Interceptor's Wish

by Masterdude21

What started as a young man's search for his abducted mother spirals out of control. Soon, he is fighting a desperate war for survival against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. The enemy is everywhere and allies are far too few. With the entire region at stake, who can prevail when fate itself seems set against you? - Novelization of Pokemon Rejuvenation.

30. A Heart of Stone

~~~~~~~(0)~~~~~~~

Chapter 8 – Those we Lose

A Heart of Stone

~~~~~~~(I)~~~~~~~

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"Ugh!" Braixen groaned, pinching her nose with a look of disgust. "It smells like Adam's dirty laundry in here!"

Adam whirled around to look at her. "What are you doing smelling my laundry you freak?"

"It's hard not to when the smell pierces through three regions at once!" She shot back.

Aelita looked around the sickly-green, corrupted cave with a look of sorrow. Will couldn't blame her; Carotos Mountain was like the heart of her Village. And it was sick now. Team Xen had dumped enough toxic waste here to drive away even its native Pokemon. What little vegetation was left, was discolored and disfigured.

"Oh…Carotos Mountain…Team Xen really has run you down…" She said. "Once a beautiful mountain filled with water and life…now hazardous and disgusting." She looked at Will resolutely. "When this is all said and done, I'm going to save this mountain! But for now, we gotta stick to the plan!"

"To think all of this happened right underneath your noses," Braixen said as they moved deeper into the stained cave.

"I've got the funny feeling that every town in Aevium has a Team Xen infestation," Aelita replied. "I don't get why nobody does anything about them."

"Maybe the people who can do anything about them are already compromised," Adam suggested.

"Eh?"

"Wow, that's a big word for you Adam!" Braixen quipped.

"That would explain the lack of police or national guard units," Will said. "Back in Goldenwood Forest, the police was on top of the situation in half an hour. But now…nothing."

"We can worry about that later though," Aelita said. "Right now we've got…this to get through."

And this it was. Wild Grimer scuttled around the piles of spilled chemicals left in the wake of Xen's operations. Every now and then, they would stumble across a bundle of pages torn from a journal and pinned to the wall, left behind by an unlikely Team Xen survivor of the initial attack on Carotos Mountain.

"Team Xen forgot all about poor lil me down here…that Crescent girl really did a number on our lab. I fell through a crack in the floor she created with that blasted Gothitelle. This wouldn't really be that bad, but I'm on my own and I'm pretty sure that if I showed my face in Sheridan, I'd be in big trouble. Sooo…it looks like I'm stranded here. Go figure. This sucks. What makes things worse is that the toxic waste from the lab has been pouring down here like it's nothing. That stuff may as well be acid. Sure smells like it."

"So is someone down here with us?" Aelita questioned.

"Looks like it," Adam said. "Guess we'll find out."

They continued making their way through the ruined cave. Occasionally they passed by boiling pools of lava that seemed to lead deeper into the cave, but without really solid underwear Will didn't think he'd make the swim across.

"Look, it's another letter," Braixen said, pulling the sheet of paper from underneath a pebble.

"We've had more of that green waste than I thought. It's been pouring for ages. The environment is starting to change. The burned rock is turning all sorts of weird unnatural colors. If I don't die of dehydration and starvation first, the poison is definitely going to do the job."

It sounded like someone regretted joining a terrorist cult.

"How old do you think this writing is?" Aelita asked. "The assault on their lab was a while back. If there's no water here, that Xen member must have died long ago, right?"

"Unless he found water," Adam grunted.

"In which case, if there's no food, the Xen member must have still died a while back, right?" Braixen asked.

"Unless he found food," Adam grunted.

"In which case, if there's no toilet, the Xen member must have still died a while back, right?" Will quipped.

Aelita snorted, but Braixen was not amused.

"Toilet humor? Seriously? I thought that would be beneath you, Will," She told him indignantly. "I'd expect that of Adam, not you."

"My humor is infinitely adaptable," he told the disappointed Fire-type. As long as it was stupid and made him laugh on the inside, he wouldn't go insane.

Another cave entrance, another journal entry.

"I just realized something. If I'm not found, I might be considered AWOL – "

"What's AWOL?" Aelita asked.

Before Will could patch together some random words, Adam beat him to it. "All Will Order Lunch."

Braixen sighed.

"Almost," Will said. "It's All Wills Order Lunch. They're doing a behavioral study on me."

Braixen bonked her head against the nearest rock. Adam, meanwhile, gave him an approving nod.

"Uh…right, and now for real?" Aelita asked.

"Absent Without Official Leave. Means running away from your job without permission."

"Ah, right."

"If that's the case, I'll be terminated. Wrongfully. What am I going to do? I don't want to die here…"

They weren't laughing after that bit. Adam took a deep breath and turned away, while Aelita scowled and pulled the paper from Braixen's paws. "Terminated? For running from duty? That…that's so wrong."

So was joining Team Xen in the first place. Actions had consequences.

Wordlessly, the four of them made their way through another smaller tunnel and emerged into a clearing of sorts, flanked on both ends by pools of lava. And in the middle…

"My my…are we being followed?" A disembodied voice echoed through the room.

"Did you say something?" Aelita asked, turning to Will with a quizzical look. "I could've sworn I heard something."

"I heard it too," Adam said. "Sounds like a woman's voice."

"Guys. Look ahead!" Braixen called. "I sense something coming!"

And sure enough, Cera and the two maids emerged from a swirling black mass of energy right in the center of the chamber. "It seems we are!" Cera said with faux shock. She even brought a surprised hand to her mouth.

"Cera…looks like Reina was right after all!" Aelita said.

"Hmph…I don't understand why that stupid relic is worth your concern," Cera spat. "But nevertheless, you're a thorn in our side. Let me properly introduce myself and my team. My name is Cera, and these are my assistants, Esther and Deborah."

Had…had Angie given them those names? How did Angie even get these things? Was that in the Theolia rulebook too? A five-step plan on producing creepy, inhuman murder-dolls?

"I don't care about your names, lady!" Aelita yelled. "We're just going to stop you from getting the Earth Heart! And while you're at it, hand over that key to the Ocean Relic!"

"Oh…!" Cera said, this time with real shock. "So that's what this is really about. In that case, let's make this a game!"

Come on Willow, let's win this game!

Anger flooded through him, vicious and hot. It came with overwhelming intensity and pretty much out of nowhere, and Will had his hand on Nidoking's Pokeball before he realized it.

You inserted yourself in the game too Marianette -

"We are not part of your stupid games!" Aelita growled.

Cera's eyes widened manically as she grinned and spread her arms. "Oh, you are! Whether you want to or not. All shall kneel to the power of Angie –

The final trial is for the souls –

"You two WILL serve her."

Will's hand shook. He forced himself to stay there, motionless, not escalating this until they got what they needed. Got what they needed.

He wouldn't freak out. He couldn't freak out.

"Sister Cera, please take a look at this," Deborah whispered as she tugged on Cera's sleeve and gestured at the figure on the ground in front of the door ahead. "The symbol displayed on the ground…I believe this to be an ancient Garufan symbol?"

Cera frowned, then turned around to glance at the symbol. "You're correct, Deborah. If this is here, then something important must be sealed ahead."

"Excuse me, Cera, Deborah," the other maid, Esther, spoke up timidly. "But we're ignoring our humble opponents."

"Ah," Cera said, turning her horrible attention back to the four of them again. "But of course! Then let's start this game. Deborah, if you would?"

Deborah stepped towards them, her hand moving –

Her dead, black eyes bore into his as her hand snapped out and seized his wrist –

Sick, furious terror churned in his stomach as he sent Nidoking out. The maid's eyes widened with surprise, but then her own hand came free of her robe and she sent out her own Pokemon to counter his.

"The mad dog bares his teeth again!" She gasped.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean!" Aelita snapped. She sent out Lucario to assist. It engaged the maid's Chimecho while Nidoking bore down on her, which forced her to send out her last Pokemon as well. The Simisage, a Grass-type through and through, could have packed a hidden trick or a secret move that could have been used to seriously hurt Nidoking.

It didn't matter much; Lucario took his foe by surprise when, instead of trying to close in to engage in melee range, he stayed at a distance and struck with a beam of brilliant white light. The silvery beam of energy struck Chimecho head-on.

Nidoking did much the same when, instead of trying to wipe the floor with his enemy in close quarters, he simply knocked it off its feet with a series of cascading Sludge Bombs. They exploded right in the Simisage's face and covered it with poisonous gunk.

Somehow, Deborah took her defeat without a hint of frustration. "Was this diversion satisfactory?" She said. "Quite strong, but I suppose the one who defeated Angie would be. Fair enough children! You've won, but the game still goes on! Who shall be the one who comes out on top, I wonder?"

He wouldn't let her take him .Not again. Not ever again. He ordered Nidoking to attack, to destroy this threat before it could hurt him, but then the maid disappeared in another burst of purple-black light and Nidoking's tail swept through empty air.

Nidoking scowled, slammed his tail into the ground again and then looked around in confusion.

"It's not gonna be you guys! That's for sure!" Aelita said before bolting after them, sprinting towards the massive opening in the wall up ahead.

"Damn, Aelita, wait for us!" Adam yelled.

They ran after her, through the yawning blackness of the hewn door and into what looked like a crypt of sorts, disturbingly similar to the underground ruins they'd passed through below Goldenleaf Town. It was complete with a mining shaft of sorts surrounded by stones. A singular ladder led them down into the abyss.

"Looks like we're going even deeper," Aelita said.

Nidoking poked his head over the edge. He peeked down into the blackness. With the point of his tail he pushed a loose piece of stone into the darkness, then cocked his head to listen.

"And?" Will asked.

Nidoking looked at him. His wisdom was not to share –

"Sooo…Nidoking wants to jump," Braixen said.

Will stared at his Poison-type. Nidoking stared back at him without shame.

"And he wants you to jump as well."

"Of course you do," Will said. Why hadn't it occurred to him before that Braixen could translate for his Pokemon? This was big. Maybe she could help figure out what was wrong with Ralts.

Then, Nidoking jerked his head around and pulled away from the shaft, facing the way they just came and rearing up to his hind legs. He flicked his ears forwards, his massive tail slowly scraping back and forth as he regarded the new, massive threat that had suddenly manifested at their rear.

Namely, the Eldest.

"W-Wait for me!" She gasped as she hurried onwards. The clattering of her staff was a pervasive noise as it clattered against the stone floor. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Eldest?!" Aelita exclaimed. "What are you doing here!"

It was a solid question. How had an old and feeble woman like the Eldest dragged herself through a burning building, down a big drop and across a chemically-corrupted network of tunnels? Sheridan's elderly were tough, but come on, this was ridiculous.

And a bit suspicious.

"I've had it up to here with that stupid little boy!" The Eldest spat. "I'd rather suffocate down here than be up there with him! I tried catching up to you, but I'm pretty sure that fall broke everything in me…including my spirit."

"Hang on ma'am," Will said, holding out his hand to bid her to stop. "Just to be sure. What Pokemon did you summon the last time we saw you?"

The Eldest regarded him oddly for a moment. "Celebi, the Voice of the Forest."

"Right. Gotcha."

"What did you expect?" Adam asked him.

With a shrug, Will replied, "I dunno. Just to be sure."

"Wow, Will, paranoid much?" Braixen said.

"Okay, you can come, but please don't push yourself!" Aelita urged the Eldest, who merely snorted.

"You know paranoia is a sign of psychosis, right?"

Will shot the Fire-type a glare.

"Do you hear things too?"

"Braixen, you're gonna hear the sound of you falling down that shaft if you keep this up," Adam said.

Braixen pouted, but she did so angrily.

"We're fighting teleporting murderous maids who serve an ice goddess," Adam continued. "It's not paranoia if your enemy is cheating."

"I appreciate your concern, Aelita, Will, but you need not fear," the Eldest said as she approached the edge of the chasm. "I am here to help."

"Well, we'll take all the help we can get Eldest!" Aelita said, "Glad to have you!"

Together with the Eldest, their group started making their way down the chasm and into…

Well, into an ancient underground temple that looked like it was suspended ten miles in the air instead of an underground cavern. Wisps of mist parted around their ankles as they passed over a bridge suspended over a cavernous voice of whiteness. The temple looked like it hadn't seen a visitor in a long time; every part of it was overgrown with vegetation, up to and including the four towering statues of bulky, stone-armed Pokemon that dotted the area.

They walked over a grate that covered a calm stream of bright blue water and came to a stop in front of a massive door or…a projection of sorts.

This place reminded Will of the Tyluric Temple.

Which reminded him…

He silently recalled Nidoking and then sent out his two newest members, Axew and Ralts, together. As the two tiny Pokemon started orienting themselves, Aelita approached the door. "Just what is this place?" She asked.

"Seems to be some kinda ruin hidden deep below the earth…" Adam helpfully pointed out.

"Yeah, I got that much," Aelita said with a roll of her eyes. "I had no idea this existed underneath Sheridan Village…"

"I bet Angie's Servants made their way deeper into these ruins!" Braixen said.

"Looks like it…" Aelita stepped towards the weird, shimmering, semi-transparent door and promptly bonked her head against its surface. "Wait a minute, this projection is solid! I can't walk through it!"

"I said the exact same thing when I walked into one of those glass doors at Teila," Will quipped.

Aelita jabbed at him with her elbow. "You saw them clean it!"

"I forgot."

"Well, I'm not you! This is my first time!"

"That's annoying," Adam sighed. "Maybe it's some sort of seal?"

Axew wandered towards the projection and leaned against it, spreading his little arms wide as he shoved himself against the transparent door.

"A seal?" The Eldest asked.

"Yeah. There's a ruin back where I'm from that had similar contraptions. We're not gonna get anywhere unless we smash this stupid thing."

Looking thoughtful, the Eldest approached the door herself.

"What do you think?" Will asked Ralts. "Is this some sort of psychic field?"

Ralts looked up at him with a look of uncertainty. Will caught Braixen shooting the little Psychic-type a glance. Both remained silent.

"Aelita, I really don't like this," the Eldest mumbled. "Does this really require your presence?"

"Of course it does!" Aelita said with shock. "My friends need me if we want to get through this! Besides; we can't let these crooks free Angie from her prison. You have no idea what it cost us to beat her the first time. I don't know if we'd be able to handle her again if she…"

Will watched their conversation with interest. Nobody had ever accused him of being the most social of butterflies, but he liked to consider himself at least somewhat perceptive.

Nobody had explained to the Eldest who Angie was, or why they were after people they referred to as "Servants". That begged the question: why wasn't the Eldest asking them any questions? She was a sharp, intelligent and inquisitive woman. She would want to know every detail, especially if she was harboring doubts about the safety of their mission.

Why didn't she?

"If we don't stop those maids here I am going to scream," Braixen said.

Will didn't think Tapu Lele would be so polite as to glue his chest back together a second time.

Adam squinted his eyes and then pointed to a platform over to the right. "I think I see something over there."

"Getting involved with Garufan civilization is asking for trouble…" the Eldest quietly told Aelita. "I don't think we should be here."

"Any particular reason?" Aelita asked.

The Eldest didn't answer, which sounded suspiciously like she knew more about this thing than she let on.

Both the platform to the left as the one to the right had a transparent door blocking the way as well.

"Hey, Will, take a look," Adam said, beckoning him over to another statue, this one with a stone plaque attached to its lower section. "It says, exhibit your strength to open the path to victory."

Will gently lifted Ralts off its feet and placed it to rest against his chest. Keeping it there with his left arm, he approached Adam. "Sounds like a challenge. Should we be expecting visitors?"

Adam frowned. "Exhibit your strength…exhibit this, dumbass," he snapped.

Then, Adam proceeded to punch the statue hard enough that the entire thing shook. Somehow, he didn't break every bone in his hand doing so, but it appeared he did break Braixen's heart. With a look of the utmost disappointment, Braixen said, "Punching things won't solve all your prob – "

The door flickered away, revealing a passageway through.

"Okay nevermind!" Braixen said happily, changing her mood on a dime. "I was wrong! Nice going Adam!"

"You fake fox…" The big man grumbled.

"Okay!" Aelita said, pulling away from her hushed conversation with the Eldest. "Let's go, team!"

Again, Will regarded Ralts. "Do you sense anything?"

It looked at him blankly. In the dim light of the temple and the glow of the white abyss below, the scars on its face almost seemed paler.

Slowly, Ralts gave him a small nod.

"Can you describe it?"

It kept staring. Somewhat disconcerted, Will looked over at Braixen. She must have caught his intention, but she pulled her shoulders up in a little shrug and said, "I have nothing. She's not speaking."

That was a problem in and of itself. Ralts clearly understood him, she was clearly willing to communicate with him. So why didn't she? Maybe he needed to stick to simple yes and no questions?

The door led them to a strange room separated by a steep drop of about eight meters in the middle. There, on the floor, several large statues of Pokemon stood scattered across a field that reminded Will somewhat of a checkers board. He spotted a statue of a Hawlucha, a Bewear, a Latios and even a Salamence. At the far end of the room, the statue of an Escavalier stood facing them.

"Um…how are we supposed to continue?" Braixen said, gesturing at the fenced-in alcove preventing them from advancing. "This room is lacking a bridge!"

Without missing a beat, Adam retorted, "And you are missing a brain. Clearly there's something in this room that needs figuring out."

Braixen looked at Adam the same way Melia tended to look at Will at times. Something like amusement and a hint of pity. "The irony is real right now, Adam."

The girls were just jealous.

Will put down Ralts and walked towards the alcove. He rested his arms on the railing, watching the strange statues below. He shifted his feet –

The statue of the Escavalier began levitating. "GREETINGS ENVOY," it said with a droning, mechanical voice.

"Envoy?" Aelita questioned. "What's an Envoy?"

"Um…that statue just talked…" Braixen pointed out.

"IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED THEN YOU MUST FINISH THIS TRIAL. BATTLE ENGAGING AT ONCE."

Movement below. Dark forms sprang from the ground, part machine, part stone. These artificial contraptions quickly pulled themselves together in the shapes of Pokemon – a Gigalith and a Dusclops, followed by a flying Pokemon Will didn't recognize and a Clefable.

"Whoah, Will, watch out!" Adam snapped.

Will quickly backpedaled away from that alcove. The Gigalith began scaling the wall, while that floating Pokemon began hovering in the air. Its mechanical eye glowed an incandescent hue of red, before it fired off a burst of energy in the shape of pink rings.

He threw himself to the ground and the burst of light cleaved through the air overhead, splashing across the wall behind them.

As he rolled back to his feet, Froslass's Pokeball at the ready, he spotted Ralts trying to land an attack of herself. Her eyes shone with a purple hue as she spread her arms and an outline of purple energy enveloped the totem-like flying Pokemon. It turned its spherical body towards her and its singular eye glowed bright again -

A Shadow Ball courtesy of Froslass slammed into its body, shearing off one of its mechanical wings and eating away several fist-sized chunks of its stone body.

The contraption turned its attention back to Froslass,but it was far too late. She surrounded herself with ghostly energy and tore into the artificial Pokemon with Ominous Wind. The silvery storm of destructive energy battered her foe to pieces, raining down glowing pieces of metal and smoky shards of rock as it fell apart.

That was when the Gigalith hauled itself over the wall and the Dusclops teleported from the bottom of the room to the upper-left side. A pair of levitating mechanical fists rotated around its body as it too gathered supernatural power to itself and started shooting Shadow Balls at Froslass.

"Ralts, target those Shadow Balls! Froslass, keep your distance, use Blizzard on that Gigalith!" Will quickly yelled.

On the other side of the room, the statue of the Escavalier continued watching them. Ralts surrounded herself with Psychic energy once more and attempted to disrupt the artificial Dusclops's attacks. Shimmering distortions of semi-transparent purple energy exploded into existence around its steady stream of Shadow Balls. When the ghostly energy made contact with those distortions in reality, they exploded in a violent ripple of blurry air and

Froslass froze the Gigalith's joints with a storm of frozen air. She froze the water in the air, turned them into sharpened, knife-like shards and then flung them at the lumbering contraption. They shattered harmlessly against its hardened body.

Dusclops teleported again, behind Ralts and Froslass. It sent out incandescent Will-O-Wisps that disrupted the blizzard and threatened to unfreeze Gigalith's joints.

Though they were made from stone and metal, these Pokemon were somehow capable of mimicking the properties of the real deal. Their strengths, at least. That Gigalith was much tougher than that flying thing had been. Did they mimic the weaknesses too?

"Froslass, take out Dusclops with Shadow Ball! Ralts, target the joint on its right leg! The weakest one!"

Froslass' Shadow Ball tore through the field of floating wisps and struck the Dusclops head-on. It boiled through the upper section of its head and obliterated it, which wouldn't have happened had the Dusclops been real. Whatever these things were, they were weaker still than the real deal.

Escavalier took that as its cue to have Clefable levitate itself out of the pit and onto the battlefield proper. By then, the Gigalith was jerkily stomping forwards. Ralts tried to get a grip on its damaged joint, but she lacked the finesse and control. Fields of Psychic energy tore into reality all around the Gigalith's leg, but they failed to do more than chip its armor.

"It happens," Will simply said. He recalled Froslass and sent out Nidoking instead. One application of Earth Power was enough to completely dismember the bulky Gigalith. Somehow, the stone mimicry of the Clefable was able to hit Nidoking with a heavy blast of Fairy-type energy and Nidoking staggered sideways. His eyes flicked towards Clefable and he retaliated with a Sludge Bomb of his own.

Meanwhile, the eyes atop the severed head of the Gigalith kept darting back and forth between Nidoking and Ralts. It must have bothered the little Psychic-type, as she tried to use her powers to attack it again, but between the falling specks of snow and ice and Nidoking thrashing around, she wasn't able to concentrate enough to hit it.

Finally, Nidoking struck a Poison Jab at the artificial Clefable and gauged it open across the length of its body. The contraption collapsed into a pile of debris.

Nidoking glanced over at the frustrated Ralts, saw that the Gigalith was not out for the count and promptly punted its head towards the other end of the room. It shattered into pieces upon hitting the far wall.

"EXCEPTIONAL YOU MAY PASS, ENVOY#&&&&& CONGRATULATIONS ENVOY, YOU MAY CONTINUE FORTH."

The next moment, the statue of the Escavalier flickered out of existence and a transparent bridge of purple steps flickered into existence, connecting the two halves of the room once again.

As if that wasn't weird enough, that was followed by a Team Xen grunt poking his head from a hole in the wall. "What is with all of this noise?" He demanded. The Xen thug ran his eyes over the group of flabbergasted trainers on the far end of the room. His eyes found Will's and he gasped. "Oh shit!" He screamed. "You're William! I bet you're here to finish me off! I WON'T LET YOU!"

He immediately pulled his head back inside and, presumably, started running for his life.

"Was that a Team Xen Grunt?" Aelita demanded.

Braixen groaned in frustration. "Why is Team Xen everywhere we go? Gosh, I would just like a break from them for once!"

"If Team Xen's here then that only spells trouble," Adam said. "We gotta catch up and make sure he doesn't get away!"

Will didn't need to be told twice. Thankfully, the weird light-bridge connecting the two halves felt solid enough to walk over, which meant that they could safely cross over to the other side and head through another doorway.

"You're getting there," he calmly told Ralts as he put her atop his backpack. "I see improvement."

That particular doorway led into an even larger temple chamber, without lethal drops but with even more Pokemon statues scattered across its checkers-patterned floor.

There, Will spotted a Greninja, an Absol, a Latias and another Pokemon he didn't know to the right, and another Bewear, a Sableye, a Solrock and a Lunatone to the left.

"Hm…"

"What's up, Adam?" Aelita said.

"I'm just thinking – "

Braixen interrupted, "He's already lying."

After shooting the smug fox an annoyed look, Adam continued, "I was just thinking about the origin of these ruins. If these were built by the ancient Garufa tribe, then these rooms must have had a specific purpose."

Braixen rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, I think we got that much. Wonder what it was for?"

"The statue in the last room called Will an "Envoy"," Adam said. "But to me it seemed automated, like, if I were to stand there it'd call me one too. Considering this place seems to be a training ground..."

"This place was built to train Envoys?" Aelita suggested.

"With battling, yeah."

"But what are Envoys in this context?" Braixen asked.

"Envoys are messengers, essentially," the Eldest explained. "In most contexts, it holds religious weight."

Adam crossed his arms and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Huh…I need to think on this more."

Will put his religious weight on the singular tile of the next alcove and watched as the Escavalier rose into the air again.

"GREETINGS, ENVOY."

"Oh here we go with the Envoy stuff again…" Aelita sighed.

"ROUND TWO IS NOW AVAILABLE. NEW CIRCUMSTANCE HAS BEEN MET. DOWNLOADING…"

Suddenly Adam jerked back as a purplish ring of energy swirled around his body. "Whoah!"

"Adam?" Braixen gasped.

It disappeared as soon as it started and Adam quickly checked himself. "Uh, all good. What just happened?"

"Adam, you okay?" Will asked, concerned.

"I feel fine…that was just really weird."

There was no more time for conversation after that. Familiar shapes crawled up from the ground in-between the statues; stonelike, mechanical Pokemon that all came into being as they sprang up from the ground.

All of them Rock-types.

"Those are my Pokemon," Adam said, sounding genuinely shocked. "That's my team!"

"Does beating them mean Will gets your Gym badge?" Aelita asked.

"Huh. Depends on how well they perform."

A towering Tyranitar and another lumbering Gigalith hauled themselves over the railing and this time, Will didn't think for a second that this was the kind of fight Ralts should be anywhere close to. He sent out Nidoking and Blaziken together.

In the violent clash that followed, Will noticed again that these artificial Pokemon had the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of the Pokemon they were based on. He saw Nidoking carve a swath of exploding, burning spikes underneath Gigalith's body that left deep, jagged holes in its body. He saw Blaziken get in close, duck underneath a savage swing from Tyranitar and then shatter one of its legs with a Low Kick.

Tyranitar opened its stonelike maw and unleashed a devastating beam of destructive energy that Blaziken was only narrowly able to avoid. Next to it, the Gigalith swung a mammoth limb at Nidoking and nearly sent him rolling off the edge of the battlefield.

Strength and weaknesses, but again, not the durability of the real deal. Garufan magic animated these things and gave them the essence of a Pokemon, but not the body. It was all artificial and, he suspected, inferior to the real deal.

It was the same for the Aerodactyl and Kleavor that came afterwards. Kleavor, as Adam explained, was a relatively rare evolution of Scyther's that traded its raw speed and flexibility for greater strength and durability.

They were powerful and destructive, yes, but the Escavalier guiding them didn't seem to have an instinctive grasp on how to use the Pokemon it had "downloaded" from Adam. Aerodactyl was an angry ball of clawing, biting violence that never bothered to keep its distance. Nidoking knew all about that style of fighting. Had the Garufan…intelligence? Computer? Whatver, had the Garufan intelligence known about Aerodactyl, it would have used it much like Will used Pidgeot. Divebombs, hit-and-run attacks and the like.

It was the same with Tyranitar, which was an absolute powerhouse capable of shredding entire mountains that moved far too sluggishly, waiting for orders that never came.

Was that the entire purpose of this test, then? Much like how Gym Leaders often didn't go all out to beat their opponents, but rather push them to their limits to test them? If so, things made a lot more sense.

Whatever the reason, Will soon managed to beat the Garufa Pokemon. Froslass encased the Kleavor in an icy prison which Blaziken promptly smashed into a hundred frozen pieces.

"CONGRATULATIONS, ENVOY. YOU MAY CONTINUE FORTH."

Another disappearing Escavalier, another light-bridge connecting two unreachable halves of the same room.

"Those Pokemon weren't real, right?" Aelita asked cautiously. "They crumbled apart just like the last ones. All stone and…stuff. How is this even possible?"

The Eldest cleared her throat. "Let me reiterate that Garufan magic is evil and shouldn't be toyed with."

"Why?" Will asked. "Why is it more dangerous than fighting with Pokemon?"

Something like steel flickered in the old woman's gaze as she said, "Its capabilities exceed the expectations of everyone, and that's what makes it so dangerous."

Was that what had made Angie so dangerous? Were her abilities to command ice based on Garufan magic? Was that how Madame X fought with such inhuman force and speed?

If so, was it a weapon they could use against Team Xen?

"Well, either way, that magic just made a bridge for us!" Braixen said. She nervously tapped one of the purple platforms with her furry foot. "We should, like, walk over it now?"

The Eldest sighed. "Yes, yes. Let's go."

The Garufan temple – a Sanctuary according to the Eldest – was like a maze. They traveled through one hallway and reached another room filled with Pokemon statues, but it led them across a bridge to a dead end, so they had to circle back to the last room and take the second entrance.

That one led them straight into a little Team Xen hideout. That grunt they'd seen before sat with his back to a campfire, surrounded by statues of a Togekiss, a Seviper and something that resembled an apple more than a Pokemon. Upon hearing them enter, the man scrambled back to his feet, yelling at them for following them.

Aelita lunged for the guy. Before he could reach into his uniform and retrieve his Pokemon, she hit him in the face with a quick jab, ducked low to land two solid punches to his floating ribs and then kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing into the Togekiss statue.

Will watched her pummel the guy with baited breath. Seeing Aelita kick ass would never, ever get old.

Adam snaked a muscled arm around the guy's neck and applied the tiniest hint of pressure, which immediately caused the Xen grunt to stop resisting.

"Please!" He stammered.

"Here is the deal. You don't hurt us, I don't hurt you, alright?" Adam said. His voice was casual, almost bored, which made the implied death threat all the more impressive.

"Exactly," Aelita said with an almost manic look of glee in her eyes. "We can all play nice…now."

"I'm not here to cause trouble!" The grunt stammered.

"That's a likely story," Adam retorted. "Okay, what are you doing here then?"

"I'm here because I don't have a choice!"

Adam tightened his bicep and the man started clawing at his arm. "You're terrible at answering questions. Let's try that again." He screwed his arm even tighter around the man's neck and the Xen grunt became very red in the face. "What are you doing here?"

"Why am I being bullied like this?" The Xen grunt managed to stammer.

Bullied? Only one person in this room was being constantly called by the wrong name and it wasn't Team Xen!

"Ease up juuust a bit, Adam," Aelita said, leaning in to observe the enemy's face. "I think his head is about to pop off."

"His problem," Adam growled.

"I fel down here after Madelis' lab exploded!" The Xen member grunted out.

At that, Adam eased up on the guy and he started coughing and wheezing.

"Wait, what?" Aelita said.

"Yes…that's right. You…and William should remember that event well…when the facility blew up, the floor caved in and I fell down into the corrupted cave. I couldn't find a way out and I eventually found this place. I've been here ever since…a month and a half it's been."

Before Will could say anything about the unlikeliness of surviving some forty days and nights without an obvious source of food, the ground started shaking violently and nearly threw them all to the ground.

Braixen winced. "Not to alarm anyone, but I think something crazy is going on underneath us!"

"Quick, Xen Grunt guy! Do you know how to break the big seal down on the main floor!" Aelita asked.

"Hey, it's Tommen, not Xen Grunt guy! I'm a real friendly person once you get to know me…"

Adam planted his hands on the thug's shoulders, digging his thumbs into his neck. "Tell us about the seal, Tommen," he said.

Will was about one step removed from whipping out his journal and writing down notes on Adam's style of interrogating. It wasn't the same as Melia's photography, but this was still a form of art even he could appreciate.

"R-Right! Um, I actually do. There are quite a lot of books down here, actually. I've skimmed through some of them, but basically it involves two people standing on a certain platform." He pointed to the upper-right corner of the room. "One in there…" And the upper-left. "And one in there."

Aelita looked skeptical. "And this just involves standing on a "platform"?"

"Yes!"

Aelita shrugged. "Okay then! I'm pretty good at standing!"

"You might even say you're overqualified," Will joked.

"What can I say? I went to the Sheridan School of standing around. Graduated top of my class!"

Before Will could answer with another joke, the Eldest interjected and put herself in-between him and Aelita. "Wait, Aelita! You can't trust this man!"

"If it really is used to break the seal then we have no choice!" Aelita replied.

"I forbid it!" The Eldest snapped and the sudden anger and urgency in her voice shook everyone to silence.

They…didn't have a choice here. If they lingered for even half an hour, Cera and her murder-maids could retrieve the Earth Heart and use it to bust Angie free. Angie, now knowing every trick in their group's book, would likely butcher them all. Holding her off the first time had been miraculous enough, and this time they didn't have the Island Guardians or Houndoom to help them out.

As much as Will hated to admit it, he couldn't afford to listen to the Eldest now. "Eldest, the alternative is unacceptable," he said as politely as he could.

The Eldest cast an angry glare his way. "Then we must find another alternative."

Aelita silently shook her head. A pained look crossed her features. "Eldest…with all due respect, I can make my own choices. My friends are counting on this mission to succeed. Will almost died stopping Angie the first time, I don't think we'll survive another encounter. This is our last hope!" Before the Eldest even had the chance to refute that, Aelita added, "And I know my friends would do anything for me. I've seen them do it, Eldest. We've been through horrible things, but we've always had each other's backs. In return, I'll do anything for them. So please…"

Will remembered Aelita coming down on Angie out of nowhere. He remembered her manhandling that maid when he hadn't been able to break free. He remembered each and every time he had stumbled along the way, only for Aelita to be there for him and pick him back up. For a girl who'd only ever seen the inside of Sheridan Village, she'd done remarkable things. Her willpower and determination were inspiring. "Aelita's done incredible things, Eldest. She can do this."

"Will…" Aelita said, shooting him a grateful look. "You're always believing in me. Thank you…"

Without waiting for the Eldest's response, she ran off, heading into the room on the left.

"Let's put in some assurance, just in case," Adam said. "Tommen, you stand on the other platform."

"Huh?" The Xen grunt mumbled.

"Huh?" Adam repeated. "Scared all of a sudden? If it's safe then just stand there."

"I…the books I read didn't mention anything dubious…so if this is what I have to do to gain your trust, I'll do it."

Adam wouldn't be convinced by just words alone. "Then do it."

As the Xen thug hesitantly walked to the rightmost room, Adam turned to Will and said, "I'll make sure he does what he promised."

"Yeah!" Braixen agreed, skipping over towards Adam's side. "We'll be the best guards you've ever seen!"

"Thanks," Will said. This, this was why he'd asked Adam to go along. He was the most dependable man he'd ever seen. Rock solid and hard to the core.

"Understood…" a pale and exhausted-looking Eldest said. "I wish I could tell Aelita something…There are things in this world that she does not understand."

No kidding. On average, they'd encountered at least two of those things every day now. "We've seen some impossible things, yeah," Will agreed.

The Eldest fiercely shook her head. "Dealing with Garufan magic can only lead to tragedy. Come then, Will. We have guests to attend to."

For a moment, Will wasn't sure what she meant. Guests? As in, her inn?

It hit him a few seconds later.

The Eldest had just politely invited him to go join her and kick some ass.

It would be impolite to refuse.

Will followed the old woman through the mazelike structure of the Garufan Sanctuary, past rooms filled with familiar Pokemon statues until finally, the two of them stood before the massive, solid door that had impeded their path before.

"If you would have told me I would be deep underground messing with Garufan magic…" she started. "Truthfully, I would have believed you. And I would have been scared."

"What is it you're not telling us?" Will said. "Mount Carotos exploding didn't scare you. Keta's death didn't scare you. Why is this place so bad?"

She looked at him like the picture of uneasiness. Everything about her was stiff and tense. As she stared at him, the ground shook again and the door before them disappeared like snow in the sun.

"Let us proceed," the Eldest said.

Which…sure, why not. The two of them headed into the heart of the Sanctuary, passing over bridges and through ascending chambers as the distant sounds of combat grew louder and louder.

"Your fight against the Xen Initiative…I understand it is coming to a head?" She asked.

"Hmm. They're going to wipe Terajuma off the map in less than two weeks from now."

"Unless…?"

Perceptive.

Will worked his jaw. "Unless we give them Melia. Our friend, who they've been hunting since the day I came to Aevium."

She sighed. "I see. Is that so impossible an option?"

Will gave the woman an incredulous look. There was no way the Eldest would seriously suggest that. She was looking for something out of him, something specific. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I'd die first," Will said bluntly.

The sound of her cane thumping against the rock bounced oddly through the rooms. "How would that help anyone?"

"Because that's what it would take. If they get Melia, everything will have been for nothing. They'll win. She'll suffer."

There was more. Something he couldn't convey with words. It wasn't something he really understood himself, let alone someone who had not been around them for the past months. When he thought of Melia, he felt warm and safe and…like things had clicked into place.

It wasn't something he could make heads or toes of. With all the fighting and stress and injuries and the sheer scale of the power flung around on a daily basis, he doubted he'd ever be able to put those feelings into place. Melia wasn't the person she used to be, but in a way, she still was. And he wanted to see her happy.

"I see," the Eldest said. She nodded to herself. "Yes, of course. I think I like that answer. It always suits you."

"Always?"

The Eldest chuckled softly to herself, as if enjoying some Eldest joke that he was too Youngest to understand. "Ah, don't mind me. This place…it drives me to seek shelter in any way I can."

Shelter huh…"Can I ask if there's a Mister Eldest too?"

"Hmmm…you could say that, yes."

When it became apparent that the Eldest wasn't about to say anything else, Will just nodded in the same way she had. He truly did not know if he was just this bad at keeping a conversation going, or if the Eldest was just that difficult to converse with.

This section of the ruins sounded more like a warzone with every step they took Earth-shaking roars echoed through the cavernous room, undercut by the sounds of rocks shattering and the high-pitched noise of jets of flame. Scorch marks dotted the floor and the walls and thin, sharpened stakes of ground protruded from the ground.

The Eldest and he inched forwards. One of the maids lay splayed across the staircase. Her right arm and leg were twisted the wrong way. The stairs were drenched in her blood. The wall a meter up and to her left was cracked. She…it looked like something had flung her with incredible force and shattered her body against the solid wall, before leaving her there.

"Lord above," the Eldest said in a low voice. "What happened to you child?"

Will knelt down next to the maid. A spasm ran through her ruined body and she coughed up specks of blood. She struggled to raise her good arm, but she didn't have the strength to get it more than an inch off the floor. The bone shifted sickeningly beneath her skin. Her other leg didn't move at all.

"S-Stop…" she muttered. Blood leaked from her parted lips, bright and crimson. "Don't…go…any farther."

"Please, don't push yourself," the Eldest said, clutching the maid's pale hand. "You're not in a good condition! What's going on?"

The maid labored to talk. Her breaths were shallow and pained, and little droplets of sweat formed on her pale forehead as she struggled to get the words out. Blood dripped from her mouth as she did. "We…found the Earth's Heart…but…it was guarded. We tried to fight it…but…Esther and I…" Her voice became higher in pitch. Her chest rapidly rose and fell as she struggled and wheezed for air. "Just…run…"

Something in her eyes broke. They grew still. Empty. Her head lulled to the side.

The Eldest slowly inhaled through her nostrils. "She's gone," she croaked. "It seems my intuition was correct. Something powerful does rest here. Let's move on, Will."

A singular statue stood nestled in-between the set of stone stairs. Someone had hewn words into the plaque attached to the pedestal.

"To those who wish to call the legendary beast…the ones who hold open the path shall be punished for their treason. No mercy shall be had upon their souls. Forever lost."

A second maid lay slumped against the stairs…or what was left of her.

Something massive and sharp had split her open from her throat to her pelvis. She lay curled up on her side, her glassy eyes staring into nothingness. A great mess of blood and organs had spilled from her body onto the floor. It didn't smell like blood. Somehow, it smelled worse.

"Oh lord, oh no," the Eldest muttered, making a quick gesture as if to ward off something unseen.

The sight, the smell – it was almost too much. Will felt something bitter burn its way up through his throat and he turned away, gagging. He was fairly sure that the only reason he didn't vomit all over the floor was because he hadn't eaten anything solid for the past few days.

"That poor girl," the Eldest said.

Oddly enough, Will found himself agreeing. The maid looked so small, so frail, so…broken. It was a pitiable sight. What had her name been? Deborah? No, no this was Esther.

Why did these things so willingly throw their lives away for someone as cruel as Angie? Their lives meant nothing to Angie, why? Why?

"Come Will," the Eldest said. "We must advance."

He couldn't take his eyes off of Esther. She hadn't been human. She'd been a monster. But in death, she looked so ruined and broken…it made her look more human than ever.

There was just…so much…stuff coming out of her.

The Eldest nudged him with her staff. "I know. I understand. Know that, with time, it will get easier for you."

Easier. That was just a nice way of saying that he would stop caring about the important things. Back when he first came to Gearen, the mere thought of someone trying to actively hurt him with their Pokemon had shaken him to his core. Now, it was business as usual.

The simple idea of having to hurt another living being just to protect someone he cared about had been a life-altering decision. Now, just a few days ago he'd probably crippled a man for life and that had been the merciful option.

Will stared at the disemboweled remains of what had once been an enemy and the Eldest told him that it would get easier? "How?" He breathed.

"Experience," she simply told him. "Now come. We have a battle to wage."

With incredibly difficulty, he tore his eyes off the person who had once been named Esther and followed the Eldest up the final set of stairs.

The sounds of fighting and combat had ceased.

Up ahead, overseeing a large constructed above the yawning, cavernous abyss below, stood Cera.

"F-Finally!" She panted, grinning from ear to ear as she wiped the soot from her face. "After such a fierce battle, I caught the beast!"

"Beast?" The Eldest questioned her.

"It did everything it could to tear me down…Esther and Deborah were casualties as a result, but we've won!" Cera turned her crimson eyes towards the Eldest and held out her hand, still clutching a Pokeball. "Here now sleeps the beast that guards this domain! And to top it all off? The Earth Heart is right before us!"

Will saw it. A green gemstone topped with wings, resting in the alcove just ahead. Cera was blocking the way.

"With it, I can free Angie and take back what is rightfully hers!"

"I don't think so," Will said, pulling out his own Pokeball even as Cera turned to face him.

"But truly the best part has yet to surface!" The insane woman continued as she backed to the right, getting ready for another fight. "Once Groudon eliminates you, there will be no one who can stop me!"

Will knew what was coming, knew that he was about to square off against another Legendary Pokemon, but knowing that still didn't prepare him for what came next.

A being of the land itself. Magma was its armor and earth were its swords. A massive, bipedal creature with thick, impenetrable armor and sharpened claws that could rent through steel and stone alike. This was the creature that had crushed Deborah and gutted Esther. This was the beast the Garufans had referred to in their scriptures. One look into those desolate, ancient eyes and Will knew, he knew that this creature would tear him limb from limb without a second thought if he lost to it. It would destroy everything in its path because that was what it did, that was what a force of nature did.

But.

"With grace from Lady Angie, I sentence you to death!" Cera judged.

Will would do what he did. There was no second thought for him either, no rhyme or reason. He would fight the incarnation of the land itself. He would fight nature itself if that was what it took.

"Groudon, devour them!"

The Eldest stumbled backwards as an immense aura of heat and pressure exploded from Groudon's body. It was intense, washing around him like he had stepped into a furnace.

Two possible targets for Groudon to tear apart meant two powerful physical attackers to keep them safe. Blaziken on Will's side, Nidoking for the Eldest.

Groudon widened its stance and slammed its bladed tail into the ground. Almost instantly, the entire level shook violently. The wall behind them burst open and a wall of burning boulders and sheets of stone like a tidal wave.

"Go, go!" Will yelled. The Eldest and him hurried for cover while Nidoking and Blaziken charged at their foe. Nidoking was faster, lowering his shoulder and charging through a hazy mist of superheated particles and flames. He rammed into Groudon, but the Legendary Pokemon got one armored, massive arm in the way and easily blocked him. With a savage swipe, he flung Nidoking to the ground, forcing Blaziken to leap over his tumbling body. She landed a powerful haymaker in Groudon's face and its head snapped sideways. It slashed at her with its right arm, deceptively quick for something so massive, and easily blocked her follow-up quick.

Fast as always, Blaziken darted back when Groudon summoned a spike of burning stone from between her feet. Nidoking came in from the side, striking at the behemoth with a series of quick Poison Jabs. Unfazed, Groudon snatched him by the throat and smashed him into the ground, but it was forced to let go and defend itself when Blaziken drove a searing Blaze Kick at its sternum.

That was all the attacks they got in before the tidal wave of falling stones and burning debris was upon them. It came down all around them, from pebbles the size of Will's thumb to enormous slabs of stone massive enough to rival Groudon. Nidoking rolled to the side to avoid one such boulder Another slammed into the ground and toppled in-between Groudon and Blaziken, but the behemoth simply lashed out with a bladed foot and kicked the slab stone at Blaziken with breakneck speed.

Blaziken vaulted over the slab of stone and landed atop it, rapidly slinging several handfuls of flames into Groudon's eyes. Roaring, Groudon slammed a massive claw at Blaziken in a downwards arc. She side-stepped the blow but Groudon's sheer strength crushed the slab in half and forced Blaziken up into the air.

Will ordered Nidoking to use Earth Power to get a handle on the chaotic mess. Nidoking slammed his forearms into the ground and sent a massive trail of jagged spikes erupting from the ground towards the Groudon, shattering the debris and rocks in his way. Groudon simply protected his face with an oversized claw and the spikes of earth that could have flung an entire bus in the air simply shattered against its impenetrable armor.

Blaziken came in fast from the other side. She landed a flurry of rapid jabs at Groudon's armored back and dropped to a low crouch when it swung at her. She drove a Fire Punch at Grudon's face but then another pair of stone spikes erupted from the ground. She shattered one with an elbow jab but she wasn't quick enough to avoid the other one which slammed into her side, knocking the air out of her. With a speed that belied its bulk Groudon flung her to the ground.

"Focus on avoiding those hits, Blaziken! He's too strong to simply tank them!"

The next second, Groudon growled and a pulse of energy shot through the ground. Everything started shaking again and the ground around Nidoking burst open. Nidoking lost his footing and crashed to the ground.

Enveloping itself in a sphere of boiling, swirling flames, Groudon dropped to all fours and lunged for Nidoking, body-slamming him with enough force to send him tumbling across the ground.

Quickly, Will recalled him and sent out Pidgeot. Groudon took a quick shot at the massive bird, but Pidgeot pivoted and rolled out of the way of the gust of flames. Then, Blaziken came in with focused aggression. Groudon swept at her with its bladelike claws, but she intercepted it attack with both arms and prevented Groudon from clawing her in half. She shoved the offending limb aside and then landed a heavy Blaze Kick directly against Groudon's chest. The force of the blow sent him reeling backwards and Pidgeot came in heavy from the rear, crashing down on Groudon's neck with immense force.

Its head snapped forwards and it stumbled, blindly lashing out at Blaziken, forcing her to backflip out of its reach. Pidgeot clawed at Groudon's eyes, but even those were armored and protected against his claws. Momentum and weight wouldn't be of any help here either.

Cursing under his breath, Will recalled Pidgeot again and sent out Froslass. He would have had her freeze the water in the air and start slinging spikes at Groudon, but the air was already too arid to make use of that. Better to go for a different plan.

Froslass expanded her power and began freezing the air around her. A cloud of extreme cold began spreading out with her as the epicenter.

"More fire, Groudon! Burn them!" Cera yelled gleefully.

"You fool! You are going to burn yourself as well!" The Eldest told her.

"We are made to serve! What is heat, but the temporary absence of my Lady's cold embrace? We can endure! Can you?"

Froslass battered Groudon with a heavy Blizzard, snuffing out the various flames and glazing over the little cracks and chinks in the behemoth's armor.

Grondon whirled around and started breathing fire in her direction, but Blaziken leapt atop its back and began slamming her elbow into the base of its neck, landing several blows that could have shattered concrete and dented steel.

Groudon snarled and tried to bat her off, but it didn't have the reach. Instead, it flung itself onto its back in an attempt to crush her underneath its bulk, but its movements were slower now, mere easily telegraphed. Blaziken flung herself off its back right before he could have smashed her against the floor.

Froslass flickered into existence right above Groudon and unleashed a Blizzard straight into its face. Armored eyes or not, even a Legendary Pokemon couldn't see if it had ice crystals covering its entire face.

"Enough! Groudon, incinerate them all!"

Enraged, Groudon roared and an shockwave of fire exploded from his body, shattering the rocks around it and catching Froslass right when she was about to relocate. The ice melted away in an instant, the temperature sky-rocketed nad the patches of ground underneath Groudon caught fire.

"If Lady Angie's punishment was not enough to tame you, Will, then perhaps you will break beneath mine! Groudon!"

Something burst underneath Will's feet and catapulted him into the air. He saw a blur, hit something hard and tumbled across the ground. He came to a rough, painful stop which expelled all the air from his lungs in an instant. His chest cramped up, his lungs stuttered and he couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe -

Ralts tumbled to the ground next to him. He'd forgotten she'd been there with him the entire fight. The little Pokemon climbed back to her feet. She looked at him, her expression blank and unreadable before turning to face Groudon.

Will gasped for the air he needed to shout commands. He needed Ralts out of there, out of there at once before Groudon hurt her, before he lost another one -

The Eldest yelled his name, Cera cried out in joy and Groudon was there, was right there. It swept Blaziken aside and stomped on the ground, roaring. Flames erupted around its body, casting warping shadows across the chamber. The fire was so bright -

That brightness enveloped Ralts, too. Her entire body glowed a bright, eye-watering whiteness. Will couldn't do more than shove himself back up to his elbows and knees. He blinked furiously, trying to get the blurriness out of his eyes.

Ralts wasn't there anymore. Rather, not as she had been. It wasn't fire from Groudon that had consumed her, but the piercing light of an evolution. A different Pokemon stood in-between Will and the beast of the desolate land. She surrounded herself in a corona of purple light -

Groudon's foot came down on the ground again and a jagged spear of burning stone erupted from the ground, shooting towards Will's face.

Before he could do much more than realize what was about to happen, the spike came to a sudden, screeching halt when it slammed into a purple barrier of sorts, which managed to hold it back for a split-second before it shattered, but there was another barrier behind it, and another one behind that one. The spike sheared through each one in a sparkling eruption of purple and red light, but they slowed it down enough.

That was when clarity came back and Will scrambled to his feet. He rolled aside just as the other barriers shattered and the burning spike slammed into the spot he'd just occupied.

The bipedal humanoid Pokemon merely cocked her head aside and the spear missed her by an inch. Most of its body was colored white, with three ruffles on each hip in the shape of a short dress. It stepped aside on thin, green legs and raised a slender, white arm. In a flicker, she'd teleported several meters to the left when Groudon cast another burning blade her way. It embedded itself deep in the ground. The violence of Groudon's attack swept the green hair of her face, revealing a cracked, reddish stub on the side of her head where a crimson horn should have rested.

Half her face was marred with crisscrossing purple scars. They glowed ever so faintly in the shimmering light of Groudon's fire.

"Will! Are you unhurt! Will!" He heard the Eldest clamor.

He had no time to answer. He sent out Nidoking once again, before regarding his newly-evolved partner. "I need you to keep Groudon distracted! Can you do that?"

As always, she didn't acknowledge his command in the slightest. She simply teleported away. When he didn't immediately spot her again, Will could only assume that she would be doing her part. "One more effort Nidoking, Blaziken! Let's give this thing all we've got!"

Again, his two strongest fighters burst into motion and again, Will ordered them to come at the beast from the flanks. Groudon roared and whipped around to engage Blaziken, but then the air in front of its face warped and grew distorted with purple light. Reality began warping right in front of its face and it swept at the distortions with a burning claw to swat it away.

The next second, Nidoking exploded the ground underneath Groudon with a solid Earth Power and the behemoth thrashed around with its tail, shattering the burning teeth of stone that had erupted around it to keep it pinned.

Blaziken struck it like a meteor, landing a High Jump Kick in the nape of its neck with enough force to send the behemoth to all fours. She reared back, drawing the blaze and the heat of Groudon's presence towards herself, and then drove another Blaze Kick at its head. Groudon enveloped itself with fire as well and lunged for Blaziken, but another wash of purple energy exploded in front of its face at the last second and it missed Blaziken by a hair's breadth.

That allowed Nidoking to blindsight the ancient beast. He slugged Groudon across the jaw with two heavy punches, then braced himself when Groudon whipped around and slammed its bladed tail against Nidoking's body.

Panting now, the Groudon dropped to all fours again.

"A nice attempt, but simpletons like yourselves cannot defeat Groudon!" Cera declared gleefully. "Groudon, enough fooling around! Get them!"

Groudon roared, but it was far from the bone-shaking force of nature it had been before. Its movements were slow and sluggish, and it seemed to be wavering. Its massive, armored legs were unsteady, as if the Pokemon struggled to keep itself upright.

Again, Blaziken buffeted it with flames and the behemoth lashed out blindly, shattering the ground in patches of stone spikes in every direction. Nidoking seized one of the spikes before it could impale him through his thigh and swept at its base with his forearm, breaking it off and flinging it at Groudon like a javelin. Groudon attempted to defend itself, but it did so in the wrong direction as if it saw multiple attacks at once.

It shattered against the behemoth's eye cavity and Blaziken seized that opportunity to land another vicius, Blaze-fueled kick at its jaw.

"H-Huh? What's going on?" Cera demanded. "Groudon, what's happening?"

Groudon slowly tipped over. Its massive body slumped to the floor and the entire cavern trembled in its wake. Then, somehow, the Legendary Pokemon disappeared. It just vanished from view as if it had decided it was now a part-Ghost type.

"Groudon…disappeared?" Cera said. "How?! How is this possible? This is inconceivable! Totally and utterly incomprehensible!"

It sounded like Cera hadn't had many of those types of day, then. Will recalled his exhausted Pokemon and watched as the Eldest slowly navigated the wrecked chamber. "Groudon has returned to the depths," she sternly said. "Where it belongs."

"What?!"

Her gray hair fell around her face as she shook her head and thumped towards the maid, Will close on her heels. "You have a lot to learn, Cera. In fact, you remind me of when I was young…"

"Back during your own murder-maid phase?" Will said before he could stop himself.

The Eldest reached behind her with her staff and poked his forehead with its bulbous end. "Hush, you."

Will hushed.

"Even Legendary Pokemon have their limits," she continued. "They are not creatures of limitless potential."

Furious, Cera jabbed her finger in the Eldest's direction. "Shut your mouth, heathen! You know nothing! I am Arceus' faithful servant and it will reward me for my loyalty!"

Just what kind of reward was a fake person like Cera after, really?

The Eldest scoffed, looking far from impressed. "Are you loyal, or is it that you are a selfish self-serving fraud? Arceus has no time for those who do evil."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, really," Cera hissed. In a flash, she disappeared again.

"What! Where did she go?" The Eldest exclaimed, looking around for any sign of the woman.

"Over here, imbeciles!"

And Cera reappeared at the far end of the chamber, standing atop a platform of sorts right behind the strange, winged gemstone that rested there.

The Earth Heart.

"Legendary Pokemon or not, it was this I was after!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The Eldest shouted. She moved before Will even had the chance to, darting towards the maid with a speed and precision that belied her fragile, aging frame. It was like one moment she stood right next to Will and the next, she was all up in Cera's face, clutching the Earth Heart with her wiry fingers.

"F-Fast!" Cera had the chance to say before the Eldest nearly pulled the relic from her hands.

"My legs are old, but they put in the work when needed," the Eldest said. Her voice was all casual, but her words made no sense, no sense at all. The people in Sheridan were capable of amazing feats in their old age, but the way the Eldest just moved…that was beyond the realm of what should have been possible for a woman her age.

"So what are you going to do now?" The Eldest challenged Cera. "Teleport away? I'll go wherever you go and then I'll be your problem!"

"Why don't you just die already, you old hag?!" Cera snarled.

The Eldest chuckled. "You'll find that it is quite difficult to get rid of me…oh, and Cera? Think fast!"

With surprising strength, the Eldest shoved the Heart towards Cera, pushing her off-balance. Then, she suddenly twisted her weight to her side, jerked the Heart sideways and then spun around, pulling it free from Cera's fingers and flinging it towards Will.

He leapt and reached out. His grasping fingers narrowly wrapped themselves around the Heart's cold frame.

"Go!" The Eldest ordered. She hurried towards him, but Cera wasn't done yet. She lunged towards the Eldest and wrapped her arms around the old woman's neck, dragging her towards the platform's edge.

"Stop right there Will!" Cera snarled, her red eyes wide with fury. "Or else I'll throw both of us off the edge! I'll be safe, but this old bag of bones will shatter on the floor like glass!"

Seriously. Seriously? Was she for freaking real right now? Couldn't she just let them walk, couldn't they just have this tiny goddamn victory!

Another choice, another cruel, impossible calculation to make.

Will sucked in a shuddering breath. "Easy, easy," he bade the maid. "Don't do anything rash."

"I will smear the ground with this hag's dusty insides in seconds if you do not obey me like a good dog," Cera grinned at him. "Give it here and I will let her go. Think fast."

So he did.

"Do it then!" The Eldest yelled at her. "Go on! You have the agency to do it!"

She was a brave woman. It was easy to see where Aelita got it from.

…his mother had been brave, too. Right until the end.

Will took a breath, seized the situation in both hands and peeled away the emotional layers, looking at this as objectively as possible. What he ended up with was a cruel, cold-hearted calculation; what would happen if he gave her the Earth Heart?

Answer: they would awaken Angie. They would keep the Ocean Relic. They would make it impossible to attack Mount Valor and get Nim, Amber, Tesla and Jenner.

Unacceptable.

The alternative? Keeping the Heart. Dooming the Eldest.

"Will, put your trust in me!" The Eldest ordered him. "Don't give up the Earth Heart!"

"Shut it!" Cera growled, constricting her arm tighter around the Eldest's neck. "Will, I'm going to give you a choice. And I won't ask twice! Give me the Earth Heart or the old bag of bones falls to her death."

A calculation. Try to save the Eldest and lose everybody. Save everybody and lose the Eldest.

The choice was simple. The choice was too fucking simple.

But that didn't mean it was easy.

"I'm sorry, Eldest," he said. And he shoved the Earth Heart deep into his backpack.

She smiled at him. Pride brimmed in her eyes.

"You won't do it?!" Cera exclaimed. "Have you no empathy? Do you not care for the life of this human?!"

The Eldest knew it too. She was old. She had lived a full life. She was braver than most.

She knew what she was doing.

"It's not a lack of empathy," the Eldest told Cera with the sort of patience only a woman of her considerable age could muster. "It's an abundance of trust."

With inhuman speed and grace, the Eldest pulled her staff towards her, placed it in-between her shoulder and the creak of Cera's arm and pushed –

The bulbous head of her staff pushed Cera off balance. She stumbled, lost her footing –

"Oh you – BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII – "

She fell.

And the Eldest stood alone.

Will couldn't believe what he just saw. With some choice words and a casual gesture, the Eldest had taken an impossible situation and…solved it. Where he'd been fully prepared to give up hope and resolve himself to lose another person, the Eldest had shown him a third option.

Win.

And not lose anyone at all.

"Will," she said as she casually thumped towards him. "Have I ever told you that I liked you? Thank you for trusting in me."

"…I think the feeling is mutual," he quietly said.

The Eldest beamed at him. "I managed to snatch this off her person while I swung her around. Here, take this."

She thrust a large, silver key into his hands.

The Tower Cellar Key.

Will clutched it in his fist and bowed his head. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For helping."

"Hoho! Child…" she said affectionately as she placed a wrinkled hand on his head. "Honestly now? How hard is it to bust down a door? Let us leave now. We should make our way back."

Will felt a genuine smile overtake him, falling easy and comfortably on his face. He put the key in his pocket and turned around –

- only for Cera to flicker into existence a hair's breadth away from him. She laughed maniacally, running a hand through her raven hair and Will backed up, alarm and adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"I bet you've discovered that I too am difficult to get rid of!" Cera yelled.

"Quite," the Eldest murmured.

"I've only been able to snatch a piece of that wretched scale, but it should be enough! It better be enough! Our paths will cross again! Next time, Will, we shall break you!"

With those words, Cera teleported away once again. And this time, she believed her mission was successful.

…but why tell them? Why not sneak off and let Angie's return fall upon them like an anvil, take the opportunity to plan a devastating sneak attack at the worst possible moment? Why reappear, declare her intentions only to then teleport away? Now everybody knew to start planning for Angie's return.

What drove these creatures?

"…well, that is unfortunate," the Eldest sighed. "We need to let the others know what transpired here immediately. Let us return!"

Surprisingly enough, that guy Tommen stood right outside the entrance, as if waiting for them to return. "Hey!" The guy greeted them. "Did you guys manage to get what you were after?"

"Yes, but what are you doing here?" The Eldest asked with a thoughtful frown.

Tommen gestured at the shimmering blue tile behind him. "This warp tile suddenly appeared and I took a leap of faith with it."

The Eldest considered that. "Defeating Groudon may have caused the Sanctuary to change…"

Tommen went pale. "G-Groudon!" He stammered.

"Nevermind," the Eldest replied with a shake of her head. "Where is Aelita?"

Tommen shrugged. "She should still be in that room waiting."

All on her own? Without anyone to keep an eye on the surroundings?

That set off alarm bells in Will's head. The Eldest and him hurried through the warp pad and it spat them out back in Tommen's hideout. From there, Will hurried into the chamber the left, yelling for Aelita that they'd done it, that they had the key to the cellar now –

Aelita lay on the ground in a heap.

Unmoving.

Horror and disbelief wormed their way into his chest as Will dropped to his knees beside her. He heard the Eldest speak, but her words didn't register in his brain. He felt his arms and legs go numb. "Hey, come on. Aelita. We have to move," he heard himself say.

But…she didn't respond. Why didn't she respond?

"Aelita," he said again but she remained motionless, remained quiet, so very very quiet and he didn't understand. "Aelita?"

"No…" the Eldest said in a low, creaking voice.

No, no, this wasn't right. Not Aelita. She was just tired. Maybe some leftover hypothermia from Angie. Some weird gas in the air, he didn't know. She'd be right up. She'd greet him with a tired smile and laugh about how she'd taken a nap because apparently standing around was just too boring for someone like her and –

"Aelita!" He yelled. He cupped her face with his hands. Her skin felt deathly cold. Was she breathing? Did she still have a heartbeat? "Aelita!"

There was nothing to meet his words. Only an echoing, aching silence.

No. No, no no, this wasn't happening, this wasn't – not Aelita. Not her.

"Will," the Eldest said again.

No no no no. She couldn't -

A cold prickle of fear slid right down his neck. Behind him, Adam and Braixen came rushing into the room.

"What's going on?" Adam demanded.

"Aelita!" Braixen gasped.

Oh God, not Aelita.

"She's breathing, but it's not consistent…"

This wasn't happening.

"B-But what could have caused this?"

But it was.

"The air down here is thin…Is it possible that she isn't getting enough air?"

Gently, as tenderly as if she were made from porcelain, Will placed his hand underneath Aelita's head and slowly lifted it from the ground. "Aelita?" He whispered. "Can you hear me?"

"This…No, it must be the work of Garufan magic," the Eldest spat. "When Groudon was defeated, there was a certain shift in the area…but – "

And then the fucking Xen thug entered the room.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, dared to ask as if this wasn't because of him and his people.

Will put Aelita's head down again as gently as he could

"You!" The Eldest snapped.

Will turned around.

"You did this!" The Eldest snapped.

Everything inside of Will went very, very still. A coldness that had nothing to do with Angie overcame him. It was the coldness he'd felt when he first heard Neved had hurt Aelita. It was the coldness he had heard when he, in turn, had vowed that he would tear apart Blacksteeple Castle to get that man.

It was the coldness that he had felt when he ordered Blaziken to tear Neved apart.

"You were the one who suggested this ritual!" The Eldest continued. "You're the one who read the books detailing them. You must have known something!"

"N-No!" Xen stammered. "The books only said those who stand before the Beast shall open the path! And to those who stand will display their heart to the – "

Shall be punished for their treason. No mercy shall be had upon their souls.

His realization came at the same moment as theirs. His stammering voice trailed off. He looked at the Eldest. Then, his eyes darted over to Will in fear.

Forever lost.

Will rose.

Tommen flinched.

Somewhere, in the distance, he heard the Eldest say something, but then Tommen turned and ran.

That made things simple.

He took off after him.

Adam burst into motion and gave pursuit as well.

Adam was good people.

Xen was a fast runner. He knew the layout of the ruins well.

But he hadn't been spending his days running and fighting himself half to death. Maybe he hadn't eaten. Not enough water, maybe.

It didn't matter.

All that mattered was that Adam and Will were faster.

They gained.

Xen uttered little gasps and whimpers as he ran. He hurried up the ladder that led back to the cave. He started climbing.

Adam sent out Aerodactyl. The prehistoric Pokemon snatched their mark by his leg. Spurts of blood burst from his leg and he cried out in pain.

Adam had Aerodactyl drag Xen up through the chasm and back to where they had first seen Cera and her maids. There, right underneath the door that led to the Sanctuary, Adam and Will caught up with him.

"Please!" He begged. "I'm really sorry that this happened. I just wasn't thinking. If I could go back and say something I would. I didn't mean for her to end up – "

Will's punch caught him in the jaw and he crashed to the ground, clutching his mouth as he gasped in shock.

Just wasn't thinking? He just wasn't thinking?

"Tough shit, my dude," Adam said. "You hurt my good friend and that's all that matters. And now you're cornered."

"P-Please!" He cried out. He threw up his arms to protect himself. Will gripped his wrist – boney, trembling – and struck again.

Everything that Team Xen touched went to hell. Everything they did caused misery and pain. Everyone – Mightyena and mom and Nim and now Aelita, Aelita –

If he lost her…if this fucking place took Aelita…if this scum had caused…if…if…

Will lowered his fist and backed off from the guy. He had to think, had to get a grip. He was losing his thoughts again. He needed to pull them together.

Garufan magic. Garufan magic.

They needed…they needed…

Tommen screamed in terror.

Will whirled around.

"This feeling…inside of me!" He screamed, his body convulsing on the ground. "No, it can't be true! She wouldn't!"

Something strange happened to the man's body. It was as if his body flickered, like a glitch in a television screen. He thrashed around on the ground, but his limbs left hazy after-images, a scattering of dust that disappeared moments later.

"Is it possible that I've been terminated?" He gasped. "But why is this happening now?" He screamed in dread. "The ruins…the protective seal must have been protecting me! I must go back, please – "

He screamed again, but this time in agony.

Then, it was if something ripped his body apart feet-first. A pulse or wave of red light tore him into nothingness from his feet all the way to his head. His body just fell apart, crumbled into the ether and vanished.

Within seconds, there was nothing left but a few motes of black dust. They too melted away.

"What the fuck?" Adam breathed. "That guy just got vaporized or something. Goddamnit."

Will stared at the air the Xen member had just occupied moments ago. Terminated? She? Did he mean Madame X? Could...could that monster kill her people just like that? For going AWOL?

Her own people?

Don't think, he told himself. Don't feel. Act.

Will took a moment to reign in his raging emotions. He pulled his thoughts together, grabbed the part of him that was about to start screaming in agony and stifled it.

Not now.

There would be time for emotions later.

Not now.

They headed back to the Eldest, where Braixen still held guard.

And Aelita. Still. Didn't. Wake up.

Cursed by Garufan magic.

"I can't believe I actually let this happen again…" the Eldest muttered weakly. "After everything that's happened up to this point…I've learned nothing. I've done nothing but disappoint Keta and even you, Vivian. Your sacrifices meant nothing because of my incompetence."

Will didn't know who Vivian was, but the rest of her words resonated painfully. He should have taken care of that Xen thug the second he laid eyes on him. So what if he would regret it later? So what if Aelita would have hated that?

At least she wouldn't be…at least she would still be…

He took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, and he pushed everything as far away from him as possible. "Eldest…" he whispered, hating how vulnerable his voice still sounded. "What happened to her?"

The Eldest looked like she had aged ten years in the minutes they'd been gone. Her face looked gaunt, het skin pulled tightly across her bones. "Aelita's heart has been sealed off by a Garufan curse," she hoarsely said.

Will did his best to ignore the pressure that was steadily building up in his skull. "How do we help her?"

Another deep breath from the Eldest. "You all should go. You have what you needed."

"And leave you both down here? Hell no!" Adam briskly said.

How…how could they help her? He'd vocalized that out loud, hadn't he? How…

"Adam's right! We can't just leave you down here…" Braixen said hotly.

"Eldest, how do we help her?" Will said, frustration bleeding into his voice.

She gave him a hopeless look. "I do not know," she admitted.

That couldn't be right. She was…she was the Eldest! She knew…she knew everything, didn't she? If anyone knew, it would be her!

If she didn't know.

Nobody knew.

Something inside of him gave way. Will brought his trembling hands to his face. He felt like screaming. He lowered his hands to his throat, physically crushing the desperate roar that threatened to tear his lungs apart. He couldn't fall apart now. They needed him. They needed him.

He narrowed his thoughts to the here and the now. Carefully, he cradled Aelita's motionless body. She felt cold. She needed warmth. Then, she would need fluids. Then, an IV, just like they had given him. Then, they would find the solution. So many different Pokemon, so many options out there.

She'd be fine. She'd be fine. She would be fine.

"This place sucks and we're leaving! Together!" Braixen declared.

Will pulled Aelita against his body and lifted her. She was lighter than he had expected, but his muscles still screamed in protest. He let them. The pain would ground him. Help him tune out what he couldn't use.

Escape Carotos. Get Aelita to a safe place. Find the –

Ocean Relic, his mind clamored. The others. Team Xen's attack.

He couldn't lose it now. There would be time for that later.

"We're going to take her whether you help or not," Adam told the Eldest. "Because that's what good friends do."

It was.

The Eldest turned away. Her voice was heavy with emotion. "Aelita is lucky to have such good friends. Let us go then. Out of this miserable place."

They moved. Will held Aelita close. It wasn't easy. Muscles he hadn't used in three days screamed in protest and they burned. He felt tired. Exhausted. Numb. His mind replayed the last thirty minutes over again. Aelita, offering to stand there on her own without knowing what would happen. Aelita, blowing off the Eldest's concerns. Aelita, smiling as he argued in favor of her doing this.

He could have agreed with the Eldest. He could have found a different way.

But he hadn't. He'd told Aelita to go ahead.

Forever lost.

And now…now he might lose her

They brought her back to the Cherry Blossom Inn. There, they tenderly placed Aelita in a bed. Will remained by her side. There, it was like he walked into a wall and things stopped working inside of his thoughts. On a certain level, he understood that Braixen and Adam were there at first. They spoke to him while the Eldest tended to matters. He didn't hear them. His mind kept replaying the events, dissecting and observing them, before putting them back together.

Time rickled by - minuteshoursdays - he'd pulled up a chair which allowed him to make out if she was still breathing, which he did often, because every time he didn't look he was suddenly convinced that she'd stopped -

Doctors came and went. Nurses came and went. At one point, they wanted to usher him out of the room. They needed him to leave. He refused. If Team Xen swept in and abducted the comatose Aelita from her bed he would splinter, he would fall apart even Melia would not be able to put him back together.

The tiny, rational part of his mind that he clung to like a lifeline told him that he would be useless to the others if he broke. It told him that Melia and Venam needed him. That Saki and Val and Adam and Braixen needed him. It told him that, if he lost it now, it meant Team Xen would murder Amber and Tesla and Nim and Jenner.

So he couldn't leave but they called for the Eldest and the Eldest knew how to make him leave, even though he didn't know how she did that and she took him to her own room and sat him down at a little table.

She offered him tea.

He refused that too.

She called him stubborn and foolish, muttering underneath her breath about Vivian and Keta, Vivian and Keta -

But she had to manage the inn as well as Aelita's care, so she was gone within minutes.

Will knew what Melia and Adam would tell him.

It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

Wordlessly, Will reached into his backpack and picked up his journal. He had to write his thoughts down while he still had clarity in his head.

Tapu Lele

Crescent

For the moment, he couldn't think of anything else.

"I'm gonna find a way to fix this," he said.

Vivian and Keta…

Keta.

It came to him so suddenly that it surprised him that he hadn't thought about it before.

The hidden grove in Amethyst Cave. Half his soul had still resided there, and then that strange statue of him had appeared. If anyone knew what the hell was going on, it had to be him.

It was a long shot, but it was a place he could reach on his own right now, and the other two options on his list might as well have lived ten miles underwater for how accessible they were.

"You hang in there. I'll be back for you."

He headed down the wooden stairs of the inn. It was almost midnight. Most of the patrons had already gone to bed. The main floor was almost empty.

When he came outside, his friends were there. Adam put a heavy arm around his shoulders and guided him down to a carved log that lay in front of a sizable bonfire.

"Okay," Adam said. "Here's what we know. The Eldest has gathered the best healers and doctors in all of Sheridan and there's a lot of those."

Will didn't answer. It took him the longest time to even realize what Adam had said. When he did…what was the point of responding? He knew that.

Adam sighed wearily. "Will, I know you."

Healers and doctors wouldn't be able to break a curse. They needed specialists for that.

"And I know how you respond to loss by now."

He couldn't be here, he couldn't waste time. Find Keta. Find Tapu Lele. Find Crescent.

Find fucking anything that would turn this around, anything at all, whatever the cost.

if you blame yourself for this too I'm going to bonk you over the head with a boulder," Adam said. "A heavy one."

Only you blame you.

Yeah. He did. Because this…this was different. This was like…like they had unwittingly sacrificed Aelita to stop Angie.

Angie, whom he had fought.

Angie, whom he could have beaten. And instead she…she…

Will wrapped his arms around his stomach. He stared into the fire. He felt sick with fury and guilt.

"Will? You hear me man?"

"Start hitting then," Will said. He felt the familiar sensation of tears burning behind his eyes and he closed them. He couldn't cry because crying meant grieving and Aelita wasn't gone, she wasn't gone – "I told her to go for it."

"Will – "

"We never learn. They keep doing this, they keep tricking us and we keep losing people."

"Will, I swear – "

"I let him just talk us into doing that ritual when I should have – "

Adam got to his feet. He planted a muscled arm against Will's chest and shoved him backwards off the log. He hit the grass with a thump.

After a moment, Adam appeared in his view. "Will, I say this with the best intentions. After this is over, I am going to drag you to the nearest shrink."

His words bounced around his head like shrapnel.

After this is over.

Over.

After this was over, Aelita would still be in a coma. She would still be cursed.

He tried not to think of how many people they would lose, tried not to think of the enormous amount of people and gear and Pokemon Team Xen could still bring to bear against them – the amount of firepower and tricks and cruel tactics they could employ was staggering. How many were they? How many enemies did they each need to defeat to even get to – to – and would it even matter because –

Aelita might never wake up again.

It hurt. It hurt. That thought stole the breath from his lungs. Aelita had been his one constant ever since the day he thought he'd lost Melia. She was here because of him.

She might never wake up again.

He rested his head on the grass.

Closed his eyes.

And he did not let the tears fall.

~~~~~~~(II)~~~~~~~

---

AN: Most of us knew this would be coming. It finally happened. We have lost Aelita, and the future is now much more uncertain than ever before. I think this one is going to have long-lasting effects and none of them good.

We'll be returning to the Garufa Sanctuary eventually. There's something interesting there that I must explore. Not, however, in this story chapter. The real core of "Those We Lose" is, undoubtedly, what I shall dub the Battle of Valor Mountain. The climactic engagement that I have been looking forward to even more than the confrontation with Angie from the last chapter, and lord knows I've been dying to write that one!

But yeah. I will first have to work through some very important side quests in Amethyst Cave before I can get to that point. Canonically there is a timeskip of a week before the assault begins so I have zero reason *not* to get those side stories out of the way. Since they are extremely important to the main story, I think it is better that I do them now.

How long that'll take I'm not sure. My hope is that I can work through them all then get started on the Battle of Valor Mountain halfway through chapter 31, before wrapping the entirety of Story Chapter 8 up with chapter 32. We'll see how that goes.

Don't forget to drop a review and fave/follow if you haven't already! Thank you all so much for sticking around and I will see you with the next update!