We're sitting there, hidden from view among the trees, when the strangest thing happens. Maybe I'm suffering from some kind of exhaustion and having a hallucination.

All of a sudden, out pops Lurantis from the other side of the mountain. And she is not happy. Tinkaton stumbles out behind her looking somewhat disoriented.

Skitty gasps softly, and honestly? I concur; what the heck are they doing here?

Lurantis' ire seems directed at Dr. Laurel—in her eyes, just a regular phantump—and his phone. She starts screaming about the evils of human technology, demanding to know his affiliation with humans—with me—and what is the meaning of this…thing they're making.

Dr. Laurel, evidently sensing the jig is up and his cover as sweet baby Phantump is blown, has no time for formalities. He orders a Fire Punch from Audino, who efficiently delivers, sending Lurantis reeling. Tinkaton starts winding up her hammer, but Audino dodges the swing and hits her with a Hyper Voice. They must be exhausted from the climb; they're both down with one hit, and struggling to get up.

Before I have time to make a plan, Skitty leaps out from our hiding place, lunging at Audino with her Fury Swipes.

"Skitty!" I call, panicking. If Lurantis and Tinkaton could be taken out so easily, we really needed to be careful. Audino quickly responds with another Hyper Voice, hitting her head on. Skitty cries out and collapses, while Audino appears to have barely broken a sweat.

~that Audino is vicious~

I run over to Skitty as the memory washes over me.

~one time Dr. Laurel requested a 'friendly' pokemon battle; he almost let Audino tear Rotom to shreds. He apologized profusely afterwards, claiming she just gets overzealous in battle, but I was never sure…I got the feeling they both enjoy completely dominating an opponent~

I'm kneeling by Skitty now, checking her injuries, as it comes back to me. Dr. Laurel and Audino were made for each other. Both powerful. Both ruthless.

We have to be careful.

The rest of the team has emerged, standing around Skitty and I defensively. I see Dr. Laurel look up from his phone, almost bored. He lets out an exacerbated sigh.

"I must admit, I wasn't expecting this many…intruders, on my experiment." He notices Noibat, "ah, looks like you grew a backbone after all, hmm?" Noibat looks squeamish, but holds his ground, refusing to break eye contact. "You all deserve each other, really." He approaches Skitty and I, slowly.

"So naive, so weak" he spits. We're eye to eye now, "Gwen, I am sorry it turned out this way, really. You could have been a part of all this…all my plans. But, you've proved a thorn in my side since the beginning. It ends now."

I don't know what to do—somehow attacking him seems like a bad move, especially when it's six against two. The others continue watching, waiting for the slightest sign of attack, not daring to make the first move. I'm also aware how exhausted we all are…even though there are more of us, we're not exactly in peak fighting condition.

He turns away, typing on his phone again. "Audino, take care of it." He says simply. The wicked grin that spreads across her face tells me she's more than happy to oblige, but surely even she couldn't take all of us by herself.

Enter Lurantis. Part two.

During the confusion, she appears to have regained enough of her strength to attack. I know because I see a pink blur hurtling towards me, wearing a crazed expression when she stops inches from my face.

"You!" She punctuates with a Slash, which I barely dodge. I literally feel the breeze from her feeler across my face. "You have destroyed the sanctity of the Center! Given exploration a bad name! Brought evil to this world! And I will be rid of it!" I'm vaguely aware of Tinkaton protesting weakly in the background, but she's still fighting to get up.

I'm already out of breath, dodging her rapid Slashes and Solar Blades. I hear cries and moves unleashed around me; Audino is giving her all against the others. Skitty struggles and repeatedly fails to stand. I want to come to her aid, but I'm fully occupied with my own losing battle. I try countering with some of my own moves, but none land—I wish in all my time here I had managed to learn something useful. Serperior appears next to me, which only seems to fuel Lurantis' rage. She lets out a feral scream while continuing to attack. "Gwen!" He calls between Leaf Blades, "The portal! Go stop Dr. Laurel!"

I steal a glance towards the strange structure and notice. The activity in the center of the ring is unmistakable now; a bright light floats there with bolts of electricity emanating from its core, reaching the edge of the ring. With Serperior keeping Lurantis occupied, I run to Dr. Laurel, who's still busy typing away on his phone, as though there aren't several battles happening right behind him. Dodging errant attacks, I try not to slip on the frigid ground. Noibat swoops down next to me, readying an attack. Dr. Laurel turns, then disappears.

I'm not given the chance to wonder where he's gone for long. He materializes in front of me, striking hard with his Phantom Force.

I'm flung backwards, gasping for air. "Gwen!" Noibat cries as I try to regain my footing. Dr. Laurel approaches, smug grin on his face. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Gwen, but I will make this world mine."

Suddenly, his eyes go wide. He's been hit by Noibat's Aerial Ace. Dr. Laurel looks to him, fire in his eyes. "What in Arceus' name do you think you're doing?" He bellows. "You…I've never been enough for you…nothing's ever been enough…" he pants, "but this world? It's not yours to take! And Gwen? The others? They're…my family! I won't let you hurt them, not again!"

The chaos is stopped for a moment by a brilliant light emanating from Noibat. The fury in Dr. Laurel's face is clear. It's only after leaving him and escaping his control that Noibat was able to reach his full potential.

The light clears, and where Noibat was stands a magnificent noivern, looking ready to show the professor just what he can do.

But before he can do that, something else demands our attention. It turns out, during the fighting, the light and electricity in the structure have been growing; the entire ring is occupied now, and there's a loud crackling. The light is overwhelming.

Dr. Laurel is laughing, he's ecstatic. Maniacal. He turns his back to the wormhole and starts boasting about his success, "Yes, yes! Finally I can go home and come back to this place on my terms! And when I do—"

But he doesn't get to finish that thought.

A black tendril suddenly extends from the wormhole, quickly grabbing hold of him, and dragging him in. "Boss!" A cry from Audino, the fight going out of her in an instant. She's frozen in place, too shocked to act.

The wormhole is still open. Another tendril emerges.

And it's heading my way.

"Gwen!" cries sound from all around. I run. Moves land on the arm, but it's unfazed. I glance behind for a moment to see it approach. Quick as lightening, it has me, drawing me to the now faltering wormhole.

I'm being pulled in. I struggle in its tight grip. But it's no use. The last thing I see is Skitty, running up to the wormhole, tears pouring down her face. "No! GWEN!" Her voice breaks.

I don't have time to respond.

The moment I pass it's entrance, the portal closes.

—

"Gwen! GWEN!" I rush to where the wormhole was, but it's gone. Not a trace, save for that metal…thing.

It can't…she can't be…

I run to Audino, who's staring at the structure, dumbstruck.

"You FIX THIS! You bring HER BACK!" I scream, my throat feeling raw.

"I-you think I know how? The boss…I…this wasn't supposed to happen! No! NO!" She starts pulling at her ears and wailing. I slowly back away. Watching her in the midst of her own meltdown, I realize that, as terrible as she is, she truly doesn't know how to bring them back.

She doesn't know…none of us do…we can't get them back…

I look around. The fight is over. It's peaceful now…how dare it be so peaceful when she's GONE!?

Running back to the structure, I look for any sign of…of anything! There has to be something! I start desperately pawing at it, trying to force some kind of light or something into it. I can fix this. If I just try I can fix this…there has to be a way! This has to be fixable! She can't just be gone!

Serperior comes beside me, slowly wrapping his tail around me. His eyes are watery. "Skitty, I—" he says shakily, "if anyone can…find their way out of this…it's Gwen." He looks at me now, "she'll figure it out…she just has to." From the way his voice is still wavering, I think he's trying to convince the both of us.

I hope he's right.