Pride of Your Soul
Chapter 36: At the End of Hatred
AN: And here we are; the penultimate chapter. Everything's on the line, with Nate being Unova's last hope against Kyurem in his true form.
FantasyLover88: Oh there's always a way. And you'll get to find out now!
Tony Anderson: The final battle is indeed upon us!
Jeck: To answer your question, Kyurem used Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt to vaporize the Shadow Triad. Why doesn't Arceus do anything, you ask? Well there's a reason for that. And yeah, I suppose the genesect crisis was handled rather quickly, but then again the solution was a very simple (and quick) solution. It was just Ghetsis got in Colress' way to make sure it lasted as long as it did. And I didn't want to drag it out too much with the main focus being Kyurem. But thank you for the comments nonetheless!
WarriorElise: Well I mean he's the last boss; of course he's gotta be overpowered. But glad you liked the chapter! Here's the final battle!
IanAlphaAxel: Thanks! Glad you liked it!
TheDarkMaster4000: Nope, still dying. Still taking this with me. And frankly I don't like being poisoned. So stop it. Very rude, really.
Nonetheless, glad you liked the chapter and thanks for the highlights!
And here we go!
Nate jumped back, narrowly avoiding an icicle from skewering his face. Nate landed on his feet, before jumping to the side, avoiding more icicles from stabbing through his chest. The boy glowered at his opponent; who merely eyed Nate with bright, yellow eyes. Nate would have assumed that Kyurem was simply toying with him, but he knew that Kyurem respected Nate far too much to belittle him like that; Kyurem was legitimately trying to kill him as an act of their final battle. Kyurem was challenging him to do something about it, and it frustrated Nate that he could not answer back properly.
Kyurem roared, as yet another wave of Fusion Flares and Fusion Bolts formed behind him. In response, Bo and Vire got in front of Nate, ready for the onslaught to come. Kyurem raised his arm, as the wave of fire and lightning shot forward, raining down upon the Fire-type and the Electric-type. Thanks to their natural resistances, Bo was able to tank the Fusion Flares, while Vire was able to withstand the Fusion Bolts.
"Thanks," Nate offered quickly, tossing them each a sitrus berry.
"-No problem!-" Bo responded as he and Vire caught the berry and ate them, before rushing back into the fray.
Nate slightly panted as he glanced up to the warzone in front of him. It was Nate and his team of six versus Kyurem, by himself. And in spite of his team's best efforts, they were still losing. Nate supposed that this was to be expected; he had Rosa, Hugh, Hilbert, Hilda and N against Kyurem, and yet they still lost. Nate did not expect the task to be any easier by himself.
Kyurem swiped the ground with his claw, ripping the ground up and sending several rocks at the group. Vire roared and let out a massive Discharge, destroying all the rocks with the surge of electricity. Once the rocks were dealt with, everyone charged forward at Kyurem. Growling, Kyurem flung his arm to the side, releasing a massive gust of wind at his foes. The wind was strong enough to lift everyone up into the air.
"-Take this!-" Bo yelled, ignoring the fact that he was now airborne and shot two Focus Blasts at Kyurem.
Kyurem raised his arm to block the two Focus Blasts, before Brav charged forward, flying through the torrent of violent wind. Vire shot a bolt of electricity to the ground, letting it propel him away from it with magnetism and allowing him control of his movement in the air. Vire immediately rushed forward alongside Brav, as the former slammed into Kyurem's arm with Ice Punch, while Brav stormed down with a powerful Brave Bird. The Ice Punch began to freeze Kyurem's arm, while Brav imbued all of his strength into the one strike to try and keep Kyurem down.
"TOO WEAK!" Kyurem roared as he knocked Brav and Vire back into the air and shot several Fusion Bolts at Brav's way.
"-Old man!-" Vire yelled out, quickly rushing to Brav's aid and taking the Fusion Bolts for the eagle.
"-Sorry,-" Brav apologized, kicking himself for forcing Vire to shield himself from his own blunder.
"-It's alright,-" Vire replied, before looking in front of him. "-LOOK OUT!-"
Kyurem had shot a Fusion Flare at the duo while they were distracted for an instance. Before it could hit them, Bo charged at the fireball as his own screaming fireball with Flare Blitz, crashing into the Fusion Flare and exploding it, saving Vire and Brav from it. As Bo fell back to the ground, he punched it, making the grass underneath Kyurem's feet grow rapidly, wrapping around the dragon's feet.
"This farce again?" Kyurem scoffed, glancing down to the Grass Knot attempt.
As Kyurem was about to scorch the grass, he shot his head up, spotting Zoro high above him and falling down with a Night Daze. Zoro slammed the orb onto Kyurem's head, enveloping it in a giant burst of dark energy. Zoro landed back to where Bo was, as the pig was keeping the grass from tearing against Kyurem's sheer weight.
"-Did that work?-" Zoro asked, looking up to Kyurem.
The dragon, in response, howled, letting the sheer force of the roar wipe out the Night Daze as he made a giant step, tearing the Grass Knot with impunity. Bo and Zoro jumped back to avoid a lunging punch from Kyurem, the fist smashing into the already unstable ground and causing another tremor to overtake them. Several debris shot out from the ground and fell towards the duo. They both shot Focus Blasts to destroy the debris, but left themselves open for Kyurem to slam his fists against the ground, hitting them in response. The two were blown back, but landed on their feet, refusing to fall now.
As they slid back to Nate, Luca and Deo charged forward, staff and sword ready to silence their greatest foe yet. Kyurem saw the two Fighting-types charge forward, before meeting them with a barrage of Fusion Flares. Growling, the two ran faster, doing their very best to evade the incoming lethal fireballs that incinerated the ground they landed upon. Once they got close, Luca leaped up into the air and shot several Aura Spheres at Kyurem, before dropping down with her staff. Kyurem lifted his right arm up, shielding himself from the storm of Aura Spheres and blocking Luca's staff strike. As Luca's attack was blocked, Deo rushed forward and widely swung his Secret Sword horizontally against Kyurem's chest. Kyurem, in response, used his other arm to block the sword slash. Exerting his brute strength, Kyurem swung his arms out sending both Deo and Luca flying, before shooting a Fusion Bolt and a Fusion Flare at Deo and Luca respectively. Deo glowered as the Fusion Bolt hit him, before a green doll replaced him and took the attack for him. Brav swooped down and grabbed Luca, whisking her away from the Fusion Flare.
Deo reappeared by Nate, while Brav flew over to him, dropping Luca onto the ground. All the other Pokémon regrouped to Nate. They all looked to Kyurem, who did not look any different than thirty minutes ago.
"-He's strong...-" Bo said.
"-Damn it...He looks like he's having a breeze, right now...-" Vire grumbled.
"-Can we even beat him at this rate?-" Zoro asked.
Deo stomped on the ground, getting their attention. "-Don't you dare think of giving up now! Everyone, including us, is screwed if we lose here!-"
"-Tch! You don't have to tell us twice!-" Vire growled.
Brav and Luca nodded, while Nate glanced to the side. What was once a pristine, clear sky, was now a dim red, most likely from the fact that the entire Entralink was falling to the ground like a meteor.
"Overwhelming power..." Nate muttered, remembering what Ghetsis had described White Kyurem as. "...Tch, as aggravating as it is, Ghetsis was right about that."
"-Nate, at this rate...-" Luca warned him.
"I know," Nate replied, his eyes never leaving Kyurem. "...I can't tell whether he's actually toying with us or not."
Terminal Void.
That was the name of that move Kyurem used to finish their fight back in the Giant Chasm. It was a move like no other. The attack was devastating; wiping out everyone in the room in one decisive burst of plasma energy. Nate was not sure of what the effects of the move were; he could not determine whether it was physical or not, but he was at least certain it was a Dragon-type move; considering that Eve was immune to it and Luca had barely survived the attack. But resistances did not matter in the end if the move was powerful enough. With such a move, Kyurem could make quick work of the fight.
The fact that Kyurem was not using it to immediately deal with him implied several things. Kyurem could simply be underestimating him and deemed the use of the move unnecessary. Kyurem could, alternatively, not want to use the move at the risk of destroying the Entralink himself (if it was strong enough). There could also be some kind of demerit for using the move, so Kyurem was saving the move until he absolutely had to use it. And finally, Kyurem could be aiming to prolong the fight as long as possible to ensure that the Entralink crashed into Unova; Kyurem could most definitely stall if he wanted to, and the move would immediately end the fight.
In Nate's mind, the most likely reasoning was that Kyurem was stalling; why exert effort to win a fight you can win easily, when you can simply do nothing and still win? There was no way Nate could defeat Kyurem and stop the Entralink if Kyurem simply did not go down, and they both knew that. Nate could always go for the Entralink instead, but not only does Nate not have the firepower to do so, it ran a huge risk of his own safety; not to mention he cannot guarantee his own survival. Kyurem's best method of prevailing was to simply stall the fight until the Entralink reached Unova.
"What's the matter?" Kyurem asked. "Surely you are more capable than this!"
Nate glowered as he quickly checked his bag. He was starting to run low on healing supplies. He had been constantly healing his team whenever they looked ready to faint; especially Bo and Vire, his two defenses against Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt respectively. With dwindling supplies, it was only a matter of time before the two got worn down.
"I'm just getting warmed up," Nate shot back.
Kyurem snorted, before lifting his arm up as several sharp icicles formed above them. Bo roared as he rammed into the icicles in front of him with a Flare Blitz, while Vire and Zoro spewed Flamethrowers at the remaining ones. While it was not strong enough to completely melt the icicles, it was enough to weaken them from doing any serious damage. Luca and Deo attacked the incoming weakened icicles, shattering as many as they could. Some icicles sneaked through their defenses and shot for Brav and Nate. The two dodged as much as they could but could not avoid getting grazed by a few of them.
"Tch!" Nate winced as his coat became tattered by the icicles with cuts against his arms and cheek. "Aura Sphere! Focus Blast!"
Vire, Deo and Brav charged forward, while Luca and Bo fired off countless Aura Spheres and Focus Blasts. In response, Kyurem sent several more icicles to shoot down the myriads of Fighting-type projectiles, before glancing down to the other three.
"Hmph," Kyurem grunted as he aimed at them with a Fusion Bolt.
Before Kyurem could fire it off, however, Zoro suddenly shot out of the ground and smashed his knee into Kyurem's jaw. Having not expected the attack, Kyurem staggered, dropping his Fusion Bolt and allowing for the other three to attack.
"Ice Punch! Brave Bird! Secret Sword!"
The three jumped forward, crashing into Kyurem with their respective attacks in hopes of doing some damage to him. While the combined force was enough to push him back ever so slightly, the resulting damage was not as much as they had hoped. Kyurem let out a growl as he pushed them back, before firing the Fusion Bolt he had intended to use earlier at them.
"-Damn it!-" Zoro yelled as he went back and fired off a Night Daze at the incoming Fusion Bolt.
The dark aura crashed into the lightning ball, causing a giant explosion that thankfully eradicated the Fusion Bolt. But Kyurem immediately charged forward and swatted them all away with a swipe of his arm. The quartet was sent back to Nate, crashing in front of the boy.
"We're doing something, but it's nowhere near enough..." Nate muttered. While any damage would be appreciated, they did not have enough time to afford small damage. The tremors became more violent, as Nate nearly lost his footing from the sudden shake. That was merely a grim reminder that Nate, indeed, did not have enough time to afford chip damage.
"Oh, it would seem that we're halfway there," Kyurem announced, making Nate's eyes widen. "We've been here for an hour or so, after all."
Forget the grim reminder; they had already lost half the time!? Nate glanced to Brav, who nodded and flew over to the edge to examine how far down they were. Brav immediately flew back with a horrified expression on his face.
"-I can see Unova clearly!-" Brav reported. "-And the bloody thing is picking up speed! At this rate–!-"
"Son of a–!" Nate swore.
"You have fought well, Nate and company," Kyurem said, garnering everyone's ire. "To come and face me alone is an admirable feat. Lasting this long, too, is an admirable feat. However..."
Kyurem brought his claws together. His body began to glow a bright purple, as a bright purple orb began to form in his palms. Nate paled, recognizing the move Kyurem was preparing. He was planning to end it all now?!
"You deserve a long rest after slaving yourself for the very humans who ruined your life for so long," Kyurem declared. "They do nothing; are incapable of nothing; and force you to carry all the burdens. Do not fret. You will all be the last to go mercifully. Now lay to rest as Unova perishes under the weight of their very own truths and ideals; their very dreams."
"STOP HIM!" Nate screamed desperately.
Sensing the alarm in his tone, everyone threw their strongest attacks at Kyurem in one frantic attempt to stop the dragon from unleashing his own strongest attack. Kyurem shrugged them all off as the purple orb began to charge rapidly, rising into the air.
"This is the end," Kyurem declared. "You fought well, but you could not overcome the inevitable.
"Now rest. Terminal Void!"
The purple orb floated up into the air, before exploding into one giant purple explosion. The explosion traveled across the land, engulfing everyone and everything in sight.
"-NATE!-" his team cried as they rushed up to Nate, shielding him from the attack.
'Is...is this it...?' Nate thought in disbelief as his Pokémon braced themselves. 'Did we lose...? Is this the end for Unova...? For everyone...?'
Nate stared at the blinding light. The light that served to tell Nate that he had failed. He could not defeat Kyurem and had condemned Unova to a fate of demise as a result. He could not save the innocent lives that did nothing wrong and lead them to their deaths as a result.
Everyone was going to die.
The countless people he met...
The many people that had shown him a better side of humanity...
Hilbert...Hilda...
Rosa...Hugh...
...Yancy...
"...Damn it..." Nate gritted his teeth as he muttered despondently. "GODDAMN IT!"
Nate let out a futile, but fervent scream of helplessness as the light swallowed him and his team whole.
Colress' eyes widened as his maps showed a giant, bright light exploding from the Entralink. That was not a good sign.
"What was that?" Colress demanded.
"-Th-that...!-" Eve paled, recognizing the glow.
"That was Kyurem..." Rosa mumbled. "It was that move..."
"What move?" Yancy asked.
"He called it...'Terminal Void'..." Rosa recalled.
Quirking a brow, Colress immediately typed the name of the move into his computer to look up any information about it. Much to his shock and frustration, the computer gave no results.
"What?!" Colress growled. "There's no information about it!?"
"Perhaps...it's a technique that only Kyurem could use at his full potential; as the original dragon," N hypothesized. "Thus, no one would have any information about it, as it would be a move that hasn't been witnessed in over three thousand years."
"So...Does that mean he used it on Nate...?" Hugh asked. "Did Nate...?"
Hugh did not want to finish his question. Everyone understood what Hugh was going to ask. They did not want to say it, lest the morale of the team would shatter in an instant.
They had done as much as they could in the past hour and a half. They flew around the cities and towns to alert them of the incoming crisis. They rewired the cannon to work on more traditional energy that, while not as potent as Kyurem's cannon, was strong enough to hopefully detonate the Entralink. They helped as much as they could with evacuation processes. And yet now, their one shot at defeating Kyurem had most likely fallen. Now there was no one left to defeat the dragon. There was no one left to stop the fall of the Entralink. No one was left to save Unova.
"NO!" Yancy yelled suddenly, alarming everyone. "Nate hasn't lost yet! He's still fighting!"
"Yancy..." Rosa said glumly. "I know you want to believe in him...but..."
"If we lose hope in him, then how else can we even support him!?" Yancy shot back angrily at Rosa. "He won't give up! He'll never give up!"
Rosa and Hugh wanted to believe like Yancy did, but she was not there when Kyurem fired off the first Terminal Void. It was strong enough to effortlessly finish off everyone; ranging from the Swords of Justice to even the mighty Regigigas; in one go. No matter how much confidence they had in Nate, they were not sure if he could withstand one strike.
Hilbert and Hilda stared at Yancy, the girl who, as they recalled, was in a relationship with Nate. They honestly had her to thank for helping Nate restore the humanity he had thrown aside; something they failed to do. And even in the face of absolute despair, she refused to lose hope. That much was admirable. Hilbert let out a sigh, deep in thought.
"Hilbert...?" N asked, noticing his change in expression.
Hilbert stayed silent, before walking over to Yancy, who was about to get into another argument with Rosa and Hugh. "Do you mind if I borrow your Xtransceiver? Anyone will do."
Rosa, Hugh and Yancy turned their heads to the veteran in slight surprise and confusion. Yancy then obliged, taking out her Xtransceiver. Muttering a thank you, Hilbert took the device and skimmed through her contacts, spotting the one he cared about. Dialing the number in, he was greeted to static, as he had predicted.
"...Nate," Hilbert began to speak into the static. "This will most likely not reach you. Honestly if it did, then that'd be a miracle in its own. But on the off chance that it does, please...hear this.
"You're in a rather perilous situation, huh. Fighting Kyurem, who regained his true power, by yourself, when banded together, we all failed. And if you lose, then Unova dies. Honestly, I'm pretty sure your fight makes my fight look easy. I mean if I had to pick between trading places with you or fighting N with Reshiram again, I'd take the rematch against N any day of the week.
"But...Don't lose hope. There's still a way. There's always a way. I don't know how. I can't possibly begin to imagine how you can, but there's always a chance at a comeback. You just gotta believe. You can't give up. Because if you do, then you truly lost then and there.
"I know I haven't been the best brother to you; I didn't even remember you existed until two years back. Nothing I can say will ever undo the damage that's been done. But just know, I've got your back. I'm rooting for ya, little bro."
Everyone was staring at Hilbert, who was making a speech into a line full of static. There was no way his words would reach Nate. But the speech itself lifted everyone's mood from the suffocating despair that had filled it just a few moments ago. It inspired hope into everyone who doubted the possibility of a future beyond Kyurem's destruction.
They all gathered around the Xtransceiver, wishing to say they own words of encouragement to the boy.
"You listen to your big bro and big sis and you listen well," Hilda said. "You're our little bro. There's no way you're going down that easily! If we could overcome odds that looked impossible, then you can do it too! Don't lose now! C'mon...let's all survive this...and let's all go back to our home. Where Mother's waiting to see you again..."
"You've always shown to be capable of things that never fail to surprise everyone every time," Colress remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had one last trick up your sleeve. You aren't the type to just simply fall and accept defeat. If you were, then you wouldn't have been the one to defeat Ghetsis. Now fight. Stand back up and fight."
"We may not know each other that well, but I'll never stop being grateful to you," Curtis said. "Without you, then I'm sure our family would've been forever trapped in that despair we call our 'business'. I'm not a betting man, but I want to place it all in you. So please, don't give up. Don't give up for everyone you've certainly helped."
"I could hear their voices, Reshiram and Zekrom," N said when it got to his turn. "I'm sure you could hear them too. They were still in there, fighting to not get swallowed up into Kyurem's consciousness. If they haven't given up yet, then I'm sure you won't give up either. We did not start off on the right foot, and I had my doubts about you, but now? I can say for sure. You truly are worth Unova's future. You found your path beyond truths and ideals. Don't lose sight of that, and certainly don't let Kyurem take it from you."
"Nate," Hugh said into the device. "You helped me out a lot. You helped me see how narrow-sighted I was. You helped me see things from a wider perspective. You taught me so many things. And for that, I'll never leave your debt. If there's anything I could do to help you, then believe me–I'd be doing it right now. But we have to leave Kyurem to you. The very least we can do...is to root for you from here. Don't give up, Nate. Even if everything's looks to be desperate."
"You! You always talk all that good stuff and not doing stupid shit, and now you just head off to Kyurem by yourself!?" Rosa yelled into the screen. "You could've at least dragged Hugh and I with you! But...I know. You were worried about our safety that you went by yourself. We're worried about you too here. You're against Kyurem by yourself, after all. You probably already know by now, but...we got your back down here. We believe in you. So go kick Kyurem's ass! I won't accept you losing after you did a ballsy move like that!"
And finally, Yancy got her Xtransceiver back.
"I honestly don't know what my life would be without you," Yancy said. "On that day we first met back in Virbank, my life changed completely. Everyone believes in you over here. Everyone's doing their best in this crisis. So don't worry about us. We can take care of ourselves. That's the least I can do. The least we can do. So please, get back up, put on that evil grin of yours, and go beat Kyurem. Save Unova. And…please...come back to us safely...Come back to me, Nate. I'll always be waiting. You promised, didn't you?"
The Entralink was massive. It blotted out the sun, and casted down a shade that painted the region in crimson. As it fell closer and closer to Unova, it became more and more visible to the people underneath. Everyone was panicking for their lives. The authorities were doing their best to evacuate everyone off of the region. The Pokémon were heeding to their manic instincts that screamed at them to evacuate the region and ran as fast as they could. It was Armageddon, and everyone knew it.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOooooooOOO!" Zinzolin screamed at the sight of the Entralink. "IT'S BEAUTIFUL! This is the sight of Unova's destruction! The people, the Pokémon! Their hysteria as they try to preserve their lives! If this is not the sign of life, then WHAT IS!? This is the sign that we are here and living!"
The crimson that the Entralink painted over Unova was breathtaking to Zinzolin. The feeling of despair and hope; determination for survival; it was exhilarating to Zinzolin. This was more intoxicating than Kyurem's ice. Why did he ever waste his hopes on the potential of Kyurem's ice, when this was far more potent; far more fervent!? Forget freezing Unova; this would leave Unova as rubble of its former glory! It was PERFECT!
As he marveled at the sight of the descending Entralink, he took notice to some people, who apparently did not evacuate the premises like everyone else. It was a tall figure dressed in an old robe, accompanied by two men, one wearing a red hat and short sleeve jacket, while the other wearing a black coat and beige pants.
"Well, aren't we in a rock and a hard place," the man with the black coat said rather sarcastically.
"Ha, I get it," the man in red responded quietly. "Because we're between one giant rock and another falling rock, and we'll die if we don't escape by the hour."
"Well at least someone doesn't feel tense by the fact that we're facing death right at the doorstep. Honestly this is way worse than the whole Team Rocket bullshit," the man in the black coat muttered, before glancing to the man in the robe. "So you sure this is gonna work?"
"If not, then we all die," the man in the robe replied back. "Simple as that."
"I never agreed to this by the way."
"Regardless," the man in the robe said, ignoring the man in black. "I'll take it from here. You two make sure nothing gets in my way."
"Yeah, yeah," the man in black said. "Don't go dying on us."
"Likewise," the man in robe scoffed.
"WAIT!" Zinzolin yelled, making his presence known to the group of three. "Who the hell do you three think you are!?"
"...Who are you?" the man in red asked.
"Probably some lunatic," the man in black waved off. "Don't bother with him."
"I will NOT be ridiculed like this! Especially in front of something as majestic as this!" Zinzolin growled, before he revealed a machine and jammed the button.
Within a moment, an army of wild Pokémon suddenly appeared, glaring and snarling at the three.
"...So what, that thing lets you control Pokémon or some shit?" the man in black asked.
"With this machine, no wild Pokémon can resist my command!" Zinzolin yelled. "Now stand down, or else!"
The man in robe merely glanced to the man, revealing a cold, merciless purple eye. "What a fool..."
"Excuse me?" Zinzolin asked, his rage nearing its breaking point.
"Deal with him," the man in robe ordered the other two.
"Okay," the man in red complied.
"If we die, I blame you," the man in black grumbled as they both faced Zinzolin and his army of mind-controlled wild Pokémon.
"You think you can escape!?" Zinzolin yelled at the robed man. "There's Pokémon all around you! How can you possibly–!?"
Without warning, the man in robe shot into the sky, flying straight for the Entralink like a bullet, leaving Zinzolin gob smacked. As the man got closer to the Entralink, a bright light began to glow from underneath the robe. The man then discarded the robe, where the light shined brightly, before dispersing when the 'man' made contact with the bottom of the Entralink.
The light died down to reveal a Pokémon. It was a large, primarily gray and rather bulky Pokémon that had vaguely feline features. It had two tubes behind its neck and had large, purple growths over its shoulders. Its torso was smooth and small compared to its long, bulky limbs, and a Y-shaped line connects the collar and underbelly. The forearms and thighs each have two raised ridges with long and thin digits and a short and stiff tail. Cold and sharp blue eyes stared determinedly at the Entralink, as it pushed against the Entralink with its arms. To everyone's shock, the Entralink stopped moving; the strange being having stopped its descent by lifting it up.
"WHAT?!" Zinzolin gasped. "What the hell is that thing!? AAAGH SHOOT IT DOWN!"
The myriads of tranquils and golbats that Zinzolin had controlled began to fly towards the being to take it down.
"Hydro Pump!"
A torrent of water shot from below, shooting down all the flying Pokémon that rose up in an instant. Zinzolin shot back to the other two men, who had sent out their Pokémon. From the man in red was a large, black draconic Pokémon with large wings with blue undersides and two spikes curving from the back and front of each shoulder. Bright blue flames crackled from the sides of its mouth and the tip of its long tail, and sharp red eyes glared at everything in front of it murderously. From the man in black was a large, bipedal turtle-like Pokémon that was primarily blue with a tough, brown shell. Two smaller shells covered its arms, with a cannon coming out of each shell, where one, giant cannon extended out from the main shell. Its own, sharp red eyes glared at everything in front of it as well, although with a more cockier air to it when compared to the dragon's murderous glare.
"Sorry, but I'm too handsome to die," the man in black said nonchalantly. "So until this crisis resolves itself, you aren't gonna get in the way."
"We don't intend to lose here," the man in red declared calmly. "Stand down and release these Pokémon."
"You...! Who do you two think you are!?" Zinzolin growled. "I don't care what kind of Pokémon those are, or what that freak is! There's over one hundred of us and only two of you!"
"...Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way," the man in red sighed.
"Oh c'mon, Red," the man in black smirked. "If we're really gonna die here, then might as well go out with a bang!"
"...We're not gonna die, Blue," the man in red replied, his eyes expressing a strong fire in them. "We're going to win."
'Blue' glanced at 'Red', before smirking at the man's determination. "That's more like it."
Red and Blue both glared at Zinzolin with far more confidence than the man had at the moment, which infuriated the now-former member of Team Plasma to greater heights.
"Alright then, dunno who you are, but tough luck. Wanna know why?" Blue asked with much enthusiasm. "Because you're against the strongest trainers in the world!"
"KILL THEM!" Zinzolin yelled, where all the wild Pokémon charged at the duo.
"Ravage them, Charizard!" Red commanded.
"Wreck 'em, Blastoise!" Blue commanded.
Charizard let out a monstrous roar as he charged into the fray with claws of burning azure, grabbing two unfortunate liepards and slamming them into the ground, causing an earthquake in the process. Meanwhile Blastoise aimed his cannons at the crowd, unleashing vehement blasts of water that ripped through the siege of wild Pokémon like a hot knife through butter. While Zinzolin gritted his teeth in frustration, Red merely stayed focused while Blue shook his head. The man in front of them was nowhere near as troublesome as Giovanni.
Over one hundred versus two? Child's play for the legendary trainers of Kanto.
'Ngh...huh...?'
Nate groggily opened his eyes and lifted his head. He found himself in a rather familiar vast plain of lush and green, with a familiar gargantuan spiraling tree in the middle.
"The Entralink...?" Nate asked himself. "Wait...but I thought Kyurem destroyed the tree and..."
"He did."
Nate turned around to see a man standing behind him, wearing a black sleeveless jacket, white shirt and blue jeans with messy brown hair. Strangely enough, the man bore a striking similarity to himself. Nate's eyes widened, recognizing the man in front of him.
"Yo," the man greeted jovially. "It's been a while, huh."
Nate stared at the man for a good moment, before groaning.
"I'm dead," Nate said flatly. "I died while Kyurem knocked me out."
"You're not dead yet," the man laughed. "C'mon, don't give up that fast."
"Well sorry, but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to see my dead dad unless I'm dreaming or in heaven," Nate retorted. "Although frankly I would've thought I'd go to hell for all I did."
Nate's dad laughed, before a forlorn expression painted itself on his face. "You've went through a lot, huh, Nate. Ever since that incident, you've lived by yourself. You were shown the uglier sides of people and became scarred as a result. You even plotted to destroy Unova because of it. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry that I couldn't be thee to protect you from all that. To raise you properly, so that you didn't have to suffer for so long."
Nate narrowed his eyes as he glanced down to the ground. No matter what he thought, he still felt a bit ashamed in front of his father. Before he realized it, the man had placed his hand on Nate's shoulder.
"Huh?" Nate asked.
"But...you've grown," the man said with a gentle smile. "You've learned many things, interacted with so many people, and learned to forgive. And now? You're fighting to save Unova. That's one hell of a feat. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of you, Nate."
Nate stared at his father with wide eyes, before grunting and looking away. "What does that matter now? I lost. There's going to be no Unova to save anymore."
"Oh c'mon," Nate's father scoffed. "Didn't I just say to not give up that fast?"
"I'd like to think I'm a realist," Nate scoffed in return. "What? You're gonna say I have some bullshit left that I can pull? Enough bullshit to turn the tables?"
"You...definitely got that potty mouth from your mother," the man chuckled. "Well, some bullshit would be nice. But really, just don't give up."
"Don't give up?" Nate asked.
"There's always a way to victory," the man said. "But if you give up, then that's where you truly lose. So, Nate. Don't give up. Think of everyone you're fighting for."
Nate stared his father in the eyes, before looking behind him and widening his eyes. Within an instant, a crowd had appeared behind the man, containing every person that Nate had met, everyone he considered a friend. Besides his father was Hilbert and Hilda. In front of the crowd, was Rosa and Hugh, with Yancy standing in front of the duo. The smiles they gave Nate were all gentle and reassuring, as if they were telling him that they were still behind him.
"Do you really wanna let them down?" the man asked.
"...No...I don't..." Nate mumbled. "But...how do I win? How do I beat Kyurem? The Entralink is almost going to crash into Unova! I can't stop Kyurem and that in time!"
"Whoever said you were alone?" Nate's father asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Think of everything you gained. All the truths you witnessed. All the ideals you saw. All the bonds you made. If you think of it like that, then you're never alone."
"Never...alone..." Nate muttered, before he noticed a light escaping from his bag. He opened it and picked it up, where the light shot behind him. Nate looked around, where the light led to Luca's palm. "Luca..!"
"-BOSS!-" Bo yelled out, as he and the rest of his team appeared behind Luca. "-We're not done yet!-"
"-Until the very end,-" Vire said. "-We're not giving up until the very end!-"
"-So then, don't you dare give up,-" Deo ordered. "-Until we give up on you, you're not allowed to give up on us or this world!-"
"-C'mon, Nate,-" Zoro insisted. "-Let's go see the future.-"
"-That's right, Nate,-" Brav said. "-Let's go see the future. Our future.-"
Luca held out her palm, where the light from it connected to the light in Nate's palm. A confident, determined smile was on Luca's face. "-We're by your side. Until our dying breath. So c'mon. Let's go take our future back from Kyurem.-"
Nate stared at his Pokémon with wide eyes, stuck in a stupor. He snapped out of it when his father gave him a gentle push. "C'mon, Nate. You're not done yet, right? Go kick Kyurem's ass for all of us."
"...Yeah...Roy..." Nate muttered, a tear falling from his eye. "...Dad..."
Roy saw Nate off with a smile as the boy rushed over to his team, the dreamlike Entralink starting to dissipate in a white light.
Nate opened his eyes tiredly. Groaning in pain, he looked around. It was the Entralink, but it was chaotic, ravaged, and falling from the sky. So that was a dream, Nate surmised as he got up. The rest of his team slowly woke up, and brought themselves back up as well, which Kyurem noticed.
"...You withstood Terminal Void?" Kyurem asked in genuine shock. "How? Luca barely survived that, and that was with a resistance."
"Hell if I knew," Nate muttered. "Looks like we're all stubborn asses."
"...No matter," Kyurem dismissed. "Nothing changes. You still cannot defeat me, and the Entralink has almost descended."
Before Nate could make a response, he could have sworn he heard static from his bag.
"Gimme a sec," Nate muttered as he opened it and took out his Xtransceiver. The screen was displaying static. "What the hell...?"
"...Don't lose hope. There's still a way. There's always a way..."
The voice was muffled and garbled in static, but Nate could recognize the voice as Hilbert's. It seemed that the Xtransceiver has received a call, and saved their messages. Despite the perilous situation he was in, the boy could not help but push the button again, as more messages flooded out from his device, all congested with static, yet the voices were distinguishable. Hilda, Colress, Curtis, N, Hugh, Rosa...Yancy...All their voices and all their words of encouragement was absorbed by Nate.
"...Yeah...I promised..." Nate mumbled.
"Hm...How touching," Kyurem remarked. "But like I said. Nothing changes. Soon, the Entralink will descend down upon Unova and tear it apart in one cataclysmic blow–."
Yet another violent tremor interrupted them, shaking the land to its core. Nate glanced to the side to check the status of the Entralink. To his shock, it stopped moving.
"It...Stopped...?" Nate asked.
"What!?" Kyurem gasped, whipping his head to the side as well. True to Nate's comment, the Entralink had stopped falling to the ground. "IMPOSSIBLE! The Entralink is the mirror of Unova! It should be falling down upon it like a magnet! Nothing should impede its fall!"
Before Nate could comment on that, a light escaping from his bag caught Nate's attention. He went through the bag and found the source of the light; the two strange stones he had received back in Driftveil.
"The hell...?" Nate asked. This was just like in his dream.
"Boy," a masculine voice rang in Nate's head. "If you still live, then heed my call."
"The hell?" Nate blurted, looking around.
"Hmph, it sounds like you're still alive," the voice remarked. "I am not infallible; I cannot keep this from destroying the land forever. If you still wish to fight; if you still wish to protect this land, then overcome the obstacle that threatens it, before I lose my grip and all is lost.
"If you truly learned from your own flaws...if you truly cleared the darkness in your soul, then that light shall be your saving grace."
"This...light...?" Nate asked, as his team noticed the light and slowly approached him in curiosity. Luca, in particular, found herself being beckoned towards one of the stones in Nate's hand. Without realizing it, she picked up one of the stones. "...Fuck it, we're all gonna die in a few minutes. Might as well bet it all on this."
"I leave the tyrant to you," the voice said. "Show me the answer of your soul that is no longer clouded by distorted truths and twisted ideals! Seize your fate from the beast that tries to steal it!"
Nodding, Nate and Luca faced Kyurem with a determined glare. The light then suddenly grew stronger in their hands, before it converged to Luca.
"What...the...?" Nate asked, as everyone else stared at Luca in awe.
"Hm!?" Kyurem muttered, finally noticing the light and whipping his head around to Luca. "What the hell is this?!"
"-RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHH!-" Luca let out a powerful cry, as the light exploded into a giant golden pillar that pierced the dark crimson skies.
"The Entralink!? It stopped!?" Colress gasped, as everyone else gathered around the computer visual of the Entralink.
True to Colress' gasp, the giant mass of land had stopped moving, now seemingly floating in midair.
"B-But how?" Hugh asked. "There's no way anyone could have stopped it!"
Before anyone could react, a pillar of light suddenly shot out from the land into the skies, piercing the dark clouds.
"What is that?!" Rosa gasped, pointing to the pillar of light.
"Don't tell me..." Curtis said. "Is that...Nate...?!"
"It is! It has to be!" Yancy exclaimed happily. "I knew it! I knew he would find a way!"
"He did..." Hilbert laughed. "He found a way..."
Hilda and N merely smiled in a rush of hope that the pillar of light exuded within the despair that the Entralink brought upon the land.
Colress could not believe his eyes. There was no explanation to what that pillar was. But it definitely was not from Kyurem, so it could only mean that it came from Nate.
...So he did have one trick left in his sleeve.
Red and Blue noticed the pillar of light exploding from the Entralink; even from below the gargantuan land mass, the light was too radiant to not notice.
"Is that...?" Red asked.
"Heh! So that bastard did plan something!" Blue scoffed. "Well if all this is according to his 'calculations', then I feel a lot better knowing we aren't gonna die yet!"
With a renewed vigor, Red and Blue faced Zinzolin, who was already down to below fifty wild Pokémon. Charizard and Blastoise, meanwhile, looked like they did not break a sweat, and could still keep going with ease.
"Damn it...! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Zinzolin howled. "Why must everyone get in my way!? Why must you all interfere with such magnificent beauty!?"
"...If you really only care about destruction for the sake of destruction..." Red commented, his tone becoming much more serious and angered. "...Then you truly are worthless."
"Why you...!" Zinzolin hissed.
As what was left of ZInzolin's forces charged at Charizard and Blastoise, who resumed their onslaught, Red looked back up to the pillar of light.
"...We leave everything to you," Red softly commented.
All around Unova, the people had stopped their mass panic and hysteria. The pillar of light was so radiant, it stuck out like a sore thumb in the dark, steel-like crimson skies. It practically stole everyone's attention from their own madness. Even from as far as Aspertia City and Accumula Town, the pillar was visible. The light it radiated felt soft, comforting. It gave everyone a sense of hope. A sense of hope that things are going to be alright. That someone was there to save the day.
The pillar of light, to everyone in Unova, represented hope for the future.
The light finally died down. Up close, it blinded everyone, Kyurem included. Once it died down, everyone got a closer look at Luca, and gasped.
Luca had changed. Her blue fur had grown longer longer, and her thighs had slimmed down. Her paws and feet had become crimson while adorning more spikes on them. Her aura-sensing appendages grew longer, with two of them being tipped in crimson. Her shoulders also had a spike on them as well. Black markings riddled all over her body. Luca slowly opened her eyes, which were now a red-orange color.
"-ROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!-" Luca roared, giving off the same amount of intensity from her cry as Kyurem did earlier.
"-No way...-" Bo gasped in awe. "-Luca...evolved...?-"
"-No, it's something different!-" Brav said. "-This isn't evolution!-"
"-She's...beautiful...-" Zoro could not help but comment.
"Luca..." Nate muttered. "...You feeling alright?'
"-Y-Yeah...-" Luca replied, seemingly trying to control the fervent energy that her body was exerting. "-I dunno what happened...but...I feel stronger. Way stronger!-"
"What is this...!?" Kyurem muttered, staring at the new Luca. "What did you do!?"
Luca roared with rehabilitated energy, staring down Kyurem with a feral glare. The ground of the Entralink began to glow, lighting up the grasslands that was below their feet.
"Did we...perform a miracle...?" Nate asked in disbelief, before snapping out of it. They still had to stop Kyurem. "We're not done yet! Far from it, Kyurem!"
"I don't know what kind of trickery you pulled," Kyurem growled. "But nothing changes! I will not be stopped!"
With a wave of his arm, a colossal storm of Fusion Flares and Fusion Bolts appeared behind Kyurem, before he launched it at his enemies, targeting specifically Luca.
"-Crap, here's a big one!-" Vire yelled.
Luca snarled as she raised her arm. From the ground, a Bone Rush staff; twice as long as the usual one; emerged from the ground. Luca grabbed it and plucked it from the ground, before spinning it rapidly above her. The fireballs and lightning balls crashed into the staff, but they were extinguished upon contact.
"What!?" Kyurem gasped.
Luca glared at Kyurem, before gripping the staff with both hands and slamming it on the ground, sending a large shockwave at Kyurem. Kyurem flew up to avoid the shockwave, but before he realized it, Luca was already beneath him.
"When did she–!?" Kyurem blurted, before Luca immediately swung the staff upwards, slamming Kyurem's face with the staff. Kyurem was knocked up into the air, before falling back to the ground.
"...That worked..." Nate muttered. "That actually worked...!"
"-She can hurt Kyurem!-" Brav gasped. "-She can do this!-"
"-GO LADY BOSS!-" Bo cheered.
"-BEAT HIS ASS!-" Vire cheered as well.
Luca roared as she kept swinging her staff at Kyurem, who was forced to block it with his arms as Luca was too fast for him to avoid. To his shock, every swing of the staff stung the mighty dragon as they kept slamming into his arms with loud, painful smacks against the dragon's hide.
"What the hell!?" Kyurem could only yell, before another upwards strike broke through his defenses, separating his arms from each other. Luca then proceeded to slam the staff against Kyurem's head, slamming him into the ground and breaking the staff into several pieces as a result.
Luca did not give Kyurem any time to rest, as she was already charging aura into her arms, her appendages floating in the air to express the amount of energy that was being converged. As Kyurem got back up, he was greeted to a torrent of large, bulleting Aura Spheres that pelted the dragon with enough force to push him away from Luca.
"-Don't let him get an opening!-" Deo yelled.
"-Get'em, Miss Luca!-" Zoro called out.
Kyurem slammed his claw into the ground to stop himself from skidding across it. Kyurem glared at Luca as he found himself panting. How did this happen!? Kyurem was effortlessly beating them not too long ago! Next thing he realizes, Luca evolved out of nowhere and she was overpowering him!? The original dragon!? IMPOSSIBLE!
Not to mention that the Entralink had suddenly stopped falling down, which was impossible! It was originally a part of Unova, propelled into the heavens! It was like a magnet pulling each other together! Nothing should be able to stop it from careening to Unova! What kind of madness was going on!? Was something actually keeping the Entralink from falling to Unova!?
It was there when Kyurem noticed that the ground was glowing underneath him. He immediately looked over to Nate and company, who had noticed the glowing ground as well.
"-What the hell?-" Deo asked, looking down.
"-What is this?-" Zoro asked as the light shined underneath them. "-It feels...warm...-"
Nate looked at the light in wonder, before he noticed that the wounds on his arms were slowly healing. The other Pokémon realized this too and checked to see that their wounds were in fact healing as well.
"-I feel...reinvigorated!-" Brav marveled. "-I feel like I'm a few years younger!-"
"-You're right!-" Vire said. "-Is this light...helping us?-"
"-ALRIGHT!-" Bo roared. "-Now we mount a comeback! Right, Boss!?-"
The only exception to this was Kyurem, who was still suffering from the wounds Luca had just inflicted upon him.
"This glow..." Kyurem said. "Do you mean to tell me that you received the blessings of the Entralink!? That's impossible! It should be dead when I sliced down the Entree! It should be nothing more than a husk! Are you telling me that it still lives!? That the dreams of mankind have sided with you!? Are you telling me you performed a miracle!?"
Feeling their wounds and scars healing and the pain melting away, Nate and his Pokémon stood back up, giving Kyurem a reinvigorated glare. Kyurem gritted his teeth, before he bellowed a roar filled with rage and desperation.
"You dare stand in my way again, humanity!?" Kyurem demanded, screaming into the air. "You plan to steal from me again!? You take away my identity three thousand years ago for your own selfish desires, and now you plan to take away my vengeance!? My retribution!?
"NEVER! I REFUSE TO GO DOWN LIKE THIS! I WILL NOT BE DAMNED BY YOU AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME!? NEVER!"
Kyurem soared into the air, his body glowing purple once more. Everyone stayed alarmed as Kyurem created another purple orb in his claws.
"If the Entralink refuses to crash into Unova, then so be it!" Kyurem snarled. "I do not need it to exact my revenge! I can simply slaughter the country and its damn humans myself! But before that, I need to get rid of everything that can and will get in my way! STARTING WITH YOU!"
"-Crap, here it comes!-" Zoro alarmed, recognizing the purple orb of light.
"DIE!" Kyurem howled. "TERMINAL VOID!"
Kyurem sent the orb up, before it burst into a giant purple wave that swallowed everything in its path. Luca, in response, charged aura into her paws once more, before she pushed back against the Terminal Void, stopping it from reaching Nate and the others.
"-Ggg...Ngggh...-" Luca grunted as she felt herself being slightly pushed back.
"No! I refuse to believe that you can overcome this!" Kyurem howled. "This move is my very hatred personified! There's no way you can surpass it!"
Luca pushed against the energy with all her strength, but even then, she still felt herself being pushed back. Whether it was a testament of how strong Kyurem's hated was, or how Luca was still not strong enough to withstand it, Luca snarled in indignance. She then felt something push behind her. Taken by surprise, she glanced behind her to see that it was Nate who was pushing against her back, along with the rest of her teammates.
"-You guys!-" Luca gasped.
"-LADY BOSS! WE GOT YOUR BACK!-" Bo declared.
"-Might as well make ourselves useful, right?!-" Vire smirked.
"-Don't worry lass, we won't let you down!-" Brav assured his surrogate granddaughter.
"-You bitch! You better not lose here after all that hype!-" Deo snarled.
"-Please win this, Miss Luca!-" Zoro called out. "-We believe in you!-"
"Seriously, we get a sign of life and he gets all pissy," Nate smirked. "C'mon, Luca. Show 'em what you're made of! We're winning this! And that's final!"
Luca stared at her friends and family, before nodding in response and smirking. Looking back at the void, she stomped the ground, before pushing back once more.
"-RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAUGH!-" Luca roared as she pushed back against the Terminal Void. Slowly, but surely, her paws were fazing through the void, overcoming the despair-inducing attack. With one final roar, Luca pushed through the Terminal Void, scattering the energy completely into tiny bits. Kyurem's eyes widened as he saw his strongest attack destroyed in front of him.
"...Im...possible..." Kyurem gaped.
"We're not gonna let you take our future, Kyurem," Nate said to the dragon. "Your revenge ends here."
Kyurem scowled at Nate. The boy he had so much respect for; the boy that he had found kindred spirits with all those years ago, was now the very same human who was about to defeat him. Nate was going to defeat him, when he had finally achieved the apex of his true abilities. Honestly, Kyurem would be rather proud of him if he were not so full of unbridled rage for having his three-thousand-year-old vendetta destroyed right in front of his face.
"NAAAAAAAAAAATTEEE!" Kyurem screamed as he charged for the boy in one last ditch effort.
"He ran out of options," Nate muttered. "...Luca, let's end this."
"-Way ahead of you,-" Luca agreed as she brought her paws together, charging as much aura as she could possibly muster.
"Aura Sphere! FULL CHARGE!" Nate ordered, pointing straight at Kyurem.
The aura in her paws glowed a bright azure as it grew to giant proportions. Kyurem incoherently snarled as he lunged for Nate and Luca, his claws bared to rip them apart. Luca shot one final glare at Kyurem, before she aimed the aura at him.
"-EAT THIS!-" Luca cried as she shot the aura at Kyurem.
What was supposed to be a giant Aura Sphere was instead a strong, violent stream of aura that shot out like a brilliant laser. The laser shot at Kyurem, ripping straight through his chest as it flew to the heavens. Kyurem stopped abruptly as the laser pierced his chest. His expression never changed as he slowly looked down to see the gaping hole in his chest. Everyone else was surprised at the results; they did not expect the Aura Sphere to become a giant laser, nor did they expect to have it go through Kyurem's chest; quite literally.
Kyurem let out a pained hiss, as purple energy began to radiate out of control from his body. The dragon staggered around as the energy began to go berserk.
"GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!" Kyurem cried out in pain, before his body glowed brightly and exploded in a bright energy. Everyone took cover from the sudden explosion of energy as it escaped Kyurem in one big burst.
Once the light died down, everyone slowly and cautiously looked back. What was in Kyurem Absolute's place was now three dragons; the white dragon of truth Reshiram, the black dragon of ideals Zekrom, and the third, empty dragon, Kyurem.
"-W-We did it...-" Bo said agape, before laughing. "-Haha! We did it! WE WON! WE SAVED THE WORLD!-"
"-Well, more Unova than the world, but hell yeah...!-" Vire commented, feeling all the tension in his feet disappear as he fell on his behind.
"We won..." Nate muttered, panting from exhaustion. He noted how the two dragons were slowly recovering from their absorption, before glancing over to Kyurem. He was back to how he had initially looked before he absorbed any of the dragons, lying on his side in defeat. It seemed like he was unconscious, which would not surprise Nate.
"My head..." Zekrom groaned. "What happened...?"
"It would seem...that Kyurem had absorbed both of us," Reshiram muttered, before glancing to Nate. "But it would seem that the boy here has saved us."
The two dragons faced Nate, before bowing slightly.
"You have our thanks," Reshiram said. "Without your help, then we would most likely have been forever trapped within Kyurem...and Unova would have been doomed to destruction."
"Yeah...sure...no problem..." Nate replied tiredly, glancing back to Kyurem. "Is he...?"
Reshiram and Zekrom both glanced at the third dragon. Kyurem let out a weak groan in response. "Kyurem still lives," Reshiram confirmed. "He will most likely take a while to regain his strength."
"Might as well finish him off before he decides to try this again," Zekrom growled as his claws began to glow blue.
"Wait...!" Nate yelled, stopping Zekrom from clawing out Kyurem's throat. "No...Don't kill him..."
"-Nate...?-" Zoro asked.
"-You better have a good reason for this,-" Deo said. "-You saw what he did. Why would you spare him and give him the chance to do it again?-"
"Just...lemme talk to him..." Nate insisted. "Please..."
Deo leered at Nate, before sighing and making a path for him. Exhaustion filled Nate's body, as the boy found himself limping towards Kyurem. Reshiram and Zekrom stood to the side, ready to jump in if Kyurem tried anything. Nate reached Kyurem, who registered that someone was near him, and weakly lifted his head to eye them.
"Nate..." Kyurem muttered.
"Yo," Nate replied back.
"...Well played..." Kyurem conceded. "I lost. You won. With the Entralink having stopped and I have fallen...you have successfully protected Unova's future from me."
"Kyurem..." Nate mumbled.
"And how are we to be sure that you will not just simply abide your time before trying again?" Zekrom demanded.
"And how would I do that?" Kyurem scoffed. "You all know of my secrets. The Entralink will most likely be destroyed by whatever it is that is holding it up in the first place. Team Plasma is most likely vanquished for good. I have no options left. I only have my lonesome self, fated to wallow in the hollow misery that is 'Kyurem'. My identity is forever lost; tarnished by the tales of past and present. I have no means of vengeance. I will forever be an empty shell, doomed to never be complete...to never regain my former glory...to always sense this lingering feeling of yearning that can never be rectified..."
Nate stared at Kyurem rather solemnly. Despite how they ended up going against each other, they were once kindred spirits. And that was because they felt something in common.
"Kyurem..." Nate said. "Why do you have to wallow in the past?"
"What?" Kyurem asked.
"Yeah, I get it, your original form was really strong," Nate said. "If I didn't have all this support...then I'm pretty sure we would've lost. But...is that really all you care about? Is that really all your worth? What about the Kyurem that's in front of me now? The Kyurem who went out of his way to save a confused child three years ago? The Kyurem who would check up on me whenever we got together? Even if you don't think so, then there's more to you than your past or your vendetta.
"In my case...I just wanted somewhere to belong...because I felt that there was nothing else left in me; that I had no purpose in life. But in the end...I was taught that there's always something worth in me. And if I couldn't see it now, then I could always find a purpose. A purpose not for the sake of feeling belonged, but a purpose that I want to do. A purpose that would make me feel proud of being myself. If I can do that, then...as kindred spirits...you can do it too, right Kyurem?"
Nate held out a hand to Kyurem, surprising everyone there, including the dragon in question.
"...You would show me mercy?" Kyurem asked. "After everything I've done?"
"I did some terrible things too, y'know," Nate countered. "But there were people who forgave me...and helped me move on. I'm sure the same can be done for you. Let's go find ourselves a future. Let go of the past, and look forward..."
Kyurem stared at Nate, his now empty, yellow eyes, boring into Nate's own, brown eyes.
"...You've truly grown," Kyurem mumbled, before he fell back to unconsciousness.
Nate smiled at the dragon that he considered a friend, happy that his message seemingly got through to him. Before Nate could say anything else, the ground began to shake violently, rocking everyone off their balance.
"-Shit, we're running out of time!-" Deo swore.
"-That fight must have weakened the Entralink,-" Brav said. "-We need to get out of here, before things get bad!-"
"Right...C'mon let's–," Nate said, before he suddenly felt lightheaded, and proceeded to collapse.
"-Nate!?-" Luca cried out, before she too felt lightheaded and collapsed; a bright light bursting from her body and reverting her back to her usual self.
"-She changed back to normal?-" Zoro asked. "-So that wasn't evolution?-"
"-We can figure that out later!-" Vire yelled, scooping up Nate and Luca. "-We need to get out of here yesterday!-"
In response, Reshiram knelt down, allowing Nate's Pokémon to climb on his back, before the white dragon proceeded to take flight. Zekrom glanced back to the unconscious Kyurem. A part of him simply wished to leave the gray dragon here for what he did to them and for what he almost did to Unova.
But the boy wished to spare him. The boy wished to show him a new possibility that could honestly save Kyurem's twisted soul. Zekrom did not know why he cared that much; most likely because the boy was the little brother of his master; a trainer Zekrom came to respect greatly. And like siblings, the boy reminded Zekrom of Hilbert rather greatly.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Zekrom knelt down, grabbed Kyurem and held him in his arm, before taking off, abandoning the now crumbling Entralink for safety.
The Pokémon immediately sensed that there were no longer any living beings remaining on the Entralink. "Finally," he grumbled as he channeled all his strength into his arms, before pushing against the Entralink, tossing it up into the air.
The Entralink hovered up into the air for a brief moment, before it began to descend down upon Unova. The Pokémon's body glowed with a blinding light, before it shattered to reveal the Pokémon; now in a different form. It was now much smaller and thinner, having a long purple appendage hang from behind its head. Its arms and legs are shorter and rounder with the digits on its hands and feet are now purple and more bulbous. Large, sharp red eyes stared into the Entralink with a cold ferocity like no other.
The Pokémon lifted his arm up, channeling an immense amount of psychic energy. Surrounding the gargantuan landmass that was the Entralink was an armada of psychic shards, which all transformed into large, psychic swords that pointed at the Entralink.
"...Psystrike!" the Pokémon commanded as he gripped his hand shut.
On command, the swords all dove into the Entralink, stabbing through the island in a merciless flurry. The entire Entralink was subjected to being ripped apart by the onslaught of psychic energy, reducing every rock, every pebble, every tree into dust. After what seemed like an eternity, the surge of psychic swords had ceased. The colossus of a landmass was now nothing more than ash and dust.
The threat of the Entralink was no more.
"Looks like we win," Red said, staring up into the sky as he watched the Entralink get demolished thoroughly.
"Yyyyyyep," Blue remarked, before glancing down to his opponent. "So what're you gonna do now, big boy?"
Zinzolin felt his jaw drop. First that strange Pokémon was able to stop the Entralink from destroying Unova. Then his army of over one hundred wild Pokémon was effortlessly defeated by two random trainers and their random Pokémon. And now the Pokémon transformed and effortlessly destroyed the Entralink, reducing it into dust!
Not to mention that must mean that someone must have defeated Kyurem when the dragon was at its full power! Was it that blasted child? Impossible! There was no way that brat could have been able to defeat the dragon! But no matter how much Zinzolin refused to believe that, the facts remained. Kyurem had fallen, and the Entralink was destroyed.
The destruction of Unova. Lord Ghetsis' glorious plan. His beautiful destruction of Unova. The beauty of the struggle of life. It was all nothing now.
"Im...possible..." Zinzolin mumbled as he stared at the ground, falling to his knees.
Charizard and Blastoise recognized that all the hostile Pokémon had been defeated and calmed down as a bright light surrounded them before dispersing. Both their forms had changed; Charizard was now slightly smaller, his black skin was now orange, his wings looked more natural with a blue-green underside, and no longer imbued azure flames, while Blastoise no longer had shells on its arms, and had two cannons protruding out of its shell as opposed to the one, giant cannon it had before.
"So...world's saved?" Red asked.
"Yeah, world's saved," Blue nodded, eyeing the two small objects far above the sky flying away. "Although it looks like we have someone else to thank for that."
They both glanced over to Zinzolin, who was stuck speechless and in a stupor from witnessing his ambitions having died so abruptly.
"So what do we do with him?" Blue asked.
"Call the police?" Red suggested.
"Yeah sure," Blue said as he took out his pokégear and dialed in the emergency hotline number. "Hello police? Yeah some dude tried to kill us..."
As Blue contacted the authorities, Red glanced back up to the sky. The Pokémon that had destroyed the Entralink was nowhere to be found. That was understandable; he did not want other humans to be aware of his presence after all. He knew where to find him afterwards anyways. Or at least Leaf knew, so one of them could find him if needed. He still wanted to ask him something.
Red glanced back to Zinzolin, who was stuck in his stupor. It would seem that the man would not try to escape. Whatever it was he was planning had failed, and he had lost all hope. Red would feel somewhat sorry for the man, but he had wished for the destruction of a region, and the subsequent death of hundreds upon thousands of innocent lives. Such a man deserved no pity.
While waiting for the police to arrive and detain Zinzolin, Red took out his pokégear and dialed two numbers, waiting for the recipients to pick up.
"Red? You okay?"
"Ah, Red! Is everything alright?"
Red smiled softly. It sounded like they were alright too.
"Yeah, we're fine Leaf, Yellow," Red replied. "Blue and I took care of things here..."
"W...What just happened...?" Rosa asked.
Everyone was stumped and in disbelief on the series of events that they witnessed. First, a purple explosion that was most likely from Kyurem. Then, a pillar of light exploded from the Entralink. Then, a giant blue laser shot out from it. And now, the Entralink seemingly floated up for a brief second, before what looked like pink energy swords shot all around it, reducing the once-giant mass of land into nothing.
"I...I don't know..." Colress muttered, at a loss for words.
"...Wait! Look!" Curtis exclaimed, pointing to the screen.
Colress immediately scanned the screen and zoomed in on a particular spot. Soaring away from where the Entralink used to be was Reshiram and Zekrom. On Reshiram's back was Nate and the others, while Zekrom was carrying Kyurem.
"Nate!" Yancy and Rosa cheered excitedly.
"He...He actually did it," Hugh said in awe. "He beat Kyurem...!"
"Speaking of Kyurem," Hilda said, pointing to the dragon that was in Zekrom's arm.
"...I'm sure Nate had a good reason," Hilbert insisted. "...For the time being, he won't be able to do anything."
"Those beams of light were certainly his doing then," Colress said. "I wonder...what did he do? How did he win?"
"Looks like they're...headed back to the Giant Chasm," Hilda noted, looking towards the direction the two dragons were flying off to.
"Then we should head there too," N said.
Nodding in agreement, Colress steered the ship around, having if fly to the Giant Chasm to go pick up the hero of this story.
Reshiram and Zekrom reached the Giant Chasm interior after avoiding minimal human contact. Reshiram kneeled down, gently depositing Nate and his Pokémon onto the ground, with Deo carrying the still-unconscious Luca on his back. Zekrom merely tossed Kyurem onto the ground like a rag doll. Kyurem plopped onto the ground with a pained grunt.
"Ngh..." Nate groaned, groggily opening his eyes. "...Where...?"
"We're at Kyurem's dwellings," Reshiram told Nate. "We had to escape the Entralink."
"Yeah...that's right..." Nate moaned, trying to get up. "What happened...to the Entralink...? Did we stop it...?"
"It was destroyed," Zekrom answered, shocking Nate. "I can't explain how, since even we do not know what happened. But it was destroyed completely. Unova is safe, thanks to your efforts."
"It was destroyed...?" Nate asked, pondering on how that could have happened.
'If you still wish to fight; if you still wish to protect this land, then overcome the obstacle that threatens it, before I lose my grip and all is lost.'
He remembered a strange voice telepathically communicating with him before Luca transformed. Nate finally remembered where he had heard that voice before; it came from that robed man who gave him the strange stones in the first place, and had healed him at the Poké Transfer Lab.
"...So I was a part of that bastard's calculations the whole time, huh..." Nate could not help but laugh. He felt that he should feel offended that someone had manipulated him in the long run, but he was simply too relieved to have stopped Kyurem and the Entralink to care. Nate was willing to let this one go; if only since he was too relieved to be alive.
"Now then..." Zekrom said, turning to Kyurem. "What will you do now?"
"What else is there to do?" Kyurem asked back, lifting his head up to leer at Reshiram and Zekrom. "I concede defeat. There is no point in persisting now that everything is up in the air."
Reshiram and Zekrom glanced at each other, before glancing back at Kyurem. While there was no reason to trust the gray dragon, the tone he had suggested that he was being genuine with his claims. Everyone knew what Kyurem was capable of, and what was needed for Kyurem to reach such feats to begin with. Preventative measures would surely be made to make sure Kyurem could never repeat the crisis he caused again. And of course, Kyurem had lost his two confidants in Nate and Team Plasma. Nate would surely not try to cause this again, and Team Plasma was more or less defunct with their main leader, Ghetsis, being killed off. Hell, Kyurem even remembered how his followers had all but abandoned him once they learned that he had seemingly left them to work with Team Plasma.
Kyurem had no options left. There was nothing Kyurem could really do to convince anyone to help him again, or to achieve his original form himself.
He was truly alone. Kyurem had lost.
Nate stared at the gray dragon; the legendary Pokémon Nate had considered an ally and a friend. He then dragged his body towards the gray dragon, alarming both Reshiram and Zekrom.
"-Oi, wait!-" Vire yelled.
"-Nate, it's too dangerous!-" Zoro cried out.
"You must stay back!" Reshiram warned Nate. "We cannot trust Kyurem that easily!"
"You guys can't, but I can," Nate grumbled as he faced Kyurem. "...So you're just gonna stay here by yourself?"
Kyurem merely let out a low grumble, which more or less served to answer Nate's question.
"...I said that we should go find ourselves a future," Nate said, taking out a pokéball. "If you want...you wanna come with me?"
All gazes were on Nate now. Vire and Zoro looked rather surprised. Brav smiled and Bo nodded in approval, while Deo let out a sigh, having seen this coming. Reshiram and Zekrom stared at Nate as if he just grew a second head. Kyurem merely stared at Nate blankly.
"You're serious...?" Kyurem asked.
"You'll learn nothing by yourself," Nate said, not changing his mind. "You said it yourself three years ago. We're birds of the same feather...we can understand each other's pains...we're kindred spirits. By that logic, you should be able to learn what I've learned throughout the years, right?"
Kyurem kept staring at Nate, genuinely shocked that the boy was actually giving him a second chance. Kyurem stared at the plain red and white pokéball in Nate's hand, before staring back at Nate. The boy's eyes were much softer and understanding. He genuinely wanted to help Kyurem get over his three-thousand-year grudge, and try to move on with his life. Even after everything Kyurem did, Nate wanted to give him a chance.
"...My fate...my future," Kyurem responded. "...Very well. I'll leave them in your hands, Nate."
Reshiram and Zekrom now looked at Kyurem as if he grew a second head, as the gray dragon slowly reached for the pokéball, tapping the button with his frozen snout. The ball opened up and instantly converted Kyurem into a red light, before absorbing the dragon into the capsule. The ball shook three times, before flashing a light. Kyurem had officially been captured by Nate.
"...I'm not gonna let you down," Nate said to Kyurem's pokéball. "You deserve a better life than this."
"NAAAATE!"
Nate and the others turned around to the entrance of the cave to see everyone else, rushing over to him. Nate let out a smirk, genuinely happy to see that everyone, especially Yancy, had managed to stay safe and in one piece throughout the whole crisis. Before Nate could say anything back, exhaustion took over Nate once more, as the boy proceeded to collapse on his back, letting the black depths of unconsciousness overtake him.
"-Boss!-" Bo cried out as all the Pokémon gathered around him, while Reshiram and Zekrom looked over in alarm.
"Nate!?" Yancy gasped as the humans rushed over to check up on Nate.
Once they all saw the expression on Nate's face however, all alarm melted away and was replaced with looks of relief and amusement.
Nate had a serene smile on his sleeping face, as he clutched to the pokéball that had Kyurem inside it in his hand.
To be continued
AN: And that's that. With a combination of outside help and lots of determination, Nate defeats Kyurem and Unova is saved. I hope you all enjoyed the final battle and everything that set up to it.
What's next, you say? The final chapter; where we tie up a few loose ends and dwell into the aftermath of Team Plasma's region-wide attack and Kyurem's doomsday plan, and see what lies ahead.
Team Roster:
Nate: Luca (Lucario*) / Bo (Emboar) / Vire (Electivire) / Brav (Braviary) / Deo (Keldeo) / Zoro (Zoroark) / Kyurem
*Everyone else had been defeated and retreated to the Frigate.
And that's it for now. Next time; the final chapter.