Crystal wondered what name to give this feeling humming through her body. As she fell in her descent, the cold chill of the shadow ball's blast tickling the tips of her paws, she wondered how she could best describe this warm, exhilarating rush keeping her body light and swift.

It wasn't fear keeping her body moving. It wasn't desperation to keep herself safe from this infuriated lampent that wanted to see her dead. It was nothing like with the zangooses. It was nothing like when she was dealing with Axel, because she didn't feel helpless. She didn't feel hopeless.

The comfort in control.

The security in power.

The feeling of being alive.

That was it. She was alive and she planned to keep it that way.

She landed on the ground and immediately kicked off from Susie's line of sight. An easy enough feat when the lampent was still having trouble distinguishing between right and left. Her body slid into her blind spot, gaze pointing up where she hung in the air. She never had a chance to use the move in practice, but desperate times were always the best time to try something new, right?

From her head, a colorful ray blasted at Susie's underside, the beam decorated with bright rings in varying shades of pinks and reds. Fire would do her little good. Will-o-wisp: she barely knew how to use. But psybeam? Psybeam works. And psybeam hits, striking Susie down a few inches and pulling a pained cry from her body.

And, from the walls of floating children, something else was happening. One of the flames extinguished, releasing a skitty's body from the air and sending her falling unconsciously. With Crystal too busy with keeping Susie occupied, Emizella elected herself to catch the falling child, keeping her from crashing into the ground. She fell with the momentum, cradling the familiar body and keeping her from harm.

The skitty began to stir, regaining consciousness quickly now that Susie's spell had dissipated. She squirmed in Emizella's hold, the lingering shock of her capture coming back in full swing.

"Luna!" Lilac shouted, jumping from Emizella and searching around for her best friend before realizing that this was not the same scenario she last saw when she was awake. "Uh…what?"

"No!" Susie shouted, looking to the working mess that would soon flood her home. She turned back to the culprit, rage sinking even deeper into her mind, "Wretched little… Die, you pest!"

The dark orbs came back, flung without caution and flying just to hit something. One right after the other, Susie threw them at Crystal with a curse sprinkled on top for good measure. Over and over, she repeated her wish, growing more and more desperate to see it fulfilled with every miss. But they were getting closer to their mark, their aftershocks and malicious debris dusting her fur. One scorched her tail. Another tickled her cheeks.

Closer and closer until the lampent's prayers for a hit were answered. It crashed into her body, crushing her with its pressure and seeping into her chest to wrap a cold grip on her heart. She could hear her laughter echo through the void as her body was pushed aside by the attack and tossed to the ground.

Yep, that hurt. That hurt a lot.

She tried to regain herself, tried snapping herself out of the haunting feeling lingering from the shadowy orb, but Susie would see to it that she wasn't given any rest. The red in her eyes took on a lighter shade, giving off a pink glow while a pale, violet light emitted from her body. Her body shifted, echoing like the tolling bells calling for her demise. She could not escape the rippling rings coming for her. She could not escape the illusion that the grim reaper was coming for her. And when they found her, they lined her body in a haunting aura, blanketing her heart in despair and making her cry in pain at the ringing feeling.

She felt her heart crashing into her ribcage, panic settling into the organ and simulating a painful heart attack that cruelly squeezed at her chest. Death felt like this. Death tasted like the screams leaving her mouth. She couldn't help believing in the lie, in her hallucination that Susie had done what she had set out to do.

Susie laughed harder, her eyes falling back to their golden hue and her mind settling back into her rationality. "Pathetic," she called her, "Truly pathetic, indeed. It's funny, really. I've been scared this whole time, but you're nothing. Nothing! A sack of flesh and blood, as soft as any living mortal. I should have done this earlier and save myself the heartache. An oversight on my part, indeed an oversight. But better late than never, as they say."

She cradled her arms in front of her body, nursing a growing blue flame that stirred and mixed between cerulean and cobalt. "Goodbye, Anomaly. Time for you to go back where you came from." she said, raising her arms up over her head and dragging the flame to the top of her cap.

A spiraling inferno charged towards Crystal's trembling form, an intense heat radiating from its form. All she could think to do was brace for it, hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much when she burned in those hellfires. But she didn't burn. As a matter of fact, she felt quite cool. What did burn was Emizella's scorched body, its flames lingering on her fur and biting into her flesh.

"Emi!" Crystal cried, snapping out from her delusions and pushing herself back up to her feet.

Despite how painful those burns must feel eating away at her, Emizella still forced herself to smile through it, her teeth gritting as she beared through each searing reminder of her sacrifice. "Finally snapped out of it, did you?" she asked, her voice hushed and barely keeping itself together.

She wanted to ask why Emizella would do that. How could she throw herself into such brutal flames knowing how deep those burns would sink into her? But she knew the answer. She knew it well. She shook off the needless question, pushing her stunned thoughts away and gathering back her senses.

"Yeah, sorry about that." she settled on those words, pulling herself back into the fight and refocusing on their opponent.

"It's fine. Let's try this again."

"You're a fool if you think I'd let you." Susie told them, starting up her next flame and raising it to her head to spiral and grow.

"And you're an even bigger fool if you think we're not going to at least try!" Crystal shouted back.

She called for her blast faster than Susie could launch her flames, piercing the swelling ball right in its heart with her colored beam. It burst like a balloon, popping with an echo over Susie's head and hitting her with its scattering energy. She yelped at the shock, waving off the lingering embers and billowing smoke. She regained her vision slowly, her annoyance peering through the haze, and that annoyance turned back to unbridled rage at the sight of that accursed red glow shrouding Emizella's body once more. It threw her mind back into an unbearable fury, back into that ferocious frenzy that kept her from seeing straight.

"Dammit!" Susie roared, the fire in her head practically erupting out of its dome. "Cheap tricks! I'll kill you even with your cheap tricks!"

Crystal couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her throat. She was already getting this upset at the second spell of infuriation, but she had yet to see just how cheap their tricks could go. If that was the case, then she'd show her a truly cheap trick.

"Thanks, Emi. I've got it from here." she said, her eyes not moving from her target.

"Give her hell." Emizella gave her a quick pat on that back, retreating to the children's side before she could get caught up in another one of the lampent's powered up attacks.

Crystal allowed herself a quick glance toward the riolu, hearing Lilac call her to come closer. She waved her tail over Emizella's head, gentle chimes sounding between the two while a soft glow blanketed them in a warm, healing light. Crystal didn't think the skitty would bother learning such a move but she was grateful for it, nonetheless. Now she could focus without having to worry about Emizella's burns.

And what better time to focus than having a furious lampent hurdle her dark orbs at the momentarily distracted fennekin. Not again, Crystal jumped out of the way, the ball falling more towards her feet than her body. She ran from the shadowy remnants, irking Susie even more to see Crystal still running energetically around her home like she was playing some twisted game of tag.

"Hold still!" Susie shouted, pulling out another shadowy orb in the space between her arms.

Before she could toss the attack at the galloping fennekin, before she could try her hand at hitting her sprinting body, Crystal added another complication that gave Susie a moment of pause. She couldn't be sure if it was the confusion fumbling with her eyes or if Crystal's body was actually split into separate entities. Every second, she was multiplying and spreading her infestation further.

Two little foxes.

Four little foxes.

Eight.

Sixteen.

Circling around and around until the lampent couldn't decide which flickering body was the real Crystal. Which of these illusions held a solid shape? Her frustration bubbled in her dark orb, its stability melting away with each second of hesitation that kept it to her body. She couldn't hold it. She couldn't sustain it. And it couldn't contain its power any longer, bursting in her arms and attacking its own creator.

Crystal watched her body falter from the corner of her eyes, slumping in her daze. She didn't let the moment fade, firing the decorated beam at the stunned lampent from all angles. From the right to the left. Forward and back. Even below wasn't safe from the onslaught of her brightly colored light show.

Every flash extinguished another flame. Every shine awoke another slumbering child. And with every dissolved spell, Emizella had another little body to catch before they made the trade for a concussion instead.

But Crystal couldn't slow down. She couldn't stop this momentum she had. Just a bit more, she pushed herself, just a little longer. She kept going until she felt the headache shoving an ice pick into her brain. Until the hammer smashed it in deeper into the furthest reaches of her mind and pushed herself further even beyond that.

The small army of Crystal doppelgangers blinked away, placing her remaining efforts in one final attack. With a cry, she fired out the last beam she had in her, a grand spectacle of shimmering lights and dancing colors that splashed against Susie's battered body. If Crystal could think of a thought long enough to see it completed, she might have called it a dazzling display to watch.

Susie was the first to fall, crashing to the ground with the rest of her small captives and Crystal wasn't far behind, letting her legs melt like gelatin in the hot sun while trying to ignore the pulsating throbs that kicked at the back of her skull with every beat of her heart. It wasn't working. Actually, they felt even stronger now that she wasn't moving around so much. Lovely…

"Why…" Susie muttered, her body struggling to stand again. The most it could manage was rolling her onto her stomach, allowing her to look at the fennekin with her tired eyes. "I only want… to protect my friends… Why do you stand in my way?"

"Because… I want to protect my home… The village has been nothing but kind to me… I won't let them suffer if I can help it." Crystal said, speaking through her growing ache.

"Why do you care? You don't belong in this world… You are an outsider…"

Crystal breathed out a short chuckle, "That's your opinion." she said softly, laying her head flat on the ground and closing her eyes.

She kept them closed for a moment, opening them again when she picked out Jasper's sobs amidst the excited cries of the children. She watched him press his entire body weight into Ruby and Garnet, holding them close and refusing to let them go. Their heads nuzzled together, reminding themselves of their scents and the feeling of home now that their set was made whole once more. It made it all worth it. The awful headache, the painful feeling in her chest, every echo of agony coursing through her legs, every bit of it was worth it just to see them all okay and ready to go home.

"I don't know…" Crystal started, "I don't know if what you said was true...if I truly am a mark for the end of days. But if that's the case, then I'll get strong enough to stop it… I'll get strong… and overwrite it."

Susie stared at her and laughed at the declaration with a soft chuckle. "You say that as if you have any power to change the course of events that follow you. You have no power to change anything. Nothing you do... will save anyone." Her body began to disperse, breaking away with the fading fog. Black specks of her body scattered into the air, disappearing while her laughter still rang clear in Crystal's head. "The only thing that you can do... is play by their rules." her voice floated away, high beyond anyone's reach before disappearing like a dream.

Whose rules am I playing? Crystal thought for a moment, her ears lowering while her eyes tried to follow the lampent's scattered body. Mystery after mystery…why did everyone who had any idea of why she was here had to be so cryptic?

"Crystal!" Emizella called her, her voice stabbing her brain with the concern pitching her tone.

"Too many psybeams… Too little time… Please…be gentle…" Crystal groaned, laying her forelegs down on her ears to muffle the sound.

"Oh, right." Emizella adjusted her volume, "Sorry. Want me to carry you home?"

"Can you?" Crystal peaked an eye over to her, "You were hurt pretty badly too, you know."

"It's good, I lived. Besides, how else are you getting home?"

"Either crawl or just pass out here."

"Nope, not good enough." Emizella shook her head, kneeling down and scooping up Crystal's limp body and holding her close to her chest. "Alright everyone. Stick with your buddies and let's move out."

The children echoed their affirmation behind them, following along while chattering to themselves.

"You know… you can't keep carrying me like this forever." Crystal whispered close to Emizella's ear.

"The hell I can't." Emizella pouted, sounding almost insulted by the assumption, "You just lie your head back and enjoy the ride."

Crystal laughed softly beside Emizella's head, doing as she was told and nuzzling herself into the softest corner between the riolu's neck and shoulder. She'd like to see Emizella try to keep this up. Even when they're bigger. Even when they're too old for it, she wanted to see her try.

"Oh, and Crystal?"

"Hm?" she hummed.

"Good job tonight."

Crystal breathed a hum of delight, too far gone into the realm of exhaustion to notice Emizella's grip getting just a bit tighter. "…thanks."

~uwu~

Crystal's body felt so warm, like her insides were light, fluffy whip cream. Whip cream… on top of thick, airy pancakes… with strawberry jam and slices of banana.

"Crystal,"

No, crystals wouldn't taste good on them at all. Too much crunch. But cinnamon crumble might work better. A nice, subtle crunch to add a bit of variety to the soft texture.

"Crystal."

"I already said crystals don't work with pancakes." she groaned, pawing at the absurd idea and pushing it away.

"Crystal, wake up!" Emizella shouted, her voice starting up the fennekin with a jolt.

Her eyes looked around, finding Blaire's hand- hat/hair thing hovering over her body. It spilled a healing aura of her, cloaking her in a shimmering mist of goodwill and happy thoughts.

Her gaze then shifted to her side where Emizella was leaning close overhead but not so close that it impeded Blaire's work. Her hands clung tightly to her knees, fighting hard to keep her hands to herself while Blaire cleared away Crystal's aches and pains.

"How are you feeling? Blaire said you don't have any broken bones this time but you really exhausted yourself back there."

Well, her headache wasn't anywhere near as intense as it was back in Susie's domain. And the muscles in her body did feel soothed and relaxed, rejuvenation pumping through them with Blaire's gentle pulses. Of course, there was still the lingering feeling of exerting her body well past its limits but it wasn't anything unbearable. She even felt a bit stronger feeling its subtle ringing at the edge of her mind.

"I'm feeling much better, but what about you?" Crystal asked.

Emizella grinned, bringing her arm up and flexing the muscle, "You know me, I'm a lot tougher than I look."

Blaire huffed to the contrary, her eyes narrowing into a soft glare at the riolu's boastful nature that brought her nothing but trouble.

"Hey, considering my track record, a few burns are nothing."

Blaire just hummed again. It didn't really help her case all that much.

"Well, I still consider it a win."

"Do you, now?" The voice was easily recognizable, deep and booming and just ready to give the two an earful even more painful than battling Susie the lampent.

Emizella swallowed down the startling jolt that jumped into her throat, her body completely engulfed by his massive shadow. Crystal was fortunate enough to be shielded by Blaire's healing treatment but Emizella… Emizella had to feel the full weight of his disapproving glare.

"Hey, Ace…" her voice squeaked, turning to the arcanine while trying to pull her lips into the shape of a smile. Her lips were not listening.

He glowered at the two of them for a moment longer, "You do realize how much trouble you're both in, don't you?" he asked, melting away all the riolu's attempt in playing off a carefree mood. "Taking a child outside the village to lure out the culprit. Allowing my son to take on a dangerous risk that could have seen him hurt or worst. You know what could have happened if things didn't turn out as well as it did?"

"All three of us would have been trapped in a world inaccessible to any of us under normal circumstances?" Crystal asked. Probably not the best idea to fuel this fire but they were already in the thick of it, so…

The response took Ace by surprise, leaving him speechless for a second. Just a second. "Exactly. And not only would that lead us nowhere, but we'd also lose three more pokemon in one night. Each life is much too important to be taking risky gambles like that alone. You should have come to one of us first. You should have come to me first. The decisions you made last night were completely irresponsible and as the chief of our village's public safety division, I cannot condone the choices you made."

They hung their heads low. Sure, it wasn't unexpected that they'd be getting a serious talking down to by the chief but it didn't make the guilt sting any less.

"But," their eyes glanced up as Ace started again, "as a father, I can't thank you anywhere near enough. For bringing back my little Ruby and Garnet; for making sure Jasper came back home; for all the families you reunited, thank you." he said with a steady tone, but his warm eyes whispered the secret his voice wouldn't share: unshed tears, glistening bright as they reflected the morning sun in his eyes. He blinked them back, holding the emotion in check in front of the two young girls. "We'll save deciding your punishments for later so just focus on regaining your strength."

They nodded their heads slowly, a fair enough compromise considering how they broke such strict rules in the middle of a crisis. There was a sort of reassurance in knowing that a punishment was coming, in the idea that they made to through to see a punishment for their actions. But even more reassuring was the look of Ace walking back to immerse himself in the loving affection of his family. Of his body being reminded of the cumulative weight of all four of his children climbing and riding on his back. Of his heart being reminded of their hugs and their kisses and how precious they were to him. He did let his tears flow for them, sharing them with his wife and children and letting all the stress and heartache melt away with each shared drop.

"We did that…" Emizella leaned closer to Crystal, whispering the bit of pride she still held despite their scolding. "You and me, we did that."

Crystal looked from Emizella's little grin to the reunited families clinging together, desperate to never fall apart. From Ace and Scarlet's happy little bundle to Janice and Damien's youngest little treasure. From the one thing Nova ever needed in her life to the ursaring mama that would tear apart the world for her little angel. Each smiling face, each sigh of relief, each loving embrace Crystal could catch in her vision at this very moment, they did this. They alleviated the gloom and despair plaguing the village and brought back hope, love and trust to the village's heart.

We did that…

"I want to do it again…" Crystal whispered, letting the desire fly free from her heart and into the world.

"Yeah, me too." Emizella whispered back.

Crystal knew Emizella could tell how deep this addiction to help others was burrowing into her very being. How the sense of good she felt from seeing these happy expressions was digging its way into her soul.

She supposed that's what made them a good fit for each other. And she was in much too deep to have it any other way.