The Black Knight's End

"And here it is the Valley of the Dragons!" Iris exclaimed as she and the others stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking a vast valley that appeared to be swarming with Dragon types of all sorts. Dragonite, Flygon and Salamence could be seen flying through the air, Kingdra could be seen swimming in a lake alongside Dragonair and Dratini, and on the ground Druddigon and Axew's species were also present! "The place where my master's master sent him in order to prove himself, the Dragon types here are far stronger than your usual Dragon type and are also quite a challenge to raise. So I'm to catch a Salamence and earn it's respect before Drayden will allow me to take over. They also follow a hierarchy here, the strongest Pokemon is the king or queen and the other weaker Dragons rely on them to protect them from potential threats such as Pokemon poachers. So Ash you're free to catch a Dragon if you wish just stay away from the leader, I won't allow you to leave with it!" Iris turned to Ash with a threatening glare as he raised up his hands.

"Whoa don't worry Iris, I want a Dragon type for the team but I'd never do something as selfish as that!" Ash reassured her.

Iris hummed lightly as she narrowed her eyes at him, she did respect him now but she knew his eagerness sometimes made him act first and question things later.

"Alright, let's go! Just remember that Salamence is mine!"

"There's plenty of Salamence out there I don't see why we both can't own one." Ash casually shrugged.

"It was confusing enough having two Servine around, let's not repeat that!" Iris lightly snapped before the two eagerly began the descent into the valley.

"Wait for us," Brock and the others followed after them as a pair of red eyes watched them descend upon the valley, his eyes gleamed brightly in the darkness before he let out a loud roar!

On the other side of the valley Zach, Dawn, Lucario and Piplup were now overlooking the valley. "I've heard of this place but I've never actually been here, the Dragon types are usually peaceful so long as we don't disturb them. I'd still keep a hold of Mamoswine's Pokeball though just in case something goes wrong."

"Right," Dawn grabbed at Mamoswine's ball before giving Piplup a light nod. "Come on Piplup, let's go!"

"Piplup!"

Zach clenched his fists lightly as he watched Dawn and Piplup begin their descent shortly before following after them, it had been four weeks since they left Undella Town and their friendship had grown even stronger than it had during their stay. He started feeling funny whenever the two were around one another and unlike when he was with Hilda's friends he just couldn't find it in him to keep to himself or avoid her and now he was silently cursing himself for it. She was his only friend for miles and if the dream truly was a vision he'd never see one of his friends after today.

Lucario stared at his trainer and glanced towards Dawn, a goofy expression crossed the jackal's face as he followed them down into the valley.

Iris looked up at the sky as she and the others were now on ground level, her eyes remained on alert for a Salamence that she could potentially catch while Ash's eyes were also on alert as he looked for a Dragon that he could add to his own team. While the two were distracted a humanoid figure reached out from the shadows and grabbed both Cilan and Brock, his hands covering their mouths as he dragged them into the darkness!

Hilda glanced back as she sensed something. "Cilan? Brock...?" She edged closer to the shadow before a pair of hands grabbed her and yanked her in. Shortly afterwards a dragon's roar could be heard followed before a Salamence and Flygon slammed onto the ground before Ash and Hilda, their eyes narrowed at the two as they uttered out fierce cries!

"That roar did not belong to these two!" Iris shouted as her body lightly shook from the sudden appearance of the two Dragon Pokemon.

"Sala!" Salamence fired off a stream of fire at the two causing Ash to quickly dive and push himself and Iris out of the way.

"Worry about that later, let's focus on beating these Dragons!"

"Huh?" Zach suddenly paused as he felt a familiar aura nearby causing him to briefly pause as he turned his gaze towards the distance. "You feel that aura, Lucario? Off in the distance, I'm not sure who but somebody's out there." Lucario closed his eyes as he focused upon the distant aura in an attempt to read it. Dawn glanced back towards the two as she noticed they'd come to a stop.

"Something wrong, Za-Mmmph!"

"Pi-mmph!"

Zach quickly shot around and saw the Black Knight standing there, his armored gloves over both Dawn and Piplup's mouths as he laughed out. "Huzzah, I knew you'd come! I certainly didn't expect you to pick up a mate in the months we've been apart but oh well, I'll have fun killing both her and your sister!"

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Zach growled out. "Lucario hand me your bone club!"

"Car!" Lucario summoned his aura charged bone club and threw it at his trainer, Zach caught it and quickly held it out like a sword.

"Drop her and face me you coward, you're not hurting her or my sister! I'll die before that happens!"

"And die you shall, that vessel will be mine again! Now isn't the place however, meet me at Dragonspiral Tower where we'll finish this once and for all!" He kicked out a smoke pellet blinding Zach and Lucario for a few seconds and that was all he needed to disappear!

"Nonono Dawn!" Zach rushed through the smoke and blindly struck upwards as the Black Knight stood at least a foot taller than Dawn thanks to the armor. "Damn it!" He cursed out as the smoke faded to reveal he'd gotten cleanly away!

Lucario placed his paw on his trainer's shoulder and lightly growled out.

"I knew this would happen, I just knew it! I tried and made a new friend and they got kidnapped, worst of all I've never felt this way about anyone not even Skyla!" He angrily slashed the bone club at a nearby rock cleanly slicing it in half as he let out a frustrated growl. "If she dies I don't think I can live with myself! Hilda couldn't be here... that has to be a trick." And yet there was a familiar aura nearby that he couldn't place.

"Come Lucario, we're ending this. If I die then so be it but I'm gonna make sure Dawn escapes!"

"Car!" Lucario raised his paw as the two began racing towards the distant tower.

Iris could see from the corner of her eye that Ash was attempting the same stunt he pulled on Clay's Flygon, she didn't pay much mind to it though as Fraxure was currently in conflict with Salamence!

"Dragon Pulse!"

"Frax!" Fraxure fired the pulse of green purple dragon energy from his mouth, blasting Salamence but it proved to anger the Dragon more than hurt it. Salamence's eye twitched and quickly filled with rage as he let out a loud roar before glowing purple meteors began crashing down towards everyone present including Flygon!

"Ah!" Iris ducked as she narrowly avoided a falling meteor. Flygon started standing back up after Pikachu knocked him from the sky only for a meteor to comedically smack his head and make him drop in defeat as swirls filled his eyes.

"Alright time to catch it!" Ash swiftly grabbed an empty Pokeball and threw it across the field, Flygon was struck and disappeared in a beam of bright red light before the ball started shaking back and forth. Ash clenched his fists for a brief moment before the ball chimed out to announce the capture complete!

"Alright we just caught a Flygon!"

"Pi Pikachu!" The two posed before quickly ducking as a meteor flew at them!

"This is getting too dangerous forget fighting him fairly, Fraxure leap onto his back and use Guillotine on his wings let's end this here and now!"

"Um Iris I don't think that stunt will earn his res-"

"Quiet Ash!" Iris gave him a light glare as Fraxure charged at Salamence and leaped onto his back before swiftly pinching the dragon's wings with his tusks! Salamence's eyes shot wide as he roared loudly from the pain before collapsing on the spot as swirls filled his eyes. "And time to make him mine, I can just see myself now... Gym Leader Iris!" Iris fantasized, stars filling her eyes as she threw an empty Pokeball and smacked the unconscious Dragon on his face! Salamence let out an annoyed grunt shortly before he disappeared in a beam of light, the ball shook three times before chiming to announce the capture complete!

"And now Salamence is mine mine, mine!" Iris held up the Pokeball with an ecstatic grin as Fraxure posed alongside her.

"Fraxure, frax!"

Ash and Pikachu gave each other nervous looks as this felt like another Charizard situation waiting to happen.

"Dragonspiral Tower, great... we're here..." Zach and Lucario paused for a moment to catch their breath while their eyes slowly glanced upwards. "And still a long way to reach the top, great... just great... I swear he better not throw Dawn off once we get up there!"

"Car!" Lucario placed his paw on his trainer's shoulder as he tried comforting him. Lucario's eyes soon shot open as he sensed a familiar aura coming at them fast, he quickly glanced around before looking upwards and let out a surprised gasp as a blur slammed into the ground before letting out a loud roar as right in front of them was the Pokemon they thought dead, Haxorus was back!

"Haxorus you're back, it's really you!" Zach's eyes lit up at the sight of Haxorus, he wasn't that gifted in the art of reading aura but he recognized Haxorus' now that the Dragon was right in front of him! "This is great with you on our side we can't lose-"

"Hax!" Haxorus' tail glowed a bright green as the Dragon turned around and gave it a hard swing, knocking both Zach and Lucario off their feet as the Dragon let out an angry roar.

"Haxorus stop, it's me!" Zach wasn't sure if Lucario could even take Haxorus on but that didn't change the fact that he didn't want to hurt his friend, he reached into his pocket and held out a Sitrus berry. Haxorus began charging up a Hyper Beam attack while Lucario shot to his feet and brought out his bone club and prepared to bash Haxorus away as his trainer continued trying to reason with him. "Remember this? I gave it to you back when we first met all those years ago! I promised you a place on my team and planned on taking you to the Hoenn region that can still happen, we can go there together once Team Plasma is dealt with!"

"Hax..." Haxorus turned his gaze to the berry, his eyes began to lightly soften as he quickly turned his head and fired the Hyper Beam attack off into the distance. "Haxorus!" The Dragon roared before pulling his trainer into his arms.

"N-Not that it's not great to see you Haxorus but I need to get up there and save my friend, will you join us?"

"Hax!" Haxorus gave his trainer a nod before lowering his back so that he and Lucario could climb on. "Hax Haxorus hax!" The Dragon type then charged up the stairs as he made his way upwards and to where the Black Knight laid in wait.

"Ugh..." Hilda groaned out, her eyes slowly opened before she took in the sight of an unconscious Brock and Cilan. She let out a gasp and tried to reach out to see if they were okay only to find herself tightly restrained and her Pokeballs were all the way across the floor and completely out of reach!

"Brock, Cilan!" She hissed out.

"They're out cold, I've already tried waking them." Hilda jumped lightly at the sound of another voice, turning her head to notice Dawn tied up next to her. She had no idea who she was but she recognized her voice.

"Y-You're that girl whose traveling around with Zach, aren't you?"

"Yeah we've been making our way here ever since we left Undella Town, you don't need to explain who that is I already know." Dawn motioned towards the Black Knight as the figure stood attentively towards the stairs. "I presume you're his sister, Hilda right?"

"Y-Yeah... wait what's he doing here?" Hilda growled at the sight of the Black Knight. His aura no longer matched her brother's so she knew it wasn't him.

"Zach's not sure, he thinks that the being is made of Dream Energy. I hope he's okay, the knight sent a Dragon Pokemon of some sort down there awhile ago and the fighting quickly stopped within minutes. I know Lucario's not in the best shape so I'm worried that-"

"He's alive, I can feel him." Hilda reassured her, she couldn't help but form a light smirk despite the situation that they were in. "You like him don't you?"

"Of course he's a good friend," Dawn exclaimed before Hilda shook her head.

"Nono, I mean like in the romantic sort!" Hilda's words caused Dawn's cheeks to burn brightly, her eyes avoiding Hilda's was all she needed to know.

"And that is why she's the perfect bait, such a happy coincidence that both the girl he loves and his sister are in the same place! Once I push you both off he'll be too depressed to fight and then I'll be able to take control of him again!" The knight laughed. "Haxorus should have made Lucario it's chew toy by now so you'll all he has left! I'm gonna win and then slay Ghetsis for daring to feed me to that abomination! I-UGH!" The knight went flying across the roof, crashing headfirst into a brick wall as Haxorus rammed against him!

"Haxorus?!" Hilda exclaimed in shock though she was quite pleased to see him again!

"Hax!" Zach hopped off of Haxorus' back while Lucario handed him his aura infused bone club.

"Lucario go free the others, it's time that I end this."

"Car!" Lucario raced across the rooftop while the black knight pulled himself free from the wall and readjusted his helmet before laughing out as he unsheathed his sword.

"Die peasant!" The sword and bone club clashed as the two swung the objects at one another, the two appeared evenly matched at first as neither overcame the other however the more that Zach grit his teeth or lashed violently out, the stronger his opponent appeared to get! "Yes I hunger for your anger and pain, the more angrier you get the more powerful I get!"

"Wait a sec," Hilda's eyes widened. "You're not made of Dream Energy, you're the opposite of a dream! You're made of Nightmare Energy!"

"Haha you catch on quick, had you not been a female then you'd the superior choice for a host!"

"Why you-" Hilda's eyes twitched before she took a deep breath as she realized that she'd almost fed the beast with her own anger!

"Nightmare Energy?" Zach looked thoughtful for a brief moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he sure hoped that this worked otherwise it'd go wrong real quick! He threw the bone club aside before wrapping his arms around the Black Knight. "I forgive you."

"W-What? You can't just-!" Boom! The black knight exploded in a burst of green energy, only the sword was left behind as a blue glow radiated from it.

"He's gone..." Zach released a sigh of relief as a smile crossed his face. For the first time in years he genuinely felt free! "He's gone!" Zach threw up his arms as he leaped into the air.

Hilda and Dawn both smiled as they watched him excitedly moving about, it was the happiest they'd ever seen him so they weren't going to ruin it. Brock and Cilan began to stir while Hilda's gaze turned towards the Black Knight's sword, it had been the real deal so chances were Haxorus had gotten buried beneath the rubble and assumed dead by both parties unfortunately getting left behind and rediscovered as the Knight recovered his sword!

"What about that though? The Black Knight used it to drain Pikachu's energy once, maybe using it will restore it?"

"Pikachu?" Dawn questioned with a raised eyebrow before watching as Hilda attempted to lift the sword.

"I-It won't budge!"

"Here let me help," Dawn grabbed onto the hilt as she and Hilda attempted to lift it up but it just wouldn't budge!

"Car?" Lucario grabbed onto it with his paw but it didn't move for him either despite his muscles! Lucario scratched his head before looking towards his trainer.

"What? I'm not touching that." Zach growled at the idea.

"But it could help Pikachu! You won't turn down the chance to help somebody out, I know you won't!" Hilda pleaded. "Thundurus stole his electricity and that sword could be a good way of boosting him back to full power!"

"...is that Ash's Pikachu by chance?" Dawn guessed, sure Brock was there but that didn't confirm Ash's presence!

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Hilda asked.

"That happens more than you think." Dawn shook her head lightly. Electric type Legendary Pokemon must have a grudge against him or something!

Zach clenched his fists as he let out a sigh. "You're right... I can't." He lifted up the sword with surprising ease before looking towards the others. "Let's find him shall we?"

Blue electricity fired from the sword and met Pikachu's body as the electrical mouse stretched out his arms and leaned his head back, a joyful expression across his face as he appeared to be enjoying the electrical shower!

"What's the Pokedex say?" Brock asked as everyone watched Pikachu being bathed by the blue electricity.

"H-He's back to full strength but even stronger!" Ash exclaimed, Zach quickly put away the sword so they wouldn't wind up overloading the Electric type. "Pikachu you feeling alright?"

"Pika!" Pikachu clenched his fists as blue electricity sparked from his cheeks, the electric mouse then fired off a large bolt of blue electricity which showed that whatever they'd just done had permanently changed Pikachu! Ash's Pokedex then updated to reveal that Volt Tackle was gone and in it's place was a new move that Ash had never heard of.

"What's Bolt Strike?"

"Pika?" Both trainer and Pokemon tilted their heads while Zach turned to Haxorus and offered him a warm and bright smile, he was definitely a lot more cheerful now that the Black Knight had been defeated.

"Haxorus you ready to rejoin us?!" He asked while holding out an empty Pokeball to the black scaled Dragon type. Haxorus let out an eager roar and reached out with his arm before pausing as the group suddenly found themselves surrounded by various Dragon types such as Dragonite, Flygon, Salamence and their pre-evolved forms. The Dragon types all gave Haxorus pleading looks as Haxorus suddenly looked torn and flicked his gaze between his trainer and his fellow Dragon types.

"Oh my gosh, your Haxorus is the king!" Iris gasped out, she would have fangirled at the thought of being surrounded by so many Dragons had she not worried what they'd do if Haxorus chose Zach.

Zach looked at the Dragon types before clenching his fists as he lowered his head. 'The vision was true!'

He looked up and offered Haxorus a smile as he placed his hand on Haxorus' arm. "Haxorus we've been together for a very long time and your one of the few friends I have left, you'll always be special to me and I'll always love you but if this is where you feel you belong then this is where you belong!"

Haxorus flickered his gaze between Zach and the Dragons for several minutes before lowering his head as he backed up into the crowds of Dragons. Haxorus then let out a loud roar followed by the other Dragon Pokemon joining in with their leader!

"Goodbye Haxorus," Zach lowered his head as he held out the sword to Haxorus. "Take this sword to remember us by."

Haxorus reached out for his tail only for the tail to suddenly get pulled to the ground once his former trainer let go.

"Hax?!"

"Huh, weird... then I guess I'll take that and you can take this." Zach removed his black hoodie and threw it at Haxorus' hands. "It's time to change things up!"

"Hax!" Haxorus glanced at the sword as his trainer took it back. Haxorus then rubbed his chin with his tail for a moment before he raced off and returned with a light blue egg that had a long white stripe across the bottom. "Hax!" Haxorus held out the egg to his trainer along with a black scale that had fallen off his body.

"You're giving me an egg? Which Dragon does this even belong to, are they okay with this?!" Zach quickly questioned as he didn't want to risk upsetting a Dragon by taking away their offspring.

"Drago!" A Dragonite cried out before waving her arms as she encouraged him to keep it.

"Well then I'll take it, thanks! And I'll always treasure this scale Haxorus, I'll raise this Dratini into a Dragonite and conquer the Hoenn League in your memory!"

"Car!" Lucario cried.

Haxorus smiled before releasing another roar, the other Dragons chimed in with roars of their own as Ash and his friends began their departure from the valley as the focus went back to Ash's seventh Gym badge!

"Alright Salamence, let's practi-"

"Sala!" Salamence immediately blasted Iris with Flamethrower upon release causing her face to become covered in ash before she collapsed across the ground.

"T-That's hot..."

"Fraxure..." Fraxure lightly sweated as Salamence turned his back to the two and looked as if he wanted nothing to do with them!

The group had arrived in Undella Town and would be resting up a bit after the long walk from the Valley of the Dragons. Ash didn't take the time to relax like the others though and while Cilan was off fishing and Brock was trying to get girl's numbers, Ash was training up his team!

"Alright Dewott, let's use Razor Shell! Flygon you use Flamethrower!"

"Fly!" Flygon cried out as she fired off a stream of fire which Dewott quickly repelled with his watery covered scalchops!

A invisibly cloaked Pokemon watched Ash battle with interest in her eyes. "Melo..." Her presence even went unnoticed by Lucario as she knew how to cloak her aura for her protection.

Zach was staring at the sword as he rubbed the bottom of his chin, wondering why he was the only one capable of lifting the thing. He even asked every individual that passed by and asked if they could lift it but to no avail. There was a bit more color to his attire now as he wore a blue jacket with black outlines along the sides of it, his jeans were now blue rather than black, and his running shoes were primarily white but with patches of black here and there.

Dawn and Hilda sat not far off from him. Hilda had a bright smile as she watched her brother, her gaze then flickered towards Dawn as she noticed her staring at him as well. "Arceus... evidently neither of you are gonna ask each other so I'll just ask for you both, Dawn will you date my brother?"

Dawn's cheeks shot bright red as she turned to look at Zach whose attention was still focused upon the sword. "Yes, yes I will!" A warm smile spread across her cheeks as her eyes rested upon him.

Not far off from the group stood a woman in her late thirties, her short red hair lightly breezed through the wind as she stared directly at the invisibly cloaked Pokemon. "I've got you now, Meloetta!" She said as a sinister smirk crossed her face.

Next up, Meloetta!