In the past, Owen had only known Mhynt as a Sceptile. Seeing her as a Treecko now was surreal. She wore a pensive frown, walking forward casually with her arms crossed. Owen felt an impulse to pin himself against the wall, but held strong. She probably remembered everything. And he'd just gotten most of those memories back.
"Hello," Mhynt said, "Owen. I'm glad to see that you still have that look in your eyes."
"Hi, Mhynt... I, uh... Hi."
"Same social skills, too." She stepped a little closer and uncrossed her arms, looking him over a second time. "Charmeleon," she remarked.
"I'm working on it."
"You've been working on it for quite some time, haven't you?" Mhynt hummed. "How much do you remember?"
"I remember enough," Owen replied vaguely. "Why are you with Alexan—"
Mhynt moved so swiftly that it didn't even register until after she'd stabbed him. A false Honedge blade had been conjured from nothing and plunged into his chest, filling him with searing pain moments later. His eyes bulged.
"I am the one asking questions," Mhynt said. She pulled the blade out, then plunged it again in a different spot and Owen gritted his teeth.
He fought back tears; why was she doing this?
"Really, you still haven't mastered getting rid of your pain?" Mhynt mocked. She pulled the blade out again, taking aim for another spot on his chest.
Getting rid of his pain? Right... He did that before. He could dull it. He focused on that, easing it, making it no longer relevant. His body was just a body; his spirit had moved beyond the need to feel its pain. He just had to tell himself that, and—
The blade struck again. No pain. He felt the pressure—he knew he was being cut—but none of the pain followed. There was no need for his body to inform him that it was in danger.
It was uncomfortable that he couldn't breathe, though.
"Tch." Mhynt dispelled the blade and remnants of his blood, which had clung to it, fell to the ground.
Why was she doing this? For what purpose? What did she want to know for Alexander, and why was she working for him?
Or was she truly being forced?
He tried to talk, but no words came. That startled him at first, before he realized she'd pierced his lungs. That knowledge, without the pain, was still disorienting. He didn't know how to talk without them yet, and he was too flustered with Mhynt there to think about it.
"You're going to answer with a nod or a shake," Mhynt commanded. "Do you understand?"
On reflex, Owen nodded, but then stopped himself. He couldn't fall for that.
Mhynt looked displeased, fist clenching a little. Her pupils narrowed. "Will you align with Alexander?"
Owen shook his head.
"Do you know how easily they can invade your mind?" Mhynt said. "How readable your flame is?"
His flame... It always gave him away.
"As long as you breathe, that flame will give away all of your secrets," Mhynt stated. "It's pointless to fight back. Once you accept allegiance... your treatment will change from how it is now. Just as it did with me."
Change, but not improve. What was Mhynt trying to tell him with this?
Owen glanced down at his chest. Still bleeding. He focused a little as his scales turned green; vines twisted and wove between his wounds, solidifying until they sealed up and became flesh again. Leafy feathers grew over them.
He could breathe again and, therefore, speak. "Sorry. No deal."
Mhynt snorted and turned around. "That was all I was assigned to speak with you over. If you ever want to change your mind, speak up. You're always being watched."
His eyes darted upward and around, where he saw, in two opposite corners of the room, cameras. He could also sense... something lining the walls in neat little rows behind the concrete. The enchantments in them were dark, yet familiar... Reviver Seeds?
The door opened as Mhynt began to leave. "Goodbye for now, Owen. Perhaps I will return if I am assigned again."
"...Remi is—"
"Not another word," Mhynt spat. "Don't speak unless you are spoken to first."
Owen flinched, nodding. With Mhynt out of the dungeon, she gave him one last glance as she stood out of the camera's line of sight. And then, and only then for that split-second, did Owen see a pained look in her eyes as the door shut.
Owen kept a straight face and remained there in silence, taking a seat against the wall.
Mhynt was powerless to say much. But she had given him a few hints; he knew it. He just had to figure out what those were for, and why. He took a slow breath, glancing toward the cameras. "Well, uh..." He hummed. "Get ready for a boring watch session. If there's nothing for me to do, I just meditate... so..."
The cameras, of course, did not reply.
<><><>
As it turned out, there was a town hall to Null Village, though it did not have the same glamor that Kilo Village's Heart HQ did. It was just another building with a sign at the front saying "SVPNHQ" in shimmering crystal.
"SVP..." Zena repeated.
"Southern Voidlands Protection Network Headquarters," Marshadow said, stepping through a doorway so large it made him look like a pebble in front of a cave. Only a few blocks behind them was the Radiant Tree, and a few of the roots snaked their way between some of the nearby buildings.
"Quite a mouthful," Trina, atop Gahi's head, remarked.
"Eh. Just call it S'veepin HQ."
"Oh, that's cute," Demitri said, fidgeting in the new building.
The main hall was also a misnomer. While there was indeed a long and large hallway with tall ceilings encrusted with multicolored gems, it was more like a great central, indoor plaza. The ground near the back had a podium for someone to speak, acoustics for the voice to carry far, and a decorative, light crystal pattern on the ground in a grand spiral.
"Guessing we weren't allowed here before because of the quarantine stuff," Demitri said.
"You got it. And then I turned traitor," Marshadow added. "Not a whole lot o' overlap there."
Atop Mispy's back, Diyem murmured irritably. "Half the town is still up, most critical infrastructure is being rebuilt, and your capitol is still standing." He leaned forward. "Between Null Village and Hot Spot, I think I'm losing my touch at omnicide."
Many eyes, including Zena's, glared at the Charmander.
"...I was joking," Diyem murmured.
"Having some sense of humor is technically an improvement," Trina growled. Still, the Snivy glared at him and tapped Gahi on the cheek, gesturing for him to continue ahead, which he obeyed.
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised that's yer sense o' humor." Marshadow shook his head. "Yer really him, eh? Dark Matter, reduced ter a Charmander..."
"A fragment of him," Diyem said, "...but, yes."
They entered another oversized room far down the indoor plaza. They were surprised to see it was already filled with several large bodies.
Demitri nearly collapsed from the surprise, had it not been for Mispy right next to him. "Th-th-that's..."
While some were in better shape than others, several Pokémon from that great war had been found, and Diyem looked largely unsurprised by all of it. All of them seemed larger than life, but were all spoken of in the Book of Arceus. A great, blue deer with prismatic antlers; a six-legged dragon with spectral wings; an emerald serpent that swam through the air; and, of course, Dialga and Palkia from before. Floating near them as well was Latias, looking like she'd been woken up in the middle of a deep slumber.
"Good, you're here," greeted Xerneas with a formal nod and hum. "We've discussed all that has happened, including the current predicament with the usurper Wishkeeper now being in the hands of Alexander."
"Usurper... Wishkeeper," Zena repeated. "Owen was who Alexander took."
"Ah." Palkia glanced at the others. Some shifted in place. "Well. This is quite awkward."
"You're talking as if I would know what it means that Owen goes by that title." Zena furrowed her brow. "Usurper? In what way?"
"Y'gotta know," Marshadow said, "Owen doesn't remember anything. And it's probably better it was kept that way, eh?"
They all collectively nodded.
"Excuse me, but I think that is the exact opposite of what Owen wants," Zena said. "You will tell the truth to him, and you won't withhold it, either."
"The truth isn't... very easy to divulge like this," Dialga said. "You should keep quiet about such things for now."
"...Owen told me once about Wishkeeper, but Marshadow, you said you didn't recognize it. Was that a lie?"
"Tch. I dunno how I phrased it. Owen's real perceptive, but, thank the red, blotched sky that he couldn't read me fer that."
"I'm sorry, who are you, by the way?" Xerneas asked, growing impatient. "You're... familiar."
"I am Zena. I am Owen's... close partner." Zena paused at that final comment. "And... I do not know you, no."
"Oh, another one." Xerneas rolled his eyes. "Wonderful."
"I beg your pardon?" Zena's heart hammered from some budding anger. This was Xerneas, the supposed guardian of all life?
"Forgive me for being so dismissive," Xerneas said. "Perhaps I'm in a bad mood. But last I remember, Owen had a tendency to betray his mates."
"Xerneas, let's... not get into that," Dialga said delicately. "Owen has been through quite a lot since then. He's a changed person."
"By choice?" Xerneas asked.
"He's been changed by force quite a lot," Zena growled. "He has been trying to find himself since then. And if this meeting is about him and his current status, then let me say this: I am going to rescue him."
"...You?" a new, rumbling voice said, and all heads turned toward Giratina, who was studying Zena from afar. "A mere, common Milotic? You will rescue Owen?"
"Do you doubt me?" Zena asked.
"How will you rescue him?"
"I must admit," added Rayquaza, coiling a little tighter in the air as his emerald scales brushed against the wall from lack of space, "even I would be quite... hesitant to, er... challenge Alexander this instant." A few glanced at him, and he lowered his head. "I'm sorry. That probably wasn't very encouraging."
Dialga gently nuzzled Rayquaza, murmuring something gentle to him.
"Well, I'm not a common Milotic. I am the Water Guardian, and have been by Owen's side for a lot of the recent trials, along with Team Alloy."
Another wince seemed to come from Rayquaza, who was becoming someone that, while new, was a good litmus test for Owen's presumed, buried status among these Legends.
"Team Alloy. Is that familiar to you, Rayquaza?"
"A-ah! Oh, why me? I... am just a bystander in this conversation."
"Just send the green tea noodle out," Giratina said, sighing. "There are some things that are better left unknown, Milotic."
"Hmm."
Diyem's voice was so small and quiet that only Zena and the others on her side had heard it, none of them, so small, able to truly get their voice in. The Legends continued to murmur amongst themselves as if they hadn't even arrived to begin with, and Diyem murmured something to Mispy, who, to Zena's surprise, nodded.
Mispy charged a Solar Beam and fired it skyward. It left no mark, but it got everyone's attention, silencing them.
"You could have spoken up," Xerneas growled. But then, he saw who had done it—Mispy. His face seemed to twist into a half-realization, half-apologetic grimace. "...Speak, Mispy."
"I actually wanted to speak," Diyem said as Mispy rotated so he could face them. "Do I have your attention?"
"And who are you?" Rayquaza asked. "Not Owen, obviously, but..."
"I am a small and harmless fragment of Dark Matter, the instability. Killing me will do you no g—"
Xerneas was already charging an orb of pink energy above his head when, suddenly, Zena stood between them, and Mispy took on a defensive stance.
"Cease," Giratina snapped at Xerneas, who snorted loudly and dispelled the attack.
"Really, is that how the Legends spoken of behave?" Trina asked, tiny arms crossed. "I was never much a believer, but at this rate, you're going to be making a lot of people realize they should never meet their heroes."
That earned a few glares, but the little Snivy still apparently believed she was the Bug Guardian Serperior.
"...As I was saying," Diyem said, "I am a fragment. And unlike the rest of me, I am willing to help. I have seen the light, and have some within me. Literally. It is painful. But it allows me to feel... positive things. This was an impossibility before."
"Ah... I recall Wishkeeper saying something similar," Rayquaza said. "Light..."
"I suppose this is as good a time as any," Diyem said, "for me to inform you all that your efforts at secret-keeping, while very admirable"—it was no secret to anyone that he was mocking them—"are pointless. Necrozma and I told Owen everything in a dreamscape."
Their expressions, in their own ways, universally darkened.
"It was quite clever," Diyem said. "He forced the truth by having both myself and Necrozma tell it, side by side. So, there is no need to hide it any longer. He knows everything you tried to hide."
Complete silence. Zena didn't know the full extent of this 'truth,' but for their behavior, it was... grave.
"Owen told me something curious after I told him everything," Diyem said. "He said that his plan was to wait for his friends to rescue him. After all, there would be no way Alexander would allow him outside of his clutches, and Owen does not have the power to escape on his own. It is up to us now. And he believed we would do it."
"Do you know who he was thinking of," Xerneas said, "when he said friends?"
"I do not understand in any sort of detail what it means to be friends, or what nuance there is behind that phrase," Diyem said. "But the way he phrased it..." Diyem pointed at Mispy, Demitri, and Gahi, and then at Zena. "These four, I am certain. And perhaps everyone else, too. I personally would just call them tenuous allies, but Owen is perpetually optimistic. You know how disgusting he can be."
Zena glared at him again, but Diyem only rolled his eyes, holding his hands up. "Force of habit. Forgive me."
"Then... he knows," Xerneas said.
"Um..." Demitri hesitantly raised a claw. "We—"
"How come you guys're talkin' like we're in trouble?" Gahi said, flaring his wings. "Owen's our team leader! What gives?!"
Mispy whispered something to Demitri, who seemed shocked at first. Then he asked, "Did... as our 'other selves,' did we... go against him?"
"Yep." Marshadow sighed, shaking his head. "Well, ain't this awkward."
"Why would they go against him?" Zena asked. "Did they get tricked by Dark Matter?"
"Try again," Diyem said. "Owen was the one defending me. They stripped him of his will, emotions, and memories in order to make him completely useless in the efforts against me. It was, obviously, a great act of betrayal, and I imagine Owen would have been very upset about it if he remembered."
"B-but... but we don't want to betray him now, so it's okay, right?" Demitri asked. "Where's Uxir, Azelf, and Mesprit now?"
"East Null Village," Marshadow said. "Speaking o' that... I think we oughta get ter plannin' things out. We're startin' ter piece things t'gether, and... Well. We dunno how it happened yet. The memories're all foggy and scrambled. Maybe you c'n help..." Marshadow looked at Mispy with an amused smirk, though she wasn't smiling back. "Ehh... Anyway, how 'bout you?" He looked at the wall, like there was something there.
There was a growl, and then a Zoroark appeared as if from under an invisible veil.
"Gah!" Demitri jumped. "H-how long have you—I thought we left you at home to relax!"
"Got bored."
"And she infiltrated security, eh?" Marshadow shook his head.
"I mean, if all she had to do was go invisible..." Demitri frowned.
"No, we've got protections fer that. Not bad, not bad." Marshadow nodded at Enet. "Anyway, ehh... Giratina, how about you outline fer us what our goals are?"
"Of course." Giratina stood a little straighter. "We have several goals to cover before we can hope to attack Alexander directly. First, we need to gather our power. It appears, from our deductions, that we have been halves for a very long time. Some of us do not remember our mortal lives, while others do; some of us have our mortal halves and our immortal halves existing at the same time. We have wondered, for a while, why we are so weak... It is because our spirits have not been whole. We do not have our complete power."
"Did not," Xerneas corrected, scoffing. "I just became whole."
"Right." Giratina nodded. "Our goal will be to find our other halves and become whole. Owen may have knowledge of that, or we can find it scattered around those of us here. For example, we are pretty confident that the trio of mind—Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf—are in East Null Village... and right in front of us. Two halves that must reunite.
"Wait, but—" Demitri started, but Giratina raised a wing and glared.
"I understand your reservations. We can discuss that later. First, let's map out all of our goals."
Demitri shrank back. Mispy glared at Giratina, comforting Demitri with a few vines, but didn't otherwise protest. Demitri looked like he was trying to hold back some kind of panic, and Mispy had a grave look on her face. Gahi... didn't seem to get it yet, unsurprisingly.
But what would it mean to reunite with a Legend? Would they die?
Zena hoped she didn't have a Legend half of some kind. She didn't see any eyes going toward her, so... perhaps, somehow, she was normal in all this. No, she had to be; she was born and raised fairly recently, and there was no odd gap of becoming a Legend. It was the Water Orb, and that was it.
Though, now she felt horribly out of place amid them all... was she the only normal one there? Did Trina count as normal, too? Nobody mentioned her, either.
"Next," Giratina said, snapping Zena out of her thoughts, "we need to find out how to survey Quartz—or, Kilo, as it's called today. If we can get support from the surface the same way you did against Dark Matter, that can help us against Alexander. And, of course, we must also try to locate and rescue Necrozma himself. He is far 'north.' I can feel his presence, even now. He can also help us defeat Alexander."
"Seems pretty straightforward when y'say it," Marshadow said. "Get support from the surface. Make the Legends whole. Rescue Necrozma. Get enough help, we beat up Alexander." Marshadow's eyes trailed to Diyem. "Any objections ter that?"
"Alexander is one of four threats," Diyem replied simply. "I will add to our pile of missions: Find my components, and eliminate them. If you kill them, their memories will return to me like a dream, and I can suppress it. If I die, then I suffer the same fate, and I become faded instead."
He paused, then, to make sure they understood. Zena did. If they could eliminate all the other pieces of Dark Matter, then the 'Diyem' here would become dominant. They could fix Dark Matter that way, the way Owen wanted to. Was that Owen's goal when he spared Diyem?
"I want to cooperate. I have..." Diyem hesitated. "I've seen joy. I want to keep it."
Silence.
"Please." Diyem closed his eyes and dipped his head. "I don't deserve it. But it's all I ask, to allow me to help."
"And can anyone else corroborate this?" Giratina said. "Does anyone here trust this... Dark Matter... after everything he's done?"
Another silence followed, and Diyem looked, briefly, hopeless. His black flame shrank; his shoulders sagged; next to everyone else, he was so tiny.
"I will." The words tumbled from Zena's mouth. She saw Owen, who had risked his life for Diyem. He knew joy. Owen knew something that she didn't, that perhaps none of them did. Perhaps there was more to this; she had to put her faith in that judgement right now.
And if that turned out to be wrong... they would get that from Owen. Diyem was weak like this anyway.
And they'd already defeated him once before. This was the best course of action. No more infighting.
"I trust Diyem, too," Demitri said next, earning a skeptical glare from Mispy. But Demitri hardened his gaze ahead, locking eyes with Giratina. His legs trembled, but he still spoke. "I mean, maybe not trust him, but... I trust Owen."
There was a sad look in Dialga's eyes.
"If he wanted to do something ter us," Gahi said, "he woulda done it already! Diyem's fine."
Mispy glared at Gahi next, but then stared Diyem down. Diyem wasn't looking at her, so Mispy wrapped a vine around him and forced him to face her direction.
Enet crawled a little closer, on all fours, as if creeping in. She sniffed at Diyem's shoulder, tilting her head.
"May I help you?" Diyem whisper-growled.
Enet clasped her claws under Diyem's arms, holding him skyward. Mispy let go, and Diyem didn't have time to react as he flailed uselessly.
"Reborn!" Enet declared to Giratina and the rest of the Legends. She held him a little higher, staring directly at Giratina, before leaping onto the table—earning a groan of protest from Diyem—and she held him up more. The height difference was still insurmountable, and Diyem still had his eyes downcast.
"Do you expect shoving him in my face will help?" Giratina asked, leaning forward as if to humor the gesture. They were still several feet apart.
"Yes."
Zena could tell that was complete honesty.
Diyem stopped his struggling, daring to look up at Giratina, then at the others all around the table. His black flame dimmed more, but he kept a steely gaze this time.
"...Enet," Xerneas murmured. "Your aura..."
Enet tilted her head at Xerneas.
"...Never mind. In any case... set him down. This isn't necessary. Enough of you trust him for now. We don't need to waste time on this."
Giratina's glare had barely softened by the time Xerneas spoke, and she nodded. "Yes. Do as you want with him."
Enet nodded firmly and started walking back, carrying Diyem under her arm like a bag. For some reason, he didn't protest.
Giratina huffed. "Then add defeating Diyem's... other selves to our mission statement. That is everything." Giratina looked them over. "We will now spend some time dividing resources."
Gahi was already pacing around the room, restless, and Demitri suddenly looked tired and overwhelmed. But before the logistics could be outlined in any detail, someone knocked at the door. Trina was the first to notice, frowning.
"Yes?" she called. "We're sorry, but this is an important meeting."
"A-ah, I'm sorry, really. But I think this is also important. A delivery? There was a message with this flower..." A Typhlosion held up what looked like a daffodil haphazardly placed in a ceramic pot.
The flower bobbed in a way that was unnatural. There was no wind and Typhlosion hadn't moved very much...
Zena's eyes bugged out. "That's... Owen!"
The flower ducked and waved, bashful.
<><><>
Spice led the rest of her team down Fae Fae Forest without incident, all the way until they got to the dark, distorted core of the Dungeon. Here, pastel colors washed away into twisted, darker colors, as if drops of black paint had been mixed with the colors meant to paint an otherwise bright canvas.
"Before we go through," Spice said, "I need to warn you guys to be careful. Whatever you do, don't die when you're in there."
"Oh, death was kinda high on my list of things to do," Brandon said. "I'll bump that down a few notches since you warned me."
Spice growled. "I'm serious. If you die in there, it's not the aura sea or whatever you believe. You'll wind up trapped in there, forever. I was an exception to that. Okay?"
"Right, got it."
"And while in there... you'll probably be weaker than you expect."
"E-even weaker?" Angelo squeaked. The trembling Smeargle had practically clung to Phol's side all the way through the Dungeon, despite the wraiths leaving them all alone.
"Yeah. I don't know the whole story, but I'm a lot stronger there, even more than when I'm just in Dungeons. Meanwhile, you'll probably be weaker. Don't overestimate yourself. In fact, underestimate yourself. Play cautious."
"Got it..." And to this, Brandon seemed to be taking it more seriously. He glanced at the Poké Ball in his other hand. "And this one?"
"She should... be alright. Just keep her safe."
"And you're sure that if we find another Dungeon... core of some kind, we can use it to avoid Emily by simply... emerging in a different spot?"
"That's the theory, at least." Spice didn't feel as confident. She took a slow breath. "But it's better than going out and that thing killing us all. I'll take this risk of death over certain death."
Leo waved hand forward, along with his new, pastel stick from the forest to help channel his flames. "I'll do my best to keep everyone together," the Delphox said.
"Guess we're ready," Brandon said.
"Alright, boys." Spice whipped her tail, which caught all their attention. "Let's go!"
Just ahead was a fissure in the air itself, like a passageway that had no hallway beyond it. This tear in the Dungeon itself had once been sealed and hidden by Anam, but now, it was open again. The gateway into her 'old home.' The first home she could remember, because her previous one was erased from her memory.
In the end, she was going back. But hopefully it was just for a visit.
"Something wrong?" Leo asked. "It's... alright if you're scared, Spice. Maybe we can find another way around."
"No, we have to," Spice said. "I... I have to."
But she still hesitated.
"Um... s-so do we just walk through?" Angelo asked.
"Ladies first," Brandon said.
"I suppose that means you go," Spice growled at Brandon, gesturing forward.
"Excuse me, I'm far from a lady. I'm a handsome, muscular dude."
"Pretty sure that Steel body is just compensating for something." Spice approached the Dungeon's core. Without another word, she passed through...
There was something terrible on the other side. From what Spice knew, the other side of these cores tended to shift around, drawn to powerful auras or spirits. Where would this take her...?
<><><>
A ghostly song echoed throughout a little home in North Null Village. Far from the horrible battle that took place in South Null Village, the clash there was nothing but a report from Cipher City's representatives. Usurper Owen was captured; Alexander was victorious; Dark Matter, destroyed.
Some good news, some bad news. But in the end, it was all the same, wasn't it?
Darkrai sighed as he gingerly pushed the last tray of dough into the oven, closing it and making sure the heat was just right. Cresselia would appreciate those after the news.
He headed down a small hallway lined with abstract art and purple plants to lean in on the living room, where Cresselia was lounging on a cushion, curled up for a nap. Darkrai briefly, in a panic, clutched at his neck, but felt the Lunar Wing charm around it and deflated with relief.
She could wake up to cookies!
But for now, he had time to relax and do nothing. He'd done some training with the soldiers in preparation for whatever Dark Matter might have tried—especially after their near-encounter—but it turned out to be for nothing. Training exercises were always good...
Still, he was filthy! It was time for a bath. Drifting through the halls, he quietly—to not disturb Cresselia—opened the door to a smaller, white room of polished tile and filled the tub with water, but only after closing the door, also to make sure Cresselia slept soundly.
Darkrai quickly placed the Lunar Charm from his neck onto a special slot in the doorframe, which seemed to amplify its effects with a gentle, pink glow. Slowly, he sank into the tub of water and let his mind and hazy head drift.
Owen... How long had it been since he'd heard that name? Since it was ever relevant to anything they did in the Voidlands? Then there's news of him descending here, trapped like all the others. Then a new Tree of Life forms and blasts a hole in the sky! Oh, if only he could see it. He'd forgotten what stars looked like, or a clear blue sky... The best he could simulate now were artificial lights from Water crystals.
Darkrai reached for some soap, opening his eyes to see how much red dust had clung to his spectral form.
A Salazzle Void Shadow, submerged in the water up to her eyes, stared back at him on the opposite side of the tub.
They locked eyes for a full second.
"...Hi?"
"EYAAAAAAAGH!"