[BtTG] Rainbow Ruination

So, here we go! This particular story is a canon culmination of events that have been going on in the background of my previous BtTG stories revolving around Cerise -- Cerise's Story, Advent of Ruin, and Best Wishes! So, Cerise's encounter with Kyurem, Team Galactic's Eevee experiment, the Aerie family secret history, and other elements in Cerise's side stories will all converge here, in this story! In terms of timeline, it's taking place shortly after the rescue mission that the BtTG gang is about to embark on here, and *spoilers* Cerise is gonna go off on his own for a little bit. Ultimately, he'll rejoin the group and won't be gone for too long, but in this story... he's gonna meet back up with some other friends that the gang has made on their journey as he embarks on this new trip. And, there might be some new arrivals -- after all, this is a shared universe with Fenik, Dragon Gang, and more! So please, don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much for your time, and I hope you enjoy!


Timeline of BtTG Events
- The Story of The Ascended
- Jo's Story
- Catia's Story
- Decoda's Story
--- The Lavender Song
- Loka's Story
--- Behind The Eyepatch
- Cerise's Story
--- Best Wishes!
- Chrono, the Kindred Spirit
- Chrono's Resolve
- Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass
   - Part 1
   - Part 2
   --- Advent of Ruin
   --- Rainbow Ruination


Index
Prologue: Here
Chapter 1: Here
Chapter 2: Here
Chapter 3: Here
Intermission I: Here
Chapter 4: Here
Chapter 5: Here
Chapter 6 Part 1: Here
Chapter 6 Part 2: Here
Intermission II: Here
Chapter 7: Here
Chapter 8: Here
Chapter 9: Here

[Author Note: As a note for context, this beginning section is picking up at the BtTG timeline here]

“Friends,

I'm sorry that it's such short notice, but I need to go off on my own for a while. I found a few leads on someone I've been searching for, for a long time, and if I don't follow them, I may never get a chance like this again. Please understand that I'm not abandoning you, just separating myself from the group for a bit. Perhaps it will cut down on some of the issues in the group. I'll see about getting Wes to travel with you in my place. Thanks for the run so far, and I'll do whatever I can to see that our run continues.

Loka”


Cerise read the message with intent interest, slowly lowering his hand from the video call booth to scroll through the text’s contents. Reading through the message in its entirety, he nodded to himself. Loka seemed to be alright… and if finding this person was important to her, then he hoped she was successful. She wasn’t entirely wrong about the group having issues -- Loka and Catia had been at each other's throats since Day 1, and Cerise certainly couldn’t pretend that it hadn’t been grating on the group’s morale. There’d even been a brief time when he’d just considered going off on his own away from the group, if only to get away from all of the darn drama!

Although… he still wasn’t sure about the trustworthiness of Wes. There was just… something about that guy that seemed a bit off to Cerise, but he could quite put his finger on what it was that bothered him. He didn't think of himself as someone who was naturally suspicious of others -- Cerise had always been one to try to see the good before the bad. But Wes? There were just some strangely eerie vibes that he got from the other youth. Anyway… might as well reply to Loka and wish her well on her journey.

“Gotcha! Good luck on your search, and I hope we can meet up again soon!”

Before he sent the reply, he paused for a moment before releasing his three Pokemon and gathering them in a group for a picture. After taking the picture, he attached it to the reply and sent both as a little memento to that Loka that Cerise and his little team appreciated her and her well-being. Despite the in-fighting that had become rampant among the group, Cerise honestly enjoyed the friendship that Loka had given him. The two weren't that close, admittedly, but the experience that she held over the rest of the group had made her a valued mentor-figure in the eyes of Cerise.

Then, he returned his attention to the video booth. It had been a while since he’d talked to his mom and Grams… and last night had made him realize that he should probably talk to them. But even so… he was more than just a little nervous, even if he wasn’t entirely sure why. In part, perhaps, he feared that unveiling the various incidents that he'd been a part of would urge his family to have him halt his journey and return home. And having tasted actual adventure and danger had left Cerise craving more of that exhilarating rush.

His hands hovered over the call button, his eyes focused on it intently. He’d already plugged in the number for his home phone, and all that was left to do now was to call the call button. It wasn’t like he was scared of his family or anything, but with all of the strange things that had happened to him in the Kanto region, what parts should he tell them? The last thing he wanted to do was worry his Grams any more than she already did. And his mom worked so hard every day… Cerise couldn’t possibly put more on her plate.

He pushed his glasses up, noticing that his sweat had caused them to slide down a bit. It shouldn’t be this hard… just a quick call to let them know that he was alright. His hand went to his chest, feeling his heartbeat rise rapidly. Just breathe. Cerise took a breath as he lowered his hand.

And pressed the button.

“Hello?” The sound of his mother’s voice reached his ears as he watched the video screen focus on a middle-aged woman. Her eyes held a light of jovial joy as she saw Cerise’s own face staring back at her. Even now, Cerise could see her own eyes begin to glisten -- a telltale sign of tears beginning to form. The egg hatcher found his own eyes begin to water as he sheepishly smiled, waving to his mother for the first time in… who even knew how long?

“Cerise…” She whispered before her face broke out into a wide smile. Cerise hid his own worry as he examined the screen. He truly hoped it was just the monitor's resolution, but… his mother seemed so tired and stressed. Immediately, he felt guilty for interrupting whatever it had been that she was doing. “How’s Kanto treating you? Have you made any new friends? Oh! And how’s Chespin doing?”

“I… I, uh…” He began, trying to find the words he’d wanted to say. “It’s certainly been… something else! I’ve made a lot of friends so far, and I’m traveling with the other recruits that the Professor had mailed. We’re in… Vermilion City now, I think? Most of the people I’ve met are really interesting to me! Like, one of the people I’m with right now is a Gym trainer from Pewter City, and there’s a girl from Hoenn, and another person who was a Pokemon Ranger! And, uh, back in Saffron, I met this girl who works at her family’s day care! And as for Chespin, well…”

At this point, Chespin climbed up onto Cerise’s shoulder to wave at his trainer’s mother, flailing its arms around wildly in excitement. Chespin was quickly joined by Goomy, who climbed onto Cerise’s other shoulder, and Pawniard, who tried to hog up as much of the video screen as possible. Cerise sighed as the three began pushing each other to compete for his mom’s attention, and he ultimately pulled out their pokeballs to return the trio altogether.

“Well, yeah. There’s that. Goomy was a gift that I got from the Celadon Game Corner, and Pawniard came from an egg I hatched. Guess I learned a pretty good amount from you, huh?” Cerise said with a smile as his mom stifled her own laughter at the antics of her son’s Pokemon.

“You certainly have! I can probably send a few other eggs your way, if you’re interested? Anyway, it was nice to see you again, Cherry. Grams and most of the other Pokemon aren’t home right now, but I can let them know you called.” She said as the sound of a ringing phone began to beep in the distance. Cerise tilted his head a bit, admittedly curious to find out who was called his mom. She was someone who preferred written communication over calls and verbal exchanges. He’d suspected that it was an anxiety thing that his mother had been trying to work through. “Call again soon, alright?”

“Sure, sure!” Cerise said as he pressed the ‘end call’ button. As the screen went black, Cerise turned around and readjusted his glasses. Fortunately, the exchange had been less stressful than he’d anticipated. If Grams had answered, however… Cerise was certain that she’d somehow figure out that Cerise had been involved in some supernatural stuff for the past few weeks. But enough about that…

“Where’d everyone else go…?” Cerise asked himself softly as he looked around to see where the rest of his group had gone. He remembered passing by Decoda at some point… might as well wander the Pokemon Center and hope he was still there!

---

Ethel Aerie felt her smile falter a bit as the call ended, feeling a sudden aching loneliness now that her brief moment with her son had come to a pass. She already wished she could pick up the call again and talk to Cerise for hours about everything he’d done in Kanto so far, but the timing on his part had been unfortunate. Still… she always enjoyed spending even a few moments with her son.

She cast a look at the ringing phone with a frown before placing it to her ear. She already knew who was on the other end, despite her efforts to keep her family far away from him. She didn’t initially say anything, waiting for the soft breathing on the other end to turn into intelligible dialogue.

“...Eustace, I know it’s you. You need to stop calling this number. I don't want to have to tell you again.” Ethel spoke sharply, choosing not to hold back her words as she felt her frown deepen. He had chosen a life of crime over his family, and Ethel wanted no part of that poison into her or her son's life. She'd been a single woman for years now, and she was perfectly content with that.

“Ethel, I just…” the male voice on the other end finally spoke, and she closed her eyes tightly. Hearing both of their voices so soon after another… Cerise really did sound a lot like his father, and it pained her to no end to be reminded of one when talking to the other. The cadence in their voice, the soft-spoken enunciation of their words… and even the warmth in their tone when talking about Pokemon. So much about the two were similar, so Cerise being so far away from her had become an everyday concern.

“I know that it won't mean much, but… I'm sorry. For everything that I put you and Cerise through. The lies and deception… none of it was worth it. I don't expect you to forgive me, just…” As the man spoke, Ethel could pick up the faintest twinges of sincerity in his voice. And despite her current feelings towards Eustace… she couldn't help but be somewhat concerned at his perceived predicament. For the briefest of moments, she wanted to ask what was wrong and see if she could help, but she cut off the train of thought before it could even leave her lips. She had to stay strong in her choice, if not for herself, then for her son.

“You're right -- I don't forgive you. Now, stop calling this number. I won't ask you again.” Ethel made her statement firm and assertive, and she could almost feel Eustace's surprise as she spoke. That way that he'd look at her when she stood up for herself had always been one of support, and she found herself standing a little taller even now. Time couldn't heal the pain that she felt in saying those words when in reality, she wanted him to come back to her, and hold her in a tight embrace. But those days were over, now.

Eustace didn't respond immediately, and Ethel leaned against the kitchen wall behind her, admittedly unsure of what else to say.

“...Alright.” Eustace finally said. “Sorry for bothering you.”

And with that, the phone went dead.

---

[Some time later, after the events of Advent of Ruin]

Elsewhere, somewhere in the Sinnoh region, tentative paws curiously stepped upon grass for the first time in months. The Pokemon in question -- a small brown fox -- let out a breath of relief as it took in a deep breath of midnight air and the forest sounds around it. Now free of it's imprisonment, the Eevee dove into the verdant foliage nearby and carefully watched it's environment. Sure, it had managed to somehow escape the snow-white facility, but those people in strange uniforms that had captured it were surely still coming after it. In that case, it'd be for the best to keep a move on. It was known only as Experiment 133, and it craved freedom from its imprisonment.

With its mind made up, the Eevee begins it's trek to anywhere but back to where it had come from.

And thus, the fates of Cerise and Eevee cross once again, and a new adventure unfurls!

“All aboard!!”

The salty breeze of the ocean air caressed Cerise’s nose as he beheld the vessel in front of him. The marine cruiser was fairly large, constructed to be the largest and most impressive boat of modern times, with a variety of technological benefits found previously in Pokemon Gyms. Burly sailors on either side of the ascending staircase entrance shouted greetings to their passengers as each individual boarded the ship, meeting each one with a toothy grin. Normally, he’d have been elated to have had the privilege of an experience like this, but his mind was thoroughly preoccupied. He’d originally intended to take this cruise to clear his mind from the events of the rescue, but those sour thoughts had dug their claws far too deep, evidently. The others had understood his departure, so he assumed, but part of him wondered whether this trip would turn into a permanent leave from traveling Kanto.

The young trainer let out a small exhale as he himself climbed the stairs leading into the S.S.Cortina, leaving behind the picturesque view of Vermilion City’s harbor. The scent of the ocean dissipated from his senses as the aroma of cinnamon-flaked pastries and pine wood rushed to replace it, paired with the ambience of soft chatter by other passengers. The interior of the boat was as extravagant as the exterior, so much so that Cerise could almost forget the disaster that had brought him here. His gaze instinctively lowered to his belt, where his belt held one Pokeball less than it had just a few days ago. The memory of it haunted him, moreso than he had ever thought to be possible. Such was the effect of a strong bond between Trainer and Pokemon.

So, it took all of his strength not to blame himself for what had happened.

It wasn’t like Cerise was a stranger to Pokemon dying or anything. During his time as a Pokemon Breeder, he was well aware of the reality that not all Pokemon could make it, as upsetting as it could be. But he hadn’t battled alongside those breeded Pokemon, hadn’t traveled to new places with them, and hadn’t overcome trials together with them. So for him to lose a member of his Pokemon team was… harder than what he’d thought it would be. And he was already certain that the pain would bear a toll on him. He’d been elated that Loka and Marley had been saved, but his own grief and despair overshadowed the rescue’s success.

He blinked furiously, aware that his eyes had begun to well up again. He’d thought that he couldn’t have cried more over it, but clearly he still had no lack of tears to shed. He scrubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, seating himself at a nearby table while he collected himself. Taking deep, labored breaths to steady his lightheadedness, he took a moment to examine the cruise liner’s beautiful fountain centerpiece – a trio of Gorebyss water spouts. Behind the fountain was a receptionist desk, and on both sides of the main foyer, Cerise could see entrances to the liner’s restaurant, gym, club, suite rooms, and more. Maybe it’d be enough to take his mind off of everything?

“Cerise?” The young man felt a hand hesitantly clasp his shoulder, and he glanced upward to see another young man nervously smiling down at him. The dark green hair of the other was a strong indicator of their identity, but the small Ralts peering out at Cerise from behind him was a dead giveaway. “Cerise? I barely recognized you!”

“Genesis…? What’re you doing here?” Cerise furrowed his brows a bit. The green-haired trainer had been a brief traveling companion when Cerise and the others had been in… Saffron, maybe? Or had it been Vermilion? Either way, Cerise gave the other boy a faint smile as he also sat down, strangely thankful to not be alone. Truly, part of him had wanted to hide away – it was why he was here by himself – but he also wanted… he wanted to talk to someone not tied up in the overall situation like Decoda, Catia, or Wes would’ve been.

“Oh, just a little change of scenery. Ralts ‘nd me have spent a lotta time here in Kanto, kinda felt like Unova could be a fun change of pace for a bit. And this is the S.S. Cortina’s maiden voyage – I couldn’t miss something like that! What about you?” Genesis smiled eagerly, scooting his seat about so that he could face Cerise. His Ralts let out a small huff as it pulled itself up onto another seat at the table, looking quite pleased with itself with its independence.

“Just… taking a trip back home for a bit.” Cerise halted himself from saying more, opting to further explore the topic of loss later on. From Genesis’ gaze, he was sure that the green-haired boy had sensed something more in Cerise’s words, but he nodded to himself as though to let it go for the time being.

“Have you taken a look around the ship yet? I was gonna head over to the bar and see what they had on the menu – wanna come?” Genesis drummed his fingers on the table for a moment or two, enunciating his slight impatience – or rather, his excitable nature. Cerise pondered it for a moment weighing the options.

The decision was a simple one.

With a brief nod, the two young men got up from where they sat, making their way to the cruiser’s bar on the upper level of the vessel. Upstairs, the scents of sugary pastries had been superseded by a variety of seafood delights and a faint alcoholic musk. The smell of pine wood was still pervasive, and the dazzling lights of the nearby casino coated the walls in multicolored spotlights.

“2 Sitrus Berry Lattes with sugar, and the beef kebab, please!” Genesis grinned as he reached the barstool to place his order. His Ralts let out a shy grin as the green-haired trainer placed his order, excitedly anticipating the meal that was to come.

“The, uh, Lt. Surge Omelette. With wheat bread on the side, if you could.” Cerise said after a moment of thought. When the young man reached out to grab his wallet, Genesis let out a soft “nuh-uh” as he pulled out his own card to pay for the both of them. Cerise could feel his eyes widen in surprise. “…Are you sure?”

“Naturally!!” Genesis smiled, lifting a clenched hand so as to give Cerise a fist bump. Pausing briefly, Cerise tapped his fist into the other, accepting the offer to have his meal paid for. As the bartender-chef nodded and moved elsewhere to prepare the food, Genesis swiveled around in his barstool seat towards Cerise with a serious look in his eye. “So… what’s the real reason you’re here? I know there’s more to it, and I know you want to tell me.”

Cerise stared at the wooden counter for what felt like an eternity, as though he were memorizing the swirls in the material’s visual. The words were difficult to fully articulate for him, now that the time had come to share what was on his mind. He pursed his lips, racking his brain for what he should say, what he should leave out, how much he felt, how little he felt. But it all felt caught up in his throat, and he could end up saying nothing at all for several minutes.

“…I don’t know how to say it.” He finally collapses his face into his hands, feeling more tired and exhausted than he’d felt in years, perhaps. Genesis nodded slowly, placing a hand on Cerise’s back to comfort him. The Pokemon Breeder could do little to quell the aching feeling that pounded and chipped away at his heart.

“Maybe… you could show me?” Genesis finally said, trying to give a supportive smile. “Keep it on the down-low, but I do have some degree of psychic power. You could show me the memory, if you wanted. If it’s too hard to say.”

Cerise gave a numb nod, closing his eyes as Genesis began to murmur to himself.

---∞---

Lavender Town.

Genuinely, Cerise wasn’t sure he’d wanted to come back here, not after the last visit had gone. The memory of everyone’s prone bodies had been burned into his mind, without any possibility of being buried away. The trauma from that incident was still fresh, and his overall despair had only deepened after the rescue that had followed.

The town still seemed abandoned, but Cerise kept his gaze steadfast as he approached the Pokemon Tower with the crumpled body in his arms. He hadn’t returned it to its Pokeball, even though it would’ve been easier to carry that way. He glanced down at the cold body in his arms, hoping against hope that their still eyes would open again and be filled with life, warmth, and joy. But the past few weeks had taught him that such things were a childish folly, and real life was cruel.

It was his own incompetence that was to blame. He had even foresaw that that would have been a barrier to overcome. A kind of foreboding feeling he’d been trying to rationalize before the rescue had, in fact, been a warning of the tragedy that would come. He was a fool to have ignored it as he had.

Walking up the steps to Pokemon Tower, he turned a corner to approach the gravestones, closing his eyes for a moment as he approached an unmarked grave that he’d felt a sense of pull towards. This was to be, evidently, the grave for his fallen Pokemon. Not that far from the grave of Wes’ Umbreon, if he remembered correctly.

It was as he lowered the body into the unmarked grave and etched its name on the tombstone with a chisel, that Cerise had felt the true weight of everything. This was death, after all. There was no way it would be easy, right? But it was as he finally let go the body, and felt its weight flow free from his cupped arms that he felt a floodgate of tears open up again and overflow.

“…Shit…!”

---∞---

Genesis lifted his hand from Cerise’s back, halting his murmurs as he did so. The green-haired psychic gave him a sorrowful gaze, mulling over the memory he’d replayed for the two of them. As Cerise’s mind refocused on the present, he glanced down to see his omelette had been prepared and served in record time. And Genesis had gotten his own meal served as well, with Ralts absentmindedly sipping on her latte. “Man… I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”

Cerise simply shook his head, as though to say it was fine. The pain, he concluded, wouldn’t go away any time soon. That much had become clear. At least, he could now have a better understanding of Wes and his Umbreon, who had gone through the same pain of loss barely a week ago.

“There you are, Cerise!” Cerise and Genesis both turned to see two figures approach them at the bar. The one on the right, a blonde girl with bandage cloth wrapped around her arms, bore a look of concern as she jogged towards Cerise, letting out a soft pant from her exertion. “Decoda and the others told us about what happened with the rescue. I’m glad we caught up to you in time…!”

“Would’ve been unfortunate otherwise.” The other arrival, a boy with purple hair, casually took a seat next to Genesis, glancing at his nails briefly. “Hunting you down across different regions would be a pain.”

“Jo? And Rizu? Why are you…?” Cerise let the sentence fall, unable to fully articulate the rest of what he wanted to say.

“You saved my sister, man. Gotta repay you somehow, even in some small way.” Rizu responded first, keeping his face fairly neutral as he spoke. “Loka wanted me to keep an eye on you, in case anything were t-“

“We’re just concerned, is all.” Jo cut in, elbowing Rizu in the gut so hard that he bowled over from having the wind knocked out of him. He glared at the blonde girl with a look that could kill, before regaining enough composure to cross his arms in a huff. Jo rolled her eyes before returning her attention to Cerise. “It’s… better not to go through this kind of thing alone, you know?”

“I agree with them. Name’s Genesis by the way.” The psychic nodded in agreement as he introduced himself to the other two, who nodded back in acknowledgement.

Cerise stared at each of the other three Trainers, feeling his throat choke up again. It was hard to accept loss, he had seen that firsthand, but some small speck of light in his heart had poked through enough for him to believe that one day, he’d be able to recover. It was a long trip to Unova, after all, so maybe spending it with friends could be exactly what he needed. He gave the others a hesitant smile, before nodding to himself and speaking.

“This means more to me than you all would know. Thanks so much…!”

---∞---

Elsewhere on the deck, a small brown fox hid amongst a barrel of boxes, its eyes darting about in sheer terror. It had managed to engage those mean humans that had been chasing it… Or at least, so the Eevee had hoped. The Pokemon let out a soft mew before curling up into a ball – hopefully, it could keep evading them for a bit longer…

“So I’m sitting there, barbecue sauce on my titties, and I’m all like ‘What in Arceus? Again?’” Genesis’ eyes flickered between the assembled group of laughing youths, eager to continue his story. A wide grin spread across his face as he allowed the pause to marinate and let the others catch their breath before he could continue. As the laughs died down a bit, he started to continue, but Jo lifted up a hand.

“Hang on, I need a break.” She gasped between laughs, wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes from laughing so hard. She placed a hand on her stomach, as if to steady herself as she leaned back in the chair she sat in. The mirth of laughter and good times had helped lift the mood for the small quartet of teens, thanks in no small part to Genesis’ incredibly humorous storytelling prowess. The blonde girl slowly righted her seat, letting out a deep exhale as she did so. “Geez, Genesis! I only met you an hour ago, but it feels like I’ve known you for years!”

The green-haired psychic smiled in response, sensing the conversation had shifted away from funny stories. He cleared his throat. “Honestly, I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s kinda my dream to be a Pokemon Raconteur, after all, so being able to tell stories that can connect with people and make them feel the emotions I put into them… Nothing quite like it!”

“A Raconteur?” Cerise piped up, his tone filled with confusion as he questioned the meaning of the profession. Genesis nodded in response, smiling towards Cerise as he cracked his knuckles as though to prepare for a brawl. He was about to speak when Rizu leaned forward towards Cerise.

“A Pokemon Raconteur is a kind of storyteller. Usually, they only perform verbal pieces, but some also become authors, or comedians. They’re more common in Kalos than here.” Rizu explained, casting a brief glance at Genesis as he spoke. “A lot of Raconteurs are allegedly linked with the supernatural and occult, though. So, not everybody sees the job as a benefit to society, ‘cause they’re superstitious enough to think that a Raconteur is screwing with their minds.”

“So, it’s a job like that…?” Cerise chewed over the thought carefully from where he sat, folding his arms across his lap as he did so. “So, to get these stories, you have to do a lot of travelling?”

Genesis shrugged, averting his gaze from Rizu’s piercing stare. “Pretty much. Like, some of these stories are things that have genuinely happened to me, others are stories I was given by others, and there are ones I’ve seen happen to other people. But all of them are meant to make people laugh, so I collect them. It’s just the kind of dream that would suit someone like me. What about you guys? What do you want to do?”

“I think I’m the kind of person,” Jo pressed her pointer finger against her lips as she spoke, a thoughtful demeanor radiating across her mannerisms. She then scratches the back of her head, bashful and embarrassed. “That would rather live in the moment than have a plan for the future. I’ve tried to work ahead before, and well… I just keep coming up blank!”

“That’s about the caliber of answer I would’ve expected from you.” Rizu muttered, rolling his eyes as he spoke. Ignoring the angry protests of Jo, he closed his eyes to think of a suitable answer for Genesis. The nature of what he wanted to do certainly wasn’t family-friendly, and he knew that he’d had a few charges against him that’d already accumulated. He leveled his gaze as Genesis, picking as generic an answer as any to give. “I want to be a Pokemon Researcher, collecting Pokedex data from every region I go to, and every Pokemon that I meet. Being the best at what I do is enough to satisfy me.”

Cerise nodded, finding their answers intriguing. In actuality, Cerise had only accepted this journey through Kanto as a way to find himself and figure out his issues. Looking at it as a path to an eventual career wasn’t something that would typically have been on his radar.

“I want…” Cerise paused, feeling that familiar darkness creep into his words as sounds of malice. And he began to sink into that hook, his thoughts dragging him down to images of Espeon’s crumpled and battered body, the howl of Bansheeon turning the blanket of skies above into an ominous atmosphere, the unconscious Wes and Yuno, him and his team facing down certain death try to stop the carnage. Yes, he was still scared. Of losing his friends, of dying. Of his human friends disappearing again without a trace, like Loka and Marley had. Cerise sharpened his gaze – nobody else should have to suffer as he had, nor as his dead Pokemon had. That was the future that Cerise wanted. “I want to be a Pokemon Master, no matter what it takes. When Professor Oak first sent me on this journey, I had no idea what I wanted in life, or how to get there. But after all that I’ve seen and done… I want to be the very best, like no one ever was! So nobody would have to suffer in silence again, I want to protect those I care about, and those who can’t protect themselves. That’s the kind of person I want to be.”

The other three stared at him for a moment, and Cerise could feel his ears start to burn red from embarrassment, but then they started clapping. He tried to say more, but the words were caught up in his throat. None of the others noticed the flash of pink that briefly overtook his normally brown irises.

“That’s good.” Genesis nodded. “I was worried ‘cause you didn’t look like you were at 100% earlier. And I get why things ‘ave been hard for you. But if you have a conviction like that? I guess my worries were for nothing, eh?”

“I’m gonna get us some ice cream bowls! How's Roggenrola Road sound?” Jo clasped her hands together excitedly, jumping up out of her seat, and nearly knocking over an older woman that was hurrying past their table. “Oof!”

“Watch it!!” The woman glared at Jo, before whipping around to continue on her warpath downstairs. The four teens stared at the woman, who was clearly engrossed in something on her phone.

“What’s her problem…?” Rizu wondered aloud, folding his arms across his chest as he did so. The others nodded at different intervals, feeling a hush falling over the table they were sitting at. “Maybe pick your nose up from outta your phone, lady.”

The woman however, was already making her way downstairs, and out of sight. Her heels clicked rhythmically as she strode across the wooden floors, keeping a close eye on an app on her phone. She glowered, before leaning against a wall in irritation. It had to be here, she just knew it!!

“Trouble in paradise, dearest?” The woman whirled on her heels, facing an older man that she greeted with a death glare. “Why do you insist upon such methodologies, I’ll never know. We already know Experiment 133 is here, we should just smoke it out – it barely has control over its transformation ability.”

“…Very well, Commander.” The woman sighed, before speaking in quiet tones to the man. “I know it’s somewhere on the port side of the ship, not far from here. We’ll split up and lock it down in a pincer formation. That damned Eevee can’t get away forever! I swear we’ll get it, in the name of Team Galactic!”

---∞---

It’d been some time since the Eevee had hidden itself away, and the pangs of hunger from its journey had finally caught up. It winced as another sharp shot of hunger ripped across its chest, making it stumble when it tried to stand. It was so hungry, but danger was everywhere.

It glanced up from the makeshift fort it had burrowed itself away into, taking a moment to let the scent of different foods waft into its nose. No, it couldn’t go much longer without eating. Not at this rate, anyway. The small fox stood weakly, feeling its body bubble and stretch as a subconscious Form Change began to take hold of it. The Eevee squeezed its eyes shut, forcing down the urges to morph for what felt like an eternity before it finally could feel its awareness returning.

For now, it’d grab something to eat, and then return here. The Eevee was sure it would be quick and painless.

The S.S. Cortina had a variety of amenities, from its 5-star restaurant, to its luxury pool and spa, and even its state-of-the-art fitness facility. But perhaps its most impressive feature was the Cortina BattleDome, a large field on the top deck of the cruiser dedicated to Pokemon battles. After all, Pokemon battles were the most popular sport around, so how could such a vital feature be left out? And the S.S. Cortina had no intention of losing out on such a valuable source of profit. The BattleDome itself featured both multi-Trainer tourneys, and self-regulated 1-on-1 Trainer battles that one of the cruiser’s staff could oversee as a judge.

“In the red corner, we have Pokemon Trainer Joseline with her partner Luchi the Hawlucha!” A kind-looking man sporting an elegant suit waved a hand to his right, so as to announce the arrival of Jo as she stepped onto the field of worn turf. She gave a confident grin as she gave the Pokeball in her hands a curveball throw to unleash the Pokemon inside. The materialized form was a small bird that immediately conduced a T-pose to assert its dominance, sporting feather plumage of white, red, and turquoise. Jo smirked at her opponent, who unleashed his own Pokemon, a small orange insectoid with a massive jaw that encompassed most of its head. The announcer lifted a hand towards the other Trainer. “And in the gold corner, we have Pokemon Trainer Rizu, with his partner Albion the Trapinch!!”

Both Luchi and Albion stared each other down warily, as if to size each other up. No doubt a battle between the two would be intense, if their fighting spirit was enough of a measure of their strength. And unsurprisingly, their respective Trainers had enough vigor to match their partners, with Jo and Rizu both waiting in barely held anticipation for the match to start.

“There won’t be a quick winner in this one. Neither has a direct type advantage here.” Genesis murmured, sitting backwards on a chair as he glanced between the two combatants. His Ralts was kneeling on the sidelines alongside him, gingerly nibbling at a cone of ice cream. To his left, Cerise was sitting in his own chair, crouching forward slightly as though to have a better view. A small crowd of onlookers had gathered, some were passengers, others were employees. Genesis let out a soft chuckle before continuing to speak. “Albion’s ground-type moves won’t be very effective against flying-types like Luchi. But I’m pretty sure Trapinch can learn rock-type moves, so if this one knows any, those should be its go-to. On the other hand, Luchi has resistance to Trapinch’s dark-type moves, and has a clear speed advantage. So Hawlucha would need to rely on out-maneuvering in order to keep an edge.”

Cerise was quiet, seeming to be focused on the match that was about to start. But as Genesis looked over to his friend, it was apparent that the Pokemon Breeder’s mind was elsewhere entirely. He let out a light sigh, trying to think of another way to console the other boy. But working through a Pokemon’s death was no simple task – he couldn’t blame Cerise for being inattentive, though he had hoped that a battle would be able to clear his mind a bit. Seemed like it would take more than just this to help lift Cerise out of his funk.

“This is a 1-on-1 match; both trainers will utilize 1 Pokemon each, and the first to get knocked out will be deemed the loser. The winner of the match will receive monetary concessions from his opponent, and be awarded the Cortina Ribbon for their partner. Are both Trainers ready?” The announcer spoke with an air of distinction and class. Genesis couldn’t quite place the accent – Orre, maybe? He drummed his fingers on the backside of the chair for a few moments before turning to Cerise.

“Hey, man! I’ve got a song that could really get the blood pumping. Here!” Genesis pulled his P★DA out from his pocket, scrolling through the menu until he got to the music section to pick out the song he wanted to play. He smiled at Cerise as Jo and Rizu both confirmed being ready to begin, and the announcer lifted both of his hands into the air.

“Let the match, BEGIN!!”

Genesis' Awesome Mix Track 1:

Luchi immediately burst forward in a blistering dash, kicking up dust, dirt, and debris in its wake as it sprinted towards Albion. Its clawed hands began to take on a silvery sheen as it used Hone Claws to enhance its attack power, quickly closing the distance to Trapinch.

“Use Earthquake!!” Rizu shouted, thrusting a hand in front of him as the Trapinch let out a confident roar before slamming its stump-like foot into the ground. The ground began to rupture from where the antlion struck, forming a spiderweb of cracks towards the Hawlucha. The bird instinctively launched itself into the air, easily dodging the ground-type attack. Rizu smirked, before thrusting his hand forward again. “Right where we wanted it, Albion. Sandstorm!!”

A swirling vortex of dirt and debris began to centralize around the Trapinch, partly from nearby garbage, and partly from pebbles scattered throughout the artificial turf. The swirling granulated mass soared upwards, trapping the airborne Hawlucha within. The bird let out a brief squawk before the tornado of snap enveloped it, spinning the bird wildly around inside of it.

Jo bit back a curse as her partner was engulfed in the storm of sand and dirt, and began wracking her brain to find a counterstrategy to get Luchi out of this mess. The ground-type moves wouldn’t do much actual damage, but they would keep her Pokemon on the move and on the defensive, forcing an overuse of physical stamina. And while Hawlucha was also a fighting-type and had plenty of stamina to burn, she knew it couldn’t last forever. She needed to come up with something fast, or else she’d lose this match due to sheer attrition. Jo stared up desperately at the sandstorm, catching the figure of Luchi being tossed about inside. Her voice felt caught in her throat, and a sense of helplessness overcame her. What could she possibly do?

Luchi caught her gaze.

The steely gaze of the bird, though brief, spoke volumes. Jo could feel the resolve of her Pokemon to win, no matter what, and she couldn’t just let it down! Feeling a sense of pride and reinvigoration overcome her, she nodded to herself, and took a step forward.

“Time to turn it around, Luchi! Break through with Sky Attack!!” A light blue glow began to overtake the ragdoll-like Hawlucha as it crossed its arms in concentration. And after a brief pregnant pause, Luchi ripped open the vortex of dirt with a horizontal slash and rocketed down to make direct impact on Albion. Knocked backwards by the concussive force of the attack, the winded Trapinch struggled to right its footing.

“And after an impressive display of ground-type combo plays by Albion, Luchi’s managed to turn around the momentum in its favor with a Sky Attack boosted by Hone Claws! Looks like Albion is flinching from the impact, folks!” The announcer blared into his microphone as more cruise passengers began to gather around to watch. Ogling eyes and awed faces were abundant as the battle raged on between Jo and Rizu.

“Keep up the pressure – Hi Jump Kick!!” Jo pumped a fist in the air, now beginning to feel the scales of battle tipping in her favor. She smiled, perhaps too cockily, as her partner Pokemon took a running start and blitzed towards Albion. The bird’s clawed talons were outstretched as it sought to land a blow on the antlion.

“Buddy, I need you to use Rock Slide to block it!!” Rizu shouted, knowing his Trapinch would never be able to dodge the faster Pokemon. But at least, hopefully, he could continue his tactic of stalling out Hawlucha enough to tire it out enough to overpower it. The Trapinch wearily nodded before grunting loudly, causing the pebbles and debris of Sandstorm to coalesce and pressurize into a small mass of stone in front of it. And not a moment too soon, as the impact of Luchi’s Hi Jump Kick tore through the craggy shield to reduce it into debris once more. The Rock Slide wasn’t enough to stop the bird entirely, but it had been enough to block the attack from connecting.

Landing behind Albion a ways, Luchi quickly stuck out a hand towards the ground to swiftly switch its forward movement into a front flip so it could recover. Crossing its arms as the silver shimmer of Hone Claws took effect on its clawed hands once more, the bird quickly struck a T-pose before taking a crouching position to prepare for its next assault.

“Let’s see you block this, Rizu! Luchi, let’s use our Z-Power!!” Jo said as she punched the air in front of her, feeling the familiar sensation of Z-Energy course through her movements. As Jo completed her series of poses and movements with a flourish, a brilliant golden luster enveloped Luchi in a gradient of white. “Supersonic Skystrike!”

“H-hang on a minute!!” The announcer ran over to Jo, flailing his arms wildly to grab her attention. The Trainer stared at him blankly as he rushed over to her, panting heavily. “Don’t forget where you are!! T-those kinds of moves will completely wreck this cruiser!”

“That’s true…” Genesis mused. The destructive power of a Z-Move was almost guaranteed to cause significant collateral to a boat like this. And they certainly didn’t want the boat to sink because of something that was meant to be a friendly match. Genesis let out a bemused hum as Jo visibly deflated in annoyance. The girl didn’t let the restriction faze her for longer than a second, as she returned her attention to Rizu.

“In that case, go for a Stone Edge, Luchi!” As Jo declared the attack, her Hawlucha partner jumped up into the air and let out a melodic cry as a trio of light blue rings materialized around it. The rings than began to glow white and form shapes similar to white stones, before the glowing light began to fade. When the white glow faded, a trio of sharpened stone rings orbited Luchi, the ends all pointed towards Albion.

Albion glanced towards Rizu, who simply nodded in response. The Trapinch grunted again, coalescing surrounding stone and debris into pressurized stone once more. As Luchi fired its barrage of rock from above, Albion launched its stone shield upward in retaliation. The opposing forces slammed and crashed against each other, sending shards of rock and stone flying across the deck of the BattleDome. Those present – including Cerise and Genesis – shielded their eyes from the shower of stone splinters, not wanting to be collateral damage from the fight.

“Oh wow, this is shaping up to be some fight, eh?” Genesis giddily looked over to Cerise, his wide grin spreading ear to ear. But his good mood faltered when he saw that Cerise still was wearing the same solemn look on his face, his eyes seemingly expressionless.

“…”

---∞---

The Eevee cautiously stepped into the kitchen, its nose sniffing the air as it waded into the room. From what it could see, the kitchen had been abandoned for some time. Without any humans about that it could see, the Eevee vaulted over to the pantry, pawing at the door to open it and nab the precious scents inside.

“Well, well, well…” The voice made the Eevee jump up in shock. It slowly turned to the direction of the voice, whimpering in fear as a psychic illusion faded to reveal a Bronzong and a purple-haired woman with a phone in her hand. She smirked, lowering the hand that held the phone as she stared at Eevee with an unnerving hunger. “We’ve finally found you, Experiment 133.”

The brown fox leapt backwards over itself in terror, scrambling over its hind paws in its mad dash to get away from the woman. The uniform that she wore… was the nightmare that’d haunted the Eevee in its dreams for weeks, if not months. As the small Pokemon streaked out of the kitchen and down the hall, the woman smirked.

The hunt was on.

---∞---

“Luchi, evasive maneuvers!!” The Hawlucha nodded vigorously before sprinting forward, and jumping up at the last second. In front of its path to Albion was a mine field of Rock Slide slabs, all moving about at high speeds to block off the bird’s route to the antlion. But that was hardly a problem. It took a breath to concentrate before leaping forward, using the slabs of Rock Slide as stepping stools to breach the gap between itself and Albion.

“Lu-CHAAA!!” Breaking its evasive tactics, Luchi front-flipped to squeeze itself between two colliding stone slabs before transitioning into a Hi Jump Kick attack. The onlooking crowd clapped at Luchi’s incredible acrobatic ability as Genesis leaned forward, tipping the chair forward onto two legs in his excitement.

“Tra! Tra-trap!” Albion countered the incoming Hawlucha with a maelstrom of Sandstorm, hoping to slow down Luchi enough to veer its course towards something else in the area, if not trap it again altogether. But there would be no such luck for the Trapinch. Luchi’s aim remained true despite the howling winds of dirt ripping past it, with its kick tearing through the Sandstorm with ease. The kick landed a direct hit on Trapinch, who was thoroughly yeeted into a nearby wall at blistering speeds. The antlion clicked in frustration, trying to get back up, but its legs buckled beneath it. Sadly, it looked over to Rizu, who simply shrugged.

“We did our best, Albion. I’ll concede this battle to you, Jo. You win.” Rizu said nonchalantly as he strolled over to where his Trapinch had collapsed. A few quick sprays of Potion should do the trick to help it. The crowd exploded into applause for the two Trainers as the announcer threw a red flag onto the artificial turf, signaling Jo’s victory. It was clear to see that the two Pokemon had waged a battle of strategy and smarts to outdo each other and gain the advantage.

One man in particular let out a whistle of appreciation as Rizu and Jo rejoined Cerise and Genesis, his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses and wild, black hair. The stranger began clapping as he drew near, enough to make his presence known.

“Heh! Not too shabby, kids. I almost felt my blood boiling enough to jump into the fray myself, gahaha!!” The man threw back a hearty cackle, exposing his fanged teeth in the process. The quartet of Trainers exchanged looks before Genesis finally piped up.

“H-hey, there. Name’s Genesis, and this is Cerise. And you’re already familiar with Jo and Rizu.” The psychic shakily lifted a hand in friendliness, not letting his obvious discomfort sway his mannerisms too much. The shark-toothed man gave a wide grin before taking Genesis’ hand.

“Keh! I’m Geiger.” He glanced over to Jo and Rizu, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You’re both pretty talented as Trainers! Oooh, I’d love to battle ya both sometime! But a battle with me might get a bit rough, as fair warning!!”

“I wouldn’t worry that much!” Genesis retorted, trying to size himself up against the taller man as a credible challenge. “I’ll take you on next. Don’t worry, it’ll be quick.”

Geiger tilted his head to the side, still wearing a shark-like grin that seemed to expand with every passing moment. Clearly, this strange man was amused by the prospect, and he began to give a retort of his own when a high-pitched shriek pierced the BattleDome. And in through the doors, Eevee forced itself in its mad scramble to get away. Not even a split second later, a Bronzong ripped the doors apart to allow itself to levitate through, using its psychic power to lift a variety of objects to throw at Eevee. The Bronzong was followed by a purple-haired woman that sported a long trench coat over a white and black bodysuit. Passengers of the S.S. Cortina screamed and tried to get away as Bronzong and Eevee exchanged several attacks in their game of cat-and-mouse. The difference here was that they weren’t concerned about avoiding collateral.

The Eevee dashed underneath falling debris and railing fragments as it struggled to maintain its speed. But for a brief moment, it locked eyes with Cerise, and ran directly into his arms. The Trainer, surprised, staggered backwards but quickly righted himself with the new weight in his hands. He stared at the fox for a moment – he’d seen a few Eevee before, but this one… It felt familiar somehow? Cerise spoke softly. “I… Do I know you?”

He had no more time to ponder, as Bronzong launched another attack towards Eevee, with Cerise now being a collateral target as a result. The Trainer dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding a blast of energy from the steel-type Bronzong. Cerise cradled Eevee in his arms, glaring down the purple-haired woman as he rose to his feet.

“Return me the Eevee, and you can get the opportunity to leave this place alive.” She sneered as the other passengers made a dash for the exit, trampling over each other to get out. “Make the smart choice, boy.”

“…No.” Cerise said simply, steeling his gaze. This was absolutely the LAST thing he would tolerate right now. Sure, he didn’t know the situation, but one thing was clear: this Eevee needed help. And Cerise Aerie was more than willing to do it. Ignoring the pleading shouts of his friends, he stepped towards the woman, clenching his fists.

“Oh? You’re approaching me, child?” The woman scoffed, irritation clearly drawn upon her face. She let out a soft ‘tsk’ as Cerise protectively held the Eevee in his arms. It was hard for him to rip out the image of his mind of Espeon’s crumpled body from when it was viciously attacked by Bansheeon, or Umbreon’s gravestone and a crestfallen Wes kneeling in front of it. No, he wouldn’t let there be any more tragedy.

He couldn't.

“I can’t beat the crap out of you without getting closer.” Cerise shot back, standing firm against her. H could feel the trio of Pokeballs on his belt quiver from anticipation of being released, but he had no intention of using his Pokemon team in this battle. Not when he could lose one of them again.

“Very well! Then, come as close as you’d like! It makes no difference to me.” The woman threw her head back to laugh, and Bronzong lifted its twin arms as a sign to signal it was ready for combat. She examined Cerise for a moment. “You… You look familiar. What’s your name, boy? I am, naturally, Commander Jupiter of Team Galactic!”

“Cerise Aerie, of Lacunosa Town.” The boy spoke without skipping a beat, urging Eevee to climb up onto his shoulder so he could have better mobility in the conflict. In the corner of his eye, he could see Genesis leading the others out of the room. The two boys shared a quick look, before Genesis disappeared from sight.

“…Aerie…? You must be joking!!” Jupiter laughed, an amused smile dancing across her face. “Then, Cerise, make this an interesting battle for me!”

What neither one one noticed, however, was the young boy with blonde hair watching from the bleachers, dressed in a monochrome color scheme of beige. He stared intensely at Cerise, resting his chin in his hands.

“Alright, Cerise… Show me the power you command. Show me... your path to victory!”

[Approximately a week ago]

Lavender Town.

A bastion of the ominous and occult, the small mountainside town is most well-known for the Pokemon Tower -- an imposing monument for the deceased and fallen. Often a hot spot for the supernatural and unexplained for Lavender Town, the Tower was infamous for its haunted ghosts and horrific Team Rocket incidents.

Outside of the Town’s Pokemon Center, a small Mudkip dashed down the road, keeping an eye out for its surroundings? Its quarry? Suspicious-looking humans or odd-looking Pokemon -- the targets, Pokemon Avatar, typically coordinated well between whichever human and Pokemon forms they switched between. This very conclusion had led the Mudkip to begin its search for human inhabitants of Lavender Town that looked like Pokemon, by way of color, shape, size, or even clothing.

Over the past several weeks, traveling the roads of the Kanto region with its trainer and friends had become the norm for the mudfish. At first, the journey had been as normal as any other, meeting other Trainers and battling wild Pokemon. But then the Avatar appeared -- mysterious and legendary Pokemon that had somehow involved the group in machinations far greater than they could understand. And Mudkip, for one, was tired of being in the dark about the nature of these strangers.

“Just gotta be careful not to confuse real humans for them… wait!! Avatars can understand Pokemon, right? So if I talk directly to them, they should hear me!” Mudkip murmured to itself, bounding around the area and examining every person it saw. It then started yipping, “HEY! AVATARS! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, COME OUT OF HIDING! I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU! DON’T JUST IGNORE ME! I KNOW YOU HAVE A HUMAN AND POKEMON BODY! I DON’T CARE WHICH FORM YOU TAKE FOR THIS CONVERSATION, BUT YOU JUST GOTTA ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!”

Mudkip could hear snickering from the nearby trees, and as the mudfish turned to face the source of laughter, a small orange figure revealed itself to him and flashed a peace sign. The small Pokemon grinned at Mudkip, sitting on the ground with childish glee as it spoke, “I heard ya talkin’! I, the great Victini, shall be your guiding fire! I shall lead ya to… Victoryyyy~ I heard ya got questions! Lemme answer them! I betchya I can!”

The stranger that called itself Victini seemed to have a personality to Rotom -- the current Avatar that’d joined Mudkip’s trainer and friends -- but at least this one could answer questions. The water-type refused to wince in fear of Victini’s voice, gripping the ground with its tiny feet to halt on a dime. Victini, on the other hand, gazed at Mudkip with wide blue eyes, awaiting whatever questions the Pokemon had to ask.

“Hey Mudkip… Have you got a new friend there?” Before Mudkip could get a word out, another Pokemon from their traveling group had interrupted. The water-type glanced over, noting the presence of Poochy the Poochyena -- a partner for the human named Catia. Mudkip hid back the frown that started to spread across its face, having disliked being interrupted before it could speak.

“It’s an Avatar. The one Decoda has isn’t satisfying to talk to. Come on, listen in with me,” Mudkip replied after a moment of deliberation. Returning its attention to Victini, it spoke in a calm voice as it tried to sum up its thoughts in a concise manner for Victini to grasp. “I want to know more about your kind. You’re not like typical Pokemon, and you can become people. You also are way stronger than typical Pokemon and speak the human language. For the past week, my human companions have been struggling to know more about you since they first met one named Entei. Now, we talk more and more about this, and it seemed like everyone has a connection to these super Pokemon… Tell me, why do you Avatars involve yourselves in the lives of seemingly random trainers? Decoda and his friends had nothing to do with this until now…”

By the sound of Mudkip’s voice, it was clear that the Pokemon was getting a little upset by hinting at its true feelings about these legendary figures. Victini, however, simply giggled and started floating a few inches off of the ground and made another peace sign.

“Such a good question! We show ourselves to humans that we think can help completely bridge the gap between humans and Pokemon~ Your Decoda and his friends have a great road ahead of them! That they do~ They’re gonna be the ones who save everyone~” In a burst of fire, Victini entered its human form -- a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that matched its Pokemon form. The clothes Victini manifested were beige and loose-fitting, designed more for comfort than practicality. The Avatar sat on the ground, a grin still plastered to its face. “You and the other Pokemon will fight alongside them, and help them! Next question?~”

As Victini answered the question, Mudkip couldn’t help but sigh. All of these Avatars were masters of telling them about something really important, but skimping out on the details. Although, the water-type had to admit… maybe with such an incredible sense of foreshadowing, the details were difficult to make out…? It was something to mull over, at least. Mudkip exhaled, letting that particular train of thought go for now.

Poochy blinked at the avatar when it had assumed its human form, something it had never really gotten used to ever since its master -- Catia -- had become an Ascended herself. But that thought had reminded him that her Ascended powers made her upset for some reason -- why was that? The dark-type watched Victini with cautious eyes before speaking, “My master, an Ascended of… Entei, I think she said? She’s gone through a lot of trouble with you lot. I know that some humans would give anything to do what she can, but she always seems so upset when she thinks about the things that she can do. There’s something else, too… A boy that she says was killed by Arceus because of an unfavorable future outcome between her and him…”

A growl began to rise in his throat, and Poochy took a moment to relax. It was hard to forget the pain on its Trainer’s face whenever she tried to talk about past events. After taking a moment to compose itself, Poochy continued, “I guess what I’m trying to ask is; Is everything you lot do really for the better? It always seems to me -- and forgive me if I get this opinion wrong -- that you all tend to cause more harm than good.”

“He has a good point.” Mudkip nodded. “You guys make it so hard to do anything, anymore! Is it all just a test of strength or worthiness? And another thing, it’s hard to trust you! Do you like doing this because you think it’s fun, or do you take commands from someone stronger than you?”

Victini’s mood seemed to mellow for a moment as Mudkip spoke, the static smile now faltering. He tilted his head after Mudkip spoke, returning to its Pokemon form in another burst of fire. His wide blue eyes glistened as he made another peace sign, albeit somewhat half-heartedly. The gaze of the Avatar was serious and stern, “It’s quite difficult to tell you everything, ya know. But, we test those we think are worthy. I… know it’s hard to trust me, but after all, you just met me. It’s understandable~ My job isn’t fun. Judging those who we think are worthy of power, taking them from a normal life, and throwing them into the chaotic world of Avatars, and terrifying abilities… I take orders from my dad; Arceus. A lot of my brothers and sisters think he means well, wanting what’s best for people and Pokemon alike, but others just aren’t sure anymore. I think he means well… he just needs a bit of help.”

Taking in what Victini had said, Mudkip started to believe the Avatar a little bit better. After all, they’d known Rotom for a few days now, so while he was helpful, he was also limited to a certain extent. The Avatars were only involving humans they thought would be useful -- it just so happened that these useful humans were Decoda, Cerise, Catia, and the others. At first, Mudkip thought it should’ve felt honored by this choice.

It wasn’t.

More than anything else, Mudkip felt scared and weary for what was to come. It saw weakness in its Trainer from the day they met almost 2 weeks ago, and had thought it would be beneficial to stick around and help Decoda better himself as a person. These trials that Victini implied… was Decoda ready for something like that?

The Victory Avatar redirected its focus to Poochy, its mellow smile now turning fully into a frown. “I’m sorry for her loss, but not all of us are bad. We try to do things for the better, but it doesn’t always… work out exactly as planned. That’s how life works, for humans and Pokemon alike.”

Poochy stared long and hard at Victini, his eyes gradually narrowing in displeasure. Something was fishy here… He could tell that -- although it was his first time meeting this particular Avatar -- Victini wasn’t lying about being displeased with his father’s actions as well. “I think it’s time that I speak with this father of yours myself. My master seems to go off and see him enough, so I suppose the next time I go with her, I’ll say something. It would seem to me -- from what experiences that I’ve seen within the interactions between my master and your father Arceus -- that the best help he can get now is to see an example of another Pokemon’s devotion to their master. Perhaps seeing such a thing combined with what words my own master has already spoke to him may spark something good in him.”

As the puppy Pokemon turned away to leave, he paused as he remembered the yelling in the distance he’d heard just before meeting up with Mudkip. Poochy sighed, looking back at Mudkip. “One more thing. You may want to return to your master soon, Mudkip. I believe the frantic cries that I heard in the distance may have been his figuring out your absence. While my master may not always keep tabs on her own Pokemon like either your master or the others, I believe your master may need your support now more than any of the others do. I’m sure you may have more questions for this Avatar in front of our eyes, however, it is important that we make our masters happy as much as we make ourselves happy. It was a pleasure. Farewell.”

Shock rippled through Mudkip’s body at Poochy’s words. The mudfish widened its eyes and turned to the Poochyena, who was intending to leave the premises. “You express such a strong loyalty to the ‘Master’ you’ve only known for a short while, assuming you met her when that Professor distributed us to these Trainers? The same master that kept trying to push Umbreon into socializing when it didn’t want to, and you got scratched because of it? Instead of telling me how I should behave and to exert all my efforts into my ‘Master,’ who I *do* see as an equal, not as an owner or even a lesser being, maybe it’s time you consider where your loyalties lie. Work as a team with humans and Pokemon, not for them. Figure things out with your ‘Master’ and not just take what they say and go with it.”

The water-type returned its gaze to Victini, explaining what it had meant, “Don’t get me wrong, I care about Decoda and the others to some extent, but I just wanted to talk about this so I can discover my own answers so I don’t incorrectly assume and interpret wrongly… I don’t want to be in the dark. I only wish Chimecho and little Mareep were here to have this chance, too.”

“Mudkip!! There you are! We were so worried about you -- it’s...” The mudfish glanced upward, seeing the very Chimecho it’d mentioned floating towards the group, worry evident on its face. The worry soured into shock as she took notice of Victini. “It really is an Avatar with all that psychic energy! What are you--?”

“I wanted to find out more for myself, Chimecho!” Mudkip said quickly, wanting to be sure it got out its side of the story before Chimecho came to the wrong conclusion. “No one was telling me what I needed to know, and so I called out for answers. I got the things I needed, though… so, Victini, thank you for your help.”

“You… don’t want to be in the dark…?” A growl from Poochy redirected the group’s attention to it, who had whipped around with a furious scowl evident on its face. The words of Mudkip’s suggestion echoed in its head, and all Poochy could see was red. “How do you think *I* feel? My master has gone through hell and back, and there’s not a single thing that I can do to ease her pain and to stop the tears she sheds from flowing! This ‘telling you how to behave’ business is ludicrous! I gave you a suggestion so that your master wouldn’t feel even a small amount of the pain that my own master has because he might think that you’re disappearing on him may make him think that he is an incompetent Trainer! Did you ever think about how he feels with your disappearance?! I wandered over here, not because of the Avatar that had shown itself to you, but because I worried that your master might lose what sanity he has left from the very roof over his head burning to ashes in his sleep!”

The Puppy Pokemon shook with rage as it glared daggers at Mudkip, all of its pent up frustration from the many hopeless situations that it had been put in finally coming out in an explosive fit of unbridled rage. Poochy hadn’t noticed that two others had taken note of group from a little ways down the street -- Quilladin, the partner of the human Cerise, and Espeon, the current solo partner of the human Wes. And, not long ago, Espeon had been the mate of Umbreon. The dark-type continued its monologue of rage, “There are truth to your words, don’t get me wrong. Of course I have only just met my master the same as you did. But you didn’t watch YOUR master cry himself to sleep because of the nightmares that he had every night up until recently! YOU haven’t seen the pain and suffering she has been through! YOU were not there the night that Umbreon had rejected her offer of friendship! We could only WATCH as he crawled, not to his own master, but MINE with its last breaths! YOU didn’t hear what he has said to her while only being able to watch her bear the pain of her injured shoulder and the loss of a friend we had ALL been close to!”

Poochy’s eyes seethed in anger as it crouched low, appearing as though it could lunge at Mudkip at any moment. “Your master has had someone close to him locked up in a place where he cannot reach, and yet you don’t seem to understand why he is so distraught! YOU are the failure who cannot work with your own master! Don’t you DARE tell me that I don’t know where my loyalties lie when YOU are the one who cannot try to solve what problems your own master has without wandering off without him!”

The Poochyena roars in frustration, attempting to scamper away after its monologue. Ragged breaths escaped him as the rage he had finally let go of returned to tear through his mind. He wanted to be strong for his master… strong enough to finally stop her tears from coming ever again. His attempt to abscond hadn’t gotten him *that* far from Mudkip, as Espeon stepped in its path of retreat, blocking the dark-type. Her gaze was hardened and deadly, and rage radiated off of her form.

“...How dare you speak of HIM that way…” Espeon’s split tail stood straight up as she stood over Poochy, her psychic energy radiating in waves off of her. The telepathic words she spoke were heard by everyone, who all winced at the harshness of the tone. “Speaking of MY mate as if you and your human were close to him. He wanted nothing to do with any of your masters, yet yours kept trying to get him to open up to her. YOU didn’t watch your LIFE PARTNER get shot in the head. YOU didn’t have to spend YEARS with him helping him recover. Your master DIDN’T EVEN GET TO HEAR HIS REAL FINAL WORDS BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE RIPPED HER TO SHREDS.”

She snarled and shook as tears welled up in her eyes before finally spilling over. For a moment, nobody spoke. Then Espeon continued. “...He lied.”

The psychic-type stared at the ground. “His last words were a lie.”

Espeon turned, her tail falling limp to the ground as she turned to walk away. She paused for a split second mid-strut, her fur color shifting until she resembled a kind of hybrid between Espeon and Umbreon.

“I blame you and your human for my death. Whether it was or was not your fault.”

“I… should go…” Victini said in a small voice, having begun to first shrink away from the conversation when Mudkip and Poochy had started arguing. The beige Avatar bit its lower lip before it faded in a shroud of intangibility to obscure its form from the others. Nervous, the Avatar returned to the tree it'd come from, watching the events below from a safe distance. It could see Mudkip about to explode in its own fit of rage from the verbal attacks Poochy had thrown at it. It could see several humans -- probably the Trainers of these Pokemon -- making their way to the scene. It could see Espeon angrily storm into the Pokemon Center. The Victory Avatar sighed to itself. It knew that this group was special, but they needed to come together and get on one page before they could bridge the gap between humans and Pokemon.

"By golly...! Can everyone please calm down??" Running up alongside Espeon to the scene, Quilladin's eyes followed the fleeing figure of Victini before returning to the scene unfolding right in front of him. For the most part, the Pokemon of each trainer hadn't really interacting with the Pokemon of the other trainers... So inevitably, it was hard to tell how their own personalities would clash, which was not too different from their own human friends. The hedgehog tried to give Poochy a friendly pat on the back as it surveyed the situation. Unlike Espeon, Quilladin hadn't caught what had been said about Umbreon, nor had he heard the argument that Poochy and Mudkip had just moments before. All he knew was that Pokemon were crying and feelings had probably been hurt! And quite honestly, he was at a complete loss as to what to do right now! "Let's all just take a deep breath and see where we hit a misunderstandin', alright?"

"I do say... Whatever would all of this fuss be about?" Quilladin felt a shiver crawl down his spine, which was the only signal to herald the fact that Honedge had drawn near, curious about the commotion that the Pokemon had begun to cause. The sword lazily let its scarf-like hand drift in the breeze as its single eye stared at them all intently. Its gaze lingered on Espeon the longest, a glint of glee playing across its words as it continued. "You are all causing a scene. You realize that, yes?"

And Honedge was right. Whatever townspeople still lived in the gloomy town had begun to take notice of the escalating commotion by the Pokemon Center. Still trying to comfort Poochy, Quilladin fought back the urge to squeal in horror as it came to realize the unwanted attention that the group had drawn. It seemed like everything was going great for the traveling group! And in the span of mere minutes, things had gone south. Perhaps this was what it was like for their human friends when they had first set out on their journey?

...Maybe Victini had had the right idea.

---∞---

[Present Day]

Victini watched Cerise carefully from the bleachers where he sat in his human form, full of interest at how Cerise would handle the Team Galactic Commander. There had been other interesting events that'd occurred that day for Cerise and his group, but there'd be more time to reminisce later. For now... Victini needed to see whether this human was indeed as promising as he thought he could be. The ones who could bridge the gap between humans and Pokemon...?

That road would be long, indeed.

The situation was far worse than they had imagined.

As Genesis led the others out of the BattleDome, he could feel a weight plummeting through his chest as he slowly took in the chaotic sight before him. It seemed that the woman in the bodysuit -- the one accompanied with Bronzong -- hadn’t been alone. Dispersed all throughout the fleeing masses of passengers, several individuals ripped off their coats, jackets, and formal disguises to unveil similar white-black astronaut-like clothing, not unlike what the bodysuited woman wore. The sinister yellow “G” emblazoned on their suits made it clear that they were part of a team: Team Galactic. Shouting cries of war, the strangers tossed Pokeballs off of their person to unleash the trained creatures that they held inside. Needless to say, the panic that was already set upon the S.S. Cortina magnified exponentially as a result.

“What do we do…?” Genesis could barely get out his sentence before he had to duck as a swarm of Galactic’s Zubat swooped down upon him. The young psychic let out a soft curse, whirling around to try to get a better handle on what to do. But with things the way they were, he was finding it hard to even think! Too many things were happening at once: Tables were getting knocked over and thrown out of windows; a nearby waitress was being pounced upon by a feral-looking Absol and clawed in the face; passengers and crewmen were pushing past each other at the exits to try to get free of the chaos. Genesis gritted his teeth before turning to look at his terrified Ralts.

“Hey, buddy. We’re gonna get through this! I just need ya to be strong. Can you do that?” The trembling Ralts looked up at him, her eyes quivering with tears. Genesis placed a gentle hand on her head to comfort her -- an assurance that they’d make it through. Ralts took a deep breath before nodding, jumping up in front of Genesis to defend him. Albeit yes, the Ralts was terrified, but… Genesis was counting on her, and she wanted to live up to his expectations. She curled her little hands into fists, awaiting her orders.

“Ralts… PSYCHIC!” By now, Genesis knew that he had to act. There weren’t many Trainers aboard the S.S. Cortina -- that much had been something he’d used his psychic powers to read from the crewmen. When it came to defending the cruiser, Genesis and the others were the only line of defense! As a hailstorm of Poison Sting rained down on Genesis, Ralts lifted its hands. Instantaneously, the needles stopped in midair and flipped in midair, before launching right back at the Skorupi and Drapion that’d fired the attack. Genesis’ counterattack drew the attention of the multitude of Team Galactic, who began to approach the group of young adults.

Genesis wasn’t the only one to retaliate.

A blur of red and green feathers flew past at breakneck speeds as Luchi the Hawlucha squawked a battle-cry before its Hi Jump Kick sank into the Absol of Team Galactic. A vortex of sand and debris followed up Luchi’s assault as Albion the Trapinch used Sandstorm to trap a Golduck that was sneaking up on Luchi’s blind spot. Jo and Rizu stepped up next to Genesis, and all three Trainers took another Pokeball off of their person.

“Pokeball, GO!” The three shouted in unison, providing their respective partners with backup as Team Galactic’s henchmen focused their attention on them. In three brilliant flashes of light, the defenders of the cruiser were joined by a small blue bird with wings as white and fluffy as cotton, a slim bipedal rabbit with brown coloration, and a small quadrupedal mammal that sported a mane of fire.

“Luchi, use Hi Jump Kick! Hurry, go for a Flame Wheel!” Jo made the first move, her Pokemon rushing into action at high speeds. As Luchi took a running front flip into its attack, the fire-type Quilava dashed forward as well, curling into a ball as its fiery mane engulfed its body. Both of Jo’s Pokemon collided with the larger Drapion, knocking it to the ground.

“Albion, Rock Slide. Unia, I’ll need a Disarming Voice.” Rizu kept his voice calm and focused, training his eyes on Absol as he spoke. Albion coalesced nearby gravel and shrapnel, while the cloud-winged bird let out a charming cry that pulsed towards the dark-type Absol. As the soundwaves struck the target, a wave of dense stone barreled into the dark-type’s side, bringing it to its knees.

“Ralts, another Psychic! Lopunny, Quick Attack!” Genesis snapped his fingers before pointing at Golduck with a confident smile. Ralts balled its hands together in concentration before thrusting them outwards, while the body of the elegant rabbit Pokemon began to glow with a snow-white light. A split second later, the brown rabbit burst forward, the white energy it exuded now forming contrails behind it as it body-checked Golduck into a wall.

The S.S. Cortina passengers, previously cornered by the villainous group, now seemed to have a sense of hope as the three Trainers pushed back Team Galactic and their Pokemon. The henchmen, however, didn’t seem nearly as fazed as Genesis thought that they would.

“What are you up to…?” The psychic murmured, trying to take a peek into one of their minds with his powers -- anything he could learn about the situation could help Cerise and that Eevee, hopefully! The psychic folded his arms, trying to dig into their minds, but… nothing. Not even surface thoughts -- clearly, they were mentally shielded from such tactics. Which would necessitate the presence of either a psychic Pokemon or another psychic like Genesis himself.

Neither was favorable for the current situation, honestly.

“Ah? How interesting…!” The sound of slow claps broke the tense quiet that’d settled in the lobby area as a man with rich blue hair parted the group of Team Galactic grunts. He also wore their uniform on his person, and his sneer made it clear that he was an individual of importance. From his belt, he ripped off a Pokeball and threw it forward, unleashing a dark blue frog-like creature into the lobby-turned-battleground. “I’m Commander Saturn of Team Galactic. And you, dear children, are getting in the way.”

“What do you want with that Eevee?!” Jo shouted, trying to focus her peripheral vision on anything and everything around her. These goons would try something underhanded, no doubt! The man simply laughed, shaking his head a bit at the opposition that’d formed before him.

“We’re simply reclaiming our property. Nothing more.” Saturn mused, surveying the three carefully before exhaling a heavy sigh. “In any case, if you cease this resistance, I shall allow you to leave in one piece. Perhaps.”

“Go screw yourself.” Jo shot back, the venom and agitation in her voice clearly evident. Her Hawlucha and Quilava circled back from their attacks to rejoin her at her side, both aggressively glaring down Commander Saturn and his Toxicroak. “Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work!”

The Commander chuckled, wise enough to sidestep Jo’s bait to spill Team Galactic’s plan. Instead, he ran a hand through his cobalt hair as he exhaled again, letting the tension in the air build as he pondered how to proceed. Rizu, however, had had his focus trained on the Toxicroak during the entirety of Jo’s exchange with the Commander. Though he hadn’t witnessed it battle yet, the amphibian’s idle movements seemed more… aggressive than a typical member of its species, enough for the young boy to give the Pokemon his undivided attention. He kept his focus steady and hardened as he made his confirmation of the black shadowy mist that surrounded the frog.

“Shadow Pokemon…!” Rizu breathed, fighting the urge to gulp as he did so. Likely, he was the only one who was able to see the mist -- a peculiar ability he’d been born with -- but the presence of such a Pokemon had made this confrontation several times more dangerous. It was as he completed the thought in his mind that he could’ve sworn he’d seen Genesis shoot him a look. But when Rizu glanced over, Genesis was still evidently focused on Saturn.

Something about that guy… Just didn’t feel right.

“Alright, the time for parley has passed.” Saturn clapped his hands cheerily before his demeanor suddenly shifted to that of a cold inferno, matching the feral stance of his Toxicroak. The sheer magnitude of killing intent from the Commander sent shivers clawing down Rizu’s spine, and he could feel his hands begin to grow clammy with sweat. “Now? You die here along with everyone else.”

---∞---

“Worst freakin’ vacation ever!!”

Geiger can barely get out another word before a burst stream of golden electrical energy howled past his ear, just mere millimeters away from his ears. The young man crouched as he adjusted his sunglasses, glaring at his attacker with a look that he only wished could kill. The opposition -- a red-headed woman wearing a dress of white and black -- scoffed at him in annoyance. The large Purugly at her side let out a feral hiss as the excess energy of its Thunderbolt danced across its fur. Geiger clenched his fist as he slowly stood. “And who the hell’re you? With that freaky spaceman crew, I’m guessin’?”

“Tch!” The woman scowled. She locked eyes with Geiger, who gave her a cocky grin. “I’m Commander Mars of Team Galactic. Now, get out of my way!!”

The young man shook his head, firmly standing his ground. In the panicked exodus of the BattleDome mere minutes ago, he’d gotten separated from Genesis and the others, and had opted to circle back to where Cerise was. Unfortunately, this woman had slipped past the crowd on her way to most likely assist her colleague. Geiger took a fighting stance. All that stood between this woman and Cerise’s battle with the other Commander was him -- he didn’t understand the motives of this Team Galactic, but he was sure they weren’t anything good. “You aren’t gonna get past me, lady. Better just pack your bags and get outta here!”

“On what authority do you dare to challenge me?! Purugly, SLASH!” Mars whipped a hand forward, and the feline Pokemon began to engage its offensive maneuver. Neither Mars nor her Pokemon cared that Geiger was without a Pokemon -- he’d be an acceptable casualty. What she hadn’t expected, however, was a mass of stones to form along his elbow into a massive blade of rock in the shape of a shark fin. The young man didn’t let the Purugly get close, counterattacking the Pokemon with a devastating Stone Edge that yeeted the cat back towards Mars.

“Just… what are you…?” Mars took a step back, surprised and terrified at the strange ability the young man had presented.

“Your worst nightmare.” Geiger Beck gave a toothy grin, exposing the rows of sharpened shark-like shape of his teeth as he prepared to launch an assault of his own.

Geiger immediately kept up the pressure on Commander Mars, punching a fist forward into the air. As his stance completed, his body began to burn with an orange aura that spread from his chest outward. As the aura reached his hands and feet, a sphere of orange light crackled to life behind his head, radiating massive amounts of heat. Geiger smirked as the sphere shot upwards and exploded, raining his Draco Meteor down upon the hallway to force Mars back. The woman let out an annoyed ‘tsk’ as she and her Purugly stepped backwards to get some distance, then she pointed a sharply manicured finger at Geiger.

“I don’t know how the hell you’re able to use Pokemon attacks, but I won’t let you meddle any more!” Mars snarled, attempted to reassert herself and regain momentum in the battle. She took a step forward, and her heel let out a sharp ‘click’ as it made contact with the ground. “Use Shadow Claw, Purugly!”

As umbral energy swirled around the feline Pokemon’s claws, Geiger kept himself crouched as low to the ground as possible as he ran forward to intercept the incoming attack. Another Stone Edge quickly constructed itself along his forearm, which he used to counterstrike the Pokemon. Multicolored sparks blossomed to life as shadow energy struck hardened stone, and the two combatants launched themselves away from each other once again.

Geiger was the first to react, pushing his body to its limits as he used a Stone Edge to carve through the space around him while midair. Catching enough of a draft on his stone appendage to spin his body, he twisted himself around in a horizontal spin before landing perfectly on his feet. As soon as his foot touched the ground, he redirected the physical momentum from his spin to launch himself forward at breakneck speeds. He let out a growl as he tore through the air, manifesting white energy in front of his face as he did so. The energy solidified into a construct of jaws as Geiger attempted to Crunch the Purugly.

The manifested energy jaws clamped down on Purugly when Geiger was within striking distance, sinking deep into the feline’s flesh. As the Pokemon cried out in pain, Geiger followed up by slamming the cat into the ground with his Stone Edge blade, creating a small crater in the metal ground under Purugly’s fallen frame.

The young man smirked with confidence as he once again turned his momentum into circular movements, readying another acrobatic maneuver. From his position, he performed a series of backflips that once again placed him directly between Commander Mars and the door leading to Cerise’s battle location.

“You…!!” Mars was at a loss for words, and could do little else but fume at the current predicament. Her Purugly staggered to its feet, panting heavily from the physical exertion that it was trying to endure. Commander Mars pursed her lips in annoyance, repeatedly tapping the heel of her boots against the ground for a moment or two before a devilish smile spread across her face. “Purugly, Hypnosis!”

The Purugly’s eyes began to glow with multicolored lights, and it let out a howl as multicolored circles of light bloomed from its body. And Geiger couldn’t react fast enough, having locked eyes with the Purugly for long enough to get caught in its Hypnosis attack. He tried to break his gaze away, but it was too late.

Strength was drained from his legs mere split-seconds after the eye contact was made, and Geiger Beck felt drowsiness overtake him. A string of curses was uttered under his breath as he struggled to keep himself awake. And as he dropped to one knee, the last thing he could hear was the cackle of Commander Mars.

---∞---

“Cupidri is the Fate Spinner Pokemon. It’s said to be the one to tie people destined to be together with a red string of fate -- kinda like us! Right, Geigy?”

Geiger blinked slowly, lifting an arm above his eyes to block the intense sunlight above him. His mind was… fuzzy, as though he were forgetting something? But here he stood, at Branwyn’s Shrine of Cupidri with the girl he valued most in the world, and there was no place he’d rather be. The boy let out an exhale -- he probably wasn’t forgetting anything too important.

“Oi! Geigyyyy! Are you listening to me?” He lowered his arm slightly, focusing his attention to the girl and stone monument she stood in front of. The girl was pouting slightly as she stared at him, her bottom lip pushed slightly outward as she crossed her arms. And words came tumbling out of Geiger’s mouth before he could fully form his thoughts.

“Sorry, Rori! Heh, it’s just… Days like this feel like we’re living in a daydream or something!” Geiger smiled, walking towards the girl and taking her hands in his own. Rori was initially reluctant, still pretending to be annoyed, but quickly melted away her facade in the warmth of his touch. Geiger pulled her into a tight embrace, cradling the back of her head with his hand. “Rori Neighman, you mean so much to me, and you always have. Cupidri’s rarely wrong about the people it ties together, after all!”

The smell of her lavender-scented hair mixed with the freshly cut grass of the Branwyn countryside hills that they stood upon, and Geiger kept his eyes closed as he held her. A moment like this was one to be treasured as a precious memory.

He didn’t see the skies above them shift into malevolent clouds of gray and black.

Fierce winds ripped through the earth, dislodging chunks of earth and stone free from their earthbound moorings and tearing through the Shrine as well. An unearthly howl echoed through the heavens, and a bolt of black lightning landing near the pair forced them apart as they jumped back in fright. As stones and trees began to swirl in a vortex around them, Geiger could faintly make out a pair crimson eyes focused directly on them from the nearby dense treeline.

As fear gripped him, the entity drew closer to reveal itself as a black serpent with golden bands and chains enclosed around its body. And in that moment, his hand still firmly clasping Rori’s, he began to remember everything: the S.S. Cortina, Team Galactic, his battle with Mars. Geiger turned numbly towards Rori, now knowing that she was nothing more than his subconscious memory of the girl that had been torn away from him. As the black serpent drew closer, the winds picked up enough to knock the memory figure of Rori away entirely, lifting her up into the vortex as she screamed in terror. No, the events of that day hadn’t happened like this, but Geiger remembered all too well the day that Souloc the Fate Eater had devoured the red string between him and Rori. This had been the day when he’d lost everything, but also the day that he’d learned he was a Descended of Garchomp -- one of his ancestors had evidently been a Garchomp Avatar.

And as the black serpent Souloc drew ever closer, Geiger could feel his anguish burn away to be replaced with raw anger. For screwing with his head like this? Mars would pay. With a snarl, he ran towards Souloc as the memory world around him was torn apart in a pitch-black storm. The serpent Pokemon with scales as dark as midnight raised its head towards the eye of the storm, and its crimson eyes radiated multicolored light as Geiger jumped into the air to strike the creature...

---∞---

“Don’t.”

Mars’ hand hovered just above the knob to the BattleDome’s door as Geiger spoke, and the woman let out an irritated sigh as she slowly turned to face the now rising young man. Against her better judgment, she had opted to not kill Geiger and go straight to helping her fellow Commander instead. The decision was made partly out of urgency, but also partly due to her interest in this man -- how was he able to use Pokemon Moves as effectively as any actual Pokemon? It was something to investigate later, for sure.

That had all been made under the assumption that he’d be under the spell of Purugly’s Hypnosis for more than 30 seconds.

“You just don’t stay down, do you?” Mars folded her arms across her chest as Geiger rose to his full height, his expression hidden and shadowed by his long hair. The woman sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she tried to maintain her composure. Her Purugly kept itself close to her, but also made sure to keep its eyesight focused on Geiger. “Truly, I would have let you live, if only to learn how exactly you do what you can do. But you just don’t know when to qui-”

“Shut up.”

Mars unconsciously took a step back when he spoke, her back pressed firmly against the door behind her. Seemingly out of nowhere, this young man had mustered the strength to not only stand, but assume a fighting stance. Ignoring the instinctual fear that’d risen in her, Mars narrowed her eyes in annoyance at Geiger’s continued resistance before speaking again. “It’s over! Just accept it already!!”

“I. Said. SHUT UP!” Geiger’s face quickly snapped upward as intense blue light and white sparks engulfed his body in an aura of blazing fire. Within that moment, his features began to sharpen and become more draconic, and sharp bladed spikes burst forth from either side of his chest. He planted his foot forward as he let a roar rip from his throat, intimidating Mars through the combination of the draconic transformation and the unearthly roar as the blue light faded. Though Mars wouldn’t have known, he’d activated his Mega transformation to turn the tides back into his favor. With blinding speed, he closed the distance between himself and Mars in a heartbeat, before striking her and Purugly down with Stone Edge blades protruding from both of his arms.

At the moment his opponents struck the ground, he lept backward into a backspin before pointing a hand out towards the two and letting an orange aura engulf his body. Geiger concentrated the orange energy into the palm of his outstretched hand, coalescing a fireball of energy that radiated intense heat as he kept his aim steady.

“It’s OVER!!” Geiger fired off the Draco Meteor, letting a rainshower of energy barrage his fallen foes to finish the job as he landed onto the ground with a graceful flourish. He smirked mischievously, and the physical alterations from his Mega transformation began to recede back into his body. He adjusted his sunglasses as he knelt over to Purugly’s Pokeball and returned the feline Pokemon. Couldn’t have it getting in a sucker punch when his back was turned, after all. The young man slowly stood, pondering what to do next -- help Genesis and the others, or help Cerise.

He didn’t notice Mars’ finger twitch.

---∞---

“Poison Jab!!”

No sooner had the words left Commander Saturn’s mouth, had the Toxicroak already begun its offensive as it moved with unnatural speed. In one moment, it was next to Saturn, but within the blink of an eye, it had struck Luchi the Hawlucha squarely in the chest with a hand that glowed purple. Rizu winced as the bird was sent spiraling backwards by the Poison Jab, ultimately making an impact with an overturned table.

He barely registered the sounds of bones breaking from the attack.

His realization happened mere seconds later when Luchi had tried to stand up from where it had crash-landed, only for the Pokemon to scream in pain as it spat up blood from its injuries. The bird collapsed back onto the ground, unable to move more from the sheer amount of pain that it now felt. Rizu gulped, and he tried to return his attention to Saturn’s Toxicroak as Jo ran over to where her brutalized partner Pokemon had fallen.

That was the thing with Shadow Pokemon -- they never held back. Ordinarily, Pokemon understood that battling was a sport, and always employed some degree of restraint as a kind of show of respect and honor. But Shadow Pokemon were able to bypass their body’s natural limitars and exert the full extent of their body’s strengths. Much like the adrenaline rush that humans could temporarily access while saving their child from a car, except that the boost in capabilities was more long-term for Shadow Pokemon. By this time, he mostly knew how Shadow Pokemon were made -- by closing the door of the heart of the Pokemon itself.

The process to create Shadow Pokemon removed a Pokemon’s emotions, turning it into a soulless fighting machine -- without the morality to hold back against others and to attack at full force. Rizu narrowed his eyes, knowing all too well the dangers that this Toxicroak presented due to its current condition. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that his own Albion had been a Shadow Pokemon, too.

“Mega EVOLVE!” Rizu was now crouching down as he quietly maneuvered around the fallen debris scattered across the room. In order to keep the Toxicroak down, Genesis had evidently triggered a Mega Evolution for… Lopunny, from the looks of things.

Using Saturn’s onslaught as a flag, the other Pokemon that Team Galactic held also attacked at once, aiming to overwhelm Rizu and the others through their sheer numbers. And with Jo out of the battle for now due to Luchi’s fatal injuries, they’d need some kind of miracle in order to win. Rizu wasn’t sure whether or not he actually believed in miracles -- but he did believe in opportunities.

He spared a brief behind him as he set his bag down. In mid-air, Mega Lopunny and Shadow Toxicroak were exchanging a series of blows too fast for the human eye to follow. For the moment, at least, Genesis’ Lopunny was able to hold its own against the Shadow Pokemon and dish right back everything that it was dealing out.

Albion and Unia -- his Trapinch and Swablu -- were struggling to keep up, having been backed into a corner alongside Genesis’ Ralts and Jo’s Quilava by Galactic’s horde of Pokemon. They simply weren’t able to fight against so many strong opponents, and the next few minutes would be critical in determining which side would win. He quickly returned his attention to his bag, digging through it at a frantic pace to find what he was looking for.

He’d known for some time that his sister Loka had been involved with the Pokemon Ranger organization, and that she’d had traveled to a variety of regions for that job. One of those regions, Almia, had been ground zero for a conflict that the native Rangers had had with a group called Team Dim Sun, who had used advanced hypnotization technology to drive Pokemon berserk.

The tech that Team Dim Sun was using had been turned into portable computers called Miniremo Units, whose tech supplier had originated in Kanto. The group itself had used a native Almian energy company -- Altru Inc. -- as a front for their activities. However, the actual Miniremo technology had been outsourced to Kantonian workers for cheaper pay and labor. The search for these Kantonian manufacturers had been what had led to Rizu coming to Kanto about a month or two ago.

Finally, he fished out the item he was looking for -- a jet-black high-tech shoulder pad-like unit attached to a corresponding hand cover. A crimson light pulsated from the center of the hand cover as Rizu slipped the unit onto his arm. In truth, he had done little more than modify a Snag Machine to accommodate for the Miniremo technology, but it’d been a tactical decision at the time that made sense… it was just unfortunate that he hadn’t actually tested if the device would work.

As Rizu stood up with his self-titled Havoc Unit, he turned towards the others to get their attention. “Guys, return your Pokemon.”

“Are you insane?!” Jo snapped, her tear-streaked eyes locked onto Rizu in disbelief. In her arms, she was cradling Luchi tightly.

Genesis, however, watched Rizu briefly before nodding and returning his Pokemon. Although Rizu couldn’t fathom why Genesis hadn’t offered more resistance, he wasn’t upset. After all, Genesis hadn’t told him about his psychic powers. And so, Rizu didn’t question Genesis placing a comforting hand on Jo’s shoulder.

“It’s ok. He has a plan, so we can get payback for Luchi.” Genesis smiled faintly to comfort her, and she sighed as she reluctantly returned her Pokemon.

“Giving up?” Saturn scoffed as Rizu stood in front of his friends, with Shadow Toxicroak leering at the Trainers with a dark growl.

“No. We’re winning.” With that, Rizu felt the Havoc Unit surge with energy, and crimson concentric circles radiated from the Unit’s hand cover. Nearly instantly, Team Galactic’s Pokemon began to turn on each other and began to attack with abandon.

Everyone present -- Trainers, Galactic members, and S.S. Cortina passengers -- pressed themselves to the walls of the room so that they could avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Absol mercilessly tore into the Drapion, and Golduck launched high-pressure bursts of water at Zubat. And in the midst of the chaos, Toxicroak was attacking all of the other Pokemon indiscriminately.

This was, naturally, the opportunity that Rizu was waiting for.

He lifted his Havoc Unit-equipped hand ahead of him, holding an empty Pokeball in it in preparation for what he was going to attempt next. The Pokeball radiated with red energy briefly before Rizu finally made his move. He threw the sphere directly at Toxicroak, striking the frog on the head with a loud THUD. And a split moment later, the Shadow Pokemon was sucked into the Pokeball Rizu had thrown, letting out a soft ding after it rolled three times.

The room was quiet for a moment.

“THE HELL?!” Saturn shouted as the other Galactic members returned their Pokemon. “You can’t catch someone else’s Pokemon!”

“You can if they’re being snagged.” Rizu said simply, placing a hand on his hip.

“Why didn’t you do that before??” Jo approached from his side, throwing her hands up in… anger? Or maybe something else? Rizu gave her a sideways glance as his Snag Ball rolled back to his side. Before he responded, he knelt to pick up the Snag Ball.

“Don’t blame me -- none of us expected Toxicroak to be that powerful. My Havoc Unit’s functions can only be used once per battle because of their recharge times. But due to that, we now have turned the tides.” Rizu said as he minimized Toxicroak’s Pokeball. Later, he’d train this one more and purify its closed heart.

“...You think so?”

Those three words sent a wave of alarm through the room as Saturn began to cackle. He pulled out a second Pokeball, this one a snow-white hue with golden markings etched into it. The Pokeball type was certainly nothing Rizu had seen before, and he could only look on in surprise when Saturn whirled around to throw the Pokeball towards an open window. And as it opened to reveal what was inside, an unearthly roar erupted from it. With a confident laugh, Saturn and the Team Galactic grunts dashed outside through a nearby door, to be with whatever secret weapon they’d pulled out. Jo, Rizu, and Genesis looked at each other warily before following the Team outside.

What they saw was horrifying.

A gargantuan marine Pokemon with a serpentine body was glaring down at the S.S. Cortina. At first glance, it seemed to be a Gyarados, but… something about the Pokemon was definitely off! Either way, the Pokemon was gigantic, perhaps equaling in its overall size to three large Wailord put together. With a coloration of black with bright crimson accents, it was an intimidating sight to behold.

“It’s a Mega Gyarados, I think?” Genesis muttered. Both normal Gyarados and Mega Gyarados only clocked in at a height of 21 feet in length. But this was far greater -- taking the average Wailord’s size of 47 feet in size? This Pokemon could easily be 141 feet in size total.

“It’s a Shadow Pokemon, for sure.” Rizu cursed. The appearance of jet-black scales on it appeared in particularly powerful Shadow Pokemon, like a Shadow Lugia he’d heard of some time ago. And if that wasn’t enough, its Shadow Aura was particularly potent.

“It’s… also a Totem Pokemon.” Jo added. In the region of Alola, Totem Pokemon were larger than normal Pokemon that were used to train Pokemon Trainers. But they never reached sizes like this! The Z-Energy that it exuded was disgustingly high, even without Saturn using Z-Moves.

“My trump card!! Shiny Shadow Mega Totem Gyarados!!” Saturn cackled as the SSTM Gyarados let out a roar. The soundwaves pushed the S.S. Cortina backwards as waves of water rippled outward from where the gigantic Pokemon floated. The three Trainers simultaneously gulped, feeling the flicker of hope they’d held from the Snagging begin to die.

---∞---

Every bone, muscle, and fiber of Cerise’s body told him that this was a terrible course of action to take. No, not the fact that he was trying to protect this Eevee from the strange spacewoman opposing him. That had, at least, felt like a natural course of action for him to take. The terrible course of action was almost certainly that he was opting to battle the Commander without the assistance of his Pokemon team. Of course, he wanted nothing more than to rip a Pokeball off of his belt and chuck it skyward so that one of his friends could lend their aid. But… he knew better than ever before that not all Pokemon could make it out from a battle in one piece.

And that knowledge was paralytic.

It was as he stood in the BattleDome, holding his ground against the Team Galactic Commander, that more aching memories pierced at his heart. The memory of a fatally burned Umbreon lying weakly in farmland grass, slowly reaching out towards Catia as a barn was ablaze mere feet away. The memory of Wes kneeling in front of Umbreon’s gravestone at Pokemon Tower, the smell of cobwebs and musky tears accentuating the young man’s own despair. The memory of several friends -- Yuno, Wes, and Espeon -- all lifeless like ragdolls as the skies of Lavender Town melted away into a pitch-black expanse of storming clouds. The memory of Cerise’s own Goomy being struck down before his very eyes, as the dragon-type tried to protect her friends from a near-certain fatality. And the memory of Cerise’s own journey to Lavender Town’s Pokemon Tower, and lowering Goomy’s lifeless body into the grave that he’d dug out for his friend.

He exhaled, feeling a quivering tremble in his throat as the painful memories of death slowly began to recede from his thoughts. The boy sniffed, blinking away the hurt that had eclipsed his other emotions as he returned his focus to the Team Galactic Commander in front of him. That kind of pain from loss wasn’t something that he could let himself feel again, not after the trials that had unfurled within the past few weeks. And as Cerise reasserted his attention, the small Eevee in his arms looked up at him with a look of uncertainty. There was clearly courage in the human’s heart, but also… an undeniable flame of indecision.

“So then, little Aerie! Shall we begin?” Commander Jupiter laughed as she pointed towards the young man. The sneer on her face was icy and unnerving, enough for Cerise to shudder in anticipation of the conflict to come. At this point, Cerise was beyond sure that this battle would be far from an easy one. The Commander spoke again, with a twinkle glimmering in her eye. “Let’s see how long you’ll last, boy! Bronzong, use Gyro Ball! Tear it all apart!”

The bell-shaped Pokemon let out a low-pitched blare as it began to rotate rapidly, using the forward momentum and friction from each rotation that it made to let it come barreling towards Cerise at blistering speeds. Papers, dishware, and all other manner of debris parted in its wake as the Pokemon violently ricocheted off of the ground for an intended direct collision with Cerise.

Preemptively, the young man threw himself to the ground with Eevee cradled in his arms. He couldn’t help but wince as he felt the wind scream past his ears as Bronzong blitzed past overhead. Moving quickly before Bronzong could ricochet back to strike him, Cerise pushed himself to run towards an overturned table nearby. As soon as his cover was established, he glanced down at the Eevee that was cradled in his arms to make sure it was unharmed. The small brown fox met his gaze as it looked upwards with tear-filled eyes, and once again, Cerise couldn’t help but feel like he’d met this particular Eevee before…

There wouldn’t be more time to ponder the thought, as Bronzong’s spherical attack slammed into the ground at a distance that was just a bit too close for comfort. Cerise pressed onwards, rolling into a forward tumble that landed him at the side of the BattleDome’s bleacher section, where he finally took a breath. The sound of Bronzong’s collisions echoed throughout the BattleDome as it continued its unrelenting Gyro Ball spin, wrecking more and more of the structures around it.

“Come on, Aerie! Surely you can muster up some kind of fight? Or were your words before mere fluff to put on a tough act?” Jupiter giggled as the ricocheting attack continued. She clasped her hands together, speaking in a high-pitched voice as though to imitate Cerise. “‘I can’t beat the shit out of you without getting closer!’ HA! This is pathetic!”

Cerise didn’t respond, instead trying to form some kind of plan. So far, Jupiter hadn’t revealed her full hand in regards to what Bronzong was capable of -- its Gyro Ball had seemingly overwhelmed him this much, and it likely had at least three more Pokemon Moves at its disposal. And there was also the possibility that Jupiter had more Pokemon on her team after Bronzong. As his thoughts began to process potential strategies, his hands brushing against his belt of Pokeballs and rested on the sphere. The pulsing warmth emanating from the Pokemon inside of the sphere had almost shocked him, and Cerise couldn’t help but jerk his hand away.

That brief touch had opened a bridge of emotion between himself and his Pokemon partner, and after keeping them away for so long? It was… heartbreaking. He’d wanted to keep them safe from harm, but couldn’t bring himself to transfer his remaining Pokemon to his Mom in Unova for safekeeping. After Goomy had died, he just couldn’t bring himself to face the others in his team for fear of their faces of disappointment. After all, he’d betrayed the bonds between Trainer and Pokemon by letting her die, and taking vengeance as retaliation. Or, perhaps, their feelings could have been that of hatred towards him due to not being strong enough to prevent Goomy from dying in the first place. Hadn’t his conviction been strong enough? What he feared more than disappointment or hatred, was that his Pokemon had blamed themselves for not being there to prevent her death. His team had been a little family, and Goomy’d had a motherly personality that had held them together as a glue.

But what he felt from the Pokeball in that moment was not disappointment, nor hatred, nor self-blame. In the moment when his hand clasped the Pokeball, a strong heat filled up his body until he felt like he was going to burst. The reaction had been enough for him to wipe his eyes in the sleeve of his shirt as he regained his composure.

What he’d felt was unconditional love and unshakeable trust.

His thoughts were interrupted, as Bronzong tore through a nearby section of the bleachers as easily as scissors glide through paper. He’d hoped that the bleachers would at least be able to withstand an impact more easily than the rest of the BattleDome, but that’d just been proven very, very wrong. He needed to act now!

As Cerise burst from the shadows of the bleachers, Cerise dug deep into one of the side compartments of his bag to fetch a gift from Vermilion City’s Lt. Surge -- his heater shield. Seeing an opportunity, Eevee sank into the compartment that the shield had been housed in, so as to be out of harm’s way during the conflict to come. As he brandished his weapon in front of him, Cerise couldn’t help but internally chuckle as he remembered when Loka had first suggested that the group arm themselves with weapons. He’d been so hesitant back then… even though it had been a few short weeks ago.

But he was different now!

Cerise took a defensive posture, readying himself for what was to come. But even so… looking at this shield again reminded him of when he’d first gotten it…

---∞---

“You’re a natural with a shield.”

Lt. Surge smirked as he watched Cerise take different stances with the heater shield. The boy moved nearly flawlessly, even though he didn’t have a lick of combat experience. Surge rubbed his chin for a moment. “With a little polishing up, you could make an excellent knight!”

The Gym Leader stopped for a moment, and the sounds of Gym trainers sparring with weaponry began to fade into the background as Cerise looked up at Surge. Surge’s smile softened as he thought over Cerise’s previous words about working at a Day Care for most of his life. “Working around Pokemon at such a young age allows you to learn things that normal people can’t pick up about them. Such as hidden weaknesses, sometimes even loyalty towards their Trainer. For instance…”

Surge turns for a moment, looking around the training room before jutting a finger over at Loka, who was looking over a flail with Decoda. “You probably thought she was terrifying and her Pokemon mistreated? But after getting to know her, as well as her Pokemon, you see that their loyalty is phenomenal. Now compare her Pokemon to someone who terrorizes their Pokemon, forcing them to be loyal out of the mere concept of fear and respect. The bond between that Trainer and their Pokemon would be a lot weaker; and you’ll be able to see it.”

“W-wow, sir! You’re really incredible!” Cerise smiled in awe, astounded by Lt. Surge’s speech on his own observations. Maybe one day… Cerise could be someone like the Lieutenant? The thought sent bubbles of glee through his mind, and he couldn’t help but spread his grin even wider.

---∞---

‘And it’s because Lt. Surge said those words to me that I can tell… Bronzong’s bond of loyalty is based on its fear!’ Cerise came to the realization as his eyes darkened. For a Pokemon or any living creature to be mistreated was unforgivable!!

And maybe that was something that Cerise could exploit, as long as he could figure out how to do it. But he’d have to think on the fly, as Bronzong had ricocheted around the BattleDome enough times to have created another route for a direct collision with Cerise! The boy kept his stance firm, lowering himself a bit with his shield squarely in front of him for what he was going to attempt. His thoughts kept processing what to do next at a frantic pace, and a plan formed in his head.

Bronzong couldn’t turn in mid-air after it’d made a ricochet, from what he’d seen thus far. Every time it bounced off of a surface, it continued onward in a linear direction until it hit its next surface. At the same time, the Pokemon was mathematically calculating exactly which part of its spinning body had to make impact with a surface in order to minimize how many redirections it’d need to make to attempt another collision. Bronzong… it was clear that this Pokemon was definitely smart.

So Cerise would have to be smarter.

Right now, Bronzong’s angle had Cerise directly in its path, and he’d have to make a split-second decision on how to proceed! Eyes hardened, he shuffled his position to the left a bit, keeping himself just off-center of Bronzong’s intended impact point. He was about to do something incredibly reckless, enough so that one wrong move would almost certainly kill him. He then angled the outer surface of his heater shield to his right a bit, leaving his torso more exposed.

Bronzong made impact.

Golden sparks burst to life from the collision, and Cerise gritted his teeth as his arm screamed in pain from the fiery strain of Bronzong pushing against his shield. But he couldn’t stop now! The angling of his shield was tilted just enough for the plan to work, and with a strained shout, he swung his shield to the right completely, flinging the spinning Bronzong into the wall to his right. His shield had become a new surface that the Pokemon had unaccounted for in its calculation, and if he was fast enough, Cerise could continue to deflect Bronzong’s barrage. But he knew that wouldn’t be enough -- he’d have to find a way to alter EVERY surface that Bronzong ricocheted into.

Picking up the closest nearby piece of debris in his free hand, he scanned the BattleDome room for Bronzong’s spinning form. It was as he spotted it collide with a far wall that he finally acted. As the Pokemon bounced off of the wall, Cerise quickly spun to the spot where he was predicting that the Pokemon would go next, based on its angle. His eyes traced the path that the Bronzong was going to take, and he chucked the debris at the next surface that the spinning Pokemon was going to ricochet off of just before the Pokemon landed. If Cerise had been correct, then this impact would have been the one that allowed Bronzong to attempt a second collision with Cerise. But with the debris he’d just lobbed there? Bronzong couldn’t have included something like that in its predictions.

The results were as Cerise had hoped, with Bronzong letting out a metallic cry of surprise as it was sent spinning from the impact point into a direction that it certainly hadn’t been planning to go into. The boy quickly snatched up another chunk of fallen debris, arming himself in preparation. Between using his shield as a surprise surface, and throwing things at Bronzong’s intended impact points, he could keep the Pokemon off-balance enough to have a shot at winning!

Cerise kept his body moving fluidly, tracking Bronzong’s movements and predicted where it’d end up before acting. The previous assault that Bronzong had been one-sidedly launching? It was now being turned against it, as Cerise turned the tides of the battle. He swatted away the attacks that he hadn’t managed to disrupt, ultimately trading blows with the Pokemon several times as he gritted his teeth. His dark-brown hair, now slick with sweat, had begun to cover his now vibrant pink eyes.

Still unnoticed by either combatant, Victini crossed his legs as he observed the conflict with heightened interest. For a human to fight a Pokemon was uncommon, but for the conflict to actually be in the human’s favor? Yes, there was definitely something different going on here. Foremost, this human was fighting a Bronzong, and bearing the full impact of its unrestrained physical attacks. It was clear to Victini that Cerise Aerie was the exact person he’d needed, after all!~

‘However… there is still something that he lacks.’ Victini mused to himself. The humans he was searching for were meant to be the bridges between humanity and Pokemon everywhere. To that end…

“GRAAAHH!!” Cerise stepped forward, swinging his shield with more force than he thought he could even muster, knocking Bronzong into the pole of a hanging ceiling fixture. The fixture’s pole -- probably a BattleDome scoreboard of some kind -- began to teeter and sway from the dent that the Pokemon had put into it, and Bronzong itself fell to the ground. No longer spinning, the Pokemon slammed face-first into the ground, unable to move any further.

Jupiter growled, whipping out the Pokemon’s Pokeball to recall it. This had been unexpected, a normal person turning Bronzong’s attacks against it. However… Jupiter still had another Pokemon she could use. She took out her second Pokeball, and threw it forward. “Now, it’s time to get serious!!”

The boy could feel his knees begin to grow weak from stress, but he needed to push onward for Eevee’s sake! And so, the aggressive-looking Skuntank that Jupiter had brought out to replace Bronzong might just have been enough to finish him off if he couldn’t keep his mettle strong. Despite his legs threatening to buckle underneath him from the sheer degree of fatigue he felt, he tried to keep his defensive posture so as to counteract whatever Jupiter had planned for him next.

Victini, however, uncrossed his legs as he leaned forward. He kept his focus on Cerise’s eyes, whose irises were still a vibrant glowing pink. And it was here, now that Cerise was being pushed to his limit, that Victini could see if Cerise was truly capable of what Victini thought he could be…

Miracles.

It was a word that Cerise hadn’t necessarily believed in, especially given how life had been treating him for the past few weeks. But it was on this very day, in these moments, that Cerise experienced the first miracle of his battle against the Galactic Commander.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

---∞---

Geiger Beck could be described in many ways: brutish, a thug, rude, a delinquent, a sweetheart, a man with a heart of gold. But one thing he certainly wasn’t, was naive. It was the very instant that his highly trained ears heard the sound of a Pokeball clock open behind him that he was once again on the defensive, cautious of what was behind him as he spun around.

“Tch! Ya just don’t stay down, do ya?” Geiger couldn’t hide his annoyance as he acrobatically dodged the surprise attack, hugging the nearby wall so that the attack of the Commander’s latest Pokemon would sail harmlessly past him. He narrowed his eyes before aggressively popping the bones in his knuckles as he turned to face her. “See, now I hafta get a bit more serious to make sure ya don’t get back up this time. And it’ll be a lot less fun for you than it’ll be for me.”

Mars -- the Commander of Team Galactic that he thought he’d previously downed -- was now struggling to stand again. An aggressive-looking Crobat fluttered and flitted about beside her, readying itself to fire off another volley of Sludge Bombs.

Geiger would make sure it’d never get the chance.

He made the first move, allowing himself a wide grin as Stone Edge blades formed at his forearms. With a cackle, he pushed himself into the air by thrusting on the balls of his feet, then spun in a midair corkscrew maneuver that slashed through Crobat like a drill. The bat Pokemon let out a high-pitched shriek as the Stone Edge blades pierced its body, ultimately knocking it down to the ground as multiple direct hits landed in succession. Geiger landed cleanly behind Crobat and its Commander, but wasn’t done with his attack yet. The smirk of the Dragon-Descended grew even wider as he spun around and let a hand outstretch before him, letting loose a Draco Meteor at his enemies from a point-blank range.

“Not done with ya yet!!” Geiger let another Draco Meteor coalesce in his hands, firing it again at Crobat and the Commander. As he fired a second volley of Draco Meteor blasts, a flicker of excitement sparked in his eyes, and he allowed a third burst of Draco Meteor to burst forth from his fingertips. Geiger’s blood felt as though it was trembled with excitement, and his instincts took over his rationality. He slammed a foot down onto the ground, intending to finish off the opposition with a powerful Earthquake maneuver. But as he did so, the ground beneath the hallway they stood in began to rupture and crumble. A look of realization slowly dawned on Geiger’s face as a spider web of cracks spiraled out from under the rubble he’d made with his attacks, collapsing the entire floor of the hallway to the deck below…

---∞---

Cerise Aerie tried his best to move quickly, gritting his teeth as he urged his pained body to push past its limitations. Shield held carefully in hand, he kept his gaze firmly squared on the mocking visage of the Galactic Commander as he dashed towards her. Every muscle and fiber of his being screamed in agony as he pressed onwards, navigating through the rubble and debris of the collapsing BattleDome.

In all honesty, he could hardly believe himself that this was happening – what had been intended to be a grieving respite had turned into something… very different. Somehow, he’d been pulled into a conflict that he didn’t understand the full magnitude of, but was fully risking his own life for. But whatever the cause was, he was sure that the stakes were no small matter. After all, this Eevee had come to him with tears in its eyes, and he wasn’t the kind of person that could just ignore the pleading gaze of another, regardless of how it might inconvenience him.

His thoughts, however, were loud enough to have distracted him from the chunk of the ceiling that had come crashing down in front of him, knocking him onto his side. Cerise cautiously looked upward, seeing that the debris had fallen from near where the ceiling fixture had previously been. The BattleDome was coming apart at the seams, and he’d need to be more careful.

The small Eevee in his bag squeaked nervously when he had fallen. It had lived in fear of humans for so long, what with the endless days of experimentation in an isolated – enough so that it barely trusted humans at all. But without thinking, it had jumped into this human’s arms for help. And even more surprising was that this human was willing to protect it, despite knowing little of the situation and bearing a heavy burden of uncertainty. Overall, Eevee was still wary of humanity, but if this human’s intentions were anywhere better than Team Galactic? Maybe it was worth it to reveal the secret that it had held onto.

That was when the first miracle manifested.

The brown fox leaped out of his bag, landing squarely in front of a surprised Cerise. It let out a small yip of determination as it lowered itself into a combative position, inspired by the young man’s actions to protect it. And now, Eevee wanted to return the favor! The Pokemon began to run towards the opposing Skuntank, picking up momentum as it gained ground.

“Eevee! NO!” Cerise tried to run after it, but the fox was too far away to stop. In that instant, Cerise could feel his soul wither and die – scarring images of the past week pushed to the forefront of his thoughts again. This Pokemon had put itself into his care, and he couldn’t save it from the impending death that he was haunted by. A Pokemon in his care battling… He was certain it could only end in pain and heartbreak. But right now, there was little else he could do.

Yet, he had no way to foresee exactly the reason *why* Team Galactic had been pursuing this particular Pokemon – until now, at least. As the Eevee ran, its body began to glow the familiar blue of Pokemon evolution. Its physical shape began to alter and change with the transformation, but it still kept its stride steady as it pushed onward. And bursting forth from where the Eevee had taken up a cocoon of blue light of evolution, an Espeon burst forth with a cry of triumph.

“Tch!” The Commander pursed her lips in annoyance. She’d been too naïve to think that the Experiment wouldn’t use its unique capabilities in its attempt to abscond – she’d been banking on its fear to keep it out of the fight. Yet… this Aerie boy had inspired it to stand up for itself? Interesting… Very interesting, indeed.

Cerise was in disbelief at the sight. Out of nowhere, he could see a slimmer of a Bond of Loyalty materialize between the Espeon and himself. It was weak and fragile, for sure – but it was still proof that Eevee (or, Espeon, in this case) was beginning to reciprocate the passionate feelings that Cerise was laying down on the table for it.

And if that couldn’t fire him up, then nothing could!

“Espe! ES!” The eyes of the pink Psychic-type glowed a light hue of blue, and a split second later, blatantly visible psionic energy burst forth from its body. The Skuntank barely had time to brace itself before the maelstrom of raw energy wracked its body with overwhelming force! But Espeon was far from finished – the Psychic Pokemon began to glow a shimmering blue hue once more as it dashed towards the stunned Skuntank. Cerise’s eyes widened: He was certain that Espeon didn’t have a further evolution!

“Fla!!” From where Espeon once was, now a proud-looking Flareon took its place. Without skipping a beat, the Pokemon let the scarlet-colored flames of Fire Spin erupt from its mouth in a dazzling spiral pattern that completely engulfed the Skuntank. And as the Flareon once again took on a blue hue to revert back into Eevee, Cerise could finally feel himself pick up his jaw from the floor. What in the world was going on?? No Eevee could make itself evolve like that on a whim, much less revert back to its original form! Was this Pokemon actually able to take on the forms of all of its branching evolutions?

“Well… that Skitty’s out of the bag.” The Commander sighed, pressing fingers against the bridge of her nose in annoyance. With perfect poise, she calmly rested her gaze upon Cerise, whom the Eevee had taken a protective stance in front of. “Interesting that this is the one who you’d open up to, Eevee. Very, very interesting… Young Aerie, you’re the sole witness outside of a tight inner circle of Team Galactic personnel to know what this particular creature is capable of.”

“Capable of…?” Cerise furrowed his brows, simultaneously understanding and dumbfounded. If the situation was as he predicted, and this Eevee could evolve into all of its different evolutions, then it made some sort of sense as to why Team Galactic wanted it in their possession. But the question that mattered? How was this possible? Eevee was a Pokemon that evolved based on external stimuli and interactions, not of its own accord like other Pokemon could.

“Yes, dear. But I’m afraid I’m not one to give away the finer points and details. Skuntank, use SmokeScreen!” The Commander said with a flourish, and her Poison-type partner began to exhale a thick cloud of dark-green smoke. The obscuring mass of vapor was enough to hide the fact that the Commander had cracked open a Max Revive from her pocket to use…

“Vee!” The Pokemon took on its blue cocoon of light once more, this time shattering through the light as a winged quadruped with light-brown fur. It let its wings stroke forward with strong fervor, pushing back the mass of smoke away from the Commander and her Pokemon. Cerise was unfamiliar with this evolution of Eevee – assuming that that was what this Pokemon was. Curiosity overcame him, and he dug around in his bag for his Pokedex, which he held up to scan the new Pokemon with.

“Avieon, the Clear Wing Pokemon. It prefers to live in mountainous regions. Specialized feathers found on this Pokemon enable near-silent flight by altering air turbulence and absorbing noise – this attribute makes Avieon a playful prankster for its love of sneaking up on unsuspecting people and Pokemon. It is especially keen to upcoming weather changes.”

“Avieon…” Cerise could still see the Bond of Loyalty that had formed between himself and this strange Eevee – and it was growing even stronger by the second. This Pokemon that he barely knew was placing enormous trust in him, nearly equal to the faith that Cerise himself had placed in the Pokemon’s innocence. Surely, this wasn’t the time to sit around and gawk! This Pokemon was putting everything on the line – whatever that would have consisted of – and Cerise naturally felt compelled to the same in kind.

The boy forced himself to his feet, only to see the menacing sneer of the Commander. With a cackle, she whipped out the Pokeball of Bronzong from her belt, and threw it forward to let loose the Steel-type that Cerise had previously downed. As the newly-revived bell-shaped Pokemon took its place floating next to Skuntank, Cerise could feel its eyes focused solely on him. This Pokemon clearly wanted revenge for its previous embarrassment, which it seemed set on redeeming itself on.

Nearly instinctively, Cerise’s hand went to grab his own Pokeballs, but he forced himself to halt as his hand wrapped around the Pokeball of Quilladin. Despite the unconditional love and trust that he’d felt from his team earlier, he still couldn’t bring himself to let them out of their Pokeballs. Logically, he knew that they’d be able to take care of themselves, but at the same time… that was also what he’d thought when he’d accidentally sent Goomy to her death. And that was a pain that he just couldn’t stand to go through once again.

‘And therein lies the problem.’ From where he was still perched, Victini leaned forward in interest. There was some part of the boy that clearly wanted to battle alongside his Pokemon, but there was something holding him back. A fear, perhaps? But of what, Victini wasn’t sure. Something in this human’s past was forming a mental block that was preventing him from moving forward. And Victini suspected that this block was a recent development – likely somewhere between the time he’d watched them in Lavender Town and now.

The Victory Pokemon exhaled softly, gently peering into Cerise’s mind. Even without its psionic abilities, Victini could clearly read the pain, anguish, and shame that Cerise exuded, but he wanted to know the depths of why. Previously, the boy had seemed relatively jolly, and had held an air of unquenchable optimism. And as Victini curiously peeled back the layers of Cerise’s memory, it could still see the shadow of death that lingered in the boy’s thoughts.

‘A powerful demotivator.’ Victini mused, his eyes sparkling with interest as he crossed his arms. As morbid as it would sound, it was critical for a bridge between humanity and Pokemon to understand mortality, and the inevitability of life’s end. Whether Cerise would be able to overcome this hurdle, however, was another story.

“Dammit…” Cerise narrowed his brows as he warily glared down the Commander’s Skuntank and Bronzong. Even with Eevee’s mysterious multi-evolution ability, he wasn’t entirely certain that he could win here against the Commander. But even so… that kind of uncertainty had never stopped him from trying something before. The boy glanced down at Avieon, who caught his gaze and nodded in determination – their Bond of Loyalty was holding better than he’d suspected. Cerise readied his shield, preparing himself for the next phase of the conflict.

---∞---

“So… Anybody have any ideas?”

The words themselves were simple enough, and yet Genesis didn’t get a response from the other trainers that he stood next to as the gargantuan Pokemon that Team Galactic unleashed glowered at them. This gargantuan creature -- dubbed a Shiny Shadow Mega Totem Gyarados by its apparent owner -- was a kind of nightmarish titan that radiated a kind of power previously unforetold to the Pokemon world.

Shiny Enhancements.

Shadow Aura.

Mega Evolution.

Z-Energy.

All in one gigantic package.

It towered over the cruise ship, its menace and palpable hatred thickening the very air with raw tension. It was one thing to have a monster that was unaware of its own destructive strength, but something far worse to have a monster that was fully aware of its ruinous capabilities. The intimidation factor of the SSMT Gyarados was unreal, and the creature let out an unearthly roar that made the very ocean tremble. An orange aura exploded to life around the monstrous hybrid, and the trainers tried to shield themselves from the waves of pure power that the Gyarados gave off. If they couldn’t stop this creature soon enough, it’d likely kill everyone aboard the ship without a hint of remorse. But if they didn’t act first, then the Gyarados certainly would.

“We give it everything we’ve got.” Jo finally whispered, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat before continuing to speak to the others. “We can only rely on ourselves and our Pokemon here. As the last and only line of defense… we can’t afford to lose this fight.”

The others nodded in agreement, readying their respective Pokeballs to call out the partner Pokemon that would aid them in the conflict. For Genesis, it was his trusty Lopunny, who took up a fighting pose in defiance of the new opponent. And even though his choice was made, his Ralts insisted on taking its place in front of its trainer, similarly determined to fight against the Gyarados. Genesis, though admittedly uncertain, allowed himself a brief nod. Too much was at risk for him to tell her that she couldn’t help. It was in that way that she took after him, and the thought gave him the briefest of smiles.

Jo briefly hesitated before selecting her own Pokemon. Her Quilava was nowhere near qualified to fight a monstrosity like this, and Luchi was still in no condition to battle. Realistically, she didn’t have many other options to battle with, given the implied water-typing of the opposition. With a glint in her eye, she released her Hitmontop from its Pokeball, which also took a place beside Lopunny and Ralts in readiness for battle.

Rizu, however, glanced down at his Pokeball. His first reaction had been to bring out Unia, his Swablu, but… he had a feeling that that wouldn’t be enough. He let his choice weigh in his mind for  a moment, deciding which direction he wanted to go. Even though he’d just snagged it… Toxicroak was likely the smartest option in terms of raw power needed to take down the opposition. And Albion had always been a consistently dependable Pokemon.

“Go, Toxicroak, Albion, and Unia!” Rizu hurled the Snag Ball and Pokeballs skyward, which unleashed a trinity of beams of red energy that materialized into the aggressive frog Pokemon, the brown antlion, and cloud-like bird Pokemon. The bloodlust was still very much evident in the Toxicroak’s eyes, and Rizu briefly felt concerned that his decision had been a costly one. The truth of the matter was that the Shadow Pokemon was essentially a rabid beast, not guaranteed to listen to what Rizu told it to do. But in all honesty, he knew that this was a desperate situation, and all cards had to be on the table. The fear of collateral damage and friendly fire would have to be an acceptable compromise to beating the SSMT Gyarados.

The other two gave him surprised looks, but decided against questioning him further. For now, the task at hand was all that truly mattered. Either they took down this Gyarados, or the whole cruiser would sleep with the Feebas at the ocean’s bottom. Briefly, Rizu glanced back at the huddled passengers on the other side of the S.S. Cortina’s glass windows, of which a little girl met his gaze with fearful eyes. He just couldn’t let things end here like this, not when there was so much on the line. The trainers and their Pokemon readied themselves, to which the SSMT Gyarados let out a bellow of acknowledgement that the battle was about to be underway.

None of them took heed to Commander Saturn and the remaining Galactic grunts slowly sneaking away towards the rear of the S.S. Cortina’s hull.

“Alright, then… Let’s do this!!” At Jo’s declaration, the assembled Pokemon of the Trainers burst forth into action. It was Albion the Trapinch who made the first move in the conflict, letting out a harsh cry as it formed a field of airborne Rock Tomb slabs that stretched from the cruiser to all around the Gyarados. This would serve as platforms for the attacking Pokemon to use, as not all of them could swim. Rizu nodded, having ensured a tactical advantage for his allies. His Toxicroak immediately took advantage, slobbering wildly as it leapt in a mad dash from one floating slab to another. Black energy swirled at its fingertips as the Shadow Pokemon began the volley of Trainer attacks with its Shadow Rush attack. The black energy from its hands enveloped its entire body as it slashed Gyarados with its bladed fingers.

Before Gyarados could retaliate with any kind of counter strategy to Toxicroak's attack, Jo's Pokemon switched in to keep up the combat momentum that Rizu's Pokemon had begun. The Hitmontop that Jo raised acted on its own accord, spinning from slab to slab like a skipping stone as it closely followed Toxicroak’s wake. When the amphibious Pokemon struck Gyarados with its Shadow Rush, Hitmontop followed it up with a barrage of Triple Kicks from its powerful legs. Inherently, Triple Kick was a move wherein successive strikes increased the move’s power. Combining that with the centrifugal momentum that the Pokemon had accumulated from spinning across a multitude of slabs to reach Gyarados, and the Triple Kick should have dealt significant damage.

“Go for it, Lopunny! Don’t hold back!” Genesis shouted, gripping the ship’s railing so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “Give it everything you’ve got, use Hi Jump Kick!!”

Lopunny, still in its Mega form, burst forth with incredible energy as it built up speed to attack Gyarados. Crossing the final slab, she pushed off of the platform into a front flip with her foot outstretched. The rabbit Pokemon landed her kick against Gyarados, landing a direct blow to its midsection.

As Mega Lopunny's strike ended the string of attacks, the trainers could only look on in horror as the Gyarados' own Shadow Aura flared to life. Shadow energy coalesced around it, saturating the oceans below with its inky texture. The giant serpent bellowed, and the shadow-infected water began to churn wildly. Several titanic spouts of water burst forth from the ocean like a multitude of geysers, tearing apart several of the floating stone slabs that Albion had made as platforms.

Some of those slabs were occupied.

Toxicroak and Lopunny were the most direct casualties of the so-called Shadow Torrent, and their platforms had been torn into pebbles in a split second. The two Pokemon let out cries of surprise as they both fell towards the ocean below, unable to do anything immediately that could help them recover. The two braced themselves for impact, knowing they could do nothing else in this instant.

"Swa~!" There was a flash of fluffy wings that dove down towards them as Unia the Swablu attempted to rescue them. Its little talons, now outstretched, were caught by Lopunny and Toxicroak mere meters above the churning ocean waters. Clearly, the bird was too small and light to carry both of them, but that wasn't the aim of the two combatants.

The two bipedal Pokemon moved quickly, using Unia as a handhold to rotate around, launching themselves upwards towards untouched stone slabs. The small bird strained from the exertion it used to support their weight, but allowed itself a small smile of relief when it turned to see that its allies were, in fact, safe. Rizu, however, narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

This was going to be a tough fight.

“This battle’s getting too intense; the Cortina won’t be able to take much more of this.” Rizu muttered to himself before speaking louder for the others to hear. “We need to get the passengers outta here, get them onto escape boats before this place is torn apart.”

Jo nodded, already making a start for the door as she spoke. “I’ll handle it. Be back soon.”

“In the meantime…” Rizu returned his attention to the Gyarados. “We’ll need to hold it down until she gets back, figure out some kind of plan. Or we’re all screwed.”

---∞---

Cerise hadn’t felt this kind of pressure in a long time.

In all honesty, the current situation filled him with an inescapable sense of dread that he couldn’t shake. Facing off against Bronzong before had been aggravating enough, but now he also had to contend with Skuntank as an opponent to keep an eye on. Much like before, Bronzong had taken to blitzing around the collapsing room with its Gyro Ball, but had also opted to create giant platforms of Rock Slide slabs to hurl at Cerise and Avieon.

“Shit!” Cerise couldn’t react in time. There was no way that his shield could protect him from the massive stone, and his body was far too worn out to even attempt to dodge. He could only squeeze his eyes shut, fearing what was to come.

But it never came.

Instead, his ears were graced with the sound of what appeared to be stone being torn apart? He cautiously opened his eyes, then gasped as he saw a Jolteon land on the ground in front of him. A faint white glow that surrounded its legs began to dissipate, signifying that the Pokemon had used Double Kick to tear apart the stone slabs before it could make contact with them. What was apparent was that the Pokemon wouldn’t be able to keep battling for much longer – Cerise had been a Pokemon trainer long enough to recognize that Eevee was not a battle-ready Pokemon by any means. But even so, it was trying its best to fight for its freedom.

“Jolt!” Cerise was once again forced out of his thoughts as Bronzong tore through the cloud of debris to follow up on its Rock Slide surprise attack. Cerise forced his body to move in front of Jolteon, once again attempting the same deflection maneuver he’d used before. But at the last second, Bronzong struck some kind of unseen surface just in front of Cerise, knocking its course to his right. And as he whirled around, the Bronzong hit another unseen barrier that sent it spiraling behind Cerise to land a direct impact on Jolteon. As the Electric-type cried out in pain and was brought to its knees, Cerise’s eyes widened. By way of a move like Reflect or Light Screen, Bronzong had purposely altered its trajectory to maintain striking its intended target. All of a sudden, Cerise’s counter strategy for Gyro Ball was torn apart – the Bronzong could just as easily recover from any kind of deflection that the boy tried to initiate.

It was hopeless.

That was the only thought that ran through his mind as he fell to his knees in despair. And he was barely fazed by the charging Skuntank, too paralyzed by his own uncertainty to act in self-defense. The boy was in hardly any condition to physically keep battling, and Jolteon wasn’t trained enough in battle to moderate its stamina. Plus, from what he could gather, it was fairly young – too young to have experience with Pokemon battles of this magnitude.

But just as Cerise was ready to give up, destiny herself had other plans. Before his very eyes, a trio of red streaking lights bolted past him, directly in the path of the charging Skuntank. Tears began to well up in Cerise’s eyes as his Pokemon team – Quilladin, Pawniard, and Honedge – took up a series of defensive poses in front of Cerise. That kind of love and self-sacrifice was enough to let the tears in his eyes begin to flow before reality set in.

“W-wait!! You guys can’t be out! I can’t lose you, too!”

His exclamation was met with three pairs of determined eyes -- the Pokemon friends that he had spent time growing and nurturing all now stood shoulder to shoulder with the clear intent of battling. Regardless of whether or not Cerise wanted them to get involved.

<<We understand your concern, but…>> The ethereal voice of Honedge resonated in his head as the Sword Pokemon drifted closer to him. <<But Goomy was our friend, too. We mourn her just as much as you do, but the difference in our grief lies in that we recognize that we don’t need you to protect us. Instead, we all need to watch out for and protect each other. Because we’re a family, are we not?>>

“Pawnia! Paw, paw!” Pawniard nodded as Honedge spoke, pumping a fist in the air in agreement. The bladed Pokemon swiveled back around, its knife-like hands glinting in what little sunlight canvassed the BattleDome.

Cerise felt a tug on his hands, and he glanced down to see Quilladin holding his hand in both of its paws. The grass-type had been his oldest friend, brother, and closest confidant long before they’d ever set out on this journey. He could feel tears well up in his eyes -- his Pokemon wanted to stand by him and protect each other. For him to try to guard them in the way he had… it was reckless. And moreso, it was dismissive of how his Pokemon family also felt. They’d shared bonds and various experiences over their journey through Kanto, far deeper than a simple friendship. They’d watched out for each other, battled to overcome trials together, and had been a family. Cerise held Quilladin’s paws tightly, giving them a squeeze as he let a genuine smile spread across his face for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Yeah… You and me, together. Always.”

It was at that moment that the second miracle occurred.

Quilladin’s body began to glow a brilliant luster of red light, and Cerise took a step away in surprise. Aside from the crimson coloration, the glow was somewhat identical to how the average Pokemon would have conducted its own evolution – but this didn’t make sense! Quilladin had only evolved into its current form only a week ago, and had hardly done any battling since then! Yet… that simple fact didn’t stop the hedgehog Pokemon’s form from changing and shifting. Granted, the Pokemon didn’t grow any taller, but its rounded edges began more jagged and sleek.

With a cry, the transformed Pokemon tore through the red light that had bloomed around it, revealing a slim-looking bipedal marsupial-like Pokemon. It looked no bigger than Quilladin’s usual spherical size, and visually seemed fairly similar to a Chespin… Yet, that wasn’t the strangest part.

Cerise took another step back, slapping a hand over one of his eyes in panic. It was strange, and shouldn’t be possible, but… had his friend evolved again?! He once again scrambled to find his Pokedex, shakily fishing it out of the back pocket of his bag and holding it up to get a reading on the Pokemon before him.

“Quilladin, the Spiny Armor Pokemon. The hard shell covering Quilladin's body is so tough, a direct hit from a large truck wouldn't even dent it. Quilladin uses this shell to deflect foes' attacks, so that it can strike back with its sharp quills. They often strengthen their lower bodies by running into one another, but are very kind and won't start fights.”

The Pokedex spoke in a suave tone, but Cerise was far from satisfied – this entry was no different from a regular Quilladin entry! So, if this Pokemon that stood before him was still a Quilladin, and not an evolution of some kind… what was it?? As much as he wanted to know the answers now, he knew that this wasn’t the time to try to seek them out – it was critical that he defeat the Commander first!

He reached out a hand, and Honedge set itself in his grip without hesitation, wrapping its cloth pommel around Cerise’s arm. Wielding Honedge alongside his shield, Cerise took up a swordsman’s stance. Strength and vigor suddenly flowed through his body, and the boy could tell that Honedge was giving him some of its own energy to try to balance the stamina of the two.

As he did so, he could feel his vision shift and swim somewhat, but he didn’t feel nauseous. The fighting pose he adopted was mimicked by Quilladin and Pawniard, and he could see his Bonds of Loyalty with the two taking on a brilliant red luster, just like Quilladin’s strange transformation. Suddenly, it was as though he was seeing through their eyes, and they through his. He could feel more strength and stamina flow through him, as though his Pokemon were now pooling together their energy to share between them. They were no longer separate individuals, but a kind of single entity.

“Vee!” Gathering what strength it could, Eevee forced itself to its feet, having left its Jolteon form when Quilladin first began to transform into its new appearance. But now, seeing that the tides could turn once more, it couldn’t forgive itself if it didn’t also give effort that pushed beyond its limits. The brown fox let out a cry, letting itself evolve in a cocoon of blue light. And what stood in its place was a silvery fox evolution with a crimson mohawk and gold plating spread throughout its body. The crimson mohawk and similarly colored mane that connected to its chest flowed majestically in what little breeze was given off in the BattleDome.

“Sparteon!!” As the Eevee evolution took a crouching pose, Cerise and his team could see its Bond of Loyalty take on the same red hue as the others had, linking and synchronizing its movements with the others in the process. The Galactic Commander that Cerise and his team faced took a defiant step forward, challenging them to make the first move.

Cerise was more than up for the challenge.

The irises of his eyes burned a brilliant shade of pink, enough for the Commander to take notice, and Cerise charged forth alongside his family.

---∞---

“Ugh… That coulda gone better…”

Geiger groggily pushed himself to his feet, his body aching from the fall. Granted, he’d recover quickly due to being a Descended, but the immediate pain was certainly distracting. The young man looked around, taking in his surroundings. The fall had only been one floor down, but rubble from the floor obscured wherever the Commander had fallen, and Geiger grunted. At the very least, he didn’t see, hear, or smell any immediate dangers, but he still wanted to be on his guard.

What disappointed him, however, was that he’d lost himself in excitement. Perhaps it was due to his nature as a Descended, but there was something about the rush of conflict that just got his blood pumping in anticipation. He’d need to keep it in check better, or next time could have far worse repercussions.

The faint sound of footsteps approaching perked his ears up, and he glanced upward to the lip of the crevice that he’d made to see who it was. Shielding his eyes, he strained to make out the features of the other person before speaking carefully.

“Are you…?”

---∞---

The multitude of attacks that the trainers used had had little effect, from what they could see. Gyarados was barely fazed by the attempts to whittle its strength. Instead, the serpentine Pokemon whipped itself around in a circular fashion, and water spiraled around its tail as it swung around. The water from the Aqua Tail completely obliterated any of the remaining stone slabs, knocking the combatant Pokemon back towards the Cortina.

"With just one attack..." Rizu muttered, running a hand through his hair with a deep sigh.

"This... is hopeless." Genesis could feel despair grip his mind, and his body began to grow heavy from the weight of the world he carried on his shoulders. His usual chipper attitude was nowhere to be found, and he fell to his knees in hopelessness.

"It's not over yet!" The boy glanced up, seeing Jo burst through the door, breathing heavily from running. A split second later, the window next to the door she'd come from splintered apart with a loud crash as Geiger Beck jumped through it. The Descended landed cleanly on the ship's railing, but immediately used his momentum to push himself forward and jump seemingly towards the ocean itself.

“Albion, make another bridge!” Rizu said quickly, and his Trapinch chittered in excitement as it allowed more Rock Tomb slabs to form in the air between the Gyarados and the rest of the ship. As Geiger landed on the slab that Trapinch had made underneath it, he glanced backward briefly to give the others a thankful nod before he returned his focus to Gyarados.

"Yer an ugly sunnova bitch, aintcha?" Geiger muttered to himself as he pushed himself off of the stone slab that acted as a stepping stone. His own signature Stone Edge blades began to coalesce from his arms as he began to close the distance between himself and the SSMT Gyarados. Hitmontop, Lopunny, and Toxicroak flanked behind Geiger to fight Gyarados alongside him.

“Jo, did you…?” Rizu narrowed his eyes, letting his words trail off. The girl caught his gaze, nodding briefly before returning her attention to the battle. He thought he could faintly see a small flock of lifeboats heading in the opposite direction of the conflict, but it’d be better to ask, just in case.

“I escorted the passengers to the life rafts on the other side of the ship, then went back to find Geiger. Figured we’d need the extra manpower here.” Jo bit her lip after speaking, and she couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything else she could do. The collapsed hallway Geiger made had meant that she couldn’t check on Cerise to see if he was even still alive!

The Gyarados took a deep breath in, and Geiger's eyes widened. He raised his arms in front of his face, in an attempt to block what the incoming attack was going to be. On the cruiser behind them, the other trainers recognized the attack as water began to condense in the air around them.

"That's..."

"It's not...!"

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!!!"

A split second later, a skin-shearing torrent of water tore through the hull of the ship as Gyarados unleashed its powerful Hydro Pump. The sound of water tearing through steel ripped through the air, and the cruiser's roof was torn in pieces like paper. The trainers threw themselves down onto the ship's deck, covering their heads with their arms as debris exploded around them.

Jo stole a glance at the point of impact for the Pokemon's attack, and a gasp escaped her as she stared at the new giant hole in the wall of the BattleDome. If Cerise was still in there with Eevee...

During his previous battle against Bronzong, Cerise had been able to visually see a sort of string between the Pokemon and Commander Jupiter. It didn’t appear to be a physical object, but he’d gotten a sort of vibe from it that told him of the nature of loyalty Bronzong had. The Pokemon had been raised through fear, not love, which Cerise could also clearly see with Skuntank now. And he had a feeling that he had the strength to exploit that bond.

Alongside his Pokemon family, he rushed Jupiter and her Pokemon, his grip still tight on Honedge. The wisdom of swordplay felt like second-nature to Cerise as he unleashed a flurry of steel strikes towards Jupiter. But instead of landing on the intended target, they struck an unseen wall, and Cerise jumped back in alarm. The boy shot Bronzong an angered look, knowing that the Pokemon was now intentionally going to get in his way.

But that would easily be handled.

Though he didn’t understand it yet, the red Bonds that tied Cerise to his Pokemon allowed them to have a sort of shared mind, as best as he could understand it. They shared movements, feelings, and senses, which is how Cerise knew that Pawniard and Sparteon were going to strike. The optimal commands that Cerise would normally verbalize were instead a thought shared across the small brain network that he and his Pokemon now shared, and his friends acted upon the thought-command instantly.

Bronzong was caught off-guard by Pawniard’s Sucker Punch attack from below, which Sparteon followed up with Power-Up Punch. The two attacks pushed Bronzong to a far corner of the room, and Sparteon fired a volley of star-shaped Swift blasts to collapse part of the ceiling on top of Galactic’s Pokemon. It wouldn’t be enough to keep it down, but hopefully enough for Cerise and Quilladin to advance on the Commander.

And so they did, with Quilladin’s slimmer arms glowing with a sheathe of orange energy as it used Sacred Sword to backhand Skuntank and knock it off-balance. Cerise dashed forward from behind Quilladin’s slipstream, slashing upwards from the downward stance he employed. As his attack landed, Skuntank’s Bond had now reached striking distance, and every fiber in his body urged him to strike it with Honedge.

Now!

Clearly seeing the Bond of Loyalty between Skuntank and the Commander, Cerise slashed Honedge’s blade right through it, tearing apart the Bond upon impact with the blade. In that instant, the Skuntank lashed out wildly, no longer seeming to have a grip on its sanity. And from where he crouched, Quilladin tagged in, using the trainer’s back as a springboard to launch itself into the air. Before the Galactic Commander could react, Quilladin’s Vine Whips rocketed forth, wrapping around horizontal poles just behind the Commander. She let out a cry of surprise as the hedgehog pulled itself forward using the vines, combining its Vine Whip with a rapidly spinning Rollout. Quilladin landed a direct hit, staggering the woman back several feet.

As Quilladin took down the Commander, it was little Pawniard who followed up next as it quickly dashed around Cerise’s side, its bladed hands stretched behind it. As the rampaging Skuntank’s claw glowed black with an impending Night Slash, Pawniard swiftly slashed at the Shadow Pokemon’s hind legs with an expertly timed Sucker Punch. Knocked off-balance, the Poison-type stumbled backwards as it tried to right itself only to be struck by Pawniard’s Metal Claw to the face.

“I-Impossible! This should be impossible!!” The Commander gasped as she finally fell to her knees, buckling under the pressure of the conflict. Out of seemingly nowhere, this boy had completely turned the tides against her initial advantage, and had overwhelmed her to such an insane degree. Jupiter balled her hands into fists, now fully conceding her defeat to her opponent. She shouldn’t have been so surprised that he was a worthy adversary.

“Earlier… you reacted to my last name as though you’d heard it before.” Jupiter forced herself to look up as Cerise towered over her. When he spoke, it was as though a duo of voices spoke -- his own voice, as well as Honedge’s. The pink glow emanating from his eyes were blanketed in darkness from the focus of light in the room. The boy stood in what almost looked like a cloak of shadows, and Jupiter gulped in response.

“Aerie… If I’m not mistaken… Is your father named Eustace Aerie, by chance?” Jupiter managed to question him, and the boy glowered in response. He opened his mouth to reply to her.

It was at that moment that the BattleDome began to split and fragment apart, as the SSMT Gyarados tore through the ship’s hull with a powerful Hydro Pump. The ground lurched as a burst stream of water tore into what remained of the bleachers.Ducking for cover, Cerise could feel his connection with his Pokemon deepen further as he simultaneously turned alongside his team to face the opening in the BattleDome that’d been made from the attack. Even now, he could hear the sounds of his friends fighting for their lives against whatever new threat Team Galactic had unleashed.

It was as he was distracted by the chaos that Galactic Commander Jupiter made her move -- she swiftly returned her two Pokemon, and scrambled towards the BattleDome’s exit, intending to get away before Cerise could get the answers he desired.

He let her go.

For now, what was far more pressing was helping his friends against whatever it was that Team Galactic had unleashed. Still moving in unison, Cerise and his Pokemon crouched down, and pushed against the earth. Rocketing upwards from the standing jump with inhuman ability, the group aimed for a crevice in the ship’s hull that the high-pressure water had torn open.

It was time to finish this.

---∞---

“Toxicroak, use Shadow Rush!!” Rizu cried out, hoping his voice could carry out over the ocean waves that crashed against the ship. Seemingly, it had, as the Shadow Toxicroak coalesced black energy around its fingertips to strike Gyarados’ midsection. The serpent, however, snarled in annoyance and whipped itself around, using its tail to slam Toxicroak with a direct hit that sent it crashing into the hull of the Cortina.

“We need more firepower…!” Rizu muttered, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of falling debris from the ship.

In a burst of smoke and debris, Rizu and the others could see several dark figures burst forth from the wreckage of the BattleDome, all seemingly airborne as they joined the fray against Gyarados. Rizu strained his eyes to see who the figure could be -- a friend or foe.

It was Cerise.

The Pokemon that accompanied him fired off a volley of different attacks at the SSMT experiment, landing with expert precision into spots that the other trainer's Pokemon had already landed blows. The successive targeted attacks seemed to be effective, as Gyarados let out a deep snarl and bared its fangs.

They were far from finished.

Pawniard and Quilladin clasped their hands together, which Cerise landed on. Moving all at once, the two Pokemon thrust their hands upwards at the exact moment that Cerise pushed himself off of the platform that the two had made for him to stand on. Using the maneuver to springboard into the skies at blistering speeds, the apex of the boy's jump was directly above the rampaging Gyarados.

Spinning around as fast as he could, Cerise held Honedge tightly as he descended upon the serpent. A whirlwind of slashes on his enemy followed his descent, barely managing to break past the Pokemon's tough scales. The Gyarados let out a terrible bellow as it recoiled from the impact -- the attack had had a greater impact than either party had anticipated.

Twin whips burst from the shoulders of Quilladin before the boy could fall into the ocean, hoisting him back into the air so that he could strike the visible Bond of Loyalty that the Pokemon had. The other end of the Bond led to the Pokemon’s trainer, though Cerise couldn’t visually see who it was. No matter, this needed to be ended quickly. Gripping Honedge, he slashed at the ethereal string.

The Bond, however, did not break as he had expected.

Instead of snapping upon contact with Honedge's blade, the ethereal string seemed to resist his blade, pushing back on his striking force as though it were made of rubber. Cerise narrowed his eyes, having not anticipated something like this... Maybe there were certain conditions that needed to be met before he could break a Bond of Loyalty? He hadn't had this power long enough to tell for sure. The inertial force he had exerted against Gyarados finally pushed back, bouncing the boy backwards towards the cruiser.

With a three-point landing, the boy finished his descent next to the others, his small army of Pokemon landing similarly split seconds afterwards. He didn’t immediately acknowledge the other trainers, his gaze focused entirely on the Gyarados that he had just launched a sneak attack on. He began to chuckle in anticipation, holding Honedge in his hands in a way that only a master swordsman would. He turned his head slightly, allowing his friends to see the smile that now spread across his face. “You left some of the fun for me, I see.”

“Cerise…!” Jo gasped, hardly able to believe that it was the same boy she’d left in the BattleDome not long ago. He seemed more mature than his age would imply, and the energy he gave off was dangerous. There was an air of harshness about him now that Jo couldn’t quite understand. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that he and his Pokemon were literally moving in sync with each other…? She stared at him, unable to take her gaze off of his glowing eyes.

Rizu’s focus was on two things in particular -- the silver quadruped, and the Pokemon that vaguely resembled a Quilladin? Both were incredibly unfamiliar, but were clearly Pokemon. He pulled his Pokedex out from his pocket, pointing it at them both.

“Sparteon, the Full Metal Pokemon. In ancient Aethos times, Sparteon was a symbol of power that only nobles owned. This Pokemon is valiant, and proud of its power to the point that it throws itself into conflict to test its strength against others. Befriending a Sparteon triggers a  loyalty from this Pokemon unrivaled by any other.

Quilladin, the Spiny Armor Pokemon. The hard shell covering Quilladin's body is so tough, a direct hit from a large truck wouldn't even dent it. Quilladin uses this shell to deflect foes' attacks, so that it can strike back with its sharp quills. They often strengthen their lower bodies by running into one another, but are very kind and won't start fights.”

“Alright, the gang’s all here!” Genesis grinned to the others, his music player already in hand. “Gonna need some good tunes for this one!”

“Ugh.” Jo turned away, annoyed by Genesis. Was this really the appropriate time for that?

Genesis' Awesome Mix Track 2:

Cerise spread his arms wide, releasing his grip on Honedge, who momentarily glowed pink. Within an instant, an arch of Honedge blades manifested around Cerise’s back before they all pointed directly at Gyarados. The boy had no intention of holding back, and his Pokemon radiated the same energy. Quilladin wrapped its vines around the railing of the ship, then walked backwards until the vine whip lines were taut. With an excited cry, it rocketed itself forward towards Gyarados, its arms crossed in front of it as it readied Sacred Sword on both hands.

Sparteon took on the blue hue of evolution as Pawniard quickly jumped up onto its back. The look of shock on the others’ faces of the Pokemon shifting into Jolteon was priceless, but not something Cerise could enjoy at the moment. The Jolteon lowered itself to jump forward, with little Pawniard mounted on it like a knight-lancer. Cerise quickly followed, alongside Geiger, and the two were quickly flanked by Toxicroak, Lopunny, Swablu, and Hitmontop for another push.

While in the freefall of midair, Cerise swooped his hands forward, and the halo of blades he manifested flew forward, striking Gyarados in rapid succession in specific, targeted areas. The boy pulled back his fist and thrust his palm forward, urging the blades to orchestrate an ornate dance of midair strikes to the Gyarados. Below, Quilladin and Lopunny were the first to traverse the stone slabs towards the opponent, dealing a combo strike against Gyarados that was followed by Toxicroak and Hitmontop’s own combo attack.

Jolteon and Pawniard rounded out the barrage of attacks, with Pawniard jumping off of its mount to sink its blades into the Gyarados with a brutal Night Slash. Jolteon let electricity bounce across its fur before it unleashed a powerful Thunderbolt strike that made Gyarados recoil from the blow. Pulling back both hands to retract the multitude of Honedge blades to his sides, Cerise crossed his arms in front of him to form two spinning wheels of blades that struck the Gyarados’ sides. Seeing Geiger nearby, the boy motioned upwards to him, as though to tell Geiger to throw him upward. The shark-toothed boy paused a moment before complying, grabbing Cerise’s hands and yeeting him up to Gyarados’ height. Several of the Honedge blades recalled to his side as he moved in to strike the Bond of Loyalty once more.

“Just STAY DOWN!” Cerise’s Honedge blades held against the Gyarados’ Bond of Loyalty, which once again resisted the boy’s weapon as though it were rubber. Memories flashed before his eyes of Eevee running into his arms in sheer terror,  But as his eyes burned a bright pink; a final push was all that was needed to finally snap Gyarados’ Bond. It’s pupils shrunk as it lost its grip of awareness, thrashing about wildly instead of attacking the trainers.

With that, the opening for victory had been made, and the trainers shouted out various commands for their Pokemon. And without any hesitation, the Pokemon complied.

Though weary, Toxicroak jumped forward, driving its claws into Gyarados’ flesh as deep as it could. Poison from its claws that it had secreted with every strike it made against Gyarados seemed to now be having an effect, as the serpent was now slightly sluggish in its movements. As Toxicroak jumped off of Gyarados, Mega Lopunny and Hitmontop dealt a combo attack of Hi Jump Kick and Triple Kick in the exact spot where Toxicroak had dealt its poison. The combined attack pushed the serpent back a bit, right in the crosshairs of Cerise and Geiger’s finishing blow. With a roar, the airborne boys bared their blades as they dove towards Gyarados, slashing across the Pokemon’s chest with enough force that a shower of blood spurted out of the wound.

With a bellow, the SSMT Gyarados fell backwards into the ocean, the large slash wound across its torso enough of an indication that it was defeated. The Pokemon’s body began to become engulfed by the ocean waves, until it was entirely unseen by the trainers. The blow was enough, however, to finally allow the Cortina ship to begin to sink. As the Gyarados fell, the other trainers didn’t notice Rizu back out towards the boat’s door.

“A job well done, for trainers and Pokemon alike.”

The group all turned around to the sound of slow clapping, now all seeing a strange blonde boy approach. He gave the group a dazzling smile and a cheery peace sign before speaking. “My name is Victini, and it’d prooobably be in your best interest to come with me. If you wanna make it through this, or know more about what’s going on here.”

It was Quilladin that approached first, surprising all of the humans. Victini simply nodded, remembering this specific hedgehog-Pokemon from it's time in Lavender Town. The Avatar gave the hedgehog a friendly smile before returning his attention to the now descending Cerise and Geiger.

“We’ll have time to address that later!” Cerise landed heavily onto the still sinking cruiser, skidding backwards a few feet before he could fully right himself and regain his balance. At this point, wielding Honedge was second-nature to the trainer, and he swung his blade in front of himself in preparation for whatever could come next. The other Honedge blades he had conjured all dissipated, but the boy didn’t lower his guard.

“No, we need to know!” Nearby, Geiger Beck grunted as he came to a crash from the glide he’d employed to slow his descent. The Descended boy slowly forced himself to his feet as he looked Cerise over. “Kid, if we have the opportunity to know why these bastards are trying to get this Pokemon, then we need to take it.”

“Look, I don’t disagree with you.” Cerise shook his head, keeping his eyes trained on their surroundings. “But, there’s a time and a place for that sort of thing. Right now, taking down Team Galactic is the priority, not figuring out why they’re so intent on being kidnappers.”

<<Why not both?>> Cerise’s eyes widened as a foreign presence pushed against the shared mind that he had formed with his Pokemon, manifesting as a telepathic thought. The thought bounced off of the shared mind, but the impact took him a moment to recognize as one he’d felt before: Genesis. Back mere hours ago, when the psychic had looked into Cerise’s mind to see his memories, the sensation had been similar, albeit much less noticeable at the time. He glanced back to Genesis before his shared mind briefly let down their walls long enough for Genesis’ telepathy to enter. The telepathy was joined by another, which was recognized from Quilladin’s corner of the shared mind as Victini. And it was the Eeveelution that the twin telepathic energies focused on, sifting through the Pokemon’s past to find answers for the present.

---∞---

“My name is Professor Mercury of the Sinnoh region’s Team Galactic, and this is attempt number 133 of Project Red Braid.”

Mercury took a moment to take a sip of a cup of coffee that had been set out on a table for him, then turned to face towards the glass cylinder in the middle of the pearly-white room he now stood in. Amidst the wires and tubes and computers that lined the walls, the small number of other scientists also stood at watch, expectantly waiting for the experiment to begin.

“For future posterity of this project, I will once again briefly summarize this project’s purpose: to allow for Team Galactic to combine the best traits of differing Pokemon into one form, which we will domesticate into a beast capable of remaking the universe. Knowing certain Pokemon exhibit malleable genetic structures, such as the Pokemon Eevee or Ditto, we have targeted these specific Pokemon to begin our tests with. With the Red Braid we have synthesized from the DNA splicer blueprints that Team Galactic has… “borrowed” from Team Plasma, we are another step closer to achieving our goal. Now, we begin!” Mercury made his way over to the main control panel, his hand firmly grasping the main switch.

He pushed the switch, watching the experiment unfold with undivided attention. The cylinder ahead of him held a young Eevee, which looked up in panic as multicolored gases began to fill the cylinder it was trapped in. It let out a small cry as strange and foreign substances began to seep into its body, and surges of electricity ruptured its small frame. The gases began to obscure Mercury’s view of the Eevee as they became more dense, with only the flashes of the Eevee’s silhouette being seen when electricity ripped through the cylinder.

The small brown fox felt its consciousness fade in and out, but could at least manage to keep its eyes focused on the two humans that appeared to be in charge. Though too tired to make sense of what it heard, human-speak flooded its mind in a completely new way. The Pokemon had yet to learn that it could evolve into any of its evolutions, namely Espeon in this case.

“...The Avatars are…world has grown too corrupt...a fresh slate...to lead us to the new world...a synthetic Avatar that...locate and track the unique energy signatures…”

And the Eevee finally succumbed to its urge to sleep.

---∞---

The vision of the past was suddenly torn asunder, violently forcing Victini and Genesis out of the Eeveelution’s mind. Startled, the Pokemon devolved to its Eevee form, simultaneously breaking its connection to Cerise’s shared mind out of pure fright. Before their very eyes, a sort of metallic tentacle had burst from the depths of the ocean and ensnared Eevee within its coils. The brown fox let out a squeak of terror as it desperately tried to free itself, to no avail.

“Is it Gyarados…? Can’t be…” Geiger tensed up, in disbelief that the freakish Pokemon experiment could possibly still be alive. Alas, instead what rose from the ocean’s murk was a metal-clad vessel that was vaguely stylized to resemble a Whiscash. And through the black-tinted windows of the vessel, all three Galactic Commanders could be seen by Cerise and his friends, having each secured their own escape route off of the ship. A red beam shot out of the vessel into the ocean -- presumably returning Gyarados back into its Pokeball. The tentacle of the Whiscash submarine retracted back into itself, taking the crying Eevee along with it. Geiger took a running start, fully intending to leap from the rubble of the sinking cruiser onto the rising submarine.

Instead, however, a torrent of pure wind rocketed out of the ship, catching Geiger in its draft and blowing him away before he could even get close. The Dragon-Descended howled in frustration, unable to right his momentum from where he was being yeeted to glide to safety. And, more than that, the submarine had elevated enough to reveal its true capabilities as an aircraft hybrid. The vessel began to turn to fly away, and Geiger could do nothing to stop it. The roar of engines was lost on him as Rizu steered a life boat around the side of the sinking cruiser, urging the others to jump on for their safety.

“Gotcha!” The Descended boy suddenly felt his directional velocity shift, and a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his midsection to keep him secure. Though he couldn’t completely see from the angle, the telltale green clothing and baritone voice let him know that Cerise had jumped up to try to catch the older boy. Something had changed within Cerise -- he certainly couldn’t jump several dozen feet into the air unless he was different from the average human, like Geiger himself. Looking down briefly, Geiger could at least somewhat tell that the intended landing point was the small jet boat that the others had commandeered. But at the speed they were falling, they’d rip a hole right into the small ship. Or worse.

“Do ya have a plan here, kid?!” Geiger shouted to the other boy loudly, trying to make sure that his voice pierced through the howling winds that whipped past their faces. “Else, we’re ‘bout to turn into Sharpedo chum!”

“Relax. We won’t die.” Cerise kept his voice stern as they continued to drop at breakneck speeds, making sure that he caught the gaze of the one person that he knew could get him and Geiger out of their current predicament.

Genesis.

Moving by instinct, Genesis lifted both of his hands and closed his eyes in deep concentration. As he did so, Geiger and Cerise could feel their descent begin to decelerate. But, at this point, the psionic slowdown that Genesis had been employing wouldn’t nearly be enough to prevent the duo from crashing into the boat.

“Ra!” Genesis briefly glanced down to see his Ralts lifting up her hands as well, using her own psychic power in conjunction with his own to more effectively slow down Geiger and Cerise’s descent. But it still wasn’t enough. But Ralts was nothing, if not determined. With a final push of power, the small Pokemon’s body began to radiate a brilliant blue luster, and its body grew taller, its form radiating more elegance than its previous state. Now evolved, Genesis’ new Kirlia could access stores of psionic power far greater than before. The two psychics coordinated their hand movements, bringing their friends to a safe rest onto the small boat that the group had boarded.

And then, the panic set in.

“What do we do now?!” Jo collapsed to her knees, feeling a sense of defeat resonating within her heart. After all of the fighting and panic, they had failed to prevent Eevee from being recaptured by the group that it had been trying to escape from. As the trainers returned their pokemon, she clasped a hand over her mouth as she tried not to get lost in her fears of the worst-case scenario for the brown fox. Admittedly, it was tough to ignore the very real possibility that the small Pokemon was being flown off to its death.

“...I can still see it.” Cerise murmured softly, and Jo glanced up at him. The verbal reaction he gave was surprising, as was the fact that Cerise seemed completely unbothered by the Eevee being flown away. After all, she’d seen how rigorously he’d fought the SSMT Gyarados, and also the conviction by which he’d defied Team Galactic when they first arrived. So, how was it that he seemingly didn’t care about Eevee now? Cerise looked down at her, as if reading her thoughts. “The Bonds of Loyalty that Eevee and I forged by fighting side-by-side, I can still see them, even now. They’re heading towards Branwyn, I think. This isn’t over yet.”

Curious, Jo followed the direction that Cerise was now pointing, seeing a distant landmass just on the horizon. In all honesty, she wasn’t familiar with that region, but if that was where Team Galactic was going… The girl slowly nodded. She didn’t entirely follow what Cerise had meant, but the group had a second lead to work with (alongside the mysterious Victini), even though they didn’t know what Team Galactic wanted with Eevee.

Something nefarious, no doubt.

“Shit…” Now searching for the boat’s paddles to navigate the vessel, Jo cast a quick glance at Geiger, who was nursing an injury he’d sustained in the conflict against Team Galactic. His critical injury had elicited a groan of pain, which he’d tried to stifle back as a curse. But it wasn’t just him -- the battle had taken a lot out of all of them, to varying degrees. Her thoughts wandered back to Luchi, and she squeezed her eyes shut as if to block out the memory of the bird’s twisted form slamming against the wall. The whole group would need treatment before they could continue their pursuit of Team Galactic. For now, though, that would require actually navigating to Branwyn. Taking the boat’s oars in her hands, she pushed the wooden plank against the water to urge the boat forward.

Perched on the boat’s bow in his Pokemon form, Victini took a moment to observe the group. It seemed… Just like the previous group that Cerise had traveled with in Kanto, this group also had the potential to foster true understanding between humanity and Pokemon everywhere. As of now, he had no idea how such a feat would manifest itself, merely that these individuals and their Pokemon partners were capable of creating the future of harmony that he envisioned.

For now, though, they needed rest. From what Victini could see, Cerise and Geiger were about to collapse from physical exertion, while Jo, Genesis, and Rizu all seemed completely drained. In particular, Genesis seemed disturbed, although from what he and Victini had seen, it was all too clear what the disturbance was. The Avatar momentarily kept quiet while he observed the humans all coming into their own senses of relaxation and letting their guards down. He cleared his throat a bit, gathering their focus. “Everyone, if I may have your attention? Rowing to Branwyn will take some time, but from what Genesis and I were able to read off of them, we still have a window of time to save Eevee. But that window is quickly closing. To that end… I’ll be working with each of you to help prepare you for what’s to come.”

“...What’s that supposed to mean? What’s to come?” Rizu raised an eyebrow at Victini’s wording. This strange creature that appeared out of nowhere seemingly had all of the answers? He wasn’t buying any of this for a second. But even so, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at Victini’s next words.

“...An Avatar Killer.”

[Approximately a week ago]

Espeon turned around and trotted back to the Pokemon Center, using her Psychic move to open up the doors and make her way to the room that Cerise was sitting in. She trotted past small crowds of confused people, including a worried Yuno who was sitting on the front steps, and a concerned and bewildered Wes. When she entered the room, Espeon hopped up onto an unoccupied bed and laid down, burying herself in the blankets and pillows.

<<Cerise... We need to get out of this town...>> Espeon poked her head out from under the blanket. <<...There are many terrible vibes here, and I believe it's influencing everyone's actions, even my own. Look what's happened to me.>>

"Espeon..." Cerise furrowed his brows, looking down as worry played across his face. The eeveelution slowly pulled away the blankets it had cocooned itself into, so as to show Cerise her newfound coloring. He wasn't entirely sure how to react, this was such an unprecedented situation!! This town and the events surrounding it had been strange from the get-go, and to hear Espeon confirm as much, despite her strange new appearance...

<<I... I have something I need to tell you, but...>> She sighed, looking down at the floor as Cerise stared at her intently. <<Wes cannot know.>>

"...I understand." Cerise said after a moment. For Espeon -- one of Wes' partner's and closest friends -- to keep a secret, the matter had to be of the utmost urgency and importance. And Cerise wasn't someone who could just turn a blind eye to trouble. "What's going on?"

Espeon was about to speak when there was a thud on the door, with Cerise's Honedge crashing to the ground after leaning against the door to get it open. The Pokemon looked exhausted as it weakly tried to meet the trainer's surprised gaze.

"Honedge!" Cerise sprang up, not yet having heard what Espeon meant to tell it. The trainer blindly ran over to his friend, cradling the sword in his arms carefully before he took notice of the mass that it had been struggling to carry. Cerise's eyes widened as he took in the sight of fallen Quilladin, his heart stopping for a moment. No, it couldn't be!! He scrambled over, checking the Pokemon's pulse, hoping against hope that his partner wouldn't be in any immediate danger. The last thing he ever wanted to experience was the death of a close friend -- he wasn't quite sure how Wes had handled Umbreon's passing... But he was pretty certain he didn't want to find out. With both Honedge and Quilladin unconscious like this... what had happened?? The ghost type looked up at Cerise with its single eye, simply glad that it had managed to accomplish what it had set out to do, but Cerise could feel his hands grow clammy with anxiety.

Cerise thought back to Decoda and how worried he had been for Mudkip... Cerise himself hadn't passed a single thought to Quilladin's well-being. Maybe it was because he was so used to being with the grass-type? Had he grown accustomed to assuming that his friend could take care of himself without Cerise always watching over its shoulder? But now that this had happened... Quickly, he shook his head violently as he tried to banish the thoughts of death and despair that now permeated his thoughts. His glasses flew off his face, cracking against the far wall of the room.

He waited for the sound of Quilladin's heartbeat.

And closed his eyes.

Beat.

The pulse of Quilladin was still there, dispelling Cerise's thoughts of despair. After all the two had gone through, he refused to give up on his partner, not when so much was at stake. Cerise, mustering as much strength as he could, hefted up Quilladin and Honedge in his arms to take them to Nurse Joy. He glanced back at what he could see of Espeon, recalling that she had wanted to tell him something. "I'll... be heading down to Joy with these two. Feel free to join me, if you want."

The gesture was a way for Cerise to get two things done -- continue speaking with Espeon and take care of his friends at the same time. He was sure that what Espeon wanted to say was important, so part of him didn't want to relegate her words to being a secondary concern. He also recognized that medical attention was required immediately for the two that he now held -- a weight he was sure he couldn't keep holding for much longer. There was also the matter Espeon had expressed concern about before -- leaving the town as soon as possible. Something was definitely off... and if it was truly influencing everyone as Espeon said, then the sooner they left, the better.

Espeon hopped off of the bed, picked up the boy's glasses, and trotted alongside Cerise, sending him a gentle <<I'm here for you>> vibe every few minutes, just to let him know that everything was going to be okay. She then narrowed her telepathic broadcasting away from the general public so that only Cerise could hear. As she spoke, she looked out the front door, watching the baby Bansheeon float about with distaste.

<<...That creature isn't good. The hidden vibes it gives off are very malicious. Whatever it is... it's feeding off of everyone's negative emotions.>> Her voice changed as she looked up at Cerise; it was the voice of Umbreon. <<That creature is not my soul. It is not me. Do not fall for its trickery, as it will consume you as it will him...>> Espeon/Umbreon looked out to Wes, who now was holding Bansheeon in his arms to stroke its fur.

"Bansheeon..." Cerise paused a moment, also looking at the front door towards Bansheeon's location. The dual voices was certainly unsettling, but the message that the Espeon and Umbreon's spirit had delivered was more important. The realization that the ghost eeveelution was not, in fact, the deceased soul of Umbreon was surprising, but that also just begged the question -- just what was Bansheeon, then? The breeder looked down at Espeon, slowly beginning to connect the dots of what the shared consciousnesses of Espeon and Umbreon had told him. The ramifications of Bansheeon's existence could be, quite literally, deadly to the group's existence. Seemingly, Bansheeon may have been responsible for the string of negativity currently surrounding Cerise's thoughts, if not the whole party. Checking in on the others to be sure they were alright was important -- especially Decoda! Was he generally that emotional? Or was the older trainer's recent state of despair a result of Bansheeon's machinations? Cerise made a mental note to write this all down later in his profile of the ghost-type. "If everything that you've said is true... then shouldn't we try to stop it? What would happen to Wes if we let Bansheeon keep feeding off of him? And how will the powers of Bansheeon affect the rest of us?"

Now, Cerise had made it to the Center's counter, and he gingerly set Honedge and Quilladin down on the counter, ringing up Nurse Joy by tapping the bell on the countertop. With a smile and a bow, the Nurse examined both Pokemon before motioning for her Chansey to help carry them into the back. With that matter now being attended to, Cerise returned his attention to Espeon, his lips pursed in thought. "We can't carry out our mission tomorrow if Bansheeon keeps up what it's doing, right? I'm not sure if it's intentionally malicious or if it's just following its newborn instincts, but something has to be done as soon as possible. I can't ignore this now that I know about it, and I refuse to let Wes get controlled by it!"

If Bansheeon could be stopped, perhaps the group could attain better cohesion as a result! He returned his attention to the front door, his hand hovering over Goomy's Pokeball. Pawniard would be more ideal to use, but it didn't know any Dark-type moves yet, and lacked any offensive ability that could affect Bansheeon. And with Quilladin and Honedge temporarily out of commission, that would leave Goomy to deal with Bansheeon, should the need occur. A shiver crawled down his spine as he stared down Bansheeon, seriously contemplating confronting the ghost eeveelution about what it was doing and putting an end to its trickery. Regardless of intent, Bansheeon was dangerous, should Espeon and Umbreon be correct about its true trickster nature. But a moment of hesitation stopped his body from moving.

"...But why can't Wes know he's in danger because of it?" As Cerise spoke, a flash of conflicted feelings cross Espeon's face.

Espeon returned her gaze to Wes and sighed sadly before looking up at Cerise to return his glasses. <<...Look how happy he is. I... I don't want to take this away from him. I don't know if I can do this to him. Even I WANT to believe that creature is Umbreon, but it isn't; it's just a ghost. Something that feeds off emotions until there's nothing left. Cerise... I don't think I'm strong enough to do this alone. Will... Will you please help me confront this... nightmare? I think it will help put everything to rest once and for all...>>

"You don't have to do it alone, Espeon. Just say the word, and I'll be there to back you up. And besides! You've been with Wes for way too long for him to not consider what you think about Bansheeon -- We still don't know a lot about that Pokemon, but you've been there for him since day 1, right?" Cerise smiled at Espeon, pumping a fist into the air. "You and Wes and Umbreon... The three of you wer-... No, are a team. Can't let something like this tear you all apart, right?"

From where he stood at the counter, he could now see that Decoda had approached Wes and Yuno with his Pokemon... Or at least, with what he thought were Decoda's Pokemon. He didn't see Mudkip anywhere, but he did see a somewhat similar-looking amphibianoid at Decoda's side. The breeder chuckled to himself, wondering if Mudkip had also evolved, just as Chespin had? He'd have to ask Decoda about that later, for sure.

"Just let me know when you want to handle this, Espeon. From what you've said... there may not be much time left."

Espeon looked from Wes to Cerise once more before taking a step forward and almost collapsing on the spot. She weakly stood up and stumbled a few feet before falling again. <<There's... too much spiritual activity...>>

The Eeveelution's telepathic broadcast was broken up, but still understandable. Espeon tried to pick herself back up, but couldn't find the strength to. Cerise found his eyes wandering outside, where the skies looked... purple? Espeon managed to find enough willpower to send him another broadcast. <<Cerise, I... c-can't move...!>>

"Espeon!!" Startled, he quickly rushed to the Pokemon's side, concerned for it's well-being. The Eeveelution's telepathic speech had become even more fragmented, cutting in and out abruptly as the Espeon struggled to stand up. Cerise wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it was clear that Espeon was in some kind of pain. But he did manage to hear her mention spiritual activity... And his eyes narrowed angrily as his gaze locked onto Bansheeon. Maybe now it was making its move against the group and finishing its job? He looked over at Espeon's struggle to stand before he nodded to himself. "Espeon... I know now isn't when you wanted to take care of Bansheeon, but if it's causing this to you, then I have to act now! ...If this spiritual activity is causing you this much distress, maybe you should just lie down for now -- I'll take care of this."

“Cerise, is that… Espeon?” The boy felt a hand pat his head, and he glanced upward to see Decoda, who gave Cerise a smile as he walked past. Cerise adjusted his bandana that Decoda had caused to slightly slide off of his head, and Decoda himself placed his Pokeballs on the counter for Nurse Joy before returning his attention to Cerise and Espeon. “I’m not mad, I’m just really confused. I heard you won against Wes. Did this happen during the battle or…? Maybe it has to do with Chimecho. She ran right into her ball as soon as it got cloudy.”

Cerise glanced back to the window at Decoda’s words and he could feel his body enter a trance-like state as he began to walk towards the doors. Stopping at the entrance, his hand rested on a Pokeball to finally confront Bansheeon and put a stop to its actions. The sight of the dark purple-tinted clouds outside alone filled him with a sense of gloom… This had to be Bansheeon’s doing, right? Cerise clenched a fist and was going to finally take the next few steps to go outside when he reflected further on what Decoda had said, but it was the information about Chimecho that was of most interest.

"Is it already too late...?" Cerise mused to himself softly, glancing back at Bansheeon before looking back at Decoda, trying to decide if it would be wise to enlist the guitarist in what Cerise was about to do. It definitely would help to have the extra muscle to take down Bansheeon and free Wes from its influence, after all. He finally turned to face Decoda, who was looking at him expectantly. For the moment, Cerise wouldn't mention Espeon's involvement in his uncovering of Bansheeon's true nature -- he didn't want to jeopardize the Psychic-type's friendship with its Trainer, after all.

"Decoda, a lot of strange and bad things have been going on in the past few hours since the Pokemon Tower, and Bansheeon might be the source of it all. There's been... an irrationality to our actions that don't fit with our personalities -- emotional alteration that doesn't match the pattern of our normal actions. We don't know much about Bansheeon, but based on my observations and notes, I fear that it has malicious intentions for us and anyone it meets -- and the Psychic-type Pokemon are able to pick up on it now."

“So what you're saying is that Bansheeon is the reason we’re all acting so out of whack?” Decoda asked, trying to wrap his head around the concept.

Cerise was quiet in response as his upper body turned slightly as he gazed back at where Bansheeon was playing, finally unclipping one of his Pokeballs from his belt. The trainer lifted the small sphere up to about his chest, taking a moment to reaffirm his convictions as he felt the cold metal in his hands. He honestly couldn't give much more in terms of details to Decoda without revealing that Espeon was his informant. And he didn't have the luxury of trying to explain where he'd learned everything -- having proven himself as somewhat insightful in the past, he secretly hoped Decoda would just go along with what he was saying. Finally turning around completely to face the Center's doors, he began to walk forward, focused on the task at hand.

"I won't let Bansheeon hurt anyone else."

As Cerise opened the doors to go outside of the Pokemon Center, Bansheeon hopped out of Wes's arms and flicked his tail. Wes and Yuno, who had been sitting on the front steps, both fell over in unconsciousness. The ghost type turned and sat down, facing Cerise. It had an almost disappointed look on it's face. It licked its paw and looked towards the boy.

"Always ruining the fun, psychic types..." It started. "Oh well. I could have gotten a bit more energy from those two, but I suppose I'll have to make do with what I have. And that brings me to you, kiddo." Bansheeon gave a fanged grin. "What are you going to do to stop me?"

"Wes!! Yuno!!" Cerise’s eyes widened as he beheld the sight of his two friends collapsing on the ground, the limbs of their bodies flailed about like ragdolls. The young trainer could feel his blood begin to boil as Bansheeon spoke to him, his own body now shaking with barely contained rage at what the ghost-type Pokemon had done. He only had two of his friends to help him -- Pawniard and Goomy. Hopefully, these two would be enough... But Cerise truly wished he had more firepower to help him. He wasn't too far from the Pokemon Center... maybe some kind of reinforcements would arrive to assist? But he had no way to be sure of that.

In two bursts of red light, Pawniard and Goomy materialized at Cerise's side from their respective Pokeballs, both of them taking combat stances as they faced Bansheeon. Cerise pushed up his glasses to the bridge of his nose, his eyes barely perceptible behind the glint of sunlight that illuminated the lenses of his eyewear. "What will I do to stop you? Anything that I have to, if need be."

“CERISE! Let me and Marshtomp be your support!!” Cerise recognized the voice as Decoda ran past to check the pulses of Yuno and Wes. It had taken some deliberation on his part, but it seemed Decoda was fully willing to team up with Cerise against the possible threat. As the older boy spoke, the familiar red light of a Pokemon being released from a Pokeball struck the ground next to Pawniard and Goomy, materializing into the blue amphibian Decoda had been with before.

The tension was thick now as Cerise, Decoda, and their Pokemon faced off against Bansheeon, who seemed all too amused at the situation. But Cerise himself felt uncertain -- the ghost-type had only recently hatched, it should know that it couldn’t match trained Pokemon. Any newborn would know that! So why did it seem so confident in its own victory. The ghost-type lifted itself onto all fours, the fur on its back seeming to stand on end.

But then, it stopped.

Bansheeon stared down the challenging trainer as the dark clouds and smoke from the Pokemon Tower began moving towards them. The ghost-type looked up towards the atmospheric formation and frowned, almost disappointed with the situation.

"Oh... Shame. Right as it was getting to the climactic part, too." It looked back to Cerise, it's body beginning to wisp away. "I was looking forward to fighting you, testing this new strength. However, it seems that my other half is calling to me. Good-bye, Cerise. Decoda. I do hope we can fight soon!"

He completely dissolves, his smoke joining with the clouds in the sky and dissipating altogether. The darkened sky slowly cleared up, revealing something rather... unsettling. Everyone else in Lavender Town was gone. Catia, Cerise, Decoda, Wes, and Yuno were all that remained, in the now truly ghost town.

"NO!! GET BACK HERE!!" An enraged howl escaped Cerise’s lips as he tried to run after the dissolving smoke, reaching out and grasping at it desperately. His hands caught nothing, and as the wisps that escaped his grasp, Cerise slowly collapsed to his knees. Distraught, he didn't take notice of the different surroundings right away, and was barely aware of Goomy and Pawniard, who had rushed to his side out of loyalty. Whatever Bansheeon had planned... Cerise was absolutely sure that it was up to nothing good.

“So… I suppose I should explain a few things, eh?” Victini gave a toothy smile in its Pokemon form, flashing its signature peace sign. As the journey to Branwyn would be several hours by boat, the group of trainers had decided to take turns resting so that everyone could have the chance to calm their nerves. As of now, Victini was on watch with Cerise and Geiger, and now had seemed an optimal time as any to actually learn what in the world had happened in the climax of their battle with Team Galactic.

“Well, yeah.” Cerise exhaled. When the adrenaline had faded from the battle, Quilladin had reverted to its original appearance, and Cerise could feel the effects of his collective mind with his Pokemon fade somewhat -- there was enough strength to guide them towards Eevee, but Cerise was no longer synchronized in movement with his party. “The mind-meld I had with my Pokemon, Quilladin’s new form, it all just doesn’t make sense!”

“Are you familiar with the term ‘Descended?’” At this, Victini crossed its little legs. Cerise nodded somewhat in response.

“People who have Avatar ancestry. They… are born with Pokemon DNA, but it needs to be triggered by something for the powers to be able to be used.” IT was no surprise that Cerise had some rudimentary knowledge of the topic. Some time ago, he and Decoda had asked the Avatar known as Rotom to check their respective lineages, and found that they had the blood of Honedge and Audino respectively. Though to their knowledge, neither boy had any actual access to those Descended abilities. “They also differ from the Ascended, who are granted an ability by an Avatar.”

“There’s more to it, but you’re not that far off.” Geiger cut in, giving a toothy grin as he jutted a thumb at himself. “I’m an awoken Descended of Garchomp. Like a Pokemon, I have a small pool of moves and techniques that I can use or change. An Avatar can switch between Pokemon and human form, but a Descended is constantly in a state of being both forms at all times. Some Descended are even able ta use their genetic Pokemon’s latent abilities or Mega Evolve, things like that.”

“So that’s why you…” Cerise halted before completing the sentence, realizing his words might come off as rude.

“That’s why I look like a Garchomp? You’re catching on.” Geiger smirks, but then turns to Victini. “But, Cerise wasn’t displaying anything like that.”

“Right! Being Descended is great and all, but I don’t see how it relates to what happened!!” Cerise crossed his arms, confused.

“In your specific case, being Descended is only a piece of the puzzle. Your specific lineage, I suspect, is something more.” Victini paused, considering its words carefully. “For centuries, some Avatars have formed and assembled their own Courts -- an association of like-minded Avatars gathered for a single purpose. Think of them as guilds, should that help at all as a frame of reference. And, at times, humans are employed to help enact these purposes. The clearest example I can give would be the Aura Guardians. They belong to the Court of Lucario, though I personally don’t know much else about ‘em.”

“Alright…” Cerise could mostly follow at this point, though he was admittedly still having trouble finding a link between Victini’s words and the reality he’d experienced. He knitted his brows together before speaking. “...Are you saying what happened to me is because of an Avatar’s Court?”

“Yep. My Court.” Victini smiled. “Associates of mine include Gallade, Absol, and… Aegislash. The humans we employed are called Victory Defenders, and their power was a bit more… abstract. The Defenders use the strength in bonds to overcome adversity and triumph. You were seeing some of that in action, I believe? Like an Aura Guardian, the power of bonds exists for everyone, but Victory Defenders are able to turn those bonds into a greater source of strength than a normal human could. Of course, there exist humans that are able to use some degree of Aura without being a true Guardian -- the same holds true for Defenders. But a proper education will prove the best way to polish and nurture your ability. You, Cerise, actually woke this power some time ago. At least, I suspect as much.”

“I need a minute…” Cerise squeezed his eyes shut, trying to wrap his mind around the information. This was a lot to process, after all! After a moment, he spoke again. “So… my bonds with others is my power?”

“Correct! Pokemon that you forge a deep bond with are able to synchronize with you and each other -- this normally takes years to master, but you seem quite adept at it!” Victini formed a “V” for “Victory” sign with its hands, nodding excitedly. “You and your Pokemon move as one and share thoughts, so there’s no delay between decision-making. And, like the Descended, the Defenders have a small pool of Pokemon-based skills to utilize. To be able to bring understanding and mediation to unify others for a common purpose. This power to unite with your friends and defend them -- this is your gift!”

“I have so many questions…” Cerise lowered his head into his hands, struggling to process everything. The answers he’d gotten had only woven out a large web of questions that he didn’t know if he was even ready to understand. He sighed, lifting his head as he rubbed his eyes. He could see Geiger give him an apologetic smile.

“Erm… How are you feeling, after getting all that dumped on ya?” Geiger asked, trying to cool off the conversation while Cerise tried to grasp everything he’d been told. “I bet this is a lot to process, and I’m not even one of these Defenders!”

“O-oh! Um… Take your time for now.” Victini said softly, apologetic in its tone. “It’s… It’s just been so long since the last Defender awoke, I admit I got a little excited and carried away. Sorry if I overshared! There’s much more in regards to my Court and the Victory Defenders, of course, but I’ll give you a breather.”

Geiger set down the boat’s oars to lean over and pat Cerise on the back, who still had his face buried in his hands. “How about we talk about what we’ll do when we get to Branwyn? What’s the plan for rescuing Eevee and taking down Galactic?”

“Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem for us.” Victini murmured, crossing its arms. “We don’t exactly know much of their plan, so we’re going in somewhat blind to the full extent of their operation. Genesis and I managed to get some info with our psychic power, though.”

“The Avatar Killer.” Geiger muttered. “...Right?”

“Mhm!” Victini nodded. “Eevee is commonly known to have unstable DNA -- that’s what lets it have so many different evolutions. I’d assume they’ll use Eevee’s own DNA as a skeletal template to craft this Avatar Killer, and fill in the blanks with who knows what else. No matter how we look at it, this is going to be a problem. It may be jumping to conclusions, but… I’d say the elimination of Avatars would very well lead to civil war between humanity and Pokemon. No, it may even be worse than that, in the worst case scenario.”

“So, Eevee’s gonna end up…” Geiger paused, unwilling to finish the thought. “Maybe ‘cause it can switch between its evolutions? Normal Eevee can’t do none of that.”

“Considering Eevee’s reaction when we first saw it in the BattleDome… I’d say it could very well have that ability as a result of something Galactic did, but was able to escape them and evade capture until now.” The Avatar replied, turning towards Cerise. “Either way, I can’t overlook this. And I don’t think this one will, either!”

By now Cerise had lifted up his head, and was watching the exchange between the two. He had been listening attentively, and his eyebrows were furrowed in a stern gaze. His mind had been made up a long time ago, all that mattered now was the method they’d use to enact the rescue. In order to do that…

“Victini… I have a lot of questions. Maybe too many to handle, if I’m being honest.” Cerise spoke slowly, doing his best to speak his mind clearly. “But right now… I need to learn this power I have if I want to save Eevee. If we run into another Shiny Shadow Mega Totem Pokemon, we’ll need every advantage we can get. For now… teach me how to master being a Victory Defender.”

Hearing those words, the Avatar beamed in excitement, its face lighting up in a giddy fervor. “Really?? Okie doke!! Since we’re pressed for time, I’ll hold off on the history and finer points for now -- the highlight of a Victory Defender’s ability is Synchro Evolution!!”

“Synchro… What?” Cerise tilted his head to the side.

“Synchro Evolution. It can only be conducted with a Partner Pokemon of a Victory Defender, and not all Defenders can access it.” Victini continued. “I’ll try to be brief. All Victory Defenders are Descended, but not all Defenders actually have their ancestry awoken. Those who do meet both conditions can take the power of their bonds with a Pokemon that’s special to them to a new height. Traits of their Avatar bloodline -- Aegislash in your case -- are imprinted upon the Partner Pokemon, which can alter its appearance, moves, even typing! It’s not too different from Mega Evolution, but can be used on a Partner regardless of their evolution stage. Um… even though I said all that, there are some humans that are outliers and can use that form of evolution without being a Defender. But that’s incredibly, astronomically rare!!”

“So that’s what happened to Quilladin?” Cerise nodded as he connected the dots -- his ancestral heritage had been what had brought about the unexpected change in Quilladin. If the power of bonds could bring about a transformation like that… what else was it capable of? So many strange things were all coming together at once, it was nearly enough to make his head burst!! “Alright… How do I activate this Synchro Evolution? What are the conditions to trigger it?”

“The mental wavelengths of a Defender and their Partner must be completely in sync, hence the name. Also, that’s why the mind-meld is so important -- it helps achieve that prerequisite. Another obvious condition would be a trainer that has an Avatar bloodline that has a trusted Partner. Aside from that… conviction. To achieve victory, you need the conviction, determination, and telescopic focus to see your goal and smash through it. Not everybody has the skill to see something through until the very end, but you do. That Flame of Willpower must burn brightly, unwavering even in the face of adversity. However...”

“What is it?” Cerise blinked, unsure of what Victini would say next.

“Your power is incomplete. Your access to Synchro Evolution is short-lasting for a certain reason. You’re a Descended who should have awoken, but you can’t access your Descended abilities, which hinders your synchronization from reaching its full potential. The reason for that is something I can only hypothesize for now…” Victini trailed off, its smile fading somewhat.

“And what would this hypothesis be?” Geiger chimed in, now also inquisitive.

“From what I can sense about you, Cerise… the half of you that is Descended is mostly ‘missing’ from your body. As you are right now, you’re a hair above being an average human. The part of you that comes from an Avatar was ripped out of you at some point, leaving only figurative embers. It’s not an entirely unheard of phenomenon -- Arceus can do similar feats to any Ascended that he didn’t personally approve of. But the only Avatars that could do that sort of thing… are a select few. Would you permit me to search your mind during your rest? I need to know which Avatars you’ve been in contact with.”

Admittedly, Cerise wasn’t thrilled about having his mind poked about in, but if it ultimately meant that he could rescue Eevee? It would be a risk worth looking into, right?

“So if he were to get his Descended parts back, in addition to all this Victory Defender stuff…” Geiger spoke slowly, trying to wrap his mind around the hypothetical combination of abilities. Victini simply gave Cerise a stern nod as it stared at him intensely.

“He’d become a rare existence that could become the bridge between humanity and Pokemon everywhere.” The Avatar stated simply, letting its words hang in the air for the two boys to fully digest.

“I don’t know about being a bridge…” Cerise began to speak after a brief pause. “But I know it’d help Eevee to do this. And maybe… Maybe Goomy would still be alive if I’d known about this kind of power. For their sakes, and to be the shield for those I care about… I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Victini smiled, taking note of the stirrings of Rizu, Jo, and Genesis from their sleep. It’d be time for the trainers to switch watch soon. There was still some time to go until they’d reach Branwyn. “Rest for now, I’ll wake you both when we land ashore.”

---∞---

Weary eyes slowly blinked open as Eevee regained consciousness. The smell of singed fur told the Pokemon that electrocution had been used to knock it unconscious. If it’d been able to react faster, then… But it was too late for that. The brown fox tried to take in its surroundings, to get a better understanding of its current whereabouts.

Gone were the crashing waves of the ocean, and along with it the vessel that the humans used to traverse the seas. In its place were craggy cliffs and mountain outcroppings. Eevee couldn’t make out much more of its surroundings, aside from the horde of humans dressed in vaguely astronaut-like attire. The Pokemon had no idea how many of them there were, but four wore clothes of distinction that set them apart. It took Eevee a moment, but realization dawned upon it as it recognized several of the humans as the ones who fought the trainers that’d tried to protect it.

There was little Eevee could do now. It was being held in some kind of transparent, spherical container, and its evolution-switch ability seemed non-functional here. But despite the blatant peril that it was in… Eevee felt calm.

Help was on the way.

Branwyn.

A vibrant region in the world of Pokemon where fate and its dealings reign supreme. Ordinarily, a quieter place where the mysteries of the unknown bubbled up anticipation for many researchers. And very shortly, the epicenter for a secret battle to decide the fate of humanity and Pokemon alike.

“...Are you certain that’s what his name was?”

Deep inside the cavernous labyrinth of the Ystlumod Heights, a small group of Team Galactic grunts began to murmur among themselves as Commander Jupiter awaited the reaction of the man before her. She could feel the urge to wring the hem of her bodysuit’s sleeve -- a method of relieving tension. But her mind screamed at her to stay at attention, to remain unmoving until an order had been given. Jupiter allowed herself to at least swallow, pushing down some of her nervousness with the action.

“Y-Yes, sir. It was Aerie, Cerise Aerie. A young man with an accent from Unova, I think.” Jupiter said, warily focused on the movements of the white-suited man she spoke to. He frowned at the reply she gave, tapping his finger on the electronic console he was facing.

After a moment, the man turned away from the console to face Jupiter and the grunts. His face was stern, his body language rigid. He ran a hand through his hand before he spoke. “We cannot speed up our timetable for the project, and the boy is sure to pursue us here. Jupiter, ready Team Galactic for the possibility of an assault. We cannot allow them to impede our efforts here.”

“Yes, Leader Mercury!” The grunts behind Jupiter pounded their fists to their chests as a salute, promptly making their way to file out of the room. Commander Jupiter, however, remained quiet, waiting until she and Mercury were both out of the room to finally speak.

“Your orders will be carried out, Leader. However…”

Mercury’s eyes bore into Jupiter as she spoke, almost feeling as though the man was analyzing her very soul with surgical needles. It was unsettling, and Jupiter wanted to run out of the room immediately. However, the handwave that he gave was enough indication for her to keep speaking.

“The boy has… some kind of ability. I don’t yet understand it, the way he worked alongside his Pokemon. It’s like nothing I’d ever seen before.It wasn’t a simple matter of teamwork, but something… inhuman?” Jupiter let her words wander, reflecting on the memory of Cerise fighting alongside his Pokemon. “And there’s also the matter of him being…”

“...My son.” Mercury finished the sentence softly, and Jupiter could see the briefest flash of sorrowful emotion wash over the man before he returned to his stoic demeanor. “An unfortunate twist of fate, perhaps. But all the more reason to ready ourselves for his arrival. He cannot interfere, not after we’ve come so far. But it is in his nature to come, to try and oppose us when he doesn’t understand what’s at stake.”

He motioned for her to follow, leading the way to a nearby corridor whose lights glowed a faint, sickly green. Jupiter followed behind him closely, already knowing where it led, though she hadn’t spent much time there.

“The genetic procedures we’ve done here have bore fruit on our road to conquering Avatars -- the SSMT project has been proof of that possibility. Despite the defeat of our enhanced Gyarados, the combat data provided has been most helpful. And combining those results with that of our special Eevee from Project Red Braid, our final procedure is nearly underway.” Mercury spoke with urgency as they made their way down the hallway, passing by the vats of liquid that surrounded them on both sides.They each held some varied kind of lifeform of differing stages of development, with some holding embryos to others that held nearly grown beings. Mercury’s concern, however, was primarily on the door at the very end of the hall, which he rested his hand on the handle of.

“We’ve come too far, sacrificed too much, to let this all go down the drain. To that end… There were some other completed SSMT subjects that I’ll lend to you, Mars, and Saturn. I don’t expect my son to prevail over all of the subjects in time to halt the Ascension, but I will allow no room for error or mishap.” Mercury’s grip on the handle loosened, as he decided against opening the door. It wasn’t time to unveil this one, not yet. “Do not fail me, Jupiter. The fate of humanity rests upon these coming hours.”

Jupiter nodded, and bowed deeply as she backed out of the hall. Now left alone, Mercury slowly lifted a hand to grasp the Pokeball necklace that he wore, absentmindedly feeling its curvature as his focus returned to the door he stood in front of.

“I wonder, Cerise, whose power is greater?” Mercury murmured softly. “Yours? Or… mine?”

---∞---

Realistically, only a few hours had passed since the sinking of the S.S. Cortina, but it felt like it’d been a lifetime ago.

Rizu carefully turned over the Havoc Unit in his hands, inspecting the surface of the device with keen interest. It’s energy had been recharged by now, but he still needed to double check his trump card for any other possible abnormalities -- constant maintenance was a necessity to conduct, regardless of how tedious it could be.

From what Victini said, they’d need every edge they could get.

In all honesty, Rizu certainly felt out of his depth here. His only expectation in this trip had been to check on Cerise’s wellbeing, maybe be an awkward shoulder for him to lean on. But they’d ended up getting tangled into a hostage rescue against a criminal organization that was thought to be extinct. Experimenting on Pokemon, killing gods, ancient prophecies… Rizu couldn’t relate to all of that. At most, he could at least care about stopping Pokemon abuse, but everything else was above his pay grade.

They’d landed on the shore of Branwyn about an hour ago, and had taken some time to regroup and plan their next move. Rizu glanced over to his right, where Cerise was evidently training with Victini and Geiger. It seemed Cerise was part of an ancient group of warriors called the Victory Defenders, and his Descended power was on the cusp of awakening. That power had been the tipping point that’d allowed the group to defeat the SSMT Gyarados, after all. Cultivating it seemed important, as far as Rizu could tell.

And Cerise wasn’t the only one training to improve for the upcoming conflict. Jo had spread her various Z-Crystals before her, and was deep in thought -- possibly planning which ones would be most useful to use. From what he understood, a Z-Move was only usable once per battle, much like Rizu’s Havoc Unit. But there was more diversity in the possibilities before her, so choosing the correct Crystal to use was critical.

Likewise, Genesis seemed to be reviewing the state of his own assets. Mega Evolution was more long-lasting than Z-Moves, but only certain Pokemon were capable of it -- Genesis’ Lopunny, in this case. The Psychic was sitting alongside his Pokemon, as though meditating. Actually… that was probably exactly what they were doing. In terms of improving, Rizu wasn’t sure how much more Genesis could do -- maybe he’d surprise them?

“Alrighty, everyone. Gather round.” Rizu was brought out of his musings by Victini’s voice as the Avatar brought Cerise and Geiger over to the approximate center of the group. Rizu dusted himself off as he stood up, firmly attaching the Havoc Unit back onto his arm. He was as ready as he could be, and so was his team. The five humans gathered, having made the final inspections of their varied skill sets. “Our route is set for a nearby mountain range called the Ystlumod Heights. But before that.”

Victini turned to face Cerise.

“It’s time… For the truth about you. Come with me.”

“The truth…” Cerise repeated Victini’s words, both terrified and excited by the prospect of finally knowing his origins. The Avatar’s words resonated within Cerise’s mind, and the boy could feel himself shudder in anticipation. He’d no idea what was going to be said -- it was related to what Victini had spoken about before, right?

The Avatar, true to his word, had been an eye on Cerise’s mind while he’d been asleep. The sensation itself was unsettling at first, feeling a foreign presence pressing against his mind the way that it had. But with time, he had grown accustomed to the feeling and had fallen asleep on the journey to Branwyn. Now that they had arrived… the moment of truth was finally here. The boy nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Good!” Victini smiled, clearing its throat as it led Cerise a small ways away from the others. “It may be best to bring out your Pokemon for this. Several of them are active participants in your truth, after all.”

Admittedly, Cerise was certainly surprised at that statement, but brought out his Pokemon team. In three flashes of red light, Quilladin, Honedge, and Pawniard were released from their Pokeballs to their Trainer’s side. Cerise looked them over, admittedly still feeling his stomach tie up in knots. He’d need to have a conversation with his Pokemon about their feelings regarding Goomy’s passing, if the battle they’d had on the S.S. Cortina was any indication.

“Now then, from what I pieced together, it’d be best to recap everything and catch you all up. The information will be critical in determining how we infiltrate the Heights, so it’s not entirely a waste to review for our purposes.” Victini cleared his throat before continuing. “Now keep in mind, most of what we’ll discuss and show will be speculation and deductive reasoning. But I’m sure we can get corresponding hard evidence soon enough.”

Victini paused, looking Cerise over carefully. Admittedly, he wasn’t sure if Cerise was mentally prepared for what he was going to say… or what Victini was going to do. The Avatar levitated itself on top of a nearby stump, crossing its arms behind its back. “Within your bloodline, your ancestry, flows the gift of the Victory Defender -- a human that has the ability to use their bonds with others to manifest victory. But also, your bloodline contains the ancestry of a Pokemon Avatar, making you a Descended. Although, one that hasn’t awoken their ancestral power. Many Descended exist in the world, but most will go their entire lives without knowing the truth of who they really are. But even so, your abilities are incomplete… Maybe fractured would be a better word? In any case, you won’t be able to access the full extent of your gifts as you are now.”

Victini waited a moment, continuing to speak only after Cerise had nodded in understanding. “When I searched your memories as you slept, I was surprised to see how many Avatars you’d met! Most humans would be lucky to have even met one, but you’ve met so many in your travels in Kanto. Even so, do you remember what I said about you missing parts of yourself?”

Cerise nodded. “The parts of me that are Descended, right? I remember Rotom saying my lineage was from the Honedge line?”

“Yes…” Victini smirked at that. “I’d normally say that we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves with information such as that. Beautiful you’ll recall, I already told you that some of your current team members are actually active participants in your history -- your Honedge is one of them.”

“But… But how so? I only recently got him in a trade from Decoda. Like, I know I’ve been through a little bit with Honedge, but I don’t see how much of my past Honedge could possibly have been involved in!”

“This is where it gets… complicated.” Victini scratched the back of its head, turning to Quilladin. “But you know the truth. Don’t you?”

The question was clearly rhetorical, as the hedgehog looked down in a look that mixed anxiety and nervousness with concern. Obviously, Quilladin knew something about the connection between the boy and Honedge. Cerise hadn’t expected such a reaction -- was the Grass-type hiding something?

Briefly, the Pokemon glanced up towards Cerise, quickly turning its gaze downward again upon their eyes meeting. The reaction itself was… unnerving, suspicious even! Did something terrible happen? And just how involved was Quilladin, anyway?

“I’m going to have you, Cerise, engage in a psychic mind meld with myself, Quilladin, and Honedge. The point in time which connects you all is one that the three of you know only fragments of. Fair warning, it can be disorienting, and your first instinct will be to try to fight it. In order for this to succeed, you must calm your mind and go with the flow. Now then, are you ready?”

Cerise didn’t immediately respond, his gaze wandering back down to Quilladin. He could never have imagined that the Pokemon would have hidden something from him, but now a part of him was certainly anxious. Cerise honestly wanted to believe malicious intent wasn’t involved, but at the same time… “I’m ready.”

As he affirmed his resolve, Honedge let the dark blue cloth attached to its pommel sway towards Victini, likewise affirming its own desire for uncovering the truth. Quilladin let out a soft sigh of resignation as it gave a slight nod of consent.

Victini’s eyes began to glow a brilliant orange. “Then, let’s begin.”

---∞---

The mindscape was as illuminating as it was disorienting. To be able to smell colors and see tastes… it was illogical, but familiar in a way Cerise couldn't quite place. Sensations filled in gaps in his mind he didn’t even realize that he had, and the boy knew he’d never be the same with what he now remembered.

The chaotic expanse began to organize its colors and shapes into something more familiar, and Cerise became increasingly aware of his body reassembling into its normal human shape -- or whatever the closest term would be for a psychic mindscape. Before his very eyes, environments began to mold and settle themselves, fixing themselves into the forests surrounding Cerise’s hometown of Lacunosa.

He could see it all.

Or more accurately, he was reliving every moment that he hadn’t even known he’d forgotten. Cerise could only watch as the memory of his younger self fighting Kyurem rippled through his body, and he shuddered as the memories of physical pain washed over him. He wanted to look away, to free himself from the pain. But his focus stayed glued to all that he saw.

{{This moment here… This is the point of divergence.}}

Victini’s voice echoed through the expanse as the younger Cerise collapsed from exertion of battle, the various Pokemon he’d battled alongside rushing to his side. As the memory doppelganger of Cerise fell unconscious, the environment began to shift. The lair of Kyurem, a cavern of mysterious glowing symbols, began to rumble and groan, but not in the way that was expected. A pink glow overtook young Cerise’s body and began to leak away, pulsating in rhythm with the rumbling of the cavern. Before the astounded eye of the Pokemon present, the pink light shone brightly for a moment before shooting out of the cave to a region unknown. The memory doppelganger of Chespin stared at the light for a moment before looking down to young Cerise and trying to lift him up. The other wild Pokemon present nodded  to themselves before assisting Chespin pick the boy up and carry him out of the cavern.

{{But just what was that light that Chespin saw? Allow me to show you.}}

The scenery began to shift and change once more, and Cerise became increasingly aware that the psychic “bodies” of Quilladin and Honedge had also begun to take shape next to him. The three looked onward at the scene that unfolded next with rapt attention. Far away, somewhere in Kanto, the orb of pink light came to a gentle hover in the treeline near Lavender Town, and began to shift in shape. Morphing, stretching, and finally changing its shape into a form very familiar to Cerise -- Honedge. And somehow, Cerise just knew that it was the very same one that he and his friends had encountered.

{{Kyurem is a powerful Avatar, even in the weakened state you fought it in. Powerful enough to tear a Descended into their human and Pokemon halves, which seems to have an adverse reaction on the two separate halves. The human half, Cerise, suffered minor brain trauma in the form of missing memories. The Pokemon half, Honedge, harbors instinct more primal than any Pokemon should. But you were drawn to each other, despite the distance between you both.}}

The scenery shifted once more, now showing the memory doppelganger of Cerise from just about a week ago confronting Honedge. In the moment when the duplicate of Cerise held Honedge’s grip, the memory he experienced also manifested in the mindscape. A man holding an Aegislash, his silhouette shrouded too much to determine the details.

{{In that moment, when you saw your ancestor in the memories you both share… Cerise, you and Honedge found the yin to the other’s yang. And that helped balance you both, to set you on the path to becoming whole once again. And now, the healing can begin.}}

With those words, the scenery faded, replaced by a simplistic rolling meadow, with lush grass growing as far as the eye could see. It was in this moment that Cerise was aware of his astral body as much as he would have for his physical body, to a near identical degree. In front of him, Honedge had also seemingly manifested its astral form, and the Pokemon seemed equally bewildered as he was. To their side, Victini and Quilladin materialized as well, and the Victory Pokemon greeted both with a smile.

{{Healing?}} Cerise opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. His thought was simply projected out towards the others, and Victini nodded in response.

{{You need to be whole again, in order to stand against what is to come. The two will become one once more.}} Victini replied, crossing its little arms.

{{...I’d lose Honedge?}} Though no words were said, the others could almost feel Cerise’s telepathic voice crack. He himself could feel his eyes begin to water, though he wasn’t sure if it was purely the mental sensation, or if his astral body was also sobbing. {{I wouldn’t see him anymore? I… I don’t know if I…}}

{{You have no reason to fear.}} Cerise fixed his gaze on Honedge, who floated towards him as he thought-spoke. {{This isn’t the same as Goomy, even if it feels like another good-bye. I’ll always be with you, no matter how lonely you may feel. In a sense… I’m coming home.}}

Honedge was calm, cool, and collected, traits Cerise knew that the Pokemon hadn’t displayed when he’d first encountered each other. On some level, there had to be some truth to Victini’s monologue, as wild as it seemed. Cerise was having trouble wrapping his mind around it, even moreso the idea that he had to merge with Honedge! It was kinda complicated for him, but the past that he shared with Quilladin and Honedge seemed undeniable.

{{...You’re really alright with this? Just… not existing, anymore?}} Cerise instinctively reached out for Honedge, who wrapped its hand-like sash around his arm. A gentle squeeze by the Pokemon affirmed its decision, and Cerise could once again feel himself getting choked up as the Sword Pokemon thought-spoke.

{{The way I am now… The way you are now… It isn’t right for either of us. Cerise, you gave me the best gift I’ve ever gotten -- a heart. And that heart wants to repay your kindness with kindness of my own. It’s a little scary to think that I won’t *be* anymore… But I’ll be with you, forever this time. It’ll be worth it.}}

{{So, if the decision has been made…?}} Victini piped up, glancing between the two expectantly. But Cerise and Honedge both knew that there was no choice to be made, their fates had already been sealed. Cerise closed his eyes, and his hold on Honedge’s grip seemed to melt away all at once. Once again, the mindscape began to meld Cerise’s senses. But this time didn’t feel overwhelming.

It felt just right.

---∞---

Never before had the sensation of the breeze on his skin felt so electric. Cerise slowly opened his eyes, unclenching the fist he didn’t realize he’d made. His eyes blurred for a moment, and the boy squinted briefly, straining his eyes to see. Normally, his glasses were fine, so why now was it so hard to see…? Cerise could only come up with one explanation for the moment.

He no longer needed his glasses.

Cerise shakily removed the visual aid, his eyes now watering at the crispness of the world around him. It wasn’t that his vision was fixed -- it was enhanced by an unthinkable degree. Much like the bonds he saw between himself and Eevee, he could see other multicolored lights connecting him to other friends he had made along the way. By flickering the slightest of attention to one of the beams of light, he could immediately discern who it connected him to. Loka. Decoda. Catia. Professor Oak. Grams. Mom. Cerise took a breath, pushing focus away from the bonds of those uninvolved with the matter at hand. The visibility began to fade, but the feeling of connection was still there. It was as though… As though Cerise had tunnel vision for only the relevant bonds at hand, but was still aware of others in his peripheral.

He turned towards his Pokemon, both looking at him expectantly. The trainer had almost expected himself to feel some remorse or despair at Honedge’s absence. But… due to the time that they were separated and the time that they’d spent as companions, Cerise could feel a bond with Honedge that spread from his fingertips to every inch of his body.

“Well… You look more you!” Genesis smiled as he came over, leading Jo, Rizu, and Geiger behind him. “That’s much better!”

“Um… ‘More you?’ How does that make sense, exactly?” Jo knitted her brows together, surveying Cerise carefully.

“We- erm, I’m a complete person now, in layman’s terms. Honedge and Cerise are apparently the same being, but split into Pokemon and Human halves when we- ah, I encountered Kyurem a long time ago.” Cerise spoke with a more dignified tone, a manner of speech not dissimilar to Honedge. “It’s taking some adjusting to, and it’s hard not to refer to myself in plural terms, if that makes sense? But you can still call me Cerise.”

“How about a quick demonstration of your complete power? Conserve your energy, of course! But this is just so you can get better acquainted with your strength, and the rest of us can strategize how best to coordinate with what you can do?” Victini was clearly eager to show off what a human in his service could do, and Cerise let out a soft sigh of resignation.

“Very well. Geiger, would you have a quick spar with me?” Cerise directed his focus to the other Descended in the group, who gave a toothy grin of excitement.

“Love to.” Stones and pebbles began to rise from the earth and construct the signature arm blades of Stone Edge along Geiger’s forearms. He took a crouching position, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “Hope yer ready!”

Cerise took in a deep breath, slowly lifting a hand across his chest in concentration. The air itself seemed to grow thick with tension as the shadows cast by surrounding trees seemed to quake. As the boy reached his hand outward, purple-ish spectral energy coalesced around his arms, solidifying into a small number of ghostly blades. In appearance, these ghostly blades resembled the form of Honedge quite a bit, including the cloth-like tassel that floated in the breeze. The way he felt now… he could almost feel Honedge’s presence within him. Almost. With two ghost blades hovering near his shoulders and the other two swords firmly positioned within Cerise’s hands, he nodded -- Using Swords Dance for him seemed a bit different from how a Pokemon used it, but that probably didn’t matter too much. “Always.”

Jo glanced over at Genesis, who was fiddling away with his phone. “I suppose you already have a song in mind to play, don’t you?”

The psychic trainer sheepishly grinned, his thumb already hovering over the play button on his phone. “You, uh, know me too well, I guess!”

Genesis' Awesome Mix Track 3:

Naturally, it was Geiger that went in for the attack first, lowering himself to a crouch as he dashed forward. Kicking up clouds of dirt in his charge, Geiger outstretched his arms with the intent to land diagonal slashes across Cerise’s midsection. A wild smile spread across his face as he dove towards his target, armblades at the ready.

A shower of sparks rained down to the earth below, as Cerise parried the slash with one of his spectral blades. Angling his blade upward to force Geiger’s stony protrusion in the same direction, Cerise pressed forward on the opening he had created. Bringing his other blade in for a quick thrust, he was blocked by Geiger catching the ghostly sword in the exterior of his own blade.

The two Descended paused, both taking the briefest of moments to predict each other’s movements. A mere instant later, they were a flurry of blades clashing against each other, raining streams of sparks all around them with every clash.

“I… can’t tell who’s winning.” Jo said, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Initially, Geiger should hold the advantage through experience and battle instinct. Garchomp are naturally some of the strongest Pokemon known, minus Legendaries. But Cerise… He’s learning quickly. Maybe because Honedge is a sword, he has the advantage in swordplay? It’d be like an inherent intuition for swordsmanship.” Genesis mused, keeping his focus intent on the two Descended.

Backflipping away from Cerise, Geiger lifted a hand into the air with a flourish, raining down a barrage of Draco Meteor bursts. He smirked as he poured on the pressure, thrusting his other hand forward to fire more orange blasts. Dirt and debris erupted from the ground as the spheres of energy crashed into the ground around Cerise, obscuring his figure. Geiger had only just landed on his feet when a trinity of ghostly blades tore through the cloud of dirt, and the Dragon Descended leaped backwards with a backflip.

As Geiger landed, Cerise burst from the smoke, crossing his hands in front of him as several more ghostly Swords Dance blades materialized around him. With a toothy grin, Geiger readied himself to meet the challenge as Stone Edge armblades reformed along his forearms. Both Descended boys began to pick up speed, raring to go for another clash when a sudden gripping sensation stopped them in their tracks. Victini floated towards the two, lowering its hands.

“Alright… I think that’s enough. We can’t afford to have you too battered for what lies ahead.”

“Do you think you’re ready, though? The Heights aren’t that far away, so if you have any last minute preparations…” Rizu waved his hand as he stepped forward, eager to move things along to a more grounded topic. He waited to see if anyone had anything to say before he nodded and glanced down at his PokeNav. “Then let’s go, the Ystlumod Heights are a bit farther inland.”

“Hang on a sec!” Victini bounced backwards, landing gently on Rizu’s shoulder to examine the map of Branwyn. “If the mountains are over there… I should be able to get us there more quickly with my psychic powers. And if Genesis and Kirlia were to lend a hand…?”

Victini and the others looked to the Psychic trainer expectantly, who blinked in slow realization before letting out a brief gasp of understanding. “Oh, sure, I can help! But I’ve never tried doing this kind of thing before, so you’ll have to take point.”

“So, to clarify our method of travel…?” Rizu folded his arms, not quite grasping what Victini and Genesis were inferring. The Victory Pokemon simply laughed as it patted the side of Rizu’s face with its little paws.

“We’re gonna fly there!”