The Gyarados and the others were a sorry sight. After that burst of output they stopped attacking — not because they did not want to go on, but because there was nothing left in them. They were tired, very tired.
A dazzling light went up, and the Gyarados dropped out of its Mega Evolution.
"That should be the end of the Dusknoir, surely."
Vance said it doubtfully. As far as his senses went, there was no trace of the Dusknoir's presence.
"Whooo—"
In the smoke and dust, a red eye lit.
"This is bad. The Dusknoir's still there. Damn it, is an Elite-Four-class Pokémon really that strong? After all that, and it still isn't dead."
A wave of helplessness came over Vance. He and his Pokémon had done everything they could; every card at the bottom of the box had been played; there was nothing else left, and still they could not finish this Dusknoir.
"So I'm to die here today? To hell with it. All this time being careful, and this is as far as I get? It's a hard thing."
Vance shook his head with a rueful laugh, and pulled himself together again.
If he was going to die, then he had better make his arrangements.
"Listen to me. In a moment I'm going in, and you take the chance and run. The Dusknoir has eyes only for me. Remember — you run, all of you. That is my last order. There's nothing else I can do."
Vance said it like a man walking to his death without flinching, and called up the last of the power in him, meaning to go forward and pin the Dusknoir down and give his Pokémon their chance to get clear.
Every method had been tried. This was all that was left.
"Don't be stupid, boss. Me, run? Your last order can go hang."
The Gyarados said it with a chuckle. Perhaps it had understood something; at any rate it laughed.
"Same goes for me."
The Slaking said it after him.
"I'm not going either. If I go, who's going to cook me anything good? I've still got something left — let me at it."
The Aerodactyl beat its wings and put itself in front. In the worst of it just now, it and the Zweilous had been the ones who could not get a hand in.
"I had nothing to hope for to begin with. This way there's nothing to be ashamed of."
The Zweilous stepped out without hesitation, both heads wearing the look of something that had made its peace with dying.
"Where would I even go? The first thing I ever opened my eyes on was you, boss. Anywhere else, I wouldn't be comfortable. Let's do it together, boss."
The Combusken said it, from the back of them.
Between one man and five Pokémon, there was in that moment something free and unburdened, and something tragic and brave.
"Is that so. Think it over, though. With aptitude like yours, the road ahead of you is a long one."
"Nothing to think over, boss. Without you, any road is a lie. If anyone's walking away it can only be you. I'm going first."
And as it spoke, the Gyarados threw itself straight at the thing.
"Roar—"
The Slaking went after it at once.
"Combusken. That's how it is. If anyone goes, it can only be you."
With that, the Combusken went forward too. Of all of them its stamina was in the best state, since it had hardly been in the fighting at all.
"What fools. Who chooses dying over living? Well, never mind. I've had one life already, and then a second one in this brilliant Pokémon world. Even if I die, I've nothing to regret — only that I've let the lads down."
Vance went in to meet it as well. These Pokémon really were too foolish for words.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken, charging forward with more of its stamina kept back, was out ahead of them all.
"Come on. I'm a Combusken and I'm not afraid of you. Combusken."
A Flamethrower swept out and struck the Dusknoir, the flame throwing off a scorching heat, and it went straight through the Dusknoir.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken thought that very strange.
Before it had even closed the distance, the fine cracks across the Dusknoir's body lit up.
The red eye went dark as well, and it let the flame come over it. The power in its body surged up all at once, and then blew apart.
"Boom—"
The ghost-power inside it burst outward, all of it, and the whole area was thick with Ghost-type force.
"Combusken—"
At the critical moment the Combusken was Teleported elsewhere, its head still ringing a little.
Wait. After its Flamethrower, the Dusknoir had blown up. Did that mean it had been the one to take the Dusknoir down?
It rather looked that way.
"Is that it over?"
The Dusknoir's body had exploded in that one great noise, and there was no sign of it left on the field.
On the ground lay only a single thing like a towel, fallen there, left behind by the Dusknoir.
After a check, he was sure the Dusknoir was dead. All that remained was a length of cloth with a heavy ghost-energy still on it.
Vance picked the cloth up, looked at the thing, and thought it must be a Reaper Cloth.
"Hah. Finished at last."
Vance let out a stale breath and said it easily.
He had thought he was going to come to grief here, and then things had turned round out of nowhere, and the Dusknoir was gone.
There had been something wrong with the Dusknoir from the start, and after a hard fight against him and all his Pokémon, something in it had finally given way. Vance had seized the chance, move after move had come down on it, and this Elite-Four-class Dusknoir had been beaten at last.
The fight was over, but Vance did not dare slacken. He dug Grady's body out of the earth, gathered things up quickly, recalled his Pokémon and got away from the place at once, leaving by sea.
There were still people watching around the edges of the site, and he was better off keeping clear of them.
"Sir, it's gone quiet, I think."
"Gone quiet, has it? Why don't you go ahead and see what the situation is?"
The officer said it with his face full of mockery, sending the man forward to take a look.
"Ah — I'd better not. I'll keep in step with you, sir." The man gave an embarrassed laugh. He was not stupid either. Walk in the moment it went quiet, and then what if something happened? A man had only the one small life, and once it was gone it was gone. Was he going to buy a resurrection with Poké Dollars?
"We wait a bit longer. Support will be here soon, and we'll go in then. No harm in it."
The officer kept to his careful line. It was how he had stayed alive all these years. Of the investigators from his own intake, the keen ones, the brave ones, most were in the ground by now.