Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

"Never thought I'd see you start a fight before me," sighed Cynthia, though the amusement in her voice was hard to miss. "And just look at how it turned out."

The young girl pressed a piece of cotton, wet with ethanol, against the bruise in her friend's cheek, earning a wince of pain from him. They were all over him, like Spinda marks. His clothes were no better, covered in dirt and grime and torn in a few places. It was a good look, Cynthia had to admit to herself internally, but one that didn't suit Cyrus at all.

"Tsk. Can you really call it me starting a fight when I didn't swung at them once?" he asked, grumpy as usual.

"Touché."

She'd had to drag him here to her room in the Pokemon Center after the severe beating he'd received. 'I'll be back in a sec, just wanna check out the Pokemart! Don't get into trouble without me!'. And where did she find him less than a minute after? In the middle of a 'patriotic' pro-war march, lecturing a bunch of very angry people on why the war was bad and why they should be ashamed of themselves.

It'd ended up as one would expect. Cynthia would have found the whole thing funny, if she hadn't needed to intervene with her Pokemon to get Cyrus out of there.

She supposed their time in Veilstone would have to be cut short, to avoid such complications from repeating.

"I still don't get it," Cyrus muttered angrily. "Isn't this town's Gym leader against the war? Why didn't he intervene when things got ugly? I saw a few of his trainers just walking around, ignoring me while I got seven bells of hell beaten out of me."

Cynthia made a face. "Not anymore, I'm afraid."

"What?"

"The previous Gym leader retired," she said. "Decided to become a professor instead. His daughter took over, and she is very much pro-war. I found that out the hard way yesterday, when I got the badge." A sour look crossed her face. "She wasn't bad, just… you know."

Cyrus made a similar face.

"Great… the entire League is slowly starting to fall in line," he scoffed. "Is Eterna's the only Gym leader left that still opposes the war?"

"Hearthome, too." A shadowed expression crossed Cynthia's face. "You… didn't get to meet her, since I fought her before heading to Sunyshore, but she's made her opinion plenty clear. Maybe it's cause she's young, like us."

Cyrus frowned, creases forming on his forehead. "That's ridiculous. Age shouldn't determine whether you've got common sense or not. Anyone who thought about it for more than a second should realize how pointless this war is. It's nothing more than an excuse for the people up top to fill out their pockets."

"Ha. Not that I disagree with you, but…" She leaned back on the bed and smiled. "You might want to consider how you word your statements. I can understand why you got beat up now. Using that kind of tone against a bunch of people already riled up by emotion… no way that ended without a punch being thrown."

"Hmph. That makes no sense at all…"

Cynthia had to stop herself from chuckling. As dire as the situation had been, now that Cyrus was safe she could appreciate the boy's grumpiness in peace. It was one of her favorite things about him.

"You should be more careful next time. A bunch of people all huddled together like that, fanning each other's emotions… it's like a fire, growing and growing. And you just had to stick your hand in there."

Cyrus grabbed his bandaged wrist, wincing and then shooting her an irritated glare. "Isn't that the Spirit you speak so highly of? With how much good it's done us so far…"

"A flame can just as easily warm you or burn you," Cynthia retorted. "It's pointless to blame the flame if the latter occurs."

"That's a flawed argument. Flames are thoughtless, but people are not," Cyrus complained.

"It wasn't an argument, just an observation."

"…You're impossible," he muttered under his breath, looking down and to the side. "... I wish there was something I could do. That there were a way to make people understand…"

"Against loss, regret and anger, dispassionate truths have no chance," said Cynthia. "That's what we're here for, isn't it? To stop the war by our own hands."

"That's why you're here. I'm not a Pokemon trainer."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Always with the self-deprecation. You're much more talented than you give yourself credit for."

An actual blush rose up Cyrus' face to his cheeks, and he didn't say anything for a few moments.

"…Even so, I don't like it," he muttered. "You're not looking to change anyone's mind, to make them understand. You just want to stop the war by force."

"It's the quickest solution," Cynthia argued. "Which means it's the one that would save more lives."

"I know, I know. It's just…"

He sat silent for a while, trying to find his words, but there was no need. Cynthia understood.

"…You keep underestimating yourself," she said. "Who says it won't be you who ends this war for good? Dispassionate words may be useless against a fiery spirit, yes, but the way I've heard you talk sometimes, with that conviction that could sunder mountains… you are anything but dispassionate then."

Cyrus clicked his tongue. "It's not something I'm proud of. The content of my words alone should be enough."

"Yet you'll resort to that if it comes to it."

"…Yes." Cyrus looked down, looking more tired than in pain. "I just want it to stop. I want people to stop dying and suffering so pointlessly."

"We will make it happen," declared Cynthia, the grey of her eyes flashing with determination. "Because this is not a reality that we're willing to accept. It's just as the great Nyss once said…"

Cynthia cleared her throat, eyes closing, and spoke those immortal words.

"Reality is never a mistake, never set in stone. It is always someone's fault; someone's Will, manifested."

Cyrus' eyes widened a bit. He nodded absentmindedly, as though he'd just realized something. "And that means… it can always be changed."

"Yes. Against a powerful enough Will, even reality is but an obstacle to overcome."

Mt. Coronet – 18:55, Day of the Moonless Night

A silence echoed throughout Mt. Coronet's peak. It was only a second, frozen in time by the weight of realization, both for Maylene and Cyrus, of what had happened. The look on the man's face was… odd. Expressionless, as always, yet for the first time one could see the briefest hint of what might have been disbelief.

Maylene heard the glass shatter, but she didn't see what happened after, her vision so blurry it was almost nonexistent. Her momentum spent, she began to fall back. The working part of her mind tried to tell her legs to move, to make it so she could land on her feet, but her perception of time had gone back to normal. She couldn't even form a thought. She landed on her left foot, but there was no more strength in her muscles and her knee bent easily, sending her crashing on her side against the cold snow.

The force of the impact was enough to send her into unconsciousness. She lay there, bleeding from the neck and shoulder, the blizzard eager to envelope her whole.

There was another silence. Longer this time, or so it felt to Cyrus. Eyes slightly widened, he looked from the unconscious girl to the hundreds of glass shards floating in the pool of yellow liquid behind the broken machine. And there, in the middle, lay a still body. Pale, sickly and wrongly shaped, its extremities like sticks and its head unnaturally large for the rest of its body. It didn't move, and it didn't breathe.

A sense of… something he hadn't known in years filled Cyrus, but he didn't have much time to dwell in it. A scream shattered the silence, bringing everyone back to reality.

"MAYLENE!"

Cyrus snapped back to the scene before him, unconsciously taking a step back. He relaxed at the sight of Rowan being held down by the two Machoke, uselessly struggling to free himself, but that only lasted a moment. Not too far behind him, the girl's Lucario was looking straight at them with eyes wide in anger and horror. In that moment of carelessness, Honchkrow slammed against him with all his strength, but Lucario didn't even flinch.

"Rha…" The fur on his body bristled under an invisible force, standing on end. "RHYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

It was as though an Exploud's scream had crashed into them. An incredible shockwave of force and energy burst outwards from his body, sending Crobat and Honchkrow flying like bugs being hit by a bug-zapper, and it reached Cyrus and his men only an instant after. It felt like being hit with a hammer all throughout their bodies. A grunt of pain left his lips as he was thrown back, vision swimming.

"Gh-Agh!"

"Shit!" Jupiter cried out.

The impact didn't hurt as much as Cyrus expected, but the sharpness of the glass shards did. Yet most of him had landed on something… soft. Soft and malleable and… wet.

As Cyrus opened his eyes, his eyes met with the unseeing eyes of his Mew clone, and something like a shiver ran down his spine. He noticed that his hand was pressed against its arm. It was… warm, still. There was no pulse, but it was clear only seconds ago it had been still…

"C-Cyrus!" Jupiter's cry brought him back to reality. "F-fuck, Cyrus that thing is…!"

Still collapsed on top of the creature, Cyrus looked over his shoulder and felt his face pale. Lucario headed straight for them, like a demon on a warpath. There was nothing but bloodlust on his face.

He yelled out the order by instinct, tapping into the knowledge he'd once used as a trainer.

"Heat wave!"

Lucario was fast, but so were his Pokemon, and in that enraged state, focused only on them, he couldn't react fast enough. Crobat and Honchkrow shot through the sky like bullets, surrounding the speeding Lucario and setting their wings ablaze as they beat them at hurricane speeds. A wave of flames fell upon him in a spiral, dancing around his surroundings before swallowing him whole in a tornado of fire and heat.

And still he held on. Even within the flames, Lucario took another step, then another, struggling and roaring through the pain. He had to get to Maylene. Had to…

"Jupiter!" Cyrus cried out, pushing himself up with his arms. "Grab the pistol! Quickly!"

"R-right!"

Jupiter shot forward and knelt in front of the pistol, picking it up. They had to do this quick, thought Cyrus. If she could dispatch Rowan and Lucario, maybe they would have enough time to reach Spear Pillar before the League arrived. The deadly smoke around the mountain was almost entirely cleared out. They didn't have time. This was their only chance.

"Do it!" he yelled, losing his composure for the first time since he could remember. "Shoot them, Jupiter!"

"NO!" Rowan bellowed. "Maylene!"

Jupiter raised her arms, pointing straight. Lucario sped forward, screaming, covered in flames. Jupiter's finger pressed against the trigger, ready t–

Snow stopped falling. Every white speck, every single falling snowflake… the entire blizzard simply. stopped. For an instant, Cyrus thought that time had frozen, but that was clearly not the case.

He didn't even have time to wonder what had happened.

In the exact point where Maylene lay, unconscious and bleeding, an odd light shone. It took Cyrus a moment to realize it was a stray ray of moonlight that had somehow filtered through the storm wall swallowing the mountain, which was odd as the moon hadn't even fully risen yet. That weak speck of light fell upon Maylene, and then both it and the shadow it produced behind her… mixed. It was the only way he could describe it. It was there for only an instant.

Then the light exploded against them, and the shadows grew behind them.

It was as though a bomb had gone off. A shockwave of force exploded in a dome around them, swallowing not only the clearing they were in but everything around them they could see. The entire storm, the blizzard was burned away like paper against fire, not only the falling snow but the clouds above parting way in an instant, leaving the sky completely clear.

Everyone fell back, and then stood there motionless, breathless as they saw the person that had appeared from nowhere. Even Lucario seemed to have been stunned out of his bloodlust.

"Maylene…"

It was a deeper voice that Cyrus would've expected from a young woman like her. Or… so she looked. He recognized her from the League files he'd studied; that was without a doubt Candice, Snowpoint's Gym leader, but even with her back to them, Cyrus could tell that something about her was… wrong.

The girl's ebon hair flowed freely behind her, one half bending and waving with the wind as though it were smoke, the other glowing brightly, warmly, like the full moon. Veins of deep black and marble white ran through the bare surface of her left and right arms respectively. And all around her…

This… pressure, thought Cyrus, eyes widening. It's so familiar…

He couldn't move, couldn't speak, and neither could anyone else, as though they were trapped in some sort of trance.

"It's okay now… you did so well, love. You can rest now."

Candice lowered to her knees in front of Maylene, passing her right hand over the girl's neck. The white veins covering it burst alight. A soft, kind warmth exuded from them, infusing into the skin like liquid life and closing the bullet wound on both ends, stopping the bleeding. She then did the same with her collarbone. Everyone looked in amazement as the pieces of shrapnel stuck to the bone popped out of the wound a moment before it closed, leaving only a pale scar behind.

Maylene remained unconscious, but her skin no longer got paler by the second, and her breathing started to return to normal. A look of incredulous relief crossed Rowan and Lucario's faces. Candice smiled to herself, then slowly rose to her feet, still with her back to Cyrus and his men.

"Don't worry," she whispered softly. "The others are on their way; you and Lucario will be rushed to safety soon. And Rowan..."

She turned to look at the two Machoke holding the man to the ground.

"Release him."

Her voice wasn't just a command, it was reality. There was no hesitation on the Pokemon's faces. They growled in fear and jumped back instantly, freeing Rowan and allowing him to push himself to his feet, an uncharacteristic look of bewilderment on his face.

"As for the rest of you…"

Finally she turned around to face them, and what little hope of victory or escape that remained in Cyrus' men evaporated like the blizzard had just seconds ago. Candice's face was taut, strained. Like leather stretched to its breaking point; a mask of cold, ruthless fury. And there on top of it, pasted unnaturally, was the briefest hints of a smile. Though it would've been more accurate to describe it as Candice showing her teeth like Pokemon did before they pounced on their prey. Jupiter unconsciously raised her pistol, a bead of sweat running down her cheek.

"Tsk. Just an endless parade of freaks with these fucking Gym leaders," she said, trying to keep the fear from her voice. "Don't try me! Hands behind your head!"

"…Jupiter, yes? I've heard a lot about you." Candice's voice was barely controlled. It sent a painful shiver down the commander's body. "That gun in your hands... would you like to explain yourself, or should I start making assumptions?"

There was an implicit weight to those words, one that Jupiter didn't fail to pick up on. It washed over her, setting her nerves alight. She was in danger. Yet, instead of stepping back and throwing the gun to the ground as would have been logical, she growled defiantly and held the gun more firmly.

"I am not letting a goody-two shoes bitch like you intimidate me!"

Jupiter pressed the trigger and the sound of the gunshot echoed, but there was no impact, no grunt of pain. Candice was no longer there, vanishing in the blink of an eye. The commander froze, expression going taut.

"I can respect that pride," echoed an incorporeal voice. "It must be hard, submitting when your defiance is all that you are. You fear losing that essential part of yourself, don't you?"

The shadow behind Jupiter bubbled like it was boiling, and through the corner of her eyes she saw something rising from it. She inhaled sharply and turned around swiftly, pistol raised, finger pressing on the trigg–

"I know that fear well."

Fingers hemmed in shadows closed around Jupiter's wrist, and she felt a sharp numbness, like thousands of tiny frozen spikes severing those nerves. She yelled and fell to one knee, the pistol slipping from her fingers. A terrible drowsiness washed over her. Her vision swam, and she could barely make out Candice's outline as she stood above her, hand still grabbing tightly onto her wrist.

"In my case, all that I am are the people I want to protect. Many have told me that I'm nurturing, that my spirit is vast enough to warm many in its light. But let me tell you a little secret." Even through her foggy vision, Jupiter could make out a cold smile forming on Candice's lips. "I'm actually very controlling. I don't like my loved ones putting themselves in danger, even willingly. I'd force them to be safe and happy forever, if it were up to me. Yet you and your team have been dead set on opposing me on that since day one."

Despite the numbing pain slowly extending through her arm, despite the fear and drowsiness washing over her, swallowing her whole, Jupiter didn't back down. She spat at Candice and gnashed her teeth.

"F-fuck off." She tried to yell, but her voice was weak with terror. "I… made it this far despite everything. You're not ruining that! I r-refuse to die here!"

Candice chuckled amusingly. It was a cold, sadistic sound.

"You've got only your life on the line. I stand to lose everyone I have ever loved." Candice whispered, her voice like a knife. "Do you really think you can compare? Don't make me laugh. My fear burns so strongly that it's even stolen the comfort of sleep from me. I'll show you just how lukewarm yours is, in comparison."

Jupiter felt a release as Candice let go of her wrist, but it only lasted for a second as those same fingers closed around the hair on the back of her head instead. A gasp of pain left her throat as she was lifted up with unnatural strength, until her eyes were on the same level as Candice's. She hadn't noticed before, but one of them was a soft, chilly blue, while the other was a bright and warm pink.

"It's funny, you know? I doubt you'd appreciate the comedy of it, but there is someone who might've been able to convince me not to do this. Too bad that you shot her." Her eyes narrowed to slits and her smile exacerbated, like a knife cut across the surface of her face. "Now… It was the neck and collarbone, yes?"

"S-shut u–!"

Spikes of pure darkness shot up from Jupiter's shadow, and a sound like that of a knife against meat resounded through the mountain, raw and visceral. Candice let go of the woman's hair, but she didn't fall. She remained upright, suspended by the bloodied shadow spears piercing her through the left side of her chest and the back of her neck.

"Gh-hgh…"

The light in Jupiter's eyes paled, and then they rolled to the back of her head as the spikes retreated. She slumped against the snow like a ragdoll, and never moved again.

"Hm. Looks like I made them a lot thicker than bullets… oh well. Better luck next time."

There was no response from the people around her, no sounds or anything. Whether from fear or shock, they all seemed to have been frozen by what they'd just saw. The three grunts next to Cyrus unconsciously took a step back, and Rowan couldn't help but swallow, horrified.

"Candice…"

She did look up, but not to Rowan. Instead, it looked like she was hearing someone else's voice behind her.

"Come on Darkrai, if you wanted to stop me you could have, easily," she said with a tired smile. "Though maybe Cresselia is right. Maybe your previous bond is rubbing off on me a little. Wouldn't that be scary."

She sighed and shook her head, then completely ignoring the corpse at her feet she turned around to face Cyrus and his men.

"Anyway… who's next?"

That is what finally broke the spell. Suddenly aware of the danger they were in, the three grunts let go of the lake siblings they were holding. The vats fell to the ground and started rolling away.

"S-shit! Come on, we…!"

"Let's go!"

Without a moment's hesitation, they turned around and started running away. Candice smiled at that. She raised her left hand, the one hemmed in dark, and flexed her finger slightly, urging their shadows t–

The wind stopped again. Candice perked up with a surprised look on her face. The blizzard had finally started to pick up again, but it was dispelled again as light started glowing in an enormous ring around. She frowned. Was that…? Yes, she'd seen it before, that pattern of light, it was the same as the one carved onto the stone Cynthia had given Maylene, only… much, much bigger.

Candice lowered her hand, letting out a sigh, half relief and half irritation.

"They're here."

With a burst of white that blinded them for a moment, nine people materialized in a ring around the space they were in, each one holding at least one Pokeball in their hands, ready to open them at a moment's notice. It didn't take more than a second for Candice to recognize them all.

Fantina had appeared in the very middle of the ring, accompanied by a young girl with purple hair that looked disturbingly similar to her. Behind her were Saturn and Lucas, the latter holding a strange device in his hand, similar to a large needle. Then, on the other side of the ring, standing all near each other, were people Candice knew very well. Her coworkers and comrades: Roark, Gardenia, Wake, Byron and Volkner. She was surprised to see the first two considering they'd been in the hospital last she'd heard of, but even with those pained looks and all the bandages that could be seen under their clothes, the determination in their eyes burned just as strongly as that of those around them.

"We… we made it," Lucas breathed out.

"Candice! We're here, where's th–!"

But Fantina's sentence was cut short, as she and all the people she'd brought with her witnessed the scene before them. Rowan and Lucario kneeling around an unconscious Maylene, Jupiter's corpse laying at Candice's feet, a wounded Cyrus fallen on top of the immobile Mew clone, the vats containing Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie scattered around him.

"What…?" Gardenia blinked twice, shaking her head. "What the hell happened?"

Saturn stared at the lifeless body at Candice's feet, his face going pale like paper.

"J-Jupiter?"

Cyrus didn't move. He didn't speak or struggle or do anything besides hold himself up merely a few inches above the lifeless puppet beneath him, arms shaking with the effort, eyes hidden in shadows. Behind him, he heard voices, people talking.

"…that it was necessary. If you'd seen–"

"Y-you didn't need to go that far!"

"I… agree with Saturn. Candice, you could have simply–"

"Is this really the time for this!? Someone needs to take Maylene to a safe place, and we have to apprehend the rest of them before…!"

But Cyrus stopped listening at that point. Something tightened inside his chest, and time felt as though it started crawling. He hung his head low, and for a moment considered simply letting go, collapsing against this puppet and the snow beneath it.

They… they had failed. He was alone. All his commanders, all his grunts… he was the only one left, no Pokemon, no clever devices, no aces under his sleeve this time. He could hear the other Gym leaders starting to head his way. Whatever conversation the rest of them were having was wrapping up, and there was only one thing left to do. Soon… he would be captured. His dream broken, forever.

Is… is this really how it ends? He wondered. Is this the reality that I…

It might have been due to their proximity to Spear Pillar, the thinnest point between their world and the next, but for the first time in years he swore he could feel… something. It was subtle, painful. It tugged at his chest like hands grabbing at each muscle and bone and artery and pulling them inwards, making him feel sick, shaky.

Regret… or perhaps desperation. It was painful, but there was something else. A heat, a warmth that he hadn't known for so long. Yes… yes, he could remember. This was the feeling. This is what he'd felt back then when he'd… when he and Azelf…

He felt touch against his finger, and snapped back to reality, fearing it to be someone's hands grabbing at him, but that wasn't the case. He looked down, and felt his breath seize. The small vat that one of his grunts had let go of while fleeing. It had been slowly rolling his way for a few seconds, until it finally stopped against his fingers.

It was the vat containing Azelf. The middle lake sibling slumbered inside, put to sleep by the anesthetic liquid it floated in. Cyrus saw it, and inhaled a sharp breath.

He closed his eyes, and a memory came to him. Words spoken between friends; the only time he and Cynthia had ever agreed on something.

'Reality is never a mistake, never set in stone. It is always someone's fault; someone's Will, manifested.'

'And that means… it can always be changed.'

'Yes. Against a powerful enough Will, even reality is but an obstacle to overcome.'

Cyrus opened his eyes. He was back in Mt. Coronet, back amidst the cold and pain. Normally, he would have preferred it. He disliked thinking back to the past, remembering the person he once was, the friendship he once shared with the Champion. But perhaps, in his refusal to look back, he'd forgotten an essential part of himself.

That's what had kicked it all off, hadn't it? His desire for change. His Will, manifesting so powerfully that it had brought Azelf back from its millennia-long slumber. A determination that could have sundered mountains. That rush of power, of certainty that had flooded him the first time he'd awaken the sibling's power… it felt as though he could've cast the moon from the sky, blown away the sun like a candle's flame. How could he have forgotten? Those words he'd spoken back then…

"I… will make reality bend to my Will."

His next heartbeat came, and he felt that familiar heat start to awaken after years of being smothered. It had always been there, hadn't it? Deep down, waiting for him to seize it once more. He breathed out, and oddly enough felt as a smile formed on his lips. Suddenly, the snow on his fingers and the wind on his back didn't feel as cold.

Warmth burst behind his eyes. A pale, flickering golden glow enveloped his body, and he didn't need to look down to know that the same applied to Azelf's body. Even if it didn't want to, its power began to flow into Cyrus once more. Siphoned by the link they once shared. For the first time since he could remember, Cyrus felt truly awake.

The next heartbeat came, and it was like the beat of a drum. He wasn't the only one to feel it. All around him, the Gym leaders had noticed that something was wrong. Time had been passing so slowly, but it was starting to pick up again.

"Wh-what was…?"

"Shit! Cyrus, look he's–!"

"No! Quickly, apprehend him!"

Cyrus turned his head sharply, looking over his shoulders as multiple lights exploded from Pokeballs, but he wasn't staring at them. There, laying immobile against the large, broken vat, was the Kadabra that had been taken out by Lucario's Aura Sphere. But he wasn't fully unconscious, only wounded and shaking.

"Rise."

The sheer weight of his command crashed against the Pokemon. He stood up in a flash, eyes shooting wide in surprise and pain. It was as though puppet strings were controlling him against his will.

"Protect."

The green barrier formed not only around the Kadabra, but him as well as a volley of attacks fell upon it, darkness and electricity and pieces of the mountain itself slamming against it with incredible force. It cracked, breaking almost immediately, but Cyrus did not need more than a moment.

He pushed himself a few inches higher, looking down at Mew's clone with eyes a burning gold. Behind him, a cacophony of sounds rang. The booms and crackles of attacks being fired, the roars of Pokemon putting everything they had into their assault, the high-pitched, panicked screams of the Gym leaders giving their orders…

Cyrus smiled. He placed one hand on top of the lifeless puppet's chest, and felt something there. A small warmth, a flame that had almost completely dissipated. A life about to run out.

The barrier shattered to pieces around them. The wave of attacks pierced through, falling upon them mercilessly, ready to tear them to pieces.

"Awaken," Cyrus willed, his voice like a storm. "And let my Will become yours."

The light enveloping Cyrus flooded into the lifeless puppet, and a sudden, gasping breath was heard. Then, a crash, a deafening boom.

A shockwave of force and wind exploded from the point of impact outwards, sending chunks of snow and shattered stone flying in all directions. The ground shook under the group of trainers. They all took a step back and raised a hand to protect their eyes, the boom still ringing in their ears.

"W-what happened?" Roark's voice was heard. "Did we…?"

Lucas, Saturn and the other Gym leaders squinted and winced to try and see past the cloud of dust that had resulted from their Pokemon's attacks, but it was impossible to see anyth–

"No… No!"

The fear and disbelief in Fantina's voice fell on everyone else, making them wince. And it wasn't just her. Everyone's eyes fell upon the three women closest to the point of impact. Fantina, Sanbica and Candice stood near each other, staring forward gormlessly, all color having left their faces.

A sudden gust of wind finally blew the dust cloud away, and the same expression soon formed on the other trainer's faces.

Cyrus lay against the ground, weak and shaking and barely able to stay on his knees, but he was not alone. Standing between him and them, its pale, unnatural hand raised forward, was Mew's clone. Its previously blank eyes burned with a golden glow, and a wellspring of unbridled psychic energy flowed outwards from its body, taking the shape of a barrier that had somehow withstood all their attacks without even a scratch.

A moment of silence fell upon the mountain, born from the horror and realization that washed against them in that moment. Cyrus was the one who broke it. And when he spoke, his voice was heard by all.

"Let… let my Will become yours," he stuttered, tone pained. "Do not let anyone past this point. Stop them, by whatever means necessary."