The Ascension Bloom wasn't a flower.
It was a scream made flesh.
Teo and Lucario emerged from the Grove of Remembering into a world half-consumed by Giratina's Distortion World—gravity pulling sideways, time looping in stuttered echoes, the sky a mosaic of shattered realities. But at the center of the chaos rose the Bloom: a tower of fused bone, sinew, and stolen light, pulsing like a diseased heart.
And standing at its base, arms outstretched, channeling energy into its core, was a woman Teo knew.
Rin.
Not his Rin.
A duplicate—cloned, altered, her eyes glowing violet, Conclave sigils burned into her skin.
But it wasn't a clone.
It was her original body.
The real Rin—the one who'd defected, who'd fought beside them—was a soul-copy, her consciousness transferred into a synthetic host after the Cult captured her during the Bone Bloom.
"I'm sorry," the original Rin said, voice layered with synthetic calm. "But evolution requires sacrifice."
She turned, and Teo saw it—the Ascension Bloom's true core: not a single being, but thousands of human, elf, and Pokémon souls woven into a single, writhing mass of light. At its center floated a crystalline Arceus, eyes closed, dormant.
"They're not making Homo Deus," Teo realized, horror dawning. "They're turning Arceus into a weapon."
Rin's smile was sorrowful. "A weapon that will erase bonds from history. No more pain. No more loss. Just… peace."
She raised her hands. "Join us, Teo. Your bond is strong. It will make the Bloom perfect."
Behind her, Cult acolytes chanted in unison, their voices harmonizing with the Bone Choir's distant drone.
Teo didn't answer.
He stepped forward, Lucario mirroring his stance, aura flaring gold-amber.
"You think peace without love is mercy," he said. "But it's just another kind of death."
He raised his fists—Armament Haki black as obsidian.
"And I choose to live."
The battle began.
Not with brute force.
With memory.
Rin unleashed waves of synthetic Cursed Energy, each pulse designed to sever neural links. But Teo didn't block.
He absorbed—pouring the pain into the silver sapling seeds Yumi had given him, turning corruption into compost.
Lucario dodged pre-cognitive strikes with Observation Haki, then countered with Dragon Pulse—not as an attack, but as a lullaby, soothing the tortured souls in the Bloom's core.
But the real fight was inside.
As they neared the Bloom, the stolen souls reached for them.
—A trainer's final thought: "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
—A Pokémon's last breath: "Don't forget me."
—An elf child's whisper: "Why did you take my name?"
Teo staggered, overwhelmed.
Then—Yumi's voice in his mind.
"Share it."
He turned to Lucario.
And through their fused consciousness, they broadcast the pain—not to the world, but to their team.
In the Grove of Remembering, Yumi placed her hands on the Synkairo's core.
Veyla gripped the Seedlings' hands.
And together, they held the pain.
The Synkairo's crystalline core flared silver, storing the trauma in its leaves.
[ SYNKAIRIO — MEGA EVOLUTION TRIGGERED: COMMUNAL PAIN ABSORPTION ]
[ EFFECT: ALLIES WITHIN 500m GAIN IMMUNITY TO PSYCHIC TRAUMA ]
Rin screamed as the Bloom's core destabilized.
"You're not saving them!" she cried. "You're just spreading the pain!"
Teo met her eyes. "Pain shared is pain halved. That's not weakness. That's kapwa."
He lunged.
Not for her.
For the Arceus core.
His fist, wreathed in Armament Haki, slammed into the crystal.
CRACK.
Not destruction.
Awakening.
Arceus's eyes opened.
Not angry.
Grieving.
It looked at Teo—and saw the First Bond.
Saw Kael's sprout.
Saw Elara's tears.
Saw the New Verdant's saplings.
It saw love.
And in that moment, it refused to be a weapon.
The Bloom shattered.
Soul-light erupted in every direction, not as an explosion, but as a rain of memories.
The stolen souls returned to the wind.
Rin collapsed, her synthetic body dissolving into dust.
"I'm… free," she whispered.
Then she was gone.
But their victory was short-lived.
From the sky, Giratina descended.
Not in rage.
In curiosity.
It hovered above the ruins of the Bloom, its six eyes fixed on Teo.
"YOU DID NOT DESTROY," it intoned. "YOU RESTORED."
Teo stood, exhausted but unbroken. "Bonds aren't impure. They're sacred."
Giratina tilted its head. "THEY CAUSE SUFFERING."
"So does breathing," Teo said. "But we don't stop."
He looked at Lucario. At Yumi emerging from the Grove. At Veyla helping the Seedlings to their feet.
"Suffering shared is how we heal. How we grow. How we remember."
Giratina was silent for a long moment.
Then—it bowed.
Not in submission.
In acknowledgment.
"THIS REALITY… IS WORTH PRESERVING."
It turned and vanished into the Distortion World, the sky stitching itself back together.
The Scarlet Wastes fell silent.
But not empty.
From the bone-dust, new shoots emerged—silver, glowing faintly with the faces of the freed souls.
The dead Legendaries were finally at peace.
That night, around a small fire of purified bone, the group gathered.
The real Rin—soul-copy, synthetic body—sat apart, tears in her eyes.
"I didn't know," she whispered. "They told me I was the original."
Teo placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're you. And that's enough."
Yumi signed: The Synkairo stored the Bloom's pain. But it can't hold it forever.
Veyla's expression darkened. "It needs to be processed. Given meaning."
Teo nodded. "Then we return to the New Verdant. We plant the pain. Let it grow into something new."
As they prepared to leave, Lucario nudged Teo's hand.
Through their bond, a new warning surfaced.
[ SYSTEM ALERT: ASCENSION CULT — FRAGMENT SURVIVED ]
[ NEW LEADER IDENTIFIED: "THE SOWER" — LOCATION: REGION 4 — "THE GLASS SEA" ]
[ NEXT TARGET: POKÉMON EGGS — TO PREVENT BONDING AT SOURCE ]
Teo's blood ran cold.
They weren't just erasing existing bonds.
They were trying to prevent new ones from forming.
He looked at the Seedlings—now twenty-four, after the rescue.
At the Synkairo pup, sleeping peacefully in Yumi's lap.
At Lucario, his other half.
"We're not done," he said.
Veyla stood, her pre-cognitive Haki already scanning the horizon. "Then we move."
As they marched east, the bone-dust settled behind them.
And the first flowers of the New Wastes bloomed—silver, resilient, remembering.