Three Elemental Islands/Off the coast of the remnants of the Orange Islands

The night sky was nearly pitch black, coated in a thick layer of oceanic fog. It was the night of the third day since Necrozma's declaration of war to the world, before the chosen one awoke to the fourth day. Though almost all trainers of the world flocked to Goldenrod City upon lord Arceus's order, some who didn't call themselves trainers ended up going to help out as much as they could with rations and such. Those who did not answer Arceus's call, for lack of ability to or lack of care, typically stayed put. Many cities had gone down due to lack of workers, as many of them were either trainers who went off to fight for Earth's survival, or the ones who felt no hope, and wished to spend the rest of their time with their families. The ones who stuck to their jobs were often laid off due to employers following Arceus's call or joining the hopeless, leaving many without power to their homes and no job to speak off. All of this happened within the span of a mere three days due to the threat of complete annihilation.

However, amidst these people who failed to accept Arceus's order, there was a small group of people who rejected the call not due to fear or weakness. No, they rejected Arceus's call out of spite, for their homes were utterly laid to waste before the declaration of war. These people were a small group of survivors from the Orange Islands, and they were desperate for a new home. They did not care for Necrozma's war declaration or Arceus's rallying call, for they did not believe them. All they wished for now was a new home, and they set their eyes upon the only remaining lands of the Orange Islands: The Three Islands of the Elemental Birds.

A dozen motorboats sped through the fog and over the calm black waves towards the three islands. People crowded around one another on these boats, holding each other in blankets to keep away the ocean cold, save for one singular portly man who stood tall at the helm of the front boat. There wasn't a single Pokemon among them. After what seemed like hours to this group of people, a large black mass stood out from the fog dead ahead from them.

One of the people onboard shouted, "I SEE LAND!"

This created an excited uproar amidst the other survivors, and they began cheering loudly, grabbing whatever supplies they could find and awaiting their arrival with bated breath. As they made landfall onto Fire Island, the survivors of the Orange Islands Tragedy rushed from the boats and onto the land. They cheered, laughed, and hugged one another in their joy. How could they not? At last, they had a home once more. Of course, they would have to build their houses once more to be able to call this place home.

"All right, everyone," One of the men called to the other survivors, "Let's get building!"

"YEAH!" The others cheered.

Pumping their fists in excitement, the survivors rushed back to the boats and began pulling toolboxes from them, handing them out to the others. Inside those tool boxes were an array of tools like hammers, saws and screwdrivers for creating infrastructure. With their tools in hand, the people rushed back up from the trees and up into the island's forests, chopping and sawing down trees, then carrying the logs back down to the others, where the other survivors used them to build houses. Like worker Durants, they hurriedly hustled about. As the morning sun rose at last to dispel the fog away, it shone down upon a veritable neighborhood built in place of a forest, along with the exhausted survivors who marveled happily at their craftwork.

At least until the shrill cry of Fire Island's guardian boomed from the island's top. From the peak of Fire Island's mountain came an enormous bird coated in brilliant red flames. This was the Fire-Type Legendary Pokemon, Moltres, and it looked none too pleased at the sight of the humans that dared to invade its' land. Roaring down at the people, it flocked from its' nest and, in one fell swoop, completely destroyed the newly-built homes with a Flamethrower.

The humans cried out in fear and rushed back to the boats. Moltres surmised that they were attempting to flee and screeched down at them, firing warning Flamethrowers behind them to terrify them into leaving and, hopefully, never returning. But instead of them all boarding the boats, a few of the humans hopped onto each one and began tossing an odd assortment of gadgets out to the others. Not liking where this was going, Moltres soared down and landed upon the sandy shore with a resounding thud and screeched at the humans once more.

Most of them crouched down and covered their ears. Some of them screamed in horror, even. Though, it was drowned out by Moltres. However, a few of them seemed to be unaffected by Moltres's shrill screeching, and the fire Legend noticed that they had something covering the inside of their ears. They pointed the odd metal gadgets at Moltres and fired, forcing the Bird of Flame to swiftly cease its' screeching in favor of taking to the skies to evade a flurry of nets.

Moltres narrowed its' eyes down at the humans and hissed with fury. If these humans had come prepared with weapons, then they had come with the intention of fighting it. That was something Moltres could not overlook. It roared down at the group of invading humans and fired off a Flamethrower attack. The group of people screamed in terror and embraced one another, shutting their eyes and preparing for the worst. Though, a few of them, who were all dressed in a deep black suit of some sort and dark sunglasses, reached into their pockets and pulled something out.

The Flamethrower exploded violently upon crashing into the group of invading humans, and Moltres couldn't help but to smirk. As far as it was concerned, it served them right for daring to invade its' territory. As the smoke cloud from the Flamethrower began to dispel, Moltres's smirk disappeared. The humans were surrounded in a green barrier, completely unharmed, and the black-suited ones held some kind of small metal disc in their hands. Not only did the humans survive unharmed, but their boats did as well.

The black-suited humans turned back toward the immediate person behind them and handed them the metal discs, then turned back up towards Moltres with scowls upon their faces as if they were beholding the sight of something truly revolting. Stepping out from the barriers, they cracked their knuckles in a disturbingly-accurate synchronization.

Moltres returned the scowl and crashed down before them, roaring furiously at them. The Bird of Flame counted twelve of these black-suited men. Dispatching of them would be no problem for a Legend like Moltres. As for the other humans cowering behind these men, those barriers surrounded both them and their boats. It would shatter their little bubble and make them regret coming to its' island later, but for now, these black-suited men seemed to be the bigger threats, and they had no protection to speak of.

Another Flamethrower blasted out from Moltres's mouth at the men, who held up their right arms to shield themselves. Their wrists sparked blue, and translucent shields materialized in front of them to take the blow. Not only did the Flamethrower once again fail to hit its targets, but the ensuing explosion created a smokescreen in the men's favor.

Abandoning the shields, they pointed their opposite wrists up through the smoke. Their sunglasses displayed an arrow, pointing the men towards Moltres and beeping once their gaze was locked on. Small pipe shaped objects protruded out from the roofs of the wrists of their suits and fired out some kind of metal needle.

From above the smoke cloud, Moltres let out a sudden surprised yelp as the suited men's needles suddenly shot up at it, but it was able to quickly swerve out of the way and let the projectiles sail past. It glared down at the smoke cloud, but unbeknownst to the Bird of Flame, the needles quickly stopped rising and fell back down towards its' back.

The needles burst open suddenly, with each of them releasing a metal-coated net. Moltres scarcely had the time to look back up at the sound of the bursting needles before the dozen nets had completely bound and encased it. It screeched out in a garbled mix of fury and shock, but couldn't seem to break free. Since the Elemental Bird of Flame's wings were tightly bound, it was helpless to prevent itself from falling and crashing into the ground below.

Any possible chance of Moltres deciding to spare the lives of these humans was now gone. They dared to disrespect its' authority by invading its territory, fought back when Moltres tried to chase them away, and now they had the gall to trap it. It was an insult of the highest degree, and the Legendary Bird of Flame would have none of it.

Letting out an enraged bellow, Moltres blasted out a colossal column of flame to completely eradicate the metal bindings, but to its surprise, the nets didn't budge. They weren't even scratched. Suddenly, the nets began glowing, and a violent surge of electricity wreaked havoc upon Moltres's body, making it scream out in agony.

"Disgusting creature," One of the black-suited men spat, "Did you really think we wouldn't come prepared?" He walked over towards the screaming bird's face and kicked sand into its' eye to add insult to injury. "We didn't simply come here to find a new home. We came to get rid of you."

Far beneath the waves and in the darkest depths of the sea slept the familiar white-feathered Beast of the Seas. It was none other than Lugia himself. After the last Hall of Origins meeting, he couldn't shake off that unyielding rage he felt. Towards Necrozma. Towards Arceus. Towards everything. Lugia knew it was wrong, and that he of all Legends should not be succumbing to such rage, yet he couldn't seem to shake it off for the life of him. So, after having made sure that the Three Elemental Birds were taken care of, he dove down to the deepest depths of the ocean far beneath the elemental islands and slept in order to try and shake off his anger before he faced Necrozma once more.

That sleep had now been disturbed. Lugia's eyes shot open suddenly as he felt a disturbance. One of the Three Elemental Birds' life forces wavered slightly, indicating that one of them had been harmed. Seeing as none of the other Legends would dare start picking fights during a time like this, it could only mean that they were fighting each other. None other had the power to fight the Legends after all.

Lugia's eyes narrowed in frustration, and his rage quickly returned. "You must be kidding me," He seethed, "Now of all times?! What are they thinking?!" The enraged Beast of the Seas let out a furious bellow that sounded almost like a song, though now it was garbled almost beyond recognition, and then rocketed towards the surface.

Moltres let out a distressed shriek and poured flames out from its' body, to which the black-suited men simply held up their arms and materialized their shields to block it. "It's no use," One of them said, "The net is completely fire and heatproof, and it responds to heat with an equal amount of electricity dosage." He casually walked towards it through the intense flames. Just beneath his feet, the beach was quickly taking on a silvery sheen from the sheer heat of Moltres's flames. "You're only continuing to harm yourself." The black-suited man knelt down to Moltres's eye. "Though I suppose something like that is beyond a mere animal's comprehension."

He stood up and pointed towards the other men in black. "Prepare the artillery," He told them, looking over at the other islands, "The other two will likely be arriving shortly." The other men saluted and got to work, planting odd metal circle shaped objects on the ground that looked to have gated surfaces. Moltres glared at them furiously, but kept up its' fiery assault on the net. It knew that it was hurting itself by doing so, but it also served as a distress beacon. It was taken by surprise when that man said it knew they would arrive, but to believe they could take on all three of them was nothing more than sheer stupidity.

One of the black-suited men continued to stare up towards the skies above the other two elemental islands, and surely enough, he spotted two figures soaring up from their pinnacles. "They're coming," He said to the others, "Are the traps ready yet?"

One of the others nodded as the rest continued tinkering with the machines. "Just about. Shouldn't be longer than a minute to finish up."

"I see," The other replied, turning his gaze towards the crowd of terrified people still huddling in their barriers, "Then I'll see to them."

He approached the rest of the people here and scowled, making them flinch. "What are you doing?" He asked them, "Get up! Zapdos and Articuno will be showing up in mere moments." When they failed to respond, he let out an exasperated groan of annoyance and walked through the barrier, grabbing hold of the nearest person by their shirt collar and pulling up to his face. "Why did you come here?!" He demanded.

The person failed to respond, merely whimpering hopelessly and holding their hands to their face for fear of being stricken by the black-suited man, who ended up violently shaking the terrified person by their collar. "Well?! Answer me!"

"O-our home!" The person sputtered quickly, "W-we came to g-get a new home! R-right…?"

The black suited man dropped the person back onto the sand and whipped his gaze towards the others, who flinched in response. "Right! You're all here because Pokemon took away your homes! They destroyed the Orange Islands and blamed it on some non existent alien! What's more, their god tricked the entire world into believing that lie!" He stamped his foot firmly into the ground and pumped his fist towards the sky. "Now you all have the chance at gaining a new home! But to do that, you must destroy the ones responsible for taking your own home!" He motioned behind himself, where Articuno and Zapdos were quickly closing the distance between themselves and the humans. By now, the fear of the people was beginning to wane, and they slowly stood up.

"They're nearly upon us as we speak, and only getting nearer by the second!" Pointing towards the other black-suited men, he continued, "We alone might not be able to take them down, but you-" He pointed to the group. "-are many and they are few. We are mankind, and we will have our homes! United as one, we can take back our homes and make them pay for the lives they stole!"

The group of people no longer cowered, standing up on their feet and pumping their fists into the air proudly. "YEAH!"

"We'll make them pay!"

"We won't let them take away our home again!"

"I will avenge my son!"

"Right!" Shouted the black-suited man, "Now gear up! On the boats, there should be a spear gun for each of you!" The group of people turned towards the boat and quickly began climbing on to dig through the boats' contents, until they found them. "They're fairly small and only have one shot, so make it count," He said as one of the people fidgeted with the gun but quickly stopped as they heard the suited man's warning. "However, the force at which they fire is powerful enough to cut through just about anything! Now, get ready! They're almost upon us!"

With that, the black-suited man turned away from the group of people, who let out a rallying cheer behind him, and made his way back over to the other black-suited men, who had now finished their work. "Didn't figure you for the type to make speeches," One of them jabbed, "I thought that was the boss's job."

"Didn't figure you for the type to say unnecessary shit when two Legendary Pokemon are almost on our asses," He countered with obvious ire.

The other suited man shrugged. "Just trying to make conversation."

"Save it for after we kill these sons of bitches."

Articuno and Zapdos crashed down from the sky, bellowing at the group of humans with a challenging screech. Now that it's' comrades had arrived, Moltres ceased the flames and crumpled underneath the sheer strain of the net. Zapdos, seeing Moltres's situation, flew over to it and gripped at the metal net with its talons. Immediately, another surge of electricity rushed out from the net and into Zapdos, but had virtually no effect. Without issue, Zapdos was able to pry open the net and set Moltres free.

Moltres quickly shook the net off of it and, seething with fury, flung it far out into the ocean and whipped its' fury-filled glare towards the humans. The trio of Legends let out a loud screech and fired their respective elements of fire, electricity and ice at the humans before them. The twelve suited men stepped forward and summoned their shields, but the sheer power of the Elemental Birds' combined might began to make the men's barriers collapse.

"FIRE!" Roared one of the suited men, and in response, the group of people behind them squeezed the triggers of their weapons. The resulting sound nearly deafened everyone in the area, and the trio of birds were forced to cease their attacks and duck their heads as an array of small spears pierced the air above their heads like drills, and tore through the islands' forests behind them. Anything in the spears' way was torn to mere shreds and scattered along their trails until they crashed into the islands' mountain.

The birds gaped up at the scene of destruction in shock. There was no possible way that mere humans alone could have such destructive potential. Not without Pokemon at their sides. Sparing a look over to the group of offending humans, who were staring at the weapons in their hands in awe like giddy children with shiny new toys, and found that not a single one of them had a Pokemon in their company.

Their attention was snapped over to the twelve black-suited men when two of them fired another round of the net-carrying needles. In response, the trio of legends leapt into the air to avoid the incoming traps, with Zapdos batting away any glancing ones that came close. A dark grin came to the faces of the suited men as they did this, however, and the other ten men reached into the collars of their shirts. They each took out some kind of oval-shaped bumpy green object, pulled a string off of their tops, and hurled them up at the birds.

"SHIELDS UP!" One of them called out.

The black-suited men ducked down, raising their rights arms skyward and summoning their projected shields once more. This immediately sent warning signals to the Elemental Birds, but with all the nets they were dodging, they couldn't possibly hope to evade both. Moltes had just barely swerved out of the way of another net only to be faced with the green projectile and attempted to swat it away with its' wing.

Its' searing-hot, flaming wing.

The green projectile flashed white for a split second, and then exploded violently. The explosion of one alone sent the Bird of Flame careening backwards, but that was far from the worst of it. The green projectile's explosion caused the others to follow suit, resulting in a deafening shockwave and a blast of flame that spread out in all directions. The men in black's shields were easily able to block the incoming blast, though they had to dig their heels into the sand to stand their ground. The people behind them screamed in terror and ducked down, but the barriers surrounding them were able to make the incoming flames slide right over them, leaving them completely unharmed.

The Trio of Birds ended up not quite as lucky. Moltres, for the most part, was unharmed. It was only the force of the blasts that had caused it harm, but the harm it did end up causing was minimal. Zapdos was blasted into the ground and scorched by the intense flames,. It hissed in pain, but to a Legend, such an explosion was more of an annoyance than a threat. Especially in comparison to what Necrozma had put it through. The Bird of Ice, Articuno, ended up with the worst of it. It was forced down into the sand by the explosion's force and assaulted without mercy by its' searing flames, which was all the worse for it due to Articuno's weakness to fire. But these flames paled in comparison to Moltres's, whom Articuno had fought many times, and thus it was able to push past the explosion.

The Trio of Elemental Birds burst from the smoke and dispelled it with the flap of their mighty wings. Zapdos swooped down and, before the black-suited men could respond, grabbed the one that had kicked sand in Moltres's eye earlier by his shield and hoisted him into the sky. The suited men cursed and attempted to reach into their suits to pull something out to aid their comrade, but Moltres and Articuno blasted them with a Blizzard and a Heat Wave respectively, forcing them to stop and hold their shields instead. Zapdos, meanwhile, flew higher and higher through the clouds until the island below was barely visible and narrowed its' eyes down at its' intended victim cruelly, grinning savagely at him.

To Zapdos's confusion, the suited man in its' grip simply shot back a cocky grin of his own and deactivated the shield, sending him down into a freefall. Zapdos scowled at the man but didn't make any move to intercept. There was no way a mere human could survive a fall of this height anyways. The man in black, however, had a plan, and Zapdos's arrogance only made it easier. He reached his left arm up towards the Bird of Lightning, and a claw attached to a thick, extendable metal wire shot out from the arm of the suited man's suit. Zapdos's eyes widened as it realized its mistake, but before it could dodged, the claw wrapped itself around Zapdos's legs and pulled the man up towards it. The momentum from the pull ended up launching the suited man up past Zapdos and he retracted the claw, only to shoot it down again where it embedded itself into the Legend's back, pulling him down onto it.

The suited man wrapped his arms around Zapdos's neck and held him in a grip lock. Zapdos was having none of this. The Legendary Bird of Lightning used Discharge, sending powerful bolts of lightning out in all directions, but somehow, the suited man atop Zapdos's back remained unfazed. In fact, he laughed at its' attempts to get rid of him. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier?" He asked, "I said that we came prepared. Prepared to get rid of you!"

Upon closer inspection, or at least what Zapdos could manage while this human was behind its' head, this suited man had summoned his shield once more, which explained why its' lightning wasn't working. He reached into his suit and pulled out a small dagger that shimmered in the light of the sun. The metal blade rang slightly from simply being moved.

He grinned sadistically at Zapdos and explained, "This blade is sharp enough to pierce through a Rock-Type Pokemon and sturdy enough to come out of one without a scratch." His sadistic grin widened as he raised the blade above his head, flipping it so that it pointed down. "Now let's see what it can do to feathers."

The suited man attempted a downward stab at the back of Zapdos's neck, but the Bird of Legend quickly diverted the blow by spinning in midair, throwing the man off its' back. The suited man cursed and threw the blade up at Zapdos. It tried to block the incoming dagger honing in on it with its' wing, but due to the blade's sharpness, it ended up piercing straight through it as if it were paper and becoming completely embedded in the wing. Zapdos let out a hiss of pain and batted its' wing in an attempt to rid itself of the small dagger.

The suited man smirked cruelly and took out a device with a button on its' top. When he pressed it, the blade exploded violently. Zapdos heard a bang for a split second, and it seemed, to it, that its' senses had shut down. Its' vision went completely white, the only thing it could hear was a high-pitched ringing, and it couldn't feel a thing. Unknown to Zapdos, a gaping hole had been blown open in its' wing. With the Bird of Lightning completely disoriented, it fell down, letting out a howling screech as it did so. The suited man, meanwhile, pressed a button on the chest of his suit, which made flaps appear on the arms of his suit and allowed him to glide back down to the island below without harm.

Meanwhile back on the ground, the other suited men were beginning to lose headway against Moltres and Articuno. Articuno had frozen the beach beneath their feet and continued to keep it frozen while Moltres pummeled their shields with a widespread Heat Wave, yet the ice wouldn't melt due to Articuno constantly refreezing any areas that began to melt. They couldn't use any projectile, throwable or otherwise, because the Heat Wave would simply destroy it and it might even backfire on them, yet they couldn't hold their ground either. The slippery ice beneath their feet offered no traction to do so. So they simply slid backwards slowly, inching their way towards the other people behind them, who could only stare on in horror, helpless to do anything now that their ammunition was gone.

Then, from above, someone yelled, "BOMBS AWAY," and Zapdos came crashing down behind Articuno and Moltres. The two Elemental Birds whipped around to their fallen comrade, giving the black-suited men the opportunity to strike. They fired an array of the net-holding needles, catching the three of them in several of the electric nets. The gliding suited man, from above the trapped Legends, dropped down another one of the green, explosive, oval-shaped objects, which detonated upon impact with the ground.

The explosion wreaked havoc on Articuno and made the Ice Legend screech in pain, while the other two merely glared at the suited men through the flames. It especially did damage due to the fact that the nets held them firmly in place, making them experience the full brunt of the explosion's force. But the explosion wasn't the worst part. The heat from it sent a signal through the nets, making electricity erupt from them. Moltres and Articuno erupted into an agonized fit of screeching while Zapdos merely glared at the men in frustration.

By now, the gliding man had landed rejoining his comrades as they arrogantly grinned down upon the trapped Legends. "Well well," One of them taunted, "Who'd have thought the day would come when a Legendary Pokemon was defeated by ordinary humans." The man who'd taunted the Trio of Legends walked up behind the disc they'd planted in the ground earlier. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Zapdos hissed with unbridled rage and stretched out its' wings, pushing against the metal nets that constricted it. A wiry snap signified that it was beginning to break, but the man who'd taunted them continued to grin arrogantly at them. Zapdos snarled at him and pushed outward against the nets even more. The Bird of Lightning couldn't wait to wipe that man and his smile off the face of the Earth.

The nets finally snapped, freeing Zapdos at last, and he burst free from their bindings. Roaring savagely at the suited man, it rocketed at him and crashed down on the ground before him. The suited man fell down onto his back, summoning his shield to defend himself. Zapdos lifted its' foot and flexed its' talons menacingly, preparing to shred that infuriating shield, along with the one behind it, to pieces. Now that Zapdos had a closer look, he found that it was the same man he'd battled up in the sky as well, which brought a cruel grin to Zapdos's face. The suited man, however, merely chuckled.

"Look beneath you."

Zapdos, however, was far too enraged to fall for whatever tricks this man was planning. Raising its' foot, it prepared to stomp down and tear the shield apart until something blue shot up from beneath its' feet and into Zapdos's eye, blinding it. Ice had quickly began forming on Zapdos's face, and the Legendary Bird tried to swipe it off of its' face with its' wings, only for the ice to spread to its' wings upon contact.

Standing back onto his feet, the suited man grinned up at the freezing Legend and said, "Fool. If you had only looked beneath you, you could have dodged it." He walked up to the disc-shaped machine on the ground and kicked it lightly. "This here is like the ice equivalent of a napalm mine, though I suppose you wouldn't know what that is." Shifting his shaded gaze back up to Zapdos, he continued, "So you've got all of about ten seconds before you're frozen completely. You'll make a nice statue, though."

Zapdos let out a pained screech as the ice slowly crawled up its' neck. Looking back toward Articuno and Moltres, it decided to give one last-ditch effort. Using Agility, it rocketed over towards the other Legendary Birds and ripped Moltres free from its' bindings just as the last of the ice coated it completely. Moltres responded with a Flamethrower that slowly melted the icy sheen that had covered the Lightning Bird. In mere seconds, the effects of the ice were undone, and Zapdos freed Articuno from its' net as well. The trio turned their furious glare at the black-suited men, who returned it eagerly.

"Damn," One of them said, "And we worked so hard settin' that thing up."

"Doesn't matter," Another responded with a cruel grin aimed at the Trio of Birds, "We'll just kick their asses the old-fashioned way."

The other suited man let out a boisterous laugh and responded, "Well-said. Let's give em hell, boys!"

With that, they charged towards the Trio of Birds, who retaliated with the combined force of all three of their respective elements. Thunder, Fire Blast and Blizzard combined into one attack and blasted into the suited men, who just barely managed to raise their shields in time to block it. They were sent flying in different directions, yet managed to stay on their feet. Though now, they were separated.

Moltres took the opportunity to scout for the one who had kicked sand in its' eye earlier and, to the Legend's malicious glee, he was completely alone and cut off. The Bird of Flame soared over the suited man and blasted a white-hot Flamethrower around him, trapping him in a circle of blazing fire. Crashing down before that man, Moltres let out a furious, challenging screech.

The black-suited man smirked up at it and adjusted his glasses back into place. "A one on one, eh?" He rolled his head and beat his fists together. "I can respect that, though this will go about as well for you as it did for Zapdos." Their arena was coated in thick, black smoke, separating the two between the other Legends and black-suited men. It was man versus beast in a fight to the death. The two of them took their stances, awaiting what the other would do first.

Moltres shot out a quick Fire Blast, to which the suited man raised up his shield and blocked the attack. Reaching into his shirt with his free hand, he pulled out another one of the exploding projectiles, but it was swatted away into the sky and detonated with a Flamethrower the moment it was thrown. The black-suited man realized he would have to be more creative this time around, but he was beginning to run out of things to throw or shoot.

The Legendary Fire Bird rocketed towards the black-suited man with a Flare Blitz, but to its' shock, he cut off the shield and leaned back at an angle Moltres never thought possible by a human. The surging flames of Moltres's attack missed by mere inches, but missed nonetheless, and the suited man continued smirking up at it.

"Come on," He taunted, "Can't even hit a pathetic, insignificant human?"

Moltres snarled angrily at the human before it, but held itself back. He was exploiting its' rage, expecting it to act as nothing more than a mindless animal, and to be honest, Moltres hadn't exactly done a good job at making him think anything otherwise. But therein lied an opening in and of itself. To be stooping to strategy for a singular human was a blow to its' pride, but this human had more than proved himself to be a genuine threat, and it could use that man's expectations of it being a mindless animal to its' advantage.

Moltres unleashed a near-deafening screech. Its' eyes had widened to the point of becoming bloodshot. With a look of pure rage, the Fiery Bird of Legend rocketed down at the suited man and blasted him with another Fire Blast, to which he responded by simply summoning his shield once more, nullifying the attack.

To taunt Moltres even further, the black-suited man yawned like he was bored of the fight and, called out to it, "Do you plan on making this interesting any time soon, or is that too much to expect from a beast without proper brain function?"

The response he got was another enraged screech, followed by a Flamethrower that completely surrounded his shield, but was unable to pierce through it. The ring of white flame surrounding them began to dim slightly as well and so the man let out an amused laugh. "If they can call the likes of you a Legendary Pokemon, then killing the others will be far easier than I expected."

Yet another screech filled to the brim with fury pierced the black-suited man's eardrums, and a hail of Fire Blasts rained down from above him onto the battlefield. They coated the entire battlefield, no longer seeming to have a target at all. To the suited man, it seemed like Moltres had just been rendered blind by its' rage and now mindlessly hailed fire from the skies down upon him. They crashed down upon the entire battlefield, even crashing against the ring of fire and outside it. The man in the black suit shook his head and chuckled.

"Such foolishness," He said, "But I suppose I shouldn't have expected more from a mindless, brainless animal."

Moltres crashed down from the smoke-coated sky, landing a few yards away from the suited man and letting out another rage-filled bellow. It had a crazed, bestial look in its' eyes, one devoid of both intellect and reason. It scraped the ground with its' talons, hissing at the man before him, then sprinted at him with its' beak pointed toward him like a spear. The suited man smirked at Moltres's pathetic attempt of an attack and sidestepped, letting Moltres run right on by.

The Bird of Flame quickly whipped around and tried to charge at him again, only to be met with the same result as the last time. The black-suited man sidestepped once more, but this time used his hook-shot to trip Moltres by the legs, sending the Bird of Fire tumbling onto its' face. As it fell, it craned its' neck toward the suited man and attempted to shoot another Fire Blast, only to end up accidentally shutting its' jaw and having the Fire Blast explode in its' face. It then fell, screeching to a halt against the molten ground until finally coming to a halt where it lay on the ground, unmoving.

The suited man stared at it blankly for a moment. "...Are you kidding?" Stomping his way over to the fallen Legend, he ranted, "Really? You're defeated by your own blast after getting tripped? I'd almost call it poetic if it wasn't pathetic." Once he approached Moltres's fallen body, he put a foot on its' beak and leaned down towards its' eye. "Pathetic," He spat, "Utterly, absolutely pathetic!" The suited man took his foot from the collapsed Legend's beak, circling it and continuing to rant. "That's just like you Legends...no...you Pokemon. Each and every one of them are scum, and you fully encapsulate that." He stopped once he'd reached its' face again. "You should all just be WIPED OUT!"

The black-suited man pumped back his leg and kicked sand into the collapsed Legend's eye once more. Or at least, he tried to. The near-molten ground beneath him had become sticky, trapping his foot inside it like molasses. He attempted to rip his foot out from the ground, but found himself unable to do so. In fact, he had only succeeded in trapping his other foot as well. "W-what in the-?!"

Then it hit the suited man. The fiery barrage Moltres had spewed out from above before—the rage-infused, mindless hail of flames wasn't directed at him at all. It was directed at the battlefield, melting it to the point that the ground itself turned into sludge. It was all a trap. A trap set up by a mindless animal that was incapable of a higher thought than what it's next meal would be...and he fell for it. He dared to gaze up at the face of Moltres, who seemed to be grinning at him. The suited man's face contorted with fury.

"You...you had this all planned from the beginning, didn't you?!"

The Legendary Bird of Fire and the ruler of Fire Island stood back up to its' full height, now towering over the trapped man. It glowered down at him and spread its' fiery wings, sending sparks of flame in every direction that glittered around the two of them like crimson red fireflies. The suited man quickly summoned his shield once more, and Moltres hopped up, grabbing the shield with its' talons. Electric sparks and the sound of shredding metal pierced the black-suited man's ears as Moltres began prying the shield open with its' talons. With a resounding crunch, the shield broke in two and disappeared. The machine that projected the shield sparked for a moment, then halted completely as smoke began pouring from it.

The suited man grasped at the machine and hit it in an attempt to get it to work once more. "Come on, you confounded thing…!" The shield machine failed to respond. It was completely broken. The suited man's bravado was beginning to waver, and Moltres knew it. It glared at the suited man darkly and raised its' fiery wing to the sky. The black-suited man held up his hand to protest. "W-wait," He pleaded, "W-we were only doing this to find a new home! I just wanted to help the people rebuild their lives after the-"

Without care nor mercy, Moltres slammed its' wing down upon the suited man, pinning him to the ground. The crimson red flames of the Bird of Fire singed the man, then burned him, then utterly scoured him. He flailed and screamed in agony. The fire burned his skin black, tearing apart his hair, face and skin. He helplessly cried out for mercy, but such a thing was beyond his grasp. Mercy had been a luxury he threw away the moment they tried to pick a fight with a Legend.

Moltres continued to burn the man alive until something shot past it at incredible speeds, missing the Fire Bird's head by inches. It stepped off of the black-suited man and looked around for whatever had dared to attempt to strike it with a savage glare and eventually its' eyes landed upon a young, trembling woman who had one of the spear guns from earlier.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM!"

Moltres snarled at the woman. Who did she think she was? Opening its' beak, the bird of flame shot off a Flamethrower towards her. She dropped the gun and held her arms up in a vain attempt to shield herself with them. The Flamethrower blasted into her and the woman disappeared in a blaze of flame. A satisfied grin curled up Moltres's face and, now that its attempted assassin was nothing more than a blackened crisp, it turned its' cruel gaze back down at the still-writhing suited man beneath it.

Then, it heard something. It heard footsteps coming from the direction of that women Moltres had incinerated. Out from the smoke, the people who had once been cowering in their little bubbles were now marching toward the Bird of Flame with their spearguns in hand. Their force field was still active around them, and the woman who had shot off the edge of Moltres's wing was revealed to have survived the blast due to the barrier.

Moltres hissed in annoyance, then roared at them. If they dared to challenge the Legendary Bird of Fire, then they were more than welcome to try. It picked up the suited man beneath it and threw him towards them, displaying their own fate to them. If they wished to keep fighting, then Moltres would have no problem burning them just as he did with the black-suited man.

Some of the people's faces contorted with horror at the sight of the burned man before them. The others, however, returned Moltres's enraged scowl with their own and they pointed their spear guns at it. Moltres raised its' wings, preparing to take to the skies the moment they fired. Eleven figures emerged from the smoke behind Moltres. The other suited men, having been alerted to the other's status, rushed past Moltres toward their fallen friend. Moltres launched a Fire Blast as they ran past, but one of them stopped it with his shield.

The other suited men ran up to the burned man and crouched beside him. By now, he'd fallen unconscious due to the pain. It was hard for them to look at him, and the ones who could bring themselves to actually do so winced. One of them grabbed their fallen ally by his arm and hoisted him over his shoulder.

"I'll take him back to the boats," He told them, "You focus on protecting the people…" He turned up towards Moltres with a dark glare. "...and make that monster pay with its' life!"

The others saluted and responded in unison, "With pleasure!"

As the suited man carried their marred ally back to safety, and the others stood in front of the people behind them, raising their shields. Articuno and Zapdos emerged from the smoke behind Moltres, landing at its' sides. They roared at the invading humans as one. This was no longer about pride or territory. This was a grudge, and they planned to wipe these humans off the face of the Earth for their transgressions.

The suited men reached into their suits and each pulled out another explosive, readying themselves to hurl them the moment the Trio of Birds made a move. The people behind them clenched the spear guns in their hands tightly. They trembled, though with rage or fear they didn't know. But they were done cowering while the black-suited men fought on their behalf. Now it was time to fight.

One of them, a young man, stepped forward. "I was scared earlier," He admitted, looking down at the gun in their hands, "Too scared… When they told me to fire, I couldn't do it. I hesitated…" The young man looked up from the gun with determination lining his gaze, and glared at the birds. "But not anymore! We'll make you pay!"

Another human followed suit. It was a tall, gruff looking man with a greying beard. "I'm no fighter," He said, "Never was...never will be...but…" He pointed the spear gun toward the three birds. "When the Orange Islands were destroyed...I lost everything! My home...my wife…!" He bared his teeth and barely resisted the urge to fire then and there. "All of us here...all of our lives...were ruined by YOU!"

"We'll make you pay!" Shouted another. It was a young adult woman with black hair. She pointed the spear gun towards Moltres's head. "I sat back and didn't fire earlier when that man told me to...I wasn't sure if attacking you was right, but now I see the truth!" She looked toward the ground and vigorously shook her head. "You're savages! When that man begged for mercy, you tried to burn him alive! You tried to draw out his suffering!" She looked back up at Moltres and cocked the spear gun. "If I'd fired earlier, I might have gotten in a shot and saved him, so now, I won't hesitate again!"

The other humans soon stepped forward as well, chanting out their own speeches and battle cries as the ones who still had ammunition aimed their weapons at the Legends before them. They would avenge their homes and take their new one with their bare hands. The Trio of Birds screeched at the humans, cutting them off. Now, on top of everything else these humans have done, they were blaming them for the Orange Islands' destruction?! After all they went through to try and stop Necrozma's destructive rampage—after the torture that monster had put them through, they were being blamed for it?!

That was the last straw for the Legendary Birds. These humans had insulted their land, their authority, their pride and now their very names. Not to mention that Necrozma literally revealed himself four days prior! Yet they blamed them for Necrozma's actions?! Hissing with rage, they prepared to fire upon the humans with everything they had. In response, the humans tensed up and pointed their weapons at the birds.

"Get ready," Said one of the suited men back toward the people behind him, "Our shields can take most of the brunt of their attacks, but we won't be able to hold back all three of them for long. When I give the command, fire. Got it?"

The people behind him nodded.

The suited man nodded back and turned to face the Trio of Legends once more. "Good. If this all goes south and they survive, run back to the boats. We ain't here to get anyone killed."

"What about you?" Asked one of them.

The suited man simply gave them a thumbs-up without looking back. "Have a little faith. We'll be able to take 'em down."

Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres launched a Blizzard, Discharge and Heat Wave towards the humans with a thunderous roar. In turn, the suited men crouched down behind their shields and called out, "FIRE!" The people whose lives were destroyed bellowed out war cries they never thought they had and pulled the triggers of their guns, launching out the drilling spears with such force that some of them were knocked over. The attacks of both sides honed in toward each other. The Trio of Birds quickly hopped into the air to evade the oncoming spears, but it quickly became apparent to them that they would not be able to evade. The suited men winced and closed their eyes to brace for the oncoming impact. Their shield generators were already beginning to run low on energy, though of course they hadn't told the people that. Their only fear was that their formation would break, and those behind them would be caught in the collision.

Then, suddenly, a brilliant silver streak of light tore through the smoke and positioned itself in between the two attacks. A green barrier formed around the silver light just before the impact. A resounding explosion nearly blew both sides off their feet as the attacks collided with the barrier. The smoke was blown away, revealing the sunlight once more. The humans gaped up in awe at the new being, save for the black-suited men, who scowled and cursed their luck. The Trio of Legendary Birds, too, glowered at the newcomer. Of course he would have to interfere now.

The silver light dispersed, revealing Lugia, the Beast of the Seas, as he flapped his mighty wings. Turning toward the Three Elemental Birds, he first noticed the gaping hole in Zapdos's wing and narrowed his eyes furiously. Lugia said, "When I first sensed a disturbance in Moltres's life force, I came as fast as I could. I had expected to find the three of you fighting amidst yourselves, but…" The silver ocean guardian turned to the humans. "...what do I find but humans battling with you three." He narrowed his eyes down upon them judgingly. "What is the meaning of this?!"

The people gaped up in both awe and horror at Lugia. To them, this being had completely destroyed the Orange Islands. It destroyed their home. It had destroyed their very lives. Now that they were confronted with it, they were stunned. They couldn't even begin to find words to answer the sea deity. One by one, the trembling people dropped their guns and fell onto their backsides. The sheer pressure from merely being in Lugia's presence was too much to bear.

Not even the black-suited men could find words to say to Lugia, and there was plenty they wanted to say. One of them lightly elbowed the one next to him and whispered, "What are we going to do?! We're completely out of spears, and I don't think grenades and flashbangs will cut it with Lugia!" The other one elbowed him back harder. "Don't say that out loud!" He whispered back, "It doesn't know that!"

Seeing as he wasn't getting any answers, Lugia decided to speak up once more. "Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time, so let me repeat myself." The Beast of the Sea's eyes narrowed down at the humans darkly. "What is the meaning of this?! Why are you attacking these islands?!"

One of the suited men managed to bring himself to speak up. "We're here," He said, "Because these fine people-" He motioned to the people behind him, "-Lost their homes and loved ones when the Orange Islands were destroyed!"

Lugia's gaze softened slightly, though it was so minimal that the humans couldn't notice. "I see," Lugia said, "I'm deeply sorry. What you lost is truly immense, but that does not explain why you were attacking the Elemental Birds."

"Attacking? Attacking?!" Another black-suited man stepped forward, pointing his finger accusingly at the Trio of Legends. "They attacked us! When we came here, we only wanted to rebuild our homes! We never planned on picking fights! All we wanted to do was try and start our lives over!"

"And yet you came here armed to the teeth with weaponry," Countered Lugia, making the black-suited man's bravado waver. "I am familiar with those weapons of yours," Lugia continued, eyeing the fallen spear guns, "They are firearms, are they not?"

The suited men were all taken aback. "H-how do you-"

"I'll have you know that I've been alive for quite a long time," Lugia retorted, "And in that time, I've witnessed the myriad of wars between humans and Pokemon that have taken place. Those firearms of yours were a more recent invention of yours, being created during the last war that took place a few hundred years ago, but when it ended, each and every one of them was destroyed...so that begs the question…" He glowered down at the humans beneath him, chilling even the black-suited men. "...Why, pray tell, do you have them?"

The humans below, both ordinary and clad in black suits, failed to respond, so Lugia reiterated. "Which among you is responsible for this? Who is the leader of you all?"

"I am." A lone man stepped out from the crowd of cowering people. He was clad in long, brown pants with black boots and an equally-brown business suit. He wore black shades similarly to the black-suited men, and had a balding head with a small brown beard. Over his heart was a patch that detailed what appeared to be an explosion surrounded by the starry depths of space. He was a fairly round man, but he strutted toward Lugia quite confidently in spite of that.

"M-Mr. Lee!" Cried one of the black-suited men. Each of the suited men quickly bowed before the round man as he approached. "S-sir, with all due respect, it's dangerous! Please, go back to the-"

"Shut up," Hissed the man now identified as Mr. Lee, "I don't recall asking for your input."

The black-suited man flinched at Mr. Lee's harsh words, but quickly nodded wordlessly. Mr. Lee casually walked up to Lugia with a malicious grin planted upon his face. "Hey there," He said, "The name's Lee. Christopher Lee. How may I help you, Mr. Legendary Pokemon?"

Lugia glowered down at Mr. Lee. There was obviously something deeply wrong with this man. Something about him...unnerved Lugia, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was dangerous. Nevertheless, he replied, "Well, you can start by telling me why you and your people have invaded the Three Elemental Islands, and with firearms no less. Those things were supposed to be-"

"Not to be rude or anything," Christopher interrupted, "But I don't see any reason to tell the likes of you anything."

"Excuse me?!" Demanded Lugia, "You and the other humans obviously came here with the intent to fight back if the Birds tried to chase you away, otherwise you wouldn't be armed to the teeth like this." He narrowed his eyes accusingly at Christopher Lee. "You owe the Birds and I an explanation."

A disgusting scowl appeared on Christopher's face. He reached into his pockets, taking out a lighter from one and a cigar in the other. The round man flicked the lighter's edge to create a flame, lit the cigar, and placed it into his mouth. After taking in a deep inhale of the smoke-filled air radiating from the cigar, he placed the lighter back into his pocket.

Due to the cigar's effects, the scowl on Christopher Lee's face disappeared, and he turned his gaze back up toward the Beast of the Sea, who had nearly lost his patience by now, and gave him a laid-back grin. "I always did love classic cigars more than today's modern cigarettes," He remarked, "Anyways, you say I owe you an explanation?"

He took the cigar out of his mouth, holding it between two fingers, and hacked out a hearty laugh. Out of nowhere, his expression changed dramatically, furling itself to look inhumanly angry. His face had become so wrinkled that Lugia thought his face would tear.

"BULLSHIT!" Roared Christopher Lee, pointing an incriminating finger up at the Silver Legend, "You owe us-" He made a circular motion with his finger to symbolize the people, "-an explanation! Why the hell did you destroy the Orange Islands?! Don't you know how many lives you've destroyed?!"

Lugia backpedaled. "M-me?!" He stammered, "How dare you?! I nearly gave my life trying to defend it from Necrozma, whom you all should know about seeing as he announced himself four days ago!"

Christopher Lee kicked the sand in annoyance, rolling his eyes. "Necrozma, Necrozma, Necrozma...you really are scum, you know that? Have you no remorse?!"

"Excuse me?!" Bellowed Lugia, "What are you on about?!"

Lee's scowl somehow deepened, making his head go as red as a tomato. "What I'm on about," He started, "Is that this 'Necrozma' your false god fabricated is nothing more than a farce to cover up what you did!" He once again pointed a finger at the Sea Guardian accusingly. "You and the Elemental Birds destroyed the Orange Islands!"

Without awaiting a response from Lugia, he pointed at the fallen spear guns with such speed that an audible crack was heard from his elbow. "You wanted to know why we're so heavily armed?! It's because we knew the moment we set foot on these lands you'd try to destroy us as well!"

"Then why did you come?!" Lugia demanded, ignoring the previous accusation for the moment, "If you thought we would attack you, and you believed we had the power to eradicate the Orange Islands, why did you come here at all?!"

"To prove it," Replied Lee, "To prove to the world who blindly follows the Legends like puppets for their masters that the likes of you are not to be trusted!" His eyes became crazed, though they were hidden behind his sunglasses. "I...no...we are here to prove to the world that you destroyed the Orange Islands and tried to hide it from the world!"

"Preposterous," Scoffed Lugia, "You humans haven't the slightest idea what truly happened!" The Beast of the Seas motioned to the Trio of Birds behind him with his wing. "The Birds and I risked our very lives trying to defend these islands from Necrozma!"

Christopher Lee attempted to spit up at Lugia in utter disgust at the Beast's words, though the glob of saliva made it mere inches before trailing back down into the sand. Nevertheless, Christopher spoke with such viciousness and ire that the people behind him couldn't help but to start to feel as he did. "Necrozma this, Necrozma that, do you and your false god truly believe that mankind is so terribly naive to believe such a transparent, bald-faced deception?!"

He frustratedly kicked at the sand once more, his balding head somehow becoming an even deeper shade of red. "Most of mankind may fall right into your web of puppet strings, but not us!" He extended his arms outward, cackling like a madman until his posture suddenly shifted back to normal. He let out a deep sigh and the color of his face returned to normal. Turning back up to Lugia with an arrogant grin, though now lacking the madness that had controlled it mere moments ago, he continued speaking. "We are done blindly adhering to whatever the Legends say or do. We know now that you are liars, cowards and ruthless animals who would kill us all as soon as you so much as become bored!" He balled his right hand into a fist and pounded it over his heart, right onto the starry patch he'd placed over it and shouted out at the top of his lungs, "AND WE WILL AVENGE THE LAND AND LIVES YOU TOOK FROM US BY TAKING YOURS!"

The people behind him rose back onto their feet, standing proud. They shirked off their fears and cowardice in the face of the Beast of the Seas and, in their eyes, the one who had destroyed their homes, lives and loved ones, pumping their fists into the air. They whooped and cheered even in the face of death, for their leader's words, the words of Christopher Lee, brought courage and a lust for vengeance to their hearts.

"Yeah!" A young man shouted, "We'll make you pay for what you've done!"

A woman spoke up next. "Even if you have the power to destroy the Orange Islands, we won't go down without a fight!"

"Screw that!" Bellowed a large, muscle-bound man, "We won't go down at all! Let's take back what they stole from us!"

The survivors continued cheering and making these remarks until Lugia could no longer stand their insufferable madness. "ENOUGH," He bellowed with such force that the act alone blew the humans onto their backsides, save for Christopher Lee due to the suited men putting themselves between him and the Sea Guardian, "If you want to blind yourselves to the truth, then fine! If you wish to blame me for Necrozma's rampage and pretend he doesn't exist, then by all means! But when that monster arrives and kills us all, you will only have yourselves to blame!" Lugia's eyes narrowed down at Christopher Lee darkly. "In the meantime, leave these islands and never return! These are sacred territories, and the fact that your homes were destroyed does not give you the right to take others from someone else!"

Christopher Lee smirked up at Lugia. "Even when the homes we're taking are from the ones who destroyed our own?"

Lugia glowered down at him. "For the last time, you blind imbecile, we did not destroy your homes! I don't know what kind of savage beasts you take us for, but for the entirety of the millions of years of my existence, I have done nothing but protect these lands!" He glanced back toward the Elemental Birds. "Even though these three are rowdy and territorial, not once have they attempted to take over human lands! They aren't cruel like you make them out to be."

Christopher Lee laughed at that, hunching over and gripping his knees as he did so until his demeanor once again shifted in the blink of an eye and he pointed over to one of the boats behind him. "Look there," He told Lugia simply. The Sea Guardian raised a brow at Lee, but complied. In the boat were two more of the suited man, with one of them laying on his back while the other hunched over him, hurriedly running his hand through a box of what Lugia believed to be medical supplies. He narrowed his eyes, attempting to see what exactly Lee was referring to. Then, the hunched-over suited man leaned away from the other for a moment, and Lugia's eyes widened with horror at what he saw. The other man, the one lying on his back, was nearly charred black. His suit was charred and destroyed for the most part, every inch of his skin was coated a grisly shade of black with only a few red strips dotting where the black didn't touch, and the man himself stared up to the sky with horror planted on his face. His jaw gaped with a length it shouldn't be able to due to the burned tendons of his jaw, Most of his teeth were missing and the ones that weren't caved inwards in his mouth. His hair was completely gone, and his eyes were blackened by a layer of ash. However, even in spite of this, he didn't move.

"What in the…" Uttered Lugia in a shocked disbelief. In all his years, he had seen very few humans in such a malformed state, and all of those times were during the most brutal of wars.

Christopher Lee took it upon himself to speak up. "That right there," He said, pointing to the boat with his cigar, "Is the handiwork of none other than Moltres itself."

Lugia shook his head. "Impossible! Moltres would never-"

Christopher interrupted Lugia by holding up his hand toward him. He then tapped on the shoulder of one of the suited men and said, "Show it." The suited man nodded, tapping a button on the side of his sunglasses and summoning a holographic display of a video. Lugia watched in horror as the video replayed itself, showcasing Moltres towering over the pleading suited man with its' wing held high, then slamming it down upon him and pinning him down as the flames overtook his body. Even as he continued to scream and plead for mercy, Moltres gave him none.

The black-suited man tapped the button on his sunglasses once more, making the hologram fade away and leaving Lugia stunned. He turned sharply toward the Trio of Birds, who quickly tried to explain themselves and their innocence via an array of screeches and squawks.

"You see?" Asked Christopher Lee with a vile grin planted upon his face, "Moltres is nothing more than a savage animal who would kill without mercy, and make its' victims suffer as it did so! You can deny it no longer!"

Lugia turned back around, looking down at Christopher Lee with ire. "Is that so? Well, from what they tell me, they were only acting in self defense! Not only that, but I saw their memories as well. Surely you knew that I was a Psychic Type as well?"

"You call that self defense?!" Demanded Christopher. He clenched his fist with fury evident in his maddened eyes. "That man was completely disarmed, immobile and helpless!" He pointed an accusing finger past Lugia at Moltres. "But that demon bird attacked him anyways! Not only that, but it tortured him! It burned him alive! How can you call an atrocious act like that self defense?!"

"It was those suited men who attacked them first!" Retorted Lugia.

"Only after they destroyed the village we worked so hard to create!" Christopher shot back.

Lugia's eye twitched as irritation began swelling up within him. "They destroyed what you built because you did it on their land!"

The color of Christopher's face began reddening with rage once more. "Because you destroyed our old homes!"

Lugia was able to control his swelling rage no longer. If they wanted to be unreasonable, then Lugia was more than willing to follow suit. "We've done nothing of the sort, you infuriating ingrate!" At Lugia's enraged bellow, dark clouds began to form overhead, swirling together and creating a brisk wind. The water surrounding the islands began to stir as well, and the fog from before had returned. A storm was brewing. "Begone from these lands at once, and never return!"

The people crowded on the beach shifted uncomfortably due to the wind. A shiver collectively ran down their spines due to the sudden appearance of the storm, but they swallowed their fear and looked back up to Christopher Lee and Lugia, awaiting what would become of their debate. Lee merely chuckled at Lugia's order. "Not a chance," He said, "We're not going anywhere just yet!" Once again, he summoned the holographic video with the press of a button. "You see, this is far from the only piece of evidence I have against you lot, and I might just release it to the public."

Lugia scoffed. "Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?"

Christopher Lee shot back a devious smirk up at Lugia and pressed the button on his sunglasses again. This time, a holographic video of Lugia appeared. It repeated, "Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?" Grinning arrogantly, Christopher Lee shut the video off and asked, "See what I mean?"

Lugia bared his teeth at the round man before him, but knew better now than to act rashly or say anything he would later regret. "What is your game, Lee?"

"My "game,"" Started Lee, "Is exposing you to the world as the filth you are! What the public will do in response, well…" His eyes glinted up at Lugia mischievously. "...Let's just say it might not be favorable. However, I would be able to forget this whole nonsense should you be willing to strike a deal with me."

Lugia raised a brow at Christopher Lee warily. "...Which would be…?"

The devious grin planted upon Christopher Lee's face widened, and he clasped his hands together. "I'm glad you asked. You see…" The hologram displayed videos of Moltres reducing the newly-built town of the people to cinders, firing attacks at them as they screamed in terror, and of course the videos of Moltres and Lugia. "...Should these get out to the public, more people might become wise to the lies of your god. If that happens…" A malicious grin came to Christopher Lee's face. "...Well, there's just no telling what kind of chaos might ensue."

Lugia bared his teeth, scarcely hiding his fury. "You mean to start another war between humans and Pokemon? At a time like this?!"

Christopher Lee pressed the button once more. This time, a video of Arceus himself appeared, and Lugia could scarcely believe his eyes. The holographic video showed Arceus appearing before the ruins of the Orange Islands and briefly restoring the lands, only to suddenly fly into a brief fit of rage and undo it before he disappeared into the sky. "As far as I'm concerned," Lee spoke, "The war has long-since begun. Or rather, the last one never ended."

The Sea Guardian's eyes narrowed down at the plump man. "...What do you want from me…?"

Christopher Lee stifled an amused chuckle. "I'm glad you asked. You see, what I...no...what we want is nothing short of vengeance. Of course, we would love nothing more than to see the one who destroyed our homes and families lying dead at our feet, but for now, I think we can settle for something less."

"Get to the point," Hissed Lugia.

The round man shrugged. "Very well. We came here to destroy all four of you and take this land, but we are weary and exhausted. So instead…" He pointed towards Moltres. "I'm going to make you an ultimatum and I'm going to make it very clear: Use Hypnosis on Moltres and hand it over to us, and in exchange, I will destroy all of the footage we acquired here and we will leave these islands."

Moltres's eyes widened and began shrieking up at Lugia in protest. To the horror of the Bird of Flame and the two others, Lugia turned back toward them, giving them an odd look as if he was actually contemplating complying with Christopher Lee's demands. The humans, meanwhile, had their own set of protests.

"You can't be serious!" One of them shouted, "We came all this way to fight! To take back what they took from us, and you're just going to make us leave with only one of them?!"

The others flared up as well, shouting out displeasures and profanities at Christopher Lee, who simply held up his hand to silence them. "Shut up," He ordered, "Don't forget who brought us all together in the first place!" He turned back toward Lugia, and the Beast of the Seas turned toward him as well. "And besides," Lee said, "You didn't let me finish…"

Lugia's eyes narrowed. "There's more?"

"Indeed," Answered Lee with a nod, "Of course there's no way our lust for revenge will be quelled with one of you alone. Should you comply, we will take Moltres and leave it unharmed until this supposed "Necrozma" is supposed to arrive. If it actually is real, we will release Moltres so that it can reunite with the other Legends and defeat it, and as a bonus, we will never show our faces here again. But should it be fake…" His eyes glistened darkly from behind his shaded glasses. "Then we will kill it and come back for you all with a far greater force, though since, according to you, this Necrozma is real, so you should be fine with letting us keep Moltres until then."

Lugia scowled down at him. "What kind of fool do you take me for?" Moltres let out a sigh of relief from behind him. "Do you honestly think I would simply fork over one of my own like a bargaining chip?!" He huffed impatiently. "Not to mention, why should I trust you in the slightest?!"

"Fair enough," Admitted Christopher, "Very well. I'll show you a gesture of my good faith, then." To the surprise of everyone in the area, Christopher Lee took off his sunglasses, threw them into the sand beneath his feet, and crushed them with a stomp. When he removed his foot, his sunglasses were snapped in half, and the glass was shattered. "There. Now no footage of the events here exists."

"S-sir," One of the black-suited men said in protest, "With all due respect, why did you…" He trailed off for a moment as Christopher Lee shot a vicious glare his way. He mulled over his next choice of words very carefully, then spoke again. "Without those glasses, sir, we no longer have any footage of what they did! We no longer have any leverage over them!"

"I'm well aware of that," Christopher whispered to his subordinate, "But as we are now, I must admit we stand no chance against them. So we must gain Lugia's trust if our plan is to work."

He pushed the black-suited man and cleared his throat. "So, do we have a deal?"

Lugia wasted no time in shooting the humans down. "Of course not," He hissed, "When Necrozma arrives, every single Legend must be immediately there to counter him. The destruction of that footage means nothing. There's no way I could ever trust the likes of you, and beyond that, you must think me an imbecile if you believed I would ever willingly give a Legend to a human against their will!"

Christopher's face furled with rage. "You rotten piece of shit! I should have known better than to trust a monster like you!"

"Begone from these islands!" Roared Lugia, "Never return! I'll allow you to leave peacefully, and should you choose to obey, I can promise that no further harm will come to you!"

"What a load of crap!" One of the humans shouted.

"How can we trust you?!" Another followed suit.

"Yeah, I bet it'll just attack us once we're out at sea like the coward it is!"

The older man from before spoke next, "I ain't gonna die any other way than on my feet!"

The woman who had taken off a portion of Moltres's wing stepped out from the crowd, glaring at the Bird of Flame, to which it shot one back. "The time for running away is over! If I die, I'll die knowing that at least I injured one of the monsters that took away my son, then I'll die without regret!"

The other survivors of the Orange Islands tragedy pumped their fists to the sky and cheered, "YEAH, LET'S GET 'EM!"

They marched toward the four Legends, but Lugia merely glowered down at them with disdain. "Such foolishness." With the swat of Lugia's tail, the humans were blown off their feet by a powerful gust of wind, halting their march for vengeance. "I said begone! Leave this place!"

The humans immediately lost their will to fight, and resumed cowering in fear. All of them, save for one. A young boy, who looked to be no older than six or seven, stepped back up from the crowd and walked toward Lugia. His hair was fuzzy and red, and in his arms, he held a small plushie doll. One based off of Lugia.

"No, wait!" One of the other survivors called out to him, "Don't get any closer!"

"Please, that thing will kill you!" Desperately cried another.

But the boy ignored them. Holding the stuffed doll of the Beast of the Sea tightly within his arms, he continued making his way toward Lugia himself and the Trio of Legendary Birds. The Birds hissed at the approaching human, but Lugia held up his wing to stop them. To the terror of the people, Lugia lowered itself to the ground and perched itself in front of the boy.

Lugia's hardened glare softened at the boy, and he craned his neck down toward him. "Hello there," Greeted the Beast of the Seas, "Why are you here, young one? This is...a very dangerous place. Not one suited for a child."

The redheaded boy looked down at the Lugia doll in his arms. "W-well," He stammered, "I came here to get a new home…" Looking back up at Lugia with his bright, shining eyes, the boy continued, "My old home is gone now...and my mommy and daddy are too…" He held the Lugia doll even tighter in his grip. "The big man said that if we came here, we could get our homes back! If I get my home back, then maybe mommy and daddy will come back too…"

Any trace of Lugia's glare had now disappeared as he stared down at the small child sadly. "Oh, my dear child…"

Looking back at the doll, the child said, "My mommy gave me this. She said it was Lugia, the Sea Gar...gur..garde…"

Lugia chuckled. "Guardian?"

The child nodded. "Yeah! That's what it was! She told me that Lugia was kind and kept us safe, but now she and daddy are gone…" Slowly, the young boy turned his gaze back up toward Lugia. "You're...Lugia, right?"

Lugia nodded. "That I am."

The child smiled brightly. "Then...you can get me a new home, right?" He hopped up and down upon the sand excitedly. "You can bring back mommy and daddy!"

Lugia winced and his smile faded. Raising his head back up, he replied, "...I am sorry, young one...but I cannot."

The young boy's face fell, wrenching Lugia's heart. "W-what…? B-but why?"

Lugia could scarcely bring himself to face the child, and he simply replied, "...This land...is not for humans. You may find a new home elsewhere, but...not here...I'm sorry…"

One of the humans picked up their spear gun. It no longer had any ammunition, but they didn't care. "You heartless bastard!" They hurled the gun up at Lugia, nailing him in the eye and making the Beast of the Seas reel back and hiss in pain. Recovering from the strike, Lugia turned back toward them with unbridled fury in its' eyes and unleashed a Hyper Beam their way. The humans screamed in terror and ducked just in time for the attack to go sailing over their heads. However, the attack wasn't meant for them. The Hyper Beam shot through the air and crashed into the boats of the survivors. Their only hope for escape was now gone.

One of the humans, a woman, quickly rushed up to the young boy and grabbed him in her arms, making him drop the Lugia doll in the sand. Lugia himself, however, was too berserked to even notice. Any and all sense was now gone. "ROTTEN VERMIN," He roared, "I GAVE YOU CHANCE AFTER CHANCE TO FLEE, BUT IF YOU WISH TO STAY HERE SO BADLY, THEN BY ALL MEANS!" He fired another Hyper Beam, completely destroying the humans' barriers and leaving them exposed.

They screamed in terror and ran out from the smoke only to see their boats had been destroyed. So, they did the only thing they could think to do: they ran. They didn't know where to run or what they hoped to accomplish by doing so. They simply ran because they didn't know what else to do. Lugia flew overhead and crashed down in front of them, roaring violently. As a last-ditch attempt, they tried to throw their spear guns as well, but Lugia brushed them aside with the flap of his wings.

"YOU WANT TO STAY HERE?!" He roared, "VERY WELL, THEN!" His eyes glowed green, and a Psychic barrier surrounded the terrified humans. They screamed and pounded at the walls of the barrier, but to no avail. They were completely and utterly trapped in Lugia's grasp. Hissing down at them, Lugia spoke, "Perhaps my decision to let you go at all was naive of me. After all, the likes of you would just end up causing chaos and confusion amidst the other humans who are trying to prepare to fight Necrozma!"

The people cried out at Lugia, no longer throwing insults his way or lashing out in rage. Their anger quickly faded and fear took its' place as they realized they were trapped and at the mercy of the Beast. So, with no way to fight or to run, they pleaded for their lives. It was the only possible option they had left.

"Please don't kill us!"

"We just wanted a home!"

"We're sorry for what we did!"

"Please spare us, Lugia!"

"We'll never set foot on these islands again, we promise!"

Their desperate cries for mercy fell on deaf ears. The color of Lugia's eyes shifted to glow purple, and the humans felt a sudden rush of fatigue hit them. One after another, they slowly collapsed onto the ground in a deep sleep. Once the last one had fallen, he levitated the barrier out into the open ocean and dropped it in. "That oughta keep you out of the way until Necrozma is dead. I'll set you lot free after that, once you're no longer a threat."

Guilt crept back up into the Beast of the Sea's conscience once more as thoughts of the boy plagued his mind. He felt no better than the Trio of Birds, who ruthlessly attacked those who came to their territory. As his anger faded, he quickly began feeling guilty about what he'd done to the other humans as well. They had lost everything. It's no wonder that they'd act like that, especially with someone like Christopher Lee heading their ideas-

"Christopher Lee!" Lugia bellowed in sudden realization. He didn't remember seeing him amidst the other humans he'd put to sleep. Then, beyond where he had dropped the barrier full of people, he spotted something. As he focused his vision upon it, his heart nearly stopped. It was a boat speeding away from the island, and it was full of people. The black-suited men and, to Lugia's horror, Christopher Lee. Now that he thought about it, Lugia hadn't even seen Christopher or the black-suited men ever since he last talked to them. They'd slipped away completely unnoticed before Lugia destroyed the other boats.

Lugia burst toward them, flying with such speed that the waters beneath his wings were pulled backward and sprayed in the air. The black-suited men quickly noticed the impending Sea Guardian, and they began running about the boat hurriedly. Lee himself, however, shot a devious grin Lugia's way and took out another pair of sunglasses from his pocket. As he placed them over his eyes, he pressed a button on the side of the sunglasses. The holographic image of Lugia appeared, saying, "Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?" Then, the boat disappeared into the fog.

The Sea Guardian clapped his wings together, dispelling the fog. Lugia's heart sunk. The boat containing the one man with footage that could lead to the total imbalancing of the world's order…

...had completely disappeared without a trace…


"Why hello, my dear Zero," Greeted Ryder with a bow, "I do believe you and I are overdue for another chat?"

Without waiting for even a second, Zero lunged at him with a Leaf Blade, but her attack only caught the afterimage of the armored man. "So hasty," Taunted Ryder from behind her, "Come now, none of that." Zero whipped around with a Focus Punch, but only succeeded in blasting another crater in the ground. Ryder appeared once more at her side, still completely unscathed.

Zero seethed. "You…!"

Ryder held up his hand to stop her. "I'll have you know that I didn't come here with the intent to fight," He told her, "No, I merely came here to talk."

A scowl wormed its' way up Zero's face. "Pardon me if I don't exactly trust you. Especially not after arriving right after Damian again." She narrowed her eyes at him darkly as the memories of the Eevee she'd attempted to rescue from the aforementioned trainer came flooding back. "I'm starting to think you two are connected somehow."

Ryder allowed his crossed arms to fall back down to his sides, and Zero summoned another Leaf Blade in response, preparing herself to counter if he reached for his own blade. However, he didn't make any attempt to reach for his weapon. "I don't need your trust," He said, "All I need from you is your ears for a couple of minutes."

Without moving from her battle stance, Zero replied, "...All right. I'll listen to what you have to say, but if you make even the slightest move to attack…"

Ryder nodded. "You'll try to kill me, I know."

Zero's eye twitched. "Trying implies that I'll fail."

Ryder tapped the area of his visor that Zero had shattered in their previous battle. "As I remember, you only managed to break my visor in our last battle, whereas I sliced through your throat, impaled you on a tree and nearly sliced you to ribbons."

Zero growled with irritation. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression you weren't here for a fight." She summoned another emerald green Leaf Blade with her free hand and scraped them together. Ryder, in response, merely shrugged.

"It was you who started with the death threats. I was simply correcting your misinformation. Zero made an attempt at another remark, but Ryder spoke once more before she could. "And speaking of correcting misinformation," He said, "About that boy...Damian, you called him?"

The armored man chuckled amusedly. "I must admit, watching him torment his Pokemon into obedience in mere days was entertaining, but he and I are completely unrelated." He reiterated to make his point clear. "My arriving after him twice now is but a mere coincidence."

Zero bared her teeth at him as her rage began bubbling back up. "As if."

"Believe what you want," Snapped Ryder, "It matters not to me."

"Well, what's next then?" Zero asked impatiently, "I'm sure you didn't come all this way from whatever ditch you crawled out of just to tell me that."

The armored man before her gave no visible reaction, to the young girl's discontent, and answered, "Indeed. My...no...our master has instructed me to tell you about the true reason for your creation."

Zero would have rolled her eyes if she had any. "You mean that world-destruction nonsense? I've already heard it all from that bastard Charon." She smirked at him. "So, sorry that you came all this way for nothing."

"Wrong." Ryder's voice boomed with an inhuman ferocity and volume that took Zero by surprise, but his tone somehow didn't suggest that he was yelling, or even angry. Reaching his hand out to her, he said, "You were created for a far greater purpose than what that psychotic wretch gave you."

"...How do you know this?" Asked Zero.

"I know this," Answered Ryder, "Because our purposes, bestowed upon us by our great master, are one in the same." He balled his hand into a fist and placed it atop the patch laid out over his heart. That patch, the same one Charon and those men Zero saw in Ash's more-recent memories, that detailed the starry void of space with an explosion in the middle of them. "I'll have you know that Charon is dead. Killed by my hand."

Zero's pitch-black eyes widened in shock. "W-what?!"

"I know you were planning on extracting vengeance upon him one day," Ryder told her, "But our master had deemed him too large of a threat to be left alive, and so I was sent to extermi-"

Zero once again lunged at the armored man, abandoning the Leaf Blade in favor of a Hyper Beam that incinerated everything in its' path. Heaving with rage, she scoured her surrounding in an attempt to find Ryder, who took away her one chance at vengeance. "Bastard!" She hissed with fury, "First you take away my only chance at redemption, and now you take away my only chance at recrimination?!"

The blur of Ryder's form appeared behind her once again, but as she whipped around to face him with a Fire Punch, she was met with a kick to her abdomen that sent her sprawling onto her back. As she attempted to get back up, she was stopped when Ryder blitzed toward her and pointed his black blade down at her throat.

"Stay down," He ordered, "As I've told you before, I have no intention of fighting you on this day."

Zero grabbed the blade, threatening to crush it with her inhuman strength. "You should have thought of that before you robbed me of my chance at vengeance!" As Ryder attempted to pull the blade away, Zero leapt up at his visor and pulled back her fist, but once again, Ryder disappeared from sight before her attack could hit its' mark. "Dammit," She cursed, "Stand still, damn you!"

The silver blur of Ryder's armor rushed into the edge of her sight, and she whipped around towards it, firing a Flamethrower from her hand that, once again, only met air. A silver streak of light rushed across the back of her legs, slashing at them and making her fall onto her knees. She hissed, though more out of frustration than pain.

Ryder appeared once more a few feet away from her so that she couldn't try the same trick again. "Enough," He commanded, "This is exactly why I've come here!"

Zero heaved for air in rage like an animal, glaring at the armored man before her with hatred in her void-like eyes. "Why, then?! To tell me why you stole my only chance at vengeance against the man who created me for the sole purpose of killing the ones that I love?!"

"That was beyond my control," Ryder told her, "Orders from our master are absolute and not to be questioned. He knows all, after all."

"He is no master of mine!" Roared Zero, "If it was his order to kill Charon and take away the revenge I deserved, then I'll kill him instead!" It was Zero's intention for that remark to send Ryder into a rage so that they would battle once more, but that attempt had failed. Instead, Ryder merely laughed at her, like such a prospect was so laughably impossible that it was dispelled without a second thought.

"Master cannot die," Ryder said, "He sees everything. He knows everything. The second you could pose a threat to him, you would be dead." He sheathed his sword once more. "But that is a conversation for another day. If you live long enough, that is."

Zero smirked at him. "If I live? So, you actually plan on killing me now?"

Ryder, to her confusion, shook his head. "No. Killing you would be directly disobeying our master's orders." The armored man shook his head, then pointed down at Zero with his index finger. "It is not I who will kill you. It is you who will kill you."

Zero narrowed her eyes at him, not believing a word he said. "Is that right? Tell me, how do you plan on accomplishing that?"

Ryder shook his head. "Not a thing. It is something that will happen on its' own in due time." He made his way over towards her, coming to a stop just outside of her arm's reach. "That is, unless our master completes you."

"Completes me?" Repeated Zero with an eyebrow raised in suspicion, "If you mean to take me back to that hell, then the only thing you'll drag back is my corpse."

"And make another suffer the same fate as you?"

Zero winced at that remark. "W-what?"

Ryder once again pointed his finger down towards Zero. "If I were to kill you, it would merely be a temporary nuisance for our master." He chuckled to himself. "You being alive or dead would hardly make a difference. If I were to kill you completely, he could simply use the DNA of your body to create an entirely new life form." He eyed her with what Zero, despite Ryder's face being completely obscured by his helmet and visor, knew was an arrogant, knowing smile. "And that would mean having to redo the entire training process over again. You wouldn't dare to inflict your pain onto another, would you?"

Zero mentally cursed, looking back down to the cracked ground beneath her knees. He was completely right about that. Never in a million years would she ever wish to inflict her pain on anyone, save maybe Charon, though that option was now lost to her.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" Remarked Ryder, snapping Zero out of her train of thought. "Of course you would."

Baring her fangs in rage, Zero burst out, "Excuse me?! If you think I would ever willingly make someone else suffer through the same fate that you, your master and Charon put me through, then you're nothing more than a-"

"What about Ash, then?"

Zero was stopped dead in her tracks. "What…?"

Ryder turned away from her, looking out somewhere through the forest's trees. "Like I said the previous time we met, I've been keeping my eyes upon you. Every action you take, I see." He turned his gaze back toward the silver-haired girl and pointed out to where he was just previously looking. "And of course, I saw what you did to Ash."

Zero paled, and her blood ran cold. Still, she tried to deny his claims. "N-no, that wasn't-"

"Wasn't what?" Interjected Ryder, "It wasn't the same? How could it not be?" The armored man crossed his arms and laughed. "You made him experience your memories of the event, and from what I saw and heard, you made him not only see the visions, but feel them as well."

Zero was ashamed. She knew he was right, but something within her simply could not accept it. Her mind tried to deny his claims, but her heart told her Ryder was correct. These two sensations clashed within her violently, tearing away at her emotional state. All she could do in their wake was clutch at her head. "S-stop!"

"Why should I?" Ryder marched up to the young girl and grabbed her wrists, pulling them away and forcing her to look up at him; forcing her to accept the truth. "What I say is the absolute, undeniable truth." He let her fall back to the ground and one again turned away from her. "Tell me," He said, "Do you wish to know why?" He tilted his head back toward her. "Why you cannot help but to cause pain, to destroy, and why you cannot escape from the hauntings of your memories?"

Zero didn't answer, instead heaving for air on her hands and knees as she desperately attempted to hold in her tears. Ryder answered anyways. "It is because you are unfinished," Spoke the armored man, "It is because Charon rushed your completion and unleashed you upon the world too quickly in wake of your "saviors."

Ryder placed a hand to the underside of his visor and chuckled. "It's ironic," He said, "Your rescuers are the reason you are like this." Zero balled her trembling hands into fists, crushing the rocky dirt in her hands, but still didn't respond to Ryder's maddening claims.

Ryder turned back to face the young girl, his dark visor reflecting the vision of Zero upon its' glass while obscuring the man within. "I know this," He said, "Because I am like you." He motioned to the starry badge planted upon his suit over his heart. "We are both creations of our master, in a sense."

Zero's eyes widened, and she snapped her gaze back up toward him. As she stared into his visor, she only saw the reflection of herself. "Unlike you," Ryder spoke, "I do not have the pleasure of saying that I was completely created by our master." A dark chuckle emanated from the armored man's mask in spite of this. "However, unlike you, I am not comprised of those filthy animals the clueless denizens of this world call Pokemon." Jabbing a thumb toward himself, he told Zero, "I am human, whereas you are merely pretending to be one."

Zero scowled up at him and retorted, "Ironic, considering you cover yourself from head to toe in armor! You say you're human and proud to be one, yet you mask yourself and hide yourself from the world like a coward!"

Before Zero could blink, she was met with the sight of Ryder's ebony black blade pointed between her eyes, distancing itself from her head by mere millimeters. Neither one of them spoke or even moved for what seemed to Zero like minutes. She eyed him warily, judging her position and what she could use best to strike him, but before she could prepare an attack, Ryder spoke once more.

"Look at this blade," He told her. She gave him an odd look, but complied nonetheless. His blade was completely black, with only the edges reflecting any light. It was eerily similar to Ryder's black armor, which was barely visible, only observable to the eye due to the contrast of it and their surroundings. "This blade," Ryder said, "Is no different than you or I."

Zero gave him another odd look. "What do you…?"

"What I mean," Said Ryder, "Is that this blade signifies the only connection you and I truly share: We are weapons, created by our master for the sake of his bidding." In the span of a blink of an eye, Ryder sheathed his blade once more. "That is our purpose."

Zero scoffed at him. "Your purpose, maybe, but not mine. Whoever my creator is, Charon or this master of yours, means nothing to me or my fate." Zero reached her hands down to the back of her legs, using Heal Pulse to undo the damage Ryder had done earlier. Zero eyed Ryder warily, preparing to use Protect at the slightest movement she sensed from him, but Ryder didn't move a muscle.

"Is that right?" Mused Ryder, staring down at Zero curiously. "If what you say is true, then answer this: Why is it that, if you are not a weapon, you have battled some kind of foe every single day since you were 'freed'?"

Zero gave no visible reaction, instead replying, "To defend my friends. If they find themselves having to fight, I fight as well. It's simple as that."

To Zero's agitation, her response elicited an amused chuckle from the armor-clad man. "How naive," He chided, shaking his head. "You still deny the truth? Very well. I'll answer the question for you." He walked back over toward Zero, making her tense up. Once again, she was faced with that damnable reflection from Ryder's visor, and she quickly looked down at the ground.

"You are a weapon," Ryder hissed, "Whether you like it or not, either you are drawn to battle, or battle is drawn to you. That is the truth for both you and I. It is this way, because our master created us to be so." Zero opened her mouth to retort, but Ryder cut her off before she could. "As long as you live, which won't be for much longer in your sorry state, you will find nothing but strife and battle, because that is the destiny we were ordained from your creation and my rebirth."

"That may be true for you," Started Zero as she rose back to her feet, "But unlike you, this master of yours no longer controls me!"

Ryder sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Still you deny it? Very well, then. I suppose I'll have to reveal to you something you cannot refute." He disappeared in a blur, and Zero summoned a Protect around herself. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and she clasped her fists in rage. Ryder had gotten behind her before she could even properly react.

"Do you wonder why those images and voices of your past continue to haunt you as relentlessly as they do?" He asked. Zero didn't respond, still trembling with rage. "As I said before, you are unfinished. Incomplete. I was once this way as well." Zero whipped around with a Fire Punch, but only succeeded in blasting apart a few trees. Ryder once again appeared in a blur behind her without so much as a scratch on his armor.

"You see," Started Ryder, apparently unperturbed by Zero's attempts at killing him, "I, too, once had similar visions to yours haunt my every waking moment. It's utterly maddening, is it not?" He tilted his head down toward the ground and crossed his arms. "The ones you love lying dead at your feet, and the voices of those who were to blame...you see and hear it too, right?" Raising his head back to face Zero, he told her, "The reason you experience these torments is because Charon neglected to shield your mental state, opting to increase your bloodlust to the point that you were no different than a raging animal."

Zero glared at the armored man, who either ignored it or seemed to not care, as he uncrossed his arms and laughed. "However, I was freed from this torment by our master, who granted me power beyond measure! If he can do that to me, just imagine what you could become if you simply embraced our master's grace! He can free you of your torment."

"At the cost of my free will," Retorted Zero.

Once again, Zero was subjected to the utterly maddening sound that was Ryder's laughter. "Free will? That is something you never had, not even now. As I told you, you are nothing but a weapon for our master's use! Even in this so-called "freedom," your actions are only furthering His goals."

"What do you mean?!" Demanded Zero.

"Every single day, you battle something," Answered Ryder, "And that increases your fighting prowess. Not to mention the chaos you're stirring up."

"You don't make any sense!" Shouted Zero, "What are your master's goals anyways?!"

Ryder shook his head. "I've already said too much on the subject, and time is running thin, so I'll quickly tell you the last thing I came here to say." He pointed at Zero. "Without the completion only our master can offer, your life will soon come to an end."

Zero's blood ran cold. "...Wha...what did you just say…?"

"As it stands," Began the armored man, "You are nothing more than a mess of jumbled-up DNA. Something like that cannot continue to exist for long." He shook his head. "No, you see, due to Charon's hasty actions, your lifespan is far too short." He looked off to the side, and somehow Zero knew he was scowling underneath his helmet. "That fool, he only ever worked on your destructive potential and violence, resulting in every aspect of what you are, both mind and body, being unstable."

Zero vigorously shook her head. "No, no, what the hell do you-"

"That is why you have those emotional outbursts and such," Ryder said, cutting Zero off, "And furthermore, did you ever stop to think about your vocal patterns? They're erratic. All over the place. Sometimes, you speak like the child you are. Other times, your vocabulary reaches the level of a middle-aged librarian."

"Shut up!" Screeched Zero, "What kind of absolute fool do you-" She cut herself off with a gasp of realization.

Once again, Ryder crossed his arms. "Do you see now?" He asked. "It's just as I said."

Zero heaved for air, again, vigorously shaking her head as if the action would deny Ryder's claims. "No, this isn't...it's not…"

"It is."

Zero's gaze snapped up to Ryder with fury welling up in her empty, black eyes. She bared her teeth and attempted to summon a Focus Blast, only for the energy to spark up violently and fizzle out into nothingness in mere seconds. Staring down at her hand in horror, she cried, "What?!"

"Charon tied your powers to your emotional state," Ryder told her, snapping her attention to him. "The more rage you feel, the more powerful you become. So, when you were in your berserked state, your power was at its' highest...but…" He turned his gaze toward the ground. "...That power is a double-edged sword. As your body and mind continue to de-generate and come closer to death, you will eventually lose control altogether and go on a mindless warpath, destroying everything in sight until death finally takes you."

He lifted his head up at her, and Zero could have sworn she saw something of a grin from behind the dark visor. "That means that you will destroy everything you love. Any Pokemon you come across?" He made a chopping motion with his arm. "Killed. Those people in Goldenrod?" He pretended to slit his throat with his index finger. "Slaughtered mercilessly by your hand."

Zero erratically shook her head. "No," She whimpered under her breath, "I won't…"

"And what of Ash?" Asked Ryder, making Zero's eyes shoot open. "Knowing him, he'll try to save you to the very end and be cut down along with his friends." He pointed at the shuddering young girl. "All by your hand."

"Shut UP!"

Zero pulled back her arm and shot another Focus Blast. This time, it worked, sending a large orange ball of crackling energy Ryder's way. Though, with but the flick of Ryder's blade, Zero's attack was split in two and sent crashing into the forest behind him. Bright orange flames began crackling around where it hit, quickly lighting up the surrounding trees. Zero stepped back, mortified by the sight of the trees slowly being reduced to cinders.

"You cannot hide or run from it," Said Ryder, "For death will come all the same. As it stands, you have two options left." He held out his left hand. "You can allow your mind and body to de-generate, go insane, and destroy everything you've ever loved. All the while, battle will be drawn to you endlessly, and you will never know peace. As your mind dissolves, your powers will become uncontrollable, and just like what happened with that Focus Blast that fizzled out, your powers will either die out or be unleashed uncontrollably. Or…" He held out his right hand next. "You can come with me willingly, allow our master to complete you, and embrace the life you were truly meant to live: As a weapon to be used for His goals."

"Shut up!" Cried Zero, clawing madly at the sides of her head. She was no longer thinking. Ryder's words clawed themselves into her mind even as her consciousness tried to reject them, resulting in another psychological meltdown. Visions of the lab flashed before her eyes and once again she heard the cackling of Dr. Charon. She could not accept that her fate was to either willingly serve the one who created her for the sole purpose of being a killer, or to fall apart at the seams and destroy all that she had come to love in her short time living.

Facing Ryder with her fangs bared, she held her arms out at him. The energies of every Type crackled around her wildly, like a cataclysmic rainbow. Despite the maddening voices plaguing her every sense, she managed to focus it into a single point. Just as Riley had told her before. Focus...concentrate… The young girl tried her hardest to force the memory of her teachings up past the voices and bloodstained imagery, and pointed the attack straight at Ryder' head.

"I...will not...be a weapon!" She bellowed. "Nor will I destroy the ones that I love!" With all of her might, she unleashed the attack as a colossal, pure white beam of light. The moment she saw Ryder disappear into that light, she pulled her arms up toward the sky, angling the attack in a way that prevented any further destruction of the surrounding forest. She cut the attack off suddenly, making her fall to the ground in exhaustion. As she panted desperately for air, she uttered, "I...am free now...thanks to them… I'll...make my own fate!"

The invisible voice of Ryder whispered into her ear, "You are free of nothing. You have your options, and you will choose one or the other. You have no choice. I don't expect you to answer right away, but you will give me your answer to life. Will you be free and destroy everything you love along with yourself, or will you become the weapon you were always meant to be and live your life as such?"

A dark chuckle, almost indistinguishable from the whispers of the wind, echoed throughout the forest. "There is no other option...but in the meantime, that boy Ash appears to be in trouble..." Then there was a gust of wind, signifying that Ryder had disappeared.

Zero stood back to her full height, staring through the trees. "...In trouble…?" Her eyes shot open in horror. Was Ash being targeted next? No, that didn't make sense. If Ryder was targeting Ash next, then there would be no point in letting her roam freely until her...due date… She shook her head to dispel her train of thought. "There's no point in trying to figure it out," She told herself. "In trouble or not, I need to get back to Ash." With that, she took off into the forest's depths.

Hydreigon, after nearly a minute of holding its' savior in a deep embrace, let Ash go at last, turning away in moderate embarrassment of the action. The other Pokemon followed suit, backing away from Arceus's chosen one. Ash let out a small chuckle at Hydreigon's expense and placed a hand gently atop the hydra Pokemon's head. He tilted his head around Hydreigon so that they were once again facing one another.

"There's no need to be embarrassed," Ash told it. "If I'd been rescued from a guy like Damian, I'd probably hug my rescuer too." Standing back up to his full height, Ash said, "You know, you remind me of a friend of mine I met recently." Hydreigon perked its' head up at him with interest. "Yeah," Said Ash, "Her name's Zero, and when I met her, we were actually in a pretty similar scenario to how I met you."

Ash's smile faded suddenly and he turned his gaze around the Pokemon gathered. "Come to think of it," He said, "She was just here a moment ago." An inkling of where she went popped up in his mind, making him wince with worry. "Crap, she might've gone after Damian! She did say something about meeting him before…"

He turned his gaze at the surrounding Pokemon. "Hey, sorry, but do you think you guys could help me find someone?" The Pokemon looked around oddly at one another for a moment, but quickly turned back toward Ash and nodded, earning a grateful smile from him. "Thanks," He said, "With you all looking for her, it'll be much easier."

He turned back around to Hydreigon, making it shift uncomfortably at the sudden movement. "What about you?" Ash asked. "Think you can help me out?" The Dark Dragon Pokemon froze at the sudden request. It wasn't that it was questioning whether or not to help him, no, it was simply the suddenness of it that made it freeze. It was the lingering pressure of Damian's influence, making it feel like the request was a demand, for it knew no difference.

Sensing Hydreigon's inner turmoil, Ash quickly decided to take away some of the pressure. "Hey, it's no big deal," He told it. Then, an idea came to his mind. He took out a Pokeball, unnerving the gentle dragon, and set it on the ground. "Say," He began, "Would you like to join me?"

The Hydreigon's eyes widened and it subconsciously backed away in fear. While it felt nothing but sincerity and kindness from Ash's Aura, a request like that sent an array of panic signals through its' mind. To Hydreigon, it was almost like asking it to once again be subjugated by Damian, and though Hydreigon knew Ash and Damian could not be further apart, the trauma from the thought alone of becoming another human's Pokemon sent fear through every aspect of Hydreigon's being like ripples.

Ash sighed, quickly taking the Pokeball and pocketing it to put it out of Hydreigon's sight. "Right, right," He said, "I'm sorry, Hydreigon. That was selfish of me to ask, especially after having just been freed from Damian." He walked past the Dark Dragon Pokemon, briefly putting an Aura-coated hand on its' shoulder. "Still, though, I'd like you to at least come with me to find my friend. I think you and her...would be good for each other."

The Hydreigon looked at Ash's back with guilt. In all honesty, being with Ash didn't sound too bad, but that natural terror of being with a trainer gripped hold of its' actions and refused to let go. It was as if two voices were fighting in its' head for dominance. One of hope for a better future than what Damian had allowed, and the other of absolute terror that repeatedly shouted, "Do not trust anything."

Hydreigon continued to inwardly debate with itself, failing to notice the other Pokemon already walking past it to join Ash. As Arceus's chosen one came to the edge of the forest's opening, he stopped and turned around, giving the other Pokemon the chance to catch up. He gave Hydreigon one last glance, then turned back around and took a step out of the clearing.

From the opposite side of the forest clearing, a gargantuan, white, metal hand resembling that of a cat's paw sprung out, quite literally due to it being attached to an equally-giant metal spring at the wrist, and grabbed Ash suddenly. The boy, the Pokemon and Hydreigon alike scarcely had the time to comprehend what was happening before Ash was pulled back over the clearing and into the trees. Then, two voices sounded out over what sounded like an intercom.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

The metallic clanking of moving machinery began emanating from where Ash had been pulled into, and soon enough, a horde of shifting, metal plating began rising up out of the trees. Towering over the Pokemon below, who growled at whatever this newcomer was who had dared to capture Arceus's chosen.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

The shifting metal plates suddenly changed direction, moving outward and twisting around to make some kind of shape. A large round head emerged at the top of the plates, and the hand that had caught Ash in its' grip re-emerged, now attached to an arm that protruded out from the shifting metal plates' side.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

Hydreigon paled at the newcomer. Uncontrollable fear overtook it, and it quickly rushed behind a tree, where it cowered in fear. The other Pokemon looked back at it with disdain, but decided that whoever this newcomer was was more important at the moment and turned back to face it. The plating eventually shifted into the shape of a colossal Meowth with a clear glass visor over where its' eyes should have been. Inside the visor was three seats facing away from the glass, and a large red 'R' was painted on its' forehead.

"What the heck is going on?!" Cried an utterly baffled Ash as the colossal robot waved him around in the air like a trophy.

The left seat turned around, revealing a woman dressed in a revealing white suit with another red 'R' on her chest. Her hair was long and pink, jutting out backwards and ending with a circular curve. "Jessie!" She announced.

The right seat turned around next, revealing a purple-haired man who wore a less-revealing white suit, again with the bright red 'R' over his chest. Smirking down at the furious Pokemon below, he announced himself. "James!"

The seat between the two of them, placed at the center of the colossal robotic Meowth's glass visor, whipped around to reveal an actual Meowth, who shouted, "Meowth, that's right!"

"Team Rocket?!" Ash cried out in disbelief. "What, are you here for Pikachu again?! Sorry to burst your bubble, but he's not here!"

The trio of Rockets laughed at that. "We ain't here for Pikachu this time, twerp!" Said Meowth. "This time, we're here for you!"

"For me?" Ash asked, puzzled. "What do you want with me?!"

"Ohohoho," Laughed James, "It's not what we want with you!"

Jessie crossed her arms and nodded. "Indeed! The Boss took interest in you after that worldwide message from Arceus, and now he's been intrigued!"

Their demeanor took a sudden one-eighty as tears welled in their eyes. They hugged one another and shouted out, "Who'd have thunk our little twerp would become such a big-shot?!" Their new attitude went as soon as it came, and they hopped back into their respective seats. Their devious grins returning, they pressed a bunch of the buttons on a large keyboard that stretched across the visor and a large hole opened up at the robotic meowth's chest. A glass ball with a seat in the middle rolled out and stopped halfway through, opening itself up.

The Rocket Trio pressed another series of buttons and the colossal mechanical arm carrying Ash dropped him onto the seat. The moment Ash made contact with it, an array of metal bindings were ejected from the seat, constricting him completely from the neck down.

Baring his teeth, Ash summoned his Aura. It sparked outward against the bindings violently, but to the boy's surprise, the metal didn't budge an inch. "My Aura's not working?!" Exclaimed Ash. "What the heck are these things?!"

Once again, the Trio of Rockets laughed over the intercom. "That was a pretty light show," Said Jessie, "I guess being Arceus's chosen one has its' merits!"

"But ultimately, it's useless!" James followed up. "With our new tech, even the strongest Pokemon would have trouble damaging this!"

Meowth chuckled, rubbing his hands together. "Check it! This robot was made with technology given to us by the Boss himself!" He flexed the mechanical Meowth's robotic arm. "This thing's got more power than a dozen Machamps!" The cat Pokemon then smashed the gigantic metal arm into its' own chest, resulting in a thunderous, booming thud that alone nearly blew the Pokemon off their feet. "And what's more, this thing's more durable then a Mega Steelix!" Surely enough, as Meowth pulled the arm away from its' chest, the area he'd stricken was revealed to be completely unharmed and shimmering in the bright sunlight.

"Ha ha ha!" Laughed Meowth, making the robot flex its' arms. "The ultimate offense and the ultimate defense! That is what our latest and greatest invention is!"

"Indeed," Added James, "This truly is our magnum opus!"

"This is the culmination of our...no…" Jessie's eyes gleamed as she looked up to the sky, pumping the gigantic Meowth robot's fist skyward. "This is the culmination of Team Rocket's greatest achievements!"

Meowth cackled, and the robot stamped its' feet into the ground with a resounding thud that shook the very earth. "Standing at fourty-five meters high and coming in at two thousand tons, this is…" The robotic Meowth stretched its' arms out and up to the sky, and out from its' palms, two holes opened up, shooting out large columns of bright orange flames. "ULTIMEOWTH!"

To say Ash was nonplussed would be an understatement. "What do you think you're doing?!" Demanded Ash as he continued to push against the bindings. "Necrozma is going to be here tomorrow! Even the likes of you can figure out what happens if he wins!"

"Oh please," Meowth scoffed, "Our orders came directly from the Boss! Even though we don't know what we're doing, he probably does!"

"That's right," Jessie chimed in. "The Boss's orders are absolute! We could never deny him!"

"It's all for the sake of Team Rocket!" James exclaimed. "And Team Rocket is our world!"

Ash shook his head. There was no way he was going get through to them. Turning down to the various Pokemon below, he asked. "Hey guys! Think you can get me outta here?"

The Pokemon nodded, roaring out their names and preparing various energy-based attacks to fire upon the robot. They unleashed a colorful array of Thunderbolts, Flamethrowers, Hyper Beams and more, but the attacks bounced off Ultimeowth's metal exterior without making so much as a dent.

"Tsk, tsk," Chided Meowth with the waggling of his finger, "Didn't you punks hear me? Like I said before, Ultimeowth is completely invincible!" The gigantic mechanical Meowth turned away from the Pokemon, and Jessie's voice rang out from it next. "So long, Poke-twerps!" With that, it took off, sprinting away into, or rather onto due to its' height, the forest.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Pokemon followed in pursuit. All of them, save one. Hydreigon, still cowering in fear, was trembling in terror as it hid behind the tree. It wanted desperately to save the one who saved it, but couldn't bring itself to even move. So, it huddled into a ball and cried, despising itself for its' cowardice.

Ultimeowth bounded through the forest, crushing any trees in its' wake as it went. "What are you guys doing?!" Demanded Ash. "If I'm not back there before Necrozma arrives, then the people there won't be organized! They'll be slaughtered!"

The Team Rocket Trio merely laughed at him. "Silly twerp," Chided James, "You think too little of us!"

"Did you really think we'd just take away Arceus's chosen one without a plan?" Jessie asked.

"Okay," Said Ash, "What is your plan then?"

Meowth chuckled. "Easy! We deliver you to the Boss and he comes up with a plan!"

The trio laughed, and James said, "The Earth's destruction obviously isn't on his agenda considering he wants to rule it!"

"So obviously," Jessie followed, "The Boss wouldn't tell us to capture you without a reason!" Her eyes became dreamy all of a sudden as she pictured the Team Rocket Leader. "I bet he's thinking of ways to repel that horrible alien as we speak!"

Ash shook his head. Even if their leader had a plan of some sort, he couldn't just let Goldenrod be helpless like that. He knew that in the grand scope of things, as a fighter, he was unimportant and his Pokemon were all already there to help defend the city, but if Arceus gave him a warning of Necrozma's arrival and he was trapped in some Team Rocket base, he would have no way of telling them or rallying them. They would be blind and helpless to a surprise attack.

Ash closed his eyes and sighed, calming his raging Aura since it obviously wasn't working on his bindings. The robot was running clear away from the city, so there was no hope of any of the trainers helping him. However, nearly all the world's Pokemon were located here in this forest and around the city. They were his only hope.

With his Aura, Ash called out to them. 'Anyone who can hear me, my name is Ash! I am Arceus's chosen one-" He cringed as he said it. "-and I need your help! I am trapped inside of a giant robot Meowth! You can't miss it! I need to get back to Goldenrod City before Necrozma arrives, but I cannot do it alone! I need your help!"

The Team Rocket Trio continued laughing as they sprinted across the forest, until James noticed something on his radar. He reached over and tapped Jessie to get her attention. "Um, Jessie?" He asked, "The radar's supposed to be green, right?"

"Of course it is," She hissed, "Don't you know how a radar works?! It's green when nothing hostile is around, and when there is something hostile, it shows them as a tiny red dot!"

James pointed at the radar, his face beginning to pale with fear. "Then what's that?"

Meowth and Jessie leaned over to see just what James was making such a fuss about. When they saw what he was pointing at, their faces paled to mirror his. The radar showed a gigantic circle of red closing in on them, and they were closing in fast. There wasn't even a speck of green amidst the red, and whatever green was left around the Ultimeowth was quickly disappearing.

The Trio quickly brought the gigantic robot to a stop and attempted to turn back around, only to be met with the sight of thousands of growling Pokemon glaring up at them. They turned back around to where they were originally running, only to find the exact same sight. The sky itself became shadowed by thousands of Flying Type Pokemon circling overhead.

Ash smiled down at the Pokemon, letting them know he was thankful for their help with his Aura. 'Thank you,' He told them. Next, he turned his head up at the Rocket Trio and said, "It's over, Team Rocket! No matter how strong your robot is, it won't be able to withstand the attacks of all these Pokemon!"

"T-that's what you think, chump!" Stammered Meowth, "If we can't run or jump our way outta this…"

"Then we'll dig!" Jessie and James finished.

Raising it's arms to the sky, the metal plating of Ultimeowth's paws began shifting once more, changing shape into gigantic drills. "No one can stop Team Rocket!" Meowth bellowed. "Now take this! Giga Drill Rocket!" The colossal Meowth robot pointed down at the ground with its' drills. With the press of a button from Meowth, Ultimeowth's drills began spinning rapidly and piercing down into the ground. What's more, the dust and dirt from the drilling surrounded Team Rocket in a large, spinning makeshift smokescreen that prevented anything from coming near.

"Hah!" Laughed Meowth. "You chumps are no match for the genius of Team Rocket!"

"Now if you'll excuse us," Said Jessie.

James finished the sentence for her, "We'll be going now!"

"Ohohohoho-huh?!" The trio's laughter was silenced when they heard a loud clank from beneath them. What's more, their drills had stopped spinning. "Hey, what's the hold-up?!" Meowth demanded.

Jessie and James peered their heads up and paled. "A bunch of Pokemon are biting the drills!"

"What?!" Exclaimed Meowth, "How is that even possible?!"

Beneath Ultimeowth, a horde of Onix and Steelix had used Crunch and taken hold of the drills, keeping them from spinning. "We're not even safe underground?!" Meowth hit the keyboard in frustration, but in turn accidentally ended up hitting one of the buttons. The Drills retracted suddenly, and in their place, what appeared to be giant hose tubes appeared. They sprayed the Onix and Steelix with flames, making them retreat back through the ground and pushing Team Rocket out of the hole they dug and into the sky.

Though this wasn't the end of the Rocket Trio's troubles. Their sudden ascension combined with the weight of Ultimeowth caused the robot to shake violently. "W-what d-did y-you d-do, M-Meowth?!" Cried Jessie as she desperately clung to the arms of her chair.

"I-I d-don't k-know!" Stuttered Meowth, "I-I j-just p-pressed a b-button!"

"W-well p-press t-the o-one t-that f-fixes i-it!" Shouted James, holding onto the keyboard for dear life. In doing this, the purple-haired Rocket grunt accidentally ended up making Meowth's mistake and pressed one himself. Ultimeowth stopped its' ascent suddenly and hovered in place, but the momentum caused the Rocket Trio to 'rocket' upwards and hit the roof, then fall back down behind their seats with a thud.

Jessie rubbed her now-aching head and groaned. "Which button did you press that time?!"

"I don't know," Replied James, "These things aren't exactly labeled, you know!"

Meowth suddenly screamed out in terror, catching the attention of his two comrades. Jessie asked snidely, "Oh what is it now, Meowth?!" Her expression, along with James's, immediately changed to a look of horror that mirrored their feline compatriot. The thousands of Flying Type Pokemon from before had now flown up and were swarming around Ultimeowth, furiously attacking it.

Many of them attacked the exposed glass ball that housed the trapped and bound Ash, and though their attacks did no actual harm to the mechanical Meowth, the Team Rocket Trio panicked and began rapidly pressing the keyboard's buttons, hoping that one of them would have some kind of plating of the robot Meowth shifted rapidly, turning the legs into a circle of fire hoses that sprayed out in all directions, deterring the winged menaces.

As the flying Pokemon backed off, the legs shifted back to normal and the arms pointed upwards, sending Ultimeowth on a crash course back to the earth below. The Team Rocket trio screamed in helpless terror, but Ash took the opportunity to warn the various Pokemon awaiting below. 'Run! This thing's about to crash into the ground, and it's gonna crash hard!' With his message sent, he could already sense the Pokemon sprinting away. As for him, all he could do is shut his eyes tight and hope this thing was as invincible as the trio had boasted.

The robotic Meowth's arms tilted backwards, slowing their descent and pushing them forward instead. The change happened just in the nick of time, preventing the crash right before impact and sending them rocketing away just over the trees, leaving the Pokemon in the dust.

The three Team Rocket grunts, who had hugged one another expecting the end, dared to open their eyes. At first, they gaped in disbelief at their luck, but then laughed. "Heh...heheha!" Cackled Meowth. "We're alive!"

"And the Pokemon are getting further and further behind!" Chimed in Jessie.

James, however, had to spoil the moment. "It's great that we're alive and all, but we have another problem!"

"Can't you keep your negativity to yourself, James," Said an annoyed Jessie, glaring at him.

"Yeah!" Meowth followed. "We're alive and outta harm's way, aren't we? Let's just be glad for that."

James grabbed them with his arms, pulling them in as his eyes widened with terror. He pointed at the glass visor, and cried out with his eyes widened with terror, "WE'RE HEADING STRAIGHT TOWARD GOLDENROD CITY, YOU FOOLS!"

Surely enough, the shimmering silver lights of Goldenrod City's skyscrapers reflecting the sun's light came into view and was approaching fast. The Team Rocket Trio and Ash, who was still locked firmly into place, screamed in terror, and the aforementioned trio quickly went to work. They rapidly pressed the buttons at random, hoping that whatever miracle had worked before would work again now.

Ultimeowth's arms ceased the flames, allowing its' legs to touch ground once more. The momentum it carried forced the robot to continue sprinting to avoid tripping, and as it bounded across the now-dwindling forest, Ash sent out another warning. Though this time, it was not to a Pokemon.

'Riley!' Ash called with his Aura. 'Can you hear me?'

It took a few moments, but eventually, Ash got a response. 'Yeah, Ash? What's up? You complete your daily forest trip yet.?'

'No time for that right now!' Ash said, 'Team Rocket ended up catching me in some giant robot Meowth, and it's approaching the city fast!'

'Wait, for real?! What happened?! Don't those idiots know Necrozma is-'

Ash interrupted him. 'Yeah I know, I already tried telling them that! Anyways, tell everyone in the city that a threat's on it's way and to be prepared to fight or run if they can help it, but make sure to tell them it's not Necrozma! We don't need that kind of panic.'

Riley nodded, though Ash of course couldn't see it. 'Will do. Hold on tight, Ash, we'll get you outta there!'

Riley cut off their connection to quickly tell as many people as he could, leaving Ash back alone. All Ash could do now was sit back and hope Riley did it quickly. Team Rocket, meanwhile, had managed to find the breaks for the legs and pulled back on it with all their might, making Ultimeowth dig its' feet into the ground to try and halt its' movement.

However, its speed proved to great, and the brake only managed to rip up the ground beneath it as it uncontrollably got closer and closer to Goldenrod City's gate. Ash and the trio could only shut their eyes and wince before the mechanical Meowth burst through the front gate, flying off its' feet and tumbling across the city.

Dozens of trainers screamed out in terror at the sudden appearance of the flying robot. They jumped out of the way or hit the deck before it could hit anyone, but many tents had been utterly destroyed and sent flying in its' wake.

"What the heck is that?!"

"Move out of the way! Get down!"

"What is that thing?!"

"Is that what that blue guy was talking about?!"

Ultimeowth eventually landed back on its' feet, coming to a screeching halt at last. Ash let out a relieved sigh now that the ordeal was finally over and that he didn't sense anyone being seriously hurt. "Looks like Riley made it in time…"

The Team Rocket Trio had less of an easy stop in comparison to their prisoner. Once the mechanical Meowth had finally come to a stop, they were flung directly into the glass visor and had their faces pressed up against it. They slowly slid down until they fell to its' bottom. Rubbing their increasingly-aching heads, the Trio hazily got back to their feet.

"Is it over yet?" Whined Meowth dizzily.

"Something tells me it isn't, I bet," Jessie replied.

"This is a day I hope I forget," Whined James.

When the Team Rocket Trio managed to open their eyes again, they were greeted by the sight of buildings around every corner. "Wait, are those…?" James trailed off.

Jessie finished his thought. "Skyscrapers…?"

The three Team Rocket members paled at the realization of just where they were. They had managed to land in the center of Goldenrod City, and were completely surrounded by Pokemon and Trainer alike. Neither of which looked anything less than pissed.

"...Oh boy…"

In the middle of the forest and completely alone now that its' denizens had all taken off after Ultimeowth and its' captive, Hydreigon continued to agonize over the decision of what its' next course of action should be. It yearned to go with them and save the one who had saved it from Damian's hell, but it still couldn't bring itself to even move.

It was utterly terrified, just as it had always been. Even before meeting Damian, Hydreigon was a cowardly Pokemon. How it had managed to evolve in spite of that was beyond it. Ever since the day it was born, the only thing it ever felt was fear when it had no right to. It was a cowardly, pathetic excuse for a Pokemon, and it knew it.

Every time it had managed to work up some semblance of courage, its' fear tore it back down and kept it from moving. It screamed in its' head that everything was to be feared and by leaving, it was in danger. But the desire to help its' savior, to help save Ash just as he had saved it from Damian, fought viciously against Hydreigon's deep-rooted fear of everything.

Hydreigon forced itself to move out from behind the tree, but immediately froze up and fell onto its' face as its' xenophobia quickly took hold over the Dark Dragon's actions again. It beat its' hand into the ground in frustration, or tried to at least. In all actuality, only managed to gently tap the dirt beneath it. A part of Hydreigon cursed itself for being so weak of will. The other, its' fear which had ruled Hydreigon ever since it had first emerged from its' egg, told Hydreigon to stay put, and that doing anything would only lead to it being hurt again.

Hydreigon itself tried to deny its' fear and pull itself back up. It felt suddenly as if it had been violently choked by some invisible force the moment it fought against its trepidation. The Dark Dragon wheezed desperately for air, but its' fear held it tightly in its' omnipresent grip. It would not release Hydreigon. Not now, or ever.

Hydreigon then realized something. Its' fear was trying to trap it in its' hold, and would end up killing it if it didn't get its' way. Gritting its' teeth, Hydreigon forced in a gasp of air and pushed itself off the ground with its' wings. It flew out of the trees and into the clearing, only to suddenly freeze up once more and crash face-first into the dirt.

The icy claw of Hydreigon's all-encompasing fear once again gripped hold of the hydra Pokemon's neck, only this time with an unbelievable amount of force. The sensation spread throughout the entirety of its' body. It felt its' body suddenly go unbelievably cold, like its very blood flow had stopped. Its' heart froze up as well. Without blood flow or the ability to breathe, Hydreigon's vision became blurry. The more it struggled against its' fear, the more violently its' fear retaliated. Now, Hydreigon had enraged it to the point that it would end the dragon once and for all. Hydreigon's vision became more and more blurry until it faded into complete blackness. Hydreigon neither saw nor felt anything anymore. Its' fear had ended its' life.

Then, it heard a voice. It was seemingly invisible and coming from all directions like its' fear, only this one was...warmer. It felt infinitely comforting to a Pokemon who had lacked comfort all its' life. But there was a dire sense of urgency from the voice.

'Anyone who can hear me, my name is Ash!'

Hydreigon's eyes shot back open. The voice was Ash!

'I am Arceus's chosen one,' Spoke Ash's disembodied voice, 'I am trapped inside of a giant robot Meowth! You can't miss it! I need to get back to Goldenrod City before Necrozma arrives, but I cannot do it alone! I need your help!'

I need your help.

Those words struck Hydreigon to its' very core. Ash needed help! Hydreigon forced itself to move against the frigidity of its' fear. As it moved, it could feel its' heart begin to beat again, and it was able to breathe as well. Twice now, Ash had saved Hydreigon. Hydreigon's fear attempted to take hold of it once more, but its' icy grip was combated by a new warmth: The warmth of bravery Ash had implanted within it.

Hydreigon's cowardly expression shattered, and in its' place, determination ruled. Narrowing its' eyes and turning its' gaze to the heavens, Hydreigon let out a booming roar that shook the very earth beneath it and took off, shedding its' tyrannical fear once and for all. The Dark Dragon's next course of action was clear: it would go save Ash without fail. Nothing could stand in its' way.

Though, as Hydreigon prepared to bolt off into the sky, it was stopped by the sound of a footstep from behind. It tentatively turned around and found a young human girl with silver hair and an entirely charcoal-black body from the neck down. For some reason, her eyes were closed but she looked up at Hydreigon as if she could see him anyways.

"Hey," The girl said, "You're that Hydreigon from before, right? The one with Damian?"

"Drapion, stand by for battle!" A purple-haired trainer commanded. He wore a dark blue jacket with long grey jeans, and had a fierce, cold look in his eyes. This trainer was none other than the rival of Ash whom he met in the Sinnoh Region. Upon Paul's command, and of course the throw of his Pokeball, a large, purple scorpion-like Pokemon with saw-like mandibles on the sides of its' jaw and a third claw where its stinger should have been appeared, roaring out its name challengingly at the colossal Meowth robot that had stirred up chaos within Goldenrod City.

The legions of trainers that had all come to fight against Necrozma and his forces were none too happy about the sudden threat of Ultimeowth, especially at a nerve-wracking time like this. Every second they had left before the arrival of the alien menace was more important than anything. It could be used for last-minute preparations or spending as much time with their loved ones as possible. But now, the arrival of Team Rocket and their invention had jeopardized that.

Infuriated, the thousands upon thousands of trainers sent out their Pokemon, who's looks of irritation mirrored those of their trainers. The streets of Goldenrod City became crowded with the vast array of Pokemon to the point that the entire city was now packed to the brim with trainers and Pokemon alike. Not to mention, the wild Pokemon outside the city were all either circling around or overhead Goldenrod, and all of them, trainer and Pokemon alike, had their sights set upon one singular target: Team Rocket.

The Team Rocket Trio paled in their seats. "W-what are we going to do, Jess?!" Cried a panicked James. "In trying to get away from all those Pokemon, we ended up trapping ourselves in an even worse situation!"

"W-what do you expect me to do?!" Stammered an equally-panicked Jessie. "I'm just as stuck as you!"

Meowth, unexpectedly, let out a confidant chuckle, grabbing the attention of the cat Pokemon's two partners in crime. "You bozos," He said, "Can't you two see we're in a perfect position? There's not a thing in the world to be afraid about!"

"Nothing to be afraid about?!" Jessie bellowed, pointing out at the myriad of furious trainers and their Pokemon who were readying themselves to take their robot apart. "You call that nothing to be afraid about?!"

"Come to think of it, you were screaming for your life with the rest of us back in the forest," James pointed out, "So what's different now?"

"What's different…" Meowth let out a laugh and began pressing the keyboard's buttons randomly, making Ultimeowth pump its' fist into the air. The trainers and Pokemon outside flinched and crouched into a battle-ready position at the movement. "...Is that I realize something now! Even after all we just went through, Ultimeowth still doesn't have a single scratch on it!"

Jessie and James blinked, hardly believing what they'd just heard. "Wait, for real?!" Asked James, rushing over to his seat and checking over the robot's digital schematics. Surely enough, there was no apparent damage anywhere. "By Arceus, you're right!"

Jessie quickly threw herself back into her seat with a giddy grin. "Well, would you look at that! I should have known better than to question the technology given straight to us from the Boss himself!"

Chuckling, Meowth turned the intercom back on to address the surrounding trainers. "All right, chumps," He said aloud, his voice booming across the city, "Let's take it from the top!"

Jessie and James nodded. "Indeed!"

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie said once more.

"And make it double!" James followed.

The face of a certain orange-haired girl crinkled up at the phrase. Her name was Misty, the Water-Type Gym Leader of Kanto's Cerulean City and Ash's first companion barring Pikachu. "Of course it would be them…"

Next to her, a dark-skinned man with spiky black hair, an orange shirt and green vest crossed his arms and nodded in agreement with Misty. "You're tellin' me," Said Brock, the former Rock-Type Gym Leader of Kanto's Pewter City. "You'd think they would have given up by now."

A brown-haired girl walked up next to them, putting a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she peered up at the robot. She wore a bright red bandanna tied over her head with a shirt that matched its color, along with dark blue shorts. "Wait, is that…?"

A young, dark blue-haired boy boy who only came up to slightly above the brunette's waistline took a spot next to her. "I know, right, May?" He said, now affirming the brown-haired girl as May, Ash's friend from the Hoenn Region. The boy's name was Max, May's younger brother.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

A blue haired girl who wore a white hat with a Pokeball design on its' front walked up beside Misty. "Even at a time like this, those three are something else." The bluenette girl wore a black one-piece skirt that stretched out into a jagged-shaped pink at its' bottom. She was Dawn, a friend of Ash's from Sinnoh.

Another girl, one with a skin tone similar to Brock's, appeared next. She had astoundingly long, round purple hair and wore a yellow shirt with a large pink sash tied around her waist. She was the aspiring Dragon Master Iris, who had journeyed with Ash through Unova. "Seriously," She said, "You would think that after all this time they would give up by now." She chuckled to herself and shrugged. "But of course, those three always have to show up at the worst possible time."

Next to Iris, a green-haired man wearing a formal tuxedo with a green bow-tie on the front of his shirt collar to match his hair said, "Indeed, these three appearing at a time like this is certainly a recipe for disaster." This man was Cilan, one of the three Gym Leaders of Unova's Striaton City. He used Grass-Type Pokemon and recently fought alongside the Grass Type Gym Leader of Kanto, Erika, against Ash and Serena. Before that, he journeyed alongside Ash and Iris through the Unova Region.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

A blond-haired boy with wearing round glasses and a light blue full-body suit of some kind that was lined to the brim with large pockets rushed up to the rest of Ash's companions. "You've gotta be kidding," He said, "I knew these three weren't the brightest, but still…" He was Clemont, the Electric-Type Gym Leader of Kalos's grand Lumiose City, an aspiring inventor and dear friend to Ash.

A little girl walked up by Clemont's side. Her hair matched Clemont's and she wore a brown shirt with a white skirt piece tied around her waist. The girl had a bright yellow bag around her shoulder. "Team Rocket? Seriously?" She was Bonnie, Clemont's little sister who had accompanied him, and Ash by extension, on his journey through Kalos.

Then came none other than Ash's confidante, Serena. She had spent the previous four days with Ash and his friends, getting to know them one by one. Explaining her "relationship" with Ash to them had been an experience to be sure, but got along with them rather well. Meeting Misty and Cilan again had been fun as well, and re-uniting with Clemont and Bonnie was wonderful. Though all of that was neither here nor there at the present moment.

"Hey, wait a minute," She said, looking amidst the crowd for a certain someone, someone who happened to be incredibly important for an untold variety of reasons, "Where's Ash?"

The others perked their heads up at the name and turned their gazes amidst the crowd to search for their close friend and, according to Arceus, leader against Necrozma but couldn't find him. Hearing this, the surrounding trainers began chattering amongst themselves, wondering where Arceus's chosen one was.

"Come to think of it," Brock mused, "Didn't he go out into the forest to check up on the wild Pokemon?"

"Yeah, but that was hours ago!" Replied Bonnie. "He should be back by now."

Iris once again sighed and shrugged. "Even now, he's hopeless." She couldn't help but to let out a dry laugh. "Such a kid."

"That's not it." Another man stepped out from the crowd in front of them, shaking his head. He was clad in a blue and black leather suit and wore a cyan-colored hat that pointed forward. At the man's side was Lucario, the Aura Pokemon and the man's partner. "When I warned you all of the impending danger, I only had enough time to tell you there was a danger and nothing more." He was Riley, Ash's mentor in the arts of Aura and current traveling companion.

The Team Rocket Trio chuckled and stood up from their seats, unveiling themselves to the horde of trainers and Pokemon arrogantly.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

Dawn looked at Riley oddly. "What do you mean?" She asked him.

"What I mean," Said Riley, "Is that there's more to the story." He summoned his Aura, allowing him to trace the location of his student. He pointed up to the large glass ball located at the center of the mechanical Meowth's chest. "I don't mean to alarm you, but Team Rocket managed to capture Ash in the forest and is currently holding him inside that ball."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" Followed James.

Ash's friends' eyes shot open in shock, but anything they could have said was cut off by Jessie and James's boisterous laughter. Meowth hopped up onto the keyboard to reveal himself as well. "Meowth...no…" He hopped back onto his seat and began pressing more the keyboard's buttons once more. In response, the colossal robot Meowth spread its' legs, stomped its' feet into the ground and held its' arms outward. The palms of its' hands sent pillars of red-hot fire into the sky. "Ultimeowth, that's right!"

"Team Rocket!" Riley called out. "Release Ash at once! Surely you know how-"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Interrupted Jessie, "The twerp already gave us that whole spiel."

James nodded, though no one at ground level could see it due to Ultimeowth's height. "But don't get us wrong! We're not so evil that we would just rob you of the chosen one at a time like this!"

The trainers began chattering amongst each other again at the mention of their chosen one, trying to theorize Team Rocket's meaning. Was he captured, or did he go with them? They didn't know, and continued talking until the Team Rocket Trio made Ultimeowth lean down and point at the glass orb. The trainers of Goldenrod gasped as they saw their chosen one was tightly bound and strapped to a chair within the ball.

Seeing the opportunity, Ash called out to them. "Hey! They got me trapped in here! Can you guys get me outta here?!" The trainers didn't make any obvious reaction, and so Ash tried once more. "HEY! THEY'VE GOT ME TRAPPED IN HERE!" His words, again, fell on deaf ears. Ash inwardly cursed. "Must be this glass ball...I don't think they can hear anything…" Then an idea struck him, evidenced by a cyan glint in his eyes. "But someone can…"

'Riley!' The Aura Guardian heard Ash's call within his mind, and responded as such.

'Ash, you're alright! What would you have us do?'

'We can't afford any damage to the city before Necrozma shows up,' Ash said, 'So try and lure them back outside of it! The wild Pokemon are circling around the city as we speak.'

'I see,' Replied Riley with a nod, 'The sheer number of wild Pokemon will be more than enough to tear that thing apart, but in the meantime…'

'I'll leave you in charge," Said Ash. 'You should be able to figure that out without much of an issue. There's not much I can do in terms of commanding from up here.'

'Will do, Ash. Just hang in there until we can get you outta there.'

With that, Riley ended the Auric transmission and turned to address Ash's friends, along with anyone else who could hear him. "Listen up! Ash is trapped within that glass ball, and our objective is clear: Free Ash from the ball, but don't cause unnecessary damage to the city!" He turned back around, pointing at the city's front gate Ultimeowth had destroyed in its' impact. "We need to push them outside the city gate! The wild Pokemon will handle it from there, and don't worry about Ash. The Pokemon know he's Arceus's chosen just as we do! They yearn for his safety just as we do!"

"Ah, ah, ah," Chided Jessie, "You didn't give us the chance to explain ourselves!"

Bonnie huffed, putting her hands to her hips with a look of irritation writ plainly upon the young girl's face. "As if you guys actually have something worth listening to!"

"How rude!" James remarked. "Between you and that silver-haired girl we met a few days ago, I have doubts of hope for the future generations!"

Meowth hopped up onto the edge of the keyboard closest to the visor as to not accidentally step on the buttons. "You see," He said, "This whole plan of capturin' the chosen twerp actually ain't ours! You see, it was actually none other than the Boss himself who ordered us to capture him!"

Brock put a finger to his chin in confusion. "The boss...of Team Rocket?"

"What does he want with Ash?" Asked Misty.

James crossed his arms and chuckled. "To tell you the truth, not even we know what the Boss's goal in this is."

Jessie's eyes gleamed at the mention of their leader. She clasped her hands together, fangirling over the Boss. "Though it's obvious he doesn't want the world's destruction!"

"But," Said Meowth, "If we had to take a guess…" Meowth raised his arms up to the sky. His eyes became dreamy and foggy. He pressed a button on the keyboard with his toe, and Ultimeowth's eyes lit up, casting a holographic screen in the sky for all to see. It was time for another of the Team Rocket Trio's infamous "Boss Fantasies.," only now it was visible to everyone.

In the Trio's collective fantasy, the chosen twerp Ash Ketcheum sat bound in a chair amidst a dark room with only a singular light directly above him. Then, the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni, stepped out from the shadow to address him. "So, you're the chosen one," Giovanni, or rather Meowth, said.

The Trio's hypothetical vision of Ash growled at Giovanni and struggled against his bindings to no avail. This earned a hearty laugh out of the Team Rocket Boss. "Fool," He said, "You'll never be able to break those bindings! For you see, they are created with the greatest of Team Rocket's technology!"

"What are you going to do with me?!" Demanded Ash in James's exaggerated, high-pitched voice.

"Wahahaha!" Laughed the Boss. "It's all part of my master plan!"

The scene shown on the hologram changed from the dark room back to Goldenrod city, only now it was under siege by Necrozma's forces. Though since the trio never actually saw what Necrozma looked like, their depiction of him was...odd. Their version of Necrozma was just a green jellyfish-looking alien thing with a goofy face and a black 'N' painted on his forehead. His forces were all just miniature versions of himself without the 'N.'

Even the screen itself admitted to the sheer ridiculousness of the depiction. At the bottom of the screen were subtitles saying 'Due to lack of concrete information, your hosts at Team Rocket have taken the liberty of improvising a design for Necrozma and his lackeys. We are sorry for any confusion or disturbance this may cause. Actually, we're not.'

The Team Rocket Trio's version of Necrozma crossed two of its' tentacles as if they were arms and laughed. "Weak fools! I am Necrozma, and you stand no chance of victory against me! Now, my underlings...attack!"

Upon the jellyfish Necrozma's command, his miniature versions began swarming the city. The Trainers and their Pokemon tried fighting against the grey swarm, but quickly found themselves unable to defend themselves and collapsed onto their knees.

"We can't stand up to them!" Cried one of the trainers. "It's all hopeless! We've lost!"

"That's right!" Bellowed pseudo-Necrozma. "You weak Earthlings are nothing but pawns beneath the mighty...huh?!"

"Necrozma's" attention was grabbed by something in the distance. A colossal cloud of dust was racing toward the city at breakneck speed and stopped upon a tall hill. As it stopped, the dust cloud dispersed and revealed Giovanni sitting atop the divine Pokemon Arceus's back, as if he was a steed. He even had reigns comically taped to Arceus's face.

"So," Said Giovanni, "This is Necrozma…"

Team Rocket's version of Necrozma scoffed. "You don't look so tough. Who are you anyways?"

A wide grin stretched out upon the Team Rocket leader's face and he pulled back on the rains, making Arceus reel back onto his hind legs. "I am Giovanni," He announced, "And I'm here to stop you!"

"Hah!" Mocked "Necrozma," "You and what army?"

Giovanni clapped his hands, and a figure that was riding on Arceus behind Giovanni hopped off of the Alpha Pokemon. The person was revealed to be Ash, who now sported a white Team Rocket uniform like the trio themselves. Ash reached his hands out to the sky and called out, "Oh Legendary Pokemon! I am the chosen one! Now come to me and defend the Earth in the name of Team Rocket!"

The real Ash, meanwhile, wrinkled his face and cringed at their depiction of him. "You've gotta be kidding me…" The expressions of his friends, and practically everyone else besides the trio, were similar to Ash's.

Back in the Team Rocket Trio's somehow-visible fantasy, Ash's call ended up working, summoning the Legends to Giovanni's side. Giovanni let out a thunderous laughter and said, "Now I can defeat anyone! For the sake of the world and, more importantly, the great Team Rocket, I will defeat you, Necrozma!"

The Team Rocket leader pointed forward, ushering Ash and the Legends to charge at "Necrozma" while himself rode Arceus into battle. The grey jellyfish-like Necrozma cowered in fear. "Please don't hurt me!" He begged. "I promise, I'll never hurt anyone again!"

The scene changed, revealing Giovanni standing atop Necrozma's body, placing his boot on the alien's head. "Never!" Giovanni roared. He pumped his fist to the heavens was showered with a bright golden light. "What you've done is unforgivable, and you must pay for your crimes!"

The rest of "Necrozma's" fleet flew back into space now that their leader was done for, and Giovanni let out another heart laugh. "Wahahaha! Thanks to me, the Earth is saved!"

Ash bowed down to Giovanni and asked, "Now, Great Lord Giovanni, now that Necrozma's threat is no more, what will we do?"

Giovanni chuckled. "What else? Now that I've saved the world, it's high time I control it as well!"

Once more, the scene changed. Now, Giovanni sat atop a throne at the top of an enormous skyscraper that pierced through the clouds themselves. Ash bowed before the Team Rocket Boss, and soon after, the Legends followed suit. Yet again, Giovanni let out a laugh that the real Ash and everyone else were quickly growing weary of.

"Taking over the world was a piece of cake," Giovanni said, "And it's all thanks to Jessie, James and that wonderful, irreplaceable Meowth! From now on, those three will be my most trusted advisors and will be paid all the world's gold! Wahahahahahahahaha!"

The screen shut off, leaving the trainers, their Pokemon and Ash himself in a state of bewilderment, and to a certain extent, disgust.

"Well?" Asked Jessie. "Wouldn't a world like that be wonderful?"

"I couldn't imagine another reality quite as wonderful as that," Said James.

Everyone simply stared at them blankly. Even the wild Pokemon who had seen it were left utterly dazed by Team Rocket's sheer stupidity. The ensuing silence was so deafening that a gust of wind could be heard from one end of the city to the other. Of course, this only gave the trio the wrong idea.

"Would you look at that," Said James. "They're completely stunned in awe of our brilliance!"

Jessie crossed her arms and nodded. "Indeed. Truly, no one could deny that our glorious leader would be the best possible person to lead the world against that nasty Necrozma."

"Come on," Meowth said to the trainers of Goldenrod City, "Let's hear those cheers! Three cheers for Team Rocket!"

In unison, the Team Rocket Trio said, "Hip hip..." awaiting a "hooray" from them. Of course, nothing of the sort happened. The entire city continued being completely silent. Ash could have sworn he saw a tumbleweed or two rolling amidst the trainers.

"Oh, don't be shy," Jessie said, "Let's hear it! Three cheers for Team Rocket!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Finally, one of the trainers spoke up and broke the deafening silence, though what they said was far from what the Team Rocket Trio wanted to hear. "LET'S GET EM!"

This singular command rallied the entirety of Goldenrod City, and the trainers eagerly shouted, "YEEEEEEAAAHH!"

A colorful array of attacks shot up from the crowd at Ultimeowth, and the trio piloting it quickly went on the defensive, making the robot shield its' face. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" Demanded James. "You're supposed to be praising us!"

Jessie growled, tearing at her hair angrily. "Fine, then! If you want a fight so badly, we'll give you one!"

Meowth nodded. "Whether you chumps like it or not, we're takin' the chosen twerp to the Boss!"

The giant mechanical Meowth turned away from the multitude of attacks pelting it and leapt onto the side of the nearest skyscraper. "So long, chumps!" Mocked Meowth as Ultimeowth began climbing up towards the building's top.

"Um, Meowth?" Asked James. "Why are you going up here?!"

"Yeah, there's a horde of angry Flying-Type Pokemon up there ready to tear this thing to shreds!" Cried Jessie.

Meowth merely chuckled at his two partners in crime. "So far, Ultimeowth here hasn't taken so much as a scratch! Gettin' past a few Pokemon shouldn't be a problem!"

The two white-clad Team Rocket members blinked. "Oh, that's right...SO LONG, SUCKERS! OHOHOHOHOHO!"

Riley bit his lip. "Looks like we'll have to shift our plan up a bit." Turning toward the rest of Ash's friends, he asked, "How many of you have Flying-Type Pokemon?" Only Brock, Dawn and Iris raised their hands. "This might be tricky, then…"

Clemont took the opportunity to speak up, his glasses shimmering in the sunlight. "Actually, I have another idea!" He turned around for a second, and pulled out an array of thin jetpacks from seemingly nowhere. "I thought Necrozma might have a ship, so I prepared a few of these so we might be able to invade it and take it down," He said proudly, "But I guess I'll have to bust these babies out early."

"Incredible," Ramarked Riley, marvelling at the machines. "Yes, these should allow us to catch up to those three."

"I wouldn't count on those things," Bonnie told him. "Whenever my big bro has a brand new invention, they usually end up exploding."

"She's right," Serena said, "No offense, though.

Clemont doubled over from the blow to his pride. "H-hey, it doesn't happen all the time!" Bonnie and Serena gave him a knowing look, making Clemont falter. "...Okay, they do…"

Riley placed a hand to his chin. "I see. If those things blew up on us while we're airborne, then...well, it wouldn't be a pretty sight."

The group's discussion was cut off by a sudden explosion. They whipped back around to the source of the noise and found the robot now only holding on by one hand and frantically trying to regain its' hold. There was now a decently-sized hole halfway up the skyscraper, presumably where Ultimeowth had been holding.

"Drapion, use Hyper Beam at the building once more!"

At that command, a large orange laser burst up from the crowd at impacted the skyscraper right above Ultimeowth's hand, making the gigantic mech fall back to the ground. Riley and Lucario nodded to one another and quickly summoned a barrier around the fallen mech to trap the wind and dust kicked up from their fall and prevent it from hitting anyone else.

Dawn, however, was more concerned about something else. "Wait a minute...that voice!"

Dawn suddenly rushed into the crowd before anyone could stop her. Everyone looked at one another in confusion for a moment, then ran after her. As the bluenette pushed past the crowd of people, she eventually found none other than…

"Paul?!"

The purple-haired trainer turned to Dawn at the call of his name, finding the blue-haired girl along with Ash's other friends approaching behind her "Oh, it's you," He said, "What do you want?"

Dawn huffed. "What do I want?! You just attacked a building! There could still be people in there, what were you thinking?!"

Misty leaned over to Brock and asked, "Who's this guy?"

Brock crossed his arms and furled his brows. "That would be Paul. He was a rival of Ash's back in Sinnoh, and probably the one he clashed with the most."

Misty's eyes widened a bit. "Really? Even more than Gary?"

Brock nodded. "Without a doubt. Ash and Gary may have butted heads a lot when they were rivals, but their ideals in terms of Pokemon battling was relatively similar…" A deep frown curled down Brock's face. "Paul, however, was brutal and unforgiving with his Pokemon. He made them train until they could no longer move, and his training often entailed long, brutal fights between his Pokemon."

Serena, who's attention had been caught by their conversation, decided to pitch in at hearing that. "That's horrible! How could he treat his Pokemon like that?!"

Brock looked down, shaking his head. "That's not even the worst of it. He put immense amounts of time into his Pokemon, so if they didn't meet his expectations, he just abandoned them on the spot."

"How awful," Remarked Cilan, who placed a hand to his forehead dramatically and was apparently listening in as well, "How can someone just abandon their Pokemon? How heartless can you get?"

The former Gym Leader of Pewter City nodded. "His unrelenting cruelty toward his Pokemon made him clash with Ash, so whenever Ash lost to him, he took it pretty hard. In the end though, Ash finally managed to beat him once and for all in the Sinnoh League."

"That's good," Said Serena, "So did he win, then?"

"Sadly no," Answered Brock, shaking his head, "He was defeated by another trainer named Tobias."

Serena pouted slightly. "That's a shame." Something about the name Tobias struck Serena as odd. 'Hold on,' She thought, 'Have I...heard that name before?'

Paul sighed in annoyance at Dawn and pointed up at the two holes his Drapion blew into the skyscraper. "No attack was actually hurting that thing, you know. Had I not done what I did, it would have escaped with Ash."

Riley stepped forward toward him. "Be that as it may, there are still people in that building like Dawn said! What would you have done if that attack hit them?!"

To Riley's agitation, Paul merely shrugged nonchalantly. "What, do you not think that everyone in there would have escaped already? Practically everyone in this city is around us as we speak."

Riley could feel anger bubbling up within him and quickly eating away at his patience. It wasn't often that something like that happened so quickly, but Paul's uncaring attitude toward the implications of his actions managed to do it. The Aura guardian opened his mouth to retort, but Paul cut him off by saying, "You're that guy who warned everyone about that thing ahead of time, right? The Aura guy? Ash showed me his own a couple days ago."

"...Yes, I am," Answered Riley, "But what does that have to do with-"

Paul turned away from him and said, "If you're that concerned, why don't you just sense if anyone got hurt? That is, if anyone was in there at all."

Riley held back an irritated growl, but couldn't argue with Paul's logic there at the very least. Turning up to the two holes, he summoned his aura and sensed for life energy. He saw dozens of blue dots still within the building, but all of them were nearing the bottom of the building anyways.

"Well, no one was hurt," Riley said, "But there are still people inside the building even now."

Paul shrugged. "If they weren't hurt, it doesn't matter. Now if I were you, I would pay less attention to me and more attention to the giant robot that's about to get back on its' feet."

Iris lightly elbowed Riley's arm and whispered to him, "Jeez, what crawled up that guy's pants?"

Riley shook his head and sighed, replying, "Well, he's right about one thing." At the base of the tall skyscraper, the robotic Meowth slowly managed to push itself back onto its' feet. It still didn't have a single dent or scratch even after taking a fall from that height.

"Why you…!" Fumed Jessie. "Which one of you was that?!"

Without a single moment of hesitation, Paul said, "It was me," and stepped towards it, making everyone around him back off except for Ash's friends.

Jessie's booming voice screeched out from Ultimeowth, nearly deafening everyone in the area. "You have a lot of nerve!" Jessie pushed Meowth off of his seat and took control over its' actions, making it raise its' fist threateningly. "Annoying twerps like you should learn not to stick their nose where it doesn't belong! Didn't your mother teach you not to hit a lady?! You messed up my hair and everything! It takes me three hours every day to give it its' point and curl! Why I ought to-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The high-pitched fearful screaming of James cut Jessie's infuriated rambling off.

Jessie, annoyance and irritation plastered on her face, turned her gaze to her counterpart. "Oh, what is it now, James? Can't you see I'm berating a twerp?!"

"Seriously, what's got you all spooked up?" Asked Meowth.

James leaned over the keyboard and pointed down."Look there!" Jessie and Meowth raised an eyebrow and leaned over to look at what James was talking about, and when they saw it, their faces paled.

"THERE'S A GIANT CRACK ON THE BALL!"

Surely enough, the glass ball containing Ash now sported a massive crack that stretched down completely from top to bottom. Bonnie pointed up at it. "Hey, he's right!"

"Well. would you look at that," Said Paul, "Looks like we might get this over with faster than I thought."

Misty stepped up next to him, eyeing the damaged container. "Maybe so," She said, "But once we get Ash outta there, how do we deal with the robot?"

Paul's expression remained ever-stoic. "Isn't it simple? There are thousands of us, and one of it. Not to mention, there must be millions of wild Pokemon out in the forest and up in the sky. No matter where it runs, it won't escape all of us."

Riley quickly caught on to Paul's meaning and turned to address the surrounding trainers inhabiting Goldenrod City. "All right, everyone," He said, using his Aura to heighten the volume of his voice, "Spread yourselves throughout the city! We need to make sure they don't escape at all costs!" He nodded to Lucario, and the two of them turned back around to Ultimeowth with Aura Spheres ready in their hands. "And when you have an opening, attack the glass ball!"

The surrounding trainers nodded in response and ran off to various points of the city. Some stayed behind, close to Ultimeowth whereas most others went to the city's edges or different streets to secure any and all possible escape positions. Riley and Lucario unleashed their attacks, but Team Rocket quickly moved Ultimeowth's arm up in front of Ash's container, negating the attack.

"As if we'd just let that happen!" Shouted Jessie.

"We're delivering the chosen twerp to the Boss no matter what!" James followed up.

Meowth pressed a button, making Ultimeowth's metal plating shift and changing the robot's arms and legs into, ironically, rockets. Riley and Lucario quickly summoned a barrier around their group, just in time to block the ensuing smoke from Team Rocket's takeoff. Once the smoke cleared, Ultimeowth was high in the air and approaching the swarm of flying Pokemon above.

The Flying-Type Pokemon, seeing their target approaching, dove down toward the oncoming contraption, but Ultimeowth suddenly swerved its' body on its' side, 'rocketing' toward the forest and blasting smoke into their faces.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" James cried.

"Only now it's a victory instead of crushing defeat!" Sang Jessie

"And now the Boss's victory is nearly complete!" Exclaimed Meowth. "And just so the twerps don't get any bright ideas…" He tapped another button, dropping a hail of black balls down upon the city. Once they impacted the ground, they detonated into smokescreens and blinded most of the city. The trainers were quick on the uptake, having their Pokemon blow away the smoke, but by the time it was gone, Team Rocket was already so far that they were only visible as a dot in the sky.

"Damn it," Cursed Riley, "Don't let them get away!"

Brock threw out a Pokeball, unveiling a purple four-winged bat Pokemon. "Crobat, go after Team Rocket!" He ordered. Crobat nodded and took off into the sky. Next, Brock sent out a Steelix, which knelt down and allowed its' trainer to hop onto its' head. "Riding Steelix is a bit rough," Brock said, "But its' head is smooth and can probably hold two more."

"I'll pass," Iris said, unveiling a Pokemon of her own. It was a Dragonite that stood up to its' full height proudly and roaring out its' name. Iris hopped onto its' back and said, "I have my own ride, thanks." She offered her hand to Cilan. "Here, get on."

"Wh-what?" cilan stammered, "M-me? I don't think I'm cut out for-" He was interrupted by Dragonite, who grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and placed him in front of Iris, then blasted off before the now-screaming Cilan could react.

May raised her hand. "Max and I will take you up on your offer, Brock." Max nodded his head in affirmation.

"Sure thing," Brock said as the two of them boarded Steelix's head, "Just be sure to hold on tight!" With that, Steelix raised its' head and took off toward Team Rocket.

Next, Dawn sent out her Togekiss and rubbed its' fur affectionately. "Think you can keep up with Team

Rocket with me on your back?" Togekiss looked back toward her and nodded eagerly, determination etching its' face. Dawn grinned back at it and hopped onto its' back. "Alright, then, let's save Ash!" Togekiss nodded once more and soared off alongside the others.

Clemont took out a Pokeball of his own. "Alright, then," He said, "It's my turn! Go, Luxray!" Upon throwing his Pokeball, a large, black wolf-like Pokemon with glowing red eyes and a star-shaped tail appeared. Clemont lifted Bonnie onto its' back, then hopped onto it himself. "We should be able to follow them," He said to Serena, Misty and Riley, "But, er...what about you guys?"

Misty frowned and took out the Pokeball of her Gyardos. "Gyarados doesn't move all that fast on land, and I don't have any Pokemon that can fly…"

Serena took out the Pokeball of her Pangoro and sent it out. "Goro!" It bellowed, flexing it's arms proudly. It picked up Serena bridal style and went to run after the others.

"Wait!" Cried Serena, making the panda Pokemon stumble. When it looked down at her questioningly, she returned the stare with an apologetic look. "Sorry, but you're not exactly the fastest Pokemon. We'd probably get left behind." Pangoro, albeit looking saddened, nodded and put his trainer down, who returned him to his Pokeball right after.

The three trainers then turned their gaze to Riley, who merely shrugged. "I can make people float with my Aura," He said, "But I couldn't go anywhere near fast enough to catch up to them." Looking down at Lucario, he continued. "Lucario here is definitely fast, but I'm not about to make him try and carry me." Lucario nodded, letting out a short growl.

"So you're stuck," Said Clemont, earning a nod from the three. The young scientist placed a hand to his chin in thought. There was no way Luxray could carry any more than he already was and still be fast enough to give chase, and any invention he could possibly pull out of nowhere would just explode. Then, something caught his eye.

"Hey, you," Clemont said to Paul, "What about you?"

Misty, Serena and Riley turned to Paul, who was in the middle of walking away. Misty and Serena had expectant looks on their faces, but Riley scowled, already knowing what Paul's answer would be by sensing his Aura.

"Forget it," He snapped, "If you guys can't follow them, that's your own fault for not building your teams better."

Misty's eye twitched . "Why you…!" She stomped over to Paul, who let out an angry sigh knowing that he was about to receive an earful. "If we don't catch up with Team Rocket, they'll take Ash!"

Paul pointed up at the sky. Following closely behind Team Rocket, the massive flock of Flying-Type Pokemon were in close pursuit, nearly blotting out the sky where they flew. "Whether you catch up or not, it won't matter. They'll catch up long before you will. At this point, you'd probably be better off staying out of the way."

Paul turned away without waiting for a response, making Misty fume to herself. "That jerk…!"

"I wouldn't bother with a chump like him anyways."

Misty and the others' attention was caught by that voice. When they turned to identify its' source, they found none other than Gary Oak himself. His ever-cocky grin still present, he waved to the group. "Hey, what's up?"

"Gary?!" Exclaimed Misty, "What are you doi-" She cut herself off, shaking her head as she realized it was a dumb question. "Nevermind. What's up?"

Gary chuckled and tossed out two of his own Pokemon. First was a large, bright-red canine Pokemon, Arcanine. Next came a large, three-headed bird. It had no wings, instead having long, powerful legs. This Pokemon was Dodrio the Triple Bird Pokemon.

"Well," Said Gary, motioning around himself to the horde of people who were now rushing into the forest after Ash and Team Rocket, "I was on my way to follow these guys, but then I couldn't help but notice you guys," He sent a smirk Paul's way, who looked away uncaringly, "and I overheard your little problem regarding this chump, so I thought I'd lend a helping hand."

"Gary?" Asked Serena, "Hey, you were that guy Ash fought in Pallet Town!"

Gary nodded her way and laughed. "Yeah, and you're Ash's girlfriend, Serena, right?" He resisted the urge to facepalm and stifled a laugh. "Man, I'm never gonna get used to that. Anyways, how've you been?" He shook his head suddenly and motioned up to Ultimeowth. "Actually, hold on that for now. Let's get going, yeah?"

Riley smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you very much," He said, "My name is Riley. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance."

Gary offered a hand to him. "Name's Gary, as Misty just said," He sent a small nod in her direction, "And it's nice to meet you too, Mr…?"

Riley took Gary's hand eagerly. "You can call me Riley, and I don't mean to be rude, but…" He looked at the Dodrio and Arcanine, "We still need one more if we're all going to go."

"Right," Admitted Gary, "I was planning on taking Dodrio since it's rowdier than Arcanine, but I don't think Arcanine alone could handle you, Misty and Serena."

"Excuse me," Another voice said to them. The group looked over to the voice's source and found a young, black-haired man who wore a similarly-colored leather jacket, long jeans and a fuzzy cyan blue scarf around his neck, "Are you guys in need of assistance?"

"Wait a minute," Exclaimed Serena, "Is that...Alain?!"

Gary gave her a questioning look. "Alain? Who's that?"

"I wanna know too," Added Misty.

As Alain approached the group, Serena explained it to them, "Alain was Ash's rival throughout his journey through Kalos."

"Kalos?" Asked Misty. "That was also your journey with Ash, right?"

Serena nodded. "That's right. Alain's a very strong trainer who can use Mega Evolution, which proved difficult for even Ash to deal with."

Misty pulled out the Pokeball of her Mega Gyarados. "Mega Evolution? So he can use it too…"

Clemont decided to add his own input as well. "Mhm," He said with a nod, "And what's more, Ash never actually ended up beating him."

Gary's eyes widened, and he whistled in mild awe. "Geez, for real? This guy must be a big deal, then." Misty and Riley had similar expressions of surprise at hearing that. Even Paul, who'd been in the middle of walking away, stopped and turned back around, now interested in the conversation.

Serena continued. "The two of them only battled around three or so times, but soundly defeated Ash over and over again. Even when Ash managed to get to the final round of the Kalos League, Alain stood in his way and defeated him one last time." She looked up at the aforementioned rival of Ash's, who had now reached the group, and asked, "Isn't that right, Alain?"

"Something like that," Answered Alain. Apparently, he'd been listening to their conversation as well. "You're Serena, right? I saw you and assumed everyone else here are friends of yours, and by extension, Ash's?"

Gary nodded and motioned behind him to Paul with his thumb. "Everyone except that guy."

Alain leaned his head over to look past Gary at Paul, who once again just closed his eyes and turned away from them. "What's up with him?" Asked Alain.

"That's just how that guy is," Riley answered with a sigh, "Anyways, Alain, I don't mean to be pushy but we're running low on time. Do you have any Pokemon I might be able to ride?" He pointed up at Team Rocket's robot, which was now hardly visible. "We're a bit short on able Pokemon ourselves, but we need to pursue Team Rocket."

"Well sure," Answered Alain, "If you don't mind flying, that is." He took out two Pokeballs and threw them into the air. From one, a large orange draconian Pokemon with a fire on its tail. It was Alain's Charizard, who bellowed out a roar upon being summoned. It also had a large silver ornament worn around its' neck. There was a hole at the ornament's front with a beautiful stone that seemed to contain every color of the rainbow. The second Pokemon was a fairly large grey-feathered bird. On its' head was a pink, ribbon-like growth that stretched around its' eyes and out behind its' head, but other than that, it had no other defining features.

Alain hopped up onto Charizard's back and asked the bird Pokemon, "Unfezant, do you think you could take, um…"

"Riley," Said the Aura Guardian.

Alain nodded to him. "Do you think you could take Riley on your back and follow that robot?"

The bird Pokemon, now identified as Unfezant, nodded without hesitation. "Great," Exclaimed Alain with an appreciative smile, "Now, is everyone accounted for?"

Misty and Serena looked at one another, and the former asked, "I guess one of us will be taking Arcanine, then?"

Gary nodded. "Go for it. Arcanine's tough enough to handle two girls like you."

The two girls looked at each other unsurely and turned around to Arcanine, who lowered itself to the ground so they could get on. Arcanine was fairly large, so they should both be able to ride it. With their doubt now gone, they hopped up onto the large canine Pokemon's back.

"I'm not all that good with Fire-Types," Misty admitted, "I am a Water-Type Gym Leader, after all. But…" She leaned forward and gently pet the Arcanine's fuzzy mane. "I think we'll be fine. You ready, Serena?"

Serena nodded without hesitation. "Yeah. Oddly enough, I'm not scared at all." She chuckled. "Guess Ash is rubbing off on me."

"Good to hear," Commented Gary as he hopped onto Dodrio's back, "So are we all ready?"

Alain's Unfezant knelt down, allowing Riley to mount it. "Everyone's accounted for," He said, "So I'd say yes."

Alain looked over to Paul. "What about him?"

"I wouldn't worry about a guy like that," Gary told him, grinning cheekily at the purple-haired trainer, "I'm sure he'd much rather go be edgy in a dark corner than actually be helpful." Paul made no reply.

Alain frowned. "I see. What about the rest of Ash's Pokemon? Are they trapped as well?"

Riley shook his head. "No, Ash went into the forest this morning alone." He activated his Aura and attempted to sense for the location of Ash's Pokemon, but couldn't find them amidst the horde of people and wild Pokemon. "I can't sense them," He told the others, "They're likely already en route to save him."

Gary chuckled. "Well, let's not let 'em show us up! Let's get going!"

Lucario, asked his partner, 'Should I follow on foot?'

'There aren't any other options,' Riley replied, 'Sorry.'

Lucario rolled his neck, knelt down onto the ground and flared his own cyan blue Aura. 'Actually, I've been meaning to do some physical exercise as of late.'

A chuckle managed to escape from the Aura Guardian. 'All right,' He said, 'Sounds like a plan, then." He turned his head around to the others and exclaimed, "Now's our chance! Let's go save Ash!"

"Yeah!" Cheered the others, pumping their fists skyward.

As the group, along with the myriad of trainers of Goldenrod City, took off into the forest after Ultimeowth and Ash, Paul scoffed. "Idiots. Whether you're there or not won't matter. With all those Pokemon after them, we're better off laying back until Necrozma shows up. Why can't they see that?"

"OHOHOHO!" Laughed Jessie from inside Team Rocket's safe little perch, "Luring all those Pokemon to Goldenrod City ended up working in our favor!"

"Indeed," James chimed in, "Now nothing is in our way!"

"Goodbye Pokemon, hello Boss!" Meowth added.

As the Team Rocket Trio continued laughing, confident that they've won, Ash, meanwhile, took to attempting to free himself once more. "Alright," He said to himself, "I may not be able to move, but…" His eyes narrowed at the large crack in front of him, "I can at least try to make it easier for everyone else."

The brilliant cyan of Ash's Aura flared out, pouring through the gaps between his bindings. "Alright," Ash said, mustering whatever Aura he could, "Let's see what I can do!" Ash unleashed his Aura out at every angle due to being unable to concentrate it with his hands. The brilliant cyan blue light struck out at the glass ball, but did nothing. Even the area with the crack seemed to not budge in the slightest. His efforts only elicited a laugh from the Team Rocket Trio.

"It's useless," Chided Jessie. "Even with your fancy new 'chosen twerp' powers or whatever that is, not a single thing you do will be able to break that glass!"

A frustrated growl escaped Ash's lips, but continued pushing against the glass with all of his might. "We'll see about that," He retorted, "By now, all of Goldenrod City must be following us! Not to mention all the wild Pokemon!"

"Oh please," Mocked Meowth, "With how fast we're going, not a thing in the world can catch up to us!"

Behind the rocketing Ultimeowth, Iris and Cilan had managed to push past the wild Flying-Type Pokemon and had nearly caught up to the colossal robot on the former's Dragonite, but moving at such a speed did not come without drawbacks.

"I can't see anything in this wind!" Whined Cilan, holding his arm over his eyes.

"Just hang in there," Iris told him, "We're gaining on them!" Though the proud Dragon Master in training would never admit it aloud, even she was having problems with these speeds. She was forced to cover her eyes as well, but could at least manage to keep her eyes open to an extent, and that extent was just enough to allow her to see.

And what she saw was an opening. "There!" She cried to her Dragonite, "Use Ice Beam on one of the jet engines!"

"DRAGOOO" Roared Dragonite mightily. From it's mouth, it fired a crackling beam of concentrated ice at the jet engine on Ultimeowth's right leg. The engine was coated in a thick layer of ice, making Ultimeowth lose its' balance and tilt over on its' side.

Inside the pilot room of the robot Meowth, the Team Rocket Trio were flung from their seats. "Owwww," Whined Jessie, "What just happened?!"

James managed to grab hold of one of the seats and pulled himself up. Once he did, he quickly scanned the giant mechanical Meowth to find out what was his wrong, and let out a gasp when he did.

"Well, what is it?!" Demanded Meowth.

Turning back around toward his two partners, he answered, "One of the jet engines was frozen solid!"

"What?!" Screeched Jessie, making Meowth cover his ears from the shrillness of her voice, "How is that possible?!"

James couldn't help but giggle in embarrassment. "Sorry, I haven't actually been checking the radar…"

He was shoved forcefully from the chair by Jessie, who then climbed up onto it and proceeded to do what had somehow been working this entire time: pressing random buttons and hoping for the best. Yet again, this somehow worked, and the other jet engine on Ultimeowth's left leg shut off as well and giving Ultimeowth balance once more.

The Team Rocket Trio collectively sighed in relief. "Glad that nightmare's over," Whined James.

Jessie nodded with a smirk planted firmly upon her face. "Thanks to my quick genius, it should be smooth sailing from here."

To Meowth, however, something seemed odd. "Wait a minute," He said, "Is it just me, or are we moving...slower?"

Jessie and James blinked. Now that they thought about it, it did seem that they weren't quite moving as fast as they were previously. Then another problem arose. The radar had begun beeping sporadically, and a wall of red was quickly closing in on them. The panicked screams that followed could be heard by Iris, even though the intercom wasn't even activated.

The Dragon Master grinned as she sailed past Ultimeowth. "Looks like we got 'em! Now to save Ash!" Iris was about to order Dragonite to go after Team Rocket, but stopped when she heard a groaning noise behind her. Cilan, who's face had now turned a sickly blue, was barely holding onto Dragonite. "...All right," Iris said with a chuckle, looking up at the horde of Pokemon coming their way, "I guess we can let the others handle this."

Meanwhile with the others, Riley and Alain were soaring through the skies next to one another. Having met up and subsequently passing Dawn, the two were now blitzing past the wild Pokemon in an attempt to get closer to Ash. Then the Aura Guardian noticed something peculiar. "Is it just me or...are they slowing down?"

Alain looked up toward the giant robot and found that, to Riley's credit, the Meowth-shaped battle mech was indeed getting closer. "I think you may be right, Riley." The black-haired trainer raised his fist skyward, and Riley saw that he was wearing a wristband with a stone embedded into it that looked almost identical to the one in Charizard's neck ornament.

"That's a…!"

"KEYSTONE, LISTEN TO MY HEART!" Alain roared. At the trainer's call, a brilliant, sparkling yellow light poured out from the two stones and locked together. The yellow light spread outward, covering Alain's Charizard completely and forcing Riley to shield his eyes. "BEYOND EVOLUTION, MEGA EVOLVE!" When Riley was able to see once more, his eyes widened in shock. Alain's Charizard had taken a completely different form. Where there was once orange, there was now a deep, jet black, and its underside was a shade of cyan blue. Twin spikes jutted out from either side of Charizard's shoulders, and bright blue flames poured from the sides of its' mouth.

"This is Mega Evolution?" Asked an awed Riley. "I've never been able to see it before…"

"Hey, Riley," Alain called out, snapping the Aura Guardian out of his dazed stupor. Riley looked back up at him, and he was pointing at the approaching Ultimeowth. "I'm gonna rush ahead and see what I can do against that glass ball."

Without waiting for a response, Alain patted the side of his partner's neck, and Charizard, getting the memo, blitzed forward toward Team Rocket. The ensuing shockwave from Alain's Charizard's speed nearly blew Riley off of Unfezant, and when he regained his composure, he merely stared at Alain dumbly.

"...I wonder if Lucario can do that…"

Alain's Charizard rocketed toward Ultimeowth until it was right behind it. Swiftly ducking underneath the jet engines from Ultimeowth's arms, Alain found himself directly underneath the glass ball containing Ash. "Long time no see," Alain called up to him. "I was hoping we'd be able to meet again before Necrozma showed up, but I didn't think it would be under these circumstances." He gave Ash an odd look once he saw his Aura display. "Also...what's up with the light show?"

Ash replied something, but either due to the wind or the glass, Alain couldn't hear it. "...I guess it's best saved for after I get you out of there. Charizard, use Dragon Claw!" Alain's Charizard roared in affirmation. Light green energy seeped out from Charizard's claws, shaping themselves into other claws that extended outward. It struck the glass ball with them repeatedly, but didn't end up making even a slight dent.

"Tch," Remarked Alain in annoyance, "This thing's really durable, but Charizard and I aren't about to give up that easily! Use Dragon Claw to pry open that crack!" Alain's Charizard nodded and plunged its' hands into the large crevice.

Another beeping noise from the radar caught James's attention. "Hm?" He leaned forward over the radar system. "What's this?! Something is directly underneath us!"

Jessie butted him out of the way with her shoulder, making him fly off his chair and into the wall of the cockpit. "What is it?! A wild Pokemon?!"

Meowth simply chuckled. "Well whatever it is…" He slammed his paw down upon one of the buttons. "It's not gonna be there for long!"

Alain's Charizard continued to try and pry the glass open, making a strained grunt as it did so, but the glass didn't budge in the slightest. "Still no good, huh?" Asked Alain. "Then let's use Blast Burn and melt it down! Then it should be easier to-"

Alain was cut off when the metallic plating of the robot's chest shifted, turning into a third miniature arm and slamming into him. Ash's eyes widened in shock. "ALAIN!" Alain appeared to have been knocked unconscious by the blow, but luckily for him, Charizard had managed to stay conscious and caught Alain at the cost of being left behind by Ultimeowth. Ash let out a sigh of relief seeing Alain had ended up fine.

Riley flew up to Alain's side with worry painted on his face. "Alain!" He exclaimed in panic. He sensed his life force and found it to be stable, earning a relieved sigh from him. "Oh good, he's alright…" Looking up at Charizard, he told it, "You just head back to Goldenrod for now." The Aura Guardian's eyes narrowed, and he turned toward Ultimeowth. "I'll handle it from here." He patted Unfezant, and the two rocketed toward the flying robot.

Seeing another red dot coming closer on the radar, James shouted, "There's something else closing in!"

Jessie growled in frustration. "These twerps just don't know when to quit!"

Meowth's cocky demeanor didn't falter at the news. "Who cares? Ultimeowth is invincible, so we'll just slap 'em away!" He mashed down on another button, and the plating of Ultimeowth's legs shifted. This time, they turned into another arm and attempted to, literally, slap Riley away. The Aura Guardian was able to sense the intentions of Meowth beforehand and commanded Unfezant to duck just in time to avoid the hands, but instead of flying underneath where Ash was located, he flew over the robot's back and leapt off of Unfezant, using his Aura to launch himself forward just enough to grab onto what appeared to be a door handle in the form of a metal bar.

However, the moment he grabbed it, the door flung open and nearly sent him flying off the robot. "What in the-?!" He exclaimed, "THOSE IDIOTS LEFT IT UNLOCKED?!" He shook his head and tried to suspend his sense of disbelief for now, pulling himself forward into the entrance and slamming the door shut behind him. Glaring at the door, he made sure to lock it this time.

The Team Rocket Trio watched the radar intently, and let out a relieved sigh as they saw the dot, that being Unfezant, flying away back toward the main horde. "Hah!" Jeered Meowth, "Guess that slap got 'em good!"

"Yeah, we sure showed them!" James added with a mocking laugh, "They never knew what hit them!"

Jessie followed in with their laughter. "Ohohoho! Those twerps may be persistent, but they're no match for the might of Team Rocket!"

The Trio's laughter was cut short by the sound of a metal footstep behind them. Confused, the three of them turned around, and their faces turned a pale shade of white. Riley, who's face was shadowed by his hand, stood over them and crunched his knuckles. "Who are you idiots calling twerp?"

Dawn, who was the next closest one to the giant mechanical Meowth, tilted her head in confusion. She was looking up at Ultimeowth, which now seemed to be flailing around in the air and swerving around wildly. "What the heck is going on with them?"

Riley leapt past the Team Rocket Trio for the controls, only for Jessie to leap onto his back and attempt to pull him away. "Oh no you don't!" She exclaimed. "I don't know who you think you are, but if you think you're going to interfere with Team Rocket, you've got another thing coming!" Riley threw Jessie off of him, making her slam into the metal wall behind them. "OWW!" She cried. "What's wrong with you?! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a lady?!"

Riley, his expression remaining blank, summoned Aura to his fists and cracked his knuckles. "The hammer of justice is unisex." With that, he turned back around a took the middle seat, summoning a barrier of Aura around himself just in time to block the Team Rocket Trio who attempted to tackle him all at once, only to slam face first into said barrier and slide down onto the floor.

"Now," He said, scanning the myriad of colorful buttons scattered across the keyboard, "Which one of these is the stop button?"

From outside the barrier, Meowth laughed at him. "Hah! As if a chump like you could figure out how to stop this!"

"Yeah, not even we know!" James chimed in, only to have Jessie's fist slam down on his head.

"Don't tell him that!" She hissed.

Riley rolled his eyes, doing his best to ignore the annoyance that was the Team Rocket Trio. "Well, I'm not going to get anywhere by doing nothing, so…" He eyed the array of buttons carefully, taking his time deciding which one was the best possible option. Eventually, he decided to press one at random and awaited what would happen with baited breath. The Team Rocket Trio flinched and ducked their heads, expecting the machine to simply shut off or something.

...But nothing happened.

Raising an eyebrow, Riley pressed the button again. Still, there was no response. So, he pressed another button, only for the same result. He went for another, and another until eventually becoming frustrating and sliding his hands across the entire keyboard. Yet still, Ultimeowth refused to respond to Riley's commands.

The Team Rocket Trio dared to look back up and found that nothing had happened, and Meowth laughed at the blue-clad man's expense. "Hah! Looks like it only responds to us!"

Jessie laughed as well. "Ohoho! Serves you right for treating a lady like that!"

"You should probably just give up!" James exclaimed, pointing a finger at Riley. "Apparently only we can pilot this thing!"

The Trio continued laughing at the Aura Guardian, who stood up from his seat and turned back to face them. Once again, a shadow covered his face and he cracked his knuckles. "Thanks for telling me that," He said, "I guess I'll just have to knock you all out and use your hands then."

Team Rocket stopped laughing.

Below that whole ordeal in the sky, Gary ran through the forest on his quick-footed Dodrio, and due to its' training, was able to quickly pass up most of them. He even began to catch up to Ultimeowth, though there wasn't much he could do while still on the ground. "Dang it," He exclaimed, "How am I supposed to get up there?!"

Then, he noticed something else flying above him. It was another Flying-Type bird-like Pokemon with, from the angle he could see, grey feathers and incredibly sharp-looking talons. "Wait a minute," Said Gary as an idea of what it was struck him, "Is that...Ash's Talonflame?!"

Indeed, the Pokemon flying above Gary was none other than Ash's Talonflame, who's bright red feathers looked almost as if they were burning. What's more, Ash's Grenininja was riding on top of Talonflame, as well as Pikachu.

Gary suddenly heard the sound of loud stomping behind him, and when he turned around he saw a stampede of Tauros rushing toward him. They were even carrying other, smaller Pokemon on their backs. The brown-haired former rival of Ash saw an Infernape and a Sceptile among them, and behind the herd was a few Pokemon Gary recognized following closely behind, like Muk and Snorlax.

"Are these Ash's Pokemon?"

Talonflame let out a shrill screech and began flying higher toward the robot, and several more of Ash's Pokemon that could fly leapt off of the Tauros' and soared after it. Gary counted a Noivern, a female Unfezant which lacked the bright pink ribbon around its' head of its' male counterpart, the shiny Noctowl Ash used during the Johto League, a Swellow, a Gliscor, a Staraptor, a Heracross and of course Ash's Charizard, whom Gary would never be able to forget.

Each of these Flying-Type Pokemon carried another smaller Pokemon on their backs, being Bulbasaur, Totodile, Corphish, Buizel, Gible, Oshawott, Snivy, Scraggy, and Leavanny, and took off after Talonflame toward Ash's location.

Gary couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, if anyone would end up saving Ash's behind, I guess it would be them."

"Alright," Said Riley, dusting off his gloves now that his 'handiwork' was done, "Now, let's see I can shut this thing down." Grabbing hold of the now-unconscious Meowth's wrist, he walked away from the other two Team Rocket members, whom he also knocked out, and walked back to the keyboard. He pressed Meowth's paw into one of the buttons, awaiting a response with baited breath. Yet again, nothing happened.

Needless to say, Riley was confused. "What?!" He used Meowth's hand on a few more buttons with the same result. "Why isn't it working?!" Unceremoniously dropping Meowth back to the floor, he went over to Jessie, yanked her by the wrist and dragged her over to the keyboard as well. Still, there was no response from Ultimeowth.

"What in the Distortion World?!" Yelled Riley. "Why isn't it working?!" Tossing Jessie on the nearest seat, he rushed over to James and tried yet again...and yet again, nothing happened. He dropped the purple-haired man to the floor and growled in frustration. "What's wrong with this thing?! Why isn't it taking orders?!"

Leaning back into the seat next to the one Jessie was slumped over, Riley mulled over whatever ideas he could come up with to figure out why the robot was suddenly not obeying commands. "Perhaps," He said aloud, "It's not actually controlled manually at all?" He leapt up from the seat and went about looking through the piloting room for any hint as to how to control the machine, and eventually came upon a large green button underneath the desk with a phone icon. Upon pressing it, a virtual screen appeared above the keyboard in the visor's window.

The screen showed the figure of a man cloaked in shadow sitting in a large chair, but before Riley could question the man, he pressed a button on the arm of his chair, shutting the screen off. "What the?!" Riley quickly ducked back under the desk to press the button once more, but it was now greyed out. He pressed it anyways, but it responded about as well as the keyboard.

Riley stepped away from the screen and placed a hand to his chin in thought. "Who was that man…? Could this robot actually be controlled by him?" He shook his head to dispel his thought process and looked down at the collapsed Team Rocket Trio. "Well whoever's controlling this thing, it's certainly not these three. My best bet now…" He looked out of the visor's window to the sky, which had now started to become orange as day threatened to fade to night. "...Is getting off this thing, and taking Ash with me."

Riley's attention was caught by a sudden beeping. It was the radar, which still functioned normally due to being ran automatically rather than at the press of a manual button, and it showed multiple beings approaching the robot from behind. "What? Who could that be?"

Outside of Ultimeowth, Ash's Pokemon had now caught up. The Flying-Types nodded to one another, then leaned to the side to fly down onto the robot. Upon landing on its' large back, they were immediately greeted by the sight of a door being kicked open. The loyal group of Pokemon prepared for battle, growling menacingly at whatever might come out of the door until Riley emerged, holding his hat to his head so it didn't fly off due to the high winds.

Riley's face lit up in surprise, and the Pokemon who knew him mirrored it. "Oh, it's you!" He said, a smile emerging on his face, "You couldn't have picked a better time!" He looked around at the various Pokemon while the ones that knew him told the others he wasn't a threat, and chuckled at their sheer numbers. "Ash told me he had a lot of Pokemon," He said, "But this comes as a surprise."

Pikachu couldn't help but smile and sigh. Riley didn't know the half of it, what with the larger Pokemon still racing after them on foot. He couldn't wait to see his reaction to Ash's thirty Tauros. He dashed the thoughts, and did his best to ask Riley where Ash was with body movement. Luckily for the electric mouse Pokemon, Riley was quickly able to figure out his meaning.

"Oh, Ash?" He asked. "He's actually on the underside of this thing's, right on his chest." He pointed over at the door he emerged from. "I already tried taking control over this thing, but apparently it's being controlled by an outside signal." He walked over to the robot's side and pointed at the jet engines next. "We can't shut those off either, as a fall from this height would likely end up crushing Ash."

Pikachu's ears fell in disappointment, but they quickly regained their perkiness as an idea came to his mind. Ash's first partner Pokemon looked up to Talonflame and asked it if it could use the technique it used back in Viridian Forest,the one that ended up burning most of it to the ground, in order to flip Ultimeowth onto its back in order to get to Ash. Talonflame replied that it didn't actually know how to use that power, and it was just some kind of spontaneous incident. Not to mention, using the attack resulted in the destruction of most of the forest, which was an incident it did not wish to repeat.

Riley looked at the two of them curiously. "I wonder what they're talking about."

Pikachu, seeing as he wasn't getting anywhere with Talonflame, told the other Pokemon about his plan to flip Ultimeowth over, which quickly won them all over. The yellow mouse Pokemon then rushed to the robot's edge and hopped onto the jet engine with the rest of the land-dwelling Pokemon following suit. The Flying-Type Pokemon leapt off the side of the robot underneath the engine to catch them, as flipping the robot would inevitably lead to the others falling off.

Pikachu nodded to the others and unleashed a Thunderbolt into the sky. The other members of Ash's team took this as a signal and fired their own attacks into the sky as well. Bulbasaur, Snivy and Leavanny used Solarbeam while Corphish, Buizel and Totodile used Hydro Pump. Gible and Scraggy ended up repeatedly firing Dragon Pulses and Focus Blast into the air repeatedly. However, their struggle amounted to nothing, and the robot hardly tilted over at all.

"Ah, so that's what they were scheming," Said Riley, "But it doesn't look like they're making much headway…" He then noticed that Greninja had not followed the others, and went to ask why. "What's up?" He asked the ninja Pokemon, "How come you're not with everyone else?"

Greninja replied to the best of his ability that none of his attacks have that much force behind him, not that Riley could understand, and that they were more useful in a fight rather than for pure raw power. Riley nodded, to Greninja's surprise, getting the basic gist of what he meant using his Aura. "I see," Said Riley, "You don't have any especially-powerful attacks, do you?"

The Aura Guardian hummed in thought, then pointed over toward Ultimeowth's head. "Perhaps you could try going underneath the robot and softening up the glass ball Ash is trapped in?" Greninja's eyes lit up at that. Continuing, Riley said, "The other Pokemon wouldn't be able to get close to the ball right now, but you should be able to stick to the robot in order to get closer, yeah?" He clasped a hand on Greninja's shoulder and the Pokemon felt a sudden surge of energy. It wasn't to the extremes he felt with his synchronization with Ash, but it was still incredible.

"That's about half of my Aura," Riley told him after taking in a deep breath to make up for the sudden fatigue he felt. "It should give you a considerable boost in power."

Greninja, after snapping out of his little stupor that came with the sudden rush of power, nodded to Riley, then rushed over toward Ultimeowth's head. Placing his flippers firmly down upon the robot's cold, steel exterior, he began crawling down it's face until he came to a window. That, of course, being the main visor. Looking into it, he saw the Team Rocket Trio still lying unconscious and scowled at them for a moment before quickly moving on.

After crawling down the rest of its' face and upper chest, Ash's Greninja came upon a large, glass ball. So, this was what Riley was talking about. The ninja Pokemon hopped down from the chest and onto the glass ball, making an audible thud. Ash, who had abandoned his assault on the glass after running out of steam, looked up at the noise. A smile came to his face when he realized who it was, which Greninja happily returned.

"Greninja!" Cried Ash happily.

Though not being able to hear Ash, Greninja was able to understand his lip movements. He nodded to him and used Cut, summoning a kunai-shaped white completely created from energy and crawled over to the large crack running down its' front. Lifting the kunai high up into the air, Greninja stabbed it firmly into the crack in an attempt to break through, but only succeeded in breaking the kunai. Not being one to give up so easily, Greninja next used Water Shuriken and attempted to plunge it into the crack. Proving for the umpteenth time to be quite durable, the glass ball encasing Ash repelled the attack with ease.

Seeing this, Ash proposed an idea. "Hey, how about we try synchronization?" Greninja nodded eagerly. Ash attempted to summon his Aura in order to perform their Battle Bond, but found it difficult to concentrate. "It's no use," He told Greninja, "I've used up most of my Aura already, and these bindings are making it difficult to concentrate."

Greninja hummed in thought, contemplating what his next course of action should be, then remembered the Aura Riley had gifted to him just previously. Ordinarily, Greninja would not be able to manipulate this Aura in any other way than a power boost like Riley intended, but the earlier synchronization the two of them performed against Necrozma allowed Greninja to use the Aura of Ash, and so he might be able to perform something like this after all. Placing his hand on the crack, Greninja closed his eyes and allowed Riley's Aura to flow from his body through it.

As Ash witnessed the Aura slowly seep through the crack, his eyes widened in shock. "Is that Aura?!" Deciding it was a question best asked for later, Ash summoned his own Aura to act as a sort of magnet, pulling Greninja's Aura toward him. As it made contact with him, Ash realized whom it actually belonged to. "Wait," He said, "This is Riley's…thanks, Greninja."

With his Auric strength renewed, Ash allowed his cyan blue Aura to flare out once more, establishing the link between himself and Greninja. The frog ninja Pokemon's body began glowing a bright cyan shade, and when it faded, Greninja's form changed to the personification of Ash and Greninja's bond: Ash-Greninja.

"All right!" Cheered Ash. "Now, let's use Aura Shuriken and break through the glass!"

"NIN!" Bellowed Greninja with a nod. Raising his arm above him, which ironically meant pointing toward the ground at his angle, he summoned a shuriken of water that spun fiercely above him. Due to his Battle Bond, the Water Shuriken grew to immense sizes and began shimmering a beautiful shade of glowing cyan with Aura. Greninja plunged the Aura Shuriken into the crack, spinning it fiercely like a buzz saw.

"That's it," Cheered ash, "Just keep on pushing and you'll break through in no time!"

Talonflame watched the other Pokemon trying their hardest to flip the robot over. Unfortunately, they still hadn't actually made any headway and were quickly running out of steam. Then, Talonflame and the other flying Pokemon of Ash's saw something that made their hearts sink. In the distance, an ocean was rapidly approaching. If they couldn't free Ash or stop the robot before long, they would find themselves in Kanto and be exactly where the Team Rocket Boss wanted them.

Talonflame let out a screech to tell Pikachu and the others of this, and they hastily began firing at an even faster rate. Unfortunately, it amounted to nothing, and Ultimeowth's position was still rooted firmly in place. There was only one last hope for them, and it lay within Talonflame:The attack it had used on that day to lay Viridian Forest to ruin, which Professor Kukui had named Firestorm.

The Scorching Pokemon soared down underneath the wing opposite to the one the others were perched on before the other fliers could question them. Pointing its' head down, it attempted to summon that power to itself once more and spewed flames from its mouth. However, it only succeeded in using Flamethrower, and had no success in even moving the robot's wing.

Refusing to give up, Talonflame shut its eyes tightly and further pushed itself. The jet of flame rushing from its' beak increased in size and power slightly, but still couldn't hope to match the sheer scope of the jet engine. It tried, desperately, to summon upon that destructive power once more, and received no answer in kind.

Talonflame opened its' eyes once more to look at where they were, and to its' horror, the ocean was vastly closer than it expected it to be. It shut its' eyes again and unleashed an even stronger Flamethrower from its' throat with such force and heat that it sent waves of pain throughout its' body. However, thanks to Ash, Talonflame didn't know the meaning of giving up, and continued blasting away at the air beneath it.

Greninja, who was still trying to break Ash free from the glass container, turned around when he heard something odd, and to his horror, he saw an ocean quickly approaching, and whipped back around to Ash, pushing the Aura Shuriken against the glass with all his might.

The Pokemon on the jet engine opposite to Talonflame were on their last legs. Their stamina was falling fast. The weakness of their bodies was catching up to them. Scraggy was the first to collapse after trying to fire one last Focus Blast and failing, falling flat onto his face instead. Gible followed soon after. Snivy winced suddenly as a sudden dizziness struck her, and she, too, collapsed.

Corphish wobbled suddenly, and its' Hydro Pump was cut off. It tried one last time to fire another, but ended up collapsing on its' side. Buizel and Totodile soon fell afterward. The ever-elegant Leavanny stumbled forward, and was forced to cease its' Solarbeam attack. It tried to raise its' arms to the sky once more, but fell onto its' knees when it was unable to. Bulbasaur, who had managed to remain steady up until then, now collapsed from exhaustion with the rest of its' teammates. That left Pikachu alone, but unlike the others, Ash's long-time friend refused to let his fatigue get the better of him, and continued pushing on even if he knew it meant nothing.

Charizard looked down at them in frustration. He wanted to help them, and knew he had the power to do so, but also realized that if he wasn't prepared to catch them if the robot actually flipped over, then many of the Pokemon would fall. Seeing the predicament of Ash's Pokemon, Riley pushed himself back onto his feet.

Summoning his Aura, he said, "Greninja's not back yet...I guess I should give 'em a hand too." However, when he took his next step, he tripped and fell onto his knees. "What the hell?" He exclaimed. "I must have given more Aura to Greninja than I intended...but…" He forced himself back on his feet, and then a glistening caught his eye toward Ultimeowth's head. "Is that...an ocean?!"

Talonflame felt a sudden wave of dizziness. The burning it felt from its' own heat, along with the fatigue of producing it, was wearing her down. The stinging it felt in its' throat was akin to what one would feel during a bad flu, only dialed up to eleven. Talonflame could no longer take it. It had wasted so much power in this fruitless ordeal to re-create a miracle that it no longer even had the strength to fly. The only thing keeping it airborne was its' Flamethrower pressing Talonflame against the metal of the jet engine, but that too was fading. The stream of flame weakened until scarcely being more than the width of a pipe. With its' stamina gone, Talonflame could no longer ward off its' exhaustion, and closed its' eyes.

Talonflame awoke to a world where there was seemingly nothing but white. It was incredibly bright no matter where its' gaze turned to, yet it wasn't blinding, and nor did it feel any pain, fatigue or anything really. Anything but...what it could only describe as solace. Talonflame's first thoughts were that this was death. Yet...it didn't feel fear or sadness. It only felt relief.

Then it saw something. It was a being of pure white light, and though it should have been invisible amidst their surroundings, Talonflame could somehow see it, clear as day. Its' sheer size was unfathomable, as was its' shape. Talonflame knew it should have felt fear, yet it didn't somehow. Though Talonflame could not make out the entity's shape, it saw what it was completely sure was an arm reach out toward it. Like the rest of its' body, the arm was unimaginably massive. Everything about this being seemed to defy all laws of reality. There was no face or structure to it besides the arm.

As the being reached out to Talonflame, holding it gently within the palm of its' hand, the Scorching Pokemon suddenly heard a voice speak out to it. Its' volume was incredible, yet not deafening or even pain-inflicting in the slightest. It shook Talonflame to its' very core, yet did not instill any sense of fear in the Pokemon. It echoed endlessly throughout the void the two of them occupied. It said…

"I SEE YOU ARE IN QUITE THE PREDICAMENT. HOWEVER, FATE WILL NOT TAKE YOU ON THIS DAY. YOU ARE STILL NEEDED IN THIS WORLD, TALONFLAME. ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU POWER ONCE MORE. POWER...TO SAVE ASH, AND SAVE THIS WORLD."

With that, the entity faded away, and with it, the white void as well. Talonflame was left entranced. Just what in the world had happened? As Talonflame mulled over that question, it failed to notice that Ultimeowth ended up sailing right past it. It was brought back to reality suddenly, though by what, Talonflame didn't know. Taking off after Ultimeowth, Talonflame noticed that it felt...lighter. Incredibly lighter. A smirk appeared on the bird-like Pokemon's face and it rocketed after the robot.

Pikachu finally collapsed alongside the others. Now completely drained of energy, his only hope was that they could somehow outsmart the Team Rocket Boss once they inevitably arrived to wherever this machine was taking them. Riley hopped down next to Pikachu, offering him an Aura-coated hand.

"Here," He said, smiling down at the yellow mouse, "It's not over yet."

Pikachu returned the smile gratefully and reached up to take the hand. That was, until it noticed something in the distance behind the Aura Guardian. A bright-red ball of fire was approaching Ultimeowth at speeds rivaling that of a comet. Pikachu leapt back onto his feet, pointing it out to him. Riley, as well as the other Pokemon, raised an eyebrow at Pikachu's odd behavior, but looked up to where he was pointing nonetheless. When they saw it, their mouths were left agape.

"What the heck is that?!" Cried Riley.

As Talonflame approached the colossal robot, it swerved downward underneath it toward the jet engine and slammed into it. The resulting tremors from the blow were felt all throughout the robot, sweeping Riley and the Pokemon off their feet and tilting it over. Seeing this, the other flying Pokemon quickly zoomed down toward them, managing to catch everyone before they slid off. Riley was saved by Charizard, along with Pikachu, though Riley had the misfortune of being carried by Charizards' claws rather than gently landing on the draconian Pokemon, unlike Pikachu.

Nevertheless, Riley was grateful for the save all the same. "Thanks, Charizard," He said with a laugh, "I owe you one!" Charizard simply grinned down at him, letting out a small roar in response. Riley's smile was wiped from the Aura Guardian's face when he realized something. "Wait a minute!" He cried. "Greninja's still with Ash!"

Talonflame grit its beak as it continued pushing against the bottom of the jet engine. Though it was finally making headway at moving the thing, the ocean was approaching faster than Talonflame was moving Ultimeowth. However, the Pokemon still felt much power left dwelling within it. It felt as if there was no limit to its' strength, and though Talonflame didn't quite understand what was happening, it was more than ready to use its power to the fullest.

Talonflame shut its' beak sharply and puffed out its' chest. Flames hotter and more intense than anything Talonflame had experienced bubbled up within the Pokemon, and were only growing hotter by the second. The body of Talonflame grew brighter and brighter until it was a blinding shade of white. Riley and the others stared on in awe.

"What is this power?!" He exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like this! Is this...Aura?!"

Greninja suddenly stopped its' assault on the grass as it felt Talonflame's heat. His eyes widened, as did Ash's. "What is...that light?!" Cried Ash. He felt a familiar sensation from the light. It irked at his mind until the realization struck him. "That Aura...it's Talonflame!"

Talonflame reared its' head toward the ground and opened its' beak. A shrill, whistling noise pierced the ears of all nearby. The heat escaping from its' mouth seemingly set the air itself aflame, but the heat that was there now paled in comparison to what came next. From Talonflame's beak, an impossibly-large column of white-hot fire burst down toward the ground. It took the shape of a spiral, making it look like an upside-down tornado. Once again, Talonflame had used the power of Firestorm.

The blast of fire created an opposing force to the jet engine, slowly tipping Ultimeowth sideways. The powerful metal creaked in resistance, and small parts of it closest to Talonflame began blackening and crumpling from the sheer heat. Then, finally, Talonflame managed to completely push the wing over and flip Ultimeowth onto its' back.

Ash was now able to see Talonflame, and grinned once he did. "Talonflame!" He cried. "I knew it was you!"

Hearing what Ash said with his Aura, Riley was now left even more in shock than before. "Hold on," He shouted, "That was Talonflame?! Just what kind of power does it have?!"

Talonflame was able to hear Ash's voice even from inside the glass ball and sent a grin his way. But in doing so, noticed that Ultimeowth had already gone past the shore and was now over the ocean anyways. This, however, didn't snap Talonflame out of its' mood. Right now, Talonflame felt like it could do just about anything.

Rocketing back down toward Ultimeowth, Talonflame turned its' back on the robot and crashed into its' face. Once again, the Scorching Pokemon puffed out its' chest and summoned its' newfound powers forth, using Firestorm once more. The blindingly-white flames pushed against the jet engine's own flames, and at first it seemed to have little effect. The metal creaked and groaned, as if in protest of the two forces pushing against one another.

"Hey, is it just me, or…" Riley trailed off, staring in awe at the scene playing out before his eyes. "...Is that thing...slowing down?!"

Indeed, Team Rocket's mechanical menace was, at last, slowly being brought to a halt by Talonflame's godly power. The spot where its' back was pressing into dented inward, threatening to collapse under the stress of the sheer force of Talonflame's power. Despite this, Talonflame only pushed itself even more. Ultimeowth's movement continued slowing down until finally coming to a halt. Talonflame's Firestorm attack increased in power, forcing Riley and the Pokemon to shield their eyes to avoid becoming blinded by its brilliance.

Ultimeowth's movement picked up again, only this time, it was in the opposite direction. It started off slowly, and the groans and creaking from the robot increased, but it was beginning to be pushed back all the same. It didn't take long for it to reach the speed it had just before, and Johto's shores were coming closer by the second.

A grin came to Riley's face, and he couldn't help but to pump his fist in the air and cheer. "Alright! It shouldn't be long before we're back in the city at this rate!" The Aura Guardian noticed something else as well as he looked down at the shore. The myriad of people and Pokemon also in pursuit of Team Rocket had gone to the land's edge and waited there. He could see them cheering from atop Charizard as Ultimeowth got closer and closer.

Turning to Ash's Pokemon, he said, "Now's our chance! Let's fly back onto that robot and free Ash!" The Pokemon cheered heartily, and took off toward their trainer and friend. Upon landing, all of Ash's Pokemon raced to the glass globe as fast as their wings and feet could take them.

Ash's face lit up at seeing them. "Hey, guys!" He called out. "You're all here!"

Riley smiled down at his pupil and chuckled. "Of course! What would we do without our Chosen One?" He got a kick out of seeing Ash cringe at him calling him that. Turning to the Pokemon, he pointed at the glass ball and said, "You guys know what to do! Let's-"

A sudden sensation made the Aura Guardian cut himself off. He felt something flying toward them rapidly. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Riley ushered them to run from the glass ball, and though the Pokemon were confused, they quickly followed his orders. Pikachu and Greninja looked back at Ash with uncertainty practically painted on their faces. Ash smiled and gave them a nod, knowing to trust Riley's intuition, and the two of them followed the others.

Overhead, a figure cloaked in black energy raced through the sky toward the robot until it was directly over Ash, then burst down and crashed directly on top of the glass ball. Ash winced, shutting his eyes at the collision. When he opened them once more, he saw a familiar face.

"Zero!" Ash cried happily. "Where've you been?!"

The black energy dispersed, revealing the silver-haired young girl. She giggled down at Ash. "It's a...long story...but…" Zero looked back up to the sky, where another figure raced down toward them as well. "I ended up making a new friend along the way."

Ash could scarcely believe what he was seeing. "Hydreigon?!" The Dark Dragon Pokemon, who had just previously been cowering helplessly in the face of its' own xenophobia and trauma, had rushed to Ash's aid at breakneck speeds.

"Dreigon!" Chirped Hydreigon.

"I came as soon as I heard you were in trouble," Zero said, raising her arm to the sky. Hydreigon, seeing this followed suit. "When I heard that, I assumed the worst, but…" She tilted her head past Ash at Ultimeowth and scrunched her face up. "Judging by the design of this thing, it's those three idiots, right?"

Ash laughed. "Yeah, it's them."

Zero could only let out a sigh and shake her head. "Well, let's save the talk for later. For now…" The elements of every Pokemon type rushed up from her body, sparking around her hand. Hydreigon closed its eyes and inhaled. Pushing past whatever lingering doubts and fears that plagued it, the Dark Dragon Pokemon summoned a crackling red energy to its' arm, preparing to use its' hatred toward Damian and use Frustration. It was its' way of using its' loathing of Damian to save Ash, like using one's terrible past to open a way to a brighter future. A future that only one such as Ash could provide.

Hydreigon and Zero let out a roar and slammed their fists into the glass. The ball shook and shuddered for a few seconds before shattering altogether, and its' pieces flew away into the wind. Zero next took hold of the metal bindings and tore them apart, freeing Ash at last.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Ash laughed and said, "Aw man, I can't tell you how good it feels to finally move again!" He stretched out his arms, revelling in the sensation of movement he'd taken for granted all his life. He turned back down to the two of them with an appreciative smile, ruffling their heads. "Thank you both," He said, "Now, how's about we get out of here and head back to Goldenrod?"

Zero covered her mouth and giggled. Ash couldn't put into words how much he loved that sound. "I would love nothing more," Said Zero. Hydreigon turned away from Ash and crouched over, pointing at his back.

Ash tilted his head. "Hmm? Are you...offering to give me a ride?"

Zero nodded, floating into the air. "I believe they are."

Ash smiled down at Hydreigon and gently put his hand upon the Dragon-Type Pokemon's back. He made sure to coat his hand in the small remainder of his Aura as to not make it feel uncomfortable, soothing Hydreigon upon the touch before putting himself in a position where he could ride them. Gently patting Hydreigon's shoulder, he asked, "You ready to go?" Hydreigon nodded.

"All right then," Said Ash, looking up to the darkening sky, "Let's get outta here!"

The trio leapt up into the air, at last freeing Ash. However, there was still something left to do. "Hey, Talonflame!" Ash called down. "How about we put this thing in the ground?"

Seeing that their trainer had been freed, Talonflame nodded eagerly and rocketed up from their position in the now-crumpled forehead of Ultimeowth. The Scorching Pokemon flew up higher and higher into the air until it decided its' height was enough. Glaring down at Ultimeowth and surrounding itself in its' brilliant white flames, Talonflame descended upon the robot, crashing into it with a Flare Blitz and sending it careening back down into the ground with a thunderous crash.

Team Rocket awoke to the feeling of aching heads and stiff backs.

"Oi vey," Whined Meowth, rubbing his head, "I feel like I got hit by a truck, and there's no Mew underneath to speak of!"

Jessie growled irritably, fury practically seeping from her voice. "You think you have it bad?! Just look at my hair!" Jessie's aforementioned hair had lost its' normal point and curl, now sprawling out in all directions as a fuzzy mess.

James woke up next, rubbing a large bump on his forehead. "Ugh, I had the most terrible dream. My ex-fiance Jessiebelle was there, and she chased me around with a whip for hour-" James saw Jessie and yelped, due to his ex-fiance and Team Rocket partner's near-identical appearance. "OH MY ARCEUS, IT'S REAL!" He shuffled over to the corner of the pilot room holding up his arms to shield himself from his living nightmare. "STAY AWAY, YOU MADWOMAN! I'D SOONER EAT GROWLIE THAN MARRY A PSYCHOPATH LIKE YOU!"

Jessie took it upon herself to give James a second bump on his head. "For once in your life, James, stop being an idiot."

Meowth suddenly let out a scream and pointed to the roof of the cabin. "W-w-what the heck happened to Ultimeowth's head?!"

Jessie followed Meowth's gaze and found that the roof of the piloting bay was caved in. Jessie whistled. "Sheesh, and I thought my head had quite the bump, but poor Ultimeowth got it the worst." She blinked in realization. "Wait...Ultimeowth?! Meowth, where are we?!"

Meowth hopped onto James's chair and checked the various screens for their location. "The GPS is broken," Replied Meowth, "But we've landed...what could that mean?"

James leapt back up onto his feet. "Wait, if we've already landed, then that means…!"

Meowth and Jessie's eyes shot open once they caught onto what James meant. "WE'VE ALREADY ARRIVED AT THE BOSS'S BASE!"

The Team Rocket Trio quickly hopped back into their seats and rapidly pressed the keyboard's buttons, making Ultimeowth hop back onto its feet and pump its arms into the air. "Why hello!" The three of them called out using the intercom. "We're sorry to keep you waiting, Boooo-ohhhhhhhh…"

Upon jumping back to their feet, the Team Rocket Trio realized that they weren't exactly in the situation they'd hoped for. They were surrounded by Trainers and Pokemon, and none of them looked happy. They all wore scowls on their faces, directing them right at Team Rocket. Overhead, the colossal flock of Pokemon circled around, blacking out the night sky. They were completely surrounded on all angles, and as that dent on Ultimeowth's forehead proved, far from invincible.

"Gah!" Cried Meowth. "We ain't stickin' around here, no thanks! Prepare for lau-"

James cut him off, shoving his arm in front of Meowth's face. "Wait! Look down there!"

James pointed down at the frontmost trainer, who was none other than their former prisoner, the chosen twerp Ash. He, along with every other trainer there, looked far from pleased. At Ash's sides were his closest friends such as Serena, Riley, Misty and more.

"WHAT?!" Bellowed Jessie, knocking Meowth and James from their chairs. "How did the twerp escape?!"

Alain stepped forward. If the other trainers looked annoyed, Alain looked absolutely pissed in comparison. "He had a little help," Said Alain, "And we all aren't exactly happy with having our last day before Necroza shows up wasted by you." His fierce glare could practically be felt by the Team Rocket Trio, especially with Alain's Charizard mirroring its trainer's expression. "I also don't appreciate cheap shots."

Serena took a firm step toward them next with her hands placed on her hips. "Seriously, I knew you three weren't the brightest, but I didn't think you'd pull this kind of stunt at a time like this."

Riley went next, looking absolutely furious. "Do you imbeciles not know what's at stake?! If Necrozma wins, everyone dies!" He shook his head. "As an Aura Guardian, I was trained to love and respect all living things…" His Aura flared up in his eyes, making it look as if they were genuinely set aflame. "But that does not extend to those who don't!"

"It's no use talking to a buncha morons like them," Said Gary, "It's probably for the best that we don't waste any more time and send these chumps packing."

Ash nodded and stepped toward Ultimeowth as well. "A few years ago, I wouldn't have ever said this, but…" Ash cracked his knuckles, and all of his Pokemon growled at Ultimeowth threateningly. "I think you're right, Gary."

The Team Rocket Trio made Ultimeowth leap back in fright and bow to Ash on its' hands and knees. "Wait, wait, wait!" Protested James. "We're terribly sorry for all the trouble we've caused, honestly!"

"Yeah," Added Jessie, "And what's more I think we have a proposition you can't refuse!"

"If you forgive us, we'll happily help you twer- I mean guys fight against that nasty Necrozma!" Chirped Meowth. "So, whaddya say, old chums? It's the last day before the end of the world after all, so how about we let bygones be bygones?"

"Yeah, not happening," Snapped Ash harshly.

Inside Ultimeowth's pilot room, Jessie slammed Meowth out of his seat and took over the controls. "Fine, then! If you want to be troublesome…" She raised Ultimeowth's arm into the air threateningly. "I'll just have to crush you all and take back the chosen twerp myself-"

A streak of blue light tore through Ultimeowth's arm suddenly, knocking the robot over and eliciting a surprised yelp from Jessie. The arm crashed to the ground with a thud, forcing everyone nearby to shield their eyes from the resulting dust, and sparked at the severed area for a moment before going dead completely.

"What the-?!" Cried Alain. "What was that?!"

Riley pointed up into the sky. "Up there!"

Upon tracing where Riley was pointing, Ash and the others saw something coated in a brilliant, deep blue light, and it was moving back toward them at incredible speeds. The blue light dispersed suddenly, revealing a Pokemon. It appeared similar to a bird, yet also different. Most of its body was blue, save for a white stripe on its back that coated the entirety of its head and neck. Its wings looked similar to those of a jet's and had two jagged fin-like structures jutting out from the back of its underside.

"Wait a sec," Said Ash, recognizing the Pokemon, "That's a Latios!"

"There's someone on top of it! Serena pointed out.

Ash looked at her in disbelief for a second, but upon looking back up at the supersonic Pokemon, he found that there was, in fact, someone clad in dark clothing riding atop Latios. The person stood onto their feet, smirking down at those below. The Latios swerved down toward them suddenly, zooming by and leaving its rider behind, who was crouched over on the ground. The figure slowly rose back to their feet, allowing Ash to get a better look at him. The chosen one's eyes shot open once he realized who it was.

"You're-!"

Latios's rider was a tall man with wavy, grayish-blue hair that draped over one of his light green eyes. He wore a long, crimson, cape-like coat that draped over all of his body except for his thick, black boots. He smiled as if he were greeting an old friend, but his gaze also carried a certain fearsomeness to it that told Ash he had seen many battles and was more than willing to see many more.

"Tobias!"

"Indeed," Said the man, now identified as Tobias, "I see my reputation precedes me." He turned down to Ash with a smile that the aforementioned young trainer couldn't tell was genuine or not. "How do you do, O' Chosen One?"

"Hold on," Said Serena, "You're Tobias?!" Now she remembered the name. That powerful trainer from the school in the woods with the Sandslash said he was soundly defeated by this Tobias guy, and since that trainer defeated Ash's Noivern...just how powerful of a trainer was he?

Tobias raised his arm and bowed Serena's way. "That I am." Turning back toward Ash, he said, "I must apologize for being so late, but my Pokemon have been acting quite erratic lately, and so it's been quite difficult to travel. I can only assume the reason is this Necrozma."

"Well," Ash said, shaking himself out of his stupor and offering a hand to Tobias, "It's a pleasure to have you! When you and I battled back in Sinnoh, your Legendary Pokemon completely mopped the floor with me."

Gary's eyes shot wide open. "Hold on a sec, did Ash just say this guy had Legendary Pokemon?!"

"Yeah," Replied Brock with a nod, "I haven't journeyed with Ash since Sinnoh, but from what I know, Tobias is the most powerful Trainer Ash has ever fought, and since he exclusively used Legendary Pokemon…" Brock's eyes, somehow, narrowed even further. "...He might be the most powerful Trainer in the world."

Tobias accepted Ash's hand, shaking it firmly before retracting it back to his side. "It's a pleasure to be here," He replied. "With my Legendary Pokemon, warding off Necrozma should be a relatively trivial matter." His smile faded, and he turned toward the collapsed Ultimeowth next. "But first, I suppose I should dispose of these cretins."

"Tch," Spat Jessie with a scowl. Raising Ultimeowth back onto its feet, she said, "I don't know who you think you are, but all you did was get in a cheap shot! If you think you can match up to the power of Team Rocket, then- mmmph!" Jessie was pulled from her chair by James and Meowth, who covered her mouth before she could say anything even more idiotic.

"Don't you remember who that guy is?!" Hissed James.

"He's that Darkrai trainer that knocked the pants off the chosen twerp back in the day!" Meowth shrieked.

Jessie's face went blank for a second, then curled into an expression of horror once she recalled the man in question. Hopping back into her chair, she chirped, "What I meant to say was, er," She faked a bright smile as best she could, and knew she wasn't fooling anyone with the act, evidenced by her twitching eyebrow. Still, she continued on with the facade, choosing her next words very carefully. "That...um…oh to Distortion World with this! Come here, twerp!"

She attempted to make a quick grab for Ash, and Tobias, in response, snapped his fingers. At the signal, Latios circled back around and tore through the robotic arm once more as if it was nothing more than sandpaper. "I may have just arrived," Tobias said, reaching into his coat and pulling out five more Pokeballs, "But you've already managed to waste more than enough of my time."

He threw the Pokeballs up into the sky, releasing their contents in the form of a brilliant white glow that forced everyone to shield their eyes. Once the light faded, everyone who bore witness to the full might of Tobias's team had their jaws dropped. There was, of course, Darkrai, Tobias's signature Pokemon as well as Latios floating next to him. Then came the ones nobody besides Tobias himself had ever seen before.

The first was a quadrupedal Pokemon coated in a muddy red and shimmering silver coating. It had bright orange eyes similar in design to that of a frog's, carried some kind of metal armaments on each of its legs as well as four grey toes on its feet that stretched out in a plus-sign formation. Its jaw was massive, and its teeth looked to be made of pure metal. This Pokemon was the Lava Dome Pokemon, Heatran.

The second was a Pokemon with a swan-like body. It was light blue on its sides, but a light yellow stripe ran up the bottom of its chest and stretched out to its neck and head. It had two shimmering pink winks on its sides and one more curled around its back. It had no feet, but instead two tiny dark pink arms at its front. Curled around the Pokemon's head was a yellow growth that looked similar to the shape of a crescent moon. This was the Lunar Pokemon, Cresselia.

The third of Tobias's previously-unseen Pokemon was anthropomorphic, almost human-looking in terms of shape. It had what appeared to be a black dress on with a green stripe on its abdomen, and white legs poked out from the bottom of the dress. The Pokemon possessed no feet on its legs nor fingers on its black, music note-shaped hands. Its head was large compared to the rest of its small, thin-looking body. It had green, wavy hair that looked almost like sheet music. The right side of the Pokemon's head looked almost as if it were wearing a microphone. This was the Melody Pokemon, Meloetta.

The last of Tobias's Pokemon looked similar to Heatran. It was quadrupedal and mostly had red coloring on its body. However, it stood taller than Heatran, and its hind legs were smaller than its front ones. It had a pointed yellow mandible for the underside of its jaw along with two yellow diamond-shaped growths with a thin black stripe running halfway through each on the front of its chest. Its feet were large and cylindrical, with three pointed, yellow claws at their fronts. The majority of its body was egg-shaped, and it had a tail running off its backside. On its back, a large, pipe-like structure curled around into a u-shape. The pipe had six blue lines, along with six cyan blue circles lining it. At the top of the pipe were four yellow growths that seemed to hold the pipe together. Its head vaguely resembled that of a cat's, with its ears jagged-looking and pointed outward diagonally. It also had what appeared to be yellow eyebrows, though there wasn't an inch of hair or fur on the Pokemon's body, and its eyes were bright blue. It was the Steam Pokemon, Volcanion.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Gary exclaimed.

"I'm afraid not," Tobias said, facing away from him. "Now then...you three called yourselves Team Rocket, yes? I'd say it's high time you lot were sent flying." Tobias raised an arm to the sky. His team of Legendary Pokemon positioned themselves for battle, tensing up as they awaited their trainer's orders. "Now, then," He said, a devious smirk appearing on his face, "Fire at will."

Team Rocket scarcely had the time to scream before Ultimeowth was assaulted with a barrage of attacks from Tobias's team of Legendary Pokemon. In a matter of seconds, the once-mighty robot thought to be invulnerable was reduced to burning scrap metal, and the trio inside were launched into the sky.

"Grrrr!" Fumed Jessie. "We were so close to winning!"

"And we would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling Legendary Pokemon," Said Meowth with a long-winded sigh.

"Erm, I hate to add salt in the wound, but…" James trailed off, pulling out a rectangular device with a screen on it about the size of James's head. James himself looked sick, turning pale. "We have a call from the Boss!"

Jessie and Meowth's eyes shot open. "THE BOSS?!"

The screen on the device seemed to answer the Team Rocket Boss's call on its own, and the shadowed figure of Giovanni himself appeared. The trio stifled a yelp, and quickly bowed before their leader. "Hello, Boss!" The three cried in usison. "To what do we owe the pleasure of-"

"Save it," Hissed Giovanni, making the trio freeze up. "Anyways, I see the three of you have been defeated."

"We're sorry, Boss!" The Trio Cried.

Giovanni waved them off. "It is of no concern."

"Wait," Said Meowth, "Really?"

"But what about the mission?" Asked Jessie.

"Yeah, and what about Ultimeowth?" James asked. "You said it was the pinnacle of Team Rocket's technology! You're...not angry about losing it?"

"Of course not," Snapped the Boss, "That thing was never even close to the real potential of Team Rocket's technological might. What I gave you is middle of the line scrap metal in comparison to what I truly have in my arsenal." He leaned back into his chair, letting out a long-winded exhale. "Of course, you were never even piloting it to begin with, so I can't quite blame you either."

Jessie blinked in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said," Replied Giovanni. "You were never controlling that machine at all. I was. Knowing your track record, I would never trust the likes of you with such technology, even if it is subpar in the long run. I simply had you three act as pilots and, more importantly, scapegoats in case I failed."

"I don't understand, sir," James said, "I understand that we're...not exactly the greatest at our jobs, so why choose us to participate in the mission, then?"

Giovanni leaned forward, clasping his gloved hands together. "It's quite simple. My target was that boy, Ash, and you three happen to always be following wherever he goes. You may be inept when it comes to actual assignments, but your travels have gifted me with knowledge of the world's regions and Pokemon." The screen changed, now showing the various exploits of the Team Rocket Trio, such as them running from the disappearing city of Alamos and assisting Ash at the Orange Islands to stop the three Elemental Birds from fighting.

"I chose you," Giovanni said, "Because you know that boy better than any other member of Team Rocket. If I wanted to capture him, my best bet was pretending it was you three after him instead of me. That way, should you, or rather I, be defeated, then neither he nor anyone else would question it. It would practically be any other day of the week for him."

Though it hurt their pride to know their leader only valued them as scapegoats, the Trio couldn't see any flaws in his reasoning, save for one.

"Alright," Said Meowth, "But how come you're not upset about...erm…"

"Failing?" Giovanni finished for Mewoth, earning a hesitant nod from the feline Pokemon. "To be honest, I didn't really care either way. If I had succeeded in capturing the boy, then that's just another asset, I suppose." The screen changed back to Giovanni's shadowed figure, who now leaned back into his seat with one leg perched on top of the other. "If I lost, then it's not a terrible blow. I have my doubts that the Legends would simply surrender themselves because of one human boy, Chosen One or not, as you three were led to believe."

Giovanni shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment. "Er, on another note, how exactly did you three make that projection appear?"

The Team Rocket Trio looked at one another in confusion. "What do you mean?" Asked Meowth. "You were controlling it, weren't you?"

"I programmed no such thing into that machine," Giovanni replied, leaning toward the camera. "How in the name of...never mind." He sat back in his chair with an exasperated sigh. "Back to the point, capturing that boy was never a true priority for me. Besides, it wasn't even my order."

"Not...your order?" Asked James. "Then, who's was it?"

"It's nothing," The Team Rocket Boss replied quickly, "I've said too much already. I want you three to return to headquarters as soon as possible. We'll all be retreating to an underground shelter before Necrozma arrives."

Meowth furled his eyebrows. "Shouldn't we...help fight Necrozma? If he wins, then-"

"He won't," Snapped Giovanni, "That, I know for certain."

Giovanni shut off the communications, and the device James was holding let out a spark and died. The Team Rocket Trio looked at one another blankly, unsure how to process that whole conversation, so they did what they normally did in a situation like this.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIIIIIN!"

Ding!

It took Ash and the others about an hour to return back to Goldenrod City. With the looming threat of Necrozma mere hours away, everyone simply wanted to spend what could be their last moments with their loved ones. The city was quiet. Deafeningly so. There was such an air of choking dread that hardly anyone dared to speak. There was the occasional conversation between Ash and his friends, but they only lasted a minute or two before dying down.

As the group arrived to their tents, Tobias told Ash he was leaving until Necrozma's arrival. He said that his Pokemon were becoming uneasy, as if something was calling to them. Upon releasing his Pokemon from their Pokeballs, his team of Legendary Pokemon gave their trainer one last look of uncertainty. Tobias told them that if there was something they needed to do, they should just do it. He gave them one last smile and thanked them for the journey he'd gone on with their help, and that once what they needed to do was done, that he would always welcome them back. Tobias's Pokemon nodded to their trainer and flew up into the sky before disappearing in a flash of light.

Ash ended up meeting with Paul on his way back to his tent and asked him if he was alright. Even someone like Paul must be terrified out of his mind at the threat of complete annihilation after all. Paul simply said that Ash should worry more about himself, being the Chosen One and all. Though Paul didn't outright say it, Ash knew that what Paul meant by that was far more than what he said. He wished Paul good luck for tomorrow, then headed back toward his tent.

On his way back to his tent, Ash talked with his friends in their tents, telling them that everything would end up alright to try and put their minds at ease. In truth, Ash himself didn't know that. It wasn't as if he himself had any real power. He was just a figurehead to be used in Arceus's stead, and only Arceus had the power to stave Necrozma off.

Upon reaching his tent, he found all of his Pokemon waiting for him, along with Riley and Serena. Riley told Ash he could sense his doubt and fear. When Ash admitted it, Riley followed suit. He told Ash that he was utterly terrified of tomorrow in all honesty. He also told Ash that he believed in him. Arceus chose him, sure, but Ash was Riley's pupil, and that while they haven't travelled together for long, that time they spent together meant the world to him. He believed in Ash not because he was Arceus's chosen one, but because he was a dear friend. He also said Lucario felt the same way. With that, Riley and Lucario walked back to their tent to retire for what could be their last night.

When Ash turned to Serena, next, she had tears in her eyes, and was trembling. She told Ash that she was scared. So much so that she could hardly breathe. She'd been able to hold that fear back all day, putting it out of her mind due to Ash's capture, but now she could no longer hold it back. She told Ash that the solemn air that hung over Goldenrod City was choking. Ash embraced her, telling her that everything would be all right in the end. Serena knew Ash was lying, but the sentiment was at least appreciated. She asked Ash if she could sleep with him tonight. How could Ash refuse?

Ash, however, did not sleep in his tent. He instead went out to his Pokemon and laid down on the soft grass in the middle of them all. Serena joined him, holding Ash in a tight embrace. Ash's Pokemon huddled together around their trainer. To them, there was nowhere else they'd rather be. It didn't take long for Serena and Ash's Pokemon to fall asleep, but Ash himself had trouble. He got up, carefully stepping in between his Pokemon to not wake them, but noticed Noivern was awake as well. He smiled down at Noivern, and ushered the Pokemon to follow him.

Zero, who had been resting beside her new friend Hydreigon, had been avoiding Ash ever since she rescued him from Team Rocket. She knew she shouldn't, and that every second with Ash was more precious than any kind of gem. Especially at a time like this. However, she couldn't bring herself to actually go to his side because of Ryder's words that still lingered endlessly in her mind even now.

"You don't have much time left, Project Zero. Your mind will devolve until the only thing you can think about is destruction. You will destroy everything you've ever come to love, or you can come with me and become the weapon you were always meant to be. Those are your only options."

Zero grasped at her head, violently shaking her head. If she were to tell Ash now, it would only cause him more stress, which was the last thing he needed at a time like this. If Zero told him...about her fate...then he would obviously do anything to stop it...but right now, the world itself was in danger, and her own personal worries meant nothing in comparison. If they defeated Necrozma...no...when they defeated Necrozma, she would tell him. She would make sure of that, no matter what.

Serena awoke to find that Ash was missing. She looked around for him, but couldn't find him. Pikachu noticed this as well, and pulled at her pajama leg. Braixen appeared from her Pokeball, insisting that she accompany them. Serena nodded and placed Pikachu atop her shoulder, carefully stepped past Ash's Pokemon, looking around the site but finding no sign of him.

Pikachu hopped off of her shoulder, urging Serena and Braixen to follow. The three of them ran through a forest until finding a clearing. It was a hilltop that overlooked the entirety of Goldenrod City. Serena's eyes glistened in awe at the view, but then she noticed Ash. She ran up to him until she realized what he was doing. Ash and Noivern stood, overlooking the city with a Pokeball in his hand. The Pokeball of Hawlucha.

Noivern was letting tears flow freely, dripping onto the grass beneath. Ash put a hand on Noivern's shoulder, attempting to soothe them. He then wrapped his arm around his Pokemon's shoulder, embracing them. However, he could not do the same for himself. Ash clenched the Pokeball in his hands as he tried with all his might to hold back his own tears, but they squeezed right on through anyways. He couldn't help it.

Serena raced up to Ash, enveloping him in a deep hug. Ash had spent their entire journey together helping her and consoling her. Now, she returned the favor. She gently caressed his hair as he sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder. Once Ash's tears finally died down, he looked back at Hawlucha's Pokeball once more, holding it up to the light of Goldenrod City.

"Will...you bury it?" Serena tentatively asked.

Ash shook his head. "No...not yet." His grip on the Pokeball increased, straining the metal. "Not until Hawlucha is avenged."

Serena looked down at the grass, letting out a deep exhale. She fiddled with her fingers uncomfortably, and her face flushed up as she decided what she was going to do next. She tapped on Ash's shoulder, and before he could say anything, she planted her lips firmly into his. His eyes widened in shock...but he didn't pull away.


Hall of Origins

Once again, Arceus gathered the denizens of the Hall together. Normally, the Legends would be chattering amongst one another until Arceus appeared and inevitably silenced them to begin, but now, it was dead silent. Before Necrozma's onslaught began, the Hall of Origins meetings were few and far between, so when they became more constant, many questions arose. Now, there were no such questions. Everyone knew why they were here. Necrozma was mere hours away, and just as the humans and ordinary Pokemon had a wave of dread nearly smothering them, the Legends, too, felt this same fear. They knew why they were brought here on this day.

Now, every single Legendary Pokemon appeared in the Hall. There were some who were normally exempt from the Hall meetings such as those who were caught by Trainers were called to this one. Even the Goddess of all Pokemon, Mew, was called, and she sat on a small elevated pedestal next to where Arceus would be seated upon his arrival. The artificial Pokemon, save Mewtwo, were still exempt, as they were not considered Legends. Mewtwo's case was simply special treatment on account of his battle against Necrozma.

Latias couldn't help but to notice her brother, Latios, was there as well. But...that made no sense! He sacrificed himself to stop a tsunami and save the city of Alto Mare, so why then, was he now here?! How was such a thing possible?! Latios apparently ended up noticing Latias's odd stare toward him and averted his gaze. Latias felt a part of her shatter at seeing her beloved brother treating her as if she were a complete stranger.

Arceus appeared at the Hall's largest seat as he normally did, making Giratina and Lugia scowl. The Alpha Pokemon cleared his throat and said, "May I have thine atte-"

"You can put that to rest," Snapped Giratina. "Just get on with the meeting."

Arceus gave his firstborn son the evil eye for a moment, then turned back around to address the rest of the Hall. "Very well," Arceus said, "Let's get on with it then." Arceus lightly stamped his foot, resulting in a noise that sounded almost like a gong. A screen appeared on the floor of the Hall, and on that screen was a vision of a colossal fleet of jet-black ships soaring through space.

"I need not remind you for the umpteenth time," Spoke Arceus, "But Necrozma and his forces will arrive in roughly twelve hours from now. That…" He trailed off, looking about the hall at the various Legends gathered. "...will be our last chance at stopping him."

The screen showcasing Necrozma's fleet disappeared, reverting the Hall back to its normal bright white coloring. "That," Said Arceus, "Is why I have called you all here. He nodded toward Darkrai and the rest of Tobias's team. "Even the ones who have responsibilities regarding their trainers."

'Their Trainers?!' Exclaimed Latias to herself upon noticing Arceus's nod toward her brother. 'Is that where Latios has been?!'

Arceus continued speaking, snapping Latias out of her train of thought. "To most of us, the battle against Necrozma is a matter of life or death." He looked down toward Deoxys with an empathetic expression. "To some of us...it means much more."

Deoxys narrowed his eyes. "Indeed," He said. "Necrozma was responsible for the complete destruction of my home planet." His tendrils changed shape into fists, which the DNA Pokemon clenched furiously at the memory of the dark menace Necrozma annihilating his planet. "I escaped onto a meteor, but just barely. I watched as my planet was reduced to rubble before going into a hibernation of sorts…"

Deoxys's fist relaxed slightly, and he looked back up at Arceus, his expression softened. "I don't know how much time passed since then, but I eventually wound up here." He looked over toward Rayquaza. "When I first arrived here, I was met with...resistance."

Rayquaza sheepishly averted his gaze, but Deoxys shook his head. "No," Said the DNA Pokemon, "It's quite alright. You were simply doing your duty as a guardian to this planet when you attacked me." He looked back toward Arceus next. "But when our battle was over, and I didn't know what to do, Lord Arceus gave me a home here on this world."

Deoxys took to the knee, bowing to the Alpha Pokemon. "In my time of need, Arceus allowed me to take refuge here on Earth. For that, I will be grateful until the day I die." Rising to his feet once more, Deoxys continued and said, "So, my goal is not exclusively revenge for my old home. I have a new home now, and I refuse to let it die like the last!

A wave of clapping resounded through the Hall. Many of the Legends who were dreading the coming hours found a sort of solace in Deoxys's rallying speech, pushing their trepidation away for the moment. "Well said, Deoxys!" Praised Arceus. "That was a wonderful speech!"

Deoxys bowed once more and nodded. "I was simply expressing my feelings, milord."

Arceus nodded to him and turned to address the rest of the hall. "Whatever your intentions were, it was quite magnificent nonetheless. Which brings me to my point of bringing you all one last time before Necrozma arrives." A wistful expression came over Arceus's face, and the deity Pokemon looked up toward the bright white ceiling of the Hall of Origins. "I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, per se, nor do I wish to ruin the mood, especially after Deoxys's speech, but…"

Arceus let out a long-winded sigh and closed his eyes. "What I mean to say to you all is...I'm sorry."

The Legends immediately looked at him in confusion. They eyed one another as if they had any inkling as to what their father meant, and eventually turned back to him. "Milord?" Asked Rayquaza. "I'm...not following…"

Arceus let out a dry chuckle. "Perhaps most of you don't even recall what I'm about to tell you, since I've acted this way for so long…but…" Arceus turned back toward Giratina, his firstborn son and the Renegade Pokemon. "There is one among us besides myself who will never be able to forget...since he received the full brunt of it."

Giratina's everlasting scowl didn't falter at that. He simply scoffed, refusing to meet Arceus's gaze.

Arceus nodded sadly and turned away from him. "Most of you were either too young or didn't even exist yet when Mew and I first sculpted the world, so you didn't know what...I used to be like."

The head of the Hall didn't speak for a few minutes, resulting in a deafening and incredibly awkward silence for many minutes later. Every denizen of the Hall of Origins inwardly sighed in relief when their father next spoke. "I suppose I should start from the beginning, then."

The floor-wide screen reappeared, making the white hall go dark except for the screen's light. It no longer showed the approaching fleet of Necrozma. Instead, Arceus and Mew were shown, floating in the middle of a large field of debris in the middle of space.

Mew looked over at Arceus with worry on her face and whispered, "Is it okay to be showing them this?"

Arceus nodded. "After the way I've ruled this world and them, they deserve to know everything."

He cleared his throat and spoke to the Legends. "This is...your origin and the origin of our home, Earth." On the screen, Arceus and Mew closed their eyes and began emitting a bright white light. The rubble surrounding the two began glowing as well, then started floating forward away from the two. The debris clashed together violently, becoming white-hot due to the friction, and melted together. "Mew and I shared a dream," Arceus said, "A dream of a place where life other than us could exist. By that time, the Universe already had planets and meteors scattered everywhere. We gathered some and fused them together to create our own planet."

On the screen, all of the debris had successfully merged together, creating a gigantic sphere that shined a brilliant white light. "However," Said Arceus, "The world we created was not yet inhabitable." Evidenced by this, the screen zoomed in on the world, which was coated in magma and violent storms. In some places, whatever land that had managed to appear was constantly warping in shape, and the storms radically changed in speed at different intervals. "Our world was imbalanced. Chaotic. Inhospitable to the life we so dearly wished for...but then…"

The vision next showed Arceus glowing brightly once more until three different glowing lights appeared from his body. The first was dark purple, and turned into Giratina. The second was pink, and turned into Palkia. The third was cyan in color, turning into Dialga. "The Elemental Plates were something I always had. Using their incredible power, I created three entities, capable of controlling the very fabric of time, space and matter. I trained them to harness their powers, and used them to give proper balance to the world. Since they were so useful, I dotingly nicknamed them my Thousand Hands." The infantile Creation Trio flew down to the world with Arceus and Mew watching them from above. Palkia gave shape and form to the land, Dialga restored the proper flow of time to it, and Giratina added to it, making the world grow larger.

"However," Arceus said, "They alone could not fix our world. Though a proper balance was brought to it, it was still incredibly hot and inhospitable." The Arceus in the vision began glowing once more. This time, he created a green light that became Rayquaza, a red light that became Groudon and a blue light that became Kyogre. "So, I created more life forms. I created Kyogre to, in turn, create the world's oceans and Groudon to make sure there was still enough land for life to be born on. Rayquaza's purpose was to be a balancing factor between these two, making sure one didn't have power over the other. Later on, his duties were expanded to protecting the Earth from outside dangers like meteors or other, hostile life forms."

Mew, in the vision, was shown to be creating vast amounts of other life forms to inhabit the oceans. Ancient Pokemon like Kabuto and Omanyte appeared in droves. "As I created new life forms with the power to bring balance to our world, Mew began creating life forms of her own. Though they were weaker than my creations, hers came in vast quantities." The screen showed an Omanyte attempting to crawl out of the water, only to be scorched by the burning-hot lands and retreat back into the ocean. "However," Arceus said, "Only a few of Mew's creations were able to withstand the landscape, and those that were able to could not live in the ocean." The oceans began growing at incredible speeds, drowning most of the land until only two-thirds of the land remained. The only inhabitants of said land were creatures born from lava and rock, such as Slugma and Roggenrola.

"The land was barren for the most part, while the ocean was flourishing with Mew's life, so I allowed Kyogre to expand the oceans in order to cool the land faster. Needless to say, Groudon was unhappy with my decision, sparking an endless rivalry between the two." The present-day Arceus looked down and let out a deep sigh. "That," He said, "Was the first among a long line of endless follies from me."

The heat of the land was shown sizzling the water that made contact, resulting in steam that floated up into the sky. Eventually, the steam began bundling up together into clouds and rained water back down not only into the ocean, but the land as well. "With the increase in ocean water, excess heat carried the water into the sky and created the first rain. I was, at the time, ecstatic, not giving any attention to the unhappiness I had caused Groudon in the process. I was...too self-absorbed. Blinded by my exhilaration with the world's progress."

The rain coated most of the world, forcing many Pokemon that existed on land to flee for areas it didn't cover, either to large volcanic areas or underground. However, grass and other foliage began growing in their place. "As the early land Pokemon, which we called Magical Creatures at the time, fled, new forms of life were able to surface on their own. Yet again, I paid no attention to those who were hurt, and instead focused solely on the changes. However, this is where the changes ended for the time being, and so I attempted to force them to occur."

The screen showed Arceus speaking with Mew in an excited fashion. "I had asked Mew to experiment with ways for life to adapt on its own, with no need for us to constantly create more. At first, the two of us were stumped until Mew had the idea to give already-existing life forms the ability to change themselves over time. We nicknamed this phenomenon "Evolution.""

On the screen, Mew's life forms began glowing and changed into different, more powerful forms. Omanyte turned into Omastar. Slugma turned into Magcargo. The non-sentient life forms such as grass began changing as well, growing into bushes, flowers and the first tree. "That tree," Arceus said, "Is now the Tree of Life. Upon its creation, many creatures flocked to it, using it for homes and food. Mew took interest in the tree, seeing immense amounts of potential for further evolution of our creations."

Mew, in the vision, flew down to the first tree and surrounded both herself and it in a brilliant white light. "Mew split half of her life force and gave it to the first tree, bonding with it. The tree ingrained itself firmly, spreading its roots all across the world and growing into an immensely large size. More unique life forms began springing up across the world afterward, and many of them flocked to the Tree of Life. "Due to the Tree of Life's creation, new life forms such as plants and other sentient creatures were created across the globe. This new explosion of life came at the cost of Mew's freedom, and since her life was bound to the tree, if it died, she would go with it."

The vision next showed Arceus bowing to Mew, an act the Hall of Origins's denizens believed to be an apology. Mew, however, waved him off nonchalantly and went back inside the tree. "Mew said the change didn't bother her so long as she had means of entertaining herself and she could observe life growing. Leaving the Tree of Life became problematic and incredibly uncomfortable for her, however, and as you all know, she rarely ever decided to leave it since."

The Arceus in the screen was shown to no longer be as ecstatic as he once was, and soon fell into an obvious depression. "Without my partner Mew at my side, I began growing lonesome. I could not interact with the world as much as I wished, as my presence would cause a disturbance, and my position as overseer of the world prevented me from seeing her too often. The occasional visits from my three original sons were nice, but fleeting, and I could not interact much with the Weather Trio due to them being Earthly in nature."

Earth's earlier stages were soon becoming unbalanced as well, as the screen showed. Life forms soon began overpopulating the world. They fought over resources, and when there wasn't any, they withered and grew weak. "Another imbalance occurred. At the time, the earlier life forms couldn't die, as their lives were directly supported by my energy, or my "Aura" rather. This…" The present Arceus bowed his head and let out another long-winded sigh. "...Was my next great folly."

Past Arceus was shown travelling down to the Tree of Life, and Mew soon appeared to confront him. "I explained the situation to Mew, and the two of us attempted to devise a solution. She proposed creating another planet entirely and dividing their populations, but I told her that would only slow the problem, and we couldn't keep creating worlds forever. Eventually, our Aura would run dry, and we would perish. With no one to govern the worlds, they would perish as well."

Arceus of the past and Arceus of the present mirrored an expression: Remorse. "Then...we figured out a solution…" The oldest of the early life forms began wrinkling and withering, until eventually, they stopped moving altogether and their bodies turned to dust. "We...allowed them to die…" Arceus of the past was shown creating three more lights. A whitish-pink one that turned into Xerneas, a black and red one that turned into Yveltal and a black, white and green one that turned into Zygarde's united form.

"I created Xerneas to oversee the creation of new life, Yveltal to become the bringer of death, and Zygarde to keep balance between the two, just as I did for Groudon and Kyogre with Rayquaza." Many of the oldest Pokemon quickly began withering away into nothingness while other younger versions were born in their pre-evolved states. "Almost all life was extinguished, and all new life was given a new genetic coding detailing slight adaptations with each new generation. As old Pokemon died, their remains allowed for new life to be born such as plants, which would in turn feed the deceased Pokemon's descendants."

Present Arceus raised his head once more. "Though our solution ended up working, the Legendary Pokemon who existed at the time, who could not die by aging as normal Pokemon, were shaken by the sudden death of the old Pokemon." He looked over to Giratina, who once again turned away from him. "None of them ever forgot...and one never forgave."

The plan of Mew and Arceus seemingly ended up working. With every passing generation, the new one became slightly stronger for the most part, and some species ended up entirely turning into new ones to better suit the environment they lived in. "The dream of a life-filled paradise Mew and I shared died and became a desperate struggle to fix our past mistakes. Though I agonized over the deaths of my creations, neither Mew nor I could deny that our solution worked. With every generation, a new slight change came about in every species. We called this a "Secondary Evolution."

The screen showcased various Pokemon performing their normal evolutions once or twice, then fading away in place of a younger one, which followed the life of their predecessor and ended up the same way. This repeated endlessly, until the species of Pokemon eventually changed into an entirely new one. Eventually, they turned into something different than a Pokemon altogether. "Then," Said Arceus, "The humans emerged. They were more sophisticated than any Pokemon, forming vast communities together and creating technology, making scientific discoveries and doing things not even I imagined was possible."

Then, the screen showed Giratina making contact with the early humans. Arceus's expression furled into one of discomfort, but he continued speaking in spite of that. "Giratina...took interest in the humans and regularly interacted with them. Eventually, those early humans formed a cult around Giratina." Arceus let out another long-winded sigh, and Mew gave him a concerned look when she saw the pain on his face. She then looked over at Giratina, and she could practically feel the malice radiating from him as he looked down at the screen.

"Then," Said Arceus, "I made my...greatest mistake." The screen showed the past Arceus descending down from the skies to confront Giratina with rage plastered on his face. He crashed down before the civilization of humans, knocking down many of their buildings in the process. "In my younger pride and foolishness, I demanded to know why Giratina was attempting to interfere with the lives of the humans." The younger Giratina was shown flying from the town to face Arceus. "He told me that he had the right to interact with the humans, and called me a monster who destroyed his own creations. He said that he would be a better ruler than I."

Arceus's shaking voice betrayed him, showing the other Legends the pain Arceus felt at reliving these memories. "...I was foolish...so, so foolish...Giratina saying that made me fly into a fit of rage. I attacked him mercilessly, not giving him the chance to retaliate or flee." Past Arceus was shown relentlessly throwing a volley of attacks at the young Giratina and catching the attention of the humans. "The humans, seeing their deity being attacked, rushed from their homes and began throwing rocks, wood and anything else they could find." The young Giratina was knocked to the ground in front of them, and Arceus stood over his collapsed body. The fury in Arceus's eyes made the humans cower in fear. Even the Legends gathered in the Hall of Origins felt shivers run down their spine at seeing Arceus's rage-filled glare.

"So," Uttered Arceus, "I attacked them as well...but not before proving just how ruthless of a tyrant I used to be." A black void suddenly opened underneath the young Giratina, and he was slowly pulled through it. He pleaded with Arceus for mercy and forgiveness, and received no answer. The terrified Giratina said his father's name one last time before being completely dragged through and disappearing.

Arceus trembled at the memory, and his voice shook now more than ever. "I...banished Giratina to a world opposite of our own. This world's shadow, if you will...The Reverse World, where reality itself was warped beyond comprehension, and light was barely present." Past Arceus then turned his fury-filled gaze toward the humans. Some of them began running, whereas others bowed before the one who banished their deity and begged for mercy. Arceus looked past them at the city they created, and completely eradicated it. He then disappeared from sight without looking back at humans whose civilization he destroyed.

"I spared the lives of the humans, but completely destroyed their homes and halted their evolutionary process as well, dooming them to stagnation. The Pokemon who witnessed the event declared the humans as their enemy. The humans, who were vengeful over the loss of their home and their deity, turned their anger toward the Pokemon." The screen then showed the humans rebuilding their homes, along with primitive weapons like spears and swords. Their new home was raided by a horde of Pokemon, and blood spilled by the lakefull. "This sparked the first of many wars between humans and Pokemon. For millions of years, wars broke out between the two. There were even civil wars between humans and Pokemon between factions who wished for coexistence, which ironically led to the first union between the two races."

The Arceus of the past appeared once more, overlooking the world. He enveloped himself in a brilliant white light, and suddenly, a myriad of lights surrounded him, becoming other beings. They were other Legendary Pokemon, and were sent down to inhabit the world. "At that time, my past self could not escape my own fury. Instead of realizing my mistakes and fixing them, I created more Legendary Pokemon for the sole purpose of having something to directly rule over just to put my mind and ego at ease."

The Arceus of the past was then shown opening a golden-white hole in space-time into an empty, white void. The deity Pokemon gave it form, creating a row of tall, gigantic white chairs with two at their head. "Thus, I created the Hall of Origins, where I could directly call all Legendary Pokemon to discuss my orders." Present-day Arceus turned his gaze up from the screen to the denizens of the Hall. "Don't mistake my meaning," He said, "While it was the intention of my foolish younger self to create you all for the explicit purpose of having something to subjugate, I quickly came to realize you were all far greater than that. I don't regret creating any of you, not in the slightest. I love you all just as a father would love his children."

An audible scoff was heard from Giratina, which Arceus promptly ignored, looking back down to the screen on the floor. "As the years went by, my rage ended up subsiding for the most part. I once again found joy in watching the development of the common Pokemon, and even the humans as well. Conveniently, I'd managed to put Giratina out of my mind all the while. This peace lasted for many centuries until…" Past Arceus's face seemed alarmed, and he disappeared from the Hall of Origins, reappearing before the world. A colossal object was hurtling toward the planet, threatening to destroy everything he worked so hard for. "I received an alarmed message from Rayquaza. He told me a colossal meteor was on its way toward Earth, and he couldn't stop it."

Past Arceus appeared in the meteor's collision path from a brilliant white portal and rocketed toward it, surrounding himself with the Elemental Plates. "I took matters into my own hands. Using the Plates, I collided with the meteor head on, but the crash knocked them from my grasp and sent them scattering across the land below, along with the meteor's fragments." The screen showed Arceus's collision, ending with a blindingly bright explosion. Arceus himself ended up falling like a ragdoll onto the scoured land below where he lay unmoving.

"Without my plates, my life force would inevitably cease," Explained Arceus. "What's more, without my plates, I no longer had the strength to retrieve them. However…" The screen showed a human dressed in rags, dragging along one of Arceus's plates. Though it appeared to be incredibly heavy for the man, he pushed himself to help Arceus, and eventually managed to return it to him. "That man was Damos, the human that saved my life, as well as the world itself. Thanks to him, I had the strength to retrieve the rest of the Elemental Plates."

From underneath the collapsed debris, Arceus's plates rose up one after another, fusing with the deity Pokemon once more. Arceus rose back to his feet and thanked Damos. "I was able to stop the collision and, thanks to Damos, survive as well. However, it came with a cost." The screen showed a barren, grey landscape covered in snow. Flowers were buried and crushed underneath the frost, and trees quickly began losing their leaves due to the harsh winter winds. "The meteor's explosion caused an artificial winter around the globe for years to come, but no land felt the winter's icy claw more than Michina Town, the place directly below where the explosion occurred and Damos's home."

In the vision, Arceus and Damos conversed about what to do. Eventually, the Alpha Pokemon summoned his plates once more and fused five of them together to create an orb that glowed green and housed a gentle white light within that stretched out in tendrils in all directions until being stopped by the orb's walls. "I merged the Meadow, Splash, Earth, Zap and Draco plates together to create the Jewel of Life, allowing the scorched land to be replenished into its former glory."

True to Arceus's word, the cold, icy land was immediately replaced with one of lush gardens and flowing rivers as far as the eye could see. "I told Damos, however, that it was only a temporary respite and that I would return for the Jewel one day. My life would eventually fade without it, after all." The past Arceus gave Damos one last nod before leaping into the air and disappearing through a portal. The scene then shifted to Arceus's re-appearance at a desolate-looking temple. "When I returned for the Jewel of Life, Damos and his cohort Marcus lured me into a trap."

The vision of Damos ushered Arceus to follow him, luring him through the temple until he was told to stop, and that the Jewel of Life would promptly be delivered back to him. Suddenly, the walls were lined with Electric-Type Pokemon, which Arceus no longer had any resistance to due to his missing plates, and attacked him all at once. A hole in the roof opened up, dropping dozens of large boulders and attempting to crush Arceus underneath. "I was able to withstand the assault and destroyed the temple in a blind rage. True to my incompetant younger self's nature, I left the Jewel of Life buried underneath the rubble and went off far away into deep space for thousands of years to regenerate my strength."

Past Arceus, after having reduced the temple to rubble, flew up into the sky and disappeared. The humans were left bewildered as to why their god destroyed the temple, as they were not privy to Damos's betrayal. Present Arceus bowed his head. "This was my second greatest folly." The screen showed Groudon and Kyogre attacking one another while Rayquaza fought the two of them at once. Eventually, the masters of Land and Sea lost their glow and retreated underground into a deep slumber. Palkia and Dialga met one another in a void of space time, where they battled with one another for centuries after.

"Because of my absence, the world struggled to retain its balance. Mew tried her best to keep our creation together, but was unable to make much of a difference from within the Tree of Life and resigned to letting our creation govern itself." The vision then showed thousands of years rolling by. More life began to emerge, and human civilization expanded rapidly with new groundbreaking inventions and scientific breakthroughs happening almost yearly. "Ironically, I believe my period of absence to be the greatest stage of development this world has ever seen. Humanity figured out how to undo my curse on their own, using their natural genius to record and pass knowledge along to every new generation, allowing for civilizations I would never have thought to be possible. What's more, several new Legendary Pokemon were born from the Tree of Life rather than I, such as the Swords of Justice and the Elemental Birds."

The screen then showed the Hall of Origins during Arceus's leave, which had become grey, barren and was crumbling. "However, the Legends were affected immensely by my absence, becoming violent and destructive toward either the world, humanity or one another. Who was it that repaired the void I left behind? It was not I, nor any other Legendary Pokemon." A young, black-haired boy appeared on the screen. He was in his pajamas, running through a town in a hurry. The boy eventually made it to a large building where he received a Pikachu and was inevitably electrocuted by it. "It was a young human boy by the name of Ash Ketchum."

Ash was shown dragging his newly-obtained Pikachu by a rope and thick rubber gloves, earning a few chuckles from the Hall members. He was then shown running from a large flock of angry Spearow and using his body to defend the Pikachu from them. Before he could be attacked, however, the Pikachu jumped up and scared them away with a large Thundershock attack. Ash and Pikachu then went on, gathering new allies both human and Pokemon alike to chase their dreams while defeating almost anything thrown their way.

Then, Ash found himself on an island with several other trainers. They were gathered here by one person for the goal of becoming the most powerful trainer, or so they were led to believe. In all actuality, they were gathered by the genetic clone of Mew, aptly named 'Mewtwo' to test the power of Mewtwo's cloned Pokemon before he would go on to eradicate all natural life and replace them with his 'genetically superior' clones.

Mew, sensing the danger, appeared to stop her clone. As she fought her clone, the original Pokemon on the battlefield below them fought their own clones as well in a brutal death match. They would have killed one another if it weren't for Ash, who stepped in between the two Legends, being reduced to stone in the process. The apparent loss of their close friend drove Ash's comrades to tears, as well as the Pokemon and even Clone Pokemon who could sense the pointlessness of their battle after Ash's sacrifice. Their tears ended up melting the stone away, essentially reviving Ash. Mewtwo was taught a great lesson about life on that day, and Mew was reminded that even she, with all her age and power, had much to learn when it came to life too.

Ash was then shone going to a variety of different places and meeting many Legends. The Orange Islands were first, where he'd met Lugia and helped him calm the Elemental Birds. Then a land of mystique, where he met Entei. "Most of you have met the boy at some point or another. Some even had their lives saved by him. Even me." Ash and his friends were then shown going to a town atop a large plateau, where Palkia and Dialga dueled one another, threatening to erase the town's very existence, along with everyone in it. Ash, with the help of his friends and the townsfolk, were able to put a stop to their fighting and restore the town. Ash was then dragged into Giratina's Distortion World by the Renegade Pokemon. However, Ash ended up actually saving him from a psychotic man who shared the name of Ash's youngest companion, Zero, though they had no actual relation besides that, with the help of another Legendary Pokemon, Shaymin. Finally, Ash came upon Michina Town's remnants.

"Fate must have had some sort of hand here. What happened next could not possibly be mere coincidence." Ash was shown walking about a lakeside until Dialga suddenly appeared above it. Below Dialga, Giratina appeared from the lake and attempted to attack the Temporal Pokemon. "Apparently, Giratina had managed to find a way to temporarily escape from Distortion World during my absence, and used this to seek retaliation against Dialga and Palkia due to their battling, which caused great damage to his world."

Palkia then appeared as well, fighting against Giratina to save Dialga. A woman dressed in white robes attempted to stop them by unifying her heart with theirs, but the power of the Creation Trio was overwhelming. "Since Ash had previously quelled Palkia and Dialga's madness, they no longer had any reason to battle against one another, and worked together to stop Giratina. That woman's name is Sheena. She is a direct descendant of Damos, and tried to cease their battle unsuccessfully." Without hesitation, Ash dove straight into the lake to put a halt to the fight himself. Giratina thrashed wildly in the water, nearly drowning Ash in the process until he saw the boy. While Giratina was momentarily stopped, Sheena was able to communicate with him and stop the battle entirely.

"With the immediate danger now over, Sheena and another human by the name of Kevin thanked Ash by showing him and his friends the inside of the temple, which their ancestors had restored after I destroyed it." Ash and his friends were shown walking through the temple behind Sheena, marvelling at ancient paintings of the Creation Trio until they came to a room with a strange device. It had five spheres. A black one at the bottom, representing the Distortion World. A blue one, representing the normal world. A pink one, representing Palkia and space. A blue one representing Dialga and time. Finally, at the center of them all was a golden one larger than any other, representing Arceus himself.

"These humans, Kevin and Sheena, somehow created a device that could monitor disturbances in the fabric of space, time and reality. They called it the Time-Space Axis." On the screen below, the Time-Space Axis began shaking violently. Shocked, Sheena and Kevin rushed outside with Ash and his friends following close behind. The present day Arceus let out a humm as he watched the events re-unfold once more. "Having been slumbering in a far-off galaxy and absorbing its power, I used the energy from it to make up for what I lost from the meteor impact and the Jewel of Life. Now, it was finally the time for my return."

Arceus emerged from a portal high above Michina Town. Above the deity Pokemon's head, a swirl of white energy manifested together, then rained down upon the town. Sheena emerged from the temple, urging him to stop. She took a scepter out, containing the Jewel of Life, or at least she believed it to be. "The Jewel she had was a farce. A trap laid by Damos, or rather Marcus, in days past so that when I came once more, I would be unable to locate it and the land might survive." Past Arceus then smashed the false gem to pieces and continued his rampage. Palkia, Dialga and Giratina appeared once more to defend Ash and the others, inciting more rage from the Alpha Pokemon.

"This...is a testament to just how foolish and self-absorbed I truly was," Arceus said sadly, looking down at the screen. "Believing Palkia and Dialga to have betrayed me, and that Giratina was up to what I thought as more schemes revolving around humans, I attacked the three of them without mercy, just as I had done to Giratina alone all those years ago." Past Arceus then used Judgement, tearing up the landscape and threatening the lives of all who lived in it. Palkia and Dialga rushed to block the attack from harming the humans, but were knocked to the ground.

"As a last ditch attempt, Dialga sent Ash and his friends back in time to stop Damos's betrayal," Explained Arceus. "However, when they arrived, they eventually found out that Marcus had hypnotized Damos, and he was the true betrayer all along." The screen showed Arceus being lured into the same area once more, but instead of being buried under rubble, cement poured from the walls and submerged Arceus. The electric Pokemon from before, taking advantage of Arceus's weakness, trapped him long enough for the cement to submerge him almost completely.

"I thought that was the end for me," Arceus admitted. "But Damos was able to rekindle our bond and help me regain consciousness. Ash delivered the Jewel of Life back to me, returning me to my full power and saving my life." The screen showed Ash and the others floating up back into the sky with Arceus, until the group suddenly disappeared. More cement began erupting from the walls, making the inner sanction of the temple crumble and taking Marcus with it. "With their goal complete, Ash and the others returned to their normal time. What happened next was...foggy in my memory. I remember two distinct happenings: One where the betrayal occurred, and one where Ash stopped it. To this day, I'm not sure which one was real, but it no longer matters."

Ash and the others appeared back in the present day on the screen, where Arceus was still rampaging. "It took a moment for the effects of the time travel to catch up with me. Apparently, that entire history where I'd left after the betrayal never ended up happening, yet I remember it occurring. I assume all of you remember both of the parallel histories as well." In the vision, Arceus stopped his rampaging upon Ash calling out to him. The events and memories of what happened in the past suddenly appeared in the deity Pokemon's memory, and he undid the damage he'd caused to Michina Town.

"At last, I had returned to the world. What's more, Ash had managed to both save my life and scour my rage. If only the same could be said of my pride." Arceus was shown speaking with Ash and his friends before leaping up into the air and disappearing from sight, repeating his initial meeting from Damos in a sense. "My retaking of the Jewel of Life did return the land of Michina Town to the winter wasteland it used to be. However, the rest of the world had returned to normal, which allowed for the town and its lands to follow suit at a faster pace than what would have been possible had I never used the Jewel. Damos and the other humans of Michina Town worked incredibly hard to restore it as well, and it eventually became just as much of a paradise as it was with the Jewel of Life."

The screen then showed Ash continuing his journey, eventually losing the Sinnoh League and going to Unova and Kalos as well. "I decided to make Ash my "chosen human," seeing as how he saved me in more ways than one and later saved most of you. That would...lead us to today." The screen faded, returning the Hall of Origins to its bright white form. Looking back up to the rest of the Legends, Arceus said, "However, as I said before, my blinding pride soon took hold once more, and I resumed leading the Hall of Origins. I found Pokemon who were one of a kind and immediately dubbed them Legends so the Hall would be more lively. At least, that's what I told myself."

Arceus's eyes showed a tired sadness that resounded in the hearts of most of the Legends who saw it. "Once again," Arceus said, "Do not mistake my meaning. Just as I have no regrets in creating you all, it's the opposite in fact, I also have no regrets in appointing you all as Legends and members of the Hall of Origins." He let out a chuckle, saying, "In fact, I might do it again if I find more one-of-a-kind Pokemon that were born in my absence. There could still be many I never found." Arceus laughed, but cut it short when no one else did.

Clearing his throat, Arceus continued. "Anyways, as I was saying, my pride had still shut my eyes to my various folly's. I believed that I could simply pick up where I left off as the Hall's Leader, neglecting to even consider your feelings." Arceus turned to Giratina, whose scowl had only deepened after witnessing Arceus's story. "None have been dealt a worse injustice than you, Giratina. I'm sorry for that. Once the Necrozma threat has been dealt with, I will gladly give you your freedom to wander wherever you please."

Giratina scoffed. "Once I'm free, I'm getting the hell away from this planet and never coming back." His eyes narrowed at Arceus, showing a deep rage that burned like an inferno. "If you give me my freedom, you'll never see me again. Are you prepared to deal with that?"

To everyone in the Hall's surprise, Arceus nodded. "I have kept you trapped for far too long," Arceus said softly. "If your wish is to use your freedom to abandon this world, then I don't blame you. What you do with your life will be exclusively your choice."

Giratina's shock was evident, but he quickly regained his composure, looking away from the deity Pokemon. Nodding to him, Arceus then turned back toward the rest of the Legends. "I made far too many mistakes in my past, and only realized that they were mistakes in general at the end of the last meeting." The father of all Pokemon then turned to his next firstborn sons, Palkia and Dialga. "Just as Giratina had said, Palkia and Dialga were terrified of me. With how much of a tyrant I acted, I couldn't blame them. I assume many of you feel similarly."

Arceus closed his eyes tightly as if he felt immense pain and shook his head. "After my first battle against Necrozma, for the first time in my life, I felt that my full power was meaningless. None of my attacks scratched him in the slightest, and what was worse, he ended up being the reason why Yveltal went missing." Slowly, the Alpha Pokemon opened his eyes raising his head. "I know Yveltal yet lives somewhere. If he died, then all life on Earth would have perished. But...at the moment when Necrozma attacked him...I felt the heart-stopping fear of watching a loved one die…"

Arceus shook his head again, more vigorously this time. "During my next battle against Necrozma, the one that took place after the last Hall meeting, I felt complete, utter helplessness." The Alpha Pokemon turned a sorrowful gaze toward Keldeo, who's eyes widened at seeing his divine father's expression. "The loss of the Swords of Justice, and nearly losing the one who saved my life to that monster Necrozma pushed me over the brink, and I used every last inch of my power against that demon, and yet-!"

Arceus trembled with rage. His eyes were opened as far as possible and glowing a bright crimson red. He managed to cut himself off, realizing his anger was, once again, beginning to overtake him. Letting out a long sigh, Arceus relaxed his body and continued. "And yet...I still wasn't even able to put a scratch on him…"

A series of shocked gasps rang out from most of the Legends, but none dared to speak up and interrupt their father. Arceus raised his head, opening his eyes and revealing a determination that put the Legends at ease. "However," He said, "When I next confront Necrozma, I will be vastly more powerful than I was previously. Since that battle, I've been gathering as much strength as possible. What's more…" Though Arceus possessed no mouth, the Legends somehow knew he was smiling. "I also have all of you. I revealed my past to you because I trust you all with both my life and my...our world. When the time comes for us to do battle against Necrozma, I want to do it not as the Legends, nor as the members of the Hall of Origins…"

Even now, the sting pain that came from recalling the deaths of the Swords of Justice as well as seeing Rayquaza and Lugia in their broken, battered states that Necrozma had left them in plagued the father of all Pokemon. He never wanted to feel that pain again. "When we confront Necrozma, we shall do it as what we were always meant to be...a family…"

Cheers and clapping from the Legends filled the Hall. Arceus's rallying speech had managed to lift the cloud of dread that smothered the Legends. "That's right!" Cried Keldeo. "I'll make that monster pay for what he's done!"

"We all will" Another voice spoke. It was deep, gruff and raspy like an old man. Those who heard it could feel a chill run down their backs. Turning to the source of the voice, Keldeo found none other than Kyurem, the ruler of Ice and, ironically, considered the most powerful Dragon-Type Pokemon not counting Mega Evolution.

"Kyurem?!" Exclaimed Keldeo. "What...what do you mean?"

"When I heard the Swords of Justice were slain, I could not believe it," Kyurem replied. "Do not think me a monster. Besides you, those three all dueled me at some point or other as well. I respected their strength and their honor." A grin crept up the Ice Dragon's face. "And after our duel, I respect you as well. Even more so to think you fought a demon like Necrozma. I would happily assist in avenging the deaths of the Swords of Justice."

Keldeo was left speechless. To think that one such as Kyurem possessed a code of honor. Perhaps he'd misjudged him. Wiping away a tear from his eyes, Keldeo returned Kyurem's smile with one of his own and nodded. "Thank you, Kyurem! Yes, we will avenge them and make sure no more fall to Necrozma's hands!"

"That we shall," Said Kyurem with a chuckle. "That we shall...and speaking of which…" He turned his head up toward Mew. "Lady Mew, I heard from Arceus during the last Hall meeting that you...weren't going to partake in the battle against Necrozma?"

Mew nodded. "You heard correctly, though it's not to say that I don't want to join you." A smaller screen appeared in front of her, showing the colossal Tree of Life. "My responsibilities are to guard the Tree of Life at all costs. You already know this, but if the Tree dies…" The screen showed the giant tree engulfed in flames with its branches collapsing and falling to the ground. Immediately, the land surrounding it became grey and the plants around the world began dying. "...Everything dies. The Tree of Life houses the largest concentration of Aura in the world, and possibly even the universe. To lose that would be catastrophic."

Mew then turned toward Rayquaza. Mewtwo, who didn't have a seat, leaned against the large seat on the ground beneath Rayquaza. "On an unrelated note, that same Aura has allowed for a miracle to occur. Show them...Mewtwo."

"Very well," Mewtwo replied with a nod. "I would be more than happy to demonstrate the power I obtained thanks to you." Closing his eyes, the clone Pokemon Mewtwo recalled the feeling of transforming. A series of small, blue sparkling lights began surrounding him until they covered his body completely, then exploded outward. When the light faded, Mewtwo had changed into his newly-obtained Mega Form.

Giratina narrowed his eyes at Mewtwo. "Hold on, is that…?" His eyes suddenly went wide, and he reeled back in shock. "Mega Evolution?!" He shook his head in denial. "No," He cried, "That's not possible! There's no way a clone would be able to do something like that!"

"Ordinarily, no," Mew said to him. "However, the Tree of Life apparently deemed him worthy and used its own Aura to make such a miracle possible."

"I could not have done it alone," Mewtwo admitted, looking up at Rayquaza with a smile. "Had it not been for Rayquaza, I would have never been able to achieve this form."

Rayquaza chuckled. "Nah, it was all you. I practically just sat back and watched while you did the heavy lifting."

Arceus spoke up and said, "Well, whatever the case, I won't ask why the two of you were ever in the Tree of Life to begin with." He looked over to his pink counterpart and continued. "If Mew allowed it, I'll allow it. I'm simply glad we have even more power to use against Necrozma now."

Mewtwo closed his eyes, surrounding himself in the bright blue glow for a split second before it dissipated and left him back in his regular state. "Indeed," He said to Arceus. "Though I cannot yet call myself part of this world, I believe that the Tree of Life choosing me was an...acceptance from the world, if you will." The clone Pokemon's deep amethyst eyes narrowed, resolute. "I wish to use the power of the Tree of Life to fell Necrozma, or at least aid in bringing about his end. Once that happens, I believe I can truly say I belong here."

"Think nothing of the sort," Arceus told Mewtwo with his equivalent of a smile. "Mew allowed you into the Tree of Beginning, and the Tree itself allowed you to use its power. Not to mention…" He then turned his gaze to Rayquaza. "It seems you've already found a friend amidst the Hall members. As far as I am concerned, you are more than welcome to call yourself a part of this world."

Mewtwo was taken aback by Arceus's benevolence. "T-thank you, Arceus," He said, lowering his head into a bow. "I won't forget this...I swear, I'll use every last inch of my life force if it means defeating Necrozma and saving this world!"

Arceus shook his head. "There will be no need for that. No one else will have their life taken by that monster! I will make sure of that."

Giratina scoffed. "Is that right? I recall you yourself saying something about being utterly defeated by Necrozma at your maximum power? What exactly is so different now that it makes you think this time will end any differently?"

To Giratina's chagrin, Arceus chuckled at the question. "I'm quite glad you asked. During my previous battle against Necrozma, I indeed lost, and quite badly at that." The Legends could see Arceus was smirking somehow, though the deity Pokemon had no mouth. "However, I was able to get a grasp on his power, and I'm currently absorbing power from different celestial bodies across the universe, barring our own of course. I won't be able to join you all in the battle immediately, but the second my power matches his, I will warp to you and slay Necrozma myself."

Giratina let out a booming laugh. "You must be kidding!"

Arceus warily raised a brow at his firstborn son. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know full well what I'm talking about!" Giratina hissed. "Here you are, talking all big about how you're going to "protect us all," and then say you're staying out of the battle for a time?!"

Arceus sighed. "Giratina, I would never do this if there were another way. I'm not asking you to put your lives on the line while I simply sit back and watch."

Giratina scowled at his father with hatred practically lining his red eyes. "Really? Because that sounds exactly like what you're asking of us."

Mew let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged. "Honestly, Giratina, can you please refrain from acting like a child for one Hall meeting?"

At that, Giratina began laughing like a Poochyena. "Oh, that's rich coming from the likes of you! When, exactly, was the last time you ever helped? Last I recall, it was when," He motioned toward Mewtwo with his head, "That cheap replica first showed his face. I bet you only ever bothered to stop playing with your toys because he had your DNA, and you couldn't stand the idea of someone else being like you!"

Mew's eye twitched, and her fur slowly started to stand on end. "Hold your tongue!" She roared. "That is, unless you desire to be thrashed within an inch of your life!"

"Come on now," Said Arceus, hoping to defuse the situation, "Now is not the time to-"

"Go on, then!" Goaded a grinning Giratina. "Strike me if you dare! Doing so would only further Necrozma's chance of winning!" His eyes and grin widened as an idea struck him. "Or better yet, why don't you actually fight Necrozma, you coward?!" Giratina looked around at the various other Legends and followed up with, "I'm sure I'm not the only one asking the same thing, right?"

Mew glared at Giratina, growling menacingly. "If they do, they're better off not speaking their minds." A bright pink energy crackled around the Mother of all Pokemon menacingly, and any Legend that had been looking at her quickly averted their gaze. Mew smirked and said, "Arceus, continue with-"

"Actually," Said Kyurem, "I've admittedly been wondering about that as well."

Mew slowly looked back at him. Her entire face had gone dark, save for her eyes that had intensified from pink to red. "What…?"

Unfazed by the goddess Pokemon's attempt at scaring him into submission, Kyurem repeated himself. "I've been wondering about that since the last Hall meeting." The Ice Dragon tilted his head, narrowing his bright yellow eyes at Mew's questioningly. "You're tied with Arceus in terms of power, right? Or, I suppose you're a bit behind him now with that energy he's been stockpiling."

"What's your point?" Asked Mew.

"My point, Kyurem said, "Is that, despite your power, you're not actually going to help. Why is that?"

"Arceus and I already told you!" Shouted Mew. "I'm staying behind to protect the Tree of Life! If it dies, everything dies!"

"How exactly is that result different than if Necrozma wins?" Kyurem pointed out. "We can grow another tree, but if Necrozma wins, what planet will be left to grow it on?!"

Mew opened her mouth to try and retort what Kyurem said, but found herself unable to come up with anything. All she could do was grit her teeth and glare at him, for she subconsciously knew Kyurem had a more than fair point, and she couldn't refute it. "Tch…!"

Kyurem let out a sigh, sending a visible, pale breath of frigid air out from his mouth. "Fine, then," He said, "If you're so worried about the Tree, then how about I guard it in your stead while you aid in the battle against Necrozma?"

This sent up an uproar amidst the members of the Hall. Almost all of the Legends collectively shouted out in protest to Kyurem's question. None more so than Keldeo, whom Kyurem had promised to assist in avenging the deaths of the Swords of Justice.

"Excuse me?!" Screeched a furious Mew. "Why would I ever allow you to set one foot in the Tree of Life?! You know it's considered a sin by the highest offense to do so without explicit permission!"

The Ice Dragon narrowed his eyes at Mew, making a grumbling noise that sounded like a mix of a sigh and a growl. "If you allowed your clone to do so, then it must not be all that great a sin after all."

Mew attempted to stammer out a retort. "T-that was...that was a special circumstance! I initially repelled him as well until I saw his resolve to protect the Earth!"

"And my goal is different?!" Kyurem bellowed. "Don't mistake my offer as cowardice, Lady Mew. I would prefer nothing more than to battle against Necrozma, but I am not enough of a fool to think my presence there would be meaningful if Lord Arceus could not strike him down!" He let out another cold breath, sending shivers down the spines of the Legends closest to them, and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Please, Lady Mew," He pleaded, "I swear to you, I am thinking of the greater picture. I am a warrior who values pride and honor above all else, thanks to the Swords of Justice, and I would love nothing more than to avenge them…" He glanced at the only remaining member of the Swords of Justice apologetically. Keldeo could practically see guilt lining the old dragon's eyes. "...but I am not foolish enough to believe that I could do so much as to even hold that monster back. You, however, possess the same power as Lord Arceus, and would have vastly more of a chance at stopping him than I. What's more, no one but you would be more capable of holding your own against Necrozma until Arceus arrives!"

He looked up at the Goddess Pokemon pleadingly and bowed—a gesture that sent gasps up from the Legends. In all of Kyurem's existence, he never bowed to anyone. Not the Swords of Justice, nor the twin heroes of Unova whom had bonded with him to create the region long ago. The prideful Dragon of Ice never even bowed to his creators, until now that is.

"There will be millions of people and Pokemon at the site of the battle," Spoke Kyurem. "I am only thinking about the lives that could potentially be saved...so please...allow me to guard the Tree of Life while you battle Necrozma…"

Mew, ironically, froze up for a few seconds. The look on her face showed she was in deep thought, and the Legends anxiously awaited her decision. Kyurem stayed completely still during this. He did not move, open his eyes, twitch or even breathe until Mew finally gave the Boundary Pokemon her answer.

"I'm sorry, Kyurem...but no…"

Kyurem immediately reared his head back up at her, his yellow eyes wide with fury. "WHAT?!"

"I simply cannot trust something as important as the Tree of Life to someone else," Mew explained. "You yourself admitted that you could not defend yourself against Necrozma. If Necrozma attacked the Tree of Life, there's simply no way you could defend it, and should the Tree be destroyed during the battle against Necrozma, well…" Mew looked down at Kyurem with a coldness to her gaze that Kyurem's ice could never hope to match. "In your own words, there would be no planet left to save."

Kyurem let out a fearsome growl, and ice began crawling down from his pedestal. "Unbelievable…" He seethed, "I sacrificed my honor and pride to bow for you...I told you my reasonings plain and clear, and yet you still deny me?!"

Mew merely scoffed at him. "I told you my reasonings as well," She retorted, "And from my point of view, they counter yours completely. There will be no further discussion on the subject."

Keldeo raised his hoof. "Hold on a minute," He said, "I think Kyurem made some-"

Keldeo's breath was caught in his throat when Mew's gaze met his own. Her stare felt like jagged knives were poking at every inch of his skin, as if daring him to say more. He immediately lowered his hoof and backed down. The Goddess Pokemon sent a hollow smile Keldeo's way, and turned back toward Kyurem. She was about to continue the Hall meeting as if nothing had happened until Giratina spoke up.

"Oh come now, mother," Hissed the Renegade Pokemon, "Let the boy speak his mind."

She turned her ice-cold glare his way. "Excuse me?"

To Mew's annoyance, Giratina only chuckled at her attempt at intimidation. "There's no need for that look," He said, "We're a family now, right?" He looked up at Arceus with an eerie grin planted upon his face. "That's what dear daddy Arceus said, wasn't it? So come on, let little Keldeo talk." Without waiting for Mew's answer, Giratina leaned his head past her and said to Keldeo, "You have the floor. Say whatever you wish."

The firstborn son of Arceus glanced Mew's way, meeting her icy gaze with his own fiery burning one unflinching. "If Arceus and Mew have any respect for any of us here in the Hall of Origins, then they will let us all speak our minds freely. One would have to be heartless to deny someone who's lost so much."

Arceus nodded. "The purpose of this Hall meeting was to bring us closer together before we faced off against Necrozma. I have no objections."

Mew bit her lip, but ultimately decided to allow it. "Very well," She said, looking at Keldeo in annoyance, "Speak your mind, Keldeo."

Keldeo nodded, albeit shakily, and cleared his throat." Th-thank you Lady Mew and Lord Arceus…" He looked at Giratina, finding it difficult to meet the Renegade Pokemon's blood red eyes, and said, "I-I must...thank you as well, G-Giratina, for speaking on my behalf…"

Giratina's wide grin and following chuckle seemed to contradict his actions, making it difficult for anyone to pin down his real motivation in speaking for Keldeo. "Don't mention it," He hissed, "We, who've been so terribly wronged, must stick together...wouldn't you agree?"

The younger Legend could no longer meet Giratina's gaze, what with the ruler of matter's overwhelming presence, and averted his gaze. "I-I suppose so," He said. He then turned back up to Kyurem. Not too long ago, he found the Ice Dragon to be the most intimidating being possible, but in comparison to the likes of Necrozma, Mew and Giratina, Kyurem hardly held a candle to them.

Once again clearing his throat, Keldeo began speaking again. "I d-don't mean any disrespect, Lady Mew, but I have to agree with Kyurem." Glancing over at the aforementioned Ice Dragon, he continued. "Though I would prefer to fight alongside him against Necrozma, I have to agree that having you in the battle as well would put many of our minds at ease, and could potentially save thousands of lives! What's more, Necrozma is appearing at Goldenrod City, which is in an entirely different region than the Tree of Life, so it's not in much danger unless Necrozma decides to simply destroy the planet."

Looking back up at Mew, he said, "But that's something that could be prevented if you were battling him! Not to mention, your Psychic powers could be used to rescue humans and Pokemon as well!"

Mew didn't respond for quite some time, only staring at Keldeo with a blank expression. Seconds that went by soon became minutes, and with every passing moment, Keldeo lost more and more bravado. "Um...right, Lady Mew…?"

"...Sorry, but I still have to decline."

The fierce stomp of Kyurem's foot made Keldeo jump. "Fine, then!" He roared. "If you wish to simply sit in your precious Tree like a coward while the rest of us fight, then so be it!" He sent one last fury-filled, piercing gaze with his bright yellow eyes Mew's way. "But if we survive, I want you to realize the death toll is on your head."

Arceus's eyes widened when he saw what Kyurem was about to do. "Kyurem, wait-!"

The Boundary Pokemon turned around and left through his portal, but not before glancing at Keldeo expectantly. The last remaining Sword of Justice turned back around at Mew, whose expression was still cold and blank, then hopped up onto Kyurem's pedestal and left as well, following him back to the Great Chasm that Kyurem called home.

Arceus bowed his head, letting out a long-winded sigh whereas Mew simply sat back on her seat as if nothing had happened. She even summoned a large pink bubble, bouncing on it like a trampoline with a cheerful smile.

"That was...unfortunate," The now emotionally-fatigued Arceus said, "But let us continue the Hall meeting regardless."

"Oh, really?" Giratina asked, a hint of mischief lining the edge of his voice. "You're going to continue just like that?"

The irritation lining Arceus's expression as he turned to look at his son was evident. "Of course I am," He replied, "We only have so much time left, and I'd like to salvage it before Necrozma arrives."

"Ah yes," Hissed Giratina, "Of course time would be on your mind. Even more so than the injured Legend in our midst."

"What are you on about now?" Arceus asked.

Giratina turned away from his father, instead looking toward Lugia and the Three Elemental Birds. "Take a look at Zapdos over there. I expected you to say something about it, but apparently it didn't warrant your attention, so I decided to speak up about it."

Arceus looked at his son oddly, but followed his gaze toward Lugia nonetheless. Upon looking at the Guardian of the Sea, he found no apparent injury beside the one Necrozma gave him. Moltres and Articuno had some scratches on them, but they didn't appear to be all that detrimental-looking. Then, he saw Zapdos, and his eyes shot open like dinner plates.

"Zapdos!" He cried. "What happened to you?!"

"About time you said something about it," Lugia said with obvious ire. "But how am I not surprised that it took someone else mentioning it to get your attention?" He gave the Renegade Pokemon a nod and said, "I never thought I'd say this in my lifetime, but thank you, Giratina."

"Not a problem at all, brother," Replied Giratina.

Arceus quickly bowed his head. "My apologies, Lugia and Zapdos. With everything else going on, I…"

Lugia shook his head and sighed. "No matter. I was going to say something about it, earlier anyways, but didn't exactly have the chance."

Zapdos looked up at Arceus and let out a shrill screech. "Oh right," Said Lugia, "Do you think you could have Xerneas heal Zapdos's wound?"

Arceus paused briefly. He needed to be far more cautious with himself than how he was during the last Hall meeting. The absolute last thing he needed was for someone else to start another outbreak. He nodded to the silver guardian, then asked, "Zapdos, can you fly with it? It doesn't look too terribly deep at the very least."

The Elemental Bird of Lightning nodded back to Arceus and flapped his wings. It winced, but was able to keep itself airborne, as well as maneuver through the air before landing back upon its designated platform.

"I see," Said Arceus, "By the way, how exactly did this injury occur."

Lugia's eyes suddenly narrowed as the memory of the human invaders, especially Christopher Lee, flashed before his eyes for a split second. "Right...about that…I feel like you would be interested to know that a group of humans decided to invade Fire Island, and take it over at that."

The Alpha Pokemon narrowed his eyes. "I see. What kind of Pokemon did they have with them? It must have been quite the group if they managed to put such an injury on Zapdos's wing."

"Actually," Said Lugia, "This particular group of humans didn't actually possess any Pokemon."

The old Arceus would have barked out a vastly-inappropriate laugh at that in disbelief. The new Arceus, however, knew better, and took a more gentle approach to voicing his skepticism. "Pardon my asking," Said the Alpha Pokemon, "But I'm...not following your meaning…"

"Of course you aren't," Replied an annoyed Lugia. "Now that I think about it, you were probably gone during the rise of man-made weaponry."

Arceus tilted his head in confusion. "I suppose you're right," He admitted, "I don't know what you're talking about. How could anything made by humans rival the power of Pokemon to the extent it could harm a Legend?"

"That is what I want to know," Replied Lugia. "While you were gone all those years, humanity made tremendous leaps and bounds in terms of technology, and of course, more wars broke out just as you said before, but…" He looked at the hole in Zapdos's wing with a deep-seated frown planted upon his face. "No matter how destructive their technology became, they could only put scratches on some of the Legends. The last of these weapons hadn't been seen for hundreds of years, and so I assumed they were all either destroyed or lost to time. Now, though...these humans not only revived these weapons, but made them more powerful than ever."

Arceus hummed and nodded. "I see," He said. "Yes, these humans sound troublesome indeed. Tell me: Why did they come there to those islands? I assumed all the humans were either taking shelter or at Goldenrod City by now."

Lugia's sharp black eyes turned up toward Arceus. "About that, actually…They said the Orange Islands were destroyed during the battle between Necrozma and the Elemental Birds and I. They came here to our islands, accusing us of destroying them and denying Necrozma's existence, as well as demanding that we hand over Fire Island to them so that they could build new homes."

The Beast of the Sea glowered at Arceus accusingly. "From my memory, the Elemental Islands were also destroyed during that battle, yet they were restored upon our re-awakening. Why is it, then, that the rest of the Orange Islands were not?"

Without missing a beat, Arceus replied, "I attempted to do so, actually. Rayquaza can vouch for that. However…" The Alpha Pokemon's eyebrows furled in discomfort at the memory of the survivors gathered at the Orange Islands' remains. "They...neglected to accept my help. I even offered to use the Jewel of Life to restore their homes, but because I could not bring their loved ones back, they rejected both me and any assistance I could have offered."

Lugia narrowed his eyes at his godfather. "Really?" He asked. "Because that's not the story I was given."

"Oh?" Asked Arceus curiously.

"What they told me," Lugia started, his gaze becoming more judgemental with every passing second, "No, what they showed me...Is that you went to the islands and restored it, only to undo that restoration once they set you off!" The Beast of the Seas jumped up onto his feet and pointed his wing at Arceus accusingly. "They never would have came to the islands at all had you simply restored it anyways, or can you simply not control yourselves when you feel you're under attack?!"

Arceus held himself back from exploding out at Lugia, swallowing whatever he was about to mindlessly say and pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts. "...They wished for none of my assistance, and so I gave them just that," He explained. "Not to mention, I need all the strength I can get against Necrozma. If I went back and restored them now, Necrozma would have an assured victory and they would be destroyed regardless."

He looked down upon Moltres's injury and couldn't help but to feel a pang of guilt. "However, I cannot deny your claims regarding my actions leading to their attempted invasion of your homes, and for that," He bowed his head toward the Three Elemental Birds, "I am sorry."

Lugia lowered himself back into his seat and scoffed. However, he still had far more questions for Arceus. "All right, then," He said. "I can concede to your logic there, at least, but that's still not all."

"There's more?" Arceus asked. "Please, do tell."

Lugia frowned deeply, looking down in thought. He could still see the face of Christopher Lee grinning at him from the boat he escaped in whenever the Beast of the Seas closed his eyes. "There was this one human in particular that seemed to be the voice and essentially the brains of all the others."

"Did he mention his name?" Arceus asked, earning a nod from Lugia.

"Indeed," Answered the Sea Guardian. "He called himself Christopher Lee."

Arceus's eyes widened. "What did you just say?!"

Lugia looked at him oddly. "Does the name mean something to you?"

Arceus's expression curled into a frown, and the red glow of his eyes returned. "That man was there at the Orange Islands when I arrived. It was he who turned the humans against me...and you say he was not only there with the ones who invaded Fire Island, but he led them as well?"

"Wait, you met him as well?!" Exclaimed Lugia. "If he was at both places, then…"

Arceus nodded, understanding Lugia's train of thought. "Indeed. That man was there during both times, as if he expected us to show up. If he has weapons that can damage Legendary Pokemon without the need for Pokemon themselves, then…" The Alpha Pokemon's eyes darkened. "I fear that this rabbit hole, per se, goes far deeper than mere coincidence."

Lugia's expression lit up. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "That's exactly what I was thinking, Lord Arceus! What's more, they recorded the battle between themselves, the Elemental Birds and I. I assume Christopher Lee edited the footage he recorded of you at the Orange Islands to incriminate you. If he did that, he could easily do the same with the other recordings."

'Do you honestly believe I care in the slightest about what humans thought of me?'

Lugia already came to regret that statement immensely. He could already imagine that man sending the footage of what Moltres did to one of Christopher's men to news channels across the globe. Something told him it wouldn't be hard for a domino effect to take place should that happen.

"We need to find them!" Lugia exclaimed hastily.

"Find them?" Asked Arceus. "You mean they escaped?"

Lugia bit his lip. Perhaps he'd said too much. "They did," Answered Lugia, neglecting to mention the ones he'd trapped. "I couldn't have simply killed them."

Nodding, Arceus said, "I suppose so. Killing them would simply upset the public even more."

Lugia bobbed his head in agreement. "Exactly! But in any case, we obviously cannot simply leave these humans unchecked. If that footage gets out, there could very well be another war between Pokemon and mankind, which is the last thing we need right now."

"I agree," Replied Arceus. "Enough blood has been shed to last a lifetime. After we defeat Necrozma, I will look into this Christopher Lee character and see what else I can do."

Lugia's expression quickly sank once more. "W-what?! No, we need to stop them now! There's no way they could have possibly gotten far in only a day, so our best bet at stopping them is to do so as fast as possible!"

Arceus shook his head. Inwardly, his heartbeat began steadily rising as he realized what reaction his next words might incur, and so he made sure to choose them wisely before speaking once more. "I'm sorry, Lugia, but that's not possible at the moment. As much of a danger these humans may pose, the threat of Necrozma is infinitely more important at the moment."

"I know that," Admitted Lugia, "But we cannot simply let them do as they please in the meantime! If they go unchecked, they could cause a massive sway of public belief in Necrozma, and when that monster arrives, many trainers might have abandoned the battlefield by then!" He craned his head up toward Arceus with pleading eyes. "Please, Lord Arceus! With the full might of the Hall, we could easily decipher their location and stop them before they become too great of a threat!"

Arceus once again shook his head. "As of now, if we hope to defeat Necrozma, none of us can expend even an inkling of strength. What's more, it's likely that, if the goal of those humans is to gather footage of us Legends that might make us seem evil to the public eye, then they would position themselves near a large gathering of other humans."

Arceus tapped the tip of his foot on his pedestal, and the Hall became dark once more. The screen that Arceus had used to explain Earth's origins had reappeared, only now it showed a large town. "That Christopher Lee is obviously an incredibly cunning individual. If we were to strike him as one singular force like you suggest, then the result would likely end up similarly to what I'm about to show you."

Lugia looked up at Arceus pleadingly, but the Alpha Pokemon, as well as everyone else, was already looking down at the screen. Hesitantly, Lugia followed suit. It started off with the Legends suddenly appearing from the sky and descending upon the town. They honed in on one building in particular, and collectively used their power to raze it.

The building was torn to pieces, and the brown-suited figure of Christopher Lee was pulled from its remains by an invisible grip. However, they neglected to take the other buildings into account, which housed many more humans. "Needless to say, Christopher Lee would obviously place himself in a highly populated area, and the moment we struck, we would be allowing many more humans to see us do such a thing. We would be playing into his hand, and setting up the war ourselves."

Christopher Lee flailed helplessly against the pull and was lifted up into the sky until he, as well as all the other Legends, disappeared without a trace. Left bewildered and terrified, the other humans, who had been recording the incident, showed it to all who would listen. "If we tried to stop him now," Spoke Arceus, "Then that sway in public opinion would only happen quicker. The future you're trying to stop, Lugia, would come to pass even easier than Christopher could ever hope so."

Arceus's red eyes glowed brightly, changing the scene once more. "And this," He said, "Is that future." The screen then showed a scorching city engulfed in flames with citizens and trainers now fighting the Pokémon they once called their friends with all different kinds of melee weapons and Legends stood over the battlefield, watching but unmoving.

The Leader of the Hall then shut off the screen, returning said Hall back to its bright white state. He looked up from where the screen once was at Lugia and asked, "Do you see my point now? Attacking now would be foolish."

Lugia let out an annoyed sigh between his teeth. "I do, but-"

"Then there is nothing more to discuss," Interjected Arceus, "We only have so much time left, and I still haven't even gotten to the main point of this final Hall meeting."

"Final?" Hissed Giratina. "You make it sound as if we're going to die, Father. Surely you have more faith in us than that."

Letting out a tired sigh, Arceus turned back toward Giratina. "That isn't what I meant and you know it," He said, "I have the utmost faith in our victory, and I have faith in all of you as well. I simply meant that we should spend our time wisely."

"Stopping another potential human-Pokemon war sounds like a fair use of that time," Countered Giratina. "Since you're so sure of victory against Necrozma, then shouldn't we worry about the future as well?" He gave Lugia a chilling grin and said, "Go ahead, Lugia. Why don't you speak your mind?"

Lugia nodded to him and opened his mouth to speak, but Arceus stomped his foot into his pedestal, resulting in a loud gong-like sound that silenced the Hall. "This is not happening again!" Roared Arceus, glaring at Giratina with his signature divine ferocity. "I may have wronged you far more than you could have ever deserved, Giratina, but I will not allow you to jeopardize this Hall meeting!"

Giratina sent a glare of his own with equal ferocity back at Arceus and retorted, "Me? Jeopardize this meeting? What are you saying, Father? I am simply allowing everyone to speak their minds, which is something that you never allowed them to do!"

Arceus was quickly starting to lose his calm with his firstborn son and unintentionally his eyes started to glow red again. "True as that may be, I know you're also doing it to provoke further arguments and if it were at any other time I would allow it, but right now we don't have much time and I won't allow you to waste it with your nonsense!"

Arceus quickly froze after realizing what he had just said. He quickly allowed his crimson red glow to fade, and said, "I apologize, Giratina, for my outburst. It was...unwarranted"

Giratina merely chuckled at him. "Keep your apologies to yourself...or rather…" He eyed Lugia mischievously. "Perhaps you should direct it at him. All he wanted was to protect the world from another looming threat, but you're too focused on Necrozma alone to see it."

"I'd just ignore him if I were you," Mew piped up from atop her bubble. "He's purposely trying to get under everyone's skin and then push the blame on you, you know." She sat up from her bubble, narrowing her eyes at him. "On second thought, it's probably best to just send him back to Distortion World for now. It's not like him being here actually helps anyone."

Mew's insults only served to elicit a devious grin from the Renegade Pokemon. "Keep talking all high and mighty from the inside of your tree. I'll be laughing when Necrozma burns it to the ground."

A pink glow suddenly enveloped Giratina, and he was violently forced to the ground. The Goddess of all Pokemon floated over toward him with a shadow draped over her eyes. "Were I in your place, I would say such things, bastard child."

Giratina managed to cough out a laugh even against the crushing force of Mew's power. "Do you honestly...think I care for an insult like that…? I disowned you as a mother...the moment you allowed Arceus to send me to that hell…"

Mew's and Giratina's little squabble was cut short by a fierce roar from Arceus. "ENOUGH!" The Alpha Pokemon stood up on his hind legs and crashed his front ones down upon his pedestal with such force that it caused the entire dimension the Hall of Origins was in to quake violently. The Legends were collectively knocked off their feet, and Arceus's rage turned the Hall red.

"THAT IS…!" Realizing what he was doing, Arceus quickly got ahold of himself, taking in deep breaths to quell his anger. The quaking eventually stopped, the red Hall faded with white taking its place once more, and when Arceus looked back up at the Legends, he saw a collective expression among all of their faces, including Giratina's: Fear...and it haunted him. "That is… enough…"

He first looked at Mew. "What you said is wrong. Giratina is only this way now because of what I did. Anything he says and does against me is well-warranted, and he was, is and will always be my son. Our son."

Mew attempted to protest. "Arceus, he's-"

"-Been put through hell," Snapped Arceus, "And did not deserve it."

"That doesn't give him the excuse to put the world in danger!"

Giratina pushed himself back onto his feet and laughed, though it still sounded choked to an extent. "The only thing in danger is your pathetic, fragile feelings. You simply can't handle anyone daring to speak out against you, can you?" Looking past Mew and toward his father, Giratina added, "The same goes for you, Arceus. You may act soft now, but that's simply a ruse. A facade. A farce! Should we survive Necrozma, you'll eventually devolve back to your old personality, or rather, your real one, and once again become the tyrant you've always been." He laughed. "It's quite amusing, actually. The only reason you're not your usual tyrannical self is because there's another more dangerous tyrant in the form of Necrozma."

Arceus only sighed, no longer being able to meet his firstborn son's eye.

"Go on then!" Goaded Giratina. "Tell me I'm wrong!" He received no answer, and so the Renegade Pokemon slunk back into his seat smugly. "That's what I thought. Lugia, take it away."

Lugia looked at him oddly, then gave that same look to Arceus and Mew. Mew was already facing away from the Beast of the Seas, floating back to her little bubble. Arceus, who was looking elsewhere, only gave Lugia a halfhearted, tired nod.

Taking this as a sign to continue, Lugia did just that. "Thank you again...Giratina…" Once again, Giratina smiled at him and gave him a small nod. "Anyways, Lord Arceus...I don't believe we'd even need to bring all of us to Christopher. We could simply trace his location, and once we find it, send in one Legend alone to extract both him and his footage."

Letting out a sigh for the umpteenth time, Arceus replied, "That would not be possible either. If they have weaponry capable of damaging Legends, then they also have the capacity to set up traps that could do the same if not worse. I mean, take a look at Zapdos, for example."

"I could do it," Offered Mewtwo, to the surprise of just about everyone in the hall. "With my Psychic powers, I can read minds, find just about any kind of life form and erase memories. It would take me less than an hour to do so, and I could do it without anyone even knowing of my existence afterward."

Lugia was genuinely awed at Mewtwo's selflessness. He originally didn't expect much of him, being a manmade clone and all, and a clone of Mew no less. Now, though, his opinion had swayed instantaneously. "You would put yourself at such risk for my sake?"

Mewtwo shook his head. "Not simply for your sake...Lugia, was it?" The clone Pokemon looked up at the pure white roof of the Hall as if it were as beautiful as the night sky itself. "I wish to do this because I hold all forms of life dear to me. If something as terrible as what I saw in Arceus's description of a war were to occur, then...I'm not quite sure what I would do…What's more, my set of skills make me the perfect candidate for the job. There is none more suited than me."

"No way," Arceus snapped. "You, Mewtwo, have proven yourself to be a frontrunner against Necrozma. If even a sliver of your strength is expended here, it could have disastrous effects. Countless lives could be lost."

"And that is different than the lives potentially lost to a war?!" Lugia demanded. "And what control do you have over Mewtwo?! He is not your creation!"

"The war will be prevented," Arceus said, attempting to reassure him, "Just not now. This whole matter is best left until after Necrozma is dealt with, anyways, and whether I created him or not does not matter. He is a part of this world, and I am only trying to see that it is not destroyed!"

"No, this is a matter of control for you!" Lugia declared. "This whole Hall meeting was a setup, wasn't it?! This isn't for some kind of get-together or to lift our spirits or whatever nonsense you claim it to be! It's a ruse so that you can further keep us locked in chains to blindly adhere to your orders!"

"Lugia…"

Arceus could see the hate returning to Lugia in his eyes, and it killed the old Pokemon on the inside. "I get it now...this whole meeting was to keep us blindly believing in you while we fought against that demon until you felt like taking part in the battle!"

"Lugia, please…"

The Sea Guardian vigorously shook his head. His eyes widened madly and his pupils became nothing more than black slits. "Well, I won't take part in that! I see now that there is no getting through to you. Once your mind is set on a decision, you refuse to yield on it or even consider the options of someone else. Were it not for my grudge against Necrozma and my survival, I would abandon this fool's errand, but for now, I can no longer stand the sight of you."

Lugia turned around and attempted to leave through the portal at the back of his pedestal, but stopped once he felt a pull at his wing. He turned back around and found Zapdos, who raised his injured wing for Lugia to see.

"Oh, right," Said Lugia, "I'd...forgotten about that. Sorry." He turned up to Arceus and asked, "What will you do about Zapdos's injury? Surely at least that warrants some kind of action."

Arceus couldn't bring himself to speak. His answer would only serve to increase Lugia's hatred, and his own reasoning would ring hollow within the Sea Guardian. But he needed to say something, and so as much as it tore him up on the inside, he said, "...That injury does not seem to impede Zapdos, as they have displayed before. I've said this countless times, but I believe that if we spend an inkling of extra strength, we will lose. Jirachi's wishes cost stamina and cause her to go into comas if overutilized. Any power I use will be power I won't be able to battle Necrozma with, and Xerneas's healing is delegated for the entirety of the battlefield. There are simply...too many factors at work."

Sensing the imposing disaster, Xerneas quickly stepped forward and said, "No, it is fine, Lord Arceus. I, too, have been gathering power, and could easily fix such a wound."

Inwardly, Arceus wanted to accept the offer. Yet the voice in his head that told him they needed all the power they could get screamed at him to say no, and eventually won the inner battle. "N-..." He practically choked over the word. "N-no, I'm afraid that's not...n-not…" The divine leader of the Hall faced the ground, slowly shaking his head. "I...I cannot allow you...to do that. There are...millions of people and Pokemon... who will need that power…"

Arceus was unable to bring himself to raise his head, but could still feel the hate-filled glare of not only just Lugia, but the three Elemental Birds as well. He heard no response from either Xerneas, Lugia or the birds. Instead, he heard only the sound of the four of them exiting the Hall, and it took all of his remaining willpower to not collapse there and then.

Eventually, the Alpha Pokemon managed to raise his head, albeit only slightly, and said to the other Hall members, "It wasn't supposed to go this way. The instability of the Hall will be our undoing! ...This meeting...was a mistake. You all head home...and prepare however you will."

The Legends looked at Arceus oddly, then looked around at one another before slowly disappearing through their portals one after another. While the sound of pattering of feet and activation of portals filled the Hall, Arceus merely looked away from them all. He did not look at the Legends, his firstborn sons, or even Mew. "Palkia, Dialga...and you too, Giratina...stay for a moment, would you?"

The rulers of Time and Space quickly turned back around from their portals to their father. Giratina, already halfway through his own, hesitated for a second but ultimately obeyed Arceus and turned to face him. Arceus was about to confront them when he saw that one other Legend had yet to move.

As Latios left through his portal with the other members of Tobias's team, Latias helplessly reached out toward him. She wanted to cry out to him, hug him and cry into his neck, but he seemed to not even know who she was. As Latios disappeared, she lowered her arm once more and instead focused her gaze upon Arceus.

"Lord Arceus," She said, "I...I didn't speak up earlier because I couldn't really find a voice among everyone else."

"Do you have a question for me?" Arceus asked.

Mew floated in front of the Alpha Pokemon, facing Latias. "It's probably not a good time," She said, "You can see Arceus is stressed right now, so you should run along home, sweetie."

"It's...fine, actually," Said Arceus, "I can already guess what Latias is going to ask me, anyways."

The Eon Pokemon looked up at him and nodded. "I want to know why Latios has returned. Why is he alive, and why have I not known about it?"

"Latios hasn't...returned, per se," Arceus said. "When something...anything dies, they are lost forever. What I did was create a new one. Once I did so, I attempted to send him back toward Alto Mare, but he had apparently been caught by a trainer named Tobias before he could make it there."

Latias, recalling that Arceus had mentioned some Legends being caught by trainers at the beginning of this Hall meeting, nodded in understanding. "I see," Responded Latias, "But why, then, didn't you tell me?"

Arceus sighed. "I assumed it would be too painful. To know that your sibling was alive, at least in a sense, well...naturally, you would want to go them...but if you did that, who would protect the Soul Dew?"

Latias lowered her head. "So, that was it...I suppose you were right, then. But why allow a trainer to catch them?"

Nodding, Arceus continued. "This Latios is not the same one you knew. I intended for him to be a gift, or a new younger sibling, but apparently fate decided otherwise. I decided not to intervene because I didn't think it was my place to do so. Besides, this new Latios has no recollection of the life of the one before it. Even if I were to fill it with the memories of the old Latios, it would still not be the same. So, I simply let it be."

"...Very well," Latias replied, turning back around toward her portal. "I...can see your point…" With that, Latias flew through the portal and travelled back to Alto-Mare. The look of longing and sadness in her eyes was not lost on Arceus, and so he sighed knowing that he failed three of his children that day. Yet, there were three more waiting behind him, and he would not fail them again.

Arceus bowed his head and turned around toward the three of them. "My sons," He said, "I am...a failure. I can admit that now."

Palkia, Dialga and Mew's eyes went wide, whereas Giratina simply smirked. "You finally admit it," Said the Renegade Pokemon, "At last, you finally admit it."

Arceus chuckled dryly. "So it would seem, Giratina...so it would seem."

He paused for a few seconds, then heaved out a long-winded breath, and continued. "I didn't want this," He said, "I just wanted us to all be together on the same side, and I won't lie to you...I don't know if we'll all live through this which is exactly why I didn't want to waste this meeting. This could very well be the last time I'll ever get to see any of you or that you'll ever be able to see me. I love each and every one of you regardless of what's happened in the past."

"W-what?" Stammered Dialga. "You cannot mean such a thing!"

Palkia nodded in agreement with his counterpart. "I agree with Dialga, Father! Do you truly believe we might not make it?"

Mew covered her mouth with her tiny hands and giggled. "Of course he doesn't! He's just messing aro-"

"I do," Arceus responded, quieting the three of them. "When I kept saying things like "When we win" and "When Necrozma is defeated," I was simply putting on a brave face. In truth, I have no idea how tomorrow will go…"

"Father…"

"Arceus…"

Arceus lifted his head once more, facing them all with determination. "However, I do not plan on losing this war. I would rather die and make sure Necrozma goes with me than live and watch you die in my stead. I couldn't live knowing that my sons and daughters were killed."

The divine Pokemon's crimson red eyes began glowing once more. "However, I will not die just yet. I have failed you all too many times, and dying would not remedy that in the slightest! I have wronged you, hurt you, and ruled over you all like a tyrant for far too long, and I will be damned if I die before making it up to you all! I will live, not for me or my rule, but for you!"

Lowering his head once more to face his sons, Arceus said, "I will not let you die. That, I can promise." Palkia and Dialga were suddenly pulled toward Arceus by a golden glow, and before the two of them could protest, they were silenced when their foreheads were pressed up against their father's. "I love you...my sons…"

Palkia and Dialga were rendered stunned by the act. Their eyes were widened, and they were frozen stiff. But when it wore off, they did not pull away. They pressed their heads forward as well, accepting their father's love.

"We...love you too, father," Said Dialga. "I can truly feel now that you are not who you used to be."

"Indeed," Followed Palkia with a nod. "And I can make you a promise as well: That when this is over, I will be there by your side forever."

Arceus chuckled. "I'd like that very much, Palkia and Dialga, my sons. Now, then…"

Arceus broke away from the rulers of Time and Space and turned next to his remaining son. Palkia and Dialga were confused until they followed his gaze toward Giratina. Smiling brightly at his firstborn son, Arceus asked, "What of you, then? I can never ask for your forgiveness, but will you at least give an old fool like me his selfish wish?" Arceus waited a few moments for Giratina's response, and when he expectedly received none, continued. "Giratina, my son...I said this before, but my love ever extends to you as well. I don't wish for your forgiveness, but can you at least join us one last time as family?"

The Renegade Pokemon stared down at the Hall's floor, seemingly in deep thought. He still made no reply, and Arceus, Palkia, Dialga and even Mew all awaited his eventual response with baited breath. Finally, Giratina opened his mouth, looked back up at Arceus with a smile, and spoke.

"I get it now."

"That's wonderful!" Arceus exclaimed, elated.

Giratina laughed and nodded. "Yes, yes, I do get it now! I get why you've been acting this way."

Arceus's smile faltered slightly in his confusion as to what Giratina was referring to. "Er...is that so?"

The ruler, or rather prisoner, of the Distortion World threw his head backward and cackled. "Yes, I finally understand! You're breaking!"

Now genuinely baffled, Arceus asked, "I...beg your pardon, Giratina?"

"All the pressure with Necrozma just around the corner and the fact that the others are finally starting to see you for what you really are is too much for you. It's causing you to crack like glass!" He dissolved into another small laughing fit before continuing. "It's not the thought of letting us die that's doing it; it's the thought of no longer having something to rule over! It's the fact that if Necrozma kills us, you will have nothing to control!"

"Giratina, you don't-"

"What's more, you yourself don't even realize that it's true!" Screeched Giratina, interrupting Arceus. "You've literally tricked yourself into believing you actually care for us, but heartless monsters like you and Mew could never care for anyone but yourselves!"

Arceus stared into his son's hate-filled eyes, and could no longer make himself feel horror, for it no longer surprised him anymore. He wanted to break eye contact, but found himself unable to pull his gaze away. "You haven't gone soft," Giratina hissed, "You've gone senile. The threat of Necrozma made you realize your rule might not last forever, and it terrified you into a completely different kind of madness than the one you've smothered your creations with all these years."

Arceus could not hope to form a retort of any kind. Giratina's words plagued at his mind, forcing him to mull them over without hope for ever actually deciphering a counter. Mew, however, quickly took action. Her hair stood on end, a shadow draped itself over her face, and her normally-pink energy darkened into a crimson red.

"Silence!" She roared. "Arceus has allowed you to speak this nonsense for far too long! I, however, will not stand for it!"

"Hah!" Mocked Giratina. "Of course you would say such a thing! Had I not known better, I would say you're more of a tyrant than Arceus, and far more of a hypocrite than him as well."

The now-infuriated Mew bared her teeth in rage. "Excuse me?!"

The Goddess of all Pokemon flared her energy out in all directions in a storm of crimson, sparking lightning that wreaked havoc upon the Hall. The lightning tore at the pedestals, sweeping across the floor and roof while ripping holes in almost every part of the Hall. Mew expected Giratina to immediately back down at her show of force, but to her surprise, he pushed right on past her field of energy and got up close to her face.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," He hissed. "Your egos are oh so fragile, and when someone hurts them in the slightest, you end up doing nothing but causing pain to everyone else!"

Mew's eyes went red, and she threw Giratina to the floor of the Hall where he crashed with a resounding thud. Arceus tried to go to his aid, but stopped when the Renegade Pokemon shot a fiery glare his way.

"Keep on proving me right!" He roared at Mew. "You two are nothing without your precious egos, and you, Mew, are worse than them all!" Mew attempted to grab hold of him with Psychic once more, but Giratina quickly used Shadow Force to disappear, then reappear directly in front of her. "Now that I think about it, you are worse than Arceus. At least he had the guts to actually watch over the world, but you? All you ever do is isolate yourself in that damnable Tree of yours while playing with toys like a child!"

The crimson red glow of Giratina's eyes magnified to the point it outshined Mew's. "What right do you have to rule over the world when you never even take part in it?! You're a coward who can't bring herself to even look at the failure of a world you wrought!"

Giratina was taken hold of by Mew's power once more and thrown back through his portal into the Distortion World. As Giratina flew toward it, he let out a deafening scream which was cut off the moment he flew through the portal. With a thunderous roar that seemed to be unthinkable to come from one such as Mew, she sent a powerful Psychic blast at the portal, destroying both it and the pedestal that Giratina normally sat on. Without facing Arceus, she stormed back through her own portal and closed it.

Arceus was left in a state of shock. He stared with wide eyes at where Giratina's pedestal once was. The scene of his firstborn son screaming as he was flung through the portal replayed in his mind over and over again. It was exactly like...that time back then. The scream of utter terror as his son was dragged down through a portal into a dark, warped, desolate land echoed in Arceus's mind over and over and over again without end.

He blinked, realizing that his other sons were still present. He quickly turned around and asked, "Palkia! Dialga! Are you alri-" But they were already gone. They'd fled from Mew's terrifying power back through their portals, leaving Arceus completely alone in the ruined Hall of Origins. Arceus's eyes began squinting of their own accord as his brow creased. He quickly shook his head to stop what was about to happen, and in doing so, stopped the memory of his son's terrified howling. For now, at least.

Arceus recalled staring at Mew with an expression of horror planted on his face, and now, the only thing the Alpha Pokemon could bring himself to say in the now-desolate Hall of Origins was, "Was I...like that…?"


Author's Note

Creator- Don't lie, you thought I stopped uploading cuz of the wait, didn't you? I can't blame you since I did that with the last two summers lol. Anyways, this was one hell of a beast of a chapter if I do say so myself considering it's the length of the average standalone book lol. Dear lord. Honestly, this chapter could have been split into three separate ones and still would have been long enough to each be their own chapter. But I'm proud of what I accomplished here. (Also I fixed a huge issue with Chapter 10, that being what the entity says to Rayquaza. For over a year, I didn't realize the dialogue glitched out lol).

Hydra- well my friends it's finally here I hope the wait was well worth it for this chapter because oh boy did we spend a lot of time on it. I hope we didn't scare you guys into thinking we weren't gonna upload, but I feel like the length of this chapter makes up for the long wait.

Creator- And with that, let's get roooooooight into the revieeeeeee- okay I'll stop with that.

ManInTheShadows- "Wow story keeps getting more intense. You guys left me on the edge of my seat wanting more! Keep up the good work!"

Creator- Thank you, and I hope this chapter not only left you hanging onto your seat by a thread, but also made you feel absolutely terrible (Not really lol)

Hydra- I am very happy to hear that we were able to keep you in suspense that's one of the big things we focus on when writing a chapter.

AmourShipper35- "Wow I hope Ash and his friends can stop the Ultra Beasts and I liked seeing all of Ash's old friends and I liked seeing Damien get his just deserts"

Creator- Thank you again, dear loyal follower. I hope what I did for Ash's friends here in this chapter gave them more of a spotlight for you. And yeah, Damian's not doing so hot lol.

Hydra- yes when we were writing that last ash scene we hoped that you would really enjoy it because we haven't done anything between ash and Serena in awhile.

TeamPiperM- "Mewtwo learning how to Mega Evolve was cool and all, but the best part of this chapter was seeing Damian *finally* get his comeuppance - and at the hands of the Pokémon he'd mistreated so much, to! Hopefully, that Hydreigon has a bright future with Ash (or Zero; Hydreigon seems like it would fit her)."

Creator- Would you believe me if I told you the Mewtwo scene was only supposed to be 4-5k words? Then again, this chapter was only meant to be 35-40k and well… Anyways, I'm glad to see you all approving of Damian's fate. As for Hydreigon and Zero, yeah! I'm planning a lot for the two of them in the future, and I think they'd make a good pair too! I think Zero's future will be bright with Hydreigon around.

Hydra- yea we usually tend to go way over the intended word limit, but hopefully that just ends up making things better for you, the viewers in the end. We'll leave it up to you to decide what ended up happening to Damian heehee.

DarkPugLord23- "Well, that was one hell of a chapter! I'm really loving this story, and I hope you guys keep up the good work. It's good to see Damien's comeuppance, and a brutal one at that. I wonder if Regigigas might make an appearance? You know, since the other Regi's are about as well. But other than that, I love this!"

Creator- Thank you, my good sir or madam. Yes, Damian truly deserved what he got. Like, how bad of a trainer do you have to be in order to traumatize and break a Hydreigon in a week?! Charon would have loved to have him around. As for Regigigas, well, we have plans for him indeed.

Hydra- Just wanna say I love the positive energy btw. I gotta agree with you it's really nice to finally see someone like Damian answer for what they've done considering there's many that have gotten away with things in the past.

KaiserFaust- "Hold up. A: There's a Mewtwo who can Mega-Evolve into the same form in Unova (see Genesect and the Legend Reborn (may have got the name wrong)) and B: The Genesect Army also exist. Point is: Where are they? And how the hell hasn't anyone took notice of them? I mean, Ash knows they exist so why didn't he tell Arceus- ooohhh... we're gonna see them show up at the final battle, aren't we?"

Creator- This is something we haven't addressed up until now, but in this world, there is only one of each Legendary Pokemon. Or rather, we'll only ever use one of each. If we brought them all in, well, just imagine a flock of Moltres charging Necrozma, or there being multiple versions of Arceus and the Creation Trio. Plus, they never actually gave us an explanation about the other Mewtwo's existence. In this world, the Legends are their first movie appearances. Another reason for this is that two Deoxys running around would ruin the backstory we set up for this one. (You can blame Hydra for that, I didn't make up this rule). However...there are a few Legends who will break this rule. As for who they are, you'll just have to wait and see. Also as a side-note, the Mega Evolution is literally a mix between X and Y's forms. It has the head of Y and the body of X.

Hydra- Dang it I was hoping that no one would catch on lol, but good eye my friend good eye. I'm just gonna say it, I made that rule not because I particularly wanted to restrict certain story elements but because many of the things the movies have done just doesn't make sense, the Mewtwo in the genesect movie being the epiphany of that. It made absolutely no sense that there was another Mewtwo so I made that rule in order to keep continuity in the story. There are multiple examples of this: shiny rayquaza, shiny Latios and Latias, multiple Lugia's throughout the movies and series I think you guys see my point. Every legendary that ever appears in our story will be based off their first appearance ever in the movies and yes some personalities of certain legends will come from movies that may have had other legends like shiny Rayquaza or the 2nd Mewtwo that don't make sense, some examples possibly being Hoopa or the Genesects their personalities would be based off the ones we see in their respected movies.

Creator- And with that, there is nothing standing in between us...and war...see you all next time when shit goes DOWN!

Hydra- I just wanted to say thanks to all of the old reviewers who have stuck with us for two years through this amazing journey and a welcome to all the new reviewers who have joined us on this adventure I hope we can continue to entertain each and every one of you and hopefully you all have an AMAZING DAY!