Ten years ago.
The sun shone brightly over the lush, manicured lawns of the Williams estate. It
was a perfect, idyllic afternoon.
"Blaire! Don't let her eat the grass!" Seth called out from the patio, leaning
comfortably in a wicker chair.
"I'm trying, Dad, but she's weirdly fast!" Seven-year-old Blaire shouted back,
scrambling across the lawn to catch a giggling, two-year-old Belle who was
currently speed-crawling toward a patch of dandelions.
Seth laughed, a warm, completely unburdened sound. He reached over, lacing his
fingers through Lisandra's.
Lisandra smiled, her thumb gently tracing the back of his hand. "They're a
handful. But they're perfect."
"Just like their mother," Seth said, winking at her.
Lisandra rolled her eyes, but she didn't pull her hand away. At 30, they had
truly built a paradise for themselves. Seth had officially taken over as the
head of the Williams family, leading them into an unprecedented era of
prosperity. Well, outside of his grand parents, he didn't really care for the
rest of the Williams, even living separately from them.
Lisandra was revered as the League's foremost historical mind, all while both of
them stood firmly at the peak of the Elite 4 level.
"Sauras," Seth called out, looking over his shoulder.
The ever-stoic, albeit slightly younger-looking butler stepped forward with a
polite bow. "Yes, Master Seth?"
"Lisa and I are heading out for a quick field assessnt. It's just a routine
excavation near the Mt. Moon foothills. Keep an eye on the girls for a few
hours, will you?"
"Of course, sir. Have a safe trip."
"I still don't understand how you manage to get mud on the back of your collar,"
Lisandra sighed, handing Seth a towel as they walked through the damp,
subterranean tunnels.
"It's an occupational hazard of being this devastatingly handso," Seth
quipped, wiping his neck. "Besides, I was distracted. Did you read the morning
brief? This 'Team Rocket' syndicate is expanding again. They swallowed up three
smaller gangs in Celadon last night."
Lisandra frowned, shining her flashlight over a row of ancient ruins. "It's
alarming. They're far too organized to be a standard criminal enterprise.
Whoever is leading them... they're a tactical genius. The League is completely
stumped."
"A mystery leader, huh?" Seth mused, kicking a loose pebble. "Probably so old,
disgruntled Elite with too much ti and money on his hands."
Neither of them knew that at that exact mont, twenty-three-year-old Giovanni
was calmly sipping espresso in Viridian City, finalizing the hostile takeover of
the Kanto underworld.
"Whoever it is, the League will handle it," Lisandra said, stepping into the
main chamber of the cavern. "Now, focus. The energy readings from this chamber
are--"
ZRRRRT!
The sound wasn't an explosion. It was the sickening, high-pitched hum of space
itself being torn apart.
Before either of them could react, the cavern went pitch black.
There was no warning. No preliminary scout. A massive, jagged spatial tear
ripped through the center of the room, and the temperature instantly plumted
to freezing.
"Ambush!" Seth roared, his hand instantly flying to his belt. "Salance!
Gengar! Defend the periter!"
But before they could do anything, a strong gust of wind blew everyone away,
sending them 50 ters backwards.
Everyone except Lisandra.
Then, a dinsional barrier was created behind her, separating her from the
rest, including Seth.
"Lisa!" Seth scread.
He lunged forward, but a translucent, impenetrable black wall slamd down
between them. He had Salance use Dragon Pulse, but it did nothing.
On the other side of the barrier, the darkness parted.
Stepping out of the void was a figure clad entirely in pitch-black armor.
Besides him was a Hydreigon at the Champion Level!
The Black Knight.
Lisandra didn't panic. Her sharp mind already focused on assessing the
situation.
She calmly adjusted her glasses and unclasped six Poké Balls from her belt.
"If you are here for the fragnt," Lisandra said, her voice perfectly even as
her Elite 4-level team, led by her Gardevoir, materialized around her. "It is
being guarded by the league. You have no reason attacking us here."
The Black Knight drew a dark, jagged sword from his waist.
"We've studied you enough, Lisandra Williams," the Knight's voice echoed
telepathically, cold and hollow. "We know you would never trust the League to
protect it. You keep it on you. Always."
Lisandra smirked, her eyes entirely fearless. "You're trespassing on my dig
site, you edgy cosplayer. Gardevoir, Moonblast. Everyone else, full offensive!"
The 6-on-6 battle inside the barrier was a horrific, blinding clash of titans.
Outside, Seth was losing his mind. "SALANCE! DRACO TEOR! BREAK IT! BREAK THE
DAMN BARRIER!"
He threw everything he had at the black wall. His Pokémon launched barrage after
barrage of ultimate attacks, slowly chipping away at the archaic spatial lock,
while the remaining League escorts desperately fought off the Ancient Kingdom
grunts trying to flank them.
Inside, Lisandra was fighting a losing war.
Her team was incredibly powerful, their synergy flawless. But the Black Knight
was a true Champion-level beast. One by one, her Pokémon fell, leaving only
Gardevoir behind.
Lisandra could tell there was no way out.
"Gardevoir, if you can, then escape on your own!" Lisandra ordered, her breath
ragged, blood trickling down her forehead.
"No." For the first ti in her life, Gardevoir ignored her order. She fought
with everything she had, pushing her psychic energy to the absolute breaking
point. But as the Black Knight's Hydreigon unleashed a devastating, point-blank
flathrower, Gardevoir threw herself entirely in front of her trainer to absorb
the lethal blow.
BOOM!
Gardevoir collapsed, her core shattered, her life fading as she fell at
Lisandra's feet.
"No..." Lisandra whispered, her voice shaking.
CRACK!
Behind her, the barrier finally gave way. Seth burst through the shattered
spatial wall, his eyes wild with desperation, his Salance roaring furiously
behind him.
"LISA!"
But he was exactly one second too late.
The Black Knight moved like a phantom. Before Seth could close the distance, the
Knight lunged forward, driving his jagged, obsidian blade straight through
Lisandra's chest.
With a sickening pull, he yanked the blade out, simultaneously ripping the
silver spatial necklace from her throat.
"NOOOOO!" Seth's scream tore through the cavern, raw and agonizing.
Seth's Salance attacked in anger, but was easily blown back.
The Black Knight stepped backward into the spatial tear, holding the
blood-stained necklace. "You should never have tried to keep it."
The tear snapped shut, leaving behind absolute, deafening silence.
Seth slid to his knees, catching Lisandra as she fell. His hands were instantly
covered in her blood. He pressed desperately against her chest, tears streaming
down his face, his eccentric, confident persona entirely shattered.
"Lisa... Lisa, stay with . Please, please stay with . I've got you," Seth
sobbed, his voice breaking. He released a Blissey to treat her, but it was no
use.
Lisandra coughed, a thin trail of blood spilling from her lips. She reached up
with a trembling, blood-stained hand, gently resting it against Seth's cheek.
"Seth..." she whispered, her voice incredibly weak, but still carrying that
familiar, earnest warmth.
"Don't talk. Save your strength. We're going ho. We're going to see the
girls," Seth choked out, holding her impossibly tight.
Lisandra smiled faintly, a single tear slipping past her glasses.
"Take care of them, Seth..." she breathed, her thumb weakly brushing away his
tears. "Protect our girls... and... don't lose that annoying smile of yours..."
Her hand slipped from his cheek, falling limply to the ground.
The light faded from her earnest, brilliant eyes.
Seth stopped breathing. The world around him ceased to exist. He pulled her
lifeless body against his chest, burying his face in her blonde hair as an
earth-shattering, soul-rending wail tore from his throat.
In that dark, forgotten cavern, the carefree, brilliant man died alongside his
wife.
What rose from her ashes was a man consud by an infinite, bottomless abyss of
sorrow, despair, and pure, unadulterated hatred. He looked at the spot where the
Black Knight had vanished, making a quiet, absolute vow that he would burn the
Ancient Kingdom to the ground.
Present Ti.
High above the Williams estate, inside the sealed spatial barrier.
Seth Williams stood on the back of his ga Salance. The warm, eccentric host
who had greeted the children hours ago was entirely gone.
His eyes were dead, locked onto the Black Knight with a hatred so dense it felt
physical.
"So..." Seth's voice was a terrifyingly quiet whisper. "...you finally showed
up."
The Black Knight remained silent, his Hydreigon hovering nacingly beneath him.
Seth didn't waste another second. He reached to his belt, unhinging three Ultra
Balls simultaneously. He tossed them into the air.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
Three titans materialized in the crimson-lit sky, surrounding the Black Knight.
A massive Charizard, its tail blazing with a white-hot inferno.
A larger than normal, tagross, hovering in the air through sheer psychic
mastery.
And standing perfectly balanced atop the tagross, arms crossed, its eyes
closed in absolute, lethal focus, a Lucario.
All three of them radiated the suffocating, cataclysmic pressure of true,
Champion-level beasts.
"I've waited a decade for this, so you better prepare yourself."
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