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Bang!
With a heavy thud, Steven went limp and collapsed into Cynthia's arms.
His eyes drooped halfway shut. Through the settling cloud of smoke and dust, he caught a dim glimpse of a silvery-white arm resting on the ground.
"So that's how it is..."
The Mega Evolution on both Aggron and Scizor faded at once. Metagross had lost consciousness — it could no longer sustain its own Mega Evolution, and without that bond, Steven had nothing left to anchor the others. Aggron and Scizor reverted as well.
Steven was spent. Body and mind alike had nothing more to give.
Metagross lay still. Yveltal continued to circle high above, dark red energy rippling steadily through its body.
"Go, Cynthia," Steven murmured, eyes closing. "While you still can."
With Metagross down, holding off Yveltal any longer was no longer a question of effort. It was a question of time. And Xerneas had to be close to returning by now...
"What are you talking about?!"
Cynthia looked down at Steven — pale-faced, his hair gone white, cradled in her arms — and felt tears sting at the corners of her eyes.
"You're asking me to leave you here alone?" Her voice cracked. "Steven, what do you think I am?"
But Steven no longer had the strength to answer.
"Roaaaar!"
Yveltal didn't wait. Another dark red beam of light tore downward from the sky.
Cynthia swallowed her tears and called out to her Pokémon. They gritted their teeth and poured everything they had left into a wall of moves — Flash Cannon, Dark Pulse, Hydro Pump — straining to hold the Oblivion Wing back.
But this time, it wasn't going to be enough.
Cynthia could see that clearly. She pulled Steven closer, tightened her arms around him, and looked up to meet it.
Bzzzz—
A brilliant pink light bloomed overhead. A massive diamond of pure pink energy materialized above them just in time.
The Oblivion Wing punched through the combined defense of the Pokémon — and struck the diamond head-on.
"This is—" Cynthia spun around.
Diancie stood behind them, both small hands raised high, channeling a Dazzling Gleam barrier to take the full force of Yveltal's attack. Its appearance had changed. The gem on its head had become heart-shaped, and two white ribbons cascaded down from its crown. Three curved rings now adorned its neck, waist, and the hem of its skirt-like lower form. Large diamonds had replaced the lower half of its body, surrounded by long, blade-like adamantine crystals, each one tipped with tiny octahedral gems. It had Mega Evolved.
After hearing what Xerneas had said, Diancie had understood — and gained the power to shape diamonds at will.
"Yah!"
Clang!
The dark red beam shattered. The barrier exploded outward in fragments of pink light.
One of Yveltal's attacks — stopped.
Diancie dropped out of its Mega Evolution, breathing hard, and fixed its eyes on Yveltal as it prepared to strike again.
"Why did you come back?!" Cynthia looked at Diancie, something between relief and reproach in her eyes.
"I couldn't leave you all behind." Diancie turned to her with a quiet smile. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"Diancie..." Cynthia whispered.
Shriiiek!
Yveltal folded its wings and dove.
It had clearly grown impatient. Having its attacks blocked again and again — the humiliation had mounted, and now it was done with restraint. Its enormous scarlet eyes locked onto Steven and Cynthia as it plummeted downward, vast wings beating with terrible force.
A dark red glow flooded the air. The life force of every living thing within reach was swept up and drawn toward its body. Even Cynthia's golden hair began to lose its color, fading strand by strand to white. Steven's breathing grew thin and shallow.
There was no way out this time. The Pokémon had reached their absolute limit.
This is fine, Cynthia thought.
She lowered her gaze to the face in her arms — watching it age before her eyes, the lines deepening, the color fading. Her own hair had gone fully white. The hands she rested gently against Steven's cheek had begun to wrinkle.
"At least we'll grow old together," she said softly.
In the final moments, she was still beside him.
That was enough.
Far away, Hunter Y pressed his face against the screen of a monitoring instrument, watching Yveltal's rampage with barely contained delight.
"Hahahahaha! And these are the so-called Champions? How utterly pathetic!"
He spread his arms wide, drinking in the footage. "This is the legendary Pokémon of destruction! This! Right here!"
He glanced back at Hunter Z, who was seated on the sofa behind him, watching the same screens in silence — the wild Pokémon fleeing in every direction, the vegetation blackening and turning to stone as the life was stripped from it.
"Z, you're far too timid," Hunter Y said with a mocking grin. Hunter Z said nothing.
Hunter Y shrugged and turned back to the screens.
The plane they were in belonged to Argus. Since Argus and his associates had been petrified, the aircraft had conveniently fallen into Hunter Y's possession. He threw his arms out dramatically.
"Z, I'm avenging you! Shouldn't you be thanking me?!"
"Hahahaha! Destroy everything — God of Destruction!"
Hunter Z looked down at him.
A complete lunatic. That was what he was. Had he really released Yveltal just to watch it burn the world down?
Then Yveltal swept in low and landed. A single beat of its wings was enough — the trees around it shriveled instantly, their life force torn away, bark and branches slowly turning to pale stone.
"How—" Hunter Y went rigid.
Hunter Z glanced at the main screen. A deer-shaped Pokémon had appeared in front of Steven and Cynthia. Gem-like lights glimmered in a rainbow of colors from the branching horns atop its head.
Xerneas.
Hunter Z smiled faintly. He reached into his coat and closed his fingers around a Poké Ball.
"Y," he said quietly, without turning around. "Did you know? I grew up in the shelter of a forest."
"So what?" Hunter Y turned his head back with an irritated look — and found Weavile's sharp-toothed grin inches from his face.
Swish.
Blood sprayed. Hunter Y hit the floor, both hands flying to the deep claw marks carved across his face.
"Z! What is wrong with you?!"
"If J hears about this, you're finished!"
"She won't." Hunter Z stepped forward calmly and pressed his boot down onto Hunter Y's hand as it scrabbled for a Poké Ball. His voice stayed level.
"Now... let your pain be repayment to this forest."
He snapped his fingers. Weavile moved with quick, methodical precision, its claws severing the tendons in Hunter Y's hands and feet. After that, there was nothing left but screaming.
Hunter Z walked to the window and looked out. Below, Yveltal and Xerneas faced each other across the scorched earth. Beside Xerneas, the trees and undergrowth were already beginning to stir — green returning slowly to what had been grey.
A faint smile crossed Hunter Z's lips.
"I grew up under the protection of a forest... so I revere nature." He spoke quietly, more to himself than anyone. "That doesn't conflict with what I do."
"Hahahaha! You call me a lunatic?!"
Blood had run into Hunter Y's eyes. He stared up at Hunter Z through a red haze, his face twisted, his laughter sharp and ugly.
"You're a notorious Hunter — you plunder and destroy without a second thought — and now you're standing there acting righteous?! Do you have any idea what you are?!"
"You're the lunatic. A disgusting, hypocritical lunatic!"
Hunter Z listened. Then he slowly turned his head and raised one hand, which had begun to glow a faint green.
"Say what you like." His tone was flat, almost bored. "You'll have plenty of time."
Hunter Y's expression shifted — confusion bleeding into dawning horror as he realized his wounds were closing. The pain was fading.
Then Weavile stepped forward again.
Its claws moved in the same slow, deliberate pattern as before.
...