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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac tried his best to help Ash off of the floor. He really did. But the pain and nausea that shot through his body made it surprisingly difficult. The two were barely able to struggle through the pain, inflicted onto each other, themselves, and the battle-scarred land around them.[break][break]

As Ashley scooted closer to him, he slung an arm around his shoulders. It was the only thing he could think to do. "It's not like you could've done anything," Isaac admitted. "Neither of us were doing too hot. And we were both seeing red. Pretty sure with where our heads were at, we'd only bring out the worst in each other. Like some kinda two-headed monster."[break][break]

"I can't do everything. Neither can you. Nobody can."[break][break]

Isaac had spent so much time disconnected from the struggles of the world that he had connected himself into every struggle to make up for it. All he'd gotten in response was pain. But how could he not? With what he was a part of, he felt the need to make up for it somehow. With how many people cared for him, he felt the need to put just as much care out in turn. He was on the wrong side of the cosmic scales, and he was tearing himself to pieces trying to properly tip them.[break][break]

Rosmontis' words never resonated so strongly.[break][break]

But even if they couldn't do everything, it didn't mean they couldn't do what they could. Isaac had pulled Ash back from the brink. It cost him a pound of flesh, but it saved the soul of a man he called a brother. Wasn't that why he said he was here? Wasn't that what he wanted to do? It was so, so much easier in the abstract than it was in practice. A part of him was in agony. But a part of him, despite everything, was glad.[break][break]

"You seriously think I'm gonna tell her?" Isaac asked, laughing until the pain in his face cut it short. "Come on. There's a hundred and one people on this godforsaken rock I can blame this little mess on. Like hell I'm throwing you under the bus like that."[break][break]

Besides. Was this really Ash's fault?

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]It was true. Their friendship would never be the same. Not after what had happened. In some ways it would be a turn for the worse. Even now, as pain exploded through his face and his own depth perception betrayed him, Isaac would feel the scars from this day lingering. The desperation of five minutes caused a lifetime's changes.[break][break]

Yet in other ways, it was strangely reassuring. If the two could come out of this in one piece, what couldn't they make it through? Sure, that one piece was worn down, scarred up, and riddled with several holes. But, just as it always did, life pulled its punches short before they had broken.[break][break]

Ash seemed desperate to make things right. For him to tell Cygne the truth about what had happened . . . "Come on. I think you've suffered for it enough," Isaac said. "I don't want you to turn yourself into some kinda martyr over it, too. Especially not when this day's already gonna be following us for the rest of our lives."[break][break]

He looked at Ash's outstretched hand. Slowly, carefully, fighting against his own fading depth perception, he took it. Once he was there, he held it tight, as if afraid the second he let go Ash was going to disappear on him. "Heh. Glad at least one of us had the guts to say it," Isaac admitted. "No clue what we're gonna do next. Today, and every day after. But you're right. Fuck Walsh."[break][break]

Isaac was starting to regret not pushing against him harder at that meeting. But that would have to be one of the thousands of regrets that littered his path until now. And there was a much closer, much more important regret currently burning a hole in his belt. Isaac unhooked Kiryu's Pokeball, wincing as he saw his mangled reflection in its surface.[break][break]

"We can decide later. Mind if I do something real quick?"

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Yes. Cillian Quinn. A man who cared not just for Rocket, but for Rockets. A man who swallowed his pride and accepted the League's gifts, even as he tore their symbols down as promised. A man who refused to let himself be blinded by loyalty, even if ultimately he, too, was pulled along on the choke chain of command.[break][break]

Maybe if he had been in charge, things could've played out differently.[break][break]

But now wasn't the time for what ifs. Not that kind of what if, at least. No, there was only one possibility Isaac needed to face, and it was in the ball he clutched so closely to his chest. A part of him never wanted to open it. So long as he did, he could just keep hiding from the worst case. She'd be in some quantum state of okay and not okay, just one Pokemon Center trip away from being back on her feet.[break][break]

It was a hell he could never condemn her to. Instead, with a heavy sigh, he rolled her ball onto the ashen grass. As the release lit up Mt. Pyre, he flinched away, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid the sudden brightness. And then they remained shut so he could avoid what came next.[break][break]

One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. And when he opened his eyes, all was still.[break][break]

So he had been too late after all. Isaac's gut sank, compressing itself into a shriveled, withered husk. In small, shuddering footsteps, he stumbled towards his fallen Aggron, taking in what had happened for the first time. Her eyes were eased shut. A slight smile spread across her face. Her plating was as shiny and strong as ever. Seeing her like this, it was almost so easy to forget what had happened. The messy tear in her chest, lined with cooled magma, was the only sign that she hadn't just been sleeping.[break][break]

Isaac remembered his youth. With her watchful eye, impenetrable body, and surprisingly gentle demeanor, she had always been somewhat of a guardian for him and his little brother. Whenever one of the two had gotten a little too curious or rambunctious for their own good, she had always been there to pull them out of the fire.[break][break]

Even on that ill-fated day, when his brother convinced him to sneak out so they could catch their own Pokemon. Even when the rest of his family went from shunning him to loathing him, Kiryu didn't blame him for a moment.[break][break]

He remembered the day he ran away. There was so much rain that it seemed the sky itself had been torn asunder, and in the face of the stormclouds the moonlight had been swallowed whole. Isaac didn't care. He just needed to get away. He just needed to be anywhere but here. He went to reach for Kiryu's Pokeball, not realizing that she had been standing guard the whole time. And he was delighted to see her walk up to him, her eyes meeting his as if asking where they were going.[break][break]

He remembered the four years of roaming everywhere, from Lilycove to Rustboro, from Slateport to Fallarbor. Through good times and bad times, through peace and danger, through successes and failures, she was always there to back Isaac and his team up on their journeys. Joys were doubled when they could share in them together. Burdens were halved when she could help carry them.[break][break]

He thought of all the people and the Pokemon that they had met together. How he went from a loner to surrounded by people that adored him, and that he adored. How his team went from them and two cheerful little weaklings to a gallery of world-beaters and powerhouses fifty strong. How none of that would have been possible if she hadn't gotten him through those first shaky steps.[break][break]

He remembered the ruins where he found her Mega Stone, the memories passed down by its steward. He remembered its final message; "love her, as I once did," and for a brief moment he wondered if reincarnation was real. He remembered how their story ended, and wondered if he should have been the one to die, and she should have been the one to stand. Had she rewritten the end on purpose?[break][break]

And then he remembered how that Mega Stone proved her undoing, a transformation born of love and trust and a desperate plea for power that had gone off in just the wrong place at just the wrong time. Isaac wanted to blame himself. He was the one wearing the wristband in the first place. But . . . he never tried to empower her, now did he?[break][break]

To think, even until her final moments, her love and her will were so strong.[break][break]

Isaac didn't know when his team had been released. Aubrey, wearily looking around for the next battle only to realize that, for once, she wasn't in any danger. Sanford, its ominous hovering stilling as it realized the gravity of the situation it beheld. Knuckles, the Lucario torn between putting a hand on her devastated trainer's shoulder and giving him all of the space and time he needed. Duster, kneeling before Kiryu and gently resting his helm against her own. Even Toto, too worn to even battle anymore, forced an eye open to see what was going on.[break][break]

Isaac didn't know when he had fallen to his knees, crumpled on top of Kiryu like a balloon that had run out of air. He didn't know when he started crying, screams of anguish melting into shuddering sobs and back again. He didn't know when he hooked his arm underneath his face, as if terrified of sullying her corpse with his tears and his blood. "I'm sorry," he said, voice so choked he had to fight to get the words out. "I love you."[break][break]

Did he realize what that gentle pressure on his shoulder was?[break][break]

Maybe he couldn't see from where he sat. But Ash may have noticed an arm weakly draping around Isaac's shoulders. He may have even noticed the contended smile on her face growing just a hair bigger. And then, for the truly final time, all was still on Mt. Pyre.[break][break]

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