Ten years ago.
The sun shone brightly over the lush, manicured lawns of the Williams estate. It was a perfect, idyllic afternoon.
"Blaire! Don't let her eat the grass!" Seth called out from the patio, leaning comfortably in a wicker chair.
"I'm trying, Dad, but she's weirdly fast!" Seven-year-old Blaire shouted back, scrambling across the lawn to catch a giggling, two-year-old Belle who was currently speed-crawling toward a patch of dandelions.
Seth laughed, a warm, completely unburdened sound. He reached over, lacing his fingers through Lisandra's.
Lisandra smiled, her thumb gently tracing the back of his hand. "They're a handful. But they're perfect."
"Just like their mother," Seth said, winking at her.
Lisandra rolled her eyes, but she didn't pull her hand away. At 30, they had truly built a paradise for themselves. Seth had officially taken over as the head of the Williams family, leading them into an unprecedented era of prosperity. Well, outside of his grand parents, he didn't really care for the rest of the Williams, even living separately from them.
Lisandra was revered as the League's foremost historical mind, all while both of them stood firmly at the peak of the Elite 4 level.
"Sauras," Seth called out, looking over his shoulder.
The ever-stoic, albeit slightly younger-looking butler stepped forward with a polite bow. "Yes, Master Seth?"
"Lisa and I are heading out for a quick field assessment. It's just a routine excavation near the Mt. Moon foothills. Keep an eye on the girls for a few hours, will you?"
"Of course, sir. Have a safe trip."
"I still don't understand how you manage to get mud on the back of your collar,"
Lisandra sighed, handing Seth a towel as they walked through the damp, subterranean tunnels.
"It's an occupational hazard of being this devastatingly handsome," Seth quipped, wiping his neck. "Besides, I was distracted. Did you read the morning brief? This 'Team Rocket' syndicate is expanding again. They swallowed up three smaller gangs in Celadon last night."
Lisandra frowned, shining her flashlight over a row of ancient ruins. "It's alarming. They're far too organized to be a standard criminal enterprise.
Whoever is leading them... they're a tactical genius. The League is completely stumped."
"A mystery leader, huh?" Seth mused, kicking a loose pebble. "Probably some old, disgruntled Elite with too much time and money on his hands."
Neither of them knew that at that exact moment, twenty-three-year-old Giovanni was calmly sipping espresso in Viridian City, finalizing the hostile takeover of the Kanto underworld.
"Whoever it is, the League will handle it," Lisandra said, stepping into the main chamber of the cavern. "Now, focus. The energy readings from this chamber are--"
ZRRRRT!
The sound wasn't an explosion. It was the sickening, high-pitched hum of space itself being torn apart.
Before either of them could react, the cavern went pitch black.
There was no warning. No preliminary scout. A massive, jagged spatial tear ripped through the center of the room, and the temperature instantly plummeted to freezing.
"Ambush!" Seth roared, his hand instantly flying to his belt. "Salamence!
Gengar! Defend the perimeter!"
But before they could do anything, a strong gust of wind blew everyone away, sending them 50 meters backwards.
Everyone except Lisandra.
Then, a dimensional barrier was created behind her, separating her from the rest, including Seth.
"Lisa!" Seth screamed.
He lunged forward, but a translucent, impenetrable black wall slammed down between them. He had Salamence use Dragon Pulse, but it did nothing.
On the other side of the barrier, the darkness parted.
Stepping out of the void was a figure clad entirely in pitch-black armor. Besides him was a Hydreigon at the Champion Level!
The Black Knight.
Lisandra didn't panic. Her sharp mind already focused on assessing the situation.
She calmly adjusted her glasses and unclasped six Poké Balls from her belt.
"If you are here for the fragment," Lisandra said, her voice perfectly even as her Elite 4-level team, led by her Gardevoir, materialized around her. "It is being guarded by the league. You have no reason attacking us here."
The Black Knight drew a dark, jagged sword from his waist.
"We've studied you enough, Lisandra Williams," the Knight's voice echoed telepathically, cold and hollow. "We know you would never trust the League to protect it. You keep it on you. Always."
Lisandra smirked, her eyes entirely fearless. "You're trespassing on my dig site, you edgy cosplayer. Gardevoir, Moonblast. Everyone else, full offensive!"
The 6-on-6 battle inside the barrier was a horrific, blinding clash of titans.
Outside, Seth was losing his mind. "SALAMENCE! DRACO METEOR! BREAK IT! BREAK THE DAMN BARRIER!"
He threw everything he had at the black wall. His Pokémon launched barrage after barrage of ultimate attacks, slowly chipping away at the archaic spatial lock, while the remaining League escorts desperately fought off the Ancient Kingdom grunts trying to flank them.
Inside, Lisandra was fighting a losing war.
Her team was incredibly powerful, their synergy flawless. But the Black Knight was a true Champion-level beast. One by one, her Pokémon fell, leaving only Gardevoir behind.
Lisandra could tell there was no way out.
"Gardevoir, if you can, then escape on your own!" Lisandra ordered, her breath ragged, blood trickling down her forehead.
"No." For the first time in her life, Gardevoir ignored her order. She fought with everything she had, pushing her psychic energy to the absolute breaking point. But as the Black Knight's Hydreigon unleashed a devastating, point-blank flamethrower, Gardevoir threw herself entirely in front of her trainer to absorb the lethal blow.
BOOM!
Gardevoir collapsed, her core shattered, her life fading as she fell at Lisandra's feet.
"No..." Lisandra whispered, her voice shaking.
CRACK!
Behind her, the barrier finally gave way. Seth burst through the shattered spatial wall, his eyes wild with desperation, his Salamence roaring furiously behind him.
"LISA!"
But he was exactly one second too late.
The Black Knight moved like a phantom. Before Seth could close the distance, the Knight lunged forward, driving his jagged, obsidian blade straight through Lisandra's chest.
With a sickening pull, he yanked the blade out, simultaneously ripping the silver spatial necklace from her throat.
"NOOOOO!" Seth's scream tore through the cavern, raw and agonizing.
Seth's Salamence attacked in anger, but was easily blown back.
The Black Knight stepped backward into the spatial tear, holding the blood-stained necklace. "You should never have tried to keep it."
The tear snapped shut, leaving behind absolute, deafening silence.
Seth slid to his knees, catching Lisandra as she fell. His hands were instantly covered in her blood. He pressed desperately against her chest, tears streaming down his face, his eccentric, confident persona entirely shattered.
"Lisa... Lisa, stay with me. Please, please stay with me. I've got you," Seth sobbed, his voice breaking. He released a Blissey to treat her, but it was no use.
Lisandra coughed, a thin trail of blood spilling from her lips. She reached up with a trembling, blood-stained hand, gently resting it against Seth's cheek.
"Seth..." she whispered, her voice incredibly weak, but still carrying that familiar, earnest warmth.
"Don't talk. Save your strength. We're going home. We're going to see the girls," Seth choked out, holding her impossibly tight.
Lisandra smiled faintly, a single tear slipping past her glasses.
"Take care of them, Seth..." she breathed, her thumb weakly brushing away his tears. "Protect our girls... and... don't lose that annoying smile of yours..."
Her hand slipped from his cheek, falling limply to the ground.
The light faded from her earnest, brilliant eyes.
Seth stopped breathing. The world around him ceased to exist. He pulled her lifeless body against his chest, burying his face in her blonde hair as an earth-shattering, soul-rending wail tore from his throat.
In that dark, forgotten cavern, the carefree, brilliant man died alongside his wife.
What rose from her ashes was a man consumed by an infinite, bottomless abyss of sorrow, despair, and pure, unadulterated hatred. He looked at the spot where the Black Knight had vanished, making a quiet, absolute vow that he would burn the Ancient Kingdom to the ground.
Present Time.
High above the Williams estate, inside the sealed spatial barrier.
Seth Williams stood on the back of his Mega Salamence. The warm, eccentric host who had greeted the children hours ago was entirely gone.
His eyes were dead, locked onto the Black Knight with a hatred so dense it felt physical.
"So..." Seth's voice was a terrifyingly quiet whisper. "...you finally showed up."
The Black Knight remained silent, his Hydreigon hovering menacingly beneath him.
Seth didn't waste another second. He reached to his belt, unhinging three Ultra Balls simultaneously. He tossed them into the air.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
Three titans materialized in the crimson-lit sky, surrounding the Black Knight.
A massive Charizard, its tail blazing with a white-hot inferno.
A larger than normal, Metagross, hovering in the air through sheer psychic mastery.
And standing perfectly balanced atop the Metagross, arms crossed, its eyes closed in absolute, lethal focus, a Lucario.
All three of them radiated the suffocating, cataclysmic pressure of true, Champion-level beasts.
"I've waited a decade for this, so you better prepare yourself."
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