The evacuation order had been underway for quite some time. Vermillion City was already deserted by both people and critters thank to the speedy route by sea and relative safety in Diglett's cave, while the citizens of Cerulean City were in complete chaos, scattering in all directions with some even trying to go to Saffron City under the false pretense that "lightning never strikes the same place twice."

Although on a different continent altogether, there was unrest of equal caliber inside of a Pokécenter in Snowpoint City. One particular Nurse Joy was reconsidering her choice of careers and overall position in life as for the third time this evening, she was forced to tackle a crippled Pikachu to the ground.

"NO!" she yelled in the sort of manner which caused every person in the room to recoil, either from being reminded of their own strict upbringing or for the first time in their life experiencing the wrath of a most displeased matron.

"Pi-PIKA! PIKACHU PIKACHUUUUUU!" the yellow rodent roared. His voice was in no way, shape or form a cute one; rather the number of vile curses escaping his lips was enough for a nearby Chansey to turn away in embarrassment.

"YOU NEED. TO REST!" Nurse Joy bellowed while massaging the cheeks of the small Pokémon, "YOUR BODY. MUST HEAL."

"CHUUUUUUU PIKA!" Pikablu bellowed right back and struggled with all his might. Normally this human female would have been like a leaf in a tornado next to this hardened anti-hero, but much like the legendary trio itself he was not who he used to be. His extraordinary powers were no more; his advanced age and poor self-control had made sure of that. But more importantly, his recent stroke had done quite the number on poor Pikablu. If the nurse had not tackled him he would most likely not have made it to the exit all on his own.

Despite his belligerence, he was not the one the Pokécenter's inhabitants were currently afraid of. A wall of Chansey and other soft-bodied Pokémon stood lined up by the exit as an unusual creature walked up to them, wearing a threatening expression of solid steel while scanning over the soft bodies were blocking her path.

"Ma'am," a Wigglytuff spoke up, swallowing hard. His body was soft and poorly equipped to actually withstand the might of a fighting-type such as this. Still, he was the most physically apt among his Chansey and Blissey colleagues and felt it was his duty to handle situations such as these.

"Move aside," Rukario stated bluntly, a serene fire in her eyes.

"Your trainer has not checked you out yet," the Wigglytuff continued defiantly, feeling like basic training never quite prepared him for this situation.

"I have no trainer," Rukario explained calmly, "I came here of my free will and now I am leaving of my free will."

"Not until your rehabilitation is finished, you don't!" a Blissey suddenly spoke up, "What're you going to do, huh? If you use your aura in this condition…"

"… And how many people will die if I don't?" Rukario continued, though she felt a twinge of doubt inside. Rehabilitation was progressing well, but she probably couldn't muster up more than a few aura spheres in her current condition, and much less an aura storm. But she knew she would have to try. Like Cyon had before her.

"JUST PUNCH THEM AND LET'S GO!" Pikablu roared angrily while being smothered and suffocated by Nurse Joy's human physiology, feeling his head go light from the lack of oxygen, "CELEBI'S THERE GODDAMN IT!"

Rukario looked at him for a moment, and seeing him overpowered like this made her realize neither of them were in particularly good shape to make this journey on their own.

"All we need is some sort of transport," Rukario pleaded with the Blissey who appeared to have an authoritarian role among the health experts, "Get us there and we'll handle the rest."

"Y-You'll die!" the Blissey retorted bluntly with sweat beads dripping down the side of her body. She had no way of fulfilling the Lucario's request regardless; all the roads were shut down and most flying-types had been tied up rescuing people in Saffron City. If they had any way of getting there they'd be busy caring for those already wounded by the fearsome legendary.

"I don't CAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEE!" Pikablu shouted as he stood up with a burst of power, causing Nurse Joy to fall back away from him, "Get me within a mile of that thing and I'll turn it into charcoal!"

"And everyone else too!?" the Wigglytuff suddenly shouted out while everyone else was busy gasping. Nurse Joy prepared herself to tackle Pikablu again when suddenly a long, green vine reached out and coiled around him. Not having much in the way of arms or legs to begin with, the vine instead opted to dangerously wrap around what passed for a throat. At the base of the green appendage was a soft-looking couch, upon which sat a small Snivy with his eyes closed.

"Assaulting medical personnel. Disorderly conduct," Snivy stated before fastening a vicious glare on Pikablu, "Pissing me off. I would suggest shutting up before that last infraction is elevated to a felony."

"You! Smugleaf!" Pikablu shouted as he suddenly felt the vine tighten harder around his neck, "Ghh… You've got to get us to Groudon!"

"As much as it would please both parties, I'm afraid sending you to die would sour this otherwise happy occasion," Snivy continued with a threatening tone as he looked back and forth between Rukario and Pikablu, "You see, my wife is giving birth in the next room, and I need to set a good example for my child."

"We may not look the part, but we can get it done," Rukario said in a calm and composed manner, as she usually did when confronted by authority, "Get us a ride – You'll be a hero."

"Do I look like I can fly?" Snivy chided before leaning back, unfazed by Pikablu's struggling, "Or do you want me to teleport you to Saffron City? Sorry, Saffron Rubble?"

"HEY!" one of the patrons shouted with an offended tone. Sinvy shrugged to no-one in general; his comedic antics were clearly wasted on this crowd. Meanwhile Pikablu was still fighting against his restraints, twisting and biting into the vine. Normally something ten times stronger than this couldn't hold him back, but his body was failing him; rather he had failed his body by overexerting it until it had ended up in this sorry state. Yet still he wouldn't give up and lie down.

"Celebi…!" Pikablu groaned between his gritted teeth, "She can't handle it! She's not as strong as people think! That's why that thing is still…!"

"Neither is Groudon. He will go down eventually," Snivy muttered reassuringly, not feeling a thing from the assault on his outstretched vine, "They always do. Except Zerobi, apparently."

"Zerobi?" Rukario suddenly spoke up. She exchanged a surprised glance with Snivy.

"You two know Zerobi?" Pikablu chimed in, this time really startling Snivy.

"No," Rukario explained as she thought back, "But I know what she's been up to. We met once too, but…"

"Huh. I met her twice," Pikablu said as he noticed the vine losing its grip on him and slipping down to the floor, "She's Celebi's sister, and-"

"What," Snivy suddenly interrupted with a deadpan expression; the kind that's attempting to figure out whether he's being pranked.

"No she isn't," Rukario pointed out before suddenly feeling unsure of herself, "… Is she?"

"Totally," Pikablu explained as he got up to his feet and massaged his neck, "Fucking weird, right?"

The three were silent as everyone looked on with relief that things had calmed down. This calm was quickly broken though as Snivy immediately stood upright and screamed out.

"WHAT?!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Zerobi felt a sneeze coming on, but choked it down. Being the kind of infamy parents would tell their teens about to get them to stop going out at night taught you how to deal with people saying nasty things about you. She had far more pressing matters at the moment. Her sister was gone. Lucario was gone. She was surrounded by scary-looking Pokémon that may or may not want her dead, and the scariest of all was the living mountain that had almost killed her multiple times already. Whatever bravado brought her here in the first place had departed with her two companions, and if it wasn't for their sake she would have run away long ago.

"Where the hell are you…?" she groaned to herself while gazing over the battlefield. Groudon was busy moving forward towards an unknown destination, while the no man's landers were busy doing absolutely jack shit to stop him. A couple of them had fled once Groudon stopped just standing around and actively started crushing them, much like he had before they had showed up in the first place. Remembering how Celebi had completely restrained the hulking beast made Zerobi redouble her efforts; if she could just find her sister, all this would be over! Where the hell did she go?

A voice in the distance shook her from her thoughts. It wasn't really faint, just really far away, and sounded like a scream followed by triumphant cheering from a hundred other Pokémon.

"Lucario…?" she whispered as she looked towards Groudon. There, far too close for comfort, she saw one of the legendary dogs; the only one she had never seen before. And on top of it…

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Get me closer," Lucario said to Entei as they moved at a brisk pace towards the angry giant. He didn't quite understand why he was tempting fate this way. Ever since Groudon had stopped being docile things had turned quite dangerous, with several no man's landers already dead from being stepped on or being on the same continent as that terrifying Hyper Beam. Nobody he knew, of course; he wasn't too familiar with them to begin with. Despite that he was really starting to appreciate their cheers as he fired another aura sphere.

"FUCK YOU, YOU SACK OF SHIT!" he roared triumphantly as the aura sphere struck the bleeding, festering wound on Groudon's left foot, eliciting a twitch from the giant legendary and cheering from the nearby Pokémon.

This was it. This was heaven. Ordering his Pokémon to beat down an unsurmountable foe while being the center of everyone's attention filled him with indescribable satisfaction. He wanted more of it. He needed more of it. His body was different, his mind was gone, but his soul still burned with the passion of a Pokémon Champion.

“Hey, how long can you keep this up?” Lucario asked as he tugged at the scruff of Entei's neck, trying to show his appreciation as the large canine ran far away from Groudon's retaliation.

“Our last endurance training clocked my exhaustion point at 57 hours,” Entei replied comfortably, though panting in-between words to faster regain his stamina.

"And… How long ago was that?" Lucario asked carefully. Apparently over ten years had passed since he last fought with Entei, and he couldn't remember a damn thing about it.

"Too long," Entei quickly answered, "I will not fail you, master."

"I know you won't," Lucario said while confidently patting the legendary's head. Groudon had finally decided this blue and brown little gnat was more of a bee and made the effort to retaliate by lifting his massive front leg. Entei was ready and speedily dashed to the side, each leaping step covering massive distance as Lucario focused his power. The slam came down hard behind them and caused a terrible earthquake, throwing off Lucario's aim as he shot his Aura Sphere backwards and straight into Groudon's scaly leg. It wasn't quite the bull-eye he had hoped for, but it seemed to get the crowd roaring again. He patted Entei's head once more, signaling the panting behemoth to turn around and make another run.

"Sweet ride, dude," a cool-sounding voice sounded from beside him.

"Heheh, thanks!" Lucario snickered, his brain not even registering the fact that the person he had just spoken with was, in fact, human. The human was riding a Pokémon similar to Entei, but considerably smaller and not wearing any kind of mask. However, its speed let it not just keep up with but even outpace Entei's massive leaps as they dauntlessly rode closer and closer towards Groudon. With confidence the human pulled out an Ultraball and pitched it like a real ace, the ball sucking up another one of Groudon's scales.

"Acrus, fire blast!" the human shouted and his Arcanine opened his mouth, spewing out a vaguely human-shaped wall of fire that zoomed through the air and burned right through the newly exposed part of Groudon's leg. Although it left a nasty burn, the giant didn't respond to this as his attention was focused on trying to take a bite out of a trainer on top of a majestic Talonflame, zooming around in front of his face and hitting it with both fire-projectiles and the occasional Greatball.

Lucario witnessed the display with awe. Trainers accompanied by various sorts of Pokémon were pouring in from all sides by now. From the sky, riding along the plains, and at least one he saw burrow up from underground. Kids, teens and adults, none of them carrying affiliation to anything but justice and a lust for Pokémon battle. Red flashes shone as they summoned their entire Pokémon teams and immediately set them to work at fighting Groudon or backing up the no man's landers. Although there was initial terror and reluctance on the part of the no man's landers, it only took a few seconds for the new arrivals to go from potentially dangerous strangers to a reunion between long-lost brothers.

"Fire is really effective in this weather," Zoroark stated bluntly while watching over the touching scene, "… But it seems most of them have already realized that."

Connor grunted as he noticed someone coming straight for them. Lifting a giant pillar to shield Zoroark, the Conkeldurr prepared himself for battle.

"Zoroark!" a shrill voice sounded as the dark-type peeked behind the cylindrical block of concrete.

"Lilligant!" Zoroark exclaimed in surprise, seeing the vaguely familiar grass-type stumbling towards her. She had been a no man's lander who was caught recently after venturing too far outside of their safe zone. She was also part of Zoroark's make-believe harem and aside from that Zoroark couldn't quite remember anything else about the dainty figure.

"Don't fight them! Th-They're here to help!" the Lilligant gasped while catching her breath, as Conkeldurr smashed both his blocks together to form an even more impassable wall.

"I wasn't planning on-" Zoroark started but was interrupted as the lithe grass-type effortlessly zipped around the Conkeldurr.

"The TV said you can't just dump Pokéballs on Groudon! They have to be accurate!" she interrupted and continued frantically, "So master and his buds all decided to come here and help!"

"That's good and I'm glad to see you're doing fine, but-" Zoroark rapidly explained while taking a step back as the Lilligant came ever closer.

"Thanks! I knew you'd remember me!" she kept going incessantly, "I haven't told anyone about your secret! And I'm doing fine, I don't mind being-"

"CONNOR!" Zoroark suddenly shouted as the Conkeldurr wordlessly picked up the Lilligant and threw her far away.

"You think I have time for a leisurely chat?!" Zoroark yelled back to no one in general, before noticing the stunned faces of her close associates and calming down, "… Sorry. Did I miss anything?"

"… Well, Groudon is-" a nearby Hakamo-o started, but was interrupted as an indescribably loud noise temporarily deafened everyone in the area. Humans and Pokémon alike covered their ears in pain as Groudon roared with fury. The bird Pokémon that had bravely stayed near Groudon's face fell out of the sky, the shockwave rupturing their internal organs. The more soft-bodied creatures in general were facing a similar fate and several trainers were already recalling their weaker Pokémon. The entire battle almost came to a stand-still as Groudon's roar petered off.

Only the foolish were the ones to uncovered their ears and relish in a moment of reprieve instead of taking cover. But despite being separated, the already battle-weary Lucario and a certain Weavile knew what was coming next. A bright light outshone the sun as Groudon extended his neck and fired a Hyper Beam off into the distance. The ground directly beneath and anyone standing on it fell to pieces as the unbridled destruction rapidly made its way to the other side of the continent and in a huge explosion most likely eradicated a not insignificant portion of it.

As the noise of the distant blast faded away, Zerobi carefully uncovered her ears and opened her eyes. The sight was truly awful; she couldn't believe that this crater-strewn wasteland had been full of grass and flowers just a few hours ago. The few strands of greenery that remained were dried up, partially signed and dead from at least a dozen causes. And the fields were now drenched with blood.

She inhaled as a tingle crept up her spine. The air was thick with the scent of blood. The dead were supposed to be clustered around Groudon, a place she had absolutely no intention of going near in the first place. But now they were everywhere! A limb from some unknown creature fell with a wet splat behind her as she saw a human hunched next to her Gastrodon who was busy ejecting its insides in a violent manner. Zerobi couldn't stop staring as the blood-soaked lungs and stomach found its way out of the giant slug and the trainer tried to spray it with some kind of restorative balm.

"Oh no…" Zerobi whispered to herself as the world started to spin. But she wasn't fainting. Instead she felt more alert than ever, an all-too familiar sensation returning and quickly becoming an acute desire. Why was this happening?! She hadn't touched a drop! Was she breathing it in?! She hunched over and covered her face with her forearms. Her senses were becoming sharpened, and it was both frightening and exhilarating. Her eyes were covered, but another sort of vision was becoming more apparent. Although dry, she could feel the wetness with her skin. The viscous substance with the strands of her hairs. There were tiny particles of blood caressing every part of her body. She was a sponge in a lake.

She slowly removed her arms and helplessly looked around for someone to help suppress these feelings. But the world she once knew just wasn't there anymore. Everything seemed unnaturally pale and uninteresting, and even if her sister or Lucario had been ten feet in front of her she probably wouldn't have noticed anymore. She was noticing other things now.

It was getting hard to think straight with all the little creatures dancing around her. Each telling their own story, sharing a part of their previous owner. Entering her from head to clawed toe and asking her to find more. Bring them all together. That was her ultimate purpose; nothing else. A nexus of those bereft of their former bodies. Her new friends thanked her by bringing pleasurable emotions. It all seemed so clear now. Through the haze, she could feel them calling out to her. She could feel his blood calling out to her. She could FEEL his BLOOD-

"FINALLY!" Zerobi exclaimed as she turned 80 degrees to the right and started running forward through the strange landscape, jumping over a pool of blood and pushing aside a wobbling human that was in her way.

"Yikes!" Lucario exclaimed before letting go of his ears, "You OK there, Entei?"

Entei barked in response. It was the kind of bark that could double as a baseline. He had been quick to run away during the ferocious roar, his mask either working as a fantastic set of earplugs or the indomitable legendary simply not caring about losing his hearing. There were dazed Pokémon stumbling back and forth around them, but Lucario didn't let it get to him.

"He's gonna have to recover after that Hyper Beam, so now's our chance!" Lucario shouted triumphantly as he clenched his right hand, "There's a pretty big weak spot on his front leg, I want you to get ready for Extremespeed to close the distance and then hit it with Sacred Fi-"

"Weavile!" a nearby Weavile shouted, interrupting his strategy meeting.

"Oh hey," Lucario responded nonchalantly before turning his attention back to Entei, "So use Extremespeed and then Sacred Fire on my mark!"

"Oh hey?!" Zerobi repeated angrily as she felt her already agitated state flare up, "Do you know how long I've been searching for you?! I thought you were dead!"

Lucario winced. What was this Pokémon nagging him about? Mismagius had told him about some Weavile, but he couldn't remember why. He looked down at it and tried to figure out what was happening. She stared back at him with anger and looked pretty beat up in general. It felt weird, Zerobi was usually pretty cool and hardly ever got angry for real.  Something must've h- Zerobi? Zerobi…

"Zerobi! Oh my god, you're alive!" Lucario burst out as his memories returned all at once and he quickly jumped off Entei. A weight that he hadn't realized was there lifted off his heart, suddenly feeling like a very different person in a very different place than five seconds earlier.

"Yeah, that's more what I expected," Zerobi huffed while crossing her arms with disdain, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Shit, I don't know!" Lucario exclaimed loudly while clutching his forehead, feeling it pound as all the previously ignored smells, fears and thoughts hit him at once, "I… I'm forgetting things and remembering things! I keep reverting to Ethan!"

"But…" Zerobi said as her face dropped and she uncrossed her arms, taking note of Lucario's distressing behavior, "You are Ethan."

"I know! But not… Completely?" Lucario explained as he looked up at her with sadness in his eyes, "For a moment there I couldn't even understand what you said!"

Their gazes met and lingered for a few moments, and despite all the turmoil happening around them, everything seemed to calm down. Zerobi's urges dimmed into nothingness while Lucario's confusion found itself transformed into confidence. He was there. She was there. Everything was fine now.

"Lucario, we need to get out of here and find sis," Zerobi said calmly as Lucario brushed off a large tuft of Entei's hair that had found itself onto his chest.

"Leave?" Lucario repeated has his head perked up, "Why?"

"WHY?!" Zerobi responded loudly while throwing her arms out to her sides, looking at the carnage and corpses strewn everywhere, "You want to STAY?!"

A part of her wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, but she would have to wait a little longer to suggest rummaging through the blood-soaked soil as a fun activity. Lucario held a hand to his mouth as he looked around, trying to figure out what all the colorful and positively odd appendages were supposed to have been back when they were still attached to a Pokémon.

"I just… Didn't really consider leaving," Lucario admitted as Zerobi sighed. Being reunited with his old Pokémon and riding Entei into battle had somehow made him forget about everything else. It had felt right; more right than anything else. What had been his reason for being here before? To help out Zoroark? Do anything at all to forget about Mew?

Lucario swallowed hard as he looked back at Entei, who was looking back at him with valor. Was he going to just leave it all behind? Run with his tail between his legs at his moment of triumph? Entei was ready. He was ready. They could do this, he knew they could.

"No. I'm staying," Lucario said with a determined expression, "Running won't help. I wouldn't be able to get away from him."

A frown caressed Zerobi's expression as she looked back at the lumbering Groudon for a moment.

"Sure you can! Look at how slow he is!" she pointed out.

"Not Groudon. Get away from the coward who's all talk and when it finally came down to it, he ditched his one purpose in life," Lucario explained before jamming a finger into his own chest, "Me."

"The ONLY purpose of life is staying alive, and we're both doing a pretty shitty job at it right now!" Zerobi responded desperately, thinking this was the worst possible time for Lucario to be having self-confidence issues and took a step forward, "Let's have this discussion anywhere but here!"

"You go," Lucario stated bluntly while making step back towards Entei and laying his hand on the side of the large canine, "I've got some strength left. I'll stay here and make sure this fucking thing dies."

"What is WRONG with you today?!" Zerobi shouted while throwing her arms up into the air out of exasperation, feeling her agitated emotions come back to life, "Why would you risk your life for something like this?!"

"Hey, you came here too," Lucario replied casually with an indifferent expression. He was finding it a little difficult to defend a stance he himself did not quite understand and opted to deflect the discussion back to Zerobi.

"I was just tagging along!" Zerobi said before shaking her head, unwilling to accept the outcome this was heading towards, "What would I do if you die? You're the only one who cares about me!"

"Then I guess your choice is already made, hmm?" Lucario continued with smugness seeping out of his every pore. He instantly regretted acting so high and mighty as he saw Zerobi's face drop. She stared at him for a few seconds as he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words.

"No! No, it isn't!" Zerobi shouted before breaking eye contact with him and looking down at the ground, "I've already told you how I feel, but… I'm not dying for you! That's insane!"

"I'm not asking you to!" Lucario clarified while feeling bad and getting the sudden urge to slink away, "Just… Stay here. I'm going back in!"

"No, don't!" Zerobi blurted out and reached out with her hand. She stopped herself before grasping Lucario's wrist though, her massive claws very likely to cut it off. Lucario looked down at it and then back at her, before exhaling and turning away.

"Damn it, Zerobi! Look around you!" he yelled while holding out his arms, "Everyone's still fighting because I revitalized their spirit! I can't just flee, everyone would lose morale!"

Zerobi looked around. She saw that things had reverted back 'normal', as in the Pokémon and humans had recovered from the earlier setback and had gone back to fighting Groudon and caring for their wounded.

But more importantly, it was at this moment that she finally realized that the tiny voices had been silenced and her thinking was clear again. Talking like this had actually suppressed her impending bloodcraze, and had removed the immediate sense of urgency. But she wouldn't be able to last forever. And she wasn't going to give up.

With a swift move, Zerobi took a step towards Lucario, claws at the ready. A flash of steel shone as she leaned into him and shoved her scythe-like hands right into the empty spot between Lucario's arms and torso.

"Oh no, look! I stabbed Lucario in the stomach and drank his blood!" she screamed as loudly as she could, "Now he's dead!"

A few seconds passed, Lucario paralyzed with shock.

"Whoa! What a bitch!" someone yelled before going back to attacking Groudon. Aside from that nothing else happened, due to everyone's attention being focused somewhere else. Zerobi moved back from Lucario, carefully as to make sure she didn't nick him by mistake.

"You… Really shouldn't be doing that in front of Entei," Lucario wheezed and trembled a bit, his heart racing a thousand miles per hours. Entei appeared to scan his body in an attempt to decide whether he should retaliate or not, but ultimately let it go.

"In case you haven't noticed, this is not about us, it's about the HUGE MONSTER KILLING EVERYONE," Zerobi stated in a solemn tone before signaling him to come with her, "No one's going to care if we flee, stupid. So come on."

"And in case YOU haven't noticed, there's a legendary right here with a hardon for justice who wouldn't let me flee like a coward even if I wanted to!" Lucario said as he turned around and winked at Entei, "Right?"

"Right," Entei winked back from behind his mask, "Though I would concede if you requested that of me."

"Yeah, we've never managed to outrun any of those before!" Zerobi snickered, though very carefully; it was an awfully big and scary-looking legendary, "Seriously. What's the problem?"

There was no response from Lucario. He couldn't think of anything to say. He had been losing adrenaline and the high it provided for some time now, and Zerobi pretending to murder him probably shaved at least a few years off of his life. Besides, if he took a short nap he'd probably wake up not giving two shits about any of this. Or would he? If he left with Zerobi…

"Where to?" Lucario asked before crossing his arms.

"Does it matter?" Zerobi said with a shrug, "Anywhere but here."

"Anywhere…" Lucario sighed before staring up at the sky, "Always wandering without a destination… Roaming about endlessly… Looking for a reason to live…"

Even in the turmoil surrounding them, looking at the familiar sky reminded him of thoughts from the past. His first night together with Zerobi, lying paralyzed on some cave floor while staring at the newly-made hole overhead. The cool evening's air while he chatted up the small yet dignified Zubat. Listening to Mew explain the moon's significance.

It had been quite the adventure, he had to admit. He felt calm, and nostalgic. Yet still it burned within him. The call for battle. Knocking Lucas off of Rayquaza to keep Pikablu from killing him. Trading heavy blows with Torana and finally besting her in fair combat. Burning Darkrai's arm to save Mew from his foul clutches. Ever since Entei and his other old Pokémon had appeared, something had awoken within him. A sense of responsibility. A sense of his own, true self, before all this other nonsense.

He stared wordlessly at Zerobi who stared back in anticipation. He could see it; the two of them somewhere far away. Continuing their journey in the wilds. Sharing some mints and living a long life together in relative peace and joy. This had been Cyon's ideal. The part of him that loved the quiet, thoughtful moments. But how long could he tolerate a life of boredom? Would fighting bone-wielding lizards and rowdy apes be the extent of his life's achievements? Or would he end up drinking his days away, unable to cope with those that would die on this day because of his own selfish desires?

The other part of him saw a different future. Fire both red and blue gleaming brilliantly against Groudon, systematically disabling the living deity whose defeated form would mark the triumphant return of the greatest Pokémon champion to have ever existed. To finally make his story known and earn the eternal respect of the legendaries, the no man's landers; all those present for now and generations to come. This had been Ethan's ideal. The part of him that demanded the thrill of a challenge. But would he survive his own unrealistic ideals? Had Mew given him a second chance at life for him to pointlessly lose it fulfilling some temporary high? Or would he survive, only to find out the peak was much closer than he had realized, being left with no more challenges like when he had once attained the championship?

Lucario closed his eyes. A swirl of aura surrounded him as he could sense the lifeforce of everyone around him. But Mew wasn't here. Celebi wasn't here. He couldn't sense either Zerobi nor Zoroark due to them being dark-types. He hadn't been attentive enough to make a note of what his old Pokémon felt like. All he could feel were random bundles of energy exhibiting signs of hopelessness and terror. The truly overwhelming presence of Groudon. The burning justice of Entei. And his own aura, watching over all of them.

Opening his eyes, Lucario locked his gaze into Zerobi with a serious expression.

"Zerobi, I… I've nowhere left to go. Nothing left to do," he said quietly, but earnestly as to underscore its significance, "If I was fine with that, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. This is where I'm needed, not somewhere else. I'll catch up once all this is finished and Groudon is dead."

Zerobi groaned with annoyance and resisted the urge to facepalm.

"The one who will die is you! And then everyone else!" she insisted, feeling like she had been better at reeling him in from doing stupid crap like this in the past, "Stop being so difficult, I know you're smarter than this!"

"… True," Lucario said with a confident nod, before bashing his chest, "But I guess I'm not all talk either."

The two locked eyes, willpower against willpower. But this time was different. Even Zerobi could feel the confidence radiating from Lucario's expression. It was as if he had attained a significant feat of self-discovery in the past minute. Frustration mounting, she realized that she had tried everything, yet still Lucario refused to relent. She considered knocking him out for a moment, but her skills were more aligned towards cutting and she was definitively not a match for a fighting type. More violent approaches suddenly came to mind, and Zerobi realized the blood was starting to affect her disposition once more. Out of options, she knew it was time for Plan B.

"Fine! But I won't die like this!" Zerobi relented as she threw her arms up and turned away to leave, "I'll go look for sis so she can fix this shit, or at least drag your sorry ass to safety."

She walked away with a few brisk steps as Lucario stood still for a second, before turning back towards Entei.

"Tell her to get a stretcher," he said confidently as he jumped up on the dog's back, "A really, really big one."

Zerobi stopped. Was she doing the right thing? This wasn't the first time they had gone their separate ways, and the last time Lucario had ended up captured and half-dead. Groudon roared behind her. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, Lucario had always been able to inspire confidence to some degree, and to make others trust in him despite not unusually failing to live up to it. She wondered if this is what had made him a masterful Pokémon trainer in the past.

She couldn't bring him back like this. But Celebi had gone somewhere, and Zerobi had a hunch as to who was responsible. Her sister was someone she could trust to do the smart thing. She turned around one last time just to make sure Lucario knew what was a stake here.

"You better not fucking die," she spat with a mean-looking grimace.

"I won't," Lucario replied with a smile. Zerobi took in this sight of him sitting on top of Entei before sharply turning around, straightening her back and finally leaving. Lucario watched her depart with a bit of sadness, but also a newfound sense of determination.

"Hey Entei," Lucario said as he leaned over the legendary's head, "If I die, Zerobi's your new master."

The fiery canine made a noise of discomfort while casting a glance at the Weavile.

"Don't worry. She's cool," Lucario explained reassuringly while thoughtfully petting his steed, "You're still OK with fighting Groudon, right?"

"If you were not here, master…" Entei stated before pausing and raising his head, "… I would still be fighting him."

"Good to know," Lucario snickered, "Someone's trained you well."

Another roar brought back their attention back to the issue at hand. They rode back into the fray, Lucario charging up an aura sphere in his left palm…

Zerobi knew she had done the right thing. Each and every step brought her closer to salvation; the further away she got, the less blood there was to affect her. By the outer rim of the battlefield there wasn't much going on, except for maybe one or two Pokémon licking their wounds or just finding any excuse to keep away from the fray. The smart ones. Quite far away she saw two humans, one holding a very large object which she recognized to be a camera. It was fixed on Groudon which suited her just fine; her last television debut left her with a large hole in her chest and she was definitively in the right place if she wanted another one. She shuddered at the thought. She had successfully kept her sanity this time, but how close had she come to losing it? Even if only for a moment, the voices were starting to make sense again. Like it was her role to "collect" the fallen within herself. Shaking her head, Zerobi tried to think of something else to clear out her mind.

Celebi… Red light… From far away… It could only be HIM again. This time Zerobi was going to make sure it didn't happen a third time, child or not. She needed a good vantage point to try and work out which direction to go, and noticed a small hill a little bit away. Moving quickly and keeping her head down, her thoughts turned back to blood as she imagined what she'd do if he tried to resist her and keep her sister captive. Unfortunately, as she got closer she realized the hill was occupied; a Mienfoo leapt up from behind it, and came running down straight for her. Zerobi immediately halted and cursed her rotten luck. This was definitively not a good matchup, and neither Lucario nor Celebi were there to help her out. Though before she even bothered to defend herself, she noticed the poor guy's face was absolutely terrified and he moved to the side as to not collide with her.

"IT'S COMING! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" he screamed in panic, running past her at an impressive pace.

"Hey moron, can't you see Groudon?!" Zerobi yelled after him, "You're running the wrong way!"

"Not Groudon! THAT!" the Meinfoo turned around and pointed behind Zerobi for a moment, before redoubling his efforts to get away from one danger to another.

Zerobi followed the direction he had been pointing at with her eyes, but wasn't able to see anything in particular. Then something slow and dull-looking came up over the hill. Despite her excellent eyesight, even Zerobi couldn't make out what it was. It looked like three concrete boxes with something sticking out of them. But where her eyes had failed her, her intuition told her this would be an excellent chance to find a different vantage point.

"Have fun with those things…" Zerobi muttered dismally as she slinked away, speeding off towards a larger hill and thanking herself for being smart enough to bail out before whatever that was become her immediate problem.

"Bye, Zerobi…" a very deep voice sounded from inside one of the 'boxes'. There were indeed three in total, slowly crawling their way across the plains and leaving a trail of destruction behind them. They were not made of concrete, nor any material familiar to the world. Until today, that was.

"Sir!" a voice sounded from one of the other boxes, "Target 'Zerobi' is trying to get away! Your orders?"

"Let her go," the imposing voice answered, "Our primary targets are Groudon, Celebi and the spikeless Lucario riding on top of Entei."

"Roger, sir," the second voice responded, not asking what importance a malformed yet for all intents and purposes a regular Lucario could have to warrant such attention. That kind of prudence is why he had been picked for this mission in the first place.

Pokémon scattered. The cameraman was filming them now. Indeed, this had all been planned out in advance. With a consistent pace which suggested anything in their path would end up as lumps of blood, bone and fur, the three 'boxes' continued on their slow trek towards the still unaware Groudon.

"Today, we claim our revenge!" the deep voice shouted over the radio, "Revenge against the loathsome Ethan!"

"Hail Giovanni!" the occupants of the other two boxes chimed in pridefully, "Hail Team Rocket!"