The halls of the frigate were all but quiet. The sound of contorting, tearing metal vibrating between the walls as Gigi personally dismantled every door that blocked their path. Once the steel barriers were firmly removed from their hinges, they were used as projectiles towards opposing forces. Those who did not falter were subsequently washed away by a torrential river brought forth by Gyarados and Vaporeon. Mightyena's sniffer guided them through the oddly maze-like set up of the hull. "This is crazy," Ira groaned as they came to a crossroads and waited for Mightyena to pick the scent back up. "It's like this place is bigger on the inside!"

"This place has probably been affected by that Ultra stuff for years now," Crest proposed, to which Gigi grunted and nodded. Upon closer inspection, the darkened textures of the walls were, indeed, distorted, stretched, and the like. Unsettling, almost. "Hey, maybe we're technically in another dimension!" Crest said this with a chuckle, of which faded immediately when Gigi agreed once more. "I'm...gonna pretend I didn't ask that."

Mightyena barked once she was sure of where to go and quickly scampered down one of the corridors. More grunts blocked their way, of which Gigi quickly made their Pokemon meet their faces.

Two things were clear to Ira; Gigi was angry, and she was enjoying tearing the place apart. Ira didn't think she could be impressed with not one, but two fire pokemon. But thinking of Sally brought worry back to her head. She briefly looked behind her before shaking herself awake. Gotta stay focused.

Eventually they found themselves in a much more open area which ended with a noticeably larger sized set of doors. Mightyena barked at it, then looked up at Gigi. She walked up to the door and made attempts to dismantle it like the rest, but it quickly proved to be impossible. It would not bend, nor would it even budge. Gigi motioned for everyone to take a few steps back, and, once they were clear, spouted flames from her maw. After about a minute, she let up the flame and could not believe that her flames barely did anything.

"Damn thin' must be fireproof. The lock has to be weaker, though," Crest said as he leaned in to examine the lock. "Yeah, Let ol' me handle this one." He reached for his belt and tossed out a Moon Ball. Out in a flash came a Nidoking. "Alright, bud, just like we practiced. Think ya can Horn Drill that lock?"

Nidoking looked at the lock, smirked, and gave a thumbs up.

"So that's what happened to that Nidorino."

"Yeah! We've been buildin' up his confidence for weeks, now. Then he up-an'-found a Moon Stone all on his own. Big guy's made me so proud!" Crest pat his friend on the back, who proceeded to flex his arm to show off.

"Wonderful, he's created a monster," Ira mumbled to herself. She froze for a moment as she pointed her ear towards the darkness. Footsteps.

"Well, well, well," an unfortunately familiar voice cut out from the darkness, "we meet once more." The loud mouth grunt walked into the light. Beside him was the snooty grunt.

"Oh look, it's these guys. Haven't you had enough, yet?" Ira greeted as she crossed her arms.

"Not a chance, girlie," the snooty one said, wrists on her hips, "not only were we tasked with guarding this door, but we've got a score to settle!"

"Well...ya didn't really do a good job, seein' as how we got to the door before the two of ya," Crest said as he scratched his chin.

"Y-Yeah, well, that's just because these halls have been moving more ever since we started our final preparations!" the loud mouth whined.

"I'm sure."

"We'll take care of this. See if you can bust that lock open, bud," Crest said as he turned away from Nidoking.

When Gigi began to move forward, Ira stopped her. "They want to settle something with the two of us. We'll handle this one." Gyarados and Mightyena took their places.

Gigi nodded and backed off, standing in front of Nidoking as he began to work. Once his horn was in the lock, energy began to swirl around it and sparks began to shoot out from the lock.

"I've been itching for some revenge!" the loud mouth said as he sent out his Zangoose. It looked at Vaporeon, then back at its trainer. "Once you're done with the mutt, you're skewering the runt - and you will get it right, this time." The malicious words sent a shiver through Zangoose. Nonetheless, he took his stance.

The snooty one sent out her Bisharp, who sharpened its blades as soon as it was free. "I won't make the same mistake as last time. You and your fish are sushi!"

"Go! Dragon Rage!"


Shattered shards rained down from the sky, peppering the ancient structure with miniscule knives embedding themselves within the stone. Knuckles used Iron Defense to harden his scales and shield Cladis from the attack while Sally twirled her Fire Lash above herself, melting some of the ice. As a mist began to form around the battlefield, Kyurem sundered over and let loose a loud and distorted screech. The teal in its eyes flicked bright. It craned its body to look down upon those before it.

Sally blew it a kiss and winked. She Taunted Kyurem, for she made the decision that she would be the first to fight. And it worked - Kyurem roared and shot an Ice Beam from its mouth at her. Sally pressed herself against the ground, launching herself skyward as the Ice Beam struck the ground, creating a flowering pillar of ice. Her Fire Lashes wrapped around her arms as she twirled herself in the air. With absolute grace, she landed and perched right on the tip of the pillar and spun her body once more, using the momentum to thrust out her lashes in sequence.

Kyurem flinched as the first whip struck its cheek, then ducked under the second, lunging forward to kick Sally away. The Lash trailed behind her as she lept off the ice mere seconds before Kyurem shattered it with its body. It quickly regained its balance and shot out another Ice Beam towards Sally.

The Fire Lashes dissipated the moment she landed on the ground. Hunching down on all fours, Sally scurried around to avoid the encroaching snake of ice. Looping around, Sally vaulted over one of the segments, poison building up in her mouth. She peppered Kyurem with a volley of Sludge Bombs, who seemed all but affected. It raised its arms and wings and craned its head skyward. With another distorted screech, a build up of frozen air began to surge around the arena. Kyurem's Glaciate greatly cut visibility of the area.

"Sally?!" Cladis called out into the storm.

Her clicking noise returned their calls from within, signalling she was fine. Soon after, the sound of ice shattering echoed into the air. She looked towards the noise and saw four pink lights barely shining through. Her eyes widened as she barely had time to slither away from the barrage of pink orbs being shot out at her. The chilling air cut down her speed, the pink orbs slowly grew closer and closer.

As the powder began to clear, Knuckles let loose a loud growl as his eyes fell onto his beloved. Kyurem's Imprison has wrapped her in pink chains, and trapped her within a pink orb. The ice surrounding its wings was gone, allowing them to act as appendages. Blue energy shot out from the spikes on them, moving the orb containing Sally behind Kyurem and attached her onto its tail. Once she was secured, the ice reformed around Kyurem's wings. With sharpened eyes and bared fangs, Knuckles instantly flared his Dragon Dance Aura and charged straight into frost. Kyurem had no time to react to the uppercut straight to its chin. Knuckles followed up with a flurry of punches to its exposed torso, then swung his tail around to knock his foe away.

Kyurem slid away a considerable distance. Immediately, it called upon another storm, summoning another barrage of icy shards. The same sound of shattering ice echoed against the forming obstructions. But Knuckles wasn't going to let Kyurem use that same trick twice. He extended his arms out wide as his scales began to vibrate. Instantly, he clapped his hands together, letting loose an explosive sound wave from his entire body. Boomburst shattered every piece of ice around him and forced Glaciate to dissipate. Then Knuckles put two claws to his forehead, charged up his Flash Cannon, and fired it at Kyurem.

Surprised by the storm disappearing in an instant, Kyurem did not see the beam coming. And recovering from that blow, it didn't see the next one either. Or the next. A barrage of Flash Cannons from differing heights assaulted the icy dragon, kicking up a sparkling grey cloud all around it. From the cloud, Sally's pink orb bounced and rolled out. Knuckles struck the orb, shattering it. The chains faded, and Sally opened her eyes. She rubbed her head as her lover helped her to her feet.

But pleasantries weren't exchanged for long; for from the cloud came a low growl - monstrous. A half circle of white began to shine - glow - pierce. Brighter. And instantly, Cladis knew what it was. As the cloud faded, Kyurem no longer stood at the impact site. Rather, a creature fused with what remained of the Dragon of Truth. Now, Kyurem-White stared them down, its body surging with flames. The spikes from its back were connected to its tail already. It let out an earth-shaking roar.

"No…" Cladis looked up at their foe in astonishment, "how is this possible…?"

"Isn't it brilliant?" Ghetsis voice called out from every angle, "even in death, those tools are useful for something! I had the traitor enhance the DNA Splicers so that their remaining essences could combine permanently with Kyurem! And while it still can't return to its original form, this beast has more than enough power to crush the likes of you!"

Knuckles smirked at the comment. He pumped his arms and roared. Cladis watched in awe as Knuckles's Dragon Dance Aura flared up even further. "Is that...a times two boosted Dragon Dance? Are you sure your body can handle it?"

Knuckles turned to Cladis and grinned while wagging his finger.

Cladis nodded. "Okay. I won't doubt your training. Let's go!"


Bisharp, covered in purple flames, slammed face-first into the dented soaked walls. Zangoose slammed in right beside it, jolted. As they tried to move, Gyarados slammed his tail fin against them, pinning them completely.

"Satisfied?" Ira called, crossing her arms.

The snooty grunt tossed her head sideways. "Oh, please! Just because you're fish has gotten a little stronger doesn't mean you get to be full of yourself!"

"He's a dragon, damn it!" Ira growled.

"Whatever, fish girl! We're far from done! Bisharp, Metal Burst!"

Bisharp's eyes shot open. The silver parts of its body began to glow briefly before exploding into a mass of shards that forced Gyarados to recoil. Once free, Zangoose slashed at Mightyena with X-Scissor, sending her flying across the ground.

"This has gone on long enough. I say we end this with a bang!" the loud mouth said as he strapped something to his wrist.

"Idiot! We're supposed to be protecting the energy supply, not using it!"

"What's using a little to save a lot?"

"Ugh, you're insufferable." The snooty grunt strapped something onto her wrist as well. They both crossed their arms in an X-shape, shifted them down to their sides, and pushed them out forward.

Crest squinted. "Hey, that pose…"

"Z-Moves?! How?!"

"All this energy we've been siphoning's made the air screwy enough that we can use'em using these fancy shmancy watches our scientist's made us! Check it!" The loud mouth grunt hunched himself over and clawed his way up. "Black Hole Eclipse!"

Zangoose began to shine with Ultra Energy. It looked back at the grunt, but was instantly met with a furious glare. It turned back and extended its claws upwards, building up a massive black ball, then threw the black hole forward. Gyarados and Mightyena could not resist the pull and were sucked into the middle.

When they were fully trapped, the snooty grunt pounded her fists together - one vertical, the other horizontal - then punched them forward. "Corkscrew Crash!" Bisharp was coated in Ultra Energy as it began to run forward. When it picked up enough speed, it extended its arms and began to spiral rapidly, turning into a massive steel drill and slamming into the trapped Pokemon. Both attacks detonated in a massive cloud of smoke.

"Gyarados?!"

"Mightyena?!"

Both Pokemon laid flat on the ground, unconscious.

"No...no!" Ira cried out.

"That's what you get!" the snooty grunt said with an obnoxious laugh.

Gigi stepped forward and snorted out steam.

"Don't care how strong you are, you piggy traitor, but you ain't winning a two-vee-one!"

Gigi was about to lunge when Vaporeon jumped out from behind Ira. He barked for Gigi to wait.

"Oh ho, the runt's come out! Zangoose, last chance. You know what you have to do." The loud mouth crossed his arms and glared. Zangoose sulked forward and looked down at Vaporeon. It raised its claw slightly and looked down at it.

Vaporeon gazed up at it, but there was no fighting spirit coming from either of them. He called out to Zangoose. He saw just how much Zangoose resented its actions. Just because the grunt had a PokeBall didn't mean it had to obey. If they were stopped, the suffering - the loss…

"What the hell are you waiting for?!"

Zangoose turned to look at the loudmouth, and dropped its arm.

"Ugh! Useless!"

"Bisharp, show'em how it's done!"

At her command, Bisharp approached Vaporeon, holding its arm out to slice. But before it could swing, Zangoose turned and struck Bisharp with Brick Break, launching it into its trainer.

"Why you little!" The loudmouth grunt held out a PokeBall, but as the beam began to shoot out to recall Zangoose, Gigi intercepted it. The beam fizzled out as Gigi grabbed the grunts arm and raised him into the air. The PokeBall fell to the ground and Gigi tossed the grunt aside into the other two, knocking all three of them out cold. She dusted off her mitts and walked over to the pile.

Zangoose looked down at the PokeBall and picked it up. Vaporeon smiled up at it and hummed something. It turned to him and stared for a few moments before nodding.

The two of them approached Ira and Crest as they were tending to their friends. "Gyarados? Are you okay?"

He groaned quietly, rubbing the side of his head against her touch.

She sighed. "I'm...I'm sorry…"

Crest patted her shoulder with his free hand. "Nothing to apologize for, sis. There was nothing we could've done." He gently stroked Mightyena's mane while she whimpered. "Ya did good, girl," he whispered to her.

"Even so...huh?" she turned as she noticed Vaporeon and Zangoose. "What's going on here?" she said, staring at Zangoose.

The Zangoose looked down at its PokeBall and muttered lowly.

"Are you...apologizing?"

Zangoose nodded slowly.

She scowled at him, but upon seeing Vaporeon's gleaming eyes, she released a sigh. "Well...if Gyarados forgives you, then I will."

Gyarados looked down at the Pokemon and nodded before shutting his eyes.

"Okay then. That's that. Let's get you somewhere safe," she said as she recalled Gyarados.

"Take as long as ya need," Crest whispered as he recalled Mightyena. He looked over at Gigi. "What're ya doin' over there?" She turned and tossed something over to them. Crest caught one while Ira caught the other. "Hey, these are the bands they used."

"They look nothing like the one Cladis has on his wrist," Ira muttered as she studied the device. For the most part, it appeared to be a normal smart watch, but with a slot for a Z-crystal in the middle. Ira slid it onto her wrist, eyeing the Steelium Z-crystal. "Cladis said these crystals were earned…"

"I'd say we earned them. Or should I say, Vaporeon earned them." Crest grinned and pet the little guy.

Nidoking called them just as the lock clicked open. He pulled himself back and pushed the door inward.

"C'mon," Crest said, walking inside, "let's hope we aren't too late."