thanks to everyone's combined attacks, the loyal three fall in a puddle of their own viscera, lost forever. maki takes grim satisfaction in a job well done, knowing the pokemon will never plague this world again.

she turns her attention to cyllora. just before she's able to command her houndoom to attack, the other megalopolans emerge, cowards no longer. their attacks beat against cyllora's shield. they're unable to finish the job before another megalopolan crashes in. this one is quickly subdued by pecharunt, whose chains maki dances around to avoid being hit. for now, waiting to see where the wind blows, maki withdraws her houndoom. this happens just as celebi is caught and dragged into the ship. maki's unable to keep up with what's happening as the ship rocks, and then... everything goes dark, as the ship crashes and she's caught in the chaos, thrown to the floor.

carefully, she climbs to her feet, trying to avoid setting off her injuries once more. there's some broken glass near her, which she grabs in case she needs use of a weapon. she can hear cyllora speak, but their words ring painfully in her ears. she doesn't care. she can't care. she doesn't trust any of the megalopolans, not after everything they've done. if she could kill cyllora with her bare hands, she would. she imagines how satisfying it would be to slit that throat and watch their life extinguish.

she can't get close herself, of course. pecharunt is still there. but she's not about to just let them walk free.

she can hear cillian's orders. maki snaps back to reality. she knows what she has to do; she pulls out a pokeball and releases her malamar. her best guess is that pecharunt is a poison type. ignoring the other megalopolan, she focuses her gaze solely on pecharunt and its charge. "psycho cut," she commands coldly. "hit both of them."

the malamar follows its orders, just as maki follows hers. it releases its psychic energy, a kinetic slash lunging towards both of their opponents. maki watches, a grim expression under her mask. end this.

0p|SR|Pg

choosing to ATTACK CYLLORA AND PECHARUNT.
malamar uses psycho cut on both!
she ignores the other megalopolans, not caring what happens to them.

[googlefont=Rubik Burned]The masquerade is over.

Shining masks break, as do those that carry them. One battle ends, and another begins. Cyllora and their parasite are trying desperately to hold it all together, to keep control of the situation. Yet, the precarious tower that was built is already crumbling, and no matter how hard they try, its collapse can't be stopped.

The Loyal Three fall. The Dynergy barrier falls. The chains fall. The facade falls. And then, everyone falls.

And that includes you, too. Mercifully, it's a soft landing. It still hurts like hell, but it doesn't break anything that wasn't already broken. It takes a minute for the shock to wear off, and another minute to wriggle out from the rubble, but before long, you've freed yourself, from the wreckage and the prison alike. You're not exactly happy about where you've escaped to, though.

"Fuck me..."

Back in a Megalopolis. Grander than the Lesser, darker than the dream. So, is the the Ultra Megalopolis? It dredges up bad memories of your miserly escapdes with Andrea Vaneau, and worse memories of... Well, the last two days. Two days? Huh. Felt like more.

But they aren't over yet. You've still got a job to do.

Mustering what little energy you have left, you shamble forth to the final confrontation. To kill Cyllora. To destroy the Never-rot. To ensure that the Toxic Chain is eradicated from this world, and that it'll never return.

They try to struggle, to fight. They lash out like cornered Rattata starting down a Meowth. A Toxic Chain latches itself to your body, but what's the point? It's spread too thin. One chain might dominate one person, but a hundred cannot control a hundred. Do they really think they can stand up to Zev Harcourt and Cillian Quinn? Could they even stop howard slayte or Naomi Sato? No. It couldn't even slow them down. It can't even slow you. They're reduced to begging and pleading and grovelling, asking for mercy, but it all falls on deaf ears. This is the end of the line. They'll go no further.

As attacks rain down upon Cyllora and the Never-Rot, you feel a strange calm wash over you. Like you're at the end of the storm, and can see the sunny day on the other side. It's almost... relaxing. You idly reach for your Pokeballs, but they're not the movements of an executioner swinging their axe down. They're that of a victory lap, of a winner raising their hands high into the air as they cross the finish line.

And then, amidst the havoc, your eyes settle upon Velmos. Shit, Velmos! That inspires a little urgency in you, getting you pick a Pokeball and pull it free from your belt. Can't have him dying after everything you've been through. Not before you give him an earful. Finding the source of this nonsense and not telling you a word about it... Cheeky fucker. You really underestimated him. Still, you suppose he did help out in the end. You owe him another bowl of soup for th--

You blink, and when you next open your eyes, a glowing flower is above him, radiating killing intent. SHIT, VELMOS!

You throw your Pokeball, and out comes your Raging Bolt.

"THUNDER--"

Before you "CLAP" can leave your mouth, the booming blast of lightning is already fired, tearing out from the mouth of the Paradox and screeching straight towards the Flower Trick. Will it be able to destroy it before it can detonate? Hell, will destroying it even help? Fucking... What the fuck. What the FUCK! WHY? WHY?!

The calm is gone. The storm clouds are rolling back and the sunny day is getting further away. You are the furthest thing from relaxed. And when you turn to scan the battlefield, you see only one Meowscarada, and only one man it could belong to.

Greyson Connors.

Elite Four. Member of the League. SCUM.

Just like them. Just fucking like them, isn't it? You were both in this together, but the moment, THE MOMENT they could fuck you over, they fucking do it. Fucking pricks, fucking, why? WHY FUCKING VELMOS?! He didn't fucking do anything, he's... GHH... HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! He just HELPED them! He was Toxic Chained too, just like the rest of you! So why? Why target HIM?!

They're just like them. Cyllora and the League. Both trying to hold you down. Trying to imprison you. They stand from up high and look upon the low, deeming them "weak" and "dumb" and "ugly", and punishing them for it. But Cyllora is going to die today. What about Greyson Connors? Or illeana reyes, or PENELOPE LIVY, or annalise henderson, or the rest of them? They'll keep going. They'll keep doing what they've always done. They're just as guilty as the Never-rot, but they? They get to leave. They get to live. They get to see tomorrow.

No. You're wrong.

ONE OF THEM WON'T.

Watching the arm of the League move to crush an innocent inspires such pure rage within you. A small, sensible part of you knows you shouldn't pick this fight. You're beaten, you're drained, and you're exhausted. You have so little left to give, but that doesn't matter anymore. Even as the last of the kindling fades, you will continue to burn. Even as the rain lashes down upon you, you will continue to burn. Even as their boots stomp upon your embers, you will continue to burn.

AND YOU WILL BURN AND BURN AND BURN UNTIL EVERGRANDE CITY IS CONSUMED BY FLAME, UNTIL THE COUNCIL IS NOTHING MORE THAN ASH, UNTIL THEIR DEVOUT ARE NOTHING MORE THAN CINDER, UNTIL ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE LEAGUE IS THE SCAR THEY WILL LEAVE BEHIND.

AND THEN, AND ONLY THEN, WILL YOU BE ABLE TO LIVE WILD AND PURE AND FOREVER FREE.

You lurch forward, muster all the power you can into your arm, and swing it as hard as you can at Greyson.

"DIE."

---

TL;DR - Shred is about to go kill Cyllora, but OOPS! He was reminded of how much he hates the League by Greyson C. Connors!!! Trying to protect Velmos by Thunderclapping the Flower Trick and throwing a punch at Greyson. Though he didn't originally intend to, he does spare Cyllora, Pecharunt, and the Megalopolans.
ybGJd4Y|

PRISMATIC PENITENTIARY

Beyond Hell's End

She had watched at everything tumbled. The masks shattered. The three wardens had fallen to the ground and died unceremonious deaths as they were crushed, cleaved, and decapitated. But it was not over yet.

Though she and her Pokemon had avoided the chains, Violet had not. Though their Pokemon had valiantly taken down the Toxic Three, they had not been without damage.

"Violet!" Immediately after seeing this, Elaine ran as fast as she could to her, injuries be damned, and grabbed at the chain. It was almost instinctual that she had placed her hand between the chain that was encroaching on Violet's neck. "I've got you."

With calm precision, she helped Violet pull off the chain and tossed it aside. Taking a moment to sigh from relief, she reciprocated Violet's appreciation with a soft gaze of her own.

The world around them seemed to move forward. The Megalopolans had taken down the so-called never-rot. The captain of the ship had let out their own throes of hatred and frustration. After all, they had been betrayed by the people they had sought to protect.

And throughout it all, the pangs of pity struck at the chords of her soul.

But, all of that ground to a halt in one moment as among the chaos and the lights, a very familiar sounding alarm had begun to ring. And then all began to come tumbling down.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

She had cried out as she attempted to keep Violet as close to her as possible.

The world around her sped up. A light enveloped everything around her.

And then...

...

...

The Megalopolans in the dream were right. The place she had opened her eyes to was merely a hollow shell of the place in the dream. Bereft of light and hope, all that stood there were the remnants of what was once a civilization.

That was the impression Elaine had as she slowly opened her eyes. She had been thrown sprawled out onto the ground. Her body was aching all over and yet this was hardly anywhere near as bad as when she took hits from Ogerpon.

She had cuts all over her face. Her clothes were also cut in various places revealing trails of blood falling from them and dying her own clothes. Her sandals had seemingly flown off during the crash as even her feet had cuts. She forced herself back up, panting and realized that she had once again escaped another crash without anything dangerous.

Hell, at least this time, she hadn't broken any bones and screamed out from the pain. Though, the last time this happened, she hadn't had any dangerous visceral injuries either.

Holding onto her chest where she felt the most pain and stumbling around, she found Siegfried knocked out out cold and returned him to his Pokeball.

Shortly after, she found Violet and walked up to her offering her a hand to help her stand and a shounder to lean on.

Cyllora's ultimatum once again struck her heart. But it was not any pangs of sympathy. She did not find any room in her heart to find them worth treating them as equal.

What struck her was the negativity that stemmed from pure pity.

Yes, at the pathetic display before her, that was all she could truly feel towards them.

After being imprisoned, coming to her breaking point, and facing death many times over the last seven days, that was all it boiled down to.

Neither hatred. Nor anger. Nor sadness. Nor fear. Nor bloodlust. Nor envy. Nor shame. Nor bitterness. Nor guilt.

The red-haired weakling was beyond exhausted and had not the energy to spare for any of that. Even the grudges that permeated through the prisoner population like some mass psychosis could not take root in her. She was not some pure-hearted saint who would not let it take root. Her soul had been run to the ground too much to ever let something so energy-intense grow within her.

All she could feel at the end of it was the pity one had towards someone who attempted to get too close to the sun and came crashing to terra firma.

“There can’t be forgiveness," she heard Violet muttering to herself. “But I refuse to break to this place. To be manipulated by the hate they cultivated.”

"Yeah, Violet. That's right. I don't care how weak we were deemed, but we're not going to to break. To do so would be our complete defeat."

She smiled at Violet before looking at the impending carnage before her. Others had commanded to attack. There was a chance that the majority would.

It was a pitiful situation all around. The Megalopolans who had placed their trust in someone stronger to guide them to a brighter future and a brighter home. The captain who had taken things to the extreme for that end and now lay here at the mercy of everyone they wronged. The many prisoners letting out the pain of seven long days of agony with pure violence.

All she really could feel was pity.

But that was why she had to try something. She could not just stand by while it all ended in further bloodshed and tragedy. Otherwise, why had she ever wanted to grow stronger in the first place? Elaine Highland was not that kind of apathetic person who would simply turn her head away and let the blood flow.

"Ginga! Use Psychic to stop as many of the attacks as possible."

She had tossed out her trusty partner and ordered the Metagross to block as many attacks as possible with its own.

There was a good chance that this attack would be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but she could not let this stand. The weakling would exert her will upon the world, no matter how futile it looked.

That was what it meant to keep living, after all.

---

TL;DR:

• Elaine helps Violet tear off the chains afflicting her
• Gallade is knocked out in the crash
• Elaine is injured and in pain, but her injuries are mostly superficial
• Elaine finds Violet and helps her up
• Elaine sends out Metagross and orders it to use Psychic on the attacks towards Cyllora
• Elaine chooses to Spare Cyllora and Pecharunt for the sake of staving further tragedy and letting the surviving Megalopolans chase a semblance of a future
• Elaine will not break here. The weakling would exert her will upon the world. No matter how meaningless it was.

Tags: Violet Fairbanks
EnvV4gd|