Two gods. The Mane of Dusk and the Wings of Dawn. Each stared down the other for what seemed like an eternity while the mortals around them looked on with a mixture of fear and awe. Even Hecatia, the goddess of Hell, felt intimidated by these cosmic forces now before her. While Alice could not believe that her dollcraft could ever give birth to something which could jump between realities at will and whose power was far beyond anything her magical studies covered.

Only when Reimu addressed Necrozma was the silence broken.

"So," she started, "have you finally decided to stop running and fight?"

Necrozma took a second to respond. "YOU HAVE COME FAR, REIMU. THE LEGACY OF THE HAKUREI BLOODLINE IS SURELY ONE OF STRENGTH AND SKILL. MOM WAS CORRECT IN PICKING YOUR ANCESTOR TO BE THE KEEPER OF BALANCE IN GENSOKYO."

Reimu winced. "... mom ? You mean Yukari?" Then she gasped. "...don't tell me…"

"INDEED," Necrozma said. "LONG AGO, I WAS BUT A COSMOG, THE SAME AS NEBBY AND STARDUST. I WAS CHASED AROUND BY SPHERE DOOMERS TRYING TO EAT ME. IN MY PANIC, I OPENED AN ULTRA WORMHOLE, AND CAME TO THIS PLACE ALONGSIDE HER. OVER TIME, OUR POWER GREW, UNTIL ONE DAY, THE POWER OF THE MOON TURNED HER INTO THE FIRST YOUKAI, AND ME INTO A LUNALA. SCORNED BY HUMANS, SHE COMMANDED THE YOUKAI FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THROUGH THAT TIME, I WAS NOT ONLY HER BELOVED CHILD BUT ALSO HER RIGHT-HAND BAT, MY WINGS HERALDING THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT UNDER WHICH THE YOUKAI THRIVED."

Everyone was absolutely stunned. This thing was Yukari's ally and adopted child long in the past? Shaping Gensokyo's early history to boot? Reimu's hands twitched. Why had Yukari never revealed this fact to her? That she had such a being as her familiar for so long before Ran and Chen?

"IN TIME, HOWEVER, BY POWER BEGAN TO RUN OUT. I HID IT FROM HER AS BEST I COULD, BUT I KNEW I WOULD SOON DARKEN AND PASS ON. AT THAT TIME, HOWEVER, THE LUNAR WAR HAPPENED. THE LUNARIANS FIRED THEIR MOST DESPICABLE AND DESTRUCTIVE SUPERWEAPON AT THE SURFACE, THE PHOTON GEYSER. ITS POWER DRAINED ALL LIGHT FROM THE SURFACE AND SHADOWED THE SUN, BEFORE FIRING A CONDENSED BALL OF LIGHT AT GENSOKYO. I USED THE LAST OF MY ENERGY TO DEFLECT THE BLAST AND SAVE JAPAN FROM CERTAIN DESTRUCTION. AFTER THAT, EVERYONE ASSUMED I HAD PERISHED." It paused before continuing. "BUT INSTEAD OF DYING AS I HAD EXPECTED, I FUSED WITH THE PHOTON GEYSER'S POWER, ALTHOUGH NOT ALL OF IT. THE REACTION TRANSMUTED ME INTO THE CRYSTALLINE BEAST KNOWN AS NECROZMA. THE BLAST CAST ME INTO ULTRA SPACE, WHERE I DRIFTED POWERLESS AND UNCONSCIOUS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS."

These revelations deeply troubled Reimu. She recalled Eirin making vague references to some sort of superweapon the Lunarians created to which she heavily objected and that was why she and Kaguya defected, but she didn't realize that not only was it actually used, it was during Yukari's attempted moon incursion to test their barrier. And it was called the "Photon Geyser…" That was the name of that attack that it and Sunshine could use. None of these details had ever been revealed to her or anyone else previously… why?

Necrozma continued its story. "EVENTUALLY, I DRIFTED THROUGH A WORMHOLE WHICH LED TO A DESERTED ISLAND OFF THE COAST OF MELEMELE ISLAND IN ALOLA. ALOLA'S TROPICAL SUN FILLED ME WITH LIGHT, REVIVING ME AND ALLOWING ME TO SEE WHAT I HAD BECOME. AT FIRST, I WAS SCARED AND FURIOUS OF THE MONSTROSITY I HAD BEEN TWISTED INTO. BUT SOON I DISCOVERED I COULD ALTER LIGHT IN ORDER TO ASSUME OTHER FORMS. I SENSED A MAN ON A BOAT COMING TO THE ISLAND, SO I USED THIS POWER TO BECOME A MAIDEN."

Elio put the pieces together in his head, then said, "that man, I'm assuming, was Prince Kamehameha."

"THAT IS CORRECT," Necrozma responded. "I WANTED TO APPEAR NON-THREATENING, AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD IN WHICH I HAD LANDED IN. AND THAT MAN, THE ALOLAN PRINCE WHO UNITED THE ISLANDS UNDER MELEMELE'S RULE, SHOWED ME AROUND, TO ALL THE ISLANDS, ALL OF THEIR LANDMARKS, THEIR PEOPLE'S WAY OF LIFE. BECAUSE I WAS A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, HE ALSO FELL IN LOVE WITH ME, AND ASKED IF I WOULD BE HIS QUEEN. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPROPER OF ME TO SO NO, SO I AGREED."

Again, the thought of Necrozma being dishonest about its true nature and tricking this man into marrying it disgusted Alice, and she wasn't alone: Lillie, Elio, Marisa, even Hau were off-put by something with that kind of booming voice of legion saying it had disguised itself as a young woman and went to marry a man. Only Reimu, who only cared about having Necrozma tell it all, remained stoic and determined.

"THE WEDDING WAS LAVISH, AND THE MONARCHS FROM ALL OF THE ISLANDS WERE THERE TO CELEBRATE THIS UNION. ALSO PRESENT WERE SOLGALEO AND LUNALA, AS WERE THE TAPU. BUT BEFORE VOWS COULD BE EXCHANGED, I COULD SEE THE BEASTS LOOK AT ME, AND THEN GLARE, AS IF THEY REALIZED MY TRUE IDENTITY, AND ATTACKED, CAUSING ME TO DROP MY FACADE AND REVEAL MY TRUE FORM TO THE CROWD, WHO WERE ALL HORRIFIED. I HAD TO DEFEND MYSELF, SO I ABSORBED LIGHT, BLOTTING OUT THE SUN. I THEN OPENED A WORMHOLE TO TRY AND DISPATCH MY OPPONENTS, BUT THE PRINCE WAS SUCKED IN INSTEAD. THE FIGHT WAS TAKEN TO THE SKY, WHERE THEIR COMBINED STRENGTH BESTED ME AND BANISHED ME BACK TO ULTRA SPACE. I LEFT ALOLA BEHIND, AND SPENT THE NEXT CENTURIES WANDERING THROUGHOUT SEVERAL DIFFERENT REALMS, TRYING TO FIND GENSOKYO ONCE AGAIN. I ALSO ATTEMPTED TO FIND THE PRINCE TO UNDO THE DAMAGE I HAD CAUSED, BUT FAILED BEFORE I KNEW HE WOULD HAVE PASSED ON."

"But you eventually found it," Reimu said.

"YES. I ARRIVED HERE JUST BEFORE THE GREAT HAKUREI BORDER WAS CONSTRUCTED. BUT I REALIZED THAT I WOULD BE REJECTED IN MY CURRENT STATE. EVEN IF I USED MY ABILITY TO PROJECT MY OLD APPEARANCE, I KNEW MOM PLUS SEVERAL OTHERS WOULD HAVE THE ABILITY TO SEE STRAIGHT THROUGH IT. AS MUCH AS I WANTED TO SEE MOM AGAIN, I KNEW I COULDN'T. BUT I STILL WANTED TO BE HERE, THE HOME I HELPED DEFEND LONG AGO. SO I CREATED A NEW FORM, BOTH FAR REMOVED FROM MY OLD APPEARANCE AND CREATING A COVER FOR MY NEED TO FEED ON LIGHT. I ALSO CREATED AN ALIAS: RUMIA. I WAS SATISFIED. SOON AFTER, I WITNESSED THE BORDER BE CAST, THE LAND SHIELDED FROM THE MALIGN INFLUENCE OF LACK OF BELIEF WHICH CAUSED YOUKAI TO DIE OUT. I LIVED MY LIFE THIS WAY FOR OVER A CENTURY, WATCHING OVER THE LAND FOR ANY THREATS TO IT."

Necrozma's speech paused again, as this information was absorbed. "THAT THREAT PRESENTED ITSELF OVER TIME. I SOMETIMES VENTURED OUT INTO THE OUTSIDE, AND SAW THE WORLD BECOME A BLEAKER PLACE: ONE FILLED WITH POLLUTION, CORRUPTION, WAR, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, THE LOSS OF FAITH AND THE INCREASING COMPLACENCY AND HOPELESSNESS OF THE MASSES. I KNEW THIS COMBINATION WOULD SPELL DISASTER FOR THE BARRIER. AND SURE ENOUGH, OVER TIME, ITS POWER WEAKENED, UNDER ASSAULT FROM THESE FORCES. HAD I DONE NOTHING, IT WOULD HAVE COLLAPSED WITHIN THE LIFETIME OF A HUMAN. I KNEW I HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, AND I WAS STILL COMING UP WITH A SOLUTION WHEN IT HAPPENED."

Marisa was curious. "... what happened?" she asked.

"AS YOU KNOW, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO, OKINA MATARA CAME OUT OF HIDING AND OPENED DOORS ALL OVER GENSOKYO IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE HER POWER. DOORS OPENED ON THE BACKS OF YOUKAI, TURNING THEM INTO POWERFUL MONSTERS. THIS INCLUDED MYSELF, SINCE SHE SAW ME AS NO MORE THAN A VERY WEAK YOUKAI. BUT THAT WAS NOT THE CASE. THE SUDDEN SURGE OF POWER WITHIN ME CAUSED ME TO SPASM OUT OF CONTROL, UNCONSCIOUSLY OPENING UP WORMHOLES IN VARIOUS DIFFERENT REALMS, THE POKEMON WORLD BEING AMONG THEM. THAT IS THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE DELTA CASCADE."

The Dancers stopped in place, dropped their items, and stared, realizing their master had been outed as the reason why Marisa had been taken from her home and dropped in Gensokyo.

"Okina…" Marisa seethed as she stared at her proxies, clenching her fist. She shook it off for now and turned back toward Necrozma; Okina could wait.

"SOON AFTER I RECOVERED, I REASONED I NEEDED THE ASSISTANCE OF THE HAKUREI SHRINE MAIDEN TO AVERT THE COMING CATASTROPHE. BUT WHEN I CAME TO THE SHRINE, I SAW YOU, YOUNG REIMU, GRIEVING OVER YOUR MOTHER'S BODY. I KNEW THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO WITH A CHILD. BUT RATHER THAN A LOSS, I SAW THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING YOU UP INTO SOMEONE WHO COULD HELP ME RESOLVE THIS CRISIS."

"How so?" Reimu asked it.

"BY TESTING YOU AND ANALYZING YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. SMALL INCIDENTS AT FIRST; SOME FAIRIES RAIDING A CANDY STORE, OR A KAPPA KIDNAPPING A CHILD. BUT ONCE YOU WERE TWELVE AND YOUR TRAINING HAD ADVANCED, I MOVED ON TO INCITING LARGER INCIDENTS TO PUSH YOUR SKILLS TO THEIR LIMITS. I DISGUISED MYSELF AS A DEVIL AND SUCCESSFULLY CONVINCED REMILIA TO UNLEASH THE SCARLET MIST. I LED A DRUNK SUIKA TO CAUSE EVERYONE TO START PARTYING. I LIED TO EIRIN AND KAGUYA ABOUT THE LUNARIANS COMING DOWN TO GET THEM. I TEMPTED TENSHI TO MISUSE HER POWERS. I MOVED THE MORIYA SHRINE INTO GENSOKYO. I FOUND THE YATAGARASU CORPSE WHICH KANAKO FED TO UTSUHO REIUJI. I FREED BYAKUREN HIJIRI. I AWAKENED TOYOSATOMIMI NO MIKO. I STOLE KOKORO'S MASK OF HOPE. I INSPIRED SEIJA TO BEGIN HER REVOLUTION. I GAVE SUMIREKO USAMI THE OCCULT BALLS, INCLUDING THE LUNAR CAPITAL BALL. I PROVIDED KOSUZU WITH THE YOUMA BOOKS. EXCEPT FOR THE 60-YEAR INCIDENT, EVERY MAJOR INCIDENT OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS CAN BE TRACED BACK TO ME. AND MY PURPOSE WAS TO SEE HOW YOU DEALT WITH THESE INCIDENTS. IN EACH ONE, I NOTED YOUR STRAIGHTFORWARD APPROACH, UNCLOUDED BY DESIRE AND EMOTION, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY YOUR ABILITY TO FORM BONDS, WORK IN AND COMMAND A TEAM, AND MAKE FRIENDS. ALL THROUGHOUT, YOUR SKILLS WERE ALSO HONED BY PUTTING THESE INCIDENTS DOWN. I KNEW YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO AID IN MY PLAN TO SAVE THE BARRIER."

Reimu put her hands to her sides and tapped her foot. "Well, I'll be damned. Not only did you directly cause this most major incident, but you were ultimately behind all the other incidents which came before it these past few years, all to test me and gauge my ability." She thought for a moment, then realized something. "The Cherry Blossoms. I noticed you left that incident conspicuously out, yet you still claim you caused it. Care to explain?"

Necrozma drew their attention to the Ultra Radiation coursing through the barrier. "AN EARLY ATTEMPT OF MINE TO FIX THE BARRIER WAS TO INJECT IT WITH ULTRA RADIATION. AS YOU KNOW, ULTRA RADIATION IS THE ENERGY FOUND WITHIN ULTRA SPACE, AND ITS PROPERTIES BESTOW UNTOLD AMOUNTS OF POWER TO ANYTHING EXPOSED TO IT, BUT OFTEN WITH UNPREDICTABLE AND UNSTABLE RESULTS. I THOUGHT I COULD STRENGTHEN THE BARRIER WITH THIS POWER, BUT IT WAS REJECTED AND THE BARRIER TEMPORARILY MADE UNSTABLE, ENOUGH FOR A HOLE TO THE NETHERWORLD TO BE TORN. YUYUKO CAPITALIZED ON THIS TO TRY AND AWAKEN THE SAIGYOU AYAKASHI TREE AND GET REVENGE ON MOM FOR NOT AGREEING TO HER PLOT TO INVADE THE MOON AGAIN. AFTER THAT INCIDENT, I WANTED TO KNOW WHY THIS HAD HAPPENED. I CONCLUDED THAT ULTRA RADIATION IS MOST STABLE WITH A CREATION FROM WITHIN ULTRA SPACE. SO MY NEW PLAN WAS CLEAR: CREATE A BRAND-NEW GENSOKYO WITHIN ULTRA SPACE, AND REPLACE THE OLD ONE WITH IT. I DID THIS BY HARNESSING CHANG'E'S POWER. BUT I DID NOT WANT TO DESTROY THE OLD GENSOKYO. I SEARCHED FAR AND WIDE THROUGHOUT ULTRA SPACE FOR SOMEWHERE SAFE TO PUT IT. I FOUND THE POKEMON WORLD, FROM MANY CENTURIES AGO, AND DEEMED IT A SUITABLE REALM IN WHICH TO DEPOSIT GENSOKYO, DUE TO THEIR BELIEF IN MYTH REMAINING STRONG. AN ISLAND IN THE OCEAN WAS THE LEAST DISRUPTIVE OPTION, AND ALOLA WITH ITS LIGHT THE BEST LOCATION TO CREATE ONE. I SENT YOU THERE AHEAD OF THE REST OF GENSOKYO SO YOU COULD TRAIN FURTHER AND BECOME FAMILIAR WITH IT."

Reimu looked behind her at Sunshine. "And Sunshine? What about her? Your creation , I mean?"

"SUNSHINE SERVES MULTIPLE PURPOSES. FIRST, SHE WAS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT CREATING LIFE; I COULD ONLY CREATE SOULS AT THAT TIME RATHER THAN PHYSICAL BODIES, AND THEN ONLY SOULS OF MY OWN KIND, THAT BEING A NECROZMA. I KNEW THE DOLLMAKER COULD CREATE A BODY THAT THE SOUL COULD INHABIT UNTIL IT WAS READY TO BE ENHANCED BY MY XERNEAS. SO I HAD A KARTANA INSERT THE SOUL INTO THE MOST ROBUST DOLL SHE OWNED. CREATING A LARGER BODY WITH MANY MAGICAL CAPABILITIES WAS MERELY A BENEFICIAL MISCALCULATION. BUT A TEST TO CREATE LIFE WAS NOT THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE." It's claw lit up, and it drew a sun and moon in the air in front of it. "I HARNESS THE POWER OF THE MOON. I ABSORB LIGHT IN ORDER TO POWER MYSELF UP. I CREATE NIGHT. I CAN CREATE LIFE. BUT I CANNOT CREATE LIGHT. THUS, MY CREATIONS ARE INCOMPLETE." It looked at Sunshine. "BUT SHE WIELDS THE POWER OF THE SUN, ABLE TO BLESS LIGHT UPON THIS LAND AND ITS CREATIONS. WITH HER POWER, MY MISSION SHALL BE COMPLETE."


Once Necrozma's motive speech had concluded, the silence in the air was so thick you could slash right through it with a sword. Reimu, for her part, could hardly believe Necrozma concocted such a convoluted and morally ambiguous plot for the purpose of saving Gensokyo. How it was a major player in its history, all the way back to its founding. How it supposedly cooked up all these incidents itself, just to test her abilities. It made her wonder if it truly had Gensokyo's best interests at heart, or if it was merely spewing bullshit so that she wouldn't try to kill it.

She drew her gohei aside. "I'll admit," she said, "you're great at telling stories, but you still haven't proven to me that any of it is true. Without Yukari here to corroborate you, I can't assume good intentions. That is what years of dealing with lying youkai have taught me. Even if Yukari were here, she's a master manipulator who can't be trusted. In any case, you have disrupted Gensokyo's order on a scale nothing else before you has ever done, even going so far as to become the only thing in history to defeat the Great Dragon in battle. But I can match your power, right here, right now. You won't escape from your sins."

Necrozma nodded. "YOUR TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE IS NOTHING LESS THAN I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED. THEREFORE, I PROPOSE ONE MORE TEST." Extending its wings and arms, it screeched out to the air, creating a shockwave which made everyone flinch.

"Gchhch," Lillie grunted clenching her teeth.

Hau looked up at the monstrosity before them. "Can we really beat that thing?"

Reimu clenched her gohei harder. "There's no reason we can't," she said. "Besides, it's trying to make us feel like we're alone. But we're not. If we combine our strength and fight together, we can win!" She turned around to face them. "This is what I meant when I asked you all if you were willing to end this with me and risk everything back at Aether Paradise. All of it. We can't back out of this now. History is being made, and we're smack in the middle of it. Now, are you going to back away, or are you going to fulfill the promises you've all made?"

There was silence for a moment before Lillie, Hau, Elio and Marisa rushed up to her side and sent out their Pokemon.

"This is what Gramps would want me to do," Hau said.

"Gensokyo isn't the only place it's disrupted," Lillie said.

"I'm not going to be intimidated by this thing," Elio declared. "I'm a master trainer, and this will be the ultimate test."

Marisa took a while to respond, before an angry expression painted across her face. "You tore my family apart and cast my mother into obsession. Even if you didn't mean to do it, that doesn't change the fact that you did it. I struggled for fourteen years, an ordinary girl in a land full of superpowered beings, gods, and man-eating youkai." She then smirked. "But you know what? In following Reimu around, becoming a witch against all odds, solving incidents that you created, those fourteen years forged me into a far tougher woman than I would have become had I lived a normal, happy life with my family. Yes, mother, Gladion and Lillie, we never got to live as a family and mother never saw me grow up. I may have missed out on completing my Island Challenge. I may have been robbed of the chance to become an honor student, get accepted into a prestigious college and carry on the family legacy. But I can either mourn those, or be proud of having been able to stomp a goddess's face into the ground, swat monsters on a routine basis that could rip a Hydreigon limb from limb, and make impossible things with normal stuff." She glanced over at Alice. "And I also found someone willing to look past my impulsiveness and see me for who I really am."

Alice was touched. Never in her years had she encountered someone as determined and strong as Marisa. Now that she knew the full story, Alice doubted that she could have been as resilient given the same circumstances. And the fact that Marisa was now almost on her level as a magician despite being several decades younger was enough to convince Alice that she had a wealth of untapped potential buried underneath that ridiculous witch outfit, backed up by the genetic tenacity, boldness, intelligence, stubbornness, vision and touch of recklessness that the conqueror line of Kirisames had blessed her with. Alice was pretty sure she wanted to see what more Marisa could accomplish.

And she decided she wanted a piece of that right now.

It was then that Alice whipped out an Ultra Ball, and revealed a secret she had hastily trained up following the group's departure from the island the previous day: emerging from the ball was a figure resembling an elegant archangel, whose rounded yet tender face was adorned with ebony hair, with wings made of metal feathers, apparent armor with a tabard depicting the sun, and holding a flower in one hand and a sword in the other.

"I found this while wandering the mansion's halls the other day," Alice revealed. "Apparently, the transition into this world affected religious paintings in Remilia's collection in a way that they brought forth Pokemon that looked like angels. I caught one of them, then went to Hau'Oli City and battled every trainer I could find to make it stronger until it evolved into this. Professor Oak helped me come up with a name for it: the Archangel Pokemon, Arcovenant."

Well shoot, Reimu thought. Now even a Pokemon that looked like the archangel Gabriel was getting her hands dirty. Surely things had become serious now.

"Heh," Reimu chuckled. "Well then, looks like you're outnumbered," she said taunting Necrozma. "Even if you are a god, I've got my team and those of five of my friends." She adjusted her stance, and dared, "now then, for the future of Gensokyo, I, Reimu Hakurei the keeper of the Hakurei Shrine and the Great Border of Gensokyo, shall cast you down straight to Hell!" She pointed and commanded, "Sasha, Darkest Lariat!"

At that moment, all of their Pokemon bore down on the crystalline god before them. Necrozma, however, turned out to be a resilient son of a bitch, taking the attacks of all six of its assailants and looking not very much worse for wear.

"Man," Marisa exclaimed, "it's endurance is higher than a hippie on an airplane!"

"Not only that," Elio observed, "but all attacks seem to be equally effective on it. We should focus on using our strongest moves to bring it down."

"Got it," Hau affirmed. He switched out Hedwig for Tauros and commanded it to charge Necrozma, when Necrozma made its first move, spewing flames from its mouth and bathing the battlefield in fire. Lillie commanded Adele to block the attack with a jet of water, holding it back long enough to allow Marisa's Misdreavus to get a shot in with Shadow Ball. Necrozma then switched over to shooting an Ice Beam intended for Tauros. Sasha flared up his fire belt in order to set his own fur on fire, tanking the Ice Beam and slowly marching forward, resisting the Ice Beam with his flames. Arcovenant used this chance to make her first move, charging up and releasing an Aura Sphere that disrupted Necrozma's attack. This inspired Reimu to switch in Lucario and direct him to use his own Aura Sphere, causing Necrozma's power to falter.

Necrozma shook it off and began to get serious. Gathering energy, Necrozma unleashed a burst of electricity that surged all around it. Hau sent out Raichu to absorb the electricity and try to direct it back at Necrozma; Reimu assisted him by sending out Magnezone to draw in the lightning. Both of them combined their power, Raichu using Psychic to form the lightning into a ball, which it then fired, ravaging Necrozma with an electrical explosion. This managed to paralyze Necrozma, something that everyone capitalized on.

"It's down and weak!" Reimu commanded. "Attack now!" Everyone's Pokemon assaulted Necrozma, with Misdreavus using Hex to score extra damage on Necrozma's addled state. After a minute, Necrozma got back up, dispelled the paralysis, then rose up high in the air. Then, it rocketed back down, punching the ground and unleashing a devastating Earthquake which even knocked over the trainers. Lillie's Salamence and Elio's Charizard Alduin came to the rescue, scooping up the other Pokemon and sparing them from the Stone Edges which followed the tremors. Then they dropped the Pokemon onto Necrozma, where they punched, kicked and bit Necrozma until it shook them all off.

Necrozma proved it had many tricks up its sleeve. It unleashed Hurricanes, which Reimu's Wakasagehime dispelled using her own Hurricane. It summoned and sent forth a wall of water, which Snowy froze using Ice Beam; Lucario then broke off parts of the ice and rushed up to Necrozma, stabbing it with icicle knives. In between blasts, Necrozma slashed, punched and even headbutted its opponents, demonstrating a level of skill and ferocity that seemed paradoxical. Despite being outnumbered, Necrozma proved to be too much for any one trainer to handle, forcing all six of them to combine their wits and skill to try and secure victory.

"We've got to find a weakness," Reimu said to the others. Her eyes glazed over Necrozma trying to find one such weak spot, where they zeroed in on its heart crystal embedded into its forehead. "There," she said. "See if you can focus an attack on that."

"It probably knows it's a weakness, though," Elio commented. "It'll guard it if we go straight for it."

Hau thought for a second, then came up with an idea. "We'll need to distract it," he said. "Like, have it focus on something small so that it doesn't notice something about to blast the crystal."

"Something small…" Alice wondered. Then she got a brainwave. Switching out Arcovenant, she sent in Murdoll. "Kite around it and try to draw its focus onto you," she commanded. Murdoll took off, knife drawn and ready to throw down against the crystalline monstrosity before it. It got Necrozma's attention by jabbing its chestplate, prompting Necrozma to concentrate its offense on the small, fast-moving target. Murdoll was at a severe disadvantage, being a Poison-type pitted against a powerful Psychic-type, but anything to serve its trainer.

Murdoll eventually ran up against a rock wall, where Necrozma pinned it down. Necrozma fenced Murdoll in by slamming the ground, causing rocks to fall all around it, before charging up and unleashing a devastating Prismatic Laser attack, creating a massive explosion which surely blew Murdoll to kingdom come.

Once the dust settled, Necrozma observed the corpse of the fallen doll Pokemon… before it transmuted into a busted-up Substitute doll, the real Murdoll having slipped out right before the rock slide.

Necrozma slowly turned around, just in time for a Flash Cannon from Magnezone to bullseye it right in the crystal.

The force of the attack caused Necrozma to double over in pain, holding its head like it just received a killer migraine.

"Howddya like THAT?!" Marisa grinned and pointed. "That's what you get for messin' with US!" She looked over to Reimu. "That Magnezone of yours is a hell of a shot!"

"Well, it does have three eyes," Reimu said. "It must have very good depth perception."

They cautiously approached Necrozma, who was looking down away from them. Reimu made sure not to make a sound, in case they provoked it.

"What should we do?" Alice whispered to Reimu. "Should we finish it off?"

Reimu studied Necrozma. That was when her aura senses rang again, making her wince and step back. That's when she sensed it. That's when she sensed a colossal amount of power amassing within Necrozma.

"No… GET BACK!" She jumped back, and so did everyone else, before Necrozma spun around, arms crossed and its eyes shining, before spreading its arms and its wings out and screaming toward the sky. In an instant, unimaginable levels of Ultra Radiation flared all around it, so much so it actually radiated forcefully around it, making everyone in the group trip and fall. Its claws glowed bluish-white, and crackled with electricity. The amount of power it exuded was so intense it threatened to make one's brain pop.

Reimu got back up and took in the horrifically powerful being before her. There were very few times in the past in which she was legitimately afraid of her opponent. This was one of those exceptions. Here was an opponent who had struck down the Great Dragon and who broke nearly every natural law that existed. And it was pissed .

Reimu's breathing was shallow and quickening. She was trying her hardest not to show fear, but she knew that Necrozma could feel it anyway.

Hau looked at the aura surrounding Necrozma. "Hey Reimu, it's just like last time. Use a Z-Move and we can dispel it!"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Reimu affirmed, holding up her Z-Ring… only for it to fizzle and spark.

"Wha-HUH?" she exclaimed. "What's going on?" Everyone else checked their own Z-Rings; they similarly sputtered out when they tried activating them.

"Crap!" Lillie exclaimed. "It must be shorting out the Z-Rings."

"It must have learned from last time," Reimu noted. She sent out Lucario and decided to use her keystone to see if she could at least still mega-evolve it, but that too had been disabled.

"Grr…" she gritted. "Just… just do anything! We gotta win!" And so everybody threw everything they had at Necrozma. Reimu even had the dancers use their power to draw out the strengths in their Pokemon. But… well, to say it was ineffective would be stating the obvious, as all their blows just bounced harmlessly off of Necrozma's body.

"Look at it…" Elio lamented. "It just standing there looking at us menacingly while we hopelessly attack it."

"Let's save our strength," Reimu ordered. "It might be trying to wear us out."

"Good idea," Lillie agreed, ordering Adele to stand down.

That turned out to be a big mistake.

Necrozma used the opening to rip open several Ultra Wormholes, and in the blink of an eye fired Prismatic Laser into one of them. Moments later, lasers shot out of each of the others, striking down everyone's Pokemon in one fell swoop. Sasha tried to use his Dark-typing to shield Adele from the attack, only for the laser to pierce them both and knock them down. It was the same case for the rest of their teams: Necrozma summoned and them formed a massive diamond sword from one of the wormholes and used it to cleave right through Wakasagehime, Pumpkaboo, Voodoll, Raichu, Snowy and Dragonite. Then it inflated its hand and took a punishing swing at Meiling, Misdreavus, Magnezone, Salamence, and Alduin. Desperate, Reimu ordered everyone to send out all their remaining Pokemon to assail Necrozma at once, only for Necrozma to gather energy and unleash an attack it had observed once, from afar on the sidelines of a battle for everyone's souls in another world: a shockwave filled with the power of a thousand Revelations, Megidolaon.

Arcovenant, being the master tactician that she was, had enough time to mentally jot down the attack's specs before being blown back by it.


As the dust cleared, a dirt-smudged Reimu, now with blood on her face, winched herself up, stumbled onto her feet, and stared at Necrozma, who stared back at her.

Getting up alongside her, Marisa said to Reimu "well… if we get outta here, I think I got an idea for my next spell card."

"Why are you thinking about that right now?" Reimu replied, annoyed.

"...cause I gotta keep myself from despairing, somehow."

Reimu said flatly, "stubborn in the face of defeat, as always."

The others got up and looked up at Necrozma, peering down before them. They all realized their Pokemon had been defeated. Even if they healed them, Necrozma would just knock them right back out. Now, Sunshine stood as the sole opposing force to it, but did not have the benefit of the extra moon-goddess power Necrozma had called upon to trounce them.

"Gaah… even with our powers combined, that wasn't enough?" Reimu seethed.

"THE POWER OF MANY REVELATIONS CAN OVERCOME EVEN THE STRONGEST OF OPPONENTS," Necrozma revealed. "YEARS AGO, IN MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT WORLD, I WITNESSED THIS POWER FIRSTHAND, WIELDED BY A GROUP OF YOUNG ADULTS SUCH AS YOURSELVES IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST DEATH. YOU MUST HARNESS THE POWER OF MANY, OF ALL THE BONDS YOU HAVE FORMED, IF YOU WISH TO BEST THIS POWER. KNOW THAT YOU CAN NEVER WIN IF YOU STAND ALONE."

Reimu gritted her teeth. "But… I did stand with many… my friends… my Pokemon… but now, how can I…"

"Oh c'mon, you think we're just gonna let you lose like THAT, after everything you've pulled?" A voice suddenly came from behind the group.

Reimu turned around, and to her surprise…

"Guzma?" she exclaimed.

Guzma crossed his arms and laughed. "The hated boss who beats you down and never lets up… that's me. Not even time and space are enough to keep me from getting where I want to go." He was soon backed up by his trusty grunts, including Gladion and Plumeria, who all did their dance for him.

"This is for mom," Gladion declared. Selene held onto him, to his general annoyance. He shot Marisa and Lillie a smirk. The three siblings knew what was at stake here.

"Your battle style is amazing," said another voice, revealed to be Ilmia's, who filed through the crowd of grunts toward the shrine maiden. "I didn't want to see it be wasted because you were killed by this abomination." Soon, all the other trial captains came forward alongside him, all to cheer the group on and give them encouragement.

"Please do… kick its ass! " Lana said, first blushing, then flashing an uncharacteristic wide-eyed grin across her face.

"Show that thing the burning passion within your spirit!" Kiawe called out.

"Go ahead and whip up a recipe… for destruction!" Mallow dared.

Sophocles and Molayne walked up alongside each other and banged their fists. "Give it the shock of its life!" they said in unison.

"Show it to the spirit world, if you know what I mean!" Acerola told them wiggling her fingers.

Mina held out her fingers trying to frame Necrozma in a portrait. "I'm gonna paint the picture that'll accompany your obituary."

Reimu and everyone else looked around. "Wha… where did you all from?"

"Ho ho ho," Hala laughed strutting up the shrine steps. "It seems you aren't so alone after all."

"Gramps!" Hau exclaimed.

"Well, if it isn't my boy Hau!" Hala smiled. "I bet you never thought you'd see your old man follow you here!"

"I had to come support you as well!" said Olivia walking up alongside him, with Nanu not far behind.

"Don't look at me," Nanu said flatly. "They just dragged me here."

Finally, a Mudsdale carrying Hapu and Zinnia came up the steps and pulled up alongside the other kahunas. "You didn't think we'd just abandon you at the Altar, did you?" Hapu asked Reimu.

Lillie looked at the crowd. "I don't believe it… all the trial captains and kahunas… and…" Two more figures made their way up the stairs. "...the professor?!"

Professor Kukui came up to Reimu and tipped his glasses. "I gotta say," he said looking around. "This place looks like what I imagine Hell to be like. You really outdid yourself jumping right into something like this, cousin. But I knew you had it in you the whole time."

Reimu was astounded. "But… but how did you all get here?"

"You have your friend to thank," he smirked. And at that moment, Kasen rode in on a Dragonite, Okina manifested a door which she stepped out of and dismissed, and Yukari simply floated down from above with her parasol.

"...Yukari?" Reimu stammered.

Yukari chuckled. "Now, did you think I, a Sage of Gensokyo who has looked over you your whole life would not come to your aid at the hour of judgement? I simply needed more time to gather reinforcements." She waved her hand. "And I managed to bring the whole circus with me."

At that moment, there was a rumbling noise as the presence of many made itself known. Rising from below, the Palequinn Ship, commandeered by Captain Murasa and filled with the combined crews of Myouren and Senkai, loomed over the shrine, with Miko and Byakuren standing atop the bow, having buried their grudge long enough to face this common threat. Then the group of grunts and trial captains split and stood aside, as all of Gensokyo's greatest champions, charismatically led by a gohei-twirling Sanae Kochiya, marched up the steps, drawing their weapons upon sighting Necrozma. Up above, Utsuho Reiuji levitated up from behind them, spreading her wings far and wide, her Yatagarasu eye glowing brightly and atoms orbiting her. The piercing cry of an Yveltal heralded the angel of death itself, which swooped in close and dropped Remilia and Sakuya off onto the ground before joining Okuu in the sky.

Completing the scene, five lights dove down from the sky, down to the battlefield and ready to throw down against Necrozma. The four established Island Guardians, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Lele. They were led by their new fifth member, the newly-christened Tapu Mo'o. For it, the battle against Necrozma was personal, and it sought revenge. For the others, it was an opportunity to remind Necrozma of its crimes and put it back in its place.

It was a sight that made Reimu's heart warm right up. All of Gensokyo, and the very best of Alola. Right here, right now, for her sake. Upon seeing the group, the three Ultras huddled into the shrine, not wanting to be ripped to shreds by these warriors.

"I still can't believe this," Sanae said coldly, perhaps in the most serious tone Reimu had ever heard from her. "I grew up playing Pokemon. I never thought I'd actually end up here in the Pokemon world. I guess it's only natural I'm here for the legendary battle too."

Satori reached out her hand. "Right now, I can see the overwhelming sense of dread building up within you," she said to Necrozma. "Perhaps you are not as almighty as you think you are."

"Gensokyo and the barrier are not your personal playthings," Tenshi declared drawing her Sword of Hisou. "This is how I have chosen to atone for my sins, you tempting scumbag."

Sukuna strutted up past the feet of the crowd. "I may be small, but I pack the power of a supernova inside this mallet, and the blood of sinners on my blade. Threaten Reimu, and you shall see no mercy."

Eiki raised her Rod of Remorse. "The crime: disrupting Gensokyo's order. The sentence…" she lowered it slowly and smiled. "...heh. Hell would be merciful ."

Byakuren swished out her arm and declared, "by the power invested in me by the Buddha, I shall see to it that all evil is cast out of this realm." To which Miko added, "I would be doing Japan and my heritage a grave injustice by not facing this threat, even if it means risking my life and those of my followers."

Yomou drew her blade. "I will cut through your shadows and lies!"

Kaguya declared, "you may symbolize the moon, but no Lunarian would ever endorse your destructive actions!"

Remilia stepped up, and sneered, "the forces of night have a code of honor, one which you have run over with a steamroller, then blew up with an atomic bomb and shot the resulting glass with a minigun. I have a vampire killer in my ranks, and she is proficient in expelling other dark creatures as well." To which Sakuya added, "and if what Meiling told was true… then your list of sins includes genocide."

Finally, everyone with an Ultra Beast ally came up. Sekibanki with her Blacephalon. Yuuka with her Buzzwole and her Stakataka. Xurkitree shimmied up next to Satori. And Mokou rode in on Celesteela.

"Y'know," Mokou said tossing a butt aside, "thanks to you, these guys all found friends. Doesn't mean they're not pissed about being torn from their homes and wanting revenge on you."

"Care to speak for all the flowers you endangered oh so carelessly?" Yuuka smiled dissonantly. A green-colored Oricorio with dreadlocks hopped onto her head, and gave the same stare as her master. Stakataka's one eye looked on angrily, while Buzzwole flexed menacingly.

Reimu smirked, her resolve and confidence restored, and looked back at Necrozma. "Guess you found the wrong damn woman to mess with," she taunted. "You're right - my ability to form bonds is indeed strong. But perhaps too strong for your liking."

It was then that her Z-Ring clicked back to life.

Reaching into her bag, she took out all of her typed Z-Crystals and threw them into the air like confetti. Drawing on Solgaleo's, and now also Sunshine's, power, she floated up, and caught all eighteen crystals, which orbited around her like the rings of Saturn. Praying, she lifted her gohei, collecting the power of all eighteen types within it.

She looked over at Sunshine, who anxiously awaited her action.

Reimu couldn't help her giddiness. Even though she was a shrine maiden, for the first time in her life she was actually about to directly power up a god.

Her face contorted with pleasure and mania as a wide grin spread from ear to ear and her eyes widened.

Then, all at once and with a figurative bass-drop, she shot all that stored power from her gohei, the power manifesting as large colored orbs corresponding to each Z-Crystal. One by one, the lights enveloped Sunshine, who began to float and brighten. Reimu could see her brain crystal begin to exude once more before she was completely overcome. Once the last of the power entered Sunshine, Reimu landed back down and reclaimed her Z-Crystals. The ball of light enveloping Sunshine rose up into the air, where it shone brilliantly, forcing all present to avert their eyes.

When they looked back, when the light began to fade, it revealed a figure unlike anything anyone had seen before.

First, a dragon's tail made of light grew out. Then, the two clawed hands, which now acted as feet, poked out from below. Four wings spread out from within. An armored chest them emerged as the light receded upward. Finally, the light was re-absorbed into the body completely, revealing a draconic head with one red and one blue jeweled eyes. The dragon, made completely of light, drew back, then let out a piercing, glassy, metallic roar, which seemed to rattle the fabric of reality itself.

The Blinding One, Sunshine.

In one deft motion, Sunshine swooped, then gradually lowered down in front of Necrozma. Once situated, her trusty companions, Ichigo, Metang, Kartana and Diancie, emerged from behind her, all raring for a fight against the lunar abomination.

Alice looked at the scene in utter, dumbstruck disbelief. She remembered the day, seemingly not so long ago, when she made that doll. Just one of many countless dolls serving her will. Then it was given a soul, and gained awareness and intelligence. Then it became a doll-girl. Then a regular girl. Then she merged with a lion deity. Now, Sunshine had realized her full, unchained and ultimate form: Ultra Necrozma.

Marisa and Patchouli stood at her side.

"What," was all Marisa could manage.

"You can say that again," Alice replied.

Even Patchy was forced to make a confession. "Marisa… I take back everything I've ever said to you about how you could never be a true magician."

"Why?" Marisa asked.

"...because no amount of research I've ever done could hope to explain to me what the fuck it is I'm looking at right now." That singular "fuck" hit like a freight train, the only explitive either Alice or Marisa had ever heard Patchy utter in the time that they had known her.


Necrozma attempted to attack, but was quickly struck down by Sunshine's first move: Metang rose up into the air, and began to charge Necrozma. Sunshine fired Dragon Pulse at it, which it collected around its fist and combined with its signature Meteor Mash attack to punch Necrozma right in the face, a combo attack called "Draco Meteor Mash."

Next, Sunshine charged up Photon Geyser - difficult to do here, given the lack of light - while Ichigo conjured up a Shadow Ball. The Photon Geyser was captured by Ichigo's wand. Both light and dark energies swirled around Ichigo before she fired it, "Yin-Yang Dichotomy." This attack hit Necrozma's left arm, causing it to lose power.

Sunshine then unleashed a blast of hot air from her 10,000+ degree body, which Kartana caught up in a whirlwind it made by spinning its body around. The fiery vortex was then fired at Necrozma, "Hell Escalator." It singed and sapped power from Necrozma's right arm.

For the final move, Sunshine called upon her first ever technique, Power Gem. Diancie created numerous diamonds, ripping the carbon that they were made of straight from the CO2 molecules in the air, and positioned them strategically around Sunshine. The lights of the attack were directed into these diamonds, which brimmed with power before firing eight lasers into one, much larger diamond, which combined the smaller lasers into one superlaser. This devastating move, "Starkiller's Lament," struck Necrozma's chest, completely depowering it and leaving it at Sunshine's mercy.

Defeated, Necrozma ripped open an Ultra Wormhole and tried to escape. But Zygarde was having none of it. Appearing in front of Lillie, it shot out its Thousand Arrows, which pierced Necrozma and pinned it against a mountain. Zygarde then broke down into its many cells, which rushed up to Necrozma and reformed into tight, binding chains which could resist any force that tried to break them. Necrozma could do little but helplessly struggle against its captor. It was now completely at Sunshine's mercy; all that she needed to do was land the decisive finishing move.

"Sunshine!" Reimu shouted. "Necrozma's weak! Punish it for all the crimes it has committed!" Reimu gave Sunshine carte blanche to do whatever she wanted to Necrozma to take advantage of its current state. She didn't care if it was a death of a thousand cuts or one huge nuke, she just wanted the job done so that this incident could finally be ended.

Sunshine flew up high in the sky, leaving her Pokemon on the ground, and began to charge up Photon Geyser. Except this time, rather than launch it at its normal size, she let it grow past that, gathering as much light and power as she could to power up the attack, with some trickling out of the wormhole Necrozma had previously opened.

"Look!" Lillie pointed out. "Sunshine wants to use an even more powerful Photon Geyser."

Reimu looked up at the light orb forming above Sunshine's head. "It's not forming very fast though…" She turned to Professor Kukui. "Any ideas, professor?"

Professor Kukui thought for a moment, then came up with a thought.

"Perhaps if we fill her with Z-Power," he suggested. "Then we can turn whatever she's trying to do into a supercharged Z-Move!"

Gladion looked up at Sunshine, then told the professor, "but look at the size of that move. It'll short out any one Z-Ring and probably completely drain the person trying to power it up."

Kukui looked out to the huge crowd behind them, then smirked, "well then, I guess we'll just have to draw upon the power of as many people as we can get!" He called out to the crowd, "everyone! I want you to perform a Z-Dance in order to power that move up!"

The trial captains, kahunas and even the Team Skull grunts all knew what Kukui was suggesting, but the Gensokyo residents were mystified.

Reimu got up and faced the crowd, "look, if you don't know what to do, just look at the person next to you and copy their moves!"

The Tapu had come prepared for this exact scenario, propping a massive Sparkling Stone atop the roof of the shrine so that anyone without a Z-Ring could still supply Z-Power for the attack. One by one, those in the crowd began to perform dances, with Reimu ensuring that at least one person was doing a dance for each type for best results. The two dancers, Satano and Mai, also danced, drawing out the hidden power within each person present, effectively doubling the effect of each person's dance toward powering up the massive attack Sunshine was readying. This power steadily flowed into Sunshine, who converted it into more light to power up the massive light ball. Finally, Reimu gave it her all, performing the Psychic dance. The bond between her and Sunshine brought forth a massive amount of power, enough to cause Reimu to stagger once it had completely manifested.

As this was going on, Adele regained consciousness and pulled herself off the ground. Battered and bruised, she weakly looked up at Sunshine charging up her attack. Then, she caught a vision. No one else could see it, but it was as though a light was beaming through the clouds. The clouds parted, revealing the face of the sunglasses Samurott - her father.

He looked down, and she looked up. The scene was quiet, with the noise of all the Z-Dances drowned out as the two shared a father-daughter moment.

Then, he spoke.

"You got gud."

He then took off the MLG sunglasses and tossed them down to Adele, who caught them with her flipper before putting them on herself before the vision disappeared.

Now with her resolve reinvigorated, Adele started charging up Focus Blast. True Focus Blast, not the watered-down version that the TM taught, but the full, raw power of the move whose true capability could only be unlocked by a certain few, such as Adele. Trying to heighten one's mental focus enough to translate fighting spirit into the attack was usually enough to completely drain a Pokemon's vitality away, but the extra power afforded both by her lineage and the MLG glasses allowed her to tap into that full potential. As the ki ball grew and grew, Adele pushed herself to her limits. After this, she would be so strained that she would no longer be able to completely annihilate everything that crossed her path as she had unintentionally done many times before. But she would still be plenty skilled and strong, she and her trainer always considered the collateral damage an inconvenience, and in any case defeating Necrozma was far more important right now. Once the attack reached its full size, she gritted her teeth, resisting the force the ball was giving off, before launching it at Sunshine's light ball. Collapsing to the ground, she struggled to get back up as she ached, before Sasha extended his arm to help her up. The two locked eyes for a moment. Hedwig, off to the side, looked at them and winked. The two Pokemon looked back at each other and smiled. Sasha crouched down and held Adele in his arms while they watched the rest of the scene unfold.

The Focus Blast struck the light ball just as it gathered the last of the crowd's Z-Power, combining with it and causing the light ball to reach critical mass, now being several times the size of Sunshine and brimming with energy. And so, she was ready to fire off this most powerful of all Z-Moves - Light that Burns the Sky.

At the same time, Zygarde's cells let off the chains they had formed themselves into, recombining into its Complete Forme and grabbing Necrozma with its arm. It mightily tossed Necrozma just as Sunshine fired her attack. Necrozma barreled through the air uncontrollably towards the ball of light, before colliding with it.

Silence and darkness, before a brilliant explosion erupted in midair, and slowly began consuming the lookalike Gensokyo.

Throughout the land, "Ultra" versions of each of its denizens came out of their hiding places to observe the spectacle. Even the villagers were uncharacteristically calm as the wall of light approached them, before inevitably swallowing them.

Back at the shrine, the explosion was sending off blasts of air and shockwaves which made keeping balance difficult, not to mention the blinding rays. Most jumped behind trees, bushes and structures as the light approached, but others were more selfless: Okuu came down to Satori and Orin and used her wings to shield them from the blast. Similarly, Yveltal covered the mansion's residents with its wide wings while looking down; some Team Skull grunts managed to hunker down near them, with Golisopod bracing Guzma against the wind.

Hau, Lillie and Gladion joined Marisa, Alice and Patchouli at the edge of the hill overlooking the blast. All of them stared off to the distance, completely mesmerized by the sight.

"Hau!" someone shouted. It was Hala.

"Gramps!" Hau exclaimed. "I can't believe you all came here!"

"Well, it wasn't wholly my decision," Hala joked. "Somehow, Yukari roped the Tapu into coming here and they each dragged us kahunas along. But I knew you were here, so I came here to support you as well."

Hau smiled. "Thanks, Gramps." He turned back around. "I can't believe it. Just a couple weeks ago, I was getting hyped up to finally do my challenge, thinking and talking about all the amazing things I would get up to. But I didn't think I'd come to another dimension completely and see legends duke it out."

"I don't think it was a mistake at all," Hala told him. "It was destiny that brought you here to test your mettle as a trainer." He reached into his pocket, got a Fightinium-Z, and handed it to Hau.

"...huh?" Hau wondered. "But, I still haven't done your grand trial!"

Hala shook his head. "You don't need to. The fact that you're here today tells me everything I need to know about your strength." He looked over to Lillie. "And you, Lillie. I never thought you'd become such a fierce trainer."

Lillie looked over to him. "Well, I am a Kirisame after all… ze."

Patchouli facepalmed. Not another one , she groaned. Meanwhile, Marisa was a bit flattered on how fast she had rubbed onto her sister so quickly. While all Gladion could focus on was Selene squeezing him from behind.

Alice looked at Marisa. "If we don't survive this," she said, "I wanted to tell you… I love you."

"I know," Marisa said back.

The two held hands, pulled into each other, and kissed.

Meanwhile, the sages stood back, observing the blast, with Yukari in front of the other two. Dragonite held Kasen in close like an overprotective dog.

The only thought that crossed Yukari's mind as her dress once again whipped around was, I hope that blast wasn't mortal . A single tear ran down her cheek.

Struggling to keep her footing and covering her head with her arm, Reimu attempted to look on at the blast, before being knocked over by a wind gust.

"Whoa!" she yelped as she flailed her arms and hit the ground… only to be caught by Elio, just as she went down.

Reimu shot Elio an annoyed look while he smiled earnestly down at her.

The blast was getting louder.

The two stared at it. It was now practically in front of them.

Apprehension gripped their faces.

The two leaned in closer to each other, Reimu unconsciously putting her hand around Elio, as the wall of light overtook them.