Chapter 20

Desperate Times

Flying on Atlas in his mega evolved state was uncomfortably warm. Avaline had worried that she would be freezing, flying so high for so long a time, but instead she felt sweaty and gross and and the makeshift harness seemed to be cutting off the circulation in her thighs and she did not feel in any condition to make an attempt at saving anyone.

"Can you see anything yet?!" she shouted to Atlas, mainly for the pleasure of hearing something other than the wind blowing through her ears and the flapping of his wings, since there was no easy way for him to reply in the air.

At least, Avaline hadn't expected him to respond, but Atlas did a sharp turn and angled himself downward. Her stomach did a flip at the sudden change; she hadn't flown on Atlas at all before and had spent the first ten minutes of the journey in hysterics, expecting to drop to her death at any moment. Then her stomach seemed to drop out of her completely as she saw Geosenge Town laid out below them.

Or rather, what she assumed was Geosenge Town, because most of it was simply gone.

It looked like a bomb had hit it. There was rubble where houses had stood; where there had once been cafes, there was now just twisted scraps of metal. Even the Pokemon Centre had lost half of its roof, although Avaline saw people scurrying around it, so at least there were survivors.

Survivors. The boring day Avaline had spent trailing around after tour guides, trying to find something useful, seemed to have happened in another lifetime.

Most prominently of all was the thing that must be the weapon Lysandre had been so obsessed with. AZ had said 'so it's open' and she could see why. It was like an enormous, crystal flower that had bloomed over the town square. Avaline thought she had even stood in front of the stone circle that had been there, watching tourists take pictures of each other. Had the weapon really been here all this time, under their noses?

"Atlas, take us down somewhere near the Centre!" Avaline called.

She had no idea what the people would make of a charizard when it was mega evolved – he was still recognisable, the same orange, pebble-like skin, but his wings were now enormous and the horns on his head were more prominent; he looked distinctly more dragon-like than a normal charizard. Avaline couldn't afford to worry about things like that, though, when she had to find Team Flare's headquarters and had no idea where to even start. Hopefully someone in town would have seen something.

Atlas landed awkwardly, jolting the straps holding Avaline onto his back. People came rushing out of the Centre, looking first grimly resolved and then confused.

"Is that a charizard? But it looks so…"

"She doesn't look like she's a member of Team Flare…"

"Hey, wasn't she with the Champion in Dendemille Town?!"

This last comment was louder than the others and got a buzz of excitement. Avaline vaguely remembered that she'd stood with Korrina for an impromptu interview. It seemed a good point to break in.

Avaline took a deep breath, determined to sound more confident than she felt. "Everyone, don't worry, I'm here to help! Can anyone tell me where Team Flare is?"

"I've seen them heading northwest of here!" someone shouted.

Somebody else added, "The edge of the woods."

Before Avaline could that them, there was an explosion of noise.

"Who else is coming?!"

"Where are the Rangers?"

"We can't get any signal out with the holocaster and there are people trapped in the rubble!"

"What about Korrina?"

They were all looking at her like she was supposed to know what to do. I've barely even lived here! Avaline wanted to say. I don't know how to deal with this!

Her throat felt closed up and painful. Wasn't she already doing enough, charging into Team Flare's base without any backup? "It's… It's difficult, no one can communicate… Professor Sycamore in Lumiose City is doing his best and—"

"Oh, he's doing his best," another person said sarcastically. "Listen, there are people here who need help right now!"

Avaline lost the last of her patience. "So help them!" she yelled. Silence ensued and she ploughed on. "You can't just sit around and wait for someone else to come. You have to take action! You have pokemon, don't you? Well, some of them can help look for survivors; some of them can move the rubble; the Centre is still standing! There are lives at stake. So put your own fears aside and do whatever you can."

The small crowd exchanged anxious glances, many of them red-faced.

"What are you going to do?" This time, it was a teenager. He looked about her age. Avaline felt a tiny, tiny flash of jealousy. But she, too, had to do whatever she could.

"I'm going to stop Lysandre," she said. "Atlas, let's go."

The entrance to Team Flare's headquarters wasn't too hard to find with directions, but every minute that passed brought Avaline an inch closer to hysterics, and she had to bury her holocaster at the bottom of her bag so she wouldn't be tempted to keep watching the time. An hour had passed already.

The entrance was smooth and polished. Avaline saw a door disguised to look like rock, but it had been left open. She supposed Team Flare didn't see the need to hide anymore. Or maybe Lysandre had left it open, as part of his demented invitation to stop him.

"Atlas," she said, "do you think you could hold mega evolution whilst inside your pokeball?"

She knew it was possible from Korrina and Diantha, but her own pokemon had never had reason to try it before. He considered it, bringing his eye right alongside the pokeball and studying it. After a moment, he gave a nod.

"Good." Avaline breathed a sigh of relief, and then… how much did her pokemon understand about what was going on? She had been in too much of a rush to get everyone out to explain, and had barely told Atlas more than 'we need to stop Team Flare' before taking off. "Atlas, you… you understand that we can't worry about finding you worthy opponents here, right? We don't have that luxury today."

He let out a snort.

"I know, I know, it's beneath you and cowardly and et cetera. But—Team Flare could kill hundreds of thousands of people today… I just need you to promise me that you'll do as I say, even if you think it's wrong or..."

She couldn't think of the word she wanted and just trailed off.

Atlas seemed to understand, though, because he nudged her gently with his snout, and then tapped his pokeball. Alright, she imagined him saying to her, but just this once.

Avaline smiled. "I knew I could count on you."

Atlas raised his head, and then disappeared back into his pokeball.

The idea of walking into Team Flare's headquarters without Atlas by her side was terrifying, but they were running out of time. Avaline knew that if she hesitated for too long, it would only get harder. She forced herself to take one step forward, and then another, and another—

She was in a tunnel which gently sloped downwards for a while. The lighting was dim, but brightened as the path suddenly became very steep, turning into a set of stairs carved out of rock. Avaline touched the wall; it was rock as well. There must have been some kind of naturally existing cave system, maybe even one that AZ himself had altered for his needs, that Lysandre had moved into. At least that explained why nobody had noticed him building some kind of underground lab or something.

Avaline gritted her teeth and pressed on as quick as she dared; there was no handrail, and if she fell down these stairs, she would surely break her neck. The stairs went on for some time, but then Avaline saw gleaming white tiles ahead of her and breathed a sigh of relief. After a pause for thought, she took out Johto's pokeball; she didn't release him yet, but she held on tight. Team Flare would have noticed her coming. She didn't know how many grunts would be lying in wait and needed to balance conserving her strength with pressing ahead quickly. Johto was fast and good at evasion, so even if she needed to call out more pokemon to deal with Team Flare, he would be okay for a minute.

She released Johto just as she stepped out from the stairwell, which was lucky, because the room she stepped into was cavernous and had blindingly bright fluorescent lighting. Avaline had to shield her eyes and blink, and it was only Johto's quick thinking which took down a Team Flare's liepard before it could leap at her.

There were at least eight other Flare grunts in the room when she did a quick sweep; she thought most of them would probably have only one pokemon. Probably. Either way, eight was too many. She had to call out Atlas.

It was kind of gratifying to see the way their faces paled, in unison, when Atlas came out of his pokeball and let out a jet of flame that melted one of the unmanned workstations, but the feeling soured when she imagined a clock, tick-tock, counting down.

She left Atlas out of his pokeball in case they came across any more large groups, and had Johto running ahead as a scout. The hallways became large enough for Atlas to proceed unhindered, stalactites hanging high above them; the facility was enormous, and they ran into a few dead ends. There were even more tunnels that they didn't look into, following the path of the white tiles. She just had to hope it was the right way.

…Then something sent Johto flying back just as she was about to turn a corner. Avaline pulled him back into his pokeball before he could hit the wall and suffer more damage. If it was defended, that meant she was on the right track. A fight would slow her down, but some of the tension inside her eased.

Avaline gestured for Atlas go ahead of her, and saw him be hit by psychic energy. He didn't budge an inch, and even to Avaline, it felt nearly laughably weak after merely being in the same room as Diantha's mega evolved gardevoir.

She stepped around the corner carefully, ready to duck behind it again if it looked like she was about to be attacked… ah, it was Xerosic. Avaline hadn't seen him do very much at Frost Cavern, but Calem had told her about their confrontation at the Pokeball Factory. It was that same malamar that Xerosic had out now. Despite Atlas's intimidating presence, he didn't look concerned. Tricky, Calem had said.

"Hm." Xerosic stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well, no wonder you've simply blown through the ranks."

And he'd taken it upon himself to slow her down.

When Avaline didn't say anything, he seemed to sigh. And then, without warning, stalactites broke off from the rocky ceiling and flew at Atlas. He's using the malamar's psychic powers to simulate rock-type attacks?

"Atlas, blast them!"

The a burst of fire blew away all the rocks at once, and the malamar was forced to erect a hasty barrier around itself and Xerosic to prevent them both from getting burned.

There was a cracking sound. Avaline took a step back, confused. There was a roar and there was a rush of heat and wind as Atlas flew over her, crashing into the wall. Rock shards flew everywhere.

Avaline finally looked up to see a chunk of the ceiling above her head had been broken away. It would have crushed her if not for Atlas's quick thinking.

"We have to take out this malamar," she told Atlas.

He was already angry and didn't need telling twice. There were dozens of little gashes across his body, but he ignored them and took to the air again.

—And then a rock crashed into him.

Atlas bellowed and Avaline cursed, looking around the corner again. Xerosic's malamar was calling down more rocks and Atlas was still getting back to his feet. She had to get rid of the malamar; none of her pokemon were really suited, but if there was any time to take risks…

"Queenie, be careful! The malamar!"

Shaking herself, Queenie didn't need telling twice. She waited a beat and then raced forward at her top speed.

Avaline glanced at Atlas. It was against his nature to let someone "help" him in a fight, but he seemed to have remembered her words at the entrance, because he didn't object. "Watch out for Queenie and take out whatever rocks you can."

He grumbled in acknowledgement and took flight, using his tail to bat away a rock that was heading for Queenie.

The malamar changed tactics and the rocks started to drop, cracking the white tiles. The rocks piled on top of one another, smashing into pieces, until the hallway was scattered with rubble. The malamar directed a wave of psychic energy at Queenie. Atlas darted in front to take the hit, but Queenie was singed by the flame on his tail.

Avaline winced, but it couldn't be helped. "Queenie, twineedle!"

The malamar let out a terrible screeching as Queenie hit it, but the rocks started to shudder, and Avaline realised she'd left herself open again—

"Ava, duck!"

She dived to the floor before it registered that the voice was Calem's. Don the chesnaught stood over her and roared, smashing the rocks with his enormous arms. Calem's absol was already picking her way through the rubble at an absurd speed, heading straight for Xerosic's malamar.

Calem helped Avaline to her feet, and she hugged him tightly. "You came! Where's—?"

He smiled, but it was faint. "Team Flare and Malva launched an attack on Lumiose City, so Diantha had to stay behind."

Avaline's heart dropped into her stomach. "And Shauna…?"

"She's fine," Calem said, squeezing her hand. "She stayed above ground to help with the evacuation."

That was good. Shauna wasn't the best at battling, but she was clever, and she'd be great at helping to find people trapped.

Avaline just had to make sure those rescue efforts weren't for nothing.

Before she could say anything, Calem looked at her with a steely glint in his eye. "You go find the weapon and destroy it. I'll take care of Xerosic."

He sounded so sure that she could do it. Avaline took a deep breath and nodded as firmly as she could manage. "I will. Good luck."

"I'll come after you if I get the chance," Calem said. Avaline couldn't consider all the ways that he might not get the chance so she forced herself just to nod, again. "Get ready to run. We'll make an opening for you to get past, but I don't know how long we can distract him."

"I've got a better idea," she said. She whistled for Atlas and Queenie, recalling Queenie into her pokeball before climbing on top of Atlas.

"Ready when you are," she said to Calem.

He nodded and took a deep breath. Angelika was still keeping the malamar busy, but he could see Xerosic watching them. He would be expecting Avaline to make a break for it, and he'd have a plan to stop her. Calem still didn't know what pokemon Xerosic had other than the malamar, so there was no way of knowing what tricks he might have up his sleeve.

The only way to beat his trickery was with an overwhelming show of power.

"Don, giga impact."

Don put all his weight forward and charged. Atlas took off a second later, flying directly behind him and heedless to the shards of rock, floor and wall as Don smashed everything in his path. Calem could see the tell-tale distortions of a psychic attack, but Don didn't slow at all. He wasn't fast, but he was a juggernaut; unstoppable.

As he reached Xerosic and the malamar, Don raised his fist and swung it down at them. Calem's view was obscured, but he saw Xerosic thrown free at the last second, tumbling across the floor and coming to a stop with a groan.

Avaline bent over Atlas and the charizard put on a burst of speed, flying over Xerosic's head, pushing off the wall in order to make it around the corner and out of sight.

That wasn't quite enough. Xerosic was already picking himself up, and even the malamar was still struggling under Don's massive fist. He had to keep Xerosic busy for longer, make it impossible for him to catch up to Avaline.

He released Nimbus - thankful that he'd evolved into an altaria before all this mess started - as Xerosic called out a crobat and said something to it that Calem couldn't hear. It took off after Avaline.

I can't let that happen.

But he knew one one way to get the crobat to come back. "Nimbus, get Xerosic!"

Nimbus hesitated, which was long enough for the crobat to race back and interpose itself between them before he could do anything to Xerosic.

Calem nodded, satisfied. The point had never been to get Xerosic. Crobat evolve through a close bond with their trainer. Of course it would come back if its trainer was in danger.

The crobat shrieked in rage and dived for Nimbus, bouncing off his fluffy wings. Nimbus blew it away into the wall.

"Dragon breath!" Calem called, but the crobat fluttered out of the way before the attack could connect.

The malamar had fallen unconscious at some point. Angelika and Don were fighting a volcarona. It didn't fly very well, but it was fast enough to outmanoeuvre Don. Calem called him back and sent out Miso instead; he blasted the volcarona away with a jet of water before Angelika pounced on it.

Nimbus was having a hard time with the crobat. It was fast enough that it could just fly around him and dart in for small hits.

"Nimbus, come down!"

He threw out Barbour's pokeball and the meowstic landed neatly on Nimbus's back. Nimbus let out a faint cry before rising into the air again.

But whilst Calem was distracted, the volcarona had done something and Angelika was limping from a burn on her leg. Miso was giving her cover but it looked like Xerosic was sending out yet another pokemon, hoping to overwhelm them—Barbour had to duck under the crobat, flying low, and he nearly slipped and fell from Nimbus but caught himself in time—Miso was firing off jets of water at the volcarona but it was too fast—Angelika couldn't help, she was dancing around Xerosic's mawile—

It was too much to keep track of at one time. He called Don back out even though the volacrona was still darting about, to give his team more of a numbers advantage, but it was still so hard to think.

They needed to knock out some of Xerosic's pokemon. The most vulnerable target would be the crobat and the volcarona, since none of his pokemon had a type advantage over the mawile. And the easiest one to take out would be…

"Nimbus, come down! Wing attack on the volcarona!"

The volcarona managed to evade Nimbus at the last second, but was surprised when Barbour hopped off Nimbus's back and sent a psychic attack at it. It didn't do more than distract it, but it was enough time for Miso's water attack to hit it. It tried to flutter away but Nimbus came in for another flying attack, and finally it was still.

Barbour's time on Nimbus's back hadn't been for nothing; the crobat was weakened and flying slower than it had been. It was still fast, though, dodging an ice beam from Miso and another of Barbour's psychic attacks before Nimbus crashed into it and brought it to the ground, keeping it trapped underneath him.

"Barbour, get ready!" Calem said.

Barbour closed his eyes in concentration. After a few moments, there was a visible glow around him. When he opened his eyes, Nimbus shot upwards and even the crobat wasn't quick enough to get back into the air before Barbour's attack hit.

Xerosic was frowning, but he didn't seem worried. Maybe it was because he knew that Calem wouldn't do anything to seriously hurt Xerosic or his pokemon, but it still made Calem feel uneasy.

Don was already helping Angelika fend off the mawile, which looked vaguely panicked as the rest of Calem's pokemon went after it. Calem was even able to give Angelika some berries to help her recover a little from the burn. Xerosic hadn't called out any other pokemon, but Calem had a feeling this wasn't over yet.

The mawile's large jaws clamped around Don's arm as he missed it by inches. It used the leverage to swing itself out of the way of a blast of water from Miso, but it was knocked loose by Nimbus's dragon breath and then Barbour unleashed a psychic attack at it. The mawile barely stumbled, but it was enough of a distraction for Don to bring his fist crashing down again.

There was loud cry from the mawile, the first noise it had made at all, before it disappeared back into its pokeball.

Calem had no time to react before there was an abomasnow standing in front of them, and Xerosic grabbed something at his wrist.

The temperature plummeted as the abomasnow grew larger, new branches growing from its back. Abomasnow were large as it was, but now it simply towered over them.

Xerosic can use mega evolution, Calem thought tiredly. Why not?

Ice crystals began to form under its feet and Calem's breath misted in front of him. His fingers were already starting to go numb from the cold.

The abomasnow breathed out and ice shards flooded the room. Don stuck his arm out to protect Calem and the others, but the shards embedded themselves in his arm and started to grow. Don screamed and tried to beat them out of his arm. Calem pulled him back into his pokeball with gritted teeth.

"I planned to use this one against your friend, but…" Xerosic scratched his cheek.

Well, if he was trying to intimidate Calem, it was working. He got through most of his battles on knowing everything about pokemon, but he doubted even Korrina and Arnaud knew about mega abomasnow.

"Barbour, set up a barrier," Calem said, retreating away from the spreading patches of ice. "Nimbus…" He'd be especially vulnerable to the abomasnow's ice attacks. "Try your dragon breath from a distance. Miso, try scald." At least Miso was resistant to the ice attacks, which it seemed to be favouring. "Angelika, use swords dance, then… jump in whenever you can."

Angelika gave him a small nod as the rest of them leapt into action.

Calem didn't reach for the necklace under his jacket, but it was a close run thing. They'd only used mega evolution twice, under Diantha's supervision. Calem hadn't even been able to to stay standing either time. So Angelika would be on her own, and she wasn't… right when she was mega evolved. She was far too calm; unable to panic, true, but also unable to feel urgency or be motivated by fear.

The abomasnow flinched away from Miso's scalding attacks, steam rising from its sides that quickly froze again and fell to the ground. It raised an arm, branches growing out like a club as it made to strike Miso—

But Nimbus dived between them and the attack struck him instead. He let out another dragon breath attack in the abomasnow's face, but he wouldn't fly away. It took Calem a moment to realise that Nimbus's cloud-like wings were frozen solid, weighing him down.

The abomasnow sucked in a breath but Calem returned Nimbus to his pokeball and the ice attack hit Miso instead; Barbour, Angelika, and Calem sheltered behind him. He wasn't sure if Rook would be okay fighting against Team Flare - he seemed to like Calem and the rest of his team, now, but would that be enough to make him fight against his old trainer's allies?

The storm of ice shards died down and Angelika darted out, bouncing off the wall to come at the abomasnow with claws outstretched. Night slash.

They bit deeply into the abomasnow. It tried to swing one of its massive arms at Angelika but she was already darting away.

It's slow, Calem realised. It was something he'd known before but he'd been too panicked to do anything with that information. It was slow, even slower than most of his team; that's why it hadn't moved very much and why it was favouring area of effect attacks.

In which case, we need to split up and attack it from all sides.

Miso groaned under the weight of another storm of ice shards.

"Hang in there," Calem said through chattering teeth.

It took him three tries to unclip Rook's pokeball from his belt, his fingers were so numb. He hesitated for a moment.

Barbour tapped his hand, making Calem jump, and nodded. Angelika let out a soft huff.

There were ice crystals clinging to their fur. If they thought it was worth the risk, who was Calem to disagree? "Alright."

Rook shook himself and stood up tall, holding his arms out warily and kicking the icy floor with narrowed eyes.

"Okay, Miso, stay here, keep using scald as much as you can - if it seems like it might use a grass type move against you, dodge."

Miso let out a whine.

"Don't worry about me," Calem said, rapping his knuckles on Miso's shell for effect. It was warm from using scald so much, despite the abomasnow's ice attack. Overuse of scald could be dangerous, but what else could they do? It would be even more dangerous not to to have Miso's protection.

"Barbour, use signal beam and keep the barrier up. You're much faster than the abomasnow so it shouldn't be able to catch you as long as you're careful. Angelika—" Calem paused. "And Rook. I need you two to be moving around, attacking where you can. Keep the pressure off Barbour and Miso. Do you think you can do that for me?"

He was looking at Rook as he said it. Rook glanced over at Xerosic before turning back to Calem. He nodded.

Calem sighed with relief. It felt important, but there wasn't time to do more than smile before the ice barrage ended and his pokemon all stepped out from behind Miso, scattering. Calem took some steps away from the fight so Miso wouldn't have to worry about him so much.

Miso's scalding water attacks didn't seem to do more than make the abomasnow flinch and roar - it was just too cold, like throwing a cup of water in a freezing lake, but it seemed to have an instinctual fear of heat. Barbour ran around the abomasnow, jumping over the ice shards it sent after him, when it wasn't distracted by Rook and Angelika darting in.

It should've been enough. Miso's attack weren't effective but the scalding water should've burned the abomasnow at some point, which would weaken it enough for the others to bring the battle to a close. Instead, its freezing body seemed to make it immune. Angelika and Rook took potshots wherever they could - Rook even charged in with what looked like an iron head attack, although his body frosted over and it took him a few minutes to recover - but they were only half the abomasnow's size and didn't seem able to really damage it. Barbour, despite needing nearly a minute to ready signal beam, got in several solid hits, but they didn't to do anything.

The abomasnow just kept going, throwing out more and more ice, making the temperature drop even further and making the entire hallway treacherous. Calem slipped and fell and a flash of pain ran through his hands where he caught himself on the ice. He had to prise them off, losing a layer of skin, and stumble away from another attack. His fingers were tingling like pins and needles, which was the only feeling in them. He'd stopped noticing how much his teeth chattered.

Miso took another barrage of ice shard and sank to the floor, struggling to get up. The abomasnow raised its arms, going for another wood hammer attack, but Rook jumped between them and caught it on his arms. Calem called Miso back into his pokeball before any more damage could be done, even though Miso protested.

Then the abomasnow turned its attention to Barbour. Without being able to shelter behind Miso, it was harder for him to dodge all of its attacks, and when an ice shard struck him full on, he crumpled to the ground and Calem had to recall him, too.

Then it was just Rook and Angelika. The abomasnow growled.

Angelika shouted something to Rook, a whooping sound, and ran to Calem, pushing at his chest with her nose. Rook fought the abomasnow, distracting it.

"I know," Calem whispered. This might be their only chance. At least Avaline would be well clear, now.

He took a deep breath, feeling the stab of the cold air in his lungs, and reached for the key stone. Angelika was like a song, a gentle hum that grew louder and louder as he reached towards it, beautiful music that drowned out the world…

Angelika's fur was longer, forming a curtain over her eye and and the wings rising out of her back. They weren't actually wings, instead particularly sensitive hairs, like whiskers—

It was cold. Rook was fighting. Angelika— Angelika—

The music in Calem's head drowned everything out, making his thoughts jumbled.

Angelika tilted her head, studying him, as though curious. Rook made a whistling sound like a kettle. She turned her head and started to pad towards him. The music in Calem's head swelled as she prepared to jump. There was a shout; a voice. An ice shard barrelled towards him. Calem couldn't move, and Angelika didn't move, but Rook cut it down before it could hit him.

Xerosic. He probably didn't expect Calem to have mega evolution, too.

Angelika was faster than before and her reactions were quicker. She seemed to sense something in the air— (It was cold.) Rook was acted as a guard, pacing and tense. There was still frost on his helmet-like head. (Angelika didn't get hit; she's okay.) The abomasnow roared, slowly rising to stand on two legs. Was it colder? (It looked unbalanced, but when Angelika struck it, it didn't fall.)

The music was loud. Calem closed his eyes, but it didn't help. He could feel tiny particles of ice brushing against his skin, the sharp of the cold in his lungs; each breath, in and out. The roar of the abomasnow barely registered against the sound in his head.

Rook whistled again, high-pitched and piercing, cutting through the other noises and quieting them.

Calem opened his eyes.

The abomasnow was bleeding and one of the tree-like growths on its back had been ripped away. The fur by Angelika's head was red and dripping blood, but she moved without hurry, pacing around the abomasnow and waiting - Calem could feel it in the song, like tension in the strings of a violin. Xerosic gritted his teeth.

Oh, Calem thought, I am still standing.

Angelika pounced, landing on the abomasnow's back and digging with sharp claws, uprooting the other growth. It howled and thrashed, trying to shake her loose, but Angelika was unconcerned. The growth tumbled away, but she kept digging until the abomasnow roared and raised its arms. Glowing leaves flew out from its body all around the room. Xerosic snarled something and covered his face as Rook dived in front of Calem.

Angelika jumped off the abomasnow's back, sporting new cuts, but it was even worse off. Its sides heaved like massive bellows, and when it tried to turn in search of Angelika, it unbalanced and toppled onto its sides. It still managed to create another wood hammer, swinging it at her. Angelika leapt over it and the swing crashed into the wall.

The whole room seemed to tremble, or perhaps that was only Calem himself, as the abomasnow began to shrink back to its original state and Calem sank to his knees. But the abomasnow went away. They won.

Angelika looked around the room, scanning it for threats. When she found nothing other than Xerosic in the corner, she slowly padded back over to Calem. The song had gone quieter, but it was still hard to move. He wasn't sure if it was the cold or if mega evolution was taking its toll.

He reached up and pulled off the necklace, and it was like the ground had swallowed him whole. Angelika glowed, her fur returning to its normal length, and immediately collapsed. Calem tried to find her pokeball but the world was too quiet, too dull, and it seemed there was no sensation against his fingers.

"Rook…"

Darkness closed in at the edges of his vision, and Calem didn't know how to fight it.

A/N: I am really, really sorry this chapter was late. I struggled a lot with writing Calem's fight, and by then the chapter was getting way too long and needed to be split. But I should be able to get the next on out by Wednesday as usual, so at least there's not a big wait to find out what happens next. This also means this story will come it at 24 chapters total rather than the expected 23.

Let me know your thoughts!