Linkage

16

"There shall be two. Lost and forlorn, but strong and with birthright from the region of Sinnoh."

Wes had no idea where he was. The world around him was dark, cold, and shrinking. He yearned for the bright, heated sands of Orre. The stone walls around him began to crush his lungs until he began to move. And then the walls lit with the symbols of the Unknown.

There was something odd about this reality. Wes couldn't tell if he was in reality or not. As he kept running the walls flattened out until he was upon a ledge. Across some distance he could feel Cynthia. And so he tried to find her, taking some unknown path to get there.

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"At first they will be linked by time, and then distortion, and then space. Then, they must seal their bond, so that balance may be achieved."

Cynthia was walking through a desert. She hated the feeling of the sand and the harsh winds across her face. And she had no clue what she was doing there. The burn she felt was so hot that it almost felt cold. And every step she took made her hurt more and more. She had no clue why, but she felt like she was going to collapse. The pain was unbearable. She just wanted to stop.

But she felt Wes. Somewhere around her his presence was there, so she headed off into that direction, trying to find him. As she walked, she found herself coming into a canyon. A canyon that narrowed into a mountain as her thirst began to surge. She felt as if she were climbing and climbing and climbing to no available with no end in sight.

Until she saw Cyrus.

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When Wes saw Cynthia she looked exhausted, huffing and puffing as she took steps towards him.

"Cynthia, I've finally found you!" said Wes.

The ex-champion stared at him in horror. "Get back! Get back you monster! Go back to the distortion world where you belong!"

Wes backed up a step, "Why would you say that!"

"You're a monster! An evil monster! Do you know how much trouble you've caused? How many innocent people you've hurt?" Cynthia shouted.

Wes reeled back, unable to understand why Cynthia of all people would say that to him. Did she know about his past? He didn't know what to say. All the hurt prevented him from saying anything else.

So he ran.

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Cynthia watched as Cyrus turned into Wes and ran away. The hurt in his eyes, in his soul that she suddenly felt was beyond what she could understand. What did he think her words meant? Was it because of Rui? Or was it something more?

She continued to summit the mountain trying to follow Wes. She could barely breathe as she tried catch up. And that was when she found herself atop Spear Pillar. Wes still was running ahead of her. And it looked like he was going to leap off the edge of the mountain.

"Wes, no! Don't go!"

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Wes turned around from his running to face Rui. Those magnificent eyes looked up to him in forlorn. And he couldn't help but feel guilty. Wes dropped to his knees.

"We both failed everyone, didn't we?" He said.

The Rui in of him seemed to buckle. "Please, just stop. Everything is going to be alright, Wes."

And then Wes saw Fein smiling down him. He stepped up behind Rui and gave a devilish smile as he pointed his gun at her. Wes's breathing turned into screams and he lunged towards Rui.

"I hate you!" He screamed

And then Rui grabbed his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. It was at this point that he felt Cynthia's bond and when he blinked, it was Cynthia holding on to him.

"I'm sorry," said Wes, "I thought you were someone else."

Cynthia nodded. "I did too."

"How do you think we end this ritual?" He asked, and Cynthia shrugged.

"Let's keep walking," he suggested.

Cynthia stared at him. "Walk where, we're at the top of a mountain?"

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And that was when the scenery changed. Wes and Cynthia both found themselves in a meadow of flowers at the edge of the sea. There was a stone split in half that had a view of the sea's edge. It was obsidian to Cynthia, and white to Wes. And somehow both saw what the other saw.

"Wes," said Cynthia, "do you know what it means?"

He looked. "I don't know, but let's touch it together. It has to do something with this connection, right?"

She nodded. "I think so."

They both went and touched it together, and the two stones merged, shining with a rainbow tint as they did. Wes looked at Cynthia, and Cynthia looked at Wes. Something had changed, and the both of them knew it. Something that wasn't the stones, but some other mysterious force.

Wes stepped back and looked at the stone. "I can't read it."

"I can. It says" said Cynthia, "The sacred rituals will be performed once per annum, except in the time of Sinnoh's crisis. It is then that Sinnoh's divine warriors will be bound, destined to save this crisis with balance. The future will flow into the past, and the past will flow into the future. Space will collide with space. And where evil will strike, good will return. So will this promise be sealed in fate by Arceus's protection. Written into time by the first warriors of Sinnoh."

"What does that mean?"

She looked at him, "I'm not sure. But it appears that we're missing some of it."

They didn't need to say either of the parts for the other to know. It was just there, in the air because they wanted to share. And then they understood. There was no going back. They were fated to keep going.

There was no choice if they wanted save Sinnoh.