Zone 3: Hearteater

There wasn't even a scream. You know how like in kid's shows, the bad guy makes a show of them being beaten? He would cry out, plead for mercy, sink their claws onto the ground as they get dragged away to who knew where?

There was nothing at all. Pity was all there was.

And Arthur didn't know how to feel about it, even when everyone cheered, especially the Ultra Beasts, with their strange noises that were reminiscent of drums and stomping. It was over and they could all go back home. In the corner of his eye, he saw maybe one or two players downcast. Perhaps their Pokemon were not so lucky.

He reunited with his two Pokemon and let Anta out so that he could tell her that the battle had been won. They were relieved (mostly Buru) and thrilled (mostly Banko and Anta). It was their first real battle, and a largescale one at that, joining hands with many others to take down the biggest threat they had ever seen. And now it was done, so they could leave. The end of the hero's journey would mean for them to go back home, but home didn't quite exist in UNOVR, he realized. Actually, would that be…Mom? Maybe it was high time he gave her a proper visit.

…but he still had no feeling on his right hand.

In truth, he was not as surprised or as angry as he thought he might be. The game said nothing, only when checking his character status, the curse was still present, and seemed to be the same as it was before. He could control the mist as he had learned the past couple of hours, and with some of the Xurkitrees sparking in joy, he found that the light was still blinding, making his eyes hurt (more than it would do if he didn't have the curse, he felt).

What would Seta say then, if he went to the Everworld looking like this?

<So what gives with the hand?> Buru asked while crossing her arms. She had some more spunk now that the danger had passed and Anta was healing her with an Aqua Ring. It was basically to act as a crutch until they made their way to the closest shrine. <You're not fooling me, it's related to the fat ass that we just beat down, isn't it?>

Banko let out an uneasy exhale. <But it's still there. 'Cause the boss is still alive?>

That seemed to be a likely explanation. However, Arthur also knew that his chances for landing that killing blow were slim. He remembered looking at that HP bar; at some point, he could've sworn the numbers become distorted and garbled as players and Pokemon slammed into it. As it turned out, even if it was a game, the game was not always going to give him a miracle.

Or maybe the game was playing exactly how it was supposed to be.

❝Yeah, maybe.❞ he said softly, letting his left hand rest on his chest. He was then unable to hide his surprise that he could actually feel something steady and beating.

<What is it?> the Granbull asked.

Arthur shook his head; the slightest smile on his lips. ❝Nothing. You did well, all of you. Let's get out of here and tell the others.❞

<We're walking? Ughhh…>

<You can ride on me. I still gots energy left t' spare!>

The player let out a small chuckle as he took the Mudsdale's offer. Buru decided that even if she was exhausted, she didn't want to go back to her Poke Ball just yet. Anta would wrap her fins around Arthur's shoulders as the Granbull sat in front of him so that she wouldn't fall over.

<So where we headed?>

Arthur used his free hand to check through what were the fast travel options available. There was a way to teleport back to the entrance, which opened up the other places, so it seemed prudent to go to a shrine first. ❝Well, we could--❞

<Peep?>

…

Oh shit he was still holding onto the Mudkip.

❝Uhh…hey lil fella. Could you point us to where your trainer is?❞

There were other trainers crowding around Solgaleo. Arthur even spotted one crazy blonde kid try to climb up on him (what a mystery on who that was). For him, well, he didn't want to approach. Not after what he did. It seemed best to leave the celebration to the victors--he still had a trial to beg for.

ZONE 3

It was over. The monster in the form of Lunala was sealed into a place they couldn't escape and the Ultra Beasts were freed from its grasp.

Morpheus sighed in relief as he let his knees collapse on the floor with a well-earned smile. He still has a lot of questions about the Ultra Beasts and that mysterious, yet malicious Legendary. But if anything, he was relieved that the chaos was over for now. Everyone gave it their all and they earned this victory fair and square, a far cry from his first raid when it ended in a bittersweet conclusion.

But when he saw most of the Ultra Beast leaving through the portals, he noticed the Poipole and Celesteela who accompanied him remained by his side. At the same time, he got a notification that he got a new subclass, Contract. It's because of their efforts that he and the players managed to defeat the raid boss. So he knew what to ask them next. "Are you guys planning to go back soon?"

Pica the Poipole tilted their head. <<I don't know... I want to explore this world with you much longer! Morphy is too funny and interesting to leave!>>

<<I share the same sentiments,>> Kaguya the Celesteela added. <<It would be too soon for me to depart. I want to continue flying and if you have our permission, I want to do it with you and your friends by your side.>>

Morpheus smiled. It seemed like his new subclass managed to break the language barrier a bit between them, so there was no need for him to make second guesses. "No objections here. I already locked myself out of the loop and I'm not doing it again after this." He took out his Golden Poke Balls and aimed them at his new partners. "I'm looking forward to working with you two."

Both Ultra Beasts nodded in approval before they were caught in the Poke Balls. After a few shakes, he got a new notification.

You have successfully caught Poipole and Celesteela.

<<So what now, Morpheus?>> His Flapple asked. <<Are you going to leave again after this?>>

He smiled at Malum and stroked his head. "Only for a while. I need to learn more about Ultra Beasts and see what's next for us." He looked up in the sky as the clouds started to part. "I think it's time for me to take this world more seriously than ever."

"LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Eddie let out a whoop that would make a Kriketune jealous as he thumped the side of the towering fortress that was Jericho, a jovial laugh roiling from his throat like lava from a long dormant volcano.  He'd never felt so god damn alive in his life, never so accomplished, sure he hadn't done MUCH, but he did manage to free the cool solar crucifix person and they did something sick, and Jericho had done a big rock throw dunk move so like...

Baby steps.

But boy howdy was he hooked, the sheer adrenaline and thrill of it all, how real it was, how perilous everything seemed!  His heart was thumping in his chest as he monkeyed down his new Ultra buddy, the stakka setting up stairs for him to descend.  Scanning the crowd he kept an eye out for Torino , Laguna , and lastly his cousin orioncayge .  The former was currently nowhere to be found which concerned him, the secondary target was still over where Solgaleo was posed up like a legend for post raid talks.  But as his eyes settled upon his cousin, the wind left his sails.  

Orion hovered wordlessly over the coffin, leaning his weight onto clenched fists, stanced up like a white knuckled gorilla with a look upon his eyes like he'd already logged out and his body was just waiting to catch up with him.  There were no hoots, or hollers from him, just a stoic, contemplative quiet.

"Yo!"  Eddie called out, jogging to catch up to his cousin.  "Hype ass fuckin fight dude!"  He exclaimed, slapping his psuedo sibling on the shoulder. 

He might as well have just slapped a marble statue for all his hand could tell.

"Thanks."  Orion murmured, eyes not leaving the coffin.

"You good dawg?"  Eddie inquired, leaning forward to peer upon his cousins face and ponder his stoic expression.  "Cause you're acting like we didn't just smoke the absolute SHIT out of this raid and get like, the best possible ending."

"I'll be fine,"  Orion grunted, eyes not leaving the coffin lid.  "Just processing it all."

"You sure?"  Eddie inquired with a raised brow.  

"Yeah man."  Orion lied.

"Well...I'm gonna go check in with the others...then probably log and get some food in my belly and hit up Macs for some drinks.  If you swing by booze is on me kay champ?"  Eddie's hands drummed across his stoic cousins shoulders like bongos.  "Good shit dude, you and I are gonna have to do some rocky shit so I can catch the fuck up so it's not just you stuntin all the time."

"Yeah man,"  Orion nodded, his gaze turning from the coffin to his cousin and offering a soft smile.  "I'm glad you're seein the appeal."

"I totally get it now."  Eddie grinned from ear, eyes alight with delight.  "I shoulda hopped in way earlier dude!"

"You shoulda."  Orion nodded, his gaze returning to the coffin.  "Go have fun, I'll catch up with you at Macs maybe, dunno yet."  There was a poignant pause between the two before Eddie clicked his tongue.

"Aight man, if you don't swing by I'm finding your ass, I know where you live punk."

"Yeah yeah."  Orion replied, slugging Eddie on the shoulder.  "Go have fun dude."

Eddie took a few steps backwards, eyeing his cousin appraisingly before nodding, and turning on his heel to go find the others.  Clearly his cousin needed some time.

ZONE 3: HEARTEATER

Torino looked on in shock as the boss of the World Event faded away, lost and sealed in her coffin.

Hearteater was defeated. The day was won.

They won.

They WON.

Her mouth opened a little in surprised. "We did it?" she asked the world.

A smile crept upon her like dawn, and her face broke into joy and excited tears. "We won! We are the winners! It is over! We did it!" She grabbed Donphan and Xurkitree by their arms and danced around in a circle. Doduo paraded nearby, poking his beaks up at the sky in an excited victory dance.

"I cannot believe it! I have never won!" Her heart trilling with excitement. She ran over to eddiecayge, dragging Xurkitree behind her. Donphan dropped back onto four feet and ran behind her. "We did it!" she announced, wrapping him in a huge hug. Xurkitree followed suit, tangling him in electrical wires. Ciambella, her Donphan, playfully bumped into Stakataka in celebration. "Victory!"

Visions of past World Events rimed her mind, crusts of disappointment and loss. The world always changing for the worse. Friends and Pokemon disappearing. Night drawing closer with every loss. The unending grip of Winter.

She left Eddie to celebrate with Xurkitree, and danced over to Alicia Westfield, weaving her way through her friend's crowd of Pokemon. "Alicia! We did it! Victory! I never win but we won! You were wonderful!" she wrapped her friend in a perfumed hug, holding her close and imparting all the joy and excitement of a first-time victor. "Before it has always been bad and cold and losing, but we did it!"

She wiped her eyes on her long sleeve. "We did it," she said, voice getting a little softer.

"I never win," she said, smiling at Alicia Westfield with tears in her eyes. "But today is different."

It was done, more or less.

Hearteater had been felled, but returned to the coffin and sealed away.  He kept his mind from thinking what was possibly going on in there, what it was like to be trapped in your own coffin with no way of getting out. 

Being buried alive.

It made his spine shiver, and goosebumps stand on the edge of his arms as he contemplated whether or not a delay is its judgement was a kindness anymore.  If letting it be felled in one go was the right thing to do.  Only time would tell, boy howdy did father time tell the most roundabout and randy ass backwards stories filled with all sorts of flashbacks and flashforwards.

It was like the bastard child of Lost and Homestuck.

Needless to say, Orion's head was all over the place as Eddie approached, their exchange was...more curt than he'd cared to have been, but it's hard to have an engaging bout of banter when one eye is staring at a coffin you used to sleep in regularly.

Memento Mori motherfucker.

Just as he thought he could slip back into his train of thought, the rest of the team coalesced on his position.  Adze had been spared a splatting by the skin of his teeth thanks to the work of some sick ass supports saving the day.  Gil had hardly taken a scratch, his newly minted chitinous kaiju armor tested in battle for the first time in any real measure and boy was it holding up.  He imagined they both wanted to talk, there was in fact much to discuss about this entire thing, too many words to be said to too many people.  Not enough sand in the hourglass to make it all fit, a vexing irritation that chafed against his very being.  

He had too many thoughts to convey them in any meaningful way at the moment, but a burning desire to sit and confer with someone.  To unpack it all, to try and make sense of anything that had just transpired.  All of those waltzes down memory lane had left him disoriented on which way was forward, and frankly he wasn't sure he was going to figure it out.  So what to do?  He wanted to stop this ceaseless game of rolling with the punches, but at what point do you stand and deliver?  

Fuck it, journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

"You two okay?"  He'd turn to his mon and look them over.  "I imagine you've both got opinions on this yeah?"  He'd motion to the box.

"My King has chosen, and he has treated with me fairly before we could speak, I have not always understood, but I have always followed.  I see not why that should change, you have opted to punish the oppressor with its own sins, I see the punishment as fitting.  It has rotted, is rotting, and will continue to rot.  All you have changed is the venue."

Orion let that sink in for a moment, chewing his lip so hard he was worried it would start bleeding before he turned to Gil.

"I just wanna go back to MOM's place and eat some moreos..."  Gil grumbled blearily, the adrenaline of untold hours stuck in fight mode wearing off, exhaustion slamming into the beetle like a steam roller being tossed by a screeching vampire.  He would be in desperate need of several vitamin waters and some fatty junk food later.

"I think we can make that happen, you wanna take a nap in the ball while you wait?"

"Yeh"  Gil grunted flopping down onto his rear, his posterior missing the ground as he faded into a flash of red.

Turning his gaze back to Adze, Orion would give him an appraising look, rubbing his chin.

"I feel like ultimately the number of victims has gone down, we've freed those who were bound against their will.  But in the end we've still managed to leave someone in chains.  Part of me thinks that ruthlessness would have been a double edged mercy, it would have saved all those who were suffering, but it would have kept Hearteater from facing a proper judgement.  Liberty is a souls right to breath, but..."  his gaze fell to the coffin.  "Is the end of life a better alternative than bondage?  Is there a road for repentance for Hearteater?  Do I even have a right to hold that decision in my hands?"

"You hold not that decision in your hand, merely the ability to give Hearteater a chance."  Adze buzzed.  "As you have given so many other of my kind a chance, a choice to be different than the forces that compel us.  You gave us the chance to break the chains that held us, to compelled us.  The choice to change can only be made by Hearteater and Hearteater alone.  You're decision was kindness, and some would resent you for denying them their vengeance, others would commend your temperance.  The die is cast, the cards have been dealt, the conductor has raised his baton and the symphony marches on.  All we can do is continue forward."  The bug paused and glanced over the coffin, then back to Orion.

"I sense this means more to you than just Hearteater...but I suggest you find some space to breathe."  The bug rested a hand on his trainers shoulder.  "I am going to...as you say, hit the showers?"  The bug's wings tittered in a way that Orion had long since learned meant the bug was laughing.  "It is good to share a language with you my king, for I have longed to speak my thoughts to you."

"Rest well big man."  Orion would clap the bug back on the shoulder and sigh.  "We'll have plenty of time to talk."  With a flash of red he would once again find himself standing alone with his thoughts.  Opening up his UI he would simply drop a simple series of messages into the raid chat.

CaygeMatch: So uh...
CaygeMatch: Anyone wanna help me lug this big ass coffin back to Hotel Plasma's basement?
CaygeMatch: I feel like it'd really feng my shui
CaygeMatch: Know what I mean?
CaygeMatch: It's giving "Pandoras Box" vibes.
CaygeMatch: Probably not something we wanna leave at the bottom of a spooky cave unattended
CaygeMatch: That's like...begging for trouble.
CaygeMatch: Will pay in your choice of food and booze, or like two solids.

When this was all done, he was going to need a vacation.  

It was done.

The evil was defeated. Not slain, no. Imprisoned. Perhaps it would never be redeemed, perhaps it would never learn from its gluttonous vile ways... but it at least had a chance.

Ruby's form would shift back to normal, slowly, feeling the intense energy of the Mega Evolution fade from her as she returned to her own flesh and form. The adrenaline was still pumping through her heart, and she couldn't help but just let out a long shaky breath.

They did it. The day was saved, Ostelia's Pokemon restored back to their habitat, and the Ultra Beasts freed to go home. And yet, on top of all of that- she was here. She had taken part. Maybe she wasn't the most influential player, the most impactful, the strongest nor the smartest, but she somehow survived through it all, leading the charge without a moment's hesitation.

She had changed so much, and the thought alone had her smiling. Changed for the better, she liked to think.

Ruby smiled right back at the Solgaleo, grinning incredibly widely. But as soon as it seemed like he was getting ready to leave, she immediately moved into action once again. "Solgaleo!" She'd shout almost on total instinct, launching herself towards the Lion's feet. He was so massive now, there was no carrying the adorable Litten no more, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a moment to say goodbye.

Eyes gazed upon his beautiful, shimmering man, and then through the wormhole, watching the shimmering colors and views of worlds beyond dance before her. "Thank you." Her words carried so much more emotional weight than she knew how to express. "You... saved me when you did not have to. You sacrificed yourself, having such hope in humanity that you had just met, to know we'd come back for you. And there's no way to possibly express all that means. For me, or for anyone else."

"So..." She fumbled with her words for a few seconds, before sliding her backpack off her shoulders. She swiftly reached in, pulling out a small bag of beef jerky and immediately held it out for the giant lion as a childish giggle slipped past her own lips. "One more snack for the road, at least?"

"You're always welcome here, Solgaleo. Come visit me sometime in Asper, huh? I think Mom would like you, she loves a guest who can appreciate her cooking."

SPOILER: Click to show

{In the land of the true waking world...}Far away from the misty caverns and digital creatures, sat two individuals in labcoats at a desk, monitors before them with wild results. Noises beeping, charting out graphs onto paper, a full display of all of a sleeping woman's vitals up on multiple screens.

"Heartrate is constantly spiking," Spoke one of the two, looking over at the other. "Mental activity is all over the place, this doesn't match any of our previous records. An anomaly. We should-"

"She must be going through something traumatic." The other individual spoke up, frowning deeply. "Or, maybe playing a sport? That would be new for her. But maybe she's doing something new?" He shrugs faintly, moving to grab a piece of paper to write some notes down when-

Pop.

The sound causes the two to turn around, interrupting their conversation. A third individual appears behind them, wearing a black set of nurse scrubs and seemed to permanently smell of cigarette smoke. "Sup," She begins, her chewing gum suddenly being blown in a large obvious bubble before being popped once more. "How's sleeping beauty?"

"Oh, perfect timing. We need you to go in and check on her, and-"

"You need me to play babysitter, don't you?" She simply laughed, scanning over the information on the screen with a casual glance. The two individuals seemed stunned by the response, only for them to continue. "Give it an hour or two. It's raid night. She's clearly been busy. Atta girl."

And with that, the nurse walks away, casually moving to grab a cigarette from her pocket and stepping outside to light up another smoke.

"... Raid night?"

"Don't look at me, I don't know what that means."

"I should ask my kid, he plays them video games."