Soon, the light of the outside world could no longer reach inside the depths of Turnback Cave, and Diantha and Cynthia were met with darkness. Luckily, on the run in, Cynthia managed to grab a dislodged tree branch near the lake in Sendoff Spring, so all she had to do was release her Garchomp for its help.

Cynthia held up the tree branch, still bathed in some of the remaining light from outside, enough for Garchomp to see, "Flamethrower on the branch."

Garchomp reared its head back, letting out a controlled puff of flames that ignited the upper half of the branch and turned it into a torch. More of the cave was illuminated by the torch now, and Cynthia turned to Diantha afterwards.

"This place is a labyrinth. Any misstep and you will get lost." Cynthia warned, the serious expression on her face only accentuated by the low light from the flame, "Stay by my side."

Diantha nodded and stepped closer to Cynthia's side. Her arm ghosted around Cynthia's waist, but Diantha decided against it at the last moment. The last thing Cynthia needed was more stress and confusion on top of this already undesirable situation. Diantha simply opted to follow Cynthia's lead, since she was the expert here.

Cynthia focused back on the cave, holding out the torch to get a gauge of her surroundings. There were numerous pathways that branched off from the room they were in, and in front of the one pathway there were a few boulders. Cynthia narrowed her eyes at them, and with a tilt of her head, she motioned for Diantha and Garchomp to follow. "This way."

The three of them proceeded along that path and through a few others, with Cynthia following the trails of the boulders and having Garchomp destroy anything obstructing their path. Diantha simply remained at Cynthia's side throughout it all, following Cynthia's orders and not straying too far away from her side. After a little while, they came across a room with a large pillar inside, and Cynthia stopped to read the plaque at the base of the pillar, fingers dusting along the strange font.

"We should be fine…" Cynthia began, turning to Garchomp, "It reads 1 and 5, so as long as we keep this up, we should be able to make it."

"Make what?" Diantha asked, the light from the torch just enough to illuminate the raised eyebrow of her expression.

"We should be able to make it to the deepest room of the cave. Since this place is so close to the Distortion World, the nonsense and warped reality of that world affects this cave, which makes the layout nonlinear and under constant change. You only have 30 tries to make it to the deepest room, or else you get kicked out. The pillars show how far along you are, and we're on the first pillar. There's only two left that we have to find, and we have 25 tries left to do so." Cynthia forced a grin despite the situation, "We're on track."

The strange logic of the Distortion World perplexed her, but Diantha just nodded to that, trusting Cynthia's words, "I see… We should probably keep moving, then."

"Of course." Cynthia glanced around again, looking for the path they should follow, "The boulders lead this way."

The longer they trekked on, the more boulders and debris Garchomp had to clear in order for Diantha and Cynthia to proceed. A fog settled in once they had reached the second pillar room, and it made it quite difficult for the three of them to follow the path of the boulders with the thick, dense mist that lingered in the air. They started to lose their way with the fog proving to be a hard obstacle to clear; not even Togekiss and Hawlucha working together could make the fog dissipate long enough for Cynthia to figure out their path. She was keeping a tally of how many rooms they had gone through, and those numbers gradually came to near the maximum number. That coupled with the fact that they absolutely had to reach the final room to stop Team Galactic in time made for a lot of tension and stress as Diantha and Cynthia scrambled to find the third pillar. Near the 28th room, though, the fog thinned out, and the third pillar was standing tall in the center of the room. The final chamber laid ahead, and the second Cynthia and Diantha crossed that threshold, they saw a couple of Galactic grunts manning complex machines, presumably keeping the strange vortex at their feet open with the technology.

Cynthia stepped forward, separating from Diantha now that they had reached their destination, and Garchomp stood tall by her side, "If you lot know what's best for you, you'll stand down and let us pass!"

The Galactic grunts were snapped from their work, looking up towards Cynthia with angered expressions. The couple of Golbat that lingered by the grunts' sides flew in front of their trainers, and soon the grunts sent their Pokémon into action.

"Steel Wing!"

"Sludge Bomb!"

As the two Golbats rushed towards Garchomp to try their attacks, Cynthia simply gave Garchomp a shared look, "Draco Meteor."

Before the Golbat could make their mark, Garchomp summoned five rocks in the air that were imbued with a dark aura, and those rocks jettisoned downwards onto the two Golbat, knocking them out before they even had a chance to hit Garchomp.

At the same time, Diantha called Gardevoir into battle, but her focus went on the grunts rather than the Pokémon. Her and Gardevoir made a brief instance of eye contact, and immediately Gardevoir understood what to do. Gardevoir placed its hands by its head, eyes turning blue as it cast its psychic powers over the grunts to cause them to be put to sleep so they wouldn't be a hassle anymore. Now that the grunts and their Pokémon were dealt with, Cynthia and Diantha concentrated on the vortex swirling at the bottom of the steps in the center of the room. The vortex inched across the floor, slowly growing in size, so Cynthia stepped back and held her arm out in front of Diantha to keep her from going too close.

"Well.." Cynthia began uneasily, gulping, "Looks like we're going to have to go in…"

Diantha used that moment to return Gardevoir, but then she looked at Cynthia with a concerned expression, "Mm.."

"You don't have to follow me. You can stay here, safe in the real world. Interpol will be here soon, and they can make sure nothing happens to you. Besides, you can take care of yourself. You'll be fine."

Diantha shook her head, "I'm coming with you, Cynthia. That's final."

Cynthia nodded slowly at that. She figured she wouldn't get through to Diantha, but it didn't hurt to try, "Be careful in there. Who knows how many grunts are in there, and Cyrus is probably still trapped inside as well. It'll be dangerous, but… I'll handle Cyrus, and you can handle the grunts. It wouldn't be right if you handled Cyrus. He's my problem, and my responsibility."

"I understand…" Diantha closed her eyes, lowering her head and reaching behind her neck to unclasp her Mega Charm, "I figured that you'd want to go for the one responsible for this, so I'll give you this." She held the Mega Charm by its chain in front of Cynthia for her to take.

Hesitantly, Cynthia took the Mega Charm in hand, looking it over before sending Diantha a confused glance, "You're giving this to me? I… I don't even know how to use it…"

"Well, you'll need more than just that Key Stone… You'll need a Mega Stone for Garchomp, and luckily for you, I have nearly all of them." Diantha pulled out Garchomp's Mega Stone, the Garchompite, and held it out for Garchomp. Her eyes remained on Cynthia, however, "All you have to do is have that Key Stone reach out to Garchomp's Mega Stone, and the bond between you both will allow Garchomp to Mega Evolve."

"It's that simple, huh?" Cynthia trailed off, still glancing the Key Stone over.

Diantha bit her lip, "Well… Sort of. There's something about Mega Evolution that I've yet to tell you. The great power from it does not come without its drawbacks. Sometimes the excess power can overwhelm the Pokémon and make them act violently… That's why a strong bond with a trainer is key, so that the Pokémon can regain their senses from the pain that Mega Evolution brings. Everyone would be a master at Mega Evolution if it were easy… It's because of those drawbacks that Gardevoir and I have had to practice for countless hours to control it. It exhausts both trainer and Pokémon to Mega Evolve..."

Cynthia pursed her lips and furrowed her eyebrows, "Of course…" She said quietly. She focused her gaze on Garchomp and forced a grin, however, "But… If any of my Pokémon can get this right on the first try, it would be Eris. Isn't that right, girl?"

Garchomp let out a growl at the nickname, which only made Cynthia snicker a bit as a result. "She hates it when I call her that nowadays. The name comes from a goddess of discord." Cynthia explained to Diantha, "When she evolved into Garchomp, she wouldn't let me use that nickname for her anymore. She tried to tell me she outgrew it, but she's still that mischievous Gible that stole my notebook all those years ago."

Diantha smiled at that too, "A goddess of discord, huh? Well, I just don't see it. Though, I do wish she'd take this Garchompite off me now. My arm is getting tired."

"You don't? Oh, but haven't you noticed? She swiped that Garchompite off you long ago. You've been holding a pebble ever since."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Diantha retracted her hand and looked at the small stone in her hand. The chain with the Garchompite on it was gone, but she found it hanging around Garchomp's neck. "Okay, maybe I do see it now. I'm sure you two will be just fine."

"Mm…" Cynthia's expression turned serious, and she took out Garchomp's Pokéball, "Alright, that's enough chatter. There's no point in stalling any longer. We need to stop this, and fast. I'll see you on the other side, girl." She returned Garchomp and stored it away. It was easier to only have Diantha to account for when crossing over so that's less people to search for if they got separated.

Diantha glanced down at the shadowy vortex at their feet, clenching and unclenching her fists to build up her confidence for what was to come. She looked over to Cynthia, who looked to be just as terrified as she was, and Cynthia looked back at Diantha and nodded. With that, Cynthia jumped into the vortex, and Diantha followed suit shortly after.

For a while after entering the vortex, Cynthia felt as if she was in freefall solely in pure darkness. The all too familiar nonsense and discord from the Distortion World was nowhere in sight, and it only seemed as if Cynthia was stuck in an abyss. Soon, however, like falling through a cloud, suddenly Cynthia broke through the darkness and reached the Distortion World. Her descent slowed from the difference in gravity, and soon Cynthia was brought to a standstill in midair. Confusion flashed across her expression, and she looked up to see Diantha experiencing the same thing as she was. They shared a look, but then gravity started to act on them again. It seemingly pulled them in all sorts of directions until it primarily acted on the space to their right, and they were rocketed towards one of the vertical platforms. Luckily, since the gravity was so much weaker in the Distortion World, they didn't hit the ground with much force, but it did catch them both off-guard for a few moments.

Cynthia slowly pushed herself off the ground, standing up with an unbalanced stagger. She looked over towards Diantha, who looked quite uncomfortable with standing on a sideways platform. "You alright?" Cynthia asked, offering Diantha a hand.

Diantha took Cynthia's hand and pulled herself up to her feet, but the weird sensation from the sideways gravity made her cling to Cynthia's side, as if she was afraid to fall, "Will be…"

"I got you. Don't worry." Cynthia wrapped an arm around Diantha's waist then looked around for Team Galactic, "Where could they be.."

Diantha looked around as well for anyone out of place, but soon she stumbled forward, feeling a pull acting on her, "I think it's happening again…!"

The gravity inverted yet again, this time causing Cynthia and Diantha to fall onto the horizontal platform below the one they were standing on before. Cynthia managed to cushion Diantha's fall with her own body, whether intentional or not, and they shoved themselves back to their feet afterwards. Diantha brushed herself off, and she spotted some grunts with their typical cyan hair off in the distance, so she turned to Cynthia.

"You handle Cyrus, and I'll handle that bunch." Diantha said, pointing to the grunts in the distance and looking for confirmation.

Cynthia nodded, "Go easy on them. They're probably only kids."

"Don't worry, I'll be smart about it. Now go, find Cyrus!" Diantha watched as Cynthia ran off in the other direction before she turned towards the grunts. Some of her experience of the Distortion World from her dreams were slightly advantageous for her when she went to cross the gaps between platforms over towards the grunts, as she had gotten the hang of the altered gravity. It didn't take her long to reach the grunts, and from there she could get a better account of just how many there were. There were six of them, and Diantha was just on her own this time around. Taking out two Pokéballs, Diantha called out both her Gardevoir and Aurorus for this battle.

"I may not know what you're planning, but I'm smart enough to know that any plan that involves this nightmare of a world is a malicious one." Diantha warned as her two Pokémon landed on the platform in front of her, "Stand down. It will save you some trouble in the long run."

"Don't count on it!" One of the grunts shouted. She sent out her Golbat, and the rest joined in with either Croagunk, Golbat, or Houndour.

"We'll stick with Cyrus until the bitter end!"

"Then you've made your choice." Diantha shook her head with a sigh, "At least, at the end of the hour, you will be by his side...in defeat. Rock Slide, Dazzling Gleam, let's go!"

Aurorus extended its neck out towards the swarm of Golbat and Houndour and Croagunk, sending boulders coated in a blue aura rocketing towards the enemy Pokémon. Gardevoir formed a plethora of pink spikes in front of her, then caused them to all fly at the swarm in a volley on top of Aurorus's Rock Slide.

Diantha clenched her jaw tightly, carefully studying the grunts that were standing in front of her. Cynthia was right; they were only kids. It pained her to see them so misguided and indoctrinated into thinking that Cyrus's ways were their salvation. She felt no joy in defeating them, but in order to stop Team Galactic's plans, she had to.

Elsewhere, Cynthia was making her descent towards the very depths of the Distortion World, knowing that they were the places where Cyrus and Giratina were most likely to be. Along the way, she skidded to the halt at the edge of one of the platforms, realizing how there was no other platform to jump to. However, in that moment, she felt a shift in gravity, and she was lifted off the ground only to flip over and land on an upside-down platform that hung over the one she was on before. Cynthia sunk to a single knee when she was landed, still unused to the gravity shifts despite it being her second time around, but she regained her balance soon enough and kept running. A large pillar of water shooting downwards into the depths of the Distortion World lied at the end of the platform, and Cynthia felt the gravitational pull towards the waterfall the closer she got to the edge of the platform. When she reached the waterfall, the gravity was so strong that it pulled Cynthia into the water, but to her surprise, she didn't sink through or get wet. She lowered a hand onto the water, feeling that even though it was in a liquid state and flowing like a waterfall, it still felt solid and she could walk on it. The waterfall led directly to where she wanted to go, and she could walk on the water, so Cynthia followed the waterfall into the Distortion World's darkest, lowest levels.

She recognized some of the surroundings she passed on her way down, and she noticed how she was nearing where she encountered Giratina the last time she was in the Distortion World, so she figured she was close. Cynthia then spotted someone with faded blue hair on one of the land masses, and she gritted her teeth at the sight.

"Cyrus!" She yelled, leaping from the water onto the platform. She instantly noticed how much colder it was in these lower levels, and there was a faint breeze that caused her hair and coat to blow, "Oh, how I did hope to never see your face again…"

Cyrus turned towards Cynthia, hands placed behind his back, "Has the Champion returned to foil my plans? Allow me to make it clear that I will not tolerate any interference this time around. I will get the new world I so desire…"

"Wasn't being trapped in this desolate nightmare enough for you? Did you really have to go and risk the destruction of our two worlds again by merging the Distortion World with the real one so you can get some blasted mind control device?!" Cynthia clenched her fists, "You're risking the damnation of the entire universe, and for what? To control Giratina with the Red Chain? Why couldn't you have just accepted your fate in this dull, lifeless world? You always made it clear that you wanted a world void of emotion of spirit? Haven't you found that place in here?! Why was this not enough for you?!"

Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows and he opened his mouth to speak, but Cynthia cut him off by stepping forward and waving her hand, "No. I know the answer already." Cynthia growled, continuing to close the distance between herself and Cyrus until she was right in front of him, where she jabbed her finger into his chest, "You can't stomach this world because it's not your own. You wanted a world where you were a god. Compared to the only other inhabitant of this realm, compared to Giratina, you were and you are nothing. That's why you need to control it. You can't handle not being hailed as a god."

"Silence!" Cyrus shouted, "Enough of your blathering! Someone with a feeble mind such as you cannot hope to understand!"

Cynthia let out a long exhale, shaking her head, "You're right. I don't understand. I can't understand how someone as cynical and warped as you could have such an inherent disregard for the consequences to your avarice!" Her eyes flickered over to the device in Cyrus's ear, and in that moment, Cynthia reached out and tore the comm unit off of him, causing Cyrus to flinch and step backwards to separate himself from her.

The anger within Cyrus was reaching its fever pitch at the time, and he brandished two minimized Pokéballs and summoned forth his Weavile and Honchkrow, "I will not be stopped in creating a new world again! It falls to me to create a world devoid of spirit and emotion, a world that is complete unlike our own! That is my destiny! That is my justice!"

"That's not justice! That's destruction and greed!" Cynthia threw out Garchomp's Pokéball to stand against Weavile and Honchkrow.

"You wouldn't understand. We will never see eye to eye. Someone so inherently and intellectually beneath me would never understand how to achieve true perfection.."

Cynthia narrowed her eyes, "We'll see who's beneath who… I'll destroy you and your plans, just like last time!"

Diantha was starting to realize how much she relied on Mega Evolution while battling. Without her Mega Charm while battling a swarm of Pokémon, Diantha and her team were struggling. The grunts kept replacing their Pokémon the instant one of them fell, and it seemed as if they had an endless supply to keep battling. Aurorus and Gardevoir were both showing the wear and tear from such a long and arduous battle.

"Ngh…" Diantha clutched at the empty space where her Mega Charm used to be. Her mind felt clouded, and she couldn't think straight, "Aurorus, Thunder on the Golbat! And… Gardevoir, use Psychic on the Croagunk!"

Aurorus shifted onto its hind legs, raising its head into the air to cause numerous streaks of lightning to crash down upon the Golbat flying around. After that, Gardevoir concentrated on the enemy Pokémon, placing its hands to its head and focusing to send a telekinetic wave of energy crashing into the Croagunk. Diantha watched as some of the Pokémon fell, and contrary to a few prior times, the Pokémon that were called out to replace them were few. It seemed as if she finally was starting to make a dent in the masses of Pokémon that the grunts had with them.

"Flamethrower!"

"Brick Break!"

"Poison Fang!"

The Houndour all opened their mouths and released a bursting stream of flames towards Aurorus, and the fire scorched its icy skin. Aurorus let out a pained yell, and then the remaining Croagunk rushed forth with their hands glowing white, and capitalized off the Flamethrower moves with Brick Break. However, one of the Croagunk missed, and instead smashed the ground. The platform that Aurorus was standing on grew unsteady, and Aurorus, knocked off balance and critically injured from all the super-effective attacks, was unsteady itself. To make things worse, Gardevoir had to deal with the fact that all the Golbat were sinking its fangs into her and imbedding her with toxins, and she could do very little to help it. The platform beneath Aurorus finally gave out, and Aurorus started to fall, but at the last second Gardevoir managed to use its telekinetic powers to catch it and send Aurorus back to Diantha's platform.

Noticing Aurorus's damage, Diantha's expression fell and she went to return it, "Thank you for everything… I'm sorry this happened…" And she replaced Aurorus with Hawlucha, who landed alongside Gardevoir. "Let's go with Flying Press and Dazzling Gleam!"

The pink spikes of Dazzling Gleam were summoned to completely surround the enemy Pokémon and force them together when Gardevoir caused all the spikes to converge inwards. Using that to its advantage, Hawlucha leaped into the air and targeted the group of Houndour and Croagunk that were forced together, and it slammed its body on top of them all. A few more fainted and were recalled, but that wasn't the end of things.

"Soon…" Diantha said to herself, letting out a stressed sigh, "We're getting there… Slowly…"

Admittedly, for a 2 on 1 face-off with the ringleader behind Cynthia's past few months of torment, Cynthia's attention was barely on the battle at hand. Her trust went into Garchomp to fight mostly on autopilot as she focused on getting the comm unit to work. Every now and then she would look up to see how Garchomp was doing, especially whenever Cyrus barked out an order for his Pokémon to carry out. For the most part, however, Cynthia was occupied in trying to get the comm unit back online.

"Weavile, use Fake Out!" Cyrus commanded.

Cynthia looked up, watching as Weavile surged towards Garchomp and clapped its paws together to cause a large shockwave to emit from its adjoined hands, forcing Garchomp a few feet back and making it flinch.

"Goddammit…" Cynthia muttered, "Hang in there, Garchomp!"

"Night Slash!"

Honchkrow's wing took on a violet shade, and it flew towards Garchomp while in its disoriented state to slice it with the dark-infused wing. Garchomp didn't budge from the attack, and thankfully it seemed to have recovered from flinching.

"Flamethrower, max power! Engulf them both!" Cynthia shouted. She looked back to the comm unit, and in pressing a button on the side of the earpiece, a holographic screen flashed in front of Cynthia, "Oh, what the-"

Garchomp reared its head back, excess flames spewing from the side of its mouth before it released a large vortex of fire towards both Honchkrow and Weavile. The wide radius plus the sheer power and speed from the stream of fire made it difficult to avoid, so both of Cyrus's Pokémon got swept up in the flames. Weavile got knocked out from the super-effective move, but Honchkrow was still miraculously standing.

Cyrus summoned his Houndoom to battle next, and Cynthia looked away from the strange holographic screen to get a gauge of what she should do next, "Dig, then follow up on that!"

Garchomp jumped upwards then buried itself within the ground of the land mass they were all standing on. It was a bit of a risky move, using Dig in such a small platform, but Cynthia hoped it would pay off while she tried to make sense out of the hologram. Emerging from the ground, Garchomp uppercutted Houndoom with its wing, then Garchomp grabbed Houndoom and threw the dog Pokémon towards Honchkrow, sending them both flying. Then Garchomp focused its energy on the sky above, and it forged five rocks imbued with a strange dark energy before causing them all to rain down upon Cyrus's Pokémon. A great deal of dust and debris kicked up from the Draco Meteor attack, shrouding the battlefield and putting a halt on battling for a few moments.

Meanwhile, Cynthia figured that the hologram she was dealing with was in actuality a control panel, so she did her best to reconfigure the settings. When she got a light on the side of the earpiece to flash green, Cynthia immediately placed it to her ear, seeing how her fight was at a momentary standstill, "Please work… Marc! Lisa! Eileen! Do you copy?"

Back at the Galactic Headquarters, Marc and Eileen were still working on scourging the database for any other information on Cyrus's plans, whereas Lisa had her head resting on the desk. She was put in charge of waiting for any contact from Cynthia in part by her sour attitude whenever doing anything related to this investigation. She hadn't heard a single thing despite the amount of time that has passed since Cynthia said she was going to the Distortion World, so Lisa figured that she wasn't going to hear anything at all. That changed when suddenly, faintly out of the headset that Lisa took off so that she could rest her head more comfortably, she heard the Champion's voice calling for her.

Lisa scrambled to lift her head and grab the headset, trying to seem attentive and not asleep, "C-Cynthia! You… actually managed to get in contact with us!"

"Oh, don't act so surprised!" Cynthia growled, "I'm not an idiot!"

Lisa lowered the headset for a moment to get Marc and Eileen's attention, "Guys! The Champion found the comm unit in the Distortion World!"

"What?!" Eileen immediately rose from her seat and ran to Lisa's side, with Marc quickly following. Lisa held the headset between the three of them, with all of them holding their ears close to it to try and all get in on the conversation.

"Please tell me you guys figured something else out about these plans of Cyrus's…" Cynthia muttered, "I'm trying to hold him off, but it's wearing Garchomp down…"

Marc looked to Eileen, "We did not find much. All we know is that Cyrus is trying to control Giratina, and he needed help from his followers to get another Red Chain to do so."

"I could've told you guys that, y'know."

"We're sorry, Cynthia." Eileen said with a sigh, "Do let us know if we can help in any other way, though."

"I will. Though… It does help to hear you guys, strangely enough. I always feel as if this world is slowly trying to drive me insane… Hearing from you guys is like a tether to my sanity." Cynthia cracked a grin at that, though with the situation at hand, she quickly had to return to being serious.

Suddenly, a third party on the call made themselves known, "Hey! Who is this?! This is a private line!"

The three commanders looked between each other at the unknown voice, "Uh…" Marc began, "Who are you?"

"The new commander in charge of the revival! This line is supposed to be between me, Master Cyrus, and HQ only!"

"New commander?!" Lisa spat, anger evident in her voice, "Hah! That's funny! You're not one of us! You'll never be as great as the original three!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Cynthia growled through her teeth. She didn't like these shenanigans going on.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" The commander shouted, "Once I return to the real world, I will make sure your interference is punished!"

Cynthia's eyes went wide in that moment. The commander was in the Distortion World too? He was probably dealing with Diantha at that point in time, which gave Cynthia an idea: Diantha was an observant person; if she could get Diantha to notice one of the grunts on a comm unit, Diantha would probably take the comm unit for herself. Cynthia just had to be obnoxious enough for the commander to get Diantha to catch on, "Mars has a point, you know. You may be a commander, but you're nothing like the original three." A devious grin rose to her lips, "You probably only got the job because the original three came to their senses and resigned. You would never get such a high honor otherwise."

Eileen looked between Marc and Lisa uneasily. Eileen barely knew Cynthia, but she knew that Cynthia was never the type to gloat too much or insult someone without fair reason. This was largely uncharacteristic for Cynthia, so Eileen figured she was up to something. "Oh, and when you return to the real world, commander, it will only be in handcuffs. Surely you've noticed some resistance in the Distortion World… The Champion is squashing Cyrus like a bug as we speak, and Interpol is on their way. It's over, commander. You've failed."

"T-That's ridiculous! Master Cyrus and I have worked too hard to have our plans foiled! Not even the Champion can stop us! We're not finished yet! Team Galactic will get the new world we desire! And I will do what you three could not! WE WILL WIN!"

While fighting off the grunts, Diantha noticed something peculiar out of the corner of her eye. The one grunt was neglecting fighting entirely, and was instead caught up in some strange conversation with himself. However, as he went on, Diantha realized that he wasn't talking to himself but rather to someone on an earpiece, and he mentioned the Champion too. Narrowing her eyes, Diantha turned her attention to Gardevoir.

"I'll need a diversion." Diantha said lowly so that only her Pokémon could hear, "Hawlucha, when you have the chance, take that earpiece out of that there man's ear and bring it to me. Now!"

Gardevoir closed her eyes and focused, telepathically invading the enemy Pokémon's minds and clouding their perception and judgement. While that was happening, Hawlucha flew over towards the commander in a burst of speed, lunging for the man's earpiece and yanking it out before rushing back towards Diantha's side to give it to her. She placed the earpiece in her ear and cautiously spoke into it, "Hello…?"

"Aw geez, now who's this?!" Lisa growled, "Is this another commander, because I swear to-"

"Easy, easy! That's Diantha! She's with me!" Cynthia calmed down after that, directing her attention towards Diantha, "How are things on your end?"

Diantha blinked a few times, slouching her shoulders and grumbling, "...Putain."

Cynthia didn't know French, but she's heard Diantha say that enough to know that it didn't mean anything good, "...Me too. But hang in there! I've almost beaten Cyrus… We're almost done here!"

"These kids are giving me a harder time than I thought…" Diantha sighed, "But I should almost be done with them too. A Champion never quits, right?" She smiled faintly, some of her confidence rebuilding.

"That's right! Keep me updated, all of you!" Cynthia grinned too, gaining back more of her typical charisma, "We're so close! No giving up now!"

"Understood!" Diantha's grin widened at that. Though, she then muted herself over the line, instead choosing to focus back on the battle. Gardevoir let up on her psychic interference, and Hawlucha was ready to get back to fighting. They were getting closer and closer to victory, and there was no stopping now.

"Écoutez-moi, tout le monde! Violà la grande finale! Hawlucha, Gardevoir, laissons-nous les finir!" Diantha was certainly back into the swing of things with her energy back, and she was ready to put on the end to the show, "Allez!"

Feeling the energy and spirit coming from its trainer, Hawlucha was quick to jump back into battle with a smile on its face, and it rushed one of the Golbat and grabbed its leg, throwing it towards Gardevoir. Gardevoir, closing its eyes and joining its hands together at its side, waited for the right moment before opening its eyes to reveal a dark shade of purple, and in throwing out its hands out at Golbat, Gardevoir sent a large sphere of darkness at Golbat and caused it to crash into a stalagmite with swirls in its eyes. Diantha grinned widely at that, and her attention went to the rest of the remaining Pokémon as she cracked her knuckles.

"Heh… Une maître ne tombe jamais!"

The smoke and debris had since cleared on the battlefield, revealing that Houndoom and Honchkrow were defeated. Given the momentary dip in action after he had summoned Gyarados and Crobat, Cyrus lowered his chin and narrowed his eyes at Cynthia, unamused.

"Now, are you ready to give this your all, or will you continue to fall short of the resolve you showed me before this fight began?" Cyrus said in a low voice.

Cynthia shoved a hand in her pocket, and she shook her head with a dry laugh, "Oh, you're not gonna like it when I give you my all. No one ever does."

"You cannot fool me, Champion Cynthia. I can see that look in your eye. I know the fear you hold of this place. You could never possibly imagine to face me at your best when that fear cripples you beyond a doubt." Cyrus's lips curled into a smirk as he spoke, especially when he saw the reaction he got out of her; a snarl. "I know you're eager to leave this world and return to your own so you can free yourself of this terrifying atmosphere… but I'm afraid that you will never return. Your end shall come here, in this world. You'll never see the other world again."

"That's a lie!" Cynthia growled, "I will claw my way back to the real world if I must, and I will drag you there with me! You got off too easy by being left in this realm! You got to be happy in your world of nothingness while I suffered with the memory of this hell! It's time you got what you deserved, and I will rest at nothing until you're spending the rest of your life rotting away in some prison cell in the real world!"

"Then show me!" Cyrus threw his arms out to his sides, "Show me that you have the power to defeat me in this realm! But you can't! As long as we're in the Distortion World, you'll always be weakened by that fear of yours! You cannot beat me here!"

"I can defeat you, and I will! Isn't that right, Garchomp?" Cynthia let out a forced laugh, glancing over to her partner. She pulled her hand out of her pocket, a chain pouring out through the gaps in her fingers, "It's time, Eris… Are you ready?"

Garchomp let out a mighty roar, its fierce gaze locked on Cyrus and his Pokémon. Cyrus looked unfazed and unamused still, but Cynthia was about to wipe that look right off his face.

Cynthia held out her arm, the Mega Charm held tightly in her grasp, and a light started to shine between her fingers. Her gaze went back and forth between Garchomp and her hand, and she noticed how Garchomp's Mega Stone was starting to shine as well. She clenched her jaw, feeling her energy getting sapped out of her, but she couldn't stop now, "I don't remember what all Diantha said to get this thing started, but… Let's go!"

Energy flared at Cynthia's feet and surrounded her, and soon Garchomp was engulfed in a vibrant purple and pink aura. Garchomp threw its head back and let out another roar when its wings started to morph, and the energy that coursed through Garchomp poured into its wings to forge them into scythes. However, before anything else could be seen, the energy around Garchomp grew so bright and aggressive that it completely shrouded Garchomp from view until the transformation was complete. With a swing of its two scythes, Garchomp caused the aura around it to explode and shoot off from it in a shockwave. Where Garchomp once stood, Mega Garchomp took its place and let out a mighty roar, rage teeming from within.

Off in the distance, Diantha noticed the burst of light, and she let out a knowing, smug snicker before returning to her battle.

Cyrus watched with wide eyes, though he did his best to seem unfazed, "Parlor tricks can't save you now! Gyarados! Crobat! Surf and Air Slash!"

Cynthia merely stayed silent and watched as Gyarados sent a large wave of water cascading towards Garchomp and as Crobat sent a compressed crescent of wind ripping through the air. Garchomp covered its face and body with its scythes, brushing off those attacks as if they were nothing and barely looking injured at all from them.

"Show no mercy…" Cynthia muttered. She was starting to feel the drop in energy from pulling off that Mega Evolution, and she stuffed the Mega Charm back into her pocket.

Garchomp was nowhere near as fast as before, though it still crossed the distance between itself and Cyrus's Pokémon without much trouble. A purple tint took over its entire one scythe, and with a harsh swing, Garchomp slashed across both Gyarados and Crobat with Poison Jab, knocking them both back. Using Draco Meteor yet again, Garchomp buried Gyarados and Crobat beneath the falling meteors that rained from above. The two Pokémon were both unconscious once the smoke cleared, and Cyrus couldn't help but grit his teeth in response and look to Cynthia for an explanation.

"This place may be my weakness… But I've more than compensated for that now! This is the end, Cyrus! You're finished!"

Cyrus was understandably frustrated by the turn of events, but he regained his composure soon enough, "Don't be so rash, Champion Cynthia. I still have one Pokémon left… One I'm sure you could never muster the courage to face off against." He closed his eyes, holding his arms out to his sides, "Giratina! The time has come! Squash the vermin that have intruded upon our world! Leave no one left standing! Purge our universe of those who stand against me!"

Cynthia's eyes shot wide and she let out a shocked gasp. Off in the distance, a monstrous shriek sounded, and soon a shadow cast over Cynthia and Garchomp when a figure flew overhead. Cynthia shook her head in disbelief, and her breathing grew heavy. "No…" She stammered, panic settling in for her, "No!"

Cyrus watched with a blank expression as Giratina lowered itself beside the platform he and Cynthia were standing upon, and he clenched the hand that wore the gauntlet that contained the new Red Chain.

"This is it…" Cyrus began, "The end of all mankind… And now...my dream shall finally be realized!"