His green was stark against the blue and his cap was pulled low. He kept his distance but her heart soared anyway.

"The heartless monster is here." Ghetsis smiled, his red eyepiece gleaming. "Trying to be human again. You should have stuck to the shadows."

"You've gone too far." His voice was steady, strong. "Unova didn't deserve this. This region gave you everything-"

"Don't give me that. I gave you everything, and you still managed to screw it up, didn't you? Think about it, N. If you had successfully become King and never let this pathetic excuse for a trainer win, none of this would have happened. This is your fault."

He tensed and White's heart shattered. "If I have no human heart, how could I be a king? It's no matter! My resolve is to prevent Pokémon's suffering, just as I was raised. Kyurem cried out to me!"

Ghetsis grinned. "Tch. You doomed it from the start. Ironically we've come full circle, monster. You'll fulfill my ultimate wish. Kyurem, attack."

White gaped. "Did he say… Kyurem?"

Yellow eyes gleamed in the corner of the cave. Blue lit between them and an Ice Beam shot through Zekrom. N cried out with his Pokémon. "We can't fall here. Fusion Bolt!"

Blue sparks crawled along the atmosphere as Zekrom's bulb charged. Its cry shattered ice as a ball of blue energy slammed into Kyurem, which shuddered from the volts. Ghetsis slammed his cane into the earth. "Enough! DNA splicers, activate!"

Kyurem shed its ice, revealing two cannons on its wingfolds. It shot purple light at Zekrom, which cocooned it and shrunk until Zekrom was left in its Stone form. N dove to catch it before it hit the ground. "Zekrom? What have they done to you? Are you okay..?"

"Now I command you, Kyurem! Absorb Zekrom!" Kyurem readied its cannons again. White yanked N back and the Stone flew from his grasp. It was captured by Kyurem's blast and shrank out of existence in the purple light.

White light exploded from Kyurem. It was left in the form of an abomination, a meld halfway between Zekrom and Kyurem. Black Kyurem roared and stretched its wings, one now stained ebony.

N fell to his knees. "Zekrom, no…"

A hand rested on his shoulder, and he looked into her eyes. She said, "You're still my hero, N. Zekrom is still with you."

"You're right. I still hear its voice - faintly, but I hear Zekrom calling out to me." He stood and faced the abomination. "Zekrom, I know you're still in there, and Kyurem too. There's no need to be in any pain anymore. Go free now. Don't let us control you."

"Idiot," Ghetsis spat. "The Pokémon is still under my control. It only obeys me!"

Black Zekrom stepped towards N. It leaned down and nuzzled him, and N giggled despite everything.

"Bonds mean nothing compared to complete control! Black Kyurem, I order you to attack him!" Half of Kyurem resisted but the other summoned icicles, aiming at N. They surrounded him, threatening to skewer him.

"No, no, it won't end this way," White muttered. "Not for the hero. It can't. It won't."

The fire found her again. It spread from her chest and exploded outwards, melting the icicles around N and those hanging from the ceiling. The water sizzled into mist as it fell, and from that mist the dragon of truth was born. Reshiram soared in a headwind of flames.

"That can't be, that can't," Ghetsis shouted. "The Stone was gone!"

"Heroes are so much more than Stones," White said. She turned to N and dropped her Master Ball in his palm. "You're a hero, too, and that Pokémon belongs to you."

He didn't even glance at the device. He awed at the fire in her eyes and her sheer belief, and he smiled a giddy sort of smile. White's heart sparked. "Okay, Reshiram! Use Blue Flare!"

Bright blue neon, like the lights of Nimbasa so long ago, shot from Reshiram's maw. It engulfed Black Kyurem and left it disoriented. N ran to it and winced at its burns. He said, "I'm so sorry you had to go through with all of this. If you want, you can go with me now. I'll take care of you."

The dragon of ideals and its former husk bowed to their King. They reached to his hand and touched the Master Ball with their snout. As the red light absorbed them, Ghetsis bellowed. "It was my Pokémon! I was its trainer! You can't steal a Pokémon, Hero or not!"

N lowered his head and grasped his cap. "I guess it decided it wasn't yours anymore."

Black Kyurem released itself from N's grasp. It towered over Ghetsis and lifted its black arm over him. N yelled, "Stop!"

The Pokémon groaned and even Ghetsis seemed surprised. "I hear you. I know what you feel, but you have to understand. I was raised in an environment of sheer discord, and I lost belief that good people existed in this world. Once I walked the streets of the real world, though, I…"

He stole a glance at White. "I learned that there is harmony everywhere, enough to outshine the discord. If I can learn and change, I believe that he can, too. I want to believe. If no one had believed in me, then… this world would be so empty compared to what we have with each other."

Black Kyurem closed its eyes and submitted. It returned to its Ball. Ghetsis said, "Hmph. Fool you once, shame on me. Fool you twice - are you right in the head? What gives you any idea that I won't try something like this again?"

N smiled at Ghetsis. "Belief, father."

"How dare you call me that, you monster, heartless, inhuman- thing! You're nothing, you never will be anything, you're a waste and-"

"I'm a hero." He grasped White's hand.

"And a king," she whispered.

"You hate to admit the children are right, do you, Ghetsis?" The scientist Colress emerged from the shadows. "You use Pokémon and people as tools time and time again, and what does it get you? Defeat, anger, sadness. Yet these two showed that their bonds with Pokémon and each other overcame anything we threw at them. I never thought I would say it, but by connecting and understanding others we reach our true potential. Your form of strength is nothing more than manipulation, but positive bonds? They're the true future. Truth and ideals side by side - I believe in them to fix the world more than my faith could convince me that you are worth any of my time."

Colress ignored Ghetsis' open-hanging mouth and walked away. He said, "Follow me, children. We must work to restore Unova."