8:15 A.M. June 27, Saturday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events: The Preliminaries for the Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded; 105 Trainers and their Pokemon have advanced from Bronze to Silver. The day has come for the Summer Round Robin Cup, where the top of Kanto and Johto’s advancing Trainers will compete to be named Seasonal Best. Rhea started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 19 Days (18 Officially; 19 since getting Maya and Nova).

The pine-filled southern mountainous range of Rage Alps came into focus as Zelri teleported Lyra to the chilly location; Green, Kris, Sabrina, Giovanni, and the unconscious Shadow Triad were behind her.

Standing at the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the small town, Lyra stilled her pounding heart, taking a deep breath; her target was in sight. Her sweater helped buffer the high-altitude winds as her Pokemon scanned the population’s psychic signatures for the most mentally shielded targets.

Nothing was leaked throughout the night, giving Gorm and Plasma little time to respond. However, the organization had a command structure, and the moment the Shadow Triad lost communication with the current Plasma Executive in the region, she had no doubt he’d be planning his escape.

Gorm wasn’t a stupid man, and he’d have multiple ways out; there was a reason he evaded Unova’s League for so long—this wasn’t Unova.

Even if Lyra was technically borderline Legendary-tier, her Pokemon were no less skilled than any of her friends; in fact, they had playdates regularly with Gold, Kris, and Green, putting them on a different level than any other borderline Legends like Iris, Leon, or Dawn.

Diverting her attention to her glossy, spinning Pokemon, a small smile lifted her lips as Zelri discovered their target—Lock-On took effect.

Zelri surprised her by transmitting what she wanted to do, making Lyra’s bleeding heart leak lava. He-he-he, oh, you naughty girl! Did Conny and Mikayla bring that up? Hmm … I love it, and it brings everything full circle.

Sabrina’s full lips tilted into a frown. “I didn’t think … I would be joining you, Lyra.”

“Oh!” Lyra turned to give the woman a sorry wave. “I’m sorry to just kidnap you! Zelri and I are a little on edge. Would you like her to take you back?”

“One moment…” The Psychic’s glowing eyes intensified as she lifted herself into the air, the Porygon-Z taking over control of imprisoning the Shadow Triad. “No need. I…”

She paused, forehead furrowing while closing her eyes; several seconds of silence passed before her bright pink irises opened. “I was … unaware of such invasive methods.”

Giovanni, Green, and Kris’s somber expressions shifted to the Gym Leader in question before returning to Lyra.

“He-he-he … My, you’ve grown, Sabrina!” she complimented, clapping her hands. “Don’t you remember the days when we used to train a bit? You really helped me learn how to beat Psychics with Future Sight, but you’re in a whole different league now; Will should watch his back—heh, or his future!”

A tight smile moved Sabrina’s cheeks. “If you had such methods to begin with, why did you need me?”

“What’s she talking about?” Kris asked, crossing her arms under her chest. “I’m not following.”

Hands behind her back, Green nodded in agreement. “Yeah, sorry, Sabrina, but we’re not Psychics.”

Lyra tried to dismiss it with a short wave. “Oh, it’s just something I learned around the end of the Ultra War.”

Giovanni’s jaw and gaze tightened, but Green was the one to voice the Mob Boss’s thoughts. “Are … you talking about your Rainbow Rocket counterpart?”

Thinking back to the rather unusual battle with her alternate timeline double and the experiences they’d shared together, Lyra’s vision glazed for a second. “Mmh … surprisingly, yes … she made me aware of things I never thought I would use, but my short answer, Sabrina … Heh, because we haven’t really practiced it.”

“You’re talking in the theoretical?” Giovanni asked, and Zelri roused the assassin triplets, drawing everyone’s focus.

The Triad refused to groan, partially stunned, but staying true to their training; one whispered a soft prayer, though, “L-Lord Ghetsis … Save us…”

Lyra’s brown eyes flashed red as her pressure escaped her control again, Kris and Green dampening her aura at the same time Zelri created a Trick Room to keep the element of surprise. “Heh … Excuse me?”

The Porygon-Z floated him through the air to look at her fake smile. “Ghetsis … save you?” she asked, nose twitching with agitation. “He-he-he, who do you think he’ll rescue you from?”

Green snickered, glowing brown irises fixated on the trapped assassin, who’s lungs were in danger of being crushed by just their pressure. “What, do you think we’re just eye candy? You’re in Kanto and Johto—this isn’t Unova, but let’s play fantasy for a second. Your god is on your side? Go on, get Ghetsis—no, all of Plasma … As a matter of fact, go get all your Legendary Pokemon—I’m alright with that drama, ‘cause we don’t play games here.”

“We play a whole different kind of battle.” The corner of Lyra’s lip twitched, her voice cracking, “Mmh-heh, I will always do what I have to, to keep my daughter safe. I don’t care what the law says, or any moral code—if you take shots at my family, I’ll find your definition of pain—it’s a fact; you get the best of me—eh-he-he-he, and here I am … So, watch and report.”

Zelri slid his headband down to gag the assassin, and Lyra retracted her pressure, allowing the Triad to gasp for air. The Trick Room dropped and she returned her focus to Maroon Town—it was already over; she was just savoring what was to come.

Sabrina’s voice was hoarse, as much as Giovanni’s would be, unable to keep her composure under three Legendary auras. “I’d like to go over it with you when you are free…”

“Dangerous stuff,” Lyra smiled. “I’ll tell you what … become Champion, and I’ll explain it to you—you’re one of the few people in the world that would have the skill.”

The woman’s Training-focus would strengthen at the challenge, and with a nod, she vanished in rainbow lights, returning to her city; Lyra hoped it would motivate her to break past the barrier she’d been hitting—she liked Sabrina.

A hot puff of air shot through Lyra’s throat as she had Zelri pull the trigger.

Gorm was using the basement of a small bakery, and judging by the way business was moving as usual, she figured he’d either hypnotized the employees or they were sympathizers.

Kris, Green, and Giovanni watched the Virtual Pokemon drop the Shadow Triad, teleport into the city, take over the three-floor bakery’s power grid, cut it off, and teleport in to snatch all the Plasma members.

Even with the mental dampeners, Wonder Room, and Psychics scanning for danger, none of them could out-finesse her. Zelri identified the hostages in the blink of an eye, and in that same blink, as darkness took them, the Porygon-Z crushed the barrier and forcefully transported the group to Lyra’s back.

When she turned around, never had Lyra felt such a cold numbness touch her heart, and the smile moving her lips and eyes reflected it. “We finally meet, Gorm.”

The white-haired sage blinked, vision shifting between his stunned group of three Psychics; it was the Shadow Triad’s attempts at finding their feet that kept his attention, though. Gorm couldn’t even shift his weight before Zelri trapped them into a box.

“How … unfortunate,” he muttered, holding up his hands upon seeing Green and Kris beside her and the barrier locking them in. “You have me curious, though … How did you discover your daughter was in danger—what miscalculation did I make? Given the location, and their departure location, it should have been a fortuitous blind spot.”

Giovanni rolled around his neck, using a handkerchief to wipe away the perspiration on his forehead from the forces released moments earlier. “That’s beside the point, Gorm.”

Walking past his sweating Psychics, the well-dressed man balled his fist and punched the elderly sage in the face; Gorm’s reinforced physical fortitude helped to mitigate the blow, but Lyra was impressed at the strength Giovanni had managed to build since they last fought.

Two teeth were knocked out as the Plasma Admin was sent tumbling to the ground.

True to their reputation, the Shadow Triad vanished, using their ninja arts with fortitude training to use their blind spots to attack; Lyra had asked Zelri to give them the breathing room to help mitigate some of her angst. The Porygon-Z stopped the one attacking Giovanni in midair as the second leaped toward Gorm.

The third, however, went after Lyra, and she patiently waited, allowing the moment to sink in; Kris and Green didn’t bat an eyelash as he came up behind Lyra with a Banette, Bisharp, and Accelgor, their pokeballs being transferred to him from his brothers in the brief second they split.

She’d been waiting for them to make a move; Plasma Admins and the Triad used cloaking technology on their pokeballs, giving them the surprise advantage, but Zelri sensed the technology—it was more fun this way—the barrier swapped to Trick Room, the rose and violet blocks switching to sapphire and rose.

The pull of gravity lightened as pressure surrounded the attacking figures, and Lyra casually sidestepped the man’s grasping hands, aimed to rip out her jugular, making use of her physical fortitude to snatch his wrist.

Accelgor’s Unburden failed, its strength not having the hope to counter the room’s effects.

Using brute strength alone, she yanked him closer, popping his arm out of place to be punched in the face by his own Bisharp, but using his unusual ninja arts that resembled Koga’s, he somehow moved through shadows to her back.

It was useless, though; she could track every twitch of his gathering aura, and so she maneuvered the much slower Accelgor’s trajectory by tapping its side while skirting its strike. He barely managed to lift his chin in time to slip past, but a sharp, concentrated pulse of her pressure caused him to lock up.

Bisharp’s energy going into its Pressure, Defiant, and Inner Focus were overwhelmed while Banette's Mega Evolution collapsed mid-transformation. There wasn’t a thing they could do as Lyra’s crazed aura crushed their spirits—this was her at her strongest—able to unleash everything within her heart, and the difference between High-Master and borderline Legendary.

Green popped her tongue, brown locks shifting with her head. “Wow … you gotta give it to them; they’re quite persistent.”

“I hate Plasma already,” Kris grumbled, glaring at the Triad member psychically paralyzed beside the stunned Admin—a sharpened stone was inches away from Gorm’s throat. “Killing their own comrades?”

Giovanni stood before the floating man beside him, hands held behind his back while leering at his intense eyes; the veins on their foreheads popped, trying to break free of Zelri’s hold. “That would require them to see them as comrades.”

Gorm cleared his throat as the Porygon-Z let him go, stumbling to the side and licking away the blood in his mouth. “Ugh … Might we be a little more civilized?”

“Civilized?” Lyra sneered, reaching to put both her hands on the trembling Banette’s face to squish it a little. “You had my daughter on a kill list … We are long past civility,” she muttered, unzipping and zipping the ghost’s frowning mouth as her dense aura became visible. “Conny, Mikayla…”

Her 5’4” Azumarill exited her pokeball, red aura frothing off her body as she stretched out her arms, tail creating tremors in the rocks as it was crushed to dust by its beats and fractured the stone.

Conny’s 5’7” counterpart jumped out beside her; the Wigglytuff’s expression was less than friendly as the two sallied up to the Pokemon and Triad member.

“Break them…” With Lyra’s Pokemon and her unleashed pressure together, none of them could move, and even Giovanni and Gorm were having difficulty.

“I’m going to be very, very clear,” she said, squatting down beside the shaking Admin as Riga, Bailey, and Dowo joined her; every emphasis she made was followed by a sharp snap as her two puffy Pokemon shattered the Banette, Accelgor, and Bisharp’s energy matrix before ripping, breaking, or folding their bodies in debilitating ways—Zelri preventing their screams. “I have a very, very specific plan in mind for you.”

Clearing her throat, Lyra wore a cold smile that stilled his heart as she looked into the man’s trembling silver eyes. “Oh, he-he-he, but it’s not my plan!” she chortled, gesturing at the colossal 10’4” Herb Pokemon beside her. “You see, Bailey here wanted to disintegrate you with a Solar Beam, but we also had to think about the environmental damage … eh-heh, do you realize how strong her Solar Beams are at full blast—totally amped? I don’t want to damage the tectonic plates!”

Scratching her head, she took one more breath, patting the Meganium’s side as grass grew underneath her feet. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked him, locks bunching at her shoulder as her head tilted. “Couldn’t you see this coming?”

A hard lump gradually fell down his Adam's apple. “We can talk about…”

Two Pokemon jumped out of their pokeball, likely attempting to catch her off-guard by being so close—Cofagrigus and Sigilyph, trying to launch an attack, yet both split the stone foundation as a pulse of concentrated gravity from her Girafarig sent them deep into the rock-face; it didn’t damage their energy matrix, but they’d be unable to do anything if they couldn’t escape its push.

Tears were starting to well up in Gorm’s eyes as he realized just how futile it was to even resist, but this was only the foreplay. “L-Lord Ghetsis … My Lord, save your disciples! Come with your almighty power! Bring the Ice Dragon’s frozen world to this region!”

“Who do they think you are?” Green muttered, watching Conny rip parts of the tattered Banette open to reveal its insides and cause it severe pain—pain the Triad members felt. “Humph, I’m getting annoyed at how arrogant they are—it’s not like they can’t sense how outclassed they are, and their attempts to fight back are pathetic.”

Lyra shook her head. “The strongest people they’ve had to fight are Iris, Hilbert, Hilda, N, and Alder … Unova’s still young in their newer generation, but you came here to start trouble?”

Her tongue slid across her lips. “Kris…”

“Mhm!” she asked, walking forward; she wasn’t too thrilled about the Triad and their Pokemon being thrashed, but this was still within the boundaries.

“What do you think would hurt Gorm the most?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know … Killing his Pokemon?”

Lyra slowly shook her head as a grinding sound filled the area, Dowo forcing the Sage’s Pokemon back up as Bailey whistled a sweet song that thrust the three to slumber. “To make him betray everything he believes in—and these will be the witnesses.”

Straightening, she restrained her aura, pivoting to direct a vicious grin at the fainted Psychics and Triad; everything was coming into focus. “Giovanni, I need your pin.”

“His what?” Green asked, eyebrows lifting. “Okay, I was lost before, but now I’m orbiting the planet.”

Kris pulled back her blue hair and groaned. “Lyra … How can we keep you in check if you don’t tell us what you’re going to do!”

Giovanni’s tight lips parted in disbelief as the gears clicked into place, vision sliding from Grom to Zelri. “Betray everything … This isn’t Hypnosis.”

Lyra shook her head and held out a hand. “Your pin!”

“You learned this from your double? The project was a failure,” he whispered, reluctantly unclipping it.

“Nuh-uh-uh!” Lyra teased, giving him an excited grin. “As I told Sabrina, it takes a lot of skill, power, and the right conditions. Zelri, if you could demonstrate!”

She held up the pin for the Porygon-Z, and she attached it to her forehead, causing the gem to illuminate. “As you can see, Giovanni’s badge is actually a hidden storage device, housing all of his little secrets!”

Gesturing at Gorm as Conny woke up the witnesses with freezing water, she continued the explanation. “The conditions? Gorm must be asleep; if his Pokemon aren’t as well, they might execute him by ravaging his spirit—gotta be careful,” she happily instructed.

“You see, the other me was a pretty smart cookie! See, Zelri was designed for a particular purpose.” Her grin tilted to Giovanni, “She called it Trace Analytic Spirit Adaptability Download—Project TASAD.”

Giovanni shivered. “You’re … going to transfer his consciousness into a digital prison—his body will die, but his brain will live on in the cage Zelri creates in the data block.”

“Ooh! Okay, that’s pretty sick,” Green muttered.

Kirs rubbed the goosebumps on her arm, watching the Shadow Triad’s eyes bulge with fear. “That can’t be all?”

“Of course, not … Giovanni?” she asked, giving her father-in-law a light giggle.

He adjusted his suit, walking forward to study the Porygon-Z’s work. “Zelri was among Rocket’s experiments in creating a digital Pokemon—something Galactic copied for their Rotom project. Among many uses, this was among the most promising … Only Cynthia’s Porygon-Z could be considered stronger.”

Digital blocks and panels scanned the sleeping Admin’s body as Lyra bit down on her thumb, feeling elation welling up within her.

Giovanni pointed at the process. “Trace scans every fiber of Gorm’s anatomy in conjunction with Analytic, allowing her to use Lyra’s as a guiding blueprint to find his spiritual signature … Adaptability boosts and gives the Pokemon the ability to mold itself to synchronize with a human’s spiritual signature … Download converts it into a digital form to lock into cyberspace.”

He hissed. “It didn’t work, though … No Porygon-Z was able to fully harmonize all four Abilities, and Dubious Discs, which gave them the Adaptability upgrade, were far too expensive and volatile to mass-produce.”

“H-Hold up,” Kris’s hands were already tight against her bust when he started the explanation. “What about his Pokemon? Are they…”

“Connected to his spirit,” Lyra chuckled. “Locked into their own little separate cages where they can see each other, I guess, but unable to interfere because of the coding.”

Lyra casually walked over to the Triad and looked one of the untouched triplets in the eyes, voice crisp. “In short, Gorm’s entire life … every … little … detail is totally unprotected and readable to Giovanni. Any false memories, half-truths, or corrupted ones are quite simple to differentiate between with the data so openly available.”

Her hair whipped around as she faced her father-in-law. “Also, while Cynthia’s little darling might be more powerful, I’d say Zelri is more controlled. That being said, in short, I’ve given you the key to dismantling everything Plasma has built, Giovanni. They started a war with the rest of the world … And I couldn’t care less!”

Voice turning nasty, she shot a hateful glare at the unharmed Triad brother’s quivering eyes. “You could have gone after Giovanni—me—my husband … It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest, but the moment you set your sights on my daughter—my daughter! Heh … Was the second you had my undivided attention,” she spat, nose twitching and voice shaking with fury.

“Gorm will be living an endless nightmare—unable to die, acting as an unwilling informant, trapped in a hole so small—you couldn’t even fathom the discomfort. The instant he’s deemed no longer of use … he’ll be placed in an isolating corner to feel his Pokemon be ripped to pieces—byte by byte—until he’s alone to ponder on the single … fatal mistake of targeting my daughter—thinking about his lapse in judgment for all eternity!”

Glare tilting between the disbelief of the Psychics and Triad members, Lyra gestured to Zelri as Gorm, and his Pokemon fell limp—the badge’s radiance faded. “You are the witnesses, so spread the news … Don’t cross my family or friends!”

Her six Pokemon rallied behind her, Zelri dropping the lifeless corpses of the spiritually dead Pokemon and human. “Nod if you understand.”

It took a second for them to move past the fear by the intense pressure pressing against their pounding hearts, but eventually, she got it.

Crusade concluded; Lyra shoved the pin against Giovanni’s thumping chest. “I’m sick of this,” she snarled. “I gave you the key—unlock the door, and do what you do best … If this message isn’t properly received…” Her lower lip trembled as she pulled it under, trying to keep her storming emotions from breaking out of the blizzard she’d covered it with. “I don’t know what I’ll do next time…”

He didn’t need to say anything; a single nod was enough.

Zelri teleported the Triad and Psychics into the western sea with the expectation they’d find their own way back to wherever, but returning to Johto wasn’t an option. Giovanni was delivered to his ivory tower to begin war plans with Ariana and Matori, leaving Lyra on the barely stable cliff she’d used.

The single breath she took after Zelri transported the throng away was enough to smother the boundless inferno within her breast. Legs giving out, Green was the first to catch her quaking figure as she curled up in the woman’s strong arms.

Kris and her Pokemon closed in to hold her as she sobbed—she felt like an utter failure—what kind of mother was she for not protecting her baby girl from this trauma? Why couldn’t she face Amira without breaking down and probably hurt her more?

Silver was there, but that wasn’t fair to her husband—she hated her weakness—the guilt, terror, and odium swirling around her soul was crippling, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop weeping.

Why can’t I be there for my daughter when she needs me the most? I’m a coward … I hate this emotionally unstable side … I just want to be a mom … a good mom … I’m sorry, Amira … I’m so sorry…