Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

Lines of black and red and purple were painted onto the ground of the arena, smoldering carvings of the mere aftershocks of the bursts of energy swirling around at hurricane speeds. A cacophony of explosions and yells and crackles boomed through the air. Each impact reverberated through the air down to the ground, and up to the four trainers' bones, like a rhythm only they could hear, a rhythm their blood followed with every rush, every heartbeat.

Enma rushed forward like a bullet, but the Electivire dodged instead of countering for the first time, jumping back a great distance as his partner shook off Alakazam's assault with a slam of her tails. She lowered herself, legs growing slightly apart as she took in a deep breath, the white of her fur glimmering a brilliant blue for a moment.

"Niss!" yelled Barry, alarmed. "She's going to–"

"No time to dodge," she said. "Enma, that better not take you out! Melt that ice!"

Cynthia yelled out the order. Ninetales opened her mouth, the storm compressed within exploding in a massive, swirling cone of frozen wind just as Enma raised his own hands to shield himself, body bursting aflame. The tail-end of the miniature blizzard passed by Inyssa and it was already enough to make her shiver violently, so she couldn't even imagine how cold it must have been where Enma stood. Yet still she kept her smile firm. This would not be enough to bring him d–

"Now!" Volkner yelled out, sounding uncharacteristically enthused. "Cut them off!"

The smallest glimpse of a strand of lightning caught Barry's eye, and he looked up sharply as the enormous Electivire appeared in mid air out of nowhere, much faster than the size of his body would've allowed him to. The gold of his fur glistened strongly, a spider-web of lightning emanating from every strand of his fur, extending outwards throughout the arena. He barely had time to catch that sight before he disappeared again. One of the crackling strands of lightning suddenly lit up, and Electivire phased in at the end of it, a mere stone-throw away from Kitsune.

This must be the same trick Niss uses with Kuro, he thought, frowning. Letting his instinct move him through the electricity instead of his body or brain. That means…

His thoughts were cut off as Volkner yelled out another order.

"Discharge!"

It was only a couple moments. Barry squinted at the sudden brightness of the energy surrounding Electivire. This had been their plan; for Ninetales to momentarily immobilize Enma so that he could be hit from the back; and Kitsune wouldn't be able to help, not if he wanted to escape the attack unscathed himself.

Barry knew he had little more than a second to think, which is why he didn't. Much like his opponent, he let himself be moved by instinct as he raised his hand and yelled out.

"Rush him!"

The sheer surprise Electivire must've felt at his opponent doing the equivalent of jumping face first into a ticking bomb might've slightly delayed the attack going off, and that fraction of a second was all Barry needed. Kitsune didn't raise his spoons, didn't ready an attack. From the outside it looked as though he intended to take it head on, but that was only because he could read his trainer's mind, and knew of his insane idea.

Barry waited until the last possible instant before giving the order.

"Skill Swap!"

A weak, pinkish glow simultaneously enveloped both Kitsune and Electivire, only to condense into their chest before shooting toward each other in the form of spheres of light. Barry saw as Kitsune's sphere entered the electric Pokemon, and right before the opposite happened, he yelled out.

"Ally Switch!"

"Protect!" yelled Cynthia.

It happened just as Ninetales' attack was beginning to dissipate. In the infinitesimal moment before the sphere of light entered Kitsune, he and Enma vanished into a puff of light before reappearing in each other's locations.

The light entered Enma's chest, and the literal next second a flash blinded them all as Electivire's Discharge went off. It covered the arena in an instant. Hundreds, maybe thousands of bolts of electricity flew off in every direction, bouncing off every surface and lighting up the entirety of the battlefield, drowning all the combatants in its light. Through the corner of his eye, Barry saw that both Ninetales and Kitsune had been swift enough to raise a quick barrier to protect themselves, but of course Enma hadn't. Normally, tanking such an attack head on would've put even someone like him out of commission.

And yet, as the glow dissipated, the Infernape could be seen standing mere inches from his opponent, not a single scratch on him. The electricity seemed to coalesce around him, in fact. Bouncing off his body in small arcs, making his arms and legs shift rapidly, almost vibrating in place by the sheer kinetic energy suddenly stored within him.

The beep of two Pokedex filled the air, followed by their electronic voices booming at the same time.

"Motor Drive: Activated."

An almost deranged smile forming on her face, Inyssa punched at the air and yelled.

"Close Combat!"

Enma was upon him in the blink of an eye, before she'd even finished speaking. Body leaning forward, arm wound back, the flames bursting from his fist taking on an unnatural, almost electric golden glow.

"Block and jump back! Get some distance!" Volkner yelled, then he looked to his side. "Cynthia!"

Electivire raised his arms in an X in front of him just in time for the first dizzying blurry of kicks and punches, only the glowing, fiery afterimages of the arching flames recognizable as the Infernape moved faster than he'd ever done before, his entire body a blur. It was like a machine-gun of blows. The electric Pokemon grunted and jumped back, one of the strands of lightning connected to his back starting to glow as he phased into it, but his opponent wasted no time in following him.

"Rhaaaaaa!"

Flames bursting off his feet, Enma left a burning crater under him as he jumped, crossing the entire arena in only a moment and catching up to Electivire as he reappeared on the other side, not far from his companion. He wound back his arm in mid-air, not intending to give him a second to think.

Just then Cynthia yelled out. "Ninetales, use Power Swa–!"

"Taunt!" Barry cut her off.

Kitsune was much faster, and with a quick flick of his spoon he sent an odd wave of dark energy that crashed into the Ninetales, nullifying the move she'd been about to use. Behind her, Cynthia clicked her tongue, yet a second after a smile formed on her face.

The first punch landed against Electivire's shoulder, sending him a few inches back. Eyes narrowed in pain, he growled and threw his tail-tendrils forward. They started to coil around Enma's arm but he quickly spun on the ball of his feet and freed himself at the same time as he readied a burning kick.

"Block and use Brick Break!" said Volkner.

"Don't let him get any distance!" Inyssa ordered. "We can't let him use his signature move!"

Barry gulped. Both of them had heard of it. A special technique known only to Volkner's strongest Pokemon; a way to send the kinetic energy of his punches through the electric field left behind after he used Discharge, intensifying it further and further as it bounced each stray bolt of lightning, until it finally crashed against its opponent with unfathomable power and speed. They'd both heard it described as being hit by a thousand punches at once.

That technique required distance for it to be effective, they both realized. They could not give Electivire even an inch of space.

"Keep it up!" bellowed Inyssa. "Put every ounce of strength into it!"

Barry followed with a wave of his hand. "Keep Ninetales at bay!"

Enma and Electivire were like shooting stars, burning, crackling trails of flames and electricity being left behind as they traveled the length of the arena from side to side, a flurry of kicks and punches echoing through the air by the force of their impact. Before, the Infernape's speed wouldn't have been much greater than that of his opponent, and with his power being clearly inferior outside of his Blaze ability, a one on one fight would have meant sure defeat. But now, with his foe's electricity fueling his own speed, they could go toe to toe.

In the middle of the arena, Kitsune did his best to ensure that the two would be uninterrupted, the silver of his spoons glistening as he created barrier after barrier around the hopping Ninetales, trying to trap her in place. She wasn't nearly slow enough for it to work, but she was too busy dodging to be able to interfere in the other fight.

"Ha! Now this is what I'm talking about!" they heard Volkner laugh from the other extreme, a wild smile on his face. "You kids aren't bad! I can't wait to see how much I have to turn it up to take you out!"

Inyssa scowled. "Sorry, pretty boy, but I didn't come all this way to serve as your warm-up."

"I must admit, I'm quite enjoying myself too," said Cynthia, the grey of her eyes flashing like a storm. "That was some quick thinking on your part stealing Electivire's ability. I'm impressed."

"Heh, don't know how much I believe you," smiled Barry. "You haven't used Hail once yet. You knew that Kitsune knew Skill Swap, and that I could use it to steal your Ninetales' Snow Cloak."

"My, my… you two truly have matured," Cynthia snickered to herself. "However, that little trick meant that Infernape ended up with both his ability and his opponent's, while your Alakazam now possesses none. Wasn't that a bit reckless on your part?"

A cocky smile stretched across Barry's lips. He raised his hand forward and yelled for Kitsune to jump back. The Alakazam did as he was told, landing a small distance from his opponent, giving it a moment to breathe but not much more.

"Kitsune and I are more than just a one-trick Mudsdale." Then he yelled out, his voice booming. "Now, like we practiced!"

Their opponent's eyes went wide as Kitsune extended his hand to the side, every wisp and pane of psychic energy vanishing into mist, only to swirl back toward the gleaming spoon, coalescing and growing around it, a hilt forming on the base and a long, rapier-like blade extending out the top.

The sword of psychic energy made a sound like a buzz as Kitsune lowered it, the air shifting and shimmering a bright gold, as though reality itself were breaking around it. It exuded a pressure that all could feel, like an invisible weight upon the room.

Across from them, the awe in Cynthia's face changed to realization, and she let out a soft laugh.

"I see… a concentrated variant of Psycho Cut, is it?"

Barry smiled and closed his eyes, trying to look cool even though he was practically squeeing from joy on the inside, his dream of seeing one of his Pokemon wielding a cool energy sword finally realized. Everyone in the arena seemed to share his sentiment. Even Enma and Electivire had stopped for a moment, maybe to take a quick breath, maybe to admire Kitsune's weapon. In any case, it gave both Barry and Niss' Pokemon a chance to stand next to each other, one donning a crown of flames like a king, the other wielding a sword of light like its holy retainer.

Next to him, he could've sworn Niss almost swooned, though it could have been just a sigh.

"I love you so much," she whispered under her breath. Then, she cleared her throat and followed his example, raising her hand as she bellowed. "Enma, now's the time! Let your flames go wild!"

"Cut them down to size, Kitsune!"

All four Pokemon threw themselves forward at the same time, their power overflowing from their bodies and their trainer's yells echoing throughout the arena, only to be drowned out by the boom of the following impacts.

An hour later, Inyssa found herself grabbing onto Metchi for dear life as Cynthia's Togekiss flew them through the skies at dizzying speed, the ocean a white and blue blur far beneath them. The darker shape of Garchomp flew slightly ahead, carrying Barry as well as her master.

"God dammit," Inyssa muttered.

"What?" asked Metchi, her voice barely hearable over the roar of the wind. "Still mad about the battle? What the hell were you expecting, honestly?"

"I know, I know. It took trainers better than us almost ten tries to beat Volkner alone, there was no way in hell we'd win with Cynthia joining in. But for a second there I swore we almost had it." She sighed, disheartened. "We forgot to account for Taunt's time limit. Enma activated Blaze and Cynthia had her Ninetales use Power Swap immediately. It was a rookie mistake on our part."

"Well if it makes you feel better, I didn't understand a single word of that," said Metchi. "Sounds like a bitch, though."

Inyssa narrowed her eyes at Metchi, though she knew the woman couldn't see her.

"Thanks for the consolation," she said sarcastically. "Why am I even flying with you? I should be holding on to my boyfriend right now."

Metchi laughed. "Yeah, sorry but there's no way I'm holding on to Cynthia, or have her hold on to me. Just being near her is bad enough. She's so beautiful it almost makes me forget how much I hate her."

"…Yeah. I know the feeling."

After a few more minutes of flying, they finally made it to Lily of the Valley Island. She could only glance at it from the side –since they were headed for the back of it where the League building stood– but still she couldn't help but be mesmerized.

Its shape was almost unnatural, like a crown of earth and stone having risen from the ocean bed, holding within a valley so full of life it overflowed and climbed up the sharp spires framing its outer circumference. Just as the name suggested, the entire surface was covered in those white, bell-shaped flowers, which seemed to make waves upon the island as the ocean wind filtered through, moving them along its rhythm.

There were only a few buildings in the island. The most distinctive was, of course, the palace of marble white that was the Sinnoh League, inaccessible by land through any means except crossing Victory Road. The others were a bunch of small, fancy looking villas arranged into what looked like a small neighborhood on the north of the island. Though Inyssa didn't get much of a chance to look at those before they headed down, toward the eastern side of the island.

She pursed her lips, and felt something tighten in her chest, completely unrelated to the vertigo of their drop.

If I hadn't thrown my badges away, would I have come here to…

She closed her eyes and shook her head. No, there was no point in thinking about it. She'd made her decision.

Now she had to stick with it.

After infiltrating the League building from a secret entrance Lucian had provided for them, it was only a few minutes of scurrying around a mostly empty building until they made it to their destination.

Inyssa's heart almost leaped out of her chest at the sight of the majestic Hall of Fame, but Cynthia barely paid it any mind as she walked past it and opened up a panel that was barely noticeable on the wall. There, they saw something odd. Eight slots arranged in a circle, each one in the shape of...

"Barry, the badges."

"Wh-oh, yeah! Here."

Cynthia inserted the eight Gym badges onto the slots, one by one, and after inserting the last one, a beep was heard. The walls whirred and opened up into an entrance that was not there before. Inside, an elevator waited for them.

It might have been the tenseness of the situation, but Inyssa could've sworn the trip down lasted a lot longer than it should have. Her hand was strongly closed around Barry by the time their descent stopped. There was a moment of silence, and then the doors opened again, into blackness. The sudden lack of light made Inyssa blink rapidly, though it took her eyes a few seconds to adjust.

"We're here," said Cynthia.

She strolled forward with no hesitation, but the two trainers and even Metchi followed with careful, premeditated steps, looking all around as though waiting for something to jump at them.

The room narrow but long, similar to the Hall of Fame, though there was no white or gold marble or pictures of previous Champions to meet them as they walked through the path between the massive stone pillars, only cold and darkness. The atmosphere down her felt… heavier. Denser. It reminded her of something, but–

"It's just like the cave we entered in Celestic," Barry muttered.

Yes, that was it. And just like inside that cave, what they found at the end of the path had both trainers with their mouths agape, a dumbfounded breath leaving their lips.

"What…" Metchi swallowed, voice shaking slightly. "The hell is that?"

The wall before them –illuminated by blue-flamed torches perched on each side– was not made of bricks like everything else in the room, but black, smooth stone, as though someone had stopped right before covering it up. It was the same material they'd seen on the fresco inside the Celestic ruins. The same material most of the houses in that town were built with. Yet the material itself was far from what caught their attention.

Something was… carved or inserted into the stone. Thick, glowing veins of pure gold in the shape of a circle centering an X, with a pair of arcs framing the sides. The same shape as the ring Carolina had lent them. A shape every Sinnohan knew by heart.

Arceus' holy ring seemed to welcome them as they stepped closer, humming with a brilliant, warm glow.

"W-wow…" Inyssa swallowed, only them remembering to breathe and blink. "It's beautiful"

But there was something more. A small difference from the normal, religious depiction of said ring. At first Inyssa though they were holes carved into the length of the golden material, but on closer inspection they looked more like small, square slots. One in each of the outer arcs, two in each of the lines intercepting them, six in the inner circle and one in the very middle, for a total of seventeen.

Wait… The gold of her eyes itched, sparked. Seventeen…

Most of the slots were filled with familiar-looking stone tablets of different colors, only four of them absent, one in the inner circle and three in the diagonal lines.

Realization hit both Barry and Inyssa at the same time.

"T-t-the mural! The thing we saw back in those ruins!" Barry yelled out.

"The seventeen pieces… the keys," whispered Inyssa.

"Those tablets we found!" Barry nodded, almost shaking with excitement. "They're…!"

"What the fuck are you two talking about?" frowned Metchi.

"Allow me to explain."

Everyone's eyes fell on Cynthia as she walked forward, nearer to the mural, and then turned around to face them. From where she stood, it almost looked as though the holy ring of Arceus were the woman's wings.

"This is one of the holiest places in all of Sinnoh, second only to Spear Pillar. One of our clan's greatest secrets. It was here long before the League was built, and it will continue to be here long after it's gone," she explained. "Here, the seventeen pieces of a broken god can be made whole once more, forged into the key to the Hall of Origin."

Metchi looked about as confused as one could get, but the two young trainers gave almost identical nods of recognition.

"The world created, the Original One hid itself in the Hall of Origin," Inyssa quoted. "Its door was locked. Its key was hidden; shattered into seventeen shards. Its duty fulfilled, the Original one took to unyielding sleep."

"That's what the mural in Celestic said," whispered Barry. "The book we found, too."

Cynthia folded her arms and nodded. "Words written in our most ancient language, only decipherable to our clan… or to those carrying the spirit of the lake siblings," she said. "The same applies to finding these… plates."

Metchi shook her head, frowning. "Could you… back up or something? I'm literally not understanding a word y'all are saying."

A tiny smile formed on Cynthia's lips. "Of course. I'll start from the beginning, though I'll skip the parts everyone already knows about.

"Long ago when Arceus, the Original One, created our universe, its power… its physical form was shattered into many pieces, each one of which would be inherited by his first children, the creatures we know as Pokemon," she began explaining. "This became their strength, their vitality. That which fuels the still unexplainable power that all Pokemon possess. After this, only small pieces remained of Arceus' body. Seventeen shards, seventeen stone plates, each a minuscule distillation of the many primordial forces that once resided within it."

Metchi nodded absentmindedly. "Right, that'd be the… types, right? Like, the types Pokemon usually have?"

"Yes. Seventeen pieces of a whole, only pale imitations of what they once were, together," she said. "All that remained of Arceus then was its soul, its Spirit. But even by itself, separated from body and strength, it was an entity so massive, so bright that it could have eclipsed even the sun. An immortal flame…" She closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought. "Arceus knew its creations couldn't bloom and flourish with such power hanging over them. As such, it decided to split itself once more, giving its children three final gifts. Emotion. Valor. Wisdom. From these three, humanity was born.

"But with humanity came ambition, and hunger for power. Even with most of its soul divided amongst all living creatures, Arceus knew it could not remain in this world. Besides the many guardians it had already left behind for Pokemon and the world itself, it also created a few more, which would look over humanity, and steer it in the right direction. Three of these guardians were the lake siblings; Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit, and those they chose became the champions of humanity itself; the heroes of Sinnohan legend."

She didn't look around, but Inyssa was pretty sure all three of them made faces at that comment. Champions of humanity… yeah, right. Not even counting herself, the more she learned about those that carried the mantle before her, the more she doubted this was a lineage of heroes at all.

Maybe it's not, she thought, frowning. Maybe they weren't the most heroic, they were simply the most human.

"And… once this last task was completed, Arceus left this world," Cynthia continued. "What remained of its Spirit ascended to the higher planes. There it still remains to this day, in the form of what one could think as… a primordial flame of sorts. A wellspring of Spirit. That which we are born from, and that which our souls return to after death… if legends are to be believed, at least."

Cynthia stopped, and looked over her shoulder at the golden ring etched into the mural behind her, an odd gleam in her eyes.

"This higher plane is known as the Hall of Origin," she finally said. "It can only be accessed from Spear Pillar, and only with an object forged by the seventeen remains of Arceus' physical form. The seventeen plates."

Inyssa swallowed, feeling a violent spark behind her eyes. It was as if all the scattered pieces in her head had come together, bound again by what she'd just heard, by the remains of Uxie's power inside her.

She knew…

"That's what you've been after this whole time."

All eyes turned toward her, although Cynthia's lacked the surprise present in the other two's.

"Shadi told me… that she was trying to stop something. Someone. And it wasn't Team Galactic," said inyssa. "She found two of those plates. She was studying them before she… before her disappearance. So…"

She left the sentence hanging, a cold and heavy silence following. Cynthia said nothing for a few seconds, simply staring ahead at Inyssa, her expression indescribable.

"Yes," she finally said. "I… used your sister, just as I used the two of you. Just as I've used all promising trainers I've come across since becoming Champion."

"U-used?" asked Barry. "What…?"

"You encouraged us. Nudged us in the right direction. Tested us." Those last two words left Inyssa's mouth with some venom on them. "You were after the plates, but you couldn't find them all, so you figured we could succeed where you failed."

Cynthia nodded. "It is not the only reason… but yes. I've been looking for these plates my whole life, ever since I learned of their true nature, and that of the mural behind me," she said. "Six were already here, probably collected in the past by someone just as foolish as me. Nine I was able to find on my own, though I gave two of them away – the Specter and Flame Plates– to Shadi and the two of you respectively." She looked toward them and smiled. "In Shadi's case, it was a vain attempt to make her go after the last two I couldn't find, the Draco and Dread Plates. She did find the latter, though ended up keeping it for herself while she hid the other away. And in your case, Barry, I knew that you'd already found the former as well as the Specter Plate hidden in the Old Chateau, probably thanks to Mesprit's presence inside of you. I hoped having three plates in your possession would somehow lead you closer to the final one. Though of course, I did so under the assumption that Shadi was dead. I never could've imagined she still had it with her."

"You thought wrong," Inyssa said bitterly. "Though you're not alone on that one."

"But… why?" Barry asked, forehead creased with confusion. "Why do you want them? To get into that Hall of Origin place? Then…"

Mechi snorted. "Don't tell me you wanna become god or some shit like that. We already got enough megalomaniacs running around causing trouble."

A labored smile formed on Cynthia's lips. She looked over her shoulder again, eyes gleaming with nostalgia.

"Me? A god?" A weak laugh left her lips. "What a rotten world that'd be. No, my goal was… well, I hesitate to say less selfish, especially after all that's happened. Either way, it's me wanting to play the savior."

She raised one of her hands to her chest unconsciously, and after a long moment she began to explain.

"I've always been fascinated with the tales and legends of old. Heroes born of circumstance, wrought in fire and steel, carrying the fate of the world itself on their shoulders. People whose spirits burned so brightly it was impossible to look away. Those who –even without the aid of the lake siblings– could do… things. Incredible things that no human being today would be capable of, no matter how hard they try. Like poor Maylene for example, vainly chasing after the power her ancestors once wielded."

Inyssa scowled. "Maylene? What?"

"No matter how you look at it, humans of old were capable of so much more than us." Cynthia ignored her and kept going. "And it's all thanks to the strength of their Spirit. But no matter how holy, how powerful the flame might be, it is still a flame. And fire… fades."

Cynthia turned around fully, facing the mural. She raised a hand tentatively and gently brushed a finger through the circumference of the inner circle.

"A long time ago I came to the conclusion that what remains of Arceus, the primordial source of all Spirit, has been slowly weakening with time. And I… perhaps foolishly, convinced myself that this was the root of all the world's problems." Even though they couldn't see her, Inyssa could fell that the woman was frowning. "I… simmered with anger and hatred toward those who would dare attack our region, my hometown, all that I held dear. I told myself that they simply lacked in Spirit. That all the greed and cowardice I'd seen, all the suffering my people had endured, had been caused by this gradual weakening of the primordial flame."

She laughed bitterly at herself.

"Deep down, I think I knew I was wrong. People have always been at war. Even in ancient times, greed and pride and ambition have been the ruin of endless civilizations. I didn't even need to look past Nyss, one of our three legendary heroes, to see that. The heroes of old, they were no more virtuous than any of us; they were just as human, just as flawed. They… simply had more power at their disposal.

"But I was stubborn. I convinced myself of a truth only I could see, and set forth on a task I believed only I could complete. I would fix things. I would cultivate my own Spirit, breath by breath, day by day, until it grew into a flame that towered above all others. Until even Nyss' own eternal soul paled in comparison. And then, I…"

There was a small pause. Cynthia swallowed, lowered her head.

"Then, I would gather all seventeen plates, and open the way to the Hall of Origin. I would offer myself as kindling for the primordial flame in order to return it… and all of humanity… to its former glory."

A heavy, tense silence set in the room as soon as Cynthia finished speaking, as though the air itself had been taken from the room. No one spoke for what felt like minutes, though not for lack of trying. About a million questions and statements were buzzing around Inyssa's head, but the weight of the realization, of what Cynthia had told them, weighed heavily on her tongue, making it impossible to air them out. Judging by Barry's face, he was faced with a similar dilemma.

In the end, it was Metchi who broke the silence.

"You're fucking delusional."

Cynthia turned around, facing Metchi with an amused smile.

"So I've come to realize," she said, then looked at Inyssa. "This… is what Shadi wanted to stop, if I had to guess. She probably figured out my intentions somewhere along the way. If you see her again, could you…" She pursed her lips. "Could you tell her… 'Congratulations'?"

Inyssa blinked a few times. "W-what?"

"These plates… it took me my entire life to collect them, and even if I had the last one, even if I still wanted to, I couldn't achieve my original goal anymore," she explained. "I have no choice but to use this as a last resort, should either us or our friends in Mt. Coronet fail in their mission. So in a way… Shadi got what she wanted. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that."

"She…" Inyssa looked down, lips pursed. "No, she wouldn't."

"Hm?"

"It was never about stopping you," said Inyssa, shrugging. "That's the reason she gave me, but it's just as bullshit as anything else that's ever come out of her mouth. She was just a sore loser. She hated you for ruining her dream of becoming the Champion, and used that excuse to justify going after you. It's as simple as that."

Beside her, Metchi laughed.

"That does sound like her, yeah."

Cynthia opened her mouth, then closed it. "I see…"

After a few seconds of silence, it was Barry who spoke.

"Then… this last resort. You need all the plates that are missing, right?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at his backpack. "I have them with me. The Flame, Specter and Draco plates. But the last one…"

"Yeah," said Metchi, looking at Inyssa. "Didn't you say you broke it in your fight against Shadi?"

Inyssa nodded. "It shattered, then… disappeared into the air, like smoke."

"Then…"

"It hasn't disappeared."

Cynthia finally stepped away from the mural, and walked down to where the three of them were, a tired look on her face.

"The plates can't be truly destroyed," she said. "Even if broken, they'll coalesce and reform back in the spots of power where they were originally found. In this case, it would be the place where Shadi originally ran into it. A place that only her teacher… only Fantina knew about. A place I was not aware of, until very recently."

Realization dawned on Inyssa and Barry, and on Metchi a second after.

"Wait, you mean…?"

"The Fourth Lake. That is where the last plate is," nodded Cynthia. "And it is why I'm coming with you, when the time comes."