Skarmory's charge connected with Jack, sending him flying into the stone wall as the attacker swooped back up into the sky for another pass. Jackson grunted as the wind was quite literally knocked out of him before he managed to get some gasping breaths back into his lungs.

"Scatter!" He yelled. "Don't let him take us all out at once!" His allies quickly complied, putting distance between themselves and watched the oncoming Skarmory like Braviary. Jack soon regained his footing and took a defensive posture. They needed to find a way to ground him or this fight would be over fast. Magnemite seemed to be their best chance at that.

Skarmory lined up another strafing run, targeting Magnemite. Seems he realized the same thing.

"Cyn! We need to cover Magnemite!"

"Right. I… Yeah! I got a plan!" Cyn said before leaping into Skarmory's path. From his mouth he spewed a massive cloud of smoke, completely obscuring their attacker. "Dodge now!"

Magnemite dodged, leaving Skarmory to sail straight past and back up in the air, right into their sights. Magnemite pointed his magnets forward and used thunder shock. Skarmory screeched loudly as the electric current washed over him and banked back towards us.

"Ready for round two?" Cyn asked Magnemite.

"So long as he keeps falling for it." Indeed, Skarmory dove in for another attack, only to, once again, be blinded by smoke and shocked in the face. As he took off back into the sky they braced for another dive bomb, one that never came. Instead, Skarmory flew towards the cliff face next to them and ran his wing over its edge. Their wing cut through the stone like butter, sending a small landslide careening towards them.

"Look out!" Jack screamed before diving out of the way. A cloud of dust billowed up as chunks of stone pelted the floor he had just been standing on. "You two okay?"

"Never better!" Cyn yelled back. "I lost sight of him! You see anything?"

"Not yet! Wait…" As the dust settled a shape appeared in the sky. Skarmory holding a large rock diving towards them. "He's gonna drop a rock on us! Move!" His warning came too late, the rock was already on its way down. He wasn't about to let Cyn get crushed.

As Jack charged towards them, an idea hit him. A way to save his friends and possibly take their opponent down at the same time. Just as the stone was about to strike Cyn and Magnemite, he swung his arm hard, punching as hard as his Machop body would let him. The hit connected and shattered the rock, sending the shrapnel back towards Skarmory. He had no time to react and took the hit full force, sending him plummeting to the ground.

"That was certainly a flashy display, Jackson." Magnemite commented

"Yeah, well, we're pokemon. Flashy is kinda par for the course." Jack replied before turning his attention back to the Skarmory, who had sat up and done not much else.

"Wait…" Cyn said. "Is he… crying?" A closer look indeed confirmed their opponent had been crying. Jack cautiously approached. Skarmory barely registered his approach, instead quietly sobbing and muttering to himself.

"Hey… Are… you okay?" Jack asked.

"It's over… it's all over." Skarmory said quietly.

"What's over?" Cyn asked.

"Can't you see?! The disasters, growing in strength day by day! It's not gonna stop! Everyone says there's an upper limit, but there's not! It's the end times! I just wanted…" He sobbed deeply. "I want to fight it… To do something. But it's pointless. We're all going to die…"

For a moment silence enveloped everyone. That was a bombshell none of them had expected to deal with today. Jack took a moment to collect his thoughts. Just as he was about to speak, Cyn got to it first.

"You're afraid. I get it. So am I. So is everyone. But none of us know what will happen. Is it possible that things escalate that far? Yeah, but that's also true for it slowing down. We just don't know."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Skarmory said.

"All I'm saying is we can't say for certain that this will be the end. There's a chance it won't."

"And even if it is," Jack added. "Think about how you want those last days to be spent. Do you really want the last thing you do to be harassing other pokemon?"

Skarmory looked down at the ground. "No… You're right. I'm… I'm just so afraid. So many people are dying and no one can stop it. I hate feeling so helpless…"

"If I may advise," Magnemite interjected. "It seems prudent that you focus on what you know you can affect in the moment rather than fretting about potential consequences for events in the future you cannot possibly control."

"I wish it were as easy as saying that… But fear has a way of forcing itself in."

"I know." Jack said. "I think we're all scared."

"Whatever comes, we face it together." Cyn added. "If things do get that bad, we stand a better chance if we're not looking for a scapegogoat."

"Yeah… I suppose you're right. I'm sorry. I suppose I should get Diglett back home, huh?"

"Yeah." Jack said. "His folks are worried sick."

Skarmory nodded and glided back over the chasm to where the frightened Diglett sat. Jack watched as the two of them discussed, presumably, what came next before Skarmory took hold of the smaller pokemon to lift him up into the sky. A thought crossed his mind. No one he knows has ever seen the bottom half of a Diglett. It was one of those eternal mysteries that he thought would never be answered. But maybe he'd finally see. Skarmory took flight, soaring with Diglett in tow…

…who in turn was still hiding their lower half in a chunk of rock they refused to let go of. Jack let out a small disappointed sigh.

"Something wrong, Jack?" Cyn asked.

"No, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."