"Cynthia, you're too naive."
A crimson light flashed in Cyrus's eyes, "This world is already full of holes and scars. Only destruction can bring salvation to it."
"You once tried to stop me, and I don't blame you. After all, you were protecting what you wanted to protect."
"But now, it's my turn to reshape the world I envision!"
"As for those other powers you mentioned… you think I'd be afraid of them?"
Cyrus hadn't done much research into ancient history. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed the God of Knowledge and the Guardian to help him locate the Three Lake Gods.
He didn't realize the "other powers" Cynthia referred to were other deities; he merely thought she meant the alliances and underground forces of other regions.
"Just so happens there's a power I want to destroy as well. I'll take them as the first target and let you see for yourself the terror of the Twin Gods of Time and Space."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cyrus's face twisted into something feral. He muttered under his breath, "If it weren't for that damned masked man sending Axel here, my plan would've already succeeded by now."
"Dialga, Palkia, aim at Johto… ATTACK!"
———
[Johto Region, Lake of Rage]
A tall figure was darting rapidly along the riverbank, glancing nervously behind him every so often.
Ever since he ran into Aurient, Pryce felt like he hadn't caught a single break.
First, Raihan and Lance ambushed him. Then Giovanni showed up with some creepy black-colored Pokémon and raided his base.
He'd finally managed to stay quiet for a while, when those Team Rocket idiots went and released three of Ho-Oh's servants, and that drew Lance over again.
Originally, Pryce had planned to just behave himself, act like a decent Gym Leader, wait for Lance to leave, and then resume his plans.
But…
Just when he was pretending to be the good guy, those Plasma goons showed up out of nowhere, accusing him of killing one of their sages.
With no choice left, Pryce had to fight back under his "masked man" identity, and to keep up appearances, he even stormed into Unova to show off his power.
He thought that would finally be the end of his misfortune, but it turned out to be just the beginning.
He ran into Axel, who seemed to be one of Giovanni's subordinates, and got beaten up for his trouble.
After he barely managed to recover, both physically and mentally, his adopted son, a kid named "Silver," ran away from home.
During the chase after Silver, he bumped into Lance again, and only barely escaped with his life.
If he could've found that so-called "Entei," he would've caught it just to gift-wrap it for Lance.
'When the hell is that bastard going to leave?'
Pryce stopped in a relatively safe spot, leaning gloomily against a big tree.
"If Lance could just leave, I'd face any other enemy instead!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a sudden chill ran down his spine.
His Swinub beside him abruptly jumped to its feet, its gaze locking toward the Sinnoh region. A gleam flashed in its eyes as it unleashed a surge of bone-chilling frost without hesitation.
In the next instant, before that icy blast, a massive spatial rift appeared out of thin air. Within it, a dazzling torrent of time collided with the frost in a violent explosion.
Crack! Crack!
Came the sharp sound of ice forming. Swinub's power had actually frozen time itself, if only for a brief moment.
Pryce's expression grew tense. His right hand brushed across his belt, intending to summon his Delibird to counter the incoming spatial attack.
But how could his speed ever hope to surpass space itself?
In less than the blink of an eye, Pryce and Swinub were struck by the enormous spatial blade and vanished from where they stood.
———
Elsewhere, a slightly-lost Lance blinked in confusion. His eyes lit up in surprise as he saw Pryce suddenly appear before him, dressed in the same black clothes as the masked man. A grin spread across Lance's face.
"Gym Leader Pryce… you like running so much, huh? What's this? You came to me on your own now?", Lance grinned brightly as he walked toward Pryce, not even slightly concerned whether Pryce's sudden appearance meant he had some trick up his sleeve.
In Lance's eyes, as long as the enemy stood before him, he already had what it took to defeat them.
Sure, his goal in Johto this time was to find Entei, but if he could eliminate a threat along the way, Lance didn't mind doing his duty as Champion.
Pryce: "..."
'What the hell is this situation?'
All the effort he'd spent hiding his true identity his entire life, gone, just like that!
'Someone must've screwed me over!'
After this mess, everything he'd built in Johto was basically finished.
His official status would definitely be revoked, too.
Still… even so, his strength was enough that he wouldn't suffer too much if he went to another region. Worst case, he could continue his plan to capture Celebi later, through his foster daughter, "Erika."
Thinking that, Pryce's gaze darkened. He glared at the not-yet-closed spatial rift beside him and suddenly summoned an Alakazam.
"Alakazam! Find the source of that rift, we're going in to kill whoever's behind it!"
———
Seeing Cyrus so effortlessly controlling the Twin Gods of Time and Space, and even launching an attack powerful enough to reach the Johto region, Cynthia's face turned pale.
In this world, few people understood the terror of Dialga better than she did.
One Dialga alone was already overwhelming. Add Palkia to the mix…
Just imagining it in her mind made Cynthia feel bitter despair.
Right now, she only hoped Axel wouldn't come, he should leave this region as fast and as far as possible.
But…
As a Champion, even if she ended up as battered as Unova's Champion Alder, before Sinnoh was truly destroyed, she had to stand before the countless people behind her.
Cynthia bit her lip, her pale lips bleeding bright red.
"Lucario, Mega!"
Lucario looked at his Trainer in shock, his pupils trembling.
There were indeed cases of people sustaining two Mega Evolutions in a row, but Cynthia's situation was different.
The stronger the Pokémon, the heavier the strain Mega Evolution placed on its Trainer.
Cynthia had been fighting nonstop for days, and she'd already kept Garchomp in Mega form for a long time.
If she forced another Mega Evolution now… she'd die, wouldn't she?
"Cynthia…"
"I said, Mega!"
Seeing the resolve in Cynthia's eyes, Lucario sighed softly. In the end, he didn't try to stop her again. The Mega Stone on his body began to emit a soft glow.
At that moment, a faint spatial energy appeared. A pinkish fairy butterfly burst forth from somewhere in the void.
A familiar voice rang beside Cynthia's ear.
"Gardevoir, we finally found you!"
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