"I'm heading out. Someone needs to help."

"But you'll never fly through those clouds, it's just black in there, how will you breathe?"

"Doesn't matter. If there's even a one percent chance, I need to take it. That's what Hilbert would do."

"Are you sure?"

"Obviously. I'm not a hero like he is, but as his second in command, it's my duty to try."

"Then I'll go too!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'll go as well."

"I'm not going to just sit here! I have this power, I ought to use it!"

"He needs our help."

"...We must use all of our powers…"

"Everyone…"

"We're Team Black, ya idiot! Who the hell do you think we are?"

"..Right… Cheryl, Riley, Dawn, Marley, Barry…. You're right!"

"Even if he's not here right now, we'll do as he would do!"

"Absolutely!"

"Let's do it!"

"I'm tired of sitting back and letting everyone else do the work!"

"I'll lend my aid!"

"See? We're all here to back you up, to back him up!"

"Right!"

He fiercely pushed back against the winds, a burning blue fire in his eyes. "Team Black- Mobilize! We're going to save this region!"

"Right!"

A Mid-Sinnoh Night's Dream - XXVII - Empowering Oneself In The Form Of A Demon

Stones beneath his feet turned to rubble, trees bent in his wake, the black miasma broken through by one young man.

Even if he was alone, even if he had no contact with his allies, he was going to do something.

He gouged through Mt. Coronet as he climbed, rising higher into the cloud, and would have choked on the black smoke had he been breathing.

He wasn't running on oxygen anymore. It was something unexplainable. Willpower? Perhaps. It would be more accurate to call it willpower born of responsibility. There were people he couldn't let down, and so, he continued to break through the fog.

Something appeared, running next to him, and he could only see when his sight was shut away from the outside world. A familiar swirling mass of aura.

He raised his shirt to his nose, acting as a sort of filter. "Lucario? That you?"

"Not just me."

"Hey, boss. Miss me?"

"Abra teleported to the Lucario Kingdom as soon as he got Mira and her grandmother inside. It's a madhouse in Hearthome."

"I can tell my story myself, thank you very much. But yes, it is as she says. There aren't any police and you humans are being as idiotic as always."

"How'd you find me?"

"With an aura signature like yours? How could I not. I swear, it's nearly as large as Golurk's now. You just keep going further. What did we miss?"

"We can catch up later. Lake Valor is unprotected, all the Gym Leaders are elsewhere or protecting their own towns."

"I saw Fantina, that's true. It's like a frenzy. All spirit, all the intelligence, the willpower, it's like it's gone."

"Then… yeah, we need to move. How fast can you run?"

"Faster than you, surely."

"This is no time for bragging! It's like the damn end of the world!"

"It wasn't bragging. My body is reinforced with steel, it's genetic. You're a human, even with similar power to myself."

"I don't care about that stuff right now!"

They crested over one of Mt. Coronet's peaks, though not its highest.

"Very well. Around others, around… what's the term, 120 miles an hour?"

"And otherwise?"

"I'm telling you, if you try to match me, you will hurt yourself."

"Not my priority."

She told him.

"...I can match that."

"You will tear your joints apart. You can't fight if you're completely immobile."

"Fine. How close can I get?"

"We're nearly there, it'll only be another few minutes."'

"Not fast enough. The Pokemon there need our help."

"Right. To minimize the damage… Put all of your power into your legs, and jump on my mark."

Across the Sinnoh region through all the chaos, all heard the sound of an immense sonic boom. Satellites recorded the accelerated plumage of dust, as it exploded further outwards and upwards.

Hilbert plunged through the air, Lucario following with Abra Protecting them from the black smog in the atmosphere.

"Where are we supposed to land?"

"Near Lake Valor. It was my best guess."

As they descended, the air outside their bubble became clearer, despite the total lack of outside light. Above the smoking crater of Lake Valor, a peaceful effect occurred, where the only light was burning red and coming from a floating twin-tailed Pokemon, desperately trying to avoid Team Galactic's capture. It was surrounded on all sides by Haunter, Gengar, and Dusclops, all trying to blast it out of the air. Before he could do anything else, they succeeded, and it was knocked from the sky and pressed into the dirt before a Team Galactic member's feet. The member had bat-like blue hair, meaning it was Commander Saturn.

Hilbert desperately tried to land faster, but by the time he did, the Commander had already obtained a grip on the red gem embedded in the Pokemon's forehead.

With a sick crack, it was pried away, leaving only a tiny speck of crystal left. The cyan seemed to seep out of the Pokemon's fur, leaving it a dull, colorless gray. Its aura dampened extremely, but it still pulsed.
"Contact Cyrus. Azelf has been captured," he said to one of the other grunts, tapping a black Pokeball to the near-corpse.

Hilbert froze. His joints were pricked with needles, and his skin was washed with a wave of cold.

Saturn seemed to notice he was there and walked up to him. He held a hand up, keeping the ghosts and other grunts from attacking.

"Black."

"Bastard."

He sighed. "This is why we need the new world. I offer you mercy and you respond with rudeness. Listen to me. You've heard it before, but I believe you'll be more receptive to our mission statement now."

Saturn held up the pulsing red gem. "With this, we will create the Red Chain. It was once used to control the willpower of humanity, but now, it will be used to bring about the creation of a better world. The same will be done for the gems of Mesprit and Uxie. For millennia, these Pokemon have controlled and manipulated the emotions of humanity. Do you not feel it? Their false energy is leaving you, even now. None of it was your own, and soon, you can be free. Soon, you will be free. In the new world, there will be no false concepts to control humanity."

"Like you're any better?" He asked through grit teeth, as his strength left him. "Do you really think your boss will stop there? A world without emotion, spirit, intelligence, the things worth living for?"

"I see your intelligence has not left you. It seems there is a delay in capturing Uxie."

"You bastards will end the world before making it better? That's a load of crap. Humans are imperfect, that's your whole schtick. If that's true, why do you trust your boss to remake it?"

"Because he has purged himself of all imperfections. It is our duty to allow him to make our ideals reality, even if we cannot obtain them ourselves."

"There's no such thing. Everyone has imperfections. Flaws are the flipside of strengths, that writing 101. Without either, you might as well not be human. What's Cyrus's strength, that he's ruthless? That he tortured the three Legendary Birds as a means to an end? Does that sound free of imperfection to you?"

"It was as you said, a means to an end."

Hilbert pressed back against his knee, trying to push himself off the ground. He didn't miss the guarded approach of Team Galactic's Pokemon, far from it. "You're so focused on creating a new world, but you won't do anything to make this world better! If you actually were making the world better, maybe a Legendary would have helped you! If you had a problem with the indifference that causes people to be evil, then maybe Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie would have aided you on their own! But the truth is, you don't care about making the world better, you just care about having power over it."

He managed to stand, and barely flinched when he saw attacks begin to charge. "The truth is, you're not the saviors of the world. I think you know that. Cyrus is a figurehead that you use to represent your ideals, and you trust in your ideals, not your leader. You've hurt so many people and Pokemon… and… and…" His aura flared back up, spirals burning into his retinas as he roared, "I WON'T STAND FOR IT!"

"Impossible!" Saturn took a step back.

"Who cares about what's impossible? Making the world better is impossible? Don't make me laugh. The only people that say that kind of shit are lazy and worth less than nothing. If you don't make an attempt to improve the world before casting it aside in favor of a fantasy, then I'll just have to smash that illusion apart!"

Wispy blue smoke exploded outwards, throwing Pokemon and grunts to the wind. It parted around Lucario and Abra, like a flowing river.

Saturn held Azelf's gem in front of him, braced against the force, and slid back a few inches into the destroyed murky ground.

"Truth is, Team Galactic is nothing but a bunch of extremists that hurt people for their bullshit ideals. I met Jupiter, she took pride in causing pain. Is that really the kind of person you want leading the new world?"

Saturn held the gem in front of him, generating a blast of psychic energy. "Her flaws are inconsequential! Cyrus will lead people and Pokemon to a better tomorrow!"

"Says who? Him? You've been fooled, you've all been fooled! The only better tomorrow that there is is the tomorrow that you take with your own hands and create with your own power!"

A Psycho Cut grazed Hilbert's shoulder, throwing him to the ground. But he had to stand up once more, and he pushed himself out of the mud and into the air.

Honedge appeared in his hands, attaching its cold iron hilt to his palms with a hiss. He swung the living slab of metal through the air, slashing Saturn across his side and sending him flying.

"I have the power of a Legendary Pokemon! You cannot hope to defeat me!" Saturn did not land, and rather, slowly accelerated and levitated in the air. "Allow us to make the world better! We've gone too far to turn back now!"

"It's never too late to turn your back on others. The sunk cost fallacy, I've heard of it. You have to be an idiot to enforce it as a rule. You can change. Everyone can change. And then, you can change the world for the better."

"It's too late! The world must be recreated. Every sin of creation, every crime of history, the destruction of culture in favor of globalization, those are the true evils!" Saturn threw a blitz of Psycho Cuts towards him, moving back through the air. "Even if we must commit them ourselves, we must do so for a better future!"

Hilbert cut them as they flew, landing on the ground and charging towards Saturn. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, haven't you ever heard that?"

"The difference is that we're correct! There will be no wrongs in the new world!"

He slashed through the air, though Saturn dropped to avoid the blade. "There won't be any rights either! No emotion, no choices, there is no life if it isn't living! Your perfect world will be the end of the world, can't you see that?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, I must trust in Cyrus!"

"Then you're just as much of a fool as he is. You're brainwashed. You're intelligent, clearly, but you're working for the wrong people. You can help others, sure, but without living for yourself, at least a little bit, you're not living!"

"I don't care if I'm not living, good must be done!"

"I'll do that good! I'll make the world better, one step at a time! You're just the first stone! You thought you could take my willpower away, but now you see it was all my own! This willpower is my soul! You can never destroy that, and never take it away from me!" With the clang of a bell, he sent Saturn into the dirt, embedding him into the earth.

"I see…"

"You could do so much good on your own. Why do you believe in false ideals?"

"Because… I have nothing else." Saturn looked up at him, half-lidded. "I've gone too far. But I'll believe in you. You can do what I couldn't. Goodbye for now, Black. Teleport."

Hilbert reached out to grab his collar, throwing Honedge aside, but instead grasped at nothing.

He slammed his fist into the ground, and stood up. "Honedge. Lucario. Abra."

The Fighting, Psychic, and Ghost-type all approached, illuminated in a soft blue light.

"Lucario. Go to the Lucario Kingdom. Tell them to arm themselves." He walked over to the colorless Azelf, and cradled it in his arms. It was alive, but severely weakened. "If this happens to the other two Legendaries, I'm going to find Team Galactic's headquarters and tear it apart. Mark my words. Abra, Honedge, you're with me. We're going to Lake Verity."

He pulled up his cross-transceiver. Still no signal.

"Damn it. I hope those guys stayed on Iron Island…"

Hilbert returned Honedge and Teleported, appearing in the anomaly surrounding the lake.

It was burned blacker than Lake Valor, trees torn further, gouges carved deep into the earth until they cut across the bedrock.

"I can see my house from here," he remarked, trying to keep himself from giving in to his anger. The outskirts of Twinleaf had become visible, yes, but they were mostly untouched. Windows had cracked similarly, and logs splayed across fences and driveways.

He turned his attention to the aura signatures, the people, that he could see.

The Galactic Commander, Jupiter, gave him a vicious smirk, before the gem she held glowed and she disappeared.

A split second after, a Mega Garchomp swooped down, delivering a blow unto nothing, before crying out in guttural frustration. The roar scraped at his hearing, leaving him shaken with ringing ears.

"Hey!" He waved both of his arms, approaching the Dragon-type. "What happened?"'

With a shaking claw, it pointed to a pit half-dug, in the streaking shape of a human.

Cynthia lay there, knocked out, covered in scrapes and soon-to-be bruises. A light streak of blood was running freely down her face, staining her loose locks of hair.

"Son of a- Cynthia!" He swatted aside the mud that had fallen onto her and pulled her out of the hole, laying her out in the open air. "Hey!" He waved a hand in front of her face, kneeling next to her torso.

Thankfully, her eyes opened, and she blinked multiple times, as if readjusting.

"What happened…? Did we win?" Her dragon walked over, crouched, and poked at her neck with its snout.

"No. Damn it!" He spat. "Team Galactic's using those Legendary Pokemon to make something called a Red Chain. I don't know what it is, but they're planning on using it to achieve their dreams."

"They're going to… This is bad." She sat up, wiping crimson from her eyebrow. "Well, obviously, today has not been a good day, but… Black, how aware are you of Sinnoh's mythology?"

He shook his head. "I know the names and general concepts, but nothing specific. The Legendary Birds are more well-known, since there are so many of them, and I've heard of the Regi Trio before, but I didn't know about Regigigas…. Not very well, that's what I'm saying."

Cynthia pushed herself to her feet, supporting herself with Garchomp's wing. "I don't know what a Red Chain is, but there is a story that…" She stopped, weaving her head around. "...Where are the others?"

A pit sunk into his stomach. "What others?"

"Your friends. That quiet pair, and the coordinator."

"Lucas, Marley, and Dawn? They're here?" His sense of dread kept on growing.

"Yes. They came to my aid. Could you not find them?"

"I… I saw you first, shit!" He blinked rapidly, looking around at the dying aura signatures around him. Most were likely to be Lake Pokemon, but some were half-buried Team Galactic grunts. He quickly dug them out, though he didn't try too hard to be cautious.

Marley was alright, thank god. It seemed that her Arcanine had shielded her from a blast of some kind, though both were unconscious. He waved to Cynthia to help her, before continuing on to find others.

Dawn was near where the treeline had once begun, now assorted piles of logs and stumps. It looked like she'd hit her head pretty hard, but she only seemed disoriented and delirious when they shook her awake. When you can mutter that you only want five more minutes of sleep, it's fair to assume your head isn't too hurt.

Then he found Lucas.

Lucas was an Arceus-damned mess.

It looked as if the crater he'd been dug into had been packed, dug up, and repacked, repeatedly.

His leg was almost definitely not supposed to bend that way, as most people don't have a second joint right below their knee. His jacket was in tatters, blown to scraps, and a dozen cuts traced along his chest.

He could almost see what had happened. Jupiter had taken the Legendary's power, just as Saturn had, and then inflicted as much damage and wrought as much destruction as possible before Teleporting away. She knew Lucas, but she didn't know Marley.

It screamed one thing to him.

"This is a message."

"Message received, you bastards."

"Lucas. Hey." He lightly slapped the other boy's cheek repeatedly, in an attempt to wake him up. "Lucas. Dude. This isn't funny. Wake up."

He refused.

"Wake up, Lucas."

And yet, he still stayed in Cresselia's realm.

"Lucas. I'm serious, dude, wake up."

Cynthia approached from behind him, he heard that much before she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We can get him some help later. Sandgem isn't that far away, they have a Pokemon Center."

His gaze was unfocused, even as Abra and Cynthia's Milotic raised the unconscious boy without stirring him, even as they marched through the black fog, past the few police investigating the scene, and the many more residents of Twinleaf looked around in horror, as his mom gave him a hug and asked where they were going, and even as the single nurse began attending to their combined injuries.

"Barry, Cheryl, Riley, where are they?" He asked Marley, as she was the only other member not bedridden. The curtains were drawn, not that there was much light to block in the first place.

"...They went to Lake Acuity, near Snowpoint..." She seemed shaken, clutching the hem of her dress in her fist.

"Did you guys set a rendezvous point? Phone and satellite won't work as long as this damn cloud keeps up." He bowed his head further, towards nothing, absentmindedly twiddling his thumbs.

"...We planned to make a round trip while flying low, then meet at your house…"

"Then my mom will send them here when they arrive. Marley."

"...Yes?"

"I don't mean to blame you, but," he got out of his chair, looking towards the ceiling, "Why? WHY?" He whirled towards her. "I don't want you all to take the same risks I do! There was obviously going to be trouble, so why the hell did you all go anyway?"

She shrunk back on reflex. "...I know. We all knew…"

"What?"

"...You're our leader. You lead by example. Lucas planned to go on his own, but…"

"And you let him?"

"...We followed him. We knew you were going, so we were following you too…"

"Only Riley is anywhere close to my level! None of you have the training I do, and nowhere near the amount of aura! You're all squishy! You're like cardboard playing cards! If someone with much more power than you wants to, they'll bend you into any shape they want!"

"...We're Team Black." She stood up, squared against him, and slapped him across the face.

It didn't do any harm, but what it did do was get her following point across. "Just who the hell do you think we are? We protect people, because we can and that's our duty. That's your duty, and we followed your example. Even if we aren't as strong or as durable as you, it's better than doing nothing at all!"

There was silence, occasionally broken by the beeping of heart rate monitors.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You might be able to shrug off attacks like they're nothing, but at the end of the day, you're taking the same risks as we are. You can't put yourself above your friends like that! They'll… we'll follow you to the end of the earth, because you're the greatest hero we've ever met! If you were a Legendary Pokemon, your domain would be justice, even if your disposition is as dense as a rock and just as sharp."

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"

"Take it how you will!" Marley seemed to be emoting for the first time since he'd met her, outright yelling in his face. "Just who the hell do you think you are to tell the rest of us to sit back and watch? Lucas knew the risk, he knew what he was doing! In fact, he's braver than you are, precisely because it was riskier to him! That's why… that's why…" She stuttered, with her expression becoming even more frustrated. "...That's why I like-"

"Hey…" Lucas drolled from his bed, wiping his face. "My head is killing me, can you both please stop yelling?"

Marley's skin tone quickly turned from a heavy red to a slight flush, clamming up once again.

"Hey, you lucky son of a bitch, how's it feel to get your ass kicked?"

Dawn, though still in a state of half-consciousness, managed to throw her pillow at him and mumble, "Language…"

"It hurt. I mean, holy shit. Do you really feel that when Maylene decides to kick you across the room?"

"Probably not. Natural shielding. Which I must remind you, that you do not have, and you are a complete idiot for getting yourself hurt!"

"Ah… I won't deny that. I don't know if I am for going there in the first place. Help me up." He thumped against the bed, attempting to lean to his side. "...That's not good."

"What's not?"

"I can't feel my leg."

"...What?"

Barry, Cheryl, and Riley arrived not long after. They had similar scratches and bruises, but it seemed that Mars didn't have the level of sadism that Jupiter did.

Hilbert had left the center's bedroom to pace away from all the resting people and Pokemon, as it sounded something more like stomping and Barry had told him to cut it out.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it."

When Nurse Joy finally got around to giving Lucas a closer look, there hadn't been good news. While the bone and tissue in his right leg could be repaired over the next few weeks, with a liberal application of medicine and the help of Chansey, the nerves had been completely torn apart at the shin.

He'd walk again, in most likelihood, but there wasn't a chance he could do it unaided. At best, he'd need a walking stick for the rest of his life.

Lucas hadn't reacted when she told him that, but there were traces of wetness at the corners of his eyes, that much he could see.

He could also see that it was entirely his fault. It's all in the perception, really.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

He walked off into the woods on the outskirts of Sandgem, literally steaming in the cool night air as he walked.

The ground was still muddy, and the air as still midnight black as it was during the day. The only difference he could make out was that the moon's brightness was notably more peaceful than the burning sun.

He found himself climbing a hill, leaving deep craters in the ground as he walked, stewing in his own guilt and anger.

Beneath his notice, he ascended a path forged of stone and gravel, towards the ruins of a castle on the hill. As he passed through an archless archway, a wave of nausea washed over him.

"You're not supposed to be here," said a deep, stern voice.

"Eat shit, I'll go where I…" He stopped, before wildly looking around. The air had become clear in a wide bubble, with the barrier abruptly cutting off the black fog. The grass was dark greenish-brown, and the few flowers around were beginning to wilt. "Damn it, I did it again. Which damn Legendary wants to talk to me this time?"

"I see you're in a bad mood."

Shaymin appeared from their Pokeball, sniffing around. "These are Gracidea Flowers! ...They're all wilted though…"

"Indeed, my friend, this calamity has even reached the havens of our kind."

"Then that means…"

Another Shaymin popped out of a pit in the grass, covered in wrinkled flowers.

"Greetings."

"Hello! It's been quite a long time since I met another Shaymin!"

"That's unfortunate. It may be a while longer before it happens again. When the miasma descended on this hidden space, the others scattered to the wind like dandelions, hoping to secure their own spaces. I am the only one left here, as it has been my home for centuries."

"Not that I'm not interested in this conversation, but I'm not really feeling all the chit-chat."

"I have many questions for you, human. Your capture devices… Had the young one not been contained, you would have been able to enter with ease. However, they were, and you still managed to reach this hidden space. How is that?"

"Main character energy or something like that. Can I go now?"

"Another question; Are you aware of the cause of this calamity?"

"A bunch of assholes called Team Galactic blew up the three lakes."

"Quite the tongue on you, human. By unlikely chance, you don't speak of the dwellings of-"

"Yeah, Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit, those guys. Their powers have been stolen and they've all been captured."

"...This is grave news." The old Shaymin paced, walking in a circle on the grass. "Those three are older than nature itself. To hear that one has been defeated, let alone all thee…"

"You don't have to spell it out for me, I know it's not good."

"What is being done about this? Have you petitioned the higher powers?"

"There are a lot of those, you're going to need to be more specific."

"To explain this succinctly, humans and Pokemon are on the lowest level. Us Shaymin are slightly higher, as well as other widely spread Legendary Pokemon. Then you would have masters of elements. The physical, earth, air, fire, water. Following are the masters of abstract certainties. Willpower, emotion, intelligence, truth, ideals, life, death, and so on."

"Huh. Then what's Arceus master of?"

"It varies. Some believe existence, some believe creation, which, if I may add, is very different from life, and some believe they are the 'jack of all trades', in human terms. Master of none..."

"...But better than a master of one, I've heard it before. So what do I do?"

"Petition the master of the Lake Trio, Arceus themself."

"I'm not religious, I mean a practical solution."

"That is the practical solution."

"Arceus is a myth."

"They very much are not."

"Sure. Who would be concerned if someone sought to remake the world in their own image?"

"A psychiatrist."

"What?"

"Ahem, excuse me, some dust in my throat. They would seek out Dialga and Palkia, the masters of Time and Space, and perhaps, something greater."

"What's greater than that?"

"We do not speak its name. It was banished long ago, long before my own birth."

"Oh, sure, that's super helpful. Hey, partner," he turned to the younger Shaymin. "Do you want a different name now? Since there are two of you. And a lot more, allegedly."

"Will it be a bad pun?"

"Possibly."

"In that case, call me anything. You could use some humor."

"I'm plenty humorous," he growled.

"You've been scowling for the last hour."

He clapped a hand to his face, feeling his facial features. "Ah. I could call you Sonichu, but you're not an Electric-type."

"I would appreciate originality."

"..."

"I get the sense that what I just said was ironic."

"Yeah… let's not talk about that comic. It's not the time. Hey, older Shaymin, do you know where we can find Gracidea flowers?"

"...There are many havens of the Gracidea across this region. Most have likely been polluted, however, I know of one within the eastern peninsula."

"In that case, Shaymin, you go there. This is the best time for a power-up."

"I don't wish to brag, but can you deal with everything going on without me?"

"I'll find a way. I always do…"

"You sound tired."

"I'm really pissed off, I don't get tired."

"It's okay to rest. You've been awake for nearly twenty-four hours."

"Doesn't matter." He turned his back on the older Shaymin, waving him off. "Thanks, geezer."

"Young one, make sure you wash this human's mouth with soap."

"The hell do you know what soap is?"

"I'm old, not stupid."

AN:

Three chapters left, then epilogues. Couldn't finish before the summer was over, but within the next month or two. It'll average out from beginning to end to be in midsummer, so that's funny.