Lysandre roared in his defeat as Anne breathed a sigh of relief. She returned Charizard as the boss of Team Flare fell to his knees. Shauna stepped forward from behind Anne after watching the battle.
"Um…" She timidly coughed. "Know what I think? Even if there's only a little bit of something it's still best to share it."
She didn't let Lysandre's glower shake her.
"Even you manage to use mega evolution… That's because Gyarados shared its power with you, didn't it? And not just Gyarados but your other pokémon, too…"
Her words were met by stony silence. Calem stepped forward.
"Xerneas is gone so you can't use the ultimate weapon anymore, right? You don't have to worry about the future all by yourself… I think everyone should work together to make a better, beautiful world…"
Anne nodded.
"Wiping the world out to make a clean slate will just cause the same problems as last time. It's better to use what we have already rather than just start anew."
"If that were possible…" Lysandre spat. "All wars would have ended long ago! I can only see one future! One where selfish, foolish humans think about nothing other than themselves and steal more and more from one another! It's a tragic future!"
He cast his eyes up to the weapon above the group.
"The original purpose of this device was to bring a pokémon back to life. But the ancient king transformed it into this ultimate weapon…"
There was a pause as he studied it.
"Hmm…" He adopted a pensive look. "When Xerneas awakened, it took back much of its energy that had been sent to the ultimate weapon. There's not much power left. But there is enough to use it once."
He cast his hand out towards Anne.
"Anne! Let us live forever!"
Anne jumped back towards Shauna and Calem.
"That's right! I shall grant you eternal life! I'll give you the pain of endlessly waiting for a beautiful world to finally be built!"
"No thank you!" Anne shrieked when he lunged for her and she dodged.
The room quaked as the whir of engines sounded.
"Anne, Shauna, let's get out of here!" Calem shouted.
Shauna shot off with Calem in tow. Anne jumped onto her roller skates and followed them.
The crystal flower rumbled as it shot a laser of blue into the sky. The beam of energy went up before dropping back down onto the weapon itself. The resulting collision shook Geosenge Town and the weapon collapsed onto Team Flare's base. As the smoke cleared, six trainers stood looking at the crater in awe. Sina approached Calem.
"I'm glad you're all safe!" she exclaimed "I really respect the courage and kindness you all showed."
"Thank you." Shauna smiled as Calem looked around. "We're all fine…"
"Wait!" Calem exclaimed and everyone turned to him. "Where's Anne?"
Looking around, it became clear that Anne wasn't amongst them. Tierno rushed to the crater and was pulled back by Trevor when he reached the edge. All he could see was rubble. He turned to Calem and Shauna.
"Wasn't she with you?!"
"She was right behind us!" Shauna covered her mouth. "She can't be…"
Calem turned and ran back towards Team Flare's base entrance. He ran down the stairs and his face dropped when he found doors blocking his way. He tried prying them apart only to find them sealed firmly. With a cry of exasperation, he let out Absol. Absol cried out as he helped his trainer by digging his claws into the doors to pry them apart. Calem heaved with him as Sina and Dexio finally joined him.
"Calem wait, help will be here soon!"
Absol cried out when light spilled out onto the scene before them and Calem's eyes widened. Under the debris, he could see Anne's arm, her hand clutching her purse that had held her pokémon safely out of harm's way.