A visit to Ultra SPAAAAAAACE

“…. OH. SWOL SEES.”

… A very long, very awkward pause.

Swol is currently flexing so hard that it causes nearby rocks to shake and break! But, turns out the breaking part is just RU running through the rock and crushing it to bits. He could barely hear his grand entrance over the iconic bass-boosted Eye of the Tiger blaring through a nearby radio, but he ends up noticing from the pebbles that bounce off his muscular thighs and, with a turn, he faces RU completely.

     Every instinct Plumeria has is screaming for her not to trust this man. It’s not fully apparent in her body language, not yet, because she’s attempting to remain unreadable ——— and nobody does emotional illegibility quite like her.

     “ You might'a studied the wyvern, ” she quips, arching her brow, “ but you ain’t never studied me. ”

     Admittedly, what he has to say about her eye does give her pause. She would be lying if she said that she’d never considered the possibility that the GIFT Necrozma had given her was more for his benefit than hers. 

     Truth be told, she’s been trying not to think too much about it, and she’ll be damned if she tells this one so much so fast.

     There comes a long and pregnant pause during which the Skull Queen studies the man intently. “ Shoots, ” she concedes at last. “ You like me come look your conspiracy wall and shit, I’m down. ”

“You’re right, I haven’t.” He responds flatly. He was going to, though.

The quip about his ‘conspiracy wall’ would have been far funnier were it not actually true. Aside from the literal wall he has in his home, surrounded by books and tomes and artifacts that all link back in some way, shape, or form to the black wyvern, and its endless creations. Creations like the Nihilego, the Buzzwole, the Pheromosa, the poipole - everything. He wouldn’t rest until he’d discover every clue that could be used against it.. and at that point, he’d try to rid the world of the wyvern himself, even if it’d cost him his life.

Being a conspiracy theorist, radical to the point of martyrdom, does not do well for one’s mentality.

Still, he offered her a kind(ish) smile and beckoned her to follow him as he kicked off the wall and made his way towards his van, where he keeps most of his special equipment... and space for a passenger. Two of them, in fact.

“It’ll be quick, trust me. I got more stuff at home than I do in my van, but I still keep loads of stuff regarding this in my van. Maybe I’ll let you skim through it.”

As they approach his van, his face straightens, and his eyes close. In that moment, a single mental command is issued out to the other passenger within the van. (PREPARE.)

01 SHARED Gloo’s sentiment. Necrozma was a parasite, and one he intended to cleanse, but for every move they made against him, the Old One matched them turn for turn–

His thoughts are cut off when the spire suddenly expands. BK-01 leaps back, teeth bared. He expected the abomination to hatch then and there, but the cries and rumbles pass and leave him with nothing more than a pit of dread in his stomach. 

That scream was the same one he’d heard over the pack intercom. 01 looked up at Gloo’s comment in disbelief.

[ You do?! ] 

If there’s one thing Gloo is known for, it’s the innate sense of memory it has - the ability to hold grudges, even if they don’t last. It remembers everything significant to its interests. The bite from 01, for example - It never forgot that, but it forgave him when both of them had put their differences aside. It cared deeply for Gelly, so it remembers those who torment them well..

And that includes that damned Black Star, for permanently scarring the creature it would call part of its own family.

But another voice it had not forgotten was the voice of the creature that tormented Gelly on another level. Something that hit more close to home for them than it should have. The voice of the obnoxious shiny Nihilego, Tiramisu.

Although warped, although, twisted beyond imagination, it recognizes the voice, and it’s... it’s...

“It’ssss... Tiramissssu. And ssssshe’s- in agony.”

It snarled. It wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Did the creature get her just desserts, or was this a different kind of horrific fate that it wouldn’t wish upon anyone?

Regardless of that...

“Gloo doesssn’t like her, but no one dessservesss thisss fate, not even her.”

He looks back to 01, almost hopefully.

    Plumeria senses some complicated feelings from this man. Okay, so maybe he was a complete maniac.

    “ I seen plenty shit, brah. All kind. ”

    When he recoils from her touch and flashes her that intense look, she can’t supress a sudden, bone-dry laugh of disbelief. From time to time in her life she comes across people who make her sincerely worry for their personal safety, and this seemed to be one such man.

    The first breath of further mockery is on her lips when he jabs his finger in the direction of her false eye. Strangely, it does not make her flinch. Instead she fixes him with her own stoney gaze, now also quite intense, and slowly turns her head until her neck cracks. Never does she break eye contact.

    “ Ain’t no lyin’ with you if you can feel it, is there? So what you gonna do about it, specs? ”

Complete maniac? Maybe. Perhaps not the best way to describe a man who is so hell-bent on his own objective that he loses his own moral standing. Perhaps he has grown so unbelievably fixated on the task at hand that any view other than his is a complete mockery for everything he stands for.

Okay, maybe he is a complete maniac. But that did not turn down his feelings for the matter any notches. His face strains when he looks at the eye. His seriousness seems to drift a bit from a harsh tension to a more mediated standing. He takes a moment to breathe through his nose and calm himself.

Somewhere, deep down, he had the uneasy feeling of wanting to snatch the eye from its socket and destroy it.

Instead, he forces a smile upon his face, and slips one thumb into his pocket to try to relax himself.

Don’t lose your composure now. not when there’s a way to FIX this.

“An eye like that - a curse- something that was a gift from that... thing. The so-called ‘Blinding One’... I don’t think it suits you.”

“It’s a parasite. It’s a means to control you. I’ve studied the Blinding One for years now - ancient texts, samples from crystals, and hell, even my own observations... I know that nothing good ever comes out of those things.”

“I can help you. I can restore you to how you were before. You won’t need that damnable god’s ‘gift’ to give you a good life.”

< The heart? What heart are you talking about? >

It hadn’t properly occurred to 02 that the corruption, while it may be spreading from a singular source, may also be powered by said singular source. With the thought now floating around his mind, he wondered absently—if they could find the source, and destroy it, what would become of the rest of the corruption?

Would it really be that easy? Snipping it in the base and watching the flower wither and die? Somehow, 02 doubted it would be that easy. Nothing with the Dark Star ever was, his plans were always mysteries and enigmas to be unraveled, often far too late to stop whatever carnage he wanted to inflict from occurring.

He turned back to Gloo, giving the carcass a kick.

< What do you think the heart is? Some… queen? > 02 shuddered at the thought of a massive, fleshy tumor; coated in black bile, fused to the ground, comprised of countless former humans, birthing abomination after abomination.

< We need… to get inside. Inside the corruption. We don’t need to find the source, but we need to see what the conditions INSIDE will be. We can prepare better that way. Where would we start? >

“It’sss sssome sssort of... reproduction organ. Sssomething creating thessse things, SsssPAWNING them. 01 mentioned it before.”

It recalls their conversation, 01 explaining that he believed whatever was powering them was some sort of hostage. Whoever it was, it didn’t know for certain, but it had to be a creature from Ultra Space.

Looking down, the Naganadel’s claws once again start raking against the body, prying at the pitch-dark skin and grimacing at it.

“He ssssaid it wasss a hossstage... sssomeone being held there againssst their will, powering thessse thingsss, like a battery.” 

It looks disugsted. The very thought of one of its kind being used as a means to empower these abominations, these disgraces to nature... it made it sick. It looks at 02 with a distasteful glare, though, not aimed necessarily at him.

“If we need to get inssside, we need to find out where they’re coming from. Only then can we actually find out...”

The little Kartana stares curiously up at the tall woman when she carefully reaches towards it. Luckily for her, it had flattened its body against her, causing any matter of sharpness to become nullified in exchange for a more flexible body.

It peels itself off slightly so that it could look at her face, and proceeds to make a small noise the moment it catches her features!

“Haa! Pree-tee.”

A pretty woman. It begins to drift off of her arm completely, soon floating right in front of her and swaying softly in the wind in an attempt to balance itself.

Gloo glared at the unit as he dragged forth the carcass of an abomination, explaining that the creature had seemingly grown to become more powerful. several things popped into its mind during that one moment, accompanied by the sound of an angered snort.

On one hand, it did not forgive the beast for what he did to Gelly. This mechanical creature reminded him of how 01 used to act like, the same 01 it was willing to fight to the death before. On the other hand, it needs to work together with him in order to ensure the safety of Alola, the safety of its family and its home.

It responds to him with a loud, gruff grunt before moving forward and raking its claws into the body of the carcass. It takes a bit of force, but its claws tear through the skin as they were meant to. Gloo growls, shaking his head.

“We KILL them. No matter how much they evolve, you.. you’re a natural-born killer. Issssn’t that all you do?”

It responds with a hint of spite in its voice.

Gloo is so used to being groomed and cared for by Plumeria at this point, that while it’s lounging in the living room and being pampered, it thinks nothing of it at first… except maybe the fact that its mother’s fingernails were slightly sharper than normal..

Wait, was that a tongue? Plumeria doesn’t use her tongue to groom it…

It turns  its head to look into the direction of the groomer, only to find that it wasn’t Plumeria at all, but… Hoku, her Salazzle.

All the other times it’s been cleaned by her, it was probably sleepy, too sleepy to actually realize it was being pampered by a salazzle and not its mother. But…

It’s not like it didn’t welcome it. Being cleaned like this was like being pampered, and at this point it was too relaxed to even bother stopping her from her cleaning habits.

The Dragon Pulses collided, yielding a perilous explosion in the middle. Rayquaza smirked. Sure, it was one thing for him to watch and observe his child for his next move, but that wouldn’t be fun, would it?

The smoke stood still for a moment. The air was rendered quiet for a moment, as each combatant seemed to wait for an opportunity….

Then, suddenly, Rayquaza appeared from the other side of the smoke! He swiftly approached Gloo, right hand glowing a bright blue-violet. THIS would yield the start of the real fight.

Rayquaza used Dragon Claw!

A wonderful sight to experience indeed - the sight of the two Dragon Pulses colliding and exploding into a massive cloud of ash and smoke in the sky was oh-so-satisfying to see and feel as the adrenaline rush kicks in... but Rayquaza was quick to take advantage of his sight disadvantage and poked through the smoke to travel towards it and attempt to scratch it with a Dragon Claw!

Gloo had barely any time to move, but it was just the amount of time it needed. Gloo is naturally fast, so dodging the Dragon Claw was easy despite the distance between them. It quickly thrusted itself away from Rayquaza, causing him to miss just barely before the Naganadel would slash the air with its claws, sending a wave of air towards the serpent!

     The frail smile he gives her receives absolutely no flicker of her own features in return; she rewards his lack of sincerity with only impassive disinterest written on her face. Only when he moves to touch his temple does he elicit any reaction at all: a suspicious narrowing of her eyes.

     “ You think so, ah? ” About this, she senses, he may actually be in earnest.

     His assessment of her yields a tiny smirk as she takes a step closer. It might benefit her for him to believe her a bad liar, eventually. She makes no comment. Instead she leans in slightly, giving a slow shake of her head.

     “ They ain’t that different, ” she replies quietly. “ If you see ‘em like that, you probably the kind person who don’t understand humans either. ” Again her brow quirks as she fixes her probing gaze on him.

     “ Nah. I don’t wonder. ”

     That seems to be the extent of her commentary. Reaching out a hand, she slowly moves to brush her fingertips near where his hand lingered. “ You need somethin’ for that headache, baby? ”

His eyes darken slightly when she poses the idea that those beasts - those THINGS, are none more different than humans. She doesn’t understand, she doesn’t understand. Or maybe, she does - in her own twisted, demented way. Warning sirens popped off in his mind, warning her that interacting with this woman might bring forth bad things.

If she’s on the side of those disgusting creatures, what’s to say she wouldn’t do something to stop his plan? To reduce everything he’s worked so hard for into dust, freeing the vermin and dooming the world to its inevitable destruction?

“Are you sure about that? You’ve seen the kind of damages they’ve brought onto our world, haven’t you?”

He looked at her, accusatory, that eye of hers brimming with the same power he detested so damn much. He saved himself the need to grit his teeth when he regarded her, and instead, took a deep breath. He waves off her babying when she questions his headache.

It wasn’t like talking to her was helping it any.

“I’m looking at you now, and I can feel that same energy - that same, unnatural energy that those beasts have. It’s from that, isn’t it?”

“Ah, clever as always, Gelly. Keep it down, though…”

     A gloved finger reached up, pressing itself over Eiz’ lips in a ‘keep quiet’ motion as his gaze wandered around, reaching up to tug the cloaks hood tighter over his body. He’d eventually turn back to look at Gelly with a more pleasant smile, reaching out to gently place his hand up against the Nihilegos bell… The pleasant sensation that came with it, the feeling of Light, confirmed the Nihilegos suspicions.

“I’m looking for someone, or rather… Something. I have a feeling it’s looking for me as well, so I’m trying to keep on the down low, hence this form.” Eiz would gesture to his being with a gloved hand, those warm magenta eyes sparkling with a happy light as he’d give Gelly a smile,

“Ah, but how are you? It has been so long since we’ve last officially talked, hasn’t it?”

He was disguised, that’s what it was. Gelly wasn’t sure initially why Eiz would have appeared as a human of all things - or, at the very least, a humanoid, but they went along with it and carefully let the flowers from their grip fall down to the floor before they floated towards him and carefully reached their feelers up to feel his hand. Wrapping their feelers around his hand, they could tell immediately that he was who he said he was. The aura was unmistakable and his hand seemed to hold that almost ghastly complexion they were so familiar with!

“Gelly’s happy to see you again, Eiz!” They cried out, though they tried keeping their voice down as per his request. What was he looking for? They weren’t sure what he could be here for, but, maybe there was a way Gelly could help?

@yoo-bee is hush, hush, hushed, here comes the boogeyman!

“ AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ! ! ! ”

A massive metal pair of prongs swing down to snap around Gelly, hauling them up to the glittering, buzzing green plume of the Erlking, bouncing around like a terrifying carnival ride at a third-rate amusement park. But, since it was Gelly, they did love terrifying carnival rides at third-rate amusement parks.

Xurkitree twirled the tiny Nihilego around on his plasma caster, and, even if he didn’t have a mouth, you didn’t need faux-mouth-eyes to tell he was beyond giddy to see the little Symbiont again.

“ Lookie at what I caught right here, babe! ‘S a tiny tiny little Nihilego, wanderin’ around, gettin’ trapped up by the boogeyman! Where’s your Erlking, eh, little Nihilego? ” Xurkitree asked, in his best ‘I am entertaining a child’ villain voice.

Good to know his mysterious absence did nothing to temper his bombastic personality.

The initial sound Gelly makes is something resembling equal parts surprise and excitement. Feeling the familiar metal pronds wrapping around their soft form to lift them up towards a glowing source of energy, Gelly immediately recognizes the plume of their favorite big brother, who currently seemed to be trying to entertain them by bouncing them around like they were in some sort of dangerous amusement park ride. Nevertheless, the sounds of giggles escaped them and they couldn’t help but allow Xurkitree to play around with them as he saw fit. His energy was always welcomed.

It seemed like he was trying on an ‘evil villain’ persona, and... well. Despite the obvious giddiness in his pretend-voice, it was sort of convincing. It’s a good thing Gelly was already so familiar with him by now.

“Xurkitree!!”

They shouted happily, wrapping tendrils gently around the metal prongs of his pseudo-hands, immediately swinging around their limbs before realizing they were supposed to be playing a game.

They thought.

“Uh- mean - oh no! It’s the evil boogerman!! Please don’t hurt Gelly!!”