All good things came to an end.

Duty called. The Champions answered.

Lance was the first to go, though Ash could see that leaving his fellows ripped his heart out. But Kalos had finally given the clear for him to begin his formal visit with an Indigo League delegation and such things couldn't be put off.

The Dragon Master hugged Ash, tried to give Steven a noogie before being threatened with a Railgun to the face, fistbumped Wallace, and gave Cynthia a high-five hard enough that they both winced before grinning at them all.

It masked a deepheld bitterness.

"Kalos awaits! Well, once I finish opening the Indigo Conference," Lance declared, Garchomp saying his goodbyes to Princess, Weavile, and the rest with a sheen of tears glistening over his warm yellow eyes. Princess looked ready to vomit. Then, she'd much rather be staring daggers at Bruiser regardless. "Croissants and soufflé, here I come!"

For a moment Ash was almost aghast at the thought that it had been a whole year since the Opening Ceremony of his Indigo Conference. How time flew…

"Don't forget about the fairies!" Ash added, his own battle-hunger rearing its head. Lance had fought them before and said it was an awesome sight—their fae power was largely localized to Kalos and a few other regions of the world, but it enabled even the most delicate of creatures to disperse draconic power with ease.

Such a description only left his thoughts wandering toward the Moon Stone and Nidoking's slow, steady progress. But while potent, the fae power wasn't all-mighty!

It turned out that a twenty-pound Florges could reduce a Draco Meteor to wisps, yet that didn't mean much when a thousand-pound Dragonite came crashing down upon it. The fairies had phenomenal defenses and could wield their power effectively to disperse the natural protections of dragons, but they were still vulnerable to physical powerhouses.

Unfortunately, that meant in regulated battle it was common for dragons to still possess several advantages. In the wild and in war, however, the fairies tended to be used in squads. Even the mightiest dragons wouldn't take a group of powerful fae lightly.

Lance just grinned at the mention. "Oh, I can't wait! It's been a long time since we've had a chance to test our strength against them. I'll be sure to send a few pictures of Diantha's face when she sees what I've been working on!"

Wallace chuckled. "Better her than me!"

"I am the youngest Champion in history," Lance said pompously, winking at them at the same time so they knew not to take him seriously. He took a quick glance at Ash. "I have a reputation to uphold!"

"Only because you didn't have Drake to contend with," Steven grumbled. "Marcus was no slouch, but that match was disgusting. At least his Corsola managed to ground Dragonite"

"It's no wonder he ran off to brave the wilds of the Southern Continent once you were all trained up," Cynthia chimed in, though her eyes lit up at the mention of the dangerous lands' mysteries. The Southern Continent was no Dark World, but it said quite a bit when Orre was the glittering jewel of civilization upon its shores. "I wouldn't have wanted to show my face afterwards either."

"He was a good Champion," Lance defended his predecessor. "Not the easiest man to get along with, but he did his duty well. Even if it was a thankless job. Especially when it was a thankless job."

They shared a few more words, but Lance clearly felt ready to depart. He let out a booming laugh, hugged Ash one last time, and offered them all a salute.

"Don't do anything that I wouldn't do!"

With that, Lance bade them farewell and swept away on Dragonite's golden back once Garchomp was finished saying his own goodbyes. The great dragon offered them all a toothy grin, smashed his claws against Weavile's one last time, and vanished in a flash of light to join his mighty trainer.

"He's not actually flying to Kalos is he?"

Steven massaged his temples. "Oh yes. Well, after he opens the Indigo Conference. I don't envy him juggling the investigations as well as Indigo's two grand events. Despite my protests. He could arrive in a fraction of the time via teleportation, but Lance seems intent on taking the journey 'the proper way'. It's only five hours, true, and I understand the desire to give Onulo a passover on the way—"

"Have there been any disturbances?" Cynthia cut in sharply. Her grey eyes burned a hole into Steven. "That's the last thing we need."

Wallace shook his head. "There have been a few low-frequency, high amplitude underwater sounds—thank you, Steven, for that description—detected by sensors, but nothing concrete. No signs of movement, thank the Waters."

Cynthia eased at that.

"Anything I should know about?" Ash arched his eyebrows. That sort of concern was normally reserved for Legends. Onulo was a sunken wasteland that lay between the Eastern Continent and Kalos. The ancient civilizations who once resided there had long been forced out by rising sea levels and the perils of the sea.

According to Cynthia's text, some of their castoffs had come to Hoenn. They'd played a major role in founding the Volumo Empire over sixteen hundred years ago.

"Just a few old sea monsters," Cynthia chuckled. "Far below your notice, don't worry! Leave that to us. With any luck they won't be an issue anytime soon."

Was Ash quite willing to put his faith in that? No, not after the last two years of his life. Still, he had enough problems of his own to deal with. Let the Champions worry about whatever lurked in Onulo.

But it wasn't long before Cynthia made to leave as well.

"It's been a lovely time!" Cynthia cried even as her face was a peeling red mess. She didn't have any press conferences coming up, did she? Shimmer smiled at them from Cynthia's side, letting out a crooning sigh as she bid them farewell alongside her trainer. "And filled to the brim with educational experiences as well!"

"Yes," Steven said slowly, stroking his chin thoughtfully. His other hand brushed the Poke Ball which Ash knew to be bound to Regirock. "Your research has proven quite…illuminating."

Ash had accompanied Cynthia and Wallace on a few trips to the archipelago and other ancient sites in hopes of dredging up a few useful scraps from the old Volumo ruins. The Sage had been delighted to help, of course, and his uncanny ability to peer through time and space ensured they picked out advantageous sites more often than not.

Oh, the Sage made him so jealous! Ash could pick up hints occasionally and divine out secrets, but he couldn't just take a glimpse into the lapping waves and pick out a drowned monument to Volumo buried two hundred feet below. And he certainly couldn't tell you the identity of its maker, every aspect of its journey through time, and list out its elemental composition.

Psychic abilities were just so unfair sometimes. It did help that the Sage was so nice about it—the strange Braviary was always eager to help and share knowledge, and Ash and his teammates (mostly Dazed) spent many hours learning and debating at his side these past two weeks.

But at least their research paid dividends.

"I wish I'd managed to pinpoint the locations," Cynthia bemoaned. "The knowledge is priceless, but I know you're more interested in the vaults than a record of Lupu the Steel-Fisted's long list of bastards."

"I wonder how many limbs he had to sacrifice to pull that off," Ash said, grinning pointedly at Steven. "Based on the records we found, Lupu might've been forced to start using fingers and toes instead of arms and legs."

"Quite," Steven coughed. He steadfastly ignored the burning curiosity in Cynthia's eyes, well-aware that his attempt at 'The Talk' with Ash was just going to be fuel for her fire. "Ancient tyrant's surprising virility aside, we at least know that one was buried somewhere in the archipelago while the other seems to be in Fortree's territory. It gives us a foundation to work with."

But a rather shaky one. Brawly had already been assigned his task of filtering through the archipelago for any signs of the golem, but that was like finding a needle in a haystack. It wasn't even his highest priority either, not when there was still so much work to be done.

Hoenn's populace still didn't take kindly to the Aquas after the false reports of Zinnia's attack, and that conflict threatened to boil hotter and hotter every day despite Ash (and the League's) assurances.

Perhaps the League could extract some sort of information from Aqua? Ash doubted the folk of the archipelago possessed the capabilities of breaking through the ancient protections laid down by those who had spirited the Regi to Hoenn in the first place. Whatever guardians had been left behind would only prove even more troublesome to anyone who wasn't a combat-hardened veteran.

But if some old legend or folklore persisted which might help narrow their search…

It was worth looking into, Ash resolved. Perhaps he'd swing by Sudmauna and check in with Rawiri. The grumpy old man seemed quite plugged into the goings on in the archipelago, although Ash would have to be careful to avoid raising suspicion.

"Steven, stay safe," Cynthia said as she wrapped Steven up in a big hug. She might have been a little younger than Lance and Steven, but she very much seemed Steven's big sister at that moment. Ash could only smile at the display. Sinnoh's Champion gripped Steven's shoulders tightly as she pulled away. "Keep me updated. And let me know if Wallace bullies you! We know how he is."

Steven sputtered denials even as Wallace inspected his perfectly manicured fingernails. "Perish the thought!"

Cynthia winked at Ash and Wallace as Steven kept on with his confused rebuke, then turned to face the current Ever Grande Champion. "You've been doing a wonderful job, Wallace. You've been dealt a difficult hand, but I'm proud to see you making the most of it. The Lily of the Valley awaits your call. Not even the world's end can break our fellowship."

Wallace nodded stiffly at that, smiling tearfully at Cynthia as she waved them all away. And just like that, the Sage's eyes flashed. Ash sensed the twist in space-time before they seamlessly vanished, Andel's services seemingly unnecessary this time.

I envy him. For all the freedom I thought I had, he is truly unshackled.

"We're all shackled in our own ways," Ash said to Dazed. "At least you've picked up a few tricks."

Dazed's eyes quirked up.

Still, it was Cynthia's arrival which truly marked the end of the reunion. Wallace remained for another day, but it wasn't long before he couldn't justify the time spent away from Ever Grande. It had been a stretch to begin with, and that was with both Ever Grande Champions constantly stepping out to settle disputes or oversee various League operations.

Perhaps the Draconids were onto something with their diarchal system of government. Governing Hoenn was too much for a single set of hands.

Wallace wasn't happy to leave, Ash could tell, and lingered a bit longer than he should in Steven's doorway saying his goodbyes, but at least he seemed a little more at ease than before. The companionship of his fellow Champions (and the load they'd taken off his shoulders) had done the Water Master good, and the simple fact that Hoenn was healing ever so slightly with every passing day only amplified that.

The fires which had engulfed the region were slowly dimming.

And then it was just Ash and Steven.

They spent one last day together before they went their separate ways once more, and Ash savored their time as they ate the last remnants of Esteban and Wallace's leftovers (he made enough to feed a small army every day so that their teams could eat as well) atop Steven's smooth granite countertop.

It was quiet.

"You know something strange?"

Steven hummed.

"It's March."

His teacher blinked. "Indeed."

Ash idly slid his glass of water atop the layer of condensation which dripped down from its edges. Frost crawled up it in a fractal pattern before he dismissed the power. Steven just eyed the scene with the same unease he always did.

"My Indigo Conference opened one year ago," Ash said. "There are trainers standing in my exact shoes. Rookies."

"Perhaps not your exact shoes," Steven said mildly, sipping his steaming black coffee through a metal straw with the Devon logo etched into it, although Metagross telekinetically drained the majority of the heat away before it could burn Steven's tongue or lips. Metagross attended to most of Steven's dental needs—it turned out that plaque and tartar stood no chance against a psychic who could tear down a skyscraper, and no one wanted Claydol playing dentist—but apparently staining was more of a concern. "You have chosen a rather unique path."

Lairon trilled sadly from below, always despondent when stories of something he'd missed came up. But that sadness was appeased with a little ingot courtesy of Steven, who really needed to stop spoiling Lairon so much.

Ha! As if Ash was one to talk. It wasn't his fault that Lairon's baby blue eyes turning despondent might as well have been classified as a technique. Then again, perhaps it was…

This was the day he reunited with Jon and Amelia. This was the month when he began to renew his long-broken friendship with Gary. In many ways it was the Indigo Conference which had taken the experiences of his first year as a trainer and molded that rough lump of clay into what he was today.

It planted the seeds of his future growth.

It gave them a new beginning.

"It's been around a year since you made your offer," Ash said as he reflected. "Time flies, doesn't it?"

"Only a year?" Steven bemoaned, setting his black coffee down against the marbled surface of the countertop. "It feels more like ten to me!"

Ash chuckled.

"Ash…"

Steven said hesitantly, tripping over his words. This clearly wasn't one of the conversations he'd practiced fifteen times with Metagross, and it showed in the fact that Metagross briefly lost their implacable mask. Their red eyes looked frighteningly human.

And from the way they immediately hardened, Metagross didn't appreciate that brief moment of vulnerability. It only took a moment to freeze over once more, the apex predator returned to dominance.

Steven's thin hand awkwardly reached out, hovered over Ash's shoulder, and hesitated.

Ash snorted, grabbed it and slapped it onto his back.

Someone had to do it, and Ash suspected Steven would've been in limbo for another five minutes as he ran through his internal debate. Cynthia hadn't been kidding: Steven was really bad at improvisation.

His teacher cleared his throat. "I know this has been a difficult year in many ways. And I know that I haven't always handled it as well as I should have. But as much as I wish I'd managed certain aspects differently or responded more optimally, I can't find myself regretting the offer I made you."

Steven's eyes tended to stray this way and that during conversation, rarely settling for direct eye contact, but this time he practically drilled a hole into Ash.

"You worry me. Metagross has been quite concerned about my blood pressure since you entered my care. The things you can do are…unsettling at times. But I have truly enjoyed every moment of being your teacher."

Ash's throat clenched. He glanced down to see Lairon's blue eyes watering a bit, and he comfortingly nudged the steel-type with his foot. And when Steven awkwardly patted his head, Ash relished the touch.

He would've throttled Gary if he tried anything like that, and Lance would've pulled it off with ten times the grace, but Steven was doing his best.

Just like he always did.

"I, uh, have a present for you. A gift," Steven said quickly, frantically scrambling for something unseen, only for Claydol to helpfully levitate it into the man's hand. "Thank you, Claydol."

Anytime.

The lack of snark was a little alarming in its own right, but Ash was too curious to pay much heed.

"Is it Aggronite?" Ash grinned.

Steven shook his head quickly. "No. Given the fact that the League has already reserved an Aggronite sample for you, I deemed that it would be an unnecessary—"

Claydol manifested two bright eyes made of psychic power just to roll them.

"Ah," Steven said, coughing into his fist as he caught on. "I apologize. Well, if I am being precise, there are two gifts. Here!"

His teacher practically shoved the medium-sized box into Ash's hands. It had a silver ribbon expertly twisted around the smooth grey of the wrapping paper. Happy little chibi Beldums were plastered all over the box.

"Want to help me?" Ash asked Lairon, dipping down so that Lairon could take a big lick of the wrapping paper to tear a good chunk away, although he offered it up to Weavile to shred the rest. All of his newly evolved dignity was stripped away as he flickered closer and methodically tore into the box with his wicked claws to reveal its contents. "Thanks!"

Ash gently reached into the box (but not before tossing the rest of the wrapping paper to Lairon and Weavile to squabble over) and withdrew two items: a small metallic rectangle and the stiff frame of a cap. The hat was crimson on the bill and around the edges of the crown, but the center was black with the imprint of the upper half of a teal Poke Ball in the very middle.

"I know you're very attached to your hat," Steven said frantically, as if fearing Ash's reaction, "and this is not my way of pressuring you to trade out, although it would certainly mean far fewer snipes from Karen, but your apparel is running on its last leg, so to speak. When it does wear out, I thought it might be nice to have an alternative."

Steven cut Ash off before he could respond, still hurrying ahead. His teacher's thin fingers nervously played across the granite countertop as if it were a piano.

"As for the other—"

Steven, stop hyperventilating. Let him see.

Claydol telekinetically snapped Steven's jaw shut, although that left the former Champion's eye twitching. Metagross didn't take kindly to the insult either—Ash barely had time to blink before Metagross had 'deactivated' Claydol and the construct fell to the ground with a heavy clunk.

It only lasted for a second, but it was enough for Claydol to know just how unhappy Metagross was.

So sensitive! You'd think a raging metal psychopath like yourself would have a thicker skin. But I suppose those pesky emotions can infect the best of us!

Ash turned the metal sheet in his hands. It appeared to be composed primarily of steel and was fairly thin, though thick enough that he couldn't just bend it. But more than that…

His eyes widened.

Etched into the steel was a scene composed of more fine lines than Ash could imagine, each carved with more skill and precision than any mortal hand could manage. They created an intricate network, weaving in and out, and Ash felt a stupid smile split his face as a picture emerged with startling clarity.

"It's us."

"Yes. Through Metagross' eyes," Steven still spoke as if running a sprint. "I'm not an artist like Wallace, but Claydol guided me and Metagross was considerate enough to lend their abilities to ensure the final product turned out properly. See, it's from the first night we made camp in Forina. It was difficult to incorporate the layers of smoke from the campfire and Infernus, but Metagross' psychic abilities are quite meticulous. We—"

"Steven, you don't have to justify it to me," Ash said, gripping the metal tightly. It was easy to pick out the absurd level of detail Steven and Metagross had woven into the scene—the curls of the aforementioned smoke, the wry furrow of Steven's brow as he motioned to Ash regarding some detail or another, and the hunger in Ash's gaze as he absorbed every scrap.

Nidoking hung protectively over Ash, though the rest of the team were too distant to be more than suggestions, and Ash couldn't wait to show this to his friend.

"I love it. Thank you," Ash said, injecting every scrap of earnestness he could into his words. He yearned for Steven to feel it in his spirit, fostered the ironbound connection between them to new heights, and Steven gasped.

Awed eyes caught sight of a silver-haired man riding atop a Metagross, an indomitable pillar of strength and confidence. He was a hero. He had saved them from Pierce's Muk. He was everything Ash wanted to be.

He looked down upon the poor children, a mask of calm plastered over his face despite the fury burning within. Metagross called for temperance, to move on and secure their quarry now that the traitor had been captured, but Steven had seen the three beneath the Muk. Rockets were still out there, but they would come to no harm under his watch. No one else would!

"We've both grown a great deal, haven't we?" Steven squeezed his eyes shut. "I never could have imagined what that young boy would become."

"He couldn't either," Ash said drily. "His dreams didn't come close."

Steven chuckled.

They both smiled, then Ash lowered the disk down to Lairon so that his friend and Weavile could inspect amidst the tattered ruins of the wrapping paper that Ash would have to clean up later.

"Not for eating," Ash warned Lairon as the steel-type stared mournfully at the forbidden treat. "So…what's next?"

Steven sobered.

"It's as President Goodshow said. It's time to excise the rot from Hoenn," Steven said calmly. "We've assembled quite the web, and I do believe I've found one of its central nodes. We must tread carefully, but a team has been assembled. We'll have our newest informant soon enough."

Ash inspected him closely, but the seeds of malice and cold ruthlessness—the Metagross in him—was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Perhaps Ash (and more likely) had averted that dark path. But there was purpose in his eyes clear as day, unquenchable determination, and the rigidness to follow his path no matter what to see justice done.

Not vengeance anymore. Justice.

"Can I ask who?"

"You may ask, but I won't share. Not yet. Only Wallace knows."

Steven played calm, but Ash knew him. More importantly, he knew the signs to look for: face pale with anger, eyes hard as the stone Steven was named after, and a certain distance that couldn't be hidden.

Whoever this was, it was big. More importantly, it must have been someone Steven knew. They'd made it personal. Someone in Devon, perhaps? Ash couldn't imagine the betrayal.

"The raid is being organized as we speak," Steven said. "I'll share more information once it's done. But if our calculations are correct, this is the individual who informed Zinnia of your location."

Ash hissed. "Can we be there?"

"No. Not for this. You're more than capable of dealing with this…person," Steven's distaste rolled off his tongue, "but it will be a volatile enough situation already. We must handle this gently. Magma works in cells. Information is carefully controlled. No one knows the full scale of the plan. So far we've only gained scraps, but this might be our chance to gain further insight into their operations. Not a soul can know they've been compromised, and your team is far from subtle."

Weavile hissed, but Claydol spun disconcertingly close to Ash's face as Steven spoke.

Yes, you're rather on the shock and awe side of things. Lance would be proud! Not everyone can have my deft and sensual touch.

Ash grimaced at that. "Couldn't you have phrased that any differently?"

Oh, I could have.

Ugh.

"I'll keep you updated," Steven promised, steadfastly ignoring Claydol's input. "But where will you go after this? I'm afraid you wouldn't be particularly entertained sitting in interrogation chambers all day, although it would be an excellent furtherance of your education…"

"That sounds really fun," Ash blatantly lied. Weavile snickered from below the tabletop as he squinted at Steven's gift. "But I was actually thinking of returning to Lavaridge for a bit. My mom's back in Johto now, but I've missed seeing Flannery. Plus we've run into a bit of trouble with Blast Burn. Power's not an issue, and Infernus' psychic control is up to par, but it's still unstable. We're not getting the right results."

Steven's eyes lit up. "Perhaps Metagross and I could help."

"I'd appreciate that, even if it's going to be strange learning from the only steel-type in the world who can pull off Blast Burn."

The former Champion stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Metagross is rather impressive, aren't they?"

"They are," Ash said drily. As if Steven didn't espouse their virtues on a regular basis. "But any help would be great. I don't want to go back to Fino without having a few solutions workshopped. He's entrusted me with the secret of Blast Burn. I won't let him down!"

Steven smiled at that.

"Well then, why don't you tell me what you've tried so far…"

XX

"Are you afraid?"

Earth shuddered beneath them as they rested atop a spire. It was small, the mere aftershock of a greater earthquake which had rumbled beneath Lavaridge earlier that day, and Flannery was left with the unfortunate job of inspecting a few faults and crevasses that had appeared in its wake.

Infernus and Plinia battled down below as Ash and Fino rested atop one of Forina's great spires. The heat rose above in rippling waves to roast their skin as the Magmortar and Plinia clashed, tearing the landscape apart as they joyfully dueled to test their skills. Fire sang in Ash's heart, blazing in sync with the simple pleasure Infernus took in this battle.

They'd proven to themselves that they could defeat Plinia. Without those stakes on the line, Infernus simply let himself have as much fun as the half-blind Typhlosion.

Great flames sprayed high enough to scrape the peaks of the two hundred foot high pillars which clustered Forina. The fires glowed bright against the onset of dusk, and smoke billowed out as if a great wildfire had sprung up in the forest's heart.

Both Ash and Fino's teams worked overtime to ensure the situation remained over control. While Infernus was the primary offender, Plinia seemed to take his rampant destruction as a challenge and threw a little more oomph into her attacks than strictly necessary.

"Afraid?" Fino's face scrunched up. "Well, that's the quite the question! I've many things to be afraid of, yes. I've lived in Chimney's shadow all my life. I've waged war in foreign lands at dear Drake's behest and turned around to shake hands and share smiles for the same reason. I've seen Ever Grande grow and struggle and come to the brink of collapse."

"And what if it's all swept away?" Ash asked quietly, eyes locked upon the heaps of furious black smoke which came frothing from Mt. Chimney's rim. Earth was heavy here, suffocatingly so, and he could feel it mounting slowly, slowly, slowly. "You know what's resting under there. One bad day, and it rises."

Seeker chattered at Ash's side, her ears twitching. She never felt quite comfortable in Forina either. Her instincts were sharper than most.

"There's pleasure in a simple life," Fino's face wrinkled even more as he chuckled, seemingly ignoring Ash's question. "We humans have such a habit of overcomplicating things. For all our knowledge, for all our great works, we sure do seem to make life more difficult for ourselves."

"I'll say," Ash grunted. Life had sure been simple back in Kanto: himself and his team, that was all that mattered. And crushing the Rockets, of course. And yet he wouldn't have gained Steven as a mentor. He couldn't have defended those who couldn't defend themselves. He couldn't impart his lessons to rookies. He wouldn't have met this extended Family down in Ever Grande. "Worth it, though."

Fino peered down at Flannery as she rode in on Brick's blazing back and released her entire team to join in on the fun. Plinia grunted as Piper slammed into her with explosive force, the Typhlosion sent sprawling beneath the Torkoal. Infernus' eyes lit up as he turned to face the new challengers with a roar, the earth sundering beneath him. Lava exploded forth to greet his foes.

"Yes, yes, it is. The world can be a cruel place. Harsh, unyielding, and ready to tear you down in a second if that's what fate has conspired. I've known many who can't bear that simple truth: they see the darkness and squeeze their eyes shut, blinding themselves and closing themselves to the world's wonders in order to maintain some faux-control."

"The world's a complicated place. You have to take the good turns with the bad."

"You've opened yourself entirely to the world we've lived in, Ash. It warms my heart!" Fino's robes flapped about him as they stared off into the setting sun. "I've witnessed terrible things, Ash. It's my price to pay for living in such interesting times! I was Drake's loyal shadow during the war…but no more of that! For all the cruelty and maliciousness and misery there is equal—no, greater!—beauty to be found."

Fino smiled as the sun drifted behind Mt. Chimney and cast the valley of Forina in shadow.

"That's what I believe, at least. It's easy to see the harshness and grow numb and resigned. It's easy for it to grow so great and dark that you're blinded! But nothing is ever simple, eh? We living things have grown beyond the base cruelty of the world. We've brought light to it! A helping hand to those in need! Art! Love! Companionship! Those are my truths, Ash."

And what truths they were. Ash reached up to scratch Seeker beneath her jaw, his lips twitching as she leaned happily into his touch.

Ash looked out over Forina, felt the sweltering weight of Earth strangling him, and imagined the little purple jewel hidden beneath it all by the Draconids. For all the faults his journey to the Sky Pillar had revealed in their philosophy, those who had secreted Jirachi away from the world at large could be considered nothing less than heroes in his eyes.

If not for them, all of Hoenn might have been lost to Desire. A thousand years of corpses clambering over their predecessors to lay their hands upon the innocent chrysalis…

Forina's spires rose beautifully like a forest of towering stone trees. The remains of ancient fortifications towered atop a few, each worn away by time and the elements, but acted as a stark reminder of the Draconids who had once called this place home.

What would they think to see Zinnia, their descendant, turned away at the very seat of their power? Ash hoped Lance found her and showed her the full power of Obliterator. Even ashes would carry too much of her memory.

But as beautiful as Forina was—as Hoenn was, all raw and untamed and in a rapturous symbiosis with its human populations—it would all be lost soon. Earth would quake. The sea would churn. And in the end, would anything be left?

"You haven't answered my question."

"Haven't I? Yes, I'm afraid," Fino said, spreading his arms wide while Lucille looked fondly upon her old trainer. The burning twig clutched between her claws flickered. "Thirty years…Ever Grande is so young, so fragile! A little ship cast straight into the storm. But we're resilient. We stand on the precipice of change, the end of an era, and it's all we can do to right the course."

"And what if we're swept away?"

Fino was silent, still staring down at Flannery as her team dogpiled Infernus. She cackled madly, dancing upon a pile of hot stones as Caldera slammed into Infernus and sent him sprawling, though a swipe of Plasma Blade soon dissuaded her."We old men love to hear ourselves talk! But what do you think?"

Ash was tempted to let empty platitudes roll off his tongue, but bit it back.

"What I think…" Ash said slowly, imagining Lugia's warning once more. "What I think…"

The images poured into the Sky Pillar by its creators flashed through his head: a walking mountain dripping molten lava from every pore, hunched and terrible in its scale, and the black leviathan bleeding scarlet light that left the ocean a gaping wound.

They would meet and pit water against the life-blood of the earth. Ash recalled Sudmauna's Origin Festival. Their meeting would fill the world with steam, tear down the old and reshape what was left.

"It's happened before. It'll happen again," Ash admitted. "We're just the latest in a long, long cycle. They wake, clash, and leave the world in ruins." That last word made Ash pause. "No, not ruined. Changed. Different. Remade."

Fino nodded, satisfied, while Ash imagined how many iterations of the world had come before. How many continents had been lost and gouged and raised again in new shapes?

"The world will be different. Much of what is won't be any longer," Ash said. Unspoken was the simple fact that Lavaridge laid in the belly of the beast. When Groudon rose, it was Lavaridge that would be torn from the earth or swallowed up in a mountain of ash and rubble. "But a new world will be made. We're just a seed for what's to come."

"You know too much," the Fire Master said as he patted Ash's shoulder with a warm hand. Seeker watched closely. "Such weight on young shoulders! But you'll be the one to inherit this new world. All we can do is take the lessons of the old, eh? We've made mistakes—so many mistakes!—but it gives me hope all the same. So much is lost, but think of what we can gain! You're right. Ever Grande is a seed. A promise of something beautiful, immature and struggling but yearning to sprout and spread its petals wide. I can't wait to see what we will become!"

Every day saw the Roar grow a little louder, the shudders of Groudon a little stronger. It would be months still before these little sleep-twitches would crack their slumber, but Ash couldn't help but worry all the same.

Yet Ash's lips twitched despite the dark thoughts hanging over him like a cloud.

"I'm not sure about the seed thing. Drake would probably say it's more like a Bagon egg."

"Alas, Drake was never one for simile," Fino sighed. "For all his wonderful qualities, he never had the patience for anything abstract. Our Drake is a man of action and little else! He would've been bored to tears with our talk just now. Drake the Dragon Master was always rather…literal."

"I guess Steven carried on that fine Ever Grande tradition," Ash said. "Although Wallace broke the streak. Pretty rude of him."

"My dear Steven!" Fino's lips rose up in a warm smile. "Oh, I wish you could have met him when he was your age. Such a bright star, but I was always amazed at the goodness in him. There's not a deceptive bone in that boy's body. What you see is what you get and I adore that. He's made me so proud!"

Ash listened intently, always eager to hear more about his teachers, and wondered, "Did he still have such a close bond with his Beldum back then? Or Metang, I guess."

Fino nodded sagely. "Oh, he was positively scatter-brained at times! Metagross can be a tad…callous, let's say, but at least they're a cohesive entity. While Steven and his four Beldum developed their close relationship early and synchronized quite closely from the beginning, it was quite overstimulating for the poor lad. I can't imagine having so many voices in my head!"

Mine is the only one you need.

Lucille added pleasantly, earning a laugh from Ash and Fino both.

"Speaking of Steven, you mentioned the dear lad was assisting you with Blast Burn?"

"And reminding me of how unfair Metagross is," Ash grumbled. Lucille nodded fervently. "They spat off a perfect Blast Burn like it was nothing. It was helpful to track a few changes, but didn't do much to highlight the difficulties Infernus and I are having."

"Perfect, you say?" Fino stroked his chin in much the same way Steven was prone to. He sounded doubtful. "Well, Metagross can no doubt execute it seamlessly, but they've always lacked the artistry that makes Blast Burn what it is! Blast Burn might be the center of Master-level fire-type techniques, but we all have add our own little flair. Some are more explosive, some more precise. Some cling to their foe like glue while others blast them away. It reveals a little of the Master's soul! And I doubt that Metagross has one at all. Only what it can siphon off from Steven."

"I've read the materials you gave me," Ash said. "I had to check out the history of the technique."

"Of course you did!"

"The first Fire Master to develop Blast Burn modeled it after observing the use of a lens to create fire. She aimed to condense her Charizard's flames to pinpoint precision."

"A very loose inspiration, but accurate. Though psychics had already discovered the properties of lenses long before humans replicated their experimentation with technology. A familiar tale!" Fino chuckled, brushing his robes as he sat down with a relieved sigh upon the weathered remains of an ancient stone bench. "For most of history, fire-type specialists were determined to go wide. Bigger was better! More heat, more flames, a wider range of devastation."

Ash leaned over the edge to peer down at Infernus, who had made a temporary alliance with Plinia to put Flannery's ambitious team back in their place. Both mighty fire-types worked seamlessly together, each well-aware of the other's techniques. As Infernus bathed Forina in flame, Plinia dug to strike Flannery's suppressed team with pinpoint precision.

Breaking up the earth to allow Infernus to unleash a devastating Lava Plume was only a bonus.

"I can see the appeal," Ash said drily. "But Cindra Sato had other ideas."

"She provided the foundation for the technique that all Fire Masters have adopted. It's a mark of pride! A rite of passage. But yes, Cindra was a visionary. Her innovation has branched off in hundreds of different evolutions and permutations, each unique in their own ways. But all find their core in her stable plasma projection."

"Most Fire Masters find inspiration in nature, right?" Ash raised one finger at a time as he listed off various sources from which the Blast Burn variations were derived. "Volcanic eruptions. The sun's rays, or even coronal mass ejections. Lightning. Wildfires. Lasers."

"As varied as the stars in the sky. And, as I mentioned before, rather telling of the Master who developed it. Elite Four Flint of Sinnoh has a particular explosive bent. Our pyromaniac friend Infernus would delight in facing off against his own Magmortar!"

Ash grinned even as the roaring of a great gout of fire reached his ears—Plinia had backstabbed Infernus, apparently, and he was quite vocal about his displeasure. "He would! What about Blaine, then?"

Fino's lips twisted into a rare grimace. "Volcano."

He decided to move onto a happier topic. "So where did you find your inspiration?"

They'd grown all too familiar with Fino's particular Blast Burn variation: a blue-cored cylinder of flame the size of Ash's closed fist which erupted in a rush of wind and force which could fracture the stone carapaces of their opponents.

Lucille's eyes flitted over to Fino at that, a frown upon her vulpine face, but she stared back into her burning wand as the Fire Master's eyes closed.

"I sought guidance from Mt. Chimney when I was a young man," Fino said, his eyes glazed with recollection. "Plinia and I wandered these hills for hours once we had mastered our initial iteration. I thought of replicating one of Chimney's rare furies. And then the Unovans landed and Drake came calling."

"Have you ever seen a pyrobomb's eruption?"

Ash blinked. Seeker cocked her head at Fino. "No, I can't say that I have."

"Count yourself lucky. They're impressive weapons of war, but little else. A moderately trained fire-type can produce more deadly attacks, but a living being can be used to heat homes, produce power, and forge steel. A pyrobomb is built only to destroy."

"I've seen videos," Ash said, recalling various footage from the Last War and the onslaught upon Castelia. Pyrobombs and cryobombs had fallen like rain on both sides of the conflict. Fino was correct. While the average trained fire-type could far outweigh the destructive power of a pyrobomb, the range and ability to mass produce pyrobombs made them highly effective. "Nasty pieces of work."

"And terribly useful," Fino said softly. Lucille brushed her claws against his shoulder, which earned a smile. "There were those in the National League who saw glory in the war. They exulted in the strategies, the grand art, the contest of minds. I was not one of them—and for all his faults, neither was Blaine. I suppose that's one topic on which we agree."

"Blaine's not a monster," Ash defended the Cinnabar Gym Leader who had guided him once upon a time. "Just a man. Abrasive, sure, but he's not like the Rockets."

"He was our monster," Fino said simply. "He chose that path. Many would thank him for it."

Ash made to argue, but Fino shook his head.

"Blaine is a man, yes," Fino said, lowering his voice to become more gentle. Smoke billowed up from the battle below, steeping them in black smog. "And I believe his choices haunt him worse than any rebuke or judgment I could offer. You know a different Blaine than I do, Ash, and I would never ask you to change your relationship. But let it be a lesson to you: war makes monsters of good men and women, and some monsters are more effective than others."

Fino sighed.

"Enough," the Master said. "We've strayed, haven't we? I didn't take pleasure in the fighting. Was I proud to defend my homeland? Was there a certain satisfaction in defeating the invaders? Certainly. But my aim was ever to finish the conflict as swiftly and bloodlessly as possible."

Seeker nodded slowly atop Ash's shoulder.

"So you turned to weapons meant to facilitate that."

"Exactly," Fino said, frowning. "I did not compromise on my ethics during the war, no matter how easy it would have been to slip. It kept me human. But others did what must be done, and this was my compromise. The fulfillment of my life's work and the dedication of my team, the tapestry with which we paid homage to our journey, our magnum opus…turned to war."

Ash recalled the brilliance of Plinia's Blast Burn as it tore into Infernus during their battle. "There's still beauty in it."

"The beauty of a finely crafted machine. The beauty of an expertly forged sword. Hollow," Fino dismissed. "Our Blast Burn serves its purpose well, true, and we wielded it effectively. We had to in order to avoid staining our hands even further. But it never had the chance to be an expression of ourselves. It was shaped by necessity. Engineered."

"You could always remake it. The war ended long ago."

Fino smiled. "We all bear our little scars. Perhaps this is mine." He shook his head. "But you didn't come here to listen to old regrets! Now, why don't you tell me about your current efforts? I know that you have the plasma formation down pat, but it seems as if expanding its range beyond Plasma Blade might be difficult for Infernus—"

The battle below went silent. Ash and Fino both exchanged nervous glances.

"Yee haw!" Flannery bellowed as she crashed down, jolted by the impact as Brick landed heavily upon the spire. He reared up and whinnied, flames bursting out to lick the stone as he announced his presence. "The fault is stable! There were a few Slugma already sniffing it out, but they weren't causing any trouble. Just a couple of cuties! I might go back and see if a few want to become starters when the new season starts up."

No doubt they were sensitive to the power emanating out from the earth. Ash could remember all too well how intent the pokemon in the Seafoam Caverns and Zapdos' Storm were upon feeding from the energies.

"Who won?"

"We did, of course!" Fino puffed her chest out, then wilted as Lucille sent her an amused look.

Should I tell them?

"Nah, I'll confess," Flannery said with a groan. Brick snorted fire as Flannery released several members of her team, including Torchic, although it left the rock formation rather crowded. And hot. "So we might have had a little bit of assistance from Plinia."

And?

"We might have turned on her the second Infernus was knocked out. But she would have done the same to us! I saw that evil look in her eyes."

"You'll just have to explain it to her when she wakes up," Fino teased. His expression turned delighted as another presence came crashing down upon the spire, though this one landed with far more grace than Flannery and Brick. "Cavitatia! I suppose dear Plinia's bombastic battling style drew your attention?"

The dignified Blaziken nodded sternly. It was female judging by its smaller 'mask' and her feathers were grey and worn. A few patches were bare to reveal light pink skin beneath, but the heat which radiated from her feathers spoke of enormous power just waiting to be unveiled.

Ash dipped his head in acknowledgement to the fierce old Blaziken, which was swiftly returned. While he hadn't met Fino's Blaziken before, he recognized Cavitatia's name from some of Fino and Flannery's many stories.

Cavitatia was a fierce warrior, resolute defender of Lavaridge, and had the smallest social batteries of any of Fino's team. She'd elected to go into solitude these past few years, though she kept up steady contact and roamed the Lavaridge territory as something of a knight errant, preferring to save Fino the trouble of dealing with issues himself.

Flannery's Torchic looked up in awe at his grandmother, who spared the tiny fire-type a brief look of affection.

"Good to see ya!" Flannery saluted Cavitatia, who snorted and reached out to tousel Flannery's wild red hair. "Hey! So whatcha talking about up here? I was feeling left out."

"Even after your glorious victory?"

"Especially after my glorious victory!" Flannery pumped her fist. "I deserve accolades! Medals! Adoring fans!"

Cavitatia rolled her eyes and reached out to lightly flick Flannery's forehead with one talon.

"I was assisting Ash with a technique he's been experiencing difficulties with," Fino said vaguely, waving his hand. "We were just—"

"What technique?"

Fino hesitated, his unwillingness to lie to Flannery warring with his unwillingness to set off this particular bomb. But he ultimately relented. "Blast Burn."

"Blast Burn!" Flannery's eyes practically shone, then realization caught up with her glee. "Wait a minute, we want to learn Blast Burn! Right, Brick?"

Brick whinnied, rearing up and nearly knocking Flannery off the spire. Lucille swiftly caught her in a shell of psychic power, though Flannery's cheeks burned red.

"Ignoring that display," Fino said, "I do believe we've spoken of this before. Your progression has been admirable as both a trainer and as a Gym Leader, but until you reach the core mechanics necessary to develop Blast Burn, I don't think—"

"About that!" Flannery declared. "Brick, show them!"

Brick's mane burned blue for a moment as he reared up again (Flannery kept a much tighter hold on his creamy fur this time) and pointed his muzzle to the sky. A core of red flame burst out of his great throat, then focused into white and finally a brief blast of plasma which shone blindingly bright and left Ash's skin raw and red thanks to its proximity.

"Plasma formation," Flannery said smugly, crossing her arms atop Brick's back as the Rapidash panted with exertion. His flames softened to orange and red, though they didn't so much as singe Flannery's skin as they licked against her exposed flesh. "Pretty neat, huh? We've been working on it for months! Someone might have helped when I hit a stumbling block."

Ash grinned.

"Someone, hmm?" Fino remarked, smiling at them both. "Well, I must admit you've outdone yourself! I knew you had refocused upon advancing as a trainer in these past few months—and really, I have no idea what could have sparked that development—but you've surprised me!"

"We wanted to keep it a secret," Flannery confessed. "I wanted to see the look on your face!"

"I hope it satisfied you! If only I could pick you uppu and throw you in the air like I used to!"

Flannery beamed and opened her eyes wide, that cocky grin bright as the sun. "You can still try! I've earned it."

"Yes you have," Fino said with a chuckle, "but it would be terribly embarrassing for Ash to see me throwing my back out. That wouldn't do at all!"

"Guess you'll just have to settle for a hug!" Flannery laughed as she hopped off Brick's back and squeezed Fino tight. One of her eyes cracked open and she gestured at Ash. "Come on, get in on this! I deserve praise!"

Ash laughed. "Yeah, you do."

He and Seeker joined them.

XX

His dreamless slumber was broken by the Roar in his spirit. It rattled his bones, squeezed his heart in a vice grip, and sent him scrambling out from beneath the soft red covers in the Lavaridge Gym's guest room.

"Agh!" Ash cried out as he fell heavily upon the white carpet. He winced as he landed, though Dazed was swift enough to cushion his fall with a shell of shining blue psychic power. "Shit shit shit."

Friend-Trainer. I felt it too. The world trembles. The seas breathe.

Ash searched himself, facing the deathly Roar which reverbated as a sick permutation of Lugia's Song—the same tones, but with all the beauty and harmony and gentleness torn away, replaced by the discordant melody of a stormy sea.

But it dimmed even as he focused upon it. The icy flame in his mind focused, intent, but said nothing. There was worry, but not panic.

That was relieving in its own way.

"It's not awake," Ash said, nearly collapsing back upon the floor in relief. For a moment he had been so afraid… "Rousing, but still sleeping. I think it's taking a breath, for lack of a better term. Those seals Lugia mentioned haven't failed yet. But it won't be long. Months? Years? It won't make much of a difference."

Hoenn could prepare, but it would never truly be ready.

Not for this.

This breath will not have come without cost.

"No, we wouldn't be that lucky. Come with me. We need to talk to Flannery."

They were in the same hallway, so it only took a minute to throw on some real clothes—more because Ash expected to be heading to Ever Grande rather than expecting Flannery to be bothered by the simple pajamas that Karen had helped him buy at the Celadon Department Store—and he might have hammered on the door a little harder than he intended.

"Gah, whuh!" Ash heard a groggy Flannery shout, then a thunk as she presumably fell onto the floor. Well, at least he was in good company. She scrambled for a moment on the other side of the door before flinging it open to release a sweltering rush of air. Flannery was dressed in bright red pajamas that matched her hair and she stared blankly at Ash for a second with sleep-deprived eyes. "Huh?"

Half dead from sleep exhaustion and completely caught off guard. She is a suitable metaphor for the state of the Ever Grande League.

Ash snorted.

"Want to battle?" Flannery mumbled. "What time is it?"

"No clue," Ash said. "But it doesn't matter. Something bad is happening. Kyogre did…something. I'm running to Ever Grande, but wanted to let you know to keep an eye out. Who knows if there might be problems here as well."

Any semblance of exhaustion fled Flannery in an instant. She gripped Ash's forearm and tugged him into her room. He'd spent plenty of time in here as they planned out strategies or went over areas for improvement after their many, many battles, but Ash still scanned out of curiosity. Flannery was fond of collecting new knickknacks and changed decorations as frequently as the moon changed phases.

Her private room was quite large and painted the same warm tones as the rest of the Lavaridge Gym, exuding a feeling of comfort and familiarity. Various pictures of herself with her team and Fino littered the walls in a disorganized tapestry—Ash picked out images from her inauguration as Gym Leader, the day she started her journey with Caldera as a tiny Numel, and all sorts of various victories and events worthy of commemoration.

There were one or two with her parents in the frame, although Flannery was often tight-lipped on her relationship with them. But she'd let just enough slip for Ash to imagine that they hadn't approved of her decision to join the League.

An enormous fireplace filled the center, a flame crackling merrily away to leave the open space uncomfortably toasty, and Piper snoozed happily away there. Caldera and Brick lazed about in a huge pit of heated sand, and Ash saw the rest cuddled near the hidden entrance to the hot springs which lay behind a poorly concealed flap of cloth.

Flannery's bed was carved of rich maple with a huge mattress atop it, easily large enough for several members of her team to come join her for cuddles. The comforter was black with stylized red flames around the borders, although the center was filled with the symbol of the Heat Badge.

Her room smelled pleasantly of smoke, more a campfire than the acrid scent which spilled from Infernus' cannons, and the hint of steam seeping through the secret passage. It was very Flannery.

"Tell me more!" Flannery demanded. She was all Gym Leader at the moment. "Brick, go wake Grandpa!"

Brick bolted out of the door with incredible speed, little more than a blur of creamy white fur and crackling flame.

"I don't know much more," Ash confessed. They both stilled as a gentle earthquake rumbled beneath their feet. It was too weak to do much more than rattle the pictures lining the walls, but it left them both pale. "I just woke up. I'll tell you more once I get to Ever Grande, okay?"

"Okay!" Flannery stood tall and proud even as her team awoke and prepared for action. She dashed over to her dresser and pulled out a tie to pull her fiery hair back into something a bit more dignified. "You take care of that! I'm going to see to Lavaridge. Let's do this!"

A light earthquake trembled again. One of Groudon's snores, for lack of a better term. Earth grew heavy and thick, like sludge upon the back of Ash's tongue, and he hissed. "Time to do our duty, huh?"

"Yeah!" Flannery roared, all vestiges of sleepiness forgotten. She stomped madly as another tiny earthquake wracked Lavaridge, coming down heavier and heavier as if in challenge to the monster beneath their feet. "Piper, stop snoozing!

Piper grumbled as she dug her way out of the pile of burning logs, shaking off a few cinders before she stepped out, and cried out in agreement as Flannery sprinted out of the room in her pajamas.

He stepped out after her only to meet a red-eyed Alakazam.

"Whole of Creation," Ash said with a too-pleasant smile, but his heart wasn't in it. Bob's mustache barely even bristled. "Take me to Ever Grande, please."

That is why I'm here. I felt…that. The earth churns. The seas wake. Hoenn's eastern seaboard is under threat by widespread tsunami. None are individually damaging, but their sheer number has stretched Ever Grande thin. We are preparing for their landing.

"This is only the beginning," Ash said quietly, returning Dazed before she could pass on her own barb, and Bob's mustache wilted. "But it doesn't matter. Beginning or not, it's our job to take care of it."

Then let us go.

With that, Ash blinked and was whisked away to the warm halls of Ever Grande City.

"Go, go!" Phoebe's sharp words cut through the air of the staging ground. A dozen of her personal retinue of dark and ghost-type specialists circled around with their spectral partners at their sides, each grim-faced with tight eyes. The Ghost Master's eyes widened as she caught sight of Ash. "I'll be along shortly. Secure the coasts. Ensure nothing breaches containment!"

With that, the ACE forces were swept away in a dark tide managed by their partners with Phoebe's Mismagius chanting at the center. Risky, but larger quantities of ghosts could manage long-distance travel more safely than an individual. They could maintain more stable 'portals'.

It was still a questionable decision, but desperate times and all that. Ash assumed they knew what they were doing.

"Ash!" Phoebe's dark skin was pale as one of her ghosts as she rushed towards him. Ash tensed as he caught sight of her eyes, which were wide and frightened. It was very much not Phoebe. The macabre was normally just enough to earn a radiant grin and blazing interest. "Listen."

"We're here."

Phoebe grasped his wrists with both hands and peered deeply into his eyes. Dark power bled from her, though he burned it all away with a surge of Fire.

"I was there. I was on Mt. Pyre!" Phoebe hissed. "The Blue Orb…it was winning."

She said nothing else as she swept away with Dusknoir hovering behind her. Even the Reaper was faint and wispy, seemingly seeking to escape the reality it had found itself stranded in.

The Champion lies beyond.

And with that ominous statement from Bob, Ash navigated through the halls. Rangers and ACE rushed by. Sidney stormed past with blatant worry etched upon his ordinarily sneering face. Ash exchanged nods with a few Rangers he recognized from various missions, doing his best to appear confident, and even dipped his head to Sidney.

To his surprise, Sidney wasn't a little shit and actually waved.

Ash wasted no time in barging into the next room.

"—I will be leaving immediately for Mossdeep," Wallace's stress was plain as day as he hissed into his own Poke Nav. "No, Captain Maria, I need you and the Hunters to remain vigilant. Yes, even Grey. Steven has been told to continue his hunt. We can't stop applying pressure now. But I fear that—"

Ash waited patiently for Wallace to finish up. He allowed the Ever Grande Champion a moment to exhale and let the weight of the world roll off his shoulders before bringing him back to earth.

"I'm going to the archipelago," Ash said simply. "Is there anywhere specific you want me to provide support?"

"Anywhere. Everywhere!" Wallace sighed. "This is the last thing we needed. Your help is invaluable, Ash, and we can't hope to repay you. But it is truly appreciated. You've been a good friend to us. I'll be off to Mossdeep soon, but right now everywhere is of equal priority. Most of the seaboard has been struck!"

Ash glanced around to assess the myriad feeds of data trickling in on various monitors all around the audience.

They confirmed what Bob had told Ash earlier: the tsunami weren't particularly powerful, with most capable of being broken apart or diverted by a powerful water-type or group of them, but they struck almost the entire eastern coastline.

Only a few had been truly hammered as of this moment, though plenty more tidal waves were on their way, but that widespread sustained low-level damage took an enormous toll.

And what added salt to the wound was that Ash feared this wasn't the worst of it. It wouldn't be a surprise to Ash if this happened several more times in the coming months, but at least it wouldn't be a surprise anymore. They could prepare.

Ash hesitated, then plowed forward as he thought of Sudmauna and the people there. They were hardy folk, but this would test them. "Maybe you should go to the archipelago. I know a few towns there need help," he hedged. "If you want, I could go to Mossdeep instead—"

"They don't want me!" Wallace snapped, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his desk. Esteban soothingly massaged his back through the white of the Champion's Mantle. Ever Grande's leader sagged, bowing his head for a moment. "Forgive me, Ash. I'm…well, it's a rude awakening after the blissful few weeks I just had. I will assist the archipelago, but there are higher priorities. Larger population centers. We can't afford to let them destabilize any further."

He nodded, seeing the logic even if he didn't agree entirely. The archipelago might not want Wallace, but they were pragmatic folk. They'd appreciate the help. Ignoring them was to consign them further to Aqua's influence.

"I've devoted as many Rangers as I can to the archipelago, and Drake will be continuing his normal patrols," Wallace said wearily. His hair would be grey as Steven's within a year if this kept up. "We just don't have the manpower."

With that, Wallace returned Esteban, said a quick farewell to Ash, and disappeared in a flash of light as his personal Gardevoir teleported him away.

Bob was waiting outside, Ash knew, but he bought just a few minutes to attend one last task.

"Stay in Ever Grande. It's not safe out there right now, so don't do anything stupid," Ash told Silver after knocking on his door, and the sleepy redhead barely had time to gawk before Ash slammed the door shut and headed off.

There was work to do.

XX

'Town' was a generous term to describe the little hamlet, but Ludolo stubbornly clung to that lofty title. It was a tiny village of roughly five hundred situated to the east of Slateport, largely based around a breeding ground for Ludicolo, and its inhabitants paused in their own labors to watch in awe as Ash and his team did the work of one hundred.

The town suffered beneath a sudden tidal wave a few hours before. Beachfront homes and shops were in ruins, the great stretch of sand was thin and ravaged, and ancient sites had been dragged back into the sea with the tsunami's retreat.

Humans and their partners desperately dug through the wreckage in search of precious items and old heirlooms. Others stared at their broken homes with empty eyes. Still more organized into small teams overseen by the three Rangers who had managed to make it out here to help.

But while the locals chipped away at the damage, Ash led the charge.

Torrent forced a great flood of water back, reclaiming flooded half-drowned land. Sand and debris was carried with it back to the sea, but Tangrowth and Nidoking worked in tandem to solidify and repair the gouged beach. The temporary marsh was steadily drained and remade into something usable by the people here.

Dazed telekinetically separated out debris and directed the team to increase their efficiency, though her bright azure eyes scared off most from trying to make contact with her. A few lesser psychics such as a trio of curious Spoink and a brave Ralts who led them circled around her, desperate to bask in her radiance and pick up any tricks they could.

She also scanned the surroundings to discover those unconscious and buried beneath wreckage to assist the searchers. Psychic perception was just so terribly useful!

After passing out a dozen knitted blankets to the shell-shocked survivors who looked upon the wreckage of their small town, Bruiser set to work leading groups of wild pokemon that had come to assist. Lairon led another group. Bruiser's vast strength easily allowed him to clear the roads and tear through houses in search of precious possessions and anyone trapped.

Seeker was too small to help much, but just as she had in Sudmauna proved essential in corralling fliers to spread word and reach out to the Pack. Ash expected a few representatives would be here in no time. With any luck they'd be able to assist the people here in rebuilding long-term.

Infernus wasn't too interested (or capable) of helping in the clean up or rebuilding, but he was very happy to make a big bonfire on the beach and run off any opportunistic scavengers. A few hard-faced men with several Poke Balls on their belt had come by earlier.

They were off in Petalburg's holding facility now, shaking and a little blistered. But nothing that would stick with them forever. Infernus sure had enjoyed being the little town's equivalent of a bouncer, however.

Oz had hooked herself up to the town's generator. Their electric grid had been damaged, and she had helped pinpoint spots that were damaged using her senses.

The three Rangers had come by from a nearby outpost, but the League's response remained somewhat fragmented as they scrambled to cover as much ground as they could. Wallace was eager to have a friendly League face in every village, but the logistics of that were beyond even Steven and Metagross' ability to manage.

Thankfully the Ranger Captain was someone that Ash had worked with before and was quick to point Ash in the direction of what would be most helpful (and efficient) in reorganizing the damaged village, but the League weren't the only ones to have shown up to help.

"C'mon, you louts!" A burly Aqua leader shouted to his underlings as he and his Crawdaunt dragged huge heaps of supplies across the beach to a group of shellshocked children. His grunts saluted and rushed off to provide aid. "These people need more than your pretty faces! Put your backs into it!"

Captain Ralo curled his lip at the Aquas, but made no move to interfere as he commanded his own squad of villagers in digging through a broken house. Ash had been quite firm in that.

They couldn't afford to turn down any help.

"Fine work," Fang Shelly declared. 'Fang' was an odd title, but the Aquas paid enough respect to the tall woman openly garbed in Aqua's colors that Ash didn't question it. Her outfit was…unconventional, as was her hair. A few locks of Shelly's long black hair were dyed a bright blue and her eyes were dark and clever, gleaming with intelligence. "If only we had a few more of you!"

Captain Ralo and his Rangers didn't hide his disgust at that, and Ash sent him a warning look. The Captain and his men had nearly come to blows with the Aquas before, and it was truly only at Ash's request that Ralo and his sharp-eyed Swellow didn't attempt to run them off or arrest them.

That wouldn't have gone well for anyone.

"Thank you for helping," Ash said loudly, trying to make it clear that Aqua wasn't a threat. The townsfolk were plainly grateful for the help, but even they watched the Aquas with distrust. Those news articles in the wake of Zinnia's assassination attempt hadn't done them any good. "We really do appreciate it."

Ash didn't need everyone to like Aqua, but he did want to give a bit of weight to his words. Aqua wasn't the one to attack him at the Sky Pillar.

Given Durand's affiliation, they'd likely done quite the opposite.

"It's what we're here for," Shelly said, flicking her hair to the side. "We keep these waters as safe as we can. The sea is the source of plenty, but she's always been ferocious and fickle. We won't abide anyone suffering if we can help it. And we do, even if these mainlanders would as soon spit on our faces as accept our help."

"They're frightened," Ash said, even as he wondered what Shelly would think if she knew that Wallace possessed much the same thoughts. There was a divide in Hoenn that seemed to worsen by the day. "Give them time."

"We'll give them more than time," Shelly swore. "We'll give them proof! There's nothing like new evidence to rattle a previously held theory. And we can offer that in spades. Aqua is here to help whether they like it or not!"

In that moment Ash saw why Shelly's Aqua squad treated her with such respect.

Ash nodded, shouted out a few instructions to Nidoking as he reshaped the beach, and glanced over to Shelly.

"Not many would go out of their way to help without reward. What made you choose this?"

Shelly hesitated. "Want my life story?"

"Sure," Ash said, shrugging. "I just like to understand. Mysteries bother me."

"I guess we have that in common, at any rate," Shelly said with a light smile, though her clever eyes never strayed far from Ash's teammates, the Rangers, or her own men. Her Octillery gurgled out various instructions as its half-shut eyes assessed the beach and directed the rest of Shelly's team in supporting Ash's own endeavors, and her Ludicolo made quick friends with the local children who were shivering to the side. "I'm a scientist by trade, you know. This is a rather recent adjustment in career paths for me."

"A scientist, huh?" Ash blinked, then shouted out for Infernus to go run off a wild Nuzleaf eying a few unattended supplies. He grinned, blazing up with a great rush of heat that put the bonfire to shame, and charged after it.

"You know Devon?"

"I'm passingly familiar."

"I lived the dream once," Shelly said between orders. "I was a trainer just like you. A young girl with bright hopes. But as fun as battling was, I always found my studies a little more…compelling, although I wouldn't trade my team for the world."

Octillery waved one of its bright tentacles at Shelly before going back to breaking up some of the waves rushing in. None were as large as the initial tides that had come sweeping in with Kyogre's breath, but the sea was still angry. It was one less irritant to deal with.

"I worked hard, studied, the whole shebang," Shelly said with a flippant wave of her hand. "Oh, I was insufferable! I left my home island behind and moved to the mainland. The fancy house, the fancy drinks, the wealth, the parties! Oh so bright and shiny. Everything a girl could want."

Ash thought back to his conversation with Arnold upon Sudmauna's beach.

"And then you saw the ugly."

"So, so much of it," Shelly confirmed. "Hoenn's no Orre—thank the Waters—but I see the same greed fermenting. The same tarnish. The same rot. They always want more. Devon's a good egg. I won't deny that. The Stones are decent folk for the most part…ignoring that psycho freak they raised…but I see in them the same insatiable urge for unfettered progress that's going to ruin us all. What else do you expect when they have sapient superpredators living in their brains?"

Shelly took a breath as Ash listened.

"Do you know what Devon is working on behind closed doors? My NDA says I can't tell you, but what are they going to do, arrest me?" Shelly barked out a pealing laugh. Octillery's tentacles quivered as it matched its trainer's amusement. "No, there are projects they're tinkering with that could change the world. They could unshackle humanity! Effectively infinite energy far safer and easier to process than modern matter-energy conversion plants. Implants that would enable any human to maximize their psychic potential. Synthetic pokémon. Genetic tinkering. All done in good faith and with the best of profitable intentions!"

"You're not a fan, I take it?" Ash asked drily.

Shelly tossed her hair. "Are you kidding? I love it. The science of it, that is. It's fascinating! What could be more compelling than humanity's own resolution to peer into the abyss and decipher all its workings? Mystery replaced by understanding. The opaque turned translucent. All in the name of determining these world-shaping catalysts."

"Then what's the hold up?"

"It's the seed of a new world," Shelly said slowly, "but is it a world I want to live in? The science is one thing, but Devon is too eager for progress, and the rest are Sharpedo circling a fat, single-minded Wailord. Humans and pokémon are all biological machines at the end of it. We might fancy ourselves enlightened and illuminated beyond base instincts, but it's just a mask. A fancy facade thrown over our primal desires! Greed, hunger, lust. That's what makes us tick."

The Aqua Fang glanced over to order around her underlings a bit and Ash paused to assess his team. They all worked seamlessly to raise temporary shelters, drain remaining water reservoirs, and to safeguard supplies from any sticky fingers.

He couldn't be prouder.

"We're all beasts in suits and fancy dresses at the end of the day," Shelly continued after a moment's pause. "I know what drives us down to the individual neurotransmitters. Another of Devon's projects, by the way! And I know that there are those who would abuse that technology to shatter the equilibrium we've reached. Hoenn is in mutualistic symbiosis, but when the scales are tipped I have no doubt that plenty would work to bend it to our will instead."

Ash couldn't help but compare her words to those of Steven's. He recalled data and hints Steven had shared, although his teacher was careful never to delve too deep into Devon's inner workings…then again, Steven was barely privy to their trade secrets himself.

Steven had quite thoroughly divested himself of any financial links to Devon upon his ascension to Champion, though his close relationship with his father ensured that some information still trickled down. It also hadn't stopped Steven from maintaining quite the enthusiasm for Devon's products either, not to mention early access to many prototypes that he proudly utilized.

In many ways Shelly's story reminded him of Durand's warnings. Did they know each other? Ash had no clue how tight-knit Aqua really was. Durand might not be formally affiliated, but she definitely cooperated with them too frequently to just be a casual associate.

It sounded as if Shelly had seen a rather different side than the games of force and power of all sorts that Durand had glimpsed.

"That's a lot of flowery language to say that I know what I stand for and what I don't. This is the path I've chosen," Shelly said simply, cocking her hip. "That's a choice we all have to make some day, don't you think?"

Ash nodded slowly, still lost in thought. Nidoking watched him with more than a little concern.

"But I've talked your ear off enough. My lads and lasses can handle the rest of this, can't you?" Shelly roared, raising her fist. Her grunts cheered as they labored for the people of Ludolo, who warmed to the helpers by the moment. The Rangers watched on with scowls as they led their own groups. "This is just one town of many that need you. Let us finish this."

Ash mulled it over, then nodded. "Work with the Rangers. Please. They don't trust you now, but they never will if you aren't the first one to reach out. Don't let it fester."

Shelly's nostrils flared. "Reach out? We've been—" Shelly calmed herself. "Sure. We'll give it a shot."

"Thank you."

XX

The next two days saw Ash hopping from town to town along Hoenn's eastern coast. He oftentime found it a coinflip as to whether or not he would find the Ever Grande League or the Aquas running the show, although a few towns were forced to manage it entirely on their own.

Those were often the ones happiest to see him, Ash found. Or at least his absurdly capable teammates.

But as the days passed, Ash found himself growing more and more relaxed as his initial suspicions were confirmed: while the property damage was widespread, there were few deaths. It was a drain on everyone's resources and made for a few sleepless nights—Ash fueled himself with Lightning for the first two, and had even swung by Lavaridge to zap Flannery (but only while she'd been chugging a coffee)—but the actual cost was lower than he could have hoped for.

Plume carried him from place to place, the minutes in the air soothing and easygoing. It was their chance to recover, and Ash took to releasing Lotus to accompany them. The Spiritomb was still slow to express anything resembling pleasure, but it at least seemed content to rest on Ash's belt.

He'd be lying if he said that Cynthia hadn't inspired him. While Lotus was still far too oppressive to release around most others, Ash dreamed of one day carrying Lotus in a city and showing it the wonders of the modern world.

What would Lotus think of the bright lights and flashing signs? The music and song? The cheer spilling from every home and restaurant?

Perhaps he should start showing Lotus some movies. The whole goal was to help Lotus live again, and that vicarious experience of vastly different emotions and stories might go a long way in reminding Lotus of its past selves. Ash itched at the thought of sacrificing some of his training or planning time, but it would be worth it to experience those moments with Lotus.

Besides, Ash would love to see the look on Karen's face if he was able to one day tell her Lotus' favorite movie was Dragon Tamer. Lance's too, come to think of it.

He read through a few of his messages to pass the time, although Gary's was mostly just a rambling of his last two attempts to defeat Clair (which had come devastatingly close before Clair unveiled Dragonite rather than Dragonair), and frowned as a terse message from Steven came through.

Metagross and I are going to speak with an old associate. We will keep you updated.

Well, that was ominous. Perhaps this was just the next step in untangling Magma's web. But as they coasted south of Lilycove, not too far from Mt. Pyre, Ash smiled as he began to read through Lance's most recent letter.

—sounds like a mess. Can't Hoenn catch a break? I'm glad Metagross keeps a constant eye on Steven's vitals, because otherwise I'd expect him to have a nervous breakdown.

Do what you can to help, but don't overextend yourself. You've given so much of yourself to Ever Grande and you've made me prouder than you can imagine, but Ever Grande is healing. Help is invaluable, but don't push yourself too hard.

Don't pull a me and burn yourself out—it seems so easy to give away piece after piece of yourself to the greater good: your time, your focus, your love, your energy, and eventually your health.

I'm not telling you to be selfish. You have a good heart and I never wish to see it hardened. But self-preservation is not selfishness. A fire exhausted is a fire with nothing left to spread. Take time for yourself.

I know you have plans to attend the Silver Conference, but feel free to pop up to Indigo whenever you like! Conference season is always so busy, but you're always welcome in the Plateau, of course. Will and Karen would be delighted to see you, as would the rest of us.

Koga and I will be busy in Kalos for much of the month, but we'll teleport back for the Indigo Conference as needed. I doubt it will be quite as exciting as your first Conference was. Diantha has been very accommodating so far, and she seems just as eager in stamping out this corruption as we are, though we've treaded lightly so far.

It's been a delight to face her again! Diantha was also kind enough to invite a number of Fairy Masters to Lumiose for me to experiment against in my downtime, which is just lovely of her.

I'll see you at the Silver Conference for sure!

With love,

Lance

Youngest Champion ever, screw you Steven. I beat Drake at eighteen and all I needed was a full team of six. When did Steven beat him again? Ha!

Ash snorted as he finished reading, then reached down to part the lavender form of Lotus at his hip. He read Lance's letter to both Lotus and Plume to help pass the time, and just as he began to wrap things up Lotus froze.

"Agh!"

A keening screech from Lotus sounded. It was like shrieking flames and nails on the chalkboard combined with the grating of a knife scraping against a ceramic plate. Ash covered his ears with a cry even as a flash like black-tinged moonlight bursted into existence before them.

Ash caught a glimpse of a white fur flecked with a foul tinge and a black scythe wheeling towards his head before Plume shrieked and wheeled to the side at breakneck speed. He actually felt sick for a moment before he readjusted.

Lotus quivered in its face, though its face settled into a grim line as the minute expressions were cast aside. Its Pressure radiated outward to freeze a Distortion blast that made Mind Breaker seem like a child's toy—the day briefly turned to night, and Ash gaped as a dozen newborn ghosts slipped through cracks only to be reaped by a grim white figure and its black scythe.

The Harbinger fell freely through the air, and Ash's mind spun. "Push forward! We need to put as much distance between us as possible—"

Only then did they discover that distance wouldn't save them, nor would speed. Ash roared as day turned to night once again and a black-edged scythe swung not for Ash or Plume, but for Lotus.

Lotus' power stopped it in its tracks, but the scythe somehow carved through the Distortional field which had frozen even the sustained Draco Meteor assault of Mega Salamence empowered by the Sky Pillar. The penetration was painstakingly slow, but the deadly intent was there all the same.

"It's teleporting!" Ash hissed. This was no Shadow Sneak, not truly. Whereas Shadow Sneak was the equivalent of tearing the slightest cut in reality, this was something else entirely. It was more as if the world simply…bent, crumpled and twisted into their attacker's desired state.

Ash threw a frantic glance back even as they shot away from the beast's deadly intent and put a few hundred feet between them in mere seconds. His heart pounded in his chest as a dread picture was painted—not the molten gold of Zinnia's mastered dragonfire, but something altogether different.

It hung suspended in the air, losing inches by the second, but largely immune to gravity's call. For a moment it was almost impossible to discern in the night-mask it wore. Where it hung lay blackness and the glaring eye of the void, a hole in reality punctured with every fleeting instant it eyed Ash.

But his vision pierced deeper than most. Plume knew his mind better than ever, and even as he shrieked and the North Wind answered. A crisp breeze slid through the highest reaches of the atmosphere to the great summit where they flew, sweeping aside corruption and foulness wherever it touched.

And for a moment he saw. Lotus quivered upon his hip.

With its void-cloak stripped away, Ash caught a glimpse of overgrown snow-white fur. A blue face dark as a stormy sea. Grim old eyes locked upon the Spiritomb at his side. They blinked strangely as the storm of Distortion bleeding into reality was purified and torn away by the echo of Suicune's influence.A memory lept unbidden to Ash's mind. A lone Absol staring him down as he emerged from the tomb where he'd found Lotus.

But then the North Wind passed and the briefest sight of the Absol was gone. A howling storm of grey-black nothingness tore from its pure fur, engulfing it in the shadow of a terrible specter that turned day to night.

The blackness of a new moon.

If a great ghost was like a gaping wound in the world—and what did that make Lavender or Pyre?—then this creature was like a bulging scar, ropy tissue stretched thin and taut over a rotten, festering puncture with little hints of the corruption inside oozing out.

Ash hissed as the crippling aura beat down upon them, promising death. An end. The Fire in his heart grew dim. The Ice in his veins thawed. The Lightning in his nerves sputtered.

Yet his spirit was strong, and Ash and Plume remained unbent. Ash roared back a challenge, flame spitting from his lips, even as Plume shot through the air with more urgency than Ash had ever seen for anything less than a Legend. They were thousands of feet up in the air and Hoenn was just a distant jewel of sapphire rivers and emerald forests, yet their enemy found them!

Lotus' own pressure was cut away like a hot knife through butter as the Spiritomb made to block a lashing scythe of Distortion that left reality screeching in agony, though the power of Lotus' aura managed to stop the blade before it came too close.

That alone made Ash pause.

What was this dread creature that could give even a Spiritomb challenge? Lotus' mere presence ate away at lesser ghosts and tore at their essence, yet it seemed this deadly Not-Absol threatened Lotus to the same degree.

But what kind of question was that?

This was the creature that had been hunting them—Lotus—for months now, though it had never struck. It was the Pack who'd first warned him, and now Ash was beginning to think he should have done more than cursory caution. The one who had stalked Lotus all the way out into the sands of the Piede. The one Ash had almost begun to put it out of mind…

"So this is the Harbinger, huh?" Ash muttered as he spied the sickening shroud of Distortion return to fully obscure the Harbinger in full. "Not quite as terrestrial as we'd hoped, apparently!"

He'd largely traveled on Plume's back for ages now to avoid an ambush, but it had just struck at them well above fifteen thousand feet in the air through its Distorted teleportation. Ash couldn't imagine the sheer power and complexity it took to pull that off.

But if Harbinger had been capable of striking at them in the air this entire time, what had…

Ah.

Ash's hand curled protectively around the keystone at his hip, allowing the frigid lavender mist to seep through the cracks of his fingers. Plume stiffened with the same realization as Ash's next words spilled from his lips.

"You won't find easy prey here!" Ash snarled, sinking into the same ferocity that had carried him through the battle with Zinnia. Who even knew if Harbinger could hear it as they sped thousands of feet away? "Lotus isn't yours to take!"

The hole in the world seemingly disagreed as it chased after them, unbound by gravity and physics. It was fast, too fast, and Ash's keen senses allowed him to alert Plume to the danger just before the world was torn apart and the blackness flickered to their right.

Lotus' green cinders surged as the Spiritomb blocked another deadly blow of reaping darkness, though Ash could feel the ache as bits of Lotus' essence were stripped away by the Distorted scythe.

Plume shuddered. She was in her magnificent base form now and couldn't withstand the creeping darkness to the same degree she could while they were one. Yet she soldiered on, her spirit indomitable. But they were thousands of feet up…

Ash gritted his teeth. This was supposed to be a simple flight from one small waterlogged town to another! Such a short trip would be a waste of the stamina Mega Evolution demanded, and neither wished to rely on the tool.

But perhaps that was what had kept the Harbinger from striking earlier. Whether it was Mega Plume's sheer speed or the power shared between her and Ash, such might have been enough to dissuade the Absol.

Yet every time they escaped the Harbinger, a flood of darkness and the writhing of space-time brought it near again for another vicious strike. Even Ash felt his strength drained by its noxious presence, the Distorted aura rising up like wings from the unsightly mass.

Plume was tiring…they would need her strength and her deep knowledge of the North Wind.

And they didn't stand a chance on their own!

"To the ground! We can't lose you. We make our stand!"

Plume seemed affronted as the Harbinger tore into air just in front of them, its scythe carving reality to splinters as wicked power bled from its corporeal form, but she forced all emotion from her mind as she sang.

The North Wind howled—for a moment Ash felt as Suicune were right behind them to bolster their strength—and its purifying power erupted forth to sweep the blight away. Darkness and that nausea-inducing unsightly alien energy vanished for a moment, revealing the stunned Absol, and Ash and Plume cackled as gravity reasserted itself.

Even though the Harbinger's dread cloak was only torn away for a few seconds, it was so satisfying to see it fall flailing through the air. Ash's hungry eyes trailed after it as the wind currents sent it spinning.

The Harbinger's calm red eyes peered back, seemingly unphased by its undignified flailing. That same dread—the certainty of oblivion—struck Ash like a hammer and sent his pulse racing for an instant, though he reasserted his control swiftly to resist the foreign influence.

Plume's heart pounded faster than his, and Ash imagined a more fragile pair might have been knocked unconscious or even struck dead by the promise of death imparted by the Absol's might.

Though it appeared almost identical to an ordinary Absol, the Harbinger looked…odd. Like a twisted reflection. Its scythe was black and gnarled like an old branch, sharp as the most well-honed blade, and bleeding with crackles of deadly Distortion even in the wake of Plume's reprimand.

Most jarring of all were the snowy wings upon its back, though a flicker of insight shared with Plume's razor vision revealed them to simply be great hackles of fur raised up. Yet as the darkness escaped the Harbinger's body once again, leaking forth from every strand of fur to leave them a sickening grey which soon darkened to something that was black-but-not, the Distortion burst out to surround those 'wings' with spectral power.

It reminded Ash eerily as if the photos of Mega Absol he'd seen in the League Archives had been distorted in a funhouse mirror.

And then the Harbinger was on them even as Plume rocketed toward the earth. Ash's stomach felt as if it would escape through his throat, but he bore through it as Plume frantically evaded—and struck one more North Wind-empowered blow upon the Harbinger, which seemed to regenerate slightly slower each time, though that only counted for fractions of a second—and Lotus mounted a desperate defense.

The Harbinger stepped through space-time again and again, peeling back the layers of reality and allowing just enough chaos to slip through to end up right in their path. Every blow was struck with intent to sever Lotus' keystone into two.

While the Absol diverted Plume's mundane attacks of wind and storm with contemptuous ease—most were simply corroded by its black aura, though others seemed to shy away as if terrified of the Harbinger—Lotus mounted a frantic defense, but was fading fast.

Lotus had plenty of strength left, but would it be able to muster the effort to wield it? Its nature didn't lend itself to prolonged combat. Ash had seen as much at the Sky Pillar. At what point would the jolt of fear fail and the apathy reassert itself?

"Hold on, Lotus! We're going to get you out of here!"

The Spiritomb's 'face' was a mask of stillness, frozen in a snarl as yet another killing blow was frozen in its tracks. But Ash could see the exhaustion barely hidden as Plume came stumbling to the ground. It was a rough landing as it was, but they all would have been destroyed by the sheer force if it weren't for her expert air manipulation.

Ash released his team before they even hit the ground, and they were greeted by a small army as Ash hurriedly stripped off the bindings which kept him attached to the saddle and rolled off so that Plume could explode back to the safety of the skies…though they weren't quite as safe as he'd like after seeing the way the Harbinger warped space-time so casually.

He ached to restore their bond through Mega Evolution, but there was no time—the Harbinger silently appeared just fifty feet ahead in a warp of Distortion, its wretched presence enough to slightly muffle the Concepts in Ash's spirit, and he grit his teeth as he stepped in front of Lotus, who was still attempting to regenerate the power lost in their defense.

But he wasn't alone.

Nidoking and Lairon snorted at his side, venom dripping from Nidoking's horn. The earth quaked. Tangrowth gurgled at his side, waving his arms wildly even as one sneaky vine slithered forth to either coil around the Harbinger's furry leg or to hug a potential new friend. Ash couldn't be sure which, but he was sure of Tangrowth's whine as the vine was effortlessly slashed in half by a black blade.

Plume shrieked from above, indignant at the insult they had suffered.

Bruiser's veins pulsed red with bloody light as he cocked his head at the Harbinger, bulging muscles ready to explode even as Seeker took off from his shoulder for the cover of the trees. Weavile hissed at his side, bone-white claws ready as he assessed their new prey.

Dazed stood with luminous eyes defiant of the oppressive weight of their foe. She had suffered the weight of Pyre. The Harbinger would not bend her knee. It would be impossible to maintain a psychic network like this, but the loss in efficiency would be compensated for by Dazed's full attention given to the battle.

Torrent and Oz stood together, a storm already brewing above. Infernus blazed like a glowing star a short distance away, the forest around him bursting into flame, and looked like a kid in a candy shop at the black-and-not ripples lashing out from the Harbinger like a storm of razors.

"We'll be business enough for you," Ash challenged the Harbinger, refusing to shy away from its Distorted gaze. "No need to involve Lotus. You won't find yourself an easy fight!"

Despite his words, Ash surreptitiously typed in the emergency codes which would contact Phoebe and Sidney into his Poké Nav. He thought he had this under control, but there was no point being stupid. Then again, who knew if the message would even make it through the Distortional interference?

They just had to hope.

Winning the fight would mean nothing if the Harbinger made it past them to Lotus. It had no interest in fighting them, Ash could tell. They were an irritant. An obstacle. No, the Harbinger cared only for ending the source of the darkness, though it offered Weavile a brief glance.

Weavile hissed back.

What a hypocrite the Harbinger was! It hated Distortion even as it bled an army's worth into the air. Little wisps of the stuff formed into proto-ghosts before Ash's eyes, though the Harbinger was quick to end their existence as quickly as they appeared.

But even as Ash and the team waited in challenge, the Harbinger stared at Lotus and lowered its horn, beckoning the Spiritomb as death would greet a weary old man.

Lotus shifted forward.

"Lotus…"

In that moment, Lotus' oppressive aura felt small as a candle to the raging bonfire of the Harbinger. But in it was carried all the warring emotions and tatters of memory which defined Lotus. A single consciousness forged of one hundred and eight souls crushed together into a gestalt.

And in those conflicting identities Ash felt a war.

A craving for an end.

Raging against oblivion.

Hope for a future, hope for death. Hope for dawn, hope for dusk.

Resignation to what they had become, a burning desire to turn to face the sun with those who had given it a name. Lotus was all and Lotus was nothing.

Ash hesitated as the keystone trembled, the lavender miasma tugging Lotus inches closer to the Harbinger which had come upon wings of blackest nature. The white Absol watched with all the patience of one beyond time.

He wished nothing more than to call out an end to the Harbinger, to set Infernus and Oz to their bloody work. To watch the elements they had mastered batter away the dark cloak.

But Ash had taken choice away from Lotus once just as surely as the Artificer once had. His fingers curled into fists.

He couldn't do so again.

"You're the master of your own destiny," Ash said, voice thick and raw. It was his nature to rail against the inevitable, to meet every challenge with the belligerence and determination which had taken him this far. But Ash's way was his own, and he would be the last to inflict it upon another. "You're one of us, Lotus. Our blood. Whatever decision you'll make, it's one that we will respect."

But he'd be damned if he didn't make his case!

Lotus wavered, the lavender fog dragging it forward while the green cinders blazed in defiance. Spiritomb consisted of a singular consciousness, but how many different influences from its constituent souls reared their heads now?

Ash could feel the experiences of one hundred and eight individuals roaring and screaming and howling at the top of their metaphorical lungs to rise above the crowd. As much as Lotus had been bent and contorted into the shape of Apathy, that armor of its core fractured beneath the sudden discord.

Lotus' green 'mouth' twisted, grimaced, flickered, snarled, wailed.

Wrath at what they had become. Despair at what had been taken from them—families, rivals, love, hate, memory, all stripped away to leave nothing but crushing apathy and emptiness. A deep lust for another fate. Resignation.

And most alien of all to Lotus, hope.

A desperate hope, a craving, a need, for an end. For the peace of oblivion. And yet the fiery hope for more flickered. Barest embers, perhaps, just now alight whereas the previous hope had millenia to stew and ferment and solidify, but all the brighter for standing against the darkness.

The Harbinger's wispy wings spread wide, sharp and jagged as broken shells, and unfurled in full as if to beckon Lotus forward. Lavender stirred.

"You have the right to choose if this is your end," Ash said. His tongue felt leaden in his dry mouth. It took all he had to keep his voice clear and free of the maelstrom lurking just below the surface. "But Lotus, I see more for you. We see more for you. I see a future."

Lotus wavered. The green cinders blazed.

Weavile hissed, flickering with Distortion in the odd 'language' they'd developed between themselves.

Nidoking snarled something, putting himself between the beckoning Harbinger and Lotus. Dazed's eyes flashed. Torrent blazed with turquoise flame, ready to ignite into a conflagration to match Infernus, who bellowed his challenge to the Harbinger. Oz raised her fist and the storm brewed faster.

Tangrowth's vines slithered around to embrace the keystone.

And then Bruiser stepped forward with Seeker chittering from the sky, her wings spread wide in challenge to the Harbinger as venom dripped from her teeth. Brave Bruiser who had volunteered to join Ash and withstand the full brunt of Lotus' early misery. Bruiser, the rock who persisted amidst the darkest and murkiest of rivers.

Bruiser who had bared his soul to Lotus just as surely as Ash had in these long months.

Lotus' agonized grimace reshaped itself into a resolved line. Lavender paled in comparison to the green cinders blazing in defiance of its fate.

"Spiritomb no more," Ash declared. "Lotus. One of us!"

The team roared.

The Harbinger blinked.

And then it dipped its head once in acknowledgement, something like longing in its eyes, before the miasmic aura oozed up around it like a thick fog. The foul power within the Harbinger swelled up as if eager to escape the snowy white confines, lashing out like a beast as it devoured reality wherever it went.

Ash could imagine the announcer watching this standoff, the bated anticipation of the crowd, and felt the moment when the tension reached a boiling point.

"Begin," Ash murmured to himself, and so it did.

Reality shattered.

Black not-wings came unfurled in full. Ash felt a twist in his gut, the sensation of utter wrongness, and the Harbinger moved even as storms of fire and lightning and water came crashing down upon the Absol.

But the Harbinger was fast. Too fast. Impossibly fast.

It twitched one moment, then the next darted past the onslaught with its black-edged horn bleeding the same power which continuously leaked from its every pore. Ash was used to incredible speed now—thanks to Plume, he had even lived it—and yet the Harbinger was different.

Rather than a single leap or explosive movement, the Harbinger seemed…sped up. Accelerated. Moving in a different frame of reference. There was the impression of ordinary movement, a standard gallop, and yet it happened too fast. Much too fast!

The Harbinger crossed fifty feet in less than a second. One moment it was across the clearing, and the next it was just a foot away from Lotus, its deadly power focused upon the Spiritomb. Nidoking and Lairon roared, turning back to face the wicked Absol, but they were too slow.

But one wasn't.

Weavile was silent as his white claws clanged against the dark-shrouded horn. He winced as the great power of the Harbinger bore down upon him, crushing and forcing him back, but Weavile stood resolute in the face of his teammate, hissing as the black shroud of the Harbinger came swirling around them all in a corrosive storm.

Yet Weavile blazed with a foul power of his own. Distortional energies burst forth in a not-quite-black veil which devoured light and air and everything it touched, and for a moment his Mind Breaker allowed him to stand equal to the Harbinger's weighty presence.

Darkness pitched against darkness. Lotus' own power bled out to support Weavile's with flecks of lavender and green cinders intermixed. Nidoking and Lairon snarled as they collapsed on the Harbinger, fighting past its veil.

But little wisps of Distortion curled out from the mass, coalescing into proto-ghosts which strayed this way and that, and frustration burned in the Harbinger's even gaze before it disengaged with that same too-fast speed.

It reaped the newborn ghosts in a blindingly swift motion. Their tatters disintegrated into nothingness as reality rejected them.

Ash's eyes narrowed. A potential weakness? The Harbinger was quick to turn upon the entities spawned by its own power.

But the Harbinger lashed back out with tendrils of black shadow the moment it was assured the ghosts were vanquished, though Nidoking erected a Protect. The Harbinger's dark energies tore through it like corrosive acid upon metal. Slowly, steadily, and inevitably.

The Protect held long enough.

Lairon surged forth. Blackness surrounded Lairon and left him toppling to the ground, his magnetic control broken.

Bruiser launched forward with Rampage-fueled strength, the certainty of his every motion enough to carry his strikes through. The Harbinger's eyes widened as the fist pierced its Distortion veil and Ash could barely track its movement as it leapt away with the same accelerated frame of reference with which it had initially struck.

"Keep pushing!" Ash snapped. Nidoking charged forward and lashed out with a Shadow Ball which struck the Harbinger, though it might as well have been splashed by a water balloon. Despite the utter depths of Distortion in which it was immersed, it still carried the innate resistance of a dark-type rather than the unstable nature of a ghost. "Prioritize elemental attacks!"

And Infernus did just that. He rushed in with a roar, spitting flame and belching smoke, and the brightness of his body was that of a star as he exuded heat and fire to match the darkness of the Harbinger. Plasma Blade was beyond him here, as were his more advanced psychic workings, but Infernus' flames burned the corruption away.

The Harbinger staggered backwards, shocked again as the attack actually penetrated its corruption, but the shroud of foul energies still guarded it as surely as a Shedinja's own power. Infernus sneered at the Distortion attempting to devour him, searing it with the flames of his will, and it could not withstand him as he leapt into its midst.

Infernus was a whirlwind of flashing claws, gouts of flame, and superheated air. The Harbinger's body was wreathed in darkness and moved with its terrible speed, but Infernus was relentless—Harbinger just avoided each blow, but the vicious heat still forced the Absol away.

And that opened the door for the rest of the team to strike.

Torrent spat a Hydro Pump which would have shorn steel and then seamlessly shifted into brewing a great storm. Harbinger was too swift for it to strike, twisting away at the last moment to let it cleave a tree in two instead, but it forced the Absol to dodge into a comparatively lesser Thunderbolt from Oz as she charged into the fray to swing her heavy fists and lashing tails.

Despite it all, the Harbinger's eyes never strayed long from Lotus. That grim certainty of purpose hung over them all like an executioner's axe.

Sparks and cinders flew as Oz and Infernus swung and struck. Harbinger moved faster and faster to keep up with them as its initial enhancement failed to counter them—Infernus' body heat rose higher and higher to push his physical abilities to their limits while Oz whirred furiously, speeding up with every hammer blow of her fists and the whipping of her spark-spraying tails.

"Nidoking!" Ash called out to his friend as the poison-type charged and spat a Sludge Bomb into the Harbinger's mass of Distorted power, though the corrosive cloak devoured it whole and removed the matter from existence before it could land. "Charge them up!"

Nidoking was too slow to reach them in the next few seconds, but they'd trained for this eventuality. A lance of electricity surged up his horn and leapt to Oz, who shuddered as the charge danced through her black-and-gold fur and filled her muscles with renewed vigor. Infernus received a Flamethrower to ease his transition to greater heights.

Lightning crackled from her every step as she and Infernus forced the Harbinger back, deftly teaming up to corner the deathly beast even as it sought to dance around them and strike at its true target. Foul power seeped from it with every passing second to pollute the forest, filling trees with unearthly might.

Shattered stumps (including the remnants of the tree broken by Torrent) shuddered and rose, filled with new Phantump born as specters curled off from the Harbinger's aura and sought an escape from the reality which sought to reject them.

The Harbinger's nostrils flared, and it sped up to even greater heights. It flickered, what should have been a single step taking it ten strides at that same accelerated pace, and the Phantump shrieked as the black horn tore them apart.

Ash grit his teeth as the terrible Absol turned to face Lotus again. It tensed, coiled, and leapt—and then it was on them! Space was twisted and crumpled as the creature suddenly appeared mere feet away, the deadly scythe already aimed at Lotus, and it took all Lotus' strength to slow the beast.

It still came closer and closer, shredding through the lavender smoke with a terrible steadiness that even Zinnia's mighty team hadn't managed. Foul wisps danced off, each intent upon finding a corporeal form, only for cruel lashes to dance off the Harbinger's horn to bring them back.

Ash snarled and signaled his team—Infernus and Oz had already wheeled around, as had Nidoking (who had sensed the Harbinger's power and reacted a few moments before the rest) and Lairon, but they had defenders of their own.

Even as the darkness folded around Ash and Lotus like black wings, Weavile struck. He hadn't launched into the battle given that they'd expected Harbinger's incredible speed to carry it past the vanguard, and now that decision proved a canny one.

Weavile didn't strike with his claws. He didn't pit his might against the supernaturally powerful Absol.

No, he was smarter than that. He struck at the core of the Absol's power instead, at the bulwark with which the Harbinger was defended. Darkness surged about him, a sickening rush that quieted the Concepts within Ash, and Weavile lashed out with a single paw.

The Harbinger was a fair bit more potent than a Dusk Stone, but the concept was the same.

Its sickening aura was blown away for an instant as Weavile's Dispel took effect, although the core power which seeped from Harbinger's flesh remained intact. The resolute look left with its cloak, and the Harbinger peered at Weavile with blatant curiosity before the Distortion rushed back like an undammed river in the span of a second.

But the fact remained: Weavile had nullified the Harbinger's greatest advantage, even if it was only for a blink.

"It wasn't going to be that easy," Ash hissed, and Dazed was quick to telekinetically hurl a large boulder at the Harbinger while it was distracted. A swipe of its horn (and the deadly power carried by the motion) sliced it in twain, and the two halves would have slammed into Nidoking and Infernus behind the Harbinger had Lairon not deflected them with a Protect.

While Dazed couldn't access many of the advanced skills she had honed thanks to the Distortion shrouding the air, she stood tall and unbent thanks to her training atop Pyre. She weathered the storm and wielded all the might she could—objects thrown, dust kicked up, and anything that wouldn't be simply eaten away by the Harbinger's aura.

But even as the Harbinger reoriented, the rest struck. Seeker's Supersonic left Ash wincing and even rattled the Harbinger for an instant, opening it up to a precise flurry of blows by Bruiser. Every strike was certain and carried with it the weight of Bruiser's spirit, parting the darkness and revealing the Absol beneath the shadow.

Harbinger was fast, fast, fast! But even as it ducked and wove around the blows with impossible speed, it couldn't dodge them all. Not when Weavile was quick to Dispel again the second he had regathered his focus. A single fist clipped it and they all roared as the Harbinger went flying back fifteen feet, though it was caught by a cushion of dark power.

It sprawled, the sternness in its gaze replaced by utter shock at the blow it had received, and the Harbinger gaped at Bruiser.

That didn't last long, as Plume came hurtling down with a shriek and unleashed her variant of Lugia's technique. The Song flickered in Ash's ears for a moment, a beautiful derivative of Kyogre's terrifying Roar, and a vast funnel of wind struck the Harbinger and peeled back its Distorted defenses and sent it flying again.

Nidoking was there to greet it, bowling the Harbinger to the side as he leapt and slammed into it with his Focus Kick, the enormous discharge of energy enough to rattle the Harbinger again, and Infernus roared as he bathed the dark cloak in flames, complemented by the draconic fury of Torrent as he unleashed a stream of golden comets which hammered into the void with which Harbinger armored itself.

Lairon hurled a Stone Edge which landed like a barrage of little javelins, though most were eaten away by the cloak, and a storm of Ancient Powers came crashing down. Tangrowth's vines whipped forward in a frenzy as he hopped in front of Lotus and Ash, flicking out a dozen strikes in a second that probed and tested the Harbinger's every defense.

The Harbinger staggered backwards beneath the onslaught, stunned, and as Infernus launched himself into the Distortion storm amidst flame and draconic flickers, the Absol growled for the first time, resignation in its eyes. Irritation.

"Get ready, it's—"

They all grimaced as a tempest of dark energies exploded forth from the Harbinger as it unshackled its power. A horde of proto-ghosts bled off from its whipping tendrils, grey lightning within birthing a dozen with every strike, and the Harbinger moved.

Infernus was the first to receive a taste of the Harbinger's undiluted force. He vomited cherry-red lava as the noxious power spilled over him, but even as he puked fiery bile he leapt forward and bled off heat to match the Harbinger's Distortion.

Light and dark were pitted together as the rest of the team regathered themselves, but the Harbinger's single-minded focus upon Lotus had been divided into ensuring none could defend the Spiritomb. Ash called out order after order as the team began their onslaught anew, but the Harbinger moved faster than ever!

If before the Harbinger had moved disconcertingly fast, as if sped up to thrice the speed it should be, now it moved as if they were all standing in molasses. Black wings spread wide. Its horn bled the night. Ghosts spilled forth from the tear in reality which trailed behind it.

Infernus still fought. He couldn't land a blow, but he unleashed every ounce of his power in a vast Overheat that blasted them all with scorching flames, though they protected themselves with a variety of defenses. Yet the Harbinger was hurt the most, the damage sufficient to scorch parts of its dark-flecked fur, and it was swift to slash into Infernus with a dozen blows in the span of a second.

The creature's strangely accelerated motion was enough to remind Ash of an old movie he'd watched with his mother once, one of those where the cameras could only record a fraction of the frames per second that modern devices could capture, which resulted in jerky, unnatural movement.

His friend roared out, still pouring out heat that forced the Harbinger away, but the Absol didn't stop. It launched itself forward, space bending around it to maximize every twitch, and slammed into Lairon, releasing a shockwave from the black power which emanated from the Absol's blunt claws.

Lairon cried out as he was sent flying through a few saplings before coming to a rest against a hard rock. Sparks sprayed as he landed, though the tough little guy was already shaking it off and ready to get back into the fight.

Unfortunately for the Harbinger, Nidoking's burgeoning Distortion sense allowed him to react faster than the Absol could have expected. While he was a dozen times slower than the Harbinger now, he positioned himself in the perfect way to exploit the Harbinger's rush.

Even as Oz shot forward in a Flash Step which released a great burst of light that left the Harbinger blinking and allowed her a few rapid blows which were deflected by the Harbinger's Pressure, Nidoking spat a great gout of flame that would have made Infernus proud.

It was devoured by the void, but Nidoking didn't let that stop him. Ash nodded to Nidoking, and the rest of the team bought him time. The Harbinger wove around Oz's strikes in a blur, and Ash winced as a great crescent of Distortion exploded from the Absol's black-edged scythe to carve into Oz's gut—she raised a Protect of her own to keep it from cleaving her in two.

That was a Night Slash in the same way Blast Burn was an Ember.

The Harbinger's power was dense and devoured its way through the Protect, carving a black line in Oz's stomach, and the Absol's aura condensed into a great fist that slammed into Oz and hurled her away.

It turned to face Nidoking, but the rest of the team shot in.

Weavile danced forward, slow and sluggish in the face of the Harbinger's speed in a way that he had never felt before, and exchanged blows. His skill compensated for the Harbinger's superior physicality, but even Weavile would have been brought low in seconds were it not for Bruiser launching into the battle.

The Harbinger was wary of the Machamp now, and every blow was blocked by the vast majority of its black aura, which formed into a pseudo-Protect that walled off Bruiser entirely.

Fist after fist came crashing down, and Ash relished the worry in the Harbinger's gaze as the dark wall cracked, though it still held for now.

Dazed hurled projectile after projectile at the Harbinger, nipping at its heels and ensuring Weavile always had a way out, and Tangrowth complemented her time and time again with his lashing vines which closed off the Harbinger's own escapes. Heaps of earth were hurled, great cracks and gouges opened beneath the Harbinger to disrupt its footing, and Torrent rumbled as the storm brewed—his job done, he unleashed a devastating Dragon Pulse that ate through the cloud of Distortion until the two destructive forces annihilated each other.

None let up as Nidoking cleared his head and focused his will, though the nebulous Concept was slow to grasp.

While the Harbinger was fast and mighty enough to tear its way through an individual member of Ash's team, it found itself matched by the combined efforts of them all. It physically couldn't break through the iron wall of Bruiser's flashing fists, nor the dextrous swipe of Weavile's black-knived claws which oozed power to slice through the Harbinger's armor.

Torrent was relentless, closing off every avenue of escape with expertly-placed Hydro Pumps and Dragon Pulses which kicked up dirt and rattled even while Tangrowth's horde of vines slashed in constantly every second.

Lairon made his way back with a fierce warble, spraying sharp shards of stone which splintered against the Harbinger's defenses but which distracted it for just an instant while Seeker swept in and out to spit a Venom Drench which the Harbinger boiled away.

More and more power exuded from the Absol and it grew ever faster to match the new demands, although there was a strained look upon its face as it matched them all at once. Tendrils of Distortion lashed out like tentacles, eroding whatever they touched, and attacks either twisted away or slowed or accelerated too fast to land on target.

A passive defense. A casual breakdown of reality to throw off their aim. Ash wanted it. Something to work on with Weavile later. If nothing else, the Harbinger had offered up all sorts of ideas to steal from.

While the Harbinger was temporarily forced on the defensive, it still struck when it could. Its biggest focus was upon tearing apart Tangrowth's vines with dark scythes and swipes to remove that pressure, but was soon frustrated by the fact that the moment it filled one with necrotic energy, Tangrowth would just break the ruined vine with another and regrow it with Perfect Regeneration.

Torrent's storm fed him well, and the life Tangrowth took from the soil was a fine price to pay in order to remove this tumor upon reality. A few minutes of the Harbinger's presence was far, far worse for the natural world than a few lost nutrients.

"We'll break you," Ash snarled, and then called out more and more commands to keep the team in their flow state. Nidoking was lost, battered by whatever lashes of Distortion the Harbinger could spare, but the team guarded him well. Lairon had appointed himself Nidoking's bodyguard, and the worst attacks were absorbed by his unyielding carapace or the aegis of his Protects.

But even as the combat continued in a blur, of which the Harbinger found itself in the eye of the storm, and Ash's team just barely contained it, Oz felt the storm reach its peak. Fat raindrops came down in sheets as the sky darkened blacker and blacker.

She roared loud enough to match the thunder which rolled over them.

The rest of the team knew the signs well enough to go on the defensive, allowing the Harbinger a moment's breathing room as it rushed forward and attempted to open a hole in their immovable wall, but every scrap of damage it inflicted would be repaid.

Oz raised her fist to the sky.

Lightning flashed bright enough to outshine the sun for one glorious instant.

A white lance arced from the clouds to her fist. Gold-and-blue crackles of electricity burst from her in a glorious cloak to match the void of the Harbinger's. Muscles tensed, tails thrashed, spitting Thunderbolts rather than sparks, and Oz took her fist down to thrust it at the Harbinger.

True lightning burst forth. The Harbinger yelped as the greatest Lightning Bolt the world had ever seen blasted from Oz's fist and tore its way across the air to carve the Harbinger's aura apart, each little threading arc leaping off in glee to splinter the affront to the natural world.

The Harbinger's void cloak was stripped away entirely for an instant, though it already began to regenerate, and it flew across the air as the concussive blast rattled it. It staggered, bearing a slight limp, and barely held off the sudden aggression of the team as they collapsed in upon it.

Bruiser's fists came down in a blinding flurry to break apart the solid wall of Distortion.

Weavile shredded the night-armor before it could regenerate in full, thrusting his paw forward to Dispel the energies.

Lairon cried out and tackled the Harbinger with magnetism-enhanced speed, sending it sprawling back while Dazed took up his previous Stone Edges and carved into the Harbinger's flesh with the projectiles, gouging black holes in its white fur.

Oz leapt forward, still crackling with excess power, and slammed her charged fist into the tattered wisps of the Harbinger's defenses, stripping them away again and shocking the creature.

Seeker darted in, spat a fat glob of toxins into the Harbinger's eyes, and shot away even as the foul concoction earned a shriek, though a focused blast of the Harbinger's power boiled it away before it could cause too much harm.

Tangrowth's vines erupted from the earth even as a few more harassed the Harbinger's black cloak to avoid it from regenerating and preventing assaults on the rest of the team.

And at last Torrent spat a single golden comet which spiraled towards the Harbinger and erupted in a cataclysmic blast which threw it further back. The Harbinger cushioned itself again, wreathed its form in that twisted time, and saw the small army closing in.

It chose to fight smarter, not harder, as its eyes slid toward Lotus, who still rested near Ash, exhausted from its previous efforts.

The Harbinger leapt forward to meet the team, but a rush of darkness carried it THROUGH them. It emerged past the wall, victorious, and shot in Lotus' direction to finish out its mission with a bloody black scythe…

…only for Plume to rocket down with the North Wind in her throat. The Harbinger was sent bowling over by the strength of her assault, and the cleansing song purged the corruption from the world to expose the Absol's white fur in full. Her talons tore into the mockery of wings upon the Harbinger's back, slicing and gouging, and she drew black blood forth which deteriorated into smoky wisps the second it reached the outside world.

The Harbinger's power exuded again, blasting them with a wave of Distortion nearly as potent as Mind Breaker, and in the time it took to regather their attention, the Harbinger spat a bit more Not-blood to the dirt (which boiled away at the touch) and spread its wretched aura wide like black wings.

It looked more resolved than ever even as its myriad injuries littered the world with corrupted blood. Ghosts rose up with every drop, though the Harbinger idly reaped each one before they could escape to take root in the material.

That was all the warning Plume had before it took a single step forward and chased after her with great slashes of darkness and devouring voids which collapsed in like a dying star. She was fast, deadly fast, and twisted out of the way while spitting Hyper Beams and Hurricane which sent the Harbinger flying backward, though it bent space again and again to keep up with her.

His team focused what attacks they could on the distant battle, but Plume and the Harbinger dueled thousands of feet above, their clash little more than a distant speck of golden Hyper Beams and bursts of night.

Ash grit his teeth, but he couldn't help there. All he could do was prepare.

Mega Plume would purge the Harbinger's shadow from the world, but the wounded beast was relentless…

"Prepare for its return," Ash said, heart hammering in his chest. "Dazed, Lairon, Tangrowth, defend Lotus."

The Spiritomb twitched, utterly sapped of energy by the battle, though it still had strength to spare. Lotus' fiery face twitched.

"The rest of you are still on Nidoking duty," he called out, and offered Lotus a strained smile even as he jogged over to his first partner, whose own face was contorted into a grimace. Tangrowth gurgled happily and tried to pat Lotus with a few vines, though they passed right through Lotus' gaseous body.

Nidoking cracked one eye open as Ash approached. He glanced away, a guilty look upon his face, and Ash shook his head. "None of that. We're trying to use an untested technique in battle. You know as well as I do that that's a dangerous prospect. It's an entirely different situation trying to call on it when you have the Harbinger going for your throat."

The Harbinger really was a formidable creature, an opponent far more deadly than Ash could have expected from the brief descriptions offered up by the Alpha's attendants and Steven's words. He'd expected one of those natural-born freaks which had risen far above the ordinary heights of wild pokémon.

Perhaps something a bit more potent than the Alpha herself. Master-level, an opponent worthy of facing down a member of the Elite Four's personal teams. He had even imagined the potential for it to stand at the grand peak of Champion-level, which would be practically unheard of for a wild Absol.

But a grim-faced warrior with potency to dwarf Lotus wasn't exactly on Ash's radar.

And even the Harbinger feared Tobias.

Ash's new perspective bothered him more than he'd like.

But there was time to mull over that disturbing little fact later. They needed to prepare. While the rest of the team prepared defensive formations, Ash materialized the item he needed and pressed it into Nidoking's claws.

"Take it," Ash insisted as Nidoking cradled the stone reverently. It was just as black as the night sky, black to match the Harbinger's unnatural power. But where the Harbinger's Distortion was corrosive and corruption incarnate, deteriorating everything it touched, there was nothing more natural than this: a memory of perfect order. "Use it."

Ash met Nidoking's black eyes, felt their spirits merge as one for an instant, fueled by Ash's memories of Mega Evolution, and a shadow of that bond manifested for the briefest tick of time.

ORDER. LATTICE. SINGULARITY UNTOUCHED. A THOUGHT UNSPRUNG.

It ached to do so, but they diverged from their confluence. Ash gasped as a hole emerged where Nidoking's resolute spirit once lay, but he managed a smile nonetheless as Nidoking briefly reached out to touch Ash's hand with his free claws.

"Show it what you can do," Ash said as his worried eyes shot to the battle above. Plume tore across the sky at incredible speeds, bending the air around her just as the Harbinger bent space to pursue her, and their deadly clash grew fiercer and fiercer. "Plume! Back to us!"

Dazed broadcasted his thoughts high, and Plume heard. She was bleeding and several patches of perfectly groomed feathers withered and blackened from the Harbinger's aura—oh, she must be pissed!—but twisted down.

Her flight was unstable. Ash grit his teeth as she came swooping down at breakneck speed, eager to return to them now that she'd bought the time they needed, and the Harbinger pursued on shadowed steps.

"Go, go!" Ash called out as Plume brought the Harbinger back to them. Perhaps three or four minutes had passed since the battle began, and she had been present the entire time. She needed a break from the Harbinger's oppressive glare.

Plume hesitated as she shot up into the cloudy skies, but the Harbinger materialized just below. Fury burned in her proud gaze as she spat one last Hyper Beam at the Absol, though its dark shield swallowed it whole.

Ash scowled. That power which bled from the Harbinger seemed practically endless! Even the mightiest Shedinja in the world would have grown exhausted within the first minute of the battle. The sheer power demanded to block the team's onslaught was nothing short of mind boggling.

But it WAS slower, cloaking the Harbinger a little more sluggishly than when it had first appeared, and it could be overwhelmed, albeit seemingly only temporarily. They'd just have to do it again and again until they'd scored all the blows they needed.

The Harbinger tensed, coiled, and battle began anew, though it looked as if it would love to pursue Plume and finish her as she grew exhausted.

They wouldn't let it.

It shot into motion with that preternatural speed, the grey not-light wrapped close to its form, and flitted around Weavile so quickly that it made Ash's friend appear to be moving at a crawl. Lairon cried out and stepped in front of Lotus, but for once the Spiritomb wasn't Harbinger's target.

Tangrowth gurgled as the Harbinger appeared beside him with its black blade ready. Distorted wings spread wide, closed around them both to prevent interference, and rattled as Bruiser leapt forward with Rampage-enhanced power and roared in defense of their most innocent friend.

Weavile hissed, weakening the integrity of the shadow wall with a Dispel that left the darkness rippling and writhing, and Bruiser's face was a mask of resolute determination as all four of his fists tore into the Distortion, pierced, and opened so that his hands could peel it open like a fruit.

The walls disintegrated before his sheer strength and the Harbinger gaped as the defenses were temporarily scattered, although the wisps curled into ghosts and forced the Harbinger to turn from his assault on Tangrowth, who was swaying as most of his vines fell apart.

They already began to regrow. The Harbinger scowled with pure frustration and leapt away to reap the ghosts before they could manifest, dodging a flurry of blows from Bruiser and Weavile, a lightning-infused haymaker from Oz, and a dozen different projectiles from Dazed, although it snarled as Infernus rose up, staggering, and unleashed a great Flamethrower that ate its regenerating shield away and spilled out great clouds of boiling steam around it as the rain was seared away.

Harbinger blinked, growled, and set its eyes on Lotus again.

Perhaps that was the moment the Harbinger realized it couldn't defeat them conventionally. Not when Plume and Weavile could strike at the heart of its power. Not when Tangrowth seemed inexhaustible. Not when the storm roiled at Oz's command and Infernus refused to let a little thing like a Distortion-poisoned gut wound stop him.

Ghosts bled off the Harbinger for a moment, lashing out for freedom, and for a moment the Harbinger seemed ready to let the horde fly to distract its foes. A dark army to flood Ash's ranks.

But its eyes squeezed shut and the temptation quelled. The ghosts cried out as they were swallowed anew and forged into a dark shield once more.

The Harbinger leapt one final time, space-time twisting like crumpled paper around it, and appeared just above Lotus, behind Lairon, to swipe with all its might—

Rain froze, arrested by a will with the depth of the ocean, and rushed together as one.

Puddles stirred to life and leapt from the muddy ground.

Torrent's eyes gleamed with the old fire of that little Horsea in the stream by Cerulean as the Harbinger fell into his trap. A rumble that might have been a laugh rattled Ash's bones.

Water flooded the Harbinger, catching it in a vicious river that leapt up and caught the Harbinger, Distortion cloak and all, and yanked it away from Lotus. The Harbinger's dark power left some water falling away from Torrent's command to collapse back to the earth, but there was always more to replace it as the clouds pelted them with great sheets of rain.

With the Harbinger's cloak in tatters from Infernus' attack and the brutal grind of the battle, it couldn't tear away fast enough. Torrent refused to let it escape, and compressed the water as much as he was able to trap the Harbinger in a crushing sphere that sought to drown the beast.

Ash remembered that awful feeling of sliding into the ocean from the St. Anne's deck. Of the water filling his lungs. Of the clenching pressure.

He didn't envy the Harbinger in that moment.

Dark power lashed out and tore the sphere apart, but Oz called down another lightning bolt from the heavens and roared as she leapt forward and thrust it into Torrent's rippling water globe like a lance into the earth.

The Harbinger shuddered as its defenses worked overtime to dissipate the surge, but it bought Torrent the time he needed and prevented the Harbinger from simply warping away as it grew distracted.

Ash felt the weight of a Concept touch the world.

Not the North Wind, though Ash, Plume, and Torrent studied that soothing melody at length, and not the Song that Torrent was so fond of either.

Ice.

Torrent's eyes grew cold, the warmth of a good ruler stripped away to reveal only the harshest elements of kingship, and frost encrusted his blue scales. While he couldn't simply will the sphere to be frozen—yet—Ash called upon the Concept himself to amplify the great storm of frigid energies which leapt from Torrent's snout.

Just as the Harbinger's Night Slash was something MORE, so was this Ice Beam.

Jagged arcs of frosty light struck the water and sucked any lingering heat away in an instant. The rain itself froze wherever the Ice Beam passed for several feet around. They felt the chill to their bones, although the cold pragmaticism in Ash guarded him.

Seeker shuddered and flitted to Ash's shoulder and shocked him out of it. He offered her a warm smile as the frozen globe came rolling the ground. It was easily ten feet in diameter and rock solid.

"Ready!"

It bought them all the time that they needed.

When the Harbinger exploded out amidst black wings which ate the ice wh2ole and removed it from existence, the team launched another assault.

The Harbinger bore frost upon its fur and its horn was white with the stuff. It snarled, wreathed in power enough to amplify its speed to truly unimaginable heights, and Weavile cried out as his attempt to stymie the creature was cut off with a brutal paw to the face.

He crumpled, but wasn't out. Ash saw Weavile's limbs twitch as he attempted to rise, and he was certain to do so soon.

Weavile was made of sterner stuff than he had been mere weeks ago.

But even as the Harbinger prepared for a final rally to ruthlessly carve a path to Lotus, Nidoking found what he needed.

Nidoking roared gutturally, raised the Moon Stone sliver in his claws, and squeezed his eyes shut. Ash felt something rise in the world, a moonbeam coming to dispel the oblivion of night, and for a moment Nidoking's eyes shone like twin full moons, as brightly as they had when he'd laid his hand against the Moon Stone over a year ago.

A raw, unskilled blast lanced forth from his horn. It was a fiery pink not dissimilar to the psychic aura Mew had once wrapped itself in, but at its core was a pure white light. Rather than a focused attack like Hyper Beam or a collected sphere like Dragon Pulse, this emerged more as an unfiltered flood of strange energy.

The Harbinger could have avoided it with its Distorted speed.

It could have matched it with a dark blast of its own.

But the Harbinger's eyes were trained upon the fae blast with fear, horror, reverence, delight, hope, and it leapt into the flood. Black wings fell away. Distortion was cleansed deeper than Suicune's channeled howls could offer.

Then the blast passed, leaving merely an Absol in place of the Harbinger. White fur unmarred by shadow and corruption. The grim mask was replaced by an expression of wonder.

Nidoking sagged, though the Moon Stone never left his claws, and gasped. For a moment the team readied themselves to launch forward, but Ash's hope left him as the Harbinger gasped and howled in misery when the same grey not-light oozed from its pores again.

The Distorted cloak crawled back out from the Absol, though far slower than before.

Infernus roared, a blade of light exploding from his left cannon as he readied to carve the Harbinger in two now that the choking presence had been softened and psychic abilities could emerge with their full strength. Fire burned in his right as he readied to unleash a dozen streams of flame.

Dazed's pendulum twitched. Her eyes burned blue. Lightning danced around her palm.

The Harbinger wilted, its eyes lost. Darkness coiled about its horn as it rose for battle once more.

It acted as if it had nothing to lose, and in that Ash saw nothing but risk, pain, and potential death for them all, Harbinger included.

He also saw a chance for more than bloody conflict.

Ash's blood boiled with battle-lust, but a clearer path revealed itself. An opportunity.

What would Fino say?

"Wait."

Miraculously, the Harbinger listened. Ash's own team coiled tight, but he never had any doubt that they would stand down…even if Infernus looked ready to cry tears of lava as his Plasma Blade went tragically unused.

"You hunt creatures of Distortion. The ghosts your abilities spawn. You remove them."

The Harbinger paused, then grudgingly nodded. It was wary, unwilling to put much faith in the sudden armistice, but at least gave them that much. Several of Ash's friends began to edge around to encircle the Absol, but Ash sharply shook his head.

"You can't have Lotus," Ash swore. The Harbinger's eyes boiled with a barely-hidden anger then, and it stepped forward, but Ash continued even as darkness strangled them all. "Never. But what about a compromise?"

The Harbinger blinked.

"We have weapons against you," Ash said, though it went without saying that the fight would be a terrible risk, though the League should arrive within minutes to relieve them. But could the Harbinger end one of them in that time? Would it score a lucky blow against Lotus and accomplish its mission? "But they work on more than you."

Their former foe casually reaped a newborn ghost with a swing of its scythe and Ash swallowed. That casual end bothered him. It was as casual to the Harbinger as breath, as easy as snuffing out a spark, but he ached at the thought of all that potential lost.

Those proto-ghosts weren't sapient yet, not until they'd managed to inhabit a corporeal form, but it still gnawed at Ash. He doubted the Harbinger would have any more hesitance when dealing with an actual ghost.

"You have your mission. I have my family. But I think we can reach an agreement—you fight the reach of Distortion, sure, but I know you have some kind of flexibility. Otherwise you'd be waging war on Pyre right now. How does one Spiritomb compare to that?"

Ash shook his head as he remembered the spectral Aggron upon the mountain it had built. The offerings of Hoenn's many, many souls to contain the world-shattering might of the Red and Blue Orbs upon its peak.

The Harbinger bristled at the mention of the Ghost of Pyre. Ash had no doubt it would love to go and reap the greatest ghost in all of Hoenn…if it could. Pyre was something else, but at this point Ash genuinely wasn't sure whether or not the Harbinger's strange abilities would surge to new heights on the misty slopes of Mt. Pyre.

But at least the Harbinger seemed willing.

"My team's worked hard to learn to fight Distortion wielders," Ash said slowly, allowing the Harbinger to pick apart every word. Karen and Agatha had helped him take his first steps down this path, then Durand's specialized team had forced him to specialize in turn. "We've learned to use their own weapons against them—"

Here Ash glanced at Weavile, who drunkenly swayed now that he'd regained his footing.

"—and we've learned to tear it up by the roots."

Nidoking spared a glance for the Moon Stone which he held delicately in his claws. It might as well have been the most precious thing in the world to him at that moment. First a chance to evolve into his final form and take his place as a great defender of the team, and now a portal to a power unlike anything they'd wielded before.

But if anything, the Harbinger seemed more enraptured with the black sliver than even Nidoking. Unearthly forces tore from the Harbinger's essence to foul the air and earth where it strode, yet amidst that shrouded veil glittered two eyes which fixed upon the Moon Stone.

Plume shrieked from above, rejuvenated and ready to rejoin the fight, and the Harbinger's eye twitched. Thankfully she didn't strike and break the fragile peace, instead circling just a few hundred feet beneath the black clouds.

"You can't have Lotus," Ash repeated. "But I think we'll be a net negative for the influence of Distortion on the world. Don't you?"

The Harbinger considered that for a moment.

Its grim gaze settled upon Lotus, who boiled with a shadow of Cynthia's own partner's wrath.

It listened to Plume's cries which echoed with the remnant of the North Wind.

It eyed Weavile, whose claws bled wisps of grey not-light to reave and rend its own shadow.

At last it stared hungrily at the Moon Stone in Nidoking's grip and the orderly power which oozed from it, then strayed to peer at Nidoking's horn with envy. Little trickles of the fae power remained, sparks of white and pink.

The Harbinger finally nodded and the choking fist around Ash's heart eased. They all slackened a little, though it was going to be hard to rebuild trust.

Well, if they'd come this far…

"We're an investment," Ash said with the hint of a smile. "What do you think about maximizing it? We could always use another teacher."

XX

"You're fucking crazy!" Sidney said, gaping at the sight of the Harbinger in its dark presence. He was white and wan in the Absol's presence, though the Distortional cloak shrouded most of it from view. The Harbinger snorted back, then reaped a fledgling ghost which tried to sneak away.

The Dark Master's smirk was nowhere to be seen. He breathed heavily and kept a hand over his heart as if afraid it would stop as the Harbinger's aura battered upon them. Ash shrugged it off like a light breeze, but it seemed Sidney was having a harder time.

"You fought it?" Sidney hissed. "Are you crazy?"

"It worked out," Ash said lightly. "He's going to teach us."

Sidney blanched. "Are you kidding me?! You shouldn't even be around that thing for more than a few minutes at a time. Didn't you learn a damn thing from Agatha? Normal ghosts, fine. Shit like that? I'll do you a favor and schedule the oncologist appointments for you. Not like that Tobias freak is keeping them busy enough."

Ash perked up at the mention of Tobias but decided to save the questioning for now in favor of easing Sidney's worries. Not that he ever thought that would be a sentence he'd consider. Fire blazed up in his veins and steam rose from his skin, followed by little wisps of what had once been Distortion as it was burned away.

He smiled humorlessly at Sidney.

"I'll be fine."

Sidney went even paler if possible.

"You're a real freak, aren't you?" The Dark Master scowled. Zoroark tried to paint an illusion, but the Distortional interference from the Harbinger left it fragmenting. Ash silently took note of that even as Zoroark looked rather put-out. "Steven's gonna blow a gasket. He's been in a pissy mood since that shit with Tabitha. Who would've thought that tubby shit would be our little mastermind?"

Ash froze.

As much as Sidney generally irritated Ash, he couldn't help but ask. "It was Tabitha? What happened? Steven sent me a notice, but it was…abridged."

"Aww, Steven's afraid of traumatizing his boy wonder?" Sidney mocked, a little of his usual acidity leaking into his words before continuing. "Ha! I should have expected it. He's always been too soft. No, the whole thing's a shit show. I'm ordinarily the last to commend our runaway former Champion, but he did good work putting the puzzle pieces together."

"So what happened?" Ash asked, Nidoking and Dazed leaning in to listen closer. He still felt that unexpected twinge of betrayal as he thought of Tabitha being part of Team Magma.

Ash had hardly known Tabitha well—they'd only met him once at the gala, after all—but he'd liked Tabitha. The man was warm and friendly, the life of the party, and had been everything to everyone: a concerned, heartbroken man at the loss of his colleagues in the attack on Devon, a smiling face who attracted a crowd of the lonely and curious at the gala, and a good trainer to Lava Lad.

And now he was revealed to be a traitor, one of the linchpins of Magma's web. A traitor embedded highly in Devon with access to all sorts of trade secrets, corporate information, and groundbreaking scientific work. All of which might as well have been given up to Magma.

More than anything, Tabitha had access to people. How many had he converted and recruited? How many had he used even as he smiled and shook their hands and laughed at their jokes?

He might have been the key to it all. Interrogation would have left Magma's web undone and left the Ariados at the center bare to the League's fury.

But now he was dead and a potential loose thread was severed.

Sidney chuckled despite it all. "Oh, it was good work," the Dark Master said admiringly. "A right pain in our fine asses, but clever. Whoever's in charge of Magma is ruthless. They've mastered the art of cells and compartmentalized organizations, and I guess they didn't want a leak. Shit, I'd assume they had a Steven of their own if I didn't know better."

"Steven said Lava Lad did it?" Ash wrinkled his nose. It was impossible to imagine the chubby Camerupt willing to harm his trainer no matter how angry he was about the Tabitha-enforced diet. They'd had a fantastic relationship…or had that just been another lie?

"Oh yeah! Psychic trigger. The second Tabitha made it to his frilly apartment—seriously, you wouldn't believe how many Pokedolls he had, even if half of them were melted by Camerupt puke—and saw Stevie and Metagross waiting, his Camerupt just turned and puked out an Eruption right onto Tabby."

"And Metagross didn't stop them?" Ash hissed. "There's no way—"

Sidney chuckled. It was the ugliest sound Ash had ever heard. "Heh, that supercomputer freak would stop just about anything short of a Champion, but ol' Tabby had a surprise on him! Turns out our buddy's been carrying around a Dusk Stone. Who knows for how long. Probably since that Draconid bint tried to ice you."

Ash scoffed as he imagined Agatha's reaction to that little tidbit. "How stupid do you have to be? How much cancer did they find in him?"

The Dark Master snickered. "They found nodules all in him. Dumbass! Weakened the psychic shields Metagross threw up enough that the Eruption plowed right through them and burned the Magma bastard to a crisp! Burned down half the complex too," Sidney said with a shrug. "Turns out the apartment wasn't built with a Gym Leader-level Camerupt's strongest hissy fit in mind."

Imagine that. Ash just shook his head.

Part of him wanted to be sad about Tabitha's brutal death—he'd given plenty of thought to magma-soaked ends when he first started training Infernus—but Ash mostly felt bad for Lava Lad.

"How'd the Camerupt take it?"

"Oh, after the trigger ended? I think it's still getting counseling," Sidney said with some amusement. "The psychic trigger was strong and pretty expertly woven in, but stood out like a sore thumb once we knew to look for it. Our teams discovered it pretty easily—it's solid work, but blunt, very mechanical—but I guess ol' Tabby wasn't too interested in having psychics poking around in his head."

Ash could only imagine the care the man took to avoid (or rig) any psychic incursions. While the League had fairly regular psychic screenings—and there were no exceptions anymore after Giovanni…well, aside from Ash himself—he wondered whether more private organizations would begin instituting them.

Few organizations had the access to psychics that the League did (given the amount of psychics funneled into cushy League jobs, they nearly had a monopoly) but Ash suspected Devon wouldn't take this well. Psychic services were expensive—not to mention people didn't always take kindly to psychics rooting around in their heads without cause—but this would be a wake up call to anyone.

"I wouldn't if I was a traitorous piece of trash either," Ash sneered, recalling all the fear and fury he'd reserved for Zinnia during her attack. All because of Tabitha! And he didn't even have the guts to do it face to face! "I'm just sad Steven and Metagross didn't get a chance to wring his brain dry."

Sidney's eyes lit up. "Shoot, now I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to take your pound of flesh!"

"Would've been more than a pound," Ash said with a scowl. "That wouldn't have satisfied Nidoking, let alone Infernus."

Actually, he should throw Seeker into that list too.

Sidney's savage grin grew wider. More feral. Then it faded away as his cruel eyes shifted over to the staring Harbinger.

"Be careful with that thing," Sidney warned as Zoroark made a show of hiding behind the Dark Master with a pitiful look on its face. "It's not safe. And I'm telling you that, so you better fucking listen, okay? It kills every ghost it comes across. There's a reason I'm the one handling it and not Phoebe."

"I thought you'd just drawn the short straw."

"Might be a part of it, but Phoebe also rigged the damn competition with that stupid Mismagius of hers," Sidney complained. "Cheating bint!"

Ash narrowed his eyes. "You've been using that word a lot."

Sidney shrugged. "Kept hearing it in this Galarian period drama and liked the sound of it."

He couldn't help but blink at that. What on earth was Sidney watching in his spare time? That was more Glacia's speed…then again, maybe Glacia made Sidney watch that as punishment for some perceived offense or another.

"It's a monster. Tore my whole team apart on our first challenge," Sidney said. "Its strength is endless. It can strike faster than you can blink. If it turns on you, you're dead. If it looks at you, you're dead."

Fire flickered in Ash's breast. The shadows dimmed. Sidney grimaced.

"Harbinger!" Ash called out. The Absol stared his way with those stern eyes amidst the black cloud. "Do you plan to break our deal?"

The Absol scoffed as if such dishonor was beneath it.

"See?" Ash asked. "We'll be fine. And if not, Weavile will be waiting. And Infernus. And Nidoking. And Torrent. And—"

"Whatever, kid! I get the picture," Sidney said, scowling. "Your funeral. Do you know how long I'm going to hear about it if you get killed on my watch?"

"Better hope I'm lucky, then," Ash said with a laugh. Seeker chittered beside him, waving her purple wings at Sidney and Zoroark. "No, we've made a deal. The Harbinger will teach us. And if not, we're going to spread as much Distortion as we possibly can to spite it."

The Harbinger bristled.

"Ever heard of a joke?" Ash rolled his eyes, then looked at Sidney. "Go tell Steven we're okay and that Wallace doesn't need to add us to his endless list of worries. We'll be out of commission for a day or two, but we'll report soon enough. We didn't make that good of a deal."

Zoroark spat a glob of ink at Ash's feet, although it boiled away into nothingness the second Harbinger peered at it. The Zoroark quailed behind Sidney before the Absol could take any further notice of it.

"Part of me wants to leave Absol here with you to learn from it. The rest thinks you're suicidal. You're either an idiot or a genius. Both, I'm guessing. Oh well, I'm not about to chance it. Enjoy your stupid idea, kid! If you're a drooling idiot when I come back you have no one else to blame," Sidney scoffed. "And Phoebe is going to kill you if you lose that sad rock of yours. Good luck!"

Ash bared his teeth back. "Won't need it! See you later."

Sidney flipped him off, vanished in a rush of darkness with Zoroark, and left Ash and his team alone with Harbinger.

"Well!" Ash said brightly as the Absol stared at him through slitted eyes. "Ready to get started?"

A void gathered around the Harbinger as a sickening rush of not-light flooded the forest, drowning it in eldritch power.

Ash's team arrayed against the darkness, Weavile and Nidoking foremost amongst them. Lotus blazed behind them all, its shadow a pale reflection of the Harbinger's. But still extant.

"Begin!"

A/N: Well, I didn't think I would be able to get this out tonight, but here we are! This took longer than expected largely due to life events, but I'm glad that I was able to finish the job! Thank you very much to Jain and Raptor for their help in going over this chapter and getting everything prepped!

I'm still working on my side project, but I do plan on next chapter being released by 6/14! Been a while since I gave myself a deadline, but I'm finishing school next week and am eager to see this through.

Forgot to mention this last chapter, but we've crossed the 2,000,000 word mark! What a milestone and thank you so very much for sticking with me for all this time!

Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful summer and am looking forward to releasing the next chapter!