"Cora, stop it!" Cora continued nuzzling against Matthew's neck as I walked in the next morning. His laughter came to a complete stop. "M-Mr. Winthrop! I'm sorry, but she just wanted to come with me today!"

"No, it's fine, it's—" I looked around. The customers were laughing and having a good time. "Matthew, you're a genius!"

"What did I do?"

"Bringing Cora to work with you!" I exclaimed proudly. "Don't you know that Meganium's petals have the ability to relinquish aggressive feelings toward one another? Look," People who didn't know one another were chatting as if they were life-long friends. "Plus, it makes the place smell great…not that it didn't."

"So, Mr. Winthrop—thank you," He accepted a tray from the cooks and walked with me to the table. "You're going looking for my dad today, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Look, I'm sorry you have to hear it this way, Matthew—"

"No, it's fine," He placed the trays on the table full of grinning customers. They all chanted "thank you", which crept us both out. "He sold us out for his career, so he's not up on my plate of forgiveness."

"Look, Matthew, I know you're angry," I knelt down to him. "Trust me, I was there. But you know what the problem is? Under all of that hatred, you love him, and I'm sure he loves you."

He sighed. "I do…but he's making that increasingly difficult."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "Well, let's forget about that. It's a full house today!"

He nodded, and ran off to fill more orders. Meganium aromas didn't relieve tensions with me. This came from all the years of helping my mother in her garden and all of the different floral aromas I inhaled, so I developed my own repellant for all things happy…this was probably why Cora was standing behind me. "C-Cora! Hey, nice job you're doing. Listen, I gotta go, but stay here and keep Matthew some company, alright?"

I smiled and waved her goodbye, but she wrapped her vines around my chest and reeles me back in.

"Cora, you can't break me!" I struggled for my freedom. "NO!"

"This is the Soul Dew," Latias said. "It is the soul of a passed Lati in tangible form…and my brother."

"Can I touch it?" Codie asked. Latias thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. Codie reached out and touched the warm surface of the Dew. "Wow…I can feel something."

"What?"

"I don't know, it's warm," She said. "But it feels like energy…how's that possible?"

"Eon Dragons are known for emitting a unique type of aura," She replied. "That is why this is left behind when we pass away. It's basically a manifestation of our life force. In other words, energy."

"Wow this is so cool," Latias giggled, placing the soul dew back in its resting place. "So when do we start training?"

"Now," Latias said, gliding over to another side of the garden. "Are you ready?"

Codie scurried into position, and worked with Latias for the rest of the morning, trying to master the basics of her powers. Latias seemed kind to her at first, but as a teacher she was tough. The two hadn't realized that Calvin, Millie, and Molly drifted in midway to watch over lesson. Molly came with them, only to find solace to draw her portrait, and sat down in the shade of a tree.

"Okay, think fast!" Latias threw a set of baseball-sized rocks at Codie. Codie looked determined to catch them at first, but then grew paranoid and shielded herself with her arms. Her fear was the source of her protection, drawing out a n invisible barrier to which the rocks bounced harmlessly off of. Impressed, Calvin sat up.

"Nice Job, Codie," The two shrieked in unison at Calvin's sudden call. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should've made my presence clear."

Latias dashed toward him, and felt his forehead. Then she grabbed him by the arms and lifted him up onto his feet. "Calvin Augustine Winthrop doesn't apologize."

"Hey!" He released himself. Molly could be heard cracking up in the distance. "My middle name isn't to be said in public! And of course I say sorry…just not all the time."

"Name the last time you said it."

He thought about it. "Well…there was that one time—"

"When?"

"S-Seven years ago, you remember," He replied. "I apologized to Danielle—that has to count for something."

"That was only because I asked you to!" He groaned. "I have to get back to Codie's training."

"No worries. I'll be out of your fur."

She looked at him with surprise. "Snap out of it!" She slapped him across the face, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. "You always reply with sarcasm. What's gotten into you?"

"Latias, I'm fine…ow," He rubbed his face. "Cora just blasted me with an extra powerful dose of her "feel good" aromas and it's had me all whipped up. But enjoy it while you can."

"Oh…okay," She continued with Codie's training. He went back to rest with Millie. Molly still hadn't said a word to them.

"Molly, how's your portrait coming along?"

She looked at him for a moment, and then continued drawing. He picked two apples from the tree above and gave one to Millie, and then continued watching Latias and Codie go at it.

"Calvin, wake up!"

"What!" I got up. "W-where is everyone?"

"They're all back at your house. Come with me!"

We teleported to the foyer. I looked around. "Wow…so much for walking."

"It seems the sleep has brought you back to normal," She said. "And I was just starting to like it."

She dragged me into the living room. Molly and Matthew were watching the news. There was something happening in Celadon City.

"Turn it up."

"We're reporting to you today, on behalf of the city of Celadon," A reporter yelled "The city—no, the entire region of Kanto is in a state of emergency right now," A live helicopter feed from over the city showed buildings engulfed in flames, people running through the streets, and at the center of town, there was a large crater. "In a wave of destruction that started early this morning, residents that try to flee for their lives are stopped by the doings of Team Galactic. They've blocked the exits at the eastern and western exits, and refuse to let anyone leave until they get what they want. There is one—something that's causing all of this—there it goes!"

"Morgan!" His mysterious pokémon darted across the screen, and towards the crater. "That bastard!"

"We're here!" Bianca and Lorenzo joined all of us. "What's going on?"

"Dr. Morgan strikes again!" I replied. "He's attacking Celadon, and now he's gone too far!" I ran for my coat, and strapped the sword to my back. "It's time to put an end to this."

"I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!"

I stopped, just as his voice boasted loud and clear through the TV. I backed up, and looked at the screen. Morgan was nowhere in sight as the helicopter zoomed in on the crater, and his pokémon assumed his voice. I crossed my arms, because nothing he said was going to stop me from what I had planned for him now.

"If you wish for this to stop, I ask you to bring me someone," He said, voice still emanating from somewhere. "This 'someone' will challenge me, to a match: a one-on-one match. If he is late, or, if he is assisted, then the people of this inferior city will die."

"You've got to be—what?" I clenched my fists. "He's getting desperate!"

"He's bluffing," Matt mumbled. "He's got to be bluffing!"

"The person, who I ask for, goes by the name of Calvin Winthrop."

My heart dropped.

"Dad…he just called you out," Molly said, in disbelief.

"Fine, I'll…I'll…" Something wasn't clicking. He was just calling out orders as if he felt sure of himself. For every word Morgan said, his pokémon made the same gesture. The man challenged me head on to a match, knowing quite clearly that I could behead him, so it was obvious that he wasn't going to be fighting, unless… "That can't be possible," Coincidentally, the cameraman zoomed in on the pokémon. He made one spin.

"I hope you like the new form," He chuckled. This petrified me, and everyone else in the living room. "You have two weeks to think about that, Calvin," With that, it looked as if he attacked the helicopter, and the feed was lost.

"Whoa," Codie said. "Is he…that pokémon? But how?"

"Morgan fancied transforming other people into pokémon," Molly said. "I guess he finally lost his mind, thinking it was wiser to do it to himself."

"But that's the same exact pokémon that attacked Alto Mare, no?" Bianca asked. "How could he have done that so quickly?"

I was paralyzed with shock. For so long this man looked like a joke through my eyes, and just like that, he pulled another fast one, and was now the strongest being on the face of the planet. If he wasn't bluffing, then this could pose a threat to the welfare of the Celadon citizens…and eventually the world. Still, I couldn't juggle their welfare around on a guess; with my name among the public, they could hold me responsible.

At the crack of dawn the next morning, reporters gathered outside Calvin's house, both in the canal and on the boardwalk. Molly looked down at them through the second floor window. This was probably the worst position her father could be in. Her hopes rose when she spotted a gray-haired woman approaching the wave of reporters. It made more sense for her to come and visit Calvin on foot rather than by teleporting and risk being caught on camera.

"Excuse me," A reporter called to her. "Do you know Calvin Winthrop?"

Arceus had had many interviews with reporters in the past, so she knew very well, how to negotiate with them. She also knew how to scare them off if they got on her nerves. "Yes, I do." Soon, the wave of people shifted from Calvin's front door to encircle her on the narrow boardwalk. She sighed, and pushed through the crowd. "However, if I'm asked another question on the subject, you'll be swimming for your lives."

The crowd went silent. She smiled, and knocked on his front door. Molly let her in, and quickly closed it behind her.

"Wow…what did you do?"

"I threatened them," Molly's jaw dropped. "That will only last a few more seconds…" Soon after, the crowd returned to the front door, arguing with questions. "As you can see, they're resilient. Where's your father?"

"H-He's out on the terrace."

She nodded, and followed the hallway into the kitchen and out onto the terrace. Calvin was sitting against the wall, with Codie and Shaymin in the grass not too far away. Her eyes widened.

"Calvin!" He looked up.

"Arceus!" He jumped to his feet. "Thank you for—" She pointed to Codie. "Oh…well, I—"

"A-Arceus?" Codie asked in surprise.

Between her surprise and Arceus' anger, he felt even worse. "Look, I explained it to her when Morgan attacked the city. She really helped protect Shaymin."

She sighed. "Who else?"

"Well, now that it's out of the box," He continued. "Matthew, Bianca, and Lorenzo. But you can trust all of them to keep a secret."

"Latias has told me stories of the two," She replied. "And Matthew is in far more of a predicament to reveal a secret of yours."

"Yeah…" Calvin sat back down. "He's not the only one."

"Calvin, I saw what happened. You don't necessarily have to do this alone."

"Apparently, I do." He said. "If I show up with help, those people are going to suffer," She sat down in the bench and tried suggesting something, but he caught on. "No, we can't use shape shifters. I don't have powers, remember? That's the reason he challenged me to this battle." He got up. "All these years as third in command, I've only been winning battles with good planning, luck, and because of this sword. Truthfully with me, it's been a ride. But I've never had to stand and fight in a battle alone. Every last one of Morgan's plans has failed because of me, so now he wants to kill me, and he knows he'll win as a super powerful pokémon."

"Calvin, you're not scared, are you?"

"…no," He said. "But there is a chance that I could get killed."

She sighed. "So basically you're not afraid of dying. Just tell me: how strong is he, assuming he took the role of the pokémon he created?"

"With the full power of Dragon, Psychic, and Flying, that would make him…unstoppable," He said. "With Psychic he can read my thoughts, anticipating my every move. Even if I had Molly's star, he would still be too fast for me. Assuming he's at full power, he knows Hyper Beam and Giga Impact, and any other attack that could potentially vaporize me."

"I will need to see the sword," She said. "I'll see what I can do to help it protect you far greater than it currently does," He nodded. He knew that she was trying her best to help protect him. "You have two weeks, Calvin. That also gives you more than enough time to prepare."

"Right," I said. "I'd need to know swordsmanship, of course, because a few swings aren't going to cut it," He paced. "Yeah…this just might work."

"There you go," She placed her hand on the side of his face. "Keep that up, and you will win for sure."

"Or stand a chance."

She shrugged. I gave her the sword, and walked into the kitchen. Codie tugged at my shirt.

"Was that really…Arceus?"

"In human form, yes," I said. "You'll probably get to see her real form someday."

For the next three days, Gallade, Latias, and I spent all our time together, training in a large canyon in Sinnoh, with pillar-shaped rock formations meant to be platforms. The weather was freezing and I was only wearing light clothing, but they justified it by saying that the weather slowed me down, thereby increasing my agility if I were to be in a warmer climate, such as Kanto. I was given a lead sword to replace the Archaic Sword, and Gallade taught me all he knew about swordsmanship, while Latias taught me all she knew about agility. My confidence actually rose when they teamed up on me, but then dropped again when I was asked to do it blindfolded.

Gallade jumped from pillar to pillar, around me in a circle. Then he unexpectedly jumped to my pillar and tried to fight me off of it. I blocked with my sword. I was wearing the blindfold, because with Latias' DNA, Morgan could unexpectedly make himself invisible. I had trained all last night to survey my surroundings, so I had a good idea of where the other pillars were. I pushed Gallade back and jumped to another pillar. I used my ears to concentrate on where Latias was, but since she was levitating…somewhere, she was physically and mentally invisible.

'Where are you, Latias?' I thought.

"It depends on how much you learned!"

My ears twitched. The quality of air was slowly deteriorating, which meant that something was approaching me. I stepped back, as my pillar shook violently and started to tip over into the canyon. I jumped to the safety of another pillar where Gallade was waiting. I spun around, aiming the sword at him, which he blocked, and threw away. I strafed to the side as he tried to strike me, leaned back to avoid a roundhouse kick. I forgot that he was half Fighting type. I supported myself with the sword, brought myself back up, and attempted to sweep him off his feet, but he had jumped to another pillar. The air quality deteriorated again, but this time I could hear the attack approaching, like a missile.

"Hyper Beam?" I back flipped off of the pillar as it exploded. I landed on another pillar, but just barely. When I caught my balance, I felt something sharp against my neck. Gallade had me cornered. "Damn it!"

He removed his arm. "You're getting better."

"Yeah, but that's the third time that that's happened," My ears twitched again as Latias approached us, and I turned in her direction. "Hyper Beam? Was that necessary?"

"You never know what Morgan will do," She said. "It could come in handy. So how do you feel?"

"A lot better than I did a few days ago," I said, pulling off the blindfold. "By now and next week, I'll be more than ready."

"It's good that your hopes are—" She stopped mid-sentence, and looked away. Her eyes widened, and she looked at me again.

"What's wrong, Latias?"

"…Arceus needs to see you, now," She said, in an uneasy tone. "It's urgent."

I nodded, and we formed a triangle and teleported to the Samiya. At the entrance of the hall, Molly was pacing, and rushed to hug me when we arrived.

"Ugh, you're so cold!"

"You're telling me," I said. "What's wrong?"

She pulled me by the arm into the hall where Arceus was waiting. She had summoned all of us to discuss something. At first, I thought it was about the sword, which it was; it was lying, sheathed, on the table, but her facial expression said otherwise.

"Arceus? What's wrong?" Calvin asked. "Is everything alright? Is the sword ready?"

"Yes, but…there is something else," She said. "…Morgan has shortened your time limit."

"What? By how much?"

"By nine days," They originally had two weeks. Calvin took off the amount of says it took to train, and then took off Morgan's new amount. That only left him with…

"One day," He mumbled. "Tomorrow…he's so impatient that he can't keep his word? I only just started to train!"

"Calvin, calm down," She gave him the sword. "Not only will it protect you from physical attacks, but it will protect you from a wide variety now. Morgan can't possibly anticipate this."

He took it. "Thank you, Arceus. This means a lot."

"Dad, come on," Molly said. "We need to at least formulate a plan."

"Right," He said warily. "Molly, can I borrow your star for a moment?"

"Sure," She gave him the star. He placed it in the guard. They then formed a group. "Now, if we can get Morgan's teams away from the exits of the city, then people can start to evacuate."

"But he can read minds," Latias said. "If he as much as touches Calvin, won't he know that we're doing this?"

"Yeah, you're right," Molly started to think. "But, it sounds like Morgan only wants to deal with dad. I think if he shows up on his own and the match starts, he won't have a care for anything else."

"We'll need a team," Gallade added. "We got lucky, holding him and his operatives off, back in Alto Mare. We need to be prepared for anything he throws at us."

"Matt could help," Molly went on. "Cora and Serena are stronger than I thought. And we'll have Millie, Typhlosion, Electivire, Mismagius, and Star. That would make eleven of us. I don't care what Morgan says. We can't just sit around and do nothing—"

"Calvin?" Arceus called. Everyone turned around, but he had vanished. "Where did he go?"

"He's probably somewhere in the temple."

With that, they summoned Manaphy and she aided them in searching the temple for Calvin. With the help of the water chutes, they started from the very top and worked their way through an intricate maze of hallways, stairs, and grand rooms. Molly and Gallade searched two levels, but could not find him. Arceus remained in the hall and tried contacting him through his thoughts, but there was no response from within the temple. When everyone regrouped their search was complete, they still had not found Calvin. Molly then started to wonder why her father had asked for her star when he clearly didn't need it, and then they all drew it to one conclusion.

Calvin had vanished to parts unknown on the eve of battle.

As much as I appreciated what everyone was doing for me, it was clear that this was a dead end battle. Now with no time to continue training, I was in fear for my life. Apart from Mesprit, there was only one other person I could ask for advice right now, and as I stood on a rocky path by the ocean back in Sinnoh at sunset, Cresselia appeared. She looked at me with curiosity.

"Calvin," She said quietly. "I heard your call."

"Thanks for coming," He said. "Cresselia…do you know what's been going on these last few weeks?"

"Not much since we parted," She replied. "Is there something wrong? You look troubled."

I rubbed my eyes. "A few days ago, Morgan challenged me to a one on one match."

"Well, that's great," She said. "Maybe you can finally put an end to all of this. After all, he's only human."

I didn't respond.

"Something tells me that he's done something to change that."

"…he merged with that pokémon he created," I continued. "I don't know how he did it, but…he now has the DNA of some of the strongest legendary pokémon in the world, running through his veins. He's looking to put an end to it all."

"I see," She said. "Well, you'll figure out something."

"Figure out what?" I asked. "I'm all out of ideas! Nothing's going to change what's going to happen tomorrow! He's going to kill me. Dammit, this was bound to happen!"

"This is another side of you, Calvin," She said, ignoring what I just said. "One I don't think I'm too pleased with. Arceus has told me of your credentials. You rescued her, didn't you?"

"Not by myself."

"That's not the point," She continued. "You would never back down from something like this, even if it cost you everything."

I reflected on Mateo's battle. I nearly died from trying to stop him, but prevailed. I had planned some of the most arguable, yet most effective battle plans in the last seven years, but when it came to doing something for myself, I was helpless.

"I'm…I'm scared, Cresselia," I confessed. "I know I told everyone that I wasn't but in truth, it's what terrifies me the most. When I landed on that ice seven years ago and broke my leg, I knew it was over, but Molly and Latias risked their lives to save mine," I turned back to her. "That's not the case here. If I don't go into battle, there could be genocide in Celadon, and not only will they hold me and the rest of my family responsible, I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. If I do, the citizens are spared, but there's a chance that I might die instead."

"Calvin…honestly, I think you should go into battle," I looked at her in shock. "But that's not my decision. The answer will appear before you, and you must do what you feel is right."

I sighed. "Thank you for the advice, Cresselia."

She nodded, and for some reason I insisted on hugging her. She blushed, but I looked past this. I slowly backed away, and walked into the forest. Cresselia bid me goodbye and disappeared.

Latias had returned from Alto Mare to see if Calvin had gone home, but he wasn't there either. With hope fading and time running out, Arceus called a minority of the legendries to a meeting. She was trying to assemble a search party to search for him. Lugia, Giratina, Rayquaza, Raikou, Mesprit, and Celebi had all come to her aid. They all owed Calvin one way or another.

"Thank you for coming," Molly said to them.

"Anytime," Giratina said. "Just why did Calvin disappear in the first place?"

"Morgan is challenging him to a one on one," Molly said. Giratina chuckled. "And then after that, he revealed that he had fused with the pokémon he created."

"Oh," He stopped laughing. "Well that would explain the anomalies in my world. But how could he fuse with someone still inhabiting a body?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to look for dad."

Cresselia appeared. Calvin didn't owe her anything, but she deserved to be here. Molly greeted her kindly. "Thank you for coming, Cresselia. I'm Molly."

"Ah, Calvin's daughter," Molly nodded. "What seems to be the problem, Arceus?"

"Calvin has gone missing," She replied. "I don't blame him. He was under stress and when he found out that the match had been rescheduled to tomorrow…oh, we should've helped…"

"Wait, he's missing now?" Cresselia asked. "That can't be right; I just finished speaking to him."

"What?" The mood changed. Everyone turned to Cresselia, who became nervous. "What did he say? Where is he?"

"In my defense, I did not know that he was missing," She replied. "He was terrified that he might lose his life, and he asked for my advice. I told him to do what he felt was right."

"Well then if he's not here, and he's not at home," Molly looked at everyone. "Then…"

Once I finished acquiring some new gear, I teleported to Kanto, and landed with a thud on Route 7. The air quality was horrible, filled with smoke and cinders. The night sky was lit by the orange color of raging fires. I got up, brushed myself off, and pulled Kisaki's crystalline medallion out of my pocket.

"Wish me luck," I mumbled. After saying a prayer on the medallion, I took a deep breath and walked the short distance to Celadon.

Millie tossed and turned in her sleep once more. She was having the same nightmare that plagued her almost three months ago. When she opened her eyes, she was once again, drifting in an endless space, and a familiar set of green eyes greeted her.

"Millie," The voice echoed. "Please tell me that he's figured it out."

"…no," She sighed. "He hasn't. He's been concerned about my welfare, that's as far as it has gotten."

"He may lose his life in the next few hours," The voice continued. "There's nothing we can do to help him. As I speak, your time in this world dwindles. You have less than three days before…"

"Before my time is up," She said sadly. "I've enjoyed my every moment I've spent with him. I couldn't ask for it any other way. But if I have to die trying to convince him, then so be it."

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, Millie," The eyes closed, and Millie awoke to the inside of Calvin's bedroom. She got up, prepared to fulfill her mission, only stopping at Calvin and Emelina's wedding photo. Tears formed in her eyes, and she placed it face-down on the dresser. She left the house and dove into the canal, bound for her final destination—Kanto. There was no plan B to her mission. It was all or nothing.

The beginning of the end. The prologue is finally one step closer to being explained. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, because unfortunately someone is going to die…but let me not reveal anything.