"Now! Smash it!"
Pikachu shot through the final layer of Space-Time Waves. The chaotic shadow finally panicked. The black core in its chest trembled violently, and countless white arms drew back from every direction.
"Get away! You shouldn't exist! Inferior life-forms have no right to touch the primordial!"
Pikachu did not slow down. The golden lightning grew brighter and brighter, wrapping its tiny body in energy until it became a sun piercing the night.
"Pikachu!" Volt Tackle struck the core dead-on, and all of Mt. Coronet fell silent. A hairline crack appeared on the black core. The enormous eye of chaos rapidly contracted, and for the first time, it let out a genuine scream of agony.
"Aaargh!" The white shadow twisted violently. Countless shattered images burst from the space-time rift. Mt. Coronet's past overlapped with the Sinnoh League's future, ruined cities mingling with fragments of countless unfamiliar worlds.
May stared at the terminal, her fingers trembling. "The core is damaged, but the rift is collapsing along with it. Lin Hao, Pikachu is stuck inside!"
Lin Hao held his breath. At the center of the explosion, a black chain had wrapped around one of Pikachu's feet. A hideous outline actually appeared on the chaotic shadow's intangible face.
"If I cannot descend, then you will return to nothingness with me!" The black core rapidly collapsed inward, and the chain dragged Pikachu toward the rift.
"Pika!" Lin Hao stepped forward, but May grabbed him hard. "Don't go over there! The space there is completely shattered. You'll get swallowed up too!"
Lin Hao stared at Pikachu. "Let go."
"No!" May's eyes instantly reddened. "You promised me you'd come back! You also promised to follow my intelligence directives!"
Lin Hao looked back at her. "That's why I'm listening to you now." May froze. Lin Hao