During Earth's final days before Necrozma's arrival, one singular news outlet had seemingly dominated over the others, whether that being from competitors' employees all taking shelter or others no longer having a purpose. They had members all across Goldenrod City, aiding the Trainers and allowing those who actually still used television to keep up on all the current news regarding what was to come. Thus, they essentially had control over the entire world's news.
A woman appeared on screen, dressed up in a fancy suit with her hair neatly tied together. She cleared her throat, then said, "Good morning, everybody, though it's admittedly hard to say that due to the circumstances. As I'm sure you all know, this 'Necrozma' is supposed to arrive in Goldenrod City today."
The image of the lady shrunk down into a corner, allowing a helicopter's view of the city in question to be shown. It was still quite early in the day at Goldenrod, and the sun had yet to arrive. Nevertheless, many trainers and their Pokemon had already stepped out of their tents, looking up at the sky anxiously.
"Yes, today seems quite dire for Goldenrod City," Said the newswoman. "Needless to say, the land around Goldenrod has had a significant drop in property value, which makes this next announcement all the more bizarre." The vision of Goldenrod City changed to that of some kind of sigil. It looked similar to the starry night sky, with a bright glowing 'S' at the center. "An organization calling themselves the "Star Corporation" has apparently bought up all that land, as well as Goldenrod City itself, which I didn't think was actually legal to do."
The screen showing the newswoman increased back to its normal size once more, and she continued. "We weren't actually able to get a live interview with the leader of this strange organization, but we were able to get ahold of the company motto which might help to shine some light on what they stand for. "Star Corporation, working to make a better tomorrow," is all that's said."
"We don't quite know their intentions," The newswoman said, "But from what their motto says, we can infer that they are quite confidant in our victory against Necrozma later tod-" The woman cut herself off suddenly, leaning away from the camera and covering her earpiece. "Wait, what? Already?!"
When she faced the camera once more, her face had become deathly pale, and her eyes had widened. "I-I'm sorry everyone, but you need to take cover!" The sound of screaming and stomping feet soon flooded the room the newswoman was in, and she leapt to her feet. "We've received word that multiple unidentified black aircrafts have appeared in the upper atmosphere! I repeat, take cov-"
The screen was then taken over by static before shutting off completely.
A fleet of jet black ships approached Earth, stopping just before entering its atmosphere. In the mothership, the dark conqueror of the universe, Necrozma, stared at it gleefully from the ship's main window. "At last," He said, "It is time for our next conquest."
Xurkitree, Necrozma's right-hand man, knelt at his master's side. "What is our next course of action, Milord?"
Without looking away from Earth, Necrozma answered, "Have the fleet surround the planet, and take the mothership down to Goldenrod City." Had the dark demon had a mouth, he would have certainly had quite the substantially large grin planted on his face. The site of his next conquest reflected in his eyes. "It's high time I paid my dear friend Arceus a visit once more.
Goldenrod City, the morning of the fifth day.
Ash's eyes shot open. He rushed out of his tent and screamed, "They're here," over and over again while rushing toward the center of the city. His Pokemon, as well as Serena, had all awoken at the sound of his yelling, and leapt up from the ground to follow him. The faces of the trainers Ash passed all paled with fear, and while most followed their designated leader, many were utterly paralyzed. All they could do was shake their head in a vain attempt to deny what was happening.
No one dared to speak, save for Ash calling everyone to follow him. Nearly the entire city's population had now followed Ash toward its center, where the largest opening in the city was held. When Ash stopped upon reaching it, everyone else did as well. Collectively, they stared up into the sky, awaiting the inevitable. Even the most hardened, gruff and confidant of trainers trembled in fear of what was about to arrive.
Bonnie hugged her older brother's leg tightly. Up until now, she'd been able to stay her normally fired-up and confidant self, but the choking air of dread had dashed her bravery completely. "Are we...going to make it?"
Clemont put a hand to her head, gently rubbing his younger sister's head. "I don't know, Bonnie," He admitted, "I...really don't know…"
The six champions looked up at the sky as well. Some of them were grinning, while others were simply blank-faced. Whether this was a way to mask their own fear, not even they knew. To stand on the top of the world for so long and then suddenly be faced with a completely overwhelming power was something they didn't truly know how to deal with. But then again, no one else did either.
"So," Said the Champion of Unova, Alder, "Looks like it's finally time to put this show on the road." He chuckled, and whispered to himself. "Can you see me now, old friend? I might end up joining you."
"Indeed," Replied the semi-Champion of Hoenn, Wallace. He pushed a tuft of hair out of his eyes so that nothing was in between his sight and the sky. "This will be a most grand battle, unforgotten by even the ages."
Steven, the other Champion of Hoenn, nodded. "The history books won't be able to forget this day, that's for sure."
"That is, if there are even any books to write," Lance, the Champion of both Johto and Kanto replied. "If this fight goes south, then…"
Cynthia, Sinnoh's Champion, merely laughed at Lance's assertion. "It's unlike you to sound so dire, Lance," She said, "Of course we'll win. The Legends themselves are on our side."
Gary Oak let out a dry chuckle. "It's...kinda hard to breathe, isn't it? The air here's so...choked."
Brock nodded in response and replied, "It is...Necrozma's not even here yet, and everyone seems as if they've already accepted defeat…"
"Not me!" Cried Misty, pumping her fist into the air. "I know we'll win! It's not like you two to talk like this!"
Scratching the back of his hair, Gary laughed and said, "Yeah, I suppose so...let's give it our all, then."
May clasped her hands over her chest, breathing deeply. "You okay?" Her younger brother Max asked.
"I should be asking you that," She replied, smiling down at him and wiping away a tear from her eye. "I'm supposed to be the one comforting you, and yet here I am, terrified out of my mind."
"I think...everyone is," Said Max, looking down at the ground. He clenched his hands into trembling fists. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't too…"
Dawn crouched down and hugged her partner Piplup tightly. "We'll make it through this," She said to him, "I promise."
The little penguin Pokemon huddled his head into her shoulder, hugging his partner tightly. "Pip, Piplup…"
Paul merely scoffed at the act. "Get ahold of yourself."
Dawn glared up at him. "Unlike you, I actually care enough about my Pokemon to reassure them! It's something you'd never know!"
Paul turned away from her, looking up toward the sky. "It's not that I don't care for them, it's that I know they're ready. They don't need consolation, and if you're not prepared when Necrozma arrives, you might not have a chance to regret not being prepared."
"Are you ready?" Cilan asked Iris. "I don't think it'll be long until Necrozma arrives, after all."
The aspiring Dragon Master in question laughed at his asking, though with how shaky her voice was, her bravado was fooling no one. "Of course I am!" She claimed. "But I'm impressed! I kinda thought you'd be shaking like a baby! No offense."
Cilan laughed back. "Are you kidding?! I'm scared out of my mind! I can't even come up with any of my lame cooking puns!"
Alain caressed the underside of his partner Charizard's chin. "It won't be long now, Charizard," He told it, "Let's give 'em hell, alright?" His Charizard nodded, letting out a small roar as he stared into his trainer's eyes.
'So, this is it, then?' Asked Riley's partner Lucario. 'This is the final battle?'
Riley, without looking away from the sky, nodded and answered, "It seems so, old friend. It seems so."
Lucario chuckled, shaking his head. 'Well, now I can say I'm truly glad you took us along with Ash for the ride.'
Riley forced out a cheap, short-lived laugh, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "It's not like you to admit you were wrong…"
Lucario turned his gaze upward at the dark blue sky, his smile disappearing. 'Either way, you won't hear me do it again.'
Serena touched Ash's hand with her own, and Ash grabbed onto it, holding it tightly. "Ash?" She asked. "In case...I don't get to say it later, then…"
"I know," Ash replied quietly. "I love you too…"
Hydreigon lowered itself to the ground, allowing Zero to hop onto its back. "You know," She said, "We...haven't known each other for long, but…I'm glad I met you…" Hydreigon nodded, and a low growl that sounded akin to a hum of some kind escaped its throat. It felt the exact same way. She looked over at Ash and Serena, who had gone back to silently staring up at the sky and waiting for the inevitable, and frowned.
'I'm sorry I can't talk to you,' She said inwardly, 'If I do...I don't know if I could trust myself not to say anything about…' She shook her head vigorously and turned toward the sky with everyone else. 'If I...no...when we all get out of this, I'll tell them. They deserve to know. I'll live so that I can tell them! And I'll make sure they live too!'
Ash smiled down at his Pokemon, who'd all assembled here around him. "Thank you all," He said to them, "For everything. We've made so many memories, battled so many enemies, and gone on journeys that would never have been possible for me if not for you." He took this time to look at them all. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to find his Pidgeot or Butterfree, nor any of his Pokemon that he gave away at some point, but he assumed they were all somewhere nearby.
He looked out toward the edge of the city. The Flying-Type Pokemon were all circling around it, awaiting Necrozma's arrival as anxiously as everyone else. He assumed the land-dwelling Pokemon were doing so as well, though he couldn't see them from where he was at. 'Are you guys out there somewhere?' He asked mentally.
He shook his head to dispel those thoughts. He couldn't afford to think about them right now. What mattered now was what he could do, and that extended to the Pokemon he had here right in front of him. Bulbasaur. Charizard. Squirtle. Kingler. Muk. Snorlax. Of course, his miniature army of Tauros as well. Then there was Heracross. Quilava. Totodile. Noctowl. Donphan. Swellow. Torkoal. Glalie. Corphish. Sceptile. Staraptor. Torterra. Buizel. Gliscor. Gible. Infernape. Unfezant. Oshawott. Pignite. Snivy. Scraggy. Leavanny. Palpitoad. Boldore. Krookodile. Goodra. Noivern. And Talonflame.
Greninja grinned at Ash confidently, giving his trainer a thumbs up, though Ash could sense with his Aura that he was just as terrified as everyone else. Ash chuckled and held his fist out toward him. Upon bumping it with his own, Ash merged their Auras and Greninja transformed into the form their signature bond had created: Ash Greninja.
Lastly, there was Pikachu. "How you holding up, bud?" Ash asked, to which Pikachu hopped up onto Ash's shoulder and nuzzled up against him. He then gave Ash a confidant thumbs up, earning a laugh from his trainer. "I figured that would be your response." He looked out at his Pokemon and gave them a grin, which they all happily returned.
Ash then walked up to Noivern, crouching beside him. He looked into the Dragon-Type Pokemon's eyes and told him, "It won't be much time now. Let's pay him back for what he did to Hawlucha!"
"VERN!" Roared Noivern in response, which Ash took as an agreement on Noivern's end.
Ash smiled at him, nodded, then turned his gaze back up toward the sky to wait for the impending arrival of the greatest foe the world had ever known: Necrozma. But as he stared up at the sky, he noticed something odd. There was a small glint of light opposite to the sun's position. There weren't any planes, as all aircraft movement besides the occasional helicopter had been suspended.
"What is-"
The sky suddenly turned pitch black, and the civilians began crying out in confusion. They stumbled around in the dark, blinded by something they didn't know.
"What's happening?!" Cried Serena.
"I don't know!" Responded Ash. "I don't know what's happening!"
The panicked screaming of the trainers were cut off by a sudden hum. It was so deep and loud, everyone had to double over and cover their ears. The skyscrapers themselves trembled to the point that it was a miracle none of the glass shattered from the loud droning. Then, there was light once more, though not much of it. Hesitantly, everyone slowly looked up at the sky, and their faces paled in horror.
The sky was now completely jet black, save for a myriad of odd lights that looked similar to cords one would see in machinery. Only, these ones were a bright crimson red and seemed to be carrying some kind of liquid. Along whatever the trainers and their Pokemon were looking at, large bulbous shaped objects littered it, which the cords curved neatly around. They could see a silver, cylindrical object jutting down and pointing toward them all. It appeared to be hollow, evidenced by its center being as pitch black as everything else. Ash could have sworn he saw another one of the cylindrical things elsewhere, though it was so far away it was hard to tell.
Ash could hardly believe what he was seeing. "What the heck is that?!"
Everyone suddenly doubled over once more, clutching at their heads. A shrill-high-pitched note seemed to tear its way into their minds. They wanted to scream in pain, but they couldn't even move. Ash felt a terrible nausea and dizziness overtake him, and it took all of his strength not to collapse. A voice then spoke, seemingly coming from within their own minds, and Ash immediately knew who it was. There was only one being who could do such a thing: Necrozma.
"Why, hello there!" Boomed Necrozma. "I'm so touched that you all gathered here for little old me. But let us skip the formalities." The bright red fluid began glowing blindingly bright. A loud hum roared from whatever was in the sky as the red fluid began hastening its pace toward the colossal cylindrical object pointed toward Goldenrod City.
Soon, the object began glowing brightly as well, and before the city's inhabitants could scream, they were suddenly blinded. An impossibly loud roar threatened to deafen them all, and the blinding light rendered their vision useless. They couldn't feel the ground beneath their feet, and smelled only what they could describe as 'burning.' It was as if every single one of their senses were suddenly under assault. An intense heat followed this burning for a split second before they felt nothing. Everyone, including Ash, thought they had died just then until the light slowly began to fade away.
Upon opening his eyes, Ash discovered that he, along with everyone else, were still alive and unharmed. However, the same could not be said for their surroundings. Beneath their feet was nothing but rubble. Chunks of skyscrapers jutted up from the ground around them. Their glass had all been completely shattered. The entire city had been flattened, but for some reason, they had been spared.
Ash looked at the destruction with utter horror. He tried to speak, and his breaths were shaky and raspy. "W-what the…"
Serena's eyes widened. She uncontrollably inhaled sharply, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Th-this...this can't…!"
Riley slowly took his hat from his head. He blinked, making sure what he saw before him was real. To his horror, it was. "How...how is this possible…?!"
The dark laughter of Necrozma rang out from seemingly every direction, chilling everyone to their cores. Their heads were suddenly moved against their will, all toward one singular location up in the sky. They saw a figure cloaked in black, even darker than the sky itself. Its body was prismatic and sharply-angular in shape. On each of its arms was a large, bright white crystal, which were the only things able to illuminate the being. It was none other than Necrozma himself.
"I hope you all like the power of my ship," He spoke, pointing up toward the cylindrical object in the sky. "The destruction you all see surrounding you is a courtesy of one of the ship's main cannons. I do hope it's to your expectations."
Necrozma's grip on them all was lifted, making them stagger backwards. A singular thought plagued their minds collectively.
'That's a ship?!'
"Indeed," Necrozma replied, making a chill run down their spines. "This ship is the greatest creation of the Ultra Beasts, used to scour entire galaxies of life." The dark demon looked down at them with what they could practically feel was a grin. "Of course, I can read your thoughts as well. I know exactly what you're thinking before even you do. There is no sanction that is safe from me, not even your minds."
Ash managed to stand back onto his feet and step forward toward the dark demon. "Get out of here!" He shouted. "Can't you see this war is pointless?! What good is it to mindlessly kill others?!"
Eyeing the source of the voice, Necrozma smirked when he found a familiar face. "Ah, it's you," Said Necrozma, descending down toward Ash. Everyone instinctively backed away from Ash as they saw the world's nemesis approaching, save for Ash's closest friends and Pokemon who managed to push past their fear and stand by Ash's side.
Necrozma chuckled at the group, nearly paralyzing them with fear. The demon's presence had already been overwhelming when he was airborne. Now that he stood before their very eyes, Ash's group could barely breathe. Ash grit his teeth and glared at him in a vain attempt at resisting his fear.
"I remember you," Necrozma said. "You're that boy from that town I destroyed. Tell me: Why would you return to face me once more after experiencing my power firsthand?"
Ash took a step toward him. "What other choice do I have? If we run, then we die!"
A dark chuckle emanated from Necrozma. He shrugged, replying, "The result will be the same either way."
Ash flared his cyan Aura. It flowed around the entire group like flames, yet hurt none of them. They stared at it in awe, but none more so than Riley. Ash's Aura was immense in scope, far larger and more potent than it had ever been before. He couldn't even begin to fathom how it had become so strong. "That's not true!" Roared Ash. "We will protect our world no matter what! We'll stop you no matter what!"
"Stop me?" Asked Necrozma with a laugh. "A few seconds ago, you were asking me to leave. What is it then, 'Chosen One'?
At Ash's side, Noivern screeched at Necrozma furiously. Ash put a hand on the Dragon Type's shoulder, and replied to Necrozma, "There's no point anymore, now that I think about it. There's no way you'd actually do something like that after coming all this way from wherever you came from."
"Guilty as charged!" Chirped Necrozma. "The only way I'm leaving is after I've eliminated you and this feeble excuse of an army you've gathered!"
Riley then took a step toward Necrozma, using all of his willpower not to flinch when the action caused the demon to look his way. "It may seem pathetic to you," He said, "But it has more than enough power to scour you from our home! We will destroy you, Necrozma!"
Necrozma howled with laughter, putting a hand to his forehead and shaking his head. "Yes, I'm sure you will. Granted, I won't try and stop you. That wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" Slowly, Necrozma began floating back up toward the underside of his ship. "Here," He spoke in his signature dark, metal tone, "Let me show you what a REAL army looks like!"
The universal conqueror snapped his fingers, making the colossal ship tremble. Ash and the others crouched, readying themselves for battle. They summoned all of their Pokemon, and, taking their signal, the myriad of trainers gathered behind them followed suit and reached into their bags for their Pokemon.
"Prepare for battle!" Cried Cynthia. "Necrozma's about to attack!"
The trainers that had gathered at Goldenrod City to repel Necrozma and save their world threw their Pokeballs into the air, summoning thousands upon thousands of Pokemon. Immensely strong Pokemon such as Steelix, Dragonite, Metagross and more appeared by the hundreds at their trainers' sides. As one, they roared at Necrozma in defiance of his evil. The trainers themselves soon followed suit.
"Get outta here, you monster!" One of them yelled.
"Yeah, beat it!" Cried another.
"We'll crush you!"
"We won't forgive you for what you did!"
"Hey, imagine if we could catch him!"
"Hah! Imagine that! The one declaring war on our planet getting caught by one of us and forced to obey their commands!"
These comments served to alleviate the dread that had loomed over the trainers, and all of them began pumping their fists at Necrozma in a rallying cheer against him. Ash and the others grinned back at them, then turned back toward Necrozma, awaiting his next move. The fear he had caused was gone.
A myriad of holes opened up from the ship suddenly. They made loud clanking sounds that repeatedly happened so often it sounded almost like rainfall until it fell silent once more. Still defiant, the trainers kept on hurling insults at Necrozma. Ash, Riley and Lucario, however, felt something was wrong. They now sensed an innumerable amount of life forms from the ship, and they were approaching rapidly. Necrozma grinned at the trainers and Pokemon cruelly, and pointed his finger down toward them.
Immediately, mysterious beings began pouring from the holes in the ship by the thousands. The trainers remained confidant, until literal minutes passed and the beings hadn't stopped appearing. Fear soon plagued their hearts once more as the vision of the ship was blotted out by the sheer number of the beings. Ash and his group were absolutely mortified by the sight.
"No way…" Uttered Gary.
"T-there's so many of them!" Cried Dawn
"Can we...can we even take that many on?!" Questioned a shaking Serena.
Ash could only shake his head in disbelief of the enemy's numbers. "I...I don't know…"
The laughter of Necrozma boomed over the soon-to-be battlefield. "I would have expected those 'Legends' of yours to have shown up by now. It's a shame, really. Oh well. I suppose we can have fun without them." The dark demon raised his hand skyward, and the beings surrounding him tensed up, glaring hungrily at the beings below. "Let this be a grand war! Ultra Beasts…" Necrozma swiftly lowered his arm, pointing toward the city's remnants. "Attack!"
The creatures, now named Ultra Beasts, let out a collective deafening roar and hurtled themselves down toward the trainers. Ash quickly looked back at them and shouted, "FIRE!" An array of beams and blasts of endless colors shot up from the crowd of trainers at the Ultra Beasts, which managed to impede their progress. Ash gave his friends a nod, and said to his Pokemon, "Come on, let's join in!"
His Pokemon nodded back to him and shot attacks up at the approaching Ultra Beasts as well. Ash's friends soon did the same with their own Pokemon. Zero leapt off of Hydreigon, shooting a massive Hyper Beam at them from her hands. Ash gave Riley and Lucario a nod, and the three of them pooled their Aura together to join their friends in firing up at the approaching foe.
Though their attacks definitely seemed to work on the Ultra Beasts, evidenced by many of them dropping from the skies limply, they still pushed back against the attacks sent their way and were making headway. "Come on!" Shouted Ash. "We can't let them get closer!" In spite of Ash's attempted rallying cry, the Ultra Beasts pushed through the collective attacks of the trainers and were nearly upon the trainers. Ash shut his eyes cried out at the Ultra Beasts, pushing against them with everything they had. Necrozma grinned at them, though not at the trainers. He stared past them at something else entirely.
A burst of light appeared in between the trainers and the Ultra Beasts suddenly, blinding both sides. When the trainers and beasts opened their eyes once more, a multitude of newcomers had arrived between them, and a hail of dead Ultra Beasts rained from the skies where they had appeared. Shrouded in a brilliant white hue, the Legends had arrived.
The trainers, including Ash and his friends, stared up at them in awe. Their mouths were gaped, and their eyes sparkled. "Those are…" Started Riley. One by one, the Legendary Pokemon opened their eyes, glaring up at Necrozma. The Ultra Beasts shrunk at their glare, backing away from them. They turned to Necrozma questioningly, as if awaiting his decision, but their leader ignored them. He stared past them, his eyes only on his new targets.
Ash let out a shocked gasp, but his surprise soon faded, replaced with a confidant smile. "The Legendary Pokemon!"
Necrozma descended to meet them. "Ah, there you are," He said. "And here I was beginning to think you all weren't going to show yourselves." He let out a harrowing laugh. "But it seems that I managed to drag you out of hiding at last."
The emerald green serpentine Dragon of the Skies moved to the front of the Legends, activating his Mega Evolution. "We may have been late," He admitted, "But we would never hide from the likes of you! It's time, Necrozma, for you to pay for your transgressions!"
"YEAH!" Cried the other Legends unanimously.
Necrozma stretched his arms outward arrogantly. "Very well," He said. "Make me pay. That is, if you are capable. Last I recall, our battle ended up with you wishing for death."
Rayquaza bared his teeth at the demon angrily. "I was alone then! Now…" He looked around himself. The myriad of Legends that had gathered here nodded to him, then faced Necrozma once more. Rayquaza did so as well, sending a toothy grin the dark demon's way.. "I have help."
One of the trainers pushed through the crowd to its front, marvelling at the Legends. It was Tobias, who was looking for his teammates. Eventually, he spotted his partner Pokemon Darkrai and smiled up at them. Upon noticing their trainer, Tobias's team of Legends grinned at him before turning back toward Necrozma.
Tobias chuckled to himself. "It seems that I'll be of some use here after all."
Necrozma let out a deep chuckle at Rayquaza's words. "You believe you can overpower me with sheer numbers? I might sound like a broken record, but I've single-handedly slain the populations of entire planets. Numbers are meaningless against me."
Deoxys appeared as well. His ever-stoic appearance had gone completely out the window. His eyes were wide and yellow, and his glare showed a fury that could only come from one who experienced unspeakable horrors. "NECROZMA!" He roared. "YOUR TIME HAS COME! I WILL MAKE YOU EXPERIENCE THE HELL YOU PUT MY FAMILY THROUGH!"
Necrozma merely chuckled at Deoxys's assertion. "Ah, you. The one who got away. I'll make sure to remedy that mistake and make you watch your home burn a second time."
Lugia flew up next to Rayquaza with fury in his eyes. "We will see about that, monster! I will personally send you straight back to the hell you crawled out of!"
"Hah!" Barked Necrozma, pointing at the missing flap on Lugia's wing. "You say that in spite of that little mark I gave you quite arrogantly." He snapped his fingers, and the missing blue flap of Lugia's wing appeared in his hand. He twirled the severed body part on his finger as if it were a toy and said, "Perhaps I'll take the entire wing this time."
Lugia's already-thin patience snapped at that. Roaring at Necrozma, he summoned a Hyper Beam in his opened mouth and prepared to fire. Just as the Sea Guardian was about to unleash his fury upon the Earth's nemesis, Lunala suddenly jumped in front of him with her wings outstretched, forcing him to shut his jaw.
"What are you doing?!" He roared.
Lunala bowed her head, and Solgaleo appeared at her side. "I apologize," She said, "But we believe there may be a way to avert this war…"
"Indeed," Followed Solgaleo with a nod. The two of them turned toward Necrozma, who's eyes were widened with a shock never before seen in the demon. "We believe we can stop...our old friend…"
Necrozma stared at them almost as if he was horrified to see them, but doubled over into a laughing fit. "What luck!" He cried. "It seems you two were here after all! I scarcely recognized you with those new looks, but by god, here you are at last!" He raised his finger toward the sky. It began sparking violently, and a bright white ball of energy began manifesting above his head, growing larger by the second. "Now, to finally sever my past once and for all!"
"Please, wait!" Shrieked Lunala. "We do not wish to fight you!"
Solgaleo bobbed his head in a nod, and followed his counterpart's lead. "She's right, Necrozma! No...Cosmog!"
Necrozma seemed to recoil at the name. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT NAME!" He roared. Shooting his hand skyward, crimson plasmatic energy began sparking around his finger. Above it, an orb of energy slowly began forming and was growing by the second. "THE COSMOG YOU KNOW IS DEAD!"
"No he isn't!" Insisted Lunala. "We know that!"
"Lunala's right!" Cried Solgaleo. "We weren't sure at first, but now…" The Pokemon of the Sun craned his head up toward Necrozma. "We know it is you! Please, stop your assault on this world!"
"AND WHY SHOULD I?!" Bellowed Necrozma. "WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY YOU KNOW ME AFTER WHAT YOU DID?!"
From below, Ash and the other trainers looked at the exchange of conversation oddly. "Do they...know each other?" Asked Arceus's chosen.
Riley shrugged hopelessly. "If you of all people don't know, then I haven't the slightest idea."
"Well, in any case," Started Ash, turning toward Alain, "Could you go spread the word not to attack for now? If we interfered, Necrozma might attack."
Ash felt a hand tap his shoulder from behind suddenly, and upon turning around, he found none other than the Legendary Pokemon user, Tobias. "Allow me," He offered. "My team is currently up there facing Necrozma, so I won't be of much use in a fight. However, I'm more than capable of spreading news."
Ash smiled at him, and nodded. "Thanks, Tobias. That'd be a huge help."
"Not a problem at all, Ash," He replied with a smile of his own, "I'm simply trying to do my part."
Back with the Legends, Lugia was none too pleased about the situation unfolding before him. "What are you two doing?!" He demanded, making Solgaleo, Lunala and to his discomfort, Necrozma turn toward him. "There's no point in talking to a monster such as him! He'll kill you!"
"I'm afraid I must agree," Followed Deoxys with a nod. He sent a cold glare Necrozma's way, which was returned with a fiery one of his own. Quickly averting his gaze away from his species' killer and toward the sun and moon Legends, he continued. "Though that thing may have once been your friend, he certainly isn't now. I would suggest not wasting any energy speaking to him."
Necrozma chortled at them, though his expression suggested he was still unnerved by his former friends. "Oh? Are you so keen on throwing away the time they're attempting to buy you?" He turned his finger toward the two, threatening to unleash the large ball of energy upon them. He reveled in their expressions of rage that attempted to cover their fear, chuckling as he did. "Very well. If you wish to metaphorically rip off the bandage, then who am I to deny you?"
Lunala and Solgaleo quickly flew in between them, with the former spreading her wings out and the latter crouched down defensively. Necrozma's smugness disappeared, and he retracted his finger seemingly unintentionally.
"Please, stop this!" Cried Lunala.
Solgaleo turned his head toward Lugia and Deoxys. "I know you believe it to be pointless," He said to the two of them, "But please, at least allow us to try." Lugia scowled at him, but Deoxys, in spite of his burning hatred, was able to look past it and see the sincerity in the sun Legend's eye. "Please...even if we cannot get our friend back, we may be able to at least stop this war."
Lugia pursed his lips. He desperately wished for vengeance against Necrozma, so much so that he was nearly blinded to all else, but even he could see that this battle would have hefty losses, and he would not be able to live with himself for causing such destruction.
"...Are you sure it will work?" He asked at last.
Solgaleo looked down at the ground far beneath them, mulling over his answer. Eventually, he decided to answer truthfully. "I'm...not sure. However, I know it's our best bet if we wish to end this war without any losses."
A low hum escaped Lugia's throat, and the Sea Guardian looked down at his wing, where Necrozma had torn off one of his wing flaps. "...Do what you need to," He eventually replied, "So long as you think we can avoid needless death."
The Legend of the Sun bowed to Lugia appreciatevely. "Thank you, Lugia."
Necrozma crossed his arms, tapping at his arm impatiently. "I may be immortal, but I'm still not getting any younger here." He glanced up at the ball of death above his head, and it suddenly doubled in size. When he looked back down at the Legends, his eyes glowed a bright shade of crimson warningly. "Keep me waiting any longer, and, well, who knows what might happen?"
Solgaleo gave Deoxys a pleading look. "Please," He begged, "If there's any chance we might-"
"That...thing...took everything from me!" He cried. Deoxys shut his eyes tightly, but doing so offered no respite from seeing. "Every time I close my eyes, I see the family I lost to that monster!" He saw flames everywhere. On all sides, other Deoxys-like beings were buried under rubble and engulfed in flames, filling the air with the wretched stench of burning flesh.
Lunala looked at him sorrowfully, and Solgaleo could scarcely bring himself to even say anything in response. "I'm sorry…I had no idea-"
Deoxys held up a hand to stop him, then continued speaking. "Every time I blink, I see those I lost; their marred, faces staring off in horror as their corpses are reduced to ashes...and sleeping is only an extension of that horror…!" The DNA Pokémon's eyes shot open, glaring at Necrozma fiercely. However, instead of rushing at him, Deoxys turned toward the humans beneath with a much softer expression.
"Lord Arceus gave me a new home and a new family...and I'm not about to throw that away."
The red ball of destruction intensified its brightness, making the Legends snap their attention toward its creator. "Your time has run out!"
Necrozma pointed his finger at them, to which the Legends crouched into battle stances. Lunala floated out in front of them, holding out her wing to stop them from attacking. Solgaleo looked up at him with an expression that was some kind of mix between a glower and a pleading look.
"Cosmog, please!" Roared the Sun Pokemon.
This only caused the ball's light to intensify further due to Necrozma's fury. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME BY THAT NAME!" He reared his arm back as if he were about to throw the ball, causing an uproar of panicked screams from the trainers below. Solgaleo and Lunala spread themselves out as if to stop the attack, unflinching in the face of utter annihilation.
The searing blood red light of Necrozma's eyes burned into the eyes of the Legends of the Sun and Moon. Their own were cool, yet warm at the same time, and burned Necrozma in a completely different way. Even as fierce as their gaze was, they still possessed a kind of softness to them. It was their acceptance, which seemed to be the only thing that had yet managed to cause any pain to the demon thus far.
Necrozma's eyes twitched in rage. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He roared. "I'LL KILL YOU AND BE RID OF MY PAST ONCE AND FOR ALL!" He lurched forward suddenly, aiming to throw the ball of energy toward them, yet nothing happened. He stopped his arm suddenly, but kept his fiery stare piercing into Solgaleo and Lunala's.
"Why did you stop?" Asked Lunala. "I thought you were going to erase us?"
Solgaleo grinned up at him. "You're trembling, you know, just like you used to all the time."
Necrozma's eyes widened, and upon looking at his arm, it was indeed shaking like a leaf. His eyes narrowed at them once more, but was unable to force himself to move. "Damn you…!"
The sun Legend chuckled at him softly. "I knew it was you in there, old friend."
"Shut up!" Roared Necrozma. "That weak, insignificant little thing I used to be is DEAD, and I rose from his grave!" He let out an explosion of energy, sending plasmatic lightning burning across the skies. The Legends and Ultra Beasts were forced to back away from Necrozma, but despite Solgaleo and Lunala not moving an inch, none of the bolts struck them.
Lunala stifled a giggle. "You always did try to act tough back in Ultra Space. For us." She looked downward, the memories flowing back to her. "When we were scared of what was to come, you always put on a brave face and said you'd take on the world, even though we could see you were shaking at the thought of confronting a Buzzwole."
Necrozma's eye twitched.
Solgaleo perked up at Lunala's memory. "Oh, I remember that!" He laughed. "That takes me back. You know, that reminds me of the time we were stuck out underneath that giant leaf for a week straight."
Lunala smiled brightly as she remembered what her counterpart was talking about. "Oh, that's right! A massive horde of Naganadel were migrating, and we ended up getting caught underneath them!" She looked up toward Necrozma with an endearing smile that made him flinch. "But every day, you risked your life to sneak out and get us food because Solgaleo and I were too afraid. Isn't that right, dear Cosmog!"
"S-shut up!" Hissed Necrozma. "What the hell do you think you're doing dredging up memories as if we're old friends?!" The crystals on Necrozma's arms began glowing brightly, and a blindingly white energy blasted out from him in all directions. The Ultra Beasts immediately backed away even further, making an array of noises that seemed to signify panic. Seeing this, the Legends went and backed away as well.
Necrozma's energy became more and more powerful until the ground itself began shaking as well, despite him being far above it. Eventually, it became so intense that the trainers and their Pokemon were knocked off their feet.
"W-woah!" Yelped Serena as she fell onto her behind. She immediately grabbed onto the closest thing to her, which was a severed pipe that jutted up from the ground. "W-what's happening?! Is Necrozma attacking again?!"
Ash, who had managed to somehow stay on his feet, shook his head and replied, "I don't think so…" He looked up toward the demon, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand. "I think this is...something else entirely."
Necrozma's blinding blast sent streaks of light crashing across both the land and the sky. The Ultra Beasts scurried through the air, attempting to weave through the air, else they were completely obliterated. The Legends managed to collectively create a barrier that stopped the attack from hitting them whereas the trainers were conveniently out of its range.
Solgaleo and Lunala, however, did none of these things. They stood directly in front of Necrozma, as if challenging his power. They put up no barrier, nor did they make any attempt to dodge the beams or get to a safe distance. Yet, the attack never struck them. Every time a beam came near, it swerved around them like some kind of anti-magnetic effect.
Eventually, the light began to fade, leaving Necrozma an exhausted mess ed for air. and panting desperately for air. His glare toward the two of them never faded, but he had failed to even hit them once. "Damn you…!"
"Why is it that you cannot strike us?" Lunala asked quizzically. "Didn't you say something about severing your past?"
"Krgh!" Necrozma balled his hands into fists furiously, but had no response to her.
"Why is it that indeed?" Followed Solgaleo. He narrowed his eyes into Necrozma's own, making the demon recoil backward as if he'd been struck. "Perhaps it is because you cannot bring yourself to harm us?"
Lunala chuckled. "It seems you're in there after all."
"SILENCE!" Roared Necrozma, letting out a pulse of energy. Solgaleo and Lunala were unfazed and unamused. "That friend of yours is dead! He died back in Ultra Space when you left him behind! And from his ashes..." He raised his hand back up to the colossal ball of energy hovering over his head, intensifying its power even further. The crystals on his arms began darkening from white to red to match the color of the ball, making the sky itself turn crimson. "I, NECROZMA, WAS BORN! I am not that weak, pathetic little thing I once was. You may have evolved as well, but my death allowed me to reach heights unknowable by mortal flesh!" He laughed madly, sending chills down the spines of all who heard it. "I became...no...I surpassed God himself!"
The Legends of the sun and moon didn't reply at first, instead closing their eyes to take in what he had said. They made no move to do so either, only floating still in midair and earning an irritated look from Necrozma.
"Well?!" Demanded the dark demon. "Do you have nothing to say to that?!"
"...I see," Said Solgaleo, "So that is what this is about…"
Necrozma's face contorted with rage at that. "That's-! Of course that was what this is about! You abandoned me! You left me to die! You betrayed me after everything we went through! After everything I ever did for you!"
Lunala nodded to him, making Necrozma's face contort even further. "In a sense...I suppose we did…"
Necrozma's speech seemed to trip over itself. He made an odd assortment of half-words until he managed to explode something out. "YOU SUPPOSE?!"
Lunala turned away from him, making him fume to himself even more, and turned back toward the Legends. "I believe we've told you our story once before," She said to them, "And I'm sure Cosmog already knows most of it, so we'll give you the abridged version."
Solgaleo nodded to them, then turned back toward Necrozma. Clearing his throat, he said, "Millions of years ago, in an alternative dimension called Ultra Space, Lunala, Necrozma and I were once three tiny beings called Cosmogs."
"We were weak," Said Lunala, shaking her head at the memory, "So much so that every day was a struggle to survive. We had to sneak out to forage for food at a painstakingly slow pace every day so that we could survive and not end up as a meal ourselves."
"It was utter hell," Spat Solgaleo. "We often had to submerge ourselves in mud or sand to hide for hours upon end before going to look for food or shelter, and we could never stay in one place. So...we devised a plan…"
He looked over toward four Legends in particular. They all possessed jet-black bodies, but had other color and shape differences between them. The first had large yellow growths on its arms, and its fingers resembled a bird's head. It had white tribal paintings on its body, a large fiery orange mohawk, and four orange triangular growths on its underside. It bounced around spastically, looking like it was itching to battle just about anything. Its name was Tapu Koko.
The second only had white painting under its eyes. It possessed long, curvy dark pink hair that stretched down from its head on all sides. It wore a cone-shaped object over its head, which pushed its hair outward. It appeared to be inside of large, round object that looked almost like a pink, hollow insect head, and only its head and arms were visible from inside the object. Its name was Tapu Lele.
The third had a far-off resemblance to a bull. Its body was a jagged circular shape, with crooked arms jutting out in such a way that it looked to be perpetually flexing them. Its arms also had what appeared to be large red bands right where the arms first stretched from the body. It possessed a tail as well, which seemed to have a large bell attached around its end. On its head were two, bright red rectangular growths that jutted out horizontally in opposite directions. Those growths possessed two jagged black horns that bent upward. It also had a nose ring that hung down from a yellow triangular growth in between its eyes. Its name was Tapu Bulu.
The final one had a large, blue shell attached to its head and feet. The shell seemed to have a pointed horn-like structure at its topmost front, as well as a whitish-blue fin directly behind it. On the shell's sides were black and white triangular patterns that ran down from top to bottom. The actual Tapu itself had a curvy body, as well as wavy, cyan blue hair similar to a mermaid's. Its name was Tapu Fini, and these four beings were guardians of a far-off island region called Alola.
"You four know what I am about to speak of more than anyone else here," Continued Solgaleo, garnering the attention of the four Tapu's. "There exist things called 'Ultra Wormholes,' which are portals between Ultra Space and this universe. They open periodically, but completely at random. To escape the hell for weak beings like Lunala, Necrozma and I used to be, we decided to search for one of these Ultra Wormholes to escape Ultra Space and come to this world."
Lunala nodded, affirming her counterpart's claim. "These wormholes, for some reason, appear over the Alola Islands Region more than anywhere else here on Earth. We didn't know what awaited us in going through the wormhole, but at the same time, we didn't care. Anything was better than the life Ultra Space posed for us."
"And so you two abandoned me!" Exclaimed Necrozma, pointing at them accusingly. "You could no longer stand your own weakness, and the moment one finally appeared to you, did you wait for me?! NO!" His arm shuddered and trembled with rage. "You took your chance and abandoned me without thinking twice, leaving me alone to that hell! He put his clawed hands to his face, shaking his head. "I only lived for YOU! You were my best friends! My only reason to continue my existence, and yet you threw me away as if I were an old toy!"
"That's not true!" Lunala cried. "We would have never abandoned you if we had the choice!"
"THEN WHY DID YOU?!"
"We had no choice!" Bellowed Solgaleo. "We couldn't-"
Necrozma sliced through the air with his arm, cutting the sun Legend off. "I've heard enough of your lies! Do you have any idea what life was like for me with you gone?!" The dark demon let out a sharp sigh, and crossed his arms. "Here," He said, "Let me give you my story."
The interdimensional warmonger looked up to the sky, or rather, the ship above them in deep thought.
After a brief pause, he eventually started. "With you gone...I didn't know what to do. I wandered aimlessly for years not knowing why I continued living. Perhaps the fear of what might happen after death outweighed my fear of life. The only hope for my next day was that it might lead me to a wormhole of my own, where I could find you…"
He shook his head, looking back down at his two former friends. "Eventually, I lost patience. Whatever god was out there certainly cared not for me, and so I took matters into my own hands. I tried to create my own Ultra Wormhole." He paused once more, his eyes darting around toward the Ultra Beasts behind him, who immediately increased the distance between them and him upon doing so. "However," He said, "To do such a thing would require an absurd amount of power."
Looking back toward Solgaleo and Lunala with a cold stare that chilled them, he continued once more. "Eventually, I found a colossal stronghold, filled with a light so powerful that I thought I would have been blinded! At the stronghold's top were two crystals, and I knew I found what I needed." He chuckled darkly at that, though it was short-lived. "But of course...life is never fair. The moment I touched the crystals, the stronghold's guards caught me and tortured me for years upon years on end."
In spite of what he was saying, Necrozma began chuckling. He put a hand to his face, shaking his head as if he wanted to stop it, yet the chuckling only evolved into mad laughter, then to insane, booming cackling. "For what seemed like an eternity, I was subjected to all manner of torments, all the while my chance of escaping was right in front of my eyes outside the cage." He once again devolved into a fit of laughter. "It was as if they WANTED me to know just how helpless I truly was! ...And yet…"
Necrozma's laughing fit slowly but surely died down, until once again he was able to regain control of his actions. Once it died down entirely, he said, "God seemed to pity me on that day, and for whatever reason, the guards suddenly ran off. The gates to my cage opened, and I immediately took the crystals and ran. They chased me for days upon days on end. I couldn't stop to eat or sleep, else I would have been caught and returned to that prison."
He raised his arms, marvelling at the white crystals embedded in his arms as if he were seeing them for the first time again. "However, by sheer luck, an Ultra Wormhole appeared before me, sucking in both the crystals and I, putting me into a deep slumber. How long, I do not know." Necrozma sneered down at Solgaleo and Lunala, his fury-filled eyes burning brightly once more. "You two must have had quite the comfortable landing, here on a planet as lush as this. I, however, did not receive such a luxury. When the wormhole dropped me, it was on no such planet. It was directly in front of a star. I was sucked in and burned to ashes, ending my life...or so I had thought…"
Necrozma clenched his hands into fists, making the crystals on his arm light up. He stared at them blankly, entranced by the light they gave off. "But these crystals...saved me…" He shook his head to rid himself of the trance, then stared down his former friends once more. "I don't know what happened, but when I next awoke, I was in the middle of a cold void. When I looked down at myself, I was completely unrecognizable from how I used to be."
He looked up toward the ball of energy above it, and moved it around with his finger. He manipulated its size, shape and structure. "The crystals had fused with me...and I had become more powerful than I could have ever dreamed! So, I used my power to dominate! To crush everything under my feet, just as life had done to me!" The crystals on his arms began glowing fiercely, and he let out an explosion of energy. "And my first victim...was Ultra Space itself!"
He crossed his arms together, grinding the two crystals against each other. A burst of light ensued, and everyone's mouths became agape. The eyes of the Ultra Beasts sparkled with wonder at it, but for what reason, they did not know. Before Necrozma was what appeared to be a blue hole that led to nowhere. It was a hole in space itself. "By having the powers of the crystals collide with one another, I could open up portals to Ultra Space at will." He raised his opened hand to the portal and closed his fingers, making the portal disappear once more.
"And, well…" He then motioned around himself at the innumerable Ultra Beasts surrounding them and laughed. "I suppose you can take a wild guess at how that went. With the Ultra Beasts enslaved by my hand, I had that world's greatest genius, a Xurkitree, forge my battleship and all of its technology. With it, I either conquered or completely annihilated every single planet with life I came across…" Necrozma crossed his arms, looking down upon everyone beneath him smugly. "And became the scourge of the universe, Lord Necrozma!"
His eyes became dark, and possessed an animal-like hunger to them. As he pointed his finger down toward Solgaleo and Lunala, he said, "All for the purpose...of killing you…"
Lunala scowled up at him. "Why, then, did you not?"
Necrozma neglected to respond, so Lunala continued. "You've had many chances. You could have ended us at any point now, so why haven't you?"
"I…"
"I know why," Interjected Solgaleo. "It is because somewhere deep inside of you, that Cosmog that was our friend still remains."
Necrozma's face once again wrinkled with rage. "You know nothing! That weak, insignificant thing is dead and gone! Now die, along with him!" He raised his arm backward, threatening to throw the colossal ball of energy down upon them. However, just like before, he still hesitated. He froze up completely, trembling as if he was pulling against some kind of invisible rope that pulled his arm back.
Lunala and Solgaleo let their cautious stance falter. "Come, then," Solgaleo urged, "Destroy us if you can."
Lunala spread her wings and closed her eyes. "If you wish vengeance upon us, we cannot blame you. If taking our lives is what you wish, then as your friends, we will happily offer them."
Choked air escaped Necrozma's throat, and his face contorted once more. However, it wasn't out of rage. His brows creased together, and his eyes widened. Once again, he attempted to pull his arm forward, and once again, he failed to actually follow through. His face was contorted in frustration at himself, but whether it was due to being unable to kill his former friends or because he didn't want to was unknown.
Solgaleo spoke up once more, his face etched with sorrow. "I am sorry...for what happened to you…"
Lunala nodded her head. "Indeed...you seem to have had quite the hard life with us gone...I'm sorry, Cosmog."
"Stop calling me that!" Roared Necrozma in response. "If you're so sorry, you would have never gone in the first place! You're only sorry now because I'm about to end you for what you've done!"
Solgaleo let out a sigh. "Please, Cosmog, just drop the act."
"We can't bear to see you like this!" Added Lunala. "This whole thing...Necrozma...it isn't you! Necrozma isn't you, Cosmog!"
"What am I, then?!" He roared. "If I am not Necrozma, the being I became after building myself up from nothing, then what?! That weak Cosmog you call your friend?! Since you abandoned him-"
"It was an accident!" Cried Lunala. "We never meant to go!"
Necrozma was taken aback, evidenced by his widened eyes. "Wha...what did you say…?"
Solgaleo shook his head. "We should have just said this from the beginning…" He looked up toward Necrozma. "Cosmog...we never meant to leave you…"
"Then why di-"
"Please," Interrupted Lunala, "Just let us talk...let us tell you why we left in the first place."
Necrozma let out a shaky breath, and after a few seconds, retracted his hand. "...All right...say what you will…"
Solgaleo opened his mouth to speak, then sharply closed it and shook his head. "Actually...I believe it would be better if you saw it for yourself."
"I agree," Replied Lunala with the nod of her head. "It would be much simpler if you saw what we did on that day...we know you have the power to read minds."
Necrozma hesitantly lowered his finger, allowing the ball above him to fade. He lowered himself to Solgaleo and Lunala's height, and asked, "You two...are you sure…?"
They nodded wordlessly, closing their eyes to allow their friend to do what he needed to do. Necrozma looked down at his hands and hesitated to move, as if questioning if he should even do what they offered. Slowly, he raised his arms out toward them. The Legends tensed up, preparing to strike at the slightest wrong movement of Necrozma. The trainers looked at one another in confusion, then looked up at Necrozma once more.
Upon Necrozma's hands making contact with the heads of Solgaleo and Lunala, the world around him faded to black. He then saw countless lights fade into existence around him, each one of them acting like a picture frame to hold the memories of his friends. Necrozma floated around through them, looking upon them in wonderment until he came upon the one he was looking for, and froze. He saw it right in front of him, but hesitated to touch it. Slowly, he raised a finger toward it and tapped it. It felt warm, like a nostalgic old home. Letting out a deep sigh, Necrozma took the memory into his hands, and the world went white.
When the light faded, Necrozma was greeted with an all-too familiar sight, though from a different perspective. He saw three little Cosmogs, bundled together inside of a large, hollow tree. They were so hungry they couldn't stand it. Two of them were so weak they couldn't move. The other offered to go off and find food since they could still move, and left the trunk. A few minutes later, everything went black.
Necrozma heard a shrill sound suddenly, and apparently the two remaining Cosmogs did as well as light returned once more via them opening their eyes. An Ultra Wormhole had managed to appear directly above them. The shrill sound appeared once more, sounding akin to a saw on metal. Then, the two Cosmogs were slowly lifted off the ground. Necrozma felt their panic, but they didn't have the strength to resist its pull.
Before the two Cosmogs knew it, they were pulled into the wormhole, and their vision faded once more. Necrozma heard their last memory. It was them calling out to the friend they'd unintentionally left behind. Then, their memories became separate. Necrozma couldn't tell what had happened, but apparently they had exited the wormholes at slightly different intervals, causing them to appear at different places. They appeared at entirely different parts of the same world, and had apparently entered different forms while inside the wormhole, which Necrozma had learned they called 'Cosmoem.'
One Cosmog appeared in a bright place. Directly in front of the home star of the planet they would later inhabit as a home, in fact. The sudden burst of energy caused another transformation, and upon that Cosmog's awakening, they found that they had taken the form of a bright white lion with a starry pattern on its rounded forehead. Its mane possessed six oval-like shapes to it, and it was blindingly bright. It had become Solgaleo.
The other Cosmog appeared in a darker place, but it still had substantial lighting to it. It was in space as well, though now it was in front of the planet's moon, which shined brightly amidst the countless stars surrounding it. Upon this Cosmog's awakening, it transformed into a large bat with a curved tail. It had golden edges to its wings that, when flexed, came together to make a golden ring around itself. On either side of its head were white, crescent-shaped growths that reflected light. Its forehead also possessed the look of the starry night sky, just as Solgaleo did. It had become Lunala.
Once the two had been done marvelling their new forms, they travelled down to a nearby planet called Earth, where they reunited above a set of islands with dawn and dusk behind them. Their memories then showed them descending upon the islands and living with the locals for several thousands of years, until something strange happened.
Solgaleo and Lunala travelled up to a large mountain one the smallest of the islands and, to Necrozma's shock, managed to open an Ultra Wormhole with their combined might. What's more, they travelled inside of it without hesitation, which confused Necrozma to no end. He felt, from their memories, that they did not possess the malice toward Ultra Space he did, so why did they return to it?
He soon found his answer when Solgaleo and Lunala traversed across a burned, scarred Ultra Space until they came across a gargantuan tree. At first, Necrozma didn't recognize the tree due to its size. Then, he found a small hole in its base, which made his eyes go wide upon realizing this tree's significance. It was the tree they had taken shelter in on the day that two of the Cosmogs had been sucked into an Ultra Wormhole.
"They...came back for me…"
The memory then showed Solgaleo and Lunala traversing across Ultra Space once more. How long they did, Necrozma did not know. All he knew was that it must have taken hundreds of thousands of years for them to do so, but eventually, they were forced to give up. There was no longer a single living thing in Ultra Space besides plant life, and so Solgaleo and Lunala were led to believe some kind of mass extinction event occurred. They had no way of knowing that Necrozma had come back at an earlier point in time, single handedly drove the Ultra Beasts to near-extinction, and left with the rest back to the other dimension Solgaleo and Lunala had now called home.
Necrozma removed his hands from the sun and moon Legend's heads, letting out a sharp gasp of air. He looked back up to the two of them and saw them smiling at him kindly. This act alone caused tears to well up in the eyes of the being who slaughtered most of the universe's life.
"We tried to look for you," Cooed Lunala, "But...we couldn't find you."
"I'm sorry we didn't come back sooner," Apologized Solgaleo with the bow of his head, "But we didn't yet know we even had the power to open an Ultra Wormhole…"
Necrozma clawed at his head and began spastically shaking it. "No," He whimpered, "No, no, no, no, NO! What have I...what have I done?!" Necrozma's friends attempted to console him, but he shot his hand up to stop them and backed away. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" He roared. "I'M A MONSTER! A RUTHLESS MONSTER WITHOUT A HEART!"
Solgaleo took a step toward Necrozma despite his warning. "Don't say such things," He said. "You were left hurt and confused. You simply let your rage overtake you, but it's alright now. It's all over…"
Lunala nodded, floating closer to Necrozma with her wings outstretched. "You can rest easy now, old friend. The fighting, the war, and your suffering are over."
Necrozma's eyes somehow became even wider. "You can't say that! You don't know what I did!" He pointed his jagged finger at Deoxys. "I slaughtered his people and destroyed his planet, and I would have done the same thing to him had I found him!" He then pointed toward Keldeo. "I slaughtered his family without a second thought! I reveled in his suffering!" Then, he motioned toward Rayquaza and Lugia's injuries. "Surely you see those injuries?! I caused them! I disfigured them solely for my own warped amusement!"
With his arm, Necrozma motioned all around himself at the Ultra Beasts and the colossal ship that blotted out the sky. "I took vengeance upon the Ultra Beasts, but most of them had never even met me let alone harmed me! Yet I either slaughtered or enslaved them without a second thought!" Then, he pointed at himself with a look of disgust and horror that broke Solgaleo and Lunala's hearts. "What I've just described doesn't even begin to cover all the atrocities I've committed! And the worst part…"
Necrozma's eyes lost their red glow, becoming a soft blue instead. "I loved each and every moment of it! I took pleasure in the torment and deaths of billions if not trillions of lives! And for what?! Entertainment?!" He looked down at his hand. The light of his arm's crystals caused his face to reflect off of it, forcing him to look at himself. "I am not the friend you knew...he died the moment he started hating you...he died long ago…"
Lunala attempted to speak up. "That's not-"
She yelped as Necrozma suddenly grabbed hold of her head, as well as Solgaleo's. The Legends made a move to help them, but stopped as Lunala held her wing out. "You think you know me?!" Cried Necrozma. "Take a look at this and tell me that again!"
Now it was their turn to see Necrozma's memories, and what they saw...was fire. Death. Destruction on a planetary scale. He would visit planets and do exactly as he was in the middle of doing on Earth. He would wage war and watch his forces slaughter the world's inhabitants before annihilating the planet completely time and time again. Sometimes, when Necrozma would find entire solar systems with life, he would destroy the star at its center just to watch their life forms die in one grand, fiery explosion.
Every time, it was a bloodbath. Necrozma would tear his claws through hundreds of life forms in one fell swoop, lavishing himself in their blood. By the time he was done with each planet, there was a veritable ocean of blood left behind. There were times where he literally brought two planets together with his power and forced their inhabitants to battle one another for survival, but he always simply killed the winning side regardless.
During every invasion, he would torture many of that world's beings in front of their loved ones as well, going so far as to plunge his fist through their chests and keep them alive with his power so that they felt endless agony. All the while, their loved ones watched on helplessly, begging for his victim to be let free. Never did he stop until their minds were utterly broken beyond repair by the pain. Of course, he killed their loved ones afterward as well.
There were even times where he would intentionally leave survivors after an invasion, then go back several thousands of years to see what kind of technology they created to combat him. Of course, he slaughtered them and their efforts without taking so much as a scratch. He toyed with people's minds, emotions and bodies as if they were his playthings, not caring about what he broke.
And he enjoyed every moment of it.
He laughed over the corpses he left behind before eradicating the planet in its entirety. The destruction of a planet and its ensuing explosion made Necrozma's eyes shine with wonder, as if he were a child witnessing the grand finale of a firework show. Even when there were no planets to destroy, he would go to different parts of his ship where his Ultra Beasts trained and slaughtered them to alleviate his boredom. He was completely ruthless, merciless and heartless with every action he ever took.
He ripped his hands away from Solgaleo and Lunala suddenly, making them gasp for air as if they'd been forcibly submerged underwater. They looked up at him in horror, to which he simply nodded solemnly. "Do you see now?" He asked. "I am not your friend, nor am I suddenly redeemed now that I realize the error of my ways. I am a monster. A ruthless, heartless killer who would even subject my closest friends to seeing the disgusting crimes I've committed!"
Solgaleo and Lunala didn't respond, so Necrozma let out a dry chuckle and turned away. "I'm right, aren't I. The fact that you won't respond proves it."
"You're...you're wrong," Lunala spoke, fighting past her labored breaths.
Necrozma turned back to her, his eyes widened in disbelief. "What…?"
"You heard her," Gasped Solgaleo. "She said you're wrong about yourself."
Lunala nodded. "You may have done terrible things but…" She looked down toward Solgaleo, who looked back up at her as well. "We're the reason you became this way at all, so I think it's fair to say we're partly to blame for everything you've done. Wouldn't you agree, Solgaleo?"
The Legend of the sun nodded up to her. "Indeed I would, Lunala. Had we gone back earlier, we might have been able to rescue you from that prison and stop you from becoming like this." The two of them turned back toward Necrozma with kind smiles, making him flinch. "So I suppose, then, we can be heartless killers together. Though, I would preferably stop the killing here and now."
"I would agree," Lunala followed. "It's high time we buried this whole "universal scourge" act of yours, wouldn't you say, Necrozma? Or would you prefer Cosmog?"
Necrozma put his hands to the sides of his head, staring at his two friends in wide-eyed disbelief. "What is with you?! Why are you trying so hard for me?!"
Lunala's smile faltered, but she still kept her eyes staring into Necrozma's own. "Why, you ask? Well…" Her smile returned in full force as she grinned brightly his way. "To be honest, I don't think I could go through the pain of losing you twice."
Solgaleo chuckled. "When we were pulled into this world, we believed we'd lost you. When we came back and couldn't find you, we were certain you were gone." He mirrored Lunala's smile. "And yet, here you are! Right in front of us! You've certainly changed, but then again, so have we."
"You…" Necrozma felt, for the first time in millions of years, a tear ran down his face. "Would still take me back? After all I've done?!"
Lunala stretched out her wings to embrace Necrozma. "Of course. What was that little saying you used to say? Friends to the end?"
"I believe it was," Affirmed Solgaleo, "And I would say it still counts after all these years."
Lugia guffawed at what he was seeing. "There's no way...just like that? Is it really over this easily?"
Deoxys shook his head. "I feel like it's too good to be true…and yet…" His quizzical gaze was soon converted to one of hope. "If we could avoid this war…"
Rayquaza narrowed his eyes at the scene before him. "This can't be real. It's too good to be true!"
Beside him, Mewtwo chuckled. "I don't suppose that's a complaint."
"Of course not!" Rayquaza quickly replied. "It's just hard to believe in such a turn from someone like him!"
The clone Pokemon looked up at Necrozma. He could not sense anything from the invader, but the expression he wore is something he could never imagine Necrozma doing if he still carried the pride he boasted about from their earlier battle. "Life is...a very strange thing. I've come to learn that during my short years here in this world. Perhaps something like this is believable. After all, I was once similar to Necrozma, but thanks to a certain boy, I was able to look past my anger. Perhaps Necrozma can too."
Rayquaza gave Mewtwo an odd look and craned his head up toward Necrozma. "Maybe…" He recalled his own earlier days of life, where at first, Arceus seemed to care about him less and less with each new Pokemon he created. Eventually, he began to pay more attention to him, but it was always accompanied by rage. Luckily, it was rarely directed at him, but a fit of anger seemed to always follow his deity father. Now, however, Arceus was more than merciful. Understanding, even. He was a far cry from how he used to be. "Maybe it isn't so Farfetch'd after all…"
"Ash?" Asked Gary. "Can you tell what's going on up there?"
Ash nodded and replied, "I can, but...I'm not sure if I believe what I'm seeing."
Alain gave him an odd look. "What? Why, what's happening?"
Ash shook his head and looked back at the group. "It looks like Necrozma's been talking to two of the Legendary Pokemon and…" He stopped himself and chuckled, shaking his head. A big dumb grin took up his face, which only served to confuse his friends.
"What are you talking about, Ash?" Asked Dawn.
"Seriously, just tell us!" Cried Iris with the sporadic waving of her hands.
Ash rubbed the back of his head, attempting to stifle a laugh. "Sorry," he apologized, "I'm just relieved, is all."
That remark certainly caught the interest of everyone. Their heads perked up practically in unison, and they began crowding around Ash to get him to talk about what he meant.
"Come on, tell us!" Cried May.
Misty nodded, pushing her face toward Ash. "Yeah, get on with it!"
Still laughing, Ash attempted to get them off of his back. "All right!" He said. "Just calm down!" His friends backed off at that, but their eyes were all fiercely squared on him. He chuckled nervously, and said, "Two Legendary Pokemon are talking to Necrozma...and I think they're getting through to him."
Everyone's eyes shot open in shock at that. Riley's mouth gaped, and he looked up toward the Legends. "So that means…"
Ash nodded, taking the Pokeball of Hawlucha out of his pocket. "That's right...there might not be a war after all…"
At the helm of Necrozma's mothership, the Ultra Beast known as Xurkitree stared at a monitor before him in utter disbelief. "Is this...possible? Could Lord Necrozma truly be having a change of heart?" His stare become more intent as he closed his face further into the monitor. "At last...after all these years...could I return home and finally stop this trail of blood?"
Necrozma wiped away a tear from his eye, only for another to immediately take its place. "You...are far too kind for your own good, you know that?" To his own surprise, he let out a small laugh. "You guys were always like that...but even if you will take me in, Arceus never will." He looked down upon Keldeo with sorrowful eyes, eliciting a gasp from the equine Pokemon. "If he really is the god of this world, then I have spilt the blood of hundreds if not thousands of his children already."
Lunala looked down, humming to herself in thought. "I see," She replied. "Perhaps you are right."
Necrozma closed his eyes and shook his head, accepting that it was too good to be true. Then, Solgaleo said something that made his eyes widen once more.
"I suppose, then, that we will all simply have to return to Ultra Space."
Necrozma looked up at him in disbelief. "What…?"
"It might be nice actually," Continued the sun lion Pokemon, "To return home, now that the three of us are powered up and all." He looked up at the Ultra Beasts surrounding them. "These ones aren't the same from back home, so they've probably never even seen what Ultra Space looks like."
Lunala nodded, smiling up at them. It was clear by their expressions that they didn't know what to make of the act. "I'm sure they would love to see their birthplace. Where their true home lies. Doesn't it sound wonderful, old friend?"
Necrozma froze up for a few seconds, but eventually let out a small laugh and nodded. "You know...that does sound nice, actually. Now that every day won't be a struggle to survive, we might be able to appreciate the beauty of that world…" He looked up at the ship, and said, "To be honest, I've always wondered what a peaceful life might be like."
Lunala clapped her wings together. "That's wonderful!"
Solgaleo laughed, bobbing his head up and down. "Truly, it is. Now, Arceus might not agree with our decision, but he certainly can't deny that avoiding this war was a blessing."
Necrozma barked out a laugh, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "I couldn't agree more! Come, let us leave at once. I've imposed myself upon this world for far too long, but…" He stretched his arms outward at his sides. "Would you not embrace me, old friends? For old time's sake?"
Lunala and Solgaleo beamed at the request. "Of course!" The former cried. "I would love nothing more!"
"To be honest, I've...yearned to do that one last time actually," Solgaleo admitted. "Come on, friend. Put 'er there."
Necrozma and the two Legendary Pokemon floated toward one another. The other Legends, the trainers, and even the Ultra Beasts waited with baited breath for how this interaction would turn out. Necrozma wrapped his arms around his two friends, hugging them tightly. He even pushed his forehead against their own.
"My friends," He uttered. His voice was shaky, and another tear had escaped his once-cold eyes. A few tears had flown from Solgaleo and Lunala's eyes as well as they nuzzled against their once-lost friend's head. "You have made me happier than I thought was possible. I believed I had become soulless and hollow, no longer deserving of redemption and no longer wanting it. Before we leave, may I ask you one last thing?"
"Of course!" Chirped Lunala.
"Anything at all!" Followed Solgaleo.
Necrozma let out a happy gasp, as if he'd been holding his breath while waiting for their answer. "Thank you!" He cried. "Now...I must ask…" Gently, he pulled the two closer toward him, making sure his jagged claws did not harm them. He pushed his head closer toward their ear, then asked, "How good are my acting skills?"
Lunala and Solgaleo's faces wrinkled in confusion, and they slowly pulled away from him. "What are you-"
Necrozma suddenly grabbed at their necks, taking them in a chokehold. The Legends quickly rushed to their aid, but were all blasted into the ground with an unimaginable powerful pulse of energy. When they flew out from the ensuing dust cloud, Necrozma had surrounded himself, Solgaleo and Lunala in a crimson red barrier of energy. As one, they rushed up to the shield and ferociously attacked it, but couldn't seem to so much as put a scratch on Necrozma's barrier.
"F-friend…." Choked Solgaleo. "W-what are you doing?!"
Necrozma let out a dark chuckle. It echoed for miles upon end, paralyzing all who heard it with complete and utter terror. "Dear, oh dear," He said with a chortle, "Did you honestly believe I cared about you?"
Lunala gaped up at him with a wide-eyed stare. "W-what are you...s-saying?! I saw you c-cry!"
Solgaleo glared, though it was not at Necrozma. It was at the crystals on his arms. "It must be them! Those things must have been controlling his actions all this time!"
Necrozma howled with laughter. He let go of the two, though they received no respite as a Psychic grip took hold of their necks exactly where Necrozma's fists once did. "Sorry, but…" With each hand, he gripped at the crystals on his arms, and to Solgaleo and Lunala's horror, tore them out from their sockets. "Wrong again. These crystals may have given birth to the new me, but I have always been in control! They are inanimate objects that only serve to fuel my power." He then reattached the crystals into his arms, grinning down at them with his eyes. "Try again."
"I-I don't understand!" Cried Solgaleo. "There must be something controlling you! When you showed us your memories, I felt genuine feelings of remorse!"
Once again, this response only served to elicit an amused laugh from the dark demon. "Such foolishness. Just how blind can you be?" He crossed his arms, bringing the Legends of the sun and moon closer to him. Once they were eye-to-eye, he said in his signature, hollow, ruthless tone, "Cosmog died and Necrozma was born, I lost almost all interest in you. I say almost because…" The Psychic hold around their throats intensified, making them helplessly claw at it as they choked for air. "I could still get some satisfaction out of seeing your horrified faces before I sent you straight to hell...but before I do that…"
He leaned in toward them and whispered into their ears, "When you see Cosmog, tell him I said hi, would you?" He then grabbed their throats once more with his hands, and the crystals on his arms began glowing. From Necrozma's hands, two colossal, blindingly-white lasers burst outward. The Legends were forced to leap out of harm's way as the lasers burst through the shield and shattered it. The beams sailed into the sky until it seemed like they were about to tear into the ship, but at the last second, a barrier appeared right where the lasers were about to strike and negated the attack completely. As the Legends turned back toward Necrozma, they were greeted with the sight of him grinning up at them. Solgaleo and Lunala were nowhere in sight. They had been reduced to less than dust by Necrozma's cruel hands. The trainers, Pokemon and Legends alike all gaped in horror.
Necrozma let out another dark chuckle that echoed across the battlefield. "Ah, this truly feels wonderful. I feel as if I've finally gotten rid of an itch that has been plaguing me for years." The dark demon put a hand to his neck and cracked it, rolled his head, and stretched his arms out to the Legends as if he were welcoming guests. "Now then...let the games begin…"
In the mothership's helm, Xurkitree leaned back into his seat, letting out a dejected sigh. "I should have known this would happen. Lord Necrozma would never change so suddenly." The wirey, tree-like Ultra Beast leaned forward, looking at the monitor toward the trainers huddled together. Their faces were etched with terror, but what could he do? He had no power to deny his master. All he could do was serve Necrozma's destructive whim, just has he had done for millions of years before. "All right," Said Xurkitree, "Let's just get this over with."
An explosion of energy burst out from Deoxys. "YOU BASTAAAAARD!" He roared, charging at Necrozma with his signature Psycho Boost attack. With a single finger, the dark demon stopped the incoming attack in its tracks and froze Deoxys in place.
"Ah, it's you," He said, leering into Deoxys eyes, "I wasn't planning on killing you so soon after the main dish, but…" Deoxys's let out a choked scream as Necrozma plunged his index finger straight through his chest. What's more, he began twisting his finger around to further the agony he was putting Deoxys through. "If you insist." Necrozma's crystal began glowing brightly, as did his index finger. Deoxys was helpless to do anything against Necrozma's might, and he could only stare on in horror at his own demise.
'Is this it?' He asked himself. 'Can I truly do nothing against him?! My family...I can't meet them just yet! Not until I've avenged them!'
"Get off of him, you freak!" Roared Rayquaza, rocketing toward Necrozma with a Dragon Ascent. Necrozma merely chuckled at the serpentine Legend and, with his free hand, blasted him out of the sky. Deoxys watched on in horror as Rayquaza fell to the ground amidst a cloud of fiery smoke.
"Personally," Spoke Necrozma, forcing Deoxys to look at him by pulling his head with a Psychic grip, "I don't think you have the time to be worrying about anyone other than yourself at the moment." The glow inside Deoxys's chest from Necrozma's finger intensified, and his eyes became blank and lifeless as another laser burst out from Deoxys's back. He was blown completely in half, and his lower body was completely obliterated. Necrozma grabbed Deoxys's head before it fell, leaned in toward his ear and whispered, "Say hi to the family, would you?" Then, he tossed it behind him like trash.
Necrozma clapped his hands together as if he were getting rid of dust, then turned toward his Ultra Beasts, who cowered at his glare. "What do you think you're doing?" He demanded. "I don't recall giving any of you permission not to fight." Not needing to be told twice, the Ultra Beasts turned their sights down at the horde of trainers, descending upon them once more.
Ash tapped on the arm of the nearest person to him, then began running toward the larger group of trainers. "Crowd together!" He shouted. "Our best bet is if we stick toge-" His instructions were cut short as the Ultra Beasts crashed on top of them. One of them, a small, purple one that looked similar to an insect larva, flew down by his face and attempted to stab him with a stinger on top of its head, but a Thunderbolt from Pikachu sent it sprawling on the ground before it could do so.
"Thanks, buddy!" Cried Ash appreciatively, "Now let's get back to the oth-"
He heard a sudden scream behind him. "Ash!"
Ash's face paled. It was the voice of Serena. "Serena!" He shouted, whipping around to where he heard the voice. He saw her a ways away and attempted to run to her aid, only for more of the Ultra Beasts to crash down in front of him and block his path. Ash turned his heels, digging into the ground to stop his forward movement and glared at them. "Outta my way!" He roared, flaring his Aura. The show of force made their eyes widen in shock, but they still refused to move.
Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder, sparking his cheeks at them menacingly. Greninja, still in his Ash form, landed at his side. Soon enough, all of Ash's Pokemon crowded around him, but their numbers were nothing in comparison to the Ultra Beasts. They were completely surrounded on all sides. It was only Ash and his Pokemon against this army.
Ash grabbed his signature cap by its front and twisted around until it faced backwards. "All right," He said, "If you creeps want a fight, I'll give you one." He looked around at all his Pokemon, each one of them giving him a resolute nod to tell him they were ready. Ash back to them and bellowed, "Everyone, let's go!"
Serena stumbled backward as a particularly large Ultra Beast confronted her. The other ones had separated her from Ash as well as everyone else, which left her with one choice: To defend herself with what she had. "Alright!" She cried, taking out four of her Pokeballs. "Let's see how well our training paid off!" Throwing the Pokeballs into the air, Braixen, Clefable, Pangoro and Sylveon appeared from their Pokeballs, growling menacingly at the Ultra Beast before them.
The beast in question looked similar to a mosquito, yet vaguely human-like. Apart from its four feetless legs, it had the upper body of an incredibly-muscular male human. Its body was so filled with liquid she could only imagine was blood that she could see it moving around within the beast. The beast also had large wings that buzzed loudly as it floated in place. Its head was the defining feature giving away that it was a mosquito of some kind, having a large, thin beak Serena assumed was used for sucking in blood. It had more abs than she could count, and upon noticing her staring, flexed them. She didn't know if it was some kind of intimidation method or another option she would rather not explore.
She cringed at the beast's flexing, which evidently offended it as it seemed to recoil at her expression. It stomped its feet into the ground repeatedly, and the buzzing from its wings became louder. The mosquito beast then charged toward her, but was intercepted by Pangoro who grabbed its fists with his own.
"Great job, Pangoro!" Cheered Serena, earning a blush and a dumb grin from the panda Pokemon. "Now, use Bullet Punch!"
Pangoro nodded and turned back toward the mosquito beast with his fist pumped backward. His fists began glowing a shiny, silvery sheen and he made a move to crash them into the beast's face, only to suddenly double over in pain. The beast had managed to outspeed Pangoro, and delivered a savage punch to his gut. Pushing past the pain, Pangoro leapt back up toward it with both of its fists outstretched. However, the mosquito beast swerved its head out of the way at the last second and wrapped one of its arms around both of Pangoro's, then brought him closer to him with its pointed beak inching closer to its neck.
"Pangoro, no!" Shrieked Serena. She turned toward Sylveon next, and said, "Silveon, use Moonblast to get Pangoro out of there!"
The Fairy-Type Evolution of Eevee nodded to her trainer and opened her mouth, pointing her head toward the beast keeping her friend held hostage. In her mouth, a bright white ball of energy formed, which Sylveon then proceeded to fire at the mosquito. Seeing this, the beast in question abandoned its movement toward Pangoro's neck. With its free hand, it slapped the Moonblast back toward Serena.
Serena next looked toward Clefable for aid. It could potentially use Double Slap to bounce the attack right back at the mosquito beast, but there was no telling if it could do so. None of its other attacks could stop it as well, except… "Clefable, use Metronome!" Nodding in response, Clefable hopped in front of the incoming Moonblast and began twirling its fingers back and forth. Serena watched on anxiously, looking back and forth between the Moonblast and Clefairy. If there was any hope in stopping it, it was with luck.
Right before the Moonblast struck Clefable, it suddenly raised its fingers into the air, signifying Metronome had been completed. A blue, rectangular screen appeared around Serena and her Pokemon, which stopped most of the damage from Moonblast. Serena, Sylveon and Braixen were forced to shield themselves with their arms, or in Sylveon's case, just crouching down but they were all relatively unharmed.
"Nice job!" Cheered Serena. "You managed to use Light Screen!"
"Fabe! Fable!" Chirped Clefable happily. However, this happy moment was soon interrupted by the mosquito beast rushing toward them. Sylveon attempted to use Moonblast once more, but the mosquito hurled Pangoro at her before she had the chance to fire it off, knocking both of Serena's Pokemon away.
"Pangoro, Sylveon, no!" Cried Serena as she watched the two of them fly past her.
The beast then crashed down in front of the Light Screen, forcing Serena to snap her attention back on it. It raised its arm high into the air with its hand and smashed through the barrier. It looked toward Serena hungrily and rocketed toward her, but Braixen intercepted it with a Flamethrower that forced it to stop its assault and shield its face from the searing flames.
Serena clapped her hands together. "Nice work, Braixen! This thing seems to be weak to Fire-Type attacks, so use Fire Blast!"
"Brai!" Chirped Braixen in response, acknowledging her trainer's orders. The fox Pokemon puffed out her cheeks to build up flames within her mouth, then spat out a large, star-shaped blast of fire. The mosquito beast looked up at it angrily after recuperating from the surprise Flamethrower, only to get hit square in the face with the Fire Blast and disappear in a cloud of smoke.
"Nice!" Commended Serena, pumping her fist in the air in cheer. "That one hit it square on!"
Braixen turned around toward her and grinned. Behind her, the mosquito beast burst out from the smoke and rocketed toward Braixen with its fist pumped backward. The blood circulating around in its body was violently shaking.
Serena's face immediately fell seeing this. "BRAIXEN, LOOK OUT!"
The fox Pokemon immediately whipped around, but by the time she did, the mosquito beast's fist was mere inches away from colliding with her face. From behind Serena, a Moonblast rocketed past, eliciting a gasp from her.
"Wait, that's-!"
The Moonblast crashed into the mosquito's side, making it miss its mark and swerve out past Braixen. Now that its flight path had been unbalanced, the beast fell face-first into the ground and slid to a stop. Upon stopping, the beast leapt back up toward where the Moonblast came from, ready to pound it into the ground with its fist. That was, until it saw another fist.
Pangoro delivered a savage punch directly into the mosquito beast's face. The punch possessed so much force that the beast's pointed beak crumpled and bent under the force, and the beast itself was sent sprawling onto its back. Now utterly furious, the mosquito beast burst up from the ground and rocketed toward Pangoro.
"Pangoro!" Serena cried. "Use Bullet Punch!"
An eager grin appeared on the panda Pokemon's face, and he nodded, pumping both of his fists back. "Goro."
The mosquito beast crashed into Pangoro, its fists punching outward rapidly. However, Pangoro was ready. Coating its fists in a silver sheen, he returned the beast's rapid punches with ones of his own. Their fists crashed together one after another with such power behind them that each collision of their punches sounded almost akin to a thunderclap. Seeing that they were equally matched, the mosquito beast increased its punching rate, and to its surprise, Pangoro matched it.
The beast then increased the force of its punches, which the panda Pokemon met as well. Its fury increasing with every punch, the mosquito's body began darkening, becoming redder and redder by the second. It lifted itself off the ground with its wings, now releasing its fists downward into Pangoro, who kept on punching upward at it. Though Pangoro was able to match the beast's powers, the ground beneath it was not. It crumbled underneath the beast's powers, burying Pangoro's legs.
Serena clenched her hand into a fist, letting out an anxious breath as she watched the duel between her Pokemon and the alien beast. It was becoming more evident that her Pokemon was beginning to lose the fight as he was pushed further and further into the ground. She couldn't watch any longer. Though it might hurt Pangoro's pride, she couldn't let him die, and there were no rules about playing fair during war.
"Braixen!" She yelled, getting the attention of her partner Pokemon. Serena knelt down next to the fox Pokemon and brought it close to her. Squinting her eyes, she pointed at the mosquito beast as if she were about to take a picture. "I'm going to need you to use Fire Blast, but only clip it! If you hit that thing head on, Pangoro will get hit too."
Braixen squinted her eyes as well, leaning closer to her trainer to see what she saw. Upon doing so, she nodded to Serena, and began forming another Fire Blast within her mouth. The mosquito continued his endless barrage of punches, which had now pushed Pangoro into the ground up to his waist. With the lack of being able to maneuver his legs, the panda Pokemon was finding it ever more difficult to continue matching the beast's punches.
Serena and Braixen continued looking for an opening. Every punch the beast threw tilted its body in a way that exposed at least one part of it, but which part to aim for, Serena couldn't decide. If she aimed for its legs, she could risk hitting Pangoro. If she aimed for its back, she might accidentally make the beast push Pangoro even further downward. Of course, aiming for its arms was out of the question, so therein lied the looming question that perpetually echoed throughout her mind: Where to strike?
Then, she noticed something. The mosquito was flying above Pangoro, meaning it had to have wings of some kind. She couldn't see any, but that only meant that they were so thin that they were invisible, and being thin as they were, they could be clipped without pushing the beast further down upon Pangoro. "There," She said to Braixen, "Use Fire Blast right above its back!"
Nodding, Braixen opened her mouth and unleashed another Fire Blast. The beast was too preoccupied with its onslaught that it didn't realize the oncoming attack, and before it could only look on for a split second before its wings were completely seared off. It let out a pained shriek and fell directly into the now-enraged Pangoro's fists.
Pangoro erupted from the ground, rearing back its fists and then launching them forward with all the force of a missile. "GORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORO!" One after another, Pangoro's fists crashed into the beast's body, making it flail helplessly as every inch of its body was battered. With his foe nothing more than a crumpled pile of shattered bones, Pangoro crouched over, winding back his right fist. "GOROOOOO!" The panda Pokemon launched his arm straight into the beast, making it fold like a lawn chair and sending it sailing into the sky.
"It's not over yet!" Declared Serena. "Braixen, use Flamethrower! Clefable, use Dazzling Gleam! Sylveon, use Moonblast!" Nodding to their trainer, the three of them collectively fired their attacks toward the now-falling mosquito, resulting in a fiery explosion that rained down upon the battlefield. The beast, now burnt black, crashed down a ways away from Serena. "All right!" She cheered, bringing her Pokemon in for a hug. Pangoro bounded toward her, picking all of them up in a squeezing hug of his own, earning a pained laugh from the trainer.
However, Serena and her team's victory was cut short when two more Ultra Beasts crashed down behind her. Upon being put back down, Serena let out an annoyed sigh. She took off her bright red hat, looking at it for a moment before throwing it behind her. "It was probably going to get destroyed at some point anyways," She said, letting her short hair loose, "So, let's get back to business."
"All right, let's go everyone!" Shouted Brock and Misty. From Brock came Steelix, Geodude, Crobat, Sudowoodo, Forretress, Ludicolo, Marshtomp, Croagunk and Chansey. Misty sent out Starmie, Gyarados, Psyduck, Corsola and Politoed. The two of them stood back to back with their Pokemon surrounding them.
On either of the two Kanto Gym Leaders were two Ultra Beasts on either side. On Misty's side was what appeared to be a literal moving fortress. It was cube-shaped and a greyish-blue color. It appeared to be made out of bricks of some kind, which it used to literally re-form its own body into different shapes, evidenced by it taking out some of the bricks to stack on one another, using them as makeshift legs.
The Ultra Beast on Brock's side was mostly grey in color, with green at its bottom. It resembled, oddly enough a bamboo shoot. Its neck and head were as thin as a twig, with what appeared to be a drill covering half of its head. The rest of its body was anything but tiny. It had thick layers of rounded armor that jutted out downward in multiple layers. On its underside was what appeared to be a rocket's jet engine. Floating at its side were two gargantuan pipes that looked, much like its neck, like bamboo shoots, only these ones appeared to be diagonally sliced at their top.
Brock and Misty smirked at them. "They only sent one each?" Asked Brock.
"Let's teach 'em not to underestimate us!" Roared Misty, grabbing the Mega Stone she used as an earring.. "Let's Mega Evolve right off the bat and teach these creeps not to mess with Kanto Gym Leaders!"
Brock chuckled, grabbing the necklace around his neck that held a Mega Stone of his own. "Wouldn't have it any other way!"
"Steelix!"
"Gyarados!"
"Mega Evolve!"
The two Pokemon were surrounded by a brilliant white glow, and upon that glow fading, had transformed into entirely new forms. Steelix's body had become segmented with each piece floating in place, and its head became larger. Around its neck appeared to be incredibly sharp diamonds that floated around in a circle. Gyarados's body had become thicker, with two large twin fins erupting out of its back.
"Let's finish this in one shot, Steelix!" Roared Brock. "Use Flash Cannon!"
The colossal steel snake Pokemon snorted out a puff of steam and nodded to its trainer. It opened its mouth and fired a silvery-white laser toward the bamboo beast. In response, the beast held pointed the underside of one of its pillars at steelix, firing a jet of flame from it that collided with the Flash Cannon. The two attacks resulted in a stalemate, with neither one being able to overpower the other.
Seeing this, Brock tried to offer motivation to his Pokemon. "Don't give in! We can't show weakness to these things!"
Steelix nodded and furthered its assault on the bamboo beast.
Seeing Brock's fiery nature showing in full force caused Misty to grin. She turned back toward her own Pokemon and said, "We can't let Brock show us up! Gyarados, use Waterfall!"
Necrozma watched over the chaos with glee. "My, how wonderful," He said, "How I do love a good show."
From beneath him, Rayquaza re-emerged from the ground and shot up toward him. "Your madness ends here, Necrozma!" He roared. "In the name of Lord Arceus, we will defeat you!" He fired a Hyper Beam from his mouth, which Necrozma swatted away with the back of his hand. The attack was merely a ploy, allowing Rayquaza to shroud himself with Dragon Ascent and rush toward Necrozma.
The dark demon slammed his fist down upon Rayquaza's head, but before the serpentine Legend could fall back to the ground, Necrozma grabbed him by the tail and swung him toward Groudon, who had no means of escaping the incoming Legend. Rayquaza's body crashed into the red Legend, knocking both of them onto their backs.
"You know," Said Necrozma as he floated down toward the two, "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting most of you."
Groudon's response was firing a red-hot Flamethrower at him, which was stopped by the simple flick of Necrozma's finger. "Oh come now, that's just rude." Necrozma disappeared suddenly, making Groudon look around in every direction to try and locate the demon. It was too late when he realized the demon was directly beneath him. Balling his hand into a fist, Necrozma shot up and delivered an excruciating uppercut to Groudon's chin, which sent the colossal Pokemon skyward.
Warping up to meet the land creator, Necrozma swatted him back to the ground with the back of his hand, making Groudon crash down directly on top of Rayquaza. Seeing this, Kyogre leapt up to Necrozma and launched a Hydro Pump. "Really? Your main weapon is water?" Necrozma rocketed downward, burying his fist into the water deity's face. His hand began glowing white and Kyogre was blasted down with the other two members of the Weather Trio by a large white ball that exploded upon impact with the ground. "How utterly pathetic."
He turned around and saw none other than Mewtwo and Lugia. "I do hope," He said, "That you offer more of a challenge, but…" He briefly eyed the two of them from top to bottom and chuckled. "Considering how you performed against me last time, I'm not expecting much."
May and Max were confronted with only one Ultra Beast, which worked out well for them considering only one of them could fight. It was tiny and thin, looking to be made of nothing more than paper. It was star-shaped, looking like a child's first attempt at creating origami. It had three yellow growths on what May believed to be its shoulders, and they were so thin they looked like twigs. In spite of its size, it was actually giving May a lot of trouble.
"Blaziken, use Blaze Kick!" She ordered for the umpteenth time. Upon following the order and attempting to attack the Ultra Beast with its flame-coated foot, it disappeared and reappeared behind Blaziken. The paper beast grinded its arms together, kicking up sparks and alerting May to the fact that this thing was not paper.
The tiny beast zoomed toward Blaziken suddenly. With no other clear option, May quickly shouted, "Use Flamethrower!" to try and stop whatever oncoming attack this thing was trying to do. May's partner Pokemon quickly whipped around and shot a jet of flame from its mouth, which caused the tiny Ultra Beast to back off immediately to dodge it. It made some kind of muffled chirping sound at Blaziken, which May believed to be in anger, and brought its arms up to guard itself
May gave it an odd look. "Why did it back off suddenly? Could it be that…?" She snapped her fingers as an idea struck her. "This thing's weak to Fire!"
Max crossed his arms and hummed. "That's great, but...we still can't hit it. If you're not careful, this could just end up as a battle of stamina."
May nodded to him. "You're right, but we don't really have any other option than to keep attacking."
Max sighed, replying, "I guess so."
"Flamethrower!" Ordered May once more. Blaziken nodded in response, then fired another jet of fire from its mouth. Once again, the paper-like Ultra Beast dodged the attack. However, it did not retaliate, and simply went back to holding up its arms to protect itself. May ordered another Flamethrower, which once again missed its target. This went on for quite some time until May became frustrated.
"Come on, May, think!" She said, scruffing her hair to try and come up with a solution. Meanwhile, the paper beast had stopped looking at Blaziken. Its head trailed past it toward may, then toward Max. Once again, it grinded its arms together then shot off like a rocket toward him. Max yelped in fright and vainly attempted to shield himself with his arms, shutting his eyes to prepare for the worst.
But the worst never came. Slowly, he dared to open his eyes and let out another yelp, falling onto his backside. The tiny beast had been right beneath his feet, only now, it was twitching on the ground spastically. "Max!" Cried May, rushing to his side. "Hey, are you alright?!" Before Max could question what had happened, he noticed a faint glow above him. He could scarcely believe his eyes when he looked up and saw what it was.
"Hey, Max," Said Jirachi, "How have you been?"
Max gaped up at the Wish Pokemon. His eyes began to well up, and he jumped up to embrace it. "Jirachi!" He cried happily. "I never thought I'd see you again!"
"I thought...you were supposed to be asleep?" May asked. Realizing the rudeness of her question, she immediately tried to remedy the awkwardness she'd caused by adding, "I-I mean, I'm totally glad you're here, I'm just surprised is all!"
Jirachi giggled at her and responded, "Well, sometimes emergencies happen and I wake up a bit earlier." They looked up toward where Necrozma was battling the other Legends, her smile disappearing. "The end of the world is one such scenario."
Dawn was having a bit of a rough streak of luck. She currently had four of the same type of Ultra Beasts surrounding her. They looked almost like jellyfish, with a translucent, bulbous "head" that had several six-edged star shapes on it. Its tentacles looked to be gelatinous, and its entire body was white. They had two nearly invisible tendrils that looked similar to legs, and they danced in the air around her.
"Mamoswine, Ice Shard!" Commanded Dawn. In response, the woolly mammoth Pokemon spat out a sharp shard of broken ice up at one of the jellyfish beasts. The jellyfish stopped in midair for a second, seemingly phasing out and back into existence right next to where the Ice Shard was supposed to hit. In retaliation, it seemed to materialize a glob of purple liquid. To Dawn, that liquid looked like in the inside of a kaleidoscope, which was unsettling enough to let her know not to get anywhere near it.
"Mamoswine, dodge it!" Hearing that order, Mamoswine crouched down and prepared to leap out of the way. However, the jellyfish beast lobbed the substance toward Dawn instead. Piplup jumped up to protect his trainer, using Water Gun in an attempt to stop the attack. However, much like what the jellyfish did to evade Mamoswine's Ice Shard, the attack blinked past the water gun toward Dawn, and when it hit her, her eyes went white and she hit the ground with a thud.
"Pip?!" Cried a distressed Piplup. The little penguin Pokemon knelt down at his trainer's side, vigorously shaking her to try and stir her. "Pip, Piplup!"
Mamoswine and Dawn's other Pokemon quickly rushed back toward Dawn, concerned for their trainer's wellbeing. They crowded around her, helplessly prodding her in an attempt to wake her like Piplup, but to no avail. They stopped suddenly as they heard an odd humming noise above them, and found the jellyfish beast that had splashed Dawn with the odd substance dancing around in a circle above her. It seemed to be humming, though the tune it was doing so made no sense, like the sound a broken radio might make.
Furious at it for what it had done to their friend, Dawn's Pokemon collectively fired up at it with a colorful array of attacks, only for it to once again disappear from sight. The Pokemon looked around in confusion, but were unable to locate it. Scratching his head, Piplup turned back down to Dawn and alerted his teammates with a scream when he found that she had disappeared. Something caught Buneary's attention out of the corner of her eye, and when she looked toward it, she found that Dawn had been picked up by the jellyfish beast and was floating away.
"Bun, Buneary!" Cried the bunny Pokemon. She pointed toward the beast that held their trainer, and the group of Pokemon began sprinting after it until they were directly below it. However, attacking the beast now would harm Dawn or make it drop her. They clenched their teeth angrily, cursing themselves for their helplessness. Above them, the jellyfish beast stopped in midair suddenly. Its tendrils wrapped around the unconscious girl and touched her fingertips. To the horror of Dawn's Pokemon, Dawn's hand began seeping into the tentacle. It looked as if it were absorbing her.
The jellyfish beast's advances upon Dawn were halted suddenly. A purple glow had surrounded it, paralyzing it. Its song-like humming became louder and more shrill as it attempted to fend off this invisible attack, which caused the other three jellyfish to snap their attention to the one carrying Dawn. They attempted to aid it, but upon coming closer, they were surrounded by the same glow, smashed together, then hurtled away into the far distance.
Dawn's Pokemon were baffled by what was happening, but to them, it looked like Dawn was being rescued, and they weren't complaining. Above the jellyfish beast holding Dawn, three beings appeared. They were small and had relatively the same body structure. They each had twin tails with fan-shaped ends. Their bodies were all grey, except for their heads. One was triangular shaped and cyan blue. The other was pink, looking like it had feminine hair. The last was yellow, with its head curved in a round shape. For whatever reason, the yellow one had its eyes closed. They were Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie. The Psychic Guardians of Sinnoh's three great lakes.
They reached down toward the jellyfish beast and pried it off of Dawn before hurling it at the bottom of the ship. A barrier appeared underneath the ship as the beast approached, and when it collided, the barrier acted like a bug zapper, completely eradicating the jellyfish. Gently, the trio of Legends lowered Dawn's body back to the ground, where her Pokemon once again crowded around her in concern. They let out a sigh of relief when they found she was still breathing, and waved up at the three Legends in thanks.
Azelf and Uxie eyed a particularly large swarm of Ultra Beasts that were crowding around a group of trainers and their Pokemon. From the looks of it, they weren't going to last long, evidenced by the scream of one of the trainers as they were grabbed by the leg and pulled into the swarm. The two Legends were about to rush to their aid when they noticed that Mesprit was still hovering over Dawn with worry. The pink-haired Legend waved up to its two partners, telling them she would catch up soon. Seeing that the group of trainers was quickly dwindling in size, the other two waved back and rocketed toward the swarm.
A multitude of other Ultra Beasts crashed down in front of Dawn's Pokemon, surrounding them. In response, Dawn's Pokemon formed a defensive circle around their trainer, with Mesprit, still hovering over the unconscious girl, glowering at them. Unfazed by the Legend's attempt at intimidation, the Ultra Beasts let out a savage hiss before closing in.
Necrozma nonchalantly leaned his head sideways, letting Mewtwo's Shadow Ball hurl past him and into the ship. Lugia dove underneath him, firing off an Aeroblast that caused an intense cyclone of wind to encapsulate the demon. The fierce winds would have torn just about anyone to pieces, but to one such as Necrozma, they were nothing. He dispelled the attack with nothing more than the whip of his arm, then hurtled himself toward Mewtwo.
The clone Pokemon narrowed his eyes and deftly managed to evade the attack by flipping his body upside down at the last second, but Necrozma swiftly turned back around and rocketed toward him once more. Mewtwo summoned a purple barrier around himself, but Necrozma tore through it as if it were paper, catching Mewtwo in a brutal clothesline and throwing him into the distance.
A Hyper Beam approached Necrozma from behind, which he casually knocked away with a backhand. Looking at where it had come from, he found Lugia. "That was Hyper Beam, right?" He asked. "Between you and that green worm, it seems this technique is common amongst you lot."
Lugia's response was to fire off another. Rolling his head, Necrozma rocketed toward Lugia and tore straight through the attack. Seeing this, the Beast of the Seas shut off the attack and attempted to dodge, but ended up a step late. Necrozma grabbed Lugia by the throat and dragged him back down to the earth below. Necrozma threw Lugia into the ground as they approached, resulting in a large eruption of dirt and debris. He was about to follow this attack up with another punch when he saw another approaching attack.
Warping out of the way of a Flamethrower, Necrozma turned to its source and found none other than the three Elemental Birds. Chuckling at the sight of them, he said, "Well, now. It seems the ones I've faced previously are quite eager for vengeance."
"You bet we are!" Necrozma turned toward the source of the new voice. Keldeo had arrived, alongside Kyurem, Zekrom and Reshiram. Hopping off of Kyurem, Keldeo glared up at Necrozma, baring his teeth in fury. "You're going to pay!" Declared the equine Legend, shifting into his Resolute Form. "I'll make you regret what you did to my family!" Keldeo stamped his front two hooves into the ground, summoning energy to where his horn used to be. To his elation, he was still able to use Secret Sword. "Now, let's see if you can take us all on!"
Behind Necrozma, Lugia re-emerged from the hole he'd been planted on. He was covered in scrapes and dust, but was otherwise fine. The fury that burned in his glare showed he was far from done. Necrozma also noticed that the Weather Trio had also managed to get back up, and Rayquaza was already flying his way. The invader attempted to sense for Mewtwo, but couldn't find anything and decided it wasn't worth looking into.
Necrozma let out a chilling laugh and spread his arms outward, accepting the Legends' challenge. "Very well. I'll issue my own challenge then." Crimson-colored energy burst from Necrozma in all directions, blasting the ground itself off its hinges. In spite of this display of power, the Legends pushed forward against it. Necrozma disappeared and reappeared behind Articuno in an instant with his hand held up behind the Ice Bird's head. A ball of energy formed in Necrozma's hand, and he said, "Let's see if you all can survive what I'm about to do."
Articuno was blasted away and disappeared far into the distance. Zapdos and Moltres attempted to attack, but Necrozma warped in between the two of them and grabbed their wings. He slammed the two of them together, then blasted them away as well. The jet black dragon Zekrom cloaked itself in blue lightning with Fusion Bolt and rushed Necrozma, earning only a faceful of fist for its efforts before being sent hurtling away by a white ball of energy that promptly exploded.
Lugia sent yet another Hyper Beam toward Necrozma, which was caught in Necrozma's hand. He made sure to close his fingers to avoid the beam hitting his eyes. "Why is it that you like this attack so?" Necrozma asked Lugia. "You use it over and over, yet it yields no results. Though come to think of it, I recall saying I'd imitate it one day." In Necrozma's free hand, orange energy began forming into an orb. He whipped that hand forward, and when he went loose, the land itself seemed to uproot. Necrozma's Hyper Beam sailed toward Lugia, reducing the ground below it to ashes all the while Lugia's rage quickly turned to terror as he began to realize escape from it was not an option.
A purple stream of light descended from above, landing in front of Lugia. The dust settled, revealing Mewtwo who held his hands outward and stopped the massive Hyper Beam in its place. However, it quickly became apparent he would not be able to do it for long. "Lugia, go!" He cried, snapping the Sea Beast out of his stupor. Nodding to Mewtwo in thanks, he leapt out of the way of the beam, and Mewtwo warped next to him. They watched in a mixture of awe and horror at the destruction that ensued.
When Necrozma cut the attack off, all of the ground that had been in its wake was completely annihilated, leaving a long chasm with no apparent bottom. Necrozma's chuckling made the Legends snap their attention back toward him. "My, my," He spoke, marveling at the destruction he'd caused, "Now I see why you like using this. It's quite the handy technique."
"Dragonite, Fire Punch!"
Nodding back to Iris, the large orange dragon swatted away a small, purple Ultra Beast with a fist covered in flames. The beast was sent flying and disappeared behind the ever-growing swarm of other beasts, but these ones in particular were an annoyance due to their sheer numbers. They were easy to strike down, but another one always took its place. They were imp-like, purple with blue insectoid eyes, had bulbous ringed heads with a needle at its top and for some reason, always carried a grin as if it were having fun creating as much chaos as they were.
Cilan commanded his Crustle to use Rock Wrecker, resulting in one of the imp beasts having a colossal rock explode in their faces. However, two more of them appeared from the resulting dust cloud and attempted to close in on Cilan. The partner Pokemon of Cilan, Simisage, leapt up and caught the two of them, then sent them both flying with a Focus Blast. Cilan doubled over, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Just how many of these things are there?!"
"Try to hang in there!" Said Iris, deftly hopping over one of the imp beasts. It turned back toward her with a malicious grin and flew toward her again, but Iris's Excadrill stepped in, batting it away with its sharp metal claws. She thanked the mole Pokemon, then said to Cilan, "We just have to hold out until the Legendary Pokemon beat Necrozma!"
Cilan stumbled backwards as an imp crashed down in front of him face first, missing him by only an inch. "Easier said than done! There's no telling how long it'll take for them to do that!" Cilan's stunfisk leapt above him, firing off a Discharge to ward off a few of the imp beasts that had tried to get a hit on its trainer from overhead.
Axew hopped out from Iris's hair, clobbering an imp beast that decided to get close with an Outrage. Letting out as much of a roar as the small dragon could muster, Axew leapt into the frey to do the same to others. "H-Hey, Axew, don't go off on your own!" She looked down at another small dragon by her side, Gible, and told it to go after Axew. Now that she had the time to address Cilan once more, she replied to him, "Well, we don't exactly have much of a choice, so there's no point whining about it!"
A noise from underneath Iris caught her attention. The ground beneath her feet cracked upward, and another imp beast launched up from the ground with its stinger pointed toward her. With no way to evade the attack, Iris let out an uncharacteristic scream, which alerted her Dragonite. It rushed to her aid, knocking the beast away with a backhanded Thunder Punch.
Iris let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dragonite. If it wasn't for you, I would've…" She trailed off as she noticed something on Dragonite's arm. "Hold on, is that…" She attempted to grab hold of the arm, but Dragonite pulled it away from her. "Hey!" She cried. "Lemme see it! If you're hurt, I wanna help!" Begrudgingly, Dragonite allowed her to see the arm, and Iris gasped at what she saw. The imp beast Dragonite had smacked away managed to puncture Dragonite's arm, leaving a ghastly hole that dripped some kind of purple substance. "Is that...poison?"
Iris quickly took out a bag from her large hair and began rummaging through it. "Don't worry," She told Dragonite reassuringly, "I've got some Pecha Berries! With one of those, you should be-" Another imp beast snatched the bag from her hands. "Wha- hey!" Iris scarcely had the time to protest before more of the imb beasts swarmed the bag and tore it to pieces, leaving the girl hopeless.
"Oh no…" She turned back toward Dragonite. "H-hey, it's alright. It'll probably just go away with some rest so…" Dragonite stumbled forward, and Iris jumped to its side and grabbed hold of his arm once more. "Just take it easy, Dragonite," She cooed, "Just lay down. Don't worry about me, I'll-" Suddenly, Dragonite fell forward and landed with a resounding thud. "Hey, Dragonite!" Iris yelled with worry, crouching by its side, attempting to rouse it with a light shove. "Dragonite...hey, Dragonite! Wake up, this isn't funny!"
She turned around toward her remaining Pokemon. "Emolga! Excradrill! Come help me! Dragonite's-!" Another gasp escaped Iris's mouth as she saw the state her Pokemon were in. Emolga let out a volley of electricity out at the imps, but was quickly losing steam. One wrong step was all it took for the flying squirrel Pokemon to cease its attack, leaving it wide open for an imp to pounce down on her with three others following closely behind.
Exradrill was desperately fending off a dozen of the imps on its own. It swiped at them with his metal claws, but the imps were deftly dodging its wild swings. They occasionally got in a strike with their needles, which didn't do much due to Excadrill's Steel typing. One of the imps crashed into the mole Pokemon's foot, making its leg collapse. The other imps used this chance to grab hold of it and pull it into the main horde.
"N-no!" Cried Iris. She ran toward Excadrill in a desperate attempt to rescue it, but more imps flew down to stop her. She looked back toward Dragonite and was horrified to see that the imps had already covered him. "Hey, get off him!" She ran back to Dragonite and punched one of the imps with the back of her hand, but only succeeded in angering it. It hissed at her, turning its attention away from Dragonite.
Iris backed away from it slowly, trembling in fear. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon and found a metal rod poking out of the ground beside her. With some effort, she managed to pull it out and positioned herself to swing. "Get away from me!" She cried, swinging it at the imp's head. "AND GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!" The rod connected with the imps head, resulting in a loud crunching noise and a pained shriek from it.
Purple liquid began oozing from the stricken imp beast's head, but it wasn't out just yet. It glared up at Iris and hissed angrily. Iris's heart thumped spastically out of her chest. Her eyes began to well at the thought of what happened to her Pokemon, but she forced herself to push it out of her mind. Raising the bar behind her once more, she screamed and swung again. Or at least, she tried to. The bar wouldn't budge.
It was yanked out of her hands suddenly, and when she turned around to see what had happened, she saw that the horde had closed in on her. The imp that had yanked it out of her hand giggled at Iris until two more appeared and fought over the bar. Eventually, they ended up snapping it and half, losing interest in it, and dropped it at the terrified Iris's feet. Iris looked behind her for Cilan, but couldn't find anything. Desperation quickly set in, and as a last ditch effort, she cried, "Axew! Gible! Where are you?!" There was no response but the imp's giggling. "Please! I need you! Please, anyone!" No response. Cilan had disappeared. Her Pokemon had as well. She was alone, and the only thing she could hear or see was the swarm.
Clemont's Luxray let a Discharge loose, but the Ultra Beast they were fighting proved to be slippery. Despite electricity being flung in every direction, it weaved through it with ease. It twirled about like a ballerina, and when the attack faded and the beast was left unharmed, it bowed as if it were done putting on a show.
"Stay behind me, Bonnie," Warned Clemont. "This one might be more dangerous than the others."
Clemont's younger sister nodded and crouched behind Luxray, trying to make sure she wasn't spotted. The Ultra Beast they were battling looked like a jester, having a thin body that was decorated to the brim with colorful objects. It had white "shoes" with high heels and curved tips with large colored rubber balls at their front. Its waist and thin spine had red, yellow and blue stripes that spiraled up until the neck. Its head consisted of a large frill that balanced a ball, which appeared to be its head even though it wasn't attached to the rest of the body. Its arms were blue and purple and the wrists had smaller versions of its neck frill. Its hands, if they could be called that, looked like white paintbrush tips.
Clemont pointed at it and commanded, "Helioptile, use Volt Switch! Luxray, use Thunder Fang!" Clemont's Heliolisk summoned a ring of lightning and hurled it toward the jester beast. In response, the beast bent backward at a seemingly impossible angle and let the attack hurtle past it. However, when Volt Switch impacted the ground and exploded, Luxray appeared in its place and ran toward the beast from behind with its fangs coated in lightning.
The electric wolf Pokemon chomped down on the ball and landed in front of its body. Clemont pumped his fist in the air. "It worked! Nice job, Lux-wait, what?!" The beast, in spite of losing its head, appeared to be completely fine. It danced around the confused Luxray, twirling about like nothing had happened at all. "That's not possible!" Cried Clemont. "How can it survive without its head?!"
"Maybe it learned from Ash," Remarked Bonnie with a snicker.
The jester beast leaned forward, clapped its hands in Luxray's face, then began sprinting away. Clemont quickly caught on to what it was doing. "Luxray, throw it!" Luxray hurled the ball skyward, where it began glowing orange before promptly exploding. Clemont gaped up at the blast, then sent a glare the jester beast's way. From the center of the frill on the beasts neck, a new, smaller ball appeared and nearly instantaneously grew back to its old size.
It put a hand to the front of its neck frill and moved in an odd way that suggested it was laughing, though it made no noise at all. Reaching up, it plucked the ball from its frill once more and hurled it at Luxray. Clemont quickly countered with, "Thunderbolt!" Nodding, Luxray fired off a bolt of lightning at the incoming ball, making it explode before it could make contact.
The jester beast erupted from the smoke, holding another of its "heads" high in the air and sprinted toward Luxray. "Quick, use Discharge!" Clemont's line of thinking was that even if the attack wouldn't connect, it might hit the ball or at least make the beast drop the ball and subsequently detonate it before it got too close. However, the jester beast swerved through the descending bolts of lightning with ease, even going so far as to throw the ball and catch it while doing so.
It suddenly jumped high above Luxray and looked as if it were about to dunk its head like a basketball when a Flamethrower suddenly appeared, striking the ball and causing it to explode overhead. "What the-" Exclaimed a surprised Clemont. "What the heck was that?!" The jester flew from the debris with some scratches, but otherwise was unharmed. Slowly, it turned its head toward where the Flamethrower had come from.
"You kids shouldn't be fighting these things by yourself," Said a mysterious voice.
Recognizing it, Clemont and Bonnie turned toward it. "That voice, it's-!" From the debris, a large man clad in a red suit resembling a Blaziken appeared. He also wore a bright red cape and a greyish-black undersuit. Next to him was an actual Blaziken that had powered up into its Mega Form. "It is I," Spoke the mysterious figure, "The one who strikes down evil in the name of justice! Defender of the Kalos Region, I am Blaziken Ma-"
"Hey, dad!" Said Bonnie, waving to the man and making him trip over himself. "What are you doing here?"
The figure fumbled and fell over after tripping on his cape. Quickly erupting from the ground, he cried, "Can't you just let me do my motto?!" He shook his head dejectedly. "Well whatever. The moment's ruined. As for what I'm doing here, well, how could I call myself a hero if I didn't help save the world?" In the blink of an eye, he grabbed Bonnie and Clemont, lifting them into a crushing hug. "And of course, what kind of parent would I be if I just let my kids fight by themselves?"
"P-please let go," Begged Clemont, "You're ch-choking us!"
"Oh!" Clemont and Bonnie were quickly dropped back on their feet, with their father rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about that."
Clemont took in a sharp inhale for the air he'd been starved of, then replied, "It's no big deal. Honestly, the help is appreciated."
Blaziken Mask resumed his usual posture, crossing his arms and raising his head high. "Not a problem at all, my boy! Now…" He clapped a hand on Clemont's shoulder, looking down at him with a bright grin. "Let's say we teach these alien punks a lesson, eh? Father and son against the universe? Sounds like a nice story to tell my grandkids one day."
Bonnie shrugged. "I think girls are beyond Clemont, dad. Trust me, I've tried."
Clemont laughed in embarrassment, but ignored his younger sister's remark. "I don't know about kids or anything like that," He said, standing back to his full height. Luxray jumped back to his side, and the two of them glared fiercely at the jester beast. "But 'father and son against the universe' does sound nice."
Blaziken Mask let out a hearty laugh and crouched into a battle position with his trusty partner Blaziken mirroring the pose by his side. "Atta boy! But before we do that…" He turned his gaze up to the sky, with Clemont and Bonnie following suit. A black dragon descended towards them, slashing at any Ultra Beast in its way with its glowing green claws. On its back was a trainer who wore black from head to toe, save for a fluffy blue scarf around his neck. "I brought some extra help."
Clemont let out a small gasp as he recognized who the trainer was. "Hold on! That's…" The black dragon Pokemon stopped its descent gliding just above the ground and rocketing toward the jester beast. It barely had a moment to register what was happening before the beast was sent flying by a Dragon Claw. The dragon, whom Clemont could now identify as a Mega Charizard, came to a stop and let its trainer off its back. He turned toward them with a smile and waved at them. "That's Alain!"
"Hey!" Called Alain as he made his way toward the group. "You guys need any help!"
Clemont laughed. "Boy do we! It's a relief having a trainer as strong as you around!"
Blaziken Mask grinned down at Clemont and chuckled, but his smile faded once he thought about what Clemont said. 'Wait, does he not think I'm strong?!'
Keldeo leapt high into the air above Necrozma. "EAT THIS!" He roared. "SECRET SWORD!" From the remnants of Keldeo's horn, he unleashed a brilliant white beam that tore through the air. In response, Necrozma casually caught the attack and crushed it in his hand.
The invader scoffed. "Perhaps I damaged your memory, or perhaps your mental capacity is simply so dull you don't remember, but the last time you used the attack, it did nothing. Why would you think it would end any differently?"
To Necrozma's confusion, Keldeo smirked down at him and answered, "This time, I've got help."
Taking it upon himself to act, Kyurem fired off an Ice Beam that managed to strike Necrozma point blank, resulting in the dark demon being frozen solid. Keldeo cheered, standing up on his hind legs. "Yes, it worked!"
The ice glowed brightly, then exploded outward. Necrozma locked his gaze upon Kyurem and rushed at the ice dragon, but was forced to stop as a Hyper Beam appeared in his way. "Not going to happen!" Declared Rayquaza. "Your end has come!"
Crossing his arms, Necrozma let out a chuckle. "Funny…" Seemingly blinking out of existence, Necrozma disappeared and reappeared beneath Rayquaza with a ball of energy formed in his hand. "I was going to say the same thing to you." Before anyone could react, Rayquaza was sent careening into the sky by the ball. The sky guardian managed to push himself off of it before it sailed away into the mothership's barrier.
The second Rayquaza looked back down, Necrozma was upon him with his fist drawn back. Mewtwo appeared in Necrozma's way with his hands coated in Psychic energy. Necrozma collided with Mewtwo with enough force to blow Rayquaza backward, but Mewtwo managed to hold steady. "My, haven't you improved?" Necrozma remarked. "To be able to match my power like this...it's a far cry from the sorry fight you gave me last time."
Mewtwo grinned at him. "I've improved, huh? Heh…" Necrozma caught a glint in Mewtwo's amethyst eyes. "Trust me, Necrozma. You haven't seen anything yet!" With a mighty bellow, Mewtwo knocked Necrozma back slightly and threw two Shadow Balls toward him. The invader, in response, caught both of them and threw them back at their creator. Mewtwo brought up a barrier to protect himself, but oddly enough, both of the attacks missed. He craned his head up to look at the ghostly globs, expecting them to turn back around toward him, but instead was met with Necrozma's fist slamming straight through the barrier and into his face, sending him back to the ground with a resounding crash.
"Mewtwo!" Cried a wide-eyed Rayquaza. He quickly descended to try and aid his friend, but Necrozma warped in his path and forced him to stop. He growled furiously at the demon. "Get out of my way!"
"Not likely." Necrozma grabbed hold of Rayquaza's throat and dragged him toward the ground. "You and that Mewtwo fellow seem quite close. I simply thought that you two should be closer!" He then hurled Rayquaza down, aiming to make him crash into Mewtwo, but Lugia stopped Rayquaza's descent with Psychic.
Looking down at the collapsed Mewtwo, he said, "Now we're even." The sea beast was unable to foresee Necrozma rocketing down toward him with his hands clasped together, and was thus smashed into the ground. Keldeo attempted to use Secret Sword once more, but Necrozma picked Mewtwo up by the tail and hurled him into the young Legend, sending the both of them flying away.
He then turned his sights back on Kyurem and asked, "Now that the interruptions are out of the way, where were we?" Kyurem's response was another Ice Beam. It looked to have caught Necrozma once more, until the dark demon warped in front of the ice dragon, grabbed him by the throat and created another ball of energy in his other hand. Kyurem attempted to use Ice Beam for a third time, but had his mouth forcefully shut. "Now, now," Chided Necrozma mockingly, as if he were addressing a child, "Accept your end with dignity."
Reshiram crashed down beside the two, forming a colossal ball of red-hot flames above her head. "Release him!" She demanded. "Else I will unleash upon you-" Necrozma stopped paying attention to what the white dragon was talking about, instead eyeing the ball of flames above her head with interest. Then, a devious idea struck him. "Hmm…"
"So, you won't respond, hmm?" Inquired Reshiram. "I thought as much. Very well then. I suppose someone like you would never-" Necrozma turned around toward her and hurled Kyurem into the flame orb, sending a small blast after him for good measure. Reshiram had no time to react before her own attack exploded in her face, catching both her and Kyurem inside it. Necrozma rushed into the flames, clutching Reshiram by the throat and dragging her across the ground. He then threw her up into the air and followed with a beam of light.
Reshiram was saved by Zekrom, who zoomed in just in time to carry her away from the laser. "Are you alright?" He asked, earning a nod from his counterpart.
"I received some scrapes," She responded, "But it's nothing in comparison to what might have happened had you not arrived when you did."
Zekrom smiled down at her. "I see. Then I suppose that-"
Reshiram's eyes suddenly shot open in fear. Looking past Zekrom, she cried, "WATCH OUT!"
Zekrom whipped around and attempted to come to a halt, but Necrozma crashed into him and delivered a devastating punch to the black dragon's gut. Zekrom was left completely stunned by the sudden attack. His jaw gaped open, his eyes were widened and bloodshot, and despite the immense pain he was in, he was unable to make any other noise but a choked squeal. Grabbing hold of Zekrom's head, Necrozma hurled him into the mothership's barrier.
Upon making contact, the barrier subjected Zekrom to all manner of shocks. Lightning with power Zekrom had never known coursed through him, attacking every nerve. Unable to free himself, the only thing he could do was scream in agony. "Zekrom, No!" Cried Reshiram. Surrounding herself in flames, she attempted to aid Zekrom, but was stopped by Necrozma's Psychic hold.
"Not so fast," Said the invader, "Are you really leaving so soon?"
Necrozma released her from the hold, and she immediately turned back to him with fury in her eyes. "What do you think this is?!" She demanded. "Some kind of game?!"
Necrozma shook his head. "I've already given Arceus and some humans a whole speech on that topic, and frankly, I don't like repeating myself." In an instant, Necrozma disappeared, and Reshiram doubled over as his fist met with her chest. "So let me give you an abridged version." The fist he'd planted in her chest began glowing, and Reshiram could have sworn Necrozma was grinning even though he had no mouth. "It's a hobby." A crimson laser erupted from his hand, sending her up toward Zekrom to meet his same fate.
Reshiram looked back at the approaching barrier with horror, especially as she saw Zekrom's torture up close. She closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. However, it never came. Tentatively, she opened her eyes and found that both she and Zekrom, who was panting heavily on his hands and knees, had been returned to the ground. Before she could ask what had happened, a voice answered for her.
"I warped space to save you," Palkia told the two of them, "So you two take a little rest. Dialga and I will take it from here." True to the space deity's word, the ruler of time, Dialga, descended from above and landed next to him.
Reshiram had never really thought about it before, but looking at Dialga and Palkia now, she was astounded by their sheer size. Realizing she was staring, she quickly bowed to the two of them. "I-I thank you both for the assistance."
"Think nothing of it," Responded Dialga, looking up toward Necrozma and narrowing his eyes. The blue gem on his chest began glowing, and the large spine on his back stretched outward. "Now, brother, let's see if we can do what father could not."
Palkia crouched down, stretching out his wings. "Indeed," He replied. On Palkia's arms, a red spherical gem glowed as well, surrounding him in a fiery red Aura. "In the name of Lord Arceus, let us strike him down!"
Necrozma gazed upon the two of them with interest. "You...I sense that the two of you are very powerful indeed. You are much more powerful than anyone else here, but…" Crossing his arms, Necrozma let out a chuckle. "Your power doesn't even begin to compare to that of Arceus...and speaking of that, where is he?"
"That is not your concern!" Hissed Dialga. "Your battle is with us! The machinations of Lord Arceus are beyond you!"
Necrozma scoffed at them. "So in other words, he's just preparing to make a dramatic last-minute entrance? I didn't think he was the type to let his children die if he could prevent it, but," The dark demon shrugged, stretching himself out before crashing his fists together, "Oh well. So then, to whom do I owe the pleasure of my next beatdown?"
Palkia stamped his right foot into the ground and bellowed, "I AM PALKIA, RULER OF SPACE! YOU WILL CLAIM NO LIVES ON THIS DAY, MONSTER!"
Dialga stomped into the ground with his front left leg. "I AM DIALGA, RULER OF TIME! OUR COMBINED MIGHT CAN ERASE REALITY ITSELF, AND THUS WE SHALL ERASE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!"
The invader clapped his hands together, letting out a chilling laugh. "Bravo! I didn't realize I came to a stage play! Had I known, I would have brought along some popcorn and some tea!"
"Mock us as you will, Necrozma, we will smite you all the same!" Palkia declared. The space deity raised his fist in the air, flattening his fingers against one another. A trail of pink energy trailed up from the gem in his arm to his fingertips, which he launched toward Necrozma. "SPACIAL REND!"
Necrozma casually held up his arm and caught the attack. Its power sparked viciously, threatening to tear apart reality itself. "Such incredible power!" Marveled the demon. A crimson glint appeared in his eyes. "However…" He crushed the attack in his hand. "Against me, it is meaningless."
Palkia closed his eyes and hummed in thought. "I see. So, you can repel power like that as well."
Necrozma gave him an odd look. "You don't seem surprised."
Palkia replied, "Arceus openly admitted to being defeated by you. It stands to reason that an attack such as that would have no effect...however…" Pink light began seeping to both of his arms. "I wonder just how long you can keep up." One after another, Palkia hurled Spacial Rends toward Necrozma. Batting one aside, Necrozma raced toward Palkia, weaving around each one before aiming a punch at his face. He pulled back his fist, ready to strike, but Palkia disappeared just before he could make contact. Quickly whipping around, the invader brought up his arm to block a close-quarters Spacial Rend, then sent the space deity away with a backhand.
"Impressive," Commended Necrozma. "Using the old warp-around-to-the-back trick. One of my personal favorites." He disappeared and reappeared behind Palkia, who whipped around to block a chop from Necrozma with his arm. "And such reflexes as well. I suppose the trick won't work on someone who knows it."
Beside Necrozma, deep blue energy began spiraling together in front of Dialga's mouth and was released into a colossal laser that tore through reality itself like a drill. "TAKE THIS, NECROZMA!" Bellowed the time deity. "ROAR OF TIME!" Necrozma took his attention away from Palkia to block the incoming attack, allowing the aforementioned Legend to pivot around to Necrozma's back and raise his hand skyward, surrounding it in pink energy once more. "NOW, LET US SEE IF YOU CAN WITHSTAND THE FULL MIGHT OF BOTH TIME AND SPACE! SPATIAL REND!"
Necrozma's eyes shifted back toward Palkia, and he raised his other hand to shield himself from the attack as well. The powers of time and space crashed together, trapping Necrozma in between. "You're done for!" Declared Dialga. "When time and space collide, anything in between is erased from existence!"
Palkia nodded. "Nothing can survive such a collision! Your reign is through, Necrozma!"
Necrozma held the two forces back with his bare hands, but for a moment, it looked as if his arms were beginning to buckle under the sheer force of their power. "S-such power, indeed," Admitted the dark demon, "B-but...it means…! Krgh!" Necrozma's eyes widened as his arms folded in toward him further. Labored grunts flew from the invader as he tried and failed to push the attacks back, with no success. What appeared to be purple dust appeared on his armored body, and he stared in horror as he began to disappear.
Rayquaza gaped up at the scene before him. "Are those two truly winning?"
"They are!" Cheered Keldeo. He grinned up at Necrozma and declared, "It's over for you, monster! Now it's time for you to experience what you did to the Swords of Justice!"
Reshiram smiled and let out a sigh of relief. "Perhaps this war may draw to a close faster than I anticipated."
In spite of the other Legends' cheerfulness, Mewtwo was not convinced. Eyeing Necrozma oddly, he said, "No...this is all too easy. Something isn't right here."
As the purple dust began coating Necrozma's body, he let out a pained scream. "I can't believe…" Dialga's Roar of Time and Palkia's Spacial Rend pushed his arms further in, practically crushing Necrozma himself between them as the dust ate away at his body even further. "I can't believe…!" Necrozma chuckled. "...That you're all so naive."
Necrozma's crystals glowed crimson and, with a roar, he held the attacks outward and crushed them in his fists. Looking down at the dust still eating away at him, he brushed it off with his fingers, returning his body to normal. Turning back to the Legends, he said, "Honestly, this is the second time now. For some of you, it's the third. How do you all keep falling for this?"
Riley ducked as a leg swept over his head. He attempted to grab at it, but it retracted as fast as it struck out at him. "This thing's crazy fast!" He said. The Ultra Beast he was battling was white from head to toe, and absurdly thin, like it could be snapped like a twig. It looked feminine, possessing large, bushy eyebrows and its feet even looked like high-heels. It also possessed roach-like qualities, having long antennas that stretched down to its knees and long hair that resembled a roach's shell.
It zoomed toward Riley once again, so he summoned a barrier around himself. The roach beast stopped just before reaching the barrier, turned on its heel and delivered an onslaught of lightning-fast quicks that tore through Riley's shield in a matter of seconds. Riley let out a gasp due to his shield breaking, as it resulted in his concentration breaking as well. In the blink of an eye, it blitzed toward the Aura Guardian with its leg pumped back, but just before it could unleash the devastating kick, Lucario used Extreme Speed to come to his aid and block the blow.
'Don't lose focus!' Lucario told him. 'Being caught off guard against something as fast as this will cost you your life!'
Riley exhaled and laughed. "Thanks, Lucario. Where would I be without you?"
'We both know that answer.' Helping his partner back to his feet, the two of them looked back at the roach beast, cracking their knuckles together. The action resulted in puffs of Aura erupting from their fists. 'Now, how about we crush this thing and be done with it?'
The two of them flared their Auras, making the beast step back. Grinning, Riley replied, "Wouldn't have it any other way." He stepped past Lucario and taunted the beast, ushering it to approach with a hand gesture. "Come on, let's do this!"
The roach beast hissed at them. It crouched down, then rocketed forward with such speed that the ground it was standing was uprooted. It aimed a sweeping high kick to take both of them out, but to its surprise, they ducked and it was sent flying past. Whirling back around and plucking a large stone from the ground, it hurled the stone toward them. Lucario and Riley sent a grin its way and leaned their heads back, allowing the projectile to fly past them harmlessly.
'You won't get anywhere fighting like that,' Taunted Lucario, 'With Aura, we can predict your intentions and dodge your next attack before you even make it.'
Riley put his hands to his side, forming an Aura Sphere. "All we had to do was stop focusing on defense, and instead try and match your speed. All that power of yours won't mean a thing if you can't hit your target."
Furious, the roach beast took off toward them with a jabbing kick, which the two Aura Guardians were able to sidestep with ease by foreseeing the attack. Lucario made a grab for its leg, but it pulled the limb away with lightning quick speed. However, in doing so, it accidentally pulled its leg right into Riley's hand. The two of them had sensed its intention to pull away its leg, so Riley had positioned himself right underneath it in a way that made it impossible for it to move any other way that wasn't right into his hand.
"Alone, you were a challenge," Admitted Riley. "Even if I sensed your next attack and dodged it, you were so fast that you could attack again before I could dodge again." His grin increased in size, and his eyes darkened beneath the shadow of his hat. "But…" He held the Aura Sphere he created earlier with is free hand up to her face. "When Lucario and I fight together, we won't lose."
The roach beast shrieked in fear and attempted to strike Riley to free itself, but Lucario caught its other leg and formed an Aura Sphere of his own that merged with Riley's making it increase in size to enormous proportions. The beast in their grasp desperately struggled to escape, flailing every inch of its body to do so, but Riley and Lucario didn't budge. They planted the Aura Sphere in its abdomen and fired, letting the beast sail helplessly into a horde of other Ultra Beasts before the attack promptly exploded.
With their work complete, the two Aura Guardians bumped fists, but their celebration was cut short when more beasts showed up, surrounding the two of them. Their Aura Sphere's explosion had caught their attention. The two of them merely grinned at the newcomers and faced them with their backs turned on one another.
"You ready?" Riley asked.
Lucario chuckled. 'Do you even need to ask?'
Riley snickered. "I suppose not. Now, how about we send these things packing?"
The two partners flared their Auras together, sending up a brilliant blue pillar of flames as the Ultra Beasts charged toward them.
"Electivire, shock 'em with a Thunder!" Ordered Gary. The Electric Type nodded and crashed its two tails underground. From underneath the Ultra Beast Gary was battling, a colossal bolt of lightning erupted outward, but the beast deftly dodged the attack.
"Dang," Cursed Gary, snapping his fingers in annoyance, "So close!"
The Ultra Beast Gary was battling was mostly purple and looked like a mixture between a wasp and a dragon. Its wings were sharp and edged, looking draconian in structure, but its entire lower body consisted of a large, bulging abdomen with a metal-looking stinger underneath it. Its eyes were blue and segmented like an insect's. Its arms were thin and bony, but its hands possessed three sharp claws.
The draconian beast roared down at Gary and shot a glob of poison toward him. In response, Gary ordered, "Thunderbolt!" and his Electivire shot up another, smaller, bolt of electricity that destroyed the glob in an explosion. Bursting from the smoke, the beast rocketed toward Gary with its stinger pointed toward him. In spite of this, Gary chuckled arrogantly. "Come on, you think I would fall for something like that? Electivire, wrap it up in your tails and use Thunder, but make sure not to let that stinger hit you!"
Electivire planted its feet firmly in the ground and sent its twin tails up toward the beast, wrapping around its thin abdomen. The beast's momentum proved troublesome, nearly ripping Electivire from the ground. Gary actually had to leap out of the way to avoid getting stung. Buzzing angrily, the beast attempted to fly toward Electivire, but was stopped by an enormous electric current that tore through its body. It shrieked in agony, but couldn't move due to the lightning's paralysis. When all was said and done, the beast was left nothing bore than a burnt corpse that Electivire promptly tossed away.
"Heh," Chortled a shrugging Gary, "I expected more from something like that, but I guess I'm better than I thought." Still smirking, he mused to himself. "Maybe I should come out of retirement after this…?" His thought process was interrupted when two more Ultra Beasts crashed down before him. Eyeing them, he said, "I'll think about that more later. For now, I'll deal with you." Taking out five more Pokeballs, he threw them out in front of them, summoning his signature Blastoise as well as an Arcanine, a Scizor, a Dodrio and a Nidoking.
The Ultra Beasts before him were one of the tiny paper-like beasts, while the other was a living fortress. "So, offense and defense, eh?" Asked Gary. "Well, this might be a challenge, but then again, maybe not." Next addressing his Pokemon, he told them, "These guys look like chumps. You guys just try to have fun with small fry like these." Arrogant grins mirroring that of their trainer's crept up their faces, while the beasts fumed to themselves, like they understood that they'd just been insulted.
The small one zipped toward Gary, aiming to slice him to bits until it was intercepted by Arcanine's Flamethrower. It turned toward it in surprise, but the distraction soon proved fatal as Nidoking snuck up behind the tiny beast and bashed it into the ground with a double-handed Hammer Arm. A few moments after, it shakily attempted to push itself back off the ground, but Nidoking stepped on the small beast to stop it. The horned Pokemon leered down at it, but its eyes suddenly went wide as it felt pain from the bottom of its foot. It lifted itself off of the small beast, hobbling and wailing on one foot and carrying the injured one. A large gash had been ripped open on the underside of its foot.
Gary reached into his bag and took out a Hyper Potion, which he threw over to Nidoking. "Think fast!" Realizing what it was, Nidoking caught the potion and sprayed it on his foot. After draining the entire thing, the gash had completely disappeared. Nidoking threw the empty bottle away and glared at the tiny beast.
The beast grinded its arms together and sped toward Nidoking, aiming to slice at its neck with the intention of revenge for the Hammer Arm, but was once again intercepted by Arcanine's Flamethrower. Scizor then lunged at it with its claws, which the beast easily dodged. Dodrio leapt up at it with a Drill Peck, but that, too, was avoided.
While the rest of Gary's team focused on the smaller beast, Blastoise took more interest in the large, fortress-like one. For whatever reason, it had neglected to move so far. Blastoise decided to test it, firing a Hydro Pump from one of its cannons. The powerful water shot impacted the beast with full force, but upon the dust around it settling, there was no apparent damage. Blastoise always loved a challenge. This time, the powerful tortoise Pokemon fired a Hydro Pump from both of its cannons, and managed to push the beast back slightly. However, there was still no damage.
"Hit 'em with a Seismic Toss!" Gary said from afar.
Nodding back to Gary, Blastoise rushed up to the beast and grabbed it with its powerful arms. Planting its feet firmly into the ground, Gary's partner attempted to lift it, but was unable to. No worries, Blastoise told itself, it was simply a fluke. It gripped the beast tighter and lifted with all the might Blastoise could muster, only to meet the same result. Blastoise refused to give up, pulling the fortress until its face went red, then plopped onto its back in failure.
Gary hummed in thought. "No luck, eh?" He reached back into his bag and pulled out a metal bracelet along with two multicolored stones. Putting the smaller of the two stones into an inlet on the bracelet, he tied it around his wrist. "Yo, Blastoise!" He called, making the tortoise Pokemon look up at him. "Here, catch this!" Gary tossed the larger of the two stones at Blastoise, who jumped back up from the ground just in time to catch it. "It's a good thing Misty gave me this a while back," Mused Gary as he fiddled with the bracelet, "Now, let's see if we can do some real damage."
Gary stood back up and placed two fingers to the stone on his bracelet. "Now, Mega Stone, hear my call! Resonate Blastoise's power with mine so we can kick some butt with Mega Evolution!"
At Gary's call, a brilliant white light erupted from his stone and raced toward Blastoise, enveloping it. Blastoise let out a fearsome roar, dispelling the light and revealing that it had achieved a new form. Its shell increased in size, as well as gaining two smaller shells around its arms. Two small cannons emerged from pockets on the arms' shells, and on Blastoise's main shell, its two cannons had disappeared to make way for a new, massive one that completely dwarfed their previous size.
"BLASTOISE!"
Gary's ever-present smirk somehow grew larger as he witnessed his partner's transformation. "Yeah-heah! I wasn't gonna take part at first, but this whole Mega Evolution thing's got me all pumped up now!" The light of the Mega Stone seemed to reflect off of Gary's eyes. Pumping his fist into the air, he cried, "Blastoise, show this punk wall who's boss and use Hydro Cannon!"
"TOISE!" Roared Blastoise in response. From the Mega Pokemon's cannons, three pressurized jets of water shot out and joined together to create one massive, singular water blast that shot out toward the fortress beast with all the force of a hundred raging rivers. One of the bricks on the beast floated out to the side, revealing a singular eye that widened in terror at the approaching water jet. All of its bricks exploded outward suddenly, allowing the Hydro Cannon to fly through it without sustaining damage.
The beast reformed itself and glared Gary and Blastoise's way, earning a chuckle from them both. "When it exploded like that, I thought we nailed em, but it turns out this thing's got some tricks up its sleeves." In unison, Gary and Blastoise pointed toward the fortress. "But that just means we'll get to beat the crap out of it some more!"
Hundreds of Ultra Beasts swarmed around six trainers and their Pokemon. Some of the beasts hissed, while others giggled to themselves, probably imagining how they would tear those trainers to pieces. As they closed in, the ones with arms cracked their fists together. Others stamped their feet, smashing the ground beneath them. The paper-like ones spastically grinded their arms together, sharpening them in anticipation of the slaughter of the trainers that was about to occur. However, these were no ordinary trainers.
"My, aren't they noisy?" Remarked the Champion of Kalos, Diantha.
The Champion of both Johto and Kanto, Lance smirked at the incoming beasts. "I don't think these things quite know what they're walking into."
"Perhaps we should show them," Suggested one of the Hoenn Champions, Wallace as he procured a Pokeball from his belt.
The Champion of Unova, Alder, chuckled, placing a hand to his chin as he grinned at the Ultra Beasts. "I couldn't agree more. My Pokemon are practically itching to tear these things apart." The redheaded Champion slapped his knee and laughed. "I can't wait to see their faces when we let loose!"
Steven placed a small archaeology book he'd been reading into his suit and looked toward the oncomers. "Well then," He said, "Is there no reason to further delay?"
The Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia's eyes glinted. Though she was masking it, she could barely contain her own excitement. "All the Champions united together, defending the world against alien invaders? Sounds quite glorious if you ask me." A grin silently crept up her face as she pulled out a Pokeball. "You're right, Steven. Let us delay no longer."
The next thing the beasts nearest to the six Champions knew, they were sent flying. Cynthia's Garchomp crashed straight through the horde, tearing many of them to pieces with a savage Dragon Rush. One of the mosquito beasts attempted to strike the Pokemon with a punch to its backside, but in the blink of an eye, it found that its arm had been sliced off, and only had a split second to stare at the missing limb in horror before Garchomp caved its face in.
"Fight to your heart's content!" Shouted Cynthia as she let the rest of her team loose. Appearing in a brilliant flash of light, a Gastrodon, Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss and, surprisingly enough, a Lucario were summoned. As one, they joined with Garchomp to rampage among the Ultra Beasts. "Let nothing stand in your way!"
Cynthia's Garchomp crashed into a bamboo beast with Dragon Rush. Her Lucario jumped up over the two of them, landing behind the beast with an Aura Sphere that blasted into its back and crushed it to a pulp between the force of their combined might. Only when it stopped flailing did Garchomp step to the side, allowing the Aura Sphere to carry the beast up to the mothership's barrier, which subsequently reduced it to dust.
A draconian beast chased after Togekiss in the air. It shot off a myriad of poison globs, but couldn't seem to hit a single shot. Ironically, the missed shots only ended up hitting other Ultra Beasts and exploding in their faces. Growing impatient with the chase, the beast's wings began buzzing loudly, and it tilted its body so that its stinger was pointed at Togekiss. It raced toward the flying Pokemon, but Togekiss suddenly swerved to the side. Togekiss had lured the draconian beast to Spiritomb, who fired off a powerful Dark Pulse. Due to its speed, the beast had no way to avoid the attack and was hit head on. Togekiss looped back around and held the beast in place with Psychic while Spiritomb continued hitting it with Dark Pulse until it went limp.
A jellyfish beast danced around Gastrodon, humming a warped song as it did so. Seeing that Gastrodon didn't make any move to attack or run, the beast descended upon it in an attempt to merge with it, but was suddenly assaulted by a Muddy Water attack that formed from underneath the slug Pokemon. The attack was so large that it couldn't possibly phase through, and it was swept away alongside dozens of other beasts.
Roserade hopped onto Gastrodon, using it as a bouncepad to leap high in the air. From the twin roses on its fists, the rose Pokemon summoned two Solarbeams that swept across the battlefield, reducing many of the beasts that were caught up in the attacks to dust.
Cynthia's eyes sparkled as she watched her Pokemon tearing through the hordes, which did not go unnoticed by Steven. "You're awfully terrible at concealing your battle frenzy," He commented, to which Cynthia merely shrugged.
"What can I say?" Asked the Sinnoh Champion, the glint in her eyes only shimmering brighter. "For years, I've been starved of a proper challenge. Now that the opportunity for one has finally arisen, to be honest, my heart is pounding right out of my chest."
Steven chuckled. "Well, perhaps I should try to fit into the mood, then." Taking out his own set of Pokeballs, he unleashed a Metagross, Aggron, Claydol, Skarmory, Armaldo and Craydily. Leaping onto the top of the Metagross, he held out his arm toward the beasts and said, "Come, my partners! Let us join the fray!"
Steven's Metagross took off like a bullet, with its rider unveiling a black ring around his wrist. The Hoenn Champion crouched down and patted Metagross's head, and asked, "Shall we start off with a bang, old friend?"
"ME-TA!" Metagross replied with a nod, eliciting a smile from its trainer.
"Very well then." Steven said, standing back to his full height. He touched two fingers to the ring and cried, "MEGA EVOLUTION, LEND US YOUR POWER!" Metagross and Steven were both shrouded in a brilliant light that exploded outward to reveal Metagross's form had changed. Its legs had disappeared, but in their place were four large clawed arms that floated in front of it. It also had four smaller ones floating behind it.
"Now, use Bullet Punch!"
"MEEEE-TA!" Metagross's front arms began glowing. Soon enough, they were jabbing at everything in sight. The force of its punches along with its metal claws tore any beast that had gotten in Metagross's way to shreds as it raced across the battlefield.
Alder unleashed his own team, which consisted of a Volcarona, Braviary, Bouffalant, Accelgor, Escavalier and Conkeldurr. The Unova Champion leapt up onto Braviary's back and declared, "Cynthia's got the right idea! Let's show these creepy aliens that our world isn't for their taking!" With that, he rocketed into the fray with the rest of his team in tow.
Lance soon followed atop his Dragonite wordlessly, though the remaining Champions could see a hint of a smirk on his face as he went. Behind him, a Salamence, Flygon and Aerodactyl flew out in opposite directions, and a Haxorus simply tore into the closest beast and disappeared into the horde. To the other Champions surprise, one of Lance's Pokemon was a Red Gyarados that was also colossal for its kind. With a thunderous roar, it began firing off Hyper Beams en masse at the beasts randomly.
"My," Said a wide-eyed Diantha, "I never knew Lance had a shiny Gyarados." She reached into her purse, taking out six Pokeballs. "I may not have any Shiny Pokemon, but I still won't be shown up! It's time that we joined the battle!" Diantha's team appeared, revealing a Gardevoir, Hawlucha, Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Goodra and Gourgeist. "Unlike everyone else, I don't think we'll be joining the fray, so to speak. Form up," She ordered, "Make a defensive circle!"
Diantha's team nodded, surrounding the remaining three Champions and facing the Ultra Beasts. Next turning to the remaining Champion who had yet to unveil their Pokemon, Diantha asked, "Will you be joining the others?"
"That I will," Answered Wallace with a nod as he walked toward the edge. The secondary Champion of Hoenn unveiled his team, which consisted of Milotic, Walrein, Whiscash, Huntail, Kingdra and an utterly colossal Wailord. He chuckled as he saw some of the beasts' faces fall at Wailord's size. "Now, all of you, use Hydro Pump!"
Wallace's team of Water-Type Pokemon crowded together and, from their mouths, unleashed volleys of jet-propulsed water that formed into one singular volley that tore a path clean through all of the beasts, giving the Champions a slim view of what was past them. He waved back to Cynthia and Diantha and said, "Well, I'm heading off, then. You two take care of yourself now."
Diantha sighed. "Boys will be boys, I suppose."
Cynthia simply giggled.
"Now, Braviary, use Air Slash!"
At Alder's command, the giant bird Pokemon flapped its wings with such force that the air curved into a blade. It hurtled down toward a roach beast, which zipped out of the way and attempted to deliver a kick to Braviary when Alder's Accelgor to the roach beast's shock, appeared in its way and struck it down with an X-Scissor before it could react.
"Nice going!" Alder commended. Accelgor nodded up to its trainer, then disappeared in a blur once more. Below, Alder's Excavalier blocked a strike from a paper beast with its spears. The strike was quick, faster than the eye could blink. The sparks that came from the blow caused its spear to alight, and though fire was its greatest weakness, it was able to use it to its advantage.
The armored Pokemon swiftly turned around, managing to strike the paper beast with the tip of its flaming lance and sending it careening into the sky with a high-pitched shriek. With its work complete, Excavalier blew out the flame on its lance and turned back around to face another foe.
Steven's Craydily stood in place, waiting for a beast to approach. Eventually, a fortress beast approached, roaring at Cradily challengingly. From beneath the beast, several large brown fines erupted and wrapped around it, to which it formed into a complete wall. It must have been confidant in its defense, to allow itself to be captured so, but Cradyily's Giga Drain sapped the beast of all its strength in mere seconds. After Cradly retracted its vines, the beast collapsed and fell apart.
Lance, still atop his trusty Dragonite, confronted a mosquito beast that had been flying above the area. Though, "confronted" was a loose term for what Lance did. In actuality, the Dragon Master had blitzed toward it and ordered Dragonite to hit it with Thunder Punch before it could react. Managing to stop mid-flight, the mosquito beast narrowed its eyes at Lance and buzzed its wings furiously.
"Sorry about that," Lance said sarcastically, "With how big and red you are, you were practically a living target."
The mosquito puffed out its chest and flew at Lance with the intent to snap his spine with a single punch. Lance's response was simply, "Outrage," and before the beast could blink, every inch of its body was being pummeled. Dragonite's eyes had turned a blistering red. Letting out a savage roar, it began delivering bone-shattering punches to the mosquito blindly, though it hit its mark every time. When the powerful dragon was done, the beast was a broken mess with most of its body caving inward and crumpled.
"Now," Said Lance, "Finish this with Hyper Beam!"
Shaking off the dizziness that came with using Outrage, Dragonite fired a powerful orange laser from its mouth. The beam pierced straight through the broken beast, who could barely let out a shriek before caving inward and being carried away eradicated by the attack.
A jester beast approached Diantha and Cynthia. It took off its head and bounced it up into the air. Growing three more, it began juggling them while dancing around in a circle, like it was trying to put on a show for the two of them.
Diantha giggled. "This one's quite different from the others."
Cynthia nodded, failing to suppress a smile that was caused by the beast's show. "It's...almost cute, admittedly."
"I know what you're talking about," Replied Diantha, "It's quite hard to take my eyes off of it."
The jester beast continued its little show for a few more minutes, changing what it did along the way like balancing on one of its heads while juggling the others. At one point, it rolled on two of them and summoned three more to juggle. When it finished, it leapt back to the ground and bowed, its heads falling back to the ground around its feet.
The two Champions gave it a round of applause. "Bravo!" Cried Diantha. "That was a wonderful show indeed!"
The beast perked its head up and clapped its own hands, jumping for joy at the compliment. However, one of its jumps ended up making it fall down onto one of the heads, slipping on it and causing it to fly at Diantha. Just before it hit her, it glowed orange and exploded violently. The beast leapt back up and continued jumping for joy now that it's plan had worked. Or at least, it seemed to.
The jester stopped jumping as the smoke from the explosion was suddenly pulled to a singular source, revealing both Diantha and Cynthia to be completely unharmed. A blue orb-shaped glow held the explosion and its smoke in place before shrinking and disappearing entirely.
"Well, that was certainly rude," Remarked Cynthia.
Diantha smiled at the beast, but it was a cold one that chilled the jester to its core. "If you wanted to trick someone with your acting, you picked the wrong person to try it on." The Kalos Champion chuckled, her gaze piercing the beast like needles. "I'm quite the actor myself, you see, so I know when someone else is acting, and well, you're not all that good at it."
Furious, the jester attempted to kick another one of its heads at her, only to trip due to the ball not moving from its spot. It looked down at the ball, scratching the one currently on its neck frill until all of the heads, including its current one, began floating suddenly, surrounding the jester.
Diantha laughed as the jester only became more and more befuddled. "They say a magician is never supposed to reveal their secrets, but because you gave us such a good show, I'll enlighten you as to why you never stood a chance against me." She pointed over to her Gardevoir, directing the jester to look toward it as well. "You see, I've spent nearly all my life with Gardevoir, so we have quite the bond. What's more, she's a Psychic-Type, so she can read minds as well as sense all movement within quite a large radius. All I have to do is look at an opponent, and Gardevoir can read my mind to decipher exactly what to attack as well as the perfect way to do it."
She then motioned toward the other members of her team, who were busy fighting off other Ultra Beasts. "And since she can read my mind, I can simply relay orders to her for my entire team and Gardevoir will tell them how they should fight as well. Of course, since she can sense all movement in a given area with her Psychic powers, she can also relay that information to the other Pokemon as well." Diantha then pointed over to her Aurorus and said, "Take a look at that."
From behind the large Pokemon's head, a mosquito beast attempted to strike at it with what would have been a devastating punch, but despite it being in Aurorus's blind spot, Aurorus ducked its head and successfully avoided the attack, countering immediately with an Ice Beam that froze it solid. It then smashed the ice, as well as the beast itself, to pieces.
The jester beast recoiled in fright, which earned another laugh from Diantha. "Do you see?" Asked the Champion. "If that had been any other trainer's Pokemon, it would have certainly taken that blow. My bond with Gardevoir allows her to notify me of any possible danger before it's an immediate threat, and I can come up with a multitude of countermeasures to those threats in seconds, then relay them through Gardevoir who subsequently does the same to the rest of my team."
Her gaze flicked to one of the balls floating around the jester, and it only took a split second afterward before they closed in on it, trapping the beast in between. It flailed desperately in an attempt to free itself to no avail. Diantha held up her index finger. "Oh, one more thing. If Gardevoir tries hard enough, she can read the minds of enemies as well." She then held up her wrist, revealing a Mega Ring. "And if she has enough power, she can control them too."
Diantha tapped on the Mega Stone in her ring, causing Gardevoir to be shrouded in light, and when it faded, Gardevoir had changed into a new form. The dress she wore extended outward, giving her a regal look. The large red spike on her chest divided into two that shaped a heart. On Gardevoir's head, two flat, horn-like structures stretched out on either side of its face with three spikes jutting out on each. She had evolved into Mega Gardevoir.
The jester stared at the Pokemon's beauty in dumbfounded awe. That was, until she turned toward it, and its vision went white. The jester's body began twitching spastically as Gardevoir infiltrated its mind, like it was trying to retain control over itself even without the mind to do so, but it stopped moving in mere seconds.
Diantha put her hand on her hip. "From what Gardevoir tells me, you have specific attributes about you that make you resemble a Poison-Type Pokemon, and since Poison is weak to Psychic, it was all the more easy to take control over your body, but…" The jester's body hung limply, only held up by its floating myriad of heads that were squeezing it. "...I don't think you're listening anymore." She flicked her eyes toward Gardevoir and back to the jester. With a nod, Gardevoir forced the jester to activate the detonation of its heads, eradicating it in its own explosion. "Perhaps it was Ghost, not Poison."
Necrozma smashed his fists into Palkia and Dialga, rushing across the sky and dragging them along with him. His hands alight with energy, he hurled the two Legends away, alongside a white ball of energy for each that blinded the sky itself with its force and light for a moment. He then warped back to the other Legends, causing them to jump with fright.
"Were those two your aces outside of Arceus?" He asked them, crossing his arms. "Because if so, I find it hard to believe any of you will survive before daddy dearest actually gets here."
Keldeo lunged at Necrozma, and was promptly batted away with the back of his hand. The demon attempted to fly after the young Legend, but Reshiram stood in his way. "Not this time!" A dance of brilliant, dark blue flames spiraled around the white Legend, gathering above her head. "You won't find it so easy to blindside me a second ti-"
She was cut off when Necrozma, who hadn't even slowed down after she stood in his way, smashed a ball of energy in her face and rocketed past the resulting smoke cloud after Keldeo. The poor young Pokemon barely had the time to even see Necrozma before the remainder of his horn had been grabbed by him. Keldeo quickly used Hydro Pump from his hooves to try and escape from Necrozma, but was smashed into the ground the moment he tried.
"Not so fast," Said Necrozma, hoisting Keldeo up to meet his eyes, "Why do you run? Do you not wish to meet your family once more?"
"Screw off!" Roared Keldeo, using Secret Sword once more. The energy sparked violently against Necrozma's hand, rushing past his fingers and pointing skyward. "Not until I send you there first!"
Staring up at the small pillar of light Keldeo created, Necrozma chuckled. "Well…" Necrozma pulled Keldeo up slightly so that he was grabbing onto his head, which he then proceeded to crush slightly. Keldeo screamed in pain, desperately flailing in an attempt to free himself, but to no avail. "The offer still stands."
Reeling back his arm, Necrozma hurled Keldeo across the ravaged landscape and rocketed after him. He aimed to deliver a punch to Keldeo's head, but another Secret Sword shot out from his horn. The invader, after dispelling the attack, shot a ball of energy at Keldeo, but to Necrozma's surprise, the young Legend managed to avoid the attack by propelling himself back to the ground with Hydro Pump and allowing it to fly past harmlessly.
Once again, he summoned Secret Sword. "Damn you, Necrozma! Eat this!" He flicked his head down, sending the attack at Necrozma. The demon chuckled and crossed his arms, allowing it to strike him head on. Of course, it did nothing.
"Honestly, did you really believe that would work?"
Keldeo let out an almost bestial-sounding growl and fired another. "JUST DIE!"
The attack struck Necrozma with even greater force than the last, but to the dark demon, it was nothing. Necrozma brushed away the smoke, revealing his unharmed self to the seething Keldeo and said, "You've changed since the last time I crushed you. What happened to doing everything in the name of justice?"
"This is justice!" Keldeo shot back. The light of Secret Sword spiraled around his shattered horn to form the attack once more. "You've killed innumerable living things across the universe!" He launched the attack, impacting Necrozma with another powerful explosion that unfortunately had the same result as the last. Unfazed, Keldeo summoned another. "You killed so many innocent people and Pokemon here, too!" Once more, Keldeo unleashed the Secret Sword upon Necrozma. "Including my family! If I strike you down, I will avenge everything you destroyed!"
One after another, he unleashed a multitude of Secret Swords at Necrozma, with each one being more powerful and destructive than the last. "SO JUST…" His signature attack struck Necrozma over and over with the rapidity of rainfall, whipping at the ground beneath the demon and slicing holes in the battlefield around the two. Keldeo let out a sudden gasp as his knees buckled. He'd neglected to consider his own stamina in his own rage.
Keldeo heard Necrozma's chilling laughter from inside the smoke cloud he created. "You say you act out of justice, yet you lash out in rage. You speak of avenging the fallen, yet you lack the strength and resolve to carry it out." A chuckle echoed from within the smoke. "No, you have a fire in your eyes I've seen many times. It is not simply determination and will. It is a lust for vengeance."
The smoke cloud suddenly split, and Necrozma appeared before Keldeo. The remaining Sword of Justice's eyes widened, but was able to react swiftly. He sliced up at Necrozma with Secret Sword, but the energy blade was caught in the demon's prismatic hand and crushed, making Keldeo cry out in pain. Necrozma then bashed him with the underside of his fist, and Keldeo's vision went white.
"Come. Perhaps this will rekindle your 'justice.'"
When Keldeo next awoke, he saw something he never thought he'd see again: The Swords of Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion and Verizion. They were staring at a cloud of dust, but that wasn't of any concern to Keldeo.
"N-no way!" Cried Keldeo. A bright smile came to his face. "You guys! I never thought I'd get the chance to-" He attempted to run to them, but found that he couldn't move a muscle, save for his head. "What the...why can't I…?!" Turning his head back up to the trio, he cried, "I need your help, guys! I can't move!"
"They cannot hear you."
"Gya!" Keldeo whipped his head to the side and found none other than Necrozma himself floating by his side, staring out at the others. "You! What are you doing here?!" His eyes widened, and he turned his head back toward the Swords of Justice. "GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!"
"Were you not paying attention, or are you too much of a simpleton to understand?" Necrozma turned his head down to Keldeo, his glowing crimson eyes piercing into the young Legend's soul. "They. Cannot. Hear. You." The tip of Necrozma's finger lit red and he shot a small red beam at the three, only for it to phase right through them and the ground, disappearing. "What's more, this is merely a vision. They're already dead, so as much as I wish I could kill them before your eyes once more, I cannot. However, I have the next best thing."
The dust cloud the three were looking at faded, revealing none other than Necrozma. Keldeo's jaw dropped. He looked back and forth between the two, utterly baffled. "T-there's two of you?!"
Necrozma sighed, shaking his head. "Like I said, this is but a vision. A retelling of the past, one that you never got the chance to see since you were attempting to contact Arceus at the time."
Keldeo's eyes widened. "Wait, so this is-?! Why are you showing me this?!"
Necrozma chuckled. "To bring out your true nature of course. The one that was born the moment the ones you cared about more than anything died. Now be silent and watch."
Keldeo shut his eyes tightly. There was no way he was going to relive the pain of his closest friends dying. Necrozma, however, had a different plan. Prying open Keldeo's eyelids with his Psychic Powers, Necrozma chortled in amusement. "That's not going to happen. Watch your friends die, and you will find what you lack."
Before Keldeo's very eyes, Terrakion's entire body was crushed into the shape of a star. The young Legend let out a choked squeal, desperately trying to turn his head away from the scene. Of course, the Necrozma by his side stopped it. Cobalion and Verizion lunged at Necrozma with Sacred Sword, but both attacks were reduced to dust before they could even make contact with the demon.
The vision's Necrozma struck Verizion's side with a sickening crunch that sent her flying away into the forest. Cobalion attempted to run to her, but Necrozma sent him skidding across the ground with a savage punch. When the Steel Sword of Justice got back up, he was immediately blown away by another punch, then was grabbed by his head. Keldeo didn't know what Necrozma was doing to him, but by his facial expression, it was causing him immense pain.
"What did you do to him?!" He demanded.
"You'll find out in due time."
Verizion sprinted out from the forest at Necrozma in an attempt to free Cobalion, and Keldeo let out a small gasp in horror, knowing what was about to come next. Necrozma whipped around and blasted Verizion, reducing her to ashes. Cobalion's agonized scream rang through Keldeo's ears endlessly. As tears began flowing from the young Legend's eyes, he tried desperately to hold back a scream of his own unsuccessfully.
Necrozma chuckled at Keldeo's suffering. "Now then...you know what happens next, so there's no need to delay any further." With the snap of the demon's finger, the world around the them faded into white once more.
The second Keldeo's eyes next opened, he lunged up at Necrozma with another Secret Sword, roaring in fury. "YOU BASTARD! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!"
Necrozma caught the blade of energy in his hands, sending up sparks as it crackled against his armored skin. Leering down into the younger Legend's eyes, he replied, "There it is! Your true nature!"
"JUST SHUT UP AND DIE!"
He slashed at Necrozma, but the attack was blocked with the back of the demon's hand. "Subconsciously, you finally gave up on those pathetic ideals your friends taught you and are now finally following through with your full potential!"
Keldeo leapt to Necrozma's side, aiming to thrust his blade straight through the eyes. "DON'T TALK ABOUT ME LIKE YOU KNOW ME! THE ONLY THING YOU'VE EVER KNOWN IS MINDLESS DESTRUCTION!"
Necrozma grabbed the blade nonchalantly and laughed. "I know hatred when I see it, boy." The mad demon pulled back his fist and slammed it straight into the young Legend's face.
Keldeo's vision went white once more, though it was only for a split second. In that split second, the remaining Sword of Justice saw his friends' smiling faces once more.
"I wonder what they would think of you now, so violent and enraged." Keldeo was struck once more, and the vision of his smiling friends now appeared to be farther away, surrounded by a bright veil of light. "Everything that one who serves this supposed 'justice' should not be."
Keldeo let out a blood-curdling scream of rage. When he next glared at Necrozma, his eyes were bloodshot and red from tears. Blindly, he lunged at Necrozma and was promptly slammed back into the ground.
As Keldeo's vision flashed white for a third time, his friends were walking away into a blindingly bright void of some kind, no longer turning back to face him. He tried calling out to them, tried to beg for them not to leave him behind, but no noise came from his mouth. In a matter of seconds, the Swords of Justice were gone, and Keldeo was alone.
The young Legend dug his hooves into the ground and sprinted at his best friends' killers. He no longer spoke, now only being able to scream in blind rage. His only thought was for vengeance.
Keldeo leapt into the air and slashed at Necrozma with Secret Sword over and over again. With every strike, the ground around them received a new hole. Even as the young Legend felt his throat tearing, he did not stop screaming.
Necrozma rushed out from the smoke and grappled Keldeo by his head, dragging him through the rocky ground. "There it is! That rage is your true nature: The one that was born as your friends died! You have abandoned justice and become stronger for it!"
Another Secret Sword burst up from underneath the ground, managing to catch the dark demon's eye. Necrozma let go of Keldeo to swat away the annoying attack, allowing the young Legend to burst up from the ground.
From head to toe, Keldeo was afflicted with cuts, gashes and wounds of all kinds. He panted for air, but in spite of all this, he did not fall. His eyes had gone pure red from rage, and that rage was the only thing keeping him going.
"The fact that you can still stand after everything I've put you through only proves my point." Keldeo's response was a shrill, scratchy roar. He sprinted toward Necrozma with the intent to plant a Secret Sword straight through his eyes once more, but was snatched up by the demon's hand the moment he jumped up at him.
"Were it were not for your failure, maybe your friends would still be here fighting by your side." He increased his grip on Keldeo's head, eliciting a cry of pain. "Maybe you would still have your precious 'justice' dragging you along…" The demon threw Keldeo to the ground, crashing down beside him and holding a glowing ball of energy above him. "But instead, you failed in your mission, and thus, they are nothing more than ashes in the wind."
As Keldeo looked up at Necrozma, he could have sworn the demon wore a grin. "Who would have thought a Sword of Justice would end up abandoning justice altogether? It's quite ironic, is it not?" Necrozma pointed the ball of energy down at Keldeo. "What's more, you became stronger for it, though I can only imagine how horrified your friends must be seeing you now."
Necrozma shrugged, then crouched down to point the ball at Keldeo's face. "Well, there's no use thinking about it. Why don't you see for yourself, then tell me all about it?"
"You...first…"
"Excuse me?"
Necrozma's eyes widened in genuine surprise as Keldeo, slowly but surely, forced himself back to his feet. "You...heard me!" From the remainder of his horn, a small Secret Sword inched its way up. "I'm not going to die! Not until I see you go first!"
Keldeo stamped his hooves into the ground, laboriously raising his head. "It doesn't have to be me," Spoke the young Legend, "I know I don't have the power to kill you...but Lord Arceus does! I know he'll strike you down, and I won't die until I see it happen!"
At first, Necrozma didn't respond. To Keldeo, it looked like he was contemplating something, but after a few moments, the demon's usual demeanor returned. "You have such blind faith in Arceus, it's almost pitiable. Come, let me show you exactly why you shouldn't."
Keldeo's vision went white once again but instead of seeing his friends this time he saw Arceus sitting in the Hall of Origins.
Keldeo turned his head around in confusion and asked "What is this? Why are you showing me this?"
Necrozma forced his gaze back up to Arceus. "Watch, and you'll see."
Keldeo obeyed and watched while Arceus seemed to be contemplating to himself in deep thought when suddenly a portal opened up and Kyurem walked in.
Arceus's expression quickly turned to one of annoyance and asked, "What is it Kyurem? Can't you see that I'm very busy trying to locate Necrozma?! This had better be good for you to interrupt my train of thought!"
Kyurem rolled his eyes, though so slightly Arceus could not see it, and replied, "I'm sorry to bother you milord, but I thought you would be interested in hearing that the Swords of Justice seemed to have disappeared. I tried going to their home earlier today to discuss the situation on Necrozma but they were nowhere to be found."
Arceus scoffed at Kyurem and replied "That was it?! You interrupted my train of thought because the Swords of Justice aren't home?!"
The Alpha Pokemon turned away from Kyurem, huffing indignantly. "I'll tell you something the reason they're probably not home is because they are most likely trying to search for that good for nothing trainee who constantly makes a habit of getting himself and his friends in trouble over and over again. I swear if Necrozma wasn't a threat right now I would personally revoke his status as a Legend and kick him out of the Swords of Justice all together. They were much more effective when it was just the three of them anyways."
Arceus quickly closed his eyes and told Kyurem, "Now leave me and don't bother me at all unless it has something to do with Necrozma."
Kyurem sat there for a moment giving his father a glare, not that he could see it, but ultimately sighed in acceptance. "Very well, Lord Arceus. I am sorry for bothering you it was stupid to bring them up anyways." Kyurem quickly turned around and walked back through his portal.
Arceus sat in silence before saying to himself, "Next time I see Cobalion, we will have to have a chat on what to do about that annoying boy."
"Now you know the truth," Hissed Necrozma as the world around them returned to normal. "Your precious god never gave a damn about you. He was so focused on what I was doing that he didn't care to give a single thought that you or your friends might be in danger." The demon raised his head, cackling. "Hell, if it weren't for me, he most likely would have kicked you out of the Swords of Justice and revoked your status as a legend much sooner."
Keldeo stared at where the vision of Arceus stood for a long time before tears started forming in his eyes and he frantically shook his head in denial.
Pointing his finger down at Keldeo, Necrozma replied, "To think that Arceus would simply leave his children to die. Well, I'll be sure to send him to Hell right after you, so-"
He stopped his monologue when he heard the sound of wheezing. He leaned down, and found that Keldeo's tears were not those of hopelessness or betrayal. They were from laughter.
Craning his head back up to the demon, Keldeo asked, "Just how much of a fool do you take me for? Perhaps your illusionism is lacking in comparison to your acting!"
"Oh?"
Keldeo snickered. "Your portrayal of Arceus really sucks, you know that?" The young Legend's grin fell, and he glared up at Necrozma once more. "Arceus...has some faults, but I know he still genuinely cares for us! When I told him about what you did to my family, his fury rocked the entire Hall of Origins!"
"Pah," Scoffed Necrozma, "If he truly cared, then where is he now?"
"Gathering power to strike you down!" Retorted Keldeo. "What's more, he's watching us as we speak! He would never willingly let us die!
"Hmm…" Necrozma looked up at the mothership, scratching his chin in thought. "You say he's gathering power to defeat me, but would abandon that to save you all?" He laughed, pointing over to where the Ultra Beasts were battling against the trainers and Pokemon. "How many of those people have already perished, I wonder? I suppose that sentiment does not extend to them, then."
Keldeo's face fell. The young Legend followed Necrozma's gaze. The trainers were quickly being overwhelmed, and he could faintly hear screaming. He wrecked his brain, attempting to find something he could say to counter what Necrozma said, with no luck.
"I…he doesn't…"
Necrozma then asked, "What of the ones you call Solgaleo and Lunala? Were they not worth saving to him simply because they weren't his creations? Deoxys, too?"
Keldeo frantically shook his head. "No, he-"
"What is it, then?!" Demanded Necrozma, turning back to Keldeo. "Would he intervene for you or the other Legends? If so, then he favors some of his creations over others. It's like a father admitting to having a favorite son."
Necrozma suddenly grabbed Keldeo and hoisted him up by the neck, eliciting a choked cry from him. "If he wouldn't, then he favors victory over me more than your lives." His hand began glowing red against Keldeo's neck. "He only has those options! Let's see what his choice will be, then!"
Necrozma soared high into the air, howling with laughter as the energy in his hand grew. Keldeo shut his eyes tightly, awaiting the worst. An Ice Beam shot up from below, striking Necrozma's back and freezing every part of him except for his hand.
Keldeo let out a scream in fear, but stopped when he realized he wasn't falling. Tentatively, he dared to open his eyes, and found that he'd been rescued by none other than, "Kyurem?! You saved me?!"
The Ice Dragon chuckled. "But of course. I owe it to the Swords of Justice to help carry on their legacy." He winked up to Keldeo. "And I couldn't let that freak fill your head with nonsense either. I may have clashed with Arceus back in the Hall, but I know he's more stressed and afraid than anyone else. Oh, and one more thing."
Keldeo gasped. Between bowing to Mew and what he has just now done, Kyurem had now done two things the young Legend thought he'd never do: Smile.
"Don't ever stop believing in Justice, kid. So long as you believe in Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion and Verizion still live."
Keldeo gaped down at Kyurem for a few moments, then returned the smile and wiped away a tear from his eye. "Thanks, Kyurem."
"Don't mention it, Keldeo."
The moment Kyurem and Keldeo landed back with the other Legends, they were swarmed with questions. To Keldeo's shock, they were all for him. They asked if he was okay, and if he needed rest or help of any kind. The remaining Sword of Justice never considered himself a Legend at all. It seemed like a title out of his grasp, one that could only be held by the strongest and greatest of all Pokemon, so for these true Legends to be concerned about him…
"...Thanks guys," He said with a bright smile, "But I assure you, I'm okay now."
A loud noise in the sky forced the Legends' attention away from Keldeo. Necrozma erupted from the ice, sending a cascade of raging energy across the skies. Rushing down toward the Legends, he roared, "We're not finished yet! Come, entertain me as long as you can before I reduce you all to dust!"
Thousands of Ultra Beasts swarmed one area of the battlefield. In the center of that area was one single man. His hair was black and hung over one eye, and he wore a confidant smirk despite the overwhelming odds against him. His name was Tobias, the man who commanded the Legends themselves.
"Oh?" He asked. "Do you all really believe you stand a chance against me?"
His response from the beasts was an excited mix of buzzing and what Tobias believed to be jeering from the Legends.
"Heh. If only you were smart enough to realize how outmatched you really are." Tobias shrugged and pointed towards one of the jellyfish beasts and said, "Well, let's get this party started then! Darkrai, use Dark Pulse!"
Six Pokemon descended from the skies, rushing past Tobias toward the Ultra Beasts. They were Latios, Heatran, Cresselia, Meloetta, Volcanion and the aforementioned Darkrai, who fired a swirling mass of dark energy down upon the Ultra Beasts and eradicating all that it struck.
Latios swooped by, taking Tobias up upon his back. The black-haired trainer smirked down at the beasts and said simply, "Do as you will with these beasts, but show no mercy! This planet is ours, and it will not fall to them!"
Darkrai clasped his hands together above its head, forming a ball of pure darkness between them until its size dwarfed himself. It then pointed down to the beasts below, and hundreds of smaller balls rushed out from the large one. Anything they touched was knocked unconscious, which was more than enough of a signal for the beasts to run from the attack.
A mosquito beast rushed up from below to attack Darkrai and landed a savage punch to the Pokemon's abdomen, but when the beast retracted its fist, it saw that the wound it inflicted quickly disappearing. Unbeknownst to the mosquito, Darkrai had used Dream Eater on one of the beasts below, sapping its life energy to replenish its own.
The mosquito attempted to punch Darkrai once more, but only met air. Darkrai ducked underneath the attack and shot an Ice Beam at it, freezing it solid. It immediately followed with a Dark Pulse that shattered the frozen beast.
Volcanion shot a powerful Flamethrower from its mouth, concentrated to the point it was more of a laser than fire. The attack tore a line straight through the horde and careened upward into the sky where thousands of the beasts were flying. The last thing those beasts saw was a blinding flash of light before they were reduced to ashes.
The grounded Ultra Beasts stared in wide-eyed horror as the blackened remains of their comrades fell from the sky. Furious, a bamboo beast raised its arms at Volcanion and fired off two jets of intense flames from their bases. In response, Volcanion simply smirked. The large ring-shaped object on its back split into two pipe-like structures and fired off a pressurized jet of superheated water from them both. The sheer power behind Volcanion's attack punched straight through the flames and obliterated the beast's arms. It screeched in pain, but its screams were silenced by the violent detonation of its own arms, killing it and many other beasts that happened to be nearby.
Meloetta cheerfully danced around the attack of numerous Ultra Beasts, giggling as she did so. An infuriated roach beast blitzed toward the dancing Legend, aiming for a sweeping low kick, but Meloetta backflipped over the attack with ease. It whipped around with its fist pumped back, but Meloetta was faster. The roach beast rocketed its fist at Meloetta's face, stopping just inches before hitting her due to one thing: Meloetta's singing.
The roach beast, as well as any other beast that could hear Meloetta's song, suddenly found themselves drowsy. In a matter of seconds, all of them were dropped to the ground and rendered unconscious by her song. Meloetta's eyes sparkled suddenly, and her entire body went white. The dress Meloetta wore extended and stretched outward, becoming akin to a black ballerina skirt. Her long, wavy hair curled up around the top of her head and became a bright shade of fiery red. Between her hands, a crackling ball of white energy in the form of Focus Blast formed, and she threw it down upon the sleeping beasts. In a single second, they were all reduced to ashes as a violent explosion ensued.
Heatran's body bubbled. No beast dared to get near due to the heat that radiated off of the volcanic Pokemon. Any who tried had their bodies lit aflame immediately, so they backed away and waited. Though, their patience amounted to nothing, only serving to give Heatran time to charge a massive Lava Plume that, upon being released, sent a fiery ring of energy outward in all directions, severing the beasts in two and lighting their remains on fire. The areas on the beasts that were severed had a white-hot glare left over.
The volcanic Legend next turned its attention toward the skyward beasts, who screeched in terror as it looked at them. Opening its metallic mouth, Heatran's body began heating up once more, only now it was far greater than the previous time. It became so hot that the air surrounding it became red with flame, and the ground beneath its feet melted.
The beasts looked at one another, unsure how to approach the fiery Legend or if they should at all. A few looked over toward Necrozma, who was dueling with the Legends. The Ultra Beasts' master apparently noticed their staring and sent a paralyzing glare their way before returning to his own battle. The beasts paled with fear, for they heard their master's orders within their minds: "Keep fighting. If you will die, kill as many as you can beforehand. Your choice is to die to them or die to me, and I don't take deserters lightly."
Deciding that their fear of Necrozma was far greater than Heatran, they rushed down in an attempt to swarm it, screaming battle cries as they descended. Though perhaps they were not battle cries, but rather one last attempt at some kind of imprint on the world before they left it. They didn't make it halfway to Heatran before the volcanic Legend unleashed Inferno, a colossal tornado made entirely of flame. The second they were sucked inside of it, the beasts were reduced to blackened ashes. The remains of the beasts that were sliced in half were also sucked in, along with the ground.
A fortress beast let out a high-pitched buzz. It was it's equivalent of a scream. One of terror. As the sole survivor of the Inferno, it was forced to witness as its comrades were incinerated before its very eyes. It hissed in pain suddenly, looking down at itself to identify where it came from, and to its horror, it discovered that it was melting. The fortress beast let out a panicked wail and attempted to fly out from the flaming tornado, but was sucked right back in.
Cresselia, meanwhile, held hundreds of the beasts in a bind with her Psychic. They screeched with either terror or rage, but were silenced when Cresselia dragged them together, crushing them into a single massive ball of tangled, bent limbs. Satisfied with her work, the dream Pokemon tossed the ball over to Heatran, and they too were enveloped in the Inferno.
Tobias looked on at the havoc his team was causing, a smirk quickly growing upon the seasoned trainer's face. "It seems we've already nearly mopped this whole mess up." He crouched down, patting Latios's head and earning a smile from him. "Come," Said Tobias, "Let us join the others, shall we?" Latios nodded eagerly, earning a chuckle from his trainer. "Very well, then." He focused his sights upon a large group of flying Ultra Beasts that had been lucky enough to not get caught in Heatran's Inferno. Their luck was about to run out.
"Latios, use Giga Impact!" At Tobias's command, Latios used Psychic to keep his Trainer from falling and cloaked himself in spiraling energy. It tore through many of the beasts before they could react, but the others immediately turned their attention toward Latios, closing in on him. Tobias outstretched his hand toward them and ordered, "Latios, use Thunder Wave and then sweep them up with Luster Purge!"
As the beasts neared the two of them, Latios fired a yellow wave of electricity outward in all directions, paralyzing the ones nearest to the two of them. With the beasts helpless, twitching in midair as gravity slowly took control over them once more, Latios fired a large purple laser outward and spun in a circle. Anything touched by the beam was completely eradicated with no possible chance for escape with their paralysis.
The other beasts, which still numbered by the hundreds, backed away from the two of them. They sent savage glares their way, but did not dare to act for fear of what Latios's counterattack would be. Tobias chuckled. ""He who hesitates is lost,"" said Tobias. "I read that in a story once in Canalave's library. Now, let's see if that notion is correct. Latios, use Psychic to bind them together and burst straight through them with Giga Impact!"
With a nod, Latios's eyes began glowing a bright blue sheen, and the beasts found themselves confined by an invisible force. Much like the ones unfortunate enough to have battled Cresselia, they were forced together, crushing one another with their own bodies. Once again, Latios shrouded himself with spiraling energy and barreled a hole straight through them until he came out on the other side. "Now, finish it with Luster Purge!"
From Latios's mouth, purple sparkles began manifesting into the form of a brilliant orb, then unleashed itself upon the mass of screaming Ultra Beasts. The beam tore right back into the beasts and detonated violently, eradicating them all in one fell swoop. Tobias smirked at the explosion, satisfied with Latios's work, and turned around to the rest of the battlefield. Just as he expected, there was scarcely a beast left over, and the ones still left alive were fleeing to join with other larger groups. With their job complete, Tobias's team returned to their trainer, who had now dismounted Latios and hopped to the ground.
"Well done," Commended Tobias with a smile, "You've made me proud. I'm glad to see that despite not having a proper challenge in quite a while, none of your skills were dulled." His smile disappeared as he looked up at Necrozma. "We'll need that when the time comes to deal with him."
A rustling from behind Tobias and his team caught their attention. They immediately whipped around, with the Legends readying themselves to attack. A large rock a few feet away was rumbling. Tobias raised his arm, about to give the order to fire when the rock was suddenly overturned, revealing an imp beast. Darkrai prepared a Dark Pulse to end it before it could be a problem, but Tobias stopped him.
"That one's tiny," Said the raven-haired trainer, "So let me take care of it. Those imp-looking beasts are already among the smallest of the bunch, but this one takes the cake. Should it attempt to attack, you have my permission to strike it down."
Darkrai and the rest of Tobias's team nodded. As per their trainer's order, they held their attacks at the ready to intercept any wrong move from the small beast. Tentatively, Tobias made his way toward it, making sure not to make any loud noise. From what he could see, the small beast was covered from head to toe in bruises. It was likely that it ended up getting caught in one of his team's attacks.
Tobias accidentally kicked a pebble, and he immediately mentally cursed himself for it. The tiny imp beast yelped and jumped up at the noise. It's eyes went wide as it found the trainer. Tobias flinched, expecting it to either fly to flee or attack, but instead, it simply made a pathetic attempt to crawl away on its back, but only ended up cornering itself.
It trembled and whimpered, obviously terrified of Tobias. What, with Tobias's destructive display of power, the size difference between the two of them and the fact that they were enemies, he could hardly blame it. Upon closer look, Tobias noticed that the imp didn't actually have any wings like the other members of its species did. Whether it was too young and would grow them later, or if they were singed or torn off at some point in the battle, Tobias didn't know.
He took a slight step toward it, only succeeding in earning a loud, terrified shriek from the beast. Tobias's Legends intensified their attacks, preparing to strike when Tobias, without facing away from the tiny imp, held up his hand to stop them. Begrudgingly, they obeyed, but still held their attacks ready. Ignoring the beast's terrified cries, Tobias took another small step toward it. Then another, and another after that until he was right beside it.
Ignoring the pain in his ears, Tobias sat down with his legs crossed, facing the beast with a smile. "Why, hello there," He said to it, "Why is one as small as you down here in a battle like this? You look much too young to be participating in-"
He reeled back and covered his ears as the screeching intensified. "By Arceus, what kind of lungs do you have?!" Pushing past the pain, he attempted to make contact. He slowly inched his index finger toward it until he lightly tapped it on its head. "Hey, easy," Said the powerful trainer softly, "I'm not gonna hurt you so long as you don't try to hurt me."
To emphasize his point, Tobias gently rubbed the tip of his finger on its forehead. He chuckled. "You don't look all that old. Alien or not, I don't think I'd sleep right knowing I killed a kid." Eventually, the tiny beast stopped its wailing, though it still looked absolutely horrified at its predicament, and shook like a leaf. Tobias smiled softly at the small creature. "You know, it might end up getting ugly if you stick with a guy like that." He pointed up at Necrozma. "So, how about you stick with me, little guy? I'm not sure how the world will react to you guys if any of you are...still alive after this, but it's gotta be a fate better than dying."
The tiny imp tilted its head at Tobias curiously. Though it still trembled, it looked like, to Tobias anyways, that he was getting through to it. Unbeknownst to Tobias and his team, someone was currently staring down at them, or rather just Latios. It was Latias, who was Latios's sister in his former life. She stared down at him sadly. She wanted, more than anything, to go down and speak to him, and embrace him but didn't know what she would say. What, would she tell him that he died? That she was a sister he never knew? She didn't even know where to start, so she simply floated in place, stuck between the decision of whether to confront him or not.
A lone Hydreigon tucked in its head, cowering before the crowd of Ultra Beasts surrounding it. The beasts, in turn, hissed at it. The mosquito's cracked their fists, jeering at the cowardly Pokemon. This only furthered the Hydreigon's fear. A small hand gently caressed the Hydreigon's rough skin.
"I wish I could say that I could handle this," Admitted Zero, "But I can't. I'll need your help for this one, but…" She turned toward the beasts, glaring at them with a ferocity that chilled many of them. The young girl slowly took her hand off of Hydreigon and walked up to the Ultra Beasts. She flared her energy, sending up chaotic waves that radiated every color of the rainbow. "I can take the lead."
She rushed at a mosquito beast with a Flamethrower in her hand and slapped it directly in the face, incinerating its head and letting the body fall to the ground. 'I just gotta keep the guilt on the backburner for now,' She told herself, 'If I'm going to survive, I need to be ruthless!'
Zero hopped off of the body like a bouncepad and, summoning two Leaf Blades on her hands, lunged at a jellyfish beast, slicing it in two. A fortress beast crashed down on top of her, crushing her beneath its weight. It appeared to look smug at its handiwork until it was slowly pushed off the ground. With one arm, Zero held the beast above herself and blew it to pieces with a Hyper Beam.
A roach beast blitzed toward her with immense speed Zero couldn't react to in time, and she was sent flying away with a powerful kick. Hydreigon let out a panicked yelp seeing its new friend get hurt, which alerted some of the beasts. They turned their attention away from Zero and toward it, hissing at Hydreigon maliciously.
Zero landed amidst the beasts and was swarmed in seconds. Hydreigon attempted to rush to her aid, but other beasts stood in its way. Now backed into a corner, Hydreigon was forced to enter the fray. It was different now, fighting living beings, than to simply attack a giant robot, but Zero's words repeated in the dark dragon's head.
"I wish I could say that I could handle this, but I can't. I'll need your help for this one."
Hydreigon let out a roar as savage and fearsome as the timid dragon could muster, then tore into the horde with Outrage. It thrashed violently against everything that move, caring not about where or what it hit, only that it was hitting something.
A pillar of bright red flames burst up from Zero's location, incinerating any beast that had crowded around her. Zero launched herself up into the sky and struck down a paper beast with a Fire Punch as she landed once more. "Now, let's see what other moves I can use." She leapt up into the air and slammed herself back onto the ground with force so great that the beasts were swept off their feet. "Earthquake!"
Zero then dug her hands into the ground. Her arms lit aflame, and those flames shot down into the earth. The moment the beasts were able to regain their footing, the ground beneath them began to light up, and jets of intensified flames popped up like geysers across the battlefield. "Earth Power!"
The roach beast from earlier rocketed toward her once more, and so Zero was forced to abandon the Earth Power and tear her arms back out of the ground. She was able to use Protect just in time to block a stomp from the beast, but when Zero let down the shield to counterattack with a Flamethrower, the beast hopped right over it and delivered a spinning kick to the young girl's head.
Zero was sent sprawling across the ground until she slammed into the remains of a collapsed skyscraper's wall. She rubbed her now-aching head and glared at the beast, only to see that it was already speeding toward her again. Zero was barely able to avoid its next kick, which ended up destroying the wall, but when she attempted to get back to her feet, the beast slammed its other foot into her gut and sent her flying into the air.
The silver-haired girl winced in pain. She pushed past the pain and fired a Thunderbolt down at the beast with the tip of her finger, yet once again, the attack was evaded. With speeds that made it seem nearly invisible, the roach flew up past Zero and slammed into her back with a double-handed blow that shot Zero back into the ground once more. What's more, she was now stuck in a small crater.
The roach beast smirked down at Zero, then rocketed down toward her with its leg outstretched, letting out a shrill cry as it descended. Apparently, it was now attempting to finish her off. Zero groaned in annoyance. "Why is it always the speedy ones or the Psychics? Why can't it ever be easy?" She surrounded herself in bright red flames, and with a fearsome cry, Zero sent the flames bursting out in every direction. "Fine, then!" She roared. "I'll just have to make an attack so big it can't be dodged! OVERHEAT!"
The roach beast was forced to stop its attack as a colossal dome of flames exploded outward from its intended prey. From inside of it, the rocks encasing Zero were incinerated, allowing her to stand once more. She burst out from the explosion, still cloaked in flame, and rushed at the beast. It scowled at Zero, rushing toward her as well. Zero shot a Flamethrower from her hands, which the beast easily dodged. It hopped over the jet of flame and aimed another kick for Zero's head, but stopped and retreated suddenly.
It flew a ways away from Zero and crouched down to look at its knee, which had become red from a burn. "That's weird," Zero said, "It didn't make contact with me, or the Flamethrower, so why is it…?" She held her hand up and launched a Fire Blast at it, forcing it to stop licking its wound and evade. It glared down at Zero, to which the girl smirked up at it.
"Ah, I get it now," Said Zero. "Judging by that thin body of yours, you probably can't take too many attacks even though you can dish them out pretty well." She pointed down at its burned leg and continued. "And that burn of yours leads me to believe you're especially weak to Fire."
The beast growled and rocketed toward her. Zero intensified the flames surrounding her body to act as a barrier, but it stopped right before making contact with her and stomped the ground, causing the ground beneath Zero's feet to shift upward and launch her into the air. The roach then dug its hand into the ground, pulling up a massive boulder, and rocketed up at Zero.
The young girl's eyes widened in shock. 'I thought I finally cornered this thing, but it's way smarter than I gave it credit for!' She used Protect, managing to block the boulder being hurled her way just in time, but the roach flew straight through it and tore its claws into the barrier. With only a split second to think of what to do next, Zero forced the beast to jump away by using Overheat, though it was vastly smaller than the last time she used it.
Zero let out a gasp of exhaustion after the attack was finished, which the beast took advantage of. She rocketed at Zero with a shrill cry and landed a swift kick straight to her face. The roach beast smirked, thinking she'd bested the girl. Zero's body twisted under the pressure of the kick, and in the blink of an eye, her hand whipped around and smashed into the beast's gut.
Without even giving the roach time to breathe, Zero grabbed its throat. It attempted to shake her off, grabbing and clawing at her arm, but to no avail. Wiping off a smidge of blood from her lip, Zero said, "In a real fight, your enemy will never relent. That's something a dear friend said to me once." Raising the fist she'd stricken the beast with, Zero continued. "What I just did was Counter; a move that instantaneously reflects the damage I take back to the attacker."
The words of Ryder echoed in her mind. "Your power means nothing if you can't even hit your opponent."
A deep frown appeared on her face, accentuating the scar Ryder had eternally left upon her cheek. . "I had a friend of mine teach me this so that I could…" She could still see Ryder's empty mask reflecting her own face back at her as she fought. Just the thought of him infuriated her to no end. Unbeknownst to Zero, her crackling crimson Aura began manifesting around her, and she crushed the beast's thin throat.
"Nevermind," Hissed Zero. She opened her eyes, revealing the endless voids that were her eyes and eliciting a terrified, choked scream from the beast, "Telling this to you is a waste when you're simply going to DIE ANYWAYS!"
The hand choking the roach beast's windpipe lit with flames. From that hand, a colossal blast of flame erupted, reducing the beast to ashes. She stared out into nothingness for a few moments blankly and descended back to the ground now that she'd won.
Zero turned back toward the rest of the horde. Her body drooped, and her stance became wobbly. What's more, she found it hard to keep her eyes open, and every time they closed, she saw the Pokemon from the lab instead of the Ultra Beasts.
'It's not the same!' She told herself. 'This is something I have to do! If I don't kill them, how many more lives will be lost?!' She clutched at her head, whimpering in pain as her destructive Aura manifested around her. Blood red bolts of lightning shot off of her small body, tearing apart the ground closest to her. The voices in her head, the ones that never stopped howling at her day after day, taunted her.
She didn't know what to do. Killing that roach beast felt wrong to her, even though she knew it had to be done. Yet, the voices still clashed against one another in her mind, and with Zero's voice in the center of it all, it was crushed, beaten and scathed by them all.
It's a matter of life or death.
I had to.
"I…"
It isn't right.
It's the same as before.
"It isn't…!"
Kill them all.
If you don't kill them, they will kill you.
"Unnnngh!"
Kill them all!
"No!"
If you don't kill them, they will kill Hydreigon.
Kill them all!
"..."
If you don't kill them, they will kill Ash. They will kill Serena. They will kill Riley. They will kill everyone!
KILL THEM ALL!
"Shut up! Just shut up and let me think, please!"
You are a weapon. You were created to kill. To destroy.
Zero fell to her knees, violently shaking her head. "I'm not! I won't become like that!"
You are drawn to killing and destroying.
"I won't!"
It will follow you wherever you go.
"I can't…!"
You cannot escape it.
"I…"
Now kill! Kill everything! Destroy all in your path! It is your purpose!
"..."
That is why you were created! You are a weapon, one who needs no wielder! Now destroy your enemy!
"AAAAAAUUUUGH!"
Zero let out a cry, indistinguishable from one of agony or that of a beast's roar. Her power erupted around her, fueled by her destructive Aura. The very ground beneath her feet was swept up and destroyed or hurtled far into the air, and she took off toward the beasts like a rocket. Coating her hands in crackling electricity, she barreled into the horde of beasts before they could react.
With the swipe of one hand, a beast was reduced to dust. With the slash of her makeshift claws, another was reduced to mincemeat. The force of a single punch tore through dozens of beasts without even making contact with them. Zero was no longer a being, but rather, a force, mindless of the destruction it left in the wake of its movement alone.
Each strike she delivered, she did so with a savage, bestial scream. The Ultra Beasts buzzed in confusion and fear. With Zero's unleashed speed, she was practically invisible to the naked eye. It looked, to the beasts, like their comrades were suddenly being sliced to ribbons or reduced to ashes out of nowhere, all the while the air was filled with shrieks akin to a banshee's.
Hydreigon narrowly avoided an insect beast's stinger and retaliated with a Flame Blast that made it disappear in a cloud of smoke. Behind the dragon, a mosquito beast crashed down and swung its massive fist toward its back. The blow connected, eliciting a pained roar from Hydreigon and sending it skidding across the floor.
The dark dragon quickly whipped around and saw that the mosquito was inches away from its face with another punch at the ready. With a savage roar, Hydreigon lunged past its punch and delivered one of its own with Outrage, making the beast's face cave in, and its body collapse to the ground. Still under Outrage's effects, Hydreigon charged at the nearest beast to him, a jellyfish, and reduced it to a stain.
Two bamboo beasts parted the crowd of their comrades, charging up an attack from their arms. Hydreigon turned their way and growled furiously, to which they unleashed their attack in the form of four colossal, bright white lasers that combined together into a singular massive one. Puffing out its chest, Hydreigon let out a deafening roar and unleashed a Hyper Beam from its mouth.
The two lasers crashed against one another, creating a shockwave that blew back the other beasts a few feet. It quickly became apparent that Hydreigon was no match for two of the bamboo beasts at once, and their beam inched its way toward him, overpowering his Hyper Beam. Hydreigon shut its eyes tightly and, with immense strain, managed to push itself and match the power of the beasts' beam.
The beast continued firing at a steady rate, apparently unperturbed by the constant use of their beam. Hydreigon, on the other hand, was losing stamina quickly, and the use of Hyper Beam wasn't exactly making it easier to breathe. Before long, the bamboo beasts' beams began to overpower Hydreigon's once again and barreled into the dragon. Hydreigon let out a yelp, unable to dodge the beams, and crashed into the ground behind it.
The day prior, Hydreigon managed to, for the most part, rid itself of its fear. Of course, it wasn't entirely. Such a drastic change in so little time would be impossible. Zero, who could relate to the suffering Hydreigon had gone through, and Ash, who saved it from that suffering, managed to worm their way into Hydreigon's heart. This enabled Hydreigon to push past its fear for their sake.
However, there was an underlying aspect to the dark dragon that only Ash had been able to confront. Hydreigon's hatred. It was a more recent aspect, so its fear, which had controlled Hydreigon since its birth, was able to take hold of it once more the second Ash had calmed the dragon's malice. However, just like fear could not be ridden of easily, neither could hatred.
In the short week Hydreigon was under Damian's control, it was subjected to all manner of abuses, physical, mental and emotional by that demented boy. Like Zero with Charon and Ryder, Hydreigon's hatred toward Damian would never leave, no matter what happened. Also like Zero, Hydreigon's hatred was trained in a way that made it destructive toward anything, not just Damian. Ash had quelled its hatred, but not gotten rid of it, and so, faced with death, Hydreigon allowed hatred to take hold of it once more.
Through the smoke cloud, the bamboo beasts could see that Hydreigon was still moving, and so they geared up to launch another attack in order to finish off the dark dragon. Hydreigon pushed itself off of the groudd laboriously, shuddering as it did so. Its body flared red, as it activated Frustration and dispelled the smoke with a deafening roar. The bamboo beasts quickly fired another laser, to which the now-berserked Hydreigon used the power of Frustration to unleash a far greater Hyper Beam than its last, easily tearing straight through the beasts' beam and eradicating them.
However, Hydreigon's awoken rage would not dispel so easily. Turning its now-whitened eyes to the Ultra Beasts nearest to it, it activated Outrage, which only furthered to increase its unending rage. It leapt at the nearest beast, a fortress, and reduced it to pebbles with a single strike. Then, it jumped into the main horde and began tearing everything apart. Whether it be Hyper Beams and Fire Blasts completely eradicating the beasts or the Frustration-boosted strikes from Outrage scattering the beasts' remains into unrecognizable shapes, no beast was safe from its rampage.
Any who tried to approach the raging dragon were immediately stopped with the swift swipe of its arm, reducing them to no more than scattered limbs. However, the ever-watchful eyes of Necrozma forced them to stay put, else his punishment would be far worse than the fate Hydreigon had in store for them. The shrill screeches of the Ultra Beasts rang out as the horde attempted to close in on the rampaging dragon Pokemon. Their collective train of thought was that, eventually, one would manage to get past its defenses and land a blow.
Hydreigon was quick to prove them wrong. The dark dragon ripped open its jaw far past what it should be able to, nearly tearing the ligaments of its mandible, and unleashed a colossal Hyper Beam. It spun around, sweeping dozens of the beasts up in one fell swoop. The ones that survived only did so because they were lucky enough to have had their compatriots be unwitting body shields.
The beasts backed away from Hydreigon in terror, to which the dragon rushed at the nearest beast and continued its slaughter. Near the site of Hydreigon's rampage, another was taking place. Zero, still driven to destroy by the constant, unending screaming in her mind, sliced a beast clean in half and quickly tore into the next with an X-Scissor. Another roach beast aimed a kick at her back, but only met thin air upon striking her.
Confused, the beast turned back around to try and find out why it missed, and was instantaneously struck with a savage Dynamic Punch to its face. A mosquito beast tried its luck and tried to strike Zero with its massive fist, but was incinerated by a Flamethrower before even coming close. She stomped her foot into the ground, then surrounded herself in the energy of Giga Impact. With a shrill cry, she charged forward, obliterating everything in her path.
Hydreigon ended the life of another beast by using the head on its arm to bite the beast's face, then promptly fired a Hyper Beam from that face's mouth. Its body flared with energy as it charged into the fray with Outrage once more. Zero canceled her Giga Impact and burst straight through a bamboo beast with Flare Blitz. She grit her teeth in pain from the attack's recoil damage, but quickly shook it off. A paper beast blitzed toward her with the intent to slice her to ribbons. Summoning X-Scissor to her arm, she sliced it clean in half before it could get the chance.
The two of them tore apart everything in their path, sending up severed body parts, incinerating their foes and drenching themselves in the blood of their enemies. They spiraled closer and closer to one another, not even realizing that they were doing so until they came face to face. Without even realizing what they were doing, they launched a Hyper Beam at each other, creating a massive explosion that wiped out all the surrounding Ultra Beasts.
As the explosion faded away, only two beings were left. Those, of course, being its creators. They glared bitterly at one another, heaving for air. Blinded by their rage, they saw everything only as an enemy. That extended to each other. Zero's black, void-like eyes met with Hydreigon's whitened ones. Then, their eyes widened. They both stumbled forward, as if they'd been struck, and clutched at their heads.
Zero's eyes closed, and Hydreigon's regained their color. It was then they saw the bodies. Countless of them, charred black and littered across the ash-coated battlefield. Many of them were unrecognizable from being torn apart. It was then their rage-driven berserked state wore off, and they realized what they had done.
Hydreigon let out a yelp and backed away from a body that was halfway buried beneath him. It looked all around itself from body to body, hyperventilating. It had never seen such wanton destruction. It had never known war. It didn't know how to comprehend the gruesome sight left before it.
Zero was stricken far worse by the sight than Hydreigon. Her vision flashed back and forth between the battlefield and Charon's lab. When she opened her eyes, she saw the bodies of her victims, and the ones of her former friends. When she closed them, she saw the same thing. There was no escape from what she had done. This was war. It had to be done. But Zero was a child. A young girl who had seen enough death to last a thousand lifetimes. She told herself that she had to do this, but now that she had, she wept for her enemies. She had filled the role of a weapon once more, and the voice that told her to do it was quiet at last.
Hydreigon's eyes widened even further at the sound of Zero's crying. It instinctively thought to go to her, but stopped itself when it realized something. In its blinded rage, Hydreigon attacked Zero. The dark dragon bowed its head in shame and whimpered. Zero turned her head up at that sound, looking at Hydreigon. Her black, inky tears leaked down from her eyes in two single streams, dotting the ground beneath her feet.
Her eyes widened as well, realizing she had attacked Hydreigon, and put a hand over her mouth. The tears streaming from her eyes increased in speed, and she violently shook her head. Just as always, she had hurt her friends. The ones who realized the beauty of this world. Her role as a weapon was truly inescapable, and Ryder's harrowing warning seemed more real than ever.
"I'm so sorry," She whimpered, "I'm so, so sorry!"
Hydreigon ducked its head low and slowly attempted to close the distance between them. Zero took a step back. "Please, don't!" She cried. "I can't...you'll get hurt again!" Hydreigon felt the same way. It lost itself to anger, and hurt the one person who knew its pain. However, Hydreigon knew subconsciously that Zero's pain outweighed its own. It didn't know how; it was almost instinctual, but it knew it needed to go to Zero's side. They were both at fault.
Zero stepped backward, holding out her hand warningly. "Don't," She pleaded. "Don't come any closer! I'll hurt you!"
Hydreigon pressed on anyways. Even when Zero formed a Focus Blast in her hand warningly, the dragon approached her. Zero grit her teeth, finding it harder and harder to lift her hand at Hydreigon by the second. She couldn't possibly fire that Focus Blast, and Hydreigon knew it. Thus, she lowered her arm, and Hydreigon roped her into an embrace.
"I'm sorry," She whimpered into the dragon's shoulder, "I'm so, so sorry...I should have told you to run...you shouldn't have gotten caught up in this, but because I said you had to fight, I…" A low, vibrating hum escaped from Hydreigon's throat, which was essentially the dragon's equivalent to a purr. Zero, amidst her tears, chuckled dryly. "I...guess we really are in the same boat, aren't we?"
Ash faced off against a colossal swarm of Ultra Beasts. There must have been thousands crowding around him, both in the skies and land. The wild Pokemon fought desperately against the beasts around him, but couldn't get anywhere near their lord's Chosen One, and so, he had to face them himself. However, Ash was far from alone. At all sides, the various Pokemon he'd accumulated throughout his journeyes faced off against these overwhelming odds.
Greater than simply Ash's Pokemon, they were Ash's friends. Ones who have proved time and time again that they would die for Ash if it meant saving him, and Ash happily returned that sentiment on many occasions. Through thick and thin, Ash and his Pokemon have made it through almost every challenge they've faced, and now they faced a challenge greater than any other.
Despite this, they were not unnerved. The times they could not triumph over a challenge were due to the Pokemon :League's team restrictions being set to six. Now, they had no such restrictions. Just about every Pokemon Ash has had the pleasure of journeying with was here now at his side, like brothers in arms.
Ash inhaled deeply, allowing his Aura to surface. With a mighty bellow, his Aura flared outward, completely encompassing the entirety of his team and creating a brilliant cyan blue pillar of light. Everyone, including the beasts, stopped what they were doing and faced that light. It was a beacon of hope, Ash's way of telling the trainers not to give in, and acted as a warning for the Ultra Beasts.
"My Aura's been going crazy lately," Ash noted, flexing his fingers to test his newfound strength, "And now more than ever, too. Not that I'm complaining." The Aura he unleashed into the pillar curved back down and surrounded his team of Pokemon. They stared at the light in wonderment, which only furthered as they felt a sudden invigoration.
Ash smirked at the beasts, crouching down into a battle position. "Now that that's settled, how about we crush these guys and move onto Necrozma?" His team let out rallying cry in unison, nodding to their trainer and friend. "Alright then. Everyone, I choose you!" With that, Ash and his Pokemon rushed into battle.
Ash's Charizard, eager for battle after having been left out of them for so long, charged into the horde first. It blasted a mighty Flamethrower from its mouth that stunned a mosquito beast, and before that beast could recover, Charizard picked it up and flew high into the sky with it. It surrounded the both of them in flames before hurling the beast down with Seismic Toss and making it crash into its comrades with a thunderous explosion. With a toothy smirk, Charizard quickly flew toward the next.
The stag beetle-like Pokemon, Heracross, faced off against an insect beast. The beast hissed at the Pokemon, to which Heracross glared back. The beast rushed Heracross, pointing out its stinger. Heracross's horn began glowing, and it sped toward the beast. Stinger and horn clashed together, sending up a wave of sparks before the two stopped, facing away from one another. The beast's wings stopped moving suddenly, and it crashed to the ground. Heracross winced, noticing that its horn now sported an odd purple mark. It rubbed at the wound, then, thinking nothing of it, shrugged and moved on.
The Rock-Type Pokemon, Boldore, was confronted with a fortress beast that easily dwarfed the Pokemon' size. Boldore leapt up at it and used Rock Smash, but the attack bounced off of the beasts' solid exterior without making so much as a dent. It next used Flash Cannon, sending a whitish-grey beam of energy at the beast, but sadly met the same result. It huffed in annoyance, all the while the beast sat still, acting like it didn't even know Boldore was there.
Donphan suddenly came rolling in, crashing into the fortress beast with a Rollout. Though it did no apparent damage, the attack apparently annoyed it enough for it to reveal its eye and glare down at Donphan before turning some of its bricks into a makeshift arm and smashing into Donphan's side. The elephant-like Pokemon let out a yelp of pain, but managed to right itself and skid to a halt. It snarled angrily at the beast and lifted up its front feet.
Boldore's eyes widened as it realized Donphan was about to use Earthquake, which would be bad for it given its Rock typing, but it got an idea of how to evade the attack. It hopped up onto the fortress beast's head, causing it to start making rapid beeping noises and look around in confusion. Its bricks split away from its body slightly and surrounded Boldore, pointing at it menacingly. It looked like it was about to close the bricks in when Donphan used Earthquake, shaking the fortress beast up and making it fall apart.
Boldore leapt off of the beast to Donphan's side. They nodded to one another, then fired a Hyper Beam and Flash Cannon at the fallen bricks respectively. The beast quickly reformed itself, but it couldn't prevent the destruction of a few of its bricks. Its eye widened as it realized part of its body was now missing, then glared angrily at the two Pokemon.
The fortress beast stomped its makeshift feet into the ground in anger, then charged at Boldore and Donphan. The two Pokemon crouched down and growled at the incoming beast, getting ready to collide with it when they heard the angry cry of another Pokemon. Or rather, several ones.
The beast was suddenly tackled to the ground as Ash's thirty Tauros stampeded straight into it, crushing it underneath their mighty hooves as they ran. The panicked, high-pitched beeping of the beast could be heard from underneath the Tauros, until it let out a single, long-winded low beep that droned on for a few seconds until becoming silent. When the Tauros were gone, there was nothing left but pebbles. Boldore and Donphan stared at the beasts' remains in disbelief.
Unfezant, Swellow and Noctowl took to the skies, and were quickly being pursued by dozens of imp beasts. The small beast giggled maliciously as they fired globs of poison from the stingers on their heads, which the three bird Pokemon easily dodged by looping over them. Noctowl curved back around and created a Gust with its wings, sending a few of the imps flying backward.
The other imps took advantage of Noctowl's stillness, firing more poisonous globs at it, but the globs were deflected by Unfezant's Air Slash. The imps cried out, confused why their attacks didn't work when four of them were sent careening back down to earth by an Aerial Ace from Swellow. The remaining ones bared their teeth at the three bird Pokemon and growled. They charged at them, but were swiftly stopped by Noctowl's Confusion that stopped them clean in their tracks. Seeing their chance, Unfezant and Swellow blasted the small horde of imp beasts with Air Cutter, and they, too, were sent falling back to the ground.
Another imp beast zipped in circle above Muk's head, mocking it with giggles as it hurled glob after glob of poison at it. It stopped once it figured out that the poison wasn't having any effect. It looked down at Muk curiously, tilting its head in confusion. The sludgy, gelatinous body of Muk folded in on itself, then sprang back out as it fired a Mud Bomb straight into the imp that detonated violently upon impact.
A jellyfish beast hovered over to Muk, singing its normal broken-sounding song. An amorphous, pulsating ball of the kaleidoscope-colored substance it could create formed beneath its head, which was then hurled down at the sludge Pokemon. It collided with Muk's body before slowly sinking in. Muk stared down at it oddly, then looked back up at the jellyfish.
The beast in question began frantically dancing above Muk's head, apparently believing the substance to have worked, and descended upon the Pokemon. It slowly laid itself down upon Muk's head and stretched its tentacles out, only realizing its mistake too late to undo it. Its body, just like the substance it attempted to use against Muk, began sinking into the Pokemon's body.
Muk stretched out its arms and completely covered the jellyfish, smothering its panicked shrill cries. It stayed still for a few seconds before eventually retracting its body and allowing the jellyfish to exit. The beast was now a pale grey and appeared to be wrinkled and shriveled, laying on the ground without moving. Muk had completely drained the jellyfish of its poisonous bodily fluids to use as its food.
The rapid, frantic beeping of a fortress beast rang out. Snorlax had somehow managed to plant itself atop the beast's head and threatened to crush it underneath as it slept. Snorlax drooped its arm over the side of the beast's body, snoring lazily. The beast, in return, detached a multitude of its bricks and jabbed them into Snorlax with the intent to kill. However, the bricks only bounced off of Snorlax's thick, fat body harmlessly.
The sleeping Pokemon itched at its belly, serving as the only sign of it being remotely affected by the beast's onslaught. A crack ran down the beast's body, causing it to let out a terrified shriek. It began rapidly jabbing its bricks into Snorlax in a last-ditch effort to push it off of its body, but it was too slow. The beast let out one last pained cry that was immediately cut off as its body crumbled beneath Snorlax's immense weight. The sleeping Pokemon yawned and turned onto its side.
A jester beast threw its head up at Glalie who, realizing that it must have been some kind of attack on the beast's part, froze it with Ice Beam. The frigid Pokemon moved out of the way as the frozen ball flew past it before falling back to the ground. The moment the ice shattered, the head exploded violently, proving Glalie's intuition correct.
It glared down at the jester and launched another Ice Beam, but the beast stopped it by sending up another head to take the attack, then kicked it up at Glalie. Or rather, it tried to. Apparently, it had never once encountered ice before, so when it kicked Glalie's, it had no idea how hard it would be. It made an expression with its hands that it was screaming, though no actual sound came out from it, and hobbled around on one foot in pain.
Glalie sweatdropped awkwardly and closed its eyes, not able to bear the awkwardness of the situation. It then decided to finish the job quickly, realizing that if it let the fight go on, then the jester could prove dangerous after learning of Glalie's ice and froze it solid with another Ice Beam. It was still holding onto its aching foot.
Gliscor was scarcely able to avoid the slice of a paper beast. Its eyes widened in horror as it witnessed the missed attack leave a massive gash in the ground. Had Gliscor been hit by the attack, it wouldn't have been pretty. Deciding to end this quickly, the flying Pokemon materialized six jagged stones around itself to use Stone Edge and launched them at the beast.
In the blink of an eye, the stones were sliced to nothing more than dust that fell past the beast harmlessly. Once again turning its ire upon Gliscor, it rushed up to the Pokemon, grinding its arms together. Gliscor yelped and quickly used Steel Wing defensively. The beast crashed into Gliscor violently, sending up a hail of sparks as it flew past.
Gliscor winced, now sporting a nasty cut on its wing, but it luckily managed to minimize the damage with Steel Wing. It whipped around just in time to see the paper beast rushing back toward it, and so Gliscor, in a panic, used Screech. The attack apparently worked, and the beast immediately began shrieking in pain. Gliscor smirked. Now was its chance. It bit into the beast with Fire Fang, which coated the beast in flames. Gliscor then threw the beast down, where it sailed back into the ground before the flames reduced the tiny beast to dust.
The Flying-Type Pokemon, Staraptor, swerved out of the way of a chop from a mosquito beast, swiftly countering with an Aerial Ace to its abdomen. The beast let out a shriek of pain and retaliated with a swift bash from the underside of its fist that sent Staraptor spiraling into the ground below. Staraptor let out a cry of pain upon impact. As the bird slowly struggled to get back onto its feet, the mosquito beast crashed down beside it. It crouched down, bringing its fist up to the underside of Staraptor's head. The raptor bird Pokemon's eyes widened, helpless to avoid the incoming strike.
The mosquito beast's fist crashed into Staraptor's chin, sending it flying into the air. Immediately, the beast rocketed up past the bird Pokemon and double-hand slammed into its back, sending Staraptor right back down to the ground in a crumpled mess. Its arms crossed, the mosquito floated gently down to the ground next to Staraptor and picked it up by the wing. It smirked cruelly at the Pokemon, bringing it closer to the stinger it had for a mouth. Staraptor closed its eyes and winced, preparing for the worst.
"TORRRRTERA!"
At the sudden noise, the mosquito beast turned around with an odd expression, and was promptly sent flying as the ground beneath its feet shot upward. The large tortoise Pokemon, Torterra, had used Rock Climb, making the ground jut up with incredible force. Torterra walked up to Staraptor, asking if it was alright. Shakily, Staraptor managed to push itself onto its talons and nodded.
Their attention snapped upward as they heard the loud, angry buzzing of the mosquito beast. It raced down at them with its fist pulled back, so Torterra, thinking quickly, used Leaf Storm. The tree on the large Pokemon's shell shot up a flurry of razor-sharp leaves, as well as a small cyclone of wind that carried them.
The beast brought up its arms to shield its face from the onslaught, but in turn, it blinded itself. Realizing this, Staraptor took to the skies, shrouding itself in intense flames. It flew to the point that it was nearing the mothership's barrier, then craned its body back down and blitzed toward the beast with nearly invisible speeds. The flames coating Staraptor's body had become blue and crackled with heat.
The beast, now annoyed by the constant onslaught of Torterra's leaves, swatted away the Leaf Storm with its arms and flexed, preparing to descend upon the Pokemon when Staraptor tore straight through it with Brave Bird, gliding across the ground and slowing to a stop. The beast scarcely had the time to react before it was consumed in an explosion
Leavanny bent backward to the point its hand-leaves touched the ground, dodging a lightning-fast kick by only a hair. However, the moment it stood back up and turned to face its assailant, it was struck across the face with a supersonic punch and sent onto its back. It gasped in pain, but forced its eyes to stay open to hopefully get a glimpse at whatever was attacking it.
A white blur blitzed across Leavanny's line of sight, and it quickly fired off an Energy Ball. The blur immediately kicked it back, resulting in the Bug-Type Pokemon being caught in the attack's explosion. Leavanny let out a pained cry, but the beast gave it no quarter. With bullet-like speed, it stomped down upon the Pokemon's abdomen, causing its eyes to go wide and letting out a choked cry.
The beast, which Leavanny could now see was a roach, smirked down at the Pokemon and kicked it over onto its face. It raised its foot over Leavanny's head, preparing to finish it off, when suddenly, the ground beneath it cracked. Another Pokemon erupted from underneath the ground, striking the roach beast's chin with a savage clawed uppercut. The beast staggered backward and glared at the newcomer. Leavanny craned its head up to its savior, finding none other than Krookodile grinning down at it with its arms crossed.
It turned its gaze back to the roach beast, glaring menacingly. Apparently, it had replaced its signature shades at some point with large, red ones that curved out into jagged, almost V-shaped ones on either side. Their size dwarfed even Krookodile's head. The beast glared back and rocketed at Krookodile. In response, Krookodile simply smirked and used Stone Edge, making the beast crash straight into them unintentionally. It winced as one of the jagged stones punctured its leg, and soon enough, the others were sent flying into the beast's body at point blank range, making the beast fly backward as they exploded.
The beast managed to right itself in the air and land gently back onto its feet, though in spite of that, it looked absolutely livid. The Stone Edges had caused various puncture wounds all across its body, as well as tearing holes through its hair. It roared at Krookodile and rocketed toward it, to which the crocodile Pokemon smirked once more and sank into the ground with dig.
The beast was sent flying over where Krookodile once was, and was caught off guard long enough for Leavanny to leap up and strike it with X-Scissor. The beast was sent back, but once again easily landed back on its feet and hissed at Leavanny. It crouched down, preparing to strike when Krookodile once again leapt up from underground, striking it in the abdomen with Aerial Ace.
The roach was sent flying high into the air, letting out a high-pitched shriek as it flew. Krookodile took off its shades and hurled them at the roach. They split in two, slicing repeatedly into the beast with their jagged edges until they cut a hole in both of the beast's arms and legs, then becoming stuck in its limbs and prevented the roach from moving.
Krookodile dove underground for a split second, and when it re-emerged, it held a colossal boulder in one hand. It used Sandstorm, which spiraled around Krookodile and the boulder violently. Leavanny was forced to cover its eyes due to the power of the wind it kicked up. When the sand disappeared, Leavanny gaped up at what had once been a boulder. The sandstorm carved it into the shape of a massive drill, allowing Krookodile to use Drill Run.
The crocodile Pokemon leapt up from the ground, once again using Sandstorm around the drill to make it actually spin like one. The beast shrieked in terror, pulling at the sunglasses that protruded from its limbs to no avail. It could only stare on with wide-eyed horror as Krookodile's drill barreled straight through its body. Krookodle landed behind the beast with its shades in hand. Returning them to their rightful place upon the Pokemon's snout, Krookodile flicked its wrist and allowed its drill to return to rubble as the roach beast exploded behind it.
Scraggy crashed into a bamboo beast with Headbutt. Of course, this only served to give the small Pokemon a headache and did no damage to the beast. A fortress beast appeared at the bamboo beast's side, and the two of them jeered at the fallen Pokemon. Scraggy pushed itself back onto its stubby feet and snarled at the vastly larger beasts.
The bamboo beast pointed its blasters at the small Pokemon threateningly, but Scraggy refused to back down. Craning its head to the sky, it called, "SCRRRRAGGY!" The ears of the Pokemon nearby perked at the call, and rushed to its source. Snivy, Pignite, Oshawott, Bulbasaur, Gible, Buizel, Squirtle, Corphish, Totodile, Palpitoad, Kingler, Quilava and Torkoal quickly arrived at the scene, save for the last one, who slowly inched his way into the group.
With allies now at his side, Scraggy smirked at the beasts challengingly. In response, the bamboo beast fired its blasters at them. The Pokemon quickly scrambled out of the way, but Torkoal was not able to evade in time and was completely consumed by the blast. The Pokemon gasped, worried that one of their friends had fallen, but their worries were quickly proven to be for naught when they saw the fiery tortoise Pokemon slowly march straight through the flames toward its attacker.
Surprised, the bamboo beast intensified its output, but it still had no effect. Torkoal opened its mouth and charged a Flamethrower. The beasts saw this, and the bamboo one quickly halted firing. Just as Torkoal unleashed its attack, the fortress beast leapt in the way and took the attack head on. When Torkoal stopped its assault, there was no apparent marking on the fortress beast whatsoever.
Torkoal huffed in annoyance, making steam erupt from its shell. It attempted to fire another Flamethrower, but the fortress beast assembled four of its bricks into a makeshift foot and stomped the ground with enough force to throw Torkoal onto its back. The other Pokemon quickly attempted to rush to its aid, but the bamboo beast intercepted them and forced them to jump backward to avoid the swing of the beast's arm.
Pignite coated itself in flames and charged at the beast with Flare Blitz, managing to knock it backward slightly. The pig Pokemon then hopped back onto the ground, smirking confidently until its recoil set in. Annoyed, the bamboo beast pointed its arm at Pignite and blasted at it, but Squirtle, Oshawott and Corphish jumped in the way and countered it with Water Gun. The two attacks pushed against one another for dominance until, when neither could prove stronger than the other, exploded out into a cloud of steam.
The beast swiped its arm to dispel the steam, only to find that all the Pokemon had disappeared. It looked around in confusion until it realized where they had gone. It whipped around and, just as it thought, the Pokemon crowded around Torkoal, defending it from the fortress beast. Most of them prepared attacks warningly while the others managed to push Torkoal back onto its feet before joining the others.
The bamboo beast scowled and pointed both of its arms at the group, blasting a massive jet of flame in their direction. The Pokemon immediately shifted their attention away from the fortress beast and to the rapidly-approaching beam. Kingler leapt in front of it and raised its massive claw to the sky. Concentrated water spiraled around it, forming a bubble around the claw before the crab Pokemon slammed it down upon the incoming laser.
The impact caused a large explosion that sent Kingler flying backward. Ash's other Pokemon tried to go to its aid, but stopped when they saw that the beast was charging up once more. Buizel took it upon himself to curb the beast's plan before it could even begin and lunged at it with Aqua Jet. The beast was forced to unleash its next blast before it could be completed, and since Buizel's water protected it from the flames, they were forced to a standstill.
Buizel looked back at the other Pokemon, cried, "Bui Bui!" and motioned to the beast. The Pokemon got the idea rather quickly, and Oshawott charged around to the beast's side. The small Water Pokemon took off the shell on its belly, which formed a curved blade of concentrated water, and jumped up at the beast. The beast, backed into a corner, had no other option than to move one of its arms to stop Oshawatt, but in the process allowed Buizel to glide past its blast and crash straight into its face with Oshawott slicing at its hard exterior with Razor Shell.
Upon landing back to the ground, Buizel crossed his arms and smirked at the beast. Oshawott planted his shell back on his chest and hopped off the ground, giddy at his apparent victory. The beast had other ideas. Infuriated, it pointed its blasters at the two Water Pokemon, only to be hit from the side once more by Quilava's Flamethrower.
The beast vainly attempted to cover its body with its arms, but due to its arms' thinnity in comparison to its body, it failed. The fortress beast attempted to aid its comrade, but Snivy jumped in its way and used Leaf Tornado. The twister of swirling leaves didn't harm the beast, but it did blind it and force it to stay put. Pignite hopped in and helped Snivy hold the large beast back by using Brick Break, repeatedly slamming its fist into the beast's body in an endeavor to do the attack's namesake.
Frustrated, the fortress beast formed an arm with its bricks and brought it down upon Pignite's head, but stopped when it felt a sudden pinch on its arm. Bringing the arm over to its eye, it found that Gible had bitten on to it. The beast immediately slammed the arm into the ground in a repeated attempt to sever the tiny dragon from its arm.
However, the beast had no luck in doing so. Even with the sheer force of the fortress's strikes, Gible refused to let go. It didn't hurt the beast, only serving to annoy it. It eventually gave up on trying to rid itself of Gible that way, instead returning the bricks to the rest of its body to try and force the dragon off. Yet still, Gible held on, causing the beast to be unable to properly reform itself.
Now the beast was really annoyed. Once again forming an arm with the brick holding Gible on the arm's tip, it furiously slammed it into the ground in repeated succession, making rapid beeping noise in apparent distress as it did so. The beast then felt a tap and looked down to see Bulbasaur smiling up at it. The bulb on its back was glowing. The fortress's eye curled down in confusion, then raised its arm up, threatening to slam it down upon Bulbasaur.
A Mud Slap from Palpitoad found its way into the fortress's eye, causing it to flail around in pain. Totodile, dancing around happily as it usually did, fired a Hydro Pump into its eye that caused the mud to harden and crust. At last, it managed to throw Gible from its arm after flinging it up in the air and wiped away the mud to reveal that the beast was now absolutely livid, if the shape of its eye was any indication. However, the moment it did so, Bulbasaur unleashed a Solar Beam straight into the eye.
The fortress beast let out a high-pitched wail and brought up its arm to stop the beam with little success. The beam punched straight through the gaps in the arm and continued crashing against the eye, all the while the beast frantically stepped backward and shook its head, eventually being completely pushed over by Bulbasaur's attack.
The bamboo beast swiped at the Pokemon surrounding it, knocking them away in one fell swoop. Though they weren't heavily damaged by the attack, it gave the beast some breathing room to call to its comrade. The fortress beast eyed its partner questioningly, until it saw a grin upon its face. Knowing what it meant, the fortress beast exploded outward just in time to avoid a Bite from Gible, causing the small dragon to plummet back into the ground on its face.
The fortress beast's bricks flew toward the bamboo beast, surrounding it. As the bricks came near, intense plasma sparked between them and the other beast's body, signifying an intense magnetic effect. The bricks suddenly crashed into the bamboo beast, creating an extra layer of armor that melded onto its skin. The bamboo beast's arms were coated as well, save for their blasters. The brick containing the fortress beast's eye stuck to the bamboo beast's forehead, and the two beasts had now completely merged.
The Pokemon grit their teeth and glared at their new foe. They stood by, not daring to make a move for fear of what this new beast was capable of. Palpitoad, deciding to make the first move, attempted to blind the beast with Mud Slap for a second time, but its attack was slapped away in the blink of an eye, and Palpitoad was blasted by an intense jet of flame that sent it flying.
Quilava let loose a Flamethrower attack. The beast stood still, allowing the attack to hit it head on. Just as the beast thought, it didn't do a thing. It smirked from within the flames, and dispelled them with the wave of its arm. Pointing its blaster at Quilava, it unleashed a bright orange beam at Quilava, who's eyes widened in terror like a deer in headlights.
Snivy, being the fastest out of anyone in the group, used Vine Whip to pick Quilava up and bring it to safety, just in time to avoid the beast's blast. However, this now brought the beast's attention toward Snivy, and it fired up its blaster in her direction. Before it could unleash its next attack, Pignite barreled into it with Flare Blitz and quickly backed away, confidant that it had damaged the beast.
Its confidence was misplaced. The smoke from Pignite's attack cleared, revealing the merged beast to be completely unharmed. It grinned, seeing Pignite's dumbfounded expression, and swatted the pig Pokemon away with its arm. Gible craned its head to the sky and launched a Draco Meteor in the form of a small orange ball that flew into the sky before exploding and raining down toward the beast.
However, the merged beast pointed one of its blasters at the incoming attacks and incinerated all of them in a single swoop. It turned toward Gible to blast the small dragon as well, but couldn't find it anywhere. Shrugging, it raised its blaster toward the other Pokemon and grinned maliciously. That was, until it realized where Gible was.
The small dragon Pokemon had once again bitten into the beast, now clamping down on the edge of its blaster, right before the curved end of its arm. The merged beast simply pointed its other blaster at Gible, and found that Totodile had taken hold of that one as well. It violently attempted to shake the two of them off, having as much luck as the fortress beast did alone.
Oshawott took advantage of the beast's distraction and jumped to slice at the merged beast's thin neck with Razor Shell, but ended up being unintentionally slapped away by the beast's random flailing. Luckily for the otter Pokemon, it was caught by Snivy's Vine Whip and sent gently to the ground. Oshawott let out a relieved sigh and thanked Snivy, who simply nodded and turned to face the beast.
The merged beast slammed its arms together and unleashed its blasters, finally managing to rid itself of the two biting Pokemon. It then turned back to the other Pokemon, immediately receiving a combined Flamethrower from Torkoal and Quilava. This still only served as an annoyance to the merged beast, who unleashed another blast of flame in response.
All of the Pokemon except Torkoal were able to evade, resulting in the same scenario from the beginning of the battle. Only this time, it played out differently. The intensity of the beast's flames pushed Torkoal back, and despite the tortoise Pokemon digging its feet into the dirt, it was unable to get a good grip and was blasted away with a violent explosion.
Quilava snarled at the merged beast and leapt at it with a Flame Wheel in spite of Snivy's warning not to do so, resulting in the Fire-Type being easily swatted away and blasted into the ground. Totodile's cheerful expression disappeared as it saw what the beast did to its close friend. Glaring darkly at the merged beast, it unleashed a powerful Hydro Pump.
The beast tilted its body forward and used its blasters to propel itself to Totodile in the blink of an eye. The small crocodile Pokemon didn't even have the time for its eyes to widen before it was knocked high into the air and burned black by the beast's cannon. Totodile landed in a heap at the front of the group, serving as a warning from the beast. Or rather, an omen.
Pointing its blasters skyward, the merged beast hurtled down upon the group, cut off its fire, then slammed its arms into the ground. The Pokemon were launched skyward, giving the beast the perfect opportunity for target practice. One by one, it blasted the Pokemon out of the sky. The first was Oshawott, with Gible following close behind. Snivy used Leaf Tornado in an attempt to deter the merged beast, but the attack was easily incinerated, and Snivy, too, was shot down.
Buizel, deciding this couldn't go on any longer, lunged down at the beast with Aqua Jet. The merged monster pointed its arm at the incoming Pokemon with a cruel grin and fired, but to its surprise, Buizel spun out of the way, causing a multitude of water jets to whip out in every direction The beast was struck numerous times, but remained unaffected. It blasted at Buizel, who pulled out another surprise.
The water jets suddenly froze solid, knocking the blasters off course and sending the rays flying into the sky where other Ultra Beasts ended up getting caught up in the resulting explosion. Paying no heed to that, the beast rushed up to Buizel with its arm hovering menacingly over its head, to which Buizel froze itself solid, using an ice-covered Aqua Jet to ram straight into its eye.
The merged beast screeched in pain, recoiling backward. Corphish summoned water around its two claws and used Crabhammer down upon the beast's face. Baring its teeth in annoyance, the beast slammed Corphish to the side and sent a ball of flame flying after it that let loose a resounding explosion. Buizel rocketed down with another Ice Aqua Jet, only to meet the front of both of the beast's blasters.
In a flash of light, Buizel's charred body was sent flying away, leaving Scraggy alone to face this monster. The small Pokemon, still defiant even against these odds, pulled up its sagging skin and glared at the beast. It summoned a Focus Blast within its hands, letting its skin fall back down, and threw it toward the beast.
The small ball of energy soared across the ground before rushing into the merged beast's armored chest and detonating violently. Scraggy dragged its foot across the ground, imitating a bull, and rushed at the beast with the intent to finish the job with a headbutt. The beast swept away the smoke cloud with its arm and pointed it at Scraggy with a cruel grin. It was time for it to finish off the last of these pests.
Scraggy leapt off the ground, its thick head aimed at the beast's face, and only realized its mistake too late as it saw the beast's arm light up. Scraggy was blasted backward, being sent flying as a massive laser tore across the battlefield with Scraggy trapped at its helm. Then, the small Pokemon disappeared in a calamitous flash of light, while its vision went black.
"...Tini?"
Scraggy felt something small gently touch its forehead. Groggily, it opened its eyes, finding that it had been laying in a large crater. Then it remembered the blast it had just taken. It quickly sat up, seeing something translucent in its peripheral vision. Though, the moment Scraggy looked at it, it disappeared from view. But Scraggy knew it had seen something.
It felt another tap from behind and jumped up in surprise. It turned around, and saw a familiar face. Victini, the Legendary Pokemon of Victory, was right behind Scraggy with a bright smile. It tapped Scraggy's head playfully, then disappeared into thin air. Scraggy stared at where it had been with wide eyes, then suddenly, bright red, fiery energy swirled around Scraggy, making it cry out in surprise.
The energy didn't hurt, no, in fact, it was the absolute opposite. Scraggy felt invigorated to the brim. Power welled up within every last fiber of Scraggy's being, and it only increased with every passing second. It stomped its foot into the ground, causing a massive web-like crack, and roared to the heavens.
The merged beast hovered over Buizel's body, grinning. Buizel attempted to glare up at the beast, but with its burns, moving in the slightest was unbearably painful. The beast chuckled and pointed its blaster down at the fallen Pokemon. Buizel winced, closing its eyes and preparing for the worst. The beast was about to fire when it was suddenly tackled from behind with immense force.
It was sent sprawling across the ground, eventually coming to a stop on its face. It slammed its blasters onto the ground furiously and pushed itself back off. It was about to blast Scraggy when it felt a sudden sting. It looked down and, to its horror, a large portion of its front armor had been completely destroyed, and its chest was dented inward.
Its mouth agape in shock, it looked up at Scraggy and was slammed from the side by Gible's Rock Smash, snapping one of its arms in two. The broken arm fell to the ground and its glow stopped. The beast shrieked at it in horror.
Kingler winced in pain. It attempted to stand up, but its injuries made it collapse right back onto its face. It slammed its large claw into the ground in frustration. Then, suddenly, it no longer felt any pain. A rainbow glow wormed its way across the ground, looking almost like a snake, and surrounded Kingler in a brilliant white light. When it faded, its injuries were completely gone.
"Perhaps I could be of assistance?"
Kingler turned around at the sudden voice, and its eyes went wide. The Legendary Pokemon of Life, Xerneas, stepped forward. She smiled down upon Kingler kindly, and tapped her foot on the ground. Immediately, hundreds more of the rainbow lights appeared from where she stepped and stretched out across the entire battlefield. Injured trainers and Pokemon who were cornered and surrounded by Ultra Beasts suddenly found that their injuries had disappeared, and they quickly jumped back into battle.
One by one, the invisible Victini tapped Ash's Pokemon, and they, too, were given the immense strength Scraggy received. What's more, Xerneas's power undid any injury they'd sustained. The beast immediately fired its remaining blaster at the nearest Pokemon, which happened to be Totodile. The small crocodile Pokemon retaliated with a gargantuan Hydro Pump that easily overpowered the attack and reduced the beast's remaining arm to bent, useless scrap metal.
The beast shrieked in fear at its lost arm. The Pokemon grinned maliciously at the beast and surrounded it, eager to claim vengeance. Looking around at the surrounding Pokemon, the beast decided this battle was no longer favorable and rocketed up into the air. Kingler leapt up into the air while Buizel propelled it up with Water Gun. Soaring high above the escaping beast, Kingler slammed it back down to the ground with Crabhammer, and the Pokemon unleashed all their attacks at once to reduce it to dust as it fell. The beast let out one last scream before it disappeared for good.
As the Pokemon cheered for their victory, Xerneas watched on with a smile. Victini reappeared beside the life Pokemon with a bright smile as well before disappearing to help others. Xerneas then turned her gaze up to Necrozma, and her smile disappeared. "Now, what to do about him?"
A mosquito beast flew above a small group of six Pokemon with a raven-haired boy at their center. It lunged down, aiming a punch to the back of his head. To its surprise, the boy whirled around and caught the punch. The beast hurriedly pulled his arm back, but Ash held onto his fist tightly, and wouldn't let go.
With a chuckle, Ash said, "So, I can even stop attacks like that now. The power of Aura is incredible." He then turned toward his Pokemon and asked, "Hey, Goodra?" The gooey dragon perked its head up. With his free hand, Ash pointed at the beast he'd trapped. "Mind taking this for me?"
Nodding eagerly, Goodra bounded toward the mosquito beast and sent it flying away with a Dragon Pulse to its large chest. The beast managed to escape the attack by grabbing it with its hands and pushing itself downward, allowing it to sail past into the sky. It looked back down at Goodra furiously, to which the dragon stomped its feet and roared up at it.
Ash gave Goodra a thumbs up, then turned back to the rest of his team. "Now it's our turn! Let's show Necrozma's forces a thing or two!"
His Pokemon cheered in unison. "Alright then, let's go!"
Another Mosquito rocketed toward the group. Upon noticing it, Ash's eyes shimmered blue. He summoned an Aura Sphere in each hand and leapt above the beast, planting one its back and the other into the face of an insect beast that had been flying right behind the mosquito. Their eyes widened, but they couldn't move in time to avoid Ash's attack, and they were consumed as the two Aura Spheres grew incredibly large and exploded.
Ash's team gasped with widened eyes, fearful that their trainer had been caught in the explosion as well, but their fears were put at ease when Ash erupted from the smoke with a large grin planted on his face. He had some minor burns, but no apparent injuries. "So, this is what it's like to really battle?" He laughed. "I might have to do this more often once this is all over!"
He suddenly whirled around, sensing another beast approaching with fierce killing intent. A roach beast rocketed toward him with its leg outstretched. Sceptile leapt past Ash, stopping the beast's attack with Leaf Blade and causing them to skid backwards. The beast hissed at Sceptile and, deeming it as its new prey, lunged at him.
Its attack was once again stopped when Infernape delivered a lightning-fast Mach Punch straight to the beast's face, making it fall flat onto its face. It smashed its fist into the ground angrily, and with its other hand, caressed the wound Infernape had given it. It whirled around at Infernape, screeching at it in anger. It didn't notice that Sceptile had already gotten behind it until it was too late, and the beast was struck with another Leaf Blade that knocked it right into Infernape's line of fire. In other words, another Mach Punch.
One after another, Infernape and Sceptile took turns attacking the beast and pushing it into each other's attacks. The beast, having long-since lost any and all patience, managed to avoid Sceptile's next Leaf Blade, took to the skies and let out a loud roar in its fury. However, this ended up leaving the beast wide open.
Infernape and Sceptile leapt up into the air after it, delivering a Mach Punch to its face and a Leaf Blade to its legs, making its spin in the air helplessly. The two Pokemon looked at one another with a matching grin and nodded, and so Sceptile rushed to the ground and unleashed a Solarbeam up at the beast while Infernape blasted a Flamethrower from its mouth. The two attacks collided, catching the beast in between.
Infernape, upon landing on the ground next to Sceptile, whooped and cheered for their victory, whereas Sceptile kicked up a large rock to lean up against and smirked, twisting around the stick it carried in its mouth. The two looked back to Ash and the others, eager for his praise of their achievement, but saw only the faces of other Ultra Beasts. Apparently, they'd been separated.
Ash noticed a white ball with odd dots flying toward him, so he prepared a barrier to stop it with a barrier. However, a Razor Leaf flew past him into the ball, slicing it and half and causing it to explode. Ash was consumed in the explosion and sent flying, but he managed to right himself in the air and fall safely back onto his feet.
He looked himself over for injuries, and to his relief, found none. "Phew. That's a relief. If it weren't for that Razor Leaf, that could have gotten ugly." He placed a hand to his chin in thought. "But where did that come from? Sceptile doesn't know that move, so…"
His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a familiar, joyous cry from behind him. "Bay, Bay!" He turned around and was promptly knocked onto his back by the ever-affectionate Bayleef, who rubbed her head against his as she happily chirped her name repeatedly.
Ash laughed at the act, eagerly hugging the Grass-Type Pokemon. "Hey, Bayleef! It's been a while!" He managed to get back onto his feet, though Bayleef still rubbed up against him. A jester beast stepped forward, interrupting the moment and forcing them to focus on it instead.
Ash noticed that the beast had a ball on its head that looked exactly like the one that exploded and narrowed his eyes. "So, you're the one responsible for that explosion, huh?" The beast responded by taking off its head, causing another to immediately grow in its place, and throwing it at the two of them.
Ash looked down at Bayleef and asked, "You up for a battle?" Bayleef nodded eagerly, giving him a determined stare. Ash smiled at her and pointed at the incoming ball. "Alright, then, use Vine Whip!"
Two vines emerged from underneath Bayleef's neck and smacked the ball right back at the beast. However, the jester kicked it right back. Quickly, Ash ordered, "Vine Whip once more!" Bayleef nodded, using the vines to send the ball flying back again. The beast lurched up and headbutted the ball at the two of them again.
"Don't let up! Vine Whip!" For a third time, Bayleef used her vines to smack the ball back at the beast, and for a third time, the beast sent it back. This dangerous game of tennis went on for some time, much to Ash's chagrin. There wasn't much in Bayleef's move arsenal he could use to change the situation, as any contact moves could make the ball explode, and Razor Leaf would do the same if what happened earlier was any indication.
Ash growled in frustration and exclaimed, "This is getting nowhere!" He looked down at the ground, pondering over his next course of action when his eyes lit up as he got an idea. "Bayleef, knock it back and use Sweet Scent!" Bayleef nodded, once again slapping the ball back at the jester, only this time, she let loose a bright pink haze alongside it. Ash created an auric barrier to protect against Sweet Scent's effect, but the jester had no such defense.
The beast leapt up into the air to swat the ball back at Bayleef, almost imitating a volleyball player in its stance, but stopped as the pink haze made contact. Its stance relaxed, and it fell back to the ground, slumping down. It appeared to not even notice as the ball bounced off of its head and fell at its feet.
"We got it!" Cheered Ash. "Now, use Razor Leaf on its head!"
Stamping her feet into the ground, Bayleef flicked the leaf on her head, causing razor-sharp, curved leaves to materialize from it and shoot out toward the jester. The beast lulled its head back and forth, still under Sweet Scent's relaxing effects. It couldn't bring itself to even care as Razor Leaf approached and sliced its head in two. The ball's remains glowed white, and promptly exploded.
Ash pumped his fist victoriously. "Yes, we did it!" Bayleef happily leapt on her trainer, smothering him with affection once more as he laughed all the while. He stopped when he noticed another presence, whereas Bayleef kept going with her show of affection. It took her a few moments to realize Ash had stopped, and she gave him a questioning look.
Slowly, Ash got back onto his feet, looking up into the sky in front of him. Bayleef looked back and forth between Ash and what he was staring at, but couldn't see anything for the life of her. Ash held up his hand in front of her. "Be ready," He said, "I can sense something approaching."
From seemingly thin air, a jellyfish beast manifested before them. It sang its odd tune, dancing about in the air. Something about it was entrancing to Bayleef, but Ash immediately snapped her back to reality with a small shock from his Aura. "Don't fall for it," He warned, "I can sense that this thing definitely means harm.
Ash looked about, thinking, 'Where did Pikachu run off to?'
True to Ash's word, the jellyfish created its kaleidoscope substance and hurled it at Ash. Or at least, it meant to. A loud, far-off screech rang out through the battlefield, and the jellyfish was suddenly knocked to the ground from the side by what appeared to be another Ultra Beast.
"What the heck?!" Cried Ash.
The jellyfish beast pushed the other beast off of itself, making a high-pitched sound Ash sensed was made in annoyance. However, the other beast didn't move, and the jellyfish visibly recoiled upon seeing its condition. It was a large insectoid beast, though there was an emphasis on was.
Its body was absolutely torn to shreds. Large gashes were spread on every inch of its body, and it only had one wing. The leftover wing it had was hanging on by a thread.. Its large stinger had been completely torn off by what appeared to be a bite. The spikes it normally had on its shoulders were chipped off, and its neck was bent at an impossible angle. What's more, one of its eyes now sported a large hole in it.
The screech from before rang out again, much louder than the last time. So much so that Ash and Bayleef were forced to cover their ears, wincing in pain. The jellyfish beast looked up at its side and was immediately tackled back to the ground by Ash's Noivern. A panicked humming escaped from the beast, and it attempted to manifest its signature kaleidoscope substance, but Noivern dug its fangs into the beast's head and tore it clean off. With its victory, it let out a savage, high-pitched roar to the skies.
Ash sensed tremendous rage from Noivern, and it wasn't hard to guess why. "Noivern!" He called out, running toward them. Bayleef's eyes widened, and she debated with herself whether or not to follow him. The large bat-like Pokemon ceased its roar, craning its head Ash's way. Ash could see the fury in Noivern's eyes. Its pupils had become thin slits, and they'd become red from being bloodshot for too long.
Upon making his way over to Noivern, Ash asked, "Are you all right?" Noivern quickly nodded, looking up to the skies and spotting another Ultra Beast. It was about to take off when Ash stopped him. "I'm glad you're not hurt, but that's not what I meant." He put a hand to Noivern's head, summoning his Aura around the two of them faintly.
"...I know that you're hurting," Ash said. "I am too." He allowed his Aura to spread over Noivern's body in an attempt to calm him. "But...losing yourself to rage like this…" Ash shook his head and stared straight into Noivern's eyes, an act that caught the dragon off guard. "It's dangerous. If you lose yourself to anger like that...you might never come back. Hawlucha wouldn't-"
At the mention of his best friend's name, Noivern jerked his head away from Ash's touch and screeched with rage. Ash swallowed a pained yell, attempting to touch Noivern once more. "Noivern, please!" The dragon had no intention of listening. It hissed at Ash, causing the boy to retract his hand. Noivern had never hissed at him before. With that, Noivern turned around and soared back into the air to find another Ultra Beast.
Ash looked up at him sorrowfully. Before he knew it, he disappeared. "Noivern…"
Much to Ash's chagrin, he was forced to push away his thoughts of Noivern for the moment as a paper beast that had been attracted by the dragon Pokemon's screeching slashed at him with the intent to kill. He barely managed to create a barrier to deflect the blow in time, but that barrier was shattered in a single hit.
Luckily for him, Greninja, still in his bond form, appeared with a kunai in its hand, courtesy of Cut, and crouched down to defend Ash. Pikachu hopped off of the ninja Pokemon's shoulder, sparking its cheeks menacingly. "Oh," Said Ash, "So that's where you were, Pikachu."
With Greninja's Battle Bond and their shared Aura, Greninja could sense Ash's feelings toward Noivern, and surmised what had happened between the two. He looked back at him with worry. Pikachu noticed it as well, needing no such connection. His bond with Ash was so deep-rooted that he immediately knew something was wrong.
Ash chuckled, though Greninja and Pikachu knew it was empty. "Yeah, I'm fine," He lied. Stepping past the two of them, he flared his Aura with such ferocity that it caused some nearby rocks to be flung backward. He glared at the paper beast and said, "In any case, I'm glad you're both here. Now, let's do this."
His Aura encased Pikachu and Greninja, causing his power to increase their own. The two of them decided to drop the subject of Noivern for now, and turned back to face the paper beast.
Talonflame barreled through another mosquito beast with Flame Charge, causing it to slump to the ground at last. That made about the tenth Ultra Beast it had slain. In place of the mosquito, a few giggling imp beasts appeared above it, taunting Talonflame. The bird Pokemon heaved out an exhausted breath, as its stamina was quickly being drained in this battle.
One of the imps shot a poison glob from its stinger, forcing Talonflame to evade. The imps all shot more of the poison one after another towards Talonflame, who desperately swerved about to avoid making contact with it at all costs. Growing fed up with their onslaught, Talonflame used Steel Wing, causing its wings to be coated in metal, and shot down at the imps.
Due to the Steel Typing's innate immunity to Poison-Type attacks, Talonflame used its wings as a shield and successfully stopped the poison from having any effect as the bird soared down at them. Talonflame crashed down on top of them, but they managed to avoid the attack by a hair. Annoyed, the Pokemon swatted the poison off of its wings and shot a Flamethrower up after the imps and managed to catch one of them.
The imp let out a wail as it was burned alive, only becoming silent once Talonflame ceased the attack and let the charred beast fall to the ground. The other imps looked down at their fallen comrade with wide eyes, then narrowed them at Talonflame in anger. They let out infuriated screeches and barrelled down toward Talonflame with their stingers pointed at them.
The fiery bird Pokemon shot Flamethrower after Flamethrower at them as they descended toward her, but one managed to evade and clipped Talonflame's wing with its needle, causing the Pokemon to wince in pain. Pushing past it, Talonflame looked at the last imp and burnt it with Flamethrower like the others. But there was no rest for the wicked, it seemed.
Mere seconds after the last imp was disposed of, a jellyfish beast floated down behind Talonflame. It hummed its signature tune, but Talonflame was in no mood to listen to it. Coating itself in flames, it impacted the jellyfish with a powerful Flare Blitz with such force that it itself was blown out of the resulting explosion and impacted the ground with a thud.
Talonflame hissed in pain from the recoil damage, but managed to push itself back off the ground in spite of that. It looked up at the smoke cloud, awaiting what remained of the jellyfish when a roach beast burst from it and sent Talonflame skidding across the ground with a kick to its beak. The bird Pokemon let out a cry of pain each time it impacted the ground, but eventually saved itself by pushing itself away from the ground with Flamethrower.
It looked up to scowl at the beast, only for it to appear in the blink of an eye, grab Talonflame's wings, and ram its knee straight into the bird's ribs. As Talonflame wailed in pain, it heard the sickening crunch of bone from its wings and ribs. It quickly launched another Flamethrower at the beast's face, causing it to drop Talonflame to evade and, almost immediately, appear directly above the bird and kick it into the ground.
The beast immediately descended from the air and landed next to it, looking down upon Talonflame with disdain. It scoffed at the bird, kicking it onto its back. Talonflame lay there, unmoving. It grabbed the Pokemon by its throat and held it into the air, giving it a look of disgust. It pulled its fist back, aiming a punch to finish the weakened Pokemon off.
Dozens of other Ultra Beasts crashed down from the skies, surrounding the roach beast and Talonflame. They watched, almost hungrily, for the bird Pokemon's end, jeering at it mockingly. The beast holding Talonflame in its hand chuckled at them, then turned its savage gaze back upon it. It let out a screech and brought its fist forward, and then Talonflame's body twitched.
Just before the beast's fist made contact, Talonflame's body alit with the flames from Flare Blitz. The fire exploded outward, knocking the other beasts back and completely incinerating the roach. Talonflame fell to the ground in a heap, desperately panting for air. It tried to push itself onto its talons, but a sudden sting from its wing caused it to hiss in pain and fall back over.
Talonflame looked at the wing and, to its horror, found that the scratch one of the imp beasts had given it had now become purple, and appeared to be slowly spreading. Forcing itself back onto its feet, Talonflame attempted to fly away, but one of the surrounding Ultra Beasts knocked back to the ground. The fiery bird unleashed a Flamethrower at its attacker, only for the back of its head to be grabbed by another beast and had its face slammed into the ground.
Letting out a shrill screech, Talonflame forced the beast to let go with another Flare Blitz and quickly made an attempt to get back into the sky. All it had todo was get back to Ash and the others. Then everything would be okay. That's all it had to do.
A bamboo beast had different ideas. Descending down from above Talonflame, it pointed its blasters at it. Talonflame's life flashed before its eyes, and then it was sent crashing right back to the ground by a fiery blast. It let out a choked cry upon impact, yet still, it immediately tried to get back up, and flipped itself onto its front. The first thing it noticed upon re-opening its eyes was that the purple spit on its wing had already grown slightly larger. It didn't want to think about what would happen if it grew too large.
It was suddenly slammed from the side by the bricks of a fortress beast, sending it directly into the path of a Mosquito beast's brutal punch. Talonflame didn't even have the time to scream before the mosquito threw it high into the air towards a jester beast, which threw one of its heads directly in the bird's path. The second Talonflame made contact with the ball, it was caught in a massive explosion.
Talonflame's limp body soon fell from the resulting smoke cloud, and so another roach beast appeared and delivered a swift flurry of kicks all across her body, then unleashed a single sweeping one that sent her flying back down toward the ground. An insect beast flew into Talonflame's flight path with its stinger outstretched. It had enough sense still left to use Flamethrower to push itself away from the insect, but it was too slow, and its other wing had been sliced by the stinger.
It crashed back into ground on its back, slowly coming to a stop where it lay limp. A paper beast flew over Talonflame's head with its arm raised. The Pokemon no longer had the strength to move. It closed its eyes, taking solace in the fact it had lasted so long against these odds. Its thoughts wandered to Ash and the others, remembering the first time they'd met back when Talonflame was nothing more than a mischievous little Fletchling. As the paper beast brought down its arm, Talonflame smiled, and its vision went white.
...Then, it heard a familiar voice.
"ASH STILL NEEDS YOU, AS DOES THIS WORLD. I WILL NOT ALLOW NECROZMA TO HAVE HIS WAY!"
The paper beast's blade inched closer to Talonflames neck when suddenly she began glowing blue. Instantaneously, the paper beast was reduced to ashes by a colossal explosion of flame. Red hot, plasmatic fire erupted from Talonflame in a massive pillar that stretched all the way up to the mothership's barrier and crashed against it ferociously, sending waves of lightning sparked up by its sheer heat across nearly the entirety of the visible sky.
Any and all Ultra Beasts that had been near Talonflame were immediately atomized by the flames, as well as the ground itself, leaving a massive, black crater that continuously stretched out and grew by the second. The impossibly loud bellow of the Pokemon's screech rang throughout the entire battlefield, making everyone, man and beast alike, shift their attention toward it.
Ash deflected the attack of the paper beast right before the pillar of flame appeared, and he immediately turned to it. His mouth went agape, and he immediately realized who it was. A smile crept up the boy's face, and he simply said, "...Talonflame…" He turned back toward his Pokemon and saw that Pikachu had finished the beast off with a Thunderbolt. "C'mon," He urged, motioning for them to follow him, "We gotta get to Talonflame!"
The trainers stopped everything they were doing to look up at the pillar in awe.
"Woah," One of them uttered, "What the heck is that?!"
"It's incredible!" Remarked another, their eyes shimmering. "It must be a Legendary Pokemon!"
They heard a chuckle from behind them, and upon turning around, they found none other than Riley, accompanied by his partner Lucario. "Not quite," He said, "This is something entirely different."
One of the trainers, who appeared to be a young, brown-haired boy, gasped and pointed at the Aura Guardian. "Y-you're Riley!" He exclaimed. "I heard you're friends with the chosen one!"
Riley tipped his hat forward to cover his face as he laughed. "Yeah, that's right," He said, pointing back up to the pillar, "And speaking of him, that huge pillar is actually the work of one of his Pokemon."
At once, the eyes of the trainers widened to the point Riley was worried that they might fall out. "No way!" One of them cried. "Are you serious?!"
"That's amazing!" One of them gushed. "His Pokemon are that powerful?!"
Another trainer whistled, looking back up to the flame pillar. "I guess he's the chosen one for a reason."
"Yeah, I suppose so," Replied Riley, "But even a guy like that needs help from time to time." He chuckled to himself inwardly. 'More often than not.' The Aura Guardian then pointed behind him with his thumb, and upon looking past him, the trainers saw the rest of Ash's friends. "And so, it falls to us to keep him from doing anything dumb."
The pillar of flame slowly dissipated, allowing the nearest beasts to see what had caused it. At the base of a colossal black crater, Talonflame flew in place. Each flap of its wings caused debris to explode outward from beneath it. Surrounded in a red-hot haze that caused distortions of sight, Talonflame opened its eyes and glared up at the remaining beasts. Its pupils had become blue, and seemed to radiate an entirely different kind of fire.
Talonflame stretched its wings outward and roared, causing thousands of spiraling jets of flame to explode outward in all directions. The beasts realized the danger too late, and the closest ones to Talonflame were immediately incinerated. The ones that were lucky enough to be out of the way fled, but were unable to escape from the bird's wrath.
Most of the fire crashed into the underside of the ship, threatening to break through the barrier. The flames that didn't hit the ship curved around and flew out at the other Ultra Beasts as if it were being directed. The beasts screeched in fear and attempted to fly away, but Talonflame would have none of it. One by one, its flames chased after the beasts and reduced them to dust upon contact. They spiraled and curved about across the sky, creating a beautiful, almost web-like light show for those who weren't its victims.
It soared up from the crater out into the open skies and roared, deafening the nearest of the Ultra Beasts. With the single flap of its wings, Talonflame created a colossal vortex of wind. The ground beneath it for hundreds of feet was uprooted and sucked within. The beasts found themselves being dragged toward it and quickly made an attempt to flee with no luck.
Talonflame narrowed its eyes at the tornado's base and spat a small, white ball of flame down at it. Upon contact, crimson red fire stretched up and surrounded the entirety of the vortex. The beasts that were trapped around the spinning winds were suddenly set ablaze and vaporized before they knew it, and the ones unfortunate to know what was happening before they were sucked in screamed in terror as they, too, were dragged in.
Necrozma leapt over a Spacial Rend from Palkia and caught an Energy Ball from another Legend before promptly crushing the attack in his hand. Lugia rushed up to Necrozma with a Hyper Beam in his mouth, but was sent flying back into the ground by a laser from the dark demon's hand. From behind, Shaymin in its Sky Form rushed at Necrozma with a Leaf Blade in hand, preaching something about its strength. Necrozma, ignoring its speech, nonchalantly flicked the small Legend into the ground and received a call from Xurkitree directly after.
Letting out an annoyed groan, Necrozma summoned a barrier around himself to ward off the numerous attacks from the other Legends and tapped his crystal to answer the call. "What is it, Xurkitree?" He demanded impatiently. "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."
The holographic image of Necrozma's right hand man appeared above the crystal and bowed. "I am terribly sorry for interrupting you, milord, but I thought it should be brought to your attention that something is striking the ship's barrier, and is dangerously close to breaking through."
"Impossible!" Roared Necrozma. "The only one who could perform such a feat is Arceus, but I do not sense him!"
Patiently, Xurkitree replied, "I wouldn't be wasting your time if it wasn't true. There seems to be a remarkable heat signature somewhere below the ship. It should be within sight of you." With that, the wirey Ultra Beast bowed and shut off communications."
Necrozma pondered this, humming to himself in thought while the Legends mercilessly pounded away at his barrier. The dark demon looked around, and eventually spotted a vertical red line far in the distance. "What is…?" Just as Xurkitree had said, whatever was attacking the ship was sending sparks of electricity running across the vast majority of the shield, indicating that it was penetrating it, or at least coming close to.
A devious idea struck the universal warmonger. "That is quite interesting, indeed. To think Arceus was hiding away a secret weapon like this." His eyes narrowed, and a dark chuckle rang out from him. "Let's see what this is about, then."
Necrozma lowered the barrier, allowing Lugia to fire a Hyper Beam straight at him. However, he warped away right before the attack could hit him and ended up accidentally striking Rayquaza. Rayquaza was about to comment on it, but Lugia had already flown off in search of the demon.
Talonflame confronted a small imp beast and was about to scour it from the Earth like the others, but a dark figure appeared behind it and grabbed hold of it. The imp screamed in fear, but its screams were cut off in its throat as it looked up and saw who it was. It was none other than Necrozma himself. Necrozma's crystal flashed white brightly, and the small beast began to glow.
It let out a terrified scream as its body withered away before its very eyes, falling apart into a bright red dust and then subsequently disappearing into nothingness. After it had completely faded away Necrozma turned its gaze up to Talonflame next. His eyes sent chills down Talonflame's spine, even with the new power it had achieved.
"That's quite some power you've got," Commended the demon as he looked between Talonflame and the sparking barrier above. "To think you could damage the mothership's shield. I had believed the only being on this planet who could perform a feat such as that to be Arceus. So for that, you have my respect."
He chuckled and outstretched his arms, welcoming Talonflame to attack. "I wonder if you could do the same to me? I'll give you a free shot so we can find out."
Talonflame's body suddenly convulsed, and to its surprise, it shot another colossal blast of flame at Necrozma on its own. It didn't act or think to do so. It simply happened on its own. However, Talonflame wasn't arguing. It surmised that this was another power gifted to it by… and unleashed all of its power at the warmonger point blank.
The sheer heat from Talonflame's attack caused ripples throughout the air, seemingly distorting reality itself. A storm of plasma created from the flames exploded outward, raging against the ground, sky and anything in between. Many Ultra Beasts attempted to get as far from the battle as possible, knowing how their master was, but ended up getting caught by the endless stream of electricity and were atomized upon being struck.
To Talonflame's shock and horror, it heard laughter. The laughter of Necrozma. The evil emperor held out his hand, splitting the flames into two separate paths that weaved around him. "Your power is tremendous, but…" Talonflame's eyes widened as Necrozma appeared, pushing his now-glowing hand directly into the bird's face. "Ultimately disappointing."
Talonflame's fire was cut off as a massive white explosion ripped through the air. The bird Pokemon's body fell from the smoke, having lost its glow. Ash's eyes widened as he saw his Pokemon fall and rushed toward it. However, a mass of Ultra Beasts swarmed around him to impede his path.
Without missing a beat, Ash summoned two massive Aura Spheres in his hand. "Get out of my WAY!" He plunged them both into the beasts in front of him, creating an explosion that likely eradicated them and sent Ash himself backwards. Digging his heels into the ground, Ash managed to stay on his feet and looked up at the smoke anxiously. More Ultra Beasts had already filled the gap the explosion left.
Cursing to himself, Ash summoned another, larger Aura Sphere above his head and prepared to throw it when a Pin Missile suddenly came in from behind, weaving around Ash and blowing up in the Ultra Beasts' faces.
"You should save your strength, Chosen One."
Ash turned around and gasped as he saw a familiar face, though it was one he certainly didn't expect to see. "Paul?! What are you doing here?!"
The purple-haired trainer walked past Ash, with his ever-powerful team in tow. It consisted of Torterra, showing that Paul had made amends with his starter Pokemon, Drapion, Ursarang, Aggron, Ninjask and of course his trusty Electivire.
"Clearing you a path, moron," He spat harshly, pointing at the Ultra Beasts in Ash's way. "Now everyone, use Hyper Beam!"
Upon Paul's command, his Pokemon opened their mouths and each unleashed a Hyper Beam that combined into a singular massive one. The beam barreled straight through the beasts in its path, creating an opening for the time being.
"Go!" Paul roared at Ash. "That path won't last for long!"
Ash tentatively looked at the opening, then did the same for the surrounding Ultra Beasts. There were far too many to count, and both of them were already surrounded. Though Paul was easily one of the strongest trainers he'd ever fought, these odds were less than favorable, even for him.
"You sure about this?"
Paul countered that with a question of his own. "I saw what happened to that Talonflame of yours. If it's still alive, how long do you think it'll last without you?" The purple-haired trainer sighed and shook his head. "Besides, Chosen One, there are plenty of other trainers that'll need your help. Now don't make me waste more of my Pokemon's energy and go!"
Ash paused for a moment, then smiled at Paul, said, "Thank you," simply, and left. Paul lulled his head and groaned, then went in between his Pokemon, which formed a defensive line around him.
"Everyone, stand by for battle!"
Ash sprinted toward the fallen body of Talonflame, kneeling to the ground and scooping up his friend in his arms. "Talonflame!" He cried. When the bird Pokemon didn't respond, Ash infused his own Aura into it in a desperate attempt to keep him alive. "I already lost Hawlucha! I'm not going to lose you too!"
The cyan blue flames of Ash's Aura swirled around Talonflame, seeping into the bird's body. To Ash's elation, it began moving. Its eyes twitched, then opened up to stare at Ash, earning a weak smile from Talonflame at seeing its beloved trainer. Ash let out a relieved sigh, putting his head down upon Talonflame's lightly. "Thank Arceus, I-"
Ash cut himself off with a gasp as he felt Talonflame's Auric signature suddenly began declining rapidly. He quickly went back to infusing his Pokemon with his Aura. To Ash's horror, his Aura was only slowing the decline. Baring his teeth, Ash flared the full might of his Aura, surrounding him and Talonflame in a large pillar of blue light.
Riley and the others spotted the pillar and pointed at it. "That must be where Ash is!" Gary exclaimed. "Come on, let's get there quickly!" The others nodded, quickly making their way toward them, save for Riley himself and Lucario, who stared at it with wide eyes.
"That feeling in his Aura...is that...grief…?"
Lucario pointed out, 'Whatever it is, it certainly isn't good. Come, let's not waste any time. He obviously needs our help.'
Riley nodded. "Yeah, let's go."
Ash's Pokemon, who had all met back up after Talonflame dispelled of most of the Ultra Beasts, also saw the pillar, and it didn't take long for Greninja to realize what was happening thanks to their bond. Seeing Greninja's expression of horror alerted Pikachu to the fact that something terrible was happening. The yellow mouse Pokemon turned back to the others and told them about it as well, and so they ran to Ash's aid.
Noivern tackled another beast to the ground, roaring into its face. It raised one of its wings, aiming to finish the beast off when it spotted Ash's pillar of Aura. It looked back down at the beast, and back up at the pillar, debating with itself over which one took priority. It scowled to itself and threw the beast aside, taking to the skies to go to Ash. Whatever this was about, it had better be good.
"This isn't happening!" Ash declared, shaking his head in denial. He spotted the marks in Talonflame's wings left by the poisonous beasts and cringed. Turning his hands toward them, he tried infusing Aura into those areas to rid Talonflame of the poison, but it had little effect.
Ash wiped a tear from his eye with his shoulder, continuing to push against the poison despite the futility of doing so. "I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN!" Roared Ash, pushing himself to use more of his power. His body began aching, clearly in distress over the discharging of so much of his Aura, but Ash didn't care so long as Talonflame survived. "I WON'T LOSE YOU!"
Talonflame smiled up at Ash kindly and, with the last of its strength, reached up to Ash with its wing to wipe away his tears. The proud Pokemon then collapsed, closing its eyes for good. Ash recoiled backwards as he felt Talonflame's Aura disappear completely. Balling his hands into fists, Ash grit his teeth.
He did nothing, only kneeling over Talonflame's body. What else could he do? There was nothing. Tears fell freely from his eyes, but he made no sound. His nails dug so far into his hands that droplets of blood fell from them. He did not speak, nor even breathe. All he could do was hang his head over his lost friend.
Ash's friends finally managed to fully push their way through the crowd, finding him kneeling. Though, they couldn't see why from their distance.
"Ash!" Called Serena as the group sprinted towards him.
Riley and Lucario emerged last and stopped dead in their tracks. They no longer sensed Talonflame's life force, and judging by Ash's posture… Well, it didn't take a genius to guess what had happened.
"You...you must be kidding," Whispered Riley. "Again?! Why?! Hasn't that boy suffered enough?!"
Pikachu and the rest of Ash's team emerged from the crowd as well, though from its' side. Upon seeing Ash, Pikachu's ears perked up and he, along with the others, began sprinting toward him, chirping, "Pika Pi-" The electric Pokemon stopped in his tracks suddenly, causing the rest to do so as well. They gave Pikachu an odd stare, until they saw what he was staring at. From their angle, they could see it perfectly. Ash's face was darkened, and he was on his knees. In front of him was the motionless body of Talonflame.
An annoyed Noivern flew overhead. Upon finding Ash, he hissed to himself and swooped down, eager to give its trainer a piece of its mind for interrupting its battle. That was, until he saw Talonflame, and it felt its heart skip a beat. The wyvern Pokemon's vision became fuzzy, forcing it to make a quick, shaky landing. It stared at the ground with wide eyes, breathing heavily but never seeming to get enough air. There was no way what it saw could be true...there was just no way!
Just as Ash's friends neared him, a crackling red barrier surrounded him and the fallen Pokemon, stopping them in their tracks.
"What the-?!" Cried a surprised Clemont. "What's this?!"
"I believe there's some kind of saying you lot have on this planet about killing two birds? It's quite unfortunate I didn't use any stones for either of them now that I think about it."
Ash's bloodshot eyes shot open at the sound of that voice and his gaze snapped upward to see none other than Necrozma descending down toward him. "I hope you don't mind the barrier," Said the demon, "I simply wouldn't want any of those pesky friends of yours getting in my way." He motioned at the barrier and, true to Necrozma's word, Ash saw his friends and Pokemon attacking the barrier with all they had. They appeared to be shouting, but Ash couldn't hear them at all.
Ash jumped to his feet and cried, "RUN! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"
This act elicited an amused laugh from Necrozma that made Ash's blood boil over. "They cannot hear you, just as you cannot hear them. It is futile."
Zero and Hydreigon descended from the sky and struck the top of the barrier with all of their might, sending a shockwave outward from its top. However, the blow did no apparent damage. The expression on Zero's face was not the one of mindless fury like she typically adorned in battle. It was one of complete and utter terror.
"I can't think of a better scenario come to think of it," Said the demon, laughing at the terrified faces of Ash's friends as they tried with all their might to push through the barrier. "Killing you in full view of all your friends while they helplessly watch." He leaned down to Ash, smirking right in the boy's face. "I wonder how many others are watching? I can imagine no better end to their precious 'chosen one.'"
Ash leapt up at him and blasted him, point blank, with every last inch of his Aura. His fury could no longer be suppressed. With another friend lying dead at his feet, and their killer's taunting words, Ash lost himself. His Aura had changed color from cyan to yellow in an instant, and in his blind rage, the only thing he could say was,
"I'LL KILL YOOOUUU!"
Necrozma dispelled the Auric blast and Ash took a swing at Necrozma's face. Unsurprisingly, the conqueror was able to catch it with ease. Necrozma then looked into Ash's eyes and said, "So much hatred, so little time." The dark demon held his hand in front of Ash, where a ball of red energy formed. "Allow me to reunite you with your dear lost friend."
Ash's eyes widened, and he was blasted away by Necrozma's power. Ash's friends and Pokemon gaped up at him in horror, their blood running cold before he was sent flying into a collapsed building. Necrozma then picked up the lifeless body of Talonflame and hurled it into the building as well, and with the single point of the emperor's finger, the building disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving only a crater and a cloud of smoke in its wake.
Greninja let out a wail of agony. The Pokemon's bonded form fell with a splash of water, reverting it back into its original form. Falling to its knees, Greninja continued wailing, spastically flailing and falling onto its back before becoming limp.
Everyone stood there in complete shock at what they had just witnessed. The one man destined to save the world had been completely vaporized in an instant. That was just the perspective of the ordinary trainers. To Ash's friends, the one who had brought them all together, the one who had journeyed with them across entire regions, and the man who had saved their lives on many occasions, was killed. No one could find the words on what to even say, for there was none that existed that could encapsulate what they felt.
After a long moment of silence, the first one to start showing any sort of emotion was Pikachu. Tears started to dot his eyes as the harsh reality set in that his best friend, whom he had known for his entire life, had disappeared into nothingness amidst a blaze of light. He shook his head in denial. He couldn't believe it, no, he refused to believe that his friend could be defeated so easily it must have been a trick of some kind.
Serena fell to her knees and let out a blood-curdling scream, clutching at and shaking her head in denial. The others continued staring off into the explosion with wide-eyed stares, still paralyzed from their shock. Riley desperately sensed for Ash's Aura flaring his own. Even when he found nothing, he continued. It took Lucario putting his paw on Riley's shoulder and shaking his head to get him to stop.
Noivern let out a ferocious, deafening screech. It sounded much like someone dragging a jagged metal shard across the side of a car. At its end, the screech curved downward in pitch, giving it a mournful sound. The last thing Noivern had ever done for the one that he'd known ever since he was born; the one who had raised him alongside Hawlucha, was hiss at him and leave him behind. And now, he too, was gone.
In a blind rage, Noivern rocketed up at Necrozma. The enraged Pokemon prepared to fire a Boomburst directly into Necrozma's face, but the emperor nonchalantly backhanded it, jutting his crystal into Noivern's gut and sending him flying away into the horde.
Necrozma's chuckling brought them out their stupor. "Now then," Spoke the dark demon, dusting himself off, "Now that your leader is out of the way and your god has yet to show himself, I do believe it is time I spiced things up a bit."
The conqueror snapped his fingers, and dozens of large holes appeared on the mothership's underside, followed by loud clanking. More Ultra Beasts poured down from those holes by the thousands and crashed down behind Necrozma. Far in the distance, a massive hole opened up, and what appeared to be a colossal metal cube was dropped down. It easily dwarfed the height of a skyscraper.
The cube's impact caused tremors all the way back to the remains of Goldenrod City, knocking the trainers and Pokemon off of their feet and causing fearful screams to rise up from them. The cube twitched suddenly, and with a loud bang, a dent appeared on it. What appeared to be a black tendril with a faceless, fanged mouth at its tip burst from the cube, eating a piece of its container. It then turned around and ripped the cube clean open, and a something utterly colossal burst out of it.
Its body was almost completely spherical, as well as jet black. The overwhelming majority of its face was its mouth. It possessed jagged, yellow teeth that appeared to be razor sharp, as well as two black tendrils with their own mouths on them that came out of the main one, squeezing through the gaps in its teeth. The way its mouth gaped open allowed for a view of its throat, which glowed a bright blue for some reason. Sharp spikes also littered the inside of its throat, ending with some kind of serrated jugular that clamped together periodically.
Above its mouth were two large eyes, their color matching that of its throat. They curved down, giving the trainers the chilling impression that it was furious. On its head were two large, three-fingered clawed arms, and between them was what appeared to be a black, pointed crown with yet another set of smaller eyes at its front. It had large spikes that ran down its back, each one being smaller than the last until it reached its tail, which looked similar to a mace. It even had bat-like wings, though they were too small to function.
"Coming in at one-hundred and thirty meters tall and two-hundred thousand tons, what you see there is Guzzlord," Explained Necrozma, pointing at the colossal beast. "I nicknamed him the World Eater, and I imagine those feeble little brains of yours can guess why. Every time I conquer a planet, I allow him to eat away at it, which has allowed him to grow to such a tremendous scale. I wonder how long it will take for him to devour this one."
The universal conqueror laughed cruelly and said, "So far, he hasn't left a single pebble left of each world I've visited." He awaited their response, but they were still left in shock from Ash's demise, and seeing the colossal beast alone had scared them back into paralysis. Shrugging, Necrozma continued.
"On top of that, considering that I'm starting to get bored, I'm going to make you all an ultimatum. If any of you fail to do even an inkling of damage to me, I will destroy one of your major settlements every ten minutes." Necrozma looked at his wrist as if he was looking at a watch. "Starting… NOW."
He snapped his fingers once more, and the trainers flinched. However, nothing happened. Everyone looked around oddly, muttering to one another in confusion. Necrozma's chuckling only added to their befuddlement. "By 'me,' I was referring to my fleet. Did you all honestly think I only had one ship?" He looked down at the new Ultra Beasts and pointed at the trainers. "You all did a number on my army, I'll give you that. Now it's time for round two. Ultra Beasts, attack!"
The trainers were forced to snap themselves out of their trances as the Ultra Beasts descended upon them once more, and once more, Ash's friends were separated amidst the mass of enemies. Though now, they didn't know what to do. Their chosen one, their leader, and their closest friend, was gone.
Mass chaos and confusion ensued. If morale had been low the first time around, then now it was completely gone. The trainers hardly even had the will to fight back, but their instinct for survival pushed them to continue fighting. For Ash's friends, they forced the thoughts of him out of their mind for the moment in order to focus on the fight.
An emerald green streak of light barreled into Necrozma, sending the both of them flying across the sky. "YOU'RE DONE!" Roared Rayquaza.
Necrozma laughed. "Actually, I think I'm just getting started. Out of the millions of worlds that I have conquered, I haven't had this much fun in a long time." He held the large dragon with a single hand. "By the way, it's awfully convenient of you to show up after I killed that boy, it seems to me that you care more for your fellow legends then the humans that live alongside you." Necrozma shrugged, "Oh well I guess I can see why, they hardly help out in battle anyway." He giggled sadistically, his crimson eyes peering into Rayquaza's.
"But do you believe Arceus will forgive you for allowing his chosen one to die?"
Zero stood still for a good minute staring at were Ash had met his end in disbelief. Her entire world seemingly froze, and became as black and soulless as her eyes. She had failed him, the man who had saved her from the hell that was Charon's lab was now gone and she couldn't prevent it. Ash had done everything to help her; to save her from herself, and she repaid it by hurting him and letting him be killed.
Hydreigon was desperately searching around the area where Ash had disappeared in a futile attempt to find any sign of the trainer who saved it from its abusive master. It pushed aside the smoky rubble until it had gone through the entire building. After failing to do so Hydreigon let out a whimper realizing his efforts were for naught, until he saw something red peeking out from underneath a small piece of rubble.
The dark dragon's face lit up and brushed away the rock and found Ash's hat. It took the hat in its mouth but, not satisfied with its find, began digging underneath where it had found it. It did so for minutes on end, and ended up making the entirety of the crater even larger than it previously was. It didn't take long for it to realize the futility of its actions.
Begrudgingly, Hydreigon flew out of the hole and returned to the still-unmoving Zero. He raised her hands with his own, gently placing Ash's hat onto them. Zero stared at the hat, her expression unchanging. It seemed, to Hydreigon, that she wasn't looking at the hat, but rather, past it. Like she didn't see it at all.
A small red spark of electricity ran down her shoulder for a split second. Hydreigon warily backed away from her, knowing that this couldn't mean anything well. Though Zero's expression still didn't change, her energy exploded around her violently. Ash's hat was incinerated in her grasp. It was then that she finally reacted.
Hydreigon yelped at it was blown onto its back. Zero screamed, allowing the full might of her power to escape. Her mind went blank, as did her vision. She saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing. That was, except rage. Her blood red Aura coated her energy, pushing it to new heights that violently scoured her surroundings. Hydreigon was quickly forced to run away from her for fear of being caught in her berserked state.
Zero, though blinded, whipped around toward Necrozma upon some kind of instinct. She rocketed up toward him as he battled Rayquaza. He stopped a Dragon Pulse in its tracks, then turned to look at the newcomer as he sensed her approach. He blocked her punch with his free hand and blasted her away. To his surprise, Zero managed to hold the attack in her hand and tore it in two, allowing it to fly past her.
Rayquaza was taken aback even more, seeing some random human, and a child at that, stopping an attack from Necrozma. "What in the-?!"
With an inhuman roar, Zero flared her multicolored energy and blasted it at the dark demon. Necrozma crushed the attack in his hand, so Zero rushed at him with her fist pumped back. Necrozma lurched forward, jabbing his fist into the young girl's gut before her punch could meet its target. Rayquaza was about to step in until he saw her managing to push the fist out of the way. He blinked, trying to judge if what was happening before his eyes was real or not.
Necrozma chuckled, and his booming voice stretched out to the entire battlefield. "Nine minutes remain! Should you fail to impress, then…"
The dark demon grabbed hold of Zero's head, forcibly showing her a vision. High above the world into the atmosphere, a jet black ship opened up a hatch on its underside, lowering a sparking gun. A bright blue laser fired from it down upon the earth onto a small town. The inhabitants scarcely had the time to look up before they were erased.
Zero jerked her head away from him and delivered a punch straight to Necrozma's face. To Rayquaza's shock, the punch connected. The dark demon chuckled and wrenched Zero's fist away, revealing that he was still completely unharmed. Hissing, Zero lurched up and kicked Necrozma's side. Her black eyes widened when he responded by bashing her down with the underside of his fist.
"Eight minutes."
Finally deciding to step in, Rayquaza was about to use Draco Meteor when Zero, coated in her crimson-rainbow Aura, came flying back up with her fist outstretched. Necrozma leaned his head back, allowing the girl to fly past, and grabbed onto her legs. He cackled, reeling his arm back and prepared to throw Zero up into the mothership's shield, when it was suddenly blasted from behind.
He let Zero go and turned around, finding Rayquaza with a smoking mouth. "Sorry about that," He said with a coy smirk, "I couldn't just let a little girl fight you by herself."
Necrozma scoffed. "You didn't seem to have a problem with it for the past few minutes, and speaking of minutes, you have seven left."
Rayquaza coated himself in a white aura that exploded outward, morphing himself into his Mega form. "That's plenty of time to put you in the ground."
"Agreed."
Mewtwo floated down beside Rayquaza, holding two large Shadow Balls in his hands. "I owe it to this world to protect its inhabitants, human or otherwise. I will not allow you to-"
"HRAAAAUUUGH!"
Zero coated her body in energy and rammed into Necrozma from behind. A massive explosion ensued, one with such force that the two Legends were forced to shield themselves so that they weren't blown away.
"What the-?!"
Rayquaza chuckled. "I had the same reaction."
A barrier erupted from Necrozma, forcing Zero backwards. "Six minutes left."
"You're gonna burn in hell Necrozma!" Zero attempted to do a Mega Kick straight to Necrozma's face, but ultimately it failed when Necrozma ended up catching Zero in a grip lock and chucked her right into the two legends. Mewtwo backpedaled and reached up to Zero to stop her uncontrolled flight with Psychic, then releasing her once he canceled out the momentum.
"I'm not going to pretend that I understand what's happening," Admitted Mewtwo to Zero, "But if you're helping us, well, I'm not exactly inclined to get in your way."
Zero didn't reply, still only keeping her black gaze trained upon Necrozma. Wordlessly, Zero rushed past Mewtwo, blasting an Inferno straight into Necrozma's face. The dark demon chuckled and, without moving, pushed the intense flames away from himself. He outstretched a hand toward Zero, and Mewtwo quickly pulled the young girl away just in time to avoid his next blast.
Immediately after being set free, Zero formed a web of crackling dark energy within her hands and fired it at the dark emperor in the form of a Dark Pulse. Rayquaza quickly followed up by flying to the opposite side of Necrozma and using Dragon Pulse. Necrozma held out his arms, effortlessly catching the two attacks in his hands. Mewtwo, seeing that Necrozma's stance left him open, threw the two large Shadow Balls at him.
Necrozma smirked and redirected Zero's and Rayquaza's attacks to hit one another, then caught the Shadow Balls, condensed them into one and infused his own power into it, and with the snap of his finger, the three were enveloped in a massive explosion.
"Five minutes and counting. I wonder which settlement I should destroy first."
Letting out a bestial roar, Zero unleashed a massive Hyper Beam from her hands. With a smug look on his face, Necrozma held up a single finger and, from it, completely tore through the girl's attack with his own makeshift Hyper Beam. Mewtwo quickly swiped his hand across the air, using Psychic to dissuade the Hyper Beam's trail and making it sail past Zero harmlessly.
However, Necrozma rushed up to the young girl and slammed his fist into her, creating a loud shockwave from its force. He forcibly stopped her momentum by holding her in place with his own Psychic powers, and the sickening crack of bones was heard from her body. Rayquaza coated himself in the bright green energy of Dragon Ascent and rushed down at Necrozma in an attempt to free her, but was rewarded with a devastating blast to the face for his efforts.
Mewtwo summoned two more Shadow Balls and quickly threw them at the dark demon, but before they could reach him, they were suddenly struck by an invisible force and destroyed. Necrozma looked at him, smirking, and pointed a glowing finger his way. Mewtwo cursed inwardly and created a barrier around himself, but oddly enough, Necrozma stopped and looked down.
Raising a brow, Mewtwo hesitantly did so as well, and saw a Hydreigon rushing up from below, coated in a glowing red energy much like the young girl's, though the Pokemon's was obviously weaker. He would have stopped the Hydreigon's foolish endeavor, but due to its Dark typing, his Psychic powers had no effect.
"DON'T DO IT!" Mewtwo roared at Hydreigon. "FIGHTING HIM IS SUICIDE!"
Necrozma scoffed and pointed his hand at the incoming dragon. "Pah! If the girl's pet wants to die that badly, then so be it!" Hydreigon opened its jaw, forming a Hyper Beam to save its last remaining friend, only to be blasted by Necrozma at point blank and sent falling back to the ground draped in a cloud of black smoke.
Zero watched this with wide-eyed horror, and snapped back into reality. "Hydreigon!" The rage had disappeared in an instant. It was as if there was so much of it bubbling within her that her body simply couldn't handle it anymore, and forcibly removed it on its own. The voices had silenced themselves, leaving only Zero remaining.
She unleashed a burst of energy and managed to pry herself from Necrozma's grasp, then rocketed down to save her friend. Necrozma scoffed and pointed a finger at her to blast her out of the sky, but Rayquaza flew in his way to stop him. On top of that, an Aeroblast was flung his way from behind, which his dispelled with a backhand. The rest of the Legends had arrived.
Mewtwo creased his brows, looking at Necrozma and then down to Zero unsurely. "Hey," Said Rayquaza, getting Mewtwo's attention. Rayquaza gave him a toothy grin. "If you're worried about her, feel free to do what you want. We can handle Necrozma for the time being."
Mewtwo returned the smile appreciatively. "Thank you. I'll be back before you know it."
Zero flew down, managing to catch Hydreigon's limp body in her hands before landing back on the ground. She knelt down, using Heal Pulse to try and undo the damage before it was too late. "Hydreigon, hang in there!" She cried.
Mewtwo teleported by her side, leaning down next to her. His hands hovered over the collapsed dragon's body, and he attempted to use Psychic in order to stitch Hydreigon's wounds back together. Unfortunately, its Dark typing made it impossible for him to do anything to help. Frustrated, Mewtwo let out a sigh and said, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. Were it not for it being a Dark Type, I could have helped more."
"Then allow me to lend a helping hand."
Mewtwo and Zero turned around, with the latter gaping in awe at what the two of them saw. Standing before them was the brilliant, rainbow-hued form of Xerneas, the Pokemon of Life. Zero and Mewtwo parted as Xerneas walked between them, standing over Hydreigon's body. She raised her front hoof, gently tapping its tip on the dragon's chest, and in an instant, a wave of white energy traversed over the entirety of its body and erased its wounds.
Satisfied with her work, Xerneas stepped away from Hydreigon and turned to smile down upon Zero. "It should take them a few hours to wake back up, but they'll make a full recovery."
Zero doubled over, heaving out a sigh of relief. "Thank you...when I saw Hydreigon get hit by Necrozma, I thought…" Her vision flashed back to the sight of Ash being blasted away, and a black, inky tear fell from her eye. She wiped it away and said, "Nevermind...thank you for saving Hydreigon."
Xerneas nodded. "Think nothing of it." With that, the large deer-like Legend turned and walked away.
The dark voice of Necrozma boomed out over the battlefield once more. "Only two minutes remain, and I've decided what will be my first target! It seems fitting that, after having slain your chosen one, his home town should be annihilated as well!" With that, his chilling laughter filled the skies.
Mewtwo, seeing that the situation with Hydreigon had been cleared up, turned to look up at Necrozma. He flared his purple Psychic energy and knelt to the ground, about to fly back up to rejoin the fight when Zero asked him something.
"Hey...you're a Psychic-Type, right?"
Turning back toward her, he answered, "That I am. Is there something else you need of me?"
Zero nodded. She pointed the palm of her hand at Hydreigon, using Barrier to form a shield around the sleeping Pokemon and camouflage to make it disappear from sight. "That should keep them safe for now," She said, turning to Mewtwo. "Now then, could you teleport me on top of the ship?"
Mewtwo raised an eyebrow incredulously. "What do you plan on doing?"
"I don't have time to explain, so in short, I'm going to destroy every last one of Necrozma's ships before they can fire."
Mewtwo stared at her incredulously, but after a few moments, replied, "Very well."
Mewtwo lifted the both of them off of the ground with Psychic, and suddenly, Zero found herself having to shield her eyes from a bright light. After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted, and she realized that the light was the sun. Above the two of them, the bright blue sky shimmered beautifully. She would surely miss it. Beneath them on all sides were jet black pipes and other mechanical structures that went on as far as either of them could see.
After a few seconds of staring at her, Mewtwo spoke. "I don't mean to question your strength, but how will you destroy them all in time? You don't even know which one will fire first."
Zero continued staring up into the sky. Slowly, she reached her hand up and placed it on her charred body over where her heart would be. Though, she never really knew if she had one to begin with. "I was designed to be a weapon."
Mewtwo's eyes widened, and he let out a gasp. "W-what?"
"My creators were...terrible people…" Her gaze lowered, now looking down into the palm of her trembling hand. "They slaughtered countless Pokemon to give me life, and countless more to give me power. All the while, they tormented me until my psyche was broken, and I knew nothing but destruction…" She demonstrated this by creating a flame in her hand no bigger than the size of a candle's, then crushing it in her hand, causing the flame to explode between her fingers.
Mewtwo glowered at her, though the gesture wasn't meant for her. 'So, some humans still try and make weapons out of Pokemon? Of course they would…those kind of people never learn."
"But," Continued Zero, snapping Mewtwo out of his thoughts, "A boy and his friends saved me from them, and tried their hardest to save me from myself." She balled her hand into a fist, baring her teeth in a deep frown. "That boy's name...was Ash Ketchum...and I failed to save him."
Mewtwo was taken aback. "W-what? Did you say Ash Ketchum?!"
Zero looked over to him and nodded. "Yes...he rescued me from that hell, and he and his friends helped me at every turn, whether it be controlling my power, teaching me right and wrong, as well as showing me the beauty this world holds."
Now that she looked at Mewtwo, she recalled him from Ash's memories. 'Wait a minute...didn't those Team Rocket guys go after him as well…?' She shook her head. 'I'm running out of time. I need to hurry!'
Mewtwo nodded. "You could say he did something similar for me."
Zero nodded and smiled, though Mewtwo could see a hint of sadness in it. "I see. You and I are quite similar, then." She leapt into the air, hovering in place as she looked back up into the sky. "It's...a shame we won't be able to talk more."
Mewtwo stepped toward her. "What do you mean by that? What do you plan on doing?!"
Zero's body trembled with fear. "Ash saved my life...but I couldn't save his. The least I can do is save his town and his world." She took in a raspy, shaky breath. "Even though...I can't be a part of it."
Her words petrified the cloned Pokemon. 'What does she mean by 'I couldn't save his…?' And…'
"Hey!" He called to her. "What do you mean you can't be a part of this world?!" What this girl was saying obviously didn't mean anything good. He couldn't let her do anything rash, especially so soon after meeting her. Here was someone else who understood him! Someone else besides his own creations! "I don't know you or what you've been through, but I know what it's like to feel you don't belong, and I can say from personal experience that you and I both do!"
Zero giggled. Mewtwo knew it was empty. "That's kind of you to say, but...my fate is inescapable…" With that, she rocketed up into the atmosphere. Mewtwo reached up to her with Psychic, but she blocked off his powers by coating herself in a dome made from a Dark Pulse.
"NOOOO!"
Zero soared higher and higher into the atmosphere. The ever-blue sky slowly began fading to black the higher she got, and the air became more limited as well. Summoning every last speck of her energy, she coated herself in a brilliant rainbow hue and pushed upward.
Gravity would not yield, however, continuing to pull her down the more she flew up. A cone of flame appeared around her from the sheer amount of friction her escape velocity was creating. She shielded herself with her arms, unleashing energy from her feet to propel her while keeping the flames out of her eyes.
The strain on her body was becoming more apparent by the second. Her bones ached and groaned, and she could practically feel them threatening to snap under the pressure. But her determination would outlast her body if necessary.
'I will...push past this!' She told herself. 'I have to...for Serena! For Riley…! For...Ash…"
For a split second, an image flashed before her eyes. Two Eevees, one from the lab, and the other the one she 'rescued' from Damian. Both of them smiled up at her, but in an instant, that image was replaced with the sight of their corpses.
Her breath became more labored.
'I need to...keep going!'
Then, a vision of Hydreigon appeared. Though she hadn't known the Pokemon for very long, she felt a sibling-like kinship toward it. She wanted to protect it. It had suffered enough. She couldn't let it end up like the other Pokemon...like those Eevees.
Her stamina was beginning to fail her.
'I can't...let them…'
She saw Ash, Riley and Serena next. She recalled the time spent walking through the woods with them on Serena's shoulders. How Serena had helped her find something she loved, and how she had managed to make her laugh...how she showed her the world's beauty firsthand. Not just from a memory. It was a shame that she couldn't live in that beauty anymore...
"But those are his memories. Wouldn't you wanna make your own?"
She remembered Riley, and how she had helped her control her powers, at least to an extent. But that extent was more than enough for her. She also remembered how he taught her what good and evil meant. How to restrain herself. And how to find peace. It was a shame she had failed to do so...
"This is why control is so important. It can be the deciding factor between hurting someone you care for and not."
She could never forget Ash. The one who had saved her from Charon at the expense of himself. The one who had initially shown her what peace and happiness felt like after so long, and the one who had initially saved her from herself. The one who had shown her endless kindness while she, in turn, caused him nothing but suffering. Yet even still, he tried his best to save her for good. It was a shame that it was not to be…
"You have a heart that beats. You have a mind that thinks. And most importantly, you have a soul that feels...You belong here just as much as I do."
Zero heard the voices again, only now, they sounded like frantic whispering rather than demanding screams. She felt a snap somewhere in her arms, but oddly enough, she felt no pain. Her energy had long-since faded, as well as the cone of fire that had come with her pushing up into the sky. Her body had become frigid, petrified and unmoving. Her eyes glossed over, and the voices slowly faded away as her vision became like static. Then, everything went black...but then…
The world around her became white.
Zero awoke with a gasp, stumbling backward. She looked around herself frantically, and found a world of pure light. The sky, the ground, the walls, if there even were any of these things, were all a blinding shade of white, yet she felt no pain. She looked down at her hands. They, for the first time ever, appeared to be normal, as well as the rest of her body. For the first time she could remember, her blackened, charred body had become normal skin once more.
Unable to comprehend what was happening, she asked herself, "How is this...possible…?" She perked her head up as she realized what this meant, then let it hang. She balled her hands into fists furiously. "I...died...I didn't make it…"
"PERHAPS SO."
She jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of a deep, impossibly-loud voice that seemed to echo throughout the entirety of wherever she was, as well as within herself. "W-what-"
A being appeared before her, though she couldn't quite discern what it was. Somehow, it was even brighter than her surroundings, outshining this world of white itself. Its form was...impossible to comprehend. The more Zero focused on it, the less sense it made. Its appearance alone scrambled her mind. Any questions she tried to answer about this thing only served to give her more. It was completely unknowable.
Despite this, she felt no fear of the being.
"Who...what are you…?"
Seemingly ignoring the question, the entity replied, "YOUR STRENGTH HAS FAILED YOU. THAT MUCH IS TRUE. HOWEVER, YOU HAVE STILL YET TO PASS."
Zero's eyes widened. "Really?! Then, please, take me back! I need to stop Necrozma's fleet before-"
The entity chuckled, holding up what Zero believed to be an arm to stop her in her tracks. "I APOLOGIZE, BUT I CANNOT DO THAT JUST YET."
"Why not?!" Demanded Zero. "My friends need my help! If I'm not fast, they'll…"
"TIME MEANS NOTHING HERE," Spoke the being. "WE HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD. NOW, WOULD YOU PLEASE ALLOW ME TO ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS?"
Zero gave it an odd look. "...What for…?"
"SHOULD YOU INDULGE ME, I WILL ENLIGHTEN YOU AS TO WHY AFTERWARD."
Zero looked down at the bright floor, humming to herself in thought. If what this being said about time was true, and for some odd reason, she believed it, then there was no harm in doing so. Plus, she didn't exactly know how to leave, and if she wanted to go back to her friends, then complying was her best bet.
"All right," Replied Zero, looking back up at it, "What did you want to know?"
The entity hummed, evidently pleased by her answer. "I THANK YOU. NOW THEN, WHAT ARE YOU?"
Zero huffed, replying, "I asked you that first." She awaited the entity's response, and sighed when she received none. "All right. To be honest...I'm not sure what I am."
"START FROM THE BEGINNING, THEN."
She looked up at it quizzically. "The...beginning?"
The entity made an odd motion, which Zero somehow knew was a nod. She didn't understand how she knew, but didn't question it either. "WHAT IS YOUR ORIGIN?"
"My origin…" A deep-seated frown crawled down Zero's face. She half expected the voices to return then and there, as well as the haunting imagery that always seemed to accompany them. However, nothing came. Letting out a deep sigh, Zero answered, "From what I know, I was not...a natural creation. I was made in a lab, fused together by nearly a million Pokemon that were condensed into some kind of liquid…"
She balled her hands into fists, gripping at nothing furiously at the memory of her birthplace. "At first, it wasn't so bad. I didn't even know how I was made, so 'ignorance is bliss,' as they say. They tried to force me to hurt other Pokemon, but I wouldn't. All I wanted…" Her stance became less tense, if only a little.
"...Was a friend. I befriended every Pokemon they sent me to kill, but my creators weren't satisfied with that. As I learned recently, a man named Ryder, who serves someone else, made my creator, a madman named Dr. Charon, go wild."
She recalled being bound to a table, and then being set aflame. "He ordered his servants to do unspeakable things to me...all kinds of tortures imaginable, to the point my eyes were replaced with endless voids, and my body from the head down was charred black from the burns."
She stared up at the entity, allowing it to see her void-like eyes. "It didn't take long for them to break me," She hissed. "They had their weapon, and they first unleashed it on the Pokemon it once called friends. For months, I was told to slaughter the Pokemon, which were then compacted into more of that liquid and fused into me to further my powers."
Zero crouched down, slamming her fist into the floor angrily, shaking her head. "In time, I began to enjoy it as well. I became a perfect instrument of destruction for their whim! I became a weapon!"
"BUT THEN…?"
Zero nodded, standing back onto her feet. "But then...Ash, Serena and Riley saved me. They risked their lives to save mine, and liberated me from that hell." She smiled, an inky black tear running down her cheek. "They were...they are… the best thing to have ever happened to me. They saved me…"
The entity hummed in thought. "I SEE. SO, THEN, WHAT ARE YOU?"
The young girl shrugged. "I don't know...that's what I've been trying to find out, but I won't get that chance now."
"AND WHY IS THAT?"
"Because I'm a danger to them," Answered Zero. "I'm a hindrance. They saved me in so many ways more times than I can count, but when their lives were in danger, I only hurt them. Especially Ash."
Ryder's words echoed in her mind. 'You will always be a weapon."
"I will always be a weapon."
"...SO...YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THEN?"
She looked up at the being oddly. "What?"
"YOU SAID YOU WERE A WEAPON," Replied the being, "DID YOU NOT?"
Zero grinned at it, then chuckled dryly. "Yeah, I guess I did."
The being hummed to itself once more, apparently accepting that answer. "SO YOU ARE A WEAPON. DO YOU PLAN ON FULFILLING THAT ROLE?"
The girl shrugged. "What choice do I have? Time and time again, it's been proven to me. Ever since I escaped from that hellhole, battle has always been drawn to me, or I've been drawn to it." Her crimson red Aura appeared around her, sparking out violently and crashing against the ground. "I am nothing but destruction. I can't escape it."
It nodded once more, unperturbed by Zero's Aura. "I SEE."
Zero looked back up and pointed at the entity. "So, I've answered all of your questions so far. Can I ask you one?"
"I SUPPOSE SO," It answered. "IT IS ONLY FAIR."
"What do you think? If I were to live, then would I eventually be able to find peace, and escape my role as a weapon?"
The creature didn't respond. The entire area was left in complete silence for minutes on end. Zero lowered her head, taking its silence as an answer. Finally, it spoke up, but its answer caused the girl to wince. She couldn't have said she didn't see it coming, but hearing it aloud was somehow even more painful.
"...NO...IF YOU WERE TO SURVIVE NECROZMA'S WAR, YOU WOULD NEVER FIND PEACE. JUST AS YOU SAID, BATTLE WOULD ALWAYS BE DRAWN TO YOU UNTIL YOUR LAST BREATH."
Zero shuddered, letting out a shaky breath. "I...I-I see…"
"HOWEVER…"
The young girl perked her head up to the being expectantly. She held her breath, anxious for what it was about to say.
"...YOUR CREATORS ARE NOT YOUR WIELDERS. YOU HAVE ALREADY BROKEN FREE OF THEIR CHAINS THANKS TO YOUR FRIENDS."
"What...does that mean…?"
"IT MEANS THAT, WHILE YOU ARE A WEAPON AND WILL CERTAINLY NEVER FIND PEACE, YOU ALONE CAN DECIDE WHO YOUR POWER WILL STRIKE. NOT YOUR CREATORS, NOR THE VOICES THAT CONSTANTLY PLAGUE YOUR MIND. THOSE VOICES ARE BUT THE LEFTOVER WILL OF THE POKEMON USED TO CREATE YOU. THEY ARE IN PAIN, BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU ARE."
Zero looked up at the entity with shimmering eyes, listening to its words intently. The being chuckled at her reaction. "IN OTHER WORDS," It said, "YOU ARE A WEAPON THAT CAN POINT ITSELF."
"A weapon that can point itself," Zero repeated, as if testing the words out.
The being nodded, and the world around them began trembling. "WE DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT HERE," Spoke the being, "BUT I WILL AID YOU AS BEST AS I CAN IN YOUR ENDEAVOR TO STOP NECROZMA. BEFORE THAT, I MUST ASK YOU: WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT LIFE?"
"What did I think about life?" Repeated Zero once more. A faint smile appeared on the young girl's face. "Well…"
The being nodded, pleased by her answer. "VERY WELL. THEN ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU THE POWER TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE AS YOU WILL."
Zero's limp floating body exploded with energy. A swirling mass of white burst out from all sides, sending intense shockwaves across the sky. Zero's eyes snapped open, she was once again floating in the middle of space. Zero looked up and saw thousands upon thousands of black ships charging up their weapons with one singular target in mind, Pallet town.
She looked down at her hand. Gone was the charcoal black that coated her skin, just like with the entity, and in its place was normal skin. A happy tear fell down her cheek, and upon wiping it away, she was shocked to find that it wasn't black and inky like it usually was. It was clear, shimmering from the light. She looked at it with wonder, and let out a gasp as she saw her reflection within it.
The empty black voids that Charon had reduced her eyes to were gone. She now sported two beautiful blue ones that watered from her joy. Once again wiping away her tears, she faced the ships above once more and, flaring her new white Aura, rocketed far up into the sky, piercing through it at last and facing the final frontier.
From inside the helm of Necrozma's ship, a loud beeping from the ship's warning system alerted Xurkitree. Quickly rushing to it, Necrozma's right hand man was met with the sight of a bright, fiery white light of some sort flying up to intercept the rest of the fleet.
He tapped on a button, enabling communications with the fleet. Urgently, he cried, "Fleet Section 7, there is an unidentified object or being closing in on your position! Fire on sight! I repeat: Fire on sight!"
The ships nearest to Zero turned toward her, charging their weapons. Zero held out her hand and fired an attack of her own. A burst of light shot out from her hand, tearing straight through the ship and causing it to implode on itself. The other ships fired upon Zero, but she held their attacks back with Psychic and sent them straight back, causing them to explode as well.
She took a deep breath, despite being in space, and held her arms out. Her eyes shot open, and the light surrounding her grew to incredible sizes. "GRAVITY!" Immediately, the ships were pulled toward her. The Ultra Beasts inside panicked, increasing the output of their ships' thrusters in an attempt to escape Zero's pull, but to no avail.
Seeing this, Xurkitree called Necrozma. "Sir! One of this planet's lifeforms managed to get by the ship and is now laying siege to the fleet!"
Necrozma grabbed Lugia by his maw, shutting it to stop a Hyper Beam from the Sea Guardian and promptly tossing him into the ground below. Seeing his crystal was glowing, he formed a barrier around himself and answered. "What do you mean?!" He demanded. "The mothership's cannons should have immediately fired upon anything that tried to escape the city!"
"Well," Said the exasperated Ultra Beast, "One of them managed to get by, and they're taking the ships down one by one!"
Necrozma brought the hologram closer to his face and shouted, "Then stop them! Use the entire fleet if you have to!" With that, he forcibly shut off communications and lowered the barrier, backhanding a Roar of Time from Dialga.
With Xurkitree, the screen showing his master cut to static, and he let out a long-winded sigh. Pressing the communication button once more, he called the fleet and cried, "All ships, your new orders are to stop the unidentified lifeform at all costs! That includes firing upon other ships if no other option is present!"
The ships changed course, turning their helms toward Zero and quickly making their way toward her. The larger ones deployed gigantic cannons from their side that emitted a blue light from their gunports. Soon enough, colossal lasers fired from the holes at Zero, but by now, so many other ships had been sucked into her Gravity field that they acted as unwitting shields.
"Ash...Serena...Riley...thank you for showing me what life truly meant."
However, the lasers were cutting through fast, and in mere moments, she would be left defenseless against their forces. Thus, she summoned upon her own Aura to empower her Gravity. She closed her eyes and winced, expecting her crackling crimson Aura to appear and wrack her body, but to her surprise, she felt a soothing sensation.
"Though it was short-lived, I couldn't have possibly wished for anything greater than what you gave me."
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and saw that her Aura was not what it normally was. It was a deep, gentle blue that flowed around her like water. It felt greater than anything else. She wondered if this is what it was like for Ash and Riley, but pushed those thoughts out of her mind for the moment, staring out of a hole in between the ships surrounding her to see the rest of Necrozma's fleet. She had a job to do.
"You want to know what I thought about life? Well…"
Using her Aura, she let out a fearsome bellow, increasing her power to heights untold. The wave of white energy surrounding her exploded outward, blinding all who saw it. It was so brilliant that it looked like a second sun. This blindness staggered the pilots of the ships for a moment, but that small time was all it took for them to lose control of their ships and get sucked into Zero's Gravity like the others.
"I didn't truly start living until Ash and the others rescued me...but as for that…"
Xurkitree watched with horror as the last of the fleet had been sucked in. They had been crushed around Zero into a ball, tearing into one another with their hulls. Zero watched as the last of the outside world was obscured by a ship, and let out a sigh. The only light left was herself. It was time.
"Life is...the best thing that ever happened to me. My friends, the Pokemon, and this world...though there were evil people in it, there was always someone good to counter it. Life is beautiful."
Zero stretched out her limbs, sending waves of energy throughout the surrounding ships. Her body glowed brilliantly, and that brilliance only grew with every second. "Can you see me, Ryder?!" She cried. "This is my answer!" Zero's light poured through the cracks between the ships, covering them completely. It became so bright that the sun itself was outshone. Inside the ships, the Ultra Beasts screamed in terror.
"EXPLOSION!"
And then Zero, the Ultra Beasts, and Necrozma's fleet disappeared in a great flash of light.
…
…
...
Darkness…
Nothing, but darkness…
The room was nearly pitch black.
Zero awoke with a sharp gasp, staggering backwards until her hands made contact with metal. It felt impossibly cold, chilling her to the bone. She immediately retracted her hand from it and turned around. Before her was a large metal wall that seemed to stretch up endlessly before fading away into darkness. She turned back around, finding that the other walls and floors were made up of the same thing.
The walls were stained in many areas with a brownish-red substance. She didn't know whether it was rust...or… "Where...where am I…?!" She let out another gasp, her black, void-like eyes widening. She covered her mouth and doubled over, trying to keep bile from rising in her throat. "This is…! No! It can't be!"
This was Dr. Charon's laboratory. More specifically, the "testing" grounds, where Zero had slaughtered countless Pokemon in his name. All for the sake of his experimentation, and whatever goals Ryder and his master had in store for her. It was where she was created. For the sole purpose of being a weapon.
She felt something scratchy and hard on her hands, and when she looked down at them, she found that they had become black and looked like charcoal. Looking down, she discovered that the rest of her body from the neck down was the same. Then, Zero noticed her reflection in the metal floor. Her eyes were voids, black and endlessly empty.
"No!" She cried, "This can't be real! I escaped—Ash saved me!" She shook her head violently, backing herself into the room's corner. "Ash, Serena and Riley, they saved me! I escaped and fought Necrozma...and then…!"
She yelped as the loud noise of clanking metal filled the room. At the far end of the room, a door began opening. Zero jumped up, eager to get out of this place when an all too familiar figure stepped out, freezing her in her tracks. It was an Eevee. The very first Pokemon she had killed. Alongside it, several more Pokemon came out. These Pokemon were Zero's very first friends, as well as her first victims.
She immediately backed away from them, but the sound of her footstep caught the Eevee's attention. It looked up to her and barked happily, running her way with a smile on its face. "Stay back!" Cried Zero. "Get away from me!" The Eevee kept coming, like it didn't hear her at all.
Her vision suddenly became woozy, and the room seemingly stretched out into a long tunnel before her eyes. The Eevee became slower, yet still drew closer by the second. Every step it took, the more warped her vision became. She fell to her knees, clutching her head as she felt a sharp, stabbing pain from her cranium, and let out a pained gasp as the voices returned in full force.
They were dark and garbled, meaningless and crowding together one after another like they were pushing to be heard. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Zero shook her head, desperately trying to rid herself of them, but they only became louder the closer Eevee got.
"KILLTHEMKILLTHEMALLDESTROYDESTROYSLAUGHTERYOUAREMEANINGLESSKILLTHEMDIEDIEDIEHELPMEKILLTHEMKILLMEDESTROYEVERYTHINGBREAKFREEBREAKTHEMKILLKILLKILLDIEMAKETHEMSUFFEROBEYBENDTOMYWILLSAVEMEPLEASEKILLMEPLEASEKILLTHEMDIELEAVENOTHINGSERVEOBEYOBEYITSJUSTBUSINESSTHEDOCTOROBEYCHARONIWANTFREEDOMIWANTTHESKYLETMEBEFREETHISISHELLYOUAREHELLWHEREAMIDIEDIEDIEKILLYOURSELFENDUSPLEASEWEAREPRISONERSWEARETRAPPEDYOUTRAPPEDUSYOUKILLEDUSKILLMOREKILLFORTHEDOCTORKILLFORYOURCREATORTHATISYOURPURPOSEPLEASESTOPITHURTSITSSOPAINFULPLEASEARCEUSWHYWHATDIDWEDOWHYAREWEHEREPLEASEHELPUSTHEYKILLEDUSYOUKILLEDUSITHURTSLETMEFREELETMEFREEKILLFORCHARONDESTROYEVERYTHINGLEAVENOTHINGLEAVEUSKILLUSITHURTSSOMUCHITHURTSITHURTSPLEASESTOPTHEPAINDIEDIEDIEYOUCAUSEDTHISWHYWEREYOUBORNYOUKILLEDUSTHEYKILLEDUSYOUARETOBLAMETHISISHELLKILLTHEMALLYOUNEEDTOYOUMUSTKILLTHEMITHURTSUSITSAVESUSKILLTHEMALLKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEM
Then, Zero's vision went white.
Charon's Lab, one year ago.
A group of Pokemon huddled together in the corner of the room. For months, they had been kept in tiny cages and given miniscule food and water. For them to be suddenly released now, in a room such as this, well...it couldn't mean anything good.
On the opposite side of the room, there was a window high above them where two shadowed figures sat. Beneath them, a door opened, and a few men in lab coats walked out. The Pokemon immediately tensed up, petrified of these men. The men parted, revealing a small human girl with white hair wearing a one-pieced overall suit. She looked up at them curiously, then looked to the Pokemon. They pressed themselves further up against the wall.
Suddenly, the men quickly scrambled back out of the door, which promptly shut and left the Pokemon alone with the girl. Tilting her head to the side, she stared at them oddly. For a few minutes, neither moved. She simply stared at them blankly while they tried to make themselves seem as small as possible.
Eventually, an Eevee popped its head out from amidst the group and squeezed its way out, gritting its teeth as it pushed. It managed to pop itself out at last and, tentatively, began making its way over to the girl. The Pokemon wanted to call out to stop it, but the fear of drawing the girl's attention forced them into silence.
Step by step, the Eevee approached the white-haired girl until it came before her. It looked up at her curiously, while she looked down upon it, her expression still blank. The Eevee smiled at her and chirped happily, rubbing itself against her leg. The girl continued staring at it blanky, but unexpectedly, she crouched down to meet it, her hand hovering above its head.
The two figures observing from the window leaned forward, awaiting what she would do next. The Pokemon, meanwhile, looked on helplessly and in horror. They wanted to close their eyes, but found themselves too scared to do even that. Her hand lowered swiftly...and gently pat the Eevee's head, earning a satisfied hum from the fuzzy Pokemon.
A smile slowly crawled up the girl's face, and she said, "My name is Project Zero. Who are you?"
"Eevee!" Chirped Eevee.
The girl giggled and repeated, "Eevee…"
The Pokemon, seeing the girl's gentleness, hesitantly distanced themselves from each other and the wall. They froze when she looked up at them, but the fact that she still wore the smile as she continued petting the Eevee's fur convinced them that she was harmless. One by one, they crowded around the girl, eager to receive her affection and causing her to giggle happily.
Above them, the two observers were far from happy. One of them, a man in a black metal suit with a sheathed blade attached to his back turned to the other, a short, plump man in a labcoat with a receding hairline.
"Bring her back to the pod and follow me," Said the suited figure. "You and I need to have a serious discussion."
"AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"
Black tears streaming down her face, Zero raised her arm into the air. With one swift motion, Zero struck the Eevee's side, and turned it into nothing more than another stain on the floors and walls. She then turned toward the other Pokemon, who stared at her in horror, and rushed at them. They met the same fate as the Eevee, all the while Zero screamed like a mad banshee.
One by one, she killed them, and tore their remains to pieces. She stomped, ripped, burned and blasted every last inch of the Pokemon until there was nothing left, and when all was said and done, she let out a monstrous, inhuman roar. At last, the voices were gone, and Zero was left alone to realize what she had done.
She stepped back, looking down at the crimson mess beneath her in horror. She let out a sharp gasp, and then fell to her knees, letting out a bloodcurdling scream. The voices may have left, but in their place was something far worse. The mad laughter of Dr. Charon filled the room, taunting her for filling the role he laid out for her. She had once again fulfilled her role as a weapon. She backed into the wall, sat down, tucked her head into her arms, and wept.
"You will always be a weapon."
Zero sat there crying for a very long time. How long, she did not know, but it felt like an eternity. What would she do now? What could she do? Was Ash and everything he had showed her a lie? A cruel, twisted dream she or that bastard Charon had fabricated? Everyone and everything she had ever cared about… was gone. She would spend the rest of whatever life this was alone with no one to talk to even now the voices had left her. For the first time in her entire existence, she was alone.
There was absolutely nothing left.
Something fuzzy touched her, and she dug her head further in. It kept pestering her, until she, begrudgingly, lifted her head up. That hellish room was now gone, and surrounding them was an area of pure, empty white. It was different than the world of that entity, where that one felt calming and warm, this one simply felt...empty.
"Ve?"
An Eevee poked its head up into her view, making her instinctively back away from it. "D-don't get near me!" She cried, holding out her hand to warn the Eevee. "I'll hurt you! Please, just go away!"
She blinked in surprise at the sight of her own hand, which was now ridden of the charcoal burns once more. She twisted it around, looking at every inch of it in disbelief. A small gasp escaped from her mouth as the Eevee nuzzled itself against it. She then realized who exactly that Eevee was. It was the same one from the Lab.
"H-how...didn't I…?"
Another Eevee that was much smaller than the first one appeared, nuzzling happily against Zero's leg. She recognized it as Damian's. Zero was utterly baffled. "Wait...you're...but that makes no sense! I saw Ryder…"
The two Eevees climbed onto her lap, smiling at her and nuzzling their heads into her own. In her surprise, Zero was frozen stiff and couldn't pull away. 'I don't understand...how is this happening?!' She let out a sudden gasp as the memory of the entity, as well as what she did with its power, flashed before her eyes.
Despite this, she smiled. "Oh...that's right, I…"
Wrapping her arms around the two Eevees, she brought the two of them in a close, tight embrace that elicited a cry of surprise from them. Around them, more Pokemon appeared. They appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, by the thousands. Surrounding Zero and the two Eevees, they looked down upon the girl judgingly. Seeing them, Zero set the two Eevees down and turned to face them.
Her smile disappeared upon recognizing them. "You all...I killed you back in the lab...didn't I…?"
The Pokemon didn't reply. Zero looked down at the white ground, wincing. She recalled the words of the entity regarding them.
"THEY ARE IN PAIN, BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU ARE."
"Those voices...were all of you, weren't they?"
Still, the Pokemon didn't reply, nor did they move. They simply stared down at her with their ever-judging expressions. They weren't glaring at her, nor did they express any malevolence or malice, but their silent gazes hurt her more than anything else. The Pokemon only reacted when they saw Zero shuddering. Her shoulders trembled, and a clear, shining tear rolled down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," She whimpered, "I'm so, so sorry!" She balled her hands into shaking fists, unable to hold back her tears any longer. "This is all my fault! If it weren't for me, then you all…"
The two Eevees looked up at her sadly, then expectantly to the Pokemon. "Vee, Vui Vee!" They called out to them all expectantly, pleading with them to forgive Zero. The Pokemon, in turn, shifted their cold stares at them instead. The Eevee from the lab flinched, but Damian's refused to. It barked at them, telling them of how Zero had tried to save her. Were it not for her, it would still be the punching bag of that monstrous trainer. It wasn't her fault that it died.
The other Eevee, seeing this, found the courage to confront them as well. It knew Zero had no control over her actions at the time. It was obvious, considering how she acted before it all. She was the first to show them kindness in that cold, metal lab. It was not her fault she lost herself. It was the fault of those men.
One of the Pokemon, a large Onix, approached Zero. The two Eevees growled at it and stood in front of her defensively, but it ignored them. Craning its neck down so that it faced Zero, it stared at her for a few seconds while she sobbed, and gently pressed its head against hers, and then she realized. They were never mad, just in pain. Just as she had gone insane, they had as well. That happened because, due to Charon's experiments, they had become a part of her. They never meant to hurt her.
Zero was taken aback, but then she chuckled. Tears still streaming down her face, she gently grasped the large Pokemon's face and pressed her head against it. "All this time, I thought...I thought I was... "She shook her head, opening her bright blue eyes. "Thank you…"
With that, the Pokemon took their time properly reuniting or meeting Zero if they never had the chance to before. They all played together, laughing and having fun for the first time in what felt like ages. This went on for hours, until Zero's head perked up suddenly, and she said. "Everyone...I think...it's time to go now…" The Pokemon looked her way and nodded. With the two Eevees upon her shoulders, Zero and the Pokemon locked their hands together and looked out into the great white abyss. Hand in hand, they walked into it together with a smile.
"Ash, Serena and Riley...I'm sorry I couldn't help more. I leave the rest to you."
Author's Note
Creator- So, it has come to my attention, thanks to Amourshipper35, that many of you were not able to review this chapter. The reasoning for this is because I made Chapter 10 a singular chapter again, causing the site to believe that Chapter 15 already existed and it doesn't let people review the same chapter twice. Sorry 'bout that. Please feel free to tell us what you thought about both chapters if you missed out on doing so with 15. Moving on from that whole business, let's talk about this chapter, shall we? I didn't actually name the beasts outside of Necrozma and the SM duo talking about them because there was no real way to. In order to make it from the perspective of the trainers, they wouldn't know what these things are called, and Necrozma wouldn't just list them off. Secondarily, I hope you all liked seeing Ash's old companions fighting, though Iris seems to have gotten the short end of the stick. Better than what happened to Talonflame and Zero though, hahahaha. Also, sorry for juking you like that, TeamPiperM. I am an evil writer. Don't think I killed her because of you, though. I planned on killing her at some point while she was just a concept, which is true for many of my other characters.
Hydra- well boys it's that time again and while we didn't get as many reviews on the last chapter hopefully this one will make you wonderful readers more inspired to do so. Hopefully that wall of bold text at the end really helps to paint the picture of what exactly Zero was going through.
Creator- Now onto the reviews on Channel 4.
EeviumZ- "I haven't reviewed this story before, but I might as well.
Loving the darker tone of the story. I can tell that shit's about to go down...
Also, the Team Rocket trio. I enjoy what you're doing with them, appealing more to their sinister side but still keeping up their individual personalities. Just to be clear: there's no Rocketshipping going on here, is there? (just making sure, I'm not a shipper or anything...)
You've earned my follow. Looking forward to the next chapter.
Creator- I love that you love this story's darker tone. I've always known, before I even started writing, that I would try and make my stories as sad as possible.
The Team Rocket Trio can be fun to write, especially those Giovanni fantasy scenes. No, there's no shipping of any kind besides Ash and Serena. Writing them is hard enough lol.
Thank you for the follow! Detailed reviews like these are what we like best, and they help inspire me to push out chapters faster! Looking forward to your next review.
Hydra- I agree these are the kind of reviews that I just absolutely adore. I originally wanted to do one last thing with the team rocket trio before the war started in order to give them a sort of nod instead of just completely leaving them out and that's when I thought of having them try to kidnap ash.
Skarmory21- "I've been reading since the first chapter, which I found slightly boring, but I'm glad I gave it a chance, as this was the best fic I have read since reading Saphroneth's ashes of the past, the chapters are nice and long, took me 45 minutes each on the 35-40k word chapters (I have no life lol), the details are nice, and now I have some things to address. Who is the Man? Is Giovanni in cohorts with him? What the fuck is giratinas problem? Will we see Necrozma fusing with lunala or solgaleo like he did in the US/UM games?"
Creator- Yet another long, wonderful review. Love it.
I'm glad you're enjoying this. To be compared to a story as large as Ashes of the Past is an honor.
The key to my long chapters is underselling myself. I always say "This scene's probably only going to be about 1k or 5k words" and then it reaches 8k, 10k or beyond. The Mewtwo scene from Chapter 14 is a prime example.
The Man...is a tricky question. Could he be Giovanni? Could he be another Team Leader? Could he even be a Pokemon? Or perhaps an alien like Necrozma? Perhaps he could have been right under our noses this whole time… He could be none of these things, or all of them. I myself don't know yet. Or perhaps I do.
Giratina's problem was explained when Arceus was detailing the creation of the Pokemon World. Giratina started buddying up with the humans and the younger, more prideful Arceus, believing that Giratina was undermining his authority and trying to become more of a god to them than himself, thrashed the younger Giratina within an inch of his life and banished him to the Distortion World. Though Giratina learned how to temporarily escape it while Arceus was recovering from the meteor and Damos's/Marcus's betrayal, he still can only do it for some time. (Explaining how the Giratina Movie was possible). He never forgave Arceus, and believes Mew to be unfit as a ruler, acting childlike and demanding while taking none of the responsibility that comes with ruling. That, and of course, what happened during that last Hall meeting.
As for Necrozma and the other two, well...I don't think that's much of a possibility any more. We do have something close to that planned for Necrozma a little bit later, though.
Hydra- yeah the chapters just keep getting so long that as I write this response my phone is lagging lol, but as long as you guys enjoy it then I'm not complaining. Seeing that the creator addressed most of your questions I'll just address one. The Man is, well, very interesting to say the least. If you want any info on that person I would say go back no matter how far and reread through their scenes and draw your own conclusions, just remember this, sometimes not everything is as it seems. ;)
ManInTheShadows- "Wow years of work and storytelling is all coming together. I remember reading the first chapter all that time ago. It's one hell of a story and I can't wait to see it pay off."
Creator- Thanks, man. I'm happy it's so close now. I hope you can make that project of yours work out as well.
Hydra- almost there man we're so close now!
Amourshipper35- "I read it and then tried to review it, but it would not let me. Thought it was very intense and I hope Ash can save the world and stop the Ultra Beasts for good."
Creator- Thank you for alerting me to this problem. Also, thank you for your review. Even though it was a PM, I still feel that it deserved to be here.
Hydra- Thank you very much for making us aware of the problem and yes I agree, I do hope ash can save the world oh wait...
Creator- And thus, the reviews come to a close on this day, as does this chapter. Here's a bit of a warning: This next chapter will make this one look like a stroll through a flower garden. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, be sure to continue to do so (please), and see you all next time. (Once again, if you couldn't review the last chapter, please review both that one and this one. Or not, idk).
Hydra- Well boys that brings an end to the reviews thank you so much for reading and a little message to any silent readers out there, don't be afraid to review we won't bite we'd love to meet you and get your opinions on the story whether you liked or disliked it. For all the ones that did take the time to review once again thank you very much and I hope you all enjoyed this 65000 word titan!
