A/N:Yup, even the title of this story has a meaning to it. You'll see soon enough.

Chapter 25 Juunana no Unmei

"Arcane...fates?" Kentachi asked his twin brother, who nodded solemnly. They had all decided to find their future selves, and hope they would guide them through this entire endeavor. He wasn't sure what exactly this whole "quest" meant, and yet he wondered if he had already been fated from the moment he had met his friends.

No, that was absurd. There was no such thing as fate, and his thoughts were going wild because of it. He had met his friends only because he had wanted to do so. It had absolutely nothing to do with it.

"Brother?" Kenichi asked, a little troubled as to why his brother was looking so perplexed. Had this news really been that much of a shock for his twin brother?

Kentachi looked at his newfound brother for a few moments before he shook his head. "No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me. Kenichi, the things we have gone through lately have been so shocking that it's still hard for me to wrap my mind around them and process everything."

Kenichi nodded, slowly. "I was the one who told Beheeyem to wipe your memories of me. I wanted you to be happy, and my existence brought you nothing but suffering that whole time."

Kentachi looked at him and shrugged. "You've always been watching us this whole time, so in a way you've never left our side. I'm glad you did that."

Kenichi looked away from him. His gaze turned to the reunited sisters, who were still unable to comprehend that the things they had believed all this time was nothing but a lie.

"...Hitana, I just can't believe...that you're alive. I...for all these years...I told myself you were dead. Yet, you appear before me now and reveal that you were alive all this time." Hibana said, her icy facade replaced with a sad one. Even now, tears came to her eyes.

Hitana smiled softly at her long-lost sister. "I did what I had to do, sister. Even if that meant turn my back on my family and my only sister, I did what was right. I had no choice but to run away. My family wanted me dead. They wanted you to be the heir to the family and thought of me as worthless. Somehow, mother knew that I'd overheard their talk of sending an assassin after me. So I had no choice but to fake my own death. I knew it would hurt you badly, but if it was all for your benefit, it would be all right."

Hibana's tears were now dripping down her face at a furious rate. "Onee-san...I'm sorry I hated you...all these years, I was convinced that you were nothing but a traitor to the family name. Now I realize just how far from the truth I was."

The two sisters reunited in a warm hug.

Azuri watched on in awe.

"I wish I had siblings to call my own," She whispered. "After all I've been through..."

Grovyle hovered over her now, protective of her as he always had been. "Hikari...I-"

"Call me Azuri now. I just wish someone had told me sooner that everything I knew was a lie. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone through with all that experimentation...it was so painful...I thought I was all alone without anyone..."

The memories drifted back in her mind. She remembered how they would leave her alone in a room for a long period of time, sometimes even days, and no one would talk to her, and they would observe her mental state. If she cried or screamed, she would not be heard, but if she was, she would be punished by being lashed and beaten. Throughout it all, she wondered how many times she had unleashed her powers on the researchers.

She must've killed a dozen or so of them. She couldn't exactly remember that well. She looked up at Grovyle...and smiled, the first real one she'd had for a while. "Let's go, Grovyle. Dusknoir won't know what hit him."

Grovyle smiled. "Good to have you back, aibou."

Shinichi, Nida, Momo, Shiro, Hiyoko, and Molly all watched as they reunited.

"It feels like we're being left out," Shinichi whined, holding onto Nida's arm.

"It's not that at all. It's just, their lives are so much more complicated than ours are. It seems all of us are like a family-when one person suffers, we all do. We all have scars from our past, don't we?"

Momo said, "...Yes, we've all had our troubles. I have probably been around longer than anyone else."

Nida said, "How old are you?"

"Hmm...probably 600 or so. Legendaries live longer than ordinary Pokemon do." Momo said matter-of-factly.

"That's amazing!" Nida gushed at a bored Momo, who just nodded her head.

"Yup. Shiro here is pretty old, too." She said before winking at the stoic Absol, who nodded his head.

"I don't talk unless I need to," He said thoughtfully. "But now it seems some of the misfortune that has plagued us before has been lifted."

"I don't know for sure what that means, but I think now that most of the danger is over. I'm not sure what happens next, but right now, we're all pretty secure and happy," She said slowly.

"Who knows how long that will last, though?" Nida said softly.

Little did they realize that their troubles were far from over, as Darkrai had been listening in and was very displeased at the fact that Beheeyem had not performed his duties properly and gotten rid of Hikari like he was supposed to.

"I'll teach that fool what happens when you disregard orders. I specifically wanted that girl to die. She's the only thing standing in the way of my victory."

He knew full well what they were looking for, the one thing that they must not find...the others who could assist them in their journey to destroy him once and for all. The seventeen fates were going to be aligned again and if that happened...he would never have the upper hand again.

He had to destroy them, no matter what happened. 'Whatever they do, they can't find them now. They're hidden from sight.' A malicious smirk crossed his face.