Keldeo couldn't stop staring at the broken pieces of the medallion on the ground, even as Cody lunged at them. Everything that Cobalion and Cody were was just useless metal at Cody's feet. He could faintly hear the sound of the others transforming, ready for a fight and blocking Cody's sword. But against Cody, would they be willing to hurt him?
"Cody, this isn't who you are!" Vera pleaded, locking swords with Cody, still reeling from how it simply appeared in his hand, no medallion, no transformation, just pure energy.
"It's who I want to be." Cody responded simply, breaking contact and swiping at Vera, enough for her to back up. The ground beneath Cody grew uneven, cracks in the earth that made Cody falter, just as he guessed, Terry held back, lest he hurt his precious friend.
"Hey man, I get it. Being angry feels really good sometimes, but this ain't right!" Terry stepped forward, his face contorted in concentrated effort to hold back.
"It's all I'm going to have left." Cody leapt and lunged at Terry, only for Keldeo to intercept the attack "You…you did this to me."
Keldeo's attack faltered for a moment.
"You made me believe that I could be happy again, that I could have friends…real friends again. And not just a bunch of faceless people a million miles away. And then you can say goodbye forever with a smile on your face!?"
"What about Quinn?" Keldeo asked.
"He's gone!" Cody roared, clashing with Keldeo again "Gone to another world never to come back. You'll have Paradise…" Cody whipped to Terry and Vera, watching on in horror "And you two will have each other, and all your friends that you said you were done with." Cody laughed "And then there's me, left behind and forgotten again!"
"Again?" Keldeo murmured, he shook his head "Cody, I don't know what you're talking about but, nobody said they were leaving you when this was all done. Terry and Vera never said that, and they never would."
"But you will…" Cody said, much more vulnerable, more human than the anomaly, swinging again before Keldeo could respond "...they always do."
"Cody…" Keldeo tried again, but a hard swing sent him skidding backwards and away from him. It was only now the other residents of Paradise began to flee, aided by the Voice of Life. Cody gave them little mind, his focus was the swordsmen.
His eyes snapped to behind him, where he sliced a thrown boulder in half. Terry stood behind him, growling before he summoned his sword and charged at Cody, who stood his ground, using his sword to deflect Terry and keep him running.
"They abandoned you!" Cody screamed at Terry "They called you a lost cause! And yet you can find it in yourself to let them back in!?" he pointed his sword at him, only for it to have to be used to deflect a spinning storm of magical leaves. Vera charging through right after. Another deflect, and with strength that wasn't his own, he made Vera flip over him "And you… after everything they said and did to you. You can just forgive them!?" he gripped the side of his head, whimpering "I just don't get it!"
"Dude, we've been talking with them over the summer. Working things out…-!" Terry began.
"You made us realize how bad things were before we met you." Vera followed up "It's not gonna be like last time."
"Liar!" Cody charged at Vera with speed. Terry summoned a stone to get in his way, only for it to be cut down a moment later. It was still enough time for Terry to get in the way and block the attack, causing him to skid back a few inches. Terry roared, swinging at Cody, who deflected it easily. Cody swung once, making Terry lose balance, and then he stabbed Terry. In an instant, Terry was back to his human self, unconscious on the ground. Cody exhaled, moving until he was standing over Terry sword in hand. He reached down and…-!
"Don't you dare touch him!" Vera screamed back, rushing at Cody with a swirl of leaves around her, sword drawn and ready to pierce Cody. He simply turned to face her, not even attempting to block the attack. Vera kept charging for a moment longer before she closed her eyes, turning the other direction and making her own attack miss.
"That's what I thought." Cody smirked, looking down at his hand and what he grabbed, Terrakion's medallion. In a moment he began applying pressure to the medallion and it, like Coballion's, cracked and broke. The pieces falling to the ground.
Vera grimaced, summoning her leaves again and launching them at Cody. It took no effort for Cody to deflect the attack, casually spinning his blade and dispelling most of the leaves as he walked forward, a few cuts appearing alongside the bruises from Terry's stones before. Just as he predicted, Vera was too afraid to actually hurt him. Cuts from the leaves would hurt for sure, but a slash from her Sacred Sword? That would probably be fatal, and he knew that.
It wasn't long before Cody was close enough to Vera to slash at her. Vera quickly backstepped to dodge the attack, summoning her own sword. Vera began to thrusting at Cody, but he could feel it, half measures, no full commitment, she was still holding back.
It wasn't long before a well placed slash caused Vera to go sliding back, already transforming back into a human. Just like before he reached down and grabbed her medallion, crushing it in his grasp and letting the pieces fall to the ground beside her. There was a long pause as Cody finally turned to face Keldeo, who was sitting there, watching the whole time.
"Your old friends are gone." Cody walked towards him the anomaly clearly speaking through Cody "Your new friends are down." He raised his sword to Keldeo "What will you do now?"
Keldeo was trying his best to not let the anomaly get to him, he really was, but between possessing Cody, attacking Terry and Vera, and destroying the medallions, his last vestiges to Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion, he was really about to snap. But he also knew that was exactly what the anomaly wanted. Get mad, make a mistake, one that could cost Cody's life.
"Cody…" Keldeo began, only for Cody to lunge at him.
"No." he said plainly "I'm not letting you talk him out of this." the anomaly spoke, not a trace of Cody's voice present anymore. He swung, and Keldeo had to block "You saw him before this…you saw him let me in."
"No, he wouldn't…-!" Keldeo tried, but the anomaly was right, this wasn't like what happened to him where it influenced him to attack the others. Cody let him in, but why?
"He did." The anomaly "He was so afraid to lose you all. Deep down I could feel him begging to let me in, so that he could stay."
Keldeo shook his head, he didn't know what to believe from the anomaly anymore. He knew Cody was upset about saying goodbye, but this upset? He brushed those thoughts aside for now.
"Then I guess I'll have to rip him out of you." Keldeo snarled, brandishing his sword and going on the offense, making Cody back up and deflect each strike.
"Such anger, swordsmen." the anomaly chuckled darkly "One ripple in the friendship and you're willing to cut him down?" he asked "Even Cody was more patient when I possessed you."
Keldeo shook his head, he knew the anomaly was trying to get in his head now. He had to block it out "Cody, I know you're listening. Is this..is this really how you feel about leaving? If I had known. I'd…-!?"
"Let me stay?" it was Cody's voice now, sounding more hopeful.
"No." Keldeo said, gasping as he dodged one strike that struck the earth way too hard "Not laugh at you for saying it." Keldeo used his aqua jet to escape Cody pursuing him now "I'm not gonna pretend to know what happened last time but…!" Keldeo had to deflect the slash that was going for his head, an attack that sent him skidding backwards.
"I don't believe that. I don't believe in you anymore!" Cody screamed "You don't care. You never cared!" a dark aura began pooling at his feet.
A wave of nostalgia struck Keldeo as he said. The way he spoke, the way he said it. It was just like when he was possessed. That wasn't real anger, that fear and confusion, and Keldeo knew what to do now. He drew his sword, charging at Cody, dodging spikes of dark energy and cutting the rest. Keldeo kept up the front that he was about to thrust at Cody long enough for him to be blindsided when he jumped over him, unleashing an ice beam to keep him in place for now. The anomaly was able to get one good slash on Keldeo's thigh however, causing him to roll to the ground in pain. That didn't matter, Cody still needed him.
"Cody…do you really think I'm not gonna be sad to see you and the others go?" Cody's struggles to break free stopped for a moment. That he did stop confirmed Keldeo's suspicions, he turned to face him "Cody, of course I'm sad to say goodbye. I'm just…trying to be strong about it, put on a brave face for you." he could feel tears welling in his eyes as spoke.
The anger in Cody's eyes disappeared for a moment "But…the way you laughed at me."
"That was wrong. And I'm sorry." Keldeo nodded "Truth is. A part of me does want you to stay."
"...Really?" Cody asked.
"Yes, of course." Keldeo smiled "I even asked Hydreigon if it was possible for me to stay with you." he heard Cody gasp "But you know why that can't happen now, and I can't ask you to stay here if it means leaving everything else behind. Quinn was an adult, he could make that choice. But what about you? Your family? Terry and Vera? You'd just leave them all behind?" that Cody didn't have an answer, and not even the anomaly said anything was telling to Keldeo "And Terry and Vera never said they were leaving you." At this point they could hear the two of them beginning to wake up. The look on their faces, the concern, the fear. That wasn't the face people who never cared about you made.
"Dude, I get that its weird that we're seeing them again after what went down but we really talked it out with them. And just because we're seeing them again doesn't mean we can't hang out with you." Terry said, Vera nodding in turn.
Cody's expression was still normal, but his body moved on its own, breaking the ice surrounding him "That's enough." Cody's body lunged at Terry and Vera. Keldeo intercepted and the two clashed again, but Keldeo could feel it, Cody's body faltering. Was he fighting against the anomaly now?
"Cody, if you reclaim yourself you won't hurt the ones you love." Keldeo swatted Cody away, backing him away, and then he sheathed his sword "Find my friend, please."
Cody looked at all of them now, Terry, Vera, and Keldeo. All helpless, all defenseless now. One well placed slash or thrust of his sword and the pain goes away, they wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. But when he looked at them, they looked back at him. He knew they were scared and concerned for him. What if…what if Keldeo was right? Maybe Terry and Vera wouldn't leave him like the others did. But even in his moment of hesitation, he could feel the anomaly in him, clawing at him to act, whispering sweet nothings in his ears. It made his head spin, his free hand clutching the side of his face as he hunched over.
"I…I just want it to be over." Cody mumbled, tears streaming down his face, backing up "I knew this had to end but…I didn't want this…any of this to end."
"Cody?" Terry said, watching Cody struggle to back away, the anomaly wanting to continue the fight.
"I'm sorry…I'm really sorry I let it get this far."
"Wait…" Vera gasped, struggling to stand up. It clicked with Keldeo just what Cody was about to do; Purge the anomaly by…-!
"Don't!" Keldeo rushed forward, only to take one step and fall, over exerted from the fight.
Cody was one step away from the edge when suddenly the entire cliffside began to shake, the sound of a massive form erupting from the waters below, getting everyone's attention. With one mighty flap of its wings, everyone could make out the blue and white bird that hovered the edge of the cliff, looking over everyone before its intense blue eyes rested on Cody with intensity. A blue aura slowly formed around the bird that grew stronger and stronger, threatening to envelop the entire cliffside. Cody recognized it as the Lugia he had seen in his dreams before he came to the pokemon world. But to the anomaly…
"You…" the anomaly spoke through Cody, a hint of rage and fear in his voice as he stared at the bird before, he felt his body take a step back "No…No!"
"Surge of Soul!" the Lugia cried out, and the aura flew off its body and enveloped. Cody could barely make out the pleas from the others to stop before all of his senses were nothing but blue. He was brought to his knees from the intensity of the attack, and yet he wasn't in pain. His body twisted and contorted on its own however as he felt the anomaly screech and recoil in his own body. And yet he could feel the anomaly in his body begin to shrink and fade from his essence. One last feeble attempt to grasp on to something before Cody found the strength to stop.
"This changes nothing, human…" it pleaded "You'll still have to say goodbye to him!" It stung Cody to know the anomaly was right, but if staying meant hurting Keldeo and the others like this, he couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. Cody turned his head, crying as he felt the anomaly leave his body for good. He now lay there in the center of this attack, motionless. In the peace of the moment and freedom, he could feel the Lugia enter his mind again, the outline around him being the beach where the two had spoken before.
"I am so sorry…" the Lugia said "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I had hoped telling you would have prevented this, but…" the human still said nothing, enough of a cue for the bird to break the connection and cease the attack.
When Cody opened his eyes again, he was staring at the cloudless sky above, the sound of the ocean far beneath him. His whole body felt numb, and after everything that happened, he wasn't sure he had the energy to sit up. It was until he felt Terry and Vera gingerly grab his sides and help him into a sitting position that it finally registered what just happened. He looked around and saw everyone, Kyurem, the Voice of Life, the residence of Paradise, even the Lugia quietly sat in the back to watch.
"Cody…" he looked to Keldeo, who finally stepped forward. He blinked away tears as he smiled patiently at Cody, it just made regret twist up his insides even more. "You must have been so afraid to show us all of this, and I'm sorry I didn't take it seriously." Keldeo looked at the three humans "Of course I'm going to be heartbroken to see you all go but…everything we did together. How could I ever forget that?"
"And just because we're hanging out with our friends again doesn't mean that we still can't hang out with you, man." Terry sat beside Cody.
"This summer was amazing. And we're still going to be with you, after everything we did together. We can't go back to the way things were." Vera smiled, kneeling beside Cody.
Cody's breathing was growing faster, trying to suppress the crying that was about to come "I want to believe you…so bad…but…"
"Any of my jock friends try to bully you, you let me know and I'll knock 'em flat for ya, got it?" Terry nudged Cody "Hell maybe you can even try out a sport."
"And you could join the drama club with me and the others when school starts back up. We could always use more guys in there, everyone's going to love you."
Cody could appreciate that they were at least trying to cheer him up, even if it was a weird way to go about doing it, it honestly made him laugh a little bit. Spoken like friends. Real friends.
"I know you'll be just fine Cody." Keldeo said, with a nod, finally bringing his head into Cody's chest and nuzzling him. It didn't take long for Cody to break down, crying as he hugged Keldeo as tight as he could. And then he felt Terry and Vera join in the hug, enveloping the two of them.
Cody was right, this was going to be goodbye. But it wasn't going to be goodbye to everything.