"Ahh, I was hoping I'd find you here, you stupid, naïve bird," a new voice spoke out. Light managed to lift his head up to look at where the voice was coming from. It somewhat looked like a cryogonal, but where a normal cryogonal had flat edges on its snowflake-like pattern, this one had sharper edges. It was also exuding a dark aura with black snowflakes surrounding it.

The cryogonal's eyes shifted from Articuno to Light and his crew. "Ah, and I see you failed to keep Mew's crew in check like I asked you to. Well, it's no matter. They were far too late to stop me anyways."

"Cr-cryogonal," Articuno grunted. "Wh-what…have you…done?"

"Why, I've given you exactly what you wanted," Cryogonal answered. "I have successfully completed the ritual that would allow your kingdom to remain frozen. Ah, but I suppose you won't remain fooled by that any longer."

"Nobody…can breathe," grunted Articuno.

Cryogonal chortled at those words. "Well, if nobody can breathe, that certainly isn't my fault. What you are choking on is the weight of the sins all you Pokémon have. All your hatred, your bitterness, your dismissiveness, your pride, your desire to look down on others you think are lesser than you, all of it. Every last bit of your cold emotions are now pooling to me, creating the Winds of Despair. And all you Pokémon will choke on it."

"A-all?" Articuno choked.

"Thanks to the lay lines of this place and the power granted to me by Dark Matter, I can make this entire palace float. And I will spread the Winds of Despair across the entire world, turning it into an Icy Tomb where none can possibly live in. The end of your world is nigh."

"Is this…what Dark Matter…wants?" Mawile asked. "Dark Matter…wants to turn Pokémon…to stone…for fuel. It can't…if you…win."

"Dark Matter seeks nothing but the end of this world," answered Cryogonal. "What am I doing here but helping that along?" Cryogonal turned his eyes to Light's crew once again. "After all, this will also stamp out all opposition as well."

"But now, I will leave you. You may enjoy the last moments of your life before the weight of your sins drags you down."

And with that, Cryogonal left, but the blowing winds that sapped all the air from the world persisted.

"W-what do we…do now?" Fennix asked

"The…winds…can only be ignored…by a human," Mawile answered.

Light would almost chuckle at that if he weren't on the ground gasping for breath. "Sorry…but I wouldn't say…I'm doing a good job…at ignoring it. I…can't do anything…"

"If…that's true then…I don't see…what we can do…"

"Puriah…couldn't have thought a human…would come…right?" Fennix asked. "Th-there must be something. Some way…"

Before Fennix could finish, some sort of purple light suddenly appeared somewhere behind Light. The purple light enveloped all of them until Light wasn't able to see anything anymore. However, once he got caught in the light, he felt himself finally able to breathe normally. After taking a few deep breaths and feeling no longer as lightheaded as he was anymore, Light lifted himself off the ground. He faced back, where the rest of his friends were.

The purple light soon dissipated, and Light saw that Mawile and Fennix were both glancing around the room in shock while Lilac seemed to be caught in some sort of trance. So Light turned back and saw that Ampharos was doing so as well. However, Articuno, Abomasnow, and Mamoswine were all still on the ground, passed out with ragged breathes.

"I…guess you were right, Fennix," Light mumbled. "I guess Puriah did trigger some sort of failsafe."

"That was…certainly odd." Lilac shook her head to break out of her trance. "Still, I don't think the Winds of Despair aren't in effect. At least, based on what's happening to those three. Yet we're suddenly able to breathe just fine…"

Mawile mused. "Instead we're the ones unaffected. Which suggests that the dungeon itself was changed to allow us to be able to breathe despite the world around us still being the same. Strange."

"So we should get those three out of here, right?" Fennix asked as she moved towards Articuno to lift her. "They can't breathe here!"

"Hmm…I wonder…" Mawile turned her focus in the direction Cryogonal floated off in. "This creature eventually becomes the Bittercold that beset the world almost four years ago. If what I know from there is correct, we don't have long before it starts freezing the world over. I don't believe we have time to take those three out and fight the Bittercold at the same time."

"Are you sure about that?" Light asked. "Are you really sure we don't have time?"

Mawile shrugged. "I will admit, the Bittercold from three years ago was not described like a Pokémon. It seemed to be a giant crystal instead. It's very possible that I could be wrong. It's also possible that the Cryogonal we saw doesn't have the power to freeze over the world yet. But the Winds of Despair, that this place is Glacier Palace, and even that it's likely floating now, all tell me a different story. And Cryogonal told us that he wanted to do that. So I can make no other conclusion. He must've been stopped here. And I can imagine no other way for him to be stopped than by us."

"But we can't just leave them here!" Fennix stomped.

Mawile took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Let me remind you what I warned you during the first trial. We are currently in an illusion. An illusion of the past, at that. Nothing we do here will matter in our time. Therefore, we must focus on clearing the trial."

Fennix immediately turned her attention to Light. "Light, you and Mew saved these three, didn't you? So that's what we're supposed to do for the trial, right. Tell Mawile."

Of…course it would come down to this, Light thought. The question made him feel slightly ill, but he knew he needed to answer it one way, or another.

So Light closed his eyes and crossed his arms and thought, thought long and hard about what happened in the past. Tried to see if he could recall some sort of memory of what exactly happened when he first experienced this event. It was already feeling familiar, so all he needed to do was push for it. And, just like a flash, the memories came flooding to Light. Memories of a conversation that happened.

The first voice he remembered was Clover's, sent to him telepathically through Mew. It sounded as if he was done breathing in some sort of thing. "Pffw, thanks human. Now that I got Seed Flare going, we can finally breathe."

The next was Puriah. "Yeah, but for how long? You can't produce oxygen for us forever, can you? Especially with these cold winds blowing it away."

"…We've got about an hour, give or take. Once that hour passes, all the carbon dioxide I just breathed in will have converted into oxygen and I won't be able to produce anymore. Which means, whatever we plan to do, we need to do immediately."

Light heard Mew scoff. "Well, isn't it obvious? We need to stop that Cryogonal right now. That's what we were sent here to do, after all."

"But if we leave here…Articuno and her guards…" Florence mumbled. "Clover, your oxygen can't reach that far, can it?"

"No, it can't. More than likely, if we leave here, Articuno, her guards, and most of the Pokémon in this palace, they'll all likely die."

"We can't let that happen!" Puriah yelled. "We have to take them out, now!"

"We can't do that," Mew responded. "According to Cryogonal, the Winds of Despair will spread across the entire world, freezing it and sapping away all the air in the world. If we don't stop that thing now, fighting Dark Matter won't matter anymore. The world will end anyways."

"But we have time," Florence jumped in. "Not a lot, but if we move them to the entrance, we can go and fight Cryogonal. Heck, maybe the human can hold him off for a bit while the rest of us get these Pokémon out of here."

"Pfft, like the human will be able to do much," Wartortle scoffed.

Clover eventually spoke. "…I'm sorry to say this but, I think I actually agree with Mew on this one. We only have an hour, if even that. And I'm all out of my bag of smoke. We have to take out Cryogonal now before it destroys the world. But if the human thinks he can really hold off Cryogonal until we rescue everyone, then I'm okay with the idea of rescuing everyone. But this is big."

Even though he couldn't see it in his mind's eyes, Light imagined that all eyes went on him. In the memory, there was silence for a few seconds, a lot longer than Light felt comfortable about. Eventually, though, the human finally spoke.

"I agree with Mew, too. We should all go after Cryogonal now and leave Articuno and her guards behind. That's what we have to do."

Light opened his eyes back up and took several deep, gasping breathes. Several feelings washed over him, shame, guilt, sorrow, horror. It was enough that Light clutched himself, a different kind of chill crawling down his back. His stomach churned, and he had to hold his lunch back. He couldn't believe what he heard, didn't want to believe what he heard.

Light glanced over at Articuno, seeing her still gasping for breath. He knew the consequences of his decision without even having to wrack his brains for that answer. He shook. He knew he didn't have much time, he had to give an answer soon enough. And he knew the correct answer too. But his body shook, and the words failed to fall on his lips. His gaze kept on Articuno as she almost begged for life, and he couldn't bear the truth.

"…L-Lilac. C-can you help me lift Articuno," Light eventually stammered. The pit in his stomach didn't turn away, even as he staggered forward to lift Articuno up.

Light could feel all eyes bore him down. Nobody else said anything. Fennix didn't cheer and give Mawile an 'I told you so.' Light knew it must've been obvious what the truth was. His slow steps, his face towards the ground, his hesitation, everything. He knew that everyone probably was able to tell. And that thought killed him inside, let the hole in his chest grow larger.

"Alright, I'll help you, but she's a bit larger than even my psychic power will carry," Lilac eventually answered him. Light caught her gaze and saw a nonchalant expression as she walked next to him. "We might have to drag her instead."

"I'll help!" Fennix said. She quickly rushed to Light's side. As Light took a glance at her expression, he saw a warm smile. Not the smug type of someone who was proven right, but the soft smile to tell him that she was there for him, no matter what. Light made a metal note to thank her at some point in time in the future.

"…Very well, if that's your choice," Mawile eventually said. "Chief, if you would."

So Light, Fennix, and Lilac all managed to grab hold of Articuno and together they began pulling her away from where the Winds of Despair were blowing. While they were going, Light saw Ampharos push the abomasnow from behind while Mawile dragged the mamoswine from its tusks. Even if he felt slightly guilty, Light was glad they were helping him.

However, that happiness did not last long. The crew hadn't pushed Articuno and her guards much farther on than the exit to that room when suddenly the world turned dark. Articuno and her guards vaporized into nothingness. The wind stopped, and they were no longer cold, but there was no sign of anything around. Everyone began looking around, mystified at what had occurred.

"What…in the world happened?" Fennix asked. "What's going on?"

Before anyone could answer, the darkness cleared, and they could finally see where they were. However, they didn't see the same white walls of the Glacier Palace. Instead, they were standing on a type of burn-out red stone. Walls slightly larger than Light were to his right and a giant mountain crag was on his left. They could see the sky, which had pink clouds covering it. Beyond the walls to the left, there were pools of lava on purple rocks.

Light felt his heart sink as he glanced over the scenery. "N-no."

Fennix's eyes clenched shut and her body was tense. "It…can't be."

Even Mawile's normally calm composure was broken from the scenery. "To think, I would see this scenery again."

Lilac and Ampharos both were confused more than anything. Lilac walked to the smaller wall and pulled herself up it to see the scenery. As she glanced onward, she had a confused frown on her face.

"Did we…end up back in the poison swamp?" Lilac asked as she turned back to her friends. However, as she looked back, she saw that Light had his arms around his body and was shaking. Fennix still had the pain on her face and got really close to Light.

"Well well well, it seems our friends here are familiar with something we aren't," Ampharos mused. "My dear Espurr, the answer to where we are should be fairly obvious if we take that fact in."

"A place they've been to that we haven't?" Lilac asked. However, as soon as she stated those words, her eyes widened. "Wait…are you saying we're…?"

Light nodded slowly. "We're in the Voidlands."