The battle of the century. Or not.

"So it seems you were the ones after all," N said, reaching out to introduce himself to Reshiram. It growled at him, exposing its sharp teeth, and he pulled back, understanding the order. He looked back at the twins. "She wants you to be the first humans to approach her." He suddenly gave Reshiram a worried look. "I did get the gender right, didn't I?"

"I don't even know anymore," Reshiram admitted. "Being a rock for so long tends to suppress memories. And make awkward tufts out of my fuzz, apparently," it added with a quick look down. "I suppose 'she' would work, unless further investigation says otherwise."

"All right. Good to know."

Paying no more attention to the humans, Reshiram turned her attention to her counterpart. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"A few hundred years, more or less." He grinned back. "Of course, after all this time, I'm pretty sure I can still kick your butt."

"Please. You never could. Have you forgotten that our last match went on for decades?"

Hilbert approached the dragons at that moment, having had an almost-silent conversation with his sister. "All right, Reshiram. Hilda and I decided that since you hatched for me, I get to be the one to try to catch you. If you want to."

She looked at him for a second, then back at the girl. Hilbert caught on fast, for him.

"Yes, you'll technically be a friend for both of us."

Reshiram turned to her counterpart for confirmation. Zekrom just waved her on, ready to pick up where they'd left off centuries ago. And then Hilbert threw the Master Ball he'd stolen from his sister, sealing the beast within.

"What is wrong with this castle?" Cheren complained as he followed Alder through the halls, trying to find Hilbert and Hilda. What if they'd failed already? Or, even worse, what if those ninjas had assassinated them?

Cheren made his opinion known, but Alder didn't seem too concerned. "N seemed to want to see if your friends could hatch Eggber," he reminded the boy. "I don't think he'd want to kill them before they got the chance."

"But the Gym Leaders -"

"They'll do fine, trust me." Alder focused on finding the throne room, while Cheren started talking to himself, listing everything that could possibly have gone wrong.

It was a good thing Bianca had gotten to the Gym Leaders in time. Well, most of them - knowing her, she'd probably just set foot in Striaton City right now. But Cheren couldn't afford to think of her yet. She was a distraction from the mission.

"And what if they couldn't hatch Eggber in time, Alder?" he asked instead, getting Alder's attention once again.

Alder shrugged. "I doubt N would hurt either of them."

Cheren allowed himself to feel relief over the statement, only to have it vanish as if thrown from a window a second later: "But that Ghetsis fellow seems pretty likely."

"So Hilbert was Reshiram's chosen hero all along?" N asked no one, as the twins stared in mutual awe at the Master Ball in Hilbert's hands. He was still trying to wrap his brain around it. "Or was it a delayed reaction to Hilda's attempt at a magic spell? Or perhaps it was Zekrom's presence that brought her out?" He, too, found the ball a bit more fascinating than most. "It seems there are equations even I can't solve."

"Actually," he heard from the Master Ball, the faint sound of the captive dragon as she grew accustomed to her new home, "I hatched for Hilbert because he was the first to ask nicely."

"I guess I can't call her Eggber anymore," Hilbert was saying. "Would she mind a nickname? Or should we just make it special for our starters? What do you think, Hilda?"

"Whatever, Hilbert. Call her what you want."

"Even Miss Eggber?"

Hilda and N both cringed, and from the ball, Reshiram did, too. "Anything but that," Hilda corrected herself. "How about you just use Reshiram for now and decide on a name together later."

"All right. If you insist." He smiled and held the Master Ball proudly, then waved it in N's face. "I challenge you to a duel of the dragons!"

Despite the urgency of the situation, N felt a smile creep onto his face. It wasn't a nice one at all. "Well, I suppose I have no choice but to accept this challenge of yours. I was going to do the same anyway. But enough talk. Let the winner of this battle be declared right in his beliefs, and let no one stop him!"

Hilbert threw the ball he had just used to seal away the creature formerly known as Eggber. "Come on, Reshiram! Go kick butt!"

And the duel of the dragons began. Soon the room was filled with the clashing of claws, the bursts of power, and sharp growls as they each did their best to take the other down.

"Reshiram, try Dragon Pulse!" Hilbert commanded, and the white dragon flew to the ceiling as she tried to get a good shot.

N wasn't going to let that happen easily. "Block it with your own attack!" he ordered, and, since he didn't specify, Zekrom managed to pull off a spectacular Fusionbolt that knocked Reshiram out of the air.

But even though it still lasted a while, the decades of chaos weren't ever going to happen again. Reshiram let out a cry of victory as Zekrom fell with a loud thud, only to be taken down almost immediately by an Archeops.

Hilbert gulped. He was down to Tommy, and the only one of N's remaining friends was Zoroark. Neither was in particularly good shape, but each was the last hope their human had. Hilbert was out of Revives, even the Max Revive that Professor Juniper had given him when she handed his sister the Master Ball, and Hilda had all the Full Restores.

He needed time to think, but he knew that if he didn't call a move soon, Zoroark would finish Tommy off immediately. It was faster than Tommy, only pausing right now because N was waiting for Hilbert to surrender. Hilbert didn't even consider it, though. He wouldn't let N separate him from his Pokémon. Or Hilda from hers.

But then he had an idea. "Tommy, use Aqua Jet!"

"Watch out for -"

But N's warning came too late. As Zoroark fell, he caught his human friend's eyes and gave a half-hearted grin. "N...I've fallen and I can't get up."

N gave the fox a gentle smile as he helped him into an upright position. "You pain." He turned serious, and it was heartbreaking to see the look on his face as it finally sunk in that his goals were unreachable. "My friends and I have fallen. The strength of the truth was stronger than Zekrom's devotion to ideals. I guess this means that humans and Pokémon can coexist, after all. I suppose I can learn to accept that." He took Hilbert's Pokeballs, and quickly set to work healing his pets, listening to their acceptance and forgiveness.

Hilbert poked Hilda on the shoulder. "See, Hilda? We didn't need Plan B."

N looked up from his job, highly curious and slightly irritated. "Plan B?"

Hilda turned bright red in embarrassment. "See, we decided to fight fairly in battle, but if we'd lost, we were going to, uh, play dirty, if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't know what you mean. How could you cheat, if the battle had already been won?"

"It's been my experience that if someone has a heart, they wouldn't be able to stand seeing pretty girls cry," Hilbert pointed out. "So, Hilda said she wouldn't even try to fight the tears when she knew she was going to have to let her friends go - and, if that hadn't sunk in yet, she was going to imagine that she had to climb Alder's stairs again. I didn't think I needed to worry. You do have a heart, N."

"And what does a heart have to do with this?"

The voice of the new arrival rumbled through the room, and the trio all turned to stare. Ghetsis was approaching fast, and he looked furious.