Music:「White Cicada」by majiko

The last thing anyone expected was for someone from Team Galactic, Saturn, no less, to go on his knees to beg Cynthia and Mindy to save the world with him. Ever since Cyrus's departure, Team Galactic had transformed into a non-profit organisation giving back to Sinnoh in a bid to redeem themselves, their redemption widely accepted by the people as they returned every Pokémon they stole and every cent they took and sought sincerely any forms of compensation and reparations to the havoc they wrought. Cyrus's return had put a wrench in their plans and became an obstacle, which was no different from the consequences Mindy faced after the last Trade. No, hers was worse.

So what if Saturn was alone now, without the others by his side, all of them having gone back to Cyrus immediately after his return, having gotten Charon out of prison by hypnotising the guards to let him go and forget he was ever arrested, forget he was ever a criminal, but a respectable scientist whose discoveries would soon bless Sinnoh and the world beyond? He certainly didn't look like the one with crippling self-worth, not at all unfeeling and cold and feverish and helpless without knowing helplessness. He didn't tremble or sneeze or cough or face a cyclone of thoughts. No, Saturn was radiating with an aura of determination as he grabbed a chair and landed his sorry ass on its cushy seat, dismissing the screech as he dragged the chair to his side as dramatic prologue to his pleas. If Mindy had the heart to laugh, she would gladly mock him the moment he took a glass of iced water from Carolina. He presented him more victim than villain, as though he was parading himself for Mindy to see that he rightly earned the title of a foil in her redemption arc, in a way gloating about his success. Then again, despite his high status, he never knew of Team Galactica's true goal till Mars and Jupiter told him days after Cyrus was swallowed by the Distortion World.

"Mars and Jupiter once gave up, you know. After they went with Charon to Stark Mountain to hopefully trigger an eruption that will bring Cyrus back. It's nonsensical, I know. They realised it too after they failed. After Kōki foiled their plans." Saturn swung the glass to his lips, an ice cube or two flying out onto his lap like a car flying off a cliff. He swiped them off. "But we all know the lie they're feeding the police, and now that no one cares about Charon, maybe everyone else too. They want to make it reality."

Cynthia held up a hand. "Why should we help you?"

"I want to reclaim my authority. I want to make this new reality a lie. As if Cyrus never came back and this... weird thing going on" — he waves a hand at the horrendous landscape outside — "I want it forgotten."

"You don't decide what is forgotten or not," said Carolina as she took the glass from him. "You can't change history."

"We know history is written by the victors."

"And experienced by the victims." Carolina raised her head at him. "The Being of Knowledge is here. Uxie knows putting pen to paper doesn't necessarily make its ink worthy of sight."

Uxie nodded. "Your intentions are impure. You are not revealing everything."

"I redefined what it means to be Team Galactic. For the greater good. For kindness." Saturn jabbed his chest. "Yes, I haven't told you they're reconvening at the Flower Paradise as we speak, but you have to trust me first."

"I trust you."

All gazes rested on Mindy as she pulled the damp towel off her forehead and got up on her feet.

"Shaymin will be there. Even if he's laying a trap for us, we have to go there anyway."

Saturn shuddered at the montony of her tone, the way she spoke of him as if he wasn't present, the way each word was heavy as she bore her eyes into his soul.

"We have to go to the Flower Paradise," Cynthia said. "I believe you know we know you know it's a trap. But we're left with no other choice. And turning our cheek away is not an option."

Saturn's lips curled into a smile. "I take it you trust me."

"Trust is not something I give." Cynthia opened the door and turned on her heel slightly so she faced them on her side. "It's for you to decide."

They soon took to the skies. Cynthia rode her Garchomp, with Mindy and Mindycham joining her, while Saturn and Carolina sat atop his Bronzong. The Lake Trio glided alongside them, snickering at the unlikely pair. Carolina nagged at him the entire journey, forcing him to plug his ears with his fingers and she'd pull them out and nag some more. As for Celeste, she was content with staying in the sidelines, helping anyone in need on her way home from Canalave.

It took them slightly over half an hour to reach the mouth of Victory Road by Route 224 after passing through strangely inverted, hapzahard landmarks. The Hearthome Church had its roof separated from the rest of the building and the benches were inching further from each other with each passing second, the pastor and the devotees in a panic. Mareep bleated them as they cut through Solaceon Town. The gamblers in Veilstone banged against the glass doors to stare at the pretty ex-Champion on her fashionable Garchomp before returning to their games. The trainers in Victory Road were too stunned to speak or move.

The group hiked through grass fields, rocky outcroppings and sandbars as the tangy taste of the sea hung in the air and onto their clothes and skin. Every flora was in full bloom and every Pokémon seemed happy and unconcerned with the goings-on of the world. Whenever Saturn complained, Carolina would poke his cheek and tell him off. Her eyes never left Mindy. The poor girl hadn't uttered a word ever since they left the house.

"We're almost there," said Cynthia who was in the lead. She pointed at a white rock at the dead end of the route, resting on dusty brown earth. "Just past these steps."

The staircase was nothing compared to the killer anticipation in her heart. Where was Team Galactic? They couldn't access Flower Paradise without passing through this route. Yet the white rock, that she examined thoroughly when they reached, had no trace of contact. No someone or some Pokémon to be grateful for etched on the stone.

Clearly, it was a trap. Still they must forge ahead. They must play along with this lie. Team Galactic was foolish to underestimate Mindy and especially the Lake Guardians.

"It has to be you," Mesprit whispered to Mindy and beckoned her to write something with her finger on the stone. "It's cruel, but you have to be the one."

It's cruel, alright. What could an exoskeleton express gratitude for? For the self that shed it off and discarded it? Maybe not exoskeleton. Try Kunekune. Then she must be glad everyone was against her, that she could be this influential.

"Beyond yourself?" pressed Mesprit.

Beyond... herself. What, Mindycham? Thank you for leaving me with this mess and coming back like it's nothing? Or Gaspar? Or Kōki? Maybe Cynthia, but it didn't sit right with Mindy. Too simple. But the simplest answer was the Lake Trio. They gave the chance to redeem herself, whatever that had now become, thanks to her going against the flow, or maybe she was always going with the flow, the natural flow of events, that every resistance she wielded she was yielding to her persistence to exist.

So she put their names down. Uxie. Mesprit. Azelf. You. Me. Us. She was in the middle of an "other" and a "together", between belonging and not belonging. That tight spot gave her a sense of longing that pervaded even her cold rationality.

Saturn clapped behind her back. Seabreak Path unravelled before their eyes like a red carpet elevated across the sea, except it was bloody red but a fresh green peppered with the colours of a rainbow. All types of flowers sprang up from the loamy soil and swayed on the verdant path.

Mindy nodded and they walked the path. With the scent of the sea on their shoulders, they trod on. Midway the path rotated clockwise so that Flower Paradise was where the sky had been, as if they were accessing in secret a Garden of Eden tucked away in the realm of disorder, going back to the beginning, back to purity, back to blissful innocence.

At the end of the lengthy path a field of pink Gracidea flowers welcomed them. A petite Pokémon slumbered in the middle, almost unseen, camouflaging well with zir surroundings. Violent wingbeats and eldritch screeches filled the sky as Saturn stepped forward to scoop Shaymin into his arms and cradle zir like a baby.

"There, there," he singsonged. Cynthia could barely stop him or snatch Shaymin from his grasp.

His smile told them everything.

Then a ladder wound down behind him and they glanced at the proud figures making their entrances. Jupiter. Mars. Charon.

And Cyrus.

Flower Paradise tipped back to its original state, in synchronisation with Shaymin's yelp.

Carolina fought back a shriek when she looked up, prompting Mindy and Cynthia to follow her gaze.

Above them, Dialga and Palkia were bound by a swarm of shadows, tethered to Giratina, all three in their Origin Formes.

Cynthia's mouth ran dry. This situation was worse than that fateful day at Spear Pillar.

Especially when Cyrus plucked the Gracidea Flower off Shaymin's head and burned it to a crisp with a blowtorch, and the rest of Flower Paradise grew barren in a matter of seconds, and the same fate was extended to Seabreak Path.

"I thank you, Mindy," Cyrus said, shoving the bare stalk of the Gracidea into her hands, his gaze penetrating her being. "If not for you, my perfect world has no chance of coming to fruition."

A tremor awoke.

Carolina gasped when Seabreak Path crumbled and sank into the sea. "This is blasphemy!"

"I think not, old harp." Cyrus rubbed his hands together. "This world just needs a hard reset to awaken. By now, everyone must be tired of being overly emotional. I have eyes and ears everywhere confirming this."

Cynthia tched. He narrowed his gaze at her and carried on.

"You are one such example."

Mindy blinked. "Confirmation bias."

Cyrus scowled. "What do you know?"

"And you are still emotional."

"What do you know?"

Mindy smirked. "Everything."

And she really meant everything. The truth he spun for the world, the redemption he seized from her, the fake hero he was, all these could not save him now.

But he would try, because trying was the fool's way of denial.

He would try to overcome Mindy before she would overcome him.

"So you know your impending death when Space and Time come for you."

Mindy shook her head and readied Mindycham while Cynthia sent Garchomp to aid her.

"Why will they come for me?" She chortled. It sounded like a Murkrow mimicking a human laugh in the dryest manner, so flat and unimpressive that it hurt to hear. "Because they know you are a waste of Space and Time."

That was the cue for chaos.