Anonymous:What are you talking about? Ken ONLY told them about his ability to speak to pokemon. He didn't tell them anything else.

Chapter 11:The Two Sides of a Hero

We were now in the meeting tower with the other Legendaries, scattered across the two floors of the large building. Kirlia was standing next to me as I leaned against the wall. For some reason, she seemed very confused by all the Legendaries, which in turn confused me. Arceus was now explaining our next mission.

"We have learned that there is a Chrome base a few miles north of Petalburg City,"he explained."Unfortunately, we don't have many specifications about the base. And there is something else that may concern you, Ken."I raised an eyebrow."Do you remember General Krellos from Sinnoh?"

"That sadistic cyborg swordsman who tried to lop my head off?"I asked. Krellos was a freak. He absolutely HATED pokemon for whatever reason. Not to mention he was a total nutcase, always saying the word 'cut' randomly."He's...not too hard to remember."I blinked."Oh, don't tell me he's alive..."Arceus nodded."But I thought Palkia killed him when he blew the base up. You know, after I left him bleeding on the floor?"I glanced at the space dragon, who shrugged.

"Heck, so did I,"he said.

"Well, somehow he managed to escape the explosion,"Arceus said."We believe he may there now."I rubbed my forehead, sighing.

"Greeeaaat,"I muttered."I was really hoping that jackass was dead."I shrugged."Well, I guess this time I'll finish the job myself."

"That will be easier said than done,"Arceus said. I blinked at him."You see, it seems Krellos has had a few upgrades since last time."I smacked my forehead.

"Sunnuvabitch..."I growled quietly."Alright, alright, we'll go take the base out ASAP."

"Very good,"Arceus said."This meeting is adjourned. Everyone is dismissed."Everyone started to clear out. I turned to leave."Except for you, Ken. As well as your friend right there."I blinked again, then looked down at Kirlia, who seemed to be afraid. That was different."Celebi, I need you as well."I looked at the Forest Guardian, who floated over to Arceus as I picked up Kirlia. I walked over as they floated down to the floor.

"I'm guessing this is about Kirlia here?"I asked rhetorically. I felt Kirlia trembling in my arms. Why was she so afraid?

Arceus nodded at my question as Celebi floated over to us, staring at Kirlia curiously. To my surprise, the psychic in my arms buried her head into my chest, trembling even more. I rubbed her head, trying to comfort her.

"What's wrong?"I asked. She looked up at me with a fearful expression."Why are you afraid of Celebi?"

"K-k-k-kill..."she stuttered, turning to look at Celebi, who tilted her head.

"Wair a minute,"Celebi muttered, examining Kirlia intently. She gasped and covered her mouth."She's been turned into a Shadow Pokemon!"

"That's right, Celebi,"Arceus said, gaining our attention."You see, Ken, it is not Kirlia herself who is afraid of Celebi. It is the darkness within her that is afraid."

"I don't follow,"I said, eyebrow raised as I continued to pet Kirlia's head.

"I have the power to purify Shadow Pokemon,"Celebi said. I blinked in surprise."The darkness in her knows that, and that's why she's so afraid of me."I looked back down at Kirlia, who was still trembling violently.

"Ken, I want you to gather your team and head for the base,"Arceus said."But I want you to leave the young one here."I blinked, looking back up at him.

"But I can't do that,"I said."She hasn't left me since we met. Who knows what'll happen if I leave her alone?"

"Would you prefer to take her on your mission?"Arceus asked me. I bit my lip. He had a point there. His eyes flashed, then I heard Kirlia gasp. Barely a second, she fell limp in my arms.

"What the--?"I muttered, looking back down at her, seeing that she was asleep.

"While you're gone, Celebi will purify her,"Arceus said."But there is one important thing. Celebi will not be able to purify her completely."Hearing this, we both looked up at him.

"I won't?"Celebi asked, sounding confused. Arceus shook his head.

"Ken, you will be needed to complete the process,"he told me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Why's that?"I asked.

"You'll know soon enough,"he said cryptically."Celebi, if you would."The Forest Guardian nodded, her eyes glowing as picked Kirlia up psychically.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her,"she promised. I nodded, then she floated out of the building.

XXXX

"Is this it?"I asked Deoxys, staring at a large fortress from the trees we were in. I was now in my armor, my team scattered through the branches. None of us were uncomfortable, since we had been doing this for a while now.

"That's right,"he said with a nod."The prison area is in the west side of the fort. That's our first priority."I brought a hand to my chin, my experience from playing strategy games starting to stir in my brain.

"Any idea how many we're dealing with?"I asked.

"380. No more, no less,"Deoxys said."Mostly drones, though."I nodded, looking at the team.

"Alright, here's what we'll do,"I said."Zapperton, ZC, I want you to go free the prisoners."

"You got it, boss,"Zaps said.

"Do we get to make stuff 'splode?"Zephyr asked hopefully.

"No,"COREM said flatly.

"Aww..."

"Deoxys, Fang, Wrath, think you can take the east side?"I asked.

"Of course,"Deoxys said with a nod."But what if there is no entrance?"Fang grinned at that.

"Easy, we make one,"he remarked.

"Ah."

"We will not fail,"Wrath said.

"Psyche, you and Anubis teleport to the south and hit them from behind,"I said. They nodded."I'll come in from the front and hit them head on. We're going to divide their attention away from the prison area. When you're in position, I'll give you the signal. Zaps, ZC, I want you to wait about 2 minutes after the signal, that way you can be sure the security in the prison area is at a minimum. Everyone else, hit 'em fast and hard, understood?"They all nodded."Alright, move out."They all split off, Deoxys, Fang, and Wrath flying to the east, Zaps and ZC moving towards the west, and Psyche teleporting himself and Anubis away. As they left, I couldn't help but think back to what Arceus said.

Why did he say I would be needed to purify Kirlia? Why couldn't Celebi do it on her own? She obviously knew what a Shadow Pokemon was. So she must have purified some pokemon before. Come to think of it, I wonder if she ever met that Wes guy from Orre...huh, I wonder what he's like? He must be pretty badass to take down an entire criminal organization. Hell, he must be badass just living in Orre. That region had the highest crime-rate in the world, after all...

I shook my head. Ugh, even after all I've been through in the last year, I still do that all the time! I sighed, figuring I shouldn't complain about it. I brought two fingers to my temple, concentrating on sending a message to the others.'Is everyone in position?'

'We're ready to move any time,'Psyche said.

'So are we,'Deoxys said.'Just give the signal and we'll begin.'

'Hey, boss. What's the signal, anyway?'Zaps asked. I grinned.

"You'll know it when you see it,"I said before cutting off our connection, hopefully leaving them with a lot of anticipation. I clenched my fist, my armor becoming dark brown as I concentrated on my ground powers. With a roar, I leapt forward from the trees towards the massive structure, both fists reared over my head. Just before landing, I swung my arms forward, creating a large fissure that shot forward and crashed into the bases' front gate, toppling a part of the wall. Klaxons roared to life as drones began to pour out. They were basically human shaped with a large jet replacing the legs, laser guns of varying types in their hands. I'd say there were at least 50 and counting. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

I jump-flipped over a few laser blasts and landed on top of one drone, smashing it to bits. I then thrusted my arms out to either side, firing bolts of lightning and blowing them apart, but I quickly absorbed the fire from the explosions. The heat travelled through my body before I released it through my mouth in a powerful flamethrower, melting a few drones in front of me. For a moment, I was actually a little saddened by how easy this was going to be.

But then I got over it. Heh heh heh heh.

XXXX

"Wow, he wasn't kidding,"Deoxys muttered, staring at the ripple in the ground Ken had created from the air. He looked at his temporary partners."Shall we?"

"Let's,"Fang said with a feirce grin. The three swooped down, Deoxys going into attack form while Wrath and Fang trailed right behind him. They crashed through a wall, where Wrath let loose a powerful Ominous Wind attack, blowing around the drones in the room. They immediately retaliated, other drones flooding the room. A few drones charged at Deoxys, who calmly swung his arm to smack them away, Wrath firing a Shadow Ball to blow a crowd apart, and Fang crashing through a few more.

XXXX

"I think that was it,"Anubis muttered humorously as the ground stopped shaking.

"How strange,"Psyche said as they moved towards the base."I figured he would be a bit more...well, subtle."

Anubis shrugged, pulling his arms back and creating an aura sphere."Hey, he's hard to predict sometimes. Doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing."

"True,"Psyche agreed as Anubis blew the wall apart. They both jumped into the building, where they were met with a small armada of drones, who all aimed their weapons at them. Psyche quickly formed a barrier of psychic energy to deflect the lasers fired at them. Anubis leapt over the shield and stomped a drone to bits. The others drones quickly fired at him, but he quickly jumped out of the way, causing them to destroy themselves. Psyche shook his head."It seems the drones in this region aren't any brighter than the last."

"Just like their creators,"Anubis joked. They both chuckled.

XXXX

Zaps did a long whistle of shock.

"They sure know how to wreck a place, eh?"he asked ZC, who nodded.

"I wanna make stuff go boom, too!"Zephyr whined.

"Too bad. The boss gave us our job,"Zaps said, cracking his knuckles."And what the boss says goes, see?"

"Of course,"COREM said with a nod."Our objective is to free the prisoners, nothing else."

"...Meanies...."

A few more moments passed.

"Alright, it's been long enough, see?"Zaps said."Let's book it."They both charged forward and out of the woods. When they reached the building, they saw a door with an electronic lock.

"Allow us,"COREM said, holding their arm forward. Zaps grabbed him by the tail and yanked him back.

"That'll take too long, see?"he said. He clutched the lock and sent an electric shock through it, short-circuiting it and opening the door. He wiped his hands, smirking as walked inside.

"Well, I suppose that is one way to go about it,"COREM remarked, following him in. They swiftly and silently moved through the corridors, sneaking past what few drones were hanging around."It would that the others are doing a very good job of distracting the guards."

"Just stay close, see?"Zaps said quietly. They continued to move through the hallways, trying to ignore the blaring klaxons. They started to turn down another hall, but Zaps immediately stepped back, pulling ZC back by their tail, having seen a small squad of drones moving towards them quickly. Zaps quickly clambered up a wall to the ceiling, ZC following him just as the squad turned the corner. Zaps held his breath as he watched the drones go down the way they had just came.

When he was sure the coast was clear, he dropped back to the floor, looking around for anything else. He motioned for ZC to follow him. They moved down the hallway, eventually reaching a chamber filled with prison cells, where a variety of pokemon were in many different states of injury, all of them staring at the two with wide eyes. COREM shook his head while Zaps clicked his tongue.

"Quite a mess,"COREM said."Their cruelty never ceases to amaze and disgust me."

"I can't wait til we wipe these punks off the planet, see?"Zaps said, looking at a Chimecho covered in bruises. He reared his fist back and punched the cell door, knocking it off it's hinges. The Chimecho whimpered in fear."Don't worry, kid. We're here to bust you outta here, see?"

"You--you are?"the Chimecho asked hopefully. Zaps nodded as ZC unlocked another door. He picked the Chimecho up, letting her rest on his shoulder. They continued to unlock/destroy the cell doors, releasing the pokemon. When they were finished, they looked around.

"Alright, is this everyone?"COREM asked. They all nodded."Good. Now follow us."They quickly began leading the pokemon out of the building, making sure to avoid a confrontation.

XXXX

"Hmm, is that all of them?"Psyche asked, looking through the defeated robots carefully.

"Looks like it,"Anubis grunted, angrily stomping on the head of a drone that had managed to shoot his shoulder.

"We better have that looked at,"Psyche remarked, referring to Anubis' wound.

"Ah, I'll live,"Anubis said."I've been through worse."

"We all have,"Psyche said with a nod. Suddenly, the building shook for a moment, startling the two before it calmed down.

"Oh, that can't be good,"Anubis said, looking around with aura sight.

"Agreed,"Psyche said, looking around with his own psychic senses. They didn't like what they saw. A familiar cyborg was heading in Ken's direction.

"Uh oh,"Anubis muttered as they opened their eyes."Ken's about to have a very unhappy reunion."

"Let us be off, then,"Psyche said, teleporting the two of them away.

XXXX

"Well...that was fun,"Fang said as they looked around.

"That's one way to put it,"Deoxys said, returning to his normal form.

"Something is wrong, though,"Wrath said, gaining their attention."We sense something. A human with deep hatred in his heart is moving towards Ken with the intent to kill. It may be Krellos."

"Uhh, that's bad, right?"Fang asked.

"Very,"Deoxys said gravely, eyes narrowed.

XXXX

"Hmph, I knew I'd have to fight you when we got here,"I said, glaring at the familiar figure of Krellos. He had chrome armor plating (big surprise) covering most of his body, including an electronic eye patch, leaving only one green bloodshot eye.

"Oh, -cut- really?"Krellos asked me as we circled each other."And how did you -cut- know that?"

"I'm genre-savvy,"I said casually, shrugging. Without warning, he charged at me with a insane scream, swinging his sword at high speed. I quickly rolled out of the way, firing a lightning bolt at him. He shouted in pain as the electricity course through him. He gave me a death glare, which I was used to by now. He then charged his sword with energy and swung it at me, firing a beam of energy. I sidestepped the attack."Huh. That's new."

"I'm going to kill -cut- you this time, O great Element -cut- Knight,"Krellos said with a manic grin. I smirked at that. That was the name I had given myself because of my medievil-esque armor, minus the 'cut' part, of course. I held my arms out, creating a sword of super dense ice in my right hand in the shape of a broadsword, and a sword of lightning in the other in the shape of a rapier, holding it in a reverse grip. My swordsmanship wasn't as refined as his, but hey, two swords were better than one.

We charged at each other, swinging and parrying each other's blows. He swiped at my head, but I countered with my ice sword. I stabbed at him with my electric sword, but he hopped back to avoid it. He then leapt up and brought his sword down to chop me in half, but I quickly crossed my blades to block it, the current from my lightning sword travelling through his own weapon and shocking him. He pulled away with a grunt of pain.

"Why won't you -cut- DIE!?"he screamed angrily, firing another wave of energy. I hopped sideways, avoiding it with ease.

"Probably because I don't want to,"I said calmly, letting my lightning sword disappate and I dropped the other."Question is: Why won't you?"I pointed my free hand at him, picking him up telekinetically. He roared angrily, struggling vehemently against my psychic grip. I flinched as I tried to keep him still. If it weren't for those cybernetic enhancements boosting his strength, I probably wouldn't have nearly as much trouble.

"Ken!"a familiar voice shouted. I glanced to the left see everyone but Zaps and ZC coming over to us. Deoxys was the one who had spoken."Well, we were going to see if you needed a hand here, but it seems you have everything under control."He looked at Krellos, eyes narrowed.

"You guys mind finishing him off?"I growled, my energy nearly spent. They nodded, preparing their attacks. Krellos apparently saw this, because then he started struggling even more. I grunted as I fell to one knee. Damn, this guy was strong!"Hurry up already!"

"Fire!"Deoxys shouted. Anubis and Wrath then fired aura sphere and dark pulse, the two attacks exploding on contact and blowing him away a few yards. I gasped as I released my grip, panting heavily. I turned my head to look at Krellos, who was bloodied and bruised from the combined assault. He growled fiercely as he stood up, pointing his sword forward. He ran forward, apparently forgetting he had no chance of survival now. Faster than we could blink, Deoxys, now in attack form, charged forward, running his blade-like tentacle arm through Krellos' chest. The cyborg gasped once, then fell to the ground, dead.

"Hey, fellas!"a voice shouted from a few yards away. We turned our heads to see Zaps and ZC coming over to us, followed by about a dozen other pokemon. They all looked at the bloodied form of Krellos as Deoxys returned to his normal form. Zaps looked at me with a raised eyebrow."Did we miss anything?"

"Nothing big,"Anubis said casually as Psyche and FAng helped me to my feet."Deoxys just got done killing Krellos, that's all."

"...Huh,"Zaps muttered."Well, we got all the prisoners outta there, see?"

"We also downloaded a sufficient amount of information on the other bases,"COREM said."Now all we need is to blow this place to smithereens."

"I'll take care of that,"Deoxys said, floating upwards.

"Can I help!?"Zephyr asked. We all looked amongst ourselves, then shrugged.

"Eh. why not?"I said, causing Zephyr to squeal happily and fly up into the air right after Deoxys."We'd...better get the hell out of here..."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

XXXX

"How is she, Cel?"I asked as we walked into the room where Kirlia was. After fixing up the pokemon from the base, we returned to the hidden city, where Celebi had come up to me and pulled me away from the others, while they went back to Arceus.

"She's better than she was before,"Celebi said."But it's just like Arceus said, I can't purify her completely for some reason."I walked over to the bed Kirlia was on, noting that she was still asleep. I sat down in the chair next to her bed. She seemed to be a lot more relaxed than before, but there was a still scowl on her face.

"So, what do I have to do?"I asked.

"Arceus said you've gone into her mind before,"she told me."What was that like, by the way?"

"Trust me when I say you've probably never been through anything like it,"I said, looking at her. Surprisingly, she seemed rather sullen by what I said.

"Actually, I think I have,"she said softly. I blinked. I wasn't expecting that. My expression softened.

"You want to talk about it?"I asked quietly. She shook her head.

"No, we need to focus on her,"she said."Arceus said you need to dive into her mind again."I nodded, looking back at Kirlia. I sighed deeply, closing my eyes and concentrating.

XXXX

I looked around, seeing that I was back in Kirlia's mind. But things seemed to be a bit different. The black sea and storm clouds were still here, but they were much less...potent, I guess the word would be. I could sense that it was much weaker than before, so it probably wouldn't be nearly as bad as the first time. Looks like Celebi had done a good job. I dove into the sea.

I was right.

The black water still stung at my 'skin', but it was much more bearable than before. I squinted my eyes, seeing the light near the bottom. The darkness struggled against me, but it wasn't any more successful than last time. I still felt an incredible attraction to the light, and since the darkness was much weaker, I got to it a lot sooner.

"Hey, it's me,"I said, placing my hand against the orb."How are you feeling?"

"The pain...it's going away..."

"Yeah, a friend of mine helped with that,"I told her."But I'm told that I'm the one who has to heal you. I'm not sure how, though."She said nothing, but I could feel that she was enjoying me just being here, which made me crack a smile. I could feel the darkness was becoming even weaker.

"Thank you for that massage..."

I smiled wider."You needed it,"I said."The knots in your back felt harder than my own skull."I tapped my own head for emphasis, and she giggled, the light becoming even brighter. For some reason, the light didn't hurt my eyes. In fact, I couldn't look away from it. She floated towards me and nuzzled against my chest. I wrapped an arm around her. That same feeling as before was shining through again. The feeling that I needed to protect her was overwhelming. Then, somehow, I knew what I was supposed to do. I just had to embrace the feeling. That was it.

I closed my eyes, allowing this feeling to wash through me from the orb. Thiis feeling was unlike anything I had ever felt in my entire life. It was an incredible combination of sheer joy and hope. I gasped, my eyes shooting open to see the light stretch out, breaching through the darkness and destroying it. For a moment, that beautiful light was all I could see...

XXXX

My eyes shot open, and I looked around quickly, seeing that I was back in the room, Celebi hovering right next to me.

"Are you okay?"she asked. I blinked once, then looked at Kirlia, who now had a contented smile on her face."You did it, Ken."I looked back at Celebi, who was also smiling."You've finished the process. She's completely healed."

"That's good to hear,"I said, looking back at Kirlia, who started stirring.

"I'll just leave you two alone,"Celebi said, floating out of the room. I watched as Kirlia slowly sat up, rubbing her head.

"Mmmm,"she mumbled, her eyes slowly opening. She looked at me silently for a moment, then smiled again.

"How are you feeling?"I asked her gently.

"Incredible,"she said, her voice sounding very serene and peaceful, a much better adjustment to the constant angered shouts of 'kill.'"I haven't felt this way in a long time. I can never thank you enough for helping me."

I shrugged."It's my job,"I said, though I knew it meant much more to her than just that."So, do you have a name?"She nodded.

"Yes, my name is Serenity."

XXXX

End of Chapter

Not bad. The team's taken out the first Hoenn Chrome base, and Kirlia, that is, Serenity, has been purified. Things are really looking up.