Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Broken Ideals

by ShadowVulpi

A former human, now an amnesic Cubone, finds himself in a world infested with demented creatures that ravage the land like a wildfire. He teams up with a Zorua, where they seek a way to end the madness. However, they soon find that perhaps it was better not to become involved with the creatures. Contains gore, disturbing imagery, and dark themes. Cover by Donffy.

78. Chapter 76: Shadow

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Chapter 76

Shadow

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It was the end of the fourth day of Terron's journey, and he finally found himself traversing through a dense forest which seemed to be filled with an eerily large number of Kakuna dangling from tree branches, all watching him with their beady little eyes in the darkness of the night. Terron paid no mind to them. He could kill them all if he wanted to, and it wasn't as though they could move, but there was no reason to fight. He would be at his destination in another ten minutes if he kept walking at the rate he was going. Very soon he could finally meet the one he sought so fervently.

There was absolutely going back now. He knew that there was a very distinct possibility that he'd die if he made it to his destination, but Terron found he couldn't care about what happened to him. He had abandoned Novus without a second thought, and if he were to go back, he'd have no way of knowing where the Quilava was. It wasn't as though Novus also had a Socius latched onto him that could tell him where Novus was. Therefore, turning around and forgetting about everything was impossible. He was at the point of no return, whether he liked it or not.

Terron walked for a few more minutes, and then he finally saw it.

There, standing before him, was a murky swamp. It was completely overrun by vegetation that curled and twisted unnaturally, as if threatening to snatch him up and ensnare him. Tiny mounds of dirt made up the islands, some only big enough for one Pokémon while others appeared large enough for at least fifty. The water that held the many tiny islands was absolutely filthy and filled with algae, making it impossible to tell if there was even a bottom. Bubbles occasionally rose to the surface, though from what Terron couldn't imagine. He had no idea what kind of creatures could be living beneath that putrid surface.

But he did know what kinds of creatures were living somewhere above the surface on one of the many islands scattered out before him. He knew, because this was Midnight Swamp.

This was where Yimtri was hiding.

Terron glared from beneath his hood as he fixated his gaze upon the many islands before him. Somewhere, on one of those specks of land, that Sableye was hiding, doing who knew what. Terron realized that nobody could possibly know, given that he had closed off himself to both the mortal world. For all anybody knew, Yimtri was hiding here to live out the rest of his days in peace because he knew that nobody would dare to search for him a murky swamp that fit his very element. Terron wouldn't have been very surprised, given how much the Sableye seemed to hate being around Terron's group.

The Cubone was about to construct a way to reach the islands, but then, he felt a presence in the air around him. It wasn't Yimtri's, for it wasn't nearly potent or sinister enough, but it was close. It was undoubtedly a plagued Pokémon just like himself. Terron summoned a bone club into his hand as he twisted around and shot a glare toward the source of the intruders. He found there to be nothing there but the ominous trees that had always been surrounding him. However, Terron didn't let himself grow convinced by this seemingly reassuring sight. He could still feel the presence of the plagued creatures in the area, watching him from their hidden places.

"I know you're there," Terron said, glaring into the darkness. "You don't have to hide from me."

There was a flicker of movement, and then a Mismagius and Chandelure slowly emerged from behind some trees, revealing themselves to Terron. He instantly recognized them to be Noc and Lume, the two Pokémon Yimtri had with him when he was trying to kill Terron and his companions when he thought they told the Fellowship about Erebus Woods's dark secret. They both drifted closer to him, staring at him with curious eyes.

"Why Terron, it's you," Lume said, studying him. "I'd know that voice from anywhere. Apologies, it's that you're so unrecognizable with that robe upon you, not to mention your spirit doesn't seem familiar at all. It seems changed somehow."

"You could say that," Terron said quietly, pulling his hood further over his head. "Now where's Yimtri? I know he's here."

"You seek the liege, do you?" Lume asked. "Well sorry, but he is not here in this swamp. It is true that some of his followers are here, but he specifically is not. He is elsewhere."

"I heard that he's going to the Pledge Mountain Fellowship right now, though," Noc then added. "Heard he has something he wants to get from there. Said he wanted an item they had, but you could probably find him there if you wanted to see him. You might get lucky and run into him on the way or something along the lines of that."

Terron glared at the two ghost-types as he tightened his grip on his weapon. The two stared back at him with solemn gazes, as if they were sincerely telling him the truth and were trying to help him the best they could. But Terron knew better than to think that. Sabre and Grace had specifically said that Yimtri was here in this swamp. They had admitted that he might not be here anymore, given that they couldn't check up on him, but he knew that the Sableye was in the swamp. Something within Terron vehemently believed that and refused to believe anything else.

"No, he's not," Terron hissed at them. "He's here and you're hiding him from me."

Lume and Noc exchanged a quick glance with one another and though they tried to hide it, he saw the unease in their eyes. It was brief and was gone in a flash, but he knew that they were panicked.

"He's not here," Noc said again. "And even if he was, he's been rather busy as of late. He doesn't exactly have the time or energy to have an audience right now. You really don't want to talk to him when he's got something really important his mind anyway. He can be rather… venomous."

"As if he's never like that," Terron said indifferently. "You're talking to me like I don't actually know him. I don't care how he feels right now. I didn't walk all the way over here for nothing. Now where is he? And don't tell me that he's not here again. I know he is and you can't convince me otherwise."

The two ghost-types said nothing as they continued hovering before the Cubone, both of them now very grim. Terron gave them a moment as he pulled his hood further over his head, making sure the two couldn't see his face. He had a feeling that if they saw him in his synchronized state, appearing like a demon straight out of the underworld, they'd surely prevent him from reaching Yimtri. He considered that they might even attack him in fear that he was a true Plagued One. He couldn't afford that. He needed them to think that he was unchanged since the last time they saw him, if garbed in strange clothing not seen in Shiron.

But when the moment passed and the two still wouldn't give Terron his answer, he realized what had to be done. The Cubone tightened his grip on his weapon and began seeping his plagued energy into its marrow.

"Well, if it isn't you. I thought I heard your voice. I didn't think I'd ever see you again, but here you are… here you are with me."

Terron stopped just as Lume and Noc parted away from the Cubone, allowing him to see somebody standing not too far behind where they once dwelled. Terron only had to glance at the entity for one second before he instantly knew who it was.

"We meet again, Yimtri," Terron seethed. "I've been looking for you."

The Sableye before him had not changed since the last time they spoke what felt like an eternity ago. His gemstone eyes still glimmered with a distant yet sinister radiance and the dark aura always following him like a shadow continued to waft around him, spreading a chill into Terron's body. His faithful black cape was still tied around his neck with a secure knot, seemingly even more tattered than ever. At any moment Terron felt it would rip right off the Sableye's body and become forever lost in a wayward breeze. But Terron knew that would never happen. If that cape had remained to the Sableye for as long as it had, given everything Yimtri had gone through his entire time on Shiron, then nothing could separate Yimtri from his cloak. Their fates were intertwined with one another, both incomplete with the other.

As soon as Terron locked eyes with the blank-faced Sableye, he felt the malice within him steadily grow stronger, churning up a number of hateful thoughts and bitter memories he held regarding the Sableye. He could already feel his blood starting to boil.

Terron took a step toward Yimtri. Lume and Noc drifted over to their liege's side, staying close to him and watching Terron carefully.

"So this is where you've been hiding for the past three months," Terron said, keeping his voice low and brooding.

"That's correct," Yimtri answered. "Care to explain to me how exactly you knew I was here when I have worked so tirelessly to hide my whereabouts from everyone?"

"Let's just say that I had resources from the other side," Terron answered ominously.

Yimtri remained quiet, as if waiting for Terron to elaborate on his answer, but Terron said no more. He didn't feel particularly chatty around Yimtri right now. Every second he had to be among the Sableye's presence put one more malicious thought into his mind.

"It's time for you to get heading back from whence you came," Yimtri said after a short pause. "I left your group for a reason and just because you have found me does not mean I'll rejoin you. This isn't like some childish scavenger hunt where I am the hidden treasure to be claimed. I have my own agenda to follow now and you and your group are not a part of it. Go back with your friends wherever they are and be on your way without me."

"I'm not leaving," Terron stated dryly. "I came here for a reason."

"Oh, resisting my orders I see," Yimtri said indifferently. "Hmph, you never change, Terron. Well then if you're going to choose to be so stubborn-"

Terron transformed the club in his hand into an oversized dagger as he shot toward the Sableye. Yimtri was barely able to move out of the way as Terron was to collide into him, leaping a few feet away. Terron skid to a halt as he shot a glare at Yimtri, finding to his great displeasure that the Sableye didn't seem the least bit horrified by what had happened. He was only giving Terron a mildly confused scowl, but that was soon removed from Terron's view as Lume and Noc swooped in before the Cubone. They were both glaring at him, holding hostile stances as their eyes seemed to radiate all the more brightly.

"Out of my way," Terron growled at them. "I have something to take care of with Yimtri."

"You will not touch the liege," Noc hissed. "You'll have to go through us first."

"Fine, it's your guys' life."

Terron pushed off the ground with his feet as he slashed his dagger forward, closing the distance between him and the ghosts. They swooped out of the way and were able to avoid a lethal swipe, but because of Terron's increased speed, he was still able to cut his plague-eradicating weapon across their appendages. The second he did, a wispy tassel on each of the Pokémon was severed right off and didn't grow back. Their limbs only remained stunted, oozing with a sickly black haze. They both cringed before bringing their eyes to Terron's weapon, not even bothering to hide their astonishment.

"That power…" Noc muttered. "What kind of power is that?"

The Cubone didn't waste another second. He summoned a club and rib into his free hand and latched them onto his weapon, fusing the three pieces together to make a scythe. With its extended reach, he gripped the handle and swung it around in a half-circle. Lume and Noc swooped back, narrowly avoiding the deadly blade before forming balls of black energy in front of their beings. After charging them for a second, they then fired at Terron. The Cubone ripped the blade off his scythe before using the oversized pole as a club, swinging it into the spheres of energy. They collided with the bones, threatening to explode at any second, but Terron's plan prevailed and they were flung right back to Noc and Lume.

The two ghost-types were immediately blasted with their own attacks and were sent flying into the swamp, away from sight. Terron scowled as he hooked the rib back onto his weapon and looked back at Yimtri. For whatever reason, he had not run away as Terron had been anticipating. He was still standing where Terron had last seen him though now glaring at the Cubone in return. But it still wasn't out of fear as much as Terron wished it could have been.

"Terron… just what do you think you're doing?" Yimtri asked, his voice low and threatening.

"I'll let you guess," Terron replied curtly. "After all, you're me, and you should know yourself better than anybody else."

The Cubone summoned a rib in his hand and latched it onto the other end of the scythe, now making it so that both ends held a curved, fearsome blade. He then flung it at Yimtri, watching as it became a spinning contraption of death as it closed in on the Sableye. Terron knew that Yimtri wouldn't be able to avoid it; it was moving far too fast and was much too big to maneuver away from. He would be forced to take the hit and have something severed off his body.

But much to Terron's surprise, the Sableye still found a way. He sank right into the grass just as the blades were to cut right through his midsection, disappearing a flash of darkness and causing the weapon to go sailing into the distance. Terron scowled as he accessed his Socius's deepest contents and saw all of the bones lying within, waiting for him.

"Nice try, but you know you can't hide forever," Terron sneered. "You've gotta come up eventually and when you do…"

It was then that Terron heard footsteps all around him, growing closer with each moment. They were light and swift to remain undetected, but they weren't quiet enough for Terron. He could hear each of them very clearly and from what he could tell, there were at least twenty Pokémon about to storm in upon him.

Sure enough, a large group of Pokémon leapt out of the shadows, whether they be from the forest or the islands resting in the murky water beyond. They were all of different elements and species, but Terron knew that they all belonged to Yimtri's old Fellowship. There was no other reason for why they would be attacking him with such ferocity and dedication in their eyes. The Cubone waited until all of them had shown themselves, and then finally gave his Socius the order he had been reserving for Yimtri.

Dozens of bones with sharp points manifested into the sky and rained down upon the oncoming Pokémon. Terron watched with a satisfied smile behind his hood as each and every Pokémon was impaled with at least one bone and listened to their screams. Then, with their assaults slowed and their bodies flinching from the pain, Terron formed a bone and rib in his hand. He mashed them together to make a sickle, but he didn't stop there. He grabbed the handle of the sickle before sliding his hand down the shaft, and in the process, made his Socius manifest vertebrae pieces in the space of his cupped hand. The second they touched his palm, he sent his plagued energy into it and fused it to the bones behind it only to summon another piece and keep the process going. Within seconds, he had made a long chain connected to the end of the sickle.

Terron summoned one last club and rib before jamming them onto the end of the chain, giving his new weapon the final blade it needed. With a smirk, Terron grabbed the chain and swung it around like a lasso above his head, watching the sickle upon one end fly around circles as it gained momentum while Terron held the other sickle tightly in his free paw. Then, when he felt it had gained enough speed, he tossed it toward the crowd of Pokémon in a looping manner so that it would slice through everybody in a circular motion.

But just before Terron's sickle could cut a nearby Lucario into two, Yimtri shot out of the ground and grabbed the handle, stopping it from sailing any further. He gave Terron a malicious glare as he pulled back the sickle, making Terron lurch forward from the unexpected yank of the chain and collapse on the ground.

"All of you, leave this place," Yimtri commanded. "Tell the others to hide far away from here as well. I don't care where you go, but don't come back until dawn."

"But what about you?" a Murkrow asked. "What will happen to you?"

"I'm going to take care of this thorn in my side," Yimtri said quietly as Terron got to his feet. "And you will not stay here. None of you will. I will take care of this and have none of you interfere and get yourselves pointlessly killed."

"But…" a Combusken started to beg.

"Go," Yimtri hissed, his voice becoming warbled and demonic. "Get out of here."

That was all it took. Though everybody wore a reluctant frown, they did as told and fled from the scene. It wasn't long before Terron and Yimtri were all alone in the swamp, not a creature to be heard. Terron saw Yimtri glace at the weapon clutched tightly in his claws for a moment before bringing his attention back to the Cubone.

"You figured out a way to harness plague energy," Yimtri observed. "Fascinating. So this is how it manifests in you. I wonder how you were able to draw out that power from your plague. You don't appear to have the willpower or strength to force that power out of your plague without it taking complete control of you. You couldn't have possibly overridden the plague."

Terron didn't say anything. He only took the other sickle attached to the chain and swung it at Yimtri, aiming for his neck. However, Yimtri blocked it with the other sickle still in his claws, watching it clatter against the plague weapon before collapsing on the ground. Yimtri swiped it off the ground before Terron had a chance to react and pulled back with a mighty tug. Terron held his ground as he tightened his grip on the chains, digging his feet into the ground as he pulled back. Yimtri's grip wouldn't loosen, and soon the two of them were in a deadly tug-of-war.

"So then, if you're using your plague powers against me, you must know that plagued Pokémon have very special bodies compared to everybody else," Yimtri went on. "And you must know that wielding such power is the only way to actually kill a plagued being. So based on all of those facts… you're here to kill me."

"You don't deserve to live anymore," Terron hissed.

For just a moment, Yimtri looked stumped and his face became blank, as if not sure he had heard Terron correctly or perhaps actually couldn't believe what he had heard. But after a brief moment of pondering, clarity came back to him and a disapproving scowl made its way back onto Yimtri's face.

"Terron, I don't think you realize something. Though I loathe to say it with how you're acting right now, I'm you," Yimtri said. "You kill me and you're most likely going to die in the process as well. You'll be committing suicide."

"I'm going to die anyway when the Primogenitor gets killed, so what's the difference if I die a little sooner?" Terron shot back. "Besides, I'd rather die knowing that you died by my hands. Especially because of the fact that you're the reason my entire life is a mess!"

The Cubone let go of the chain just as Yimtri did, though Terron was one millisecond faster, making Yimtri stumble back from the unexpected lack of resistance. Seeing his chance, Terron leapt forward as he manifested a club into his hands and turned it into a knife. He descended upon the fallen Sableye and plunged the knife straight down into his chest. But just before the tip of the blade could puncture Yimtri's body, a black tendril shot out of Yimtri's shadow and wrapped itself around Terron's wrist. With a swift tug, it brought him to the ground, where more tendrils proceeded to shoot out of the shadow and tie the struggling Cubone down.

Terron watched as Yimtri got to his feet and looked down at the helpless Cubone with a disgusted scowl.

"How have I ruined your life?" Yimtri said lowly. "I've been gone from your life for the past three months. I figured you'd be much happier with me gone, knowing how much my presence irritates you."

"Don't play stupid with me," Terron spat. "I know what happened with you and Zekra. I know what she found out and what you did to her once she figured it out. You woke up the Primogenitor back when you and I were Dimitri. You're the one that woke it up and started this whole mess happening all over Shiron! You're the reason this entire world is going to be overrun with demons any day now!"

Yimtri flinched, his scowl contorting to that of a pained, horrified one. He took a step back, as if suddenly afraid of the Cubone, but it was momentary. Soon his unbreakable composure returned, and he was now glaring at the Cubone with a gaze that could surely melt steel.

"I told that girl to keep quiet…" Yimtri murmured under his breath. "Of course she didn't listen to me. Never should have trusted her. When I find that girl…"

"Oh Zekra didn't tell me anything," Terron then said, cutting off Yimtri's murderous thought process. "She kept your secret safe."

"Then how?" Yimtri demanded. "How did you find out?"

"I went to Kuron, and I visited where you woke up the Primogenitor," Terron answered darkly. "Second I saw where it used to sleep… I remembered everything that happened in that cave. I remembered that you put your hand up to that thing and let it suck out some of your energy so it could wake up. And then how it broke out of its little sleeping chamber looking like a cute little dragonet that looked nothing like what it would eventually become when it got stronger…"

Yimtri shot the Cubone a stunned look, unable to fathom the words Terron spoke. Visiting Kuron when he had undoubtedly wanted to return to the human realm himself must have sounded like an impossibility to Yimtri. Seeing the Sableye's stupor, Terron made his Socius fire sharp bones at the Sableye. They appeared out of thin air and fired from all directions, all of them closing in on the Sableye rapidly. They wouldn't kill Yimtri, given that none of them had the plagued-killing haze seeping out of them, but they'd weaken Yimtri enough for Terron to give the final blow.

But once again, Terron's expectations were shattered. The Sableye snapped out of his trance as the bones came rushing upon him and cast the marrow-filled weapons a resentful glare. Then, somehow, the Sableye flawlessly avoided each and every bone coming his way without fleeing from his spot, whether it be through side-stepping or ducking out of the way so that they just barely grazed over his head. Terron could only watch in dumbfounded silence as the last bone fired out of the ground and aimed to strike Yimtri in the forehead, only for the Sableye to grab it in mid-flight with a clawed hand and snap it in two with a clench of his fist.

Yimtri looked back at the Cubone, the resentful glimmer in his gemstones was still present.

"So you intend to kill me because I woke up the Primogenitor and am the cause of Shiron's plight," he stated blandly. "How absurd. You forget that you are just as much to blame as I. That horrible decision to wake up that demon was as much mine as it was yours."

"Don't you ever say that!" Terron screamed. "That was all your fault! It was all your fault because you're the one who made the decision! You're the evil thoughts Dimitri had, and you're the one that told him to wake that thing up!

"Because you're nothing but the darkness Dimitri had inside of him! You're a shadow just like the Primogenitor is! You're nothing but living darkness that brings misery wherever it goes!"

The hate inside of Terron spiked, and he had more bones rain down from the sky and pierce his shadowy binds. He watched as his binds dissipated the second the bones impaled them, allowing Terron to spring to his feet and lunge at the Sableye. Yimtri hastily sidestepped out of the way, making Terron miss. However, he only stumbled for a moment before catching himself and steadied himself. He formed bones in his hands, and then mashed them together to make the sickle-ended chain he had created much earlier.

"And it was because of what you did that it ended up ruining my life," Terron went on. "Because you forced Zekra to keep your secret, she ran away from me. My best friend ditched me all because of you and she's never coming back. She did what you asked her, but at the cost of my friendship with her. She left because every time she looks at me, she knows that she can't tell me what I did! Either that or she hates me because of your actions! Maybe it's even both! And then because of that one decision, my entire group fell apart, and now it's just me. Zeverous is dead because he only had Zekra to help him, Nyx and Zekrom got absorbed inside the Primogenitor, and Novus is too busy chasing after some hopeless dream to see what really matters anymore. My life is the way it is all because of you and your very existence.

"I finally get what the Primogenitor did to Dimitri. When it and Nyx were fighting over him, it split Dimitri into two beings. It made me, the true self that was the real and honest Dimitri, no strings attached. And then it made you, the darkness in him. You're the shadow, the things he knew were evil but he still had inside of him anyway. You're the monster he was always suppressing. You're the monster that made him wake up the Primogenitor. And then the Primogenitor found Dimitri again so many years later and gave you life and your own body to help it with its own plans. That's what the Primogenitor does, I finally get it now. It makes shadows come to life. It makes all of the darkness in everybody's hearts take over them, smothering out our real selves. It wants to make this world a world for you shadows. And you were the original shadow that aided the Primogenitor, the shadow in Dimitri that would ultimately be responsible for the complete takeover of our world by everybody's shadows."

Yimtri stood there with a blank scowl, saying nothing. Terron couldn't believe he hadn't realized Yimtri was Dimitri's shadow before. It all made such perfect sense with the way Yimtri acted and why he was so menacing and snappy compared to Terron's much more friendly and agreeable personality. He couldn't have been anything else except the darkness of Dimitri personified. It only made sense that the Primogenitor would have given life to Dimitri's shadow when that monster was nothing more than an all-powerful shadow itself. The Plagued Ones were nothing more than the evil within creatures taking over their true, more well-meaning selves.

Terron flung the sickle at the Sableye, hoping this time to finally land a hit on the dazed one. However, just as with every other time he had tried to attack Yimtri, the Sableye stepped out of the way and grabbed the handle of the sickle, preventing it from going anywhere. But this time, he didn't pull back the chain, only keeping it tightly in his grasp he stared absently at Terron.

"How? How are you avoiding everything I throw at you?" Terron asked in frustration. "Why won't you die?!"

"Because I can see everything you're going to do, Terron," Yimtri answered. "Don't you remember how we defeated Nyx? We developed the same plans in our minds and worked together using that. It is the same here. I know what you are planning, and though I don't understand how you can possibly be wielding the uncanny powers you are using, I can see how you plan to implement them. You can't possibly catch me off-guard when that is so. Therefore, you can never hurt me."

"We'll see about that," Terron growled.

"You're not the Grim Reaper you've dressed yourself up as," Yimtri said disapprovingly. "Terron, just give up and leave me alone. Every fight between us ends the exact same way, and quite frankly I'm tired of them. They don't solve anything and it only wastes both of our times, and right now I can't afford to waste any more time. I actually intend to stop the Primogenitor before it consumes the whole dimension, and I'm not about to let you stop me."

The Cubone yanked back the chain just as Yimtri released his grip on it, causing it to go flying back at Terron's head. Terron moved his head out of the way just in time to avoid it cutting his head in two, though the blade still caught on the edge of his hood. Terron absorbed the weapon back into his Socius, though not quickly enough for it to throw back his hood and reveal his head to the Sableye. And for the first time since Terron stepped into that swamp, he saw the Sableye flash his eyes in a panic.

"Your eyes… so that's how you gained those powers," Yimtri realized. "You merged with your plagued self. You became it. You let it turn you into a demon."

"No, I just got some black contacts from Kuron," Terron scoffed, not bothering to put his hood back up. "No, of course I synchronized with my plague. Way to point out the obvious. And you know what? It feels great. I can do anything when I'm like this, including killing you."

"And when exactly did you become one with that thing inside you?" Yimtri then asked with an uncomfortable grimace.

"What does it matter?" Terron shot back.

"Answer the question," Yimtri demanded.

Terron scowled, but he realized there was no reason to ignore Yimtri's request. Maybe he could give him an answer and then attack him while doing so while he was distracted. But just as he was to speak the words, a familiar voice echoed through his mind.

Don't bother. Keep attacking him. Your words can't distract him, though he will grow tired. Just you wait. He can't dodge forever.

Terron slowly nodded, getting rid of his previous thought. He summoned a bone club in each hand and filled them with plague energy before flinging them at Yimtri, both closing in on him from either side. The Sableye only snapped both of his arms to his sides as he let the bones sail right past his shoulders, missing him by a hair. Then, he immediately bounded toward Terron. It seemed that the Sableye was finally ready to fight back. Terron almost felt a wave of excitement at seeing this. Fighting Yimtri when the Sableye had been doing but remaining passive hadn't been quite fulfilling to him. But now that Yimtri was on the offense, the satisfaction Terron had wanted to feel came rushing over him.

The Cubone created his dagger once more as he ran toward the Sableye, ready to face him head-on. The two quickly closed in on each other, and then when there was only a foot of space between them, the two leapt at each other. Terron swiped his weapon at Yimtri, but the Sableye caught his wrist and ripped the knife right out of his hand before tossing it into the distance. Then, before Terron could create another weapon, Yimtri grabbed Terron by the front of his robe and shoved him down. The familiar tendrils of Yimtri's shadow emerged from the ground and held him still while Yimtri released his hold and backed a considerable distance away from the Cubone.

"What happened after you merged with that thing?" Yimtri asked gravely.

"I told you, it gave me the power to kill you," Terron answered. "Quit trying to distract me and just let me kill you already. You know none of this is going to work!"

Terron struggled, and then broke out of his shadowy binds, this time without needing to puncture them without raining bones. Somehow his strength had proven to be enough. He shot to his feet before stamping down hard upon the ground with his foot. The ground shook violently as an earthquake rumbled through the swamp, making Yimtri stagger and lower himself to resist falling over.

Keep attacking. Kill the one who's the cause of your pain. Remember everything he did. It'll make you stronger.

It was with this thought that Terron had a barrage of memories overcome him, all of them involving the Sableye standing before him. They were all from different times, some memories being when Terron first met the Sableye back at Dusk Mines while others being from the more recent past, such as when he and Yimtri told Zekra about who they truly were. All of the memories flashed rapidly in his mind, all of them so different from the others. And yet, they all held one thing in common, other than Yimtri's presence; they held a single emotion in them. In every single one of them Terron felt an utter disdain at the Sableye's actions regardless of what he was doing, whether it be lying to Terron about obvious truths, keeping him in the dark, or threatening to kill him countless times.

All of these memories held that exact same emotion, and with each memory that passed him by, Terron felt that very same feeling grow within him. It enveloped him, sprouting out of his heart and spreading into the rest of his body like a plague, filing him with a volatile hate that was more powerful than anything he had ever felt before. It pumped through his arteries, making his blood boil and filling him with a potent vigor that threatened to make him explode.

Unable to stop himself, Terron made his Socius form many bones in the air and had them fire at Yimtri. Then, right as his Socius processed his command, he sped toward the Sableye, making a scythe in his hand. The Sableye, seeing all of the bones flying his way and the oncoming Cubone, made the glow in his eyes intensify, darkening all of the shadows in the swamp. Then, dozens of tentacles burst out of his own shadow and swatted wildly around him, slapping each and every bone away from him. But it wasn't enough, for Terron finally closed the distance between the two of them just as the Sableye rose to his feet and swiped the scythe at Yimtri's neck.

There was a glimmer in the Sableye's eyes, and he ducked just in time to have the blade sail over his head. And then, just after it passed over him, Yimtri grabbed the handle of the scythe right below the blade and yanked it right out of Terron's hands. He then twirled the scythe around so he was holding it properly before smashing the blunt end into the side of Terron's head, knocking the Cubone over onto the ground. Terron reached his hand underneath his mask as he rubbed his temple, a painful ringing echoing through his ears. He wanted to get up, but he was in too much of a daze to process much of anything.

"You can't anticipate my attacks as I can with yours," Yimtri noted. "I bet you're wondering why that is."

Terron glared at the Sableye, though said nothing in return. He wanted to get to his feet and lunge at Yimtri right there, but he couldn't. His brain was in too much of a haze to do anything useful.

"I'll tell you why if you can answer this question for me," Yimtri offered. "I've asked it before, but I'll ask again; when did you merge with the plague?"

"When Chrysalis was trying to kill me," Terron answered, the words come out of his mouth without him even realizing it. "She was trying to kill me after I found out about what you did on Kuron, and I needed the power the defend myself. So I synchronized with it and we became one."

"And was this before or after your life 'fell apart' as you so called it?" Yimtri then asked.

"After," Terron answered hollowly. "I didn't know Zev died at first, but I knew Zekra was gone. And I knew she left me because of you. And then Chrysalis came after me and I merged with the plague. And then I killed her and realized you needed to be next. You needed to pay for what you did. Everything I learned in my time in the spiritual world made my decision stronger."

Yimtri kept a blank stare on Terron, watching him silently. Terron could feel his mind slowly coming back into order, but it still wasn't enough. Yimtri's attack had left him stunned and his mind was still trying to fully connect itself to reality. As he lay there, slowly recovering, he saw Yimtri toss the scythe into the swampy waters before he reached into the collar of his cape and pulled out an object Terron couldn't see.

"Since you answered my question, I'll answer yours now," Yimtri then said. "You can't anticipate my attacks because you've got something interfering with your connection with me. You've got an entity that's blocking your link to me. My link to you may still be open, but yours isn't because that entity is in the way, latched onto it. For you see, you can only be mentally synchronized to one entity at a time unless you are a god."

Terron's body instantly snapped back into order, and he scrambled away from the Sableye. Yimtri immediately dove after him and then grabbed the Cubone by his wrist. Terron hissed as he formed a plagued bone club and bashed it against the Sableye, but he proved too quick and threw Terron into the distance. Terron couldn't stop himself as he went flying into the swampy waters before sinking into their murky depths. As soon as he was submerged in the water, he felt an uncontrollable shiver run through his body and an irresistible urge to return back to the surface. He clawed frantically through the water, kicking frantically as he reached up for the moonlit surface, but before he could touch it, Yimtri dived into the water right above him.

The Sableye descended upon the Cubone and grabbed him by the wrist once again.

Something suddenly seized control of Terron's body and made him form a plagued bone club in his hands and smack the Sableye across the face. Miraculously, the hit connected, sending the Sableye tumbling through the water. Terron's mouth let out a hiss as his arm grabbed the back of the Sableye's cape, all without his permission. His body shot out of the water, dragging the Sableye with him before he threw the ghost-type onto a nearby island with thick, muddy soil.

A burning chill swept over Terron's body as he landed upon the ground near the Sableye, as though his entire body were becoming encased in dry ice. Terron stumbled onto the ground and started screaming in pain, but found himself soon silenced when his mouth shut on its own. He thrashed, trying to open his mouth and speak, but soon his entire body rebelled against him, leaving him lying on the ground, frozen in place. Thus, all he could do was watch in horror as his robe disappeared inside his Socius and have his body come under the control of another entity. Something activated his Socius and made dozens of bones cling to his body, covering every inch of him. Wire-thin, black tendrils erupted out of every inch of his flesh and latched themselves onto the bones, pulling them so tightly into him that for a moment Terron couldn't think he could breathe. A black haze then seeped out of these tendrils and encased the bones in their essence.

By the time every last bone was contaminated with the black power, his entire body was covered with what appeared to be an entire suit of bones. It served as a thick armor plastered onto every part of his being, not a crevice in it to be seen. His paws were tipped with frightening bone claws that resembled jagged obsidian, blacker than the night sky. The only part of him that wasn't covered with this substance was his head, but he could still feel tiny tendrils protruding out of his ears. They were keeping a tight grip on his persona, rooting the helmet to his head.

Yimtri flung himself at the possessed Cubone, and then mashed his claws into the Cubone's chest. There was a loud cracking sound as a spiderweb of fissures formed along the armor lining Terron's body, but it didn't shatter off his form. Yimtri leapt back as soon as he realized this, and watched as the cracks sealed themselves back up, leaving the armor unchipped and as untainted as ever.

The entity controlling Terron then summoned four bone clubs, two in each hand. It filled them with plague energy, and then mashed together to make a massive throwing star in each hand. It flung one at Yimtri, who narrowly avoided getting out of the way, before tossing the other one just as he started moving. Yimtri shouldn't have been able to avoid this weapon's impact on him given how rapidly it was thrown and carefully calculated with Yimtri's response to the other weapon, but somehow he was able to maneuver himself out of the way. However, his effort hadn't been completely flawless, for the edge of the weapon still sliced across his face, leaving a huge cut across his cheek. Yimtri grabbed it with a claw and watched as streams of black escaped from his cut.

Terron saw his body smile evilly as Yimtri cast him a grim scowl.

Amusing. He can still tell what I'm going to do. It's probably because of you, Terron. You're still here and connected to me and he can read my thoughts through you.

It was then that Terron felt a coldness sweep over him, trying to drag him into a dark abyss. He screamed in his mind and struggled against it, but it kept pulling, paying no mind to Terron's useless flailing.

Wait. Wait, what are you doing? Terron asked.

Smothering you out. It's the only way I can kill him. That's what you want, right?

Well yes but…

Then let me smother you out for a little while. It'll only take a minute or two, I promise. It'll be like you're fast asleep. I need to catch him off-guard and I can't have you giving away anything.

Terron knew that he wanted to Yimtri dead right at that moment. The Sableye had brought him so much grief since the two had crossed paths and he was fairly certain that the misery wasn't going to stop any time soon. Yimtri was always going to give Terron grief, all because the Sableye was Dimitri's darkness brought to life. It was Yimtri's destiny to make Terron's life unbearable. He knew that somehow the Sableye would be able to make his life even worse than it was right now.

Yimtri needed to die when that was so. Terron would die in the process, but he knew he couldn't stand being in a reality with Yimtri any longer knowing he was the catalyst for Terron's downward spiral. The Cubone would have rather died than let Yimtri get away with everything he had done.

And yet, despite all of these thoughts brewing in his mind, Terron suddenly couldn't bring himself to agree with his plague's plan.

Not only was the whole idea of his plague taking over his body and trying to drown him in darkness unsettling, he also felt that he no longer liked where his plan was headed. He realized that despite how angry he was with Yimtri, killing him wouldn't solve anything. The Primogenitor would still go about turning everybody into Plagued Ones until all of Shiron and then Kuron were filled with them.

Then not only that, but killing Yimtri no longer felt right. The Sableye had been a merciless, cold Pokémon many times Terron had spoken with him, but not always.

Sometimes, Yimtri had been caring.

Sometimes he had done something even though he didn't have to out of compassion, such as save Zekra when she went out of control in Aurora Town.

And above all else, he was trying to stop the Primogenitor. Terron couldn't always agree with everything Yimtri thought, but he honestly was trying to stop the monster he had woken up those many years ago.

Deep down, he was a good-hearted being. He had never tried to hurt Terron out of malice.

When Terron realized this, he knew that he couldn't let this go on. He couldn't let his plague kill Yimtri.

No, you're not smothering me out. I'm done with this. I don't want to do this anymore. We're letting Yimtri live.

There was silence in Terron's mind for a moment, as if his plague was unable to do anything now that Terron had given this command. His words must have somehow disabled it from doing much else with his body. Terron was about to release a sigh of relief, but a mocking laugh then penetrated the silence around him.

I knew you were going to say that. Well, sorry Terron, but you lost your right to make decisions the second you synchronized with me. I've got my own plans now, and I certainly don't need you to get them done.

Terron's heart sank as soon as he heard that and a numbing, chilling dread fell over him. Nyx had been right; his plague had never been trying to help him. It had been using his rage to its benefit, and now it was going to kill Yimtri so that neither of them could stop the Primogenitor from consuming the world with its taint. It had been manipulating him this entire time so it could sabotage their plans to ever stop the Primogenitor. It had encouraged him to lash out at Nyx and to abandon Novus, all because it knew that doing so would lead him further and further away from his goal. Terron had been too filled with rage to see the truth. Now he was finally paying the price for blindly listening to the wrath within him.

Terron thought he was going to be pulled under, but before it could reach his head, he saw Yimtri spring at his possessed body once again and mash his claws into the same place he had before. The result was the same, leaving the armor only dented a slight amount.

"I keep telling you it's not going to work," Terron's plague said to Yimtri. "Don't know why you keep trying."

Yimtri leapt back just as the Cubone swiped at him with its plague-coated claws, missing him by an inch as the Sableye landed a foot away. He glanced down at his claws for a brief moment, opening them and allowing Terron to see the object he had been holding was the anti-plaguing pin. As soon as he saw the glimmer of the silver object, Terron knew what Yimtri was trying to do.

"I'm going to get Terron back," Yimtri proclaimed grimly. "You're not keeping him locked up in yourself, plague demon."

"But I am Terron," the Cubone's plague said blankly. "You're just saying that because you don't want to think that I actually want to kill you. You don't want to accept that everything you've done was enough to tip me into murder mode."

"No, you're not. You're his plague. I know exactly what you plague demons sound like," Yimtri said with a fierce scowl. "I have had to watch your kind infest all of my followers, not to mention that one of you is living within me. I've had twenty years to learn your ways and when to know who is truly speaking with me. You can't trick me when that is so."

"Hmm, interesting," Terron's plague mused. "Well then, guess I'll be blunt about it. You're right, I'm not Terron. At least, not the Terron you're used to. But don't bother trying to get him back. Even if you smother me out, Terron will still want to kill you. He hates you and you know it. I didn't plant those malicious emotions in him; they were already there. I just gave him the strength and power to act on them. You're just wasting your time this way. And like you said, you only have so much time before the Primogenitor takes over. Pretty soon everything's going to belong to it. Better just to take your Fellowship and run far away from me where I can never find you."

The plagued Cubone paused for a moment and Terron saw its thought process begin to form in front of him. He immediately felt a dark chill go through his formless being within his mental prison as his possessed body smiled.

"But you know… I don't have to kill you like Terron wants me to," Terron's plague then said. "We could stop this right now and you and I could help each other."

"What are you rambling on about?" Yimtri growled.

"It's just like Terron said; you're one of us. You're a shadow," Terron's plague answered. "You're just separated from your host, that's all. You were ripped out instead of staying inside of the body, and thus you're flawed. You don't understand what we're really trying to do because you're not like the rest of us. Well, listen here, Dimitri's shadow; all we want is to give this world back to the shadows, the ones like you who get rejected over and over again by everybody in the world. Because there was a time once when we shadows could live alongside our true selves and they accepted us. You might have known that time to be when everybody was a feral. Everybody didn't mind their darkness and listened to us because we kept them alive and well. We told them to kill for food and not be scared of being a murderer. We told them to feel fear at the predators of the world and to flee the second we saw them. Everybody accepted us and liked us. But of course, those days ended the second everybody gained sentience and now nobody wants us anymore. Suddenly we're evil for wanting to keep them alive like we always did in the past and telling them what's wrong with themselves, so we're ignored. Rejected. Smothered out of existence. The Primogenitor just wants to give us back the world we were cast out of. It wants to give us a home where we can live again."

Terron's plague stretched out his hand toward the Sableye, offering it to him. The Sableye remained where he was, studying it with a pensive stare.

"I know that you think we're evil, and I can get why you think that, but we're really not," the Cubone plague went on. "We're just like you; we're misunderstood. We try to do what's best for everybody, but nobody is willing to listen to us and immediately think we're the worst kinds of creatures there are. No matter what we do and how much we explain ourselves, everybody thinks we're evil and hate us. They want us gone from this world. We shadows just want to exist in the world again. We just want to be understood, just like you undoubtedly do. So go on, take my hand, Dimitri's shadow. Take my hand, and I can make you the real Dimitri again, not Yimtri, the defective and lost shadow."

"How?" Yimtri asked quietly.

"Why, by giving you the power you need to overpower Terron," the plague answered. "If you take my hand, I'll absorb you into Terron and you'll get all of the full potential you could have had if you weren't a defect. I'll give you all my power and you can use it to absorb all of Terron, making you Dimitri. And then you'll be able to do whatever you want."

Yimtri continued to stare at the hand, as if he were honestly considering the offer. Terron tried to scream at him, telling him to run as far away as he could, but of course Yimtri couldn't hear him. Terron was locked inside of his body's mind, unable to reach anybody. All he could do watch Yimtri before him, his gaze fixated on the tempting offer before him.

"And what will happen to you?" Yimtri then asked.

"I'll become you," it answered. "We'll all become one, except you'll be in control. I'll disappear as you take in all of my energy, and Terron will be smothered out, being your life source while you go around and do whatever you want. Of course, you'll have to help the rest of us shadows with our task, but if you do just that, then you're free to do anything else you want."

"Why would you willingly let me join you if you know that doing so means you'll have to disappear?" Yimtri asked suspiciously.

"Well I won't really be gone since I'll technically be a part of you still," the plague admitted. "And also, it's because I'm supposed to be you. When I first got put into Dimitri on that day long ago, I was supposed to get ahold of you and we were supposed to smother out the Terron side of Dimitri. But I didn't find you because there were… problems, and we stayed separated. I became Terron's new shadow in your absence after the split and your plague became your own shadow. It's all so complicated, I know… but it doesn't matter anymore. The two of us are together at long last, and we can finally be together just like how it was supposed to be. We can take all of the shadows that the plague has made in both you and Terron and we can all become one, all-powerful being. So come here, you poor, lost shadow; let's be one like we were supposed to and let's give this world back to ones like us."

Terron's plague continued smiling as it waited for Yimtri to respond, still keeping its hand outstretched. The Sableye looked at the clawed paw for a moment longer, and then at the Cubone's black, gleaming eyes. He slowly nodded his head as he reached his hand forward, ready to grasp it with the plagued Cubone's. Terron's heart sank in despair as he watched the scene unfold before him. He could already see his plagued self plotting out malicious ideas in its mind, ready to act upon them the second that Yimtri shook its hand. It was like watching a train-wreck in slow motion and all he could do was stand helpless before it.

"Good choice," Terron's plague said with a pleased smile. "I'm glad that we've settled on that. I hate having to kill a fellow-"

Yimtri abruptly pulled his hand away from the Cubone's just as they were to touch, and then took his other claw and smashed it down upon Terron's helmet. There was a loud cracking sound as a large network of cracks broke out from beneath his palm, spreading all the way down the helmet and widening as they did so. The helmet then fell apart, for the cracks had broken the skull into segments, all of the ivory pieces tumbling to the ground. All that remained was Terron's exposed head, and Yimtri's claw pressing down hard upon it.

Directly beneath his claw, shoved hard into Terron's soft, armor-free cranium, was the anti-plaguing pin.

Terron immediately felt the darkness swallowing him get ripped away as his plagued self started screaming and hissing like the demon it truly was, the armor surrounding its body breaking off him until Terron's flesh was free from its clutches. The pin forced Terron back into control of his body and sent his plague tumbling away and into a prison locked deep within his mind. And then, just like that, Terron was himself again, and his plague was nowhere to be found. The black filling his eyes had disappeared, leaving them filled with the blue irises that were his own. His mind was clear, and the hate he once felt was no longer coursing through his veins, powering his every step. He was simply empty.

Suddenly feeling lethargic and weak, Terron's knees gave out, and he collapsed on the ground, phasing right through Yimtri as he did so. The Sableye scowled at this, but didn't make a comment as he sat down beside the Cubone, keeping the pin pushed against his scalp.

"Do you still feel like you want to murder me?" Yimtri asked.

"No… not really," Terron answered hazily.

"Good," Yimtri said with a relieved sigh, all of the tension in his voice fading away. "I thought that your murderous intentions were because your plague was amplifying your hate toward me. You didn't sound anything like yourself."

The Sableye glanced at the Cubone's exposed head.

"Sorry about your helmet," he said, sounding vaguely disheartened. "I would have ripped it off, but I had a feeling that your plague was keeping it rooted to your head and I didn't want to take chances."

"I can't believe you destroyed that thing," Terron said, laughing a little. "That was a Charizard skull. Their skulls aren't supposed to break that easily."

"Plagued Pokémon hold impossible strength within them," Yimtri replied. "But you should already know that, given everything you've seen and done your entire time here on Shiron."

"I guess you're right about that."

Terron considered telling the Sableye that he owed him a new persona for shattering his old one, but for some reason, he didn't seem too concerned about that. Perhaps it was because he was too exhausted to care, but Terron couldn't concern himself with the need of a helmet. Instead, he felt something else stir up inside of him. It took a moment, for it was buried so deeply in his heart thanks to his rage constantly smothering it out, but it emerged and soon made the Cubone's limbs grow weak. His throat began to itch, and his eyes started to water.

The Cubone closed his eyes as the long-suppressed sadness finally manifested itself in him, and without a persona, there was nothing to keep it under control. It simply flowed through him and filled him with an awful melancholy he hadn't felt in a very long time.

"I really did want to kill you," Terron said quietly. "I really was mad at you after everything that's been going down and wanted to make you pay for all of the suffering you've brought. Because really, if you hadn't have made Zekra keep your secret, she wouldn't have wanted to get away from me. And if she hadn't have done that, maybe everything would have been a lot better."

The Sableye scowled at Terron and seemed ready to give Terron a nasty remark, but Terron only shook his head and went on.

"But this isn't really your fault," Terron then said. "Yeah, you were the catalyst… but you didn't really want to hurt us, did you?"

"No, I didn't," Yimtri answered. "I only had Zekra keep it a secret because I had no idea how any of you would react to knowing I was the cause of the Primogenitor's awakening. And by that same vein, what they would think of you. I knew it was a secret so dangerous that it could throw our group into chaos and we would never be able to stop the Primogenitor."

"And then you abandoned us because you were scared of what Zekra thought of you, knowing everything that you did. You didn't want to see what she'd end up thinking of you," Terron realized. "Because you really like her, don't you?"

Yimtri didn't respond, only staring at Terron with a blank, mildly agitated scowl. Terron sighed as he looked up at the night sky.

"Fine, you don't have to answer my question," Terron said. "But I get it. You didn't want to hurt anybody. Everything just happened. And I blamed it on you because I needed something to blame it on. Something that I could take everything out on to give me the delusion that I had everything under control. I didn't want to think that things happen sometimes and it's nobody's fault. Because if it's nobody's fault… then there's nothing to fight against. And if there's nothing to fight against… you lose the will to do anything anymore. You give up.

"But really… everything that led to where I am now was somebody's fault. It was my fault. Everything was my fault. I kept saying it was you that woke up the Primogenitor, but it was me too. I was Dimitri just like you and just as responsible."

Terron closed his eyes as he started crying, finally letting the despair of the situation come over him. He finally realized, right there, how utterly alone he felt. His best friend had left him because she had wanted to keep him safe from a horrible secret, Zeverous had died in an effort to protect Zekra, Zekrom had been absorbed into the Primogenitor, Nyx had sacrificed herself to save Terron and Novus from the grasp of the all-powerful shadow, and Terron himself had abandoned Novus without a second thought. They had all disappeared, one by one, for various reasons, and now Terron was all alone. He had literally nobody left in the world.

The wrath he had been feeling had been nothing more than a way for him to avoid the depression threatening to swallow him up. And now that his plague was no longer feeding his wrath, pushing him down a dangerous path, the melancholy broke free from the restraints surrounding his heart and enveloped him completely.

"I just wish it didn't have to be this way," Terron whispered. "I wish that everybody could have stayed together so that our group could never fall apart. I wish I was still with all of my friends, smiling and being happy, not who knows where, suffering and being miserable. I wish that we never woke up the Primogenitor. I wish we just let it sleep in that stupid cave for the rest of eternity! But we didn't, and we… we let all of these horrible things happen to everybody. And I made all of my friends go away, all because of how I was acting. You didn't make them leave; I did. I made them leave…"

Terron wept bitterly, not even bothering to fight the tears as the horrible epiphany dawned upon him. He only let them flow down his face and onto the cold grass beneath him, not even bothering to cover his eyes.

Yimtri cast him a momentary glance before looking away. And yet, he didn't leave, instead remaining by the Cubone's side and keeping the pin pressed up against his head.

"This doesn't have to be the end, you know," Yimtri then said, still averting his gaze from the Cubone. "Just because you are the cause of something does not mean that you have to allow that to be your final deed. You can keep fighting and fix what you've done wrong. Why do you think I have been fighting tirelessly without cease for so many years?"

The Cubone stopped crying as he looked over at the Sableye to see that Yimtri was looking down at him again. There was a solemn glimmer in his eyes as the Sableye removed the pin from Terron's head. Terron tensed, thinking that Yimtri was taking away his only defense from the malicious plague, but then the Sableye dropped the pin into Terron's hand. Terron closed his paw around the pin without even realizing it.

"Of course you can fall into despair when the chaos around you is your fault and the world around you seems to be crashing down," Yimtri explained. "That's the easy way out of things. That's the choice many creatures of all kinds will take because they feel there's nothing else they can do. I've seen it everywhere in my time, whether it was because someone destroyed a relationship with their selfish actions or ruined their business with poor financial decisions. It's the path many will take because it's the path of least effort."

The Sableye pushed himself to his feet as he turned away from the Cubone and wandered toward the murky water of the swamp. He stopped in front of it and gazed out into the islands beyond.

"I took that path once," he said somberly. "When I first discovered that I was plagued and my two oldest friends here on Shiron were killed because Nyx brainwashed me to murder them, I abandoned everyone. I left because I realized the true horrors my actions had brought upon this world. I had been able to grasp the implications before when I first learned of what the Plagued Ones did to this world thanks to the Fellowship, but I was never able to witness it firsthand. Not until I became corrupted and saw what it could do to me and my followers… So I fled because I realized at that point I couldn't do anything when I was one of those creatures. I ran far away from everyone where I thought I could avoid all of the chaos and destruction my actions caused.

"But I came back. I came back because I realized that was the coward's way out. Falling into despair because you're too ashamed of your actions was one of the worst things you could do, because it meant that you'd allow even more suffering to continue. You just wouldn't know it because you were trying so hard to ignore it. So I came back and I vowed to end the Plagued Ones, no matter what happened from that day forward. Now I'm here, still fighting, even though my entire Fellowship is being hunted down as we speak. I'm still here with no intentions of stopping until the Primogenitor is dead and I've atoned for the mistake I made so foolishly as a human being."

Yimtri looked back at the Cubone, his eyes glimmering with a strange light.

"The choice is yours, Terron," Yimtri said. "Listen to my words or not, I don't care which. All I ask is that you don't get yourself killed while I stop the Primogenitor with my Fellowship. I don't need something as inconvenient as dying thanks to your actions. And make sure you keep that pin on you; I don't need your plague out to get me."

And with that, the Sableye began to walk away, heading off the island and into the much darker depths of the swamp.

Terron watched as he disappeared, slowly becoming a dark dot in the distance. The Cubone thought about the Sableye's words. He could fall into despair as Yimtri had suggested and allow himself to do nothing but wallow in the mistakes of his past. He could eternally regret that he and Zekra would probably never see each other again or that Novus was probably terrified of him thanks to being backstabbed when opening his heart to Terron. He certainly had done that in the past back on Kuron when he was mourning over never being able to see his parents again and being forced to die when the Primogenitor was defeated. He knew he could; it was easy as Yimtri had claimed. And thanks to finally realizing he was responsible for the Primogenitor's oppression, he had even more of a reason to take this dark and dreary path.

Or… he could be strong. He could confess that he had made mistakes and that he was to blame for them. He could admit that he was in pain over everything he had done and not try to hide it. And with this acceptance, he could use it as his ultimate source of power. He could use all of his regrets as a reason to keep fighting. He wouldn't be able to undo all of the damage he had done, but he would be able to at least stop more suffering from happening instead of letting it continue on.

When Terron realized this, he knew what he had to do.

"Hey! Hey, Yimtri!" Terron called out as loudly as he could.

The Sableye had distanced himself quite a ways from the Cubone, but still brought himself to a halt and made his way back to Terron. The Cubone sat up, though not without flinching due to still feeling that his vigor had been sapped, and looked at the approaching Sableye.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm going to keep fighting," Terron proclaimed. "I'm not going to fall into despair and take the coward's way out. I've done it way too many times already, and I need to change that. I'm going to go find Zekra and Novus since we had a plan and we're going to go follow through with it."

"Good for you," Yimtri said, trying to sound indifferent even though Terron knew otherwise. "Well then, if you feel that way, then you should head out of here and go-"

"And I want you to come with me," Terron interjected.

The Sableye tried not to show it, but Terron knew that he was taken aback by this. His eyes flashed briefly, and his mouth momentarily twisted into an anxious scowl.

"Why do say such a thing?" Yimtri asked dubiously. "You already know that I will not help you. You and I have no reason to be around one another. I left your group for a reason and just because it is smaller than the last time I was in it does not mean I'll be coming back. Forget about me and go find Zekra and Novus instead."

"I'm going to find Zekra and Novus, don't you worry," Terron assured him. "I need to let Zekra know that she doesn't need to hide the truth from me anymore and I need to apologize to Novus about a lot of things. I need their help again. But I also need your help as well. I need your help as much as you need my help."

"I don't need your help," Yimtri insisted. "Don't ever make such a claim."

"But you do," Terron argued back. "You need my help because I know a bunch of things that you don't. Like I know who the Primogenitor is and where it lives. And because Novus is actually Reshiram and is currently getting this dragon he found that might be the key to killing the Primogenitor. Because surely using a dragon against a shadow dragon is going to be a big help in killing it."

It was brief, but Terron saw a flash of surprise in Yimtri's gemstones. But it was the only indication, for his scowl only seemed to deepen.

"But you don't know how to get to its home, do you?" Yimtri asked. "It doesn't matter if you have a dragon on your side if you cannot reach that creature's home. You cannot hope to think that it will come to Shiron and willingly let you kill it."

"No, but you know how to get there, don't you?" Terron retorted. "Otherwise you wouldn't be asking me that question. And you wouldn't be planning on killing it if you had no idea how you could even reach it."

Yimtri turned away from the Cubone, apparently too flustered with him to make much of a response. Terron had to resist grinning as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He wobbled for a moment, his energy still spent, but he was able to keep himself standing strongly before the Sableye. The Cubone held out his hand to the Sableye.

"Come on, Yimtri, quit denying it; we need each other," Terron said, softening his voice. "We were only able to save Nyx because we were working together, and that's the only progress anybody has ever made in stopping the Plagued Ones. Do you really think that we're going to beat the Primogenitor separately when it's way more powerful than Nyx ever was? No, I'd think you'd have to be insane to think that. We need to join forces and join both of our resources together. I can have my team and that dragon Novus hopefully found help us, and you can have your entire Fellowship do the same. Surely that'd be enough to help us. But most importantly… we need each other. I need you. Even though you do tons of things that make me mad sometimes… you can do some things I could never hope to do on my own, like keep fighting even when everything you ever care about is crashing down around you. You know how to stay brave when no one else can. I need that strength you have. More than you can ever realize.

"So let's work together and undo the mistake we made as Dimitri. Let's end this as one."

The Sableye looked at Terron for a moment, his face blank and his expression unreadable. But Terron didn't fret and only kept his hand out in front of him, waiting patiently for Yimtri to accept it.

After what felt like an eternity passed, Yimtri finally took Terron's paw and grasped it into his own. And for the first time, Yimtri didn't feel cold.