Chapter 198 – Evening Emergency
Alex hummed nervously, floating around the Worldcore's white sphere and poking and prodding at tiny constellations. Activating each one like a small machine within a vast network. It reminded him of studies on the brain. Was he tinkering with the world's brain?
But then, he heard familiar footfalls. Owen had arrived. The Charizard stepped into the Worldcore chamber with a relieved look when he first stared at Alex.
"Oh, did you run into Amia?" Alex asked as he waved.
"Oh, yeah. She asked for Palkia to head back sooner." They both nodded in almost the same way toward each other. Owen continued, "So… did it go well? …Where are your organs?"
"Oh, did I lose those?" Alex asked. "I can't really tell."
"Uh… actually, more importantly, how do you feel?"
Alex's faint smile faltered. "I… think we should explain that some other time," he said. "Are you here for the bullet?"
Owen nodded after a brief, concerned stare. "How long? The sun's setting soon…"
"I already set off the Worldcore to process it," Alex explained. "It should be ready soon. A really quick job, and… I'm not sure if it'll work exactly as he wants. But if Alexander keeps that… that evil in his heart, this will kill him. Remove him from the universe outright, if you can get it to explode in him."
"In him. What if it's nearby?"
"It… would weaken him, maybe?"
Owen crossed his arms. "You don't sound that confident…"
"All of this is uncharted territory and undefined interactions," Alex said. "It's all… not tested. Like scientific hypotheses without any experiments… in a class of science where the rules have fundamentally changed." Alex gave Owen a cross look. "I think you know exactly what I mean, when you used this same mechanism to create something 'scary' that would counter my father all those centuries ago."
Owen squinted, thoughtful, and then flinched. "I—I needed something that beat a Spiritomb, and especially a Hydreigon, what else would—"
"We can discuss this later," Alex said, somehow offended. But the cost of all the Roseli Berries in the cupboard was certainly on his mind. "Let's… focus on plans for now."
"Right. Okay." Owen cleared his throat awkwardly. "Speaking of which… this new bullet. If it's on Alexander's emotions… Then if he has a change of heart, it won't work?"
"…If, yes," Alex replied. "But you can't possibly think he would."
"I don't. But… Sorry. Silly of me to ask. But it'll match Alexander's desire for conquest and control, I'm guessing?"
"That's what I'm imagining when thinking about a tyrant like him. He's… calculating. Even now, I bet he's coming up with plenty of plans just to defeat a whole army, all with his own."
"Right. That'll match. I just hope it works… This is all highly experimental. What if all this theorizing with the Worldcore's rules is… wrong? This is all untested, it's all guessing…"
"Save it for a last resort," Alex said. "When all else fails, try this. Maybe we won't need it after all."
Sure, it would mean Alex's sacrifice would have been for nothing, but… the peace of mind was a plus for morale, right?
"Okay," Owen said. "…But… "
"But?"
Owen looked at the roots on the ceiling, then at the Worldcore behind Alex. The Charizard's tail thumped on the ground. He was planning something again. Even now, he was planning something?
"It's getting late," Owen said. "The sun will be setting in only a few kilos. And once that happens, Alexander will be next to unstoppable. The only thing giving us momentum against his regeneration has been the sunlight. At that point… we'd be out of options. That's what Alexander is thinking. And if he sees that we have this 'soul-killing bullet' to use against him… and then he thinks to dodge it—that's it. We'd be done."
"There comes a point where every backup is used up," Alex said. "I… I hope we don't get to that point."
"Forrest already said that we've diverged from the predicted path. But, Dad… can you peek at what's to come?"
Alex hesitated. "…Not without stalling the bullet production, no. I'm sorry. We're out of time."
Owen's smile was resigned, but it also seemed like he'd expected the answer. "Then… I want you to come with me when the bullet's complete. You can still do that, right?"
"Oh, y-yes. I can. In fact, I think I can go just about anywhere, with some power…"
"Then maybe, if things get dire, we can try one more thing. I just need to talk to a few people…"
"Owen, we're counting down the seconds at this point. How can we possibly coordinate more?"
The grin the Charizard wore was so sly. Alex felt a pang of pride… and annoyance. "Owen."
"Sorry, sorry." Owen raised his hands. "Now isn't the time. But just in case… I've got a few more plans before I use this bullet. By the way, how deep do these roots go?"
A few more plans. With only a handful of kilos left before the end of the day's light. Alex sighed fondly. Even after his great sacrifice, he couldn't help but admire Owen's obsessive planning. Master tactician indeed.
"I'd love to see it," Alex replied. "As for the roots… as deep as possible. They're probably still growing deeper into the planet's mantle, for all I know."
Owen nodded, saying nothing.
"Now… the bullet is almost ready. Owen, walk up to the Worldcore and hold out your hands."
He did so, staring at the light with a slight squint.
Rainbow lights swirled around the root system, concentrating at the very base. A rainbow dewdrop fell into the Worldcore… and then shifted into a perfectly translucent sphere, like a bubble of glass. It was no larger than Owen's claw.
"It needs a jolt of power, perhaps from a Hand, to set it off. It will explode. Radius is about five feet, so be careful. It'll do the most damage to Alexander, but it can still hurt anyone with hints of his mindset. Being so calculating… you'd also be in danger, Owen. Don't get reckless with it."
"I understand." Owen grasped it gently, then held out his other hand. From it, he conjured a javelin-like shape, made out of a single golden Hand of Creation. Owen shaped it to be more like a whip on one end and a solid spear on another. Owen placed it inside this Hand, where it bobbed freely along the length.
"Depending on what the situation calls for, I'm pretty sure I can hit him," Owen said. He stretched his wings and turned around, carefully withdrawing the Hand into the aether. The sphere, too, appeared to vanish along with it. "…Alright. It's stored away," Owen confirmed.
"That's the best I can do here," Alex said. "Shall we go?"
Owen nodded. "Palkia's waiting. He must've brought Mom over already, too."
Alex flew along with his son, glancing back at the Tree of Life's Worldcore one last time. It occurred to Alex that Owen hadn't asked about Nate, not even once.
And then he realized that Owen must have already known.
Hakk had returned to the forest he couldn't ever forget. His claws were black with Shadows, and he could feel that cold frenzy in the back of his head again. All over again. Had it all been a dream, all some grand foresight, living a hundred lives just to return to his moment all over again?
Before him, the honorable Xypher, guardian spirit of Destiny Tower, awash with light and divine retribution, beat his wings and conjured cutting gales. Hakk blocked some, dodged others, but suffered a few grazing blows that cut his frosty fur and the flesh beneath.
He wanted to shout. Tell Xypher that he didn't have to fight. But he had to dedicate all his breathing to his body for every jump, every dodge, as Xypher relentlessly pursued him.
Hakk slammed against a tree and got stuck thanks to his accursed spikes. Xypher came rushing in, screeching, wings outstretched.
"NO!" Hakk raised his hands and fired icy spears from his claws. His eyes squeezed shut, and he waited for the end.
And waited.
And waited…
Still bracing, he opened one eye. Xypher wasn't flying toward him anymore. Instead, he'd fallen to Hakk's feet.
"What… what?" Hakk whispered.
The Corviknight's steel feathers darkened, going from regal purple to black tar. His beak opened, but all that came out were acrid, dark bubbles.
"Wh-what's happening?! Xypher, I—"
"You… killed me again…"
The Corviknight hobbled to his feet with broken wings and staggered closer. They were less than a foot apart, and Xypher towered over him. Had he always been that large? Or had Hakk gotten smaller again?
"You sided with Dark Matter… and killed me, as I tried to defend… the world… Did you think I would always forget?"
"N-no, I—"
"In your guilt… you dedicated your afterlife to nursing me back to my former self." His melting beak distorted like it was frowning. His face, misshapen, dripped onto Hakk's forehead. "And you let me die anyway, one final time…"
"H-how was I supposed to know?" Hakk choked out, trying to break away from the tree. He couldn't. His body was as frozen as his spikes.
The melting Corviknight pressed against the tree. Ichor dripped onto Hakk's snout… It burned. It was a cold burn, even for him, down to his very core.
"Shouldn't you atone?"
This wasn't Xypher. It didn't feel like him at all. Some part of Hakk knew the person he was facing now was not Xypher… Surely he would not agree to something like this. But he was immobile now.
"Maybe I should," Hakk admitted in a whisper. The weight on his shoulders felt just slightly lighter. He closed his eyes. Xypher, or whatever was imitating him, growled quietly.
Fwoosh!
A sudden burst of heat scorched Hakk's snout, earning a pained cry. It startled him enough to break out of his stupor—as well as break several of his spikes. They remained lodged in the tree as he fell onto his belly.
Xypher's impostor screeched, covering his face and beak, as another fireball sent him reeling back into a puddle. A black-and-white-flamed Charmander jumped toward the great Corviknight and kicked him in the chest. Her foot sparked with Radiant energy and, like a stamp, it left a scorch on its steel feathers. The scorch expanded like burned paper… and eventually, nothing was left but ash.
Hakk saw him die again. "N… no, Xypher, I—"
The Charmander smacked Hakk across the snout while he was still on the ground. "Wake up, Hakk!"
So dumbfounded by the slap, he only stared.
"It's just a nightmare. It's all fake! Seriously, wake up before Alexander kills us!"
All around Hakk, the forest dissolved into blurry motes of light. Even Xypher… no, not Xypher, but some false impersonation of him… Yes, he wasn't real. He wasn't real. Xypher was already long gone. Just another thoughtless Void Shadow.
Hakk's trembling claws squeezed into a fist. "I'll kill him," Hakk said. "T-toying with my head like that, reading my old shames, I'll kill him!"
Mu sighed, stepping back. "Good. Hold onto that. I gotta wake up the others. When you wake up, help out, okay? We can kill him together."
Angry tears blurred his vision more than the dissolving dream did. He nodded and sniffled. "Xypher…" He could still see him in his mind's eye. "I'll free you… wherever you are. You hear me, Xypher?!" He shouted at the sky. "Just… wait a little longer! Okay?!"
The nightmare did not reply, but the fading light of the evening sun did.
Even after having a seemingly endless amount of time to prepare, even after his grand boast, a single snag had unraveled Alexander's brief Nightmare reign.
It had started with just Mu and Demitri. Then Anam had woken up, face half melted, waking people from one nightmare only to be face to face with another. Jerry followed, along with Hakk, and every few minutes, the number of awakened individuals doubled.
All without Cresselia. They couldn't find her. Had Alexander claimed her first, strategically? And all with Alexander snarling at them, blasting and scorching a few bodies that were still asleep.
Barky had suffered a vision of standing atop his Destiny Tower throne, watching the whole world burn while he'd been powerless to save it. Angelo had published a chapter, and everyone hated it—and for some reason, Alexander was his manager. He didn't even have a manager. And Gahi had simply stated that there was nobody else around.
Many were unaccounted for. Xerneas' antlers were aglow with spirits.
"How much divine power did he absorb?" Sera hissed to herself. "Ugh! Alright. That tears it." She shook the thoughts of her nightmares away—much of it was familiar, wandering hollowly through the Voidlands, so it was easy to push past—and eyed the crowd. She occasionally used her Illusions to displace bodies near Alexander so he'd miss his shot, but at the same time knew to stay hidden herself. She wasn't sure how long Angelo's enchantments lasted, let alone Diyem's.
"Oh, Diyem!" Sera hissed. "Where is he, where—"
A dark comet answered her. The great, black fireball smashed into Alexander, pushing him into the soil, leaving a crater the size of a small building with Alexander at its center.
Sera sprinted over, sparks of electricity returning to her fur, as Diyem landed, panting.
"You alright?" Sera called. "Nightmare wasn't too bad, was it?"
"Not at all," Diyem muttered, spitting a glob of black ichor. It looked like his face was at the final steps of stitching itself back together, like Anam's injuries. "If anything, I was feeling nostalgic."
"…Yeah. Yeah, I get that." Then, Sera marched to the edge of the crater. "Alright, Alexander. You ready to give up yet?!" she shouted. "Your little 'trick' to put an end to us failed, and spectacularly at that. So, what now?!"
"How… How?!" Alexander roared. "I killed ALL of you! Each one! Spirits consumed, minds scoured, I knew EVERY secret, assigned a nightmare for each one, a host Void Shadow to torment them into submission! It was PERFECT!"
"Oh, here we go," Mu said, reappearing next to Sera.
"Khh—Sis, get outta here!" Sera hissed. "It's still dangerous for—"
"Hey, you thank me for saving your hide," Mu snapped back. "If I had listened like a good little girl—"
Mu disappeared, dodging a blast from Alexander that instead split the clouds.
"—you guys would probably still be half asleep!" She appeared on Sera's other side.
"Ohh, you will GET it. I still have FAR more energy than all of you. Once I chip away… once this all ends…"
"…Are you stalling for another Revisor moment?" Mu tilted her head.
"What?"
"Owen broke that."
Silence. The wind blew. Clouds cast a darker shadow over the crater.
"Owen… broke it."
"Yup. Hasn't happened in a while, has it?" Mu asked as if she'd known the whole time. Sera knew she didn't. Cocky runt.
"That time you seemed to have a million resets, and then it all… stopped?" Sera said. "Nevren was trapped in an impossible situation and couldn't find his way out. And now it's gone."
Sera smirked. Across her spectral fur, electricity crackled. "No more retries, you blight. And it looks like you've become a little reliant on trying to get sneak peeks into our moves."
The wind blew. Purple dust dirtied Sera's fur, turning her shimmering white coat a light purple. Alexander only stared, wide-eyed, as bits of ichor leaked from his partly-healed wounds. His healing was a lot slower now.
"So, on behalf of the Hearts and all of Kilo," Sera said, "I'm gonna ask you again: Do you give up?"
A few Hearts glanced nervously behind them. Sera let them. The sun was setting. The sky was a brilliant orange, with radiant light only a great semicircle over the horizon. But the army was still recovering. They needed this time just as much as Alexander did…
"Owen…" Alexander finally broke his silence. "Owen… Owen… OWEN…!"
"Oh boy." Mu rubbed her arms. "I feel that one from—"
"OWEEEEENNNNN!"
A pillar of darkness cracked the earth, doubling the crater's radius and blasting the front line backward. Screaming wraiths spiraled around the pillar before arcing back into Alexander. Dark comets rained from the top of the pillar, sending the Hearts into a defensive scramble. Stray beams of dark energy scorched the ground, leaving black ash.
Alexander erupted from the pillar at lightning speeds, his maws all latched onto the first person he could have seen. A large target—Reshiram.
"Uh oh." Sera sprang into action, only to find that Reshiram, as he tried to blast hot flames into Alexander's face, abruptly cut off his fire flow. Alexander had snapped his neck, taking every burn along the way.
"STOP HIM!" Sera shouted, panicking. She called upon the lightning above, sending an arc of electricity straight through the Hydreigon's melting body.
"Preservation is useless," Alexander hissed, ripping flesh from bone as Brandon fell backward.
Demitri and Gahi fused and Teleported next to Alexander, holding their momentum, and smashed him away. A trail of silvery light spilled out of Brandon, siphoning into Alexander, as healers encircled the Reshiram's unmoving body.
"H-heals aren't working!" shouted one.
Mispy was quick to get onto them, but her vines recoiled. "No aura," she reported.
"Eh?" Demitri and Gahi shouted, splitting apart.
Alexander breathed the silvery lights into him, but even more suppressive fire knocked chunks of his blackened flesh onto the ground.
"He's got Brandon!" Sera shouted, pointing at the silver lights.
"He's eating spirits now?!" Demitri squeaked.
"Nothing new! He's done it to the Voidlands!" Sera ran back. "Mu, send a message to the backline about what's happening."
Mu, for a split second, looked like she wanted to remark something. The dire situation shut her up, and instead, she stepped back and vanished.
By the time Sera looked forward again, another shriek caught her attention. Alexander had ripped two more fighters in half, and healing was no longer effective. But each time he flew into the fray, ten more attacks bombarded him. This was a net loss. Why was he fighting this way?
"He's cornered," Diyem said, stepping beside Sera. He held out a whip, pointing it at Alexander as he lunged for another victim.
He went for Gahi—too fast. The Flygon warped out of the way easily. However, the Pidgeot behind Gahi wasn't as lucky as the Hydreigon tore out her heart—and a silvery blue line of her aura with it, swallowing both.
Diyem threw his spear just as Alexander lost his momentum. Sera, thinking quickly, pointed at the spear and channeled some of her Electricity through it.
The tendril shot directly through Alexander and Diyem pulled back. As Sera channeled lightning through the dark tendril, Alexander roared and sizzled as it cooked him from the inside. His body spasmed, his mobility briefly halted. Silver lights funneled through the darkness and toward Diyem.
While the shock staggered Alexander and slowed his efforts to break free, he still snapped the tendril, which quickly slinked back into Diyem's palm. He shoved the dark orb into Sera's mane.
"Ow, hey!"
Diyem pressed harder. Something broke into her neck.
"YOW!"
"Shut up," Diyem growled.
Sera felt the presence of a small squadron of spirits funneling into her. She recognized Brandon's in one; he seemed to be shakily leading the other spirits along.
"Oh," Sera whispered.
The Shadow Charizard shoved Sera away. "Go to the Tree. I'll try to drain more. He's getting reckless…" Diyem's frown deepened. "I don't know why. He'll surely lose at this rate, but we both know he has a plan…"
"I can't keep this Illusion hiding us for long. If I go…"
Diyem shook his head. "He's not interested in me right now. Go. Time is short."
They both glanced at the horizon. Twilight was approaching.
Brandon, you alright in there?
Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. He didn't sound fine. Can't believe he caught me off guard…
Don't worry. Sera jumped over the front line. Practically as a bolt of lightning, she extended her jump until she got past the second line next, landing with a few electric scorches on the ground.
Her back tingled. She glanced behind her—
Alexnader was right there. Was her Illusion failing? Eyes wide, she held up her arms and shouted in fear…
But nothing happened. And someone was touching her arm instead.
"Hurry!"
It was Jirachi. And in front of Sera, Alexander was frozen in place, floating, completely unresponsive with that fierce look etched in his face.
"What…"
"Come on!" Eon urged.
Sera staggered away and scrambled after the Wishmaker. "What was that? What's happening?"
All around them, the whole battlefield was completely frozen. Pokémon pointing blasts all toward Alexander, who would soon narrowly dodge them. Flames frozen in the air; a cascade of water raining down yet never falling. Plumes of steam impossibly motionless.
"You stopped time?!"
"Nevren wasn't the only one Dialga gifted with something." Eon held up a strange-looking diamond wrapped in cloth. "I just… don't have as much of a use for it. I—I think." Eon fidgeted. "I panic by the time a good moment passes. Time's going to resume soon. Each person I bring with me cuts the time I have down."
"How long?"
"With two people? Less than fifty seconds or so."
Sera wasn't sure how many seconds were left.
"How long until you can use it again?"
"I think I remember counting ninety seconds or so."
That was a while. In fact, that sounded like a familiar amount of time… Dialga must have given it the same recharge as Nevren's.
"If we can outlast him," Eon said, "I think we take him down here, just before sunset. I've got a Doom Desire already set right over him, a-and you, what about you?"
"…I don't know!" Sera blurted. "I was busy trying not to die!"
And just then, time resumed. Sound blasted her ears—shouts and cries as Alexander barreled through her illusion without delay. He was already ripping someone else apart, charging forward with an unknown purpose.
This time, a fantasy-bubble flurry of Moonblasts pelted Alexander, blasting away chunks of his body. Sticky, black slime replaced the parts he was missing faster than they could blast away, but surely he would run out eventually…
Occasionally, Alexander clutched his head, breathing heavily. From his mouth, thick, black smoke—Shadows, the way it made Sera's ectoplasm quiver—billowed out, more and more. Sera didn't know what that meant, but Alexander's eyes were frenzied…
"What's his goal?" Sera whispered to herself, watching Alexander's trajectory. He was no longer going after her, which was a nice change. Maybe her Illusions were working.
"Fire! Fire!" called Barky. Sera flinched—how far had she fled into the backline? Barky was supposed to be leading the suppressive fire with the rest of the long-range attackers. But this—
Sera realized too late. She cried out anyway, "BARKY! RUN!"
It was absurd. Alexander and all his endurance wouldn't be enough to withstand the whole onslaught of the remaining Hearts, no matter what army he had inside him! It was only if he was lucky that he would get this far…
But luck always favored Alexander, Sera thought bitterly. Either that, or they'd somehow underestimated Alexander's prowess yet again…
The melting Hydreigon, falling apart, was too fast. Barky charged a Judgment, hundreds of Hands of Creation glowing on his back, but Alexander struck first, jaws clamping onto his neck. The god stiffened; Judgment's charge paused.
Alexander crunched and twisted his head. In one fell swoop, the deity's head was torn clean off.
"NO!" Sera cried. Everyone stared in horror—did that just happen? Was Barky…
Alexander incinerated the head within his mouth while his smaller jaws kept a stronger grip on the torso.
"And with the beheading of one king, a new one is born," Alexander snarled, sinking his teeth into the open neck.
But all he seemed to drink was blood. He bit harder as Sera and others tried to aim—but Alexander had suddenly switched to the defensive, putting up another powerful Shadow barrier. It was cracking. But it wouldn't be enough time…
"H-he took off his head!" Aster covered his mouth, Teleporting all around to find an opening.
"Focus!" Leph commanded. "He's not done yet!"
"B-but…"
Leph grunted. "Father would not fall so easily. This was a ruse."
And it seemed Alexander was also realizing this. The divine power didn't draw into him.
"What?!"
"Didn't you realize it?" Barky's voice boomed.
A few Hands shot through Alexander, blasting him out of the barrier.
"This body has two minds… One to command… and one to answer."
Aster beamed. "The brain he uses for prayers!" he said. "His butt-brain!"
"It's called"—Barky's back erupted with golden fire—"the LOWER BACK!"
All at once, the supercharged Judgment impaled Alexander with tens of divine tendrils. Chunks of flesh scattered to the wind, becoming nothing but purple ash to feed into the endless wasteland.
"FIRE!" Barky roared.
Sera couldn't look at what followed—not out of horror, but because the sheer light and chaos were too much to comprehend. She staggered back, firing Thunders blindly into where Alexander had landed. Ice Beams froze over Hydro Pumps, turning them into huge chunks of flying ice before being superheated by Fire Blasts. Aramé, recovered enough to return, landed a Draco Meteor for good measure.
Sera turned away when her energy was sapped. Everyone's energy was. And it was only getting darker. After Mispy fired her second, struggling Solar Beam into the smoke, she closed her eyes and focused…
Her brow furrowed. "Stop!" she called to Barky.
"STOP!" Barky echoed.
From chaos to silence. Smoke slowly lifted. A few Hearts coughed as debris got into their nostrils. Mispy continued to check, nodding toward Barky. "He's there, but…"
"Man, STILL not dead?" Sera growled. "What now? Keep firing?"
"We have to get a good aim on him first before we can do that," Barky said. Golden fire leaked from his neck, reforming a phantom of Barky's head to take his flesh-and-blood skull's place.
The smoke finally cleared enough to see the field of craters and elemental debris. Sera had never seen anything like it. Interactions of all elements swirled in the dirt, making tiny, sparkling explosions as both energies collided.
They had bombarded the field so much that the rubble and dirt had cushioned Alexander. Black ichor seeped out from the cracks, and finally a single, smaller head broke through the rocks. Then he dragged himself out of the rubble, purple dust mixing with his ill-defined body. He couldn't even fully emerge. Most of him had melted into the soil.
Alexander exhaled again, heavily, shakily. Sera still felt pulses of negativity from him, immense power yet unleashed. Yet… it felt like Alexander had gotten horribly weak.
"Mispy, you feel that?" Sera whispered. "What's going on?"
Mu appeared beside Sera, frowning deeply. "Something's wrong…"
Mispy nodded. "He's weak. He took too much damage. He's… done. But underneath all that energy, I'm sensing… I don't… know what."
Alexander wasn't making a move to attack. He was staring at the ground, eyes wide and jittering. He hacked up a lump of black mass, followed by a greater stream of that same thick tar from all three of his mouths.
"He's down!" announced one Heart.
"H-he's done?! We beat him?!"
Excitement buzzed even as Mispy, Sera, and Barky all stared with caution. Mu, meanwhile, took a step back, eyes widening.
"Guys," Mu said quickly. "You need to—"
"Kill me."
There were many things Sera had been expecting. That was not one of them. Alexander was squeezing his head, eyes wide, trying to break his own skull. Even when he did, even when it crunched and sloshed, he was still alive. His movements became erratic, frazzled. He was panicking.
"Wha—"
"Kill. Me. Please."
Please? This was really bad.
"DO IT!" Mu suddenly cried.
"Y-yes! Kill, go for—shoot again!" Barky stammered.
It was disorganized this time, but a bombardment all the same. Ice Beams and Fire Blasts blew chunks of Alexander's body off of him and into the soil, yet more and more ichor seemed to take its place. Alexander was more Void than Hydreigon at this point. Sera conjured several Thunder blasts, but while the initial shooters took a break, Mhynt warped in with a Leaf Blade and sliced at Alexander's throat. Radiance in her blade sizzled against the Shadows—it had more effect than anything else. If only Necrozma wasn't still out of commission…
"HURRY!" Alexander begged, ripping apart his body as if to help. His voice was a garbled mess, mouth and tongue barely present, yet the intent of his words were clear.
"Something else is taking over," Mu whispered. "Guys! Get out of there, get some distance! Grandma, get out!"
"Busy," Mhynt hissed, slicing and carving through Alexander's body with light. It was the best thing they had, yet even that wasn't enough. More sludge covered every shining wound.
"Why can't you kill me?!"
"Oh, believe me," Mhynt snarled, jumping back while charging her blade with light. It doubled in size. "We've been asking that one all day!"
She lunged, skewering Alexander through his main head, through his lower jaw, and then into his chest.
Silence. Sera saw the light leave Alexander's eyes.
Yet he spoke anyway. "Why?" he said to Mhynt with a hollow, defeated, bitter expression, "Why must you… always fail me?"
"WARP OUT!" Mu yelled.
This time, Mhynt listened—and not a moment too soon. Alexander's body exploded with black mist and sludge, filling the crater and the wastes with that same substance in a matter of seconds.
The ground heaved, toppling several Hearts onto their backs. And an instant later, that same ground tore open in tiny fissures, countless black, amorphous limbs grabbing them and plunging them below.
A Typhlosion cried out while sinking, only for a Marowak to dive in and grab his paw at just the right moment with his Bone Club. Then, just behind him, a Blastoise pulled at Marowak's body, about to free them both, when the ground turned to black liquid beneath his feet.
All three fell halfway into the depths, but then a distortion in space vanished all three of them. They reappeared beside Palkia, his expression grave. He pointed a claw at several others falling into the wellspring of Shadows, but he was falling behind.
Everyone was exhausted. Energy depleted—physical, spiritual, mental—Sera didn't know what to do. She stood there, frozen, as the ground shifted below her. She couldn't comprehend it.
And suddenly she, too, stood beside Palkia, falling to her knees.
"Wh-what happened?" she whispered.
"Focus," Palkia said calmly.
Sera gasped. "Wait… Palkia! Y-you're—you're back! Where's—"
She scanned the field. There! It was Owen, a bright light in the sky! And on his back… Amia. They'd finally returned.
Hope welled up within her. They didn't look tired at all. And as Palkia warped as many as he could away from the advancing sludge, Amia pointed at the ground and fired several tiny, glimmering balls of energy into the earth. Each one twisted into the form of a phantom Hydreigon, each one subtly different from the other.
Amia hopped off Owen, remaining in the air, as the Charizard landed heavily next to Sera and Palkia.
"What happened? What did Alexander summon? I can't Perceive him anywhere!"
"That is Alexander," Palkia said. "Or… what he transformed into."
Owen's eyes widened and stared at the column of fire that Amia had set up with her spirits. The abyssal waters on the other side sizzled and steamed, unable to break through, but the flames were getting weaker.
"It's not 'Alexander' anymore," Mu stated, appearing on Owen's shoulder. She was trembling. "I—I d-don't know what it is. But it feels… horrible. Dad, I… I don't wanna be here anymore… I need to go. But if I go, what if…"
Even Mu was scared. Sera sucked in a breath. "It'll be okay," she said. "We'll figure something out. He's on the ropes. There's still a bit of daylight left! Dad, what did—you know, what did you figure out? Nevren's gone, did you have another plan? Dad?"
But Owen was staring at the javelin in his hands, made from a Hand of Creation. Within it, Sera saw a curious, silver capsule floating along its length.
Yet, Owen looked at it like someone had dulled its point.