Cyrus is fast as fuck.

If he had indeed fused with his Pokemon, then their weaknesses must've carried over as well… If that's the case, even a pebble will inflict significant damage!

So Cynthia makes her move. "Lucario, Stone Edge!"

Lucario brandishes a stone spear and charges at Cyrus. He allows it to come within five steps, then swats it aside with an Air Slash.

"Lucario, don't give up! Trap him with Rock Tomb!"

Cyrus effortlessly weaves past shooting rocks the size of his head. A sharpened boulder lacerates his wing, but he shows no signs of slowing down. Lucario steals across the rippling lake, grabbing crystals and rocks and anything sharp to throw up at the sky.

Cyrus shields himself with his wings, and he counters with a storm of falling quills. Then he pulls out an icicle from his palm. Instead of shaping it into a blade, he fashions the ice into a bow, which he uses to send frozen arrows down to earth.

While Cyrus is distracted with Lucario, Cynthia takes to the air with Togekiss. A little closer… Now! She lobs a Master Ball at his head.

BOINK! The Master Ball harmlessly ricochets off his thick skull. Cyrus whips back with utter shock scrawled on his face. And just for the briefest of seconds, the battle abruptly comes to a complete standstill.

Cynthia watches her precious Ball disappear forever. "Huh. I… honestly thought that would work… TOGEKISS, EXTREMESPEED!"

Togekiss rams into Cyrus before he can react, sending him tumbling into a vortex of rocks that Lucario has so generously prepared.

Cynthia tosses her hair behind her shoulder. "You're trapped in my Rock Tomb, Cyrus! This battle is over—"

"But it's only just begun, Champion."

A swell of volcanic heat ruptures through the tightly sealed Rock Tomb. Cynthia keeps Togekiss close to prevent hair and eyebrows from being charred off. A battered Cyrus perches on the highest crystal pinnacle, his hands held out to the heavens, his wings unfurled to their full length.

"FOCUS BLAST!" A stream of concentrated energy smashes into Lucario's chest. As the Pokemon struggle to righten, Cyrus swoops in with a nasty Brick Break to its neck.

Lucario goes down. Cyrus shoots to the sky again, slashing a shocked Togekiss's stomach with his wing. Malice flashes in the white bird's eyes, and it immediately hurls an Ancient Power at his spine.

"Togekiss, wear him down with Water Pulse!"

Cyrus retaliates with Icy Wind, freezing the water-based attack in place. "You are straining your Pokemon, Champion Cynthia."

"Shut up! Togekiss, Giga Impact—"

Togekiss teeters haphazardly to the side, almost throwing Cynthia overboard. Its complexion has turned a ghostly shade of green while heavy perspiration dots its forehead. That's when she sees the clumpy dark blood on pure white feathers.

"You poisoned my Pokemon?!" she hisses. He must've deployed Toxic when he flew past not long ago, this sneaky bastard. She reaches for a Full Restore—

Cyrus shoots an icy arrow into her inventory, the ice smashing vials and freezing Berries, basically rendering everything useless. He smiles at her scowl. "Embargo."

"Y-You! I'll embargo your ass!" Insults aside, Togekiss is going down. Both Trainer and Pokemon will be smooshed upon impact.

So Cynthia does the only thing she can do: she leaps off. Winds plummet her back, but with one primal scream, she lunges for his collar.

"Grah!"

"You're going down with me, bastard!" With a claw over his neck and head, Cynthia swings herself onto his back. Cyrus tries desperately to shake her off: rolling around, twirling in sickening rondos but Cynthia had wedged her fingernails into his flesh.

"I'll rip off those fake wings!"

"What are youaaAAAAGHH!"

Turns out these wings have been grafted deep into his skin… in other words, they are very, very real. Cyrus is plummeting down to earth. Cynthia jumps off just as the falling star smashes into the water.

Mesprit jolted from her nap. Someone or something had trespassed over the hallowed grounds of Crystal Cave.

"Uxie? Azelf, is that you?" No reply from the darkness beyond. Mesprit peeked out from behind her tails. "I have a nasty Future Sight! Come and eat some, buster!"

"Mesprit?"

"F-Fine, you asked for it! Future—"

Then she saw him. That human. The soul she had failed to save.

Cyrus bowed his head. "Mes… hah… E-Excuse me… I just need to catch my breath…"

Why, he's certainly much… wholler. Made sense since spirit and body are one again. The downside was that he's just as frail as before. In fact, it's only a matter of time now before he knelt over.

The Guardian of Emotion laid her head against his heaving chest. B-dup. B-dup. What a wonderful sound. Today, his heart sang a different song: a melody of strength and determination.

"I admit, I do miss you being a crybaby," she hummed. "You've taken better care of your heart… it rejoices because it has been accepted."

Then Mesprit gasped. "Holy Arceus on a dawn's night, I touched you! Y-You're not a spirit anymore, so my curse…"

"I'll be fine," Cyrus said softly. "In essence, I'm still a lost soul sealed inside an expired vassal. I won't lose my emotions."

"Oh…" Mesprit wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or worried. This human was certainly observant… perhaps too keen for his own good. What's wrong with being ignorant and living life to its fullest?

Cyrus straightened. "Mesprit… you warned me of the dangers of a broken heart. As it turned out, my heart tried to kill me again… but it never had the heart to commit to the deed."

Mesprit smacked him with a tail. "Seriously, what is it with you and dark humor? And I know all that already. I know that the darkness of your heart was able to find solace." He raised a brow. "Pleeease. I am the Guardian of Emotion after all. Give me some credit.

"Don't get me wrong, it's great that you've accepted your heart's flaws, but why are you here? I was about to bring the Time Gear to the Old Chateau."

Cyrus's face was unreadable as he pulled out four shimmering Time Gears from his sleeves. And that bothered Mesprit greatly for a reason she could not fathom.

"The fifth and final Time Gear resides there, in the center of Crystal Lake."

"Yes…?"

"She will be here soon."

"Who…?"

Cyrus took a wobbly step forward. Mesprit automatically blocked his path.

"Once all Time Gears are gathered, the Planet's Paralysis will spread at an exponential rate." There was nothing in his voice. When he looked at her, she could not read the emotions behind his darkened eyes. "You are the only thing standing in my way."

The temperature plummeted. The crystals flickered. Pebbles fell down to the churning lake.

Cyrus smiled. "Thank you for giving me a second chance to live, Mesprit. Now, please step aside."

Mesprit refused. "Cyrus, I'm warning you! You don't want to be hit again by Future Sight!"

"Eheheh… You are acting as if I will do something very horrible to you." His tone was polite, but his smirk told a different story. Mesprit summoned a pillar of crystals, but all Cyrus needed was a tip of the chin for the crystals to obey his command.

A cold claw squeezed Mesprit's thrashing heart. This was not good.

"In a newly created world, there should have been no strife," Cyrus murmured, stepping closer to the Guardian of Emotion. "But because the human spirit is weak and incomplete, strife has spread, ruining any chances of this world ever reaching perfection..."

Nope, not good at all.

It's a long swim back to land. But as Cynthia wades across the expansive lake, she can't shake this feeling that something is… off.

A shadowy mass brushes against her coat. Something is lurking underwater, something big, long, and fast. Cynthia calls Milotic just in time to save her leg from being devoured by a set of gaping jaws.

Cyrus rises to the surface, his serpentine body uncoiling until it reaches the highest crystal pillar. He looks down on her, fins bristling, a mouth of razor-sharp teeth glinting in the flickering light.

"WELL DONE ON YOUR FIRST TRIAL," he growls. "ARE YOU READY FOR ROUND TWO?"

Cyrus dives back in the lake. Cynthia keeps a tight grip on Milotic, both Pokemon's and Trainer's eyes scanning the scene for any tell-tale signs of their enemy.

"Milotic," she whispers. "Set up Aqua Ring and Mirror Coat—"

"TOO LATE."

Milotic shrieks and yanks its frozen tail from the water. Ice Fang. Cynthia is about to reach for an Ice Heal when she remembered that fucking Cyrus destroyed her pack of healing items.

"Damn you, Cyrus! Milotic, Rain Dance! I don't care if we flood Crystal Lake, but it should level the playing field!"

A good portion of land sinks upon the rising water level.

"SO WE SHALL BATTLE WITHIN THE TIDES," muses a smirking Cyrus from right behind her. "WHO IS FASTER, I WONDER? YOUR MILOTIC OR MY GYARADOS?"

Cynthia jabs a finger between his crackling blue eyes. "My Pokemon obviously. Milotic, show him what you can do!"

What follows is a fast and furious underwater chase around the sunken city. Whenever Cynthia feels like it's the right opportunity to strike, that prick always quickens his pace…

As if he's playing with her.

"Cyrus, stay still!"

"THEN HURRY UP."

"Screw you then! Milotic, show him who's the superior sea serpent with Giga Impact!"

"YOU READ MY MIND, CHAMPION."

Cyrus collides head-on with a headbutting Milotic. BOOM! The aftershock sends tides swelling to the cavern ceiling.

While Cynthia's skull rings from the impact, a panting Milotic staggers back. Bubbles are streaming from Cyrus's gills, but he musters the strength to give her his usual smirk.

"DID YOU KNOW? I DO NOT ONLY POSSESS GYARADOS'S POWERS." And that's when she notices the tendrils of electricity dancing down his scales.

"Milotic, GO!" Cynthia flings herself and her Pokemon back on dry land. Not one nanosecond later, Crystal Lake bursts into crackling light.

When the sparks stop flying, Milotic deploys Ice Beam to freeze the lake. "There he is!" Cynthia cries. "Now, Hyper Beam!"

Tides splice in half, and water evaporates on the spot. When the flash dies, there's… nothing in the lake, save for a faint trace of crimson undulating in the rippling waves.

Cynthia slumps back to her exhausted Milotic. "That's all his Pokemon… Is it finally over?"

"Pain and suffering are whims of a faulty heart," Cyrus continued in that dream-like trance. "And you… are the embodiment of all I despised, Mesprit. A world purged of these needless sentimentality should be a much brighter place… everyone would be so much happier… I honestly thought that—"

"Extrasensory!"

A blast of odd, unseen power sent Cyrus flying back into the lake. Mesprit would've pounced him again if not for the fact that he's… not doing anything.

"Why did you stop?" Cyrus croaked. "I deserve much worse than a broken spine."

B-dup. B-dup. His heart had stopped singing.

"I wasted twenty years of my life chasing after this flawed delusion," Cyrus whispered, gaze fixed at nothing. Water lapped against his ears as he drifted under Mesprit's heavy stare. "Often I'd think to myself at night: Would it be different if I'd stayed in Sunyshore? Would it be different if I forced myself to endure, then would it be easier to push everyone away? If I'd never left, would it be easier for me to become the perfect emotionless machine?"

His heart was trembling. Mesprit stopped her incoming Psychic attack.

Cyrus covered his face. "Of course I was wrong! Even if I am a hapless, useless mess, I was still…" His voice dropped. "I was happy. I was accepted… I was valued… A-And I only realized that fact after I lost everything precious to me…

"W-Would this be how others will feel if I took away their happiness for the sake of my new world?"

Mesprit's chest tightened. Once again, his heart had begun to weep.

Cyrus's smile failed to reach his eyes. "I will never be perfect nor complete. Instead of owning up to my mistakes, I took the coward's way out… And now it's too late. I am too deep inside this madness to beg for forgiveness…

"So that's why I have one last favor to ask of you, Mesprit. I no longer have the strength to stand on my own two feet. There's no hope in hell that I'll ever walk again."

That statement was buffed with conviction… and rightfully so. Mesprit cast a long, pained stare at his legs, her silence confirming his diagnosis.

"I wish to face her properly when we do meet again," Cyrus continued in a louder, clearer voice. "It's a selfish wish, I know… But when I do crash and burn, I wish to fall having known that I was all I could've become."

His Pokemon emerged from their capsules. "When I thought he'd already grown, he grew up again," Crobat murmured with a gentle wing to his cheeks. "It worries me how he always grew up too fast, but this time is different: he's really matured."

"Still stubborn as ever though," Honchkrow grumbled. "Nothing gets through that dense skull…"

"WHAT MATTERS IS THAT HE'S NOT ALONE ANYMORE," Gyarados growled.

"Though we may disagree on things, we trust this kid with all our hearts!" exclaimed Weavile. "So help us give him our strengths, Mesprit!"

Rotom groaned under its breath. "I still-zzt-don't support this 110%, zzt… But Rotom trusts its friends. Rotom will help its friends!"

Mesprit held the gazes of each of the Pokemon. Their hearts refused to waver. Just like their boneheaded Trainer, they've come too far to be turned away.

Then Mesprit sighed. "Cyrus… you are aware of the immense toll this will impose upon your body and spirit… right?"

Cyrus smirked. "Do you really need to ask me that?"

"Uxie was right: I know you way too well that it's scary. You are the most stupid, irrational, most reckless human I have ever seen!"

"Eheheh… I tell myself that all the time." He turned to his Pokemon. "It'll be fine. When she wins, you'll wake up from this nightmare. Please wait for me until then."

With that, Cyrus linked paws, wings, fins, and axis with his Pokemon. Mesprit exaggerated another loud sigh. Nevertheless, she gently cupped his cheekbones, resting her pulsating crimson jewel to his forehead.

"You are but a child in my eyes, Cyrus," Mesprit mumbled. "Time and time again you blatantly disregard your life… You worry me beyond words, but I won't let you do this all alone. In addition to your Pokemons' powers, I will lend you my strength as well. Use it wisely."

Cyrus bowed his head. Mesprit wrapped her arms around the human, and when her jewel gave off its last spark of light, she fell unconscious into his embrace.

The water level gradually returns to normal as Cynthia trudges across the crystal bridge. The Time Gear sits in its pedestal, untouched, unsullied by the carnage it had seen.

Cynthia hesitates on touching the fifth and final Time Gear. Was it this easy? There's no sign of Cyrus anymore. Even the White Moonstone isn't picking up anything…

As if to answer her question, a sword of light pierces through Milotic's heart, sending the Pokemon crumbling down. The empty chamber plunges into a morbid crimson hue, just like the color of the sky during a solar eclipse.

Cynthia calls on Garchomp. Before her is a pillar of harsh, rippling red light. The darkly radiant curtains lift, revealing a pair of wide, golden eyes.

This time, Cyrus is levitating in the air through the power of his mind. A crimson jewel sits in the middle of his forehead, casting his sunken face in bloody shadows.

"G-Garchomp! Dragon Rush!"

And Garchomp is instantly bombarded by millions of glittering light particles.

Cyrus dips his toes into the lake's surface, but he manages to stand perfectly straight. His hair blows in the unseen breeze. A sinister aura surrounds his form, but the most prominent glow comes from a constricting halo around his neck.

Like a scene from her worst nightmares.

"C-Cyrus?" Cynthia whispers.

No reply.

She tries again. "Cyrus. We don't have to do this… Might isn't always right…"

Garchomp leaps forward, but Cyrus smacks its aside with telepathy. Then he shudders. He clutches his heart, shoulders heaving as the halo tightens around his throat.

Then he sees his grotesque reflection. And he screams. The disconcerting shriek has been stripped of anything that resembles a human cry. Instead, it is an angry wail of all the Pokemon that had lent him their strength.

"Grr… GraaAAAHH!" Cyrus leaps to the sky again.

Garchomp hops to its feet. Smoking froth sizzles from the land dragon's jaws, its rage festering, roiling across the turbulent waters of Crystal Lake.

The world is plunged into darkness with the only source of light coming from the ominous red sun. Cyrus's eyeballs roll back to his skull, revealing a nightmarish canvas of bloodshot white.

"Fu...TUre…"

"Garchomp, now! Draco Me…"

"FUTURE SIGHT!"

When the world stops shaking, Cynthia cracks open an eye, fully expecting to see a giant abyss in the middle of a vaporized lake.

But the cataclysm never came. The natural light has been restored. Water laps gently around the edges of land. Up above, the crystals continue to merrily twinkle like a mini galaxy.

Garchomp has been defeated. Its foe looms over the fallen land dragon like an angel of death.

Then Cyrus turns. That Future Sight had costed his own sight, as he now stares at the space next to Cynthia with eyes choked with blood. He wobbles forward—and immediately doubles over. Cyrus hacks out a waterfall of blood, straightens, and raises his head to what he believes is her horrified gaze.

"Impressive…" he gasps. "Your prowess… is… notable…"

And with that, the former boss of Team Galactic collapses. The Red Sunstone slips from his grip, rolling into its counterpart clenched tightly in her trembling hand.