Something went horribly, terribly wrong. Upon the light dissipating, those were the first words that Lilac thought. What or how went wrong, she wasn't sure, but she knew something must have went wrong.

Because she was completely alone.

The first sensation Lilac has upon the light dissipating was a complete lack of heat. It was getting close to winter in the Water Continent, so she was already somewhat used to the chill, and the tomb itself was rather cold, but this went beyond either of those two. Lilac immediately crossed her arms and shivered, and she could even see her breath.

She noticed the lack of her friends quickly afterwards. Light was ahead of her and Fennix was to her left side, so upon being able to see again, she should have saw Light's yellow fur at least. But no, instead all she saw was a dull, gray, lifeless landscape lined with dead trees that went on beyond the far horizon. And to her left, there was no sign of Fennix either. She was all alone.

"Light?!" Lilac called out as she looked around. "Fennix?! Where are you guys?!" Her voice echoed across the land, but she got nothing in response.

As she searched through the land, Lilac noticed some disturbing things. Along with the gray and barren fields of dead grass, there were several shallow pools lining around the area. Lilac just through they were pools of regular water and ignored them at first, but she eventually noticed something odd about the closest one. And, upon walking up to it to inspect the pool, she saw that the liquid inside it was both a dark shade of purple and was bubbling for whatever reason.

"Are these…pools of poison?" Lilac asked herself. "Is this place a poison bog or something?"

Lilac looked through the bog again and noticed several pools of various sizes across the horizon. She also noticed that the skies were tinted purple. And, as she continued to breath, she eventually felt something caught in her throat. She started coughing and she soon figured out why. The pools of poison were sending noxious gas into the air.

"Th-this is bad," Lilac coughed. "There's poison in the air as well."

Okay, first things first, stop talking, Lilac went to her thoughts. But this is bad. I seem to be able to breathe somewhat, but the air itself isn't clear. I hope this doesn't cause any permanent harm.

Lilac looked forward. Alright, second things second, I need to find Light and Fennix. Light especially, since he might have an idea of where we are and what we're doing. It's odd, though. We all stepped in together. How did we get separated from each other, so far as well? The last dungeon we got separated, but we were still around the same area at first. This time, they're nowhere to be seen. Lilac thought about it for a moment, but eventually shook her head. Never mind that, for now. Even if they can't be seen… Lilac closed her eyes, I can still sense them. Now, let's see where they are.

However, as Lilac telepathically scanned across the area, she found a rather startling development. She could not sense a single soul outside of herself. No matter how far she looked, how hard she tried, Lilac couldn't sense either Light or Fennix anywhere in the bog. And. as she fruitlessly searched, she started to feel a tinge of fear run down her spine.

H-how is this possible? I should be able to sense Light and Fennix easily. There's no way this illusion could have taken them outside of my range. There's not enough room in this tomb for it to be able to do so. So how am I not sensing them? The only way I couldn't is if they're…

Lilac opened her eyes to see the poisonous bog ahead of her and a chilling thought came to her mind. N-no, don't think things like that! I-it's probably just part of Puriah's test, or something. I'm sure I can find them if I just keep going.

With that shaky resolve, Lilac decided to head further into the bog in hopes that she might find her two friends at some point in time. I don't think I should have any worry about any battles, at least, Lilac tried to pump herself up. Poison is probably the dominant type here. That should be easy for me. And I've explored on my own before.

"Looking for something?"

Lilac snapped into a battle stance immediately, her eyes darting around to find where the voice came from. "Who's there?!"

"Oh, don't worry. I have no plans on fighting you. I can't say the same for certain…shall we say 'friends' of mine, but I myself will not harm a lock of fur from me."

"I'm so glad," Lilac snarked. She kept her battle stance ready, though. "Then what do you want?"

"I'm waiting for you to join us."

"What?" Lilac paused for a moment to take in the absurdity of the statement. "What?"

"Continue onward. You'll figure things out on your way through our bog. After all, you want to meet up with your… 'friends', don't you?"

Lilac glanced further on into the area. She knew that whatever the malevolent voice wanted, it wasn't good. It was clear that the voice was trying to lead her into some sort of trap. And the tainted air surrounding the place was a hazard that she guessed would be detrimental eventually. However, she also didn't have many options. She knew nothing of the trial she was in, had no idea where she was or where she could go, she wasn't even sure leaving the trial was possible considering the lack of bright light that indicated traveling between the tomb and the trial.

I guess I don't have much of a choice, Lilac thought. I suppose I'll just hope that, wherever this voice is leading me, it'll lead Light and Fennix as well. At least that way we can join together against whatever this thing is.

However, Lilac was not interested in giving the voice the satisfaction of her agreeing to it, and instead wordlessly continued further into the bog. To her relief, she was still able to breathe just fine despite the poisonous air. She felt a little stiffness in her limbs, whether because of the cold or the poison she wasn't sure, but she knew she could still fight if need be. So she kept a decent pace.

"Eager to join us, I see."

"I'm not here for you," Lilac dismissed quickly.

"I'm very much aware of that. No, you're here for those so-called friends of yours, aren't you?"

"So-called?" Lilac repeated. "Light and Fennix are my friends. They have admitted so themselves." Lilac smiled. "So if you're trying to break my moral, you might want to find something else to do."

"They're such good friends? Interesting. Then why are you always so willing to prove yourself?"

Lilac paused for a moment, but didn't stay for too long, continuing her walk without addressing the voice.

"Don't think I didn't notice that. You paused for a moment. My words are true, aren't they?"

Lilac shook her head. "Light already told me. He doesn't mind that I help through support. Both he and Fennix consider it helpful. So try something else."

"But that's not enough for you, is it? It's never enough. Because you don't just want their respect or friendship. You want a close and powerful bond with those two. You desire something akin to their relationship with each other. You are desperate for it. But you know you can't get it. Light and Fennix mean the world to each other, and you are nothing but the little girl in the shadows. You know this. So you are desperate to prove yourself to them more and more, only to find yourself falling short at every point. In all honestly, I pity you."

"I didn't ask for your pity, nor do I need it," Lilac snapped. She realized after saying those words that the voice was starting to get to her, so she tried to calm herself down. "You're right. I know my relationship with them is nowhere near what I want it. And I know…I can never get as close to them as they are to each other. But I've accepted that."

The malevolent voice chuckled. "You are a terrible liar. You haven't accepted a thing. You know this. But lucky you, I have a solution for you."

"You…" Lilac stopped herself before she finished that statement. No, it doesn't. Don't let it convince you of anything!

"Yes, I do." Pale lights began floating around Lilac in a circular pattern. "I told you before. All you need to do is join us. Let yourself fade away and become a spirit. Once you become a spirit, you won't have to worry about any of that anymore. All your pain will float away."

"No way!" Lilac answered without hesitation. "If you think I'm going to throw away my life like this, then you're mad!"

The several pale lights all formed and transformed into twelve Pokémon: three haunter ahead of her, three misdreavus to her right, three shuppet to her left, and three phantump behind her. Lilac felt her nerves tense up, as she was both outnumbered and at a severe disadvantage. However, she still stood her ground, looking around as she thought of a way to get out of the situation.

"What happened to not attacking me?" she asked, hoping that the conversation could buy her time to make a strategy.

"I told you that I wouldn't. But I also warned you that my 'friends' won't be so lenient. You see, they're desperate, just like you. Only their desperation is for you to join us. And I do apologize, but I can't stop them. You should have just accepted my proposal immediately. It would have been a lot more…pleasant."

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to decline your request even now," Lilac said, her plan fully formed. "I have some friends to meet up with, and I'd rather not be late. Besides, threats don't work on me."

Lilac focused her Psychic attack in front of her, blasting the three haunter out of her way. All the other ghosts shot a Shadow Ball at her at the same time, but she was able to rush on ahead before the attack hit her. The enemies continued to try and attack her with Shadow Balls, but Lilac was able to dodge away from them and get out of the ghosts' range.

"Not bad, not bad. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to get out of that, like that. A pointless endeavor, but it's at least entertaining. I recommend you stop struggling, though. You're only making things harder on yourself."

"I told you, I have friends to meet," Lilac dismissed.

"And what makes you so sure that your friends haven't already joined us?"

Lilac nearly tripped at those words. However, she soon shook her head and discarded the idea. There was no reason to assume that the voice wasn't lying to her, so she didn't even want to give the voice the satisfaction of even the debate.

"Oh, don't pretend you've never thought of it. Ask yourself this question. You are a Psychic with powerful telepathic abilities. You should be able to sense them so long as they're around. So tell me: why you can't sense them? Unless, of course, they're already mine."

Lilac continued to ignore the voice and kept trudging on. She was beset by two sableye in the meantime, who both slashed at her with Shadow Claws. But, since Lilac saw them quickly enough, she was able to give a loud shriek that sent purple sound waves at the sableye. The Disarming Voice attack managed to knock the two away before their attack could get off, allowing her to run away from them.

"Still content to ignore me, are you? Very well. Continue on pointlessly, trying to find friends who aren't there. You'll wear yourself eventually and become one of ours. Whether it be through my 'friends' constant assault, through the poisonous air, or by your own will being broken, you will join us eventually. And I'm a very patient Pokémon. You're only hurting yourself by continuing onward."

"M-my friends would never give up, so I won't either!" Lilac eventually let slip. She immediately regretted stating that.

"Ah, we're on speaking terms again, are we? I thought you weren't planning on giving me the satisfaction of debate."

"WHAT?!" Lilac stopped for a moment out of shock. And the moment she stopped, a misdreavus appeared behind her and managed to hit her with a Shadow Ball. Lilac cried out as she was sent forward from the blast before impacting the ground and scrapping across it for a second.

"Really now, did you think I wasn't in your mind? Come now, you should be smarter than that. And more perceptive. How else do I know all of your fears and doubts?"

"Urrg," Lilac groaned as she got off the ground and turned around to face the misdreavus. Lilac was cornered, and she knew it. She didn't sense the voice digging through her mind, so she didn't give it much thought, but after thinking about it logically, of course it was telepathicallycommunicating with her. Which meant it had access to her deepest thoughts, and there was very little she could do about it.

"Now, back to your statement. Your friends won't give up, will they? Interesting. So the fennekin who's deathly afraid of ghosts isn't going to give up when surrounded by them? And your friend, Light, who has so many doubts about himself isn't going to want to let all those doubts melt away? What makes you so certain that they both haven't already joined us?"

"Because my friends are stronger than that!" Lilac yelled before she blasted the misdreavus back with a Psychic.

"Your doubts to the validity of your own words is almost palpable. But fine, believe what you want. It won't matter in the end."

Lilac paused for a moment. "I can't let this voice get to me. No matter what, I need to stay calm and keep going."

However, as she walked further on, she was feeling lethargy start to creep into her bones. The Shadow Ball already did a number on her, but the constant breathing in of the poisonous air because of her panting were surly not helping. Lilac knew all she needed to do was find Light, who had both Pecha and Oran berries in his bag, and she'd be fine. So, all she needed to do was hold out until then.

"I meant what I said earlier about you being pitiable. Raised by two outlaws who focused on giving you the skills needed to survive before they ditched you to live on your own. Any love they ever gave you was a two-faced lie. Being surrounded by other children who you could never relate to due to being smarter than them. Being surrounded by adults who you could never relate to because they coddled you. The two Pokémon you meet who you can finally relate to both prefer each other. Why shouldn't they, when they've had an entire past life together? Your isolation made you strong on your own, but also made it difficult for you to work with others on the same level as you've seen those two work. It's as if you were destined, from the moment of birth, to be alone."

Lilac panted as the worlds the voice kept saying stung her like a thousand needles. She felt her heart throb as the voice kept picking at her insecurities one by one. Poking at her ultimate fear of her friends eventually moving away from her, leaving her all alone again.

Because of her being caught in her own thoughts, Lilac didn't notice a small twig sticking out of the ground that she caught her paw and tripped her. That twig continued to wrap itself around her paw, trapping her. Lilac managed to twist herself around to see the twig and recognized the green glow that surrounded it.

"Grass knot," she whispered. She than looked up and saw three phantump floating towards her, likely the same three that first attacked her.

"Friendship is a temporary, fleeting thing. But look at us. We work together with no thoughts of our standings, no mind to our pasts, no relationship is closer or farther away. Just accept this and melt away. Join your friends and you will be together with them forever. Why do you continue to fight against this? Isn't this what you want?"

"What…I want?" Lilac asked herself. She lifted a shaky paw up to try and blast the phantump away, but she couldn't feel the power needed to do much of anything. "Do I…really want this? N-no, I don't. I won't. I can't. But if that's true, then why can't I…fight anymore?"

A Shadow Ball hit her square in the chest, forcing her to squint her eyes. She was stuck, she could hardly struggle, and she felt her energy draining away from her. She wanted to be defiant, but she couldn't find the strength anymore.

Before she completely blacked out, though, while her vision was turning dark, she saw a fenenkin standing in place of where the phantump were.

"Have you really given up on your friends?" she could have sworn she heard the fennekin saying.

"No, of course not," Lilac telepathically responded. "B-but, what can I do?"

"Call out to them, and they'll listen," the fennekin responded. "If you haven't given up on them, then you need nothing else but to ask for their assistance."

"L-Light…Fennix," Lilac called with her telepathy, even if there was nobody around to listen. "P-please, help!"

Lilac felt herself slip further and further away, no longer having the strength to even stay awake. Before she fully succumbed, though, she felt a sudden burst of warmth pass from behind to in front of her and heard the sweetest and warmest voice she could possibly hear.

"G-get away from my friend, you stupid scary jerks!"