By the time Rena and I got to where Rudi was supposed to be at, the whole world came crashing down. We were too late.

At least, that was what it felt like. But, if I felt like that now, I'd be in for a rude awakening later. As for now, everything was happening so fast that I wasn't even sure how to react to it. I saw the fighting with all the Team Oblivion members. Rudi, Hilbert, Hilda, members of Team Miasma, and a handful of Trainers were fighting their hardest, both with and without their Pokémon. I would've joined them. That was what my plan was, but something else happened.

They were all fighting in the middle of the streets while Rena and I came out of the dark alley way. What ended up happening was a lot worse. Someone kicked out their foot, and I crashed head-first into the ground.

My head bounced from the ground, and I could feel the blood already trickling from my nose. I brushed my fingers over my forehead, finding the red liquid was dripping from there as well.

A voice laughed.

"Finally, we have you just where we want you, Swanna Girl," the voice sneered.

I turned onto my back, to look up, but no one was there. My hands pressed into the ground, so I could sit up, except I couldn't see a thing but the shadows that cascaded from the buildings.

My back was turned towards where the Central Area of Castelia City was. That just so happened to be where everyone was fighting. I, on the other hand, just looked to see where this voice was coming from.

This voice had to belong to the person who tripped me. If that person wanted to slow me down, I was sure a Pokémon attack would come next. I had to be ready.

"Not so brave after all," the voice echoed in my head.

I turned towards where the voice was supposed to be, but nothing was there.

This should've been a nightmare, but it wasn't. Hilbert had told me. He told me there was another way of telling if the nightmare was real or not. I just couldn't find another sign that would make this situation real. Everything was crumbling into pieces, and Yveltal was making sure I felt the pain.

In case this was real, I had to keep going.

"Smarter than you look. Cute," the voice laughed. "Maybe this will be more fun than throwing your brain into oblivion."

Oblivion. A state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening. Funny how evil organizations would use a word that means the literal thing of what they were getting at. I should've realized it sooner.

If their name was Team Oblivion, then it wasn't just fear they wanted to rule by. It was that they wanted everyone to be completely mindless.

Just then I saw the two electric blue eyes popping out of the shadows as a man walked underneath the destruction Pokémon. My hand grabbed my Poké Ball, knowing this was it. This was the final battle to decide it all.

One wrong move, and it was game over. Not that any of this was one of those games Rudi would play in his free time. None of this was ever a game. This was life. And in life, I had to make the hard decisions to do what was right, to make sure everyone was safe.

I would be the one to decide how this battle was going to end. After all this organization has done, there was no way I was going to lose. Oblivion wanted to make everyone to be trapped mindlessly in their own fear. How did I not see it before?

That was why I was a big target. Becoming Swanna Girl the first time, I faced any fear I had. I didn't care what the consequences were. What I did back then, I did to make sure everyone felt safe.

I stood up and planted my feet into the ground. There was a time I was fearless, before Team Miasma was around. I didn't have any reason to be afraid. The reason I was afraid after was due to my own insecurities. After a while, I should've returned back to my old self, had it not been for Team Oblivion coming around once more to strike fear back into me.

There was no way I was going to let that happen again.

My hand grabbed Swanna, Mienfoo, and Audino's Poké Balls as I knew this battle wasn't going to be won alone.

"You think you're so courageous, full of valor," the voice in the shadows claimed. "Cute. But you're just as cowardly as your brother. Do you know why I had hired him in the first place? He could see into the future, and with technology that I had Isaac Nox mindlessly make, well, I could look into them as well."

"What do you mean mindlessly?" I asked. "He's worked for you this entire time, hasn't he?"

"You really think a man of that status would work with me? Nonsense. It took a bit of convincing for him to actually join us out of free will. But it's none of your concern. After all, while it doesn't seem to have an effect on you, the Visoner still did it's job. Don't worry, it'll soon work on you. Imagine what Unova would turn to if I had Swanna Girl killing everyone off. Imagine the fear people would have if their favorite super turned evil.

"The whole world would be begging at my feet," the man sneered.

Fear.

He wasn't going to have it from me. I was no longer going to let fear run my life. Not now. Not ever again.

"Good luck with that," I warned as I threw out my three Poké Balls to help me out with this battle. "Because you're going to have to go through me first."

As if sensing my determination, all of my Pokémon flew from their Poké Balls and glared over towards the man in the shadows.

The man in the shadows. How could I have not seen it before? Lethe told me that everyone in Team Oblivion had their own pseudonym that meant something to them. I'd seen him once before, knowing he went by the name Shadow.

Just what was this man hiding?

"Oh, you think I'm going after you?" the man asked. "How precious. But there's no need for that. Instead, you're going to watch as I burn everything you love right in front of you, starting with that blonde haired boyfriend of yours."

Whatever courage I had before vanished right before my eyes. I couldn't let him get to Rudi. Not when I had just lost my parents, my Swanna, and my Pokémon Center. There was no way I could let him take anything else away from me, not when I feel like I had just gotten him back about a year ago. I couldn't let them take him away from me.

Not now. Not ever.

Shadow didn't say a word as he stood in the darkness, but his Yveltal, it flew past me, shooting attacks from above. I quickly turned around to follow the Pokémon, but I was stopped by four gigantic Pokémon blocking my way. These Pokémon were a Sigilyph, two Krookodiles, and as always, a Zoroark. Team Oblivion seemed to have a whole army of Zouras and Zoroarks.

"Like I said," Shadow's voice said from behind. "I'm going to have you watch everything you love burn in front of you. It would be a shame if you were to spoil my plans here."

My Pokémon quickly ran in front of me. A part of me wanted to run around them, but that Sigilyph wasn't going to make it easy. Instead, I had to find some way to defeat them all before it was too late.

There was no way I was going to let any of my friends died, especially Rudi.

"Swanna use Ice Beam," I started yelling to all my Pokémon. "Audino use Disarming Voice. Mienfoo, Swift! And Musharna—"

Before I could call out a move for her to use, and while my other three Pokémon did exactly as I asked, there was a small explosion from behind. I watched as the attacks I had already had my Pokémon perform hit the three Pokémon along with something from behind.

Both of the Krookodiles, Sigliyph, and the Zoroark had fallen right in front of me, showing a boy with messy brown hair and silver eyes standing there with his Zoura, Umbreon, and Stunky.

"Stay away from my sister," Lethe growled towards the man behind me.

The man chuckled as I turned around. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that because you'll be doing the work for me."

I looked back at Lethe who looked as confused as I had felt. What did Shadow mean by that? Knowing that Lethe wasn't on their side—despite all the harm he's done to us—I knew Lethe meant what he said.

When I turned back to Shadow, I noticed the man looking directly at Lethe.

"Now, I must ask you, whose side are you on, Lethe?" the man asked.

I turned around seeing Lethe's silver eyes slowly darkening to black as his face hardened. Shadow laughed behind me.

"You have ten minutes until he returns to normal," Shadow explained. "Until then, he's completely oblivious as to who you are. Lethe, destroy her."

Seeing the look in Lethe's face made me realize he wasn't in control. If anything, he was in trouble. He yelled for his Pokémon to attack mine and while they did, Lethe--himself--joined the fight, running towards me as fast as he could.

I dodged the punch was thrown my way and left my foot out, tripping him down on his face. It pained me on the inside knowing that he wasn't himself, making me come to a sudden realization. Lethe might have never truly been himself before. If Team Oblivion could hypnotize someone temporarily--like Lethe--to stay on their side, then it was no wonder why they'd become so dangerous.

Right now, I couldn't let myself get distracted by that. Rudi needed my help. Everyone did. I couldn't lose someone again. I wouldn't be able to handle it.

Seeing how Lethe was forced to fight me only made it that much harder. I took a deep breath as I ran as fast as I could into the open square, seeing all my friends fighting for their lives against members of Team Miasma.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rudi fighting Shade Krait hand to hand. But then I saw the admin grab a knife out of her back pocket.

With the distance I was at, I knew I couldn't make it out in time.

"Braviary Man! Watch it, she has a knife!" I screamed.

Rudi quickly dove as Shade swung the knife at him. I sighed in relief as my boyfriend quickly changed tactics to dodging the attacks rather than throwing the punches. For a moment, I could feel like everyone was going to be safe.

But it didn't last long as a dark beam of energy hit me from above. I dodged it in time, looking up, seeing the Dark-type legendary setting it's eyes on me. Ponyta Crap! There were too many fronts I was fighting on. As if proving my point, someone tackled me to the ground.

How could I have quickly forgotten about Lethe? I tried ripping myself out of his grasp, as he pinned me to the ground, my back turned towards him.

Lethe lowered his head so his lips reached my ear. "You're going to watch the world burn into oblivion."

I looked up, as if that was the cue for things to take a turn for the worst. I watched as Hilda was thrown to the ground. Hilbert didn't like that, as he started charging towards the grunts that had hurt her, throwing his punches at anyone that got close to her. His attempts weren't enough as someone grabbed him from behind.

Hilbert tried to flip the grunt over his shoulders, but in response, he made a mistake. The grunt he tossed over landed right on top of Hilda, who was still unconscious. Hilbert responded by throwing out some more of his Pokémon from his belt and making sure no one got close to Hilda until the girl regained consciousness to fight once again, despite not being fully fit to do so.

They weren't going to give up so easily, so I turned my attention to look at the next sequence.

Rena seemed fine on her own as she rode on her Hydreigon and sending the attacks from above. I watched as she had her Hydreigon and Golurk send their attacks at Yvelta, not caring about the consequences. The legendary wasn't fazed the least, sending attacks below.

It wasn't until the legendary used its tail to toss the ground type to the ground that my attention snapped to another Trainer.

Rudi.

He was always so strong. Being a superhero was always something he was good at.

Seeing him fight was another story though. It looked like he was struggling more than ever as I saw the blood gushing out of his arm from his suit. Rudi didn't let it bother him though. He just fought the Team Oblivion member to the best of his ability. The good news was that her knife was far gone.

But the bad news was the attack I saw Yvelta throw at him.

"Rudi! Watch out!" I screamed.

Right as the words came out of my mouth, I felt Lethe grab the back of my hair and yank me up to my feet. It was painful, as if he was going to tear the hair out of my head, but I pushed the pain out of the way as I elbowed him in the stomach.

Lethe anticipated the attack, grabbing my elbow and twisting my arm painfully behind my back.

"You really think I'm going to you take me down that easily?" Lethe taunted.

This wasn't Lethe. This was a mindless human being at the moment. I just had to snap him out of it, and help my friends and the countless Trainers that were trying to stop the villainous team.

"Lethe, this isn't you. You need to stop," I hissed through my teeth as the boy twisted my arm more and more. "Come on."

"You think you can break through me so easily, think again? I have no family, no one that cares for me. I want you to feel just the way I did," Lethe growled.

"I am your sister!" I screamed, as tears fought their way out of my eyes. "So stop this madness because you are not alone. You're never alone."

"You were never there!" shouted Lethe.

"Because I grew up thinking our parents were dead," I fought as I stomped on his foot and turned around to face him, readying my fists to fight. "I don't want to fight you, so don't make me do this. Please, Lethe."

Something flickered in his eyes. The terrifying, mindless expression quickly flickered away.

I had a chance to get to him.

Lethe swung his fist at me, but I dodged, kneeing him in the stomach. Lethe hunched over before he grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder. I flailed my arms and kicked my legs to try and get out of his grasp, but it didn't work.

"I know you're in there," I argued. "Lethe, come on, listen to me."

"You think you can talk me out of this? Then you're wrong," Lethe growled as he threw me off his shoulders.

I flew from his arms as my back hit the ground, my head bouncing the moment it made contact. Tears fought their way out of my eyes.

What was the use if I couldn't make it through to him?

"Get off of me you stupid bird!" I heard Lethe yell.

I turned to my side, seeing Swanna pecking my brother. He flung his arms in the air to distract him, but it didn't work as Swanna was persistent. I gave a painful smile as Audino rushed to my side and knelt beside me, placing his hands on me. The healing power flew from his hands as he took the pain away, but it wasn't enough to heal the pain in my heart. I still felt conflicted about Lethe, but seeing how much it hurt me to see him get harmed made me realize that it didn't matter. He was still family. Good or not, I couldn't stand to see him like this.

Audino helped me to my feet just before I noticed Lethe's Dark-type Pokémon standing behind him. It looked like none of his Pokémon approved of Lethe's sudden change of sides which meant when I ran to help more of the fight, they were there to follow me.

Author's Note:

Will Shadow kill off Sylvia's friends, or will Sylvia be able to change that from happening? Will Lethe's vision come true, causing this to be Sylvia's final battle? Only a couple of chapters left to see how this story will unfold. Until then, I would love to hear your predictions.

Hope you are all having a great day. Bye.