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Her fingers slipped from the immovable stone, and she fell onto her backside with a grunt. The Dream Mists slinked away, leaving Julia with an all-too-clear view of Isaac's rocky tomb. No, no, it couldn't be a tomb. There was still a chance. All she had to do was get up and...

[break][break]As she tried to pull herself to her feet with trembling arms, the day's events hit her all at once. She was tired. She was so, so tired, and she hurt, outside and now in. She sat there, staring at the pile of rocks, too weighed down to move. She wanted to do something. She needed to do something. But she couldn't even move anymore. All she could do was stare helplessly at the pile of stone before her.

[break][break]She could have saved him. She could have noticed the cracks earlier and gotten them both out of the way before the ceiling fell. She could have accepted his offer to get away and rest instead of stubbornly insisting she was fine. She could have been the one to take the hit. She'd done it before, after all. She'd be fine. What was another leg lost compared to a friend's life?

[break][break]Tears welled up in her eyes, and for once, she didn't try to stop them. As they fell, she realized there was still one thing she could still do: She could cry.

[break][break]And so she did, face buried in her hands, muffling her sobs.

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The familiar sound of a pebble tumbling down the path behind her made Julia snap her head up with a gasp. This time, though, it was far louder than what had heralded Isaac's arrival, but it didn't have the same crumbling and cracking that had preceded... what now lay before Julia. There were footsteps, too, loud and shambling and accompanied by heavy, rasping breaths that seemed to make the walls pulsate in time with them. Why was this place so weird...?

[break][break]Julia looked around for the sources of these sounds, but there were no shadows to show her the way. There was nothing, nothing but those horrible sounds that were far louder than they should have been for something that Julia couldn't even see. Her heart rattled in her ribs. Fear brought her the fleeting strength she needed to rise to her feet. What did she do? Did she run? Hide? Call out to whoever or whatever was there?

[break][break]"Hey, Jules."

[break][break]Julia yelled out in surprise and spun to face the voice suddenly behind her, instinctively taking a couple of steps back.

[break][break]"... Isaac...?"

[break][break]He looked terrible, but who wouldn't after being crushed like that? Heck, he looked a lot less bloodied and broken than Julia had expected.

[break][break]When he spoke again, Julia realized there was something wrong with his voice. It reminded her of the gravelly tone he used in his Blackjack disguise. She would have just chalked it up to him going through a harrowing experience if not for his words.

[break][break]"Isaac...?" Julia asked again. "Wh... What are you talking about...?"

[break][break]She couldn't comprehend what was in front of her. She'd just watched Isaac get crushed, but now he was here, looking and talking strangely. She didn't understand why he had that look on his face or why he was drumming a cracked Poké Ball on his belt.

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"Isaac" went way too still, like an animatronic that had stopped working mid-performance. "Oops, looks like Blackjack needs a little rest before the next set!" she could hear some attendant say way too cheerfully in her head.

[break][break]The laughter that echoed off the cavern's walls, however, was anything but cheerful. He pointed back at the pile of boulders when he said that Julia was "killing him," making her chest tighten.

[break][break]"Isaac, what—what are you saying?!"

[break][break]With a snap of his fingers, Julia was surrounded. It wasn't just the cold and damp air that made her shiver. These were Isaac's Pokémon, but none of them were looking at her fondly. They snickered, they smirked, they stared at her with hungry eyes and a slack jaw...

[break][break]The sound of a revving motorcycle made her jump. For a moment, she swore she saw the flash of a headlight.

[break][break]"Cut it out, Isaac!" she shouted, voice higher than she meant for it to be. "This isn't funny! This isn't—!"

[break][break]She and El Sunderland had just been talking about how Isaac was a good person despite what he claimed. Julia had wanted to talk with him about it after thanking him for protecting El. This wasn't something a good person would do. And it had nothing to do with Isaac not being a good person. The pink mists, the warping injuries, this twisted Blackjack-Isaac in front of her...

[break][break]"This isn't you," she said, her voice falling quieter as the realization hit her. "You're not Isaac."

[break][break]He couldn't be. She'd just watch Isaac die right in front of her.

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Julia did, indeed, take a closer look at the mask when Blackjack brought it up, including the black veins that seemed to meld it to his flesh. Julia's head was too full of other emotions to even know what to make of that.

[break][break]Her eyes snapped open when, for the second time today, she was reminded of the incident at Mauville Gym. She felt trapped, surrounded by hostile Pokémon and being circled by this fake-Isaac-Blackjack-whoever-he-was. None of that brightness she'd seen in him was present in his eyes. She clenched her hand into a trembling fist at her side, an action that was becoming all too familiar to her today.

[break][break]"You're wrong," she said. She tried to sound determined, but her voice was edged with desperation and still unsteady from her earlier sobs, and her face was still stained with tear tracks. "Isaac wouldn't have let Josh die. The whole thing was just one big accident. Isaac wants to do the right thing, even if he's stuck with Rocket."

[break][break]It was strange. Even though Isaac—the real Isaac—was gone, Julia still referred to him in the present tense. It was as if, despite her earlier mourning, she couldn't accept Isaac's death. But she couldn't accept this thing as Isaac, either.

[break][break]"You're not Isaac," she said again. "You're... You're a nightmare!"

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Julia never thought she'd want someone to stop smiling, but that unnaturally huge grin on Blackjack's face needed to go away. He squeezed her shoulder to the point it was uncomfortable and began to speak again.

[break][break]This isn't real, Julia told herself, glaring at the apparition. He isn't real. He's just a bad dream.

[break][break]Her breathing grew heavier, and a few droplets of sweat formed on her brow. At first, she thought that was just because of her anger, but then a stinging pain on her left arm reminded her of the barb that had been thrown at her. No, it hadn't been just a barb. It'd been a Poison Barb. And it had picked a really bad time to kick in.

[break][break]A huge Volcarona emerged from the Poké Ball that Blackjack let roll to the ground. With a cruel command from its trainer, it began to heat up the air around Julia to what quickly became unbearable levels. The droplets of sweat multiplied until they covered her whole body, leaving her feeling sluggish and sticky. It was getting hard to breathe, and she could no longer ignore the pain that weighed inside and outside her body. Her once-bountiful reservoir of hope had already run dry. She just wanted to rest.

[break][break]Her eyes fell on the pile of stones that had taken Isaac from her, then on the imposter that had taken his place. A nightmare that didn't even bother to wear the face of her friend as it tried to kill her. Isaac deserved better. He didn't deserve to have this thing walking around pretending to be his "future." The air going into Julia's lungs suddenly felt crisper and clearer, and she could feel her blood flowing through her body.

[break][break]This wasn't the time to rest. It was time to wake up.

[break][break]The Key Stone on her Mega Anklet began to glow, as did the Dive Ball on her belt before it burst open of its own accord, releasing Lazuli again. The light of Mega Evolution shone around the Lapras, cocooning her in its shell before bursting to reveal her new form. Without even waiting for an order, she sang out a haunting note that bounced off the cavern walls. A chunk of ice formed in the air and fell toward Valfrey. It wasn't a very effective attack type-wise, but it immediately cooled the air to its normal temperature. The shafts of light that penetrated this cavernous world reflected off the G-Max Resonance, creating an Aurora Veil around Julia and Lazuli.

[break][break]Though she had to brace herself against Lazuli's enlarged shell, Julia straightened up and glared definitely at Blackjack. "I'm not going down. Not yet."

[break][break]She had two fainted Pokémon and four more that were weakened, including Lazuli here. But if her reserves had run dry, then she'd have to create hope herself.

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Julia didn't feel the bite of the icy winds blowing through the cavern. Instead, they felt calming and refreshing to her. She only vaguely noticed the rocks shaking but attributed that to the wind shifting them. In her current state, she didn't realize how impossible that was. She at least had the strength to narrow her eyes at Blackjack in continued defiance as he blabbered on about how she'd die on her feet. Her glare wavered, however, when he mentioned that Isaac thought highly of her.

[break][break]That thought was pushed aside when Blackjack froze, the veins on his face pulsating. The mask tore itself from his face, and the world went black. For a moment, Julia worried that she'd fainted. Then she wondered if fainted people could even think about being fainted.

[break][break]When her vision returned, she was still standing, braced against Lazuli's shell. Blackjack was on his knees, looking so scrawny and feeble that he didn't even seem like the same person. His hands were pressed to his face, hiding whatever had been beneath his mask, and his Pokémon stood and hovered completely still around Julia. She looked around at all of them. What the heck had just happened...?

[break][break]A hand burst from the pile of rocks, clutching Blackjack's mask. A familiar voice made Julia's eyes widen in disbelief.

[break][break]"Isaac...? Isaac! Hang on, I'm—!"

[break][break]She didn't even make it one step forward before her legs gave out beneath her. She caught herself on Lazuli, who let out a concerned noise.

[break][break]"I'm okay," Julia said with heavy breaths. "Gotta help Isaac...!" With a grunt, she pulled herself back to her feet, but before she could try to take another step, Lazuli reached down to block her with her long neck. "Let me go, Lazuli! He needs my help!"

[break][break]Though Julia's plea was desperate, Lazuli refused to let up.

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Blackjack began to rise again. Despite his weakened state, his movements and the blood pouring from what little could be seen of his face gave Julia chills that had nothing to do with Lazuli's Resonance. Still, she held firm, even when he began to laugh and his form began to dissolve, leaving one last message for Julia on the wind. She had one last message for him, too:

[break][break]"You're wrong. And now you're gone."

[break][break]Julia watched warily as Isaac crawled out of the rubble. He looked terrible, but he was alive... assuming he was the real Isaac this time. The way his posture sometimes echoed his doppelganger's had Julia worried that this was going to be another nightmare. Yet any thoughts of him crumbling to dust before her eyes were squashed when he reached out not to tear the life from Julia but to stabilize her. She, too, reached out to try to hold him up, and she knew he was the real thing the moment she touched him. He was worn, but he was still warm with that light that shone inside him despite his hardships.

[break][break]"I should be asking you that!" she said, relieved tears already welling in her eyes. "I thought... I thought you were...!"

[break][break]She crumpled to her knees, no longer able to hold herself up under the weight of everything that had happened today.

[break][break]"I'm just so glad you're okay."

[break][break]Lazuli smiled down at the two, then sang out a quiet, soothing note that summoned sparkling droplets of water above them. The refreshing Life Dew rained down on them, bringing back enough of Julia's energy for her to stand again. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her face was paler than usual despite her exertion. Another note heralded the ringing of a Heal Bell that alleviated the effects of the poison in Julia's veins and brought some color back to her cheeks.

[break][break]Lazuli glowed white and shrank back down to her normal form. She closed her eyes and let her head fall to the cavern floor, having exhausted the last of her energy with those two moves.

[break][break]"Lazuli!" Julia gasped, stumbling over to the Lapras's head. She knelt down and held it tight. "Thank you. Rest now." With that, Lazuli disappeared into her Dive Ball, and Julia pulled herself back to her feet.

[break][break]"Hey, Isaac...?" Julia asked, her voice unusually soft. "Did you say you've got a camp set up somewhere...?"