Red veins crackle through the room like fire, bouncing off the ceiling and walls in every which direction. Luckily, they're too far up to hit us, but their presence is intimidating in and of itself.

"J-just... a game." Shauna moans.

Korrina growls like Bronze does, a feral noise at the back of her throat. She slams a Pokeball down and to our surprise, Hazel bursts from it. "Wait, what?" Korrina says. "This is-"

"There's a Yveltal on the ceiling. It's probably safe to assume you can take your Pokemon out here." Dill points out.

Sky's eyes widen, parallel to a widening smile and glimmering with newfound hope. "Alright, then let's-"

A metallic voice calls, "Fifteen minutes to activation."
"It's not ready?" Lysandre asks, aggravated.

"I suppose not." Diantha sighs.

I look up to our right, over where we came in, and see them standing in a control panel above. Though I hardly knew her, Diantha's betrayal cuts like a knife. How could someone who had seen so much be willing to watch as it was all destroyed before their eyes? What kind of insanity would drive someone to go along with this?

"I'm afraid you'll all be destroyed by the blast when the machine heats up all the way. Just another casualty of war, I'm afraid." Lysandre adds. "Even if the ultimate weapon wouldn't normally kill Pokemon, the energy generated around the bottom absolutely will."

The desire to live is overwhelming. I'm caged. Trapped. It's like being in a Pokeball against my will. Throwing all of my Pokeballs against the ground, I yell, "Help me out!"
The team emerges in a shower of bright blue, a contrast against the red bolts of the machine.

"Oh shit." Rune says, looking up. "We're screwed, aren't we?"
"No! There has to be some way around this!" Bronze yells.

"We need to stop the machine from powering up." Khrys says, glaring up at Yveltal. "Now, power source, power source..."

"Can we try to find something that won't blow up? I'd prefer not to blow up today." Dill adds. "Just saying."

"The wires!" I say.
"What?" asks Sky.

"The wires on Yveltal! If that's what's powering it, we just need to take them out." I yell.

Everyone sends out their Pokemon, a hardy group of about twenty all sitting at the bottom of the

"Now... Aim for the wires!"
Fire. Thunder. Phantasmic energy. Bolts of every imaginable element hurl towards the top of the room, slamming into every wire. I bite my lip as a few hit Yveltal itself, but the legendary stays in its cocoonlike state, unmoving, unthinking.

Lysandre seems undisturbed. His eyes are narrow as he watches the destruction.

His apathy is terrifying.

It's not enough, is it?
A wire frays and then breaks away, the carnage ablaze as it falls to the ground. Shruikan puts it out with a loud sizzle, which fortunately doesn't cause an immediate electrical fire. Another slams in behind it, barely skipping a heartbeat.

"Ten minutes remaining."

Shauna gets to her feet. There's someone in the corner of the room.

"Rune, use Fire Blast!" I yell, and another wire comes crashing down, barely missing Chrona.

The white haired man in the corner looks up into Shauna's eyes with his own, which are surrounded by wrinkles and painfully bloodshot.

"Floette," he croaks. "It's been far too long."

"Ten minutes remaining." says a voice over the loudspeaker.

His hand moves over her arm, pulling away a sleeve to reveal old scars. "Your petals are withering, my dear."

She looks into his eyes. "Do you remember me?"
He nods. "I've been here a very, very long time. I have been searching for you."

She smiles in spite of herself. "You're AZ, aren't you? You're... my trainer."

"They need you." he tells her, placing his hand beneath her chin with a delicate brush, as if she was made of china, ready to shatter at any moment.

"It's all fake." she says, looking up at the calamity above. "Am I going to wake up again?"

He shakes his head. "This is the last time."

"What happens after we beat the game?" she asks. "Do I return to a world where no one speaks? Am I going to go crazy again?"

"Pokemon will walk as equals as humans." he replies. "There will be peace. Only you can bring it."

She sighs. "Cryptic. I'm going to have to find my own answers, aren't I?"

He nods.

"T-minus fifteen seconds remaining. Awaiting manual activation."

A light forms about her hands as she gets up. I turn from my team to her. The Fleur de la Mort shines in its full colors, red and black, a glistening beacon of destruction. The petals close up and shoot out a bright beam of light that runs straight upwards.

I can't take my eyes away. The pink blast is breathtakingly beautiful, shadow and energy about to collide when the beam turns, hitting the window near the control center. It shatters into a million pieces.

Lysandre's eyes widen, like a cat's. Diantha is clutching her dress as she looks over the edge.

"Clever." he says, his voice blurred by the broken microphone. "Diantha, what do you say we end this?" His hand reaches for a large button that must start the weapon.

"This is for all of us with hearts of gold," whispers Diantha, her voice just audible as a loud screech echoes from the microphone, malfunctioning as the control panel does. A crystal sword forms in her hands as she looks down at Lysandre, whose crouched over the button.

The sword swings straight under him, a bright blade cutting the area between him and the button.

He turns, but she's faster. A swing of the sword sends him flying back, and another sends him towards the edge, heartbeats from falling.

His cry is loud even from where we are. "You know that no matter what you do, I win, right?"

"I know. I can't imagine what you'd have to gain from an ending like this." she says. "Let me reassure you. I-" She raises her blade on high. He doesn't even flinch. "am not and was never your princess!"

The sword rips all the way up his arm, then she slams him forwards with the sheer force of the side, and he falls over the edge. I watch in panic and confusion as the body slams against the ground.

His eyes are blank, staring ahead at nothing. He's smiling even in death.

Has he really won anything this way?

The cut on his arm reveals the most, though.

Even through the blood, the past is still visible- there are faded scars on his arms.