Her Toxtricity did that on its own? Gwendolyn almost didn't want to believe that up front. That Robin could just lose control of what her Pokemon would want. The Ranger cast her friend a worrying expression. The Toxel that Gwen had remembered from her over-training it at the hot springs now looked different, as her eyes cast across it only to find her worst fears confirmed. She grimaced in discomfort but forced herself to continue on. The events were tiring, and she just wanted an hour of just nothing to unwind.

Back onto their mysterious, nameless friend, he gave a sort of group he was a part of that Gwen had never heard of before. "The Dark Triad?" she repeated after him, eyes going to Roy while he asked the most obvious question going through everyone's minds. Gwen couldn't blame him, given just how complicated this entire ordeal was becoming. "We've just been here this entire time. I don't think any of us know what your origin point is. Not unless..."

It hit her.

Gwen spun around to face the other two with a concerned expression laced with fear. She had been the only one taking care of business up here while Roy and Robin had mysterious disappeared for a few minutes. The latter of the two wasn't acting in a way that she normally did either, which only made her restrained horror all the worse. "When you two left me up here, where did you go? What did you do?" Her voice took on a more interrogation-like command, one that she had tried to pick up from Freya herself. She clenched her teeth together, eyes darting between the pair. "One of you did something, I'm sure of it."

She had to think about her answer for a bit, though at the realization of something feeling different, Gwen's eyes widened.

”W-Whoa! It did! I feel a little better with that off my chest? Is this the true power of meditation? I gotta do more of this!”

The orange haired woman closed her eyes and tried to clear her head again, breathing in and out.

In...and out...

In...and out...

Maybe a minute later, she opened an eye and would peek at Greyson, the biggest grin on her face present. She was just happy as ever to experience something new.

”Am I doing it right? How will I know when I go Zen Mode?”

After her little breakdown with the crispy Rocket grunt, Gwen wiped her eyes clean of any lasting tears. Her spirit was broken, shattered beyond repair. The girl wanted nothing more than to go back to Ranger HQ and just hide underneath the blankets of her bed for the rest of her days. But no matter how much she could run from it, the sounds and sights she had taken in wouldn't leave her mind.

She spun around to see the fallen body of Conway, a punctured hole in his chest and Robin smiling down at her. Her words though, they had snapped Gwen out of whatever funk she had been in to focus exclusively on Robin’s mental state. Dropping Conway's still warm body, she backed away with an horrified gaze.

”Robin, y-you killed…”

Before she could continue, another strange man appeared in midair. The sky literally opened like some strange sort of panel as a short haired man stepped out to gaze below at the given carnage. He spoke with a quiet animosity in his voice, all while an Unown-R danced around his body. His words didn't make any sense though. Was this strange man watching them for a given reason? The end of the universe?

Gwen picked herself up from the ground and stood up to face the man alongside Roy and Balmung.

”Why would you be watching us?”

Gwen asked him, taking a moment to soak in his appearance. There wasn't any sort of insignia on his clothing that she could see. Nothing that really shouted that he was a part of some group or anything, really. And the fact that he wasn't about to launch some kind of attack or unleash a long forgotten Pokémon spoke wonders about his intention.

”You're not with Rocket. Otherwise, you would have wiped the floor with us by now. So why are you interested in us?”

Gwen continued to remained in a bad headspace, even as Robin would make an attempt to calm her down. No matter how much the other girl did her best to keep her distracted her raise her spirits, the ginger was far too upset to think straight. Something about Robin was just off putting. Maybe it was just how chipper and uncaring she was to the deaths of the people in her squad.

"U-Ungh...Guh. I-I don't know what you're talking about. A Duskull?"

She watched as Robin's Sinistea would ruse its orders, the direct confirmation that something was off. Her brows furrowed as the Pokemon returned to their Pokeball in rejection. The act had been enough to shake Gwen from her core. She pulled out a Toxtricity and looked to be planning something before they were attacked by another Genesect. It was blown away a short time after and a pair of footsteps coming from nearby caused Gwen to wince and look over.

Running up to them was the ever silent Hendorff. He quietly spotted the pair by one another and slowly made his way over. Gwen smiled at him, picking herself up away from Robin to hurry over towards the man. While stoic, he had been fairly friendly going to this meet up on the mission. Hendorff continued along, until spotting a shambling mass of a Rocket and their Overkwil from behind Robin and Gwen. A finger pointed at the back of Gwen while the man quickly ran forward.

"Barb Barrage!"

A series of sharpened needles shot towards her as the silent man quickly pulled her into a hug and swung his back around. The sound of needles embedding in flesh was something that would haunt the ranger. Three messy piercing noises later, the man kept a hold on Gwen while the top half of a large spike had impaled him. By some miracle, she had only received a minor stab through her arm, though not as much as he had.

Hendroff's head looked fine form the from, but as he flopped onto the ground, the speed from spike had cut the back of his head in two.

"No! NONONONONONONO!"

Gwen fell right back into her state, clutching her head and pulling at her hair again. The hysterics continued, bawling her eyes out. But her eyes locked on the Rocket in front of her as she looked to her beast.

"Thunderbolt!"

The Ultra Beast still had some of its electricity, which it happily used to fry the man. The attack shocked him and his pokemon, though didn't kill. While damaged, him and his Pokemon were still alive. Gwen, however, wasn't happy.

"Again!"

Another shock came. And another. Then another. It kept continuing, even as he moaned and begged for mercy. She wouldn't allow him any of it. Rational thinking and more were gone, replaced by anger and a need of retribution. It took a full minute of constant shocks until he had stopped moving, turned into a charred remnant of a Rocket.

Robin showed up as Gwen felt relief in her heart as Robin appeared before her. A familiar face that she had wanted to keep safe from all of this. Still trying to catch her breath, she was in pretty rough shape due to the ongoing events here that would be taking their toll on her mental state. The once confident ranger was on the verge of a panic attack. An ally of theirs, dead on the floor.

And all Robin could do was smile.

"Where the fuck did you go?!" Gwen yelled at Robin, storming up with frantic, frenzied eyes.

"Carlisle is dead! DEAD! AND YOU'RE JUST SMILING HERE WHILE I T-TRY..."

Her fury soon faded, unable to summon up the energy to continue to shout at her for longer. The ginger returned to her inconsolable self. She scrunched her eyes closed, holding back sobs of horror. She covered her face in despseration and sinked back into the ground.

"Ah-I'm sorry...I s-saw her there, and the hole in her chest...I don't know what to do. We have to leave! I wanna go home, Robin. I wanna hear how my parents hate me for being useless again! I wanna go back to how things were. W-We don't belong here..."

Just as they had a moment to spare, a large group of forces were coming towards them. An advance force with numbers that were far more than they had. The sheer numbers alone would have decimated them in full. And Rocket was likely under orders to not take any prisoners. Still inconsolable, Gwen would be blind to see as Compton would step forward in front of the group.

"We can't fall back. I'll deal with them. Hold your ears down and call your Pokemon back, and don't let go until you hear the song stop."

Gwen sniffled doing as he said but still clueless as to what we was doing.

"Bwuh-Whu-What?" she blubbered.

Compton smiled with two finger salute, then walked off. He called his Mismagius and knew what awaited him. The close proximity to the song would make it so that he had no way out. The Pokemon chirped solemnly, as it too, made terms with its fate. He slowly hooked up his ranger speaker box to amplify the sound to encapsulate all of area, then gave the order.

"Now Magus, Perish Song!"

The Mismagius would belt out a harrowing song to everyone in the immediate vicinity. A terribly, haunting echo that would cry out in pain and anguish. Rockets and their Pokemon would each cover their ears, shout and cry, but it was far too late for all of them. The Mismagius' PERISH SONG had been heard by them all. One by one, they fall down, unmoving. The army was reduced to a small force, then a group, until finally, the last one had fallen.

Compton turned back, his body pale, diminished to what it once was. He smiled weakly at the pair, until he and his partner collapsed.

Gwen screamed until her throat went dry.

"I can't...N-No..."

Keep going. You can't die here.

It had been some more time before Gwen would manage to collect herself. She clutched her chest and tried to calm herself after the sight of her teammate's body. Her entire body shook. Hands clenched the earth below her, desperate to rest for a while. It didn't matter if she was killed afterwards, Gwen wanted to just rest.

Get up.

But something in her refused. Her arms shook violently as she pushed herself onto two feet.

GET. UP.

Through burning eyes, she was back on two feet and ready to go, albeit not entirely in the right headspace. Her hand reached onto the Tyrantrum's ball, throwing it out as the prehistoric Pokemon let out a terrifying, earth shaking roar! An Ultra Ball came out, with a Xurkitree coming to life before it. A buzzing and screeches were heard as alongside it, a Mr. Mime popped into view.

"Destroy the Genesects, just destroy anything in your way to them!"

The trio would follow Gwen further into the compound, with Rockets everywhere taking up arms. An Obstagoon charged forward with his arms raised with a SHADOW CLAW. Mimi raised a rectangular shield over the party with PROTECT while the other two would begin to launch attack of their own. The Xurkitrees snaked around the fight while Hardhead bit into a nearby watch tower and threw it at the group of goons.

Ethernet spotted one of the Genesect batteries, which would greet her in unison by launching several electrical attacks at it. The Ultra Beast absorbed them all, but much to Genesects dismay, and then used this stored charge to send a Thunderbolt at its opponent. The overload of elerticity caused the Genesect to shine bright for a moment, then explode into a mass of electric parts and wiring.

The ground shook from the force of the explosion. Even Gwen hand to steady herself while looking over the horizon for her wiry friend.

Meanwhile, Mimi and the Tyrantrum would continued battle against the Rocket force guarding the second Genesect. Her barrier was strong, but was slowly beginning to fade from the constant attacks.

Although the Magneton's attack hadn't dealt with the Shadow Delphox in full, Ameena's Gardevoir would make short work of the creature. With an Alluring Voice, the challenger was vanquished in full, fallen to the ground while its tired body lay still.

"That's definitely not normal. I don't think all Delphox look so agitated."

Gwen leaned closer to observe the fire/psychic-type with a critical eye. Its eyes were fully red, and even when knocked out, still surrounded itself in some kind of mysterious energy. Just by being near, the ranger couldn't help but shake off that sensation of dread and fear. Her brow raised with interest, taking out her Ranger tool to snap a picture.

"This must be one of the Shadow Pokemon that I've been hearing about. What kind of despicable human being would do something like that to them? Poor little thing."

She wanted to at least try and wonder what they could do for the maddened Delphox, but Ameena was right, staying out in the open like this. The ginger haired ranger sighed and followed Ameena back into the cover of night. Even after the piercing light coming from the tower, there wasn't a whole lot that either of them could do while out exposed as they were.

Gwen followed dutifully by Ameena, sometimes stealing looks towards the woman, before then heading back to the road ahead.

"You sure know a lot about Ultra Space. How come you focus on it so much?"

---

Who was she?

That was a good question, one that Gwendolyn honestly didn't know herself. She continued trying to calm herself as she meditated beside Greyson, or as close to meditation as one could get to their first time. Maybe that book at the library would have been a better rental than 1001 Ways to Get Picky Pokemon to Eat.

She thought for a while before responding.

"I don't really know, to be honest. I'm kind of a wanderer. I always wanted to be a Pokemon Professor when I was young, but I never left my room. I only came to Hoenn because my only friend was moving here to be a Ranger, so I joined with her to not be alone."

"But I've met so many people, experienced so much to life, that I couldn't ever go back."

She couldn't help the smirk grow on her face.

"I'm just somebody who wants to find a meaning to it all, I guess. Help others until I figure out who I am."

Crap! He could see through her like nothing else! Gwen got a frustrated look on her face, though was trying to calm herself before she exploded into an excited mess. Maybe her vibes were just completely off?

"Y-Yeah, I guess. It's just getting to meet not just you, but a Mew! It's so weird meeting something in the flesh like this! I wish those girls back at school could see me now!~" she said cheerfully, then slowly began to control her breathing and to let her emotions soothe themselves.

"I'll try and calm myself, sorry about that."

It was hard to really put into words about what Necrozma could have been, but if it was what Gwen had encountered all that months ago with Gishath, it made her hesitate. Lips pursed together in thought as she thought aloud to Ameena without realizing it.

"But why would Necrozma be working with Rocket? If it's that powerful to throw this place into pure darkness, why would it need to ally itself with humans? Something doesn't really make sense..."

The girl was lost in her own thoughts just as a shadowy figure approached the pair, only to stand next to Ameena once the Gardevoir had saved her. She looked over to see a Delphox...but it wasn't right. The eyes were red, and its mannerisms reminded her of an inconsolable beast rather than a Pokemon. The Delphox swung its weapon at Gwen, sending shadow pikes in her direction. After a startled yelp, Gwen rolled to the side just in time, avoiding being skewered.

The Magneton would beep and boop threatening, summoning a condensed orb of electricity in front of it, only to be fired at the shadow Pokemon directly.

"Thanks for the heads up!"

---

The icy slush of the Snorlax's BLIZZARD had managed to chill the air somewhat, as the SMOG present was slowly weakened. It was a nice change of chilled air, though made the muddy ground even more unstable. Gwendolyn did looked over at the fallen Haxorus and couldn't keep her eyes from leaving. Something about how it didn't move, the stillness in its eyes.

I'm sorry, this is all my fault, Haxorus. If I had just known sooner and moved side, you wouldn't be...

No, she couldn't say that word. Gwendolyn forced herself to look away and faced Robin. But she was looking at something as her vision followed against her will. What was waiting for her made Gwen just make a break over.

"Carlisle!" Sound deafened around her, with her running forward. Panic overwhelmed her, unable to comprehend why she would be lying down next to her Pokemon.

"Y-You're-"

Her corpse laid bare, fried by the strength of the explosion that had rocked the two of them. Carlisle's chest was burnt to a crisp with her skin singed and sizzling. Her expression was one of terror. Eyes wide open, mouth agape now hanging on by mere threads of muscle. The cute top she had on was blown off, revealing a punctured hole in her chest cavity. Pink, fleshy masses draped over her navel as-

"..."

Gwen's mind blanked. She ran away, it didn't matter where. Her feet kicked at the ground before falling into the muddy ground away from the corpse. She heaved and felt her stomach churn. Her thoughts couldn't get rid of that horrifying visual of what had happened. Gurlging could be felt in her stomach as she fell onto her knees and...

Darkness.

She didn't know how long she had been out, but the next thing Gwen knew, she was looking down at a pile of bile and vomit before her. A dribble of saliva connected to the mess below, with her throat raw and tasting of acid. She stayed like that for a while, eyes watering, crying, shaking and clutching her head, pulling on her long orange hair.

Why did she have to go out there alone? Why can't I plan anything right in this mission?

She sobbed hysterically, refusing to look at Carlisle.

"Sorry, Ah-I'm sorry. Sorry..."

With the Dewott secured, Gwen smiled and then tossed the Pokeball into her messenger bag across her chest. "Alright! Welcome to team, Dewott!" She smiled just as Gishath was going to sniff at the ground again. After a moment of collecting scents, the Gabite was off and onto the next target behind them. She followed him backwards to his next fight before stumbling across a figure in the distance. She could barely make out any details, but offered him a friendly wave.

"Hey!" she yelled out.

Gishath, meanwhile, had been busy wrestling with a Wartortle. He snapped at the wild Pokemon's tail and would use DRAGON CLAW to fell the riled up Pokemon. Gwen casually tossed a Pokeball in his direction before making her way over to the other person. It was a pretty short walk, although the girl watched him with interest.

"Out here enjoying the weather too?"

[Attempting catch on Wartortle]

It was only by the grace of the Quagsire and the Haxorus that Gwen was able to have some semblance of peace as she worked on fiddling with the generator in the middle of the camp. She flashed a knowing smile at the both of them before working on cutting wires and more. The sudden burst of electricity from cutting a wrong one had resulted in sparks flying, alongside the box itself starting to let out a pained whirr.

"C'mon you stupid thing, which ones are the ones to the Genesect?..." she mumbled to herself while she worked.

The Haxorus had been confused by its outrage of throwing Rockets and their Pokemon away from her, until a well aimed blast from one would come hurling towards Gwen's back. She was fully unaware, though did hear the harrowing wound of an explosion behind her, followed by the shape of the dragon-type falling to the ground without movement. Her sabotage paused, eyes filled with the lifeless shape lying still.

"N-No, wait! Don't-" Gwen stumbled, looking to the generator and back to the Haxorus.

Fuck, fuck, what do I do? I can't let him...But everyone's counting on me to...I can't.

She pulled away from the generator and hurried to try and tend to the Haxorus out of a desire to help her favorite types. Gwen's lips quivered so harshly while her hand shot out to try and touch the rough skin of the Haxorus, only for a sudden, searing pain to take her right hand.

"AUGH!" Gwen screeched, reeling her hand back as an exposed electric wire from above had fallen over and shocked her. She inhaled with clenched teeth, cursing to herself while blind to the danger above.

One of the cable lines to the watchtower had exposed wiring from the explosions, and was hurtling down towards her. The Magneton spotted this before her and zipped quickly to the rescue. It caught the pole just as Gwen noticed it and shielded herself to try and save her. The electricity charged Magneton would absorb some of the hertz being pumped into it by the dangling lines, but its pained beeps drew Gwen back from her fear.

"Thanks, Maggy! Just hold on, lemme help!"

She raced back to the generator and started to fiddle with the box more, until it began to catch fire. She winced at the heat, but continued to work effortlessly. the pain noises from the Magneton was incredibly nerve wrecking, with Gwen's tensing up the longer it went on.

This thing could blow up at any second, and she'd be fried instantly, but she just had to save her Pokemon!

"This one and...no, this one should have the main power. Hope this works..."

Another few wires cut here and there until the wires surrounding her would finally cease their current, just in time for the Magneton to fall to the ground after pushing the pole away. Gwen raced over to pick up their body. A hand over the central unit came, and after a sigh of relief, they were just unconscious.

When it had just been a lone Magneton, erratically trying to siphon off electricity from her computer set up back home. They had come such a long ways away, as had she. To see them giving their all for her sake was nothing short of amazing.

"You did good, guys." Gwen hugged them, then tapped their Pokemon against the body, sending them away.

The meter on the main screen showed that indeed, the charge surrounding the Genesects had been ceased and they were vulnerable, if not entirely operable.

But the purple colored haze surrounding them would continue to darken, as the SMOG was getting more dense. Gwen coughed, trying to shield her nose while waving to Robin.

"The power's out! Now we just need to destroy the Genesects!"

Her eyes avoided the down Haxorus, yet her form trembled against her wishes.