Inyssa blinked twice. "…Excuse me?"

"Sure, consider yourself excused," Mesprit said.

A vein popped up on her forehead. I'm gonna find a way to astral project myself so I can punch you in the goddamn face, she thought.

"I think what she meant was that we… don't get it," said Barry, scratching his cheek. "What do you mean you're responsible?"

"Might. I said I might be responsible," Mesprit whispered. "You see… that man Cyrus, I might've wronged him in the past and it's possible that's the reason he's after us."

"Do you think this might be revenge?" asked Uxie, its tone intrigued. "It would be justifiable on his end, though I don't see why he'd target me as well."

"Hey, time out again!" Barry raised his hand high, frowning. "I could really use a whistle for this. Anyway, what are you two talking about?"

"What happened between you and Cyrus?"

"It was Azelf who started it." As it spoke, Inyssa could make out a hint of defensiveness in its voice. Whatever Mesprit was about to tell them, it really didn't want to. "We hadn't heard from our sibling in ages, and one day out of the blue it tells us we need to meet. And when we arrive at Lake Valor, what do we see? It'd bonded with another human!"

Inyssa startled for a moment, her eyes going wide. That meant…

Barry asked the question for her, his voice full of disbelief. "A-Azelf bonded with Cyrus?"

"I know, right!?" Mesprit shook its head, letting out a scoff. "This bastard spends thousands of years lecturing us about how bonding with humans is pointless and a waste of time, and then it goes and does it anyway! And do you want to know the worst part? The icing on the cake? It came to us because it wanted our help! Can you believe it!?"

Uxie sighed. "It… seems this man had encountered Azelf after looking for it for a long time. I don't know how, but he managed to convince our sibling to become his partner, and that wasn't the end of it."

"He must've been one hell of an orator, because as soon as we met with them Azelf asked us to help them in stopping a war!"

"A w…" Inyssa whispered in disbelief "Wait, you mean the war!? Like… the one that ended twelve years ago?"

"It would appear so," said Uxie. "I can't possibly conceive how this man made Azelf care about a human conflict, but…"

"We refused, of course!"

Barry shook his head. "Why!? If you could've helped…"

"We don't get involved in human wars anymore," said Uxie. "Not since the first one."

Mesprit nodded. "Why should we? Every time I wake up from a nap you humans are fighting another pointless war."

Inyssa could feel the heat running beneath her skin, and did her best not to say anything. On one hand she understood; these were almost timeless beings who'd seen millions die by the passage of time, but still…

They could've stopped the war sooner, she thought bitterly. My dad, Reiko's family… if the lake trio had intervened, maybe they would still be alive…

"What happened then?" she asked through pursed lips.

"Well I was furious, of course! To think this bastard was pretending to have a change of heart, telling us about how we could help and change the world for the better… it was sickening." Mesprit made a sound which she couldn't categorize as anything else but a mix between a heave and a cough. "It looked so happy with its little human, too. After everything that had happened, after Nyss, to see Azelf this way…"

She expected Uxie to complete the sentence, like it'd done so before, but as the silence stretched and stretched she understood they'd reached the crux of the issue. Whatever came next, Mesprit was the one who needed to say it.

"I… I might've acted without thinking," it said, a tinge of shame in its voice. "I was so angry, I wanted to hurt Azelf but I had no way of doing so. At least… not directly." There was a small pause. "I approached the man Azelf had bonded with and… I erased the emotion out of his spirit."

A moment passed in silence, and then it happened.

The air of the cave vibrated, and Inyssa was hit by a wave of emotion so powerful she was almost knocked off her feet. Her hand unconsciously moved to press against her mouth, disbelief and disgust rising from her stomach like bile, making her feel as if the nerves on her gut were on fire.

Eyes wide, she turned toward Barry. He stood still, looking up at Mesprit with eyes like solid gold. His expression was indescribable.

"I-that's…" His face scrunched up in disbelief. "It makes so much sense now. I… I knew I felt something weird from him, but…!"

Her knees wobbled, but she somehow managed to stay on her feet, the world blurring around her. The sensation was like nothing she'd ever felt before, not even when at her most furious; it sapped her will and conscious mind, rendering her unable to even summon her own powers to protect herself.

Before, she'd never understood how something as abstract as emotions could be used as weapons. But… having her friend's anger and contempt exploding outwardly, amplified tens, no, hundreds of times, she finally understood.

"B-Barry…" she whispered, voice forced and hoarse.

"I… can't believe it." The boy grabbed his head, grimacing. "That's awful! Why would you do that to someone!?"

Inyssa clutched her chest, the frenzied beating of her heart almost deafening her. "Barry…"

"Why didn't you tell me before!? If you did that then…"

"BARRY!"

Her scream momentarily startled him out of his rage; just enough for his eyes to shift back to their usual brown. He stared at her, brow furrowed, for a second, until realization dawned on him.

"A-ah… I'm sorry!" Immediately the oppressive aura disappeared, and he approached her with a clear look of guilt. "I didn't mean to do that, I'm so sorry!"

"It's… fine." She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. Her entire body felt numb. "Just don't do it again."

Another few seconds, another awkward silence. She was starting to get tired of them, and it only had a little bit to do with the fact Barry's emotions had just been flared toward her to the point of torture.

She bit her lower lip, forcing the pain away by will alone. This had been a pretty shitty mystery hunt so far; the last thing she needed was to fall apart on everyone when she was needed the most

"It makes sense that Cyrus' emotions were erased," she said, tone tired. "But… I really don't think he's doing all this for revenge. You weren't there when he gave his speech; he's… fighting for something. An ideal or… I don't know, but it's something else besides wanting to get back at you. So if you were worried about that, then don't."

A faint sense of appreciation made its way toward her, but she slapped it away like an annoying mosquito. She wasn't done yet.

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook, though," she frowned. "What you did was disgusting and selfish, and you deserve much worse than what you got."

"It wasn't just me who-"

"I'm not done," she cut him off. "You should've paid for your actions, but you didn't. Now you can either run and hide like a coward, or you can own up to it and help us make things better."

She expected Barry to say something, to agree with her and try to convince Mesprit to change its attitude. However, as she looked to the side she barely caught the light of his Pokétch lowering to the ground, his expression darkened and impossible to read. Was he still angry? Personally she didn't think erasing someone's emotions was much worse than killing them, but it made sense Barry thought otherwise considering… well, everything about him.

"Tsk, it's not like me to get chewed on by a human twice in a row," Mesprit whispered to itself. "Mark my words, girl; your irreverence will come back to bite you in the end. However… I wonder. Making things better… is such a thing even possible?"

The question had been rhetorical, she could sense that much. Mesprit stared at nothing, lost in thought, for what felt like an entire minute.

"…I'll retreat to the boy's mind for now," it said. "There is… much I need to think about."

Inyssa raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to come back this time?"

"I will. It's clear you don't expect me to take you up on your offer, and I've always been fond of proving others wrong. Until then, farewell."

Its transparent guise dissipated, and for the first time Inyssa felt its presence leaving the room. Barry, however, didn't seem to pay much attention to it. He was still looking away, a hint of bitterness in his expression.

She took his hand and squished it slightly. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to concentrate on finding more clues."

He nodded absentmindedly, "Y-yeah, you're right. Though…" He looked at the painted wall. "Is there anything else to see here? We learned what this painting meant and a lot of other useful stuff."

"Yes, I was about to voice similar thoughts," said Uxie. "I don't believe there's anything else of interest here."

Inyssa shook her head. "All the information we learned was thanks to Uxie and Mesprit, but Cynthia doesn't know we have them. She expected us to find answers… some other way."

A sly smile formed on her lips as she said that and, just to complete the gesture, she raised a hand palm up and held it to Barry, expectant.

Seconds passed in silence. Inyssa's smile dropped, replaced with a look of disappointment and a sigh.

"The ring, Barry."

"Oh! Right, right…"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Cheeks flushed, he looked down at one of the pockets of his jeans. His brow furrowed slightly, eyes taking on a slight gold tint, and a moment after the ring shot up as if fired from a gun. It hovered in front of his face for a second, then slowly floated toward Inyssa's open palm.

Yeah I get it, you're good at using those powers, now stop showing off, is what she wanted to say. However, Barry's arm on the side of that pocket was broken, and considering how upset he'd looked before she figured a bit of showing off wouldn't hurt anyone.

"All right, let's give this a spin."

She spun the ring between her fingers as if it were a coin, and after taking a deep breath slipped it on one of them.

The fresco began to move, startling her to the point of almost dropping the ring.

"Whoa!" Barry gasped.

"What …?"

It wasn't the stone that moved. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the painting itself shifted in its entirety as if it were some kind of video. The clouds surrounding Mt. Coronet's peak moved to the right at breakneck speed, disappearing as soon as they hit the wall and re-appearing on the other side.

Without thinking, Inyssa summoned forth Uxie's power and enhanced her senses again. An explosion of light and sound stunned her for a moment, but it wasn't as disorienting as the first time. Now she could see every tiny detail of the painting as it changed; the vibrant green at the mountain's base, the shining white at its peak, the three siblings of the lake trio and the red light between them, it all disappeared. Mt. Coronet stood now as nothing more than a gigantic slab of rock, stripped of all life.

"What's it doing?" asked Barry with urgency. "Is it… showing us the future or something?"

She shook her head. "The sun's moving from west to east; it's going back in time."

As she said that, it started slowing down. Then, when the sun and clouds were almost completely still, it happened in a flash.

Three balls of light materialized at the peak; however, they were not arranged in a triangle like the lake trio had been. They formed a line; two smaller lights at the side, blue and pink, and a much bigger one in the center, a piercing, perfect white.

Had Inyssa not enhanced her senses, she probably wouldn't have noticed them. They lasted for less than a second and then… nothing.

With time slowed to a crawl, she saw as the land, sky and the entirety of Mt. Coronet dissipated into nothingness. An opaque, uniform sheet of black swallowed the entirety of the wall and, after what felt like an entire minute, writing appeared in the middle. The letters were painted a shining white and contrasted immensely with the rest of the wall.

It took her a moment to realize where she'd seen those letters before. Eyes going wide, she turned to look at Barry and found him mirroring her expression.

He gulped, "You think…?"

"Let's try it out."

They looked at the wall once more and flared their eyes in unison. The shapes of the letters didn't change, but suddenly she could understand their meaning, like pieces of a puzzle fitting together. Muttering under her breath, she read the inscription aloud:

In the beginning, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos.

At the heart of nothing, a light shone, giving rise to the Original one.

From its power, two beings the Original One did make.

Time started to spin. Space began to expand.

From its soul, three living things the Original One did make.

…

The two beings wished, and from them, matter came to be.

The three living things wished, and from them, spirit came to be.

The world created, the Original One hid itself in the Hall of Origin.

Its door was locked. Its key was hidden; shattered into seventeen shards.

Its duty fulfilled, the Original one took to unyielding sleep.

About a million thoughts and question began to buzz inside her mind as soon as she finished reading. However, there was one which buzzed the loudest.

One of the lines is missing, she thought, frowning. Someone intentionally erased it.

While she debated which of the many, many inquiries inside her head she'd voice, she heard Uxie speak behind them.

"You know, fun fact about that inscription…"

Both her and Barry looked over their shoulders. While it wasn't reflected on its transparent body, she could feel a cheeky smile coming from the legendary Pokemon.

"…it is actually a poem. And, strangely enough, it rhymes in its original language."

----------------------------------------

Half an hour later, the sun began to set as they made their way back from the ruins.

Inyssa wouldn't have realized if she hadn't looked up at the sky. Somehow, the glass-like stone used to construct most of the houses in Celestic had the strange quality of retaining an impressive amount of heat and sunlight even as night approached. Still, even such a cool phenomena couldn't keep her attention in lieu of what they'd seen at the cave.

It'd been a long time since she'd encountered such an interesting and complicated puzzle. She rejoiced at the feeling of her mind working at full capacity to try and unravel it, even if she would've never said so out loud.

"So…" Barry scratched his head, trying to summarize what she'd been saying, "…there were two other Pokemon before the lake trio, and they embody time and space?"

"It's the most likely explanation," she said. "The white light in the middle has to be Arceus, though I don't know why they call it the Original One in that inscription." She furrowed her brow, deep in thought. "Though… I wonder about that line that was erased. If we follow the narrative structure of the poem, that line should talk about what was the original duty of the lake trio, like it did so for the other two Pokemon."

"Isn't their whole deal that they created the human spirit? Wouldn't it be about that?"

"Why would they erase it if that were it?" she shook her head. "It has to be something else. Uxie, do you know anything about that?"

"I'm afraid I do not," it said. "I am not aware of any special duty the Original One could've given us, besides being the guardians of Spirit."

She clicked her tongue. "Then there's still something we're missing."

Not only that, she thought. That line about the seventeen shards… she was starting to get an idea as to what they referred.

"Still, we learned so much cool stuff!" Barry bumped his shoulder against hers, smiling. She could tell what he'd said didn't include the bit about what Mesprit had done, though. "With your super brain I'm sure we're gonna figure out something big in no time!"

"…Super brain?" she raised an eyebrow, trying to contain a smile. "Anyway, let's hope so. With some luck the rest of the info we need will be in Canalave's library."

By the time they reached the hospital, the sun was barely a sliver of light in the horizon. They stood a street away from the entrance, looked around to make sure neither Sarah nor Palmer were close to catch them, and then finally headed inside.

"We should start packing," said Barry as he opened the door. "Dad said he wanted us up early tomorrow to take us to Floaroma."

She nodded absentmindedly, "You go ahead, I have to go get Shadi's Pokeball from the nursery."

The Kricketot had taken much more damage than any of their other Pokemon during their fight with Cyrus, and as such needed to stay in intensive care for almost two weeks. Inyssa felt a clump on her throat as she remembered the state she'd been in the last time she'd seen her.

"Oh… okay," said Barry, concern written all over his face. "Good luck, then."

----------------------------------------

Some part of Inyssa –the one she'd been trying to bury into the darkest recesses of her mind for a while now– knew her good mood at their discoveries couldn't last forever. Something, or someone, would eventually come to smash it to pieces.

As it had happened a million times before. As it was happening right now, with her standing across the counter of Celestic's makeshift Pokemon nursery, fingers pressing strongly against Shadi's Pokeball.

"You… you told me she'd be okay!"

Fear permeated her voice like a thick, corrosive poison. The nurse flinched and took a step back, hands going to her chest for a moment. This wasn't right, the logical part of her mind told her. The woman wasn't responsible, she was simply the messenger. And still…

Uxie said something behind her, reprimand in its tone. She didn't care.

The nurse swallowed before speaking. "Please… let me explain. I know this can be hard…"

"What… happened?" Inyssa asked, desperation in her voice. "I… I'm here waiting for two goddamn weeks because you told me her recovery would take some time and… and now you tell me…"

She couldn't finish the sentence, her throat blocked by something hard and unpleasant. Her eyes began to sting.

"It's… it's not simple. We thought you already knew, we thought the nurses from other Pokemon Centers would've warned you already…"

"Warned me about what!?"

"I… here. Please, sit down so I can explain."

She did so reluctantly, the stiff wood of the chair hurting her back as she leaned against it. The few lights adorning the room were pale and sickly, and the scent of antiseptics hung in the air like a cloud of pest, one she'd gotten familiar to over the course of the past two weeks. It was a necessary building, but it lacked the warmth and familiarity of a real Pokemon Center.

"I need you to listen to me, okay?" the nurse asked. Inyssa nodded weakly, her lips thin and pale. "Your Kricketune is… technically fine. We've taken care of all her wounds and as far as her physical condition is concerned, she's already made a full recovery."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's… it's not an easy thing to bring up. You might not be aware…" A crease of worry formed on the woman's forehead. "Tell me, how much do you know about bug Pokemon?"

Inyssa frowned. "As much as any other type, I guess? What does this have to do with Shadi?"

"Well, she is one, for starters. A very powerful and well trained one, but a bug type nonetheless." The woman looked down, fingers playing with the fabric of her uniform. "I'll just… come out and ask. Are you aware of the average lifespan of a bug Pokemon?"

Her breathing froze. Inside her rib-cage, it felt like cold, sharp fingers gripped heart.

"Y-yeah. I know."

"I figured that was the case," the nurse said, sighing. "And I wanted to let you know that we made some tests on your Kricketune to determine how old she is. That's… when we noticed."

No…

Her voice came out forced and high pitched. "Noticed what?"

"Well, according to the results of the test she should have… most of her life ahead of her." Inyssa noticed the way she'd avoided mentioning a concrete number of years. "However, the state of her body tells a very different story."

No, no, no…

"After taking a closer look, we realized she looks a lot more mature than we expected."

Please stop…

"Not only that, but the muscles on her wings, legs and arms were incredibly deteriorated for someone as young as her."

Shut up! Just shut up!

"The only explanation we can think of is that her body can't keep up with the… amount of power your training has led her to develop."

I-it's not my fault, please…

Inyssa took a moment to breathe, shaking off the voice booming at the back of her head by willpower alone. Her muscles were tightened painfully, and she could feel sweat forming on her neck and forehead, but still she looked up and answered.

"I… don't get it," she said. "I trained her the same way I trained all my other Pokemon. There's nothing different about her…"

"Listen to me."

She closed her mouth, jaw set in fear. The nurse sighed and rubbed her eyes before continuing:

"It's… very nice of you to want to give that Kricketune a chance. Whether you did it out of a sincere appreciation for her or just because you wanted to prove you could, it doesn't matter." She paused, breathing in. "But that doesn't change the fact that she's still just a bug Pokemon. Her body can't handle the level of combat you've been putting her through."

"B-but what… what about Aaron!?" She asked, tone desperate. "He's part of the Elite Four and he specializes in bug Pokemon, doesn't he!?"

"That's different. Most of his Pokemon have a secondary type that counteracts the Bug type's brittleness, and those who don't he uses mostly for support," she said. "He's only gotten so far because he understands his partners' limits."

Inyssa bit her lip, shaking her head strongly. "No, Pokemon have no limits! Every… every one of them can beat another as long as their trainer is skilled enough!"

"It's very nice of you to want to believe that." The nurse reached across the table and placed a hand on hers, forming an apologetic smile. "But there are some things you can't achieve with willpower alone."

Her gaze moved down to her right hand, still firmly gripping Shadi's Pokeball. Had… had she known? All this time, had she known that she was being pushed way past her limit? And even still, she kept trying day after day, just for her.

Just for me…

"I… don't get it," she said, choked up. "There were other trainers with a Kricketune, I saw them during my journey. What about them?"

The nurse shifted in her seat, looking down. "Most Kricketune are caught for artistic purposes, since they can use their scythes to play music like a violin. Rich people like to keep them as pets." There was a pause. "Trainers... I'm guessing most of them release theirs once they've… outlived their usefulness."

It was a miracle she didn't heave as soon as she heard that. That familiar, pulsing heat began to grow from her chest outwards, tinting her cheeks red.

So she really was abandoned, she thought, furious. That night when I found her outside that Pokemon Center…

"I... I promised her I'd make her strong." Her voice came out more like a plea than anything else. "I promised her she'd be there when I became the Champion. She's my strongest Pokemon!"

"And I'm sure she's very proud of that. Your Kricketune has probably experienced a level of combat that no other member of her species has. She's pushed past her limit time and time again, but… she can't keep doing it for long." Her brow furrowed, expression turning serious. "I'm not telling you to get rid of her, but you need to find another way for her to fight or I doubt she'll survive to see the end of this year."

Inyssa didn't reply, gaze still set on Shadi's Pokeball. In the back of her mind, she heard herself speaking a familiar phrase:

There's not a single Pokemon I can't achieve victory with!

How false it sounded now, how mocking. She remembered back to when she was still in trainer school, the excited chatter of her classmates about what Pokemon they wanted to catch when they finally went on their journey. What kid hadn't dreamed of taming a Charizard or a Tyranitar? What kid could deny the appeal of such terrifying beasts; the very epitome of power itself?

Well… she had. And now she was paying for it.

But still, she couldn't go back on a promise, especially not one she'd made to her closest partner. Even if it was impossible, even if she had to think day and night without a minute's sleep, she would find a way for Shadi to fight without hurting herself. It's the least she owed her.

She… no, they would prove everyone wrong. Her fingers curled strongly against Shadi's Pokeball, and she smiled.

Someday, you'll stand at the top with me, she thought. And no one will be able to look down on us.

"I'll do it." She looked up at the nurse, resolute. "I promise I'll find a way."