The Galar zone inside Genesis tried to kill them within minutes of their arrival.
The sky blackened without warning. Red Dynamax light tore through the old watchtower ruins, and the stone beneath Cynthia's boot vanished.
Kairos grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
Garchomp moved first. Dragonite beat the rubble aside. Chandelure's blue flame sealed cracks while Marshadow darted between shadows.
Cynthia knelt beside a broken marker. "This marker is older than the rest of the ruins."
Ahead, red Dynamax fog twisted into the shape of a wolf. A cracked blade of light hung from its mouth.
Garchomp stepped in front of Cynthia.
"Not the real thing," she said.
"No. Just Dynamax energy wearing an old story," Kairos answered.
The shape lunged.
Cynthia touched the Mega Stone at her wrist. Mega Evolution burst across the ruin, and Garchomp met the strike head-on, red scythes ringing against the false blade.
Kairos did not tell Cynthia to move. He shifted just enough to guard the marker while she read.
That caught Cynthia's attention more than the attack itself. He was not trying to drag her out of the way. He was trusting her to finish.
"The old text says two guardians withdrew after the darkest day," Cynthia called. "Not dead. Asleep, or hidden, until the next crisis."
"Location?"
"Not exact. Just somewhere deeper in the forest."
The red shape broke through Garchomp's guard. Kairos stepped in on instinct. Cynthia caught his coat and dragged him down as Garchomp's counterattack tore overhead.
The shape shattered.
For a moment, both were kneeling in the mud. Cynthia's hand still clenched his coat.
"That was reckless," she said.
"You were reading."
"I can dodge and read."
That night they found two sleeping shapes beneath intertwined trees. Neither woke, but the rusted sword chimed once.
Mist formed an image: Rayquaza coiling around a falling star.
Then another: a tiny nebula Pokémon beneath an Alolan moon.
The path had already moved on.