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Frontier Town Frontier Town Outskirts

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"I get it," Nova said, bobbing his head slowly. "It's... tough to understand. But I need to do it." He gave Gladion an apologetic look. "If you knew that's sacrifice could bring about a miracle, would you go through with it? Even if it meant you may not see what that miracle is?"
 
"I... don't know. I'd hope so, it'd be the right thing to do. I see why you did it."

And yet, he couldn't really picture himself doing it. He had Hazel to protect. Had to live for her sake as much as his own, she depended on him. He'd do it to save her. "If I had to to protect my partner, I would. I know that, but..."

But if that wasn't the case? If it was protecting the rest of the world, but if it couldn't really fix any of the things that would ruin her without him there to protect her? Suddenly... Then he couldn't picture it. It felt deeply immoral to accept that he'd really fuck over his entire world just to keep one person safe. But he... wasn't sure he wouldn't either.

That itch again. A malaise of shadow in his heart. It wasn't just easier to picture himself self-sacrificing for Forlas because he wouldn't really die. It was also because he cared about this world. It had been good to him. The people back home, that whole world had done nothing for him or Hazel. Maybe he was bitter about that. About how they'd had to carve out their own niche in it tooth and talon. He'd let the rest burn to protect that.

"I don't think that I could, if it wasn't for that."

But Nova had far more right to complain about his world than Gladion did. Nova's world seemed worse in every measurable way, and yet...

"Maybe you're just a better person, Nova."
 
Nova shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. I've made a lot of big mistakes up until now. And this is... this is..."

That darkness was bubbling up. Nova coughed once. Then again. Shadows swirled around his claws. They gathered up to his left, growing larger and larger. That black cloud spawned a canid head of its own. One that was... peculiarly shield-shaped. Parts of the shadow glowed red against its black, wispy body.

Nova stopped coughing and took several breaths. He didn't want to speak with distortion in his voice. He glanced up at the shadow. So, it really had manifested here.

"This is my way of making up for all the wrongs," he said. "Starting with a heroic spirit that my sacrifice will help bring back to keep up the fight."
 
What on earth is that?

The answer was obvious: It was Nova’s new shadow power. Gladion didn’t get up and put distance between him and Nova, even though a corner of his brain wanted to. He trusted Nova. He didn’t have to worry. Even in spite of that, he allowed himself some leeway to lean away.

“Woah.” His voice sounded antsier than he felt like it should. He did his best to clamp down on it before letting himself say any more. “Hey. It’s alright.” (Was Nova even shaken, or was that just him?) “I mean, uhh. I guess that’s your new thing, then? Do you know what it is yet?”

Gladion didn’t recognize what a Zamazenta was, nor could he guess anything else about the move.

What Nova was saying was worrying, too. His voice sounded normal, but the whole wrongs thing… It wasn’t like Gladion could disprove the idea, but he couldn’t imagine blaming Nova for anything that’d happened back home. The guy had had a rough time, he didn’t deserve to have to make up for it…

Somehow, he didn’t think Nova would agree with that. So he let it pass.
 
"Back home, I call it my Guardian," Nova said. His expression got heavier. "It was once my teammate. Helping me fight against my creator." He looked down shamefully. "But, for as bad as I thought she was, she was holding back something much worse. The person who shadowed me." He looked at the Guardian. "And who tethered my teammate to me. My Auriga says the one way to break that tether is if I don't have a body anymore.

"Back home... the Guardian was a brutal attacker. But here..." Nova eyed the big dog. "I don't fight like that. I shield others. So I wonder... if it's different." He leaned over and nudged the shadows with his beak. His triangular ears twitched. "Hmmm." Nova straightened up. "Kinda reminds me of a Substitute..."
 
"A substitute, huh?"

Gladion stood up and circled around to the Guardian.

"That's interesting. It's coming from your shadow, so I suppose it makes sense that it'd work more like how you tick. Should I..."

He glanced at Nova, then back at the Guardian. "Do you want me to test it out? Poke it with a Tri-Attack, see what happens? Even if it reacts and hits me back or whatever, I can probably handle it."

This was more of a thing than he'd been expecting at first. There was just a physical manifestation of Nova's shadow sitting there just begging to be experimented with. Made him wonder what he was going to pull out, but whatever that itch needed to claw it's way out of him, it didn't have it here.
 
Gladion tilted his head. "Does it have a mind of its own, or are you... doing ventriloquism with it." (If someone was going to find a way to do a ventriloquist comedy routine with the physical manifestation of their own shadows, he felt like it would be Nova.)

Shooting a weird little shadow canine thing that wasn't fighting back felt mean, especially when it was reacting to Nova, but they had to figure this out before the battle so he prepared a Tri-Attack anyway and aimed to paralyze. "Sorry, little guy, gotta shoot you in the face now. For science."

His attacks weren't very strong to begin with, though. He could shoot Nova in the face with a Tri-Attack and the guy probably wouldn't notice if his eyes were shut. That itch wasn't very strong right now, thinking about Nova, but he tried to channel it regardless, to see if it would do anything. A small amount of inky purple laced its way through his crest, and a few bolts of shadow sputtered towards the Guardian, trying to lance it. But they moved with the strength of a candle asphyxiating in its own carbon dioxide, and didn't have much of an impact.

He looked at Nova. "Huh. The Tri-Attack do anything to you, at least?"
 
The tiny lance plinked off the Guardian.

11 damage!
Click to expand...

It looked at Nova, who looked back at it and shrugged. "I think it has my durability. And I'm not sure I really felt anything?"
 
"Didn't paralyze either. Guess it's like a substitute"

But that couldn't be everything. Substitute was already a move that existed, intuitively Gladion just felt in his gut that there was something more. There just had to be. Shadow stuff was supposed to be... stronger?

"We'll just have to figure out the rest in the fight proper. Maybe Betelnet'll help with that, too? Not sure. My hidden power thing just came a lot more easily."
 
"Not everything has to be big and flashy," Nova said, nodding at the Guardian. "I want to protect people. Somehow... Betel must've recognized that and tooled my aura to operate that way."

He clicked his tongue. "And, uh... Betel's probably dealing with his own... uncertainties. The trip to the Comb ended up revealing that Betel's... prrrrobably an artificial Beacon. Whipped up the Covenant." He sighed. "If I had to guess, the same folks who made Sage."
 
Aw, that was a pretty sweet way of thinking of it, actually. "It makes sense. Certainly suits you. Hard to picture you working any other way."

Gladion had heard though word of mouth about Betel's origins already, which he'd kind of suspected something like that would turn out to be the case since finding out they'd been tested back in Lumirror. Honestly he hadn't really thought about how Betel would feel about that, though. "Probably. Sounds like Articuno is pretty sure they know who the faction is, even. Gave me an explanation. But... I guess Betel we've been kept pretty busy, so I didn't really think about Betel that much outside the wider implications..." He felt kinda bad about that, saying it aloud.

"Does that make Betel and Sage, like... siblings, of a sort? Except they can't really meet. That's kinda sad, actually."
 
"In a manner of speaking." Nova's crest tightened. "It's just... thinking about the people who got summoned here. Some of us... really stretch the definition of a 'heroic spirit.'" His cheek bolts turned a couple of times. "It... worries me, honestly. If the people that made Betel gave him such loose criteria to summon spirits... then who really knows what they're capable of? And what sort of... twisted logic they use to justify their actions as being just."

His shoulders sagged. "None of that's helpful for the fight ahead, I s'pose. It just... strikes a familiar cord for me."
 
Oh, that sounded suspicious. Was there something he should know about? Gladion went over his mental list of Wayfarers, trying to figure out who Nova was talking about. Probably not Archie, he may have been a sorta bounty hunter-y sort, but his past seemed clean. Gladion'd gotten secrets from everyone in Lumirror already. Bellatrix, then? Could be Bellatrix. He was pretty sure he knew what was up with Dave, so even if the guy didn't seem super heroic, he was pretty sure that wasn't it. Isidora seemed like someone had hurt her, but not super sketchy. Ridley or Astrid were two he didn't know very well, but it seemed improper to try to pin it on them just to avoid having to think it might be someone he knew better, and Astrid had had his back in plenty of fights by now. Was Bellatrix his only guess, then? That felt too obvious, though. Maybe someone he didn't know as well, then.

"The Bird's hunch is that they're trying to replace the strength of Saints. Same goes with Sage. I'll spare you the reasoning, honestly, it's pretty stupid, don't think any sane person would agree with it. So, yeah, guess I wouldn't trust their moral compass."

Maybe it was fine? Nova had suspected him at first, too, because of the other Gladion debaucle... but they'd sorted that out now. Nova'd seen past it. Augh, he couldn't stand not prying.

"I'm not gonna pry," he lied, "but is there there someone here I ought to watch my back around? 'Cause, you know..." He shot Nova a sympathetic look. Borderline pitying, but he wanted to avoid looking condescending. "Your familiar chords don't tend to be super happy ones."
 
"Yeah. Not gonna fault you there." Nova sighed. "And it's not helpful for the fight ahead."

The Guardian was still standing there. Nova looked at it. "I, uh... am going to have to figure out how to make it go away without just hitting it repeatedly." A dray laugh escaped his beak. "So, mmm, guess I'll wish you luck with Terminal One." He looked down. "And if Sage goes with you, look after 'em, okay?"
 
Gladion laughed, welcoming a diversion from whatever Nova was alluding to. “Could always try just hitting it repeatedly. See how long it takes! And yeah. I’ll keep an eye on Sage. Won’t let anyone hurt them, I swear it.”

He felt like he could say that with more confidence now. Nothing they’d talked about was really gonna fix anything, but it had been good for his spirits to talk about it anyway. Would’ve sucked to go to Terminal One still sitting on all those feelings.

Now, he could at least say he felt ready.

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