Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

383. Waiting for War.

-Equus, Ponyville, Evening, Tianhuo-

“So that’s about the size of what I’m facing Tian.” Pom then showed me the bit of golden wool above her right hoof while point at it with her other hoof. “This, this right here, it’s going to get worse… much worse.”

“At least it looks pretty.” Knowing as well as I do that Pom cannot avoid helping people in danger. She’s not the only one that can save two worlds, but she is in a position to at least help the situation and would do so. Probably in the most dangerous capacity imaginable, can’t someone else risk their life as much as my wife constantly does? “Can you at least promise me you will strive to live long enough to see me again in person?”

“It’s a big ask Tianhuo, but yes, I will try my hardest to live long enough to see you physically in front of me.” The plan Pom told me was, to put it bluntly, quite obviously suicidal. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t trust them to come back from it alive. Pom could come back from it alive though, with plenty of help, I have little doubt of it. What I did doubt was how much of her lifespan would be left and how much of her body would be covered in gold wool afterwards. “My time is short Tian, I mean that literally and figuratively. Anything you want to say or ask?”

I really did not like the fact that Pom was on a world where something that is attacking it has been termed as being ‘omnicidal’ and might eventually or actually have the power to achieve a goal of ending all life on the threatened worlds. It was slowly becoming increasingly more dangerous according to the people who lived in Ironclad City, home to creatures made of metal… not so different from some of the things here on Equus really.

The current plan was for Pom and a team of what I am assuming to be mostly her friends, possibly including Shanty, Smolder and Ocellus, would leap through one of the breaches this Moon Cell would make into the Pokémon Realm to invade it. They would then proceed to act as a major distraction for the entity behind all of it. An entity that may as well be on par with a god in raw power, had nigh endless armies and could bring the souls of historical dead warriors to life against their enemies within its realm and was seeking to manifest said warriors outside of it.

Such a thing as what Moon Cell was described to be should strike terror in just about anyone, Pom was definitely terrified and she couldn’t avoid it coming after her because it was outright targeting her for some inexplicable reason. That or Pom wasn’t telling me the reason or didn’t have a decent educated guess as to why, but it must fear her in some capacity or else it wouldn’t have redirected all its forces to go after her outside this Ironclad City place.

Anything fearing Pom’s existence did not seem normal to me, but in this case I truly hoped that they had good reason to fear her and that Pom discovers why that is.

“Just… be very careful Pom.” I sighed out, I didn’t want to lose her when she’s come so far.

“I always try to be Tian, life has been pummeling me quite a bit lately. At least I got a win with Dormarch, even if that was hard one to pull off.” Pom had her strengths, but fighting seemingly endless armies was not one of them and she was going to be doing that soon. “Wish I could be a little more stoic like you, mostly about what I’m facing here... it needs to be said again and again until I’m blue in the face, I love you Tianhuo.”

“If you were any more sweet, you’d cause toothaches just to look at.” I grinned slightly showing a hint of humor. “I love you too and wish you the greatest of luck my dear wife. Jiutian watch over you, even if she cannot help you where you are.”

Our ten minutes were up, every single last one was as precious as the lambkin I spent those ten minutes conversing with. Scarred, beaten, but still fighting, talking to me gave her some strength to keep moving forward and what she was about to do sounded like the dumbest thing one could do… I would be doing it right there alongside her.

I looked up to the stars and the Canis Minor pups started howling, joined by Blighter who continued to shadow me protectively while trying to cheer me up. I always get the eerie feeling of Paprika being behind Blighter when I looked upon them.

-Pokémon realm, Ironclad City, balcony overlooking the city streets, nighttime, Pom-

I sat there alone and then looked up at the alien stars above, now it was just waiting for a dimensional breach to occur and then we’d set our plans in motion. I could feel Dormarch and Dolly cuddled up and sleeping next to each other through my bond.

I smiled a bit about how precious and cute my canine companions could be when they weren’t struggling to stay fighting at my side or protecting me.

Those two were going to follow me to Tartarus and back. I couldn’t even tell them not to, they’d still do it anyway. Dolly was still physically a normal canine, powerful magic aside, she couldn’t take too many serious injuries. Dormarch was the one I was less worried about, he could take injuries, heal from them and even do things I can’t even begin to fathom as I’m not exactly great with technology and Dormarch basically was a result of technology creating life.

Any sufficiently advanced technology was said to be equivalent to magic on Equus, but would that explain informational beings like Dormarch being a living and breathing thing I can touch, hold, talk to and love. Make me wonder if you could bring the information in books to life and have them tell you what you wanted to know from them.

“That was your wife? She seemed nice and well disciplined.” Flinching at the sound of a sudden voice talking to me from off to the side, I let out a quick bleat as I jumped slightly and took a moment to take in some oxygen and wait for my heart to go back down my throat.

It was Ms. D’ Arc and she seemed to find my sudden jump amusing.

“Longma are generally stoic, their cousins the Kirin are less so and should probably consider mandatory anger management classes.” That got me and odd stare and I remembered that I had to clarify for Jeanne who would have no idea what a Kirin was. “Kirin tend to catch fire and become a bit uncontrollably powerful when angered. Like a, uh… like a Morpeko when angry, but without all the foul mouthed cursing.”

“A Morpeko that doesn’t curse horrifically when in Hangry Mode?” Jeanne giggled out with a bright smile. “I can only vaguely imagine that, and thus Kirin sound far tamer for it.”

“If you call setting everything in the general vicinity on fire tame.” My dry delivery was met with an even brighter grin.

“Some Fire Types certainly get like that, explosive anger is not unknown for one that is easily upset and possibly short fused. Not all Fire Types are like that, but some are.” Jeanne took a seat next to me, the Hakamo-o was definitely the hero of the battle earlier. “If you want short fused, you’d have to meet an Electrode. While I may jest about it, I do have an inexplicable fear of fire and the fires of war waiting to engulf us all. However, I will not let any fire douse the flames of passion within my heart.”

I recalled Jeanne fighting and waving the flag about to start inspiring others forward and invigorated them to be stronger than they would be otherwise, still felt odd for me to be a part of that. The rallying pushed us forward to victory, no matter how temporary that victory would be.

“So where were you and the other Hakamo-o coming from, you know, before Ieyasu came charging in from the north to save the day?” If there was one thing to be said about the leader of Valora, it would be that he was a force of nature. Not invincible, but he certainly gave off the impression of being nearly enough so as to almost fool me. This is considering he got surrounded, pinned and attacked constantly and was still strong enough to finish the fight to shrug off what were just simply termed as minor injuries for him… the guy had holes in his metal skin after the fight.

“Ieyasu was busy checking if the northern borders were doing okay, what with the monster of Nixtorm threatening to destroy our northwestern neighbors in the constant struggle going on there. Ieyasu suggested sending a contingent to assist the Ice Types, but apparently something has changed about the situation and we’ll eventually get more information soon. There’s also Lord Nobunaga of Dragnor, he has a tendency to invade his allies as much as his enemies if he thinks they are weak. Nobunaga is rather quirky like that and he really has a fascination with technology, he’s quite dangerously ambitious… any Dragon Type that thinks they are big shots can’t actually compare to him on that front. He wants to challenge Arceus to a fight with the lord of all fighting at his full power.” Yeah that was likely to go very well Jeanne, I’ve seen and felt what Arceus was like… who in their right mind would want to fight him when he would destroy them if he didn’t weaken himself to face them in a fight. “Yes, judging by the look on your face, whatever you are thinking is likely the correct response.”

“I take it Nobunaga is not a very sane individual is he?” It certainly sounded to me like he wanted a major challenge, sounds familiar and it was kind of a thing for dragons to prove their strength at times.

I proved my strength against Smolder while she was in a forced greed growth… is that why she was so scare of me?

“Nope, but he is still a dangerous tactician, just because he’s not exactly sane doesn’t mean he’s stupid. He’s knows what he’s doing as a ruler… most of the time anyway.” Should Jeanne really be telling me that Valora’s neighbors had that kind of problem? “So are you going to get any sleep tonight? The breaches occur randomly and we can’t predict when they will happen, it is best that you get as much sleep and rest as you can.”

I think I might have a thing with scaled ladies, first Dazzle finding me interesting and now Jeanne was studying me curiously. Tianhuo was still who I wanted as my partner in life and that wasn’t going to change, for however long we can make what we have last.

“Yes, I’ll be heading back to snuggle up to my companions soon. I’m just trying to get my head together at the moment and sleep doesn’t exactly come easy to me unless I have someone next to me.” I did need to take going to bed soon into account, especially if Dormarch wakes up and finds out I’m not there. He’ll probably flip out and will check the bond first if he’s in his right mind, if not he’ll probably start teleporting to wherever I just happen to be looking to protect me.

“It must be hard to be recognized and renowned as a hero as much as you are.” Blinking as Jeanne said that, I quirked my head in her direction. “Do people often expect you to fight for every cause as the one who created Rescue Team Harmony?”

“It’s more like I can’t ignore people in danger, I mean that quite literally. I made the rescue team to do simple things, yet the scope of things has gone quite… out of my control and I have no idea what the actual rescue team is doing anymore. I’m here to help and I’m going to simply do so.” It was a problem that I tended to sacrifice for others and I was about to do a big one to save Ransei or even further this entire planet and maybe the digital realm next door. “It is a chronic problem for me, I can’t cure it and I can hardly resist it. All I can do is limit how much is sacrificed and hope to sacrifice the correct minimum needed for a given situation.”

“You can only ever press forward huh? That is sad, like the stories of soldiers on the battlefield who know they will die, yet they will do so in the name of a goal bigger than them. The things they would do for their country to see it safe in a time of great crisis, it resonates with my heart in a strong way.” You almost felt familiar Jeanne, it almost felt like you were someone similar to the likes Cu Chulainn. “Again, what’s it like to be you?”

“It’s like being a normal everyday average person being put through thoroughly extravagant circumstances that they shouldn’t very well be surviving. Yet when they do, people praise it or think highly of the person when the person that went through said circumstances would rather it had never happened in the first place.” I would rather be safe at home snuggled up against green scales and a warm body with multiple dogs waking me up for attention, water or food every once in a while. A simpler life I could only vaguely dream of anymore, plenty of nightmares if I wasn’t dreaming of a nice beach vacation with an imaginary Tianhuo. “I don’t like being called a hero, even if I have acted in the capacity of being one… admittedly several times over.”

After Jeanne gave me a curious hum and went back to looking at the stars, I got up and started to head to bed.

“Pom…” Hearing Jeanne I stopped moving for the stairs and quirked an ear up with my wool to show that I was listening. “Should you need a soldier, I am willing and able to follow you into any enemy stronghold no matter the dangers they present. You have the strength of a leader about you.”

“I would never ask anyone to endanger themselves for me.” Since I was usually the one endangering myself.

“You never will have to ask, you have many good friends and aim to be among them. Shanty in particular will take no one saying anything bad about you for as long as she’s been here and she always believed you survived Gilgamesh’s fury without pause to think otherwise.” Jeanne wasn’t wrong and she came off feeling like a saint, I could feel it in the way she talked that she would follow me into Tartarus with her flag held high and a belief that we’d succeed in our endeavors. “Should you need a place of solace for a bit, or are in need of a good meal, then my family’s farm is to the south of Ironclad City heading towards the mountains of Avia. May Arceus see us through these trying times and bless the lands of Ransei with further hope for a peaceful future for all the kingdoms.”

I continued on my way through the streets and thought about things further. Illusio wasn’t so much a kingdom anymore, but it still had people.

If I was going to jump through a breach soon to fight a death machine, then I would need to stock up on supplies and hope to not immediately die on the other side of that breach.

Hopefully to that end we’ll get the Team Harmony wagon through a breach with enough supplies to last us a month for the Pokémon Companions, my group and whoever else we can squeeze into what will most certainly be another thing to add to my list of living nightmares.

Don’t know if I could endanger Smolder or Ocellus more than I have already though... Dodo and Shanty would be willing and they’ve grown quite capable. I don’t even need to ask Dolly or Dormarch, it was a foregone conclusion for them that if I were to go anywhere, they would surely follow.

I wonder if Ieyasu was even willing to lend us troop support, but I wasn’t about to ask for it. How would we even hold our ground one we get through a breach or even get supplies once we’re there on the other side? It was a logistics nightmare as much as it was me walking into what is functionally a deadly Mystical Lotus Eater that took up the space of entire worlds unto itself. Huoshan did have a Mystical Lotus Eater realm, so the concept was not completely unknown to me, but it was relatively benign as far as the citizenry were concerned.

…

I’ll concern myself with the many, MANY, many logical problems of going through a breach to draw all kinds of negative, possibly lethal, attention onto myself after I get some sleep in.

Still can’t believe I was going to do it regardless of what anyone said… even Tianhuo couldn’t stop me from threatening my life and I was about to fall out of contact with her again.

-The next day, West Port, morning, Shanty-

I be yawning and stretching out, then I be shaking Favela awake and we carefully pulled away from Pom, she really does not like being a hero and we be following her in late last night. It was hard to be finding a pillow nearly as comfortable as she was being, Dolly and Dormarch were being quite lucky and were still asleep as well.

We be managing to avoid waking anyone as we left.

We be having some time before breakfast and I be wanted to think about how well this could be going. Not very good was the immediate thought, also I be noting the gold wool on Pom’s right hoof and what it could be meaning for things going forward, it is being a very bad sign of things to come for her.

I sat down at the dock and stared at the sea and be taking out a bottle of rum and two cups. Dodo tromping over to us in interest, mostly because I be tugging at him in our bond.

After pouring some rum into the two cups, I looked at my friends.

“Drink up me hearty’s, we’re going to Tartarus soon and I want to be sharing at least one cup with my mates before we be going there with Pom.” I downed a few gulps of rum from the bottle and Favela be sipping at her cup in a more moderate somber tone. She might be afraid… we all were honestly, but we would still be doing it.

Dodo be leaning forward to dip his beak into his cup and then he be standing up and rocking back and forth in an odd manner, before he dipped his beak again and went through the rocking motion.

There were some things about Dodo that I didn’t be getting, but I be loving him, his ability to fly and his pastry making abilities. Did he even be needing his laser spitting function back at this point? Well it would be cool if he got it back eventually.

-A little bit down on the docks, Ocellus-

“Smolder…” I said softly, I was woken up by Shanty and Favela carefully getting up and leaving Pom to sleep in.

“Yeah, Ocellus?” Smolder stated while staring at the water, I was going to ignore Shanty, Favela and Dodo drinking on another portion of the dock for the moment.

“We’re going to need your help you know.” I was trying to appeal to her. I could feel her fear, she had some anxiety and then there was the love specifically for me. Negative emotions weren’t necessarily a bad thing all the time, but they had to be vented eventually in a sane manner.

“My help? Really… after I became a monster that Pom had to fight?” I don’t think this was entirely about broken pride. “Also Pom actually beat me.”

Okay pride does have something to do with it.

“Yeah, when you weren’t in your right mind Smolder and Pom sacrificed her sanity and health for you.” I said it out loud, give me a response Smolder, please tell me how I can help you as a friend. “Are you simply that afraid of her now that you can’t continue being her friend?”

There was a flinch that said, yes, she was that afraid of Pom.

“I know that she doesn’t hold anything against me, but…” It’s more on your side of things that’s the problem Smolder, Pom simply accepts that things happen to her and is just that forgiving of what happened. The rest of us are on this whirlwind of a trip with her in trying to survive while working our way home. “It’s that Gilgamesh did it so easily...”

“Yeah, he was ridiculously powerful Smolder, well beyond Pom and most of the others who made a concerted effort to stop him. He was the one that did the most damage to the rebel army and they hardly scratched him at all as he swiftly tore them down.” Other than that I didn’t know what to say to her, other than that I would be here for her. “You saw the aftermath Smolder, I even told you what happened to Pom.”

There was a bit of quiet between us and I silently moved up and hugged her. She appreciated it at the very least given what I could feel of her emotions.

“It’s going to be a bit hard to travel with her.” Muttered a slightly shivering Smolder.

“I’ll help you through it, Pom really doesn’t want you to be afraid of her.” It might take a while though. “Can you at least try to help me with Dormarch while I do, I really want him to be my friend again.”

-Approaching the wagon, Canard-

“I’d hate to wake her up, but…” I said to Sami as we approached and we could see Pom was completely out cold with Dolly and Dormarch snuggled up against her, several of the Pokémon Companions were idling about including their new eccentric companion Curdle.

Shine was nowhere to be seen, then again she had a habit of wandering off on her own and showing back up at random when there were no immediate threats to her friends. I think I saw her heading south last time. That gourd girl could swim through shadows so she gets around quickly enough.

Quetal and Mundo looked to be in the middle of a discussion.

Lit was making sure nobody bothered a sleeping Pom.

Favela was drinking on the docks with Shanty, I didn’t like even a hint of underage drinking. I really doubt I could stop Shanty, Favela grew up in a bar and Dodo was… curious.

Dazzle was just talking some nearby Steel Types and her partner Frizzle was doing low momentum tricks on a skateboard with flames painted on it.

The less said about what Curdle was currently doing the better for my sanity and I should really stop paying attention to it.

“I needed to have a talk with Dormarch about his circumstances and we also kind of need to discuss the whole fact that we’ll be needing all the Digimon we can get to actually wreck a digital world… on purpose this time.” As far as we know Sami, the whole digi-destined thing was just cheap free labor troubleshooters for Yggdrasil System in exchange for giving them good friends and an adventure with some time shenanigans.

“Mr. Thunderbeak?” Clefairy drew my attention as she looked around at some of the Steel Types looking a little run down. “Is our world going to be okay?”

“I can’t promise anything Clef, but we’ll probably be some of the few doing the most dangerous stuff to keep it as safe as possible.” This was not going to be another Puckworld or worse, not if I had anything to say about it. Puckworld had been quite devastated, but at least the Saurians hadn’t been entirely intent on wiping out all life on the planet wholesale in an immediate fashion.

Those bastards wanted to drag it out after all.

-Somewhere near the middle of Ironclad City, Jeanne D’Arc-

The city was quiet and quite a number of Pokémon were wondering when the fighting would start in earnest, we were struggling to keep the situation contained thus far. It wasn’t unknown that there were Legendary Pokémon hanging around here to quarantine the invaders from getting out.

It made me think back to those metal ships the enemy warped in, they had surprised us and managed to get away from the port with said ships. The Dhelmise unit then met the Rescue Team Harmony founders as they ran afoul of the enemy and discovered much about them.

Ever since their warships were stopped by Sami Soldier and the others coming to Valora by airship, their attacks had only gotten worse and they were no longer trying to get any more troops past the Valora quarantine. They were simply trying to break the spine of the kingdom itself.

A world ending threat on the doorstep of Valora wasn’t something anyone could simply ignore.

The enemy soldiers didn’t feel pain, they just attacked in large numbers with no quality to speak of in their actions, but they were dangerous all the same even if no thought passed through their heads. The thing behind them was just making dangerous puppets to test Valora's capabilities and it was slowly wearing down my home into the ground.

No matter how tough a Steel Type may be, even the toughest of metals wears down with time.

“Are you aware of how dangerous what you are seeking is?” Ieyasu finally responded after some thought.

“I still wish to follow Pom’s company into the breach, I would be a liaison of Valora to Rescue Team Harmony. I am already quite aware of their candor and their valor.” As I knew this, so too should Lord Ieyasu as he saw how Pom held her own on the battlefield. Though she was almost swamped and killed, she had led a small contingent to victory. “I wish to see Valora still standing tall!”

“If you were to convince her to voluntarily take an actual leadership position of the proposed joint echelon with you as the leader of your own unit alongside her friends, with the responsibilities thereof, then I’ll consider it. It would be practically impossible for it to be voluntary though.” The words Ieyasu spoke brought me much confusion and I tilted my head at him. “Yes, Pom may be considered the creator of Rescue Team Harmony and there are legends of her teams exploits spreading around the western side of the continent. Their training with Chrysalia, a small glimpse to precursor to our troubles now in Violight, saving Fontaine citizens from a castle of traps, fighting brigands and forced soldiers alike around Aurora and then there’s her actions Illusio which she is stated to have barely survived. Yet she ends up coming from Nixtorm, not too long after we acquired news of an airship from Titania doing a scouting pass of Valora, it is not coincidence in the slightest. I would even surmise that she somehow dealt with the unstoppable Steel Type monstrosity that beleaguered Nixtorm not too long after meeting the King Oberon.”

“Wouldn’t she make a good leader for the echelon then?” I tried to keep the tremors out of my voice.

Ieyasu was quite a powerful and wise leader, he was quite beloved among all of his subjects for a variety of reasons.

“This Pom may get drawn into battle, but I would assure you… she is not a leader by choice. Were she not needed to be in such a position, she would likely rather lead a quiet life. I have a good read of her character and she is rather simple to understand and many could exploit her pleasant disposition easily enough, even when her fighting spirit seemingly dwarfs and surpasses her very timid nature. Her fighting spirit is being constantly spent on things other than combat… she’s barely suppressing something highly detrimental to her and with good reason to do so to the best of her ability. She is not weak, she is one of the strongest individuals I’ve seen that has a reaper constantly watching her back, it is just waiting to swing it’s scythe into her neck as a form of the purest mercy. It would be quite a bad thing if it were to miss and she were suffer a fate worse than it.” Ieyasu then stared straight into my eyes to make sure I was paying attention to what he said next as my body stiffened and came to attention under his strict gaze. “Let me be clear, she cannot deny someone in danger if she can do something about it, she saw me in peril and instead of getting away with so much danger targeting her, she instead joined you to come help me out of a small jam. As such you cannot ask her to voluntarily take up the leadership position of the echelon… since she’ll automatically say yes if asked and it wouldn’t even be a choice for her, she would take charge even if every scrap of her very being wanted to refuse the suggestion. For she disturbingly and willingly sacrifices herself for others without pause. She already plans to invade a breach and would most likely sacrifice herself to save all of Valora, yet no one is asking her to do this and she could just as easily leave instead of committing to what is essentially a death wish. Those who do go with her are following a hero who sacrifices, one with the inability to turn away or retreat to save her own life if another is endangered... at least that’s what I’ve heard of her actions in Illusio from a Metagross that I had watching the situation from a distance.”

“What if I were to take the leadership position of the whole echelon?” I planted the butt of the flag against the ground beneath my feet and held it steady, I would stand tall regardless.

Ieyasu grinned a bit and then chuckled.

“You best be prepared to stop a hero from sacrificing herself in a variety of ways if you want her to live through it all, I think you’d make an excellent leader and would even succeed in surviving such a dangerous mission.” Uh… wait, did Lord Ieyasu just give me praise and even approved?! “Follow what you believe in and never falter, if what you believe in changes, then continue to follow that. You inspired two units of Hakamo-o to tear through hundreds of enemies, I want to see what you can do when you inspire a team of heroes to stand strong while carrying that banner of steel. Gather three units of those who are foolhardy enough and willing to go with you from the Steel Types of Valora’s army, you must ready them all for the task ahead by procuring enough supplies to load two wagons personally. Instead of getting a foothold on us, you’re liable to a get us a foothold on them. Think about how unlikely it is that you’ll be able to get supplies once you cross the breach and then go from there, a little forethought now will help you in the future as the echelon's leader.”

“Truly Lord Ieyasu?!” I said my eyes brightening.

I did not like the idea of going to war, but I believed it to be the right thing to do and that I was being told by Ieyasu to not waste the resources he'd be giving me was an immense amount of trust on his part.

“When simply waiting for war, it is best to be prepared. It's time we did something unconventional.” Ieyasu hefted his spear and pointed it at me in a less than threatening manner. “You have a heart of steel Lady Jeanne, may you never falter in the face of insurmountable odds even to and beyond death.”

-Entering the city from the south, midday, Shine-

“Shine…” Quetal stated softly.

I froze up and looked at him leaning against the wall.

“Hey Quetal… just visiting an old friend.” I really liked Quetal’s new look, going to Nixtorm really changed him in a few ways. Not sure if that was a good thing or not.

“We’re going to need to do everything we feasibly can to keep Pom alive, so if I have to live up to Trickster… you have to live up to Ninja.” With that he waved his claws at me, motioning for me to follow him.

I sighed, but I still did so as I wanted to talk to Quetal about what happened in Nixtorm.

-Outside of Ironclad City, Beast of Comparison Fou-

I still stalked them, but I was more curious than ever.

Killing them was still a goal, but now curiosity was close to winning out and the smells of grand battles could be felt tremoring through the region.

“Fou!” I roared and then waited to follow my prey to this promised land of battle, they knew how to find strong opponent when I couldn’t.

-Somewhere in the mountains to the northwest, Zacian?-

“He is still a terrifying beast.” I was fairly wounded, that the Excalibur didn’t stop Fou caused me to shiver. What has he been fighting to have that much power exaclty?!

“I don’t know about that Arty, he didn’t outright try to kill you at least.” You would say that considering he mostly avoided harming you Mash and he even seemed to be weirdly affectionate about his attacks, considering your current state was much better than mine.

-Avia, a top class medical facility at the base of one of Avia’s mountains close to the Cragspur and Illusio borders, King Evan of Aurora-

“Hello.” I had made good time as I snuck into the room and presented myself openly, I should really think of a way to thank Rauco’s unit for flying me here on such short notice. It wasn’t easy for the unit of Pidgey to physically lift me off the ground.

I had Terrera and Cragspur keep up their tensions while point all their defenses south towards Yaksha. Avia was a good barrier to Viperia’s rather nasty politics, intrigue and volatile nature.

With Illusio out of action and Valora currently in trouble with an invasion that require numerous Legendary Pokémon to worry about it, there was absolutely no chance of a surprise attack coming from the northern directions unless it was Dragnor finally going after Avia.

The Murkrow’s beak had cracks in it, her body was a mess of stitches and there were barely any feathers on her wings, her legs were said to be broken as they were shredded and she bled so much many thought she should have died by now. It was quite hard to look at her attempting to even breathe.

This horribly scarred and tortured being was Cotton Murkrow… the tactical mastermind and unconventional Spy Master of Avia. The who led to the defeat of a godly individual and managed to stall them from powering up long enough to set up the stage for their eventual highly literal downfall.

That I finally had confirmation that Pom’s group had successfully succeeded in surviving the destruction that befell Illusio, it was of great relief for me to know that for certain.

I needed Cotton’s help to convince the rising dragon bird of Avia, the Braviary known as Masamune Date, to get on board with my plans and possibly to help iron out the details in mine. To that end, I was going to offer my aid in getting him a supply line of Greenleaf medical supplies.

“Gyeegghhh…hegghhh…” Cotton was in immense pain, yet she still responded. I could even see the sharp mind beneath the tortured frame and the light in her eyes after I said that one word. She was already calculating what I needed of her. Having heard of her exploits, I brought plenty of healing herbs from Greenleaf to help her.

A scythe came from the shadows and held me at blade point, I didn’t blink and waited calmly for the Scyther to slowly pull his blade away from my throat. So Masamune sent one of his best friend and advisor Tracey or Tracer to make sure no one would dare try to assassinate his Spy Master, it’s a good heart like that which inspired great loyalty.

I made my intentions clear as I grabbed at the bag I had with my teeth and presented them to Tracer with a wagging tail and a chipper smile.

The edges of Cotton’s beak ever so slightly and painfully shifted upwards slightly.

Author's Note:

So tired of below freezing temperatures...

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Still not going to take as much healing for Cotton Murkrow as it does Pom.

The Foundation stones are being laid.

Time to break an Empire?

[Herald of Opera]

Did he even be needing his laser spitting function back at this point?

A laser might be useful for precision work. Especially if you're planning to sail the seas, where setting off explosions on your own ship may not be the best idea.

As far as we know Sami, the whole digi-destined thing was just cheap free labor troubleshooters for Yggdrasil System in exchange for giving them good friends and an adventure with some time shenanigans.

By Digidestined standards, this group actually knew what they were getting into. And are also adults, for another plus from a legal standpoint.

You have a heart of steel Lady Jeanne

Which is quite interesting given that you aren't an actual Steel-type.