Chapter 13: Tragedy

The sky was nearly pitch black. The heavens over New Bark Town had turned very cloudy, and the wind whistled ominously. The denizens of this town were puzzled. In a moment, their bright daytime had become darker than night.

Necrozma descended from the clouds, cloaked in the darkness save for the tyrant's arm crystals. He stared down at the cozy settlement, eyeing it like an excited child would with a toy. It was finally time. On this day, Necrozma would announce himself to the world. Necrozma couldn't help but to laugh at the prospect, his voice echoing through the night.

"At last, the time has come," He announced, "To hell with my partner's plan. If he thinks he can give ME orders, then I will happily oblige." The dark demon coughed into his hands to clear his voice, then spread his arms outward as if he were about to speak to an audience. The white crystals on his arms began glowing brightly, and a pulse of energy was released. This energy was not to destroy, per se, no. This pulse of energy circled the entire world within seconds, allowing Necrozma to speak to each and every one of its' denizens.

"Inhabitants of this planet," He spoke, "I am Necrozma. You can call me an alien of sorts. I have come to your planet for but one purpose: CONQUEST!"

By now, the people of New Bark Town rushed out of their homes. They chattered amongst one another, checking to see if everyone else was hearing this voice.

Necrozma continued, "My forces will arrive on this pathetic planet in but a mere five days. Should you wish to survive, you must amass the largest army you can muster and meet me in Goldenrod City. Should you happen to lose the battle, or fail to show up, then your lives and your world are forfeit. Nothing will remain of you or your world!"

The denizens of New Bark Town frantically looked around for the source of the voice. One of them, a young girl, spotted Necrozma's glowing crystals and pointed him out. The others followed her gaze, pointing at him and chittering amongst themselves. Eventually, one of them had the idea to attack Necrozma, sending out his Jolteon do so so. A bright yellow bolt of electricity was fired from the Pokemon up at the dark demon, but to no avail. The citizens gaped as the Thunderbolt attack seemed to bend around the odd dark creature they couldn't identify.

Necrozma raised his finger to the sky, summoning a small glint of light to its' tip. "And so, just in case you decide not to take my words at face value...allow me to demonstrate my declaration of war!"

Chuckling darkly, Necrozma lowered his finger and pointed down at New Bark Town, causing some of its' denizens to start backing away, unsure what to do. The sky itself seemed to become terrified of the dark demon as it had now begun to howl with wind, threatening to kick up a storm. Necrozma held out his arm, and promptly dropped the glowing light. The civilians of New Bark Town barely even saw what hit them.

In a single flash of light, a colossal explosion tore the town apart, sending up a column of violent white light. The area it hit was gone in a flash, completely obliterated alongside every living thing that had been unfortunate enough to be nearby. The areas not hit were blown back, uprooted and sent flying away amidst a virtual hellscape that formed in place of their town.

As the column of light died out, the majority of the town had been reduced to nothing more than a crater, covered in flames. If Necrozma had a face, he would have been smiling cruelly down upon them all. Laughing like a madman, Necrozma descended into the fray to have some fun. He was met with the sight of hundreds of corpses, people and Pokemon alike. Many were still burning, flailing wildly to try and free themselves from the flames but ultimately achieving nothing, falling to the ground like dominos to be consumed in the fire.

Necrozma took in the sight, staring at it like an ordinary person would stare at a flower garden. His morbid sightseeing was interrupted by the scream of a girl behind him who wore a golden necklace of a crescent moon. He turned around and, to his disappointment, she was still in one piece, not engulfed in flame, and completely unharmed. 'Time to fix that,' He thought to himself as he turned to meet the girl.

"Why hello there," Necrozma greeted, extending his hand to the girl, "I believe you've heard my introduction just earlier, but I am Necrozma. I trust you are enjoying my handiwork?"

Tears dotted the girl's face, evaporating in the heat of the harsh flames before they hit the ground. "Y-you…! My family-!" She dug her nails into the palms of her hands, trembling, then tore a Pokeball from her pocket and threw it. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! Absol, use Night Slash!"

From the Pokeball came a black, canine Pokemon with white fur. It had a crescent-shaped blade protruding from the side of it's forehead. Responding to its' trainers' order, the Pokemon charged at Necrozma with its' blade shrouded in a dark aura...and promptly was wiped from existence in a flash of crimson light.

"My, how rude," Necrozma chastised mockingly, "Here I was taking the time out of my busy schedule to greet you formerly, and yet you attack me?"

The girl's eyes widened in shock. She took a step back, accidentally dropping the now-empty Pokeball that had housed her Absol, then tripped over a piece of stone and fell onto her back. She let out a cry of pain and attempted to scramble to her feet, but Necrozma had run fresh out of mercy days ago. The dark demon appeared before her once more, making her fall back onto the ground.

Tears of fright welled up in her eyes as she shuffled backwards, but let out a pained cry as she accidentally placed her hand near the searing flames. She frantically looked around for an escape route, but everything had been sealed off by the fire, and she had nowhere to run. All she could do was stare back up at the monster who had destroyed her life in an instant.

"P-please," She whimpered, "P-please don't kill me!"

Necrozma knelt forward and raised her chin with his razor-sharp index finger. She was far too afraid to move away from him. "Oh, don't worry my dear," He said to the girl, "I have no intention of killing you."

The girl stared up at him. Her rage had completely given way to terror, and so even after the atrocity he had committed against her and the other civilians of New Bark Town, she smiled gratefully at him, relieved beyond words. "R-really?!"

"Of course I wouldn't kill you," Necrozma promised, helping her to her feet with his cold, metal grasp.

"But...why-"

Necrozma pulled her in close suddenly, whispering into her ear. "Because, my dear. It will be far more entertaining watching the flames do it for me."

The girl's blood ran cold and she tried to pull away from the dark beast and, of course, failed. She desperately pulled against Necrozma's grasp, crying and pleading for mercy. She received none. Necrozma cackled at her darkly and summoned an invisible force to push her backwards. She fell to her hands and knees, desperately screaming and trying to crawl forwards, but Necrozma's force kept dragging her backwards. She let out an ear-piercing scream as her feet made contact with the flames. The helpless young trainer grabbed desperately at the grass as if it could possibly save her from her fate. Her necklace fell from her head and onto the charred grass beneath.

One last cry was all she could muster before she was swallowed by the fire completely, screaming and tearing at herself in a desperate, mindless attempt to swat away the flames. Yet still, the flames consumed her. It tore away at her clothes, then her hair, and then her flesh. Necrozma gave her one last dark laugh before she collapsed to the ground, then turned to ash.

Necrozma wiped away a makeshift tear from his laughing fit. "Ah, that never gets old." He then floated up back into the sky to oversee the town. People and Pokemon were scrambling around in a desperate attempt to escape, pleading for their lives. Necrozma chuckled at the sight and turned up to the sky. Now that his announcement was complete, he could return to Xurkitree and the rest of his fleet to await the next five days before their grand arrival.

"Hmmm...then again…" He turned back towards the burning town, a sadistic metaphorical grin sliding up his face, "I suppose I could stay a while longer…"

A dark cackle echoed throughout the night as Necrozma descended back into the town.


Ash awoke with a jolt. The last thing he remembered was he and the others falling from that platform after Sabrina had been defeated thanks to Zero's help. Speaking of the others, what happened to them? He looked around and found that he was inside a Pokemon center on one of the benches. People crowded around, happily chattering away.

Ash raised an eyebrow. Weren't they all dolls? Or maybe since Sabrina was defeated, they went back to normal? But then, why were they acting casual, like nothing happened? The entire city should be in ruins and yet...He got up from the bench and looked outside. Not a thing was out of place. Every building was back on its' hinges, standing proudly once more.

"What the?!" Ash exclaimed, "What happened?!" He ran outside the Pokemon Center, after taking his bag of course, and stared up in awe at the city. Every building seemed to shine silver or gold with the sun glinting off of them brightly. Was that all a dream? But...if it was a dream, then why were they still in Saffron City?!

"Take it easy there," A gruff voice spoke to him, "You look like you're gonna blow a gasket!"

To Ash's side was Adam, though he looked noticeably less...wrinkly...The once-old man waved at Ash. "So, looks like you're finally awake!"

"It's you!" Exclaimed Ash, "What happened?! The city's back to normal, and-wait, where is everyone?!"

Adam laughed at the young teen's antics. "Well, good to see you're lively. Anyways, I can imagine you're confused. Your friends are fine, by the way. They woke up a while back and decided to head out to take a look 'round the city since you were still conked out. Your Pokemon went back in their Pokeballs too, so the girl with you, the taller one, decided to let Nurse Joy take care of em for a little while."

Ash sighed in relief, "Well, that's good to hear...but…" A look of concern and fear took hold of Ash's face. "What happened to Sabrina?"

"Ayee…" Remarked Adam, rubbing the back of his neck, "Sabrina...well, she's still kicking if that's what you're asking. She ended up snapping out of whatever happened to her that made her like this after you guys knocked her out. Though, I had to convince her not to kill me on sight once she woke up." His gaze wandered towards the Gym, and a guilty frown appeared on his face, "I managed to get through to her, somehow, and when she realized what she had done...it wasn't pretty. Let's just say there was a lot of tears and stuff. She ended up fixing the city and turned everyone back to normal. Luckily, they didn't remember a thing, or else this would be a lot more complicated."

"I see," Ash said, "So that's why everyone's acting like nothing happened."

Adam nodded, "Yeah, it's probably for the best. I could imagine they wouldn't exactly be happy with Sabrina after all this if they knew what was going on...but...Sabrina and my wife still know, and they're not exactly happy with me. After she fixed everything, Sabrina stormed off back to her room in her Gym and closed the doors. My wife has been refusing to leave the front of her door, and neither of them will talk to me…"

"Sounds rough," Ash replied with a compassionate wince, "But wait. When we were all falling from that platform...I only caught a glimpse before I fell unconscious, but…"

"Yeah, it was me," Adam told him, "I overheard that little speech about forgiveness and chances or whatever before you guys fought Sabrina and...well, let's just say if it weren't for that, I might not have shown up."

Despite the coldness of Adam's words, Ash couldn't help but smile at him. "Still, Adam, I gotta say thanks. If it weren't for you, we might not have made it."

Adam merely shrugged, "Well, I suppose it's the least I could do for saving me and all that back in the alleyway. Anyways, I gotta get back to Sabrina and my wife."

"Oh, you're actually going back?" Ash exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

Adam huffed. "Oh, hardy-har-har. Yeah, I'm headin' back. This whole fiasco was my fault to begin with because I was a negligent, worthless piece of shit for a father." He shook his head, staring towards Sabrina's Gym with a look of resolution he hadn't had in years. "I'm not gonna make that mistake again. Even if those two hate me...still, I...I gotta…"

Ash placed a hand on his shoulder and gave the older man a smile. "No, it's great that you want to fix things! I'm sure they'll open up to you again in time."

Adam heaved out a long-winded sigh. "I hope so, kid. I hope so." With that, he began to make his way towards the Gym, ready to start the long process of undoing the mess he created over the past few years.

Ash watched him go until Adam disappeared into the crowd. "...Well," He said to himself, "Should I go try to find the others?" He pondered the option for a few moments, then shook his head. "Nah, I'd probably end up just getting lost if I went off on my own. I should head back to the Pokemon Center for now."

Making up his mind, Ash began to make his way back to the Pokemon Center. What exactly he'd do there besides get his Pokemon back, he was unsure. Maybe he'd challenge a few random trainers...then again, his Pokemon were probably too tired from the previous night, if the aching he himself felt from his muscles was any indication.

Ash walked through the doors and approached the Nurse Joy attending the desk. "Excuse me," He said to her, "My name is Ash Ketchum. A girl named Serena deposited my Pokemon here, right?"

The Nurse Joy nodded, "Yes, I recall a girl named Serena dropping off some Pokemon here. Which ones were yours again?"

"Pikachu, Sceptile, Infernape, Hawlucha, Goodra and Noivern," Ash responded, counting the Pokemon off with his fingers.

The Nurse Joy nodded once more, "Yes, they're all back in their Pokeballs after having rested, save the Pikachu who refused to return."

"Yeah, Pikachu doesn't really like his Pokeball, so I just have him up on my shoulder all the time," Ash told her, "Anyways, they're all doing fine, right?"

"For the most part," Answered Nurse Joy, "They had relatively minor wounds, but they were all exhausted beyond belief! Come to think of it, your whole group looked as if they hadn't gotten any sleep in days! What exactly happened to you?"

Ash could only laugh at the irony of that question, considering she was, in a way, a part of what they had all gone through the previous night. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

After having gotten his Pokemon back, Ash went back to the bench he woke up on and sat down. He was unsure of what to do next. Even as his muscles ached, he was itching for another Pokemon battle to stave off his boredom, yet looking at Pikachu who could barely stay awake upon his shoulder, told him that battling was out of the question for now.

So, he sighed and sat back into the bench to relax. Or so he'd hoped. Relaxation was something that often evaded an energetic boy such as Ash. Every fiber of his being itched and ached at him to move. It was as if his very body hated the idea of being idle, for even a second. But what to do? His eyes wandered around the Pokemon Center, desperately trying to find something to do. His eyes landed upon a few young trainers at a row of computer terminals, chatting away with various faces on the screens.

It had been quite some time since he had called back to Professor Oak, after all. Catching up with Tracy couldn't hurt either. Then there was, of course...he gulped, realizing he was in for quite a scolding...his mother. He gently lifted Pikachu from his shoulder and placed his partner down onto the bench to rest, then made his way to one of the open computer terminals. The trainer pressed a large red button and, surely enough, Professor Oak appeared on the screen after a few moments.

"Ash, my boy!" Exclaimed the grey-haired professor, "It's been a while! So, what's the occasion?"

"Nothing much," Ash replied, "Just checking in. I'm in Saffron City at the moment."

Oak's eyes widened, "Wait, really? Hadn't you heard about the news about that place recently?! Everyone ended up disappearing."

Ash grinned at him and stepped away from the terminal, allowing Professor Oak to see the large crowd of people within the Center. "Well, as you can see," Ash said with a prideful grin, "That doesn't seem to be the case anymore!"

Oak looked completely flabbergasted. "Wha-?! But I...just yesterday, the news said...wait," The professor's expression shifted to a knowing smile, now having an inkling as to what might of occured, "You didn't have anything to do with this, by chance, did you?"

Ash chuckled, "Well what can I say? Things just happen to work out when I'm around, y'know?"

"That right?" A voice spoke behind him. Riley and Lucario had just entered the Pokemon Center, and the former was smirking at Ash's self-compliments.

"Oh, h-hey Riley," Stammered Ash, rubbing the back of his head.

Riley chuckled dryly at him. "Yeah, hey to you too, big-shot. But yeah, Professor, Ash here did play a part in fixing this whole mess regarding Saffron City."

Professor Oak raised an eyebrow at the newcomer. "Oh? Who might you be? I don't believe we've had the pleasure of becoming acquaintances."

"Of course," Riley responded, taking off his hat to briefly bow, "My name is Sir Riley of the Aura Guardians, though you may call me Riley."

"The Aura Guardians?" Professor Oak exclaimed curiously, leaning forward into the screen to get a clearer look of him, "I had read up on those a few times before, but the documentations were so scarce that I believed they were nothing more than a myth!"

Riley held up his hand, summoning a miniature Aura Sphere to demonstrate. "I can assure you, professor, we're quite real, though I do admit we're coming in...short stock these days."

"Fascinating," Oak remarked, "But it is unfortunate that your numbers are dwindling."

"I agree," Replied Riley, "But unfortunately, there is little I can do about that besides spread the knowledge of our talents to another."

Oak's eyes glistened at that. The scientific breakthroughs that could be made with Aura were innumerable. "It can be taught?! To think that such a thing could-"

Riley laughed and waved him off. "Sorry, professor, but it can't be taught to just anyone. You have to have a…" He took a moment to ponder the correct choice of words, "Certain aptitude, so to speak. An inborn talent to be able to use it."

Oak sat back in his chair, a little disappointed. "I see," He said, "Well, that is a shame. So, Sir Riley, is there anyone you're currently training?"

Riley chuckled and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, "Take a wild guess."

Ash grinned and flared his Aura, just a tad so that it was visible but wouldn't attract any unwanted attention from the surrounding trainers.

Oak marveled at the sight, his mouth agape. "A-Ash?! I had no idea that he would…" He stopped in his tracks, and then a grin took the place of his surprised expression, "Scratch that. I suppose if anyone could have the potential for something like that, it would be you, Ash."

Ash smiled at the professor's kind words. "Thanks, professor! That means a lot coming from you. By the way, I also wanted to talk to mom and Tracy. Are they around?"

"Your mother, huh?" Mused Riley, "Well, I suppose getting to meet her couldn't hurt."

"Well, you just missed Tracy actually," The professor replied, "He left to go on a trip to Unova to document a tribe of people called the Dragon Tribe. Hey, come to think of it, didn't you meet one of them during your trip through Unova?"

Ash's eyes flickered, remembering whom the Professor was talking about. Their relationship was an odd one. She was loyal enough as a friend, but her nagging was on the level of Misty if not surpassing it, which ended up with them butting heads often. "Oh yeah, Iris! I ended up journeying with her through Unova along with one of the Gym Leaders named Cilan."

Professor Oak nodded, "I see. Well, I'll have Tracy look out for her if he can. Anyways, about your mother. She's off in Viridian City at the moment doing some shopping. It'll probably be a few hours before she returns."

"Well, that's a shame," Ash said genuinely, "It's been a while since I got to see her."

Oak nodded, "Yes, it is unfortunate. You could wait around for her, but knowing you, that won't exactly be happening, right?"

Ash chuckled and nodded, "You know me well, professor. Yeah, we probably won't be sticking around much longer. Then again, I think our next course of action would be to go down to Koga's Gym down in Fuchsia city, which is pretty far away."

"Actually, it's Janine's Gym now," Oak informed him, "Koga ended up becoming a member of the Indigo League's Elite Four a while back."

Their conversation went on like this, chattering away with one another until Ash's timer on the terminal began running short. So, he asked the Professor one final question before his time as up.

"Say, professor, how's Talonflame coming along?"

Oak's brow furrowed in thought. "Talonflame? So far Professor Kukui hasn't been able to extract that power from it again. Not even in the slightest. It's rather vexing indeed."

"Hmm," Mused Ash, "Well, if that guy hasn't had any luck with Talonflame, maybe I will. There's no real point in keeping them there if Talonflame isn't learning anything."

"Well, I wouldn't say Talonflame learned nothing," Replied Oak, "Professor Kukui is the world's leading expert on Pokemon attacks, after all. I'm sure that even though Talonflame hasn't been able to use Firestorm again, it was able to at least get some decent training in."

"Firestorm?" Asked Ash.

"Oh, that's simply what Professor Kukui named the attack. Anyways, you said you wanted Talonflame back, right? I've already notified Kukui via text messaging, but you're carrying a full party, so you'll need to swap someone out."

"Actually," Started Ash, "I was going to wait on that a bit. Just have that Kukui guy send Talonflame over to your place for now."

"Will do, Ash," Replied Professor Oak, "But our time is running short. Be sure to-"

The screen became like static, letting out a crackled, garbled electric noise before the monitor shut off entirely. "What the?!" Ash exclaimed, "Hey, my time wasn't up yet!" Riley put a hand on his shoulder and directed his vision towards the other monitors, which had shut down as well. "It's not just you, Ash. There must be a power-outage or something." Surely enough, the lights inside the Pokemon Center had shut off as well. The Nurse Joy at the counter ran into a door behind her, likely to turn on the emergency power for the more-injured Pokemon that might be in the back.

The confused cries of the masses rose up from the crowd inside the Pokemon Center. Then, a similar noise from the outside overshadowed it. Ash, having picked up his exhausted Pikachu and placing him back on his shoulder, ran outside with Riley to find that power to the entire city was cut off, and mobs of confused people were racing around trying to get to the bottom of it.

"Geez," Ash remarked, yelling over the sound of the crowd, "This must be some power outage! The entire city's gone down! Maybe Sabrina misplaced a few cables when fixing up the place?"

Riley shook his head, and his face went pale. "I don't think that's what this is. I feel something terrible! Even more so than Sabrina!" Lucario scowled in a cold sweat, feeling the same sensation his partner did.

Come to think about it, Ash noticed that he felt queasy as well. Then that queasiness became full-blown nausea, and he had to force himself to sit down to avoid collapsing from the dizziness. What's more, his eyes had began to glow cyan once more. Then, a shrill, high-pitched noise erupted over the entire city, forcing everyone to cover their ears in an attempt to block it out. Yet...they couldn't. No matter what they did, the noise stayed, tearing at their ears. It was as if the noise was coming from inside their own heads. Then, all became silent. In place of the noise, a wave of dread swarmed over the city, making everyone become sickeningly pale with a fear they couldn't comprehend why they were feeling. A voice, one that sounded dark and metallic, boomed from within the minds of the city's inhabitants.

"Inhabitants of this planet, I am Necrozma. You could call me an alien of sorts. I have come to your planet for but one purpose: CONQUEST! My forces will arrive on this pathetic planet in but a mere five days. Should you wish to survive, you must amass the largest army you can muster and meet me in Goldenrod City. Should you happen to lose the battle, or fail to show up, then your lives and your world are forfeit. Nothing will remain of you or your world. And so, just in case you decide not to take my words at face value...allow me to demonstrate my declaration of war!"

The dark, metallic voice began laughing like a madman, followed by the ear-piercingly loud sound of an explosion followed by hundreds if not thousands of voices screaming...then silence as the message was cut off, leaving everyone in a dumbfounded stupor. Thousands of questions collectively ran through the minds of all who'd heard the message, but no one could dare move or speak to ask them, let alone answer them. For no one could possibly have any answers to whatever supernatural occurrence that had just taken place.

Finally, a bewildered Ash whose eyes were as wide as dinner plates dared to step back to his feet and ask: "What...was that…?" And then all hell broke loose. The people of Saffron City and, not to Ash's knowledge, the entire world began panicking, running around frantically like chickens with their heads cut off. To where they were running, they didn't know. They simply had to run. Ash, Riley and Lucario quickly stuck together as to not be swept away and separated from one another, all while Pikachu desperately clung onto Ash's shoulder for the same reason.

"What the hell was that?!" Ash exclaimed, shielding himself from the rushing crowd.

Riley was in the same predicament. "I have no idea! But whatever that was, it can't have been good!"

"Obviously!" Ash retorted, "But what are we going to do?!"

Riley grunted as a particularly large man collided with him, but managed to hold his ground. "I have no idea! We have to actually figure out what it is first and then meet up with…"

Their blood ran cold as they remembered their other friends who were out shopping elsewhere, probably halfway across the city by now. "Oh crap, Serena and Zero!"

If Riley, Ash and Lucario were having trouble staying together and in one piece in a crowd like this, then they could only imagine what Serena and Zero were going through. They imagined the two girls being swept away by a crowd of people in one of the malls, only there would be less space in there. Not to mention the people clamoring to get to the elevators and stairways if they were on one of the upper floors.

The panicking crowd stopped suddenly as a series of electrical sparks began sounding off throughout the city, followed by technological hums. The city's electricity had turned back on, and news screens began taking up every last television screen, computer screen and phone screen imaginable. A newswoman quickly ran into the seat at the face of the camera and cleared her throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen," She announced with an urgent hastiness in her voice, "We seem to have undergone some sort of paranormal event that has swept not only across entire regions, but across the entire world as we know it!" Behind the newswoman, images of terrified crowds of people rushing through different cities appeared on a screen. Ash recognized Lumiose City and, of course, Goldenrod City among them. "A message from an unknown entity calling itself Necrozma has spread throughout the minds of seemingly every single person in the world! As we speak, hundreds of thousands of people are reporting the incident every minute, and millions are panicking, searching for answers! The city hit by this phenomenon worst of all is, of course, Goldenrod City, which was explicitly mentioned by this 'Necrozma'! As of now we are unsure as to what exactly-"

The woman was cut off by a man running onto the news set and whispering something to her.

"What? Are you serious?!"

The woman cleared her throat as the man left the set, but she looked even more pale and terrified than before. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've just received word that New Bark Town of Johto is under attack as we speak!" The image behind her cracked with static, then changed to an image of a burning city. Horrific imagery of people flailing from within the flames and others desperately running to try and escape, only to be cornered by more fire that closed in on them faster and faster with each passing second appeared. Ash had to force himself not to vomit on the spot, but lost the will to look. Riley, meanwhile, was seething with rage seeing the countless lives being lost by the second.

"We are unsure if these two phenomenon are connected, but as it stands, it is the most likely explanation for the attack, nor can we confirm or deny that this Necrozma being is responsible for the calamity at the Orange Islands that took the lives of thousands of people, or the mysterious disappearance of Johto's Mt. Quena. We do, however, have multiple reports of Legendary Pokemon appearing at all of these sights except New Bark Town, such as Lugia and the Three Elemental Birds at Orange Islands and Rayquaza and Arceus himself at Mt. Quena. Arceus also made an appearance at the aftermath of the Orange Islands and briefly undid the damage, but, according to eyewitness reports, allowed the damage to return after being unable to revive those lost to that tragedy and disappeared. Authorities are currently being sent to combat whatever has attacked New Bark Town, be it this Necrozma being or otherwise, and it is advised to stay away from New Bark Town at all costs. As far as we know, no more attacks of this degree have occured and it is safe to return to your everyday lives. I repeat, it is safe to resume your everyday lives."

She fumbled with her papers a bit, then, in a less-alarmed tone, began the rest of her news. "On another note, the mysterious disappearance of Saffron City's citizens has been, remarkably, undone. What exactly happened is unknown, but a large cloud of fog surrounded the city just yesterday and when it dispersed…"

Riley cut off the newswoman suddenly, "Ash, I think she's about to cover what we did," He whispered, "Let's get out of here, quickly."

Ash stared up at him questioningly, "What for?"

"The people here don't know what happened. When they do, they'll just start panicking again, so we should find Zero and Serena as quickly as possible, then get out of here!"

Ash nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense. We'd just end up getting swamped again if we stick around, but…"

"But?!" Riley exclaimed, "Ash, we gotta go!"

"What about Sabrina?" Asked Ash, "What if they find out about her and what she did, then attack her?"

Riley hummed, seeing Ash's point. If this news lady mentioned something about Sabrina being involved, if she even knows anything about it, then Sabrina and her family would likely be driven out of the city. Nevertheless, he shook his head. "This may sound cruel to you, Ash, but we can't stick around to help her. The people of New Bark Town need our help more right now. We need to leave before there's no longer anything left to save."

Ash grimaced, but ultimately saw Riley's point. "Yeah, you're right. But...how are we going to find Serena and Zero? They could be anywhere, and this city's huge!"

"Well, that's simple," Riley said, allowing a smirk to appear even at a grim time like this, "It's time for your next Aura lesson: sensing people."

"Sensing people?" Asked Ash, "Like detecting where people are?"

"There's more to it than that," Riley told him, "You've already learned how to sense the presence of others on your own, but you've yet to learn how to differentiate between different people."

He pointed out two random people standing amongst the crowd. "Go on, sense those two."

Ash nodded and lit his Aura, though only in his eyes as to not draw attention. His vision went blue and the sight of the two bystanders was swapped with two signatures of Aura, characterized by human-shaped cyan flames. He was able to concentrate solely on them and blot out the countless other aura signatures surrounding them, but still could not find any difference between the two of them, no matter how much he tried.

"You see them, right?" Riley asked, to which Ash nodded, "Good, then allow me to reveal how to differentiate the two of them. The hint is that it doesn't rely on sight, sound or any other sense. Though 'feel' might be a good place to start, this type of sensing is a different sense altogether. A sixth sense, if you will. For instance, Zero's Aura would be easy to feel, as it feels prickly and painful, and of course, it's crimson."

Riley motioned around the three of them to the surrounding crowd. "Since Zero's Aura should be easy enough to sense, and you're quite familiar with being in contact with it, you should be able to sense her easily."

Ash nodded, though he still looked unsure of his abilities. "Alright, I'll try." Staring around himself, Ash activated his 'Aura-vision' once more. The crowd of people was replaced with a crowd of human-shaped Auric flames, and so, he began walking with Riley and Lucario behind him. He wasn't sure where, he was simply hoping that he would see or feel Zero's Aura and go from there. Though as he walked, he made sure to try and 'feel' every Aura signature that came close to him and tried differentiating them from each other. It was far more difficult to him than he thought it would be. On top of them all looking the same barring size, hardly a thing about them 'felt' any different from the other. Then again, he wasn't exactly given clues on what to look or feel for either.

So, Ash partially gave up on feeling around for different Auric signatures and simply looked around for any sign of red. As they made their way past the Gym, Ash couldn't help but curiously peer inside to see what Sabrina's felt like. It, unlike the sea of blue Aura they were passing through, was yellow.

"Hey, Riley," Ash said, "Sabrina's Aura is yellow. What does that mean?"

Riley stared pitifully at the Gym, "It means that she's...under a lot of stress to put it lightly. When people are under stress or feeling negatively, their Aura will begin to become negative as well. It ranges from a deep blue for the average positive person then becomes a lighter shade of blue as it becomes negative. It becomes lighter until it shifts from blue altogether, then becomes a very light shade of green, then yellow until it finally lands on a deep crimson red, which is the peak negativity anyone can stand. You're already familiar with that particular type of Aura. Any more than that, and you'd probably die."

Ash cringed. He'd already seen and felt a portion of Zero's memories firsthand, but now he had even more pity for her. To think, she was at the peak of pain and hate...he'd have to make sure to fix that someday. A thought struck him out of that particular train of thought. Riley said as people begin to become more negatively-attuned, their Aura would shift from a deep blue to a lighter-shade of blue over time. Riley's Aura was cyan.

"Hey, Riley," Said Ash, though Riley's attention was fixated on something else, "You said Aura becomes lighter at first when you're more negatively-attuned. But...your Aura-"

"Hey, Serena!" Riley called out suddenly, interrupting Ash, "Over here!" Apparently this Aura lesson was over.

Surely enough, amongst the crowd ahead of them was Serena who was holding fast onto Zero's hand to make sure she didn't end up lost. Her gaze snapped to her name being called, and she smiled at seeing Riley and Ash. "Heeeey!" She called out, waving her free hand. Quickly, she pushed through the crowd with Zero at her side, looking very nonplussed at being dragged around, and made her way over to her friends.

Ash quickly abandoned his questioning of Riley's Aura to make sure Serena and Zero were okay. "Hey!" He called back to her, "You guys alright?!"

Serena and Zero approached their friends, having freed themselves of the crowd. "For the most part, yeah," Answered Serena, "But I swear, that Necrozma guy nearly gave me a heart attack! And New Bark Town…" She winced, frowning deeply at the sight of the people, quite literally, being burned into her memory.

Zero had a look on her face that seemed like she couldn't decide if she was enraged or saddened, ending up in a creased pout. "Necrozma…" She hissed, "We must stop it…"

Riley nodded, "Of course. I was thinking the same thing, Zero." His gaze turned to Ash and Serena. "I suppose you two share the same sentiment?"

"Of course!" Replied Ash, "No way am I just going to sit around while people are being killed like that!"

Serena, meanwhile, looked unsure. "I want to help too, but...those people…" The memory of seeing them literally being consumed by the flames haunted her memory. There's no way something like that should be shown on television, especially to the entire world. Seeing that in person...would be something she would never be able to forget. Then again, if she cowered out, they would continue to die… She shook her head, clearing her head of such thoughts. "Nevermind...of course I'm in!"

Riley grinned at her, "Then it's settled. Off to New Bark Town!"

"How are we going to get there?" Ash asked the obvious question, "There's no way any planes are going there right now, if any are going anywhere at all after that power-outage." Not to mention, their Flying Types were in relatively short stock, especially since Hawlucha couldn't even fly, and Noivern alone obviously couldn't carry all three of them, let alone all the way to Johto.

Serena pointed backwards, towards the direction Zero and her had just met back up with Ash and Riley. "Back there, there was a monorail. One of them might get us to Johto, and we can find a way to work from there."

"Then that's where we're going," Riley announced, "Let's go!"


Hall of Origins

The Legendary Pokemon hastily rushed through their portals and into the Hall where they met under Arceus' orders typically. Though this time, Arceus gave no such order. He hadn't the time to do so. This time, the Legends entered the Hall of Origins of their own volition with terror in their eyes. Even the Lord of the Distortion World, Giratina himself, looked uneasy. Each and every one of them had heard Necrozma's message, and so now, they turned to their God-father for aid.

"I see," Arceus spoke, "So Necrozma finally makes his move…"

Xerneas approached Arceus and knelt down into a bow. "Milord, Lugia and the Three Elemental Birds have awoken."

Arceus nodded. "And not a moment too soon, it seems. Bring them in."

Wordlessly, Xerneas nodded and walked down to the end of the hall where there was a colossal white door. As the Pokemon of Life approached the door, she stopped suddenly, stamped down, and allowed her energy to flow into it. Streams of rainbow-colored life energy pulsed from Xerneas and into four inlets of the door. In response, the door creaked loudly, opening outward. Immediately, Lugia and the three birds took to their rightful places amongst the Hall. Though, they obviously weren't the same. The Trio of Birds were always particularly wild, but now it had been taken to an entire new level. Hatred practically emanated from their piercing glare, but what disturbed the members of the Hall most was Lugia.

The Guardian of the Sea was rasping out heated breaths, like a starving animal. His pupils were shrunken down to personify his rage, shocking even the most stoic of the Legends except for Arceus, who merely gave them a saddened stare. He had expected them to be like this upon awakening, especially after he forcefully put Lugia into a comatose state to prevent his raging from interfering with his healing process. Though now, save for the appendage Necrozma had torn from him, he was completely healed and ready for vengeance.

Lugia stared into Arceus' crimson eyes, unwavering. Arceus met his stare, unflinching as well. It was as if they were in some kind of morbid staring contest, like Lugia was sizing up his lord-father and judging if he was still worth following. Finally, he broke his gaze away and bowed, rasping, "Lord Arceus."

"It is good to see that you have mostly healed," Arceus said.

"Mostly?" Lugia questioned, "My wounds, save the obvious one, have healed thanks to Xerneas. I am in perfect condition! The greatest physical state of my life! I am in the perfect state...to tear that Necrozma limb from limb."

Arceus let out a long-winded sigh, closing his eyes briefly. "Lugia...while your wounds have healed, you are obviously far from fine. I, along with everyone else here, can tell you only have revenge for your injuries, your home and your pride on your mind. That is very much unlike you."

Lugia scowled at him, "Am I supposed to have tranquil thoughts of flower gardens, milord?"

Giratina stifled a laugh.

"I am not saying your thoughts are unwarranted," Arceus told his, one-of-many, sons, "I, too, yearn for Necrozma's end. His thoughtless massacre has gone on for far too long!" The Alpha Pokemon stared down at Deoxys and the Legends of the Sun and Moon. "...Far, far too long. Long before ever coming here, that demon has slaughtered entire civilizations by the billions. I cannot forgive that…" His gaze turned upward, and he raised his head high like that of a god should do. His crimson eyes glowed, and he allowed his overwhelming divine power to seep from his body, nearly shaking the entire hall. "And I cannot forgive him for what he has done to our home!"

His gaze turned to Deoxys first, "You, who have had to watch your civilization burn and flee to ours."

Then, he turned to Lugia and Mewtwo, who had been let in, seeing as this was now his problem too. "And you, who have had your homes completely destroyed...and of course…"

Arceus's gaze softened slightly, turning down to the young Keldeo with a sad stare. "...You, who have had your family taken from you…" The Lord of the Pokemon next turned back to Solgaleo and Lunala, but neglected to mention the theory of Necrozma's Origin for fear of setting off Lugia and the Birds. The last thing he needed was for the Hall to collapse in on itself.

Lugia's mouth opened in shock at hearing that, and his hate-filled gaze subsided, if only a little. He gazed down at the only remaining member for the Swords of Justice, but the young Keldeo merely stared down at the whitened floor.

Arceus gazed upwards again and summoned a translucent screen. What was on that screen was sickening to even the most hardened, cold of the Legends. It was a burning town, where people and Pokemon alike were meeting their end amongst the flames by the second. "This," The Alpha Pokemon boomed, "Is Necrozma's latest attack. Now, he's extended his wrath to the humans and ordinary Pokemon as well."

Keldeo let out a shocked gasp, "What?! Then, let's go stop him! We're all here, so we have the greatest chance of beating him now!"

Arceus shook his head, "It is unknown as to whether Necrozma is still even there. He has no life force and is practically invisible in the dark, so it is impossible to say if the demon has already left or not. Not to mention, we're still down a member." He turned to Kyogre and Groudon, who shrunk underneath the pressure of Arceus' stern gaze. "I trust that you never found Yveltal, right?" The Pokemon of Land and Sea merely shook their heads.

"I'm sorry," Groudon said, "We went to where Yveltal had landed, but he was nowhere to be found! He disappeared!"

Kyogre nodded shakily, feeling the rage Arceus was trying, and failing, to suppress. "W-we think that Yveltal might have been completely destroyed by that attack!"

"Impossible," Arceus snapped, "Yveltal cannot die so easily. If he had truly died, he would have simply absorbed the life force of his surroundings and came back to life." His red-hot glare of pure, divine rage pierced the two Legends to their cores. "No...what really happened was that you two had refused to co-operate with one another and abandoned the mission I had entrusted you with, am I correct?"

A fear that the typically-proud masters of the land and sea had rarely felt paralyzed them. The fury of Arceus was something to never be taken lightly. Even still, they managed to stammer out an excuse.

"N-no, Lord Arceus!" Groudon retorted in a whimpering tone that sounded like he was begging for his very life. "Kyogre and I may be enemies, but we would never disobey your orders! We would follow your orders to the end, sir!"

Arceus kept up his death stare for a few moments, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it and allowed his crimson gaze to falter. "Fine, then. We'll sort this out in the time given to us."

Groudon grimaced. 'He doesn't believe us…'

Keldeo growled furiously, "We still have to try! Even if we can't stop Necrozma right now, there are people and Pokemon dying! They need our help!"

"Indeed they do," Replied Arceus, "But right now, we cannot help them. Yveltal is one of our most powerful assets, as he would be able to drain Necrozma's forces of their life force to fuel our own. Without him, battling Necrozma would be far more difficult than necessary."

"Necrozma doesn't even have his forces yet!" Keldeo shot back, "And what's with you?! Why are you fighting me on this?! Those people are dying and you won't do anything?! Even if Necrozma's still there, we could chase him off!"

"And get the remaining humans killed for certain," Arceus retorted, "With every Legend fighting Necrozma, the area would become nothing more than a crater by the end of it. If we leave them, there's a chance at least some will escape. If we don't, they'll all be dragged into the fight and die anyways."

Keldeo's scowl contorted the equine Legend's face. "And what if he's not there?! We'd be leaving them to die!"

Arceus' patience was beginning to wear thin. With his eyes narrowed at Keldeo strictly, he replied, "If Necrozma is no longer there, then they'll find a way out with little issue."

"Which is all the more reason to go, so there will be less casualties!"

"And if he is still there, how many casualties will the Legends suffer if we go there while we are still unprepared? Some of us carry the very balance of our world in their hands. Should they die, how many more people and Pokemon will follow?"

"What are you saying?!"

Arceus' impatient stare intensified, silencing Keldeo. "What I am saying is that not even I had the power to fell Necrozma in our previous duel. As we are now, we are un-coordinated and ill-prepared to take him on...what I'm saying is, as we are now, we will lose…"

Those words shook the Legends to their core. Even the stoic or hardened Legends like Lugia, Giratina and Rayquaza's jaws nearly dropped Panic began brewing within the hall, sending the Legends into a frenzy of panicked questions and remarks.

"What?!"

"You can't be serious!"

"You do not mean that, Lord Arceus! You cannot mean that!"

"I do." The Legends were silenced, put into a dread-induced stupor as their hope drained away. "As we are now, even if the entirety of the Legends fought Necrozma all at once, we do not have any sort of plan to defeat him, and our forces are weakened due to the loss of the Swords of Justice and the disappearance of Yveltal."

Arceus' intensity died down a bit, allowing the Legends to catch their breath a bit. "That being said, now that you are all here, it is the perfect time to make a plan. We, the Legends, alone cannot bring him down, but…if we can unite the entire world's population against Necrozma and his forces in broad daylight once he arrives in Goldenrod City, we may have a fighting chance."

"Milord," Rayquaza interjected with a bow, "By the entire world's population, you're not referring to the humans as well, are you?"

"Of course I am."

"You cannot be serious," Giratina hissed, "The humans are as unreliable as they come! They seek only self-profit, even if it means destroying whatever it takes to get it!"

"Something tells me that the survival of our world and, by extension, themselves will be more than enough of an incentive to fight," Arceus replied, "And not every human is completely selfish. I learned that from a very special human. There are those who would gladly sacrifice themselves for the sake of others."

Giratina scoffed. "Like your precious chosen one? One good human doesn't redeem the cesspool of scum that is the rest."

Arceus eyed Giratina knowingly. "I recall that he saved you too once. And it wasn't just him. There were others besides him that chose to come to your aid."

Giratina let out an enraged growl, but then, a devious grin came to the Renegade Pokemon's mouth. "Twice, actually. One of them was from you."

"And I have apologized deeply for that incident," Replied the Alpha Pokemon, "And Palkia and Dialga have already forgiven me for my grievous misdeeds that day. I was...lost to rage. The fury that comes with betrayal is blinding. Maddening. I have vowed to never return to such a state again."

Giratina let out an arrogant scoff. "Your "golden children" only forgive you because they're too terrified of you to ever say differently. As I recall, the moment we decided to side against you, you had no hesitation when you decided to smite us. They say they forgive you because they don't have the guts to tell you how they really feel, father. Only I do!"

"Silence!" Roared Rayquaza, "Lord Arceus has already repented for his actions back then! Not to mention you, who also betrayed Arceus long ago and tried to usurp his throne, have no right to criticize him!"

Giratina merely laughed at Rayquaza's attempt at an insult. "Oh, really? When I went berserk all those years ago, I get locked in a warped, empty plane of existence for all eternity, but when he does it, he gets off scot free? Truly, our Lord Arceus is the face of equality and justice."

Arceus stamped his heel, sending a wave of golden energy pulsing through the floor of the hall. "Enough! We've gone too far off track, and every second we spend bickering amongst ourselves is a second of preparation for the coming battle that is wasted!" He turned back to Giratina sternly, "But...you do have a point, Giratina. I have been unfair with you. You will be relinquished of your sentence and will be allowed passage between the Distortion World and the real one freely, with no time limit."

This sent a wave of disbelief throughout the entire hall. Especially Giratina, who had expected Arceus to brush off his remarks as always.

"You cannot mean that!" Rayquaza protested, "Giratina would sooner join Necrozma with his freedom than protect our world!"

Giratina, genuinely awed but still wary, replied, "...You know, he's got a point. Why trust me now of all times? You sure I won't just stab you in the back?"

"No," Replied Arceus with a coy look in his eye, "Because you will be given your freedom after Necrozma is slain, and I'm sure the both of us know what would be required for that to happen."

Giratina sunk down into his seat, glowering at Arceus, who was still giving him a knowing look. Almost a grin. If Giratina would be allowed his freedom, then he, too, would be forced to participate in the final battle against Necrozma. He would have to earn his freedom. "...Very well...father…"

Arceus nodded, then turned back to address the Hall of Origins. "I know you are all questioning such a decision, even if some of you dare not voice it. My reasoning for this is simple. If we are to emerge victorious in a time like this, then we will need every single one of us to be perfectly united against Necrozma. If even one of us is disorganized, we will fall." He turned back down to Keldeo. "I trust you now understand my stance on not aiding the people of New Bark Town now?"

Begrudgingly, Keldeo replied, "...Yes, Lord Arceus. Even if I don't agree with it, I can see your point."

"Good. Now then, as I was saying: We will need to unite every human and Pokemon. The humans, or at least the trainers, are necessary because they have skill on the field of battle. They can give strategic orders to the masses of Pokemon and prevent any inward chaos that may ensue, as well as organize the Pokemon on the battlefield. Now, onto our duties…"

Deoxys raised his hand. "Lord Arceus, I apologize for interrupting, but where is Lady Mew? She's the only Legend not present. Even her clone, Mewtwo has come!"

"I already spoke to her ahead of time," Answered Arceus, "Mew will be operating from inside the Tree of Life. I needn't explain this to most of you, but the Tree of Life is the main factor of our world that allows life to bloom on our planet. If it falls, then the majority of life on Earth will suffer immensely."

"I see," Deoxys said, lowering his arm, "Again, I apologize for interrupting."

Arceus merely nodded to him, "It is of no consequence, Deoxys. Now, as I was saying...we will have to be organized if we want any chance of defeating Necrozma. Unfortunately, I will be unable to join you all in the beginning. Here, I will spend the next five days gathering energy. Once I deem it to be enough, I will rush to your aid and defeat Necrozma. As for you…"

The Alpha Pokemon turned to face the Legends, eyeing the rows upon rows of godlike creatures with immense powers. But more importantly, he stared upon his many children whom he considered to be his pride and joy. "You all will need to fight as hard as you can to stop Necrozma from damaging our world before I arrive. You must focus on your greatest attributes and use them in tandem with one another. Teamwork is the most important factor."

"Of course, Lord Arceus!" Rayquaza boomed heartily, "I will do anything you ask! I will guard this world and my fellow Legends with my life if I must."

Lugia couldn't help but to let out a laugh. A mocking one, filled to the brim with ire and disbelief. "I'm sure, Rayquaza. You've been one hell of a guardian so far." His laughter died down and in its' place was a glare that was practically dripping with spite. "You never even knew Necrozma was here until it was too late! That demon slipped right on past your sight and tore apart the homes of both I and the Elemental Birds! He took from us something that cannot be retaken! Because of your inability to guard our world properly, we will never be the same!"

Rayquaza hung his head, bowing down in guilt. He could not hope to deny what Lugia had said, for all of it was correct. "You...you are right, Lugia. I have failed as a guardian, and I have failed Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and you...and for that, I cannot truly apologize enough."

With his tail, he pointed out the missing spike that had once been underneath Rayquaza's chin, then looked over to Mewtwo who was leaning against the bottom of Mew's pillar. "Not only have I failed you four, but while you were unconscious, Necrozma struck again and attacked Mewtwo's home. I managed to intercept him, but was unable to defeat him...I was nothing more than a ragdoll to that monster, and though I was able to allow Mewtwo and his underlings to escape, his home was completely eradicated, and to show for my failure, I have this…"

Lugia's eyes widened at the sight of Rayquaza's injury. He had a piece of his body torn from him as well. Nevertheless, his rage did not subside. In fact, it only furthered it. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! If you could not even phase that demon, you are unfit to be a guardian!"

"Hold your tongue!" Arceus ordered, "It is not your place to decide such things!"

Lugia snarled at the divine Pokemon. "Oh, is that right?! You would allow his failure to pass, then?!"

Arceus shook his head, "I would not. In fact, I already have not. After Rayquaza's duel with Necrozma, I revoked his status as guardian of the Earth, but not because of his failure. It is because I realized that stopping Necrozma alone is suicide, and I will not willingly put the lives of my children to death for an impossible cause!"

Lugia tried to speak up, likely another savage retort, but Arceus stopped him with a look that told him to be silent, so begrudgingly, he abided it. "Lugia," Arceus spoke, "I may have already mentioned this previously during this hall meeting, but I, too, dueled Necrozma after Rayquaza did, and had similar luck. I couldn't scratch him. If not even I could harm Necrozma, then what chance did Rayquaza ever have at stopping him?"

Lugia stared down in thought, then replied, "...I see. Yes, if even the 'almighty' Arceus could not stop that monster, then Rayquaza would surely be unfit for the job."

"Lugia, please," Arceus spoke with an exasperated sigh, "This isn't like you at all! I need you to realize just how dire of a situation this is, and normally, you would be completely level headed! I need you to trust in me if my plan is going to work!"

Lugia laughed dryly. "Trust in you? Level-headed? Like how you trusted in my level-headedness enough to put me to sleep because you feared I would do something you would regret?"

Arceus' gaze faltered, and and in its' place came a melancholy stare. "You...were in a berserked state. If I had let you rage about, you would have refused to be healed by Xerneas and likely went out to hunt down Necrozma by yourself, and gotten killed at that." He stared back up at Lugia with a tender stare no one in the hall had ever seen from the Alpha Pokemon before. "Listen, Lugia...you and all the other Legends are very dear to me. If you had died, then I myself would have likely gone completely berserk as well and followed your footsteps in hunting down Necrozma by myself...and died as well, dooming the entire world to death as well with no one left to properly defend against that monster. You, the other Legends, and every living creature on this world are my sons and daughters, down to the very last single-celled organism. I care for you immensely."

The Beast of the Sea let out a dry, short chuckle, then turned to the screen showing the people of New Bark Town helpless amongst the flames. "You love each and every one of us huh? Every last living thing? I think they would beg to differ."

Arceus winced. "You know that's for the greater good! If we intercepted now, then-"

"I don't want to hear it," Lugia spat back at him. With that, he returned to his seat, glaring death at any who dared to give him an odd look on the way there.

Arceus sighed deeply. "Very well, then. You may think what you will. For the rest of you, I need you to fill your roles the best you can. Xerneas, I'll need you to heal the fallen and supply whatever energy you can to the Legends. Any of you who can fly, keep an eye over the battlefield while fighting. The larger and more powerful amongst us here will fight on the front lines. For the smaller Legends, you stay behind them and attack at range. Provide support however you can do best. But…" He eyed some of the smallest, weakest Legends in the room, "Some of you simply aren't fighters. Manaphy, take your Phione children and flee to the far seas. You needn't worry about this clash."

Manaphy nodded. "As you wish, Lord Arceus…"

"The Regis are also inside the Tree of Life to defend it, so we cannot use them either," He mused, humming to himself in thought and sizing up the capabilities of the other remaining Legends, and though some came to mind as weak, he couldn't expend any more of them if they were to win. "...That is all, then," He announced, "You have your orders. Be prepared to march to Goldenrod City upon my order."

"Milord," Lunala spoke, "What about our theory about Necrozma's origin?"

Arceus paled a bit. 'Oh no.'

Lugia perked up, "I'm sorry, his what? Lord Arceus, that seems like a rather important detail to skip out on. By all means, enlighten me, you've peaked my interest now."

"It's unimportant," Arceus quickly replied, "It's only a theory as to his origin and nothing more-"

"No, no, no," Lugia protested, "By all means Lunala, go on."

"I'm telling you it's not important!"

"If it's not important, then why are you trying to hide it?!"

"I'm not trying to hide it, it's simply not crucial! Not only that, but I don't want our Hall of Origins meeting to be wasted!"

"What time?! Didn't you just tell everyone they were dismissed?! We have time to spare!"

Arceus was about to retort, but Lugia made sure to give him a remark he couldn't stand up to. "Arceus, you wanted me to trust you didn't you? Well, here's your chance! How am I supposed to trust you if you won't even let me hear out what Lunala has to say? If you're hiding something from me, how am I supposed to trust you at all?"

"I…" Arceus tried to retort, but couldn't. He knew Lugia had a point, but there's no telling what Lugia would do if he believed Solgaleo and Lunala's theory. Chaos would ensue, and that's the last thing he needed at a time like this. But, if Lugia knew he was hiding something from him, the last thing he would ever get from the Beast of the Sea was trust. "Very well," Arceus replied, hanging his head, "But if you don't like what you hear, don't blame me. Or Lunala and Solgaleo, for that matter. Remember, this is nothing more than conjecture."

A smile that Arceus couldn't tell was genuine or not came upon Lugia's face, and he bowed. "Thank you, milord." Then, he nodded at Lunala to continue, to which the Legend of the Moon mirrored Lugia's nod and cleared her throat.

"Right, then...you see, during the time Arceus briefly dueled Necrozma, we were able to catch a glimpse of his energy...and it felt familiar…"

"What?!" Lugia exclaimed, "But no one could sense him! Not I, the Elemental Birds or Rayquaza, given that he failed to stop him from slipping through! How could you do it?!"

Lunala huffed, but kept her composure, "Well, if you would let me finish, you might find out. Honestly, Lugia, you're acting like Giratina! It's disappointing."

Lugia glowered at her. The thought of being compared to what, for thousands of years, was seen as the scum among Legends made him fume internally. He dared a look at Giratina, who gave him an even greater look of disgust. "Tch," He spat, "Go on with your wretched story."

"It was you who asked to hear it," Lunala countered, but complied regardless, "Anyways, I'll just give you the abridged version, then. You see, Solgaleo and I sensed something familiar within Necrozma, but the sensation was fleeting and we could not make sense of it. We believe Necrozma may be...an old friend of ours from when we were young."

Solgaleo nodded and continued his counterpart's train of thought for her, "Lunala and I were not always in the form you see us in. We were initially much smaller creatures called Cosmog, and we lived in a separate dimension called Ultra Space. There was a third Cosmog with us at the time, and we swore to escape our world via Ultra Wormholes, which appear within that dimension from time to time and whisk away whatever is nearby. Well, one day, one did appear to us, but the third Cosmog was not with us at the time."

Lunala spoke next, "And so, we were whisked away to your world, morphing into the state you see us in now. Though that third Cosmog was left behind, and we believe that they somehow found another Ultra Wormhole to our world, but appeared far beyond where we did, and only now found us after conquering Deoxys' world and many others in some twisted fit of vengeance."

Lugia hummed in thought, closing his eyes to take in the information. Arceus looked on apprehensively. He could feel Lugia's rage bubbling, yet he dared not intervene for fear of worsening the situation. Lugia re-opened his eyes after a few moments and said, "So...what you mean to tell me, is that you are a potential reason for Necrozma's appearance. That the fault lies with both Deoxys and you lot?!"

Deoxys went to hiss a retort at the Beast of the Sea, but Arceus beat him to the punch. "That is enough, Lugia!' Arceus stamped his heel into his throne with such force that the entirety of the Hall of Origins, dimension and all, quaked. The Legends collectively scrambled out of their seats apprehensively, sensing the potential danger at hand. Arceus' Aura transformed from a golden-white to a dark, menacing crimson red and glared death into the Lugia's eyes. The Beast of the Sea was taken aback, and his own breath was caught in his throat in a terror he had forgotten the Lord of Legends was capable of instilling.

"The blame lies with no one, Lugia," Boomed Arceus, who had lost his patience. If appeasement and passiveness would not work with the Guardian of the Seas, then the force of the God of this world would. "You are so blinded by your hatred that you would take your frustrations out on your very brothers and sisters of the Hall! I will not allow it!"

"That sounds awfully familiar…" Giratina remarked, "Taking your blind rage out on your kin...doesn't it?"

Arceus allowed his rage to fade, though far from entirely, and turned to address his Renegade son. "...You are ever correct, Giratina. I was blinded by rage many times, and hurt the ones I care for many times. That is why I must now address my children...so that they do not make the same mistakes I did."

"I am no child," Lugia hissed, "Especially not one of yours. So you can keep your sickening family platitudes to yourself." Without waiting for the Father of Pokemon to be able to reply, Lugia returned to his portal. The three Elemental Birds went ahead of him, returning to their homes.

"Wait!" Arceus ordered, "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I recall that you said the Hall was dismissed a while ago, so I'm leaving. But don't worry, I am not going to shrink out on the battle against Necrozma…" He gave Arceus one last toothy smirk. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Then, Lugia disappeared, leaving the Hall of Origins.

Arceus let out an exhaust-filled sigh and lowered his head. After nearly a minute of the other Legends awaiting their father's next move with baited breath, the Alpha Pokemon raised his head once more to address the rest of the Hall. "...The rest of you are dismissed. I would get your affairs in order as best as you can, and prepare yourselves for war."

The Legends of the Hall of Origins nodded to Arceus collectively and began disappearing through their respective portal one after another. Deoxys was one of the last to go. He was lost in his own thoughts. On hand, he was elated that the chance to avenge his family and his world was at hand. On the other...the memory of the stygian galactic conqueror was burned into his mind, as was the dread that merely being in his presence inflicted. He wanted nothing more than the corpse of Necrozma to lay underneath his heel, but he was unsure of his own capability to make such a miracle occur. The DNA-based Pokemon shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts, as dwelling upon them would only make the wait more agonizing, and disappeared through his portal.

As Rayquaza was about to enter his own portal to go back to his charge of the upper atmosphere when he was, quite literally, stopped. A pinkish-purple glow took hold of the emerald-green, serpentine Legend, keeping him held still. The hold was released soon after it came, allowing Rayquaza to find the perpetrator. It was none other than Mewtwo.

"I apologize for that," Mewtwo told him, bowing his head a bit, "But I need to speak with you."

"There are other ways to make conversation than to freeze someone with Psychic powers, you know," Rayquaza replied with a small chuckle.

Mewtwo allowed a wry smile to creep up along his face, "Fair enough."

"So, then. What did you need of me?"

Mewtwo stared back up at the serpentine Legend. "I watched a portion of your duel with Necrozma. During that duel, you were able to transform yourself and increase your power immensely. I was wondering if you could teach me that technique."

"Ah," Rayquaza said, "You wish to learn Mega Evolution."

"So it is called Mega Evolution," Mewtwo mused, "Yes...I would very much like to learn how to perform such a thing. I will need all the power I can get if I am to be of help in the battle against Necrozma to come."

Rayquaza let out a deep, elongated hum, deep in thought. "...Mega Evolution is not something that can be taught to everyone. There are simply some Pokemon that can do it, and some who cannot. Among the Legends, there is only one other besides me who can perform it. Diancie, too, can use Mega Evolution, but she is directly born from the Mega Stones that ordinarily allow a Pokemon to undergo the transformation."

"Mega Stones?" Questioned Mewtwo.

Rayquaza nodded. "Mega Stones are unique stones mostly found within Kalos and Hoenn that allow certain Pokemon to channel their energy through the stone and another stone called a Keystone to undergo Mega Evolution and transform, becoming far more powerful than they are normally, but only for a given amount of time based upon their stamina."

Mewtwo frowned. "If the stones are naturally occuring and tied to certain Pokemon only, I may be out of luck. As you know, I myself am not exactly naturally occuring."

"Yes, I had thought of that," Rayquaza said, "But I don't think the lack of a Mega Stone will be the end. After all, I learned how to use Mega Evolution without one."

Hope returned to Mewtwo's eyes in the form of a glint. "Such a thing is possible?!"

"Indeed," Replied Rayquaza with a nod, "I am not one to give up hope so easily, and neither should you. I would be glad to teach you how to Mega Evolve if I can."

"I-I," Mewtwo stammered, "Thank you, Rayquaza…"

Rayquaza smiled down at the clone Pokemon. "Think nothing of it. Actually, consider this my apology for destroying your home in my battle against Necrozma."

As the two Legends left through Rayquaza's portal, only three legends remained behind. There was of course Arceus, who remained within the hall at almost all times, and his two original sons, barring Giratina, Palkia and Dialga who stayed behind.

"Palkia, Dialga?" Arceus asked with a questioning look upon his divine face, "Why do you remain? Is there something you wish to discuss with me in private?"

Palkia nodded, but was hesitant to speak. "...My lord-father…" He began, "We...wish to speak to you...regarding what Giratina said earlier…"

Arceus' blood ran cold for a moment, but a pang of guilt soon took place of the shock. 'So, then…' He thought to himself, 'Was he right after all?'

"In truth," Dialga spoke next, "There is a part of what Giratina has said that rings true. For a long time, we were terrified of you. Many of us still are."

"Not just us," Palkia followed up, "But the entire Hall of Origins. It started after your initial banishment of our brother, Giratina."

"It is not as if we're saying what you did was necessarily unjust," Dialga quickly added, "But at that time, your mannerism and tone...were unlike anything we had ever seen before. After Giratina had attempted to usurp your throne, you revealed a side of yourself that has left many of those amongst the Hall in shock and fear up until this very day."

"That is to say," Intervened Palkia, "Not all of us are still like that. Though, after that human, Marcus, betrayed you and tried to keep the Jewel of Life to himself, that rage returned again and left us petrified. I don't know why you left for so long after that, but when you came back, that rage had only grown, and the Legends were unsure if you were to ever come back. Then Dialga and I became enraged as well, fighting amongst one another for eons in your absence."

"That," Dialga continued, "Is one reason we decided to side against you that day. We were fearful that, in your rage, you might end up destroying the entire world. After those humans that were alongside your Chosen One saved us from our own rage, we couldn't let yours go...though he would never admit it, Giratina thought like us that day…"

Arceus' eyes widened with shock.

Palkia nodded and spoke next. "We were terrified of you. We thought you were completely lost to your rage, and so we sided with the humans that had saved us from ourselves in the hopes that they could do the same."

"So…" Dialga started, lowering his gaze, "Giratina was not...entirely wrong when he said we all feared you…"

"But even still, we revere you even more," Palkia quickly added onto Dialga's confession, "We could never truly turn our backs on you!"

Arceus was genuinely dumbstruck. Even in the most pressing or stressful of situations, Arceus, the God of all Pokemon and creator of the world, still had a quick-witted speech or remark...but not here. His two sons left him in a complete awed stupor. He let out a deep sigh, and confessed something of his own. "Palkia...Dialga...my sons...I cannot apologize to you enough for the pain my selfish actions have caused you...both you, the other Legends, and all the life I created, I threatened with my anger. In my blind rage, I...caused the entire world immense, needless suffering."

"That's not true!" Palkia protested, "Though you may have lost yourself to anger, you still gifted us with creation!"

"Palkia is right!" Dialga followed, "We have lost ourselves to anger once as well, and caused suffering to many as we clashed with one another. We caused suffering to many humans during our countless duels, pulling many into our makeshift arenas as we did so...including your Chosen One...what you're saying about yourself simply isn't true!"

"It is…" Arceus pushed, causing his sons to flinch. "...I knew it. My actions have caused far more suffering to my children than they deserve…" The God Pokemon's memories flashed before his eyes, retelling countless stories of the pain he's inflicted upon others. First, there was Giratina. His first-born son. He recalled the sheer terror in his eyes as his father cast him away into a dimension of pure isolation. He recalled himself mercilessly attacking his three first-born sons when they dared to side against him. He recalled the lands of Michina Town and its' surroundings going from a lush green paradise to a cold, bitter wasteland as he retook the Jewel of Life after his chosen had helped him reclaim it. He recalled the faces of those who had lost everything after the destruction of the Orange Islands, and how he undid the healing for them after the humans, in their grief, lashed out at him for being unable to revive their loved ones. And he recalled so much more. Painful memories of himself causing even more pain to his own children time and time again. It needed to stop.

"Palkia...Dialga...this goes for the other Legends and everything Mew and I have created on this wonderful Earth…" He gazed up at his sons with a soft, apologetic look in his eyes. Regret, shame, sadness and more were all that was left of the Alpha Pokemon's age-old, unending anger. "...I...have always cherished you all...even if I was too blinded by my selfish rage to see it…and I am genuinely sorry beyond what words can express..."

The Masters of Time and Space were completely awed by their father. They had genuinely expected a half-assed apology at best, and an order to leave him and prepare for the battle ahead at worst. They could never have dreamed of their father giving them a genuine, melancholy expression of remorse.

"L-lord Arceus!" Dialga exclaimed.

"What are you saying?!" Palkia followed suit.

"What I am saying…" Arceus spoke softly, "Is that I love you...all of you...and I will never forgive myself for how I have wronged you…nor do I expect any of you two."

"F...father…" Arceus' sons uttered… "We...cannot thank you enough for such praise…"

"There is no need for thanks," Arceus replied, "I am simply giving you what you...all of you...were owed millenia ago...and when the time comes for us to end Necrozma's reign of terror once and for all, we will not do it as the Hall of Origins or the Legends...we will do it, both us, the non-Legendary Pokemon, and the humans, as a family."

The Masters of Time and Space bowed proudly and valiantly cried, "YES, SIR!"

With that, Arceus let his sons be on their way, leaving him alone in the Hall to his thoughts. Previously, he would have berated himself without end for showing weakness to anyone, but now...the divine Pokemon felt as if an immense weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt at peace for the first time in thousands upon thousands of years. But, that peace soon left him and guilt took its' place as he gazed upon the screen showing the burning of New Bark Town.

"...Is this right?" He asked himself aloud, "To savor our strength at the cost of their suffering?" The Alpha Pokemon, after that emotional ordeal with his sons, didn't know anymore. His heart ached to see them suffer, but the thought of what might happen if the Legends weren't at their peak performance by the time Necrozma next showed himself was also unbearable. But then...something caught his eye...something that chilled him to the bone.

"No...it cannot be!"

Ash Ketchum, his chosen one, was directly in the center of the town, surrounded by fire on all sides...and what was worse was that a shadow, one Arceus could never forget, was looming over him. Necrozma.


Ash and the gang's journey to New Bark Town was an arduous one. Goldenrod had been in a state of pure hysteria, even more so than any other place in the world, after Necrozma's worldwide message and rightfully so, given that the city was explicitly mentioned within the message as being Necrozma's destination of arrival. Luckily for Ash and the others, the trains were electrically-ran and thus, on autopilot, so they didn't have to worry about finding anyone willing to take them there.

That's where their luck ended, however. After a particularly-empty ride to Goldenrod City, the group found, of course, nothing. The city of Goldenrod was as much of a ghost town as Saffron was the previous day, only there was no psychotic Psychic awaiting them. Or at least, they hoped so. After wandering throughout the empty city, they eventually found a pier with one, singular old sailor readying a fairly-large boat to escape like the rest.

Ash and the others managed to catch him just before he set sail, but found it difficult to persuade him to get them anywhere near New Bark Town. Though, 'difficult' may have been an inaccurate word to describe their encounter with the old sailor. 'Impossible' was more like it, given that the moment they mentioned the flaming town, he immediately cut the rope holding his boat to the pier and sailed away before they could stop him.

They pondered their next move for a few minutes, before Zero, noticing the league of other abandoned boats at the pier, suggested taking one of them. Serena was quick to scold her and tell her that they couldn't simply steal someone else's boat, especially if that person could still be within the city and on their way to use that as their only escape method. To Serena's surprise, Riley and, to a lesser extent, Ash, actually ended up agreeing with Zero.

Riley told Serena that this was their only real way of realistically getting to the town fast enough due to their lack of Flying Types. Ash thought about going back to Goldenrod's Pokemon Center and calling up Professor Oak for that very purpose, but figured that it might not exactly be operational at the moment and went with the boat plan. Riley ended up convincing Serena that if there somehow was someone else still in the city, then there were plenty of other boats left over for them to take as well, and thus they made their way to New Bark Town.

With some help from the Aura users pushing the boat, Zero getting into the water to use Surf and Aqua Jet to push it, and Noivern pulling the boat from ahead to increase their speed, they managed to hasten their boat's pace and turn what should have been multiple days' worth of travel time over sea into a measly five hours, at the cost of Serena's stomach. During that time, Ash and Serena allowed their Pokemon to wander about the ship. Hawlucha in particular immediately went to his best friend's side, cheering him on as he helped pull the ship the entire way there. The Flying-type's lung capacity for being able to pull off such a feat befuddled the group. After five hours of nonstop cheering on Hawlucha's part, pulling on Noivern's, and pushing on Zero's and the Aura Users' parts, they finally touched shore.

Ash and the group were met with nothing but hills as far as the eye could see once they met land. They appeared to be in a cove of sorts, with very little sand that quickly met grass. Serena was the first off the boat, happily clinging onto the grass.

"Sweet land, I've taken you for granted for far too long," She cried as she rolled about in the emerald green grass.

Noivern, huffing tiredly for air, came down next, with Hawlucha by his side. As Noivern lowered himself to the ground, his friend and mentor Hawlucha quickly hopped off the boat to catch him. Noivern made some sort of cooing sound, apparently as some kind of signature of gratitude. Hawlucha grinned down at him and gave a thumbs up to his exhausted friend, congratulating him for his hard work.

Zero came up out of the water, soaked to the brim. Riley quickly met her, handing her a towel which the young girl gratefully accepted. The other Pokemon came out next one by one, happily stretching themselves now that they had room to do so. Ash came out last. The fatigue from using his Aura for the past five hours made him dizzy, but he was otherwise fine. He looked over towards Riley and Lucario to see if they were in the same boat, (no pun intended) but they appeared to be fine.

'I've got a long way to go if I'm gonna catch up to them,' He thought to himself with a sigh, He looked up at hills. The clouds above them were plentiful and bulky. They were smoke clouds, only white since they were far away enough from the source of the flames. His eyes narrowed, resolute.

"Hey guys," Ash called out to his group, pointing up at the hills and the billowing smoke ahead, "New Bark Town should be just up ahead, I think! Let's get going!"

Riley nodded, "You're right. Just beyond those hills are hundreds of people waiting for our help. We should get moving."

Riley motioned for Lucario and Zero to follow him as Serena, meanwhile, stumbled back to her feet with some help from Ash and Pikachu. Lucario attempted to follow his partner, but was stopped when Zero tugged at his paw. She made a motion with her arms, signaling that she wanted to go up. Lucario rolled his eyes and merely began to walk away, or at least attempted to. The Aura Pokemon's mouth furrowed into a deep frown and he grit his teeth, but ultimately turned back to the young girl and placed her atop his shoulders begrudgingly and with a glare that could kill.

So then, Ash and the others made their way up the hill, and as they did, they were confronted by a horrific sight. Further away was New Bark Town, coated in flames. The white smoke clouds were replaced with the black, ash-coated ones that rose up from the remains of the town and its' inhabitants. Ash, Riley, Pikachu and Lucario's expressions darkened at the sight. Serena, meanwhile, became pale. She had thought she could handle a sight like this after all she's been through as of late, but thinking about what lied in wait for them in the burning town, especially after seeing the people being consumed by the flames on the news, was too much for her to handle.

She was snapped out of her stupor when Ash grabbed hold of her hand. She jumped a bit in shock and met Ash's eyes questioningly, though it wasn't as if she didn't enjoy it. Ash stared deeply into her eyes wordlessly, but Serena saw the meaning behind them. He was telling her that they would be fine, as always. He was telling her that they would come out of this, just as they had come out of situations like these time and time again, but if they didn't go, many innocents would be lost.

"...Alright," Serena said, with resolution in her eyes, "Let's go."

With that, the group charged towards the burning town, ready for anything. As they neared New Bark Town, it became harder and harder to breathe amongst the ashes and smoke. Yet, they couldn't falter. Not when so many lives were at stake.

"Alright," Ash said, "We should split up and search for survivors." He turned to Zero first. "Zero, you'll probably be the most help here, since you can use Water attacks. You should focus on putting out as much of the flames as you can and flying any survivors you find out of this place."

Zero nodded and took off into the flames, spraying Water Guns from her hands as she went.

Ash turned to Serena next, "You should have Braixen go off alone since the flames won't hurt her and find survivors, then have her report back to you and use Clefable's Psychic to get rid of the flames. As for Sylveon and Pangoro, keep them close so you don't get hurt."

"Got it," Serena said with a nod. She breathed in deeply, facing the flames. Just as she was about to head inside, she was stopped by Ash grabbing hold of her hand once more. Immediately, a rush of energy swelled within her, and a blue barrier appeared around the young trainer.

"It's an Aura barrier," Ash told her, "It should keep you safe from the flames, but I don't know how long it'll last, so I would be careful if I were you."

Serena nodded at him once more, thanked him, and took her team of Pokemon into the flames.

Ash turned to Riley and Lucario next. "I don't think I need to tell you guys what to do."

Riley chuckled, "Right you are. Lucario and I have been handling stuff like this for years, so we'll be fine. See you inside."

With that, Riley gave a short wave of the hand to his pupil, summoned an Auric barrier around himself along with Lucario, and the duo faded into the smoke.

"Now then," Ash said, turning to his team, "That just leaves us…" He placed a hand to his chin in thought, scanning his team of Pokemon and scrambling his mind for potential strategies. "First thing's first," He said, turning to Noivern, "You've been exhausting yourself for the past five hours, so you're out of the question." A frown came to his face as he realized that taking his only Flying type, that could actually fly anyways, off of a mission like this might be costly, but endangering the life of his Pokemon wasn't exactly on his to-do list either, and returned Noivern to his Pokeball.

He noticed a complex array of expressions on Hawlucha's face as he did so. It didn't take a genius to know why. "Hawlucha," Ash spoke, snapping the Wrestling Pokemon out of his stupor, "I know you were looking forward to working with Noivern on this mission, but he's been pushing himself for the past couple hours now, and he's deserved a rest. Not to mention, all the smoke might make him pass out midair, which would end in disaster."

Hawlucha crossed his arms, humming in thought, but ultimately nodded to his trainer, understanding his point. He wouldn't exactly like placing his best friend in that kind of danger either. "Good," Ash said, "Then...let's see what we can do without Noivern for now…" One idea quickly struck Ash, given that he already said this to Serena about her Braixen. "Infernape," He started, catching the Fire monkey Pokemon's attention, "The flames won't hurt you, so you should go off alone through them to find survivors as quickly as possible, then either escort them out or try to find someone else that can put out a flame if they're surrounded with no way out."

"Fernape!" Infernape replied heartily with a salute. Having been given his orders, Infernape took off, using Flame Wheel to travel quicker.

Ash hummed in thought, scratching the scruff of his chin as he did so. "...This should go without saying, but Pikachu, you're with me." Pikachu chirped happily, and jumped up onto his lifelong friend's shoulder. "As for the rest of you...hmm…" He turned towards Goodra next. "Goodra, you should use Rain Dance. With how much fire there is, I'm not sure if it will help, but anything is worth a try. Just keep the rain coming down for as long as you can.

"Dra!" Goodra replied with a nod. The gooey Dragon Type bounded off to the side of the road, then stared up into the sky with a deep blue energy surrounding her. With a booming cry, Goodra released the blue energy up into the sky and, surely enough, it began to rain. Ash quickly turned back to the flaming town before him, but was disappointed to see that it wasn't really having any effect. It seemed that the raindrops were evaporating before they could make contact with the fire.

"Still…" Ash started, thinking aloud, "The rain should eventually make the area damp and the flames will have a hard time burning…" A frown crawled its' way down the trainer's mouth and he stared deeply into the flames. His Aura flared slightly, reacting to the terrified and pained cries from whoever was left alive amongst the survivors. "...But will it be fast enough…?"

Ash quickly shook his head. "The longer I take to think, the less time they'll have." He turned towards Sceptile next. "That fire probably won't be easy for you to work with, and your moves don't exactly give you much in the way with dealing with those flames anyways, so...I would try to find higher ground, and if you see any open areas without much fire, try there. From there, use your speed to save as many people as you can instead of your attacks."

Ash's Sceptile planted its' signature twig in its' mouth, nodded quickly, and bolted away to fulfill Ash's orders. Ash turned to Hawlucha, seeing as he was the only remaining member. "I suppose you're with me, then, Hawlucha," Ash told him, "Like Pikachu." Hawlucha grinned up at Ash and nodded cheerfully. This way, he could still be close to Noivern as well. Pikachu hopped down from Ash's shoulder and gave his fellow teammate a high five, to which Hawlucha happily gave him one back.

Ash chuckled at their antics. "Great! So, then, let's hop to it, eh?"

"Cha!" The two Pokemon cheered eagerly.

After waving goodbye to Goodra, Ash, Hawlucha and Pikachu who had once again hopped onto Ash's shoulder approached the flaming town. The young trainer let out a deep sigh, then summoned his Aura into a barrier around the three of them. With the barrier in place, Ash stepped into the flames, ready to save the lives of as many people as he could.

Ash had never seen the inside of a fire before, despite how many times he'd been burned in his journeys. In those times, his eyes were always forced shut from the heat, but now, he could marvel at the sight of it without that disturbance...though with what he saw, he couldn't quite say it was pleasant. People often gave descriptions of hell as a dark, empty space with flames spanning all sides. What Ash saw was scarily accurate to that testament.

"This is...crazy…" Ash uttered in disbelief. Pikachu and Hawlucha's shocked gazes indicated they were thinking similarly to their trainer. Ash could barely tell that he was surrounded by flames right now. Outside of his little bubble of safety was nothing but pure red empty space, and blackened ground. The occasional piece of ebony debris flew past him in a similar manner to a tumbleweed from time to time, but quickly disappeared within seconds into the seemingly-endless void of red spanning around them.

Then, Pikachu's ear twitched and he looked to his left. "Pika!" The yellow mouse shouted, pointing left to get Ash's attention.

"Hm?" Asked Ash, "You hear somethin', buddy?"

Pikachu nodded, still pointing in the direction of the sound. "Pi, Pika!"

Ash nodded and turned to where his partner was pointing, then began sprinting. After a few moments, the flames around them ceased and they came upon an opening in the midst of the hellscape. Before them was a youngish boy, probably a trainer barely younger than Ash, with a white jacket, blue shorts and blond hair.

"Oh, thank Arceus!" The boy cried happily, "Someone came after all! Quick, get me out of here!"

Ash nodded and opened the barrier slightly so that the boy could enter. The boy stared at Ash tentatively. He appeared to look unsure about Ash and, more importantly, the barrier, but as he turned back to the flames that were slowly closing in, he decided that his chances were better taken with Ash, even if he didn't quite understand how he was making the barrier. Making up his mind, the trainer stepped inside the barrier and Ash closed it around them so the heat was no longer a threat.

The boy hunched over, taking the first cool breath he'd breathed in hours. "Thanks man...you're a lifesaver! The name's Euden by the way.

Ash smiled at the boy and waved off his compliment. "It's no problem, Euden. A couple of friends and I came here to save as many people as we can."

"Then you're apparently more dependable than the police," Euden spat, "I haven't seen a single one show up! Buncha cowards!"

Ash frowned, "Really? No one showed up? I get that people are scared of this Necrozma thing, but still…"

Euden cringed at the mention of the monster responsible for the destruction of his town. "Yeah, probably...if that's what it is, I guess I can't blame them too much."

Ash's eyes glinted as a very important question came to his mind. "Say, Euden...is this Necrozma guy still around?"

The young trainer shrugged, "Beats me. I've been hearing some more explosions from time to time, but I'm not sure if it's him or just some cars gettin' caught by the fire."

"I see…" Ash said, looking down in thought, "...Well, I suppose there's no point in playing twenty questions all day with you, then. I'm sure you want outta this fire, so I'll help you outta this place."

Euden nodded eagerly. "Please do. I've been stuck here all day, and frankly, I'd rather never see another fire again in my life."

Ash emerged from the flames, out to the area they first went to. He knew it was the same place due to Goodra still summoning rain to try and pierce through the flames.

"Woah, is that a Goodra?!" Euden remarked excitedly, "I've never seen one before! Didn't know they came to Johto!"

"That one's mine, actually," Ash told him with a chuckle, "She's using Rain Dance to try to put out the fire, but I don't think she's had any luck yet."

"No kiddin'."

With that, Ash dispersed the barrier and allowed Euden to exit. "See you later," Ash told him, "If I were you, I'd stay around here for a bit and wait for us to find more people."

Ash summoned his barrier around himself, Pikachu and Hawlucha once more and turned back to face the flames, but then Euden called out to him once more.

"Hey, one last thing!" Euden shouted to Ash, "I got a sister in there! She's a year older than me and has a golden necklace of a crescent moon! She has an Absol with her too! My mom and dad are probably with her too, so can you keep an eye out for her?"

Ash flashed a thumbs up Euden's way, shouted back, "Will do," and walked back into the fire. Ash traversed the red hellscape with a quicker pace this time. During the initial trip through the flaming town, he was taking in the sight, but now, he had his mission on his mind and was going to see it through without fail. Ash gave his two partners with him a thumbs up, which they reciprocated, and emerged through another opening. This one was much, much larger.

It seemed like this place used to be a major roadway, and had only been consumed by the flames fairly recently seeing as there were many buildings on either side still standing even though they were on fire. A feeling of deja vu came over Ash suddenly, making him place a hand to his forehead to try and remember what was so familiar about this place.

A searing, piercing agony tore through his head, forcing him to clutch at it and hiss in pain, falling to his knees. Pikachu and Hawlucha quickly went to his aid, or at least tried to. Some kind of memory Ash couldn't seem to remember tore at his consciousness, forcibly making his Aura flare.

"Pika Pi!" "Lucha!"

Ash's partners and friend frantically tried to aid their agonized trainer, but for the life of them they couldn't figure out what to do. The thought of shocking him came to Pikachu's mind. It was a thought he quickly got rid of, instead opting to hold onto Ash's coat in an attempt to steady him. Hawlucha crouched down and held him tightly, but Ash kept thrashing.

Ash's vision flickered, and every time it did, it seemed to take him to a very similar yet different version of the area they were in. Like static, Ash's vision transferred between these two areas. Then, it hit him at last. He'd dreamt about this place before. It was the day he'd heard of the Orange Island's demise.

In that dream, he was surrounded by a flaming hellscape of a town. It looked exactly like this one. Nothing more than a desolate wasteland of fire. His eyes widened as he recalled the dream. If the burning town had come true, then what came next was-

"Serena!" Ash called out suddenly. Surely enough, there she was. Emerging from the flames, Serena and her Pokemon came into the opening from the opposite side. Ash knew what happened next, yet, just like in the dream, he couldn't move. But unlike in the dream, he could speak.

"Serena!" He cried out desperately, "Don't come any closer! Get out of here!" He didn't see her in the dream, but he could never forget what happened. What he had heard. She screamed in utter terror, and then was silenced by the roar of the flames.

Serena had failed to hear Ash's warning. "Ash? What's wrong?! Hold on, I'm coming quick!"

"No!" Ash shouted, "Don't come any closer! You have to get out of here!"

Serena vigorously shook her head, sprinting towards Ash with her Pokemon in tow. "No way! If we run into trouble, we'll face it together, remember?! Like you told me up on the hill!"

"You don't understand!" Ash pleaded, "Something...terrible is about to happen! You need to get awa-"

Ash was cut off suddenly by a deafening explosion, forcing him to shield his eyes with his arms. From the flames to their side, something with gas in it must have been set ablaze, causing a detonation to consume the two of them. A terrible wave of dread came over him. This couldn't be happening, he thought. It couldn't.

"Not her…" He whimpered as tears threatened to dot his eyes, "No, not her…!"

Ash Ketchum, the ordinarily-valiant young trainer with bravery to spare, the young boy who would put himself between dueling Legends to save a life, paled in absolute terror as a chilling, metallic-sounding dark laugh manifested around him from seemingly every direction.

"Ah, young love. So adorable and heartwarming, yet so terribly, terribly fleeting."

Ash's breathing became labored, making him pant frantically for every ounce of air, yet none of it seemed to be enough. Every breath he took only made the next more difficult to achieve. He soon dropped to his hands and knees, making Pikachu and Hawlucha crouch down to his side. Yet, they too were struggling to obtain their next breath of air. The overwhelming feeling of terror they felt crushed the oxygen from their lungs.

"Short of breath, my boy? Yes, explosions always seem to take my breath away as well. Truly, a wonderful sight."

"Y-you...b-bastard-!" Cursed an enraged Ash, who forced himself back onto his feet even though the lack of air was nearly making him pass out more and more by the second, but an even stronger feeling; one of absolute, unadulterated rage triumphed over his shortness of breath.

Pikachu managed to stand back up as well, sparking his cheeks furiously. Hawlucha followed their example and used Bulk Up to prepare itself for whatever lied in wait for them ahead.

Another chilling laugh echoed through the fiery hellscape that echoed through Ash, Pikachu and Hawlucha's very bodies, yet they still remained defiant.

"What did you do?!" Ash demanded, flaring his Aura, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

"I merely saw an opportunity, my boy. Here, I see an adorable young couple reuniting amidst the fires of a burning town and a vehicle that was somehow unharmed by the flames, so l thought I'd have some fun."

Ash growled like an animal. Such fury had never been known to him before. "Fun?! You...what are you?!"

The flames surrounding Ash's barrier were swept away suddenly, leaving in its' wake a dark creature with an angular, prismatic body, two arms with glowing white crystals and angular, sharp claws in its' wake. The creature's gaze pierced Ash to the core, putting him under a choking pressure that made him feel like he was being pushed to the ground, yet still he stood.

"What am I?" The creature repeated, "I am the end of all things. I am what is inescapable by mortals and gods alike. I am the night that whisks away millions by the day in my cold grasp. I am death. I am Necrozma."

"You…!" Ash seethed. "So you're Necrozma! Why?! Why are you doing this?!"

Necrozma rolled his head and groaned in annoyance. "I've already answered this question to another one of you sickening peons. I believe its' name was Lugia. Such a meager opponent for my welcome to this world."

"That was you?!" Ash demanded, allowing his Aura to flare out from his hands in drothes, "That whole thing ended up getting pinned on Lugia! Do you know how many people died because of what you did?!"

Necrozma let out an amused laugh. "The sheer irony of that question is astounding. Do you know the answer to that question? Because I certainly don't. I've stopped counting for millennia now."

Ash clenched his fists, making his signature deep blue Aura brighten into a cyan one and seep from his hands like water. There was no more need for words in Ash's mind. Necrozma's blatant disregard for life sickened him to the core, and of course...Serena…

Ash let out an enraged scream, summoning his Aura in a column of raging cyan and shot out a wave, one carrying every last drop of Aura he could muster, out at the black demon.

Necrozma stared at the incoming wall of blue flames indifferently and, without moving an inch, Ash's attack dispersed without even making contact.

Ash fell onto his backside, his eyes widened and bloodshot. Every ounce of Aura he could spare without killing himself was used for that attack, yet it did absolutely nothing. "W-What? How?!"

Necrozma held out his arm and pointed a singular finger at the fallen Aura Guardian in training, summoning a tiny red ball of crackling energy. Thinking quickly, Pikachu took it upon himself to fire a Thunderbolt into the charging red orb, causing a small explosion of smoke. It availed to nothing. Immediately, the smoke was blown away, showing that Necrozma and the orb of energy were both completely unharmed. The yellow mouse took a step back in fear, but the sight of Ash by his side gave him the strength to continue facing down this dark menace.

"Piiikaaa-!" Pikachu began sparking its' cheeks, summoning as much Electric power as it could, "CHUUUUU!", then fired it off into one massive stream of concentrated yellow plasma...and dispersed before even making contact with Necrozma.

The aforementioned Leader of the Ultra Beasts gave the terrified trio an amused look, then turned his finger away from Ash and towards Pikachu. "So the slave is faithful to its' master, then? Let's see if it will die in his stead."

"No!" Ash roared, "Pikachu, get away from here! Run, and go find the others!"

Pikachu adamantly shook his head and stood in front of Ash with his arms outstretched to take the blow. Ash's original partner sparked his cheeks at Necrozma defiantly, refusing to leave Ash's side. Hawlucha, seeing the tragedy about to unfold before him, took it upon himself to tear a large stone from the ground and hurl it at the dark demon. Without moving, Necrozma turned his gaze upon the incoming stone and blew it to smithereens. Hawlucha appeared from behind the rubble and lurched at Necrozma with an X-Scissor attack, but of course, it did nothing. The second the attack came in contact with Necrozma's prismatic body, it shattered. The Wrestling Pokemon stared at his destroyed attack with horror, but was promptly blown back by some kind of invisible attack.

Ash cursed his helplessness. All he could do was shout, "Hawlucha, no!" uselessly as his Pokemon sailed backwards and landed in a heap in front of him. Pikachu quickly rushed to Hawlucha's aid and, to his relief, he was fine for the most part. Hawlucha growled, forcing himself to his feet and taking a stand against Necrozma. Pikachu followed suit.

"No!" Shouted a terrified Ash, "Leave! Run away from here!" He tried to stumble forward, but collapsed back onto his chest. "This...is an order!" Pikachu and Hawlucha, without looking back to their master, shook their heads. Abandoning their trainer and, more importantly, their friend was an order they could not abide.

The dark invader merely gave the last stand of these feeble creatures an amused chuckle, pointing his finger towards the both of them. "Hah! So, the slaves sacrifice themselves after all! But tell me, if your pathetic kind can even speak that is, did you bother considering what would happen after your noble sacrifice? Who's to say I won't simply kill your beloved master as well?"

Pikachu merely growled in defiance at Necrozma and jumped up at him, flipping around so that the yellow mouse Pokemon could deliver an Iron Tail, hitting him directly in the forehead and sending up metallic sparks.

"Hmph."

Without warning, Pikachu was blown backwards by an attack he couldn't possibly see coming. Some kind of invisible pulse struck Pikachu clean in the chest and sent him sprawling backward in front of Ash where it lied, unable to move.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out. He forced himself forward, crawling desperately towards his closest friend. Seeing this, a devilish idea came to Necrozma's mind and he pointed his index finger towards the two of them. Pikachu and Ash were focused completely on one another, unseeing of the demise coming their way. Hawlucha stared back at the two of them in horror and, without thinking twice, jumped in front of Necrozma's hand to take the blow.

"Strike one."

A deafening explosion sent Pikachu and Ash flying backwards, yet even still they clung to one another as if their very lives depended on it. A cascade of crimson flame blasted out in every direction, hailing down a rainfall of fiery sparks. Ash shielded Pikachu from them as best as he could, covering him with his own body.

Once the explosion died down, Ash asked Pikachu, "Are you alright?" To which Pikachu gave him a weak smile, but nodded all the same. "That's good…" Ash replied with a relieved sigh, but then he realized something. "Wait, where's Hawlucha?!"

The two of them scanned their surroundings. More flame had consumed the area, somehow turning it into even more of a hellscape. Mere feet away, the two of them were surrounded on all sides by the raging, crackling fires. And Hawlucha was nowhere in sight.

"No…! Hawlucha!" Ash desperately called out, "Hawlucha, where are you?!"

"Pi, Pika!" Pikachu called out as well.

Then, their eyes tore open in shock. Amidst the flames, mere meters from them, was Hawlucha. His body was limp and charred completely black. Without thinking twice, Ash forced himself to summon another barrier, placed Pikachu upon his shoulder, and tore into the flame to retrieve his friend. But it was not to be. From behind Hawlucha's body, another tiny red ball of energy was hurled into the fallen Pokemon, blasting him into nothingness and sending Ash flying back.

The young trainer collapsed onto his back in a heap, with Pikachu barely holding onto his shoulders. They frantically looked back up to where Hawlucha laid before, but were met with the sight of flames surrounding the barrier at every turn. There was nothing left. The town had been completely laid to ruin, and Hawlucha had disappeared along with it.

"NO!" Ash frantically roared. He refused to believe it, even when mourning tears freely flowed from his eyes, he denied it. There was simply no way it could be happening. "Hawlucha! Where are you?!" He scrambled to his feet, even though his exhaustion screamed at him to stay down. Even when his legs ached, he refused to stay down, and he refused to acknowledge Hawlucha's fate. "HAWLUCHA!"

Tears dotted Pikachu's eyes as well, but he lacked the will to call out to his friend. "Pi…" He knew perfectly well what had happened. Staring clean into the flames, he knew Hawlucha's fate, and shut his eyes tightly.

Ignoring Pikachu, Ash continued to call out to his fallen Pokemon. "Hawlucha! Answer me! You can't…!" A lump rose in his throat as his tears flowed even more. He clenched his fists to the point he drew blood with his nails. He hung his head, for it was all he could do. "You...can't be…"

Another one of Necrozma's chilling, all-encompassing dark laughs surrounded the two of them. Ash bared his teeth, enraged beyond what he had ever known before. "Necrozma!" The boy bellowed, "Show yourself, monster!"

"With pleasure."

The flames around them dispersed, creating an opening and revealing the dark demon, who floated down to meet them with a cruel, taunting look in his crimson red eyes. Ash's auric barrier fell apart, as the boy now lacked the strength to use it anymore. Pikachu threateningly sparked its' cheeks with a fury in his eyes that matched Ash's, and leapt off of his trainer's shoulder, surrounding itself with all the electricity it could muster to use Volt Tackle...and was promptly batted into the ground by Necrozma's fist with a sickening crunch.

"Strike two."

"Pikachu, no!" Ash cried. He crouched down to his partner and held him tightly. Pikachu did not respond, hanging limply in his best friend's hands. "Pikachu!" Ash shouted desperately. He shook his partner gently, and when there was no response, he tried again harder. Still, there was no response. Ash placed his ear near Pikachu's chest. He wasn't breathing. Frantically, Ash tried to push down on Pikachu's chest repeatedly to instill breath within the small yellow mouse...yet still, there was no response.

Ash tried more forcefully this time, desperately trying to summon his Aura to help him save Pikachu's life. But he was far too exhausted. He couldn't will his Aura to appear in more than a tiny speck of blue flame that lasted naught but a second before disappearing into nothingness. But Ash refused to give up. "C'mon, Pikachu!" He pleaded, "COME ON! You can't do this! You can't! Serena...Hawlucha...now you?! No! I can't lose you!" He tried with all his might to summon his Aura with every downward push to Pikachu's chest, with no response every time.

Eventually, Ash slipped and fell over by Pikachu's side. Furiously, he tried to force himself back up to try again, but his body refused to listen. All he could do was extend his arm out to Pikachu's limp body and hold him. Tears would have been flowing like rainfall from the boy's eyes, but he no longer had any to give. The heat from the flames had sapped them away from him.

"...Pi...ka...chu…" Ash whimpered helplessly.

"There's no need to worry, boy." The dark voice of Necrozma spoke from above him, pointing a finger down at him and summoning another red ball of energy, "You will be with him again soon enough."

A fury hotter than any fire began coursing through Ash's veins as he heard that monster's voice. He gripped into the dirt at his side and forced himself to roll over. Even as his arms screamed at him to stop, Ash pushed up off of the ground and onto his knees. He heaved in air, placing a hand onto his kneecap, and pushed up. Every inch of his body ached in exhaustion, yet still, he forced himself back onto his feet. A dark, murderous look appeared in the once-joyous boy's eyes, and he panted for air, making some kind of amalgamation of a cry and an enraged hiss with every one.

"You…!" Ash no longer cared about his exhaustion. He no longer cared about the pain tearing throughout his body, both emotional and physical. He no longer cared that his Aura availed him nothing. Murderous thoughts screeched in Ash's mind, tearing the peace-loving, happy ones apart in their wake as they coursed through every inch of his consciousness. He managed to flare his Aura for a split second, and in that split second it was yellow.

With an animal-like screech, Ash lurched forward at Necrozma, aiming a punch at the demon before him. Necrozma merely laughed and opened his arms outward, welcoming Ash's attack. Ash's punch connected with Necrozma clean in the face, but the only thing it availed the boy was an injured wrist. With the last of Ash's strength gone, he fell forward, flat on his face beneath Necrozma.

"Strike three. Y-o-u-'-r-e o-u-t."

Ash was lifted up in Necrozma's telekinetic grasp to meet face to face. The dark demon then opted to grip Ash by the neck with his hand, hoisting him up. Ash choked and sputtered, but could no longer even had the strength to open his eyes. All he could do was wait for the end.

"Actually," Necrozma spoke, turning ash around towards Pikachu's limp body, "There's one last thing you should see before I let you go." Necrozma lifted Pikachu up with his telekinetic powers as well, hoisting him up to Ash's face. Then, he lifted Pikachu up far above the two of them, dangling Pikachu by the tail and forcing Ash's eyes open to see it.

Ash wanted to scream, to cry, to shout, yet he couldn't do any of those things. Every last ounce of strength and willpower left within his body was left in pieces or erased completely. 'Pikachu…' He thought weakly.

"I don't suppose you'll be needing this anymore."

Then, he let Pikachu go. It was as if it was happening in slow motion for Ash. He could only look on uselessly as his first friend, his lifelong partner and the one who helped Ash start his journey sailed down into the flames of hell Necrozma created. Ash's life, the one he spent with Pikachu, flashed before his eyes. He remembered his first encounter with Pikachu. His tenth birthday, back in Professor Oak's lab. He remembered being electrocuted the moment he picked him up. He remembered when Pikachu had gravely injured himself to stop the flock of Spearow from killing them. He remembered being trapped within an icy cave with Pikachu and his other Pokemon refusing to leave his side to give him warmth. He remembered a time where Pikachu had nearly died due to him facing off against a Sinnoh trainer's Raichu, and how elated he was when Pikachu turned out okay. But those times were gone. Destroyed, along with Pikachu as he sailed down into the fire.

Then, suddenly, a crimson blur rushed down from the sky, scooping Pikachu up and saving him from harm.

"What?!" Roared Necrozma, taken aback.

Ash was dropped from Necrozma's grasp as the invader turned his gaze to the red blur. As Ash fell to the ground, he managed to take a glimpse at the red blur. It was Talonflame and something else on top of it was holding Pikachu. It was coated in shadow, so Ash couldn't see what it was. Talonflame whipped around and landed in front of a group of people running towards them. It was Riley, Zero and the other Pokemon. What's more, Serena was among them.

"Ash!" They called out as they sprinted towards their collapsed friend, "Hang in there!"

Ash allowed himself to grin, relief flowing throughout him, before he fell into unconsciousness.

The shadowed creature hopped off of Talonflame's back and handed Pikachu off to Zero, who used Heal Pulse on the injured mouse to stabilize it. "That should do it for now," She said, handing Pikachu over to Serena and turning back towards Necrozma, "As for you…"

"What the hell have you done?!" Riley demanded, "What did you do to him?!"

Serena stared sorrowfully at Ash's fallen body, holding Pikachu tightly in her arms. Yet, a part of her knew Ash was still alive. She couldn't describe why or how she knew. She simply knew, and that knowledge was enough to keep her strong. The rest of the Pokemon, barring Hawlucha of course, took a stand beside their masters and friends, raring to save Ash.

Zero pointed a finger at Necrozma, sparking blue electricity all throughout her body. "You must be Necrozma! Let our friend go!" The other Pokemon roared as well, sending out inklings of their own attack elements warningly as they rallied for battle.

Riley stepped forward, flaring his cyan aura in a miniature storm of blazing blue. "So, you're that disturbance I felt back on Iron Island. Because of you, my home was destroyed and countless lives along with it! Your time has come, Necrozma!"

Necrozma looked down upon the group of people and Pokemon before him and laughed. "So, the cavalry has arrived then?" With the flick of his finger, Ash's limp body was dragged across the charred ground and stopped before them. Zero quickly hunched down and began healing him as well. "You can have your worthless friend back. I'll be sending you all down to hell shortly anyways."

Riley laughed dryly. "Funny. I was going to tell you the same thing." With that, he and Lucario together charged a singular, colossal Aura Sphere. Zero, after having healed Ash's wounds, stood up and charged her all-elemental Hyper Beam. Infernape and Braixen summoned their Blaze Abilities and began charging two Flamethrowers. Sceptile charged Solarbeam, Clefable and Sylveon charged Moonblasts, Goodra charged a Dragon Pulse, and Pangoro merely went to Riley and placed his hand atop his shoulder to allow his Aura to be drained. Talonflame perched itself next to the other Fire Types and began charging Flamethrower as well. The mysterious shadowed Pokemon placed its' hands together, summoning a swirl of water beneath them. A Pokeball fell from Ash's belt, squirming spastically. It burst, revealing Noivern who's eyes showed a berserked, vengeful frenzy for the loss of his friend. He roared savagely, with more hate oozing from every decibel, and used Boomburst with every ounce of his power.

"THIS," Riley bellowed, "IS THE POWER OF EARTH! YOU HAVE CAUSED TOO MANY TO SUFFER, NECROZMA! NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!"

With a mighty collective bellow amongst the group, they fired their attacks, combining them into one, singular beam of light like before. It worked against Sabrina, so they hoped it would work here as well. The beam of light shot forward, uprooting and destroying the very ground beneath it as it went. Necrozma stood still as the attack approached. This attack held the hopes and dreams of every living being on Earth. The combined force of Earth's mightiest warriors was merged into this attack. It was their last shot to end Necrozma's menace. The beam of light approached Necrozma...and was promptly swatted away with the back of Necrozma's hands like it was nothing.

The group stared in horror as their most powerful attack sailed away into the sky and exploded. Everything they worked up to, everything they had been working up to all this time, everything they'd journeyed so far and long for was all for naught. They were rendered helpless beneath Necrozma' grasp.

"W-what?!" Serena stammered, stumbling backward, "He just…!"

"That's impossible!" Shouted Riley, "There's no way he could have…"

Zero stared up at Necrozma in complete and utter fear. Every inch of her body began trembling, yet she could not bring herself to move. Was this what it was like for the Pokemon in the lab as they were cornered by her?

"How utterly pathetic," Necrozma spat, "If this is the best of this world's average fighters, then I can see why those other weak cretins call themselves 'Legends'. They're comparing themselves to bottom-line scum like you!"

Before any one of them could even blink, Necrozma shot forward and caught Riley in the chest with his fist. Riley's eyes shot open, bloodshot, and he coughed out a small spat of blood before being shot off into the sky and crashing down behind the group. Lucario's eyes widened in shock and he tried to run to his partner's aid, but was stopped when Necrozma appeared before him and sent him sprawling across the ground with a mere flick of his finger. Then, the other Pokemon joined the fray. They collectively leapt above the dark demon, ready to attack him with everything they had. In an instant, a singular attack with such speed that it was invisible to the eye blasted them away.

Zero was the next to attack. "Earlier, he sent Ash towards us without touching him. So, this thing must be Psychic Type!"

"Correct," The dark voice of Necrozma confirmed from behind Zero, making the young girl jump and whip around towards him, "Or at least from my knowledge, that is what this world would classify me as."

Zero cursed mentally. It was always Psychic Types when she was around, wasn't it? Why did every enemy always have to have her one weakness?! Zero summoned a Dark Pulse in her hands, but instead of attacking Necrozma with it, she used Protect and sent that dark wave scattering across the barrier.

"This way, you won't be able to use Psychic attacks on me!" She boasted, "Dark Types are immune to Psychic, so your Psychic attacks won't be able to pierce this dark barrier!"

Necrozma chuckled darkly. "Is that right?"

Zero growled and lurched up at Necrozma with a Crunch attack, but to her horror, she was stopped and held still in mid-air by him. "What?!"

"Oh, it's quite simple," Necrozma said, spinning the helpless Zero around with his finger, "Your attacks and defenses mean nothing to me. You claim you can halt my attacks, yet you know nothing of what power I truly possess!"

Necrozma slowly began to close his hand, crushing Zero more and more as he did so. At first, she refused to make a sound. Zero refused to allow herself to scream in the pain she felt, for it was nothing compared to what she'd already been through and she would not allow Necrozma the satisfaction of hearing her pain. Then, she heard the sickening, deafening voice of Necrozma within her own mind.

"Ah, you are a tough one indeed, but I have broken stronger beings than you. You think you have seen hell? Allow me to show you what hell is truly like!"

Zero's mind was assaulted with an array of images. The sight of entire civilizations burning to the ground, the agony of all who fell by the dark demon's hand, the fear, the sorrow, the pain of what he has caused for millions of years coursed through every single cell of Zero's body. Of course, he also made her feel what the Legends did when he fought them. He showed her death, made her feel it over and over and over again, but would not let her truly die, for then his fun would end.

Zero forced her mouth shut even when inky black tears flowed down from her void-like eyes. She would not scream. She could not scream. She couldn't allow herself to show pain. The pain she felt meant nothing compared to the pain she caused. If she screamed in pain now, it would be an insult to all the lives she ended.

"...My, you are strong. Color me genuinely impressed. Not even one of the Legends was able to withstand that...but…" Necrozma's crimson red eyes glinted and a terrible laugh emanated from seemingly everywhere around Zero, "I have other ways of making you feel unending agony."

Like a puppet, Zero's body was twisted in Necrozma's grip, and she was turned towards her friends. Her arm was forcefully pointed up towards them, and without any hope for resistance, a ball of intense flames began to charge in her hand. Zero's black eyes widened as she realized what Necrozma was planning. "No…! NO, PLEASE!"

"You believe that they saved you from your own personal hell. What better way to thank them than to send them down to the real one yourself?" Necrozma leaned his head back, cackling like a madman, "Tell me, my dear. Is there anything more painful than seeing those you love...die?"

Zero cried out, trying to force herself with all of her might to avert her arm, but the almighty power of Necrozma kept her arm locked in place. She could not stop it. She had no hope and no power to do so. There was nothing in this world she could possibly do to stop herself from ending the only family she had and killing her saviors.

If Necrozma had a mouth, he would surely have been grinning. "Ah, there it is. I told you, I always have ways of making you cry out in agony. Now, finish it!"

"No!" She roared defiantly. Though, defiant as she may feel, Zero's body bent against her will in favor of Necrozma's, pointing the fiery ball clean at her family without any hope of resistance. She tried to pull her arm back with her other one, but Necrozma held her firmly in place.

"Do it!"

"No!"

The ball of flames had been completed. All that needed to happen now was for Zero, or rather Necrozma, to will it to be so. Zero shut her eyes, unable to bring herself to look at it, which did not go over Necrozma's head. Zero's eyelids were forced open. Necrozma would make her watch as she destroyed the ones who gave her new life. Then, something hit the back of Necrozma's head.

"L-let g-go of my f-friend!"

A pebble had bounced off of Necrozma's armored flesh and onto the ground uselessly. The dark demon dropped Zero for the time being, opting instead to turn around to meet whoever dared to do such a thing. Serena, completely pale with terror, faced Necrozma. She was panting for air despite not being tired in the slightest and was white as a sheet. Necrozma's overwhelming, terrifying presence seemed to press down on every inch of her body like a weighted blanket suffocating her, but still, she forced herself to stand on her shaking legs, trembling like a leaf in an autumn wind.

Necrozma couldn't help but laugh at the pitiful sight before him. He placed a hand to his forehead and leaned back, laughing madly. "You cannot be serious! What are you supposed to be, hm? What hallucinatory circumstances are floating around that empty head of yours that are making you think you can issue me an order?"

"I-I bear...n-no illusions, N-Necrozma!" She stuttered, failing to obscure her fear, "I-I cannot beat y-you...I know th-that, but…" He willed herself to stare into the eyes of the dark beast before her with a look that she intended to be fierce but was pulled back by her obvious fear, "I w-will fight! I have t-to!"

Necrozma floated down to face her and opened his arms, welcoming her pathetic, futile attempts at whatever she was planning, if she even had a plan. Serena's eyes widened in fear and she subconsciously slid her foot backward as if to turn and run. She got ahold of her actions, shaking her head and attempting to glare at Necrozma, but her will was crumbling fast. It was as if she was a pillar already on the verge of collapse trying to withstand an apocalyptic tsunami.

She dared to look away from the demon's crimson eyes, landing her gaze upon the various fallen Pokemon around them. Each and every one of them had been knocked out in a singular blow, and there was no way they could help her. Riley, Lucario and Zero were in similar conditions, and though Zero was still awake, Serena doubted she would be of any help in the state she was in. Finally, her sights landed upon the unconscious body of Ash, and she pursed her lip, mustering the last of her will.

"Ash…" She whispered aloud, "Please, give me strength…"

She balled her hands into fists and turned her gaze back upon the monster staring back down at her. Even though he had no clear expression, Serena somehow knew that he was mocking her. She had no idea what she was going to do. She wasn't a fighter. Anyone that could possibly fight had already been taken down instantaneously by this...thing.

"What...are you?!" She demanded, "You're not a Pokemon! A Pokemon could never do something like this! No Pokemon could be this cruel!" She waved her hand around herself, motioning at the surrounding remains of the town that laid in complete and utter ruin. "What benefit does this do you?!"

Necrozma crossed his arms. "Benefit? I've answered this question before to one of the other peons of this planet, but since you've all been a rather entertaining audience and you're all about to die anyways, I suppose I can tell you."

He pointed up towards the blackened, smoke-filled skies. "I am Necrozma. That much, you already know from my message earlier. I lead an army of creatures from what was once the realm of my home. They are called Ultra Beasts. Together, the Ultra Beasts and I ravage and pillage planets and civilizations for their resources, though those resources only ever go to the beasts. As for me, I am satisfied by taking a few 'trophies' from the inhabitants of each world."

Necrozma snapped his fingers and three objects appeared. They comprised of a blue scale that looked similar to a feather, a green spike of some kind and a ribbed blue horn. "These are the trophies I have collected from your world thus far. These were collected from the so-called 'Legends' of your world in our battles. And I assure you, I will have more trophies from your kind before I'm done here. You could say I'm a collector of sorts."

Hundreds of questions rushed to Serena's mind. Did Necrozma just say he took on the Legendary Pokemon, and if so...did those 'trophies' of his mean that he killed them, or at least defeated him? If Necrozma already took down the Legendary Pokemon, what chance did they have to defeat him?

Necrozma snapped his fingers once more, making the objects disappear into thin air. "Ah, right. You already know who and what I am, but I've yet to divulge with you the 'why.' As for why I am doing this, well, it's quite simple really. He shrugged halfheartedly, "It's because I'm bored and all-powerful. Here I am, the most powerful being in existence. What is there for me to do with my limitless power and possibilities? Exert it! There is no point in having power if I am not going to utilize it."

"But for this?!" Serena demanded, "You use your power for the mindless destruction of countless lives! It's wrong! You can't just-"

"I fail to see your logic," Necrozma interjected, "I've been told countless times that I cannot use my power that way and that it's 'wrong' for me to do so. But who decides such things? Those with power do, for those without it have no means of saying otherwise and backing up their claims. Right and wrong are meaningless. I alone decide what I can and cannot do, and since my power has no rival, I can do anything! Everyone who has said otherwise is now nothing more than microscoping dust floating in the endless void of space."

"There are other ways to use your power than to destroy," Serena countered, "You can use it to protect!"

"So I've been told. Protect what exactly? The Ultra Beasts? They are nothing more than tools for my amusement. Pieces in a game I'm not even playing. Do you expect me to simply sit on a throne and do nothing but watch them scramble about in their everyday lives? What's the point of that? I can imagine nothing more mind-numbingly mundane than that. Do you know what is truly exhilarating? Testing your power against another. There is nothing to me more satisfying than going from planet to planet finding beings that consider themselves without equal in their power and crushing them."

He stared back down at Serena, making her flinch. "Of course, there's also the likes of you. The peons among peons. The commoners. I also enjoy destroying you lot as well. Watching entire civilizations fall by the thousands is satisfying to me. So, in short, I suppose you could say my motivation is to exert my power upon all of existence. The entire universe is within my power to destroy, and I wish to make that known to all who reside within it."

Serena clenched her fists. "You...you're pure evil!"

Ash's body twitched and his dulled eyes opened at the sound of her voice. "...Serena…?"

Necrozma shrugged. "Perhaps. Once one can stare down at everything else from on high, the concept of good and evil do not matter. And if I am evil, what great force of 'good' is naturally out there to stop me? There is none. Good and evil are objects of a children's game. I am above that. I am power incarnate, I decide what that power is used for, and no force in the universe exists to say otherwise...unless…" His eyes curled upward, as if he was meaning to grin, "...you are willing to try?"

Serena creased her brows, glaring at Necrozma but also being unsure how to follow up on his challenge. All of her Pokemon were downed, as were Ash's. No one was left but her to fight, but she was weak. Powerless, even...but if she ran, this monster before her would certainly kill her anyways, along with her friends. 'But...I can't fight him!' She thought, 'What can I do, punch him?! If I run, I die and so does everyone else...and if I fight, it'll end up the same...so I…" She grit her teeth and shut her eyes tightly, trembling. She knew the answer, but it terrified her. Death was her only result. No matter what she did, both her and her friends would die, and there was no telling what Necrozma would do after. He'd likely go on to destroy the rest of the world...but if there was nothing she could do, then…

She opened her eyes once more. Necrozma was awaiting her answer patiently. The choice seemed obvious to her. She couldn't save herself, let alone anyone else. She trembled like a leaf. Fear of death plagued her at every turn, but it was inevitable. Now, her only options were to go down fighting or go down like a coward, and if her journey with Ash taught her anything, it was to never back down in the face of fear.

She shifted her glance down towards Ash one last time with tears flowing from her eyes freely. She wasn't sure if it was from guilt or fear, but she didn't try to stop them. "Thank you, Ash," She whispered, "For everything. If it wasn't for you, I would probably still be cooped up in my home and be terrified of the world...but you allowed be to break free from that shell and see just how beautiful it really is…" She tore her gaze from her lover's body and warped it into a frenzied glare as she faced Necrozma. 'I'm just sorry I couldn't protect it...I love you, Ash…'

Ash's eyes regained their color and shot open as he realized the situation at hand. Against the pain in his body, he forced himself up, but fell back over when he tried to stand. "Serena, no!"

Even amongst Serena's fear and the overwhelming pressure and dread from Necrozma's presence, a sliver of courage managed to shine through within the girl's heart. She bit down on her lip, pulled back her fist, and let out one last battle cry, all that she could muster, and shot her fist forward at the dark demon.

And of course, it availed to nothing.

Serena was blown to the ground by an invisible pulse of energy. She landed on her side in a heap. The attack hardly hurt her, but she knew it wasn't meant to. It was to show the staggering difference between their power and to make sure Necrozma could squeeze every last bit of fun out of this situation as he could before he finished her off. Oddly enough, a grin came to Serena's face when she realized something.

Necrozma gave her a questioning look "Hm? Are you trying to go out with a smile as some last-effort act of defiance? It really makes no difference to me-"

"No, that's not it," Serena retorted with a small laugh that confused Necrozma even more, "I just realized something, that's all."

Necrozma looked down at her curiously, intrigued by her meaning. "Oh, and what might that be?"

Serena pointed up at him, "You're extending this as long as you possibly can. You're trying to draw this out! It's because you're getting bored, isn't it?! You're getting bored with conquering and killing, and so you're trying to draw it out as long as you can so can stave off that boredom, aren't you?! Eventually, killing people and destroying worlds will become boring to you, since you've been doing it for so long, but you can't bring yourself to think of what will happen then! When you're bored of your own existence! That's why you're keeping me alive, isn't it?! To keep that boredom away as long as you can?!"

She laughed at him mockingly, taunting him as she believed she had uncovered Necrozma's true motives. She believed he was fearful of his own existence. An immortal life that will eventually experience everything, and then will become pointless. Necrozma looked down upon her blankly, then chuckled darkly.

"...Perhaps...or…" Serena was lifted up by an invisible force with her limbs stretched out. Her throat was shut, cutting off her air supply and making her choke for air. The pressure surrounding her increased a thousand fold, slowly crushing her body by the second, "I simply wanted to extend your suffering as much as possible, so I can break you both mentally and physically before I toss your body into the flames and cast your soul down to hell!"

Necrozma's clutch on Serena's throat lifted, allowing her to scream in agony as her body was slowly crushed bone by bone. It was music to Necrozma's would-be ears. Ash, forced the paralyzing pain of his exhausted body to be silent and leapt to his feet, flaring his Aura which was wavering between cyan and yellow. It was then that the mysterious shadowy figure approached him.

"Who are you?!" Ash asked the figure. As it walked towards the light of the flames, Ash was able to get a glimpse as to what it looked like and gasped. It's body was mostly-comprised of a bluish color scheme with an amphibian-like body. A large, pink tongue surrounded its' neck like a scarf.

"...Greninja…" Ash uttered in disbelief. A grin soon came to the boy's face and he embraced his Pokemon friend in a hug. But, it couldn't last. There were more pressing matters at hand and the both of them knew it. "So, you're finally back, huh?" Greninja grinned back at him and nodded.

"Alright!" Ash cheered, "Then, let's sync up for old time's sake!"

Ash and Greninja closed their eyes. Their minds began to sync with one another until finally, their brain waves became completely identical and Greninja transformed. Black patterns appeared around the sides of Greninja's head, an x-shaped scar appeared on his leg along with a red cross-shaped pattern on his head. Finally, a singular large shuriken made entirely from water manifested on the ninja Pokemon's back. Ash, meanwhile, gained a tremendous surge of Aura as their bond deepened. Their bond allowed their life force to be shared along with their power, and as the two of them clasped their hands together at their sides, their Auras mixed, giving the both of them a new height of power and their bond was stronger than ever.

The two of them pointed at the dark demon holding Serena with a savage set of glares. "Necrozma!" Ash bellowed, "You're done for! Let Serena go!"

Necrozma turned his head over towards the duo, his crimson eye glinting menacingly as the flames of the hell he created reflected through them. "You again? Truly, you have no idea when you're outmatched, do you? But very well. I'll accommodate your demands." The dark invader let out a chuckle that quickly turned into a mad cackle. Ash's heart dropped as Necrozma hoisted Serena above his head and threw her into the flames. But then, a blur rushed up from the ground and caught her safely. Zero had regained control over her body at last.

"I got her!" Zero reassured Ash, "I'll keep her alive, you just focus on killing him!"

Ash nodded to her with a grateful smile. "Thanks, Zero! Don't worry…" His smile faded and he and Greninja stepped forward towards Necrozma with a deathly glare in their eyes. "We'll make him pay…"

Necrozma extended his arms outward, daring him to try. "By all means, boy, I'll be happy to finish the job and send you to meet that bird creature of yours. How pathetically it died, trying to save its' master! I'm sure it will be disappointed in you once it sees you again, knowing that its' sacrifice was useless!"

Ash growled furiously. "His name…" Ash and Greninja flared their raging Auras, sending a cascade of yellow and cyan outward in a raging storm of crackling flames. They raised their arms upward, forming a massive Aura Sphere above their heads… "WAS HAWLUCHA!" and fired it at the demon.

Necrozma backhanded the ball of energy, dispersing it into nothingness. Ash and Greninja rocketed forward from behind the Aura Sphere and shot their fists forward at the invader, but was met with a barrier that impeded their attack. They quickly switched gears and Ash held out his arms so that Greninja could propel himself off of them and land behind Necrozma. Ash summoned an Aura Sphere on one side while Greninja pulled the giant Water Shuriken from his back.

Together, they plunged their attacks forward into Necrozma, who didn't even budge from their attacks. Ash cursed, but remained hopeful. As long as they drew breath, there was still a chance. There was still one, fleeting chance for survival...no...for victory. Even the smallest chance possible was more than enough for them.

"Night Slash!" Ash ordered, concentrating Aura into his arm to mirror the attack. Greninja nodded and charged his own arm with crackling, Dark-Type energy. They leapt backwards, pulled their arms behind them, and rocketed towards Necrozma. Just before they impacted him, Ash pulled left while Greninja pulled right, slicing at Necrozma's sides and pivoting around him so they couldn't be caught in a close range counterattack.

Yet again, their attacks didn't even put a scratch on Necrozma, and he merely crossed his arms to await whatever they could come up next. He chuckled smugly, sure that nothing they could do could harm him. The duo rushed forward, slicing upwards with their attacks this time so that they flew into the air after hitting Necrozma, then turned back down and fired an Aura Sphere and a Water Shuriken down and creating a large patch of smoke as they impacted the dark demon.

Ash and Greninja leapt out of the smoke to see their handiwork. Necrozma dispelled the smoke with but the wave of his hands and rushed towards the two of them. Their bodies instinctively bolted to their sides just in time to avoid a punch from the leader of the Ultra Beasts. Ash looked awed over what he'd just been able to do. "I dodged it!" He utter, his mouth gaping. His surprised look curled upward into a grin, realizing that he might just stand a chance after all.

"All right!" Ash cheered, flipping over in the air to land back onto his feet, "We might just be able to pull this off after all!" Greninja nodded confidently back to Ash, awaiting his next order. It had been so long since they had conjoined their minds that an ecstasy born from the deprivation of that power, combined with the new power of Ash's Aura being shared between them, gave them an entirely new battle sense.

Necrozma turned back around to the two of them with widened, flabbergasted eyes. "What?! That's impossible!" The dark being's shock was quick to turn to fury and he charged a white ball of energy between his fingertips, raising over his head menacingly. "I refuse to believe it! There's no way pathetic cretins like you could dodge my attack!" With a savage cry of rage, Necrozma shot the ball forward towards the two of them. Once again, Ash and Greninja were able to dodge it, allowing it to fly harmlessly into the sky where it disappeared.

Necrozma watched the ball soar into the smoke clouds and disappear with a look of pure horror planted upon his face. "N-no…" He whimpered, shaking his head to try and deny the sight before him, "It's not possible! T-this isn't real—this isn't happening!"

"Oh, it's real alright," Ash said as he and Greninja held out their arms and charged an Aura Sphere and a Water Shuriken between them respectively in sync, "I heard what you told Serena...you conquer countless worlds by the millions, and you call it fun! Well no more! I won't allow my world to meet that same fate! Greninja and I will stop you right here, right now!"

Necrozma's face contorted from fear to rage once more, "So, you want to play hero, boy?! I've slain countless self-styled heroes before, and you will not be the last!" Necrozma took off like a rocket and, before either Greninja or Ash could react, they were caught in a clothesline attack in his arms. They winced, expecting a brutal force to accompany the attack, but were pleasantly surprised to find that they hardly felt any pain at all.

Grinning, the two of them dug their heels into the dirt and were able to stop Necrozma in his tracks. Without giving the dark demon time to react, they hoisted him over their shoulders and hurled him into the sky. Seething, Necrozma righted himself in the air and fired a barrage of lasers from his fingertips down upon the two of them. Thinking quickly, Greninja created another large Water Shuriken and held it over their heads. The lasers pelted their makeshift shield like rain, but were unable to break through.

Greninja and Ash nodded to one another and together they shot the gigantic Water Shuriken up at Necrozma. The Leader of the Ultra Beasts' eyes shot open and he hastened the rate at which he fired, but still, his efforts were useless. The Water Shuriken plunged through Necrozma's lasers as if they were scraps of tin foil. Necrozma let out a terrified scream that was cut off by Ash and Greninja's attack impacting the dark beast, exploding in a cloud of smoke and rain.

Serena awoke to the feeling of water drizzling down upon her face. She opened her eyes and placed a hand to her aching head. Zero was huddled over her, using Heal Pulse to undo the damage of Necrozma. "What happened?" She asked the artificial girl. Zero merely looked up at the rain and smiled. "Ash and that frog Pokemon of his—I believe it was called "Greninja"— are battling Necrozma as we speak, and it appears that they are winning."

"Really?!" Serena's eyes shot open like dinner plates and she attempted to jump back onto her feet. It was too much for her, apparently, and she quickly was forced to sit back down as a headache began ripping at her mind.

"Don't push yourself," Zero told her, "Necrozma didn't do as much damage to you as the rest of us, but you still shouldn't move around too much right now." Serena nodded, laying back down and admiring the makeshift rainfall.

"So, Ash is really doing this then?" Serena asked again, "He's winning?"

"As far as I can tell," Replied Zero, "Yes, he's winning."

"I'm not too sure…"

Zero and Serena turned their gazes towards the source of the voice and found Riley who was staring off in a direction, likely towards wherever Ash and Greninja were battling the dark demon. To his side, Lucario stepped forward as well, taking his place next to his partner as always. In fact, all the other Pokemon had woken up as well and they were stumbling around, clutching the area Necrozma struck them.

"Necrozma...I can't sense his presence at all." He shook his head. "It's similar to that Adam guy from yesterday...but more...unsettling."

"Huh?" Serena asked him, "What do you mean?"

"It's like Necrozma's not alive at all," Riley answered, "With Adam, it's just that his life force was too weak for me to properly sense him...but here...when I try to sense Necrozma, I can't see anything at all. No life force to speak of...but that's not even the worst part."

Riley's lip curled downward into a deep frown. "Since I can't sense Necrozma's Aura, I can't sense his intentions either. I can sense Ash, and while his power right now is indeed surprisingly large…" His vision flashed back to the group's combined attack. Necrozma deflected it easily, and then Riley was taken down with a single punch. "...I don't think Ash is really winning this…"

Necrozma let out a garbled, choked grunt as he fell down to the Earth once more. Trembling, he balled his prismatic hands into fists and pounded the ground in frustration. "Damn it!" He cursed, "How...how can this be happening?! I am Necrozma! The supreme being in the universe! I am he who laid countless civilizations to waste with but the flick of my finger! I should be crushing you like the insect you are!"

Ash stepped forward towards the fallen Necrozma with a confident grin. He and Greninja flared their Aura, which had once again become a cyan blue with only mere remnants of its' yellow form still being apparent. "So, ready to give up yet?" Ash asked him.

Necrozma clawed furiously at the ground and leapt back up into the air. "NEVER!" He raised his hands, pointing his palms skyward. White plasmatic electricity crackled between his fingers like lightning rods and soon, a colossal ball of white energy appeared above them. Bolts of electricity routinely burst from the ball, tearing at the earth beneath it. One of them appeared in front of Ash and Greninja, forcing them to shield their faces.

"Fools!" Boomed Necrozma, "I am invincible! Nothing can possibly harm my indestructible body! I commend you for pushing me this far, but it amounts to nothing in the end! This is all the power I have! NOW DIE!" The black demon roared with fury and hurled the colossal ball of energy down towards the two peons who dared to challenge his conquest.

Greninja and Ash looked apprehensive about the attack coming their way. They turned to one another, but since their minds were linked they already knew what the other was going to say anyways. They grinned at each other, bumped their fists together and leapt up at the ball of energy with their own. Their swirling Aura met with the overwhelming raw power of Necrozma's full might, sending an array of sparks flying in every direction.

The duo of Man and Pokemon grunted upon impact and winced. The energy burned at their skin by simply being near them, so every second they remained in contact with the ball of energy was excruciating. Yet still, they pushed forward. They had already lost one friend, and who knows how many people died to this monster with what he's done to the Orange Islands and the burned town they were currently fighting in.

"This cannot continue, Necrozma!" Ash roared, "I won't let it!"

With all of their combined might, Ash and Greninja managed to plunge into the ball of energy. Seeing this, Necrozma's eyes widened in fear for a moment, but he pushed even more power into the ball. Ash and Greninja flinched for a moment, but ultimately, they were able to withstand the increase in the ball's power and retorted with their own. Digging deep inside themselves, Ash and Greninja unleashed every last ounce of their power and completely tore through the ball, sending its' energy blasting off into every direction in an array of white streaks.

The demon who had been the bane of entire galaxies, the monster who had wiped out entire civilizations for his own amusement, Necrozma, who had ruled the universe for millions of years and tormented all who lived in it for the entirety of that time without a care in the world now looked absolutely horrified as he watched the last of his power be blown away into cinders by a mere child and a frog. He couldn't even bring out any words anymore. He was at a complete loss.

From behind one of the white streaks trailing up into the sky, Ash and Greninja appeared with a final attack of their own. With their hands held to the sky, Aura and Water mixed together, spinning around in circles like a razor blade. The combination attack sent small, white little glowing orbs of dewdrop spinning around the attack like lightning-bugs. A warbled sound resembling a bell and a spinning metal emanated from the attack.

Without thinking twice, Necrozma rushed to the ground on his hands and knees, bowing to Ash and Greninja as a last-ditch attempt for survival. "Please! Don't kill me! Please, I'll do anything! I'll quit my wicked ways! I'll leave this planet forever! I swear, I'll never harm another soul ever again! Please, just spare my life!"

The response he received was the razor blade of Aura and Water becoming larger, causing him to shriek in fear. "As if I would believe that! The likes of you would stab us in the back the moment we showed mercy, and speaking of mercy, when was the last time you ever showed it to anyone?! This is the end, Necrozma! Aura-Shuriken!"

Ash and Greninja launched the attack downward at the fallen demon, who scarcely got the chance to scream before he was overtaken by the attack completely, disappearing into the swirling light. A colossal explosion ensued, but it was one of water and light, not fire. As Ash and Greninja fell back down to the ground amidst the glowing rain, they reveled proudly in their thoughts.

"We won…" Ash announced. Greninja nodded back to him. As they made contact with the ground, their Aura dispersed and Greninja was reverted back into his original form, making them collapse onto their knees in exhaustion that had just now caught up to them now that their job was finished at last. Ash's ears perked and he turned to his left. Serena and the others were running toward them.

Ash gave them a smile held back slightly by his fatigue and he raised his hand to show them that they were victorious at last. Relief overcame the oncoming group and they couldn't help but allow bright big grins to occupy their expressions. Serena clobbered Ash in an embrace, squeezing him tightly while Greninja stared blankly at them. Pikachu came over, patting him on the back.

"Thank Arceus you're alright!" Serena exclaimed, "I don't know what I would have done if you…"

Ash laughed, embracing her as well and patting her hair to reconcile her, "Hey, it's alright! We won!"

Serena lightly pounded her fist on Ash's shoulder, "Don't laugh! I was worried about you...but…" She pulled her head away from Ash's to stare him in the eye. Her own were shimmering, threatening happy tears, "...You're right. You won...and we're all still alive…!"

Ash's smile disappeared and he took out Hawlucha's Pokeball. Noivern flew down beside him and, seeing the Pokeball, began to weep for his fallen friend and mentor. Ever since Noivern had first been born into this world, Hawlucha was by his side. Hawlucha was his mentor, his secondary trainer and, most importantly of all, the first friend he had ever had. Every step Noivern had taken, Hawlucha had taken another right beside him. Without him, Noivern didn't know what to do but weep. Ash allowed his own tears to flow for him as well, putting a compassionate and knowing hand on Noivern's wing.

"...Not everyone…"

The rest of the Pokemon gathered around Ash and Noivern. As they noticed that Hawlucha was not among their ranks along with the reactions of Ash and Noivern, they realized what the Pokeball signified and hung their heads. The Pokemon Ash had ventured with through Kalos were hit pretty hard by the loss, and pretty soon, they began to weep for their fallen comrade as well, moving through the rest of the crowd to embrace Ash and Noivern together.

Serena's gaze became sorrowful as well. As someone who had also journeyed alongside Ash and, by extension, Hawlucha, the loss of the Pokemon was painful to say the least. "Oh, Ash.."

Riley and Lucario gazed upon the sorrowful scene with hardened faces. It wasn't to say that they didn't care. Of course they cared. Their very purpose was to protect all Pokemon, and to have failed to save a Pokemon of their friend made their hearts ache. For now, though, they had more pressing issues.

'Is he well and truly gone?' Lucario asked Riley.

'If you don't know, then your guess is as good as mine,' Replied Riley, 'Of course, neither of us can sense Necrozma either way, so we'll have no way of knowing.'

Lucario narrowed his eyes, 'Until he reappears and kills us all instantly, that is. You and I both know he went down far too easily. Go tell the others about this.'

Riley shook his head, 'Look at them. I can't tell them their efforts were likely for nothing right now!'

'They'll look worse dead,' Lucario shot back, 'Now go, tell them we need to leave!'

Riley rolled his head and sighed, 'You're right. All right, I'll tell them.'

"Hey Ash!" Riley called over, "It's still not safe here-"

He was cut off by a sudden violent tremor in the ground that nearly made him tip over. The others, however, weren't quite as lucky. The tremor completely knocked them off of their feet, causing them to collapse on top of one another.

"What the?!" Exclaimed Ash.

"What's happening?!" Screamed Serena.

The very ground beneath their feet began to crumble away, falling into a seemingly-endless void and leaving the group standing on one, singular platform surrounded by nothing. Their platform was dislodged from the ground with a jolt that made them stagger and was dragged up into the dark, smoke-filled sky, accompanied by a dark laughter all too familiar with them.

Ash's pupils shrank in fear and a wave of choking dread worse than the smoke surrounding them came over him once more. A pulse of wind blew the smoke backwards, making it spiral around the flying platform, and out from the smoke came Necrozma, staring down at Ash in amusement.

"What do you say, boy? My acting skills are impeccable, are they not?"

Ash clenched his teeth and hands to the point his fingers dug into his hands. "YOU!" He roared furiously, "How are you still alive?! I watched you disappear!"

"A mere teleportation trick," Necrozma told him, wagging his finger around in a circle to further show his point, "Come now, you didn't honestly believe you could have killed me, did you?" Before Ash could retort, Necrozma disappeared and reappeared in front of him, grabbed him by the throat and flew up above the others. "You are nothing."

"ASH, NO!" Serena screamed, reaching out uselessly at him as he was dragged above. A few Pokemon began charging attacks to fire at Necrozma to free him, but Greninja quickly stopped them, telling them that they would hit Ash as well. The begrudgingly halted their attacks, scowling helplessly. Noivern, however, was not persuaded so easily. After the death of his closest friend, he was not about to let the man who raised him alongside Hawlucha die as well.

With a savage screech, Noivern rocketed up at Necrozma and shot open his jaw to try and clamp down on Necrozma's arm. What exactly it would do to the monster that killed his best friend didn't concern him. The only thoughts in Noivern's mind were to free his friend and kill this bastard. As he came in for the attack, he bounced off a barrier that Necrozma had created. Noivern roared savagely once more and blasted at the barrier with a Dragon Pulse attack. Without moving, Necrozma turned his eyes towards Noivern and batted him back to the ground with an invisible pulse of energy. "Sit down, pet. I'll kill you in a moment."

He turned his cruel gaze back upon the boy he had between his fingertips. "As for you…" He increased his grip slightly, but it was enough to slowly choke the life out of Ash, making him squirm uselessly in Necrozma's grasp. "You couldn't have honestly believed you had even the slightest chance against me, did you? If so, either my acting skills are better than I thought, or you're a bigger imbecile than I could have imagined. I'm thinking the latter option."

Ash tried to glare at him as some sign of resistance, but his fear betrayed his anger. Instead of the defiant glare Ash intended, he gave Necrozma some kind of one-eyed cringing look.

"Hmph. Your attempts at rebellion are pitiful. Merely holding you in my grasp disgusts me more than words can describe. Still, you did manage to impress me. When I pulled out the old begging-for-my-life card, these 'heroes' usually fall for it, leaving me the perfect opportunity to stab them in the back." He laughed, loosening his grip on Ash's throat slightly. "But not you! No, you took the opportunity and used it to its' fullest, finishing me off when I was weak and vulnerable! I love it! So, because you were so entertaining, I'll allow you to die with your friends." He dropped Ash from his grasp, eliciting a gasp from Serena. Sceptile quickly hopped off the ground and caught him, but to describe him as safe would be inaccurate to say the least. Necrozma floated down towards them, but instead of engaging them, he floated back towards the edge of the platform and put his finger into the black cyclone of smoke surrounding them. Immediately, the smoke lit up and bright orange flames took their place, spiraling around the group.

Ash and the others gaped up in horror, and the realization that their possible escape route had disappeared terrified them. Their only option now was to stand and face Necrozma, but the moment they did, the were blasted by another invisible pulse of energy and sent sprawling onto their backs. "Your time has run out," Necrozma announced. He snapped his fingers, and the fiery cyclone began to close in gradually, destroying the parts of the platform it made contact with. Serena backed up towards the center, marginally escaping having her foot be consumed by the flames. The others steadily followed suit, but they were running out of room and fast. Zero took it upon herself to leap up at Necrozma with a Night Slash attack, but was quickly batted back down onto the platform by a halfhearted backhand from him.

"Your resistance means nothing. You should feel lucky that I am allowing you all to die with one another instead of casting you into the fire one by one."

Ash rushed to his feet and was met with another invisible pulse of energy. Yet, he was able to stand his ground this time, or at least not fall back down. Another pulse hit him, forcing him to bend his knees. He winced, baring his teeth but not falling. He raised his arm up at Necrozma and fired a weak, one-handed Aura Sphere that barely had any form to it. Of course, it was dispersed by him immediately. Ash was hit with a third pulse that nearly forced him to the ground, yet he remained standing. He was hit with a fourth. Then a fifth, and a sixth and a seventh. More and more of them assaulted Ash by the second, and each one forced him closer and closer to the ground. Even he didn't know what he was trying to accomplish. Some kind of last-minute act of rebellion, and it was going about as successfully as the other ones did. Ash was finally forced to his knees and he faced towards the ground, his hat shadowing his eyes.

The Pokemon shut their eyes, awaiting the end. Zero summoned a Protect around them, but the flames swirling around them at impossibly-high speeds shredded her barrier to pieces like paper. She tried another one, holding it together with all of her might. Still, it meant nothing. The barrier, even though it remained there, was forced to close in as the swirling fire did. Riley and Lucario bowed their head and accepted failure. Serena grabbed hold of Ash in a tight hug and closed her eyes. Pikachu hopped into Ash's lap and closed his eyes as well. Ash didn't move, didn't speak, didn't even think. He knelt to Necrozma's unbreakable power and awaited the end.

"Farewell, Earth-dwellers."

Necrozma clasped his hand shut, ushering the flaming cyclone to close in as well.

Then, a golden ray appeared that completely eradicated the flames, letting the sun appear once more to shine upon the land Necrozma reduced to cinders. The group shielded their eyes from the light. As the ray faded, Arceus appeared in its' place, surrounded by a stream of golden-white energy that bounced around Arceus's body like a solar flare would with its' star.

"I should have come here after all," He spoke, turning down to face Ash, "You did well to last so long against him, but this is my battle now." Before Ash and the others could reply, they were surrounded by a white glow and whisked away into the sky. He turned back towards the black demon with a glare that practically seeped with unending fury. "As for you…"

Necrozma would have been smirking down at the God of Pokemon if he had the facial structure for it. "This day is a gift that really does just keep on giving, isn't it? After the fodder comes the father." The invader floated down to meet Arceus face to face, extending his arms outward as if he was inviting in a guest. "Why, hello again, Arceus! I hadn't expected to see you again until my grand arrival at Goldenrod City!"

"There will be no grand arrival," Hissed Arceus, "For your reign ends here and now! You've taken more than enough lives!"

"Hmph," Remarked Necrozma with a shrug, "Quite frankly, I beg to differ. I've been keeping my reign quite strong for the past few million years, my good friend, and I'm quite intent on keeping it going."

"That is not for you to decide!" Arceus stamped down upon the air beneath him, sending a golden pulse of energy dashing across the skies. "For the lives you have taken, Necrozma, I, Arceus, will personally make you face my Judgement!"

Necrozma chuckled and crossed his arms arrogantly. If this false god wanted action, then he would be happy to oblige. "Not for me to decide? I tire of being told the same things over and over again. Every time someone has told me that, I planted their corpse headfirst into the ground. Tell me, Arceus: You could not defeat me or even scratch me the last time we clashed. What makes you so confident in your abilities now?"

"You fled," Arceus taunted, "Had you stayed around, I would have smited your wretched soul!"

"Big talk, coming from the guy who outright admitted you had no chance against me," Necrozma retorted.

Arceus faltered for a brief moment, but was quick to regain his composure. "What madness do you speak of?! I recall saying nothing of the sort, seeing how blatantly untrue that statement is!"

"You're a terrible liar," Necrozma said, tapping the side of his head with his index finger, "I can read minds, remember? I see your every thought, action and memory. I even saw that adorable little moment you had with your sons! When five days passes, I'll be sure to-"

"You will do NOTHING!" Arceus flared his divine, golden Aura, sending wave after wave of white and gold bursts of energy off in every direction. The clouds surrounding the two of them were completely obliterated by the assaulting force, but Necrozma was completely unperturbed. "I told you, Necrozma, your end has come! For the lives you have stolen...for the children of mine that you slayed..!" Arceus' fury-filled crimson eyes met with Necrozma's amused gaze. "I have judged you, and sentenced you to death!"

"...Very well…" Necrozma uncrossed his arms. "I was planning on saving your death for the grand war I had in store in five days' time, but if you're so persistent on dying, who am I to deny you?"

With a singular finger, Necrozma summoned a colossal ball of crackling red plasma above his head. In mere seconds, it blotted out the sky. He pointed down towards Arceus and the ball followed his command, racing towards the Alpha Pokemon. The mere presence of the ball sent the land below into chaos. The platform Ash and the others were standing on previously was destroyed by the force of the wind alone, and what was left of the town was completely flattened.

Arceus closed his eyes to concentrate for a moment, and the golden ring surrounding his abdomen turned into a dark purple color. He raced towards the ball, surrounding himself in a golden-purple hue, and shot forward an array of arrows that tore the orb to pieces and surrounded Necrozma.

"Don't think you can use the same trick as before on me again!" Arceus bellowed, "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE!" The purple arrows plunged into Necrozma by the thousands. A series of violent explosions ensued with each arrow, but from inside the fiery cloud, a storm of white lasers emerged that destroyed the arrows.

A black prismatic hand dispelled the accompanying cloud of smoke, revealing Necrozma to be completely unharmed. "Useless." Arceus scowled and changed forms again, making his ring become a bright yellow. Waves of plasmatic electricity were unleashed from Arceus' body and tore after Necrozma, who soared away from them. The black demon swerved and spun around each electric wave, deftly dodging them with ease and chuckling all the while.

Necrozma dipped down towards the ground below, ushering the electric pulses honing in on him to follow him. Just before each one attempted to strike him, he sidestepped through the air, causing a chain of explosions as he flew just above the ground. He lurched up towards Arceus' underside with the remaining electric pulses in tow close behind and pulled back his fist. In turn, Arceus created a barrier around himself to block the incoming attack, but just as the dark demon was about to plant his fist into the shield, he phased through it and Arceus' own attack that was chasing Necrozma ended up crashing violently into himself.

"Come on, that's the oldest trick in the book!" Necrozma taunted with an accompanying laugh. Though, as the smoke around Arceus cleared away, he was revealed to be completely unharmed and sporting a new, light-brown ring in place of the yellow one. "Oh…?" An intrigued Necrozma spoke, "So you have some backbone after all."

Arceus flicked back his head to rid it of the dust from the smoke. "Come now, Necrozma. Did you truly believe I could be harmed by my own attacks?"

"Fair enough. Now, back to it then…"

Necrozma blitzed at Arceus and blasted a savage punch into the Alpha Pokemon's face, but to his genuine surprise, Arceus withstood the attack and stood his ground. From Arceus' forehead came five orange lasers that closed around into Necrozma and merged into one, swallowing the dark demon up in its' grasp and sending him flying into the sky. Necrozma burst out of the side of the laser, staring up at it as it sailed into the atmosphere, and then back down to Arceus with a look Arceus could only describe as some kind of warped euphoria.

"You sly old dog, you actually managed to catch me off guard for a second!"

Arceus neglected to respond, instead opting to change his ring to a bright red color. Pillars of flame erupted around himself, swirling around him and warping into the shape of a ball. With a roar, Arceus shot the ball forward up at Necrozma, who backhanded it in response. Or at least, he tried to. Right before the ball collided with him, it split apart into several smaller orbs, closed itself around Necrozma and exploded violently.

Necrozma burst outward from the explosion and raced down at Arceus with his fist pulled back. Arceus's ring switched to a light purple color and, to Necrozma's surprise, was able to dodge the attack. When Necrozma tried to scan Arceus' mind to find out how he had done this, he encountered tremendous resistance and found himself unable to do so. He couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation.

"And just what is so funny about this?!" Demanded Arceus.

"I'm impressed is all," Necrozma replied, "I haven't fought like this in thousands of years! But now, I'm turning up the heat, so try not to disappoint me!"

Necrozma flexed his arms, and the crystals protruding from them flashed red for a split second. Before Arceus could blink, Necrozma raced up at him and delivered a punch to Arceus's face that sent him spiraling through the air. In turn, Arceus righted himself and fired a Hyper Beam at Necrozma, who barrel-rolled out of harm's way, flying up at the Alpha Pokemon and hurling another punch his way that sent him careening into the sky.

Arceus growled in frustration, turned his ring back to its' original gold color, and charged down towards Necrozma. Necrozma's arm-crystal flashed red for a split second once more while Arceus' gold Aura intensified to the point a barrier had formed around him. Their clash was nigh-cataclysmic, sending waves of energy tearing through the sky. The ground far below them was being torn apart by the winds that ensued from the force of their clash. Around the dueling gods, flares of violent flames and plasma burst from them and swirled around them, destroying the very oxygen itself around them.

"That's right, Arceus! Show me the full extent of your might!"

"I'LL SCATTER YOUR REMAINS DOWN TO THE LAST ATOM!"

The two deities were forced back as their colliding forces became unstable, but they quickly engaged one another once more. Necrozma shot yet another punch at Arceus while the Alpha Pokemon surrounded itself in a golden light and clashed into his adversary. They swerved around in the air, colliding briefly with one another time after time as they raced back towards the ground below.

The two of them impacted the land, blasting up an enormous wave of dust and rock into the air, which they quickly burst out of, blitzing around one another and sending sparks up as they impacted each other at speeds faster than sight could perceive. Necrozma shot a small white laser from his palms towards Arceus, which he dispelled with the mere flick of his head. The God of all Pokemon, in turn, fired an array of Hyper Beams from thin air around himself.

The dark demon lurched forward, using his large arm as a shield as he plunged through the lasers and delivered a sharp uppercut into Arceus' neck, making him lurch over for a short moment. That short moment was all Necrozma needed to follow up, and he pumped back both of his fists. His crystals sparked red for a split second, and before Arceus could move he was assaulted at every angle by a flurry of punches from Necrozma.

Even as the deity Pokemon felt pieces of his body start to shatter with each punch, he refused to show weakness to this monster that had taken the lives of so many. His eyes glinted for but a flash in time, and from Arceus' body came an overwhelmingly-massive golden blast. Every angle around Arceus was consumed in an instant. Trees were atomized, the ground was disintegrated, the sky for miles became blindingly bright, as if a secondary sun had just been born upon Earth. Necrozma was overtaken by the blast and he tried to shield himself with his arms to stand his ground.

"You're pretty good, Arceus," He commended, "But I, Necrozma, have no equal!"

Necrozma shot his arms out to his side, splitting the colossal golden wave in twain and sending' the blast of energy flying past him on either side, exposing Arceus. Necrozma cracked his neck, chuckled darkly and rocketed towards Arceus, delivering a devastating downward blow with both of the demon's hands clasped together. The golden, all-consuming wave was cut off by the skull-shattering attack and the ground beneath the two of them warped like a disturbed liquid.

A sea of dirt and rock erupted up from the ground around the two dueling gods for over a mile on all sides, sending it skyward. Arceus shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness Necrozma's blow had dealt him, along with a throbbing headache. From his perspective, he was in the middle of a void where chunks of rock blotted out almost all light as it was sent careening into the atmosphere around them. Somehow, even more rage erupted from within him than before. The land would never be the same after this. Whatever was left of New Bark Town was flying above him as nothing more than chunks of wood and metal.

"NECROZMA!" Bellowed the deity.

As if on cue, Necrozma rushed down at him from below, with only the crystals on his arm to indicate his presence amidst the darkness. Arceus fired a golden, swirling beam of light from the tip of his forehead up at Necrozma, managing to stop him in his tracks for a moment until the black beast pushed forward, making the beam curl outward. Arceus roared, pushing his power to its' absolute limit. The golden beam overtook Necrozma completely, but he jumped out of the attack and blitzed down towards his adversary.

Their momentary impact caused a ripple in the rising pillar of stone surrounding them, and they quickly pushed off one another. Necrozma lit up the tip of his finger and sliced through the air, causing a horizontal laser to rush towards Arceus. In response, Arceus summoned a barrier and plunged straight through the oncoming attack and into Necrozma. To the white deity's shock, Necrozma caught Arceus's barrier and pressed into it with his claws until it burst, leaving the Alpha Pokemon completely defenseless to Necrozma's next attack.

Necrozma caught Arceus by the throat, to which Arceus unleashed a barrage of white arrows into him. Yet, it availed to nothing. Necrozma held Arceus in a griplock and placed his free hand to Arceus' face. A crimson light blasted out from the column of stone, making them drop back down to the ground in a hailstorm of meteors. Arceus flew out from the falling stones and impacted the ground nearby on his side. He winced in pain. Necrozma's attack had left a ghastly burn mark on the side of his face, blackening a small portion of it. Necrozma, meanwhile, appeared before him without a single scratch.

Arceus' rage boiled over and he roared, sending out a burst of golden energy that atomized the surrounding area completely. The deity Pokemon tore out of the golden attack with Necrozma in hot pursuit. Arceus fired a ball of white energy down towards his pursuer, to which Necrozma backhanded and dispelled the concentrated energy without effort, barreling into Arceus with a violent boom. Frustration began to make Arceus' blood boil and he blasted out a small golden pulse to distance himself from Necrozma.

The demon brought his arm up to block the incoming attack with ease and cackled as he tore forwards towards Arceus once more. Arceus raised his head skyward, shooting a ball of light into the sky and then quickly bringing his head downward, causing a pillar of light to shoot down from the heavens and collide with Necrozma. The dark demon was blasted downward, but quickly destroyed the laser with a pulse of his own energy and raced back up to Arceus again. His chilling laughter hadn't faded in the slightest amidst this.

Necrozma barreled into Arceus' stomach, making him double over in pain, and grabbed onto his hind legs. He began spinning Arceus around, then hurled him up farther into the sky. Quickly chasing after his adversary, Necrozma blitzed up towards him with a punch, to which Arceus, thinking quickly, used the spinning to his advantage and fired a golden laser that blasted into Necrozma's side, impeding his onslaught.

Arceus righted himself, shook off the mild dizziness, and summoned his power to the center of Arceus' forehead. Arceus began drawing power from everything around himself, turning the very molecules surrounding them into energy for his use, and fired an enormous white laser down at Necrozma that sent him careening down into the ground. Arceus winced, as the fight was beginning to wear him down, but still, he pushed on. He roared mightily and summoned as much power as he could to finally smite the demon before him.

"YOU'RE FINISHED, NECROZMA!" Arceus bellowed, "THIS IS THE FULL EXTENT OF MY POWER! TASTE MY JUDGEMENT!"

Arceus dug deep within himself, summoning a level of power he couldn't remember ever needing to use. The golden beam intensified, sending the land around it for miles blasting backward. The trees were incinerated. The rocks were turned to dust. Nothing of this world could withstand the full might of Arceus' power, yet still, he used even more. Alongside the golden laser came a mass of shimmering white arrows that swirled down around the divine attack.

Arceus utilized every last inch of power within himself to blast down fiery divine wrath upon Necrozma and everything surrounding him. Necrozma, who had destroyed the lives of thousands of his children and countless more across the universe. He who desecrated the lives of the Legends and everything they stood for, using him as his twisted plaything. It could not continue. Arceus would not let it!

"HRRRRRAAAAUUUUUUUGGGHH!"

Arceus' final attack was intensified even further, turning the sky itself into a blinding golden hue. Then, finally, it began to waver as Arceus' power was drawn to its' last. The brilliant golden beam closed in on itself and slowly faded away until, finally, it had died down completely and left what was left of the land in a state of silence.

Arceus nearly fell from exhaustion, but managed to keep himself airborne. He panted heavily for air, exhaustion seeping its' way into every inch of his body. He dared to open his eyes and witnessed the sheer level of destruction he'd caused. Luckily, he had the insight to teleport every living creature, barring plants, far away from the area. Yet even still, he felt a pang of guilt at the destruction. It reminded him far too much of what was left of Mewtwo's home after Rayquaza had dueled Necrozma on his own. Alongside the guilt, he felt a shred of relief and even pride. Though it had been costly, and New Bark Town along with its' surroundings would not be repaired for thousands or even millions of years, stopping Necrozma was a price well worth the toll.

"At last…" Rasped Arceus, "He...is defeated… I had enough power to defeat him after all…" Of course, the Legends might not be quite as happy to hear about the toll, and the remaining denizens of New Bark Town would be left in chaos, leaving Necrozma alive would have been far more costly. The destruction of a town, a forest and a few mountains was a fair price to pay in comparison to Necrozma destroying the world.

"Arceus...I hadn't pegged you for a fool."

Arceus's eyes shot open in horror. "No...no, this cannot be!" From the crater he'd left with his final attack, Necrozma rose back up with a smug look upon his features. What's more, he was completely and utterly left without a scratch. Not a single modicum of damage was apparent on Necrozma's prismatic body.

"How?!" Demanded Arceus, "How are you still alive?!"

"It's quite simple really," Necrozma answered with a small chuckle, "You are not weak, that much I concede. You alone have given me a better fight than entire planet's worth of people attacking me at once have. But…" Arceus became immobilized in Necrozma's telekinetic grip, eliciting a choked cry of protest from the god-like Pokemon. "...This body cannot be killed, nor even harmed. I am completely, utterly invincible. You never stood a chance against me to begin with, nor does anyone or anything."

"N-no!" Stammered Arceus. He tried to break free from Necrozma's grasp, but no matter how much energy he summoned, he was unable to do so, and could only choke pathetically, "I...cannot allow...you to live! You've hurt...so many! Killed...so many! It...must stop! I cannot allow more...to fall to you…!"

Necrozma scoffed. "Spare me the speech. What, are you going to avenge them? Protect them? You cannot even protect yourself. Not to mention, you've already failed them before this duel."

"W-what…" Arceus coughed, "Do..you mean?!"

"I'm sure you recall the trio that called themselves the Swords of Justice. As I dueled with them...well," He couldn't help but chuckle as he began to retell the tale of the trio's demise by his hand, "They had such confidence in you. The told me over and over that you would save them, yet where were you? While they boasted proudly about how their precious Lord Arceus would come to save the day, you were nowhere to be found. As I fought them, you were nowhere to be found. When I killed them, even in death as they claimed you would come to smite me...you were nowhere to be found. You cannot avenge the dead, nor can you protect the living."

Necrozma's words stung Arceus badly, making him flinch as if he was in physical pain. "You are right...to an extent…"

"Oh? Pray tell, to an extent of what?"

"You are right to say that I have failed my world," Arceus conceded, "I have failed the people of the Orange Islands...I have failed Lugia and the Elemental Birds...I have failed Mewtwo by allowing his home to be destroyed and forcing Rayquaza to fight a battle he had no chance of winning...you are right about these things."

The golden ring attached to Arceus' abdomen turned a light purple and, with the last of Arceus's fleeting power he pushed outward against Necrozma's grasp. "I have failed the Swords of Justice...and I am unworthy of their praise...I have failed Keldeo, dooming him to a life without a family...and I have failed the citizens of New Bark Town...but even still-!" Arceus roared, blasting outward with every shred of energy still within his body and freeing himself of Necrozma's telekinetic grasp. "BUT I WILL FAIL THEM NO MORE! YOU WILL TAKE NO MORE LIVES, NECROZMA! NOT WHILE I STILL DRAW BREATH! AS THE GOD OF THIS WORLD, I WILL NOT ALLOW ANY MORE OF MY CHILDREN TO FALL TO YOU!"

Arceus charged at the foul dark demon, but was promptly backhanded away, jutting the edge of Necrozma's arm crystal into Arceus's face and sending him careening through the air. The Leader of the Ultra Beasts then motioned towards himself with his index finger and Arceus, caught once more in his grasp, was ushered back to Necrozma where he hung limply.

"God?" Necrozma mocked, "Many beings called themselves that before, and they all fell before me." His hand began sparking and he lifted it up to Arceus' face. "You are no different. If a God truly exists, I have yet to see it. You are no God. You are naught but a fool with 'God' as a self-titled moniker."

To Necrozma's confusion, Arceus merely laughed. "You truly know nothing, Necrozma!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am no false, self-titled God. It was a title given to me by a force far more powerful than I, and he is coming!" He laughed once more. "Your actions have angered a force beyond me! Beyond you! Beyond anything and everything!"

Necrozma chuckled amusedly. "And here come the delusional threats of the dying."

Arceus scoffed. "Delusions? No, this is very real indeed. Tell me, do you recall your duel with Rayquaza?"

Necrozma shrugged. "The green serpent? Yes, I recall disposing of him rather easily. What is your point?"

"Do you recall him being coated in a brilliant white sheen?"

"Hmm," Mused Necrozma, placing two fingers beneath his eyes in thought, "Yes, I do recall that he seemed to undergo a fairly substantial power boost for a brief moment. He even managed to take off a tiny shard of my crystals, though those break and regenerate from time to time anyways. What, was that some kind of parlor trick of yours or his?"

"Neither," Arceus told him, "That was the act of an incomprehensibly-powerful being. For it to actually intervene now...you truly must have angered it, Necrozma…"

At first, Necrozma scoffed at the idea, believing it to be nothing more than empty threats of a dying creature. Then, he entertained the thought, mulling it over within his mind. If this being truly did exist, then Necrozma might have an actual battle, or at least some resistance to make his conquest of this planet more interesting. So, he released his hold on Arceus, who had to catch himself to stop his descent.

"Very well," Necrozma spoke, "I was going to destroy this planet, seeing as I've already defeated you, but you've managed to peak my interest. You've bought yourself five days to amass your forces as per my initial plan. Though, should this 'being' of yours fail to arrive, well...let's just say your deaths will be far from swift."

With those chilling words, Necrozma shot off into the sky, soaring into the great beyond. Arceus heaved out an exhausted breath with a cold sweat running down his neck. He'd succeeded in staving off Necrozma for now, but as to whether he could uphold his promise, even he didn't know. That being...was unpredictable. With how it aided Rayquaza, it could very well be on their side, but he had no way of truly knowing. He practically bluffed his way out of the world's destruction. For now.

He shook his head to clear his mind. These were thoughts best saved for a later date. For now, he had a group of very confused and startled people awaiting him. As he was about to open a portal to their destination, he noticed something about himself. Impact wounds dotted his body, and half of his face was still burnt. Appearing to the humans like this might be...alarming, to say the least. Nevertheless, they deserved an explanation, and an explanation is what he would give them. Even if his visage wasn't exactly at...maximum capacity.

The Alpha Pokemon opened a golden portal and flew through it. His destination was the abandoned Goldenrod City, where he had transported the humans of New Bark Town, their Pokemon and the wild Pokemon that would have gotten dragged into his battle against Necrozma. Though he hardly received a welcoming committee. Beneath him, the wild Pokemon seemed to have become startled and agitated from their sudden removal from their homes and were rushing about, causing havoc in their wake amidst the darkening lands as the stygian night began to take over the day. The humans, meanwhile, were using their own Pokemon to try and calm them, or at least stop them.

Arceus descended to the ground, raised his leg and tapped the ground. A small, golden wave of energy shot out along the ground, catching the attention of everyone within the vicinity. The wild and Trained Pokemon knelt down the second they saw their creator, while the humans were a bit slow on the uptake. Riley and Lucario were the first to kneel among any of them while the others merely stared at Arceus with awed expressions. Ash, meanwhile, walked right on up to the Alpha Pokemon as if he was greeting an old friend.

"Yo, Arceus!" Ash called out to him with a wave of his hand, "How've you been? Thanks for saving us back at the-"

Riley and Lucario scrambled up to Ash and forced him onto his knees in a mad panic.

"YOU CAN'T JUST CASUALLY WALK UP TO ARCEUS LIKE THAT!" He smacked Ash upside the head, causing the younger boy to cry out and put a hand to the stricken area, "DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW DISRESPECTFUL THAT IS?! HE SAVED OUR LIVES, GRACED US WITH HIS DIVINE PRESENCE AND THAT'S HOW YOU THANK HIM?!"

"Ow!" Ash exclaimed, rubbing his now-throbbing head, "What's the big idea?!"

"THE BIG IDEA?!" Shrieked Riley, "YOU'RE TALKING TO OUR CREATOR AS IF HE WAS AN OLD FRIEND!"

Arceus laughed at the exchange, garnering the attention of the three of them. "I thank you, Aura Guardians. Your reverence towards me is appreciated, but please, if you would kindly get off of my Chosen One, he and I have much to speak about."

Riley's and Lucario's eyes shot open as wide as platters, looked between Ash and the deity Pokemon, and, swift as a blur, the two of them knelt down onto their hands and knees. "WE'RE TERRIBLY SORRY, LORD ARCEUS."

"It is of no consequence," Arceus told them, waving them off, "Now, as for you, Ash, you and I have much to speak about."

Nodding, Ash got back up onto his feet. "Right. So, did you defeat Necrozma?"

To the shock and horror of all the onlookers, Arceus shook his head. "No...I was unable to defeat him, but I've bought us some time. By the way, you all appear to be well. It's surprising that Necrozma didn't end up doing worse."

Ash nodded, smiling brightly up to the divine Pokemon. "Yeah, we're fine. If you hadn't gotten there when you did, we would have been toast…" His smile then faded, "But...not all of us got out. One of my Pokemon, Hawlucha...:" Ash's face contorted with rage and sorrow, and he clenched his fists tightly. "Hawlucha...didn't make it…" He turned back and motioned to the surviving citizens of New Bark Town. There were only about a dozen left. "They probably lost a lot of people and Pokemon too…"

"...I am deeply sorry for your loss, Ash," Arceus spoke, bowing his head to him and the others, "Truly, I am...if I had only gotten there faster...then maybe I could have saved more…"

"...personally, I'm just glad you came to save us at all," Ash admitted, summoning his now-cyan Aura and recalling the brief moment it was yellow, "...Without you, we would have all died."

"Had I acted as guardian deity of Earth like I was supposed to, no one would have."

A youngish female trainer stepped forward. "That's okay!" She said, "You can just bring back everyone, right?"

Arceus solemnly shook his head. "Had I that kind of power, your loved ones would have already returned...I can create life, but once a soul is lost, it is lost forever. Even if I created replacements of your loved ones...they would not be the same. They would have to be reborn again, and grow up again, but this time they would be born by different parents into different families, thus growing up into a different person entirely. There would be no point."

The girl's face paled and she looked down towards the ground, stepping back away from the Alpha Pokemon. "O-oh, that's o-okay," She stammered, "I-it's fine...I-I'm just glad the...r-rest of us survived…" Arceus could tell she was lying. Tears began to well up in her eyes more and more with every passing second and she was trying and failing to hold it back. It was as if she was grieving over her losses twice over.

"I...am sorry," Arceus told her, "I cannot give you back what was lost...and for that I truly cannot apologize enough. I, too, lost much to that monster Necrozma." He leaned forward, illuminating his face so that everyone could see it, eliciting an array of shocked gasps from them all as they beheld his half-marred face. "Three Legendary Pokemon, a trio from Unova called the Swords of Justice...were slain at the hands of Necrozma…"

Ash's expression contorted with shock. "What?! That's impossible!"

"I thought so too once," Arceus replied solemnly, "But Necrozma has single handedly shattered every illusion I thought was reality. My firstborn children, the Legends, are not invincible...nor am I."

Ash, still in disbelief, shook his head. "I knew them...it wasn't for long, but still...wait, is Keldeo still alive?!"

Arceus nodded, eliciting a relieved sigh from Ash. "He is, but the loss has scarred him. He tried to find me to help, but...Necrozma cut him off at every turn and beat him to the brink of death. He only allowed Keldeo to live so that he could tell me about what happened and incite my wrath."

"And that's why you fought him?" Ash asked.

"Sort of. I had been meaning to strike him down ever since he arrived, but he proved to be a slippery one. He attacked any Legends he found and disappeared only after scarring their bodies and minds beyond repair. This included Lugia, which is why the Orange Islands were destroyed."

"W-wait," One of the other survivors spoke up, "That was him?! All this time, I thought it was Lugia like the news said!"

Arceus' expression twisted, and he narrowed his eyes with a fury he somehow managed to suppress. "Lugia is a stalwart paragon amongst what the Legends should be. He is calm, level-headed and kind to the innocent. He would never attack the Orange Islands like that, nor does he even have power of that magnitude to do so. He fought to the last, staving off Necrozma's wrath for as long as possible. The media is untrustworthy."

Serena spoke up next. "But wait," She said, "What are we going to do, then? If Necrozma holds enough power to wipe out entire islands of that size with ease, and even has enough power to defeat you, then...what chance do we have."

"That," Arceus began, rising back to his full height, "Is the other reason I have come here. I alone cannot defeat Necrozma, but if we can unite the world as a singular unit and fight back with our full might, we might be able to scour him from our home once and for all."

"With all due respect, milord," Riley spoke, rising back to his feet. "But how are we going to do that? The world is in chaos right now, and this is the last place they would ever come to."

"I'm glad you asked," Arceus replied with a humm, "I am going to send out a worldwide message of my own to rally the world and purge them of their fears. If all goes well, I am hoping the entire world's population of trainers and wild Pokemon will unite here and wait on standby until Necrozma arrives with his forces. I will then deploy the entirety of the Legends of the Hall of Origins to aid in the battle."

"But what will you do?" Zero asked.

Arceus turned down to the girl and his heart skipped a beat. Though her demeanor was calm, and she even had her eyes closed, her Aura said otherwise. It whirled around her in a storm of violent, raging crimson flame. It was as red as a dying star.

"...What happened to you…?" He whispered under his breath.

Zero tilted her head. "Huh?"

Arceus quickly shook his head to dispel his thoughts and get back on topic. "W-well, little one, I was planning on sending a message similarly to Necrozma, and dispelling the fear he left behind as he did so. Essentially, I'd just tell the world what I just told all of you?"

"When?" Asked Ash.

"Right about now-ish."

"Wha-"

Arceus took off into the sky and released his energy to the four corners of the world, coating the skies all across the globe in a brilliant gold sheen, and while Necrozma instilled dread as he spoke, Arceus instilled a sense of calm. It was time to start undoing the damage Necrozma dealt to the world, starting with the confidence of the people.

"HEAR ME, DENIZENS OF EARTH! I AM ARCEUS, THE MOST POWERFUL POKEMON IN EXISTENCE AND CREATOR OF THE WORLD! OUR PLANET NOW FACES A TERRIBLE CRISIS! AS I AM SURE YOU ALL KNOW, THE ONE WHO CALLS HIMSELF NECROZMA HAS DECLARED WAR ON OUR WORLD, LEAVING YOU ALL IN A STATE OF CONFUSION AND FEAR. I AM SPEAKING WITH YOU TO SAY THAT THIS WILL NOT BE OUR END! IF WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO DISSOLVE INTO CHAOS, WE WILL FALL. BUT, IF WE UNITE OUR POWER INTO A SINGULAR FORCE AND STRIKE AT NECROZMA THE MOMENT HE ARRIVES, WE HAVE A CHANCE! I BESEECH YOU, MAN AND POKEMON ALIKE: GATHER THE STRENGTH YOU CAN AND MARCH TOWARDS GOLDENROD CITY! ONLY IF WE UNITE TOGETHER CAN WE STOP THE COMING FIRE! ONLY IF WE UNITE TOGETHER CAN WE STOP OUR DEMISE! ONLY IF WE UNITE TOGETHER CAN WE DEFEAT NECROZMA AND SURVIVE TO TELL THE TALE! SO, IF ANY OF YOU ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO FIGHT SO THAT WE CAN LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW, JOIN US IN GOLDENROD CITY TO AWAIT NECROZMA'S ARRIVAL! MY CHOSEN ONE, ASH KETCHUM OF PALLET TOWN, KANTO, WILL ORGANIZE YOU FROM THERE!"

With those rallying words, Arceus flew off into the sky and disappeared, dispelling the worldwide golden light. The world was once again left in a dazed stupor, but none more so than the ones who beheld the message firsthand. The survivors of New Bark Town stared up blankly into the sky with a dumbstruck sense of awe. Finally, Ash Ketchum, the chosen one of Arceus himself, who ordained for the boy to lead the entire world's forces, stood tall and spoke.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'LL ORGANIZE THEM?! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!"


Hours later, unknown location.

The room was nearly pitch black. Amidst its' darkness, The Man was less than pleased. Even the normally-calming cigars He loved so much didn't seem to have the slightest impact on his ire, so He dotted out the flame of the one currently in His mouth and threw it into a trash bin behind him, where it was incinerated without a trace. He then opted for a glass of wine instead. He had been trying to call His 'partner' ever since his worldwide declaration of war with no luck.

The Man knew Necrozma's forces were close enough that communication would be no issue, which could only mean that Necrozma had broken ties with Him completely if he was not responding. A holographic black screen floated before The Man with the icon of a phone ringing, and that icon had been playing on loop for the past twelve hours.

The Man groaned in annoyance and spun in His chair back around to His desk. If this call was going to take this long, then there were other matters He could attend to in the meanwhile. A large stack of paperwork awaited Him, and while He despised the sheer mundanity of doing this, He trusted no one else in His ranks to do these. Well, there was one other, but he was away at the moment.

He was nearly blinded by the screen behind Him suddenly turning white. He neglected to shield His eyes, for if it truly was who He thought had responded at last, then there was no way in hell He would show the slightest hint of weakness. He swerved His seat back around towards the holographic screen, but to His disappointment it was not the Leader of the Ultra Beasts, but instead, his right-hand 'man' Xurkitree.

"Why the hell are you here?" The Man spat, "I called for Necrozma, not his pet."

Despite the rudeness of The Man, Xurkitree bowed to Him similarly to a waiter all the same. "I'm terribly sorry, sir, but Lord Necrozma wishes not to speak with you."

"I didn't recall asking for his permission," Hissed The Man, "Nor for yours. Put him on the damned call!"

Xurkitree sighed. "I've already told you, he's not accepting-"

The Man, no longer having the patience to deal with the tree-shaped freak of nature that was Necrozma's pet, pressed a series of buttons on the holographic screen, and soon enough, the vision of Xurkitree disappeared into static and was replaced with Necrozma himself from the point of view of his crystal.

"Finally," The Man exclaimed, clasping His hands together on His lap, "Now, partner, where were we?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Demanded the dark demon, "I told Xurkitree explicitly not to let you in."

"What am I doing?" The Man couldn't help but to laugh at the sheer irony of that question, considering what Necrozma had just done. "I should be the one asking that. The plan was to ambush the world upon your arrival, not announce it to every damned living thing! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Necrozma chuckled down at the holographic image of The Man. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you under the impression we were still working together?"

The glass in The Man's hand cracked under His intensified grip. "...Excuse me?"

"Don't act like you never saw this coming. The moment you dared to try and issue me an order, you were a dead man waiting to be killed...though…" He laughed darkly, sending the screen into a fit of static for a moment. "I never had the intention of upholding our deal from the start. Exchanging technology for the lives of those three? Don't make me laugh. I would have found them with or without your help, and the rust in the gears of my ship is worth more than your entire planet. You're nothing. You never were anything, and you never will be."

The Man seethed in the shadow of His room, and web-like cracks began crawling up the glass of wine in His hands. "You...how dare you?! You can't betray me! You bastard, I will not stand for this!"

Necrozma laughed at him. "Petty insults are unbecoming of one such as you and your so-called power. And betrayal implies that I was ever allied to you to begin with. Did you truly believe that I saw you as an equal? Oh, the naivety of you lot." The Leader of the Ultra Beasts leaned down into the screen. "Your world is doomed, along with everything in it. Once I take down Arceus and the Legends, I'll be sure to personally pay you a visit before I destroy your pathetic planet once and for all."

Without leaving any time for The Man to reply, Necrozma cut communications with Him and left Him in complete darkness once more. The glass of wine in The Man's hand trembled for a moment, then shattered in His hand, slicing up parts of it. Though if He felt any pain, He did not show it. He merely leaned back into His chair in His pitch black room.


Creator- Hope the wait was well worth it for this one. Seeing as I had to split chapter ten into two parts due to its' length glitching up the site, this is now our longest chapter. I can't even count how many plot points were wrapped up here and how many new ones we created as well. And though the loss of Hawlucha was sad… the suffering is far from over...

Hydra- Holy somalies we did it I know we literally just broke our record for the most words in a single chapter on the last one, but now we did it again lol I hope you guys enjoyed this 36000 word titan.

Creator- With that, let's get roooooooight into the revieeeeews.

ManInTheShadows- "Wow this is for sure the best fan fiction I've ever read. Necrozma is just absolutely brutal and I love it. Keep up the good work."

Creator- Yes it is. Finally someone realizes that. Lol just kiddin, thanks bro. Hope you loved the brutality of Necrozma this chapter.

Hydra- Why thank you very much for that very kind review sir, btw I'm really digging the name it reminds me of a certain someone….

Amourshipper35- "Wow I hope Ash, Serena, Riley, and Zero are okay and were able to save Sabrina and I wonder what those guys want and I hope they can be stopped"

Creator- Well, Sabrina was indeed saved to a certain extent. At least now, the citizens of Saffron City, after hearing about their disappearance on the news, have something else to worry about so they can't gang up on Sabrina. And spoiler alert: She, and many many other familiar faces from the Pokemon series that have yet to show up in this fic, will appear soon enough. As for "those guys...:" Well...stopping them might prove difficult.

Hydra- Hello once again our most loyal reader, it is good to see you. About those guys…. things will slowly start to fall together VERY SOON so keep your eyes open because there's a lot of hints already out there as to The Mans whereabouts.

Creator- Well, that was short-lived. Thank you to our two reviewers. As for the rest off you, stop slacking off lol. THE REVIEWS...THEY FUEL MY POWER. In all actuality, I just wanna hear your guys' reactions to stuff in each chapter. Personally, I think this is my greatest chapter yet, surpassing Chapter 5 at last.

Hydra- Once again I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to LEAVE SOME REVIEWS!