A droning sound like a million insect wings all beating at once, or a million voices all crying out. It was neither harmonious nor discordant.
Poppy’s body seemed to vibrate, pervaded by an electric, tingling sensation. She grew numb to everything but pain.
While the pain elsewhere had begun to subside, the ache in Poppy’s head only grew more intense. It didn’t matter how hard she shut her eyes; the light may as well have been inside her skull. Her eyes were tearing up—she thought? It was hard to tell.
The ache in her head spread down to her neck, then out to the rest of her body. It drowned out any other sensation. Poppy tried to move her limbs, but felt nothing. Tried to open her eyes again, but nothing changed. Tried to contact Ann, but heard no response.
The droning was so loud, the light so bright… Poppy almost wanted to return to the surface, to just bleed to death in peace. She tried to remember the warmth of the sun but found she was no longer able. She couldn’t remember what anything felt like, anymore.
For a long time there was nothing but pain, noise, and unbearable light. Just let me die, Poppy thought. Ann, if you can’t get me out… Please…
Gradually, the space between Poppy’s thoughts grew, like a fading heartbeat. Stretches of oblivion. The pain, the noise, the light, all merged into a single sensation. And over time, in the same way that she had grown numb to her own body, Poppy grew numb to that sensation, too. She perceived neither light nor darkness, neither silence nor noise. It was empty.
Po , c n y t f r ?
Poppy was roused by a voice in her head, and she mentally winced as she became conscious of the light again. Ann? Is that… you?
Y s. I n ed you t pu l yo r v ne for me.
To… Pull my… vine? Poppy tried to move, and felt nothing. I can’t. I don’t under—
No, you j st did i ! Again! Ju t try!
O-okay… Though it seemed fruitless, Poppy tried again to pull, and lost consciousness a few seconds later.
C me on P ppy! D n’t give up!
Poppy wanted nothing more than to do just that, to fall asleep to all this overwhelming stimulus. But she mustered her will and tried again, with Ann cheering her on all the while.
Yes! y can do t, P ppy!
It was only after what seemed like minutes that Poppy began to notice any change. The noise and light began to fade, and she felt her body again—it was like blood flowing back into her limbs. The rush of the wind slowly returned, but this time, she wasn’t falling—she was rising. Pulling herself up.
Poppy soared above the mouth of the crater, and for a moment, she seemed to hang in the air. The treetops looked soft, almost cloud-like from above, leaves trembling in the breeze as though with anticipation. Poppy’s body tingled as though charged with electricity, and for a moment, as she looked out to the clear horizon, she felt like a kid again, ready to romp around in the grass and play with endless exuberance. She turned her gaze to Thorn and Xerneas and all the other pokemon who were turning in shock to face her. From this height they seemed as small as insects.
Poppy felt no pain when she hit the ground in front of Thorn. The lucario put his hands out in front of him in a gesture of surrender and backed away, the aura sensors on his head rising as he did. The spectators gasped.
Y u are so luc y, sighed Ann, not even trying to keep the relief out of its voice.
Poppy grinned. Glad to be back, she thought. Though you’re still a little hard to hear.
It t ok all I had to ke p you from evapo ating. I c n b rely talk to you r ght now.
Then in that case…
You’r running off the p net’s energ , in essence. But… It’s onl tempor ry.
Poppy’s face fell, and her blood ran cold. She didn’t want to believe it, but the truth was that she could already feel her vibrant energy beginning to yield to exhaustion like sunset to cold dusk. She didn’t have long, she thought—seconds, at best. Can I just kill the elites? How powerful are the other—
N t as str ng as you, but t o stro g f r X rnea to fend o f. I’m s rry, Poppy. We c n’t be selective th s time.
…I see. She looked back up at the baffled Thorn. So be it, then.
Poppy’s vine pierced Thorn’s heart and retracted in the beat of a hummingbird’s wing. The other elites came next, the lairon’s steel armor crumpling as easily as gossamer. She rushed toward the spectators before Thorn’s body had even started to fall, and lashed out. Her vines bisected her targets as if they were made of sand, splattering blood onto the grass. Blissey, illumise, miltank, beautifly, sylveon, oshawott, aromatisse, volbeat. She turned and found five more to strike. Dustox, sandslash, zoroark, espeon, delphox. So far, no one had had the chance to react, and it helped that Poppy was determined not to give herself time to watch her victims die. Already her limbs were beginning to ache, as though cramping, and flecks of black swam at edge of her vision. She rushed to the next group of pokemon.
Lopunny, breloom, infernape, drifblim. Gardevoir, hatterene. Zangoose, drapion, kricketune, audino, krokorok, togekiss. Poppy’s heart was racing now, straining to meet her demands. Her vision began to narrow, but instead of giving in to the urge to stop and rest, she whipped her head around and honed in on the last group. They had finally realized what was happening but only had enough time to express their shock as Poppy sprinted to them.
Swampert, conkeldurr, armaldo. Luxray, sableye, torkoal, goodra… lurantis.
Poppy turned her head to look away from the carnage, only to lock eyes with Lavender. The delcatty was frozen—not even so much as a twitch from her tail.
Poppy glanced away, staggering. Her legs were shaking now, and her hearing was beginning to fade. The sound of nature around her—the wind and cicadas and panicked birds—grew muffled by an ever-loudening white noise, like blood rushing through her head. Even if I can muster the strength, I will not hurt her. I will not stoop that low. I will not stoop that low…
Poppy closed her eyes and hit the ground.