Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 109: White Aura

Heavy breathing ensued through an empty room as a riolu sat with his arms chained to the back of a chair. Hoarse breaths came from his mouth as he struggled to breath with the blood that was dripping from the empty sockets of where a few of his teeth used to be. The riolu attempted to pull on the chains that bound him, but his bones ached too much to try after many previous attempts. Scarred fur and ripped skin on his wrists showed it. A dim light above the riolu gently swayed back and forth as it flickered off for a moment every few seconds. Many gashes and other injures covered the riolu, along with a few claws that had been recently yanked out from his hands.

A steel door opened at the end of the room and a large man entered. The pokemon's head snapped upward as his eyes widened in fear at the sight of the human that towered over him. By his side was a female espeon with fur that was fading to white from age. The human wore black all around his body, and had a trench coat on that held many tools. The humans face was rather boney, while he lacked any hair on the top of his head he did manage to grow a beard that went down a few inches.

"Still awake, are you?" the human spoke in a deep voice as he kneeled down in front of the riolu. The pokemon only met eyes with him for less than a second, before he clenched his eyes shut and flinched as far away as possible. The human scowled as he reached out and tightly grabbed the riolu by the jaw and forced him to meet eyes.

"You look at me when I'm talking, little pokemon." The riolu's eyes dialated as the human continued to hold him. After a few seconds, the his grip released and he said "Last night our soldiers moved in towards the location you mentioned, most of your comrades died quickly, some didn't even see the attack coming."

The riolu gnashed his teeth together and let out a whimper as he tried to look away, but the human grabbed him by the jaw once again and forced eye contact between the two. "You're a traitor to your own kind now. I suggest you remember that. There is no going back from the coward's path you've chosen."

The human released the riolu as he stood up to his feet and turned towards the door. "In twelve hours, you'll be transferred to another facility, there we'll provide you a chance for a new beginning under our terms. Of course, you can make this much harder on yourself and resist." The human began to walk towards the door as the espeon followed behind him.

"Hey!" The riolu called at him. "We had a deal! My friends, what did you do to them?!"

The stone on the espeon's head emitted a small light as she translated the pokemon speech to the human.

"The zorua and absol are alive, you have my word, they won't suffer as long as they tell us what we want," the human answered as he went out the door he came from, and the door slammed behind him, leaving the riolu in silence.

Present time

Blood poured down onto the ground as Mandus used a tree to slowly pull himself off the ground. The lucario's muscles and wounds burned with a pulsing pain. When Mandus managed to stand he had to prop a hand on the tree to keep himself from collapsing. Both Entei and Raikou swapped glances, before they returned their gaze to the dying lucario.

"Foolish mortal, dying so pathetically," Entei snorted. "Should have taken your chance to run, at least then you would have had a chance."

Mandus's muscles shook in exhaustion as he removed his body weight from the tree and stood on his own. Mandus fell forward and barely managed to catch himself and retain his balance.

"It's not happening," Mandus barely managed to speak, "I won't cower away." Mandus rose up both of his hands and pressed his palms together as if he was praying. "I refuse to ever back down from my enemy again." Just as Mandus finished his sentence, a black and white aura flared up around his person. The powerful energy burned around the lucario like a smoldering flame, and with each passing moment, the aura grew larger in size and began to push the dirt around the lucario away forming a crater.

"I don't like this, something is different about this aura," Raikou commented as the fur on the of his neck stood up.

Entei sneered at the sight of the lucario, "The aura feels just like Mew's, although it's an entirely different force at the same time. How peculiar."

The aura around Mandus continued to grow in size and the lucario became nothing but a shadow in the mass of blinding aura to the Legendaries, until all of the energy imploded towards the lucario. As the energy sank into Mandus, his blue fur faded to a snow white color. Mandus's eyes opened, revealing two red eyes that burned with power.

The sneer on Entei grew as he took in the transformed mega lucario. "I had my suspicions about you lucario. The real question though is who committed the taboo of bringing an abomination like you into this world."

Mandus held up his paw and stared at his changed fur color. "My birth was no taboo, this evolutionary state was something I acquired at a young age when I was a naive. Also a result of being neglected by the gods I once looked to for protection."

"Liar," Raikou sharply rose his voice, "To think someone was foolish enough to let this happen again!" Raikou disappeared in a flash, and came as a bolt of lightning towards Mandus. Mandus extended out his hand just as Raikou appeared in front of him and slammed his palm into his forehead. The ground near Raikou's feet split apart as the beast flew back almost as fast as he came at Mandus and didn't come to a stop until he took down a tree in his flight.

"This may be interesting yet," Entei laughed as he crouched low towards the ground, and sprang towards Mandus, leaving an indent of his feet. As he soared through the air towards Mandus. Just as Entei reached the peak of his jump. he opened his maw and a tower of flames extended towards Mandus. In a white blur, Mandus ran from the attack. The ground exploded upon contact with the flames, and as Mandus came to a stop, he stumbled to the ground from not being able to control his speed. Almost as quickly as he fell, Mandus pushed himself off the ground and flew into the air and landed on his feet.

"Very interesting," Entei commented. "It seems like the others who were like you, you inherited the raw power of a Legendary. Tell me, is the white espeon like you as well?"

"I don't owe you an explanation," Mandus responded as he dashed towards Entei. While charging Entei, a bolt of lightning came from his side, but Mandus flipped over it with ease and continued towards Entei.

"If you won't answer me, then you can burn like the rest of them," Entei snarled with anger as the flames on his back grew in size.

All three of the Zylens panted hard with hoarse breaths as they all dodged the unending onslaught from Suicune. Suicune's body dematerialized into the water that drenched the battlefield, and she'd appeared behind one of the three Zylen's.

"Oh shi-" The zoroark yelled as he turned. The Legendary lunged towards the zoroark and clamped her teeth down on his neck. The zoroark yelled in pain as he tried to open her jaw up with his hands, but the force only increased until a loud snap echoed through the air. The zoroark's limbs fell limp as his body flared a bright pink and faded away.

"Troublesome illusions," Suicune muttered as she turned into a liquid and fell to the ground.

"Crud, this isn't good," one of the zoroarks shouted as he jumped onto a tree and climbed up. In mid climb, Suicune came out from the side of the tree and tackled the dark type off. The bipedal fox let out a loud yell when he landed on his back on the ground. Suicune fell from the air and landed full force on Zylen. All the air was pushed out of the fox's body as his body flared a bright color and he disappeared.

"And that just leaves you," Suicune glared out of the corner of her eye towards the last zoroark.

"Don't think I'm finished yet!" Zylen yelled as he shapeshifted into a luxray. Suicune sank into the ground again and got ready to make her next attack. Zylen's eyes burned with a golden light as he scanned the area. With the eyes of a luxray, he was able to spot things most pokemon couldn't, even a pokemon with similar powers to a vaporeon wouldn't be invisible.

Zylen turned in all directions until he set his eyes on a specific spot, "Found you," he excitedly stated as electricity circulated through his fur and he shot a bolt of lightning. Suicune's body began to reform into its solid state just as the bolt of light neared her. The Legendaries eyes grew wide just before her whole body lit up with electricity. Suicune screamed loudly as she flailed around, but unlike before she kept her ground this time.

"You damned mortal, I'll obliterate every trace of you!" she screamed as her eyes clamped shut and she struggled to stand.

Zylen smirked at the sight of his progress in the battle as a cocky fire burned in his ego, "God or no god, you still bleed like the rest of us, and lightning seems to have its effects." More electricity ran through Zylen's fur as he shot another bolt towards the Legendary.

"I won't let you win!" Suicune screamed as she jumped into the air and avoided the bolt. In a quick blur the legendary rocketed towards the ground. Zylen evaded to the side just as the Legendary splashed into the ground and went to her liquid state. Zylen scanned the area all around him, but found nothing. Then, he realized where she was, his eyes beamed down just in time to see Suicune emerging from the ground. Her mouth opened wide as she bit down on the luxray's side and forced him back to his zoroark form. Zylen flew back from the Legendary and smacked down onto the muddy ground. The dark type panted heavily as he gripped the large section of flesh missing in his side.

"Shit, I really screwed up," Zylen cringed as blood seeped from the wound. Suicune spat a chunk of the zoroark's flesh out of her mouth as walked towards him with a loud growl.

"Don't do this," Zylen pleaded as he flipped onto his stomach and tried to pull himself away, but a firm paw on his back kept him in place.

"That's not going to happen," Suicune snarled at him as her claws ripped into his back.

"Please, I just did this because I needed the money, if you show mercy I'll not say a word to anyone!" Suicune responded to the zoroark's pleads with silence as she lowered her maw towards the back of his neck. Zylen felt her teeth break his skin and he began to fight harder to break free. "For the love of arceus don-" Zylens pleads were silenced by the sound of bones snapping. The zoroark laid on his stomach motionless as Suicune licked the blood off her teeth.

"I really wish it could have ended differently zoroark, but I have no choice in the matter," Suicune spoke to the dead body. Just as Suicune was getting ready to seek out her comrades, the zoroark's body exploded in a bright pink light and no trace of his existence was left.

"Wait!" Suicune yelled in shock, "Don't tell me!"

"Crap, my last illusion is down..." Zylen whispered as he ran through the forest on all fours. "Definitely made the right choice on not fighting her," the zoroark laughed to himself. "Now, I just need to find my way out of here."

Zylen came to a dead halt as a bright light off in the distance temporarily blinded him. The zoroark shielded his eyes with both his arms, before a loud explosion went off that was followed by an intense shock wave that forced the zoroark to be pushed back. A white blur moved across Zylen's squinted sight and the zoroark quickly snapped his sight towards whatever it was he saw. Zylen's eyes followed a trail in the dirt that led to a strange white and black bipedal pokemon, one that resembled a lucario.

"M-Mandus?" Zylen called out towards the panting lucario as he pulled his feet out of the ground and walked back towards the way he was thrown. Mandus didn't speak a word to Zylen as he walked past him. "Hey, What's going on, what happened to your fur-"

"Leave," Mandus demanded.

"Yeah, I was in the middle of doing that, but if you have half a brain you'll turn tail and run too."

Mandus's fists tightened as a white aura flared up around his body, "Not until they pay," Mandus growled, "Not until I have vengeance!" Mandus finished just as a spark appeared in front of him, and with a loud boom Raikou teleported in front of him. The Legendary mauled his claw downward towards Mandus, and the lucario caught it with both of his hands, and threw the mighty beast off of him, and then lunged forward with his fist cocked back. Mandus and Raikou both moved in a blur that Zylen couldn't even comprehend. All around Zylen trees exploded into pieces from the attacks, until a tower of flames came towards all of them.

"Arceus!" Zylen yelled as he dove to the side and felt the intense wave of heat passing by. Smoke began to rise from the destruction as Zylen turned back to see that their was a giant path cleared out from the flames.

The Legendary Entei joined the battle going on around the zoroark and repeatedly shot towers of flames at the lucario while evading Raikou at the same time. Zylen's body trembled at the sight of all the destruction, his mind couldn't comprehend the power that the three pokemon had. As the two opposing teams collided, Zylen pushed himself off the ground and began to ponder an exit strategy. He knew if he wasn't careful he'd be killed in the chaos, and he knew he was already blessed by the fact that neither legendary paid him any attention.

As Mandus continued to dodge Raikou, he got an opening and landed a solid kick in the side of his neck. For a moment the two froze as the force created what sounded like a gunshot, and right after the ground split near Raikou and the Legendary went flying. An explosion from the impact could be heard off in the distance, and just as the explosion went off Mandus shot off like a bullet towards Entei.

"Burn!" Entei rose his voice as the flame on his back grew in size. Soon the Legendaries entire body was consumed in flames. In what was a split second, Mandus slid to a stop so fast he tousled to the ground and went past the Legendary just as the flames around him exploded in a blinding white light. Zylen only managed to catch a peek at what was going on for a second before he was forced to turn away and seek cover behind a tree. In an instant everything near Entei was scorched to nothing, leaving nothing but burning cinder on the ground.

A smirk formed on Entei's face as he turned around to face Mandus who was lying on the ground, just barely out of the vicinity of the burned area.

"Barely survived that one lucario. The real challenge here isn't killing you actually," Entei snorted as he began to walk towards the injured lucario. "I find more challenge in not destroying everything around me. My flames are the flames of Hell, and if I truly desired too I could produce a flame that would annihilate this entire forest in an instant."

With very little strength, Mandus looked up towards Entei. Mandus extended his left arm outward and used it to push up, but the instant pressure was applied an intense sting stopped him. Mandus froze at the sight of his left arm, all the skin on it was burned off, and what flesh he had was severely burned.

"Facing me was the equivalence of playing with fire, it was only a matter of time until you got hurt, and now here you are, on the brink of oblivion."

Mandus let out a loud moan of pain as he used his other arm to pull himself to his knees. The rain that poured down from the sky managed to sooth the severe burns on Mandus's arms, but at the same time stung with with the force from each rain drop.

"You fought hard lucario, you have a gift much stronger than any pokemon. You almost even compared to an umbreon named Synn from long ago. Now, I'll ask one last time mortal, who committed the taboo, I'm not stupid, I know full well how pokemon like yourself get divine power. Answer, or I'll slowly burn you till you'll beg to answer me."

"I refuse to answer anything you say," Mandus feebly answered as his fur began to fade back to its original blue color.

"Hmmf, your fur is changing back, and I've never seen a pokemon that can choose when to have divine powers, but I know that the moment you revert back all the pains and injuries will hit you at once. If you were in pain before, the worst is yet to come."

"I'm not done yet..." Mandus panted out as his body completely went back to its normal color, and then his body brightly shined for a moment, before he turned back into a normal lucario. All at once, pain entered Mandus's body. All the shattered bones, lacerated flesh, and burns set in all at once. The lucario let out a loud cry as he fell to the ground.

Zylen watched this scene roll out from behind a tree. It was clear to him that if he didn't do something now Mandus was going to die.

"Damnit, I can't watch this happen," Zylen yelled at himself. "I can do this, I know I can," Zylen pepped talked himself as he dashed towards the Legendary. As Zylen ran, Entei turned towards him. Just as he did, a magenta light light surrounded the area near Zylen, and two other zoroarks spawned behind him. "Please let this work," Zylen prayed as Entei opened his mouth for an attack. The two clones around Zylen both shapeshifted into different pokemon, a greninja and a vaporeon. The real Zylen readied himself just as Entei released flamethrower at them. Both clones shot a hydro pump in unison, while the real Zylen ran out of the way. Steam filled the air as the two attacks collided, but with a moment the two water types were overwhelmed and annihilated. Zylen ran through the thick mist towards Mandus, and once he reached the lucario he picked him up in his arms and held him over his shoulder. Mandus let out a loud grunt of pain as Zylen carried him off through the thick steam.

"We... We can't leave, we can still wi-"

"Oh just shut up!" Zylen snapped at Mandus, "I can touch you and you'd die in your state. You're going to die very fast if you don't get treatment, and their is still the chance you'll die before we get far.

Mandus was about to argue with Zylen, but the pain in his body reminded him that he wasn't invincible. "Alright," the lucario agreed. As Zylen continued to run, a loud howl echoed through the air, one that sounded like it was from Entei. Zylen looked behind him, and saw that no one was pursuing him yet.

"Those howls, they're used as signals most of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if they're regrouping to hunt us down, I'm sure they view you as the biggest threat right now." Mandus didn't respond to Zylen, but the zoroark didn't pry for a response. Knowing that the Legendary beasts were probably hot on his trail, Zylen picked up his pace and continued running with Mandus slung over his shoulder.

Point of view Zylen

Repeatedly, I breathed in and out as my lungs and legs burned from all the running. At this point, the only thing keeping me moving was the adrenaline pumping through my veins. It didn't help that Mandus weighed a lot to be carrying in this situation, if I was to leave him it'd possibly be the difference of life and death, but my conscience would never allow it.

"Arceus, I need a smoke," I complained as one thing offered some relief from all this stress, but stopping this early wasn't an option.

Off in the distance the loud sound of thunder boomed through the air, shattering the constant sound of rain pouring down. Luckily, the rain would offer some cover in the night, and hopefully it'd wash my trail away, but if the beasts were anything comparable to a mightyena then I'd be screwed.

After I covered a bit more ground, I chose to take a minute to repose. I lifted Mandus off my shoulder and leaned him against a tree. The lucario was unconscious, but his faint grunts showed that he was still kicking. Taking my chance, I reached into my mane for a cigarette. I pulled out the stick and held it up, but to my dismay the cigarette was drenched beyond use.

"My luck," I huffed as I threw the cigarette on the ground. Feeling that I had no other reliefs, I leaned against a tree and slid down to allow myself to recover a bit. 'I can't keep going like this, I'm going to pass out from exhaustion.'

For a moment I allowed myself to close my eyes, despite the shitty conditions I felt as if I could fall asleep right here. Suddenly, the rain pouring down around me ceased and everything fell dead silent. My eyes opened to see it for myself, but instead I found myself in a change of scenery. The support against my back disappeared and I fell flat to the ground in this bizarre place.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" I asked as I looked off into the white void. Feeling that something could happen, I stood to my feet and looked around. Everything here was nothing but a white void, and the ground was like water, and even made ripples as I moved.

"Did the Legendary beasts kill me without me even realizing it? How else would I be here?"

"You're not dead young zoroark."

"Who's there?!" I yelled out as I got into a battle ready stance.

My eyes caught a glimpse of something moving above me, and my eyes panned towards the small creature above me. Slowly levitating down was a small catlike creature with a long tail that slowly swayed back and fourth. The feline stared at me with two blue eyes that glowed like embers coming from a fire... except blue.

"I'll ask again, who are you, and if I'm not dead where am I?" I demanded with urgency.

"You have many question, and I will give you answers young zoroark Zylen."

"You know my name... my real one on top of that," I tensely commented.

"I know many things most don't. The place you stand in resides within my mind, while you were brought here without consent I believe it is in your better interest to adhere to what I am going to say," the feline said. Her voice wasn't hostile nor demanding, but I still kept my guard up. "It seems you're unfamiliar with me Zoroark Zylen, perhaps you're familiar with the ancestor of all pokemon?"

"Mew..." I whispered below my breath.

A smile formed on her face, "Good, it pleases me to know I won't have to waste valuable time on introductions. Right now time is potent after all. Now then, I won't waste our time, I have a proposition for you to hear."

"The last proposition I heard from a Legendary got me in this situation..."

"And I'm going to get you out of this situation, I just ask one thing of you, Zoroark Zylen," the Legendary spoke. Talking to Mew felt strange, she was far less condescending than the other Legendaries I saw.

"Alright, I'm listening. Dying isn't really on the top of my list right now."

The Legendary smiled, "Excellent. Right now you're being pursued by the three Legendary beasts. The three beasts are all experts at tracking, in these conditions you'll be found in less than ten minutes, and in a straight up fight you'll die."

"Great..." I scowled.

"It's not looking good for you, unless someone more powerful was to intervene."

"You'd do that... but why for me?"

"That lucario you're carrying, it's very important he doesn't die. In exchange for you keeping Mandus alive until he recovers, I will make sure the Legendary beasts don't find you. They may be experts at tracking, but with my powers I can throw them off without them realizing what's going on."

"So all I have to do is keep Mandus safe, you'll get me through this?"

"Essentially," Mew nodded. "You don't have long to decide though, is it a deal?"

"Easily a yes. I have to ask though, why do you care about Mandus's safety?"

Mew's smile turned to a straight face, "Doesn't concern you. The final terms of the deal are that I'll keep you alive, and in exchange you will get Mandus to safety and keep him alive, you'll also keep silent about my existence, and lastly you will not pursue the white espeon Vincent any further."

"Wait, you know about him?" I urgently asked. "If so, what's the deal with him?"

"Enough questions Zoroark Zylen, While I understand you're confused and have questions, I will not answer. Nurse Mandus back to good health, and if you know what's good for you you'll keep your distance."

I hated the fact that this Legendary was making me her puppet, but I knew my hands were tied. "Alright, just do your thing and I'll fulfill my side of the agreement."

"Good, when you awake, run. Don't stop until you're out of this forest. You won't truly be safe until you're somewhere public, somewhere where the Legendaries won't travel. Now go."

Before I could even open my mouth, Everything around me was moving fast and the white void faded to pitch darkness. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the forest getting poured on by rain. I let out a moan as I stood up off the ground, feeling very well rested like I didn't just go through Hell.

"Did that really just happen, or am I losing my mind?" I asked as I glanced at Mandus. Not wanting to waste my opportunity, I grabbed the lucario and did as Mew told me to do, run.

Point of View Vincent

The four of us all panted in exhaustion as Xerneas lied on the ground covered in bloody gashes, burns, and others wounds that would kill any pokemon. Just like all the previous attempts though, her eyes opened after dying and her wounds healed in a matter of seconds.

"How are we going to beat her?" I asked out loud. 'We can keep hitting her and hope she exhausts herself, but that doesn't sound like a reliable plan, we have no idea how long that'll take, on top of that everyone is exhausted.'

"Gahh! Will you stay down, please?!" Merrick piped up. Out of all of us, he'd been the least useful due to the heavy downpour of rain, not that any of us would have predicted this scenario... With these conditions, the quilava could only manage light flame attacks that did almost nothing to Xerneas.

At this rate I knew we only had one chance of taking Xerneas down, and that was using Zygarde. "Guys, we're running out of choices. I'm resorting to our plan B."

"Are you sure that's the only way?" Scarlet asked as her muscles trembled from overworking herself.

"I believe it's our best chance," I answered. Scarlet gave me a nod before jumping back away from Xerneas. Merrick and Kane followed her lead as they cleared away from Xerneas.

"What are you planning now?" Xerneas asked.

"You'll see soon enough," I replied as the gem on my head radiated with light. A few seconds went by of nothing but rainfall, but then a crack formed in the ground, and then the ground exploded as a mighty serpent god emerged from the ground and let out a loud roar.

"So this was your fate, Zygarde," Xerneas said as she stared at the serpent with a hint of sadness in her voice, "I'm truly sorry."

"Kick her ass Vincent!" Merrick yelled from the sidelines of the battle that was about to take place.

Today I was going to truly test the limits of Zygarde with Legendary versus Legendary. The gem on my head radiated even more until the ground around me was illuminated with red.

Xerneas continued to stare at Zygarde with a pitiful glare, while Zygarde remained an emotionless puppet to my will.

"Forgive me for this, Zygarde," Xerneas whispered as the colorful lights on her antlers glowed more brilliantly than before, blinding everyone around her.

The first one to make a move was Xerneas, the chital created a thick fog in the forest the lowered visibility significantly. I manipulated Zygarde to slither towards Xerneas and charge up his dragon pulse attack. The serpent shot a purple beam aimlessly through the fog that sliced trees in half. Xerneas faded into the mist as the attack neared, and appeared behind the serpent. seeing the fight from my perspective, I saw Xerneas approaching from behind, and as the chital approached Zygarde from behind, I made the serpent move in a circle and slam his tail into Xerneas. The chital let out a cry as she fell to the ground. Then in a quick motion, Zygarde coiled his body once around Xerneas. The chital's movement was restricted as the serpent tightened his muscles around her and sunk his teeth in her for grip.

"Scarlet, Kane!" I yelled out. On command, both Scarlet and Kane came out from behind there cover and dashed towards the immobile Legendary. Both pokemon rammed their blades into the open spots on Xerneas torso. The fairy type let out a loud cry, before she fell unconscious again.

The problem with taking control of her mind, I couldn't actually do it while she was dead, her body had to resurrect for her mind to be accessible, but when she was her body healed too fast for me to get a edge on her mind. If that was the case then, I'd have to find a way to keep her weak long enough for me to actually capture her head, and I think with Zygarde I'd have a way to do it.

"Scarlet, Kane, move back!" I yelled at the two, and the responded in an instant and moved away from Xerneas. The gem on my head radiated brighter as I tapped even deeper into Zygarde's abilities. The ground near the two Legendaries cracked as rocks began to levitate up into the air and surround the two.

My head began to throb and my brain felt as if it was going to burst any moment. My eyes clenched shut as I tried to keep my concentration. Within moments, the ground split into pieces and the two Legendaries lifted up into the air with hundreds of rocks of all different sizes levitating around them.

"Please work," I prayed as I made Zygarde let Xerneas go and quickly slither off the rock that was levitating in the air. By the time Xerneas got to her feet it was too late, my attack was in motion. All the rocks levitating around the chital in every direction went towards her like she was a rock magnet. Xerneas tried to move as rocks smashed into her body, and soon the larger rocks that were around half her size smashed into her, completely encasing her in a rock prison. Within seconds Xerneas was lost in the rocks that trapped her, and a sphere of rocks imprisoned her with very few air holes. Using Zygarde's powers, I made the rocks around her crush her body just enough to slowly suffocate her, but not enough to actually kill her.

"Please work," I said again as I readied myself to capture her mind. I concentrated with everything I had as I felt the Legendary's mind weakening enough for my opening. Using what little mind power I had left, I began the process. Almost immediately I felt my mind reach its limit. I let out a loud grunt as my mind felt as if it was on fire. Xerneas mind resisted my influence as I tried to take her free will away.

The battle of our two minds continued on for around one minute, until Xerneas weakened enough and the capture was a success. My breaths became short as I struggled to breath, and my brain began to pulse.

"Vincent?!" a voice called out as I fell to the ground. "Vincent?!" the voice called again as two arms wrapped around me and lifted me up. My vision began to darken as I looked up to see the shape of a greninja.

"I'll... I'll be alright," I spoke in a faint whisper.

"Are you going to be able to control them, we just need to extract them from this forest," Scarlet asked. I weakly nodded as I looked towards the two Legendaries in the ruins of the area around them. Using Zygarde's power, I removed the rocks that surrounded Xerneas. As all the rocks fell to the ground, the chital did the same.

Doing what little I could with the two Legendaries, I moved Zygarde first. Having two powerful pokemon under my influence felt so strange, controlling both at the same time was going to prove a challenge.

Using my mind, I commanded Zygarde to burrow underground and make us a tunnel so we could safely exit the battle area.

"Let's go," I told everyone as Scarlet held me.

"What about Mandus?" Scarlet asked.

"Let's just focus on extracting Xerneas, it's what Mandus would want," I responded to Scarlet. "Once we extract her we can come back for Mandus.

"Alright, you're weak though, so I'll carry you so we can move as quickly as possible. I gave a weak nod in agreement and Scarlet jumped down the tunnel Zygarde created.

Third person point of view

Off in the distance the roars of the Legendary beasts could be heard as they hunted for Mandus. Silently waiting in the shadows the whole time unnoticed by anyone was a severely scarred jolteon with red eyes. He watched the tunnel Crimson left through for a moment, and then turned away into the darkness of the night.

"The path is clear for Mandus," a voice spoke from above the jolteon.

"Seems Crimson managed to capture Xerneas, in other words I didn't have to step in. Now all we have to do is wait," the pokemon known as Skull Face said.

"It will take some time for Crimson to learn where Yveltal actually is, I'm sure we'll have to pull a lot of strings to actually get things to work out without getting our hands dirty," Mew stated.

"In the meantime, I'll need to find Ryder and finish what I started. Crimson interrupted last time without realising the damage that could be done to Ryder's mind. I can only imagine what kind of effects he is having in his head now... So the sooner we find him the better."

"I've been using my connections to search for him, but since that night in Shalour he's been unseen by anybody, hardly any traces even remain of where he went either."

"Hmmm, I'd doubt he disappeared like that without help. Either way, I'll look into it myself."

"Do as you please, we'll have some time before we can continue the final steps to our plan."

Chapter End

Author Note: Alrighty, managed to get this one done. Heh, this chapter ended up taking longer than usual due to a game I've been waiting for, for 3 years came out and I wanted to play it nonstop XD. So sorry it took a bit longer than usual :/ On an even worse not for you guys, I'm going on another hiatus after next chapter... Yeah, after next chapter will be a good stop to take a break for a month or two. I'll add more info on that next chapter.

Thanks to genericgamer207 for putting in some hard work on this chapter. For some reason my writing skills decided to flat line me at some parts D:

Question: Do you think Mew is good or bad?