Twice now.
Yveltal had no idea how it kept ending up provoking these people and Pokémon.
Years ago, that human ghost had come looking for it and beaten it senseless with bizarre methods—fine. Whatever.
But it hadn't even been that long. It was still dormant, its injuries not fully healed.
And now this Diancie had shown up—with humans in tow.
And if Yveltal remembered right… both the Diancie in front of it, and that red-haired human off to the side—they all knew that human ghost from before.
Were they here for revenge?!
The moment the thought hit, Yveltal's whole body went stiff.
I took the beating. Xerneas was the one who killed him. So why come take revenge on me?
Shouldn't they be going after that stupid deer?!
BOOM!
Fury boiling over, Yveltal spat out a dark crimson beam, smashing it head-on into Diancie's Diamond Storm.
The two forces collided with a thunderous crack, shockwaves rippling outward in waves.
The air across the entire area churned like boiling water.
Yveltal hurriedly retreated a short distance, eyes wide as it took in the scene.
Diancie's strength was completely outside its expectations…
In Yveltal's memory, Pokémon like this were gentle and awful in a fight.
One lazy breath from it should've been enough to scare her into tears.
But this one didn't just strike with ruthless decisiveness; her power wasn't anything like an ordinary Diancie's.
A bad feeling crept up in Yveltal's chest.
Not far away, Diancie narrowed her eyes as well.
Yveltal was far more troublesome than she'd imagined.
She'd thought the fight would end quickly, but at this rate, it was going to take time.
Just as the two Pokémon faced off from a distance—
Rustle—rustle—
The nearby brush moved again.
Along with it came crisp footsteps striking the ground.
Hm?
Yveltal was the first to twist its head toward the sound.
Xerneas…
Years of rivalry paid off: Yveltal recognized her from the rhythm of the steps alone.
And instead of panicking at the sight of its nemesis, a flicker of relief rose in its heart.
"Stupid deer—get over here and help!" Yveltal bellowed.
It wasn't worried Xerneas would attack it now.
Sure, they were enemies, and when they fought, they fought to kill—but against outsiders, it and that stupid deer always stood on the same side.
Otherwise…
Once the ecosystem's balance got wrecked, Zygarde would shove them onto the same front whether they liked it or not.
Thinking that, Yveltal steadied itself.
It was just a Diancie… did she really think she was Zygarde?
Tap—
As Yveltal's shout faded, a lithe figure sprang out of the brush.
Xerneas landed lightly, lifting her long neck as she took in the scene.
Diancie and Yveltal were already trading blows.
But thankfully, things weren't disastrous yet.
Only…
How was she supposed to explain this?
The thought stopped Xerneas in her tracks, and she fell silent.
From the way Diancie looked, she clearly didn't know the human ghost had already revived.
And with Xerneas's tongue—she could go decades without saying a word, and when she did speak it was usually to trade insults with Yveltal—getting Diancie to believe her would be harder than climbing to the heavens.
I rushed in…
"Diancie, could we stop fighting for a moment?" Xerneas asked, forcing herself to try anyway.
As expected, Diancie's brows snapped together, her gaze turning sharp in an instant.
"Xerneas. Didn't we agree?" she asked coldly.
Before today, she'd gone to Xerneas for help.
For reasons Diancie still didn't understand, that deer had agreed unusually fast—so fast that Diancie had even suspected Xerneas wanted Elias revived.
But this hesitant, wavering attitude now couldn't have been more different from how she'd acted during their cooperation.
"You're backing out?" Diancie's voice dropped even colder.
And this time it wasn't just her—Dianna's and Lysandre's expressions darkened at once.
Xerneas looked at the scene and felt a headache coming on.
If she'd known it would be like this, she would've had that ghost write her a script first.
Under Diancie's stare, Xerneas hesitated for two seconds, then forced the words out:
"Diancie… that ghost… actually revived on his own."
"I just met him. You'll be able to see him yourself soon."
Xerneas did her best to look sincere.
But the way Diancie's face darkened further made it clear it had failed.
"Hmph."
Diancie let out a cold snort, and the anger in her chest flared up in a rush.
She truly hadn't expected Xerneas to tell such a clumsy lie.
Elias revived on his own?
Why not say Elias reincarnated as a human just to come visit her?
Wait a little longer, and Yveltal would probably be long gone—she might be, too.
Diancie hadn't liked Xerneas much to begin with. Now, Xerneas's image in her heart plunged straight to rock bottom.
Of course. Of course she wouldn't be kind enough to help.
So this was it—she was trying to stop her from activating the Ultimate Weapon?
With that thought, Diancie thrust out a small hand.
In an instant, several Diamond Storms burst up from the ground at once.
Fueled by fury, they looked even more violent than usual.
Xerneas and Yveltal's expressions changed at the same time.
This attack was aimed at both of them.
Xerneas threw up Protect to block it, then leapt back in a hurry.
She'd known Diancie wouldn't believe her. At this point… they could only wait for the human to arrive and explain in person.
Sigh…
...
In a café in Lumiose City, Diantha sat in her seat, eyes locked on the laptop on the table.
On-screen was a monitoring report for the areas around the city.
Today was the day Diancie would put her plan into motion.
Diantha couldn't help directly, but she would do her best to smooth things over on the Pokémon League's side.
Across from her, Cynthia frowned at the menu, torn.
"Diantha… do you think I should get the croissant, or the sandwich…?"
Her indecision was acting up again.
Just as Cynthia hesitated, a flash of blue slipped into the corner of her vision.
She turned her head without thinking—and met the gaze of a shiny Gardevoir outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
---
T/N: UGH UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH zoroark and diancie are like BOTTOM TIER, they are probably the characters i dislike most in this story, girl never fucking grew up she didnt even tell you to not use the ultimate weapon just to WAIT, FUCKING WAIT ugh this fucking diancie is not even gonna receive any consequences is she
T/N2: i come from the future, next simulator is peak. i love bugs now.
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