Magna City Shining Congress – Main Lobby

[Jackie Cat]

Turn 5
Player Phase​

The built-up core of Blacklight energy between Articuno's wingtips flickered and pulsed as it neared its critical point. The world seemed to be cast in monochrome as the singularity stripped away all colour, everything reduced to harshly contrasting highlights and shadows.

The whispers grew louder, stronger –

—if this Covenant cannot be mended, better to burn it all down and begin again—​

Dave's Rock Smash dealt 9 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's hardly effective...
Dave's Umbral Recklessness dealt a CRITICAL 83 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's super effective!
Dave's STRONG SHADOW Relentless Soul dealt a CRITICAL 180 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's super effective!

Phantom's RADIANT Assassin Skill Charmed and struck Blacklight Lord for 18 damage! It's Super Effective!
Isidora's Feint Attack dealt 118 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's super effective!
Isidora's Ice Shards dealt 83+84 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's super effective!
Isidora's Triple Axel dealt 44+78+ a CRITICAL 150 damage to Blacklight Lord! It's super effective!
Isidora's Spotter Feat @ Blacklight Lord's Offenses: Atk: 150 Mag: 300

Zena's Support Skill buffed Mhynt!
Mhynt's Umbral Specter let Owen join the battle!
Mhynt&Owen's STRONG Leaf Blade dealt a CRITICAL 101+59 damage to Blacklight Lord! KO!!

– but one final unguarded onslaught by the Wayfarers was enough to rupture the Blacklight aura of Articuno.

The singularity consumed itself without fanfare, an implosion of Radiant and Shadow energies, unmelded, reducing each other to floating embers of light and darkness.

The Saint themself, utterly spent, floated down from on high and crumpled into a pile of feathers and ash on the Congress roof.

"Shadows reveal what you are not ready to state. But you must! Allow it to pull the truth from your soul! And then, with normal minds, and hopefully an ego cut down to mortal strength... we can talk."

"This session of combat... is concluded," the bird rasped, their implacable eyes closing with a prolonged wince.

Wayfarers WIN!​

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt kicked off with a flip through the air, landing on her feet with a huff. Her momentum then continued until she was on her back, held partway up only because of her pine-needle tail. "Finally," she muttered, shaking her arm and letting her blade dissipate into mist. Owen did what he could to prop her up, but she was in no condition to keep fighting now. Any good hit would do them in.

Zena was in only slightly better shape, taking some time instead to approach Articuno.

"Is that it, then?" she asked the others. "Is Articuno purified?" She had her ribbons up and facing Articuno, as if preparing to heal the Saint upon confirmation.

Mhynt still heard a commotion from far off. "What's going on there?" she murmured, trying to see the courtyard.

 

[Butterfree]

There. They'd punched out Articuno. Real load of fucking good that did anyone.

"Okay," he said, panting. "Now can we talk about how we actually beat that asshole?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion stagged back as an unseen attacker shot Gladius through a window, snapping him out of the duel and back into the reality surrounding them.

“Wait, no, I’m supposed to—”

But there was no time to talk. The moment he realized a follow-up was coming, he threw himself into a Quick Attack with no regard for whether or not it might place him in the line of fire. This was his job to finish. He had to be first.

 

[Jackie Cat]

“Wait, no, I’m supposed to—”

He threw himself into a Quick Attack with no regard for whether or not it might place him in the line of fire.

Gladius dropped like a sandbag, falling cleanly back – out cold.

In that same moment, a sudden impact clipped straight through Gladion's ear. A moment later, the crack of a distant gunshot rang in what was left of it. Adrenaline and injury-induced endorphins muted the pain for now, but the cold sensation of absence would tell Gladion he was in for a lot of hurt, very shortly. Something warm and liquid was making rivulets down the side of his face.

Over to one side of the courtyard, what was left of the ebbing battle-network would make him aware of a spent bullet, driven into a stone pillar. At full strength, either of Gladion or Gladius could have shrugged off a direct hit from a mundane projectile like that, but at '1 HP' – as the battle-network would put it – it would be lethal even to them. That was how kinetic weaponry worked here...

Someone had tried to assassinate Gladius.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Is that it, then?" she asked the others. "Is Articuno purified?"

"Okay," he said, panting. "Now can we talk about how we actually beat that asshole?"

Articuno took a long moment to gather themself, their wings moving gingerly and their masked face withdrawn – even statuesque.

"Arthur's studies of Blacklight have borne fruit," they mumured, at length. "He has attained an astonishing level of control over his own energies. He must have been incubating this power for... far, far longer than I dared to anticipate."

The Saint looked at the Wayfarers as if they'd only just seen them arrive. They regarded the team with an unreadable expression, as usual.

"We have much to discuss," said Articuno, and for once, their voice sounded heavy with the weight of their shared circumstances.

---

"What's going on there?" she murmured, trying to see the courtyard.

With good hearing, she might detect a yelp...

 

[Namohysip]

"Owen," Mhynt murmured.

"Right."

Mhynt curtly but politely bowed toward Articuno ."Excuse me." I'm going to check something. She informed the others at the same time that she vanished, Owen's shadowy trail swiftly following after her. She was trying to find the source of the commotion; Owen, meanwhile, checked for foul play.

"Be careful, Mhynt. We're pretty weak right now."

I have a breather. She searched around her bag for some spare healing but sighed. Not much. Still, she had a Detect ready, and Owen had similar shields if need be.

Zena, meanwhile, knew just what to do. Before Owen got too far away, she blasted him with a pulse of Healing--the same boon carried onto Mhynt, stitching wounds and restoring vitality.

The Milotic remained behind, knowing she wouldn't keep up after that. She instead nodded at Articuno. "We need to gather everyone else first. Mhynt heard something; there may still be fighting in other places. Shall we investigate?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Articuno blinked, and their eyes gleamed for a moment.

"I detect no battle-energised auras in the area – it appears that combat has come to a close. And the last of the Blacklight corruption does appear to be dissipating rapidly..."

Then the bird frowned, cocking their head in puzzlement.

"Oh? Gladius and Gladion have fought to a mutual standstill in no time at all," they muttered to themself. "But that makes little sense..."

The voice of Betel chirped in the Wayfarers' ears.

An unknown attacker has been firing projectiles at Gladius from long range! A sniper tried to kill him, and their aura signature appears to be in retreat. You may yet catch them to the south if you are swift.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion reeled back. He could feel air rush though his beak, but if he yelled he couldn't hear it.

The pain and Betel tagging the bullet in the pillar came before the faint, dull sound of the gunshot's sonic boom reached him. Could've been info on how far the shot was taken from. It was lost on him. Time had stopped existing when the violence stopped feeling like cathartic self-expression and became viscerally real. Everything was eerily quiet now. Not silent, but quieter. Like it had faded into the background.

It was hard to think straight. There were so many thoughts competing for his attention, so many important questions. Who did that? How much was it gonna heal? Or was this going to afflict him forever? Had the bullet just pierced his ear, or glanced off his skull? If so, was it part of the skull where there was metal plating? Could he have a skull fracture? Was he going to die? No, probably not, he was built to survive worse than this. His ears would be designed to be able to endure severe damage, but if so why was it bleeding this much? Was that normal for whatever ears he had? Did it tear up the skin of his head? He couldn't remember what species Null ears came from. That was important. He'd made sure to memorize the origins of Hazel's component parts in case she needed medical attention. So that he'd know what to do immediately in a crisis. And he couldn't remember it now that he was in one. Worse, he'd just knocked out the only other person in the world who knew and would've been able to remind him.

Blood crept its way down onto his right eyelid. He had to squeeze his eye shut to stop it from getting into his eye. That pulled him out of it. He shouldn't try to treat this himself. Doctors weren't supposed to treat themselves for a reason and he was far from being one. He fancied himself good at biology. Maybe he was sometimes, but right then he was a startled teenage boy with a gunshot wound.

I... I need help.

Laura was still here, right? No, Dave, Dave, Dave was a biologist who'd dealt with weird cases and worked for that berry person and he would be good at this. He was carrying the tone of a scared kid calling 911 even in his own goddamn mental voice instead of trying to talk to his peers like an equal but getting treatment was a larger priority.

Dave, if I'm bleeding and I still have a sitrus berry, do I... eat it, or what? I feel like I heard something about applying them to wounds but it feels like I'm just gonna get sitric acid in it.

There. This was good. He was problem-solving. Everything was going to okay. This body was a burner. This body was a burner. It wasn't gonna be permanant even if it would stick for the rest of Forlas. He calmed from twitching down to just shivering.

 

[Namohysip]

Someone, get to Gladion for assistance! Mhynt called. I will pursue the attacker. I will be careful.

Zena diverted to assist with healing. Owen followed swiftly after Mhynt, who, after following Betel's directions, made quick work of finding high ground. Between herself and her keen eyes and Owen's Perceive, she was confident she could track down this person swiftly... At least then she could determine how easy it would be to capture them. Her blade was already primed to cut at joints to disable further fleeing.

 

[Butterfree]

At the sound of the gunshot, Dave froze in his tracks, blood running cold. What. What.

An unknown attacker has been firing projectiles at Gladius from long range! A sniper tried to kill him, and their aura signature appears to be in retreat. You may yet catch them to the south if you are swift.

A sniper? What--

Dave, if I'm bleeding and I still have a sitrus berry, do I... eat it, or what? I feel like I heard something about applying them to wounds but it feels like I'm just gonna get sitric acid in it.

"I..." Blood rushing in his ears. "Eat it, just eat it -- bleeding how?" Fuck. What? He turned wildly towards Articuno. "Someone get him an actual fucking doctor!" Sniper. To the south. Leaving. Not here, not here anymore, but he still felt nakedly exposed, ears flattening against his head. For a split second he wanted to duck away somewhere, but the tremble in Gladion's voice was sticky in his brain. One, two seconds, and then he rocketed down to the courtyard, a golden shield shimmering into existence around him and Gladion, without him even deciding to do it.

Probably fucking stupid. If the sniper was gone, they were gone. But there was the shield anyway.

Gladion's ear was bleeding profusely, a crimson stream down the side of his head. "The Sitrus just-- it stimulates your natural healing, you can just eat it. Jesus, what the fuck?" He glanced towards the unconscious Gladius with a shudder. Had he been hit...?