The dice rolls finally crossed the last threshold which basically means "The contractor has now gained absolute authority over their chosen center of power and will now be actively hunting the jumper and their allies"
AKA: rolling the dice doesn't strictly matter any more (other than for me to figure out what sort of luck she's having as she pushes her plans forward) as it's now do or die. When Joshua emerges from the distortion world, he can either win or he can't, there's no more time to do any sorts of prep.
"A portal through a reflection." Joshua noted "I should have guessed it was something like that."
Volo nodded "I thought as much."
Irida looked between everyone else "So… we're really doing this? Going into this unknown space?"
Adaman nodded "We've come to this point in time, we'll see it to the end."
…Those that journey carelessly into the underworld do not return.
Joshua took a breath though "If any of you don't want to come, I won't blame you. You should be able to leave the turnback cave through any of the doorways around the room. Any of them will lead you back to the entrance room."
He met each of his travelling companions' gazes in turn.
There was no hesitation in Volo's expression at all. This had ever been his goal. He tilted his hat down a bit to shield his eyes though when he saw Joshua looking.
Adaman looked relaxed but he was clearly having deep thoughts about the matter at hand.
Irida closed her eyes and took a breath before nodding.
None of them were leaving. With that then, Joshua stepped forward towards the gate. With only a moment's hesitation, he jumped through. The others followed behind him.
The world shifted. Earth became sky. You fell through a void and out into a world of light and shadow.
As far as anyon could see was a dark sky, it glowed an unnatural purple but due to the lack of a sun, that was the only thing casting light. Though it seemed to not be very bright, the flying island Joshua landed on was lit up brightly.
Out of the void, he had landed on a small platform of rock. One of those sky islands. The others joined him shortly and they looked around at the endless expanse.
"So." Volo began "Where will Giratina be?"
"Not far I think." Joshua admitted as he looked around "From what I know of the future records, this portal was meant to take us to the very depths of the distortion world."
He looked around, trying to remember the geography from the game. He then pointed to the right, the portal at his back.
"That way."
It was the direction the player came from when they were going to leave the world after the battle with Giratina in Platinum.
After a short walk that way though, the team found themselves at the edge of this particular island. Joshua pondered, trying to think of a reason. What was it like in the game again, tracing the route backwards?
There had been stepping stones right? Or something like that? Whatever it was, it wasn't here in the current time.
"Well then?" Adaman noted "How do we go on from here?"
Joshua had a Pokemon that could fly, he wasn't sure if Dragonair could carry them all at once though.
Volo had an answer though, he was looking over the edge of the island when he saw something. Ruins built on the walls of the island.
"How on earth did those get there?"
Joshua joined him and looked down "I'm not exactly sure." He admitted "But the Distortion world is a mirror of our own. I doubt those ruins were built by humans; they more likely just came into being here to mirror the turnback cave ruins above."
"Okay," Volo began as the others looked over the edge too "But that leaves another problem-"
"They should have fallen over." Irida noted "We're being pulled down, those ruins should be too."
Joshua considered it for a moment and nodded, an idea coming to mind.
"Does anyone have a rope on them?"
Volo did, and with Volo's help, Joshua stepped around the ninty degree angle and…
He was right, gravity shifted. From his perspective at least. Joshua let go of the rope and it fell to the "ground."
"Don't worry." Joshua noted "Space and time don't quite work right here, down doesn't mean the same thing."
Volo was excited, Irida was terrified.
Even so, the entire team moved around the island's lip and started walking down the cliff to the ruins below.
As they did and Joshua examined the ruins, he thought about what it meant that Giratina was apparently lord of the underworld.
He had thought about it before of course. A lot of Giratina's themes were demonic. Lots of 6s, being banished to the underworld for crimes of violence. He did seem to remember a developer commenting that Giratina was not literally Pokemon Lucifer though… no matter how well it matched up.
Even so, this felt like a worse and worse idea as they continued in.
At the bottom of the island was a river, at least that's what it looked like at first.
The river "Flowed down" across the void. Over there, at its source, it spilled out off an island's lip like a waterfall. By the time it reached here though it was horizontal, relative to their current orientation at least. The horizontal waterfall hit a flat section of the ruins' walls and fell down relative to the team, forming into a river that flowed "Normally."
"It's bizarre to me." Adaman murmured "Just how empty this place is."
The distortion world was a void, loosely spotted with islands like this one. There was only one Pokemon that called this place home.
They heard a roar and looked up as a shadow passed overhead. There was only one thing that could block out the indistinct light source of the distortion world. A serpentine shadow with wings.
Irida and Adaman gasped as they saw the Legendary Pokemon fly overhead. For an instant it glanced down at the party before flying "Up" relative to them. So that would be the direction Joshua had pointed in from the start and the same direction the waterfall/river flowed from. Their goal was that way.
"Was this a challenge of some sort?" Volo wondered aloud.
Joshua nodded "Probably."
Adaman tried swimming in the river. While gravity did shift to make it possible for him to swim in it like a river, the force of the waterfall was too great and it carried him back down to the rest of them.
"This needs a Pokemon." Volo commented "I don't suppose…" he glanced over at Joshua who nodded.
Dragonair couldn't fly them all across islands, but only a few of them at a time? Up and down this kind of river? That was possible for her.
It took them a while to get up to the next island along and they were all soaking wet by the time they got there. The water in the distortion world wasn't truly hot or cold. Just a lukewarm kind of temperature.
They walked to the "Top" side of the island where they found on its "north" edge a line of floating stones that seemed to carry on into the void.
Before these lines of stones were pillars and a carved image on the floor of Giratina. Then below that was some poetry.
"He who desired violence waits beyond,
Stand true to yourself traveller,
Lest you never leave this place.
There are worse fates I suppose. I believe the lord of this place is quite lonely."
…Huh, an interesting way to end it?
Then Joshua thought about this. If this was the Pokemon Underworld, where were the ghosts? There was Giratina itself and then… what? Should this place not be crowded by the spirits of the departed.
But no, the renegade Pokemon was alone in this endless dimension.
Taking a breath, Joshua walked over to the edge of the island and leaped onto the first stone. He remembered this now, just after the fight against Cyrus.
"Come on." He looked back "We're here. The heart of the distortion world."
A world without emotions, knowledge or willpower.
The team of four began jumping. Gravity was lighter during the jumps and the platforms were large enough that it was easy to hit them. Even when Irida missed a jump and began to panic, gravity pulled her back to the stone she had been aiming for anyway.
At the end of the passage of stones was a small platform. The team gathered on that platform and they heard the roar again.
The serpentine original form of Giratina flew by again before resting in the air before them. It flew above the infinite void.
Irida sucked in a breath and was the first to step forward.
"Almighty Giratina please! Listen to my plea!"
She knelt and prayed.
"The world is in danger. There is someone who seeks to conquer the land of Hisui, they are controlling the normal people and forcing them to serve the conqueror. Please, lend us your help in quelling them."
…
Giratina didn't speak. Joshua wasn't sure it even could, but it did have the ability to communicate in the same way all Pokemon could.
Its expression seemed to read something like "And? Why should I help?"
Irida seemed shaken slightly.
"You, I though… Please almighty Giratina-"
"It won't work like that." Volo remarked coldly, "Giratina, listen to me."
His persona had shifted, a mask falling metaphorically away from his face.
"Come with me to the surface. After we wipe out the interloper, you and I will be able to challenge Arceus himself."
At that, Giratina looked interested. Adaman and Irida stepped back in shock.
"Volo, what are you-?"
Volo spun to face them, drawing a Pokeball.
"This was always my goal." He spoke to them "While I agree that Karen deserves damnation, after she's gone I had my own objective."
He held his hand up to Giratina "With the help of the god lost to time, I will challenge the creator. I disagree with the way the world was constructed."
Giratina was looking more and more interested as Volo continued to speak. Both of the clan leaders looked to be getting ready to fight though, they'd drawn their own Pokeballs.
Irida glanced over to Joshua "Come on, we've got to stop him."
Joshua wasn't entirely sure they could. So he went at this from another angle.
"Volo, what is it that you dislike about the world?"
Volo smiled, pulling off his hat and letting his hair fly out.
"Ah, I see. You knew about me all along then?"
Joshua shrugged "Something like that. Knowledge of the future and all that."
"And you didn't stop me?"
"I suspected you'd help us long enough to get rid of the interloper."
"And after that?" Volo asked "What were you going to do after that?"
"Nothing." Joshua looked to the side "There is more at play than you know."
He didn't really know the story of Legend Arceus, as he thought many times before, but there was something about Giratina being the reason the hero from the future came at all. Volo wasn't breaking from the script, he'd still fall.
Volo frowned but answered the question Joshua had asked earlier "You asked what I didn't like, what I wanted to change? There are too many things in this world that are painful and heartbreaking! Too many tragedies brought on by things that the victims had no control over."
Volo pointed up towards 'The surface' as he continued "Even now, even today, Karen forces her will on the innocent people, disregarding them for what she wants."
"If I may ask, how is your way different?" Joshua raised his hand "Isn't the idea to destroy and recreate the world, how many thousands- billions of people and Pokemon will that kill. All because you're putting your will above theirs."
"They won't stay that way for long." Volo said confidently "When I recreate the world, all will be as it was. The People and Pokemon won't even notice at first. The first thing they'll be aware of is the cessation of tragedy. Loved ones will recover from incurable sickness, the hungry will find food, the homeless will find homes. There will be enough for everybody!"
He didn't see the genocide as genocide, as he intended to recreate them as they were. Even so-
"What if you can't? What if after Arceus is dead, there are no records you can use to recreate everything as it was? Will it not be so that you just killed countless innocents?"
"It won't turn out that way." Volo said with perfect confidence "With the power of Arceus, I would just be able to say 'let it be as it was'."
Joshua sighed.
Arceus was not an evil god, that was something he'd decided on by himself. Because of that there must be some reason suffering exists despite all else.
"In a situation where two sides couldn't get along and wished each other death, what would occur in your world?" Joshua needled.
Volo nodded "First would be a request, I would offer to remove their hatred from them. I will not control their minds without consent. If they both refuse to lose their hatred, I would look at what caused it to come to be. Were they fighting over a resource, I could simply double it for them."
"And should it be more than that, an irreconcilable difference in opinions?"
Volo considered it for a moment.
"I suppose… I'd have to make the choice. Whichever of them was right would get my blessing. I wouldn't allow the tragic death of the other, but neither would I allow their life to create tragedy."
…
Joshua sighed and scratched his head.
"So, do you agree with me?" He asked to the assembled group.
"No." Came the simple answer from the clan leaders.
After a moment, Joshua had to shake his head too and this time he looked up at Giratina.
"I'm sorry, but no. There are too many flaws in your plan. Moments where you assume things will just work out. For someone who despises Arceus, you have a lot of faith."
"Do you think you can stop me?" Volo challenges.
Joshua ignored that question and continued "Your plan won't work, because Arceus would be able to crush you."
Arceus was a Benefactor, Joshua didn't believe that any normal human had a chance against something like that.
"So that's why you won't be trying to stop me?" Volo asked, "You appear to have a lot of faith yourself."
"Arceus is not an evil god." Joshua noted aloud "And yet if there is such a thing as suffering in a world he created, it might be required somehow. I once heard someone claim that for free will to exist, suffering is necessary. I don't agree with the conclusion, but I do worry about those with free will in the world you created."
"How so?"
"In your idea world, what happens when the next you comes along? When someone appears that wants to change something about your world and you don't agree with his worldview."
"I'll stop him."
"Arceus isn't stopping you."
"I won't ignore threats."
Joshua sighed.
"What if it's not a matter of ignorance. There are Pokemon that can see the future. Don't you think Arceus would have the same. If you made it to him, he'd know you were coming. And yet he doesn't do anything to stop you."
Fixing his eyes on Volo, Joshua continues "What if it's just that Arceus couldn't stop suffering? He has done nothing to stop Karen after all."
Joshua had been wondering himself, if a benefactor is unstoppable, why did he allow this to occur. Maybe the answer really was the most simple one; There are some things that even Benefactors can't do.
Joshua then looked up. He had one more being to convince.
"Giratina." Joshua spoke softly "If your father is unable to offer help, let's help in his place. He hates me too."
The others looked surprised at that and Joshua continued "He once banished me from a different world too, but I won't begrudge him that. I was a danger to that world. I ended up here by accident and as far as I understand, Arceus is currently fighting to protect this world."
That would be the sparks and conflict he'd noticed when first arriving.
"Each of us was banished for the danger we represent, let us show him that danger can be used to protect those who are at risk. When all is safe, he might even thank us."
Giratina looked… interested.
Joshua held out his hand "And even should he not, when I flee from him, I would be happy to take you with me. There are more places that need help and I would love to have you accompany me."
A pledge.
"I won't abandon you."
Joshua's sparkblade shone and in Joshua's open hand, a shape began to form. A red sphere A Pokeball made of strange crystal.
Though not knowing exactly what it was, Joshua offered the Pokeball to Giratina.
"Do you want to come with me?"
Volo looked between the Legendary and Joshua.
Giratina considered it and… turned away.
Joshua read from it what it thought on the matter "Not now. I will come with you, but I will only make my decision when it's over."
Joshua smiled, putting the Origin Ball away.
"Right." He said, looking up at everyone else. Volo still in his "Evil outfit"
"Let's go home, we've got an interloper to defeat."
Woo, didn't think I'd be able to write this today as I expected to be busy. Now… onto Volo and Giratina's motivations. Volo's are obscured a bit. I tried to draw as much as I could out of the bits of dialogue he has on the matter but it might not be perfect. I don't feel like I quite did it justice though. A "God Complex in an effort to rid the world of suffering" is a tricky thing to write. On Giratina, this is Pre-character development Giratina but I believe this is the sort of goal it has. In my mind, it and Arceus have a sort of relationship like Fate's Mordred and Artoria. Volo offers it the chance for revenge, Joshua offers the chance for it to make up with its creator.
I'm still not convinced I wrote either of them quite right though. So constructive feedback would be nice.
Also, no Contractor section this chapter. Partially because it's already quite long and partially because they had poor luck this time. All it would really be about is Cogita getting away safely along with a good section of the united clans.
In a burst of water, a portal broke the surface of the sendoff spring. A large gate, unseen in the world since the banishment of Giratina.
This was an action that it had feared would get it killed in the past, if its father saw it returning, the death penalty was all it could expect. Now though…
Its form shifted. As it left its home world its body morphed into its altered form. The people that had been riding on its back fell back down its neck to where it could more easily carry them in this form.
Giratina landed next to the lake and allowed its riders to dismount.
It told them with its expression what they had to do. The effects of its altered form meant it couldn't fly them all the way to their destination without taking plenty of rest.
Joshua was the first to understand what was needed.
"Where is your orb?"
Giratina pointed its head towards the turnback cave and Volo understood.
"It's in there, meaning…"
"We're going to need to go through the maze again?" Irida noted unhappily.
Luckily it didn't take that long. With Giratina's blessing, they moved through the maze as fast as one could. The moved quickly from pillar room to pillar room and in only four rooms they reached the innermost chamber. The portal here had closed, maybe Giratina could only make one at a time?
The team spread out to look for the stone Joshua described. A brown stone that looked relatively like an evolutionary stone.
As they worked, the clan leaders muttered to Joshua.
"Why are we trusting Volo?"
"Didn't I explain it before?" Joshua told them "We could use his help, he is quite possibly one of the strongest trainers in the region and even if you don't trust him, his plan is impossible. Arceus will never heed his call."
That didn't make them much happier but it was better than nothing.
Volo was the one to find the "Orb." That said it looked nothing like what Joshua remembered.
"I… appear to have made some kind of mistake." He observed, looking upon a massive… core. Volo had found it behind the mirror, it seemed there was a secret hiding place there.
The "Core" was three hand lengths across and it was really quite heavy.
Joshua mused to himself that the griseous orb he knew of must just be a broken-off part of this griseous core.
Together they got it back to Giratina and they absorbed the power of the core into themselves, shifting back from their altered form into their origin form.
The team mounted up again and flew off towards the camp.
As they travelled, a wind pushed against them. It was more than just the air pressure of how fast Giratina was flying.
As Giratina slowed, a pink figure appeared off of Giratina's right side. Cogita was there, riding with the pink force of nature.
"Mind landing for a moment Lord Giratina?" She spoke "I need to talk with your riders."
After a moment, Giratina did set down, shifting back to altered form as he did so he could rest properly in the real world.
Cogita joined the small team, and began to explain.
"The campsite at my house has been overrun by Karen's forces."
The Clan leaders stepped back in horror and she nodded to them.
"I tried to give them warning, so some of them should have escaped. Even so, if we leave them too long in that madwoman's power, they may be trapped forever."
Adaman punched his palm "Right, so we're going after her now then? Right now?"
Cogita frowned "Yes, but there are tactics to discuss." As she looked over at the others she raised an eyebrow at Volo "What on earth are you wearing young man?"
Volo snorted "I have some sense of style granny."
She stared him down at that and he finally looked away. From what Joshua had heard though, they were not literally related.
"Regardless." Cogita looked over them "I believe that Karen has been trying to collect the plates. If she has enough of them, then she'd be able to distract Almighty Arceus during his battle with whatever is out there."
"You knew about that?" Joshua asked.
Cogita gives a nod "It's my job to."
With no further explanation, Cogita laid out the plans. The Clan leaders would have to reunite with their clans and if possible collect as many plates as they could. Meanwhile She, Volo and Joshua would take Giratina to take back the plates already stolen.
Adaman and Irida nod and they all mount up again. Cogita still riding Enamorus and the others on Giratina as he shifts back to Origin form. They all head north where the clan leaders get dropped off and then the others go west.
"We can do it." Joshua heard Volo talking to himself "With Giratina by our side, we're invincible."
Joshua could only hope that Volo was right. He didn't know enough about what the interloper could and couldn't do. The fact that they hadn't summoned something like a god to aid them did hint at the fact they couldn't though.
Hopefully.
On that subject, as the three humans and two legendaries crossed the spine of the Hisui region, Joshua marvelled at Giratina's power. It was hard to describe, but he could get the feeling from the experiences he'd gained throughout his journey so far.
Giratina held "True divinity." It was greater in scope than Kefka's had been.
Kefka might have called himself a god but in comparison to Giratina, it was shown just how much that had been delusion.
Comparing it to MissingNo was interesting too. MissingNo held "The same kind of divinity" but it was a shattered and broken thing. Had MissingNo been able to escape- to emanate over the Pokemon world, he might have been stronger still, but when Joshua killed him, it was not killing a god. It had been like shattering the bones of a dead god to ensure it couldn't rise again.
Comparatively, Enamorus was… well. The force of nature wasn't "weak" but when anyone compared how divinity they felt, Giratina's overpowered Enamorus' completely. It was hidden in the "Aura."
He didn't think that the others had really noticed, really even Joshua couldn't see it to that degree. Even he caught only glimmers. This is the narrator offering some extra points that Joshua wasn't fully aware of.
Before they began their attack run against Jubilife village, they all settled down to rest one more time. It was late in the day and they wanted to be at their best.
Plus, the forces that had attacked Cogita's retreat should still be far away from the village. That meant Karen would have less forces for them to contend with.
The moon rose over the camp and Cogita kept focusing on Volo.
"For goodness sake boy, why?"
Joshua had been filling her in on what had happened and he'd gotten to the part where Volo revealed his plot.
Volo shrugged "I think its clear enough, Arceus has not done enough-"
"You think he hasn't tried?" Cogita seemed quite angry "You think Arceus has never tried to make a perfect world? It doesn't work, there will always be suffering of some sort."
There was silence for a moment and Volo looked up at the moon too. A full moon, an omen of good dreams.
"Where did you read that?" Volo asked quietly "Where… is that piece of evidence that makes my plans pointless?"
Cogita sighed.
"...I learned it when I spoke to Arceus myself."
Volo's fist clenched, but he said nothing more.
Cogita, though, did say one more thing "You were a fool for choosing that path, but that doesn't mean you can't look for a new way. Some way to try and alleviate the suffering."
…
"I'm going to sleep." Volo noted, turning away from the two of them.
In the morning, the team set off for the final battle.
As they flew high, they looked down onto Jubilife village.
When Karen woke in the morning and saw Poke-Satan flying high over her new domain, she understandably panicked.
"How? Why?"
Staring at the approaching demon, she pulled out her phone.
"Is this Volo? What made him so angry?"
She shook her head.
"Regardless, I welcome you Volo. You'll be mine soon."
Before that though, she needed her own weapon. Giratina was ranked as a Tier 10 being, on par with some of the strongest non-omnipotent gods in the multiverse. That meant whatever she brought to play would have to be stronger.
She didn't really have the credits though. Buying her own rank 10 being was out of her price range by two orders of magnitude. That said… if she grabbed something that could stand up to Giratina and then caught him… she could sell him off to cover the debt! Yes! Perfect!
She pulled out her phone and quickly flipped to the loan app. She instantly took out a full loan. 500 credits.
Now, onto the slave-buying app… Let's see. She wants tier 9 and 10 beings, they have to be immortal and reality warpers… and hit random.
Let's see… did any of these look particularly interesting to her? She snorted as she passed by Palkia and Dialga along with other copies of Giratina. She wasn't the only Contractor who'd gone to a Pokemon world after all.
Hmm… The Aeons from Honkai Star Rail were on offer. Someone had gone to collect the full set. But… no. She didn't really care about that Gacha game all that much.
Hmm… how about this one? It would be funny. Pokemon against its rival. Ooh, there were two copies of him on sale. She was hoping for that, it means she can still do other stuff with this loan.
Generally when slaves are being sold off, they sell for less if their previous owner traumatised them. These two copies were likely traumatised in some way but it was fine. She wanted them as a weapon, not as a friend.
She hit buy on the first one.
As she ran out of the front door of the Galaxy team's hall (Her new house), she held up her phone.
"Come on out: Omegamon!"
The Royal Knight Digimon appeared, it stood taller than any of the houses in this little village. Its body was shaking a bit though.
When it looked down at Karen he spoke quietly.
"Tai, is that you?"
She checked the listed trauma for this copy. "Hallucinates their master as the digidestined."
Ah well, it could be worse.
"Yes, and there's trouble!" She said, trying to act as that stupid idiot from the anime "Look!"
She pointed at Giratina "That monster has kidnapped some people. You need to go defeat it. Don't kill it though, I have a program I can use to save it."
Omegamon nodded, its eyes hardening "Of course my friend."
Turning, Omegamon kicked off and flew upwards.
Below them in the town, Joshua saw a massive figure in armour appear. Volo and Cogita looked down at the same time.
"What on earth is that?" Volo asked "Is it a Pokemon?"
Cogita's eyes went wide though "Quickly, we have to get off! Giratina, drop us off in Jubilife through a gateway!"
Giratina circled in the air, generating a gate with its spinning. Cogita then led the other two in jumping in.
The gate led, via a quick stop in the distortion world, to the water in the village's port. As they swam for shore, they saw the knight-like giant begin to fight against Giratina.
Its sword swung and clashed with a blast of light and fire from Giratina's mouth. The two beings of immense force began a duel that could destroy the region if it was happening on the ground.
As the battle begins proper, the trio of heroes pull themselves onto the docks. Cogita needed to drop her hat and rip off sections of her dress to make it safer to swim and Volo's hair was soaked and whatever he'd been using to keep it styled like Arceus' head had washed out.
Then though, there was an announcement. It could be heard all over Jubilife village.
"Volo, let's meet at the base of the Galaxy team. Come alone and you may be able to claim the plates I'm holding."
Volo frowned, still sopping wet.
"It's a trap." Joshua noted.
Volo nodded "Of course it's a trap, I'm not that foolish."
Joshua turned to Cogita "You know more than you're telling us, who is the girl known as Karen?"
Cogita sighed "My best guess… is that she's a contractor, she works for a group called-"
"The Company." Joshua's voice was deadpan. Of course. Of course! Why hadn't he been able to notice this sooner? He was a great fool.
Above them, Giratina clashed with some slave from another world.
Joshua's first instinct was to cut a hole and run, to abandon this world. He couldn't win, not against a contractor who could just summon another ally that could completely overpower him. He stood no chance, none at all!"
Cogita grabbed a hold on him though. The old woman's grip was tight.
"I don't know your history with them." She said, with not a hint of the mystique she kept in her voice normally "But you can't leave now. We need you."
Joshua wanted to struggle but instead he took a breath, held it, and let it go.
"Okay." He nodded, "What's the plan?"
"Karen might not hold all of the plates." Cogita noted "Volo, I'll teach you the best I can in these few minutes how to avoid falling under her sway. You're the strongest trainer out of the three of us right now. You have to try to get her plates from her if you can. If not, just distract her. For our part, we'll search the village. I've got a good feeling I know where the plates are and Joshua and I will collect them while Karen's distracted."
Volo wasn't convinced "I'm at far more risk than you here."
"Yes well." Cogita shrugged "This is on your own head, you're the one who wanted to kill everybody."
"I didn't- whatever." Volo sighed.
Quickly, Cogita gave him the rundown.
"Don't eat, don't drink, wear a mask-"
"I don't have a mask." Volo noted and Cogita ripped off another piece of her dress and handed it to him.
"Now you do, anyway. If she brings out her phone, a small machine that looks somewhat like a plate, you'll want to look away. I think she's using the App binding, so if you don't look at it, she can't get you."
She gave him a few more tips and Volo nodded. His face set.
"You guys better not fail."
He ran off and Cogita grabbed Joshua and pulled him along a different route.
"Karen will be carrying some plates on her, but not all of them. She probably left the rest in the Galaxy team's base. We'll sneak in and split up to search for them."
Joshua was sure at this point.
"Cogita, how do you know all of this, are you… a Jumper?"
Cogita didn't answer at first. As they ducked behind cover to hide from some patrolling villagers though, she answered.
"I'm not, but I have the memories of a Jumper. The original Cogita… She was one of Arceus's first Jumpers. I've seen how this world is meant to work, and this is not it."
Then…
"You wrote the old verses?"
"They were written by the original Cogita." the current Cogita spoke "And they were spread about this world by Arceus."
The two of them made their way to the back entrance of the Galaxy team's base and Dragonair helped them up into a window on the top floor.
Volo stepped forward and Karen smiled. He was here, at last he was here! He looked a bit bedraggled but… eh. She still liked how he looked.
They were standing out front of the Galaxy team's base.
She hoped her beautiful smile was charming enough, she could have bought some kind of upgrade for that but instead she'd just returned as much of the loan as she could.
"Finally." She spoke "You've come to me."
Volo snorted "I have no idea who you even are, other than a blight to this entire region."
Karen laughed, he'd see things her way soon enough.
"Oh? And aren't you the same? You who would rip apart the world because of your pride?"
Volo was quiet for a moment and then-
"You don't get me at all."
"What? Of course I get you. You're a person who wants everything to be as he says, one who could stand up and even tell that stupid llama no."
Volo stepped forwards, drawing a Pokeball.
"As I said, you don't get me at all. I'm not like you. You, who sees everything as something to be owned. To rule over them like slaves."
"You don't value them either!" Karen declared and Volo laughed.
"Such a fool you are." He chuckled "You think that I want to bring suffering and strife? You think I'd like the way you do things? No."
He opened his eyes "You are diseased, sick in the head. At least I can accept my faults. You seem trapped in the delusion that I'd like you. Well then, if you think I'm a person who harms others for the fun of it, allow me to act the part for this one battle."
He pointed the ball at her.
"I will destroy you, your soul will never know peace."
Karen frowned and reached for her phone. Well, if he'd play hard to get, she'd just fix that quickly…
Inside the base, the two of them split up.
"I'll search starting from the top floor." Joshua said "You should start at the second floor."
Being on the ground floor was a risk as it meant they'd be found when the contractor came back. So it would be the place they checked last, and that they'd check together.
When Joshua came across a brainwashed slave while searching, he'd knock them out quickly. He didn't know if there was anything he could do to help them though. At least an instinct was saying "Yes, they can be helped."
He'd have to trust that instinct.
Barging into one room, Joshua ran right into a man in armour.
His eyes were empty, devoid of life. But Joshua could see a collection of Pokeballs on his person and some plates stacked up on his desk.
"Who are you?" The man asked with an empty voice.
Joshua only had one thing to say "An enemy of Karen."
The man drew a pokeball.
"Then you will be captured and that will be rectified."
This was it. A pokemon battle. Hopefully his team wasn't out of practice.
"Gengar, I chose you!"
"Braviary." Came the commander's monotone voice.
The Hisuian Braviary's eyes were empty too. Even a Pokemon had been subjected to that brainwashing.
Now then-
"Esper Wing!"
The bird flew in, faster than Joshua or Gengar could react, it struck Gengar and dealt a powerful blow. Even after that one strike, Joshua's pokemon could barely hold on. That said, Joshua knew he needed to do all he could to win here.
"Sorry Gengar, Curse! Please?"
Gengar knew what had to be done. At the cost of its consciousness, it laid a curse on the Braviary.
As Joshua returned Gengar, he knew this would likely be his hardest battle so far.
Yes, I really am cutting this off in the middle of the battle. We've begun the final battle of this world now. What does everyone think of the Cogita as kind-of reincarnated Jumper twist? I think it fits her character quite a bit. Also there was Volo's shittalk… I don't think it's as good as I planned it to be. I wanted Volo to do a "This is why you suck" speech on the contractor since the start of the world but I don't think it was as good as it could have been. Ah well.
Just to note: Volo hasn't yet been brainwashed. Karen rolled bad luck on that happening off-screen.
I'm not sure why they sent Volo to her. That seems like a bad idea. Is it just to distract her, and him so that they could raid her base?
Eh, her being an ex-Jumper didn't really work. A retired Jumper should have so much fucking power. Unless he stripped it all from her so she could retire? If so, that's kind of a dick move.
I'm not sure why they sent Volo to her. That seems like a bad idea. Is it just to distract her, and him so that they could raid her base?
Eh, her being an ex-Jumper didn't really work. A retired Jumper should have so much fucking power. Unless he stripped it all from her so she could retire? If so, that's kind of a dick move.
Why send Volo? Volo was the one who could distract her long enough to give them time to run around (And it gave Volo a chance to point out the fact she was an idiot)
And *This* Cogita isn't an Ex-jumper, she's in some way a clone of Ex-Jumper Cogita (Who did retain her power) but this Cogita is otherwise basically a normal person. She still has a lot of skills (at the human level) that were picked up by the Jumper but nothing supernatural.
That's what I tried to explain in the chapter, but there is some more detail I intend to go into later. I'll post it here now in case I forget it.
Original!Cogita's final jump before she decided to settle down was effectively a generic pokemon jump that took place in the past of Hisui. She ended up retiring there (She didn't really have the drive to go higher and Arceus didn't begrudge her). To honour her in a way, when her world later went through the events of canon L:A, that's what inspired Arceus to alter the events of L:A worlds when he made them so that the Cogita that would have been there anyway (NPC Cogita) would have some of the memories of Jumper Cogita.
And why did I decide that Cogita should be jump aware from a writing perspective? It just really seemed to fit her character and having her be a Jumper was one of the simplest ways I could do that. She's already implied to be the writer of the old verses in canon and that already implies she might be immortal. But of course, I couldn't have her actually be a jumper for that very same "So much f***ing power" problem that you mentioned so... memories of a Jumper.
Right, this was starting off poorly, but he could turn this around.
Okay, what was the current situation? Joshua had four pokemon left. The opposing Hisuian Braviary was cursed and would faint sooner or later.
Joshua needed to be able to defeat all of this guy's remaining pokemon quickly so he could go to assist his allies.
Gengar would have been really helpful for this annoyingly.
Okay, let's go with this!
"Alakazam!"
Joshua threw out a psychic type against a psychic type.
"Ice Punch!"
The spoon wielding one went first, slamming an icy fist into the flying type.
The armoured man ordered an air slash and Joshua got Alakazam to teleport out of the way with blinding speed. While the opening was planned to allow a future sight to hit, the Braviary charged in with a quick attack.
The future sight was launched and then followed up by an ice punch. The Braviary flew away and unleashed an air slash on Alakazam, who managed to endure it as the future sight landed and took out the bird.
"Great job Alakazam!" Joshua called. They were still fighting as they used to.
As the opponent threw out a snorlax that filled the room, Joshua ordered Alakazam to recover. Just in time, though it might not be enough due to the Snorlax's Giga Impact.
If not for that recovery, it would have knocked Alakazam out, and probably through the wall. Alakazam took a moment to recover again as Snorlax pulled itself through the exhaustion and before Snorlax could attack again, it unleashed a future sight attack.
Then the Snorlax tried Giga Impact again. It didn't hit Alakazam dead on but it didn't have to with how powerful it was.
That should have exhausted the beast though so when the future sight hit, Alakazam also laid into with another ice punch but it missed as Snorlax pulled itself together again.
Swapping from Ice punch to something more helpful, Alakazam unleashed a blast of psychic energy though that too missed. Snorlax then stamped around and made the ground shake with its weight only for Alakazam to dodge out of the way of its swing.
They both tried again, an ice punch thrown and another stomping around of High horsepower. When both missed again though it seemed like snorlax was starting to get tired out. It was throwing around so many high power moves…
It lowered its head and rammed into Alakazam, its head glowed with mental energy revealing it to be a zen headbutt.
Enduring it, Alakazam continued trying to land a good ice punch while missing with psychic blasts.
Eventually Alakazam was brought to the edge and knocked out, but it had managed to weaken the Snorlax a good way.
This was no time to hold back. Joshua threw in Dragonair who quickly paralysed the Snorlax with thunder wave.
As the snorlax replied with a zen headbutt, Dragonair rushed in. The force in that strike knocked the Snorlax back and made it flinch as Dragonair dealt the final blow that forced it back into its ball with an aqua tail.
The enemy threw in the worst possible opponent for Dragonair though, another fairy. A Clefable specifically.
Joshua quickly returned Dragonair and sent out Vileplume who took the enemy's Draining Kiss a lot better than Dragonair would have. Vileplume even managed to dodge backwards out of the way of the attack and unleash a flow of acid.
The enemy trainer ordered the Clefable to use psychic but luckily it missed. That would be dangerous!
"Use Toxic!" Joshua called and the poisonous power surrounded the fairy as it tried to use Calm Mind. Hopefully the toxic got it before that was a problem.
Unleashing Psychic again, this time Vileplume was unlucky enough to get the full blast.
Barely holding on, Vileplume was able to get its own back with a full-blast giga drain. It wasn't enough to be too useful but since Clefable wasted its turn with another Calm Mind, it didn't matter.
With a hope and a prayer, Vileplume used moonlight as another blast of psychic force came its way. It was too much for the flower and it collapsed unconscious. A moment later though, the same fate befell the fairy.
The last match returned Dragonair to the field to face off against a Golem. Dragonair didn't lose any time striking it with the hardest Aqua tail she could manage only for the Golem to parry it away and before hitting back with a double-edge.
Dragonair flew up away from the Golem's easy reach, accelerating with agility but the Golem just deployed flying Stealth rocks and one of them hit Dragonair. The damage wasn't massive but right now she was at risk.
Slamming down with another Aqua tail, Joshua watched hopefully from the sidelines but the single blow wasn't enough to take out the Golem who just double-edged again. Dragonair was knocked out, but that should have exhausted the Golem in the short term.
This was it. Only Ninetales was left, and against a Rock ground type. And there were Stealth rocks out.
Well!
Ninetales landed and hesitated too. He knew too what trouble this would be. Especially true when he took a stealth rock to the face.
"Will-o-wisp!"
The Golem moved as the first flared to life around it. It unleashed a rock slide which barely missed Ninetales as it unleashed a Hex. It barely hit and the Golem tried rock slide again, its best weapon against the fire type. By a hair it missed again though. Good thing too, as that looked like it would have been a critical hit.
For a moment, a thought crossed Joshua's mind. If this was the anime…
"Fire Blast!"
…It missed. He wasn't that lucky. He was that lucky in that Golem appeared to now be out of strength to keep using rock slide. In fact… it seemed tired in general.
…This trainer for some strange reason hadn't taught his pokemon more than three moves! It had to struggle after that.
The struggle hit Ninetales who replied appropriately.
"Payback!"
The impact of that at last finished off the burning Golem.
Just losing his pokemon wasn't enough for this trainer though seemingly. He drew out his sword and charged at Joshua.
Ninetales' fox fires struck him but Joshua knew that wouldn't stop this mad knight. Instead, Joshua drew his sparkblade and stabbed it into and through the knight's armour.
The sword fell in the same instant and there was a frozen moment before Joshua pushed the knight down. He wasn't that hurt, just a scratch on his shoulder. It was bleeding, but not by much.
Importantly though… Joshua leaned over to check if he could perform some first aid. The guy may be brainwashed but he didn't want him to die.
As he did that though he heard a call from outside…
The divine knight and Giratina fought overhead as Volo realised it was time to act.
As the Contractor drew out that strange box that Cogita had warned Volo about, he spun. The dust from the road sprung up at the movement as he called out his Garchomp.
"Rend the earth!"
Unleashing Earth Power, Garchomp did indeed rend the earth. The disruption of the town was enough to throw the contractor off-balance. Volo couldn't risk going in himself though. As long as she had that phone, he was in danger of falling under her control.
Grabbing onto Garchomp, he dashed off to the side of the street and past Karen. He had a job to do.
It was a little known fact that Garchomp could fly.
Volo yelled out as he passed the Galaxy Hall.
"I'm leaving this to you Joshua, I'm going to help Giratina!"
And then Garchomp shot into the air.
As Joshua heard the call and looked outside, he saw a shadow fly past at incredible speeds.
If Volo was leaving then he wasn't confident in his ability to distract the contractor through debate any longer. She must have just resorted to trying to brainwash him.
Well then.
"Hey, anyone with medical training!" Joshua yelled out hopefully "The guy in here needs some!"
Joshua was sorry he didn't have the time to do it himself though. He returned Ninetales and turned.
Running to the window, Joshua jumped out.
…of a third floor window. Ah, he'd forgotten what floor he was on in all of the commotion.
For a moment he hung in the air. Or at least he felt that he did. This was really just the top of his arc before he came tumbling down.
As he hit the ground and rolled though, he was surprised to hear nothing break. Sure, that had been painful but he was able to jump to his feet.
On his feet again, he looked down the road. It was on fire. Volo had clearly done… something. Well, some part of it was the now three-part battle in the sky. But the road was torn up and standing in the center of the carnage was a lone woman.
"Greetings." Joshua noted with a mocking tone as he stepped forward "Despite all of the trouble you've caused, I think this is the first time we've actually met."
"And you are?" The woman turned around asking.
Joshua felt strong right now. His Pokemon might all need more rest but he was finally able to begin turning this all around. This was his first time he could strike back properly.
"The one who set this up." He noted "The one who brought Giratina here."
"That was Volo!" She objected, "I have no idea who you are weirdo."
"You're mistaken about that, as you are about so many other things." Joshua pointed "It's just mistakes and failures with you. You let the clan leaders escape. You let Cogita escape. You let Volo slip past you right now. All slips through your fingers while you were trying to establish your power base."
"I've done everything I could have to get this far!" She yelled "Don't even think about saying I was lazy or that kind of shit!"
"No, you're evil for other reasons." Joshua remarked "Like the massive amounts of slavery. You know taking slaves is really horrific right? It's agreed by all civilised people."
She grit her teeth "No one is allowed to judge me! Not for that, not for anything. To get power, there is no crime humans won't commit. I have killed no one, I have tortured no one, there are no crews of slaves wrapped in chains or forced to work fields on pain of death."
"If you can't see the chains you forged them then you're blind!"
"So what?" She declared, not even trying to deny the fact that Joshua had called her on her bullshit "As I've said, power is power. I'm going to get more power and these people don't matter, not like I do! They're just characters out of stories while I am a real person!"
"You're a real tyrant alright." Joshua sassed and Karen pointed, her fury building.
"What right do you have to say any of this to me? You NPC!"
"I'm not a local, actually." Joshua smiled.
"What!?"
"Joshua, Renegade Jumper at your very not literal service. I've taken offence to what you and your ilk do to worlds and I'm here to stop you."
"A… Jumper?" Karen's fury went cold. She must have blown something inside her. Suddenly it flared hotter.
"A JUMPER? COME TO DISRUPT MY FUN? YOU- YOU- YOU- CHEAT! THIEF! KILLJOY!"
She lifted her hand to the sky "OMEGAAAAAMOOOON, TO ME, KILL THIS BORE!"
…But Omegamon couldn't come. He was busy fighting Giratina.
"SLAVES!" She called to the townsfolk "GRAB HIM!"
In Karen's head, she was thinking something like this.
"If I enslave him, I can sell him to the worst master I can find for a massive reward. Jumpers sell for tickets after all. I can begin work on my ticket fund to become a Patron myself."
But at her call, only a few people came. Women and Children.
"You sent all your fighting forces out to raid Cogita's house." The Jumper noted casually "I'm fairly sure I can overpower anyone you've got left. And none of them have Pokemon to help either."
Even so… EVEN SO…
"SLAVES, CAPTURE HIM EVEN IF YOU'VE GOT TO DIE TO DO IT!"
As the women and children started to approach, he sent out Ninetales again, he wished some of his other Pokemon had made it through but he had to deal with the hand fate had given him.
"Protect me." He muttered to Ninetales and his Pokemon gave a firm nod.
The two rushed off along the broken road towards the Contractor. When the civilians charged him, Ninetales fended them off non-lethally.
In a panic, the Contractor pulled her phone out in front of her and turned it on.
A spiral of colours filled the screen and Joshua felt himself slipping. It would be so easy to-
NO!
He broke through, his sparkblade ready to pierce. It hit the phone's screen and sparks flared brightly as the blade sunk in and into her hand behind it. The rainbow of colours broke apart with the phone's screen, the shattered pieces covering the floor.
Joshua didn't wait. He grabbed her extended arm and pulled her in, driving the sparkblade along her arm and into her sternum. Blood spilled out and the Contractor let out a squeak as she fell back from the probably lethal injury.
"No…" She croaked out "No… someone… save me."
Again though, Omegamon couldn't save her. Her native slaves couldn't save her.
"That's the problem." Joshua pointed out "So many slaves, but when it matters you're entirely alone."
"Again." She croaked out "I've been left alone… again."
Briefly, Joshua wondered about her. What was her background, how had she come to become a contractor.
She was a living human. He could capture her, interrogate her, strip her of her power but let her live in jail on this world or something like that…
The weakness sapped at his resolve. Her dying form was below him and only he could save her. Or he could drive the sparkblade in again to kill her.
…Wasn't he fond of the idea of giving people second chances? Joshua wanted second chances for himself, why should he not offer second chances to others? If she wasn't lying then it could be said he'd likely killed far more than her. Maybe you could even say that he had more sin to bare than she did.
…And yet-
Here and now.
Joshua took a breath.
This woman was a Contractor, one of those who had destroyed his world. The guilt washed away. No matter what else was true, this woman was part of the largest slavery and invasion ring in the multiverse.
She had chosen this path. As far as he knew, Contractors were hired properly. She heard what the company did and decided to sign right up. For power, or for false companionship, depending on which parts of what she'd said were actually important to her.
Joshua wouldn't hesitate now. Not with someone like her.
With a yell, he drove the sparkblade in again, and again. Head, Heart, Gut.
Then in a moment of clarity, he stood back up. His hands were covered in blood.
Good. This is what they should be like right now.
"TAI!" Omegamon yelled out above.
…Even with her dead, it seemed it wasn't over quite yet.
I mean, I say that. But that was really the final battle. I'll be honest, I didn't think this world would go for a full 10 chapters. I was prepared to have Joshua need to get out of here if things went really wrong. I imagined he might only stay for five chapters or so.
Now though… yeah. Just clean-up after this.
Now, my complaints for my own writing: Karen really felt one-dimensional there at the end. I wanted the writing to be a bit better than that. Especially as she was the last main fight for the first "Act" of this story.
Fun fact: I wrote this chapter last friday. I suspected I'd probably be busy during my normal writing time. If this fact is still in the Author notes when it gets uploaded then I was indeed busy.
I would encourage discussion about what the next world should be, but that won't matter much for reasons explained in the next chapter.
I wonder if he thinks about how he might have ambushed and murdered her much earlier? It would have been very hard, but she wouldn't have enslaved so many.
It's certainly something he might consider, but the only other time he was close to her, he had no idea.
It's less a "I'm stupid for not doing this before" and more of a "Oh, if only I had known!"
Omegamon moved, but was stopped as Giratina wrapped around him. Giratina let out a roar and opened a massive gate on the surface of the lake near Jubilife village.
…Joshua could remember it as Mesprit's lake, but not its actual name.
Binding the royal knight, the lord of the distortion world dragged them both to somewhere they couldn't do any further harm.
Joshua watched the two figures crashing down towards the ground from his position above a corpse. When they vanished, the world grew quiet other than crackling flames and Joshua's own breathing.
This had been easy in a way… it struck him that if he had known about the contractor when he was first on his way to Jubilife, a lot of the pain and suffering could have been prevented.
Around him was a town of the brainwashed, if not for his ignorance, they wouldn't be like that now.
Of course, he could say "What if?" as much as he wanted, none of it actually changed what had happened.
In some ways, he had succeeded. Where his homeworld had been taken over entirely, he'd managed to protect this Pokemon world from suffering the same fate.
But he could have done more, if only he had known…
Cogita left the galaxy hall and walked over to him, looking down at the corpse as its blood flowed out.
"Where's her smart terminal?" Cogita asked. From her tone, there was still something wrong so Joshua stepped back to look for the broken fragments of her phone.
…It wasn't Broken. It looked brand new even. It sat beside the Contractor's body, the blood slowly pooling against it.
Just as Joshua saw it, Cogita did too, quickly picking it up.
"The fight's not actually over yet. Not technically."
She nodded at the people around them who had slowly been drawing closer. Joshua spun to face them, bringing out his sparkblade in an effort to ward them off but Cogita shook her head "Right now, we're in a period I'll call 'Rest in peace.' Unlike Jumpers or Renegades, when a contractor dies, if they are brought back to life within three days, they lose nothing. It will be as if they never died at all."
As she looked at the people she continued "The smart terminal has just granted full access to all of the contractor's slaves. If one of them obtains it, they can take out a loan and buy a slave from the app's systems. There's even an easy list for them to use for slaves with resurrection abilities."
"So… we keep it away from them for three days?" Joshua asked, taking a step back as it looked like the people were preparing to charge.
Cogita nodded "Yes, let's go."
As the populace charged, Cogita and Joshua ran off. The goal was to get out of town.
It really is lucky that there weren't any guards left. Cogita was able to summon Enamorus with a call and the legendary helped them both get away faster than the brainwashed civilians could catch.
While they planned to hide in the obsidian fieldlands, there was always a risk that someone might spot them. Joshua decided that all said and done, there was no harm in showing Cogita his briefcase.
They found a small area which couldn't be easily seen and placed the case there, using the old alchemy trick to cover it with dirt once they were both in.
Within, Joshua got to tending for his Pokemon while Cogita relaxed in the cottage.
"So then…" Joshua noted as he prepared a meal using the still mostly-fresh food that had been picked up in Psychonauts "Ex-Jumper, huh?"
"I should be more specific." Cogita noted "I- or rather, this body and this mind- was never a Jumper."
"So how does it work?" Joshua asked curiously.
Cogita sighed "There was a Jumper, who I'll call Cogita-Prime. She had been invited to Jump by Arceus himself and she wasn't going to turn it down, but she never really desired becoming a Benefactor herself so she decided to quit. Arceus honoured her by giving many iterations of her across the many thousands of copies of this world access to her memories."
"Think of me like a clone." She continued "I don't have her power, but I do have her experiences."
Joshua nodded "And I'm glad you do, without you, I probably would have just left the smart device alone and the contractor's followers would have revived her."
Said smart device was currently sitting on the countertop.
They stayed there for the three days required, Joshua making meals and tending to his Pokemon as Cogita went out to examine the case.
On one day, they took a walk together through the various biomes he'd set up in the case when he'd first obtained it.
"You know, it's quite interesting that you found something like this." Cogita observed "Most proper Jumpers have something called a Warehouse in which they hoard their possessions to allow them to travel with them."
"How does it work?" Joshua asked.
Cogita chuckled "Well I do like teaching, so very well. I will explain."
A Warehouse is an extra-dimensional space, typically tethered directly to the Jumper themselves via a set of keys that act as a catalyst of sorts. They can turn any door into a portal to their Warehouse and they can then come and go as they pleased.
"In a way, this briefcase acts like those doors." Cogita added "With the exception that this space isn't extra-dimensional."
Joshua looked up at the sky. The suitcase was good but if there was better…
"How do I get a Warehouse?"
But Cogita just shrugged "Arceus gave one to the Prime-Me but I don't know how they're made. Your best guess is bargaining with some sort of Benefactor tier entity- but that's dangerous for you."
When three days had passed, Joshua and Cogita watched as the smart device disintegrated into sparkling light. Not quite any particular colour but neither was it like a rainbow. In some ways it was like the sparkling light that one could see in the void between worlds.
"There." Cogita noted "There is now no way to revive her as a contractor. Whatever power she had collected is void."
"Of course, this doesn't fix the underlying problem of what her followers were doing." Joshua noted
Cogita shook her head "Without her orders? They're likely too broken to do anything of their own initiative anymore."
They headed out of the cottage, Joshua blasting the dirt away as they stepped out.
On one level it seemed like nothing had changed at all. On the other hand…
The ripple became a pulse. It was like the sky was a body of water and it had just had a stone thrown into it. The pulse was located atop Mount Coronet and it slowly grew and grew.
Cogita dropped to her knees and the cries of pokemon stilled and stopped. The world was silent.
The pulse, or at least an area of the pulse, over the mountain shifted. The sky changing hue rapidly. A gate formed.
Out of that gate descended Arceus.
The gate vanished and after a moment, Arceus teleported.
He reappeared above Joshua and Cogita. He gazed down on them from the sky.
"I see."
The familiar voice spoke out.
"Then this was all your work outsider?"
Something about it had changed. Joshua heard no hatred in the voice of the god of Pokemon. He hadn't heard any before either but the truth was that he had been worried.
Joshua took a breath.
"It is, Lord Arceus. Though I must ask why you didn't intervene."
"…" He was silent, though even that silence had a weight to it. After a moment, Arceus deigned to answer "I was busy, battling the contractor's Patron. Now that his Contractor is dead, he saw no reason to continue fighting me. It's thanks to you that I am not still fighting while this world falls to corruption."
Joshua didn't say anything to that. He supposed… that was just Arceus' way of saying "good job."
Cogita, still on her knees, spoke to the creator "My lord, what can be done to repair the damages done."
Arceus spoke more kindly to her "The world will heal on its own, but the people and Pokemon that the contractor took under her control will need more help to heal. I intend to entrust them to the Pokemon of the lakes. They will soften the pain and reawaken their own wills. I will need to personally help the Digimon though, The lake guardians aren't prepared for a being such as that."
Arceus then turned his attention back to Joshua.
"Renegade, you should not have come here."
"It was an accident."
"I believe you." Arceus surprised him by saying that "However, since you did come, I give you leave to stay for a short time to get your remaining affairs in order. We will speak more when you're ready to leave. When you are ready, go to the top of Spear Pillar and use this."
Arceus let out an orb of light which descended to Joshua. As he took hold of it, Arceus vanished- likely to begin work on repairing the damages inflicted upon minds.
Cogita stood, raising an eyebrow at Joshua "You should show some more respect to beings on that tier, think of your health if not anything else."
Joshua nodded, not paying full attention as he examined what he'd received from Arceus. The light faded and revealed… a phone. The Arc Phone. The phone with a case themed after Arceus' ring.
The screen lit up and a few apps were revealed; Map, Reminders, Call.
Opening up the "Call" function, all that was available was Arceus himself and that option was greyed out. There did appear to be a small menu that allowed him to change how the call function worked for worlds where phone communication worked differently.
Opening the map screen, he found a note.
"There are waypoints set up throughout the region. While in this world, you may use the map function to teleport between them, in future worlds you will need to find a new way to set up waypoints."
Clearing that message Joshua realised the mapping app allowed him to view a high quality map, as if taken with satellite imaging. It showed the entire Hisui region but nothing outside it, and dotting the region were indeed waypoints. Only to places that Joshua had been to before. Jubilife Village and both clan settlements were included there along with Cogita's house.
First thing to do was to say goodbye properly. He'd resolved himself to not just disappear ever again.
As Cogita stood close, he tapped the button to fast travel to the Pearl Clan Settlement. A ring of light (again shaped like Arceus' ring) appeared on the ground below them and after a moment Joshua and Cogita vanished.
They appeared in the (mostly empty) pearl clan settlement. Those that were here were only those who hadn't come with them to Cogita's house.
He tried the Diamond Clan's settlement next and was pleased to find the escaped remains of the army they had intended to take against Karen.
He told Irida and Adaman the good news. It was safe again, and lord Arceus was going to help fix what had been done (Or at least, get the legendaries whose jobs fit best to help).
"It's really amazing isn't it." Adaman noted with a smile "After all of that, the world feels like its changed a lot for us."
Irida nodded "Our two clans don't really have as much to fight over anymore. We'll probably have more people travelling between the two now."
He heard some more from them too. The Miss Fortunes had gone back to being bandits, though they had been discussing going clean, it seemed like they just weren't ready for it yet.
He said farewell to the clan leaders too though.
"I'll be going onwards in my travels soon." Joshua noted "And I likely won't be coming back so I want to thank you both."
"It will be sad to see you go." Irida remarked "But we've remembered what you said. The region of the future where people and Pokemon walk hand in hand. Just watch us, we'll make it real."
Joshua smiled and turned away. Cogita joined him outside of the settlement later. She was carrying a bag now.
"What's that?" Joshua asked her.
She smiled, "Well, after everything that's happened I need some new clothes. I'll pick some up in Jubilife too."
That was their next destination actually.
The people of the village were still in disarray. Some of them sat dejectedly outside their homes or businesses. Empty now in a way. Hollowed out.
Helping them, surprisingly, was Volo. He'd taken on a leadership position of sorts and was making sure that farming still got done and that no one was getting hurt.
"You look like you've really taken to it." Cogita ribbed him slightly when you were able to get him to slow down for a talk.
Volo nodded "I've made a bit of a decision after everything that was said and done- I still want to rid the world of suffering, but right now the best way I can do this is to try and fix the suffering of these people."
Joshua approved "It seems like the right sort of path for you actually. Who knows? You might be this region's first Champion."
"Champion?" Volo asked.
Cogita filled him in "A Pokemon trainer, normally one of the most skilled and powerful in a region. They're the first line of defence against threats that endanger the peace."
Volo laughed "That might be worth doing, though… that requires me getting everything else in line first. Pokemon and People will work together to get everything working again."
Joshua also said some final farewells to Volo.
"I'll be honest, from what little I learned of you, I expected you to be worse." Joshua laughed "But this new present that has been created might be just the kind of thing you needed."
"I think it might be."
"Well then." Joshua nodded "Good luck on this new chapter of your life."
Once they left, Joshua actually found that the Distortion world was available to travel to, or rather he could travel to the Send-off spring.
He and Cogita travelled there, Joshua called for Giratina and asked now if he wanted to come with Joshua on his journey.
Giratina however refused. Arceus had forgiven him and now the Reverse world had an important job, it was also now home to Omegamon.
Giratina wasn't lonely anymore.
As Cogita and Joshua left the spring, Joshua turned to her.
"So, what now for you? Do you want me to just drop you off at your cottage before I head up Mount Coronet?"
"I've a different idea actually." She smiled, "I think you need a teacher, and I'd be happy enough to take that role."
"What do you mean?" Joshua asked "I'm not staying?"
"No." She shook her head "I'm offering to travel with you. Jumpers call it a Companion. A person who travels with you so you don't need to leave people behind."
…Ultimately, that might be the kind of thing Joshua was planning on a mass scale. To bring everyone together to help save his world. It would be good to start somewhere though.
"I guess so…" And as Joshua said those words, a trickle of power emerged from his sparkblade and flowed into Cogita, forming the link.
"Wonderful." His new travelling companion said "Though if you don't mind, I'll need to put some of my things into your travelling case. Do you mind us going to my house?"
One teleportation later, Joshua had given his travelling case to Cogita. He'd head up to Spear Pillar so he could call on Arceus while she finished packing up. He'd then grab her before they departed.
To get to the top of the region, Joshua walked back the way he had first come. Pokemon weren't attacking Joshua viciously anymore though. No, they seemed more peaceful now.
Having the now healed Dragonair to help, he manoeuvred around large outcroppings, over fissures and up cliffs.
Even so, climbing the mountain took days. He had made sure to pack resources into his pocketspace so he had food but it was still quite chilly as he rose up the exterior of the mountain.
It took a full week in the end before he reached the top. Considering it was meant to take two months to climb Everest back home… Wow, this mountain was kind of small wasn't it? He'd thought it was meant to be the tallest mountain in the Pokemon world though? Maybe it was just the largest and it counted the entire range of the mountain up and down the region?
Well, technically it was called something like the temple of Sinnoh right now. He remembered that Cogita had said something about that while they were wandering around the Pearl clan settlement and she'd asked about what 'Spear Pillar' was meant to be.
The fact that Arceus used the 'modern' name of it was intriguing but not too interesting.
Joshua made sure that there was a waypoint here (It had appeared now that he had arrived) and teleported back down to Cogita's cottage to pick her up.
Her tent had almost completely been taken apart and fit into the case. Joshua didn't know how she'd done it but there were now two homes in his case.
Together they headed up to the top of the region once again.
There, Joshua opened the Call app. Arceus was no longer greyed out. Hitting the button played a flute-like noise.
Arceus emerged after a few moments, a small gate like the one he'd created before.
"Are you ready to- Cogita?"
"My lord." Cogita knelt "Please, allow me to accompany Joshua on his journey."
Arceus simply accepted it as he turned to Joshua.
"I have much to warn you about, Renegade." He began "Now that the Company's attention has been drawn, they will pursue you once you leave. I will need to hide this world to ensure they don't attack it again so soon after but you don't have that luxury."
"What does that mean?" Joshua asked.
Arceus explained it simply. From now on, if he spent too long in a world, the Company agents would catch up.
"They'll be on your tail once you leave. I expect you could expect them to arrive in days, maybe even hours, after your own arrival."
Joshua's eyes went wide "So I'll need to fight them?"
"…"
Arceus' silence said much, but it was Cogita who broke the news.
"Against multiple Contractors, you don't stand a chance right now. They could call on powerful allies to crush us if they knew where we are."
"Your only option would be to run." Arceus warned.
Joshua shook his head "To run, I'd need to break the skin of the world so soon after arrival. You yourself told me that was bad for worlds."
"It is." Arceus agreed "Which is why you need to minimise the numbers of worlds you visit and try to lose their trackers as soon as you can. To that end, I have a recommendation."
Arceus lifted his head to look at the stars "Somewhere out in the void, where no Benefactor or Patron knows of its location, there is a settlement of sorts. It's been called many names. The Renegade's Refuge, the Black Starstream, the Stolen Miracle. Whatever its name, it's a safe place. If you can reach it, you can lose the trackers."
…But if even Arceus didn't know where it was, how was Joshua meant to find it?
"Trust your instincts." Was all the advice that Arceus could give.
With that all said, with the warnings given out, Joshua prepared to leave. Cogita got into the travelling case and Arceus brought Joshua to the edge of the world where damaging the surface wouldn't be as bad.
"One more thing." Arceus said "Thank you for saving this world. Truly, you have done me a service. While I'd still prefer for you not to stop at Pokemon worlds, I won't punish you if you ever end up in one accidentally."
Joshua nodded "I understand. And thank you for being so forgiving."
Arceus let out a strange laugh and Joshua stabbed the sparkblade through the dimensional wall.
The opening cut, he jumped through and trusted his instincts when it came to where to fall to.
A new friend by his side and a new destination to reach, now if only he could reach it without bothering other worlds.
And that's the end of the full worlds of the first arc. The next few chapters will be sort of "One-off visits" to random worlds as he tries to lose the pursuers. Each will only last a chapter and will just allow Joshua to poke his head into them.
Also, on not taking Giratina… I don't know. With all said and done, I think Giratina now has a proper responsibility here and wouldn't leave by choice. Joshua is still keeping the origin ball though and it will retain its power to capture gods in future worlds so that might be interesting. I don't know.
Oh, fun. A Nasuverse setting.
Though I would enjoy having more time in this setting than one chapter.
Lets roll a few more dice to help figure out some of the details:
Hmm... I am now remembering the fact that Joshua still hasn't learned any other languages yet. Just English and a bit of French and German. Japanese is still basically unintelligible. That will certainly make this more interesting.
Falling, Joshua's sparkblade glowed brightly, like a searchlight casting light all about as Joshua flailed and got his bearings.
He needed to move quickly so he began to dive as fast as he could. There was no aim of where he wanted to go this time. If he could get caught in a storm, that would be all the better as it would make him harder to trace.
Twisting streams of golden and multicoloured light danced throughout the space around him. Briefly, Joshua wondered if he'd be able to see even more with additional types of sight but he quickly shook his head. Down that route lay madness if his guess was right.
Falling down, he saw a world ahead. If anything the feeling he got from it was… A storm? A storm that felled an army. It was faint though and he didn't have any good way to go other than a quick stop here.
He offered an apology.
"I will hurt you." He muttered, drawing his blade up to the world's skin "And your people will suffer. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
This world would be invaded because of what he was doing here- but it didn't matter.
No it did, it definitely mattered, but not stopping here would mean he'd be in danger. Besides, if the Company won, all worlds would be invaded anyway.
He reflected briefly how easy it was to rationalise things like this. "Either I do this, or all of humanity everywhere dies."
It was a lot easier to have faith in if he wasn't using it as the excuse to stop at this world. Especially when it might be a lie. He wasn't some sort of chosen one. Not a destined chosen one anyway. A Benefactor had chosen him but he'd also been the only… applicant.
Nevertheless, he stabbed in and ran the blade through the world to create an opening before slipping in.
The opening within the world was in the middle of a small forest. The trees didn't look English for a change though. The bark and leaves were different. The sparkblade still pulsed as he closed the opening and looked around.
He wouldn't be able to stay here long, he just needed to find somewhere to rest. Somewhere he could place his briefcase down to rest for a few hours.
That was a risk though, what if the contractors came while he was distracted…?
Searching around for a sign of something to look into, Joshua saw a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Maybe a campfire or something like that?
Well, it was something worth checking out at least.
Joshua headed off and as he drew nearer, the smoke grew larger and larger. He heard the crackling of flames that had engulfed a building and the yelling of voices that wanted to fight the fire.
Well, he thought they were trying to fight the fire. It was in a language familiar to Joshua and yet impossible to understand; Japanese.
Joshua had been in some ways a bit of a weeb, an otaku, whichever of those words were cool when he was growing up (Read: Probably not either of them) but like many of that type of people, he barely understood Japanese at all.
Despite that though, these people were fighting a fire and he wanted to help. He came forward enough to get a good look at what was burning. It was some sort of shrine to some god or another.
…Did he have any ability he was okay using to stop the fire? Alchemy was right out (Too obvious and he didn't know if this world had its own sort of magic yet) as was the Flame-freezing charm (It wouldn't stop the shrine burning and if he wanted to use it to help the firefighters, it would be too obvious.)
…Nothing came to mind.
With a sigh he just continued on despite that. He joined in the mass of people hauling water and using it to quash the fire.
No one would complain about help right now, though trying this in the modern day was likely to get him chewed out for not being a firefighter and interrupting them.
At this time, in this place, everyone was helping the firefighters.
Running into the flames, his body resisting the worst of the heat, Joshua tossed buckets of water then ran out to hand them off.
Joshua continued until the fires were extinguished. The sun was slowly drooping now, the nigh was coming.
…None of this had helped figure out where he was though. For now he had to meet up with Cogita.
Before he slipped away from the other people who were celebrating the extinguishing of the shrine, Joshua watched as a few birds fluttered down to land on the singed beams that still stood.
The people grew more excited, pointing at the birds and Joshua managed to make out a somewhat familiar word: Hachiman.
That would be one of the gods of… was it fortune? Or war? Something like that, right?
Well, if it was to them a sign from their god it was all well and good, but Joshua needed a translation.
Slipping away into the woods, he quickly hid and entered his suitcase.
Seeing as Cogita had somehow managed to pack most of her house through the opening of the suitcase, Joshua looked out for that house.
After a while of wandering across the inner world of the suitcase, he found the house sitting between two of the hills on one side of the space.
It was just like her previous hut which made sense as it was basically made of the same materials. She had a drying rack out front over a small campfire.
Joshua approached and called out.
"Cogita? We've arrived at the first world?"
"Oh?" Cogita called back, stepping out of her hut wearing the clothes she'd picked up from the clans before "What's it like?"
Joshua didn't know how to respond at first.
"Japanese." He finally tried "I don't know the time period."
"If all you got is that they spoke Japanese, that could be any number of different worlds." Cogita observed "There are even some Pokemon worlds I've seen which has Japanese as a universal language."
Joshua thought through it.
"There was a shrine that was burning when I got here, and they were worshipping Hachiman at the shrine after I helped put it out.
"Better." Cogita nodded, heading over to him "That at least gives us a mostly historical Japan."
"Isn't it strange to you?" Joshua thought to ask "You grew up in a Pokemon world so shouldn't you think of this sort of thing as strange?"
She shook her head "My original did at first, but as she saw more worlds and understood that lord Arceus' domain was just a rare exception, she grew out of it. But do you really not know anything else?"
"I don't know Japanese." Joshua explained by apology.
Cogita rolled her eyes "Well, that's something to work on when we're safe, for now though I can act as your translator."
"Really?"
"Really." She nodded "My original had a perk that let her learn languages incredibly quickly, I can speak something like fifty different languages, Japanese and Archaic Japanese are included."
With that settled, she followed Joshua to the case's exit.
Out under the real sky again, Joshua led the way back to the shrine where Cogita began asking questions.
People seemed a little suspicious of her but she tried to calm them somehow. After a while she returned to Joshua and explained the simple notes.
"It is currently Bun'ei 11th- around 1274 as long as this world keeps the same era lengths as the origin world. This is the island of Tsushima, off Japan's west coast."
Tsushima? Joshua paused, thinking back. He seemed to remember something about the island's name. Seeing his expression, Cogita nodded.
"Yes, if my knowledge of origin world history isn't off, this is the place and time around when the video game 'Ghost of Tsushima' is set, the Mongol invasion."
She really was a font of information, Joshua would have never been able to figure that out without her. That said, Joshua had never played Ghost of Tsushima so his knowledge was useless here. It seemed that the original Cogita had never actually jumped to anywhere around this time and place before either, just that she'd been to places in Japan's future which let her hear about it.
As they talked though, some locals wearing light armour approached them, looking quite serious and carrying weapons.
Cogita stepped forward to try and cut them off as she spoke to them. The man waved his hand and replied angrily and Cogita seemed to be placating him.
…The sooner Joshua could learn Japanese, the better. This was just annoying.
The man called for his allies as Cogita turned to Joshua quickly.
"I'm afraid they think we're Mongol spies because we're foreigners."
Joshua raised an eyebrow at that "And should we run…?"
"Do you want to?" Cogita asked, "You could break out relatively easily from anything they put you in."
Joshua shrugged. He had stored his case away in a cut pocket space and already dismissed his sparkblade because it was glowing too much to be hidden. They wouldn't be able to take anything off him. The only issue would be if they tried to torture a man who didn't know their language.
"Tell them we'll come peacefully."
Cogita nodded and passed it on. Ropes were used to bind their hands and they were led off to a holding cell in the nearby town.
They were left alone after a while, Cogita said there was a Mongol navy on the way over from Korea so they were gathering every able-bodied man to help repel it.
Once they had privacy, Joshua asked "So… how is this meant to go historically. It's like it will be messed up when Contractors show up but I might as well ask. I was under the impression that Ghost of Tsushima was just a made up story and that both invasion fleets were just caught up in storms before making it to Japan."
Cogita sighed and there was a lot of weight behind her reply of "No."
She explained that both fleets had managed to land forces, but that they couldn't hold onto the territory because storms helped the defenders repel the mongol hordes. So a lot of people were about to die one way or another.
…Better dead than forced to serve a contractor against their will.
Joshua took the time to draw out his sparkblade and its light instantly filled the prison cell even as the sun set outside. Cogita blinked at the brilliant light.
"Oh my, you've saved up a lot of that."
"That?" Joshua asked "It just glows like this sometimes and it's the source of my abilities, I don't really understand it."
Cogita nodded thoughtfully "An automatic system maybe? If you don't have a benefactor, some of it would have to be automated I suppose."
"Can you explain teacher?" Joshua pulled on the role she'd taken when she'd decided to come along.
Cogita pointed at the sparkblade "Your sparkblade stores up… I'll call it narrative potential for now. That potential is the source of your abilities and it's what's causing the glow. It doesn't look like the sparkblade can fully handle the amount it's absorbed though."
Joshua looked up quickly "Is it dangerous? Will it damage the blade?"
"Probably not." Cogita relented "It will just bleed off into the blind eternities as you travel. It will waste the power rather than risk damaging the blade. That said, you should probably use the power to avoid wasting it."
"Okay?" Joshua notes, looking at the blade "But I've never figured out how to do that intentionally. I just kind of wish for things and the blade either does or does not give them to me."
She shrugged "Well, try it. What do you want right now? To speak Japanese."
"That would be nice." Joshua muttered and looked at the unresponsive blade.
They both paused for a while and when nothing was happening, Cogita coughed.
"Okay, well that isn't available apparently, try something else."
Joshua looked at the lock on the cell door.
"The skills to pick a lock? Using the blade to get out would be too obvious."
At that wish, the blade's glow intensified and flowed into Joshua. Heat ran through him, this felt strange, stranger than he'd ever felt before. It wasn't painful- wait. No. Yes it was.
The pain struck him and he doubled over. Fire ran through his veins as Cogita tried to help him.
Finally, after a while of panting, Joshua came to. Cogita had raised an eyebrow at.. Something.
Knowledge then burst through Joshua's brain. The kind of skill in stealth that took years of training. He was no master, but he understood what it took to be a shinobi now.
A shinobi wasn't the kind of anime ninja that you see on shows. It literally means "Those who act with stealth."
Leaning up, Cogita moved to steady him.
"I've never seen that sort of a reaction before." Cogita muttered "And it changed more than you wished for anyway."
"What do you mean?" Joshua asked.
Cogita paused and poked at his arm. There was some sort of resistance there… oh. He had muscles now. Well, more muscles. He'd tried to stay in shape since Final Fantasy 6 but now he was actually… well… fit.
"Well…" Joshua noted "It kind of makes sense that this would come with the training."
Looking over at the lock, Joshua realised he now knew how to open it. He just needed the tools.
Glancing down at his Sparkblade, still glowing intensely, he made another wish.
"Ninja tools please." Joshua asked.
The light shone onto an area nearby and 'revealed' a bag. It had what Joshua needed and a lot more. Shuriken and poisons he now knew how to use along with various other infiltration tools. Or in this case, exfiltration.
His sparkblade still glowed, unsatisfied.
"Make me a Master Ninja."
It happily answered that wish. More experience poured through him. Decades of experience compared to the years he'd gained previously. When he recovered, staggering, his sparkblade had dulled and he knew something more of this world.
"This world…" He panted "Has magic… Part of that boost I just got includes some magical effects. Creation and manipulation of blood, poison and shadows."
Cogita hummed at that as Joshua stumbled over to the lock, pulling just the right tools from the bag to open it.
"I wonder what this world is then…" Cogita remarked as Joshua lightly tapped his tools against the lock until it opened with only a whisper.
In the forest, two figures appeared. Two men. The company wasn't stupid enough to put mixed gender teams out on missions like this. That said, there were many teams on this pursuit.
"So which world did he run to?" The younger man asked.
The older man checked his smart device and nodded "The Nasuverse, 1274. Nothing really interesting happens around this time. Too late for Ushi and too early for Nobu."
The younger man shook his head "Then what on earth is the point? We can't get anything fun if we invade this world if there aren't any waifus around."
"Maybe not." The elder agreed "But in… I'm not sure about the exact number of years but we could get Qin Liangyu from China, Jeanne from France and… no, I think that's it. I can't think of any others worth getting."
"So this will be a fucking waste." His partner complained "Ah well, let's just score us the bounty on this Jumper and get out."
As the older man drew up a mapping app, already set up to track the Renegade, the younger man snorted "Besides, I don't really mind that we missed Ushiwaka. She isn't worth that much."
"Did you not watch babylonia?" The elder's voice faded away as they both headed off towards town "She's amazing in it."
"Eh." The younger's was almost unhearable "Still not my type."
As they spoke, the planet heard them. They were a threat to the world. There was only one answer to that.
The first thing they heard after breaking out of prison was an explosion. A brilliant flash of light appeared from the direction of the woods and Joshua knew in his heart that time was up.
No native would be that obvious. The contractors had arrived and… had started fighting someone already?
No, there was no time to think about that. It was time to go.
Cogita retreated into the suitcase and Joshua began to run.
Where he was running to wasn't particularly clear, he just knew that the harder it was to find where he left a world, the slower their pursuers would be and that would give him more time in the next world to find an even more tricky spot to leave from.
The light and sound still erupted behind him even as he cloaked himself in one of his new spells that let him seem to vanish.
It was constructed in yet another way compared to the magic he'd gained before.
Using the spell required a mental trigger, for Joshua it was the sensation of flying (Not falling, there was a difference). He knew the sensation from his time in the army during magical world war one after all. With the trigger pulled, his arm burned slightly. It was painful but not really that painful. Something warm but not hot being pressed into his arm.
Breathing in, his body shimmered and his invisibility (or concealment as the spell technically called it) hid him away.
The magic he'd learned in final fantasy was like creating keys to fit specific locks. Those locks didn't seem to exist in other worlds so while he had the keys, he couldn't do anything with them.
The magic he'd learned in war was all maths. Using maths to exploit the functions of the world.
The magic he'd learned in harry potter was all about specific words and wand movements- or rather the intent contained within if you could do non-vocal and wandless magic (Which he couldn't, unless he'd seen the spell performed that way.)
And now this magic which seemed like a rule that was being exploited. "Hiding in shadow makes you harder to see" became "Invisibility while in a dark environment."
And yet they were all magic as the blue magic ability he'd picked up in Final fantasy defined it. It was curious, and he wanted to ask Cogita about it in the next world he visited.
As he ran though, he saw figures behind him. Pursuers that could somehow track him despite his invisibility?
They had to be the contractors.
"He's just ahead." He heard one man call "Yoruichi, get him!"
"Of course." A woman's voice came and Joshua heard a strange sound as a figure appeared right beside him. It was only the reflexes he'd gotten from becoming a legendary shinobi that let him dodge the attack. Running was pointless and they could clearly track him. There was only one way out.
Sparkblade in hand, Joshua quickly slashed the air, momentum carrying him into the void beyond as he spun. Before he could seal the entrance way though something flowed in through the rip he'd left. He heard laughter and crying, cheering and pain.
…Well, hopefully that delays them. He sealed the rip and continued on to the next world.
Oh I wish I could have stayed writing in this world for longer. It would be so fun. Sadly, no. There are rules and those rules involve Joshua not being able to stick around in these worlds.
Anyway… I was tired while writing the first part of this upload so I don't think I did very well with it. Either way: Joshua now knows a fourth kind of magic which won't be compatible with the others. Nasuverse magic needs nasuverse mana… or life force.
At least Joshua is a ninja now? Silver linings.
Anyway a preview of the worlds I'll be rolling to see which I visit next chapter:
Yes and No, It would help, but probably not as much as you'd expect.
I'd say the most help a Planeswalker spark could be would be to allow Joshua to move around a setting in a "Cleaner" way.
One of the reasons that Benefactors don't like him that much is because using his knife to travel is really, really "Messy" and does damage to worlds he travels through.
Having a Planeswalker spark wouldn't make his travel clean (He'd still need to break a small opening into most worlds for various reasons) but it would certainly reduce the mess made.
It wouldn't help with his aim though.
Inside a world though, it would help him to travel around the local multiverse of whatever setting he jumped into. And that wouldn't cause any mess.
Could this help mitigate the damage he does by cutting into and out of worlds? Say he enters as normal but before he leaves he goes to a different internal world? So his exit is very far away from his entrance? Or would it not matter as long as he doesn't reuse the spot his entrance was located?
Could this help mitigate the damage he does by cutting into and out of worlds? Say he enters as normal but before he leaves he goes to a different internal world? So his exit is very far away from his entrance? Or would it not matter as long as he doesn't reuse the spot his entrance was located?
It Can help but the difference will be fairly minor unless the setting is truly vast (AKA: Not just a few alternate dimentions, but hundreds or thousands at bare minimum).
Edit: And that's hundreds or thousands in that iteration alone. There are seemingly infinite copies of each jump world in the metaverse already, to avoid damage a single "Jump" must contain those many worlds. AKA: Nasuverse doesn't count, even if the second magic would make it seem like it does.
...Honestly, MtG may be one of the few settings that it would help with as the damage there is tracked per plane instead of just the setting as a whole.
Though MtG is also one of the stranger Jumps from how I view the chain metaphysics as it is both a single jump (MtG) and a collection of smaller jumps (The planes) so normal jumpers don't actually need to be benefactor-level to jump between MtG worlds.
The next tear that opened dropped Joshua onto wet ground. Dirt that was squishy and full of moisture.
Looking around, he took note that the terrain here was rather swampy.
Hmm. The mud was tinted red, did that mean clay or something? Joshua had never really explored somewhere this marshy before. He'd tried to avoid it back in Hisui. It gave him bad memories from the war. The mud in the trenches.
Luckily, it wasn't too warm, so he just had to look for wherever the nearest humans were and get his feet out of the mud.
His goal here was just to recover enough to get a good way away to the next world. While the goal was to not be here anymore when the Contractors showed up, that wasn't that likely unless that eldritch(?) monster delayed them longer than Joshua expected it to.
That said, he felt sleepy. It had been night when he'd left the previous world and even if it seemed to be the midmorning now, that didn't help his system adapt at all.
He'd never really suffered… what would you call it? Worldlag? Jumplag? Whatever it was called, he hadn't really experienced it that much before. Time was roughly "right." when he travelled.
The reason why wasn't clear, maybe he could ask Cogita when he had a good lead ahead of the contractors.
For now though, sleep dragged at him and his eyes tried to flutter closed. He smacked himself twice in the face to wake up and then hoped his new Ninja training would see him through.
Joshua began to wander around looking for some kind of settlement as he tried to figure out what kind of a world he'd landed in. The problem was that "Swamp" wasn't much of a clue.
Well, he wasn't yet poisoned so he probably wasn't from a soulslike game.
Hmm…
To the west of where he'd emerged (Guessing from the direction the sun was moving but there was nothing strictly saying it would go the other way) he found a small body of stagnant water. A shallow lake
He'd half expected to see trees poking out of the water, you see that kind of thing all the time in media.
But no, the only trees around were ringing the water. Near some of the trees though he found something interesting. A pile of metal scrap. Well, less so "Scrap" and something closer to unrefined metal.
They weren't really that useful to Joshua though so he looked north along the bank of the water. There was some movement from somewhere in there Something large moving through the treeline.
Joshua tried to tap on his new magical skills but something went wrong. When he began to cast a spell that made him harder to pick out in nature, the spell… shattered? No, that wasn't the right word for it. The spell didn't complete itself though. It was missing a part of its foundation.
He sighed, normal stealth skills it was then. He crept north with eyes darting left and right, sparkblade out and ready to cut.
He saw the movement again and froze
There it was, a shadow in the treeline. A massive paw, scratches in the mud left by claws.
It was a fearsome… giant sloth? Okay, that wasn't what he'd been expecting. The giant mammal slowly paced through the environment and Joshua quickly had to try and figure out if an extinct mammal gave him any more clues about where he was.
…Oh he was too tired to think right now. He just wanted to rest somewhere. The sloth's fur looked nice and warm and would probably make a good bed- nope. He wasn't going to trust himself to try and sleep on a megaherbivore.
Instead, he searched about.There were some fallen trees nearby that looked to be at least decently dry and unrotted though. That was wood he could make use of if he needed to.
Okay, deal with the sleepiness first. If Joshua got a good nap, he'd probably also recover the strength to jump a good ways.
Joshua headed over to the wood, keeping an eye on the Megasloth as he harvested the logs and stored them into the pocket space.
He didn't want to sleep in his case just in case the contractors came while he was in there. If that happened, he'd have no warning. So he'd need to sleep out here somehow.
Finding a good spot, he began to work. He was no great creators of wonders so the resulting shelter would look a bit rubbish regardless of what he had to build it out of.
He did have alchemy though. He used it on the wood to construct a little hut that he pulled a sheet of dirt and plants over. The result was a… decently camouflaged hut. Pulling open the small door he'd created for it, he slipped inside.
Joshua had made sure to give the hut a floor of dry wood that he could sleep on at least relatively safely. He was slightly worried of things like diseases, parasites or otherwise "Gross things" getting into the hut but more than that he just wanted to nap.
Resting his head on a folded up part of his cloths, he was able to drift off for an hour or two.
After waking he took some time to scout around the nearby area. He was still looking for any sign of humanity.
On the west side of the lake he found something that looked like ruins. Broken metal piping, what might have been some sort of car. Whatever they were, the old things were incredibly rusted and decayed.
While it showed that people had once lived here, it had not been for a very long time.
So, where had the people gone?
Returning back to the hut, he went south and started a campfire using alchemy. The smoke that rose would be like a beacon that should draw the contractors if they appear anywhere nearby. And since it wasn't that close to the hut, it would allow Joshua to find them from afar.
While waiting, he headed back to the hut, sliding into the little sleeping area and propping the door open so he could pay attention to the campfire. He decided to see if he could figure out what kind of a world this was.
Megasloths and cars. That meant this wasn't normal earth at least. Megasloths were wiped out a very long time before the invention of anything like Joshua had taken note of in the ruins.
So; time travel or jurassic park tech to bring back extinct species? Let's hope for the latter because it was more grounded. That at least said that this was a sci-fi setting.
If so… best get going sooner rather than later. He didn't want to get hit by a disintegrator beam just for hanging around. While he did seem to be in the absolute middle of nowhere, nothing said that he wouldn't be pulled into something.
Hmm… he could leave right now. Thinking about it though, learning how contractors tracked him might be useful while running. He had stealth skills, as long as he could get away before the contractors started summoning slaves, he'd be safe enough.
As he rested, he picked out some stranger noises then normal. He held his breath, was it the contractors or something native?
Slipping out of his hut, he hid. Now… his new magic. Why hadn't it worked? The formula had broken down because there wasn't enough reinforcing it. The rule that it exploited, that "Ninjas are sneaky" didn't seem to be a thing here.
So instead of that… Joshua poured some more of his internal mana into the spell. His arm heated up again but more than last time. It was quite painful but not overly hazardous as he vanished into the natural world.
It wasn't true invisibility, it couldn't be out of darkness, but it was a kind of effect that let him blend into the environment.
With his camouflage, he slowly approached the campfire.
He had been right, it was the contractors.
It was a pair of girls this time though, a different team? That would be a problem, it means that they couldn't really be held up if they knew where he went.
Why weren't they just using the same team each time?
…Probably to allow each team to conquer the world if Joshua managed to escape.
The two girls were looking at the campfire and to their smart devices (Smart watches with strange hologram screens for the both of them). Neither was especially attractive but… why was he thinking like that? They were already horrible people, why did his mind try to distinguish them like that?
One had black hair, the other brown. He decided to refer to them like that.
Brown hair was saying something about how "This is bullshit! Why do we have to take over this world?"
Black hair shrugged "Did you see though? It was a rating 7 world, that's quite the bonus."
The brunette sighed and gestured around "But there's literally no one here to capture. You know this world's target list? It's literally empty. There's no one to find!"
"There is at least one Jumper." The black haired woman was trying to be optimistic it seemed.
After a moment of silence where it looked like they were looking up information on their apps, the dark haired one asked "What do you think you'll do with your imaginary ticket when we catch him."
"Optimistic." The brunette pointed out the same thing Joshua had thought earlier "But… lets see… Damn it, why do tier Xs cost two? We can't even get one for it."
"Just buy one slightly used." dark hair suggested "You can sell a ticket for easily enough to get it."
The two continued to discuss for a while before the brunette sighed again "But really, why did he run to Rimworld? What did he hope to find here?"
Ah, this was Rimworld then.
"Anomaly content maybe?" dark hair suggested "He apparently set an outer god on the last team after all."
"The Cthulhu?" Brunette asked "I thought those beings were above-"
Dark hair shrugged "No, just a tiny, tiny piece of Cthulhu. Doesn't matter much though. They're still having issues though."
Brunette sighed and changed apps "Well, we might as well get to tracking him, he should have landed somewhere nearby- oh."
"Oh?"
"He's right over there."
Joshua froze. They had detected him with that app, whatever it was. A mapping app or something like that from the little look he got of it.
Instead of waiting for them to do something, Joshua turned and dashed away. They'd be calling on slaves to catch him and he needed to create some sort of distraction. He needed a bit of luck here.
What could help him here?
He'd played a little Rimworld before but he was no expert, and he had no idea what this "anomaly" thing was.
…which makes sense as it was released after his world had been conquered, he'd never had a chance to learn about it.
He knew about mechanoids and the other types of deadly robots but the best way he knew of finding those was to unearth ancient dangers and he had no idea where to find those. He didn't just have a pop-up warning him about them after all.
So what did that leave?
A Thrumbo. He actually saw one just as he was thinking about them.
How could a Thrumbo be described to someone who doesn't know Rimworld?
Take a giraffe and a woolly mammoth and mash them together. Its head was around eight to ten meters off the ground. Each of its legs was the height and width of a human and its torso was huge and covered in snow-white fur.
Atop its head was a single horn, a naturally occurring monomolecular blade, able to cut through anything with incredible ease.
Luckily it was just a herbivore… at least Joshua thought it was a herbivore. It had been so long that he was starting to forget.
Getting in its way would be a really bad idea…
Oh, maybe not. Didn't it have a really high aggro chance? And if the slaves the contractors summoned were weak enough…
"I'm sorry." Joshua whispered as he drew out his wand. He didn't like the fact that he was going to hurt a wild animal to turn it into a distraction. Even so-
"Expulso!"
The explosive spell hit the Thrumbo who gave out a mournful roar before lowering its head. Joshua smiled but kept on running away from it.
The contractors began closing on him.
They had come with a veritable army… one containing a weird amount of Pokemon characters. Well, Arceus did think the contractors were horrible so it made sense if they invaded so many copies of his worlds.
All said, the Thrumbo stood little chance…
Well, there were only a few members of the army that had any real strength. Joshua guessed the rest had come through a Gacha or something like that. A lot more "Normal people" than there were "truly powerful people."
Well, if they were taking over Rimworld, maybe they'd wanted to start with a good population of people already here? That made sense.
The strongest members of the force went to tangle with the Thrumbo who saw them as the more dangerous threat. Joshua was meanwhile chased by a lot more of the "Generic" members of the force.
He wasn't going to stick around though. He had places to be that weren't here.
With that thought, he cut open a new rift and leaped in, already planning how he'd work to escape the contractors next time.
Rimworld… I'll admit that when I rolled it specifically, I laughed because of @Wentley 's comment before. There really wasn't much for the contractors to get there.
For the Contractors army, I did really use the Gacha function. It really did produce a weird amount of Pokemon Characters.
Joshua didn't pick up any new powers here, there wasn't really anything I wanted there. I'm hoping to run into something better later.
Now the next list of worlds is:
Fate/Legends Brave new world (USA)
Yuki Yuna is a hero
Fire Emblem Valentia
Disgaea
RWBY
Inheritors of Steel & Fire (An original setting)
Pokemon Tabletop United (A different copy of the world than the one Joshua started in)
Vampire Survivors
Well, those look interesting. Vampire survivors might be fun in this short style. I hope I don't roll IoS&F as I'd much rather give that one a full 10+ chapters of its own in the future.
Disgaea getting the ability to go to item worlds? Improve your suitcase. Your wand. Probably not your dagger even if it would be cool. Maybe able to recruit from those item worlds as well.
Disgaea getting the ability to go to item worlds? Improve your suitcase. Your wand. Probably not your dagger even if it would be cool. Maybe able to recruit from those item worlds as well.
It would work on the wand, probably not the suitcase though. it's a bit too complicated for it to work.
In theory it could work on the sparkblade but... its Item rank would be so absurd that you'd be encountering level 9999+ enemies right from the start.
Recruiting from it would be harder though, there's no perk to give them companion backing and the item world (and those within it) are only debatably real. Joshua would need some abilities from other settings to call on them. That said, the item world would be amazing just for boosting the wand's output and in theory being able to boost the dagger far later on during the story.
Hah! Do you play Rimworld? I have a ton of mods, so it's hard to remember vanilla after all the stuff I added to mine. They're all lucky it wasn't a Galtross, or an archocentipede. If that isn't modded too. Love them.
Hah! Do you play Rimworld? I have a ton of mods, so it's hard to remember vanilla after all the stuff I added to mine. They're all lucky it wasn't a Galtross, or an archocentipede. If that isn't modded too. Love them.
I actually did load up a (Mostly) vanilla game just to see what sort of area and threats Joshua would have encountered. The lake, the Megasloth and the ruins were all things that were on that map. The Thrumbo wasn't but I wanted the chance to describe what a realistic Thrumbo would look like.
I'm not even hiding this behind a spoiler. I rolled a 4. That's Disgaea. That's now twice in a row the world that someone commented about being the one rolled.
On one level, I wanted to save Disgaea for later so I could spend more time there, but on the other... item worlds.
This time, the rip spat Joshua out in something like a castle. White marble decorated most surfaces
There were also metal pillars, blocky things that looked a meter wide. They seemed to be decorative rather than structural though, polished as they were to a mirror shine.
Joshua ducked to one side and tried to conceal himself. A castle like this was likely inhabited. Now if it was inhabited by humans or something else? That would depend on the world of course. Those metal pillars stood out though. You needed to have quite the prosperous domain for that.
…This was a populated world, well, significantly more populated than rimworld. And these people were doomed by his arrival here.
No! He couldn't keep thinking about that. He had a task to do and whatever he had to go wasn't his fault, it was the contractors who did it!
Again, no. He didn't want to accept that reasoning. Doing so was denying the fact that- while he wasn't the one doing the damage- he was the one choosing their targets. If Joshua had a way to specifically pick uninhabited worlds, or worlds which couldn't get much worse, then that would be one thing but he had no ability to decide while on the run.
Sighing, he continued, creeping through the castle.
He froze, hearing voices up ahead. Ducking behind a pillar.
"The boss took out another overlord candidate!"
"Yeah, we know, we were on that assault too."
"Well, you never know who might be listening in that needs exposition."
Joshua raised an eyebrow at that. Did they know he was here? Peaking around one of the columns he made out a group consisting of a well-built man with a large sword and a shorter kid with a silly two-pointed hat.
Their designs looked… familiar, but Joshua couldn't place it.
Joshua followed along behind them as they continued on their patrol and from their discussion he learned a few more things. Primarily that they served someone called Vyers who was trying to claim a position called "Overlord."
Oh, and they were all demons. This castle was in hell.
…Sobering thought, Joshua had finally gone to hell. Literally, after the metaphorical hell he'd visited in Hisui or the worse-than-hell he'd found on the battlefields of war.
Okay fine, they called in the "Netherworld." But it was hell.
Hold on, Netherworld…? Was this Disgaea? Joshua had played 2 and 5 but hadn't really touched the others.
Yes, now he was paying attention, those were the designs of the generic warrior and mage.
As the patrol crossed paths with another, he even saw a prinny with the second group. Said Prinny actually caused a problem. Joshua left cover slightly early to continue tailing his group and he got spotted.
"Who's there? Infiltrator! …Dood!"
That alerted the others.
Just one against a force, Joshua had to be careful. He hid behind a different pillars as magic started being thrown at him. He drew his sparkblade and saw that it was glowing. The light was soft, barely there at all but it flowed into him all the same.
Knowledge filled him, years worth of experience in… well… demonic knife-wielding might be the best way to word it. There were some memories of stealth mixed in too but those blended into the Ninja training he'd picked up back in Japan.
That knowledge… Joshua ducked out of cover, already channelling his mana. He felt his magic jingle around in his head. He somehow knew that the "Keys" he'd obtained back in Final Fantasy 6 would work here, but for now he'd be trying out his new abilities.
"Blade Rush!"
Gathering mana into the sparkblade, it gained an extended blade of light. The knife became a sword, it's length growing and allowing Joshua to slash about with abandon. The mana-generated blade had the same sort of cutting power as the knife itself.
These demons weren't very strong, and they didn't fear death as they could simply be restored by a dark healer. He'd fought many enemies tougher than them.
He quickly stole some equipment off one of the warriors before defeating them and used it to fashion a disguise.
If he could talk to whoever this "Vyers" guy was, maybe he could convince them to launch an evacuation.
…Probably not, but there was a hope.
Joshua continued to sneak through in disguise.
"Nin, nin." he muttered under his breath and smiled. Apparently that was just something that was done here, at least according to the knowledge he'd got from his sparkblade.
Finding the throne room, Joshua knocked.
"Yes?" A flamboyant voice called from within.
Joshua put on a fake voice as he called through the door "Sir, I have news of a possible attack."
"Oh? Come in then?"
Joshua did so.
The throne room… well it had seen better days. Sure it had likely once been ornate but now it was filled with rubble and dirty magazines. A knife-eared demon lounged on the throne.
Once he saw Joshua though, he looked surprised "A human? Oh, you were the infiltrator that everyone was yelling about earlier. Are you here to try and assassinate me?"
Joshua sighed "No, it would be a bit pointless."
"Then you've borne witness to my power." The demon, probably Vyers, leapt to his feet, his clout blowing wide.
…
"Sure, let's go with that." Joshua remarked to the side "In truth though, I really do carry news of an attack. It would be wise to try to evacuate as soon as is reasonable."
Joshua filled him in on the threat of the Contractors, though he needed to pick the right words to make this local understand him.
"There's going to be a group of humans chasing me down here, they possess the power to enslave men and demons and call many other powerful beings from other realities. I have no idea what sort of a person you are, but fighting them is just asking them to make you into a new slave in a way. I'd rather they not become any stronger."
Vyers considered that, looking Joshua up and down.
"Are they truly that strong?" There was a change in the tone of his voice. He was less bombastic now. Less impulsive-seeming and more calculating.
Joshua frowned "If you're thinking of making them into puppets-"
"Not that." The demon corrected "If it is like that then… things might indeed need to change."
Joshua glanced to the side "Whatever, I've given the warning and I can't do any more to stop them. The rest will be on you."
Turning to leave, Joshua began thinking about where he would find some short amount of rest in this world only for the demon behind him to call out.
"Human, I have a proposition." He was back to his dramatic air "I want you to go to another castle nearby. There lives one of my rivals to the position as overlord, but I want you to pass on the warning to them and tell them that they can come to this palace if they wish to fight against the threat together."
Joshua paused and nodded. Warning people was the least he could do.
He agreed and Vyers told him to rest for a while in his castle before going out on the mission, as he had letters to write.
Joshua wandered around. Apparently Vyers had a way to just inform everyone in the palace about the new state of things as there was no longer any need to worry about fights breaking out.
As he walked, his sparkblade continued to glow, feeding him some unknown powers. Well, he figured out one of them was an improvement to his acting ability, by mimicking an Anime character archetype, Joshua could make people think he fit that archetype perfectly.
…He wasn't sure what he'd use that for but he had it.
Joshua stopped by a shop run by the Rosen Queen company and they even had some extra stuff for him. It was given to him in a large cardboard box (That just so happened to instantly be given a light shine from the sparkblade.
Taking it into the suitcase, he found a collection of things inside. First was a TV set which lacked a cable or any other obvious means of getting signal, but it worked just fine. It was currently showing a news show about the old overlord of this place who'd apparently died eating a pretzel. An odd way to go.
The next items appeared to be part of a set, a blue and white jacket that looked quite good on Joshua. Very anime though, it would attract a lot more attention then his travelling clothes. It came with a set of pistols. Each looked like a fairly ordinary gun, though they had a bit of white or black paint to distinguish them from each other.
Joshua wasn't fond of guns and now he had those new skills for his sparkblade, it wasn't clear if he'd find a use for them so he left them in the cottage.
Then the last object… or objects.
…Gaming consoles. A set of consoles that could plug into the TV. A small gaming computer, a playstation 3 and a nintendo switch. Along with them was every Disgaea game.
That felt silly in a way. How the hell did he get these? Was his sparkblade just being nice.
With a sigh, Joshua just left those all in the cottage too. Maybe he could think about playing them after his journey was over.
Leaving the briefcase, he continued travelling around Vyers' castle, eventually bumping into a sage who was managing the use of the item world. Joshua remembered how useful the item world was and wondered if he could make use of it in the future. His sparkblade glowed at that thought leading him to think that he could.
He wasn't sure exactly how he could use it, but those experiments could come later.
For now, Vyers was calling him and-
There was an explosion. They were here, Joshua knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
Forces began rushing through the hall. Beings from other worlds summoned to fight against the demons. Luckily the demons seemed to be winning against the chaff that had been summoned so far. But that wasn't likely to last long.
Joshua ran to Vyers who was standing on one of his palace's walls looking severe. He pointed Joshua to a group of his demons.
"Go!" he yelled "Get to Laharl! Warn him! Get him to safety!"
First name basis? Whatever. Joshua nodded and joined the group. A Nekomata with them was carrying a bag of mail.
As they all rushed off, Vyers glanced at them one more time. He gave a silent apology.
"I'm sorry, I've failed you."
Who he was talking to wasn't entirely clear.
Joshua and the demons ran off across the land. The Nekomata apparently had quite a few letters to deliver, the one to the demon called "Laharl" who Joshua was starting to remember was the name of the first Disgaea's main character, was actually the second to be delivered. The first could be done on the way.
The first drop off point was a strange "Gate" like structure made of stone. The Nekomata sighed "I really don't know who this 'Christo' guy is but this is where the boss always wants me to drop off his letters.
Wait wasn't that-
Joshua remembered the angel from Disgaea 5. Why was he in contact with Vyers?
"Well, it's not like he's anyone important." One of the guards mentioned "At least we can be relieved it isn't an angel or something like that. None of the archangels are called Christo."
…Joshua again reflected on the fact that it was strange that demons just didn't seem to notice when they said things like that.
With a sigh they raced on to Laharl's castle. On the way they had to deal with some other demons who didn't obey anyone in particular. Joshua took the time to break out some of his magic from Final fantasy 6, summoning earthquakes, tornados and flares.
"We're only a few miles away now!" An archer called cheerfully "We're almost there."
That was just tempting fate, and as expected fate answered.
"Stop there, would you kindly?"
A dragon flew overhead and someone jumped off it. Based on the clothes and that phone in their hand, he was a contractor.
The dragon landed behind them and roared. A black dragon with blue runes running down its torso. The team shuddered back.
"What the!" A warrior yelled "It's level ninety!"
The contractor raised his arms "You're trapped now Jumper, surrender peacefully and we'll let you and yours live!"
Joshua raised his blade. Now he wished that he'd brought the pistols out with him. It would be nice if he could just draw one and shoot the contractor in the head as he pontificated.
"Never!"
The contractor smiled "Well then, Fafnir! Destroy them!"
The dragon roared and breathed out a blast of flame. The demons scattered away from the rush while Joshua drew his wand out to quickly cast the flame freezing spell rendering those flames harmless.
Or at least, mostly harmless. They still hurt actually. Just that the burning was cold instead of hot. Joshua rushed out of the flames too and scattered like the demons. He had only one task- get to Laharl's castle and warn him.
Joshua ran and ran, vanishing using his ninja training. Even so, that didn't stop the contractors from being able to track him. That app of theirs… he needed to find a way of dealing with it- a method of stealth that could fool even it.
After an hour of travel he made it to Laharl's castle only to discover terrible news.
It had already fallen.
The gates stood open, demons fallen to the left and right.
Sneaking into the throne room, he found a second contractor lazing about on the throne. A red-haired demon bowing and scraping, a look of obsessed love in her eyes.
Joshua was disgusted and he quickly ran through to try to find Laharl. He found one room that was devastated, torture equipment leaning against the walls. In the center there was a coffin- shattered. A spear had been driven through the coffin's lid into whatever lay inside.
However in between the damage, blood was flowing slowly out.
…Joshua couldn't bare to look.
He'd failed. He'd failed again. He'd simply allowed the world to be taken over before his eyes.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. But neither of those things could help these people. Demons they may be but they were people too.
He escaped, fleeing from the castle as the two contractors discussed him and that he'd run this way.
The direction didn't matter as he ran. He simply moved. As far as he could go, as fast as he could go. He just ran and ran as he always had. Did it ever change?
He found himself back at the stone gate from before just as the contractors caught up to him.
"We've got you now." The dragon rider yelled "Don't think you can keep running."
But he could though, he could just cut open a tear and keep running. But… what would be the point. The same thing would happen, again and again.
He stepped back and in that moment.
"Stop right there!"
Someone else had appeared. A man stepped up beside Joshua. Green hair flowed around his aged face and a pair of angelic wings sprung from his back.
No, it wasn't merely anger. It was pure fury.
"Go." He growled to Joshua "I'll take this from here."
Joshua ran. He didn't want to leave him for dead but there was nothing that could be done.
"You face Seraph Lamington, a higher-up of Celestia. You face Christo, Strategist of the Rebel Army that overthrew Void Dark. You have disrupted my plans, and thrown the peaceful future I wished to create into chaos."
The angel's age appeared to shift as he drew out a staff. He became a young man again.
"I may not have my friends beside me, but there's no way I'll allow people like you to do as you please."
Joshua made a cut with his sparkblade as the battle began.
He had to pray that Christo would make it through this.
I actually had a lot of fun writing about this world. After everything that happened… well. At least I didn't show anything bad happening to Flonne.
Anyway, Lamington/Christo is one of my favourite Disgaea characters. While I had the idea that Vyers would send a letter to him using his "Fake demon name," him actually showing up to help was a last minute decision in the writing.
Now, the next world list:
Generic Amalgam FanFic (The comics)
Generic Nasuverse
Yu-gi-oh Tag force
Okami
Chrono Trigger/Cross
MtG
Lord El-Melloi
Gurren lagann
Huh, two fate entries. Regardless, what do I want to avoid here? Chrono Trigger/Cross because I want to give those worlds a proper visit later. Gurren Lagann as I don't want to have to try and find a way for Joshua to escape from Contractors who have access to spiral power too.
Whatever, we know from the last two entries that obviously the dice will chose whichever one people comment about first. That's really how it's been so far after all.
