what she does! How's that sound?"

"Oh, yes, words, that always wo--right. Perceive." She said the last bit under her breath.

But this could be useful, as earnest as the forward question was from Owen...

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I don't think that... uh, lizard thing is lying! Hey, that machine... while we wait for Articuno, can you promise us that you won't force Amida for your own gains? She deserves to live a normal life! And... let her make her own choice after on what she does! How's that sound?"

Sada looked up at the Shadow apparition that was Owen and blinked, verifying to herself that he was as he appeared.

"I have zero interest in using or controlling her!" declared the Professor, earnestly. "I came here to siphon an anomalous reservoir of Radiant Infinity Energy, not to exploit a sophont who can still be saved!"

She returned her attention to the programming she was feverishly working on, priming the cybernetic vessel to contain Amida's aura.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen glanced at Mhynt and nodded. As far as he could tell, Sada was telling the truth--and as unfamiliar as the species was, her body was similar enough to his that he could deduce how the body was supposed to work.

"...For now, I trust her. It's better than letting Amida die," Mhynt proposed. "That's my vote. And I'll guard her with my life if I must afterward."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I have zero interest in using or controlling her!" declared the Professor, earnestly. "I came here to siphon an anomalous reservoir of Radiant Infinity Energy, not to exploit a sophont who can still be saved!"

"That might be true for you, but how can we know one of your colleagues won't remote control it... or start taking readings and signals from it?" Nova looked between Owen, whatever was left of the equipment, and the airship. It seemed to him like nothing should work, but for all he knew there was some secret backup backup modules or transducers that no one had smashed up.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Okay. Okay, she wanted to live stay, and maybe there was a way to fix this, okay, okay—

—and then shouting. Leaf winced as the shadowy reverb hit her, ears back against her head with discomfort she hated shouting she hated it so much. And anger.

"What about what Amida wants?" she snapped back. "It's not her fault she's been put in this position! What are we supposed to do for her instead, then?" Of course she didn't want the Coven to be able to take her or follow her, but...

"I have zero interest in using or controlling her!" declared the Professor, earnestly. "I came here to siphon an anomalous reservoir of Radiant Infinity Energy, not to exploit a sophont who can still be saved!"

But if there was still a chance, if she was serious about helping, then they had to try, didn't they?

"What happens if you destroy that thing and she has nowhere else to go?!"

"The Living Sun!" cried Aurelia, raising her arms in praise. "Lady Surekhi has woken from eternal rest!"

...

"Something is wrong," hissed Estelle, her blades burning hotter. "The Sun fades before my eyes!"

The... the watch-captains, right? Right. They couldn't hear Beetle's(?) responses, even if the professor could(???). She wasn't entirely sure they'd heard Amida's own. They had no way to know what was happening.

"She..." Leaf tried to shake her head and clear it, tried to focus on the moment. Had to stay focused so everything didn't just fall apart like she'd done to Amida. "She was giving off sunlight for too long, and it changed her too much. She wants to stop, and be able to live again. If we can find a way to do that safely, then— I don't know what'll happen to Sunward, but... she has someone she really wants to find first."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette’s eyes cast back and forth between the rupturing volcarona and Sada. They finally leveled back on the koraidon as she muttered some nearly intelligible things at her computer. The Radiance destabilizing, and again, something about needing a vessel. Because of course, nothing went as to plan.

However, when Lighthouse—their Betel—sounded the name ‘Articuno,’ Odette couldn’t control herself. She barked out a laugh so shrill, so vehemently bitter, that it cut through the remainder of the commotion like a serrated knife slicing through skin.

“Yeah! Fucking! RIGHT!” she wheezed. She simultaneously sounded so euphorically amused and one wrong thought away from striking out on a violent, Wrathful rampage.

“So let me get this straight,” she seethed. “We come up here to stop the fucking Covenant from usurping this Radiance power, and now that things have gone so far off the fucking rails for them, the convenient answer to the current woe is ARTICUNO?”

There was a lull in her apparent anger as she fell quiet. Whether to gather her thoughts or wait for somebody else to answer her, it was hard to tell. It didn’t matter once Moltres’ Wrathful flames began to lick off of her skin in droves as she screamed in unison with the rest of her jaws.

“HOW STUPID DOES EVERYONE THINK WE ARE?”

She caught herself before she could completely lose it, reaching up to dig her hands what should have been her hair and moving to pace as she muttered fervent, unintelligible curses beneath her breath. She soon broke into another fit of waspish giggles before raising a finger toward the imploding moth.

“No,” she spat. “Fuck that.”

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

At first, Steven flooded with relief bolstered by Koa's howl, and he offered a grin back. But then, as if something had disrupted gravity for a moment, reality lurched, spitting the missing Wayfarers back into existence along with her. The Sun. The cracked, leaking shell of what remained of the Sun. And Steven's heart sunk.

"Amida..." He whispered her name in equal parts awe and disbelief. His insides twisted as an influx of Radiance slammed into him, her Radiance, swirling with new emotions. He wasn't an empath, he wasn't supposed to be feeling this, and yet--

Her voice came humming through the Radiance that danced in his mind. She wanted to live.

His body ached at the idea of a second chance. A second life to live. Is that not what he'd been handed by his very existence on Forlas? Then why didn't he embrace this existence with everything he had? Why did a part of him still wish for the life he'd had, the life he couldn't have again?

Her words yearned for life, but his own doubt colored his thoughts with worry. Were they echoes of five thousand years past? Would she be the same Amida if she lived on in the shell of something else? What if she chose this path only to discover Lorrel was gone as well? Was it only sorrow that kept her alive, lamenting the life she never got to live?

Steven's gaze darted from Nova and Koa-- urging him to call out to Articuno, to help contain Amida's life force so that she may take up a new vessel and live on-- to Archie and Odette, both burning with unbridled fear that despite Amida's wishes, her life wouldn't be her own if she were to live inside a shell crafted and controlled by the Covenant.

But there was something that gave him pause amidst the doubt. Something else in her words that burned bright. Leaf's too. Hope. It was hope. All that kept her mind going for five thousand years even as her body was reduced to nothing but living energy. She had five thousand years to turn every "what if" over and over in her head, and in the face of her own end, she chose to hope.

And so would he.

"Leaf! Help me reach Articuno! We'll call out to him together." (Could she feel how he was feeling, too?)

With one last apologetic look towards Odette and Archie, Steven closed his eyes and focused. (Gods, today was a day of firsts all around, wasn't it?) 'Lord Articuno, please! If you can hear me, we need your help atop the Sunrest Mesa, immediately!'

They had to hope, too, that if it came to it, they could stop the Covenant again. They would. For Amida.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt winced at the absurdly loud cries of Odette. "Calm that thing down," she growled, easing when it seemed Odette was... doing something about that other mouth. "The fighting is over. We don't need people crying out and acting irrationally, or rashly, when we have the opportunity to measure our outcomes. We need to think about our options, and if we want to save Amida, we can be in control of the situation with our upper hand. Their equipment is shot. They can't counter us... Let's move this how we want it--and how Amida wants it."

She closed her eyes, thinking. One aspect of herself that she'd lost on the way here was her psychic prowess. Barring Teleportation, none of that was with her here. Thankfully, other Psychics in the party had that covered.

"What exactly can Articuno do to help us? What do we need?" Mhynt asked. "Sorry, I'm still trying to get over a case of sunburn. What's the situation on the mesa?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova felt the surge of ESP. Some weird instinct took hold and his crest fanned out, pulsating with pink light. He was like... a psychic satellite dish trying to amplify Steven's signal by holding a Multi-Attack charge.

"Contain Amida's spirit and her power or something," he said to Mhynt. "I don't really get it myself. It may be a Saint thing? Saint power?"

 

[Tetra]

Koa dug his paws into the earth, hackles going up as Odette's voice made his ears ring, and as the other Wayfarers argued back and forth, as Arcie's darkened words sunk in. They wouldn't let Amida go free. Images of red chains flickered through his thoughts..

What if they were right? The thought of Amida being captured and used... Not to mention Articuno. He'd barely spoken with the Saint, much less gotten a read to know if they were trustworthy. Yes, Articuno had proposed sending them to investigate but... A saint like them would be more than capable of planning something like this, right?

Except Amida wanted to get a second chance. The memory of what happened at the Caldera hung over him like a cold weight. Leaf was right.

"What other choice do we have?" he said to Odette. "We have to save her!"

And then he saw Steven closing his eyes, concentrating. It was done then. All they could do now was hope it was enough.

 

[JFought]

Isidora had wandered closer to Valere after the fight, and felt her lingering radiance pulse with emotion from the all shouting. They had won, and in her heart, she wanted to bite back at Archie and Odette's shadow-tinged objections to the current plan. She didn't want Amida to die. She deserved to live if she wanted to, and if this was the only way then that was what needed to be done.

But in her head, there was a certain clarity in their words, and she knew they had a point. This mission wasn't over until The Living Sun's power was out of the Coven's hands. And if saving her meant trusting the Coven... She had to think of this from the perspective of the Vanguard. There still has to be a chance for us to protect her...

"I agree with Mhynt," she admitted in a low voice, hoping only those near her could hear. "We have an advantage right now, and despite the risks I'd like to save Amida too, but... Valere. What's your call here?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"I agree with Mhynt," she admitted in a low voice, hoping only those near her could hear. "We have an advantage right now, and despite the risks I'd like to save Amida too, but... Valere. What's your call here?"

Valere stood shielding his eyes against the light spilling out from the fading dungeon rift. Though the fight with Matthias had been brought to a close, he still hadn't let down his guard. He glanced down at Isidora, then back at the mechanical moth, currently being operated on by Mesoza.

"This doesn't feel like my call to make," he admitted. "If the Sun herself wishes it, then... we should have the ability to defend her, even after she is preserved." Saving her life did not have to mean letting her fall into the Covenant's hands.