Despair filled my entire being as my last Pokemon fell to a Focus Blast.

A grinning N stood victorious behind his Zoroark.

I had failed not only Cheren and Alder, but all of Unova... all of the trainers who loved their Pokemon, who had supported them and watched them grow. I wrecked it. Team Plasma won. They were going to fulfill their wish to liberate Pokemon. I dropped to my knees, my fallen Pokemon crawling towards me and nudged my palm. I gently stroked it's head with a forlorn smile. This may be the last time I saw it. "You did amazing. I hope you know that. You're such a wonderful Pokemon. I'm so lucky to have been able to share this incredible journey with you."

I reached into my bag and fished out all six of my Pokeballs, returning the one that occupied my lap. "I hope you can hear me in there," I gave the balls a fond smile. "The same goes for you guys too. I'm so happy that you chose to stay with me this long. We made a pretty great team, yeah?"

My heart wrenched with guilt as Cheren and Alder ran into the throne room. They froze as soon as they saw me on the ground. Cheren's face instantly lit up with rage and he turned to N. "You, you low-life... how could you!" He reached for a Pokeball, but was stopped by Ghestis, who had appeared in front of N.

"I'd advise you not to. You are now standing before the King of Unova. Besides, you are in his castle. Should he wish, he could, and most certainly would, get Plasma Grunts upon you like the plague."

Alder placed a large hand upon Cheren's shoulder, keeping the young boy in place. He then made a motion that surprised me. "Forgive Cheren's impudence. He's merely surprised is all. You see, he's never seen anyone defeat Shadow or Cake before."

Cheren grit his teeth and his hand clenched around the Pokeball.

I, on the other hand, went stock still once my older brother's name was mentioned. Shadow and I were twins. Our mother and father had come to agreement over the name seeing as Dark-type Pokemon were our father's favorite. And when I came out a couple minutes after, well... our mother took the liberty of naming me Cake. She was thoroughly amused by it. Having two, somewhat identical children- naming one after an intangible substance and the other after an edible substance. I'm sure she was just hyped up on the drugs they used to ease the pain from birthing twins. Besides, how often did you meet people named Cake or Shadow?

Shadow. He loved Pokemon with all his heart and soul. He wouldn't have lost this battle even if it meant him going in and fighting alongside his Pokemon. He was always so strong. I've never seen him lose. He had left for his journey a year earlier than me. He had already defeated the Elite Four and the Champion, moving onto a new region, by the time Bel, Cheren, and I started our journey. Shadow was part of the reason for Cheren's urge to become the strongest of the strong. Shadow would be so disappointed in me...

"Father, that's enough." N's voice was oddly complacent for someone who just succeeded in reaching their goal. "My friends and I did not come this far just to be cruel to others."

He fixed everyone in the room with a hard glare and walked forward. His gaze softened when he stood before me. He gave a sort of cautious smile, very much like a child would when in trouble- small in size, but meaning no harm. A hand reached down, gently taking hold of my wrist, and pulled me up. I craned my neck up to glare at him. N was at least a foot taller, if not more. He still wore that wary smile though his eyes were ablaze with swarming emotions.

"Cake, please, this was obviously meant to be. Don't hate me. My dream, Team Plasma's dream also, it's going to come true! Think of all the suffering Pokemon that will be better off free and happy. They won't have to fight anymore. They can be at peace. It's magnificent!"

N's glowing face dampened upon noticing that my expression grew more fowl. I wouldn't be surprised if he could feel the hate radiating off of my being.

"Why... why are you angry at me? You're my friend. Friends are supposed to support their friends in all that they do. Friends are supposed to be happy for their friends when they reach their goal, right?"

"Right," I spat out. "Friends tend to do that."

I smirked at his now crestfallen face. Hurt was swimming in his eyes. Part of me felt guilty, part of me enjoyed this. Guilty because I had hurt N's feelings. I had rained on his parade; his sick, twisted, and demented parade. Enjoyment because now he was the one hurting. His pain was my pleasure. Dear Lord, I am such a bitch.

My stomach churned with my unusual behavior. This was wrong. Just because I had lost doesn't mean that I could be bitter. ...But, but I had lost an important battle. A freaking battle for human and Pokemon-kind! I had an excuse, didn't I?

No. No, you didn't. A soft, disappointed voice murmured from inside me. You're usually more graceful than this. You let winning get to your head. You thought you were invincible. Maybe that's why you lost. You lost because you weren't fully in it for the greater good. You were too worried about winning, and your Pokemon emulated that. Had you been fighting for the right reasons, I have no doubts that you would have won.

"We're not friends?" N's voice was now very small.

"Are you kidding me? Of course we're friends! We're the best of friends!" My voice dripped with malice. N's face contorted first into hurt, but was wiped clean as an emotionless expression etched it's way upon it. I flinched as his free hand shot into the air. I gave him a confused look as he snapped. Steeled over, emerald eyes were my only reply.

"Well then... we can't have that, now can we?" He murmured softly so only he and I could hear. He began to pull me towards Ghestis as the Shadow Triad and Plasma Grunts appeared. The Grunts forced Cheren and Alder out while the Shadow Triad took hold of me. I cried out in a pain as a sharp blow was delivered to my neck.

Everything began to fade into black...

A/N:

I decided to use my character's name from my game. My cousin wanted me to incorporate his character's name into the story too. So, there are your reasons for having two characters named Cake and Shadow. I apologize if it irritates you, but I've always named my characters after food... uh, yeah. ^-^;

Well... other than and back-story, this all should be self-explanatory.

Happy reading!