Magna City Shining Congress – Side Halls

[Butterfree]

"O-oh..." Kissing someone who was married was supposed to be pretty bad, wasn't it? But if the Blacklight thing was messing with everyone's heads, was it even true? And Angel seemed to feel really bad about it.

Jean glanced at Andre. She wasn't totally sure what was going on with him, but her dad had made it sound like she should stay away from him. He seemed nice, though, and was trying to help...

"Maybe... Maybe you just need to apologize?" she suggested.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Mercury!" she called out, hardly knowing where her brain had pulled the name from. And then, without waiting from a response from him, she spun around and waved to Lillian. "The Weavile! He's one of Gladius's illusions, I think."

Lillian’s eyes shot open when Jade called out Gladius’ presence. If Jade hadn’t known that was one of his illusions, she might never have put two and two together on that. She was lucky Jade was there. She’d have to remember to thank her later.

It still wasn’t visually obvious whether or not it was Gladius, but he did seem to recognize her…

"'Sup, sis. Your real brother's here too, ain't he? Cool. Real cool. I hope whatever you guys do to me hurts reeeaaal good."

oh no. That was him. That was him. But he was clearly not in his right mind either. What did that even mean? Did he really think they wanted to hurt him? (Okay, to be fair to him, he might not be wrong about Gladion. But her?) She had done nothing but indicate that she cared about him and wanted to count him as a brother.

She needed to look him in the eyes. To look him in his actual eyes and tell him he was wrong. Before her higher levels of thought processed what she was going to do or decided what the plan afterwards was, she had channeled ghost energy into the hand that she’d left on of the grip of her rapier and—

Lillian used Shadow Sneak!

—flicked the Weavile illusion upside the head. Then quickly took a step back, surprised at herself.

“Wait, I—” Didn’t mean to? She meant to, sort of. She just wanted to— to— was mad that— It was just this again.

She took a deep breath. Her thoughts were moving too quickly, her feelings resonating with the crowd. But she couldn’t panic, this was not a good time to have a panic attack, so she pushed through it and forced herself to lock eyes with Gladius. (That was why she’d done this in the first place and now she felt like her heart would explode if she followed through. But she was familiar with this feeling and familiar with pushing past it.)

“You. You can’t say that. Stop.”

She returned her weapon to its place at her side. This time, she didn’t keep a hand on the grip.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” (That didn’t hurt, right? That hadn’t been the point it was a weak move and she was weak, he resisted it and was so much stronger.) “Do not put that on me! I have been kind to you!”

Well, she wasn’t doing a very good job of it right now. Her blood was running hot. She couldn’t stop now, she was desperate to be listened to.

“Gladion, he left me alone with her, you know that? Right? You know, that’s why I first met you and couldn’t tell you weren’t him. He ran away, and I never saw him again, and before that when I actually knew him you two hadn’t even diverged at all! I don’t know either of you anymore, and you both hate each other, and I’m— I’m trying! Okay?”

She’d be crying if she still could. Her face was flush with blue blood, badly enough that she could feel the warmth.

“You two can tear each other apart and I can’t stop you but do not drag me in. Do not make me take part. Do not put sides or favourites onto me, or decide I have one and then get sad you’ve decided it’s not you! I can’t— I can’t make it work if you do that. And I want to, I will, so don’t.”

Finally, she allowed herself to break away from looking at him. Now that she had poured out the last of her anger, she wilted back, bracing for retaliation.

“I’m sorry. I love you.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Well, I know what it's like to play pretend," Andre began.

"You sure do," Ben muttered.

"But surely you've done some good things, too?" Andre continued. "And would that have been pretending? You still did the good things. I'm sure the people whose live you made better appreciate it."

Angel nodded tearfully; inside she was clinging to the idea that she'd done good, that 'mon appreciated her efforts.

"B-but... but if my motives were impure..."

"Maybe... Maybe you just need to apologize?" she suggested.

The little bug shuddered, and sighed. Something went out of her at the sheer simplicity of the suggestion.

"It's... not too late," she murmured. "To make amends? Is it?"

---

“You. You can’t say that. Stop.”

For whatever reason, the illusion didn't break. Mercury remained a Weavile, his dull eyes meeting Lillian's.

“I don’t want to hurt you. Do not put that on me! I have been kind to you!”

“Gladion, he left me alone with her, you know that? Right? You know, that’s why I first met you and couldn’t tell you weren’t him. He ran away, and I never saw him again, and before that when I actually knew him you two hadn’t even diverged at all! I don’t know either of you anymore, and you both hate each other, and I’m— I’m trying! Okay?”

“You two can tear each other apart and I can’t stop you but do not drag me in. Do not make me take part. Do not put sides or favourites onto me, or decide I have one and then get sad you’ve decided it’s not you! I can’t— I can’t make it work if you do that. And I want to, I will, so don’t.”

“I’m sorry. I love you.”

"I love you too, sis," said Mercury, in the tone of a criminal confession. "But I got a Lillie I left behind who knows me for real. Knows me for what I am. Maybe your brother left you, but at least he showed you there was a way out. Did I ever tell you, I'm in charge of Aether now? Or, I was. I guess you're in charge now I'm gone."

Mercury looked up, gazing past Lillian to where the sounds of battle could be heard. Waves of Blacklight energy pulsed through the Congress' walls. His Weavile body shimmered, with nothing showing beneath it.

"But... You won't give up on me, will you. Even after all I've done. Guess I gotta make the choice for you, then."

Mercury calmly reached down and drew Lillian's sword from its holster, flipped it like a tossed flask, caught it by the blade, and drove it into his own chest.

The Weavile flickered, and crumbled into static, the sword clattering to the floor.

Past where he'd stood, Lillian would glimpse a familiar Lantern Knight slipping through a doorway...

Objective: deal with Mercury.
[ ] Objective: deal with Iridium.
[ ] Objective: deal with Parallax.
[ ] Objective: deal with Neo.
[ ] Objective: deal with Gladius.

 

[canisaries]

Angel nodded tearfully; inside she was clinging to the idea that she'd done good, that 'mon appreciated her efforts.

"B-but... but if my motives were impure..."

"I don't think anyone has entirely pure motives," Andre said. "We all want to feel good about ourselves, and part of that is making choices we deem moral. But if we still choose the actions that also benefit others, does it matter how pure our intentions are? We're making the world a better place to live in."

The little bug shuddered, and sighed. Something went out of her at the sheer simplicity of the suggestion.

"It's... not too late," she murmured. "To make amends? Is it?"

Andre's tail shot up in excitement. The Blacklight was leaving.

"It's not too late," Ben said, stepping in. "You can always make amends."

Andre gave Ben a glance. Ben answered it with a glare.

You're different, the teddi sent through Betel's network.

 

[Butterfree]

Jean's ears perked in hope. It seemed like something was getting through to Angel. "Yeah, you can always make amends!" she said, echoing the Teddiursa... who was now glaring at Andre. What was going on? Why didn't anyone like Andre? She felt kind of sorry for him. But if there wasn't a good reason, what about her dad?

She glanced around at the other people there, still babbling, shouting, fighting. "Will you help us try to help everyone else?" she said, turning back to Angel.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Who the hell were you talking to just now?"

Blue wouldn't appreciate her ignoring yet another question—not that he was gonna be thrilled by the actual answer itself, either—but the unfezant had chosen that exact moment to collapse onto Leaf in a blubbering heap, so they were just gonna have to skip opening that can of screaming gyarados and kick it down the road. Please just help me, she mouthed at him, desperate. Anything.

"Isn't... isn't that supposed to be part of it, though?" she tried, tuning out the mutinous grumbling coming from her passenger. She couldn't give the guy a hug or a pat on the head as a horse; probably only would've been more awkward anyway. Somehow it seemed more dignified to just let him sniffle into her shoulder. "The Covenant, I mean. Don't they say it's for giving pokémon who feel alone a place to belong?"

The muttering behind her had died down, replaced with a long-suffering sigh. "...Look. So you don't feel like you deserve to stay here—" 'wherever the hell "here" is' miraculously went unsaid "—because you're not doing anything. You know they'll respect you more if you come clean about it than if they have to sort you out themselves, right? Way more if you actually make a change instead of just mopin' around."

"Do they know you don't think you're doing anything?" she asked, relief washing over her now she wasn't alone in this any more. "Can't you talk to them about how you feel, or tell them you aren't sure what you can do to pitch in? The Covenant doesn't seem like the sort of group to kick people out without giving them a chance, and I bet if you just asked, they'd be happy to let you know where they could use your help." Hopefully not with, like, the CDE or something, but. She offered him a tentative smile. "What would you want to do to help out around here, if you could?"

Some more uncomfortable fidgeting on Leaf's back indicated Blue was about to chime in again, but then he froze, like something else had caught his attention. She chanced a quick look over her shoulder to see him frowning at a doorway down the hall.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Just an illusion. Jade gave a sigh of relief after the momentary adrenaline spike when Mercury had grabbed the sword. She realized, with an uncomfortable twinge, that stopping him from doing something drastic once they found the real one. But before she could say anything to Lillian, her attention was grabbed by a flash of sparks from a distressed Flaaffy. The one from the Explorer's Office who'd met with everyone heading on the Tyrrier expedition. Her name, it was... Saffron, right, like the city.

"Hey, it's okay, we're trying to help. I know everything seems real bad right now--it always does with these things--but it's not gonna last forever. It's easier if you breathe."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I don't think anyone has entirely pure motives," Andre said. "We all want to feel good about ourselves, and part of that is making choices we deem moral. But if we still choose the actions that also benefit others, does it matter how pure our intentions are? We're making the world a better place to live in."

"It's not too late," Ben said, stepping in. "You can always make amends."

"Yeah, you can always make amends! Will you help us try to help everyone else?"

Angel wiped her face, the shudders subsiding. Shimmering above her head, a halo of Blacklight energy flickered into visibility... and then, disintegrated into motes of light and shadow.

Ribombee Angel was purified!

"I want to help," she said, her voice thick. "Whatever's happening, I want to help."

She looked around.

"Oh, gosh, is it everyone? All over? Um, you'd all better keep moving. I'll try to calm everyone down here, I know some of these people. And, um, thank you for hleping me. S-sorry. That was really embarrassing. Oh, gosh."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Isn't... isn't that supposed to be part of it, though? The Covenant, I mean. Don't they say it's for giving pokémon who feel alone a place to belong?

Unfezant's breath caught, and his beak dipped as he nodded tremulously...

"...Look. So you don't feel like you deserve to stay here—because you're not doing anything. You know they'll respect you more if you come clean about it than if they have to sort you out themselves, right? Way more if you actually make a change instead of just mopin' around.

"Do they know you don't think you're doing anything? Can't you talk to them about how you feel, or tell them you aren't sure what you can do to pitch in? The Covenant doesn't seem like the sort of group to kick people out without giving them a chance, and I bet if you just asked, they'd be happy to let you know where they could use your help. What would you want to do to help out around here, if you could?"

That... was a lot. Rather a lot for a panicking, spiralling bird to take in all at once.

"I-i just, I want..."
The Shadow-dredged insecurities welled up so strong that Unfezant could hardly find the words to express them, bug-eyed and open-beaked. He pushed away from Leaf with his wings, reacting with unfiltered impulse to escape, to no longer be perceived in this way, and a gust of wind coursed from his limbs hard enough to knock him backwards, tumbling over himself. The exotic energy lingered, coalescing...

Leaf would be unharmed – though the gust was unpleasant, Unfezant was no fighter, exotic energy notwithstanding. Had all Leaf said to him only agitated him further...?

No, he'd been responsive at first. To the notion that this was a place for those like him to belong...

"Hey there, Leaf," said Angel, flitting to her side. "How's he doing?"

Unfezant wasn't looking up at either of them. Rather, he was gawking pitiably as the coalescing Blacklight took the form of cloaked figures, hand-in-hand, all with their backs turned to him. He began to weep openly at the circle surrounding him, begging them to look at him, please, please, look at him.

"C-cecil?" called Angel, haltingly. "Cecil, I'm looking at you. It's okay..."

Angel was, her sins notwithstanding, a hard-working philanthropist, fundraiser, advocate... Maybe not everyone could be like that. And maybe not everyone needed to be...?

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Hey, it's okay, we're trying to help. I know everything seems real bad right now--it always does with these things--but it's not gonna last forever. It's easier if you breathe."

Saffron shimmered with sparks, but the Explorer fixed her eyes on Jade, mentally fastening herself to the liferaft presenting itself in the form of Jade's words. Breaths came, fast, shallow, unsteady.

"You're human," came the low and forceful words, like an accusation. "Aren't you? What do you see when you look at me? Do you see an animal? Or maybe a noble savage?"

Ball lightning crackled out of Saffron's wool and down her limbs.

"I can fight as well as any one of you. Do you think I stole that power from you? Aren't you afraid I might not deserve it?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillian grabbed her sword and sheathed it quickly before chasing after the new illusion. She knew it wasn't his real body, but something about the imagery of him plunging a blade into his own chest didn't leave her feeling great about his mental state. (Although it wasn't as if anything before that had, either.)

"Gladius, wait!"

This Lucario form wasn't one she'd seen firsthand before, but it was him. She knew that. As she spoke, she kept a firm grip on her sword. Just in case he tried something again.

"You don't really think we can't figure out that we can leave unless you run away first, right? If she was still there, it's because she chose to be. If she stayed, she had something worth staying for. Maybe she stuck around and filled the seat after you left, maybe she bailed once you weren't there anymore, I don't know that. But nobody's giving up on you." (Neither her not the other Lillie, at least. Gladion had before they'd ever met.) "That's not- That's not just a me thing." (She chose to believe in this with absolute conviction.)

 

[canisaries]

Angel wiped her face, the shudders subsiding. Shimmering above her head, a halo of Blacklight energy flickered into visibility... and then, disintegrated into motes of light and shadow.

Ribombee Angel was purified!

"I want to help," she said, her voice thick. "Whatever's happening, I want to help."

She looked around.

"Oh, gosh, is it everyone? All over? Um, you'd all better keep moving. I'll try to calm everyone down here, I know some of these people. And, um, thank you for hleping me. S-sorry. That was really embarrassing. Oh, gosh."

"I'm just glad you're alright now," Andre said.

He looked around. There were plenty of people to help here and the number would surely grow at an exponential rate, but there were presumably still people in other parts of the building.

"I'll go check the other rooms," he said. He turned to Ben. "Ben, you'll come with me. Not that you'd let me go alone, anyway."

"You're darn right," Ben muttered.

With that, the two headed for the next room.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Andre and Ben, hurrying into the adjoining corridor, would find themselves tumbling into the presence of yet more Blacklight-addled Covenant members, each of whom had presumably been hurrying towards the commotion when everything had kicked off... Some of them were unfamiliar faces, a couple of which pushed past the two Wayfarers in a panic as they rushed somewhere else. Others were frozen in various states of Blacklight Frenzy, grappling with themselves. In at least one case, quite literally:

Down one end of the corridor, Lady Tawenna grappled talon-to-talon with a spectral copy of herself, dressed not in crisp black cloak and silver lantern pin, but in traditional Miwacha tribal garb – strings of beads, crimson-dyed feathers, a tartan-patterned cloth mantle over one shoulder. The copy's face was etched with fury. "Betrayer!" it seethed. Tawenna's own face looked as immovable as stone.

Towards the other end, Ser Garnet painstakingly constructed some kind of fortification out of silvery-dark bricks that steamed like dry ice. She muttered to herself under her breath, her face unusually serene. Each brick chipped and cracked in her pincer grip as she selected it.

In the middle, Roscoe sat on a wide low windowsill that looked out onto the grounds. He leaned against the wall and gazed outwards, tapping the glass with the back of one paw. Behind him, his tail-hand grasped at nothing, reach out, grasping, finding nothing, reach out again...

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

For each pokémon, it was different. In some, it was an overwhelming sense of anxious terror, and in others, a guilt that dragged down their souls like a ship's anchor, plummeting into darkness. Unable to deny their inner torments; unable to restrain themselves from explosive displays of emotion. This was the effect of Blacklight energy on pokémon unprepared to deal with its intoxicating powers.

Steven recoiled as the wave of emotions hit him, jumbled together in an unintelligible mess. A mess, except for one clear, unifying thread running through; unyielding, unrelenting despair.

He withdrew his claw, a hesitant, almost-pained expression crossing his face. It seemed the stricken pokemon before him was oblivious to his presence, too lost in their own Blacklight-induced misery. Gods, this was not his forte. He wasn't going to get anywhere like this. And he certainly wasn't going to go around knocking Covenant members out cold as an alternative.

No, he needed to find more help; people who would be able to bring order to the chaos. Members of influence who would know best how to calm and evacuate the masses away from Articuno's influence.

"I need to find the heads of the Covenant Offices," he muttered. "Who were they now? There's Tawenna and--"

The sharp crackle of electricity echoed through the halls, cutting him off. Steven's eyes went wide as he turned, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Saffron."

He hurried in the direction of the commotion, and upon rounding the corner saw her squared up with Jade, looking for all intents and purposes ready to attack. Cautiously, he approached, his gaze flicking towards Jade, then back to the bristling Flaaffy.

"Saffron, hey," he said, keeping his voice gentle, placating. "No one's here to fight you. We're all on the same side."