"Please don't judge her," Diana says as she and Calreath watch her sister vanish into the darkness.

"She's a cult leader," Calreath retorts. "How can you defend her?"

Diana gazes up at him with sea-green eyes, the same shade as that monster's, yet full of so much kindness and beauty. "Calreath, she's my sister."

Calreath shakes his head. "I love you, Diana, but this is too much. I don't know if I can be with someone who loves a cult leader."

Diana's eyes darken with disappointment. Her lip trembles, but she doesn't cry. "I'm sorry, Calreath. I'll give you some space for you to take it in. When you're ready, come visit me in Selene City." Her hand cups his face, and he leans into her touch. He may hate her sister, but he loves her. Not even her sister can change that. "I'll be waiting."

Calreath looks away. "You might be waiting for a long time."

"For you, my love, I would wait forever."

Diana had taught Calreath kindness and patience. For all he knew, she was still waiting for him. His absence must be driving her to the brink, especially so soon after he'd returned to her and they made up.

But he would return to her again. And he could follow her example and be patient, too. Even if Rathai made it so, so hard.

Calreath turned it into a game, counting on his fingers every time he wanted to yell at Rathai. Then, as they stepped over a pile of rubble and turned the corner to the prison cells in the east wing, he started counting on his toes, too.

Their footsteps alerted another trapped prisoner. He was much younger than Rathai, maybe only a few years older than Calreath. Unlike the older prisoner, he hadn't shredded his uniform in favour of an itchy, probably-infested carpet. Instead, somehow, his uniform had been bleached. The incarnadine hues were completely erased, without even a hint of pink on the whiteness. He'd kept the golden bracelet, though.

"Zenith?" he called out eagerly, then looked confused when he saw Politoed waddle toward him.

"No, it's not Zenith," Calreath told him as he walked closer. "The name's Calreath, and this is my partner Politoed." With a much more sour tone, he added, "And this is Rathai, a former Infernal cultist."

The prisoner bowed. "Hello, brother."

Rathai grabbed the bars and shook them viciously; they rattled but didn't budge. "We're not brothers, Nazeer. That twisted psychopath forced us to join Infernal. Now that he's gone, we're free, and strangers."

Nazeer tipped his head to the side. A golden stud on his ear gleamed. "No one was forced into joining, Rathai. Coerced, perhaps, but not forced."

Calreath wondered if rubble had dashed Nazeer's brains. "Didn't he brainwash you or something?"

"He is a master of words," Nazeer admitted, "but there is no such thing as brainwashing. Our minds are our own and no one else's puppet."

Calreath rubbed his head. "Huh. Now I don't know what to believe."

"Believe in your own mind," Nazeer told him, "for there is nothing closer to the truth."

Rathai spat. "What nonsense. Do you want this kid to break you out or not?"

Nazeer stared at Calreath with moss-green eyes. "Could you?"

Calreath beamed, trying not to make it seem like he was showing off as he called out for Kabutops again. Politoed rolled her eyes; he was definitely showing off.

Nazeer whistled and applauded. "Your Kabutops is a fine specimen."

"I'm the strongest Gym Leader in Torren," Calreath retorted. "My team embodies nature herself."

Rathai was not impressed. "Can nature get us out of this mess?"

Nazeer shrugged, not at all daunted. "I don't see why not. After all, nature got us in this mess in the first place."

"An earthquake trapped us," Calreath corrected the nicer cultist. He shared a smile with Politoed. "But rain will get us out."

Rathai was still not impressed. "Can rain get him out?"

He pointed with his thumb at the showroom of the Infernal base. Though the humidity here was normal, Calreath's breath caught in his throat. The red table that Calreath had stood on for a battle that should have lasted less than a minute had been smashed through the middle. The legs jutted out like an angry Araquanid. Pieces of the volcano had caved in, forming a mountain of rubble that trapped an unconscious man. The blood on his face matched the red streaks in his purple hair—or maybe it was purple streaks in red hair—and he was almost certainly dead.

Though Calreath recognized him, sadness weighed on him. After seeing Groudon's memory in the smoke, he still had questions—and hope.

Rathai recognized him, too, and muttered, "Good riddance. Let's go."

For once, Politoed seemed to agree with him.

Nazeer protested, "We can't leave him—hey, it's Zenith!"

Rathai's face contorted with disgust. "You just realized? Well, now that you know, we can leave without any remorse. Come on."

Nazeer's moss-green eyes were full of a solemn gravity that froze the others. "So he's a cult leader. We were cultists, too, Rathai. It's wrong to leave someone for dead."

"He's already dead!"

"No," Calreath whispered in horror, noticing how the blood trickled down Zenith's head like a turbulent stream. "He isn't."

Politoed, Rathai, and Nazeer all faced him, and Calreath realized that this was ultimately his decision. No person could move aside all that rubble—just getting into the showroom, with its caving supports, would be risky—and Calreath was the only trainer here.

Part of him wanted to join Rathai, mutter "good riddance", and leave. But there was no returning to Rose Crater after leaving, and the guilt would haunt him later. And he would be ashamed to return to Diana—sweet, kind Diana, who loved unconditionally—if he didn't even try to help someone in trouble. Besides, ironically, he owed Zenith his life.

"Alright, Dragonite, rescue time!" Dragonite had been the first Pokémon that Calreath caught, and this was their catchphrase whenever they went out on rescue missions. As a rain-themed Gym Leader who lived in a city that experienced frequent flooding, Calreath was often called on such rescue missions. You'd think that living by a lake would motivate people and Pokémon to learn how to swim, but no, why bother when Dragonite and Calreath could save everyone?

"Stay here," Calreath instructed the others. "Politoed, keep an eye on the supports for me, okay?"

Politoed wasn't pleased that her trainer was putting his life in danger to rescue a cult leader—and the one who had personally tried to kill them, no less—but she nodded and took up a position where she could see the whole showroom.

Nazeer blinked at Calreath. "You're a good man."

"Thank me later."

"How about never?" Rathai grumbled. "You're wasting your time, and by proxy, my time."

Politoed rolled her eyes.

Calreath got onto Dragonite's back. "Fly, my friend!"