The frivolities of Annalise and June did not last long. They were experienced when it came to Ultra Plant and its dangers, but they were not along in this world fraught with blackened earth and thunderstruck skies. The overwhelming electricity over eons had changed this world, and it was now a ghost of a much brighter world.

Now, it glowed even brighter.

A few miles away, there was a glimmer of light, hardly a spark, hardly worth noticing. At least, until it began to grow. Brighter and brighter, like a second sun, before past June and Annalise by a handful of meters.

BOOM!

Clouds parted as a massive Hyper Beam carved a massive chunk out of the Ultra Plant, causing cables and stone and Pokémon to melt together into a slag that fused to the ground below, bubbling and spitting, carving several of miles of path that led to the source of the blast.

Howard frowned from beneath his helmet as he peered at the strike, then back at the Regieleki that stood across from him. The titan was slippery, quick, and impossible to pin down. The Regice that stood next to him thrummed with Dynergy as it readied a second strike.

"Dammit. I missed." Howard coughed into his fist as he watched Regice's Hyper Beam sail into the distance. "I'm getting tired of our games, Regieleki. How long am I going to chase you? Hoenn needs you, old one."

Regice blinked as it Locked On. This strategy was as old as time, a familiar move as the two titans clashed.

"Your ruins are empty." The admin's visor flashed. He and Oscar had chased this thing for months, but it had always been slippery. He occasionally came back here to test Regice against Regieleki. The latter always won, but it was good practice. "New Mauville's Power Spot is gone. Where are they?"

⠋⠕⠗⠑⠊⠛⠝ ⠞⠓⠗⠑⠁⠞ ⠟⠥⠑⠗⠽ ⠙⠑⠝⠊⠑⠙.

Its response was also part of their ritual. The admin sighed.

"Fire." Another Hyper Beam emerged from Regice, chasing after the Regieleki as it turned into lightning to evade the attack. Still, the locked on strike ensured that the golem couldn't dodge it for long, forcing it to respond with a Hyper Beam in turn.

The two met, and an explosion scraped the sky, large enough for June and Annalise to see from several miles away.

---

june sleigh annalise henderson

For the first time, the playful show of affection couldn’t shake off the dread in the pit of her stomach. “Maybe. I don’t know. It worked on that Zekrom guy, but… Regieleki’s really fast. What if the strategies don’t work? And I’m back to square one.”

Square zero, rather. She couldn’t come out here forever. Sooner or later, she’d have to accept defeat or try to convince dahlia goode herself that this was a worthy cause. Fat chance in hell.

“But maybe you’re right, though,” she sighed. “It could just… be…”

“Bright.” She looked forward, straight at the light that got closer and closer and– “MOVE!”

Her entire body weight slammed into Annalise as the Hyper Beam decimated the landscape. Rock melted, sand crystallized, and anything caught in the attacks’ path might as well have never existed. Slowly, her vision returned and the ring in her ears became bearable.

“W-what was that?” June untangled herself from the Ranger and pulled herself back upright. From where it came, there was… danger. Electricity, in the form of a massive sphere. It hadn’t launched the attack, but it came from the reason they’d came here at all. Why June had risked life and death, hers and another, for a pipe dream.

Regieleki.

“Annalise… this is our chance, right?” She looked to her, anxious yet determined. Ready to run several miles for another unknown roll of fate’s dice. “I need– we, need to take it. Can… can we fly there?”

Matchstick erupted from her Poke ball. Ready to take them there the second Annalise consented.

---

annalise henderson howard slayte

The admin's cape flapped in the wind as electricity and ice met, ionizing the air and causing electrical arcs to dance across the sky. Xurkitrees and Stakatakas were blasted backwards by the force of the blow, adding a wonderful detriment to any low-flying encroachers.

"Strong. You're as strong as ever." Howard grunted as his helmet crusted over with frost. Ice cracked as gauntleted knuckles moved in spite of the cold. His suit was insulated, but even without it Howard barely blinked against the chill of the construct. He didn't know if his nerves were frayed or not, but it didn't matter. "Return to Hoenn."

Judging from the construct's response to let loose a Discharge, Regieleki refused to heed the call. The lightning storm being built by the construct threatened to make air travel even mre hazardous. Howard would bring Regieleki down, no matter the cost. He'd capture it and return it to Rocket, and retrofit it for the battle against Eternatus.

"Regice!" Howard shouted over cracking thunder, the golem rushed to his defense, blocking the strike with fervor, beeping as it did so. Its response was to slam down its leg, causing an Earthquake that caused the opposing giant to stumble.

---

june sleigh annalise henderson

“Right,” June called out as she scrambled onto the Talonflame. She wasn’t far behind Annalise on her own dragon type as they made a mad dash for the golem. Before long, she even overtook the other ranger. They couldn’t wait around. She couldn’t wait around. Every second wasted was a second less they had to battle.

But as a pair of Xurkitree nearly decapitated her, the idea was altered a little bit: none of the extra seconds mattered if they died on the way. “Annalise, higher!”

Matchstick weaved underneath a Stakataka and rose higher until she watched the alienistic Pokemon get ragdolled safely underneath her. Even worse when the ground rumbled below them, and boulders jumped up from the earth to knock them from the sky. Like the island.

June pulled up on Matchstick’s bridle, and the bird complied. Besides, it gave them a better vantage point to deploy Gears from. As she pulled out the ball and surveyed a good spot, she took stock of the battle. That’s what it was, with the flurry of electrical charges… and the icy golem that clashed against its brother creation… and… and…

“YOU.”

June immediately released the Magearna as close to the machine-esqe stranger as possible. “TRICK ROOM!”

“Magearna!”

From a singular point, the pink box expanded. Everything enveloped had its physics altered, which included the Regieleki. And the Regice. And June and Matchstick. For them, they crawled to a halt, and the bird tried to angle down to speed up. No dice. “YOU AREN’T TAKING ANYTHING ELSE FROM ME!”

---

howard slayte annalise henderson

 

The world groaned under their feet.

Cables snapped, electrical wiring sparked and frayed as the ground shifted under Regice's might. It was not as physically impressive as Regirock, which had thrown mountains and split canyons, but the attack was still mighty. The golem was built to defend its people from the might of a colossal dragon. Its power was not to be denied.

Unfortunately, it was fighting one equal in class.

"What the...?" The admin's eye narrowed from behind his visor. He wasn't used to the thick of battle, and the sudden appearance of Magearna caused Howard to double take. As the Trick Room expanded, Howard's eye found the sky. "No..."

He saw Matchstick and a familiar Altaria.

"NO!!!" Howard screamed towards the heavens, towards the woman who had once hid behind him when faced with an Excadrill. "Why are you here..."

His voice became a shriek of static.

"JUNE!"

The arcs of lightning dancing across the sky came to a halt within this altered state of reality. Regieleki, likewise, came to a halt. Regice, meanwhile, accelerated substantially. The Legendary Giants were not known for their speed, barring their Electric-type sibling. By stalling one golem, June had enhanced the potency of the second.

June could not be here. He made a vow. He would not break it.

The Moonblast sent Howard flying through the air, before quickly being caught by the accelerating Regice. Immediately afterwards, Dynergy surged from the golem, causing a Blizzard in an attempt to drive its foes away.

"THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU, JUNE."

---

june sleigh annalise henderson

Despite all that was put to paper and combed through meticulously, June still managed to miss something massive. A massive oversight that’d cost her. It came to fruition as the target of her obsession might as well have been a statue, but the target of her ire was the opposite. Now, it was the material golem that moved at a blitz.

Able to save his trainer from the Magearna’s Fleur cannon, and unable to save her as icy winds rushed forth. Their violent gusts rocked their slow flight and battered the pair. When the attack passed, Matchstick had gashes and cuts all over her body.

And June was frozen in place. Literally– her pants froze to the leather saddle. Arms shook violently as she reached down to the earth and recalled the Magearna before it could miss another attack.

“I-I-I…” from her belt, another ball emerged. Another beam of red released her true threat, the one that sealed the deal. The Garchomp roared, and its cry filled the air as it started to morph. It changed, powered by June’s Mega Band. Stronger, more powerful. “--HAVE EVERY RIGHT!”

Even if it wasn’t as fast as the Regice, it did not matter. The Mega-Garchomp, with long claws raised high into the sky, slammed all its weight into the rock. The Earth Quaked, and sent the already ruined landscape into further disarray. Stone crumbled, the earth parted, and nothing felt stable.

Especially the Regieleki, and hopefully the Regice too. And the bastard that controlled it. “RUN LIKE THE COWARD YOU ARE, AND I MIGHT LET YOU LIVE!”

---

annalise henderson howard slayte

The ground trembled. Regice fell. Unfortunately, it rose again.

It was impossible to fully entrap the golem. While June's Garchomp was hindered under its massive weight and was therefore enhanced by the Trick Room, it was still competing with a construct that had once waged a war with a god. It did not matter how much rage bubbled up in her soul, how frayed their relationship had become, how inept Howard was as a trainer.

June was stuck in a battle between two titans, and she had brought Annalise to join her.

The only thing that stayed the admin's hand was a vow made to Grigori Sokolov.

"Don't fight this battle! If you subdue that giant, you'll be roped in as well! Go home! Live your life! Don't let this all be in vain!" Howard's voice was a roar as Annalise's Ceruledge stopped the golem from following June. He could've used another Pokemon to follow her, but he didn't. After Area Zero, risking Shirley or something else terrified the admin.

He would risk Regice. Only Regice.

Hiss. The Ceruledge's blades sunk into the frozen construct, the initial heat promising purchase into the construct. The pattern on Regice's face indicated a scream of pain, but the heat offered little that the blades did not bring.

Regice did not melt.

"Out of the way!" Howard snarled as Regice caught the Ceruledge as it wounded the golem. Using clumsy arms, the titan shoved the Ceruledge into the ground, and charged up a Zap Cannon. "Do not kill!"

Howard sprinted after his old friend. She could not reach Regieleki. He would not let her.

Eternatus did not need another victim.

---

june sleigh annalise henderson

As glacial as the ice that coated their bodies, Matchstick and June descended. In all this time, the Regieleki had done little more than twist its massive frame at the ants that danced around it and moved its tendril arms. It watched, a forced spectator, as its children fought to harness its raw power.

To Ride the Lightning.

They touched down, and June half-fell-half-slid off of her beloved bird. As she harped a cold goodbye, June returned her to her Poke Ball. This was Howard, and a shiver ran down her spine:

"Do not meet with Rocket again. Do not speak my name again. If you speak of me to anyone, I'll show you what happens when my Golurk doesn't miss."

She could not afford to play around with this monster. Not anymore than she currently did. Even now, his heavy footsteps came ever closer. Why hadn’t she thought to bring something painfully slow? It’d be perfect right about now. Instead, she had three dead-weights on her belt. Four, if she included A/C.

“STOP PLAYING HERO, YOU BASTARD!”

But it’d have to do. The bundle of cables erupted into the area, and immediate splayed its limbs all over. It searched, but never found. Only this time, it was truly, truly alone. No comfort to pretend to find, and no partner in sight. Nothing but strangers and threats, and no one to help.

“--!!!!” Even more electricity filled the area, between June and Howard, as its Eerie Impulse threatened to engulf the pair. A deterrent and a cry for help, one that June blatantly ignored. She couldn’t. Her promise. Dad.

“I HAVE TO DO THIS!” She yelled as she ran. They were now roughly equal speed, which was all she needed as the Garchomp roared at its foe. Another earthquake rocked the land, already on its last legs. “YOU’D NEVER UNDERSTAND! NO ONE CAN!”

Like how she couldn't understand Annalise's struggle, or Howard's, no one would hers. A solitary burden to bear, and one that threatened to swallow her whole. This was the chance to grab the rope and and climb to salvation. To safety. To peace.

---

howard slayte annalise henderson