"No! Elias!" Anne was at his side before he could fall, her arms catching him under his shoulders, her own scream raw in her throat. She lowered him to his knees, her hands flying to the horrific wound, applying pressure. "Rein! Do something!"
Rein didn't need to be told, he was already moving.
"Magmortar! Burn it. Close the wound."
Magmortar lumbered forward, one cannon-arm glowing with the terrifying heat of a welder's torch.
Anne squeezed her eyes shut but didn't let go, holding Elias steady as the smell of seared flesh joined the stench of smoke and ozone. Elias's body convulsed once, a silent, seismic shudder, before he went completely limp in her arms, consciousness fleeing the unbearable agony.
The sizzling stopped. The bleeding had been stanched by the brutal, necessary violence. A blackened, horrific ruin was all that remained below his left elbow.
Ellen was there an instant later. She shoved a Max Potion spray into Anne's hands.
"Use it on the stump! Then let's head to the ships. We need immediate medical extraction."
Above them, the war for the world raged on.
The Gigantamax Machamp's fissure had bought seconds, not minutes. Corodity thorned vines lashed out in coordinated sweeps, forcing the Gym Leaders to divert their attacks to defense. Mega Steelix erupted from the ground beneath it, only to be swatted aside by a trunk-like limb. Mega Gyarados's Hyper Beam scorched a deep canyon into its side, but the wounds seemed to seal over with rapidly growing, blackened thorns.
On the lead gunship, Elite Four member Paloma Nogate adjusted her mirrored shades, a faint, analytical smile on her lips.
"Fascinating regenerative properties. A brute-force approach is inefficient. Ragnar, Gracia, and Ren, prepare a status-lock strategy."
But before the Elite Four could engage, Giovanni seized the moment.
His Charizard, which had been weaving through the chaotic aerial battlefield, shot upwards on a column of superheated air, breaking free of the immediate fray. It hovered directly between Corodity and the League forces.
All eyes turned to him.
Giovanni stood tall on his pokemon's back. He held up a single ball. But it was unlike any other. Its color was a deep, mesmerizing violet.
The battlefield seemed to hush. The Gym Leaders paused. Caesar, circling on Noivern, felt a chill that had nothing to do with altitude.
A Master Ball.
"A remarkable creature. A force of pure, primordial chaos. The ultimate test of will. You fight to contain it, to destroy it, to survive it." His gaze swept over the gathered might of the Adele League, over the fallen Xycle operatives, and finally, for a split second, down to where Elias lay. "A waste of energy."
He raised the Master Ball higher.
"All power, in the end, seeks a master. It is the natural order."
Caesar's blood ran cold.
"No!"
"Charizard." Giovanni commanded, utterly calm. "Clear the path."
His Charizard unleashed a concentrated, blinding Hyper Beam.
"Dodge it, Noivern!" Caesar commanded.
Noivern banked hard, but the Hyper Beam clipped its tail. It cried out, spiraling momentarily, its flight disrupted.
But it was all the opening Giovanni needed.
He drew his arm back and threw the Master Ball. It flew, a violet streak against the hellscape, aimed directly for the thrashing beast.
A collective, horrified gasp seemed to be sucked from the battlefield. The Master Ball's programming would activate on contact, unleashing a capture energy field of unimaginable potency. Unbreakable. Inescapable.
Corodity would belong to Team Rocket.
The sphere was a foot from its target when a hand snatched it out of the air.
The battlefield froze. Everyone's attention turned towards the arrival of the figure in white. All their faces in disbelief and surprise.
The figure stood in the air before Corodity.
The wind tugged at his immaculate white suit and wide-brimmed hat.
Myles Payne.
His right hand held the Master Ball. His glowing green eye regarded it with a profound sadness.
He closed his fingers around the Master Ball and lowered it slowly. His sad gaze turned towards Giovanni before turning his back on him.
"Corodity doesn't deserve to be captured." Myles said, his voice resonating strangely, carrying to every ear without effort. "It is a being born from the darkness of mankind. It does not deserve a master's chain. It deserves… silence."
Giovanni's composure cracked for the first time. His eyes widened in genuine shock, then narrowed into blades of ice.
"Who are you to interfere? That is the property of Team Roc—"
"I am the consequence of desire." Myles interrupted. The sturdy, unbreakable casing of the Master Ball dissolved under his touch, the captured energy within harmlessly dissipating.
He raised both hands. The wooden markings on his right arm began to glow. with a warm, ancient, green-gold light. The light spread, tracing the veins up his neck and across the right side of his face, making his green eye shine like a beacon.
From the heart of that light, from the very core of his being, another presence seemed to emerge.
Corodity sensed the presence before it, and it roared a pure sound of hatred that made the gunships shudder.
"You remember this power, do you not?" Myles's voice was now a chorus, his own mixed with something vastly older, patient, and weary. "The power that bound you long ago."
The light intensified, streaming from his hands. It wrapped around Corodity. The violent purple fire in its eyes flickered, confused, as the light seeped into its form.
"You are pain given form. Rage made manifest. But even rage can be… put to sleep."
The ground beneath them responded. From the shattered earth of the Mala's Spine, from the burning forests, tendrils of pure, vibrant green energy rose and joined Myles's light.
This was the lingering will of Faradity, the Sentient Tree, awakened and channeled through its human vessel.
Corodity's roars turned from hatred to a deep, resonant groan of protest. It struggled, but the light was inexorable. It was a lullaby of stillness that made its movements slowed. Its colossal form began to shrink as the light pressed in.
Myles brought his hands together.
The light coalesced into a sphere around Corodity, compressing it further. The sphere solidified into a perfect, crystalline orb. Inside, frozen in a moment of eternal stillness, was Corodity, its form now a beautiful, terrifying sculpture of black thorns and muted purple energy, suspended in the amber crystal.
Myles stood alone, cradling the orb in his hands.
"Rest for now, beast of chaos... for your purpose has not yet arrived."
The corrupted pokemon on the battlefield blinked, their eyes clearing, collapsing in exhaustion or fleeing into the wilds.
Silence filled the air.
The cataclysm was over.
***
EPILOGUE: ASHES AND EMBERS
The medical bay of the lead League gunship was a white oasis of calm.
Elias lay on a cot, his chest rising and falling in the steady rhythm of deep sleep. His left arm was bandaged to the shoulder, the stump expertly treated and sealed. An IV line fed fluids and painkillers into his right arm. Anne sat in a chair pulled up to his bedside, still wearing his torn, soot-stained leather jacket over her own ruined clothes. She held his right hand, her thumb tracing slow circles on his knuckles.
The door hissed open. Caesar entered, still in his suit. He looked older, the weight of the day etching new lines around his eyes. He stopped at the foot of the cot, his gaze taking in his brother's pale face, the bandaged absence, the girl guarding him.
"The doctors say he'll live..." Caesar said, his voice hoarse. "The… the amputation was clean. The corruption was entirely isolated to the severed limb. There's no trace left in his system."
Anne just nodded, not taking her eyes off Elias.
"They also say that a scan shows… significant memory reintegration. Trauma. But also… foundational recall. He will remember. Everything."
Now Anne looked up, meeting his gaze. Her eyes were red-rimmed but dry, fierce.
"That's okay..."
Caesar looked down, his eyes tracing the floor.
"He is my brother... and he is an operative of a known extremist organization. What should I do?"
"I understand if you're concern about him." Anne said, her voice low. "But I want to tell you that Elias is in a good hands. They are not treating him bad in Team Xycle. Our boss treats him like he is his son."
"This Team Xycle that you two are part of... who is this Boss?"
Anne looked at him for a moment. Then, she turned her attention back to Elias.
"Our Boss name is Martin Tolly."
Caesar's eyes widened in pure shock.
***
Down the hall, in a makeshift debriefing room, the atmosphere was tense. Gym Leaders Kieve and Leon stood with Elite Four members Paloma and Ragnar. On a screen, the faces of other League officials were visible. Opposite them, leaning against a wall with nonchalance but eyes like flint, was John Wellingham. Makarell was slumped in a chair nearby, half-asleep, his Charizard and Hitmonlee's pokeballs being treated by a League technician. Faith and Ellen were giving quiet, precise statements to a recorder. Rein was conspicuously absent, having slipped away in the chaos.
"Your organization's presence here is a declaration of war." Kieve stated, his voice a gravelly rumble.
"Our organization's presence here is the only reason your Champion is still alive." John corrected, flashing a smile that held no warmth.
Paloma Nogate steepled her fingers.
"John Wellingham. You're a Novice Clash Champion. You have a good reputation with the public. It shocked me that you're a part of a criminal organization."
"Well... it shocked me too that you're keeping tabs on me, mi'lady."
"A really smooth individual too. It's a shame that you'll be arrested alongside that kid Elias."
John's smirk at Paloma's threat was a masterpiece of controlled insolence.
"Arrest me? On what charges? Loitering in a disaster zone? Providing unauthorized humanitarian aid? I believe the legal term is 'acting as a Good Samaritan.' My lawyers will have a field day."
Kieve took a step forward.
"How about conspiracy, terrorism, and association with a known criminal syndicate? Your 'Boss' is a wanted man. That makes you all accomplices."
Ragnar cracked his knuckles, a low growl in his throat.
"You talk too much. Maybe a cell will help you reflect."
"Tempting," John purred. "But I have a prior engagement. A debrief with my actual superiors."
He straightened his emerald velvet lapel.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to collect my children and go. The air here is dreadfully bureaucratic."
"You're not going anywhere." Leon stated, his hand on a pokeball.
John didn't stop. He merely raised a finger.
"Ah, ah. Check your external monitors."
On a secondary screen, a security feed showed the sloping battlefield below. From the shadows of the still-smoking wreckage of John's airship, squads of Xycle Eastern Sector operatives had emerged. They were in a defensive perimeter, facing outward, their pokemon standing ready.
"A stalemate." Paloma observed, her analytical smile returning. "How… pragmatic."
"It's been a pleasure, truly." John said with a theatrical bow at the door. "Viktor, Makarell—time to fly. We're burning daylight."
As John swept out, Makarell hauled himself to his feet with a groan, giving a sleepy, two-fingered salute to the stunned League officials before shuffling after his commander.
***
Outside...
Myles stood alone, the crystalline orb cool and heavy in his hands. The warmth of Faradity's power had receded from his veins, leaving him feeling hollowed out, the woody markings on his skin dull and inert.
The sound of careful footsteps on ash made him turn. Rein approached. His face was a storm of confusion.
"You… you sealed it." Rein said, his voice hushed.
"It is sealed." Myles corrected softly. "For now. The prison is strong, but it is not eternal. Nothing is."
"What are you?" Rein asked, the question tumbling out. "That light… are you... Faradity?"
"I am… what remains of it, but I am not it also." He looked down at the orb. "I am going to rest now."
And like a mirage, Myles was gone, leaving Rein alone on the blasted field.
***
Back in the Medical Bay...
The door hissed open again. This time, it was John. He gave Caesar a curt, unreadable nod before addressing Anne.
"The League is… debating our exit. The window is narrow." His eyes fell on Elias. "Can he move, little lady?"
"He's not waking up." Anne said, her voice tight.
"He doesn't need to." John said. He tossed a small, advanced-looking medical injector to Faith, who had just entered behind him. "It'll get him on his feet long enough to get to the transport. It won't be pleasant."
Faith caught it, examined the readout, and gave a clinical nod.
"It is within safe parameters for traumatic amputation recovery. It will induce significant disorientation and pain."
"Better than a League cell." John said flatly. He looked at Caesar. "Heya, Champion. This is where you decide. Are you protecting your region, or your brother?"
Caesar looked from John's challenging gaze to Anne's pleading one, and finally to Elias's face. The face of the little boy he'd failed. The face of his brother.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them, the grief was still there, but it was framed by a steely, heartbreaking resolve.
"The airspace to the south is… unexpectedly clear for the next ten minutes." He turned and walked to the door, pausing with his back to them. "There will be a storm there."
"Thank you." Anne whispered to his retreating back.
Faith moved efficiently, administering the injection. Within a minute, Elias's eyelids fluttered. A low groan escaped his lips as consciousness returned, bringing with it a wave of nausea and a phantom ache. His gray eyes were clouded with pain and drugs.
"An… ne?"
"I'm here." She said, helping him sit up. "We have to go. Now."
With Anne on one side and Faith on the other, they hauled him to his feet. He swayed, his vision swimming, the world a tilting, painful blur. John led the way, a path clearing before them through the gunship's corridors. They passed League personnel who averted their eyes, under orders or out of shared, unspoken respect for the price they had seen paid.
At a secondary hangar bay, a sleek, unmarked Xycle vertical-takeoff jet awaited, its engines whining to life. Makarell was already in the pilot's seat, looking slightly more alert. John helped bundle Elias inside.
Anne climbed in after him, turning for one last look. On the gangway, Ellen gave a small, hesitant wave, her Pikachu chirping on her shoulder. Faith adjusted her glasses and offered a single, firm nod.
As the hatch closed, Anne saw Caesar, standing at a viewport in the main hull, watching them go. Their eyes met across the distance. No words. Just a shared burden of love and loss, and the silent thunder of the war to come.
The jet lifted off, slicing into the "unpredictably stormy" eastern sky.
Inside, Elias slumped against Anne, his breathing ragged. He looked down at the bandaged stump that was his left arm, then at her face, his expression dazed.
"Are you… okay?" He asked.
Anne pulled him closer, resting his head against her shoulder, her fingers gently carding through his white hair. She looked out the viewport at the receding devastation of the Mala's Spine, at the League gunships growing smaller, at the wide, wounded world below.
"I am." She whispered.
As the jet disappeared into the cloud cover, a trail of smoke left the final message of Volume 1:
THE BEGINNING HAS STARTED
PREPARE FOR THE NEXT XYCLE.
- X
VOLUME 1: END