The moment Xerneas finally collapsed, Diantha felt a chill run up her spine.
The sky above seemed to darken instantly, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Yveltal hovered in the air, wings spread wide like a living omen of death.
Its strange, blood-red eyes swept across the battlefield, locking onto them and anyone whose life force still flickered.
A low, distorted cry echoed from its beak.
"Chee"
The sound made the air tremble.
Without hesitation, Yveltal beat its wings, gathering a violent mass of crimson energy.
It aimed directly at the group in the distance.
Their heart dropped.
Oblivion Wing, there was no escaping that death beam.
"Everyone, move!" Diantha shouted, her voice cracking under pressure.
She threw her Poké Ball forward, releasing her ace, Gardevoir.
The Pokémon appeared in a flash, her eyes sharp and focused.
"Gardevoir! Teleport, now!"
With a soft hum, Gardevoir reached out.
Space folded and Diantha vanished, reappearing a hundred meters away in a burst of white light.
Cynthia and the other Elites reacted instantly.
Their Pokémon grabbed them, pushed them, or shielded them as they scattered in every direction.
A heartbeat later,
BOOM!
Yveltal's Oblivion Wing slammed into the ground where they had stood.
Red energy crackled violently, burrowing a deep crater into the earth.
From the pit, a wave of decay rolled outward. Grass blackened. Flowers curled and turned to dust.
Even the air felt thin, lifeless.
Even with two Champions, three Elites, and a Gym Leader present, no one dared rush straight at the monster.
A single mistake meant death.
Yveltal screeched again and dove, relentless.
The group had no choice but to keep retreating, step after step, as its shadow hunted them.
"Diantha!" Drasna cried out while dodging another blast.
"If we keep falling back, we'll reach Lumiose City!"
Diantha's expression tightened.
She had already ordered the city to evacuate earlier, but Lumiose wasn't a small town.
Over a hundred thousand civilians lived there, there was no way everyone could clear out in time.
If Yveltal entered the city…she didn't need to imagine it.
Thousands would die in minutes.
Diantha inhaled sharply, her resolve sharpening.
When she spoke, her voice carried the weight of a Champion.
"Elites!" she shouted.
"As Champion of Kalos, I order you to stand with me. We hold Yveltal here and buy the people time to escape!"
Steel-type Elite Wikstrom slammed a gauntleted fist against his armor, sparks flying.
"Your will is absolute, Champion! A knight does not retreat from duty!"
Water-type Elite Siebold swept back his blue hair, his movements elegant even now.
"I swore an oath to protect Kalos. Fighting beside you is an honor."
Drasna, calm despite everything, gave a soft chuckle.
"Kalos is my home."
The three Elites stepped forward, already reaching for their strongest Poké Balls.
Cynthia didn't give a speech.
She simply met Diantha's eyes, steady, determined, and nodded. She was staying.
Olympia moved beside Diantha without a word.
Olympia had seen visions.
But seeing Yveltal in person, its presence crushing and suffocating… nothing compared.
Diantha bowed her head for a moment.
"Thank you… all of you."
She was the first to move.
"Gardevoir! Mega Evolve, use Dazzling Gleam!"
Cynthia's hand shot up.
"Garchomp, Mega Evolve! Dragon Pulse!"
Drasna stepped forward.
"Altaria, Mega Evolve! Moonblast!"
Wikstrom's voice boomed, "Scizor, Mega Evolve, Bullet Storm!"
Siebold spun his Poké Ball between his fingers.
"Blastoise, Mega Evolve… Hydro Cannon!"
Poké Balls burst open one after another.
Mega Evolution energy lit the battlefield with swirling lights of gold and silver.
Their Pokémon howled, roared, and cried out as power surged through them.
Under Diantha's lead, everyone launched their attacks at once, forming a storm of multicolored beams streaking across the sky toward Yveltal.
The air vibrated,
Then the attacks collided with a deafening explosion.
BOOM!!!
A storm of energy attacks lit the battlefield like fireworks, Dazzling Gleam, Dragon Pulse, Hydro Cannon, Moonblast, and more.
Each beam slammed into Yveltal from a different direction, a relentless barrage with no room to escape.
The final impact sent the dark legendary skidding backward, its massive body tumbling through the air before it caught itself tens of meters away.
Diantha's breath caught.
"It worked!"
Hope flickered in her eyes, and the others felt a surge of confidence ripple through them.
If they could push Yveltal back… then maybe, just maybe, they could hold him long enough to save Lumiose City.
For a moment, it looked like they could stand against a god.
But the moment didn't last.
"Chee!!!"
Yveltal's shriek stabbed through the air like a blade.
A wave of darkness burst outward from its body, thicker and heavier than before, shadows coiling around it like living smoke.
The dark aura intensified, smothering the field in a suffocating pressure.
Yveltal's wings stretched wide, its gaze burning with fury.
They had injured it.
To Yveltal, a being born from destruction itself, that was unforgivable.
Its presence swelled, becoming monstrous.
The ground beneath it cracked, the colors of the world washing out as a sickly red tint bled across everything.
"It's enraged…"
Yveltal let out another cry and fired an Oblivion Wing.
"CHEE!!!"
It wasn't just fast.
It was speed itself, a streak of crimson death tearing through the sky.
No human eye could follow it, not even Cynthia's.
Its target: Wikstrom's Scizor.
The bug-steel Pokémon was powerful, its red armored body gleaming under Mega Evolution… but it was heavy.
Too heavy to dodge something like that.
The beam hit before anyone could shout a warning.
There was no explosion, no scream, no dramatic struggle.
The instant Oblivion Wing touched Scizor, its life force was ripped away.
The Pokémon's body stiffened, its vibrant color fading into a dull, lifeless gray.
In seconds, Scizor became a stone statue, frozen mid-stance, empty, silent.
Wikstrom's heart dropped.
"No… no, no, !"
He sprinted toward his partner, armor clanking with every panicked step.
"Scizor! Look at me! Please, answer me!"
He shook the statue desperately, hands trembling.
But Scizor didn't move. Couldn't move.
There was no breath. No warmth. Nothing.
Only cold, gray stone.
The sight alone was enough to freeze the blood of everyone present.
Even Cynthia took a step back.
All the morale they had built up,
All the courage from their earlier success,
Shattered instantly.
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