Chapter 32: The Shiniest Lightbulb
…being thrown in the air at such speed wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought, just painful…
However, if possible…I would like to not be thrown away again like this again…or at the very least I would hope they give me time to prepare next time…
However, it seem Volo didn't lie to me, as he did send every meltan to a place where I could detect multiple electrical connections.
…now what?
…I guess I should ask Iono.
I put my attention into Pandora's vision, expecting to see Pandora in a bad mood, but instead I only saw…Mina?
…why is Pandora so close to her? It's like he is in her arms…wait! He is! Is accepted to be held by someone else!?
And why is she moving her hand near…oh no! She's petting Pandora! Why is he letting her pat him? Wasn't I the only one allowed to do that?
"Kyu, miku mymi! (Eh, so much better than my cheating friend!)"
Oh…I spent too much connecting with meltan didn't I? Now he's getting petty.
Happily for me, Mina stopped her petting and looked toward me, and despite not having moved once since I came back to my senses, she was still able to notice that I was there. "Ah, you're awake now." Without even considering Pandora's feelings, she put him back on my shoulder.
Without much surprise, he seemed dissatisfied with my presence, but just a single pat from me made him more docile.
I'm sorry Pandora…but I wanted to make another friend…
"Hyu…kyu…mu, mimi! (Hrm…I want two poképuff…no, two malassada!)
…you can have as many as you want Pandora…but I can try my best to collect as many as desire…it shouldn't be too painful to gather them either.
"…ki… (…if you don't mind…).
I never will.
Also, I will have to connect to this meltan again…so please be patient, and I promise I will add a one-hour patting session tonight.
"…mi. (You're lucky I love you.)
Thank you, Pandora, I promise I will try to not make it too long.
I promised as I petted his head, and even if he tried to act as if he didn't care, I knew he liked it a lot.
After this was resolved, I looked back in front of me, and noticed that only Mina and Sabrina stayed near me, the other were all gone…well, I guess Iono was still crying on the floor, but she wasn't in the original group, so I didn't count her.
"If you're wondering where the other is, well they had to leave otherwise they will be late for the banquet, but no matter what we tried, you didn't move, so me and Sabrina decided to wait for you to wake up…not like I care about being late either, nor does she actually." She said while gazing at Sabrina who showed no change in expression from being mentioned.
But it seems I made them worried about me…I'm such a failure…
"Oh right, don't worry about sleeping while standing, It's also happens that I'm too tired so I just sleep. It's not the most comfortable, but sometimes you just can't resist, so don't worry about it." She threw me a thumb up, but I shook my head.
Mina leaned her head to the side in confusion, so I explained to her the reason for my action. "I wasn't sleeping, I was trying to see if I could reach any signal outside of the Sanctuary to help her."
I pointed at Iono who slowly raised her head with eyes filled with hope, but they soon got extinguished by sadness. "It's fine…I know there is no way for me to talk to my fan…"
"Oh no, I was able to have a connection actually." My answer shocked Sabrina so much that she finally changed expression and looked at me with widened eyes.
But I didn't have the chance to look more at it as Iono appeared right in front of my face. "Really!?" From so close, I was almost able to see the star inside her eye, and I knew that if I didn't nod immediately, their a high chance she would just crumble. "Yes I did."
What I didn't expect was for her to lunge at me right after I confirmed my success.
I really didn't expect her to be mad enough to harm me, I really thought she would be happy instead…no, success is rarely rewarded with joy…Maybe I got a little too comfortable here and forgot about it.
Well, I should just endure it for now…not like it seems there is a lot to endure, it's like she's not even bothering to hurt me…am I such a disgrace?
She also doesn't use the right words to make me feel even worse, so maybe I'm really just that bad. "Thanksyouthanksyouthanksyou!"
…wait…is she actually not trying to hurt me?
…then why is she holding me like that?
I looked again just the be sure, and she was grabbing my side while snuggling my hair with her head…what kind of aggression is that?
Is that her first time trying to harm someone? Because she's really bad at it.
"Wasn't there an interference between the island and the other nation? How did you get past it?" Mina asked, ignoring the failed attack of the pokestreamer.
As I was about to answer, Iono interrupted me. "It doesn't matter how! The only thing that matters is that I will be able to make my stream again! And as I was the only one who persevered enough to find a way to communicate outside, I will also be the first one to film and publish a stream of the most prestigious academy ever!" She said almost maniacally.
"Well no, Luciel said that he can connect to the outside world, not that he will use it to help you." Mina mentioned tiredly.
Iono rapidly turned around and looked in horror at Mina, before looking at me with the same expression. "You wouldn't right? You wouldn't show me the gate of heaven just to send me back to the distorted world, are you? Please say you won't, I swear I will give you anything! Just pl…"
Instinctively, I stood back in fear, but Mina took Iono away before she could finish her sentence. "Calm down, you will just overwhelm Luciel if you continue."
She looked at Mina in shock, before taking a quick gaze at me and looking back at Mina with a confused expression. "He is?" She said while clearly wondering how Mina achieved this conclusion with the expression I was currently showing, but as I didn't answer, she slowly realized that she might be right. "Well…I'm sorry…but I really can't give up, so please! Anything!"
Confirming that Iono somewhat calmed herself, Mina looked back at me to see my response, but I was already lost in my thoughts.
She said I would be cruel to refuse her…but I'm not cruel…so I shouldn't refuse…but that would mean I won't be able to exchange this service for her friendship…or is that thought exactly what would make me cruel?
"Listen, I know this is Luciel's decision to make, but aren't you usually supposed to offer something in exchange of a service?" Mina intervened once more when she saw the colour of my emotion.
Iono was stumped by the question for a short moment, but she immediately showed an even more radiant smile, showing in full display her sharp teeth ."Eh…well wouldn't it be the best of the best price ever to work with the most beautiful, most funny, most incredible streamer of all time?" She said while making multiple poses during her presentation, which allowed me to fully see her apparence.
She was wearing a long yellow hoodie, I discovered their existence during my shopping…and I must admit they were quite nice, which meant I didn't deserve it. But even then all of them were of my size, because the one Iono wore was extremely large that it almost covered all of her torso until her knee, and the sleeves were so long they even exceeded both of her arms, which almost made her look like she didn't have any in the first place. However I was able to see that she was indeed wearing a small outfit below her hoodie that covered her small curve.
But what made me interested in her in the first place was her bicolored eye, as the upper half was blue, while the lower half made me think of a setting sun, which was extremely captivating in my opinion, as it represented the only moment where the planet was able to defeat the sun.
"Isn't Luciel an Archon? So shouldn't it be him that you should gladly work for free? Or maybe not, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to interact with Archon…there isn't a lot after all…well, I guess I saw six of them yesterday, so maybe they are not as rare as they make it seem..." Mina said until slowly changed the subject without realizing it before looking at me with a bit of dread. "By the way, are you fine with me being casual? Like you won't rip my tongue for daring to not use it to praise you instead?"
"No." I quickly responded, which made Mina sigh in relief.
"Guh…fine, I did say I would do anything in exchange, and Iono is many extraordinary things, but a liar is not one of them! So I just have to pay you right, so what about…oh wait, you have infinite SP don't you?" Iono tried to propose, but she stopped when she realized that what she was about to give me would be worthless…
…
…I really hate that word.
But surely because Iono confused my hatred for annoyance against her, she started to panic. "Wait! I swear I can find something that will please you…I can…I can…euh…please don't bail on me…I will…I know! I will be your girlfriend! My mom always said that the one who will become my boyfriend will be the happiest man in the world, so it must count for something right?" Iono said so rapidly that I'm not even sure she thought about what she just said.
Mina raised an eyebrow."…wouldn't it be…"
"I agree!" I didn't let Mina stop her, as I had already given my approbation.
"What…euh…Of course, of course!" Iono agree immediately after, which didn't give her the time to think back about what she just said.
But I don't care, now she can't back down, which means she will now be my friend!
"…Luciel…do you know what a girlfriend is?" Mina asked to be sure, but I nodded confidently.
Of course I know what a girlfriend is, it's a friend who is also a girl. And her becoming my friend was exactly what I wanted from the start! So it works out perfectly!
This means I have one more friend with me! Which makes me more luxurious! Perfect!
Mina looked at me with suspicion, before shaking her shoulder and letting Iono approach me with a confused smile on her face as she was slowly connecting what she was saying, until a blush appeared on her face. "So…boyfriend…could you please…help me start a stream, I have to say hello to my fan…they must have missed me since then?" She said while pocking her finger shily.
Why is she asking it so weirdly…is she embarrassed that she needs to consider me as her friend?
…well no matter, it doesn't matter how she feels about me, as long as she counts as a friend.
But first I should speak to her about my problem. "I'm not sure how to connect you to your stream." I said while reconnecting my senses into the meltan.
Iono's face grew frustrated when I spoke to her about it. "Didn't you just say that you could connect to it? Was that your plan? After taking my heart, you now want to break it, is that it? Is that it!?"
I stepped back in fear, already ready to defend my head for when she would hit it.
"Ah…wait, I'm sorry." But instead of hitting me, Iono stopped before looking at me with shame.
…why does everyone react the same when I do that?
She coughed in her oversized sleeve before smiling at me. "So what the problem comrade!"
"…well I can connect to the other to every strange electric signal with the meltan, but I have no idea how to identify which one is the application you need." I explained to her as I shared a look toward the weird vision of the other meltan.
I could see from their perspective a lot of electrical arches moving around forming different patterns with each other, some going faster than others, some being wider, so I had no idea which one to assimilate with.
"Oh, I understand what you mean, you just need to connect to all of them."
"What are you talking about?" Mina asked in confusion, but Iono barely addressed her.
"It's just basic electro-engineering stuff, you should understand."
"…wait, you're not an idiot?"
Iono looked at Mina weirdly, as if she was asking how she could have possibly reached this false answer, but she ignored her in profit of looking at me.
"Anyways, as I was going to say, most connections all came from the same space, there exist some separate ones, but it doesn't matter too much in this case, as I only want to reach pokelive." She explained with a much more calmer tone this time, which almost seemed alien to her earlier eccentricity.
So I did as she told me to, and looked for the very first thread, and reached my sense toward it…and I was attacked by a myriad of knowledge that instantly try to overwhelm my brain.
"Guh…" I could barely let out a groan of pain, before starting to fall on the ground.
"Luciel…LUCIEL!" I think I heard Mina screaming, but I wasn't sure as there was suddenly so much noise inside my brain. All of them repeating, changing, moving at the same time!
But despite all of them entering my brain at the same time, I wasn't able to understand even a second of them, as I already tried my best to isolate them, but there was so much that it would probably only explode my brain if I continued like this.
Especially when I also needed to treat that absolutely horrible pain that was now trying to take over me. The worst is that I couldn't even stop the pain because it was happening directly inside my brain.
I put so much attention there that I had no other choice but to give up on my other body functions, but even that wasn't enough. I couldn't even send a signal to rump the connection between the other meltan to stop the pouring of information with how painful it was. The only action I was able to do was to stop the one with Pandora to spare him from the violence from also happening in his mind.
…it seems I will have to shut down then, it is the only…hmm?
Suddenly, the influx of information all started to disperse as if an exterior force decided to share the weight of all of it…no, that's what was happening.
The meltan…they took the information…they dispersed it among the one billion of them to mitigate the pain entirely.
…Did they think I was one of them, so they tried to protect me because they noticed I was in pain?
…well I should thank them…thanks bunch of meltan.
"''"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"MELTAN"''"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"
AH! STOP! TOO MUCH VOICE! TOO LOUD!!!
Probably noticing that all of them talking at the same time would only cause me more pain, they all collectively decided to stop talking to me before going back to their original duty.
This allowed me to connect back my senses, just in time to, otherwise my blood would have leaked out of my eye socket and would have ruined my blindfold.
The second thing I did was to reconnect my vision to Pandora, and I could see Mina rushing toward me with worry. But she stopped when she noticed I was doing better, but just to be sure she asked how I felt. "Are you alright?"
I caressed my own head to ease the pain a little before responding. "It's better now, it's just that when I connected my sense to the source, an influx of information almost burst it out."
Out of the corner of my eyes, I thought I saw Sabrina looking at me with understanding, but I'm sure I imagined it as her expression changed when I looked at her again.
Iono looked at me with concern before inspecting me. "Oh…you weren't supposed to try to understand the source, just connect yourself to it, so what happened is probably that you received every single source of information in the pokenet…which is practically infinite, so no wonder it hurt…" After maiking sure I was fine, Iono started to look at me with curiosity. "How are you still conscious actually, so much knowledge should have left you comatose at best, and your brain flying everywhere at worst."
"I've just had worst…" I responded which only softened her expression even more.
"You know…I understand if you would like to take a break for today…I wouldn't want you to force yourself too much…"
"It's fine, as I said, this was very short, and the pain is already starting to dissipate." I wasn't lying, the pain was indeed starting to dissipate by itself, I didn't even have to do anything this time, so it really couldn't be that bad.
Anyways, now that my control is mostly dispersed, I should be able to access pokelive…oh, just mentioning the name inside my head directly led me to it…how curious the internet is…now I need to find an Iono account…there it is!
I showed my wrist to Iono, and she looked at it with surprise when a digital screen popped out of the meltan, only for it to be replaced by pure joy as she saw her account.
And as if she threw away all of her concern about me, she lunged at my arm and held it dearly. "Haha! Oh how I missed you dear account, I swear mommy Iono will not leave you now."
Mina seemed curious by the screen too and observed it for a short moment before throwing a confused look toward her.
If I had to guess, it was because in the category of the subscriber she had, only the pitiful number two appeared.
She kept repeating how much her fans must have missed her…well I suppose that two fans are indeed enough to use the term 'all' so I can't accuse her of anything.
"Well let's start a stream right away." She said chirpily before clicking on some button and suddenly, my vision was suddenly used by the meltan distributed over the other region.
All of them sent the new visual stimulus to the source which was immediately distributed to the world, which allowed an impressive number of…zero person to watch the stream.
…It truly is impressive, that so many people on the planet, not a single one of them decided to watch her live performance…no wonder she feels so lonely.
Even Sabrina seemed to have left her the moment I started the stream, I thought about looking for her, but I remembered that my vision was currently being used to film Iono, so I couldn't be distracted.
But even if she noticed this, it didn't stop Iono from trying to impress the empty gallery with a spin. "Fast as a courant, as bright as a lightbulb, you guessed it, right gentleman, it's not a pokemon, it only the most amazing pokestreamer in existence, Iono, the lighting star ready to entertain all those who can smile!"
I stood there dumbfounded by Iono's new presence which once again completely changed my perspective on her. It seems she's not only dramatic in her depression but also in her victory.
"Now I'm sure that all of you starved in the darkness without the substance of my light, but you do not need to fret any longer because I dompted the darkness to give you the content you were all requesting for!"
…I must say that there is still not a single person watching the video right now…oh wait, there is no title, so maybe it's for this reason…
I made sure that Iono was still throwing the merit of her saving them from boredom, and decided to add one while she was distracted…she would probably not be mad if I helped her right?
So what could I title it instead? Maybe something that describes the current situation, but it should also fit her personality, so something excentric…but she also seems kind…so she should say something that make her look kind…
Oh I know! What about that…yes, it's perfect.
I nodded in satisfaction toward the new name written beside the recording. 'The Zenith doesn't shine as brightly as me.'
With a job well done, I focused back on Iono, who finally seemed to have finished introducing herself. "Now, I'm sure all of you poor souls were all wondering 'Oh divine light, where have you been? I was dying without you!' Well, you will receive your answer right now." She approached the camera and put her sleeve beside her mouth it. "By the way, this is supposed to be a deep governmental secret, but I will let you know because I love you all too much."
…what is supposed to be a secret?
…well how bad can it be if she's ready to tell it to a camera that diffuses her words to the entire world?
"The reason why I was absent was because I was chosen as a candidate to participate in a highly secret test to join the secret project these boring politicians used to justify their massive tax fraud. But I was so awesome that even with one thousand candidates, I was among the sixty candidates that managed to qualify themselves to actually join…drumroll…an academy! And yes, the politicians were actually planning to build a giant academy in the middle of nowhere with only the best of the best candidates selected to join not only as students but also the teachers who are said to be the best of the best!"
Oh right, I remember Geeta saying something similar during her speech, but just now I realized that I'm going to have a teacher very soon…I would have hoped that they would be weaker than my previous teacher, but if they keep insisting that they are among the best, then they must also be able to hit me even harder…well at least Joy is ready to heal me for now.
"If you wish for any confirmation about the authenticity of my word, then just know that there are a total of 8 archons here! And the one filming right now is actually an archon himself! Don't ask what I paid him to make him serve as camera man, because even I don't remember it!" Iono joked around, but not even Mina laughed.
…oh wait, she was talking about me, didn't she? I don't think I'm that remarkable thought. Everyone kept repeating how special Archon was, but that is the only thing they did special, the rest of the time they acted as casually with me as they do for others.
…maybe it's just me who is worse than the other archon and I simply don't deserve their respect.
"In fact, I've heard that tonight there was a special event, so what about we use this opportunity for everyone to meet all of my other classmates, if we're lucky enough, we might be able to interview some of them!" Iono said while smiling, before turning around and walking out of the shopping area.
With me being the one responsible for filming her, I had no other choice but to follow her, and Mina also followed with me as she didn't have anything else to do.
I still had no idea where Sabrina was gone, but I could still sense her near me, so I just assumed she didn't want to be in the recording.
Along the way, Iono still continued to talk to the camera, while keep repeating how awesome it looked, and how impatient she was to show it to everyone watching.
But not a single person was listening, so I was truly wondering why she was even wasting her breath that much. If I was her, I would have just stopped talking and waited for someone to join.
But I suppose there is a reason we're not the same person…she's able to smile at least.
Soon, we arrived toward the middle of the second floor, right where the multiple doors lead to our dorms.
The moment we entered the room, Iono immediately remarked on the gathering of students in the middle of the room, with most of them sitting on the side on some very comfy-looking chairs. "Oh, look everybody, there are already so many people, we must hurry if we don't want to be late for the festivity," Iono exclaimed, and indeed, I noticed that every student was currently sitting on a chair that was clearly specially placed just for this occasion.
However, all of them were focused on something different instead, and that was the center of the room where two people were facing each other in their own corner.
On one side was Lance, who stood as arrogantly as before, and on the other side was Geeta, who didn't even show a hint of worry toward her adversary.
"Oh, are they preparing for a friendly match?" This time it was Mina who remarked.
"Oh! A fight between an Archon and our current dean! That will be so epic! And it will bring so many views!" Iono exclaimed in joy as she ran toward the arena, forcing me to follow her too.
Without even worrying about what other people might think, Iono stood right beside the area, and she even made sure she was centred on it too.
This caused everyone's eyes to gather toward us instead, but while I found it unpleasant, Iono looked like she had a blast.
"Everybody! Are you all ready for this epic friendly fight between two supreme foes!?" Iono screamed with enthusiast, which made most people looking at her confuse.
But some immediately joined in on her joy.
"YES!" "FIGHT! FIGHT!" "LET GO!!!" "Nice, a speaker." "Wait…isn't that the Gloom Archon…wasn't he supposed to be dead?" "Well…I guess he isn't…" "FIGHT EVEN LOUDER!"
Even if it was still the minority, Iono still looked happy from having some people responding. "Well then, I, Iono, the most brilliant light bulb, is here as a commentator for this fight of the century!" She said with joy before looking back on the fight.
Despite all the screaming she had done, Lance didn't even turn around at all during her presentation.
But it wasn't the same for Geeta, who severely looked at Iono, as if she was prepared to chase her away immediately, but one look at me seemed to have changed her mind…and it seemed the other teacher was in the same situation as the let Iono do her thing freely.
Also, Mina didn't follow us, and instead regained the stage, so it was now only me, Iono and…let me check…still no other person watching the live…is that really what makes her happy…well who am I to judge, she still look happier than I ever was, so she probably know what she's doing.
After deciding to ignore Iono, Geeta looked back at Lance, but the way she looked at him helped me understand something really simple.
That I wasn't the only archon that wasn't taken seriously here.