"YOU REEK OF DEATH.", a familiar, sinister voice pierced into Thomas' mind.

Thomas' vision had been hampered by the lack of an eye. In this period, it was still burned out, thanks to his scuffle with Jayde Cross.

Thomas found himself in a familiar setting. Mt. Pyre, marching towards an all too familiar chrysalis. Its sinister form beckoning not only him, but Adrian Malcolm, Laurence Anderson, Lucas Lane, Gemma, and the unknown man in black. The man who, unbeknownst to the Kalosian, was Empirio Saiga, the man responsible for the stench of death on not only Adrian, but Gemma.

The familiar visions fill Thomas' mind, as they filled the minds of the others. Yveltal's monologue about how death gave life meaning, made it precious. And how the balance desperately needed to be restored.

Thomas found himself at a crossroads. Accept Yveltal's task? Or reject it?

The choice, in the moment, felt all too obvious to the Kalosian.

"No, the balance can sort itself out.", Thomas uttered, before turning to the others. "I don't see any good coming from this. And if you value your lives, I suggest you reject the Cocoon.", Thomas warned them, before walking away.

Thus, the split in the fork. Thomas' rejection of Yveltal's task. But what would come of it?

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

Sometime later, Thomas had found himself wandering the streets of Rustboro City. The cyclops had his hands stuffed inside of his pockets, until a glimpse of a news report caught his eye.

As the news unfolded, Thomas felt thoroughly mortified. Gemma, a friend of his, the girl he had accompanied to completing Yveltal's first task, had died in the process. The target, who had been harassing a convenience store clerk, attacked Gemma. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to stab him with her knife fatally, and he was able to wring her neck out, before escaping the store.

"No. Not you, Gemma.", Thomas quietly uttered, before hurrying off.

Once he found an isolated area, the Kalosian finally collapsed to his knees. He wanted to scream. In the end, the man pounded the concrete with a closed fist, before rising back to his feet.

The first consequence of his rejection of Yveltal's task, the death of his friend. It seemed that regardless of his choice, the meeting of the Cocoon damned them.

Thomas couldn't shake the feeling that there was far worse to come.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

Thomas woke up in his bed. The man looked around, quickly taking notice to the fact that the room wasn't as he arranged it. But the arrangement was distinctly familiar. It was how he had the room nearly four years ago. Before he reunited with Asteria. Bunni was still asleep, little arms still wrapped around him, head propped up against his chest. Thomas smiled, gently pulling the Audino closer, so as to not disturb her rest.

Then the radio cut to an all too familiar broadcast. The old lady, one of Yveltal's unfortunate targets, had died. Thomas' heart sank as he heard the news. Only, instead of her death being reported as an accident, the result of his Sableye's sabotage of her rickety step, the circumstances behind her death were far different.

As the old woman was checking her mail, she had been blown up.

Upon hearing the news, Thomas slumped back down onto the bed, a feeling of total defeat washing over him. Even as Bunni woke up, and attempted to comfort him, Thomas was inconsolable. The Audino was both confused and concerned.

That poor old woman, who was only trying to make the world a better place, still ended up murdered, at the orders of Yveltal.

The only question was: who did it? Lucas Lane, Adrian Malcolm, and Laurence Anderson were the three names he knew. He knew that in the timeline he carried out Yveltal's will, that Lucas abstained from killing, and was later marked as a traitor for it. He had his doubts that Lars would go that low, having only observed, rather than killed.

It left only Adrian, and the mysterious man as suspects. Adrian had killed all of his targets for Yveltal, without hesitation. The unnamed man that was with them, however, vanished before the final task, and the fight against Yveltal took place.

So who was responsible for the old woman's death? While he suspected Adrian might've done it, the unknown man was still a suspect.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

The next time Thomas awoke, it was not in his own bed. Rather, he was greeted with the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room. The beeping of the heart rate monitor caught his attention. Thomas attempted to get up, only for the worst pain to shoot through his body. The Kalosian grunted in agony, looking around, before noticing that his arm was missing.

"What-", Thomas weakly blurted out.

A passing nurse took notice to the fact that Thomas was awake, calling in the doctor. A man in a white coat walked into the room.

"It's a miracle you're alive, Mr. Benoit.", the doctor told him solemnly.

"W-what happened?", Thomas croaked.

"The Slateport Oceanic Museum was bombed. You and Commissioner Goode were both caught in the explosion. Unfortunately, she didn't make it.", the doctor regretfully informed him.

"Dahlia. Not you.", Thomas uttered, a single tear streaming down the left side of his face.

Not only had the old lady died anyway, but Gemma died, and now Commissioner Goode died, all because he rejected Yveltal.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Benoit, you lost your right arm, and both of your legs.", the doctor informed him solemnly.

A familiar man stormed into the room. FERNANDO SILPH, a man he had come to despise.

"Benoit, good to see you're alive!", Fernando greeted Thomas.

He'd play along, for now.

"Councilman, I couldn't save her!", Thomas lamented.

"Save her?", he asked.

Thomas paused for a moment. "Yveltal is behind the recent string of murders in the Region. The man who killed Gemma. The old lady who got blown up. The Rangers that got slaughtered. The journalist investigating HNN. Commissioner Goode. Alexei Ivanov. They were all targets of Yveltal!", Thomas hurriedly told him.

Fernando looked at him, clearly skeptical. "What makes you think Yveltal's involved?", Fernando inquired.

"Because I encountered it on Mt. Pyre! It tempted me, and others, to serve it! I rejected it's offer. But Gemma, Lucas Lane, Adrian Malcolm, Laurence Anderson, were all there! I know Gemma died trying to serve Yveltal! But there was one other, a large man in black, with black hair!", Thomas confessed to Fernando.

"Lane, Anderson, and Malcolm are all dead.", Fernando informed him. "All of them died in bombings."

"Shit. That means-"

"Councilman, I need you to contact my uncle. He can hook me up with some prosthetic limbs.", he'd request.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

Thomas woke up in an all too familiar laboratory. The Kalosian looked down towards his right arm, and his leg. The flesh and bone he had lost were replaced with silver, almost skeletal prosthetic limbs. Thomas tested the movement of the fingers on his right hand, articulating each of them, rotating his wrists to test it out. He would then wiggle the silver, bone-like toes, testing their movement as well.

"Seems the operation has been a success.", a familiar voice remarked. "It's unfortunate that you ended up on the operating table. But I'm grateful the limbs seem to be working like a charm.", Uncle Patrice continued.

"Thank you, Uncle.", Thomas told the man, smiling for once in the longest time.

"We're not quite done yet. We still have to outfit your new prosthetics properly, as well as address that eye of yours.", Patrice chimed in, holding up a bionic eye in a display jar.

"You think it's ready for deployment?", Thomas inquired.

"Consider this operation the first field test.", Patrice replied.

Thomas relaxed himself onto the operating table once again. After being put to sleep with Hypnosis, and administered anesthesia, the technicians and surgeons got to work on Thomas.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

After a month of painstaking training, the time had finally come. The Megalopolans had officially waged war against the world. Hoennians, whether affiliated with the League, Team Rocket, or neither, banded together against the Megalopolan scourge. Of the areas besieged by the alien invaders, Mauville, Lilycove, and Meteor Falls were the three heaviest fronts.

Instead of fighting either of those fronts, Thomas was instead sent back to familiar ground. Mt. Pyre, where this whole nightmare began.

Flying in on the back of Kalameet, accompanied by his faithful team consisting of Clawiter, Galvantula, Vikavolt, Alakazam, and Scizor, the augmented trainer made haste towards the peak of the mountain.

Along the way, Megalopolans mounted to their Naganadal attempted to intercept the trainer. Dragon Pulses collided into one another, the Hydreigon weaved through the adhesive blasts fired at the duo.

Thomas leaped off the back of the Hydreigon, allowing the dragon to take to the skies alone. Using thrusters built into his legs to slow his descent, Thomas made landfall safely. From there, Thomas sent out his Scizor to accompany him as he continued his charge towards the top.

Megalopolans armed with stun batons met the Kalosian. With a flick of his wrist, a blade extended from the prosthetic arm. Thomas cut the Megalopolans down with ruthless efficiency, each kill coating the man's body in their blue blood. Nihilego that attempted to intercept them were smashed by the Scizor's Bullet Punches.

As the Scizor and Hydreigon held off the Megalopolans, aided by the humans fighting for their lives, Thomas eventually made his way back to the Cocoon. Back to where this all began. Only to be greeted not by a man with black hair, but a man with blonde hair, and an almost demonic grin.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

"You must the asshole that killed the others.", Thomas remarked.

The man let out a booming laugh. "You would be correct! You may call me Empirio Saiga! It will be the last name you'll ever hear!", declared the blonde, as Yveltal flew into view.

Thomas eyed the Emissary of Death coldly.

"Prepare to die!", Empirio shouted, as Yveltal began to charge an Oblivion Wing.

Kalameet flew in to cover his master. With one last roar of defiance, the Hydreigon was turned to stone, landing on the ground in front of a horrified Thomas, with a resounding thud.

As Empirio laughed, Thomas brought out the others. A Galvantula, a Clawitzer, and a Vikavolt faced down the Yveltal. The sight of the trio only caused the man to bellow out in even more rauchous laughter.

"How fitting! I will crush you like the insect you are!"

As Yveltal charged for another attack, Thomas noticed the purple blotch on the Yveltal. With a grin, he pointed the trio to the spot. "Open fire on the purple blotch!", commanded Thomas.

The Galvantula opened the salvo, striking the purple mark with a precise blast of Thunder. Following this, the Clawitzer fired an Aura Sphere, striking the weakpoint. Meanwhile, the Vikavolt took the time to Charge himself with electricity.

The Yveltal began to vomit a familiar neurotoxin.

"W-what's this!?", Empirio sputtered, shocked at the turn of events.

The Vikavolt, upon finshing his Charge, fired a Thunderbolt at the creature's weakpoint. This caused the Yveltal to cough up a tiny Nihilego, one which it quickly killed with an Oblivion Wing.

Just as it had in in the 'right' timeline, a giant Nihilego emerged from an Ultra Wormhole, one which began to assimilate the Yveltal.

In this moment, Thomas drew the wrist blade. With Empirio's back turned, and his attention focused on his Patron, Thomas stabbed the man in the back, piercing his heart with the blade.

As the Yveltal resisted the influence of the Nihilego, Thomas recalled the trio of Pokemon that freed the Yveltal from the Nihilego's influence, bringing out his Alakazam in their place. After Teleporting Thomas out of the area, the Yveltal unleashed one final attack, consuming the area in pitch black darkness.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr

Thomas startled awake in his own bed. The man was covered in a cold sweat. Thomas reluctantly took a look at his right arm first, noticing that it was his flesh and blood. A look at his legs confirmed they were his own.

Was he back home?

Thomas thought long and hard about the timeline he was in. Thanks to his actions, he felt he condemned that particular timeline to a grisly fate. The war with the Megalopolans had carried a far heavier toll, with how much damage Saiga did to the League beforehand. Dahlia, Lucas Lane, and Laurence Anderson were dead, as well as countless others. More than likely, Tahlia Bosch and ALEXANDER STONE still died during the war.

As far as he knew, Saiga hadn't touched Rocket, leaving them in a position to make a major powerplay on Hoenn. And with FERNANDO SILPH being the next logical candidate to take the seat of Commissioner, things were not looking too good.

What of Kalameet? He was sure all the death and destruction leading up to their final confrontation gave Yveltal more than enough power to resist the Nihilego. But would Yveltal be merciful enough to free that timeline's Kalameet from his stone shell, or let him die in it? And what became of the other combatants stuck in the blast radius, following Yveltal's final attack against the Nihilego? Were they condemned to be forever petrified?

And what of the Thomas he had taken over, to make these poor decisions? Was he going to die soon after the battle? Was he going to be condemned to be Fernando's puppet, until Meteno inevitably came hurdling towards world? Would they be able to fend it off, or would it successfully crash into it?

Breaking Thomas away from these grim thoughts, Bunni and Pulse rushed into the room, both crying out in worry. The Audino duo clung to Thomas, refusing to let him go. Thomas hugged the two just as tightly, smiling warmly.

"Bunni, Pulse, I'm so glad to see you two again!", he'd coo warmly.

As Bunni snuggled into him, she'd kick something under the sheet. It felt like a Pokeball. She handed the strange ball to Thomas. He'd take a moment to look over it. From what he could tell, it was definitely an older version of a Pokeball, clearly made from an Apricorn. The top was a mix of a darker and lighter blue, with an intricate wing design.

Perhaps he'd take it to the Museum to get it examined. For now, he had to comfort the little ones, who were no doubt worried about him. Especially as Gene, Stella, Jeryn, Pryde, Gwydion, and the others, poured in to dogpile their master, nuzzling and licking him longingly.

"I love you all so much.", he'd tell them warmly, petting and hugging each one.

---

tags: @tag
notes: tl;dr