Author's Note: And Dusknoir fight, go! Pretty straightforward chapter; not much to say in terms of plot or changes here. Though the fight itself was surprisingly fun to write, and Claire's reaction to the reveal was also interesting for me.

Chapter Twenty-One: Parting Shot

Leaf had thought it was too convenient. He'd known, deep down, that Dusknoir would come back and try to stop them again. (Claire had even worried about that herself recently.) Still, he'd hoped they'd get out of all this with minimal damage control.

That was looking increasingly unlikely now, though, as the Sableye pressed up against them and forced them down the stairs at the opposite side of the Stoneship's platform. Currently, they were too tightly packed to do much, even if they were going to fight their way out of this. And Leaf knew there would be a fight this time—there was no way Dusknoir would sit back and let them go easily. Not after his failure to catch them last time.

Finally, the Sableye fanned out and moved back near their master. Leaf glanced around, trying to get a feel for his surroundings. They were in a fairly small but open area; they'd have enough space to move around, if nothing else. There were some broken pillars and crumbled wall foundations lining the ground; maybe it had been part of a temple at some point. At any rate, there wasn't much to get in their way, for whatever that was worth.

"It's been far too long, don't you think?" Dusknoir commented, the edges of his stomach mouth curling up into a faint smile. "Perhaps this time, you won't run off without so much as a goodbye."

"How did you even get here?" Iris snapped. "Lapras said we had to have some kind of 'proof' to come here. Doesn't that mean you have to be a good Pokémon to get into the Hidden Land?"

Of course she'd be the first one of Claire's friends to pipe up. Even in the short amount of time they'd known each other, Leaf knew he could count on the Cacnea to come up with some kind of witty remark, and it was almost comforting. Meanwhile, Dusknoir seemed to ignore the jab. Instead, he merely moved to the side and gestured at an all-too-familiar sight; a Dimensional Hole had been set up at the back of their makeshift arena.

"I had Master Dialga send us here directly. I knew you'd show up sooner or later, so it saved us some time." Dusknoir chuckled coolly before adding, "You kept me waiting, though."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry about that," Leaf retorted. "But you'll have to understand if we send you back empty-handed."

"Then you're making my job easier," he replied easily. "It doesn't matter whether or not I bring you back conscious, after all. Go."

With that, the Sableye cackled and ran towards the group. Leaf barely had time to glance at Claire, who in turn looked at her teammates. They all seemed to realize that a fight was inevitable, as they simply nodded in reply and shifted their stances accordingly.

And then pandemonium broke loose. Two Sableye ganged up on Iris; she struck one with a Needle Arm and shot a Pin Missile at the other. Then, she proceeded to grab both of them and slam their heads together, and the ends of her arms glowed light green. The Sableye flailed around for a few seconds before their movements slowed, and they staggered around weakly after the Absorb had drained enough of their energy.

Nearby, another one had cornered Rin. The Cubone bashed him with her club, and he howled in pain before biting into her arm. Felix spat out a Flamethrower at the one harassing Rin, only to get slashed from behind by another.

Meanwhile, Leaf was doing his best to keep his eyes on Claire and Dusknoir, though he was having a hard time following both. Dusknoir seemed content watching the brawl for now, but Leaf couldn't trust him to sit there forever. Claire had tackled a fifth Sableye to the ground, and he was wildly trying to scratch at her as she launched a Thunderbolt at him. His yelp of pain prompted his last companion to sneak up on Claire, and Leaf decided she needed his aid more than anything else right now.

"Bite me, human," the Sableye crowed before chomping down on Claire's arm.

She yowled and tried to jerk her arm around, but all that did was make him bite down harder. Leaf rammed into the Sableye's back, slashing down at him with a Leaf Blade. He yelped, releasing his grip on Claire and stumbling to the side. Finally, Leaf grabbed onto Sableye's wrist and closed his eyes, feeling a light rush as his opponent whined in pain—Absorb—and the ghost staggered to the ground.

It gave Claire the opening she needed to launch another Thunderbolt at the one she'd attacked earlier. That Sableye twitched before crumpling, splayed out at an awkward angle on the rocky ground. Claire shakily rose to her feet, looking a bit dazed as she tried to steady herself.

Before she could say anything, Leaf was rammed to the ground, and not by one of the remaining Sableye. Dusknoir had finally joined the brawl, and Leaf grunted as he was slammed face-first into a patch of dirt. He shivered, a cold patch spreading over his back, and he cringed as he tried and failed to get back to his feet. No, not while Claire was still unsteady; he couldn't leave her—

"Back off!"

That was…Claire's voice, and the ensuing groan seemed to come from Dusknoir. He heard something distinctly watery striking the larger Pokémon, and Leaf had a few precious seconds to get back on his feet. There wasn't enough time to assess how much damage her Water Pulse had done, but it gave him an opening of his own.

Leaf crouched down, took a deep breath, and charged forward. The Quick Attack was useful for little more than a speed boost, as he knew it wouldn't hurt Dusknoir much (if at all), but he needed it to close the gap. Upon getting close enough, Leaf grabbed one of Dusknoir's arms, swung himself onto his back, and placed his other claw on the back of Dusknoir's head.

"Sorry, but I've got to make up for earlier," Leaf grunted, closing his eyes and readying another Absorb.

Dusknoir flailed wildly beneath him, growling, "You won't get the better of me!"

His movements slowed as Leaf felt a surge of energy pass through him. Soon, though, Dusknoir started to recover; he swung his arm forward, loosening Leaf's grip and sending him flying. The Grass-Type crashed into one of the Sableye, and they landed in a rather undignified heap. On the plus side, the impact seemed to have knocked the smaller ghost unconscious, leaving Claire's teammates with a much more favorable three-on-three match-up.

"Felix, watch out!"

"Thanks, Rin!"

"Iris, to your left!"

They were looking worse for the wear now, but so did their opponents. Iris was starting to get creative; she swerved around, grabbed the offending Sableye by the head, and lifted him into the air. Then, she slammed him into the ground, and he was left whimpering in pain as the Cacnea darted off to help Rin and Felix.

That left Claire—where was she? Leaf's eyes widened. Dusknoir had her cornered near a pillar, readying what looked like a Will-o-Wisp between his hands. Claire ducked, rolled beneath him, and struck upwards with a Night Slash. She didn't hit much of him, but the move still gave her a type advantage, and Dusknoir was thrown off balance enough that he lost his intended attack.

However, the small victory didn't last long. It only served to enrage Dusknoir, and he swung downwards with an Ice Punch. The attack caught Claire in the stomach, and she wheezed as she was sent skidding backwards towards everyone else.

"Claire!"

Everyone shouted her name in near-unison. Rin and Felix had taken care of the last two Sableye, leaving everyone free to charge towards Dusknoir. Felix paused, helping her up; there was a nasty bruise on her stomach, and her back was covered in skid marks, but she staggered to her feet somehow.

Leaf was in the lead, tearing forward with several rapid Leaf Blades. Dusknoir was sent flying, only stopping when he crashed into a pillar and snapped it in half from the impact. Rin followed it up with a Bonemerang, and Dusknoir was left wheezing on the ground.

"Face it," Leaf said coolly. "You're outnumbered and badly injured. Just give up already."

"Give up? You either don't know me half as well as you think, or you're hopelessly naïve!"

He rose into the air, stomach mouth opening to reveal a pitch-black emptiness within that seemed endless. Dusknoir raised his hands in front of the opening, pulling out a steadily-growing Shadow Ball. The air twisted around the move; something about it seemed unnatural. It was too large, too unsteady. If he unleashed it now, Leaf had no idea what would happen, let alone if Dusknoir let it build further—

"His stomach! Send it back down his stomach!" Iris shouted.

Felix whipped around to face her, eyes wide. "What?!"

"It's the only idea we have!" Claire replied. "Everyone, together!"

Everything seemed to slow down as Dusknoir launched the move. Leaf braced himself, feeling the pulsing energy of the Shadow Ball even before it was anywhere near them. Then, Claire and her friends got into position, and—

"Now!"

They moved together, swinging forward, somehow with enough strength to reflect the move. It turned back, smashing into Dusknoir. He roared in pain, crashing to the ground as smoke rose from his midsection. His stomach mouth remained cracked, and he wheezed almost pitifully as he attempted to use one arm to steady himself.

Felix tentatively took a step forward. "Did it work? Is he…?"

The Sableye started to stir, perhaps roused by all the noise. Leaf's eyes widened; they couldn't possibly have the energy to keep fighting, could they? While they didn't have nearly as much endurance as Dusknoir did, he could never be too sure.

"Wheh! Lord Dusknoir?!"

"He's down, wheh-heh!"

"What do we do?"

"Wheh-heh… we run, you idiots!"

Fortunately, they started bickering instead. It was immediately followed by all six of them scrambling towards the Dimensional Hole and leaping into it one by one. Dusknoir was trembling—in shock or rage, Leaf wasn't sure—but he could do little more than glare at the retreating figures as he pulled himself into a more stable position.

"Your Sableye abandoned you," Leaf said, feeling oddly satisfied at the observation, "and I doubt you'll hang on much longer. Why don't you go on and follow them?"

He was met with a deepened glare and a roughly-growled, "Never." Sighing, Leaf glanced at Claire's teammates. It was clear the battle was over, but they couldn't just leave Dusknoir here. They needed to hurry, but Leaf knew better than to walk away from him.

"Felix," he started, "go put your Relic Fragment in the Rainbow Stoneship. Iris, Rin, go with him, just to be safe. Claire and I will stay here and make sure Dusknoir doesn't follow you."

"Oh, okay." Felix blinked. "We can do that, I guess? Let's go."

The Chimchar glanced over his shoulder as he headed towards the stairs. Iris and Rin simply shrugged at each other before following him. Once they were all gone, Leaf turned back to Claire and Dusknoir. Claire moved closer to him, resting a paw on his arm as she cautiously looked at Dusknoir.

"Really, why don't you follow them?" she said softly. "You already lost. If you try to fight us again, you'll just hurt yourself worse."

Claire really was too nice for her own good, Leaf mused. Then again, that had been one of the few things that had given him some sense of hope when they'd started all this. Still, there was an odd look in Dusknoir's eye that Leaf couldn't quite read. Before he could say anything, though, Dusknoir beat him to the punch.

"You two…should know the answer to that," he grunted. "Did you ever think I'd just lie back and…let you end us all like this?"

Claire blinked, slowly glancing up at Leaf. "What is he talking about?"

Leaf's breath hitched in his throat. Of course Claire wouldn't remember, and of course she deserved to know. But this wasn't how he'd wanted her to find out. Dusknoir wasn't going to say it, was he? He couldn't—

"Oh, you haven't told her?" A deep smirk curled its way across Dusknoir's midsection. "How positively cruel, Grovyle. Were you going to bring Claire all the way up there without her knowing?"

"W-without knowing what?"

Claire's voice cracked, and Leaf shook his head and looked away from her. He'd wanted to tell her; he almost had told her in that note he'd left back at the bluff. But then he'd put it off for too long, and there was no good way to break it to her regardless, and—

Dusknoir managed a weak laugh. "Did you truly think that changing the future would have no effect on us? That things would somehow just become the way they 'should've' been all along? No; if you change things now, our future won't come to pass. It won't exist—we won't exist! Did that not occur to you at all?"

Claire's expression went blank somewhere during all that, and she'd started trembling at the end of it. She staggered aside, paws raised to her face. Then, she looked up at Leaf, silently begging him to prove Dusknoir wrong. To say something, anything at all. But Leaf couldn't; there wasn't anything to say about it.

He just closed his eyes and silently shook his head. Swallowing, Leaf opened his eyes again, and he almost wished he hadn't. The expression on Claire's face wasn't one he could properly name—but the hurt, despair, shock, and betrayal in her eyes were too much to take in at once.

"Listen, Claire, I…I'm sorry," he said softly, stepping forward and putting a claw on her shoulder. "I should've told you, and I can't take back that I didn't. But…when we made our first trip here…we knew what the risks were. We knew the whole time that this could happen. And everyone was all right with the possibility."

"I-I was…okay with coming back and…disappearing," Claire whispered, her eyes darting everywhere except for Leaf. "We…really won't exist after this? There's really no way to stop that?"

Leaf's gut twisted. "…No. None that we could find."

Claire sank to her knees, eyes still wide. It was Leaf's fault. He should've said something. But really, what could he have said? She actually had something to lose now, even if the shock of the information itself wasn't enough. And that made things even worse for her.

Claire had friends who she'd gotten attached to, and who were attached to her. Of course they'd had a few friends back in the planetary investigation team, but all of them already knew they might lose each other. Here, none of her teammates knew that. None of them were prepared for it.

It had vaguely occurred to him during his chat with Felix a while back, but at least Leaf knew he had a family to fall back on. He knew barely anything about Rin or Iris, and especially not that Glameow he'd met in Brine Cave. Did they have sufficient support systems? Would they be able to get over the loss? Leaf didn't know, and that stung.

"Oh, you really are terrible," Dusknoir said. By now, he'd recovered enough to fully pull himself up, and he was looming over the duo. "But perhaps we could do something about that? If I bring you back now, we can stop this. Our world will be preserved, and we will all be safe!"

Leaf felt the air shimmering behind him, and he whipped around to face Dusknoir. He was forming another Shadow Ball, and Claire was in no position to do anything about it. Her shock was still too great, and she was hunched over in a quivering ball. While it would have little effect on her, she was far too vulnerable, and—

Without hesitating, Leaf leapt in front of the attack when Dusknoir roared and launched it towards them. He howled in pain as he was slammed into the ground, and he struggled to move for a few seconds. But if he was lucky, Dusknoir would need some time to ready another attack. If he could just get his legs to cooperate, then maybe he could catch Dusknoir while he needed to rest between moves.

"Leaf!"

Claire managed to find her voice again when Leaf staggered to his feet. He was vaguely aware of some thrumming noise in the distance, but he couldn't lose his concentration now. Instead, he leapt towards Dusknoir, catching the larger Pokémon off guard. It took some effort, but he managed to push one of Dusknoir's arms back behind him, then the other.

"Hey, I think we got it to work! Let's hurry and—what?!"

Leaf spared a quick glance to the side. Felix had arrived back in the arena with Rin and Iris in tow. All three of them wore wide-eyed shocked expressions, and he squeezed his own eyes shut as he looked away from them.

"I have to go back!" he shouted. "Back to the future with Dusknoir! He'll keep coming after you if I don't do something!"

"Unhand me!" Dusknoir roared, struggling against him as Leaf stumbled towards the Dimensional Hole. "You don't know what you're doing! You can't—"

"That's enough from you!" Leaf snapped. It was difficult—he was sure he'd lose his grip—but he managed to fumble for his treasure bag as he kept going. "It's too late for you to stop me. Claire, Felix—take these and go!"

For once, he was glad that his bag was such a tattered mess. It wasn't hard to get the Time Gears loose and let them scatter to the ground. Leaf could hear their surprised exclamations, but he couldn't stop.

The only thing on his mind now was protecting Claire. Even if it meant leaving, he had to keep Dusknoir at bay. Leaf knew better than to leave him there and hope he'd go through the Dimensional Hole on his own.

The only way was to force him through, and someone had to do it.

"B-but what about you?" Felix sputtered. "You're Claire's partner! You have to come—"

"You're her partner now," Leaf interrupted, a sad smile crossing his face. "You can help her do this! I know you can. So even though it hurts—"

And it really, really hurt. He was fully aware that he was leaving Claire for good. Leaf wouldn't be seeing her again if she succeeded, and he knew it. They wouldn't even be together at the end. But…

"—I leave the rest to you! Now go. Protect the sunrise we talked about—for everyone's sake!"

And, with one final shove, they were there. Dusknoir howled as he was pushed into the Dimensional Hole, and Leaf cast one last glance over his shoulder before he lost sight of them entirely.

The last thing he saw was Claire running forward, paw outstretched as tears ran down her face. Leaf could only hope she heard the shouted "I'm sorry…Claire!" as the Dimensional Hole started to flicker. And then the entrance vanished, and Leaf felt his consciousness start to fade away.

His last thought was a satisfied kind of reassurance that their world would be safe now, and he'd done his part in helping it. And despite the pain still throbbing in his chest, Leaf decided that it had very much been worth it.