There were a lot of titles this chapter almost had. I hope we picked a good one.

And, yes, this is exactly how I defeated Ghetsis's Eelektross in Black.

Ghetsis pushed the twins aside as he moved forward, seeming to only see N.

"After all the years I spent with you...raising you to be the perfect king, the perfect leader...you ruin my plans like this?" N opened his mouth to protest, but Ghetsis didn't give him the chance. "You could have freed the Pokémon! You could have done your duty and kept your mouth shut! But no, you had to let your pathetic feelings of love and friendship take control, giving these two idiots a chance! After all that, do you still think you are worthy of sharing the name Harmonia with me?"

"Ghetsis, I -"

"No!" the man interrupted. "There will be no more of what you want, N. From now on, I am the absolute ruler of Team Plasma - no, the world! So what if I have to take you out as well? What is a king, anyway? A mere figurehead...a pawn in my plan for world domination!"

"What does he mean by that?" Hilbert asked, but N was struck silent by the picture that was, slowly and far too late, coming together in his head. He saw things, now, things he didn't want to see. And he couldn't voice a word.

Luckily, Hilda could. She gave Ghetsis a glare that would be absolutely terrifying to behold, if the man in question wasn't so horrifying himself.

"You just used N - no, the whole of Team Plasma - just to try to conquer the world?"

"Duh. How seriously would I have been taken had I not brought along reinforcements? One man raving about Pokémon liberation would be sent to the funny farm, but an entire group of men and women working together gets attention." Ghetsis turned his glare back on N and the legendary black dragon. "And I was so close! The world would have been mine, if you hadn't decided you needed to have a 'hero battle' and thrown out any idea of victory! You stupid boy!"

Zekrom let out a loud roar, obviously ready to fry anyone who dared speak to his human like that, but Reshiram shook her head and held out a long white arm to stop him.

"Doing this would only make things worse," she warned, sounding like nothing more than a growl to the humans who couldn't understand her. "I have chosen a hero. And heroes usually do end up saving the world, after all."

"That kid can't even tie his own shoes," Zekrom growled back. "What made you pick him?"

"I was a little dizzy," Reshiram sighed, "but that's not the real problem, is it? The kids can handle it."

Ghetsis paid no attention to the dragons' conversation, unaware that the soft growls they kept making were plans. Instead, he took a breath, slowly calming himself, and looked back at the twins.

"Now, what to do with you two?" His gaze slid over to Hilbert, who shuddered involuntarily, before the man turned back to Hilda. "Certainly, the hero of truth has to go. But you have overpowered the Elite Four, and the Shadow Triad told me you have your own dreams of world conquest. I said before that you do not have what it takes to be a queen, but, wonderful as I am, I am not immortal. So, I'm offering you a chance. Surrender your Pokémon, and you could be made a successor to my empire. What do you say?"

The response came before she could even think it over: "Die in a hole."

"Are you sure? Didn't you dream about it for years? Now you have someone else to do the conquering for you."

"I was eleven when I realized that world domination, or even just control of Unova, was impossible," Hilda pointed out, not bothering to mention she had known he was lying anyway. "Any adult who still believes they can seize complete control of the globe is just stupid."

The word seemed to trigger Ghetsis's temper, and he spoke his next sentence through gritted teeth. "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy."

He threw out a ball, releasing a monstrous dragon with three heads. Hilda had only seen it in pictures, but she recognized the beast at once. It was a Hydreigon, a three-headed beast rumored to kill and eat anything that moved. "You've defeated the Elite Four. Let's see how you fare against me."

"Why her?" Hilbert demanded, reaching out to try to keep his new dragon still before she could do something dangerous. "I'm the one who beat N. Shouldn't I be the one you want to destroy?"

"All in time, boy. First, I'd like to prepare a demonstration of what would happen to the common trainer if they tried to fight. And, if she dies, emotionally breaking both heroes at once wouldn't hurt."

Hilda's jaw dropped. "Common trainer?" she repeated, almost as if she hadn't heard the second half of the line. "Just because I wasn't chosen by a dragon, you dare to call me common?"

Ghetsis was pleased. She'd taken the bait. "Do you accept the challenge, then?"

"All right. And if I win...I send my Lampent to eat whatever soul you have."

"It'll probably make him sick," Hilbert pointed out, but his sister wasn't listening.

She summoned her courage and called on her first choice. "Leavanny, open with X-Scissor!"

"Please, Mandibuzz! We need you!"

The pink vulture let out a long, loud cry of defiance as she fell to the ground. She struggled to get up, and very nearly made it, but collapsed back on the floor half a second later, unable to continue.

Ghetsis smirked. Victory was his. It was all Hydreigon - he hadn't needed to send out any others. All five of the girl's Pokémon were down, and he hadn't lost a single one. It was enough to make him feel like singing, and what better tune than the one he'd used on N twice since the story started?

"So the girl has been defeated. How pathetic.
And she never saw it coming - who'd have guessed?
Ain't that purdy?
Bye-bye birdy..."

"Enough!"

The voice was harsh, determined, and very, very serious, and it was all the more threatening because no one expected Hilbert to be capable of making such a sound. But something in the boy had snapped, and it was one of the scariest things Mandibuzz had ever seen.

"No one uses my future brother-in-law as a pawn and gets away with it," Hilbert said through his teeth. "Let my sister go, Dennis, before I make you."

"Please. I could defeat you with my hands tied behind my back. What makes you think you can win against me?"

"I've got the power of friendship on my side!"

"I just annihilated your sister's entire team with an underleveled three-headed dragon!"

"I've got a mutant sea lion with a mustache!" Hilbert shouted, topping the argument in volume but seeming to realize soon after that describing Tommy in such a way was probably not the best thing to do if he wanted to defeat this jerk. "And, uh, I'm the hero of truth," he added quickly, before anyone else could point out that he was running out of arguments.

Ghetsis was amused. "You think you can do better than your sister?" he asked, almost quietly. "Fine, then. My Hydreigon will enjoy having three courses for dinner tonight."

Hilbert gulped, but remembered N had healed his Pokémon. Hilda slipped her entire stash of Revives and Full Restores into his bag as she passed, before getting down to reassure her own Pokémon that they would be fine.

"Hydreigon?" Ghetsis called, getting the beast's attention. "You know what to do."

Hilbert reached for the bright purple ball. She was his best hope. "Reshiram, use Dragon Pulse!"

"That Full Restore won't help for long," Ghetsis called. Sure, Hilbert had used Reshiram to take down Hydreigon. That was nothing, the girl had weakened it. He knew he could still win the fight, and dispose of the heroes and the spare just like he'd planned. It would be easy.

Eelektross growled at its opponent, but Tommy just sat down on the ground. A couple of Wild Charge attacks had hit, and all Hilbert could do was use a Full Restore to bring his creature to full health after each super-effective strike. Hilda had her arms wrapped tightly around Erika, and Erika had wound her tail around Hilda's feet in her own version of a hug. N didn't have to ask to know that they had both lost hope, and he and Zekrom decided together that they would be the next to fight.

Hilbert, however, was just glad that he and Cheren had devoted all their time the previous summer to perfecting their evil laughter, as the maniacal cackle that escaped his throat was actually impressive. Even Ghetsis had to admit it, if only to himself. "What's wrong, Castle-Man?" Hilbert called back. "Tommy can't hurt you. Why don't you just try attacking again?"

"Don't mind if I do. Eelektross, kill that stupid thing!"

Eelektross hissed and rushed forward in a Wild Charge attack, which connected once more with Tommy. Though Tommy was definitely hurt, the recoil damage brought Eelektross crashing down, unable to fight. Its desperation to deal super-effective hits had caused it to knock itself out. Erika burst out laughing at the blind stupidity, though her trainer could only manage a slight lift at one corner of her mouth.

Ghetsis recalled Eelektross as Hilbert did the same with Tommy. Such idiocy would not come from the man again, he swore. "Cofagrigus! Finish him!"

Hilbert shook his head sadly. "I pick Krookodile!"

And the battle continued. There were losses on both sides, but Hilbert was more focused than he'd ever been on anything. And that was probably what led him to victory.

"No!" Ghetsis cried as he watched his last hope, his Bouffalant, fall to a tired Mienfoo. "This cannot be! My plans for Team Plasma were perfect! I am perfect! I am perfection!"

"Ghetsis," Hilbert said, his focus sliding away slowly, "you are a grown man wearing a castle dress. Far from perfect fashion sense, anyway."

The man didn't seem to hear him, too stunned at his defeat to process anything else. "All those years, wasted! Defeated by a child, no less! This is unacceptable!"

"You tried to take over Unova by taking away Pokémon, manipulated N into running things for you, and challenged a kid that made friends with a legendary," Hilbert pointed out. "Did you learn nothing from Team Rocket and Team Galactic?"

A laugh from behind him alerted them all to the arrival of the Champion, his flaming hair appearing to be the size of the rest of his body put together. "Good point, kid," Alder said, reaching behind him to pull out handcuffs. "The cops said I could use these on N," he explained as he caught Hilda's expression. "But I think this guy deserves it more, don't you?"

Ghetsis growled. "I could have ruled Unova," he grumbled as Alder cuffed him. "I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids."

Cheren struggled to keep his mouth shut, focusing on his friends. "Is there anyone else we need to bother with?" he asked, and Hilbert shrugged.

"We might need to get a few of the grunts," he admitted. "But the problem is, how do we know who actually knew about the evil plan and who thought they were doing what was right?"

"Just Ghetsis, then," Alder said, tugging the other man to get him to move. "The Sages got out, but we'll get to them later. As for you, Ghetsis...we're taking the stairs."

"I'll be back," Ghetsis promised as Alder and Cheren led him away. "I'll always come back!"

But his vows of revenge proved worthless, and he followed Cheren and Alder, grumbling something about ninjas.

It was over. They had won.