"Quickly now. Quickly!"

The rush of incoming footsteps thundered down the hallway behind them. Colress' cool exterior had cracked, which had Finn more than a little worried. If the force coming after them was that bad, then there really was something to worry about.

They entered a medium sized room with another of those three-tube machines set into a wall. Colress closed the door behind them as soon as everyone was through, and immediately hovered over to the machine. Finn set Jitters to begin reinforcing the door with his webbing, which proved to be a good idea because something began to batter on the metal door almost immediately. Anthony pointed, and Hecate the mismagius began casting some kind of spell around the doorframe.

"Now, I can only activate it once before the system detects unauthorized usage of the Fuser and locks me out," Colress said as he rapidly tapped on a touchscreen. "You know, I put so many features into this damn thing that they never used? One of those features is a reversal function. Once we've done this, I'm going to prime the reversal function to begin reverting people back to normal."

"You want to make one of us a hybrid?" Anthony asked skeptically.

"It's the best chance we have," Colress replied. "Even a Sequenced human doesn't stand a chance against a fully-aware hybrid. The ones under mind control are disoriented, and you can probably beat them with a team of pokémon. But Darrell? Trinity? They'd kill your whole team and then you."

"Still, this seems like a bad idea…" Anthony trailed off, looking over at the door they had entered through.

Finn looked at the Fuser. On the one hand, Anthony was right. This did seem like a monumentally bad idea. The machine could very well do anything to whoever stepped into it. It could leave one of them horrifically deformed. Permanently. It would also leave whoever used it with the recessive gene for Finn's own debilitating condition.

And yet…

And yet Colress was correct. Darrell was absurdly strong. Finn had managed to beat him before because he had lost his temper and gone overboard. But when he had shown up to try and steal from Nik, there had been so much raw power at his disposal that there was no way Finn could beat Darrell as he was now. And if Trinity was anywhere near his level of power, that was it. Game over. Something stronger than just Finn would be needed, and Finn got the feeling that just using pokémon in addition wouldn't be enough.

"Oh. That's what he meant," Finn said quietly. This was the choice Darkrai had warned him of.

"Hmm?" Colress looked over.

"I'll do it." Finn stepped forwards. "What do I need to do?"

"Finn, you can't," Anthony protested. "What if something bad happens?"

"Then something bad happens. And I live with the consequences. But the important part is that I can fight to save everyone." Finn looked at Colress. "What do I need to do?"

"You need to stand in that tube, and your pokémon of choice in that one." Colress pointed at two of the three tubes that comprised most of the machine. "Take off any clothes you want to preserve, because your body is going to undergo major changes. Your jacket's probably not safe, but your pants should be."

Finn started taking off his jacket and looked over at Athena. He didn't need to say anything. She understood as well as he did why they were doing this. Why this needed to be done.

"Here, put this on. It's bulletproof." Finn handed his jacket to Anthony.

"But it's your-,"

"I won't need it," Finn interjected. "I'm going to be combining with a steel type. If I can't shrug off a few bullets, we were already doomed."

Anthony just stared at him, slack jawed.

Finn stepped over and opened one of the tubes, while Athena did the same on the other side of the machine.

"Now, the process isn't instant. It takes a few minutes." Colress glanced over at the door. It was buckling under the force of persistent blows, something incredibly strong on the other side. "Hopefully we'll have enough time."

"Crai, Rath, defensive positions. Belle, take up the center." Finn directed. He reached down and undid his pokéball belt, pulling one ball off at the same time. He released Bastion and Nyx, then set the belt aside. "Bastion, Nyx, I need you to help hold this door. Use any means you need to."

"Understood." Bastion saluted with one of his tentacles.

Anthony released two of his own pokémon. "Ares, Poseidon, you're my best close quarters fighters. Don't let anything get through this doorway."

Finn stepped into the tube and closed it.

"Ready?" Colress asked. "This is going to hurt. A lot."

"Ready." Finn nodded.

"Beginning Fusion."

Finn stiffened as electricity arced into his arms. His scar burned, lighting up with a dark purple glow. His veins ignited with fire and lightning as he felt his skin begin to crackle. He could taste copper, smell blood, and hear his eardrums vibrating. He saw though the glass as the metal door shattered, and a human hybrid slammed through to get caught in Jitters' web. Finn opened his mouth to shout-

The world went white.

O-O-O

"You know, I thought things would get easier with a giant legendary dragon god on our side," Blue said conversationally. He kept his tone friendly, but couldn't keep the exhaustion out of his voice. "But things are just as bad. Maybe worse, actually. They just keep coming."

Red grunted in response. His Pikachu leaped into the air and let loose a thunderbolt that caused a hulking bear-like hybrid to stagger backwards as its fur scorched. Red's other pokémon were hard at work as well. That lapras was firing off sheer colds like nothing else, the snorlax kept up a steady stream of hyper beams, and the starters were using blast burn, frenzy plant, and hydro cannon like they were going out of style.

Blue had no idea how he did it. Those moves were supposed to be exhausting. But those pokémon just kept going.

"Like, I'm exhausted, honestly," Blue admitted. "And my pokémon aren't doing much better. Maybe we're just out of practice? It has been a long time since I was challenged on a champion level on a regular basis. I think Viridian has been a bit too soft on me."

Red grunted.

Blue looked at his team. Rex the arcanine was sitting back, panting heavily. He'd been hit by a freezing blast of water, and as expected of type advantages was not taking it well. Crusher the gyarados was still out there, reveling in the chaos. But Blue could see the wounds from here, and knew that they would leave gnarly scars when this was over. If they survived. Gnash the aerodactyl was probably doing the best, exclusively because his job was to cut down anything that slipped past the others. With Red so close, there were precious few foes that could get past.

"Like, I'm really glad the zombies are gone." Blue kicked the head of one of those zombies. It had crumpled right in front of him, its animating force gone. "But it looks like maybe some of the hybrids were scared of them? Because they're fighting even harder now. I think we're in trouble."

Red looked over at him, giving him a deadpan glare. "No."

"I didn't say anything-," Blue protested.

"No," Red interrupted him. "I'm not calling him."

"It sure would make things easier…" Blue trailed off. "But I get it."

Blue didn't say anything to Red for a few minutes, devoting his attention to tending to Rex or directing his other pokémon. Eventually he spoke up again.

"Hey, why're you using sheer cold? Doesn't that move usually just, uh, kill?" Blue asked.

"Usually. Not these guys, though," Red answered.

"Makes sense." Blue turned his attention back out to the battlefield when another thought struck him. "Hey, wh-,"

Blue felt his stomach lurch as his leg bent in an unnatural direction. He looked down to see a thick spike of shaped chitin protruding from his lower leg, and the swiftly rising ground below that. He hit the dusty rocks with a low grunt.

Only then did he scream in pain.

Red was there in an instant, rolling him over and looking at the spike protruding out of Blue's leg. Red grimaced.

"Aahh fuck," Blue groaned. It was far from the first time he'd broken his leg. He was an experience pokémon trainer, after all, and he'd been to some pretty dangerous places. "Did it just cut my leg bone in half?"

"It's not puncturing that far in. It looks like it just fractured the bone." Red shook his head. He looked pensive, then sighed. "Alright, fine. I'm calling him."

Red slipped one hand into a pocket and pulled out his pokédex, tapping a couple of buttons before he put it away.

In the blink of an eye, a humanoid form appeared behind Red. He was wearing a heavy brown hooded cloak, the hood pulled and the cloak itself drawn around to hide every feature. The hooded figure stepped forwards next to Red, and a deep voice emanated from within the cloak.

"I did give you permission to call whenever you needed, Red," The hooded figure said. "And this… this looks like you needed me."

"I don't want to abuse your trust…" Red trailed off.

"You haven't, and I very much doubt you will." The hooded figure shifted within his cloak, and then the cloak parted. A hand with three bulbous digits emerged, and with a gesture the spike was removed from Blue's leg. The bent leg slowly snapped back into condition. "There. It's set properly now. Splint it to ensure it heals correctly."

"That didn't even hurt," Blue marveled. "How'd you do that, 'two?"

"I disabled your brain's ability to sense pain in that area. Believe me, it will hurt a great deal when I am no longer doing so." The hooded figure looked out over the battlefield. "Red, you should have called me long before this point."

"I thought we could handle it." Red sighed, standing up. "Clearly not."

"How would you like me to help?" At last the hood was lowered, revealing a face that was both completely inhuman and just familiar enough to strike a sense of unease into Blue, despite this being the eighth or so time seeing it. Two protrusions jutted up from the sides of its earless head, flat on the top. Its purple eyes swept across the battlefield again before returning to Red.

"Nothing big. We don't want to make too much of a scene. Some subtle help would be appreciated," Red said. "Zekrom's already drawing a lot of attention, but doesn't seem to be doing much."

"Ooh, hey! What if you could override the signal that's got all the hybrids mind controlled?" Blue suggested.

"Isolating the signal and devising a counter would take approximately an hour," Mewtwo said. His voice wasn't from his vocal chords – which honestly Blue didn't know if he had. It came from thin air, some kind of telekinetic technique.

"Can't you over power it?" Blue asked.

"Only if you want their heads to explode," Mewtwo said evenly. "Using anything near my full power would endanger too many lives. I won't risk it. And it looks like Zekrom is doing the same, even if he's overcompensating."

"Oh, that's why nothing's going down," Blue said to himself. "Huh. Make sense, I guess."

Red set down his bag and started rifling through it at this point, pulling out gauze and medical tape, along with a stiff board. "As I said, something subtle. If you could nudge things in our favor, that would be enough. I haven't exactly cleared your presence with anyone else."

"I can tell." A pokéball flew through the air towards Mewtwo, only to stop in midair. It crumpled into a useless lump of slag, and Mewtwo turned towards the origin of the projectile. "I'll forgive you once. After that, there will be consequences."

There was no audible response from the opportunistic trainer, but Blue did glance over to see a look of pure fear on a young woman's face. He laughed quietly to himself as Red went to work bandaging his leg and splinting it.

"Hey Red, have I ever told you how glad I am that you make really weird friends?"

O-O-O

When Finn opened his eyes, he felt… different. Not necessarily bad. In fact, he felt pretty good.

He blinked a couple of times, looking through the glass of the tube. The room looked pretty different from when he had stepped into the tube. The door had shattered into a dozen pieces, caught and held by the webs until something had ripped through those as well. There was a human hybrid of some sort wrapped in a cocoon that contained some of the pieces of the door. Rath was sitting on the unconscious form of another hybrid, eyes closed and breathing heavily. Belle tossed a couple of limp houndoom-golbat hybrids into a corner, where Jitters began binding them with spider webs. Finn's other pokémon were scattered around the room, with most of them clustered around Anthony. Anthony himself was wearing Finn's jacket as he tended to the wounds of the pokémon, his baseball bat dented and laying on the floor at his feet. Colress was scowling to himself and leaning against the wall, cradling his head.

Finn opened his mouth to speak, and instead found himself gasping for air. His lungs were empty, had been empty, and yet he didn't feel the crushing pressure of suffocation. He let out a heavy breath, and there was no compulsion to take in another one. No instinct to breathe, and no pain when he didn't.

Colress jolted up, eyes snapping to Finn. He quickly staggered across the room, favoring his left leg, and tapped on the touchscreen interface a few times. A moment later, and the tube hissed and snapped open.

Finn took another breath, now he could smell blood. And… something else. It was ephemeral and fleeting and made his mind conjure images of food. A moment later another part of his mind placed a name to the scent.

It was the scent of a soul.

He shook his head, dispelling all of the associated thoughts. If that's how the aegislash family perceived human life force, he could understand why they were known for violence.

"Finn?" Anthony asked, turning towards the Fuser as it opened. "I need you to promise not to freak out."

"Okay?" Finn furrowed his brow, feeling the skin on his forehead pull in strange ways. Something rigid was on his forehead, not moving with his muscles.

"You promise?"

"Yes?"

"Okay." Anthony dug around in his bag and pulled out a hand mirror. Then he slowly took it over to Finn, showing him a reflection of his face.

The first thing Finn noticed were his eyes. They had become glassy and artificial, with a very faint purple tint. Above his eyes, set into his forehead, was a crest of golden metal with Athena's eye in the center. The pupil inside moved with his normal eyes, proof that it was just as much an eye as the rest. Otherwise his face looked normal. Healthier, even.

Finn looked down at himself. To his mild surprise, he realized he was wearing the same gray t-shirt that he had put on the day he left home. It was untouched by his transformation, as were his pants. His shoes weren't though, having been destroyed as his feet had transformed into metal sabatons. He was glad he had shed his jacket, too, because as he looked at his left arm he saw that it had turned entirely to metal. His forearm was adorned with a circular shield, fused to the golden plating of his skin. His hand was covered in interlocking plates of metal, with hints of purple visible between the plates. His right arm was similarly, metal, but when he looked at it he saw how different it was. His hand was gone, replaced by a slot on his wrist. A pair of sashes emerged from the opposite sides of his wrist, waving gently in a nonexistent breeze.

"Oh. Huh." Finn stared at the end of his right arm.

"You promised-," Anthony began.

"I'm not freaking out." Finn exerted just the tiniest bit of effort, the amount required to bend a finger, and the sashes bent and coiled around his arm. Then he flexed, in an effort akin to making a fist, and a blade as long as his arm jutted from his wrist. It was the blade of an aegislash, tapered to a point and sizable enough that it should be unwieldy. Yet it felt like it weighed nothing. Finn relaxed, and it slid back into his arm silently. "This… this feels like an improvement, but it's still very weird."

"Asymmetry is common when hybridizing with pokémon that have a different body plan from humans," Colress said. "The more differences, the more asymmetrical the result. I'd call it lucky that the arm is the only major change to your physiology, considering how different aegislash are from humans."

"Hmm…" Finn tilted his head. "About that. I don't feel like I need to breathe? Athena thinks that's normal, but it's a little disconcerting."

"You have disparate minds?" Colress' head snapped towards him. "None of the hybrids so far have shown such a phenomenon…"

"No, I don't, like, hear her? I just know which thoughts in my head are mine and which ones are hers. I've spent long enough with our thoughts intermingling that it's second nature to pick them out." Finn shook his head. "I can feel… a lot of thoughts in here that aren't coming from me. It's not bad, just… different."

"Hmm…" Colress patted his gray jumpsuit then scowled. "I wish I had something to write this down on. Very interesting."

"So, breathing…?"

"Oh yes. Mono reported similar discomforts, but there were never any health complications for failing to breathe," Colress explained. He frowned as he saw Finn's reaction. "What's with the face?"

"Mono." Finn stepped out of the tube, his metal feet clanging against the floor. He scooped up his pokéball belt and slipped it on. "He's going to try to kill me, isn't he?"

"Nnnnooo…?" Colress didn't seem sure. "He's one of the most reasonable members of Team Plasma I've ever met. He was never happy about working for us, and he never did anything unkind if he could help it. Where'd you get that idea?"

"You said something about Ghetsis having an honor guard. That would be the most powerful hybrids, right? The earliest ones? The ones already members of team Plasma?" Finn asked. When Colress nodded, he continued. "That means Trinity, Dua, Mono, and Renard, at least."

"Darrell Leifeld, too," Colress added.

"Great. Just what I needed." Finn put his hands – hand – to his temple. "Darrell. Again."

"I take it you have history with Darrell?" Colress asked.

"That'd be an understatement. He's tried to kill me at least twice." Finn ran his hand through his hair. "And now-,"

Finn stopped. "And now I'm a hybrid too. I can beat them." He turned his head to look at Anthony. "You beat these guys by sheer numbers, right?"

"That and setup, yeah." Anthony nodded.

"Right." Finn took a deep breath, despite not needing it. "Colress, I need a map of the facility. Where do I need to go to get to Ghetsis?"

"Do you have any paper?" Colress asked.

Finn reached into a pocket – the item storage still worked, miraculously – and pulled out a small notebook. He handed it to Colress and grabbed a pen next, which was taken from his grip by a psychic force.

"Ghetsis has a large antechamber before his throne room, more grandiose posturing as always. The honor guard should be there. The throne room itself… I don't know what he'll have, but he won't be defenseless." The pen moved rapidly, and in a few moments the map was done. Colress handed the notebook to Finn.

"Great, let's go," Anthony said.

"No. I need you to do something else." Finn shook his head as he took the notebook. "We need to shut off power to the electrical defense system too. Anthony, you and Colress need to get to the power source it's running off of and turn it off. Can I trust you to do that?"

"Of course." Anthony nodded.

"Well, it's better than waiting here," Colress said.

"Good. Let's get going." Finn started walking.

"Wait!" Anthony dug through his bag and pulled out several objects. "I told you I brought supplies. I want you to take some."

From his bag, Anthony puled a couple of berries and a small, white ball. The ball had six dots on it, each a different color and situated so that any dot had one on the opposite side of the ball.

"Pester ball, Rawst, and Occa." Anthony held them out to Finn. "To activate the pester ball, just hit the button that corresponds to the status condition you want to inflict and throw it."

"Thank you," Finn said. He took the berries and the pester ball with his sashes, using them like prehensile limbs to tuck them away in his pockets.

"Alright." Anthony picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "So we'll meet up again when all this is over?"

"Hopefully," Finn replied. "I'll see you on the flipside."

Finn gestured, and his team of pokémon grouped up with him. Bastion was lifted by Crai, who gave him a platform of psychic power to stand upon. With seven pokémon in tow, Finn set off to follow the map Colress had set out for him.

O-O-O

Darkrai was a creature of deception. He could count on one hand how many times he had presented himself completely honestly to someone. Well, if he gave the hand about three times the number of fingers, but that was just another layer of the deception. Taking on an avatar was just a physical form of lying. It presented him as something he wasn't. But it was a white lie, most of the time. His true form was not meant for mortals to see. For that matter, his true form was not meant for other deities to see. There was more than one reason why the other members of the pantheon avoided him as much as possible.

Although one of those reasons was that he could affect any and all of them with his full might without bringing the Alpha's wrath down upon him. It was one of the 'perks' of being the god of fear. It had more downsides than ups, honestly.

But sometimes, deception was not what the situation called for. Sometimes he had to present himself to the world in order to help one of those he had been honest to. This was, unfortunately, one of those times.

No matter how much warning they had, the Toreta League would never have been prepared for this. It wasn't their fault. Toreta's split government/League structure was a disaster, bureaucratically speaking. Nothing could get done without going through five councils, three committees, and the approval of the current president. There was a reason every other developed nation in the world had moved to a League-as-government system, at least among those that had Leagues. It streamlined things.

Not that Darkrai was allowed to point out those issues. Hell, he wasn't supposed to warn them about Team Plasma at all. But Darkrai had, if not an arrangement then an understanding with Arceus. Arceus didn't want the pantheon to meddle in mortal affairs, but He didn't want the world to undergo major upheavals too often either. That's why Darkrai was still allowed to, well, exist.

He stopped his musing to thrust one hand up into the air, snatching a spike from its trajectory towards an unfortunate trainer behind him. The one who had thrown it had not noticed Darkrai, he knew that much. Neither had the sniper's target, up until this very moment.

"How did you do that?!" The trainer asked, jaw agape.

"Don't try it at home." Darkrai dropped the spike to the ground. He was still wearing his human guise, the old man in the ragged robes.

He shed his avatar in an instant, transforming into his usual form as he shot into the air. He heard the gasp from the trainer he had saved and ignored it, instead choosing to fly over the battlefield towards the one who had thrown the spike. He soared over several notable figures, including champions he had visited prophetic nightmares upon in the past. Red met his gaze for a brief instant, and to Darkrai's surprise even Mewtwo was there. The Mewtwo. Not one of the multitude of repeat attempts that paled in comparison. The Alpha would never allow such a thing to happen again. The first Mewtwo was here.

It took Darkrai a little bit to figure out what Mewtwo was actually doing to influence the battlefield. At first it seemed like nothing, but that was exactly the point. Mewtwo was practicing probability manipulation. It was an ability many psychics could exert, but few had the finesse and power for. Most resorted to telekinesis to create the same results. Not Mewtwo. He was manipulating chance itself to be in Toreta's favor. As a technique it left no psychic traces, which was probably why Mewtwo was doing that instead of exerting his godlike power elsewhere.

Darkrai shook his head and flew on. What Mewtwo did was not his problem, nor would it ever be. Mewtwo was his own entity, not beholden to anyone but himself.

In some ways, Darkrai envied him.

He had no difficulties getting to his target. The mortals below didn't notice him. They weren't allowed to. That's just how it worked. Aside from those who had seen him before, who would have an easier time seeing him, mortals didn't notice his presence unless he wanted them to.

Darkrai found the sniper quickly. Standing far behind the back lines of the Plasma forces was what looked like a chitin covered centaur. The component parts were those of human and drapion, which explained both the power of the projectiles and their accuracy. As he watched, the drapion hybrid extruded a spike from their hand, breaking it off as they scanned the battlefield for a target.

"Are you currently yourself?" Darkrai asked the hybrid, hovering above them.

The drapion hybrid jumped in surprise, looking up and nearly fumbling the spike.

"Oh good. You are. That means I won't feel bad about this."

With a wave of his hand, the hybrid's eyes rolled back into their head and their eyelids slid shut. They crumpled to the ground unceremoniously. Darkrai had just cursed the hybrid with absolute terror for several months. But to be fair, it was far kinder than just killing the hybrid outright, and as a willing member of Team Plasma they had deserved it.

A priority target removed, Darkrai floated back up into the sky to scan the battlefield. There were other foes in the mayhem that needed to be disabled to make the battle possible for the League. As it was now, they wouldn't last long enough. Oh, sure, Mewtwo's help and Zekrom's lightning blasts were good, but they weren't enough to hold back everything without some deaths. And once enough people died, the spiritomb's bindings would be unsealed again. And that would be the end for every human present.

[What gives you the right to interfere in these matters, deceiver?]

"Oh boy, here we go again…" Darkrai muttered to himself. He whirled in the air, seeing Zekrom approaching rapidly. When the dragon came to a stop, Darkrai spoke louder. "Hello Zekrom. N, good to see you. You're doing well."

"I get the feeling this is a matter for legendary pokémon, and as such I'm going to stay out of your conversation," N said.

"Yeah, fair enough." Darkrai shrugged.

[Why have you come to cause chaos upon this fateful day, Darkrai?] Zekrom demanded. [Are you here to further your dark agenda?]

"I'm here for the same reason you are." Darkrai gestured at the battlefield below. "My oathbound champion has made this his fight. As such, it is my fight too."

[Why here? Why are you not at your bound one's side?] Zekrom snorted. [Have you abandoned them?]

"Uh, no? He's inside. Pretty sure if I went in there I'd be directly manipulating the thread of fate." Darkrai rolled his eye. "And can you stop with the Voice? It's getting obnoxious."

[Shun my status and stoop to your level? I'd rather-]

"Alright, geez. I get it." Darkrai rubbed his temples. "Anyways, I've as much right to be here as you."

[Are you the one who brought the abomination here?] Zekrom snarled. A bolt of lightning arced from his tail to strike a cluster of hybrids. Darkrai was pretty sure it wasn't even a conscious action.

"Look, you're only a third of Kyurem's full power. If even that." Darkrai shook his head. "Mewtwo could kick True Kyurem's ass. You don't stand up to that kind of power. I don't stand up to that kind of power. Nobody tells Mewtwo what to do. You'd best treat him with some respect."

[The abomination is not owed my-]

"Have you noticed that you're not making any progress on this?" Darkrai interrupted. He didn't want to hear Zekrom's shit today. He knew the dragon had a reason for his behavior, and that it ultimately stemmed from a desire for the world to be better, but Arceus above it was annoying. "Everything you zap just gets back up. Hey N, you ever played any video games?"

"No?" N raised an eyebrow, returning his attention to the conversation. "Ghetsis never let me touch anything that he hadn't curated, and by the time I got out of that mess I had no interest in things like that."

"Right, so here's a bit of advice you can pick up from video games." Darkrai squinted down at the battlefield, picking out a figure. He pointed at the individual, an audino hybrid. "Take out the healers first."

A ball of darkness appeared at his fingertip and shot towards the hybrid. They were unconscious immediately.

"Now I could do that to all of them, and I'll probably wind up doing so anyways because the League isn't equipped to pick out targets like that. But I'm only even talking to you because that's what you need to do." The last sentence was directed at Zekrom. "Are you going to keep trying to berate me, or can we work together for the good of the balance you keep talking about?"

Zekrom snorted. [I'm not done with you, but fine.]

"Good. Let's go save the planet."

O-O-O

Finn approached the antechamber with only three of his pokémon following him. The other three had stayed behind for various reasons.

Jitters had stepped into a side corridor to begin webbing it down. They had all heard the oncoming footsteps of grunts and hybrids, and Jitters was the one to leap into action. Before Finn left the hall was nigh impassable with spider webbing. By the time the Plasmas arrived, they would have a hard time getting through at all.

Bastion had shouted at Finn to stop when they passed a small starway down. There were things down there, ones that were unidentifiable and deadly. He had made a very compelling argument as to why he should be the one to stay there, mostly consisting of "let the bastards try to hurt me!" He did fill the whole stairway, which would make anything trying to pass have a very hard time.

Nyx had been the last to stay behind. They had passed a barracks at one point, and by the time Finn had looked back she was already gone. He could feel her determination over their bond, and knew she would be okay.

And now he approached the antechamber to Ghetsis' throne room with Rath, Crai, and Belle in tow. He was thinking of Rath as 'his' pokémon now, and honestly the gallade may as well be.

Finn took a deep breath as he looked into the antechamber. There were five auras in there, all of them fusions of human and pokémon. He could feel them with his aura sense, but not see them with Athena's eye yet. They had to know he was coming. There was no way they didn't.

Another deep breath. Finn lifted slowly off of the floor, exerting ghostly power to fight against gravity. He had tried this before with no success, and even now it was too much effort to be worthwhile. A different method of avoiding ground type attacks would be needed. Fortunately, he had equipped Athena with the right method to do so. Electricity channeled along his metal limbs, collecting in his extremities as his levitation stabilized. Magnet rise was, as always, extremely useful.

For his final preparations, Finn pulled out the occa berry and sliced the outer shell off. He popped the softer inside into his mouth, tucking it into his cheek. Then he stepped through the doorway.

As soon as he was past the threshold, a massive shadowy fist slammed into his side. It sent him careening to the side, where he collided with a shimmering beam of psychic energy. He staggered backwards, and the floor beneath his feet rumbled and ruptured upwards beneath him. He was sent into the air, where he would have been easy prey for any follow up if he didn't then flip and land cleanly on the ceiling.

His shield arm went up, and the fire blast met a king's shield. A lightning bolt struck the metal on his shield and coursed down his arm and leg to ground itself on the metal ceiling.

Well that was an interesting side effect.

Finn scanned the room in an instant, picking out the locations of all five hybrids. They looked as he remembered them, all save Dua whom he only recognized after a moment of thought. She was taller, for one thing, with a thick coat of yellow fur covering her from head to toe. Corded muscle rippled beneath that pelt, indicating a lot of raw strength. Two tails whipped behind her, electricity crackling at the tips. She had a pair of swords in her hands, with odd slotted hilts that her tails fit into.

Renard, of course, was wearing that full-body suit.

Finn straightened and glared down at the Plasma admins. He unsheathed his sword, his sashes unwinding from his right arm to wave in the air.

"Under my authority as Champion of Toreta, all five of you are under arrest," Finn said, pointing his blade at them. "Any questions?"

There were a plethora of reactions from amongst the Plasma admins. Dua's brow went up, but she didn't change her stance. Renard stood stock still, unmoving. Trinity snarled, pulling a chunk out of the floor. Darrell reacted similarly, sneering as he pointed his cannon arm at Finn. It was Mono's response that Finn found interesting. The former ghost gym leader's eye widened, and he seemed shocked.

-"Finnegan?"- Mono's voice was almost a whisper in the sudden silence.

Darrell let out a battlecry, flames erupting from his cannon in a concentrated stream of death.

But Finn was ready. He had prepared for this exact situation. He bit down on the occa seed in his cheek and kicked off of the ceiling towards Darrell. The juice of the occa seed trickled down his throat and he felt his body get colder. He raised his shield to further mitigate the attack.

Fire licked around the edge of his shield, singing his hair and rapidly heating his metal skin to the point of pain. He reached the origin of the flamethrower in an instant and slammed his shield into the side of Darrell's head.

Darrell staggered, stunned, and Finn capitalized by rearing his head back. Crystalline constructs of energy formed on his forehead. In a move inspired by Cookie, he slammed his forehead into Darrell's.

It hurt, for sure, but Finn had a metal-reinforced skeleton and a protruding ridge to dampen the blow. Darrell didn't have that benefit. Darrell also had typing against him.

One head smash. That's all it took for Darrell to crumple.

Magmortar weren't particularly durable pokémon, and head smash was a particularly powerful move. But still, that was… pathetic.

Finn straightened, brushed his hair back with his left hand, then whirled and slashed his blade at a rapidly approaching Dua. She reacted with lightning reflexes, deflecting his strikes with an excited grin on her face. She looked like she was enjoying herself, which was… weird.

Past Dua, Finn saw his pokémon rush into the room. Belle engaged with Trinity, ripping the projectile from her hands and slamming a pair of fists into Trinity's face. Rath had begun an assault on Mono, with a rapid attack pattern that only got more complex as they proceeded. Crai seemed to have Renard engaged in a psychic duel, the two staring each other down and emanating psychic power in concentrated streams that wove and danced through the air.

Finn kicked himself away from Dua, floating up into the air and retracting his blade as he pointed his right arm at Dua. His sashes bent inwards, a ball of purple energy forming between them. He released the shadow ball, a shockwave forcing his sashes apart. Dua seemed surprised for a brief instant, and then Mono was there, catching the projectile with one of his oversized hands. It detonated in his palm, causing Mono to grunt in pain, but Finn wasn't paying attention to them anymore. It was Trinity who he focused on.

Belle was mostly fine, but she was losing ground fast against a foe she couldn't harm. Finn lifted his left arm, and light concentrated in the center of his palm before lancing out in a brilliant beam of silver. It struck her in the shoulder, and Trinity reacted with a gasp and by reaching over to clutch the point of impact. Finn had managed to hurt her.

Naturally, he took advantage of it. Another flash cannon pierced Trinity's leg, causing it to buckle for a moment before she regained her balance. Trinity shoved Belle away, ignoring her blows since they did practically nothing. Finn fired another flash cannon, then unsheathed his blade and deflected a swing from Dua. Finn parried a couple more swings, then whirled and swung his blade at Trinity. Blue light shimmered along the edge of his blade as the sacred sword manifested, and he slammed it into Trinity's neck with as much strength as he could muster. There was a quiet crack and Trinity stumbled to one side, confusion and shock in her eyes.

"How-," She gasped, staggering to one side. "That… that hurt. How did that…?"

Trinity swallowed, raising a hand balled into a fist, and then slumped to the ground.

Dua came at Finn again, swords upraised, only to stop as Mono put his human hand on her shoulder.

-"Wait."- Mono looked at Finn, who sheathed his blade again and turned to face him. Rath was stopped, held in place by a miasma of shadows that restrained him but didn't seem to do any harm. -"We surrender."-

"What? Already?" Dua asked, looking around the room. Her gaze lingered for a couple of moments on Darrell, and then on Trinity. "Oh. Huh. That was fast. I didn't think they'd be that fragile."

-"They're not, Dua. Finnegan is… one of a kind,"- Mono said. One of his oversized arms waved, and the shadows retracted from around Rath. Mono turned his singular eye towards Renard. -"Renard, we're surrendering."-

"One… moment…" Renard's voice was strained. "This… is the most… interesting… interaction… I've ever… had."

"What're they doing?" Dua asked, lowering her swords.

"A psionic duel. A way for two powerful non-hostile psychics to quickly establish power dynamics and territory," Rath explained, brushing his arms. He shuddered as the last wisps of shadow vanished. "But they're taking far longer to establish a victor than usual. I've seen a pair of alakazam go for thirty seconds, and that was an outlier."

Psychic streamers of energy danced for a few more seconds, and then disappeared with a shockwave of purple energy that dissipated harmlessly. Both psychics stood stock still for a moment, and then Crai shrugged.

"Worth a shot," Crai said psychically. He ran a hand through his hair. "Alright, I understand now. Yeah this guy's not an enemy."

"Did you really have to try and sneak through my memories to come to that conclusion?" Renard rubbed one wrist. "I've wanted to leave since the moment I got roped into this mess."

"Why didn't you?" Finn asked. "Why not take your psychic powers and leave?"

-"You should know by now that there are many false choices in this world, Finnegan,"- Mono said, his luminous eye swiveling in its socket to look at Finn. –"Just because an option exists doesn't mean it's one you can take. What's the point in making an 'honorable' decision if everything you care about is lost in the process?"-

Finn opened his mouth to talk back, only to stop.

That… that was the same situation he was in. Presented with a choice between two paths. Save the world or save himself. There were options, but there wasn't really a choice. Sure, he might continue living, but the cost was so great that it wasn't worth it.

"I… guess that makes sense," Finn said slowly. "Are you going to help now?"

"Um." Dua sheathed her swords and scratched the back of her head. "…He scares me."

"I would probably die," Renard said flatly.

-"Ghetsis saved the best for himself. No hybrid, but an even better version of Talos. His hydreigon was already known for its power – it threatens champion-level teams with ease – but now it's… too much. He has set it upon all five of us at various points, and of us Trinity was the closest to an even match."- Mono looked at Trinity's unconscious form. –"She never managed to beat it, though it couldn't hurt her."-

"So you're just going to say sorry and sit here while I do all the hard work?" Finn crossed his arms, his blade retracting as he did.

"We've already sent you a bunch of intel," Renard said, lowering himself to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Like the schematics for the mind control machine."

-"And troop numbers,"- Mono added. –"You took down Trinity in three attacks. None of us could so much as scratch her. I have faith in you."-

"Okay." Finn let out a deep breath. "Fine. You three are staying right here. Crai, Rath, I need you two to watch them."

"You got it." Crai nodded.

"As you command." Rath bowed.

"Belle, let's go." Finn tilted his head towards the door to the throne room.

Belle started walking, and Finn reached into his pocket to pull out the rawst berry Anthony had given him. He handed it to Belle as they went.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"Remember your flame orb?" Finn asked. When she nodded, he pulled the pester ball from his pocket. "We can recreate the results."

"Sounds like a plan."