The four of them stood there looking up at the tower in the sky. It was at least a few hundred feet up and they had all spotted the same problem right away. Finally after a long time of just staring up at the sky, Quill broke the silence.
"So… Any ideas how we're supposed to get up there?"
"You're not…" Shaymin said flatly. "It was built on a cloud in the first place to keep people from getting at it. Shaymin can still get to it, but that's because we're the ones guarding it. If I was a little bigger I could fly the three of you up there, but the way I am now, just taking Quill up there would probably be a difficult task."
"Well, we could at least look around." Lucario said. "There might be a ladder or something…"
"A ladder?" Aamira said. "Yea, a hundred foot long ladder that attached to the edge of a cloud. I don't deny that a tower floating on top of a cloud is crazy, but even if there was a ladder it would probably be all flimsy and would have probably broken by now."
"I'm just tossing ideas around." Lucario said. "After all, you remember what Ceilia said. It took us all morning just to get here. We need to get up there now."
"Maybe I could be of some help."
The three of them turned. Behind them, Mismagius appeared out of the air, grinning as evilly as ever.
"So, are you just going to run away like always?" Lucario said to her. "Or are you going to fight us for once!"
"I came to you, didn't I? Of course I'm going to fight you!" Mismagius said seriously. "After yesterday, how could I not? My own sister was against me from the start, why couldn't I remember that! And besides, one of you has something I need…"
Out of the corner of her eye, Aamira noticed Lucario's hand move slightly, no doubt to where he was hiding the Aura Scepter under his cloak.
"But four against one?" Mismagius said in the voice that told them she was up to something. "That does seem a bit unfair, doesn't it? Mind if I invite a few 'friends' to the party?" Everything went dark for a second. When the light finally returned, they found themselves surrounded by six pokemon besides Mismagius.
"It's our friends!" Quill said. "You can't expect us to fight them!"
"Well I never said whose friends I would be inviting, did I?" Mismagius laughed. "Fight for your life as long as you can, but you'll never be able to defeat us!"
Quill looked sadly at Aipom, who was looking at him as if she wanted to use her tail to rip his head off.
Mismagius smirked. "Since you look so eager, why don't I start by getting rid of the weakest link?"
Aipom suddenly attacked Quill. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't fight back! But right before Aipom's attack landed, she was knocked backwards by and Aura Sphere. Everyone turned to Aamira, obviously stunned by what she had just done.
"Didn't think I'd do it, did you?" Aamira said quietly to Mismagius. "Do I attack my friend or let my other friend get attacked? But listen guys, they're not our friends."
"What? Of course they are!" Mismagius growled.
"No they're not." Aamira said. "Our friends would never attack us. It's because of you that they're acting this way. I heard them yesterday. Everyone who was under Mismagius's control was suffering and wanted us to keep going so that we could free everyone. If that means they get a few extra cuts or bruises, I doubt they'll mind."
"Hey, yea. You're right." Quill said.
Lucario laughed.
"And what exactly is so finny, I'd like to know!" Mismagius said.
"You don't get it, do you?" Lucario said. "You intended to intimidate us by using our friends to battle us. But now that you've realized that won't work, haven't you realized the major flaw in your plan? Just look around, Mismagius."
Mismagius looked around at the six pokemon she had brought to fight for her. Then her eyes widened as if she had realized something horrible.
"Finally get it?" Lucario asked. "Nearly all of them are at a type disadvantage. Aipom and Weavile could easily be defeated by our fighting type moves, Sceptile, Meganium, and Nuzleaf are at a type disadvantage to Quill's fire type attacks, and all that leaves you with is Charmeleon, who was just barely able to defeat Aamira during the tournament they were both in, and that was without Aura Sphere. I highly doubt that he would stand a chance against four of us."
"Yea, and even though I'm normally at a disadvantage against Weavile and Charmeleon, since I can fly now I can avoid their attacks and attack from the air." Shaymin said confidently. "So you either attack these three and I attack from the air, or you attack me and these three attack from the ground."
"We have an unbeatable combination." Quill said excitedly. "And even though we're down by three pokemon, I still think Mismagius is outnumbered."
"If that's how you feel, I'll just call more of my loyal servants to take care of you!" Mismagius started to call more pokemon, before Aamira stopped her.
"I can't believe all this time we've been afraid of what you might do if you went too far." She said. "All along you've just been hiding behind your cheap tricks and relying on others to do your dirty work for you. But now I see what you really are. You're not half the pokemon that any of us are. You're just a coward."
"How DARE you! You pathetic excuse for a Riolu!" Mismagius's eyes glowed and all of the pokemon attacked at once. But at least Aamira had done what she had intended; Mismagius was now so mad that she hadn't even remembered to call anymore pokemon to help her.
Weavile and Nuzleaf attacked Aamira, Sceptile and Meganium attacked Lucario, and Charmeleon and Aipom attacked Quill. Shaymin circled above the fight and helped whenever one of them got into trouble. Somehow Lucario and Quill were able to switched the two pokemon they were fighting so they had more of an advantage. Either way, Quill couldn't fight Aipom no matter how much he tried to bring himself to do it. So now he had to worry about Meganium and Sceptile.
Aamira wasn't worried about Lucario and Quill; she knew how tough the two of them were. All she had to worry about was Nuzleaf and Weavile. She knew all of Nuzleaf's moves, but it was a lot of work trying to dodge multiple Razor Leafs and Weavile's assassin's claws.
Aamira used Force Palm on Weavile and followed up with an Aura Sphere. Nuzleaf tried to sneak up behind Aamira and use Pound, but Shaymin attacked Nuzleaf with Energy Ball to distract him. Then Aamira used drain punch to finish off Nuzleaf.
"Wait, was that a drain punch I just heard?" Quill asked while battling Sceptile. "When did you switch your attacks back?"
"Just last night." Aamira said, while trying to dodge Weavile's claws again. "Ceilia knows a lot of tricks for a statue." Aamira used Drain punch again on Weavile and knocked him out cold. With Shaymin's help, they were all able to defeat their friends that were under Mismagius's control.
"So you were able to defeat your weakling friends." Mismagius said. "But you've still got me to deal with."
Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Shaymin and knocked him out of the air. Quill used Flame Wheel and hit Mismagius head on. Mismagius used Shadow Ball and Quill was barely able to dodge. Shaymin got back in the air and used Air Slash. Mismagius flinched, which gave Aamira time to use Drain Punch again. Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Aamira and did a little bit of damage. Lucario used Aura Sphere and the attack, to Mismagius's surprise, hit.
Then Mismagius noticed the rings that Lucario and Aamira were wearing. "So that's how. You accuse me of hiding behind tricks when you yourselves are wearing Emit Rings to make it easier to attack me. You weaklings!"
Mismagius attacked with Shadow Ball again and hit Lucario. Lucario blocked the attack for the most part by using the spikes on his hand, but still took a bit of Damage. Aamira and Lucario attacked with Aura Sphere. Quill followed up with Flamethrower. Mismagius was hit by both Aura Spheres, but was able to barely dodge Quill's Flame thrower. Shaymin used Energy Ball, but Mismagius was able to dodge that too.
"Looks like as long as we use Aura Sphere we'll be alright…" Lucario whispered to Aamira. "Aura Sphere hardly ever misses, so as long as we have these Emit Rings and keep using Aura Sphere we can't lose."
Mismagius was getting frustrated now. She used Ominous Wind on Quill, then Shadow Ball on Aamira. She aimed another Shadow Ball at Lucario, but he was able to dodge by jumping. Then Lucario used Aura Sphere and hit Mismagius. Aamira ran behind her and used a second Aura Sphere.
"Enough of that!" Mismagius used Spite.
Aamira tried to use Aura Sphere again, but it didn't work. "What's going on?"
"Spite is an attack that stops the opponent from using the last attack they used." Quill said. "You can't use Aura Sphere anymore."
"But we can still use our other attacks. Here's one my father taught me." A dark orb appeared in Lucario's hands and waves of dark aura came from it and hit Mismagius.
Mismagius cringed. "How is it that you learned Dark Pulse? I would know if you learned an attack like that."
"Yea, you keep an annoyingly close watch on everyone around you." Lucario said. "But like I just said, my father taught me that one. You weren't around when I learned it so you never saw me use it."
"You don't have a father. You were orphaned and left for me to take care of."
"I was orphaned but not as soon as you think." A rod made out of aura appeared in his hands. He attacked Mismagius with it a few times before it disappeared. Lucario stood there panting.
Mismagius recovered quickly and used Ominous Wind followed up by Shadow Ball. Lucario fell on the ground with his arms around his stomach where the Shadow Ball had hit him.
"Lucario…" Aamira ran over to him. "Lucario, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine…" he said, trying got get up, but Aamira wasn't letting him.
"That's not what you meant. You just suddenly lost it. What happened?"
"It was Dark Pulse." Shaymin flew down by them. "Dark Pulse is an attack that uses a Dark Aura made by negative thoughts and memories. It probably reminded him of what Mismagius did."
"I'm fine now. It won't happen again." Lucario got back up. "A Lucario should know how to master its emotions…"
Aamira didn't think that he was alright, but they needed to stop Mismagius and wipe that smirk off her face.
"The whole lot of you are pathetic. I should just get rid of you right now." Mismagius used Ominous Wind on all of them. Shaymin had to dig his front paws into the ground to keep from blowing away. Since Quill was less effected by it, he stood in front of Aamira and Lucario to shield them from most of the attack.
"Are you alright, Quill?" Lucario asked.
"Yea, I'm fine." He said. "Now let's finish this battle!"
Quill used Flame Wheel. Mismagius dodged, but while she was turned around Shaymin was able to use Air Slash. Aamira used Force Palm, and even though it had hit it made Aamira get too close. Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Aamira before she had the chance to back away. Lucario tried to use Force Palm, but Mismagius dodged and countered with Shadow Ball. Quill used Flamethrower and this time hit Mismagius. The fight went on like this for what felt like hours. Then things started to turn in the favor of Team Sleuth.
Mismagius fired another Shadow ball at Aamira. That was it for her. Aamira was knocked out, but then started glowing and was revived.
"Heh, it's a good thing we picked up a few Reviver Seeds before coming here." Quill said.
Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Lucario, who was nearly down for the count at this point. Mismagius used Shadow Ball. Aamira jumped in front of Lucario and instinctively used Aura Sphere. The Aura Sphere and Shadow Ball combined somehow resulting in an explosion of pure energy. Mismagius, Aamira, and Lucario were each blown backwards. Somehow Lucario and Aamira had escaped any serious injuries, but Mismagius was now cringing on the ground in pain. It didn't look like she would be able to get up again.
"Is it finally over?" Shaymin said. Some clouds started gathering in the sky overhead and it started to rain lightly.
"Hey, Aamira! Look!" Quill pointed over to Charmeleon.
He had woken up, no doubt because of the rain, and was struggling to get up. "Hey, what happened here? Looks like there was an all out war, but I can't remember a thing."
The looked around them. It did look like there had been a war taking place here; the landscape was destroyed, there were small plants uprooted all over the place, and the patches of dirt that were no longer covered in grass were being turned to mud by the rain. But that's not all they noticed. All around them their friends had started to wake up.
Mismagius struggled to get up. While she was able to float a few inches in the air, she couldn't get her entire body off of the ground. "All of you! Attack them, now!" She ordered the pokemon around them.
"Yea? And why should we?" Aipom slammed the hand on the end of her tail angrily on the ground. "You hurt our friends and we don't have to listen to you anymore!"
"Give us one good reason why we shouldn't attack you right here and now." Sceptile said angrily, obviously still enraged over finding out that the whole time he thought Meganium was gone for good she was stuck in another world that Mismagius had brought her to.
"Do what you want, but I'm warning you, I'm not giving up just yet. You're even greater fools that I thought if you think I'm going to let myself be defeated by you lot!" Mismagius was able to rise completely off of the ground. Her eyes started to glow. At that moment there was a flash of lightning so bright and a clap of thunder so loud that no one saw it happened and no one heard Aamira and Lucario's screams.
When the light from the flash of lightning faded, there were three more pokemon standing next to Mismagius. Two of them, A Machamp and Machoke were holding onto Aamira and Lucario. Lucario had been knocked unconscious when the Machamp had attacked him, but because of the Reviver Seed Aamira had used a while back Aamira hadn't been knocked out and was still fighting feebly to get away.
"Aamira!" Quill ran to help her, but then the third pokemon, A Scyther, raised one of it's blades to Lucario's throat.
"I think you get it now." Mismagius said. "You remember when I said there was something I needed? Well it was actually someone. Aamira. By stealing her aura, I can open a gateway to another dimension where the Origin Egg resides."
"But if you steal her aura…" Shaymin said. "If you do that, Aamira will…"
"You think I care?" Mismagius asked. "If you try anything, Lucario will be the one to suffer seeing as how I still need Aamira. But I think it's best that you let one friend go than have to lose both of them."
"No…" Quill said weakly.
"Yes!" Mismagius vanished along with Aamira, Lucario, and the other three pokemon. Her voice echoed from the tower floating on the cloud above them. "But let me give you something else to worry about so you're not too concerned about your friend's safety!" about a dozen more pokemon appeared and surrounded them.
"What do we do now?" Meganium said in a panic. They were all weak from their earlier battle, and now they were outnumbered two to one.
"Shaymin, go help Aamira and Lucario." Quill said.
"No way." Shaymin said. "They can take care of themselves. For now you guys are the ones that need help."
"I'm sorry, Aamira, but you'll have to suffer for just a little bit longer." Mismagius said. "No one can fly or teleport straight to the top of the tower, so we'll just have to go through it."
Aamira had stopped resisting a while ago. She didn't want Lucario to get hurt and as weak as she was at the minute it would be pointless anyway. Lucario finally woke up. He seemed confused about what had just happened for a moment, but then noticed Aamira half conscious who had obviously given up hope. Something seemed to well up inside of him at the sight. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he managed to escape by using the spikes on his hands. The Machamp that had been holding him yelled in pain and ran backwards. Then Lucario used Aura Sphere on Machoke and gave Aamira just enough time to escape.
"Why bother resisting?" Mismagius said. "I can finish both of you off in one attack. Don't you think that it was strange that this whole time I've only used three attacks?" Lucario and Aamira braced themselves for the attack. "So now I'll show you my strongest attack, the one that I've spent years perfecting. Shadow Sneak!"
Mismagius turned herself into the shadow and sped along the ground towards Aamira. Aamira closed her eyes and braced herself for the attack, but it never came. Instead, she heard Mismagius scream and opened her eyes to see Lucario standing there with the Aura Scepter's base touching Mismagius's shadow. Mismagius had turned back into a Mismagius and was now floating in the air next to the Aura Scepter with her eyes wide with fear.
"I can't move!" She said.
"This is for my father, the former king of Atra!" Lucario said.
"What? The king was your father! This whole time I had the heir to the throne in my castle and had no idea?"
"You said that you easily found out that I was Shade. I guess you didn't find out everything. It's a good thing that bug on Aamira wasn't active until after I finished telling them about it. That night you got rid of my father in the woods, I was there. I was going to help him but what he said stopped me. Don't you remember? 'Even if you get rid of me, there will always be someone lurking in the dark waiting for a chance to stop you.' So I waited, though it pained me, for this chance. And now that it's come, it's over for you!"
Mismagius laughed, still trying to resist being drawn into the Aura Scepter. "Haven't you learned yet? I escaped before, and I'll escape again some time in the future when you're long dead. What is there to stop me?"
"I guess…." Lucario clutched the Nightmare Gem in one hand and kept the other on the Aura Scepter. "I'll have to stop you." Lucario took his hand away from the Nightmare Gem and put it on the Pure Quartz at the top of the Scepter.
"Wait, Lucario!" Aamira yelled. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sealing myself in the Scepter with Mismagius. This way if she ever tries to escape again, I'll stop her. She'll never get loose again."
"No! Please don't!" Aamira cried out to him.
"I'm sorry, Aamira, but I have to do it as the true king of Atra!" Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave you. To me you were more than a friend or a student. And even though we didn't like each other when we first met, even if you can't remember that now, I can't imagine going on without you, even though I know I have to.
"Oh how touching!" Mismagius said. "You sure seem to care a lot about her, even though she's destined to disappear one way or another at the end of this!"
Aamira and Lucario, both with tears in their eyes, fell silent at Mismagius's words.
"Don't tell me you didn't even know! Don't you understand that legend?" Mismagius said. "Everything in a mirror is opposite of what it really is, right? So after the mirror is mentioned in the legend everything in the legend is opposite of what's really meant to happen!"
Aamira jumped. 'She's right. Why didn't I see it before? So, what would that mean exactly? Quill will be depressed, Shaymin won't be able to get home, Lucario will be sealed in the Aura Scepter… And I'll… disappear…?'
"Aamira…" Lucario said. "Do you still want to save the world?"
Aamira shook the tears out of her eyes. "Of course I do! I want to save everyone!"
"Are you positive?" Lucario asked. "Quill has become not only one of your best friends, but also your teammate and brother. If you were to suddenly disappear, how would that leave him feeling? You've got a big decision to make here."
Aamira didn't speak for a while. "I still want to save everyone!" She was crying harder than ever now. "I don't want anyone else to have to suffer just because I became too selfish at the end of all of this and didn't do a thing! Even if I'm not around, it would be better for Quill to live in a world at peace than one in complete chaos! And even if it means I won't ever see you or Quill or anyone else, I'll save everyone even if it means I have to disappear!"
Lucario smiled weakly. "You're either the bravest or the craziest Riolu I ever met. And I respect that."
"Aamira! Lucario!" It was Quill. Shaymin was flying towards them and Quill was hanging on for his life. When both of them landed they looked around at the scene that was taking place. "What's going on."
Aamira was still crying as hard as ever. "Lucario is sealing Mismagius and himself in the Aura Scepter so she'll never be able to escape again…"
"What? That's crazy!" Quill said.
"But it was my decision to make!" Lucario said. "Aamira. Remember everything I ever taught you and I know you'll all be able to finish this mission. And remember, no matter how bleak the situation may seem and how desperate things may get, never lose hope because there's always at least a little light at the end of the tunnel. And who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again someday."
"Stop this now!" Mismagius shouted. "If you go through with this then I'll take my anger out on you for the rest of eternity! You'll pay dearly for every happy moment you've ever had until you lose your mind!"
"All of those years I've lived with you, knowing what you were really up to and you don't think I've already lost my mind?" Lucario shouted. "And anyway, I can't stop it now." Lucario turned his head back towards Aamira. Though there were still tears in his eyes, he smiled broadly. "I'll see ya around…" Lucario and Mismagius both started to glow until they were nothing but two bright lights. Then the two of them were pulled into the Pure Quartz at the top of the staff.
Aamira fell to her hands and knees, unable to believe what had just happened. She screamed at the sky at the top of her lungs as if that would somehow bring him back, but of course nothing happened. All that remained of Lucario was his cloak, the Nightmare Gem, and the Aura Scepter.
"Are you alright….?" Quill asked. Aamira couldn't bring herself to answer.
"This is all my fault!" Shaymin said. "If I had just come up here to help you like Quill asked me to this might not have happened!"
"No…" Aamira said. "I have a feeling he had intended this to happen from the beginning…" And then she realized what she must have been blind not to see. Secret Keeper. They had figured that Aamira knew from the start that she was supposed to save the world, but didn't tell anyone so they wouldn't be worried. But that had been before she lost her memory. Now she understood. She did know that she would save the world, and she also knew that she would disappear at the end. She hadn't told Lucario because she didn't want him to worry, but it didn't matter now anyway. The least she could do was not tell Quill so he wouldn't try to stop her like she was sure he would.
Aamira wiped the tears from her eyes, got up, and walked over to where Lucario had been standing.
"Are you going to be okay?" Quill asked.
"Yea." Aamira said. "I'll be fine."
Shaymin walked up to the Aura Scepter and pulled it out of the ground. "Listen, I feel horrible for this whole thing, even if you say it's not my fault this had to happen. I'll take this back to Atra and hide it somewhere no one will ever find it. And maybe even though I failed at protecting the Looking Glass, I'll do better guarding the Aura Scepter."
"But didn't you want to go home? You'd rather be stuck in the world of darkness guarding that?" Aamira asked.
"It doesn't matter anymore!" Shaymin said furiously, more to himself than anyone else. "I'll never be able to return to a normal life after everything that's happened here. I could never forgive myself if I did that."
"If that's what you've decided, then I guess we'll see you around." Aamira said, even though she knew this wasn't entirely true… "And… we're really grateful for everything you've done to help us."
Shaymin forced a smile, then took the Aura Scepter between his two front paws and flew off.
"So what now?" Quill asked.
"What do you think?" Aamira said. "We keep going. This is our only chance and we don't have much more time." She took the Dream Amulet from around her neck and gave it to Quill. "I want you to hold onto that."
"But why?" Quill asked.
"I don't know what it would be like to wear two gems that contain conflicting auras, so take that one just in case." Aamira picked up the Nightmare Gem and put it around her neck, then put on Lucario's cloak.
The two of them looked up at the tower looming in front of them for a moment, before Aamira finally spoke again. "Whatever way this ends, Shade will save the world."