faceoff

The party of four ascended Megalo Tower, the angry mother and father dragging their respective comrades behind them. Already, they could see the brightness at the top, indicating where the beast made of crystal had gone with their children.

The light reflected determination in the mother’s eyes as she stormed up the stairs. She was angry that all of this had happened to her daughter. And just as well, she knew what she had felt when that creature had come forth from the wormhole. She felt deep in her bones that what had stolen their children was a dragon, and dragon taming was her specialty.

The blue people had promised an unstoppable monster, to be sure, but the father knew better. Nothing was unstoppable. If it were, that mafia man would rule the world by now, and he had put a stop to that long ago. Whatever dreadful beast awaited them, he would bring it to its knees and sooner die than see his son be harmed by it.

The creature that waited for them at the very top of the tower was much smaller than the being that had stolen away their children. It didn’t stand much taller than their waist, and it was curled into a dark, black mass of crystal, unmoving and still. Its four wings looked underdeveloped and small, and it was barely strong enough to stand on its own.

“What...”

“Look at it… it’s a juvenile. Small wings, and soft scales, and look at how small it is...”

“Is that what has our children?”

“It doesn’t look like what took them at all...”

The creature nudged at the black mass of crystal and cried softly. It spurred the woman to step forward. She could barely even see it through her sunglasses, it glowed so brightly, but she knew these signs. The signs of a baby whose parent had been killed, who was left lost and confused. The man beside her wasn’t as familiar, but followed her anyway, as it seemed clear what had happened.

It turned to stare at them, and flinched as if to flee from these strange and scary creatures. But as it caught the two of them in the eyes, it settled. These were not its own memories, the images of these two humans that entered its mind. These were the memories of the little bat and the little cub that its mother had brought it. They had merged without any control, and for the first time it felt dead. But now mama wasn’t moving.

But these two… the bat and cub knew that they were mama and daddy. It was all they knew, besides the fear of getting taken away.

She stared it in the eyes for what felt like hours condensed into a minute or two. Suddenly, the scene that had been forced into her brain when the wormhole was forced open entered her mind. The pain of childbirth, and the rumbling of the ground as the world literally broke apart. Being the last two people on the planet as that man had left the universe with them, for it was the only way they would live on.

She remembered the song she had sung to them, just before they had to go. Just before the world faded away. Just before she died.

Those same images, the gentleman’s mind occupied as well. Speaking with another world’s version of his father about the fate of the children he had sired with this woman. This woman, who he had only met a short time ago, and he, had apparently made these two beautiful children right as the world fell apart. He heard her sing to them and try to keep herself from crying in front of them.

She knelt in front of the tiny Necrozma, and cleared her throat, still looking it in the eyes. She knew what she had to do.

She knew she had to finish the song she started.

“… Mars ain’t the kind of place, to raise your kids… in fact, it’s cold as hell… And there’s no one there, to raise them… if you did...”

Slowly, it began to approach her, as the gentleman knelt down in turn. Even in its strange eyes, there was a mist that was unmistakable. It mirrored the look in their eyes, all the pain and the sadness.

He began the next line before she could begin, surprising her.

“And all this science, I don’t understand… it’s just my job, five days a week… As a rocket maaaan, rocket man...”

It pressed into them, and they could feel it tremble. It wasn’t more than a scared baby itself, who had just lost its own mother. They both looked at each other, and brought it into their arms, continuing into the last verse together.

“And I think it’s gonna be a long long time, till touchdown brings me round again to find... I’m not the man they think I am at home, oh no no no… I’m a rocket man…. Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone...”

The bright light died down, gradually. Soon, in their arms they held a small batling swaddled in her own wings, and a cub who curled up loosely in his father’s arms.

And a third joined them now, a whimpering mass of crystal, who had found a new home.