Pride of Your Soul

EX-02: Towards an Uncertain Future


AN: Now you see, the next update was SUPPOSED to be Fidelity. But then I kept putting it off to do later. And then I did it again. And then again. And then I ended up becoming preoccupied with a different idea altogether (which I'll elaborate on at the end of the chapter). And then before I realized it, it's almost the end of the year, so I decided to just do something I know was almost done. So here we are. At this point, this feels like par for course.

Now I won't lie, I feel like this one maybe feel a tiny bit rushed near the end, but I did want to cover a few loose ends here. So apologies if this chapter feels a bit scuffed than usual.

But man, 2020 has been crazy huh. Back in April when I uploaded the first extra chapter, I thought that it couldn't possibly get any worse. But unfortunately, it did in fact get worse. There's a light at the end of the tunnel with the new vaccine starting to get momentum, but until then we still have to bear with COVID-19. And it's new variant brother, but that's besides the point. I'm just glad I could get SOMETHING out before 2020 ended. I do hope everyone of you have been keeping safe and healthy during these difficult times, and have been doing their best with social distancing to make sure we can get through the pandemic.

IanAlphaAxel: Thank you!

WhoRU: In Rosa's case, she did become champion. It was mentioned in the last chapter that she became the current champion of Unova. As for what happened to her and Curtis, along with what happened with Hugh and Iris, I'll just leave that to everyone's imagination.

Controlchaos: Sorry, but I'm not really interested. I do hope you find someone who's willing to help though.

AiKokoNoot: Thank you! I'll be sure to try and get the other stories updated as well ASAP!

BookMage7: Thank you! There were a lot of elements in the last chapter that will definitely resurface in future stories, so I'm glad you liked them. When the time does arrive, I do hope you enjoy when they show up once more.

TheDarkMaster4000: Glad you liked the last chapter. As for the tournament rankings, I ranked Cynthia over Red due to more consistent accolades (in my universe at least), since Cynthia maintained her status as Champion, while Red did disappear from the globe for a while, and is not the current Kanto Champion (nor did he have any intentions of trying to get the title back). Yes Red is an all-loved memetic badass at this point, but he's not infallible. Especially since this Red is drastically different from canon!Red.

But regardless, glad you liked all the little tidbits I included in the last one.

Whiterin: Thank you! I'm flattered you consider me your favorite among the many, talented writers among this fandom. I'm also happy you gave this story a second try even though your ship didn't go through. Glad you liked everything about this chapter!

OddEyes588: Damn, that was a while ago. Glad you found the story again, and glad you enjoyed it!

Eternatus890: Glad you liked the story. The next extra chapter is now!

PokemonMaster896: Glad you enjoyed the story!

Sod Baget: Huh, well ain't that something.

Ok, now to the second extra chapter!


Yancy let out a sigh of relief as she closed up the bakery she manned, the day finally over. Today had been one of, if not the most, hectic day at the Join Avenue. Nonstop work and service filled the day, the mandatory lunch break being the day's only saving grace, leaving everyone tired. The only plus side was that business had also boomed like never before, thus earning a huge profit for the new Team Plasma.

A part of Yancy cursed Nate for leaving them so abruptly, but she could tell that it was important if Nate was so insistent on it. She could not bring herself to begrudge her lover, but she could not deny that his absence had made the day way harder than it needed to be. He would definitely have to make it up to her, no doubt.

"Ah, Yancy! Can you help us out with these tables?"

Yancy looked up, seeing a couple of Team Plasma grunts cleaning up the public tables, before rushing over to help them.

"Sheesh, to think the Boss would pick today of all days to ditch us out of nowhere," one of the grunts complained.

"Well, it seemed important enough," Yancy replied.

"Still," another grunt pitched in. "He could've waited until the day ended, right?"

"I suppose you're right," Yancy said. Nate could have arranged it so that he would leave after the day had ended, where he would've been able to help with business. The matter must have been very important to make Nate drop everything. "I'll make sure he makes it up to all of us."

"Sweet! Thanks, Yancy!" the grunt cheered, with everyone else following in suit.

Yancy merely giggled at everyone's optimism. A year ago, she would have never imagined herself working with Team Plasma running what amounted to a pavilion. But then again, she would have never imagined herself doing many of the things she did on her own journey. She would have still been stuck as 'Nancy', and ended up in the clutches of the deplorable Riches if it weren't for Nate entering her life. And for that, she would forever be grateful for Nate changing her life for the better and letting her forge her own path

"Ah, that's right," Yancy said, remembering that he must have left his shop by itself. "I should go lock up his stand."

"He left it unmanned too?" a grunt asked incredulously.

"I think he had his electivire look over it," another grunt interjected. "I mean it's not like it was popular compared to all the other stores anyways. No one's probably paid it any mind if he simply put the closed sign on the door. We'll take it from here though, Yancy."

"Thanks!" Yancy quickly replied as she went over to Nate's shop.

As she rushed over to Nate's shop, she noticed two figures at the front of the store. One of them she could distinctively recognize as Vire, but the other figure was new to her.

"Huh? Someone's at the shop?" Yancy asked to herself as she approached them. "Uh, excuse me?"

Getting a closer look, the person in front of Nate's shop was a boy around his age, but somewhat taller than him. He was wearing a blue jacket, black jeans and black boots, carrying a messenger bag over his shoulder. A red hat sat on top of his head, with black hair hanging down to his chin. The boy was examining the shop, noting the closed sign hanging on the door, before sparing a glance at Yancy with cold, slate grey eyes.

"We're closing up for the day," Yancy said. "You can come again tomorrow morning."

"Hm," the boy merely muttered. "Do you know the person who owns this shop?"

"Well...yes," Yancy replied cautiously. "Did you come here to see him?"

"I heard I could find him here," the boy responded curtly. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"He's currently out on personal business," Yancy said. "He didn't say when he'll be back."

"...I see," the boy mumbled, glancing away from Yancy.

As the boy muttered to himself, Yancy observed him. He was...peculiar...to say the least. He seemed lost in thought at the moment. His attire was not from around here. Her travels across the globe gave her insight of fashion of regions all over the globe. She recognized the design of his clothes to be from Kalos. Did he come from there? If so, then what matter did he have in meeting Nate that he would travel from Kalos all the way to Unova?

Yancy also noticed a bracelet on the boy's wrist, something she didn't recognize from anywhere. On it, was a strange, almost pristine stone that seemed vaguely familiar.

"It can't be helped then," the boy sighed. "I'll just have to try again tomorrow."

Yancy let out a small sigh of relief, before a loud and rather angry-sounding bark interrupted their train of thought. Vire immediately got on guard as they looked to the front exit to find a man and a houndoom, who both looked absolutely furious.

'This can't be good...' Yancy thought as the enraged duo approached them. "...Can I help you?"

"Is this that fucking Pokémon whisperer's place?" the man practically spat. "Thanks to whoever the hell it is in there, I lost my girlfriend! Now what the hell am I supposed to do now!?"

Ah, this must be the 'boyfriend' of that trainer Nate had mentioned yesterday, when recalling someone had called in to make an appointment for counseling with her arcanine suspecting her mate of cheating. Nate had told her that there might be a chance the trainer was also dealing with something similar, judging by what little he heard from her. Yancy supposed that Nate was right on the mark if the boyfriend was reacting so violently. She could even imagine how Nate would respond if he was here right now.

'Does it look like I give a damn? You got what you deserve, bitch, now get out. You're scaring the customers.'

Or something along those lines. Perhaps more vulgar depending on Nate's mood.

"Well, my condolences," Yancy offered the man. "But, he's not here right now, and the Avenue's closed for the day. If you come back tomorrow morning, he'll hear you out–."

"Fuck that!" the man snarled. "My life is ruined because of this shitty place, and SOMEONE is gonna pay for it!"

The boy narrowed his eyes at the man as Yancy instinctively stepped back, as Vire immediately got in front of Yancy.

"I'll fucking burn this whole place down!" the man yelled as his houndoom began to build up fire in its mouth.

"What!?" Yancy blurted. "No Vire stop him–!"

But as the houndoom was about to unleash its flames at Nate's shop, something suddenly grabbed the dog's snout and kept it shut, preventing the fire to unleash and explode inside its mouth.

Yancy and Vire blinked, noticing the claw that had ensnared Houndoom's mouth within an instance. She glanced besides her, noticing a new Pokémon that was not there until now. Standing in front of the boy was a large bipedal avian-like creature with a primarily red body with accents of beige, yellow and gray, holding Houndoom's snout with its talon-like claws. Behind its head were beige hair-like feathers that continue down and surrounded its chest and abdomen.

"A blaziken...?" Yancy asked, recognizing the new Pokémon, before glancing to the boy, who was now holding an empty, glossy red pokéball.

"-He's fast...-" Vire commented to himself, noting how he did not even see the blaziken get sent out, much less see it intercept the houndoom.

"I don't care for your self-deserved stupidity," the boy spat at the man. "But having this place destroyed because of your tantrum is bad for me."

"What the–who the fuck are you!?" the man demanded.

"A more decent human being than you," the boy responded back.

The houndoom struggled to break free, but Blaziken's iron grip proved to be too much for the canine. Blaziken glanced back at the boy, waiting for his next orders.

"Throw it away," the boy merely scoffed.

Blaziken nodded, before glancing over to the open exit of the Join Avenue. Lifting Houndoom up, Blaziken dropped the dog like a sack of potatoes, before delivering a kick powerful enough to send the houndoom flying straight out of the pavilion and careening several feet down Route 4.

"Now then," the boy said to the man, who stepped back in shock and fear. "I believe you overstayed your welcome; not that you had one to begin with."

Blaziken made one step towards the man, which was enough for him to let out a terrified scream and scram out of the pavilion, with his houndoom in tow.

"Woah..." Yancy could only mumble, before turning back to the boy.

"-I don't know who this guy is,-" Vire commented. "-But if there's one thing I can tell, it's that he's definitely strong.-"

"I do apologize if I caused any damage to your property," the boy said curtly to Yancy.

"Ah–No worries," Yancy reassured him. "In fact, I think you saved us from any damage that man would've caused."

"I see," the boy responded.

"Uh...if you want," Yancy offered the boy. "Once Nate comes back, I can get him to meet with you tomorrow."

"...That would be helpful, thank you," the boy said. "I'll be back tomorrow."

The boy then turned around to leave Join Avenue, with the blaziken in tow.

"Ah–wait, what's your name?" Yancy called out. The boy stopped for a moment, before turning back to Yancy. The same cold gray eyes stared back at her.

"It's Calem."


Mewtwo brandished his giant psychic spoon and swung it out widely, releasing a vehement force that threatened to bring Nate and Luca to their feet immediately.

"...This is gonna suck," Nate muttered as he also sent out Brav and Bo. Today was definitely not the best of days for half of his team to be Fighting-types against what was definitely a powerful Psychic-type. Although type effectiveness was probably the last thing that he should be worrying about against the Pokémon that Nate could only assume was responsible for destroying the entire Entralink from crashing into Unova.

Mewtwo immediately dove for Luca, who hastily conjured her staff to meet the spoon's strike. Luca struggled to keep herself from crumpling underneath the strength of Mewtwo's strike, and she was unsure whether her staff could do the same for long.

"Flare Blitz! Brave Bird!" Nate yelled out immediately, desperate to get something going as soon as possible.

Bo let out a roar as he charged at Mewtwo from the right with a strong Flare Blitz, while Brav swooped down for a Brave Bird frontal assault from the left. Right before they could make contact with him, Mewtwo's eyes glowed a bright blue. Both Bo and Brav were immediately surrounded by an aura of the same color, where they came to an abrupt halt, stopping their attacks and left to flail helplessly in midair.

"-What the–!?-" Bo blurted as he tried to break free.

Without so much as moving a muscle, Bo and Brav were both sent flying opposite directions and crashing into the walls of the cave. Mewtwo then pushed Luca back with his spoon, before charging a Shadow Ball in one of his hands and shot a flurry of them at Bo, and then proceeding to hurl his spoon at Brav like a javelin, striking the bird in his gut, all in one fluid motion and without missing a beat. The spoon removed itself from Brav's now unconscious body, before returning to Mewtwo's side like an erratic beam of light.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Nate muttered as he just witnessed Mewtwo overwhelm and knock out two of his Pokémon within the matter of seconds after they were sent out. He was well aware that this fight would not be kind to him whatsoever, but he was flabbergasted at just how lopsided the difference in power between his team and the monster in front of him was. He needed to match up to Mewtwo's ferocious power as quickly as possible, otherwise he would stand no chance at all.

Nate's hand dove into his pocket and immediately grabbed the two stones in his pocket. "Luca!" Nate yelled as he tossed Luca's stone to her, who immediately caught it in her paw. Nate pressed against his stone as light burst out from it, converging to Luca. Upon reaching Luca, the light exploded into another pillar of light, before revealing Luca in her enhanced form; her Mega Evolved form; once again. Luca snarled at Mewtwo, conjuring two staffs, one in each paw, before waiting to see how Mewtwo would strike.

"The Mega Evolution that felled Kyurem's destruction," Mewtwo commented as the giant spoon disappeared from Mewtwo's side. "Hm, then I shall respond fittingly."

"Wait wha...?" Nate asked confusedly, until he saw Mewtwo's body glow brightly in the same kind of light that just emerged from Nate's stone. "Oh, goddamn it..."

The light covered Mewtwo completely, before it exploded in what Nate could only recognize as an X-shaped pattern. The light exploding revealed Mewtwo, but much different than before. He was much larger and bulkier than before, with his arms and legs sporting much bulkier muscle mass. Two purple tubes extended from his back to his chest, giving off the impression of two purple shoulder pads. His tail was much shorter and his torso was much thinner, where his horns were more curved than before. Cold and fervent blue eyes replaced the previous purple eyes Mewtwo had before.

"Oh yeah, Mewtwo can Mega Evolve too," Leaf called out from her safe spot far away from the action going on.

"Gee, thanks for the tip!" Nate snarled back sarcastically.

Mewtwo thrusted his right palm forward, causing the earth around Nate to explode from the force of Mewtwo's power and obscuring the human from Mewtwo's view in a huge cloud of dust. Two flashes of light were all Mewtwo could confirm, before the Mega Evolved Lucario and Keldeo emerged from the dust, lunging at Mewtwo. Luca and Deo swung their weapons at Mewtwo, who blocked both attacks with his arms. Luca and Deo both jumped back, before diving back in, swinging at Mewtwo with all the vigor they could muster. Unfortunately for them, Mewtwo dodged and parried all incoming strikes from the two Fighting-types in front of him, showing no signs of any openings the latter two could use to break through and land a hit.

"Not gonna lie, I expected him to do better than this," Leaf commented from her corner, as she watched Nate struggle to even put up a decent fight against the legendary Pokémon of Kanto. "I figured his Mega Evolution would give him a good chance, but I suppose that's Mewtwo for you. He's gonna need to pull a hat trick if he plans to win."

"-Damn it, this isn't working!-" Deo growled as he jumped back by himself. "-Take this!-"

Deo was about to blast a Hydro Pump at Mewtwo, while Luca struck at Mewtwo with both staffs to try and keep him occupied. Mewtwo, however, was fully prepared, slamming one of his feet into the ground. Right as Deo was going to fire off the Hydro Pump, Mewtwo's foot shot out from underneath him and slammed straight into Deo's gut.

"-GUOAH!?-" Deo gagged as he was sent flying up into the air.

Eyeing Deo get sent into the air, Mewtwo swatted Luca away with some force, before shooting his arm out at Deo. The arm stretched out like rubber, grabbing Deo by one of his legs despite being several feet up in the air and away from Mewtwo, before slamming the colt down to the ground with a vicious slam. The brute force of the slam was enough to knock the wind out of Deo's gut, silencing the colt instantly. Mewtwo made a quick glance to the side, noting that Bo was no longer where he was. Almost immediately, Bo shot out from the ground behind Mewtwo, ready to strike at him with a Night Daze orb, but Mewtwo spun around and grabbed Bo by the face, strangling the creature as he lifted him up.

"Did you think a trick like that would work on me?" Mewtwo asked as he tightened his grip, as 'Bo' suddenly transformed into Zoro. "Decent effort, but unfortunately while in this form, I have the advantage against Dark-types like you."

Zoro tried to break free from Mewtwo's grip, dropping his attack in the process, but Mewtwo dropped Zoro, before embedding his knee into the fox, blasting him across the cave like a bullet. Zoro crashed into the wall of the cave, before falling to the ground. With no other targets left, Mewtwo shifted his gaze back to Nate and Luca.

"Y'know, I think this might be the fastest I've seen someone wipe out the majority of my team," Nate commented to no one in particular, out of exasperation. "I mean at least against Marshal, they lasted longer."

"Is that it?" Mewtwo asked, waiting for Nate to make his move. "You were the one to defeat Kyurem. Surely you can do better than that."

"How convenient of you to say that, actually," Nate said as he took out a final pokéball and tossed it up into the air. From the pokéball, a blinding light emerged out of it, before it converged into a giant mass behind Nate. The light dissipated, revealing a large, grey and blue dragon with blank, yellow eyes. The dragon let out a low rumble as he eyed his opponent.

"Oh?" Leaf mused with interest as she eyed the giant dragon that Nate summoned.

"I'm so glad I did a last-minute swap before I left the shop," Nate muttered. "Kyurem, Glaciate!"

Kyurem roared as a freezing wind filled the room, Mewtwo took a stance, before he noticed his legs instantly being frozen. Ice lances formed from above Kyurem and launched themselves at Mewtwo, who was forced to defend himself from the onslaught. This, however, left him open for Luca to ram into him with a nasty kick, finally managing to do some meaningful damage to the creature. Mewtwo was about to strike Luca, but the jackal only jumped above, revealing a Dragon Pulse that was careening at Mewtwo from behind her. Mewtwo narrowly dodged the Dragon Pulse, while barely guarding Luca smashing her staffs against him from above with one arm. Luca jumped off from Mewtwo's block and rushed him down, but Mewtwo evaded Luca's wild lunge forward and smacked her head, slamming her into the ground, before proceeding to rush down Kyurem. Nate had to jump to the side as Mewtwo brought his fist up to punch Kyurem, who met the punch with a headbutt. Unlike all of Nate's other Pokémon sans Luca, Kyurem was able to withstand the force of Mewtwo's punch without crumpling instantly, while keeping his aggression against the Psychic-type.

"So, it's safe to assume that you're the one responsible for stopping the Entralink's descent back then," Kyurem said to Mewtwo as they both were in a deadlock. "And you were the one who gave Nate the power to defeat me."

Mewtwo did not respond, which was confirmation enough for Kyurem.

"Your meddling cost me my grand schemes of vengeance," Kyurem growled. "But I will have to admit, perhaps that was for the best. HOWEVER!"

Kyurem roared as he managed to push Mewtwo away from him, glaring at the Psychic creature.

"I still have a score to settle with you for your part in interfering with my ambitions," Kyurem snarled.

"While I admire your determination," Mewtwo said. "Without the other two dragons, you lack the power to face me as I am now. You're a mere husk of your former glory."

"How convenient of you to mention that too," Nate said.

He rummaged through his bag, before taking out a peculiar device that vaguely resembled a wristwatch, and pushing a button on its side. "STANDING BY." the device suddenly announced.

"Hm?" Mewtwo looked slightly intrigued as Nate placed the device onto his left arm. Upon contact, the device automatically wrapped itself around his wrist. Nate slide his thumb across the side of the device where he pushed the button on it, where up a small, triangular stake popped up from inside. The top of the stake has three different colored sides; one black, one white and one gray. "That's...!"

Nate scoffed as he twisted the top portion of the triangular stake so that the black side was on top. "BLACK CHARGE," the device mechanically confirmed, before Nate pushed the yellow piece inside the stake and closed the device, inserting the stake back into its confines. Energy emitted from the stake, traveling through the device as the black lines that adorned it began to glow a bright blue. A high-pitched sound began to ring from the device, as it grew louder in pitch until the device was glowing blue. "READY."

"Has anyone ever told you that science is amazing?" Nate asked Mewtwo as he aimed the device at Kyurem, before slapping a button on the device that was facing the boy.

"COMPLETE," the device said as a blue laser shot out from it and at Kyurem. Blue electricity crackled around Kyurem's body, where a blue ball of electricity formed from his tail, before covering the dragon's entire body in a giant ball of blue energy.

From the ball, the dragon burst out of the ball and struck Mewtwo, who had to bring his arms up to shield himself from the incoming punch, the force of the punch being enough to push him back. The energy dissipated, revealed a transformed Kyurem. His legs were much shorter now, with the middle toe encased in ice, while his tail now resembled Zekrom's tail. His shoulders are covered in squares of ice similar to when Kyurem had absorbed Reshiram, with two pins protruding from each square and connecting to the tail. His upper torso was now covered with black muscle, similar to Zekrom. Kyurem's arms now resembled Zekrom's arms, but more muscular and with Zekrom's wings emerging from behind, where his left arm encased in ice. Ice covered Kyurem's lower jaw, as a black appendage stuck out from the right side of Kyurem's head.

"Huh," Leaf commented, genuinely surprised as she witnessed the newly transformed Kyurem float by Nate's side, with the mega-evolved Luca to the other side. "So, there's the hat trick."

"You..." Mewtwo muttered as he glared at Kyurem, who glared back with bright yellow eyes. "That form..."

"Kyurem Black," Nate said. "The form Kyurem takes when he absorbs Zekrom."

"And yet...you achieved that form without the presence of Zekrom," Mewtwo commented, before eyeing the device that Nate had revealed. "No doubt thanks to that contraption of yours."

In response, Nate lifted his left arm, showing off the strange device that helped him transform Kyurem into his Black Mode. Upon closer inspection, the 'stake' inside it strikingly resembled the DNA Splicers.

"...When did you retrieve the DNA Splicers?" Mewtwo asked.

"From the wreckage in the Giant Chasm," Nate said. "I was quite busy in the three months after I saved the region."

"Indeed, if you have the DNA Splicers, then Kyurem would gain access to its more potent forms," Mewtwo replied. "However, that still requires either dragon. What is that device, and how did it let you transform Kyurem into its fused state by itself?"

"Didn't I say that the power of science is amazing?!" Nate yelled back as Kyurem and Luca lunged at Mewtwo. Luca swung her staff at Mewtwo in a wide arc, where Mewtwo jumped over the swing only to force himself to throw a kick at Kyurem's arm striking down on him to defend himself. Mewtwo slammed into the ground, where Luca jumped above him to slam her staffs into him. Spotting Luca above him, Mewtwo stretched his arm behind him, grabbing the ground with his outstretched hand, and reeling himself away from Luca's strike, shrugging off the pain of his back being dragged across the ground. Mewtwo got back onto his feet, before immediately jumping away to avoid the spot he was standing on suddenly erupt, courtesy of Kyurem's Earth Power.

"Tch, this is rather difficult even for me," Mewtwo muttered as Luca and Kyurem kept the offensive going.

Mewtwo decided to focus on defense as he evaded Luca's flurry of swings and jabs, all while focusing his strength on intercepting Kyurem's timed strikes. While Mewtwo was occupied with Luca, Kyurem's tail began to glow blue, as a light bluish-white ball of electricity began to form around Kyurem. Luca growled as she shot a large Aura Sphere at Mewtwo, who swatted the projectile away with a swing of his hand. By the time Mewtwo finally noticed what Kyurem was doing, the dragon had finished his preparations.

"FREEZE SHOCK!"

Kyurem swung his arms out, launching the giant ball of frigid electricity at Mewtwo, who had no time to jump away and was forced to bring his arms up to defend himself.

"Gggh!" Mewtwo grunted as he withstood the ball of electricity, before it exploded in his face. As te energy cleared up, the psychic cat managed to keep his stand, but there was clear, visible damage on him, as several spots of his body was covered in scorch marks, courtesy of the electricity from the attack.

"He took damage...!" Nate gasped, before groaning. That was the first amount of meaningful damage they were able to deal with the monster that was Mewtwo, and it took the combined efforts of his entire team, Luca with her Mega Evolution, and his ace-in-the-hole in Kyurem, who can transform freely thanks to his new gadget. "...Great, it takes that much just to deal damage."

Mewtwo glanced at his opposition, evaluating the best means of prevailing. Having both of them attack at the same time was proving to be quite the hassle. Kyurem was proving to be the bigger threat between the two of them; boasting much more raw strength and utilizing the lucario's faster attacks as a means of opening up Mewtwo's defenses to inflict more bothersome attacks. The lucario, while not as strong as Kyurem despite having Mega Evolved, was much more agile than Kyurem, keeping Mewtwo mostly occupied with defense, which gave Kyurem the opening he needed to strike.

While a two versus one was proving to be annoying, Mewtwo could confidently handle either one in a head-to-head. So clearly, his best option was to take out the lesser of the two so he could focus on the bigger menace with his full attention. As he noticed the lucario charging at him, with Kyurem following behind, Mewtwo created a Shadow Ball in his hand, before crushing it in his grip and flinging it with a flick of his arm, several smaller Shadow Balls scattering across the field, forcing them to stop to defend themselves as a cloud of dust emerged from the scattered pieces of the land.

A light began to emerge from within the dust, prompting Luca to swing her staff widely to clear the dust. The dust cleared up effortlessly, but Mewtwo was nowhere to be seen.

"-Wha–!? Where did he–?!-" Luca yelled, before she stopped upon hearing energy charging behind her.

Luca glanced behind her to see Mewtwo–or what resembled Mewtwo. He was much smaller, his arms and legs were slimmer, and his eyes now glowed a bright red as opposed to the blue glow they had just a second ago. Mewtwo glared at Luca, as a Shadow Ball was charging rather dangerously in his paw.

"You be quiet for a while," Mewtwo said to Luca as the Shadow Ball suddenly shrunk to the size of a pebble, before exploding into a violent laser akin to a Hyper Beam, blasting Luca point blank.

"Luca!" Nate cried.

Once the laser dissipated, Luca fell to her knees before collapsing to the ground. She briefly flashed a bright light from her body, having reverted from her Mega Evolved state.

"Now then," Mewtwo said, glancing over to Kyurem, who instinctively flew back.

"What the hell...!?" Nate growled under his breath. "He has another Mega Evolution!?"

Meanwhile, from her safe distance, Leaf was observing the battle with a more critical gaze. While she was glad to see that Nate had a trick up his sleeve to answer Mewtwo, she did not expect Mewtwo to answer in kind with his second Mega Evolution. The last time Leaf heard Mewtwo resort to that one was when he had to destroy that airborne island that was crashing to Unova. The last time Leaf witnessed the second Mega Evolution herself, he had effortlessly defeated herself, Red and Blue at the same time, where all three of them were using their own Mega Evolutions. The fact that Mewtwo was using his second Mega Evolution meant that Mewtwo, at the very least, deemed the boy to be strong enough to require it.

Although, the moment Mewtwo assumed his second form, that meant there was a good chance the cave would not last much longer...

"Damn it...!" Kyurem muttered as he tried to swipe at his opponent, only for Mewtwo to seemingly vanish into thin air the moment Kyurem tried to hit him, and then reappear somewhere else to shoot at him relentlessly. Kyurem was now struggling to pin Mewtwo down for a clean hit as the Psychic-type zoomed around the giant dragon to the point that he looked like he was teleporting everywhere. Without Luca keeping Mewtwo occupied, Kyurem struggled to fight back, as his wide, brutish swings were effortlessly evaded by Mewtwo's newfound sonic speed.

"Damn it," Nate muttered as he witnessed Mewtwo seemingly pop out of nowhere above Kyurem and blasting him with another Shadow Ball laser, which the dragon was, thankfully, able to take. "Just when I thought we had him..."

Nate glanced down to his device. There was no doubt that Kyurem's Black form would do little against Mewtwo if this continued. His White form would probably not fare that better. Kyurem needed more speed; enough speed to let him be able to catch up to Mewtwo better. Nate stared at the device, before letting out a groan of frustration. There was only one option left.

As Kyurem was doing his best fending off Mewtwo, Nate opened the device up again. He clutched at the triangular top of the stake inside and twisted it around, until the gray side was facing up. "ALL CHARGE," the device confirmed as Nate pushed the yellow piece inside and closed the device again. Energy emitted from the stake, traveling through the device as the black lines that adorned it began to glow once more, this time a sickly bright purple. Another high-pitched sound began to ring from the device, as it grew louder in pitch until the device was glowing purple. "READY."

"If this doesn't work, then we basically lose," Nate said, before aiming the device at Kyurem. "Kyurem, get back!"

Kyurem glanced back to Nate, before nodding. As Mewtwo was about to shoot Kyurem in the head, Kyurem let out a roar, dispersing electrical energy from his body, causing Mewtwo to drop the attack and shield himself from the purge of electricity. Kyurem used the opportunity to fly back to Nate, as he aimed the device at Kyurem.

"He said throw everything we had at him," Nate said as he slammed the button facing him. "Then we'll give him everything."

"ABSOLUTE," the device said as a purple laser shot out of it and at Kyurem, this time with more force than the last one. A slow, steady heartbeat rang throughout the cave, as Kyurem's body began to twitch. A low hiss came out of Kyurem, as blue electricity and red fire crackled across Kyurem's body covering it with a blinding, purple aura. Kyurem let out a deafening roar as the aura purged off Kyurem, blinding everyone.

Once the light cleared, Mewtwo looked up to see Kyurem, in his original, completed form, looming over his small frame.

"What!?" Mewtwo gasped. Leaf, meanwhile, whistled at the sight of Kyurem's new form.

Nate didn't react to Mewtwo's gasp as his device beeped, glancing down to the wristwatch. "START UP," the device said as it showed five minutes, before it began to count down rapidly.

"You got five minutes, Kyurem!" Nate yelled out. "Either beat him by then or we lose!"

Kyurem responded with a savage roar, as several large balls of fire and electricity formed around him and launched at Mewtwo. Mewtwo evaded the incoming projectiles lobbed at him, only to jump away when he realized that Kyurem had already closed the distance between them with a strike of his claw. "Tch!" Mewtwo muttered as he shot another Shadow Ball at Kyurem, who reflected the ball with a swing of his arm. Mewtwo clicked his tongue, before instinctively stopping in his tracks to avoid being skewered by a spike of ice that suddenly shot out right behind him from the wall. Kyurem snarled as he charged at Mewtwo, who vanished at the last second to avoid Kyurem's Dragon Claw from ripping him to shreds, instead shattering the ice along with most of the wall in the process. Mewtwo reappeared in front of Kyurem, several meters away from the draconic titan.

"...This is your true form..." Mewtwo commented, his red gaze never wavering at the sight of the hulking goliath in front of him. "The one that almost destroyed this land months ago."

Kyurem said nothing, glaring back at Mewtwo with his deep yellow gaze, as Mewtwo glanced over to Nate. "To think you were capable of recreating this too."

Nate said nothing in response as well, only glancing to his wristwatch. Three minutes, 42 seconds left.

"Ah...I see," Mewtwo muttered to himself, noticing the small gesture Nate made. "But I doubt this cave is durable enough to survive if we were to unleash our full forces."

Mewtwo's eyes glowed a light pink color, as he lifted his arm up.

"What the hell is he trying to pull?" Kyurem mumbled.

"Oh wait, please don't tell me–," Leaf said, recognizing what Mewtwo was going to do.

"Let's change the scenery," Mewtwo said.

"What're you–," Nate asked, before everyone suddenly found themselves warping out of the cave.


"–Trying to do?" Nate asked, before blinking. They were no longer in the dark, moist and surprisingly wide depths of the Challenger's Cave, but in the middle of the even wider, equally dark night skies, hundreds upon thousands of feet above the surface. "OH HOLY NIGHT–!"

Kyurem acted quickly and grabbed Nate from falling down to his death, before placing him on his back.

"Thank you," Nate muttered to Kyurem, before facing Mewtwo, who was floating in his place, unfazed at the sudden change of scenery. "Wait, what time is it?" Nate glanced at his wristwatch, before realizing it didn't actually tell the time. "Right, this doesn't actually tell time..."

"DICK MOVE!" Leaf yelled at Mewtwo, the girl riding a large bird Pokémon with yellow, spiky plumage and a long beak. "At least give us a warning when you teleport us somewhere else like that! God, last time you did that, you threw me into a town infested by weird purple robots!"

"You're free to go all out here," Mewtwo said, promptly ignoring Leaf (causing the girl to raise a bigger fuss) in favor of focusing on Kyurem. "The cave wouldn't have been able to withstand both of us going all out."

"Oh, how thoughtful of you," Nate drawled sarcastically. Frankly, Nate would have been perfectly fine with caving Mewtwo in with Kyurem blasting a hole in it if it meant netting a win. But at least Nate can now let Kyurem go full force without having to worry about caving himself in. It seems to be the only option he has left.

"Now," Mewtwo declared, letting out a vicious pinkish-purple aura from his body, enough to force Kyurem to shield himself a bit. "Show me your full power, Kyurem. Show me the power that you wield that nearly destroyed Unova."

"...Something tells me he's trying to goad us into something," Nate muttered to Kyurem.

"Most likely, but we're running out of options, aren't we?" Kyurem asked.

Nate groaned as he glanced at the wristwatch. From the time wasted from Mewtwo teleporting all of them out of the cave and into the skies, they only had a little over two minutes left.

"...Well you know what they say, in for a dime, in for a dollar," Nate said. "Kyurem, Terminal Void!"

Purple energy began to flare violently from Kyurem's body, as he brought his claws together. A dark purple orb began to form between his claws. Kyurem's white wings and black muscles began to glow purple, where his tail flared to life with the same purple energy as the orb grew bigger.

"...Very well," Mewtwo said as he lifted his arm up into the air. Immense psychic energy surged from his arm, as a myriad of psychic shards spawned above him. The shards quickly formed into giant swords, before all the blades were aimed at Kyurem.

"...We should get back, Zapdos," Leaf told her bird, whom quickly agreed as they flew back to a much safer distance to avoid the inevitable crossfire that was about to happen.

"NOW!" Nate yelled out.

"Psystrike!" Mewtwo bellowed as he whipped his arm forward.

Kyurem roared as he launched the purple orb at Mewtwo. The psychic swords proceeded to hurl themselves at the orb launched by Kyurem. The orb shrank into a miniscule size just as the swords were about to make contact with it, before exploding into a violent purple burst, colliding with Mewtwo's Psystrike, swallowing everything around it in a violent wave of purple plasma. Everyone sans Kyurem had to shield themselves from the explosion as it wiped out all the clouds around it. Once the energy cleared, Mewtwo found himself in excruciating pain, the plasma coursing over his body in agony. He felt the Calm Mind boosts he had prepared before hand having vanished, presumably from Kyurem's attack. Mewtwo glanced over to Leaf, who had apparently shielded herself with Zapdos' Protect, watch in awe as the bird's green shield evaporated into green ethereal dust.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Mewtwo snapped back to attention as Kyurem's roar echoed throughout the skies, as the gigantic dragon bulleted at Mewtwo with claws barred.

"Crap–!" Mewtwo swore, cursing himself for leaving himself wide open, before taking a Dragon Claw to the face. "GUAH!?"

Mewtwo flew back from the force of the attack, before recovering and regaining his balance in the air.

"He can still fight?" Mewtwo asked.

Kyurem, for his part, did not waver in his glare at Mewtwo. However, despite the immense damage his signature move inflicted to even Mewtwo, Kyurem knew full well that this battle was lost.

"3...2...1..." a mechanical voice counted down, breaking through the sounds of the winds blowing throughout the skies. "TIME OUT."

The wristwatch on Nate's arm let out a deafening beep, before Kyurem began to groan in pain.

"Well shit..." Nate groaned as a bright purple light began to glow from Kyurem. The light completely covered his body, before it burst momentarily, leaving Kyurem back in his initial form. Too exhausted, Kyurem could not maintain flight, and began to fall from the sky. Mewtwo quickly encased both Kyurem and Nate in a psychic energy, keeping them from falling to their deaths, before teleporting everyone out of the scene of the battle, before any curious eyes finally noticed their debacle.

Everyone found themselves back in Challenger's Cave, where Mewtwo let Kyurem and Nate back onto the ground. Kyurem was panting heavily, exhausted from assuming his Absolute form. Nate glanced at Kyurem, before glancing to his wristwatch. The watch displayed zero minutes, zero seconds and was emitting a prolonged beeping sound, which Nate turned off.


"This is my loss," Nate said plainly. "Although, I guess this thing was a success, in a way."

"Hm," Mewtwo said as Zapdos let Leaf back onto the ground. "That device...what is it?"

Nate narrowed his eyes slightly at Mewtwo, before showing it to Mewtwo and Leaf. "Colress Machine No. 646, the Absofusion Driver. A device the scientist Colress devised from the remains of the DNA Splicers we salvaged back at the Giant Chasm.

"We theorized that Kyurem still possessed genes of Reshiram and Zekrom, which allowed him to absorb them and fuse with them, using the DNA Splicers as a catalyst. The device itself contains genetic material from both dragons. Utilizing the salvaged DNA Splicers inside the Driver, I'm able to stimulate and temporarily enhance the corresponding genes inside Kyurem by sending substitute genetic material to the dragon. Kyurem can then use the genetic material sent to him to assume either Black form or White form, without having to absorb the necessary dragon. While that's the device's primary function, it's capable of sending both materials at the same time to Kyurem, causing a more extreme reaction and letting Kyurem assume his Absolute form without either dragon.

"However, the Driver isn't a foolproof replacement to Absofusion. Despite is being a very easy and more readily available option over tracking down and absorbing Reshiram and Zekrom, Kyurem's forms are generally weaker when utilizing the Driver than if Kyurem were to absorb the dragons instead. Colress said it was about, what, twenty percent weaker? Same goes with Absolute form, except for Absolute form, the process is still unstable on top of being weaker than the more, natural, method. Kyurem can only maintain the form for five minutes, which the device keeps track of."

"So when you said Kyurem had five minutes..." Leaf inquired, recalling Nate telling Kyurem that a while ago.

"He only had five minutes to defeat Mewtwo in his Absolute form, before time ran out and Kyurem was forced out of it," Nate confirmed. "And lo and behold, we ran out of time before we could end the match. And if the five minutes are up, the device is forced to go into cooldown for five more minutes."

Mewtwo stood in silence, absorbing all the information Nate provided, as he examined his body. It was covered in scorch marks from Kyurem's plasma, along with rather deep claw marks. While it could all be easily healable, the fact that Kyurem was still able to dish out this much damage despite all the supposed limitations Nate described...

The Psychic-type warrior could only fathom how different the battle would have been if Kyurem had full control over his ultimate form with no time limit.

"Of course," Nate said as he pushed a button on the Driver, opening its glass case to reveal the miniature DNA Splicers. "If both Reshiram and Zekrom are available, I can still use the DNA Splicers as their intended use and fuse them together for a more stable, stronger Absolute form; the same one that almost destroyed Unova. However..."

"However...?" Leaf asked.

Nate had a grim expression as he stared at the DNA Splicers. "If I actually need to do that; have Kyurem absorb both Reshiram and Zekrom and assume his Absolute form, then that means the situation is that dire."

So basically, he would never consider using natural Absofusion unless the situation absolutely demanded it. And if it did, then who knows what kind of catastrophe would be threatening Nate, and most likely the world, that would warrant the necessity of a world-destroying threat like Kyurem Absolute.

"Intriguing," Mewtwo commented. "However, what made you and your group create such a device? Even if it is at a weaker form, you are still providing Kyurem with the same form that he used to nearly destroy Unova. You now have possession of that same power. Knowing the dangers of it, why did you decide to create that device?"

Nate glanced to Mewtwo, his expression never wavering, before sighing. "I vowed to protect the future. The future of myself, and the people I care about. And even though I defeated and reformed Team Plasma, it's stupid to think that evil will truly disappear from humanity.

"Evil will surface again. Someone will try to plunge the world into mayhem. It may be in the distant future, or in a few days even. It could be in Unova again, or in some far-off region on the other side of the planet. So, I want to get stronger. Strong enough so that I can take on whatever decides to threaten everything I want to protect."

Mewtwo stared at Nate for a while, seemingly contemplating to himself. After a good while, with only the drops of water from the stalagmites that managed to survive the onslaught of Nate and Mewtwo's battle, Mewtwo let out a deep breath, as a blinding light surged out of his body, before reverting back to his initial form. "Very well. Perhaps I was right to place my trust in you. At the very least, I can trust that you will lend your strengths in Earth's peril."

"Uh huh..." Nate muttered. "Well, at least I'm glad you like me, I think? Still got my ass handed to me though..."

"Hmph, don't think too hard about it," Mewtwo replied. "In fact, you did much better than the last trainer who fought me."

"Really? Who's that?" Nate asked, somewhat curious.

Mewtwo said nothing, but glanced his purple gaze to Leaf. Leaf stared at Mewtwo questioningly, before the implications dawned onto her.

"HEY!" Leaf yelled at Mewtwo irately, pointing at Nate and Kyurem. "That's not fair! He has a super-strong legendary Pokémon!"

"Wait, so do you!" Nate yelled back in defense, pointing at Zapdos.

"Oh yeah, because Zapdos and your Kyurem are so comparable!" Leaf shouted sarcastically.

"-Well you didn't have to say it like that...-" Zapdos commented to the side glumly.

"Oh look, you made it sad," Nate drawled back.

"Why you–!" Leaf growled in indignation.

"Quit acting like a child," Mewtwo reprimanded Leaf, before facing Nate. "Regardless, thank you for accepting my needless request to test your strength. It was...enlightening, in a way. To use the strength of the strongest being of Unova as your own...you are truly strong.

"If you wish to achieve further strength, then I suggest mastering Mega Evolution. If you had truly mastered it, then your lucario would have stood a much better chance against me."

"Mega Evolution..." Nate muttered, feeling at the keystone in his pocket. "Come to think about it, I never did get a proper explanation about this."

"Mega Evolution," Leaf said, deciding to step in. "It's a phenomenon that occurs between trainer and Pokémon. If the trainer has a Keystone, and the Pokémon has the right Mega Stone, then with a strong enough bond, the Pokémon can perform a Mega Evolution. Only certain Pokémon are capable of Mega Evolving, though.

"When a Pokémon Mega Evolve, they gain an imminent boost in their stats, whether it be in strength, durability or speed, or altogether. There are cases when a Mega Evolved Pokémon's ability, and even their typing, will change. For example, your lucario's ability becomes Adaptability during Mega Evolution, and my Venusaur's ability changes to Thick Fat."

"And this technique isn't present in Unova?" Nate asked for clarification.

"Indeed," Mewtwo said. "Mega Evolution is usually only available in Hoenn and Kalos; where Mega Evolution was discovered. It is not specifically exclusive to those two regions, so long as you have the right material, but it has been kept mostly a secret from the other regions, which is most likely why no one in Unova is aware of it. Although..."

Mewtwo eyed Nate's pocket. "I did happen to find a Keystone and a Lucarionite here in the Challenger's Cave. Perhaps someone had lost the stones here. But it came into good use."

"Hm," Nate mumbled. So in a sense, it was by chance that Mewtwo just happened to find the compatible Mega Stone for Luca.

"I believe that is enough for one day," Mewtwo said to Nate. "I do look forward to the day we can fight; whether it be as opponents or as allies."

"...If I have a choice, I do hope it's as allies," Nate said. He'd rather avoid having to fight Mewtwo again if he had the choice. "I...really don't want to fight you again."

"At least you're honest," Mewtwo commented.

"Your Pokémon must be all out of commission," Leaf said. "I'll fly you back to your home."

"Thanks," Nate muttered. "Alright then, if that's all, then I bid you adieu."

"...One warning," Mewtwo said to Nate as he was headed to leave. "Seeking power for the sake of others is a valiant ideal. However, I hope that your ambitions do not fall to become the same power-hungry evil you wish to fight off."

Nate stopped in his tracks, staring back at Mewtwo from behind. The Psychic-type legendary Pokémon stared back at Nate with fierce, purple eyes.

"...Thanks for the warning," Nate said simply, before leaving the Challenger's Cave with Leaf as his escort. Once he heard the footsteps wane, Mewtwo let out a deep breath as he let himself collapse to one knee. The fight against Nate, specifically against Kyurem, took much more out of him. Despite Mewtwo's impressive healing abilities, it would take a bit of a while to make a full recovery.

"It's stupid to think evil will disappear from humanity..." Mewtwo muttered mostly to himself. From his own experiences, his own dark past, he could feel himself resonate with the boy's words.

Mewtwo himself was a byproduct of humanity's evil ambitions, seeking to create the ultimate Pokémon. He himself was once a weapon for an evil organization, now long defunct. Only through the efforts of a group of trainers from Kanto was Mewtwo freed from the organization and was able to follow his own path, with peace having been restored to Kanto.

And yet...

"I couldn't agree more," Mewtwo said, his words echoing throughout the dead silence of the caves.


By the time Nate reached his rented home in Accumula Town, it was an hour past midnight. Nate tiredly hopped off of Leaf's Zapdos.

"Thanks," Nate mumbled tiredly.

"No problem," Leaf said. "I better get going too. It's already late, and my friends must be worried. It was nice meeting you, Nate. We should hang out again some time."

"So long as it involves something more reasonable than fighting that psychic bastard again," Nate drawled sleepily, referring to Mewtwo.

"Hey c'mon now, you did pretty well, all things considered," Leaf said. "I feel like Mewtwo actually likes you."

"Well whoop-de-fucking-doo," Nate mumbled, earning a giggle from Leaf.

"Well, good night," Leaf said as Zapdos spread out its wings.

"Gnight," Nate mumbled as Zapdos took off into the night skies. The boy fumbled his hands inside his pocket before taking out a pair of keys, which he jammed into the door's lock, unlocking it. Nate opened the door and skulked inside the small rented house, finding himself greeted to both Yancy and Vire, who had been waiting in their shared living room.

"Nate!" Yancy exclaimed upon noticing the boy having opened the door.

"Ah, sorry," Nate mumbled. "Were you worried, I guess?"

"Well, yeah," Yancy said. "You just up and left all of a sudden since this afternoon."

"Hm...it really did take up the whole day, huh..." Nate mumbled. The fight with both Leaf and then Mewtwo really did consume his entire day. "Sorry for ditching you guys all of a sudden. Nothing too bothersome happened while I was away?"

"Well for the most parts no," Yancy said. "Although someone did stop by your place. They said they wanted to speak with you. He said he would visit your shop tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Nate asked. Considering the last person who wanted to speak to him personally led him to fight the monstrosity that was Mewtwo, he wasn't too keen on any unknown visitors now. "Gotcha. I'll take it from there."

"Alright," Yancy nodded. "But...where did you go? And what happened? You look wiped out."

"Oh, a lot happened," Nate mumbled. "Fought one lady who can apparently do the same thing Luca can. Then fought another Pokémon, who wiped the floor with me; Kyurem included. Never wanna fight that bastard again. I'll talk about it tomorrow. I'm beat and I just want my bed right now. Sorry for keeping you worried, but you should go to sleep too."

"It's alright," Yancy sighed, before offering Nate her usual gentle smile. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"Yeah..." Nate mumbled. He was so tired that he didn't even process what Yancy said. Seeing that Nate was completely out of it, Yancy helped Nate to his room upstairs and to his bed, before the boy promptly collapsed onto it. With what little energy he had left, Nate let out a pathetic moan, pointing to the healing machine Colress had made for him. Yancy got enough of the message to understand, before going through Nate's bag, taking out Nate's pokéballs and placing them in the slots, letting the machine provide his battered team with a well-deserved healing.

"Good night, Nate," Yancy said.

"Gnight..." Nate slurred. Yancy let out a quiet giggle before leaving his room and closing his door quietly, leaving Nate to his well-deserved sleep.

Today was in fact an extremely hectic day for Nate. First, he ends up learning more in-depth about Luca's special transformation by fighting a powerful veteran from Kanto, and then he ends up fighting the legendary Pokémon responsible for bestowing Nate with the ability to Luca's transformation, which took all of his energy (and the entirety of his team), to put up a passable fight.

At this rate, the only thing that could top everything he experience today was something completely otherworldly, like an intervention from God. But even Nate knew that was straight-up asinine and frankly silly, as he let himself drift into a much-needed sleep.


"Unfortunately for you, divine intervention is exactly what's going to happen next."


Nate's eyes shot wide open as he shot up from his laying position. He remembered making it back to his bed in his room, in his rented house, so naturally Nate was shocked, confused, and panicked when he found himself in a completely white void.

"What the–Oh for fuck's sake, what now!?" Nate groaned, his frustration echoing throughout the void. "I swear to god this better be a dream and I didn't get magically kidnapped–!"

"Do not fret. This is, at its base, a dream."

Nate shot his gaze to the direction of the source of the seemingly booming voice and saw a pair of white legs, then proceeded to look up.

And up.

And up.

Nate backed away to get a better look at the giant that was standing in front of him. It resembled a white equine, resembling a minotaur, with a gray, vertically-striated underside. The four-pointed feet (he was look at its feet) are tipped with gold hooves. Its long mane juts away from its head as if it was flowing in the nonexistent wind in the void. There was also a streak of gold coloration on its head, and ears that point upward. Its neck is fairly long, with two pairs of extrusions to the sides, and a flap-like feature on the neck's underside that is colored white like much of the body. A golden cross-like wheel attached to its body by its round abdomen, which was adorned by four jewels.

Green eyes with red pupils stared down on Nate, exuding a pressure so strong, even Mewtwo paled in comparison to it.

"...Oh this can't possibly end well," Nate muttered to himself.

"Relax, human," the creature said in a voice that sounded like it was booming like lightning crashing down. "I do not mean you any harm."

"Excuse me for not entirely believing that," Nate said. "Also...who...are you?"

"That's Arceus. You probably know him as 'God'."

Nate jumped at the sudden introduction of another, new and unknown, voice, before darting to his right, spotting a woman with long, navy blue hair, wearing a black coat over a dark blue shirt and a light gray skirt; one that he did not see so far and certainly would have noticed immediately if they were right next to him.

"And who are you?" Nate blurted.

"Oh, my name's Dawn Berlitz," the woman greeted herself to Nate with a reserved, almost coy-looking smile.

"Uh, hi..." Nate muttered, before squinting at the woman confusedly. "Wait...have we met before? You look oddly familiar...?"

"Don't worry about it," Dawn responded with a slight giggle.

"O-Okay..." Nate said, before processing what the woman first said. "Wait, you said Arceus. As in God?"

"That is correct," the creature before him, Arceus, confirmed, grabbing Nate's attention.

"...You gotta be kidding me..." Nate said. "You're real!?"

"Well of course," Dawn commented. "Arceus is a Pokémon after all. Why wouldn't he be real?"

"I don't know, how about since he's God!?" Nate shot back at Dawn. "Seriously, what the hell's going on!?"

"As much as it is amusing watching him panic like this," Dawn said, facing Arceus. "I'm on the same page as him. It's rare for you to contact me like this. Rarer for you to call another human to the Hall of Origin. Almost uncharacteristic, even."

"While your suspicions are well-placed, Witch," Arceus said. "There is a reason for your audience, as loathed as it is. But my business with the human will be addressed first."

"...Okay panicking isn't gonna do me anything," Nate grumbled, trying to calm himself down at the outright confusing situation he found himself in. "Alright then...assuming you really are Arceus...what's going on? Why am I here?"

"My business with you is in regards to the dragon of Unova," Arceus said. "You refer to it as 'Kyurem'."

"Kyurem...?" Nate asked, his glare hardening.

"Kyurem possesses immense power; power enough to sever the link of the High Realm; the 'Entralink'," Arceus said. "I am aware that Kyurem can't obtain its original power without the other two dragons. However, you were able to bestow it upon Kyurem by yourself."

Arceus stared down at Nate. Nate did his best to maintain his glare, but he was not immune to the immense pressure coming off of Arceus' fervent gaze. "So, you plan to smite me or something for doing that?"

"No, I'm more impressed that a human was able to find a way to bypass such limitations," Arceus said. "Humanity is many things, but I must admit, they are progressive, if anything."

"I...see..." Nate muttered. At least he didn't have to worry about receiving divine judgment.

"I only wish to confirm that you are responsible for observing Kyurem, so that it does not act foolishly like it did a few months ago," Arceus said. "So long as you don't point your blade at me, then you are free to do as you wish with Kyurem. I do hope you aren't a fool like many others that came before me in the past who wish to claim the power of legends for themselves."

"...Duly noted," Nate could only say as evenly as possible.

"Well then, so what's the business with me?" Dawn asked. "I doubt it was just to witness this."

"Hm, you would be right," Arceus said, keeping his glance on Nate. "...Human. Are you aware of clairvoyance?"

"Clairvoyance?" Nate asked. "...More or less. It's the ability to see into the future, right?"

"Correct," Arceus nodded. "The ability manifests in only those capable of psychic potential. While the most common case is a rather weak manifestation as an offensive tool that you humans refer to as 'Future Sight'. Those with considerable psychic power, like many of those you consider 'Legendary Pokémon', like that artificial creature you fought, can manifest this ability further and be able to see within the future, to varying degrees. The stronger the potential is, the further and more accurate one can predict the future."

"Hmmm," Nate mumbled. While still trying his best not to get crushed by the extreme pressure Arceus was exuding by his presence alone, Nate found the information the literal deity was providing to be highly interesting. "And you foresaw something bad?"

"You catch on quick. That's good," Arceus said, somewhat pleased that the human he was speaking to was of a much higher intellect than the common masse. "I am capable of foreseeing many things. The future is a domain that I have no issues determining so that I can properly govern this universe. Until now..."

"Until now?" Dawn asked, stepping in. "You mean you foresaw something but you can't tell what it is?"

"That is correct," Arceus answered. "The future being predicted, but changing due to human interference is something I have long become accustomed to. However, not being able to determine the future outright, is something completely new. And while it is uncharacteristic for me to be worried of anything, I fear that this may be a catastrophe like any other."

Nate's eyes widened. After going through the crisis that Kyurem plunged, Nate could not imagine just what could possibly be so bad that not even God could predict.

"That is why you're here, Witch," Arceus directed to Dawn. "While our relationship is...passable at best, I am not a fool as to let past grudges cloud my judgment on this."

"So you want me to investigate?" Dawn asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"While I doubt you could find anything that I can't at this point," Arceus said. "Any hints would be helpful. As one who isn't restrained by the same limitations of man, you would be best suited for this role."

"Hmph," Dawn scoffed. "...Alright then. I'll see what I can find."

"You're rather compliant," Arceus noted. "I was expecting a quip in retaliation from you."

"While that was the first thing in mind," Dawn shrugged. "The fact that this is something not even you can predict is something serious. The fact that you're even considering my help in the first place is enough to show how bad your situation is." Dawn did reveal an ominous, almost malevolent smirk though. "Although, it must be humiliating for you to have to request my help after everything we've been through. How sad it is that there's something that God can't figure out."

"And there it is..." Arceus retorted. "Regardless, if you find anything of noteworthiness, report back to me. You know how to get back in here."

"Very well," Dawn scoffed. "How much time do we have?"

"Hm," Arceus said. "Roughly four to five years or so."

"Well now...that's...not exactly a lot of time," Dawn muttered. "Fine then. I'll see what I can find then."

"As for you," Arceus said, glancing back to Nate. "After hearing this, I do hope you do not plan to sit idle."

"And...what do you want me to do then?" Nate asked carefully.

"I will leave the observation of your race to you," Arceus said. "Prepare them for the looming threat as you see fit. Whether it will be enough for humanity to survive the upcoming crisis is up to you."

"Well gee, no pressure..." Nate muttered sarcastically. "I will keep that in mind. I don't plan on dying any time soon."

"Fair enough," Arceus responded. "If you value your future, then heed my warnings to heart."

"Although..." Nate said. "Why me? Surely there're others better for this than me."

"You conquered and claimed Kyurem's power for yourself," Arceus said. "Conquering a primordial power as Kyurem's original form is a feat few have ever replicated. And unlike those I have witnessed in recent memory, you seem adept at managing people. Something like this should be within your limitations."

Nate arched a brow at Arceus. It wasn't everyday when God complimented your people skills. While part of it seemed to be more due to might makes right, he seems to be confident enough in Nate's abilities to manage people, thus entrusting him with the task of preparing them for the upcoming unknown threat.

"...Alright then," Nate finally answered. "Although I do hope whatever your seeing doesn't end up becoming true."

"Hmph, it would be easier on me if my prediction ended up becoming a fluke," Arceus admitted. "However, as you humans say, 'better to be safe than sorry'."

"Right," Nate said, before realizing something within Arceus' speech to him. "...Mind if I ask one more thing?"

"Do as you wish," Arceus said.

"...You mentioned Kyurem 'acting foolishly like he did a few months ago'," Nate said carefully. "You also said he severed the Entralink, which means you're aware of what he did. What Kyurem did was nothing short of mass genocide of an entire region of the world. Surely you know what the repercussions would have been? If you are as omnipotent as God should be, then that means you could've stepped in at any time to stop Kyurem and save the people of Unova. So why didn't you?"

"A paltry question," Arceus scoffed. "But let me answer your question, with another question. When you walk on the street, do you pay attention to the bugs on the ground?"

Nate narrowed his eyes at Arceus. That question alone was enough for Nate to determine why Arceus didn't step in to stop Kyurem.

Arceus didn't care. Simple as that. Arceus did not care for the fates of the people of Unova. And from the specific choice in questioning, it would not be farfetched to assume that Arceus wouldn't care the same for any other region on the Earth.

"That's just the kind of ruler Arceus is," Dawn commented from the side, getting Nate's attention. "Unless it directly involves him, he doesn't give a damn about what happens to the humans on Earth. Unless someone points their blade at him, or someone violates the unspoken rules he set upon the land, we're left to fend for ourselves. The only reason why he's stepping out of his way to inform us is because he's no longer certain that he's safe in his high seat above everyone else."

Arceus said nothing, but slightly glowered at Dawn. Dawn merely scoffed at the glare.

"Although, I do suggest you take his warnings to heart," Dawn advised Nate. "As much of an inept ruler he may be, he does know what he is doing. And I'd rather not die because we decided not to trust God when it mattered the most."

Nate stared at Dawn contemplating, before facing Arceus once more. "...Alright," Nate said. "If God deemed me worthy enough to confide this kind of shit, then I'm at least obliged to do my part. When the time comes, I hope we'll be ready. Although..."

Nate leered at Arceus. "I wouldn't be so sure as to dismiss the bugs on the ground, if it's for your own good."

Arceus stared back at Nate, neither party uttering a word. Dawn, from her side, arched a brow at the boy, genuinely impressed that the boy had the guts to say that to Arceus. After a moment, Arceus let out what seemed to be a genuine chuckle.

"You are intriguing, human," Arceus said. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"...Nate," Nate responded. "Nate Warren."

"Nate...Warren..." Arceus muttered. "Is this perhaps fate as well? Hm, very well. I'll forgive your moment of insolence this once."

"Noted," Nate said dryly.

"Well, if you want any place to start on your efforts to save humanity," Dawn added. "I would suggest going to Hilbert Warren."

"Wait, you know my brother?" Nate asked Dawn.

"Human...Nate Warren..." Arceus said, interrupting them as a blinding light began to flood the void. "I leave humanity's chances at survival in your hands."


Nate's eyes shot open as he shot out of his bed. His eyes darted around, recognizing the scenery of his room. Sunlight was leaking into the room from the crevices of his window curtains.

"...Something tells me that wasn't actually a dream," Nate said to himself as he yawned, glancing to the clock on his desk nearby. It was five thirty AM, a good three hours before Nate needed to be on site, and an hour from when his alarm would go off. "Ugh...Ah well." Might as well start his day since he was wide awake now.

Nate got out of his bed, noting how Vire was sleeping on the floor, taking up a decent amount of the room with his large size. Deciding to let the gorilla sleep for some longer, Nate stripped off the clothes he had been still wearing from yesterday and discarded them into a basket with other dirty laundry, before heading for the bathroom to take a much-needed shower.

'The Kanto trainer, Leaf,' Nate thought as he let the scalding water fall down upon his body, washing away the grime and sweat that caked it from yesterday's debacles. 'Mega Evolution...that monster of a Pokémon, Mewtwo...and then Arceus with his premonition of something horrible happening in the near future...while I'm not sure if that last one was true or just my dream, something tells me I shouldn't just write it off.

'Goddamn it, things are never simple, are they? Well, no use complaining about it. I'd rather not die before I hit twenty.'

After a few minutes more, Nate finished his shower and dried himself off with a towel, before heading back into his room and slipping on a fresh, clean change of clothes from his wardrobe that Yancy was kind enough to buy for him (when she found out that people were, in fact, supposed to have additional changes of clothing on the first day they started living together). Nate didn't really care for fashion so he let Yancy with creative freedom on what he should wear. Nate's only input to his wardrobe was his now-iconic blue jacket, which he had decidedly liked enough to get multiple spares of it (he had to ask Cheren where he originally got the jacket from).

Nate grabbed his team from the healing machine, woke up Vire, and headed downstairs to the living room, making a beeline straight for the kitchen and to the fridge. Opening the fridge, he found a bowl of bacon and mushroom spaghetti wrapped up. From the size of it, Yancy must have left a share for him. He'd had to thank her for that once she woke up.

Nate took the bowl of spaghetti to eat for his breakfast, before checking the clock mounted on the wall. It was near six AM; around the time Yancy would usually wake up and prepare breakfast for the two of them. Nate set his portion to the side and grabbed two slices of bread, two eggs and a slice of ham, shoving the bread into the toaster while placing a pan on the stove to heat up, before placing the slice of ham on it. Once the ham cooked a bit, Nate cracked both eggs onto the ham and let it cook on their own. While Yancy was much more competent than he was in cooking, he could at the very least make something simple like ham and eggs with toast. When everything was done, he placed the ham and egg, along with one piece of toast onto a plate and set it on the dining table, before proceeding to reheat his own portion, taking a bite out of the other piece of toast for himself.

In the meanwhile, he went outside the house, carrying several bowls and sent his team out in one pile, making sure to send Kyurem away from them so he didn't crush them all with his overwhelming size and weight. Vire followed out of the house, carrying a large bag of Pokémon food and filling each bowl up; enough for everyone's share. As everyone woke up, still tired from yesterday's battle against both Leaf and Mewtwo, they all spotted the bowls of their breakfast that was prepared for them and devoured from them with gusto. Vire, who was fortunate enough not to have participated in the battle, just looked at all of them with a baffled expression before eating his breakfast at a calmer pace.

"-The hell happened to you guys?-" Vire asked.

"Long story," Nate said as he headed back into the house, where Kyurem began to fill Vire in on the events that happened last night.

By the time Nate got back to the kitchen, the microwave had finished heating up his food, with Yancy conveniently coming downstairs as Nate was taking out his breakfast.

"Morning, Nate," Yancy yawned, before noticing the platter on the table. "Did you make breakfast?"

"Eh, woke up early," Nate shrugged as he placed his food on the table. "C'mon, let's eat."

Yancy shrugged, before sitting at the table as Nate got two cups of water out and they began to eat their breakfast. "So, what happened yesterday?" Yancy asked as she took a bite out of her piece of toast.

"So basically, I fought someone, then fought someone else, and then proceeded to lose horribly," Nate said as he took a clump of pasta and shoved it into his mouth. "Frankly I'd rather not do that ever again."

He omitted to tell Yancy about his 'intervention' with Arceus, as even he was still skeptical on the validity of the whole encounter. He'd rather not confuse and worry Yancy even more than necessary, until he could confirm that his 'dream' was 100% true. "What about you? Was everything alright while I was gone?"

"Ah, well yeah, everything went well enough," Yancy said as she continued to eat her meal. "Although, there was a little incident at your shop yesterday."

"Right," Nate mumbled. "You did say someone wanted to see me yesterday. Same or different person?"

"Different," Yancy answered. "Some guy showed up because a customer you consoled with broke up with them?"

"Ah, the dude that lady with the arcanine," Nate said. "Well he got what he deserved, so fuck 'em. But go on."

"Sounds about right..." Yancy muttered. "He was about to destroy your shop, but someone else stepped in and stopped him."

"Now is this the guy you said wanted to see me yesterday?" Nate asked as he continued to wrap some pasta around his fork.

"Yes," Yancy confirmed. "He seemed really like a really strong trainer too. Chased off the other guy easily. I don't think he was from Unova though...he looked like he came from like Kalos or Galar or somewhere around there..."

Nate abruptly stopped eating upon hearing Yancy say Kalos. The mention of Kalos sparked recent memories from within, as the conversation he had with Mewtwo last night immediately surfaced back into his mind.

"Mega Evolution is usually only available in Hoenn and Kalos; where Mega Evolution was discovered. It is not specifically exclusive to those two regions, so long as you have the right material, but it has been kept mostly a secret from the other regions, which is most likely why no one in Unova is aware of it."

"Kalos...?" Nate mumbled. "Yancy, did this guy have a weird bracelet or something on him?"

"Eh?" Yancy asked, confused, before pondering. "Well, now that you mention it, he did have something on his wrist, if I remember correctly..."

As of right now, Nate had little to go off regarding Mega Evolution. What little he had was based off of chance, and he doubt that Unova had any existing resources on Mega Evolution. If this person who seemingly wanted to see him was from Kalos, and had what Nate suspected to be the same device Leaf had to Mega Evolve her venusaur, then this person should be capable of Mega Evolution, or at the very least know something more about it.

"Gotcha," Nate said as he finished his meal. "I'll be sure to see him later today. Thanks for covering for me."

"No problem," Yancy said. "But, are you okay? You still look a bit tired."

"Hm?" Nate asked as he put his plate in the sink. "Eh, I won't lie and say I'm not still tired from last night."

It didn't help that Nate barely felt like he got any sleep last night due to Arceus suddenly invading it with his encounter.

"I'll be fine though," Nate said, ruffling Yancy's hair for a bit. "There's some stuff I'd like to discuss with this guy you mentioned if he is from Kalos?"

"Really?" Yancy asked as she quickly fixed her hair.

"If the stars align, then I might get some valuable info from him," Nate admitted. "Besides, it shouldn't be that bad. My shop doesn't get too much attention compared to the others. I can take it easy if I need to."

"Well alright then," Yancy said. "Don't push yourself though."

"Thanks," Nate said rather fondly. "I'm gonna head out first. I should probably check up on the others back at the Frigate."

Nate headed back upstairs and grabbed his bag. If he wanted to master Mega Evolution, the first thing he needed was more information. If this person Yancy described was indeed from Kalos, and had the same type of device Leaf had, then there was no doubt he possessed the same capabilities or at least knowledge of Mega Evolution. Perhaps more substantial than Leaf if he was native to Kalos. If he could get as much information as possible, it would be one more step to mastering Mega Evolution, and make himself stronger.

"When you walk on the street, do you pay attention to the bugs on the ground?"

...Nate's mind went back to his meeting with Arceus. Regardless of whether it was real or not, it didn't sit well with the boy on how...callous the supposed deity of the universe was in regards to Unova. To the regions of the world. He compared humanity to 'bugs on the ground'. A collective worth next to nothing that he could simply ignore, as far as he was concerned. That did not sit well with Nate. In fact, it infuriated the boy to no ends.

And yet he had the gall to demand their help on a problem that he, in all of his divine power, could not solve at a first glance? Nate would have flat out refused Arceus had the situation not been as grave as Arceus described it to be. His own sour opinion on God notwithstanding, Nate was no longer the fool to let his emotions cloud his better judgment. For the most part, at least. Nate knew better than to dismiss a possible foreboding threat out of spite. Especially after he risked his life to save Unova, and only just narrowly did so with the help of Mewtwo's machinations.

That other person...Dawn, was it? She suggested that he should speak with Hilbert on this matter. Which suggests that Hilbert was already contacted in a similar matter as they contacted himself, or Hilbert was aware that Arceus existed, so he would be more inclined to believe Nate's story. If he told anyone else, they would at best think he saw a really strange dream. If Nate wanted to find a solution, then he would need to first find someone who wouldn't immediately dismiss him.

Even if it was Hilbert.

Heading back downstairs, Yancy seemed to have prepared food for her own Pokémon before noticing him. In spite of how uneventful things have been so far (asides from what happened last night), Nate has come to enjoy his new, peaceful way of life, with his friends, his new group, and with Yancy. He went through enough hardships for one life, and was content with simply living his new life with his friends and his one true love.

...And he'll be damned if it was taken away from him.

"Alright, I'll see you at the Avenue," Nate said.

"Okay, be careful," Yancy said back as she offered a small peck on his cheek.

Doing his best to fight back a blush, Nate put his visor on and grabbed the doorknob.

'I dunno what's gonna happen in the near future, with everything told to me,' Nate thought to himself. 'If it can be stopped, then I'll make sure it gets stopped.'

Nate opened the door once more, letting the bright light of a serene spring day flood inside. Having finished their meals, his Pokémon were all dutifully waiting for him outside, ready to accompany him for another day.

'Don't underestimate us 'bugs on the ground', God,' Nate thought darkly. 'No matter if it's to some calamity that you can't figure out, or to you.

'We won't let you steal our future.'


Extra Chapter: END


AN: And that's that. I will be honest, there was much more I wished I could include, such as the aftermath of Rosa's run in the PWT, but I felt that the chapter was getting too big as it was, so I cut it out so that the chapter didn't become too bloated. If enough people want to see it though, then I may come back to PoYS and write out one last chapter for Rosa's run (or if there's something I'm forgetting to do). Also I did feel that the transition into Arceus' segment felt a bit forced, in my opinion, but I felt there was no other reasonable place to put it, and it is actually vital for things to come in the future. Not in this story; Pride of Your Soul has officially reached its end, but for perhaps a future story...

While there are several points in this story that might require elaborating, I feel like I should focus mainly on the one that's basically OC territory:

Nate's Absofusion Driver: Now you may be asking 'what the heck is this? This wasn't in the games.' And you'd be absolutely right. While Nate had the DNA Splicers, he couldn't transform Kyurem to any of his forms with the DNA Splicers alone, and both Hilbert and N still have their respective dragons (and he'd be hard pressed to convince either of them to give him their dragon). Kyurem in canon still has the genes of both Reshiram and Zekrom in him, which is why he's able to transform into Black or White in the first place.

Thus, the Absofusion Driver was born; a device Nate came up with and had Colress develop, which would take a genetic sample of both dragons (which Nate obtained from Hilbert and N at N's Castle offscreen) and use it to provide Kyurem with enough energy to transform into either form, or Absolute form. The device was an idea I decided on (and haven't seen anyone else done to my memory), that would provide Kyurem with a means to transform without requiring Reshiram or Zekrom, while still having its drawbacks to not make it immediately broken of a concept (transforming via the Driver is inherently inferior in power to absorbing the actual dragons / not suffering a time limit he can maintain Absolute), and making it a more realistic and believable answer than simply saying 'oh Kyurem can transform into either form now'. The idea itself was inspired by Kamen Rider, which I have been into recently (bonus points if someone can figure out which one this device was inspired from).

Honestly, Colress makes it extremely easy to introduce strange original contraptions that serve to allow what would otherwise be impossible feats (that would border on cheating if they existed in the game), such as letting Kyurem swap between Black and White by himself, since, the majority of the time it's within Colress' capabilities.

Also, there is a more legitimate reason as to why it took me the rest of the year to update one story. And that's because I got distracted making something else.

Around the time where I should have been making Fidelity's next chapter, I ended up getting ideas for a Sun and Moon story. And to my embarrassment, I ended up spending the rest of the year exploring that; even writing up drafts for the first three chapters of that story, even though I still have two other stories that are nowhere near completed and are still in progress. So yeah my bad to everyone who was waiting for Fidelity and Platinum Witch updates.

As apologies; I would like to show an excerpt from the first chapter of that story as sort of an apology/preview/belated Christmas present of sorts (idk) after the usual ending AN. The story itself will most likely not be officially published onto the site for a while; at least until I finish either Platinum Witch or Fidelity, so that will be for a while. But the majority of the plot is more or less finalized, with minor tweaks here and there to be made.

Don't worry though, I will be focusing on Platinum Witch/Fidelity, now that my Gen 5 story has now come to a close. How long updates will take is subjective, and I don't plan on making another empty promise of timing, but updates for both stories will resume.

And before I wrap things up and go into the preview for my Sun and Moon story, I do hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas, and hope that everyone continues to stay safe and healthy during these difficult times. Things may be (and still are) rough, but if we work together, maintain health regulations like social distancing and wearing masks, we can make it through them. And while 2020 wasn't exactly the best year we had, I still hope everyone had a good year, and I wish everyone a Happy New Years.

For one last time, here's the team roster:

Nate: Luca (Lucario*) / Bo (Emboar) / Vire (Electivire) / Brav (Braviary) / Deo (Keldeo) / Zoro (Zoroark) / Kyurem

Leaf: Venusaur / Golem / Ninetales / Lapras / Scizor / Zapdos

And now, I present you with a preview of my Sun and Moon story: Stardust. I'll see you all in 2021.


"...Sun... That's my name?" the boy muttered as he placed Lillie back onto the ground, away from the scorched patch of ground that the fireball landed on. "Get behind me."

"Holy shit, he is here!" one of the thugs exclaimed before another thug smacked him upside the head.

"And you were THIS close to turning him into charcoal!" the assailant chastised harshly, before they all rushed up to the boy.

"So he really is a Team Skull member..." Kukui muttered.

"He's with Team Skull?" Hau asked, while Hala merely watched the debacle. The three Pokémon gathered behind Hala, watching as well from behind his legs in curiosity.

'Sun' simply shot a wary glare and stepped back, getting in a defensive stance in front of Lillie as they approached. The thugs stopped in their tracks, shocked by the response.

"Sun? What's wrong? It's us!" one of the thugs said.

"Yeah, I don't know who 'us', is," Sun muttered. He didn't mean to make it sound snarky, but he couldn't help but make the dry remark, given his current circumstances.

"You don't know–it's us! Team Skull! We're ya bros! Your homies!" the thug gasped, flabbergasted.

Sun merely continued to leer at them warily, as he gripped the pokéball in his pocket that contained his 'Pokémon', just in case things went south.

"Wait."

Before the thugs could continue to press on, the woman stepped forward towards Sun, where the thugs made a path open for her.

"...You're their boss?" Sun asked cautiously as he and Lillie stepped back.

"...You don't remember anything, do you?" the woman asked.

Sun did not respond verbally, but merely shook his head.

"Figures," she sighed, before noting the bandage wrapped around Sun's forehead. "Must've been a rather nasty accident. That bandage is enough proof. You probably suffered some severe head trauma and lost your memories; something like that, I suppose."

The woman crossed her arms in front of her chest, before glancing down upon Sun.

"The name's Plumeria," she introduced herself to Sun. "You could say I'm the boss of these idiots, but I'm not the true head honcho, if you catch my drift. We came to take you back to Team Skull."

"You're...taking me back?" Sun asked.

"Eh...?" Lillie mouthed, eyes widening.

"I mean you are one of us, even if you don't remember it," Plumeria replied. "It'd be better if you came back to a place you can call home than wander around with people who'll eventually treat you like an outcast."

"Treat me like..." Sun started, before his eyes wandered around the crowd.

Amongst the confusion, some of the people were confused, while others were whispering among themselves.

"He's with Team Skull...?"

"It's his fault they're even here then..."

"If that's the case then they should just take him away!"

"He's probably just like them; a typical criminal anyways..."

Sun's eyes widened slightly in shock. They were so nice to him hours ago, but the moment the truth about his background came to light, they were viewing him like an outcast. The hushed comments making him feel bad about himself. Then again, they knew nothing about him, and are suddenly informed that he was one of Team Skull; a no-good criminal at that. It was not surprising that they would instantly turn against him. It did not change the fact that Sun felt hurt by the sudden change, though.

"See?" Plumeria asked. "If the people here don't treat you like family then what's the point staying here? Alola values the ideas of 'kin' and 'family'. So, they reject everything else that goes against it and their expectations."

Plumeria's gaze became fierce; her amber eyes sharply glaring at the crowd, intimidating them.

"So there's no point staying here with people who'll no doubt shun you," she said harshly.

Honestly, that would be the best idea. If he went with these people, then he would surely be able to get his memories back. Moreover, it was apparent that the people here did not want him here any longer since he was the reason Team Skull was here harassing them in the first place.

...But something in his gut told him otherwise.

"...I don't remember anything of myself," Sun said. "I only just learned my name now. With no knowledge of my past, I can do nothing but choose to believe what is told to me of what kind of person I used to be. If you say that returning to Team Skull is the better decision, when everyone looks at me like an outsider, then perhaps you may be right."

"Sun...?" Lillie asked, looking worried.

"No matter what I say, it's still my fault that you showed up here to disturb Iki Town with something it's not involved in," Sun continued. "Then perhaps, the best solution would be to go back to Team Skull so Iki Town doesn't have to be involved in this."

"...You understand fast, that hasn't changed at least," Plumeria nodded in agreement, with the other Team Skull members began to rejoice.

"...So, my choice is clear," Sun said, taking a deep breath. For the first time since he ended up here, Sun's eyes were burning fierce with determination. "I refuse."

"...What?" Plumeria asked, while everyone else looked shocked.

"Like I said, I can do nothing but choose to believe what is told to me about what kind of person I used to be," Sun declared, glancing to Lillie. "And if you're implying that I was someone who would gladly harass and attack innocent people for my own whim and gain like what your lackey just did to Lillie, then I refuse to go back to being that kind of person.

"I'm no longer Team Skull. I am my own person. And I intend to find my own path from this point on."

Plumeria's eyes narrowed, while everyone else just stared at Sun in shock and awe.

"Sun..." Lillie said, a relieved smile forming on her face.

"So cool..." Hau mouthed.

"Heh, well said," Kukui grinned in approval.

"Well now," Hala mused in interest, as the three Pokémon stared at Sun in awe.

"I'll only say it once," Sun said. "Please stop this and leave. I don't intend on leaving here with you and Team Skull. If you refuse...then I will retaliate with everything I can."

"Heh! You always were stubborn to a fault," Plumeria snickered. "Even if you don't remember us, you're still you. However..."

Plumeria snapped her fingers, signaling the remaining Team Skull members to get their Pokémon to target Sun.

"We can't exactly leave here empty-handed," Plumeria said. "We have a job to do, after all. So you're coming with us, even if it requires force."

"Then I'll stop you," Sun shot back as he took out his own pokéball. "With everything I have!"