"CYPRESS!" Bronze yelled. "Everyone, stop him!"

Bronze rushed at the decaying creature, but Looker held him back. "Stop! Don't you see what he's holding?"

Cypress twilled the black object with surprising dexterity. "Very good, Officer Looker. Since the boy doesn't know what this little device is, I will tell him."

"The object I am holding is a Colt 1911 single-action, semi-automatic, magazine fed, government issued firearm. These handy devices were used in the days before people used Pokémon to fight each other, so this is a rather lethal item. I will explain what precisely happens if I pull this trigger here."

"Due to a wide variety of physical processes in the device, a lead object called a 'bullet' will be launched at a incredibly high speed. Once this happens, you will involuntarily flinch due to the barrel flash and noise. The bullet cannot be avoided by any human means, and it will penetrate your skin and pierce your internal organs, if it lands in the proper place."

"Then on, assuming that the bullet has penetrated your brain, you will experience a painless death. Of course, due to the particular make of the ammunition, the bullet would continue travelling and penetrate the person standing behind you. This risk of death is quite high, and I advise that you do not interfere with my doings form now on."

Bronze simply couldn't understand what was happening. "How? How did you escape the other world? Your master's gone, what could you possibly do?"

Cypress gave Bronze a rotting smile. "You all may not know this, but I will not be so easily killed. My only will is to stay above the rind! Whatever horrors I thought I saw in the new world were only a product of the creation not being finished. I will resurrect my master...I can be done! It will be done!"

"Furthermore, why should I listen to you, Bronze? You are one of the Pokedex Holders, but what name do you have for yourself? The others do. Fighter, Trainer, Evolver, Healer, Hatcher, Trader, Catcher, Charmer, Conqueror, Calmer, Empathizer, Determiner, Understander, Dreamer, Dreamer, Jailor, Liberator, Loner, Flyer, Saver, Mixer...what are you, Bronze? The Failer? Ha!"

Cypress limped over to the far side of the antechamber. "Now...now...where could it be...does this...YES!" Cypress pulled a small brick out of a notch, and a hidden door rumbled open.

Inside the chamber was a stone tomb, along with a suit of armor and a sword. Emerald gave a yell of protest and started forward, only to have a warning shot be fired by Cypress.

"You know what they are, don't you? The sword Instant and the armor Eternity! The sword can repel any attack, but the armor...with it, I can extend my limited time in this hideous form...into a eternity of searching for my master!"

Cypress began ripping the armor of the stand and placing it on his body, handling it well despite his decayed state. "Yes...yes! I can feel the power! I will not be doomed much longer! I will escape...and regroup...I will continue the creation...I will release my master..."

As he was about to put the helmet, Cypress started trembling. "What? This isn't supposed to...why...I feel...cold...so cold..."

Cypress was now grasping frantically, trying to throw off the armor, although it seemed glued to his body. He dropped the gun and grabbed Red by the shoulders, screaming in terror. "OH GOD! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?! TELL ME! SAVE ME!"

Then it began to happen. Cypress's face began to smoke amid his screams, and his eyes melted in their sockets, the fluid dripping down his rapidly decaying body. The screams stopped when his tongue dissolved as well. Red finally managed to wrench free when the hands crumbled off his shoulders into dust and bone.

The dissolving Cypress gave Bronze one last empty, sad look, and then crumbled into a pile of scorched bones.

Above the pile, a wisp of light appeared. The wisp seemed to look up, as if expecting some answer. A gust of wind blew the wisp in a flurry, rejecting whatever it had proposed. With a sigh, the spirit vanished into the depths of the earth.

Then...

A feeling descend over Bronze and all those who were present, coming from Deep Heaven, and the very Will of the Original One. It was joy upon joy, and also sweet sadness, with whirling extremes of security and love.

Two words formed in the minds of Bronze, who knew, at last, it was finally, totally, over.

We've won!

They had won! For the fate of the world and Arceus, they had won!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

It was quiet. So quiet that Bronze was startled when Giovanni spoke.

"It seems that his limited time was only a illusion. His time passed long ago, and the armor only furthered his already present death. What should we all do now?"

"He needs a grave." Bronze said. "What?!" Gold yelled. "Why in the world should he be remembered? He brought nothing but pain!"

"We need to remember that he existed, and how he fell. It wouldn't be respectful to him, just a warning for anyone who sees the grave, if this place is ever visited again. My Electrivire can burn the letters into a stone slab."

"I think he's right," Blue said. "It would be wise to at least have some memorial for Cypress. He was not wholly evil, in the beginning at least. Nothing is, not even the Enemy. That deserves some memory. How large of a slab are you talking?"

"Just large enough for a standard memorial. Nothing grand." Blue's Scizor grabbed a rectangular slab, and Bronze told Electrivire what to write, to the approval of the others.

In the end, it looked like this:

Jonathan Rowell Cypress

Born 2019

Died 2051

A Professor of Roria for a time

Well versed in philosophy

Gave himself over to the Evil One, and fell.

Metu Mortis

"That it." Bronze said, as he rested the slab to a wall. "I wonder if the energy field had gone, so we can escape. Anyway, how did Giovanni and Silver get past that shield?"

Silver held up a device that looked like a Pokedex, only black. "This was a old model used by Team Rocket as a copy of the Pokedex. It doesn't function perfectly, but it has a unique capability to transport Poke Balls across space. Once that was done, our Pokémon were able to create a small hole on the inside, just enough for us to get through. Since the energy should have lessened, it will be easier to get through."

Red and Looker gave Bronze and Tess a ovation. "You two deserve our collective thanks for your aid in defeating this great evil. Thought a evaluation of Bronze's abilities and personality, we title him...The Archivest, for his prodigious knowledge of literature and read knowledge. Tess, although not being a Pokedex Holder, will be honored nonetheless."

Looker shook Bronze's hand, and then moved to shake Tess's. Instead of taking his hand, Tess batted it away.

"I sure like all this post-battle talk, but we aren't done yet! Jake still is missing, and I won't rest until I find him! Wherever he is, I am going to discover where!"

"Speak for yourself," Pearl said. "After today, I think we all deserve a nice, long vacation."

Everyone laughed, and left the chamber, Cypress's grave still lying without a care.