The Crystalline Cathedral- Ami and Chroma's Secret Base

[Median Dia]

"Mmh-hmm..." The tone of Chroma's mumbling made it clear that she'd realized her mistake, though she made no effort to claw the fibrous silk from her face- this had happened before, apparently.

'It's been more helpful elsewhere, dat's for dang sure!' Butternut took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. 'Certainly better dan nothin', do.' His bulb spat out a burst of fire too small to harm most creatures.


Bell beamed with pride, glad that his creation had made her happy. 'Got it!' He led the rest of the way to the one that lead back to the Pokemons' Loop, and stepped aside. 'What's the phrase again? Ladies first...?'

[Missingno. Master]

Keith looked at Chroma, who was making no effort to remove her face from the cocoon Butternut had wrapped it in. "...do you need help with that?" he asked.

"At least dis Berue seems ta be on yer side," Meowth offered.


"Thanks," grinned Anion, stepping in front of the cocoon, ready to head on through.

[Median Dia]

Chroma gesticulated something along the lines of "if you can without scarring me". At least, that's what she intended to portray.

'Yeah, I can count on 'er, for sure.' Butternut shook his head. 'She's a good after-battle medic, at least...'


A sudden surge of air sucked Anion up into the tube at the cocoon's top, swiftly drawing her through before depositing her safely on the ground of the other side. Bell himself came through a few seconds later, after giving her what he believed to be enough time to regain her bearings.

[Missingno. Master]

"Well, dat's sometin'," Meowth nodded. "Excuse me a sec," he added, overhearing the humans' conversation. "I get da feelin' Keith's gonna be needin' my help here..."

Keith nodded. He then felt like facepalming, considering he just nodded wordlessly in response to someone whose face, eyes included, was obscured completely by String Shot. "Alright," he said in response. "Meowth's got us covered. He's had to cut String Shot off me many times since Stewie learned the move. Right, Meowth?"

"Dat's right," Meowth purred proudly in response, extending his claws. "Youse just leave dis ta me-owth." Keith held Meowth up in front of Chroma, and the Normal-type went to work, being very careful about how he proceeded to Cut the strings away, making certain to leave Chroma's face unharmed.


Before she knew it, Anion was swiftly transported to her destination. "Whoo!" the Minun cheered upon regaining her bearings. "That was FUN!"

[Median Dia]

Chroma stayed still as Meowth did his work, her breathing betraying her slight nervousness about the situation. Finally, the silk fell mostly free from her face, and she let out a slight gasp for air. "Phew! Thank you, Meowth!" She turned to her agitated pokemon. "It seems I owe you an apology, Butternut. It seems like you are telling the truth."

The pumkasaur huffed and turned to skulk away, not wishing to deal with his trainer at the moment.



'It is, isn't it?!' Bell excitedly agreed. 'I'm very glad that leavanny shared the plans with the internet!'

[Missingno. Master]

Once freed from the String Shot, Chroma apologized to Butternut, but it seemed as though the Pumpkasaur wasn't in the mood for it, as he turned with the intention of walking off. At this, Meowth jumped down, walking alongside the Grass/Poison-type.

"Believe you me, I gets it," Meowth said to the Pumpkasaur. "One time, I was pissed at Keith cuz he accused me o' doin' sometin' dat was Stewie's fault, not mine, and he wouldn't believe me. But... in dis case, yer Trainer learned da truth and apologized way sooner den mine did. Dat's gotta count fer sometin', right? At least she believes youse now."


"So am I," grinned Anion. "So, where's this Staryu at?"

[Median Dia]

Chroma watched the pair go with a bit of a sad smile. "He's a bit of a moody one, huh...?"



'...Yeah, but didn' have ta be so damn rude about it!' Butternut sighed. '...She didn' have ta laugh at me...'


Bell looked around, searching for the only brown pokemon in the building. 'Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe they're on that side of the house...?' He looked cautiously at one of the warp circles, not sure whether he could trust it or not.

[Missingno. Master]

"Seems like it, yeah," Keith nodded. "I'm sure you two will be fine, though," he added.

"Alright, yeah, dat was a bit harsh," Meowth conceded. "I'll tell ya, though, afta Keith apologized fer doubtin' me, he and I wound up trustin' each other a lot more, ya know? Now dat Chroma knows youse was tellin' da truth, maybe she'll be more likely ta believe youse in da future, which'll mean no more laughin' at youse."


"One way to find out, right?" Anion replied, already heading towards the warp panel Bell was eyeing up. "This one, right?"

[Median Dia]

The purple-haired girl nodded. "Yeah, I think so, too. I've survived putting up with Louise for so long, after all."


'...Maybe.' From the sound of it, he remained unconvinced. 'Dere ain't a way to tell now, dat's fer sure.'


'I... wouldn't know. Glimmer, Nadie, and I don't usually use them because so many lead to the other group's side.' Bell scuttled onto the circle, leaving plenty of room for Anion to join. 'I am a bit curious about it, though, so why not?' And with that, the scenery suddenly changed to a torch-lit room littered with similar circles strewn about. 'Is this a hub or something...?'

[Missingno. Master]

Louise reminds me of Myrtle a little bit," Keith remarked. "I kinda get what you mean. Myrtle's pretty difficult to get along with. To this day she still calls me Meat Sack, though now I'm pretty sure she means it as more of an affectionate term than as an insult like she used to."

"Yeah, yer right, dere ain't," Meowth agreed. "But dat's da risk ya gotta take. When Keith apologized ta me, I had to take a minute, tink about whether I could forgive him or not. I hated da though dat dis kinda ting could happen again. But deep down I knew dat da only way ta find out was ta take da risk, and to dis day, I ain't regretted it yet, and Keith and I are closer den ever."


"Whoa," Anion murmured, eyeing her new surroundings. "Looks pretty cool. Buncha warp panels everywhere, looks like. Only question is, which one goes where?"

[Median Dia]

"Meat Sack, huh?" Chroma failed at stiffing her chuckles. "Leave it to a banette to come up with something like that!" She thought to herself for a moment. "You know, I have no clue what Louise' name for me is, only that she has one..."


'You were accused 'cu of dat angry ladybug, do,' Butternut pointed out. 'Dere's no way dis could hold a candle to what he could do to ya!'

'I... I have no idea.' Bell seemed to be getting pretty overwhelmed as his mind rushed through multiple possible end points and what ifs. 'Maybe... we should just go out the door and start from there...?'

[Missingno. Master]

Keith chuckled as well. "Yeah, Myrtle's interesting like that. Drives me crazy half the time, but I wouldn't trade her for anything," he smiled.

"Well, wat happened was, Stewie had dis axe he used ta have," Meowth explained. "And while Keith weren't home, Stewie kinda destroyed da livin' room. I caught him in da act, chased him all ova da house, lost track o' him. I went back ta da livin' room, when I heard a sound, so I extended my claws- kind of a reflex, y'know? Anyways, dat sound was Keith comin' home. And he's seein' me, standing in da middle of all da destroyed and ripped furniture, wit my claws out, so it did look pretty bad. But irregardless o' dat, my point still stands," he stated. "Yer Trainer accused youse o' sometin', ended up bein' wrong, realized she was wrong, and apologized ta youse. Same ting wat happened wit me and Keith. And besides, Stewie ain't a Shadow Pokémon no more. Keith finally purified him afta dat big battle. He's actually a good guy now."


Anion shrugged. "Sounds cool to me. Lead the way, then."

[Median Dia]

"Is she the worst you've got now?" Chroma asked, meaning absolutely no offense.


'...Uh, dat's def'nitely no fun,' Butternut said simply. 'Maybe you do 'ave a point. ...I wouldn' say Stewie's a good guy 'til I see 'em again. Dere's plenty of bad guys dat aren't Shadow, right?'


'Got it!' He quickly scurried to the door and shoved it open, all to eager to get out of the hub room. This put him in a sort of tower, with another door in front of him and a spiral staircase's base to his right. 'So that's what the place looks like...'

[Missingno. Master]

"Good question," Keith chuckled. "My Shiny Beautifly... well, she's a lot better than she used to be, but back when I got her... you ever hear about the vampire of Cadaver Forest? That's her. I'm very glad she actually listens to me now. She's actually at the Hatchery along with my Dustox, bringing new life into the world, while hopefully not taking out any other lives in the process. And then there's Elliott, my Binacle- the two heads tend to get into arguments with each other a lot, they can be a real handful. Bad pun fully intended," he added with a chuckle.

"Yeah, ya ain't wrong," nodded Meowth. "Heatran weren't no Shadow Pokémon, dat's fer sure. But I wouldn't be sayin' dis about Stewie if I weren't sure fer myself," he added. "I'm sure yer gonna get ta meet him again someday, and yer gonna be pleasantly surprised by wat youse sees, I can promise youse dat."


"Oh, wow," Anion remarked, looking around. "Where's this staircase go?" she added.

[Median Dia]

"I'm not familiar with the name, but it does sort of explain itself," Chroma quipped up regarding Fatale's past alias. "Hopefully their child doesn't inherit her murderous tendencies." She purposely didn't mention that she had no idea what this supposed pun was, of course.


'Guess, I'll take yer word for it for now,' Butternut said with a small sigh. 'I just find it awfully hard ta believe...'


Bell decided to seize the moment and mess around a bit. 'Deeper into enemy territory, of course! They can't keep that star from us now!'

[Missingno. Master]

"Yeah, the story went that anyone who went into Cadaver Forest didn't make it out, or at least not alive," Keith replied. "Fatale lived in there for a good long time, living off the blood of intruders." He nodded emphatically as Chroma expressed a hope that the spawn of the vampire of Cadaver Forest was not nearly as murderous as the Beautifly herself. "I hope so too," he replied gravely. "I mean, with Severus as their father, I think there's reason for hope," he added fairly. "That Dustox of mine will be a good influence, for sure. Besides which, there's Eon- my Shiny Eevee. Her mother is Cyanide, my Umbreon, who has kind of a reputation for being disagreeable, to put it kindly. Eon, however? Cheerful and friendly. Very ambitious, though. She doesn't want to evolve- she wants to become better than any Eeveelution while staying the way she is."


"I know da feelin'," Meowth nodded. "Took me a few weeks before hearin' his voice stopped makin' me flinch."


Anion couldn't help but grin. "Then what the hell are we waiting for?" she responded, nearly going into a Quick Attack as she lunged for the stairs. "Race you to the top!"

[Median Dia]

"Well, that's certainly reason to hope!" Chroma agreed. "An eevee wishing to outdo the possibilities, huh? Ami mentioned there being such a way a while ago, so maybe she has a similar idea in mind."


'It is kinda annoyin', ain't it?' Butternut asked, referring to the Bug-type's voice. 'Well, he wasn't sayin' the nicest things last time, either, do.'


'Oh, it's on!' Anion may have had a classic technique at her disposal, but Bell wasn't without his time-cutting tricks himself. He rapidly climbed up the innermost wall of the tower and ran from there, reducing the amount of distance he needed to travel significantly.

[Missingno. Master]

"Really?" Keith replied with interest. "Did she go into any detail on what this way might be?"


"It gets less annoyin' when he ain't usin' da voice ta threaten youse," Meowth replied. "But anyways, gettin' back ta youse and Chroma- wat do you tink? Ya tink you can accept her apology? Sounded ta me like she meant it, if ya wants my opinion."


Anion grinned as she saw Bell slowly start to pass her. He might have gotten the inside track, but Anion hadn't gone all-out just yet. Now she really was going into a full-blown Quick Attack to climb the stairs. That said, if Bell was packing another trick of some sort, she wasn't sure how she could top this...

[Median Dia]

Chroma took a brief moment to dig up memory again. "...I believe she mentioned there being crystals keyed to specific pokemon, including eevee and some sort of flying Psychic raichu. Since I can't imagine an unevolved pokemon Mega Evolving, my guess is that it's related to those rings you both wear."


'I... I'll let it slide dis time,' Butternut answered hesitantly. 'But if she does sometin' like dat again, I'm gonna do more dan just tie up 'er face!'


They were pretty neck-to-possibly-a-neck(?) so far, though it wasn't hard to see that Anion could very well win again if this kept up. He had to do something, and he had to do it quick. He could try and hinder her, but... wouldn't that be cheating? Which meant his last chance would be at the last stretch, which could come at any time and prove too late to turn things around. 'Well, no point in crying if I lose,' he muttered as he looked hor the opportunity to strike.

[Missingno. Master]

"...So, a Z-Crystal that only works for Eevee?" Keith murmured, glancing at his Z-Ring. "That sounds pretty cool. I'd love to find something like that someday. Y'know, come to think of it, Luna did advise me that the first move I should teach Eon should be Last Resort," he added. "I mean, it's not a move I'd have thought to teach anything... maybe it's a move that would work with this Z-Crystal?" he speculated. "Luna never exactly got specific about why I should teach Eon that move... Oh, yeah, Luna's my Swoobat," he added, realizing Chroma would likely have no idea who he was talking about. "She occasionally gets premonitions of the future. It wouldn't be the first time she told me something based on a premonition she had. Like, one time she told me I should buy a Luxury Ball, without telling me who I was buying it for. That ended up being the ball I put Stewie in after I purified him and his Shadow Ball crumbled away."


"Dat's fair," Meowth nodded. "I told myself dat if Keith ever pulled sometin' like dis again, I'd walk right out again, never come back, and leave him with a Fury Swipes to da face. And sometin' tells me dat ain't eva gonna happen," he grinned.


Anion was intensely focused on how she was doing in the race, too much so to be able to keep an eye on what Bell might have been doing. At one point, she stopped her Quick Attack and had to start a new one to keep moving at her usual pace- would this provide Bell the opportunity he sought?

[Median Dia]

Chroma shrugged as Keith explained the situation with Eon's Last Resort. "Honestly, I wouldn't know about the specifics. I didn't really know what these crystals could do until you two started whaling on each other with 'em!" She didn't bother to hide her surprise when Keith revealed that the premonitions were coming from a swoobat, however. "Wait, really? They always struck me as being on the lower end of the Psychic power spectrum, but's that's a high-powered skill right there..."


'...Dat's a harsher declaration dan mine...' Butternut muttered. 'Not a bad idea, do...'


There! That moment of deceleration gave him just enough of a time window to fire a relatively short thread of silk at the opposite wall, stretch it out, and use the resulting elasticity to swing over to it at a higher speed. He did so again to get back onto the inner wall and double checked his current position compared to Anion. 'Ugh, there's too much of a curve on the outside one to get a better lead this way!'

[Missingno. Master]

"I knew a little about Z-Moves before I got this Z-Ring," Keith replied. "A friend of mine helped me fight off some Team Rocket grunts, and finished off their Pokémon by having his Oricorio pull off a Flying-type Z-Move. He's the one who helped me work out exactly how to make use of the Poisonium Z, too. In fact, maybe I could ask him if he knows anything about an Eevee Z-Crystal." He gave a small smile as Chroma expressed surprise at Luna's psychic abilities. "Well, Luna's always been pretty exceptional, even by Psychic-type standards," Keith replied. "I mean, she can't control when she gets her premonitions, or what they end up being in reference to, but she hasn't been wrong yet. Actually saved my life with a few of them, too."


"I guess I was still a little pissed when I thought dat," conceded Meowth.


Anion was unaware of Bell's attempts to take the lead. She stumbled at one point, and while she was quick to recover, it still cost her precious seconds.

[Median Dia]

"That's probably a good idea," Chroma agreed. "If you find anything out, feel free to let Ami know." She nodded as Keith explained Luna's prowess, a slightly relieved look on her face. "So she's a genuine prodigy? Certainly not a bad thing to be, I'd say!"


'I don' think I wanna see you mad, den...' Butternut admitted uncomfortably.


It wasn't long before Bell saw his chance- a door had come into view at the top of the stairs! He attempted his little trick one last time, aiming at the middle of the of the door frame- to shave off time, to not injure himself by slamming into the top stair in doing so, and to make sure Anion saw this time.

[Missingno. Master]

"I'll be sure to do that," Keith promised, before the subject turned to Luna. "I'd say so, yeah," he agreed. "Stewie and Ginny tend to spar against each other- even now that Stewie's purified, they still do that, it's just a lot more friendly- but back when Stewie was a Shadow Pokémon, it wasn't quite as friendly. One time, Luna randomly advised me to take two steps to the left. Just seconds after I did that, Stewie knocked Ginny out of the air and she flew right through where I had just been standing."


"Well, I don't tink yer gonna have ta worry about dat," Meowth reassured Butternut. "Takes a lot ta get me really mad like dat."


Anion finally noticed what Bell was doing, and more to the point, how it actually got the Dewpider to the top just a second before Anion. "Daaaamn!" she grinned, sounding impressed. "I have GOT to learn me how to use String Shot!"

[Median Dia]

"Oof, that was close!" Chroma exclaimed in agreement. "Ginny's a literally sharp one, too... As much as she didn't have much time to let you know in that situation, you make it sound like she's being deliberately cryptic. Is that right?"


'Tank da stars for dat...' Butternut suddenly paused as he realized what he just said. 'Argh, now dat starfish has me sayin' it!'


'I... really won?' Bell asked as he stopped to regain his breath. 'Oh, man... I thought I was gonna have to hand you another victory trophy... for a moment there!' He climbed off the wall, nodding at his friend's declaration. 'Yeah, it is definitely... a move I'd recommend...!'