Novelux Sparkwright Polytechnic

[Chibi Pika]

A glint of sunlight off something overhead. A silhouette visible through the skylight.

Then one of the glass panes shattered with the slash of a blade, and a green and white figure descended with the shards, already drawing back an arm and flinging a blade of energy directly at the Greninja.

"Matthias!!" the Gallade yelled.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Matthias whirled to his feet, his skin already bubbling with darkness as he changed elemental type.

"Valere!!" he called back, turning aside the attack, which hit the floor with enough power to blast a cloud of particles into the air.

Salvoes of gleaming shurikens zipped up from the dust in a flurry of energy. Still falling, Valere deflected them with a practiced deftness – his blade-arm quicker than the naked eye.

"You don't feel like joining our pleasant conversation?" he asked, momentarily wearing a mocking grin.

He shot a look sidelong at the Wayfarers.

"It's been a pleasure – fellow offworlders. Until our next meeting, then!"

The Croagunk had a tactic ready for this eventuality – they dashed headlong across the exposition hall, their forms rippling into illusory copies of Matthias himself. Across the hall, a creaking thrum of servos indicated some machinery in action, and a high access gate set into the wall pulled itself open. Past it, and the stalls and crates, was some kind of hangar...

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion winced and looked away as glass came raining down on them. Seemed like Valere still knew how to make a dramatic entrance. Some things never changed.

The pads of his back feet protested as he charged after Matthias with no regard for the shards littering the ground. He tried his best to ignore the feeling. There were more important things than a bit of glass.

He fired a paralytic tri-attack and a mean look into the croud of four Matthiases. Then his stride broke, not having enough left in the tank to push himself further. It was a 50-50 shot at doing something.

He didn’t like those odds.

 

[Jackie Cat]

One Greninja stumbled and froze up, tumbling to the floor. The illusion broke, and he was revealed as a mere Croagunk – mauve sludge spewing from his mouth in retaliation. The rest kept going...

Valere impacted the floor, rolled with the landing, leapt into battle. Blades of magenta cut the air. Matthias – the real one – whirled on his heels to counter. Attacks broke on shimmering bracers. Razor-edged water nicked ears, cheeks, ankles. Aqueous daggers blocked emerald slashes.

Behind the Wayfarers, a recovered Toxicroak was barrelling towards the far exit with a still-unconscious Bellwether under his arm.

Sam groaned as she slowly pulled herself from unconsciousness...

"This isn't like you," jested Matthias to his opponent. "Were you waiting until these angels to tire me out, or were you just late to the party?"

Their clashing blows were fast, too fast, like lightning strikes. Like a revolver's hammer hitting the firing pin. Like they knew each attack before it even came...

 

[Chibi Pika]

At the jeering reference to 'angels', Valere glanced at the offworlders, taking particular note of Gladion, the one he'd met before at the castle in the south. It was only for a moment, then he lunged at the Greninja, looking thoroughly unimpressed with the attempt at banter.

"I'd say that sinking to this level isn't like you, but we both know that's not true," Valere retorted, his strike clashing with the real Matthias'. Two more copies flanked the Gallade, threatening to overwhelm him...

 

[Butterfree]

Three years ago. So Matthias had been recruited as a teenager. And... he'd been summoned. An actual human kid, not the Covenant's aura bullshit definition.

He might have said something about how yeah, he knew Brisa was strong, she'd apparently been fighting at the Duel Dome, didn't change that she'd been doing her best to get away from Matthias and he was chasing her down anyway. But then a Gallade burst in through the skylight (Valere -- wasn't that the Vanguard guy?), glass raining down, and the frog squad prepared to make an exit.

Dave spotted the Toxicroak staggering to his feet and grabbing the Castform weirdo, carrying him under his arm.

"No, you don't," he growled, charging, calling on his Quick Claw and the steel of his willpower.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion limped forward, putting as much weight as he could on his talons. He doubted he could stop Matthias per se, but he raised a protect and levelled a mean look at the Greninja, prepared to make a last stand as long as could stay up. Maybe, if Matthias had to turn his back on Valere to take him out, that would disrupt his calculated countermoves. Maybe it would still count for something.

He had to try, at least…

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I'd say that sinking to this level isn't like you, but we both know that's not true."

Something broke in Matthias' cool expression for just a moment, then the phlegmatic look returned.

"Whatever it takes," he replied, slashing and thrusting against Valere's defenses. "I won't ever say that I chose failure over sacrifice!"

As he whirled and swept, his eye caught Gladion preparing a trap, and he leapt back, shield up in an instant – but long enough for Valere to deftly parry aside the shadow-copy attackers at his flanks.

Then, not a dozen paces behind, Dave tackled the charging Toxicroak and scored a hit – Bellwether went flying, the bull dart-frog stumbled and sprawled, though not for long. There was time enough to grab hold of one of them...

"Abort the mission," spat Matthias, and his troops obeyed at once, breaking away from the melée.

He levelled a shuriken in one hand towards Valere, breathing heavily.

"You always did push me to do my utmost," he said, saying it like an accusation.

The Greninja raised one arm into the air, and his body glowed, shimmering with the light of pure aura. A gust of air rippled from him as he transformed – there was an impression of red blades, a crested helm, a white cape – then came a blizzard of strikes— Then the thunderclap and flash of some explosion – one so bright it seared the eyes.

When the Wayfarers' vision cleared and their ears ceased ringing, they would hear the emphatic whirr of rotor blades, and see the curved grey outline of an airship rising past the skylights above...

 

[Butterfree]

Dave took a leap to knock the Toxicroak down, locking his fangs around his arm. "You're coming with us," he growled.

Whatever the fuck was going on with Matthias's magical girl transformation over there, at least they'd have grabbed one of his henchmen.

 

[Chibi Pika]

When the blinding light of the flashbomb had died down, Valere stood glaring up at metal frame of the airship taking flight overhead. He clenched a fist, brow furrowed, but then turned away with a swish of his cloak, walking back to the center of the convention hall, where Dave was busy wrangling the captured Toxicroak.

Valere glanced at each of the Wayfarers in turn, his eyes landing on Gladion.

"You spoke to him?" he asked.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion took a step back, nervous and unsure of what to expect of Valere. Was this going to be a level-headed conversation, or was he going to lash out?

“Uh, yeah he gave up on fighting and spoke to us after we popped his revive. I doubt it’s much you haven’t heard already…”

Except there was one thing in there that stood out to him. That he hadn’t known what to make of.

“Actually, we never told him we’d been in contact with you, but he just seemed to know. Asked me if you’d mentioned him. Had some kinda look on his face when he said it.”

(Gladion wasn’t sure what to make of the relationship between those two. Were they… y’know?)

 

[Butterfree]

Dave looked up, keeping Toxicroak pinned. "Yeah, uh, he also implied he was trying to change the Covenant from within. You know anything about that?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Something shifted in Valere's expression at Gladion's words, as if he'd been wondering if Matthias had mentioned him. It was hard to make out how he felt about this, though.

The Gallade glanced at Dave and furrowed his brow. "He did say something like that, years ago. He might've even meant it then. It doesn't change the harm he's caused with his so-called mitigation."

Valere glanced up at the skylight, the airship now just a distant silhouette. He closed his eyes with an ironic chuckle. "We've been enemies for as many years as we were friends at this point." But then he shook his head and turned to the Wayfarers before saying, "I can't stay here, not when the city heelers will be arriving. It seems as though you managed to halt his operations here at least... and capture one of his lackeys." He nodded to the struggling Toxicroak.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion raised a brow. Then why’d you come here? You weren’t on time to stop him. Were you watching us fight from the start?

“I guess that would be bad, so yeah, get going I guess. Is there some way we can reach you, if need be? ‘Cause, uh, it’s been a minute since we saw you. Some things have happened.”

He took a deep breath, clearing his mind of any thoughts questioning Valere’s behaviour. Then focused on his curiosity about the Vanguard so that he could change to psychic type. He figured Valere probably wouldn’t want to say much aloud, just in case, and he’d done something like this when reaching out to Articuno. (He’d needed them to close the connection, though. How much telepathic capacity did Gallade retain when they evolved? He wasn’t sure.)

“Can you hear me? If you don’t wanna say anything that could lead someone to you in front of the lackey, could maybe do this?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Toxicroak groaned and cursed under Dave's grip. He wasn't going anywhere.

Sparkwright, meanwhile, floated back into the hall looking only slightly worse for wear.

"Well, then," he buzzed, "it appears the worst outcomes were avoided, at least."

He eyed Valere with reserved interest, then cast his gaze up to the increasingly distant zepellin retreating from the campus' airspace.

"...Respectable airspeed," he muttered.

 

[Chibi Pika]

“Can you hear me? If you don’t wanna say anything that could lead someone to you in front of the lackey, could maybe do this?”

Valere’s eyes darted to Gladion. So, he’d definitely gotten the memo, then.

“We probably will need to speak to each other again, now that your group has reached Novelux." He paused for a bit, considering, then added, "I'll ask Farin to find you where you're staying. We can arrange something then."

The Gallade paused, briefly regarding Sparkwright with a curt nod—he didn't appear too fond of the man—before dashing off.

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