The fog of Eterna Forest's deathly atmosphere was thick enough to conceal most things inside it. Things like the crooked black trees that lined nearly every inch of the forest and their warped branches that twisted to look like harrowing hands to the poor lost souls that dared enter its depths.

There was also the infamous Old Chateau; a crumbling old mansion rumored to house the ghosts of its old inhabitants. But the world was filled with ghosts now, torn from their bodies and lives by the void's incarnation Necrozma. Ghosts were far from the world's greatest worry right now.

That notion was most true for the hooded figure who watched over the Old Chateau with narrowed eyes. For him, ghosts were nothing to fear. He had grown beyond that. Now, it was the living that scared him. And as he used his Psychic powers to peer through the ground and see what the building hid beneath, his worries were heightened.

Mewtwo narrowed his eyes down toward the chateau's basement, which was a great deal more lively than one would expect from the depths of a massive grave. People in harrowing black suits busily raced about, bringing all manner of papers, trinkets and what appeared to be weaponry back and forth like a Durant hive.

On a first glance, Mewtwo had thought he'd encountered yet another Team Rocket base. The other Legends had uprooted many of those during the last five months, but very few were major. This, however, was something else. The humans roaming the halls below wore no large, red R insignias. Instead, they wore one depicting an exploding star.

These were Nova Branch workers. In truth, the Legends had encountered a few of them as well, but it was clear as day that they had wanted to be found. The Nova Branchers they found were scattered in small outposts, barely putting up a fight so that they could record the encounters before slinking off into the unknown.

But this…this was different.

There had to be hundreds of them. Perhaps more. A number of Nova Branchers that had never been seen in one place before. This had to mean something. Occasionally, Mewtwo would catch one and read their memories, but would rarely obtain anything of value. And any valuable information was typically just a rumor the subject heard at a gathering.

He had to admit; Christopher Lee was a damn smart man. Perhaps as crafty as he was detestable.

Mewtwo had used these tiny tidbits of information, after absolving the captured grunts of any memory of their encounter and promptly returning them to their positions to minimize suspicion, to piece together rumors into leads, sending him on all sorts of wild chases that led to dead ends.

But now, he had finally done it. All the struggles of searching far and wide all across the world had at last delivered him to his first lead. At last, the Legends...no, the world had a leg up on Team Rocket and their Nova Branch. And he would be damned to let it slip between his fingers.

Reaching out toward them, Mewtwo prepared to sift through their memories. There had to be someone here with valuable information. Someone that could tell them where other bases were located perhaps. Then, they could finally take action.

To his shock, he found resistance to his Psychic powers in the walls of the basement. It was surprisingly strong; so much so that nearly any other Psychic Type Pokémon's power would surely have been negated. But Mewtwo was no ordinary Pokemon.

His eyes flashing a deep blue, Mewtwo increased the potency of his output, penetrating the barrier with ease. And with that done, there was nothing left guarding the Nova Branchers' minds from him. Still, the fact that they had measures to counter Psychic powers...was worrying.

Mewtwo shook that thought from his mind for the moment. That could be focused on later, but now, there was business to attend to. Carefully, he surveyed the minds of those making their way through the base's corridors, taking great care not to alert them of even the slightest irregularity as he scanned their memories. At first, his success was middling. There was plenty of fascinating, if not disturbing, information about the technology they wielded.

Visions of trinkets, traps, concoctions and many other grand-looking machinations were pulled from their mind to his. Just a few years ago, Mewtwo would have been disgusted at the sight; believing them to be nothing more than tools of destruction akin to what had been planned for him. Overtime, he'd grown indifferent to human technology, writing it off as just another aspect of the world.

Recently, he had grown to admire some of humanity's achievements, thanks to the one they call Mr. Star. He had occasionally watched from afar, over the past five months, as the humans directed by that man reconstructed the blackened warzone of the battle for Earth, what was briefly called Johto's Great Scar before it had been buried in grass and flowers, gave new life to an area fraught with death. It had taken less than a week, albeit with Xerneas's aid, to plant enough seeds where Ilex Forest had once been to recreate it in all of its former glory. They were to be given some credit for that.

After all, it was thanks to human technology that he was able to exist and protect this world.

Mewtwo snapped out of his distracted train of thought upon finding the mind of a certain man. He was short, plump and well-adorned with all manner of frivolities. In fact, he was in the midst of gloating about them to a board of several other individuals. Wearing such things was something Mewtwo could never wrap his head around. There was certainly truth in finding gemstones beautiful, but covering one's self in them did nothing for their own beauty in his opinion. They were like flowers, better off remaining where they were rather than plucked and split apart. It was there that they were most beautiful.

The man in question certainly had an air of importance around him however, and when Mewtwo scanned his memories, he soon found out why. In this one man's mind, there was a veritable treasure trove of information about the Nova Branch. Blueprints for machinery, locations of other bases...but nothing on the artificial creation of life. Mewtwo frowned at this. Maybe he should have been looking into Team Rocket more when it came to that subject considering his own origin.

He let out an audible gasp from under his breath upon his next discovery. This man...was directly in league with Christopher Lee. In his memories, Mewtwo saw a large island completely overrun with jungle foliage. It was in Hoenn. Christopher Lee was on an island base in Hoenn! A feeling of elation washed over Mewtwo as he pulled his Psychic focus back from the base. Once he delivered the news to the Hall of Origins, they could at last begin an assault on their enemy's head.

Yet there was an extra option as well. Mewtwo had proven himself capable of piercing the base's Psychic barrier with ease. It should be of little trouble if he were to capture this bejeweled man. Were he to simply teleport him to Mewtwo's position, then both of them back to the Hall, they would have a leg up on Lee. Surely this man would have even more information that Lee wouldn't want escaping, and though Mewtwo could take that for himself in an instant, that factor was unknown to him.

Mewtwo's gaze flicked over his shoulder upon hearing the sound of something whizzing through the air. He leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding a slice to his jugular that instead took off his hood, letting it sail away into the wind. Scowling at his sudden exposure, Mewtwo readied a defensive barrier around himself. It was just in time as well, as another scarcely-visible slash darted across the shield immediately after.

Just as the streak left, he saw some sort of shadow darting out of view. That was his ticket. Reaching out, he grasped at the shadow with Psychic...to no effect. Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. "Is it a Dark-Type Pokemon? How is it that fast?!" He attempted to search for his attacker telepathically, finding nothing. As far as his senses indicated, there was nothing around him but plant life and the Nova Branchers below.

"So it is a Dark-Type," He mused aloud. It's speed was troubling, whatever it was, but Mewtwo was prepared. He had done much training near the Tree of Life, allowing him to mold Aura to a certain extent beyond Mega Evolution and giving him a weapon to counter the dark. "AURA SPHERE!" The power of Aura could lock onto a lifeform just the same as any Psychic power. No matter how fast his attacker was, it couldn't run forever.

The Aura Sphere sailed into the trees in pursuit of the shadow attacker. Then, just as it cleared the third, it suddenly split cleanly into two. Mewtwo's eyes widened. "What the-?!" Before he could react, the shadow raced toward him, plunging its blade into his barrier. Summoning a Shadow Ball, Mewtwo thrust it towards his attacker, eliciting an explosion that sent both of them back.

Quickly regaining himself, Mewtwo summoned two more at his sides, aiming them at the mysterious attacker threateningly. "Who are you," He demanded, "Are you with the Nova Branch?"

As the shadow slid to a stop, Mewtwo was able to get a glimpse at his enemy. A set of sleek, black-ish silver armor headed by an empty visor, pointing its sword back at the Legend in turn. "That does not concern you, Pokemon," Hissed the armor, revealing itself to be able to speak. "You are to leave immediately, else I will be forced to attack."

The armor spoke again, interrupting Mewtwo before he could reply. "...That is what I may have said under normal circumstances. However, this is different."

Mewtwo raised an inquisitive brow. Whatever this thing was, be it some Pokemon he'd never seen or a machine, it was unnerving. He couldn't sense it with either Psychic energy or Aura. It was like there was a bubble of...nothing right in front of him, yet his eyes clearly saw that was untrue. Tentatively, he asked, "Why is that?"

"Because," It spoke, pointing its blade at Mewtwo's neck, "We saw you battle Necrozma with an unprecedented power and ferocity, yet before that instance, there were no sightings or data about you whatsoever. That makes you an unknown—a variable—in our plans. Such a thing cannot be allowed to exist."

"We? Our? So there are more of you." A dozen more Shadow Balls appeared around Mewtwo to shield him. "I assume you refer to either those of the Nova Branch before our very feet, or Team Rocket itself." He mentally debated warping himself and his target away to evade what this encounter may have had in store, but he was not given the opportunity to choose. A blade rushed past his head, narrowly missing flesh, before the armor jumped back to its original place.

The armor said, "You are in no position to ask questions," And then swiftly went on the offensive once more. But upon bringing his sword up, Mewtwo was able to see the insignia inscribed on his suit, confirming his suspicions. That was not what the Legend was concerned with. Rather, it was the fact that this thing got past his array of Shadow Balls and retreated before he could even strike back.

It was his own fault, Mewtwo decided. He had a clear enemy in front of him and made the mistake of directing his focus elsewhere. "Actually," Said Mewtwo as he threw the Shadow Balls toward the armor, "I've got plenty of questions to ask, and none of them are requests."

Diving straight into the fray, it took but a mere moment for the armored figure to slice through the projectiles and appear on the other side. But when he took aim to jab at Mewtwo, he was faced with empty air. Immediately, he whipped around and sliced behind him. But he wasn't fast enough. Another Shadow Ball, one far greater in size and power than the others, was the only thing his blade met. When metal met shadow, a great explosion ensued.

The ensuing shockwave sent the armor flying backwards, revealing three things to Mewtwo. The first was a barrier that showed itself for only a moment. The second was that the barrier could evidently be penetrated for an instance even slimmer than its appearance. And the third stemmed from the penetration itself. In that short moment, dwarfed even by a millisecond, Mewtwo's Psychic powers were able to slip through and touch his enemy. Not long enough to even attain a grip, let alone deal damage, but instead attained the slightest of glimpses into the mind of his enemy.

Before Mewtwo was cut off from the armored figure's mind, he was able to gain one singular thing. One singular memory. The name of his enemy.

Ryder.

That was not a Pokemon name.

"What are you?!" Inquired Mewtwo. "You're no Pokemon, that much is certain, Ryder."

Digging his sword into the ground, Ryder was able to to come to a halt. "So, you know my name. I suppose even his power has some weaknesses if you were able to find that out."

"Who-"

In the blink of an eye, Ryder closed the gap between himself and Mewtwo, attempting to plunge the edge of his sword through Mewtwo's jugular and only missing by a hair when the Legend dodged to the side. "And yes, I am no Pokemon." Another Shadow Ball was loosed toward Ryder, yet he made no move to evade it. Before it struck him, the barrier appeared once more and halted its movement. Trails of shadow seeped from the ball as it attempted to move forward unsuccessfully, and without fear, Ryder reached up, grabbed it, and crushed it in his hand.

"I am human. Is that so difficult to believe?"

Mewtwo stared the man before him down unflinchingly and carefully. "No," He answered truthfully, "I suppose not. Out of any Pokemon, I know most what humans are capable of."

Slowly, Ryder knelt down into a striking stance with his blade pulled back. "Oh? That is surprising. You're the first Pokemon not to underestimate me. I must admit it's a nice change of pace."

"You could say that I've had more than my fair share of encounters with them," Mewtwo told him, "But that is a story for another time. Perhaps when I've brought down that barrier and I've gotten the rest of your memories."

Ryder shifted very slightly. Not many besides Mewtwo would have been able to see the movement. "Funny," He said, "I was going to say something similar about you. Fancy getting to the point?"

Mewtwo gave only a short nod. "I was thinking the same thing."

With the second stage of the battle set, Mewtwo began with another hail of Shadow Balls. Ryder Wasted no time racing through them and slicing apart any that came too close. However, each explosion that ensued after briefly blinded him with smoke. When Ryder cleared Mewtwo's attack, he again found naught but empty air and reflexively slashed behind himself with enough force to cut the ground in a straight line for several feet.

Mewtwo warped in from above, plunging into Ryder's barrier with a massive slab of ground he'd uprooted. Slashing away at the ensuing dust to dispel it, an unharmed Ryder brought up his blade defensively so he could counter any incoming attack. The sound of something whistling through the air caught his attention. An upward stroke cleaved the incoming attack in two, but upon doing so, he realized the folly of his actions.

Above Ryder's head was a veritable rainstorm of Mewtwo's signature attack, and the first was mere inches from his face. Were he to attempt to evade now, he would surely be caught by the explosions, and he did not have much confidence in the barrier. So, with a quick, forceful swing, a blade of wind cleaved through the middle of the Shadow Ball hail and provided him not only with an opening, but also a clear sight of his target.

He leapt from the ground just as the first ball hit the ground and let loose a hellish chain reaction of fire. But Ryder was faster. Leaping from ball to ball, the armored assassin was able to reach Mewtwo in the blink of an eye and send a swing toward his midsection. What saved Mewtwo was a barrier of his own. Disappearing from sight, Mewtwo teleported above Ryder, summoning a Shadow Ball so colossal that Ryder could not see the sky.

Shadowy trails of dark energy swirled back from the ball into Mewtwo's hand as he condensed the ball back to its normal size before crushing, coating his hand with a blazing black mass of fog which he promptly attempted to drive down into Ryder's head. Were it not for the barrier, even Ryder could recognize that he would likely have been killed in an instant. But the barrier could not stop the ensuing descent that followed, with Mewtwo dragging them both straight into the minefield he had already planted.

When Ryder rose again and sliced away at the dust cloud that ensued from the impact, he twitched in irritation at his blade not meeting his target. That irritation was furthered when he saw the state of his barrier, rapidly crackling as the protective energy became unstable. Was this thing supposed to protect him, or was he supposed to protect it? He glowered down at his chest plate, which now housed a socket with which a tiny black crystal was embedded.

He heard something crack and immediately raised his blade to defend so the barrier could stabilize. When he heard the same noise from below, he leapt into the air to evade, not expecting to see the ground rising up after him at even greater speeds. He readied his blade to cleave through it when something above him began to glow brightly. So brightly that, for a brief moment, Ryder could have sworn it had suddenly become day again.

Ryder braced for impact, cleanly landing on the rising platform and turning up to the glowing sky. A pillar of lightning tore down from the dark heavens, tearing through the patch of ground and threatening to do the same to his barrier. A powerful upward slice parted the clouds, and just as well, the lightning. Evidently, it was just in time too, as his barrier was making some sort of screeching noise as if it were screaming. Its form flickered, threatening to give out at any moment.

A Fire Blast hurtled toward him from the left, and upon dispeling it with an upward slice, found a hail of Stone Edges closing in from all sides. When they approached he dodged above the first one and kicked off of it to regain movement, slicing away at the wall of others with ease. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something pink. And there was his target, charging an Ice Beam in his hands.

Flicking his blade, he cleaved through the air to usher in another bizarro Razor Wind. He immediately pulled his blade back defensively, anticipating Mewtwo to teleport out of the way. To his shock, Mewtwo shot the Ice Beam forward and completely froze the blade of wind. In an instant, the ice crawled up to meet Ryder, encasing him and his barrier in a ball of ice.

Warping above it as it fell, Mewtwo raised his hand to the sky, forcefully closing the clouds and redoubling the power of the storm they produced. Lightning billowed across the night sky, gathering directly above him. Mewtwo moved his arm slightly forward, now pointing the lightning toward the ball of ice. "It's over!" Mewtwo declared as he brought his arm down to unleash the cascade of plasma. "THUNDER!"

Like before, another pillar of light broke through the darkness, hurtling toward the helpless Ryder. Whether or not he was still conscious to feel what was about to happen did not matter. The fight was decided. Mewtwo stared down with narrowed eyes as the lightning blasted apart the ice like a Flamethrower attack through paper, as well as blowing away or blackening the surrounding trees and ground. The fight was finished.

Or so he initially believed.

"...What?!"

A wide-eyed Mewtwo stared in disbelief as the armor-clad man held his blade defensively against the pillar of lightning. He had caught it on his blade as if it were a lightning rod. "You do not get to decide when it is over," Ryder said calmly, even though the act of continuing to hold his sword clearly drained him by the second. "This fight it over when my mission is complete. That is my master's decree. Weavile, Night Slash!"

Upon his call, a shadow darted up from the trees toward Mewtwo, its claws becoming coated in dark energy as it rose. Mewtwo whipped around, hurling an Aura Sphere at it before it could intercept. Striking true, the Aura Sphere crashed into the Weavile's chest and sent it hurtling back into the ground where the orb proceeded to explode. Though the ambush failed, Ryder smirked from the inside of his visor.

When Mewtwo turned back to face Ryder, he was faced instead with a pillar of lightning. His pillar of lightning. Ryder brought down his blade, and with it, the Thunder attack. Crying out in surprise, Mewtwo summoned a barrier of his own to defend, but with only that sliver of a second to summon it, could not make one as strong as he'd wanted. Mewtwo's own Thunder slammed against his shield with tremendous force, immediately threatening to tear it apart.

He reached out with Psychic, dispelling the lightning column with the wave of his arm, only to find Ryder's blade stabbing into the shield when it was gone. The ebony sword punched through to the point it nearly touched Mewtwo's abdomen. If his shield had been any weaker, he would have been skewered. Wiping the look of shock off his face, Mewtwo readied a Shadow Ball to strike back against Ryder. In turn, Ryder pulled back his blade into his sheath, preparing to slice with all of his might.

Hurling forward the Shadow Ball, Mewtwo teleported behind Ryder and slung another one at his back. Ryder responded, to Mewtwo's shock, by grabbing the first ball in his hand, whirling around, and hurling it at the one coming from behind. The twitching of Ryder's other arm reminded Mewtwo of the blade it carried, snapping his attention back on it. The loud grinding of metal followed soon after by the roaring of savage winds summoned another horizontal pillar of wind.

Upon clashing with the two Shadow Balls, their ghostly was ensnared by the wind and dragged along with it as they uncontrollably closed in on their creator. Mewtwo summoned a barrier, but the Super-Effective nature of his own attacks, coupled with the force of Ryder's sent him careening to the side. Dispelling the barrier to right himself, Mewtwo found himself beset upon by the Weavile from before. Mewtwo scowled, having admittedly forgotten it.

He knelt over to dodge a Night Slash meant for the back of his neck, then whipped at it to send it crashing through a tree. Using Reflect, he caught Ryder's blade just in time to stop him. Retreating from the shield, Ryder held up his sword defensively, and out from the woods, the Weavile returned to Mewtwo's opposite end with its claws coated in darkness.

Daring a glance back at the Pokemon and earning a glare in turn, Mewtwo turned back to Ryder and said, "I wasn't aware your people recruited Pokemon. It seems rather counter-intuitive, considering your end goal."

"What can I say?" Answered Ryder. "One day, it just ended up sticking to me. Can't remember when, nor do I care. As long as it serves its purpose, I keep it around."

Mewtwo nodded up to Ryder. "And what of you?" He asked. "If I'm to assume the obvious in regards to the poor Weavile's fate should it fail, will your master toss you aside just the same?"

Ryder twitched slightly at that. "...No," He snapped. "Perhaps I was dispensable before, but not now. Not when we're so close!" Weavile leaned past Mewtwo, looking at its master with worry. This did not go unnoticed by Mewtwo. He pitied the poor thing. Even without being able to sense its emotions due to its typing, it was clear that it somehow cared for the monster of a man. Were it not Dark-Type, he'd have half a mind to teleport it far away to free it of this life.

It was unfortunately clear, as Ryder lunged toward his target and, loyally, the Weavile followed, that such a thing was not to be. His best bet would be to knock the poor thing out and leave it behind. His eyes glanced toward the mansion when he realized he could no longer sense them, and upon finding them, found an array of helicopters braving the storm and fleeing the scene.

"Well then," He said with a sigh, "I suppose there's no longer a point to holding back." His attention snapped back to Ryder, his eyes carrying a bright, cyan glow. With a mighty roar, he unleashed a hail of elemental energy in all directions. Lightning poured down from the skies with such rapidity that the rain was soon evaporated. Beyond that, walls of fire and ice burst from the clone's body, assaulting Ryder and Weavile without possible hope of evasion.

Soon growing tired of the onslaught, Ryder sent a pillar of wind through the attacks and toward Mewtwo, only for it to become encased in a cyan glow and freeze in place. Even with his barrier, Ryder could feel the powerful Legend's glare pierce his body. Closing his three fingers together, Mewtwo crushed the wind blade. He knelt down, and to Ryder's horror, encased the entire foreseeable ground in that glow.

Mewtwo made a dragging motion with his arm, ushering in a veritable wave of land to overtake the armored man. Distancing himself from it, Ryder knelt down and prepared to leap above it, but as soon as his feet left the ground, Mewtwo was in his path. A backhanded Shadow Ball detonating in Ryder's face sent him right back into the ground, swallowed by the wave. Isolating where Mewtwo thought Ryder to be, he pulled up a large orb of rock and dust.

"Let us see," Said Mewtwo, "If your barrier can withstand this."

The rock began collapsing in on itself, letting loose a dreadful snap and shriek as stone grinded against itself well beyond its breaking point. From within, Mewtwo could hear the electric crackling of Ryder's barrier as it struggled to retain its form. As soon as it broke, the two of them would be gone in a flash, taken to the Hall of Origins for questioning.

An incoming Dark Pulse forced Mewtwo to abandon the effort to dodge, as the barrier prevented him from warping Ryder with him, letting the smoothened stone fall to the ground with a loud thud. Tossing an Aura Sphere down to the Weavile, Mewtwo turned back to the rock and frowned when it splintered from the inside, then burst outward to release its captive. Ryder wasted no time leaping up after Mewtwo and aiming a blow to his neck. Likewise, Weavile skillfully evaded and thrusted a Night Slash at the Legend's legs.

Mewtwo responded to the double attack by leaning backwards, allowing the attacks to harmlessly sail past him. With his tail, he slammed into Weavile with thunderous force and winced when he heard bone splintering. The poor Weavile's eyes went so wide Mewtwo half-expected them to pop straight out of their sockets before it sailed off into the horizon. Hearing the familiar whistle of Ryder's sword, he instinctively whirled around and deflected the blow with a Reflect.

Backpedaling, Ryder jumped back to the ground and sheathed his sword. Mewtwo sneered down at him, holding out his arm to catch it. "That won't work," He said, "But you may feel free to try. By all means, continue to expend your stamina." If the statement bothered Ryder, he did not verbally show it. He did, however, loose the next wind blade more forcefully. Yet still, it was easily caught and subsequently crushed by Mewtwo's Psychic grip.

For a moment, Ryder considered the option to flee against his better judgement, before it caught back up to him. This was a rare encounter he couldn't possibly give up. If he did, then...perhaps his earlier statement regarding his irreplaceability wouldn't be as true as he'd like to believe. An unknown Legend, and such a powerful one, defeating him and escaping while this new barrier technology was on his side. It was unthinkable.

Ryder grasped at the crystal in his chestplate. Should it fail him, he could destabilize its energy and cause it to detonate. Violently. If he was lucky, the explosion would take this monster down with him, but he doubted that possibility. So long as he could destroy himself before his target invaded his mind...so long as he could destroy himself before his knowledge was turned on his master...so long as he could serve his master to the very end, then it was a victory. Regardless of his survival, his master would know of this threat now. And his master was smart. With time, he could find an answer to anything.

But until that fateful moment, he would be content with causing as many scars as possible. Glancing down to the button on his blade's sheath, Ryder entertained the idea of using his secret weapon before quickly deciding otherwise. Against a Psychic-Type, it would be of little help. So, he took up a defensive stance against Mewtwo defiantly and awaited his next move.

"Ryder."

The armored man trembled slightly, taken aback by the voice who called his name from within his helmet. It was none other than his master. "Yes, sir?" Answered Ryder flatly in an attempt to mask his trepidation.

Mewtwo raised a brow. Sir? It was quite the inopportune time for a call. But if this was his master he spoke so highly of, then this was quite the opportunity for him indeed. To think he'd find even more information on Christopher Lee.

Feeling Mewtwo's piercing stare, Ryder glowered up to him and said to The Man, "Sir, I don't mean any disrespect, but-"

"Yes, I know you're having trouble. The barrier should stop that one from listening in, and as I suspected, it ceased its attack out of curiosity."

"Is it so wise to converse in front of it?" Ryder asked cautiously. "This one is familiar with combatting humans, and loathe as I am to admit it, it's smart."

"Even if it could hear me, nothing I'm about to tell you would be useful to it, provided this encounter does not end as disastrously as your previous mission," The Man assured him, causing Ryder to wince in remorse. "And regardless, this conversation should give your barrier time to repair itself."

Clearing his throat, The Man continued. "It is clear that this Legend is beyond you," He said. "Our data shows that it was able to combat Necrozma alone for a time. Therefore, I have sent an extra hand to aid you, who should reveal itself to you shortly. I also give you permission to use the full extent of your suit's capabilities. Should you be defeated, its secrets would be revealed anyways."

"I thank you, sir," Ryder said gratefully, "But what of the barrier? Did you know that this Legend would appear here?"

"No," Answered The Man. "In time, we will have to deal with a far more powerful Psychic-Type than this one. I gave you the prototype barrier to see how it could deal with an average target should one have arisen while you were stationed there. But this opportunity is greater than I could have imagined."

Ryder instinctively tensed up when his master's tone shifted, each of his next words chilling him to the bone. "Do not fail me, Ryder. If your barrier fails, I expect you know what to do."

Again, the armored man glanced down to the black crystal. "Of course, sir. I was considering the option before you called."

"Very good," Commended The Man. "But before that, do whatever you can to survive until aid arrives. Capturing a powerful Legend such as this would hasten the plan by months."

Ryder shifted from a defensive stance to an offensive one, pulling his blade back. "Understood, sir," He said. "I swear on my life I will not fail you. I will not allow our secrets to fall into enemy hands."

To Ryder's surprise, his master responded by saying, "Take care to stay alive if you can. As it stands, you are irreplaceable." Then, the call went blank, returning Ryder's attention to the battlefield.

"Your master, I presume?" Asked Mewtwo inquisitively. "If you are in a position to directly converse with such a man, if he's the one I'm thinking of, then that must put you in quite a high position."

His eyes shone cyan dangerously. "That means my intuition was correct. I imagine you'll have a treasure trove of information waiting when I pry down that barrier."

Ryder did not respond, instead merely holding his position. Mewtwo stared at the man with narrowed eyes, attempting to decipher whatever his plan was meant to be. "Whatever your plan is," he started, summoning a barrier around himself, "I assure you, it will not work."

A black mass of shadow manifested from between Mewtwo's fingers, but before throwing it, he caught the ground beneath Ryder in a Psychic grasp and jettisoned it to the sky. Ryder's stance broke, making his arms flail in an attempt to regain his balance. When he leapt into the air, Mewtwo responded by hurling the Shadow Ball into his path.

Teleporting above Ryder with another Shadow Ball at the ready, he prepared to plunge the attack directly into the barrier and tear it apart for good, but when the first orb shot into Ryder's shield, what followed was not the explosion Mewtwo expected. His Shadow Ball punched straight through both the shield and Ryder himself as if they weren't even there before sailing off into the horizon.

"What the-?!" Exclaimed a taken-aback Mewtwo. Retreating backwards, he brought up the stone platform Ryder jumped from and hurled it straight into him. Yet again, it acted like Ryder wasn't even there. The armored man's form flickered for a moment, then disappeared into thin air.

Scowling, Mewtwo turned toward the ground in an attempt to catch sight of his target. "Now I understand. It was an illusion of some sort!" His eye flicked toward a thicker area of the forest where the fog had little effect. It was only for a brief moment, but there was definite movement among the greenery.

He wondered if Ryder's master had ordered him to flee and frowned. Far too many of these men had slipped through his and the other Legends' fingers already for him to let another go. The information he already found was great, but this man would prove invaluable.

"You will not escape me, Ryder!" Roared Mewtwo as he descended from the sky. "I won't let you bring your war to light!"

When Mewtwo burst through the first layer of leaves, he immediately spotted the signature silver glow of moonlight reflecting off of metal out of the corner of his eye and immediately rushed after it with speeds that severed the treetops from their trunks. It pained him to cause such harm to the plants, but they would recover.

Ahead of the fleeing Ryder, Mewtwo spotted a patch of stone in the ground. "Perfect." The second Ryder's foot met with the smooth rock, it was split into two and lurched up into the air to catch him like a predator rising from below to consume its prey.

The two stones slammed into each other with enough force to shatter one another. Upon dispelling the dust it created, Mewtwo's eyes widened when he found no trace of the man.

"Another illusion…?" Mewtwo's heart sank at the possibility that Ryder had already escaped, using these phantoms as distractions to make him chase after nothing while he simply ran in the opposite direction. Those fears were dashed when a blade approached from his side. Quickly evading, Mewtwo threw down a Shadow Ball, which Ryder nimbly dodged.

Mewtwo asked, "Am I to presume your dodging means that you are not an illusion?"

"Perhaps," Answered the voice of Ryder. Twice. Mewtwo whipped around toward the source of the voice, summoning another Shadow Ball and pointing it at Ryder, now behind him, to look at the newcomer. He scowled when another Ryder stepped out from behind a tree branch, carelessly twirling his sword. "Or perhaps not. You are more than free to figure out that answer for yourself."

Then Ryder's voice appeared again from Mewtwo's left. "Of course…" Another illusion leapt down from a treetop. An irritated Mewtwo summoned a barrier around himself, electing to summon a multitude of Shadow Balls around himself. He scowled when another Ryder revealed himself, tailed by his Weavile. Mewtwo had half a mind to shoot them, believing them to be real, but was soon corrected when another Weavile dashed from the shadows and took its place beside the Ryder behind him. Evidently, the illusions were not exclusive to Ryder.

Several more copies of the pair revealed themselves to Mewtwo, soon numbering so greatly that they took up just as much of Mewtwo's view as the surrounding forest itself. There was nary a branch on a tree that a Ryder or Weavile did not stand on. "...Our blades will be upon you like rainfall." Their voices all spoke at once, filling the empty forest with their cold, iron speech. "Do you think yourself able to find the real one before my blade pierces your neck?"

Mewtwo suppressed the urge to scoff. "You underestimate me, Ryder. Tell me this: What is your objective?"

The army of Ryders tilted their heads at Mewtwo curiously. "And why," He asked, "Do you ask that? It seems quite clear that you already know."

Shaking his head, Mewtwo reiterated. "Not Team Rocket or the Nova Branch. You, Ryder. Here. Tonight. What is your objective? Do you mean to kill me, capture me, or escape to your master with your tail between your legs?"

A series of chuckles rang up from the Ryders. "That all depends. What are you willing to do to capture me? Our battle so far has done quite a number on this forest, and who knows what poor Pokemon may have gotten caught up in it?" His head tilted toward Mewtwo, allowing the Legend to see himself in the reflection of his ebony visor. "If you want to find my needle in this haystack, are you willing to allow them to be caught in the crossfire? While capturing you would be preferable, perhaps cutting you down here and now would save my master the trouble of dealing with you later."

Suddenly. Mewtwo threw his head upward and howled with laughter, empty and dry. The Weavile's looked at Mewtwo with a trepid concern. If their masters felt similarly, it was masked behind their black helmets. When Mewtwo managed to cease his laughter, he pointed at the Ryder closest to him with a wide smirk planted upon his face. "Like I said, you underestimate me. You must truly think of me as a fool, don't you?"

He took a step forward, causing the ground to shatter the moment he made contact with it. The army of Ryders raised their blades, all pointing squarely at Mewtwo's neck. However, their attempt at an offensive was swiftly forced into defense when a pulse of Psychic energy burst from Mewtwo's body, causing the nearest trees to curve backwards. The Shadow Balls surrounding Mewtwo began to spin around him, growing to such speeds that their ghostly essence began to fly out in all directions until the forest was cast into pure darkness.

"There were many lives here, once upon a time," Spoke Mewtwo from somewhere in the surrounding fog, "But those days are gone. Whatever inhabitants of this forest that were not cut down by Necrozma soon found themselves in the grasp of you lot. There is nothing left!" A collective gasp from the Ryders was drowned out by the roar of the black fog as it intensified. Coupled with Mewtwo's Psychic force, it seemed like the fog was tearing away at the forest itself. "This forest is dead. Destroying the plant life is something I may regret, but any damage I do can be undone."

Mewtwo then revealed himself to the Ryders with the cyan glow of his eyes, piercing the howling black winds he wrought. "But I cannot say the same for your lot. You have made a grave mistake by revealing yourself to me, Ryder. You have given me the key to undoing your master's actions and tearing down your wicked organization for good and all!"

The whole of Mewtwo's form then appeared as small streaks of plasma brought on by the force of his power briefly illuminated his body. "During Necrozma's war, I was forced to feel the lives of billions be snuffed out. But they died believing that, beyond merely survival, they were ushering in an era of peace. No longer would the world be consumed by sorrow and fear. Everything could have gone back to normal, and people and Pokemon would once again live in harmony."

Slowly, Mewtwo raised his hand toward the Ryder closest to him, and the armored man would have sworn that he felt his soul being torn from his body by the immense pressure that the simple action wrought had his trembling legs not been there to remind him that he was still alive. "But you," Spoke Mewtwo with such malice that Ryder felt the heat of his body disappear, "Destroyed that possibility. To see you hanging by your wrists in the Hall of Origins, deprived of your armor and secrets, the list of things I would not do is miniscule."

"Do you believe that I am afraid?" Challenged Ryder with a brief laugh. "Do not flatter yourself, nor believe that you can deceive me. This show of force may mean to intimidate me, but it only serves to deplete your stamina."

To that, Mewtwo glanced at Ryder's trembling legs. "Your body betrays your will."

Ryder retorted, "My body may be weak, but my will is far greater than my body could ever be." Extending his blade out to Mewtwo at arm's length, Ryder continued. "That," He said, "Is because my will is not my own. My will is that of my master, who will reshape the very core of this world with his hands! I am no man. I am a weapon, forged to bring his dreams to reality and to turn your reality into a nightmare. What I am is not a man like my master. I am a sword that wields itself for his sake. And because my will is his, it is unbreakable."

"Perhaps so," Relented Mewtwo, "But can the same be said for your body and mind?" Pointing at Ryder's barrier, he asked. "And what of that? How much more can it take? When your protection fails you, and when your meaningless illusions are cast aside, what will be left to stop me from taking your memories and undoing your precious master?"

And to that, Ryder had only one word. "Me."

With a scoff, Mewtwo retorted, "And what then?" Another burst of raw Psychic energy sent the forest into a frenzy. Hails of stone rocketed far into the air, carrying Ryder and his illusive clones with them. Somehow, the black storm Mewtwo conjured had grown in strength, blotting all else out from Ryder's site besides himself and the stone platform he was trapped on. Of course, there was also Mewtwo himself, awaiting Ryder's next move with open arms.

"Come, then!" Challenged Mewtwo. "Show me your strength! Show me your will! When your true blade strikes my barrier, I will have my victory! Until then, come! Send your powerless illusions my way! I will crush them just the same as I will crush you!"

Fearlessly, the numerous Ryders and Weaviles dove at Mewtwo and accepted their oblivion. Few even made it to their destination before the howling cyclone tore them apart. Those whose false blades made it to Mewtwo harmlessly passed through him, providing little more than a distraction. Elsewhere, the real Ryder and Weavile ducked down, using their clones as cover. In an instant, the poor Dark-Type found its master's blade far too close to its face for comfort. "Dark Pulse," Ordered Ryder simply, to which Weavile hastily nodded.

With an impatient backhand, Mewtwo dispelled the last of the clones, but was swiftly forced to bring back his hand in defense when Weavile attacked with Night Slash. Catching it by the wrist, Mewtwo raised the Dark-Type, meeting it at eye's height and narrowing his eyes. "So, you're the real one," He said, tilting his head to look at the oncoming Ryder. Mewtwo scoffed at him, tossing Weavile onto the nearest stone and sending it plummeting back to the ground. "Then that must make you-"

Ryder's blade met with Mewtwo's shield, cleaving through it as if it were butter. The Legend immediately cut himself off with a gasp, his eyes shooting wide open in shock. Warping out of the blade's path, Mewtwo readied a Shadow Ball to retaliate, only to let out another gasp when the action caused him pain. When he looked down to his abdomen, he found a wound drenched in dark energy. When he looked back to Ryder's blade, he cursed himself for his arrogance upon finding that it swirled with the same darkness. It had been masked by the very storm he caused.

"...No."

Either ignoring this or simply not hearing it, Ryder lunged at Mewtwo again, this time brandishing a flashbang. He had one chance to land this and finish the mission, for he knew he wouldn't get a second chance. What he did not know was that he would never get a first. Warping again out of harm's way, Mewtwo reappeared amidst the soaring stone platforms and obliterated them with a Psychic wave. Though it did nothing to Ryder, he soon found himself falling back to Earth.

To dispel some of the force from the fall, Ryder kicked back from the ground and slid into a defensive stance. Emerging from the forest, Weavile ran to its master's side in spite of the injuries decorating its small body. When Mewtwo reappeared before them, it followed the stance of its master.

"That is enough," Announced Mewtwo.

Ryder replied dryly, "That is not for you to decide. If you could not handle that single wound, then I can only imagine your reaction to this blade being plunged through your chest."

Mewtwo shook his head, but not without keeping his eyes focused squarely on Ryder. "No, I mean this fight is over. I admit to underestimating you, which allowed you to achieve this blow. I will not make that mistake again, nor will I allow for another opportunity for you to attack." A spark of blue energy was emitted from Mewtwo's body, though it was not the same as before. Where it was once a constant stream of Psychic energy creating friction in the air, now it appeared to be a glowing flame.

"With this power, gifted to me by this world, I will end this fight in an instant," Mewtwo declared. Weavile's eyes went wide with terror when Mewtwo's form began to shift. Ryder went to attack before this situation could develop any further, only to immediately be blown back, earning a cry of worry from Weavile. "This is the power of Mega Evolution," Announced the Legend, "Which I used to briefly combat Necrozma himself five months ago."

Rising to his feet, Ryder attempted to dart away from the scene, uncaring for his worried companion, only to yet again be stopped in his tracks when the very ground in front of him became crushed under Mewtwo's overwhelming might. In an instant, Ryder found himself looking over a seemingly-bottomless chasm on all sides where the forest once was. Cursing, he whipped around and pointed his blade at Mewtwo.

The Legend's arm had begun to transfigure, becoming bulkier at the cost of his fingers' size. "There will be no escape for you!" He declared, allowing his power to burst out. In spite of his shield, Ryder was immediately forced onto his knees and watched with horror as waves of energy wracked his protection endlessly. It sparked and whined, threatening to give out at any moment. He knelt down, bringing the sword close to him. Not to defend himself, but to press it against the crystal in his suit.

This detail was not lost on Mewtwo, who, with the simple flick of his wrist, cast up a pillar of stone from the chasm and split it apart, using it to fully encase Ryder's barrier in stone. "I know not what you seek to do, but it will not work! You will not esca-"

He cut himself off when he felt something grasp onto his feet. When his eyes shot down to grasp at it, he felt his stomach churn upon seeing it. A glob of shadow given physical form wrapped around his leg and was spreading fast. Eyes shining blue, Mewtwo attempted to cast off the intruder to no avail. The ground beneath his feet shattered like glass and sent half off the platform he and Ryder stood on into the chasm below, and yet the shadow remained unperturbed.

"What in the world?!" Cried Mewtwo. Abandoning his transformation, he attempted to swat the shadow off physically, yet only succeeded in allowing parts of it to spread onto his arm. It was like fighting the cells of the Tree of Beginning all over again. In a last ditch effort, Mewtwo raised his arm to the black clouds, preparing to call down Thunder. "Another trick of Ryder. Surely you cannot be immune to everything! Begone, sha-"

To his side, he heard the sound of shattering stone, and his eyes widened. When he looked down to it, he was immediately face to face with Ryder once more. The armored man's blade flashed, and then Mewtwo's vision went black.


Ryder watched with cold silence as the last of the shadow seeped into Mewtwo's skin. "So," He said, "It was you who was sent to my aid."

The body of Mewtwo let out a long-winded sigh. It reached up with its bulbous fingers, caressing the face of the body it took and let out a series of ecstatic giggling as it did. "This," Hissed Marshadow as he opened his crimson-hued eyes and grinned at the armored man with a face that didn't belong to it, "Feels incredible! I've never felt such power in all my centuries!"

Deciding to put Marshadow's ignoring of him aside, Ryder instead asked, "What do you plan to do with that body now that you have it? I trust that you still keep your allegiances in mind?"

Marshadow's first response was another ecstatic giggle, followed by the giddy twitching reminiscent of a disturbed child on Christmas morning as it continued to look over its new vessel. After managing to regain a small semblance of its composure, the shadow turned to Ryder with a piercing stare that seemed to look right past his armor. It then turned down to look at the crystal embedded in his armor with wide, shimmering eyes. Eyes that spoke of nothing but envy, a hint of fear, and a begrudging respect.

"...I could never," Spoke Marshadow in Mewtwo's voice. "Even the weakest of those crystals was able to repel this vessel's power for a time. Against what your master has, I would be obliterated." It let loose a series of shrill giggles once more as it flexed Mewtwo's wrists and fingers, allowing itself to once again bask in the glory of its newfound power. "And yet, in my short time that I aligned with him, your master has given me greater power than I could have fathomed."

With another swift twitch of its chin, Marshadow once again turned to stare at Ryder with uncomfortably wide eyes. "No," It said with a shake of its head so small and quick that the Ryder nearly mistook it for another twitch. "I have no intentions of betrayal. Not when so many more vessels so clearly await me by allying myself with him."

Ryder nodded, though the gesture was far from sincere. "Right," He said, "And what about after? When my master has achieved his goal, will you still follow him? Or will your loyalties lie elsewhere?"

Marshadow threw his head back and began howling with laughter, then suddenly cut itself off and replied, "That will depend. Will he continue to be a leader worth serving? But that is a discussion for later. For now, should we not return to him?"

"True enough," Relented Ryder. "Can you use Mewtwo's powers to take us there?"

With a grin, Marshadow eagerly replied, "An intrepid question! As far as I can tell, the majority of this vessel's power is open to me."

Ryder asked, "And the rest?"

Marshadow hummed in thought, placing one of Mewtwo's fingers upon his chest. "A fraction of it is cut off from me by this vessel itself. Normally, a vessel will expire immediately and quickly begin to rot. This one, however, does not follow such restrictions. In short, I cannot access its power to transform into that form it was going to, but the body will not expire because the soul still resides. Most of its memories are also sealed from my grasp."

"Can you suppress it?" Inquired Ryder. "Can you keep Mewtwo from...retaking control?"

The shadow appeared to not have heard him, as it suddenly frowned and began muttering to itself in thought. "Oh, that isn't good," He said, shaking his head. "That isn't good at all. Not at all, not at all."

Ryder stepped forward. "What is it?" He asked. "If there is a problem controlling it, I need to know so that I can neutralize-"

Holding up a hand to stop him, Marshadow shook its head once more. "It's not that," It said. "It's about the information Mewtwo gathered. It's...already been sent to the other Legends."


Forest near Giant Chasm, Unova.

The night was long. Where respite and warmth were desired, only rain and the stygian surroundings of a frigid, moonless, starless sky were given. The Pokemon who remained here tucked themselves away in their trees or burrows to shield themselves from the endless downpour, but to Keldeo, no such thing existed. In days past, the elements were warded off by the bodies of his senior Swords of Justice...and his family. Cobalion. Terrakion. Verizion. Of course, they had long since been taken.

The young Legend writhed in a pool of freezing water beneath the largest tree he could find. His eyes were wrenched shut as tightly as he could muster in the hopes that the effort would forcibly cease his consciousness and end the night's torment once he became too exhausted to stay awake. But his body and mind betrayed him at every turn. His Water typing did not protect him from the discomfort of lying in the pool, yet still shielded him enough to keep him from using its frigid temperature to force unconsciousness either.

Not a second went by where he was not mentally screaming at his mind to simply know when to sleep and shut off. He was too tired to keep his eyes open, but not tired enough for it to matter. And every moment his eyes were closed, visions of his fallen comrades filled his weary mind. When he blinked, he could see their faces again as vividly as if they were still here. And when they opened again, he was stung with the reminder that they were long gone.

Every boom of thunder caused Keldeo's eyes to shut tighter, and the tighter they shut, the closer he came to the war again. The smiling faces of his family disappearing among a sea of faces that met the same fate. Again and again he saw that vision, that damnable vision that the demon Necrozma forced him to see. The Swords of Justice walking away from him, and no matter how hard he imagined himself running to them, he could never catch them before they disappeared.

These dreams-turned-nightmares replayed in his head like a broken recording looping the same horrific scene over and over and over and OVER AGAIN! When he opened his eyes, they were gone, and when he closed them, they were there again. With him again. Only to die before his eyes again. To walk away into the light and leave him behind to wallow in a half-frozen puddle while his fractured mind ate away at his sanity.

Every waking moment was utter torture too horrible to bear, and yet he had no choice but to bear it. His nightmares no longer had any affect on his sleep because they had found a way to wrench their way out of his mind and bite at his sanity piece by piece even during the day. The only respite was sleep, which the visions kept away at every turn until his psyche could no longer bear it and sleep took him.

In sleep, he did not think. In his blank dreams, it was as if he no longer existed, because those who did not think did not exist, and in the months that followed since Necrozma's defeat, the feeling of nonexistence eventually became a comfort rather than a fear. But every single damnable night seemed to take his ability to embrace that nothingness away more and more, regardless of his exhaustion. He was tired. So, so tired of it all. But evidently not tired enough.

The only thing that had stopped him from allowing himself to fall to insanity was his sense of purpose. Those who desecrated the sacrifices of his family and all others who fell in battle defending the very ground with which they stood on could not be allowed to get away with it. He was still needed. And as long as he was still needed, he had a duty to uphold as the last Sword of Justice. His blade would strike down the wicked who prevented peace from returning. That singular fire within him burned far brighter than any chill could hope to exhaust.

"...Forget it," Rasped Keldeo. He forced his weary red eyes open, ignoring the burning sting that accompanied the action. Though his body trembled, he forced it too to obey and pushed up against the ground on his wobbling legs to stand. He heard a sudden rustling among the leaves and turned to see it, finding two small Patrat poking their heads out of a bush to stare at him.

They were definitely young, Keldeo determined. Growing up in a world like this must be hard for them. Figuring his dreary, battle-scarred appearance must have been frightening to them, he attempted to ease their wariness with a smile. It wasn't much. It was exhausting even to do that, but nevertheless, Keldeo forced himself to keep it up.

"Hey there!" He greeted, making the two slightly retreat back into the bush. "Aw, don't be scared, little guys. I'm not bad! I just-"

He stopped upon hearing an angry screech from beside. A Watchog, likely a parent of the two young Patrats, quickly put itself between Keldeo and its children with a ferocious hiss. Stepping back, Keldeo said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt anyone." Judging by the Watchog's savage glare, the attempt to calm it was less than successful. Still, Keldeo kept up his smile and stepped forward. "Look, I'm-"

The Watchog let out a savage hiss when Keldeo drew near, baring its large teeth. Before Keldeo could try to talk it down, it lunged at him with a Super Fang attack. Darting back, the exhausted young Legend only narrowly managed to evade. Again, it hissed at him with more ferocity than before. Though unhurt by the attack, merely looking at the Watchog caused a pang of pain in Keldeo. In what now seemed like ages ago, Terrakion would have acted in a similar way to Pokemon that drew too close to him when he was young.

Nowadays, all Pokemon were more protective of their young than ever before. With the population so low, the next generation would be pivotal in the resurgence of life. Dangers to that generation were not tolerated, and anything that wasn't a friend was an enemy. It stung Keldeo, but he understood. Nearly all Pokemon alive today had seen the war just as he had. He too felt that desire to protect. But for now, he was weary, soon finding his eyes drooping against his will once again.

"...Alright," He said to the Watchog, "I'll leave. Just…" Turning away from them, he let out a long yawn and shook his head in an unsuccessful attempt to rid himself of his grogginess. He looked at them over his shoulder and, before leaving them, said, "Take care of yourselves. It's a dangerous world out there, but you probably don't need me to tell you that." With that, he hobbled off into the rain.

If he could no longer find respite resting where he once did with his family, Keldeo decided he would try for the Giant Chasm. The cold would be nearly unbearable, but it would at least keep him dry. Yet, when he approached the colossal cave, he found himself hesitating. Last he tried to enter, the inhabiting Ice-Types attacked him relentlessly without Kyurem to govern them. But now...perhaps they were necessary. At least if they knocked him out, he'd finally be able to rest.

Keldeo entered the cave's massive maw without further hesitation. He was surprised when it wasn't as cold as he thought it would be, but chalked it up to being too tired to properly feel it. Where he expected to find the sound of an Ice Beam loosed in his direction, he was met only with echoing drops of water. "Is there a leak?" Asked Keldeo aloud. But as he looked up, he found no hole in the roof. What he did find caused him to lose his breath in a sudden gasp. "No...that's not possible!"

The loose droplets of water came not from the rain, but rather, the ice that lined the chasm wall. Kyurem's ice...had begun to melt. Keldeo staggered backwards with his mouth wide open at the realization as if he'd been punched in the jaw. "This...this can't be happening! Kyurem's ice is never supposed to melt!" Before his eyes, the last mark his final companion and teacher left on the world was fading. The Ice-Types hadn't attacked him because they were no longer here. It was no longer habitable for them.

"No!" He roared, shaking his head in an attempt to deny the reality that he'd just seen. "No, I won't believe it! This...this isn't happening! It can't be happening! Is it not enough to take my first family from me?! Why?! Why does the only thing left of my second one have to go with it?!" Furiously, he stomped his hoof into the ground. The wet ground.

Keldeo gasped and jumped backwards, realizing that he had just stomped on the equivalent of Kyurem's remains. He looked down at those remains in horror, seeing himself within them. Broken. Beaten. Scarred. ...Forgotten. And now, a grave defiler on top of it all. It was unbearable to look at, but he couldn't look away. His eyes were transfixed on those of his reflection, only managing to drift away to instead be caught upon his missing horn.

"No…"

His sight flickered, flashing more of the endless visions of his lost family. Terrakion and Verizion running off to fight Necrozma. Cobalion's half-melted body crashing through the trees and begging him to run with tears in his eyes. Kyurem, hanging limply by his neck and then thrown aside like a broken toy. All to save him. Proud warriors with more honor than a pathetic excuse for a Legend like him could ever muster. One who continued to disgrace them even after they were gone.

"I'm… I'm so…!"

Keldeo collapsed to his knees over the puddle. Had he any tears left to give, they would have surely stained the pristine water. Without tears, young Keldeo still wailed. He cried for his family, who had died to protect a failure who could not live up to their name. He cried for Kyurem, who taught him courage and took him in when he had nothing left. He cried for an end to it all. He cried to Arceus, Aura and whatever else was out there for an end to the pain. An end to his waking consciousness. Yet it all fell on deaf ears.

Or so he had thought.

Unbeknownst to him, a shadow rushed across the crystal clear water's surface. Above, the trickling of water from the melting ice suddenly halted, leaving the cave in absolute silence aside from Keldeo. Noticing this, Keldeo looked up with hazy eyes at the puddle. Those hazy eyes became wide when he saw that the water had become black.

Before his very eyes, an ebony vortex opened from the water's reflection, and from it, none other than the Legendary Renegade himself, Giratina, appeared before the young Legend. In his surprise, the wide-eyed Keldeo staggered backwards, tripping over himself. Yet before his head could hit the ground, one of Giratina's tendrils swiftly reached out to catch him.

"You ought to be careful," Chided Giratina with an odd gentleness to his voice that Keldeo had never heard before. "In that state, a few more injuries just might do you in."

Unsure of what to make of this, Keldeo hastily sputtered out, "G-Giratina! What are you-"

"This place," Interrupted Giratina as he looked up to the sorry cave, "Hardly fits a Legend anymore. Once upon a time, perhaps, but graves are best left alone." He turned back to Keldeo, astonishing him with what he believed to be a smile. "And a Legend, one who has sacrificed much for the survival of our world, ought to have a better reward than this. Wasting away, forgotten by those you helped save. It's disgraceful that the other Legends, especially Arceus, have left you like this for so long, and for that…"

What Giratina did next made Keldeo's jaw drop. Giratina had bowed to him of all Pokemon.

"I am truly sorry. I swear, I will make it up to you somehow."

Keldeo blinked a few times, completely stunned by Giratina's act of kindness. "I...I'm not quite sure what to say…"

Raising his head, Giratina shook his head and replied, "You needn't say anything, young one. But if you would accept, I would offer you a place at my side. Now that I am free, I can offer you much more than I ever could while banished."

"I…" Somehow, Giratina kept finding new ways to awe Keldeo with every passing sentence. His entire view of Arceus's bastard child was shifting right before his eyes. "I thought...that the others had forgotten about me. Lugia may have remembered since he recruited me to hunt down Team Rocket, but…"

A low, rumbling sigh emanated from Giratina, shifting his gentle expression into one much darker, but intentionally aimed away from Keldeo. "Most of the Legends are busy either with finding Team Rocket and their Nova Branch or recuperating from the battle, so it is excusable for them, but…" His brow furrowed with a sudden rage. It was so powerful that Keldeo could practically feel it, and yet, he somehow knew that it was held back immensely.

"There is no excuse for Arceus or Mew to have left you alone for so long!" Growled Giratina. "Arceus has become so weak that he cannot see his suffering world without his children to remind him of it! And Mew...perched atop her precious tree, willfully ignoring the world that she has the power to save with a mere finger! Two self-titled gods who do nothing for their creations while their world burns right under their noses!"

He seemed, only after his rant, to remember that Keldeo was present and sighed to relieve some of his rage. "I'm...sorry. Those words were better left for them, not you."

Keldeo looked to the ground in thought, then asked, "Do...you really think Arceus abandoned me? I...think Mew might have, but Arceus?"

"Don't you?" Asked Giratina. "You have the power to open a gate to the Hall of Origins at any time, just as any Legend does. Did you not do so because you believed Arceus would be of no help?" He looked skyward as if he meant to glare at Arceus himself. "I can assure you your intuition wasn't wrong. Even if he claims he reformed, he's too weak to live up to his promises. At most, he would have let you sleep in the Hall, but beyond that, he either would not or could not help you."

He turned back to face Keldeo, using his tendril to stand him back on his feet and then holding it out toward him. "But I can. Where Arceus cannot and Mew will not, I will aid Lugia in saving this world so that I can justify continuing to live in it! After aeons, I can finally see the world again! Just once, I want to see it at peace." Gently, he brought the tendril closer to Keldeo. "And that peace starts with helping those who live in it."


Author's Note

Pokextinction fact of the day: When Aura defeated Necrozma, it did not do so by killing him again. Rather, it bestowed upon Necrozma life, severing him from the void Necrozma drew power from. This did not carry over to Necrozma's crystals because deep down, Aura still thought of them as one of its first ten creations like Arceus and Mew and could not bear to kill it. Without Necrozma himself, the crystals are still powerful, but not nearly as strong as they were with their original master.

Creator- I do love writing battle scenes. Especially ones with clashing philosophies. Writing that banter between Ryder and Mewtwo toward the end of their battle was immensely satisfying, and my goal for this chapter was to write a side of Mewtwo and Giratina not often seen to better flesh them out. It also delves a bit more into Ryder's mentality.

Hydra- Well oh crap if things couldn't already be bad enough, now it seems that the Nova branch has control of Mewtwo himself if that doesn't spell disaster then I don't know what does. On a real note its good to see ya all again! Hopefully school/college/work isn't too rough for you guys. I personally am taking it easy this semester and only taking 4 classes. Anyway on to the reviews!

Leafy- "Wow, gonna say this with absolute certainty, THIS IS THE MOST MATURE POKEMON FANFIC EVAH! And it doesnt have lemon stuff yay. Now to review what leafy has read so far, 1 great use of the legendaries and such, was awesome seeing their personalities undergo such changes. 2 SO HAPPY that hunter J was referenced AND THAT HER SALAMENCE IS ALIVE! And that he gonna be with tobias is cool 3 marshadow is so creepy love it 4 glad poipole is getting love 5 WHY YOU KILL CELEBI!? poor precious onion fairy.. 6 Zero finally got peace AND NOW THEY TRYNNA REMAKE THAT HORROR ÒWÓ BAD!, that is all leafy has to say uwu definitely gonna bookmark and keep up with this story, its really well written and intense. Especially with how detailed you get with say, the Hell Hunters. Hope shaun gets along with mew, or becomes a badass"

Creator- I enjoy long reviews like this so much. Yeah, there's no way I'd ever be able to write lemon without cringing to death. 1. Thank you! One of my greatest prides regarding this fic is how I handles the Legends. Not many were intended to speak at first, but I realized that having them speak would be necessary with how important they would be to the plot. Can't have as much drama if they're just roaring back and forth at each other. 2. I figured that the Terror Titans needed to have SOMETHING since they're the best after the Hell Hunters (by default) so referencing the greatest poacher to ever live seemed right. I also needed Tobias to not be dead weight. 3. Glad you like it. We wanted a creepier spin on it. Would love to see your opinion on it after this chapter. 4. How ironic that the only thing Tobias had left after the war was one of his enemies. Goes to show that it ain't all black and white. Because BW's anime sucked lol. 5. Some people can never let the past rest. Ash is here to make sure it does. Thanks again for the giant review! I hope you'll be a constant reviewer.

Hydra- Ah well I am flattered my friend thank you so much for all the compliments! Celebi's death was very unfortunate as well as all the others, too bad she wasn't powerful enough to stop Necrozma. I'm happy you enjoyed the way we portray the legends though. To be honest the legend's are probably the most cool part to work on besides the villains in the story so it is always reassuring when people say that's one of their favorite parts.

DarkPugLord23- "Ooooooooh! You definitely promised drama, and you have most certainly delivered! And even better, it's going to escalate! I genuinely cannot wait to see what happens next. Also, nice to see Cassidy and Bert again. Or is it Beatrice?"

Creator- I think it was Bart actually. Er...actually, I think it was Brent.

Hydra- Ah yes and be ready to expect some more drama as time goes on. If you thought this was crazy well…. You ain't seen nothing yet!

Amourshipper35- "Wow i enjoyed seeing ash kick some team rocket butt and hopefully soon they will be gone for good"

Creator- Maybe one day Ash will be prepared for trouble. Until then, we can only hope.

Hydra- I don't know if they'll ever be able to get rid of team rocket. Sadly they're like cockroaches.

British-Vulture- "This was the Comedy chapter, I can tell. And, I am with Ash on this one, I don't even remember who Cassidy and Dutch are. Granted, I also never heard of Namba, either.

I've got a lot to the anime to catch up on, seeing as I, the man who can cannibalise and come up with his own version of the Rocket Motto for his own story, cannot remember who Cassidy, Butch and Namba the Sundance Kid even are!

Anyway, I enjoyed this chapter, keep up the good work."

Creator- Ayyyy it's you again! We've missed your reviews a lot. It was half-comedy half-drama. We wanted Zero's name to be brought up again for a mission, but also to re-introduce other Team Rocket villains. Sadly, Pierce and Dr. Zieger aren't iconic enough to carry a chapter, so we've got discount Dr. Wily and the duo with unlimited names. Luckily they're enjoyable. Cassidy and Butch were a parallel to Jessie and James that showed up some time in late Kanto. Dr. Namba was a scientist who tried to capture a Lugia and its child, but for the sake of this story, those two Lugias won't be mentioned.

Hydra- Oh boy if you've never heard of Dr. Namba I'd definitely recommend going back and looking him up. He's quite interesting if I do say so myself.

Creator- Next time, we'll be revisiting where Ash left off. We'll get to see his friends fending off grunts while they take out the trash. But what can Tobias do? Guess we'll just have to find out.

Hydra- Once again I hope this chapter was able to hold up to your guys expectations. As I said before things aren't looking too good at the moment, but at least Keldeo has Giratina watching over him now, that has to be good right? Right? Anyways thanks everyone for your time and hopefully we'll see you all again pretty soon, have a good one!