Author's Note: This post exists purely as a What If? scenario. I'm not making another timeline, I swear.
It is the year 2011. Zoofights 6 has come to an end with a victory by the colossal Slay Serpent over the last of its rivals, Vighneshvara, The Lord of Obstacles. The monstrous serpent now bearing the crown was once a mysterious creature known in certain Zoological circles as a "Gyarados" before it was somehow acquired by surgeoneers and turned into even more of an abominable killing machine. Rumor has it creatures like the Gyarados are used in similar tournaments across the globe, like the World Creature Wars, but nobody of decent standing would admit to attending a second-rate animal death battle to confirm. Although the tournament has ended, the myriad attendees hanging out in the King of Beasts bar have already begun forming the loose associations that will one day be known as the Kobbers. If they stick to the timeline, they will remain in this city for another year before departing with Zoofights Corporation to another world to celebrate two years of the Star Festival. They will occasionally venture off-world during the next year for events, but the concerns of Earth itself outside of their city are minor.
I have three, maybe three-and-a-half, years to prepare. I can only hope they take the so-called Monster Master with them. He is the source of my madness and pain, and I will only have one chance to defeat him before the Kobbers have access to the wealth and technology of massive entities. Once they are joined by entities like Hoshii Holdings and Par Seas, I will not be able to match them, even with my own knowledge and power. I am unaccustomed to acting so quickly and recklessly, but my records show that the Time Spirit is already among their ranks and would act against me if I tried to give myself more time. Never mind that this is wrong. This is ALL WRONG.
...I will need to summon help to my side. I do not even know if my old friend still exists as a free entity. And even if they are, will I be able to convince them to aid me? At the far reaches of my senses, I know that remnants of the world that was still exist. I am not without allies but I am unable to seek them out while building up the power I need to reclaim my reality. Three years...one-thousand ninety-five...no...ninety-six days with a leap year. It is not enough, but I need to MAKE it enough.
~
On a more magical world, history might have been more different. Agama and Glasetera remain the magical centers of the world with pockets scattered across the globe. I would have preferred reestablishing myself in Whalestrand again, but aside from a stop in South America to loot a useful artifact and a visit to the Green Hell Zone in Olympia I cannot afford to linger in those places; my enemy will have too many allies if I wait any longer. Co-opting the Big Mountain from this Brotherhood of Steel and...Tempering them into my agents if sufficient for now; their hunger for technology is something I can feed in exchange for their services. They are not my cat or my crow, but they will do for now.
~
News from Porphyrion trickles back to Earth, but what I am able to get ahold of suggests the Monster Master does not fail to impress the locals it seems, him and his ward and his dragon. There is no Kobber Blogger for me to scour for information on everyone associated with the group yet. Not for another couple of years. With the help of my Brotherhood though, I have established the first step of my plan: the hotel which became the King of Beasts. Will become it. It is not my Library, but it feels...comforting...to have structure again. I think I will celebrate by reading a book. I wonder if Miyoi exists...but I cannot afford a trip to Whalestrand, not even with a year ahead of me still. I have studied the ripples in history as best I can; Kobbers who come from off-world are largely the same, such as Sine X. Cosine and Zeldoten Renstim, but those native to Earth...well...Viola Nightshade cannot become a champion this time.
~
They're here...they are here. I leave the majority of interactions with the Kobbers to Attwater and the staff I have hired to attend to their needs. The hotel is almost ready for my final purpose for it; anything can be handwaved as construction or maintenance. Within these walls, they feel invincible. They ARE invincible; I will let no harm come to them as long as they are my guests, that will never change. I rarely interact with them; I have no needs. The walls are my eyes and ears. I gather information. I study them, I observe them, I listen and watch and plan. The faces are largely the same, but some of them do not match what I know. Some are new, some are missing. Time's ripples spread gently.
~
It is surprising what things can change without relation to the changes in history. Interdimensional threats that attacked the original world cannot come here. Outside forces that cannot apply here because they went to another timeline. I could spend an eternity observing and trying to predict what else would change, but I have a schedule to keep. My Brotherhood has finally succeeded though, finally brought me the agents I need to change the world. All locked away in their little red and white balls. The only ones in this world. As expected, they join me.
~
Disgusting. This world already exists to feed into his fantasies, but he hungers always for more. The Monster Master has been named the sixth Big Bar Brawl champion, him and his dragon. So humble as he stood back and let his beast slay Undyne the Undying, sent monster after monster into meat grinders so he could stand in front of a crowd and be cheered. At least that sham provided me with the perfect opportunity to continue my plans. Nobody was watching as I contacted the agents of those I need to sway, Ringabel and Tut-Tut. Naturally, they do not accept what I say at face value, but I have told them enough to go back to their superiors and to confirm the truth of my words.
~
Soon, I will have my justice. Soon, I will right the wrong he has done...him and his overgrown clover. I feel sorry for the girl at his side; his ego just would not let Margit go even in his own world, could it? Soon, everything will be in place for my justice...my revenge. The time has come to begin drawing attention to myself, and so I send out my agents armed with relics of the old world. The Monster Master will see them and know that his doom approaches, that his lies will be torn down and exposed for the monster he is. There is something poetic to creating Team Rocket in my own image.
"To protect the world from devastation" indeed.
My false Rockets and their Pokemon golems - not Golems - have battled the Kobbers thrice now, making a show of throwing out Poke Balls so anyone can see them in use. Certainly, I have only armed them with false Rattatas and other Team Rocket staples, but I can see it in his eyes every time he returns to the bar afterwards. His belief is shaking; even the dragon can't keep him placated. The rumor mill is abuzz that someone else has learned to tame the monsters, the one thing that makes him special in this world is at risk. Good.
~
The end is approaching swiftly. The Cult of Yursarsh has been banished. The Council Of Thirteen has been defeated. Blood Bowl has been played. Spectrum has been reassembled. Now Halloween is approaching and my staff has been preparing accordingly. Both my staffs. One prepares the hotel for a large festival while the other prepares for my final gambit, my one chance to save...everything. My ritual is in place and the Brotherhood has located my secret weapons. I have all that I need to fight my ultimate battle. I have assembled my allies, prepared the hotel, and steeled my resolve. All there is left to do is light up the night and bring about the end of his world.
Tonight is the night. All of my planning and scheming and learning is coming to a head. The ritual to restore my world has begun. The night sky now burns a bright purple as lightning streaks about in every direction. It would be beautiful were I not aware of the panic and terror the average citizen must be feeling right now. Bolts of energy howl my otherwise-unspoken rage and fear as I continue to work, my eye occasionally darting towards the idol in the center of my elaborately-designed roof, a pattern I personally installed ages ago to serve as a conduit for dimensional energies. My allies are in position, my minions instructed to inconvenience the approaching Kobbers, not harry or harass them, not obstruct them with force or deception. I can feel them taking the stairs up, wisely not choosing to trust the elevators. I would not either were I in their shoes.
All proceeds as I have...hoped. Saying I foresaw this would be arrogant. HE and the dragon are first in line. The girl is part of the crowd, heroes and warriors eager to strike down one last challenge to save their city. There is murmuring, confusion about why their hostess would be doing something like this. To them - even that man - I was nothing but a matronly woman dedicated to running her hotel with perhaps too much intensity and too little diversion. Now, I am a sudden sorceress threatening to shake the foundations of reality. Which...no, I am not a sorceress, but otherwise it is an accurate assumption.
For every bit eager I am to see this through to its conclusion, I am equal parts fearful. Part of the ritual is new ground for me, a magic I could not test without alerting the more magically-inclined of the assembly a chance to learn what I was doing and anticipate or even counter it. It SHOULD work as intended...if I am able to deploy it before any of them...especially the dragon...realize what is happening. I must bend the laws of the universe itself to stand a chance; I am on his territory and I know it. I have put all of my resources into this because no matter what I do there is no second chance at success. Escape is pointless. I must succeed. I must BELIEVE I can succeed...I WILL succeed.
The moment they step onto my roof and begin drawing weapons for battle, I trigger my ritual. My lightning above flashes and thunder shakes everything from Heaven to Hell for a moment, a grand and glorious distraction to mask what has happened. Even the dragon has not noticed yet. A short speech to greet them as I turn, looking at all of their faces, recalling everything I knew then and know now about them, fortunate that Ingrid does not exist here, a potential wrinkle in my plans. Some of them get emotional, others shrug; what one Kobber sees as a betrayal, another sees as another day of excitement. I look him in the eye as I finish my greeting, using one last flourish of magic to cast off my glamour and expose my true self, the metallic giant rising up behind a lavendar-haired woman.
Delilah Alexandria stands before them, the Primal Alexander rising proudly like a monolith to war. The moment intensifies for a moment before someone steps forward, seeking answers, trying a desperate parley before they are forced to destroy a benefactor. I smile, raise my scepter, and...the lightning stops. The storm subsides, no longer need to mask my ritual. I am prepared to talk, always was prepared for it.
So I tell my tale, about how I was summoned to Earth, was made to build Szilard's Engine, enslaved to make it function, and the tale of how it was finally used, to take the world I had known for centuries and to change it to suit one man's mood, to rip and tear and mangle history until it was a shadow of what it once was. I look at that man...their 'champion'...and curse his name.
Vyglass Szilard and his pet, Clovenix. The destroyers of my timeline, who removed the sacred bond that had formed between man and monsters - Pokemon - so that he would be revered for his ability to control them in the present, to force them to remain unknown and unwelcomed by humans, to suffer as humanity's adversaries instead of their partners.
My statements are met with more mixed reactions. Some Kobbers vehemently deny that Vyglass could be wicked, some shrug and don't care or ask who Vyglass is, others...have a more mixed response. Some look to be on the verge of defending Vyglass and Clovenix only to pause, as if they suddenly remembered something. Perhaps he'd been rude and at the time they'd shrugged it off, but couldn't now. Vyglass himself begins to sweat nervously, quietly beseeching Clovenix to act. But the dragon can't act...not here, not on MY turf.
The next stage of my plan takes effect as, from unseen corners - I had to include some for dramatic effect naturally - came my allies. Tut-Tut of the Time Spirit Jumpropeman's organization, Ringabel from the Planeswarden group, and...a rotund skeleton by the name of Sans. Three Kobbers coming calmly to my side, each taking a turn to explain how their organizations confirmed the information I had brought to them some time ago, confirming that this timeline was inherently...malformed. Not everyone is convinced of what was presented, but enough are. Weapons lower, magic is dismissed. Those hungry for action begin to leave while those interested in learning the truth remain behind, starting to question their own memories.
Vyglass is on the verge of panic. He is on the verge of knowing...Clovenix knows. As discussions intensify, the man and his dragon begin heading to the exit as well...only for the girl, a younger Margit than the one I knew, blocks his path, looking at him inquisitively, angrily. Others gather. Demands for answers are starting to emerge. I smirk and step forward, prepared to enact the final phase of my plan. I reach towards the small of my back, where my final weapons lay, and I speak, my words cutting through the din.
"If you are so sure of yourself, then show me your resolve, show me how strongly you believe me to be wrong."
I hold up the red-and-white sphere. His eye's widen and his face reddens at the sight of the PokeBall.
"Monster Master Vyglass, I challenge you to a POKEMON BATTLE! You DO remember how those go, do you not? Six versus six. Assuming you actually have that many."
Eyes widen as people realize that I have been behind the strange encounters, that I too have the power that Vyglass possesses, to command the powers of beasts. This is not MY power though. The Kobbers discuss amongst themselves what sorts of powerful beasts I might have, having seen Vyglass only using legends like Regigigas and Arceus in battle, the 'master' having only brought what raw power his limited imagination could muster. I throw the ball, it pops opens to unleash...
Apollo the Clobbopus. The scrappy little octopus barely two feet tall throws a few punches as all eyes turn towards Vyglass. He swallows and calls for the great beast Palkia...but nothing shows up. His creatures are supposed to show up in dramatic bursts of lightning and disappear into shadows, but nothing appears this time. No matter how much Clovenix strains itself to make Vyglass' will happen, Apollo remains the sole combatant. More murmurs as I cross my arms. My trap has been sprung successfully, to my immense relief. I cannot let that show as I wait another moment as he tries calling forth Dialga, Groudon, something called Arkhaos, and others before I finally reveal the truth.
The roof of the hotel is MY world. I spent years literally building the magic of this hotel into a focal point of my own will, not to twist time and space but to unbend it, to correct the fault Vyglass had gotten Clovenix to make. Here on the root of the hotel, we were no longer in Vyglass' world. Here in my domain, Clovenix could no longer enforce Vyglass' desires for powerful Pokemon and worship from everyone around him happen. The laws of his Memetic Reality were cast aside and a more-natural order allowed to prevail. Apollo beckoned towards Clovenix, ready for a fight. My small friend was right; this battle was our only chance to set things right, our one opportunity to prevail and time was running out, my magic unable to sustain this pocket dimension indefinitely even with the Faith I had coerced from the Brotherhood.
Vyglass finally does the unthinkable and sent Clovenix into battle against a fresh opponent, unable to send conjured shadows of imaginary strength to soften his opponents up. The battle is not quick, nor is it painless. Clovenix has gotten stronger since we were made to use Szilard's Engine while Apollo's greatest advantage was a bond that yearned to be healed, obeying my commands and heeding my warnings as best he can while Vyglass shouted empty commands in his signature useless style. We started fighting this battle months ago though. We started building this hotel and preparing this ritual before the Kobbers even returned to Earth. We found ways to undermine Vyglass' confidence with subtle reminders that this wasn't how the world was, sent reminders of what he took from us time and time again with big red R's plastered on their chests. Vyglass wanted to forget a world where he wasn't important, but Apollo fought to remember a world that was important to him.
Clovenix is driven back, battered and beaten and broken. Without control over reality, Vyglass is forced into a fair fight. Except...I'm tired of fighting fair and unleash the rest of my weapons. Ursula, Trigger, Helix, Dee, Bocceli, and Harley emerge from their PokeBalls and join in the battle. The man begins to protest that I'm cheating. I ask how I can cheat when he removed all the rules. Clovenix is swiftly brought to its knees by Team Margit's wrath, the battle ended with a massive MAGMA MASHER that drops Clovenix like a rock. The Planeswardens move to detain Vyglass and contain Clovenix as the Time Spector appears, scolding the two of them for interfering with the sanctity of the Brawl. Its power contained, Clovenix's influence on the fabric of reality begins to unravel and withdraw. It is a subtle change but felt instantly. Vyglass' friends turn on him, his critics denounce what he has done, but then...they turn towards me as I continue my ritual.
Why continue? Vyglass and Clovenix are defeated, correct? Yes, but that does not revive my own world. The ritual continues so I can make things right. The atmosphere grows tense again as the big question is asked.
What will happen to this world? If it was made from the fabric of another reality, it will disappear, will it not? Was I truly so callous that I would destroy all of them to bring mine back? They would fight to defend their reality, for there was literally nothing for them to lose.
I am furious. I have suffered grief and anguish and perhaps even madness since I awoke in this timeline. I have lost my friends and my family to Vyglass' actions. I have devoted years to this singular moment and considered it in so much detail it would take a small age to regale even a fraction of it.
I am no monster though. I will not sacrifice all of these people for my own selfishness. I do not need to, for I am the Library of Alexandria, a bastion of knowledge and a source of unlimited wisdom and cleverness. Unlike Vyglass, I see beyond my own selfish desires - not that I do not have those - and prepared for this moment, unveiling the centerpiece of my ritual, the one thing that will be able to bring about the best ending for everyone.
The Twin Statue. Its power could split one being into two. With the magic at my disposal and the powers loaned to me by the Planeswarden and the Time Spirit, I could expand its powers on a universal scale. There would be no need for one universe or another to sacrifice itself so that another could continue, not when a miracle worthy of Gensokyo's finest was on hand. I bare my heart and soul unto the Kobbers, an appeal to their good nature, an appeal to their own desire to see miracles happen. Someone steps forward...and offers to help.
"Thank you."
Two humble words are all I can offer lest a wellspring of emotion overtake me, my own hope allowing itself to emerge as more and more Kobbers step forward to provide their own power, their own magic, their own miracles to making my dreams come true. Truly a moment worthy of a Heart Star, in my own opinion, but this world will not need Heart Stars. We all come together doing what we can, young Margit taking an interest in the creatures that seem to know her, a bond she doesn't understand providing the last push to opening a door between worlds.
And in the next moment, I know everything will be okay.
The split is subtle, but it exists. I can see it. I can feel it. I can feel THEM. My home. My friends. My children. I can feel my world once again and I nearly fall to my knees if not for a strong hand reaching forward to steady me. I look up.
Garvan and Macka look back down at me. My smart aleck cat makes a joke about losing track of me while my helpful crow asks who my new friends are. I compose myself and nod, making introductions between my assistants and the guests of my hotel. The night sky shines on, unaware of what has happened. Truly, most of this galaxy has no idea that Vyglass made a universe that revolved around him and maybe never would, except outside of Kobber Blogger gossip. Earth though would know, would learn what did and did not happen because of his greed, and now that he was in Planeswarden custody, cut off from Clovenix's power, it could begin to mend the rift he had forced open to put himself in.
My reverie is broken as Garvan and Macka ask if we're going home. Not yet, I tell them. They're just in time though to help me complete my work in this reality. My ritual is complete, but there's one more thing I need to do before I can return to Whalestrand...MY Whalestrand.
I am still the proprietress of this King of Beasts and it is still October. The Kobber season is not yet over.
Not until we have thrown the greatest Halloween party this world has ever seen.
