"Aah!" All the fake Cynthias let out piercing, inhuman screams at once, then burst apart with a bang and gathered into a great cloud of black smoke. A vicious woman's face was faintly visible within it, staring venomously at Liu Qing and Cynthia. Her malicious voice chilled the air around them. "I'll devour you!"
"You think you can?" Liu Qing released Cynthia and watched the black smoke surge toward them, his face full of disdain. Although he had just killed "Cynthia" once, he had done so to verify something. Otherwise, with that appearance so perfectly identical to Cynthia's, how could he possibly have brought himself to do it?
Liu Qing clenched his right fist, gathering blue Aura around it, and punched straight at the face in the black smoke. His fist struck as though it had hit something solid, producing an explosive bang. The entire cloud scattered before gathering again. Its face was much less distinct now, and it screamed as it fled swiftly into the distance.
"Liu Qing, you can actually injure souls?!" Cynthia's beautiful eyes widened as she watched what had happened, seemingly unable to believe it.
"Actually, you can do it now too!" Liu Qing smiled. "I just figured something out. We entered this illusion through the Power of Overcoming as mental projections. You could also say we're something like spirits. In the Pokémon world, Ghost-type attacks are super effective against Ghost-types, so it makes sense that we can hit souls!"
"That's true!" Understanding dawned on Cynthia. Suddenly, a figure plunged from the dark clouds, with Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos close behind, attacking it relentlessly with fire, lightning, and ice.
"It's Lugia!" A gleam flashed through Cynthia's eyes as she recognized the falling Pokémon. She cried out in delight and was already preparing to use the Power