The following content contains DISTURBING IMAGERY, STRONG LANGUAGE, and VIOLENCE AND GORE. Viewer discretion is advised.

Chapter 7—Essaim
(noun)
—French for "swarm"

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VS SANTALUNE GYM (Part 2)

Delphi watched as Trainer withdrew Tanner and then clutched the Ball to her chest, her fingers white against the red top. The strain from her earlier—"exertion" was a good word—seemed to have faded, her hands and knees trembling slightly but having mostly stilled.

She brought the Ball to her forehead, eyes closing, and said something in Kantonese that he didn't understand. Whatever it was, however, it was spoken in a tender, apologetic fashion laced with gratitude, voice thick and deep like she was fighting back tears—the meaning came across just fine. Delphi wanted to ask if she was alright but he was too scared of the answer. She needed to be okay, otherwise he was doomed.

Swallowing, Delphi turned his gaze back to the field, silent and burning beneath the stage lights. The corpses were stiff and oozing and butchered in a rather cruel fashion. It was hard to believe that it was Tanner who did this, his fellow teammate who was far from sadistic, who was weird and forgetful but for the most part harmless—and he'd done this. The smell of Bug innards, pungent and overall repulsive, hit him even from this far away. He recoiled, bile rising his throat, and suddenly recalled the Beedrill swarm in Santalune Forest—he'd watched and them die as well, and it hadn't been their fault either.

Trainer clipped the Ball to her belt and turned her back to him. She took a deep, sharp breath, then her voice boomed as she called out, "Are you satisfied, Alexa? Huh?! Is this what you wanted?!"

"What I want?!" Alexa's laughter drifted from the other side of the field, off-kilter and incredulous. How could she laugh, at a time like this? "What I want?! Don't act like this was my fault, you incredible bitch! This was on you."

Delphi's jaw nearly fell open. Trainer's brows vanished beneath her bangs, but her mouth tightened further. "My fault? Are—Are you fucking serious?"

"I am!" Alexa's teeth were bared like a wild animal backed into a corner, a show of fear and rage and paranoia all at once. Her eyes were wild and primal, flashing around everywhere. "If you—If you hadn't challenged me, Scarab and Cornelia would both still be alive. They're dead now—they're dead now, they're dead now, they were too weak, but if you hadn't killed them they'd still be here—everything would still be okay and you made it notokay you ruined everything—"

"...okay." Trainer turned to Delphi, her bangs casting a deep shadow over her eyes and an ethereal light flickering in her irises. The contrast was sharp, unsettling. "Just... ignore her. I think the strain of having to Transcend twice consecutively is starting to affect her."

Delphi nodded, but he looked back Alexa as she spat and rambled and he could have sworn she was starting to foam at the mouth. A shiver of trepidation trickled down his spine. He had known for a while that she wasn't alright in the head, but there was a difference between hearing about it and then seeing it, watching her ramble and rave like a lunatic. And it wasn't just a passive madness, either, but something aggressive, virulent, festering inside her like rot.

She was far away, yet his sharp eyes could make her trembling bloodless fingers, the wideness of her eyes, the unhealthy angles of her face. He'd always heard that Transcendence took a toll, but he'd never thought it would be something like this, warping people into some sick caricature until they hardly resembled themselves.

He remembered the way Claire's voice had thickened when she spoke of Alexa, the concern that glittered in her blue eyes and how she'd begged Delphi to save her, save her, oh please oh please save her. He couldn't find anything that resembled the person she'd spoken of.

Alexa held up a Ball, her hand clenching around it so tightly he could have sworn he heard cracks spreading through the metal casing. "Garnett. Garnett will crush you. Garnett will crush you and your fucking fox and your fucking bird, do you hear me bitch this is fucking over I'm ending this right now—"

A Scizor appeared in a brilliant flash of light. Brilliant red, like fresh blood, sharp and polished and metallic. Delphi got a chill at just the sight of it. Then Alexa touched her choker.

Trainer must have begun Transcending at some point—he hardly felt her presence anymore, he was so used to it—but he saw the transformation happen. The Bug's body lengthened and grew sharper, more geometric, exoskeleton seeming to strain against the growth and making ugly, cracking noises. If it were him, he would have screamed, but the expression on apparently-Garnett's face was blank, eyes dead and pitiless. Its pincers grew broad and long, sharper, spiker, pure instruments of torture. Black infected its body, calcifying around the joints, forming a three-pronged crest upon its face. A normal Scizor was intimidating enough but the Ascended form sent a spike of fear through his heart—between the red and black and the blue eyes, it looked like an angel of death, a child of Les Ailes sent for the very purpose of reaping his soul.

His ears flattened against his skull.

"It's not as scary as it looks," Trainer said. Her voice was not quite gentle or reassuring, but the sound of it was comforting. "You can do this. Okay?"

No. No, absolutely not. Fear clutched at his chest and memories of how badly Tanner had gotten hurt flashed though his mind, returning with a bloody wing and splatter of goo on his feathers and as stiffness to his body as though he'd acquired arthritis. His heart thudded. Delphi could not kill someone. He couldn't. He just couldn't. But he was going to have to and he couldn't no way no way no—

But she was counting on him. Trainer was counting on him and they had trained for three weeks just for this, just to finish this. Alexa couldn't keep doing this. They all knew it and Delphi knew it and Trainer knew it and Claire had asked Delphi to stop her. Stop her, oh please, oh please stop her, and Alexa had Garnett and it wouldn't be over until Garnett had fallen. Tanner couldn't handle another round and even if he could, he'd already been returned, and the rules wouldn't let him fight again. Max certainly couldn't handle it, either—he'd run at the first sight of it, and Delphi had held him, felt him tremble and thrash and seen the genuine fear in his eyes. Which meant it was up to Delphi, up to him, all up to him, counting on him, relying on him, on him on him on him.

His breath shuddered in his lungs and his throat was closing up with fear, he thought he was going to cry, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah. Yeah. Let's finish this."

"Start with Howl," was her only reply.

He bolted onto the field before he could have second thoughts. The white line of the border vanished behind him—it looked like some sort of threshold from behind, safe and protective and something he would ultimately regret crossing.

Delphi felt dizzy. His heart pounded. Oh dear Goddess.

Remember.

Trainer's voice, firm, like a general at war. Stat buffs.

Right. He could do this. He could do this.

He could do this.

Breathe. In, out. In.

The air in his lungs hummed, and he let it out in a drawn-out, crooning howl. It wobbled, his nerves showing, but it did its job despite that—he could feel his muscles clenching, sinew tightening, blood thrumming, aura singing. His species was not one for physical attacks, but Flame Charge was his best move right now, and raising his physical power was the best way to ensure victory.

Alexa let out a sound that was half caterwaul, half maniacal laugh. "That's it? You have a fucking Fire-Type and he just makes a little noise? Pah! Garnett, show them how a real hunter goes in for the kill!"

Move!

That was the only warning Delphi had before Garnett blurring forward, crackly fuliginous power gathering around its left pincher. On instinct, he tucked and rolled out of the way, just as the air ripped and ground exploded.

Pain bit into his arm. He winced, clenching his teeth, and brought a paw to his shoulder. Something wet and warm met the pad of his paw, but that didn't make sense. He hadn't been anywhere near—

The air was so sharp that it'd cut him.

Garnett's claw had buried itself in the ground with defining thunk. It tugged, and couldn't get loose.

Trainer's presence surged forward. Now, while its back is turned! Ember!

He instinctively grabbed his stick and lit it on the coarse hairs of his tail. The flame burned bright, brilliant orange, and unlike a flame sustained by air, it burned strong and steady because that was how aura worked. Not Flame Charge?

Not yet, no. Let's trying weakening it first.

...okay.

Delphi charged forward and whipped his stick. The flame unfurled in an arc, flashing in orange and red and yellow before striking Garnett in the back.

It screeched, thrashing, trying in vain to writhe away from the heat. But the pincer was stuck in the ground it stayed rooted in place like an anchor, kept Garnett struck and stranded and vulnerable to Delphi's continuous onslaught.

The screaming pierced his eardrums, sharp and caterwauling that seemed to echo throughout the entire field, filling the very air with the sound of pain. Delphi flinched, his loss of concentration causing the Ember stream to fizzle out.

What're you doing?! Trainer's shock and anger was like a blow across the face. Don't stop!

Delphi stumbled back. His head pulsed. Trainer's presence had gone from passive to agitated, spiking and wild and throbbing. I-It was hurt—

Her presence only bared down harder on his mind. That doesn't mean you stop, idiot!

S-Sorry, I just—

There was a crack, then a snap, then a gushing noise. Delphi jumped back, refocusing on Garnett. The claw still remained jutting out of the ground, half-buried in the furrow it had created from the prior impact. But Garnett rose up, brandishing the other claw—one arm was broken at the joint, a foul-smelling, viscous fluid pouring from the stump. It drippled the ground, dampening the sand at its feet.

Delphi swallowed thickly. Great Goddess.

He felt Trainer drawing back and shudder. Well. Shit.

Garnett's other pincer flashed bright blue, then it suddenly devolved into a blur. A moment, it reappeared in front of Delphi's face, blue eyes burning into him, and—

And he froze.

Pain slammed into his gut—his vision went white for a moment, the air rushing out from his lungs, teeth aching. The next thing he knew, he was skidding across the field, and came to a stop just as the sand started to dampen from, eugh, Bug goo. He sat up, wincing at the damp ooze.

Trainer's presence spiked. Oi, kid. You okay?

Delphi coughed. His lungs ached. It felt like a firework went off in his gut.

That can't have hurt that much, Trainer scoffed with a reproachful note. That was Bullet Punch—it's a weak move. Plus, you have a type resistance.

It still hurt, he protested. It was childish and he knew she had a point, but he still felt the need to defend himself.

He felt Trainer tense, suddenly. You need to move. Now.

Delphi barely had time to process her words when a sudden, inexorable weight crashed into him. White-hot agony exploded through him, like a thousand firecrackers going off at once inside his chest, punctuated by a decisive crack.

The ground beneath his paws vanished without warning, something metallic flooding his tongue. Then the ground came back, painfully hard, slamming into the side of his skull and sent it ringing like a Johtonese gong. He saw flashing lights, black and white and blotchy red stars bursting before his vision. His ears roared with Trainer's shouts.

Hayami winced. She swore she could feel the impact herself, reverberating in the air and in her bones and in her skull. She felt both dizzy and sick at the same time.

"Ouch," Alistair said blandly. The pompous bird looked completely unmoved at Delphi's suffering, vain and self-involved as he was. "What was that, Giga Impact? That looked like Giga Impact."

She heard Mint growl under her breath. "The hell did she find the time to teach that monster a move like that?!"

"The hell did she even get the TM?" Tierno asked breathlessly. "I thought TMs were only accessible to League Trainers."

Calem's face was shadowed in harsh lighting and severe, glowing angles. "Some TMs are accessible to Gym Leaders, but nothing like Giga Impact. Those are usually reserved for Trainers with at least six badges."

Serena was leaning forward in her seat so much that she looked hunched over, but she suddenly straightened, eyes wide. "Oh my god, Delphi's getting up!"

Hayami's eyes snapped back onto the field. Delphi was swaying, his stick in one hand and the other hand pressed against his chest. His expression was one of intense pain, but there was stubbornness in there too, glinting hard in his eyes. She had to admit, she was rather surprised. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected him to soak up a Giga Impact like that, much less stagger back to his feet like that, bloody and a little worse for wear but the whites of his teeth showing as he bared them into a defiant snarl.

"Atta boy!" Shauna cheered, a sentiment that Hayami shared.

I've underestimated him, she mused, as Delphi reignited his stick and charged forward.

Delphi's paws skidded he traced a wide circle around Garnett, sand sparking and heating beneath the blowtorch-like Ember he loosed. Every breath sent stabbing pain through his lungs, his vision starting to blur, but Trainer insisted he needed to capitalize on this opportunity, while Garnett recharged, motionless and statuesque. He could hear her in the back of his skull, repeating "keep going, keep going, keep going" in an endless mantra.

And... stop!

At Trainer's signal, Delphi's legs gave out and he skidded to a halt. The sand was cool against the burning heat his body was radiating, flesh and blood straining against the overwhelming power a body so young should not be harboring. Heat pounded against his ears. His chest screamed.

I'm sorry, Trainer said, deeply apologetic and trembling the slightest bit. If I'd known that bastard was packing Giga Impact, I would have acted. I... I didn't react in time...

Her guilt made him nauseous. I-It's okay, Trainer. I'm fine.

He felt her disbelief like a tactile thing, but she said nothing else.

As his ragged breathing evened out and the pain grew dulled by the rush of adrenaline, he caught Garnett shifting, regaining its mobility. It was hard to see, because the air above the overheated sand (glowing a brilliant, molten shade of orange) shimmered and warped from the intense temperature, like the pavement on a humid summer's afternoon. But through the thick, sweltering haze, Delphi made out its wings sputtering to life (though the sound was drowned by the roaring in his ears).

Then he saw it rush forward, a metallic sort of light accumulating around the crest on its head. A sense of urgency flooded him—it was aiming for him and he was right in the way, oh god, he couldn't bring himself to rise to his feet couldn't feel his legs he was going to get flattened—

He squeezed his eyes shut, braced himself for a bone-jarring impact—

It's okay. Trainer's voice jarred his thoughts of death. It won't touch you. Look.

Incredulity filled him, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that she was right. Garnett hovered at the edge of the line, where the sand turned burning orange and the air shimmered. Its momentum had come to a grinding halt and it hovered there, something like uncertainty in its normally emotionless eyes.

He frowned. What's going on? Why is it—

Transcendence, if it's done improperly, can result in some nasty side-affects on the Pokémon, Trainer explained with something like distaste. He can practically see the crinkle in her nose and the scowl in her mouth. That Scizor is being overloaded with so much power that its body temperature is through the roof. If it were to heat any more, the metal on its shell would melt—that includes crossing a barrier of superheated air, by the way. It won't cross out of self-preservation instinct.

So it's trapped, Delphi realized.

Yup. There was a hint of pride in her voice now. You can cross that barrier no problem because of your resistance to heat and fight it at close-quarters. And if you need to retreat, it won't be able to follow you.

He found a warm jolt of pride unfurling in his chest. This was truly the mind of an experienced Trainer at work. How impressive.

The battle's over, she announced darkly. All that's left is to deal the killing blow.

The pride in his chest quickly turned cold. Killing blow. Right. Reaper Battles didn't end until one of two sides killed each other. Right.

Remembering that he needed to kill—counting on him counting on him counting on him—had a sobering effect on him. He forced himself to sit up, wincing at the stabbing that went through his chest, and the throbbing noise in his ears began to ebb.

He heard—shouting. ...Alexa?

"Move dammit!" Her voice was harsh and booming and rasping. When he glanced at her, he saw that she was heaving with each breath, body physically shaking. Her legs were trembling, as though threatening to buckle underneath her fragile weight, and that worried him. "Attack! Killitkillitkillit!"

Delphi swallowed thickly and staggered to his feet. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Even though he was far away, he could smell it rolling off of her in waves—fear, its metallic pungency mixed heavily with the sweetness of decay. The two scents clashed and something like urgency fluttered in his gut as he continued to watch her with wide, fearful eyes.

Delphi? Trainer, bewildered by his inactivity. He sensed her gesturing towards Garnett, who still couldn't will itself through the wall of heat. The opponent's over there.

He opened his mouth to respond, honest to the Goddess he did. He'd had every intention of turning back to the monstrous crimson beast on the other side of the line, face it like David faced Goliath, because after all, that was what he'd trained for.

Then he saw Alexa stagger, saw her legs give out. He saw her body jerk, and he heard—heard her coughing, hacking, like she was trying to vomit her vocal chords, like her lungs were diseased. She wrapped her too-thin white arms around her self, as though that were the only thing keeping her together, and she almost seemed sob around each convulsive jerk of her body.

It happened out of nowhere.

Crimson splattered all over her clothes, her shoes, the floor, everywhere, all over, red on red on red on red.

Before Delphi could even string a coherent thought together, he was running, running, Alexa's crumpled form growing larger and larger and closer—

What are you doing?!

But he'd stopped listening. All he could see was Alexa, crumpled in on herself, and Clair's big blue eyes pleading up at him. The two images blurred in his vision, melded together—and then he was in front of her, watching her. Blood dribbled wetly from the corners of her lip, poured out her nose, wept from her eyes. And the stench, it was so much stronger up close, nearly overwhelming, rot and decay and blood and fear all bleeding together in a revolting medley.

Delphi, get away from her. Trainer's voice was sharp with urgency, but Delphi didn't hear. Alexa was trembling, like she was about to come apart at the very seams, and he didn't think she posed any threat to him.

Alexa's head shot up to stare at him. Her eyes were too-wide, glass-like and blank and bloodshot. The haunted look lasted for only a moment before a snarl twisted her mouth, revealing pink-tinted teeth and blackening gums. "The fuck are you looking at you fucking fox?"

"You're dying," he heard himself say quietly. "Your—your body. It's... rotting. I can smell it. You're... rotting from the inside out."

For a moment, she did nothing, said nothing. Only stared with those impossibly wide eyes set into a too-bony face. Then a noise filled the silence—a soft, undulating sound. As it loudened, Delphi realized it was laughter, of all things. She was laughing.

Then she threw her head back so sharply he feared her neck would break, and she cackled. Her entire body trembled and jerked with her laughter, and he almost feared that she might fall apart. Unease flooded him, and Delphi instinctually made a grab for his stick, only to realize, with a jolt of horror, that he'd left it back over near the ring of hot sand.

Delphi, Trainer hissed warningly. Get away from her.

His eyes fell on the swollen red jewel on her choker. It was bloated and throbbing, looking as though it might burst. He swallowed, remembering Claire and the fear in her gaze. "You need to stop Transcending."

At this, Alexa suddenly quieted. She stared at him, eyes huge, like a child caught sight of something interesting. "Stop?" she repeated, breathless and a little disbelieving, as though it were the most ridiculous idea in the world. "Why would I do that?"

"It's killing you," he said, voice barely a whisper.

Delphi! Trainer hissed.

Alexa blinked at him absently, then, with an agonizing slowness, rose to her feet. He couldn't help but compare her movements to a puppet on a string, limbs jerked this way and that by a will that was not her own. Then she chuckled—a sweet, soft discharge of amusement—and her smile was viperous. "Oh, you poor, poor deluded weakling. This"—she stroked the Keystone tenderly—"is making me strong."

"You're dying," Delphi insisted.

"No. You are dying. I am strong. I am strong I am strong the strong do not die..." And with that, she lapsed back into her ramblings.

For Bird's sake. Trainer's voice became a frustrated growl. Leave her.

The fur on his shoulders bristled. He remembered Claire, and Viola, and he couldn't, couldn't leave her like this. I can help her.

No. You can't, she retorted sharply, frustrated, as though this were an absolute fact and he was the stubborn one.

But she was wrong. No one was beyond saving and Claire's blue eyes burned in his mind. He turned back to Alexa, tuning Trainer out. "Alexa—"

"Weak," she snarled with suddenly viciousness. Delphi almost jumped out of his skin. He was suddenly very aware of her untrimmed nails, of the strength in her bony fingers. "Weaklings, everywhere, all around me won't go away weak weak weak don't need them weak—"

"Think about what you're saying," he interrupted. His voice came out more desperate than he intended, but he ignored it. He could help her. He could help her. "These are your friends you're talking about. Your family. They mean something to you, don't they? Think—think about them. They must be so worried—"

Alexa let out an inhuman snarl, teeth bared and revealing how bloodied they were, how red and inflamed her gums were. Blood leaked from them, dribbled down her chin, spotted her blouse. But she wasn't an animal. She was a person. A person, with reason and consciences that could be appealed to. A person.

"Fuck them," she spat with a chilling, startling intense disgust. He jumped, startled at the intensity in her voice, the burn behind her eyes. "Fuck them, fuck Viola, fuck Father, fuck them all. Weak, weak, weaklings everywhere. Let them die let them rot. I don't need them."

Something like horror unfurled in his gut, but—no. No. She didn't mean that. She couldn't. Claire and Viola, they cared about her. People don't care about someone for no reason. There must have been a reason for the way Claire's blue eyes shone with desperation and her vehement begging, for the way Viola's hands shook and her voice quavered. They love her. And Alexa must love them back.

Delphi. Trainer's voice was exasperated, her presence pressing firmly against his skull, an incessant pressure. For the love of god, she's unstable. You can't just talk her out of—

"You don't mean that." Delphi wasn't sure if he was talking to Trainer or Alexa, but it cut Trainer off and it made Alexa hiss. "I know you don't. Alexa, please—"

A shudder went through her, and harsh laughter spilled from her throat. "Don't tell me—Don't you fucking tell me what I mean or don't mean you son of a—"

"Think about your sister," he pressed. He could hear Trainer shouting at him and pressing against his skull, but at that statement, she suddenly went silent, almost mournfully so. "Viola is so scared, so worried about you—"

"She's weak," Alexa interrupted. Blood ran down her nose, so when she snorted derisively, it was red that came out. She didn't even seem to notice. "Weak and stupid and weak how could Father think to pass the Gym onto her? She nearly bankrupted it because she was too weak, too soft-hearted, in one month I managed to turn the whole thing around she spent years just plodding along and struggling and it only took me one month—"

"What about Claire?" He should have known better than to bring up Viola's name, with the lingering resentment that Alexa apparently harbored her sister. "You—You remember Claire, right? Your Helioptile? Your friend? Think about her, Alexa. She's scared for you. Please—"

"Useless," Alexa murmured.

Delphi blinked, thrown. "W-What?"

Delphi, Trainer cautioned.

"She's fucking useless." Alexa was hunched over, panting heavily. Her brows were knit, as if in deep concentration, but her words were still edge by something feral. "Can't fight. Can't use anything that can't fight. Anything that can fight can shut up and die in the corner like the useless wretch it is."

He stepped back, feeling like he'd been struck.

How could she not care? How could she say that about the people closest to her, who cared about her so deeply, so intensely—

The air became charged, started to crackle and snap. A horrible prickling sensation went down his spine. Every hair on his body rose.

Shit! Delphi, fucking move!

He was already moving before the order came, and just in time—dark energy slammed into the space where he'd stood, so sharp and wicked that the ground hit. A moment later, a red blur that was likely Garnett crashed into the ground so hard it sent sand and dirt spraying. It was all punctuated by a shattering boom that ripped the air to pieces.

His eardrums rang as the dust settled. Garnett's body glowed red-orange with heat, air warping around their body. Their one remaining claw was stopped just a breath from the ground, just before it could strike the sand and become imbedded, like before. Dark electricity crackled around the jagged edge.

What the hell?! Trainer's shock and panic throbbed against his skull. How did it—the fucker shouldn't have been able to leave the circle! What the fuck?!

Delphi swallowed and took several steps back. The smell of iron was heavy and hot in the air. It burned against his nostrils, got stuck in his throat.

And then—he noticed it. The way its exoskeleton was starting to... drip, for lack of a better word. Something liquid was dribbling down the polished surface of its metal shell. Little molten droplets fell onto the sand and sizzled, while the air expanded and warped as the Veil attempted to compensate.

Horror froze his insides. It's melting.

No shit. Trainer's presence pounded thunderously inside his head. I told you, its body is burning and it just got exposed to a hell load more heat. Fuck. How did she override its preservation instinct?

Delphi shot a quick glance over his shoulder and spotted his discarded stick some ways back. If he could just run over and grab it—

Don't take your eyes off your opponent!

He whirled around. Garnett ambled forward, slow and menacing, pincher brandished and dark energy cracking around it. The steps were stiff, arthritic, as though the very action pained the Scizor to no end. A pang of sympathy went through his chest at the sight.

Trainer's frustrated growl rolled through his ears. Don't feel sorry for the thing that's trying to kill you, goddammit!

Her shout came in the nick of time. Garnett lunged forward with unnatural speed—Delphi ducked just in time for the incoming Night Slash to whiz passed. The crack of energy was deafening, booming against his eardrums like a cannon went off. The next thing he knew, there was dirt in his eyes and a sharp, raw pain against his shoulder and the ground crashes against his cheek.

What happened. He ducked. How did he still get hit when he ducked.

Aftershock, Trainer informed him flatly. The sonic boom got you.

He gritted his teeth as he sat up, one instinctively reaching up to clutch at his collarbone. Sheer agony welled up like magma from a fissure in the ground. Something hot and metallic bathed his tongue, dribbled between his teeth and pooled crimson beneath his paws. When he tried to sit up, his skull pulsed, and he wondered how in the Goddess's name he was supposed to fight something that could break the sound barrier.

With great difficulty, she educated, trying to sound prim and wise, but instead coming off as slightly condescending. But you don't worry—you might not have to. From the way its shell is sloughing off of it, I somehow doubt it'll be able to reach that speed again.

Delphi felt a groan rise in his throat as he pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. His vision pitched and swayed, but through the bloody haze of pain, he realized she was right. Garnett had left a trail of smoking liquid in its wake, and as he followed it with his eyes, he eventually found himself taking in a great bulge in the sand—no, a smoking crater, he realized—located just next to the Heracross's corpse.

Before his eyes, Garnett slowly rose up, whole body weeping molten steel and a thick cape of steam rising from its body. Its face was melted on one side, one eye lost in the ruin of black and crimson bleeding into one another. The other eye burned artificially bright, ethereally blue, as its body jerked. The movements were broken, disjointed, like puppet being tugged sharply by its master, and every movement screamed with pain.

Delphi swallowed (a mouthful of blood) thickly.

"...Trainer?" His breaths were ragged, each one sending a firestorm through his lungs. "I don't... I don't think it can keep fighting. I don't think..."

It's not just going to drop dead, Delphi, she retorted frostily. He flinched, and she seemed to realize her harshness, because the ice in her voice relented slightly, gave way to a tempered resignation. Transcendence—it doesn't work that way. It's not going to die unless Alexa releases it.

Garnett staggered forward. Its one remaining claw was melted shut, and its wings had been reduced to defective masses that could not longer support flight. The smell of flesh cooking inside its molten shell made Delphi wince. "It's suffering..."

I know. And that's why you have to finish it.

His insides clenched. "I... I don't..."

The half-melted crest on Garnett's head blazed, its gait growing swifter and it lowered its head. Delphi realized it was preparing an Iron Head, aiming straight for him.

You don't have a lot of options right now, Delphi. Garnett was coming in swiftly, form growing as the distance shrinks. Either you fight it, or it kills you.

He knew that. Intellectually, he knew that. But he looked at Alexa over his shoulder, saw her bloody and trembling, and looked at Garnett, melting as it charged at him, and he couldn't. He couldn't.

Fight or die. Trainer's voice was hushed, but firm. Which is it?

Garnett was so close that he can feel the heat radiating off its molten metal shell. Time trickled to a slow crawl, and he could see each pained movement of its joints as it charged steadily forward. That glowing crest on its forehead was going to slam into his stomach any moment and he knew from experience that it would hurt. Not as bad as Giga Impact, granted, but he was beat-up and bloody and one more hit might actually do him in, like Trainer warned.

Stop.

Decision time:

Stay still, let the attack hit, refuse to hurt anyone else. Die. Honor before reason.

Or fight. Move out of the way, put Garnett out of its misery, just as Trainer said. Continue living.

Some would die before taking a life. Some would have been stronger.

But Delphi was scared. He was young and bleeding heavily and scared. For one horrible moment, he was flooded by a bone-deep, visceral terror, and everything went blank. Instinct screamed through him and there it was, that basic survival instinct, ingrained into every fibre of your DNA.

He banked left, Garnett missing him by milometers. And before he knew, it before he could even register the fact, flaming aura rippled off his fur, sparks igniting in the air. His muscles pulsed and bristled with new energy, and he scarcely thought So that's why Trainer ordered those Howls before his vision stained with crimson-red fire.

Heat roared in its ears, all around him, magma blazing beneath his flesh, fire pulsing in his blood. It consumed him, his whole being ignited into cinders and smoke and a great, torrid inferno. It was as though he had become the embodiment of fire itself, a living flame. With no warning, everything came into a sharp, clear focus, and then was running, legs pumping, and the Scizor barely had time to understand what was happening before—

Garnett's shell was soft, malleable beneath his weight as he slammed into it. He felt it bend and melt and dent, felt it crumble like a crushed aluminum can.

To think something so fragile could support life.

And then he is tumbling, rolling, dirt in his eyes and mouth and stinging in his wounds. His head crashes against the ground, and there is sand everywhere. Sand, and blood, and heat.

Silence fell over the stadium. As in, you can hear a pin drop silence. It was really fucking unnerving.

Shauna was clutching Mint so hard she could hardly breathe. Over the deafening silence, all she heard was her own heartbeat, the sound of her lungs struggling for oxygen. It was like her brain had shut down, refused to register that her body needed to breathe, fucking breathe, but the tension was too much. Too thick. You could cut it with a steak knife.

Then the announcer shakily raised his mike to his mouth. "Garnett is no longer able to battle. The winner is... The challenger is..."

Mint couldn't hear anything beyond that, because the crowd was roaring too loudly. Celestine's dark silhouette broke from her corner and streaked across the field, to where Delphi was collapsed into the sand.

She saw Trevor's hands trembling as they gripped the armrests. "Oh dear god."

Shauna breathed in sharply, but it sounded like a sob. "Be okay. Please, be okay."

The stage lights pierced Delphi's corneas. It hurt to look at it, the light flooding his eyes. He closed them, listening to the rhythm of his pulse in his ears, loud and thunderous. The heat was fading from a brilliant flare to a mere smolder, leaving a startling chill to fill up its absence.

Breathing hurt. Lying down hurt. No matter what he did, there was a slow, persistent flare of agony boiling beneath his skin.

Delphi. Trainer's voice echoed. Bounced around in his skull. Delphi, Delphi, Delphi—

"Delphi!"

His eyes snapped open.

A great, shadowy head had imposed itself between the blinding light and his line of vision. It began to slowly come into focus—long dark hair framing a pale, pretty face, and lazuline eyes that were dull of any ethereal spark.

"Trainer?" His voice broke in his throat. His tongue felt dry and chalky and his mouth tasted heavily of iron. Only now he recognized that she pulled out.

"Yeah, it's me." She was hold him, he realized, his body broken and fragile, cradled in her arms. Her presence was gone from inside his mind, but he could hear her heartbeat, his head having fallen onto his chest. "Genesis, Blaze did a number on you."

"Blaze?" he repeated. His skull felt sort of... fuzzy.

"Your ability, Blaze." Everything shifted, and he realized she was standing up, moving. His vision blurred. He was tired. He wanted to sleep. "It kicked in with that last Flame Charge. Really saved your ass."

He tried to ask if that meant it was over, but it came out in mumbled gibberish.

She seemed to understand anyway. "It's okay. Garnett's down. We won."

Relief flooded him, turned his bones to jelly, and he sagged in her grip, letting out a sigh. For a few blissful moments, he was content only with the knowledge that there was no more fighting, and that was the end of it.

Then awareness hit him.

His muscles clenched with remembrance, because this was a Reaper Battle. If he won, then that meant—

He peered over Trainer's shoulder, through the ebony curtain of her hair, and... there. It sat, twisted and mangled, a blackened, smoldering wreckage of what had once been a living being. Half-melted in a pool, smoke rising from the twisted skeletal frame, and it is the stuff of nightmares, that form. That broken body. That crumpled metal shell that wasn't even a living thing anymore, much less looked like it could ever be one.

Gravity caused it to shift. Something round and bulbous lolled to the side. A single blue eye pierced him.

It's dead. The sheer horror that crashed into his system is so heavy he was surprised he didn't just pass out, right then and there. It's dead and I killed it oh my god I killed someone oh my god ohmygod—

Screaming.

Delphi looked up sharply. Suddenly, Trainer was standing over Alexa—Alexa, who was on the floor, writhing and screaming and clawing at her throat. Wailing. A broken, inhuman litany of pain and dying. Suddenly he couldn't hear anything but that sound, that sound. He looked up, at Trainer, anywhere else.

But Trainer was not much of an improvement. His gaze drank in a tight mouth, narrowed eyes, and a winkle in her nose, as though looking at a cockroach, or gum on her boot. It startled him, chilled him, to see her features warped into something so cold, so apathetic. Especially with another human being like this, on the ground, trapped in the throes of a seizure.

Slowly, very slowly, she tiptoed her way around Alexa, who was still writhing and caterwauling and clawing bloody furrows into her own flesh. But Trainer paid her hardly any mind. She was so unnaturally calm, unnaturally purposeful with her movements, as she crouched down to set Delphi on the ground. It was so unnerving how precisely she moved, how carefully she checked to make sure he was comfortable as she leaned him down, and nice and slow, with no more than a half-hearted murmur for him to rest while she took care of something.

He was flitting in and out of consciousness, vision flashing between light and darkness, but he caught Trainer turn her back to him. Caught her crouching over Alexa's thrashing form, dark hair cascading down her back, pooling around her ankles. He couldn't see her face, only Alexa's fingers clawing at herself. For a moment, he couldn't decide which was worse.

"So." Trainer's voice was soft, cold. She clucked her tongue. "You're finally dying."

"Shut up!" Alexa snarled. Through the haze of half-consciousness, he saw her whirl around, green irises burning bright blue. It was like the light was rotting away at her eyes, eating her from the inside. "Not gonna die too strong not gonna die like hell not gonna die—"

A soft, mirthless chuckle breezed through Trainer's lips. "Transcendence is the very thing that's killing you, you stupid bitch. Power like this comes at a price."

Delphi tried to sit up, only to be flooded by a wave of hot pain, vision bursting into brilliant light. He heard Alexa release a guttural snarl.

"And you had so much, too," Trainer went on, cold, but with a note of something else. Lonely, sad almost. He caught her pale arm reaching out, suddenly snatching the choker on Alexa's neck. The Gym Leader (if she could be called that) snarled and clawed at her arm, but the flesh just healed. "You had people who loved you. People who are gonna fucking mourn you. And you had to do something like this, all because you were too selfish and jealous to see what was right in front of you."

Her fingers began to tug. The breath caught in Delphi's throat.

"I hate people like you," she said flatly. "You're too far gone to save."

In one sharp motion, Trainer ripped the choker off. The fabric snapped and Alexa screamed, then went horribly, horribly still.

Delphi whimpered.

She held out the choker in her hand. By the fingertips, almost afraid to soil her hands with it. The gem pulse once, then winked out, turned dim. "'If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die'," she murmured, so soft he scarcely heard her.

Then he saw her tuck the choker into her pocket, hastily, as though afraid of being caught. As though the act were illicit. Once she had it safely tucked away, she leaped to her feet with a sense of urgency that belied her prior composure. Delphi watched the Veil ripple and pulse around her as she cried out, voice trembling and thick with an emotion he couldn't identify, "Quick! Somebody get a doctor! Hurry the fuck up!"

He wrenched his gaze away from her and looked back at the ground. Alexa's form was so, so still. Unmoving. Not breathing. Her spindly fingers twitching, eyes wide and glassy and blank. They bored into him, sightless.

Bile welled in his throat. No. No, it couldn't be. She wouldn't. Trainer would never—

Darkness bled into his vision. Her silhouette was a stark, wicked shadow against the stage lights. All he heard was the sound of her voice screaming, falsifying urgency (as though a corpse could just get up and walk away) when there was no need. The pilfered keystone in here pocket.

Then there was unconsciousness, and the sweet liberation from guilt and fear and horror. From the fact that there was blood on his paws.

Braixen X/OR Dex entry: It has a twig stuck in its tail. With friction from its tail fur, it sets the twig on fire and launches into battle.

...

Mega Scizor Sun Dex entry: The excess energy that bathes this Pokémon keeps it in constant danger of overflow. It can't sustain a battle over long periods of time.

...

Mega Scizor US Dex entry: It stores the excess energy from Mega Evolution, so after a long time passes, its body starts to melt.

Current Team:

Delphi, Male Braixen (lv 15)
Docile, Takes plenty of siestas
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Scratch, Howl, Ember, Flame Charge
Met: Vaniville (Aquacorde) Town

Max, Male Pidgey (lv 15)
Naïve, Very finicky
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, Quick Attack
Met: Route Two

Tanner, Male Pidgey (lv 15)
Hasty, Scatters things often
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, Quick Attack
Met: Route (Three) Two

Tyler, Male Psyduck (lv 15)
Naughty, Proud of his power
Ability: Damp
Moves: Disable, Confusion, Tail Whip, Water Gun
Met: (Route Twenty-Two) Santalune City

Retired: 1 Dead: 0 Boxed: 0

Author's Notes:

Sorry guys! I took a bit of a hiatus while working on this because it was just so fracking frustrating. I got stuck revising and re-choreographing the battle scene, and it just drove me up the wall. I swear to god this went through, like, three revisions. Part of me considered scrapping the whole thing at one point, but that ended up only making it even harder to write, so I went back and edited the original version. Coming out of it, I'm more than satisfied with this version. It was just tough writing the action parts and then stringing it all together and just, well, finding the motivation, really.

As of now, I am officially off hiatus,but updates will continue to remain irregular. Thank you to all my readers for supporting me this far.

The quote I used for Celestine at the end is from Mata Angelou. I was looking for a line from a poem, but I stumbled across this and it just fit so perfectly I couldn't not use it.

That's all for now. Sincerely,
Luna