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Chapter 83

My Brightest Hour

I am Synergy.

I am Willow.

I'm a Plagued One, and I'm about to go down fighting and take the rest of the Plagued Ones on Shiron down with me.

The Primogenitor's time is up. It's done enough damage to the world we all called home just months ago. But when it dies, all the Plagued Ones will disappear, and all their hosts will be dead.

It means that for half of us, the world's about to end. For the other half the world's about to get saved. There aren't a lot of Pokémon left. But those who are left will finally be able to live their lives without fear that they'll be assimilated by some deadly shadow and carried away into the sky. Like I was.

It's weird to imagine that soon, one way or another, I'm going to stop existing. Either we succeed in destroying the Primogenitor or we die trying.

If I were still a Snivy, I would be scared. But Willow isn't scared. Willow is very happy that we're about to do something good for the world. He's so happy that I can't help but to be happy with him. He takes the pain away. He gives me strength.

I'm always surprised at how strong Willow is. He makes me feel invincible. I'm stronger than all of the other Plagued Ones! As the Shadow Hunter I killed so many of them with no effort at all.

The Primogenitor wishes it could command the kind of power we had. The Fellowship generals are all weaklings because they don't synchronize with their hosts. They only absorb, taking full control of the host and leaving its body comatose. The mind, the personality of the host is erased entirely. The generals you see are no different than corpses reanimated by corrupted Aura. That is why they crumble like dry leaves when be bite them. They do not understand the power which comes from a creature and its shadow working as one.

When the Primogenitor learns of our power, I wonder if it will adapt to defeat us. What if it learns how to synchronize its hosts? Then they will be just as strong as we are and they could defeat us.

The Primogenitor knows about synchronization. But it chooses not to allow its hosts to continue existing. It possesses them completely, even when by doing so they lose the power which comes from a sentient creature's soul such as ours.

Why doesn't the Primogenitor just make everyone synchronize like we do? Zekra and Venri seem happy. You and I are very happy. If the Primogenitor let everyone synchronize with their shadows, everyone would be happy, wouldn't they?

An excellent question. I wish I knew the answer. Synchronization requires the consent of both the creature and its shadow, yet the Primogenitor has created so many shadows who do not consent to the bonding. They only devour and enslave. Erebus helped some of those shadows to be open-minded, and in doing so helped to orchestrate the Primogenitor's downfall.

I do not know what the Primogenitor's motives are, but I would suspect they have nothing to do with the happiness of mortal creatures. It is likely the Primogenitor only cares about control. Certainly its minions would grow more powerful by synchronizing, but that power would not be the Primogenitor's to command. It would be a compromise, letting the host keep their free will. Free will which represents the host's ability to resist orders from its master. To the Primogenitor, that is something unacceptable. I think it would prefer to fill the world with a million unthinking, unquestioning minions.

Yeah, but… Filling the world with creatures who can only think the things you think and feel the things you feel…

Wouldn't that get… well, y'know…

Lonely?

More than you know. But for whatever reason, that's what the Primogenitor wants.

And that's why we need to stop it.

Because the few remaining Pokémon left on Shiron don't deserve to be lonely.

… I talk to myself a lot nowadays. It feel so natural talking to Willow that I sometimes forget who's talking.

I feel like Willow and I are very deeply bonded. Everyone else here is a very young synchronized couple. Everyone else resisted, they all thought the plague would make them lose their sanity and their identity so they tried to block out the voice. Even Impetus held back. So Willow and I have had the most practice thinking together and fighting together. Besides Reshiram, we're probably the best fighters here.

Stronger than Reshiram, even. Reshiram might be a god, but he is only still half of a whole. And besides, we are far more… efficient at killing Plagued Ones than even him.

Good point. But I'm sure even Zekra and Terron could become just as good as us with some practice cooperating with their shadows.

The time for learning is over. The time for practicing has passed. The end is coming. Everything we do, we're doing for the last time. This is the time for plans to be put into action. This is the time for victories to be won. This is the time where the strongest of us will shine, and the weaklings will slink into the shadows to be forgotten.

The time is coming for the shadows to die.

Enough talk for now. Our friends are trying to get our attention.

"…Pledge Mountain Fellowship," said Yimtri, pointing at a map. "The place we used to know as the last remaining beacon of hope to the world. The last Fellowship standing against the apocalypse. Now we know that the truth is precisely the opposite. There's a reason Pledge Mountain still standing – it's the core of the Primogenitor's operations. It's the place where the highest-ranking plagued officers rule what is left of the free world. The only reason they could manage this is if they had direct connections to the Primogenitor itself. I believe they are hiding a portal leading directly to the Primogenitor, where the highest circles of command are able to visit the Primogenitor to receive orders. Of course, there's a chance this is all just a coincidence and the portal is located elsewhere. So what we need is to find out for certain before we make any more rash decisions. If we verify that there is a portal somewhere on the compound, we can develop a plan to go for the kill and end this."

There was a sudden hush in our little circle. We didn't like being reminded of our fate and how close we were to it, especially now that things finally seemed to be coming together. We were powerful. We all made friends with our shadows. We even made friends with Reshiram. And now in just a few days, it might all be over. We might be staring at Giratina in the reverse dimension, or left to wander the world as ghosts.

I know what they were all thinking: why did it have to end so soon, now that we became so strong?

We would have all died eventually anyway. Such is life. Old trees will fall to make room for the new.

But we… we will go out fighting. We will end our lives at the peak of our existences. What better death could you ask for, to be heroes to all free Pokémon?

Unsung heroes, though. Nobody would even know what we did. Everyone who would appreciate our sacrifice would be erased.

But heroes nonetheless. Being unappreciated does not change the reality of what you have done.

And besides, I can only promise one thing: whatever happens after we die, you will still have me.

You will never be alone. Even as you face down Giratina's judgment, or drift away into the sky, you will never be alone.

But… you're a Plagued One. You're part of Rem's shadow. You would be erased as soon as the Primogenitor is defeated.

No, Synergy. Now that we have synchronized, we are one. One in soul. And if there is one unending reality to this world we live in…

It's that souls cannot be destroyed. Our body will return to stardust. Our plagued energy might drain away. The aura we use to perform spells might fade and lose its luster. But the soul, the identity who we are, who we have become by fusing together… that's something which can never be destroyed by anything.

The legendary dragons know this. It's also self-evident to anyone who pays close enough attention to the world around us. Look at the stars in the sky. The universe is big enough for all of us who have ever lived, or will ever live.

Smile. This is going to be our brightest hour. And once it's over, we can celebrate it.

Together.

Impetus was whispering something to me. "Syn, I know you're talking to Willow, but I think you need to pay attention. It's important we learn about Pledge Mountain."

Ah, right. She sees that glazed look in our eyes whenever we're talking.

"I am paying attention," we reply. "Don't worry, I haven't missed anything"

The huge, beautiful fire dragon says something. "Perhaps you might not need to concern yourselves. If you are sure the portal is there, I could find it on my own. I would burn the mountain to the ground before anyone would stop me."

"No, for the last time, we're not letting you go in alone, Novus," Zekra says, who's with us again because Terron found her after she ran away earlier. "I don't care how strong you are, they can beat you. They got Zekrom. They also got Nyx a long time ago. And there's no telling how many other legendary creatures they have brainwashed in there."

Novus sighed. It was weird to see a fire god wear humility. "You are correct. After seeing my companions all vanish, I cannot deny the truth of what you say."

"Yeah, and it's not like we have anything to lose anyway," Terron says. "What are you going to do, save our lives? We're all dead meat whether we win or lose. Might as well use the power we have."

"I understand," Novus said, exhaling some white smoke from his nostrils. "I am a guardian by instinct. Sometimes I cannot help it when my thoughts drift in selfless ways, even to the extent of my own folly."

Not a bad instinct to have.

"Someone needs to get into Pledge Mountain," Yimtri says. "And seeing as though the most powerful free Pokémon left in Shiron are all standing here, it's going to be one of us."

"But it's still just a Fellowship base, right?" Terron says. "That's where the Aurora Town Fellowship went, and there are probably hundreds of Fellowship teams who still don't know who they're working for. So why can't we just walk in? We can pose as Fellowship members."

"Not advisable," Yimtri said. "We're on wanted lists now. Everyone knows to look for us. As far as the brainwashed Fellowship teams are concerned, we're all the most dangerous Plagued Ones in the world and to be destroyed at all costs. Unfortunately, it means that we'll have to be… stealthy about this."

He glanced at Zekra. Something was burning in his eyes. I didn't know what it meant, but it made me afraid. Afraid for Zekra.

"We need someone who's good with illusionary tricks, to stay unseen. And someone who's good at fighting, if they happen to run into problems. I can think of only one person here who fits that description…"

"Yeah! It's me," I blurted out. "I can go in."

Well, I think it was Willow who blurted it out. But we both were thinking the same thing. We had to protect Zekra.

Yimtri turned to glare at me. "Absolutely not," he said. "We need someone who can perform illusions, and you can't."

"Says who?!" said a voice from behind Yimtri's back.

He jumped in fright, and turned to see a second head that I had formed on the end of my tail with Willow's help, posed as if to bite his head off.

"I'm the Shadow Hunter," I said proudly. "I'm the best one at being a Plagued One here. I can get into Pledge Mountain, no problem."

"I can't argue with that," Impetus said, crossing her arms. "He has never met a Plagued One he hasn't been able to kill in one attack."

Yimtri started looking angry.

"What got into you?!" Willow said.

He was pushing his luck again. But he wasn't afraid of Yimtri. We could kill Yimtri just like we killed any other Plagued One. He was at our mercy. I think he knew it, which is why he didn't snap at us like he usually snaps at people who he dislikes.

"Yeah," I said through the other head. "Is there a reason you want Zekra to go, instead of the one who's obviously more fit for the job?"

Oooh, that did it. Yimtri started grinding his teeth. "One more word out of you,"

"…and What? You'll put us in time-out?"

"I don't answer to you, Syn."

"I don't answer to anyone either."

"Except maybe Impetus. We can answer to her," Willow then says.

"Hey," I say to him. "Do you think if we're annoying enough, Yimtri will tell us to go to Pledge Mountain just to make us go away?"

"Very possible. Look at him. He looks angry enough that he might mega-evolve."

"That would be interesting. Let's keep annoying him then. I want to see it!"

"I don't know, I heard the Sableye evolution isn't that good…"

"Stop it," Yimtri hisses at me.

"You stop it," I hiss right back.

Yimtri went berserk. But we were ready.

Faster than it took for Yimtri to draw his claws, we had encircled him, both of our heads rising high, eyes glowing like demons, fangs dripping with poisonous sludge. Wisps of fire streamed from all our scales. We even made the sky get darker so it looked like it was about to storm.

He balked. For two whole seconds he was frozen in fear. He wasn't expecting us to have this much power.

Ah, it felt good to have someone like him afraid of us. Willow was very pleased. I tried not to laugh.

Well, that was that. Yimtri sent us to Pledge Mountain. I think he was actually afraid of us. I know he'd never admit it, though.

After he sent us away, Novus-Reshiram wanted to talk to us in private.

"Why did you do that?" he asks me, looking so concerned. "Why did you provoke his anger? It's difficult enough getting him to act rationally."

I smile. "Your instinct to be a guardian… It's not a bad instinct to have," I tell him. "You might say that I was trying to take after you."

The fire dragon looks flattered, and his eyes sparkle at us. "I can't say I quite understand," he says.

"You don't have to," I tell him. "But protect them while we're away, alright? Keep an eye on Yimtri. Make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."

"Fear not," Novus says, "for anything but your own safety."

I felt Willow smile. Nah, don't fear for that either. I've got your back, Syn. Let's get this done with.

We traveled for a few days. Pledge Mountain was pretty far away.

When we got there, it was worse than we thought. We could see the castle up there near the peaks, but it was blurry. A mile around the foothills, Pledge Mountain was surrounded by security. Huge rock beasts patrolled the foothills. Hundreds of birds circled the peak. Watch stations were situated on the cliffs.

It made sense. The naïve Fellowship teams thought it was the last bastion of hope for the free world. Their plagued leaders knew the truth: all that security? It was to keep us out.

To keep me out.

So here it is. The ultimate enemy base. Teeming with thousands of Plagued Ones, all looking for us. Spying from all the shadows.

Probably some legendary beasts in there, too.

Maybe they can pose a challenge. Maybe.

It's not a question of how difficult this will be…

…but a question of how fun we can make this.

Ready for this, Willow?

Can't wait.

So we waited for nightfall and slithered in the shadows. We would be scarier that way.

There was a problem. Yimtri had a good point when he said that we couldn't just appear as a regular Fellowship member. Even if they didn't know that a Serperior had joined the Renegades of Erebus, they kept track of who was a Fellowship member and who wasn't. They'd know if we were a spy posing as an innocent person.

But if we appeared as a Plagued One, the Fellowship teams would all rally to have us executed.

Then we'll appear as something that both the innocent people and the Plagued Ones fear. We'll appear as the Shadow Hunter.

It was actually kind of difficult being the Shadow Hunter without the help of Impetus's body. She gave us the shape and structure we needed to appear bipedal. Without her, it was really hard to stay in a shape like that for a long time. We could manage an hour at most.

But maybe that was all we needed.

So we disassembled ourselves into a wisp and built our body into dark monster. We put extra effort into making ourselves looks scarier than we ever had before. Bright red eyes, blue flames, Wings and spikes… Everything we could think of. And then we approached the Pledge Mountain foothills from the north.

Within minutes, three guards were on us. But they were afraid. I could smell it. And I could see it too. They were shaking. But they approached us because they would probably be executed by their elders if they were caught running away and abandoning their post. Good for us. We didn't want them to run.

"Just where do you think you're going?" one says.

I made one of my arms really huge and made the hand as big as big as my body. I grabbed the Gabite guard by the neck and held him up. His friends only stood and watched in horror.

I said, "Say my name."

The dragon only whimpered and squirmed.

"I will spare your life if you say my name," I said.

He couldn't speak. My grip was too tight. He choked and sputtered and tried to say something, but he couldn't. So I closed my fist and snapped his head off.

Darkness wafted from his body. Plagued one. Probably in the lesser stages.

So I grabbed another. A Pyroar. Huge beast. Lifted him right into the air by the neck.

"Say my name and I will spare your life," I said.

This one was ready. He said my name before I closed his windpipe too tight. So I dropped him.

"I'm entering Pledge Mountain," I informed them. "We can do this on your terms. Or we can do this on mine. It is your decision. If your leaders would put you to death for defying them, so be it. It means you get to choose how you die."

I made my eyes glow brighter and I turned my arm into a sickle.

The Pyroar coughed and pawed at his throat. "Fine. You want to speak to the commanders? Fine. We'll let them sort you out."

"Good," I said. "Take me."

"You can't beat them, you know," he growled at me, climbing back to his feet. "You might be able to kill us, but you can't kill them. The Pledge Mountain leaders… they'll be too much even for you."

"Good," I told him again. "I would like a challenge."

So the plagued guards led me up the mountain, keeping their distance from me. They let me past a lot of the guards. They brought me to a cave.

"Wait here," said the Pyroar. "We need to get clearance to get you any farther."

I knew it was coming. When they said they need clearance, they really meant they were going to set up an ambush for us.

Couldn't let that happen. I'd been carefully watching to make sure none of them got away. So as soon as I agreed to stay in a cave and wait for them, I coiled around them all and bit all their heads off in one bite. It was just in time, too. I was getting tired of being the Shadow Hunter. And I finally got to kill them in a cave where nobody else could see.

I could take a short rest. It couldn't be too long. By morning, they'd figure out that the guards were dead. We'd need to at least get inside, undetected, by then.

I peered out of the cave and squinted at the sky. The sun was completely gone now and clouds had settled overhead. The moon wasn't visible. It was very difficult to see very far up the mountain. I could barely tell what the Fellowship building looked like or where it was. This was no good.

I closed my eyes and took in all the sensations of the mountain. The thin, dusty air. The scents of hundreds of different Pokémon. The eerie unsettling aura of so many Plagued Ones so close to us.

Any ideas, Willow?

Some. How do you feel about burrowing?

I don't have a very good sense of direction underground. I can't even tell where we're going when we turn into a cloud. You're always in control when we do that.

True. But we need cover of some kind. It would be difficult to climb the mountain with no cover, even at this time of night. That is, unless we wanted to cause a ruckus. We could deal with a ruckus, but that will make things harder for us later.

Wait, I've got it. Let's get the attention of some other plagued generals. Then tell them we have urgent news for the Primogenitor and they need to take us to the portal immediately.

Wouldn't work. You'd be demonstrating too much individuality. They'd know you'd be trying to trick them since you wouldn't just tell them the news outright.

We could find a pin. I'm sure someone around this mountain is wearing one. Then we could hide our plague from them and try to sneak in as a normal healthy member.

Can't. We're synchronized now. Pins would have no effect.

It's a shame we couldn't be the Shadow Hunter for longer. I almost wish we'd have brought Impetus. We could try being the Shadow Hunter again, but I'm not sure how much farther we'd make it in just an hour.

That's it. That's the answer.

What is?

We need to find a different host. That way we can be the Shadow Hunter for as long as we need. Good thinking, Syn.

I turned to peer at the pile of bodies we'd left on the cave floor. It was pooling with blood and starting to stink.

There was a humanshape there. Heliolisk. A bit of an awkward shape, not to mention headless. But it was better than nothing. We could deal with it. We could possess the dead body just like how all the lowest-level Plagued Ones did.

So we turned into a cloud and infested the corpse. We stood the lifeless body up once we had woven our way into its skin, and tried to form our own head on the stump of a neck. Something that resembled the Shadow Hunter's head. It took a lot less energy than trying to form an entire shape by ourselves and holding it for a long time. So without wasting too much time, we were off again.

We followed a path up the mountain, and it turned into a stone staircase. There were more guards. That was fine. We could take guards. Birds swooped down to stop us from ascending the staircase. There were three Conkeldurr holding huge hammers.

I stood up tall and made myself look scary. I turned the Heliolisk's tail into a Drapion tail. I brightened my eyes so everyone could see them even in the darkness of the night.

"I come in peace," I said. "I am here to strike a deal with your leaders."

I didn't know if these guards were plagued. It was unfair to assume every Pokémon is plagued. I knew that much. But we needed to probe deeper to figure it out. It was safe to assume that most Pokémon who had the pins were plagued, although some of them could have still been innocent, just like Terron and Zekra were before the voices in their heads started getting stronger. Or how I was before Impetus rescued me. Those Pokémon who were stubborn and fought against the insanity, not letting it consume their soul. Those Pokémon were good. They would die when the Primogenitor did, all the same, but they were on our side.

"A deal?" said one of the flying ones. "You expect that our leaders would make a deal with a Plagued One?"

"I am no Plagued One," I lied. Well, it was only sort of a lie. I wasn't the kind of Plagued One they thought of, but it was still a lie I needed to tell everyone to get them to trust me. "I am the bane of Plagued Ones. I hail from the Anderon region in the east, where I have cleansed the land of every Plagued One which has crossed my path."

I watched their eyes. I saw when the flying one's eyes narrowed in fear. It knew.

It tried to fly away, but I whipped a tentacle at it and dragged it back. The Conkeldurr jumped and pointed their hammers at me.

"Say my name and I'll let you live," I said. "I want to hear you say my name."

"W-wait, I… Don't kill me, please…"

I ripped it apart. Feathers erupted around me. There was a spark of fire as the body shattered. I realized I had probably killed a Talonflame. The plague dissipated from what was left, that shadow which turns into mist when they die for good.

"The bird was one of them," I informed the Conkeldurr. "A spy among you. There are more of them. Many more. It is why I have come here. I will cleanse your fortress of the traitors. But first I need to talk to your leaders."

They looked terrified, but I knew they were innocent. They probably knew the Talonflame personally, yet never suspected. What they had seen me do shook them to the core.

But that was not unusual. I had seen this reaction before. I particularly remembered a poor Kabutops I had left lost and confused when I slaughtered her commander. But there was nothing I could do to help her. The Plagued Ones all needed to die. Even the ones who weren't all that bad.

There were more guards. I saw them stepping into my range of view. Umbreon. Grovyle. All posed to attack me. But they saw what I had done.

"Won't it come back?" someone said.

"No," I informed them, in my best ghost impression. "The shadows fear me. They fear me because I am a different kind of foe. I slay them. I never leave them alive. Even when I tell them to say my name, I will still kill them in the end. When I am done with my work, every shadow in Shiron will be no more."

Technically true, Willow said.

"W-we can't…" said a Grovyle who approached me. "Look. Our leaders… We're not allowed to even see them. Only t-the team leaders… the high team leaders can request audience with t-the…"

"Then get me inside the fortress," I ordered to it. "I will find them myself. Can you get me into the fortress without setting the guards on high alert?"

"Not while you look like that we can't," the Umbreon said skittishly. "Maybe if you can blend into the shadows better, we could follow you and make sure you aren't seen by anyone else. It's not going to be easy, but we could try."

"Obliged," I said. I made my eyes stop glowing. I got rid of all the scary purple fire. I became a pure black shadow, and I got down on all fours with the Heliolisk corpse and started crawling. "Thank you for trusting me. I am on your side."

So that's what they did. I crawled beside the stairs with the headless Heliolisk covered in our plagued shadow. They kept an eye out for me and directed me, and they distracted the other guards from seeing me.

They kept trying to whisper things to me, though. The Grovyle said, "I had no idea there were spies for them in the Fellowship. How many are there?"

"I can't tell you," I replied, trying to be a creature of few words. It was part of the Shadow Hunter's fearsome persona. "If I told you, you would likely kill yourself out of pure despair."

"So… there is no hope, then?" said a Conkeldurr. "This war is over? Is our fate decided?"

"Not as long as I am alive," I said. I let a bit of my own hope slip into my voice. I probably shouldn't have, it was dangerous. "When I am done, they will all be dead. Every last one. Listen when I tell you this. For every Pokémon in Shiron who is not yet plagued, there is hope. Do not get plagued, and there will always be hope. Always."

It took about two hours, but we climbed the mountain and they got me into the storage basement of the castle. We thanked the guards and told them to go back exactly where they had been. We had already left enough corpses, and we didn't need any more evidence that something had gone wrong overnight.

But then we faced our next problem. Pledge Mountain Fellowship was a huge stone castle built into the side of the mountain. It was probably where the king of all Shiron lived back in the day when there were still kings. It would take half a day to slither from one spire to the other.

It would be a tough place to navigate. We knew. It helped that we could phase through walls. At least some of them that were thin enough. It also helped that we could collapse into a shadow on the floor for limited periods. But we had no idea where we needed to go. We would be hunting blind.

I thought Willow said he was going to make this fun.

What are you talking about? This is great fun. We just got into the most high-security fortress left in Shiron. Isn't it thrilling?

What are you saying, Syn? You want to go in the berserker way? We could do that too. It would certainly be chaotic. But if you ask me, there will be enough time for that later. For now we need to be smart. Let's start learning what we can about this place…

Once we were actually in the castle, it was easy to move around. We moved on the ceiling and stayed out of the range of the light from torches.

It was a busy place. A real Fellowship base. Teams went up and down the halls discussing missions and hauling sacks of items. Even in the dead of night, there were some active teams just returning from successful raids.

It brought back memories of when I went on missions with Terron, Zekra, and Impetus. It seemed simple back then. I lost my family but when I joined Team Vendetta, it seemed to make my life more straightforward. I always knew what we had to do next, what missions to do or what orders to follow. And I think that made me happy. When the way forward is right in front of you, I think it makes you happier than when you have to look for it yourself and worry that you're always doing the wrong thing.

Like the kind of life we have now. Nothing is ever simple anymore. Even though we are strong now, we always had to do all the searching and deciding by ourselves. And there was always this nagging feeling that I could have been going in the wrong direction the whole time. That's what happens when you're lonely.

Of course, I don't feel too lonely anymore with Willow, but there are things even he doesn't know. You could say that as Plagued Ones who are good guys, we are very lonely.

But the Pledge Mountain members didn't have that problem. They still had the old way of life where everything's spelled out for you and life is happy because having hope always seems to be easy when you know where to go next. I was kind of jealous of them for it.

Ignorance is bliss, he reminded me. Ignorance will always be bliss. But that doesn't make it good.

That was something I forgot sometimes.

We spent all night searching the lower wings for some kind of hidden room. The castle was so big that it would take days to search the whole place. We were looking for something secret-looking. Something that looked like only the elite members could enter.

Trying to find the innermost halls of the castle ourselves was hopeless. So we changed our strategy. We tried to find someone who knew the leaders so we could stalk them and maybe get access to the secret rooms. Too bad we couldn't figure out who the elite members were just by looking at them. We saw some Pokémon with pins, but they didn't look like generals or even infested spies. They looked like they were just innocent Pokémon who knew what the pins were and wore them because they didn't want to get plagued.

But we got lucky. Right before the sun rose, we found a meeting hall. It was a long rectangular hall with pillars and purple curtains that I think might have originally been the throne room of the castle. There was some kind of meeting about to start. And that meant some important Pokémon would be giving a briefing or a speech or something, just like how it was in the old Fellowship teams. And that important Pokémon might be worth following. So we slithered into the shadowy corner of the ceiling and waited for the room to fill up with an audience. Maybe it was a mandatory morning meeting.

The room filled up with about a hundred Pokémon. Not as much as I was expecting. They seemed to be newcomers. Maybe this was an orientation meeting.

Do you think this might be an emergency meeting of team leaders, warning everyone that someone broke into the castle last night? Do you think they found the bodies of the missing guards?

I sure hope not, I said.

We heard when a voice echoed across the hall and caused the crowd to hush down.

The voice gave us a shiver. It was long, deep, booming… a very familiar voice.

When we saw the source of the voice, we nearly lost our grip on the ceiling and fell into the crowd. It was a Pokémon we had not seen in a very long time.

It was Len the Luxray. The former leader of our old Fellowship. Our former boss. The one who banished Terron and Zekra after I got taken away.

He gave a speech. I guess it was some kind of pep talk. We hardly heard anything he said, but the crowd seemed to be listening intently and even cheered when it was over.

I did catch one thing he said. I heard it because it was near the end of his speech, and he started raising his voice.

"Don't be afraid to give up hope if by doing so you let hope live on in the hearts of others."

"Don't be afraid to keep fighting a losing war. Your last actions may be remembered by your foes for all time."

"Don't be afraid to die knowing that your enemies will be given the happiness that should have been given to you."

"And never, ever be afraid to stand alone."

It was depressing. I couldn't believe the things he was saying. It was almost a de-motivational speech, and he made the whole speech as if he was about to cry.

I almost wanted to give him a hug.

Interesting… seems this isn't the leader of Team Valor you once knew?

No, he would never speak like this… At least not when he was leader. Even when Aurora Town was torn down, he still had the heart to carry on.

Right… he speaks as though he has no hope left in himself. This is not the voice of a valiant leader. But here's the interesting part: it's also not the voice of a Plagued One.

Huh?

A Plagued leader would be wearing a false persona of valor. He on the other hand is speaking from his heart.

Syn, I think we should follow him. I think Len learned the truth of the Pledge Mountain Fellowship, but is not yet a member of the elite cabal which runs things around here. That's the only explanation I have for why he would act this way.

Maybe he is on our side. We should approach him.

So we waited until the meeting was over and we followed Len through some back halls. He parted from the crowd and went through a door and locked it behind him. We had to phase through the door to follow him. On the other side of the door was this really long and thin hallway, completely silent.

Len just walked through it all alone in total silence. His steps were slow and he hung his head like he was thinking about too many things to fit in his brain at once. He also looked very tired. It was hard to follow him because I knew he would hear any little sound we made.

I wondered if we could just talk to him while he was alone.

Not yet. Anyone else could come through that door and see us. Wait until he goes a bit further and then we'll see.

But we didn't get the chance. Before we knew it, there was another creature standing in the hall. I don't know how it got there. Maybe it teleported while we were looking at Len.

It was a huge creature, very tall and colorful, stood on four legs. It almost filled the tiny hallway. It looked very angry and waited for Len to approach it. It looked like a fire elemental beast.

"What kind of a talk was that?!" it roared. "That's not what we told you to say."

"I am a free Pokémon," Len said. He stood defiantly. "I say what I believe."

"If you subvert our wishes again, you might not be a free Pokémon for much longer," said the huge fire beast. "We had an agreement with you. But that agreement only holds if you do as we say. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes, master…" Len grumbled. It was so weird hearing him say that. Len was nobody's master.

"You're supposed to give them hope. Keep making them think that what they're doing here matters. We need to keep them busy."

"Yes, master."

"I've had enough of your attitude, hatchling. Tomorrow we will be writing the script for you. If you deviate from the script by one word, our deal is off. Understand?"

"I understand, master."

"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!"

The huge fiery beast slashed its drawn claws across Len's face. It drew blood and I think it might have also pierced his eye. Len roared in agony and rolled on the ground pawing at his face. Blood spilled on the floor.

Did we just watch Len go blind in one eye? Isn't that the Luxray's best power, being able to see through walls? Would it lose that power if it only had one eye?

We have to help him. Get something to heal him fast. Before that wound becomes permanent.

I know you want to help, but we have to stay here. This is important.

Len bellowed. "You have taken my hope, but you will never take theirs! Not as long as I am alive!"

"You will do as we say."

Another scratch across his prone belly. More blood.

"I'm done talking with you. Take him back to his cell."

A bunch of ghosts appeared and dragged the wounded Luxray into the ground. He was gone.

Syn… what is going on? What just happened?

I was hoping you'd be able to tell me.

We froze in place, just watching the huge fiery beast shake its head.

Then it looked straight at us.

"Who in the name of Arceus are you?" it demanded, walking towards us.

Well. Guess there's no point in hiding anymore.

We dropped from the ceiling and shape-shifted into something more mysterious. I kept my Serperior head but made the back of my body look more like Len's. Then I let Willow do all the talking. He was good at that.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I sneered at the huge beast that was four times my own size.

"Why yes, yes I would," he said, matching my attitude perfectly.

"Fine then," I said. "I'm an outsider. And I'm here for some answers."

"Answers? What sort of answers?" he said. "Is there something wrong with your telepathic link? Has your host been fighting you?"

"You misunderstand me, hatchling. I am not one of you. And before you try to slice me open like you did to that poor Luxray, don't make the mistake of underestimating me. Everyone who's done so in the past is dead. You might have heard of me before. I'm the Shadow Hunter. I slay your kind for fun."

The huge beast smirked. "Ah, you don't say! I suppose I should say it's an honor to finally meet you. The mythical scourge of the east, the renegade! What brings you here? I suppose we should find a more appropriate place to talk. Before your ultimate demise, of course. As much as I respect you, I hope you understand that I will need to do everything in my power to exterminate you."

I cackled an evil laugh. "Of course, I would expect nothing less," I said confidently. Inside, Willow was a little worried. He was planning battle strategies against the huge fire beast… just in case. It was more likely we could escape through the walls and get away. "But before you do, hear me out."

"I'm listening."

"I'm here to speak to the Primogenitor," I said confidently. "I wish to call a truce."

He snorted. "I suppose this proves you are not a renegade blight, as we had all suspected. Our telepathic link allows us to speak to the Primogenitor at will. Unless there was a mutation that has silenced the link for you."

"No, you misunderstand," I replied. "I wish to speak to the Primogenitor face-to-face. I know you have a portal in here somewhere that leads to Giratina's realm."

The beast laughed at me. "That portal is the most guarded secret we have here. You think we'd simply give it over to the likes of you? I think not. We're under strict orders not to let anyone see it."

"But it does exist."

"Of course it does. Anyone who knows the truth about Pledge Mountain can puzzle it out for themselves. But I think the Primogenitor would slice me in half right here and now if I were to give a stranger like you the route to our spiritual realm. And besides…"

He laughed again.

"You would just get eaten."

I blinked. "…Excuse me?"

"Oh, you think I'm joking? It eats anyone who it finds useless. Every day it summons more of us to its lair and just… snacks on all the stray minions it decides it doesn't like. Just like that. Like we're nothing but chocolate-covered Durant for it to add to its incomprehensible mass. I've seen it happen. They don't get any last words, even. Just… pop. Into the void we all go. We all dread its summons. Most of us. Not me, though. I know it'd never eat me, this host is too important to lose."

I smiled. "I suppose you've heard, then, that the Primogenitor isn't the only one who snacks on shadows."

"I suppose it isn't. But you have my deepest apologies that you have come all this way for nothing. If you're going to bite my head off, so be it. Others will carry on in my stead. But I can't take you to the portal. Absolutely not."

"What if I made you an offer?" I said.

I shapeshifted a few times while I spoke. I turned into a Marowak, and a Zoroark, and a Darkrai.

"What if I could bring your enemies to you, all at once?" I offered. "Show me where the portal is, and I will deliver them straight to the Primogenitor. The last true threat standing in your way of complete victory. Imagine them taken out of the picture. I can do that. I am a foe to them equally."

"Oh, a tempting offer," said the fire beast. "But I'm afraid not. We'd have no way of knowing you would keep your end of the bargain. And besides, the Primogenitor doesn't want to see them. The Primogenitor is afraid of them. Especially… two of them. If either one of those two were to learn of the Portal's location… heads would roll."

"I see, at any rate, thank you for your information," I said with a little nod, shifting back into a bipedal shape. "I will continue the search on my own."

"Oh, but what of our battle? I was quite looking forward to testing the mettle of this host for a change."

"Our battle has been cancelled." Yes, and we can say this because we stayed in the cramped corridor where it can't move freely. If we had moved to a more 'comfortable place' earlier, it would have had no problem initiating the fight.

Willow issued a command to our body. But I resisted.

Syn. Jump.

No.

Syn…! We need to…

No. We don't.

You don't understand, there are…

I understand just fine.

Failing to jump from the floor, several ghostly tendrils grabbed hold of us and started to drag us down.

"A pity. Well, I suppose I've grown to like you," said the beast, "so I won't be killing you just yet. Perhaps we shall try to subdue you. You'd make a fantastic figurehead for our little community. Take him to a cell as well."

And just like Len, we were soon gone, too.

Syn… What are you doing?! Why won't you let me fight?

It's alright. I know what to do.

Really? I can see no good end to this.

Willow, look… they're going to take us to the same place they took Len.

Len? Why do we want to see Len?

Because Len needs our help.

We don't have time to help him. We need to find that portal. I could have weaseled it out of that legendary beast if you would have cooperated…!

Willow… I'm sorry, but this is one time I think that I'm right. We need to help him. You make a lot of good decisions for us, but this time I want to make this one.

It's a bad, bad idea. It's a bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

If something goes wrong, I might not be able to save you.

So be it. You're the host.

And so the ghosts dragged us into the floor. There was some kind of electricity to their touch, and they made me feel sleepy. I couldn't fight… at least, not after all the shape-shifting I had done in the past hour.

When they took us into the floor, I went completely blind.

The castle had a dungeon, because of course it did. All castles have dungeons. I think.

And they used that dungeon. They used it a lot. There were lots and lots of cells with trapped Pokémon inside. I think most of them were Fellowship members they were trying to turn into Plagued Ones. There was barely any light. There were some weird red torches that hurt my eyes.

It didn't take very long to get our strength back. When we did, we killed the Mismagius that were carrying us. It was easy. Then we started to explore the dungeons. Inside the cells, there were Pokémon trapped. They were strung up in various ways. Some of them were upside-down or hanging sideways. Most of them were alive. The devices they used looked all arcane and shadowy.

We saw this Bulbasaur that we held in mid-air by dark electricity. And there was this Dragonite that was laying on the ground face-down, being crushed by this huge block so it couldn't move. There was this Ambipom with all of its hands and feet strung up in this huge spiderweb.

I saw a Starvia with feathers ripped off half of its body.

I saw an Ursaring of some kind with huge bloody gashes large enough for guts to spill out.

It was scary. A Plagued One dungeon for non-Plagued ones. I never thought I'd see something like this. It was creepy. Efficient and creepy.

Willow was arguing with me the whole way. But he was a shadow. Being angry was one of the things he was good at.

That beast is probably going to see the Primogenitor right now to tell it about us, and we aren't there. And this is all your fault.

Remind me again why we're down here in the dungeons? Did you want to end up in one of these cells?

Synergy…? Are you going to answer me?

Look, I'm here because I still have some compassion left. I know you understand compassion because you have a lot of it for me. But since I'm not a shadow, I can have compassion for people besides me. Like Len. That's why I'm here. I just want to help him. Maybe set him free.

Compassion is a…

Don't you say it. Don't you dare.

If it weren't for compassion, Impetus wouldn't have run into the cloud of Plagued Ones to rescue us.

If it weren't for compassion, Terron and Zekra would be enemies right now.

Alright.

Alright, alright. I get the point.

Do you think having compassion for Len would do anything good?

Yes. But I don't know how. My instincts tell me that something good will come out of this.

Very well, then.

I apologize for being petulant. Let's work together again.

Go see him. I've got your back.

I wandered up and down the halls. There were so many halls.

I tried not to look at the trapped Pokémon in the eye. None of them said a word to me. I wasn't hiding my true appearance anymore so they thought I was an enemy come to torture them or do terrible things to them. They didn't want to attract my attention.

But I saw things in their eyes. They were all on the brink of hopelessness. They were broken inside. Broken and despairing. I wondered why this dungeon existed if the Plagued Ones only needed to plague their hosts. Why did they keep a dungeon full of free Pokémon? It didn't make sense. Why torture them like this?

Maybe the Primogenitor feeds on misery. It would make sense. A shadow-side such as myself finds misery quite delicious.

…But having said that, I find no joy in seeing so many Pokémon like this. It is rather disturbing, and to be honest I'd rather not be here. It is not the sight of the gore that bothers me, but the sight of the lengths our enemies have gone.

Yeah. Yeah, I know.

That's why we'll beat them. We'll beat them all. To pay them back for things like this.

We found Len. He was in a pretty big cell. I got through the door by turning into ooze and flowing through the bars in the window.

It looked like a cage for legendaries. The smell of dried blood was everywhere, on the walls and the floor. And in the very center, there were a few chained cuffs holding Len's legs to the floor, but nothing else. They looked easy to break, but Len didn't look like he wanted to fight. It looked like his energy was completely spent. I wondered if the cuffs sapped his energy, his willpower.

He just stood there in the center of a small red circle of light, staring at the floor.

And for some reason, seeing him like this hurt more than seeing any of the other tortured Pokémon in this dungeon. Here was a noble leader who had inspired thousands to fight, to rebel against the Plague swarm… now reduced to a lonely prisoner. It was hard to see someone who I knew had a mighty soul, trapped in a dark place like this. It hurt.

Nobody should have to be this lonely.

Did you want to do the talking this time? Go ahead. You're in full control.

I considered shape-shifting before getting his attention. I thought maybe he would be more willing to talk with me if I looked like a Snivy or something. But I decided not to. I could talk to him. It's not like he could attack me or get away or anything. I could make him listen, no matter what I looked like.

"Len," I said as I came up behind him slowly. "Len… don't be afraid. I'm a friend."

He turned his head to me. His eye was still closed, with bloody gashes across it. It would probably be like that forever. But he wasn't looking at me, he was listening. He turned his ear toward me.

"What do you want…?" Len grumbled.

"I want to talk to you," I said. I tried to sound friendly. "I know you won't believe this, but I'm on your side. I'm a good guy. I… just might not look like one at first."

I slithered up beside him so he could see me. He scowled at me and made a deep growl.

"Do you remember me?" I said. "I used to work for you. My name is Synergy. I was a Snivy… you banished my team from the Aurora Town Fellowship…"

"Go away," he said. He looked at the floor again. "You're not fooling anyone. I have done my time for today. Let me rest."

"Len, listen to me. I'm here to help you. I'm…"

"I said LEAVE!" he roared, shaking the ground. He sounded more dark and bitter than I've ever heard a plagued one sound.

"NO!" I shouted back. "It took me long enough to find you! I need to talk to you."

His chains clinked as he turned around, trying not to look at me.

I thought for a moment. I wanted to get his attention. I needed to say something that would make him trust me. To make him see that I was on his side.

But I realized that it probably wouldn't work. So instead, I said, "Len… do you know where the portal is? I'm looking for the portal to the Primogenitor. Because I want to kill it. I'm going to kill the Primogenitor. When the Primogenitor dies, all the plagued ones will die forever. And your dream will finally come true. You could live in a world with no plague."

He didn't say anything. He didn't even move.

"Please tell me if you know where the portal is."

He turned to look at me, dragging his chains with him. "I have seen it," he sighed. "I have been taken there… once. I have seen the abomination with my own eyes."

"Then tell me where it is!" I begged. "If you do, I can kill the Primogenitor! And this war will be all over!"

"Can't," Len said. "If I did, they'd know. As punishment they would plague me."

"If they did, your sacrifice would be remembered forever," I said, encouraging him. "There would be statues of you in Aurora Town. I promise. I just need to know where the portal is. It's all I need. Then we can end everything."

"You speak of sacrifice," Len said with a haunting growl in his voice. "You know nothing about sacrifice…"

Wow, he's starting to sound like Yimtri, Willow said. And that's impressive, seeing that he's not plagued.

But everyone's got a shadow, I remembered. You don't need to be plagued to have one.

"You expect me to believe you can kill that thing," Len spat. "That thing… that thing in the reverse world… that thing I can look forward to seeing as soon as I die… No… no, I can't. I made them a promise… I promised them… Promised I'd never let myself become one of them. I cannot take their hope away."

"Promised who? Whose hope?"

He glared at me. There was power behind his eye. It was scary.

"They took them from me," he said. "One-by-one… they took them. I told them… told them I'd rather die than become one of them. Suicune… Entei… they were… they… did things… First it was Éclair. Then Emdox…"

"Your teammates," I whispered. "What… happened to them?"

Len cast his gaze downward again. I could feel some kind of a power inside of him. The static in the air was changing.

"Dead. They're all dead. All gone. All dead. One by one, they took them."

"I suspected the truth for years, but I never said anything. When Aurora town was destroyed, I saw… I saw what they had done. What the fellowships had done. That's why I disbanded so many teams. Like Team Vendetta. I didn't want them to be part of it. Part of the enemy they thought they were fighting."

"When I got to the mountain they locked me up and gave me a choice. They said that I knew too much… said I needed to become one of them. But they wanted me to go willingly. I resisted… Even when they threatened me with death, I resisted… So they started threatening my companions… thought they could break me faster that way… said I could save them if I consented to letting the plague into my mind… But I kept resisting…

They killed them. One by one. In front of me. Éclair was split open down the middle by Raikou's claw. Like a skinned Magikarp. Left hanging from the ceiling to bleed for hours, right over there. Jade was ripped limb-from-limb, right over there. Emdox… eaten alive. Suicune… ate him. From the inside-out… he…"

Len was choking. I didn't have to see his eyes to tell that he was crying. I think I was starting to cry too.

"I… remember all their last words… they all… they all went willingly. They told me never to lose hope. They told me never to break. Never to become one of them. That's what they… died for. If I let them plague me, I've taken their last wishes away… they would have… their deaths would mean nothing."

"I was made a figurehead here. They knew the Fellowship followers would trust me… and so they told me what to say, and I obeyed them just so I could keep living… Every day, they threaten to plague me with the shadows if I make just the slightest misstep…"

I coiled uncomfortably. "Len… I don't understand," I said, holding back my tears. I needed to hear him talk now and I couldn't let my tears get in the way. This was important. "Why didn't they just infest you? Why did they have to… break your spirit first? Why are they going through all this trouble…?"

"They wanted me to be a general for that thing," Len said. "They wanted me to be a leader of Pledge Mountain. When they want you to be a general, they can't just infest you outright. They have to do something special with you first. I've never understood it either… Maybe… maybe a broken spirit makes a stronger Plagued One. Maybe they need you to snap so that the darkness in your shadow grows. I have never known the answer… All I have known in these past months is loneliness… and suffering."

"…But not hopelessness," I said. "They haven't broken you yet. I still see you in there."

He snorted at me. "What do you know? You're one of them, too. What would a Plagued One ever know about suffering?"

"More than you know," I told him. "The suffering of knowing that me and everyone I've ever loved is either dead or about to die as soon as the Primogenitor is dead. The suffering of seeing my enemies do terrible things to Pokémon like you. There are things that I will never forgive them for. They will all die. All of them. I will make sure of it."

"Heh, you sound like me when I was young," he said with so much bitterness. "You sound like every friend and ally I've ever known in this war. That was always our mantra. They will die. Make them all die. Day after day… All that naïve hope. That's why we woke up every day. Imagining a world without the plague. Imagining revenge. That was the Fellowship. That was why we thought we stood. And they used that. They used that hope against us. Made us feel too comfortable. Made us assume we could trust our own allies. Made us… think that everything would be all right in the end because we were doing the right thing.

"So tell me, if you're really honest…"

"…How can you continue to have this hope, even after you've seen how badly our side is failing?"

"…How can you honestly believe you can kill that thing all by yourself?"

I slithered up to him and looked fondly at him. I knew I looked like a demon snake, but I tried to show my true honesty in my eyes.

"Because I'm not all by myself," I told him. "And you don't have to be alone, either. What if I were to tell you that the Aurora Town Fellowship is still standing?"

There was a spark in his eye. It was small, but I caught it. He thought I was lying.

"It's true," I said, smiling. "Right now as we speak, the most powerful Pokémon in the world are gathered in Aurora Town, keeping alive the Fellowship you built… and we're posed to strike one final blow against the Primogenitor. We have Yimtri and the entire Dusk Mines Fellowship as our allies. We even have Reshiram, the god of fire. And we have the notorious Shadow Hunter… which is me, by the way, if you haven't already figured that out. All we're missing is you, our valiant leader, the one who was so strong that not even the legendary creatures could break his spirit. Come home with me, and lead your Fellowship to victory."

While I was talking to him, I was slithering underneath all of his chains with my tail. I turned my spine into a blade and sliced all the chains apart, letting Len free.

"Len, you are hereby dismissed from the Pledge Mountain Fellowship," I said sternly. "Now let's go. You don't have to be alone anymore."

He looked at his broken chains. And he looked at me, wondering if he was dreaming. He even opened his bloody eye to me. It was still whole after all, but the claws had gone pretty deep into his eyelid and his face. Maybe someone had used a healing spell. Either way, I was happy for him. I smiled.

"They still exist, you know," I said to him. "Emdox, Éclair, Garter, all of them… Because spirits can't be destroyed. They're watching you right now. They're waiting for you to come back home. They want to see you take your victorious last stand!"

Not to mention that they'd like you to get a certain oversized squatter off of their property so they can actually 'rest in peace,' Willow added. I had to try not to chuckle.

A third voice shouted from behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me.

"Well, I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that all of his teammates are cheering for him," said the voice. "Some of us are happy right where he is."

Well, that did not sound friendly at all. I swiveled my head around. And the first thing I saw…

Eyes.

Red, glowing, hateful eyes. Glaring right into me.

He was a green Pokémon, too. Like me. It was kind of like looking in a mirror. I finally got to see what it was like when I intimidated someone else. Because this Pokémon was making me terrified.

"So you're the Shadow Hunter," said the thing as it came toward me. "Never would have guessed. Actually, now that I think about it, it made sense. Erebus had her way with you, did the same thing she did with that human and his mate. That explains why you're not listening to orders. Finally, it all comes together."

The Pokémon entered the ring of red light and I saw who it was.

Flygon.

It was Vantis. Len's teammate. But… at the same time… it wasn't.

He was one of them.

Stay away from this one, Willow warned me. He feels strong.

"Since we're talking about the Aurora Town Fellowship still standing—thank you for the tip, by the way, we had no idea—I suppose I could mention who tore it down in the first place," Vantis said all cheerfully, like he was the same old Vantis we used to know. "That would be me. I helped arranged the fall of Aurora Town. It came at just the right time, too. I couldn't let your little Team Vendetta start piecing things together. So if you want to get technical, that means… Bane and Rayne dying? Wasn't Zekra's fault, not so much. Mostly it was mine. Too bad, I bet she's still beating herself up over that to this day. Fine with us, though. We'll take anything we can to make her weaker. She's been doing a bit of damage lately. Not as much as you, however."

I shapeshifted into the Shadow Hunter. Tried to stand up tall and look intimidating. Made a bunch of bladed tendrils come out of my back and wave around. But Vantis didn't even look impressed.

"Can't do that whole 'say my name' thing to me, Syn," he said. "Already said it. So that means you're going to spare my life, right?"

"You will die like the rest," I said, letting Willow take control again. "I never leave them alive."

"Prove it," he said.

I lunged at him, trying to bite his head off. But these giant fiery meteors appeared out of nowhere and one of them slammed me back to the other side of the cell. The rest crashed into the stone walls of the castle and some of them crumbled.

It hurt. Underneath the plague, I was still a grass-type. Fire and rocks hurt a lot. I threw the huge flaming rock off of me, only to see Vantis was right there. He was a lot bigger than I expected. He was about as big as me. He gnashed his teeth at my face and I just barely turned to ooze and got out of the way in time.

I got behind him, then I turned my tail into a giant sickle and I brought it down right on top of his head, slicing him in two down the middle. Except it didn't work. The blade shattered. That hurt, too.

…What?!

Willow started panicking.

How did that happen?

We're synchronized. He shouldn't be stronger than us. How did he deflect our attack?

He blasted me with a hyper beam. I tried to dodge, but somehow the beam seemed to have infinite width. It took up the whole room. I got slammed against the other side of the wall. That hurt, too.

I was losing energy. I had to stop shape-shifting. I had to fight as myself. As a Serperior. So I got back up and became my normal self, and I coiled up to the ceiling like I was ready to lunge at him. He slammed into my side, using his body as a hook to drag me into the other wall and slam me there. Then he coiled his tail around mine, and whipped me clear across the room.

Hurt. Hurt. Hurt. It was so much hurt.

I don't understand… why can't we fight this one?!

We've never met a foe so powerful before. He's not even a legendary.

"Is that all you've got, Shadow Hunter?" Vantis said, walking across the room on his feet to where we lay crumped in the corner. "Thought you'd be stronger than this. Guess you've just picked your fights well. Can't blame you. Gruella tactics are smart. That's how the Primogenitor started out, you know. Just started infesting some small groups of influential Pokémon… Before you know it, we rule the world."

Vantis reached out with his claw and grabbed me by the neck, then he started squeezing. I started to see wisps of my shadow. Of Willow. It was hurting him. That was odd. Nothing ever hurt Willow.

I twitched my tail and I took him by surprise. Good old "playing dead" trick works on the best of them. Threw him off of me.

When he hit the ground, it was my chance. I went in for the kill.

I did the same thing he did to me. I made a tentacle and I started strangling him. I even used a blade to try to slice his neck. It didn't work. It was like his scales were made of metal.

Even as I tried squeezing him to death, he looked bored.

"Oh, by the way, I guess I can answer your question," he said, not caring that I was contracting my tentacles around his neck as hard as I possibly could. "The reason we keep Pokémon down here instead of just infesting them outright. You want to know the truth? I'll tell you. Won't matter one way or another, since you're about to die."

I decided to stop trying to squeeze him. It was getting tiring. So I let him go and waited to hear what he said, while Willow desperately started trying to come up with strategies to beat him.

"There are two ways synchronization can happen. One is if the shadow and the host make friends. The big boss doesn't allow this under any circumstances. Any shadows who are even caught contemplating it go right down its throat at the next feeding. But thankfully, there's another way."

"How can there be another way…?" I demanded. "You can only synchronize if the host and the shadow both consent."

"Yeah, exactly. You synchronized because, I'm assuming, your shadow made friends with your host. I, on the other hand, achieved quite the opposite: I broke my host's spirit so completely that my host lost all hope and agreed to submit to anything. See? There are two ways to make the host and the shadow agree on everything. It takes a lot of work, but if we can make the host so miserable that they willingly choose to succumb to the darkness, we gain the power of synchronization without the compromise of the free will. They are the Primogenitor's ultimate warriors. And I'm one of them! I mean, I used to have those pins that I know you've seen the clan leaders wear in order to achieve the same effect, but this is much better. There's nothing that can break our synchronization now.

"Len would have become just like me. Oh, what a powerful, fearsome creature he would have become… But he just would not break. We did everything to him. We killed his teammates in front of his eyes in the most gruesome ways we could think of. But he just. Would not. Break."

"Well, of course he didn't break!" I shouted. "Do you even know that guy?!"

"Hmm, guess I thought I did," Vantis said, shrugging. "I guess that would make my social engineering assignment a complete failure. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. That's life. Doesn't matter to me, though."

No… It's not possible.

I had no idea…

They're using synchronized soldiers too?

Willow…

No. No, this can't be happening. Everything I thought I knew is wrong.

We messed up, Syn. We really messed up this time. I knew this was a bad idea.

This is your fault. We could have gotten the location of the portal and be out of it, but no. You had to follow your compassion, and now look where we –

Willow. It's alright.

Alright? Alright?! We're about to die because we're going up against a synchronized bad guy, which I didn't even know existed until now, and…

No. It's alright. We can die today.

… What?

I'm okay with dying. We did our best.

So… what? Just like that? You're giving up?

No. Not giving up. But the goal isn't to survive anymore. The goal is something else.

…to distract Vantis and help Len get away. Len will tell them where the portal is.

Yep. He got away while we were fighting. He's probably out of the castle by now. And everyone's letting him go because he's Len. They won't question him.

And Luxray can run fast. They can run like lightning. He'll get back to Aurora Town in just a few days.

We might be strong, but Reshiram is going to be the one to end this, not us. He's the one who needs the information, not us. And if Len can make it back to Aurora Town, then our mission is accomplished.

So our job is finished. If we can get Vantis out of the way for good, that'd be even better. It'd help them when they come to attack the portal.

… Alright.

Alright, okay. You win.

Well played, Synergy. Well played. A bold and noble death for the both of us.

I couldn't have done it without you.

It was an honor to be your shadow. On that note, there's something else you definitely can't do without me: beat this freak of nature. Luckily for you, I've come up with a plan.

Yeah? What is it?

You really, really aren't going to like it.

Ready?

Ready.

Solar Beam to his right.

Right when Vantis finished talking, I spat a huge ray of sunlight at him. But not to hurt him. I was just trying to get him into a different position.

Now jump over him and get him with your tail.

I did so. Turned my tail into a blade. He was still recoiling from dodging the unexpected sunbeam and I got a clean hit on him. I used Dragon-type energy so it went into his skin.

Done. Now what?

Now coil and jump to his left… he'll attack, dodge to the left.

Tossed myself around him. He was surprised that I was dancing and not outright attacking. It was confusing him.

Done. Now what?

Here comes the good part. Go right over his head and bite his tail.

Then what?

Then start swallowing it.

Swallowing his tail?

…Yep.

And so I made a slithering leap and jumped at the end of the Flygon's tail. I dodged his last attack, a huge fireball, by suddenly turning into mist. When I reformed, my head was right beside his tail and I chomped down hard, unhinged my lower jaw, and started trying to pull it deeper into my throat. My fangs were tough, and coated with elemental and plague energy, and he couldn't yank his tail away. I was eating him.

So Vantis did the only thing he could do: he started eating my tail too.

Before we knew it, we were stuck in a gross circle, each had half-digested each other. I could barely breathe. But I knew that I could chomp Vantis in half now.

Problem is, if I chomped him in half, I'd also chomp myself, since my body was all the way down his throat.

That's when I heard Vantis talking to me. We were so close together that I could hear his plagued voice in my head. It sounded so different than Willow, so unnatural.

It said, Look at this wonderful mess we've gotten ourselves into. You've bested me… but what are you trying to prove, Shadow Hunter?

Willow replied for me. I'm not trying to prove a thing. Actually, we're kind of just trying to survive here. It's the Primogenitor who's trying to prove something, I think. What that is, I have no idea. So you go ask them.

I would, but I get the feeling that I'm about to be severed at the heart. Vantis said.

Luckily for you, where does the Primogenitor live?

…In the death realm.

…Exactly. So that means we can go visit it together. Because nobody should have to be alone.

Your optimism sickens me.

Yeah, well YOU taste terrible! Where have you been, in some toxic swamp?

I gave my last words to Willow. Told him it was our brightest hour. Told him it was perfect.

Then I bit down hard on the Flygon's body.

Special thanks to ScytheRider for writing out this entire chapter. I almost wish this wasn't the last chapter he will ever write for this story. He gave such wonderful contributions to the story whenever he shared his ideas or even wrote them out, even in smaller segments than this chapter. Never would have made it this far without him and his mirthful imagination.