Starr's Blue Flare dealt a CRITICAL 316 damage to Shield! Shield went down!
"Hah! You guys didn't even hurt me that... t..."
Sword finally opened her eyes to see what had happened. Shield was on the ground, flames slowly going out on his back. He was collapsed over her in a position that suggested he'd blocked the hit.
And then came Brisa. She saw Shadows--she saw Blacklight. She saw the fierce look in her eyes. She saw darkness. Images flashed in her mind--she didn't even guard.
"Shield... I..."
"Sword...?"
"This... m-maybe fighting was a mistake, I--"
"Sword!"
"I don't... think I'll be able to--"
"Sword, look out!"
"Wha--"
Brisa's Blacklight Bolt Strike dealt 1055 damage to Sword!
Brisa's Z-Burst dealt 1916 damage to Sword!
...Is what would have happened.
Shield blocked the hits! Shield barely endured!
He fell to one knee as Starr and Brisa backed off to regroup and reevaluate--no doubt preparing for the counter-volley from Sword that simply wouldn't come.
"No! This... can't be... happening! Shield! Shield!!" Sword breathed hard, only a small relief coming when he staggered to his feet for the second time. He was battered and it didn't look like he would be able to take another hit... Something about that look scared her.
That desperate look in his eyes. He pulled at her, trying to break her free of the Worldcore. He was tearing apart before her eyes and he refused to let her go. He smiled but all she saw was pain.
That look as he embraced her, that hopeless feeling of Dark Matter's assault when she was completely fucking powerless.
The Mew stared in stunned awe as Shield collapsed again to one knee, laughing weakly. "Sword, c'mon... you need to... focus..."
"N-no, I... you..."
Suddenly, she forgot she was in Destiny Colosseum.
Xerneas' ethereal form loomed over her. The Charmander's flame dimmed. "Wh-what do you mean?" Sword asked, laughing nervously. "Me? Mew? What's... the point of that? You pulled me aside right as we're about to approach the Tree because of some dumb myth? I'm not Mew. Look at me! Not a pink patch of fur on my body!"
"And how did you know Mew had pink fur?" Xerneas asked.
"I--" Sword's voice hitched. "I... I must have read about... it..."
Xerneas' eyes were grave. "You sealed your memories, Sword, so you could handle Dark Matter during his inevitable return without past traumas. But circumstances have changed. Something worse than Dark Matter looms above. You... need to unlock those memories now, and we need to try again in another few ages, like before."
"I, I'm not leaving Shield. I'm not doing this again... We can still--"
Xerneas held up a hoof. "I'm using all of my power just to project myself to you now. Dark Matter... is going to take me soon. You must hurry..."
"But what do I do? What's up there?"
"A horrible power... and a horrible person. I don't know much more. But there is a battle raging even now, and..."
"And I still failed..." Sword sank to the ground, holding Shield's arm. "I... after everything, after that plan, after this, I... still can't keep it together. I can't focus... I can't... even hold it together for a stupid fucking sparring match!" She slammed her fist in the ground. In the dust and chaos, Brisa and Starr were incoming, and Incineroar was having trouble seeing what was happening.
"You're... you're the better fighter, Shield! Y-you do this! I--I quit! I give up! I'm... You're the one who deserves to stay standing!"
Sword used Healing Wish on Shield! Shield was fully healed!
Sword's HP went down to 2,000!
Shield gasped and sat up. Energy flowed through him at an incredible pace. Brisa and Starr were closing in. Perhaps they'd pause after seeing how weakened they all were--or perhaps not. Would he take that risk?
He glanced at Sword. She was trembling, lost, distant eyes. She was looking somewhere else. Oh, no--he knew that look. Why now? Why here? He thought she'd gotten through this, but something must have triggered it.
Sword, meanwhile, could only stare distantly as the Blacklight power corrupted her fur. But Darkwhite didn't laugh. She had the same distant look, frightened tears wetting her cheeks.
---
The ground trembled. The tree split apart. Xerneas' words echoed in Sword's head. "We're too late?" Shield asked. "How... h-how, when we just..."
The Riolu fell to his knees as a great light split apart the heavens and the earth. A roar sounded from the top of the Tree long before they had the change to ever ascend it. "Where's... Red? Where's Silver? Did they go on ahead? Why are we so slow... Why couldn't we have..."
"Sh-Shield? A-are you okay? This'll... this'll work out, right? Don't lose hope yet!" Sword laughed too quickly. "We can still... win! We can't give up... we can't..."
The hopeless, grave look in Shield's eyes drained the color from her scales. Her flame was a flickering ember. Sword bit her lip. "I... No, I... thought... we..."
"Sword... I-I guess I'm not the human to save the world after all. I'm sorry..." He smiled helplessly. Sword smiled back but she didn't know why. None of this was funny. But she liked when he smiled. He didn't do it often.
They embraced. It was all they could do. Shield squeezed her tight. Sword held him in return. His fur was so warm... but he was shaking. Gods, how he was shaking. He never showed that kind of weakness until now, until the world was really ending.
Was that really how it was going to end...?
No...
There was still more she could do! That last piece of power Xerneas had given her... It would mean discarding her mortal form... undoing the seal... perhaps retrying all over again and again and again... but it would save Shield. It would save the world. Just a little longer...
An overwhelming, white light overtook the world.
"No!" Sword said. "I'm... not... done!"
Turbulent energies battered against them. Shield cried out, and then went silent. But Sword focused--with all her might--and...
Silence.
Sword opened her eyes and gasped--Shield was next to her, the Riolu battered and burned from some strange energy. But he was breathing. Around her was a void of blue skies and stars. "H-huh?" She rose up and spun. "A-ah! You're..." The memories flooded back. "Dark... Matter..."
"And you are Sword... just like I remember you. How foolish to think your plan would ever work... AHAHAHA! Look at you! Even weaker than last time... a failure of a Mew!"
Sword gasped, looking down. Yes--she'd become a Mew. And she must have Teleported them right to...
The Tree. Or some place inside it... or perhaps even Dark Matter's own dimension.
In front of her was a black sphere with hazy tendrils reaching out in all directions. Hopeless statues floated in the void of so many Pokemon. But a few were unconscious, but not petrified--allies she recognized. Red, Silver... Even a Nidoking that she didn't quite recognize, but seemed like a human, too. There was a Mewtwo still standing, looking blankly at Dark Matter. And there was a Hydreigon...
"...Blade!" Sword said without thinking. "Blade! What are you doing here?!"
The Hydreigon looked back. "I'm--I'm sorry, Sword. It looks like Xerneas did his part, but... I couldn't stand up to him after all. The gamble..."
"Failed! And only made me stronger! A Voice... approaching me! If you lost... I would have gained the powers of Life itself! Now... come here, Blade... and join the void!"
Hydreigon tried to fight back halfheartedly, but it was no use. He disappeared into the black core...
Mewtwo watched. His fingers twitched. Something huge was flying through the sky--and then Sword realized that it was a drifting, titanic leviathan, completely petrified. Red crackles of electricity ran across Dark Matter's shell occasionally.
"Blade... is no more!" Dark Matter declared. "Forever sealed inside me... You have given up your last hope to EVER defeat me! And now, what will you do... Sword? Now that every single ally... has submitted to their end?"
Sword glanced at Shield, then gasped--he was turned to stone. Then she looked at the rest of her allies. Stone. Statues. Lifeless.
It was just her.
"Where am I?" Sword asked.
Dark Matter let out another cruel, ethereal laugh, like a taunt. "Look down."
Below them, far below, was the forest and the Tree of Life's destroyed trunk. Except... it was all in ruins. It was all dissolving into nothing but dust to float through space. The sun itself was getting closer and closer. It was getting hot...
"And even better... I found a new vessel," said Dark Matter, wrapping a tendril around the empty-eyed Mewtwo. "The human had created the perfect fighting machine. A soul so weak that I overtook it just by being nearby. No will of its own... such perfect emptiness... With this, perhaps I won't need to return to the void with you all. Perhaps I can return more..."
Sword launched forward, reaching, but realized her body was heavy. She gasped and looked down. Her lower half was stone. "N-no! No!"
"It is already too late," Dark Matter said. "Now... put on a good face... as your end finally comes."
Up to her chest, but Sword refused to fight even then. She reached out to Mewtwo. Whoever you are... fight back! You don't want to work for him! Fight back, and... and...
It was fading. Sword's mind felt muddled.
And please... save...
Mewtwo's fingers twitched again.
"Grrr... what?!"
Something burst from Dark Matter's core--the head of a Hydreigon, and then his upper body. From his mouth was one final blast of energy, aimed blindly upward--toward the biggest, most sure-fire target possible. It struck Eternatus--the stone cracked away.
"What..? What did you do?! Submit, already! Die! DIE! DIIIIIIE!"
"Whatever you are..." Blade said, "I gave you... a portion of my power. Please... save us! And then... we'll save you!"
"Pest... how dare you defy me when you are already in my domain! I will make sure you suffer, even in nothing..."
More stone chips fell away.
"What now?"
A wave of distorted energy pulsed through the atmosphere. A shower of meteors that had been part of Eternatus' core flew in all directions--most of them dissolved into nothing. But three seemed attracted, practically like a magnet, toward the three spirits that were still there.
"Uff--!"
Something pierced Sword's chest, lodging into her heart.
A meteor slammed into Blade's chest, spewing ethereal mist from the wound. The cyan haze turned red as a strange energy coursed through Blade, drawing in Dark Matter itself, who was screaming in agony.
But the biggest meteor of all--it flew toward Mewtwo, who turned around. He reached out toward it, tried to hold it with Psychic power--but it had no effect. His eyes widened--and then it struck Mewtwo, vaporizing him instantly. The mist of Mewtwo's spirit siphoned into the huge meteor--and then slammed into Dark Matter next, silencing his cries entirely.
Eternatus let out one final cry... and then its core dimmed, and it floated there, motionless.
Sword's vision faded. Dark Matter's corpse of a shell swirled with untamed energy, black-red clouds overtaking her vision.
And then...
She woke up in Cibus.
---
Sword woke up in Shield's arms in a tight embrace. She gasped. "Wha, wha? What?"
"It's okay," Shield said.
"It's going to be okay."
"Shield... what're you doing, huh?" Sword laughed, rubbing his shoulder, pulling at his aura sensor. "You silly, I'm fine..."
"You had an episode," Shield said. "We don't need to fight. We can give up."
"What...?"
Sword looked behind Shield. There was an extremely powerful barrier surrounding them both--it seemed to be soundproof, because Brisa and Starr were completely inaudible. And the barrier itself was bright, too hard to look at. Brisa and Starr could only see, vaguely, what they were doing in the dome.
"It appears that Shield is trying to buy time!" Incineroar called, but the pair could not hear him. "That barrier is powerful... could they be planning a retaliation plan in the middle of battle!? Leave it to Shield, the ultimate defense, to pull off such an amazing feat!"
"Shield, I... I know what happened to us," Sword said.
"What?"
"I remembered... I..." She shook her head. Her tears were real, but she didn't feel scared anymore. It was overwhelming and strange and confusing and at the worst of times, and yet... She was happy. All of these swirling emotions, and yet she felt like she was in control. There was clarity. Like she could finally understand how she had arrived. What led to her
being. It was all... there.
"...Sword..."
"Huh?"
"You're... Sword, right?"
"Uh... yes?"
Shield moved Sword's arm forward so she could see its purple, chaotic fuzz. Her eyes widened, and she felt a brief urge to giggle, but it was washed away with awe. She was in control. She, Darkwhite... was focused. Herself.
"...I..."
How was she supposed to feel, now?
She...
Had everything she wanted, just then, she realized. Nothing else. For that one, precious moment, she was content.
Shield embraced her again, but that was when reality returned to her. "Hey, hey! Enough, enough!" She smacked him on the nose, earning a stunned yelp. "We've got a fight to win, remember?!"
"B-but you--you said you remembered--"
"Laaaater, the memory's not going anywhere! We gotta win, right? Uhuhu..." She coughed. "Hang on, wait. Hrnnn
nnnn... Uhuhuhu! We gotta beat them up good, don't we, partner?!"
Shield stared, blinking, but then glanced at his flickering barrier. "...Right. We... we do. One last stand, Sword. But... it's not going to be easy. They might win."
"Uhuhu... Then we'll just have to make 'em work for it! c'mon! That barrier won't break yet! Let's get some buffs going!"
He couldn't help but laugh. "All right. Let's get started."
Shield expanded the barrier, thinning its shield, but keeping the effect. She taunted Brisa and Starr silently with a 'come on' gesture as he entered his usual stance, arms close, legs limber. The barrier let sound through again, slightly, and the crowd's excited cheers echoed throughout
Darkwhite bobbed and weaved, making punching gestures.
"Okay, Sword!" Shield said. "Let's show them what Telum's heroes can do!"
"Failure only means we've learned more!" Darkwhite said.
"And I'm fuckin' good at failing!"
Sword and Shield Rallied each other up! Both their Speed went up by 4!
Shield Focused! His status ailments disappeared!
Sword Focused! She's playing seriously now!
Sword and Shield are immune to everything for one turn only!
Brisa: 250, Z-Busted
Starr: 628, Substitute
Sword: 2000
Shield: 1000
