Chapter 31: Connection to Heaven
In the end, my montuski only cost 15,000 SP, so it was apparently extremely expensive, but I'm sure that the academia who is able to afford a golden chandelier can afford to be blind towards such a low amount.
And if they can't…well maybe I should help them with their finance, because they clearly need it…maybe I could exchange this help with a bed for Pandora?
Also, I decided to keep wearing it right even after leaving the store, as I felt it way more comfortable than the uniform.
"Well now…what do we do?" Cynthia casually asked while leaving the store with a satisfied smile.
Faced with the fake sun once more, I had no choice but to raise my umbrella to block its rays.
"Personally…*waa* I'm starting to get hungry after skipping lunch." Mina said lazily, with her eye barely being kept open. Sincerely, I'm sure that if it wasn't for the fact that she seemed to have fun decorating me, she would already be lying on the floor to sleep on her new pillow.
By the way, I proposed to her to let Pandora carry it, the same way as he carried mine, by that I mean he simply put it under his costume, but she insisted on keeping it with her.
"Really?" Cynthia looked at Mina in stupor before bringing out her meltan to showcase the hour and realized that there was only one hour left before the banquet. "I didn't expect that we would be that focused on dressing Luciel." Despite the fact that she was right in front of her, she had difficulty accepting it.
"I…how?" Even Clair couldn't believe it as she watched her own meltan to confirm it, but the result was the same. "Sincerely? Why didn't we realize it?"`
AH! I know the answer of this question! It is because of the worst being in existence! Even worse than me!
"Because this Sun is a liar!" I aggressively pointed at the stone that served as the light bulb of this room. "It tricked us by not changing in intensity despite all the time we spend here!"
"Oh…right…however…that explains it." Allister nodded at my comment despite not understanding it fully.
Also, from the corner of Pandora's eye, I could see that Cynthia threw a quick look at Sabrina who didn't interact with us since the start. She was probably wondering why she didn't warn them, but from the look on her expression, it looked like she didn't care enough to order an explanation.
Well, I suppose we should get back to preparing for this banquet, I hope the food will at least be better than th…
Without finishing my thought, I immediately crossed my arms in front of my chest. Right after, Pandora's own tendril also covered me to stop the unwelcome arrival.
But whatever it was, it stopped immediately before kneeling in front of me and starting to kneel at my feet. "PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"
It's important to say that this interaction barely lasted less than a second, so my other friend barely had the time to even comprehend what happened. This is why the moment the information entered their brain, they were already facing the crazy individual at my feet…
Wait…she makes me think of someone…oh! I remember her! It's the fan-dependent girl.
…what is she doing here? Are there fans here?
"PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"
"What are you doing in front of an archon you insolent!" Clair was the first one to react to the situation as she tried to stand between me and the Iono.
But the moment there was even a tiny bit of distance between us, she lunged at my leg and grabbed it firmly. "PLEASE! All the other ones said it was impossible! You're my only hope! I will give you everything you want! Just please allow me to continue to create content for my fan!"
"AH! The audacity!" Clair exclaimed as she tried to remove her from my leg.
"NO!!!"
The second person to react to the situation was Bea, probably because she wasn't used to thinking a lot either. With her help, they were easily able to remove Iono from my leg, then Bea held her in a restraining hold.
But this also exposed her tear-jerked face as she tried her best to plead while moving her leg everywhere to move away. "Let me go! I can't beg if I can't get on my knee!"
But strangely, she suddenly calmed down and looked at Sabrina with an even more devasted expression, which led me to believe Sabrina talked directly to her. "What do you mean it's impossible!? I will tell you what is impossible, me surviving without being able to make my pokestream!"
"Pokestream? What is that?" Bea asked curiously, while still holding Iono tightly. But this simple question was enough to completely immobilize Iono as she started to look at the ground as if life just lost all of its meaning.
"My profession…it is already fading away from everyone's mind…my past doesn't exist anymore, I'm nothing more than a flying husk of a failure."
Noticing she wasn't stugguling anymore, Bea let her go, but instead of landing on her feet, she chose to just lay on the ground.
"Well, that was certainly…actually no, not the weirdest thing I've witnessed, but it's getting close." Cynthia said, still shocked by the event as she gazed at the pitiful body of Iono who slowly drowned herself in her own tears.
"So…what is a pokestreamer?" Bea asked once more.
"Oh, I think I've heard about it from some of the other students, apparently it's just someone who talks through a camera about something, and their worth depends on whether they are entertaining or not." Allister responded hesitantly, not fully understanding the subject either.
Iono raised her head filled with tears just to add to Allister's answer. "And what worth do I have if I cannot even attempt to be diverting?! Everyone will forget about me!" Once she was done, she slammed her head on the ground and continued to cry.
"Tch, this can't be that important to the point where you need to lunge yourself toward an Archon." Clair said with contempt.
"But what is stopping her then?" I was the one who asked this, and I realized that my common sense was lacking once more with the way everyone was looking at me with surprise.
"Oh right, you were born here, so you probably aren't as aware as us." Cynthia realized why I asked this question in the first place. "So to make it simple, it seems there is something that stops any signal happening on this island, including the electric signal, which is the main signal we use with our technology." Cynthia explained simply for me to understand.
"Officially, no one knows where this interruption came from, but it is simply impossible to communicate with the country outside of the radius of the disturbance." Clair added before taking a look at her wrist. "It's already surprising that these little pokemon can be used as a way of communicating on this island, but even they aren't able to connect to other electronical devices outside of the island."
I listened to the explanation with captivation, but everyone suddenly grew silent. As of now, I started to understand that when this happened, it was because Sabrina was talking, so I already looked toward Allister to receive the translation.
It seemed he understood the signal, as he told it to me right away. "She just said that even she has difficulty bringing her senses outside of the island and even maintaining them inside of it is harder than usual."
"Uuuuuh…why is there no way out? Is there really nothing I can do."
"Well you could start by developing a real hobby." Clair mocked, but she didn't expect Iono to just collapse after hearing her comment.
"…you're right, what even was I doing…none of the smiles I brought were real…I am not real…the only real thing about me is me being a lie."
Clair's eyes widened and she even tried to reach out to hear, but after a slight hesitation, she retracted her hand and scoffed at herself for even thinking of retracting her statement.
A quick look around me made me able to deduce that everyone felt a little awkward about Iono right now by how they were trying their best to divert their eye from her pitiful form. She wasn't even crying anymore, instead, she was just one step away from being considered dead. The last step is obviously her body refusing to die too.
I'm still at step two at least…maybe even three with Joy's operation.
Well, I'm also ready to say that very soon, Cynthia will try to divert the subject and slowly ignore Iono before walking away from the scene.
Of course I completely agree with this situation, whatever she's going through is not something any of us can deal with…well maybe Sabrina might know how, but she probably wouldn't care to put it in action.
…well I guess I could also try, I just need to find a way to diffuse my vision of her to someone else, cause that's how 'pokestreamer' works right? They need to be watched to be appreciated…well at least that tells me I have no hope in this profession.
No, it is not that simple, there must also be an electronic device…what is that actually? How am I supposed to contact something that I have no idea function?
Well, I suppose I just have to wait for her to lose every ambition, it should be easier to convince her after this…wait…
I glanced at my wrist before having an idea.
He can connect to other members of his race right? But it also said it could not reach the other pokemon of his species, but if I boosted him with my power, maybe I could pierce whatever barrier stopped him in the first place.
I could feel its skin starting to tremble around my hand, but I didn't care enough to stop, as I forced my senses upon him.
Immediately, my point of view completely changed to the one of meltan, but it didn't remove the one I shared with Pandora. To make it simple, I could see the world from two different perspectives.
With Pandora it was a better version of my ancient human vision, as it could see in a complete 360 degree, even if a large portion of it was blurred.
Meltan also shared this aspect, except that I could fully see everything surrounding me, even things beyond other objects, or even behind a wall. In fact, right now I could see everything happening inside the academy without any problem.
No, there were actually two problems, first was that I could no longer see any colour, I could only sense the shape of every object and even their inside, which allowed me to have a clear image of everything, but at the same time there wasn't a single colour associate to it, not even white or grey appeared in my vision.
But the worst problem of all, the one that will make me refuse to use his vision permanently was…
…that Pandora doesn't like when I share my sense with someone else.
I could already feel him being restless on my shoulder, as if he was ready to bounce off meltan at any moment to tear him apart.
So this is why I will try to keep it short, if I can't make my plan work, I will cut my sense on meltan.
There was something else worth mentioning with this new vision, that I could sense intuitively every meltan inside the island, as if I shared a deep kinship with them. It allowed me to notice that the meltan on our wrists was barely a fraction of the meltan inside the island, as the majority of them were actually directly inside the academy wall, constantly shaping it to look cleaner, or even repair itself when a single scratch happened to their skin.
This kinship gave me the impression that I could easily contact any of these meltan and also impose my sense upon them, but as they weren't my objective in the first place, I left them alone. Instead, I tried to sense other meltan outside of the island, but I wasn't able to sense any of these.
Well, I guess that was to be expected…well Iono will just have to get her dream crushed then…hmmm?
I stopped my thoughts when I realized there was supposed to be some interference outside of the island, yet I absolutely felt no resistance to my attempt to bypast it.
Well maybe the fact that I'm not able to find another connection may come from the interference in the first place, as I don't know what shape it will take.
Just to be sure, I put more of my sense onto my meltan just to be sure, which only made Pandora more angry, so It wasn't supposed to take a long ti…
…oh…
…there is a connection…and I recognize the aura of the person near it…
…I really don't want to connect to it…
…right, it not up to me to decide that…
…and I suppose I will have to snuggle Pandora a lot tonight to compensate him for sharing my vision.
Now let's see where this connection leads me too, and maybe I will be able to use it to help Iono and exchange it for her friendship.
***
"We…can we really eat all of that…dear sponsor…" Femmel asked Volo with saliva almost dropping out of her mouth as she was sitting right in front of a juicy piece of a miltank loin covered by a traditional sauce based on a combination of multiple berries.
But despite the sight of the first proper meal she had since a long time ago, she was still able to resist her urge so she could at least have the approbation of the one who allowed her to have it in the first place.
"Of course, please eat to your fill, I want my two future partners to have their belly full, or else how are you supposed to give your 100% in your project if you don't have the energy to sustain yourself." Volo responded calmly as he gestured toward her utensil.
This was enough for her as she immediately grabbed her fork and didn't even bother to cut it first as she immediately gulped down on the fake meat without an ounce of decorum.
Amanita immediately copied her as she started to devour her plate, with tears of joy slowly flowing out of her eyes.
"So good!" Both of them said at the same time, before chowing down on their food again.
The other client in the restaurant threw them some weird look, but they instinctively looked away when their eye barely grazed Volo.
Speaking of Volo, he was currently only looking at the girl eat with a calm smile, not even looking bothered by their lack of politeness. But even stranger was the lack of food in front of him, not even a single glass of water was resting on his side.
The scientists were also curious why he didn't have anything, but he simply used the excuse that he wasn't hungry because of the time shift he endured because of his travel here.
Finding his excuse logic, they didn't raise any more suggestions and ordered for themselves, as Volo promised to cover the price when he heard they were hungry. Of course, they didn't expect to be led to the most expensive restaurant in town, but he kept reassuring them that their price wasn't even something he considered an expense. Despite trying to sound reasonable at first, they couldn't resist the allure of the luxury offered by Volo, so they gave in and took the most expensive meal on the menu.
But suddenly, Volo's eyes grew cold as he instantly looked at his wrist with
Both girls noticed the sudden change in atmosphere, and they raised their heads to look at Volo, but the only thing that greeted them was the same calm smile as before.
"Sorry, but it seems I have to take a call, so I will have to leave you shortly, don't worry, I will be back soon." Volo said rapidly as he stood up from his seat before quickly leaving the restaurant while looking as collected as possible. The two researchers looked at each other in concern, but just continued to eat their meal, but with less enthusiasm than before.
The moment Volo left the establishment, he immediately disappeared from the view of everyone and appeared on top of a random building he found with a completely different expression on his face.
He was still looking calm, but this time there was not a single trace of kindness in his gaze, only an expressionless coldness.
Yet despite all of the animosity being directed toward a single being, one also known for their cowardice, the meltan didn't even flinch at the intensity.
This only confirmed Volo's guess that something was wrong with it, but he was still able to refrain from frowning, as any weakness shown is a weakness exploited. "Whoever you are, whoever is listening, be in the know that you have one second to answer my question, or else you will have two seconds to live. Who are you, how did you get in contact with my meltan and lastly, do you prefer to kill yourself or do you want me to do it myself?" Volo threw multiple questions, but he didn't expect any answer despite his threat, he only acted like that to make the intruder aware that he knew of his presence.
That was why Volo couldn't help himself to show surprise when his questions were actually answered. "I'mM'mI'iM'i Luciciciciciciciciciel…" A voice as emotionless as the one Volo used was thrown back at him, even if it was clearly affected by a robotic accent, however it soon corrected itself. "Nonon…no, alright…I think that is better…yes it is! My name is Luciel, and I was able to gain possession of this meltan with an extreme utilization of my cur…power….and I'm already dead, so you don't have to trouble yourself."
Volo's eyes widened for a short moment, clearly not expecting this respondent, but he immediately regained his confident smirk. "Well hello dear Bringer of Eclipse, to what I owe you the surprise of being called by you from overseas?"
"I didn't want to talk to you, I was trying to get a connection from outside the island, and your meltan seems to be the only one that mine possess a connection to outside of the Sanctuary.'
'Hmm, I see, he was able to bypass the disturbance by connecting his sense to his own meltan and he was able to connect to mine by using the same connection all of these pokemon share. Even more when the meltan in Kobukan were trained directly by Rose to share an ever deeper connection with each other, so as I'm the only one with my meltan outside of Danu, he detected me first. Simply fascinating…and problematic.'
Volo stayed silent while integrating the new information inside his brain before carefully choosing his next question. "How do you like the decoration?"
This time, Luciel didn't answer immediately, and despite not being able to see him, Volo understood that Luciel was confused by his question. "This is the first time you see another paysage than Danu, isn't it? So how do you feel?"
"…" Luciel finally understood the question, but despite being indeed the first time he got to look at another city far away from the Sanctuary, he didn't feel any excitation nor dread. But as he wanted to truthfully answer Volo's questions, he made sure to look deeply around.
The place where Volo was standing was in the wealthy district, so everyone who had the mean to live there were wearing expensive clothes and the buildings were all looking extremely beautiful. Of course it couldn't compare to the architecture of the academy, but it was vastly superior to the house he was used to in Danu. Yet, despite all that, only one word left Luciel's mouth.
"Sad."
"Good answer." Volo approved while throwing a look at those below him with an air of superiority. And of course he was superior, as he was the only one here who was able to truly smile, the rest were nothing more than mere cover to their misery.
"So, I don't think you just decided to contact me to talk to me, so what do you want?"
"I try to look for something called an electronic device to exchange it for someone's friendship."
"Hmm…oh, is it the electric esper?"
"…I think? I'm not sure, she didn't tell us."
"Well it doesn't matter, I can easily put a meltan inside somewhere you would be able to get access to the server." Volo responded casually as he eyed a particularly tall as he looked off in the distance.
"…in exchange for what?"
Volo's raised his eyebrow at the question, before smirking in happiness. "Can't you believe I'm ready to do it out of the pureness of my heart?"
"No." The answer was as dry cut as possible, but Volo only seemed more amused by it.
"Wise answer. But what I want from you will have to wait, so be patient"
"…will it hurt?"
Volo's voice turned cold. "You don't get to ask questions."
"…my apologies." After this, Luciel stayed silent, making Volo nod as he reached for his bag.
He brings out a huge piece of metal from it, before forcing it upon the meltan. It convulsed while it tried to absorb it, but he didn't react as he waited for the real effect to start.
Indeed, as after a short moment, the Meltan used the added mass to create ten more of his compatriots.
They all looked confused around them, until they gazed up to observe Volo in fear, but all of their emotions disappeared immediately after, being nothing more than puppet for Luciel.
"You got them connected to your sense?" Volo asked just to be sure.
All of the meltan turned toward him and they all bowed to signified that Luciel understood.
Satisfied with the answer, Volo made an up motion with his hand, making all of these pokemon float in front of him. "Armageddon, could you help me out?" He asked in the air with absolutely no one near him, but it was still heard as his togekiss suddenly appeared right beside him at extreme speed.
Volo didn't even react to this show of speed as he casually moved the meltan to surround his pokemon. "Guide them to the server of every region please." He asked calmly, until he noticed the naughty expression on the face of Armageddon. "Eh, sure, you can make their travel turbulent."
The confirmation only made the smirk on his face even bigger as he slowly retracted his wind.
At the same time, Volo was charging up his power inside his hand and waited for his pokemon to complete its own preparation.
Without any warning for Luciel, Volo sent all of the accumulated energy toward Armageddon who also deployed his wing at the same time, blowing off the meltan in ten different directions at speeds beyond the normality, and all of them were guided by a pink mist.
"WAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Well that's done, let get back to the two experiments." He casually said, completely ignoring the expressionless scream of fear from Luciel, surely from feeling himself flying so rapidly. He gently patted Armaggedon, who received it with a smile, before it regained the sky to play around.
'Hmm, wait, I forgot to tell him that he shouldn't reveal any information about the academy, as it is still a secret for the majority of the population.' But as he was about to speak, he stopped himself before smirking evilly. 'How dreary of me, I almost did something above my paycheck.'
***
"WAAAAAAAH" A small Meltan was hurling through the air at a subsonic speed while flying over the sea.
Some flying pokemon noticed this strange occurrence, but they only had the time to move out of the trajectory of the object that it had already gone far away in the sky.
As much as it was confusing, this information gradually left their brain as they focused back on their daily lives.
With the exception of the only person hovering over the sea. "What was that?" She asked in confusion as she looked behind her just to see a small gray point reduce in volume the more she observed it. "Was it a skamory? Well due to its size it was probably a baby one…but he seemed faster than usual…" She almost decided to stop her flight on the back of her mighty Flygon, before shaking her head and looking in front of her.
'Larry might appreciate it as a gift, but he is too busy to take care of another pokemon.'
With the distraction gone, she resumed her consulting of the legal document in front of her and recited it out loud to remember it well. "Luciel Solarium, 15 years old, the new Gloom Archon…blind because his eye was forcibly removed, sign of self-harm and physical abuse, severe trust issue, lack of common sense, severe traumatism caused by his father, no information about his mother, pragmatic nihilism..." The more she recited the details of her new client case, the more she grew desperate for a single good news in the file, but it never came. So like she did so many times before, she closed the file before opening it again in the hope the content would somewhat change.
Upon the tenth time she did so, she finally accepted the reality and sighed loudly, which caused her Flygon to look at her with concern.
"Ah…I understand why Geeta called in her favour for him." She rubbed her brow with her finger. "But why did she ask me to go on a deserted island then? Is that where the kid is from? Are they unable to make him leave…well I suppose that as an archon he has more than enough power to resist…but then why didn't he resist all of this abuse?"
"…well I suppose it my job to find out isn't it?" With a last sigh, she folded the file inside her backpack and leaned even more on the back of her Flygon, who perceived it as a signal to go even faster.