While there wasn't really a 'morning' or 'daybreak' to wait for in the Voidlands, the group waited what felt like a few hours to restore their stamina and prepare for the inevitable next battle. Once their 'rest' was done, they all converged together back in the center room.
"Is everybody ready?" Mawile asked.
"Ready as we'll ever be, I guess," Light shrugged. "I suppose, if there's one good thing, it's that the Void Shadows have been surprising quiet for a while now. Nothing too big has happened."
Mawile closed her eyes, as if she was attempting to suppress a headache or a glare. "That more worries me than comforts me."
"I assume we're close to the Door to Hope?" Ampharos asked.
Mawile nodded, her eyes open once again. "Close enough, in any case. So we should be facing the beginning stages of the flood of Void Shadows. But I suppose standing around here in fear won't help us much. We should press onwards."
Fennix stomped her paw to the ground to bring attention to herself and gave everyone a confident smile. "You guys are all worrywarts! We'll be fine! Nobody's getting left behind this time! I swear it!"
Ampharos smiled and nodded. "I like that confidence. So long as we remain strong, I'm sure we'll be just fine."
As the conversation was happening, though, Light noticed that Lilac was remaining oddly silent. He stole a glance at her and noticed that she was paying attention to what was happening, but she didn't offer any thoughts at all. It almost seemed like she was a passive observer to the conversation.
"Lilac, got any to add?" Light decided to ask.
Lilac focused on him before shaking her head. "No, you guys summed up our situation well enough. I'm just getting myself mentally ready for the battle ahead."
Light tilted his head. For a second, his eyes locked on Lilac's before she turned her head away. Light thought on that for a few seconds before eventually letting it go as a problem for later. They had other things to focus on.
"Well then, let's go."
The walk from the waypoint to the top of Reversal Mountain was rather short and easy. What would normally be inclines filled with either Void Shadows themselves or Void Shadows taking the form of Pokémon was instead empty. Everyone remained on guard regardless, but Light noticed the impact on his friend's faces.
Mawile was affected the most. The lack of enemies left her darting her head back and forth to see if she could spot any ambushes. She also was receptive to any noise, even though it was eerily quiet. Light couldn't quite blame her, even if he himself was trying to remain calm. Ampharos himself was also quiet and contemplative, almost as if he was sensing Mawile's paranoia and helping her by being receptive to any possibilities himself.
Fennix, on the other hand, walked with the same confident smile on her face. Light wasn't sure whether that was false confidence to help everyone else feel better, or whether Fennix was actually that confident. Either way, seeing her smile did help him relax a little, so it was working. So Light flashed her a smile back.
However, Light still found Lilac's behavior to be strange. She was so aloof and unfocused, and it seemed she had a lot on her mind. It was at that point that he decided he couldn't ignore it any longer, especially when they were getting close to the top. So Light nodded for everyone to scout ahead before he placed a paw on Lilac's shoulder to get her attention.
"Lilac, if you have something on your mind, now's the time to say it. We won't get the chance soon."
Lilac glanced to the floor for a few seconds. "I'm just thinking of what we might face at the end. And I think I came up with an…unpleasant idea."
"Well, if you want to share, I'm more than willing to listen. Especially if it involves whatever we might face at the end."
Lilac started at the ground contemplatively for a few seconds. "These Void Shadows have the ability to pretend to be other Pokémon, correct? And I'm right to assume that the Void Shadows on the top also do that?"
"Yeah. When we went up there the first time, we fought against a Mega Tyranitar and two Mega Gengar along with three other Void Shadows."
"Well…we can assume that Puriah has control over this area, as she did the others. Which means that she would likely choose what the Void Shadows would become as well. And this place exists as a punishment for grave robbers. So Light, let me ask you this. What would Puriah pick to defend this place against grave robbers?"
Light thought about it for a few seconds before the realization hit him like a sudden Rollout from a donphan. It caused him to stand there for a few seconds, completely stunned and floored. Lilac glanced up and nodded and even the other three noticed Light's stunned expression and came back.
"Light, what's wrong?" Mawile asked quickly.
"Lilac just helped me realize what we're going to have to fight when we reach the top…" Light mumbled, his eyes and mouth still wide. "And it's going to be…a bit of a fight." Light quickly explained exactly what Lilac told him and her reasoning behind it.
Mawile paused for a moment, thoughtfully glancing over Light before eyeing Lilac. "Hmm…very well. Light, I'll let you decide on our strategy, should Lilac's theory turn out to be correct."
Light rubbed the back of his head. "S-sure. I'll try. For now, Mawile, you an I should take the lead."
Mawile nodded as both of them went in front, with Lilac, Fennix, and Ampharos in the back. It wasn't that much longer before they finally reached the plateau at the top of the mountain. There, they could see the swirling void that was the cloud of Void Shadows above them, darkening the red sky even more. And, as they got closer, the mass rained down black drops that, when it hit the floor, raised up into the very same form they fought before.
"Get ready everyone," Light warned as he got on all four of his paws.
The Void Shadows in front of them eventually started shifting and taking shape. Five of them took the shape of various Pokémon. Wartortle, pikachu, and braixen were the first ones, but two of them also formed the shape of a shaymin in its Sky Forme and a mew.
However, what was strangest was what happened in the back. Three of the Void Shadows all piled into each other, their masses combining. The mass writhed and quaked until it began forming a coherent shape. It became something bipedal, close to five feet tall. While it was hard to tell due to being an entirely pitch black mass, on its torso, legs, and feet, it seemed to have some sort of covering that wasn't fur, but instead clothing. The only fur that was visible was on the top of its head. The only change in color it had was its eyes, which were pure white.
Despite how strange it looked, though, Light's eyes widened as he examined the creature. "Th-that's…me."
"That's how you looked as a human?!" Fennix asked.
"N-not exactly, but the shape is the same."
Fennix turned her eyes from Light to the enemies. "S-so that means we're fighting our past selves? And our friends?"
"Focus!" Mawile commanded as the shadows approached. "These are copies created by Void Shadows. However, we can expect them to be at their full strength at the time. Be on your guard. Everyone get ready to fight!"
Light examined the formation the shadows were in as they approached. Wartortle and Light's shadow was in front of the pack, followed by Mew and Clover, with Florence and Puriah leading the back. Not too unexpected.
"Thin their numbers," Light commanded quickly. "Chief, focus on Wartortle with me. Everyone else, get my shadow."
Everyone else grunted their agreement. With that, Light made a beeline towards Wartortle, letting his electricity flow through him as he ran. The shadows weren't about to let him do that, though, as they all shot attacks towards him in retaliation. Fire, electricity, water, and an Energy Ball all flew at him specifically, but Light managed to dodge past them by sliding below them before he finally finished his approach towards Wartortle.
Wartortle wreathed his tail in swirling water and tried to hit light with a vertical swing of his Aqua Tail. Light dodged to the right of the swing before he summoned his electricity to his left paw and punched Wartortle straight in the gut. Light felt the electricity pass through him to Wartortle, sending him slightly back. Ampharos also launched an Electro Ball at Wartortle, but as he was reeling back, Clover came in front of him and took the hit for him. Completely nonplused from the assault, Clover focused on Light, sending an Air Slash his direction. Light was able to deflect it with an Iron Tail, but just barely. He could feel his tail get slightly pushed back from the attack.
"S-so strong," Light grunted. "G-gotta focus."
Light felt a familiar building of heat behind him, so he immediately ducked. A Flamethrower came over his head that soon wrapped around Clover. Instinctively, Light prepared to attack Wartortle when he proceeded to put out the flames, but no such event happened. Instead, Wartortle shot a Water Pulse at Light, which hit him and blew him back.
"Void Shadows, not my old friends," Light mumbled as he got back up. "Right."
While he was temporarily away from the fight, Light focused on how the other battle was going. Mawile was busy fighting his shadow, but she was having some difficulty as Mew was also attacking her. Lilac was also joining her in the fight, but her Psychic powers were vastly outclassed by Mew's. And Florence was also there, flinging electricity everywhere.
Of course, Light knew that leaving Fennix and Ampharos to take on Wartortle, Clover, and Puriah wouldn't end well either. They were outnumbered and potentially even outmatched either way they sliced it, Light being the only wild card that could possibly turn the tide. It would be a tough decision, either way.
However, as little as he liked his reasoning behind it, he knew which side to choose to thin out their numbers.
"Hold for as long as you can," Light told Ampharos and Fennix.
Moving on, Light waited a few seconds for Mawile to create an opening while fighting his shadow. And Mawile did by deflecting one of the punches that came from Light's shadow. With the shadow reeling back, Light charged at it super-fast speeds while surrounding himself with Electricity. Light's Volt Tackle hit his shadow hard, sending them back.
"Espurr, hit my shadow while he's down!" Light commanded.
"I can't," Lilac answered. "We've figured out that your shadow is apparently Fighting and Dark-type. I can't do a thing against it."
Light decided to ignore the implications of that. "Okay, Mawile."
"Cover me," Mawile said.
Mawile charged towards the downed shadow, but she had both Mew and Florence focusing on her before she was able to reach that point. Even though she was outclassed, let Lilac focus on Mew while he focused on Florence. Florence had already shot a Thunderbolt towards Mawile, so Light rushed over there to take the attack. He felt the foreign electricity flow through him, but Light shrugged it off. He instead focused on Florence, getting in close and pouncing with his flat paw. Light wasn't expecting much from this attack, was expecting Florence to dodge, and while he tried, Light was still easily able to predict his movements and hit Florence in the stomach anyways.
Light kept an eye on Mew, but saw that Mew just disappeared from out of Lilac's range. Light and Lilac both immediately glanced towards Mawile, getting ready for the possibility that Mew would teleport back to protect the shadow from Light's attack. However, Mawile not only made her approach, but also managed to launch the series of blows needed to knock Light's shadow out, without Mew intervening at all.
"Void Shadows, duh," Light mumbled. "But then where did Mew go?"
Light glanced around to find him, but couldn't. However, he did notice that Ampharos was taking on both Wartortle and Puriah at the same time while Fennix was battling Clover. And yet, despite the Void Shadows facing a slight disadvantage, neither of them thought about trading at all. Not only that, but Wartortle and Puriah both attacked at random with no synergy between them. This allowed Ampharos to not only dodge between Energy Balls and Aqua Tails, but he even managed to get one of the Aqua Tails to smack Puriah in the chest. And neither seemed to care.
Wartortle was about to hit Ampharos from behind with an Aqua Tail, but Light joined in just in time to Thunderpunch his tail. Light still took the brunt of the attack, but his electricity was conducted through Wartortle's tail and straight through his body. This knocked Wartortle of balance and allowed Ampharos to finish him off with an Electro Ball.
"Two down," Light mumbled.
However, before he could glance around to figure out where to next attack, he was suddenly hit from behind and sent flying forward. Light was launched about a foot away before he slammed hard on the ground. And, as Light scrapped himself up off the ground, he noticed that a green barrier was surrounding him, with Fennix right behind him. She was blocking attacks from Clover.
Beyond that, Ampharos was fighting Puriah still while Mawile was busy battling Florence. Light couldn't quite find where Lilac was, but if he had any guess, she was searching for Mew. At least, that's what he hoped, since Mew's disappearance worried him.
Light got up and quickly ate an Oran Berry. "Okay, I'm good. Thanks, Fennix."
"Heh, I always got your back!" Fennix grunted as she focused on taking the brunt of the attacks.
Light nodded. "Let's take on Clover now."
Fennix nodded once again before lowering her barrier. Once the barrier lowered, Light immediately rushed through with his fist electrified. Clover flew up and out of Light's range using her impressive speed, but Light smiled as he saw that. As Fennix was already firing a Flamethrower in that direction and Clover was consumed in flames.
"Yes," Light cheered, pumping his fist as he did so.
However, Clover quickly dispersed the flames with a burst of wind. She glared at Light before launching an Energy Ball in his direction. Light's tail glowed silver and he deflected the Energy Ball straight back at Clover. Clover darted across the sky to avoid the Energy Ball before throwing another one in their direction. Fennix responded this time by sending a Flamethrower in that direction to burn the Energy Ball to a crisp. Unfortunately, Clover dodged out of the way of the attack once again, continuing to use the sky to her advantage.
"Got any bright ideas?" Fennix asked.
Clover shot an Air Slash, which Light easily managed to dodge around. "Not really. If I could use long ranged attacks, I know exactly what I'd do. But I can't and Clover's so fast. So what…"
"Fennix, fire another Flamethrower at her," Lilac's voice rang in his ear.
Light glanced back to see that Lilac had joined the two of them. As he was turning back, he also noticed that Fennix was immediately firing the Flamethrower as she was asked to do. Light turned back to face Clover and saw that the Flamethrower missed yet again. However, before it dissipated, a purple Psychic aura surrounded the Flamethrower, giving it a sort of mythical hue. The flames not only increased but went spiraling towards Clover at blinding speeds. Clover still tried to avoid it, but she couldn't dodge the flames for long. Eventually, they consumed her in a swirling ball of fire. And when the fire dissipated, Clover fell to the ground, her form morphing back to the black mass of a Void Shadow.
"Whoa." Light's mouth dropped opened as he saw that. He turned back to glance at Lilac and saw the remnants of the psychic power she just used. "Espurr, when did you learn how to do that?"
"We don't have time to discuss that right now," Lilac said. "I was trying to find Mew, but I lost track of him. I don't know where Mew is."
"That's bad." Light crossed his arms and focused back on Mawile and Ampharos. Mawile had managed to grab onto Florence's tail, giving Ampharos the chance to fire of a Dragon Pulse onto him, knocking him out. He was punished by a Flamethrower from Puriah while he wasn't facing her, but Ampharos came out of it with only slightly frayed fur.
"We should focus on Puriah for now. If we take her out, that'll only leave Mew left and it'll be five on one, then."
Fennix and Lilac both nodded before all three of them charged forward towards Puriah. Before they got there, Puriah launched a Flamethrower in Mawile's direction. Despite it being a Super-Effective attack, Mawile put up her own Protect barrier and easily deflected the attack. This allowed Ampharos to get in close and, upon getting her attention, he posed before scoffing at Puriah, as if he didn't take her seriously. Her eyes glowed red, and she tried rushing at Ampharos with physical attacks. Her attacks seemed to be powerful, but Ampharos saw each of them coming and was able to dodge with style. This only made Puriah angrier.
"Nice one, Chief," Light whispered to himself as they rushed forward. "Alright everyone! All-out attack! Let's take her down while she's still distracted!"
Light saw a wave of Psychic energy and a Psybeam get launched from somewhere behind him as he rushed forward, sending electricity into his left fist. Mawile was the first to attack, though, as she was the closest. Ampharos dodged out of the way as Mawile let out a quick blow to Puriah's stomach, causing her to reel from the blow. Light and both the Psychic-type attacks hit her next, sending her forward. This put her in just the right position to be hit by a point-blank Electro Ball from Ampharos. Puriah's body dissolved into a puddle of darkness before disappearing.
"That's everyone," Light mumbled. "Except for Mew…"
"Do you have any idea of what he might be doing?" Mawile asked Light.
Light crossed his arms and shook his head. "No. In fact, fighting these Void Shadows is kinda strange. I keep getting these flashes that tell me how they're supposed to fight. Like, I'm almost remembering how we did fight together in the past. But they don't. They fight without coordination, no synergy, as if they're just a bunch of Wilds. If this were the Mew I know, he would've kept me from getting hit in the first place instead of teleporting away. But since he isn't…I have no idea."
"You mentioned before that you felt like things were off," Lilac mused. "You've been sensing that this entire time?"
"Yeah, I have. Like, Clover is smart enough not to attack in Wartortle's direction with a long-ranged attack, unless he's protecting. Florence tends to stick by Puriah's side. And Mew wouldn't let me get attacked like that."
A look of wonder and amazement fell over Lilac's face as Light spoke those words. However, they had no time to focus on that. Everyone began spreading out and trying to find Mew as fast as they could. It took a few seconds, until Fennix decided to glance towards the sky, before they succeeded.
"Everyone, above us!" Fennix yelled.
Everyone glanced up to see that Mew floating very high above the ground. Sparks of purple electricity surrounded him and seemed to be building up each second. It almost created a sort of barrier as well. Everyone looked up in awe, but Light felt a strange dread pass through his body. That dread only increased when the barrier split from Mew into several pink orbs that surrounded him. Mew began spinning around, turning the orbs into a circular pattern.
"What in the world is he doing?" Mawile asked.
"I can't say I know either," Ampharos mused. "Light…Fennix?"
"I…don't know," Fennix said. "I really don't…"
"Genesis…Supernova," Light breathed. "That's…Genesis Supernova."
"Light…you do know what that is," Lilac breathed.
Light glanced frantically at everyone. "We need to run, now! We can't protect or defend against that attack! We need to get out of here!"
"What?!" Ampharos, Fennix, and Mawile all yelled at the same time. By now the orbs above them were being spun upwards in a double-helix pattern until they started converging together to create a vastly larger orb.
"We need to go now!" Light yelled.
Lilac's eyes were still wide as she stared at Light. She seemed unmoving, almost as if she was hit with a shocking revelation. Light was frantically trying to get her attention, and eventually she blinked. Her eyes became determined, and she turned to face Mawile.
"Mawile, I need you're Entercards, now!" Lilac demanded.
"Why?" Fennix asked. "What can you do with the Entercards?"
Mawile, meanwhile, had a perceptive gaze as she glanced over Lilac. "So, you are what I think you are. Very well."
Mawile took the three Entercards out from her bag and handed them to Lilac. With the Entercards in front of her, Lilac closed her eyes and surrounded the Entercards in psychic energy. She lifted the Entercards using her psychic power while above them, Mew's orb was complete. With the Entercards in the air, Lilac opened her eyes. However, another part of her body also opened. Her ears lifted up, letting lose a ton of Psychic power.
"Lilac, what are you doing?!" Light yelled as he extended arm out towards her.
"Light, stay back!" Mawile barked at him.
Light didn't want to listen, but the psychic energy pouring from Lilac prevented him from being anywhere near her. So all he could do was watch as she unleashed her power. Runes started appearing between the three Entercards as they were lifted higher and higher. Eventually, Mew launched his attack and everyone ducked and covered. However, the attack just phased through everyone, as if it didn't exist in the first place. Not only that, but a bunch of purple electricity launched from the Entercard runes that Lilac created that flew up towards Mew. The electricity surrounded him before pulling him down, despite his struggles.
"A-alright everyone," Lilac grunted. "H-hit Mew with all you've got. I-I can't keep this up forever."
"R-right." Light took one more hesitating glance in Lilac's direction before focusing on Mew.
Of course, it didn't take much to fully take out Mew. Whatever Lilac did, it clearly did heavy damage to him. Light didn't even need to do anything, as one Crunch from Mawile's great jaws took him out. And once Mew dissolved into black goop, a bright light appeared in front of everyone. One their eyes got used to it, the door of hope appeared in front of them.
"Finally," Fennix groaned. "Let's go through before it closes!"
"It…won't…close," Lilac panted. Light turned his attention towards her once again and saw that she was trembling. He immediately reached out to her and grabbed her before she fell to the ground. "Th-thanks. I underestimated the power of this body. Anyways, there are no more Void Shadows that will spawn here, so the door will remain open. Still, it is best if we go through it at all haste."
"Lilac, what's going on?" Fennix asked.
Light examined her thoughtfully for a few seconds. "You're not Lilac, are you?"
"…No, I'm not," the espurr answered. "I know you have many questions, but it's best if we don't discuss them here. I promise, though, that your friend is safe. If you believe nothing else, believe that."
Light glanced at Mawile and noticed that she seemed unsurprised by the answer given.
"Alright, then let's get out of here," Light said.