My throat shrieked. I panted, chest heaving. I looked where I was. Exposed to everyone and everything in the universe. Between my front legs, still curled up into a ball, was Pat. Our eyes met. He closed them and grabbed my right arm. His form vibrated, he didn't say anything. He didn't have to. I understood.

I leaned down and nuzzled him briefly. Just enough to reassure him I was here, and to reassure myself he was safe, before I steeled the little left of my courage and turned to face her. The demon.

Her face was expressionless, utterly humorless, flames cracked behind her.

"I'm here. So.. so just, stop it. Please, just stop." I whispered out. Knees weak.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

"Ronny! There you are." Her tone light, the shift was dramatic. Night and day. Moon and sun. Villain and hero. "I've been so worried about you. Hehe. You look absolutely awful, had a crazy day or what?"

Silence passed in the night.

"Hmm, well? Aren't you going to say hello? This is a momentous occasion. We've never met in real life before. We should commemorate!"

Her mass levitated towards us, arms out. I shuffled Pat further down beneath me, cocooning him.

"Please, just stop. Don't hurt anyone else. Please." I felt pathetic.

"Ronny, Ronny. Come on, I know you didn't just try and give me an order, you know how I feel about orders.." Shivers.

"I- no, no. Of course not, but I'm here. You don't, you don't need to fight anyone anymore." I rationalized quickly. Pulling her attention away from everyone else, especially Pat.

"Ahh, how noble! Heehee, but unfortunately I can't do that. I told that creature. I was very clear that if he lied to me again I'd end his life. And he lied again! Ignorant, foolish brat. So if you'd please move." She wasn't asking. Pat gripped me tighter. I cowered further. She readied another attack. Orbs of her energy swirling in her hand.

“Wait! Please, I’m begging you. Please! Don’t!” I shook my head back and forth. “He can’t hurt you! You showed everyone just how powerful you are! You’re the strongest! Please, have mercy!” I beseeched her, fully aware of her capacity to display mercy. I still begged regardless. She put her arm out, the maelstrom of energy cocked ready to let loose.

“Move.” She wasn’t asking.

“Please.” I shut my eyes, I pulled Pat close. The world fell to darkness. I closed my eyes. Sensations came to me, a frightened child below me who just bravely stood up to the most vile, despicable, heinous, maleficent force I had ever encountered in this world. All for my sake. I wasn’t, I couldn’t just watch him die. ‘Not him.’

Death didn’t come for us, we teetered on the edge. A great chasm from which there was no return. I dared not look in lest I fall. We two guildmates gripped each other, the only stability in the sea of danger. I held him to keep him safe, I held him to stave off death. But there wasn’t anyone to stave off my death. I was rebelling against Celebi, not effectively but there wasn’t any other word to describe my actions here. There were zero hesitations in my mind about what Celebi was going to do to the two of us. It wouldn’t be pretty. It would probably hurt. And it would be the last thing either of us experienced.

I felt myself slipping away, my sense of self slipping into the ephemeral rift that separates consciousness and subconsciousness. My mind was trying to escape what my body was going to face. Trying to garner a sense of calm here at the end, the end of my struggles. It really didn’t matter whether I had stopped the crisis, if Necrazma was defeated, if I ever got home. That all seemed trivial, another Lairon’s problem. I was just a husk, my own mind abandoning my body as it sensed the inevitably of the end. ‘Why had I left my hiding spot? Why had I jumped to save Pat if I knew this was how it was going to end?’

The question seemed so odd, like the answer was simple but it was eluding my understanding. I couldn’t fathom why and so I flip-flopped between accepting I’d never understand and demanding an answer. ‘If only I was invincible, like Axe.’ Where had he been flung off to? I hoped he was okay, I was sure that once Celebi dealt with the two of us, she’d leave and they’d all be safe. ‘Yeah right.. Fat chance..’

Death loomed as seconds felt like hours, but never descended. My body urged me to open my eyes, yet my mind was vacant. ‘Better to await the unavoidable conclusion than seek it out.’ I concluded.

Laughter. Laughter like bells, delicate ones that would chime amazing harmonies, strummed by the wind. I opened an eye. Celebi was laughing, her spine dipped back, she grabbed her stomach, wings flapped as she did loops in the air. After a minute she settled down and floated up to my face, I could smell her. Rafflesian.

“You are just the funnest thing, Ronny. All of our wonderful time spent together, night after night. Me showing you extraordinary things. You cowering in fear, running, hiding. Me searching you out, hunting you down. You begging, crying at every moment for me to send you home, spare your life. ‘Oh please! Oh please, Celebi! Take me home! I want to go home! Please, please! I don’t want to die!’ What a wonderful game! And I came here to play it with you one last time” She reached out, cupped my cheek. I couldn’t squirm away. “And here you are, begging, crying, just like the insignificant worm you are. The weakling. The scum cowering in the dirt. You understand. You know exactly what you are. Your words are like milk and honey to my ears” I tried to pull away from her hand to look anywhere but her hypnotic eyes. She ripped me right back into her gaze. Those blue eyes.

“You want to save the flea, that tick, that has snagged on to you? You want to save its worthless, meaningless life?” Each syllable was spat at me. I nodded.

“Very well, Ronny.” She stroked my check like she would a lover, an equal. “All you have to do is tell me, in that wonderful way of yours, exactly what you are. Let me hear it.” I gulped. Hope in the sea of darkness, a way out for Pat. I just needed to lie. I’m a great liar. I could do that. I would do that!

“I’m.. weak.” She nodded.

“I’m.. worthless..” She hummed and smiled.

“I’m pathetic..”

“Yes.”

“I’m insignificant.”

“I’m nothing.”

“I’m terrible.”

“I’m just a bug beneath your feet.”

“Yesss. Yessss. Good, more” She stood up to her full height and planted one of her feet on my head. Its weight pressed me down. My nose was in the dirt.

“I’m just a nobody. A speck of dust. A stain on the ground. A pebble to be kicked aside.”

“Good job, Ronny. Louder.” her heel ground into my head.

“I’m trash to be thrown away! I’m just a waste of space! I’ll never be anyone important! Just a thing!” Tears flowed down my cheeks. The thirsty ground drank them up.

“Yes, you’re doing so well. Now, what am I?”

“You’re the strongest.”

“Of course.”

“You’re all-powerful.”

“Completely right.”

“You’re more amazing than I could ever dream to be.”

“Perfect.”

“Yes, you’re- you’re perfect.”

“Hahahahahah! You are correct, Ronny. I am perfect. There is not a Pokemon alive that can imagine being my equal. I am your queen, your goddess, your idol! Everyone, every Pokemon in existence, lives by my graces only. I should be worshiped! Revered!” She paused. I felt her lean down over me. The extra weight shoved some dirt into my mouth. Salty. “Just like you are now.” She whispered. I grit my teeth, clenched my eyes, tried to ignore her. To tell myself that’s not true. I don’t worship her, she’s a devil. She’s evil incarnate. A demon from depths of hell walking around in the body of a Pokemon. She was the one that wasn’t a Pokemon! She’s the one who pulled me into this world! She’s the one who hurt my friends! She’s the one who threatened Pat’s life! She’s the one who deserves to be under my heel! She’s the one that needs to be punished!

Rage built bricks and stacked them high. I couldn’t think of anything else. Of ripping her apart, of shredding her to pieces, of slashing out her eyes, of dismembering her limbs. I wanted to kill her!

But I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. I wasn’t strong enough. Not to resist Celebi, not to save Pat, not even to save myself. I had tried, night after night, on and on without end. The scars and trauma of lifetimes spent in her mental prison weren’t there on my flesh, but they were in my heart. I was broken. Beaten before even one move was unleashed. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, do anything. Because in the the end of everything I had ever done, everything I tried to do, there was one truth I could lie to anyone about, anyone except to myself. ‘I’m a weakling. I can’t save anyone. I’m not a rescuer. I’m just a liar.’

“Shut the Frack Up!!!” A voice, a rumble, a break of dawn. A rescuer. A hero. A Partner. ‘Axe.’

We both looked to the side. He was uneasy, he was using a broken branch from the Sakura Tree as a crutch. Bruises lined his sides. Colliding with Lux and falling to the ground must have injured him greatly. He breathed deeply with each step. A wince as he scaled the hill back towards where we were. His right eye was swollen shut again.

“I can’t stand to hear another Frackin’ word come out of your damn mouth, you overgrown fungus!”

“Axe.. why? How?” I asked aloud.

“Axe, what a suitably droll name for a droll creature.” Celebi said above me.

“Who asked you for your damn opinion?!” Celebi snorted.

“You are two steps away from death’s door. Yet you walk into danger, insult a superior being like myself, and question what gives me the right to judge you. Well, since you asked. It’s rather simple, but I’ll keep it short so even a moronic, brain dead, walking corpse like yourself can understand. I beat you! I won! There are no rights granted to the losers. Only the strongest have any power.” She teased him. He kept walking up the hill, step by painful step. I couldn’t believe it. Below me I felt Pat wiggle.

“Loser? Who lost? I haven’t!” He said. ‘Axe.’ Celebi scoffed.

“You’re going to challenge me, injured like that, alone. Brain dead is too high of a praise for someone like you.” Axe just laughed in response, though he gripped his side in pain and winced.

“I’m not alone.”

“Excuse me.”

“Funguses are best sauteed with savory oils and salt. Best as a side accompanying dish to a more hearty and filling main entree.” A Salandit wobbled up onto the top of the hill. “Care must be taken to ensure that the stalk isn’t rotten however, as that will irreparably impact the taste and nutritional value of the food.” He didn’t look too bad, just off balance, but psychic injuries affect deeper tissues so it was hard to tell. 

“Ditz, I wouldn’t eat this one. It already looks rotten, but after we pump her full of toxins, the only thing that would survive consuming her is a Garbodor. And even that might be a stretch.” A spider crawled out from under a pile of branches. Silk bandages holding her cuts closed.

“I’ll burn her to ash before even that becomes a problem! Use her to fertilize our herb garden, then she can atone for the destruction with something useful.” Our Lampent said behind me. 

I looked around at the four of them. Miraculously, they were standing. They were all incredibly injured, but they were standing. Defiant expressions on their faces, I couldn’t describe what they looked like. Sure? Certain? They had just been soundly defeated without Celebi even taking a hit. Even if by some magic they were able to fight again, there was no way that they were going to win. It would be a slaughter all over again. Yet they stood ready to face her.

Pat wiggled out from under me. He hopped up on my back. From what I was able to tell, he was staring down Celebi as she looked from one guildmate to another, slowly circling her.

“Well, well. If this isn’t a fun surprise. None of you are dead. Congratulations are in order, I was trying to kill you after all. Quite sloppy on my end."

"Ha!" Axe laughed, "I've fought actual deities that hit harder than you. You're nothing compared to them."

"Oh, have you?" The five standing members of the guild closed in from all sides. She looked at each one in turn, her face hard to read. I was frozen, Pat stood on my back.

"Yeah, Axe and Ron are heroes! They saved the world!" He shouted. 'Pat, shut up! What are you thinking? What are any of you thinking!?'

"Heroes? Don't make me laugh. There's no such thing in this world." Her voice was cold and emotionless. 

"Yes, there are, you meanie! Ron saved my life! He's my hero. He's everyone's hero! He's 'the chosen one'!"

There are times when you just watch something happen and immediately know the consequences of that event. A connection with the laws of causality and capacity to understand them. You hope that whatever happens inevitably resolves in your favor, but the world isn't like that. Not this one and especially not this moment.

I cringed, gnashed my teeth, squeezed my eyes shut. Tired to hide from the consequences of a year of actions. Two worlds impacting, they had been on a collision course for the past hour. But this was the moment, a year in the making that would do my undoing.

Celebi blinked at him, like a cog just slipped and her thought process ground to a halt. It was the first time I had ever seen her surprised. Eyes wide, speechless. She chuckled, then chuckled a little more, then a little more. Her body got into it. Head rolled. Shoulders wiggled. Belly shook. Terrifying.

"I'm sorry. Did you- hahah, did you just- hahahaha. 'Chosen one', you think little Ronny is a 'Chosen one'?" She laughed. I looked at the dirt, wondering if it could swallow me whole and bury my shame forever. "Oh Ronny, Ronny. What stories have you been putting into these fools' heads? Chosen one!"

"Don't you dare laugh at him!" Axe yelled at her. The four were getting closer. Looking for an opportunity to strike.

"But it's just so comical, so humorous! So utterly, completely absurd! Why would Ronny say that? I have to know, tell me. Tell us, chosen one." I didn't answer. I didn't look at anyone.

"Ron doesn't have to explain a Frackin' thing to you!" He threw his crutch at her, it plunked off her barrier and clattered to the ground. She turned towards him, I followed. He looked angry, more angry than I had ever seen him. His left, ruby iris was blazing. His hands trembled, fists bleeding as his claws dug into his palms. He took a step forward and another and then he was running. He screamed as he sprinted towards her. Puffs of dust like smoke billowing with each foot fall.

"So loud, I'll shut you up now." Celebi said as Axe charged, Energy Ball at the ready. I felt a pressure on my back. Pat's form sailed into view. Celebi was distracted by Axe, she probably discounted Pat as a combatant. So he sailed right past her barrier.

His Bite came down right on her arm. Her scream was visceral as it dug its way into my ears. She flinched in pain, but tried to fly away.

"Not on your life! Toxic Threads!" Purple, gunky, gross webbing shot from Ada. Celebi had no chance to avoid it. Her ensnarement was assured, the toxicity of the strings quickly seeped into her skin, withering the her plant like flesh. Her screams intensified.

Lux was next in the dance, the rondo of offense. Her glow above was tinted red, the vibrant mauve concentrated in her hands.

"Pat, jump! Shadow ball!" The swirling orb of concentrated miasma moaned as it traveled down towards its target. The miserable mist blasted Celebi back to the ground. Lux caught the Patrat in midair.

Celebi coughed and hacked as she stood up. She looked absolutely dazed, stunned. But the onslaught wasn't over.

"Ditz!" Axe yelled. He was closing in on her. His tusks shined in the dying ember and starlight.

"Lickety split!"

"You scum! You cowards! You-"

"Oh shut up." Ditz said as he grappled her from behind. Locking her in place. The final blow on its way. "Mince this mushroom, Axe!"

"X-scissor!!!" He leaped right towards her. His tusks bursting with his aura. A finishing blow, quad effective. 'Axe..' I thought in awe. He sailed through the air, a missile on target, a hunter pouncing towards prey, an invincible hero. My hero.

Time stopped. He froze in air. Momentum halted. The feeling of swimming in mud, a strange sense of deja vu, and an infuriated tormentor.

"That's twice, twice these damn rats forced me to do this. These freaks, festering boils, morons!" I turned my eyes to look at her. Vibrant, violet lifeblood surged around her form. My head kept still, 'Twice?' She flailed in Ditz's grapple. Ditz didn't even shake, nothing but Celebi. 'And me?' I wiggled a toe. It moved, 'and me.' I kept that fact to myself. Celebi groaned and snarled in one, it was beastial.

"Blasted poison. Future sight!!" She yelled. The world shuttered. I vibrated without moving. Flew without jumping. Blinked. And I was back. 'Wait? That's..?"

"Ron doesn't have to explain a Frackin' thing to you!" Axe screamed. The weight of Patrat on my back. My guild mates were closing in.

'This happened, before. I know it did!'

The plink as wood hit ground. Axe charging in.

'But, it will happen differently.' The images of my teammates as they were picked apart one by one streaked through my mind. 'Not again!'

"Oh, just shut up." Her hand came up.

"Axe, stop!!" I screamed. He stuttered, Celebi flinched back away from Pat and me. I didn't know what I was doing, all I knew is something bad would happen if I did nothing. "Celebi! I'll tell you, I'll tell all of you." She was startled, eyes wide, antenna rigid. I continued, I hesitated, but I pushed ahead. The cage of festering fears gripped me, submerged me in its filth. A wave of nausea crested over my fragile heart. 'The alternative is worse' I told myself.

"Axe, Pat, Lux, Ada, Ditz…" I turned to them all one by one. Their eyes on me, not on Celebi. 'Good.'

"I.. lied." I said. It was the hardest two words I ever said together. My joints locked up as I said them. I took a deep breath in.

"Everyone, I lied!!" I shouted.

"I'm not some damn 'Chosen One', I'm not a hero, I'm not a rescuer. I'm a liar!!"

"I've been lying to you all for months. There's nothing special about me. There's no prophecy! I made it up. I lied so you would help me, so I could get home! It's all fake, I lied!" I panted, the excursion reminding me of my chest injuries.

"What?" Lux said.

"Ron, this isn't the time. Let's kick her ass and then we can talk!" Axe said as he turned back towards Celebi.

"Don't you fucking move!!" I roared at him, he looked back at me, the emotion in my body pushed me to my feet, it also must have knocked Pat off my back since I didn't feel him anymore.

"Thunderbutt, what are you doing?" Ditz asked.

"Just listen to me! Just stop fighting and listen!" 'cause while you're listening, Celebi isn't killing you.'

"It's a lie. The only thing I ever wanted since coming to this world, since becoming a Pokemon, was to go home. Go back to being human! I didn't know who I was, where I was, or even what I was! I just wanted my memories back, my life. But I was stuck here with no one. Not an iota of understanding why!" I breathed, they were all looking at me. Their eyes. Their damn eyes as they looked upon me, the liar.

"But I learned, I discovered how, it was her, Celebi." I pointed a paw. Celebi was still looking very stunned, but also just as rapt as the others.

"She stole me from my time, my world, and threw me here. All so I could stop the world from ending, stop Necrazma. She told me that if I did, she'd send me home. But, I was weak, alone. I couldn't do it. So I ran away, from her, from all of you, to find another way. But there wasn't one. I ran all the way to Massive Mountain to beg Palkia to send me home. But they couldn't, so I fought them. Axe appeared and somehow we won. He brought me back and I knew that my only way home was by stopping the world from ending. But I couldn't do it alone. So I lied to you all, I said I was the chosen one, that I was going to save the world, and that I needed help." I stopped to breathe again. In that moment, Axe spoke up.

"But we did stop Necrazma! We did save the world! What the Frack are you saying?!" He said, confused and angry.

"I’m saying I lied! I did it to go home! I didn’t do it to fix this blasted world!" I shot back. "That was just the deal! That's the reason, that was the only reason! I stop Necrazma, Celebi sends me home. She’s only here to take me home. Away from this doomed world. Do you understand?!”

“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand a Frackin’ thing. I’m telling you, we saved the world! The wind came back! The Frackin’ tree bloomed! We fixed everything. It’s alright now!” He screamed back at me. I was angry, days of repressed feelings and emotion that I beat away minute after minute or get trapped in the mire. They burned through me now. They surged through my veins and I felt out of control. And I didn’t see any need to regain it. I didn’t see anything through my tears.

“You’re wrong! You couldn’t be more wrong, you stupid lizard! It’s not okay, it’s not fine!.”

“The world’s not alright, Axe! I’M STILL HERE!!!!” I felt my voice shutter, my throat seize. My chest flared with pain. The tears fell, soaked up by the dirt under me.

“I’m still here, and I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be here. I want to go home. That’s all I want. So, please, just stop fighting Celebi. Just let me go home. I just want to go home. You can’t beat her and I need her to take me home. So… just stop. Just stop.” He looked hurt, I felt hurt. I did hurt. But I didn’t lie. I briefly glanced at the others. They hadn’t moved. They just stared at me. Lux, Ditz, Ada, Pat, … and Axe. They didn’t move as I walked up to Celebi. She still looked just as shocked as my… my guildmates.

“Celebi, let’s go…” I said as I neared her. She blinked, I didn’t even register that I gave her an order.

“Right.” She said as she shook her head to clear it. She swept out her arm. A ring of her neon psychic energy bordered us. I wasn’t paying attention. Small pebbles and leaves started rising. I felt an odd sense of weightlessness. ‘It’ll be okay. They’ll be okay. It’ll be okay. They’ll be okay.’ I repeated the two phrases over and over. Believing them with all my being and soul, as much as my wretched being and evil soul were worth.

Larger objects, branches, Celebi herself started to rise up. The wind around me howled in my ears. I felt cold. I felt empty. ‘But I hadn’t lied, why don’t I feel better?’

“Ron, Ron, wait!” I heard over the noise. It grabbed my attention, as much as I wanted to ignore it. To stew and dwell in my misery. ‘Just go away, just leave me alone.’

“Ron, wait! Look at me!” I shook my head at nothing, a passing Blast seed filtered up through my vision. ‘Go away.’

“Ron, don’t go. Just look at me, it’ll be okay. Just look at me! I’ll save you, just wait!”

‘Save me? You’ll save me? Me?’ My eyes widened. My tears were blocking my vision, I blinked to clear them. I was rising off the ground. One of my feet just lifted.

“Ron! Please! I’m coming to save you, just hold on!” I started breathing heavily as another one of my paws lifted up. I looked around, left and right, for my savior. He stood at the edge of the psychic ring. Ripping the metaphysical curtain apart with his claws. I could see the veins of his arm bursting. Red claws, rending a hole in purple light. Breathing heavy, fighting against a power he couldn’t hope to beat. Yet he struggled. Our eyes met, mine filled with tears, his filled with determination. “I’ll save you. I swear it!” He yelled at me. A third of my legs lifted followed by the fourth.

His portal widened, enough to step in. I was rising, slowly, but surely.

“Axe..” I whispered. The sound must have died on the wind, but he reacted. He redoubled his efforts as he broke through the last barrier. He fell to the ground just inside the ring. He was slow to rise up, but I wasn’t. I was getting further away.

“Axe!” I said a little louder, floundering in the air. He pushed up off the ground, his breath was shallow, drool was frothing on the edges of his mouth, his claws were bleeding, his side was an ugly purple, ribs were probably broken. By all accounts, he should have been down for good. He should have been completely defeated. But he stood all the same, like I had seen time and time again, his infinite energy, his indomitable spirit, his invincibility.

“Axe!!” I shouted as I reached for him, flailing in midair. He finally got to his feet.

“Ron!!” He returned. He hobbled towards me. I rose higher. He was inches away but our distance apart was growing.

“Axe!” I extended my hand.

“Ron!” He jumped.

We reached, we missed. I rose higher. And purple light filled my eyes. That and tears.