Linkage

27

Cynthia shuddered at the miserable regrouping on Fullmoon Island. Out of everyone she knew who was a functioning person and had the capability to fight Team Galactic, she was one of four. This was all they had.

"We're back to the beginning," Wes sighed, and told all of them as the four huddled up with Cresselia on the island. "I'm not one for speeches, but know what comes next will be very hard. We are going to have to pull out the stops no matter what. Because no matter what, we are the last line of defense.

"All of the people we love an care about are counting on us to pull this off. Byron, your son Roark. Maylene, champion Dawn. Cynthia, Saturn himself. And me, well, somewhere out there Rui is counting on me. So we have to do this guys. I came to Sinnoh looking for answers to the very same crisis we're dealing with. Which means, we have to deal with it for once and for all.

"Cynthia, I need you and Maylene to go clear out Celestic Town. Byron and I will go get the necessary materials to build our machinery. Then, we're going to meet up at the house where the ritual gear is laid out and we're going to stay inside and build. Gather candles. It's going to be a long night.

"After we build the machines, that's where you come in Cresselia. We need you to be there to purify everyone. We're going to have to wait for the purifying machine to charge. The circuit I'm going to build is going to use induction so we have a great discharge all at once. That means Cresselia, you have to be in the position of the stones when the inductors discharge current. It's going to be a whole lot of energy at once, but it's to power you up so you can heal everyone.

"In the meantime, we will also need to build a machine to draw all the people out of the Distortion World. Considering that dark energy attracts shadow people, we're going to have to build an amplifier of the dark field that the Dusk Stones produce. Both are going to have to be turned on at the same time, since it should take the same amount of time for our inductor to charge, as it takes for the amplifier to get people there.

"Now doing that is for sure going alert Team Galactic. Which means that we have one shot at this. To ensure the protection of the equipment, once everything is built Cynthia and I will summit Mt. Coronet to finalize our bond and receive whatever benefits that gives us. Maylene and Byron, the both of you are gym leaders, so you are indeed strong. We need you to help us protect the equipment, especially while we finalize our bond.

"Are there any objections to the plan?"

Cynthia shook her head. "It sounds hard, but we will make it work."

"I will fight with whatever it takes to protect your machine," said Maylene.

Byron nodded. "For my son."

The four dispatched, and Cynthia and Maylene flew off towards Celestic Town. Cresselia, being part of the plan, let Cynthia have a ride, while Maylene rode Cynthia's Togekiss.

As expected, Celestic Town was vacant.

Cynthia wanted to cry as she turned the lock to her grandmother's house and she wasn't there. She knew this was the likely outcome, but somehow to her she wasn't mentally prepared for it. It hurt, wondering what they were doing to her only family. But Cynthia couldn't hesitate. Not now.

"Are you ok?" Maylene asked.

Cynthia shook her head. "No, come on, let's go get candles. We need to be prepared for when they come to meet us."

<><><>

Wes sat there with a soldering iron in hand. Around him, to his surprise, he found that the other three were able to keep up with his directions fairly well. Cynthia and Maylene were wrapping coils as quickly and tightly as they could around the massive, steel induction rods Wes designed. Byron was soldering wires together in the field amplifier.

He was working on the most intricate part of the circuit: the part that would discharge the energy of the stones. Not having much of a background in optics, he was trying his best to create a centralized ray which focused the high stream of energy at Cresselia once a high energy flow would go through. All he had to do is put a transistor which would block the current going through that section until high energy went through.

As he finished with that, the group was set to build their machine outside. Wes directed the team's efforts towards building a loop around the shrine in the center of town, the induction rods like a wall of metallic stakes. On top, sat the fragile box that Wes had built to direct the energy of the stones.

He took a deep breath nodding at Cynthia who stood at the generator for the larger circuit and at Byron who was at the amplifier and closed his eyes. Behind his back, the cross of his fingers fingers was a plea to Arceus that he didn't screw anything up and that nothing would explode and hurt anyone.

When he felt Cynthia's attraction to the amplifier through his bond he knew that was working. He took a paper clip out of his pocket it and held it next to the rods. The inductors were working as well.

But that was when he felt something off. Cynthia felt it too, because the pair looked at each other and then Mt. Coronet. There was something wrong there.  Clouds were swirling and lighting was building. Cynthia pulled out her Togekiss, and Byron tossed Wes his Skarmory.

The two sped off on the flying types, terrified of what was to come.

It was only when they reached the top, that they discovered what was waiting for the both of them.