Had a brief fit of inspiration from listening to N's final battle theme, and I wanted to write this. Hopefully there'll be a real story soon from me.
The trainer walked through the luxurious entrance to the throne room of the castle, stopping on a large rectangular platform in the middle of the room. The King of said castle, N, watched him intently.
N examined the trainer's face, noting that it was the same emotionless, steeled look the trainer always wore. What was it that this trainer's Pokémon saw in him to revere him so much? Why, of all the Pokémon he had come across, had the ones this trainer befriended spoken only of the love and care this trainer held for all of them? What had this trainer done to make these Pokémon value him so much? N knew he would find out soon enough.
"What I want is a world where Pokémon are free of humans." Said N as he stood up from his throne and started down the path leading to the platform the trainer stood on.
"By separating Pokémon and people, they will regain their natural power." N continued.
"This will be our last battle. I am prepared! Even if my friends get injured, the truth I stand for will prevail!" N traveled to the end of the pathway, stopping right before where the path ended, and the platform began.
"Since you have made it this far, surely you feel something similar?"
The trainer only made a slight movement with his head to show he had heard N at all. The king of Team Plasma took the final step onto the platform where there final battle was to unfold, then he turned to face the wall to his right, staring at it in deep thought.
"You came all this way with the intention of battling me. Yet Zekrom hasn't reacted with you... How disappointing."
It was true, N had hoped that this trainer was the one that would oppose him, hanging everything they believed against everything he believed, a clash of ideals and truth. But those had just been hopes after all, and in the end, the truth always prevailed.
"I'd taken quite a liking to you too, never in any of the battles I'd had did Pokémon communicate with their trainer quite like you, and I truly believed you to be the one." N turned to face the trainer and shook his head with a look of disapproval on his face. If this phased the trainer at all, it didn't show.
"But it seems that was nothing more than a baseless assumption." The King of Team Plasma took a single step towards the trainer.
"No matter how much man fights alongside Pokémon, they can never build a real understanding with their so called partners."
N abruptly took a step back from the trainer.
"You have two options, Fight a hopeless battle, or leave and let Pokémon be free from humans once more!"
The trainer only narrowed his gaze at N. In return, N let out a small sigh.
"So be it."
N's hand quickly shot into the air above his head.
"Come, Reshiram!" With that command, a roar that sounded like the keys of a piano, rang throughout the large throne room.
The wall behind N's throne shattered as the Dragon of truth, Reshiram, burst through at a blinding speed, before quickly stopping and landing on the platform, situating itself in front of N.
Reshiram's tail glowed a bright orange, before a cyclone of fire formed around Reshiram. The heat was intense, yet the trainer made no move to shield himself from the heat. As quickly as it had begun the fire receded back into Reshiram, the dragon slowly brought up its head to stare directly into the trainer's eyes, analyzing his soon-to-be opponent. Surprisingly to the dragon, the trainer's eyes betrayed no fear, only determination. He knew something was awry with this human, though he wasn't sure what. It didn't matter, his brother didn't deem this trainer worthy as a hero, so what hope could this human have to defeat hi-…?!
A loud rumbling sound cut off Reshiram's train of thought, N rushing in front of the dragon to find the source. The rumbling sounded off again, and was coming straight from the trainer's bag.
"Your Dark Stone! Zekrom is…" N trailed as the reality of the situation dawned on him.
The trainer backed away slightly, any emotions he was feeling still undiscernible to the other two in the room.
The Dark Stone floated up from the trainer's bag, radiating darkness, and glowing in a dark purple aura. A flash of light struck, and the stone began absorbing dark energy from its surroundings, before the energy was quickly consumed in its entirety by the stone.
And then the energy released itself all at once instantly. It formed a sphere that took up almost all the space of the platform on which the three stood, and from the center of the sphere, something started to grow larger. A creature curled into a ball, slowly getting larger, until it reached a size comparable to Reshiram.
Zekrom had finally emerged from the dark stone, and it made its presence known. As soon as the Dragon of Ideals opened its eyes, it uncurled itself and its tail grew a bright blue. It violently unleashed a storm of lightning, not unlike Reshiram's earlier display of power. The showers of sparks died down and returned into Zekrom's body, who stared at the trainer for a moment.
Zekrom lowered his head, and the trainer placed a hand on top of it, whispering something to the dragon that N, nor Reshiram could here. Zekrom's face had a look of surprise at what the human had told him, but it didn't last long. The beast nodded and turned around, letting the trainer move in front of him.
"Reshiram and Zekrom, originally one Pokémon, one being…" N whispered.
"Distinctly opposite, yet exactly the same entity." N continued, louder this time.
"Long ago, Reshiram and Zekrom appeared before the ones they recognized as heroes, people they saw as worthy of furthering their ideologies of truth and ideals respectively."
"I see, the same is true of how they have appeared before us now."
"Do you hear the Pokémon speaking?" N asked, not expecting answer.
To his surprise the human nodded, but gave no elaboration.
"Then you would know that it wants to be your ally, you've surprised me yet again trainer, in order to prove my worth to Reshiram, I had to battle him. I expected Zekrom to ask the same of you, but it appears that the Dragon of Ideals has already chosen to walk with you…" N trailed off.
"You're Pokémon are wounded from your battles with the Elite Four, victory against such an opponent would mean nothing."
The trainer and Zekrom watched as N walked over and healed the trainer's Pokémon before heading back to where he was once standing in front of Reshiram.
"I have seen the future!" N shouted.
"I will win, for the truth, and for a better world!" N declared with surety.
N reached for a Poke ball, and threw it onto the battlefield, releasing his Carracosta. The trainer did the same and out of his Poke ball came a Sceptile that ominously stared at the floor before slowly raising his head to eye level.
"Use stone edge!" N shouted at Carracosta, who nodded in affirmation.
A ring of glowing rocks appeared around Carracosta, and with a swing of his arms the rocks were sent hurtling at the Sceptile, who effortlessly moved out of the way of the Stone Edge.
Sceptile flicked his wrists, sharpening the leaves on his arms until they glowed a luminescent green. The grass Pokémon lunged at Carracosta with tremendous speed, catching the water type off guard, and landing a Leaf Blade attack to the Carracosta's midsection. Without any command, Sceptile followed through with another powerful leaf blade to his opponent's torso, knocking the Carracosta unconscious.
N was astounded, this was just as he had expected! A heated battle in which his opponent wouldn't utter a single command to this Pokémon. He didn't know if the trainer simply let the Pokémon fight on their own or if he had some psychic abilities to communicate with his Pokémon, but it didn't matter how he did it, he had come too far to fail his friends here!
N sent out his next Pokémon, a Vanilluxe, who upon being released immediately unleashed a blizzard, sending Sceptile flying back, frosted over and knocked out.
The trainer called Sceptile back into his Poke ball. He reached into his pouch and pulled out another Pokémon, then threw it out onto the battlefield. From the light of the Poke ball, a Toxicroak emerged, a croaking sound rumbling from its gullet.
"Vanilluxe, use flash cannon!"
Silver and white energy began forming around the Vanilluxe's face, before it immediately shot out as a beam, heading straight for Toxicroak, who jumped out of the way in the nick of time. The Toxicroak brought his hands close together where a yellow ball of light began to form between his palms. With a screech, Toxicroak launched a crackling focus blast at Vanilluxe, who was too slow to move from the focus blast's path. A large cloud of smoke rose up when the ball of energy made contact, and from out of the smoke flew Vanilluxe, face scrunched in pain. The snowstorm Pokémon struggled to get up, and appeared as if it might be able to continue battling for a moment, but N wasn't having none of that.
"Please, Vanilluxe, you've done all you can, let yourself rest." N recalled the Vanilluxe back to its Poke ball, he hated to see his friends in pain, but it needed to be done, so that no Pokémon would ever have to suffer because of mankind again.
N reached for another Poke ball, and sent out his Archeops. Toxicroak shot a vacuum wave at the Archeops, which was easily dodged.
"Acrobatics!" N shouted.
The Archeops moved so quickly it was as if he had vanished. All the Toxicroak registered was a stinging pain all over his body, and then he was slammed into the ground with enough force to create a small crater, roughly in the shape of the Toxicroak.
Archeops leapt off of the Toxicroak, who let out a pained groan from being used as a springboard. The trainer wasted no time in recalling back his Toxicroak. He paused to look at the Poke ball in his hand, and gave it a small nod and a blink, before stashing it back in his bag. He withdrew a cherish ball from his bag, the red surface glinting in the light, then tossed it out onto the battlefield. From the Poke ball's emergence light, a Greninja took form. It got into a battle ready stance and made no sound as it turned to face the Archeops.
"A Greninja?" It was the first one N had seen, and the first of the Froakie line he had seen this trainer use, how he had befriended one in the short time since their last meeting was a mystery to N.
"Archeops, Dragon Claw!" N commanded.
Archeops' right wing began to glow in a dark blue flame, and he lunged at the Greninja with frightening speed. The dragon claw landed on its mark, and the Greninja was sent rag dolling back, but the ninja was dead silent, as if the hit hadn't even registered. As soon as the Greninja hit the ground it disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a substitute doll.
The Archeops and N both looked around frantically, trying to find where the Greninja had vanished too, but by the time Archeops had spotted him, a hydro pump was already well on its way towards him. Caught unaware, the Archeops took a direct hit and was sent flying towards N's feet, barely conscious from the attack.
N, quickly kneeled down to Archeops, concern written all over his face. He gently laid a hand on Archeops' head.
"You did well, take a long deserved rest my friend." N said as he returned Archeops to his Poke ball.
N stood back up, and looked back at Reshiram.
He gave the dragon a look that conveyed N's thoughts "Soon." Reshiram gave a subtle nod in response.
N pulled out another Poke ball, and threw it onto the battlefield, a Klinklang emerged from the Poke ball, its gears rattling as they grinded against each other.
"Use Thunderbolt, and don't rest until he's down!"
The Klinklang let out a grinding noise as electricity sparked from its body. Greninja was quick to dodge the arcs of electricity that came racing at him, though several sparks managed to graze the ninja. Greninja darted towards the Klinklang, his arm covered in a dark wispy aura, attempting to land a night slash on the gear like Pokémon. As Greninja was about to close in, Klinklang swiftly floated back, dodging the night slash.
The Greninja looked up from the ground, only to be met with another thunderbolt that hit its mark dead on. Greninja writhed in pain from the sheer power of the electricity, but despite the type disadvantage, stood his ground. The ninja mustered up what was left of his strength and shot a powerful hydro pump straight threw the thunderbolt, the arcs of lightning coiling around the hydro pump like a snake.
The torrent of water made direct contact with Klinklang, immediately stopping the flow of electricity from its body. The gear Pokémon was sent flying backwards, landing on the ground and sliding a few more feet before he came to halt, the painful sound of metal on metal could be heard as the Klinklang struggled to stay conscious.
On the other end of the battlefield, the Greninja was on his knees, completely out of energy. The Ninja Pokémon looked back at his trainer who nodded and recalled the tired Greninja back to his Poke ball.
N kneeled down to his Klinklang and whispered his thanks to him before returning the Pokémon to its Poke ball.
"This is the last one, the end to the prelude of the true battle." N thought to himself. He pulled out one last Poke ball.
"This is my oldest friend, the one who has been with me every step of the way, lets end it like this, before the real final battle begins, let our oldest companions carry our spirits through them in battle!" N exclaimed passionately.
A small smile crept its way onto the trainers face, and then he gave a nod to N. The trainer reached into his bag and pulled out a Poke ball, activating the device that scaled the Poke ball back to normal size. N had never seen who this trainer's true partner was, and the trainer had never seen his, this would be a first time experience for both of them.
"On the count of three?" Asked N. The trainer gave a small nod in affirmation.
"One…two…three!"
The two trainers through their Poke balls out onto the field simultaneously, a bright white light emerging from the Poke balls as they opened.
From N's Poke ball, an Illusion Master appeared, a Zoroark.
And from the trainer's Poke Ball, appeared a Wielder of Aura, a Lucario.
N's vision narrowed in focus, staring into the eyes of his opponent.
"Zoroark, it's up to you now! Keep your distance and use flamethrower!"
A ball of intense heat began forming at Zoroark's mouth, and then the heat shot forward in the form of scorching flames, barreling towards its target. The Lucario was swift to dodge, forming a staff made of bones in its hand, then breaking the staff into two pieces to use as clubs.
The Lucario swiped with it left club at the Zoroark, who shifted his body out of the way, only barely dodging the Lucario's follow-up swing. Zoroark's arms became enveloped in the dark aura of a Night Slash, ready to take hits with them if need be. The two Pokémon traded blows, Zoroark parrying swings with his arms, occasionally getting grazed, and Lucario staying on a relentless offensive, intent on keeping his opponent on the defense until the Zoroark's endurance wore thin.
Lucario swung with his right club at Zoroark's head, keeping the non-attacking arm near his face at all times. Zoroark ducked below the swing and took a swipe at Lucario's legs, making him fumble with his footing. Zoroark pressed the newly made opening, delivering a fierce uppercut to the aura wielder's chin.
The Lucario stumbled backwards from the pain, but recovered quickly. His bone clubs had dissolved from his loss of concentration, so he dashed at his opponent while readying a punch aimed for the spot where the Zoroark's shoulder connected to his body.
The blow landed on its intended mark, leaving the Zoroark's arm aching, and its movements far more sluggish. Lucario shot another fist at the same spot on the Zoroark's opposite arm, hampering his opponent's arm movement significantly.
The Zoroark looked at Lucario with a rage filled face. Biting through the pain, he unleashed a close range flamethrower at the fighting-type. With no room to dodge, Lucario was sent clambering back from the blistering heat. Desperately he dived to the right in order to escape the chamber of fire.
Lucario got to his feet with much strain, but locked determined eyes with Zoroark, whose irises held an equal amount of passion. Lucario brought his hands together, a small blue ball of energy forming between them. The ball grew in size until the light around it receded back into it, leaving only an Aura Sphere.
The Lucario wasted no time in launching the projectile at Zoroark, who was far too burnt out too try dodging the unavoidable attack.
The Illusion Master closed his eyes, and accepted his defeat as he was struck, sent flying back to his oldest friend's feet.
N kneeled down to his friend and pulled him into a hug, which the Zoroark pulled through his exhaustion to return.
"Thank you." N whispered to his companion.
"You've done all you can, let us handle the rest."
N pulled out Zoroark's Poke ball and returned him to it so that his friend would be able to relax, knowing that he hadn't suffered in vain.
Lucario watched the two's interaction, before walking back to his own trainer. The Aura Pokémon nodded at his trainer before moving to stand by his side.
N looked at his counterpart with a look of finality.
"This is it! The time has come to determine who's beliefs are stronger, the truth I hold to my heart, or the ideals you hold to yours?!" N shouted with a fiery passion, one burning so brightly it rivaled the Dragon of Truth's flames.
"Reshiram, you know what to do!"
Reshiram slowly levitated from its spot behind N, and onto the battlefield, all that remained was for his brother to take his place, and then the final battle begin…but instead of what Reshiram was expecting, the most peculiar thing happened.
The trainer looked back at Zekrom and placed a hand on the dragon's head, before shaking his own head, as if telling him to stand down. The trainer took off his coat and laid it on the floor, where his Lucario picked it up and stepped back to stand next to Zekrom.
Then the trainer walked onto the battlefield.
N's breath staggered, his eyes widened when he realized what the trainer was planning. Reshiram only watched as the human the human approached. How could this human hope to challenge him without the Zekrom? Unless-…
The air around the human began to ripple and distort, the features of a human melting away. His body began to change, the trainer's entire body turned pitch black, while his hair became white and began to wave around like a plume of smoke. The trainer's eyes became a piercing blue that seemed as if they could bore a hole through someone. The trainer's legs completely disappeared leaving only a floating specter of what used to be.
Where the trainer once stood, levitated the Lord of Nightmares, Darkrai.
N's mouth hung open in shock, before curling into a smile. Then he broke the silence.
"I see," N said
"You didn't have any plans to become recognized as a hero by Zekrom, you had every intention of finishing this yourself." N said, waiting for the Darkrai to confirm with his body language.
"Yes." One word. The only word he had ever heard his opposite speak.
"I must know, Darkrai." Started N. "Why do you fight to keep people and Pokémon together, you should know that humans only hold Pokémon back!" N said.
There was a long pause of silence, N was about to give up on an receiving answer when Darkrai uttered another one word answer.
"Companionship." The Darkrai said plainly.
N didn't expect any elaboration and didn't get any. The King of Team Plasma closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath.
"Then let's finish this, once and for all! Are you ready Reshiram?" The Dragon of Truth nodded back at its companion.
"Good, you know what to do!" N said, letting the dragon take charge.
Reshiram's tail illuminated a blazing orange, a ball of the same color began to gather above Reshiram, slowly growing in size and luminance.
With a screech and a face of concentration, the ball of flaming light sped towards Darkrai at a breakneck speed. The Lord of Nightmares glared at the sphere of fire, disappearing into the ground at the last possible second, the Fusion Flare attack flying to back wall of the throne room.
Darkrai reappeared behind Reshiram, jetting out of the ground and coming to a sudden halt above the dragon's head. The nightmare held his arms in a charging position, forming a sphere devoid of any color at its center, with crackling purple electricity at its edges.
Zekrom watched in silence as the Darkrai fought what was supposed to have been his battle, he would know that attack anywhere, Dark Void. It seemed to the Dragon of Ideals that Reshiram had recognized the attack as well, the dragon's eyes had widened upon the realization, and he hastily used his tail to jettison out of the range of the attack.
The Darkrai floated towards the ground, sprouting leg like appendages, lightly landing on the marble floor. The dream eater held the same look of dis-attachment and sternness that he had as a trainer, but now accompanied by a set of searing blue eyes.
The Dream Eater prolonged his gaze for a second longer, before dashing forward in a burst of speed with a focus punch attack. Reshiram put up a reflect shield, blocking the punch, and retaliated with a dragon tail, swiping Darkrai to the side. The Dream Eater righted himself in midair, sending a Blizzard attack towards Reshiram.
Reshiram braced himself for the onslaught of snow, shivering as the particles gave him small cuts wherever they made contact. The Dragon's tail burst into flames once more, lighting up his surroundings in flame, melting away the blizzard.
An icy aura radiated from Darkrai's body, until the entire room became covered in a thick, icy fog, the dream eater fading into the clouds of ice.
Reshiram's head darted around, trying to find the Darkrai. His eyes focused on a glowing purple outline in the distance, not recognizing the Dark Void until he was already fast asleep.
Darkrai dashed towards the fallen form of Reshiram and his Bad Dreams went into effect immediately, feeding off of the Dragon's nightmares.
The shade placed a wisp-like hand on the Dragon's head, Reshiram's face contorted in pain, the Dream Eater feeding off of his nightmares.
The energy flowed from Reshiram to Darkrai until the Dragon of Truth's head fell limp on to the ground, breathing heavily in his exhaustion.
N looked on in utter shock. They had lost.
How could this be? Had he been wrong about everything this entire time? No, N wouldn't accept that, mankind only served to hurt Pokémon, the one trainer who opposed him and was as close to Pokémon as himself was no trainer at all, but a Pokémon! The Dragon of Truth had chosen him to be its hero, so how could he be wrong?
Even so he had still lost at the hands of his counterpart, so what about everything else mattered? Even if he was right, the traine-, no the Darkrai's ideals had been stronger than his truth.
The Darkrai floated closer to N, stopping when he was only a few feet in front of him, observing him in silence.
N withered under the Darkrai's gaze, opting to stare at the ground instead of the nightmare before him, and let out a defeated sigh.
"So I guess that's it then, your ideals were strong enough that you didn't even need the help of Zekrom, or was my truth just so flimsy…"
N felt something gently rest on his shoulder, he looked up to find that the Darkrai's pitch black hand was the culprit. There was something in the Dream Eater's face that N hadn't seen on him before, a small smile, a compassionate smile, had crept onto the Darkrai's face, his eyes quirked in the same emotion.
"In my long existence I've found that the answer to complex questions lies somewhere in the middle of two extremes." The Darkrai said almost inaudibly.
"You fought for everything you believed to be true, the very personification of truth recognized this, and chose you as its partner." He said, at a speaking level this time.
The Darkrai placed its resting hand on N's other shoulder and looked him in the eyes, the Darkrai's compassionate expression now fully visible to N.
"Have more faith in yourself." He whispered to N.
N, looked back down at the floor, before pulling the Dream Eater into a quick embrace.
"Thank you, I needed that." He said, releasing the embrace as quickly as he had initiated it.
"It's not a problem." The Darkrai said, quickly returning to the emotionless slate N was used too.
N looked past Darkrai at Reshiram, who had since gotten back to his feet and watched the interaction with his brother and the Lucario.
Behind the three Pokémon, at the entrance of the throne room, stood a robed figure, his father Ghetsis, shock written all over his face.
"A Darkrai?" Ghetsis said in confusion as he marched into the chamber. Ghetsis surveyed the room, noting the complete absence of the trainer. "Where is he?" Ghetsis asked, making eye contact with N. "Where is the trainer!?" Ghetsis said again, growing angry when he didn't receive an answer the second time.
The Darkrai levitated forward towards Ghetsis, unnerving him. The air around the Dream Eater began to ripple and contort, until the Darkrai took the shape of a human, the same one as the trainer… Ghetsis' eyes widened as realization dawned upon him.
"This entire time, you were just another one of those mindless beasts, a Pokémon?"
N flinched at his adoptive father's words. Referring to Pokémon as mindless beasts? He had never heard Ghetsis speak about Pokémon so cruelly.
"I assure you, we are far from mindless." Darkrai said, his illusion of human skin fading, returning to his wispy, shadow-like form.
Darkrai floated closer to Ghetsis, until he was within arm's reach of the Sage. Ghetsis' eyes narrowed at the Darkrai in contempt.
"I have ended this game of yours sage."
The look of contempt on Ghetsis' face shifted into one of pure rage, and he promptly moved his line of sight to N.
"You failed?!" Ghetsis screamed.
"After everything I gave you, you failed me? No you, N, are a failure! A failure and a disappointment! Nothing more than a freak without a human heart, choosing these dull creatures as friends, just as I guided you to!"
N stepped back, fear and shock evident on his face.
"You were nothing more than a tool! A piece of clay molded into the hero that Reshiram would surely choose! And it worked, just like I had planned, everything was set in motion, all you had to do was end this pitiful beast," He said, roughly pointing at Darkrai. "That held the façade of a trainer!"
"But no, you failed at the most pivotal moment against this shadowy excuse of a deity, just like every other time you faced him!"
The anger radiating off of Ghetsis only grew as he turned back to face the Darkrai.
"You think that you can stop me! You think that after beating N you'll be able to stand up to the likes of me! I will be the only person in this region with control of Pokémon, and I will cease control of the rest Unova with that power!" Ghetsis proclaimed angrily.
"Human or not, you are powerless to do anything! I won't let you do anything, I won't let my decades of work be undone by the likes of you!" Ghetsis snarled in rage, reaching into his cloak to pull out a Poke ball.
So that's the end of this little one shot thing. It's nothing spectacular but I thought it was a fun idea so I went with it. I know it ended on a cliffhanger but it seemed like the best way to end this one shot was to leave it open ended. Though if anybody has any interest in a sequel with the battle against Ghetsis and with the rest of the ending then I'll probably end up making another fic to complete this one. In other news, I'm working on an actual series fic with multiple chapters and stuff, first one in long time really (yay). It's a PMD 2 Fic about Dialga discovering and witnessing the slow collapse of Temporal Tower, powerless to do anything about it, and his gradual descent into madness from watching the thing he's most deeply connected with fall apart. If anybody has any ideas for it, or can just help me in general with formatting it let me know in a review, a private message, or something else. Anyways this is a fairly long author's note so I'm gonna stop soon. Be sure to review and leave any criticism to help me improve. Criticism on how I wrote certain types of scenes like the action and dialogue especially would be really helpful. Thanks for reading! :D